to consider whether its pretended friends have not been and are not still great occasions of it The greatest part of Christians are incapable of judging concerning the truth or goodness of any Church or Constitution of Religion but are inclin'd in their opinion and affection by the general temper and practice of its professors and adherents Now 't is an almost universal principle among men that Religion and the Worship of God require the greatest seriousness and zeal where these are observ'd in peoples carriage to their particular Church the most are usually inclin'd to have respect for that on the other side when the members of any Church are cold and unconcern'd or wanton and irreverent in their Religion such a temper when it comes to be general draws popular contempt upon that Church and way This at present is the sad case of ours and I doubt it may be too truly said that there are no retainers to any Church in the world who are so little concern'd for it and the worship of God in it as the pretenders to the Church of England If we survey our several Congregations and consider our people we shall find but very few that carry themselves as if they had any conscientious affection to the Religion they profess If the Estimate be taken from those that are constant or frequent at the publick Prayers in Cathedrals or other Churches certainly the number must be acknowledg'd to be very small and if we reckon only such that carry but the appearance of serious Devotion it will be yet less so that the Church may almost be tempted to say with him There is not one godly man left the righteous are minished from among the children of men There are indeed multitudes who will tell us they are of this Church when they give us no ground but their bare word to believe they are of any While they talk of owning and adhering to the Church they will not afford the solemn worship of it as much as their bodily presence as long as the Devil and their Lusts have employment for them elsewhere They carry themselves to it as to a matter of the greatest indifference will go to Church now and then when time lies upon their hands and they are in the humour for it and then again never think of Religion or Worship till another accident excites them And when they come to such Sacred places as this with what rude boldness do they enter Gods house and how much carelesness and irreverence do they express in their very looks and garb Confident negligence seems at present to be a fashion and the whole carriage after is sutable to this ill beginning What toying talking gazing laughing and other rude follies may we observe in the midst of the most solemn parts of worship and how much slightness and playsomness in speaking of serving God being devout saying prayers and such like serious things after it Now when these carriages are observ'd not to mention worse in those that say they are of the Church of England how readily doth it dispose the generality of men who judge by bare appearance to think amiss of the Church that is ordinarily thus treated by its members and to suppose most others that profess it to be of the same sort or not very different and so to despise the Church and all that adhere unto it This certainly is a very great occasion of her present contempt and if you would not be accessary to its increase and growth if it be capable of any more beware of this carelesness and irreverence to the Religion you profess If Religion be a real thing and not a meer imagination as nothing is more certain it then requires our greatest zeal and venerations and the most serious exercise of our faculties and endeavours no prostrations can be too low in the adoration of the God of Heaven no ingagement of soul too intense in praying for his blessing and praising him for his bounty no attention too serious in hearing of His Word no deportment too awful in His eye and special presence Let us all consider this and demean our selves in our worship as those that are in earnest Let the light of our zeal and devotion so shine before men that they seeing our works may glorifie God reverence the Church and vindicate it and us from the scorning of those that are at ease and the contempt of the proud Let us endeavour so to worship that the fervour of our piety may equal the truth of our profession and our actions in Religion may have some sutableness to our expectations from it And then though the Church and we are filled with contempt yet we shall be clear from any imputation of the guilt and our souls may be at ease though we are scorn'd by the Proud Preach'd at a Visitation SERMON VI. MORAL EVIDENCE OF A Life to Come The Second Edition SERMON VI. MATTH XXII 32. God is not the God of the dead but of the living NOtwithstanding the manifold and immediate Transactions of God with the people of the Jews yet were they a dull and stupid generation addicted very much to the matters of sense and indisposed to things of spiritual and invisible nature Yea there was a great and famous Sect among them that denied a Life to come and the Existence of immaterial beings For the Sadducees say there is no Resurrection neither Angels nor Spirit Acts 23. 