Chapter 48

171.Vid. Menasseh Ben Isr. Lib. 1. de Resurrect. Cap.ii. § 4.Hic textus expressus est. & infallibilis quo sine omni dubio resurrectio probatur.

172.Vid. Hieron. Epist. 61. ad Pammach. de error. Joh. Hieros. Quid hac prophetia manifestius? Nullus tam aperte post Christum, quam iste ante Christum de resurrectione loquitur.

173.The words are put in the form of an interrogation, which sometimes argues a strong negation, but not always, since here it seems to imply a concession that he should live again.

174.Vid Minut. Fel. in Octav. § 33. Vide adeo quam in solatium nostri resurrectionem futuram omnis natura meditatur Sol demergit, & nascitur; astra labuntur, & redeunt; fiores occidunt, & reviviscunt; post senium arbusta frondescunt semina non nisi corrupta revirescunt; ita corpus in sepulchro ut arbores in hyberno occultant virorem, ariditate mentita. Expectandum nobis etiam corporis ver est, &c.

175.See his Exposition on the Creed, Artic.xi.and Tertull. de resur. Carn. cap.xii.Aspice nunc ad ipsa qunq; exempla divinæ potestatis: dies moritur in noctem, & tenebris usquequaq spelitur. Funestatum mundi honor, omnis substantia deusgratur. Sordent, silent, stupent cuncta; ubiq; justitium est, quies rerum. Ita lux amissa lugetur; & tamen rursus cum suo cultu, cum dote, cum sole, eadem & integra & tota universo orbi reviviscit, interficiens mortem suam noctem, rescindens sepulturam suam tenebras, hæres sibimet existens, donec & nox reviviscat, cum suo & illa suggestu. Redaccenduntur enim & stellarum radii, quos matutina successio extinxerat. Reducuntur & siderum absentiæ, quas temporalis distinctio exemerat. Redornantur & specula lunæ quæ menstruus numerus adtriverat. Revolvuntur hyemes & æstates, & verna, & autumna, cum suis viribus, moribus, fructibus. Quippe etiam terræ de cœlo disciplina est, arbores vestire post spolia, flores denuo colorare, herbas rursus imponere, exhibere eadem quæ absumpta sunt semina; nec prius exhibere quam absumpta: mira ratio: de fraudatrice servatrix: ut reddat, intercipit: ut custodiat, perdit: ut integret, vitiat e ut etiam ampliet, prius decoquit. Siquidem uberiora & cultiora restituit quam exterminavit. Revera foenore interitu, & injuria usura, & lucro damno: semel dixerim universa conditio recidiva est. Quodcunq; conveneris, fuit: quodcunq; amiseris, nihil non iterum est. Omnia in statum redeunt, quum abscesserint. Omnia incipiunt, quum desierint. Ideo finiuntur, ut fiant. Nihil deperit, nisi in salutum. Totus igitur hic ordo revolubilis rerum, testatio est resurrectionis mortuorum. Operibus eam præscripsit Deus ante, quam literis: viribus predicavit ante, quam vocibus. Præmissit tibi naturam magistram, submissurus & prophetiam, quo facilius credas prophetiæ, discipulus natura: quo statim admittas, quum audieris, quod ubiq; jam videris; nec dubites Deum carnis etiam resuscitatorem, quem omnium noris restituorem. Et utiq; si omnia homini resurgunt, cui procurata sunt porro non homini, nisi & carni, quale est ut ipsa depereat ut totum, propter quam & cui nihil deperit? Et Vid. ejud. apologet cap.xlviii.in which he proves the resurrection of the body from the possibility of that being restored to a former being, with the same ease that it was made out of nothing; and shews how God has impressed upon this world many testimonies of the resurrection; and then he adds, Lux quotidie intersecta resplendet, & tenebræ, pari vice decedendo succedunt, sidera defuncta vivescunt, tempora, ubi finiuntur, incipiunt, fructus consummantur, et redeunt. Certe semina non nisi corrupta et dissoluta foecundius surgunt, omnia percundo servantur, omnia de interitu reformantur. Tu homo tantum nomen, si intelligas te, vel de titulo Pythix discens, dominus omnium momentum et resurgentium, ad hoc morieris, ut pereas?

176.This is what they generally intend by that aphorism, a privatione ad habitum non datur regressus.

177.See Hody on the resurrection, &c.Pag. 205-208.

178.Vid. Plat. in Cratyl, who brings in Socrates as gravely punning on the wordσωμα,q. d.σημα, sepulchrum;and supposing that this name, was given to denote that the soul suffers punishment for its faults, by being detained or shut up in prison. And Seneca speaks to the same purpose: corpus hoc, animi pondus, & poena est, permanente illo urgetur, in vinculis est. Vid. Sen. Epist. 65.

179.Vid. Orig. in Loc. supra citat.

180.Beneficium pluviæ ad omnes spectare, resurrectionem mortuorum ad justos tantum.

181.The words are, רב’ם מישני,multi ex dormientibus. Now it is certain thatרבים,is often translateda multitude,ormultitudes,and signifies the same withרוב,or the Greek wordτο πληθος,as in Gen.xvii. 5.Psal.cix. 30.and in several other places. But the principal difficulty lies in the sense of the particleMem,which is prefixed to the following word; and is generally supposed to be taken distributively; and accordingly the sense must be, Many,that is, a great number, or part, taken out of themthat sleep, shall awake;though, I am apt to think, that the prefixMemhere, is not taken distributively; but denotes the following word to be in the Genitive case, as Lamed and Beth often do; and if so, the words may be rendered, The multitude of them that sleep, shall awake;that is, the whole number of them that sleep shall awake; and so it is the same with what is mentioned by our Saviour in the text but now referred to; all that are in their graves shall come forth,and be disposed of in a different way, as he particularly expresses it; which contains the sense of the prophet’s prediction in this place. There is a scripture, in which the wordmanyplainly signifiesτο πληθος,themultitude,or all mankind: thus the apostle speaks, Rom.v. 15.ofmany,asbeing dead by the offence of one,andby one man’s disobedience, manybeingmade sinners;which none, who allow all the world to have fallen in Adam, will suppose to be taken in any other sense. See other instances of the like nature in Glas. Phil. Sacr. Lib.v.Tract. 1. Cap.xv.

