therefore in the very words of our Office in the holy communion Let us lift up our hearts and give thanks to our Lord God For it is meet and right and our bounden duty that we should in all times and in all places give thanks unto thee O Lord holy father All mighty and everlasting God But cheifly are we bound to praise thee for the glorious Resurrection of thy son Jesus Christ our Lord who by his death hath destroied death and by his Rising again to life hath restored us to everlasting life Therefore with the Angels and Arch-angels and all the company of Heaven we laud and magnify thy glorious name evermore praising thee and saying Holy Holy Holy Lord God of Hosts Heaven and Earth are full of thy Glory Glory be to thee O Lord most high Amen FINES COMPARATI THE AIMES of Philosophicall Vulgar Wits Compared vvith the Ends of Religion and Vertue That which is Crooked cannot be made strait and that which is wanting cannot be numbred Eccles 1.15 1 Cor. 1.20 21 22 23. VVhere is the VVise VVhere is the scribe VVhere is the Disputer of this VVorld Hath not God made foolish the VVisdome of this VVorld For after that in the VVisdome of God the world by VVisdome knew not God it pleased God by the foolishnesse of preaching to save them that believe For the Jewes require a sign and the Greeks seek after VVisdome But we preach Christ crucified unto the Jewes a stumbling-block and unto the Greeks foolishnesse But unto them that are called Jewes and Greeks Christ the power of God and the wisdome of God To which adde the 6th and 7th verses of the following chapter We speak wisdome among them that are perfect yet not the Wisdome of this world or of the princes of this world that come to nought But we speak the wisdome of God in a mystery even the hidden wisdome which God ordained before the world to our Glory WHen I have been sometimes considering upon what slight grounds diverse learned Men have undervalued Religion and the Hopes of Immortality and Glory and that many vulgar Wits have done the same and that neither the learned Philosophers nor the carnally-minded and worldly men Both Philosophical and vulgar Wits vain in the choice of their ends have gotten any thing considerable in exchange or indeed have any thing in comparison to boast of I could not but apply to these two differences the high and Philosophicall and the low and vulgar Wits that saying of the Psalmist applyed by Him to the different states of Men. Psalm 62. Surely the Wits of high degree are Vanity and those of low degree are a lye to be laid in a Balance they are both together lighter than Vanity For I shall easily make it appear that the Wise man or Philosopher when he hath exalted himself against God He hath made himself a fool and that he hath no more Reason to glory of his Wisdome Jer. 9.23 than the Rich man hath of his Riches or the Voluptuous Man of his pleasure and that neither of them have any cause to Glory He that glories against Religion holds up his Weapons against God and he shall prosper accordingly Give me therefore your favor and patience and I shall consider them all the high and the low the Wise man and the fool as they have opposed the most perfect wisdome which however sometimes despised I shall plainly demonstrate to bee the VVisdome of Religion The Philosophers have ever been apt to soar too high and to towr aloft beyond their senses The vulgar have ever been as apt to sink too low so that their senses are communly drowned in the Enjoyments of this world We will not disparage Philosophy so much as not to consider it in the first Place And therefore I have chosen to present you a Landscape where you have our great Apostle represented as taking a Review of his Opponents at Athens who were the Philosophers in generall and among them if we distinguish particularly the Epicureans and the Stoicks And upon this full Review of the Opposition he had on the one side and of the power strength and successe of his Gospell on the other I conceive Him as it were venting both his Pitty and his Indignation in the words of this Text Where is the VVise Where is the the Scribe Where is the Disputer of this World hath not God made foolish the Wisdome of this World c. This Epistle was written to the Christians in Achaia Corinth as all know was the Metropolis in that Province insomuch that when the Apostle mentions the readinesse of of the Corinthians his phrase is that all Achaia was ready a year ago Athens was another lesser Citty in the same province but renownd for the Academy that was held there by the Philosophers And I am of Opinion that this Text reflects on somewhat that happen'd to St Paul at Athens Argumentum l. 5. Tuscul Quaestionum illud est Virtutem ad beatè vivenduÌ„ seipsâ esse contentam ubi sanctum illud augustúmque ut vocat Platonis fontem aperit Cui viro ex se apta sunt omnia quae ad beate vivenduÌ„ ferunt huic optime vivendi ratio comparata est Neque enim laetabitur unquam aut maerebit nimis Quod semper in seipso omnem spem reponet sui Et inter paradoxa defendit Cicero 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nemo potest non esle beatissimus inquit qui est totus aptus ex se quique in se uno sua ponit omnia Contentus sis temet ipso ex te nascentibus bonis Sen. Epist. 20. Stoicus putat Deum ad sapienteum sic dicere Non egere felicitate felicitas vestra est Est quo Deum antecedatis Ille extra patâ—entiam malorum est vos supra patientiam Contemnite mortem quae vos aut finit aut transfert Ante omnia cautum est ne quis vos teneret invitos Nihil facilius quam mori c. Sen. de Providentia cap. 6. Solcbat Sextius dicere Jovem plus non posse quam Virum bonum Deus non vincis sapientiam felicitate etiamsi vincit aetate Non est Virtus major quae longior c. Epist 73. epist 5.3 Est aliquod inquit Seneca quo sapiens antecedat Deum Ille naturae beneficio non suo sapiens est Ecce res magna habere imbecillitatem hominis securitatem Dei. Et epist 31. Hoc est summum bonum quod si occupas incipis Deorum socius esse non supplex Vox Stoici non intercedam apud Deum ut sapiens plenus gaudio hilaris inconcussus sim ita Horatius Aequum animum mihi ipse parabo For as he disputed against the superstition of that place and preach't the Christian doctrine certain Philosophers of the Epicureans and the Stoicks encountred Him abused Him called him names 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 babler that is one that makes a great noise and
his Animadversions upon obstinate Offenders as his Mercy in shewing kindnesse to the humble penitent Another objection they flourish from that Axiom of Epicuâ—us Si gravis brevis If say they the punishment be very great it cannot be very durable Because it is inconceivable how the Soul should suffer great pains and not be disunited from the Body by reason of them But my Brethren we must be so modest as to allow many things to be true which yet are not conceivable by us I speak a bold word All the Philosophy in the world old and new can never declare the manner how our Souls that are immateriall can be pain'd by the diseases of our Materiall Bodies But yet we find they are so How then should it be thought that we should be able to explain the manner how the Souls of wicked men shall be enabled to endure the great and eternall pains of Hell when we cannot explain the manner how we become sensible of any thing we now feel We believe also that the Constitutions both of the damned and of the blessed shall be altered For as St Paul saith we know not what we shall bee and we dare affirme as little concerning the Nature of the damned as of the blessed Secondly neither do we know the Nature of the Infernall fire I am sure it was anciently believed to be so farr from destroying the Body of the tormented as to give a kind of Incorruptibility unto it and if you will be contented with the doctrine of the primitive Church I may God willing shew you hereafter that it was the Opinion of the Fathers in Generall that such shall be the fire of Hell and such the constitutions of the damned that they shall be capable of paines eternall and yet very great some difference in their greatnesse there may be some beaten with more and some with fewer stripes but none in their duration The Soul shall suffer pain it self by the immediate hand of God and shall be tortured also by the harsh and discordant Motions of the tormented