Souls with such dreadful Imaginations as are far more sharp and exquisite than any bâ—dily Torment And if now they have such Power over us when God thinks fit to let them loose what will they have hereafter when these our wretched Spirits shall be wholly abandoned to their Mercy and they shall have a free Scope to exercise their Fury upon us and glut their hungry Malice with our Vexations and Torments It seems at least a mighty probable Notion that that horrid Agony of our Saviour in the Garden which caused him to shriek and grone and sweat as it were great Drops of Blood was only the Effect of those preter-natural Terrors which the Devils with whom he was then in Combat impressed upon his innocent Mind And if they had so much Power over his pure and mighty Soul that was so strongly guarded with the most perfect and unspotted Vertues what will they have over ours when God hath abandoned us to them and thrown us as Preys into their Mouths with what an hellish Rage will they fly upon our guilty and timorous Souls in which there is so much Tinder for their injected Sparks of Horror to take Fire on When therefore our guilty Spirits shall not only be liable to the Scourge of God but Devils and damned Ghosts too shall have their full Swing at them doubtless the Hell within them will be far more intollerable than any Hell of Fire and Brimstone without them 4ly The Soul of Man is also liable to be confined to the most dismal and uncomfortable Abodes What or where the Abode of wicked Spirits is till the Morn of the Resurrection is no where expressly determined in the Holy Scripture but since wheresoever they are they are doubtless under the Power and Dominion of the Devil who as the Scripture assures us is Prince of the Power of the Air it is highly probable that their present Residence is in these lower Regions of the World that either being chased by those infernal Powers under whose Tyranny they are they are continually hurrying about in these inferior Tracts of Air or which perhaps is more probable that they are imprisoned by those invisible Ministers of the divine Justice vvithin the dark Abysses and under-ground Vaults of the Earth and not permitted but upon special Occasions to come abroad into this upper Region of Light and Liberty But vvheresoever they are it is doubtless in some such horrid and dismal Prison as is fit only to receive such vile and desperate Malefactors and secure them till the great Assizes vvhen they shall be brough forth to receive their Tryal and final Judgment And then being united to their Bodies and thereby made liable to corporeal Torments the Scripture expresly affirms that they shall be shut up in everlasting Flames and be tormented for ever in a Lake of Fire and Brimstone for then the Lord himself shall come in Flames of Fire to render Vengance to all those that obeyed not his Gospel and having vvith those raging Flames set every Part of this lower World on Fire he vvill re-ascend vvith all his Train to the celestial Mansions and leave the Wicked vveltring for ever in this burning Vault belovv for it is plain that the everlasting Fire to vvhich he vvill then Sentence them is the Conflagration of the World vvhich after the Iust are raised and caught up into the Clouds above the Reach of its aspiring Flames shall break forth on every side and turn all this Atmosphere into a Furnace of inquenchable Fire and therein shall those wicked Miscreants that vvould not be reclaimed be condemned to live for ever For the Judgment being ended the Judg and all his Retinue shall return and leave them in the midst of a burning World surrounded vvith Smoak and Fire Darkness and Confusion and vvrapt in fierce and merciless Flames vvhich shall stick close to and pierce through and through their Bodies and for ever prey upon but never consume them And vvhat an intolerable Mulct this is I leave every Mans natural Sense to judg 5ly The Soul of Man is also liable to the perpetual Vexations of its own cross wild and furious Passions We have sufficient Experience in this Life how vexatious our cross and excessive Passions are for when our Passions are divided and contrary Objects have raised contrary Desires and Appetites in us how do they rend and distract our Souls and cause perpetual Mutinies and Tumults within us But by Reason of those many sensual Gratifications with which we now make a shift to stop the Mouths of those Daughters of the Horse-Leech when they cry out give give we cannot be so sensible of the Trouble and Vexation of them but unless we now subdue and mortifie them we shall be forced to carry them into Eternity along with us For by being separated from their Bodies the Souls of Men are never separated from their prevailing Tempers but in their separated State are for the main of the same Disposition as they were here and do retain the same Passions and Appetites 'T is true they cannot be supposed to retain their bodily Appetites after they have thrown off their Bodies but when they have wholly accustomed themselves in this Life to fleshly Pleasures and have never Experienced spiritual ones it is impossible but that in the other they should be tormented with an outragious Desire of being imbodied again that so being incapable of relishing any other they may repeat those fleshly Pleasures which heretofore they were accustomed to and act over the brutish Scene anew And