8. These put the Question here to our Saviour in a case of a woman who successively had seven Husbands whose Wife she should be at the Resurrection from ver 22. to the 28. which captious Query they intended for an Argument against the Doctrine of another Life Christ answers directly to the objection by telling them their mistake of the state and condition of that Life since they neither marry nor are given in marriage that have attain'd unto it but are like the Angels of God ver 30. and then takes occasion to prove the Resurrection or Living again of the dead out of the writings of Moses the only Scripture the Sadducees allow'd ver 31 32. But as touching the Resurrection of the dead have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God saying I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob God is not the God of the dead but of the living The former clause of the verse cites the Scripture which is the ground of the Argument the latter is a principle of Reason and both together infer That there is a Resurrection Now the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Resurrection of the dead undertaken to be shewn was not the Resurrection of the body though that be a great truth also since the argument doth not reach this For one who believes that the soul lives after death may say That God is the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob though the body doth not rise for they are living in their souls which
are their true selves And therefore the Conclusion our Saviour went about to prove was that There is another Life which the Sadducees deny'd and endeavour'd by this Question though very weakly to overthrow And the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies standing up and implies Living again simply not the Resurrection of the Body except where the Body is exprest or the necessary sense doth otherwise inforce it So that though it be a truth that the body shall rise and demonstrable from many other places yet it is not meant here but the thing intended to be prov'd is a Life to come without determining whether in our bodies or without them This was undertaken and this was perform'd for the Sadducees were put to silence ver 34. That they were convinc'd we do not hear Arguments from Faith or Reason prevail little against corrupt interests and affections But yet 't is something to stop the mouths of Gainsayers for others may be fortified in their Faith by the confutation of the enemies of it Would to God we could say There was no need of endeavours of this sort in our days and that this subject were quite out of date But alas we see Sadducism reviv'd after Light and Immortality hath been brought to light through the Gospel and the Holy Jesus hath given sensible assurance of it by his own Resurrection from the dead Yea the Heresie is improv'd in our time to a great and more dangerous height and almost to Atheism it self We are faln into an Age wherein among some and those not a few 't is a piece of Gallantry to be an Infidel and Heroically great to have out-grown the panick terrours of another world We have liv'd to see the Doctrine of Spirits professedly and openly derided and that of Living again esteem'd equally vain and ridiculous The wantonness of some hath disputed all the Articles of the Christian Creed and the lusts of others have taken advantage thence boldly to deny them So that 't is not unseasonable in such a world as this to labour in the proof of a future Being For besides those that openly oppose this Principle of our Faith the vileness and debauchery of our days are too sad an argument that many others do not believe it Men could not be so impious did they believe themselves immortal nor live so much like Beasts did they not think also that they should die as such Now as our Saviour dealing with the Jewish Sadducees did not make use of the proofs that were most obvious and direct but of that which was most sutable not of the plain and clear places in the other Scriptures of which the Sadducees made no account but of this from the Books of Moses whose Authority they granted In like manner while we treat with the modern Sadducees we must not offer Arguments from the Testimony of these or other Scriptures which they value not but reckon with them from the principles of Reason which they cannot but acknowledge And the Arguments I shall now use to prove a Future Life shall be of this latter sort and those not taken from Philosophick heights and remote Speculations but from moral Considerations improving things obvious and taking ground from matters of common observation And though I hope there are none of those Infidels in this place yet I suppose it may not be wholly unprofitable to you to be minded of the reasons of your Faith in days wherein so many make Shipwrack of it This then I shall endeavour viz. 1. To shew some moral Arguments to enforce the belief of a Future Life 2. The causes and occasions of unbelief in this Article 3. What this Infidelity infers in the just reasoning and consequence of it For the First I prove a Life to Come 1. From some OBSERVABLES in the great world And 2. From the FRAME and CONSTITUTION of our own Natures The Phaenomena or observables I argue from are 1. The Miseries of this state And 2. The unequal distribution of good and evil here I begin with the Miseries of this Life In the description of which I shall take liberty to enlarge a little that we may have such a sense of it as may dispose us to feel the force of the Argument Let us consider then That In whatever condition we look on this poor thing we call man there is nothing but misery before us Prosperity is temptation to wantonness and excess Adversity to murmuring and impatience Riches are anxiety and care and poverty a complicated misery Labour is pain and idleness as uneasie as employment Wisdom affords cutting senses of the evils we encounter and folly exposeth us to the edge of cross events He that increaseth knowledge increaseth trouble Eccl. 1. 