their Righteous Judge hath declared He will confer upon them at the day of his appearing And wicked Souls must necessarily be as miserable in this separate State by reason of as bad Company they shall be confined to and the evil Affections and corrupt Habits they carry out of their Bodies with them which are mightily disquieting in this Life and must much more be so in the other through the want of those Satisfactions of inordinate Appetites this World abounds with And their Condition must needs be extreamly sad too through the Lashes of their Guilty Consciences and their certain looking for of Vengeance and fiery Indignation Now then what inexpressible Folly is it and especially in us Christians who profess to believe the Resurrection of the Body and the Life everlasting so to dote upon these vile Bodies and this vain World as generally we do As if our inward thought were that there shall be no Resurrection that there is no Life to come This is great Folly even in those who are utter Strangers to the Christian and all Revealed Religion but that they who are acquainted with the Doctrine of Jesus Christ with His description of the Future State both of the Good and Bad and with the abundant the superabundant Evidence He hath given us of the Truth thereof with all His other Revelations that they I say should be so Unconcerned about these things is most amazing This is such Madness as no Tongue can give it its due Aggravation Let me address my self to those who remain under the Guilt hereof in the Words of the Prophet Remember this and shew your selves Men bring it again to mind O ye Transgressors Let it appear that you are a sort of Creatures superiour to the Brutes in being no longer only affected with present things and those which can signifie nothing to you one moment longer than while you continue in these Bodies Let this appear by your so laying to heart what you have now been minded of relating to the Doctrine of the Resurrection as in all your Actions and inward Affections to be powerfully influenced thereby for the time to come But to be more particular In the Second Place Let me commend to you those Words of our blessed Saviour Luk. 16. 9. a Text which I formerly discoursed on to you upon this same Occasion viz. I say unto you make to your selves Friends of the Mammon of Unrighteousness that when ye fail they may receive you into everlasting Habitations The Argument I have now been upon contains one would think an irresistible Motive to abound during our stay in these Bodies in Works of Piety Mercy and Charity according to the Ability God hath given us This is evident from too many Texts of Scripture to be now recited in which the Happiness of the other Life is intitled to the sincere Performance of such Works as these Our Lord doth particularly assign no other Reason for the pronouncing of that most joyful Sentence to the Sheep on His Right Hand Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the Foundation of the World but this I was an hungred and ye gave me Meat I was thirsty and ye gave me drink c. Or my Brethren were so and you Relieved them as He explains Himself in the Words following Nor doth He express any other Reason for the fearful Sentence which shall be pronounced against the Goates on His Left Hand Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting Fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels but their Averseness to Works of Mercy and Charity Tho' there will be many other Reasons for each of these Sentences yet these onely are particularly mentioned to shew what a mighty Weight shall be laid upon them at the day of Judgment And He declares Matth. 5. 7. That Blessed are the Merciful for they shall obtain Mercy And Luk. 6. 35. That The Reward of such shall be great and they shall be the Children of the Highest He likewise calls the imploying of Riches in the fore-mentioned good Works laying up a Treasure in Heaven in Opposition to Hoarding them up which He calls laying up Treasures upon Earth Mat. 6. 20 c. And He commands His Disciples as poor as they were to sell what they have and give Alms Luk. 12. 33. And farther expresseth this Injunction of Giving Alms by such Words as these Provide your selves Bags which wax not old a Treasure in the Heavens which faileth not where no Thief approacheth neither Rust corrupteth S. Paul calls being Rich in good Works laying up in store for our selves a good Foundation against the time to come that we may lay hold on Eternal Life And that is the Motive with which he backs the Charge which he requires his Son Timothy to lay upon Rich Men 1 Ep. 6. 17. Charge them who are Rich in this World that they be not high-minded nor trust in uncertain Riches but in the Living God Who giveth us all things richly to enjoy That they do good that they be rich in good Works ready to distribute willing to communicate And S. James having divided Pure Religion into Two Parts makes visiting the Fatherless and Widows in their Affliction or being bountiful and compassionate the whole former Part Ch. 1. 