Body whereunto it shall be most firmly and therefore in that time and place most unhappily united It shall feel its tenement uneasy noisome tempestuous but shall find no divorce no way of separation Nor shall those pains be slight that shall immediately be inflicted on it by an Allmighty power Zealous in the pursuance of his just Revenge It is true those pains would quickly extinguish the life of the tormented were their constitutions then not to differ from ours now But the ancient catholick Faith is otherwise Namely that the passive faculties of the Devils and Wicked Men shall be susteyned eternally or eternally repaired to make these patients eternally miserable Mr Hobbes indeed supplies them with an argument against this Doctrine from that text in the Revelation Leviathan part 4. Cap. 44. where the punishment of the Wicked in Hell is called a second Death Whence he argueth that the Wicked shall dy or be annihilated under that punishment But I hope Mr Hobbes will allow St John to be a fit interpreter of his own words Surely he calls the eternall torment of the wicked in Hell by the name of the second Death For if you compare Rev. 14.10 and Rev. 21.8 you wil find that there is a Lake of Fire and Brimstone prepared that the Unbelieving and abominable shall bee cast into it that the smoke of their torment shall ascend up for ever and ever and in conclusion that this is the second Death We affirme further to conclude the Objections that whereas the fireing of Sodom and Gomorrha is made by St Jude a Type of the fire of Hell that there is no necessity that the Type should agree in every particular with the thing typified but that St Jude is so to be understood that what the Inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrha suffered for their lusts in one day that in Hell they and such as follow their lew'd Waies must undoubtedly suffer to all Eternity I must conclude and the conclusion of my present Discourse shall bee this That we must all appear before the Judgement seat of Christ 2 Cor. 5.11 and there accordingly as our works have been in the flesh be sentenc'd either to everlasting blessednesse or to this everlasting Misery Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord as St Paul speaks we persuade Men that they would live as men and not as beasts that they would deny Ungodlinesse and worldly lusts Knowing the terror of the Lord we are Ambassadors for Christ as though God did beseech you by us we pray you in Christs steed be ye reconciled unto God Knowing the terrors of the Lord we intreat Men that they would not live unto themselves but unto him that dyed for them and rose again What saith St Paul 1 Cor. 16.11 shall we provoke the Lord to Jealousy are we stronger than He The Judge of Heaven and Earth is a mighty and terrible Judge He spared not his own Son when he found him under the sins of others and will he spare those rebells of his whom he shall surprise Glorying in their sin and shame Are our Muscles Iron or our Membranes brasse Can we break the rod of God or conquer him by suffering all his wrath Can we fly from it or have we my Brethren any Fence against it Whether shall we go from his Spirit or whether shall we flee from his presence If we climb up to Heaven He is there and if we make our Bed in Hell he is there also He is even in Hell to be a consuming fire to the wicked If we say the darknesse shall cover us the darknesse hideth not from him Psalm 139.7 8. What then Can we as the three children did walk in the firie furnace and be untoucht Can we dwell with devouring fire or lye everlastingly in beds of flaming Sulphur and be contented with that condition If we Can neither endure the Wrath of God nor have any defence against it nor can fly from the effects of it there remains only that We use such Caution and live so in these few dayes of our try all here that we may escape that place of torment whereas our Savior hath declared the Worme shall Never dye and the fire Never shall be quenched Oh that there were such a heart in Us that we might fear God and keep his commandments allwaies for then it should be well with us for ever I should now have shewed you that what I have spoken concerning the greatnesse and Eternity of hell torments was the Constant sense of the ancient Catholick Church and comes not from my private interpretation of the holy Scripture But I must leave that argument and the conclusion of this whole discourse untill some other Opportunity Gloria Trinuni Deo SERM. III. PSAL. 34.11 Come ye children and hearken unto me and I will teach You the fear of the Lord. IN my last discourse from this Text I affirmed two
longer she submitted to the misfortune of her condition and went with the whole company of her neighbors to see him interr'd with decency and kindnesse He stayed till his corps was brought to the very grave without the Gates of the Citty to the Golgotha or commun place of sepulture there When the case was thus desperate and every one was concern'd for the irreparable losse of the poor Widdow He thought it then a fit time to comply with the commun pitty and therefore he met the Widdow in her Tears he had compassion on her He said unto her Weep not he touched the Beer and he spake those powerfull Words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 young man arise and he that was dead sate up and he delivered him to his Mother This was confess 't to be the hand of God to be a great Miracle It was life from the dead to the Son and little lesse to the but now disconsolate now wonderfully rejoiceing Mother A greater miracle intended also to confirme the same Truth was that of Lazarus A work so great that the same Father taketh notice that our Lord led his Disciples to Galilee on purpose that they might see it and by it be instructed in the Mystery of the Resurrection It is recorded by St John that when Jesus heard that Lazarus was sick He abode still two dayes in the place where he was But when he was departed our Lord spake thus to his Disciples Lazarus is dead and I am glad for your sakes that I was not there that you may believe and therefore he took the Disciples with Him and went to Bethany and when he came there he preach't the Resurrection I am saith he the Resurrection and the life whosoever believeth in me though he were dead yet shall he live c. And in processe to prove his Doctrine Jesus when he was come to the grave bids them take away the stone John 11. Martha opposeth it alledging that certainly now the Corps lay in stench and putrefaction and by reason of that it was not to bee endured that Christ should come neer the Tombe Vide Nyssenum ubi supra He had been dead 4 dayes and therefore it was not to be doubted that the Cadaverous ferment had swell'd the Body and that there had been a considerable progresse made in the Putrefaction But she had but a rebuke for her care and our Savior after a prayer to God speaks those powerfull words Lazarus come forth And he that was dead came forth bound hand and foot with his grave cloathes c. This was a great Demonstration that the power of giving a Resurrection to our putrified Bodies lay in Him when he was able to crosse Nature in her Operation and to compell her to restore that to life that was not only dead as in the other instances of Jairus and the Widdows son but lying in the midst of its putrescency diffluency and stench There is but one thing that the most cautious and diffident persons could wish to be added to make the Demonstration beyond Exception and this our Savior was aware of you will saith he surely say unto me this Proverb Physitian heal thy self Luke 4.23 Thou that raisest others raise thy self also Wee will destroy this Temple of your Body and if as you say you can raise that in three daies we will desire no further Argument we will not any longer be diffident nor faithlesse but we will believe that you are as you say the Son of God and that you will raise the Bodies and glorify the Souls of all that believe and obey the Gospell that you Preach There were some unbelieving Scoffers that tenderd their faith upon a slighter condition though they thought even that Impossible For while he was yet alive they made him this offer Let him but now come down from the Crosse and we will believe But he had a Miracle to do much greater than that and He must dy upon the crosse that he