been brought to believe that it is a duty incumbent on or rather a privilege belonging to none but great and exemplary Saints to strong and well-grounded Christians that this Sacrament is not food proper for babes and novices for those who often fail in their duty who are still onely wrestling with their lusts but have not yet got the mastery or victory over them that we ought first to be fully assured of our salvation before we come to this holy table that this ordinance serves onely to strengthen and confirm our faith and repentance and all other Christian graces and vertues but not to beget any of them in us Now here thus much must be granted that this Sacrament doth belong onely to those that are within the pale of the visible Church onely to baptised Christians that do publickly own their faith and Christian profession that it is no means of converting Jews or Infidels and that even Christians by notorious evil lives whereby they become scandalous to their brethren and incur the censures of the Church may justly forfeit all their right and title to this Sacrament and farther that it is a bold prophanation of our Saviour's institution for any wicked person resolved to continue such to presume to bless God for that mercy and love of a Redeemer which he doth not in the least value Thus far we are on all hands agreed but not now to engage in any matter of controversie I shall onely say that I can see no reason why to one that is really sensible of his sins and miscarriages contrary to his baptismal vow and profession and maketh some kind of resolution to forsake them why I say this Sacrament as well as prayer or any other duties of Religion may not be reckoned as a means of begetting true repentance in him of turning him from sin to righteousness from the power of Satan to God and for this I shall offer onely this one plain argument which is obvious to every man that if the death of Christ it self his bitter passion his whole gratious undertaking for us was amongst other reasons designed by God also to convince us of the evil and danger of sin to bring us out of love with it and to engage us to a new and better life surely then the consideration of the same things represented to us in the Sacrament the commemoration of his death and passion there made may also serve for the same great ends and purposes If Christ died that we should die unto sin certainly then the memory of his death may justly be accounted a proper means of killing sin in us nay what in the nature of the thing can be imagined a more likely instrument to turn us from a life of sin to the practice of holiness than the frequent consideration of what our blessed Lord hath done and suffered for us and if so it cannot be necessary that this change should be completely wrought in us before we ever solemnly commemorate his bloudy passion for that were to suppose it necessary that the end should be obtained before we use the means It is not therefore absolutely necessary that we should be fully assured that we are in a state of grace and in God's favour and have repented enough and truly forsaken all our sins before we venture on this Sacrament it is sufficient that we heartily and sincerely resolve against them that we approach the Lord's table with honest and devout minds that we be really willing and desirous to use all means to become better and if thus disposed we come to the Sacrament I doubt not but we shall find it a most effectual means for the enabling us to leave our sins and to lead a better life It is not our unworthiness but our resolving to continue in that state that makes us unqualified for this Sacrament 4. If therefore by your unworthiness you mean that you live in sin and are resolved to doe so and therefore dare not come to the Sacrament for fear you should farther provoke God almighty I will suppose that in this you act prudently and warily but then I would advise you for the same reason and on the same account to leave off all other duties of Religion as well as this if you would act upon the same grounds you ought to reckon it the safest way never to pray to God any more nor ever again to appear in any religious assemblies nor to join in any part of God's solemn worship for God hath often declared that he doth far more abominate all such formal whining cringing hypocrites and will more severely punish them than the open and bold contemners of his authority and laws The prayer of the wicked man is an abomination to the Lord. He hates the addresses of those who call him father and master and in words acknowledge him but yet continually doe the things that are displeasing in his sight His soul loaths and nauseates all the services of impure worshippers You do but mock God basely fawn upon and impudently flatter him when you present your selves before him as his people and servants and yet secretly hate him and wish him out of the world nay for the same reason for which you forbear the Sacrament e'en lay aside your whole Christian profession openly renounce your Baptism deny your Saviour disown his Religion for that is the safest course whilst you resolve to continue in sin and disobedience for God's wrath shall be in the first place revealed against wicked Christians and better will it be in the last day for Tyre and Sidon for Sodom and Gomorra than for those who were called by Christ's name and yet did not depart from iniquity If this pretence be true that you go out of the Church when the Sacrament is to be administred lest you should farther provoke God by unworthy receiving it by the same reason keep from the Church altogether lest you as highly provoke God by being present at those prayers you do not heartily join in nor ever intend to live according to Or rather to speak yet more fully what is the true consequence of this you now know your selves unworthy and are resolved yet at least for some time to continue such alas what need such as you be afraid of this Text In this case it ought to seem indifferent to you whether you receive or not Damnation here threatned cannot be supposed reasonably to scare him from the Sacrament who runs the constant hazard of it by living in known sin This can be no such terrible word to an habitual and resolved sinner He that can swear and talk prophanely and live intemperately and loosely and without any fear or regret commit mortal sin in vain pretends fear of damnation for not doing that which is indeed his duty for it is a most odd and ridiculous thing to be afraid of doing what our Saviour hath commanded us whilst we are not in the least afraid every day of doing what he
sins before ever he will save us from the penal consequences of them So that the efficacy of Christ's undertaking for us and the necessity of our own personal righteousness do very well consist together and each hath its proper work in obtaining the pardon of our sins and the favour of God Our Saviour's incarnation and perfect obedience even unto death is the sole meritorious cause of our acceptance with God and of our salvation He alone purchased those great benefits for us made atonement paid our ransome and procured this covenant of grace from God wherein eternal life is promised to penitent sinners But then these great advantages are not immediately and absolutely conferr'd upon us but under certain qualifications and conditions of repentance faith and sincere obedience for the performance of which the holy Spirit is never wanting to sincere endeavours We do therefore vilely affront and disgrace our blessed Lord when we boldly expect to be saved by him whilst we continue in our sins Nay we ought to think our selves as much beholden to him for his doctrine and the assistences of his grace and the glorious promises of the Gospel by which we are made truly holy and righteous as for his sufferings and death by which he satisfied God's justice and purchased the pardon of our sins 2. I shall hence make that inference of the Apostle Heb. 2.3 How then shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation Hath God so abundantly provided for our happiness hath his onely begotten Son done and suffer'd so much for it and shall we be so sottish and stupid as foolishly to despise it when it hath been so signally the unwearied care of Heaven to procure it for us It is onely our own advantage that is design'd God projects no private profit nor doth any accrue to him from the salvation of all mankind Shall we our selves therefore madly defeat all these designs of grace and goodness towards us by our invincible resolution to ruine and undoe our selves Did the onely begotten Son of God as at this time descend from the regions of bliss and happiness was he born into this miserable world and did he humble himself to take our flesh that by that means he might exalt mankind and make us capable of dwelling in the highest Heavens and all this out of mere pity and compassion of our desperate condition and shall we think the denying our selves a lust or the satisfaction of a forbidden appetite or a short-liv'd pleasure too much for the obtaining the same glory Did he live here a poor mean and contemptible life and at last die a shamefull death to merit eternal life for us and for the obtaining the same shall we grudge to live a sober temperate and honest life Oh how will this consideration one day aggravate our torment What vexation and anxiety will it one day create in our minds with what horrour and despair will it fill our guilty souls Had God predestinated us from all eternity to everlasting misery so that it had been impossible for us to have avoided our sad fate had he never provided a Mediatour and Redeemer for us it would have been a great ease in another world to consider that we could no ways have escaped this doom But when we shall reflect upon the infinite love and kindness of God and how desirous he was that all men should be saved when we shall consider the wonderfull pity and compassion of our Saviour in being born and dying for us and procuring for us such easie terms of salvation and so often by his Spirit moving and exciting us to our duty and the care of our souls when we shall think of those many obligations he hath laid upon us and the wise methods he hath used for our recovery and amendment and how that nothing was wanting on God's part but that we might now have been praising blessing and adoring his goodness and wisedom amongst the glorified Spirits in the happy regions of undisturbed peace and joy and yet that we through our own most shamefull neglect though often warned to the contrary are now forced in vain to seek but for a drop of water to cool the tip of our tongues How will this heighten our future pains and prove the very essence of Hell Better shall it be in the last day for Tyre and Sidon for Sodom and Gomorrah places overrun with lust and barbarity for the Nations that sit in darkness and never heard of these glad tidings of a Saviour than for you to whom this salvation is come but you cast it behind your backs The fiercest vengeance the severest punishments are reserved for wicked Christians and what can we imagine shall be the just portion of those whom neither the condescension and kindness nor wounds and sufferings of the Son of God could persuade nor yet the excellency easiness and profitableness of his commands invite nor the promises of unexpressible rewards allure nor the threatnings of eternal punishment engage to live and be happy In vain therefore do such come hither to celebrate the memory of Christ's birth They