182.Vid. Poc. Not. Misc. in Maimon. Port. Mos. Cap.vi.who treats largely on this subject, and gives an account of the opinions of several Rabbinical writers concerning this matter; which renders it needless for me to refer to particular places.

183.Vid. Whitby in 1 Cor.xv. 44, 50.If by the bright and shining body, which this author speaks of, he intends that it shall be invested with some rays of glory in the heavenly state, as many others suppose: this, I think, none will deny since it agrees well with what the apostle says concerning the body’s being made like to Christ’s glorious body, and also what the prophet Daniel says, chap.xii. 2.concerning theirshining as the brightness of the firmament, and as the stars;or, as our Saviour says, Matt. xiii. 43. They shall shine as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.

184.We often read in Heathen-writers, of Æacus, Minus and Rhadamanthus, as appointed to pass a judgment on every one at death, fix them in their respective places of residence, and determine their rewards and punishments. These are generally supposed to have lived about Moses’s time, and are commended for the exercise of justice, and making laws, some of which they are supposed to have received from heaven; and as the reward hereof, have the honour, of being judges of men at death, conferred upon them. Some have been ready to conclude that the account which the Heathen give of these three famous law-givers and judges, is nothing else but a corruption of a tradition which they had received concerning Moses, the great law-giver to the Israelites, set forth by different names, with several things fabulous added thereunto. They who have a mind to see a very learned and critical disquisition on this subject, may consult Huet Demonst. Evang. Prop.iv. § 9-13.And as for the variety of punishments which these judges inflicted, the lakes and rivers of fire to which they are condemned, see Plato’s account thereof, translated by Eusebius, in Præp. Evang. Lib.xi.Cap.xxxvii.who thinks that some things mentioned by him, bear a resemblance to the punishment of sin, which we read of in scripture, which he supposes he received by tradition, from some that were acquainted with divine revelation, as he did many other things which he speaks of in his writings.

185.See Vol. II. Quest. LVI.

186.Matt.xxiv. 31.This is the most common sense of those words; and how far soever they are supposed, by some, to be taken in a figurative sense, for the preaching of the gospel throughout the whole world, after the destruction of the Jewish state, which some have supposed, is principally intended by what is mentioned in the foregoing verses; yet most conclude that several things in this account of Christ’s glorious appearance, are not without some allusion, at least to what shall be more eminently accomplished, when he shall come to judgment.

187.Curcellæus in Dissert. de necessit. cognit. Christ.§ vi.

188.Of this opinion were some among the Papists, and particularly Cornelius a Lapide, Vid. ejusd. comment in Loc. who describes it as a place situate at the foot of the mount of Olives, in or near the place where our Saviour was in his agony betrayed and delivered by Judas, into the hands of his enemies. Therefore this will be, according to him, the fittest place for him to execute judgment upon them, and to appear in this triumphant and glorious manner, in order thereunto. And this is mentioned by many Jewish writers, who maintained it. Thus the author of the Chaldee Paraphrase on Canticlesviii. 5.speaks to this purpose, that the dead shall be raised, and the mountain of Olives shall be cleft, and all the dead of Israel shall come out from thence; and that the just, who died in the captivity, and consequently were not buried in or near that place, shall come through the caverns of the earth, that they may here arise to judgment. And several Rabbinical writers give into this chimera, which is also mentioned in both the Talmuds. And many of the modern Jews, as is observed by some late travellers into the holy land, are so fond of burying their dead in or near this place, that they might not have far to come under the earth, when they rise from the dead, and must appear here at the day of judgment, that they pay a certain sum of money for the privilege of burying their dead therein. See Hody on the resurrection, Page 70, 71.

189.See his works, Lib.iii.Comment. apocal. page 662. and his remains, chap.xi.page 748. in which he is followed by some others, and the learned Gale, in his court of the Gentiles, PartI.Bookiii.chap.vii.Page 78. speaks of some Jewish writers as maintaining, that the world shall continue 6000 years; and from thence to the 7000th shall be the day of judgment. And he also mentions this as an opinion which Plato had received by conversing with some of them; and concludes, that this is the great Platonick year, which is mentioned by him, and his followers.

190.See this largely insisted on by Dr. Goodwin, in his works, Vol.III.Bookxiii.His critical remarks in chap.ii.seem very just, viz.thatαποis causal here, as well as in many other scriptures which he refers to: and his strongest argument to prove that it is to be taken so in this verse, is, because, as he observes, αποmust be applied tothe glory of his power,as well as tohis presence;so that if it denotes a separation from the one, it must also denote a separation from the other; whereas no one supposes that this punishment consists in a separation from the power of God, but that it is to be considered as the effect thereof.

191.Or, shall God, who justifieth?

192.Vid Wits. in Symb. Exercit.22. § 18-20.

193.See Vol. I. Page 286

194.What speech can be without atmosphere, and without flesh?

