greater was his Mercy so unwilling was he that they should perish that he promis'd the interceeding Patriarch that if he cou'd find but ten Righteous Persons amongst them he would save them all But not to multiply Instances which are numberless the liveliest and most breathing Image of the Divine Mercy and Pity the most glorious and ravishing Displays of his unbounded Compassions appears in the wonderful Contrivance of our Restitution the mysterious and Costly Redemption of Lapsed Man This is an Instance of Love so astonishing and unfathomable as will afford new matter through all the Ages of Eternity for the Contemplation and Praises of the Saints and Angels in Heaven Since 't is a Province too great for any Created Being the Son of God himself before whose insupportable Glories the Seraphims veil their faces graciously descends from the Celestial Paradise into the Wilderness of this World to seek his straying Creatures to restore the lost sheep of the House of Israel and with his own Voice to call them back to himself the great Shepherd and Bishop of their Souls He comes in his Father's Name to proclaim Pardon and Forgiveness to all that return to him to demonstrate his infinite Tenderness and Compassion for every Soul of the Sons of Adam that notwithstanding all their Sins he would not have any of them perish not the greatest not the oldest not the most presumptuous of Sinners but that all should come to the Knowledge of the Truth and be sav'd This is his Business This his Errand This the great End and Design of his Coming which having finish'd in all the Parts he undertook and to confirm our Faith seal'd his Letters of Invitation with his own Blood and being now to return to the Father he to the Everlasting Comfort and Joy of Repenting Sinners commands his Apostles to go forth and carry them into all Parts of the World Go * Mark 16.15 says he and Preach the Gospel these glad Tidings of Reconciliation and Peace between God and Man to every Creature And accordingly too St. †2 Cor. 5.19 Paul tells us that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself not imputing to them their trespasses and sins The whole Tenour and Design you see of the Evangelical Dispensation is to bring Sinners to their Saviour to call them off from all their vain Confidences to believe and trust only in the Son of God to beseech them to come to Christ that they may be refresh'd and find Rest unto their Souls And so I am brought to the Second Thing observable in the Text viz. the Person to whom the Invitation is made To Me that is to our only Saviour and Redeemer the Lord Christ Jesus 2. We are not then to unfold our Necessities or to present our Supplications and Prayers to Saints or Martyrs to Patriarchs Prophets or Apostles no not to the Blessed Virgin Mother her self The Votaries indeed of this Glorious Saint in the Romish Church are as a Learned * See a Discourse of the due Praise and Honour of the Virgin Mary intituled Speculum Beatae Virginis Author of our own has shewn at large sufficiently extravagant in the Honours they pay to her They exalt her above the Thrones even of Cherubim and Seraphim array her in the brightest Robes of Majesty and Honour and most religiously and devoutly Romance her into a Deity Nay this is not the Practice only of her private Authors but the more Authentick Voice likewise of her publick Offices in which they frequently invoke her by the paramount Titles of Mother of Mercy Mother of Grace Sweet Parent of Mercy Queen of Heaven the Gate of the Great King the only Hope of Sinners and their most gracious Lady Now these I say are Rants and Excesses indeed Excesses which questionless if known would put the Modesty of this Blessed Virgin to a much greater Blush than did the Appearance and Complement of the Angel Gabriel We confess her Privileges and Prerogatives are singularly great He that is Mighty hath magnify'd her and Blessed is her Name We acknowledge her a most happy Instrument of our Good and therefore shall her Memory be always Dear to us Dear and Honour'd throughout all Generations Dear and Reverenc'd but not worshipp'd and ador'd In a word Her according to her own Prediction will we ever call Blessed but only amongst Women To Her will we ascribe Glory Honour and Praise But to her Son alone with the Father and the Holy Spirit Power Might Majesty and Dominion For to speak a little closer to this Point if the Saints in Heaven This Blessed Virgin and the Rest have no constant Knowledge of our Affairs here below then 't is the Inference of every Elementary Logician and the Concession of the greatest Champions of their own Party that 't is altogether in vain and to no purpose to Pray to them Si non cognoscant nostras orationes videtur otiosum supervacaneum ad ipsos orare are * De Relig tom 2. l. 1. c. 10. Suarez his own Words But that the Saints in Heaven this Blessed Virgin and the Rest have no constant Knowledge of our Affairs here below and consequently that 't is altogether in vain and to no purpose to Pray to them is evident from that of the Prophet †Cap. 63. v. 16. Isaiah Abraham is ignorant of us and Israel knows us not For certainly if Abraham and Israel were ignorant and know nothing of the Affairs of that very People which descended from their own Loins then we have all the Reason in the World to conclude that the Saints in Heaven have no constant Knowledge of us and of our Affairs who are perfect Strangers to their Blood and Families Our Adversaries I know will be here ready to Object That Abraham and Israel were rightly said by the Prophet to be ignorant and to know nothing in his Time of the Affairs of Mankind and consequently that then indeed 't was but in vain and to no purpose to pray to them because before the Resurrection of our Lord the Patriarchs were not admitted into Heaven but lay only in Limbo the Retir'd and Secret Caverns of the Earth where they were utterly excluded from the Vision of God and likewise from all Traffick and Commerce with Men. But that now the case is quite alter'd with them that they are all translated from those Regions of Darkness that State of Expectation those Tabernacles of Hope into the inmost Court of Heaven the Kingdom of their Father the Land of Fruition where their Understandings are so widen'd and enlarg'd that they have a particular entire and perfect Knowledge of all things that are done both in Heaven and Earth and consequently of all the Circumstances Concerns Occurrences and Affairs of every Man's Life so that now they are become the proper Objects of our Devotion being both privy to all our Necessities and also as Fellow-Members of the same Mystical Body most willing and
by a Bull fix'd up by some Priests in London pretended to absolve all her Subjects from their Fealty and Allegiance Witness that Unfortunate Prince Henry III. of France who within the Compass of this last Century was stabb'd by one of his own Subjects James Clement a Monk only for favouring the Protestant Religion Which tho' an Execrable Villainous and Diabolical Act was so far from being censur'd or condemn'd by Sixtus Quintus then Pope that his Holiness both approv'd and also highly extoll'd it in a long Consistory Oration calling it an excellent glorious and memorable exploit not atchiev'd without the special Providence and Appointment of the Great and Good God and the Suggestion and Assistance of his most Holy Spirit Witness that grievous Massacre which in our own memory the Huguenots suffered in France which tho' equalling at least the heat of any of the ten famous Persecutions by the Heathen Emperors was yet applauded by Innocent the Eleventh as a thing pleasing unto God a Sacrifice of sweet savour which would advance that bloody Tyrant to a very eminent Station in the Regions of Immortality 'T would be endless to run through all the Butcheries they have committed No Design so horrible and bloody no Attempt so mischievous and treacherous no Enterprize so base and cruel but what you may find committed by them under the sacred Name of Religion and Conscience For Witness lastly the black unparallell'd Undertaking of this Day when against all the Laws of God and Man of Justice and Gratitude of Humanity and Reason one of the Best of Kings and most Indulgent of Princes was with the Queen and Prince at one Thunder Clap to have been sent to Heaven One might reasonable expect to hear of some unusual Provocation that rais'd these Mens Spirits to such an incredible height of Immanity But alas the most enraged of them never seriously alledg'd any and if they had the very Stones in the Wall would have found a Voice to have condemn'd them For if Mercy and Goodness if Kindness and Benevolence if Paternal Care and Royal Indulgence have any Charms or Endearments they all concentred in that Excellent Prince they thought to have destroy'd Past Experience had richly demonstrated how impatiently these Blood-hounds thirsted after Royal Blood yet so gloriously did his Mercy triumph over his other Virtues that he not only wink'd at their Misdeeds but gave them likewise free Access to his Person honoured some of them with particular Dignities and as he declares * Pag. 253. himself so animated and encouraged them by his as much unexpected as undeserved Favours that they did directly expect and assuredly promise themselves Liberty of Conscience and Equality with his other Subjects in all things And yet as tho' we must first cease to be Men before we can commence Papists and renounce both our Reason and Conscience to become servants to his Holiness tho' under the benign Influence of his so happy Reign they bask'd themselves in the pleasant Rivers of overflowing Felicity tho' I say they sat under his Shadow with great Delight whilst his Banner over them was Love the poysonous Seeds of that pestilential Heresie had as appears from their own Confessions so infected or rather quite choak'd the good Seed of Nature that notwithstanding all the Obligations that Heaven and Earth could lay upon them Hell got the upper hand and they thirsted after his Blood Good God! That Men who profess themselves the Disciples of a poor despis'd and crucifi'd Saviour whose Life tho' he had all the