God in his Sanctuary above From hence the Apostle propounds a strong Argument to assure the Saints upon their leaving this World of their reception into Heaven Now he that hath wrought us for the self-same thing is God and the Almighty always obtains his End who hath also given us the earnest of his Spirit Holiness is the Morning-Star of the great Day Grace is the Preparative and Assurance of Glory For altho the Saints are in themselves mutable and while there remains Corruption within and a tempting World without are liable to falling away yet the free and powerful Love of God that revived them when dead will preserve them living that which raised them from the Grave will prevent their relapsing into it The Gifts of God are without Repentance How triumphantly does the Apostle express his Confidence Who shall separate us from the Love of God Shall Tribulation or Distress or Persecution or Famine or Nakedness or Peril or Sword These are the most powerful Terrors that the perverse World in combination with the Devil can make use of to constrain us to desert the Service of God but they are vain Nay in all these things we are more than Conquerors through him that loved us For I am perswaded that neither Death nor Life nor Angels nor Principalities nor Powers nor Things present nor Things to come nor Height nor Depth nor any other Creature shall be able to separate us from the Love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. This blessed Assurance of the Apostle is not rais'd from his extraordinary Privileges not from the apparition of Angels to him nor his rapture to Paradise nor special Revelations but from the Love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord that everlastingly embraces all his Children Briefly in that God has given his Son to die for us and his Spirit to live in us his Son to purchase and prepare Heaven for us his Spirit to prepare us for Heaven a dying Saint may with blessed Tranquillity commend his Soul into God's Hands I have more particularly considered the Fatherly Love of God what a strong Security it affords to his Children that he will never leave them in that no Point requires and deserves more Confirmation and weight of Argument to press it down into our distrustful Hearts 2. The Divine Truth affords a strong Security to the Children of God to commend their Souls to him at last Truth is an Attribute as essential and dear to God as any of his Perfections And in the Accomplishment of our Salvation he ordered all things becoming to his Wisdom that is for the illustration of all his principal Attributes and accordingly design'd the Glory of his Truth equally with the Honour of his Mercy Thus he declares to his chosen People Know therefore that the Lord thy God he is God the faithful God which keepeth Covenant and Mercy with them that love him and keep his Commandments The Attribute that is set next to the Deity as most sacred is the Faithful God and that further express'd keeping Covenant and Mercy for he delights in fulfilling his Promises as in the freest Acts of Mercy The Psalmist breaks forth with the affectionate Praises of these Attributes I will worship towards thy holy Temple and praise thy Name for thy loving Kindness and thy Truth for thou hast magnified thy Word above all thy Name His Word here immediately signifies his Promise that has its rise from his loving Kindness and its performance from his Truth This he magnifies both with respect to the matter of his Promises that are exceeding great and precious and the fulfilling them above all that we can ask or think God cannot repent or lie his Counsels are unretractable from the Immutability of his Nature his Promises are infallible from his Fidelity they are as unchangeable as the Sun and Stars in their appointed Courses nay more stable than the Centre for Heaven and Earth shall pass away but not a tittle of his Promises and our Hopes be unfulfilled If the Frame of Nature were dissolved it would be no loss to God who is glorious and blessed in his own Perfections but if his Promises fail the Honour of his Truth would be impair'd and blemish'd The Psalmist saith Those that know thy Name will trust in thee Those who know the Creature its Levity Mutability and Mortality will be discourag'd from trusting in it but those who know the eternal Constancy of God in his Nature and Promises will securely rely upon him Now the Promises the Declarations of God's Love without which we cannot have any solid and sustaining Hope in our Death assure us of God's receiving the separate Spirits of his Children There was a constant clearness tho not in that degree of Light as since the appearance of Christ of the Happiness of the departed Saints Dying Jacob breaks forth