were created in Heaven and in Earth visible and invisible Dan. 4.35 c. who doth according to his will in the Army of Heaven and amongst the Inhabitants of the Earth and none can stay his hand or say unto him what dost thou What difficulties will be able to frustrate his design unto whom the Elements the dumb Creatures the Devils and all things do yield obedience who hath conquered Death in its own Territories who hath an Infinite Wisdom as well as Power to bring to pass his intentions So that what Christ promiseth he is fully able to perform 3. Christ is Truth it self he is not subject to change nor able to deceive us He is not as Xerxes was he crowned his Steers man in the morning and beheaded him in the evening He is not thus unconstant in his Affections and Promises The heaven and the earth shall pass Matth. 5. but one jot of his word shall not pass until all be fulfilled Seeing therefore that he hath promised to bestow this Crown of life upon every faithful soul he will preserve them here by his spirit he will convey and guard them at their separation from the Body by the ministry of his Angels and will at last receive them unto this glorious estate Here are sufficient securities for this Immortal Reward Gods almighty Power his eternal Justice his Infinite Goodness and Love and his unchangeable Truth are all engaged to see the faithful crowned with Glory so that it is as impossible that they should fail of their expectation as it is impossible that God should deny himself St. Pauls Perswasion Jobs Confidence and the Assurance of the holy men were grounded upon this infallible foundation Were we possessed with the same spirit we should not need to seek for any other confirmation of this Truth than the authority of Scripture that often repeats the promise of this Crown unto the faithful But this sensual age will scarce do God that justice to give credit to his Word as if he could have a design to deceive us whose glory is our happiness and perfection as if he were an enemy to our good who gives us whatever we enjoy as if there were danger to expect the Rewards of Honesty and Vertue and to yield obedience when both Duty and Interest do require it Consider the folly of our Modern Witts extraordinary advantages are promised unto men to oblige them to actions full of honour and satisfaction when there should be no such future advantages it is their present concern to entertain this perswasion because it is a friend to Piety and it tends to strengthen their resolutions to appease their discontents and to fill our souls with a glorious expectation As that Athenian that in his greatest poverty did feel the contentments of the wealthiest Citizens Men should labour to comfort themselves in their present miseries with the assurance of a more blessed estate and suffer their hopes to frustrate the design of worldly misfortunes It seems therefore strange that Rational Beings should be so great enemies of their good as to discredit this beneficial perswasion and willingly to deprive themselves of an Antidote able to fortifie their souls against the venom of evil The excellency of that estate the vileness of ours and our natural unworthiness may justly fill us with wonder and admiration But we are not to question this Truth when not onely Scipture but Reason also is able to convince us that it is certain according to the natural course of things that he that is faithful unto Christ must needs attain unto the greatest happiness I understand the word faithful in the largest acception for a vertuous man faithful in the management of the several interests with which God hath intrusted him for one whose life and profession is conformable to Christianity who labours to reduce his Passions to reason his desires to content his wants to sufficiency and that endeavours to strengthen himself with all the natural and revealed perswasions that are intended to assist our Vertue against the inconveniencies that assault us Such a one hath a degree of happiness begun in him and if he continues exercise will bring him to that perfect disposition of the mind and to that noble temper as may brave all the attempts of evil The Stoicks by the strength of nature did attain unto a seeming insensibility witness the resolution of Possidonius in the midst of the tortures of the Gout he could never be forced to confess it to be a pain witness Anaximander pounded in a morter he laughed at the folly and cruelty of the Tyrant How much more power shall man have over himself when his resolution is backt by such strong perswasions as Christianity teaches when such divine helps do assist him as the graces of the holy Ghost an invincible hope and a well-grounded faith that makes him rejoyce in tribulation It is therefore plain that he that practises the Rules of Christianity must needs be happy not onely in regard of himself that he renders thereby capable of happiness but also in regard of those with whom we have a communication that are invited by an amiable correspondency and good offices to the same returns and behaviour and in respect of God who cannot but vouchsafe his blessings and his favour to that Being that is inspired with so noble an ambition and that in obedience to his holy Laws