heavenly Host at his Command was one continued Lecture of Humility Meekness and Self-denial and whose whole Doctrine resolvable into this one Precept Love one another should be so far from following his Example in saving Mens Lives and doing all the Good they can that they go about with his Profess'd Adversary seeking whom they may devour That the Professors of that Religion which is made up of Purity Piety Peace and Holiness should delight in cruel Treacheries bloody Massacres and tragical Murthers nay think by so doing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as our * Joh. 16.2 Saviour speaks even to offer a Sacrifice to God as tho' he would be pleas'd with that sort of Worship which the most barbarous and brutish part of Mankind us'd to give to the Devil Does it not seize you with Amazement to think that the Servants of the Prince of Peace should delight above all others to imbrue their hands in Blood and that the Followers of the meek Lamb of God should degenerate into ravenous Wolves and Tygers That the Vicar of Christ who expresly declares that his Kingdom is not of this World should magisteriously take upon him to dispose of Crowns and Scepters and insolently to trample upon the Necks of Kings and Emperours Certainly if these things are indeed consonant to the Principles of Christanity I know no Reason that great Statist Machiavel had to complain that it rendered Men unfit for cruel Undertakings or why those Heathen Emperours which Persecuted it most should not be canoniz'd for Saints since they undoubtedly did the Office of good Patriots in endeavouring to rid the World of such Men who made it their business to turn it upside down But Quid Christiani laeserant Regna terrena How the Christians had caus'd any Molestation or Damage to the Kingdoms of the Earth was justly demanded by St. Austin For tho' from their frequent Discourses of that Kingdom which they expected hereafter their Enemies erroneously suspected them to be disaffected to the Government 't is abundantly evident both from their Writings and Practice that they were Caesar's best Friends They did not indeed with his other subjects exalt him above the Level of despis'd Mortality and therefore they neither gave him Sacrifice nor swore by his Genius but what really became good and pious Men they fought his Battels honour'd his Person rever'd his Power paid his Tribute offer'd up Prayers for him and obey'd his Laws unless where they evidently contradicted the Laws of Christ and where they did submitted to the most cruel Penalties they laid upon them with the greatest Calmness and Serenity of Soul And when notwithstanding all this they were accus'd as indeed they often were as Enemies to Caesar they thought it highly concern'd them for the Honour of their Religion by all means possible to wipe off these Stains which were falsly laid upon them and accordingly we find them in their Apologies and other Writings with all the Zeal imaginable vindicating themselves from such malicious Aspersions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * Cat. 10. says St. Cyril 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We beseech God for the common Peace of the Churches for the Quiet of the World for our Kings their Souldiers and Auxiliaries And †Ap. c. 30. Tertullian Precantes sumus Omnes sempèr pro omnibus imperatoribus and so on i. e. We all do continually pray that God would give our Emperours a long Life a
to the Abominations of their Neighbours or sacrilegiously dividing between Him and Them between the Lame and the Blind and the Almighty God The Temple of the Lord shall not be shut up nor broken down if the Houses of Idols may also stand open and be frequented nor the Priests of the Living God be molested in their Office provided the same Liberty be allow'd to the Worshippers of Daemons In a word They 'll be contented to Worship sometimes before the Ark of the Lord if at others they may as religiously bow themselves in the House of Rimmon and devoutly sing Praises to the God of Heaven may they joyn likewise in the Adorations and Services of Baal This lukewarm indifferent trimming Behaviour this desultory faithless ungodly Temper being justly reprov'd and condemn'd by the Prophets was so far from returning to a due stability in the ways of Godliness that it ran out into the violent outrageous Extreams of Bigotry and Superstition not contenting it self any longer with the Schismatical Erection of Altars against Altars but under the specious Colours of ancient Sophistry the plausible Pretences of a more excellent way of Worship proceeding even to throw down all the Altars of God in the Land to revile persecute and slaughter his Servants and to advance and cherish the Authors of Schism the Incendiaries of Church and State and the Patriots of their Irreligion the Prophets of Baal only As tho' to serve God in his own way was an unreasonable Imposition upon the Liberty of Conscience and the Patriarchs and Prophets were all Idiots and Mad-men because they and their Families would serve the Lord. This revolting light unstable People the Prophet Elijah I say expostulates with in the Text plainly affirming that 't is altogether inconsistent with the Nature of true Piety to halt between two Opinions or as Grotius explains it to alternate and vary in the Objects of their Devotion sometimes Worshipping God and sometimes Baal it being their indispensible Duty once for all to satisfie themselves throughly which of these two is God and then for ever to renounce the one and to fix and centre in the Service of the other How long says he halt ye between two Opinions If the Lord be God follow him But if Baal then follow him How seasonably we may with this Expostulation in our Mouth address our selves to the Present Age I need not inform you Every Man that looks carefully about him and seriously considers the present Posture of Affairs sees 't is absolutely necessary The Life and Spirit of Religion seem to be banish'd out of our Streets and nothing but Scepticism and Incredulity Superstition and Profaneness Hypocrisie and Dissimulation to dwell in our Land To promote their own Ends or the Interest of a Party Men profess themselves Sons of the Establish'd Church frequent her Assemblies conform to her Injunctions and appear zealous and devout in her holy Offices But all this while they do but flatter her with their Mouth and dissemble with her in their Tongue for their Heart is so far from being whole with her that they detest her Constitution repine at her Establishment and constantly strike in with her deadly Enemies endeavouring by all means possible to supplant and overthrow her They talk perpetually of the Loveliness of Friendship and wish that our Jerusalem might at length be at Peace and Unity within her self and yet at the same time they think it no Sin to frequent unlawful Assemblies tho' they thereby widen her Breaches strengthen the Hands of her Enemies confirm their Prejudices and become the Abetters and Promoters of an execrable Schism In a word They are exactly of the same Temper and Complexion with the upbraided People in the Text standing ready as the Tide of their Interest turns to revolt from God to his Rival from Truth to Falshood from Union to Schism from the Church to a Conventicle Now this indifferent Temper they ordinarily stile Moderation which is a Vertue truly excellent and laudable in it self but the least understood by these Men of any in the Circle That only obliges Men to manage their Disputes and to assert their Principles of whose Truth they are fully perswaded with Temper but This allows them to have no Principles at all or at least to act as if they had none and consequently is so far from answering its Character that 't is a very indecent and unreasonable thing odious and abominable in the Sight of God and Good Men most impious in its Nature and pernicious in its Consequences Which will evidently appear from these three Considerations I. That it plainly demonstrates that Men are acted by no fix'd and steddy Principles but are of vagrant and loose Minds unresolv'd in their Judgments unsetled in the Faith and in truth of very little or no Religion at all II. That it exposeth every particular Person to all the various and phantastick Spirits of Error and Delusion And III. The whole Community to Ruin and Destruction 1. This indifferent Temper is both impious in its Nature and also pernicious in its Consequences because it plainly demonstrates that Men are acted by no fix'd and steddy Principles but are of vagrant and loose Minds unresolv'd in their Judgments unsetled in the Faith and in truth of very little or no Religion at all Origen tells Celsus that such is the Nature and Excellency of Christianity that it utterly stript and devested Mankind of all their hereditary and most prevailing Immoralities the Scythian thereby becoming mild and courteous the Persian chast and continent the Roman humble and condescending and the Greek veracious and modest But had the Greek together with the Profession of Christianity still retain'd his Vanity and Falsness the Roman his Pride and Haughtiness the Persian his Softness and Incontinence and the Scythian his Fierceness and Inhumanity Had I say these Nations thus divided between the Christian Vertues and their Pagan Vices Christ and their Idols God and their Lusts the Father had never glory'd in their Accession to the Church but most deservedly excluded them from the Denomination of true Believers For how can he sincerely Believe God to be the Best of Beings who will not Love and Serve him with his whole Heart or Christ to be his only Saviour who shares his Affections between Him and Belial How can he believe Christianity to be a truly divine and heavenly Instituti-who affects it with Lukewarmness Indifferency or Moderation or how can he contend earnestly for the Faith once deliver'd to the Saints who still fluctuates and wavers between two Opinions The Indifferency of his Temper abundantly betrays the Incredulity of his Heart and having no settled Principles he is in danger like a Ship without Ballast to be over-set with every Wind of Delusion and Imposture The Second Thing to be considered 2. This indifferent Temper is both impious in its Nature and also pernicious in its Consequences because it exposeth every particular Person to all the
