improved by the Resurrection should by the power of that Spirit that raises them ascend into Heaven and be capable of dwelling there For the possibility of this is exemplified to us in the Ascension of a Humane Body that was dead and rose again as we likewise shall die and rise again But now whether our Lord's Ascension be to teach us where we shall live when we are risen again or no i.e. Whether we may conclude from thence that we shall ascend into Heaven as well as we do that we shall rise again from the Dead because he did is not easie to be resolved He told his Disciples indeed that in his Father's house are many mansions And that one reason of his Ascension was to prepare a place for them and that at his second coming he would receive them to himself that where he is they might be also Joh. 14.2 3. But it does not plainly appear from hence that we shall ascend and live with him in Heaven The preparing the place where we shall live with him is the fruit of his Ascension and we are plainly taught in this and other Texts that when he comes again we shall live with him in the place that he has prepared for us now he is in Heaven But it is not evident that by his Father's House and the Mansions therein we are to understand the Heavens whither he is ascended He does intend thereby 't is true the place that he prepares for us now he is in Heaven and where we shall live with him when he descends again from Heaven But why may we not understand by this place the New Jerusalem that St. John saith he saw come down from God out of Heaven Rev. 21.2 And indeed why should St. Peter say we look for new Heavens and a new Earth wherein dwelleth Righteousness if that new Earth which God will create be not designed to be the Habitation of Men after the Resurrection It seems something more natural and easie to be believed that Man who consists of a material as well as a spiritual Part should rather have his Habitation in that place where he was made and which is suited to the condition of his Nature than to be carried to the place where Angels and pure Spirits have their abode St. Paul tells us that we which are alive and the dead shall when the Lord descends be caught up together in the Clouds to meet the Lord in the Air and so shall we ever be with the Lord 1 Thess 4.17 But his meaning is only this That when he shall come to judge the World we shall go forth to meet him or shall be conducted or conveyed by Angels through the Air to the Judgment-seat and after he has given Judgment upon the World we shall for ever be with him which does not imply that we shall be carried into Heaven and there be with him but where-ever he is whether in Heaven or in the New Earth that as St. Peter saith we look for we shall ever be with him But let this matter be as it will the place where we shall be with him does require a Change in our Bodies If we must go to Heaven with him Flesh and Blood such as it is now cannot inherit or enter into that Kingdom And therefore some have imagin'd that our Bodies must be turn'd into Spirits because the Heavens above is the proper Habitation of Spirits Or if we shall live with him upon Earth it will be upon a New Earth wherein Righteousness is to dwell an Earth renewed on purpose that it may be a suitable dwelling-place for our renewed Bodies And this proves that our Bodies must be exalted to a more excellent state purified from all those corrupt Appetites that make such a World as this is needfull to us For if our Bodies should rise such as they are now this World such as it is would be a Habitation proper enough for it nay such a one as they can only live in But a World discharged from all its Vanity and Corruption does require an Immortal incorruptible Creature to live in it And now if the same Body we now live in must rise again and not only so but rise purified and exalted to a glorious Condition according to the Improvements we now make in Vertue let us consider what Thoughts this ought to furnish us with And 1. How satisfactory ought the Doctrine of the Resurrection to be to us The only reason that Death is so formidable to us now is because it puts an end to the life of these Bodies that we extremely love and doat upon 'T is very uncomfortable to think that we who feel the Benefits of life and have a quick and pleasing sense of the comforts and satisfaction of living in a World that is furnish'd with all things that are delightfull to the Eye and pleasing to the Ear and gratefull to all the Senses that belong to our Bodies must ere-long languish away to a breathless Carcase That our Eyes that let in so many delightfull Objects must be eaten out with Worms our Ears stopt and our Bodies crumbled to Dust and that we shall no longer enjoy either the fruits of our labours or the benefit of those designs we have laid for the raising our Fortunes But must bid adieu to our Estates to our Pleasures to our Companions and Friends never to hear nor see nor rejoyce with them more in this life And now if Death upon this account is so melancholy a Consideration If it damps our Spirits and chills our Blood