THE CERTAINTY Of A FUTURE STATE: THE CERTAINTY Of A FUTURE STATE: OR, AN OCCASIONAL LETTER CONCERNING APPARITIONS. By J. Roe, A. M. And Chaplain to the Right Honourable Charles Earl of Burlington. If they hear not Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be persuaded if one risen from the Dead, Luke 16.31. LONDON, Printed for Joseph Wild, at the Sign of the Elephant, at Charing-Cross, MDCXCVIII. To the Right Honourable Charles Boil, Baron Clifford of Lansbrow, and Earl of Burlington, Baron of Youghall, and Bandon, Viscount Kynalmeaky and Dongarvan, and Earl of Cork, in the Kingdom of Ireland; Chief Governor of the County of Cork, and of the City and County of the City of Cork, Lord High Treasurer of Ireland; Lord High Steward of the Royalty of Knaesbrough in the County of York, and one of the Gentlemen of His Majesty's Bedchamber. My Lord, IT is not with any Design to Inform Your Lordship's Judgement, by any thing that can be met with in so mean a Discourse, that I am induced to lay it at Your Lordship's Feet: But being Composed under Your Lordship's Roof, it Claims a Natural kind of Right, of coming under Your Lordship's Protection. Things of little worth receive a Value when they are made the Offerings of Respect and Gratitude; and this I am ohliged to Acknowledge upon the account of those Remarkable Instances of Generosity which I have received, (not only from Your Lordship) but from Your truly Honourable and good Lady, both before, and since I had the Honour of being Entertained as Your Lordship's Chaplain; which I needs must own with all that deference which is justly owing to Your Lordship's Eminent Quality, and Personal Accomplishments. It is Your Lordship's Happiness to receive the Extraordinary Blessings of Providence, without any Alteration of Temper, which can only be Attributed to a peculiar Greatness of Spirit, which the World is fully convinced of, and of which Your Lordship's Family in all degrees are particularly sensible. It will be a difficult thing for Posterity, rightly to distinguish between those who have deserved Well, or Ill; since some have been so averse to Truth, that they have supplied what has been really wanting in due Merit, by their many Flattering and Excessive Commendations. But I need not take such Measures with Your Lordship, whose Accomplishments eaten so Signal, that they render Your Lordship, (in the Opinion of all that know you) one of the greatest Ornaments of the Age we live in. That Your Lordship may be truly thankful to Almighty God, for so Great Endowments, that Your Lordshiy may live Many and Many Years to make a Right and Good Use of them in this World, and be Rewarded for Welldoing in the Next; is and always shall be the hearty Prayers of, My Lord, Your Lordship's Most Obedient Servant and Chaplain, I. Roe. THE PREFACE TO THE READER. THe following Letter was not Writ out of a desire to appear in Print, nor from a Principle of too nicely Enquiring into the Judgements and Opinions of other Men, but to gratify the Requests of some, whom I could not modestly refuse: If it may any ways Contribute to Promote the Dignity and Sufficiency of the Holy Scriptures, or prove the Certainty of a Future State, against the Sceptics of the Age, without the Testimony of Apparitions, I have my chief Aim. Farewell. THE CERTAINTY Of A FUTURE STATE: OR, An Occasional LETTER Concerning APPARITIONS. SIR, I Have often thought (since our last meeting) of the strange account you gave me of the Apparition of G. S. to W. D. and likewise of the dreadful Consequences that have attended some Persons, who have entertained too credulous a Belief of them; insomuch that to this very Day too many are grown to that height of Impiety, that they will not be persuaded of any Future State, unless some one rise from the Dead to make proof of it. As you were pleased to be very free with me, I shall take the same Liberty; and must beg pardon, if I cannot condescend so far as to be of your Opinion. In the first place than I shall give you my own Notion of an Apparition. 2dly. The Reasons why I cannot believe any thing of them. The Word Apparition is usually taken to signify no more than the Species or Resemblance of a Deceased Person; and that there are no such Apparitions (whatever some may pretend) I am very apt to believe upon these three accounts. First, Because it is a Supposition so far from being countenanced, that it seems directly contrary to the sense of the Scriptures. 2dly. Because it is a Supposition altogether useless and unnecessary. 3dly. Because it seems to be inconsistent with common Reason. I would not be thought to question, much less to deny that that there are Spirits, neither will I presume to limit the Wisdom and Power of Almighty God: But as for the Apparitions of Deceased Persons so frequently Discoursed of in the World, I believe there is nothing in them. The Holy Scriptures in my opinion are so far from giving us the least encouragement to expect an Apparition upon any account whatever; that God himself has strictly forbid us to apply ourselves unto, or have any manner of intercourse with the Dead, Isaiah 8.19. And altogether as strict is the prohibition given by Moses, Deut. 18.11. there shall not be found among you any one that is a Charmer, Consulter with Familiar Spirits, or a Necromancer, for every one that doth these things is an abomination to the Lord. But besides th●se and such like Prohibitions, the Holy Scriptures plainly do assure us, that the