we live in in that the very same Abomination should be set up and practis'd so commonly as they say it is among the inferiour sort of People especially in such a Church and such a Nation as this That after Men have given up their Names to Christ been initiated his Disciples by a solemn instituted Rite of his most Holy Religion after they have made an open Renunciation of God's Enemies and their own and devoted themselves the entire Servants of God and Christ and engaged themselves in a Covenant to live and dye so a Covenant that establishes their Title to such blessed Priviledges as the very Angels admire and which were purchased for us at no less a Price than the Life of God! In a word that after all the clear and gracious Declarations of God's Mind and Will in this Particular so many poor Souls whom Christ died to save should revolt from the Captain of their Salvation refuse their own Mercies and undo themselves for ever by running greedily after the Error of this very Balaam for Reward as St. Jude expresses it this I say to any serious Man must occasion but a Melancholick Entertainment The People I mean are those poor deluded Wretches who fly to Wizards and Diviners such as they call Cunning Men for the redress of any providential Evil or Disaster under which they suffer Now foreseeing that People of this Size would throng in to make up the biggest part of this great Assembly I was loath upon so proper an Argument as I have in hand and on so grave an Occasion as this to slip the Advantage of dropping so serious and seasonable an Admonition These poor Creatures it seems in any manner of Distress very ordinarily with Saul apply themselves to Witches and Inchantments for Relief And can there be a sadder Story told than this that profest Christians should be given up to such a reprobate Sense as to take the Devil for Familiar and by the most damnable Apostacy pay their Devotion there where they have been taught to expect their everlasting Torments For to apply our selves to the use of such means as Charms and Inchantments upon any occasion whatsoever is an Atheistical Disclaimer of our Dependance upon God's Providence and the most provoking Affront that can be offer'd to his Person Will it be said as I have heard it said in their Excuse that they use these means with an harmless intent yea with a religious Trust in God that he will bless them to their Relief But this is worse than to lye for God this is to pretend to own him in an Instance wherein they do in Fact renounce him This may be call'd the Religion of Atheism for 't is affronting God with Solemnity and denying him with Devotion Besides it is so ridiculous a Conceit that the erecting an odd Figure and a parcel of senseless Giberish should raise a sinking Pulse repair the Decays of Nature or bring back lost Goods except it be by the Power of the Devil That God has in Mercy left us in this Balaam's Story a demonstrative Argument not only of the impious Profaneness of it but of its stupid Folly by opening the Mouth of a contemptible Ass to rebuke the Madness of the great Magician And now let us behold him as he stands thus suitably corrected and we shall see this very Man in a much better mood and yielding himself up to be acted by a more powerful and purer Spirit he becomes a Preacher of that very Faith which he had so lately persecuted even a Preacher of Righteousness and the Resurrection I dare not be positive that Balaam tho' so eminent a Prophet had an express Revelation made to him of this Doctrine for 't is probable if not certain that many of the Prophets were made use of to predict such future Events as they themselves did not perfectly and clearly apprehend Tho' if it be as just an Observation as it seems to be a judicious one which Monsieur Alix has made in his Reflections on the four last Books of Moses Cap. XI on Balaam's Prophecy viz. That in it he makes a very distinct mention of the future Calling of the Gentiles to the Faith Numb 24.17 Now I say if so it may be as easie to allow him to have a Foresight and Belief of the Resurrection this being the great Article of that Faith to which the Gentiles were call'd by the Servants of the Messiah in their Preaching of the Gospel But let that be as it will 't is certain Balaam had the knowledge and belief of a state of Immortality and of future Rewards and Punishments and so much has been generally acknowledg'd by the Learned Fathers and Doctors of the Christian Church to be his Intention and meaning in these Words of my Text it being the Foresight of this that urged him to such a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in crying out Let me dye c. But farther this is certain if we may believe Diogenes Laertius Lib. 1. de Vit. Philos there were several of the Eastern Magi among whom Balaam is generally reckon'd one that taught this express Doctrine that Men after Death should return back to Life and be Immortal and this