for those celestial and glorious mansions which God hath provided for us an earthly sensual mind is so much wedded to bodily pleasures as that it cannot enjoy its self without them and is incapable of tasting or relishing any other though really greater and infinitely to be preferred before them Nay such persons as mind onely the concerns of the body and are wholly led by its motions and inclinations as do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it were embody their souls would esteem it a great unhappiness to be cloathed with a spiritual and heavenly body it would be like cloathing a beggar in princely apparel Such glorious bodies would be uneasie to them they would not know how to behave themselves in them they would e'en be glad to retire and put on their rags again But now by denying the solicitations of our flesh and contradicting its lusts and appetites and weaning our selves from bodily pleasures and subduing and mortifying our carnal lusts we fit and dispose our selves for another state and when our souls are thus spiritualized they will soon grow weary of this flesh and long for their departure they will be always ready to take wing and fly away into the other world where at last they will meet with a body suited to their rational and spiritual appetites 2. From hence we may give some account of the different degrees of glory in the other state For though all good men shall have glorious bodies yet the glory of them all shall not be equal they shall all shine as stars and yet one star differeth from another star in glory there is one glory of the sun and another glory of the moon and another glory of the stars so also is the resurrection of the dead Some will have bodies more bright and resplendent than others Those who have done some extraordinary service to their Lord who have suffered bravely and courageously for his name or those who by the constant exercise of severity and mortification have arrived to an higher pitch and attained to a greater measure of purity and holiness than others shall shine as stars of the first magnitude Dan. 12.3 And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever It is certain that the purest and most spiritual bodies shall be given to those who are most fitted for them to the most heavenly and spiritual souls so that this is no little encouragement to us to make the greatest proficiency we can possibly in the ways of vertue and piety since the more we wean our selves from these present things and sensible objects the more glorious and heavenly will our bodies be at the resurrection 3. Let this consideration engage us patiently to bear those afflictions sicknesses and bodily pains which we are exercised with in this life The time of our redemption draweth nigh let us but hold out awhile longer and all tears shall be wiped from our eyes and we shall never sigh nor sorrow any more And how soon shall we forget all the misery and uneasiness we endured in this earthly tabernacle when once we are cloathed with that house which is from above we are now but in our journey towards the heavenly Canaan are pilgrims and strangers here and therefore must expect to struggle with many straits and difficulties but it will not be long before we shall come to our journeys end and that will make amends for all we shall then be in a quiet and safe harbour out of the reach of those storms and dangers wherewith we are here encompassed we shall then be at home at our Father's house no more exposed to those inconveniences which so long as we abide in this tabernacle of clay we are subject unto And let us not forfeit all this happiness onely for want of a little more patience and constancy but let us hold out to the end and we shall at last receive abundant recompence for all the trouble and uneasiness of our passage and be enstated in perfect endless rest and peace 4. Let this especially arm and fortify us against the fear of death for death is now conquered and disarmed and can doe us no hurt It separates us indeed from this body for a while but it is onely that we may receive it again far more pure and glorious It takes away our old rags and bestows upon us royal robes either therefore let us lay aside the profession of this hope of the resurrection unto life or else let us with more courage expect our own dissolution and with greater patience bear that of our friends and relations Wo is us who are forced still to sojourn in Mesech and to dwell in the tents of Kedar for how can it be well with us so long as we are chained to these earthly carcasses As God therefore said once to Jacob fear not to go down into Egypt for I will go down with thee and I will surely bring thee up again so may I say to you fear not to go down into the house of rottenness fear not to lay down your heads in the dust for God will certainly bring you out again and that after a much more glorious manner Let death pull down this house of clay since God hath undertaken to rear it up again infinitely more splendid and usefull 5. And Lastly Let us all take care to live so here that we may be accounted worthy to obtain the other world and the resurrection from the dead Let us rise in a moral sense from the death of sin to the life of righteousness and then the second death shall have no power over us A renewed and purified mind and soul shall never fail of an heavenly and glorious body in the other world but a sensual and worldly mind as it hath no affection for so can it find no place in those pure regions of light and happiness Since therefore we have this comfortable hope of a glorious resurrection unto life eternal let us purify our selves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit let us hold fast our profession and stedfastly adhere to our duty whatever we may lose or suffer by it here as knowing we shall reap if we faint not And this is Saint Paul's exhortation with which he concludes his discourse of the resurrection Therefore my beloved brethren be ye stedfast unmoveable always abounding in the work of the Lord forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord. A SERMON Preached before the House of COMMONS The Twelfth Sermon JOB XXVII 5 6. God forbid that I should justify you till I die I will not remove my integrity from me My righteousness I hold fast and will not let it go my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live THESE words may be considered as the resolution of a truly honest man whose vertue and goodness depends not upon any outward accidents or