with a lively Hope O Lord I have waited for thy Salvation Job says Tho he kill me yet will I trust in him that is for his Almighty Mercy in the next State The Psalmist expresses his Confidence Thou wilt guide me by thy Counsel and receive me into thy Glory After the safe conducting him through a World of Troubles and Temptations he would bring him to Heaven a Place of equal Purity and Glory David when he was in pressing Peril addresses to God Into thy Hands I commend my Spirit to be preserved as a precious Depositum thou hast redeemed me O Lord God of Truth His Assurance is built on God's Right and Title to him Thou hast redeemed me and his everlasting Fidelity The Apostle speaks with full assurance We know that if our earthly House of this Tabernacle be dissolved we have a Building of God eternal in the Heavens And we are confident I say rather to be absent from the Body and present with the Lord. St. Peter encourages Christians when surrounded with Death to commit their Souls to him Wherefore let them that suffer according to the Will of God commit the keeping of their Souls to him in wel-doing as unto a faithful Creator He encourageth them to encounter Death in its most formidable Pomp by considering their Souls shall be safe for ever upon the account of God's Right and Interest in them and his Fidelity he has an original Right in them by the first Creation as they are intellectual immortal Spirits in their Nature but a nearer and more especial Right by a new and nobler Creation as they are renewed Spirits made like to him in his Holiness the most Divine Perfection The Relation of Creator implies his omnipotent Love and the Attribute of Faithful his eternal Love declar'd in his Promises There can never be the least cause to charge him with Insincerity or Inconstancy The Favour of God is round about the Righteous as a Shield And his Faithfulness is round about him that he is always ready to perform his Promise to them They may
but of this Life wherein we use them Can the Creature make us happy when their Emptiness and Anguish annex'd to it makes our Lives miserable The World cannot satisfy our narrow Senses The Eye is not satisfied with seeing nor the Ear with hearing much less the infinite Desires of our supreme Faculties Those who are now inchanted with its Allurements within a little while will see through its false Colours As when one awakes all the pleasant Scenes of Fancy in his Dream vanish so when the Soul is awakened in the End of Life the World and the Lusts thereof pass away and the remembrance of them I shall add further What clearer Evidence can we have of the worth of the Soul than from God's Esteem the Creator of it Now when God foresaw the Revolture of our first Parent that brought him under a double Death in one Sentence temporal and eternal and that all Mankind was desperately lost in him then his compassionate Counsels were concerning his Recovery His Love and Wisdom accorded to contrive the Means to accomplish our Redemption by the Death of his incarnate Son We are not redeemed with Silver and Gold but with the precious Blood of Christ as a Lamb without spot and blemish Of what value is a Soul in God's account that he bought with his own Son's Blood the most sacred Treasure of Heaven We may say for the Honour of our Redeemer and our own that which the Angels cannot we were so valued by God himself that his Son became Man and died on the Cross for the Salvation of our Souls I shall only mention another Evidence and Effect of God's valuation of our Souls that is the eternal Weight of Glory which exceeds all the Thoughts of our Minds and Desires of our Hearts What are all the Kingdoms and Pleasures of the World in comparison of that Blessedness God has prepar'd for those who love him Now the Soul that is inestimably precious and should be most dear to us is secured from Danger when received by God's Hands 2. The Soul is our immortal Part. The Body is compounded of jarring Principles frail and mortal A Casualty or Sickness dissolves the vital Union and it falls to the Dust. But the Soul is a Spirit by Nature and immortal by its inherent Property It s spiritual Operations perform'd without the ministry of the Senses the Eye of the Mind contemplates its Objects when the Eyes of the Body are clos'd demonstrate its spiritual Nature for the Being is the Root of its working and consequently that it exists independently upon the Body But of this we have the clearest assurance in the Scripture This is another demonstration that present Things cannot make us happy for they forsake us the first step we take into the next World and then the Soul enters into Happiness or Misery equally eternal The Immortality of the Soul and the Immutability of