195.God is aninfinitebeing. This also is a principle established by both natural and revealed religion. The soul of man is finite, and, to whatever perfection it may be advanced, it will always continue to be so. This is another indisputable principle. It would imply a contradiction to affirm, that an infinite Spirit can be seen, orfullyknown, in a strict literal sense, as it is, by a finite spirit. The human soul, therefore, being a finite spirit, can never perfectly see, that is, fully comprehend,as he is, God, who is an infinite spirit. The proposition in our text, then, necessarily requires some restriction. This inference arises immediate from the two principles now laid down, and this second consequence furnishes another ground of our reflections.But, although it would be absurd to suppose, that God, an infinite spirit, can be fully known by a finite human spirit, yet there is no absurdity in affirming, God cancommunicatehimself to a man in a very close and intimate manner proper to transform him. This may be done four ways. There are, we conceive, four sorts of communications; a communication of ideas; a communication of love; a communication of virtue, and a communication of felicity. In these four ways,we shall see God, and by thus seeing himas he is, we shall be like himin these four respects. We will endeavour by discussing each of these articles to explain them clearly; and here all your attention will be necessary, for without this our whole discourse will be nothing to you but a sound, destitute of reason and sense.The first communication will be a communication ofideas. We shallsee God as he is, because we shall participate his ideas; and by seeing God as he is, we shall becomelike him, because the knowledge of his ideas will rectify ours, and will render them like his. To know the ideas of an imperfect being is not to participate his imperfections. An accurate mind may know the ideas of an inaccurate mind without admitting them. But to know the ideas of a perfect spirit is to participate his perfections; because to know his ideas is to know them as they are, and to know them as they are is to perceive the evidence of them. When, therefore, God shall communicate his ideas to us,we shall be like him, by the conformity of our ideas to his.What are the ideas of God? They are clear in their nature; they are clear in their images; they are perfect in their degree; they are complex in their relations; and they are complete in their number. In all these respects the ideas of God are infinitely superior to the ideas of men.1. Men are full offalsenotions. Their ideas are often the very reverse of the objects, of which they should be clear representations. We have false ideas in physic, false ideas in policy, false ideas in religion. We have false ideas of honour and of disgrace, of felicity and of misery. Hence we often mistake fancy for reason, and shadow for substance. But God hath onlytrueideas. His idea of order is an exact representation of order. His idea of irregularity exactly answers to irregularity; and so of all other objects. He will make us know his ideas, and by making us know them he will rectify ours.2. Men have oftenobscureideas. They only see glimmerings. They perceive appearances rather than demonstrations. They are placed in a world of probabilities, and, in consideration of this state, in which it has pleased the Creator to place them, they have more need of a course of reasoning on a new plan, to teach them how a rational creature ought to conduct himself, when he is surrounded by probabilities, than of a course of reasoning and determining, which supposes him surrounded with demonstration. But God hath onlyclearideas. No veil covers objects; no darkness obscure his ideas of them. When he shallappear, he will communicate his ideas to us, and they will rectify ours, he will cause the scales, that hide objects from us, to fall from our eyes; and he will dissipate the clouds, which prevent our clear conception of them.3. Men have very few ideas perfect indegree. They see only the surface of objects. Who, in all the world, hath a perfect idea of matter? Who ever had perfect ideas of spirit? Who could ever exactly define either? Who was ever able to inform us how the idea of motion results from that of body; how the idea of sensation results from that of spirit? Who ever knew to which class space belongs? It would be very easy, my brethren, to increase this list, would time permit; and were I not prevented by knowing, that they, who are incapable of understanding these articles, have already in their own minds pronounced them destitute of all sense and reason. But God hathperfectideas. His ideas comprehend the whole of all objects. He will communicate to us this disposition of mind, and will give us such a penetration as shall enable us to attain the knowledge of the essence of beings, and to contemplate them in their whole.4. Men have very few ideascomplexin their relations. I mean, their minds are so limited, that, although they may be capable of combining a certain number of ideas, yet they are confounded by combining a greater number. We have distinct ideas of units, and we are capable of combining a few: but as soon as we add hundred to hundred, million to million, the little capacity of our souls is overwhelmed with the multitude of these objects, and our weakness obliges us to sink under the weight. We have a few ideas of motion. We know what space of body, to which a certain degree of velocity is communicated, must pass through in a given time: but as soon as we suppose a greater degree of motion, as soon as we imagine an augmentation of velocity to this greater degree; as soon as we try to apply our knowledge of moving powers to those enormous bodies, which the mighty hand of God guides in the immensity of space, we are involved in perplexity and confusion. But God conceivesinfinite combinations. He will make us participate, as far as our minds can, his ideas; so that we shall be able to give a large expanse to our meditation without any fear of confusing ourselves.5. In fine, the ideas of mankind are incomplete in theirnumber. Most men think, there are only two sorts of beings, body and spirit; and they have also determined, that there can be only two. A rash decision in itself: but more rash still in a creature so confined in his genius as man. But the ideas of God arecomplete. He knows all possible beings. He will make us participate this disposition of mind, and from it may arise ideas of myriads of beings, on which now we cannot reason, because now we have no ideas of them. A communication of ideas is the first way, in which God will make himself known to us. This will be the first trait of our resemblance of him.We shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.The second communication of God to a beatified soul is a communication of love. We cannot possibly partake of the ideas of God without participating his love. To participate the ideas of God is to possess just notions. To possess just notions is to place each object in the rank, that is due to it; consequently, we shall regard the chief being as the only object of supreme love.What is necessary to answer the idea, that an upright soul forms of the lovely? The lovely object must answer three ideas: the idea of the great and marvellous; the idea of the just; and the idea of the good: and, if I may venture to speak so, of the beatifying. Now, it is impossible to know God without entertaining these three ideas of him alone; consequently it is impossible to know God without loving him. And this is the reason of our profound admiration of the morality of the gospel. The morality of the gospel is the very quintessence of order. It informs us, no creature deserves supreme love. It makes this principle the substance of its laws.Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, Matt. xxii. 37.How worthy of supreme love will this God appear, how fully will he answer the idea of thegreatand themarvellous, whenwe shall see him as he is! He will answer it by his independence. Creatures exist: but they have only a borrowed being. God derives his existence from none. He is a self-existent being. He will answer our idea of the magnificent by the immutability of his nature. Creatures exist: but they have no fixed and permanent being. They arise from nothing to existence. Their existence is rather variation and inconstancy than real being. But God, butI the Lord, says he of himself,I change not, Mal. iii. 6.the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever, Heb. xiii. 8. He is, as it were, the fixed point, on which all creatures revolve, while he is neither moved by their motion, shaken by their action, nor in the least imaginable degree altered by all their countless vicissitudes. He will answer the idea of the great and marvellous by the efficiency of his will. Creatures have some efficient acts of violation: but none of themselves.—But go back to that period, in which there was nothing. Figure to yourselves those immense voids, which preceded the formation of the universe, and represent to yourself God alone. He forms the plan of the world. He regulates the whole design. He assigns an epoch of duration to it in a point of eternity. This act of his will produces this whole universe. Hence a sun, a moon, and stars. Hence earth and sea, rivers and fields. Hence kings, princes, and philosophers.He spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast. The heavens were made by the word of the Lord, and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth, Psal. xxxiii. 9. God, then, perfectly answers our idea of the grand and the marvellous. He answers also the idea of the just.It was he, who gave us an idea ofjusticeor order. It was he, who made the greatest sacrifices to it. It was he, who moved heaven and earth to re-establish it, and who testified how dear it was to him by sacrificing the most worthy victim, that could possibly suffer, I mean his only Son.Finally, God will perfectly answer our idea of thegoodand thebeatifying. Who can come up to it except a God, who opens to his creatures an access of his treasures? A God, who reveals himself to them in order to take them away from theirbroken cisterns, and to conduct them to afountain of living waters, Jer. ii. 13. A God, whose eternal wisdom cries to mankind,Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money, come ye, buy and eat, yea come, buy wine and milk without money, and without price. Wherefore do ye spend money for that, which is not bread? and your labour for that, which satisfieth not? Hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that, which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. Incline your ear, and come unto me; hear, and your soul shall live.Isa. lv. 1-3.We cannot, then, know God without loving him. And thus a communication of ideas leads to a communication of love. But this communication of love will render uslikethe God, whom we admire. For the property of love, in a soul inflamed with it, is to transform it in some sort into the object of its admiration. This is particularly proper to divine love. We love God, because we know his attributes; when we know his attributes, we know, we can no better contribute to the perfection of our being than by imitating them, and the desire we have to perfect our being will necessitate us to apply wholly to imitate them, and to becomelike him.Let us pass to our third consideration. The third communication of God to a beatified soul is a communication of hisvirtues. To love and to obey, in Scripture-style, is the same thing.If ye love me, keep my commandments, is a well-known expression of Jesus Christ, John xiv. 15.He, who saith I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him, is an expression of our apostle, 1 John ii. 4. This is not peculiar to the love of God. To love and to obey, even in civil society, are usually two things, which have a very close connexion. But, as no creature hath ever excited all the love, of which a soul is capable, so there is no creature, to whom we have rendered a perfect obedience. It is only in regard to God, that there is an inseparable connexion between obedience and love. For when we love God, because we know him, we are soon convinced, that he cannot ordain any thing to his creature but what is useful to him; when we are convinced, he can ordain nothing to be performed by his creature but what is useful to him, it becomes as impossible not to obey him as it is not to love ourselves. To love and to obey is one thing, then, when the object in question is a being supremely lovely. These are demonstrations; but to obey God, and to keep his commandments, is to belike God.The commandments of God are formed on the idea of the divine perfections. God hath an idea of order; he loves it; he follows it; and this is all he ever hath required, and all he ever will require of his intelligent creatures. He requires us to know order, to love it, to follow it. An intelligent creature, therefore, who shall be brought to obey the commandments of God, will belike God.Be ye perfect, as your Father, which is in heaven, is perfect, Matt. v. 48.Be ye holy, for I am holy, 1 Pet. i. 16.Every man, that hath this hope in him, purifieth himself even as he is pure, 1 John iii. 3. These precepts are given us here on earth, and we obey them imperfectly now; but we shall yield a perfect obedience to them in heaven, when we shallsee him as he is. Here, our apostle affirms,Whosoever sinneth, hath not seen him, neither known him, ver. 6. that is to say, he who suffers sin to reign over him, doth not know God; for if he knew God, he would have just ideas of God, he would love him; and, if he loved him, he would imitate him. But in heaven we shall see, and know him, we shall not sin, we shall imitate him,we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.Lastly, the fourth communication of the Deity with beatified souls is a communication offelicity. In an economy of order, to be holy and to be happy are two things very closely connected. Now we are in an economy of disorder. Accordingly, virtue and felicity do not always keep company together, and it sometimes happens, that forhaving hope in Christ we are, for a while,of all men most miserable, 1 Cor. xv. 19. But this economy of disorder must be abolished. Order must be established. St. Peter, speaking of Jesus Christ, says,The heavens must receive him until the times of the restitution of all things, Acts iii. 21. When all things shall be restored, virtue and happiness will be closely united, and, consequently, by participating the holiness of God we shall participate his happiness.Sayrin.

