This will appear by considering that whatever is requisite to constitute the perfect Blessedness of Man is fully enjoy'd in the Divine Presence 1. An exemption from all evils is the first condition of perfect Blessedness The sentence of wise Solon is true in another sense than he intended DicÃque beatus Ante obitum nemo supremaque funera debet No Man can be named happy whilst in this valley of Tears But upon the entrance into Heaven all those evils that by their number variety or weight disquiet and oppress us are at an end Sin of all Evils the most hateful shall be abolisht and all Temptations that surround us and endanger our innocence shall cease Here the best Men lament the weakness of the flesh and sometimes the violent assaults of spiritual Enemies St. Paul himself breaks forth into a mournful Complaint O wretched Man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of Death And when harrass'd with the buffets of Satan renews his most earnest addresses to God to be freed from them Here our Purity is not absolute we must be always cleansing our selves from the reliques of that deep defilement that cleaves to our nature Here our peace is preserv'd with the Sword in our hand by a continual Warfare against Satan and the World But in Heaven no ignorance darkens the Mind no passions rebel against the sanctified Will no inherent pollution remains The Church is without spot or wrinkle or any such thing And all Temptations that war against the Soul shall then cease The Tempter was cast out of Heaven and none of his poison'd Arrows can reach that Purified Company Glorious Liberty here ardently desir'd but fully enjoyed by the Sons of God above And as Sin so all the penal consequences of it are quite taken away The present Life is an incurable disease and sometimes attended with that sharp sense that Death is desir'd as a remedy and accepted as a benefit And though the Saints have reviving Cordials yet their joys are mixt with sorrows nay caused by sorrows The tears of Repentance are their sweetest refreshment Here the living Stones are cut and wounded and made fit by Sufferings for a Temple unto God in the New Jerusalem But as in the building of Solomon's Temple the noise of a Hammer was not heard for all the parts were fram'd before with that exact design and correspondence that they firmly combin'd together They were hew'n in another place and nothing remain'd but the putting them one upon another in the Temple and then as sacred they were inviolable So God the wise Architect having prepar'd the Saints here by many cutting Afflictions places them in the Eternal Building where no voice of Sorrow is heard Of the innumerable Company above is there any Eye that weeps any Breast that sighs any Tongue that complains or appearance of Grief The Heavenly State is called Life as only worthy of that Title There is no infirmity of Body no Poverty no Disgrace no Treachery of Friends no Persecution of Enemies There is no more Death nor Sorrow nor Crying nor shall there be any more Pain for former things are past away God will wipe away all Tears from the Eyes of his People Their Salvation is compleat in all degrees Pure Joy is the Priviledg of Heaven unmixed Sorrows the punishment of Hell A concurrence of all positive Excellencies is requisite to Blessedness And these are to be considered with respect to the entire Man 1. The Body shall be awak'd out of its dead sleep and quickned into a glorious immortal Life The Soul and Body are the essential parts of Man and though the inequality be great in their operations that respect Holiness yet their concourse is necessary Good Actions are design'd by the Counsel and Resolution of the Spirit but perform'd by the Ministry of the Flesh. Every Grace expresses it self in visible actions by the Body In the sorrows of Repentance it supplies tears in Fastings its appetites are restrain'd in Thanksgivings the Tongue breaks forth into the joyful praises of God All the victories over sensible pleasure and pain are obtain'd by the Soul in conjunction with the Body Now 't is most becoming the Divine Goodness not to deal so differently that the Soul should be everlastingly happy and the Body lost in forgetfulness the one glorified in Heaven the other remain in the dust From their first setting out in the World to the Grave they ran the same Race and shall enjoy the same Reward Here the Body is the Consort of the Soul in obedience and sufferings hereafter in fruition When the Crown of Purity or Palm of Martyrdom shall be given by the great Judg in the view of all they shall both partake in the honour Of this we have an earnest in the Resurrection of Christ in his true Body who is the first fruits of them that sleep He shall change our vile Bodies that they may be fashioned like to his glorious Body according to the working of his Power whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself A substantial unfading Glory will shine in them infinitely above the perishing Pride of this World that is but in appearance like the false colours painted on the feathers of a Dove by reflection of the Light which presently vanish when it changeth its posture or the Light is withdrawn Indeed what can be more glorious than to be conform'd to the Humanity of Christ the seat of all Beauty and Perfection This Conformity shall be the work of his own hands And when Omnipotence interposes nothing is difficult The raising the Body to an unchangeable state of Glory is as easy to the Divine Power as the forming it at first in the Womb. As the Sun labours no more in the Mines in the forming Gold and Silver the most precious and durable Metals than in the production of a poor short-liv'd Flower II. The Soul shall have perfection and satisfaction in all its Faculties 1. The Understanding shall clearly see the most excellent Objects Now we know but in part The naked beauty of Divine Things is vail'd and of impossible discovery And the weakness of the mind is not proportionable to their dazling brightness But when that which is perfect is come then that which is in part shall be done away In that enlightned state the glorious manifestation of the objects shall as much exceed the clearest revealing of them here as the Sun in its full lustre one beam of Light strain'd through a crevice in the Wall And the Understanding shall be prepar'd to take a full view of them Therefore the Apostle compares the several Periods of the Church in respect of the degrees of Knowledg to the several Ages of this Life When I was a Child I spake as a Child I understood as a Child I thought as a Child but when I became a Man I put away childish things In Children the organs either from an excess of moisture or
their smalness are indisposed for the vigorous exercise of the Mind some strictures of Reason appear a presaging sign what will be but mixt with much obscurity But when the organs are come to their just proportion and temperament the Soul displays its strength and activity All things of a supernatural order shall then be clearly discovered The contrivance of our Salvation the ways of conducting us to Blessedness which are objects of a sublime nature will afford an exquisite pleasure to the Understanding All the secrets of our Redemption shall be unsealed The great Mystery of Godliness the Incarnation of the Eternal Son and his according Justice with Mercy shall then be apparent The Divine Counsels in governing the World are now only visible in their wonderful effects either of Mercy or of Justice and those most dreadful but the Reasons of them are past finding out But what our Saviour said to Peter What I do thou knowest not now but shalt know hereafter is applicable to these impenetrable dispensations All the original Fountains of Wisdom as clear as deep shall then be opened We shall then see the beauty of Providence in disposing temporal things in order to our eternal felicity We now see as it were the rough part and Knots of that curious Embroidery but then the whole Work shall be unfolded the sweetness of the Colours and proportion of the Figures appear There we shall be able to expound the perplexing Riddle How out of the Eater came meat and out of the Strong came sweetness For we shall know as we are known We shall see God Our Saviour tells us This is Life Eternal to know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent The beginning and perfection of our Happiness consists in this knowledg The Deity is spiritual and invisible to the Eye of the Body infinite and incomprehensible to the Soul But we shall then so clearly understand the Divine Perfections that our present knowledg compar'd to that is but as the seeing a dark resemblance in a Glass to the clear view of a Person in the native beauty of his Face God is most gloriously present in Heaven For according to the degrees of excellence in the Work such are the impressions and discoveries of the Virtues of the Cause Now all sensible things in the low order of Nature are but weak resultances from his Perfections in comparison of their illustrious Effects in the Divine World The Glories of the Place and of the Inhabitants the Angels and Saints clearly express his Majesty Goodness and Power But in a transcendent manner he exhibits himself in the glorified Mediator He is stiled the brightness of the Father's Glory and the express image of his Person not only for his equal Perfections in respect of the unity of their Nature but to signify that God in the Person of the incarnate Mediator is so fully represented to us that by the sight of him we see God himself in his unchangeable Excellencies This appears by the following words that having purged us from our sins he sate down on the right-hand of the Majesty on high for they respect the Son of God as united to the humane Nature in which he perform'd the Office of the Priesthood and took possession of his glorious Kingdom During his humble state the Divine Vertues Wisdom Goodness Holiness Power were so visible in his Person Life Revelations and miraculous Works that when Philip so long'd for the sight of the Father as the only consummate Blessedness Shew us the Father and it suffices He told him He that has seen me has seen the Father also But how brightly do they appear in his triumphant Exaltation 'T was his Prayer on Earth Father I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am that they may behold my Glory Inestimable Felicity whether we consider him in the respect of an Object that incomparably transcends all the created Glory of Heaven or in the relation of our Head on a double account partly that because he was debased into the form of a Servant and suffered all Indignities and Cruelties of Sinners for us has received the Recompence of his Meritorious Sufferings the triumph of his Victory being glorified with the Father with the Glory he had before the World was and partly because every Member shall be conformed to him in his Glory we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is And all Felicity and Glory is compriz'd in that Promise The sight of the Face of Moses when radiant had no transforming efficacy for the light of it was not in him as its source but by derivation But God is Light essentially and the sight of his Perfections will be productive of his Likeness in us so far as it may be in a restrained subject When our Saviour was upon the holy Mount and one vanishing Beam of Glory appear'd in his Transfiguration Peter was so transported at the sight that he forgot the World and himself How ravishing then will the sight of him be in his triumphant Majesty when we shall be transfigured our selves 2. As they shall behold God's Face know his most amiable Excellencies so they shall love him as perfectly as they know him To the illustrations of the Mind there are correspondent impressions on the Heart In the present state our Love is imperfect and as Fire out of its sphere dies away by our neglect to feed it with proper materials enamouring considerations of God But 't is not so in Heaven there the Divine Sun attracts every Eye with the light of its beauty and inflames every Heart with the heat of his Love The continual Presence of God is in different respects the Cause and Effect of our Love to him For there is no more powerful Attractive to love him than to see him And Love keeps the thoughts undivided from him God is Love and will kindle in us a pure Affection that Eternity shall never lessen Our Affections that are now scattered on many things wherein some small Reflections of his Goodness appear shall join in one full Current in Heaven where God is all in all We shall then understand the riches of his Love that God who is infinitely happy in himself should make Man for such a Glory and such a Glory for Man And that when for his Rebellion he was justly expell'd from Paradise and under a sentence of Eternal Death God should please to restore him to his Favour and give him a better state than was forfeited We shall then understand our infinite Obligations to the Son of God who descended from the Heaven of Heavens to our Earth and which is more from the Majesty wherein he there raign'd from the Glory wherein he was visible to the Angelical Minds and became Man for Men Redemption for the Lost to purchase Immortal Life for those who were dead to that blessed Life In short then God will express his Love to us