Body of Man after Death returns to the Dust, and the Spirit i e. the Soul unto God that gave it, i. e. to be disposed and determined by him to a fixed Station, either of Happiness or Misery. This is evident from the Account we have of Dives and Lazarus; there being so vast a Gulf between them, i. e. an irreversible Decree (by the wife Order and Appointment of God) passed upon them; insomuch that as one observes it is impossible for all the Saints in Heaven to obtain any manner of Release for them, Dr. Hammond; in his Annotations on Luke 16. and altogether as impossible for themselves to be one Minute out of that State. Now since it appears Demonstrable that the Souls of the Righteous are confined to a State of Happiness after Death (where they are to continue and remain till the Day of the Resurrection) and this by the special designation and appointment of God; than it must necessarily be supposed, that the Souls of the Wicked are closely confined by the same appointment to a State of Misery and Horror, where they must necessarily and unavoidably continue till they receive the final Sentence. And if both the Souls of the Righteous and the Souls of the Wicked are respectively Determined to their several States, and have their bounds fixed by the positive Order and Appointment of Almighty God; if the Body turns to Dust (as we daily see it does) and if the Soul is confined to a certain Station either of Happiness or Misery from whence it cannot make any escape, (all which is clearly intimated in Scripture) then how is it likely there should be any such thing as the Apparition or real Representation of a Deceased Person. It is God's Prerogative to be the Creator of Mankind, and 'tis. God only that can give him Life and Being, and if so, call we think it to be in the power of Dust, Corruption, or any other created Being whatever, either to Unite or Animate that same Body and Soul, which Death has deprived both of Life and Being upon Earth. There have been some its true who have maintained the contrary, Dr. Henry Moor. Mr. Glanvil's Sadducismus Triumphatus. who positively affirm that departed Souls have a care and regard to their fellow Souls upon Earth, See Dr. Moor's Letter to Mr. Glanvil. because a Soul appeared to St. Stephen, when stoned, and to St. Paul before his Conversion. I shall not trouble you to show what a forced Inference this is; the Scriptures only mention Angels doing so, which I am far from questioning; but yet I think there is some difference between an Angel and the Soul of Man, otherwise the Holy David needed not to have told us that Man was made lower than the Angels, and Tertullian likewise, de anima, to have defined the Angels, (evocatores animarum, i. e. the Messengers of God, which command the Souls out of their Bodies: And whose business as that Father intimates, it is to Conduct and show them whereunto they are designed after Death. If any reply that an Apparition may be, tho' not of the Body or Soul of any Deceased Person, I shall Answer this in its proper place, where I am to show the inconsistency of such a Supposition with common Reason. At present I must confess, Almighty God can do whatsoever pleases him both in Heaven and in Earth, in the Sea, and in all Deep Places, insomuch that every particle of our Bodies, every Dust and Atom that belongs to us is known to him, for he who numbers the very Sands of the Sea, and the very Hairs of our Heads, must needs keep an account of all the scattered Bones, see into all the Graves and Tombs, search all the Repositories of the Earth, and know what Dust belongs to each Body, what Body to each Soul, and by what ways and means, as at the first Creation, those scattered Particles should be again united, and the ruined Fabric of Man's Body once more Composed. But to Unite a dead Carcase to a living Soul, or to permit and suffer a true and real Resemblance thereof to be acted by any other, and all this only to make a slight show and appearance for some little time, either only to be the Messengers of God's Will, or a Terror to the Living, seems altogether inconsistent with those Methods of Divine Revelation, which God has been already pleased to favour us with. The Question whether the Souls of Men departed do appear to those who remain alive, is decided by most, both Ancient and Modern Writers negatively; and they who are for the Affirmitive Part, can resolve it no other way but this, that when such Apparitions are, 'tis only by special Dispensation; thus at our blessed Saviour's Transfiguration, there appeared Moses and Elias, and likewise at his Crucifixtion the Graves were opened, and many Bodies of Saints which slept arose. But now the case is otherwise, for since Miracles are ceased, and the Christian Dispensation is very sufficiently confirmed to us; there is not one Instance in the whole Bible to encourage us to expect an Apparition in these times; but on the contrary, there is nothing more usual with God then to frustrate and disappoint the Expectations all such as will not acquiesce in the ordinary Dispensation of his Will. To suppose therefore that this Course of Consulting with the Dead were not Prohibited (tho' you have seen it is) and to suppose yet farther that it is a very likely and probable way of succeeding in what may be designed thereby; yet this must be granted of necessity, that 'tis not the ordinary Course which God has appointed, and therefore cannot be depended on as likely to become successful unto any. The