labours to arrive to perfection and holiness But besides this reason which onely proves a natural happiness attainable by a vertuous Christian in this life we may meet with others in that great proportion or relation between the estates of the faithful on earth and of the Saints in heaven Cast your eyes upon both and tell me what hinders a soul washed in the blood of Christ adopted amongst the sons of God united unto him by his divine Spirit what hinders a soul full of heavenly affections a soul that bears the Image of God from an immediate fruition of his presence and favour If therefore that be granted that may be proved by the experience of the faithful as well as by the authority of Scripture that they do really enjoy a present correspondency with their Creator and that they do not in vain flatter themselves with the conceits of an extraordidinary possession of the graces of the divine Spirit because they feel the inward operation of this spirit in their souls Unius Sp. Sancti opus est regeneratio Ambros de Sacr. and see a notable change in their dispositions and affections wrought in them by his power alone that fashions us in the womb if this be granted with the other priviledges of the Elect we shall find no difficulty to believe the happy consequences that do naturally flow from thence that God that favours them with such powerful helps in order to their perfection must needs design them for a greater happiness than their present mortality and weakness are capable of That he
and pleasures that are onely there to be found Other Reasons and passages of Scripture may be alledged for this Truth which makes St. Paul fly out into an Admiration and St. John breathe forth nothing but wishes all the holy Martyrs embrace and hug the Flames that did convey them into this estate Was it not sufficient O blessed God that thou shouldest deliver man from his deserved punishment was it not sufficient that thou shouldest render him capable of thy favours But must such a favour be granted must thou admit him to a participation of the divine Nature by this unspeakable Union St. Peter O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and goodness of our God! You know not mortal men what God hath reserved for them that fear him What may we not expect from his love when we shall come to this estate If there be any good at Gods disposal any sweetness any pleasure and benefit in heaven or in earth it shall be theirs and in their possession Rom. 8.32 unto whom he hath at present given his Son and Spirit and will also give himself as St. Paul tells us Besides this Union shall cause an interrupted Communion between God and our souls God shall pour his blessings upon us in abundance and we shall render unto him unfeigned testimonies of thankfulness We shall spend Eternity in his praises and he shall spend his Treasuries upon us we shall think of nothing but how to glorifie him and he shall strive to satisfie us we shall contend in mutual offices of Love and Friendship O happy contention O blessed communion unto which our present Piety and Religion intends to bring us We have now a communion with God in holy duties and by his divine Spirit for no other end but that we might thereby be prepared for his eternal communion in Heaven In this Union and Communion with God consists the chief happiness of the creature for besides that they shall remove from us whatsoever looks like an evil they shall procure unto us advantages suitable unto that supernatural honour and estate Isa 64.4 Which eye hath not seen c. Our present knowledge shall be changed into sight our hope into fruition our love to God into endless transports our desires shall be satisfied our Prayers granted and turned into eternal Allelujahs our understandings shall be no more darkened with ignorance our wills no more corrupted with vice a blessed perfection shall reign within us And this shall proceed from an immediate infusion of divine Knowledge and a communication of spiritual qualities that shall fit us for the vision of God for we shall see his Face and his Name shall be in our foreheads Revel 22. We know saith St. John when God shall appear we shall be like him For we shall see him as he is not only with our corporal eyes we may see that inacessible light which always accompanies the visible declaration of his Glory and Power but also with the eyes of our souls we shall behold as much of the essence of God as the creature can perceive he will expose himself to our view And therefore we shall be transformed into his resemblance we shall be as so many Images of the Godhead so many living Pictures of his Infinite Being representing his glorious perfections as a clear fountain doth the body of the Sun or rather as Moses face did the brightness of the beams with which the Divine Majesty was cloathed upon the Mount Sina God will imprint in us the noble Characters and lineaments of his Essence therefore well might David promise to himself As for me I will behold thy face in righteousness I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness So that this blessed life shall not so much consist in the union of the soul and body as in the union of both soul and body with God our Creator In the next place