of all men who despise this great salvation purchased by the Son of God have no great cause to rejoyce this day nay happy had it been for them who still persist in their sins notwithstanding all that Christ hath done to save them from them if this holy Jesus had never been born 3. Lastly Let us all improve this present opportunity to return our most humble praises and thanksgivings for so great and unvaluable a blessing and to join our voices as well as we are able with those bright Seraphims and that heavenly Host that attended and celebrated Christ's nativity when the Heavens proclaimed his birth with their loud shouts of joy saying Glory be to God in the highest on earth peace good-will towards men Blessed be God for ever blessed be his holy name who hath found out a way for our deliverance and hath raised up for us a mighty salvation that we being delivered out of the hands of our enemies might serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our life Praise therefore the Lord O our souls and all that is within us praise his holy name and forget not all his benefits who forgiveth all our iniquities and healeth all our diseases who hath redeemed our life from destruction and hath crowned us with loving-kindness and tender mercies What shall we now return what do we not owe to him who came down from his imperial Throne and infinitely debasing himself and eclipsing the brightness of his glorious Majesty became a servant nay a curse for our sakes to advance our estate and to raise us to a participation of his divine nature and his eternal glory and bliss To him therefore let us now all offer up our selves our souls and bodies and spirits and that not onely to be saved by him but to be ruled and governed by him and
a resurrection seems to require it namely that the very same body which died should be raised again Nothing dies but the body nothing is corrupted but the body the soul goeth upward and returns to God and therefore nothing else can be properly said to be raised again but onely that very body which died and was corrupted If God give to our souls at the last day a new body this cannot literally be called the resurrection of our bodies because here is no reproduction of the same thing that was before which seems to be plainly implied in the word resurrection Indeed the word is sometimes used otherwise as when a House or Temple that hath been consumed by fire is rebuilt on the same ground where it formerly stood this is often though improperly and figuratively called the resurrection of it and after the same manner do the Latines use the word resurgere but yet the most proper and literal signification of the word resurrection is that the same flesh which was separated from the soul at the day of death should be again vitally united to it 3. There are many places of Scripture which in their strict and literal meaning do seem plainly to favour this sense of the Article that the very same flesh shall be raised again what more plain and express saith St. Hierome than that of Job Job 19.26 27. Though after my skin worms destroy this body yet in my flesh shall I see God whom I shall see for my self and my eyes shall behold and not another But however plain these words may seem to be yet I cannot think that the primary and original meaning of them doth at all relate to the resurrection nor were they ever so understood and interpreted by the Jews as Grotius tells us not but that they might be prophetical of it and so by way of accommodation may be fitly applied to it but the first and most easie sense of the words seems to be this After my skin is consumed let that which remains of me likewise by piecemeals be destroyed yet I am confident that before I die with these very eyes I shall see my Redeemer and be restored by him to my former happy state So that the words are a plain prophecy of his own deliverance and an high expression of his confident hope in God that in time he would vindicate his innocence and bring him out of all his troubles But if this place will not hold there are others in the New Testament of the same importance St. Paul in the 53d verse of this Chapter speaking of our body and the glorious change it shall undergo at the resurrection tells us that this corruptible shall put on incorruption and this mortal shall put on immortality now by this corruptible and this mortal can onely be meant that body which we now carry about with us and shall one day lay down in the dust Thus also the same Apostle tells us Rom. 8.11 He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken our mortal bodies Now that which shall be quickned and raised to life again can be nothing else but that very body of flesh which is mortal and died though there is some question to be made whether the quickning our mortal bodies by the spirit of Christ dwelling in us should not rather be understood in a metaphorical or moral sense of the first resurrection from the death of sin to the life of righteousness than of the general resurrection at the consummation of all things But farther the mention and description the Scripture makes of the places from whence the dead shall rise doth seem plainly to intimate that the same bodies which were dead shall revive again Thus we reade in Daniel Ch. 12. v. 2. That those that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting death Where we may yet farther observe that the Metaphor of sleeping and awaking by which our death and resurrection is here expressed doth seem to imply that when we rise again our bodies will be as much the same with those we lived in as they are when we awake the same with those we had before we laid our selves down to sleep Thus again it is said in St. John's Gospel Chap. 5. verses 28 and 29. The hour is coming in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice and shall come forth they that have done good unto the resurrection of life and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation And in the Revelations Chap. 20. verse 13. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it and death and hell that is the grave delivered up the dead that were in them and they were judged every man according to their works Now if the same flesh shall not be raised again what need is there of ransacking the graves at the end of the word the Sea can give up no other bodies but the same which it received in nor can the Grave deliver up any but onely those that were laid therein if it were not necessary that we should rise with the very same bodies the graves need not be opened but our flesh might be permitted to rest there for ever To this may be added that St. Paul tells us in the 3d Chapter of the Epistle to the Philippians verse 21. that our Saviour shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body Now this vile body can be no other than this flesh and bloud which we are now cloathed with restored to life again 4. If we consider the several instances and examples either of those who did immediately ascend up into Heaven or of those who after death were restored to life again they all seem plainly to confirm this opinion that at the last day we shall rise again with the very same flesh and bloud which we had here Enoch and Elias of old were translated into Heaven in their terrestrial bodies and therefore may be supposed now to live there with the same flesh and parts they had when they were here upon earth And those three that were raised from the dead in the Old Testament and those that were recalled to life by our Saviour or accompanied him at his resurrection all appeared again in the very same bodies they had before their dissolution and these were examples and types of the general resurrection and therefore our resurrection must resemble theirs and we also must appear at the last day with the same bodies we lived in here Even our blessed Saviour himself who was the first fruits of them that slept did raise his own body according to that prediction of his Destroy this Temple and in three days I will build it up again Nay he appeared to his Disciples with the very prints of the nails in his hands and feet and with all the other marks of his crucifixion Behold my hands and my
for those celestial and glorious mansions which God hath provided for us an earthly sensual mind is so much wedded to bodily pleasures as that it cannot enjoy its self without them and is incapable of tasting or relishing any other though really greater and infinitely to be preferred before them Nay such persons as mind onely the concerns of the body and are wholly led by its motions and inclinations as do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it were embody their souls would esteem it a great unhappiness to be cloathed with a spiritual and heavenly body it would be like cloathing a beggar in princely apparel Such glorious bodies would be uneasie to them they would not know how to behave themselves in them they would e'en be glad to retire and put on their rags again But now by denying the solicitations of our flesh and contradicting its lusts and appetites and weaning our selves from bodily pleasures and subduing and mortifying our carnal lusts we fit and dispose our selves for another state and when our souls are thus spiritualized they will soon grow weary of this flesh and long for their departure they will be always ready to take wing and fly away into the other world where at last they will meet with a body suited to their rational and spiritual appetites 2. From hence we may give some account of the different degrees of glory in the other state For though all good men shall have glorious bodies yet the glory of them all shall not be equal they shall all shine as stars and yet one star differeth from another star in glory there is one glory of the sun and another glory of the moon and another glory of the stars so also is the resurrection of the dead Some will have bodies more bright and resplendent than others Those who have done some extraordinary service to their Lord who have suffered bravely and courageously for his name or those who by the constant exercise of severity and mortification have arrived to an higher pitch and attained to a greater measure of purity and holiness than others shall shine as stars of the first magnitude Dan. 12.3 And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever It is certain that the purest and most spiritual bodies shall be given to those who are most fitted for them to the most heavenly and spiritual souls so that this is no little encouragement to us to make the greatest proficiency we can possibly in the ways of vertue and piety since the more we wean our selves from these present things and sensible objects the more glorious and heavenly will our bodies be at the resurrection 3. Let this consideration engage us patiently to bear those afflictions sicknesses and bodily pains which we are exercised with in this life The time of our redemption draweth nigh let us but hold out awhile longer and all tears shall be wiped from our eyes and we shall never sigh nor sorrow any more And how soon shall we forget all the misery and uneasiness we endured in this earthly tabernacle when once we are cloathed with that house which is from above we are now but in our journey towards the heavenly Canaan are pilgrims and strangers here and therefore must expect to struggle with many straits and difficulties but it will not be long before we shall come to our journeys end and that will make amends for all we shall then be in a quiet