variety in the Aims of these singularly learned Men Whom then shall we follow or shall we follow none shall we joyn issue with Maximus Tyrius in the Discourse above commended and say what 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That God hath blown the expectation and desire of Good as a living spark into the heart of Man but hath hidden from him the Way to find it out No by no means This were no better then blasphemously to cast mans fault upon his maker God indeed for Reasons hidden from us and wrapt up in the abysse of his own secret knowledge formerly as St Paul speaks winked at the Errors and vanity of mankind imparting true wisedome and the knowledge and desire of the cheifest Good to very few But since Christ the light of the world appeared among us he hath publikly preach't these Truths First that the Enjoyment of the kingdome of Heaven is the cheifest and indeed the only considerable good Secondly that there is no way to attain this Kingdome of God without first attaining his Righteousnesse and submitting our selves according to our Sacramentall Obligations to the Rules of the Gospell Now these being laid down first as principles of eternall and unalterable Truth Our saviour giveth us in the next place the only safe advice Namely that abandoning all other foolish and idle Counsels we should give our selves to be his Disciples we should addict our selves to Christianity as to a Discipline of true Wisdome we should design no lesse then Heavenly Glory which is no doubt the cheifest Good Omnis sapientia hominis in hoc uno est ut Deum cognoscat colat Hoc nostrum Dogma haec sententia est Quanta igitur voce possum testificor proclamo denuntio Hoc est illud quod Philosophi omnes in tota sua vita quaesierunt nec unquam tamen investigare ◠comprehendere tenere valuerunt quia Religionem aut pravam tenuerunt aut totam penitus sustulerunt Facessant igitur illi omnes qui humanam vitam non instruunt sed turbant Quid enim docent aut quem instruunt qui seipsos nondum instruxerunt Quem sanare aegroti quem regere caeci possunt huc ergo nos omnes quibus est curae sapientia conferamus an expectabimus donec Socrates aliquid sciat aut Anaxagoras in tenebris lumen inveniat aut Democritus veritatem de puteo extrahat aut Empedocles dilatet animi sui semitas aut Arcesilas Carneades videant sentiant percipiant Ecce vox de caelo veritatem docens nobis sole ipso clarius lumen ostendens Quid nobis iniqui sumus sapientiam suscipere cunctamur quam clari homines contritis in quaerendo aetatibus suis nunquam reperire potuerunt Qui vult sapiens ac beatus esse audiat dei vocem discat justitiam sacramentum Nativitatis suae norit humana contemnat divina suscipiat ut summum illud bonum ad quod natus est possit adipisci Lactantius lib. 3. de falsa Sap. cap. 30. We should sell all that we have rather then to mille the buying of this pearl And when we have fixed our Eye aright we should then pursue wisely that Happinesse that we have in our Design we should endeavor after it in that way by which it is only attainable which is declared to be the way of Righteousnesse Nor is it any Righteousnesse that will lead us to this Kingdome The Righteousnesse of the Scribes and Pharisees will not do it Our Savior hath told us in the beginning of his Sermon in the Mount that Except our Righteousnesse exceed their Righteousnesse we shall never enter into the Kingdome of Heaven Originall Righteousnesse we have none at all Wee lost it God knowes assoon as we were entrusted with it Actuall Righteousnesse we have none of out own We must speak of all our Righteousnesse as the Man to the Prophet concerning his Axe when the head of it fell into the Water 2 Kings 6.5 Alas Master for it was borrowed Wee must have a Righteousnesse without us called by our Savior Matt. 6.33 Gods Righteousnesse that is a Righteousnesse given and imputed And we must have a Righteousnesse within us and that is Gods Righteousnesse also a Righteousnesse given though inherent A spirit of Righteousnesse a new Spirit and a new heart This inherent Righteousnesse giveth us an assurance that we have a title to the other The other the Righteousnesse without us that of our Savior is indeed only meritorious In the argument of merit O Christ we will make mention of thy Righteousnesse even of thy Righteousnesse only And yet we know that without holinesse without inherent holinesse no man shall see thy face No man shall have the benefit of thy Passion or any part of thy Righteousnesse that hath not thy Spirit For whatsoever hath not the Spirit of Christ they are none of his It is not the calling of our Savior Lord Lord that will give us any title to his merits without our sincere endeavor to do the will of our father which is in Heaven This I take to be a sufficiently orthodox and sense of those words seek yee first the Kingdome of God and his Righteousnesse Now if these are the principall of our Masters precepts surely we have no reason to think his Yoke uneasy or his Commandments greivous this is the summe of the burthen that he layeth on us He hath provided an Estate of unconceivable Glory and Happinesse for us And hath commanded us to seek it And further least we should erre and mistake the way that leadeth to this Estate He hath declared unto us