The Christian Life Part 3 Volume 4, Part 3 · Chapter 6

The Christian Life Part 3 Volume 4 · Part 3 · Chapter 6

p. 396CHAP. VI. Of the Necessity of Mortification to the obtaining of Eternal Life.

I COME now to the Second thing proposed, namely that the eternal Life and Happiness of good Men depends upon their mortifying the Deeds of the Body: and that it doth so, I shall endeavour to prove,

First, FROM God's Ordination and Appointment.

Secondly, FROM the Nature of the Thing.

I. FROM God's Ordination and Appointment. God, who is the supreme Governour of the World, hath proposed Eternal Life, as an Encouragement to those who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality: And supposing that wicked Men could enjoy the Happiness of the other World, yet it would be inconsistent with the Wisdom of his Government to admit them to it. For should he reward Offenders with eternal Happiness, who would be afraid of offending him? And if once he rules with p. 397such a slack and indulgent Rein, as to take away all reason of Fear from his Subjects, his Government must immediately dissolve into Anarchy and Confusion. And therefore to prevent this, he hath fairly warned us by his reiterated Threats, that if we live in Disobedience to his Laws, we shall be for ever banished from that Kingdom of Happiness which he hath prepared for those that love and fear him: So in Rom. viii. 13. we are assured, that if we live after the flesh, we shall die: And in Gal. v. 19, 20, 21. we are told, that the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these, adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like; of which I tell you before, as I have also told you in times past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God: And so 1 Cor. vi. 9, 10. Know ye not (saith the Apostle) that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? be not deceived, neither fornicators nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God: And to the same purpose the p. 398same Apostle tells us, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man who is an idolater hath any inheritance in the kingdom of God; Ephes. v. 5. All which dreadful Denunciations must be supposed to be conditional; for else they are not consistent with the Promise of Pardon to those that truly repent: So that the meaning of them is plainly this, that if we persevere in these Lusts of the Flesh, and do not mortify them, we shall have no Part nor Portion in the Kingdom of God. Hence the Apostle exhorts us, Col. iii. 5, 6. Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth, fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: for which things sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience: which plainly implies, that if they did mortify these Lusts, the Wrath of God should not come upon them; but if they did not, they should be liable to the divine Indignation among the Children of Disobedience. By all which it is apparent, that according to God's free Ordination and Appointment, our eternal Happiness and Welfare depends upon our mortifying the deeds of the Body; since God hath so ordained, that if we do mortify them, we shall live, and that if we p. 399do not, we shall be for ever excommunicated from the Regions of Life and Immortality.

II. THIS is also apparent from the Nature of the Thing. For if God had not excluded those that live in their sins from eternal Life, by his own free Ordination; yet they must have been excluded, the future Happiness being so inconsistent with a vicious State, that it is impossible ever to reconcile them. For the Thing it self implies a Contradiction, and is not an Object of any Power, no not of Omnipotence it self; and God may as well make White to be Black while it is White, as a vicious Soul to be happy while it is vicious. For Happiness is a relative thing, and doth in its own Nature imply a Correspondence and Agreement between the Faculty and the Object; and be the Object never so good in it self, yet if it doth not agree with the Faculty whereunto it is objected, it is Misery and Affliction to it. Though a Man should be entertained with all the delicate Relishes of Musick, yet if he hath not a musical Ear, it will be but a tedious ungrateful Din to him: And though his Appetite should be courted with all the rich varieties in Nature, yet if they do not agree with his coarse and homely Palate, p. 400he will distaste and nauseate them. And so if a Man should be placed in Heaven, among all the Joys with which that blessed State abounds; yet unless his Mind and Temper did suit and agree with them, they would all be so many Miseries and Torments to him; he would be afflicted even in Abraham's Bosom, and grope for Heaven in the midst of Paradise; and it would be impossible for him to be pleased with his Condition, till the Genius and Temper of his Mind were alter'd, and the Dispositions of his Soul were reconciled to that heavenly State. So that if we can demonstrate, that there is and must be Antipathy and Disagreement in wicked Souls to the future Happiness; it will then be apparent from the Nature, and Reason of the Thing, that our Enjoyment of the future Happiness depends upon our ceasing to be wicked; or which is all one, upon our mortifying the Deeds of the Flesh. Now to evidence this Disagreement between wicked Souls, and the heavenly State, I shall do these three things;

First, SHEW wherein the Felicities of the future State do consist.

Secondly, WHAT the Temper and Disposition of wicked Souls will be in the future State.

p. 401Thirdly, HOW contrary such a Temper and Disposition must be unto such Felicities.

