brought upon the publick stage and expos'd to the view of men and Angels There is nothing now hidden which shall not then be reveal'd nor secret which shall not be made known 5. To arm us against the fears of death Death is terrible to nature and the terrour of it is infinitely encreas'd by the fearfull apprehensions of what may follow it But the comfortable hopes of a blessed immortality do strangely relieve the fainting spirits of dying men and are able to reconcile us to death and in a great measure to take away the terrour of it I know that the thoughts of death are dismal even to good men and we have never more need of comfort and encouragement than when we are conflicting with this last Enemy and there is no such comfortable consideration to a dying man as the hopes of a happy eternity He that looks upon death onely as a passage to glory may welcome the messengers of it as bringing him the best and most joyfull news that ever came to him in his whole life and no man can stay behind in this world with half the comfort that this man leaves it And now I have done with the two things implyed in this phrase of having our conversation in heaven viz. the serious thoughts and considerations of heaven and the effect of these thoughts and considerations upon our hearts and lives I crave your patience but a little longer till I make some reflection upon what hath been deliver'd concerning the happiness of good men after this life I have told you that it is incomparably beyond any happiness of this world that it is great in it self and eternal in its duration and far above any thing that we can now conceive or imagine And now after all this I am very sensible how much all that I have said comes short of the greatness and dignity of the thing So that I could almost begin again and make a new attempt upon this subject And indeed who would not be loth to be taken off from so delightfull an argument Methinks 't is good for us to be here and to let our minds dwell upon these considerations We are unworthy of heaven and unfit to partake of so great a glory if we cannot take pleasure in the contemplation of those things now the possession whereof shall be our happiness for ever With what joy then should we think of those great and glorious things which God hath prepar'd for them that love him of that inheritance incorruptible undefil'd which fadeth not away reserv'd for us in the heavens How should we welcome the thoughts of that happy hour when we shall make our escape out of these prisons when we shall pass out of this howling wilderness into the promis'd Land when we shall be remov'd from all the troubles and temptations of a wicked and ill-natured world when we shall be past all storms and secur'd from all further danger of shipwreck and shall be safely landed in the regions of bliss and immortality O blessed time When all tears shall be wip'd from our eyes and death and sorrow shall be no more When mortality shall be swallow'd up of life and we shall enter upon the possession of all that happiness and glory which God hath promis'd and our faith hath believ'd and our hopes have rais'd us to the expectation of when we shall be eas'd of all our pains and resolv'd of all our doubts and be purg'd from all our sins and be free'd from all our fears and be happy beyond all our hopes and have all the happiness secur'd to us beyond the power of time and change When we shall know God and other things without study and love him and one another without measure and serve and praise him without weariness and obey his will without the least reluctancy and shall still be more and more delighted in the knowing and loving and praising and obeying of God to all eternity How should these thoughts affect our hearts and what a mighty influence ought they to have upon our lives The great disadvantage of the arguments fetch'd from another world is this that those things are at a great distance from us and not sensible to us and therefore are not apt to affect us so strongly and to work so powerfully upon us Now to make amends for this disadvantage we should often revive these considerations upon our mind and inculcate upon our selves the reality and certainty of these things together with the infinite weight and importance of them We should reason thus with our selves If good men shall be so unspeakably happy and consequently wicked men so extreamly miserable in another world If these things be true and will one day be found to be so why should they not be to me as if they were already present why should not I be as much afraid to commit any sin as if hell were naked before me and I saw the astonishing miseries of the damned and why should I not be as carefull to serve God and keep his commandments as if heaven were open to my view and I saw Jesus standing at the right hand of God with crowns of glory in his hand ready to be set upon the heads of all those who continue faithfull to him The lively apprehensions of the nearness of death and eternity are apt to make mens thoughts more quick and piercing and according as we think our selves prepar'd for our future state to transport us with joy or to amaze us with horrour For the soul that is fully satisfi'd of his future bliss is already entred into heaven has begun to take possession of glory and has as it were his blessed Saviour in his arms and may say with old Simeon Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace for mine eyes have seen thy salvation But the thoughts of death must needs be very terrible to that man who is doubtfull or despairing of his future condition It would daunt the stoutest man that ever breathed to look upon death when he can see nothing but hell beyond it When the Apparition at Endor told Saul to morrow thou and thy Sons shall be with me these words struck him to the heart so that he fell down to the ground and there was no more strength left in him It is as certain that we shall die as if an express messenger should come to every one of us from the other world and tell us so Why should we not then always live as those that must die and as those that hope to be happy after death To have these apprehensions vigorous and lively upon our minds this is to have our conversation in heaven from whence also we look for a Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ who shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body according to the working of that mighty power whereby he is able even to subdue all things to himself FINIS