that it must be sought in the Way of Righteousnesse for the Robe of Glory can no more become an unrighteous man then Honor can bee seemly for a fool He hath commanded us for our own sakes to seek this Kingdome of Glory but to seek it in that just proper and humble way and method that Himself hath prescribed And when you recollect and consider the Nature and Excellence of that Estate you will confesse it an Estate beyond all others infinitely worth your seeking Reflect then but with one glance of your Mind upon it as it is described in the certain Oracles of eternall Truth David first in the 16th Psalm and the last verse assureth us that in the Kingdome of Heaven or which is all one in the presence of God there is fullnesse of Joy and that at his right hand there are pleasures for evermore Now in these words there is a description of the greatest happinesse that can be or can be imagined There is nothing for its nature more desireable then Joy or delight there is no measure or proportion better then fullnesse There is no Duration better then Eternity And therefore he that hath Joy for the kind and fullnesse of that Joy for the Measure and joyes or pleasures which for the duration of them shall last not for a day or a year nor only for ten years or
our Mistake concerning the Vanity of the things of this world but our Ignorance or Infidelity concerning the Things of the next The whole Nature and all the Qualities of that Happinesse while we are here We shall never perfectly know But God hath given us such a portion of Revelation concerning it as may sufficiently commend it to us And indeed in these and many other Texts very excellent things are spoken concerning a glorious state to come a state of Happinesse which Religious and good Men shall enjoy in Heaven I may speak in the phrase of the Psalmist very excellent and glorious things are spoken of thee thou City of God Heaven is a place of so great Glory that it hath gotten some of the prime attributes of the great and glorious God that dwelleth in it God is infinite and so is the Happinesse of Heaven God is incomprehensible and so is the Happinesse of Heaven The excellence of God Himself Naturally and the Glory in that Heaven which he hath prepared for his own Mansion and for the future Mansion of his servants are too great to be expressed truly and without a Metaphor otherwise than by Negatives It was true without a Metaphor what we declared in the first part That in Heaven there shall be no greif no sorrow no pain But how shall we speak the positive parts of Heavenly glory by way of Negatives Why we may speak as the Church anciently did by the mouth of the Prophet Isaiah Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard what that is what positive parts of Glory God hath prepared for those that wait upon Him And St Paul goes further in the same Way when he telleth us that Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard nor which is somewhat beyond what is contained in the expression of the Prophet Esay have those things entred into the heart of Man that God hath prepared for those that love Him The Eye of a man that is gentile and curious sees much and the Ear of the same Man heareth much more than his Eye ever saw and his Phancy conceives beyond them both But the heart of a Man if we take it for his will and Desires enlarge themselves infinitely and exceed all For a man may will and desire all happinesse indefinitely even that which he never saw nor perfectly conceived But the things that God hath prepared for those that love Him are so great and containe so much of Happinesse and delight that St Paul affirmeth they have not entred into the Heart certainly not into the imaginative part and it may bee not perfectly into the appetitive part of the soul of Man But suppose that St Paul spake only of the understanding Phancy or Imaginative faculties when He saith that the Glories of Heaven have not entred upon mans heart It is surely a very high commendation of that Glory which Christ hath purchased and prepared for his servants and which the spirits of just men made perfect shall enjoy in Heaven when he telleth us that it is greater than any that our externall or internall senses greater than any that our animal or rationall faculties can apprehend more great more perfectly excellent than did ever enter into the understanding or Imagination of Man Great surely are the riches and ample is the dominion of Nature But greater and more ample that of human Phancy The enjoyments in Nature great there are Beauties of Art and Nature to please the Eye There are the delicate Enchantments of Voices and other Musick to delight and Ravish the Ear. Nature for the Tast hath afforded us variety of pleasant meats and drinks and the studied and Curious Arts of Luxury have found out many more Every sense hath its entertainments fitted for it and the world is not so poor but that there is somewhat what in it to answer allmost every Phancy and every appetite of Man In the Citty there is wealth In the court there is rich apparrell the gracefull Meen gallantry and glory In the University there is learning and good Natured men there is that great pleasure of wise and excellent Conversation With Councellors there is civil prudence with