its State are inseparable then for the present Life is the time of our Work the next is of Recompences according to our Works If we die in the Lord the Consequence is infallible we shall live with him for ever If we die in our Sins we shall not be received by his merciful Hands but fall into his bottomless Displeasure And of what concernment is it to have our Souls with God in that infinite and incomprehensible Duration All the Measures of Time Days and Weeks Months and Years and Ages are swallow'd up in that invisible Depth as the Rivers that pour into the Sea are swallowed up without any overflowing of its Waters The Dove that Noah let out of the Ark as a Spy to discover whether the Deluge was abated found not a Place to rest on but after many Circuits in the Air it returned to the Ark. If our Thoughts take wing and multiply Millions of Millions of Ages we cannot rest in any Computation for there remains after all an entire innumerable Eternity Secondly I will consider more particularly what is contained in this blessed Privilege The reception of the Soul into God's Hands implies three things 1. Entire Safety 2. Heavenly Felicity 3. 'T is a certain Pledg of the reviving of the Body and its reunion with the Soul in the State of Glory 1. Entire Safety After Death the separate Soul of a true Believer immediately passes through the airy and Ethereal Regions to the highest Heaven the Temple of God the native Seat and Element of blessed Spirits The Air is possess'd by Satan with his Confederate Army who are Rebels to God and Enemies to the Souls of Men he is stiled the Prince of the Power of the Air He often raises Storms and Tempests discharges Thunder and Lightning the woful Effects of which are felt in the lower World The Numbers the Strength and the Malice of the evil Angels to the Souls of Men render them very terrible We may conjecture at their Number from what is related in the Gospel that a Legion possess'd one Man They are superiour Spirits to Man and tho stripp'd of their moral Excellencies Holiness Goodness and Truth yet retain their natural Power at least in great degrees Their Malice is unquenchable 'T is said of the Devil He goes about like a roaring Lion seeking whom he may devour All the Joy those malignant Spirits are capable of is the involving the Souls of Men in their desperate Calamity And tho they know their opposing God will increase their Guilt and Torment yet their Diligence is equal to their Malice to seduce pervert and ruin Souls for ever Now when the Saints die all the Powers of Darkness would if possible hinder the ascension of their Souls to God What David complains of his cruel Enemies is applicable in this case Their Souls are among Lions and if destitute of divine Preservation the Danger would be the same as if a little Flock of Lambs were to encounter with a great number of fierce Lions or fiery Dragons Anger sets an edg upon Power and makes a Combatant but of equal Strength to overcome How dangerous then would the Condition be of naked Souls oppos'd by over-matching Enemies armed with Rage against them How easily would they hurry them to the Abyss the Den of Dragons the Prison where lost Souls are secur'd to the Day of Judgment But all the Potentates of Hell are infinitely inferiour to God they are restrain'd and tortur'd by the Chains of his powerful Justice a Legion of them could not enter into the Swine without his permission much less can they touch the Apple of his Eye That black Prince with all his infernal Host cannot intercept one naked Soul from arriving at the Kingdom of Glory Our Saviour assures us None is able to pluck them out of his Father's Hands The Lord Christ our Head and Leader having vanquish'd in his last Battel on the Cross Principalities and Powers made his triumphant Ascension to Glory Thus his Members having overcome their spiritual Enemies shall by the
were subservient to this blessed End It was his Meat and Drink the Life and Joy of his Life to doe good to Souls His Industry was almost incredible in his Studies he had a sensitive nature desirous of ease as others have and saint Faculties yet such was the continual Application of himself to his great Work as if the Labour of one Day had supplyed strength for another and the willingness of the Spirit had supported the Weakness of the Flesh. In his usual Conversation his serious frequent and delightfull Discourse was of Divine things to inflame his Friends with the Love of Heaven He received with tender Compassion and condescending Kindness the meanest that came to him for Councel and Consolation He gave in one year a hundred Pounds to buy Bibles for the poor He has in his Will dispos'd of all that remains of his Estate after the Legacies to his