THE KNOWLEDGE OF CHRIST CRUCIFIED. PART II.

IN what precedes, we have considered the Ad­vantages and Benefits, which, together with Christ, we Receive, relating to a Christian's Estate in his Life in this World, and in his passage out of it. The last Act of his being here, if it may be called an Act, is his Death. And therein we have consider'd the Victory of Christ over Death, and the Transferring of the Advanta­ges of that Victory to us; whereby the Fear of Death, and the Damage of Death are removed: [Page 2] and that which was before the Curse of our Na­ture, is become our Gain: Not simply in it self; but in relation to what follows after it, viz. The State and Condition of the Soul and Body after Death: which is next to be considered.

Such is the Absolute Perfection of God, that he hath his Blessedness and Self sufficiency with him­self. He is Eternally full of his own Goodness, which is Essentially the same with Himself, an In­finite Good commensurate to an Infinite Desire, and always Present. So that nothing without him­self adds any thing to him, or is desired by him, in relation to his Blessedness. All Good comes from him, and returns into him, as into that Ocean from whence it moved.

But all dependent Beings, as they have not their Being from themselves, but from God; so they have not their Blessedness or Happiness essentially in themselves, because not from themselves. They are Vessels receptive of their Good, from him that is the Author of their being potential Beings, not pure Acts: that are constituted in such a degree, that they are rather Passive in receiving Good into them, than Active in filling themselves with their own Good. They are thin and empty, till they are fil [...]ed with their Objects, and are diversified in the Happiness or Unhappiness of their Beings, and in the degrees of either, according to the nature of the Objects with which they are filled, and the dif­ferent degrees and measures of their Unions to them.

The Good suitable to an Intellectual Nature must first be known, before it can be desired: and, ac­cording to the position or station of such Good, it works differently upon the Soul, and the Soul [Page 3] moves towards it in a different manner. If consi­dered meerly as absent, it raiseth Desire; which is a reaching out of the Soul towards an Union with that Known Good: If absent, and upon probable or sure grounds expected, then it joyns unto De­sire, Hope; which, according to the variety of the Medium, upon which the Expectation is grounded, is the more feeble and weak, having less Assurance, and consequently more Fear mingled with it: Or the more strong and firm, having a stronger Assu­rance, and consequently less Fear mingled with it. This is a kind of Middle Affection, being mingled with desire to the Good as Absent, and delight in it as Pre apprehended, and so in some degree Pre­sent. The Good that is expected, though it be not absolutely present, yet it is looked upon as in a nearer Conjunction to the Power, than if it were not at all expected Hope hath this Proper­ty, or Power in it, that it Unites an Absent Ob­ject, if expected, unto the Power, by Pre appre­hension, though it cannot in Actual Fruition: And hence it is said, Heb. 11.1. That Faith, which is in effect the firmest kind of Hope, is the substance of things hoped for. It makes a kind of Pre exist­ence of the Thing unto it self, and fetcheth back Futurity to a kind of Presence. But if the Good be Really Present, and not only Expected; then the Affection that is wrought in the Soul is De­light. Though the Soul be moved toward the Thing it Enjoyeth with Desire, yet the Enjoyment still filleth the Desire. There is a continual and mutual action of the Desire upon the Object, and of the Object unto the Desire, and so there is a Perpetual Motion, and yet a Perpetual Rest: the De­sire moving it self to the Object, and the Object [Page 4] immediately satitfying the Desire, because present and enjoyed: and from that Mutual Action of the Power and the Object one upon the other, ariseth Delight, Complacency, and Contentment.

That which is the chiefest Good of the Crea­ture, when known, cannot choose but work most effectually upon these Motions of the Soul, and draw out these Affections of the Soul, in the most eminent and effectual measure. A small Good doth draw out a measure of Desire unto it, Hope for it, and Delight in it; but still in a smaller mea­sure. For the Soul must needs reserve somewhat for some other Good that is more adequate to it [...] Power: But if the Good be adequate to the Power, then it must of necessity draw out the mos [...] intense motion of the Soul to it: and consequent­ly the greater the Good is, the greater must be the Desire of it, if Absent; the Hope of it, if expect­ed; the Delight in it, if Enjoyed: Because the Object is not too narrow for the Power, but Com­mensurate to it, and filleth it so, that in effect there is no residue of Power left to move towards any thing else but it, or at least in subordination to it.

The greatest Good that an Intellectual Creature can possibly have, and that which alone is Com­mensurate to it, is to have its self filled with the Manifestation of the Truth, Glory, Goodness, and Bounty of God. All other things are too narrow to fill the power and capacity of the Soul. Thi [...] alone being Infinite, is Commensurate, and more than Commensurate to that Power, and in orde [...] unto which, that Power or Receptivity was plant­ed in the Soul, viz. To enjoy God according t [...] that Measure and Manner that the Creature is ca­pable of. And this is the true and only Blessed­ness [Page 5] of Man: and consequently must needs draw from the Soul the most Ardent Desire, the most Comfortable Expectation or Hope, and the most absolute Delight and Contentment. For herein as the Soul moves towards an Object that is natural to it, viz. Good; so it moves toward it, as towards the most natural, suitable, commensurate Good unto it, and consequently in the intensest degree of its Power and Ability.

Though the Enjoyment of God be the Happi­ness and Perfection of the Creature, because it, and it alone, fills that Vacuity and Receptivity of the Powers of the Soul: Yet if those Powers of the Soul be indisposed, unfit and disordered, uncapa­ble of that Blessed Object; Though there wants not an Object to make it Blessed, yet there wants a Means of Uniting that Object to the Soul, at least to communicate it self unto it in that perfect measure that may make it perfectly Blessed. If the Sight be dim and imperfect, though the Object be never so Beautiful, and the Medium never so Light, yet the Object is not united to the Power, at least in that perfection it should be. If there be an Intelligible Object never so Glorious, and fit to be known, yet if the Understanding be dark, the U­nion is not wrought, or so perfectly wrought be­tween the Understanding and the Object. If the Object of the Will be never so amiable, adequate, useful, good; yet if the Will be set upon filthi­ness, impurity, or any unworthy Object; or if any impurity be mingled with it, the Power of the Will doth not receive, or at least so genuinely re­ceive, that Good that is propounded: And conse­quently in a Soul thus distempered, there cannot arise that full desire of the Soul after God, that [Page 6] comfortable Hope or Expectation of the Enjoy­ment of him, nor that actual Fruition of him.

Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Eternal Son of God, the Prince of Peace, that came into the World to restore God to the Service and Honour of his Creature, and to restore Man to the Fruition of his Creator, and consequently to his Blessedness, in order to this great end.

First, Hath in some measure cured and healed the Distempers of our Souls, and the Powers of them; that so they may move regularly, even in this Life, towards this Blessed Union, The Enjoy­ment of God in our Desires.

Secondly, He hath obtained for us a State of Per­fection of Soul and Body after Death, whereby we may be fit to receive and enjoy God in Perfecti­on: know him as we are known; Love him, and Receive him.

Thirdly, He hath obtained for us a most full Com­munication of God unto Man, even in the fullest compass of his Power and Capacity to receive him in that State after Death.

Fourthly, He hath fully described that Blessed Condition in the Enjoyment of God in that Life to come, and revealed it unto us, and Sealed unto us the Assurance of it, by the Truth of God and his own Resurrection.

Now because in order of Nature, the Act of Understanding to Know, doth go before the Mo­tions [Page 7] of the Will and Affections, to desire or hope for the Object that is desired or hoped for And because in order of Nature, the Thing or Object that is to be known; hath a priority to the Act of the Understanding whereby it is known; though in point of Execution, or actual Existence, the Ob­ject may be future and subsequent to the Act whereby it is known: Therefore we shall in the first place consider the Estate of a Christian af­ter Death, and the Privilege that with and by Christ he shall then receive: that so it being known, it may be desired, hoped for, and in due time per­fectly enjoyed.

There is therefore considerable a Four-fold Estate of a Christian after Death.

• 1. The State of the Soul and Body from the Instant of Separation until the time of his Resurrection.
• 2. The State of the Soul and Body from the Instant of the Resurrection until the Judgment.
• 3. The State of the Body and Soul thus Re-united in the Time of the Judgment.
• 4. The State of the Body and Soul after Judgment unto all Eternity.

These are Secrets that never lay within the reach or discovery of the Light of Nature, Job [...]8.17. Have the Gates of Death been opened unto thee: The State of that Region hath been locked up from the [Page 8] knowledge of Mankind in this Life: and no more is discovered or discoverable unto us, than what it hath pleased the God of Nature in the Scriptures to reveal and discover unto us: So far we may go; farther than that we may not, cannot see: and all other Conclusions, farther than warranted by that Light, may prove dangerous Untruths, often prove Presumptuous Curiosities, but at the best are but uncertain Conjectures, which want bottom enough to build our Desires, Hopes, or Expectati­ons upon. And herein therefore we must ever magnifie the Excellency of the Scriptures, and the Great Mercy of God in giving them unto us, whereby those Truths are discovered that are of infinite concernment unto us, and that from the Finger of God himself, who alone could discover them: wherein all the Disquisitions and Conclusi­ons of Natural Reason, or Human Learning, are short and defective. This is a Learning that no other means can teach us but Divine Revelation; a Continent that no other Map can describe, nor no other Light can discover unto us, but the Word of God himself: If we guide not our selves by this Thread, we lose our selves in the Discourse or Con­templation of it.

1. Therefore, concerning the State of Body and Soul after Death, till the Re-union of both in the Resurrection.

The Word of God shews us the Principles of Man, his Body and Soul, Gen. 2.7. He formed Man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his no­strils the breath of life, and Man became a living Soul. These two Pieces of different Extractions he so closely and wisely united together, that they made [Page 9] but one Piece: and so far advanced the corruptible part, the Body, that it was indued with an actual incorruption; subject indeed to a Translation, but not to a Dissolution, Corruption, or Separation, but only by the means of Sin.

But Sin entered into the World, and Death by Sin — Natural Death as well as Eternal Death. It did de­prive the Body of that Incorruption that the power of God had annexed to it, though of its own na­ture otherwise Corruptible: And though it did not subject that Immortal part, the Soul, unto Corrupti­on or Annihilation; yet, as it stood in relation to the Body, and as the Body and Soul made but one Man, so it subjected the Man to a Dissolution, a separation of those Two Parts, which did consti­tute him one Reasonable Creature. The Body be­came subject to Corruption, not Annihilation; the Soul to the Curse, not to Corruption; and the Body and Soul as constituting one Man, to Death or Dissolution. So then, Death Separating these Two Constitutive parts of Man, his Body and his Soul; we will consider how, after the Death, the state of either stands, as to such as are truly united unto Christ Jesus, and to God by him.

1. As to the Body; It is true, the Body after the Dissolution or Separation from the Soul, corrupts, and, as the Wise Man saith, Returns to his Earth, Eccles. 12.7. Gen. 3.19. Dust thou art, and unto Dust thou shalt return. And yet, this Flesh resteth in hope, Psal. 16.9. The Hope and Assurance of a Resurrection to Life, Job 19.26. Though after my skin worms destroy this Body, yet in my flesh I shall see God. And doubtless, as an Evidence and Effect of this Assurance it was, that not only by a Natural [Page 10] or Moral instinct, or Custom, but even with some mixture of Religious Observance it was, that the Antient Patriarchs took that Solemn Care of pre­serving their Dust, Gen. 23.4. Abraham takes more care for a fixed Burying-place, than for a fixed place of Living, Gen. 49.29. Jacob gives a charge to his Sons to Bury him with his Father, Gen. 50.25. Joseph secures, with an Oath, the Transportation of his Bones: Not out of any doubt of God's Power to recollect those Bones, though scattered over the World; but to leave a kind of Testimonial of that Assurance of a Blessed Resurrection; and that even in those Bones there lay a Depositum or Pledge thereof, Isai. 65.8. Destroy them not, for there is a Blessing in them.

But to come a little nearer to that Privilege, that even the Bodies of such as are united to Christ, have in this state of Separation, and seeming Corrup­tion.

1. Those very Dead Bodies, though they put on Corruption, and crumble into Dust, yet that very Dust is under a special Care and Providence of God. And as their Death is precious in his sight, Psal. 116.15. so is their Dust not neglected. The Blood of Righteous Abel, though spilt upon the Ground, yet had a Voice that the God of Heaven heard, Gen. 4 10. And he, that whiles they lived, Num­bred the hairs of their heads, Matth. 10.30. those seemingly unnecessary Excretions of the Body, hath no less care of their Dust, which he hath reserved for a Glorious Resurrection. When that Evil An­gel would have injured the Deceased Body of Mo­ses, and abused it, to be an Instrument of Supersti­tion, or some other unworthy use, an Arch-Angel [Page 11] was employed to prevent it, Jude 9. And there­fore if I should foresee, that by Fury or Malice of Men, or any other Permission, or Dispensation of Divine Providence, my Body should be mangled into a Thousand pieces, or be resolved into Smoak and Ashes, and those Ashes scattered into the Wind, or Ocean; yet even in relation to this Body of mine, my Flesh should rest in Hope: because that All seeing-Eye of God, can follow the most subtil parts of this my dissolved Carcass, and pursue them from place to place till they shall be Lodged: And that Almighty Power of God, by that effectual sound of the Last Trump, shall and will Re-sum­mon all those scattered Atomes, and call them to­gether from their remotest dissipation, and re-unite them again in a Glorious Resurrection.

2. Those very Dead Bodies are not by Death wholly disunited from Christ. It is very plain, that by Faith in Christ in this Life, the Whole Man is United unto Christ, and become a Member of his Mystical Body: And though the Instrument whereby this Union is wrought, Faith on our part, and the Spirit of Christ on his part, have their more immediate Residence and Termination in the Soul; yet by vertue thereof there is wrought a Communication of some Privileges of that Uni­on, unto the Body it self, 1 Cor. 6.15. Know ye not that your Bodies are the Members of Christ? 1 Cor. 6.19. Know ye not that your Bodies are the Temples of the Holy Ghost? And therefore though by Death these Bodies taste of Corruption, and return unto their Dust; yet in as much as by the Body of Christ there is deposited in this Dust, a kind of Secret Seed of Immortality, this very Dust is not to­tally [Page 12] separated from that Union it once had with its Head. And hence it was that when the Blessed Body of our Lord was laid in the Grave, and there­by Healed the Deadliness of it, it did, as it were, Disseminate, and Diffuse into the Bodies of the Saints a kind of Virtue, or Energy; so that in the Resurrection of our Saviour's Body, the Dead Bo­dies of the Saints, by secret Sympathy, as it were, with our Saviour's Body, and in Evidence of that Vital Power, which was derived into them, by vir­tue of that Union, as the dead Body by the touch of Elisha's Bones, 2 Kings 13.21. They were quick­ned, and entered into the Holy City, and appeared unto many, Matth. 27.53.

And upon this account likewise, I have a com­fort in Death, even in relation to this Body of mine, my old Acquaintance, which I am now lay­ing down in the Dust: that though it be sown in dishonour, and must turn into Dust; yet my Lord, to whom by Faith I am united, looks upon this Dust, as that wherein he owns a Property, 1 Cor. 6.20. as that which was and shall be a Member of his own Mystical Body; as that which is pre­cious in his sight, and was Redeemed from Cor­ruption by no less a Price than his own Death, And as that which shall in a perfect Union with that other, though Nobler Part, enjoy Eternal Hap­piness, and the fulness of Joy for ever. And thus we shall leave the Body in this State of Rest and Hope, till the second Appearance of our Lord.

Secondly, Concerning the state of the Soul in Se­paration after Death, until the Resurrection, and the Benefits we have therein by the Union with [Page 13] Christ: And herein so far as the Word of God sheweth us, so far we may and must go: If we go farther, we are in the dark; and Conjectures are dangerous and uncertain, and such as we can­not build any sound Hope or Comfort upon. The Hope of a Christian is or should be, a lively hope, 1 Pet. 1.3. A firm hope, and joyned with Confi­dence and Assurance, Heb. 3.6. An Operative Hope, working the Heart to a Temper and Con­stitution suitable to it, 1 John 33. He that hath this Hope purifieth himself. A Hope that we may give a Man a reasonable account of, 1 Pet. 3.15. And such a Hope as this is, must be bottomed upon living, sound, evident Principles. Conjectures, and Phi­losophical Discourses of things, that are not wit [...] ­in the Help of a Natural Medium, to discover or climb up unto, breed but a weak faint Perswasion or Opinion, and therefore cannot be a Foundation of such a Hope. It is only Divine Revelation that can discover the thing in hand, or lay a foundati­on for such a Hope as makes not ashamed. So far therefore as the Scriptures of God reveal unto us, so far have we a sound Foundation of Faith and Hope in the matter in hand. And, from them we learn,

1. That from the instant of Death, until the Re­surrection, there is a State of the Separated Soul: and that it hath an Abiding Being, and Subsistence, notwithstanding such Separation; and this will most clearly appear by what follows.

2. That that State of the Soul of a True Chri­stian, is, from the instant of its Separation, a State free from all Sin: And this freedom from Sin is [Page 14] not only a freedom from the Guilt and Imputa­tion of Sin (for such a State the Soul hath in this Life) but a freedom from the Stain and Adhe­rence of all Sin. Whiles the Soul hath its residence in the Body, there are two contrary Principles that move it, and work upon it. The Spirit and Grace of Christ working the Soul to the Likeness and Similitude of Christ, fashioning him in the Heart, and reforming it to the Image of God: And on the other side, the Sinful and Fleshly Ap­petite strugling to retain its domination and rule over the Soul, and bringing it into subjection to the Law of Sin. And from these contrary Princi­ples ariseth a continual strife and contention in the Soul; Either Principle having some footing and ground in the Faculties and Powers of the Soul, Galat. 5.17. The Flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit lusteth against the Flesh, and these are con­trary one to the other, so that ye cannot do the things ye would. And from hence it is, though in the best of Men there be a prevalence of the Power of Grace in the Soul; So that the Domination and Power of the Flesh be controlled, Rom. 6.14. and not only so, but the Flesh is Crucified, brought into Subjection, Gal. 5.24. They that are Christ's have Crucified the Flesh, with the Affections and Lusts, yet still the Flesh continues.

1. As an Impediment to the full and free work­ing of the Spirit of God, or rather of the Soul to move according to it; for it is clogged with a Bo­dy of Death, Rom. 7.24. Matth. 26.41. The Spirit is willing, but the Flesh is weak. The Body and Soul, like Mezentius his Couples, consisting of a Dead and earthy part, as well as of a Living and Spiri­tual [Page 15] part, whereby we cannot do the thing we would.

2. Notwithstanding the Prevailing Power of Grace in the Soul, the Flesh continues not only a Passive Impediment, as I may call it▪ but it hath still left in it a Counter-motion, it Lusteth against the Spirit; and though the Spirit of Grace be the Pre­vailing Principle, yet the contrary Motion of a con­trary Principle, cannot choose but impede and re­tard the Power of the contrary Motion, though it cannot altogether frustrate it: As we see when the Tyde comes in upon a Fresh River, though the Tyde prevail, yet the contrary Motion of the Ri­ver doth hinder and retard the Tyde in its Mo­tion; though it cannot Conquer, yet it Inter­rupts it.

3. And not only so, but sometimes even in the best of Men, that natural Corruption of the Flesh, which grows Sullen by being Over-match'd with the Powerful Work of Grace upon the Soul▪ and seems dead: yet the Opportunity of a Temptati­on revives that seeming Dead Lust that was in us, that sometimes it returns upon them with Advan­tage. And so this Law in the Members warring a­gainst the Law of the Mind, by the Opportunity and Animation of a Temptation, brings us into Capti­vity to the Law of Sin which is in our Members, Rom. 7.23. So that the best of Men neglecting their Guard, and being secure, have been, by this Law in the Flesh. Actuated by a Temptation, brought into the Commission of the worst of Sins.

So that the great hindrance to the through and perfect Sanctification of the Soul in this Life, is [Page 16] principally by the Adherence of the Body unto it; and consequently of those Lusts and Passions that do accompany that Body. But by Death the Im­pediment is removed, the Counter-motion of the Flesh abolished, the Opportunity of Temptation by it taken away, and nothing doth hinder or retard the Soul from being Actuated, Moved, and Habi­tuated, according to that Prevailing Principle of the Grace of Christ, which it had in it in this Life, and carries with it out of this Life: and in the Instant of the Dissolution, the whole I even of Natural Corruption is cleansed out of the Soul: And he that is thus dead is free from Sin, Rom. 6.7.

In this Life the Grace of Christ is as it were Fa­shioning and Moulding the Soul unto his Likeness: And because the Flesh is a great Enemy unto this Work, our Lord's Counsel is, still to Weaken, A­bate and Mortifie the Flesh, that hinders and in­terrupts the Energy and Work of the Spirit of God: So that we should, as much as may be, Die while we Live. The Day of Death is, as it were, the Birth-day of the Soul, when it falls off as a Seed that is ripe, and drops into a place of rest, and there it spends as it were, its Infancy, till it be ready for the Consummation of its happiness in the Resurrection. But still in that instant of Separati­on, it is like the Children of Tribulation, Revel. 7.12. Cloathed with White Robes, dipped in the Blood of Christ, and Sanctified throughout by the Spirit of Christ.

Thirdly, The Soul united unto Christ, immedi­ately upon her Separation from the Body, is Tran­slated into a place of Rest, and enjoys a Condition free from all Trouble, Sorrow and Misery, Revel. 14.13. They rest from their labours, and their works fol­low them.

Fourthly, The Soul doth not only enjoy a Ne­gative Happiness, an Absence of all Misery; but, in the very Instant of the Dissolution is Translated to a condition of Blessedness Commensurate to the Capacity of the Soul; and enjoys the Vision of Christ in Glory, in a place of Glory and Happiness, Luke 17.24. Lazarus's Soul was carried into Abra­ham's Bosom, and there did rest before the last Judg­ment: for the Rich Man's Brethren were then up­on the Earth: Which, though it be a Parable, yet it imports the Blessed State of a Separate Soul, even before the last Judgment.

And that this is so, our Saviour's words upon the Cross unto the Crucified Thief import, Luke 23.43. Verily I say unto thee, to day thou shalt be with me in Paradise. Wherein we have, First, The Time; To Day: before the Resurrection. Secondly, The Place; In Paradise: which is the very place of the Blessed: that which 2 Cor. 12.2 is called the third Heaven, Vers. 4. is called Paradise. And Thi [...]dly, The Presence; with me in Paradise, where the Glo­rious Soul of Christ was, 2 Cor. 5.8. We are confi­dent, and willing to be absent from the Body, and to be present with the Lord. Parallel to which, Philip. 1.23. Having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ, which is far better. There is not a mean instant be­tween the departure from the Body, and the local Presence with Christ. And certainly, the Soul enjoying the Presence of Christ, cannot want the Fullness of Happiness. The Soul must needs re­ceive a continual Irradiation from his Glory: a con­tinual Stream of Comfort and Delight must needs flow into the Soul from his Presence, the clear Ma­nifestation of his Love and Favour. But yet ac­cording to the Measure of the Capacity of the [Page 18] Soul to receive, must needs be the Measure of what it receives: And therefore, doubtless, as the Soul in the State of Separation, cannot have the same Measure of Perfection as it shall have in its Re-union in the Resurrection; so consequently it cannot receive the like Measure of Blessedness as it then shall receive. Though the Blessedness be the same in Kind, and the same in Measure, yet the Soul hath not the same capacity to receive it, as when it is re-united perfectly to a perfect Body, by which the Soul will be enabled to act more perfect­ly than it did, or could in the state of Separation. The Soul enjoys a fullness of Comfort, and Rest, and Blessedness in the presence of Christ, according to the utmost capacity that it hath: But as her capacity, and the excellence of her operation shall be improved in the Resurrection, so shall the mea­sure of her Happiness: The fullness and perfection of her fruition is reserved till then, Coloss. 3.3. Our Life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our Life, shall appear, then shall we appear with him in Glory. 1 John 3.2. Now we are the Sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like unto him: for we shall see him as he is. The perfect Vision of Christ is referred till his last Appearance; and con­sequently the perfect Measure of our Glory and Blessedness. The Reception of that Glory into the Soul, is that which doth in a manner Transfi­gure, and Transform the Soul into the same Glo­ry: and according to the Measure of that recepti­on, so is the Measure of that Transformation. Here, in this Life, our Vision of it is as it were in a Glass, and therefore our Conformity unto it is the less, and more imperfect: In the state of Se­paration [Page 19] of the Soul more is seen, and therefore the Soul more Irradicated: But in the Re-union of the Soul and Body, the State of the Soul is more perfect, and the Vision therefore more perfect, and consequently the Glory of the Soul and Body more perfect. Then we shall behold with open Face (not in a Glass as here) the Glory of the Lord: and so shall be changed into the same Image from Glory to Glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord. 2 Cor. 3.18. We shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. The seeing of Christ as he is, is that which Imprints a Glory upon the Soul, as the Sight of God in the Mount, Imprinted a Brightness upon Moses's Face: And the more perfectly we see him, the greater is our Conformity to him: the more we receive of him, the more likeness we receive unto him. In the State of Separation the Soul receives a clearer Vision of Christ, than whilst she was in the Flesh; but not so full a Vision as she shall in the Resurrection. And therefore these Blessed Souls, Revel. 6.9. are said to be under the Altar. So that though they had White Robes given unto them, yet they were, as it were, in the Court of the Tem­ple: though in a State of nearness unto Christ, a State of Blessedness Commensurate to the Capacity of the Soul; yet not so fully and compleatly hap­py as in the Resurrection, when the Tabernacle of God shall be with Men, Revel. 21.3. So that to con­clude, we think, that according to the Scriptures, though the fullness and Perfection of the Glory of the Saints is reserved to the General Resurrection at the Second Appearance of Christ; yet the Blessed Souls departed do, in the Instant of their Separa­tion, enjoy the Presence of Christ, and a Glorious Manifestation of his Glory and Presence unto [Page 20] them, in as full a Degree, and Measure of Happi­ness, as a Separate Soul is possibly capable of, and so much she is capable of, as makes her Happy and Glorious. And were there no more but this, it were enough not only to Conquer the Fear of Death, but to make it desirable to a Faithful Soul, so far as consists with our Submission to the Will of God, and that Duty of serving our Generation in this Life, which he requires of us.

There are Two Things that make us hang so much upon this Life, viz. First, The want of Faith, and Belief of this Truth of God, viz. That the Soul in the Immediate Instant of her Separa­tion enjoys a State of Glory and Blessedness. The Shadow and Vale of Death doth interpose, and hinder our Souls from beholding that Country which is on the other side of that Vale. Secondly, The adherence of our Flesh, which doth and must know, that in the Region on the other side of Death, there is no room for it; no room for Sensual Plea­sures and Delights, and Enjoyments, and therefore hangs back, and cannot with Patience think of it: And having in some measure tainted the Soul with those Affections and Lusts, makes her also unwill­ing to change her Station. And therefore I look upon Old Age as a great Blessing, even in this re­spect, that it wears out, and weakens those Strong Fleshly Corruptions, and Inclinations, which make us so much rest upon this Life: and gives us oppor­tunity with less diversion of the Flesh, to entertain the Hopes and Expectation of the Blessed Estate of the Soul after death.

II. We come to consider the State of the Soul and Body, in and from the Instant of the Resurrection [Page 21] until the Last Judgment; and the Privilege that we have by Christ therein: And concerning it, thus far the Scriptures teach us to conclude.

1. That there shall be a Resurrection of the Bo­dies of all Men. This appears by the Scriptures of both Testaments; though more clearly in the New: Our Lord Jesus in the Gospel having brought Life and Immortality to light, viz. That Great Mystery of Life, and the Second Life and Immortality, which was more obscurely delivered in the Old Testament, Christ hath Unveiled, and positively and plainly declared the same. Balaam, though a Wizard, yet by what means we know not, was Inlightned to see many Truths, and Transported, even beyond himself, in the aknowledgment of them: And he seems to acknowledge this Truth, speaking of the Star of Jacob, Numb. 24.17. I shall s [...]e him, but not now. Again, Job, who seems to be contempo­rary with that time, though none of the Twelve Tribes, but yet of the Children of Abraham, had this Truth by Tradition unquestionable, Job 19.26, 27. Though after my Skin, Worms destroy this Bo­dy, yet in my Flesh shall I see God. Isaiah 26.19. Thy dead Men shall live, together with my dead Body shall they arise: Awake and sing ye that dwell in the dust: for thy dew is as the dew of Herbs, and the Earth shall cast out the Dead. Thy dew is as the dew of Herbs; a secret quickening quality, like that of the dew of Herbs, shall fall upon those dead Mate­rials, and give them Life, Dan. 12.2. Many of them that sleep in the dust of the Earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt. Many, 1. Importing their Multitude, not excluding any. 2. Many, Because we shall not all die, but we shall all be changed.

In the New Testament, this Truth is more clearly and distinctly asserted, Matth. 22.29. Our Saviour particularly, and ex proposito asserts it against the Sadduces, and declares the manner of their con­dition to be, as the Angels of Heaven. Again, Matth. 24.31. He describes the manner of it: He shall send his Angels with a great sound of a Trumpet, and they shall gather the Elect from the four Winds, from one end of Heaven unto the other. Hence he calls them, Luke 20.36. Children of God, being Children of the Resurrection. And it is plain, that the Disciples of Christ took this as an unquestionable Truth. John 11.23. Jesus said unto her, Thy Brother shall rise again. Martha said unto him, I know that he shall rise again at the Resurrection at the last day. This great Truth, asserted by the Pharisees, contradicted by the Sadduces, Acts 28.8. and unknown to the most Learned of the Gentiles; Paul most excellent­ly discovereth and asserteth, in his Sermon to the Athenians, enforcing it from the Power and Justice of God: And though it had but a course enter­tainment at the first, for some Mocked, others de­clined the present Disquisition of it, Acts 17.32. yet doubtless it was the most proper Point, to con­vince the Ignorant World of; it being such a Truth, as must of necessity put them upon sollici­tous Enquiries of their Future State, and quite change all the vain Decisions of the Philosophers: and therefore this Subject Paul chose to Dispute up­on in the Academy of Gree [...]e. And though the Do­ctrine seemed at first Novel and Incredible, yet it doubtless left some Jealous Impressions upon their Minds, of the Truth and Consequents thereof: and that Jealousie made them the apter to enter­tain the listening to those Truths, which were in [Page 23] order to it. When in the Church of Corinth, this Truth began to be called in Question, the Apo­stle, 1 Cor. 15. undertakes a setled Discourse of the Truth of it; which he evinceth by many Ar­guments: 1. From the Resurrection of Christ Je­sus; which, First, He proves by unquestionable Evi­dence: then Infers,

• 1. The Possibility of the Resurrection.
• 2. The Necessity of it.

