his Mind or in his Opinion Happy What hurt then I pray does Death do us in taking us out of a Condition in which no Man was ever satisfied or thought himself Happy But if by chance such a Man should be found that affects to be Singular to maintain Paradoxes and will say That his past Life has been altogether to his Mind That he should be very glad to live the same over again and that therefore Death must needs be very Evil because it cuts him off from so desirable a Good We must refute such a Man by shewing the Nature of these Enjoyments and what kind of Possession a Man can have of them And the Enjoyments that are peculiar to this Life for as for Intellectual Pleasures which arise either from the Contemplation of God's Works or the Study of the Arts and Sciences or the constant Practice of Vertue which is the greatest Pleasure a Rational Creature can have these Pleasures will be had in much greater Perfection in another Life I say the Enjoyments that are peculiar to this Life and from which we are cut off by Death are either of Worldly Honours Riches or Sensual Pleasures for so St. John reduces them to these Heads All that is in the Worlds saith he is the Lust of the Flesh the Lust of the Eye and the Pride of Life These things indeed are peculiar to this Life and Death will for ever take them from us after we have taken the greatest pains to compass them Now a Man must have a very mean and narrow Mind that can think That the Happiness of a Rational Creature can consist in the Enjoyment of any of these things The vilest Beast or most inconsiderable Infect were then capable of almost as much Happiness as the best or wisest Man But supposing a Man by long accustoming himself to Sensuality hath brought himself to such low and Brutish Thoughts by drinking deep of such entoxicating Cups of sensual Pleasure is become with Vlysses's Companions little other than a Swine yet if he hath the least Spark of Reasoning left in him if he can see but the length of one Consequence he cannot but see that these Pleasures how Satisfactory soever they are to him are not durable that they must be short at the best and that a thousand Accidents may snatch them from him every Moment Now the more a Man values and is in love with these Enjoyments the more this Thought must vex and torment him That he must part with them and he knows not how soon To a Man that is indifferent this is nothing But to him that has set his Affections on these things this is Gall and Wormwood it embitters and spoils all his Enjoyment For whatever the Epicureans may pretend A Death's Head is but ill Company at an Intemperate Feast And the great pains they take the unnatural force they put upon things to reconcile the thoughts of Death with their sensual Pleasures plainly shews that this does still trouble them it lyes at the bottom like a bitter dreg and spoils all their sweet Morsels and pleasant Draughts For when the witty Atheist says Let us eat drink and be Merry for to morrow we shall dye This is but a Copy of his Countenance this thought Galls him at the Heart at the same time that he pretends therewith to encourage his Mirth and he would say with much more Alacrity Let us fill our selves for to morrow shall be as this day and much more abundant This comes heartily from him The other is but a cold Pretence The great Uncertainty then of holding these things and the certain Knowledge that they must in a little while for ever part with them cannot but lessen if not utterly Marr the Enjoyment even with those that are most fond of them So that Death takes little even from the sensual Man but what the Fear of Death had almost depriv'd him of before For even in the midst of Laughter this Thought always made his Heart Sad That he must dye and leave all But now to a Man of a large and wise Mind these low Pleasures are of little or no value He looks far beyond them and is even quite weary with being so long clogg'd and darken'd in this Case of Flesh with being confin'd to this Earth to creep like a Worm upon it and to be kept continually to the same dull Round of things which he goes through almost in the same manner every day of his Life This is so Tiresome to the active searching Nature of our Spirit that it cannot endure it and therefore the Ancients had a Fable of a Man that might have been Immortal if he would but he was so sated with the same thing over and over again in Life that he chose rather to die that he might have the Satisfaction of seeing another Scene of things And the Noble Heaven-born Mind of him that hath not debas'd and plung'd it in the Mire of Sensuality must needs be desirous of making greater Discoveries than are to be had here below He must long to see and know those Glorious Orbs of which he now knows nothing or what is next to nothing and yet mightily admires at a distance to range through