and Inquietudes of this Mortal Life which may very well be call'd a Rest and yet be consistent with an Activity far surpassing that which it was endued with in the Flesh The Scripture clothes many abstruse Mysteries in familiar Dresses the better to accommodate Them to the Conceptions of vulgar and ignorant People who make up far the grearest Part of Mankind and we must not expect the rigid Definitions of Aristotle from the Sacred Pen-Men But when we come Scientifically and according to the Method of the Schools to treat of the Natures of Things we ought to fit them with proper and Intelligible Terms and pursue their Essences by a continued Progress not by wild Fits and Starts I have but small acquaintance with the future State but this I 'm sure there will be no change that will be so surprizing to me as that By Death It is a thing of which I know but little and none of the millions of Souls that have past into the invisible World have come again to tell me how it is I. It must be done my Soul but 't is a strange A Dismal and Mysterious change Norris When thou shalt leave this Tenement of Clay And to an unknown somewhere wing away When Time shall be Eternity and thou Shalt be thou know'st not what and live thou know'st not how II. Amazing State no wonder that we dread To think of Death or view the Dead Thou' rt all wrapt up in Clouds as if to thee Our very knowledge had Antipathy Death could not a more sad retinue find Sickness and pain before and darkness all behind III. â—ome courteous Ghost tell this great Secrecy What 't is you are and we must be â—ou warn us of approaching Death and why May we not know from you what 't is to dye But you having shot the Gulph delight to see â—ucceeding Souls plunge in with like uncertainty IV. When Life 's close knot by writ from Destiny Disease shall cut or age unty When after some delays some dying strife The Soul stands shivering on the ridge of Life With what a dreadful Curiosity Does she launch out into the Sea of vast Eternity V. So when the spacious Globe was delug'd o're And lower holds could save no more On th' utmost Bough th' astonish'd Sinners stood And view'd th' Advances of th' encroaching Flood O're-topp'd at length by th' Elements encrease With horror they resign'd to the untry'd Abyss It is very desirable to know in what condition our Souls will be when they leave the Body and what is the Nature of that abodâ— into which we must go but which we never saw into and through what Regions we must then take our flight and after what manner this will be done 'T is certain my Soul will then preserve the faculties that arâ— natural to it viz. to understand to will to remember as 't is represented to us under the Parable of Dives and Lazarus But alas we little know how the People of the disembodied Societies act and will and understand and communicate their thoughts to one another and therefore I long to know it What conception can I have of a separated Soul says a late Writer but that 'T is all Thought I firmly think when a mans body is taken from him by Death he is turn'd into all Thought and Spirit How great will be its Thought when it is without any hinderance from these material Organs that now obstruct its Operations In that Eternity as one expresses it the whole power of the Soul runs together one and the same way In Eternity the Soul is united in its Motions which way one faculty goes all go and the Thoughts are all concentred as in one whole Thought * Beverley's great Soul of Man pag. 292. of Joy or Torment These things have occasioned great variety of Thoughts in me and my Soul when it looks towards the other World and thinks it self near it can no more cease to be inquisitive about it than it can cease to be a Soul I am not at all edified in the Notion of the Blessed Trinity by the sight of a Triangle neither can the whole System of the Mathematicks improve my Knowledge in this Point of Divinity The three distinct Faculties of a Humane Soul are far from illustrating to me the Three Persons in One Essence since there is a Subordination in the Former whereas there is an Equality in the Latter Such Similitudes and Comparisons seem not to me a Stenography or short Characters but a false Spelling in Divinity And tho' to wiser Reasons and more Active Beliefs they may serve as Luminaries in the Abyss of knowledge yet my Heavy Judgment will never be able to mount on such weak and brittle Scales and Roundels to the lofty