Commanders there is courage and Conduct with other professions other excellencyes to be admir'd There are in the world Royalties Primacies Principallities Empires for such as are ambitious of them But which are of ten thousand times more value than all that I have mention'd There are yet further such precious attainments to be had even here below as vertue and the inchoate grace of God inchoate I say for in heaven onely shall our vertues and our Graces together with our glory bee made perfect These and many other enjoyments and delights there are which have been respectively seen by the Eye or heard of by the Ear or apprehended by Man And though few men have attain'd to all or the most part of these Yet a man in his heart or mind by the consideration of the parts may without difficulty conceive all these great delights to meet in one and the same person And further it is at least conceivable that all those pleasures may continue with Him and with his children and descendents in his sight any finite number of years even the greatest that can be counted by Arithmetick and even what he cannot conceive or understand with his Mind he may indefinitely wish for or desire with his heart as an unknown Happinesse But if we take up in the narrower Interpretation and confine this word Heart to the Understanding faculties It must needs be confess 't that it were a strange portentous state of delight and Glory if all these known and conceiveable parts of Happinesse should thus accrue to any one in particular and indeed it would be so great that rightly to conceive this Estate if it were only as great as any that can enter into the understanding of Man one had need of a knowledge not only like that of Salomon comprehensive of the Nature and use of all plants or of any one Species of things but of the Nature and advantages of all Objects whatsoever and so rather like that of the first Man Adam who knew all the Excellencies of all the Creatures and gave them names accordingly But yet St Paul telleth us which is the consideration that I would enforce That even such an Estate it being seen with the Eye and heard of by the Ear and having entred into the heart of Man is of a much baser and lower Nature than is the true Est te of that Grace and Glory which the Blessed in Heaven shall be possessed of Adam himself who knew so much of the Nature of all things yet knew not perfectly the Glory of this estate and St Paul who in his rapture into the third Heaven saw it yet confesseth that it was unspeakeable And here he does not only tell us from the Prophet Esay that Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard but hee addes nor have those things entred
God hath prepared for those that wait upon Him St John telleth us 1 John 3.2 that it does not yet appear what we shall bee but this we know that when our Lord Christ shall appear wee shall be like unto Him He shall change our vile body and make it like unto his own glorious body according to that mighty working whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself There is another doubt also objected from that Parathesis or addition of St Paul But God hath revealed them to us by his Spirit For how can it be said that the things that God hath prepared for his servants have not entred into the heart of Man when Christians are men and it is added that God hath revealed them to us Christians by his Spirit This parathesis therefore must be justly not strictly interpreted For it is true that God hath revealed them now much more than formerly He hath revealed them by his Spirit but he hath not revealed them fully not so that St Paul himself could while he lived here adequately conceive the Nature of those heavenly Glories It is most true that since our Saviour preacht the doctrine of the new Testament and since the gift of the Spirit which hath raised Man above his Nature and since the Transfiguration resurrection and Ascention of Christ which are patternes of what shall happen to all Gods servants Now the existence of the future state of Glory is more fully confirmed and its nature much better understood than it was by those who lived in the former Ages when they had no light but from the letter of Moses whose writings were darke in this point or from the Prophets or from the more uncertain Faith and Tradition of the Gentiles And yet notwithstanding the great advancement of our knowledge in this particular It is not so advanc't as to render this text untrue it is not so advanc't as that we may persectly know them For his Rapture into the third Heaven taught St Paul himself that those Joyes are yet unspeakeable and that Humane Nature is yet uncapable adequately to conceive them They are so great that Eye hath not seen them Ear hath not heard them nor have they ever so enter'd into the heart of Man as to be perfectly and fully conceived by Him When our Savior was taken up into Heaven from amidst his disciples in Mount Olivet Act. 1. and a Cloud had received him out of their sight they continued still stedfastly looking towards Heaven but were reproved by the Angels in these Words Ye men of Galilee why stand you gazing up into Heaven Words my Brethren that we may nost properly apply to the present figure of our own thoughts we have been