But, although it would be absurd to suppose, that God, an infinite spirit, can be fully known by a finite human spirit, yet there is no absurdity in affirming, God cancommunicatehimself to a man in a very close and intimate manner proper to transform him. This may be done four ways. There are, we conceive, four sorts of communications; a communication of ideas; a communication of love; a communication of virtue, and a communication of felicity. In these four ways,we shall see God, and by thus seeing himas he is, we shall be like himin these four respects. We will endeavour by discussing each of these articles to explain them clearly; and here all your attention will be necessary, for without this our whole discourse will be nothing to you but a sound, destitute of reason and sense.

The first communication will be a communication ofideas. We shallsee God as he is, because we shall participate his ideas; and by seeing God as he is, we shall becomelike him, because the knowledge of his ideas will rectify ours, and will render them like his. To know the ideas of an imperfect being is not to participate his imperfections. An accurate mind may know the ideas of an inaccurate mind without admitting them. But to know the ideas of a perfect spirit is to participate his perfections; because to know his ideas is to know them as they are, and to know them as they are is to perceive the evidence of them. When, therefore, God shall communicate his ideas to us,we shall be like him, by the conformity of our ideas to his.

What are the ideas of God? They are clear in their nature; they are clear in their images; they are perfect in their degree; they are complex in their relations; and they are complete in their number. In all these respects the ideas of God are infinitely superior to the ideas of men.

1. Men are full offalsenotions. Their ideas are often the very reverse of the objects, of which they should be clear representations. We have false ideas in physic, false ideas in policy, false ideas in religion. We have false ideas of honour and of disgrace, of felicity and of misery. Hence we often mistake fancy for reason, and shadow for substance. But God hath onlytrueideas. His idea of order is an exact representation of order. His idea of irregularity exactly answers to irregularity; and so of all other objects. He will make us know his ideas, and by making us know them he will rectify ours.

2. Men have oftenobscureideas. They only see glimmerings. They perceive appearances rather than demonstrations. They are placed in a world of probabilities, and, in consideration of this state, in which it has pleased the Creator to place them, they have more need of a course of reasoning on a new plan, to teach them how a rational creature ought to conduct himself, when he is surrounded by probabilities, than of a course of reasoning and determining, which supposes him surrounded with demonstration. But God hath onlyclearideas. No veil covers objects; no darkness obscure his ideas of them. When he shallappear, he will communicate his ideas to us, and they will rectify ours, he will cause the scales, that hide objects from us, to fall from our eyes; and he will dissipate the clouds, which prevent our clear conception of them.

3. Men have very few ideas perfect indegree. They see only the surface of objects. Who, in all the world, hath a perfect idea of matter? Who ever had perfect ideas of spirit? Who could ever exactly define either? Who was ever able to inform us how the idea of motion results from that of body; how the idea of sensation results from that of spirit? Who ever knew to which class space belongs? It would be very easy, my brethren, to increase this list, would time permit; and were I not prevented by knowing, that they, who are incapable of understanding these articles, have already in their own minds pronounced them destitute of all sense and reason. But God hathperfectideas. His ideas comprehend the whole of all objects. He will communicate to us this disposition of mind, and will give us such a penetration as shall enable us to attain the knowledge of the essence of beings, and to contemplate them in their whole.

4. Men have very few ideascomplexin their relations. I mean, their minds are so limited, that, although they may be capable of combining a certain number of ideas, yet they are confounded by combining a greater number. We have distinct ideas of units, and we are capable of combining a few: but as soon as we add hundred to hundred, million to million, the little capacity of our souls is overwhelmed with the multitude of these objects, and our weakness obliges us to sink under the weight. We have a few ideas of motion. We know what space of body, to which a certain degree of velocity is communicated, must pass through in a given time: but as soon as we suppose a greater degree of motion, as soon as we imagine an augmentation of velocity to this greater degree; as soon as we try to apply our knowledge of moving powers to those enormous bodies, which the mighty hand of God guides in the immensity of space, we are involved in perplexity and confusion. But God conceivesinfinite combinations. He will make us participate, as far as our minds can, his ideas; so that we shall be able to give a large expanse to our meditation without any fear of confusing ourselves.

5. In fine, the ideas of mankind are incomplete in theirnumber. Most men think, there are only two sorts of beings, body and spirit; and they have also determined, that there can be only two. A rash decision in itself: but more rash still in a creature so confined in his genius as man. But the ideas of God arecomplete. He knows all possible beings. He will make us participate this disposition of mind, and from it may arise ideas of myriads of beings, on which now we cannot reason, because now we have no ideas of them. A communication of ideas is the first way, in which God will make himself known to us. This will be the first trait of our resemblance of him.We shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.

The second communication of God to a beatified soul is a communication of love. We cannot possibly partake of the ideas of God without participating his love. To participate the ideas of God is to possess just notions. To possess just notions is to place each object in the rank, that is due to it; consequently, we shall regard the chief being as the only object of supreme love.

What is necessary to answer the idea, that an upright soul forms of the lovely? The lovely object must answer three ideas: the idea of the great and marvellous; the idea of the just; and the idea of the good: and, if I may venture to speak so, of the beatifying. Now, it is impossible to know God without entertaining these three ideas of him alone; consequently it is impossible to know God without loving him. And this is the reason of our profound admiration of the morality of the gospel. The morality of the gospel is the very quintessence of order. It informs us, no creature deserves supreme love. It makes this principle the substance of its laws.Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, Matt. xxii. 37.

How worthy of supreme love will this God appear, how fully will he answer the idea of thegreatand themarvellous, whenwe shall see him as he is! He will answer it by his independence. Creatures exist: but they have only a borrowed being. God derives his existence from none. He is a self-existent being. He will answer our idea of the magnificent by the immutability of his nature. Creatures exist: but they have no fixed and permanent being. They arise from nothing to existence. Their existence is rather variation and inconstancy than real being. But God, butI the Lord, says he of himself,I change not, Mal. iii. 6.the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever, Heb. xiii. 8. He is, as it were, the fixed point, on which all creatures revolve, while he is neither moved by their motion, shaken by their action, nor in the least imaginable degree altered by all their countless vicissitudes. He will answer the idea of the great and marvellous by the efficiency of his will. Creatures have some efficient acts of violation: but none of themselves.—But go back to that period, in which there was nothing. Figure to yourselves those immense voids, which preceded the formation of the universe, and represent to yourself God alone. He forms the plan of the world. He regulates the whole design. He assigns an epoch of duration to it in a point of eternity. This act of his will produces this whole universe. Hence a sun, a moon, and stars. Hence earth and sea, rivers and fields. Hence kings, princes, and philosophers.He spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast. The heavens were made by the word of the Lord, and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth, Psal. xxxiii. 9. God, then, perfectly answers our idea of the grand and the marvellous. He answers also the idea of the just.