Pinnacles of true Theology All the force of Rhetorical Wit has not Edge enough to dissect so tough a Subject wherein the little obscure Glimmerings we gain of that Inaccessible Light come not to us in direct Beams but by the faint Reflexions of a Negative Knowledge And we can better apprehend what it is not than what it is In the Disquisition of his Works I own that those do highly magnifie Him whose Judicious Enquiry into his Acts and deliberate Research into his Creatures return the Homage of a Devout and Learned Paraphrase But in the Contemplation of that Eternal Essence to which no created Thought can be adaequate I will humbly sit down and silently admire that which neither the Heart can conceive nor the Tongue or Pen of Men or Angels can declare as they ought and as it is I do not affect Rhodomontadoes in Religion nor to boast of the Strength of my Faith I do not covet Temptations nor court Dangers Yet I can exercise my Belief in the difficultest Point when call'd to it and walk stedfast and upright in Faith without the Crutch of a visible Miracle I can firmly believe in Christ without going in Pilgrimage to his Sepulchre neither need I the Confirmation that was vouchsaf'd to St. Thomas that Proverb of Vnbelief However I do not bless my self nor esteem my Faith the better because I lived not in the Days of Miracles nor ever saw Christ or any of his Disciples Or because I was not one of his Patients on whom he wrought his Wonders Both their Faith and mine were infus'd by the Ministration of the Sences And as they believe 't because they saw so I believe because I hear undenyable Witnesses give Testimony of the same Matter of Fact Nor do I esteem their Faith the more Extraordinary who lived before his Coming since they raised not a Belief of the future Messias but on clear Prophesies and most significant Types being assured by the constant stream of Tradition from Father to Son that what God had predetermin'd and foretold to Adam in Paradise to Abraham to Jacob and the Prophets should infallibly be accomplish'd in the fulness of Time And I cannot see wherein their Faith
Spectators of the Hebrew Grandeur How could then the Divine Oracles be hid from the Gentilâ—s or the Sacred Tradition of Shiloh to come not be deliver'd to the inquisitive Nations of the Earth Without doubt the East saw the dawning of the Star of Jacob and the South could calculate his Meridian even before he rose Neither were the North and the West without some glimmerings of his Appearance The Wise Men that came to adore him at Bethlehem perform'd but the Wishes of their Fathers and the Eunuch of Queen Candaces made no Scruple to become a Christian when Philip had convinc'd him that He of whom the Prophets had so long foretold was now come in the Flesh Surely he was the desired of Nations the Hope of the Gentiles as well as the Glory of his People Israel Therefore I cannot number it among the Commendations of Christianity that a great Part of those who profess that Name are so presumptuously uncharitable as to damn all that were not of the Seed of Abraham before Christ came in the Flesh as if Salvation were entail'd to one Family and no man cou'd go to Heaven that was not circumcis'd Much rather had I believe That in the very Instant of Death God reveal'd the Mystery of Redemption to many innocent and vertuous Persons among the Gentiles and infus'd a saving Faith in Christ into their Souls at the very moment that their Sences were forsaking their Bodies Supplying their want of Scripture or Tradition with the inspiration of his Holy Spirit when they were taking the last gasp and breathing out their own Or if this be not thought sufficient I will believe That when Christ descended into Hell he preach'd the Gospel to the Spirits which were there in Prison not only those who were disobedient in the days of Noah but all such of the Race of Noah as by compleating the Measure of their Sins had sunk themselves into that fatal Place whether they were Jews or Heathens And I cannot understand those Texts of Scripture which mention his spoyling of Hell and leading Captivity Captive if they may not be applyed to his Triumphant Deliverance of some of those Souls which were shut up in the Infernal Caverns Neither do I perceive any Heresie in believing there might be some Vertuous Heathens in the Retinue he carried with Him from thence to Heaven as well as some of the Sons of Israel However leaving the manner