in this life there shall be an excellent order and subordination in our souls all the passions and affections shall be ruled by the command of our Reason These inward motions shall not cease but they shall be bound to their good behaviour they shall no more offer to raise a rebellion within us to disturb our tranquility they shall not be capable of evil impressions Isa 32.18 nor bear the marks of corrupted nature There shall be a beautiful symmetry between the parts of our soul and body insomuch that perfection and integrity shall appear within and without How happy shall that life be when we shall perfectly enjoy our selves when all our affections shall endeavour to accomplish our felicity These are our present enemies they procure all the inconveniences that happen unto us whether in our bodies or estates by perswading us to embrace that seeming good which proves our deadly poyson But then they shall be no more corrupted by the sight of apparant advantages nor tempted to betray our interest for a vain enjoyment they shall always carry us to the performance of Duty and to that real good which shall fully satisfie us with content Unless they be thus reformed it is not possible for man to taste happiness in the most blessed Estate For what are Honours Riches and the greatest Blessings to one tormented with the desire of an increase or to a peevish discontented soul that apprehends a change or sees a happiness afar off which it prefers to the present or to one whose passions gaul him The least pain is sufficient to qualifie the greatest pleasures therefore in this happy life unruly passions shall cease with outward inconveniences they shall suffer us to relish the sweetness of our possessions they shall rather awaken our senses and give them a fuller and a quicker apprehension of the excellency of the heavenly delights and although our happiness shall not be confined to those pleasures that are furnished by our senses for they are not sufficient inlets to receive as much as the soul requires to accomplish her felicity besides it is not proper that the Bliss of so excellent a part should depend upon its correspondency with the baser or that it should borrow its satisfaction from its union with the body Caro spiritualis effectae per omnes sensus suos multimodis exuberabit delitiis Laur. yet it is most certain that they shall not want a share of those pleasures in which the soul shall so freely swim they shall not be brutish or such as Mahomet promiseth to his Mufulmans but they shall be sutable unto the spiritual body of the Righteous and far excelling the base and rotten pleasures of this miserable life in quality for they shall be without the least mixture of bitterness in the quantity for they shall be proportion'd to our capacities and in the durance for they shall be continual without interruption and eternal as David informs us Psal 16.11 speaking unto God In thy presence is fulness of joy and at thy right hand
would never be at such vast expence and care as to provide us with such divine qualities onely for this transitory Being were our souls to be smother'd in our graves that this blessed change that appears in our souls and bodies and that raises us to a capacity of being happy and to a resemblance with God tends to prepare us for a more worthy communion with him and that otherwise he would never have honoured us with such special tokens of his Love nor given us by them an expectation of greater advantages This proceeding were not consistent with the Wisdom Power Goodness Veracity and Immutability of God to receive us into his intimate acquaintance to bestow upon us the unspeakable mercies that are suitable to it to make us expect future happiness and the eternal fruition of his presence in Glory and then to suffer us to be cut off by death without hopes of life so that besides that the condition of the Elect on Earth and their present sanctification have a necessary tendency to glorification God would never have undertaken to render us happy did he not really resolve to make us so But set aside these considerations and look upon a true Christian as he appears to the eyes of the world You shall find his description given by a Heathen Philosopher to a Roman Emperour to this purpose He despises the World and all its enjoyments he sticks close to his Profession maugre all his enemies he rejoyces in Wants and Persecutions and sings merrily in the flames his soul is full of hopes and they strengthen him against all present evils What is therefore able to disturb the happiness of such a soul that is ravished with its own enjoyments and that contemns now all things else Justi afflictionem requiem putant Lact. lib. 8. mor. what hinders the same power that hath freed the faithfull from the slavery of sin and the world and made us able to contemn the miseries of our present condition to free also the body from all subjection to the Elements When therefore I see a Christian so far advanced in the Race of Perfection as to leave in a little time the rest of the world at such a vast distance behind I must needs conclude that he will make a considerable progress if he continues his course Or when I behold a Painter chalk out to the life a fair face I do