sublimest felicity of Christ and of his Saints signifies as well the plenty as the eternity of their advantages He encompassed about Psal 21.3 We may hereby understand that this Crown of life shall intitle them to innumerable and immortal satisfactions it shall therefore be a true life How wrongfully do we abuse this pleasant Title in bestowing it upon the present unworthy subsistency of the soul and body O miserable estate how vainly do we flatter our beings with this gratefull conceit Can that ever be a life that drags us continually to our Grave that causeth us to die as soon as we begin to breathe and that is joyned unto death by the inward Principles of our existence Can that be a life that carries death in its bosome that makes us sensible of a thousand deaths before we breathe forth the last gasp and that is interrupted by sleep idleness and sickness as by so many deaths which deprive us of the benefits of life by which it is to be esteemed rather than by the continuance of the soul with the body at least in the judgement of a wise Moralist who hearing of a wicked man that was lately expired in a very old age Diu fuit said he sed non diu vixit At this rate how unworthy is our present subsistence of the pleasing and glorious title of life This therefore is promised in my text in opposition to that which we now lead to express the excellency and reality of that Heavenly Life free from those miseries which now do attend us Tolerantia transitoria Corona aeterna pugna modica merces immensa poena levis gloria inestimabilis dabo tibi post morzem pro morte vitae aeternitatem Aug. de civit Dei As if our Saviour should thus compare them together for the encouragement of the faithful What if my interest doth expose you to your enemies cruelty what if you are forced to lay down your lives in the maintenance of my cause what reason have you to prize so inconsiderable a loss when the Exchange brings unto you Returns of a more unspeakable value Grudg not to part with this shadow of life Grieve not to surrender it Refuse it not when I shall require it I have another life in reserve for you whose advantages do as highly excel those of this present being as the Crown doth the other enjoyments of the body a life both glorious and pleasant Erit status omnium bonorum aggregatione perfectus Boetius de consol where nothing shall be wanting to increase your satisfactions but cares trouble and pain which now do cause us to relish the sweetness of our earthly pleasures I will give thee c. This expression presents us with the greatest variety of Excellencies That they may better appear unto you take a view of them and of that supernatural estate of Heaven in these following propositions 1. It shall be an unseparable union of the soul and body for all eternity We shall live no more upon condition to die The fear of death that doth usually torment us more than the sense shall then cease with the cause Men shall never be disquieted with those importune Apprehensions that disturb us as they did Belshazzar in the midst of his carousing Cups and that cause us to be weary of life as that Roman was who being pursued by the cruelty of the Triumvirat offered himself freely to his Enemies pleasure to be delivered by death of the daily fear of dying But then we shall be secure both from the sense and apprehension of death and of all approaching evils and we shall rest in that blessed Tranquility that shall never have cause to dread an alteration there shall be no more divorce made between the soul and body it shall not be possible to separate that most loving couple Gods Wisdom and Power shall joyn them together in such a manner that neither Time nor any Accident shall be able to cause a separation For God upon whose pleasure all his Creatures do depend shall remove all deadly principles and grant us an eternal continuance which shall proceed not onely from his immutable Decree and immediate influence but also from the nature and manner of the union of the two parties that shall no longer be entertained by the assistance of the Creatures and a supply from the Elements but onely by a greater correspondency by more spiritual and more sutable Embraces At present although the soul hath a natural tendency to enliven to move and inform the body between them there is a vast difference that can never consent unto any conjunction without the mediation of the vital spirits extracted from the more subtil and purer substance of the meats refined by their successive concoctions But then our Bodies shall depose and cast off that gross and earthly matter and become more convenient companions of the soul by a nearer assimilation to that Celestial being For this mortal must put on immortality and this corruptible must put on incorruption as St. Paul teaches at large in the 1 Cor. 15 Chap. where he further declares the Mystery of the Resurrection and of the estate of our bodies in the 42 43 44. Verses The body 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 From hence we may discover the future substance of our Bodies which shall be almost as subtil as those earthly Spirits raised by the ordinary systole and diastole Mercat lib. 1. par 4. clas 4. quast 120. the two motions of the heart which Spirits have the nearest access to the soul of man and by which it is tied to its present residence for this blessed life and its eternity is established upon a resemblance and nearer relation between the soul and body whose beings must be rendred more conformable before they can be secured from a dissolution or from the sense of violence because that onely this conformity is able to render the communion unseparable and to free it by that means from the insults and affronts of all enemies It is therefore most certain that it shall not be in the power of any beings to put us to the sufferance of pain for as the pain which proceeds from the body is derived from an apprehension or a possibility of separation from that being upon which it depends or from that which tends unto it As the pain of the soul doth from a seeming or a real separation from God the fountain of all good or from that which stands us in some manner instead of God It cannot be imagined how they shall be able to suffer who are adorned with the qualities of immortality whose beings are free from alteration and not subject to the least weakness and whose senses shall never receive any contrary impressions nor convey unto the appetite
