of the best Philosophy did we remember that we are the Offspring of God could we prostitute so noble a Nature to serve the Devil could we debase our selves so far as to truckle under the Violence and Servitude of our Passions Tully hath an admirable Saying to this purpose Put the case saith he that we should carry any thing so privately as that neither God nor man should discover us yet we should have such a reverence for our selves as not to suffer any thing that is immodest unjust or unclean to escape us So terrible is the witness of Conscience and so infallible is its decision in the great branches of our Duty THEN Sixthly Is Man such a curious piece of workmanship he must be under the peculiar Eye of Providence Thus reasons St. Paul Doth God take care of Oxen yes the very Law thou shalt not muzzle the Ox that treadeth out the corn prove sufficiently that they are under his care and the eye of his Providence BUT the care that is extended to those poor Animals that feed upon hay and corn is far below the special care that he hath of Mankind His delight is with the Sons of Men there is a peculiar eye of Favour that watches over the human Race and yet a higher degree of Love and Providence over good and holy Men. Psal 33.13 The Lord looketh from heaven he beholdeth all the sons of men v 14. From the place of his habitation he looketh upon the inhabitants of the earth v. 18. Behold the eye of the Lord is on them that fear him upon them that hope in his mercy Psal 34.7 The Angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him and delivereth them But his Love towards Mankind is so strong that it cannot fall under Words He gave us his Son and if he gave us his Son how shall he not with him also give us all things He did not take hold of the nature of Angels but of the seed of Abraham It was his Love to us that engaged him to take upon him the form of a servant and humble himself unto death even the death of the cross Seventhly IF God hath put such Marks of Beauty and Honour on the human Nature Let us love one another So the Apostle enjoins Honour all men Love the brotherhood There is something due to our Nature under the cloud of the meanest Circumstances As the Philosopher alleged when he dispensed his Alms to an unworthy Person Non homini sed humanitati Our Love must resemble the Benignity of God that maketh his Sun to rise on the evil and the good and sendeth down Rain on the just and unjust LOVE is the life of Heaven whence all Bitterness and Unkindness is banished as far as Hell 't is planted in our Nature we are enclined to it by our original Constitution it is the Livery of the Christian Religion and the Badge of our Profession The Vices opposite to it make up the Devil's Nature and his Torture too Anger Bitterness Envy and Revenge create those Storms that continually ruffle the composure of our Spirits whereas the Practice of Christian Charity hath in it the Fore-tastes of Heaven and the Life of the Blessed THERE is no injury done to us can loose us from this Obligation no Error in Opinion no Enormity in Practice no Disaster of Fortune for our Brother is of our kind and however sullied and defac't retains still the Image of God The more frequently we consider this the more we are obliged to the Psalmist's resolution I will praise thee Which leads me to the Second Particular that I mentioned viz. The Psalmist's Gratitude and Acknowledgment Now in speaking to this I shall First Mention some of those Inducements that oblige us to it And then Secondly press the Practice of it 1. GOD is to be praised because he is the only Object of Praise Love and Admiration nothing else can love us again but God or some other Creature that resembles God Therefore St. John exhorts Love not the world neither the things that are in the world if any man love the world the love of the Father is not in him AND if he is to be praised because of the Works of Nature how much more because of his inestimable Love in the Redemption of the World by our Lord Jesus Christ Let the purest Spirits in their Robes of Light and Innocence admire it and veil their Faces with their Wings and stand at a distance and behold what manner of Love this is wherewith the Father hath loved us that we should be called the Sons of God If we cannot fly about the World with that Swiftness and Rapidity as the Angels do in Heaven yet what hinders our Souls to center themselves in his Love by the most unquenchable Ardors when we contemplate his Love to Mankind manifested in Jesus Christ 2. THE true exercise of our Reason requires it What is that you admire or what is it you pursue The Principles of Reason are everlasting and they are never so duly placed as on God who is invariable and without shadow of turning for the world passeth away and the fashion thereof doth perish but a Mind refined by the Principles of Christian Philosophy endures for ever Do but call to mind as M. Antoninus hath it such as have been in eminent Glory the Hero's and Captains of former Ages or such as have been tumbled down by Disgrace or run down with Misery such as have engaged to talk of all Men in every Condition of Life 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What 's become of all those things now And should our Reason spend its strength in the chase of such Shadows it cannot be duly employed in such transient Vanities had we but a view of the Impertinencies and Vanities that pass in one City but for one day how vain should we find the World to be 3. To praise God is the Enjoyment of Heaven The vision of God is nothing but the Light of Reason duly six'd on its true Object and advanc'd to its true Elevation when the Soul is dilated and enlarged and expatiates on its proper Theme Have you seen the Cedars or the Fir-trees that rise so high and spread their Branches so wide from a little Seed just so is the Soul how infinitely beyond its present self are its Operations then found to be Beloved now are we the Sons of God and it doth not yet appear what we shall be but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is Thus the Inhabitants of Heaven are frequently represented in the book of the Revelations c. 4.10 11. and elsewhere adoring the Excellencies of their great Creator The four and twenty Elders fall down before him that sat on the throne and worshipped him that liveth for ever and ever and cast their crowns before the throne saying thou art worthy O Lord to receive glory honour and power
