by his Enemies into extreme danger of Death which he commonly expresseth by the same or the like words as Psal. XVIII 4. The sorrows of death compassed me and Verse 5. The sorrows of hell compassed me about and Psal. CXVI 3. The sorrows of death compassed me the pains of Hell gat hold upon me Yet trusting in the Promises of God amidst all these Calamities he rested assured of Deliverance and expresseth his Confidence of it in the words cited by the Apostle in the following Verses My flesh shall rest in hope because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell neither wilt thou suffer thine holy one to see Corruption It was a Matter at that time received and on all hands granted by the Jews that David was a Type of the Messias that his Actions Sufferings and Deliverance prefigured the Office the Death and Resurrection of Christ who should descend from him and particularly the Apostle sheweth how this Passage was much more evidently and literally fulfilled in Christ than in David He indeed was delivered from his Enemies and died in Peace yet die he did and after Death his soul was left in hell that is among the Dead or in the place of departed Souls and his Body did see Corruption having been buried many hundred years But as for Christ he died indeed yet his soul was not left in hell neither did his Body see Corruption His Soul was presently reunited to the Body and even during the Separation not left by the Divine Nature which still continued to be joyned to it neither was his Body corrupted but raised up and united to the Soul in less than forty hours in which time the Bodies of deceased Men are wont to be corrupted According to the second Interpretation Christ was raised from a painful Death to an opposite State to a condition of Glory Happiness Power and Immortality The Sufferings of our Lord so lively described to us in the Holy Offices of the last week we cannot forget and over all these he eminently triumphed in his Resurrection upon this day He was then made subject to Death but is now become the Lord of life and set above the reach of Death For Christ being raised from the Dead dieth no more Death hath no more Dominion over him Rom. VI. 9. He then bore the wrath of God for the sake of Man He now dispenseth the Favours of God granted to Men. He was then subjected to the Contradiction of Sinners to the Will of his own Creatures appeared as the vilest of Men suffered as a Malefactor he is now entred upon his Kingdom raised above the Earth seated at the right hand of God Angels and Authorities and Powers being made subject unto him 1 Pet. III. 22. The words explained in their third Sense infer the overthrow of the Power and Dominion of Death effected by the Resurrection of Christ. The whole Design of our Lords Incarnation of his Death Burial and Resurrection was as it is expressed Hebr. II. 14. That he might destroy him that had the power of Death that is the Devil To do this all the parts of his Life contributed He converted Sinners from the Error of their way He confuted the Mistakes of the seduced World He founded a Church wherein open Enmity should be professed to the Devil He took upon himself the guilt of Death due to the sins of Men and all this Dispensation he gloriously finished in his Resurrection Therein he literally broke the bonds of Death he led Captivity Captive baffled the opposition and triumphed over all the Assaults of the Devil who had vainly imagined that by procuring the ever Blessed Jesus to be given up into the hands of wicked Men he had put an end to the Salvation of Mankind But to our eternal Happiness and to the Glory of our Redeemer his Designs and Attempts promoted that very end which he so much dreaded he knew not that it was the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God as it is in the precedent Verse that Christ should both die and rise again to perfect our Salvation that he was for a while to be subject to Death but that it was impossible he should be holden of it III. This was the third thing proposed to Discourse of that it was not possible that Christ should continue in the state of Death The Apostle foundeth the impossibility of it in this place upon the Determination of God to the contrary so that here it was not possible is no more than it was not Consonant to the decree of God it was not fit just or convenient as it is said Matth. IX It is not possible for the Children of the Bride-Chamber to mourn as long as the Bridegroom is with them that is it is not fit or convenient In this Sense then I shall consider it and 1. It was not possible or convenient that Christ should be holden of death because he was both God and Man the Divine was united to his Humane Nature It would have appeared surprizing to our Reason and been an Argument of little affection of God to Mankind if he should have suffered that very Body which had the Honour to be joyned to his own Nature wherein the fullness of the Godhead dwelled bodily to continue in Hell in the common state of Mortality or to see Corruption It was not possible that the Divinity should suffer that Nature to be corrupted or lye neglected among the Dead to which it self continued to be united even in the Grave This we of the Catholick Church do believe and if any should oppose this wonderful Union of the Divine and Humane Nature in the person of Christ his very Resurrection will convince their Error For to raise a dead Body to Life again must be allowed to be no less than the work of Omnipotence that it can be effected by God alone Yet it appeareth from the express words of Scripture that Christ had Power to raise up his own Body He saith of himself to the Jews John II. 19. Destroy this Temple and in three days I will raise it up Speaking of the Temple of his Body as the Evangelist subjoyns And again John X. 18. No Man taketh my Life from me but I lay it down of my self I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it again Our Lord who came into the World to do the Will of his Father and to glorifie him would never have claimed this Power had it not been inherent in himself He therefore by his own Power reunited his Soul to his Body I mean not in Exclusion to the other persons of the Blessed Trinity who all concurred therein For Power being an essential Attribute of the Divine Nature continueth undivided in the Persons of it And therefore it is no Objection against the Truth of this that the Father is said in many places of the New Testament to have raised up his Son since he is the chief Person in that Blessed Trinity
Miracle wrought by him was yet present to confess he came in the Flesh while his Body was yet visible to acknowledge his Resurrection from the Dead when the Senses of every Man proclaimed no less all this would have been so slight an Argument of the right use of Reason so little deserving any Commendation or Reward that it would be no more than the necessary result of the Faculties and even not in the Power of the Will to avoid But when the Object is removed from the Sense and yet discovered by Reason when the Eye doth not see what the Affections still embrace when the Soul ceaseth not to hope upon probable and just Motives what it never received by Demonstration of Sense this is indeed a noble Act of right Reason worthy of a spiritual Being and worthy of a Divine Reward And such a Reward hath our Lord annexed to it pronouncing Joh. XX. 29. Blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed This Blessedness Christ by his Ascension hath communicated to the whole Church which without that had wanted the Qualification of a rational and well grounded Faith to acquire the Favour of God Further the Ascension of our Lord and therein his Exaltation to the supreme Degree of Glory was in Justice due to his precedent meritorious Sufferings which are therefore assigned as the cause of his Exaltation by St. Paul Phil. II. He made himself of no Reputation and took upon him the form of a Servant c. wherefore God also hath highly exalted him c. The Humility manifested by him in his Incarnation in the whole Course of his Life and in his Passion infinitely surpassed all the Examples of former times That the Son of God should vouchsafe to descend from his Seat of Glory in Heaven to leave the Bosom of the Father and cloath himself with the Infirmities of humane Nature that in this Nature he should not take upon him the Majesty of a Prince nor so much as allow himself the ordinary Satisfactions and Pleasures of it but live an afflicted Life and die a shameful Death and all this for his own Creatures who far from deserving such a Favour from him had rebelled against him from their Creation would lay violent hands upon themselves and continue their Contempt of his Authority till the Dissolution of all things this was such an extraordinary Humiliation that none other but the Son of God could have effected And therefore was in Justice to be Crowned with such a Reward as none but the Son of God could receive namely that that Body which had been thus depressed should be raised above all Creatures should be placed above Angels and Archangels should be advanced to the immediate Presence of God should for ever remain united to the Divine Nature and therewith be translated into the principal Seat and Throne of the Deity that is into Heaven Lastly To name no more Reasons it was necessary for Christ to ascend into Heaven that so he might fulfill all righteousness perform all which the ancient Prophets had foretold of the Messias or he had denounced of himself It was long since Typified by the Ceremonies used by the High Priest among the Jews in the Day of Propitiation which represented the Final Attonement to be made by Christ for the Sins of the World It was commanded by God that the High Priest should enter but once every year into the Holy of Holies that is upon that Day when with the Blood of the Sacrifice he passed thro' the Tabernacle and the parts of it into that place It was a received Opinion among the Jews that the Holy of Holies represented the Heaven of Heavens and the Tabernacle this visible World From which Opinion joyned with the legal Ceremonies of that day it appeared as the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews argueth IX 11 12. That the High Priest of the good things to come by a greater and more perfect Tabernacle not made with hands was to enter into the holy place having obtained eternal Redemption for us That he should lay down his Life as an Expiatory Sacrifice for the Sins of the People and being slain should pass thro' all the Stages of this World here below and ascending into the highest Heavens the Throne of the Divine Majesty should there present his Blood Blood of that inestimable value as need not be shed and presented every year but as he once appeared in the lower World to put away sin by the Sacrifice of himself so once for all he ascended into the higher Heavens not to appear again until he shall come in the Clouds with Majesty and great Glory to judge the quick and Dead The same was fortold by the Prophet David Psal. LXVIII 18. and from thence urged by St. Paul Ephes. IV. 8. Thou hast ascended up on high into Heaven as it is in the common Acceptation of the Original word thou hast led Captivity Captive thou hast received Gifts for Men. A Prophesie which notwithstanding all the Pretences of the Jews can neither be applied to Moses nor to Joshua nor to David himself nor to any illustrious Conqueror of that Nation who never