and pleasures that are onely there to be found Other Reasons and passages of Scripture may be alledged for this Truth which makes St. Paul fly out into an Admiration and St. John breathe forth nothing but wishes all the holy Martyrs embrace and hug the Flames that did convey them into this estate Was it not sufficient O blessed God that thou shouldest deliver man from his deserved punishment was it not sufficient that thou shouldest render him capable of thy favours But must such a favour be granted must thou admit him to a participation of the divine Nature by this unspeakable Union St. Peter O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and goodness of our God! You know not mortal men what God hath reserved for them that fear him What may we not expect from his love when we shall come to this estate If there be any good at Gods disposal any sweetness any pleasure and benefit in heaven or in earth it shall be theirs and in their possession Rom. 8.32 unto whom he hath at present given his Son and Spirit and will also give himself as St. Paul tells us Besides this Union shall cause an interrupted Communion between God and our souls God shall pour his blessings upon us in abundance and we shall render unto him unfeigned testimonies of thankfulness We shall spend Eternity in his praises and he shall spend his Treasuries upon us we shall think of nothing but how to glorifie him and he shall strive to satisfie us we shall contend in mutual offices of Love and Friendship O happy contention O blessed communion unto which our present Piety and Religion intends to bring us We have now a communion with God in holy duties and by his divine Spirit for no other end but that we might thereby be prepared for his eternal communion in Heaven In this Union and Communion with God consists the chief happiness of the creature for besides that they shall remove from us whatsoever looks like an evil they shall procure unto us advantages suitable unto that supernatural honour and estate Isa 64.4 Which eye hath not seen c. Our present knowledge shall be changed into sight our hope into fruition our love to God into endless transports our desires shall be satisfied our Prayers granted and turned into eternal Allelujahs our understandings shall be no more darkened with ignorance our wills no more corrupted with vice a blessed perfection shall reign within us And this shall proceed from an immediate infusion of divine Knowledge and a communication of spiritual qualities that shall fit us for the vision of God for we shall see his Face and his Name shall be in our foreheads Revel 22. We know saith St. John when God shall appear we shall be like him For we shall see him as he is not only with our corporal eyes we may see that inacessible light which always accompanies the visible declaration of his Glory and Power but also with the eyes of our souls we shall behold as much of the essence of God as the creature can perceive he will expose himself to our view And therefore we shall be transformed into his resemblance we shall be as so many Images of the Godhead so many living Pictures of his Infinite Being representing his glorious perfections as a clear fountain doth the body of the Sun or rather as Moses face did the brightness of the beams with which the Divine Majesty was cloathed upon the Mount Sina God will imprint in us the noble Characters and lineaments of his Essence therefore well might David promise to himself As for me I will behold thy face in righteousness I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness So that this blessed life shall not so much consist in the union of the soul and body as in the union of both soul and body with God our Creator In the next place in this life there shall be an excellent order and subordination in our souls all the passions and affections shall be ruled by the command of our Reason These inward motions shall not cease but they shall be bound to their good behaviour they shall no more offer to raise a rebellion within us to disturb our tranquility they shall not be capable of evil impressions Isa 32.18 nor bear the marks of corrupted nature There shall be a beautiful symmetry between the parts of our soul and body insomuch that perfection and integrity shall appear within and without How happy shall that life be when we shall perfectly enjoy our selves when all our affections shall endeavour to accomplish our felicity These are our present enemies they procure all the inconveniences that happen unto us whether in our bodies or estates by perswading us to embrace that seeming good which proves our deadly poyson But then they shall be no more corrupted by the sight of apparant advantages nor tempted to betray our interest for a vain enjoyment they shall always carry us to the performance of Duty and to that real good which shall fully satisfie us with content Unless they be thus