of this world are so contriv'd as to yield us very little happiness If they go off quickly they signifie nothing and if they stay long we are sick of them After a full draught of any sensual pleasure we presently loath it and hate it as much after the enjoyment as we courted it and long'd for it in the expectation But the delights of the other world as they will give us full satisfaction so we shall never be weary of them Every repetition of them will be accompanied with a new pleasure and contentment In the felicities of Heaven these two things shall be reconcil'd which never met together in any sensual delight long and full enjoyment and yet a fresh and perpetual pleasure As in Gods presence there is fulness of joy so at his right hand there shall be pleasures for evermore 2. The happiness of the other life is not onely incomparably beyond any happiness of this world that it may be is no great commendation of it but it is very great in it self The happiness of Heaven is usually in Scripture describ'd to us by such pleasures as are manly and excellent chast and intellectual infinitely more pure and refin'd than those of sense and if the Scripture at any time descend to the metaphors of a feast and a banquet and a marriage it is plainly by way of accommodation to our weakness and condescention to our capacities But the chief ingredients of this happiness so far as the Scripture hath thought fit to reveal it to us are the perfection of our knowledge and the height of our love and the perpetual society and friendship of all the blessed inhabitants of those glorious mansions and the joyful concurrence of all these in chearful expressions of gratitude in the incessant praises and admiration of the fountain and author of all this happiness And what can be more delightful than to have our understandings entertain'd with a clear sight of the best and most perfect Being with the knowledge of all his works and of the wise designs of his providence here in the world than to live in the reviving presence of God and to be continually attending upon him whose favour is life and whose glory is much more above that of any of the Princes of this world than the greatest of them is above the poorest worm The Queen of Sheba thought Solomons Servants happy in having the opportunity by standing continually before him to hear his wisdom but in the other world it shall be a happiness to Solomon himself and to the wisest and greatest persons that ever were in this world to stand before this great King to admire his wisdom and to behold his glory Not that I imagine the happiness of Heaven to consist in a perpetual gazing upon God and in an idle contemplation of the glories of that place For as by that blessed sight we shall be infinitely transported so the Scripture tells us we shall be also transform'd into the image of the divine perfections we shall see God and we shall be like him and what greater happiness can there be than to be like the happiest and most perfect Being in the world Besides who can tell what employment God may have for us in the next life We need not doubt but that he who is happiness it self and hath promis'd to make us happy can easily find out such employments and delights for us in the other world as will be proper and suitable to that state But then besides the improvement of our knowledge there shall be the most delightful exercise of love When we come to heaven we shall enter into the society of the blessed Angels and of the spirits of just men made perfect that is freed from all those passions and infirmities which do now render the conversation even of the best men sometimes troublesome to one another We shall then meet with all those excellent Persons those brave Minds those innocent and charitable Souls whom we have seen and heard and read of in this world There we shall meet with many of our dear relations and intimate friends and perhaps with many of our enemies to whom we shall then be perfectly reconcil'd notwithstanding all the warm contests and peevish differences which we had with them in this world even about matters of Religion For Heaven is a state of perfect love and friendship there will be nothing but kindness and good nature there and all the prudent Arts of endearment and wise ways of rendring conversation mutually pleasant to one another And what greater happiness can be imagin'd than to converse freely with so many excellent persons without any thing of folly or disguise of jealousie or design upon one another For then there will be none of those vices and passions of covetousness and ambition of envy and hatred of wrath and peevishness which do now so much spoil the pleasure and disturb the quiet of mankind All quarrels and contentions schisms and divisions will then be effectually hinder'd not by force but by love not by compulsion but by that charity which never fails and all those controversies in Religion which are now so hotly agitated will then be finally determin'd not as we endeavour to end them now by Canons and Decrees but by a perfect knowledge and convincing light And when this blessed society is met together and thus united by love they shall all joyn in gratitude to their great Patrons and Benefactors to him that sits upon the Throne and to the lamb that was slain to God even our Father and to our Lord Jesus Christ who hath lov'd us and wash'd us from our sins in his own blood And they shall sing everlasting songs of praise to God for all his works of wonder for the effects of that infinite goodness and admirable wisdom and almighty power which are clearly seen in the creation and government of the world and of all the Creatures in it particularly for his favours to mankind for the benefit of their beings for the comfort of their lives and for all his mercifull providences towards them in this world But above all for the redemption of their souls by the death of his Son for the free forgiveness of their sins for the gracious assistance of his holy Spirit and for conducting them safely through all the snares and dangers the troubles and temptations of this world to the secure possession of that glory and happiness which then they shall be partakers of and are bound to praise God for to all eternity This this shall be the employment of the blessed spirits above and these are the chief ingredients of our happiness which the Spripture mentions And if there were no other as there may be ten thousand more for any thing I can tell yet generous and vertuous minds will easily understand how great a pleasure there is in the improvement of our knowledge and the exercise of love and in a gratefull and perpetual acknowledgement of