I. I am to shew wherein the Felicities of the future State do consist. And here I shall not presume to give you a particular Description of Heaven, the Felicities whereof the Apostle tells us are ineffable; but shall content my self to give you the general Account of it, which I find in the Revelation of the Gospel. In general therefore we may be secure of this, that Heaven is such an Happiness as is most suitable to a Rational Nature; it being designed and prepared for reasonable Beings, to whom (as I have shewed) it would not be a Heaven, if it were not agreeable to their Natures. For should God have provided for us a Heaven of sensual Felicities, to gratify the unbounded Licorishness of our carnal Appetites; it would have been a Happiness fitter for Beasts than Men: And whilst our sensual and bruitish Part had been feasted with everlasting Varieties of carnal Pleasures, our intellectual Powers, which are the noblest Ingredients of our Natures, must have pined away a long Eternity, for want of those Joys and Delights, which alone are proper and agreeable to their Natures. Now p. 402our proper Happiness, as we are reasonable Beings, consists in being perfectly Rational, and in the Union of our Understandings, Wills, and Affections, with such Objects as are most agreeable to our rational Natures: And what is it to be perfectly rational, but to reason truly according to the Nature of Things; and to choose and refuse, and love and hate according to the Dictates of true Reason? And what is it to have our Understandings, Wills and Affections united to such Objects as are most agreeable to our reasonable Natures, but only to know that which is most worthy to be known, and to choose and love that which is most worthy to be chosen and loved? When therefore our Understanding is become so clear and vigorous, as to reason aright, and penetrate into the Natures of things; and our Wills and Affections are perfectly compliant and harmonious with it; and all these are in conjunction with God, the Fountain of all Truth and Goodness; we are then arrived to the heavenly State of reasonable Natures. And therefore all that is positively affirmed of the heavenly Happiness in the Gospel, is only this; that it consists in our seeing God, and loving and resembling him, and being for ever associated p. 403with those blessed Spirits, that see and love and resemble him as well as We. And this doubtless is such a Felicity, as no mortal Language can express: For how will my Understanding triumph, when it is once emerged out of all the Mists and Clouds, with which it is here surrounded, into the clear Heaven of Vision, where it shall have a free and uninterrupted Prospect throughout the whole Horizon of Truth; when God and Heaven, and all the Mysteries of the other World shall be always present to my ravished Thoughts? How hail and sound, how light and expedite will my Soul be, when it is disentangled from all those unreasonable Passions, which here do clog and disease her? When all her jarring Faculties shall be reduced into a perfect Harmony, what a Heaven of Content and Peace will there spring up within her own Bosom? And when she is thus contempered to the Divine Perfection, and inspired throughout with a God-like Nature, in what Raptures of Love and Extasies of Ioys will she converse with God and blessed Spirits? This doubtless, if there were no more, is enough to make the heavenly State unspeakably happy and blessed: And this together with a perfect Freedom from p. 404Pains and Misery, and Death, is all of Heaven that God hath made known to us in his Gospel: Here we are told that we shall be made perfect, that we shall see as we are seen, and know as we are known, and behold him that is Invisible face to face: For yet it doth not appear what we shall be, saith St. Iohn, but we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. 1 Epist. iii. 2. There may be, and doubtless are sundry additional Felicities to these; but in these it is apparent the main of Heaven doth consist, because these are all that God hath plainly revealed, and made known to us.

II. THE next thing proposed was to shew, what the Temper and Disposition of wicked Souls will be in the future State. And this may be easily gathered, by considering wherein a wicked Temper consists; for doubtless with the same Temper of Mind that we are of in this World, we shall go into the other: for meerly by going into the other World, Men cannot be altered as to their main State, though they may be perfected as to those good Dispositions that were here begun; so that he that is wicked here will be wicked there too, and that same Disposition of p. 405Mind that we carry with us to our Graves, we shall retain with us in Eternity. If therefore we would know, what the Temper of a wicked Soul will be in the future State; our best way will be to enquire, what it is that we call a wicked Temper here; because it will be the same here, and hereafter. Now a wicked Temper consists of two things; First, of Sensuality, and Secondly, of Devilishness. By Sensuality, I mean an immoderate Propension of the Soul to the Pleasures of the Body; such an head-strong Propension, as wholly diverts the Soul from all her nobler Delights to the brutish Pleasures of Intemperance, and Wantonness and Gluttony; together with those other Lusts that are subservient to them, such as Fraud, and Covetousness, and Ambition, and the like: By Devilishness, I mean those spiritual Wickednesses which do not so much depend upon the Body as the former, but are more immediately centered in the Soul, such as Pride, and Malice, and Wrath, and Envy, and Hatred, and Revenge, &c. which are the Sins of the Devil, by which those once glorious and blessed Spirits were transformed into Friends and Furies. These are the Venomous Ingredients of which a wicked Temper is composed. If you enquire p. 406therefore what the Temper of a wicked Soul will be in the future State; I answer, it will be the same there that it is here; that is, it will be sensual and devilish. As for the latter, there can be no doubt of it; for Devilishness being immediately subjected in the Soul, cannot be supposed to be separated from her by her Separation from the Body; and may as well abide in naked and separated Spirits, as it doth in the Apostate Angels. And as for Sensuality, though it cannot be supposed that a Soul should retain the Appetites of the Body, after it is separated from it; yet having wholly abandon'd it self to corporeal Pleasures while it was in the Body, it may, and doubtless will retain a vehement Hankering after a Re-union with it, which is the only Sensuality that a separated Soul is capable of. For when She comes into the World of Spirits, her former accustoming her self unto the Pleasures of the Body will have so debauched and vitiated her Appetite; that She will be incapable of relishing any other Pleasures, but what are carnal and sensual; which because She cannot enjoy but in the Body, She must needs retain an earnest and vehement Longing to be re-united to it. For having never had any former Experience of the Pleasures p. 407of Spirits, when she comes into the other World, she will find her self miserably destitute of all that can be pleasant and delightful to her; and because she knows, that the only pleasures she can relish are such as are not to be enjoyed, but in conjunction with the Body, therefore all her Appetites and Longings must needs unite into one outragious Desire of being embody'd again, that so she may repeat these sensual Pleasures, and act over the brutish Scene anew. Which possibly may be the Reason, why such sensual Souls have appeared so often in Church-yards, and Charnelhouses, Union with the Body being that which these wandring Ghosts have the most eager Affections to, and that they are most loth to be separated from; which makes them perpetually hover about, and linger after their dear Consort, the Body; the Impossibility of their Re-union with it not being able to cure them of their impotent Desires, but still they would fain be alive again. Virgil.

—Iterum que ad tarda reverti

Corpora: quae lucis miferis tam dira cupido?

And this, I doubt not, was one great Reason of those extraordinary Abstinencies, p. 408and bodily Severities that were imposed by the Primitive Church; that by this means they might gently wean the Soul from the Pleasures of the Body, and teach it before-hand to live upon the Delights of separated Spirits; that so it might drop into Eternity with Ease and Willingness, like ripe Fruit from the Tree; and that when it was arrived into the other World, it might not have its Appetite so vitiated with these sensual Delights, as to be incapable of relishing those spiritual Ones, and so be endlesly tormented with a fruitless Desire of returning to the Body again. This therefore from the whole is plain and apparent, that the Temper of wicked Souls in the other World will be much the same as it is in this; that is, sensual and devilish, made up of Rage and Spight and Malice, together with a vehement. Longing after the deserted Body, in which they enjoyed the only Pleasures they were capable of.