to think of leaving these Bodies that we are so well accustom'd to and acquainted with and a World where we have so many Interests and Engagements and which we find so well fitted for us to go to live in a place we can give very little account of and without these Bodies which we know not as yet what it is to live without How much contentment should it be to us to have a Doctrine that assures us we shall live again in these Bodies that we leave behind us when we go into the other World with so much reluctancy and unwillingness Upon this account Religion ought to be very dear to us and Atheism lookt upon as the most uncomfortable Opinion that can be thrust upon the World because among other mischiefs it deprives us of the hopes of having our Bodies restored to us again which is the most comfortable thing that a Spirit which by the Law of its Creation is to live in a Body can think of It must be a very uneasie thing for an Atheist not only to think of leaving this World but of losing his Body which is the only part of him that he loves for ever This Man above all others must be extremely afflicted with the thoughts of dying because if his Opinion be true he has nothing to love but his Body and this World He must look upon himself to be only made for this World and therefore
and by going to the place of separate Spirits has taken possession of it as his own Kingdom in right of his Conquest over the Devil And the Resurrection he has assured us of will free us from our shame For then Death will be swallowed up of Victory and we shall appear in the World and live like our selves again This will be the day of our Triumph and Joy when that which is sown in dishonour and weakness shall rise in glory and power And because we go out of this World with the expectation of a Resurrection we may appear before the Inhabitants of the invisible World without any dread or shame because we shall there live in hope under the protection of a mercifull Redeemer 4. This may inform us of the Difference between this Life and that we shall then live We shall live in the same Bodies indeed but not in Bodies that carry such marks of dishonour and shame in them as now they do nor such a Life as now we live For the great difference between them is this That now our Bodies are frail and brittle and we carry the great valuable Treasure of Life in Earthen Vessels that are subject to decay and which erelong will be broke to pieces and lose the Treasure that is put into them But then they will be purified to a Heavenly frame and no longer subject to those innumerable Chances that beat upon and at last break them down Here it is only that little scantling of Life which Sin and the Divine Wrath have left us that we enjoy but there we shall have that full portion that God in our Creation set before us and what through the Redemption of his Son we are restored to the Hopes of Here we live subject to a thousand Miseries and Infirmities and are put to daily trouble to repair the decays of a corruptible Nature and at last after all the supports and refreshments of Meat and Drink or the Remedies of Physick our Spirits run off and the Grave becomes our Habitation But then we shall have a Life unless by our own folly we treasure up so much Wrath as will not suffer us to live and we our selves carry Misery along with us a Life I say that no Sorrow shall embitter no Wants weary and disquiet with Labour and Solicitude and which will be able to sustain it self for ever without any of those Succours and Remedies that our present Necessities call for There will be none of that thoughtfulness for to morrow which now often breaks our Rest and embitters our Lives no sweating for Bread to maintain Life nor any of those Anxieties which here the fears of losing what we have do perplex us with For there the Reason of all this will be taken away because we shall then enter upon a World replenish'd with all that Humane Nature can desire and the Life we shall live will have none of those Exigences that suppose imperfection in us That which makes this Life so full of vexation and sorrow is the Curse that is come upon our selves and that which is come upon the Earth for our sakes For it was but fit that the Earth should be changed when Sin had alter'd the Nature of us that were to live upon it And since a Mortal and Corruptible Creature must live a Life of Sorrow and Labour it was requisite the Earth should be despoiled of that fertility that gave innocent Man an easie Maintenance and be Cursed to bear Briars and Thorns for a Creature that was to fetch his Food out of it with Sweat and Sorrow Now what wonder is it that the Life of Man which is not to be sustain'd but by his own Labour should begin to be over-run with Cares and Solicitudes when that fertility which fed him with Ease began to leave the Earth and instead of the Fruits of Paradise he saw Briars and Thorns spring up all about him 'T is Natural when our Bread fails and we see a scarcity of Provision begin to appear to have our Cares heightned and our Heads fill'd with Thoughtfulness So that our