'lhe Harmony of the 'Divine Attributes ~ roned with fo many fanta!\ick Imaginations as fpoils all the proportions of it; [q their Chap. r8.0pinion had a Foundation in Truth, but was mix'd with many Errors inconfi!\ent with ...,...,-... perfeCt Felicity. And as the pleafure of a Dream is !light and ''anifhing, fo the uncertain expeCtation of Felicity did but lightly touch their Spirits. Briefly, they had no true Knowledge, no firm Belief of Eternal Blelfednefs in the Vifion of God, nor of the endJefs Torments in Hell; and wanting thofe great Principles, from whence the Rules and Power to live in a holy manner are derived, they fell fhort of that Purity which is a nece~ary qualificat!Oil to prepa;e M~n for Heave:'. ~hey were in a confu[ed Labyrinth, without true Ltght or Gmde, mtangled wtth mtferable Errors, and !\umbled every fiep whil!\ they fought after Happinefs. But the Lord Chrift bath inftruCted the World concerning thofe invifible future Recompences. He bath expreOy threatned, whatever is to be feared by Man as a rational or fenllble Creatme, the Jt'orm that never dies, and the Fire that fbaU never be quwch'd, in cafe of Difobedience; and he bath promifed whate· ver is to be hoped for, in cafe of Obedience. The Wrath ofGod is revealed from Heaven, in the Gofpel, againjl aUV"god/inef and Vnrigbteoufnefi of Mm, Rom. 1. r8. And our Saviour bath brought Life and lm~mtality to light, 2 Tim. 1. t o. He bath declared the Nature and Quality of Eternal Life: That it confi!\s in the moft perfeCt ACts of our raifed and mofl: receptive Faculties, upon the mol\ excellent ObjeCts; Th•t it contains perfeCt Holinefs and pure Felicity, being for ever diftant from the Infirmities and Defile· ments of our mortal State. He bath revealed as the quality, fo the extent of ir, relaling to the Body as well as the Soul. Whereas ths Philofophers of [everal SeCts, the Academic'<!, Stoick.f, Epicureans, labouring with all 'rhe force of their Underfl:anding, formed a Felicity according to their Fancies, which was either wholly Senfoal, or elfe but for half of Man: For of the Refurreetion, and confequemly the Immortality of the Body, not the leafl: notice for many Ages ever arrived to them. Om Saviour, who alone had the words of Eternal Life, bath promifed a Happine[s rhat refpel.ls entire Man: The Soul and the Body which are his elfential Parts, fhall be united and endued with all the glorious Qualities becoming the Sons of God. And of all this he bath given to the World the highefl: alfurance: For he verified his DoCtrine by his own Example; rifing from the Grave, and appearing to his Apojlles crown'd with Immortality, and vifibly a[cending before them to Heaven. Since there is no greater Paradox to Rea[cn than the R..e[urre8ion, which.feemed utterly incred ible to Men, and not to be the Objel.l of a rational Defire; God by raifing him from the Grave, bath given the mofl: convincing Argument that our Redeemer was (em from him, to acquaint the World with theflltllreState. Thus the Apojlle [peaks to the Athenians, ACts •7· 30. The times of lgmvance God winked at, lmt now &01iJmandeth aU Men ever} where to repent; beca~tfe /Je hath appointed a day, whereil: he will j11dge the World in Rig/Jteollfnifs, by that Man whom he hath ordained, whereof he .hath given njfltra1zce unto aU Men, in that he hath raifed hi11~ from the Dead. Je[us Chrifl: who was atte!\ed from Heaven to be the Son of God by that great and powerful Al.l, <l eclared the Recompences that fhall attend Men after Death; therefore a full and perfel! affent is due to his Te!\imony. Hell with all its Dread and Terror is not a Pil.lure drawn by fancy to affright the World, but is revealed by him whofe Words ftJaU remain when Hea· ven and Earth jhall paf away. The Heavenly Glories are not the Vifions of a contemplative Perfon that have no Exifl:ehce, but are great Realities promi[ed by htm, who as he di ed to purchafe, fo he rofe to wimefs the Truth of them ; and to bring there Grear Things, that are fep:trate and dillant from this pre[ent State, nearer to us; He fometimes <:au[es HeU to rife 11p front beneath, and ftafh in the face of fecure Sinners, that they may break off their Sins by Repentance: and [ometimes he opens Heaven from above, the Paradife of true Delights, and fends down of the precio11s Fruits of the S11n, of the precioll! things of the l•Jiing HiUs, that by the fight of their Beamy, and the t~l\e of their Sweetne[s, we may for ever abhor the Pleafures of Sin. By the frequent and fenfibie experience of the Truth of the Gofpel in its Threatnings and Promifes, innumerable Perfons have been converted from Sin to Holinefs, from Earth to Heaven, from Vanity to Eternity. 3· Love is a prevalent affeCtion, !\ranger than Death; and Kindnefs is the greate!\ en· dearment of Love. Now the Lord Jefus exprefs'd fuch admirable Love to us, that being duly confidered, it cannot but infpire us with Love to him again, and with a grateful defire to pleafe him· in all things. He defcended from Heaven to Earth, and delivered . ~;::::~ ;oP:"~~~Jf.~~~~::~~;":h:j ~:od1~~~:dT~. 1~. t:.m ;:l7:;;;;tKr;~;!;;'{{;:~:~ powerful to caufe in us a ferious hatred of Sin, than the Confideration of what Chrift hath fuffered to free us from the Punifhment and Power of it? If a Man for his Crimes were condemned to the Gallies, and by a Friend of his who had been e•tremely injur'd
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