Christian all of them acknowledge that this is pure and undefiled Religion because it is agreeable to the Nature as well as the Authority of God for he hath no pleasure at all in the death of a sinner And therefore we are plainly told by the Prophets and the Apostles that nothing short of true integrity can please God and that this is his delight Have I any pleasure at all that the Wicked should dye saith the Lord God and not that he should return from his ways and live Consider that remarkable advertisement of the Prophet Micah He hath shewed thee O man what is good and what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God Therefore we are commanded by the Baptist to bring forth fruits meet for repentance It is not every one that saith Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the Will of my Father which is in Heaven The conclusion of all this is no other than that every one that nameth the name of Jesus must depart from all iniquity Our Religion is very pure and it is the last revelation of his Will that God vouchsafes to Mankind And therefore it bears the nearest resemblance of the Divine Nature and is perfective of ours and the Disciples of this Religion must not think to recommend themselves to God or Mankind by artificial knacks of hypocrisie disfigured faces and Pharisaical Prayers but rather by ardent zeal unaffected simplicity the most generous charity sincere mortification and a Will resign'd to his Infinite Wisdom 2. LET us suppose that the Scriptures did not so peremptorily inculcate the necessity of this change yet the Notions that we have of God confirm this truth that nothing short of true Piety can recommend us unto Him that in order to our Salvation we must be partakers of the Divine Nature Is he such an easie Majesty that he may be put off with multitude of Sacrifices costly Oblations and outward Solemnities of Religion Can he be diverted from the execution of his Justice by complemental Addresses Pray what do we take him to be Is he fond of Trifles and Ceremonies To imagine that sighs and tears and melancholy reflections will propitiate the Deity charges him with severity and cruelty as if he took pleasure in the calamities and sufferings of his Creatures Whereas nothing is intended but our true reformation and freedom from sin We are to remember that Innocence Purity Ingenuity and Simplicity Heavenly mindedness and Charity are the Sacrifices most agreeable to the Deity 3. SUCH is the distance of our Nature from Heaven and the employment of that State that we must do violence to our corrupt inclinations before we can act our part among the Spirits of just men made perfect we must become meet partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light Sin though pardoned yet if it is not extirpated must sink us unto Hell It is in its nature most opposite unto God i. e. to his Wisdom Goodness and Power because it carries along with it all the lineaments of baseness weakness and malice This should make us hate all those Principles in Religion that make the way broad that our Saviour hath pronounced strait All those Doctrines and Opinions that seem to promote licentiousness folly and wickedness if the light that is in thee be darkness how great is that darkness but when corrupt Nature and corrupt Principles are combin'd together there is no hope of our recovery and we are carried headlong into all folly and misery 2. LET us enquire wherein the Characters of the Divine Nature appear God is the first and original beauty and true Religion is but a Transcript of his Nature And 1. IT carries the Lineaments of his Power and Victory True Religion is a Confederacy with the Almighty We can do all things through Christ that strengtheneth us The Lord is my strength saith David my rock and my fortress my deliverer my God in whom I will trust My buckler the horn of my salvation and my high tower His Power is visible in our conquests over sin we must prove our selves to be the Sons of God by our triumphs and victories over the World because he that is in us is greater than he that is in the World THE ravishing beauty of the Divine Nature shines in the conversations of the righteous For all round about them see their good works and glorifie their father which is in heaven They are blameless and harmless without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse Nation THE Purity of the Divine Nature is copied in the life of a Christian pure and undefil'd Religion flies from all filthiness and hypocrisie by a divine instinct and sensation The Scripture seems to search for all Metaphors to represent unto us the filthiness of sin The Rottenness of the Grave the Vomit of Dogs the Poyson of Vipers the Filthiness of Swine are some of the expressions that point unto us the odious Nature of sin But God is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity And the Wisdom that is from above is first pure then peaceable gentle and easie to be intreated full of mercy and good fruits without partiality and without hypocrisie THE Wisdom of God is no less seen in the lives of good men True Religion is the knowledge of the most excellent Truths the contemplation of the most glorious objects and the practice of such duties as are most serviceable to our happiness The fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom The Children of this World are said to be wiser in their own generation than the Children of Light i. e. they are more skilful to manage worldly affairs But in the true estimate of things they are fools in the strictest sense The truly Religious is the only Wise Man he alone improves his Reason to the best advantage for he looks to things future as well as to the things present he prefers great things to small things and chuses the fittest Means to attain his ends this is to be wise unto salvation WE are taught by the Christian Religion to imitate the Divine Goodness his unenvious Bounty his unconstrain'd Liberality Love your enemies bless them that curse you do good to them that hate you and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you that you may be the Children of your Father which is in Heaven for he maketh his Sun to rise on the evil and on the good and sendeth rain on the just and unjust GREATNESS of Spirit is a branch of the Divine Nature and the Christian is great in his Victories Expectations and Behaviour nothing mean and sordid in the behaviour of the true Sons of God they are heirs of God and coheirs with Christ and therefore must needs have the world under their feet FROM what I have said we may easily