any excellency and I have shewn that Religion is the greatest excellency to be singular in any thing that is wise and worthy and excellent is not a disparagement but a praise every man would chuse to be thus singular III. The third imputation is that Religion is a foolish bargain because they who are religious hazard the parting with a present and certain happiness for that which is future and uncertain To this I answer 1. Let it be granted that the assurance which we have of future rewards falls short of the evidence of sense For I doubt not but that saying of our Saviour blessed is he who hath believed and not seen and those expressions of the Apostle we walk by faith and not by sight and faith is the evidence of things not seen are intended by way of abatement and diminution to the evidence of Faith and do sign fie that the report and testimony of others is not so great evidence as that of our own senses And though we have sufficient assurance of another state yet not man can think we have so great evidence as if we our selves had been in the other world and seen how all things are there 2. We have sufficient assurance of these things and such as may beget in us a well grounded confidence and frees us from all doubts of the contrary and perswade a reasonable man to venture his greatest interests in this world upon the security that he hath of another For 1. We have as much assurance of these things as things future and at a distance are capable of and he is a very unreasonable man that would desire more Future and invisible things are not capable of the evidence of sense but we have the greatest rational evidence for them and in this every reasonable man ought to rest satisfi'd 2. We have as much as is abundantly sufficient to justifie every man's discretion who for the great and eternal things of another world hazards or parts with the poor and transitory things of this life And for the clearing of this it will be worth our considering that the greatest affairs of this world and the most important concernments of this life are all conducted onely by moral demonstrations Men every day venture their lives and estates onely upon moral assurance For instance men who never were at the east or West-Indies or in Turky or Spain yet do venture their whole estate in traffick thither though they have no Mathematical demonstration but onely moral assurance that there are such places Nay which is more men every day eat and drink though I think no man can demonstrate out of Euclide or Apollonius that his Baker or Brewer or Cook have not conveyed poison into his meat or drink And that man that would be so wise and cautious as not to eat or drink till he could demonstrate this to himself I know no other remedy for him but that in great gravity and wifedom he must die for fear of death And for any man to urge that though men in temporal affairs proceed upon moral assurance yet there is greater assurance required to make men seek Heaven and avoid Hell seems to me to be highly unreasonable For such an assurance of things as will make men circumspect and carefull to avoid a lesser dangér ought in all reason to awaken men much more to the avoiding of a greater such an assurance as will sharpen mens desires and quicken their endeavours for the obtaining of a lesser good ought in all reason to animate men more powerfully and to inspire them with a greater vigour and industry in the pursuit of that which is infinitely greater For why the same assurance should not operate as well in a great danger as in a less in a great good as in a small and inconsiderable one I can see no reason unless men will say that the greatness of an evil danger is an incouragement to men to run upon it and that the greatness of any good and happiness ought in reason to dishearten men from the pursuit of it And now I think I may with reason entreat such as are atheistically inclined to consider these things seriously and impartially and if there be weight in these considerations which I have offered to them to sway with reasonable men I would beg of such that they would not suffer themselves to be byassed by prejudice or passion or the interest of any lust or worldly advantage to a contrary perswasion First I would entreat them seriously and diligently to consider these things because they are of so great moment and concernment to every man If any thing in the world deserve our serious study and consideration these principles of Religion do For what can import us more to be satisfied in than whether there be a God or not whether our Souls shall perish with our bodies or be immortal and shall continue for ever And if so whether in that eternal state which remains for men after this life they shall not be happy or miserable for ever according as they have demeaned themselves in this world If these things be so they are of infinite consequence to us and therefore it highly concerns us to enquire diligently about them and to satisfie our minds concerning them one way or other For these are not matters to be slightly and superficially thought upon much less as the way of atheistical men is to be played and jested withall There is no greater argument of a light and inconsiderate person than prophanely to scoff at Religion It is a sign that that man hath no regard to himself and that he is not touched with a sense of his own interest who loves to be jesting with edg'd tools and to play with life and death This is the very mad-man that Solomon speaks of Prov. 26.18 who casteth fire-brands arrows and death and saith am I not in sport To examine severely and debate seriously the principles of Religion is a thing worthy of a wise man but if any man shall turn Religion into raillery and think to confute it by two or three bold jests this man doth not render Religion but himself ridiculous in the opinion of all considerate men because he sports with his own life If the principles of Religion were doubtfull and uncertain yet they concern us so nearly that we ought to be serious in the examination of them And though they were never so clear and evident yet they may be made ridiculous by vain and frothy men as the gravest and wisest person in the world may be abused by being put into a fools coat and the most noble and excellent Poem may be debased and made vile by being turned into burlesque But of this I shall have occasion to speak more largely in my next discourse So that it concerns every man that would not trifle away his soul and fool himself into irrecoverable misery with the greatest seriousness to enquire into these matters whether