and safe harbour out of the reach of those storms and dangers wherewith we are here encompassed we shall then be at home at our Father's house no more exposed to those inconveniences which so long as we abide in this tabernacle of clay we are subject unto And let us not forfeit all this happiness onely for want of a little more patience and constancy but let us hold out to the end and we shall at last receive abundant recompence for all the trouble and uneasiness of our passage and be enstated in perfect endless rest and peace 4. Let this especially arm and fortify us against the fear of death for death is now conquered and disarmed and can doe us no hurt It separates us indeed from this body for a while but it is onely that we may receive it again far more pure and glorious It takes away our old rags and bestows upon us royal robes either therefore let us lay aside the profession of this hope of the resurrection unto life or else let us with more courage expect our own dissolution and with greater patience bear that of our friends and relations Wo is us who are forced still to sojourn in Mesech and to dwell in the tents of Kedar for how can it be well with us so long as we are chained to these earthly carcasses As God therefore said once to Jacob fear not to go down into Egypt for I will go down with thee and I will surely bring thee up again so may I say to you fear not to go down into the house of rottenness fear not to lay down your heads in the dust for God will certainly bring you out again and that after a much more glorious manner Let death pull down this house of clay since God hath undertaken to rear it up again infinitely more splendid and usefull 5. And Lastly Let us all take care to live so here that we may be accounted worthy to obtain the other world and the resurrection from the dead Let us rise in a moral sense from the death of sin to the life of righteousness and then the second death shall have no power over us A renewed and purified mind and soul shall never fail of an heavenly and glorious body in the other world but a sensual and worldly mind as it hath no affection for so can it find no place in those pure regions of light and happiness Since therefore we have this comfortable hope of a glorious resurrection unto life eternal let us purify our selves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit let us hold fast our profession and stedfastly adhere to our duty whatever we may lose or suffer by it here as knowing we shall reap if we faint not And this is Saint Paul's exhortation with which he concludes his discourse of the resurrection Therefore my beloved brethren be ye stedfast unmoveable always abounding in the work of the Lord forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord. A SERMON Preached before the House of COMMONS The Twelfth Sermon JOB XXVII 5 6. God forbid that I should justify you till I die I will not remove my integrity from me My righteousness I hold fast and will not let it go my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live THESE words may be considered as the resolution of a truly honest man whose vertue and goodness depends not upon any outward accidents or
us It loseth all its grace and acceptableness when it is done grudgingly and as of necessity Nay our Saviour denied not to converse familiarly with Publicans and the greatest Sinners he endeared himself to them by signal condescensions though this also proved matter of reproach and infamy to him as if he countenanced those vices he attempted to cure or it were any disgrace to a Physitian to visit his patients He refused not the civil offer of a Pharisee though his sworn enemy and would go to the houses and eat at the table of those who sought his ruine and whatever ill design they might have in inviting him yet he always improved the occasion for the doing them some considerable good 3. And Lastly He constantly persevered in this notwithstanding the foul ingratitude and malitious opposition his good works met with in the World Never did any one meet with greater discouragements or more unworthy returns than the Son of God when all his acts of beneficence all the good offices he had done amongst them were so far from obliging that they rather tended to exasperate and provoke that untoward generation and the more kindness he expressed toward them the greater hast they made to betray and destroy him This great Patron and Benefactour this generous friend and lover of Mankind was mortally hated and cruelly persecuted as if he had been a publick enemy and had done or designed some notorious mischief They continually laid traps to ensnare him loaded him with malitious slanders greedily watched for an advantage to animate the multitude against him took up stones to throw at him as a reward of his gratious attemt to make them wise and happy put bad constructions and made sinister interpretations of all the good he did as if he designed to caress the people and by such arts to gratify his ambition and make himself popular So that this great and gallant person was looked upon as a dangerous man and the more good he did the more he was feared and suspected yet all this and a thousand times worse usage could not disswade him from persisting in doing good to them He was ready to repay all these injuries with courtesies even his bitterest enemies were partakers of his kindness and he still continued to entreat them to accept of life from him and with tears of true compassion bewailed their infidelity and wilfull folly Nay at last when they laid violent hands upon him and put him to the shamefull death of the Cross yet then did he pray to his Father to forgive them and which is still most wonderfull and is the very perfection of charity he willingly laid down his life for them who so cruelly and treacherously took it from him Thus our Lord went about doing good Let us who are his disciples and followers go now and doe likewise which brings me to the second thing I was to consider in these words viz. II. Our duty in imitation of his most glorious example who went about doing good But we you 'll say are not in a capacity we have not ability or opportunity of doing good in that ample manner in that measure and degree our Lord did We cannot by any means however willing to it or diligent in it come up to the perfection of this noble and heroical example Were such miraculous powers communicated to us as were to our Saviour so that by a word speaking we could heal all manner of sickness and restore sight to the blind and feet to the lame could we instruct the ignorant reprove the propâ—ane admonish the erring with so much ease advantage and authority as our blessed Lord did we should then perhaps be very free and liberal in imparting those great favours and blessings Heaven had so signally bestowed upon us for the good and benefit of others but alas as things now stand with us we have neither power nor skill nor means to doe good at all after that illustrious manner our Saviour did To which all I shall at present reply is that though we cannot after that stupendious manner be beneficial to mankind as our Saviour was yet there are very many things which we are able to doe for the good of others which our blessed Saviour could not doe by reason of his poverty and low estate in this World without the expence of a miracle Few of us but as to our outward circumstances in this life are in a far more plentifull condition than the Son of God himself was whilst here on earth and it is in our power by ordinary ways to relieve and succour oblige and benefit many so as our Lord could not doe without employing his divine power to furnish himself with means for it Be pleased therefore to take notice that it is not doing good just in the same instances or after that same wonderfull manner that this example obligeth us unto but onely to a like willingness and readiness to doe good upon all fit occasions as far as our power and activity reacheth it obligeth us all in our several stations according to those opportunities God hath afforded us and those abilities he hath endued us with and those conditions of life his providence hath placed us in to endeavour as much as in us lieth the welfare and prosperity ease and happiness of all men so that others may bless the divine goodness for us the state of their bodies or minds being bettered by our imparting to them what God hath more abundantly bestowed upon us Contrary to which is a narrow selfish stingy spirit when we are concerned for none but our selves and regard not how it fares with other men so it be but well with us when we follow our own humour and with great pleasure enjoy the accommodations of our own state when we think our own happiness the greater because we have it alone to our selves and no other partakes of it which of all other things is the most directly opposite to that benign and compassionate temper which our Saviour came into the World by his doctrine and example to implant in men I shall not undertake to set before you the several instances of doing good to others since they are so various and infinite and our duty varies according to our circumstances and opportunities which are very different and every one may easily find them out by considering what good he would have other Men doe for him What he should reasonably expect or would take kindly from those he converseth with or is any ways related unto all that he is in like cases to be willing to doe for another so that this doing good is a work of large comprehensive extent and universal influence it reacheth to the souls and bodies of men and takes in all those ways and means whereby we may promote the temporal spiritual or eternal advantage of others And to so happy and noble an employment one would think there should be no need of persuasion However I humbly