ascended into Heaven but to Christ alone who really and bodily ascended into the highest Heaven unto the Throne of the Majesty of God By his Death and Resurrection he subdued Sin Death Hell and the Devil and in his Ascension visibly triumphed over them and led them Captive When that Body which by the Sacrifice of it self had destroyed Sin was in Reward of that meritorious Suffering advanced into Heaven there to be continually present with God when that Body which had been subjected to Death and afterwards was raised from it received now a certain Proof of its Immortality was raised into Heaven where is no place of Corruption left when the Captain of Man's Salvation visibly ascended unto the eternal Place of Happiness having first Promised to draw all his faithful Followers after him and from whence he dispensed the precious and glorious Gifts of the Holy Ghost to the Sons of Men. If these Prophesies and Types foretelling and prefiguring the Ascension of the Messias should seem obscure yet it cannot be denied that the Messias was to receive a glorious Kingdom This we are well assured the Nature of our Lords Office the Design of his Coming the Dignity of his Person permitted him not to receive on Earth and therefore it was necessary he should ascend into Heaven there to take Possession of it It had been a mean Reward to his Humility Patience and Sufferings preceding his Resurrection to have been advanced to a temporal Kingdom to be dignified with a Reward common oft-times to the worst of Men. The greatness of this World was inconsistent with his Design the Pleasures of it were contemned by him and that Divinity which was no longer to be clouded or depressed but to shine forth in its full Lustre could find no fit Habitation upon Earth which in
therefore it cannot be revealed by God We must have therefore some rule whereby to direct our Assent and Judgment in this Case and that is very obvious For the understanding necessarily at least reasonably inclining to that part which carrieth the greatest evidence along with it if the Evidence of the Revelation of any Proposition be greater than the Evidence of its falsity we must in obedience to the Laws of reason embrace and believe it But if the Evidence of its falsity exceeds the Evidence of its Revelation we may safely reject it Let us therefore compare the Evidence of both sides Matters of Revelation may concern either finite or infinite Nature Examples of the first sort in the Christian Religion are all such Propositions as relate to the natural Body of Christ Of the second all such as respect the Divine Nature In the first Case which exceedeth not the natural Capacity of our Understandings nothing can be true which may not be fully conceived by us For altho' many Properties and Qualities of finite Beings may lie for ever undiscovered to the natural light of Reason yet when discovered to us they may be easily conceived by us if they carry any truth with them So that whatsoever in finite Natures is inconceivable to us can be no part of Divine Revelation For we cannot imagine any Revelation to be made without an intended Obligation of Assent now since God hath required us to judge according to the greater Evidence he could never require us to believe a Proposition the Evidence of whose falsity exceeds the Evidence of its Revelation And since we are proper Judges of the Nature of finite Beings when discovered to us not to be able to conceive any Proposition relating to them is an unanswerable Argument of the falsity of it since if it were true we should be easily able to conceive it and reconcile it to all other truths and the received Laws of Reason And upon this account the Doctrine of Transubstantiation can never be any part of a revealed Religion But in Matters relating to infinite Beings it is far otherwise In those it is no Objection against the truth of them that we are not able to conceive them as we before shewed The only internal Argument which can be used in this Case against the truth of any Revelation must be founded upon a Contradiction included in it to wit if the Revelation proposeth any thing which destroyeth the Idea of the Object or which is all one introduceth a Conception which cannot consist with it Such would be to affirm there are two or more God's or that he is a corporeal Being and such like For the very Notion of God being no other than that of an infinite and most perfect Being the Primary cause and Author of all other Beings to suppose any other Being independent from him or himself to be capable of Division and Limitation the inseparable Property of all corporeal Beings would destroy the Notion of him In this Case we should affirm and deny the same thing or which is all one Contraries of the same thing wherein consists the absurdity of a Contradiction So that the only internal rule which is left us to judge of any Revelation concerning the Divine Nature is whether or no it includeth a Contradiction either in Terms or by Self-evident consequence For no other consequence can be allowed in this Case since the consequences upon which a Contradiction is to be founded must be of equal evidence with a Contradiction in Terms which is always Self-evident If we apply these Rules to the question of the Trinity it will be no hard Matter to determine it For God being confessedly an infinite Being and the Doctrine of the Trinity a Matter relating to his Nature and Properties we may from hence perceive that we are not to require a distinct Knowledge of it but only whether it be Contradictory And first it is manifest that it includeth no Contradiction in terms For we do not say That there is one God and three Gods which would be all one as to say there is one God and not one God Neither do we say There is one Person in the Deity and three Persons which would be all one as to say There is one Person and not one Person Nor do we say that the Father is the Son at the same time that we say he is not the Son These are the only imaginable Contradictions in terms and these are no part of the Doctrine of the Trinity The consequential Contradictions chiefly insisted on by the Adversaries of the Trinity are these Two 1. If there be three Persons and each Person be God then there are three Gods which is Contradictory to an allowed Proposition there is but one God 2. If these three Persons agree in a third viz. in the Nature of God they must agree among themselves and so there will be but one Person which is contradictory to the Proposition laid down viz. There are three Persons The first Consequence is founded upon this Proposition There cannot be a plurality of Persons without a plurality of Natures The second upon this there cannot be a communication of Natures without an Identity of Persons Now who will say that either of these Propositions is self-evident nay that they carry the least evidence with them since nothing can be evident to us of which we cannot judge and we cannot judge of these two Propositions unless we fully understood the very Nature of God It is generally imagined indeed that it cannot be so in finite Beings but that is no Argument that it cannot be so in infinite Beings nor are we yet sure that it cannot be so in Finite Beings For even in the Soul of Man there is no small resemblance of it where are several Faculties which can operate independently from each other and yet all singly possess all the Properties and Qualities of the Soul consider'd as such as its Immateriality Immortality and such like So in the Deity there are several Persons obtaining distinct Operations but partaking in all the commune Attributes of the Deity such as Eternity Omnipotency and others After all it must be acknowledged by all sober Men that the Difficulties upon which the Adversaries of this Doctrine proceed are far less evident than are the general Motives of Credibility of the Christian Faith as that Christ died and rose again performed many Miracles which were attested and confirmed by his Disciples who were Eye-witnesses of them wrought other Miracles in testimony of them and at last laid down their Lives for the same Cause having first consigned the memory of them to Writing which hath been invariably handed down to us in all Ages These Arguments are plain obvious and certain whereas the forementioned Difficulties are obscure and inconceivable to many and to all uncertain There are indeed many Erronious Christians and have formerly been more who pretend that Christ and his Apostles revealed no such thing
the Propagation of it Afterwards for several Ages the peaceable Principles of the Gospel seldom wanted their effect in private Christians And even wrought so far in publick Societies professing Christianity that for more than five hundred years after Christ it is certain that Christians never warred against others of the same Communion Nor is the blessed Effect of it wholly expired in these degenerate times Witness that great number of Christians which still frequent the Holy Sacrament of whom it is charitably be to supposed that none presumes to approach this holy Table without an entire Resolution of forgiving Injuries and maintaining Peace with all Men. The last part of the Angels Doxology is Good-will towards Men Which expresseth much more than Reconciliation of God to Man implying no less than his favour and kindness to them using the very same word in the Original which God did of his Son when he said of him This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased The Incarnation of Christ and therein the Assumption of the humane to the Divine Nature so far propitiated God in regard to Men that he not only forgave their Sins and was reconciled to them but also admitted them to his Favour made them capable of even preter-natural Happiness even of enjoying himself in Heaven Insomuch that he who had once thro' abhorrence of their Sins repented himself that he had made them and resolved that his Spirit should not always strive with them did now adopt them for the Darlings of his Creation and as the Original word in the Text implieth even took Pleasure in them vouchsafed to Honour theirs by joyning it to the Divine Nature in the Person of his Son and therein raised it to a degree even above that of Angels not only admitting them to that Pardon of past Sins which was never vouchsafed to the Angels but also sending the Prince of Angels and the Lord of Glory to take human Flesh upon him who afterwards ascending with it into Heaven should thereby consecrate the whole Mass of Mankind of which his Body was the first Fruits and thereby make it capable of the same Glory And surely no greater Argument of the Good will of God towards Men or of his delight in Mankind could be desired than to raise them to the Society of himself in Heaven This was the Effect of the delight which he testified to take in his beloved Son the utmost Reward of his obedience that he advanced his Human Nature to his own right hand in Heaven for his Divine Nature was placed there from all Ages and for his Sake admitted all those who should imitate his Life and Obedience to the same Glory The possession of Heaven wherewith the Human Body of Christ is now invested is an Argument that our Nature is capable of it and an Earnest that we shall in due time be raised to the same Honour For Christ our forerunner is entred into Heaven for us Yet are we not left without other visible Pledges of the same hope more particularly this blessed Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ wherein is lively represented the Truth of his Human Nature and our relation to it The Bread declares his Body the Wine his Blood the breaking of the Bread the Mortality of his Body the pouring out of the Wine the shedding of his Blood to purchase Redemption for Mankind The Distribution of both to every Communicant manifests that they are peculiarly concerned in all this that they are Members of the Mystical Body of Christ and by receiving his Figurative Body are assured of obtaining in due time the same Happiness with his true Body now in Heaven By these Figures of his true Body we openly profess our Belief of his Incarnation that he really took Human Flesh upon him for our Sakes and not only in appearance as was the vain Imagination of ancient Hereticks for that cannot be so much as represented which is not real We acknowledge his Divine Nature at the same time by that Adoration both of Mind and Body which ought to accompany this religious Action We profess our Belief that he came in the fulness of time and that in time all the ancient Prophesies were fullfilled in that we celebrate the very time of his Coming as the Intention and the Offices of this Festival directs Lastly We secure to our selves the Benefits of this wonderful Mystery if we do all this with sincere Faith Repentance and Charity So shall we give occasion to the Holy Angels to renew their Hymn to sing Glory to God who is honoured by this Devotion and Thankfulness of his Servants Peace on Earth wherein Men are hereby reconciled to God and to each other and Good-will towards Men who are hereby admitted to the Favour of God and will be hereafter to the Fruition of him Which God of his infinite Mercy Grant FINIS