easily judge that his pencil will be able to add many graces and compleat it Thus when I see the first Essayes of a Christian to be so glorious in this life I am forced to conclude that the end of his work will be far more in the other If Paul and Silas in their Chains can sing for joy St. Peter sleep secure with pleasure at the Eve of the day intended for his Execution and all the holy men meet with happiness and content in the most sensible Penury and the sharpest Afflictions How much more happy and content shall they be in that Life that shall not be subject to want to disgrace and inconveniency in that Life where all things shall be as perfect and glorious as themselves when therefore Christ should never have promised this estate unto the faithful he that is sensible of their present condition and of the honour and perfection unto which they have been advanced he may justly conceive that they will arrive to an estate suitable to these promising beginnings In the next place if we cast an eye upon the natural order which is observed in the disposition of the Creatures we shall find sufficient Reasons to be perswaded of this Truth All the Beings in the world do generally attain unto those Ends unto which their Creation did design them And shall man only be excepted Shall not he arrive to his glorious end to happiness for which he was created as may appear by his endeavours and desires to obtain it and by the constitution of his Being Shall not he attain unto this estate when the union of the soul and body seems to promise it to him in case he renders not himself incapable of it Shall not he come to the fruition of God in whom onely his happiness dwells Is it possible that the power and wisdom that appears so wonderfull in his composition and that declares a particular esteem of him by an over-ruling Providence should onely design him for a world of misery and then tumble him in the dust without any further care of this Master-piece of the Creation Or is it possible that God should suffer such a considerable species of Creatures to be cast away for ever and to miss of their blessed End and none of them to attain unto felicity unto which it appears that he intended them at their Creation by granting unto them noble faculties capable of Bliss We see that all visible things were made with an intent to turn to the benefit of some Beings more Perfect And for whom was Man created The more he excels the rest in Perfections the more honourable conceit we may justly have for him for whose Glory he came into the world And from the nature of man and the place of honour that he maintains amongst the Creatures we may conclude that this Prince of the lower World was created onely for the enjoyment of the Prince of the superiour and that he unto whom all visible things do render Homage owes his Respects and Being only unto the Creator Our nature therefore designs us for the immediate fruition of God and those inward suggestions that perswade us to make our frequent addresses unto him especially at the sight of imminent dangers do proceed from this design and do tend as well to prepare us for a more immediate correspondency as to supply our present necessities And how is it possible to be advanced to that honour without a disposition and without inward and outward qualities sutable to that estate From hence we may confirm the promise of this Crown of Life and shew how every part is consistent with the condition of a glorified Creature and absolutely required for the accomplishment of our happiness Examine also I beseech you wherefore Man onely of all creatures enjoyes a being between the spiritual and the sensitive wherefore doth he participate of both Not that he might fall down to a greater conformity with Beasts for that is against the order of Nature that teaches all things to aspire to perfection but rather that he might endeavour to ascend to a higher degree for no other intent man was made with a possibility of elevation with capacious faculties and with noble and aspiring affections but that they might raise him above that rank in which he was first placed and nearer his Creator Beatitudo in excelso est sed volenti penotrabilis Sen. Epist 65. Therefore mankind was intended for a glorious and a happy End whoever employs all his endeavours to attain unto it can never miss of his purpose and if so many
do never come to that perfect Estate they may thank their unworthy behaviour and vicious disposition But Christ that promiseth this Crown unto the faithful removes the grand impediments of Salvation Guilt and Corruption and brings them to that estate So that besides the helps of nature they only have an Almighty Power and an Infinite goodness for their assistants We may therefore conclude from the former reasons That there is such an Estate as happiness That man was designed for it that it is possible for him to arrive unto it that whoever is faithful to Christ and labours to follow the rules prescribed by him must needs according to the natural course of things become happy which cannot be in a perfect manner but by an union and communion with his God That this happiness is not attainable in this life I need not spend my labours in vain to prove therefore