The Possibility, intimated thus; If Christ be ri­sen, then it is not impossible but the same Power may raise up us. But Christ is risen: The former Proposition is Evident; for it was no less than an Omnipotent Power, that was required to the Resurrection of Christ: and more than an Omnipo­tent Power, is not, cannot be required to the Resur­rection of us. The Second Proposition he eviden­ceth beyond all contradiction: He instances in Four several times of his Appearance after his Death; To Cephas: To the 12 Disciples: To 500 Brethren at once: And to himself. And as thus the Possibility of our Resurrection stands proved by the Resurrection of Christ: So, Secondly, The Necessity of it; Christ was declared the Son of God with Power, by the Resur­rection from the Dead, Rom. 1.4.

And the end of his Mission into the World must needs be some Work answerable to the Greatness of his Person, and the Wonderfulness of it: Cer­tainly, that the Eternal Son of God should take upon him our Flesh, Live, Die, and Rise again, and Ascend into Heaven, could not choose but be for some notable end. A Wise Man never undertakes [Page 24] any Great Action but for some Great End answe­rable to it: Much less certainly, would the Great God, the Fountain of all Wisdom, undertake such a business as this, but for an End suitable to it. Now the End of God's sending of Christ into the World, is declared, John 3.16. God so loved the World, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting Life. But if there be no Resurrection, God shall be disappointed in this great End of the Mission of his Son: For it is evident, that in this Life, little advantage is wrought for the Disciples of Christ. They meet with Per­secutions, Wants, Necessities, Barbarous Usage, Untimely Death oftentimes, Vers. 19. If in this Life only we have hope, we are of all Men most miserable. And if no Resurrection, then they that are fallen asleep in Christ are perished, Vers. 18.

Therefore since the Salvation of Men, was the End of the Mission of Christ into the World; The End of the Almighty and Wise God, who hath Infinite Wisdom to contrive Means to compass his own ends; Infinite Power to effect and bring them to pass, and to remove all Obstacles that may hin­der the effecting thereof: And since it is plain, that the Salvation of the Servants of Christ, is not in this World, but must of necessity be in some fu­ture State after this Life: And since neither the Light of Nature, nor the Light of Scripture, do shew us any other way, to the attaining of that happy Condition after this Life, in that full and compleat measure, but by the Resurrection: There­fore there is a necessity of a Resurrection, that Man might not lose his Happiness, nor God the Glory of his Wisdom and Power, in the Redemption of Man by his own Son.

The next Argument of the Necessity of our Re­surrection from the Resurrection of Christ, stands in the Comparison of Christ and Adam together; and the Relation that each have to their Depen­dants. Adam stood as a Mediator of the First Co­venant, for Himself and All his Seed: And hence it was, that by His Sin, death passed upon Him, and upon All his Posterity. This is the scope of the Apostle here, Vers. 22. and more fully and at large, Rom. 5.12. & sequentibus.

Now the Transition of Guilt and Death from Adam unto us, rested upon a double Union between him and us. 1. An Union by Natural Generation. 2. An Union by way of Representation. Both these were requisite to transferr the disadvantage of his Sin upon us. For if the former had been wanting, it had been an unreasonable thing that the stipu­lation of him to whom I had no Relation, upon whom I had no dependance, to whom I gave no Commission, should inure to my disadvantage. If the second had been wanting, it had not been a­greeable to that Rule of Justice, that the Lord him­self was pleased to own, Ezek. 18. The Son shall not bear the Iniquity of the Father. And because the Ju­stice of this may the fuller appear, and the diffe­rence between the State of Adam, in relation to all his Posterity, and the State of a Father now in Re­lation to his Children; We may consider these diffe­rences.

1. Adam was constituted in so perfect and free a condition, that he was most exquisitely fitted to be the Mediator of a Covenant, between God and himself, and all his Posterity. But our Parents are not constituted in such a condition, they want that [Page 26] Perfection of Knowledge, and Freedom of Will, as was in our First Parents. Since the Fall, the Descendants from Adam are corrupted in their Wills, and in their Judgments; and so not fit to be Representatives for the binding of their Posterity, as Adam was.

2. As Adam was a Representative for his Poste­rity for their Ill, in Case of Disobedience; so he was for their Good, in case of Obedience. A Stock of Blessedness Transmissible to his Posterity, was de­posited freely, By the Free Goodness of God, without any desert in Man, for the advantage of him and all his Descendants: For it is most evi­dent, that even in the State of Innocence, the Law of Propagation of his kind, was given to Man as well as to the other Creatures, Gen. 1.28. So that as his Posterity might have had disadvantage by his Fall, so they might have advantage, in case he continued in his Integrity, viz. the Transmission of that hap­py and perfect Condition that Adam had, subject nevertheless to a Personal Liberty, as Adam was. But it is not so now with us: Our Parents can Transmit to us their Posterity, nothing but a State of Sin, and Defect, and Misery: So that as they are unfit to be Mediators, or Representatives for us, in respect of their Defect; So it were unequal they should be such, because they would be neces­sarily Mediators to our Disadvantage, not possibly to our Advantage.

3. Again, a Representative, or Mediator be­tween God and Man, could not be without the Institution and Acceptation of God; he having filled our First Parents with such Ability and Equa­lity, [Page 27] was pleased to accept him as a Stipulator for himself and his Descendants, and constitute him such. But he hath not so appointed in other De­scendants from him And herein we may see the Justice and Goodness of God, who, though he be the Absolute, and Uncontrollable Lord of all his Creatures, to whom he is not bound by any Rule of Justice; yet when he was pleased to take Adam for a common Stipulator, for his Posterity as well as Himself, he fits him with most Exquisite Purity, Wisdom, and Ability, such as could never be over­matched by his Posterity, had he continued in In­nocence; and puts into his hand a full Stock of Bles­sedness for him and his Descendants, before he ad­mits him to Stipulate for the Good or Evil of his Posterity. But when that fails, as it doth with the Descendants from Adam, his Rule of Justice is, The Son shall not bear the Iniquity of the Father.

Thus far we see the Union, between Adam and us, whereby, while he ate the Bitter Fruits, our Teeth are set on Edge; and yet Almighty God most exactly just therein. Now our Lord Christ became a Second Adam, the Mediator of the Se­cond Covenant: As in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive, Vers. 22. Now as God was pleased to put into the Hands of the First Adam, a Stock of Life, and Blessedness, under a Covenant for him and his Posterity, which were included in him by the Law of Natural Generation; so he put into the Hands of Christ, the Mediator of the Se­cond Covenant, a Stock of Life and Blessedness for his Seed, by Supernatural Regeneration, Vers. 47. As the First Adam was made a living Soul, so the Se­cond was made a quickning Spirit, John 5.26. As the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the [Page 28] Son to have life in himself: a quickening Life, John 5.21. The Son quickeneth whom he will. Quick­ening not only to a Life of Grace here, but to a Life of Immortality and Glory hereafter. John 6.54. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day, Vers. 57. As I live by the Father, so he that eateth me, shall live by me. A Life as in the Fountain habi­tually there, but actually exercising it self in the Branches united to him, John 11.25. I am the Re­surrection, and the Life, whosoever believeth in me, tho' he were dead yet shall he live. And as the Life that is in the Root, is that which gives Life to the Branch, and the means of deriving this Life is the Union between the Stock and the Branch, and the Inter­ception of this Life from the Branch, is the Disuni­on or Separation of the Branch from the Root; so that Life of Grace in the Soul, and of Immortality in the Resurrection, is by virtue of this Union with the Root Christ, John 15.5. I am the Vine, ye are the Branches. He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit. And as the Life of the Branch is hid in the Root, so our Life is hid with God in Christ, Coloss. 3.3. Now because Union is the means of our everlasting Life in Christ, as it was of Temporal and Everlasting Death in Adam; So we shall find between Christ and his Branches, a Parallel Union to that between Adam and his Posterity. 1. An Union, though not by way of Natural Generation, yet by way of Supernatural Regeneration: As Adam had his Seed, so Christ hath his Seed, Isai. 53.10. He shall see his Seed. John 3.3. Except a Man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God. Born of an Immortal Seed, 1 Pet. 1.23. Being born not of a Corruptible Seed, but [Page 29] of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. Formed into the Image of Christ the Immortal Son of God. Fed with an Immortal Food. John 6.51. I am the living bread which came down from Heaven: if any Man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever. And this Immortality resteth upon this ground, John 6.56. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. That is, is united to me, as the Branch is to the Root: And that Life that is in the Root is trans­mitted into the Branch: And it shall be as impossi­ble for that Branch to die, as long as it stands thus united, as it is impossible for the Root to die.

But still this is a Spiritual Union, a Conjunction of the Soul and Spirit unto Christ. The Union between Adam and his Posterity, and between Christ and his Seed, agree in this, that they were both Unions unto them as to the Root: And by virtue of that Union, there was a Transmission of their Conditions to those that were thus united unto them. Death from Adam to his Seed; Life by Christ to his Seed. Yet the manner of that Union differs: That, a Birth of the Flesh; this, a Birth of the Spirit. John 3.6. That which is born of the Flesh is Flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit. John 6.63. The words that I speak, they are Spirit, and they are Life. This therefore is that Po­sterity, as I may call them, of Christ Jesus, not born of the Flesh, but of the Spirit, viz. such as by his Grace sent into, and everlastingly abiding in their Souls, are wrought to the Love of God by him, to the Obedience of his Will, to a Conformi­ty to Christ the Image of the Invisible God, in all the Inclinations, Dispositions, and Habits of their Souls: and so transplanted from that State of Re­bellion [Page 30] and Disobedience unto God, into the King­dom of God, and the voluntary subjection unto his Will, in which they are preserved by the same abiding Spirit of Christ, that resides in them, and will go along with them through Death. And this Seed of Life abiding in them, will at last quicken the Body, and raise it up unto Eternal Life, in a perpetual Conjunction with the Soul, as it did quicken the Body of Christ, and resumed it into an inseparable blessed Union with his Soul unto all E­ternity.

And as thus the Union between Christ and a Be­liever, by Supernatural Regeneration, stands paral­lel to that between Adam and his Posterity, by Na­tural Generation; So there is also an Union of Re­presentation between Christ and those that believe on him: differing in this; That whereas Adam represented his Posterity without any actual choice of theirs, but only as they were virtually included in him; But in this Representative, Christ Jesus, First, There is a voluntary Susception of his: He freely undertakes the business of this Great Covenant between God and Man: Receives all Good for them from him: Receives and under­takes to bear all their Evil for them. And thus he loved us first; and we chose not him, but he chose us. But, Secondly, Being drawn unto him by the Power of God: For none comes unto him except the Father draw him, John 6.44. then we run after him. And his People become willing in the day of his Power, Psal. 110. and then as he chooseth us for his Redeemed, so we chose him for our Mediator: Venture our loss and gain upon his Negotiation with the Father for us: venture our Souls upon his Fidelity and Interest in the Father: If we perish we perish: If [Page 31] we live we live. Swear dependance upon; submissi­on unto him; Obedience to his Command; Faith in his Promises. And thus he becomes our Media­tor, our Representative with God, by our own choice; though that choice of ours be not wrought by our own strength. And so there is wrought this Civil Union between Christ and the Believer, by the Mutual Stipulation of either: Christ under­taking to be his Peace-maker, and he undertaking to cast himself upon him for Life and for Salvation.

Now to inforce the Necessity of the Resurre­ction upon this consideration, Verse 28. As in Adam all die: so in Christ shall all be made alive. Thus he was the figure of him that was to come. Rom. 5.14. The Argument stands thus: God was pleased to give unto the First Adam, a Stock of Immortality and Blessedness transmissible from him to his Po­sterity: under a Covenant, that if he stood in his Integrity, that this Blessedness should be transmit­ted to his Posterity: If he broke the Covenant, then, instead of Blessedness and Immortality, both he and his Posterity should lose that Blessed­ness and Life, and become subject to Temporal and Eternal Death and Misery. Christ, the Second Adam, made a new Covenant with God for his Seed, for a Restitution of Life and Blessedness unto them: And here is the difference which is to our advantage: the Life and Blessedness was not resto­red in this Life, but in a Life that should succeed after this. The Covenant between God and our First Parents was more Literal, and the Fruit of it, a Life here without Misery, and a Translation into Glory: The Covenant in Christ more Spiritual, and the Fruit of it, a Life here, in the Love of God, and a Resurrection after Death unto Glory. [Page 32] And the Resurrection of our Saviour was a Pledge of our Resurrection: He became the first-fruits of them that slept: And also a cause of our Resurrection. We are risen together with him, by virtue of our Union unto him, as of the Members unto the Head: His Resurrection is ours, by virtue of our Union unto him, by way of Participation, and shall be the cause of our Resurrection in a Personal Frui­tion. It is not consistent with the Perfection of the Workings of God, that our Head should live in Glory and Incorruption, and yet his Members be cloathed with Rottenness and Corruption. There­fore as Christ our Head, in whom our Life is hid, hath Conquered Death by his Resurrection; so in due time shall we that are his Members. Yet 1 Cor. 15.23. Every Man in his own order: Christ the first-fruits; and afterwards they that are Christ's at his coming.

The next Argument of the Apostles, though se­cretly intimated, is from the Justice of God, who is Holy in all his Ways, and Righteous in all his Works. Verse 30, 31, 32, 33, 34. If after the man­ner of Men, I have fought with Beasts at Ephesus, what advantageth it me if the dead rise not? Let us eat and drink, for to morrow we shall die. As if he should thus say; The Doctrine of Christ is a Doctrine full of Purity, Holiness and Justice: such a Doctrine as even the Heathens themselves cannot choose but admire: And as far out-goes the exactest Morals of the severest Philosophers, as theirs exceeds Barba­rism and Licentiousness. Yet the Disciples and Professors of Christ have this Legacy given by their Master, Blessedness hereafter, but Persecution in this Life, John 16.33. In the World ye shall have Tri­bulation. Luke 9.23. Whosoever will be my Disciple, [Page 33] must take up his Cross, and die daily, and follow me, 2 Tim. 3.12. All that will live Godly in Christ Jesus must suffer persecution. And I have found my Savi­our's words true, Vers. 31. I die daily. And cer­tainly, if I should measure the excellency of the Doctrine, by the success that the Professors thereof have in this life, I should prefer the Position of the Epicure, Let us eat and drink, for to morrow we shall die. Take the advantage of the Pleasure, and Con­tentment that this World affords, while we have opportunity of life: and look upon Death as ever­lasting dissolution, without expectation of a future account. But if I should say thus, I should plainly evidence that I have not the Knowledge of God, v. 34. He is a pure God, and delights in what is like him­self. Certainly he would never suffer the True Professors and Practisers of Purity, Justice, and Holiness, to lie under the worst of Miseries in this Life, unless he had reserved unto them a State of Blessedness after this Life: Shall not the Judge of all the World do right? And this was that great Conclusion which Solomon, the wisest of Men made, upon an exact observation of the var [...]ety of the Dispensations of Providence in this Life: Sente [...]ce not speedily executed against an evil work, Eccles. 8.11. Just Men to whom it hapneth according to the work of the wicked: and wicked Men to whom it hapneth ac­cording to the work of the Righteous, Eccles. 8.14. The place of Judgment, that wickedness was there; and the place of Righteousness, that Iniquity was there, Eccles. 3.16. The tears of the Oppressed, that they had no Com­forter, and on the side of the Oppressors there was Power, Eccles. 4.1. One Event to the Righteous and to the Wicked, Eccles. 9.2. So that no Man knoweth either Love or Hatred, by all that is before him, Eccles. 9.1.

Upon this consideration of the most exact and unmixed Purity and Justice of God, and yet upon variety of the course of Providence in this Life, seeming, as it were, to thwart, and break the Rule of that Justice; he frames his Conclusion in the latter end of his Survey, Eccles. 12.13. Let us hear the Conclusion of the whole matter, Fear God and keep his Commandments, for this is the whole duty of Man. For God shall bring every work into Judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.

The Apostles next Argument, is at once an Argument to prove the Resurrection, and an Answer to the Objection of a Naturalist, Vers. 35. Some will say, How are the Dead raised, and with what Bodies shall they come? This Objection runs thus; The Rules and Experience of Natural Observations, tell us, That from a Total Privation, there is no regress to the first Subsistence: How therefore shall the Dead arise? If the Soul assume another Body, it is no Resurrection: and to assume the same is absurd and impossible. Do we not see the Bo­dies of Men mangled into Pieces, and some of them become Meat to Fowls, others to Beasts, others to Fish, and mixed with their Substance? And those again, it may be, become the Food of other Men, turned into their own Blood and Spirits, and it may be, become the Particles of another Gene­ration. And those Bodies that have the most so­lemn Interment, do resolve into their First Ele­ments; and those very Particles of this Resolution, by a Thousand Mutations, become parts of other mixt Bodies, and, it may be at last, Ingredients of the Constitution of other Men. A small Contem­plation can follow the Dust of the Great Alexan­der, [Page 35] to some inconsiderable and low Employment? How then shall the Dead be raised, and with what Bodies shall they arise? If the Soul shall resume its own Body, it may fall so, that it cannot be done without injury to another Body, that claims the same Privilege of a Resurrection.

This is that which made the Athenians the Seat of the greatest Philosophers of Greece, and the chifest Academy of the World, to Mock, when they heard of the Resurrection; And this is that Objection which the Apostle here Answers: And because the Objection is made by Persons that subscribe not to the Authority of Scriptures, nor to the Truth of the Gospel, he useth another kind of Medium to evince the possibility and truth of the Resurrection, than what he before had used: And Answers an Objection framed upon Sense and Natural Reason, by Instances and Inferences drawn from the same Principles: By which he discovers these Two things.

1. That Death, though it be a Total Privation, doth not exclude the possibility of a Resurrection: which Answers the first part of the Question, How shall the Dead be raised?

2. That though it be true, the Form of the Body be changed, and resolved into Corruption; yet the Body that shall be raised shall not be subject there­unto: which Answers the Question, With what Bodies shall they arise?

Now touching the First; That notwithstanding a Body is deprived of that Form which it hath, and die; yet it is not impossible there should be a Resurrection thereof.

First, It is plain, that though there might be an impossibility thereof, on the part of the Subject, yet there is no impossibility thereof in regard of the Supreme Efficient: He that made all things of no­thing, can much more of something make the same that it was. It is easily demonstrable, that all things were at first Created by the Supreme Effici­ent: and that there was a First Man, that had his beginning in time. The Scripture shews us, how he made him of the Dust of the ground: And Na­tural Reason, though it cannot without Revelation shew us the manner How, yet it must most evi­dently conclude, that he was made either of no­thing, or of such a substance that had in it self no disposition nor power to form it self into that subsistence which it after had. But the Supreme Om­nipotent cause of all things formed him by his Power and Wisdom, either out of nothing, or out of such a something, as required Omnipotence it self to make it what it after was.

But Secondly, To return to the Apostle's Argu­ment, evidencing the Power of God extending to the Resurrection of Man, in the ordinary and most obvious course of his Providence: which, though it be Ordinary, yet it is such as without the Origi­nal Omnipotent Power of God, could never come to pass, Verse. 36. Thou Fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened except it die. We converse every day with Wonders and Miracles no less admirable; if rightly consider'd, than many of those Points of Faith which a Naturalist will not believe. For the Footsteps of the Omnipotence and Wisdom of God, are in every thing we see and hear: Only [Page 37] here is the blindness of Mankind that he looks not diligently into things of ordinary concurrence, but passeth them over of course. If the Sun should stand still but one hour, it were a thing that all the World would observe, and be astonished at; yet the continual motion of the same is a greater Mi­racle, if rightly consider'd, than that. And if we give our selves to the observations of things of Na­ture, as we call them; the ordinary sort of Men rest barely in Sense and experience. The Farmer casts his Corn in the Ground, because he finds by experience it produceth a Crop the next Summer. And that more observant rank of Men, the Natural Philosophers Observations are indeed more curious: but when all is don [...] by them, it is but a more vi­gilant employment of their Senses: And so far as their Sense can carry them, so far they are able to give a better account of the Reason of things, than others that are less observant. But where once that fails, the Reasons of things which they assay to give, are such insipid, uncertain conjectures, that no­thing of Truth can be built upon them. The very Inquiries that might be made upon a Fly, or a Grain of Corn (the instance of the Text) i [...] able to gra­vel and confound the greatest Master of reason that ever was: And he must, if he will be but Ingenu­ous, and not go about to please himself, or delude others by ungrounded fancies, acknowledge that in these small ordinary, trivial dispositions of Natural Effects, there is the Finger and Word of Omnipo­tence it self And hence it is that Almighty God, when he would convince Job of the Narrowness of his Understand, Reads him a Lecture upon those Creatures and Things which were of ordinary oc­currence, and, from them demonstrates the Infinite [Page 38] Power, Majesty, and Wisdom of God. Job had often heard the Wind, seen the Rain, felt his Clothes warm seen the Lightning, heard the Thun­der, Discoursed with Men of Reason; and yet be­cause they were things of daily Conversation, he passed them over, and did not consider them: He took them in the Lump, and in the Ear, but never sifted out the Corn till God mentions them di­st [...]nctly to him, and doubtless with it did infuse in­to his Soul, a deliberate, clear▪ distinct observation of the things that were mentioned: And then he could Read another Lesson of the Wisdom and Omnipotence of God in those Creatures and things which were of ordinary Occurrence. And upon the same account it is, that when God was pleased to set forth the Excellence of his Power, in put­ting Understanding into the heart of Man; he sends us not to consider of the Wisdom of the great Statesman, or the Learning of the Profound Scholar: But sends us to that Simple Discretion, that with [...]ut any Improvements or Arts, or Learn­ing, appears in the Plowman in Threshing of his Corn, Isai. 23.29. This also cometh forth from the Lord of Hosts, who is wonderful in Counsel, and excellent in Working. And accordingly here the Apostle chides the Inadvertence and Inconsiderateness of the Naturalist, who hath every day an Experiment before him▪ but little behind the Strangeness and Wonder of the Resurrection; and yet takes no no­tice of it to allay his Infidelity: Thou Fool, that which thou sowest is not quickned except it die. As if he should say, Thou that makest this objection dost not consider what thou sayest. Thou hast every day in thy view the Corn that thou sowest: and the Bread thou eatest, carries in it a wonder, [Page 39] not much inferior to this whereof we treat. Yet because this is common, thou art blind, and dost not observe it: Thy Corn dies before it lives. And now suppose thou hadst never seen nor heard of any such thing, as that Corn, or any other Seed cast into the Ground in October, should in August following live again, with an increase of 100 Fold; and this were now told thee. Would not thy nar­row Reason frame the same Objection, How shall it arise, and with what Body? And wouldst thou not count the Plowman Mad that buries his Corn, in expectation of a Resurrection of it the next year? But now common Observation and Experi­ence hath made that credible and evident unto thee, And canst thou not, out of that experience, find an Argument to check thy own Infidelity in the point in hand? What Reason canst thou assign, that this Grain of Corn should have such a Seed of life in it, that though the Body, the Grain in which it is inclosed, dissolve; yet the Energy of that Vege­tative Principle, can cause a new Stalk, and attract a nourishment sutable unto it? Or what is that Seed of Life that is in it, whence comes it? Tell me if thou canst resolve it into any thing but the Mighty Power and Word of the Omnipotent God: And cannot the same Omnipotent reconcile Life unto thy corrupted Body?

But to come to the instance it self, and to fol­low it: These things are asserted, and most exactly true in Nature, concerning this grain of Corn.

First, That the grain of Corn dies: It is not quick­ned except it die. That is, the matter of it is corrup­ted and there is a Separation between that Mat­ter [Page 40] of the Grain, and that Seed of Life, or Vegeta­tive Principle that is in it.

Secondly, That it is quickened; viz. The same thing that dies is again quickned. The Principle of Life that lay as it were asleep in it, Revives, Re­sumes, and Attracts so much of the Body of that Grain as is serviceable for it, to serve this Principle of Life in its Acts of Life and Growth. For it is most evident, in ordinary experience, that Vegeta­ble Principle by the help of Moisture, will draw out the Substance of the Grain, though it be not cast into the Earth: So that the very Life of the Seed borrows as much of the Grain of Corn to se­cure its New Life, as is fit and useful for it.

Thirdly, That that Quickning cannot be, unless the Grain dies, viz. So much as is taken in unto the New Growth, ceaseth to be a Grain of Corn, or indeed parcel of a Grain of Corn, but assumes a New Shape: and yet still it is the same Grain of Corn that died, and is now quickned: The same Vegetative Principle that lay lurking and secret in the Grain of Corn before it grows, and puts it self forth in Act, and the same substance that was be­fore a Grain of Corn it attracted and fashioned into the Stalk and Ear, though it received an Accessi­on of Increase, the Vegetative Principle that was in the Grain of Corn, cannot put forth it self into Act, except there come something that must bring a deg [...]ee of Corruption of the Grain from what it was, and fit it to be serviceable unto, and attend the motion of this Vegetative Principle, viz. Moi­sture which corrupts the Body of the Grain.

Fourthly, That yet though this New Production be the same Vegetative Principle, that lay un­active in the Grain of Corn, and the same Matter that was in the Grain of Corn, attracted unto, and accompanying this Vegetative Principle, yet it is not the same that it was: not the same in Exter­nal form and appearance; it is one single Grain when it is Sown, and after it is Sown, the Husk which served to inclose, and defend the Vegetable Matter, and Vegetative Form, rots, when it be­comes useless, but it riseth in Beauty; First a Stalk, then the Ear, then Flower: So, though it be the same Individual Matter, the same Individual Vege­tative Principle that it was before, yet it is altered in the Appearance, in the Beauty, in the Advantage of Increase: Before it was a Grain, now it is a Herb, including many Grains.

Fifthly, Though it thus be alter'd from what it was, it is not alter'd specifically, but every Seed hath its own Body: the Grain of Barley bears a Body of Barley, and the Grain of Wheat a Body of Wheat. Thus the Matter is the same, the Spi­rit or Individual Form is the same, the Species or Kind is the same, though the External Appearance or fashion of it differs from what it was.

Sixthly, And all this by the Finger and power of God: God hath given it a Body as it hath plea­sed him though, as we before observed, the pro­gress of the Generation of Vegetables is for the most part regular and uniform: and the same be­ing ordinary, and found by experience to be so, it is made a matter of no wonder. The Country-Man[Page 42] knows, that if his Corn be cast into the Ground, and there be seasonable Moisture, it will the next Summer become a Crop, and so it is past over as a matter of no Marvel: We see it so every ear: Yet if we should examine how or by what means there comes such a Vegetable Prin­ciple in a small inconsiderable Grain of Corn, that all the Men in the World cannot tell what it is, much less frame the like by all their power and skill: How it comes to pass that the same will lie unactive, and unmoving a year or two, or more, in that little Body, and yet when it hath the oppor­tunity of Moisture, thrust out it self: How it at­tracts and draws the substance of the Grain it self after it, to feed and serve it: And when it hath as­similated the whole to what it is, it attracts from the Earth supplies convenient for it, and assimilates these supplies to it self and its own nature, and carries them along to that action to which it is de­sign'd. And how it comes to pass, that in all this, it moves uniformly unto one end. First produ­ceth the Blade, then the Stalk, and when that hath strength enough to bear, and heighth enough to defend, it sends forth the Ear; and till that Ear is proof against the Cold, closes it with a Husk: And in that Ear the Corn specifical, accor­ding to its Nature, the Grain of Wheat brings Wheat, and the Grain of Barley brings out Bar­ley, and their kinds are not confounded. And as the Grain is sutable in kind to the seed, so in the manner of its placing upon the Stalk, and that in that excellent order, both for its own conservation and use, that any alteration thereof would be to the disadvantage of it, and the User. And all this so certainly, constantly, and universally (with­out [Page 43] some accidental impediment) and that with­out any choice or understanding of its own to dis­pose it to what it is. Certainly, this most ordinary Creature, which we Converse with every day, must needs drive us to acknowledge the Almighty Wisdom and Power of God, to which alone, and to nothing else, we can resolve this ordinary, but wonderful production: And to the virtue of that Powerful Word and Commission of his, which hath continued in its strength, without any intermission, for above Five thousand years, Gen. 1.12. Let the Earth bring forth Grass, and every Herb yielding Seed after his kind.

Now, from this Instance, and Resemblance, the Apostle Answers that Curious Inquisition, How shall the Dead be raised, and with what Bodies shall they arise? For if it be well consider'd, the great work of the Resurrection hath many things in it very sutable and parallel to this Resemblance of this Grain of Corn.

First, As the very same Spirit of Life, as I may call it which was in the Grain of Corn before it was sown, is that which animates and actuates the Herb that springs out of it, and by it: So it is the very same Individual Soul that shall animate, and actuate the Body in the Resurrection. Here indeed is the odds, the Life or Soul, as I may call it, of the Seed, is thrown with it into the Ground, and is never separated from it till it draw it with it: But the Soul of Man is separated from the Body; the Body sown in the Earth, the Soul reserved in a place of Bliss or Misery, according to its conditi­on, till Rejoyned unto the Body.