stomach turns into nourishment the far greater part goes away by excretions and perspirations So that it is not at all impossible but that God Almighty who watcheth over all things by his providence and governs them by his power may so order the matter that what is really part of one man's body though eaten by another yet shall never come to be part of his nourishment or else if it doth nourish him and consequently becomes part of his body that it shall wear off again and sometime before his death be divided and separated from it that so it may remain in a condition to be restored to him who first laid it down in the dust And the like may be said of Men-eaters if any such there be that God by his wise providence may take care either that they shall not be at all nourished by other mens flesh which they so inhumanely devour or if they be nourished by it and some particles of matter which formerly belonged to other men be adopted into their bodies yet that they shall yield them up again before they die that they may be in a capacity of being restored at the last day to their right owners But perhaps it may seem to some unworthy of God and beneath his divine Majesty to attend to such little things and to concern himself about such mean and trivial matters or inconsistent with his ease and happiness to trouble himself with such a perplext and intricate business as curiously to mark and observe all the particles of dust into which the several bodies of men are dissolved and exactly to distinguish one from another and to preserve them entire and unmixt and at last to restore them all to their old bodies But such persons should have a care lest under pretence of pleading for God's honour and glory they really lessen him and derogate from all his other perfections It is the great excellency and perfection of the divine providence that it extends it self to all even to the least things and that nothing is exempted from its care and influence And to fansie that to govern the world is a burthen to God is surely to entertain mean and unworthy conceptions of him and to judge of him by the same rules and measures we do of our selves It is very unreasonable because we are of such weak and frail natures as that a little business and employment presently tires us to think the same of God Almighty as if it were any trouble to him or at all interrupted his infinite pleasure and happiness to take care of the world and order and manage the several affairs of it 2. Of this dust thus preserved and collected together God can easily re-make and rebuild the very same bodies which were dissolved And that this is possible must be acknowledged by all that believe the history of the creation of the world that God formed the first man Adam of the dust of the ground if the body of man be dust after death it is no other than what it was originally and the same power that at first made it of dust may as easily re-make it when it is reduced into the same dust again Nay this is no more wonderfull than the formation of an humane body in the womb which is a thing that we have daily experience of which without doubt is as great a miracle and as strange an instance of the divine power as the resurrection of it can possibly be and were it not so common and usual a thing we should as hardly be brought to believe it possible that such a beautifull fabrick as the body of a man is with nerves and bones and flesh and veins and bloud and the several other parts whereof it consists should be raised out of those principles of which we see it is made as now we are that hereafter it should be rebuilt when it is crumbled into dust Had we onely heard or read of the wonderfull formation of the body of man we should have been as ready to ask how are men made and with what bodies are they born as now we are when we hear of the resurrection How are the dead raised up and with what bodies do they come 3. When God hath raised again the same body out of the dust into which it was dissolved he can enliven it and make it the same living man by uniting it to the same soul and spirit which used formerly to inhabit there And this we cannot with the least shew of reason pretend impossible to be done because we must grant that it hath been already often done We have several undoubted examples of it in those whom the Prophets of old and our blessed Saviour and his Apostles raised from the dead Nay our Saviour himself after he was dead and buried rose again and appeared alive unto his Disciples and others and was sufficiently known and owned by those who had accompanied him and conversed with him for many years together and that not presently but after long doubting and hesitation upon undeniable conviction and proof that he was the very same person they had seen expiring upon the Cross Thus I have endeavoured to shew you that in the