the Psalmist A moral Principle may induce one to abstain from many Sins and to perform many praise-worthy things in conformity to Reason But this is neither sanctifying nor saving for it only prunes Sin as if it were a good Plant and does not root it up it compounds with it and does not destroy it There may be still an impure indulgence to the secret lustings of the Heart notwithstanding the restraint upon their Exercise And many Duties may be done on lower motives without a divine respect to the Commands and Glory of God But renewing Grace subjects the Soul to the whole Royalty of the Law uniformly inclines it to express Obedience to all its Precepts because they are pure and derived from the eternal Spring of Purity It mortifies Concupiscence and quickens to every good Work from a Principle of Love to God and in this is distinguisht from the most refined unregenerate Morality In short there may be a superficial tincture of Religion from common Grace a transient Esteem vanishing Affections and earnest Endeavours for a time after Spiritual Things and yet a Person remain in a state of unregeneracy But renewing Grace is a permanent solid Principle that makes a Man partaker of the Divine Nature and elevates him above himself This holy Change is wrought by Divine Power Our Saviour tells Nicodemus Except a Man be born of Water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God The Analogy of a new Birth signifies that 't is intirely the work of the sanctifying Spirit that conveys a Principle of Life in order to the Functions of it 'T is the living impression of God the sole Efficient and Exemplar of it the Fruit and Image of the Divine Vertues 'T is exprest by the new Creature The production of it is attributed to God's power displaying it self in a peculiar excellent way even in that precise manner as in making the World For as in the first Creation all things were made originally of nothing so in the second the habit of Grace is infused into the Soul that was utterly void of it and in which there was as little preparation for true Holiness as of nothing to produce this great and regular World And although there is not only an absolute privation of Grace but a fierce resistance against it yet creating invincible Power does as infallibly and certainly produce its effect in forming the new Creature as in making the World From hence it appears that preventing renewing Grace is so intirely the Work of God as his forming the human Body from the Dust of Earth at first But with this difference the first Creation was done without any sence in the Subject of the efficiency of the Divine Power in produceing it but in the new Creation Man feels the vital influence of the Spirit applying it self to all his Faculties reforming and enabling them to act according to the quality of their nature And by the way we may observe the admirable Grace shewed to Man in the renovation of his corrupted Nature In the composition of his Being are united a Spirit like the Angels and a Body like terrestrial Animals by which he partakes of the spiritual and natural Life but he has peculiar Favours conferred upon him For whereas his Soul sin'd with the Angels and his Body dies with the Beasts yet God is pleased to restore them by his glorious Power An Angel after Sin never repents and is therefore incapable of Pardon and irrecoverably disinherited of Heaven a Beast after Death never revives but though Man sins and dies yet his Soul may be renewed by Divine Grace and his Body shall be raised in an incorruptible Glory Now the indispensible necessity of this holy Change is evident from the Words of our Saviour for he speaks universally Except a Man be born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God He does not simply declare that an unregenerate Man shall not but with the greatest Emphasis cannot to signify an absolute impossibility of it The Jews highly presumed of the priviledg of their carnal Birth they sprang from the pure and noble Blood of Abraham God's Friend they had the Seal of the Holy Covenant markt in their Flesh and hence it was proverbial among them that every Israelite should have a part in the World to come But our Saviour overthrows this vain conceit and tells them that the supernatural Birth entitles to the supernatural Inheritance Circumcision then and Baptism now without real Grace is an ineffectual sign of no avail to Salvation In the quality of Sons we are Heirs of God's Kingdom And that honourable Relation we have upon a double account by Adoption and Regeneration Divine Adoption is not a meer change of our state a naked Declaration that one shall be dignified with the Title of God's Son but a holy Nature is always infused into the Person whereby he is made like to God in his Excellencies In this it differs from humane Adoption that gives the Name and Arms the Honour and Estate of the Adopter to a Person without conveying any of his intellectual or moral Endowments Whom God adopts he begets to a Divine Life Besides our Saviour purchased this high priviledg for us God sent his Son made of a Woman under the Law to redeem them that were under the Law that we might receive the Adoption of Sons By Union with him we receive the investiture of this Dignity Now whoever is in Christ is a new Creature For the quickning Spirit that is to the Soul what the Soul is to the Body the principle of Life and Strength of Beauty and Motion and an active purifying Faith that is influential upon all other Graces are the band of that vital Union So that as all in Adam are universally corrupt by the first Birth all that are in Christ are made holy by a new Birth But of this I shall speak in the next Chapter more fully under a distinct Head Briefly the Spirit of Grace that sanctifies is the Spirit of Adoption that seals our Right to that Kingdom Now the reasons why this Change must be in order to our obtaining of Heaven are these 1. There is an exquisite Wisdom shines in all God's works in disposing them for the ends to which they are appointed and is it not monstrously absurd to imagin he will admit into his Presence and Kingdom those that are absolutely unqualified for its Blessedness and opposite to its Purity 2. His invariable Justice excludes for ever all unholy Persons from Heaven For in the last Judgment God will be glorified as a Governour in the distribution of Rewards with respect to the Obedience and Disobedience of Men. 'T is worthy of observation that the Actions of God on the reasonable Creatures are of two sorts Some proceed from his soveraign good Pleasure of which there is no motive or reason in the Subjects on which they are terminated Thus by a free and insuperable Decree when all Mankind
advantage frequently to sequester our selves from the World to redeem Time from secular Affairs for the recollecting of our Thoughts and their solemn exercise upon the Eternal World Sense that reveals natural things darkens spiritual How can the Thoughts be fixt on invisible things so distant from Sense if always conversant with secular Objects that draw them down In the silence of the Night a small Voice is more distinctly heard and a little distant Light more clearly seen so when the Soul is withdrawn from the noisy throng of the World and outward things are darkned the Voice of Conscience is better heard and the Light of Heaven more perfectly received 3. Consideration of Eternal Things must be with present Application to the Soul 'T is not the meer conviction of the Mind but the decree of the Will that turns Men from Sin to Holiness from the Creatures to God The Heart is very deceitful and by variety of shifts and palliations is disposed to irresolutions and delays in spiritual Concernments How often does the miserable Sinner contend with himself and while Conscience urges him to seek the Kingdom of Heaven and the Affections draw down to the Earth the carnal part prevailing over the rational he overcomes and is overcome he is convinced and condemned by his own Mind Till Consideration issues in this that with setled Judgment and Affections the Soul determines for God and Heaven 't is without profit Therefore in the managing this Duty 't is our Wisdom not to be curious and inquisitive after subtile Conceptions and exalted Notions of the future State that little confer to the making the Heart better but to think seriously on what is plain and evident and most useful to produce a present lasting Change It were egregious Folly in a Man that for the use of his Garden should with great labour fetch Water from distant Fountains and neglect that which springs up in his own Ground That Meditation is profitable which produces not new Thoughts but holy and firm resolutions of obeying God in order to the full enjoying of him for ever To persuade us to the serious practice of this Duty there are many enforcements Is any Man so foolish so regardless of his convenience to purchase a House wherein he must live all his Days and will not first see whether it will be convenient and secure for his Habitation Shall we not then consider Heaven the Mansion of Blessedness and Hell the Seat of Misery and Horror for according as we chuse here we shall be in the one or other place for ever I shall in a particular Chapter endeavour to represent something of the inexpressible Misery of the Wicked hereafter and shew how congruous and powerful the Thoughts of it are to restrain Men from Sin but at present shall briefly excite to the Meditation of the Heavenly Glory as the most noble delightful and fruitful work of the Soul whiles confin'd to the Body of Flesh. 