have any Man's Learning or Piety in such Veneration as to receive all he says for an Oracle for an infallible Rule of your Faith and Manners but that you always remember that you have a great Master in Heaven who has given you a sure and certain Rule to walk by and who expects your Obedience without any Reserve This Caution was given by our Lord himself to his Disciples Mat. 23. and it truly favours of the excellent Wisdom and Providence of its Author For the Proselites of the Pharisees were possest with such a Perswasion of the great Sanctity and unparallell'd Learning of their Masters that they entirely resign'd themselves up to their Conduct and Guidance becoming thereby both in Notion and Practice twofold more the Children of Hell than themselves and those famous Contests between the Thomists and Scotists and other Disputants in the Church of Rome are wholly to be ascrib'd to the over-weening Opinion which they all pertinaciously retain for their own Patriarchs Nay the First Sin that crept into the World came this way for I conceive with a great and learned * Joseph Mede Book 1. Disc xl Author of our own that 't was the too great Opinion which the Woman entertain'd of the Wisdom of the Serpent that induc'd her first to listen to and then to comply with his Suggestions and I doubt not but that the Apostate Spirits themselves might still have kept their Heavenly Habitations had not their deluded Fancies doubled the Glory of that Son of the Morning Lucifer In short †Vid. Hen. Dodwell Ep. 2. Sect. 5. Steph. Penton Appar Spec. ad Theol. par 1. cap. 6. 'T is the superstitious Reverence and unaccountable Honour which the Schoolmen pay to Authority that betrays them into many unhappy Errors as well in their Theological as Philosophical Speculations Honour Men then only as Men. Whatever their Natural or Acquir'd Excellencies may be they are all subject to Error Try all their Doctrines therefore whether they be of God and believe nothing tho' enforced with the greatest Human Authority unless upon due Examination you find it consonant to Scripture and Reason And so I come to the 2. Thing advisable which is That you would try all Things and not take up your Religion upon Trust upon the Authority and Recommendation of your Natural Civil or Spiritual Fathers but that you would let it be what it ought to be a Rational Service the Result of your own mature impartial and well-weigh'd Considerations And what in this I say unto you I would say more particularly to our Dissenting Brethren They are equally guilty with the Romanists in this Point depending too securely upon the Authority and acquiescing in the Reports and Representations of their Leaders I would therefore I say most earnestly intreat them as they will answer it at the Dreadful Day of Judgment when every Man must stand or fall by his own Conscience to judge for themselves and fairly and ingenuously severely and impartially to weigh and consider the Doctrine and Discipline the Principles and Order of our Establish'd Church Could we thus far prevail I am verily parsuaded that those Heats and Passions which now so tumultuously boil in some Mens Bowels against her would all evaporate and expire and we should soon walk together into the House of God as Friends Which I therefore believe because 't is well known that many of her Adversaries have been perfectly reconcil'd to her upon lesser Motives only by venturing to consult their own Senses and calmly and sedately to look into her Devotions The Church did then to their unbiass'd Judgments most clearly unfold her ravishing Beauty and Brightness and their wondring Eyes saw and confess'd her Parts and comely Proportions She appear'd fair as Tirzah comely as Jerusalem and quite contrary to their Expectations terrible to Enthusiasm and Popery too as an Army with Banners I would therefore I say again most earnestly intreat these Persons to lay aside their Prejudices and with their own Eyes seriously to look into and examine her Constitution If she injoyns any thing that 's inconsistent with any Law of Reason any Law or Rule of the Gospel any Article of our Faith any part of Christian Worship or the Practice of the Universal Church in the First and Purest Ages Reason would that we should bear with their Separation But if her Doctrine be truly consonant to the Word of God If her Discipline serves directly to the Beating down the Strong-holds of Sin and to the Promotion of Piety and a Good Life If her Devotions are substantially pious and prudent serious and comprehensive significant and intelligible and Every way most wisely and divinely compos'd If her Ceremonies are not only few in Number but likewise decent grave significant and edifying in their Nature and Use In a word If she does all things according to the Apostolical Injunction Decently and in order after the Primitive Patterns according to the best measures of Human Wisdom If I say she does all this and all this 't will be demonstratively evident to every impartial Enquirer that she does then I cannot but affirm that their Separation from us in point of Conscience is altogether unwarrantable impious schismatical But because they are taught to be deaf to our Apologies and with an unmanly blind implicit Faith to believe us Apostates to Popery and Innovation I would I say most earnestly beseech them to use their own Senses and to read to think and to judge at last for themselves That they would not pass Sentence upon us before they know us nor judge of the Doctrine or Discipline of our Church by the Prejudices of their Education or the disingenuous illaudable Reports of their Partial Leaders but wholly and entirely by the word of God the sure infallible Rule of the Holy-Scriptures A Method which in the next place I likewise most heartily advise you to 3. Then Read the Scriptures This is the Duty of Every Christian requir'd and injoyn'd by the Saviour of our Souls the Lord Christ Jesus Search the Scriptures says * Joh. 5.39 he for in them ye have Eternal Life and they are they which testifie of me And indeed 't was by these that our Lord himself repell'd the impudent Assaults and crafty Insinuations of the Devil that his Apostles both planted and water'd his Church and that the pious Fathers and Councils baffled the Heresies and put to Silence the Ignorance of foolish Men. Let as many of us therefore as can distinguish between Good and Evil Young Men and Maidens Old Men and even Children be conversant in these Writings They are that Rule which if duly attended to will not suffer us to err being not like the Oracles of Daemons wrapt up in intricate obscure ambiguous Expressions but plain and easie to the meanest Understanding Plain and Easie I say in all things necessary to Salvation the Credenda as well as the Agenda of our Religion the things
't is next to Madness say they to suppose that he would suffer their Pains to receive any Diminution which yet the Hurt which according to this Position they are sometimes permitted to do to Mankind would certainly afford them But this seeming Contradiction will be easily reconcil'd if we consider that the like Argument may be urg'd as well against the Absence of good Angels from the Court of Heaven For since 't is piously believ'd on all hands that the Bless'd Inhabitants of those serene and peaceful Mansions are now the time of Probation being gone long ago fully and unalterably confirm'd in Happiness and Glory how can we imagine that their heavenly Father would be so unkind as to deprive them of the Beatifick Intuition of his interiour Beauties and as it were to banish his beloved Sons for a time from the Regions of Bliss And yet we need not be beholden neither to the Egyptians nor to the Platonists for the Confirmation of this Truth the Sacred History more than once assuring us if they do not constantly adhere to and inseparably accompany Good Men yet that they often descended to succour them in their Dangers and are also still 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ministring Spirits sent forth to minister to them who shall be heirs of Salvation Wherefore in Answer to this Objection we may consider That Kindness and Compassion are so twisted and interwoven as I may so say with the very Essences of these glorious Creatures that 't is Heaven to them to relieve and assist their Fellow-Servants here below which being joyn'd to that infinite Delight and Satisfaction which they undoubtedly receive in the Execution of the Divine Will makes abundant Recompence for the seeming Loss of that more plentiful Harvest of Joys which the Blessed reap in the Mansions above And on the other side The Evagation of Evil Spirits from their infernal Dungeon must rather afford them fresh Occasions of Torture than administer any true Solace or real Content For so fierce and implacable so insolent and outrageous so envious and Eternally malicious are these Sons of Perdition that it must needs be Death to them to be frustrated in their Designs and worse if possible than Hell it self to see their Plots and Machinations all defeated and unravell'd How then must they fret and tear their Bowels for Grief to find their weak Attempts trampled on in great Disdain and Triumph by the Regenerate Sons of Adam who dwell securely under the Defence of the Most High and abide continually under the Shadow of the Almighty To see themselves sunk into so low and despicable a condition that they are as light and contemptible as the Dust before the Wind whilst the Angels of the Lord persecute and Scatter them How must they be cloath'd with Shame and Dishoour and Confusion of Face to see those little Mists they endeavour'd to raise utterly dispers'd and vanish'd and the Glory of the Lord shining round about the World and appearing out of Sion in perfect Beauty But not to prosecute these Considerations any farther The bare dismal Apprehensions of that accumulated Punishment which after the Last Day they must certainly undergo for all the Evil they have done amongst Men are sufficient to counterpoise whatever accidentary Satisfaction they seem to receive upon the Earth I foresee but one Scruple more that may arise against this Discourse which is That supposing Men were very well dispos'd to believe all we have said yet those Antick ridiculous Circumstances which in the Narrations even of the gravest Personages do accompany many things of this nature strongly argue the Uncertainty of them all But to this 't will be sufficient to answer with the Learned and Judicious Dr. * Appendix to the Antidote against Atheism c. 12. par 3. More That the Conversation of Evil Spirits amongst us in this World ought to seem never the more incredible for those ludicrous Passages For 't is not at all disconsonant to Reason that such Daemons which have their Haunts near this lower Air and Earth are variously †Hanc opinor ob causam audiunt apud S. Lucam c. 4. v. 33. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 passim apud Ethnicos penates Lares Lamiae Empusae Fauni Satyri Lemures c. laps'd into the enormous Love and Liking of the Animal Life having utterly forsaken the Divine and that therefore there are such Passions and Affections in them as are in Wicked Men and Beasts and that some of them especially bear the same Analogy to an Unfallen Angel that an Ape or Monkey does to a Sober Man so that all their Pleasure is in unlucky ridiculous Tricks This I am sure is fully and clearly attested by * De Abst lib. 2. Porphyry †Orig. cont Cels l. 8. p. 417. l. 7. p. 334. Celsus Origen St. Basil or whoever else was the Author of that Commentary upon Isaiah and others Wherefore 3. I come to shew with what indefatigable Pains and various Stratagems they seek to Ruin Men and with what Cruelty they treat them when they are delivered up into their hands This sublunary Region indeed which Man inhabits is nothing else but a continued Scene of Changes and Revolutions All things in this natural World are subject to Ebbs and Flows and nothing is found in it that acts either uniformly or constantly But the Devil's Malice is of another Constitution it suffers no Intermissions no Vicissitudes but like that stock of Motion which that great Mechanical Wit Descartes supposeth the Universe at first endow'd with it continues always in the same proportion and is never intended or remitted For tho' he may act more fiercely at one time than at another yet certainly he pursues his Revenge in general with the same Earnestness and Vigour and always wills our Ruine in the same measure of Volition Hence it comes to pass that having once gain'd Permission to begin his Assault he like Fire has no Power to suspend his Act but is as entirely determin'd by the Fullness of his Malice as a Natural Agent by the Appetites of Nature Thus as though it had been a small thing to have caus'd infinite Numbers of the Heavenly Host to let fall their Crowns and to have swept away with his Tail the third part of the Stars of Heaven we find him in the way Infancy of the World nay if some say true in the same Day wherein Man was Created plotting and nontriving to ruin all Mankind in their Head And tho' 't is believ'd for very good Reasons that he could not with all his Art and Subtilty entice so much as the Impure and Debauch'd Posterity of Cain to Idolatry before the Flood yet we are too well assur'd that he laid the Foundations of his Empire very early in the World For Historians say that even in the time of Heber who was the fifth from Noah Idolatry began mightily to prevail these Hellish Impostors giving Answers through the Images which Men generally
carv'd to themselves in Memory of their Ancestors and to which upon all Occasions they address'd themselves with the most solemn Veneration And from thence how imperious and domineering how haughty arrogant and cruel how tyrannical and intolerable he shew'd himself to his Worshippers till Christianity appear'd in the World all Histories both Sacred and Profane do abundantly testifie Having exalted himself above all that is called God and the Jews excepted rendred the whole Creation subject to Vanity he sat himself Lordly in the House of God acting there like himself the grand Chief of the Damn'd He sent Miseries and Calamities upon the Theatre of the World for his Sport and Pastime and set on one part of the Creation to bait another for his Diversion Like the immane Roman Emperours he took Pleasure to exercise Men with Dangers and to see them play bloody Prizes before him Neither thousands of Rams nor ten thousands of Rivers of Oyl could satisfie the raging Thirst or Boulimy of this ravenous Wolf He must needs tear in pieces the more excellent Prey and take his Pastime in Rivers of Human Blood Thus in Crete and Africk under the Name of Saturn he glutted his Ears with the last Groans and dismal Accents and his devouring Jaws with the tender Carcasses of slaughter'd Infants Thus in Cyprus Tenedos and Lacedaemonia in Carthage France and Germany in Arabia Scythia Egypt and Rome it self he made himself drunk with the Blood of Men which is attested not only by those Christian Writers * Apol. c. 9. Tertullian and †Divin Institut l. 1. c. 21. Lactantius but likewise by that acute Philosopher and Enemy to Christianity ‖ De Abst l. 2. p. 226. Porphyry who after he had reckon'd up in how many places of the World Human Sacrifices were in use confesses 't was done at Rome in the Feast of Jupiter Latialis even in his time Nay as tho' the Air had been corrupted and Men by natural Breathing drew in the Infection this Contagion spread it self as far as the House of God and the Holy Land it self was defil'd with Blood Not only Aliens and Strangers to the Common-wealth of Israel but even God's own peculiar People was so bewitch'd and besotted as both to adore the Sun when it shin'd and the Moon when she walk'd in her brightness which it self was an Iniquity to be punish'd by the Judge and also to inflame themselves with Idols under every green Tree and to offer their Sons and their Daughters unto Devils Thus tho' his ambitious Designs were balk'd in the Beginning and he fell with all his Legions like Lightning from Heaven tho' he could not be like the Most High in Glory nor erect his Throne next to the Almighty yet he vaunted himself here amongst the deluded Sons of Men and by his Villainies Sophistries and Arts of Terror affrighted them into the Worship and Adoration of his Person Yet even then so great is the Pride and Unbounded the Malice of this cursed Arch-Daemon as though Crowns and Septers and all the Tributary Princes and Potentates of the Earth had been too little as though the Glory of so much Power and the infinite multitude of Slaves and Vassals avail'd him nothing at all whilst good Mordecai bowed not nor did him Reverence he was restless and dissatisfied and with haughty Haman impatiently sought his Ruin He repin'd at those peaceable Halcyonian Days which under the kind influence of Heaven pious Souls did enjoy and whom Providence hedg'd in he chiefly long'd to devour This is fully illustrated in the Instance of Job where as soon as God had permitted to put forth his hand and touch all that he had how did he muster up all the Mischiefs Hellish Malice could invent and with greater Eagerness than that of an Eagle or Vulture seize upon the Prey He plunder'd him in his Estate says the Reverend and Learned Dr. * Patriarchal Dispensation Cave by the Sabaean and Chaldaean Free-booters who left him not an Ox or Ass of all his Herd not a Sheep or a Lamb either for Food or Sacrifice He endeavour'd all he could to blot out his Name from under Heaven having slain his seven Sons and three Daughters at once by the Fall of an House He blasted him in his Credit and Reputation and that by his nearest Friends who had traduc'd and challeng'd him for a Dissembler and an Hypocrite He ruin'd him in his Health having smitten him with sore Ulcers from the Crown of the Head to the Sole of the Foot till his Body became a very Hospital of Diseases Nay that not the least Dawnings of Consolation might peep through this black Cloud of Sorrow and Anguish besides those gastly Spectacles and horrid Apparitions whereby he infested his * Cap. 7. ver 14. Dreams he suggested to his †Cap. 6. ver 4. waking Thoughts sad and uncomfortable Reflexions the Arrows of the Almighty being shot within him the Poyson whereof drank up his Spirits the Terrors of God setting themselves in Array against him And thus for at least twelve Months say the Jews probably for a much longer time did this grand Engineer of all Mischief wreek his Hellish Malice upon this Good Man till God in Mercy put a Period to this tedious Tryal and crown'd his Sufferings with an ample Restitution But if we ascend from these Times to the first Plantings of the Gospel we shall find him yet more eagerly prosecuting all Acts of Hostility possessing Mens Bodies tormenting them with sundry kinds of Diseases and endeavouring if possible to break the very Golden Chain of Predestination Now that dreadful Woe which the * Rev. 12.10 12. Angel with a loud Voice denounc'd from Heaven against the Inhabitants of the Earth and of the Sea was fulfill'd for the Devil was come amongst Men having great Wrath because he had but a short time He saw the Prophecies were all fulfill'd that the Scepter was departed from Judah and a Law-giver from between his Feet that therefore Shiloh was suddenly to come unto whom the gathering of all People should be He saw that his Coming was now grown not only the Expectation of the Jews but the common discourse too of all the Heathen Nations That there was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as St. Cyril says of him a great and eminent Harbinger who in the Power and Spirit of Elias introduc'd and usher'd in the Arrival of this Son of Righteousness and spake great and glorious things of this Son of God Wherefore not to mention his persecuting him a poor helpless Infant by jealous Herod nor yet to re-mind you of those many Troubles which he afterwards created him from the hypocritical ambitious blood-thirsty Pharisees that he might leave no stone unturn'd nothing unattempted whereby he might compass his Designs he impudently attacks the Redeemer of the World himself and perceiving him to be a Person of greater Sanctity and Perfection than to be mov'd by sensual and low Desires
