vertuous Life It signifies not nothing with the many to be remembred when they are gone Therefore is this Trust wont to be committed to Marbles and Monumental Stones Some have been so wise to prefer a remembrance among them that were so from their having liv'd to some valuable purpose When Rome abounded with Statues and Memorative Oblisks Cato forbad any to be set up for him because he said he had rather it should be askt why had he not one than why he had What a balmy Memory will one Generation leave to another when the savour of the Knowledge of Christ shall be diffused in every place 2 Cor. 2.14 and every thing be counted as dross and dung that is in any competition with the excellency of that Knowledge when that shall overflow the World and one Age praise his Mighty Works and proclaim his Power and Greatness to the next And the Branches of Religious Families whether sooner or later transplanted shall leave an odour when they are cut off that shall demonstrate their nearer Vnion with the true Vine or speak their relation to the Tree of Life whose Leaves are for the healing of the Nations even those that were deciduous and have dropt off may without straining a borrow'd expression signifie somewhat towards this purpose 4. From both the mention'd Subjects Good Parents may learn to do God and their Redeemer all the service they can and have opportunity for in their own time without reckoning too much upon what shall be done by a well-educated hopeful Son after they are gone unless the like dispensation could be pleaded unto that which God gave to David to reserve the Building of the Temple to his Son Solomon which without as express a revelation no Man can pretend The Great Keeper of these Keys may cross such purposes and without excusing the Father dismiss the Son first But his Judgments are a great deep too deep for our Line And his Mercy is in the Heavens Psal. 36. extending from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him and his Righteousness unto Childrens Children Psal. 103. FINIS BOOKS Printed for Thomas Parkhurst at the Bible and Three Crowns the lower End of Cheapside near Mercers-Chapel Books Written by the Reverend Mr. J. Howe OF Thoughtfulness for the Morrow With an Appendix concerning the immoderate Desire of foreknowing things to come Of Charity in reference to other Mens sins The Redeemer's Tears wept over lost Soulâ— in a Treatise on Luke 19.41 42. With an Appendix wherein somewhat is occasionally discoursed concerning the Sin against the Holy Ghost and how God is said to will the Salvation of them that perish A Sermon directing what we are to do after a strict Enquiry Whether or no we truly love God A Funeral Sermon for Mrs. Esther Sampson the late Wife of Hen. Sampson Dr. of Physick who died Nov. 24. 1689. The Carnality of Religious Contention In two Sermons preach'd at the Merchants Lecture in Broadstreet A Calm and Sober Enquiry concerning the possibility of a Trinity in the Godhead A Letter to a Friend concerning a Postscript to the Defence of Dr. Sherlock's Notion of the Trinity in Unity relating to the Calm and Sober Enquiry upon the same Subject A View oâ— that Part of the late Considerations addrest to H. H. about the Trinity Which concerns the Sober Enquiry on that Subject A Sermon preach'd on the late Day of Thanksgiving Decemb. 2. 1697. To which is prefix'd Dr. Bates's Congratulatory Speech to the King A Sermon for Reformation of Manners Books Written by J. Flavel THE Fountain of Life opened or a Display of Christ in his Essential and Mediatorial Glory Containing Forty Two Sermons on various Texts Wherein the Impetration of our Redemption by Jesus Christ is orderly unfolded as it was begun carried on and finished by his Covenant Transaction Mysterious Incarnation Solemn Call and Dedication Blessed Offices Deep Abasement and Supereminent Advancement A Treatise of the Soul of Man wherein the Divine Original Excellent and Immortal Nature of the Soul are opened its Love and Inclination to the Body with the Necessity of its Separation from it considered and improved The Existence Operations and States of separated Souls both in Heaven and Hell immâ—diately after Death assâ—rted discussed and variously applied Diverse knotty and difficult Questions about departed Souls both Philosophical and Theological stated and determined The Method of Grace in bringing Home the Eternal Redemption contriv'd by the Father and accomplish'd by the Son through the Effectual Application of the Spirit unto God's Elect being the second Part of Gospel Redemption The Divine Conduct or Mystery of Providence its Being and Efficacy asserted and vindicated All the Methods of Providence in our Course of Life open'd with Directions how to apply and improve them Navigation spiritualiz'd Oâ— A New Compass for Seamen Consisting of Thirty Two Points of pleasant Observations profiâ—able Applications serious Reflections all concluded with so many spiritual Poems c. Two Treatises the first of Fear the second the Righteous Man's Refuge in the evil Day A Saint indeed The great Work of a Christian A Touchstone of Sincerity Or Signs of Grace and Symptoms of Hypocrisie being the second Part of the Saint indeed A Token for Mourners Or Boundaries for Sorrow for the Death of Friends Husbandry spiritualiz'd Or The Heavenly Use of Earthly Things FINIS Job 1.1 Psal. 84.11 Hierom. Job 29.1 2 3 4 5. †Ostendunt terris hunc tantùm fata nec ultra esse siâ—unt †And here it may suffice to take notice that Greek Writers Poets Philosophers