more good works will accompany him into the next, and the greater and more glorious reward he may hope to receive there which, as the Apoftle reafons, in the conclufion of that chapter concerning the doctrine of the refurrection, ought to be a mighty encouragement to every one of us, not only to be fledfaft and unmoveable, (that is, fixed and refolute in the profeffion and practice of our religion), but abounding likewife in the work of the Lord; forafmuch as we know, that our labour is not in vain in the Lord.

Every degree of diligence and induftry in the work and fervice of God, will most certainly one day turn to a happy account. Having therefore fuch promifes, dearly beloved, let us cleanfe ourselves from all filthiness of fieb and fpirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. The more perfectly holy we are here on earth, the more perfectly happy we shall be in heaven, and continue fo to all eternity.

I have now done with the two reafons which are here given in the text, of the happiness that good men, fuch as die in the Lord, fhall be made partakers of in another life; because they reft from their labours, and their works accompany them; they are freed from all the evils which they fuffered, and fhall receive the reward of all the good they have done in this life.

I fhould now have proceeded to make fome inferences from this difcourfe; but those I will referve for another discourse on this fubject.

All that I fhall add at prefent, as the application of what I have already faid, is, that this fhould ftir us up to a carcful and zealous imitation of thofe bleffed perfons defcribed in the text, who are dead in the Lord, and are at reft from their labours, and whofe works do accompany them. Let us imitate them in their faith and patience, in their piety and good works, and in their conftancy to God and his truth, which was dearer to them than their lives.

Thus their virtues and fufferings are defcribed in the vifions of this book: chap. xiii. 10. Here is the patience and the faith of the faints; and chap. xiv. 12. Here is the patience of the faints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jefus; and chap. xii. 11. And they overcame by the blood of the Lamb, and by Gg 2

the

the word of their teftimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.

In this way, and by thefe fteps, all the faints and martyrs of all ages have afcended up to heaven, and attained to that bleffed ftate, which they are now poffeffed of, after all the evils which they fuffered in this world. They are now at rest from their labours, and all the good works which they have done are gone along with them; and they are now, and fhall for ever be, receiving the comfort and reward of them. And if we tread in their steps, by a zealous imitation of the piety and holiness of their lives, and of the conftancy and patience of their fufferings, we fhall one day be tranflated into their bleffed fociety, and made partakers with them of the fame glorious reward. If we have our fruit unto holiness, our end fhall be everlafting life. If we be faithful unto death, we shall receive a crown of life.

Let us then, as the Apostle to the Hebrews exhorts, chap. vi. 11. 12. every one of us fhew the fame diligence, to the full affurance of hope unto the end: and let us not be flothful; but followers of them, who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

Now the God of peace, who brought again from the dead our Lord Jefus Chrift, the great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good word and work, working in you that which is well-pleasing in his fight.

SERMON

353

LXXX.

SERMON

The bleffedness of good men after death.

RE V. xiv. 13.

Write,

And I heard a voice from heaven, faying unto me, Bleffed are the dead which die in the Lord, from henceforth: Yea, faith the Spirit, that they may reft from their labours; and their works do follow them.

The fecond fermon on this text.

'N my explication of these words I told you, that they

I

are, in the general fenfe and meaning of them, a folemn declaration of the bleffed eftate of good men after this life; but delivered upon a fpecial occafion, as is fignified by that expreffion, from henceforth; that is, from the time of that vision, in which was reprefented to St. John, the laft and extremeft perfecution of the faithful fervants of Christ, and which would preceed the fatal downfal of Babylon: From that time, blessed are the dead which die in the Lord; that is, Confidering the extremity, and the cruel circumstances of this laft and fevereft perfecution, we may, from that time forward, reckon those who are already dead, fuppofing that they died in the Lord, to be very happy, in that they do not live to fee and fuffer thofe grievous things which then will befal the faithful fervants of God.