Secondly, As when the Seed is cast into the ground and dies the Vital Flower in the Seed attracts the very same substance of the Grain, and carries it a­long with it into the Stalk and the E [...]r: So the Soul of Man shall again assume the very same Bo­dy, and be united unto it in the Resurrection. It is that very Body that is sown in Corruption, which shall rise in Incorruption, Job 19.26. Though after my skin, Worms destroy this Body, yet in my flesh I shall see God. The Body destroyed, yet the same Flesh shall see God: My Body destroyed, yet my Flesh shall see. For as the same Persons that shall be li­ving at the Second Coming of Christ, shall not die, but be changed, 1 Cor. 15.17. That is, though there be an alteration of the Qualities and Condition of the Body, yet the Substance shall remain; So in the Resurrection, the Bodies of them that sleep shall be the same, though Cloathed with Glory and In­corruption. The Resurrection of Lazarus, of the Saints at Christ's Resurrection of our Saviour; as they were Pledges; so they are in this respect, Pat­terns of our Resurrection: they were the same Bodies reanimated with the same Souls. It is true, the manner of this strange Reduction of a dissol­ved Creatu [...]e, unto it self again, is too difficult for us to apprehend; and 'tis no wonder it should be so: For we see the Transmutation of the Silk­worm, and Creatures of the like nature: That there are such changes of them it is plain; yet the reason or cause of it, the poor Worm understands not; Nay, nor Man, that is a Superior Creature, endued with Understanding. Ordinarily, things that are without us, are more obvious to our ob­servation, or disquisition, than we our selves are to [Page 45] our own observation: And yet even in these Tran­slations of Vegetables, and of the lowest degree of Sensible Creatures, we must acknowledge the hand and power of God, and that is the last Resolution of our best Observation.

But when we come to our selves, there our Dis­coveries are more imperfect, because the Observa­tion is more difficult. All the Knowledge we have of our own Original, is but by Tradition from those that knew us Born; and by Observation that other Men have the like Original of their Being. But take a Child from his Infancy, and let him receive an Education estranged from this Tradition, he will not be able barely, from the strength of Reason, to know that his Original was by the ordinary course of Generation. Again, when our Experience and Information tells us, that we came into the World by the course of Natural Generation; yet we are not able to shape unto our selves a reason, why, or how, a Humane Creature is so produced, but must sit down with Solomon the Wisest of Men, and con­clude, That we know not the way of the Spirit, nor how the Bones do grow in the Womb of her that is with Child, Eccles. 2.5. And therefore those that have been over-bold in scarching into that Won­der of the Generation of Animals, tell us, It is not this, nor it is not that; but what it is they can­not determine: Or if they do, yet their Deter­minations are such, as convince not of the Truth of what they say. Their History, or Narrative thereof, can go no farther than their bare sense leads them; and where that fails, either they are silent, or guided by meer imagination. And cer­tainly, if there be so much difficulty, and indeed impossibility, to discover the true cause, or manner [Page 46] of the first Origination of a Man, of a Worm, of a Straw; wherein we have the help of our Senses; Observations of our own; and Traditions of o­thers: How then shall we expect to shape unto our selves, a Conception of the manner of the Resurrection, a New Birth of the Body to what it was before? And hence, Luke 20.36. They are called Children of the Resurrection. Therefore I shall not perplex my self with Inquiring, How the pieces of the Body, distracted into several places that have undergone Millions of Transmutations, shall be brought together without violation of those sub­stances to whom they have been united: Or whe­ther by some secret Power of Providence, those parts of Humane Flesh shall not be subject to a Transmutation, or Transition into another Sub­stance: Or how that Separation shall be wrought: Or what parts of the Body shall be the Substance of the Body in the Resurrection▪ These are matters that are unnecessary, and should be left to the Al­mighty Power of God. We know not the things obvious to our Sense, much less these matters that are reserved in the Cabinet of the Councel of the Almighty, who knows all the Works that he has made; and the least dust is not estranged from his distinct knowledge. Only thus much we may and must conclude with Job, as before, Though after my Skin, Worms destroy this Body, yet in my Flesh I shall see God.

Thirdly, To follow the Comparison; It is not quickned except it die. And here [...]n the Comparison falls short. For though those that die shall be quickned, yet some shall be quickned that have not died. We shall not all die, but we shall all be [Page 47] changed, Vers. 51. We which are alive, and remain at the coming of our Lord, shall not prevent them that Sleep, 1 Thess. 4.15, 17. At that same in­stant wherein the Trumpet shall Sound, The Dead shall hear the Voice of God, and be raised, and the Living shall be changed.

Fourthly, That as in the growth of the Grain, though the Substance remain, yet the Form or Shape is changed: So in the Resurrection, That which was Sown a Corruptible Body, shall be Raised in Incorrup­tion: Sown in Dishonour, Raised in Glory: Sown in Weakness, Raised in Power: Sown a Natural Body, Raised a Spiritual Body, Vers. 41, 42, 43. And therefore there are these several qualities of the Body in the Resurrection.

• First, Incorruption.
• Secondly, Glory, or Splendor.
• Thirdly, Strength.
• Fourthly, Spirituality.

First, For Incorruption; It is true, by the Ordinary Course of Nature, Whatsoever is subject to Generation, is subject to Corruption. But yet it is in the Power of God that gave it Being, to Preserve and Uphold that Being unto Everlast­ing.

Thus are the Angels Incorruptible, not simply and absolutely of their own Nature; but the Will of God preserves that Being in their Original Con­stitution. [Page 48] The Heavens and Earth have a certain but long continued duration; but still it is by the Word, the Power of God. 2 Pet. 3.7. Thus the Bodies of our First Parents in Innocence, were uncapable of Corruption, not in their own Na­ture, or by the Innate Qualities of their Bodies, but by a Continued Act of Divine Power and Providence, supplying the Defects and Decays of Nature, and Correcting the Opposites to its Con­sistence. And as it is the same Power that preserves the Times of Particular Men to an Ordinary Mea­sure of Age, viz. 60 or 80 years; so it was that which did preserve the Bodies of the Antients be­fore the Flood, unto Ten times that Age. As their Breath was given unto them, so it was pre­served in them, and is called from them, by the same Infinite Power of God. Psal. 104.29. Thou takest away their Breath, they die and return to their dust. And as the Providence and continual In­fluence of the Divine Will and power, is that which maketh the Soul Immortal; so the same Influence shall in, and after the Resurrection, preserve the Body and Soul in a Perpetual and Incorruptible Union and Condition. And this Condition of the Resurrection is common both to the Good and Bad: The Bodies of the Wicked are indued with Incorruptibility, that they may be Subjects capable of an Everlasting Wrath. Their worm never dies, nor the fire never goes out, Mark 9.44. The Beast and the False Prophet shall be tormented Day and Night for ever and ever, Revel. 20.10. And on the o­ther side, the Elect of God shall be indued with Immortal and Incorruptible Bodies, that they may be fit Subjects of an everlasting and Incor­ruptible Blessedness: They shall reign for ever and [Page 49] ever, Revel. 22.5. So shall we be ever with the Lord, 1 Thess. 4.17. As the Inheritance is an Incorruptible Inheritance, that fadeth not away, 1 Pet. 1.4. So the Inheritors thereof are Incorruptible Inheritors, born of an Incorruptible Seed, 1 Pet. 1.23. Plants fixed in an Uncorruptible Root, Christ Jesus, John 15.6. And because that Root liveth, we shall live also, John 14.19. And hence it is, that this Body which is, and shall be the Tabernacle or House of the Soul, is called a Building of God, a House not made with hands, but eternal in the Heavens: wherein Mortality shall be swallowed up of Life, 2 Cor. 5.1.4. And indeed it is not consistent with Perfect Blessedness, to have the Subject thereof capable of Corruption. The fear and expectation of a Second Dissolution, would mingle Unhappiness and Sorrow with the most Absolute Enjoyment of the Highest Felicity, and abate it.

The Second Quality of the Body in the Resur­rection, is Glory and Beauty. It is sown in dishonour, it is raised in Glory. And this is a privil [...]ge that be­longs only to the Members of Christ Jesus, who shall change our vile Body, that it may be fashioned like unto his own Glorious Body, according to the working whereby he is able to subdue all things unto himself, Philip. 3.21. Thus as that Conversation of Moses, with the eminent Manifestation of God's Presence in the Mount, did Imprint a Splendor and Glory upon the Face of Moses, so that the Israelites were not able to behold him, Exod. 34 29. So we, by virtue of our Union with Christ our Glorious Head, and by the Intuition of his Glory, shall be changed into the same Image, from Glory to Glory, 2 Cor. 3.18. And what Daniel speaking of the Resurrection, saith, [Page 50] shall be true, even in the very Bodies of the Saints. Dan. 12.3. They that be wise shall shine as the Firma­ment, and they that turn many to Righteousness, as the Stars for ever and ever. And certainly we have good ground to think, that the Bodies of the Saints in the Resurrection shall bear some resemblance to the Tranfigured Body of our Saviour, Matth. 17.2. Whose Face shone as the Sun, and his Rayment white as the Light. That as our Redeemer's Body shines as the Sun in his Brightness, so the Bodies of his Saints shall shine as the Stars, though one Star exceed ano­ther in Glory. And from hence is likewise insinua­ted, that though every Body shall have an Aspect of Glory upon it, yet according to the different degrees of Grace in the Soul, shall be different de­grees of Glory in the Body, for one Star exceed­eth another in Glory: Yet such shall be the Beau­ty of all, that in the least Star there shall be a full­ness of Glory: So that one Star shall not envy, but rejoyce in anothers Glory. And here will be the Gloriousest Sight in the World, to see our Lord Jesus Christ come in the Clouds in his own Glorifi­ed Body, which shall out-shine the Sun in its highest Lustre, accompanied with all the Angels of Heaven, in their highest dress of Glory and Splendor, to at­tend their Lord in the greatest business that ever was, or shall be; the Judgment of the whole World. Men and Angels to see and hear, that Great, Powerful, and Solemn Summons of all Men that ever were, to their Final Judgment by the Trumpet, and Voice of an Arch-Angel. To see the Graves opening, and yielding up their Dead: and those poor despised Saints of Christ, those hid­den ones, that the World, when they were upon Earth, knew not; or, if they knew them, knew [Page 51] them with Scorns, Derision and Persecution: To see these arise in Glory and Splendor, as bright as the Light, or as the Angels, at the Resurrection of our Lord, with as much Beauty, Grace, and Glory, as the Omnipotence, and Boundless Love of Christ can put upon Humane Creatures, whom he intends to make the Beholders of his own Glory to all E­ternity. Those, thus Arrayed, and Conducted by the Guidance of Angels, into the Presence of that Christ that died for them, and now Reigneth and Judgeth for them, brought unto those Mansions, which now, above 1600 Years since, he went to Heaven to provide for them. Certainly this Ap­pearance will be a most Glorious and Blessed Ap­pearance.

But on the other side, though the Resurrection is common both to the Good and Bad, yet the manner is different: For as Shame and Confusion shall be the Portion of the Wicked, from the time of the Judgment, so shall it be from the time of the Re­surrection. The same Distemper, and Shame, and Astonishment that shall fall upon the Wicked that shall be living on the Earth; who shall beg the Rocks and Mountains to cover them from the Face of their Judge, shall also attend those that shall rise to the Judgment of Condemnation. Guilt and Shame, and Astonishment and Fear, and a Preap­prehension of their imminent Judgment, a secret strugling against that Power that shall draw them before their Judge, all which cannot choose but work an Impression of Horror and Shame upon their very outward appearance. In sum, such shall be the condition of the Wicked in their Resurrecti­on, as becomes the Face of a Malefactor drawn be­fore his Judge, as of a Traitor drawn before his [Page 52] Prince Armed with Power and Vengeance. And on the other side, such as shall be the Glory and Ex­ternal Splendor of the Elect in that day, as becomes the Inheritors of a Kingdom, an Eternal Kingdom, going to their Installation. And as our Saviour was here in this World, in a very low and despised Condition, and that Condition, for the most part, befalling his Members in this World: So then at that day he shall be cloathed with all the Glory and Majesty that can be communicated to the view of Men and Angels: And those despised ones, that here were conformed to their Head, in Suffe­rings and Shame, shall then be cloathed with as much Lustre and Glory as can be laid on a Humane Nature thus advanced in Perfection: When our Lord shall come to be glorified in his Saints, and to be admired in all them that believe, 2 Thess. 1.10. That very impression of Glory which this Great King shall lay upon his Saints and Followers, shall be such, as becomes the Members of such a Head; the Atten­dants, nay Friends, of such a Prince; the Spouse of such a Husband.

Thirdly, The next quality of the Body in the Resurrection, is Strength. It is Sown in Weakness, it is raised in Power: Not only by, but in Power.

The Power of our Saviour's Resurrection shall communicate a like Power to the Bodies of his Saints, that they shall break the Bonds of the Grave, and of Death it self, stronger than the Grave. And though the weight of the whole Earth could be laid upon it, yet it should make his way to meet his Sa­viour in the Clouds. This Strength shall be com­mon to the Wicked and the Just, viz. To break the Chains of Death: though these enter through [Page 53] those Chains into a Second Death, more hideous than the former: But there is another Power that shall accompany the Bodies of the Just in the Resur­rection, viz. Agility, Activity, such as shall be ad­mirably fitted to the Loco-motive Faculty of the Soul. The Body shall not be a Clog, an Impedi­ment, or Burthen to the Soul, but exactly fitted to all its Motions. But this will appear more evident­ly in the next quality.

Fourthly, Spiritually. It is sown a Natural Bo­dy, it is raised a Spiritual Body. Not a Spirit, but a Spiritual Body, a Body Spiritualized, or a Body stripped of those Infirmities that now do attend our Constitution, and are inconsistent with the Blessed and Glorious Condition which we expect in that other Life. And this Spirituality of the Body imports.

1. A Rarity of the Body: The Body now is gross, which is an Impediment to the Speedy Tran­sition, or Motion thereof from place to place: But in the Resurrection, the Body, though it continue a Body, yet it shall be endued with Rarity and Te­nuity, whereby it shall not be impeded in its Mo­tion, either by it self, or by the Medium. And to this tends the Expression of the Apostle, 1 Thess. 4.17. We shall be caught up together with them in the Clouds, to meet the Lord in the Air: A Motion hard­ly consistent with a Body so gross as ours now is.

2. There shall be no necessity of supply, or sup­port of our Nature, with Meat, Drink, Sleep: But we shall be upheld in perfect Subsistence, by [Page 54] the Power of God, without any of these Supplies That of Revelat. 7.16. is true, as well Literally as Mystically, They shall hunger no more, neither shall there be any more thirst.

3. There shall be no Sickness, or Pain; for these were the Fruits of Sin. And as Sin shall be no more, So there shall be no more Curse, Revelat. 22.3.

4. As they shall be delivered from those Condi­tions now incident to Humane Nature, for the sup­port of it self in Individuo, and in Specie, so they shall be void of those Inclinations of the Sensual Appetite, that move towards these Supplies of Hu­mane Nature And upon this Account our Savi­our washes off that great Objection that the Sad­duces thought they had made against the Resurrecti­on, Luke 20.35. They Marry not, nor are given in Marriage, neither can they die any more, for they are equal unto the Angels, and are the Children of God, be­ing the Children of the Resurrection. Eating and Drinking, and Sleep, are the ordinary support of our Natures here, while we are in our Journey: and Marrying and Giving in Marriage are Or­dinances appointed by God for the Propagation and Preservation of the Kind: and accordingly our Natures here are indued with Natural Inclina­tions towards these: But in our Country, all these wi [...]l be at an end, because their Use ceaseth. And upon the same account also, these Civil Depen­dencies that are in this Life for the Maintenance of Humane Society, will also cease and be laid a­side: there will be no Superiority, or Inferiority, or Subordination among the Saints in Heaven: But [Page 55] they shall be all Subjects unto one King, the Great King of Heaven and Earth.

5. They shall be delivered at least from the actual use or exercise of all those Affections or Passions that import any defect or Absence of a perfect Felicity. There shall be no Hope; for Hope shall be swallowed up in Enjoyment: No Fear; for their Felicity is bottomed upon the un­changeable Decree of Almighty God. No Sorrow; for all Tears shall be wiped away. No Anger; for there shall not, cannot be any occasion there­of. And indeed all the Affections of the Soul shall be as it were turned into Love and Joy: for there shall not be any object for any of the rest of the Affections. But these shall never fail, because their object shall ever continue: a continual sight of the Perfection, Glory, Goodness, Excellence, and Love of God, drawing out our Love; and conti­nual Enjoyment of the Presence, Goodness, and Favour of God, filling us with Joy.

Whiles we live in our Houses of Clay, the ve­ry Temper and Disposition of our Blood and Con­stitution, create in us a Disposition to certain Pas­sions, various, according to the variety of our Na­tural Constitutions; Melancholy, to Sadness; San­guin, to Levity and Mirth; Flegm, to Sluggish­ness; Choler, to Anger. And these again, accor­ding as they are mixed, produce several middle, or compounded Passions, which are not so much the Affections of the Mind, as Affections of the Body Affecting the Mind. And hence it is, that with­out any Excitation from an External Object, the very Constitution of the Body carries it self and the Mind into these Passions and Distempers. But [Page 56] in that day all those shall be cured. These Com­plexions of the Body are incident to our Earthly Tabernacles, but not to that Body wherewith we shall be cloathed in that day: which shall be a Bo­dy not Injurious to the Mind, but exactly and ad­mirably serviceable to it, in the highest Perfection that it is capable of.

And thus we have consider'd the Apostle's An­swer to the Question De Modo, as it refers to the thing it self. But there is yet somewhat farther in the Question, How shall it arise? How, or by what means shall it arise, or thus arise? That a poor rotten Carcass, pulled down into the Grave by a Thousand Distempers, and there covered with Earth, to hide its Deformity, Corruption and Fil­thiness: How shall such a Body, that at the best is but a Corruptible thing, and in Death Corrup­ted, arise with so much Perfection, Beauty, Excel­lence? To this the Apostle gives his Answer, by that which is still obvious to the view of a Natural Man. And wherein he must necessarily see the Power of God, and a Power no less than in this of the Resurrection, Ver. 37. That which thou sowest, th [...]u sowest not that Body that shall be: As if he should thus say; The Grain that thou sowest, though it send up it self into that which thou after Reapest, differs very much from that it was before, in Beau­ty, Quantity, and other Advantages. Thou seest the Power of the Great Creator that gives a kind of Resurrection to this Corn, gives it also another kind of Shape and Appearance than what it had in the Grain: For God giveth it a Body as it hath pleased him.

Again, look upon the Earth and Heavens; the Glory of the Heavenly Bodies is one, that of the Earth­ly [Page 57] Bodies another. Again, look upon the Earthly Bodies, they have great variety in them, though they own the same Common Earth for their Ground-work or Matter. Look also upon the Celestial Bodies, who, though they consist proba­bly of the same Matter, yet they have a diversity of Beauty, Glory, and Lustre upon them: There is one Glory of the Sun, another of the Moon, another of the Stars. Nay, even in the very Stars themselves, fixed in the same Sphere, we see one Star exceed­ing another in Glory. And whence comes this va­riety of the Glory of the Creatures, that it may be were taken out of the same Matter; or if not, yet all their Matter taken out of the same Nothing: But only the Will and Power of the Great Lord of all Things: He that by his Almighty Word, called the Matter and Mass of all Things out of Nothing, can, with the same, and in respect to the Nature of the Thing, with much more ease recall Something to what it was before. And he that out of the same Common Mass, or Matter, could frame several Things, and dress them with differing Glory, one far excelling another; the same Almighty God can, with the same ease, Dress up that Corruptible Corrupted Piece, thy Body, after it hath lain many Thousand Years rotting in the Dust, into a Beauty and Glory equal to that of the Sun. Had it been possible, before thou wert, to have seen that little Mass of Red Earth, which thy Maker took, and out of it formed thy First Parent. And hadst seen him when this Rude Material came out of God's hands, form­ed into that Excellent Fabrick, and dressed with that Excellent Glory that Adam had in Paradise; thou would'st have seen a Progress of no less dif­ficulty [Page 58] than that we now speak of. And therefore look upon the Creatures, and consider their Origi­nal, thou wilt answer thy self in thy Objections against a Resurrection, and such a Resurrection as this we have declared.

Now this Resurrection of the Body is common to the Just and Unjust. For so we are Taught in the Old Testament, Eccles. 12.14. God shall bring every Work into Judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil. And so we are Taught in the New Testament, 2 Cor. 5.10. We must all appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ, that every one may receive the things done in the Body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. The Great Judge of Heaven and Earth re­spits his Distributive Justice, and it doth not here so clearly appear: There are Just Men, to whom it happeneth according to the work of the Wicked, and è con­verso, Eccles. 8.14. But there will come a Day of the Manifestation of the Righteous Judgment of God, in which Day he will have the Glory of his perfect Justice. And as the Purity Justice, and Glory of God includes the necessity of a Judg­ment▪ so the necessity of that Judgment requires the appearance of the Persons to receive that Judg­ment. And because all Persons that ever were or shall be, are subject to a Rule of Justice, and Righ­teousness, given by the Great Lord of all things, therefore all Persons shall come under the Scrutiny, Search, and Determinatian of that Judgment. And because the whole Man was the Subject of that Law, therefore the whole Man shall be Judged by it: And so there is a necessity of a Resurrection as well of the Just as Unjust, that they may, in the Compleat­ness of their Constitution, receive their Reward or [Page 59] Punishment, according to what they have done in the Flesh. We will therefore consider wherein the Members of Christ, and those that are not, do agree and differ, in Relation to the Resurrection: And they agree in this,

1. That there shall be a Resurrection both of the one and of the other.

2. That in the Resurrection the Bodies of both shall be Spiritualized.

The present Constitution of our Bodies are such, that they are unable to bear that measure of Joy, Comfort, and Glory, that shall belong to the Bles­sed; and that measure of Vengeance and Torment that is the Portion of the Cursed. Therefore, as to the one, there shall be given a Body, able to bear the weight of Glory, stiled by the Apostle, An exceeding and eternal weight of Glory, 2 Cor. 4.17. So to the others there shall be given a Body, though exquisitely sensible of the Burthen of the Wrath of God, and of that Fire that never goeth out▪ yet not consumed by it. As Flesh and Blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God; so neither can Flesh and Blood, in the present Constitution thereof, dwell with those everlasting Burnings prepared for the Wicked.

3. Consequently the Bodies as well of the Bles­sed, as of the Cursed Souls, shall be indued with In­corruption and Immortality; Those, that they may to all E [...]ernity enjoy Blessedness and Glory; These, that to all Eternity, they may suffer the Vengeance, Fury and Wrath of God.

The Immortality and Incorruption of the Bo­dies of the Saints is there Privilege, that renders them capable of an everlasting Fruition of the Presence and Favour of God. The Immortality and Incorruption of the Bodies of the Wicked is the Addition of their Misery: They shall everlast­ingly be, that they may everlastingly be wretched; and so continue for ever the Monuments of the Righteous Judgment of the Glorious and Eternal God.

Now, though they thus far agree, yet the Re­surrection of the Just and Unjust differ as fol­loweth.

First, In the Cause: For though it is true, that the Resurrection of both is by the Power of God, yet the Manner of the Execution of this Power is differing. For the Members of Christ Jesus shall arise, by Virtue of their Union with their Head, him a kind of Secret and Sweet Sympathy with him who is their Life, and their Life hid in him, John 6.57. He that eateth me, even he shall live by me. John 11.25. I am the Resurrection and the Life: He that beli [...]veth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. John 14.19. Because I live ye shall live al­so. And hence it is that our Lord Jesus doth so frequently own the Resurrection of his, as his own special and Discriminative Work. John 6.44.54. I will raise him up at the last day. Matth 24.31. And he shall send his Angels, and they all gather his Elect. Philip. 2.21. Christ shall change our vile Bo­dies, &c. And this stands upon this ground of our Union with Christ our Head, and in our Head is our Life hid. Christ our Head is hid, and conse­quently [Page 61] our Life is hid: and when our Head shall ap­pear, our Life shall appear, Coloss. 3.3, 4. So that a Man may say, That the Resurrection of the Just, is, as it were, a Fruit, a Consequent of the Resur­rection of our Lord: And therefore he is called, The First-born from the Dead, Coloss. 1.18. and the Resurrection of the Just attributed to his Resur­rection as the Virtual and Immediate Cause there­of: And such as being granted, doth, by way of Consequence, infer, and as it were necessitate the Effect. Rom. 6.5. If we be planted in the like­ness of his Death, we shall be also in the likeness of his Resurrection. 1 Cor. [...]5.12. If Christ be risen, how say some that there is no Resurrection from the Dead? 1 Thess. 4.14. If we believe that Jesus died and rose again; Even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him: The Resurrecti­on of the Members of Christ, though subsequent to his, in order of time, yet in consideration of Na­ture, is a kind of necessary concomitant of the Resurrection of Christ. And, upon the same ac­count, as our Lord Christ's Body could not be longer detained under the Power of Death, than the determinative time of Three Days, because the Debt which he undertook was paid: So that it was not possible he should be holden of it, Acts 2.24. So Christ having Paid the Debt of his Elect, and thereby abolished Death, the Wages of that Debt, 2 Tim. 1.10. There is the like necessity of the Re­surrection of the Members of Christ: It is not possible they can be detained under the Natural Death, unto everlasting, no more than it was for our Lord Christ. And this is that Victory which God hath given us over Death by Christ, 1 Cor. 15.57. So then the Resurrection of the Righteous, though [Page 62] Originally and Fundamentally it be to be attribu­ted to the Power of God, yet immediately is to be attributed unto our Lord Christ,

First, As a Fruit, a Concomitant, or Necessary Consequent of his Resurrection, who is our Head, and in whom our Life is hid.

Secondly, As a Fruit and Consequent of his Sa­tisfaction, by whom our Debt is Paid, and so this Retentive Power of Death abolished.

And hence it is, that as by the Power of the Spirit of Christ, working us to our First Resur­rection, we are made a willing People in that day of his Power: So in our Motion towards this Second Resurrection, we move to it willingly: And as all things in Nature reach out after their Perfecti­on, and press towards it; So the Members of Christ reach out after the Resurrection of their Bo­dies, as to that wherein, or immediately upon which, their Perfection and Blessedness consists. Rom. 8.23. Waiting for the Adoption, to wit, the Redemption of our Bodies. Philip. 3.11. By any means to attain to the Resurrection of the Dead. And hence it is, that the Bodies of the Blessed in the Resurrection, shall most Willingly, and in a man­ner, Naturally, move to the Presence of Christ, as the Eagle doth to his Prey. Luke 17.17. Where the Carcass is, thither will the Eagles be gathered to­gether.

But in the Resurrection of the Unjust it shall be otherwise: The Almighty and unresistible Power of God shall gather them from their Graves. The Grave, as the Minister of God, shall deliver up [Page 63] those that she hath in her Custody. Isai. 26.19. The Earth shall cast out the Dead. Revel. 20.13. Death and Hell delivered up the Dead which were in them. Such as these are detained under the Custo­dy of Death until the Judgment; and then, whe­ther they will or no, they are delivered up: And as soon as they are out of the Custody of the Grave, by the Resurrection, and upon the Voice of that Powerful Trumpet that shall summon them, they are immediately conducted, by the Power of God, unto the Presence of their Judge. And though they have within them a secret Reluctance, and Opposition against it, so that they wish the Rocks and Mountains to cover them; yet all is in vain: Go they must, Revel. 6.16.

And this is the First Difference: The Elect in Christ rise by Virtue of a Secret Sympathy with their Saviour, and therefore do Willingly and Ear­nestly move to it: The Wicked are raised by the irresistible Power of God, and are unwillingly drawn into the Presence of their Judge.

The Second Difference is in the Manner of their Resurrection: The Bodies of the Saints of God shall in the Resurrection be fashioned like the Glorious Body of the Son of God, Philip. 3.21. Bear the Image of the Heavenly, 1 Cor. 15.49. Their Coun­tenances filled with Joy and Assurance, being now to approach to their Happiness, the Angels shall be their Convoy and Attendance unto the Presence of Christ their Saviour, and shall with all Sweetness and Cheerfulness perform that Office unto the meanest Servant of Christ. On the other side, the Wicked shall arise with Shame, Fear, Confusion, [Page 64] and astonishment in their Countenances, upon the Conscience of their former Sins, and the preap­prehension of their imminent Misery: And in that Condition shall be drawn before the Judgment Seat of Christ, whom, in this World, they contemned and persecuted.

Thus far have we consider'd the Resurrection in the Subject: Somewhat is also shown unto us in the Scriptures, concerning the Adjuncts of it. And therein,

• I. The Time.
• II. The Concomitants.
• III. The Consequents.

I. For the Time: And therein thus we may say;

1. That there is a Determinate Time, or Day, wherein this shall be, Acts 17.31. He hath appointed a day wherein he will judge the World in Righteousness. The Day of Judgment, and the Day of the Resur­rection unto Judgment, is the same Day.

2. That though this Day be fixed in the deter­minate Counsel of God; yet it is not discovered so much as to the Angels. Matth. 24.36. Of that day and hour knoweth no Man, no not the Angels of Heaven, but my Father only. And surely the certain­ty of the Time of the Judgment is concealed from Mankind, much to our advantage.

First, To keep us always watchful: This is the use our Saviour Teacheth us, Matth. 24.42.25.13. Watch therefore, for ye know not what hour the Lord doth come.

Secondly, To keep us always in hope of the Com­ing of our Lord, and a comfortable Expectation of it, Titus 2.13. Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the Great God and our Saviour Je­sus Christ. 1 Pet. 2.12. Looking for, and hasting unto the coming of the day of God. Certainly it is a blessed ignorance, if it cause an improvement of these Graces in us; for they are the Improvements of our future Glory.