Purposes nor provoke him by our Continuance in sin to let us fall into the hands of these Enemies who already distress us in our very Gates The Arrows of the Lord are every where in the Earth and shall not the Inhabitants of the World learn Righteousness If we have any real Love for our selves any Concern for our true and main Interest let us open our Ears to Discipline and presently return from all our Iniquities For we shall not serve God for nought He will make an hedge about us and about our House and about all that we have on every side His Hand shall hold us fast and his Arm shall strengthen us so that the Enemy shall not be able to do us violence nor these wicked Spirits approach to hurt us Not to hurt us therefore I say because tho' he permit them to cast us into the Furnace of Affliction yet he does it only to refine and purifie us from our Dross He may use them as sharp and cutting Instruments but then 't is with this merciful Design of letting out our Corruption In short However they may sometimes seem to triumph over us in this World yet certainly there will be an End and our Expectations shall not be cut off When Death shall draw back the Curtain the Face of things shall be utterly chang'd Then shall the Righteous Man stand in great boldness before the face of such as afflicted him and made no account of his Labours and they shall say within themselves This is he whom we had sometime in Derision and a Proverb of Reproach we Fools endeavour'd to make his Life Madness and to cause his End to be without Honour but how in spight of all our Malice is he numbred among the Children of God and whilst we are condemned to Everlasting Torments His lot is among the Saints 2. Since we are besieg'd on every side by such potent subtil and treacherous Enemies let us take care to be always upon our Guard and since our Journey is dangerous and our Way slippery let him that thinks he stands surest take continual heed lest he fall The latter Platonists indeed talk much of a Class of Beings call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Unites Goodnesses Minds or Intellects which they suppose to be as Essentially immutable as the Father of Lights with whom is no variableness or shadow of turning but we have not so learnt Christ And tho' I cannot deny but that as some Men for a long obstinate uninterrupted abuse of God's Grace are at last justly given up to their own Hearts Lusts and suffer'd with the utmost bent of their Souls to follow their own Imaginations so the Analogy of Reason seems to require that others who in spight of all Opposition have for a long time manfully resisted the Devil and in the midst of Temptations faithfully adher'd to the Commandments of God should at length be so firmly established with his Free Spirit that they should never be mov'd but become burning Lamps to give constant Light in the Temple of God yet since no Man no not the Chosen Vessels and chiefest Favourites of Heaven could scarce ever assure themselves of so happy a State but were perpetually forc'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to use Roughness to their Bodies and to keep them in Subjection least after all they should become Cast-aways I think it highly concerns every one of us to keep our Souls diligently to lift up the hands that hang down and to strengthen the feeble Knees to hold fast that which we have that neither Man nor Devil deprive us of our Crown Lastly Let us look up to Heaven and with Hearts full of Joy and Gratitude bless that God to whom alone we owe the Happiness of all those Hours and Days of Peace in which we sit securely under our Vines and eat the pleasant Fruit of our Fig-trees and see no Serpent winding his voluminous Trunk about the Branches and presenting us with fair Fruit to ruin us 'T is the Lord's doing that we have the Quietness of a Minute and it ought to be marvellous in our Eyes for if he had not put a Bit into our Enemies Mouth but should suffer him cruelly to fall upon us he would render us of all things in the World the most miserable Our Tables would become a Snare to us our Beds a Torment our Dreams fantastick lustful and illusive Every Sense should have its Object of Delight and Danger an Hyaena to kiss and to perish in its Embraces How strongly then are we oblig'd to adore the Lord by whom cometh Salvation and to Love and Praise that God by whom we escape Death Who out of the Abundance of his overflowing Goodness miraculously rescues us from the base and miserable Slavery of these Evil Spirits into the glorious Liberty of the Sons of God O how plentiful may we say with the Royal * Psal 31. ver 21. Psalmist is his Goodness which he hath laid up for them that fear him and that he hath prepar'd for them that put their Trust in him even before the Sons of Men Tho' they walk in the dark and gloomy Valleys of the Shadow of Death and are encompass'd by Enemies on every side yet by his infinite Mercy and abundant Grace he turns them from Darkness to Light and from the Power of Satan unto the Living God Wherefore to him who is thus able to keep us from falling and notwithstanding all the malicious Attempts of our Ghostly Enemies to present us faultless before the Presence of his Glory with exceeding Joy To the only wise God Our Saviour be Glory and Majesty Dominion and Power now and ever Amen COLOS. iii. 2. Set your affection on things above not on things on the Earth THAT 't is our Interest as well as Duty to set our Affection on things above not on things on the Earth I shall without any preliminary Discourse briefly evince from these following Reasons I. Because they only are proportion'd to the utmost Capacity of the Soul and consequently they only can yield her true Satisfaction whereas all things here are vain insufficient empty and unsatisfying II. Because they only are Permanent Sure and Certain whereas all things here are frail short and uncertain III. Because they only refine and spiritualize our Nature widen and enlarge our Faculties and so fit and prepare us for the spiritual and abstracted Entertainments of an Immortal and Divine Life whereas all things here degravate and weigh down the Soul reach out to her that Cup of Oblivion which makes her forget her own Nature and Excellencies and ingloriously to take up with the enjoyments of Brutes 1. 'T is our Interest as well as Duty to set our Affection on things above not on things on the Earth because they only are proportion'd to the utmost Capacity of the Soul and consequently they only can yield her true Satisfaction whereas all things here are vain insufficient empty and unsatisfying Whoever diligently attends to the
consume away and constrain the Wise and thinking Few to pronounce them Vanity But as the Things that are seen these present Entertainments of Sense are Temporal so the Things that are not seen those Glories Crowns and Scepters that expect us in the other World are Eternal Heaven is an Eternal Sabbath the Saints Everlasting Rest Their Inheritance is not only Undefil'd but incorruptible likewise and such as fadeth not away There they Labour no more Sin no more Sorrow no more but secure of the Everlasting Fruition of those Unutterable Glories bask themselves in the pleasant Rivers of overflowing Felicity Their Crowns are set with the invaluable and sparkling Diamonds of Immortality Their Glory is immarcessible and suffers no Eclipse and they follow the Lamb in white Robes and shine like the Stars in the Firmament for Ever and Ever O come then thou bright and Everlasting Day and break in upon these sad benighted Souls of ours Put an End to this toilsome this wearisome State and take us into the possession of thine own Rest and Peace that these superficial fallacious Pleasures may never beguile us more but we securely Sabbatize in the Kingdom of God the Eternal Comprehensions of Celestial Glory 3. 'T is our Interest as well as Duty to set our Affection on things above not on things on the Earth because They only refine and spiritualize our Nature widen and enlarge our Faculties and so fit and prepare us for the spiritual and abstracted Entertainments of an immortal and Divine Life whereas all things here degravate and weigh down the Soul reach out to her that Cup of Oblivion which makes her forget her own Nature and Excellencies and ingloriously to take up with the Enjoyments of Brutes When the deluded Soul is once taken Captive by the superficial false glossing Excellencies of temporary Objects and suffers herself to be lull'd asleep in the Lap of sensual Enjoyments they immediately spoil her of her Strength and Beauty and betray her into the hands of her immortal Enemies They entirely shave off those golden Locks which rendred her at once invincible and comely and by clipping her radiant and sublimating Wings confine her to the lower Regions of Sense and Materiality Nay by the delusive Strains of their Magical Songs they so effectually steal away and inchant her Affections that she grows utterly unmindful of her Relations above and resigns herself wholly to their unequal Embraces Her noble Aspirations which could easily ascend above the utmost Limits of corruptible Nature into the boundless Habitations of immortal Blessedness like heavy terrene Exhalations arise now no higher than the Regions of Sense and all the rational and delicious Entertainments of abstracted Contemplations give way to the vile impure suggestions of an earthly sensual and brutish Imagination In short They so vastly decline her from her true and natural Point and sink her so low into the loathsome Faeculencies of the material World that as tho' 't was the Perfection of her Nature to be subservient to the Body and uninterruptedly to enjoy the beggarly Delights and Gratifications of Sensuality she openly Prosecutes the exalted Entertainments of the Divine Life with all the Expressions of Rudeness and Disdain and shamelesly chooseth that for her Portion and Inheritance which is the particular and discriminating Curse of the Serpent Vpon thy Belly shalt thou go and Dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life