'T is the most exalted exercise of the Mind the purest converse with God the Flower of consecrated Reason 'T is most like the Life of glorified Spirits above who are in continual contemplation of the Divine Excellencies and 't is most raised above the Life of carnal Men that are sunk into sensuality and brutishness 'T is the most joyful Life in that it sheds abroad in the Soul delights that neither satiate nor corrupt nor weaken the Faculties as the delights of Sense do but afford perfection as well as pleasure 'T is the most profitable Life As in those parts of the Earth where the beams of the Sun are strongly reflected precious Metals and Jewels are produc'd wherein the refulgent resemblance of that bright Planet appears so the lively and vigorous exercise of the Thoughts upon the heavenly Glory will produce Heavenly Affections heavenly Discourses and a heavenly shining Conversation This will make us live like the blessed Society above imitating their Innocence and Purity their joyful entire and constant Obedience to God This confirms the holy Soul in its Choice with an invincible efficacy against the Temptations and Lusts of the World The serious considering Believer is filled with ravishing Wonder of the Glory that shall be revealed and looks down with Contempt upon the Earth and all that has the Name of Felicity here All the Invitations nay Terrors of the World are as unable to check his pursuit of his blessed End as the Breath of an Infant to stop the high flight of an Eagle But how rare and disused a Duty is this How hardly are Men induc'd to set about it Business and Pleasures are powerful Diversions Some pretend Business as a just cause but in vain for the one thing necessary challenges our principal Thoughts and Care Besides there are intervals of Leisure and the Thoughts are always streaming and often run waste which directed aright would be very fruitful to the Soul The true cause of this neglect is from the inward temper of Men. Carnal Pleasures alienate the Mind and make it unfit for the deep serious actings of the Thoughts upon Eternal Things I have said of Laughter thou art mad it makes the Mind light and vain and desultory As a distracted Person by every motion of Fancy flys from one thing to another without coherence The Heart fill'd with cloudy Cares and smoaky Fires with Thoughts and Desires about worldly Things is unprepar'd for such a clear calm and sedate Work A Carnal Person can taste no sweetness feel no relish in the Meditation of Heaven nor any spiritual Duty 'T is as if one should take some delicious Fruit into his Mouth a Peach or the like without breaking the Skin it would be rather a trouble than pleasant Nay the Gospel expresly declaring that without Holiness no Man shall see God those who by vicious Affections are ingaged in any sinful way being conscious of their guilt and unpreparedness and that while such they are under a peremptory exclusion from celestial Glory cannot endure the thoughts of Heaven The Divine Presence is their Torment and the serious Consideration of it is to bring them before God's holy and just Tribunal to accuse and condemn them CHAP. X. The Objects of Consideration specified The End of Man's Creation considered The Things of the World and Heaven that solicit our Choice considered in their Quality and Duration I Shall next proceed to a more particular view of those Objects from whence Consideration derives vigour for the inclining of the Will to a right Choice and for regulating the Life 1. Consider the End for which Man was designed in his Creation why endued with rational and noble Powers of Soul and plac'd by the Soveraign Maker in the highest rank of so numerous and various Natures that fill the Universe Is it to raise an Estate to shine in Pomp to enjoy sensual Pleasures for a little while and after the fatal term to be no more for ever Was he sent into the World upon as mean a Business
him for ever The most conspicuous difference of Men in this World is that of the Victorious over the Vanquisht prostrate at his Feet But Death makes them equal Then the wretched Captive shall upbraid the proud Conqueror Art thou become weak as we art thou become like us 'T is no wonder then that the wise Preacher despises all the States of the present Life as Vanity For the Fabric cannot be more solid than the Foundation nor the Accident more real than the Being on which it depends On every side Death is in our view and the Shadow of it approaching darkens our brightest Days 'T is no wonder then that he equals the Fool with the Wise. For all that Wisdom that is confin'd to mortal things dies with them Nay he confounds Man with the Beast One thing befals them as the one dieth so dieth the other yea they have all one Breath so that Man has no preeminence above them While we regard him only with the Eye of Sence what shall we see in his Life but Folly mixt with Anxieties and Cares and what in his Death but wasted Spirits the Springs of Motion disordered and at last the living Frame dissolved into the Earth from whence it came But if we consider the Soul that carries in it the clear marks of its Original from God by the same reason that every thing shall be reunited to its Principle that shall return to God that gave it and remain for ever The Felicity therefore to which it naturally aspires must be parallel to its duration From these Considerations 't is above all doubt that Man was designed by his Maker for a higher End than the enjoyment of the present World 2. The consummate Happiness of Man is in his Communion with God For God is a Spiritual Good suitable to the Nature of his better and divine part and communicates Himself to the Spiritual Faculties the Understanding and Will the principles of Man's eminent Operations and most capable of enjoying Felicity God is an infinite Good and can so fully appease all the rational Appetites that nothing is wanting to his entire Blessedness God is an unchangeable Good not to be lost with this Life but may be securely enjoyed to Eternity In the Knowledg and Love in the Imitation and Enjoyment of his Excellencies the highest elevation and compleat satisfaction of the rational Nature consists As Man by applying himself to unworthy things is degraded into a lower Order and his Thoughts and Affections that are Spiritual in respect of their Principles are Sensual and Perishing in respect of their Object so when the noble Faculties are exercised in a perfect manner on their Soveraign Good he is advanc't to an equality of Perfection and Joy with the Angels The more refined Heathens had a glimpse of this Happiness some streaks of it run through their Philosophy But till God was pleased to reveal it the World sat in Darkness and slept securely in the shadow of Death unconcerned for an invisible future Felicity 'T is necessary therefore to inquire into his Word what that blessed State is wherein the final Happiness of Man consists CHAP. II. The clear Revelation of Man's final Happiness by the Gospel 'T is set forth by sensible Representations to make it more intelligible It includes an exemption from all Evils sinful and penal The concurrence of all positive Excellencies to intire Blessedness The Body shall be raised in Glory The Soul shall be made perfect The Vnderstanding shall clearly contemplate the most excellent Objects The Will be inflamed with the perfect Love of God The highest Satisfaction arises from Vnion with God by Knowledg and Love The full Joy of Heaven shall be perpetual 'T Is the peculiar honour of the Gospel that by it Life and Immortality are brought to Light 'T was not wholly concealed from Men that only saw the Creator in his visible Works 'T was more fully discovered by the Law but with incomparable more Clearness by the Gospel The Nature of it is now revealed 'T is a pure and holy Felicity in everlasting Communion with the blessed God The subject of it is the intire Man for this End the Body shall be awakened out of its dead sleep and quickned to an Immortal Life The place is the highest Heavens fram'd by the Divine Hand for the seat of his Majesty the Kingdom of his Love wherein the glorious Communications of himself are to his Favourites The causes of it are the infinite Mercy of God and the meritorious Obedience of his Son in Man's Nature The Means whereby 't is obtained are a lively purifying Faith that unites us to Christ and entitles us to an Inheritance purchased by his most precious Blood And to confirm our Hopes of this Supernatural Happiness Our Saviour exhibited a perfect example of this in himself rising from the Grave crown'd with Immortality and in the presence of his Apostles ascending to Heaven where he sits at the right Hand of God the Head of the Church from whom Glory will descend to his Members To make this supernatural Blessedness more easy and intelligible to us the Scripture describes it by sensible Representations For while the Soul is cloath'd with Flesh Fancy has such a Dominion that we can conceive of nothing but by Comparisons and Images taken from material Things 'T is therefore set forth by a Feast and a Kingdom to signify the Joy and Glory of that State But to prevent all gross conceits it tells us that the Bodies of the Saints shall be spiritual not capable of hunger and thirst nor consequently of any refreshment that is caused by the satisfaction of those Appetites The Objects of the most noble Senses Seeing and Hearing the pleasure of which is mix'd with Reason and not common to the Brutes are more frequently made use of to reconcile that glorious State to the proportion of our Minds Thus sometimes the Blessed are represented plac'd on Thrones with Crowns on their Heads sometimes cloathed in White with Palms in their Hands sometimes singing Songs of triumph to Him that sits on the Throne and to their Saviour But the reality of this Blessedness infinitely exceeds all those faint Metaphors Heaven is lessened by Comparisons from earthly things The Apostle who was dignifi'd with the revelation of the Successes that shall happen to the Church till Time shall be no more tells us It does not appear what we shall be in Eternity The things that God has prepar'd for those that love him are far more above the highest ascent of our Thoughts than the Marriage-Feast of a great Prince exceeds in splendor and magnificence the imagination of one that has always liv'd in an obscure Village and never saw any Ornaments of State nor tasted Wine in his Life We can think of those things but according to the poverty of our Understandings But so much we know that is able to sweeten all the bitterness and render insipid all the sweetness of this World