might be able to performe it He dyed therefore and rose again and by his Resurrection he gave the last fullest proof of his victory over death and his power to performe his promise in raising the dead universally at the last day This last Miracle convinc'd the most incredulous even cautious and diffident St Thomas When he saw with his Eyes that his Lord was risen indeed John 20.25 the same Lord that he had before seen crucified dead and buried when he saw the print of the nails that had fixt him to the crosse and the hole or Gash in his side that was given him by the Souldiers spear there was nothing left to shelter his diffidence or unbelief Let no man therefore after all these Miracles especially this last and greatest of Christs raising up himself doubt of the power of our Lord or of his faithfullnesse in raising of us all He is both able and faithfull that promised So St Paul expostulates if Christ be raised from the dead how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead 1 Cor. 15.12 He spake to Jairus his daughter but a word or two Talitha Cumi and she arose from the dead and no more to the said widdows Son but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 young man arise and he arose and no more to Lazarus but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lazarus come forth Neither the bonds of death nor the diffluence and putrefaction of his corps nor those other bonds by which in the Grave he was tyed hand and foot could hinder his obedience to the over-ruling power of this Command Now at the last day the word shall not be to one Damosell or one young Man or to one Lazarus but to the whole Body of Mankind The word shall be RISE ALL and the manner is thus described When the number of the Elect shall be fullfilled and every man shall be born into the World that God hath appointed to Glorify and when that time shall be fully come the knowledge of which God hath reserved to himself then the Lord Christ shall descend from Heaven with a shout and with the voice of an Archangell and with the Trump of God That Trumpet shall sound to the Bottome of the Sea 1 Thess 4.16 and to the Center of the Earth and shall strike every atome of the whole universe and our dissolved Bodies in particular into those severall places and stations that God hath appointed them to fill in the state of the Resurrection And when the command and warning is thus general the Resurrection shall be so too even as when his command was particular to Lazarus and the rest the Resurrection was particular also What though our Bodies should be burnt to ashes and those ashes scatter'd into the Rivers or the Sea as by persecuting Princes in despight of the Christians God sometimes they have been What though they should be devoured by Canniballs or by the beasts of the field or the fouls of the Air or
Christians were without this Hope and all their Expectations were confined to this life only St Paul affirmeth that they were of all Men the most miserable 1 Cor. 15.19 We have indeed a joy that exceeds the joy of the worldly man in his Corne and Wine and Oyl but our Hope is the foundation of this our joy We rejoice saith St Paul in the Hope of the Glory of God Rom. 5.2 We have love that is a great and a cordiall Christian Vertue a Vertue amiable to God and usefull to Men. But Hope is the Principle and ground of Love Quantum quis sperat Bernard de pass Dom. c. 43. saith St Bernard tantum amat we love our Neighbor because we love God but we love God because we expect and hope for all our Happinesse from Him Every good Christian hath a tree of life that springeth up within him the Root of which is Faith the Stemme Hope the Branches Love and the Fruit good Works He therefore that goes about to take away Hope goes about to ruin the inner Man by cutting off the Tree at the very Stemme Hoc ipsum quod Christiani sumus Fidei ac spei res est saith St Cyprian V. Cyprianum de bono Patientiae The very being of our Christianity depends upon our Faith and Hope There is an Error crept in Christendome in Opposition to the Excercise of this great Vertue which I think sprang originally from the unnaturall and forced Rhodomontades of the proud Stoick who as I shall shew when I compare their Ends in Philosophy with ours in Religion vapor'd in a Wisedome that was errant folly and boasted of a Vertue he neither had nor meant to have From the Stoicks it pass't into the Contemplatives or perfectionists in the Church of Rome and from these down to our Antinomians or Brethren of the Family of Love This is the genealogy of their Error and their Error this They would have no Christian act from any Principles either of Hope or Fear They think it below them to cast so much as an Eye to Heaven they would have us to go to Sea without a Wind and to war without a Helmet They would have the poor professor of Religion go on his way weeping and bearing good seed without hoping for a harvest when he shall return with joy and bring his sheaves with Him They would have Moses Chuse to suffer affliction with his Brethren Heb. 11.26 rather than be accounted the son of Pharaoh's daughter and that without any respect to the Recompense of Reward These Men are certainly more nice in their speculations than the simplicity of Christian wisdome requireth them to bee Must wee needs exceed the example of our Master It is well surely if we come up in any good proportion neer unto it And yet we read that he for the joy that was set before him endured the Crosse Was this joy set before Him Heb. 12.2 and may it not be set before us also It hath been the care and wisdome of God to draw us to himself by the proposall of great Rewards These are the Magnetismes of Gods appointment and yet they are called by the Prophet Hosea the cords of a Man I drew them saith God with the cords of a Man and with the Bonds of Love Hos 11. These are the waies of Attraction fitted by God to work on Human Nature These are the Bonds of Gods love and Bounty whereby he endeavors to draw his people to Himself shall we then be so hardy and venturous as in favor to our own conceits to break his Bonds in sunder and cast his cords from us We have his warrant and order not to cast away our Confidence we have his commad to gird up the loins of our Minds to be sober and hope to the End 1 Pet. 1.13 And where we have our commands and directions from the Oracles of God with what pretence can we scruple whether it be lawfull to Obey Is not his word a sufficient Warrant for our practice He is so loving a Father that he will not offer his children a stone for Bread nor a Scorpion for an Egge Why then should we be so presumptuous as to sever those things by Niceties and speculative distinctions which God hath conjoyned and which the son of God whilest he lived upon Earth hath by his practice and Example commended to us Some Antinomians to disparage this vertue have told us that there shall bee no use of Hope in Heaven What then shall we not therefore use that Vertue which is so necessary for us while we are upon Earth And how do they know that there shall be no use of Hope in Heaven Learned and studied Men are of another Opinion namely that the perfected Saints and Angels ever love God because they have an assured Hope that they shall ever be continued in that Station of serving and praising God in Glory They cannot infinitely at once enjoy their eternall Happinesse and what they cannot infinitely at once enjoy why may they not hope for in continuance Surely could they want of this Hope or this assurance their love in the same measure would want of its perfection Thus you see though the use of Hope in this life is enough for our purpose yet they can never prove that it is alltogether unusefull or unnecessary in the next But besides this The reward of Hope from the usefullnesse of it I have another argument which may move you to continue and cherish your hope and that is from the Reward that God hath annexed unto it in the world to come This is the very Motive of the Apostle Heb. 10.35 Cast not away your confidence which hath great Recompense of Reward God hath appointed this lively Hope as an excellent Instrument to assist us and to conduct us safe to Heaven and then he rewards us for making use of this help and assistance that he hath ordained for us and given to us For we have it not of our selves It is as all other Christian vertues are the gift of God And this is ever the way of Gods infinite goodnesse He appointeth those things that are most excellent and usefull to our Advantage and then for serving our own Interests in that Way that he hath appointed he heapeth yet more and extraordinary rewards upon us Another use that we must not forget to make is this That we in the whole course of our lives give thanks giveing worship and Adoration to God who hath bestowed upon us immortall Souls and so put a difference between us and the beasts that perish and so also in respect of the glorious Resurrection which he hath promised to our Bodies we ought according to the style of St Peter blesse God even the father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath begotten us to a lively Hope of our own Resurrection as by other means so especially by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the Dead I shall exhort you