strictest notion of the resurrection there is nothing that is absurd or impossible or above the power of such an infinite being as God is The onely thing I know of that can with any pretence of reason be objected against what I have discoursed upon this head is this that this way of arguing from God's omnipotency is very fallacious and hath been often much abused for under this pretence that nothing is impossible to an infinits power all the Rabbinical and Mahumetan Fables or which are as incredible all the Popish Legends may be obtruded on us for Anthentick Histories since there is nothing contained in them that is absolutely above or beyond God's power to effect if he pleases to exert it Whence some of the Fathers have observed that the Omnipotency of God was the great sanctuary of Hereticks to which they always betook themselves when they were baffled by reason And indeed so much is certainly true that God's Omnipotency alone is no good argument to prove the truth of any thing for without doubt there are an infinite number of things which are possible to be done or made which yet God in his infinite wisedom never thought fit to exercise his power about nor perhaps ever will and therefore we ought not to conclude because God can raise us again with the very same bodies we have here that therefore he will doe so But supposing that God hath expresly revealed and declared that he will doe it from the consideration of his infinite power we are bound however impossible it may seem to us so long as it doth not plainly imply a contradiction not to doubt of the truth of it but firmly to believe that he that hath promised can also perform We must first therefore be assured that it is
another life though indeed it is quite of another kind and infinitely greater than the greatest worldly happiness These are onely little comparisons to help our weak apprehensions and childish fancies but we shall never truly and fully know the glories of the other world till we come to enjoy them It doth not yet appear what we shall be from the description which the Scripture gives of the other world as from a Map of an unknown Countrey we may frame in our minds a rude confused idea and conception of it and from thence as Moses from the top of Mount Pisgah may take some little imperfect prospect of the land of promise but we shall never have a complete notion of it till we our selves are entred into it However so much of our future happiness is revealed to us as may be sufficient to raise our thoughts and affections above the empty shadows and fading beauties and flattering glories of this lower world to make us sensible how mean and trifling our present joys and fatisfactions are and to excite and engage our best and most hearty endeavours towards the attainment of it whatever difficulties and discouragements we may meet with in this life though all that can be said or we can possibly know of it comes infinitely short of what one day we shall feel and perceive and be really possessed of Having premised this I come to consider what change shall be wrought in our bodies at the resurrection which is no small part of our future happiness now this change according to the account the Scriptures give of it will consist chiefly in these four things 1. That our bodies shall be raised immortal and incorruptible 2. that they shall be raised in glory 3. that they shall be raised in power 4. that they shall be raised spiritual bodies All which properties of our glorified bodies are mentioned by St. Paul in this Chapter verses 42 43 44. So also is the resurrection of the dead It is sown in corruption it is raised in incorruption It is sown in dishonour it is raised in glory It is sown in weakness it is raised in power It is sown a natural body it is raised a spiritual body And the explication of these words will give us the difference between the glorified body which we shall have in Heaven and that mortal flesh and vile earth which we are now burthened with 1. The bodies which we shall have at the resurrection will be immortal and incorruptible verse 53. For this corruptible must put on incorruption and this mortal must put on immortality Now these words immortal and incorruptible do not onely signify that we shall die no more for in that sense the bodies of the damned are also raised immortal and incorruptible since they must live for ever though it be in intolerable pain and misery but they denote farther a perfect freedom from all those bodily evils which sin hath brought into the world and from whatever is penal afflictive or uneasie to us that our bodies shall not be subject to pain or diseases or those other inconveniences to which they are now daily obnoxious This is called in Scripture the redemption of our bodies the freeing them from all those evils and maladies which they are here subject unto Were we at the general resurrection to receive the same bodies again subject to those frailties and miseries which in this state we are forced to wrestle with I much doubt whether a wise considering person were it left to his choice would willingly take it again whether he would not chuse to let it lie still rotting in the grave rather than consent to be again fettered down and bound fast to all eternity to such a cumbersome clod of earth such a resurrection as this would indeed be what Plotinus calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a resurrection to another sleep it would look more like a condemnation to death again than a resurrection to life The best thing that we can say of this earthly house and tabernacle of clay the tomb and sepulchre of our souls is that it is a ruinous building and it will not be long