and spent that 't is like the shadow of a Dream and proportionably their Joy is lessened Honours like Perfumes by custom are less sensible to those that carry them But the Saints above always consider and feel the excellent difference between their suffering and triumphant state They never lose that ravishing part of felicity the vivid sense of past evils Their reflections are always as strong on the Misery from whence they were rais'd to the pitch of Happiness as in their first glorious Translation In what an Extasy of wonder and pleasure will they be from the fresh memory of what they were and the joyful sense of what they are I was says the admiring Soul poor blind and naked but O miraculous and happy Alteration I am full of Light enrich'd with the Treasures of Heaven adorn'd with Divine Glory I was under the tyrannous power of Satan but he is bruised under my feet I was sentenc'd to an everlasting separation from the Presence of God my only Life and Joy but now am possest of my supream Good O how transporting is the comparison of these wide and contrary extreams How beautiful and pleasant is the Day of Eternity after such a dark tempestuous Night How does the remembrance of such Evils produce a more lively and feeling fruition of such Happiness How strangely and mightily does Salvation with Eternal Glory affect the Soul This gives a spritely accent to their everlasting Hallelujahs This preserves an affectionate Heat in their Thanksgivings to their Victorious Deliverer And thus their Happiness is always the same and always new Their pleasure is continued in its perfection Lastly The Blessedness of the Saints is without end This makes Heaven to be it self There is no satiety of the present no solicitude for the future Were there a possibility or the least suspicion of losing that happy state it would cast an aspersion of bitterness upon all their delights they could not enjoy one moments repose but the more excellent their Happiness is the more stinging would their fear be of parting with it But the Inheritance reserved in Heaven is immortal undefiled and fades not away And the tenure of their Possession is infinitely firm by the Divine Power the true Support of their everlasting Duration With God is the Fountain of Life They enjoy a better Immortality than the Tree of Life could have preserved in Adam The Revolutions of the Heavens and Ages are under their Feet and cannot in the least alter or determin their Happiness After the passing of millions of Years still an entire Eternity remains of their enjoying God O most desireable State where Blessedness and Eternity are inseparably united O joyful Harmony when the full Chorus of Heaven shall sing This God is our God for ever and ever This adds an infinite weight to their Glory This redoubles their unspeakable Joys with infinite sweetness and security They repose themselves in the compleat Fruition of their Happiness God reigns in the Saints and they live in him for ever CHAP. III. The Mercy of God the Original Cause of his designing and preparing Heaven for his People The Obedience of Christ the meritorious Cause Some Qualifications are required in those that shall possess it The holy Change of Man's Nature indispensibly requisite in order to his Reception into Heaven The Reasons of it specified HAving such a Revelation of Heaven in the Gospel that all the Kingdoms of the World and the Glory of them in comparison are but as a Glow-worm to the Light of the Sun with what inflamed desires should we seek and strive for that unchangeable Happiness In order to this we shall consider the causes of it and the means whereby 't is obtain'd The Original moving Cause is the pure rich Mercy of God that prepared it for his People and prepares them for it The procuring Cause is the meritorious efficacy of Christ's Obedience and Sufferings This is expresly declared by the Apostle The wages of Sin is Death but the gift of God is eternal Life through Jesus Christ our Lord. I. The designing the preparation and actual bestowing of the Heavenly Glory is from the Mercy of God This will appear by considering 1. That it is absolutely impossible that a meer Creature though perfect should deserve any thing from God For enjoying its being and powers of working from his Goodness the product of all is entirely due to him And the payment of a Debt acquires no Title to a Reward He is the Proprietary and Lord of all by Creation Hence 't is clear that in the order of distributive Justice nothing can be challenged from him 2. Besides such is the infinite Perfection of God in Himself that no benefit can redound to him by the service of the Creature When you have done all say you are unprofitable Servants for we have done what we ought to do The neglect of our duty justly exposes to punishment but the performance of it deserves no Reward because no advantage accrues to God by it Who hath first given unto him and it shall be recompensed to him again He challenges all Creatures even of the highest order To speak strictly therefore When God crowns the Angels with Glory he gives what is meerly his own and does not render what is theirs If he should leave them in their pure Nature or deprive them of their Being he were no loser nor injurious to them For what Law binds him to enrich them with Immortal Glory who are no ways profitable to him or to preserve that being they had from his unexcited Goodness No Creature can give to him therefore none can receive from him by way of valuable Consideration 3. There is no proportion between the best works of Men and the excellency of the Reward much less an equivalence 'T was the just and humble acknowledgment of Jacob to God I am less than the least of all thy Mercies those that common Providence dispenses for the support and refreshment of this temporal Life But how much less than the glorious Excellencies of the supernatural Divine Life wherein the Saints reign with God for ever The most costly the most difficult and hazardous Services are equally nothing in point of Merit with the giving but a Cup of cold Water to a Disciple of Christ there being no correspondence in value between them and the Kingdom of Heaven The Apostle tells us I count the Sufferings of the present Life are not to be compar'd to the Glory that shall be revealed in us And suffering is more than doing God rewards his faithful Servants not according to the dignity of their Works but his own Liberality and Magnificence As Alexander having ordered fifty Talents of Gold to be given to a Gentleman in Poverty to supply his want and he surpris'd with that immense Bounty modestly said ten were enough He replied If fifty are too much for you to receive ten are too little for me to give therefore do you receive as Poor
favour of lost Man that commands certain Duties and sets before them Eternal Life as the reward of Obedience and Eternal Death the punishment of Disobedience According to this the trial and decision of Mens everlasting States shall be which is the Character of a true Law This Law of Grace is very different from the Law of Nature that requir'd intire innocence and for the least omission or accusing act past an irrevokable doom upon the Offender for that strictness and severity is mollified by the Gospel which accepts of sincere persevering Obedience though imperfect accordingly 't is called the Law of Liberty But the Law of Faith is unalterable and admits of no dispensation from the duties required in order to our being everlastingly happy 2. The Gospel is stiled a Covenant and that imports a reciprocal engagement between parties for the performance of the matter contained in it The Covenant of Grace includes the promise of pardoning and rewarding Mercy on God's part and the Conditions on Man's with respect to which 't is to be perform'd There is an inviolable dependence between them He will be our God to make us happy but we must be his People to yeild unreserved Obedience to him He will be our Father and we shall be his Sons and Daughters but 't is upon the terms of purifying our selves from all pollutions of Flesh and Spirit and unfeigned endeavours to perfect Holiness in his fear 'T is astonishing Goodness that he is pleased to condescend to such a treaty with fallen Creatures by a voluntary promise he encourages them but though most free in making 't is conditional in the performance The constancy of his holy Nature obliges him to fulfil his Word but 't is if we do not fail on our part by carelessness of our Duty A Presumer may seal assurance to himself and be deceived in this great matter but God will not be mocked If we prove false in the Covenant he will be faithful and exclude those from Heaven that were neglectful of the Conditions to which it is promised 3. The Gospel is stiled a Testament sealed in the Blood of Christ confirm'd by his Death The donation of eternal blessings in it is not absolute and irrespective but the Heirs are admitted to the Possession of the Inheritance according to the Will of the rich liberal and wise Testator There can be no regular title or claim made out without performing what is required And this is the Will of God and Christ our Sanctification without which we cannot enjoy it Now from hence we may see the admirable agreement between these two Notions that Heaven is a Gift and a Reward 'T is a Reward in the order of giving it not due to the Work but from the Bounty of the Giver God gives Heaven to those that faithfully serve him But their Service was due to God of no worth in respect of Heaven so that Man's Work is no Merit and God's Reward is a Gift Our everlasting Glory must be ascribed to his most free Grace as much as the pardon of our Sins I shall now proceed to consider what the Gospel declares to be indispensibly requisite in order to our obtaining of Heaven this is compriz'd in the holy change of Man's Nature which I will briefly unfold and shew how necessary it is to qualify us for Celestial Glory 1. This holy Change is exprest in Scripture by the new Birth Our Saviour with a solemn repeated Asseveration tells Nicodemus Verily Verily except a Man be born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God Sin is natural to Man from his Conception and Birth and infects with its contagion all his Faculties This is fomented and cherisht by temptations that easily encompass him The Understanding is polluted with evil Principles full of strong Prejudices and lofty Imaginations against the supernatural Mysteries of Salvation 'T is full of Ignorance and Folly and from hence either rejects them as incredible or despises them as impertinent or unprofitable The Will is depraved and perverse full of unruly and unhallowed Affections The Senses are luxurious and rebellious In short Man is so viciously and sensually inclined so alienated from the Life of God as if he had no diviner part within him that should aspire to a Spiritual Blessedness that should regulate and controul the excess of the inferiour Appetites This is the unhappy Character Satan imprest on him in his Fall and without renovation upon an infinite account he is uncapable of seeing God This renovation consists not in the change of his substance as the Water was miraculously turn'd into Wine at the Marriage in Cana of Galilee the same Soul with its essential Powers the same Body with its natural Senses the Work of the Creator remains but in the cleansing of his stain'd nature in the sanctifying his Faculties that are the Springs of his Actions The whole Man is quickned into a Divine Life and enabled to act in conformity to it And of this the new Birth is a convenient Illustration An active Principle of Holiness is planted in him that springs up into visible Actions The Apostle particularly expresses it in his earnest Prayer for the Thessalonians The very God of Peace sanctify you wholly and preserve your whole Spirit Soul and Body blameless till the coming of Jesus Christ. Every Faculty is renewed and every Grace infused that constitutes the Divine Image The Mind is renewed by Spiritual Light to believe the Truth and Goodness of unseen things promised the reality and dreadfulness of things threatned in the Word of God It sees the truest Beauty in Holiness the highest Honour in Obedience to God the greatest Equity and Excellence in his Service The Will is renewed by holy Love a purifying Flame and feels the attractive virtue of our blessed End before all desireable things on Earth and determins to pursue it in the vigorous use of proper means The Body is made a holy instrument fit for the renewed Soul In short the natural Man becomes spiritual in his Perceptions Resolutions and Actions All things are become New There is a firm assent an inviolable adherence to those most precious Objects revealed in the Scripture and a sincere chosen constant Obedience flows from the renewed Faculties And from hence we may distinguish between regenerating Grace and formal Hypocrisy in some and the proficiency of Nature and power of common Grace in others A Hypocrite in Religion is acted from without by mercenary base respects and his Conscience being cauteris'd handles sacred things without feeling a regenerate Person is moved by an internal living Principle and performs his Duties with lively Affections Natural Conscience under the compulsion of Fear may lay a restraint upon the outward acts of Sin without an inward consent to the sanctity of the Law Renewing Grace cleanses the Fountain and the current is pure It reconciles the Affections to the most holy Commands I love thy Law because 't is pure saith