AND having thus shewed you, what are the Felicities of the future State; and what the Temper of wicked Souls will be in the future State; I now proceed,

III. To shew you, how contrary such a Temper and Disposition must be unto such Felicities. And indeed Sensuality and p. 409Devilishness are the only Indispositions for Heaven; but such Indispositions they are, that if upon an impossible Supposition a Soul could be admitted with them into the Habitations of the Blessed, She would not be able to relish one Pleasure there, among all the Delights with which the beatifick State abounds: there would none be found that would please her distemper'd Palate, which, like a fevourish Tongue, must disrelish and nauseate the sweetest Liquor, by reason of its overflowing Gall. And hence the Apostle exhorting his Christian Colossians, to be thankful unto God for making them meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light; telleth them, that this was effected by God's translating them out of the Kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of his own dear Son; that is, by enabling them to mortifie their Lusts, and inspiring them with the Graces of the Gospel: 1 Colos. xii. 13. And this will evidently appear, if we consider the particular Felicities of which the heavenly State consists; which (as I have shewed above) consist, First, In the Vision of God; Secondly, In our Likeness or Resemblance to Him; Thirdly, In the Love of Him; and fourthly, In the Society of p. 410pure and blessed Spirits: to all which there is an utter Antipathy and Disagreement in every sensual and devilish Temper and Disposition.

I. IN every sensual and devilish Mind, there is an Antipathy and Contrariety to the Vision of God; for the Sight of God can be pleasant unto none, but those who are in some measure contemper'd to his Perfections, and transform'd into his Likeness. While we are unlike him, and contrary to him, as we must needs be while we are sensual and devilish, the Sight of Him would be more apt to amaze and terrifie, than to please and delight us; for what Pleasure could a Soul take in the Vision of that God, whom She always hated, and could never endure to think of? Doubtless She would be so far from being pleased with the Sight of him, that it would be her Grief and Torment to behold him. The Sight of his Purity and Holiness would be so far from delighting her, that it would but reproach her lewd and sordid Degeneracy from the Temper of a pure and immortal Spirit: the Vision of his Mercy and Goodness would be so far from pleasing her, that it would but upbraid the horrid devilishness of her own disposition: and which way soever She p. 411turned her Eyes, She would see nothing in God, but what did libel and condemn her own Impurity and Wickedness. And how is it possible, that such a Sight should ever be pleasing unto such a Spectator? Doubtless the Vision of God, which is the Heaven of Godlike Souls, would be a Hell to wicked Ones; it would chase them out of Heaven, if they were in it, and cause them to fly away from before the Glory of it, as Bats and Owls do from the Light of the Sun, and of their own accords to wrap their guilty Heads in the Shades of eternal Darkness, and Despair. For how could they endure the Sight of that God, in whom, while they continue so infinitely unlike him, it is impossible they should see any thing but Causes of Horror and Confusion? For there must be in us some Likeness and Resemblance of God, to dispose us to behold him with Pleasure and Delight. For as Maximus Tyrius hath well observed, the foreign, the Divine Nature which is not visible to the eye of Sense, foreign. Diss▪ I. Is yet visible to that in the Soul; which is most pure and beautiful and sublime and noble, in respect of p. 412a certain similitude and cognation that is between them. But where this similitude is wanting, the Vision of God will be rather a Hell, than a Heaven: if there be no Correspondence between what we see in God, and what we are in our selves, his Glory may confound and dazzle us; but it is impossible it should please us: for what Pleasure can we take in seeing that which is so infinitely disagreeable to our Natures?

II. IN every sensual and devilish Mind there is an utter Indisposition and Contrariety to the Love of God; for all Love is founded in Likeness, and doth result out of some Harmony and Resemblance that there is between the Lover and the Beloved. But what Resemblance can there be between a devilish and carnalized Soul, and a good and holy God? And if there be none, Light and Darkness, or Heaven and Hell may as soon agree, as They. For how can a Soul, whose Affections are drenched in Matter, and wedded to the Flesh, love the holy God, who is a pure and spotless Spirit? What Amity can there be in a black and devilish Nature towards the most kind and benign Being in the World? Doubtless from such a Contrariety of Natures there must necessarily p. 413spring mutual Antipathies and Aversations. So that could such a Soul be admitted to the Vision of God, she would see nothing in him but what would enrage and canker her with Malice against him: the Sight of those glorious Perfections in him, which are so repugnant to her own Nature, instead of enamouring her, would but boil up her Hatred into an higher degree of Aversation to him. For even here we see, it is natural to lewd and wicked Men, to picture God by the foul and monstrous Original of their own Tempers; and generally the Notion which they have of him is nothing but the Image of themselves, which Narcissus-like they fall in love with, because it represents what they most delight in, even their own darling and beloved Lusts. Which is a plain Argument that they cannot love God, till they have deformed him into their own likeness, and with the Aethiopians copyed him out in the Resemblance of their own black and devilish Tempers. When therefore they shall see Him as He is, encircled about with his own Rays of unstained and immaculate Glory; the vast Unlikeness they will then discern between Him and themselves, will doubtless enrage and sowr their Spirits against him, and convert p. 414all their fondness towards him into an utter Antipathy and Aversation: for so long as He continues what He is, and they what they are, there will be such an irreconcileable: Contrariety between them, that they must hate either God or themselves, or else love Contraries at the same time, which is impossible.