before it be dissolved and tumble into dust that it is not our home or resting place but that we look for another house not made with hands eternal in the heavens that we shall not always be confined to this dolefull prison but that in a little time we shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption and being disengaged and set free from this burthen of flesh shall be admitted into the glorious liberty of the children of God Alas what frail and brittle things are these bodies of ours How soon are they disordered and discomposed To what a troop of diseases pains and other infirmities are they continually liable And how doth the least distemper or weakness disturb and annoy our minds interrupt our ease and rest and make life it self a burthen to us of how many several parts and members do our bodies consist and if any one of these be disordered the whole man suffers with it If but one of those slender veins or tender membranes or little nerves and fibres whereof our flesh is made up be either contracted or extended beyond its due proportion or obstructed or corroded by any sharp humour or broken what torment and anguish doth it create How doth it pierce our souls with grief and pain Nay when our bodies are at their best what pains do we take to what drudgeries are we forced to submit to serve their necessities to provide for their sustenance and supply their wants to repair their decays to preserve them in health and to keep them tenantable in some tolerable plight and fitness for the soul's use We pass away our days with labour and sorrow in mean and servile employments and are continually busying our selves about such trifling matters as are beneath a rational and immortal spirit to stoop to or be solicitous about And all this onely to supply our selves with food and raiment and other conveniences for this mortal life and to make provision for this vile contemptible flesh that it may want nothing that it craves or desires And what time we can spare from our labour is taken up in resting and refreshing our tired and jaded bodies and giving them such recruits as are necessary to fit them for work again and restore them to their former strength and vigour How are we forced every night to enter into the confines of death even to cease to be at least to pass away so many hours without any usefull or rational thoughts onely to keep these carkasses in repair and make them fit to undergo the drudgeries of the enfuing day In a word so long as these frail weak and dying bodies subject to so many evils and inconvemences both from within and without are so closely linkt and united to our souls that not so much as any one part of them can suffer but our souls must
be affected with it it is impossible that we should enjoy much ease or rest or happiness in this life when it is in the power of so many thousand contingencies to rob us of it But our hope and comfort is that the time will shortly come when we shall be delivered from this burthen of flesh When God shall wipe away all tears from our eyes and there shall be no more death neither sorrow nor crying neither shall there be any more pain for the former things are passed away When we shall hunger no more neither thirst any more neither shall the sun light on us nor any heat for the lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed us and shall lead us into living fountains of waters Oh when shall we arrive to those happy regions where no complaints were ever heard where we shall all enjoy a constant and uninterrupted health and vigour both of body and mind and never more be exposed to pinching frosts or scorching heats or any of those inconveniences which incommode this present pilgrimage When we have once passed from death to life we shall be perfectly eased of all that troublesome care of our bodies which now takes up so much of our time and thoughts we shall be set free from all those tiresome labours and servile drudgeries which here we are forced to undergo for the maintenance and support of our lives and shall enjoy a perfect health without being vexed with any nauseous medicines or tedious courses of physick for the preservation of it Those robes of light and glory which we shall be cloathed with at the resurrection of the just will not stand in need of those carefull provisions or crave those satisfactions which it is so grievous to us here either to procure or be without But they as our Saviour tells us St. Luke 20. verse 35 36. which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world and the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage neither can they die any more for they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 equal to Angels they shall live such a life as the holy Angels do Whence Tertullian calls the body we shall have at the resurrection carnem Angelificatam Angelified flesh which shall neither be subject to those weaknesses and decays nor want that daily sustenance and continual recruit which these mortal bodies cannot subsist without Meats for the belly and the belly for meats but God shall destroy both it and them This is that perfect and complete happiness which all good men shall enjoy in the other world which according to an Heathen Poet may be thus briefly summed up Mens sana in corpore sano a mind free from all trouble and guilt in a body free from all pains and diseases Thus our mortal bodies shall be raised immortal they shall not onely by the power of God be always preserved from death for so the bodies we have now if God pleases may become immortal but the nature of them shall be so wholly changed and altered that they shall not retain the same seeds or principles of