Opinion of his extraordinary Happiness Himself in order recounted his Dignities and they admired them He reported the Favours of his Prince and they extolled them He boasted of his Grandeur and Riches and they proclaim'd him Happy Yet himself who best knew what Happiness he received from thence declared himself unhappy and all this to avail him nothing Lastly this was spoken by Haman whilst yet in full Favour with his Prince and expecting to receive greater Demonstrations of it He suffered no Apprehensions of losing his present Enjoyment Such thoughts indeed distract a worldly Man imbitter all his Pleasures and suffer him not to rest contented It would be impossible to him to relish any delight while afflicted with Fears and Doubts while despairing to retain his present Happiness He would grow Pale at the Prospect of an approaching Storm and instead of receiving any Complacency from his present Prosperity distract his thoughts with the fear of future Misery In such Circumstances an Epicure might well Confess that all the outward Advantages of his Life profited him nothing while he suffered inward Distraction from the Apprehension of his Fall which would render him so much more miserable by how much it deprived him of a greater Prosperity Haman at this time had no such Fears he had yet received no repulse at Court his Favour daily increased he had that very day received eminent Marks of his Princes affection and was the day after to receive yet more All this he was sensible of and all this he acknowledged in the close of his Speech Ver. 12. For he said moreover Yea Esther the Queen did let no man come in with the King unto the banquet that she had prepared but my self and to morrow am I invited unto her also with the King Far from fearing the loss of his present Greatness he probably hoped the increase of it and yet concluded that all this availed him nothing If then Haman under all these Circumstances missed of his desired end of being made Happy by worldly Enjoyments we may reasonably suspect some defect to be in the Nature of them upon the account of which neither Haman could nor any other can receive any real Happiness from thence And this I proceed in the Second place to treat of in some few Considerations First then nothing on this side Heaven is able to satiate the Soul of Man and however temporal Benefits may at a distance ravish the Imagination and create extraordinary Conceptions of their own Excellency yet when obtained they are found to be empty and trifling unable to satisfie the Desires of the Soul and fill its Capacity They are like the Fruit of Sodom which by their external Beauty attract the Eye but when touched crumble into Ashes While they are yet only Objects of Desire Men frame to themselves as it were Systems of Happiness to be enjoyed in them No sooner do they become Objects of Fruition but the meanness of them is discovered and after a full Enjoyment of them Man is forced to Confess this is not that he desired that which he proposed to himself He is never enabled by the Possession of them to say I am now completely Happy I here terminate my Desires He is forced to carry his Desires yet farther and seek true Felicity somewhere else which while constant to his Principle he can place no where else than in a greater Degree of the same Happiness This therefore he earnestly pursues yet never attains that Degree If he fixeth the measure of the Degree he may indeed arrive at that but when arrived finds himself as far as ever removed from true Happiness He turmoils and distracts himself experienceth the Vanity of former Projects invents new Methods of Happiness until Death puts an end to his Life and Designs together The greatest of these worldly Enjoyments are generally supposed to be Riches and sensual Pleasures The latter are common even to Beasts who are endued with Senses no less strong and lively than Men. And then surely none will so far debase his Nature as to level himself with Beasts by proposing to himself a Felicity of which they are no less capable It cannot be denied indeed that as we consist of Soul and Body God intended Happiness to each part that he put us into this World to make our selves Happy even in this Life but then as Soul and Body together constitute but one Person the Pleasures of either must be such as consist with the Nature of both As the Soul ought not to tyrannize over the Body by imposing on it unnecessary Rigours and Mortifications so the Excellency of the Soul ought not to be debased for the satisfaction of the Body A limitted use of Pleasures is not to be denied to the Body but then that very Limitation supposeth a better and more noble end of Man for the sake of which they are limited And after all the real Happiness of such limited Pleasures consists not so much in the report of the Senses enjoying them as in the reflex thoughts of the Soul forming to its self an Act of Complacency for having limited them according to the Laws of God The unlimited use of these Pleasures instead of conferring a real Benefit involves Men in Troubles and Anxieties in Cares and Dangers and when enjoyed endures but for a Moment no longer than the impression of Sense continueth when expired leaves only a Weariness and Nauseousness behind them So then sensual Pleasures conduce little to the Supreme end of Man unless we should be so foolish as to imagine that to be the utmost Happiness of Man which renders him happy but for a few moments And then as to Riches the natural use of them is subordinated to sensual Pleasures and the Conveniencies of Life and therefore can bestow nothing beyond them If any imagine as it cannot be denied that too many do that the very satisfaction of possessing Riches without any respect to the use of them bears any part in the Happiness of Man this is so gross and unmanly a Conception as nothing can exceed the wickedness of it nothing can equal the Folly of it This is a greater Depravation of Nature than all the Villanies of Sense or Sins of violence and if no Punishment attended it hereafter would rather deserve our Scorn than Envy The Acquisition of Riches is generally indeed at least indirectly referred to the Enjoyment of sensual Pleasures to be procured by them and as such can carry the Happiness of them no farther than the Nature of them will permit which we before considered Not to say that it is an invincible Argument of the unsatisfactoriness of Riches that those who seek after them seldom or never set bounds to their Desires and although in the acquiring of them they generally please themselves with the thoughts of commanding all sensual Pleasures when they shall have obtain'd them yet they seldom begin in earnest a Fruition of them ever proposing an end to themselves
of Happiness and then are apt to murmur against God if they are not effected We scorn that imperfect Happiness which his Providence hath assigned us in the World we esteem it inferiour to the supposed Dignity of our Nature and think it impossible that so noble a Being should not enjoy some greater Happiness than what we find belongs to us in this Life This Happiness most Men place in the satisfaction of their Senses but then quickly perceiving that even more ignoble Beings enjoy the same satisfaction they turmoil themselves about enhancing the Pleasures of Sense To this Purpose they either seek after Riches or let loose the Reins to Luxury but after all finding themselves disappointed they become discontented because not obtaining a Happiness correspondent to the Esteem of their own Merits Or if any of better Education and more noble Thoughts seek this Felicity in the Perfection of their Souls yet are not they free from the like Mistake but aim at greater Perfections than their Nature will bear carry their Enquiries into Matters too hard for them and then become disquieted because the Knowledge of such things is denied to them because they find their Souls to be oft-times dull and devoid of Vigour and cannot hinder the Perturbation of them by Commotions from the Body and oft-times Experience the decay of their Faculties With these Thoughts they afflict themselves and imagining their Nature to be somewhat greater than it really is vainly endeavour to free themselves from all these Imperfections Such are the common mistakes of Mankind mistakes which few escape But then there are other particular yet frequent Mistakes derived from the same Fountain which are no less gross and far more prejudicial to the Interests of another Life From this irrational Opinion of their own Excellency many Men are tempted to believe that they lay an Obligation upon God when they execute his Commands and perform his Will They imagine the Benefit redoundeth to God and that it is no small kindness to him to hearken to his Proposals of Salvation and thence are often drawn into a false Perswasion that God will wink at their Impenitence rather than forfeit the satisfaction of saving them This Error hath prevailed so far that among many Christians it is believed that God may in a strict Sense be made a Debtor to Man by works of Supererogation and others perswade themselves into a belief of particular Decrees of Election and Predestination made in Favour of them They may pretend indeed for the ground of their Perswasion the arbitrary Will of God but the true Foundation of it will be discovered to be no other than a proud Opinion of their Excellency beyond their fellow Christians which makes them arrogant and morose and so possesseth their Brains that they imagine God to be in Love with them and ready to relax the general Terms of Salvation and forego his Commands of a strict Obedience for their sakes This false perswasion sometimes advanceth so far as to believe themselves placed by their extraordinary