Kindred for the benefit of the Souls and Bodies of the Poor He continued to preach so long notwithstanding his wasted languishing Body that the last time he almost died in the Pulpit It would have been his joy to have been transfigured in the Mount Not long after his last Sermon he felt the Approaches of Death and was confin'd to his sick Bed Death reveals the Secrets of the Heart then words are spoken with most feeling and least Affectation This excellent Saint was the same in his Life and Death his last Hours were spent in preparing others and himself to appear before God He said to his Friends that visited him You come hither to learn to dye I am not the onely Person that must go this way I can assure you that your whole Life be it never so long is little enough to prepare for Death Have a care of this vain deceitful World and the Lusts of the Flesh be sure you choose God for your portion Heaven for your home God's Glory for your end His word for your rule and then you need never fear but we shall meet with Comfort Never was a Sinner more humble and debasing himself never was a sincere Believer more calm and comfortable He acknowledged himself to be the vilest Dunghilworm 't was his usual Expression that ever went to Heaven He admir'd the Divine Condescension to us often saying Lord what is Man what am I vile Worm to the great God Many times he prayed God be merciful to me a Sinner and blessed God that that was left upon record in the Gospel as an effectual Prayer He said God may justly condemn me for the best Duty I ever did and all my hopes are from the free Mercy of God in Christ which he often prayed for After a slumber he wak'd and said I shall rest from my Labour a Minister then present said And your Works follow you to whom he replyed No Works I will leave out Works if God will grant me the other When a Friend was comforting him with the remembrance of the good many had received by his preaching and Writings he said I was but a Pen in God's hand and what praise is due to a Pen. His resign'd Submission to the Will of God in his sharp Sickness was eminent When extremity of pain constrain'd him earnestly to pray to God for his release by Death he would check himself It is not fit for me to prescribe and said when thou wilt what thou wilt how thou wilt Being in great Anguish he said O how unsearchable are his ways and his paths past finding out the reaches of his Providence we cannot fathom and to his Friends Do not think the worse of Religion for what you see me suffer Being often ask'd by his Friends how it was with his inward Man he replied I bless God I have a well-grounded Assurance of my Eternal Happiness and great Peace and Comfort within but it was his trouble he could not triumphantly express it by reason of his extreme pains He said Flesh must perish and we must feel the perishing of it and that though his Judgment submitted yet sense would still make him groan Being asked by a Person of Quality whether he had not great Joy from his believing Apprehensions of the invisible State he replied What else think you Christianity serves for He said The Consideration of the Deity in his Glory and Greatness was too high for our Thoughts but the Consideration of the Son of God in our Nature and of the Saints in Heaven whom he knew and loved did much sweeten and familiarize Heaven to him The description of Heaven in the 12. to the Heb. and the 22. was most comfortable to him That he was going to the innumerable company of Angels and to the general Assembly and Church of the first-born whose Names are written in Heaven and to God the Judge of all and to the spirits of just men made perfect And to Jesus the Mediator of the new Covenant and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than the blood of Abel That Scripture he said deserved a thousand thousand thoughts He said O how comfortable is that promise Eye has not seen nor Ear heard neither hath it entred into the heart of Man to conceive the things God hath laid up for those who love him At another time he said That he found great comfort and sweetness in repeating the words of the Lord's Prayer and was sorry that some good people were prejudiced against the use of it for there were all necessary Petitions for Soul and Body contain'd in it At other times he gave excellent Counsel to young Ministers that visited him and earnestly prayed to God to bless their labours and make them very successfull in Converting many Souls to Christ And express'd great joy in the hopes that God would do a great deal of good by them and that they were of moderate peacefull Spirits He did often pray that God would be mercifull to this miserable distracted World and that he would preserve his Church and Interest