It was he, who gave us an idea ofjusticeor order. It was he, who made the greatest sacrifices to it. It was he, who moved heaven and earth to re-establish it, and who testified how dear it was to him by sacrificing the most worthy victim, that could possibly suffer, I mean his only Son.

Finally, God will perfectly answer our idea of thegoodand thebeatifying. Who can come up to it except a God, who opens to his creatures an access of his treasures? A God, who reveals himself to them in order to take them away from theirbroken cisterns, and to conduct them to afountain of living waters, Jer. ii. 13. A God, whose eternal wisdom cries to mankind,Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money, come ye, buy and eat, yea come, buy wine and milk without money, and without price. Wherefore do ye spend money for that, which is not bread? and your labour for that, which satisfieth not? Hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that, which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. Incline your ear, and come unto me; hear, and your soul shall live.Isa. lv. 1-3.

We cannot, then, know God without loving him. And thus a communication of ideas leads to a communication of love. But this communication of love will render uslikethe God, whom we admire. For the property of love, in a soul inflamed with it, is to transform it in some sort into the object of its admiration. This is particularly proper to divine love. We love God, because we know his attributes; when we know his attributes, we know, we can no better contribute to the perfection of our being than by imitating them, and the desire we have to perfect our being will necessitate us to apply wholly to imitate them, and to becomelike him.

Let us pass to our third consideration. The third communication of God to a beatified soul is a communication of hisvirtues. To love and to obey, in Scripture-style, is the same thing.If ye love me, keep my commandments, is a well-known expression of Jesus Christ, John xiv. 15.He, who saith I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him, is an expression of our apostle, 1 John ii. 4. This is not peculiar to the love of God. To love and to obey, even in civil society, are usually two things, which have a very close connexion. But, as no creature hath ever excited all the love, of which a soul is capable, so there is no creature, to whom we have rendered a perfect obedience. It is only in regard to God, that there is an inseparable connexion between obedience and love. For when we love God, because we know him, we are soon convinced, that he cannot ordain any thing to his creature but what is useful to him; when we are convinced, he can ordain nothing to be performed by his creature but what is useful to him, it becomes as impossible not to obey him as it is not to love ourselves. To love and to obey is one thing, then, when the object in question is a being supremely lovely. These are demonstrations; but to obey God, and to keep his commandments, is to belike God.

The commandments of God are formed on the idea of the divine perfections. God hath an idea of order; he loves it; he follows it; and this is all he ever hath required, and all he ever will require of his intelligent creatures. He requires us to know order, to love it, to follow it. An intelligent creature, therefore, who shall be brought to obey the commandments of God, will belike God.Be ye perfect, as your Father, which is in heaven, is perfect, Matt. v. 48.Be ye holy, for I am holy, 1 Pet. i. 16.Every man, that hath this hope in him, purifieth himself even as he is pure, 1 John iii. 3. These precepts are given us here on earth, and we obey them imperfectly now; but we shall yield a perfect obedience to them in heaven, when we shallsee him as he is. Here, our apostle affirms,Whosoever sinneth, hath not seen him, neither known him, ver. 6. that is to say, he who suffers sin to reign over him, doth not know God; for if he knew God, he would have just ideas of God, he would love him; and, if he loved him, he would imitate him. But in heaven we shall see, and know him, we shall not sin, we shall imitate him,we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.

Lastly, the fourth communication of the Deity with beatified souls is a communication offelicity. In an economy of order, to be holy and to be happy are two things very closely connected. Now we are in an economy of disorder. Accordingly, virtue and felicity do not always keep company together, and it sometimes happens, that forhaving hope in Christ we are, for a while,of all men most miserable, 1 Cor. xv. 19. But this economy of disorder must be abolished. Order must be established. St. Peter, speaking of Jesus Christ, says,The heavens must receive him until the times of the restitution of all things, Acts iii. 21. When all things shall be restored, virtue and happiness will be closely united, and, consequently, by participating the holiness of God we shall participate his happiness.

Sayrin.