Thirdly, That though our Saviour Christ promi­seth a speedy Coming to Judgment in many places, and seems to direct his Speeches in many places as if those very Persons to whom he spake, should be the Persons in whose time this Day should come: Yet we must know, that that was in no sort intend­ed by our Saviour: But he spake to them, and in them to all Persons of all Ages of the Church, Mark 13. ult. What I say unto you, I say unto all, Watch. For it is not Reasonable, or Just, to think, that when our Saviour brought Life and Immortality to light; discovered unto Mankind the Mercy and Counsel of God, whereby there was a greater means of Con­verting many unto him; when, as I may say, the Great Market of Salvation was, as it were, but be­gun in the World, that presently the Door should be shut up: God Almighty was, as it were, prepa­ring the World Four thousand years for the Great Prophet and Saviour of the World: And it were [Page 66] not reasonable to think, he should close up all pre­sently upon his Coming. And as this could not reasonably be conceived, so, in Truth, Almighty God, in the Prophecies of the Old Testament, ex­presly publisheth the contrary. He expected a greater Harvest, both of Jews and Gentiles, after the Coming of Christ, than was come in before. And it is plain, our Saviour himself frequently intima­teth, and in express Terms declares, That many things of moment must first come to pass before the end, which would require many Ages to bring to pass: As namely, The Preaching of the Gospel among all Nations, Mark 13.10. The fulfilling of the times of the Gentiles, Luke 21.24. And therefore, when upon the Misapplication, or Misapprehension of our Sa­viour in the Apostles time, there did arise Scoffers, saying, Where is the promise of his coming, 2 Pet. 3.4. The Apostle, First settles our Judgment, That a Thousand years with the Lord is as one day, and è con­verso. And truly if it be rightly consider'd, we mi­stake our selves in the Measure of Time: For though by piecing one Age to another, we have made up Sixteen hundred years since our Saviour's time, yet, in Truth, to every Man it is but his own Age. Though between my Death and my Judg­ment, a Thousand years should incurr, yet there will seem little or no Interval to my Soul, whose Duration will be of another Nature, than it is here in composito. Secondly, He renders the Reason; be­cause God is not willing that any should perish. There are a number of Men, that in the course of his Providence shall yet be born, who are of the Number of his Elect, who shall inlarge his King­dom; and therefore he will not intercept his own Glory, with an untimely cutting off of Mankind. [Page 67] As Almighty God hath appointed the Ages of Men, wherein, without an untimely Death, they are, as it were, ripe, and come into the Grave, like a shock of Corn in its Season: So he hath appointed an Age to the World, a time when the number of his Elect is fulfilled, when the Harvest of the World is ripe: and then, and not till then, Shall the Angel put in his Sickle, Revel. 14.15.

Fourthly, That though the certain prefix'd Time of the Last Day is unknown unto us; yet so much is known unto us, that some of the Fore-runners thereof are not past; Some are past. Of those that are already past, we may reckon these:

1. False Christs, Matth. 24.5, 23, 24. And such have been in former Times, since the Ascension of our Saviour, as appears by Ecclesiastical Histories: And such have been even in our own Times, and possibly may be hereafter. Therefore, though this be past, in part, yet, it may be, not perfectly past.

2. The Destruction of Jerusalem fully, and to the utmost.

Some are such, though they be partly past, yet they are not perfectly fulfilled, but have a kind of Progress, or Continuation; such are many of those Signs Predicted by our Saviour.

First, Wars, and Rumours of Wars, Matth. 24.6.

Secondly, Persecution of true Christians; though eminently begun shortly after our Saviour's Time, in the Ten Persecutions; yet continued in the Roman and Turkish State, Matth. 24.9.

Thirdly, A great Defection and Falling away from the Truth, Matth. 24.12. The Love of many shall wax cold. 2 Thess. 2.3. That day shall not come, except there come a falling away first. And though in all the Progress of the Gospel, it hath been attend­ed with an Apostacy, as appears in the Asian Churches, and in the Romish Church, and is to be feared in those Churches that now are, or lately have been famous; the Light of the Gospel Tra­velling still Westward, and Superstition, Mahometa­nism, and Paganism still following it: yet, doubtless, before that Great Day, there shall be a Great and Visible Apostasie, more than before, 2 Pet. 3.4. In the last days shall come Scoffers, walking after their own lusts, saying, Where is the promise of his coming? The defection shall be so great, that, at the coming of our Lord, he shall scarce find Faith upon the Earth. A kind of Universal Supineness and Atheism shall overspread the Face of the World, as it did before the Flood, Matth. 24.36.

Fourthly, The Revealing the Man of Sin, the Son of Perdition, 2 Thess. 2.3.

Fifthly, The Universal Promulgation of the Gospel to the Gentiles, Matth. 24.14. And this Gospel shall be Preached in all the World, for a Witness unto all Nations, and then shall the End come. Mark 13.10. And the Gospel must first be published among all Nations. And this hath been in part fulfilled in the Preaching of the Apostles and Fathers: So that the Sound thereof hath gone through most places of the Known World, Asia, Europe, and Africa. And it is now Travelling into America, by the [Page 69] Means of several New Plantations of late times there.

There remain yet certain other Preparatories and Prophecies, that are not yet effected, but rest in Expectation: Such are,

1. The Fulfilling of the Times of the Gentiles, and the Conversion of the Jews to the Faith of Christ. This, as it is a thing often Prophesied in the Old Testament, so most plainly foretold in the New. Luke 21.24. Jerusalem shall be troden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfil­led. Rom. 11.25. I would not have ye ignorant of this Mystery, that Blindness is in part happened unto Is­rael, until the Fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved. For the space of above Two thousand years, the Church and Houshold of God were confined to the Seed of Abraham, and the rest of the World were Strangers unto God and his Covenant. Since the Coming of our Saviour, they have been Scattered, and Born that Curse which their Fore-fathers Bound, as much as in them lies, upon themselves and their Posterity, Matth. 27.25. Or the greatest part of them have suffered a longer Exile from the Presence of God, from their first Captivity under the Assyrian. And since that Re­jection of the Jews, under the Times of Vespasian, the whole World hath been called into the Fellow­ship of that Covenant, and the Jews sit under hardness. Thus, like Gideon's Fleece, Judges 6.36. in the first Age of the World, they alone had the Dew of the Blessing of God upon them, when the World round about was dry and barren: And since the Crucifying of Christ, the whole World is filled with that Dew, and the Jewish Nation dry. But we expect the Manifesta­tion [Page 70] of the Mercy and Truth of God, that when he shall have gathered and fulfilled the Number of the Elect out of the Multitude of the Gentiles, he will take off that Veil of Blindness, and Hardness, from the Hearts of that People, which were some­time his own; and that in so eminent and notable a manner, that it shall be Conspicuous to the whole World. And it seems to be a great Evi­dence of the Providence and Truth of God, as well in their Dispersion, as in their Future Calling, that though they are sown in the World, in several Places, yet their Persons and Families are distinctly known, both to themselves and others: That so the Truth of those Prophecies, and Curse of Dissi­pation of them, may be legible to all Nations, and that their Conversion, and Re-gathering, in due time, may be visible and apparent.

2. The Consumption and Abolition of that Man of Sin, stiled, The Son of Perdition, 2 Thess. 2. Ba­bylon the Great, Revel. 18. Sodom and Egypt, Revel. 11.8 The Great Whore that sitteth upon many Waters: Mystery, Babylon the Great: The Mother of Harlots, and Abominations of the Earth, Revel. 17.5. In whom was found the Blood of the Saints, and of all that were slain upon the Earth, Revel. 18.24.

3. Some Eminent, Remarkable, and Terrible Concussion, even of the Powers of Heaven, which shall cause Astonishment and Consternation in the Hearts of Men: signified by our Saviour in those Expressions, Matth. 25.29. Matth. 13.24. The Sun and Moon darkned, and the Stars falling, and the Powers of Heaven shaken. Luke 21.25. Distress of Nations, Perplexity, Mens hearts failing them for fear, for [Page 71] the Powers of Heaven shall be shaken. And yet, which is wonderful, such shall be the strange defection that shall fall upon the Generality of Mankind, that they shall not so much as suspect the Coming of our Lord, till they see him in the Clouds. For as a Snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the Earth, Luke 21.35.

II. The Concomitants of the Resurrection.

First, The Appearance of Christ Personally in the Air, with infinite Glory and Majesty, Matth. 24.30. Luke 21.27. Mark 13.26. All the An­gels of Heaven attending upon him, Matth. 25.31. And as their and our Lord shall visibly appear in the greatest Glory that can be conceived, so doubt­less the Angels, his Royal Attendants, shall put on their best Dress of Glory, conspicuous unto the very Sense; and the Sense of the Beholders shall be so advanced, as once Elisha's Servants were, 2 Kings 6.17. that they shall behold the Glory of those pure and Incorporeal Creatures attending the Throne of our Saviour in the Clouds.

Secondly, A Majestical and Loud Summons, by the Voice of an Arch-Angel, at the Command of Christ, Summoning all that ever were to their Re­surrection. And at this Powerful Summons, the Graves shall yield up their Dead, Matth. 24.31. He shall send his Angels with the Great Sound of a Trum­pet, and they shall gather together his Elect from the four Winds. 1 Cor. 15.52. For the Trumpet shall sound, and the Dead shall be raised Incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 2 Thess. 4.16. For the Lord himself shall descend from Heaven with a shout, with the Voice of an [Page 72] Arch-Angel, with the Trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. And thus, as when God Al­mighty appear'd from Heaven at the giving of the Law, to augment the Terribleness, Majesty, and Solemnity of that Day, there was not only a vi­sible discovery of the Presence of God in that great and terrible Fire unto the midst of Heaven, Deut. 4.12. But there was the Terrible Sound of a Trum­pet, that sounded long, and waxed louder and louder, Exod. 19.19. That shook the very Mountain, Exod. 19.18. And amazed and terrified the hearers, Heb. 12.19. So in that great Day, to add to the Ma­jesty and Terribleness thereof, there shall be not only Objects of Glory and Amazement unto the Eye, but a Powerful Voice that shall be heard from one end of Heaven to the other, Summoning all to Judgment.

Thirdly, A Mission of the Holy Angels, to re­ceive the Elect from the Womb of the Grave, and to Conduct them unto the Presence of Christ their Redeemer. Matth. 24.31. They shall gather together the Elect from the four Winds, from one end of Heaven unto the other. Thus the Pure and Glorious Angels glory in this Office, to be Ministring Spirits for them who shall be Heirs of Salvation, Hab. 1.14. Ministring for them in their Infancy, when they are not able to help themselves. Matth. 18.10. Their Angels be­hold the Face of my Father. Ministring for them in their Sufferings, as they did to Peter and Paul. Mi­nistring for them in their Death, and Watching the Expiring of their Souls, to conduct them to a place of rest, as they did for Lazarus, Luke 16.22. and Ministring for them in their Resurrection, to con­duct them to the Presence of their Saviour.

Fourthly, An Immediate Change of all the per­sons that shall be then living upon the Face of the Earth, equivalent to a Resurrection; in an instant separating from them all those corruptible qualities that attend our Houses of Clay. 1 Cor. 15.52. The dead shall be raised, and we shall be changed. And it should seem by the Apostle, that the Resurrection shall go before that Change, at least in some small distance, or Portion of time, 2 Thess. 4.16, 17. And the Dead in Christ shall Rise first, then we which are alive and remain, shall be caught up together with them.

III. The Consequents of the Resurrection are prin­cipally these;

1. A Dissolution of the present Frame of the World, at least in respect of the present Constitu­on of it. 2 Pet. 3.10. The day of the Lord will come as a Thief in the night, wherein the Heavens shall pass away with a great noise: The Elements shall melt with fervent heat: the Earth also, and the works that are therein, shall be burnt up.

2. The Last Judgment: And this takes in the Third General Consideration of the State of the Soul and Body in the Last Judgment. And there­fore we shall consider it distinctly:

• First, The Judge.
• Secondly, The Persons to be Judged.
• Thirdly, The Rule by which they shall be Judged.
• Fourthly, The Judgment.
• Fifthly, The Execution of the Judgment.

First, Touching the Judge; It shall be Christ Je­sus, our Mediator, God and Man in one Person, Matth. 24.31. When the Son of Man shall come in his Glory, and all the Holy Angels with him, then shall he sit upon the Throne of his Glory: And be­fore him shall be gathered all Nations. 2 Cor. 5.10. For we must all appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ, that every one may receive the things done in his Body, &c. 2 Thess. 1.7. When our Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven, with his Mighty An­gels in Flaming Fire. True it is, that the Authori­tative Judgment is the Father's, but he hath com­mitted the Execution, or Administration of this Great Tribunal to the Son. Hence our Saviour saith, John 5.22, 27. The Father hath committed all Judgment to the Son. Acts 17.31. He hath appoin­ted a Day in the which he will Judge the World by the Man whom he hath ordained. And hence it seems to be, that Dan. 7.9, 13. The Ancient of days did sit, and his Throne was like the fiery flame, and Thou­sand Thousands Ministred unto him. And the Judg­ment was set, and the Books were opened. In the 13th Verse, One like the Son of Man came to the Ancient of days, and there was given him Dominion, and Glory, and a Kingdom. The former importing the Original, or Foundation of the Autho­rity, or the Preparation of the Throne in the Heavens: The latter, the Delegation and Actu­al Administration of the Judgment. For it is plain, that the Actual and Visible Exercise of that Power shall be in our Saviour. Matth. 25.34. Then shall the King say, Come ye Blessed of my Father. Matth. 19.28. When the Son of Man shall sit in the Throne of Glory. And certainly the appearance of [Page 75] this day, shall be an appearance of unexpressible Glory and Majesty. Christ, the Second Person in the Blessed Trinity, cloathed with all the Majesty and Glory that becomes the Greatness of his Pet­son, and the Solemnity of the Business, set on a Throne of Glory, eminently conspicuous to all the Persons that ever were, or shall be; and from whence they shall receive their Doom: Accom­panied with all the Angels in Heaven, as the Mi­nisters and Messengers of his Will; Accompanied with all the Blessed Saints that ever were, or shall be, to whom he gives the Honour, nor only to be Beholders, but as it were Assessors in his Judgment, though not in the Power of his Authority, yet in the Suffrage and Applause of his Justice, Mat. 19.28. Ye also shall sit on Twelve Thrones, Judging the Twelve Tribes. 1 Cor. 6.2. Know ye not that the Saints shall Judge the World? Thus he shall be Glo­rified in his Saints, and Admired in all them that Believe. Not only admired by them, but admired in them, for that Impression of Glory and Majesty that he shall then put upon them.

Secondly, The Persons Judged: All the whole Race of Adam, not a Person excepted. John 28.29. The hour is coming, in which all that are in the Graves shall hear his Voice, and shall come forth: they that have done good, unto the Resurrection of Life; and they that have done evil, to the Resurrection of Damna­tion. 2 Cor. 5. We must all appear before the Judg­ment Seat of Christ. And though the Multitude will be exceeding Great, yet it shall not confound the Sentence of the Judge, He will with most ex­quisite and infallible Judgment divide the one from the other: and every Person shall have so distinct [Page 76] and clear a Representation of his Sentence unto himself, and so convincing a Satisfaction therein, and of the Evidence, Clearness and Justice thereof, as if he were the only Person to be Judged.

Thirdly, As the Persons, so the Subject Matter touching which the Judgment shall be is considera­ble. And the Subject Matter upon which the Judgment shall be, are the Works of Men. Eccles. 12.14. God shall bring every Work unto Judgment. Whatsoever cometh under the Command, or Pro­hibition of the Law of God, shall come under the Judgment of God: And these are of Three Kinds;

• 1. The Works.
• 2. The Words.
• 3. The Thoughts and Purposes. For all these, as they are the Acts of a Rational Crea­ture, come under the Law of God.

1. For the Works of Men: These are the last and complete Acts of the Rational Creature, and are the final productions of the Mind formed into External Actions: And all these shall God bring into Judgment. Matth. 16.27. The Son of Man shall come in the Glory of the Father, and shall reward every Man according to his Works. Some Works there are, which, in the External Administration of Justice among Men, do escape their Reward of Humane Distributive Justice, whether they be Good or Evil: Some, in respect of Injustice of those that are in Power; Others, in respect of the [Page 77] Impotence of those that should Reward, or Punish. And thus many Offences pass unpunished, because they are committed by Persons above the reach of Humane Justice: Others, in respect of the Secre­sie of the Fact, that they avoid the Detection, and consequently the Execution of Justice. But it shall not be so in that Day: As all Persons are under the Authority, so all Persons are under the Power of this Judge. Revel. 18.8. Strong is the Lord that Judgeth. And as the Power of the Offender shall not exempt the Offence from Judgment; so nei­ther shall the Secresie of the Work escape the Judg­ment; For he shall bring into Judgment every Work, with every Secret thing, whether it be Good, or whether it be Evil, Eccles. 12.14. In that Day God shall Judge the Secrets of Men by Jesus Christ, Rom. 2.16. For there is nothing covered that shall not be revealed, and hid, that shall not be made known, Matthew 10.26. There is not a good Action in all thy Life, though never so secretly done, but then it shall be Pro­claim'd before Men and Angels: Not a Prayer that thou hast made in thy Closet, when no Ear heard thee but the Almighty: Not a Tear shed for thy Sins, when no Eye saw thee, but his that made thee: Not an Alms given so privately, that the Party relieved knew not his Benefactor: Not a Cup of cold Water given in the Name of a Dis­ciple, though he knew not from whence it came: Not an Acting in Sincerity for the Glory of thy Maker, though hid and veiled from the Eyes of all Men living; but shall then be made as manifest as the Sun, and attended with an open Reward. Matth. 6.26. The Father that seeth in secret, shall re­ward thee openly. Again, if thy Villanies be hatch­ed in Darkness, and none privy to them but thine [Page 78] own Conscience: If thou hide thy Counsels of Mischef as low as Hell, that no Mortal Eye can discover them: If thou translate thy Mischief into other hands, and act by them, whilst they and the World think they act by themselves, and by their own Contrivances and Principles: If thou Mask thy Wickedness under the disguise of Religoin, Ho­liness, Necessity, Pretences of Good Ends; so that thou dost not only hide thy Villainy from the World, but even from thy Self; yet in that day all this shall be detected in the Presence of a Light Brighter than the Sun; in the Presence of the whole World: and all those Disguises taken off, and thy Wickedness rendred, as it is, without any other dress, than of its own Shame and Vileness. And as thus the Sins of Commission shall be un­veil'd, though never so secret; so shall thy Sins of Omission, and that with all the Circumstances and Aggravations. Such a time thou hadst an opportu­nity to do this or that Good Work, to the Honour of thy Maker, to the Good of thy Brother, to the Salvation of thy Soul: And thou hadst not only an Opportunity, but the Secret Motion of the Spi­rit of Grace in thy Conscience did importune thee to lay hold on the Opportunity: And yet thou didst neglect the Opportunity, despise the Per­suasion. Matth. 25.45. The World condemned for Sins of Omission.

2. And as thus it is for Works, so for Words: for these come under the Law of God, and shall come under the Judgment of Reward and Punishment. Matth. 12.37. By thy Words thou shalt be Justified, and by thy Words thou shalt be condemned. Therefore our very words shall come into Judgment; for, they [Page 79] are the immediate productions of the heart, Matth▪ 12.34. Instances we have of both, that in that Great Day, God the Judge will bring into the Judgment of Approbation, Good Words tending to the Ho­nour of our Maker, or the Good of others. Mal. 3.16. Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another; and the Lord hearkened and heard it: and a Book of Remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord, and thought upon his Name.

On the other side, sinful Words shall come into Condemnation: tending to the dishonour of God, Blasphemies, Taking his Name in vain, Matth. 12.31. To the Reproach of our Neigbour: Cur­sings: Upbraidings. Matth. 5.22. Whosoever shall say to his Brother, Thou Fool, shall be in danger of Hell-fire. Vain idle words not season'd with Salt. Matth. 12.36. But I say unto you, that every idle word that Men shall speak, they shall give an account thereof in the Day of Judgment. Ephes. 5.4. Foolish talking and jesting. And surely if of idle and foolish words, much more of sinful words, Lying, Revel. 22.15. Whispering and Backbiting, Rom. 1.29, 30. Corrupt Communication, Ephes. 4.29. The corrupt exhalation of that open Sepulchre, a sinful heart, Rom. 3.13. The fume of Hell-fire within, James 3.6. And surely, as here was much reason, that the Tongue, that great Instrument of the Glory and Good of others, should come under the Law of God; so the breach of that Law must needs come under Judgment.

3. As the Works and Words of Man shall come under this Judgment; so shall the Thoughts and Secret Motions of the Soul. And indeed it is the Inward Action of the Soul that most properly comes under the Law of God. As it hath an Operation [Page 80] without the Concurrence of the Body, so it is that which doth Specificate all the External Actions, and gives them their true denomination of Good or Evil. The very External Worship of God enjoyned by him, if not acted by a Soul rightly Principled and Moved, becomes an abomination to him, Isai. 1.13. And those things that are for the matter the same in the External Act, are oftentimes di­versified into Good or Evil, or Neither; accor­ding to the diversity of the temper of the Soul, whereby they are done. And hence it was that God measured the Wickedness of the Old World, by the Constitution and Temper of the Motions of their Soul. Gen. 6.5. And God saw that the Wickedness of man was great in the Earth: And that every imagination of the Thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And hence it is, when under the Law, God shewed Man the Measure of that Purity which he required from him, he shows it in the Root: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy Heart, and with all thy Soul, Deut. 6.5. Styled by our Saviour, The First and Great Commandment, Matth. 22.37. And our Saviour giving the true and natural Scope and Sense of the Law of God, brings it still to the working of the Soul; as that which was originally and especially the Subject of the Law. In the matters belonging to the First Table— John 4.24. God is a Spirit, and will be worshipped in Spirit and Truth. In the matter of the Second Table, Matth. 5.28. Whosoever looketh at a Woman to lust after her, hath committed Adultery in his Heart. Matth. 5.21. Unadvised Anger comes un­der the Command, Thou shalt not kill.

It is true, that with men the External Action is the Subject of Distributive Justice, because the [Page 81] Thoughts and Intentions of the Heart are not dis­coverable to Man but by the External Act: Yet when that Act, be it Good or Evil, is Rewarded or Punished, it is not even among Men, meerly in reference to the Act, but because the Act is the product of the Internal Man, the External Sign of the Will. And hence, even Morally, the External Act not proceeding from the Will, is neither Re­warded nor Punished; as in Fortuitous Acts, and Acts of Persons wanting their use of Reason.

But Almighty God, whose Prerogative alone it is to know the Heart, Jer. 17.9, 10. begins not with the Action, but with the Heart, and thereby measures the Action, if produced; or the Man, if not produced, into Action: And because he hath the Prerogative to determine of the Motions of the Heart though never produced into an External Act, therefore also his Law hath the Prerogative to lay hold of the very Motions of the Heart. And hence it is, that as Almighty God being the most Pure and Immortal Spirit, gets within the Spirit of Man, and discerns those Invisible Operations of the Soul to the Word and Law of God, enters into the very Spirit of Man, and carries with it an Obligation, even upon those secret and invisible Motions of the Soul, Heb. 4.12. Piercing even unto the dividing asunder of Soul and Spirit; and is a discerner or discriminator of the thoughts and intents of the Heart. And therefore as the Law of God ex­tends unto, and lays hold of the very Thoughts, so the violation of that Law, in the very Thoughts, contracts a Guilt upon the Soul. Hence it was, that that Holy Man Job, concluded a necessity of a Sacrifice, even for the Sin of the Thought, Job 1.5. It may be my Sons have sinned, and cursed God in [Page 82] their Hearts. Simon, that Cursed Man, was in the Gall of Bitterness, even while the very thoughts of his heart were not forgiven, Acts 8.22. And the Wise Man tells us, Prov. 24.9. That the thought of foolish­ness is sin.

Now because the Subject matter of the Judg­ment are the Works, Words and Thoughts of Men, the same being the subject matter of the Law of God, it is necessary that there be an Evidence, or Conviction of the Fact: For such shall the So­lemnity of that Judgment be, that there shall be no less Evidence to discover the Fact upon which the Judgment is to pass, than there shall be Justice in the Judgment upon that fact. And as every Man shall be Judged most exactly according to his works; So there is a necessity that every one of those Works, upon which the Judgment shall pass, must be evidently and convincingly proved upon the Person Judged.

Now we must know, there are Two Books, wherein the Actions of Men and there Words and Thoughts are Written: and these Books shall then be opened Dan. 7.10. The Judgment was set, and the Books were opened. Revel. 20.12. I saw the Dead, small and great stand before God, and the Books were opened.

• First, The Book of Conscience.
• Secondly, The Book of God's Knowledge: The former a Testimony within us; the latter without us: But both so exactly agreeing, as if the former were but a Transcript, or counterpart of the other. These Two great [Page 83] Witnesses, without exception, shall state and determine the Fact impartially and unquestionably.

I. The Book of Conscience. This is a Book, wherein, from the first use of our Reason, till our Death, we are continually Writing all our Thoughts, Words and Actions. A constant and Vigilant Companion, and Observer of all the Walk of our Lives, and of our Hearts There is not the smallest good or evil Action, or Passage of our Life, but, whether we observe it or not, here it is Registred, and leaves the Character and Im­pression of it self in this Marble. And what a History should we find of our selves, if we could but distinctly Read this Book? It may be here and there some few scattered Entries of a Good Work, a Good Prayer, a Good Purpose; but yet presently Inscribed with it so many vain Thoughts in that Prayer; so much Vain glory or Self-end in that good Action; the Rejection of that purpose in Practice; and all the rest of that Mighty Volume filled with the History of our sin­ful and impure Actions, our vain and unprofitable and sinful words, our deceitful, disobedient, rebel­lious, unprofitable Thoughts. Our best Actions entred, but the defects and contaminations thereof entred in the same Paper with them: And the rest nothing else, but a Tedious Bloody Bill of Debts of Guilt to our Maker, with all the aggrava­tions of them. And these Inscriptions engraven with the Point of a Diamond in Sheets of Steel, not capable of any Obliteration, unless it be by the Blood of Jesus Christ. It is true, whiles we are in this Life, we throw dust upon the Writing: Or, it [Page 84] may be, in the Writing of a New Leaf, we turn over that which is past, and never trouble our selves more about it all our Lives after: New Sins, as it were, antiquating them that are past, and silencing their Remembrance. But God Almighty shall, at the Last Day, open this Book and cast off the dust from it: Then every Item shall be as legi­ble, and as visible to the view, as it was at the time of the first acting of it. The multitude of the particulars shall not hinder the distinct representation of them to the Mind. It was one of Job's great­est Complaints, Job 13.26. That God made him to possess the Iniquities of his Youth. Job 14.17. That his Trangression was sealed up in a Bag. When God was pleased to open those Entries that were made in the Conscience, even of his own Servant, those very sins which were of the Ancientest Date, and therefore least remembred, the Sins of his Youth, which had the less malignity, because pro­bably acted with less deliberation; Yet, when God is pleased to Unveil the Conscience, these Stale, these Youthful sins, made a hideous Representation on Job himself: How much more terrible shall it be, when all those Remembrances of the Conscience shall be at once rendred unto the view, and all se [...] in order before a Man? Psalm 50.21. And this is that Engraving of Sin upon the Heart, Jerem. 17.1. With the Point of a Diamond, That Writes in Wounds, and not in Colours only.

2. Again, the Eternal God hath his Book, which shall then be open'd; and in that Book are Written all the Actions of Men. On the one side, not the least Good Action but there it is Entred: As he telleth our Wandrings, so he Registreth our Tears, [Page 85] Psal. 56.8 Not a few good words spoken in sin­cerity and love to God, but there is a Memorandum made of them, Mal 3.16. And on the other side, all those Evils that are done by the Children of Men, they are all there Registred. And though we might hope that some of these might slip the Dili­gence and Animadversion of the Recorder that is within us, there is no hope to avoid the Record that Almighty God makes: for he is greater than our Conscience, and knoweth all things, 1 John 3.20.

There are Two Acts of the Divine Wisdom that are of infinite concernment for us practically to know and remember, which nevertheless we are apt to forget.

First, That all our ways, even of our very hearts, are strictly observed by God, Jer. 16.17. For mine eyes are upon all their ways, they are not hid from my face, neither is their iniquity hid from mine eyes.

Secondly, That what is once seen by God, is al­ways seen and not forgotten. It is true, we sin dai­ly, and the new sins obliterate the sense and re­membrance of the old: But it is not so with God, Hos. 7.2. They consider not in their hearts that I remem­ber all their Wickedness. That sin that seems to be lost, is but laid up, Hos 13.12. The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up, his Sin is hid. And when God is plea­sed to reckon with a Man, or Nation, even in this Life, he can recal a Sin past and forgotten many years ago, and render it visible to the Soul in all its Dimensions, Psal. 79.8. Remember not against us former Iniquities. How much more shall it be in that Great Day when he shall, to the uttermost, set our [Page 86] Iniquities before him, and make them conspicuous in the Light of his Countenance?

And yet there is one remains besides this: The Two former are such Books as we cannot think of without trembling. Every moment of time we fur­nish new Materials for the Two former Books; and if we look back a little into our Selves and our Lives, we shall find very little but black and sad Materials and Reckonings, when every Sin makes our Soul a Debtor of its whole Self unto Eternity. What shall become of us, when almost every in­stant of our Lives gives in such an Item against us? And if perchance we do any thing that is good, yet it is spoiled in the doing, mixed with so many de­fects, spots and enormities, that can render us but little comfort to behold it. And surely if either of these Two former Books be opened against the best of Men at that day, they must, with everlasting shame, inherit the portion due unto their sins. But here is the comfort of all; The Blood of Christ that cleanseth us from all sins, 1 Joh. 1.7. Though it is true, the best of Men have run infinitely in Debt to God, and filled the Book of Conscience, and the Book of God's Remembrance full of Sad Accounts; yet our Saviour, if we have laid hold on him, and entred into Covenant with God in him, hath paid all our Reckonings, and the Books are crossed.

And upon this, First of all the Book of Consci­ence, that was all Stained with Crimson Inscrip­tions, would have been more terrible unto us than Hell it self; yet when this Conscience is sprinkled with the Blood of Christ, Heb. 10.22. the Consci­ence is Healed, the Stains Obliterated, the Ac­counts Discharged, and Colour thereof quite chang­ed: [Page 87] And though as well the Conscience, as the Sins inscribed in it, were as Scarlet, they are become as white as Snow, Isai. 1.18.

Secondly, And as thus the Conscience is healed, and all the Black and Bloody Inscriptions thereof Defaced, so is Almighty God pleased, upon the same Account, to strike out all the remembrance of Sins past out of his Book of Remembrance: This is that which is so frequently expressed by those effectual expressions, Psal. 22.1. Sin covered Isa. 43.25. Blotting out Transgressions, so as they shall not be remembred. Isai. 44.22. Blotting them out as a Cloud, that after its Dissipation leaves no mark where it was. Jer. 50.20. So discharging them, that upon a diligent search they shall not be found. Nay, they shall not only be removed from the view of Men and Angels, but even in the account of Almighty God they shall be as if they never had been, Jer. 31.34. For I will forgive their Iniquity, and remember their Sin no more.