III. IN every sensual and devilish mind there is a strong Indisposition to their being made like unto God, i. e. there is the same Indisposition in them to their receiving the Likeness and Image of God, as there is in one Contrary to admit of another. Their sensual and devilish Dispositions will as naturally resist the transforming Impressions of the divine Purity and Goodness, as Fire doth Water, or Moisture Drought: for the Image of God being a moral Perfection, must be impressed on us by the intervening Ministry of our Understandings, that is, by our Sight and Vision of him; and hence the Apostle gives this Reason why we shall be like him when he doth appear, because we shall see him as he is: 1 Joh. iii. 2. But the Sight of God, which assimilates us to him, must be accompanied with the Love of him, for it is Love that provokes to Imitation, and Imitation that transforms the Lover into p. 415the Image of the Beloved. For though doubtless the beatifick Vision doth work far more effectually upon prepared Souls in the other Life, than the knowledg of God doth in this; because here we see but in a glass darkly, whereas there our Vision will be unspeakably more clear, intense and vigorous: yet I doubt not but in assimilating us to God, it works in a moral and rational way; that is, by vigorously affecting our Wills with the Perfections of God, so as to stir us up to an active Imitation of them, and efficaciously to excite us to transcribe them into our own Natures; which it cannot be supposed to do, unless our Souls be in some measure predisposed by Holiness and Purity to the Love of God, and of those glorious Perfections we shall then behold in him. For if we do not love God, the Sight of him will be so far from provoking us to imitate him; that it will avert us from him, and render us more unimpressive to the transforming Power of his glory. 'Tis true, this Vision of God will perfect our Likeness to him, if it be begun; because then it will have a prepared Subject to act upon, a Soul that is temper'd and dispos'd to the Power of it; and to take Impression from it: but yet it will not create a Likeness where it never p. 416was, but will leave him that is wicked to be wicked still; he being an incapable Subject of its benign Influences, and altogether indisposed to be wrought upon by it. For as the Sun enlightens not the inward parts of an impervious Dunghil, and hath no other effect upon it, but only to draw out its filthy Reeks and Steams; though as soon as he lifts his head above the Hemisphere, he immediately transforms into his own Likeness all that vast Space whether he can diffuse his Beams, and turns it into a Region of Light: even so the divine Glory and Beauty, which is the Object of the beatifical Vision, will never illustrate lewd and filthy Souls; their Temper being impervious unto his heavenly Irradiations, and wholly indisposed to be enlightned by it; but instead of that it will irritate their devilish Rage against it, and provoke them to bark at that Light which they cannot endure: whereas it no sooner arises upon welldisposed Minds, but it will immediately chase away all those Reliques of Darkness remaining in them, and transform them into its own Likeness. But doubtless the Sight of the divine Purity, and Goodness will be so far from exciting sensual and devilish Spirits to transcribe and imitate p. 417it; that it will rather inspire them with Indignation against it, and provoke them to curse and blaspheme the Author of it.

Fourthly and Lastly, IN every sensual and devilish Soul there is an utter Incongruity, and Disagreement to the Society of the Spirits of just Men made perfect. For even in this Life we see, how ungrateful the Society of good Men is unto those that are wicked: it spoils them of their fulsome Mirth, and checks them in those Riots and Scurrilities which are the Life and Piquancy of their Conversation. So that when the good Man takes his leave, they reckon themselves deliver'd, his Presence being a Confinement to their Folly and Wickedness. And as it is in this, so doubtless it will be in the other World: for how is it possible there should be any Agreement between such distant and contrary Tempers, between such sensual and malicious, and such pure and benigne Spirits? What a Torment would it be to a spightful, and devilish Spirit to be confined to a Society that is governed by the Laws of Love and Friendship? What an Infelicity to a carnalized Soul, that nauseates all Pleasures but what are fleshly and sensual, to be shut up among those pure and abstracted Spirits, that live wholly upon p. 418the Pleasures of Wisdom, and Holiness, and Love? Doubtless it would be as agreeable to a Wolf, to be governed by the Ten Commandments, and fed with Lectures of Philosophy; as for such a Soul to live under the Laws, and be entertained with the Delights of the heavenly Society. So that could these wicked Spirits be admitted into the Company of the Blessed, they would soon be weary of it; and perhaps it would be so tedious and irksom to them, that they would rather chuse to associate themselves with Devils, and damned Ghosts, than to undergoe the Torment of a Conversation so infinitely repugnant to their Natures; accounting it more eligible to live in the dismal Clamour of hellish Threnes and Blasphemies, than to have a tedious Din of heavenly Praises and Hallelujahs perpetually ringing in their Ears. And indeed considering the hellish Nature of a wicked Soul, how contrary it is to the Goodness and Purity of Heaven; I have sometimes been apt to think, that it will be less miserable in those dismal Shades, where the wretched Furies, like so many Snakes and Adders do nothing but hiss at and sting one another for ever; than it would be, were it admitted into the glorious Society of heavenly p. 419Lovers, whose whole Conversation consists in loving and reloving, and is nothing else but a perpetual Intercourse of mutual Indearments. For this would be an Employment, so infinitely repugnant to its black and devilish Disposition; that rather than endure so much Outrage and Violence, it would of its own accord forsake the blessed Abodes, to flee to Hell for Sanctuary from the Torment of being in Heaven. But this however we may rationally conclude, that so long as the prevailing Temper of our Souls is sensual and devilish, we are incapable of the Society of blessed Spirits; and that if it were possible for us to be admitted into it, our Condition would be very unhappy, till our Temper was chang'd: so that it is a plain Case both from God's Ordination, and from the Nature of the Thing, that our eternal Happiness and Welfare depends upon our mortifying the deeds of the Body.

To offer some Practical Inferences from hence;