and at the same time unaccountable Excellency beyond the Obligation of the common Laws and Discipline of the Church and thence boldly invade those Offices which were never entrusted to them and disturb the publick Order of the Church as not obliged to perform those Duties which are owing to the whole Church in general and to all the Members of it in particular which Offence the Apostle more particularly complains of in this place These are the most notorious Errors which proceed from the unreasonable Conceit of Men concerning their own worth If we enquire into the Foundation of all these Pretences we shall find them very frivolous Man is far from such an excellent Being as these Pretences suppose him to be His Original is mean and common to him with the most ignoble Animals While yet an Infant nothing can be discovered in him which distinguishes him from brute Beasts except a greater Inability of helping himself Nothing of Reason can be discerned in him which must afterwards be instilled by Degrees by the Care and Diligence of others or if born with him yet exerts it self but slowly and would never become considerable without the direction of others So that it is no ill Conceit of the Philosopher that Man at first is born an Animal and afterwards becomes rational Were it not for this Education it is not improbable that Man would creep upon all four and imitate Beasts as well in the posture of his Body as in the brutishness of his Life When after a thousand Chances which might have destroyed him he is grown up to be a Man he still leads a more precarious Life than any other part of the Creation If any one of the Elements perform not their Office if the Earth should deny her Fruits or the Air its benign Influences if any one of ten thousand possible Accidents should light upon him his Life is ended which whilst it continueth is perplexed with continual Cares turmoiled with constant Labours exposed to infinite Adversities and after all supported with inconsiderable Pleasures For what greater Matter do we enjoy here below than more ignoble Creatures do Length of Life Agility Accuracy of Sense satisfaction of it and all carnal Pleasures are even common to them We can employ indeed the Thoughts of a rational Soul which is more than they can do but alas this Priviledge would have been scarce desireable had not God promoted Arts and Sciences among Men by raising their Apprehensions at first with extraordinary Revelations For although God did not at first reveal these Arts and Sciences yet would Man never have obtained that Sagacity which was necessary to the Invention of them if God had not raised them from the present Objects of Sense and excited them to the Improvement of Knowledge by communicating to them supernatural Revelations That part and that the greatest part of Mankind which have not yet received those Advantages do so little exercise these Faculties of the Soul that it would be no great increase of the Happiness of an unthinking Beast to be put into their Condition Or if all Men could naturally obtain clear and noble Thoughts of things yet would this but add little to their Happiness while uncertain of its future State for want of Revelation To a Soul which graspeth Eternity it cannot but be a continual Affliction to reflect upon the certainty of Death and the uncertainty of what will succeed it If he endeavours to remove these melancholly Thoughts by sensual Pleasures he will find little satisfaction in them if he gives himself up wholly to them he will soon grow weary of them When he hath run through all the Scenes of Pleasure and looks back upon his Enjoyments he will confess the Emptiness of them and scarce desire to retrieve them Such a Man when he comes to die may perhaps wish to live over his Life again but then 't is only in Hopes of obtaining greater Happiness
directly affected not his Mind which still remained untouched exposed indeed to the ordinary assaults of the Devil which assaults as they were not suspended by God so neither were they assisted by him Which assaults how they are affected by the natural power of the Devil I come next to enquire having first observed to you that although we could not conceive or explain the manner of it we should have no reasonable cause to doubt of it Our own experience will not suffer us to admit such doubts and that the Faculties and Operations of immaterial Beings are imperceptible to us we have the example of our Soul which although it be so nearly related to us we know but very imperfectly the manner and spring of all her Actions The Devil is said to tempt us two ways properly and improperly Innumerable Examples of each may be brought from Scripture The latter is not hard to be conceived and is no more than this that as the Devil was the first Apostate and Rebel against God and still continueth his opposition to him so he is the Captain and Head of all which opposeth God as are the Lusts the Passions and the Sins of Men Which being excited by sublunary Objects by worldly Pleasures whatsoever is done by these in opposition to God is ascribed to him as done after his Example and under his Banner Since his Fall the World is in a manner divided between God and him whatsoever is good and excellent proceeds from God and is done by his Influence Command Direction and Perswasion Whatsoever is bad and repugnant to the Laws of God is done by the example of the Devil by imitating him following his Conduct and entring into his Government For thus all Beings disobedient to God may be said to constitute one Society whereof the Devil is the Head And because this Society busie themselves wholly in the things of this World and are deluded by gross Pleasures he is called the Prince of this World and the Prince of the Air not that he hath or ever had the disposition of things here below the disposal of Kingdoms or distribution of temporal conveniencies or inconveniencies which hath been the mistake of some Such Power never belonged to him He told our Saviour indeed in tempting of him that all the Kingdoms of the World and the Glory of them were his and that he would give them to him if he would fall down and Worship him But he was a Liar from the Beginning it was more than he could perform The Devil is said properly to tempt Men by acting immediately upon their Souls by suggesting wicked thoughts unto them by instigating them to Wickedness and Disobedience And this is that temptation by which we so much suffer which we so much fear and by which he executes his Malice and Hatred upon Mankind There are but two possible ways by which this can easily be supposed to be performed since an extraordinary Derivation of Power from God is rejected The first is by moving the imaginations of Men and producing whatsoever Thoughts and Ideas he thinks fit by moving their Animal Spirits which in Man have so near a Connexion with the thoughts of the Soul that such motions in them will infallibly and unavoidably produce such thoughts in the Soul Now it is not impossible to conceive that the Devils as they are most sagacious Spirits and of long experience may have observed and found to which motions of the Spirits such and such thoughts of the Soul are annexed and accordingly procure those motions as often as they desire to introduce such thoughts For it is highly probable that all immaterial Beings have a natural power of moving matter We find that in our own Soul which is the lowest of all such Beings that moveth our Spirits and by the assistance of those our whole Body It no sooner formeth an Idea but the Spirits attend the Formation of it and are moved according to its Diversity There is no more necessary Connexion between the Thoughts of the Soul and the Motions of the Body than between the latter and the Thoughts of any other immaterial Being So that the Devil may well be supposed to be able to make impressions on our Imagination by the Motion of these Spirits Yet it will not follow from hence that he is able to move or disorder our whole Bodies since to the former is required the consent of our Will which is in our own Power and doth not necessarily follow any Motion of the Spirits To the latter is required a Power transcending the ordinary Laws of Nature whereby the Causes and Effects of Health and Strength are settled and preserved which are not in the least violated by such Motions in the Brain as produce a bare Idea or naked Conception of any thing This way of impressing Thoughts in our Mind is possible But it is more probable that all immaterial Beings can communicate Thoughts and make impressions on each other Without this it not be imagined how a Society of Angels or Devils can consist and yet that there are a Society of each the Scripture assures us If one Man cannot immediately impress a Thought in the Soul of another it is no wonder We are here inchained in a Body in which state no approaches can be made to us but by the Organs of the Body Nature hath provided another way for Men to communicate their Thoughts which when it shall cease by putting off the Body we have just ground to believe that we shall obtain that Priviledge common to other imaterial Beings of communicating our Thoughts to each other by immediate influence At least it is most certain that Angels and Devils have that Priviledge because they have formed Societies which they could not have done without it And if they can impress any Thoughts upon each other that is upon Beings of equal Dignity they are surely much more able to do it upon those of an inferiour Rank and Capacity such as are the Souls of Men. Both these ways are possible but that the Devils do tempt us by either of these Methods I dare not determine It is sufficient to shew that what we believe concerning the Temptation of evil Spirits is possible and agreeable to Reason And this I have spoken to you as Persons desiring satisfaction in the Truth of this Article of Christianity I will now return and speak to you as Christians firmly perswaded of this Truth that the Devils do tempt us From what hath been said you may take a just Estimate of the efficacy of the Devil's Temptations and our Ability to resist him He can proceed indeed no farther than to suggest the first Cogitations of any Object and if Man also stopped here he would never forfeit his Innocence the Devil would never obtain his desired End He can do no more indeed yet this he improves to great advantage and with that success which we all lament He knoweth the Constitutions of all Men and