Vindicated p. 43 44 Justin Martyr vindicated p. 45 St Gregory Photius Cyprian Prudentius Athanasius and St Hierom considered p. 45 46 47 Justinians letter to Archbishop Menna and the decree of the sixt councell of Constantinople refer'd to p. 47 48 Whether Hell Torments formally such as described if not such greater St Greg. Nyssenes Opinion p. 49 Hell Torments not now understood p. 49 50 God himself is in Hell a consuming fire p. 50 51 Fear of God and his judgement commended p. 51 52 This fear a principall Bar against Vice p. 52 53 Vicious men not to be Envied p. 54 There is a Reward in the End for the Religious SECT II. SERM I. Of the Rewards of Religion Man Naturally desireth Happinesse p. 5 The Greater Happinesse is more desireable then the lesse p. 58 Heathens were sensible of a Reward for Vertue and a punishment impendent upon Vice p. 59 The fears and suspicions of an ill Conscience immoveable p. 60 The joy and content of the Heathens in the practice of Vertue and how this joy was reasonable p. 60 61 The Laws of Nature and sense of God a Rewarder in all Men. p. 61 62 Christians have greater Reasons of their satisfaction and content in the excercise of Christian Vertue p. 62 63 The contemplation of the joyes of Heaven necessary for our encouragement to Vertue p. 63 Psal 16. v. ult commended p. 64 Happinesse in Heaven the greatest possible ib. The parts of the greatest Happinesse explained p. 65 Security from Greif a necessary prerequisite to Happinesse p. 66 Heavenly Happinesse free from pain and Greif p. 67 Mans condition considered in respect of pain p. 68 The use of Cares and Pains in this World p. 69 No Vse of Pains or Cares in Heaven p. 70 The particular Occasions and Causes of our Bodily pains and cares inconsistent with the state of Glory p. 71 72 Of Pains purely Mentall p. 73 The state of Glory free from mentall Pains p. 74 Of Hell Torment p. 75 The state of Glory free from these Torments p. 75 76 The vision of Heavenly joy shall encrease the Torment of the damned p. 76 The vision of Hell Torments shall encrease the blessednesse of the blessed p. 77 Recapitulation and Conclusion p. 78 SERM II. Of the Rewards of Religion His Apology may be pardon'd who is put to describe Heaven p. 79 It is Gods mercy that Heaven is described by Metaphors p. 80 Voluptas in Motu active joyes in Heaven p. 81 And in the highest degrees and greatest quantities ib. Scenes of Spirituall joyes in corporall shapes and figures given us in compassion to our Infirmities p. 82 Heavenly joyes compared to the pleasures of feasting ib. To the joyes of marriage p. 83 To the joyes of Honor. p. 84 To the Glories of a Victor in games of Honor. ib. To the Gl ries of a King p. 85 The statelinesse of the Court of Heaven descibed p. 85 86 The Eternall duration of these joyes and Glories in Heaven p. 86 87 88 Metaphors expresse the Grandeur not the Nature of that Joy p. 88 Glorified Bodies Spirituall like Christs Body p. 89 Ben Maimons discourse of the Reasonablenesse of Gods proposing Heaaven to us under such Metaphors p. 89 90 The Doctrine of Socrates and Plato de Finibus compared with that of Christianity p. 91 92 Materiall senses continued in Heaven for Ornament rather then for Vse p. 93 The Conclusion p. 94 SERM III. Of the Rewards of Religion Why men prefer Worldly Enjoyments before those of Heaven p. 96 The same Attributes given to God and Heaven ib. The happinesse of Both described by Negatives p. 96 97 The Enjoyment in Nature great the Enjoyments in conceit and phancy greater then those in Nature p. 98 99 The Enjoyments in Heaven greater then both p. 99 1 Cor. 2.9 and Isaiah 64. vv 1 2 3 4. compared and explained p. 100 101 The Conflagration of this world in order to the purgation of its Matter for the New Heavens and New Earth and New Jerusalem incomprehensibly glorious ib. Rabbins affirme that from the state of the Messiah we must take the image of our future Glory p. 101 102 The Resurrection of Christ the Image of ours p. 102 How the Glories of Heaven are revealed to Christians by the Spirit p. 103 Advice Stand no more gazing in Heaven p. 104 Christian Faith and Hope commended Christian Practice commended SERM IV. Of the Rewards of Religion The Hope of the Resurrection of the Body and life everlasting the greatest Encouragements to Vertue p. 109 The Existence of the Law of Nature argues Rewards and punishments in another life because they are not equally Distributed in this p. 110 The immortality of the Soul anciently beleived p. 111 Mr Hobbes's his Opinion considered ib. The Doctrine of the Souls Immortality sprang not from the Daemonology of the Greeks p. 112 The ancient arguments for the Immortality of the Soul from Cicero and other Philosophers p. 113 115 116 The Explication of those who make Souls corporeall imperfect p. 114 Mr Hobbes misinterprets Scripture which determines the Soul to be independent from the Body p. 117 118 Reasons why Christians first beleived the Gospell of Christ concerning the Resurrection of the Body p. 118 119 Christs other pred ctions allready miraculously fullfill'd were received as Arguments that his Doctrine concerning the Resurrection shall be fullfilled also p. 119 120 Miraculous instances of his power in raising the Dead p. 120 121 Jairus his daughter and the Widdows son raised p. 121 122 Lazarus raised and the Resurrection preacht p. 122 123 Christs own Resurrection a powerfull argument of ours p. p. 123 124 Objections Obviated p. 125 126 How the Doctrine of the Resurrection was received among the Jews p. 127 Our Saviors Argument against the Sadduces explain'd p. 127 128 How farve the Doctrine of the Philosophers was consistent with the Christian Doctrine of the Resurrection p. 129 130 Application Hope of this Resurection to be cherisht p. 131 This Vertue Hope commended from its Vsefullnesse p. 132 The Antinomians Error who rejects this Vertue deduced from its Originals described and confuted p. 〈…〉 134 The Exercise of Hope commended from the 〈…〉 to it p. 134 The Exercise of Thanksgiving and Worship commended p. 135 SECT III. SERM I. Of the cheifest good Christian Doctrine opposed by Epicureans and Stoicks p. 146 141 142 St Pauls Triumph over his learned opponents p. 143 Philosophers very good and very bad p. 144 145 146 Errours about summum Bonum p. 147 148 No sect could obtain Happinesse in this life p. 149 150 151 Their happinesse designd in this life inconsiderable p. 152 153 Some philosophers prizd vertuous actions to be summum bonum p. 154 Others esteem'd pleasure to be it p. 155 And aimd at that only in this life p. 156 Christians aime at everlasting pleasures p. 157 SERM II. Of the cheifest Good St Augustine under temptation of pleasure p. 160 Difference of lusts p. 161 Religion opposeth