of their Salvation to God I will conclude That it is unreasonable uncharitable and has too much of the Jew in it to pass the Sentence of Damnation on all the Gentiles since the Holy Ghost has assured us That God is no Respecter of Persons but he that in every Nation fears Him and works Righteousness is accepted of Him Besides methinks if matters were brought to the severest Ballance it would not appear Heterodox to say That as all men sin'd in Adam without their own Personal Knowledge or Consent so some might be saved in Christ even without a Particular and Personal Belief in Him of whom perhaps they never so much as heard Some Grains of Allowance may be given to the involuntary Frailties of Humane Nature some Indulgence granted to the invincible Ignorance of a great Part of Adam's Posterity who if they knew not the High-way to Heaven which was reveal'd to their Brethren the Jews and Christians might yet be conducted thither by some By-Path since it is too narrow a Conceit of God's Mercy to think that because he had chiefly manifested it in the Royal Road of the Law and the Gospel therefore he cou'd never go out of the beaten Track This were to retrench the Divine Prerogative and to tye Him up to limited Conditions whose Ways are in the Great Deep and whose Foot-steps no Created Being can Trace The Satisfaction I have of the Soul's Immortality if it amounts not to a Demonstration may yet be numbred among those Proleptick Ideas that need none as being self-evident It is a Parallel with first Principles and has equal Force on my Understanding for I am not more convinc'd That one and two make three than That the Soul of man is Immortal So that I make it not so much an Article of my Faith as a Proposition of my Reason and a Conclusion of Science Yet I do not always go so far round about as by a long Train of Logical Deductions and Inferences to dispute my self into the Remembrance of my Immortality This indeed were necessary to perswade another but I have a nearer Method to comfort my self with the Demonstration of this Noble Truth while it becomes an Object of my very Sence and I can feel that Immortality in my self which my Reason tells me another is possess'd of as well as I. This is easier to be experienc'd than utter'd in words 't is an Art not to be acquir'd without assiduous Reflection and strict Animadversion on our own Thoughts But the Fatigue is more than recompenc'd with the inessable Pleasure that attends it for when by a long and often repeated Practice a man has found the way to keep close Pace with his own Intellect in all its Flights and abstracted Starts from the Body when he can stand on the Brink of the Immaterial World and perceive what is before Him perceiving also that he perceives it then 't is he enjoys Heaven by Antâ—cipation and forestalls his Future Beatitude by tasting Immortality at present He is risen from the Dead before he dies and lives an Eternity of Ages in a Moment Neither is this a sleeping Chimera or a waking â—ream but a real Truth which as I have said is easier practised than expressed It was but a drowsie Conceit in those Fathers who phancy'd the Soul shou'd sleep in the Grave till the Resurrection of the â—ody Had they well traced the Nature of a Spirit from its first Principles they wou'd 〈◊〉 have provided a Dormitory for That Being which wou'd cease to be shou'd it cease to act since its very Essence implies a Contradiction to Rest. I cou'd as easily and with equal Reason believe it will be annihilated at its separation from the Body or at least that it shall be metamorphos'd into something else since if it continue the same it was before the Dissolution of the Body it must continue to think it being indeed nothing else but a pure Thought and how a Thought can take a Nap is beyond the Verge of my Philosophy to apprehend neither do I know of any thing in Divinity that seems to countenance so dull a Theorem As for those Texts of Scripture which seem to adumbrate the Supreme Felicity of the Saints by the Notion of Rest I do not think they mean a Cessation of the Souls natural Energy for how could it then be capable of that Seraphick Love and Joy in the Beatifick Vision which is the chief Entertainment of the Blessed in Heaven It seems rather to intimate the Soul's Escape and Deliverance from the Troubles