then when all our former inordinate pleasures shall prove matter of anguish and torment to us when all the flowers of worldly glory shall be withered when all earthly beauty which now doth so tempt and bewitch us shall be darkned and eclipsed when this world and the fashion of it is vanished and gone when the pangs of death are just taking hold of us and we are ready to step into another world what a seasonable and comfortable refreshment then will it be to look back upon a well-spent life to consider with our selves how faithfully we have improved those talents God hath intrusted us with how well we have husbanded our time estates parts reputation learning authority for the glory of God and the good of other men The time will surely shortly come wherein you shall vastly more rejoice in that little you have laid out or expended for the benefit of others than in all that which by so long toil and drudgery in the world you shall have saved and purchased They are not your great possessions lands or estates nor your dignities and titles of honour nor your eminent places and trusts nor any external advantages you have purchased or acquired that at such a time will yield you any true peace or comfortable hope What use you have made of them and what good you have done with them is that which your conscience will then enquire after and accordingly pronounce its sentence 3. To doe good is the most divine and God-like thing By it we do most especially become like unto God who is good and who doth good and not onely like him but we resemble him in that which is his very nature and essence and which he esteems his greatest glory for such is his goodness which doth as it were deify all his other attributes and perfections There is no quality or disposition whatever by which we can so near approach the divine Majesty as this of beneficence and delight in doing good As for knowledge and power the evil Spirits partake of them in a greater degree than the best men but a man hath nothing of God so much as to doe good By contributing to the contentment of other men and rendring them as happy as lieth in our power we doe God's work are in his place and room perform his office in the world we make up the seeming defects of his providence and one man thereby becomes as it were a God to another Hence this employment must needs be the highest accomplishment and perfection of our beings It is the onely argument of a brave and great soul to extend his care and thoughts for the good of all men and not to doe so is a certain indication of a little narrow spirit contracted within it self and its own paltry concernments 4. This is the very end of all the blessings and several advantages God hath vouchsafed to Men in this life that by them they might become capable of doing good in the World this is the proper use they are to be put to for which they were designed by the authour and donour of them and if they are not employed to such purposes we are false to our trust and the stewardship committed to us and shall be one day severely accountable to God for it For the Almighty and Sovereign Lord and disposer of all things both in Heaven and Earth hath assigned to every man his particular place and station in this World hath given him his part to act on this great theatre hath furnished him with powers and abilities of mind and body fitted for several uses in the due and regular improvement and management of which every one may in some measure be helpfull and serviceable to others This our Saviour illustrates by his excellent parable of the Talents St. Matth. 25. There is no man but God hath put many excellent things into his possession to be used improved and managed by him for the common good and interest for men are made for society and mutual fellowship We are not born for our selves alone but every other man hath some right and interest in us and as no man can live happily in this World without the help and assistance of others so neither is any man exempted or priviledged from being in his place some way beneficial to others It is with men in this World as it is with the parts of the body natural It is St. Paul's comparison 1 Cor. 12. the body consists of divers members which neither have the same dignity and honour nor the same use and office but every part hath its proper use and function whereby it becomes serviceable to the whole body and if any one part fails or is ill affected the whole suffers for it and the meanest part is necessary for the good of the whole so that the eye cannot say to the hand I have no need of thee nor again the head to the feet I have no no need of you Thus hath God distributed several gifts amongst the sons of men or they by God's blessing upon their industry acquire particular art skill and experience some in one thing some in another none in all so that it is impossible but that every man must want something for the conveniency of his life for which he must be obliged to others upon which accompt it is most highly reasonable that he also himself should some way oblige and serve others But besides this there are many special favours and advantages which some men enjoy above others which also are designed for the common good and benefit It is plain that there is a very great inequality amongst men both as to the internal endowments of their minds and their external conditions in this life Many more talents are committed to some persons than to others but yet we greatly mistake when we think them given us merely for our own sakes to serve our own turns and for the satisfaction of our own private appetites and desires without any respect to other men No at the best they are but deposited with us in trust the more we enjoy of them the greater charge we have upon our hands and the more plentifull returns God doth justly expect from us for unto whomsoever much is given saith our Saviour of him shall be much required This ought especially to be considered by all those who by reason of the eminency of their qualities and dignities and by their superiority above others have vast authority over them whose sphere is large and influence great who have many dependents who court their favour and whose interest it is to observe and please them what infinite good may such doe in the world especially by their example 5. Doing good is the main and most substantial part of Christian Religion the most acceptable sacrifice we can offer or service we can perform to God and therefore do we so often find in Scripture all Religion summed up as it were in this one thing it
aversation and disrespect In a word if you would excell others in point of true worth and excellency endeavour to get your souls possessed with this divine grace of charity which is the onely thing that doth truly ennoble a man that doth exalt and dignify his nature and raise him above the rest of his fellow-creatures A SERMON Preached at WHITE-HALL The Seventh Sermon NUMB. XXIII 10. Let me die the death of the righteous and let my last end be like his I Shall not now trouble you with enquiring into the strict meaning of these words as uttered by the Prophet Balaam but I shall consider them onely as they are commonly understood viz. as containing in them the secret wish and desire of most wicked and ungodly men who though they are loth to be at the pains of living the life yet would fain die the death of the righteous and would gladly that their latter end should be like his As well as men love their sins yet they would not willingly be damned for them They can't endure to think seriously of passing out of this World in an impenitent state For it is what but a very few can arrive unto wholly to shake off or wear out all sense of good and evil of reward and punishment The fears of another World will ever and anon be stirring and erowding themselves in and will fret and gall the Sinner sorely and make his thoughts troublesome to him An uneasie bed a broken sleep a sudden affliction an hand-writing on the wall will sometimes force us whether we will or no to smite upon our breasts and reflect sadly upon our past dishonourable misdeeds and the satal issue of them and very often our own conscience will fly in our face notwithstanding all our arts to divert it or our charms to lull it asleep nor could a wicked man ever be at quiet in his mind but that he is resolved by God's grace when time shall serve to doe something or other he doth not well know what or when whereby he may obtain pardon for all the follies and miscarriages of his life past I am very confident I now represent to you the secret mind of most wicked Christians who at any time think seriously viz. that that which makes them so hardy and stupidly neglectfull of their immortal concerns and so jocund and pleasant whilst they live in plain known sins is this that they promise themselves and depend on God's goodness for time and opportunity of making amends in a lingring sickness or in a declining age They are now young and healthfull strong and lusty their pulse beats evenly their bloud moves briskly their spirits are active and subtile and they feel no symptoms of any approaching sickness Hereafter therefore they think it will be time enough to look after another life when they shall be nigh leaving this when their bodies shall begin to decline and their strength to decay and death shall make its approaches Thus there are as it were two ways propounded to Heaven one and that is counted a very dull tedious and difficult passage by the constant doing of good by living righteously and godlily and soberly in this present world The other which is a shorter cut and a much broader way by repenting at our death of a wicked life and it is not at all hard to guess which way the greatest part of men will chuse And would this doe it were indeed a very fine and subtile management of things for thus we might swallow the bait and never be hurt by the hook we might have both the pleasure of being wicked and the hopes of being saved We might spare our selves all the trouble of Religion and yet not miss of the reward of it We might spend all our days as we list gratify every vain humour and appetite enjoy this world as much as we can deny our selves nothing that our lusts and passions crave live all our life long without God in the world and yet at last die in the Lord. The great enemy of mankind hath not in all his magazine a more deadly engine for the destruction of souls Nor is there any thing I know of that doth so notoriously frustrate and defeat the whole design of our Saviour's coming into the world and render our Christianity so useless to us as this one presumption that the whole of Religion or all that is necessary to salvation may be performed upon a sick or death-bed For if it may be done as well at the last in good truth what need we trouble our selves about it sooner what need we disquiet our selves in vain about the exercises of vertue and piety or forego the sweet pleasures of this life or constantly maintain a painfull and ungratefull conflict with the inclinations and inordinate cravings of our flesh or renounce our secular interests or undertake a sharp and troublesome service whenas it is but at any time lamenting over our sins and trusting to the performances of Jesus Christ and we shall be as secure of Paradise as if we had all our days kept a conscience void of offence both towards God and towards all men and in so doing shall run no other hazard but that of dying suddenly which doth not happen to one man in five hundred Eternal bliss and happiness is a thing of so very great and weighty consideration of such vast moment to us that to put off the thoughts thereof or provision for it but one day after that we are become capable of thinking and acting like men is certainly a very great and unaccountable indiscretion but for a man to give all his days to himself and to his own pleasure and humour and to reserve for God for whose service he was born but one and that the worst and the last This is surely madness beyond all measure The extreme folly and danger of such practices I shall now indeavour to evince by shewing briefly these three things I. How little all that amounts to which can be done by a wicked man in order to the obtaining the pardon of his sins on a sick or death-bed II. How far short all this comes of what the holy Scriptures require as the indispensable conditions of salvation III. What small hopes or encouragement God hath any where given men to believe that he will at all abate or remit of those conditions he hath propounded in the Gospel or accept of any thing less than a good life I. How little all that amounts to which can be done by a wicked man on his sick or death-bed Now some at this time can doe more some less according as God affords them space and ability but ordinarily the whole of a death-bed repentance is no more than a few good words and wishes a superficial confession of sin and wickedness in general some broken prayers and pious expressions to the Minister who then shall be sure to be sent for in all haste however despised by the sinner all his