the mighty Space of the Universe and to have his Mind continually entertain'd and feasted with clear and certain Knowledge of the wonderful Operations of his Maker to have his Mind always more and more inform'd and enlighten'd with the most pleasing and satisfactory Knowledge of God his Glorious Attributes and wonderful Works and yet never to want new Matter of Information To a Man whose Mind is rais'd to these Noble Desires Death is so far from being an Evil that it is the most desirable Good It is like the opening of the Eyes to a Man that was Born Blind like the Unpinioning or Unshackling of a Prisoner and letting him out of a strait dark and foul Dungeon into the free and unrestrain'd Enjoyment of all that he can wish or desire So that neither to the Fool who dotes on these things nor yet to the wise Man who knows how to put a right Value upon every thing are the Enjoyments of this World any great Matter tho' they have them in their Possession or within their Power so that Death doth not much hurt them in taking them away But what then are these Enjoyments to those we term Unhappy in the World who certainly make no small Part of it such as are the Blind the Lame the Maimed the Diseased the Poor and Needy or those that meet with great Crosses or Disappointments and are not able to bear them or such as have always their Desires running far before their Fortunes such as are ever displeas'd and dissatisfied and out of Humour with their Condition whatever it be These Men taste but little of the Enjoyment of the World or at least have but little Relish of them and Death can do such Men little Hurt by taking them away
from them For to such many times may be apply'd the Words we read in the Third of Job Wherefore is Light given to him that is in Misery and Life to the bitter in Soul which long for Death but it comes not and dig for it more than for hid Treasures To such Persons then Death is rather a Relief than a Prejudice And is it not so indeed to all Men For there is no Man living but has more pain and Travel than he has Pleasure in this World For all Mankind fell under that Curse That in the Sweat of their Brows they should eat their Bread And that this Earth should bring forth Briers and Thorns to them instead of pleasant Fruit. No Man is exempt from this Not the Rich and Noble any more than the Poor and despised Nay Great Men have more Solicitude and must take more Care and Pains to Maintain themselves with Honour and Safety in the Station wherein God hath plac'd them and to answer those Ends which both God and Man expect from them than the Labouring Man doth to get his Bread In a word No Man whatsoever can do what is necessary for him and what is his Duty to do and without the doing of which he can have neither Credit or Comfort in his Life but it will cost him the Sweat of his Brows much Care and Pains and every Man's Business will yield him the Thorns and Briers of Perplexity So that nothing can be truer than the words we read in the Fifth of Job That Man is born to Labour and Trouble as naturally as the Sparks fly upward Considering therefore the true State and Condition of Man in this World Death in it self is so far from being an Evil that it is an Ease a Relief a Refreshment It is like a Soft Bed after a Hard Day 's Labour like a safe and quiet Harbour after a Stormy and turbulent Voyage It lays us gently down in our Mother's Soft Lap to Peace and Rest out of the Reach of all the Malice of our Enemies who have no more that they can do to us out of the Power of any more Misfortunes O Happy Death How desirable wert thou How far from being Terrible if there were nothing to be fear'd afterwards But after Death there is an account to be given of our Lives God will have an account from his Creatures of the keeping or the breaking of his Laws And it is most fit he should His Wisdom Justice and Goodness might all be call'd in question if he did not reward every Man according to his Works in another Life Since this cannot be conveniently done here without destroying the present Frame of things where the Goats cannot be separated from the Sheep nor the Tares from the Wheat This day of Reckoning every Man's Conscience bids him expect And this I am perswaded tho' it be not sometimes perceiv'd is Death's most bitter Sting the true Cause of its being so very Terrible to Men. If we go out of this World without repenting of our Sins the Wrath of God remains to be our Portion and the Effects of that are truly Fearful which is the Second Point Therefore saith our Saviour But I will forewarn you whom you shall fear Fear him which after he hath killed hath power to cast into Hell Yea I say unto you Fear him He that was infinitely Wise that knew all things and knew what would come to pass he forewarns us and he that was mightily concern'd for our Salvation he beseecheth us as