had the Advantage of ours that it should deserve to be esteem'd more Bold and Noble since they had an Isaiah to preach the Gospel to Them who for the Eloquence of his Style his most accurate and particular Enarration of the Birth of Christ has acquired the Title of the fifth Evangelist 'T is certain both their Faith and â—ours rests on the Divine Revelation whether it consist in Prophesie of Things to come or History of Things past The ultimate Object of our Belief is one and the same that is the Authority of God They had their Sacraments also to strengthen their Faith as well as we They were Baptized in the Cloud and in the Sea they had Manna from Heaven and Water out of a Rock in the Earth They all eat the same Spiritual Meat and drank the same Spiritual Drink as we foâ— they drank of the Spiritual Rock of Ages that followed Them and that Rock was Christ I do not conclude from hence That therâ— is no difference between the Sacraments oâ— the Law and those of the Gospel Doubtless there is an Excellency in the Latter to which the Former could not pretend The Elements in Both are Natural as Wateâ— Manna Bread Wine c. so that in the Exteriour neither of Them has the Advantagâ— of the other They were both also Conduits of the same inward Grace and Spirit Only herein lyes the difference that the Jews had it but by Measure whereas thâ— Christians receive it in Abundance Theâ— touch'd but the Hem of Christ's Garment but we feed on his Body and Blood Theâ— did but wade in the low Ebb of Grace whereas we swim in the High-Tide anâ— over-flowings of the Holy Spirit Before thâ— Everlasting Sluces were drawn up whilâ— the Heavens were kept shut the Water which are above the Heavens did but distiâ—gently on Mankind The Divine Influencâ— came Drop by Drop here a little and therâ— a little But when Christ had once ascended up on High and open'd the Eternal Gate above then he showr'd down his Gifts upoâ— Men and let loose the Flood of Light and Grace that so it might water the whole Earth and make glad the City of God which is the Christian Church The Sacraments of Christianity are the Principal Channels through which Eternal Life is conveyed to our Souls By Baptism we are transplanted from the Old Stock of the First Adam and inoculated into Him who is the True Vine in whom we grow up as Branches receiving Nourishment and Encrease by the Eucharist which conveys to us the vital Principles of Immortality and Salvation I cannot speak of this tremendous Mystery without a Circumlocution nor think of it without a Rapture It is such a Complex of Riddles as it hath pos'd the stoutest Samsons of the Church to solve He alone was able to think and speak aright of it in few words who when he first instituted it said This is my Body This is my Blood That there is a real Change made in the outward Elements after the words of Consecration are pronounc'd is an Article of my Faith but the Manner how this Change is effected is no Query of my Philosophy I had rather humbly believe what I cannot comprehend in this Venerable Sacrament than suffer any vain Disquisitions to stagger my Faith I see Bread and Wine both retaining the same Taste Colour and other natural Qualities of those Creatures Therefore I conclude there is no Alteration made in that which is the Object of my Sences The Change must be in the Spiritual Part which only falls under the Intellect And yet I believe this Change to be Real tho' I cannot sensibly perceive wherein or how 't is produced Far be it from me to enter into the Secret of those who make a mere empty Figure of the Blessed Sacrament as if we were made Partakers only of mere Natural Bread and Wine in the Holy Communion This is to follow the impious Steps of Manicheus and Marcion who taught that our Saviour had only a Fantastick Figure of a Body not a Real one as if they thought the Blessed Virgin Mary brought forth nothing but a Shadow because she was overshadow'd by the Holy Ghost This is to outstrip Judas and begin where his Treason left off and as he sold his Master's Life so we should rob the Church of his Body and Blood which he bequeath'd to her in his last Supper Doubtless his Body is in the Sacrament of the Eucharist but not Bodily or after a corporeal manner not invested with all the gross Circumstances of Flesh and Blood but after a Spiritual Manner in a Mystery too profound for Humane Sence or Reason to comprehend I am extremely pleas'd with the Answer which Queen Elizabeth gave to the Bishop of Winchester when he demanded her Opinion of the Real Presence said she 'T was God the Word that spake