I. WE may perceive how unreasonable it is, for any Man to presume upon going to Heaven, upon any account whatsoever without mortifying his Lusts. For he that thinks to go to Heaven without Mortification and Amendment, presumes both against p. 420the Decrees of God and the Nature of Things: he believes all the Threatnings of the Gospel to be nothing else but so many Bugs, and Scare-crows; and though God hath told him again and again, that unless he forsake his sins, he shall never enter into the Kingdom of Heaven; yet he fondly imagines, that when it comes to the Trial, God will never be so severe as he pretends; but will rather revoke the Decree that is gone out of his mouth, than exclude out of the Paradise of endless Delights a Soul that is infinitely offensive to him. As if God were so invincibly fond and indulgent, as that rather than excommunicate an obstinate Rebel from Happiness, he would chuse to prostitute the Honour of his Laws and Government, and commit an Outrage upon the Rectitude and Purity of his own Nature. For so long as he is a pure God, he cannot but be displeased with impure Souls; and so long as he is a wise Governour, he cannot but be offended with those that trample upon his Laws: so that before he can admit a wicked Soul into Heaven, he must have extinguish'd all his natural Antipathy to Sin, and stifled his just Resentment of our wilful Affronts to his Authority. When therefore we can p. 421find any reason to imagine, that God is no Enemy to sin, and that he hath no regard of his own Authority; then, and not till then, we may have some Pretence to presume upon going to Heaven without Mortification and Amendment. But supposing this Hinderance were removed, and that God were so easie as to be induced to prefer the Happiness of a wicked Soul before the Honour of his Government and the Purity of his Nature; yet still there is an invincible Obstacle behind, that renders her future Felicity impossible; and that is, that it cannot be without a plain Contradiction to the Nature of Things. For as I have shewed you already, the Genius and Temper of a wicked Soul is wholly repugnant to all the Felicities of the other World; so that if they were set before her, She would not be able to enjoy them, but must be forced to pine and famish amidst all that Plenty of Delights, there being not one Viand in all the heavenly Banquet that she could relish any Sweetness in. Wherefore either her Nature must be changed, or the Nature of Heaven; for while both continue what they are, they are irreconcileable: and if God himself were so easie and indulgent, as to pass by all the Affronts p. 422in the other World which wicked Souls have offered him in this; yet he could not make them happy there, without creating in them a new Heart, or creating for them a New Heaven. For it is altogether as possible for us to see without Eyes, or hear without Ears, as to enjoy Heaven without a heavenly Disposition. How causelesly therefore dost thou presume, that talkest of going to Heaven, whilst thou continuest in thy Sin? Alass poor Wretch! What wouldst thou do there, if upon an impossible Supposition thou couldst be admitted into it? There are no wanton Amours among those heavenly Lovers, no Rivers of Wine among their Rivers of Pleasure, to gratifie thy unbounded Sensuality; no Parasite to flatter thy lofty Pride, no Miseries to feed thy meager Envy, no Mischiefs to tickle thy devilish Revenge; but all the Felicities, with which that heavenly State abounds, are such as Thou wouldst loath and nauseate, as being too pure and refined for thy depraved Appetite: So that if thou wert in Heaven, it would be but a cooler Damnation to thee; yea perhaps Hell it self would be less intolerable, than a Heaven so incongruous to thy Nature. And yet how ordinary is it for lewd and dissolute p. 423Persons, to flatter themselves into confident Hopes of Heaven; for which, when they come to be examined they can give no other Reason but this, that they firmly rely upon the Merits of their Saviour, who died for them, and obeyed God's Law in their stead; and therefore though they have no Righteousness of their own, yet they doubt not, being cloathed in the white Garment of Christ's, they shall be pardoned and accepted of God? Which is a Pretence so very absurd and unreasonable, that one would think it were impossible for any Man to be imposed upon by it, that had not a Mind to deceive himself: for supposing what is false, that Christ did obey the Law in our stead, and that God doth account us righteous because He was so; yet what would this signifie to our Pardon and future Happiness, without an inherent Righteousness of our own; which is so necessary to our future Happiness, that Heaven it self cannot make us happy without it? For if by being cloathed in the Robe of Christ's Righteousness, we could be admitted into Heaven; yet unless we left behind us our hellish Disposition, we should be miserable Wretches under that glorious Garment; in which we should be only crucified, like p. 424Iesus in his purple Robe, with greater Scorn and Solemnity. For since the main of Heaven consists in the perfection of inherent Holiness, it necessarily follows that a mere imputable Holiness will only entitle us to an imputable Happiness, that is, to a mere imaginary Heaven; which how glorious soever it may look at a distance, will when we come to embrace it glide from between our Arms, and leave us desperate and miserable. And though 'tis true, that Christ by his Death and Passion hath purchased for us Pardon and eternal Life; yet it is upon this Condition, that we mortifie our Lusts, and conform to the Rule of the Gospel: and indeed without this, Pardon and eternal Life are Words that signifie nothing; for what doth a Pardon signifie to one that is dying of the Stone, or Strangury? He can but die, if he be not pardoned, and die he must though he be. And as little Advantage it would be to a depraved Soul, to be pardoned and absolved by God, while She hath a Disease within her that preys upon her Vitals, and hastens her to a certain Ruin: she could have been but miserable in the future Life, if she had not been pardoned; and miserable she must be, if she continue wicked, whether she p. 425be pardoned, or no. All the Advantage that such a Soul could reap from God's pardoning her, would be only to be released from those arbitrary Punishments, which God may inflict on her in the world to come; but if she were freed from these, yet by a Necessity of Nature she must still be extreamly miserable; for her own Wickedness would incapacitate her for Heaven, and kindle a perpetual Hell within her. So that should Christ have died to obtain a Pardon for those that continue in their sin, he would have died to no purpose: for a wicked Soul cannot be pardoned, because there is such an inseparable Relation between Sin and Punishment, that it is as great a Contradiction for the one to be without the other, as for a Son to be without a Father. And then though Christ by his Death hath procured eternal Life, yet he cannot have procured it for those that are unreformed: because they, if they might, yet cannot enjoy it, their inward Temper and Disposition being contrary to it; so that unless Christ by his Death had altered the Nature of Heaven, and converted that Paradise of pure and holy Pleasures into a Seraglio of brutish and carnal Enjoyments, he cannot have procured it for lewd and depraved Souls. So that for any Man to presume p. 426upon Heaven upon any account without Holiness and Amendment, is the most egregious Nonsence in the World: For Heaven is nothing else but Holiness in its Perfection, freed from all those Incumbrances that here do perpetually clog and annoy it; so that a Heaven without Holiness is a Heaven without a Heaven, that is, a Word that signifies nothing, a Happiness wholly abstracted from it self. While therefore we flatter our selves with the Hopes of a future Bliss, continuing in our Sins, we do but court a painted Heaven, and woo Happiness in a Picture; but in the mean time are sinking into a true and real Hell, where all our foolish Hopes will be swallowed up for ever, in our woful Experience of its substantial Miseries.