he publishes to the World upon the Authority of Theopompus who was one of them and who says in the Eighth of his Philippics this Doctrine is juxta Magorum Sententiam the same is supported by the Authorities of Rhodius and Eudemus But tho' these Testimonies were rejected yet in the subsequent Context this Prophet is by almost all that believe the Divine Revelations understood to prophesie very clearly of Christ and the Kingdom of the Messiah He says of Christ that he shall have the Dominion Chap. 24. v. 19. But we know that his Resurrection was the first glorious Manifestation of his Royal Power in his Conquest over Death and Hell And in this state why might not Balaam behold him especially after he knew the Knowledge of the most High and had seen the Vision of the Almighty upon which he declar'd I shall see him but not now v. 17. But to dispute for the Prophet's meaning no longer be it what it will sure I am that the last end of the Righteous cannot be by us understood to mean any thing short of the Resurrection For the Death of the righteous and the wicked by the best Judgment we can make is often so little preferrable one to th' other that there can be no sense in our wishing rather for that than this unless upon the steady Conviction and Belief of their rising again to an Immortal Life And now I am come to treat of the Text as in a true so in a sense very suitable to the sad Occasion on which we are now met For what so proper to allay our Sorrows for the Death of our Friends or to prompt us to all serious Preparations to follow them as to be told at their Interment that the Body we commit to the Dust
and his Belly infinitely less and inferiour to his God he will scarce fail then if not to believe yet to fear and tremble at the apprehensions of another Life 'T is a prodigious Atheist that can hold out for ever remorseless and unshaken Tho' they say these men have their Dypticks too in which there are enroll'd all the famous instances of unrelenting Atheists which are carefully Preserv'd to encourage the weak and to inspirit those that are in Danger by the infinite arts and methods of the Holy Ghost's operating upon their Souls to revolt back to God And considering the Power of God's wrath we can't well question but these Sinners against their Souls may be delivered up to so Reprobate a sense But however if these wretches have ever any Workings of mind any Snubs of Conscience any Spiritual Terrours any waking Frights or Ghastly Dreams like other men these having often no manner of Relation to nor dependance upon the Body are insuperable convictions that the Soul is an Immaterial Being and that as it can act thus independantly upon the Body so 't is the extreamest absurdity to believe it shall die with it But whatever such Scoffers may believe concerning the Soul's Immortality or the Body's Resurrection sure I am the Persons concern'd in this Solemnity must in all good sense be granted to believe it These expensive Funerals bespeak our Faith that this dead Body shall arise For it was smartly urged by Tertullian against some Heathens that believ'd it not that their cost was vain which with a Ridiculous profuseness they laid out upon their Dead because they had no hopes they should again Live Alas If we thought these poor Remains were never to be us'd more it were more Reasonable we left them with more neglect But since we know they shall be call'd for by the Trump of God and hope they will become Vessels of Immortal Honour 't is now Piety and Duty in us to lay them decently and safely up and our Faith concerning their Resurrection is a solid Argument to justifie our doing so And if any Judas upon observing the Pomp of this Solemnity should ask to what purpose is this waste Our Saviour's answer will be our best reply That what is done is done for the Burial and as a Pious Testimony of our Faith that the Dead Body shall arise Upon the supposition of which I proceed II. Lastly To shew for what singular Reasons the last end of the Righteous is incomparably most desireable so that it will be our Wisdom not only to wish it may be our own but in the mean time seriously to endeavour it may be so Precious says the Psalmist Ps 116.15 in the sight of the Lord is the Death of his Saints and in all Senses of the Words they having more Interpretations than one 't is true that good Men are very dear to God and with a peculiar distinction from the wicked and prophane 't is evident at the Death of both For 1. Death to the Righteous comes stript of all its Spiritual Horrors Tho' it may assault his fleshly Nature with Swoons and Agonies every step it advances yet the Tranquility of his mind is still the same and the consolations of his Spirit do often appear Superior in the conflict tho' the anguish of the Body be never so extream But turn now your eyes upon a poor Creature that has been brought up delicately and by the uninterrupted enjoyment of sensual pleasures