the first Post For the string is always ready upon their Bow to let fly this Arrow with an incredible swiftness through City and Country for fear the innocent man's justification should over-take it Fifthly Another Cause of evil-speaking is Impertinence and Curiosity an itch of talking and medling in the affairs of other Men which do nowise concern them Some persons love to mingle themselves in all business and are loth to seem ignorannt of so important a piece of News as the faults and â—â—â—ies of men or any bad thing that is talk'd of 〈◊〉 good Company And therefore they do with great care pick up ill Stories as good matter of discourse in the next Company that is worthy of them And this perhaps not out of any great malice but for want of something better to talk of and because their Parts lie chiefly that way Lastly Men do this many times out of wantonness and for diversion So little do light and vain men consider that a man's Reputation is too great and tender a Concernment to be jested withal and that a slanderous Tongue bites like a Serpent and wounds like a Sword For what can be more barbarous next to sporting with a man's Life than to play with his Honour and Reputation which to some men is dearer to them than their Lives It is a cruel pleasure which some men take in worrying the Reputation of others much better than themselves and this only to divert themselves and the Company Solomon compares this sort of men to distracted persons As a mad man saith he who casteth fire-brands arrows and death so is the man that deceiveth his neighbour the LXX render it So is the man that defameth his neighbour and saith Am I not in sport Such and so bad are the Causes of this Vice I proceed to consider in the Second place the ordinary but very pernicious Consequences and Effects of it both to Others and to our Selves First To Others the Parties I mean that are slandered To them it is certainly a great injury and commonly a high Provocation but always matter of no small grief and trouble to them It is certainly a great injury and if the evil which we say of them be not true it is an injury beyond imagination and beyond all possible reparation And though we should do our utmost endeavour afterwards towards their Vindication yet that makes but very little amends because the Vindication seldom reacheth so far as the Reproach and because commonly men are neither so forward to spread the Vindication nor is it so easily received after ill impressions are once made The solicitous Vindication of a man's self is at the best but an after-game and for the most part a man had better sit still than to run the hazard of making the matter worse by playing it I will add one thing more That it is an Injury that descends to a man's Children and Posterity because the good or ill Name of the Father is derived down to them and many times the best thing he hath to leave them is the Reputation of his unblemish'd Virtue and Worth And do we make no Conscience to rob his innocent Children of the best part of this small Patrimony and of all the kindness that would have been done them for their Father's sake if his Reputation had not been so undeservedly stain'd Is it no Crime by the breath of our mouth at once to blast a man's Reputation and to ruin his Children perhaps to all Posterity Can we make a jest of so serious a matter Of an Injury so very hard to be repented of as it ought because in such a Case no Repentance will be acceptable without Restitution if it be in our power And perhaps it will undo us in this World to make it and if we do it not will be our Ruin in the other I will put the Case at the best that the matter of the Slander is true yet no man's Reputation is considerably stained tho never so deservedly without great harm and damage to him And it is great odds but the matter by passing through several hands is aggravated beyond truth every one out of his bounty being apt to add something to it But besides the Injury it is commonly a very high Provocation And the consequence of that may be as bad as we can imagine and may end in dangerous and desperate Quarrels This reason the wise Son of Sirach gives why we should defame no man Whether it be says he to a friend or to a foe talk not of other mens lives For he hath heard and observed thee Ecclus. 19. 8 9. that is one way or other it will probably come to his knowledge and when the time cometh he will shew his hatred that is he will take the first opportunity to revenge it At the best it is always matter of Grief to the person that is defam'd And Christianity which is the best-natur'd Institution in the World forbids us the doing of those things whereby we may grieve one another A man's good name is a tender thing and a wound there sinks deep into the spirit even of a wise and good man And the more innocent any man is in this kind the more sensible is he of this hard usage because he never treats others so nor is he conscious to himself that he hath deserved it Secondly The Consequences of this Vice are as bad or worse to our selves Whoever is wont to speak evil of others gives a bad character of himself even to those whom he desires to please who if they be wise enough will conclude that he speaks of them to others as he does of others to them And were it not for that fond partiality which men have for themselves no man could be so blind as not to see this And it is very well worthy of our consideration which our Saviour says in this very Case That with what measure we meet to others it shall be measured to us again Matth. 