they go hence and be no more seen Did you ever hear of any dying penitent that did not a thousand times wish he had begun sooner and how earnestly do such warn every one by their example to take heed of trusting to a death-bed repentance If therefore he that hath served the lusts of the flesh and done his own will during a long malitious life can for any thing a dying person can doe be in any sense said to have lived soberly righteously and godly then may he be sure of salvation if we walk according to this rule then shall peace be upon us but how can a man sow to the flesh and reap to the spirit serve the Devil all his life long and be crowned by God at his death but III. The last thing to be considered was what hopes or encouragement God hath given us to believe that he will remit or abate of those conditions of a good life which are propounded to us in the Gospel And indeed there is very little to be found either of promise or example in Scripture to be a sufficient ground of belief that he will ordinarily accept of a death-bed repentance for are not the conditions of salvation the same to persons sick and dying as they are to men alive and in health Are they not both under the same covenant and is not the same actual obedience required of all under equal penalties or can we think that any man shall fare better and come off upon easier terms or that God will deal more mildly and gently with him and accept of less from him onely because he hath been so hardy and bold as to continue in sin and to put off his duty towards God even to the very last minute of his life But however there are two instances commonly mentioned in favour of a death-bed repentance The first is that of the labourers in our Saviour's Parable that came into the vineyard at the eleventh hour and yet received equal wages with those that came in at the first and had born the heat of the day But it is here to be observed 1. That these labourers who came in so late yet came in as soon as ever they were called and invited for they gave this reason why they had stood so long there idle because no man hath hired us Had they been often solicited by the Master or his Servants and offered work and all the day refused and onely then at last just in the close of the evening been willing to have taken upon themselves the service when it was over this had been something like the case I have been now speaking of of Christians all their lives long rejecting Christ's yoke but just when they are summoned to give an account willing to submit their necks to it But this Parable rather represents the case of an Heathen man that never heard of Christ or his Religion till a little before his death whose coming into the Church so late shall not therefore hinder his receiving a full reward But this is by no means the condition of those who have made a covenant with Christ in baptism and after they have most notoriously failed of what they promised do then onely return to their service when the night is come in which no man can work He that came in at the eleventh hour was under no engagement to work any sooner he had no-where promised it nor had the Master commanded it and therefore he was without fault 2. He that came in at the eleventh hour did yet work one hour that was indeed but a short time yet however sufficient to render his case very different from that man's who comes in but at the twelfth which is the case of the death-bed penitent The other instance often named in favour of a death-bed repentance is that of one of the Thieves on the Cross a passage in the Gospel remembred better and studied more by wicked men than any other story whatever though the whole of it was so very miraculous and extraordinary that the like never can be expected again unless our blessed Lord should once more descend from Heaven and suffer here amongst us and one of us should happen to die in company with him and then indeed from such a wonderfull repentance and faith as his was we might hope for the like success and acceptance But this example affords but little comfort to those who have for many years professed the Religion of Jesus and yet deferred the practice of it till the day of their death But you 'll say then is there no hopes is there no remedy what must a wicked man doe in such a condition when he happens to be thus surprised by death I am far from taking upon me to limit and confine the mercies of God Almighty they are over all his works and are as infinite as himself such persons therefore as have spent their days in luxury and profaneness and contempt of all religion but at last humbly beg pardon and heartily promise and resolve amendment we must leave to his goodness and pity and gratious compassion who though he ties us up to rules yet is not himself bound by them and who may doe more for us than he hath any where promised and therefore persons in such circumstances ought to be encouraged and quiosâ—â—ed to doe all that they can and at last to submit themselves to God's good pleasure and all that we can tell such men is that the greater and more remarkable their repentance is the more hopes of their forgiveness that sometimes there have appeared now and then some illustrious instances of the power of God's grace and spirit men who have been as famous for their signal repentance as they were before for their profaneness and debauchery and that where God gives such extraordinary grace in this life it is to be hoped he will shew extraordinary favour in the other so that if such men may be saved it is nevertheless by way of prerogative not by the ordinary rule of judgment it is we know not how But yet lest men should from hence presume to defer their repentance thus much must I think and ought to be said on the other side that God hath no where expresly declared that he will accept of all our sorrows and submissions and tears and promises and resolutions made on a death-bed that all these do not amount to what is the plain condition of the covenant of grace that though what God may doe is not for us to define yet he hath plainly enough told us what we are to doe and that it is the greatest madness in the world to run so great an hazard as that we cannot be saved without a dispensation from the ordinary rule had a wise man an hundred souls he would not venture one of them on such uncertainties and thus the ancient fathers have determined this question Do I say saith St. Augustine such an one shall be damned
I dare not Do I say he shall be saved I cannot What say I then will you free your self from all uncertainty in this matter Repent now whilst you are in health forsake your sins whilst you are able to commit them and then you are sure of pardon There is indeed another Church in the world that can teach men how to be saved on a death-bed even without repentance which hath found out ways to make it not onely possible but very easie for any ungodly wretch to secure himself from Hell at length when he comes to die by less than half an hours work but we have not so learned Christ nor dare we be so false to our trust or to the souls of men as to give them certain assurance of everlasting life on any other terms than a constant habitual obedience to the laws of the Gospel The onely certain way to die well is to live well Nor shall I go about to determine how much of our life must be spent in the practice of righteousness and goodness before we can be said to have lived well since this varies according to the circumstances of men which are infinite this is as if a man should ask how long it will be before a fool can become wise or an unlearned man a scholar which differs according to the capacity of the man his industry and opportunity and God's blessing but onely thus much I think may safely be said that so much time of our life is necessary to be spent in the practice of goodness as that we may from the temper of our minds and the course of our actions be truly denominated holy humble pure meek patient just temperate lovers of God and men for the Gospel promiseth not eternal life and glory to any but to persons so and so qualified and it is undoubted that a few pious wishes prayers and purposes or a good will made at our death will not suffice to denominate us such God doth not just watch how men die but he will judge every man according to his works and the deeds he hath done in the flesh and those dispositions we have nourished loved and delighted in all our life will follow and attend us to another world and an evil nature however loth we are to it or sorry for it will sink us down into the deepest Hell To conclude all the use we are to make of all I have now said is not to judge or censure others whose lives we may have been acquainted with and whose condition according to this doctrine may seem sad and deplorable such we are to pity and pray for and exercise our charity upon and leave to God's mercy but that we should all now resolve not to defer the doing of the least thing that we could wish done in order to the salvation of our souls to a sick or death-bed but that to day even whilst it is called to day we depart from iniquity and not be always beginning to live we ought not to lose so much time as it would take to deliberate about this matter for there is no room for consultation here he would be next to mad that should seriously advise whether he should be for ever happy or for ever miserable Let us all endeavour therefore so to live now as we shall wish we had done when we come to lie upon our death-beds or as we shall then resolve to live in case God should continue our life to us let us pursue those things now which we shall be able to think of and reflect upon with pleasure when we come to die and presently forsake all those things the remembrance of which at that time will be bitter to us let us now whilst we are well and in health cherish the same thoughts and apprehensions of things that we shall have when we are sick and dying let us now despise this world as much and think as ill of sin and as seriously of God and eternity as we shall then do for this is the great commendation of the righteous man that every one desires to die his death that at last all men are of his mind and persuasion and would chuse his condition Let me die the death of the righteous and let my last end be like his I end all with those words of the wise Son of Sirach Learn before thou speak and use physick or ever thou be sick before judgment examine thy self and in the day of visitation thou shalt find mercy Humble thy self before thou be sick and in the time of sins shew repentance Let nothing hinder thee to pay thy vows in due time and defer not untill death to be justified Make no tarrying to turn to the Lord and put it not off from day to day for suddenly shall the wrath of the Lord come forth and in thy security thou shalt be destroyed and perish in the day of vengeance A SERMON Preached at WHITE-HALL The Eighth Sermon St. MATTH V. 34. But I say unto you Swear not at all FOR our more clearly understanding the sense and extent of this prohibition of our blessed Saviour's Swear not at all these two things must be observed I. That it was a common practice amongst the Jews to swear by some of God's creatures which custome prevailed amongst them from a pretended reverence of God's holy name whenever they would affirm any thing with more than ordinary vehemence and earnestness or beget an assurance of what they said in another they thought it not fit or decent presently to invoke the sovereign God of Heaven and earth and on every slight and trivial occasion to run to the great maker and father of all things but in smaller matters and in ordinary talk they would swear by their Parents by the Heavens by the Earth by Jerusalem the Altar Temple their Head or the like nor did they count such forms of swearing equally obliging with those oaths wherein the name of God was solemnly and expresly called upon to this our Saviour in probability refers in the verse foregoing my Text Ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time thou shalt not forswear thy self but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths they thought such onely incurr'd the guilt and penalty of perjury who stood not to those promises they had confirmed by explicit calling the Lord himself to witness but that there was but little evil or danger either in the common use of swearing by creatures or in breaking such oaths Now our Saviour here absolutely forbids not onely swearing by the sacred name of God but also by any of his creatures Swear not at all no not so much as by the Heavens by the Earth or by Jerusalem and the reason he gives is because in all such forms of swearing by creatures though God is not expresly named yet he himself is really referred to and tacitly invoked who is the supreme Lord and maker of all when you swear by the Heavens you