this vehement Hankering of these carnalized Souls to return into their Bodily State is perhaps the only Sensuality that a seperate Soul is capable of but it is such a Sensuality as must necessarily render such Souls extreamly miserable for in that State it will be like the Hunger of a Starving Man that is Immured between two dead Walls that is it will be a fierce Desire without Hope of Satisfaction a corroding Hunger sharpened with Despair of Food than which there is nothing more intolerably grievous and tormenting For how will it vex the wretched Spirit to look back from the Shores of Eternity into this corporeal World and to ruminate thus with it self O miserable Creature that I am here am I cast away for ever upon a strange and desolate Shore where I must Famish for want of Food pine away a long Eternity and wander to and fro for ever tormented with restless Rage and hungry unsatisfied Desires where there is not one Pleasure that I can relish not an Object that I can taste any sweetness in Wo is me yonder are all my Ioys and Comforts all that is dear and precious to me O that I might go back again and be once more restored to the Injoyment of them but alas between me and them there runs an impassible Gulph that deprives me of all hope of returning For thus will the unhappy Soul torment it self with an outragious Longing for
Heaven so infinitely repugnant to its Nature And certainly to be thus excommunicated from the supreme Happiness of our Natures and be forced to live in everlasting Exile from God and blessed Spirits and wander about like wretched Vagabonds that are chased and driven from all Hopes of Contentment will be unspeakable Damage to our Souls 2ly The Soul of Man is liable to the most dreadful Punishment and Correction of the Father of Spirits There is no Doubt but spiritual Agents can strike as immediately upon Spirits as bodily Agents can upon Bodies and though we who are Spctators only of corporeal Action cannot discern the Manner how one Spirit acts upon another yet there is no Reason to Doubt of the thing and if there be such a mutual Communication of Action between them there is no Doubt but they can mutually make each other feel each others Pleasures and Displeasures and if so then it is only to suppose that the less powerful Spirits are subject to the violent Impression of the more powerful ones and consequently that all finite Spirits are liable to the Lash of an infinite one for why should it be more difficult for the Father of our Spirits to correct our Spirits than it is for the Parents of our Flesh to correct our Flesh For though our Souls are no more impressible with material Stripes than Sun-beams are with the blows of a Hammer yet are they liable to horrid and dismal Thoughts and to be as much pained and aggrieved by them as our Bodies are by the most exquisite Torments So that if God be displeased with us he can imprint his Wrath upon our Minds in black and ghastly Thoughts and cause it perpetually to drop like burning Sulphur upon our Souls He can not only abandon us to the furious Reflections of our own natural Consciences which as I shall shew you by and by will be hereafter extreamly painful and vexatious but he can also infuse supernatural Horrors into us and pour in such Swarms of terrible Thoughts upon us as will give us no Rest but sting us perpetually Day and Night with inexpressible Anguish And of this you have a woful Example in that miserable Wretch Francis Spira who upon that fearful Breach he made in his Conscience by a cowardly Renouncing of his Religion was without any Symptoms of a bodily Melancholy immediately seised with such an inexpressible Agony of Mind as amazed his Physicians astonished his Friends and struck Terror into all that conversed with him For he was so near to the Condition of a damned Ghost that he verily believed Hell it self was more tolerable than those invisible Lashes that were continually laid on upon his Soul and therefore wished he were in Hell and would gladly have dispatched himself thither in hope to find Sanctuary there from those vengful Thoughts which continually preyed upon his Soul And if in this World our Soul is so liable to the Rod of the Father of Spirits we may be sure it will be so in the other too where God if he pleases can render it an eternal Hell to it self by pouring continually into it fresh Floods of horrible Thoughts which being thrust on by an Almighty Power and perpetually urged and repeated on the Mind must necessarily create in it not only a most exquisite but uninterrupted Torment And it being in his Power thus to lash our Souls to be sure when once he is implacably incensed against them as he will be hereafter if we do not appease him he will let loose his Power upon them and make them feel his wrathful Resentments in those dire and frightful Thoughts with which he will Sting and Scourge them for ever And if the Soul carry into Eternity with it those provoking Lusts which do here incense Gods Displeasure against it it will there have no Shelter from the Storm of his Vengance which like a Shower of Fire and Brimstone will be continually pouring down upon it For while it continues in this Shop of Vanities it hath a great Variety of Objects to divert those dismal Thoughts which God many times infuses into it but in the other World all these diverting Objects will be removed and then