196.“It may be asked, Is there noreasonornatureof things? Yes; as certainly as there are things. But the nature and reason of things, consideredindependentlyof the divine Will, orwithoutit, have no moreobligationin them, than adivine worshipconsidered independently of, and without any regard to theexistenceof God. For theWillof God is as absolutely necessary to found allmoral obligationupon, as the existence of God is necessary to be the foundation of religious worship. And the fitness ofmoral obligations, without theWillof God, is only like the fitness of areligiousworship without theexistenceof God.And it is as just to say, that he destroys thereasonof religion and piety, who founds it upon the nature and existence of God, as to say, he saps the foundation of moral obligations, who founds them upon the Will of God. And as religion cannot be justly or solidly defended, but by shewing its connexion with, and dependance upon, God’s existence; so neither can moral obligations be asserted with strength and reason, but by shewing them to be the Will of God.It may again be asked, Can God make that fit inits self, which is inits self absolutelyunfit to be done?This question consists of improper terms. For God’s Will no more makes actions to be fitin themselves, than it makesthingsto existin, or of themselves. No things, nor any actions, have anyabsolutefitness, and inthemselves.Agift, ablow, the making awound, orsheddingofblood, considered in themselves, have noabsolutefitness, but are fit or unfit according to any variety of incidental circumstances.When therefore God, by his Will, makes any thing fit to be done, he does not make the thing fit inits self, which is just in thesame stateconsidered inits self, as it was before; but, it becomes fit for the person to do it, because he can be happy, or do that which is fit for him to do, by doing the Will of God.For instance, thebare eatinga fruit, considered inits self, is neither fit nor unfit. If a fruit be appointed by God for our food and nourishment, then it is as fit to eat it, as to preserve our lives. If a fruit be poisonous, then it is as unfit to eat it, as to commit self-murder. If eating of a fruit be prohibited by an express order of God, then it is as unfit to eat it, as to eat our own damnation.But in none of these instances is the eating or not eating, considered inits self,fitorunfit; but has all its fitness, or unfitness, from such circumstances, as are entirely owing to the Will of God.Supposing, therefore, God to require a person to do something, which, according to his present circumstances,withoutthat command, he ought not to do, God does not make that which isabsolutelyunfit initself, fit to be done; but only addsnew circumstancesto an action, that is neither fit nor unfit, moral nor immoral initself, butbecauseof its circumstances.To instance, in the case ofAbrahamrequired to sacrifice his son. The killing of a man is neither good nor bad, consideredabsolutelyinits self. It was unlawful forAbrahamto kill his son, because of thecircumstanceshe was in with regard to his son. But when the divine Command was given,Abrahamwas in anew state; the action hadnew circumstances; and then it was as lawful forAbrahamto kill his son, as it was lawful for God to require any man’s life, either bysickness, or anyother meanshe should please to appoint.And it had been as unlawful forAbrahamto have disobeyed God in this extraordinary command, as to have cursed God at anyordinary calamityof providence.—Again, it is objected,If there be nothing right or wrong, good or bad, antecedently and independently of the Will of God, there can be no reason, why God should will, or command one thing, rather than another.It is answered,first, That all goodness, and all possible perfection, is aseternalas God, and asessentialto him as his existence. And to say, that they are eitherantecedentorconsequent,dependentorindependentof his Will, would be equally absurd. To ask, therefore, whether there be not something right and wrong, antecedent to the Will of God, to render his Willcapableof being right, is as absurd, as to ask for some antecedent cause of his existence, that he may be proved to exist necessarily. And to ask, how God can be good, if there be not something good independently of him, is asking how he can be infinite, if there be not something infinite independently of him. And, to seek for any othersourceorreasonof the divine Goodness, besides the divine Nature, is like seeking for some external cause, and help of the divine omnipotence.The goodness and wisdom, therefore, by which God is wise and good, and to which all his works of wisdom and goodness are owing, are neitherantecedent, norconsequentto his Will.—”Human reason.

And it is as just to say, that he destroys thereasonof religion and piety, who founds it upon the nature and existence of God, as to say, he saps the foundation of moral obligations, who founds them upon the Will of God. And as religion cannot be justly or solidly defended, but by shewing its connexion with, and dependance upon, God’s existence; so neither can moral obligations be asserted with strength and reason, but by shewing them to be the Will of God.

It may again be asked, Can God make that fit inits self, which is inits self absolutelyunfit to be done?

This question consists of improper terms. For God’s Will no more makes actions to be fitin themselves, than it makesthingsto existin, or of themselves. No things, nor any actions, have anyabsolutefitness, and inthemselves.

Agift, ablow, the making awound, orsheddingofblood, considered in themselves, have noabsolutefitness, but are fit or unfit according to any variety of incidental circumstances.

When therefore God, by his Will, makes any thing fit to be done, he does not make the thing fit inits self, which is just in thesame stateconsidered inits self, as it was before; but, it becomes fit for the person to do it, because he can be happy, or do that which is fit for him to do, by doing the Will of God.

For instance, thebare eatinga fruit, considered inits self, is neither fit nor unfit. If a fruit be appointed by God for our food and nourishment, then it is as fit to eat it, as to preserve our lives. If a fruit be poisonous, then it is as unfit to eat it, as to commit self-murder. If eating of a fruit be prohibited by an express order of God, then it is as unfit to eat it, as to eat our own damnation.

But in none of these instances is the eating or not eating, considered inits self,fitorunfit; but has all its fitness, or unfitness, from such circumstances, as are entirely owing to the Will of God.

Supposing, therefore, God to require a person to do something, which, according to his present circumstances,withoutthat command, he ought not to do, God does not make that which isabsolutelyunfit initself, fit to be done; but only addsnew circumstancesto an action, that is neither fit nor unfit, moral nor immoral initself, butbecauseof its circumstances.

To instance, in the case ofAbrahamrequired to sacrifice his son. The killing of a man is neither good nor bad, consideredabsolutelyinits self. It was unlawful forAbrahamto kill his son, because of thecircumstanceshe was in with regard to his son. But when the divine Command was given,Abrahamwas in anew state; the action hadnew circumstances; and then it was as lawful forAbrahamto kill his son, as it was lawful for God to require any man’s life, either bysickness, or anyother meanshe should please to appoint.

And it had been as unlawful forAbrahamto have disobeyed God in this extraordinary command, as to have cursed God at anyordinary calamityof providence.—

Again, it is objected,If there be nothing right or wrong, good or bad, antecedently and independently of the Will of God, there can be no reason, why God should will, or command one thing, rather than another.

It is answered,first, That all goodness, and all possible perfection, is aseternalas God, and asessentialto him as his existence. And to say, that they are eitherantecedentorconsequent,dependentorindependentof his Will, would be equally absurd. To ask, therefore, whether there be not something right and wrong, antecedent to the Will of God, to render his Willcapableof being right, is as absurd, as to ask for some antecedent cause of his existence, that he may be proved to exist necessarily. And to ask, how God can be good, if there be not something good independently of him, is asking how he can be infinite, if there be not something infinite independently of him. And, to seek for any othersourceorreasonof the divine Goodness, besides the divine Nature, is like seeking for some external cause, and help of the divine omnipotence.