Solicitudes and Anguish for the things to sustain Life are but like the scramblings of Children when they are afraid the things they value should all be snatch'd from them For when the Earth began to fail Man of that plentifull and easie Provision with which in Innocency he was fed it is no wonder that like Men afraid lest the whole World should fail us our Desires grew impatient and made us restless and thoughtfull But now in the other World when we live again we shall not want the things that are needfull to us now and all that we shall need to make that Life perfectly Happy will be abundantly provided for us Then the Curse that took away our Blessings will it self be taken away And the New Heavens and New Earth that God will then create will no more be an occasion to us of those vexatious Solicitudes that the Poverty of this World begets in us than any Exigencies in our Nature will We shall rise with Bodies renewed i.e. Freed from all the ill Consequences of our first Apostasie and we shall live in a World renew'd too i.e. Freed from the Effects of that Curse that brought forth Briars and Thorns in it I mean which is the Cause of all the Miseries and Sorrows of this Life For they who shall be accounted worthy to obtain that World and the Resurrection from the Dead can die no more for they are equal unto the Angels Matt. 26.36 What that means we cannot tell because it is little that we know as yet of the state and condition of the other World But this it teaches us That we shall be Immortal and live just such a Life as they do Not such a Life of Labour and Toil and Misery as now we do because the Curse that is the cause of it will then be taken off 5. Let us consider how much Reason we have to prepare our selves for another Life Life is so valuable a thing to us that we judge it worth all the tiresome Journeys we take and the irksome Labour we are at to lay up something for the sustaining of it 'T is for the sake of Life that we even chuse to Drudge our Bodies in continual Toil and to expose Life it self to very great Dangers For had we none of those wants that put us to pain and create Thoughtfulness in us could we live without Labour and Industry we should chuse to sit still and to enjoy Life with ease And if we are content to undergo so many Hardships for a Life that is Mortal if we believe there is a Necessity upon us to follow our Callings and to be intent upon our worldly Interests that we may provide those Necessaries of Life without which we shall certainly die and which when we have them will not long preserve the Lives we labour for With how much greater care ought we to lay up
adjudg'd to Immortality but that Life and Death were set before him to be the Rewards of his doings Whether Immortality was a natural Privilege of innocent Man and the Mortality that we are now subject to was a natural Effect of his Eating the forbidden fruit or no i.e. Whether his Body which was made out of the Dust was naturally subject to those decays which at last turn ours into Dust again Or whether it was so built that no Time or Age could possibly have impair'd it if he had not eaten of a fruit that tainted his Vitals is a question that we need not much trouble our selves about For what-ever we believe in this case yet it is certain that Mortality and Death even according to this nice Speculation came upon him and us by his transgressing the Law that upon pain of Death forbad him to eat of such a Tree Those who suppose he was made Immortal i.e. That Immortality was conferr'd upon him in his very Creation do understand no more by the Command not to eat of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge but only a Caution to avoid a fruit that would kill him of it self Now as to this matter it may seem reasonable enough to believe that a Body that was not created Corruptible as Adam's was not would not have dissolved to Dust again as ours do if he had not corrupted it by sin For though his Body was made of the same matter as ours are yet it was in a far more perfect state In us the Appetites of the Body are broken loose and grown extravagant and the Principles of our Constitution are not so equally pois'd at to prevent those decays and languishings which at last issue in Death The rage of our Appetites often destroy us by being the occasion of Intemperance and Excesses in Eating and Drinking and bodily Pleasures And the predominancy of some of those Humours that belong to our Bodies is the occasion of Diseases in us and a natural reason why we die But while Man was innocent though he did stand in need of Meat and Drink to nourish and sustain his Body yet his Food was wholsome and his Appetites so temperate that he was in no danger of dying either through the illness of his Body or by an extravagant Excess And since the several Humours of his Body were at peace the good and sound Constitution of Body with which he was created did exempt him from those decays and infirmities that let Death in upon us He was 't is true made out of the Dust as we are and needed the supports of Meat and Drink as we do And on that