reformed it is not possible for man to taste happiness in the most blessed Estate For what are Honours Riches and the greatest Blessings to one tormented with the desire of an increase or to a peevish discontented soul that apprehends a change or sees a happiness afar off which it prefers to the present or to one whose passions gaul him The least pain is sufficient to qualifie the greatest pleasures therefore in this happy life unruly passions shall cease with outward inconveniences they shall suffer us to relish the sweetness of our possessions they shall rather awaken our senses and give them a fuller and a quicker apprehension of the excellency of the heavenly delights and although our happiness shall not be confined to those pleasures that are furnished by our senses for they are not sufficient inlets to receive as much as the soul requires to accomplish her felicity besides it is not proper that the Bliss of so excellent a part should depend upon its correspondency with the baser or that it should borrow its satisfaction from its union with the body Caro spiritualis effectae per omnes sensus suos multimodis exuberabit delitiis Laur. yet it is most certain that they shall not want a share of those pleasures in which the soul shall so freely swim they shall not be brutish or such as Mahomet promiseth to his Mufulmans but they shall be sutable unto the spiritual body of the Righteous and far excelling the base and rotten pleasures of this miserable life in quality for they shall be without the least mixture of bitterness in the quantity for they shall be proportion'd to our capacities and in the durance for they shall be continual without interruption and eternal as David informs us Psal 16.11 speaking unto God In thy presence is fulness of joy and at thy right hand
are pleasures for evermore 5. This life shall be a life of Holiness and Righteousness a life of Piety and Justice and of sobriety a life of integrity for then we shall be arrived to the supreme degree of perfection as well as of happines we shall come to that perfect stature of regeneration which is in Christ Jesus our Lord The works of the Devil shall then be utterly destroyed and that great disorder which his Apostacy hath caused shall then be reformed In Heaven no impure thing shall enter Rev. 21. Heb. 12.14 For without holiness none shall see God The glorified shall never be able to offend their God for the inward motions of the soul being rightly disposed according to his Will and our affections perfectly reformed the outward actions of the body must needs be conformable When there should be another Serpent to tempt us and another Eve to assist him they could never prevail upon us because we shall be no more in a possibility of sinning for our understandings shall be no more capable of mistakes nor our wills corrupted with importune desires nor our actions forced from us against our election And besides this blessed disposition from whence shall proceed a constant practice of the Commandments of God he will also by his continual influence to strengthen our resolutions and determine our wills that they shall abhor whatever might displease him the sight of his holiness shall convey the same disposition into our minds as St. John tells us and his infinite power shall be engaged 〈◊〉 â—â—eserve them whom his love hath espoused and for whom he hath been at so vast an expence to raise them to that estate Therefore God we shall for ever adore with all the powers of the soul and body his service we shall attend with delight our brethren we shall love without dissimulation How pleasant will this life be when there shall be a continual Emulation between God and his creatures and between themselves who shall exceed in love and affection when all the glorified in Heaven shall interchange daily expressions of kindness when there shall be a perfect agreement a living correspondency a sweet fellowship a delightful conversation without envy or malice without care or tediousness This is sufficient to render us most happy when all other things should be wanting for happiness consists rather in a perfect disposition of the mind than in a plentiful enjoyment of outward advantages But besides our bodies shall be adorned with heavenly qualities the present shall see a most happy change with the visible substance Conveniens est us sicut damnati habent extremas tenebras ita beati habeant extremam lucem Basil lib. Hexa Caro sine moln pondera sine deformitate ita ut sit animae ornamentum non tormentum Aug. Serm. 139. de tempor c. 3. and other qualities shall be added with which we are not at present acquainted It is therefore needless to question whether we shall know one another seeing we shall scarce know our selves the change will be so great It is certain that we shall move without trouble we shall ascend without help our strength shall be encreased our deformities removed our infirmities deposed our appearance shall be full of majesty and glory as Daniel informs us 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 In which words you may further observe a difference in the glories of Heaven sutable to their inclinations and employments on earth for the one shall shine as the Firmament the other as the Stars a sensible distinction shall be both in the nature and the greatness of their Rewards for according to the several dispositions of men and their several capacities God will accordingly bestow upon them his riches and his glory Therefore a Father adviseth us to enlarge our perfections and the faculties of the soul by a continual exercise in humane sciences that they may be then more capable to receive and contain the mysteries