The goodness and wisdom, therefore, by which God is wise and good, and to which all his works of wisdom and goodness are owing, are neitherantecedent, norconsequentto his Will.—”

Human reason.

197.See Quest.xvii.

198.It is a known maxim in the civil law, Cessante capacitate subditi non cessat obligatia.

199.Thus the wordהודה,is derived fromורה, didicit,orviam monstravit.

200.Vid. Cov. Hist. lit. Tom. I. Page 30.

201.Vid. Aug. de Hæres. Cap. liv. where speaking of Eunomius, he says, Fertur etiam usque adeo fuisse bonis moribus inimicus, ut asseveraret, quod nihil cuique obesset, quorumlibet perpetratio ac perseverantia peccatorum, si hujus quæ ab illo docebatur, fidei particeps esset.

202.See Slled. Comment. de Stat. Relig. & Repub. Lib.xii.

203.See a particular account hereof in Lev. xi 15. Chapters.

204.The former of these are generally styled the Elicit acts of religion, the latter the Imperate.

205.To this the poet’s observation might well be applied, Tantum religio potuit saudere malorum!Lucet. de Nat. Rer. Lib.1.And that human sacrifices were offered, appears from what we read of theking of Moab,whotook his eldest son, that should have reigned in his stead, and offered him for a burnt-offering, 2 Kings iii. 27.

206.Satan knew the state of the armies, and wished to drive Saul to despair.

207.Vid. Jos. Antq. Lib. II. Cap. 5.

208.See more of this in Vol. I. Page 226.

209.See Page498.

210.See Vol. I. Quest.iv.

211.Quest.xi.

212.Παρρησια.

213.If they appeal to God in an irreverent manner, they are a violation of this commandment. If they be not appeals to him, they are in fact, an application to him without any knowledge of him, and this is Atheism.

214.“The devoting of aseventh Part of Timein a holy manner to the Lord, belongs unchangeably to themoralnature and obligation of thefourth Commandment, which is transferred in the New Testament, from theseventhto thefirstday of the week. (SeeJohnxx. 26. andActsxx. 7.) To this it may not be amiss to add the judicious note of Mr.Kennicottin his dissertation on the oblations ofCainandAbel, p. 184, 185, where he says, ‘The sabbath, or weekly day of holiness, might well be called asign to theJews;’ for theJewishsabbath was asign, as being founded on a double reason, the second of which (theEgyptiandeliverance) evidently distinguished that people from all others, and was therefore as a sign constantly to remind them of the particular care of heaven, and what uncommon returns of goodness they were to make for so signal a deliverance. But there is great reason to believe, that the sabbath of theIsraeliteswas altered with their year, at their coming forth fromEgypt; and a short attention to this point may not be here improper, the case then seems to be this. At the finishing of the creation, God sanctified the seventh day; this seventh day, being the first day ofAdam’slife, was consecrated by way of first-fruits to God; and thereforeAdammay reasonably be supposed to havebeganhis computation of thedays of the weekwith thefirst whole dayof his own existence; thus the sabbath became the first day of the week; but when mankind fell from the worship of the true God, they first substituted the worship of the sun, in his place, and preserving the same weekly day of worship, but devoting it to the sun, the sabbath was calledSunday; for thatSundaywas the first day of the week, and is so still in the east, is proved by Mr.Selden(Jus. Nat. and Gent. Lib. 3. Cap. 22.) Thus thesabbath of the Patriarchscontinued to be theSunday of the idolaters, till the coming up of theIsraelitesout ofEgypt; and then, as God altered the beginning of their year, so he also changed the day of their worship fromSundaytoSaturday; the first reason of which might be, that asSundaywas the day of worship among the Idolaters, theIsraeliteswould be more likely to join with them, if they rested on the same day, than if they were to work on that day, and serve their God upon another. But a second reason certainly was, in order to perpetuate the memory oftheir deliverance on that day fromEgyptianslavery; forMoses, when he applies the fourth Commandment to the particular cases of his own people,Deut.v. 15, does not enforce it, as inEx.xx. 11. by the consideration ofGod’s resting on that daywhich was the sabbath of the Patriarchs; but binds it upon them by saying,Remember that thou wast a servant in Egypt, and that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand, and by a stretched-out arm; therefore the Lord thy God hath commandedTHEEto keep thisSABBATH-DAY. Allowing then the preceding observations, we immediately see, how the sabbath naturally reverted toSunday, after the abolition ofJudaismwithout any express command for the alteration. To which he adds a quotation from Bp.Cumberland, (Orig. Gent. Antiq. p. 400.) which speaks of theGentiles, as called, after Christ’s time into the same universal church with the Patriarchs; and another fromJustin Martyr, Την δε του ηλιου ημεραν κοινη παντες την συνελευσιν ποιουμεθα επειδη πρωτη εστιν ημερα, ενἡ ὁ θεος το σκοτος δε την υλην τρεψας, κοσμον εποιησε και Ιησους Χριστος ὁ ημετερος σωτηρ τη αυτη ημερα εκ νεκρων ανεστη. Apol c. s. 89. The purport of which is, that all Christians generally assembled for religious worship on theSunday; because it is the first day in which God finished the creation of the world; and on the same day of the week, Jesus Christ, our Saviour, rose from the dead.”Guyse.

Guyse.

215.Vid. Athanas. Hom. de Semente.

216.Vid. Ignat. Epist. ad Magn.And much more to the same purpose may be seen in a learned book, intitledDies Dominica,in cap.iii.& alibi passim.

217.Έν τῆ μιᾶ τᾶν σαββάτων.On the first from the Sabbath; so the Jews named the days of the week.

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