mortality and corruption so that they who are once cloathed with them as our Saviour tells us cannot die any more 2. Our bodies shall be raised in glory Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father Matt. 13.43 Our heavenly bodies in brightness and glory shall contend with the splendour of the Sun it self A resemblance of this we have in the lustre of Moses's face which after he had conversed with God in the Mount did shine so gloriously that the children of Israel were afraid to come near him and therefore when he spake to them he was forced to cast a veil over his face to cloud and eclipse the glory of it And that extraordinary and miraculous majesty of St. Stephen's countenance seems to be a presage of that future glory which our heavenly bodies shall be cloathed with Acts 6.15 And all that sate in the Council looking stedfastly on him saw his face as it had been the face of an Angel That is they saw a great light and splendour about him and if the bodies of Saints do sometimes appear so glorious here on earth how will they shine and glitter in the other world when they shall be made like unto Christ's own glorious body for so St. Paul tells us that Christ will fashion our vile bodies like unto his glorious body Now how glorious and splendid the body of Christ is we may ghess by the visions of the two great Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul The former of them when he saw the transfiguration of our Saviour when his face did shine as the sun and his raiment became shining and white as snow was at the sight of it so transported and overcharged with joy and admiration that he was in a manner besides himself for he knew not what he said When our Saviour discovered but a little of that glory which he now possesses and will in due time communicate to his followers yet that little of it made the place seem a paradise and the Disciples were so taken with the sight of it that they thought they could wish for nothing better than always to live in such pure light and enjoy so beautifull a sight It is good for us to be here let us make three tabernacles here let us fix and abide for ever And if they thought this so great a happiness onely to be where such heavenly bodies were present and to behold them with their eyes how much greater happiness must they enjoy who are admitted to dwell in such glorious mansions and are themselves cloathed with so much brightness and splendour The other appearance of our blessed Saviour after his ascension into Heaven to St. Paul as he was travelling to Damascus was so glorious that it put out his eyes his senses were not able to bear a light so refulgent such glorious creatures will our Lord make us all if we continue his faithfull servants and followers and we shall be so wonderfully changed by the word of his power from what we are in this vile state that the bodies we now have will not be able so much as to bear the sight and presence of those bodies which shall be given us at the resurrection Now this excellency of our heavenly bodies the Schoolmen fansie will arise in a great measure from the happiness of our souls The unspeakable joy and happiness which our souls shall then enjoy will break through our bodies and be conspicuous and shine forth in the brightness of our countenances and illustrate them with beauty and splendour as the joy of the soul even in this life hath some influence upon the body and makes an imperfect impression upon the countenance by rendring it more serene and chearfull than otherwise it would be as Solomon tells us Eccles. 8.1 That a man's wisedom maketh his face to shine
his own conscience will be sure to come off well at last in the final account and judgment then God will confirm and ratify the sentence of his conscience and publickly own and approve of what he hath done and clear and vindicate his innocency and reward his fidelity and constancy before all the world At that day when all our great undertakers and contrivers of mischief all the cunning practisers of guile and hypocrisie shall lie down in shame when their secret arts and base tricks whereby they imposed on the world shall be detected and proclaimed as it were upon the house-top and all their unworthy projects and designs shall be laid open and naked being stript of those specious pretences they here disguised them with when the hidden things of darkness shall be brought to light and the counsels of all mens hearts shall be made manifest as the noon-day at that day I say the upright and righteous man shall stand in great boldness and shall lift up his head with joy and confidence and then it will appear that he was the best politician and the onely person that either understood or regarded his true interest To conclude all Our consciences are either our best friends or our greatest enemies they are either a continual feast or a very hell to us A conscience well resolved and setled is the greatest comfort of our lives the best antidote against all kind of temptations the most pretious treasure that we can lay up against an evil day and our surest and strongest hold to secure us from all dangers which can never be taken unless through our own folly and negligence But an evil clamorous conscience that is continually twitting and reproaching us is a perpetual wrack and torment it wasts our spirits and preys upon our hearts and eats out the sweetness of all our worldly enjoyments and fills us with horrid fears and ghastly apprehensions this is that knawing worm that never dieth the necessary fruit of sin and guilt and the necessary cause of everlasting anguish and vexation A SERMON Preached at WHITE-HALL The Thirteenth Sermon 2 TIM I. 10. And