in it He advis'd his Friends to beware of self-conceitedness as a Sin that was likely to ruine this Nation and said I have written a Book against it which I am afraid has done little good Being askd whether he had alter'd his mind in Controversial Points he said Those that please may know my mind in my Writings and what he had done was not for his own Reputation but the Glory of God I went to him with a very worthy Friend Mr. Mather of New-England the day before he died and speaking some comforting Words to him he replyed I have pain there is no arguing against sense but I have peace I have peace I told him you are now approaching to your long-desir'd home he answer'd I believe I believe He said to Mr. Mather I bless God that you have accomplisht your business the Lord prolong your Life He exprest a great willingness to dye and during his Sickness when the Question was ask'd how he did his reply was almost well
A Funeral-Sermon FOR THE Reverend Holy and Excellent DIVINE Mr. Richard Baxter Who deceased Decemb. 8. 1691. WITH An Account of His LIFE By WILLIAM BATES D. D. LONDON Printed for Brab Aylmer at the Three Pigeons against the Royal Exchange in Cornhill 1692. To the Right Worshipfull and his much Honoured Friend Sr Henry Ashurst Baronet SIR YOur Noble and Constant Kindness to Mr. Baxter Living and your Honourable Respect to him Dead have induced me to inscribe the following Memorial of him to your Name He was most worthy of your highest Esteem and Love for the first Impressions of Heaven upon your Soul were in Reading his unvalued Book of the Saints Everlasting Rest. This kindled a mutual Affection in your Breasts his Love was Directing Counselling and Exciting you to secure your Future Happiness your Love was Observant Gratefull and Beneficent to him The Sincerity and Generosity of your Friendship was very evident in your appearing and standing by him when he was so roughly and unrighteously handled by one who was the dishonour of this Ages Law whose Deportment in a high place of Judicature was so contrary to Wisdom Humanity and Justice that there need no foul words to make his Name odious Of this and your other Favours Mr. Baxter retain'd a dear and lasting Sense and in his dying hours declared that you had been the best friend he ever had He has finished his Course and received his Crown His Name will shine longer than his Enemies shall bark I cannot omit the mentioning that Mr. Boyle and Mr. Baxter those incomparable Persons in their several Studies and dear Friends died within a short space of one another Mr. Boyle was engaged in the Contemplation of the Design and Architecture of the visible World and made rare discoveries in the system of Nature not for Curiosity and barren Speculation but to admire and adore the Perfections of the Deity in the Variety Order Beauty and marvellous Artifice of the Creatures that compose this great Universe Mr. Baxter was conversant in the invisible World his Mind was constantly applied to understand the harmonious Agreement of the Divine Attributes in the Oeconomy of our Salvation and to restore Men to the Favour and Image of God They are now admitted into the inlightned and purified Society above where the immense Volumes of the Divine Wisdom are laid open and by one glance of an eye they discover more perfectly the Causes Effects and Concatenation of all things in Heaven and Earth than the most diligent Inquirers can do here in a thousand years Study though they had the Sagacity of Solomon By the Light of Glory they see the face of God and are satisfied with his likeness for ever 'T is a high honour to you that Mr. Boyle and Mr. Baxter should by their Last Will nominate you amongst their Executors It was the Saying of a Wise Roman Malo divi Augusti judicium quam beneficium I had rather have the Esteem of the Emperour Augustus than his Gifts for he was an understanding Prince and his Esteem was very Honourable to a Person That two who so excell'd in Wisdom and Goodness should commit to your Trust the disposal of their Estates for the Uses of Piety and Charity is a more noble Testimony of their Esteem of your Prudence and inviolable Integrity than if they had bequeathed to you rich Legacies It is a satisfaction to me that I have complied with Mr. Baxter's desire in Preaching his Funeral-Sermon and with yours in Publishing it I shall unfeignedly recommend Your self your excellent Lady and vertuous Children to the Divine Mercies and remain with great Respect SIR Your humble and faithfull Servant William Bates A SERMON On the DEATH of Mr. Richard Baxter Luke 23.46 And when Jesus had cried with a loud Voice he said Father into thy Hands I commend my Spirit THE Words are the Prayer of our Blessed Saviour in the