short if the Devils bring great Detriment to the spiritual Interests of Mankind the Angels bring no less advantage to it that it may be questioned whether it were more eligible for Man to suffer the Temptation of evil for the Assistance of good Spirits or to want them both together Only the same Caution which we before observed to be necessary in procuring and continuing the Grace of God is also required here that we render our selves worthy of it by a diligent Concurrence and that as we should not by our Perverseness grieve the Holy Spirit of God so neither should we by our Negligence and obstinate Perseverance in Sin grieve the Holy Angels And this is the only Reward which for all their Labour and Care bestowed on us they require of us that together with them we pay a due Obedience to our common Master that we defeat not their Charitable Designs by our own Wilfulness Worship and other Signs of Divine Honour they affect not nay this they will not receive from us The end of their Labour is to procure Happiness to Man and the Reward of it next to the Conscience of having obeyed their great Master is the satisfaction of their Success in it Their only aim is that we would joyn with them here in paying intire Obedience to our common Creator that so we may joyn with them hereafter in singing Praises to him To him therefore be ascribed the Glory and Thanks of all their Charitable Operations in relation to Mankind to him be rendred all Praise and Honour who at first Created such excellent Beings and afterwards sent them forth to Minister to our Salvation who hath placed in us Souls not unlike to these noble Beings and hath Promised that if we be not wanting to our selves he will in due time make us fully like unto them To him with his Son and blessed Spirit be ascribed all Power Might Majesty Dominion and Adoration henceforth and for evermore The Eighth SERMON Preach'd on the 20th of Octob. 1689. At LAMBETH CHAPEL St. Mark VIII 36. For what shall it profit a Man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own Soul IT is the peculiar Character of the Christian Religion that it is adapted as well to the Interest as the reason of Mankind that it is not only Consentaneous to our Natures but advantageous to our Persons that it not only prescribes to us our Duty but directs us in the way of Happiness Herein it infinitely surpasseth even all the more refined Systems of the Gentile Divinity and Philosophy They pretended to no more than to refine our Reason and enlighten our Understanding by the Knowledge and consideration of Truth But then they could produce nothing wherewith to satiate the unbounded Appetite of the Will and create a real Happiness Many of them indeed asserted the immortality of the Soul but neither hoped a Resurrection of the Body nor any reward of the Soul beside the Conscience of a vertuous Life The Jewish Oeconomy indeed had a reward annexed to it but such as fell infinitely short of the Desires of Mankind and the Capacity of rational Beings as being wholly restrained to the Pleasures of this Life and appropriated to the more ignoble part of Man the Body Whereas our Saviour in this last Revelation of God communicated by him to the World whereby the Happiness of Mankind was fully to be compleated and our Natures raised to the highest Perfection hath consulted not only the Reason but the interest of Mankind He hath satisfied the first by giving us a spiritual and rational Religion not tied up to the beggerly Elements of the World nor wholly immersed in Rites and Ceremonies but agreeing to the Dictates of Nature and first Principles of Reason And then in the second Place he hath advanced our Interest by proposing to us an infinite and eternal Reward far surpassing all the Pleasures and Delights of this World Our most Wise and ever Blessed Law-giver knew very well that the greatest part of Men are more moved with Arguments of Profit than with Considerations of Duty The latter only affect our Understandings but the first strike our Senses and ravish our Will He might as well by the right of Creation as Redemption have enjoyned to us all the Precepts of the Christian Religion without annexing any Reward to the performance of them It had even then been our Duty to obey and a sufficient Happiness by obeying to serve the great ends of our Creator And therefore all the Patriarchs before Abraham served God without any express promise of a Reward much less a Reward of that Nature and Value as is proposed to us Christians They might indeed justly hope for the Favour of God but then that Favour might consist only in providing them food and Rayment and other common Benefits of humane Nature and could not with any certainty be extended farther Since our Saviour therefore together with a most excellent Religion hath delivered to us an assurance of eternal Happiness and requireth our Obedience for no other end than that we may thereby obtain this Reward as we ought to admire and magnifie the infinite Goodness of God so must we condemn our own extreme Folly if we neglect or contemn so great Happiness This is an Argument highly accommodated to the Understanding and Capacity of all Men and therefore is very frequently urged by Christ who beginneth his Sermon upon the Mount in the V. Chap. of St. Matthew with affixing this Promise to the greater and more arduous Duties of the Christian Religion that so the Difficulty of these might willingly be overseen by us upon the Prospect of the Greatness of our Reward So Matth. XIII 44. he compareth the Kingdom of Heaven to a Treasure hid in a Field the which when a Man hath found he hideth and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath and buyeth that field and in the following Verses to a Merchant selling all his Estate to buy on Pearl of great price By which Saleâ— and by the Joyfulness attending it he intimates that all worldly Considerations are to be foregone when they stand in Competition with the hopes of another Life A Position which might justly be esteemed a Paradox if that infallible Mouth had not pronounced it and Reason did not in some measure assure us of the Truth of it But such was both the Wisdom and Goodness of our Saviour in prescribing to us a rule of Life that he chose to make use of all the Arguments wherewith either the Will or Understanding of Mankind could be incited to engage us to the Observation of it that so if the Duty we owe to God for the Benefits of Creation Preservation and Life could not enforce us if the wonderful Love of our Redeemer dying for us could not perswade us if Gratitude to both could not oblige us if neither Reason nor Authority could prevail with us to endeavour the Perfection of our Nature by
Holiness and Submission to the Divine Will and thereby to serve the great Ends of our Creation yet the Promise of an eternal Crown and the Consideration of so vast an Interest might enforce us to Obedience This obviates all the Objections even of worldly Men who must needs Confess that in vain do they Labour for the Attainment of Felicity in this Life if it can never truly be found on this side Heaven A thorough perswasion of the Truth of this would banish all sinful Temptations and extravagant Desires of carnal Pleasures For Men would be the most deplorable and irrational of all Creatures if they preferred a present trifle before a future Treasure and voluntarily quitted the Life of Angels to retain those Pleasures which are common to Beasts And not only doth this Truth hold in quitting the momentany Enjoyments of this Life and suffering our selves to be deprived of them for an exchange of future Glory but even in undergoing the greatest Afflictions of this Life and embracing Death it self upon the same Account This our Saviour chiefly aims at in this place For when in the foregoing Verses he had foretold that bearing the Cross should be inseparable from the Profession of the Christian Religion and that he who endeavoured to decline this Cross and save his Life by a denial of his Faith should thereby incurr a much greater Punishment than is the loss of this temporal Life he subjoyns in the words of my Text For what shall it profit a Man if he shall gain the whole World and lose his own Soul As if he should say That System of Religion which I have instituted and recommended to you is not intended to enlarge or satisfie the Pleasures of the Body but to increase the Dignity of the Soul improve its Faculties and procure to it a Happiness commensurate to the Vastness of its Desire and the Liberality of its Creator Whosoever therefore seriously intends to become my Disciple and partake of the Benefits of my Gospel must prepare himself with a firm Resolution to quit all the Interests and Advantages of the World embrace Afflictions and not decline Death whensoever the Malice of wicked Men and the Obligation of my Commands shall require that Tryal and Testimony of his Obedience And in so doing he shall not only perform his Duty but secure and promote his Interest For those who shall basely renounce their Allegiance to me or violate my Commands to save their own Lives and avoid the Malice of their Enemies shall after this Life undergo a much greater Loss and Punishment than that which they so Cowardly fear'd and ungenerously declin'd On the other side they who shall willingly lay down their Lives and slight all the Terrors of Men and Devils to preserve their Obedience to me intire and retain the Profession of my Gospel shall be certainly Crowned with so great a Reward that the loss of this temporal Life will be inconsiderable in respect of that eternal Life which is attained by it This is your Interest as well as my Command your Profit as well as Duty For it is not only reasonable that every Man should quit that particular share and Portion which he hath in the Pleasures and Possessions of this World to secure thereby his Hopes of a future Happiness but even if all the Riches and Possessions of the World were â—â—aped upon one single Man or could be all obtained by denial of my Religion or Violation of my Laws yet would it not be a sufficient Motive for so great a Crime And he that should prevaricate upon such mean Considerations would find in the end when he casts up his Account that he hath gained nothing To evince illustrate and recommend to you this great Truth is the Design of my present Discourse Which therefore I shall divide into these two Heads I. That the Interests of the Soul are infinitely greater and more considerable than those of the Body II. That this Interest is destroyed and the Soul rendred miserable by disobedience to the Laws of God I. That the Interests of the Soul are infinitely greater and more considerable than those of the Body And this appears if we consider either the Reason and Nature of things or the Revelation and Commands of God Under the first Head may be comprised the Nature and Dignity of the Soul and the Excellency of those peculiar Perfections and Rewards which the Soul is capable of First then the Dignity and Precedence of the Soul was ever acknowledged in all Ages by wife and learned Men of all Sects and Perswasions nay even the more rude and illiterate parts of Mankind did ever firmly believe this as an Opinion planted in them by the first Dictates of Nature and arising from the first Principles of Reason That we have an immortal Soul is a thing which ought to be supposed by all who profess the least shew of Religion and cannot be denied without the total Destruction of it All false Religions were invented by Men and the true Religion proposed by God merely for the Improvement and direction of this noble Being It is this only which distinguisheth us from the Rank and Condition of Beasts which likens us to God and makes us little inferiour to the Angels It is this whereby we contemplate the admirable and wonderful Perfections of God understand the Wisdom of his Government and the Greatness of his Works It is this alone whereby we form Habits of Vertue and do any thing grateful to our Creator whereby we receive the Instructions of God and know his Will And therefore Prov. XX. 27. the Spirit of Man is called the candle of the Lord because by that only we receive the Divine Illuminations and are instructed in the way to Happiness This Dignity and Preference of the Soul beyond the Body might be at large demonstrated from many other Considerations but I will insist only upon three which are plain and obvious to the understanding of all Men. As first by the Soul alone we receive the influence and benefits of God Some Divine Benefits indeed belong also to the Body as Creation and Preservation but those are common to all other Creatures and belong equally to the vilest of all created Beings whereas the Favours granted to the Soul are peculiar to it and to infinitely greater value For to pass by the natural Priviledges of Knowledge Desire and a Capacity of improvement all the superadded Happiness of our Nature is intirely bestowed on it alone All Revelation was given for the Instruction of this noble Being that so it might not be inferiour to the Angels in Happiness to whom it is little inferiour in Dignity To rescue this from the Slavery of Sin and Dominion of the Devil the Son of God descended from Heaven lived an afflicted Life and died a shameful Death Into this as into a capacious Treasure are all the Divine Graces conveyed Graces of which the Body is no more capable than a Stock or