II. WE may discern from hence the indispensable Necessity of Mortification, since it is plain we can't be happy without it: so that to mortify our Lusts is just as necessary for us, as it is to obtain Heaven, and avoid Hell. For Vertue and Vice are the Foundations of Heaven and Hell; Hell is nothing but that Hemisphere of Darkness, in which all Sin and Wickedness moves; and Heaven is the opposite Hemisphere of Light, the glorious Orb of Holiness, Truth, and Goodness; and in the p. 427Possession of the one, or the other, we do all of us actually enstate our selves in this Life. For take Holiness and Vertue out of Heaven, and all its Glories will immediately be clouded in horrid Darkness, and overcast with the dismal Shades of Hell: Take Sin and Wickedness out of Hell, and all its blackness of Darkness will vanish, and it will presently clear up into Light and Serenity, and shine out into a glorious Heaven. For 'tis not so much the Place, as the State that makes either the one, or the other; and the State of Heaven and Hell consists in perfect Holiness and Wickedness; and proportionably as we do improve in either of these, so we do approach towards Heaven, or Hell. For as Heaven is the Center of all that is vertuous, pure, and holy; and every thing that is good tends thither by a natural Sympathy: so Hell is the Center of all Impiety and Wickedness; and whatsoever is bad doth naturally press and sink down thither, as towards its proper Place and Element. And should not the divine Vengeance concern it self in excluding wicked Souls out of Heaven, yet their own Wickedness would do it; for that is a Place of such inaccessible Light and Purity, that nothing that is impure or wicked can approach it; but must of Necessity p. 428be beaten off by the perpetual Lightnings of its Glory, and tumbled headlong down as oft as ever it essays to climb up into it. As on the other hand, should not God by an immediate Vengeance precipitate wicked Souls into Hell; yet their own Sin and Wickedness, hastened by the mighty Weight of its own Nature, would necessarily hurry them down thither with a most swift and headlong Motion. And if this be so, then questionless it is as necessary for us not to continue in our Sin, as it is not to be excluded out of Heaven, nor thrust down into the flames of Hell: and did we but know what this meant, doubtless we should run away from our Sins in a greater Fright and Maze, than ever we did from the most astonishing Danger. For consider, O Man, by those short Pleasures with which thou treatest thy lusts, thou excommunicatest thy self from eternal Ioy; and wouldst thou be but so wise as to deny thy self the Pleasure of a Moment, thou mightst be pleased for ever, and millions of Ages hence be rejoycing among Angels and blessed Spirits, because thou wouldst not gratify thy self with those fulsom Delights, which would have died away in the Enjoyment. And is it possible thou shouldst be so besotted, as p. 429to exchange the Pleasures of an immortal Heaven, for those of an intemperate Draught, to sell the Joys of Angels for the Embraces of an Harlot, and pawn thy Part in Paradise for a little Money, of which e'er long thou wilt have no other Use, but only to purchase six foot of Earth, and a Winding-sheet? O most prodigious Folly! What account canst thou give for such an extravagant Bargain, at the Tribunal of thy own Reason? But it may be you will say; What doth the loss of Heaven signify, since (as you have told us already) if we could be admitted to it, it could be no Heaven to us? And why should we think much of losing that which we cannot enjoy? To which I answer; 'Tis true, you cannot enjoy it, unless you part with your Lusts; because Heaven, and they are inconsistent: but you may part with your Lusts, if you will, and being quit of these, you may and shall enjoy it for ever. Your Sin is the only Wall of Separation between you and Heaven; which being once demolished, you may enter into it without any Interruption, and take Possession of all its Glories. So that if you think the Loss of Heaven will be no Trouble to you in the other World, because it is such a Heaven as your depraved Souls will be averse to, p. 430you are infinitely mistaken; for though you will be averse to it, yet your own Consciences will tell you, that if you would, you might have conquer'd that Aversation, as well as those blessed Spirits that do enjoy it; and that if you had done so, you might have been infinitely happy as well as they. Whereas now you are condemned to wander for ever in a woful Eternity, tormented with a restless Rage, and hungry unsatisfied Desire after these sensual Goods you have left behind you, and to which you shall never return more; the Consideration of which will render the Loss of Heaven as grievous to you, as if it were a Heaven over-flowing with sensual Delights, and abounding with such Ioys, as you will then hunger after, but can never enjoy. For how will it sting you to the heart, when you shall thus ruminate with your selves, as you are wandring through the Infernal Shades; Ah besotted Fool that I am! now I see too late, that Heaven is a state wherein a Soul may be infinitely happy; look how yonder blessed Spirits are imparadised! how they exult and triumph! how they sing and give praise, and are rapt into extasies of love and joy! whilst I through my own Sensuality and Devilishness am utterly incapable of those sublime Delights, p. 431whereof their Heaven is composed; and like a forlorn Wretch, am left for ever destitute of those sensual pleasures, which are the only Heaven I can now enjoy. And therefore as you would not spend an Eternity in such direful Reflections, and have those dismal Thoughts like so many Vulturs preying upon you for ever; be persuaded to set persently upon this great and necessary Work of Mortification. For assure your selves, God will as soon let Hell loose into Heaven, and people the Regions of immortal Bliss with the Inhabitants of the Land of Darkness; as crown a wicked Soul with the glorious Reward of eternal Life. For God hath reduced us to this issue, either our Sins, or our Souls must die; and we must shake hands with Heaven, or our Lusts: so that unless we value eternal Happiness so little, as to exchange it for the sordid and trifling Pleasures of Sin; and unless we love our Sins so well, as to ransom them with the blood of our immortal Souls; it concerns us speedily to shake off our sins by Repentance: for this is an eternal and immutable Law, that if we will be wicked, we must be miserable.