has rockt his conscience 'till this moment dead asleep when the Harbingers of Death of a sudden draw back the curtains and she awakes with what distraction does it view it self But then to look upwards and behold his God whom he wish'd an Idol appearing in all the terrible Array of an Omnipotent Avenger when the amaz'd wretch that would never believe it was a God that dyed to save him begins to apprehend himself was the Murderer that spilt his Blood we need not wonder at the fright He is in upon such a prospect and sure he can tell you there is a vast difference in the last end between the Righteous and the Wicked For 2. When the Righteous dye there is a full end of all their Troubles Death is their last Enemy and he disarmed that he can sting no more But to wicked and Impenitent Sinners except the Truth of God can fail for ever this Death will begin their endless miseries The present Life is to the most faithful Servants of Christ for the most part a state of hardship for 't is a perpetual warfare They have innumerable Enemies and these for the most part in ambuscade The snares that are laid for them often give them falls and then the Bruise is long a Curing and the Operation of the Medicine painful and afflictive And St. Cyprian makes such a moving description of this matter that he wonders how any pious Soul can forbear longing for Death or refrain running into Martyrdom And St. Jerome in an Epistle to the Roman Lady Paulina comforting her for the Death of her Daughter tells her this World is only a troubled Sea yea tho' it were never so calm yet the breadth and length of the Waters on which we float here is frightful so that Solus exitus est securitatis portus we must quit the Stage if ever we would be free from the Apprehensions of the Tragedy Accordingly Death does certainly put a Period to all these Troubles and more it translates all good Men to such a state of pure unmingled Joys where there are no sorrows to embitter no melancholy to Eclipse nor any Temptation can come to molest them in or deceive them of their Joys And 3. Lastly There is no comparison between the end of these two sorts of Men in another Respect still viz. of that honourable memory that is preserved after Death of the one whilst Stench not Perfume gives the other a Remembrance who would immediately be forgotten were it not for what is registred to their Infamy and disgrace Whereas a good Man's Character like a true Medal acquires value and veneration by its Age. His name has the Influence of a Law upon those that come after him and his Example is a Rule which all Wise Men will obey and imitate Yea those that will not do so will yet pay a deference to it and wish they could and I believe there are few in the world as corrupt as 't is but will own when they are in earnest that they had rather be Job upon the Dunghil than Alexander the Great So that if we consider the confidence wherewith Holy Men are encouraged to expect Death or the Alacrity wherewith they undergo it or the Happiness they are let into by passing through it or the Honour and Veneration wherewith their names are embalm'd after it we see sufficient reason to justifie Balaam's wish and to prompt us to the utmost endeavour in preparing to dye the death of the Righteous and that our last
all pretence of Absurdity in affirming it of the same Body is infinitely more rational than their strongest Exceptions For he illustrates it by Grain which he says is not quicken'd except it dye and by dying it is quicken'd even the very same Grain For 't is generally now acknowledg'd that the Seeds of Plants do contain every individual part of the entire Bodies in parvo which spring from them and that the Generation of more Seed is nothing else but the Nutrition or Augmentation of the parts of the very same Seed And for this reason the Apostle speaking of Seed-corn uses such Words as are proper to our Bodies that they dye and are quicken'd and of our Bodies he speaks in a Stile more proper unto Seeds that they are sown to shew says Theophil the parallel Identity in the Resurrection of Both. And after this curious Solution of the difficulty as a Philosophical Enquiry he would not indulge these Men in the least Thought as if there were not ineffable Mystery in the Resurrection for he tells them 't is a Mystery but he has shew'd it not unreasonable but a Mystery it must remain after all that can be said since this corruptible puts on Incorruption and this mortal Immortality And this St. Paul after he had been rapt up into Heaven could neither express nor explain but tells us it cannot be understood nor can it enter into the Heart of Man to conceive I hasten now to take notice of one Objection which the Adversary brings directly to confront my chiefest Argument by which I would establish the Article of the Resurrection which was by the Authority of the sacred Canon and the Prophecies of inspir'd Pen-men Obj. And 't is objected