Stone Lastly by the Merits or Guilt of the Soul the Body will be hereafter either saved or condemned If then all the Blessings of Heaven be primarily bestowed upon the Soul if this be the only receptacle of moral Vertues and Divine Graces if the Son of God vouchsafed to do and suffer so much for the Salvation of it if all the future Happiness of the Body depends upon the well-doing of the Soul certainly this Soul deserveth our greatest Regard and Consideration as by which alone we obtain the Favour of God and are made like unto him by imitating his Perfections as far as our finite Nature will permit us in the Practice of Vertue and Holiness of Life In the next place 't is the Excellency of our Souls alone which distinguisheth one Man from another and maketh any Person more excellent than his Neighbour It is a childish mistake of Men to imagine that Riches or Honour or temporal Greatness gives a real Excellency to Mankind or confers a true Dignity upon the Possessors of them since all these outward Advantages are common to the worst and most profligate of Men who as they are most miserable in themselves so they deserve no other than the Slight and Contempt of all who know them Not to say that all these things are frail and momentany of which a Man may be bereaved in an hour either by the inconstancy of Fortune or the Malice of others But we cannot imagine that our Wise Creatour should assign that to be our chief Perfection of which we might either be deprived or defrauded and that our Happiness should be in the Power and at the Mercy of another Man In that Case we should have been more miserable than all the rest of the Creation if it were not in every Man's Power to become Happy So true is it that all the Excellency of Man consists in the great and eminent Endowments of his Soul which the poorest of Men may obtain and when obtained can by no Art or Fraud be taken from him Thus the Scripture giving an account of the eminent Perfections of Daniel the Honour and Reverence paid to him and Dignities conferr'd upon him gives this as the Reason of it Because an excellent Spirit was in him Dan. VI. 3. It was that alone which caused him to surpass the ordinary Rank of Men and made him the Favourite of Heaven Not that a more excellent and perfect Soul was infused at first into him than into the rest of Men for all Souls are created equal and are capable of the same Improvements but that he had adorned it with all the Perfections of Reason and Religion and thereby rendred it worthy the Favour of God and Esteem of Men. And herein clearly appears both the Goodness of God and the Happiness of Men that all these Improvements and Cultivations of the Soul are equally possible to the Poorest as well as the richest Men. Poverty and temporal Calamity cannot exclude us from the utmost Perfection and in that from the greatest Happiness It is in the Power of the meanest Person to be truly more Excellent than his rich Neighbours and to ensure to himself the Favours of Heaven although not the Riches of the Earth Thus God hath in Truth made an equal Distribution to all Men by assigning to all Souls an equal Capacity For as for the Goods of Fortune when put in the Scale with Piety and the interests of Religion they deserve not the least Consideration There are some Endowments of the mind indeed which are not common and cannot be obtained by all Men as Learning and an exquisite Knowledge These may put in a fair Plea for an intrinsick Worth and Excellency as being inseparable from the Soul when once acquired of infinite use in this Life and perhaps greater in the next But then there are disadvantages attending such acquired Knowledge which may justly take off the immoderate Desire of it and make it become no reasonable Object of Envy to a pious unlearned Christian. As that it renders the way to Heaven infinitely more difficult to the Possessors of it exposeth them to many and great Temptations not common to all other Persons but chiefly because more and greater Duties are required of them greater and more severe Punishments attend the neglect of them In the more unlearned sort God requireth no more than a hearty Sincerity Belief and sure Trust in the Merits of a Crucified Saviour and living up to the great Truths of Religion and Principles of common Honesty In them he willingly over-seeth small and trivial Faults and imputes not Errors to them unless they influence and corrupt their Practice But of the more learned sort of Christians he requireth right Notions of Religion and worthy Conceptions of the Divine Majesty employing their knowledge to the good of others the Edification of the Church and after all an exact Observation of the most minute Punctilios of the Divine Laws In them mistakes are dangerous and Pardon not so easie to be obtained If indeed at last they be thought worthy of the Joys of Heaven they will shine there in a more eminent Station and brighter Glory But then even the lowest Degree in Heaven is a greater Happiness than we can either imagine or conceive Thus all the truly desirable Perfections of the Soul are possible to all and debarr'd from none Those are no other than an ardent Love of God an active Zeal to his Service a strict Sobriety in our selves and a fervent Charity to all our Neighbours How far these will advance the Dignity of our Souls appears hence that these only make us capable of the Joys of Heaven that 't is the perfect and uninterrupted Possession of these which maketh Angels and the want of these which maketh Devils Lastly Our Body when considered alone hath nothing excellent beyond other material Creatures nor is capable of any Improvements It is taken out of the same Mass of Matter with other Bodies and after the Separation of the Soul by Death is resolved into the same Corruption becomes Filth and Rottenness and in Truth the most odious of all things Nay even in this Life it would be subject to the same miserable Condition with the Beasts of the Field if it were not actuated by a noble and generous Soul which rescues it from the common Calamity of dull and vile Matter and giveth it the Honour to be joyned to and be the Companion of a most excellent and immortal Spirit And so far is this Body from receiving new Perfections in this Life that it continually decays till it be laid in Ashes and become as the Dung of the Earth None yet with the greatest Care and Diligence could give Beauty to their Bodies or as our Saviour expresseth it add one cubit to their stature None with the greatest Art and Industry can make their Senses more quick and accurate But certainly not any can procure immortality to their Bodies a Priviledge which naturally belongs
to the Soul We believe indeed That our Bodies shall be hereafter invested with Immortality and made Partakers of the Glories of Heaven but then they shall be changed into a spiritual Nature devested of these gross Senses which now accompany us and are the great Instruments of our Worldly and admired Pleasures For then There will be neither eating nor drinking marrying nor giving in marriage but we shall be like the Angels of heaven in the Fruition of purely spiritual Delights Which is an invincible Argument of the Vanity and Vileness of earthly and carnal Enjoyments that we cannot be made happy without the loss of them If they had been indeed of any real worth God would have continued them to us in another Life But since he hath made way to the Consummation of humane Happiness by the Abolishment of all gross and sensual Pleasures and despoils the Body to enrich the Soul We cannot but conclude these transitory Enjoyments are light and trifling incompatible with real Happiness and unworthy the Spirits of just men made perfect I come next to consider the Excellency of those peculiar Perfections and Rewards which the Soul is capable of beyond the Body Those Pleasures of which alone our Body is capable and which we are apt so much to admire here below consist only in the Gratification of our Senses Delights which are so far beneath true Happiness that they are common to Beasts finite short and contemptible The frequent Repetition of them may be thought to increase their worth but then this very Repetition becomes nauseous and is nothing else but the Reiteration of the same thing The desire of them is commonly produced by an irregular Appetite but always by the infirmity of our Nature and when performed they leave no Satisfaction behind them They cloy the Appetite and by their frequency become troublesome and even odious to us are finished in a few moments and then leave nothing grateful behind them But which is chiefly to be considered end with our Life and even in Life may be obstructed by Diseases and Calamities An eminent Instance of this we have in Solomon in whom all the Greatness and â—leasures of the World were joyned He presided over a mighty and powerful People and that in greater Glory than all the Kings before or after him So that if Ambition worldly Honour and Pomp could make him Happy he possessed them all in great abundance If the Fame of Wisdom and a profound Veneration among neighbour Nations could increase this Happiness it was not wanting to him to whom the Queen of Sheba came from the farthest parts of the East to hear the wisdom of his mouth If Riches can confer any thing to this desired Perfection none can put in a better Claim for it than he in whose time Gold was esteemed no more than Iron and Silver as stones for the abundance of it Lastly if the Pleasures of Sense can compleat our Happiness none had greater Advantages than he at whose Command was the most fruitful part of the World and who was Blessed with a profound and uninterrupted Peace all his Life And least we should imagine that he made no use of all these Advantages and supposed means of Happiness he assureth us Eccles. II. 10. That whatsoever his eyes desired he kept not from them nor with-held his heart from any joy Nay by a strange kind of Curiosity that he might leave nothing unattempted he tells us That he gave his heart to know madness and folly Eccles. I. 17. One who had all these Advantages had run thro' all the Scenes of Pleasure and could by his exquisite Wisdom and Knowledge of the Nature of things heighten and refine these Pleasures must be allowed to be a competent Judge of the worth and value of them Yet after all he gives this Verdict of them Vanity of Vanities all is Vanity If then no real Happiness if no solid Pleasure can be had from the Enjoyments of Sense from Riches and the outward