27. And he puts this Question Ch. 2. 14. What doth it profit my Brethren if a Man say he hath Faith and hath not Works Can Faith save him That is it can not profit a man to say he hath Faith when he hath not Works no nor to have Faith neither without Works such a Faith cannot save him And the next Words tell us what Works he means without which Faith cannot save If a Brother or Sister be Naked and Destitute of daily Food c. And S. John hath pronounced him a false Hypocrite in pretending to be a Lover of God who makes little Conscience of these good Works For saith he Whoso hath this Worlds Goods and seeth his Brother hath need and shutteth up his Bowels of Compassion from him how dwelleth the Love of God in him 1 Ep. â— 17. So that we see there is nothing more indispensably Necessary to our Resurrection to a Blessed Immortality than is our being indued with such a Love of God and Goodness as powerfully inclineth us and makes us forward to works of Mercy and Charity There is no duty more Earnestly Pressed nor the Recommending of which is inforced with more Promises nor so many neither as may be shewed out of the Old as well as New Testament than is this of being Charitable and doing good with this Worlds Goods in proportion to the Share of them wherewith God has blest us I might shew also how greatly this Grace of Charity is perfective of our Nature how it dignifieth and Beautifieth our Souls and so is not only a necessary Condition of but likewise as necessary a Qualification for that Blessedness which Consists in the Enjoyment of that God who is
Son Jesus whom ye delivered up and denyed Him in the presence of Pilate when He was determined to let Him go But ye denyed the Holy one and the just and desired a Murtherer to be granted unto you and killed the Prince of life whom God hath Raised from the dead whereof we are Witnesses And His name through faith in His name hath made this man strong c. And we find that by the Sermon of which these words are part there were Converted to the faith of Christ about five thousand Souls and by the foregoing Sermon about three thousand But the Priests and Captain of the Temple and the Saducees being Enraged at this Boldness of theirs with the Success thereof laid hands on these two Apostles and the next day being brought before the High-Priest with the Rulers Elders and Scribes and being asked by them by what Power they had done this Miracle S. Peter declared to them as he had done before to the People with the Self-same Courage Ch. 4. 10. Be it known unto you all and to all the People of Israel that by the Name of Jesus of Nazareth whom ye Crucified whom God hath raised from the dead Even by Him doth this man stand before you whole This is the Stone which was set at nought by you Builders which is become the Head of the Corner Neither is there Salvation in any other c. It would take up a long time to shew with what Admirable Resolution these and the other Apostles and especially S. Paul persisted to the death in Preaching the Resurrection of Jesus with the other Christian Doctrines and what Miserys they Underwent because they would not be taken off from this Work So that who is able to suspect such Witnesses as these who is not as hardned an Infidel as the most Obdurate of our Lords Enemies That they could not be deceived themselves we have seen is as apparent as the Light and setting aside the Consideration of their most Exemplary Goodness 't is impossible that any Interest could prevail with them to deceive others Except we should suppose them so unlike all other of their Fellow-Creatures as to be in love with Ignominy Torment and Death But there are some who Object that Our Lords Resurrection would have been more Unquestionable had he at least shewed Himself alive after His Passion to Herod and Pontius Pilate the Chief Priest and the great Sanhedrin that Condemned Him In answer here to I will say these four things 1. That this is most impudently to prescribe to the Great God Was not He who is infinitely Wise the best judge what Evidence was fittest to be given in this Case And shall not He chuse His own Way and Method 2. Those most perverse and Obstinate Infidels had rendred themselves utterly Unworthy of so great a Favour who would not be Convinced by such an Abundance of most Miraculous Works which Jesus had wrought before their Eyes but still followed Him with the most horrible Calumnies until they had put Him to the most horrible death It seems Unworthy of Almighty God thus to necessitate and extort by main force Belief from those who had so maliciously shut their Eyes against the Clearest Light and had in the most insolent manner Rejected the Counsel of God against themselves 3. In that those who were chosen to be Witnesses of Christ's Resurrection were indued with such Divine Power and did such Mighty Works for the