III. FROM hence we may perceive, what is the only true and solid Foundation of our Assurance of Heaven, namely, p. 432our mortifying the Deeds of the Body▪ for if they that mortify the deeds of the body shall live, then if we do, or have mortified them, we are sure that we are entitled to eternal Life. So that to be assured of Heaven, we need not go about to spell out our Names in the Stars, or to read them in the secret Volumes of eternal Predestination: for if our Wills be but so subdued to the Will of God, that we do not live in any wilful Violation of his Laws; we may be as certainly persuaded of our Interest in eternal Life, as if one of the winged Messengers from above should come down and tell us, that he saw our Names enrolled in the Volumes of Eternity. For besides that God hath promised Heaven to us upon condition of our Mortification, we shall, when our Lusts are throughly subdued, feel Heaven opening it self within us, and rising up from the center of our Souls in a Divine Life and Godlike Nature: so that we shall not need to seek for Heaven without us, because we shall find it already come down into us, and transcribed into our own Natures. And as we grow in Grace from one degree to another, so Heaven will break forth clearer and clearer upon us; and the nearer we approach to the top of the Hill, the fuller p. 433View we shall have of the Horizon, and extended Sky; till at last we come to walk all along in sight of Heaven, and to travel towards it in a full View and Assurance of it. But if we secure our selves of Heaven, before we have mortifyed our Lusts, we do but entertain our Fancies with a golden Dream; which when we awake will vanish away, and leave us desperate and miserable. If therefore we would be assured of our future Happiness, let us not trouble our selves with numerous Signs of Grace; nor go about to erect Schemes of our spiritual Nativity, to cast a Figure to know whether we have Grace, or were converted secundùm artem: but let us impartially examine, whether our Wills are so subdued to the Will of God, as universally to choose what he enjoins, and refuse what he forbids. For if they are, our Condition is good, and our Hope secure, by what Means or Motives soever it was effected; and whether they are or no, we need no Marks or Signs to resolve us: for our Thoughts and Resolutions and Intentions are Signs enough to themselves, and we need no Marks to know what it is that we choose and refuse: this our Soul can easily discern by that innate Power she hath of reflecting upon p. 434our own Motions, by which she doth as naturally feel her own Deliberations and Volitions, as the Body doth its Hunger and Thirst. 'Tis true indeed, holy Dispositions, like all other Motions, the weaker they are, and the more they are interrupted by contrary Motions and Inclinations, the less they will be perceived; which is the Reason, why Beginners in Religion cannot be so sensible of the Grace that is in them; because their good Inclinations are checked and hindred by the strong and vehement Counter-Motions of their Lusts: but the more their good Inclinations prevail and free themselves from these contrary Inclinations which clog and incumber them, the more their Souls will be sensible of them. For this we find by Experience, that as we perceive our own motions, the more vigorous they are, the more we perceive them; especially when they are advised and deliberate, as all vertuous Motions and Inclinations are. For that a Man should be insensible of a Motion which he exerts advisedly, or not be able to know that he is so disposed, when he is knowingly so disposed, implies a Contradiction: and indeed, if we are not able to know when we choose and refuse, as we should when we resolve well p. 435and intend aright, we cannot discern when we do right or wrong; but are left to a Necessity of acting at random; like Travellers in the dark, that go on at a venture without knowing whether they go backward or forward. If we cannot know when we do well, it is impossible we should know how to do well; but must necessarily leave the Conduct of our Actions to Chance, and Fortune must determine us unto Right or Wrong. Since therefore our Soul is not a senseless Machin that hath no Perception of her own Motions, but is naturally sensible of whatsoever is transacted within her; let us no longer excuse our Ignorance of our own Condition with that common Pretence, that our Hearts are deceitful and hypocritical: for our Hearts are our selves, and if they are deceitful and hypocritical, we our selves are so. And yet I know not how it comes to pass, it passes among some Men for a great Sign of Grace and Sincerity, to complain of the Falseness and Hypocrisie of their own Hearts; not considering that Men are as their Hearts are, and that if these are Hypocritical, they themselves are Hypocrites. If therefore our Complaint be true, the more Shame for us: this is so far from p. 436being a Sign that we have Grace, that it is a plain Confession that we are graceless Dissemblers. If our Complaint be false, we falsely accuse our selves in it; which is also so far from being a Sign of Grace, that it is an Argument only of our own extravagant Folly. But if we mistake in our Complaint, and think that to be Hypocrisie, which is not, we should seek to be better informed: and if when you are so, you still complain of your Hypocrisie, I doubt you have too much Reason for it; and if you fear that you are Hypocrites, I fear you are so too. For why should one that knows what an Hypocrite is, fear that he is an Hypocrite; were he not conscious to himself, that he doth dissemble with God, and under an open Pretence of submitting to him, disguise some secret Purpose of rebelling against him? Let us therefore lay aside all our impertinent Scrupulosity, and fairly examine our own Souls, whether we do submit to God without any reserve, and are willing to lay down all our beloved Lusts at his Feet: for whether we are or no, we may easily discern if we will. If we are, then are the Foundations of Heaven already laid within our p. 437own Bosoms; and if upon this Principle we grow in Grace, and add one Degree of Vertue to another, we may be sure the Superstructure will go on, until the whole Fabrick of our Happiness is compleated. For as Nature by its powerful Magick is continually drawing every thing unto its proper Place, and Center; so Heaven attracts to it self, and freely imbosoms every thing that is heavenly; and thrusts off nothing but what is unfit for and heterogeneous to it. If therefore our Souls be of a pure and heavenly Temper, Heaven is the Center of our Motions, and the proper Place whereunto we belong; and whither at last we shall safely arrive, in despite of all those dismal Shades of Darkness, that would beat us back, and interrupt our Progress towards it: but on the contrary, if we secure our selves of Heaven while we are enslaved to any Lusts, we presume unreasonably; and embark our Hopes in a leaky Bottom, which in stress of Weather will certainly founder under us, and sink us into utter Despair: For how can we hope to be admitted into Heaven, whilst we retain that within our own Bosoms which kindles Hell, and is p. 438the Spring of the Lake of Fire and Brimstone? This would be a confounding of utter Darkness with the Regions of Light, a blending of Heaven and Hell together.

