indissoluble. The blessedness itself, too, will be no less permanent. The inheritance reserved for us in heaven, is "incorruptible, and undefiled, and fadeth not away." We are encouraged to wait for "a crown "of glory that fadeth not away."x 66 LXXVIII. And indeed if it is a real and solid blessedness, it must of necessity be permanent. Consider the matter in itself: when other circumstances are alike, any good is valuable in proportion to its duration; and the chief good, therefore, must be eternal. Attend to the impression of the matter in the human mind: how great soever any good may be, the thought of its coming to an end is distressing; and however long be its continuance, if it must be ended, it is impossible to avoid the thought of its termination. Nay, although it were never to end, whilst we have no assurance of its perpetual duration, it is hardly possible for us not to be seized with the fear of losing it. And wherever there is fear, there cannot be that fulness of joy which perfect happiness requires. Hence it appears that both the eternity of blessedness, and the full assurance of that eternity in the minds of the blessed, are essential to perfect felicity. It would be easy to illustrate these things at greater length, and the pleasantness of the subject is very alluring. But as we have elsewhere discoursed more fully on these topics, it may suffice to have here briefly adverted to the principal heads.* LXXIX. Since this is a discussion peculiarly calculated to make a deep impression on the human mind, * The Author seems to refer to his work On the Covenants, book iii. chap. 14. T. w 1 Pet. i. 4. * 1 Pet. v. 4. we must take care that it seem not to terminate only in frigid speculations. And first of all, the doctrine of so exalted a felicity tends to convince us of the Divine origin of the Gospel, by which it is revealed and exhibited. Examine the most ingenious discourses of Philosophers; consult the Koran of the Mahommedans; ask the modern doctors of the Jews. What have they to produce, which can at all be confronted with the felicity promised in the Gospel? Ever since our first parents lost their original happiness by the fall, the memory of that happiness is so worn out amongst their posterity, that they are capable of forming only an obscure and confused idea of the chief good; and, till they are enlightened by the Gospel, they universally embrace ashes instead of a treasure, shadows for substance, and nothings for realities. They seek, they search, they run, they pant; but they know neither for what, nor how they should strive. And when they flatter themselves that they have attained an object which will at last satisfy their eager mind, they soon find that their thirst is rather augmented than extinguished. For either they are deprived of the good things which they have long sought, after having possessed them for a short time; or their precarious felicity is destroyed by enjoyment itself, injures the possessor, and inflames the mind with new and equally tormenting desires." LXXX. The wisest among the heathen rather supposed and conjectured, than knew, something about the subsistence of the soul after the termination of the present life. A few of them, by a vague tradition, had heard of the resurrection of the body; the meaning of Comp. Is. xxix. 8. Comp. Is. lix. 10. which they saw as through a mist, having no solid argument by which they could establish, to their own satisfaction, the truth of so wonderful a doctrine. But whereas the Philosophers employed themselves in anxious inquiries relating to the chief good; whereas Epicurus with his followers denied the immortality of the soul, while with much wavering and hesitation it was defended by Socrates and Plato, and held only as an uncertain conjecture by the Brahmins of India and the Druids of Gaul; and whereas the Poets enveloped the whole doctrine of a future state in numberless fables;-the glories of eternity are now clearly and certainly revealed in the Gospel, that we may not only believe, but so anticipate them in our own souls, that from what we now possess, perceive, and taste, our faith may rise to full assurance. LXXXI. Mahommed, when he intends to point out the highest rewards which he teaches his followers to expect, speaks of nothing but carnal enjoyments. The splendid mansions of Paradise; chambers containing couches of gold, and strewed with silk, tapestry, and precious stones; an unknown abundance of silver and gold; waters whiter than snow and sweeter than honey, and nigh them as many crystal glasses as there are stars in heaven; a table of adamant, with chairs of gold and silver; oranges to be presented to each of the guests, which they no sooner smell, than straightway, the most beautiful virgins burst forth from them to embrace the followers of Mahommed ;-these, and other things of the same sort, or still more absurd, which it would be tedious and disgusting to detail, are the remunerations which that impostor proposes. LXXXII. Nor do the Jews discover a greater share of wisdom and sobriety, when they talk of the magnificent feast of their Messiah, consisting of a woodland ox formed and fattened for the purpose, of the fish Leviathan, of the bird Bar Juchna, and of wines of the most delicate flavour produced in paradise, and reserved in Adam's cellar till the last day. Their ravings about these things are so ridiculous, that Manasseh himself was ashamed of them, and laboured strenuously, how unsuccessfully soever, to convert them into allegories. They entertain opinions wretchedly erroneous with regard to the condition of separate souls; which they represent as wandering about their own corpses, prompted by the love they bear for them, for a whole year after death; and as frequently employed for performing magical arts, by Demons that infest the air. The metempsychosis also, or the transmigration of souls into other bodies, was believed by the ancient Pharisees; and it is still maintained by the modern Cabbalists. They debase, too, the doctrine of the resurrection, by a multitude of fables, such as that which they tell of an incorruptible small bone in the chine-bone of the back, from which alone, after the rest of the body shall have been consumed, it may be entirely recovered and restored; and of a certain celestial dew, by which that bone is to be mollified and extended, like leaven which diffuses itself through the whole mass;-to pass over the fable of the rolling of bodies through secret passages of the earth to Palestine, that they may be raised up in that country. All these notions are equally contrary to the dictates of sound reason, and the doctrine of sacred writ. LXXXIII. How much more noble and sublime is the divine doctrine of the Gospel, which teaches us that the happiness of man is not to be sought in created objects, far less in those gross and animal pleasures VOL. II. 3 P 37. which gratify his bodily appetites; but in the pious contemplation, the delightful enjoyment, and the holy resemblance of the Supreme Being:-that, through the grace of God and of Christ, the beginnings of these felicities are imparted to true believers even in the present life, and are more richly conferred on the souls of the godly at death, that, released from the body of sin, they may rejoice in the embraces of God and the Redeemer, till, at last, being re-united to their bodies, which shall be raised up to glory, they experience God, without the intervention of any medium, to be to them "all in all." These blessings are truly sufficient to fill and satisfy the soul that is desirous of the highest good; and beyond these, is nothing desirable, which it either knows or seeks. And who can question the truth and Divinity of that doctrine, which so clearly teaches, and so strongly assures us of, so great a felicity! Who would not rejoice that, after the reign of the grossest darkness, this Gospel has been so extensively preached, known, and embraced! Who would not cordially exult in it, as a treasure of inestimable value !88 LXXXIV. It is necessary for us, however, to take heed, lest amidst a general knowledge of these glories, we rest satisfied with a hope of them that is either precipitate or not well founded. Every exertion must be made to obtain solid and convincing evidence, that we are entitled to hope for this glorious felicity. It is proper, therefore, to inquire, with the greatest possible solicitude, both what is essential to the character of those whom God, in his testament, constitutes heirs of these blessings; and also whether those marks of Divine grace are to be found in us. * See NOTE LXXXVIII. |