account it is plain that he was not Immortal but that there was one way at least that it was possible for him to die though not so many as do destroy us Hunger and a want of food would certainly have kill'd him as well as it will us or else there needed not such a provision of food have been made for him in Eden But yet as he was so well provided for that there was no danger of his dying this way So his Body though formed out of the Dust was so well built that Age and Infirmity would have made no Impressions upon it And besides we are to consider that the Ground being not under a Curse as it is now his Body could naturally be no more subject to Vanity than the Earth out of which he was made For why may we not suppose that the Earth was not then what it is now as it is suited to the Condition of our Mortal sinfull state no more than it will be the same it is now when we come out of our Graves to live in that New World that will be prepared for us when we have shook off our Corruption And as the Renovation of our Bodies does require that there should be New Heavens and a New Earth for us to live in So the Earth in which innocent Man lived was such as was proper for him to inhabit It was not surely such as now it is since a Curse has come upon it for the sake of Man i.e. Even out of Charity to Man that he who is under a Curse might have a proper Habitation to live in And when the Earth out of which Adam was taken was not subject to the Bondage of Corruption under which it now groans his Body though framed out of the Dust was not for that reason to resolve into Dust again But though he was not naturally Mortal neither was he naturally Immortal For a Creature that is made Immortal does not stand in need of Meat and Drink that he may live neither could it have been in the power of the forbidden fruit to have kill'd an Immortal Creature because what-ever is naturally Immortal cannot die And therefore is not in danger of being hurt by Poyson or the Sword or any other Instrument of Death So that it is not good sense to say He was naturally Immortal and yet that the Fruit he was forbidden to Eat of could naturally kill him For what can kill that which cannot die And besides Why was the Tree of Life planted in the Garden if Adam was created Immortal It was not surely for show only but for use as all the other Trees even that of Knowledge undoubtedly were For though there was good Reason to prohibit a Tree of Knowledge to a Creature that was by his own industry and endeavour to improve himself in Knowledge and Vertue yet perhaps he was at last to have been allowed the liberty of Eating that Fruit as the Reward of his Labour and for the highest improvement of his knowing Faculty if by Care and Diligence he applied himself to that which was his great Duty and Business It is not to be thought surely that God planted the Tree of Knowledge in the Garden merely for the hurt of his Creature or to become a Temptation to him to ruine himself but rather for his good had he waited the time that God in his Wisdom had appointed to reward him with that fruit whereby all his further search after Knowledge should have been ended by having this Wisdom and Knowledge he by his own Industry had acquired secured and perfected But when by a hasty step he endeavour'd to gratifie his Appetite of Knowledge by becoming like unto God knowing Good and Evil at once without any labour of his own his Appetite became vicious and his Attempt was such a Breach of the Order and a Transgression of the Method that God had appointed him that he denied him the benefit of the Tree of Life and condemn'd him to a Mortal condition And therefore the subtil Serpent when he tempted Eve to Eat of this Fruit spoke a Truth when he told her God does know that in the day you eat thereof your Eyes shall be opened and ye shall be as Gods knowing good and evil Gen. 3.5 He knew the vertue that was in this Tree and therefore it is said
who would not have Life rendered unpleasant by any thing ought above all things to startle and tremble at the thoughts of Death as the greatest Enemy to Life All that are persuaded there is another Life after this are taught by this belief to have a very indifferent regard to this life because they know that the loss of this life is not the loss of all the life they hope for But now the Atheist is so much wedded to this life that he places all his Happiness in the delights of it and cares not to think of any other And therefore the thoughts of dying must certainly be very troublesome to him because he is persuaded he shall for ever lose that which he would not have embitter'd and that all his joys and pleasures all that he accounts good for him are thereby for ever gone And now what a wofull condition is this Man in who lives under such a persuasion as this He shows he is no Enemy to Life when he tells the World That all that he aims at is the making Life as pleasant and easie as 't is possible to be And yet that which he so much loves he rallies upon and pleases himself with the thoughts of losing it for ever Now if it be so gratefull