And all this ariseth upon the producing of that Third Book by the Mediator unto the Father, Revel. 20.12. A Book of Life; a Register of all those whose Debt our Lord hath paid: and the Debt being Discharged, the former Books are no longer to be used as Evidence against them. Their Dear Me­diator, who is now to be their Judge, brings in an Acquittance for all that Large Roll, which other­wise might have stood against them, For he hath born their Sins, Isa. 53.11. And upon the Day of his Passion, Nailed this Hand-writing unto his Cross, hanged it upon the File, as that which he hath paid, and so is no more to be mention'd.

Fourthly, We, come to the Rule, whereby all Men shall be Judged. Though in respect of the most Infinite Obligation of the Creature unto God for their greatest Good, their Being, and their Preservation; it had been most unquestionably Just, that upon the ground of this absolute and in­finite Dominion over his Creatures, he might have imposed what Law, and under what Sanction he pleased; yet he was pleased to enter into a Pact and Covenant with his Creature, and so to bind him, not simply upon the Absolutions of his own Power and Authority, but partly even upon the voluntary Susception, Stipulation and Submission of his Creature. And the Law of this Covenant is that which shall be the Rule of the Judgment of that Great Day. Now this Covenant of God is double:

I. The Covenant of Works; the Covenant made with Man in his first Creation; and this extends to all Mankind, as before appears, which is a Covenant of Life, in case of Perfect Obedience to the Will and Law of God given to Man in his Creation; and a Covenant of Death, and the Curse, in case of any failing. And when after­wards this Covenant, and the remembrance there­of, was very much defaced, God was pleased ex­presly to renew the same with a Select People, which he picked out of Mankind, the Jews; which Renewed Covenant differ'd from the former:

First, In the Extent of it; the former was Uni­versal; this contracted to a Select People: Yet so, as it did not Abrogate the former, but Illustrate it.

Secondly, In the Nature of it: For whereas the former was purely a Covenant of Works, this was not so; but though it seemed to run in the same tenor, yet there was under it secretly lodged a Co­venant of Grace, even the Sacrifice of Christ Typified in it, intended by it, and that alone made it useful to as many as laid hold of that Mystery that was intended in it according to that Manifesta­tion that God was pleased to send along with it.

II. The Covenant of Grace, Christ Jesus, and him Crucified, Received, as Given by God; and this Receiving of Christ was the very Tenor of this Covenant.

God was pleased, after the Covenant of Works became ineffectual unto Mankind, in respect of their disability to perform it, to reach out Christ unto them, as a Covenant of Life to as many as Receive him: and the Ordinary way of Receiv­ing him, is, By Believing in his Name, John 1.12. Now, according to these Covenants, shall the whole World be Judged. For all Mankind are un­der one of these Covenants: Whosoever is not within the latter, is certainly within the compass of the former.

Now of such as are under that First Covenant, as not being Partakers of the Benefit of the Second, there are Four Ranks of Men given us in the Scripture.

First, Such as are purely under the First Cove­nant, without any farther degree: Such are those that never heard either of Law or Gospel. Such are those spoken of, Rom. 2.12. As many as have sinned without the Law, shall perish without Law.

And though it is true, that God were most just, if he should Judge even these by the severest Rule of that exact Law which was given to Adam, because they were within that Covenant; Yet the Scripture warrants us to think, that in that Day he will proceed to Judge these Persons, even by so much of that Law that hath been Communicated to them, either in the External Means of Good Discipline or Education; or that secret Dictate of their own Conscience, stiled by the Apostle, The Law written in their hearts, Rom. 2.14, 15.

This is one of those Two Great Parties that shall be the Object of Vengeance in that Day, 1 Thess. 18. Taking Vengeance on them which know not God, &c. The Knowledge of God is so visibly discovered in the Creature, that it shall be a most just Conviction of such Persons in that Day, Rom. 1.20. For the Invisi [...]le things of him from the Creation of the World are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made even his Eternal Power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.

And certainly in that Day, the whole World of Men that have the use of Reason, will be found guilty before him, even in these things, in not knowing those things concerning God, which by [Page 91] the Light of Nature they might know; or in not observing some of those very dictates, which that Truth once known or the Light of their own Conscience did carry them unto, without any ne­cessity of resorting to so much of that Law whereof they were ignorant. This is that which is Perish­ing without the Law.

Secondly, Such as, though still under the First Covenant, have nevertheless a Superaddition of Light, and consequently of Guilt, by the accession of that renewed Covenant of Works given by the Ministration of Moses.

And this concerns principally the Jews, who su­peradded another Covenant to the former, and so have a superadded Guilt by their Offence.

1. Because against greater Light.

2. Because against a Renewed Covenant, and by them violated, Rom. 2.12. Such as have sinned in the Law, shall be judged by the Law; and is, in effect, the scope of that Second Chapter.

Thirdly, Such as have had an Offer of Christ, the Second Covenant, and yet have rejected it.

These though they are still under the Obligation of the First Covenant, yet by rejecting either the Faith, or Obedience of Christ, they super-add a greater guilt to themselves than any of the for­mer: And therefore it is stiled by our Saviour, the Condemnation, John 3.19. This is the Condem­nation, [Page 92] that Light is come into the World, and Men loved Darkness rather than Light. We have as well those of the first, as those of the lat­ter Rank joyned together, 2 Thess. 1.8. To render Vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. The former are Judged, because the Works of God leave them unexcusable in their Ignorance of God, or neglect of the Duty that results upon that Knowledge; The latter are Judged unexcusable, because the Gospel and the Message of it is Proclaimed to them, and yet rejected by them.

Fourthly, Such as have not only the Light of Nature, the Light of the Written Law of God, the Light of the Gospel tendred, but that Light in some measure received, and afterwards re­jected, which adds Apostacy to their Rebelli­on: and this super-adds a higher Guilt than any of the Former, Heb. 10.26. If we sin wilfully, after we have received the Knowledge of the Truth, there remains no Sacrifice for Sin, but a certain fearful looking for of Judgment and fiery In­dignation.

The former sorts of Men are not within the Benefit of the Second Covenant, nor can expect the Fruit thereof in the Judgment.

But there are a Company of Persons that have laid hold of this Second Covenant, and shall be Judged by it: Such as have received Christ as he is Reached out unto the World: [Page 93] Received him as their Righteousness, as their Sacrifice, as their Instructor, as their Commander and General.

The Obedience of Faith is as Universal as the Law, or Command of Faith, it fastens upon every part of its Object: And to such there is no Condemnation, Rom. 8.1. Whoso­ever believeth in me shall not come into Condemna­tion, but is passed from Death to Life, John 5.24.

This Discharge and Acquittal of these Persons stands bottomed upon the Immutable Truth and Justice of God. For though it was his own free and undeserved Goodness that at first moved him to tender this Second Covenant to Mankind, to Accept of the Righteousness and Satisfaction of Another for them. And when none in Heaven or Earth could be found to Perform the one, or Undergo the other, to send his own Son to do and Suffer it, and to Proclaim to Mankind, that as many as betake themselves to this Covenant, and do accordingly lay hold of it, to give to them the Pardon of their Sins, and the Enjoyment of Blessedness.

Yet when this great word is pronounced by him, his Truth and Justice are engaged in the Performance of it: The Righteousness and Satis­faction of Christ is as effectually theirs, as if per­formed by them: Their Debt Paid, and their Per­sons Accepted.

And so in that Great Day, the Great God shall, in the Face of the whole WORLD, have the Glory as well of his JUSTICE, as of his MERCY, in the SALVATION of his Saints.

AMONG the many Great Advantages that are Conveyed unto Mankind by the Go­spel of Jesus Christ, there are these of Principal Moment.

First, A full and clear discovery, that there is a State of Life and Immortality of Mankind after the Dissolution of the Lives we enjoy in this Infe­rior World.

Secondly, A full and clear Discovery of the Na­ture and Kinds of this Estate of Life and Immor­tality, namely, that it is a State of Rewards and Punishments; a State of Reward with Everlasting Life and Happiness to the Righteous, and a State of Everlasting Life and Misery to the Wicked.

Thirdly, A full discovery of an easie and effe­ctual Means of the avoiding of that Future Life of Misery, and of the attainment of that Future Estate of Life of Happiness.

I shall not enter into a Large Discourse of these Excellent Discoveries, but only briefly consider these things.

[Page 96]1. The great Importance of the true and evident Discovery of these great Truths.

2. The great deficiency that there was in these Discoveries, before the Light of the Gospel came into the World.

3. The great Discovery made by the Gospel of these great and important Truths.

4. The great Evidences for the satisfaction and Conviction of the Truths of these Discoveries thus made in the Gospel.

1. Concerning the former of these, namely, the great Importance of this Truth, and of the full and evident discovery thereof. And this appears evi­dent to every Man that doth but consider the nature of this Matter.

We are Born, and Live in this World, according to the greatest ordinary Account, about Threescore and Ten Years, and then we die, and are no more seen in this World. Of what a vast Momentous Concern­ment is it for us to know, that there is an Everlasting Estate of Happiness or Misery, according to the nature of the Transaction of our Lives here, that doth most certainly and infallibly attend us after Death? The importance of the knowledge of this is more than all the rest of our knowledge of all other things, in very many respects: First, The bare knowledge of the thing it self is a most excel­lent Subject to be known, if there were nothing else in it. But, Secondly, It is a knowledge of a thing that doth most necessarily, nearly, and inti­mately [Page 97] concern us; even much more than our very Lives in this World. This Life passeth away as a shadow, but the Life of Rewards and Punish­ments is a Life Everlasting, and Unchangeable; and therefore it is of more concernment to us, both to know it, and to know how to attain that Blessed Life of Happiness, than to attain all the Glory and Happiness that this present Transitory Life can af­ford. And, Thirdly, The Knowledge of this Truth is of huge Moment, not only for the right ordering of our present Life here, in order to the attainment of that Everlasting Blessed Life; but even for a Right, and Wise, and Comfortable Management and Enjoyment of the present Life we have in this World. For most certainly, without the Prospect, Hope and expectation of this Future State, the Life of Man is more unhappy and miserable than the lives of the Beasts that perish. The knowledge therefore of this great Truth is of the greatest Mo­ment to the Children of Men; and the Ignorance thereof is the most unhappy and hurtful Ignorance of any thing in the World; because it is an Igno­rance of that, which most concerns us to know, because that Knowledge is principally necessary for the avoiding of the greatest Evil, and the attaining of the greatest Good that can possibly befall us.

2. Touching the Second, namely the Deficiency that was in the World, in order to the Discovery, before the Gospel came: This principally consisted in these things; 1. A want of a sufficient Evidence, that there is any such Estate after Death. 2. A want of a sufficient Light, to discover what that Future Estate was to be. 3. A want of a dis­covery of a sufficient means, how that part of the [Page 98] Estate of Everlasting Happiness was to be attained, and the Estate of Everlasting Misery to be avoid­ed. And this Deficiency in these things will ap­pear, if we take a Survey, First, of the State of the Gentile Knowledge, in Relation to these things. Secondly, In Relation to the Discoveries made to the Jews under the Law.

First, As to the Discoveries of these Truths unto the Gentile. It is very true, that partly by an Uni­versal Tradition, derived probably from the Com­mon Parents of Mankind, partly by some Glim­mering of Natural Light, in the Natural Consci­ences at least of some of the Heathen, there seemed to be some Common Perswasion of a Future Estate of Rewards and Punishments. But, First, It was but weak and dim, and was even in many of the wisest of them overborn; so that it was rather a suspicion, or at most a weak and faint Perswasion, rather than a strong and firm Conviction: And hence it became very unoperative and ineffectual to the most of them, when they had greatest need of it namely, upon imminent, or incumbent Temporal Evils of great Pressure. But, where the Perswasion was firmest amongst them, yet still they were in the Dark what it was; and yet much more in the Dark, in reference to the means of attain­ing that Future State of Happiness; and this Dark­ness begot in them those various Fictions and Fabulous Imaginations, especially among the Poets, that even rendred the Main Hypothesis more doubtful than otherwise it would have been. And those various Superstitions, and Idolatrous Worships and Rites, and Performances, which they designed as the Means of attaining that Future Happiness, which they thus Darkly, and, under various Fabu­lous Disguises, entertained.

Secondly, If we come to the Discoveries made unto the Jews which were certainly much greater than those that the Gentiles had by the Light of Nature; yet this we have reason to think that although many Excellent Men among them, did, through those many Types, and Shadows, as it were at a distance, see the Heavenly Canaan, and the Messiah, through whom it was to be attained. Yet the Divine Dispensation under the Law was Dark and Obscure, in Relation to the Estate of Future Rewards and Punishments, in comparison of what is Revealed in the Gospel. Their Promises were, for the most part, of Temporal Benefits, and their Threatnings of Temporal Punishments, and their Worship and Services were very much under Sha­dows and External Administrations, so were their Rewards and Punishments.

Yet it must be agreed, that even under that Dark Administration, there were greater Evidences of the Future Life than were manifested generally to other Nations: The Examples of the Assumption of Enech and Elias, the Revivings of the Shunamites Son, Buried in the Prophet's Grave, and the several Passages in Job 19.25. Isai. 26.19. Ezek. 37. Dan. 12.2. and divers other Passages in the Old Testament; together with a common Received Tradition among that Nation, did give them a Be­lief, or Perswasion of a Life to come after this, and of the Resurrection; and this the Apostle witnesseth of the Patriarchs, and Holy Men under the Old Testament, Heb. 11.10, 13, 14, 35, &c. And so far this Perswasion was setled in that People, that in the time of our Saviour, and unto this Day, the Perswasion of a Future Life, and the Resurrection was generally received among them, excepting only the Sect of the Sadduces.

But although this be certainly true, yet these things are evident, viz. First, That the Doctrine of the Resurrection, and the Future Life was not so clearly deliver'd under the Old Testament, as un­der the New. Secondly, That the Proof and Evi­dence thereof was not so plain and Convincing un­der the Old Testament, as under the New. Thirdly, That the Manner and Circumstances thereof was not so explicitly and directly delivered under the Old Testament as under the New, as will appear in what ensues.

Thirdly, Therefore touching the Discoveries of Life and Immortality by the Gospel Christ Jesus, the same Gospel hath these Prelations and Pre-emi­nences in Relation thereunto, viz. 1. It doth contain a full and explicit Narrative thereof. 2. It doth deliver a full and clear Method of the attain­ing of the State of Happiness, and avoiding the State of Misery that it thus discovers. 3. It Evi­denceth and Asserteth the Truth and Certainty of what it so delivers, upon most evident and con­vincing Evidences.

Touching the former of these, the Gospel doth principally Instruct us in these Two Matters, in Re­lation to the business in hand; namely, First, It doth assert, that there is a Life to ensue after this Transitory Life, and it rests not there in that Ge­neral Assertion; but, Secondly, It shews us, with great plainness, what that Life is; viz. 1. That it is an Everlasting Life: That it is a Life of Everlasting Rewards and Happiness to the Good, of Everlast­ing Punishments and Misery to the Bad: That there shall be, as the way to these Everlasting Rewards and Punishments, a Resurrection of the Good and [Page 101] Bad, and a Re-union of their Bodies and Souls; and a Change of those that are Living. That this shall be Effected by the Voice of an Arch-Angel, Proclaiming the Last Judgment, with Summoning all to it. That hereupon an Universal Judgment shall pass upon every Man, shews us, who shall be the Judge, what shall be the Rule of his Judgment, what the Evidences, what the Sentence, what the Execution of either Sentence; namely, of Abso­lution, a perfect enjoyment of Everlasting Happi­ness, in an Immortal Soul, united with a Glorious, Spiritualized and Immortal Body: And of the Sentence of Condemnation, with an Everlasting Separation from the Comfortable Presence of God, and an Everlasting Conclusion of Soul and Body under the Torments of Hell Fire. And all these Discoveries are made plainly, evidently, and intel­ligible to the Sense of every ordinary Capacity, together with the Circumstances of Time, Place, Persons, Company, and all other things that may render the whole Manifestation plain, perspicuous, intelligible and reasonable.

2. The Second thing the Gospel discovers, is the Means and Method of the attaining of that Life of Happiness, and avoiding that Life of Misery. And surely, without this, the Discovery of the for­mer had not been so useful to Mankind: It might indeed amuse and astonish, and perplex him, to know, that there should be such a Future Estate, either of Happiness or Misery, unto one of which all Mankind was Consigned. But it could not settle, nor compose him, without the Know­ledge of the Means of obtaining so great a Good, and avoiding so great an Evil as this prospect dis­covers: [Page 102] The Gospel therefore hath not only dis­cover'd these Two Great, though different Senti­ments, of the Future Life, but hath also laid open, and discover'd the Track, the Path, the Way, to avoid the one, and attain the other; even a plain, and certain, and safe, and Infallible Way; namely, the Repentance for Sin past, Obedience for the time to come, and Faith in the Son of God, who is the Resurrection, the Way, the Truth, and the Life: And his Doctrine and Directions are plainly set out in the Gospel, intelligible to every com­mon Understanding, and easie to any sincere and honest Endeavour.

3. The Third Prelation and Advantage of the Gospel, in reference to this Discovery of Life and Immortality, is that it doth not only give that clear, and Explicite Discovery thereof before-mention'd, but also it gives the most full and clear Evidence, that what it so discovers, is most certainly and in­fallibly True: and annexeth to the Discovery a full and convincing Manifestation of the Truth of the thing so discover'd, answerable to the weight and importance of the thing discover'd.

It is very true, that Almighty God out of his Care and Providence over Mankind, in order to their Everlasting End, hath been Graciously pleased to afford unto Mankind certain Evidences of this Great Truth, of the Immortality of the Soul, and a Future State of Rewards and Punishments; as namely, 1. A secret Anticipation, as it were, in the Minds and Consciences of the Generality of Mankind of this Truth: 2. An Universal Tradi­tion thereof, which hath, in great measure, reached unto the Generality of Mankind, and by [Page 103] them commonly received: Which, although it hath been handed over from Man to Man, yet we have all the reason imaginable to believe it real at first, by some means in its first Original, delivered out to the Parents of Mankind, by Revelation from God himself. 3. An Admirable Congruity of this Supposition, both to the Justice and Perfection, which, even by the Light of Nature, we are bound to attribute to Almighty God; and also a Sutable­ness and Congruity thereof to the Condition and Exigence of Mankind, and the Providential Regi­ment and Ordering thereof.

But in as much as by length of time, and di­stance of this first Revelation, and the want of a perspicuous Evidence of the manner of giving out of this first Revelation, and also for that by the Prevalence of the Corruptions, and decays of the Nature of Men, this great Important Truth of the Future Life of Rewards and Punishments, did, or at least might languish and decay in the Minds of Men. Almighty God hath been pleased, by Rei­terated and Repeated Revelations of this Truth, by New Editions of Revelations thereof, in his Written Word, to reinforce the same, that so it might be more Effectual, Operative, and Forcible upon Mankind, in order to the Right Ordering of his Life here, and the attaining of his Great and Everlasting End.

And this he began to do in the Old Testament, under the Dispensation of the Jewish Oeconomy; but far more clearly, and Universally under the Evangelical Dispensation by Christ Jesus, and with far greater advantage and Conviction of the Truth, and Certainty thereof.

The Evidence and Manifestation of the Truth and Certainty of this Supposition, is seen princi­pally in these things.

1. That he that made this Discovery, was the best able to give us the true State of Mankind after Death: For, being the Son of God, a Teacher sent from him, and acquainted with all his Will, none could give us a more perfect Account of what God Almighty intended or designed, touch­ing the Children of Men. For it is most certain, that the whole stress of the business, touching the Future State of Mankind, must principally and primarily depend upon the most Wise, Just, yet free Disposal and Counsel of Almighty God. He therefore, and he only, who was fully ac­quainted with the real purpose and design of Al­mighty God, touching Mankind, must needs be able to give us a full and compleat Account of this great and hidden Counsel, which could only lie in the Knowledge of God himself, or of such one to whom he was pleased to reveal it: When the Rich Man was in Hell, he desired that some Per­son might be sent from the Dead, to acquaint his Brethren with the State of Men after Death; and he thought, that a Relation from such a Person, who had seen or experimented that State, should be the most credible and effectual means to gain assent from the Living. But had he understood, that the same God, who not only understood the State of Mankind after Death, by what he had seen touching them that were already Departed this Life; but also perfectly knew the Mind and Purpose of his Father touching Mankind, should have come in the Flesh, and manifest himself to [Page 105] be the Son of God; and that he came to ac­quaint Mankind with his Father's Counsel and Purpose touching the Future State of Mankind, he would have desired no other Messenger to acquaint his Brethren therewith.

2. Christ did not only declare, and profess him­self to be the Son of God, a Teacher sent from God; nor did he only publish this Great Declara­tion and Discovery, touching the Future State of Mankind, and that he was sent into the World on purpose, to acquaint the World with this Message; but also he did, by the plainest and greatest Evi­dence imaginable, or that could possibly be desired to acquire credibility, manifestly declare, and prove, that his Mission and Message was Unquestionably True; Namely, by the great Miracles he did, by the Holiness of his Life, and by Dying to Attest and Assert it.

2. The Great and Admirable Work of his own Resurrection, did give an Invincible Evidence of the Truth as of all other his Doctrines, so espe­cially of these, touching the Immortality of the Soul, the Resurrection, and the Future State after Death: And the Resurrection, of Christ hath a double Force, Evidence, or Conviction in this re­spect. First, This Resurrection of Christ was in­deed the Greatest and Crowning Miracle of his whole Life; and as his other Miracles did Attest the Truth of his Mission and Doctrine, so this be­ing the most Signal and Weighty of all, upon the Effecting, or not Effecting whereof, the whole Credit of his Mission and Doctrine depended: And also being of the highest nature of any of the rest [Page 106] of his Miracles, did most Effectually, and Consum­mately seal the Truth of his Mission, and the very Divineness and Credit of all his other Miracles: For he was declared the Son of God with Power, by the Resurrection from the Dead. And hence it is that there is no one thing in the Gospel hath more Evidence of Fact to prove the Truth and Reality, nor greater Weight laid upon it, than that Christ was really Dead, and did really Rise again, from the Dead. Secondly, But farther, The Resurrection of Christ seems to be in a most Specifical and Appro­priate manner applicable, and applyed to prove the Resurrection of the Dead, and the Future Estate of Mankind after Death: It is the Great Stumbling-Block in the way of the Faith of Men, to think, how there should be a Life after Death: The Athenian Philosophers Mocked, when they heard of it, as a thing Incredible, Acts 17.32. And if Men would be but Conquered from this Difficulty, the greatest Difficulty were overcome. And indeed the Resurrection of Christ seems to be the greatest Pledge imaginable, not only of the possibility of a Future State after Death, but of the real Existence of it. And therefore that Excellent Sermon of Paul to the Athenians, Acts 17.31. lays the Great Weight of the Truth of the Judgment to come, and the Future State of Re­wards and Punishments, upon this; Because he hath appointed a Day wherein he will Judge the World in Righteousness, by that Man whom he hath Ordained, whereof he hath given assurance unto all Men in that he hath Raised him from the Dead: As if he should have said, Ye Athenian Philosophers, it is apparent that one of the Great Obstacles of your Belief of the Judgment to come, and the [Page 107] Future Estate of Good and Evil after Death, is that you doubt whether the Soul be capable of Fruition or Passion without the Body; and you cannot believe it possible, that there can be a Re­treat from a full and compleat Separation of the Body to Life again; your Philosophical Principles op­pose it. Behold! I tell you, That God hath appoint­ed to Judge the World by Christ, the same Christ hath said so in that Gospel which I come to pub­lish to you: And, at once to Seal and Evidence the Truth he so declared; and to convince you of your vain Confidence, in your Philosophical Perswa­sions, That same Christ was Dead, died a Violent Death; his Blood poured out upon the Ground, and lay in the Grave till the Third Day, that all the World might be ascertained, that he was fully Dead, and that of such a Death, that if any were uncapable of Reviving again he was: His Blood, the Vehicle of Life, spilt upon the Ground: Yet this Christ Lived again the Third Day, to assure the World of the Truth of his Word, that he would Judge the World; and of the possibility and truth of your Resurrection and mine, by the Divine Power, 1 Cor. 15.20. He is Risen from the Dead, and become the First-fruits of them that sleep.

IN this Great and Miraculous Diffusion of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles, These things are very observable;

• I. The Time, when it happened.
• II. The Place, where it happened.
• III. The Persons to, and among whom it hap­pened.
• IV. The Kind and Manner of the Miracle it self,

I. Touching the Time or Season, wherein it happened, it was upon the Day of Pentecost; next ensuing the Passion, Resurrection, and Ascension of our Lord.

The People of Israel had several Solemn Feasts, Instituted by Almighty God: And many of them had a Three-fold Use, namely, 1. Historical, in Commemoration of some signal thing fit to be re­membred. 2. Religious, or Ceremonial, for some Special Service to be performed unto Almighty God in those Times. 3. Typical, and in some kind [Page 109] Prophetical of some Eminent Observable Relating to the Messias that was to Come; and carrying some Eminent Prefiguration of some Eminent Oc­currence that should be found in, or concerning the Promised Messias. Thus the Great Wisdom of Al­mighty God in these Institutions, Involved and Complicated these several Uses and Ends.

Among those many Instituted Feasts and Solem­nities, there were Two of very great Remark; namely, the Paschal Feast, and the Feast of Pentecost.

The Feast of Pascha was Instituted upon their coming out of Egypt, Exod. 12. And again, Com­manded, Levit. 23. and Deut. 16. upon the Tenth Day of the first Month Abib (answering nearest to our Months of March and April) they were to choose a Lamb, and to kill him the 14th Day of that Month at Even: And to Eat him with Un­leavened Bread that Night, Exod. 12.3, 6. This was the beginning of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. But because the Solemnity of Festivals and Sab­baths among the Jews began from the Evening of the Day preceding, and ended at the Evening of the Day following: Therefore the Evening of this Fourteenth Day was carried over to the Day fol­lowing, and both are reckoned as the 15th Day, and the 15th Day is reckoned the First Day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, Levit. 23.6. This Fifteenth Day was a Day of Great Solemnity, and so was the 7th Day following, for so long the Feast of Unleavened Bread lasted, Exod. 12.16. The next Day after the first Day of the Feast, namely, the 16th Day of that Month, the Priest was to re­ceive a Sheaf of the First-fruits, and to Wave it be­fore the Lord, Levit. 23.11. For in those Coun­treys [Page 110] of Palestine, their Corn-harvest began early namely, about their Paschal-Feast, as appears, Deut. 16.9. And it seems that the time when the Disci­ples of Christ pulled the Ears of Corn, Luke 6.1. was about the Paschal Solemnity, namely, the Se­cond Sabbath after the First, which seems to be the Computation of the Sabbaths between Pascha and Pentecost, or the Second Paschal Sabbath.

The Feast of Pentecost, called, The Feast of Weeks, Deut. 16. This was Instituted, Levit. 23.15. And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the Sabbath, from the Day that ye brought the Sheaf of the Wave Offering, Seven Sabbaths shall be Compleat, even unto the morrow after the Seventh Sabbath shall ye number Fifty Days, &c.

This Feast of Pentecost it seems was always to be the Morrow after the Sabbath-day, or the First-day of the Week: And although our Computation and the Computation of the Jews, in Relation to their Paschal Solemnity, differed, yet it seems herein they both agree, that it was to be on the First-day of the Week, only our Computation of Fifty Days includes our Easter-Day; their Computation of the Forty Days began from the Pascha Exclusive of the First-day of the Feast.

Though we have it not Expressed in the Scrip­ture, yet it is generally received among the Jews, that the reason of the Institution of this Feast, was, in remembrance of the giving of the Law upon Mount Sinai, which was, as they say, the Fiftieth day after the First-day of the First Passover, when the People departed out of Egypt. And besides this Tradition, the Holy Text tells us, Exod. 19.1. That they came to Sinai in the third Month: And Exod. 19.11. The third day following the Law [Page 111] was given: And if we shall reckon their Months like the Months of the Egyptians, viz. Thirty Days to a Month: Then reckoning 50 Days from the Fifteenth day of the First Month Exclusively for the giving of the Law, it happened upon the Fifth day of the Third Month; but if we reckon them by Lunar Months, viz. One 29 Days, the other 30 Days; then it was the Seventh day of the Third Month: Either of which agrees thus far with the Holy Text, and also with the Tradition of the Jews, touching the reason of the Institution of this Solemn Feast; That the Law was given upon Kar, near the Fiftieth day after their departure out of Egypt.

Touching the Congruity or Correspondency be­tween the Typical Paschal and the True Passover, the Death of Christ, the same seems Plain: 1. Christ our Passover, a Lamb without Blemish, was slain: The Paschal Lamb was an Emblem, and a Prefigura­tion of the Innocence and Purity of the M [...]ssias, the Lamb of God that taketh away the Sin of the World. 2. Not a Bone of the Paschal Lamb was to be broken, Exod. 12.46. fulfilled in our Saviour's Death, John 19.36. Again, 3. The Blood of the Paschal Lamb was to be stroke upon the Door Posts, as a Propitiation against the Vengeance of the Destroy­ing Angel, Exod. 12.7. So the Blood of Christ was a Propitiation for the Sins of the World: He was the Lamb of God, that taketh away the Sins of the World. 4. But that which I specially observe, is the season, wherein Christ Suffered, being exactly that Day, in the Evening whereof the Paschal Lamb was to be slain: Or the Fourteenth day of the First Month: For it is plain, Christ kept the Pass­over, and Instituted his Supper the Night before [Page 112] his Crucifixion, Matth. 26.17, 20. The same Night he was brought to the Counsel of the Jews, where the High Priest sate as Chief; and there they Examined him, and passed Judgment of Death upon him, Matth. 26.57, &c. The next Day they brought him to Pilate, who Condemned him to Death, at the Third Hour, or Nine of the Clock the same Day: This Day is called, the Preparation of the Sabbath, Matth. 27.62. The Preparation; that is, the Day before the Sabbath, Mark 15.42. The Preparation and the Sabbath drew on, Luke 23.54. The Preparation of the Passover, John 19.14. And therefore the High-Priest and Scribes entred not into the Judgment-Hall, least they should be defi­led, but that they might eat the Passover, John 18.28. And the Jews, because it was the Preparation, that the Bodies might not remain upon the Cross upon the Sab­bath-day (for that Day was a Great Day) besought Pilate, &c. It was a Great Day in it self, for it was the Fifteenth Day of the Month, wherein was to be a Solemn Convocation by the First Institution, as Exod. 12. or, the First Day of the Feast of Unlea­vened Bread. And it was a Great Day, because the Jewish Sabbath, or the Seventh Day of the Week did follow with this Solemn Feast. After the Bu­rial of our Saviour, the Women brought Spices, but rested the Sabbath-day, Luke. 23.56. But the Scribes and Pharisees, rested not, for they resorted to Pilate, to have the Sepulchre Sealed, viz. the Day that followed the Day of the Preparation, Matth. 27.62. The next Day after the Sabbath, early, namely, the First Day of the Week, the Women resorted to the Sepulchre with the Spices, Matth. 28.1. Mark 16.1. John 20.1.