it must be in another Now this Crown is called a Gift I will give thee c. It is freely bestowed notwithstanding our undeservings it is recovered for us by the blood of Christ and enriched with more precious Jewels because of his Infinite merits and the means by which we are raised to this Estate is procured unto us by our Saviours sufferings and Ascension So that what Nature had intended and was not able to perform because of our Apostacy and revolt from a dependency upon God grace doth fully accomplish in the faithful In the last place I might bring to confirm this truth the common Reasons upon which the Heathens did build the hopes of a future happiness and of another life Of the Justice of God that will render unto every one according to his deeds Of the Goodness of God that cannot be forgetfull of those that mind the advance of his Glory on Earth and of the Power of God able to reward them that lead a just and a religious life From hence Zoroastes that learned Genius and great Prince taught his Disciples That the chief care of man should be so to behave himself now that he might come to happiness hereafter Many other reasons may be brought to confirm this important truth but I cannot include them all in so narrow a compass as a Sermon Some I know stumble at the difficulties of the Resurrection of our bodies when it is proved to them by their experience that it is possible Si ergo potent est Deus facere quod non fuit nonne potest reparare quod fuit Aug. lib. de catech Serm. 1. Secret dont oncomprent que quoy que le corps meure Les formes font pourtant aux cendres leur demeure Consider I beseech you if a lesser power be not required to restore what was than to create or to make what was not Where was this world before its Creation and if that be doubed where was this age 200 years ago not so much as in appearance yet now it subsists Why shall not therefore that same intelligent Being who created the World and who onely is able to have formed us in the womb with all our members so well proportioned be able to restore us to our subsistance again seeing there is as great a disposition in the essential parts of the body reduced to ashes to return to their former shapes as there is in the original substance to dilate it self and form the several members of a man I might here alledge the natural experiments which some have tried with success That have given occasion to believe that the forms of things do remain in their ashes The herb called by the Greeks * It signifies not onely a Palm but another herb mentioned by Dioscor lib. 4. cap. 151. and by Coel. Rodigin Resurrectio non est contra naturam Aug. in Sent. suis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth rise again out of the dust when it hath been consumed to ashes This causes the Fable of the Phaenix I could also bring Nature and Providence to attest this truth both are full of sacred emblems of the Resurrection they are as incredible did they not daily appear before our eyes The faithful therefore may brave this and all other difficulties in the language of St. Paul I am perswaded that neither death nor life c. shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. And henceforth is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord the righteous Judge shall give me at that day I will give thee a crown c. Cast your eyes Cristians once more upon this Crown of Life View the Blessedness the Riches the Glory and Honour of this Estate and tell me whether this deserves not our obedience and a perseverance in Duty It shall be free from all weakness pain fear and inconveniency it shall be accompanied with unspeakble joyes and pleasures with the fruition of all good with the Vision of God and with an eternal communion and union with him It shall be adorned with all perfections holiness and content O rich and glorious Crown O Immortal Reward How long shall we be at such a distance from thee Earthly Crowns are troublesome and the more glorious they are the more heavy insomuch that Dioclesian having exchanged one for a Spade and the Empire for a Garden when some were sent to perswade him to return to his former State he told them they would never have undertaken that message unto him if they had but seen the Ranks of Trees and the Musk-melons that he had planted with the pleasure that he did feel in that retired condition But this Crown is of another nature the glories and honours are sweetned with unspeakable delights and there is no such wait as should make us weary of the carriage Let therefore this consideration encourage us to encounter Death without fear seeing it is a passage into this immortal Bliss and to prepare our selves for its enjoyment by a behaviour worthy of a Crown Be faithful unto the interest of Christ and his Religion maintain his honour in the management of your several employes follow his sacred footsteps shake off all vicious inclinations and customs make it your business to reform your lives and affections labour to relish the true pleasures of the soul and wean your selves from all worldly enjoyments that they may not hinder your entrance into this estate Into which God of his mercy receive us for the sake of his dear Son and our Saviour Christ Jesus Amen FINIS