as their Actions that bear the image of their Minds clearly manifest They think that God is so gracious such a lover of Souls so easy to be entreated that upon their dying Prayer Lord remember me in thy Kingdom the answer will be To day shalt thou be with me in Paradise Now this presumptuous Indulgence gives the deepest grain to their Sins and makes them more uncapable of Pardon Chrysostome observes that Judas was encouraged to betray his Master presuming on his Lenity Goodness and Benignity which Consideration intolerably aggravated his Treason and confounded his Hopes There is a dreadful threatning against those who reject the invitations of Grace in their Prosperity and when the righteous Judg comes to Sentence and Execution are earnest Suppliants for Mercy Because I have called and ye refused I have stretched out my Hands and no Man regarded But ye have set at naught all my Counsel and would none of my Reproof I will also laugh at your Calamity and mock when your fear comes when your fear comes as a Desolation and your destruction as a Whirlwind when distress and anguish come upon you then shall they call upon me but I will not answer they shall seek me early but shall not find me for they hated knowledg and did not choose the fear of the Lord. A doleful case beyond all possible expression when the sinful Creature forsaken of all Comforts below addresses to Heaven for Relief and meets with Derision and Fury Scorn and Indignation The foolish Virgins careless to prepare for the Bridegrooms coming in vain at last discovered their want of Oil in vain sollicited the wise Virgins for a supply in vain knockt at the door crying Lord Lord open unto us the answer was severe and peremptory I know you not and they were for ever excluded from Spiritual Joys 3. I will add further how incongruous it is to delay the solemn work of Reconciliation with God till the time of Sickness This is an affair wherein our transcendent interest is concern'd and should be perform'd in our most calm and sensible condition when we are most capable of reflecting upon our ways and making an exact trial of our selves and returning to God by a holy Change of our Lives Now that the time of Sickness is not a convenient season for this Work is sadly evident For some Diseases are stupifying and all the Powers of the Spirit are benummed in a dull Captivity so that the sick Man only perceives with his animal Faculties Some Diseases are tormenting and cause a great disorder in the Soul and wholly distract the Thoughts from considering his spiritual State When the Storm is at the highest and the Pilot so sick that he can give no Directions the Ship is left to the fury of the Winds and escapes by Maracle When there is a Tempest in the humours of the Body and the Soul by sympathy is so discomposed that it cannot apply it self seriously to prepare for the Divine Tribunal what danger of being lost and passing from a short Agony to everlasting Pains Besides suppose the Sickness more tolerable yet how unfit is a Person weak and languishing when Sence and Conscience are both afflicted to encounter with the cruel Enemy of Souls All that truly seek Peace with God must expect fierce Anger and War from Satan therefore 't is a point of necessary Wisdom while we are possest of Health and Strength to be in a heavenly preparation against his Assaults 4. Consider how uncomfortable it is to delay Repentance till Age and Sickness when the Fruits of it are not so evident and acceptable In evil days and the approaches of Death 't is very hard to discover the sincerity of the Heart whether Repentance proceed from holy Principles whether the sorrow then exprest be Godly for Sin or meerly natural for Punishment whether the good resolutions be the effects of a permanent Fidelity or of violent Fear that will vanish the cause being removed When the invitations to Sin cease there may remain a secret undiscerned love to it in the Heart which is the centre of Corruption and root of Apostacy The Snake that seemed dead in the cold revived by the Fire The inordinate Affection that seemed mortified when the sensitive Faculties were disabled for carnal Enjoyments may have inward Life and will soon be active and vigorous in the presence of Temptations And that a Death-bed Repentance is usually deceitful appears from hence that not one of a thousand who recover from dangerous Diseases are faithful in performance of their most sacred Vows to God How many having a Sentence of Death in themselves and under the terrours of the Lord have exprest the greatest detestation of their Lusts and resolved as they thought sincerely that if God would spare them to reform their ways to become new refined Creatures exemplary in all holy Conversation yet the danger being over their heats of devotion expire as they revive and their lusts recover strength with their Bodies and having been supprest only by fear are more fierce in their return Their Hearts were as Marbles that in rainy Weather seems dissolved into Water but 't is only from the moisture of the Air and remain as hard as ever All their promises of Reformation are ineffective as violent and void Now if these Persons had died before this visible trial and discovery they had past into another World with the reputation of true Penitents deceiving others with their Prayers and Tears and liberal Promises the outward signs of Repentance and deceived themselves by the inward workings of an alarm'd Conscience Therefore Ministers ought to be very circumspect in applying the Promises of Mercy to Persons in such a state for an errour in that kind has fearful Consequences A little opiate Divinity may quiet the Mind for a time but the virtue of it will be soon spent and the Presumer perishes for ever But suppose a dying Person with true Tears and unfeined persevering Affections returns to God can he have a comfortable assurance of his Sincerity Indeed the Searcher and Judg of Hearts will accept him but how doubtful and wavering are his Hopes what anxious Fears are in his Breast lest he builds upon a sandy Foundation And how dreadful is it to appear before the Tribunal of God and expect an uncertain Sentence But Sinners still please themselves in this That God has effectually called some at the last hour and they may find the same favour with others To this I answer 1. 'T is true we have some rare admirable instances of God's Mercy and Grace the dying Thief and some others which shew 't is possible with God to abolish the most vicious confirmed habits in a short time and by a swift Conversion to prepare a Sinner for Heaven But these Examples are not to be drawn into Consequence for the encouragement of any in their Sins A Prince will not indure that his free Favours should be made a
confirm and fortify our resolutions for Heaven God promised to Hezekiah 15 years but not to preserve his Life by Miracle he was obliged to repair the wastings of Nature by daily Food and to abstain from what was noxious and destructive to his Body The Apostle excites Christians to work out their own Salvation with fear and trembling for it is God that works in them to will and to do of his good Pleasure Let him that stands take heed lest he fall None are a more easy Conquest to the Tempter then those who presume upon their own Strength We should be always jealous of ourselves from the sad Examples of Apostacy in every Age. St. Ambrose testifies from his own knowledg that many after the couragious enduring of cruel Torments for Religion the tearing open their Sides that their Bowels appeared and the burning of some parts of their Bodies yet when led forth to finish the Victory of Faith to be a triumphant Spectacle to Angels and Men when the blessed Rewarder was ready to put the Martyrs Crown on their Heads at the sight of their mourning Wives and Children in the way were overcome by Pity the weakest Affection and fail'd in the last act of Christian Fortitude We must pray to be strengthned with all Might according to his glorious Power unto all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness For some may vigorously resist one sort of Temptation and render themselves to others And if finally vanquisht by one of those Enemies we lose our Victory and Crown And as Presumption betrays the Soul into the Devils Snares so a vicious dejection of Spirit from a distrust of Relief from God in our Difficulties and his assistance with our unfeigned endeavours for Salvation is very pernicious For this damps Industry and causes either a total neglect or uncomfortable use of Means for that End Many Christians considering their Graces are weak their Nature fickle and apt to revolt are ready as David said One day I shall perish by the hand of Saul to conclude sadly of the issue of their Condition To encourage such let them consider that Perseverance is not only a Coudition but a Privilege of the Covenant of Grace For that affords supply of spiritual Strength to the sincere Believer for performing the condition it requires Indeed if Grace were the meer product of Free Will the most fervent Resolutions would vanish into a Lye upon the Assault of an overpowering Temptation As Hezekiah acknowledged that the Assyrian Kings had destroyed the Gods of the Nations that were no Gods but Idols the work of Mens Hands But sanctifying Grace is the effect of the Holy Spirit and he that begins that good work in the Saints will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. He that inclin'd them joyfully to chuse the Spiritual Eternal Good will bind their unconstant Hearts that by a faithful adherence they shall cleave to their Duty and Felicity God has most graciously declared I will put my Spirit into their Hearts that they shall never depart from me The Promise is founded in the unchangeable Love of God to his People Were God as Man subject to Variation there might be Jealousies in Believers lest they should lose his good Will As those who depend on Princes are suspicious lest from the natural inconstancy of the human Will a new Favourite should supplant them But whom God loves he loves to the end The Apostle prays for the Thessalonians that God would preserve them blameless till unto the coming of Christ by this Consideration faithful is he that calleth you he will do it He speaks of the Internal Call that opens the Heart and overpowers all Resistance As when the Angel came with a Light shining in the Prison to St. Peter and struck him on the Side bid him arise quickly loosed his Chains aud led him through the Guards open'd the Doors and restored him to Liberty The effectual calling of a Sinner is the visible and infallible effect of electing Mercy and God is unchangeable in his own purpose and faithful to his Promises of bringing all such by Sanctification to Glory The same Apostle tells the Saints at Corinth That the Redeemer would confirm them to the End God is faithful by whom ye are called Grace that was at first inspir'd is continually actuated by the Spirit who is stiled the earnest of the Saints Inheritance So that whereas the Angels that excell'd in Strength kept not their first State of Purity and Glory but are sunk into Corruption and Misery yet true humble Believers though weak and encompast with many Difficulties shall be preserved from destructive Evil and raised to an unchangeable Estate of Perfection This is as truly admirable as if the Stars should fall from Heaven and Clods of Earth ascend and shine in the Firmament The Apostle who acknowledged his insufficiency of himself to think a good Thought yet triumphantly