to Religion Religion is against them and therefore they set themselves against Religion The principles of Religion and the doctrines of the holy Scriptures are terrible enemies to wicked men they are continnually flying in their faces and galling their consciences And this is that which makes them kick against Religion and spurn at the doctrines of that holy Book And this may probably be one reason why many men who are observed to be sufficiently dull in other matters yet can talk prophanely and speak against Religion with some kind of salt and smartness because Religion is the thing that frets them and as in other things so in this vexatio dat intellectum the inward trouble and vexation of their minds gives them some kind of wit and sharpness in rallying upon Religion Their consciences are galled by it and this makes them winch and fling as if they had some metal For let men pretend what they will there is no ease and comfort of mind to be had from atheistical principles 'T is found by experience that none are more apprehensive of danger or more fearfull of death than this sort of men Even when they are in prosperity they ever and anon feel many inward stings and lashes but when any great affliction or calamity overtakes them they are the most poor spirited creatures in the whole world The sum is the true reason why any man is an Atheist is because he is a wicked man Religion would curb him in his lusts and therefore he casts it off and puts all the scorn upon it he can Besides that men think it some kind of apology for their vices that they do not act contrary to any principle they profess Their practice is agreeable to what they pretend to believe and so they think to vindicate themselves and their own practices by laughing at those for fools who believe any thing to the contrary III. The third thing I propounded was to represent to you the heinousness and the aggravations of this vice And to make this out we will make these three suppositions which are as many as the thing will bear 1. Suppose there were no God and that the principles of Religion were false 2. Suppose the matter were doubtfull and the arguments equal on both sides 3. Suppose it certain that there is a God and that the principles of Religion are true Put the case how we will I shall shew that the humour is intolerable I. Suppose there were no God and that the principles of Religion were false Not that there is any reason for such a supposition but onely to shew the unreasonableness of this humour Put the case that these men were in the right in denying the principles of Religion and that all that they pretend were true yet so long as the generality of mankind believes the contrary it is certainly a great rudeness or incivility at least to deride and scoff at these things Indeed upon this supposition there could be no such thing as sin but yet it would be a great offence against the laws of civil conversation Suppose then the Atheist were wiser than all the world and that he did upon good grounds know that all mankind besides himself and two or three more were mistaken about the matters of Religion yet if he were either so wise or so civil as he should be he would keep all this to himself and not affront other men about these things I remember that that Law which God gave to the people of Israel Thou shalt not speak evil of the Rulers of thy people is rendred by Josephus in a very different sense What other nations account Gods let no man blaspheme And this is not so different from the Hebrew as at first sight one would imagine for the same Hebrew word signifies both Gods and Rulers But whether this be the meaning of that Law or not there is a great deal of reason in the thing For though every man have a right in dispute against a false Religion and to urge it with all its absurd and ridiculous consequences as the Ancient Fathers did in their disputes with the Heathen yet it is a barbarous incivility for any man scurrilously to make sport with that which others account Religion not with any design to convince their reason but onely to provoke their rage But now the Atheist can pretend no obligation of conscience why he should so much as dispute against the principles of Religion much less deride them He that pretends to any Religion may pretend conscience for opposing a contrary Religion But he that denies all Religion can pretend no conscience for any thing A man may be obliged indeed in reason and common humanity to free his neighbour from a hurtfull error but supposing there were no God this notion of a Deity and the Principles of Religion have taken such deep root in the mind of man that either they are not to be extinguished or if they be it would be no kindness to any man to endeavour it for him because it is not to be done but with so much trouble and violence that the remedy would be worse than the disease For if this notion of a Deity be founded in a natural fear it is in vain to attempt to expell it for whatever violence may be offer'd to nature by endeavouring to reason men into a contrary perswasion nature will still recoil and at last return to it self and then the fear will be augmented from the apprehension of the dangerous consequences of such an impiety So that nothing can create more trouble to a man than to endeavour to dispossess him of this conceit because nature is but irritated by the contest and the man's fears will be doubled upon him But if we suppose this apprehension of a Deity to have no foundation in nature but to have had its rise from tradition which hath been confirmed in the world by the prejudice of education the difficulty of removing it will almost be as great as if it were natural that which men take in by education being next to that which is natural And if it could be extinguish't yet the advantage of it will not recompence the trouble of the cure For except the avoiding of persecution for Religion there is no advantage that the principles of Atheism if they could be quietly setled in a man's mind can give him The advantage indeed that men make of them is to give themselves the liberty to do what they please to be more sensual and more unjust than other men that is they have the priviledge to surfeit themselves and to be sick oftner than other men and to malte mankind their enemy by their unjust and dishonest actions and consequently to live more uneasily in the world than other men So that the principles of Religion the belief of a God and another life by obliging men to be vertuous do really promote their temporal happiness And all the priviledge that Atheism pretends