industriously banish all such troublesome guests out of their minds instead of debating with themselves the reasonableness and fitness of any of their actions they will not endure so much as to hold any parly or discourse with themselves they endeavour either by a constant succession of sensual delights to charm and lull asleep or else by a counter-noise of revellings and riotous excesses to drown the softer whispers of their consciences or else the hurry and tumult of this world multiplicity of business and secular affairs temporal projects and designs and bodily concerns do so wholly engross and prepossess their thoughts that they are not at leisure for any such serious reflexions They chuse to divert themselves by any folly or vanity by which they may stiflle and choak all such good motions they hate nothing so much as being alone or at a distance from their dear companions in sin for fear lest some affrighting apprehensions should steal or force their way in till at last they come to inherit the portion of fools that is for ever lament and curse their own incogitance and indiscretion Now till wicked men enter into such deep and earnest consideration of themselves and their own estates it is as impossible that the means of grace the calls of the Gospel or the motions of God's Spirit should have any force or efficacy upon them as that a man's body should be nourished by meat that he doth not digest or that a medicine put into a man's pocket should preserve his health The most invincible arguments cannot gain assent till they first obtain attention and it is all one to be wholly ignorant of or not to consider the danger we are in and therefore the ordinary way by which God brings such men to repentance is first by some sudden affliction or affrighting providence to awaken and rouse them up to a serious consideration of their evil ways and desperate condition which by degrees may improve into an hearty contrition and thorough reformation And oh that I could now prevail with any one that hath hitherto lived in ease in a course of disobedience to God's laws to go home and diligently consider with himself and count up what he hath got by all his most beloved sins what a dreadfull and manifest danger he runs how sad and dismal his reckoning one day must needs be how inexcusable he is in his folly how short the pleasures of sin are and how sore the punishments and that it is yet through God's grace possible for him to escape them and these and such like thoughts for a while cherished would surely beget relentings or at least resolutions of repentance and amendment and if we would doe thus frequently if we would daily set our selves to this work we should be more and more confirmed in such good purposes It is much to be hoped that none of us here present who shew so much respect to Religion as to join in the solemn worship of God are so far hardned in sin but that we have some lucid intervals some sober moods wherein we give our consciences leave to speak to and admonish us an uneasie bed a broken sleep will ever and anon bring these things to your remembrance oh do not streight fly from them nor thrust them out of your minds nay be not contented onely to give them a fair hearing but never leave thinking of them and revolving them over in your minds till they have transformed you into new creatures For if you will not consider these things now let me tell you the time will surely shortly come when you shall consider them whether you will or no when your sins shall set themselves in order before you and it shall not be in your power to forget them or to divert your thoughts from those things which you are now so loth to think upon Here indeed in this life the thoughts of God and a future state often present and offer themselves to us they often spring up in our minds and when expelled recur again but men find out several ways and artifices whereby to hinder their fixing or abiding upon their spirits or at all influencing their lives but the time will come when we shall be forced to bring our evil ways to remembrance and yet then consideration will doe us no good nor serve to any other purpose but onely to aggravate our misery and double our torment This is the first most general hindrance of repentance want of consideration II. Another hindrance of repentance is the unsuccesfulness of some former attempts for when men have resolved and perhaps begun to reform but have soon found all their good purposes and endeavours blasted and defeated they are apt to be thereby discouraged from making any farther trials They have long had it in the purpose of their hearts to leave their sins nay sometimes they have prevailed against them for some time and withstood some fair temptations but yet at last nature did they know not how return and they have been persuaded to renew their old acquaintance with those sins which they had once forsaken and in their conflicts with sin they have been so often foiled that they now despair of ever getting the day should they once again resolve to enter upon a new course of life they fear they should onely add to the number of their offences the breach of this vow as they have already of many others which they formerly made This is the condition of many men in the world and a very dangerous one it is they have not yet sinn'd themselves past all sense or feeling but have some regrets and frequent remorses and when their spirits are at any time disturbed with the sense of their guilt they then bethink themselves seriously of returning to a better mind resolve upon a new life and that presently too and perform some duties in order to it and are for a little time more carefull and watchfull over themselves and their ways but they are soon disheartened their goodness is but like a morning cloud and as the early dew it passeth away they are soon again easily frighted or tempted from their duty upon any little discouragement that they meet with they repent themselves of their good choice and forget their vertuous resolutions and which is worst of all this they often doe they often resolve to begin and as often neglect to perform what they promised and thus they continue running an endless wearisome circle of sinning and then resolving against it and then upon the next inviting opportunity sinning again till at last when they have found so many trials and essays prove fruitless and unsuccesfull and their good purposes so often overpower'd they e'en fit down contented slaves to their vices and lusts But notwithstanding all this what I have now represented to you ought not in the least to discourage your endeavours of amendment but should rather engage you to greater deliberation circumspection and caution
the will of God to raise again the same flesh which was laid in the grave and then we may safely have recourse to the Omnipotency of God to confirm and establish our faith of it I conclude this head therefore with that question of St. Paul's Acts 26.8 Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you that God should raise the dead The change from death to life is not so great as that from nothing into being and if we believe that God Almighty by the word of his power at first made the heavens and the earth of no pre-existent matter what reason have we to doubt but that the same God by that mighty power whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself can also raise to life again those who were formerly alive and have not yet wholly ceased to be And though we cannot answer all the difficulties and objections which the wit of men whose interest it is that their souls should die with their bodies and both perish together hath found out to puzzle this doctrine with though we cannot fully satisfy our minds and reasons about the manner how it shall be done or the nature of those bodies we shall rise with yet this ought not in the least to shake or weaken our belief of this most important Article of our Christian faith Is it not sufficient that an Almighty Being with whom nothing is impossible hath solemnly promised and past his word that he will re-animate and re-enliven our mortal bodies and after death raise us to life again Let those who presume to mock at this glorious hope and expectation of all good men and are continually exposing this doctrine and raising objections against it first try their skill upon the ordinary and daily appearances of nature which they have every day before their eyes let them rationally solve and explain every thing that happens in this world of which themselves are witnesses before they think to move us from the belief of the resurrection by raising some dust and difficulties about it when Omnipotency it self stands engaged for the performance of it Can they tell me how their own bodies were framed and fashioned and curiously wrought Can they give me a plain and satisfactory account by what orderly steps and degrets this glorious and stately structure consisting of so many several parts and members which discovers so much delicate workmanship and rare contrivance was at first erected How was the first drop of bloud made and how came the heart and veins and arteries to receive and contain it of what and by what means were the nerves and fibres made what fixt those little strings in their due places and situations and fitted and adapted them for those several uses for which they serve what distinguisht and separated the brain from the other parts of the body and placed it in the head and filled it with animal spirits to move and animate the whole body How came the body to be fenced with bones and sinews to be cloathed with skin and flesh distinguisht into various muscles let them but answer me these and all the other questions I could put to them about the formation of their own body and then I will willingly undertake to solve all the objections and difficulties that they can raise concerning the resurrection of it But if they cannot give any account of the formation of that body they now live in but are forced to have recourse to the infinite power and wisedom of the first cause the great and sovereign orderer and disposer of all things let them know that the same power is able also to quicken and enliven it again after it is rotted and returned unto dust we must