declares I can do all things within the compass of his Duty through Christ that strengthens me The Love Fidelity and Power of God are a sure Fountain of Assistance to every Christian that sincerely resolves and endeavours to prosecute his last and blessed End CHAP. VII An Account how Men are induc't to choose a false Happiness and reject the true Directions for the regulating our Choice The Senses and Passions are the worst Councellors The Example of the multitude is contagious I Shall now come to the Directions how to fix our Choice aright This is a matter of everlasting Consequence it therefore becoms us with the most intense application of Mind to consider it and according to the advice of Wisdom to keep the Heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of Life Indeed the choice were not difficult between lying Vanities and substantial Blessedness if uncorrupted reason had the Superior sway but in this lapsed state of Nature the Understanding and Willare so depraved that present things pleasing to sence ravish the Heart into a Compliance Men are deceived not compelled into ruin the subtile Seducer prevails by fair Temptations This will be evident by reflecting upon the frame and composition of Man as he consists of Spirit Soul and Body and the manner of his acting The Spirit is the intellective discerning Faculty the Seat of Reason capable to compare and judge of the qualities of things and foresee their issues The Body includes the lower Faculties the Sences Fancy and Passions that are coversant about present things The Soul is the Will the principle of Election in the midst of the other as the Centre to which all their Addresses flow Now upon the proposal of the spiritual and carnal Good in order to Choice the Will is to be directed by the Mind and by its own Authority to rule the lower Passions But alas the Mind has lost its primitive Light and Purity Vigilance and Integrity neglects its Duty and from Ignorance Errour and carnal Prejudices often pleads for the Flesh and the
vast difference between temporal and eternal may seem needless for the first notions of things are of such uncontroulable Clearness that an attempt to prove them is to light a Candle to discover the Sun Yet this principle drawing after it such powerful Consequences for the government of our Hearts and Lives and Conscience being so remiss and the sensual Affections so rebellious 't is needful to consider this seriously that what is really assented to in Speculation may not be contradicted in Practice Now who can unfold the infinite volume of Ages in Eternity the Understanding of an Angel can no more comprehend what is incomprehensible than the Mind of a Man A Snail will pass over an immense space as soon as an Eagle for though one dispatches more way than the other yet both are equally distant from arriving to the end of what is endless But that the conception of Eternity may be more distinct and affecting it is useful to represent it under some temporal resemblances that sensibly though not fully express it Suppose that the vast Ocean were distilled drop by drop but so slowly that a thousand years should pass between every drop how many Millions of years were required to empty it Suppose this great World in its full compass from one Pole to another and from the top of the Firmanent to the bottom were to be fill'd with the smallest Sand but so slowly that every thousand years only a single Grain should be added how many Millions would pass away before it were filled If the immense Superficies of the Heavens wherein are innumerable Starrs the least of which equals the magnitude of the Earth were filled with Figures of Numbers without the least vacant space and every Figure signified a Million what created Mind could tell their Number much less their Value Having these Thoughts I reply the Sea will be emptied drop by drop the Universe fill'd grain by grain the Numbers written in the Heavens will come to an end and how much of Eternity is then spent Nothing for still infinitely more remains In short what ever is temporal extend the continuance of it to the utmost possibility of conception is infinitely short of Eternity A Day an Hour a Minute has some proportion with a thousand years for that duration is determined by a certain number of Days and Hours and Minutes but Millions of Ages have no proportion to Eternity because 't is an indeterminable Duration The Mind is soon tir'd and lost in searching after numbers to represent it 't is confounded and struck with amazing Horror and can only direct the Eye upward or downward to the two Habitations of Eternity the glorious and the miserable Heaven and Hell Now let us compare the Things of the present World with those of the future State The first are measur'd by flying Time the other remain in an unmoveable Eternity The Comforts that spring from the Earth suddenly wither and fall to it the Tree of Life flourishes only above Frequent changes from Prosperity to Adversity are the Properties of this mortal State As those who are in Voyages at Sea sometimes are in a calm and presently suffer a storm and are forc'd to alter their course by the changing of the Winds So 't is with us in our passage here but upon the first entrance into another World all the variations of this are at an end Verily every Man at his best estate is altogether Vanity Surely every Man walks in a vain shew surely they are disquieted in vain The visible Felicity of Man is of no continuance We may frequently observe in the Evening a Cloud by the reflection of the Sun invested with so bright a Lustre and adorn'd with such a pleasant variety of Colours that in the judgment of our Eyes if an Angel were to assume a Body correspondent to his Glory it were a fit matter for it But in walking a few Steps the Sun is descended beneath the Horizon and the Light withdrawn and of all that splendid flaming appearance nothing remains but a dark Vapour that falls down in a Showre Thus vanishing is the shew of Felicity here In this Sense assists Faith for the Experience of every day verifies what the Scripture declares that the fashion of this World passes away And therefore the guilty folly of Men is aggravated to set their Eyes and Hearts upon that which is not To see one passionately dote on a Face ruin'd and deform'd with Age to be inchanted without a Charm raises wonder and exposes to contempt Yet such is the stupidity of Men to embrace with their most entire Affections the withred Vanities of the World that are hastening to their period 'T was a stinging reproach to Idolaters from God None considers in his Heart neither is their Knowledg nor Vnderstanding to say I have burnt part of it in the Fire yea I have also baked Bread upon the Coals thereof I have roasted Flesh and eaten it and shall I make the residue an Abomination shall I fall down to the stock of a Tree And are not sensual Men equally guilty of such monstrous Folly for though universal Experience convince them that all things under the Sun are fading and that many times their dearest Comforts are snatcht away from their Embraces yet who does advisedly consider and say to himself shall I give my Heart to transient Shadows shall I cherish vain hopes vain aims and desires of obtaining Happiness in a perishing World Although the worshipping a Stock be Idolatry of grosser Infamy yet 't is as foolish and as destructive to set our chief Love and Joy that is only due to God upon the Creature And what follows in the Prophet is justly applicable to such Persons He feedeth on Ashes that not only afford no nourishment but is very hurtful to the Body a deceived Heart has turn'd him aside that he cannot deliver his Soul nor say is there not a Lye in my right Hand Thus carnal Men are so blinded with their Affections to these short liv'd Pleasures that they cannot take the true liberty of judging and reflecting that they are deceived and delighted with empty Shadows that will suddenly end in disappointment and sorrow Briefly these glittering Fictions and false Joys cannot please without an error in the Mind that shall last but a little while And if you saw a distracted Person Sing and Dance with a conceit that he is a Prince would you be willing to lose sober Reason for his phantastick Pleasure especially if you knew that his chearful fit should suddenly change into a mournful or raging Madness for ever But the Blessedness above is unchangeable as God the Author and Object of it Eternal as the Soul that enjoys it And shall the World that passes away with the Lusts thereof turn our Affections from the undefiled immortal Inheritance Shall the vanishing appearance the fleeting Figure of Happiness be preferred before what is substantial and dureable Astonishing Madness that God and Heaven
Image of our suffering Redeemer that we may be crowned with his Glory How many Christians esteemed themselves honoured in the Disgrace and blessed in the Injuries they suffered for Christ and with an invincible Patience and astonishing Joy endured the most cruel Persecutions though yet the human Nature in them was as tender and sensible of Pains as in others but the natural aversion and repugnance to suffering was overruled by the determination of the rational Will upon the account of their Duty and the Reward attending it They gave a most convincing sensible Testimony how much more valuable Heaven is than this present World willingly exposing themselves to all Evil here and rejoycing in hope of a glorious issue In short the Reward of Obedience is a triumphal Crown and where there is no Victory there can be no Triumph and where no Combate no Victory and where no Enemy no Combate Therefore we are commanded to fight against our internal Enemies our corrupt Affections to kill the Lusts of the Flesh and to encounter and overcome by Humility and meek Submissions the cruelty of malicious Enemies without us in a direct order of obtaining the Crown of Life And a Believer that has Heaven in taste and expectation will easily renounce the most pleasant and willingly endure the sharpest Temptations for the blessed Reward of his Obedience CHAP. XII The Gospel threatens Hell to all that prefer the Pleasures of Sin before Heaven How congruous and powerful a Motive this is to work on carnal Men. The Misery of an everlasting Hell represented 4. COnsider if Men choose the Pleasures of Sin that are but for a season before Heaven that infinitely exceeds this World then an everlasting Hell shall be their Portion There is no middle State in the next World no tolerable mediocrity but two contrary States yet alike in this that the Happiness and Misery are equally Infinite and Eternal And by the most wise righteous Will of God there is an inseparable connexion between the Choice and Actions of Men here and their future Condition for ever The equity of this cannot be denied without renouncing the Light of Reason For when by a Chain of Consequences sinful Pleasures are linked with eternal Punishments threatned in the Divine Law he that will enjoy those forbidden Pleasures binds himself to suffer all the pains annexed to them And 't is just that those who err without Excuse should repent without Remedy Now the threatning of eternal Punishment is the most proper Argument to work on carnal secure Sinners 1. Because they are more capable to conceive of the Torments of Hell than the Joys of Heaven Storms and Darkness are more easily drawn by a Pencil than a calm bright Day Fire and Brimstone are very painful to Sense and the imagination strongly represents its vehemence in tormenting the Body and what an evil the uncessant remorse of the guilty Conscience will be hereafter is in part understood by the secret accusations and twinges of self-condemning