But now as the scanty disproportionate Enjoyments of Sense naturally debase and impoverish the Soul so do the Contemplation of spiritual Objects unconceivably improve and enlarge all her Faculties As when Moses convers'd with his most glorious Maker and the attending Myriads of Holy Ones upon Mount Sinai he deriv'd upon his Face such Reflexions of their Beauty such bright and vivid Irradations of their excellent Glory that the Children of Israel could not look stedfastly upon it so when we frequently meditate upon the noble and exalted Beings of the other World they naturally dilate and expand all our Faculties sublimate and brighten our enlarged Spirits till they appear like those of their own Company Beautiful and Majestick as the Sons of the Morning They raise such importunate and insatiable Desires such towring and seraphick Aspirations in the Soul as will acquiesce and terminate only in the blissful Enjoyments of the Supreme Good the everlasting Fruition of his incomprehensible Glory The best Enjoyments the noblest Entertainments this World can afford savour of nothing now but Dung and Filthiness to their Palates which can relish nothing but the Dew of Heaven the spiritual Manna the Food of Angels those pure and divine Joys which refresh the Saints above for evermore And thus whereas the Degenerate Soul which is clogg'd with the Propensions of the Animal Life needs no angry Cherub with a flaming Sword to keep her unhallow'd hands from off the Tree of Life her own corrupted Nature as the excellent Pythagorean and Academick have long since observ'd being utterly uncapable of the Joys of Heaven this enlarg'd and purify'd Soul on the contrary is duly qualify'd for the noblest Entertainments of that exalted State From the Suitableness and Congruity of her Faculties with the Objects she will sweetly centre upon those intellectual Pleasures and most amply spend all her Powers upon the Infinite and Essential Goodness as upon her most proper Object the End of her Being the Author and Finisher of her Happiness and Glory In a word She will go away from her earthly Tabernacle ready tun'd to the Musick of Heaven in the first moment of her Entrance skilfully strike in with the Quires of Angels and harmoniously raise her Voice to the Songs of Sion Thus you have my Reasons which enforce the Exhortation in the Text. I shall now briefly deduce from them two or three practical Inferences and conclude 1. Then You have seen how vain insufficient empty and unsatisfying all the Profits and Pleasures of this World are that the whole Earth tho' chang'd into one Paradise would not be able to yield the Soul Satisfaction and likewise if it could that she is not certain of enjoying it one minute Let this Consideration then teach us to pray with the Excellent * Vide Simplicii Orationem apud Jamblichum ad calcem notarum Edit Ox. eandem videas ad finem Epicteti Philosopher That we may know our selves and not devote our Exalted Nature to the empty Gayeties of these momentary Bubbles but apply our Minds constantly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the glorious Realities of the other World the substantial Entertainments of Life and Immortality Let it remind us I say not to trust in these uncertain Riches these broken Reeds these slender Stays of Vanity these Impertinencies Dreams and Nothings but to lay up our Treasures in Heaven those secure and everlasting Store-houses where no Thief approacheth nor Moth corrupteth nor Death which blasts all our Enjoyments here interposeth but we shall reign Kings and Princes with our God for
Glorified Spirits to behold admire and praise his excellent Greatness and when our enlarged Souls shall fly away to the same blissful Mansions and be admitted to the Comprehensions of an intuitive Beatitude they shall with equal Satisfaction contemplate his Divine Beauty and as skilfully tune their Harps to his Praises as they Let us therefore in the mean time lay our Hand upon our Mouth and with all due Prostration both of Body and Mind adore this great Mystery of Goodness this astonishing Miracle of the Divine Mercy and Condescention which though above the adequate Comprehension of our Reason is put beyond all possibility of Distrust being most amply confirm'd to us by the concurrent and infallible Testimony of God Angels and Men. At his Baptism and Transfiguration you know he was proclaim'd by a Voice from Heaven to be the Beloved Son of God in whom he was well pleas'd And again when he bringeth in his First-begotten into the World he commands that this Exinanition of himself this Obscuration of his Essential Glory under the Veil of Humane Flesh may not diminish one Ray from the Honour of his Divine Majesty but that all the Potentates in Heaven and Earth fall down and worship him Worship him †Psal 97.7 says he all ye Gods all ye Angels and Thrones in Heaven all ye Kings and Judges of the Earth The holy Angels with their usual Chearfulness obey'd the Royal Orders They humbly ador'd the holy Child Jesus and stood ready through all the Periods of his Life to Serve and Worship him St. Peter though he saw him not so clearly as these Blessed Spirits generously confess'd that he was Christ the Son of the Living God and he receiv'd this Confirmation from the Mouth of our Lord himself That Flesh and Blood had not reveal'd it unto him but his Father only which is in Heaven Nay to the everlasting Shame and Confusion of the unbelieving Sons of Men the Devils themselves have ever subscrib'd to this Article They knew and confess'd him here on Earth and still believe and tremble The over-aw'd and trembling ‖ Vid. Suidam in August Oracle plainly confess'd to the Roman Emperour at his Birth that though he appear'd under all the disadvantageous Circumstances of Humanity and Weakness He was the Soveraign Lord and King of the blest Beings above * Luke 8.28 which was afterwards confirm'd by a whole Legion of unclean Spirits when in the Man possess'd they joyntly lifted up their Voices to him with a Jesus thou Son of God Most High But to what purpose I say was all this or why all this Noise and Ostentation had he not been the Son of God in another and more excellent manner than were any of the Sons of Men who either liv'd with him or that went before him had there not been something in it extraordinary that entitled him to so sublime and divine a Privilege Angels Kings and Prophets I confess are frequently call'd the Sons of God They have a larger Participation of his Power or a Communication of more special Grace than is indulg'd and granted to his other Children but yet their Honour and Dignity fall infinitely short of that of Jesus the Son of God For to which of the Angels said he at any time Thou art my Son this Day have I begotten thee Or who is he amongst all those exalted Sons of the Most High whom the Father advanc'd to sit at his own Right-hand till his Enemies are made his Footstool David you know was a King and yet he calls him Lord and John the Baptist though he was more than a Prophet was never by Angels Men or Devils acknowledg'd to be properly the Son of God no these are the high Prerogatives of our Lord Christ Jesus to him alone belong the most glorious and supereminent Titles of his own Son his only Son his only Begotten and the Heir of all things So that in all things I say he has the Preheminence But the Scriptures if possible speak plainer yet They not only instruct by natural and necessary Illations and Consequences but also to prevent all Cavils and Disputes are careful in many places to assert this Truth as clearly and as expresly as Words can speak * Joh. 20.28 29. St. Thomas believes and confesseth to him that he is his Lord and God and those who should afterwards inherit the same Faith are pronounced Blessed The Beloved †Joh. 1.1 Disciple is positive that the Word was God and in the Close of his first Epistle speaking of Jesus to shew against an Objection which he rightly foresaw would be afterwards urg'd against the Christians that they might safely worship him without any Fear or Danger of that Idolatry which the Heathens were guilty of in worshipping their Daemons This says he is not Deus factus a made God a God by Office not by Nature but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the True God The Learn'd * 1 Cor. 15.87 1 Tim. 3.16 Rom. 9.5 Apostle adds that this Second Man is the Lord from heaven and God manifested in the Flesh and again most blasphemously if not truly this being that particular Eulogy which is due only to Jehovah the one Supreme Eternal God of Israel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God over all Blessed for Ever and Ever Nay not to mention the many Repetitions of this most glorious Doxology to him in other places of Scripture This is that good Confession our Lord himself made before his Judge He had all along to the Rage and Amazement of his Enemies held his peace shewing by his Silence that he despis'd all their Accusations as certain and apparent Calumnies But no sooner is urg'd to determine this Point but he opens his Mouth and decides the matter I adjure thee by the living God * Mat. 26.63 64. says the High-Priest that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ the Son of God Jesus after their modest way of Affirmation saith unto him Thou hast said Or as St. Mark more positively Jesus said I am 'T is certain the High-Priest understood him not in that Vulgar Sense wherein Great and Righteous Persons Kings and Prophets are call'd the Sons of God but that he affirm'd himself to be so in the Literal Proper and Natural Signification of the words For otherwise he could not upon the account of this Confession have charg'd him with Blasphemy nor consequently the Council have voted him to be guilty of Death Thus too in the Fifth of St. John he tells the Jews plainly that God is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his own Father making himself thereby as they rightly concluded to be Equal with God And in another Conference with them in the Tenth of that Evangelist He not only owns himself to be the Christ and the Son of God in the most proper sence but adds farther that He and his Father are One One not in Will only but in Essence Glory Honour and Power I am sure the Jews understood him