his Friends and likewise enjoyns us with all his Authority as our Master to fear God There must then be some high Reason for this Fear and so there is For the Danger is great and unexpressible that he would have us be afraid of and by our Fear fly from and escape If you fear a Temporal Death God's Wrath can and will kill and take away the Natural Life but this is little as I have shewn you it is nothing in comparison of the other Effect of God's Wrath After he hath killed he will cast into Hell This is that which should fill us with Terror as Job says Job 31.23 Destruction from God that is this Mighty Destruction was a Terror to me And that kept him from Sin A Temporal Death cuts us off from the few empty uncertain and at the best but short Enjoyments of this World but Eternal Death that is Damnation cuts us off from those unexpressible Joys which would fill our Souls and would last to all Eternity and more than that condemns us to Regions of Darkness and Torments for ever This is a most Dreadful Condition The Scripture sets it forth by things that are most Terrible to us such as are Raging Fire Extream Darkness Perpetual Gnawing and the like But what words can express Nay what Heart can conceive what Dreadful Misery an Infinite God is able to bring upon his Enemies such as have contemn'd both his Justice and his Mercy that have frustrated scorn'd and derided all that he could do for their Salvation Hear how the Wise Man sets this forth in the first of the Proverbs beginning at the 24. Verse where he brings in the Wisdom of God thus speaking Because I have called and ye refused I have stretched out my hand and no Man regarded But ye have set at naught all my Counsel and would none of my Reproof I also will laugh at your Calamity I will mock when your fear cometh When your fear cometh as Desolation and your Destruction cometh as a Whirlwind when Distress and Anguish cometh upon you Here is a Danger worthy our Thoughts our highest Concern our greatest Fear for this is the last Degree of Misery into which Man can fall and hath not that Relief which all Temporal Miseries have when they come to Extremity that then they are soon over No this will last and increase to all Eternity The sad Remembrance of what we have endur'd and the Dreadful Prospect of what we are still to endure and that without Remedy shall unspeakably increase the Torment What wou'd not a Man do to escape this What can tempt us to run the Dreadful Hazard of it What is there in Sin thus to prevail with us Alas We are presently weary of sinful Enjoyments our selves Why should we provoke the fearful Wrath of God for them Why should we sell our Souls part with all the Joys of Heaven endure an Eternity of such Dreadful Torments as are in Hell for such empty vain momentary Pleasures such meer Dreams and Shadows of Delight such mixture of Pain with Pleasure Do not they deserve Hell whom Hell it self cannot wean from such Folly and Madness Let us be asham'd that we are so Stupid so insensible both of our Interest and Danger Would you not think him Mad that should follow a Butter-fly upon the Brink of a Precipice Let us open our Eyes and see our Danger Let the Terrors of God be upon us Let them make us quick
A SERMON Preach'd before the QUEEN AT WHITE-HALL August 23. 1691. BY Jonathan Blagrave Sub-Almoner and Chaplain in Ordinary to Their Majesties Published by Her Majesties Command LONDON Printed by G. C. for John Southby at the Harrow in Cornhil and T. Jones at the White Horse without Temple-Bar 1691. Luke 12.4 5. And I say unto you my Friends Be not afraid of them that kill the Body and after that have no more that they can do But I will forewarn you whom you shall fear Fear him which after he hath killed hath Power to cast into Hell Yea I say unto you fear him MOST of that Fear and Terror that Men undergo in this World is occasion'd by false Opinions which they form to themselves of the Good or Evil of those Circumstances that are incident to the Humane State And that it is Opinion only and no real Good or Evil in such Circumstances that gives Men so much Disturbance and Disquiet is evident from this that in the very same Circumstance wherein one Man thinks himself Miserable another would account himself happy And again in the same Condition wherein one Man thinks himself Happy another would account himself Miserable The Evil then doth not lie so much in the Circumstance or Condition but chiefly in a Man's Fancy or Opinion And this is yet more apparent in that the greatest Misfortunes that befall Men tho' they are very grievous at first yet when they have been familiar to them and they are us'd to them they are nothing Tho' the Misfortune be the same and the Men the same yet it is nothing so Grievous because then they know all the Evil that is in it and at first they form'd an Idea of it which was much greater