the work of God For that Chance the blindest thing in the world should perfect all the parts of this stately fabrick and place them in this excellent Order is the most incredible supposition that could be made It is well observ'd by Cicero that by the casuall shuffling of many thousand single leters the Annals of Ennius might more possibly be composed than that a Chaos of undigested Atomes should forme so excellent a world consisting of so many and so usefull and beautifull parts without the least contrivance Hic ergo non mirer esse quenquam qui sibi persuadeat corpora quaedam solida atque individua vi gravitate serri mundumque effici ornatissimum pulcherrimum ex eorum corporum concursione fortuita Hoc qui existimat fieri potuisse non intelligo cur non idem putet si innumâ—rabiles unius viginti liâ—erarum sormae vel aureae vel quales libet aliquo conjiciantur posse ex his in terram excussis Annales Ennii ut deinceps legi possint effici c. Quod si mundum efficere potest concursus Atomorum cur porticum cur templum cur domum cur Uâ—bem non potest De nat lib. 2. But before I leave the Epicurean Atheist let me forme one argument against him out of his own Philosophy It is this That which is received by the commun Prolepsis or Notion of Mankind that is Certainly true Vidit Epicurus esse Deos quod in omnium animis eorum Notionem impressisset Natura Quae enim Gens est aut quod geaus hominum quod non habeat sine doctrina anticipationem quandam Deorum quam appellat Prolepsin Epicurus So Velleius in Cicero 1. De Nat. Deorum A little after Cum non instituto aliquo aut more aut lege sit Opinio constituta maneatque ad Unum firma omnium Consensio intelligi Necesse est esse Deos quoniam insitas corum vel potiùs innatas cognitiones habemus De quo autem omnium Natura consentit id verum esse necesse est ib. ex sententia Epicuri This major proposition is Epicurus's own and stongly contended for as you may see in the first book of Cicero de Nat. Deorum The Minor out of his own Philosophy also shall be this But the Being of a God is received by the commun Prolepsis or Notion of Mankind Whence the Conclusion follows That it is certainly true there is a God The Epicureans not being able to deny any part of the Premisses admit the Conclusion also but then affirme that this God did not create nor doth Governe the World To which the Reply is easy It being granted by them that what is received by the commun Notion of mankind is true and that the Being of God was so received Let any Epicurean unravell what was generally meant by the word God and he will find That men in their commun Notions when they asserted the being of a God had no other conceit of Him than of the great Creator and provident disposer of all things And therefore from the Commun Notion Eupicurus ought to have concluded if the Existence of God then his existence also according to that Notion Now it neither is nor ever was the Notion of Mankind That God is an Idle Fairy or Spirit as he imagined but that he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So Sophocles There is in Truth there is one God and he made Heaven the large Earth and Azute sea 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epictet Aelianus dicit Barbarorum neminem delapsum ad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sed ab omnibus affirmari esse numen nostri curam gerere lib. 11. c. 31. Plutarchi est illud 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plut. lib. de com Notitiis Populares Deos multos naturalem unum esse summae Totius Artificem Artisthenus ut ciratur à Lactantio lib. 1. c. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Varro Deum Animam esse Motu ac Ratione mundum gubernantem v. August de Civ Dei lib. 4. c. 31. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Father and Maker Principle and Cause of all things as I could prove unto you out of allmost infinite Testimonies It is well however that we have the Testimony even of those Opposers of Gods providence upon Record that in the Time of Epicurus the being of a God was by them and others generally received as the commun Notion of all Mankind And so much against those who out of the Epicurean principles have endeavored to cast off all Religion and the fear of a God Only for an Epiphomena before we make our Transition let us joyn in Chorus with the Prophet Jeremy c. 10.6 7. and say Forasmuch as there is none like thee O Lord thou art great and thy Name great in might Who would not fear before the O King of Nations for to thee doth it appertain or else with the 24 Elders Rev. 4.11 Thou art worthy O Lord to receive Glory and honor and power For thou haft created all things and for thy pleasure they are and they were created And now I have done with Epicurus and his Company methinks I may take a peble and a sling and like little David against Goliah venture one stroke with the great Aristotle also First sling a smooth stone at Him and then kill him with his own sword And what stone shall I take shall I oppose him with the commun Tradition Notion or belief of Mankind It is confesst that before the rise of Philosophy all did universally believe the Being of a God Nay Pythagoras Socrates Plato and all the most ancient of the Philosophers ownd this Truth That the world was created Aristotle himselfe acknowledgeth this Notion and belief 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aristot 1. de Caelo c. 10. All men saith he affirme the world to have been created The Cartesians who have tryed as many tricks with themselves as other Men have endeavored and confess it to cast off all superinduced Principles and received Notions and among those this also of a God But with all their endeavors they confesse they could never do it but that the Notion of a God and a Creator will still abide in their Minds as a Testimony of his Existence I will not therefore say with Tertullian Tertull. praescriâ— adv Haereticos Quod apud multos unum invenitur non est erratum sed traditum That which in many persons is found one and the same is not an Error but a Tradition But thus That which in all Men is found one and the same is neither Error nor Tradition but a Notion given us by God together with our Natures And though some men have endeavor'd to stifle this Notion Yet I shall shew that it riseth upon them and casts them even into that very fear of God which they would avoid in spight of all their endeavors This Notion therefore and belief of a Deity that is so Universall and so immoveable must have a fixt
can possibly be imagined or enjoyed And to prove this that I assume I shall onely beg you to grant what if you consider you cannot but grant namely that the greatest happinesse possible can have but those parts or properties which in this Text are either explicitely or implicitely affirmed of the Glory of Heaven The first of these is Indolence that is the absence of Greif and security from it This is required as a prerequisite or principle and foundation of the other parts and is implied because the other mention'd properties cannot be where this is not The second part or property is that it hath Joy in possession The very forme essence or substance of that happinesse consists in Joy Nothing can be more suitable to our Natures or appetites than delight Joy or pleasure And this we have an explicite assurance of from this Text. For the Psalmist telleth us expressely That in the presence of God there is joy and at his right hand there are Pleasures The third property of the greatest happinesse is that there be fullnesse of this Joy For Fullnesse implieth the highest degree and greatest measure Neither man nor Angell nor any other Being can be capable of more than fullnesse and this is also explicitely affirm'd of the estate of Glory viz. That in the presence of God there is fullnesse of Joy The Fourth and last property of the greatest happinesse that can be imagined is the Perpetuity or eternall duration of its pleasures and this the Text also giveth us an explicite assurance of For it concludeth That in the presence of God are pleasures for evermore not for a day or a year or ten years or ten thousand But in the presence of God are pleasures for evermore Thus the Royall engraver in this very little piece hath given us all the lineaments of the greatest happinesse and hath directed us where this Urania makes her abode where this Happinesse this perfect and compleat happinesse is to bee found not among Glories or riches or Pleasures of this World but in the presence of God in Heaven O Let the Power of thy Grace O Lord fit us for that presence The first property of that happy estate which the blessed enjoy in the presence of God is Indolence or security from Greifs This is not expressely mention'd in the description but certainly implied For there can be no Fullnesse of joy where pains or sorrows are mixt or fill any part of the Soul For that Soul cannot be perfectly full of joy that is partly fill'd with sorrow And I therefore place Indolence first because an Estate of Joy can