to him to think he shall die never to live more why is he so tender at all of Life why does he seek out ways to make it pleasant why does he not live in a continual neglect and contempt of it if it be so ridiculous a thing to live as he would persuade the World it is when he derides the Religious Man's hopes of living again though he dies But if Life be worth all the care and pampering that he bestows upon it he of all Men ought not to make it his scorn He pretends to be a very great friend to Life while he undertakes to teach the World the best way of living And yet at the same time that he professes so much kindness and friendship for Life his Principles make him a perfect Enemy to it He believes that there is no more Life after this but that when once Death has closed his Eyes he shall never wake more and this Thought he so much pleases himself with that he laughs at all that do not believe as he does And yet he tells the World that he is an Atheist purely for the good of Life He is an Atheist because he would not have his Life sour'd with ill-natur'd Restraints as he believes them And yet because he is an Atheist he cannot endure to hear of a life that is Everlasting or of recovering his life again when he has lost it And is it now a wise thing to be an Atheist when every one that is so is taught by his Principles to thwart his own desires and to make it a part of his Wisdom to deride the belief of enjoying that for ever which he pretends to have a greater value for and to consult the good of more than any body else If he be wise in being such a friend to life as he would have the World believe he is when he would have nothing to interrupt or lessen the joys and pleasantries of it why is he such an Enemy to is as to be unwilling the Faith of those that believe an Eternal life should be true But if he be wise in ridiculing and opposing this Faith why does he profess himself a friend to Life Either he must be a fool in being contented that this belief should be false or in loving Life so much as he does Especially when we consider it is for the sake of Life that he chuses to believe as he does Why is Life so precious a thing to him that he cannot endure to think of any thing that is troublesome to it when with a great deal of satisfaction he can think of loving it for ever Atheism then is a very foolish thing not only because it makes a Man an Enemy to his own Life but an Enemy to the Immortality of it only that he may be thought the greatest friend to it by providing extravagantly for it now as a foolish Heir sells the Reversion of an Estate for the present Enjoyment of a small pittance of it The Atheist will perhaps plead for himself that he is no Enemy to a suture Life but to the belief of it without Reason And it is true he is no Enemy to the Life that he now lives nor is there any reason that he should because it is all he hopes for But if he loves Life at all why is he a friend to those Principles that will not suffer him to rejoyce in the hopes of a Resurrection to Life again He saith he sees no reason to believe this Suppose he had well consider'd the matter yet methinks he should not deride those who are persuaded there is good reason to believe it but rather lament it as his misfortune that he cannot discern the reason upon which others ground their belief For he that so loves his Life as to be unwilling to lose it should at least be very favourable towards a Doctrine that promises the Restauration of Life again and wish that he could see good reason to believe the Truth of it But to laugh and make a mock at it as if it was not worth wishing it was true does not savour of that Wisdom which a love of Life should prompt him to 5. We may hence inferr the Reasonableness of a Holy Life Our Religion does wisely command us to set our Affections on things above and not on things on the Earth and to have our Conversation in Heaven because our Life in this World will shortly have an End and it is in Heaven that we must live an Everlasting life Upon which account it is very fit that we should acquaint our selves with the Nature of the place we are going to and how we must live when we come thither And as he who is about to settle in another Country to send those Vertues before-hand thither which may be a maintenance to us when we come thither We to be sure ought not so to live now as if we were to live no more for what will become of us when we do live again if we have made no provision at all for that life The main solicitude that ought to fill our thoughts is not how we may thrive and improve our Fortunes in this World i.e. To put our selves into such a condition that while we live here we need not fear either poverty or the disgrace that accompanies it but what we must do that when we are returned from the Dead we may not be despised for our want of such Vertues as are to support that Life This ought to be the End of our Living now because we must live again For a loose inconsiderate way of living can be reasonable upon no account but either because we shall never be taken away from a World of