18. and the soul without it is not good Prov. 19. 2. Our enjoyments satiate and weary us and disappointments are smart afflictions so that we want both when we have and when we have not and are miserable both in successful issues and in defeatures we complain of our misfortunes and seek rest and ease in the shifting of our condition but in a short time we find as many other evils as those we shun'd and are convinc'd that the change of our state yields no happiness but a different kind of misery Like men in a Fever we toss from side to side and find rest no where but in the Grave If we have a pleasant moment we pay severely for it in the next and a short happiness is a torment We are devour'd by our eager appetites and torn piece-meal by the contrariety of desires and inclinations We carry all the beasts of prey within us There 's a fire in our breasts that consumes us and we die by the same flame by which we live Nor is the condition of our bodies less sad and tragical We are scorch'd by Fevers melted in Catarrhs burn and freeze in Agues are rack'd by Gouts maim'd by Gangrenes and rent asunder by violent pains within our bowels At last we are made the food of worms except a Consumption deceive them and send away our flesh before us The best of our condition is that we can die and mingle with insensible rottenness and corruption The Grave is the best bed we find till we turn to ashes and the silent darkness of the house of worms and bones is better than the light of the Sun and comfort of the Elements Such is the condition of this mortal Life This is our portion and our lot is this And these miseries of the present state afford us the comfort of the Conclusion That there is another and that this is not all the Life of man For God hath made us and not we our selves And he is infinitely good and infinitely powerful Absolutely perfect and perfection it self and of his fulness he communicates to his creatures and takes infinite pleasure in so doing This our Reasons and the common notions of mankind teach us concerning God And hence it follows that he hath
two 1. The general belief and acknowledgement of another Life 2. The common desire of Memory after death 1. For the first the Doctrine of a Life to Come hath not been the opinion only of concern'd Priests or designing Politicians of melancholy Superstitionists or distracted Enthusiasts It hath not been the conceit of a single Age nor confin'd within the limits of one Country or Region but is as general as the Light and spread as far as the utmost bounds of the reasonable nature For those that are strangers to one another Laws and Customs and as different in their natures as they are distant in their Climes yet all alike concur in the expectation and belief of a future Being The cold Russian and scorch'd Moor the barbarous American and spruce Graecian the soft Chinese and the rough Tartar though vastly different in all other things yet they agree in this That there is another world and that we are immortal And 't is the observation of Pliny that those barbarous people that have neither Cloathes to cover their nakedness nor Laws for a common security that live by the Rules of ferity and lust and differ from the Beasts seemingly in little else but external shape that have neither Towns nor Houses and but just reason enough to provide for the necessities of nature yet these live in expectation and belief of a Life after this And the latter improvements of Navigation and remote discoveries confirm the same in the farthest darkest parts of the habitable Earth Now this general effect must have some general cause which cannot be any general deception For it is not morally possible that those who are at so vast a distance in place and nature and all other circumstances should agree in a common deceit and jump in the same imposture It must arise then either from some universal explicite Revelation or an universal Instinct or voice of nature If the former be granted 't is full proof of the assertion or if that be not 't is the other which seems most probable viz. that God hath inserted it into our reasonable natures or by his providence hath conveyed it into the minds of all men which is Tantamont unto it And so we are carried to this belief as the Lamb is to the Dugg or other creatures to the food or work of their particular natures On this account Aristotle sets it down for a Rule 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Cicero saith the same Quod omnibus videtur est That which seems to all is For what ever is so universal is from God who cannot deceive or be mistaken 2. The desire of Memory after death is an Instinct in mankind and whether the former be so properly or not this is certainly such All way have been taken to perpetuate mens Names and Memories Children and great Houses and noble Deeds and Books and Monuments yea and as if Earth wanted things sufficiently lasting to satisfie this appetite of Immortality men have placed themselves in the regions of incorruption and have called the Stars by their own names Now this universal thirst after such an imaginary Immortality is an inducement to believe there is a real one Since did we cease to be assoon as we die and disappear to this world such an appetite would be unreasonable and ridiculous For why should we desire a precarious being in a name and memory if our true selves were so shortly to be nothing Of what concernment is