so are become the Objects of our Devotion from the constant and faithful Relations of daily ascending Saints and Angels from the Informations and kind Intercourses of Guardian Angels and the narrations of such happy Spirits as leaving their Earthly Tabernacle daily ascend thither because 't is evident you see that there are many things here amongst us which these Saints and Angels can never understand many Designs and Contrivances many Wishes and Desires many Vows and Prayers that are lodg'd only in the Heart and consequently are known only unto God Wherefore 4. The Saints in Heaven have not a particular entire and perfect Knowledge of all things that are done in Heaven and Earth and consequently of all the Circumstances Concerns Occurrences and Affairs of every Man's Life and so are become the Objects of our Devotion from the vision of the Divine Essence which they call Speculum Trinitatis Now 't is a great Question amongst Learn'd Men Whether the Blessed Spirits above are indeed capable of seeing the Divine Essence and many of no ordinary note espouse the Negative thinking it as impossible for a Created Finite Being to behold the Essence of an Uncreated Infinite Being as 't is for a Bird of Night to gaze steddily upon the Sun Which Opinion if true entirely destroys this Speculum Trinitatis and dashes it with its Consequences all to pieces upon the Ground But I confess I hitherto see nothing that can induce me to embrace it The Affirmative seems most consonant both to Scripture and Reason When Moses humbly desir'd that God would vouchsafe to shew him his Glory or to imprint upon his Mind a clear distinct Idea of his Divine Essence he was answer'd That he could nor have his wish now whilst he lay under the Disadvantages of Mortality because he was a God dwelling in such Light as no Mortal Eye could approach but that he should so see him hereafter when these Impediments should be remov'd and he happily invested with the stronger Privileges of Immortality Thou can'st not see my Face says God Exod. 33.20 for there shall no man see me and live For these words certainly imply That tho' he could not now by reason of the thick Veil of his flesh yet that he should see his Essence hereafter both when his Earthly Tabernacle should be dissolv'd and laid aside and also when he should receive it again all clarify'd and spiritualiz'd Moses himself undoubtedly understood them thus for had he thought otherwise and that he was never to be admitted to the Intuition of his Maker's Glory the naked clear and real Vision of his Divine Essence but that he was for ever to rest in Symbals and Figures in reflected Glories and secondary Manifestations which was to find his Ultimate Happiness in some thing really distinct from his God his devout affectionate Soul which so ardently breath'd after the most intimate Fruition even of the Living God would never have been satisfy'd with this uncomfortable Answer but we had questionless heard of the sad Complaints the bitter Bemoanings and doleful Accents of his disconsolate Spirit who when the natural Byass of her Desires mov'd necessarily towards God trembling continually like the amorous Needle for the Embraces of that most Lovely and Amiable Object was yet for ever excluded from his Beatifick Presence the Contemplation and Fruition of the interiour Beauties of her Belov'd And indeed we all so naturally desire to see this First Cause this Parent of Nature and the Author of all our Beings that tho' we were surrounded with all the Sweets of Paradise all the other most exquisite Delights and Entertainments that Heaven can afford yet without Him they would but fade and wither and dwindle into nothing and our restless dissatisfy'd Spirits would still in the midst of them all be impatiently crying out Ah! Where Where is our God For as He is the First of Beings so is He the Last of Ends 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says Plato rightly that proper and principal End of Rational Beings the Vision of whom alone can satisfie the aspiring Soul and in the Circle of whose Embraces only the immoratal Spirit finds Rest and Peace and Joy for Evermore See him then we shall in the other World See the Soveraign Fair openly and clearly really and as He is Now we hear of him by the Ear but then shall our Eye with Joy and Triumph see him Now we see through a glass darkly but then Face to Face Now we know only in part but then shall we know even as we our selves also are known This Expression I readily acknowledge is not to be understood according to the Strictness of the Letter As we are known is a Note of Similitude only not of Equality for the Sun may as well be included in a Spark of Fire as God be comprehended by our Finite Faculties Know him then we shall not so as to comprehend him but so as to be ravish'd and for ever transported with his Essential Perfections The Light of a Candle as truly shines as the Light of the Sun tho' not with equal Extent and Splendour so shall our Knowledge be truly like His reaching even His Divine Essence tho' not Equal to His in comprehending it as He does ours Thus far then are we and our Adversaries agreed The Saints in Heaven do really view and contemplate the Divine Essence But now to say that they behold in it all things that are done in Heaven and Earth and consequently all the Circumstances Concerns Occurrences and Affairs of every Man's Life and so are become the Objects of our Devotion is most absurd and ridiculous If you let a Vessel down into the Sea 't will indeed be fill'd to the utmost of its Capacity but then you know it must needs overflow because 't is impossible it should receive into its Bosom the vast Congeries of that inexhaustible Abyss So admit the Saints into the Presence of their Maker where they may clearly and distinctly behold his Divine Essence their Finite Understandings may indeed by his voluntary Revelations be filled with all that Knowledge they are capable of receiving but then 't is necessary they likewise overflow because 't is absolutely impossible they should be widen'd and enlarg'd to the infinite and boundless Comprehensions of Omniscience This besides the Reason of the thing which assures us that 't is absolute impossible any Being should have the Attributes of the Divine Nature which has not the Divine Nature it self is plain from the Instance of the Angels These Blessed Spirits were before the Incarnation of our Lord admitted into their Father's House the Mansions of Glory the Royal City of the Heavenly King The time of their Probation was over and gone and they all unalterably confirm'd in a state of Happiness and Glory Their Business and Employment was to contemplate the Unfolded Beauties of the Divine Countenance and to sing continually in the Presence of the Lord that Great is the Glory of their
Eloquence taken up by Orators in expressing their own and moving the affections of others but never us'd by any as a Form of Prayer or a Mode of addressing their Devotions to the Deceas'd But we need not seek far for the Sence of Antiquity in this Matter The Fathers have sufficiently declar'd their Opinion in their Controversie with the Arians These Hereticks divested the Blessed Jesus of his Divinity diminish'd and degraded him into a mere Creature and yet held it lawful to pay him Religious Worship This tho' the Arians declar'd they worship'd him only with an inferiour degree of Worship parallel to what our Adversaries now call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or that Degree which is peculiar only to the Supreme God was universally abhorr'd and detested by the Fathers who look'd upon it as an impious Restauration of Pagan Idolatry 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says Athanasius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Why do not these Arians since they are of this Opinion descend into the Class of the Unbelieving Gentiles for they are all guilty of one and the same kind of Idolatry Worshipping the Creature besides the Creator But now if the Arians were thus peremptorily condemn'd by the Fathers for Idolatry because they worshipp'd the Blessed Jesus tho' but with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as they suppos'd him to be a Creature then how is it possible for our Adversaries to escape the same Condemnation who pay the same degree of worship to those we all know to be Creatures The Arians suppos'd the Son of God to be a Creature but were in the wrong and therefore tho' Formally Idolaters according to their own mistaken Hypothesis yet were they not Materially and Really so But these Men know for certain that the Saints they worship are indeed but Creatures and therefore are as well Materially as Formally Idolaters The Arians worshipp'd the Son indeed as a Creature but then not as an Ordinary Inferiour Creature but as the first the most glorious and the most excellent of all Creatures by whom as an Instrument all the others were made and yet were found Guilty How then shall these Men escape who worship in the same manner these ordinary Inferiour Beings whom we all know to be the Workmanship of his hands as he is God But tho the Saints are to have no part or share in our Devotions yet may we not humbly present our petitions before the Exalted Thrones of Angels and Archangels The Saints indeed were Persons of like Passions with our selves they had their Slips and Miscarriages here upon Earth and now in Heaven still bear the Marks and Badges of their Sins being depriv'd of half of themselves their Bodies But these Blessed indefective Spirits are the First-born Sons of the Heavenly King the most Correct and Amiable Patterns of his Essential Purity and Holiness and certainly he expects we should peculiarly honour them whom himself in so especial a manner delights to honour Honour them indeed we will and in the way most becoming such glorious and Exalted Beings We will endeavour to copy out their heavenly Vertues to transcribe their Heroick Exellencies and to live like Angels here that we may for ever live with them hereafter But to pray