7. and that many times heaped up and running over For there is hardly any thing wherein Mankind do use more strict justice and equality than in rendering evil for evil and railing for railing Nay Revenge often goes further than Words A reproachful and slanderous Speech hath cost many a man a Duel and in that the loss of his own Life or the Murther of another perhaps with the loss of his own Soul And I have often wonder'd that among Christians this matter is no more laid to heart And tho neither of these great mischiefs should happen to us yet this may be inconvenient enough many other ways For no man knows in the chance of things and the mutability of humane affairs whose kindness and good-will he may come to stand in need of before he dies So that did a man only consult his own safety and quiet he ought to refrain from evil-speaking What man is he saith the Psalmist that desireth life and loveth many
our eternal happiness now lies at the stake And how should it quicken our endeavours to have such a reward set before us to have Crowns and Scepters in our eyes would we but often represent to our minds the glorious things of another world what fervours should we feel in our hearts we should be all life and spirit and wing and should do Gods will almost with the same readiness and delight as the Angels do who continually behold the face of their Father The consideration of heaven and the firm perswasion of our future happiness should actuate all the powers of our souls and be continually inspiring us with new vigour in the ways of holiness and vertue How should this thought swell our resolutions and confirm our purposes of obedience that if we have our fruit unto holiness our end will be everlasting life 3. To mitigate and lighten the evils and afflictions of this life It is no great matter how rough the way be provided we be sure that it leads to happiness The incomparably greater good of the next life will to a wise and considerate man weigh down all the evils of this And the Scripture tells us that there is no comparison between them The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us Rom. 8. 18. The evils of this life afflict men more or less according as the soul is fortified with considerations proper to support us under them When we consider that we have but a little while to be here that we are upon our journey travelling towards our heavenly Countrey where we shall meet with all the delights we can desire it ought not to trouble us much to endure storms and foul ways and to want many of those accommodations we might expect at home This is the common fate of Travellers and we must take things as we find them and not look to have every thing just to our mind These difficulties and inconveniences will shortly be over and after a few days will be quite forgotten and be to us as if they had never been And when we are safely landed in our own Country with what pleasure shall we look back upon those rough and boisterous Seas which we have escap'd The more troubles we have past through the kinder usage we shall find when we come to our Fathers house So the Apostle tells us that our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory When we come to heaven our happiness shall then be as real as our miseries were here upon earth and far greater and more lasting And what great matter is it though we suffer a while in this world provided we escape the endless unsufferable torments of the next though we have not our good things in this life if infinitely greater be reserv'd for us and we shall receive them with interest in the other Several of the evils and calamities of this life would be unsufferable indeed if there were nothing better to be hoped for hereafter If this were true Christians would not onely be of all men but of all creatures the most miserable But our Religion hath abundantly assur'd us to the contrary And the assurance of this was that which made the primitive Christians to embrace sufferings with so much cheerfulness to glory in tribulation and to take joyfully the spoiling of their goods knowing that in heaven they had a better and more enduring substance The seven brethren in the History of the Maccabees upon this perswasion would not accept deliverance that they might obtain a better resurrection That storm of stones which was pour'd upon St. Stephen was no more to him than a common shower when he saw the heavens open'd and Jesus in whose cause he suffered standing on the right hand of God 4. To make us sincere in all our professions words and actions did men firmly believe the rewards of another world their Religion would not be onely in shew and pretence but in life and reality no man would put on a form of godliness that were destitute of the power of it we should do nothing for the opinion of others but all with regard to God and our own Consciences and be as curious of our thoughts and most retir'd actions as if we were in an open theatre and in the presence of the greatest assembly For in the next life men shall not be rewarded for what they seem'd to be but for what they really were in this world Therefore whatever we think or speak or do we should always remember that the day of revelation is coming when the secrets of all hearts shall be disclos'd when all disguises shall be laid aside and every ones mask shall be taken off and all our actions and designs shall be 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 fearful 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 terror 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 joyful 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