Confirmation of the truth thereof there was every whit as Effectual a Course taken for the Conviction of all not utterly incurable as if He had appeared to every one of them and Suffered Himself to be Handled by them And they might as reasonably have Questioned their own Senses as the Truth of those who did so admirably Confirm their Testimony But 4. Had He shewed Himself alive to His Enemys they might have Objected that it was not He but the Devil in His likeness with as great an Appearance of Reason as they could before impute His Casting out Unclean Spirits and His other most Supernatural Works to the power of Belzebub the Prince of the Devils We will make a very short Application of what hath been delivered on this former Part of the Text and then proceed to the latter Part. First We hence Learn the Strange Force and Power of Prejudice A rooted Prejudice is so Masterly so Unruly a thing that there is no dealing with it The Rulers and Generality of the Jews being strongly prejudiced against our Saviour chiefly upon the account of His being in diverse Respects quite a different person from what without ground they expected their Messias should be And because He declared that He came upon as different a Design from that which they vainly fancied and promised themselves He would come upon viz Not to deliver them from the Roman Yoke but from the Power of incomparably worse Enemys Sin and Satan Not to bless them with a great Affluence of Worldly Wealth and a Mighty Dominion in the World but to purchase Eternal Happiness for them in the Life to come and to Qualify them for it I say this great disappointment of their Carnal Expectations did make them Conclude it impossible that He of all men should be the Messias And because such Sensual Wretches as they were could not bear the thoughts of His being so His giving them the greatest Demonstrations imaginable that He was so was labour in vain they were all lost upon them Not only the most Rational Evidence in the World is Ordinarily compell'd to yield to the Power of Prejudice but even Sensible and Ocular Demonstrations have Submitted to it Our Blessed Saviour having had such sad Experience hereof among the Jews it is said not only that he Bewailed but also that He Marvailed at their Unbelief And Constant Experience assures us that the greatest strength of Argument signifies nothing to those who come with Byassed and Prepossest minds to the hearing of Truth Who judge of what is offered to them by their Wills not by their Understandings Nay the clearer and more irresistible the Evidence is the more are the Prejudiced incensed against the Proposer of it if they have but Ill Will equal to their Prejudice Secondly We learn from what hath been discoursed That we ought exceedingly to admire and deeply to be affected with the Divine Goodness in that there is given us such Wonderful Evidence of the Truth of the Gospel This none can call in Question who believe Christs Resurrection as I need not though I had time stand to shew and it is apparent from what hath been said that God hath done much more than barely enough to remove from us all Uncertainty concerning this great Point I cannot doubt but that the quarter Part of the Evidence for it he hath vouchsafed us would be sufficient to prevail on the Minds of all such as can perswade themselves to be impartially considerative And therefore how utterly inexcusable must those
themselves with the Cavils which have been often raised against the Resurrection of the Body they all supposing such a Sameness as is no where to be found in the sacred writings nay the Contrary to which the Apostle in the fore-cited words hath at least intimated And the Argument taken from our Bodies being such Fluid things as we know they are do nothing hinder but that the Dead may rise with as much the same Bodies with those that were Buried as the Buried are the Same with those they were Born with or that they had but a few years before they dyed But in short we shall doubtless Rise with as much the Same Bodies as it can be our Interest to desire we should and he who believes this needs not fear in the least that he believes too little relating to this great Doctrine of the Resurrection of the dead And tho' he may not have so large a Faith as some others yet if it hath its due Influence upon his Practice he hath every whit as good a one to all Intents and Purposes Now as to our Evidence for the truth of this Article we have the greatest that can be since our Lord did so plainly Reveal it before His death and Confirmed the truth of all His Doctrines by His Resurrection Or which is the same thing demonstrated hereby that He was no Imposter in having declared Himself to be Sent of God and the Son of God We are therefore altogether as certain of our own future Resurrection as we can be of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. And from what hath been said we may be assured that we can be certain of no matter of fact which we have not beheld with our own Eyes if we are not sure of this But the Apostle doth not stick to say that if there be no Resurrection of the dead then is not Christ risen 1 Cor. 15. 