stand upon no other Bottome There can be no foundation for it where the place is allready possess 't with greif For as the Scholemen use to dispute that the privation or absence of cold is a necessary requisite for the introducing of Heat so they affirme also that the absence of greif or sorrow is as necessary for the production of delight and Pleasure Secondly this estate of Indolence which is the ground or Basis of delight though it be onely implied in the Psalmists description here yet in other Texts of Scripture is expressely asserted to be part of the Portion of the Blessed in Heaven Wee are Christians we all professe to beleive the Scriptures In them we hope to have eternall life and so if the Son of God be to be beleived before Socinus did the Jewes before us we have the light of that Revelation which the Heathens wanted and would have rejoyced at This would have corrected their Traditions and rectified their confused Expectations We have as St Peter speaketh a more sure word of Prophesy to which we shall do well if we take heed as to a light that shineth in a darke place untill the day dawn and the day star arise in our hearts that is untill the day come that we shall be admited into the presence of God and shall see him not in a glasse darkely but face to face Till that time come we must borrow all our light from Scripture which came not by the will of Man but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the holy Ghost 2 Pet. 1. ult St John we know in the time of the Gospell was the great Master of Revelations He was the person whom our Savior chose out of all his Disciples to reveal those things unto that were to come to passe in the End of the world And he hath given us a sufficient Testimony of our Security from greif at that time when we shall enjoy the presence of God in the new Jerusalem He saw the Heavens and the Earth fly away from before the face of God and there was no place found for them Rev. 20.11 He saw also a new Heaven and a new Earth and a new Jerusalem coming down from God richly adorn'd as a Bride in Expectation of her Bridegroome Rev. 21.1 2 3 4. And I heard saith he a great voice out of Heaven saying Behold the Tabernacle of God is with men and he will dwell with them and they shall be his people and God himself shall be with them and bee their God and God shall wipe away all teares from their Eyes and there shall be no more Death neither sorrow nor Crying neither shall there be any more pain Here You see we have a particular Revelation to assure us that in the resurrection of the just they shall have the first part of Happinesse which is Indolence or the security from greif Now the manner or solemnity of giving this Revelation deserves to be considered also For least this vision should be without an authentick Notary He who sate upon the throne said unto John Write for the words are faithfull and true This came not like a delphick whisper For he heard a great Voice and that not uttering the mind of God enigmatically as it were in a riddle not in amphibolies or equivocall language and of various construction as the heathen Oracles did who sought out darke speech that the Event might not overtake them in an evident lye but in plain univocall and downright termes There shall be no more Death nor sorrow nor crying nor pain This was a Voice from Heaven This is the eternall decree and covenant of God of which he commanded St John to be the Scrivener This is the enfeofment of the redeemed or in the phrase of the Spirit the words that are faithfull and true and cannot passe away This Text you see is generall and full and can bee meant of nothing else But seeing what is here spoken in generall is in other Texts delivered more particularly It will not be amisse to follow wheresoever the Scripture leadeth and so to take a more speciall account what are the miseries that ill men are subject to and that holy and good men by the mercy of God are redeemed from It is most true that Esdras long since observ'd that Mans condition is not greatly to be boasted
into the heart of Man that God hath prepared for those that love him They are greater than his mind can fully comprehend and it may be greater than ever his heart did distinctly or perfectly desire There is I confesse some doubt concerning the sense of this Text 1 Cor. 2.9 explained and what writing it is that St Paul doth here cite in this place For he saith It is written Eye hath not seen Nor Ear heard Vide Drusium Zegerum Grotium c. in 1 Cor. 2.9 The criticks generally assert from ancient and grave Testimonies that in the Apocryphall bookes of the Prophet Eliah the words here cited by St Paul are found and are willing to referre us thither for them And Grotius affirmes that the Jewish Rabbins have such a common proverb or sentence as this which they doe also expound of the future life This we may be sure of that if St Paul here citeth the Apocryphall bookes of Eliah or any other of the old Jewish writings that He commends what he citeth and hath given it a countenance and Authority by that Citation And why may he not doe that to the Jewish writings which he hath done things well written by the Heathen Poets Acts 17 28. Tit. 1.12 But it seemes to mee more probable that the marginall references in our English Bibles direct us not amisse when they referre us to the Text read unto you out of the 64th ch of Esay where it is said v. 1. by way of prayer for the second Advent or Glorious coming of Christ in Judgement Oh that thou wouldest rend the Heavens that thou wouldest come down that the Mountaines might flow down at thy presence As when the melting fire burneth the fire causeth the liquors to boile c. Wee beleive that at the end of the world there shall be a generall conslagration of all things when not the mountaines of the Earth only but the Elements of Heaven also shall melt with fervent heat And it is not improbable that the Prophet may intend that conflagration when he makes this prayer and then the sense will be Oh that the great day of doom were come when all the mountaines of the Earth shall burne and smoake at another rate than Mount Sinai did at the giving of the Law At that time one or two Mountaines smoked and were ready to flow down before his presence The conflagration of the world in order to the purgation of its matter But oh when will that time come when the whole systeme of Nature shall be melted down and flow together in its owne infinite space as in a great melting Furnace For this is the Operation that must passe through the mighty hand of God that so the feculent Matter of this world may be purged of its drosse and rust and bee made a fit materiall for the new Heaven and the new Earth and the new Jerusalem that God shall then prepare for those that love him He proceeds then to shew the Reason why he desired this dissolution of all things namely that it might make way for a better Resurrection For saith he ver 4. since the beginning of the world Men have not heard nor perceived by the Ear Nor hath Eye seen O God besides thee what he hath prepared for those that wait upon him So that the summe of the sense is but this Oh that this world might be dissolved and melted down that wee might arise into a new and better world even into that Glory that Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard For such a Glory hath God provided for those that wait upon Him But this text as it extends not our heavenly Glory as St Paul doth to be beyond the comprehension of the heart So there is a Parenthesis in it not mentioned by St Paul For it is said Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard O God besides thee what he hath prepared Rabbins affirme that from the state of the Messiah they were to learn the image of their future glory But this parenthesis besides thee was not omitted by St Paul because dissagreeable from his doctrine For even according to the Rabbinicall Interpretation this text together with the Parenthesis will agree with the Analogy of St Pauls doctrine and that of the christian Faith For this was hence the Notion of learned Men among the Jewes that in the future life there was for good men a state of great glory provided but that they were to take the Image of their future Glory from what should happen to the person of the Messiah so that according to their doctrine we must make