Sinners here but they are absolutely Strangers to the Joys of the Holy Ghost the Delights of the Soul in the Contemplation and Love of God the peace and contentment of Conseience in his Favour They cannot without Experience know how good the Lord is no more than see a taste To discourse to them of the Spiritual Pleasures that flow from the divine Presence of the Happiness of the Saints that are before the Throne of God and serve him Day and Night in his Temple is to speak with the Tongue of an Angel unintelligible things Their Affections and Minds and Language are confined to sensible things The natural Man receives not the things of the Spirits of God for they are foolishness to him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned There may be in a carnal Person a conception of Heaven as a Refuge from Miseries and some smothering confused thoughts of its Felicity as the Idea of Light and Colours in one Blind from his Birth but only the pure in Heart can see God as in the perfect Vision of Glory in Heaven so in the imperfect reflection of it in the Gospel 2. Carnal Men are more disposed to be wrought upon by representing the Torments of Hell than the Joys of Heaven For we cannot love but what is known nor enjoy but what is loved And as the purification of the Heart from vicious Affections is the best means to clear the Mind so the illustration of the Mind is very influential to warn the Heart The true conception of Heaven in its amiable Excellencies would convey such a sweetness as to change Hatred it self into Love and of this only prepared Souls are capable But those who are sunk into Sense are without relish of spiritual Felicity and are either allured or terrified only with that is pleasant or painful to Sense 'T is recorded as the unparallel'd Folly of Nero that when he was ready to cut his own Throat to avoid the fury of the Multitude he broke forth into great expressions of Sorrow what an excellent Artist he died 'T was not the loss of the Roman Empire that so much troubled him as that so much skill in Musick died with him He valued himself more as a Fidler than an Emperor Thus carnal Men with a folly infinitely more prodigious when Death is near are not so much affected with the loss of the Crown of Glory and the Kingdom of Heaven as with their leaving the present World and its Vanities This makes Death intolerably bitter Till the Love of God inflames and purifies the Heart the fruition of his Glory is not esteemed nor desired A Seraphim sent from the Presence of God with a flaming Coal from the Altar toucht the Lips of the Holy Prophet and his Heart was presently melted into a compliance with the Divine Will But if a Rebel Angel that burns with another Fire than of Divine Love were dispatcht from Hell with a Coal from that Altar where so many Victims are offered to divine Justice as there are damned Souls and touch'd obdurate unreformed Sinners that they might have a lively sence what it is to burn for ever this were the most congruous and effectual way to reclaim them Like stubborn Metals they are only made pliant by the Fire Indeed the fear of Hell though raised to the highest degrees is not sufficient to convert a Sinner thorowly to God For that Religion that is the meer effect of Fear will be according to the nature of its Principle with resistance and trouble wavering and inconstant when the violence of the fear is lessen'd Whereas that which is from the inclination of Love and the hope of a desired Good is fully voluntary and persevering As a Scholar that applies himself to Learning by the constraint of Fear his Study is uneasy and whilst he is reading his Fancy transports him to other things and when his task is finisht he presently runs to Play But a Lover of
his absolute Power The Apostle tells us that the wicked are punished with everlasting Destruction from the presence of the Lord and the Glory of his Power What is the lashing with a few Rushes to a blow given by the hand of a Giant that strikes dead at once This comparison is below the Truth More particularly the state of Misery is set forth in Scripture by such representations as may powerfully instruct and terrifie even the most carnal Men. Nothing is more intolerably painful then suffering the violence of Fire inraged with Brimstone and Hell is described by a Lake of Fire and Brimstone wherein the Wicked are tormented Whether the Fire be Material or Metaphorical the reality and intenseness of the Torment is signified by it But the ordinary Fire though mingled with the most torturing Ingredients is not an adequate representation of it For that is prepared by Men but the Fire of Hell is prepared by the Wrath of God for the Devil and his Angels The Divine Power is illustriously manifested in that terrible preparation So that as some of the Fathers express it if one of the Damned might pass from those Flames into the fiercest Fires here it were to exchange a Torment for a Refreshment The Scripture speaks of the vehement heat and fiery Thirst and outer Darkness in which the Damned suffer to satisfy the rights of Justice in the torment of those Senses for the Pleasure of which Men wilfully broke the Laws of God But the Soul being the chief Sinner shall be the chief Mourner in those Regions of Sorrow An Image of this we have in the Agonies of Spirit which sometimes the Saints themselves are in here and which the most stubborn Sinners can neither resist nor endure Job was afflicted in that manner that he complains The Arrows of the Almighty are with me the Poison whereof drinks up my Spirit the Terrors of God set themselves in Array against me If a Spark of his Displeasure falls on the guilty Conscience it tears and blows up all as a Fire-ball cast into a Magazine All the Diversions in the World Business Pleasures Merry Conversation Comedies are as ineffectual to give freedom from those Stings and Furies in the Breast as the sprinkling of Holy Water is to expel a raging Divil from a possest Person Those who in their Pride and Jollity have despised serious Religion either as a fond Transport and Extasy towards God or a dull Melancholy and Dejection about the Soul or an idle Scrupulosity about indifferent things yet when God has set their Sins with all their killing circumstances in order before their Eyes how changed how confounded are they at that Apparition How restless with the dreadful expectation of the doom that attends them Belshazzer in the midst of his Cups and Herd of Concubines by a few Words written on the Wall containing his Process and Judgment was so terrified by his guilty jealous Conscience that his Joints were loosed Nature sunk under the apprehension Now all these troubles of Mind are but the beginnings of Sorrows but the Smoak of the infernal Fornace but earnests of that terrible Sum which divine Justice will severely exact of the Wicked in Hell Indeed these Examples are rare and not regarded by the most and by some lookt on as the effects of Distraction but to convince the bold and careless Sinners who never felt the stings of an awakned Conscience what extream terrors seize upon the Wicked in the other World Consider 1. The Apprehension shall be more clear and enlarged than in the present State Now the Soul is opprest with a weight of Clay and in Drowsiness and Obscurity The great things of Eternity are of little force to convince the Conscience or perswade the Affections But then the Soul shall work with the quickest activity The Mind shall by an irresistible Light take a full view of all afflicting Objects The most stupid and unconcerned Sinners shall then see and feel their ruin'd State what a glorious Felicity they have lost what a Misery they are plunged into without any possibility of lessening it by false Conceits and receiving any relief by the error of Imagination 2. The mournful Thoughts shall be always fixt upon what is tormenting The Soul in conjunction with the Body cannot always apply it self to one sort of Objects For the Ministry of the sensible Faculties is requisite to its Operations And the Body must be supported by Eating and Drinking and Rest which interrupts troublesome Thoughts Besides the variety of Objects and Accidents here avert the Mind sometimes from what is afflicting But the separate Soul is in no dependence on the Body and after their reunion there shall be no necessity of Food or Sleep or any other animal actions to support it but it shall be restored to a new capacity for new torments and preserved in that miserable State by the power of God There will be nothing then to divert the lost Soul from sad Reflections upon its Misery There are no lucid intervals in Hell 3. All the passionate Powers will then be let loose at once upon the guilty Creature And if there be no single Passion so weak but heightned will break the Spirit and render Life so miserable that a Man will take Sanctuary in the Grave to escape how miserable is the Condition when the most fierce and united Passions war against the Soul This is signified by the never dying Worm that gnaws on the tenderest parts and of quickest sence Shame Sorrow Despair Fury Hatred and Revenge are some of that Blood of Vipers that torment the Damned 1. Shame is a Passion of which human Nature is very sensible and this in the highest degree of Confusion shall seize on the Wicked For all the just causes of Shame shall then meet The inward source of it is the consciousness of Guilt or Turpitude and Folly in the Actions and all these are the inseparable Adjuncts of Sin The guilty Soul by a piercing reflection upon its Crimes has a secret shame of its Degeneracy and Unworthiness The Passion is increast when a discovery is made of vile practices that defile and debase a Man expose to Contempt and Infamy before Persons of high Quality and eminent Vertue whom we admire and reverence and whose esteem we value To be surprized in an unworthy Action by such a Person disorders the Blood and transfuses a Colour into the Face to cover it with a Vail of Blushing And the more numerous the Spectators are the more the Disgrace is aggravated And if Derision be joined with the Ignominy it causes extream Displeasure O the universal Confusion the over-powring amazement that will seise on Sinners in the great day of Discovery when all the Works of Darkness all their base Sensualities shall be revealed before God Angels and Saints When all the covers of Shame shall be taken off the excuses and denials to extenuate or conceal their Sins shall vanish and
