66 “strove, sins, though the eternal punishment is remitted; it hath no ground in the least. Our Saviour saying, "that the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost "shall not be forgiven in this world, or that which "is to come," is merely saying, it shall not be forgiven at all, but punished both here and hereafter. The prison, out of which, he saith, the person, who agrees not with his brother, "shall "not come, till he hath paid the last farthing," is either a literal prison of this world, or the prison of hell in the next, out of which the contentious and uncharitable shall never come, for they can never pay the last farthing. The spirits in prison to whom St. Peter saith, "Christ by his Spirit preached, (he saith also) were the disobedient in "the days of Noah," with whom "his Spirit "9 whilst they were on this earth; and who, for their disobedience, were sent, not to purgatory, but to a worse confinement. When St. Paul bids men "take heed how they build on the "foundation of Christianity; adding, that the "fire shall try every man's work; and if any man's "work shall be burnt, he shall suffer loss; but "still shall be saved, yet so as by fire:" he means, that persons must not mix doctrines of their own invention, with the Gospel of Christ, which, in this instance, among others, those of the Church of Rome have done; for when "the Lord Jesus shall "be revealed from heaven in flaming fire," to judge the world, such notions will not stand the trial; they that hold them will be losers by them; and though still they may be saved, it will be with difficulty and danger; as a person escapes, when his house is burning. When, lastly, many of the ancient Christians prayed for the dead; besides that they had no warrant for so doing, it was only (6) Matt. xii. 31, 32. (7) Matt. v. 26. (8) 1 Pet. iii. 18, 19, 20. (9) Gen. vi. 3. (1) 1 Cor. iii. 10,15. (2) 2 Thess. i. 7. for the completion of their happiness, whom they apprehended to be already in Paradise; it was for the apostles, saints, and martyrs; for the blessed Virgin herself, whom they certainly did not think to be in purgatory. And observe, if they prayed for them, they did not pray to them. Purgatory, then, is nothing, but an imaginary place invented by men, to give bad persons hope, and good persons dread of being put into it, that they may get what they can from both, by pretending to deliver them out of it again. Fear not, therefore, such vain terrors. "The souls of the righteous are in "the hands of the Lord; and there shall no tor"ment touch them."2 Those of the wicked, on the contrary, as they are to be hereafter with the devils, we may justly believe are, like them, now "delivered into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment:"3 and though the worst of their sufferings shall not begin till the day of judgment comes; yet are they represented by our Saviour, as being, instantly after death, in a place where they are tormented:"4 and, undoubtedly, the loss of their past pleasures and gains, remorse for their past follies and crimes, despair of pardon, and the "fearful looking for "of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall "devour them,"5 cannot but make their intermediate state intensely miserable; and what, then, will their final one be? God grant, that thinking frequently and seriously of these awful subjects, "we may know and consider, in this our day, the things that belong to our peace, before they are "(for ever) hid from our eyes."6 66 (2) Wisd. iii. 1. (3) 2 Pet. ii. 4. (5) Heb. x. 27. (4) Luke xvi. 25. (6) Luke xix. 42, LECTURE XVII. CREED. Articles XI. XII.-Part II. The Resurrection of the Body, and the Life Everlasting. UNDER the two last Articles of the Creed, as I have already observed to you, are comprehended four points of doctrine: I. That the souls of all men continue after death. II. That their bodies shall, at the last day, be raised up, and re-united to them. III. That both souls and bodies of good persons shall enjoy everlasting happiness. IV. That those of the wicked shall undergo everlasting punishment. The first of these, being the foundation of the rest; I chose to enlarge on the proof and explanation of it. Now I proceed to show, up II. That the bodies of all men shall be raised again, and re-united to their souls. This, reason alone cannot prove; and, accordingly, the Heathens were ignorant of it; but it carries with it no contradiction to reason in the least. For God is infinite both in power and knowledge; and it is unquestionably as possible to bring together and enliven the scattered parts of our body again, as it was to make them out of nothing, and give them life at first. And, therefore, since we must acknowledge the original formation of our bodies to have been of God, we have abundant cause to be assured that he can, after death, form them anew, whenever he pleases. And that this will be done, was probably implied in that general promise, made to our first parents, that "the seed of the woman, "(our blessed Lord) should bruise the serpent's head;" destroy his power; and, consequently, take away the curse under which he had brought mankind. For as part of that curse consists in the death of the body, it cannot be completely taken away, but by the resurrection of the body. In aftertimes, Abraham, we find, had so strong a belief of the possibility of this Article, that he was willing, on the divine command, to sacrifice his son: "reasoning, (as the Epistle to the Hebrews "teaches us) that God was able to raise him up "even from the dead." And, indeed, he could not be induced to do this by any other reasoning. God had promised him, that by his son Isaac, he should have a numerous posterity: and this promise he firmly believed. Now he must know, it could never be fulfilled, if Isaac was to be sacrificed, but by his rising again; and, therefore, he must be persuaded, that he would rise again for that purpose. On proceeding somewhat further in the sacred history, we find Job expressing himself on this head, if we at all understand his words, in very strong terms: "I know that my Redeemer "liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day 66 upon the earth. And though, after my skin, "this body be destroyed, yet in my flesh shall I "see God." Again, when Elijah was taken up alive into heaven, this must, surely, give an expectation, that the body, as well as the soul, was to partake of future happiness. And when the several persons, mentioned in the Old Testament, were raised up to life in this world, it could not but increase the probability of a general resurrection in the next. Then, in the book of Daniel, we have an express declaration, that a time should come, when "they who slept in the dust of the (5) Gen. iii. 15. (6) Heb. xi. 19, (7) So, I think the original should be translated. (8) Job xix. 26. "earth should awake: some to everlasting life, "and some to shame, and everlasting contempt. And, indeed, when those, whom we commonly call the three children, in the former part of the book, tell the king, that even though it were not the pleasure of God to deliver them from the fiery furnace, "yet would they not serve his God;"1 on what other principle could they so rationally, or did they so probably say this, as on that which the brethren in the book of Maccabees explicitly profess? There, one of them, stretching forth his hands to the torment, saith, "These I had from "heaven and for his laws I despise them; and "from him I hope to receive them again." Another, "it is good, being put to death by men, to "look for hope from God, to be raised up again "by him." And lastly, the mother declares to her children: "I neither gave you birth, nor life; nor was it I that formed your members: but, "doubtless, the Creator of the world, who formed "the generation of man, and found out the be"ginning of all things, will also, of his mercy, give 66 you breath and life again; as you now regard "not yourselves for his laws' sake."2 In the latter times, indeed, of the Jewish Church, not a few denied this doctrine: but much the greater number held it; " allowing (as St. Paul acquainted Felix) that there should be a resurrection, both "of the just and unjust."3 Yet still, the full confirmation of it was reserved for our Saviour to give: who, having in his lifetime, raised up three several persons, as you may read at large in the Evangelists, raised up himself from the dead, in the last place, to afford us the strongest demonstration possible, that he both can and will raise us all at the day of judgment. (9) Dan. xii. 2. (1) Dan. iii. 17, 18. (2) 2 Mac. vii. 10-23. |