13. And he both repeateth this and Enlargeth upon it v. 15 16. Yea saith he and we are found false Witnesses of God because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ whom He raised not up if so be that the dead rise not For if the dead rise not then is not Christ risen And farther Christ in rising again is declared by S. Paul to be the Representative of all true Christians He saith Now is Christ risen from the dead and is become the First Fruits of them that Slept Now the First Fruits under the Law did represent the whole Harvest and their being offered to God brought a Blessing on all the Other Fruits and by the offering of them as he also saith the rest were sanctified or Consecrated to God And so is the whole Church both in Soul and Body by Christs Resurrection And I add by His presenting Himself to His Father in Heaven upon that very day on which the First Fruits were offered according to the Law And so His Resurrection to Glory was a proof and pledge of all His sincere Disciples rising to Glory also And therefore this Apostle tells the Ephesians that as they who were dead in Sins were quickned together with Christ or raised from the death of Sin to the life of Righteousness so likewise God hath raised them up together and made them sit together in Heavenly Places in Christ Jesus That is in Christ their Head their dead Bodies are already raised and with their Souls may be said to be at present Glorified in Him in Him I say considered as their Head or Representative And thus we see there is a necessary Connexion between the two Propositions in our Text God hath raised up the Lord and He will raise up us by his own Power Now to make Application of what hath been said on this Part of the Text In the First place Is it so certain that God will raise up us by His own Power even as certain as that He hath raised up Christ then are we not all of us infinitely concerned to make it our greatest Business while we remain in these Bodies which is our state of Probation and Tryal to be found in the Number of those who shall be accounted worthy to obtain that World to use our SAVIOURS own Words and the Resurrection from the Dead and to stand before the Son of Man That is to attain a Glorious Resurrection and to stand with Courage and Confidence before the Son of Man And how should we Watch and Pray always that we may escape those dreadful things which shall come upon the wicked S. Paul having said That he had hope towards God that there shall be a Resurrection both of the just and of the unjust immediately adds And herein do I exercise my self to have always a Conscience void of Offence both towards God and towards men And no man can be perswaded of this and withal consider it but it must of necessity have this effect upon him Especially since though the Resurrection of the Body may still be at a great distance yet the other Life is at the door and near at hand as to each of us The Doctrine of the Soul-sleepers being plainly confuted both by our blessed Saviour and the now mentioned great Apostle And indeed that Doctrine is no better Philosophy than Divinity it speaking great Ignorance of the Nature of Souls Nor have I ever met with a Philosopher who believed a Future Life as they all did or were inclined to do except the profest or the sly Atheists but took it for granted that humane Souls are so far from being deprived of all Sense and Consciousness of Being that they gain much the freer use of their Faculties by their leaving these Bodies They looking upon them as Prisons and dark Dungeons to Souls in which they are miserably straitned and pent up And they were so far from thinking that Bodies do give Life and Activity to Souls that they held the quite contrary And not onely that the Life and Activity of Bodies is wholly from their Souls but also that Souls can never be so truly said to live as when they are let loose from these Bodies And the Book of Wisdom presents us with the same Doctrine Ch. 9. 15. Where 't is said That the Corruptible Body presseth down the Soul and the earthy Tabernacle weigheth down the mind that museth upon many things And in saying that we are all upon the Borders of the other World I say we are very near to great Happiness or great Misery Good Souls in the separate State being very Happy by their having got rid of that Body of Death with which they were here so clogged and by the free Exercise of Love to God and to one another and of all the Divine Virtues thereby obtained in which their Bodies to their great grief miserably interrupted them As also they must needs feel great Happiness from comfortable Reflexions on the good they did or endeavoured to do in these Bodies and the joyful Foresight of that Crown of Righteousness which