their Breasts be transparent to the Eyes of all How will they be ashamed of their foul and permanent Deformity in the Light of that glorious Presence How will they be astonisht to appear in all their Pollutions before that bright and immense Theatre How will they be confounded to stand in all their Guilt before that sublime and severe Tribunal How will they endure the upbraidings for all the Sins which they have so wickedly committed and the derision for the punishment they so deservedly suffer The holy Judg will laugh at their Calamity and mock when their fear comes The Righteous also shall see and shall laugh at them Lo these are the Men that made not God their Portion but perishing Vanities that prefer'd sweet Folly before severe Wisdom The Devils will reproach them for that scornful advantage they had over them that as Children are seduc'd for things of Lustre to part with real Treasures so they were easily persuaded for the Trifles of Time to exchange Eternal Happiness Whither will they cause their Shame to go Those black Sinners that here never change colour for their Filthiness that hardned by custom in Sin are impenetrable to Shame as the brute Beasts that are absolutely destitute of reason nay that have not only overcome all tenderness but glory in their Shame shall glow at the manifestation of their sordid Lusts their vile Servilities and be covered with Confusion and the sence of it shall be revived in their Minds for ever 2. To open Shame is joined the greatest inward Sorrow This Passion when violent penetrates the Soul in all its Faculties and fastens it to the afflicting Object When it dwells in the Bosom it gives an easy entrance to what ever cherishes and increases it and rejects what might asswage and lessen the sence of the Evil. The most pleasant things do not excite desire or joy but exasperate Grief Like those Animals that convert the best nourishment into their own Poison so deep Sorrow receives mournful impressions from all things and turns the sweetest Comforts of Life into Wormwood and Gall. The causes of Sorrow are either the loss of some valued Good or the sence of some present Evil. And the Sorrow is more violent as the Cause is great in it self and in the apprehension and tenderness of the Sufferers Now both these Causes with all the heavy Circumstances that can multiply and aggravate Sorrow meet in Hell the Centre of Misery The loss is inconceivably great If Cain when banisht from the Society of the Saints where God was publickly worshipt and by spiritual Revelations and visible Apparitions graciously made himself known cry'd out in anguish of Soul My punishment is greater than I can bear from thy Face shall I be hid and I shall be a Fugitive upon the Earth how intolerable will be the final separation from his glorious and joyful Presence 'T is often seen how tenderly and impatiently the human Spirit resents the loss of a dear Relation Jacob for the supposed Death of Joseph was so overcome with Grief that when all his Sons and Daughters rose up to comfort him he refused to be comforted and said I will go down to the Grave unto my Son mourning This is a Sin and a punishment 'T is establisht by the righteous and unchangeable Decree of God that every inordinate Affection in Man should be his own Tormentor But if the loss of a poor frail Creature for a short time be so afflicting how insupportable will be the Sorrow for the loss of an infinite Eternal Good It may be a carnal Wretch may think comfortably of this now whilst he lives in Pleasures but in the next World he shall be totally deprived of all things that please his voluptuous Senses and shall understand what a misery it is to lose the favour and enjoyment of the blessed God Our Saviour told the Jews There shall be weeping and gnashing of Teeth the Symptoms of extreme Sorrow when ye shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the Prophets in the Kingdom of God and you your selves thrust out The sight of that blessed Company entring into the sacred Mansions of Light will make the loss of Heaven infinitely more discernable and terrible to the Wicked who shall be cast into outer Darkness and for ever be deprived of Communion with God and his Saints With the loss of the most excellent Good the suffering of the most afflicting painful Evil is join'd The Sentence is Depart ye cursed into everlasting Fire And if an imaginary Sorrow conceived in the Mind without a real external Cause as in Melancholly Persons when gross Vapours darken and corrupt the brightness and purity of the Spirits that are requisite for its chearful Operations is often so oppressing that Nature sinks under it how insupportable will the Sorrow of condemned Sinners be under the impression and sence of God's Almighty and avenging Hand when it shall fully appear how pure and holy he is in his Anger for Sin how just and dreadful in punishing Sinners It may be the indulgent Sinner may lessen his fear of Hell by fancying the number of Sufferers will asswage the sence of their Misery But this is a foolish mistake For the number of Sufferers shall be so far from affording any relief that the Misery is aggravated by the Company and Communication of the Miserable Every one is surrounded with Sorrows and by the sights of Woe about him feels the universal Grief The weeping and wailing the cries and dolorous expressions of all the Damned increases the torment and vexation of every one As when the Wind conspires with the Flame 't is more fierce and spreading 3. The Concomitant of Sorrow will be Fury and Rage against themselves as the true causes of their Misery For God will make such a discovery of his righteous Judgment that not only the Saints shall glorify his Justice in the condemnation of the Wicked but they shall be so convinc'd of it as not to be able to charge their Judg with any defect of Mercy or excess of Rigour in his proceedings against them As the Man in the Parable of the Marriage-Feast when taxt for his presumptuous intrusion without a Wedding Garment how camest thou in hither was speechless so they will find no plea for their Justification and Defence but must receive the eternal Doom with Silence and Confusion Then Conscience shall revive the bitter remembrance of all the methods of divine Mercy for their Salvation that were ineffectual by their Contempt and Obstinacy All the compassionate calls of his Word with the holy Motions of the Spirit were like the sowing of Seed in the Stony Ground that took no root and never came to perfection All his terrible Threatnings were but as Thunder to the Deaf or Lightning to the Blind that little affects them the bounty of his Providence design'd to lead them to Repentance had the same effect as the Showers of Heaven upon Briers and Thorns
tormentum sentit resupinata testudo inquieta est tamen desiderio naturalis status nec aut ea desinit niti quatere se quam in pedes constitit Ergo omnibus constitutionis suae sensus est Athen. Media de fonte teporum surgit amari aliquid quod in ipsis floribus angat Lucret. * Nec unquam placidam sceptra quietem certumve sui tenuere Diem S. n. †Forma bonum fragile est quantumque accedit ad annos Fit minor spatio carpitur illa suo Ovid. ‖ Vid. Plat Symp. Phoed. Rev. 21. 4. 1 Cor. 15. Phil. 3. 1. 1 Cor. 13. * Vt cum istud quicquid est de quo disputatis percepero mortar Val. Max. ‖ Aristot †Sic itaque habebit donum aliud aelio minus ut hic quoque donum habeat ne velit amplius Aug. * Et totum se dedit universis et totum singulis Ac per hoc quicquid passione sua Salvator praestitit sicut totum ei debent universi sic singuli nisiquod propè hoc plus singuli quà m universi quod totum acceperunt singuli quantum universi Salvian †Si audiaet multitudo silens non inter se particulatim comminuunt sonos tanquam cibos sed omne quod sonat omnibus totum est singulis totum August in Epist. ad Volusan * O si animum boni viri liceret inspicere ex magnifico placidoque fulgentem nonne veluti numinis occurs◠obstupefacti essemus Senec. Non errâti Mater nam hic Alexander est Curt. lib. 3. Job 29. 2 3 4. * Vitae nos taedium tenet timor mortis natat omne consilium nec implere nos ulla faelicitas potest Causae autem est quod non pervenimus ad illud bonum immensum insuperabile ubi necesse est consistat nobis voluntas nostra quia ultra summum non est locus Senec. epist. 74. †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist. Eth. l. 7. c. ult Heb. 10. 19 20. Rom. 9. 16. James 2. Heb. 9. 2 Cor. John 3. 3. Rom. 8. 17. Gal. 4. 7. 1 Pet. 1. 17. Rom. 2. 16. Acts 26. 18. Heb. 1◠14. Joh. 3. 16. Phil. 2. 8 9. Joh. 17. 2. Joh. 6. 1 Cor. 15. 22. 1 Joh. 5. 12. Joh. 1. 12. Ephes. 3. 17. 1 Cor. 1. Acts 5. 31. Rom. 8. Psal. 106. 14. Frui est amore alicujus rei inhaerere propter seipsam uti autem quod in usum venerit ad id quod amas obtinendum referre Aug. de Doct. Christ. * Acosta Tim. 6. 18 19. Psal. 115. 8. Phil. 3. 13 14. Athen. l. 20. c. 9. Tam modico ore tam immensa aequorum vastitas panditur Plin. †Nos corpus tam putre sortiti nihilo minus aeterna proponimus in quantum potest aetas humana protendi tantum occupamus nulla contenti pecunia nulla potentia Quid hac re fieri impudentius quid stultius potest Nihil satis est morituris nihil morientibus Sen. Epist. 120. ‖ Nemo ergo sibi promittat quod Evangelium non promittit Aug. Jer. 13. 16. Psal. 78. 34 36. Prov. 1. Malè cum his agitur quibus necessitas belli incumbit morbi Veget. * Quod alicui gratiosè conceditur trahi non debet ab aliis in exemplum Plut. Symp. †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys. Vix dici potest quantos haec inanis spei umbra deceperit Aug. ‖ Tu qui Deos putas humana negligere nonne animadvertisti ex tot tabulis pictis quam multi vim tempestatis effugerint in portumque salutis pervenerint Tull. ‖ Miserrimum morbi genus in que aeger siti aquae metu cruciatur quorum spes in angusto est Cels. Rev. 2. 1 Cor. 13. * Natator amnem interpositum superaturus exuitur nec tamen hoc tanto apparatu quod se dispoliaverit transnatabit nisi totius Corporis nisu torrentis impetum scindat laborem natationis exhauriat Paulin. Rom. 2. Mat. 10. 22 Juven Eze. 18. 24 Heb. 10. 38 1 Cor. 5. 11. 1 Cor. 6. 9 10. * Homil. 6. de laud. Paul †Quae justior venia in omnibus causis quam voluntarius an quam invitus peccator implorat Negationem quanta compellunt ingenia carnificum genera poenarum Quis magis negavit qui Christum vexatus an qui delectatus amisit Qui quum amitteret doluit an qui quum amitteret lusit Tert. de pudicit Denique saepe cognovimus quoniam quem formidolosa carnificum pompa non terruit nec divisi lateris sulcus infregit nec ardentes laminae à triumphalis fortitudinis vigore abducere potuerunt eum inter sacra praemia constitutum Vxor tenerae prolis oblatione miserabilis unius lachrymae miseratione decepit ‖ Flagitio insigni semper alicujus foeminae amore flagrans ob id Deas pingens sub dilectarum imagine Itaque scorta ejus venerabantur Plin * Bion. †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aelian l. 13. c. 32. †Nunquam de vita judicatur semper creditur sanabimur si modò separemur à coetu Sen. de vit Beat. Heb. 11. ◠Nec vereamu occidi quos constat quando occidim◠coronari Cyp. 1 Sam. 14. 24 25 26. Isa. 1. 2 3. * Primum ego scriptoris officium existimo ut titulum suum legat atque identidem interroget se quid caeperit scribere †Cum natalis dies Februarii admonuisset aetatis numerandae tricesimo reperissem invasit me subita moestitia perculsit admirantem quomodo sine sensu vitae ad ejus culmen pervenissem à quo lux quaelibet fit obscurior dies nostri ad occasum inclinare incipiunt Visa est mihi rerum facies momento mutata tunc primum me hominem agnovi Memoires Chanut 2 Pet. 3. 9. Quam suave carere suavitatibus istis Si frigido loquar nescit quod loquor Aug. Identidem dictitans qualis artifex pereo Suet. Nisi timore incipiat homo Deum colere non perveniet ad amorem Aug. Psal. 90. 11. Rom. 9. 22. 2 Thess. 1. Indeed it is difficult to conceive how a material Fire can act on a spiritual Substance But 't is unreasonable to determine that it is impossible For if we consider what pain is it is as conceiveable how pure Spirits are capable of it as Spirits in Conjunction with Bodies The human Soul in its Nature is Spiritual as the Angels yet has a painful sence of Fire or other afflicting Evils incumbent on the Sences The Body meerly feels not pain but it passes through the Body to the Soul If the Soul by a strong diversion of Thoughts apply it self to an Object the Body is insensible of pain as is evident in some Diseases and that in the heat of Battel deep Wounds are not felt And as God by a natural Constitution has ordered that the Body so touch'd and moved excites a painful Sense in the Soul he may have ordained that the Devils shall feel the impressions of Material Fire in the places to which they shall be confin'd Job 6. 4. Dan. 12. 2. Tacitâ sudant praecordia culpa Juv. Jer. 14. 12. Jussisti Domine sic est ut poena sit sibi omnis inordinatus affectus Aug. Rev. 16. 10 11. Psal. 77. 7.