Historians and other Writers that have made only occasional mention of this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or of the words next akin to it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Lexicographers that have purposely given an account of it from Greek Authors that must be supposed best to understand the use of words in their own Tongue generally such as have not been engaged in a Controversie that obliges men usually to torture words to their own sense or to serve the Hypothesis which they had espoused have been remote from confining this or the cognate words to that narrow sense as only to signifie a place or state of torment for bad men but understood it as comprehending also a state of Felicity for the pious and good For such as have been concern'd in interpreting this or other like words with reference to the known and famous Controversie which I need not mention their Judgments must weigh according to the reputation they are of with the Reader The Greeks no doubt best understood their own Language And among them can we think that Homer in the beginning of his 1. Il. when he speaks of the many brave Souls of his Hero's those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which the Wâ—r he is describing sent into the invisible Regions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he ever dreamt they were all promiscuously dispatcht away to
forthwith depart willing or unwilling ready or unready 6. Souls that go out of this World of ours on the turn of this Key go not out of being He that hath this Key of Death hath also the Key of Hades a Key and a Key When he uses the former to let them out from this he uses the latter to give them their Inlet into the other World and into the one or the other part of it into the upper or the lower Hades as the state of their case is and doth require Our business is not now with Pagans to whom the Oracles of God are unknown If it were the best and wisest of them who so commonly speak of Souls going into Hades never thought of their going no whither nor therefore that they were nothing They had reasons then which they thought cogent that induced them tho' unassisted with Divine Revelation to conclude they surviv'd their forsaken bodies And what else could any unbrib'd understanding conclude or conceive When we find they have powers belonging to them which we can much more easily apprehend capable of being acted without help from the body than by it We are sure they can form thoughts purposes desires hopes for it is matter of fact they do it and coherent thoughts and thoughts arising from thoughts one from another Yea thoughts abstracted from any thing corporeal the notions of right and wrong of Vertue and Vice of moral good and evil with some agreeable resolves Thoughts quite above the sphere of matter so as to form a notion of the Mind it self of a spiritual Being as unexceptionable a one as we can form of a body Yea of an Original self subsistent Mind and Spiâ—iâ— the Former and Maker of all other T is much more apprehensible since we certainly know that all this is done that it is done without any help of the body than how flesh or blood or bones or nerves or brains or any corporeal thâ—ng should contribute to such Methods of thinking or to any thought at all And if it can be conceivâ—d that a Spirit can act without dependence on a body what should hinder but we may as well conceive it to subsist and live without such dependence And when we find this power of thought belongs to somewhat in us that lives since the deserted Carkass thinks not how reasonable is it to suppose that as the body lives not of it self or life is not essential to it for life may be retir'd and gone and it remain as we see it doth the same body still that the soul to which the power of thought belongs lâ—ves of it self not independently on the first cause but essentially so as to receive life and essence together from that cause or life included in its essence so as that it shall be the same thing to it to be and to live And hereupon how obvious is it to apprehend that the Soul is such a thing as can live in the Body which when it doth the Body lives by it a precarious borrowed life and that can live out of the Body leaving it when it doth so to drop and die These Sentiments were so reasonable as generally to prevail with the more deeply thinking part of Mankind Philosophers of all sorts a few excepted whose Notions were manifestly formed by vicious inclination in the Pagan World where was nothing higher than Reason to govern But we have life and immortality brought to light in the Gospel and are forewarned by it that these will be the measures of the final Judgment to give eternal life at last to them who by a patient continuance in well-doing seek honour glory and immortality To the rest indignation and wrath c. because there is no respect of persons with God As supposing the discovery of another World even by natural light much more by the addition of supernatural to be so clear as that the Rule of the Vniversal Judgment even for all is most righteously to be taken from hence and that there is nothing but a resolution of living wickedly to be opposed to it It is also no slight consideration that a susceptibleness of Religion should among the Creatures that dwell on Earth be so appropriate and peculiar to Man and some rare Instances excepted as far diffused as Humane Nature So as to induce some very considering Men of the Antients as well as Moderns both Pagans and