Subservient to the Glory of the other The Soul is enshrined in the Corporeal Light and Splendour of the Body and the Body is animated all over by the Intellectual Light and Glory of the Soul The Glory of the Soul shall shine through the Transparent Brightness of the Celestial Body The Soul shall not abase the Body nor that seduce the Soul any more for ever There shall be an equal fitness in the one to command as in the other to obey and in both to glorifie and enjoy the God of Glory The Spiritual Union and Agreement for the Services of that Holy State between Soul and Body shall be more exquisite and intimate than now the Natural and both shall be yet more Sacredly united to God than they are or can be to each other Both shall live and move and have their Beings in God and together with Being Life and Acting in him they shall possess the Prefection of Glory The Soul shines in the Celestial Body the Body in the Celestial Society and Regions but all in God and God in them all and infinitely above and beyond them On him they all depend as the original Light to him they are all Subordinate as the supream Light to him they all conform as to the grand exemplar of Purity To God and to the Lamb as immediately Subordinate there is a constant Subjection and Resignation of Persons Possessions and Powers with a constant Reference of all Acts and Archievements to his Glory Hence all the Beauty Dignity and Felicity of the Heavenly State result eternally This will be further explained in the next Head in which having considered the Subject of this Glory and the formal nature of it I come to enquire 3. To whom they shine Shining is a term partly relative something is supposed to be irradiated where there is any Exhibition of Light And surely that which is true concerning the meanest kind and lowest degree of Light will not be found wanting in the highest Instances of the most excellent kind of Light that the Universe affords the Light Celestial The following Particulars will shew what various and endless Reflections and Repercussions of Light the Heavenly Mansions are filled with 1. They shine to God in his Holy Abode and Presence They shine with the Approbation and Acceptance and to the Honour of God the Father as Creator He will have Complacency in them as those who have Ministred on Earth not to the Recovery only but even to the Improvement and Advancement of lapsed Creatures above the Felicity of that State from which they fell God the Son our Redeemer will be glorified in them as those who have received Authority from him and acted under him on Earth as he was a Prophet in revealing the Will of God as a Priest in offering up Spiritual Sacrifice of Prayer and Praise and making Intercession for the People and as King in governing the several parts of the Catholick Church over which they did preside The Holy Ghost as the Sanctifier and Comforter of Souls will be glorified in their Glory Because they improved the Gifts and Graces received from him in illuminating and converting the Elect of God in Quickning Comforting Strengthning and Edifying them to Salvation and in vanquishing and expelling all his and their Enemies Thus does the Light of these Stars reflect back to the Source and Center of Light and Glory 2. They shall shine to the great Satisfaction of the Angelick Orders and of the whole Heavenly Host We all know how the Angels rejoyce at the Conversion of a Sinner and how gladly they officiate in conveying Souls to their own Calm and Blissful Regions upon their Separation from the Body With what Applauses then will they receive the Souls of Ministers that were nor only Sanctified themselves but successfully employed about turning others many others to Righteousness so as none of the Angels ever were What special Interviews may be between Ministers and the Souls they have converted and whether any extraordinary Intercourse amongst these Stars themselves I pretend not to determine Only it seems no less probable that these Spiritual Relations as they stood on Earth should be recognized in Glory than that those should which are founded in Acts purely Natural and which were most immediately accommodated to this earthly State 3. Those that turn many to Righteousness shall shine to themselves Every one of them shall be a Mirrour of Divine Glory to himself and shall find ineffable Complacency in the Views and Surveys he takes of his own perfect Rectitude and Glory 4. They shall shine to the Devils and Damned Spirits With what Regret and Anguish will they behold Ministers ascend to that Glory from which they long since irrecoverably fell How will their Malignant Rage and Envy torment them when they shall see poor despised Ministers arrayed with everlasting Light and that too for the Service they have done against the Prince of the Kingdom of Darkness Yea and how will wicked Persecutors gnash their Teeth to see those very Men triumphing in Glory whom they insulted and basely entreated as the Off-scouring of all things and would not suffer to live quietly on Earth How will all those Wretches be confounded for ever that shall see the self-same Ministers as Stars shining with so transcendent a Lustre whose Counsels and Admonitions they rejected and whose Authority perhaps they disputed and disdained to stoop to 4. The fourth and last general Head concerns the Eternity of this Glory Here the brightest Stars shine but for a very short Season and presently Death comes with his Dismal Shade which not only eclipses but quite extinguishes their Light The Prophets do they live for ever Zech. 1.5 but after they once come to shine above as it will be without Imperfection so it will be without Intermission and with out end Sooner shall all the Stars in the visible Heavens be disrobed of their Light than one of these brighter Stars shall suffer the least Diminution of its Splendour Both the Glory it self and the Eminency of it shall last for ever They shall be ever Glorious and ever Superlatively so Those that are once admitted into the Presence of God and united to him as the Fountain of Glory can neither be separated from him nor fail of Supply whilst that Fountain of Light is ever overflowing It is a Glory that not only exceeds the Merits and is adequate to all the Capacities of its Possessors but also is commensurate to their Immortal Duration and runs parallel with the Line of Eternity This may suffice to be spoken concerning the Glorious Reward of Faithful Ministers in the other World There indeed is the principal Reward of all Vertue but it is not without all Reward in this present State Pleasure and Honour the most Pure and Genuine are truly inseparable from all vertuous Actions but they do most visibly and sensibly attend us when we are employed in doing good to others And the greater the Good is