Pomp of the World we must recurr to the Faculties of the Mind where we shall find an Happiness truly solid and which is more eternal None but a vast and infinite Good can satisfie the unbounded Desires of our Mind nothing less than Eternity it self can satiate an immortal Being For however our Souls be finite as all other Creatures are yet our Wills have no limits but continually desire somewhat more unless that Good which they already possess can receive no farther Additions This Good is no other than God who alone can fix our restless Wills and by his infinite Perfections ravish them with Wonder and Pleasure at the same time This is a Happiness truly peculiar to spiritual Beings who alone can contemplate the Majesty and inimitable Goodness of their Creator and by so doing secure to themselves an Happiness infinite in it self not inferior to the vast Desires of the Will which surviveth all the changes of Fortune Malice of Men and even Death it self If we cannot or will not believe the Greatness of these spiritual Pleasures their convenience to the Nature of our Souls and the infinite duration of them 't is because we are unacquainted with them immersed in gross and earthly Delights so far that we are neither willing nor perhaps able to receive these greater and more real Enjoyments by attending so much to the things of this World we have even changed the Nature and Nobleness of our Souls and from Guides and Directors made them mere Instruments to our Bodies devested them of all remembrance of their Divine Original degraded them into a servile Condition and were we not sometimes put in mind of the interest of another World should perhaps forget that we were created in a Condition little lower than the Angels Thus far Reason teacheth us That the interests of the Soul are to be preferred to those of the Body Revelation doth the same no less fully This was the great end of the Christian Religion to wean our Affections from worldly Pleasures and fix them upon things above to withdraw us by degrees from the Earth and seat us at last in Heaven To this the whole Genius and Temper of our Religion plainly tends commanding us to be ready at all times to take up the Cross undergo Persecutions embrace Afflictions and even suffer Death when the interest of our Souls requireth us to do it Thus our Saviour tells us He who loveth Father and Mother Wife or Possessions beyond him is not fit to be his Disciple and among other Precepts commands that his Followers should deny themselves that is be ready to part with all the Pleasures of the World and imaginary Delights of Nature when they stand in Competition with the interests of another Life This Duty is so strict that for the Observation of the most minute Precept all Considerations of wordly Profit and Pleasure must be foregone and the whole Body destroyed rather than the Soul in the least be injured Our
afford no leisure to the Soul to meditate upon the Greatness and Worth of her Creator the necessity of her own Duties and to form these Meditations into Habits of Vertue and thereby procure to our selves that real Happiness even in this Life which is infinitely more valuable than all the Riches and Possessions of the World when joyned in one Again Secondly If the Happiness of the Soul in this Life deserveth our greatest Care much more doth the welfare of it in a future State as being free from all Passions and Infirmities of the Body and which is more eternal This ought to be the Business and Employment of our whole Lives that we fail not of the Consummation of our Hopes and Crown of our Happiness And it would be so if we were throughly perswaded of the Existence and immortality of our Souls of the Greatness and Importance of their Interests and the infinite Preference which is due to these beyond those of our Body For can it be that we are perswaded of the Truths of these things and yet Act as though we had neither Souls nor Reasons that we believe the Existence of another more Glorious and lasting State and yet set up our rest in this that we hope for the appearance of a Judge at the last day and yet never think of making our Accounts ready Let us reflect upon the Nature of our Souls and justly weigh the great Interests of them consider the Vanity of worldly Pleasures and the shortness and inconstancy of this frail Life remember the Glories of Heaven and the inconceivable Happiness of another Life and we must either put off our Reason or employ it in pursuing those Interests which do so greatly and so nearly concern us Let us be so brave and generous as not to think that we die like the beasts that perish that we were made for greater and more noble Ends intended for the Favour of God and Society of Angels that we carry about with us spiritual Beings which cannot die and will receive no Prejudice by the Dissolution of the Body that these Souls were designed by God to receive a Participation of his own Glory and will certainly do so if they be not debarr'd from it by our fatal Stupidity and Neglect and that in providing for this more Excellent part of us we secure likewise a Mansion for the Body which at the general Resurrection shall be received into the same Station and undergoe the same fate with the Soul If we were perfectly perswaded of the Truth of all this we could not consign our selves up to pursue the Vanities of the World and heap up Riches which are of no Service for the Interests of another Life and promote not our real Happiness in this Can you be supposed to believe all this and at the same time imploy your Lives upon the Practice of the contrary Hope for the Perfection designed and make no step towards the Attainment of it rather let us endeavour with our utmost Vigour to maintain that Degree which God hath assigned to us among created Beings and not by our Degeneracy become the vilest and most miserable of all Creatures Let us do nothing unworthy that noble Being which is seated within us nor cloath the Body with the Spoils of it Let us maintain the Dignity and Character of our Natures by a severe and unblemisht Integrity and procure to our selves an assurance of those Perfections which are allotted to us Certainly in worldly Matters we willingly over-see lesser and more trivial Gains for obtaining of a greater and more substantial Profit and should we not slight the impertinent Gayeties and vile Allurements of the World to secure to our selves a treasure which fadeth not eternal in the Heavens Lastly If the benefits of the Soul be ever preferable to the Interests of the Body if all the Glories and Riches of this World be of small account when opposed to the Happiness of the next if the Favour of God and Concerns of Religion be the only true Perfections of Mankind a firm Constancy in the Exercise and Profession of Religion although attended in this Life with the greatest Inconveniences Discouragements and Afflictions will not only be our Duty but our highest Interest This is the natural Consequence of the words of my Text and the Conclusion which our Saviour himself drew from them in the following Verse with which I shall conclude Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed when he cometh in the Glory of his Father with the Holy Angels The Ninth SERMON Preach'd on the 20. of Novemb. 1689. At LAMBETH CHAPEL St. Luke XVI 31. If they hear not Moses and the Prophets neither will they be perswaded though one rose from the dead THESE words are the Conclusion of a remarkable Parable of our Saviour and seem to be the Scope to which his whole Discourse was therein directed to shew the Vanity of that Pretence wherewith unreasonable Men have been wont to defend or excuse their Sins the uncertainty of the Rewards and Punishments of another Life arising from the defect of a visible Experience of them or an undeniable Attestation of the Truth of them by constant Miracles It was not for the peculiar Doctrines of Christ alone that the Jews required a Sign to be given to them to demonstrate the Truth of them but also in their ancient and received Doctrines they entertained Scruples because not confirmed by a constant Continuation of the same Miracles which at first established them An incredulity as it should seem Hereditary to the Jews and renewed as often as the Divine Miracles were interrupted No sooner was Joshua dead and that Generation which had seen all the great works of the Lord which he had done for Israel as we are told in Judges II. but the next Generation even lost the knowledge of God they knew not the Lord as it is there expressed and altho' Miracles were continued down among them by the Ministration of the Prophets and Holy Men yet as these could be visible but to a certain Number they produced no universal influence affected not the rest and even in those who saw them they seemed to have produced no other effect than wonder and Amusement They still continued their disbelief of those Promises and Threats which they saw not yet effected and of that future State which they did not yet perceive And it were to be wished that this incredulity of the Jews had been so hereditary to them as to be peculiar to them but it hath found place even among Christians also many of whom have even renounced and denied their Faith because themselves could not see those Miracles upon the Authority of which Christianity was at first founded Others become irresolute and remiss in the Prosecution of their Duty as being upon the same account unsatisfied in the event of it And all pretend
eternal Happiness and true Christian Obedience which no change of Fortune can dissolve no unforeseen Calamity can overthrow Therein the Undertaker is only to answer for his Diligence nor is any thing required to compleat his Success but what is intirely in his Power If he be not wanting to himself he may rest secure of the Reward the Nature the Extent the Duration and the Seat of which our Lord hath fully made known unto Man that so he might not any longer be distracted with anxious Thoughts about it and so hath upon that account also as he Promised in the precedent Verses given Rest unto his Soul wearied before with a Fruitless and uncertain Search of Happiness The last Argument which I proposed to speak of is taken from the external Assistance which Christ hath Promised and doth still continue to his Disciples in the Exercise of their Duty Our Lord in imposing his Yoke upon Mankind knew very well the Infirmities of their Nature the Opposition of his Precepts to their ordinary Passions the Tenderness and Clemency which became the Saviour Redeemer and Mediator of Mankind and therefore did not abandon them to the Conduct of their Free-will alone but assisted their Obedience with the Motions of his Holy Spirit with those supernatural Gifts and Graces which he bestows upon all his sincere Disciples which render the imposition of those Precepts which he laid upon them Easie and Pleasant to them To convey this Grace to all the worthy Receivers of it he hath founded a Church a Society of Men professing and publickly declaring Obedience to him in that manner and with those Rites which himself hath instituted He hath made himself the Head of this Body and as such Communicates the influences of his Blessed Spirit to all the Members of it to us who continue in Communion with it If any separate themselves from this Body whereof himself is the Head they cease to have any Relation to him receive none of those supernatural Assistances which are derived from the Head to all