Christians to think Religion the more probable specifying Difference of Man than Reason And whence should so common an impression be but from a cause as common Or how can we avoid to think that this signature upon the Soul of Man a capacity of Religion should be from the same hand that formed the spirit of Man within him and that a Natural Religiousness and Humane Nature it self had the same Author But who sees not that Religion as such hath a final reference to a future state He was no despicable Writer tho' not a Christian that positively affirmed hope towards God to be essential to Man and that they that had it not were not partakers of the Rational Nature 'T is so much the more a deplorable and monstrous thing that so many not only against the light of their own Reason but of Divine Revelation are so industrious to unman themselves And having so effectually in a great degree done it really and in practice aim to do it in a more compendious way notionally and in principle too And make use or shew of Reason to prove themselves not to be reasonable Creatures or to divest themselves of the principal dignity and distinction of the Rational Nature And are incomparably herein more unnatural than such as we commonly count 〈◊〉 upon themselves who only act against their own bodily life but these against the much nobler life of their Soul They against the life of an individual These against their own whole species at once And how deplorable is their case that count it their interest to be in no possibility of being happy when yet their so great dread of a future state as to urge them upon doing the most notorious violence to their own faculties to rid themselves of it is a very convictive Argument of its reality For their dread still pursues and sticks close to them This shews it lies deep in the nature of things which they cannot alter The terrible Image is still before their Eyes and their principal Refuge lies only in diverting in not attending to it And they can so little trust to their own Sophistical reasonings against it that when they have done all they can they must owe what they have of ease and quiet in their own Minds not so much to any strength of reason they apprehend in their own thoughts as in not thinking A bold jeast may sometimes provoke others laughter when it doth not extinguish their own fear A suspicion a formido oppositi will still remain a misgiving that they cannot
a place of Torment Not to mention other passages where he uses the the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the same purpose Divers others of of the Greek Poets are cited by several ready to our hanâ—s with which I shall not cumber these pages That one â— enough and nothing can be fuller to our purpose which is quoted by Clem. Alexandr Str. l. 5. as well as by sundry others and ascribed to the Comic Diphilus tho' by others to another Philemon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In Hades we reckon there are two paths the one of the righteous the other of the wicked plainly shewing that Hades was understood to contain Heaven and Hell Plato when in his Phaedo he tells us that he that comes into Hades 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not initiated and duly prepared is thrown into 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a stinking Lake but he that comes into it fitly purified shall dwell with the Gods as expresly signifies Hades to include the same opposite states of misery and felicity In that Dialogue called Axiochus tho' supposed not to be his written by one that sufficiently knew the meaning of such a word we are told that when Men die they are brought into the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Field of Truth where sit Judges that examine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what manner of life every one lived while he dwelt in the body that they who while they liv'd here were inspir'd by a good Genius or Spirit go into the Region of pious Men having before they came into Hades been purified such as led their lives wickedly are hurried by Furies up and down Chaos in the Region of the wicked In the third Book de Repub. Plato blames the Poets that they represent the state of things in Hades too frightfully when they should 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 praise it rather Plutarch de Superst brings in Plato speaking of Hades as a Person or a God Dis or Pluto as they frequently do and says he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 benign or friendly to Men therefore not a tormentor of them only Caelius Rhodigin quotes this same passage of Plutarch and takes notice that our Saviour speaks of the state of Torment by another word not Hades but Gebenna which sufficiently shews how he understood it himself And whereas there are who disagree to this notation of this word that makes it signifie unseen as some will fetch it from the Hebr. and go as far back as Adam in their search alledging for this the Authority of an old Sibyll will have it go for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and signifie as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unpleasant nothing is plainer than that this other is the common notion which tho' Fancy hath not a greater Dominion in any thing than in Etymology would make one shy of stretching invention to find how to differ from the generality Therefore Calepin upon this word tells us that the Greek Grammarians do against the nature of the Etymon which plainly enough shews