be restless is good for nothing but to fret and enrage our pain to gall our sores and to make the burthen that is upon us sit more uneasie But this is properly no consideration of comfort but an art of managing our selves under afflictions so as not to make them more grievous than indeed the are But now the arguments which Christianity propounds to us are such as are a just and reasonable encouragement to men to bear sufferings patiently Our Religion sets before us not the example of a stupid Stoick who had by obstinate principles harden'd himself against all sense of pain beyond the common measures of humanity but an example that lies level to all mankind of a man like our selves that had a tender sense of the least suffering and yet patiently endur'd the greatest of Jesus the Authour and finisher of our faith Heb. 1.22 who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross despising the shame and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God God thought it expedient that the first Christians should by great hardships and persecutions be train'd up for glory and to animate and encourage them hereto the Captain of our salvation was crown'd by sufferings Heb. 2.10 Much more should the consideration of this pattern arm us with patience against the common and ordinary calamities of this life especially if we consider his example with this advantage that though his sufferings were wholly undeserv'd and not for himself but for us yet he bore them patiently But the main consideration of all is the glory which shall follow our sufferings as the reward of them if they be for God and his cause and if upon any other innocent account as reward of our patience 2 Cor. 4.17 Our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory Christian Religion hath secur'd us that we shall be infinite gainers by our sufferings And who would not be content to suffer upon terms of such advantage to pass through many tribulations into the Kingdom of God and to endure a short ffliction for an endless happiness The assurance of a future blessedness is a cordial that will revive our spirits more in the day of adversity than all the wise sayings and considerations of Philosophy These are the arguments which Christianity propounds to us and they are firm and sound at the bottom they have strength and substance in them and are apt to work upon humane nature and the most ordinary understanding is capable of the force of them In the strength and vertue of this great example and in contemplation of this glorious reward with what resolution and chearfulness with what courage and patience did vast numbers of all sorts of people in the first Ages of Christianity not only men but women not only those of greater spirit and more generous education but those of the poorest and lowest condition not onely the learned and the wise but the ignorant and illiterate encounter all the rage and malice of the world and embrace torments and death Had the precepts and counsels of Philosophy ever any such effect upon the minds of men I will conclude this with a passage in the life of Lipsius who was a great studier and admirer of the Stoical Philosophy When he lay upon his death-bed and one of his friends who came to visit him told him that he needed not use arguments to perswade him to patience under his pains the Philosophy which he had studied so much would furnish him with motives enough to that purpose he answers him with this ejaculation Domine Jesu da mihi patientiam Christianam Lord Jesus give me Christian patience No patience like to that which the considerations of Christianity are apt to work in us And now I have as briefly and plainly as I could endeavour'd to represent to you the excellency of the Christian Religion both in respect of the clear discoveries which it makes to us of the nature of God which is the great foundation of all Religion and likewise in respect of the perfection of its Laws and the power of its arguments to perswade men both to obey and suffer the will of God By which you may see what the proper tendency and design of this Religion is and what the Laws and precepts of it would make men if they would truly observe them and live according to them substantially Religious towards God chast and temperate patient and contented in reference to themselves and the dispensations of God's providence towards them just and honest kind and peaceable and good natur'd towards all men In a word the Gospel describes God to us in all respects such a one as we would wish him to be gives us such Laws as every man that understands himself would chuse to live by propounds such arguments to perswade to the obedience of these Laws as no man that wisely loves himself and hath any tenderness for his own interest and happiness either in this world or the other can refuse to be mov'd withall And now methinks I may with some confidence challenge any Religion in the world to shew such a compleat body and collection of holy and reasonable Laws establish'd upon such promises and threatnings as the Gospel contains And if any man can produce a Religion that can reasonably pretend to an equal or a greater confirmation than the Gospel hath a Religion the precepts and promises and threatnings whereof are calculated to make men wiser and better more temperate and more chast more meek and more patient more kind and more just than the laws and motives of Christianity are apt to make men if any man can produce such a Religion I am ready to be of it Let but any man shew me any Book in the world the doctrines whereof have the seal of such miracles as the doctrine of the Scriptures hath a Book which contains the heads of our duty so perfectly and without the mixture of any thing that is unreasonable or vicious or any ways unworthy of God that commands us every thing in reason necessary to be done and abridgeth us of no lawfull pleasure without offering us abundant recompence for our present self-denyal a Book the rules whereof if they were practic'd would make men more pious and devout more holy and sober more just and fair in their dealings better friends and better neighbours better magistrates and better subjects and better in all relations and which does offer to the understanding of men more powerfull arguments to perswade them to be all this let any man I say shew me such a Book and I will lay aside the Scripture and preach out of that And do we not all profess to be of this excellent Religion and to study and believe this holy Book of the Scriptures But alas who will believe that we do so that shall look upon the actions and consider the lives