This gives us an exact Journal of our Saviour's Death and Resurrection: He was Crucified upon the Sixth Day, the Preparation of the Sabbath, and the Preparation of the Passover; he rested in the Grave the Seventh day of the Week, and arose the First day of the Week, because the Third day from his Crucifixion.

So that Christ our Passover was slain that day wherein the Paschal Lamb was killed, namely, the Fourteenth day of the first Month; for that was the regular time of killing the Passover: though in case of any Legal Impediment it might be Protract­ed, or deferred to the fourteenth day of the second Month, Numb. 9.11. 2 Chron. 13.15.

And it seems the Jewish Computation of the Months being Lunar, their Computation of the fourteenth day of the first Month, was the four­teenth day after the first Full Moon that happened after the Vernal Equinox: And this Custom was long kept among the Christians, till by the Western Church, under Constantine, it was reduced to be held upon the Lord's-day, according to a Cicle Established and Observed in the Chu [...]ch; whereas the Jewish Pascha fell sometimes on one day of the Week, sometimes on another, as their Luna quarta decima happened.

Now that which makes some difficulty, touch­ing the day of the Messiah's Passion, viz Whether it were upon that day, in the Evening whereof the Paschal Lamb was slain; or the fourteenth day of the first Month; or whether the next day after, namely, the fifteenth day, which was the Great Solemn Feast, or the first day of the Feast of Un­leavened Bread, seems to be this, because it is ap­parent by the Evangelist, that our Saviour did Eat [Page 114] the Passover the Night before his Passion; and consequently upon the Fourteenth day of the First Month, according to the Mesaical Institution, and consequently the day of his Passion was upon the First day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread; which, though it were the first day, yet it was antecedent to the Jewish Sabbath that followed the next day.

To this it is variously answered, First, Some say, that although by the Divine Institution, the Passo­ver was to be eaten the Fourteenth day at Even, at which time our Lord did eat it with his Disci­ples, according to the true Legal Institution: Yet the Jews had a Tradition among them, that if the Fourteenth day of the First Month happened upon the First, Third, or Fifth day of the Week, the Pas­chal Lamb was not to be that Night, but the Night following; and consequently the Lamb was Slain the Fifteenth day, and the Solemn first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread was to succeed upon the Sixteenth day; and accordingly it was done here; Christ and his Disciples did Eat the Passo­ver upon the Fourteenth day, according to the Di­vine Institution, and the Generality of the Jews upon the Fifteenth day, according to their Tradi­tion. Secondly, Again, others say, That upon E­minent occasions it was Lawful to Anticipate a day in the Eating of the Passover; and that our Lord foreseeing his time was drawing near, wherein he must suffer, intending to eat the Passover, and In­stitute his Supper before he left the World, antici­pated the Celebration of the Passover: But this seems hard, for it appears by the Three Evange­lists, that the Disciples took notice that the So­lemn time was come, and spake first of it to our Lord, Matth. 26.17. Mark 14.12. Therefore, [Page 115] Thirdly, Some think that the Council of the Jews having a Resolution to destroy our Saviour, and yet before the Great Solemnity of the Feast, Matth. 26.5. Mark 14.2. did Procrastinate the Solemni­ty a day beyond the Set-time; which the Sanhe­drim, or the Great: Council of the Jews, pretend­ed Power to do; being those that did Authorita­tively decide the Time of the New Moon, and their Occasional Intercalation of days, to put off the Solemnity for a day or more, according to their Decisions. Whether these, or any of these be the True Cause, yet it is apparent, that the Eating of the Passover by Christ was upon the 5th day of the week at Even, or upon the Thursday; and that the Eating of the Passover by the Gene­rality of the People and Priests, was upon the 6th day of the week at Even, at which day Christ our Passover was slain.

But besides this Concordance in the Time of the death of Christ upon the Paschal Solemnity, there are some Observables touching this Great Feast that seems to bear some Prefiguration of our Mes­siah, and the End of his Suffering I do not re­member above five Remembrances of the Paschal Solemnity under the Old Law, viz. 1. Upon the Deliverance out of Egypt, Exod. 12. agreeing with the Great Deliverance by Christ, from the Spiritual Egypt, the Bondage of Sin and Death. 2. Upon the coming of the People into Canaan, Josh. 5.10. An Emblem of the Way opened into the Heaven­ly Canaan by the Suffering of Christ. 3. That un­der Josiah, upon a Great Reformation of Idolatry by him, 2 Kings 13.21. And, 4. That after the Re-edification of the Temple, and Restitution of the People from Captivity, Ezra 6.21. who was [Page 116] a Great Repairer of the Jewish Church. 5. That under Hezekiah, 2 Chron. 30 which, though it were not observed at the Regular Time, but in the fourteenth day of the second Month, yet it was upon a Great Reformation of the Church, aed a Renovation of their Covenant with God. 6. There seems also to be a Remembrance of a Great Passover kept by Solomon, 2 Chron. 30.27. which probably was after his finishing of the Temple. And as all these Persons, Moses, Joshua, So­lomon, Hezekiah, Josiah, and Ezra, were, in many things, Types of the Messiah, so the Business, or Occasions that gave these Signal Solemnities, were such as bore a great Analogy to that Work that our Saviour in his Passion mightily performed, namely, the Deliverance of his People from the Slavery of Sin, and Death and Hell, the opening of the Kingdom of Heaven to all Believers: the Reformation of the Errors and Lives of Mankind, the Solemnization of a New Covenant between God and Man, and the Erection and Establishing of a Living Temple unto God, namely, his Church, against which the gates of Hell should not prevail. And although I doubt not there were often Anniversary Paschal Feasts, between the coming out of Egypt, and the Return from the Captivity: Yet the Spi­rit of God taking a more particular notice of these Great and Solemn Passovers, seems to give us oc­casion to observe them, with Relation to Christ our Great Passover.

The things remarkable in the Analogy of the Feast of Pentecost, seem to be these:

First, That as there were 51 days from the first Pascha, and the Giving of the Law (in Memory [Page 117] whereof the Feast of Pent [...]cost was Instituted) so there were the like measure of time between the Oblation of Christ, the True Paschal Lamb, and the Signal Mission of the Holy Ghost, in the Feast of Pentecost.

Secondly, That upon that time, wherein it pleased God to Promulge the Law, the Tenor of the Old Covenant with the People of Israel, he also chose to Publish the New Covenant in the Blood of Christ to all Mankind.

Thirdly, That as the Promulgation of the Law was especially with Two Sensible Manifestations, name­ly, the great Sound of the Trumpet, that waxed louder and louder, Exod. 19.16. And the Audible giving of the Law by the Voice of God. Exod. 20. And the Voice of Thunder, all which affected the Sense of Hearing. And also the Appearance of Fire and Smoke, the Mountain burning with Fire to the midst of Heaven, which affected the Sense of Seeing: Both which great Impressions upon those two Senses of Discipline, are briefly describ­ed by the Apostle, Heb. 12.18, 19. So this Pro­mulgation of the Gospel was made upon this day, though not with equal Terror, yet, in an Analogy of External Signs: 1. To the Eye, the Holy Ghost descending upon the Apostles in Cloven Tongues like fire; 2. To the Sense of Hearing, namely, the rushing mighty wind, answering to the Thunder and Voice of the Trumpet in the giving of the Law; and the speaking with Tongues, not only Audible, but Intelligible, to People of se­veral Nations and Languages.

Fourthly, That as the Law was Published to the Full Assembly of the People of Israel, so the Go­spel was Published to a Full Assembly of Persons of almost all Nations, Acts 25. For Jerusalem, as it was a Great City, that received many Foreigners, so especially at this Solemn Feast, many Jews and Proselytes resorted hither from all Countries of their Dispersion.

Fifthly, That as the Law was Published in the Mount of God, Sinai in the Wilderness; so this Solemn Promulgation of the Gospel was made in the City of Jerusalem, ordinarily Styled, The City of God, and Mount Sion: Thus as the Promulgation of the Law begun in Mount Sinai, so the Promulgation of the Gospel began in Mount Sion, and from thence derived through all the World.

Besides what hath been observed, there seems also a strange Suitableness and Congruity in pro­portion of Times and Occasions. I shall reckon up some of the former, and some others.

1. The Oblation of the Messiah upon the day that the Paschal Lamb was to be slain.

2. His Rest in the Grave upon that double Sab­bath, as I may call it, for the First day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, wherein no Work was to be done, fell upon the Seventh, or Sabbath-day of the Week.

3. His Resurrection was upon the First day of the Week, the day of the Creation of all things, [Page 119] and the day appointed by the Law for the Oblation of the Sheaf of First-fruits, prefiguring the Resur­rection of Christ, who is therefore called the First-fruits of them that Sleep, 1 Cor. 15.20. Compared with Levit. 23.10. So that although the Paschal Feast was not limitted to any certain day of the week, yet the Co-incidence thereof to the Seventh day of the week, made an admirable Harmony in the Incidence of Times: For,

4. The Wise God choosing this Season for the Suffering of the Messiah, gave our Saviour's Resur­rection to be the First day of the week, which we Commemorate in the place of the Jewish Sabbath; and gave the Feast of Pentecost to be likewise the First day of the week, whereby there happened a Co-incidence of Two Great Matters, namely, the day of the Resurrection, and the day of the Mission of the Holy Spirit, which gave the occasion to the Christian Church to keep the Feast of Pentecost upon the Lord's day, namely, the 50th day after the Pas­cha Christianum: So the Co-incidence and Commu­nication of both these days gave Testimony and At­testation each to other; whereas if the Jewish Pas­cha had not happened upon the Jewish Sabbath, the next Pentecost could not have happened upon the Christian Sabbath.

Concerning The WORKS OF GOD.

HAVING Consider'd the Divine Attributes, We come to Consider the Works of God or those Acts of Almighty God, which are Termina­ted in something without Himself. And these are of Two Kinds.

First, The Internal, or Immanent Works of God, which, though they are within Himself, yet I call them Works, because they are Terminated in something without Him. And those are of Two Kinds, viz. His knowledge, or Fore-know­ledge, which relates to God, as we represent him to our selves, under the Notion of an Intellectual Being; And the Counsel or Determination of his Will, as we Represent him to our selves, as a Free Agent, or one who works Secundum Intentionem.

Secondly, The External, or Transient Works of Almighty God; and these are of Two Kinds, viz. The Work of Creation, and the Work of Providence, or Gubernation.

The Work of Creation is again of Two Kinds, viz. Creatio Prima, the Production of Something out of Nothing, or Simple Creation: And Creatio Secunda, the Production of Something out of what pre-existed; but yet such a production as exceeded the Activity or Power of any Natural Cause, as the Production of the Heavenly and Elementary Bodies, the first Production of Manners.

The Work of his Providence is of Two Kinds, viz.

First, That General Providence that concerns the Universe, and the particular Beings therein, as they are parts of the Universe; and this includes those Two great Exertions of the Divine Provi­dence, viz.

1. The Common Influx, whereby every thing is preseved in genere Entis; and in the particular Nature of ens tale.

2. the Gubernation, or Regiment of every thing.

The Special Work of Divine Providence is that, which relates to intellectual Natures, viz. Angels or Men.

And that part of the Divine Special Providence, [...]elating to Men, is of Two Kinds, viz. That which relates to him, in reference to his Temporal Subsistence, Civil or Political: Or that part of the Divine Special Providence that concerns Man, in [...]eference to his Everlasting State or Condition, which lets in the whole Divine Oeconomy, in re­ [...]ation to Religion and Religious concernments.

To begin with the First of these kind of Works, The Divine Knowledge, and Fore-knowledge of things.

We must premise, as we have done formerly, That we are not able to have a right and due con­ception neither of the Knowledge, nor of the Counsel of Almighty God; only thus much we are certain, that it is quite another thing than any thing we can imagine concerning it; and the reason is, because we have no other measure to frame in our selves a conception of Knowledge, but on­ly the Idea, or Image of that Knowledge which we have in our selves which is utterly unsuitable and disanalogal to that Knowledge which is in God, or the Manner, or Nature of it. It is much more possible, that a Child of a Span Long; nay, that a Worm, or a Fly, might have a Just and ade­quate Conception of the Knowledge of the Wisest Man in the World, and the Manner of it, than it is possible for the Wisest and most Knowing Man to have a right Measure or Estimate of the Know­ledge of God, or of the Manner or Nature of it. And the Reason is apparent; for the Knowledge of a Child and a Man differ only in degrees; th [...] Knowledge of a Worm and a Man, though they [Page 136] differ not only in degrees, but in Kind and Nature and therefore cannot form to it self the Conception or Image of the Knowledge of a Man for it; But yet they agree in this, that even the Know­ledge of a Man is quid finitum: But the Know­ledge that a Man hath, and the Knowledge that God hath, differed not only in degree, and in their Kind and Nature, but differ as quod finitum, and quod infinitum; and consequently impossible that the finite nature of the Knowledge of Man can be any Measure or Image of the Infinite Know­ledge of Almighty God.

This therefore we may suppose concerning the Knowledge of God, indeed rather what it is not, than what it is.

First, It is not barely an Objective Knowledge, or such a Knowledge as ariseth from the Impression, that the Scibile, or thing known, makes upon the Intellect. And this is evident, because that this Divine Knowledge pre-exists all things that are without him to be known; he knows all things before they had any being, and therefore before they had an Objective Impression upon that which knows

Secondly, It is not a Discursive, or Rational Knowledge, for that seems proper to the Humane Nature, deducing of one thing from another, and collecting the Effect from the Cause; for this is a Gradual Successive Knowledge, a manner of Act­ing incompatible to a most simple and uncom­pounded Being.

Thirdly, It is not properly an Intuitive Know­ledge; for all Intuition presupposeth somewhat pre-existing to what is so looked into: This sup­position [Page 137] (in reference to the Knowledge of Al­mighty God) must either suppose an Intuition of the things themselves, which is in truth, nothing but an Objective Knowledge. But this serves not here, for the Knowledge of Almighty God Pre-exists the very being of all things without him, and therefore it cannot be barely such an Intuitive Knowledge; Or else it must suppose a Pre-deter­mination of every thing that shall be in the Di­vine Will; and so by the Intuition of himself, and of his own most Wise and Powerful Determina­tion he Inspects whatsoever shall be. This, though it be true, yet it takes not up the whole Extension of the Divine Knowledge. For, Almighty God doth most certainly know some things that are not Actually within the Compass of an Absolute and Complete Determination. He knows not only what shall be, but what may be; not only what is within the Compass of his purpose and De­termination, but what is within the Compass of his Almighty Power and Omnipotence; And not only that neither, there is a Knowledge which some do, and we may call Scientia Conditionata, a Know­ledge what a Free Agent would do under such or such an Objective Motion, though he were not Pre determined by the Divine Will.

And to put a Period to our Progression, even Negative, in this Inquiry into the Divine Know­ledge, his Understanding is Perfect, Unsearchable, and which is more than all we can else say, his Un­derstanding is Infinite, exceeding the very Com­pass of scibilia▪ themselves, so far as they have, or indeed can have, any Actual Existence; for that which is Potentially Infinite, is nevertheless impos­sible to be Actually Infinite: But the Divine Know­ledge [Page 138] is actually Infinite, for it understands its own Infinite Being, which were enough to denominate it such, were there no other scibile, and in the Understanding of its own Infinite Being, it Under­stands its Infinite Power, and is, as I may say, Commensurate to the uttermost Activity of that Infinite Power: And although, what may be, is but quid potentiale, for it is not, and possibly never shall be; yet he actually understands whatsoever may be, or that hath potentiam non repugnantiae to be, though it never shall be Actually.

Secondly, Touching the Counsel of the Divine Will, it is a depth and height above all Created Understanding to search into. All Things are brought about by the most Powerful Counsel of his Will; and yet he altereth not that Law or Rule of Working which he hath Implanted into every thing, unless it be very rarely, and for the Manifestation of the Supremacy of his Empire and Power; So that ordinarily, things Naturally Act according to the Laws and Rules implanted in Natu­ral Causes, and Things voluntary Act according to the Liberty of their own freedom, without altera­tion of the former, or violence to the latter; yet by these, and in these, he fulfils infallibly the Counsel of his own Will: He manageth and or­dereth even the Sinful Actions of Free Agents to most excellent ends yet without infusing any obli­quity into the Man's Will, or contaminating the Purity and Holiness of his own: This Knowledge is too Wonderful for us.

Touching the Counsel and Decree of Almighty God, something hath been said in the Part go­ing [Page 139] before, touching Providence; I shall therefore here say but little concerning it.

The Counsel, or Decree of the Will of God, is that Act, as I may call it of the Divine Will, whereby, by one Indivisible Act, he did, from Eternity, Infallibly Predetermine all the Events that should after come to pass.

And according to the Object, or Terming of this Divine Decree, we may distinguish it accor­ding to the several sorts of External Acts, which have been, or shall be in the World, and those are principally Two, viz. The Creation of the World, and the Government or Providential Or­dering of the World.

The Decree or Counsel for the Creation of the World, was that Eternal Purpose of the Blessed Trinity God Blessed for ever, that in such a Period, he would, by his Almighty Power, Create and Perfect both the Matter and Frame of the whole World: And although the Execution of this Decree were a Mutation in Things, or a Transition from not being to being, yet the Will of Almighty God was Eternally, Immutably the same where­by he determined to Communicate the Overflowing of his Goodness, and to Create Beings, that according to their several Capacities, should be Re­ceptive of that Goodness of his.

The Decree of his Providence is that Eternal Counsel of his, whereby he did determine to sup­port and govern the things that he had so deter­mined to make, according to the most Wise, most Pure Unerring Counsel of his own Will.

And the Execution of this Counsel or the man­ner of the Divine Regiment, or Providential Gu­bernation [Page 140] of things, may be reduced to these Four Kinds.

1. Supernatural, whereby the Divine Power, for the manifesting of his Absolute Soveraignty, and upon most Wife and Suitable Emergencies, doth in­terpose his own Immediate Power for the bringing about some of his Counsels; and these are of Two Kinds, according to the variety of Objects which it concerns, viz.

First, Miraculous Interpositions, which princi­pally concern Natural Agents, or Effects; as the standing still of the Sun, &c.

Secondly, Illapses, and Irradiations, and Infusions of the Operations of the Divine Spirit, as in the Prophets, or in Converting of Men to the Know­ledge and Obedience of the Truth, and this con­cerns Rational Creatures as such.

2. Natural; whereby he orders all things ordi­narily in the World, according to the Laws and Constitutions that he hath given naturally to Second Causes, whereby, according to their suitable Constitution, the Regiment of things is Managed, but under the most Wise Government, and to most Wise Ends. And under this Word, Natural, I likewise include even Voluntary or Free Agents, which, though in some respect, they are Contradi­stinguished to Natural Agents, yet, in this respect, I call them Natural, because their Liberty and Free­dom is Natural to them: And surely upon a due Consideration, the most Incomparable Wisdom and Power of Almighty God is no less Conspicuous in [Page 141] this Natural Regiment of things, than in that Su­pernatural Interposition above mentioned, viz. That the Divine Wisdom hath so fitted every thing with a Law suitable to the Exigence and Conveni­ence of its own Being; and yet so ordered and fit­ted for Contexture to the common Use and Regiment of things, that they are Suitable, and Natural to our Constitutions, without violation of them.

3. Permissive, Which refers to the sinful Actions of Free Agents, viz. Whereby God Almighty having at first Constituted a Being in Freedom of Will, and with sufficient Power and Knowledge to elect Good, and to refuse the Evil; ye Decrees to permit him to use the Freedom of his own Will, and in that Freedom he Falls and Sins: This Per­missive Decree doth not at all necessitate the Choice that it makes through the Infiniteness of the Divine Knowledge, foresees what Choice he will make, and provides accordingly by that which ensues, viz.

4. Directive Providence; That although Al­mighty God doth not, by any Pre-determination, Counsel his Creature to Sin, yet by the Infinite Prospect of his Knowledge, foreseeing, that he will Sin; the Divine Counsel most Wisely Holily and Mercifully manageth and directeth even this Sinful Action of Men, or other Free Agent, to the best good that it is capable of: That a Free-Agent should be made, and yet of a Peccable and Mu­table Nature, it was no Error of Divine Provi­dence: for indeed, as naturally, every Created Being is Mutable; so it is nothing of Imperfection [Page 142] for a Free Agent to be liber ad opposita: The Electing of what is Evil, by such a Free Agent, in­deed is a thing permitted by God, but is the Act or Obliquity of the Agent that might have done otherwise: But the Direction and Conduct of that Action to a most excellent End, is the effect of this most Wise most Pure directive Counsel of Almighty God.

But more shall be said, in relation hereunto, when we come to consider of the Divine Providence, in relation to Man; for the Truth is the External Gubernation, and Providence is but Divinum Decretum Enucleatum, the Detection and Discovery of that Counsel and Decree of God, that was be­fore secret and hidden.

I come to those External Acts of the Divine Counsel, the Administration of his Kingdom, viz. Creation and Providence.

First, Creation is of Two Kinds, viz. Creatio Prima, which is the Production of a Being from not Being.

Secondly, Creatio Secunda; The Production of a Being out of such a Being, and in such a Method or Way as exceeds all Created Power.

For the Former of these Creations, viz. The Production of Something out of simply Nothing, which is the greatest effect that is imaginable, because the Distance between the Extremes, viz. Simple, not Being, and Being in the infinitest distance [Page 143] that is imaginable, and therefore is a Work peculiarly belonging to an Omnipotent Power.

This Creation is of those Primordial Rudiments of all other things, and therefore Compriseth these Two things, viz. The Production of Spiritual, or Incorporeal Natures, and these seem to be com­pleated in the First Creation, and had no other Superinduced Formation, or Creatio Secunda upon them but they were compleated in the Compleat­ment and Perfection of their Being in the First in­stant of their Creation; such are Angelical Na­tures, and Separate Intelligences.

Secondly, The Production of the Rudiments of things Corporeal, which seems to include Two things,

First, The Common Mass of Matter; And,

Secondly, The Common Spirit of Material Beings.

As the former is the Materia Prima of Bodies, so the latter may possibly be the Materia Prima, as I may call it of Substantial Forms; and these lay confusedly mixed together, so that neither was the Matter purely Informis, for that were impossible to suppose such a subsistence of Matter, or Corporeal Moles, without any kind of Form; nor is it on the other side imaginable, that the Spiritus Universi, as I may call it, was distinct, compleat, or subsisting without Matter; but they were both mingled in­distinctly together, till the Particles of this Com­mon Matter, and the Particles of this Common Spirit, or Form were called out in the Creatio Se­cunda, [Page 144] or the Formation of things, and Reduction of these Indigested Rudiments of the Mundus Spe­ctabilis into their several Ranks and Orders.

And this way that Chaos, the Work of Begin­ning, consisting of these Two parts, mentioned in the First and Second Verses of the First of Genesis, viz. The Earth, or that Moles Corporea, which is called the Abyss, or Deep; and that Spiritus that moved, or agitated the Waters, which, with sub­mission, I conceive was not the Pure Essential Spirit of God, the Third Person in the Sacred Tri­nity; but a Spirit Created by the Energy and Vertue of that Spirit, and mingled with the Mass of Matter.

In the Precedent Discourses the necessity of the Hypothesis of the Creation of all things out of simply nothing, is, to my Understanding, fully evinced, and there shall not need any Repetition of it; and most certainly the First Chapter of Genesis, which doth admirably shew the Steps and Method of the Whole Creation, doth wonderfully gratifie even the Light of Natural Reason, discovering the particular Method of that Production of the World which the Light of Reason evinceth to have been at first produced; though it cannot, without Divine Revelation, discover the Steps and Method of it. And on the other, the Light of Nature doth Suffragari, and bear Witness to the Truth of the Scriptures, which Light of Nature carries us to a Recognition, that it had an Original; though, without the help of Revelation it cannot discover the Method or Order of it.

The Creatio Secunda is that Formation of things Visible or Corporeal out of those Rudiments of Matter, and Form, or Spirit, which was prepared by the Creatio Prima: Consisting principally in these things,

1. The Segregation of certain parts of Matter, and suitable parts of the Spiritus Materiae.

2. The Coagulation and Coagmentation of those Separated Parts, according to the various Natures of Things.

3. The Transposition and Location of them in their most suitable Places and Stations.

4. The Accommodating them with those various Accidents that were convenient and suitable to them, and to the Universe.

5. The Moulding and Fashioning of the various Furniture of the several Greater Bodies, as by Par­ticles of Matter and Form, or Spirit, Assumed and Fitted for their Individual and Specifical Natures.

6. The Constitution of Man, and deriving into him a Reasonable Soul, of a higher and more No­ble Allay than that Spiritus Mundanus, which was, as it were, the Common Spirit of the Mundus A­spectabilis.

And in this whole Process, not only of the Crea­tio Prima, but of the Creatio Secunda, or the Edu­ction of particular things out of that Mass of com­mon Provision, which was Sub-ministred by the Creatio Prima, we must, of Necessity, acknowledge these ensuing Truths.

First, That they were not the Productions of Second Causes, but the immediate Production of Almighty God, by his Will and Power; and we need go no farther for an Evidence of it than this: If the Temperature of the Matter, the Natural In­flux of the Heavens, the Energy of First Quali­ties, were the causes of these Productions; Why, in all the Experience that the World hath had these Four thousand Years, and more; why in all this time hath not any part of the World yielded a Man, or so much as a Horse, or a Sheep, of such a Pro­duction, without the ordinary Course of Genera­tion?

Secondly, That yet it may be probable that the Im­mediate Instrument which the Divine Power used in the External Formation of Creatures, may be the Formation of that Substantial Form, or Spirit, and uniting it to Matter, so that the Formation of the External shape of things might be the Ideal Im­pression of that Form upon the prepared Matter; this possibly may be because we see the Formation of the Externals of Bodies is still immediately Ef­fected by the Seminal Ideal Energy of the Substan­tial Form. But possibly it might be otherwise, for possibly the first Constitution of things might be of another Nature than what now appears.

Thirdly, That as they were the immediate Pro­duction of the Divine Power, so it was a pro­duction not ex necessitate naturae, but ex intentione in­tendentis

Fourthly, That as it was the Production of Al­mighty God, not as a Necessary, but as a Free A­gent, so it was a Production of Infinite Wisdom, and Admirable Contrivance. This is the Subject of some of the Precedent Tracts.

ALmighty God, in his giving out the Moral Law unto the Jews, (which is indeed little else than a Repetion, or Recapitulation of the Law of Nature) Included, or Inscribed them in two Tables; the first importing the Natural Duties that a Man owes to God; the second Importing, the Duties a Man owes to Man, or (which is all one) to his Neighbour.

Our Redeemer made a shorter Abstract of both these Tables, Matth. 22.37, &c. yet taken out of the Ancient Writings of the Law: The first and great Commandment, or the Abstract of the First Table, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind; [Page 149] which is the same in substance with that of Deut. 6.5. The Second Commandment, or the Abstract of the Second Table; Thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy self: being the same with that of Levit. 19.18. On these two Commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets; that is, the several Precepts, Prohibi­tions, and Counsels contained in the Law and the Prophets, are, as it were, so many Commenta­ries, or Explications of these Two Great Com­mandments.

And the Apostle, Rom. 13.9, 10. having occa­sion to Commend this great Habit of Love, which he elsewhere, viz. 1 Cor. 13. calls by the Name of Charity, follows his Master's Doctrine, and re­solves the whole Duty of the Second Table, into the same Great Command, Thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy self.

In this Text of Matth. 7.12. and Luke 6.31. Our Lord gives us an Explication of this Second Great Commandment, of Loving our Neighbour as our Self, in a brief but most clear Proposition, or Precept.

And the Excellency of this Precept consists in these particulars among many others.

First, It is compendious and short, the Volumes of Morality that have been written, both by Chri­stian and Heathen Philosophers, though they con­tain many excellent Precepts, yet they are very large, and such as every Man hath not opportu­nity to Read; and those that have Read them, or some of them, cannot easily remember the many particulars contained in them Our Lord there­fore hath given us this brief and compendious Pre­cept, [Page 150] which is easie and familiar to be remem­bred.

Secondly, Though it be a Compendious Precept, yet it is a Comprehensive Precept, and such as contains the whole Duty of Man in Relation to others.

There was well-known, not only among the Jews, but among the Heathen, the Prohibitory part of this Precept, namely, Quod tibi fieri non vis alteri ne feceris. We find it among the Ancient Jews, Tobit 4.15. and among the Ancient Heathens; insomuch, that one of the Roman Emperors caused it to be Written in Letters of Gold, as his Choice Motto, in several parts of his Palace.

And indeed that Negative Precept contains very much of Moral Righteousness, because it extends to the Prohibition of all Acts of Injustice, or Un­righteousness. But this Precept of the Gospel doth not only Vertually Prohibit all Acts of Injustice and Unrighteousness, but it doth expresly Com­mand and Injoyn all Acts of Charity, Goodness and Beneficence; and consequently is a Precept not only of Moral Justice, but of Evangelical Per­fection, far beyond whatever the Choicest Hea­then Moralist ever required, or so much as thought of, as shall be in due time shown. And yet far­ther, it doth not only comprehend all the Subjects or Matter of Moral Justice, and Christian Cha­rity, which is a large and comprehensive Subject; but it directs likewise the manner of it, do ye even so to them, with the same Sincerity, and Integri­ty, and Simplicity, and Affection of Heart, as you would have it done to you.