than the Truth For this is the Unhappy Case of Poor Man that must inform himself by the Mediation of Fleshly Organs by his Senses and Imagination that he continually Cheats himself with false Images of Things For as soon as he sees any thing that looks a little taking that seems at first sight to be Good and Pleasant and Desireable presently his Fancy falls to work and he forms an Image of it that is altogether lovely he adorns it with all that he can find Charming he never enquires into the Blemishes and Imperfections of it And having thus drawn a Representation much beyond Truth his Passions are inflam'd and he pursues this Shadow this work of his own Brain and thereby loses some real and substantial Good In like manner when a Man sees any thing that at first Blush has a frightful Aspect immediately without having Patience to examine the Truth he forms a dreadful Image of it in his Fancy he draws it so Gastly that he himself becomes immediately mightily afraid of it and his Fear helps to make it still more Terrible and so he becomes like a Man that Fancies he sees Shapes in the Dark in flying from which he falls into some real Danger tumbling into a River or down a Precipice And the Reason why the Generality of Men do thus Cheat themselves is because all Men would know every thing without being at the pains of Enquiry and it is much easier to fancy a thing to draw a Representation of it in our Imagination than it is to search out the Real Truth But in nothing do Men more impose upon themselves in this kind than in the Apprehensions of Death they draw the most ugly and frightful Images of it in their Fancy that is possible and so this becomes to them the King of Terrors And all their Lives long as the Apostle speaks they are in Bondage thro' fear of it Therefore the Politick Founders of States invented Superstitions to remove this Fear when there should be occasion to hazard Mens Lives for the Security of their Country or the like And it has been the continual Study of the Philosophers of all Sects to perswade Men out of this Fear to make the Thoughts of Death more easie and to keep them from spoiling all the Enjoyments of Life And yet indeed Death it self is no such Terrible thing if it be throughly examin'd and truly enquir'd into But there is something after Death that well deserves our Fear Therefore our Blessed Lord to remove from his Disciples this vulgar Mistake to deliver them from this common but vain Fear and to shew them where they had reason to Fear and how their Fear might do them good and prevent great and real Evils speaks thus to them in the words of my Text And I say unto you c. In pursuance of the Design of which words I shall shew First That Death it self is no such great Evil as it is commonly apprehended to be and therefore not mightily to be feared Secondly That the Wrath of God against Sinners and the Punishment following upon that Wrath are very great Evils and therefore much to be feared And In Conclusion I shall shew the Advantage of the true Fear of God in respect of the Happiness it brings to this Life as well as that to come How it frees and delivers us from all other Fears or Terrors whatsoever First Then Death in it self is no such great Evil that we ought so mightily to fear it And this will appear if we enquire into the Good it deprives us of For Death it self can be no way Evil but in respect of some good it takes from us which we might otherwise enjoy What is then the great Good The Happiness and Satisfaction that a Man can have in Life and from which we are cut off by Death And for the knowing of this we can have no better way than to ask of those who have had the greatest Experience of the Enjoyments of this Life What their Opinion is How they find it And surely Solomon is a very sufficient Evidence in this Case No Man could enjoy more in this Life than he did and he declares all that Enjoyment to be Vanity and Vexation of Spirit And if you desire to be satisfied by a Living Witness in this Matter and will ask any Man that you think has enjoy'd the greatest Portion of Health and Prosperity and long Life Whether he thinks he has always been a very Happy Man And whether if he was put to his Choice he would chuse to live the very same Life in all its Circumstances that he hath liv'd over again I say The very same in all its Circumstances because Men would desire to live again that they might order their Affairs better and have more Delight and Enjoyment than they have had And it is the Hope that Men have that still their Life will be more Pleasant and Comfortable than it has been that makes them endure their Lives They still feed themselves with Hope and that buoys them up and encourages them There is none will say He desires the same Life again that he has pass'd thro' There is none will tell you that his past Life has been to