every dismal Thought which God lets loose will seise and fasten upon it and like Prometheus's Vultures prey on its wretched Heart for ever 3ly The Soul of Man is liable to the Fury and Violence of Devils and other malignant Spirits For when ever the Souls of Men do leave their Bodies they doubtless flock with the Birds of their own Feather and consort themselves with such seperate Spirits as are of their own Genius and Temper for besides that Likeness doth naturally congregate Beings and cause them to associate with their own Kind good and bad Spirits are by the eternal Laws of the other World distributed in two seperate Nations and there live apart from one another having no other Communication or Intercourse but what is between two hostile Countries that are continually designing and attempting one against another So that when wicked Souls do leave this terrestrial Abode and pass into Eternity they are presently incorporated by the Laws of that invisible World into the Nation of wicked Spirits and confined for ever to their most wretched Society and Converse and then how miserable must their Condition be who are damned to such a bellish Neighbourhood and are allowed no other Company but of Devils and devilish Spirits For since as I have already shewed you Spirits can as well act upon one another as Bodies what can be expected when such malignant Spirits meet but that they should be continualâ—â— snarling among themselves and baiting and worrying one another When Wrath and Envy Malice and Ill-nature are the common Genius that inspires and acts the whole Society what can their Conversation be but a continual Intercourse of mutual Mischiefs and Vexations especially considering how they have here laid the Foundations of an eternal Quarrel against one another For there the Companions in Sin will meet who by their ill Counsels wicked â—nsinuations and bad Examples did mutually contribute to each others Ruin and when these shall meet in that woful State how will the tormenting Sense of those irreparable Injuries they have done each other incite them to exercise their hellish Fury upon and play the Devils with one another And when a Company of waspish Spirits so implacably inâ—ensed against one another shall meet and like so many Scâ—rpions Snakes and Addâ—â— be snut up together in the inâ—ernal Deâ—s how is it possible they should forbear â—issing at and sliâ—ging and spitting Venom in one anothers Faces But then besides the mutual Plagues which those incensed and furious Spirits must needs be supposed to instict upon one another they will be â—lso nakedly exposed to the powerful Malice of the Devils those fierce Executioners of Gods righteous Vengeance who as we now find by Experience have Power to suggest black and horrid Thoughts and to torture our
handling of which I shall do these two Things 1. Explain to you what this Glory of the Word was which the Apostle tells us they beheld 2. Shew you that it was the Glory as of the only begotten Son of the Father 1. What was that Glory of the Word which the Apostle tells us they beheld I answer in general By this Glory here must be understood something that is resemblant to the Glory of his dwelling in the Tabernacle because as I have already shewed you the Apostle seems plainly to refer to it in that he doth not only tell us that the Word tabernacled among us which alludes to his Tabernacling among the Iews but he also tells us that they saw his Glory which alludes to that Glory of the Lord which the Iews beheld in that ancient Tabernacle Since therefore the Apostle mentions this Glory of the Word Incarnate by way of Allusion to the Glory of his Divine Presence in the Tabernacle it must necessarily bear some Resemblance or Proportion to it because else it would be no proper Allusion The best Way therefore for us to discover what this Glory of Christ was which they beheld is to consider wherein the Glory of the Divine Presence in the Tabernacle did chiefly discover it self and that you shall find was in these four Things First In a bright and luminous Appearance Secondly In exerting of an extraordinary Power Thirdly In giving Laws and Oracles Fourthly In sensible Significations of its own immaculate Sanctity and Purity And in Proportion and Correspondence to these the Glory of the Word Incarnate also must consist in these four Things 1st In the visible Splendor and Brightness with which his Person was arrayed at his Baptism and more especially at his Transfiguration 2 dly In those great and stupendous Miracles that he wrought in the Course of his Ministry 3dly In the incomparable Purity and Goodness of his Life 4thly In the surpassing Excellency and Divinity of his Doctrine 1st That Glory of the Word which St. Iohn and the Apostles beheld consisted in that visible Splendor and Brightness with which his Person was arrayed at his Baptism and more especially at his Transfiguration in Resemblance to that visible Splendor and Brightness in which he appeared in the Mosaick Tabernacle where it is frequently said that the Glory of the Lord abode and appeared as you may see Exod. 24. 16. 40. 34. Which Glory it 's evident discovered its self in an extraordinary visible Splendor that shone forth from between the Cherubims and diffused it self thence all over that sacred Habitation And accordingly in Ezek. 43. 