Thirdly, As it is a Compendious and Compre­hensive, so it is a plain and perspicuous, and Self-evident Rule; it sends not a Man to consult with this or that Philosopher, or Schoolman, or Casuist, to be resolved touching the thing to be forborn, or done: But sends a Man to himself, and to that in himself, which is most evident to himself; namely, what he would wish to be done to him­self, in the like Condition. Which, if a Man will be but as honest to himself, as he may, he can easily determine and Judge. So that of this Pre­cept I may say, as Moses doth elsewhere concern­ing the Law, Deut. 30.11. Behold! This Command­ment which I command thee this day, is not hidden from thee, neither is it afar of. It is not in Heaven, &c. neither is it beyond the Sea, &c. But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy Mouth, and in thy Heart, that thou mayest do it.

Fourthly, It is such a Rule as is particular, and particularly directive, as to the action in question, under all its Circumstances. It is true, that the ge­neral Pre [...]epts of doing that which is good and just, are very true, sound, natural Precepts, and common notions that are implanted in our Nature, and allowed by all; but yet they serve not as suf­ficient directions to particular actions; and the rea­son is excellently given by the Moralist, because still the difficulty remains in a just and true appli­cation, or accommodation of these common No­tions to particular Actions. And this is that that makes perpetual Controversies between one Man and another, though both Parties agree in the com­mon Notions, that what is just and honest ought [Page 152] to be done: But this Precept gives a Direction par­ticularly accommodated to every Action of a Man's Life: Because it is still an easie and ready Appeal, Would I have that Man do that to me, which I am about to do to him?

Fifthly, It is a Rule full of Conviction: when another Man gives his Judgment concerning my Action, I am rarely satisfied with his Judgment, because it differs from that Judgmentt which per­chance I make; but, when the Judgment is my own, I must needs be convinc'd of what I Judge. And therefore when Nathan came to David, and put him a Case in a Third Person, which exactly squared with the Case of David, in relation to Uriah and his Wife, and David passed his Judgment therein; and it after appeared that it was his own Case; there was nothing more to be said, he is convinced by his own Judgment that he hath passed: So when a Man turns the Tables, as the Proverb is, and makes another Man's Case his, his Judgment must needs be full of Demonstrative, and Unquestiona­ble, and Cogent Conviction, and consequently must needs have a strange, forcible, and almost ir­resistible Direction, in relation to the doing, or not doing of the Action propounded.

Sixthly, It is a Rule that carries with it a strange and forcible Reasonableness, Congruity and Ju­stice, if a Man give himself but so much leave and Patience to scan, and consider, and examine it.

First, It is a most reasonable and evidently just Ru e; For with what imaginable Justice can I do [Page 153] that to him, that I Judge unfit or unjust for him to do to me? Or with what pretence of Justice, or Congruity can I Judge that which is fit for him to do to me, to be unfit for me to do to him? (taking in the Qualifications hereafter subjoyned.)

Again, Secondly, It is a Principle of much Peace and Security to him that practiseth it. Among some others there seem to be two great occasions of Injustice and Injury, and Violence from one Man to another.

1. The Passion of Revenge, which induceth Re­taliation▪ or inflicting an Injury upon him from whom a Man hath received an Injury.

2. The Passion of Fear, or Suspicion, lest a Per­son may have Opportunity and Will to do a Man harm; and therefore the Person fearing begins first with him he fears, thereby to disable him to do the Injury feared; and these two cause much of the Injustice, Violence, and Oppression in the World: But a Man that takes up, and practiseth this Rule, as he cannot give an Irritation to Re­venge, because this Principle keeps him from do­ing an Injury, so he is secure from the Injury ari­sing from anothers Fear; because his Living ac­cording to this Principle, gives a clear assurance to all Men, that they need not fear, or suspect an In­jury from him, because inconsistent with this ad­mirable Rule, whereby he directs his Course, and so his Innocence and Justice is his great foundati­on of his Peace and Tranquility in this Life; and consequently this Principle, and the Practice there­of, is the greatest Wisdom, and the best Provision [Page 154] for Peace in the World. If I do to others no other­wise than I would have them to do to me, no rea­sonable Man can be my Enemy.

Seventhly, It is a Rule that hath that clear Ana­logy with our Reason, and the Terms so evident­ly connected, that the Mind assents to the truth and goodness of it, without any Process of Ratiocina­tion. There are many Moral Truths, that though they be most certainly true, and good, yet before the Mind can clearly discover, or assent unto them, it is necessary to have some antecedent Discursive Process, or Ratiocination, such are many Deducti­ons and Conclusions from the more Universal Prin­ciples. But again, as in Nature, and Mathematical Sciences, so in Morals, there are some dictamina moralia that have that clear and evident Connection in them, and that plain Congruity to Natural Ju­stice, that at the first Proposal of them, nay, it may be, without any Proposal of them, the Soul assents to the things, by a kind of Immediate Intui­tion, and primo intuitu, without the use of Ratioci­nation, or Discursive Disquisition: As the Eye of Sense, as soon as it is open, discerns the Light, or Call, without any kind of Solemn Process to evince it to be such; so there be some kind of Truths, that the Eye of the Understanding assents to quasi per saltum, & per intuitum, without the necessity or use of Processive, or Inductive Ratiocination: The Connection between the Terms of the Propositions, or Antecedent and Conclusion, are so plain and evident, that the Assent is wrought in a Mo­ment.

Nay yet farther, as in the sensible or vegetable Nature, there seem to be implanted, by the wise [Page 155] God, certain Rules, which we call Natural Instincts, that are visibly used in the highest degree of ra­tional Evidence, to their Production, Preservation and Perfection; which, though they are most Wise, and Rational Rules, yet the Vegetable and Sensible Nature do, without any innate, active Reason in themselves, constantly follow: So it seems in the Rational Soul, or Conscience, or Mind, or whatever else we please to term it, there are certain Moral Truths, of great Weight and Moment, and Necessity, for due Regulation of the Life of Man, in order to Almighty God him­self; and others which are Connaturally implanted in the Mind, and may, without Injury, be called Rational Instincts; which, though they are admi­rably reasonable, and such as will evidently appear so upon a Discursive Process; yet the Mind and Inclination of the Will is carry'd to assent unto, and approve them antecedently to any formal suc­cessive and deductive Process, or Ratiocination of the Understanding, and grows up with a Man to greater Strength, Force, and Efficacy, as he in­creaseth in Age: And the Moral Precepts, that either by their self-evidence, primo intuitu, to the Intellectual Faculty, or by their Connatural Im­plantation and Insition into the Soul, are thus dis­covered, without the Manuduction of a Discursive Process, or Train of Ratiocination, are justly called Laws of Nature.

And such is this Precept we have in hand, which, without any Antecedent Instruction, or Ratiocina­tion, is allowed, and approved, and embraced primo intuitu; either because it is a Moral and Rational Instinct Connaturally implanted in the Soul, as one of its Inscriptions, or Signatures; or at least [Page 156] because it holds such a clear, evident, plain Con­gruity, with our Intellective Faculty, that, at the first Conception of it, without more work, it assents to it as fit, and just, and good, without any Ante­cedent, either Instruction or Argumentation, or Deduction: as it doth, at the first view, conclude, that two is more than one, without the Expectation of a Demonstration thereof.

And hence it is, that all that have written of Laws of Nature, although perchance they differ in their several Suppositions touching such Laws, and the Reason of them, yet have generally vouch­ed this great Precept, Quod fieri tibi non vis alteri ne feceris, among the Unquestionable Laws of Na­ture.

They that suppose the Laws of the Rational Nature to be therefore such, because they are In­scribed, as it were, and Congenite with, and in the Synteresis, or Seat of Principles in the Soul, suppose this Moral Rule of Justice and Charity likewise Inscribed Connaturally in the Natural Conscience: And they that suppose the Soul to be rasa tabula, and to have no such Moral, or other Truths Inscri­bed in it, nor to have any Connatural Proposition thereunto Analogal to the Instincts of Inferior A­nimals; but only an Accommodation of the Intel­lectual Faculties to the External Objects: Yet sup­pose this to be a Natural Principle of Moral Ju­stice and Righteousness, because it carries a plain and ready Evidence in it self, and a certain easie Congruity to our Faculties, whereby, at the first view, without any necessity of Ratiocination, or Deduction in a Discursive Process, the Understand­ing, primo intuitu, and at the first proposal thereof, assents to it as true and good. And again, they [Page 157] that will not allow of Laws of Nature upon either of the two former Accounts, but only will have such to be Laws of Nature, which, upon an ac­count of Reason, appears to be immediately, or consequentially conducible to Self-preservation; yet allow this to be a Law of Nature, even upon that account, as highly conducible to the safety, good and benefit of every Man: Because he that doth to another, what he would have another do to him, secretly inclines another to do the like by him.

Eighthly, It is a Rule commensurate to the whole reasonable Nature; every Person that hath but the common use of Reason, may exercise it without any difficulty. Every Reasonable Man hath a Rea­sonable Will; and every Reasonable Man may know what it is he Wills, and what it is he would, or would not another should do to him. For the Will is a Rational Power in Man, and indeed it is the Complement of the Rational Precedure in the Soul, and that which doth, or should, immediately follow the last Act of the Understanding; willing it the full complete ripe fruit of the Rational Soul in things to be done. And therefore this, whatso­ever ye would, supposeth an Antecedent Conside­ration of these things.

1. A Consideration of his own State and Con­dition, that is about to do, or not to do, the thing under Deliberation.

2. A Consideration of the Person, to whom the thing under Deliberation is to be done.

[Page 158]3. A Consideration of the thing it self that is under deliberation.

4. A Consideration of the several Circumstances, Congruities, and Incongruities that accompany the thing under Deliberation.

5. A due transposing of the Persons, by way of Fiction, or Supposition; namely, he that is under proposal of being the Agent, putting himself into the Condition of the Patient, and putting the Pa­tient in the place of the Agent; and then making the Decision upon it fairly and impartially.

And although that one Man's Reason, and Learn­ing, and Judgment, may be much greater, and clearer than anothers; and there may be very many Curious Inquisitions and Descants upon every Action that comes under this kind of Deliberation, which every Man cannot attain unto, nor possibly reach; yet here is the Excellency of this Rule, That he needs no other Reason, no other Scrutiny, no other help but his own, to make this Decision, if he will be but what every one may be, if he please, True, and Faithful, and Honest to him­self, he needs no other Casuist, no other Umpire but himself, though he have but an ordinary capa­city, and a common use of his Reason and Un­derstanding.

Ninthly, This Rule is a Rule, that if followed, takes off all that, that for the most part, makes a Man partial and unequal, in determining touching his own Actions: The great Reason of inequality, [Page 159] in the Actions of Men, is self-love, that makes a Man partial to himself; and all his own Actions, that warps a Man from that Equality and Justice that should direct him. When I find that this or that Action would be beneficial to me, I presently am carry'd away by self-love, either to do it with­out any farther Examination; or if I give my self leave to consider the lawfulness of it, self-love and Interest blinds my Judgment, and presently per­swades me that it is lawful, because profitable to me: Or if I allow my self any farther Dispute touching it, yet self-love will deceive me, and make those Arguments seem strongest that make for my Interest: And so on the contrary, if I am under consideration of some Action that is to my loss, self-love will use the like Sophistry upon my Judgment, and bring me off from it: But this Rule, if followed, dischargeth me of that par­tiality that I have to my self, or doth infallibly, even to my Sense, detect it and take it off. For when I put my self in the stead and person of that other person, to whom the Action is to be done; and find, that under that capacity and sup­position, I would not have that Action done to me, which I am about to do to another, or would have that Action deny'd to me, that I am about to deny to another; the Action appears to me truly as it is, and as it is stript of that disguise that self-love would put upon it, and removes that partia­lity that otherwise self-love would incline me to, and gives me a true Representation of the Action whereby I cannot err through self-love without apparent perverseness, and willful resolved Un­justice, which cannot be presumed in a Reasonable Man.

And these be those General Observations, touch­ing the Excellence and Usefulness of this Excellent Precept of Moral Righteousness.

I shall now proceed to consider the Parts and Extent of this Precept. The Heads whereof are as follow.

I. The Object, touching which this Precept is given, it is Moral Actions between Man and Man, together with the Extent of the Object, Whatsoever ye would, or whatsoever ye would not.

II. The Subject, with its Extent, namely Man, Whatsoever ye would that Men should do to you, that do ye to them. Men Indefinitely, and therefore Men Universally.

III. The Rule directing those Actions, no other but the Will of him that is to do the Action, un­der a change or transposition of his Person; What­soever ye would that Men should do to you, that do ye to them.

IV. The Extent of the Rule, under a Threefold Relation.

• 1. To the thing to be done.
• 2. To the Manner of doing, Do ye even so to them likewise.
• 3. To the Application of the Rule, which is,
  • [Page 161]First, Preceptive, which it expresses; Whatsoever ye would that Men should do to you.
  • Secondly, Prohibitive, implies, What y [...] would not that Men should do to you, that do ye not to them.

I begin with the Object of this Rule, which are the Moral Actions between Men; and there­fore it will not be amiss to give some account touching them. Moral Actions of Mankind are distinguish'd either in respect of the Object to which they relate, or in respect of the Subject wherein they are, or in respect of the Nature and Quality of the Actions themselves.

I. In respect of the Object to which they re­late; and they are these;

First, Either such as relate to Almighty God, which come under the Denomination of Piety, or Impiety, according to the Nature of the Actions; or,

Secondly, Such as relate to Men; such as are Justice, Righteousness, &c. or Injustice, Unrigh­teousness, &c. Righteousness being a larger and more comprehensive word than Justice.

II. In relation to the Subject: So Moral Acts may be distinguished into such as are internal; as Love to God, Fear of God, Reverence to him, Dependence upon him, with relation to God: Love [Page 162] to Man, Compassion to him, an Internal Active Habit of Righteousness, Goodness, Justice, with rela [...]ion to Man: Or External, that flow Imme­diately from the outward Man, though from an in­ward Principle, as Adoration, External Obedience unto the Commands of God, in relation to him; Acts of Justice, Righteousness, Charity, in rela­tion to Men.

III. In relation to the Nature and Quality of the Action, whether towards God or Man, Intellectual or External: Some Actions are Morally good, as Piety, Obedience to God, Love, Righteousness, Charity to Man. Some are Morally Evil, as Im­piety, Disobedience to God, Malice, Hatred, En­vy, Cruelty, Unjustice towards Men.

The Moral Goodness of every Act or Action of Mankind, whether Internal or External relating to God or Man, consists in the Conformity there­of to the Will and Command of God, which is the Primitive Rule of all Moral Goodness: And the Moral Evil of any Act or Action is the Defor­mity, Deviation, or Contrariety thereof to the Will or Law of God.

Our Lord, when he gave an Abstract of the Will and Love of God, distributed it into those two Great Commandments, Love to God, with a [...]l the Heart, and with all the Soul: And Love to Man as to our selves. The first of these is indeed the Great Command, that as it is the Root of our Love to Man, so it ought to be the greatest Prin­ciple to move it, and the Primitive Rule to quali­fie and direct it: But in the Command in hand, the Latter, namely, the Command touching our [Page 163] Love to our Neighbour, or to Mankind, and the Offices thereof, is the Subject in hand; therefore it is our business to enquire, what is that Love of God that concerns our Acts or Actions to Man­kind. whereby they are denominated good, if con­sonant to that Law, or Morally Evil, if contrary to it.

The Law of God, touching Moral Goodness, relating to Man, is of Two Kinds.

First, That which respecteth the Inward Man, or that Habit, or those Acts of Moral Goodness that orginally reside in the Mind, the Principal whereof commanded is Love; and that Train of Excel­lent Habits that follow it, as Righteousness, Bene­ficence, Charitableness, Meekness, Patience, Gen­tleness, which are required by the Command of God, and in this Rule prescribed, under the words so, and likewise. And on the other side, the Habits or Vices forbidden by the Law of God, are Hatred, Malice, Envy, Revengefulness, Cruelty, Unmerci­fulness, and all that black Train of the Diseases of the Mind.

Secondly, That which respecteth the Actions of the Outward Man, may be reduced under these Two General Heads, namely, Righteousness and Charity.

Righteousness between Man and Man consists in these two Generals:

• 1. In doing no Injury.
• 2. In giving to every Man his due.

The former part of Righteousness consists in do­ing no wrong: and regularly all sorts of Injuries are reductive to the Five last Commandments of the Second Table, though even under those Pro­hibitions there is commanded virtually the contra­ry of what is in them forbidden. By these Pro­hibitory Laws of God, all Injuries to the Person of any Man, all Violence, Rapine, Deceit, Co­zenage, Fraud, all false Accusation, Lying, false Defamation, or Testimony, are Prohibited; and in these Prohibitory Laws the Negative part of this Rule is most concerned, Quod tibi fieri non vis alteri ne feceris.

The former, namely, the Positive Part of Righ­teousness, suum cuique tribuere, hath a double respect.

• First, Either to Mankind in General; or,
• Secondly, To Mankind under some Rela­tion.

First, To Mankind in General; and herein the great Root, or Foundation of Righteousness be­tween Man and Man, is that Great, Divine and Na­tural Precept, Fidem serva, or fides est servanda; for the Truth is, all Moral Precepts of Righteousness are reducible to this one: And there are Two kind of fides data, either that which is given Ex­pressively, or that which is given Implyedly, or Interpretatively: The former respects especially Contracts and Bargains and Pacts, though even in these there is also an Implyed Faith; as if I sell Goods to another, it is Implyed, that if I know them not to be my own, I am bound to make Re­st [...]tution, for I sell not bona fide, but mala f [...]de.

The Second sort of fides, is that which is Implyed, and by common Interpretation so esteemed. Thus, as a Man is a part of the Common Society of Man­kind, he doth, by way of Interpretation, under­take to observe those Common Laws that are Intro­duced by the Law of Nations: So if a Man doth become a Member of any Civil Society, he Tacitly obligeth himself to the observation of the Laws and Customs of that Society; and hither also reductive­ly all the Mutual Offices (whereof in the next Secti­on) may be brought, as to the Primary Law, or Obligation.

Now this part of Righteousness that Intervenes between Man and Man generally, is, suum cuique tribuere: This therefore supposeth a Right, or Pro­priety setled in that Person to which it is to be gi­ven; and this Right of Propriety may be lodged in another, by some of these ways.

First, By the Divine Positive Law. Thus under the State of the Jews, a right of Propriety was lodg­ed in the Priests, for their parts of the Burnt-Offer­ings; and in the Levites for their Tythes; and he that with held them was an Unrighteous Man; he did not suum tribuere.

Secondly, Jure naturae; As I have Interest by the Law of Nature in my own Breast, and Family and Children.

Thirdly, By the jus gentium; where it is not Cor­rected by a Municipal Law. Thus the primus in­ventor, or possessor of things, whereof no particular Interest was lodged in another, acquires a Property, [Page 166] and he that detains it from him is Unrighteous: Thus Reuben hath a right to the Mandrakes which he found, against Rachel, and they were not to be taken from him but by his own consent, or the con­sent of his Parents, who by the use then obtaining, had the Power over them.

Fourthly, By the Municipal Laws▪ or Customs of that Kingdom, or City, wherein a Man lives; for as hath been said, every Man that enters into any Society tacitly and interpretatively, obligeth him­self to observe the Laws and Customs thereof, and particularly such as direct the manner of acquiring and transferring Property.

Fifthly, By a Man's own particular Agreement; and this may be with relation either to Words or Things.

Sixthly, In relation to Words or Signs: When one Man, either by Words or Signs, imparts any thing to another, that other Man hath an Interest therein; namely, that the Man relates, or imparts what is true; and therefore he that knowingly, and with an intention to deceive, tells another a Lye, he doth not suum tribuere; namely, that truth that the Words or Signs import; and this part of Justice between Man and Man is called Veracity.

Secondly, in relation to Things; I may tranfer a Right or Property to another several ways; for under this Head come all the several parts, or re­spects of Commutative Justice: I shall reduce them shortly to these Two Heads;

[Page 167]1. Translation of Properties, by way of Contract, whereby that which is mine, becomes anothers in point of Propriety, as by Sale, Location, &c. It is a part of this Moral Righteousness, that I detain it not from him to whom I have sold it.

2. Translation of Interest, by way of Stipula­tion, or Agreement; which, though it do not al­ways alter the Property, yet it gives another an In­terest in my Performance thereof; such are the Re­stitution of what is Borrowed, Delivery of the Pledge upon Payment, Payment of Money, or Delivery of Goods according to Promise. And thus far concerning that Common Righteousness which is between Man and Man.

Secondly, The Second kind of Righteousness re­lates to others, as they stand in a different Relation; these are those which I have before called Moral Offices, or Officia Moralis Justitiae; whereas though between these various Relations, there are Recipro­cations of Mutual Offices, yet therefore Recipro­cation is not in the same Kind or Nature. And these Relations are especially Two, Oeconomical, and Political.

First, The Relations Oeconomical consist in Three Kinds of Relations.

1. Father and Children: Wherein, though there be some Offices that are simply Reciprocal, as Love, and Mutual Support; yet there are some that are Specifical to such Relation, as Authorita­tive Direction, Command, and Correction to the [Page 168] Father; Subjection and Obedience to the Chil­dren.

2. Husband and Wife, wherein there be also some Duties simply reciprocal, as Love, and Fe­delity; so there are some that are appropriate, as Protection and Maintenance to the Husband, Re­verence to the Wife.

3. Master and Servant, wherein also there are Duties specifically appropriate; as Payment of Wa­ges, Convenient Supplies, &c. to the Master; Di­ligence, Fidelity and Obedience to the Servant.

Secondly, The Relations Political; are princi­pally Prince or Magistrate, and People; where­in,

1. The Offices of the Prince, or Magistrate, are,

• First, Protection.
• Secondly, Government according to Law.
• Thirdly, Administration of Justice;
  • Retributive, to be done Justly Speedily, with Equality and due Moderation:
  • Distributive; in Distribution of Publick Offices, &c. to be done Prudently, and according to desert and fitness.

2. The Offices of the People, relative to Prince or Magistrate; Subjection, Obedience, Reverence, Support. These are various and divers, according [Page 169] to the several Constitutions of Kingdoms, States, and Cities, wherein their several Municipal Laws direct the Quality or Nature of the several Offices of Prince and People, with relation each to other.

And thus far touching Righteousness, according to a regular and strict Sense.

Secondly, The next part of the Divine Law is the Law of Charity, or rather Love, Philanthropy, which comes equally under the Command of the Law, as that of Righteousness or Justice; and indeed it is but a Species of Righteousness in its large and comprehensive Sense; yet, with this difference, the Rules of Righteousness are more defined and de­terminate: But the Rules of Charity, in relation to the exercise of the particular Acts thereof, are, in many things, more left to the dictamen bonae Con­scientiae, under the several Circumstances of Time, Place, Person, Manner, Degree, &c. wherein, nevertheless, this Rule of our Saviour will be a sin­gular Directive upon all Occasions, as shall be here­after shewn.

Now the parts of this Charity, or Philanthropy, seem to be these.

1. Beneficence; under which we reduce Libera­lity, Hospitality, Eleemosynae, or Almsgiving; the contrary whereof, are narrow-heartedness, Covet­ousness.

2. Clemency; under which we may reduce, First, A Mitigation, or Remission of the Extre­mity of part of our Right, when it may be with a [Page 170] benefit to others, and without an Enormous Detri­ment to our selves. Secondly, The using of Equi­ty, or Moderation for the Good of others, within the Extremity of Legal Right. Thirdly, Modera­tion. Fourthly, Longanimity, or Patient bearing of Injuries. Fifthly, Forgiveness of Injuries to a Person that seeks it: The contrary whereof are, a Rigorous Exaction of our own Rights to the Extremity, taking the utmost Advantage of the Se­verity of Laws, or Implacableness, Vindictiveness, Fierceness.

3. Inoffensiveness; Denying our selves in what we may lawfully do, or require, rather than giving an offence by our use of a lawful Liberty.

4. Condescention to the Weaknesses and Infirmi­ties of others.

5. Compassion and Sympathy with those in Mi­sery.

6. Humility and Lowliness of Deportment to others giving them Preference; the contrary where­of, is Pride, Haughtiness, Arrogance, Self-attri­bution, and despising of others; Ambition, Vain-Glory.

7. A General Frame of Humanity and Benig­nity to all Mankind, whether Relations or Stran­gers, Friends or Enemies, endeavouring all good Offices to their Souls, Bodies, Estates, yet obser­ving that due Proportion that becomes Prudence. The contrary whereof is Selfishness, making a Man's self the single Center and End of all he doth.

[Page 171]8. Gratitude; acknowledging Benefits received, and looking upon himself as under an Obligation so to do; and studying all due and decent means, and opportunities of expressing it.

9. Decorum, or Decency, in all our Actions, that we may avoid all possible offences given, and using this Decorum in our Gestures, Applications, Speeches, Habit, Addresses, Receptions, and gene­rally in all we do.

10. Simplicity and Sincerity in all our Actions and Works; the contrary whereof is Dissimulation, Hypocrisie, Deceit, Circumvention, Craftiness, Guile, which are as much against the Law of Cha­rity, as Cruelty or Revenge.

11. Meekness and Gentleness; the opposite whereunto is Roughness, Stubbornness, Froward­nes [...], Morosity, Censoriousness, Superciliousness.

12. A fair and good Opinion of others, and a fair Interpretation of their Actions, without very just cause to the contrary: The opposite whereof are Evil Surmisings, Calumnies, Backbiting, readi­ness to receive, or believe False Reports, Causeless Suspicions.

13. Rejoycing in the Good and Wellfare of others, whether Friends or Enemies. The contrary whereof is Envy, Rejoycing in other Mens harms; Rejoycing when an Enemy falls into Mischief, an Evil Eye at others Good.

[Page 172]14. An entire Love to Peace, and endeavouring by all due means and opportunity to preserve and to re­store it both in relation to himself and others; and therefore is not easily provoked, and is easily paci­fied, moderates his Passions, keeps them under Di­scipline, seeks Reconciliation.

These are some of those many Parts of Charity, or Love, or Philanthropy, that Vertue that so much commends the Christian Religion, above all other Religions in the World, in relation to the Moral Actions between Man and Man; it is a large and comprehensive Duty, and such as hath an influence into all the Moral Actions of our Lives, and there­fore 'tis hardly possible to Enumerate all the Parts of it. But this may serve for our Direction in the application of this Rule of our Saviour.

Thus we have the Subject matter of this Rule; The whatsoever including all the Moral Actions be­tween Man and Man, whether Actions that relate to Righteousness, or Justice, or the Actions that relate to Charity.

And this Rule of our Saviour is very useful in relation to both; but especially to those Actions that concern Charity: For the Works of Moral Justice, or Injustice, are more determinate, not on­ly by the Divine Laws of God, but in a great measure by the very Laws of Men also, in every particular Kingdom, or State, which commands some things, and prohibits others, in things rela­ting to Moral Justice or Injustice; and Establish­eth certain Tribunals, or Courts, that, by Civil Coercion compel the Observance of those Rules of Moral Righteousness injoyned by Laws, and pu­nish [Page 173] the Violation thereof: And therefore the Laws of Men, in such cases, do not only direct that Moral Justice that is to be between Man and Man, but compels the observance of it.

But the Divine Law of Charity is not so deter­minate and particular in its exercise, as the Laws of Righteousness and Justice are: If a Man kill another, he knows he Violates the Sixth Command­ment; he knows he offends the Municipal Law of the Kingdom wherein he lives, and knows the Penalty of it. But when a Man denies an Alms, or is strait-handed, where he should be free, it is more difficult for him to discern his Duty, or the neglect of it, because though Charity be injoyned by the Divine Law, yet the several Circumstances, when and how, and how far forth it is to be exer­cised, are not so evident, but must necessarily there­in be left to the Prudence and Integrity of a good Conscience.

Again, when I Borrow Money, the Law of the Land will compell me to pay it, and make me Just, because it is a part of that Moral Righteousness that is injoyned by Humane Laws. But there are very many Acts of Charity, which, though injoyned by the Command of God, yet come not under any precise, or determinate Laws of Men. The Di­vine Law of Charity binds me to be Liberal, to give Alms, to Forgive Offences, to be thankful for Benefits, &c. But these come not under the consideration of Humane Laws, and perchance it is not fit they should, because it is impossible for a­ny Humane Law to accommodate it self to the Circumstances of those Actions, neither can it pre­scribe the Time, Manner, or Measure of it; but it must necessarily be left in a great measure to the [Page 174] decision of the Prudence and Integrity of the Con­sciences of particular Persons: And therefore this Rule of our Saviour is of most excellent use, and indeed of necessity for the direction of the Con­science, especially in these cases of the Law of Charity.

1. Because though the Law is General, yet the Conscience stands in need of Direction, in relation to the particular Action, and the Application of that General Law to this particular Action.

2. Because those Actions that simply relate to Charity, do rarely come under the Correction of a Temporal Law: For Instance, the Law of Eng­land tells me, that I must pay my Rate to the Poor: Now it is no longer an Act of Charity simply, but of Justice. But the Laws of England do not com­pel me to give to this or that poor Man that asks, therein I am only obliged by the Divine Law of Charity; and my Conscience, Circumstances con­sidered, is my great Directrix in this Action; and the Rule of our Lord here prescribed the great Di­rector of my Conscience. This Rule therefore, though it be of admirable use in all Actions of Mo­ral Righteousness between Man and Man; yet it is not only of admirable use, but even of necessi­ty, in relation to Acts of Charity.

Secondly, Having now done with the Object of this Precept; namely, Moral Actions, whether of Righteousness or Charity; I come to the Subject or Persons to whom this Rule or Precept is pre­scribed, which is Man, under the Pronoun (ye) (Whatsoever ye would, &c.) And this Subject may [Page 175] be consider'd Two ways. First, Absolutely, and in its full extent. Secondly, Relatively.

First, Absolutely, and in its full Extent; so it comprehends all Mankind; Whatsoever ye Men of any kind of Condition, ye Buyers, ye Sellers, ye Borrowers, ye Lenders, ye Rich, ye Poor, ye Friends, ye Enemies, ye Fathers, ye Children, ye Masters, ye Servants, ye Princes, ye Subjects, whosoever ye be, insomuch that ye are all Subjects to the Great King of Heaven and Earth; and consequently ye are, and ought to be Subjects to the Laws of God, whe­ther they are the Laws of Imperate Righteousness, or Justice, or Laws of Love and Charity; ye, who­soever ye are, that are concerned in any Acts of Mo­rality towards any others, ye are the Persons to whom this Command is directed, Whatsoever ye w [...]uld that Men should do to you, do ye even so to them.