to them to invoke them to implore their Aid and Assistance in the time of our Need is what neither they desire nor we can give 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 see not Rev. 19.10 and 22.9 was the Heavenly Messengers abrupt and hasty prohibition to St. John when dazzled and overcome by his Extraordinary Glory he would erroneously have worshipp'd him for his Adorable Master and he that dares do this holds not the Head says * Col. 2.19 St. Paul but vainly pust up by his fleshly Mind degenerates as the whole Laodicean †Vid. Balsamon Canon p. 841. Council in its thirty fifth Canon truly declares into the Abominable and Sacrilegious Rites of the Idolatrous Jews and Gentiles For whatever Fig-leaves Men may sew together to cover their Nakedness withal 't is most certain that they who in these Nations worshipp'd their Baalim their Daemons or Angels most did it upon the very same Principles as our Adversaries do at this day The ‖ Vid. Plat. sym Apul. de Daemon Socrat. Grotium in 2. cap. Ep. ad Col. v. 18. Pythagoreans ‖ Vid. Plat. sym Apul. de Daemon Socrat. Grotium in 2. cap. Ep. ad Col. v. 18. Platonists and other Learned Heathens will answer for themselves and the Rabbins as they are cited at large by the learned ‖ Intell. Gust p. 468 469. Cudworth for both Jews and Gentiles that they were always so far from thinking by such worship to derogate any thing from the Honour of the Lord Jehovah whom tho' under different Names they all equally acknowledge to be the Common Father of Gods and Men that they did verily believe he was highly pleas'd at that sort of Worship which they gave these his Extraordinary Ministers the Honour redounding chiefly to himself that made them and also that he accepted their Humility who duly sensible of their own Vileness and Unworthiness dar'd not to approach his awful Majesty without the Introduction of such mighty Favourites such Beloved Mediators And yet notwithstanding these so specious Pretences our * Rom. 1. Apostle expressly declares of the Gentiles that when they knew God they glorify'd him not as God but were therefore vain in their Imaginations because they worshipp'd the Creatures tho' not as so many Supreme Independent Beings but only as Mediators of Intercession 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Besides the Creator and the Prophets continually bait the Jewish Church for these things with the soul and odious Name of Whore Prostitute Whore and Abominable Harlot So that you see 't is the peculiar Honour the incommunicable Prerogative of the Son of God as the Learned †Orig. cont Cels l. 5. p. 233. l. 8. p. 382.384.395 Father peremptorily and frequently inculcates to be our Mediator to receive our Devotions and to intercede for us at the Right hand of the Father Prayer then shall be made only unto him and daily shall he be prais'd He is the way the Truth and the Life and no man can come unto the Father but by Him As in the Earthly Tabernacle the High-Priest only entered into the most Holy Place beyond the Veil there to be an Agent with God for the People so our only High-Priest the Blessed Jesus has therefore by his own blood entred into the Holy of Holies the Heavenly Tabernacle that there he may appear in the Presence of God for us He is that Angel with the golden Censer who offers the Incense the Prayers of the Saints upon the golden Altar before the Throne that Angel of the Presence that Messenger of the Covenant who is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him Tho' therefore there be as the Learn'd * 1 Cor.
into the Kingdom of God Yet he means not by this Assertion utterly to exclude all Rich Men from the Hopes of Heaven but only signifies to us that 't is a very hard and difficult matter for them that trust in Riches saying to Gold Thou art our Hope and to the fine Gold Thou art our Confidence ever to undertake the severer Discipline of the Gospel here and consequently to be made Partakers of his Glory in the Kingdom of Heaven hereafter How hard is it says he to his astonish'd Disciples for them that trust in Riches to enter into the Kingdom of God In like manner say these Learned Men when he positively asserts that all Sins and Blasphemies whatsoever shall be forgiven unto Men but that the Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall never be forgiven he means not that 't is absolutely impossible it should ever be forgiven but only that it shall not be forgiven so easily but more hardly and with greater Difficulty than any other Sin or Blasphemy whatsoever Non utiquè quod remitti non possit as the fore-cited Jesuit not that it cannot he forgiven at all but because they who commit it nullam peccati sui excusationem habent are utterly destitute of all Apologies and Excuses and therefore are more unpardonable than other Men. I confess I can determine nothing in this matter whether this Sin be irremissible or not I can only answer with the humble Prophet Lord thou knowest God's gracious dealing indeed with David after his Adultery and Murther with Peter after his Denial of his Master with Paul after his persecuting the Church and with a thousand other Sinners of the same Magnitude obligeth me to believe that there is no Sin or Blasphemy whatsoever which is irremissible in respect of God and that therefore if the Sin against the Holy Ghost be indeed irremissible 't is only because it utterly excludes those who commit it from Repentance But tho I dare not be positive as to the Consequences of this Sin yet what is a greater matter of Comfort to despairing Souls I may venture to affirm that as to the Nature of it 't is such as cannot be committed by any Christian If you ask me what 't is I briefly answer That 't is a Total Apostasie and Final Falling away from Christ and his Gospel I say a Total Apostasie and Final Falling away And yet not every Total Apostasie and Final Falling away neither For 't is possible a poor ignorant Soul may be so decluded as to Apostatize from Christianity to Mahometism or some other Imposture and yet still believe Christ to have been a very good Man But this is such a Total Apostasie such a Final Falling away from Christ and his Gospel as is attended with the greatest Virulency Rancour Spight and Malice against both as can be imagin'd When a Man not only utterly renounceth the known Truth but also doth hate and abhor Christ and his Word doth revile and spit upon him doth with the Scribes and Pharisees crucifie and mock him and is so far from acknowledging him to be the Son of God or indeed so much as a good Man who did all his Miracles by the Power and Assistance of the Holy Spirit that he most maliciously and despitefully after full Conviction of his Conscience to the contrary pronounceth him the greatest of Cheats a most grand Impostor the Eldest Son of the Devil who acted only by Commission from Beelzebub the Prince of the Devils This I take to be plain from our Saviour's own Words when he mention'd this Sin There was brought unto him says the Evangelist one possess'd with a Devil blind and dumb Matt. 12. compar'd with Mark 3. and he heal'd him insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and saw The People amaz'd at this great Miracle gave Glory to him confessing him to be in very deed the promis'd Messiah the Son of David But the Scribes and Pharisees mov'd with envy tho' they knew the Miracle to be the Effect only of the Spirit of God yet to lessen his Reputation among the People declar'd against their own Consciences that 't was not by any Divine Authority but purely by Vertue of a black Confederacy with the Infernal Powers that he did these things This Fellow say they with unparallell'd Rancour and Disdain doth not cast out Devils but by Beelzebub the Prince of the Devils Upon this says our Lord All Sins shall be forgiven unto the Sons of Men and Blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme but he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness but is in danger of eternal damnation And then is added the Reason of this Assertion which plainly shews what the Sin against the Holy Ghost is in these words because they said He hath an unclean Spirit Now then My Brother do'st thou believe and confess That our Lord Jesus Christ is in very deed the Eternal Son of the Living God That when he was here upon Earth he acted only by Commission from his Father and that the Mighty Works which did shew forth themselves in him were done by the Vertue and Power of his own most Holy Spirit If thou dost then be of good cheer that hast not yet and as long as thou continuest in this Faith thou canst not commit this Sin against the Holy Ghost Nothing now but thy Impenitence can separate between thee and thy God Thou hast his own word for 't All sins and blaspemies whatsoever shall he forgiven unto the Sons of Men tho' perhaps this Sin against the Holy Ghost which thou hast not committed shall never be forgiven Break off thy sins then by Repentance and they shall all be forgiven thee Depart out of Babylon and come to Christ and thou shalt be refresh'd and find Rest unto thy Soul And so I come to the Last Thing observable in my Text viz. the Benefit of accepting our Lord's Invitation I will give you Rest 4. What joyful Tidings are these What Ease is here to wounded Consciences what Comfort to Despairing Sinners * Cant. 2. v. 11 12. Lo the Winter that dismal time wherein Ignorance Error and Superstition like Floods in the Winter-season overflow'd the earth is past and the Rain those cloudy uncomfortable days wherein we could see and enjoy but little of him is over and gone All the tokens of a new World appear and invite us to come and partake of heavenly joys and pleasures The Flowers appear on the Earth All manner of Blessings spring up in abundance now the Sun of Righteousness is risen upon us The time of the singing of Birds is come and the voice of the Turtle is heard in our land The heavenly Host sing for Joy and excite all Mankind to praise their Saviour with joyful Lips Is then thy Soul full of Sorrow and Heaviness and drooping under the Apprehensions of thine approaching Judgment Does thy Conscience tell thee That Hell is thy Portion and thine Inheritance in the