it to us to be remembred if in a few days all things should be forgotten for ever and we were to go into an eternal silence and oblivion What would a Stone be the better for being accounted one of the Ancient Pillars of Seth or a piece of wood in beeing esteemed a Sacred Relique of the Cross The summ is Mankind hath an appetite of posthumous Memory which would be senseless and to no purpose if there be no Life but this Now God implants no Instincts in his creatures that are futilous and in vain and therefore hence also we may conclude that there is a Future Being I have now done with the Arguments on which I intended to insist After all I cannot say that each of them is an absolute demonstration or that the evidence of every one is such as is impossible to be avoided there are few proofs of that nature But this I do that all of them together will I think make a cord hardly to be broken And these considerations in conjunction may amount to a moral demonstration and have force enough to obtain assent from those that are not stupid or unreasonable But yet the strongest proofs are those from the Scripture and all the Arguments that demonstrate the Truth of Christianity prove also the certainly of a Life after this For one of the great designs of the Holy Jesus was to bring Immortality to light and as I noted before he gave visible evidence of a future existence by his own Resurrection So that those that could not reason and dispute and see truth at distance in principles might however be convinced by a Demonstration to the Sense and those that could not be fully assured by the reasonings of Philosophers which many of them were very deep and many uncertain and many unsound and false might yet be perswaded by the miracles which were wrought by Christ and his Apostles to confirm those Doctrines which they taught of rewards and punishments in another Life And that there are such every thing in the whole Gospel either supposeth or proves These I say are the clearest and best evidence but they are such as are obvious to every understanding and cannot receive more light than what they have at first fight in themselves I therefore omit that sort of proof as not needed by those that embrace the Scripture and for others that believe it not the Reasons taken thence will be of no force with such men I have also designedly omitted the Arguments that arise from the nature of the Soul Philosophically consider'd for the reason mention'd in the beginning viz. because they are speculative and nice and so not proper for such discourses as this nor are they usually of much force upon the mind I Come II. to shew the Causes and Occasions of mens not believing a future state The chief are such as these 1. The Wickedness and Debauchery of the Unbelievers the horrid sins of their present lives make them afraid of another They are resolv'd on the course of vanity and folly while they live and would have all to end here They will crown themselves with Rosebuds and leave tokens of their mirth in every place they 'l let no Flower of the Spring pass by them nor lose any part of voluptuousness and this they would have to be their whole portion and their only lot to be this Away then ye melancholick dreams and troublesome fancies of another world ye are an offence unto us and savour not the things that are of
appearances if they are no more lie on the other side is Bedlam madness I have thus represented to the desperate Scoffer whose Lusts have made him seriously believe that Religion is contemptible that the practice of Scoffing at it be it what it will is very absurd and dangerous But there is yet another sort of Scoffers to be treated with who are not yet come so far as to believe that Religion is a Fable and yet Scoff at the profession of it out of modishness and an humour of imitation They do not in their hearts deny Religion but yet they deride Those that practise according to it they are not content to laugh at the fopperies that many times call themselves by that sacred name but fleer also and spend the silly thing they think to be Wit upon those actions that are undoubtedly religious Such never enter into the consideration of the matter and therefore I shall endeavour to awaken them that they may know what they do by the things that follow 1. They Scoff at the Religious for acting according to Reason that is because they are men and not bruits Because they act like intelligent creatures and not like the Horse and Mule that have no understanding They deride them for passing right judgements and making a right choice for preferring God before the creature the soul before the body and eternity before time For choosing light before darkness beauty before deformity and life and happiness before the extreams of death and misery God hath given to all his creatures a principle to direct their actions Reason to Men and Sense and Appetite to Beasts so that to deride men for governing themselves by their reasons and not by inferiour principles is as absurd as if a man should laugh at the Ox for grazing freely in the field and not standing still to grow like a tree or at the bird because it flies in the air and doth not creep like the worm on the ground He that doth so is an Ideot and a Natural and the Scoffer acts at the same rate of folly 2. He derides men for living by the most Catholick rule of nature viz. that of Self-love and self-preservation He flouts them for seeking health and happiness riches honours and pleasures the truest and the best For endeavouring to