of Gods Wisdom and better able to bring forth glorious actions for this eternal Sabbath is an estate where all our abilities shall be in the highest perfection where we shall act and move without the least inconveniency Occasions we may have to exercise our Vertues not such as will cause us to suffer but such as without that strength of nature we should find a default in our happiness It is therefore our wisdom now to accustom our selves to that which shall be our employment for ever and upon which shall depend our satisfaction and glory which shall be revealed in us as St. Rom. 18.18 Paul informs us In our souls by a perfect enjoyment of supernatural excellencies in our bodies that shall be free from all weakness and beautified with glorious qualities Therefore this estate is called a Crown of Life for as the Crown is of a round and a perfect figure it is most proper to express the infiniteness and perfection of those heavenly delights that shall accompany that life besides the Crown is the sacred emblem of joy and honour this expression therefore presents us with the notion of the most pleasant and the most honourable estate together for there is nothing more acceptable than life nor more glorious than a Crown and that we may better understand wherefore Christ promiseth Heaven under this notion we must take notice that chiefly four sorts of persons were dignified with a Crown amongst the Ancients Kings to express their Authority and supream Command A new married couple at the nuptial Feasts therefore by the Greeks they were called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Priest in the solemn Sacrifices to render the offering more acceptable and the devotion more glorious or rather to shew what qualification was anciently required in one that presented to the Divinity the Homages of the people Another sort were crowned they who had given open testimony of their valour and cunning either in private Disputes and Plays allowed by authority or in a publick War in the maintenance of the general interest To these several sorts of Crowns were given which were in value and esteem according to the nature of the vertuous action Now the faithful in Heaven shall be Kings enjoying a supream command over the infernal Spirits and damned Souls They shall be Priests Rev. 2.26 sending up unto God the perfume of their praises They shall be married unto Christ in love and affection In these several respects this Crown may become them But our Saviour in this promise hath more especially an eye to the Crowns that were the rewards of a generous Perseverance that had obtained the Victory for he mentions the difficulties that were to be overcome A death to be endured and adds this encouragement I will give thee O faithful soul a Crown of Life It was the ancient custom to crown the Temples
were created in Heaven and in Earth visible and invisible Dan. 4.35 c. who doth according to his will in the Army of Heaven and amongst the Inhabitants of the Earth and none can stay his hand or say unto him what dost thou What difficulties will be able to frustrate his design unto whom the Elements the dumb Creatures the Devils and all things do yield obedience who hath conquered Death in its own Territories who hath an Infinite Wisdom as well as Power to bring to pass his intentions So that what Christ promiseth he is fully able to perform 3. Christ is Truth it self he is not subject to change nor able to deceive us He is not as Xerxes was he crowned his Steers man in the morning and beheaded him in the evening He is not thus unconstant in his Affections and Promises The heaven and the earth shall pass Matth. 5. but one jot of his word shall not pass until all be fulfilled Seeing therefore that he hath promised to bestow this Crown of life upon every faithful soul he will preserve them here by his spirit he will convey and guard them at their separation from the Body by the ministry of his Angels and will at last receive them unto this glorious estate Here are sufficient securities for this Immortal Reward Gods almighty Power his eternal Justice his Infinite Goodness and Love and his unchangeable Truth are all engaged to see the faithful crowned with Glory so that it is as impossible that they should fail of their expectation as it is impossible that God should deny himself St. Pauls Perswasion Jobs Confidence and the Assurance of the holy men were grounded upon this infallible foundation Were we possessed with the same spirit we should not need to seek for any other confirmation of this Truth than the authority of Scripture that often repeats the promise of this Crown unto the faithful But this sensual age will scarce do God that justice to give credit to his Word as if he could have a design to deceive us whose glory is our happiness and perfection as if he were an enemy to our good who gives us whatever we enjoy as if there were danger to expect the Rewards of Honesty and Vertue and to yield obedience when both Duty and Interest do require it Consider the folly of our Modern Witts extraordinary advantages are promised unto men to oblige them to actions full of honour and satisfaction when there should be no such future advantages it is their present concern to entertain this perswasion because it is a friend to Piety and it tends to strengthen their resolutions to appease their discontents and to fill our souls with a glorious expectation As that Athenian that in his greatest poverty did feel the contentments of the wealthiest Citizens Men should labour to comfort themselves in their present miseries with the assurance of a more blessed estate and suffer their hopes to frustrate the design of worldly