believe very few things if this be a sufficient reason for our doubting of any thing that there are some things belonging to it which we cannot perfectly comprehend or give a rational account of In this state our conceptions and reasonings about the things that belong to the future and invisible world are very childish and vain and we do but guess and talk at random whenever we venture beyond what God hath revealed to us Let us not therefore perplex and puzzle our selves with those difficulties which have been raised concerning this doctrine of the resurrection for it is no absurdity to suppose that an infinite power may effect such things as seem wholly impossible to such finite beings as we are but rather let us hold fast to what is plainly revealed concerning it namely that all those who love and fear God shall be raised again after death the fame men they were before and live for ever with God in unspeakable happiness both of body and soul Thus I have endeavoured to shew the possbility of a resurrection in the strictest sense I now proceed to the second thing I propounded which was II. Since it is certain that the body we shall rise with though it may be as to substance the same with our terrestrial body yet will be so altered and changed in its modes and qualities that it will be quite another kind of body from what it was before To give you a short account of the difference the Scripture makes between a glorified body and this mortal flesh But before I doe this I shall premise this one thing that all our conceptions of the future state are yet very dark and imperfect We are sufficiently assured that we shall all after death be alive again the very same men and persons we were here and that those that have done good shall receive glory and honour and eternal life But the nature of that joy and happiness which is provided for us in the other world is not so plainly revealed this we know that it vastly surpasses all our imaginations and that we are not able in this imperfect state to fansie or conceive the greatness of it we have not words big enough fully to express it or if it were described to us our understandings are too short and narrow to comprehend it And therefore the Scriptures from which alone we have all we know of a future state describe it either first negatively by propounding to us the several evils and inconveniences we shall then be totally freed from or else secondly by comparing the glory that shall then be revealed with those things which men do most value and admire here whence it is called an inheritance a kingdom a throne a crown a sceptre a rich treasure a river of pleasures a splendid robe and an exceeding and eternal weight of glory All which do not signify to us the strict nature of that happiness which is promised us in another world which doth not consist in any outward sensible joys or pleasures But these being the best and greatest things which this world can bless us with which men do ordinarily most admire and value and covet the possession of are made use of to set out to us the transcendent blessedness of
another life though indeed it is quite of another kind and infinitely greater than the greatest worldly happiness These are onely little comparisons to help our weak apprehensions and childish fancies but we shall never truly and fully know the glories of the other world till we come to enjoy them It doth not yet appear what we shall be from the description which the Scripture gives of the other world as from a Map of an unknown Countrey we may frame in our minds a rude confused idea and conception of it and from thence as Moses from the top of Mount Pisgah may take some little imperfect prospect of the land of promise but we shall never have a complete notion of it till we our selves are entred into it However so much of our future happiness is revealed to us as may be sufficient to raise our thoughts and affections above the empty shadows and fading beauties and flattering glories of this lower world to make us sensible how mean and trifling our present joys and fatisfactions are and to excite and engage our best and most hearty endeavours towards the attainment of it whatever difficulties and discouragements we may meet with in this life though all that can be said or we can possibly know of it comes infinitely short of what one day we shall feel and perceive and be really possessed of Having premised this I come to consider what change shall be wrought in our bodies at the resurrection which is no small part of our future happiness now this change according to the account the Scriptures give of it will consist chiefly in these four things 1. That our bodies shall be raised immortal and incorruptible 2. that they shall be raised in glory 3. that they shall be raised in power 4. that they shall be raised spiritual bodies All which properties of our glorified bodies are mentioned by St. Paul in this Chapter verses 42 43 44. So also is the resurrection of the dead It is sown in corruption it is raised in incorruption It is sown in dishonour it is raised in glory It is sown in weakness it is raised in power It is sown a natural body it is raised a spiritual body And the explication of these words will give us the difference between the glorified body which we shall have in Heaven and that mortal flesh and vile earth which we are now burthened with 1. The bodies which we shall have at the resurrection will be immortal and incorruptible verse 53. For this corruptible must put on incorruption and this mortal must put on immortality Now these words immortal and incorruptible do not onely signify that we shall die no more for in that sense the bodies of the damned are also raised immortal and incorruptible since they must live for ever though it be in intolerable pain and misery but they denote farther a perfect freedom from all those bodily evils which sin hath brought into the world and from whatever is penal afflictive or uneasie to us that our bodies shall not be subject to pain or diseases or those other inconveniences to which they are now daily obnoxious This is called in Scripture the redemption of our bodies the freeing them from all those evils and maladies which they are here subject unto Were we at the general resurrection to receive the same bodies again subject to those frailties and miseries which in this state we are forced to wrestle with I much doubt whether a wise considering person were it left to his choice would willingly take it again whether he would not chuse to let it lie still rotting in the grave rather than consent to be again fettered down and bound fast to all eternity to such a cumbersome clod of earth such a resurrection as this would indeed be what Plotinus calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a resurrection to another sleep it would look more like a condemnation to death again than a resurrection to life The best thing that we can say of this earthly house and tabernacle of clay the tomb and sepulchre of our souls is that it is a ruinous building and it will not be long before it be dissolved and tumble into dust that it is not our home or resting place but that we look for another house not made with hands eternal in the heavens that we shall not always be confined to this dolefull prison but that in a little time we shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption and being disengaged and set free from this burthen of flesh shall be admitted into the glorious liberty of the children of God Alas what frail and brittle things are these bodies of ours How soon are they disordered and discomposed To what a troop of diseases pains and other infirmities are they continually liable And how doth the least distemper or weakness disturb and annoy our minds interrupt our ease and rest and make life it self a burthen to us of how many several parts and members do our bodies consist and if any one of these be disordered the whole man suffers with it If but one of those slender veins or tender membranes or little nerves and fibres whereof our flesh is made up be either contracted or extended beyond its due proportion or obstructed or corroded by any sharp humour or broken what torment and anguish doth it create How doth it pierce our souls with grief and pain Nay when our bodies are at their best what pains do we take to what drudgeries are we forced to submit to serve their necessities to provide for their sustenance and supply their wants to repair their decays to preserve them in health and to keep them tenantable in some tolerable plight and fitness for the soul's use We pass away our days with labour and sorrow in mean and servile employments and are continually busying our selves about such trifling matters as are beneath a rational and immortal spirit to stoop to or be solicitous about And all this onely to supply our selves with food and raiment and other conveniences for this mortal life and to make provision for this vile contemptible flesh that it may want nothing that it craves or desires And what time we can spare from our labour is taken up in resting and refreshing our tired and jaded bodies and giving them such recruits as are necessary to fit them for work again and restore them to their former strength and vigour How are we forced every night to enter into the confines of death even to cease to be at least to pass away so many hours without any usefull or rational thoughts onely to keep these carkasses in repair and make them fit to undergo the drudgeries of the enfuing day In a word so long as these frail weak and dying bodies subject to so many evils and inconvemences both from within and without are so closely linkt and united to our souls that not so much as any one part of them can suffer but our souls must
be affected with it it is impossible that we should enjoy much ease or rest or happiness in this life when it is in the power of so many thousand contingencies to rob us of it But our hope and comfort is that the time will shortly come when we shall be delivered from this burthen of flesh When God shall wipe away all tears from our eyes and there shall be no more death neither sorrow nor crying neither shall there be any more pain for the former things are passed away When we shall hunger no more neither thirst any more neither shall the sun light on us nor any heat for the lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed us and shall lead us into living fountains of waters Oh when shall we arrive to those happy regions where no complaints were ever heard where we shall all enjoy a constant and uninterrupted health and vigour both of body and mind and never more be exposed to pinching frosts or scorching heats or any of those inconveniences which incommode this present pilgrimage When we have once passed from death to life we shall be perfectly eased of all that troublesome care of our bodies which now takes up so much of our time and thoughts we shall be set free from all those tiresome labours and servile drudgeries which here we are forced to undergo for the maintenance and support of our lives and shall enjoy a perfect health without being vexed with any nauseous medicines or tedious courses of physick for the preservation of it Those robes of light and glory which we shall be cloathed with at the resurrection of the just will not stand in need of those carefull provisions or crave those satisfactions which it is so grievous to us here either to procure or be without But they as our Saviour tells us St. Luke 