this paraphrase of this 4th v. O God the son our Saviour and Messiah For to him this whole prayer seemes to be address't Besides thee that is besides the evidence and patterne of our Resurrection and glory that we have in thee we as yet see not nor can we understand what he that is what God the Father hath prepared for those that wait upon him Ben Maimon the most judicious of their Rabbins telleth us that it was the Intention of the Prophet Esay here to declare that the glory of the world to come cannot bee comprehended by Corporeall senses and that his Brethren the Hebrew doctors make this to be the sense of the Text that the Prophets only exhibite and declare the state of the Messiah and his Glory and that from him must be taken the Image of the glory in the world to come So saith he Seculum futurum sensibus corporeis nequaquam apprehendi indicat Propheta hocipsius dicto Oculus non vidit O Deus praeter te quid faciat expectanti ipsum Ad quod explicandum dixerunt Magistri Omnes propherae universim non prophetarunt nisi de diebus Messiae At quod ad Mundum futurum Oculus non vidit praeter Te c. Maimonides in poriâ Mosis Pocockiana p. 154. in p. 150. Neque voluptas illa in partes distribuitur neque enarrati potest neque reperitur similitudo aliqua quacum comparati possit verum uti dixit Propheta ejus magnitudinem admiratus quam magna est bonitas tua quam obscondisti Timentibus Te c. ib. they interpret this text Eye hath not seen O Lord besides thee what God hath prepared for those that wait upon Him that is in short Men know no more of Heavenly glory than what they learn by those things that God hath declared concerning the exaltation of the Messiah And we have no reason to contradict this Exposition of the Rabbins though of the Jewish Religion and not of ours seeing it is a Gospell Truth that the Image of our Resurection is the Resurrection of Christ The Image of our Glory is the Glory of Christ we have no manifestation of what we shall be but such as ariseth from the consideration of what He is And so we may truely say in their sense Eye hath not seen O Christ Nor Ear heard besides thee what
ten-thousand years but for evermore He surely can have no further Happinesse to wish nor greater enjoyment to design And St Paul from that Text 1 Cor. 2.9 Where it is said that Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard nor hath it ever enter'd into the Heart of Man to conceive the things that God hath prepared for them that love Him intimateth thus much That if you could gather together all the riches of Nature and could adde to the heap whatsoever Human Phansy could further Imagine For example Let there be presented the best and Clearest Beauties for the Eye The most Ravishing Musiks for the Ear the most delicate meates for the palate let the choicest entertainment be found out for every Phancy and every Appetite that Nature improved by Human art and study can supply us with Joyn and place in one and the same person all the wealth of the Citty the Grace the Gallantry the Glory of the Court the learning of the University the most desireable conversation of learned and good Natured Men Adde to these the prudence of the Wisest Councels the Courage conduct and successe of the most fam'd commanders all the Regalia that Princes and Emperors enjoy in the fullnesse of their Majesty and power and last of all adde also which is infinitely of more worth then all these the enjoyment of Vertue and the inchoate Grace of God Then make all these enjoyments of the greatest imaginable duration and extend them to his dearest Issue and neerest Relations yet all this is still below the Happinesse good Christians shall enjoy in the life of Glory For all this may be conceived But the state of Glory is so Glorious that St Paul who saw it saith it cannot be conceived It connot enter into the Heart of Man Do you now beleive all this to be true Do you receive this Doctrine of the Prophets and Apostles nay of Christ Himself Or do you deny that Article of the Christian Faith that affirmes the being of such a life everlasting after Death If you do beleive it can you think such an Estate not worth the seeking after Do you think your selves wiser then Abraham and Moses and all the worthies of the former ages who quitted their greatest temporall Interests that they might seek this Inheritance Examine your selves my Brethren and first see whether there is not a fault in the very spring whether there be not somewhat defective in your very faith Suppose now that with St Paul you had been rapt up to the third Heaven and there had taken a view of those unspeakable Glories that were then and are now enjoyd by the Spirits of Just men made perfect Would you not think that the obtaining of that Estate and to be made one of those glorified beings would be worth nay infinitely more worth then all the pains you could take and all the labors you could undergo during the Remainder of your short uncertain lives you are Christians and your being so implies that you beleive there are such Joyes your faith if you have any gives you a confidence of them and makes the existence of them evident unto you though you have not seen them as St Paul did For faith as it is defined by the Author to the Ebrewes is the confidence of things hoped for and the Evidence of things not seen But if it be not from any want of faith but from a certain Carelessenesse or Retchlessnesse as some call it that you are lazy and neglect the seeking this your greatest Interests Consider I pray a little further that if you will not concern your self to be thus very happy you then must take the just contrary lot and submit your self to be very miserable If you will not take pains to attain that Glory that is the crown and reward of the just you must expect to fall into Hell even into the Nethermost Hell with the wicked Do you think the Rich Luxurious Glutton mention'd in the Gospell who in his life time cared not for Heaven nor the concernes of the world to come who pamper'd Himself and suffered Lazarus to starve before his door Might such a Man as he I say have the liberty granted Him of a second Tryall and to live over his life here on Earth but once again Would he not rather spend his dayes neatly and soberly in frugality and Temperance which are the Vertues that our Religion commendeth to us and give away the superfluities of his Estate in Charity to the poor then be sentenc'd the second time for his Cruelty and Ryot Vices ill put together into that place of Misery and Wo where during the vast duration of Eternity he may not procure one drop of Water to cool his Tongue Would you know what that death is that they incurre who are not preferr'd unto that Eternall life that Christ hath purchased for His Flames and Brimstone and Wormes the painfull worme of conscience and that Hideous noise of Tophet that is of Continuall howling burning and drumming These are the parts of the second Death Now is it worth no paines to secure your selves from so endlesse so easelesse so Remedy lesse a misery and torment Where is your sense my Brethren where is your Faith Your Faith or at least the consideration of the Articles of your Faith is commonly out of the Way when it should be doing you any good Let me ubraid it as Eliah ubraided the false God 1 Kings 18. Peradventure it is in a journy or else it sleepeth It sleepeth surely and must be awakened Bestirre your minds and consider Is not the very avoiding the Torments of Hell of more consequence then the Enjoyments of all the present Honors or estates that we are capable of in this world of more consequence then either to avoid the miseries of this life or even Death it self Which though it be a most dreadfull thing to flesh and blood yet to use the phrase of the devout Church Poet it is but a Chair a ready easy conveiance into another Estate over which Death it self shall have no power But if you are of that Nice and Curious temper that you must be led only by the silken threds of Example not stratned by Councell nor goaded on by precept Read I pray St Pauls writings and consider his Acts as they are recorded in the book of the Acts of the Apostles Was his life like the life of a Man that had but a little understanding Do you think your selves wiser then He was If not why do not you why do not we all imitate Him Why have we not all his Zeal and his Resolution Could Tribulation or Distresse or famine or perill or Sword Nay could either life or Death Angell or Divell principallities or powers things present or things to come could either heigth or depth or any other Creature hinder him from pursuing his well chosen Aimes from seeking the life of Glory and from fighting against his Spirituall Enemies that he saw ready to obstruct