it He took the Bread and brake it And what the Word did make it That I believe and take it It was an ill-manner'd as well as an envious Retort of him that stood by and said Your Highnesses Reply is like the Delphick Oracle full of Ambiguous Subtilty He had discover'd more Breeding and Charity had he told her That her Answer savour'd of his Wisdom who when tempted by the Pharisees with a Question concerning the Lawfulness of paying Tribure to Caesar took a piece of Money and asked whose Image and Superscription was that stamped on it they said Caesars He replyed Give therefore to Caesar the Things that are Caesar's and to God the Things that are Gods It is certainly a necessary piece of Prudence sometimes to obviate the Trains of an Enemy with a witty Evasion which may be done without denying the Truth or violating ones Conscience Those who wou'd trepan a man with Queries and make him a Transgressor for a word deserve to be paid in the same Coin and by an Ingenious adapting of words and placing of Periods be bassled in their Design and sent away like Fools as they came without any better Satisfaction than they cou'd reap from a Riddle In my Opinion it is but a Pious Scepticism to suspend our Thoughts from determining the particular Mode of Christ's being present in the Sacrament since it is impossible ever to demonstrate so recondite a Secret into which even the Angels themselves those perfect Intelligences perhaps look with Admiration without improving their Knowledge It is sufficient to my humble Faith that my Redeemer is there and that when I worthily receive this Blessed Sacrament I shall receive the Author of it into my Tabernacle and be united to the Heavenly Spouse This is the true Hidden Manna which nourishes both Angels and Men This is the Bread of Life which strengtheneth Man's Heart This is the Wine which rejoyceth God and Man This is that Heavenly Morsel which God has given us as an Antidote against the Dregs of that Venom we all derive from Adam's eating the forbidden Fruit. And he is a
of the Uniâ—erse shall be subject to the Action of Fire such as the Earth we tread on with the other Planetary Bodies but that the purest Aetheâ— shall remain for ever untouch'd unchang'd the Sanctuary of the Bless'd the Habitatioâ— of the Spirits of Just men made perfect I aâ— also confirmed in this Belief by somethiâ—â— more Sacred and Authentick than natural Phâ—losophy For when the Royal Psalmist in thâ— Divine Rhapsody calls upon the Heavens 〈◊〉 Heavens and the Waters which are above tâ—â— Heavens to praise God he gives this for â— Reason viz. Because he spake and the were made he commanded and they werâ— created He establish'd them to Eternitâ— and for Everlasting Ages He fix'd a Decree which he will not disannul Then he calls upoâ— the Earth and all Creatures therein to joyn iâ— the same Act of Praise but not for the samâ— Reason not because the Earth shall enduâ—â— for ever but because the Name of God alonâ— is exalted and his Honour above Heaven anâ— Earth Which Distinction seems to me aâ— evident Argument of the unalterable Stabiliâ—â— of the Coelestial and Aetherial World whatâ—â—ever Mutations and Changes the Terrestiâ—â— may be subject to That those immense Tracts of quiet and iâ—passible Aether shall be the Seat of the Bless is very consistent with Philosophy and 〈◊〉 ways repugnant to Divinity However leâ— the Place be where it pleases God we arâ— assured that the Entertainment and Joys â—â— far surpass all humane Comprehension Yeâ— tho' we cannot have adequate Conceptions of Supream Felicity there are some Land-marks by which we may take imperfect Measures of that Region of Promise The Dim-Light of Natural Reason may afford us a Glimpse or faint Prospect of those Superlative Joys and the Opticks of Faith will improve the View We shall have the same Nature and Faculties there as here but free from the least Alloy of Frailty and Imperfection Our Souls shall display the radiant Brightness of their Immortal Essence with stronger Vibrations than the Sun having no internal Scum of Concupiscence boyling out from the Center of a depraved Will or erroneous Understanding to blemish and stain those unspotted Orbs of Light nor a terrene gross Body to Eclipse and shut up their Splendors But being ever Bright and Serene they shall shine through their Glorified and Spiritual Bodies as the Sun does through the â—ervious Air or at least as he does on a Bright Cloud which