2. it is said that the Glory of the God of Israel came from the Way of the East and the Earth shone with his Glory which denotes that it was extraordinary bright and luminous since the Earth shone with the very Reflection of it And in this same glorious Splendor was Christ arrayed first at his Baptism and afterwards at his Transfiguration For at his Baptism it is said that the Heavens were open'd unto him and that he saw the Spirit of God descending like a Dove and lighting upon him Matth. 3. 16. where by the Holy Ghost's descending like a Dove it is not necessary we should understand his descending in the Shape or Form of a Dove but that in some glorious Form or Appearance he descended in the same manner as a Dove descends and therefore St. Luke expresses it thus And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily Shape like a Dove upon him Luke 3. 22. that is he descended in some very glorious and visible Appearance in the same Manner as Doves are wont to descend when they come down from the Skies and pitch upon the Earth But what that Shape was in which he appeared is not here expressed but that which seems to be most probable is this that the Holy Ghost assuming a Body of Light or surrounded as it were with a Guard of Angels appearing in luminous Forms came down from above just as a Dove with his Wings spread forth is observed to do and lighted upon our Saviour's Head and the Reason why I think so is this both because where-ever any mention is made of God's or the Holy Ghost's appearing in an indefinite Form it is always in a Body of Light and visible Splendor of which I have given you sundry Instances and also because it seems to have been a very early Tradition in the Church that it was in a very glorious Appearance of Light that the Holy Ghost came down upon our Saviour And therefore in the Gospel of the Nazarens as Grotius observes it 's said that upon the Holy Ghost's Descent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 immediately a great Light shone round about the Place and Iustin Martyr speaking of our Saviour's Baptism saith expresly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that there was a Fire lighted in the River Iordan that is the Water immediately after he was baptized in it seemed to be all on fire by the Reflection of that bright and flaming Appearance in which the Holy Ghost descended upon him so that while he wore this Crown of visible Light his Head as the Painters are wont to express it was circled round with the Rays of that Glory in which he was wont to appear from between the Cherubims And this Glory of his was questionless seen by many of the Apostles who were sundry of them Disciples to Iohn the Baptist and so many reasonably be supposed to be present at the Baptism of our Saviour And as for his Transfiguration upon Mount Tabor it is said that upon it his Face did shine as the Sun and that his Raiment was white as the Light or as St. Luke expresses it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is his Raiment was like the Whiteness of a Flash of Lightning Luke 9. 29. So that from Head to Foot he was all inrobed in a visible Glory and covered with all that Brightness and dazling Splendor in which he was wont to appear in the Tabernacle of Moses And accordingly you have mention made of a Cloud that over-shadowed the three Disciples whilst Iesus remained in his Transfiguration which is exactly agreeable with that Cloud that covered the Tabernacle of Moses whilst the Glory of the Lord filled it as you may see Exod. 40. 34. And that this glorious Transfiguration was a Part of that Glory of the Word which St. Iohn here says they beheld is evident because himself was one of the three Disciples that were Eye-Witnesses of this glorious Scene and it is expresly said of him and his Brethren that they saw his Glory and the two Men that stood with him Luke 9. 32. 2dly This Glory which they saw consisted in those great and stupendous Miracles that he wrought in the Course of his Ministry in Proportion to that extraordinary Power in which the Glory of the Divine Presence discovered it self in the Tabernacle of Moses For thus we find that it was from the Tabernacle
to him Vpon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and remaining on him the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost And I saw and bear Record that this was the Son of God Joh. 1. 33 34. where you may observe that though it was revealed to him only that he was the Person that should baptize with the Holy Ghost upon whom the Spirit descended yet he bare Record also that this Person was the Son of God rationally concluding that this visible Glory which was such an infallible Token of the special Presence of the Divinity was never to be communicated to any but the Son of God And it is very observable that at both these Times when our Saviour was arrayed in this glorious Splendor he is declared by a Voice from Heaven to be the Son of God it being the Father's Intention at once to manifest him to be his Son both by Word and Deed and at the same time when he declared him to be his Son to array him in such a Glory as became the Dignity of his Person 2dly The great and stupendous Miracles that he wrought were such as became his only begotten Son 'T is true it cannot be denied but several Miracles have been wrought by meer Men they being authorized by God and assisted by his Almighty Power but so many and so great as our Saviour wrought were never performed by any Mortal For as to the Number of them they were more than ever were wrought by Moses and all the Prophets together for besides those that are recorded which were all performed within the Space of four Years at most St. Iohn tells us that he wrought so many that the World could not contain the Records of them Ioh. 21. 