20. verse 35 36. which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world and the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage neither can they die any more for they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 equal to Angels they shall live such a life as the holy Angels do Whence Tertullian calls the body we shall have at the resurrection carnem Angelificatam Angelified flesh which shall neither be subject to those weaknesses and decays nor want that daily sustenance and continual recruit which these mortal bodies cannot subsist without Meats for the belly and the belly for meats but God shall destroy both it and them This is that perfect and complete happiness which all good men shall enjoy in the other world which according to an Heathen Poet may be thus briefly summed up Mens sana in corpore sano a mind free from all trouble and guilt in a body free from all pains and diseases Thus our mortal bodies shall be raised immortal they shall not onely by the power of God be always preserved from death for so the bodies we have now if God pleases may become immortal but the nature of them shall be so wholly changed and altered that they shall not retain the same seeds or principles of mortality and corruption so that they who are once cloathed with them as our Saviour tells us cannot die any more 2. Our bodies shall be raised in glory Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father Matt. 13.43 Our heavenly bodies in brightness and glory shall contend with the splendour of the Sun it self A resemblance of this we have in the lustre of Moses's face which after he had conversed with God in the Mount did shine so gloriously that the children of Israel were afraid to come near him and therefore when he spake to them he was forced to cast a veil over his face to cloud and eclipse the glory of it And that extraordinary and miraculous majesty of St. Stephen's countenance seems to be a presage of that future glory which our heavenly bodies shall be cloathed with Acts 6.15 And all that sate in the Council looking stedfastly on him saw his face as it had been the face of an Angel That is they saw a great light and splendour about him and if the bodies of Saints do sometimes appear so glorious here on earth how will they shine and glitter in the other world when they shall be made like unto Christ's own glorious body for so St. Paul tells us that Christ will fashion our vile bodies like unto his glorious body Now how glorious and splendid the body of Christ is we may ghess by the visions of the two great Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul The former of them when he saw the transfiguration of our Saviour when his face did shine as the sun and his raiment became shining and white as snow was at the sight of it so transported and overcharged with joy and admiration that he was in a manner besides himself for he knew not what he said When our Saviour discovered but a little of that glory which he now possesses and will in due time communicate to his followers yet that little of it made the place seem a paradise and the Disciples were so taken with the sight of it that they thought they could wish for nothing better than always to live in such pure light and enjoy so beautifull a sight It is good for us to be here let us make three tabernacles here let us fix and abide for ever And if they thought this so great a happiness onely to be where such heavenly bodies were present and to behold them with their eyes how much greater happiness must they enjoy who are admitted to dwell in such glorious mansions and are themselves cloathed with so much brightness and splendour The other appearance of our blessed Saviour after his ascension into Heaven to St. Paul as he was travelling to Damascus was so glorious that it put out his eyes his senses were not able to bear a light so refulgent such glorious creatures will our Lord make us all if we continue his faithfull servants and followers and we shall be so wonderfully changed by the word of his power from what we are in this vile state that the bodies we now have will not be able so much as to bear the sight and presence of those bodies which shall be given us at the resurrection Now this excellency of our heavenly bodies the Schoolmen fansie will arise in a great measure from the happiness of our souls The unspeakable joy and happiness which our souls shall then enjoy will break through our bodies and be conspicuous and shine forth in the brightness of our countenances and illustrate them with beauty and splendour as the joy of the soul even in this life hath some influence upon the body and makes an imperfect impression upon the countenance by rendring it more serene and chearfull than otherwise it would be as Solomon tells us Eccles. 8.1 That a man's wisedom maketh his face to shine
Vertue and goodness purifies and exalts a man's natural temper and makes his very looks more clear and brisk 3. Our bodies shall be raised in power This is that which the Schools call the agility of our heavenly bodies the nimbleness of their motion by which they shall be rendred most obedient and able instruments of the soul In this state our bodies are no better than clogs and fetters which confine and restrain the freedom of the soul and hinder it is all her operations The corruptible body as it is in the wisedom of Solomon presseth down the soul and the earthly tabernacle weigheth down the mind that museth upon many things Our dull sluggish and unactive bodies are often unable oftner unready and backward to execute the orders and obey the commands of our souls so that they are rather hindrances to the soul than any-ways usefull or serviceable to her But in the other life as the Prophet Isaiah tells us Isaiah 40.31 They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength they shall mount up with wings as Eagles they shall run and not be weary and they shall walk and not faint or as another expresses it They shall shine and run too and fro like sparks amongst the stubble the speed of their motion shall be like that of devouring fire in an heap of dry stubble and the height of it shall surpass the towring flight of the Eagle for they shall meet the Lord in the air when he comes to judgment and afterwards mount up with him into the third and highest Heavens This earthly body is continually groveling on the ground slow and heavy in all its motions listless and soon tired with action and the soul that dwells in it is forced as it were to drag and hale it along but our heavenly bodies shall be as free as active and nimble as our very thoughts are 4. And Lastly Our bodies shall be raised spiritual bodies not of a spiritual substance for then the words would imply a contradiction it being impossible that the same thing should be both a spiritual and a bodily substance But spiritual is here opposed not to corporeal but to natural or animal and by it is exprest as it is ordinarily interpreted the subtilty and tenuity and purity of our heavenly bodies But I would rather explain it thus In this state our spirits are forced to serve our bodies and to attend their leisure and do mightily depend upon them in most of their operations but on the contrary in the other world our bodies shall wholly serve our spirits and minister unto them and depend upon them So that by a natural body I understand a body fitted for this lower and sensible world for this earthly state by a spiritual body such an one as is suited and accommodated to a spiritual state to an invisible world to such a life as the Saints and Angels lead in Heaven And indeed this is the principal difference between this mortal body and our glorified body This flesh which now we are so apt to dote upon is one of the greatest and most dangerous enemies we have and therefore is defied and renounced by all Christians in their baptism as well as the world and the Devil It continually tempts and solicits us to evil every sense is a snare to us and all its lusts and appetites are inordinate and insatiable it is impatient of Christ's yoke and refuseth discipline it is ungovernable and often rebelleth against reason and the law in our members warreth against the law of our minds and brings us into captivity to the law of sin which is in our members and when the spirit is willing the flesh is weak so that the best men are forced to keep it under and use it hardly lest it should betray them into folly and misery We are now in a state of warfare and must always be upon our guard and watch continually arming and defending our selves against the assaults of the flesh and all its violent and impetuous motions How doth it hinder us in all our religious devotions How soon doth it jade our minds when employed in any divine or spiritual meditations or how easily by its bewitching and enchanting pleasure doth it divert them from such noble exercises So that St. Paul breaks forth into this sad and mournfull complaint Rom. 7.24 O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death Who shall Death shall That shall give us a full and final deliverance When once we have obtained the resurrection unto life we shall not any more feel those lustings of the flesh against the spirit which are here so troublesome and uneasie to us our flesh shall then cease to vex our souls with its evil inclinations immoderate desires and unreasonable passions But being its self spiritualized purified exalted and freed from this earthly grosness and all manner of pollution shall become a most fit and proper instrument of the soul in all her divine and heavenly employments It shall not be weary of singing praises unto God Almighty through infinite Ages It shall want no respite or refreshment but its meat and drink shall be to doe the will of God In these things chiefly consists the difference between those bodies which we shall have at the resurrection and this mortal flesh which we can but very imperfectly either conceive or express but yet from what hath been discoursed on this subject it doth sufficiently appear that a glorified body is infinitely more excellent and desireable than that vile and contemptible flesh which we now carry about with us The onely thing remaining is III. And Lastly to draw some practical inferences from all I have said on this subject I shall but just mention these five and leave the improvement of them to your own private meditations 1. From what I have said we may learn the best way of fitting and preparing our selves to live in those heavenly and spiritual bodies which shall be bestowed upon us at the resurrection which is by cleansing and purifying our souls still more and more from all fleshly filthiness and weaning our selves by degrees from this earthly body and all sensual pleasures and delights We should begin in this life to loosen and untie the knot between our souls and this mortal flesh to refine our affections and raise them from things below to things above to take off our hearts and leisurely to disengage them from things present and sensible and to use and accustome our selves to think of and converse with things spiritual and invisible that so our souls when they are separated from this earthly body may be prepared and disposed to actuate and inform a pure and spiritual one as having before hand tasted and relished spiritual delights and pleasures and been in some degree acquainted with those objects which shall then be presented to us A soul wholly immersed and buried in this earthly body is not at all fit and qualified