obtain the favour of God the peace of Conscience and security of future and eternal well being For striving to avoid the snares of Satan the wrath of God and pains of Hell He laughs at them because they will not thrust their heads into the Fire and leap the precipice into the gulph of woe Because they will not be their own executioners and beat out their own brains 3. He Scoffs at the Religious because they act for the great ends of their Being God made all things for an end and man for a noble one the injoyment of himself for ever Now the exercises of Religion are the way to this end and to deride men for this is to laugh at them for acting and designing pertinently and nobly The Scoffer jeers the religious because he lives for greater ends than the Beasts and indeavours to be happier than his horses and his swine Because he will not be content only to eat and drink and revel and die 4. The Scoffer laughs at the Religious for aiming at the perfection of his nature God made man perfect but we have corrupted our selves Eccl. 7. 29. and debased our noble beings We have destroyed our Makers Image and deform'd our natures Now the design of Religion is to repair our ruines and to recover us to the integrity and perfection of our first selves to restore Light to the mind and vertue to the will and order to the affections to heal cleanse and beautifie the soul So that to Scoff at men for living by this is as if one should deride the sick for taking physick and the blind for using a guide As if a man should be scorn'd for washing after he had faln into a mire or for seeking cure for a foul Leprosie that had over-spread him 5. The scoffer derides the Religious for acting according to his own principles He saith there is a God and jeers those that worship Him he believes that God is infinitely amiable wise great and good and yet laughs at men for loving his beauty and believing his wisdom and trusting in his power and goodness He saith that Christ is the Saviour and derides those that are willing to be saved by Him that the Holy Ghost is the sanctifier and laughs at that holiness He teacheth and produceth He will tell you he believes there is an Heaven of eternal happiness and scorns those that seek it that there is an Hell of endless woe and torment and makes sport of all endeavours to avoid it 6. He derides men because they are true to their engagements and professions Because when they have promised to forsake the Devil and all his works they are not willing in practice to forsake God and all his Because when they say Thy will be done they don't resolve to do all they can to cross it Because after they have pray'd an hundred times Incline our hearts to keep thy Laws they do not set themselves every day to break them At such extravagant rates as these doth he act that retains the belief of Religion and scoffs at the practice of it And O that they were wise and would consider this who so far forget God and the Reasonable natures he hath given them I shall now II. conclude with some Directions and Rules of caution for security against this grievous folly And 1. Let us be in earnest in Religion endeavouring to understand what we profess to believe what we understand and to practise what we believe And then we shall feel such a sense of Religion on our souls as will beget the highest reverence to it and effectually secure us from any such impiety For 't is ignorance infidelity and an evil life that are the great causes of mens contempt of Religion 2. Let us take care that we place not Religion in uncertain opinions and vain trifles Mens superstitious fondness of such hath expos'd Christianity to much scorn and derision while its enemies will not or can not distinguish between Religion it self and those fopperies that pretend unto it This hath been a main ground of most of the contempt that is upon it at this day There is nothing in substantial naked Religion that can afford the least just occasion for laughter or malicious sport it being in it self the most reasonable venerable thing in the world Let us take care then that we mingle not any thing that is ridiculous with it 3. When we deride the vanities of errour and superstition let us be cautious lest we give incouragement or ground to others by it to Scoff at Religion it self and consider that the Lusts of men are ready to catch at any occasion to abuse and vilifie their
Prerogatives and dignity of humane nature Man is but a Beast of prey and his use of and dominion over the other creatures is but a proud usurpation over his equals So that this opinion degrades our natures and affronts the whole race of mankind together And 2. In the direct tendency of it it destroyes humane Societies For those cannot subsist without Laws nor Laws without some conscience of good and evil nor would this signifie to any great purpose without the belief of another world Take away this and every thing will be good that is profitable and honest that conduceth to a mans designs That would be mine that I could get by force and I had no right to any thing longer than I had strength to defend it and thus the world would be ipso facto in a state of war and fall into endless confusions and disorders So that the whole Earth would quickly be an Hell intolerable every man would be a Devil to another yea and every man to himself 3. It suppresseth mens private happiness and felicity and even the Rioters of the world have stings and torments from it If a man live in Sensuality and fulness of pleasure what a cutting thought is it