Secondly, Relatively, or Restrictively; So it is directed to Man, Sub ratione agentis Moralis; or, Sub ratione hominis Moraliter acturi: In every Mo­ral Action that a Man is doing, or about to do, there is the Moral Action it self; whereof before: And the Agent, the Person that is doing, or about to do the Action; and the Patient, the Person to whom the Action is done, or to be done. This Rule, or Precept, or Direction, is given to the A­gent, or the Person that is doing, or about to do this Moral Action: And thus the Direction then runs, Ye Men of what Condition soever, under what Relation soever, that are doing, or to do, or about to do any Moral Action to another, ob­serve this Rule for your Direction in this Action [Page 176] that ye are about to do, or invited to do to others, Do as ye would be done by.

Thirdly, I come to the Third thing; namely, that wherein the vis directiva, or the Rule of Di­rection consists; which is no other but the Will of him that is to do, or not to do the Action in que­stion, under a Transposition of the Person; name­ly, the Will of him that is now the Agent, were he placed in the stead or room of him that is the Pa­tient: As if he should have said. You, Titius, are now under a deliberation, whether you should, or should not do this or that particular Action to Caius; whether you should forgive him that Injury that he hath done to you, or whether you should over­reach him in such a Bargain; consider with your self, that were you Caius, and he Titius, would you not have him to forgive you; if you would then now forgive him: Would you have him to over-reach you in this Bargain? If you would not, then do not over-reach him. So that the Will of the Party, under this Supposition of the Transpo­sition of the Person, is that which is prescribed as the index directorius of the Action under delibera­tion.

But because the Will in Man is a Rational Fa­culty, and proceeds to its Determination, upon the previous deliberation of the understanding; there­fore, in this Judiciary decision, we shall find these several Acts, which every Man that hath but the ordinary use of Reason, may, and doth, with great facility exercise; and therefore may, without any difficulty, or intricacy, or uncertainty, come to a right and just determination touching any [Page 177] Action to be done, or omitted, without Studying Casuists, School-men, or Moral Philosophers; namely,

First, He may, and easily can consider the Acti­on in deliberation what it is, what are the circum­stances of it; suppose, for the purpose that the deliberation be, whether he shall forgive such a tres­pass or no; he can easily consider what the trespass is, of what value, how it was done, or in what manner, or with what circumstances; whether for­giveness be desired and what would the consequence be, if the desire should be granted; whether it would not be for his Reputation, or would be a means of a future Peace and Friendship.

Again, Secondly, He can easily consider his own Condition, whether he would be much the worse for relinquishing his Satisfaction of this Injury; whether he be not well enough able to bear it, and whether it would not procure him more content­edness of Mind, if he did relinquish his Satisfacti­on, that would more than countervail the benefit of Revenge.

Thirdly, He could easily understand the condi­tion of the Wrong-doer. Is he not very submis­sive, desires forgiveness, is sorry for the wrong he hath done; and besides all this, he is poor, and unable to make me satisfaction; and the wrong he did me was but my mistake.

Fourthly, It is then a very easie matter for him to consider; suppose I had committed the like In­jury to him, by mistake, or over-sight, and I were [Page 178] as poor as he, as unable to make satisfaction, as sorrowful for the Injury, as submissively desiring his pardon, and he as rich as I now am, and might remit the Injury without any great detriment; cer­tainly I may, with great ease, suppose this; and so change Persons and Conditions with him by way of Hypothesis, or Supposition.

Fifthly, He might with the same facility know, upon such a supposition, whether he would not, upon these terms, willingly have the Injury for­given him, and perchance would reasonably think the other a very hard and uncharitable Man if he would not do it.

Sixthly, Lastly, If he will not grossly prevari­cate with himself, he can, upon this, conclude, that since I would have him to do thus to me, were my condition his, and his mine, I must now do the like to him, and forgive him the Injury he thus did me, upon submission: I have given that Judg­ment already against him were he in my stead, and I in his; and therefore I must not, in common in­genuity, retract, unless I shall be perversly unreaso­nable against the very decree of my own Judg­ment and Will.

Thus this Excellent Rule of our Lord sets up a Tribunal within every Man's own Breast, which will infallibly, and impartially direct him; and his own Will, and the Determination thereof, is be­come his Law and his Judge. And if he will be but honest and true to himself, he cannot be misguid­ed; and certainly if a Man will be honest and true to himself, he may be; and all that is necessa­ry [Page 179] is but to know his own Mind, or Will, what he would in case the Tables were turned, and he himself to be the Patient, and the other the Agent; and then resolvedly to act according to such a Will or Desire, which he would entertain, or think reasonable under such a Transposition.

But there are some necessary Cautions to be used in this supposed Transposition of Persons, and the result of that Judgment that is to be made there­upon.

First, Among Men there be some that seem to stand in a mere parity, as the several Members of one Community, or Society, whereby it comes to pass, that the Actions of such Men, are, as it were, Commensurable, and fall under the same Common Congruity, or Incongruity. What is Unjust, or Unfit for Gaius to do to Titius, is unfit for Titius to do to Gaius: And in such cases, the practice of this Rule is less difficult; for they stand upon the same parity of Reason: If I would not have Titius Cheat or Deceive Me, or take away my Goods, or Beat me; I have herein a plain Rule not to do so to him.

But there are some Persons in a Community that stand in a different relation each to other; where­by many Actions that are Competible to one, are In­competible to another; a Magistrate and People, Master▪ and Servant, Father and Children: And in these Actions that are specifically appropriate to one relation, a measure is not to be taken by the Actions appropriate to the other: It is not reaso­nable for a Father to say, I would not have my Child Correct me, and therefore I must not Cor­rect him: Nor for a Judge to say, I would not [Page 180] have the Malefactor to Condemn me to the Pri­son; and therefore I must not Condemn him: The Actions are specifically appropriate to a Relation; and because of the difference of Relation, there is not justly a Reciprocation of the Congruity be­tween them, nor a Commensurableness between the Actions of one and the other.

Secondly, But even in the particularities of the Actions, specifically appropriate to Relations, this Rule doth hold with a due alteration of Supposi­tions. For Instance, It is an appropriate Action to the Relation of a Father to Correct his Child, and there is no Reciprocation in it: But in the parti­cular Action it self, the Father may, and must go by this Evangelical Rule; I am about, to Correct my Child, suppose I were a Child, and having the same Reason and Judgment I have, Would I have my Father Correct me without a Fault, or without due examination, whether I committed such a Fault; or, when the Fault is so small, that it deserves only a Reprehension, and not a Cor­rection? Or would I have him Correct me in his Passion? Or would not my Submission and Re­pentance Expiate the necessity of a Correction? Or would I have it done in so severe a measure? Again, I am a Judge, and therefore Sentence is my Appropriate Action, in case of a Malefactor deduced into Judgment before me: But, were I deduced into Judgment before a Judge, Would I be contented to be Judged unheard, or without due Examination of the Fact? Or would I be Censured beyond the Measure or Nature of the Offence? In these and the like Cases, the Rule holds, Quod tibi fieri non vis alteri ne feceris. And [Page 181] the Reason is because though the Father hath a Specifical Power of Correcting, which is not Reci­procal from the Child to him; and the Judge hath a Power of Inflicting Punishment upon a Ma­lefactor, without Reciprocation of the like Power of the Malefactor upon him; yet in the before­mentioned Excesses he exceeds the Power commit­ted to him; and indeed therein Acts variously, as a private Man, and therefore is under the Prohibi­tion of Quod tibi fieri non vis alteri ne feceris.

Thirdly, And upon the same Reason it is, that al­though there be a Disparity of Relations, which have their several Specifical Appropriate Actions, without a Parity of Reciprocation; yet in such Actions as do intervene between such Relations that are not specifically appropriate to the Terms of the Relation, this Rule holds as well as between per­sons not so related one to another: For Instance, the specifical Actions Appropriate to a Master, Fa­ther, or Magistrate, are, without a true Command in things lawful, Correction and Punition, if there be just occasion. And the specifical Appropriate Acti­ons of the Servant, Child, or Subject, are Subjecti­on, Reverence, and Obedience: Yet the Actions of Contract and Commerce are not appropriate to those Relations, but concerns them as persons not under any such Relation; and therefore the same Rules of Commutative Justice in Contracts and Com­merce hold between them as between other common persons, and consequently the natural Rule in hand is equally applicable to both, notwithstanding the difference of Relations; the Master, Parent, or Magistrate, may not deceive, or circumvent the Servant, Child, or Subject, in buying or [Page 182] selling, nor Econverso; and therefore if I would not have my Master or Servant, Father or Child, Go­vernour or Subject deceive me in buying and sel­ling, or break his word with me or Injuriously take away my Goods or Land, I must not do the like to them; for these are common Actions of Commutative, or Private Justice, or Righteousness that concern not a Man under those disparities of Relation.

Fourthly, The Conscience, Will or Judgment, which is here prescribed as the Rule, must be the Will, Conscience and Judgment of him, that is to take the measure of his Actions thereby: And therefore, though in cases of different Relations, there is a necessity of a Tranposition of Persons in the application of this Rule; so that he that is about to do an Action, for the due regulation of that Action, and the application of this Rule, must often­times induere personam alterius: Yet the Judgment and Will, by which he must proceed, must be his own: For otherwise this Rule would be without any possible certainty, and would oftentimes occa­sion great absurdity in Actions. The excellence of this Rule consists in this, that a Man hath a Judge, or Director of his own, and within himself, whereby to measure, direct, and regulate his Actions; and is not necessitated to go farther.

And the Reasons hereof are these:

1. Because otherwise this Rule would want much of that perfection which it hath. If a Man, upon every Moral Action which he is to exercise, should be driven to consult the Judgment of another, he [Page 183] would be to seek many times for a Director, when the imminence, or present exigence of the Action will not bear so much delay. It is true, every wise and good Man will as much as he can endeavour by Reading, and Advice with others, to certifie and settle his own Judgment and Conscience; but when he hath so done, the Judgment is still his own; and though perchance he hath by these means, al­tered his own Judgment, from what it was, yet this altered Judgment, is now become as much his own, as that he had before was his I do not disswade any Man from using the help of other Mens Ad­vice, Direction and Knowledge, to rectifie his own Judgment, either in the general habit thereof, or in Relation to particular Actions, for this is prudent and necessary for every good and just Man. But all that I contend for, is, that still the Judgment must, of necessity, be the Man's own that must Guide him in voluntary Moral Actions of his own.

But, 2. In Relation to the Rule in hand, it must necessarily be a Man's own Judgment that must be his Guide. It is possible for another Man, well conversant in Morals, to know better than my self in the Theory or Notion, whether this or that Acti­on be fit or just, or exactly commensurate to the Rules of Moral Justice and Righteousness; but it is impossible for any Man in the World to know so well as my self, whether I would have another to do that to me, which I am about to do to him; this Judgment, or Conception, namely, the Know­ledge of what I would that another should do to me, lies only in my own Breast.

Again, 3. The determination of a Man's will, touching such Actions as he would have another do, or not do to him, is very much diversifyed, and varied, according to variety of circumstances of Time, Place, Person and other junctures that accom­pany the Action, touching which the deliberation and resolution is exercised. And these Circumstances must necessarily have a great influence upon the result of my Will, touching particular Actions, which I would or would not that another should do to me; and consequently my measure of such Actions, which I am about to do, or not to do to him, must there­by be greatly diversifyed: And the Nature, Qua­lity, and Efficacy of these Circumstances, are not possibly so clear and evident to another, as they are to my self; and consequently another cannot so clearly determine, whether he would that ano­ther should, or should not do the Action to him were he in my place or stead; because he cannot have the same clear prospect of all those Circum­stances which concern me in this Action, whereun­to he must necessarily be more a stranger than my self.

4. Unless in the transposing of Persons, in order to make my Judgment of what I would, or would not that another should do to me, and consequently to make up thereby, what I should, or should not do to him; I say, unless in such a case, I should use that Judgment which I have at the time of such deliberation and conclusion, there will follow un­certainty and deception in the application of this Rule; for Instance, a Physician or Chyrurgeon hath a Patient that is under a desperate Distemper, [Page 185] but he knows it not, or believes it not, and there­fore is utterly averse to those sharp remedies that are necessary for the preservation of his life; the Physician or Chirurgeon must not measure his ap­plication to the Patient by this Rule. If I were in this Patients case, and under that apprehension that he is, I would not have these applications made to me, and therefore I must not make them to him. But his Rule must be, Were I in this Patients con­dition, and had that clear sence of the danger I were in, which I now have concerning him, I would have these Applications made to me, therefore I will make them to him.

Again, if a Father sees his Child hath gotten a Knife, or some dangerous thing, which the Child is extreamly fond of, but the Father knows it will do him mischief: In the deliberation of the Fa­ther, whether he shall take away this Knife; the Rule he must go by must not be thus; If I were this Child, and had no more Understanding than he hath, I would not have the Knife taken from me, therefore I will not take it from him. But his procedure must be thus; I know the Child will do himself harm with this Knife, and therefore if I were this Child, and had this Understanding which I have, I should be content this Knife that pleaseth me should be taken from me, therefore I will take it from him. Though to make the applica­tion of this Rule, I change Persons with my Child, yet in this supposed Transposition of Per­sons, I carry along with me my own Judgment, Discretion and Understanding that I now have about me; and though I assume my Child's Person in this Application, yet I assume not his Folly, Childishness and Passion.

And, by this Explication, a Question that is of­ten made may be resolved, viz. Whether a Parent, a Nurse, or a Magistrate, or a Physician, or any other Person, may not, for the good of the Child, Subject Patient, or other Person, deceive him, when there is no other Expedient will avail the at­taining of that good, or the avoiding of some immi­nent Evil, (always excluding a Lye out of this Controversie) For Instance, a Person desperate­ly sick, is utterly averse to the taking of a Potion, that would certainly or probably cure him; but extreamly fond of a Cup of small Beer, that alone would endanger or hurt him. The Patient calls for small Beer, and the Physician secretly conveys the Potion into the Beer, and thereby deceives, but Cures his Patient. If we should measure this Rule by this Application; namely, If I were this Pati­ent, and under his Distemper and Misapprehension, I would not be thus deceived, and therefore I will not thus deceive him: I say, if we should make this Application in this manner, the Physician did amiss in this Deception, though the Patient be Recover'd by it; which seems to be a Misapplica­tion in this Transposition of Persons. But the Rule by which the Physician doth, and may Justifie the lawfulness of this Deception, is this; I know the Patient will be endanger'd if he take not this Potion, or drink cold Beer without it; and though he, through his Distemper, knows not his own good or be averse to it; yet, were I in his case, I should, under that Judgment I have of things, ra­ther be contented to be thus deceived for my Cure; and therefore I both will and may thus deceive my Patient for his good: Though to measure the Just­ness or Unjustness of this Deceit, I change the [Page 187] supposition of Persons with him; yet in this Tran­sposition I assume not his Distemper and Weak­ness of Mind, but keep my own Judgment and Understanding to Guide my Will, in Relation to this Action, notwithstanding the supposed Assump­tion of his Person, thereby to apply this Rule of Justice, Quod tibi fieri non vis alteri ne feceris. And upon the same Account I will deceive my Child, by giving him Aloes, wrapt up in Sugar, to Cure him of a Disease; and cheat him of a thing, that is, or may be noxious to him, with what Artifice I can, and yet without any violation of this Sacred Rule of Justice: For had my Child that Un­derstanding that I have, though he needed not be cheated, or deceived in this manner; yet he would be contented thus to be deceived for his good, if it were not otherwise attainable.

And the reason of the difference of these cases from Deceit and Cozenage, in Contracting or Dealing, is because, in the cases propounded, there is a defect of Understanding in the one Party, and the Deceit is for a necessary Good to the Party deceived, not otherwise attainable. But in the case of ordinary Contracts, and Commerce between Persons it is otherwise.

First, Because a Deceit therein sounds to the da­mage of the Party deceived, and not to his be­nefit.

Secondly, Because there is, if not an Express, yet an implyed Agreement, by the common pre­sumption and custom among Men, that there should be no Deceit in Dealing.

And here, by the way, likewise, may be consi­der'd, the lawfulness or unlawfulness of Stratagems and Deceits between Enemies, in a state of Publick War and Hostility: By a kind of Convention between Enemies in Hostility, Force and Violence, Mutual Depredation and Slaughter, seem to be al­lowed, otherwise no War could be lawful. And it may seem probable, upon the very same account, that Stratagems and Deceptions, so they arrive not at a plain Lye, may be also lawful; Because Persons in open Hostility, seem tacitly to have agreed, that each should do to the other all the Mischief they can, so far forth as that Implyed Agreement is not controuled, either by express Pactions, as Truces, Leagues, Safe-Conducts, or the like; or by the com­mon Laws of War, whereby Poysoning either of Weapons or Rivers is Interdicted. Thus Springing of Mines, Ambushes, seeming Retreats, or Flights, to draw the Enemy into an Inconvenience; and a Thousand the like Stratagems of War are, and in all times have been, even by the Law of War, used and allowed: Thus Joshua did with the Peo­ple of Ai, Joshua 8. Gideon with the Midianites, Judges 7. Israel with the Benjamites, Judges 20. And this seems justifiable, because in such a time there seems to be, as it were, a Reciprocal suspen­sion, and laying aside of those Methods of Mutual Commerce and Intercourse, that are just and re­quisite in time of Peace; and another kind of Admistration of things, undertaken and allowed on both sides, each party publickly denouncing and professing to others, that they will use all Acts of Force and Stratagem each to other, and that they will expect no other each from other. So that by this Interpretative Compact, each party hath made [Page 189] that lawful in time of War, which is unlawful in time of Peace. And in the practice thereof, one party doth no otherwise to the other, than what he Interpretatively agrees and wills the other should do to him; and so not wholly out of the extent or direction of this Rule: But yet even in this case, there seems to be these Limitations, viz.

1. The Person that thus practiseth these Strata­gems, or indeed any other Acts of Hostility, had need be very well assured, that the War it self is lawful and just: For that is requisite to justifie any hostile Acts of what kind soever.

2. That there be no express Lye, for that seems not to be justifiable in any Hostility, and seems, even by the very Laws of War it self, to be prohi­bited.

3. That there be no violation of any fides data, and therefore the Act of Jacob, Judges 4. seems very hard in relation to Sisera. And that of Judith, in relation to Holofernes, because they both seem to be accompanied with breach of Faith, and the violation of the Laws of Hospitality: Nothing can justifie the former, but that the Canaanites were a People devoted by Almighty God to destru­ction.

4. How far an Enemy may sollicite a Defection, or Treachery, or may corrupt any of the adverse Party by Money, or otherwise, to betray a Trust (a thing frequently practised in most Wars) is too large a Theme, only it renders the Imployment of a Souldier and Statist very full of Difficulties.

And thus far for the Rule, or Directive Fa­culty; namely, the Will of the Party, or Agent, under a Change or Transposition into the Party Patient.

Fourthly, The Fourth thing propounded is the Extent of this Rule under a Three-fold Rela­tion.

• 1. To the Thing to be done, or not done.
• 2. To the Manner of doing it.
• 3. To the Application of the Rule Negatively and Affirmatively.

1. The Thing to be done or not done. It in­cludeth all Moral Actions, from one Man to ano­ther, all Actions of Moral Righteousness or Justice, and Acts of Charity come under the Preceptive Part: All Actions of Moral Injustice or Unrighte­ousness, or Uncharitableness, come under the Pro­hibitive part of it.

2. The Manner of the doing comes also under this Rule; for Instance, where an Act of Charity comes under the (whatever) as giving of Alms, or remitting of an Injury, I am not only under the Command of doing the thing, because I would have another do so to me, but I am also under the Command of doing it,

• First, Chearfully.
• [Page 191]Secondly, Speedily.
• Thirdly, Sincerely and Cordially, and with Simplicity, Integrity, and Singleness of Heart, and not Cunningly, or Dilatorily, or Hypocritically, and for By-ends. Be­cause, were I to receive an Alms, or a Forgiveness, I would willingly have it done with these Circumstances, or Qua­lifications.

3. In relation to the Application. The Rule, as it is prescribed in the Gospel, is Affirmative and Pre­ceptive; Whatsoever ye would that Men should do to you, do ye even so. But this Affirmative Precept implies the Negative, that so much Celebrated Rule of Righteousness and Justice; That which ye would not that Men should do to you, do ye not to them: This Negative Precept includes very much, and goes very far in the direction of us in Moral Righteous­ness. But the Precept in the Affirmative, as it is gi­ven in the Gospel, is far more Extensive, and in­cludes a greater measure and degree of Christian Perfection; So that the Application of this Precept is,

• First, Negative; and that Necessarily Im­plyed.
• Secondly, Affirmative.

I shall begin with the Implyed, or Negative Pre­cept; Quod tibi fieri non vis alteri ne facias: And this extends to prohibit all those vicious Habits or Acts [Page 192] opposite either to Righteousness or Justice, or to Charity or Goodness: And that upon this very Reason, or Indication, I would not have him do, or be thus to me.

And therefore if we should go through all those particular Instances above given of the opposite Vices to Righteousness or Charity, we shall find them all such as we would not have others do to us.

Take it first in the Vices or Habits opposite to Righteousness. There is no Man in the World that would have another Malicious or Envious to him, that would have another Kill, or Maim, or Wound him, or Rob, Cheat, Deceive, or Oppress him, in his Goods, or Estate; that would have ano­ther corrupt his Wife, Falsly Accuse, or Traduce him, tell him Lyes or Falshoods; or that would have another to break his Oath, his Word, his Pro­mise, or Faith given to him; or that would have his Children Disobedient, or his Parents Unreaso­nably severe; his Servants Unfaithful, or Negli­gent; his Master Tyrannical; that would have his Inferiors Insolent, or his Superiors Oppressive; that would have his Magistrate Partial, Unjust, or Tyrannical, or his People under him False or Re­bellious.

Again, in the Habits of Affections, or Vices op­posite to Charity, there is no Man would have another Narrow-handed, when he is able to Relieve his Necessity; a Rigid Exacter of the Extremity of the Law; Impatient, Proud, or Insolent in his Carriage towards him; Making himself the Cen­ter of all he doth; Ingrateful, Rough, and Severe and Surly; Craftily Circumventing him; Morose, Censorious, Supercilious; ready to cause, or enter­tain [Page 193] false Reports or Surmises; Unpeaceable, Un­quiet, and the like. These things are so plain, that there needs no other Evidence of the Truth there­of, than the common Sense and Sentiments of all Mankind, not one excepted: For, though there be many Men that know not, it may be, what the definitions of these Vices are, or that give a clear account wherein the formal Obliquities of them doth consist; yet there is no Man so stupid, that by his own Sense finds not, that he is unwilling to have another use, or practise them upon him, be­cause he is easily and readily sensible of the smart and inconvenience they bring to him; and therefore his Will hath an aversation against them, as noxious and uneasie, and inconvenient to him.

This therefore is the first step, or the first postula­tum, which every Man, even upon his own Sense, without the help of any other Process, or Inquiry, concludes, that he would not have another do, or use to him, any of those Habits, or Acts, that are thus contrary to Moral Righteousness, or Justice, or Charity.

Secondly, the Second step, or postulatum, is what this action is that I am about to do to another, for the matter, or Circumstances of it, consider'd nakedly in it self, without examining whether it be or be not against the Rules of Righteousness or Charity; As for Instance, I do most certainly know, that this action is the taking away of another Man's Goods, wherein I have no property, by the Laws of the Land wherein I live; or it is an Over-reach­ing of him in a Bargain, and I know it to be so, or the like.

Thirdly, The Third Procedure, after a Man hath considered the action what it is; is for a Man to consider, whether he would that another should do that action to him; and if he would not, he hath thereby given to himself the Rule and Measure, and Determination of the Question, Whether he ought, or ought not to do it to another, without any cu­rious Inquiry, or Speculation, touching the Justice or Injustice, Regularity or Irregularity of the action, according to Niceties and School-Distinctions. His own Sense is the Judge: So that as the Eye doth see, and discern this Colour to be one, and that to be another; this to be White, and that to be Black; or at least discerns, this is Grateful, that Harsh, Insipid, Distastful, Offensive, without any Philosophical, or Logical Argumentation; even so a Man may easily find that this, if it were done by another to me, would be grievous and offensive, and distastful, and in my own Judgment, Uncha­ritable, or Unjust.

And thus, as my own Sense, without any other Ratiocination, gives me a clear satisfaction, touch­ing the general Notion, of what is Unjust, or Un­charitable; that it is such as I would not have done to me. So this lasting, as it were, the particular Action that is under Deliberation, gives me a plain and clear estimate, even upon the account of my own Sense and relish of it, that it is such an action which I would not have done to me.

And here is the Excellence of this Rule, that whereas, as I before observed, the great difficulty in the Regiment of a Moral Life, is not so much in the discovery and assent unto common Notions, as in the due accommodation of particular actions to [Page 195] these common Notions, and the true stating of the Moral Rectitude, or Obliquity of particular Acti­ons: This Rule in hand gives us the true and clear Estimate of particular actions, not upon a large Philosophical procedure, or discussive Process, but by the plain, easie, near Evidence, as easie and as obvious as Sense it self: It being no more but this, this is an action which I am very certain I would not have another do to me.

Fourthly, The Consequence and Conclusion, and the Final Decision that is thereupon to be made, is this; I must not therefore do it to him, and I must not do it upon these two accounts.

First, Because the Son of God hath brought from Heaven, and from the Great Monarch of the whole World, unto me, That I must not do that to ano­ther, which I would not have another do to me: and if there were no other Obligation upon me, but his Command, it is enough to enjoyn my Obser­vance.

Secondly, If there were no such express Com­mand given me, yet the very Precept it self includes a most Evident Conviction of an Eternal and in­dispensable Justice in it: For if I Judge this Acti­on should not be done to me, and that it were Un­just and Unreasonable if it were so done; Why should I go about to do that to him, that I would Condemn as Unjust if done to me?

So that the Resolution of this whole Decision seems to be into this Syllogism.

[Page 196]1. Whatsoever I would not that another should do to me, I may not do to him.

2. But this action now under deliberation, is such, that I would not another should do to me.

3. Therefore I may not do it to him.

The Evidence of the Truth of the Major Propo­sition is grounded upon the clearest Evidence,

• First, Of the Divine Command.
• Secondly, Of the Intrinsecal Justice of the Pre­cept it self.

The Evidence of the Minor is the clearest Evi­dence that can be; for I do most certainly know what the action is that I am about to do: and again, I do most certainly know, that I would not have another do this action to me: I know it as well, as I know that I see or feel: And therefore the Con­clusion is most certain and infallible.

Only we must have recourse to what hath been in general premised; where I have spoken of the Rule, or (would) in general; especially where Per­sons are under different Relations.

There seem to be two great Obstacles to the due and constant observance of this excellent Rule.

• 1. Passion.
• 2. Self-Love.

[Page 197]1. Passion many times so far prevails upon Men, that it makes them precipitate and incogitant in their actions; and thereby this Rule is often broken before Men think of it: But surely this is such an Infirmity, that Man may easily break by resolution, to take a due consideration of what he doth: And if a Man will but inure himself a little to repeat this Rule to himself, before he undertake any action, he will very easily Master that Precipitancy and Inco­gitancy which haste and passion occasions; and he will soon find the benefit of this Experiment.

2. Self-Love. Man is very much addicted to Love himself; and that Self-love blinds and sedu­ceth his Judgment, whereby he oftentimes attri­butes to himself such Circumstances, as render the very same action done by him to another to be Just and Righteous; when the very same action done by another to him, seems to be Unjust: For instance, Gaius hath done Titius a Trespass; Gaius comes to him, and tells him he is sorry for it: he is a poor Man, and desires him to forgive him. Titius refuseth: Gaius replies; Sir, Had you done me the like Trespass, and sought to me, I should have forgiven you, had you been as poor as I am, and I as rich and well able to bear it as you. Ti­tius replies, But I have formerly obliged you by ma­ny Kindnesses, and against all these you have Trespassed in this Trespass. This is not the first Trespass you committed; I have passed by many formerly: I shall grow contemptible, and every one will be ready to do the like, if I pass by this: Though I am richer than you, I have more De­pendants than you, more Children and Relations; [Page 198] and I must bear a port answerable to my Place: and the damage that I have sustained by this Tres­pass, hath made you richer than you were before, and me poorer: and therefore upon these, and ma­ny other Circumstances, the Cases are different; and I must have full reparation of the Damage; and also secure my self against future injuries from you and others, by making you a severe Example for this. And by such kind of Arguings as this, there will be a fair Gloss put upon any thing; and the Circumstances which a Man will draw toge­ther, to exempt a Man from his Duty, will be end­less. But let Titius now be but honest to himself, and sincerely deal thus with himself: I know the Trespass that is committed, the Damage it hath done me, the Condition I am in to bear it, the Po­verty of him that cannot make me satisfaction: I see his Submission: Were I in Gaius his stead and place, Would I not think it too severe for Titius to exact the severity of the Law, or to deny a Par­don for this Trespass that he can never satisfie. If I should be of that Mind, then I will be of the same Mind now, and forgive him upon his Submission, and promise of future Amendment. The Truth is, this Precept doth discharge Self-love from hav­ing to do in this business of Moral Righteousness or Charity; or at least puts it in that condition, by Transposition of the Persons, that it speaks as much for Gaius as it doth for Titius, when Titius, by Transposition, sustains the Person of Gaius; and so Self-love becomes equally an Advocate for Titius, and against him.

Indeed, if a Man will be wilfully and perversly Unjust; and although he be Convinced, that he [Page 199] would not have the same thing done to him, that he is about to do to another; will, notwithstan­ding that Conviction, do the thing; there is nothing to be said to such a Man, but that he hath rejected his Duty to God, and the common Sentiments of Righteousness and Goodness to Mankind. But cer­tainly he that desires to walk according to the true Rules of Justice and Charity, hath, if he will be but sincere and true to himself in this Rule of our Saviours, a plain, easie, and clear direction for all actions of Righteousness and Charity.