In my former difcourfe I confidered the words accor ding to the general intention of them, abstracting from the particular occafion upon which they were fpoken; endeavouring to fet forth the happy eftate of good men after this life, from the two reafons and grounds mentioned in the text, namely, because they reft from their labours, and because their works do follow, or accompany, and go along with them: which two particulars conftitute the happiness of the future ftate.

That which farther remains, and to which I now proceed, is, to make fome inferences from what I have faid

upon this fubject. And, in doing this, I fhall have an eye on the special occafion of the words, as well as on their general intention. And the inferences shall be thefe following.

1. If thofe that die in the Lord are at rest from their labours and pains, then the text concludes directly against the feigned purgatory of the church of Rome, which fuppofeth a great number of those that die in the Lord, and have obtained eternal redemption by him from hell, not to pass immediately into happinefs; but to be detained in the fuburbs of hell, in great pain and torment, till their fouls be purged, and the debt of temporary punishment, to which they are liable, be fome way or other paid off and discharged.

2. Here is a mighty encouragement to piety and virtue, to confider, that all the good we do in this world will accompany us into the other.

3. It is a great encouragement to patience under the fufferings and perfecutions which attend good men in this world, that how heavy and grievous foever they are at prefent, they will end with this life, and we shall then reft from all our labours.

4. The confideration of the extreme fufferings of Chriftians in the last times, and which perhaps are not far from us, fhould render us very indifferent to life, and all the enjoyments of it, fo as even to esteem it a particular grace and favour of God, to be taken away from the evil to come, and, by death, to prevent, if he fees it good, thofe extremities of fufferings which feem to be haftening upon the world.

I. If thofe that die in the Lord are at reft from all their labours and pains; then this text concludes directly against the feigned purgatory of the church of Rome, which fuppofeth a great number, yea the far greatest part of thofe that die in the Lord, and have obtained eternal redemption by him from hell, not to pafs immediately into happiness, but to be detained fomewhere (they are not certain where, but most probably in the suburbs of hell) in great pain and torment, equal in degree to that of hell, and differing only in duration; I fay, to be detained there, till their fouls be purged from the defilements they have contracted in this world, and the debt

of

of temporary punishments, to which they are liable, be fome way or other paid off and discharged.

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They fuppofe indeed fome very few holy men to be fo perfect at their departure out of this life, that they do immediately, and without any stop, pafs into heaven, because they need no purgation; and those likewife who fuffer martyrdom, because they discharge their debt of temporary punishments here: but the generality of Chriftians who die in the Lord, they fuppofe fo imperfect, as to stand in need of being purged by fire; and accordingly that they are detained a longer or fhorter time, as their debt of temporary punishments is greater or lefs.

And indeed they have a very confiderable and substantial reason, to exempt as few as poffibly they can from going to purgatory; because the more they put in fear of going thither, the market of indulgences rifeth the higher, and the profit thence accruing to the Pope's coffers; and the more and greater legacies will be left to the priests, to hire their faying of maffes, for the delivery of fouls out of the place of torments: for though the prayers of friends and relations will contribute fomething to this; yet nothing does the business so effectually, as the maffes and prayers of priests, to that end.

But how is it then that St. John fays, that thofe that die in the Lord are happy, because they reft from their labours, if fo be the far greatest part of those who die in the Lord are fo far from refting from their labours, that they enter into far greater pains and torments than ever they endured in this world? And therefore Bellarmine, that their doctrine of purgatory may receive no prejudice from this text, would have from henceforth in the text, to be dated from the day of judgment; when he fuppofeth the pains of purgatory will be at an end. But why from henceforth fhould take date from the day of judgment, he can give no reason, but only to fave purgatory from being condemned by this text. For St. John plainly speaks of the happiness of those that should die after that time, whatever it be, which he there describes; but that time cannot be the day of judgment, because none shall die after that time. Juft thus Eftius, one of their most learned commentators, deals with another text, which by the generality of their writers is urged as a plain proof