misfortunes It seems therefore strange that Rational Beings should be so great enemies of their good as to discredit this beneficial perswasion and willingly to deprive themselves of an Antidote able to fortifie their souls against the venom of evil The excellency of that estate the vileness of ours and our natural unworthiness may justly fill us with wonder and admiration But we are not to question this Truth when not onely Scipture but Reason also is able to convince us that it is certain according to the natural course of things that he that is faithful unto Christ must needs attain unto the greatest happiness I understand the word faithful in the largest acception for a vertuous man faithful in the management of the several interests with which God hath intrusted him for one whose life and profession is conformable to Christianity who labours to reduce his Passions to reason his desires to content his wants to sufficiency and that endeavours to strengthen himself with all the natural and revealed perswasions that are intended to assist our Vertue against the inconveniencies that assault us Such a one hath a degree of happiness begun in him and if he continues exercise will bring him to that perfect disposition of the mind and to that noble temper as may brave all the attempts of evil The Stoicks by the strength of nature did attain unto a seeming insensibility witness the resolution of Possidonius in the midst of the tortures of the Gout he could never be forced to confess it to be a pain witness Anaximander pounded in a morter he laughed at the folly and cruelty of the Tyrant How much more power shall man have over himself when his resolution is backt by such strong perswasions as Christianity teaches when such divine helps do assist him as the graces of the holy Ghost an invincible hope and a well-grounded faith that makes him rejoyce in tribulation It is therefore plain that he that practises the Rules of Christianity must needs be happy not onely in regard of himself that he renders thereby capable of happiness but also in regard of those with whom we have a communication that are invited by an amiable correspondency and good offices to the same returns and behaviour and in respect of God who cannot but vouchsafe his blessings and his favour to that Being that is inspired with so noble an ambition and that in obedience to his holy Laws labours to arrive to perfection and holiness But besides this reason which onely proves a natural happiness attainable by a vertuous Christian in this life we may meet with others in that great proportion or relation between the estates of the faithful on earth and of the Saints in heaven Cast your eyes upon both and tell me what hinders a soul washed in the blood of Christ adopted amongst the sons of God united unto him by his divine Spirit what hinders a soul full of heavenly affections a soul that bears the Image of God from an immediate fruition of his presence and favour If therefore that be granted that may be proved by the experience of the faithful as well as by the authority of Scripture that they do really enjoy a present correspondency with their Creator and that they do not in vain flatter themselves with the conceits of an extraordidinary possession of the graces of the divine Spirit because they feel the inward operation of this spirit in their souls Unius Sp. Sancti opus est regeneratio Ambros de Sacr. and see a notable change in their dispositions and affections wrought in them by his power alone that fashions us in the womb if this be granted with the other priviledges of the Elect we shall find no difficulty to believe the happy consequences that do naturally flow from thence that God that favours them with such powerful helps in order to their perfection must needs design them for a greater happiness than their present mortality and weakness are capable of That he
the discovery of our natural weakness and necessities we shall no longer weary our selves in the pursuance of things unable to satisfie us with content Upon God we shall depend in his favour we shall be satisfied and by his happiness we shall be happy not as we are at present for the happiness of the world is increased as much by our wants as by our enjoyments but then as the constitution of our beings and our estates shall be altered we shall no longer know pleasure and felicity by their contraries in God we shall meet with the true and genuine taste of all Excellencies without the least mixture of evill Unto this glorious dependency upon God which St. Paul styles Rom. 8.21 A freedom from the bondage of corruption and the liberty of the Saints God labours at present to bring and train us up by weaning our affections from the world and by inspiring nobler desires that are not to be concerned for the possessions of this life 1. Cor. 7.30 It is the drift of St. Pauls Exhortation who wills us To be indifferent in the use of the creatures and not to abuse our selves or them by any fond Embraces or impatient wishes for that which is to subsist but for a moment It is the concern of us all that aspire to this independency not to fix our hearts nor our happiness upon the world but to be always ready to part with that which is but an impediment to our perfection and felicity for that reason God exercises us with wants and afflictions and prepares us for a Crown as Philip of Macedo did Alexander his son by actions and employments suitable to the Majesty that we are one day to represent and to the Excellency of that estate unto which we shall be promoted 3. This glorious dependency upon God that shall free us from all dependency upon the creature shall proceed from an