to consider that in a little time he must bid adieu to this and to all felicity for ever And if his life be in trouble and discomfort how terrible is it to reflect that he must go from being miserable to be nothing How can those think of parting with their possessions and enjoyments that have nothing else to expect or how can they bear up under the burdens and vexations of this state that cannot relieve themselves by the hopes of a better With what sad pangs of sorrow should we lay our Friends into the Grave if we had cause to be assured that they were lost eternally and how could we reflect upon our own mortality if we were to look for no farther Being The pleasures of the present Life are gone in a moment and leave nothing but dregs and bitterness behind them and if there be no further delights besides these mean and fading satisfactions 't is not worth the while to live but we had better to have been nothing for ever The summ is The Sadducee vilifies Mankind destroyes the peace of Societies and the happiness of every private person and so professeth himself the common enemy of men and a Renegado to humane nature IT will not be needful for me to say much in Applying this Discourse Almost every Sermon we hear is an Application of it for here is the matter and ground of our hopes and hence are taken the great enforcements of our duty I presume there are few or none in this place but who are ready to profess their belief of a Future Life and as I premised I have not insisted on the proof to perswade You of this Article but to shew that the confidence is groundless which affirms There is no reason for the great Doctrines of Religion and to contribute somewhat towards the settlement of the weak against such temptations Now if we believe this great Truth as we say Let us do it to purpose and not content our selves with a cold and customary assent but endeavour to raise our Faith to such an height that it may have an effectual influence upon our lives The general belief that education hath infused is but a dead image in the soul that produceth nothing Let us endeavour by fervent Prayer and frequent Meditation to invigorate and excite ours to that degree that it may be a living representation of eternal things that our Faith may be the certainty and presence of the invisible world The substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen Heb. 11. That we may have such an apprehension of it as if the prospect were open and our eyes beheld it that we may fix our thoughts there and fill up our souls with the consideration of that world Such a Faith as this ought to be our aim and if we did so believe the other world what excellent what heroical what happy persons should we be in this Such a Faith would secure us from the flatteries and temptations of this sensual life and excite us to more earnest longings and more vigorous endeavours after the happiness of a better It would inable us to despise this vain world in comparison and to bear all the crosses of it with magnanimity and steadiness of mind It would quiet our solicitudes and answer the objections against providence and the present unequal distribution of good and evil It would make the most difficult services of Religion easie and pleasant to us and fill our lives with sweet hope and delights infinitely more agreeable than the most relishing sensual joys It would afford us satisfaction amid our disappointments and rest amid our anxieties and cares It would raise our designs and thoughts to things generous and noble and make us live like the Inhabitants of an Heavenly Countrey Such blessed effects as these follow this Faith here and unmeasurably unspeakably greater in the other world the vision of God and full enjoyment of His love the perfection of our natures and the compleatment of our happiness in the arms of our Redeemer and amidst the triumphant Songs of Angels and Saints in the exercise of holy love admiration and praise Things too great to be exprest or to be imagin'd For eye hath not seen nor ear heard nor hath it entred into the heart of man to conceive what God hath reserved for those that love him To Him be all Glory and humble Adoration henceforth and for ever SERMON VII THE Serious Consideration OF THE Future Iudgement The Second Edition SERMON VII ACTS XVII 31. Because he hath appointed a day in which he will judge the World in Righteousness by the man whom he hath ordained ALthough it might be well expected that the Laws of God should abundantly prevail by vertue of His Authority and their own native reason and goodness Yet such is the stupidity and perverseness of men that these alone have not usually any considerable effect upon us And therefore God who earnestly desires our Reformation and our happiness hath superadded the greatest Sanctions to enforce His Laws glorious rewards on the one hand and most terrible Penalties on the other and these to be distributed in a most solemn manner represented in such circumstances as are most apt to work upon our Hopes and Fears For He hath appointed a day Which words are part of St. Paul's Speech to the Athenians upon the occasion of their superstitions and Idolatries These in the time of Gentile ignorance God winked at vers 30. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He took no notice of those sins in comparison He was not so much offended and displeased but consider'd the general ignorance and temptations and made abatements for them As our Saviour said with reference to the Jews Joh. 15. 22. If I had not come