what they understood that to be generally direct its beginning to be writ with the asper spirit but yet he makes it signifie obscure or not visible And tho' Plato is endeavoured to be hook't in to the deriving it from Adam by a very far fetch yet 't is plain that his calling it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in a place before referr'd to shews he understood it to signifie invisible And so Lexicons will commonly derive it Vulgo says Caelius Rhodis But its extensiveness as comprehending a state of happiness is our principal concern which way as we might shew by many more instances the common stream carries it Pausanias in his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 speaking of Hermes according to Homer as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and that he did lead Souls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 could not be thought to mean they were then universally miserable Sext. Empir is an Authority good enough for the meaning of a Greek word When Adversus Mathem he tells us tho' by way of objection all men have a common notion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 using the Genitive with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Homer and others do another word house or abode in the Dative being understood And yet as to the thing he afterwards distinguishes Poets Fables and what from the nature of the Soul it self all have a common apprehension of As also Diog. Laert. hath the same phrase mentioning the Writings of Protagoras who he says wrote one Book 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 using the Genitive as here after 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as hath been usual on the mentioned account And tho' his Books were burnt by the Athenians because of the dubious Title of one of them concerning the Gods So that we have not opportunity to know what his Opinion of Hades was we have reason more than enough to think he understood it not of a state of Torment only for Evil Spirits * Primate Usher's Judgment may be seen in his Answer to the Jesuits Challenge that this word properly signifies the other World the place or state of the Dead So that Heaven it self may be comprehended in it Grot. on Luk. 16.23 Makes Hades most certainly to signifie a place withdrawn from our sight spoken of the body the grave of the soul all that Region wherein 't is separate from the body So that as Dives was in Hades so was Lazarus too but in separate Regions For both Paradise and Hell or as the Grecians were wont to speak Elysii and Tartara were in Hades You may have in him more Quotations from the Poets the sense of the Essenes from Josephus and passages from divers of the Fathers to the same purpose Dr. Hammonds mind was the same copiously exprest on Matt. 11.20 But differs from Grot. in ascribing to Philemon the Jambicks above recited which the other gives to Diphilus Dr. Lightsoot is full to the same purpose On the 4th Art of the Creed And tho' Bellarmin will have this word always signifie Hell which if it do with Sheol the correspondent word Jacob desired to go to Hell to his Son as Dr. H. argues Camero as good a Judge thinks except once it never dâ—es If any desire to see more to this purpose with little trouble to themselves let them peruse Martinius's Lexic on the word Inserus or Insernus I could refer them to many more whom I foâ—bear to mention Only if any think in some or other Text of Scripture this word must signifie Hell only since it is of that latitude as to signifie Heaven in other places an impartial view of the circumstances of the Text must determine whether there it be meant of the one or the other or both * Maimonides * Weems Pirke R. Elieâ—er Edit per G. H. Varst C. F. Dan. 5.23 2 Tim. 1.10 Rom. 2.7 v. 8. v. 11. Philo Judeuâ— Quod Detâ—r potiori insid sole◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—al 3.13 14. Rom. â— 3. â— Heb. 10.38 c. 12.1 2 Cor. 5.7 Heb. 11.2 Heb. 9.26 Jam. 4.13 14 15. * Neque quiâ— quam reperit dignuâ— quâ—d eum temporsuâ— permutare Sen. Gen. 45. Isa. 9.6 Sen. Joh. 5.23 Psal. 45.6 11. Joh. 20.28 * Miser est quicunque non vult Mundo secum moriente mori Sen. Tr. Cicer. Heb. 11.4 Non est quòd quenquam propter canos aut rugas putes diu vixisse Non ille diu vixit sed diu fuit Sen. * Computation by the Honourable Francis Roberts Esq Philosoph Transactions for the Months March and April 1694. * Bolton in his four last things who speaking of Heaven directs us to guess the immeasurable magnitude of it as otherwise so By the incredible distance from the Earth to the Starry Firmament and adds If I should here tell you the several computations of Astronomers in this kind the summs would seem to exceed all possibility of belief And he annexes in his Margin sundry computations which I shall not here recite you may find them in the Author himself p. 21. And yet besides as he further adds the late learnedest of them place above the 8th sphere wherein all those gâ—orious Lamps shine so bright three moving Orbs more Now the Empyrean Heâ—ven comprehends all these How incomprehensible then must its compass â—nd greatness necessarily be But he supposes it possible the adventure of Mathematicians may be too audacious and peremptory c. And concludes the height and extent of the Heavens to be beyond all Human investigation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sen. â—r 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Joh. 14.19 Rom. 5.2 Corn. Nep Frag. Plâ—tarch de gerun◠〈◊〉