25. which though it be an Hyperbolical Expression yet denotes thus much at least that the Number of them was so great that they were almost innumerable And as to the Greatness of them they did apparently exceed all that ever were wrought before in the World For he did not only raise the Dead but he raised himself also after he had been barbarously murdered by his Enemies He made the Winds and Sea obey him and with the Word of his Mouth vanquished the Devils and drave them from their Habitations and forc'd them against their Wills and their Interest to acknowledge him to be the Son of God And whereas the Miracles of Moses and the Prophets were most of them noxious they being Acts of Divine Vengeance upon the Wicked and Vngodly and consequently more apt to terrify than to oblige those that beheld them the Miracles of our Saviour were all of them Expressions of his unfeigned Love and Good-Will to the World For among all that vast Number of wondrous Works that he wrought there is not one to be found by which any Man was ever prejudiced unless it was his dismissing the Devils into the Swine of the Gadarens which without all doubt he did in Kindness and Good-will to the Owners who being so cruel to themselves as to prefer their Swine before their Saviour it was great Charity and Mercy to deprive them of that which was so apparent a Hindrance to their Enjoyment of a far greater Good So that all his wondrous Works were nothing but Acts of Kindness and Beneficence for he went about doing Good curing all that were possessed with the Devil and healing all manner of Diseases And whereas none of those that wrought Miracles before him could ever pretend to perform them by any immanent Power of their own but had only a transient Power given them for the present Miracle which they either obtained from God upon their Prayers and Supplications or was given by God for the Execution of his own Will and Command the blessed Iesus had this Power subjected and abiding in him so that he could exert it when and where and as often as he pleased and whether he were absent or present with the Word of his Mouth he could do what he would yea and many times he performed his wondrous Works without any Word or Sign intervening even by a silent Virtue proceeding from that miraculous Power with which he was endued and of all his Miracles there is only one which he performed upon Prayer and Supplication to his Father and that was his raising Lazarus from the Dead the Reason of which he himself gives Ioh. 11. 42. Because of the People which stand by that they may believe that thou hast sent me Intimating that he did not offer up this Prayer to his Father with design to obtain of him any new Power of working Miracles which he was already endued with in an abundant measure but that hereby I might signify to the People how acceptable I am to thee and let them see that I do all my Works in thy Name And that he had this Power is evident in that he did so plentifully communicate it to his Apostles and Followers which neither Moses nor the Prophets were ever able to do For thus Luke 10. 19. he expresly tells his Seventy Disciples Behold I give you power to tread on Serpents and Scorpions and so also when he dismissed his Twelve Apostles into Iudea Matth. 10. 8. he bids them Go heal the Sick cleanse the Lepers raise the Dead cast out Devils for freely ye have received saith he and therefore freely give From all which it is apparent how far the miraculous Works of our Saviour did exceed all those that ever were done before him and being so great and excellent so far transcending all that ever was done by any Mortal they plainly demonstrated him to be the Son of God and very well became the Dignity of his Person For how could he have done all these mighty Things by a Power immanent in himself had he not been the Son of an Omnipotent Father And in what more becoming Way could he have expressed that Omnipotent Power which he derived from his Father than in those astonishing Miracles of Love which he wrought in the World 3dly The excellent and divine Doctrine which he taught was such as became the only begotten Son For certainly if we consider the excellent Frame and Contrivance of the Christian Religion we cannot but confess it to be most Divine and Godlike most worthy of that infinite Wisdom and Goodness from whence it was derived For Religion in general is the means of advancing Rational Beings to that Perfection and Happiness for which the great Creator hath designed and intended them and certainly never was there any Religion in the World more adapted to advance this noble Design of God than that which our Saviour hath taught For as for its Agenda what it requires to be done they all consist in acting reasonably and according to the Dignity of our Nature in thinking speaking and practising in loving and hating desiring and delighting hoping and fearing as becomes Reasonable Beings placed in our Condition and Circumstances and do require nothing of us but