Fourthly and Lastly, FROM hence it appears what is the great Design of the Christian Religion. We may be sure, God would not have sent his Son into the World, had not the Embassy upon which he was employed been of the highest Moment and Concernment to us: And what other End, besides doing the greatest Good, could a good God propose in so great a Transaction? Surely had we been in Heaven, when the Holy One descended thence into the World, though we had not known the Particulars of his Errand, yet we should have concluded that doubtless he was employed upon some great Design of Love; to communicate from the Almighty Father some mighty Blessing to the World: and accordingly we find, that though the holy Angels did not comprehend the particular Intention, and Mystery of Christ's Incarnation; yet they concluded in the general, that it was intended for some great Good to the World; as is apparent p. 439by the Anthem they sung at his Nativity, Glory be to▪ God on high, on Earth peace, good will towards Men. Now the greatest Expression of God's good Will towards Men is to rescue them from all Iniquity, and restore them to the Purity and Perfection of their Natures: for without this all the Blessings of Heaven, and Earth are not sufficient to make us happy. While our Nature is debauch'd and overgrown with unreasonable Lusts and Passions, we must be miserable, notwithstanding all that an Omnipotent Goodness can do for us: for Misery is so essential to Sin, that we may as well be Men without being reasonable, as sinful Men without being miserable. Since therefore the End of Christ's coming into the World was to dispense God's greatest Blessings to Mankind; and since the greatest Blessing that we can receive from God, is to be redeemed by his Grace from our Iniquities, and to be made Partakers of the Divine Nature; we may reasonably conclude, that this was his main Design in the World, and the great End of that everlasting Gospel which he revealed to it. And hence the name Iesus was given him by the Direction of an Angel, because p. 440he should save his people from their Sins: Matth. i. 21. and indeed I cannot imagine any Design whatsoever, excepting this, that could be worthy the Son of God's coming down into the World, to live such a miserable Life, and die such a shameful Death. Had it been only to save us from a Plague, or War or Famine, it had been an Undertaking fit for the lowest Angel in the heavenly Hierarchy: but to save us from our sins was an Enterprize so great and good, as none in Heaven or Earth, but the Son of God himself, was thought worthy to be employed in. This therefore was the Mark of all his Aims while he was upon Earth, the Center in which all his Actions and Sufferings met, to save us from our Sins, and to inspire us with a divine Life and God-like Nature; that thereby we might be disposed for the Enjoyment of Heaven, and made to be meet Partakers of the Inheritance of the Saints in Light. 'Tis true, he died to procure our Pardon too; but it was with respect to a farther End, namely that we might not grow desperate with the Sense of our Guilts; but that by the Promise of Pardon, which he hath purchased for us, we p. 441might be encouraged to repent and amend. But should he have procured a Pardon for our Sin, whether we had repented of it or no; he would have only skinned over a Wound, which if it be not perfectly cured, will rankle of its own accord into an incurable Gangrene. Christ therefore by the offering of himself is said to purge our consciences from dead works, that we might serve the living God: Heb. ix. 14. and the great Apostle makes the ultimate Intention of his giving himself for us to be this, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purifie to himself a peculiar people zealous of good works: Tit. ii. 14. And until his Death hath had this Effect upon us, it is not all the Merit of his Blood, and Vertue of his Sacrifice, that can release us from the direful Punishments of the other Life. For unless he by his Death had so altered the Nature of Sin, as that it might be in us without being a Plague to us; it must necessarily, if we carry it with us into the other World, prove a perpetual Hell and Torment to us. So that it is apparent, that the great and ultimate Design of Christ, was not to hide our filthy sores, but to heal and cure them: and for this End it was that he revealed p. 442to us the grace of God from Heaven, to teach us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to live soberly, and righteously, and godly in this present world. Tit. ii. 12. Let us not therefore cheat our own Souls, by thinking that the Gospel requires nothing of us, but only to be holy by Proxy, righteous by being cloathed in the Garments of another's Righteousness; as if its Design was not so much to cure, as cover our filthy Sores, not to make us whole, but to make us accounted so. For can any Man imagin, that Christ would ever have undertaken such a mighty Design, and made so great a noise of doing something; which when it is all summed up is nothing but a Notion, and doth not at last amount unto a Reality? As if the great Design of his coming down from Heaven to live and die for us, was only to make a Cloak for our sins, wherein we might appear righteous before God without being so. But do not deceive your selves; it is not all the Innocence and Obedience of Christ's Life, nor all the Virtue and Merit of his Death, that can render you pure and holy in God's eyes; unless you really are so: and you may as well be Well with another's Health, or wise with p. 443another's Wisdom, as righteous before God with the Righteousness of Christ, while you abide in your Sins. For God sees you as you are; and the most glorious Disguise you can appear in before him will never be able to delude his all-seeing Eye, so as to make him account you righteous when you are not: and if it were possible for you to impose upon God, yet unless you could also impose upon the Nature of Things, and by fancying them to be otherwise than they are, make them to be what they are not, it will be to no purpose. For if you could be cloathed in Christ's Righteousness, while you continue wicked; it would signifie no more to your Happiness, than it would to be cloathed in a most splendid Garment, while you were pining with Famine, or tortured with the Gout or Strangury. Wherefore as we love our own Souls, and would not betray our selves into an irrecoverable Ruin, let us firmly conclude with our selves, that the great Design of our Religion is internal Holiness and Righteousness; and that without this, all that Christ hath done and suffered for us will be so far from contributing to our Happiness, that it will prove an eternal Aggravation to p. 444our Misery; and that all that precious Blood, which he shed in our behalf, will be so far from obtaining Pardon and eternal Happiness for us, that it will arise in Iudgment against us; and like the innocent blood of Abel, instead of interceeding for us, will cry down Vengance from Heaven upon us. For how can we imagine, that the pure and holy Iesus, who hated our Sins more than all the Pangs and Horrors of a woful Death, should all of a sudden be so kind to them, as to give them Shelter and Sanctuary within his own meritorious Wounds; and to make his Blood the Price of a general Indulgence to all Impiety and Wickedness, that so we might sin securely, and enjoy a safe Retreat from his Authority under the covert of his Sacrifice? But be not deceived; the holy Iesus will never make himself an unholy Saviour for your sake; and your being called by the Name of Christ is so far from giving you a Priviledge to sin, that it lays you under a stricter Restraint; and if you violate it, it will expose you to a severer Punishment, than if you had been Heathens and Infidels. For this is the great Proposal of our Religion, that Iesus Christ died to purchase Pardon, p. 445and eternal Life, for all that do repent and amend; but if we still go on in our Sin, we are at a greater distance from Pardon and eternal Life, than if we never had had a Saviour to undertake for us.

FINIS.