turning many to Righteousness govern our Behaviour it will make us Patient towards all Free to converse with the Poorest of the Flock and Vigilant to lay hold on all Opportunities that may facilitate the Success of our Endeavours upon them Surely our Encouragement is every way proportionate to the Difficulties we have to encounter We serve a good Master our Work is pleasant even when it is most painful to the Flesh We have a Promise of the gracious Presence of our Lord with us Matt. 28. ult to assist our Endeavours to protect our Persons and prosper our Labours to the end of our Lives and to the World's end But above all let the Consideration of our Reward Invigorate us when we begin to relax our Pains and to intermit our Labours Let us all fire our Hearts with a noble Ambition of shining like the Stars for ever and ever The more any of us are barred and excluded from Secular Honours and Preferments let us so much the mote ardently aspire after the Heavenly Glory We have if I mistake not some Advantage this way above others since the less of Favour and Priviledge we enjoy in this World upon the account of our Ministry others have the less occasion to suspect the Sincerity of our Intentions and we may with the more Assurance wait for a Glorious and Unfading Crown Wherefore Holy Brethren partakers of the Heavenly Calling consider the Apostle and High Priest of our Profession Christ Jesus Who was faithful to him that appointed him as also Moses was faithful in all his House Heb. 3.1,2 Our Blessed Redeemer was not only a Pattern of all Christian Virtues as they are common to every Station but particularly of Ministerial Prudence Zeal Patience Meekness Fidelity Diligence and all under the greatest Discouragements from that Polity under which he lived and from the Grandees of that People with whom and for whole Benefit he spent his Labours and shed his Blood His gentle treating of those that were weak but willing to learn their Duty his gradual discovery of Christian Verities as they could be born his sharp and plain rebuking of those that strutted in a Garb of Pharisaical Sanctity but malign'd his Person and Design and made it their business to seduce others his Compassion to Souls and easiness of Access to the poorer sort were all intended and are all recorded for our Imitation Let us also confider Daniel and all the Holy Prophets with the Apostles and Primitive Bishops Let us consider the many Holy Lights that adorned the Church since the Reformation and particularly the Brittish Churches Let their Zeal and Constancy live in us and be transmitted by us with all Advantages to those that shall succeed us Let us consider the Example of our Reverend deceased Brother whom if I reckon amongst the chiefest of those Modern Worthies that have turned many to Righteousness and do now shine as the brightness of the Firmament and as the Stars for ever and ever I doubt not to have the Suffrages of all that hear me and of all that knew him He was a Person of good natural Parts one that had enough of a Genius to master what he applied himself to and to make up the Figure of a great Man These natural Abilities were cultivated by extraordinary Industry which begun very early and continued all his Life witness the many Volumes which he has left behind him written with his own hand He was most conversant in those parts of Learning which are directly Subservient to Divinity and made great use thereof in all his Composures but with so little Affectation that the Unlearned were never amused with it and yet the Judicious part of his Auditory had no lack of it His Parts and Learning were both admirably set off by a singular Fitness for Friendship and Conversation in which he was amiable above many His Temper was Sincere Candid and Generous to and beyond his Power His Discourse was Ingenious Innocent Pleasant and Profitable to a high degree His Deportment was Grave yet Sweet and Obliging These Vertues were lodged in a Soul truly Christian I know we must make some Allowance for Humane Infirmities from which none are exempt whilst they are in the Body He was but a Candidate for the State of Perfection and was a Man subject to like Passions as we are which he hath now put off together with Mortality But certainly this notwithstanding He had a truly Christian Spirit and did abound in choice Experiences of God's Dealings with himself and others His Life was filled up with a Uniform Series of Faithful Services to God and to his Generation He did not load Men with heavy Burdens which he would not touch with one of his Fingers but put his own Neck into the same Christian Yoke which he exhorted others to take upon them Besides his Exemplary Behaviour as a Christian in general designing and doing all the Good he was capable of to the Souls and Bodies of Men he was highly imitable in his Domestick Relations He was and will ever be acknowledged to have been a most kind and tender Husband to his Yoke-fellow a loving and faithful Father to his Children a gentle and just Master to his Servants and most precisely Regular in the Religious Conduct of his Family But the greatest and best part of his Character his Christianity supposed is this That he was an Able and Faithful Minister of the New Testament not of the Letter but of the Spirit He reflected Honour to the Sacred Function as well as received Honour from it He was Faithful to his Ministerial Vow and did not Sacrilegiously alienate himself from the Work to which he was solemnly devoted When the Law deprived him of the Temple and publick Maintenance to which he stood related he quietly gave place But he judged not that this did or could either discharge him from his Ministerial Vow or dissolve the Relation betwixt him and his People Accordingly with all Meekness and Simplicity and without any Spirit of Opposition he proceeded in his Work amongst that People to which he had so clear and universal a Call paying all Deference to the Civil Magistrate so far as he could without violating his Conscience In this way of Sober Conscientious Non conformity to the English Diocesan Prelacy Subscriptions and Ceremonies he cast himself and his Family purely upon Providence and lived upon it all his days Nor was the Divine Providence wanting to raise him up many kind Benefactors whose Liberality supplied the Want of a Legal Maintenance These were his Sentiments and this his Practise But he was nevertheless a Person of singular Moderation He had both a large Charity and great Veneration for those that differed from him if they were Men of Worth and Unblameable in their Lives They can testifie this that know what a fair and amicable Correspondence he maintained with many of his Reverend Conforming Brethren to several of whom this Good Man's Name was perhaps