inward and perfect communion and unspeakable union with this supream Being we shall be united unto him by our affections Gods love shall be no more clouded with judgments and trials it shall shine upon us without interruption our love in requital shall return him continual expressions of thankfulness our desires shall rest in his sufficiency all the motions of our soul shall tend to his Glory We shall also be united unto God as the members are united unto the Head by an inward and continual infusion of his divine Spirit in our souls and by an humble submission to the motions of divine Wisdom that shall govern us or as the subjects are one with their Prince so God shall be one with us 1 Cor. 15.2 he shall reassume the supream Authority which he exerciseth at present by a Mediator and shall appear as our soveraign Lord whose glory will be our interest we shall also be united unto God by such a manner as is not to be expressed Joh. 17.24 Admirald de vita aeterna Such will be this union as shall promote us to an inward sight of God to a perfect resemblance with him and to an eternal familiarity with God the Father such will be this union that we shall enjoy with the Incomprehensible Being the same felicity Rev. 21.9 and be swallowed up in the immensity of his glory Rev. 21.11 This union is signified unto us by a marriage because Christ considered there not only as a Mediator but as God shall enter into a stricter alliance with men and shall become one with them in an unspeakable manner Therefore St. Paul styles it a great mystery Ephes 5.32 At present we are united unto God by the Holy Ghost that is called the Spirit of Christ by the reception of his benefits in the Sacraments and by Prayer that causeth a continual entercourse and correspondency to be entertained between God and our souls But then these imperfect unions shall cease and give place to a more perfect and glorious Ephes 3.19 to a limited participation of all the divine Attributes that are communicable to such a union as shall raise us above all natural capacities our divine Estate unto which God designs us By the present we may judge of the future 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vide colos 1. 19. de Christo What means our gracious God to bestow that cost to employ those glorious Agents in our present satisfaction if he intended not to bring us to a condition suitable to these hopeful beginnings What means the Father to sacrifice his onely begotten Son to expose him to all the affronts that nature is able to receive What means he to send the Holy Spirit to enrich us with his most precious and divine Graces Is it onely to restore our natures to their Primitive Integrity that needed not the concurrency of such a Saviour nor the expressions of so great a Love or is it onely to fit us for an entrance into the Angelical Hierarchies I hey would not have been so inquisitive into that estate which they would have then understood and the Sacred Trinity had never been employed in such a manner in mans Redemption nor had never honoured him with those unspeakable testimonies of divine love if God had not intended him for an estate near unto himself The holy Angels had never been ministring Spirits unto us unless we had been the adopted sons of God and unless there had been something in us that is to be worthy of their services and labours which God designs for his eternal enjoyment Wherefore is it also that our nature is advanced to an Hypostatical union with the divine Word is it onely to enable Christ for the office of a Mediator or is it not also to declare unto what honour God would promote the rest of mankind were they as he is free from error and vice Wherefore do we labour to bring our lives and affections to a conformity with Christ but that we that are his brethren might enjoy in some measure that advantage which he possesseth before us and be united unto God if not in the same unseparable manner yet in such as may have some relation with that witness Christs Words in his Prayer to God at the eve of his Passion John 7.21 22 23. I pray for them that they all may be one as thou Father art in me and I in thee that they also may be one in us And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them that they may be one even as we are one I in them and thou in me that they may be made perfect in one Unity is the perfection as well as foundation of number all things have a natural tendency to it in the world Therefore the Church of Christ of several Nations being called to a participation of the rules of his goodness 1 Cor. 15.28 they must first as the Rivers that run into the Ocean unite with God the ocean of all good before they can come to the enjoyment of those endless joyes
of the dead Bodies when their lives had been exemplary Plin. by this ceremony the Heathens did express a Reward that was due to a vertuous life and the Honour which a righteous Soul hath purchased to himself What they performed to the Body Christ promiseth to do unto both Soul and Body I will give thee c. You have seen the Picture of this Crown with many Jewels of the greater bulk an infinite number of the lesser sort of Pearls and Flowers we shall never know but by experience And so I proceed to a brief consideration of the Assurance that my Text gives of this Estate unto the faithful I will give thee c. It is no wonder to see Julian the Apostate a professed enemy of Christ a promoter of Gentilism upbraid Christians with the easiness of their belief and scoff at this perswasion That there is a Crown of Glory to reward the Righteous It is no marvel if amongst the Heathens men nursed up with prejudices against the Truth ignorant