looking not towards Heaven only but upon Heaven it self untill in the midst of our gazing we have lost it Only we cannot so properly say that a Cloud as that a sun-beame or at least a very bright Cloud hath received it out of our sight For we find that Heaven is so wrapt up in its own glory that there is no perfect entrance left to the Eye of our understanding Let us therefore apply to our selves that Angelicall advice and stand no more gazing into Heaven It is proper for us in this case to do as the disciples did to hast away to our upper Roomes First to our prayers then to our work But for our Encouragement we may cast an Eye upon the great Reward that God hath provided for us We may consider so much of Heaven as is revealeable to us and beleive further and expect beyond all that those incomprehensible Glories that are to be enjoy'd with Christ above Nay let us beleive and give thanks for it that there are joyes prepared for us that are not now revealeable and though we can forme no Idea or conceit of them yet let us rejoice and give thanks unto God that there are joyes prepared for us and for all Religious and good Men with us of which we can forme no Idea Christ hath merited this beleif of the world that we should think him able to performe his promises to raise us from the dead and to glorify us with that glory which I have endeavor'd to describe but have been oppress 't in my endeavor by the weight of my undertaking finding the excellent glory and happinesse of that Estate to be incomprehensible and ineffable He that raised Jairus his daughter and the Widdowes son and Lazarus and which is most of all himself from the dead whatsoever Atheists may speak of the Incredibility of that Resurrection shall certainly raise us also I hope by Gods help to give you an account of the Reasonablenesse of the Christian faith in that article at some other time But we that professe Religion professe to believe our Resurrection as certainly as we believe our death I know that my redeemer liveth saith Job Job 19.25 26. and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the Earth and though after my skin wormes destroy this Body yet in my flesh shall I sce God c. And I know saith Martha that my Brother shall rise again in the Resurrection at the last day John 11.24 I shall now adde but one advice more which is this that as we have Evangelicall expectations so we should take the Evangelicall directions that we would endeavour to rise to newnesse of life here that we may rise to eternall Glory hereafter Let the Doctrine of our Resurrection to eternall life have its perfect work so the full belief and actuall consideration of this one Article of eternall life or eternall misery to come may by the grace of God minister to us Christians in giving obedience to our Lord that which we sometimes complain so much for the want of even a power to do all things through Christ that strengtheneth There is no Duty saith Dr Jackson whereunto the belief of this eternall Reward doth not enable and bind us If we do not live in some measure agreeable to our profession and the hopes of our profession we shall be in the End condemned by it and in the mean time we betray it openly that there is now a defect in that principle that should be within us or in the excercise of that Principle that is we believe not or we consider not For what saith St John every one that hath this hope purifieth Himself even as God is pure 1 John 3.3 And therefore he that doth not purify Himself He is but a pretender to this Hope He hath it not at all well grounded in Him or at least he hath it not in actuall excercise and Employment For if there be such a Hope unlesse it be very sleepy if it be a lively and a quick Hope it must be the spring of a Christians joy and glory in comparison of which He will contemn all the Riches all the Honors all the Pleasures of this world as drosse and dung And there is reason for this
preference because as St Paul doth more than once assert so great is the glory that shall be revealed that to it nothing in this present world is worthy to be compared It was the Hope of this Happinesse that made the primitive Christians leap into the Flames and suffer Martyrdome with joy Now though we through the Mercy of God have no flames of Martyrdome to seap into yet we may take this note from the Psalmist Psal 125. that those who are said to return with joy had a Time of going on their Way weeping and bearing good seed or this from St John That the Bride must have her wedding Garments prepared before hand She must not be like the foolish Virgins she must not be to provide her Ornaments when her wedding Hour is come She must be arrayed in Fine linnen and this Fine linnen is the Righteousnesse of the Saints Revel 19. We must know that Christians are to bee arrayed not only with the Righteousnesse of Saints inherent We may learn from St Paul 1 Cor. 9. That those who obtain this Crown of Glory in Heaven are temperate in all things and prepare themselves before hand and then also run and strive that they may obtain For it is so ordained that no man shall come to that great glory either with the assistance and Grace of God or without his own faithfull Endeavor Complement alone will never do it Our Savior hath protested Matth. 