hath brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel LIFE and immortality by a figure often used in the holy Scriptures is the same with immortal life which our Saviour hath brought to light that is hath given us undoubted assurance of by the revelation of the Gospel For though all men by the light of nature have some apprehensions of a future state yet their reasonings about it when left to themselves are miserably vain and uncertain and often very wild and extravagant The best discourses of the Heathens about the other life were weak and obscure and the wisest Philosophers spake but doubtfully and conjecturally about it nor even in the books of Moses or writings of the Prophets are there contained any plain express promises of eternal life all the knowledge men had of it before was but like the faint glimmerings of twilight till the sun of righteousness appeared till God was pleased to send one from that invisible world even his own most dear Son to dwell here and converse amongst men to make a full discovery to us of this unknown countrey and to conduct us in the onely true way to this everlasting happiness an happiness so great that we have not words big enough to express it nor faculties large enough to comprehend it but yet so much of it is clearly revealed to us in the Gospel as is most abundantly sufficient to raise our thoughts and incite our sincerest endeavours for the obtaining of it By which plain revelation of this state of immortality First Is most illustriously manifested to us the transcendent goodness and indulgence of our most mercifull Creatour in that he will be pleased to reward such imperfect services such mean performances as the best of ours are with glory so immense as that eye hath not seen nor ear heard nor can it enter into the heart of man to conceive the greatness of it There is nothing in us nor any thing done by us that bears the least proportion to such an ample recompence Our best actions stand in need of a pardon so far are they from deserving to be crowned All possible duty and obedience we certainly owe to him to whom we owe our beings and should God almighty have exacted it from us onely on the account of his sovereign authority over us as we are his creatures we had been indispensably obliged to all subjection to him but that he should over and above promise to reward our faithfulness to him with eternal life this is a most wonderfull instance of his infinite grace and goodness Secondly By this revelation of immortal life is farther demonstrated the exceeding great love of our ever blessed Saviour who by his death and perfect obedience not onely purchased pardon for all our past rebellions and transgressions not onely redeemed us from hell and destruction to which we had all rendred our selves most justly liable which alone had been an unspeakable favour but also merited an everlasting kingdom of glory for us if with true repentance we return to our duty And this if any thing shews the infinite value and efficacy of our Saviour's appearing on our behalf that by his most powerfull mediation he obtained not onely freedom from punishment but also unexpressibly glorious rewards for us vile and wretched sinners upon easie and most reasonable conditions Thirdly This especially recommends our Christianity to us which contains such glad tidings which propounds such mighty arguments to engage us to our duty such as no other religion ever did or could For since hope and fear are the great hinges of all government and the most prevailing passions of humane nature what better thing can be propounded to our hope than to be as happy both in body and soul as we can be and that for ever what more dreadfull thing to our fear than everlasting misery and this indeed is the utmost that can be said or offered to men in order to the reclaiming them from their sins and recovering them to a conscientious observance of God's laws that God hath appointed a day wherein he will call all men to an account for the deeds they have done in this body and reward the sincere faithfull Christian with immortal glory and punish the disobedient and impenitent with everlasting vengeance and if men can harden themselves against these most powerfull considerations if they are not at all concerned or solicitous about their eternal happiness or misery what other motives are likely to prevail with them or able to make any impression upon them For is there any thing of greater weight and moment that can be propounded to the reasons and understandings of men than what shall become of them in a state which they are very shortly to enter upon and which shall never have an end I humbly therefore beg your patience whilst with all the
are the fond lovers of this world Others are willing to go to this place but they think it time enough yet They would tarry and live here where they are as long as they can and when they can stay no longer here then they would be glad to be wafted to this fortunate Island These are they that defer their repentance till a death-bed Others acknowledge that there is such a place where a man may live as happily as this person describes but they suspect that he doth not shew the right way to it They would find out a nearer and shorter cut to this Countrey These are Hereticks and Schismaticks Others are resolved to venture with him and begin the journey but meeting with some difficulties and dangers in the passage they are soon discouraged and frighted and return home These are they who receive the word of God gladly but when tribulation and persecution arise by and by they are offended Lastly a few amongst us wholly relying upon this Person 's promises and preferring