of the power and goodness of our God should call in question the Articles of the Resurrection of the dead and of the happiness of another life but that in the bosom of Christianity under the most visible expressions of Gods Omnipotency Justice and Mercy there should be some of that dull apprehension as not to understand and of those strange principles as to oppose these sacred and beneficial Truths it may seem at first very strange But see what manner of men are capable of this folly amongst us and you will cease from admiring they are the Disciples of Diagoras and Epicurus rather than of Christ men that are degenerated into beasts by their condescention to bruitish pleasures whose souls are sunk into their senses and have lost both the use and knowledge of the noblest functions they are those that defie Heaven by their crimes whose lives are a scandal and their persons a reproach to the society And do you wonder wherefore they are enemies to these truths that are no friends to the peaceable enjoyment of their lusts that lay before their eyes the punishments that are reserved for them do you wonder if these graceless wits cannot comprehend an estate so far above their capacities and contrary to the present let their natural abilities be never so great such know no other life but that of the senses no other felicity but the carnal nor other delights but of the body 1 Cor. 2.14 and how is it possible that such should have the least apprehension of that supernatural condition that shall raise man and all his faculties to the highest perfection of activity It is a mystery but onely to them whose minds are inlightned by the Spirit of God they also have no clear insight into this estate Therefore Christ in my Text pities the weakness of our capacities and adds to his promise of heavens glories sufficient reasons to convince us of the reality of these Rewards They are contained in these Particulars 1. In the Qualities of the person that promiseth and his engagement 2. In the nature of the Recompence or in that excellent relation between the estate of the faithful on earth and that in Heaven other reasons shall be added drawn from the rules observed in the disposition of the Creatures The person that promiseth this Crown of Life is described in the 8th verse of this Chapter The first and the last which was dead and is alive By which words is intimated his sufficiency for the performance for thereby are signified his Divinity and Humanity his death by which he purchased this celestial Diadem for us his Almighty Power and his Truth that are engaged to see us in the possession of it 1. Christs Death hath given us an unquestionable Right to this Crown and to all its dependencies Before in the estate of Innocency we had a natural claim to Heaven In coelumque redire animas coelumque venire Manil. lib. 4. by reason of our soul that is an immaterial substance conformable to the celestial Beings so that by this law of Nature established in the Creation which assignes unto every thing a final residence where first it had its derivation if man had continued in his integrity he had always continued in that glorious Right and might have called for an entrance into that Seat of Glory and happiness But this natural Priviledge hath been forfeited by Rebellion The soul by sin hath lost together the Title to demand and the Power to deserve an admission and hath seen it self banished out of Heaven by the procurement of its two great adversaries Guilt and Corruption But Christ by his death hath overcome them and all impediments by his Blood he hath satisfied an offended Justice Heb. 9.12 14 and obtained for us an eternal redemption Therefore he is said to be a propitiation for us and our peace Rom. 3.25 Eph. 2. by whom we have an access to the Father And in 10 Heb. 19 20. St. Paul teacheth We have boldness to enter in to the Holiest by the blood of Jesus by a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us through the vail that is to say his flesh But the Infinite merits of our Redeemer have not onely re-established us in our former Right but purchased for us a degree of Perfection and Honour Aug. lib. 12. de Civit. far above that unto which we might have ascended by the strength of Nature in the estate of Innocency according to the judgement of the Fathers and of St. Paul who in Rom. 5. therefore mentions many advantages which we have received by Christ for one lost by Adam and tells us that the blood of the former is far more effectual and beneficial unto us than the transgression of the latter hath been hurtful So that by this means Gods eternal Justice is engaged to bring us to this estate which hath been lawfully purchased for us Heb. 9.24 In order thereunto Christ hath transported our nature and introduced it into the highest heavens that it might take possession in our names of Immortality and Bliss Eph. 2.6 2. But the goodness of our Title to Heaven into which Christ is entred had not been sufficient to secure us the fruition unless he had been enabled with a power sutable to so great an undertaking therefore we are informed That all power is given to him in heaven and in earth That God hath put all things under his feet That he sits at the right hand of God with the Scepter of an Almighty power in his hand This is signified in the former description by being alive from the dead Rom. 1.4 an infallible testimony of the Divinity of our Saviour As many difficulties I confess will strive to hinder our entrance into Heaven as there were nations that did oppose the Israelites passage into the promised Land our selves and Affections are not the least But what cannot he overcome by whom all things