Extremity of his Passion His unrighteous and implacable Enemies had nail'd his Body to the Cross but they had no power over his Spirit that was ready to take its flight to the Sanctuary of Life and Immortality This dying Prayer of Christ is a Pattern for sincere Christians He has invested them with the Relation of Children of God and authorises them by his Example to commend their departing Spirits to his powerful Love The Observation I shall unfold and apply is this 'T is the Priviledg of dying Saints to commend their Spirits into the Hands of their Heavenly Father In discoursing of this I shall I. Consider the Foundation of this Priviledg II. Shew what a blessed Priviledg this is III. Apply it I. The Foundation of this Priviledg is to be consider'd This is built upon two things 1. The Relation of God to the Saints 2. His Perfections joined with that Relation 1. The Relation of God to the Saints The Title of Father is upon several Accounts attributed to God 1. He is a Father by Creation O Lord thou art our Father we are the Clay thou art the Potter we are the Work of thine Hands He formed Man's Body into a Majestick Figure becoming his original State being Lord of the lower World But in a peculiar manner he is stiled the Father of Spirits they have a near Alliance and Resemblance of the Father of Lights in their intellectual Powers and their immortal Nature From hence it is the Angels are called the Sons of God They are the eldest Off-spring of his Power Adam has the Title of the Son of God And since the Fall Men are called God's Offspring There is an indelible Character of Dignity engraven in the reasonable Nature by the Hand of God But since Man turn'd Rebel to his Creator and Father this endearing obliging Relation aggravates his Rebellion but gives him no Interest in the Paternal Love of God of which he has made a deadly Forfeiture 'T is threatned against ignorant perverse Sinners He that made them will not save them 2. Upon the account of external Calling and Profession there is an intercurrent Relation of Father and Sons between God and his People Thus the Posterity of Seth are called the Sons of God and the entire Nation of the Jews are so stiled When Israel was young I called my Son out of Egypt And all that have received Baptism the Seal of the holy Covenant and profess Christianity in this general Sense may be called the Children of God But 't is not the outward Dedication that entitles Men to a saving Interest in God unless they live according to that Dedication There are baptized Infidels as well as unbaptized How many every day fall as deep as Hell whose hopes were high on the account of their external Christianity 3. God is our Father upon a more excellent Account by Renovation and Adoption The natural Man is what St. Paul saith of the voluptuous Widow dead while he lives There is not only a cessation of spiritual Acts but an utter
safely trust the worth of their Souls and the weight of Eternity with him who has said he will never leave them nor forsake them Besides the Promise of a Reward to the obedient Children of God is secur'd not only by his Fidelity but the declar'd Equity of his Proceedings in his final Judgment 'T is a Regality invested in the Crown of Heaven to dispense Rewards Whoever comes to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him His Being and rewarding Bounty are the Foundations of Religion 'T is true such is the Distance between God and the Creature and the eternal Obligations of it to God that it can challenge nothing from God as due to its Merit Justice unqualified with Bounty and Clemency owes nothing to the most excellent Obedience of the Creature tho innocent But since the Fall our best Works are defective and defiled and want Pardon and our heaviest Sufferings are but light in the Ballance against the exceeding Weight of Glory But the Apostle tells the Thessalonians It is a righteous thing with God to recompense Tribulation to them who trouble you and to you who are troubled rest with us Consider them in the Comparison 'T is becoming his governing Justice to punish the unrighteous Persecutors and reward his faithful Servants who suffer for his Glory Now the present Life is the Day for our Work as our Saviour saith I must do the Work of him that sent me while 't is called to Day And at Death the Spirit returns to God that gave it in order to Judgment either fatal or favourable according to the tenor of Mens good Works and the desert of their bad The Promise is to them who by patient continuance in wel-doing seek for Glory and Honour and Immortality they shall obtain eternal Life Our Saviour encourages his suffering Servants Be faithful to the Death and I will give you the Crown of Life The compleat