rose again that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living THE Meditation of our Saviour's Resurrection puts us beyond all doubt and hesitation as to our own Resurrection for he rose again as our Captain our Head our Mediator and in our Name And this leads me to the Second particular I proposed to speak to 2. THAT though we sleep in the dust of the Earth we shall be raised again by his Power He is risen as the first born from the dead and the first fruits of them that sleep as our forerunner and advocate He went unto the Heavens to prepare a place for us that where he is there we may be also And we shall follow 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in due rank and season as the younger Sons of the Resurrection we shall be raised under his standard and conduct so reasons the Apostle S. Paul If the spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in us he that raised up Jesus from the dead shall also quicken our mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in us And again If we have been planted with him in the likeness of his death we shall also grow up in the likeness of his Resurrection And the same Apostle to the Thessalonians assures us that if we believe that Jesus died and rose again even so them also which sleep through Jesus will God bring with him Our Resurrection from the Dead stands in our Creed as one of the great Articles of our Faith the Revelation of it is clear and I need not prove it by a particular allegation of places for S. Paul concludes that if the dead rise not our Faith and all our Hopes that depend upon it are wholly vain and impertinent It 's true the Carnal World did struggle against the belief of the Resurrection And the Athenians could not forbear to laugh at S. Paul when he advanced this new Doctrine And Minutius Faelix in his excellent Dialogue proves how reasonable it is for us to believe it though the external Evidences for it were not so undeniable when once we come to have true notions of the Deity Did he Create us from nothing And is it so difficult to him to make us up when we are broken and scattered Can any particle of our dust and ashes be hid from the eyes of his omniscience And this is the current Argument of the Fathers Or as the same Author reasons though we are dryed into dust or dissolved into water or scattered into ashes can we be removed from the sight of him that weighs the Mountains in scales and numbers the sands upon the Sea shore And then he goes forward to prove the Resurrection from congruities in Nature and the vicissitude of Things Vide adeo quà m insolatium nostri resurrectionem futuram omnis natura meditetur The Sun goes down and rises again and the frame of Nature seems to die in the winter and when the spring returns they put on their garments of life and joy So universally is the Doctrine of the Resurrection preach'd by every Creaure under Heaven But I will not insist on this I 'll rather endeavour to lead your thoughts into the inferences that naturally arise from it And first are we raised again Is the fabrick of our bodies rebuilt by infinite Wisdom Then with what peace and assurance with what quietness and serenity may we lay them down in the Grave It was no wonder that the stourest Philosophers amidst all their speculations could not reason themselves into this composure of Spirit at the aproach of Death for the strength of all their Arguments was but of little value to calm the tempests and the fears that arose in their Brests when this Enemy of Nature drew near them Nothing can allay those commotions but the stedfast belief of the Resurrection and the hopes of Immortality Then may we say in the language of the Psalmist Yea though I walk thorow the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for thou art with me thy rod and thy staff they comfort me And is not this enough to make thee quiet and resigned that thou art assured when thy Soul goes to the invisible regions of Light and Purity thy Body also however scatter'd divided and dispers'd shall again be rejoyned to thy Spirit And ought we to doubt of the Divine Power to accomplish this Since the forming of our Bodies in the Womb from so small a beginning unto such a beautiful structure furnished with so many exact Proportions and Features was no less the effect of Divine Power than the raising it again when reduced to dust and ashes How chearfully did the first Martyrs sacrifice their Bodies for the love of Jesus The Executioners might divide Soul and Body but they could destroy neither they might cut and pierce and launce and throw their flesh to the wild-beasts but still they were within the Territories of their great Creator And when the voice of the Arch-Angel sounds the dead are made to hear it and the Sea must give an account of its dead and the Earth must open her dark vaults and cayerns and thrust up her Inhabitants to appear at the publick Rendesvouze of the Resurrection to receive according to what they have done in the Body ARE we raised from the dead We ought to treat the bodies of our dead with care and honour All civiliz'd Nations agree in this nor can there be a piece of greater barbarism and inhumanity than to deny the rites of Sepulture even to our very Enemies The Poet could not express the height of cruelty and rudness otherways than to say that the honour of Burial was denyed hominemque cruentus Exuit tenuem caesis invidet arenam Though the methods of particular Countries vary yet all agree to perform Funerals with great solemnity The most natural way is to bury them in the Earth and it is the most ancient of all others as we see in the Holy Oracles Gen. 23.4 And though the Persians did burn the bodies of the dead yet Herodot tells us that the method of Inhumation was more ancient among the Egyptians and the Persians And when the Roman Empire became Christian the old custom was resumed and the bodies of the dead were committed to the Earth Diodorus Siculus informs us how critically nice the Egyptians were in performing the Funeral Rites that the persons imployed about the dead were divided in so many ranks and orders and to each their proper part was assign'd And the Greeks and Romans were no less careful about their dead And no doubt our most holy Religion strengthens the obligation and the Scriptures remark the Funerals of the Patriarchs and the care of their Relations in that matter S. Augustin discourses at length to this purpose that our bodies are a part of us and though they are laid aside yet we have not lost all relation