price is put into the hand of fools Our life will be unto us but Occasion of eternall Misery and it would have been better for us never to have been born Will any Man then whose faith is not asleep or in a journy will any Man I mean that believes and considers the existence of Heaven and Hell and the other doctrines of our Faith venture to commit a sin or to provoke his judge or to do any thing that may endanger the damnation of his Soul to eternall Death to save so poor a thing as this uncertain life much lesse to get Riches or Honor or any other worldly acquirement Let us not therefore halt between two Opinions If the Gospell be Gospell Let it have the power of the Gospell Fear its threatnings Entertain its encouragements Receive its Dictats If you receive not these stay no longer here to be a scandall to the best Religion Go rather to the Font where you were initiated and there publickly Renounce and disclaim your Faith Turn professedly Julians or Judas's and insted of the Apostles creed take up the loose discourse of the wicked Atheist or blasphemer as it is express't in the Second chapter of the book of Wisdome and boasted upon Occasions with a little Variety by our modern pretenders to prophane Wit we are as the ungodly wretch in that place most Cursedly expatiates born at all adventures he meanes by chance as if Men were not at all design'd or formed by the providence of God and we shall be hereafter as if we had never been For the breath of our Nostrils is as smoke or which comes very neer the Philosophy of our Modern Atheist A 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a little spark in the moving of the heart Which being extinguished our Body shall be turned into ashes and our Spirit shall vanish into the soft Air And our name shall be forgotten in Time and no Man shall have our works in Remembrance For our time is a very shadow that passeth away and after our End there is no returning If you are prepared now to renounce your Religion and to agnize these Aphorismes of Atheisme to be the articles of your Faith If you are contented to be reckon'd not with the sheep but with the Goats and to have your portion with these wretches hereafter you may from the same place take the Counsell of the wicked Reasoner It is a fit Application for such a doctrine Enjoy the good things that are present and regard not the world to come Fill your selves with costly Wine and Oyntments and let none of you go without some part of his voluptuousnesse Contemn the laws of God and Nature Oppresse the poor righteous man spare not the Widdow and which is perfect Hobbisme Let your strength be the Law of Justice and what is feeble count it little worth Lay wait for the Righteous Man The man of great and just principles and resolutions he must be rid out of the way because he is not for your turn he will be sure to expose your basenesse to oppose your designes of Villany and wickednesse Examine him with Despitefullnesse Try him with Contumely thus know his meeknesse thus prove his Patience Do not only make your scoffs at Vertue but which are acts worthy a perfect Brave destroy it and root it out and then fear not to adventure upon any acts of Impiety or Insolence These are the Councels of the confirmed Reprobate in the second of Wisdome shame and Wo unto us that this noise should be heard in our streets that these Counsels should at this day be put in practice among us And you my Brethren if you have not come into the Councell of these Cains and Nimrods if these Theorems of Ranting and Hectoring do yet affright you if you dare not deny the truth of the Christian doctrine that is not only countenanced by the Analogy of other certain Truths but hath also been confirmed by Miracles from God and gifts of the holy Ghost Then as ye expect the light and life of God ye must live as children of that light as heirs of that life ye must professe and practice just contrary to the beleif and practice of these reprobated Men Ye must believe that there is an eternall Wages reserved for Temporall Righteousnesse and an everlasting Reward to blamelesse Souls And that for all the Rallery of these blasphemers Man was not so wonderfully made by chance Nor born at all adventures but that God created Man to bee immortall and to be the Image of his own Eternity as the Author of the book of Wisdome there declares in confutation of that wicked Reasoning which according the Epicurean Hypothesis he had so lively represented you are of those my Brethren that have not as I hope stood in the way much lesse sate down in the seat of those insolent Scorners at all Religion and Goodnesse You beleive that our Lord Jesus Christ shall one day come to judge the quick and the dead when as St Paul writeth to his Colossians those that have done well shall receive the Reward of an Inheritance and those that have done wrong shall receive for the wrong that they have done and there shall be no respect of persons Those who have chosen to be patrones and practicers of Atheisme and given themselves over to the suggestions of the Evill Spirit and to the Vanity of their own hearts those who have contemned the Gospell which as St Paul observes is not hid to any but those that are lost and slight the Righteousnesse that is commended to us though they are lofty now and full of their Grandeur how will their countenance fall when the sun shall become black as Sackcloth of hair and the moon shall be as blood and when the stars of heaven shall fall to the Earth as when a fig-tree casteth her untimely figs. With what boon grace will they carry themselves when they shall see the Heavens depart as a scroll that is folded together and every mountain and every Island and this of ours among the rest shall be visib'y moved quite out of their places St John telleth us what will bee their condition at that time who are wanting in Religion and good Manners though otherwise exalted in secular dignity and Estate Revel 6.15 The Kings of the Earth and the great Men and the Rich men and the cheife Captains and the bond and the free Men and all that whole Gang of wicked Men and Unbeleivers shall hide themselves in the dens and rocks of the mountains and shall say to the Mountains and rocks fall on us and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. He whose first Advent to us was humble and mean and he that in his passion for us shewed the meeknesse of a Lamb will then appear as the Lyon of the Tribe of Judah He shall then come no more as a Preist to atone for us nor as a Prophet to Preach unto us the way of life but then only as a Judge to acquit or condemn us And the man that hath made no advantage of the first advent shall not need to wish the second There shall be no Place nor means for Redemption then But the fearfull and Unbeleiving and Abominable and Whoremongers and Sorcerers and Idolaters and Lyars and other such sinfull Men shall have their part in that lake of fire and Brimstone where whatsoever Socinus or Mr Hobbes have thought to the contrary the smoke of their Torment shall ascend up for ever and ever and they shall have no rest day nor night Those on the Contrary who have beleived the Gospell of our Savior and by the power of their Faith have overcome the Temptations of the world and so by reason of their Inherent Grace have a title to plead the merits of Christ and his Righteousnesse for the Remission of their sins they shall inherite all things even all the Glorious unconceivable Happinesses of Heaven To which Kingdome of Glory God Allmighty bring us through all those means and methods that he hath sanctified to that purpose Now to the King of Heaven and to the Lord our Righteousnesse by whose merits only we have entrance into that Kingdome and to the Spirit of holinesse who can only give us title to those Merits and bring us within the conditions of the Covenant of Grace to the Whole holy and ever blessed Trinity in Unity be Glory Honor and Adoration for ever FINIS