parts of the Body At least they cannot receive them by the ordinary method appointed to convey them And if any pretend new Lights and new Ways they are such as have no Promise annexed to them It is not to be admired therefore what may be truly observed That all Hereticks and Schismaticks dividing themselves from the Communion of the Church have in all Ages endeavoured to take away the Obligation of moral Duties and set up the Pretence of greater Lights of a more refined Knowledge to compensate the neglect of Temperance and Meekness of Justice and Charity They having divided themselves from the Body of the Church cut off the ordinary Communication between Christ and them and thereby depriving themselves of the benefit of those Divine Graces and Assistances which are conveyed by that Channel found themselves unable to Practise those Christian Vertues which our Lord requireth of his Disciples and therefore endeavoured to annul the necessity and Obligation of them But this is not to alleviate but to cast off the Yoke of Christ to Claim the Benefits and refuse the Conditions of the Covenant which he made with Mankind and in the mean while to cheat themselves and others with vain Perswasions and arrogant Pretences Our Lord hath Promised the Assistance of his Spirit and therein he will not fail he hath settled the means of conveying it and that he Will not change If we slight the Assistance we are unworthy of it if we forsake the means we are incapable Let us rightly esteem and implore this Assistance to our selves let us hold fast the means whereby we may receive it that is a constant Communion with his Body the Church in all her Holy Offices and Sacraments so shall we Experience that his Commands are not only Excellent in themselves agreeable to our Nature and rendred Pleasant by their Reward but are also made Easie by his Grace and the Influences of his Spirit In the whole we shall be convinced of the Truth of what he affirmed That his Yoke is easie and his Burden light and find assurance of what he Promised Rest to our wearied Souls The Thirteenth SERMON PREACH'D At LAMBETH CHAPEL Rom. XII 19. Dearly beloved avenge not your selves but rather give place unto wrath For it is written Vengeance is mine I will repay saith the Lord. THE Apostle having exhorted to the Duty of Charity throughout this whole Chapter and enforced his exhortation with many Arguments at last concludeth his Arguments with these words whereby he proveth that to act in a contrary manner were to encroach upon the Prerogative of God and invade what he claimeth peculiarly to himself And surely no less an Argument than the fear of violating the Majesty and the Power of God could deter Men from the Practice and Prosecution of revenge which at first Sight appears to be so natural a Passion in Man and can plead for it self with more plausible Arguments than any other sin whatsoever As that Nature directeth all Creatures to defend themselves and repel the Assaults of Enemies that for this Purpose all Animals are endued with proportionable Strength and Courage that to pass by one Enemy unrevenged exposeth a Man to the insults of Enemies to the scorn of Friends and to renewed Wrongs that it is no other than Baseness and Cowardize an Argument of a mean and timorous Soul to submit patiently to the Affronts and Wrongs of another Man and that to return evil for evil to punish the Malice of an Offender by procuring Loss or Grief to him is no other than a part of distributive Justice of which every Man may be allowed to be the Administrator that so as the smart of Revenge inflicted may punish the Malice of the Aggressor the Pleasure of inflicting Revenge may make some amends for the undeserved Sufferings of the injured Party Such Arguments Men are wont to plead in behalf of Revenge and such did once introduce an universal Opinion in the World that Revenge was not only a Matter allowed but even a Vertue the Duty of every Noble and Couragious mind Consonant to the intentions of Nature and the Office of every private Man Thus the great Masters of Morality among the Heathens among whom nothing is more frequent than such Expressions as these that Revenge is sweeter than Life it self that Moderation is to be observed in creating but none in revenging Injuries that not to revenge a Wrong is an Argument of Fear and Sloth of an unmanly and degenerous Mind On the contrary we are taught throughout this whole Chapter to bless them which persecute us to recompence to no Man evil for evil to live peaceably with all Men and in the last place which concerns my present Design not to avenge our selves but rather give place unto wrath not to take upon us to inflict the Punishment due to any sin of Injustice committed against us but to leave that to be inflicted by God either by
add that he shall return in like manner as they saw him go that is in Power and great Glory as our Lord describeth his coming to Judgment Matth. XIII 26. It will be of little use to inquire into what part of the Heavens the Body of our Lord was translated yet not unfit to observe that our Lord is said to have ascended into those Heavens by which the most glorious Presence of the Divine Majesty is in Scripture expressed Thus it is said of him Ephes. IV. 10. He that descended is the same also that ascended far above all Heavens and Hebr. VII 10. That he was higher than the Heavens and Heb. IX 12. passing into the holy place even into Heaven it self to appear before the Presence of God that is he was advanced to the same state of Glory with God the Father his Body was translated to the place of his more immediate Presence in Heaven which is fully expressed by his sitting at the right hand of God To determine the place whether in the third in the fourth or above the Heavens is rash and unwarrantable But this we may be assured that whatsoever part of Heaven is the immediate residence of the Divine Majesty whatsoever Region is most Holy whatsoever Place is of greatest Dignity in those Celestial Orbs thither Christ ascended and there now Reigns in Glory III. The Advantages which the Church and all the Members of it received from the Ascension of Christ are many and great The first and most eminent Benefit derived from it was the Mission of the Holy Ghost of which I spoke before A Benefit which was indeed more sensible in the Apostolick times when it communicated to many the gift of Tongues the power of working Miracles or a prophetick Spirit but is at this day no less advantageous since by the Influences and Operations of the Holy Ghost the Church is still maintained the Faithful are enabled to perform their Duty and the unfaithful are converted Thus the Ascension of Christ became a lasting Benefit to all his Followers procuring to them those Graces which otherwise could never have been obtained The Ascension of Elijah made one Elisha left a double Portion of his Spirit with one Disciple to be communicated to no other but the Ascension of Christ was of universal Benefit producing blessed Effects which should extend to all Believers and to all Ages A second Benefit of the Ascension of our Lord is the Confirmation of our Faith which from thence received firm Assurance of the truth of his Doctrine and the Divinity of his Person He had proclaimed to the unbelieving Jews as well as to his own Disciples in the VI. of St. John that he would ascend into Heaven What and if ye shall see the Son of Man ascend up where he was before After his Resurrection he said unto the Women Go to my brethren and say unto them I ascend unto my Father and your Father It was not therefore unexpected to the Apostles they were acquainted with his Resolutions herein and when they faw effected what he had before foretold them they could no longer doubt that he was the true Messias Thus although the prophetical Office of our Lord expired upon the Cross all his subsequent Actions offered convincing Arguments to Mankind of the truth of his Mission and the certainty of those things he taught No greater Proof of either could be imagined than his Resurrection from the Dead and when to this was added his Ascension into Heaven there was no more place left for doubt Thus the Faith of the Apostles was confirmed by the Ascension of Christ but their Hopes were much more exalted By this glorious Triumph they saw him put into Possession of that ample Power which they so long wished to be assumed by him which might enable him to reward his Followers and effect those Promises which he had made to them In John XIV he had told them there were many Mansions in his Fathers house and that he went before to prepare a place for them intending to receive them afterwards to himself that where he was there they might be also The former part of the Promise they saw to be effected in his Ascension and thence conceived assured Hope that the latter would be accomplished There can be no greater Motive to believe the truth of Prophecies or Promises than to consider the performance of those which went before The same foreknowledge of our Lord which foresaw the Exaltation of himself could as easily foresee the like Reward to be given to his Followers and the same Power which advanced him to the right hand of God could exalt whomsoever he pleased into Heaven So that his Power could not be questioned and his Will therein he had often declared assuring them Joh. XII 32. When I am lifted up from the Earth I will draw all Men unto me Herein the Hopes of all Mankind received increase and strength They had all impatiently wished for Immortality it was easie to believe that their Souls should still exist but their Bodies were equally parts of themselves They were equally concerned for the future Happiness of both yet that either should be hereafter Happy they were assured only by the Revelation of Christ. He affirmed it he promised it he confirmed it by wonderful Signs and Miracles yet it could not but seem strange that Flesh and Blood should inherit the Kingdom of God that such a gross corporeal Being should be admitted to the Society of Angels that Man who was excluded from an Earthly Paradise should be taken up to the immediate Presence of God All this did seem incredible till they saw an Example of it in the Body of Christ which consisting of the same Flesh and Blood partaking of the same Nature was visibly received into Heaven and placed in eternal Happiness By this they were convinced that the like Immortality of their own Bodies was not impossible and while they considered the Promises of Christ and their own Relation to him that he was the first Fruits of humane Nature their forerunner which is entred into Heaven for them the Captain of their Salvation and the Head of their Society they were fully satisfied that it should in time be granted to them since what he foretold of his own Ascension they saw effected since it was but natural to follow their Captain their Head and their Forerunner and with him to be received into the place of their desired Happiness Farther as Christ is our King and our Priest the Benefits which we hope to receive from either of those his Offices received increase by his Ascension into Heaven As King he is thereby invested in the actual Dominion of his Church enabled to bestow upon her all those Graces and extraordinary Assistances which are necessary for her Well-being As our Priest his Intercessions with God the Father in our behalf are made much more prevalent by his personal Presence with him Under the Law the Efficacy of