them before all present possessions and enjoyments forsake all their concerns and relations here and absolutely give up themselves to his guidance And when in the passage they meet with any dangers or hardships cross winds or storms though this may make them stagger a little and fill them with doubts and fears yet they are resolved still to go on and venture all upon it These and these onely are the true believers There are many degrees of faith but the least degree of saving faith is when the consideration of another world is become our most prevailing interest and is the main principle that gives law and rule to all our conversation Let none then think to be saved by such a faith as the very Devils in Hell have and yet remain Devils still They believe these great truths of Christianity as really and as much as thou dost who onely assentest to them in thy understanding and confessest them with thy mouth but deniest and contradictest them in thy life and practice To pretend to believe this great doctrine of another life which shall never end and not to govern our selves by this persuasion is the most unaccountable and prodigious folly that a reasonable creature can be guilty of according to that famous saying of a great man in this case That the strangest monster in nature was a speculative Atheist one that denies the being of a God and a future state excepting one and that was the practical Atheist who professed to believe both but lived as if he was certain there were neither Nor indeed is the difference between them great The one the Atheist winks hard and so rushes blindfold upon eternal ruine The other the wicked believer runs madly upon it with both his eyes wide open How inexcusable must they be at the last day what plea can they offer for themselves who obstinately refused that happiness which yet they acknowledged to be infinitely beyond all that this world could bless its most darling favourites with who wilfully precipitated themselves into those evils and miseries which they had a plain foresight of I conclude this head with that answer which a defender of Atheistical Principles is said once to have given to a companion of his who freely indulged himself in the same vitious course of life the Atheist did but yet took upon him to wonder how one that denied the being of a God and of a future life could quiet his mind in such a desperate estate Nay rather says the Atheist it is much more strange how you can quiet your mind or sleep contentedly in such a vitious course of life as I see you lead whilst you believe such things as you say you do And so indeed one would think that it was impossible for such a man to live in peace without laying aside either his faith or his sins Now the Atheist chuses to lay aside his faith that he may sin more quietly the true Christian lays aside his sins that they may not defeat his hopes and which of these two acts more wisely if we will not see in this our day the final event and issue of things will certainly convince us to our everlasting regret and confusion Thus much for those who do profess to believe another life but do it not really and heartily III. All that remains is to apply my self in a few words to those who do heartily and constantly believe this great truth of another life after this who not onely assent to this doctrine with their understandings but have made this future happiness their ultimate choice and desire And to them I need not say much for this faith alone will always teach them what to doe without the help of an instructour It will e'en force them to doe well without a guide or monitour This will fortify our minds against all the temptations we may meet with from this world or any of its bewitching enjoyments So that that man who hath his eternal state always in his eye is set above the power of this world's frowns or smiles He can neither be tempted by the sufferings of this life nor yet enticed by any of its alluring charms Can he whose thoughts are fixed upon thrones and kingdoms and immortal glory be diverted by the gay baubles or glittering toys which this world presents him with It offers him infinitely too little When the soul once by faith is mounted beyond the stars into that place where God and his Saviour dwells how mean and contemptible how vile and sordid do all things here below appear when this whole earth seems but a point how next to nothing is that small pittance of it which any one man can possess or enjoy Faith looks beyond this present scene of things beholds this world dissolv'd and all the glory and pomp of it vanishing and this curtain being drawn there appears to his view a new world wherein are joys and pleasures and honours substantial and eternal the prospect and fore-thought of which rectifies his judgment about these inferiour things and begets very slight and undervaluing thoughts of all things on this side Heaven This faith will inspire us with strength and activity and carry us out even beyond our selves will animate us with such courage and resolution as that we shall despise all dangers and difficulties and think eternal happiness a good bargain whatever pains or trouble it may cost us to purchase it Such great hopes set before us will animate us with an undaunted bravery and courage and enable us to work wonders This conquers the love of life it self which is most deeply implanted in our natures for what will not a man give or part with for the saving of his life Yet they who have been endued with this faith have not counted their lives dear to them so that they might finish their course with joy I have not time now to set before you the trophies and victories which this faith hath