Reward is reserved to the great Day of universal Recompences when the Sons of God by Regeneration shall be the Sons of a glorious Resurrection But the righteous Judg will give a present Reward at the end of the Day to all that with unfainting Perseverance have perform'd his Work Our Saviour tells us that all who wrought in the Vineyard receiv'd their Rewards in the last Hour of the Day The Parallel is instructive that when the Night of Death comes the Reward will be dispens'd There is a Law recorded concerning the paying Wages to those who were hir'd that it should be in the end of the Day that it should not be detain'd all Night with thee until the Morning The Allusion is very congruous that God will fulfil his own Law to his Sons that serve him The Reward shall not abide with him the long dark Interval the Night wherein their Bodies sleep in the Grave till the Morning of the Resurrection Our Saviour promised the dying Penitent To day shalt thou be with me in Paradise The End of our Faith is immediately attended with the Salvation of the Soul The Labour of Faith being finish'd is productive of the beatifick Vision in the State of Light and Glory The Sum is That the Children of God who have by constant Conversation sincerely endeavoured to please and glorify him may with an entire Resignation commit their Souls to his Hands as if an Angel were sent from Heaven to them in their dying Agonies with the comfortable Message that they should presently be with God 3. The Divine Power in conjunction with Love and Truth is the Foundation of our secure dependance upon God in our last Hours This Consideration is absolutely necessary for our sure Trust For Love without Power is ineffectual and Power without Love of no comfortable Advantage to us The Apostle gives this reason of his chearful and couragious Sufferings in the Service of God For I know in whom I have believed and am perswaded he is able to keep what I have committed to him till that Day His Faith respected the Promises of God concerning his Salvation which are infinitely sure the Divine Power being alsufficient to fulfil them The precious Depositum that is committed to his dear Care he can and will preserve inviolate The Father of sincere Believers is the Lord of Heaven and Earth who by his Word without the least strain of his Power made the World and preserves it from falling into Confusion 'T is the Essence of Faith to assure us of God's Almighty Mercy to all that have the true Characters of his Children that are qualified for his Salvation Our Redeemer joins the two Relations of our Father and our God the gracious and the glorious Relation are inseparable Now the Love of our heavenly Father engages the Power of our God that we shall want nothing to secure our Happiness that is within the object of Omnipotence I shall insist no further upon the Consideration of the Divine Power because it will return under some of the following Heads of Discourse II. The Blessedness of this Privilege is to be unfolded This will appear by considering First What is the Depositum the Thing that is intrusted in God's Hands Secondly What is implied in his receiving of it In answer to the first 'T is the Soul the more excellent and immortal Part of Man that is commended to God's keeping 1. ' T is our more excellent Part in its Nature and Capacity Man is a compounded Creature of a Body and a Soul the Body in its Original and Resolution is Earth the Soul is of a divine Descent a spiritual Substance and in the Nobility and Perfections of its Nature but a little lower than the Angels 't is the vile Body but the precious Soul In its Capacity it incomparably excels the Body for the Body lives moves in the low Region of the Senses that are common with the Worms of the Earth but the Soul in its Understanding and Desires is capable of Communion with the blessed God of Grace and Glory From hence it is that the whole World can't make one Man happy for the Ingredients of true and compleat Happiness are the Perfection and Satisfaction of the Soul The Apostle tells us The less is blessed of the greater Can the World bring Perfection to Man that is so incomparably short of his Imperfection Our Saviour assures us the Gain of the whole World cannot recompense the Loss of one Soul There is a vast Circuit in our Desires and all the Lines terminate in the Centre of Blessedness Can the World give sincere Satisfaction to them Solomon who was as rich and high as the World could make him has left an everlasting Testimony of the Vanity of transient Things from his experimental Observation and the Direction of the Holy Spirit So he begins and ends his Sermon Vanity of Vanities all is Vanity so vain and vexing that we shall not only be weary of them