7.25 That not every One who professeth this Religion Not every one who saith unto Him Lord Lord shall enter into the kingdome of Heaven but he only who doth the will of his Father which is in Heaven Now to the king of Heaven and to the Lord our Righteousnesse by whose merits only we can have Entrance into that kingdome and to the Spirit of Holinesse who can only give us title to those merits c. SERM. IV. Of Happiness in Heaven shewing In Opposition to the Atheist The Reasons why we believe Rewards and punishments in another life The Immortality of the Soul The Resurrection of the Body I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaak and the God of Jacob God is not the God of the dead but of the living Math. 22.23 ACTS 26.8 Why should it be thought a thing incredible that GOD should raise the Dead AS the Fear of that Punishment The Hope of the Resurrection of the Body and life everlasting the greatest Encouragement to Vertue that God hath prepared for Wicked men is apt to deter them from the continuall practices of Vice So the Christians Hope of the Resurrection of the Body and everlasting life in Heaven is the greatest encouragement to the Excercise of Religion and vertue I have allready shewed you the excellence and Glory of that Estate which we Hope for and in the next place I think it may bee seasonable in Opposition to the Atheists of our Time to clear unto you the foundation of this Hope namely the Credibility of the Resurrection it self which I propose to do in this method First to shew you that from Naturall Reason much hath been granted towards our faith in this particular Secondly that the world had reason to receive and we have reason still to continue the belief of the doctrine of our Savior delivered us in this Article All this I mean to do as it were historically by giving you the ancient state of the doctrine delivered in it and some of the old arguments that continued this belief against the Atheisticall Reasonings of former Ages And these old arguments of proof that have withstood the Batteries of Atheisme hitherto I am not only contented with but indeed I prefer them before those fine but untried ones of New Invention The existence of the law of Nature argues rewards and punishments in another life because they are not equally distributed in this First this was part of the Naturall Mans creed that there shall be hereafter in another life time and place for Blisse and Punishment This all considering persons have argued from the Notions of the Law of Nature that men generally find implanted in them If a law say they then there must be a Reward and Punishment else that Law will be to no purpose But we find a Law written in our Hearts and yet vertue hath not its Reward 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. apud Platodem in Phaed. nor vice its Punishment allwaies in this life and therefore it must bee lookt for in another How many vicious livers are there who have escaped correction from all Mortall Men and how many poor vertuous persons have there been who for their generall practice of vertue and patience in Honesty and upright dealing have received nothing but Envy Reprocah Despite and Oppression in this life V. Plutarchum de serâ numinis vindicta Platonem in Gratillo Gorgia and therefore we argue now as they did anciently that there is wanting that Order and providence in the Government of the Rationall world that is visible in all things of lesser moment unlesse as we believe there shall bee indeed another life wherein according to our merits we may receive Rewards and punishments And upon this Expectation Solid and Wise Men still held that the Practice of Honesty and the Observance of the Laws of Nature were to be defended and preferred even before the preservation of their present lives Which had been irrationall and foolish for them to have done had they been without a Reasonable Hope of a just Recompence in another life Secondly another thing that we have received from Arguments of naturall and Human Reason is the doctrine of the Immortality of our Souls And since the Soul according to the Platonique and Peripateticall and all other Philosophy Detrchere aliquid alteri hominis incommodo suum augere commodum magis est contra Naturam quam Mors quam paupertas quam dolor c. apud Ciceronem de Off. 3. Ad Carthaginem rediit Regulus cum neque ignorabat se ad crudelissimum hostem atque exquisita supplicia prosicisci quod Fidem servandam putabat Cicero eod Justum tenacem propositi virum Non civium ardor prova jubentium Non vultus instantis Tyranni Mente qualit solidâ Si fractus illabatur Orbis Impavidum ferient ruinae Hac arte Pollux vagus Hercules Innixus arces attigit igneas c. apud Horatium carm lib. 3. Ode 3. is the great constituent Principle of our Being and Individuation if that bee granted to bee immortall it must bee granted that the greatest and most considerable part of every Individuall Man is immortall And this will well conduce to expedite our other doctrine concerning the credibility of the Resurrection of the same Body It is most true Mr Hobbes's opinion considered that the Author of the Leviathan affirmeth that Men before the time of our Savior were generally possess 't of an Opinion Leviathan p. 4. p. 340.