drinks in his Beams to reflect them abroad with a more sensible Glory We shall then see not by receiving the Visible Species into the narrow Glass of an Organized Eye we shall then hear without the distinct and curious Contexture of the Ear. The Body shall then be all Eye all Ear. All Sense in the whole and every Sense in every Part. In a word it shall be all over a common Sensorium and being made of the purest Aether without the Mixture of any lower or grosser Element the Soul shall by one undivided Act at once perceive all that Variety of Objects which now cannot without several distinct Organs and successive Actions or Passions reach our Sense From this Superlative Tenuity and Claritude of our Bodies will arisâ— that ineffable Delicacy in the Sensation of the Soul which will transport it with Delighâ— infinitely transcending the Heighth of Mortâ—â— Voluptuousness nay and even those more exalted Pleasures which the Vertuous sometimeâ— enjoy here on Earth as Foretasts of their futurâ— Beatitude in Heaven What here excites buâ— an Ordinary Emotion of Joy in the Soul wiâ—â— there produce all Raptures and Ecstasies We shall be always in Paroxisms of Love such are the transcendent Beauties of that admirable Place and such the divinely amorous Bent of the Soul We shall be always languishing yet ever enjoying what we languish for Neither suffering the least Pain through the Want of Fruition nor through any Satiety that shall attend it But through the Vigour of an Immortal Activity we shall have ever freshly kindleâ— Desires and new Enjoyments being dissolv'd in a Circle of Beatitude without Measure or End Here on Earth Men generally strive to Monopolize Pleasure to themselves there being few of so generous a Temper as to be sensibly touch'd with Delight that another shou'd partake with them in that which they esteem Felicity This is the peculiar Advantage of the Bless'd in Heaven that even in the Heighth of the Affairs of Immortal Love and Empire where they possess Eternal Crowns and unfading Beauties there is no such Thing to be found as a Rival or Competitor but every one's Joy is enhanc'd by the Enjoyments of another Every one loves all and all love every one Neither wou'd their Felicity be Perfect cou'd any Member of that Happy Society be suppos'd not to have his full proportion and share of Beatitude So communicative is the Love and Joy of those Holy Souls that they must cease to love and enjoy themselves shou'd they desist from loving and rejoicing in the Happiness of their Fellow-Citizens And if we may take our Measures of their Joys from our Common Experiences here on Earth it will be no small Augmentation of their Complacency to find those very Friendships which they had contracted here below translated to the Mansions above when they shall both see and know those whom they once loved on Earth how to be made Denizens with them in Heaven with what Ardours will they caress one anoâ—her With what Transports of Divine Affection will they mutually embrace and vent those Innocent Flames which had so long lain smothering in the Grave How passionately Rhetorical and Elegant will their Expressions be when their Sentiments which Death had Frozen up when he congeal'd their Blood shall now be Thaw'd again in the warm Airs of Paradise Like Men that have escap'd a common Shipwrack and swim safe to the Shore they will congratulate each other's Happiness with Joy and Wonder Their first Addresseâ— will be a Dialect of Interjections and short Periods the most Pathetick Language of Surprize and high wrought Joy And all their after converse eveâ— to Eternity will be couch'd in the highesâ— Strains and Flowers of Heavenly Oratory wiâ—â— Allelujahs intermix'd It much sweetneth the thoughts of Heaveâ— to me to remember that there are a multituâ—â— of my Friends gone thither to think such â— Friend that died at such a time and such a 〈◊〉 at another time O! what a number of thâ—â— cou'd I name and that all these I shall meet â—gain 'T is true it 's a question with some whethâ—â— we shall know each other in Heaven or no bâ—â— 't is none with me for surely there shall â—â— Knowledge cease which now we have bâ—â— only that which implyeth our Imperfectioâ— and what Imperfection can this imply Indeâ—â— we shall not know each other after the flesh nâ—â— by Stature Voice Colour or outward Shapâ— nor by Terms of Affinity and Consanguiniâ—â— nor by Youth or Age nor I think by Sex buâ— by the Image of