upon the Authority of the wisest of Men that that which befalleth the Sons of Men befalleth Beasts as the one dyes so dyes the other yea they have all one Breath so that a Man hath no preeminence above a Beast Eccles 3.19 And upon the Authority of David a Man as eminent for Piety as Solomon his Son for Wisdom we are assur'd the Article is plainly given up for he in his very Devotions to his God and sure he was in earnest then says that after Death he was to be no more Ps 39.13 Ans Now whatever real weight there is in this Objection 't is certain they that offer it lay none upon it but despise it For the Deists whose it is we must no more call them Atheists because they profess to believe a God tho' they own the Being of a God yet desire to be excus'd the believing any thing he says And therefore you must know when they read the Scriptures 't is only to learn how to make Speeches in their Disgrace and blaspheme God in the Words of his own Mouth However somewhat must be said to it and since the reconciling any one of these Texts will take off the force of both I shall therefore attempt it upon the last as that which in its sound and form of the Expression does more literally and directly import a denyal of Man's Immortality and consequently of his Resurrection But the most ignorant will easily perceive this could not be David's Meaning that after Death he was to be no more when they are shew'd the scope of his Prayer for tho' he was an extraordinary Man and had labour'd hard to recover the Favour of God which by his former Sins he had so desperately hazarded yet he knew it was so infinite an Interest he had to secure that he could never do too much for 't and now being apprehensive his Life was in danger by the Violence of his prosperous Enemies as well as by the frailty of his Constitution he earnestly pray'd that God would please some way or other to discover to him the Period of his Days that he might make suitable Preparations for such a change and since after this Life is finisht all our holy Travels are so too and nothing can be done for Heaven on the other side the Grave he begs for a little more time and strengh that he might do God more and more acceptable Service before he went hence and should do no more And this was evidently the direct Meaning and Scope of his Supplication For that this wise and great King should desire further to spin out this weary Life which he had so long experimented to be so full of Sorrows and more that he should pray for more time to spend in Holy Mortifications and the Labours of Religion in recommending himself to the Divine Favour by more signal Acts of Faith and Patience of Obedience and Submission and yet expect that after Death he was to be no more this is so unlikely that 't is hard to charge him with any thing more absurd For the Labours of Religion are many of them so contrary to the ease and happiness of this Life that 't is impossible to attempt them but upon the strongest assurances and expectations of another Indeed if David had only aimed at the enlarging of his Conquests or design'd to pass his days in ease and sloth had he intended to make his Life a Scene of costly Pleasures and to have distinguished himself by an indulgence to mighty Lusts sacrificing the Blood and Purses of his subjects to his excessive Riots there had been some sense in desiring a long Life and a brisker health upon the supposition that after Death he was to be no more but since he prayed for more Strength only to Minister to his more vigorous Devotions and to enable him to sustain the painful Travels of Repentance and a severe Virtue 't is certain he proceeded herein upon the full perswasion and hopes of a better Life But enough of this for the literal meaning of the words without doubt is embraced at any time by these men as agreeable rather to their lustful wishes than to the sober Sentiments of their minds I say the sober Sentiments of their Minds For even these men I must believe are seldom so far harden'd and debauch'd but that they have their Intervals of Recollection and in this season to my knowledge whatever is the occasion they will frankly profess they would willingly exchange their hopes for their fears and they would give up their expectancies of any Inheritance among the Saints if they could but be assured they should have their Portion among Dogs i. e. They would not care for the Felicities provided they could escape the Immortal Miseries of the other Life Now these misgiving thoughts are strong presages even to themselves that after Death they shall not cease to be But this vile Epicure that cries let us eat and drink for to morrow we die is embolden'd to make such a profession over his Wine only and whilst he is enslav'd to the Pleasures of the Palate tho' when that Beast is disciplin'd into a distaste of his luscious Entertainments and is made by adversity to consider that his Life is more than Food