Pharisees we know desired a Sign from our Blessed Saviour to Confirm his Mission and Doctrine to them, they were not contented with those wonderful Miracles that he wrought amongst them; and which were then (as I may say) his ordinary means to Attest his Divinity, and Convince the World of their Unbelief; nothing would do with them but a Sign from Heaven; and no other Sign then such as was given at the first promulgation of the Law: But the vanity of all this our Saviour plainly discovers, and severely rebukes in these words, there shall no Sign be given. Thus when Men presume to Capitulate as it were with Almighty God, as to the enforcing the Duties of Faith and Obedience upon them (as the chief Priests and Elders did with our Blessed Saviour at his Crucifixion, namely that if he would come down from the Cross than they would believe him.) I say, when Men begin to question the Power of God, and the Authority of his Word, and resolve neither to believe in him, nor obey him, unless he will condescend to let them have such Signs as may answer and gratify their foolish expectations and unreasonable Curiosities; when they will not believe there is a Future State of Punishment prepared for the Wicked without an Apparition to confirm the truth of it; 'tis not only usual, but just with God to frustrate and baffle them in such unreasonable Proposals. 2dly, But supposing God should permit and suffer Apparitions to wander up and down and haunt his Servants upon Earth; yet what end and purpose can we imagine there should be in it? Can it any ways tend to promote the Honour and Glory of Almighty God? The Psalmist expressly tells us, that the Dead praise him not, neither they that go down into silence? Or can it answer any other of the Designs of his wise Providence in governing the Word? Or in the least Contribute to the Reformation of Mankind? Some perhaps may object and say, why may it not consist with God's Wisdom to send an Apparition to make a Discovery of some strange Murder which may have been concealed for some time. But in this it may be answered, that Almighty God has many extraordinary ways to make such Discoveries without an Apparition, whereof we have many Instances, as well from History, as our own Experience; for if the Heavens above, the Earth beneath, and every thing moving therein are the Work of God's Hands, and subservient to his wise Providence in governing the World; what need of an Apparition to make such Discoveries, Since they may be done well enough without it, and by such ways and means as very well consist with his other Methods of Administrations here on Earth. And if an Apparition cannot answer any of the Designs of Gods wise Providence in governing the World, it may be very easily proved that they cannot in the least Contribute to the Reformation of Mankind. For to suppose that an Apparition or the Ghost of a Deceased Person could have the liberty of coming into the World, and might be able to give us Topographical Description of the Future State of Punishment; yet this Description could not any ways exceed the Discoveries we have already made to us in the Holy Scriptures. There we are informed of a devouring Fire and Everlasting Burn, of a Gnawing Worm that never ceases, and of being Tormented in a Burning Lake with Fire and Brimstone Day and Night for ever. Now if this be so, what imaginary necessity can there be for an Apparition, or any one's rising from the Dead to confirm these things: Certainly nothing does, or can exaggerate the woeful condition of Damned Creatures with greater Circumstances of Horror than the Scriptures do; and considering the Authority they are delivered by, they are sufficient to convince the most confident and daring Sinner, so as to cast him into Belshaazar's Tremble and Convulsions; and if there may be any who can hear these Terrors of the Lord with Indifference or Unconcernedness, or conceive them worse in their Description, than they really are; such Persons are Scripture proof, they are above Moses and the Prophets, our Blessed Saviour and his Apostles; neither would they be persuaded tho' one risen from the Dead; for I dare be positive in this, that no Ghost or Apparition will ever have any effect upon that Man, whom the greatest Promises, the strongest Arguments, the most affectionate Persuasions, and the most dreadful Threaten cannot prevail with to Repent; and if I am unwilling to affirm that 'tis impossible there should be such a thing as an Apparition, yet I am sure they are unnessary: And those Persons who are so Credulous as to believe them, must resolve to Act without a just Warrant from Scripture. I am not in the least insensible of the frequent Mentions which are to be found of Apparitions in Holy Scripture: But these were the Miraculous Works of God, made manifest for the Confirmation of his Will, and the Christian Dispensation, and since this has been sufficiently Revealed and Confirmed to Mankind, Miracles are Ceased. Some its true distinguish between things strange and unaccountable, Glanvil 's Saducismus, page 124. and Miracles, and tho' they allow that Apparitions are strangle and unaccountable, yet they will not allow them to be Miracles, for a true Miracle (according to Mr. Glanvil's Notion) must be above the Power of Nature, to Seal and Confirm some Divine Doctrine in which the good and happiness of Mankind is contained. But certainly, if the matter of Fact (related by Mr. Glanvil, as to Major Sydenham and Captain Dyke) be true, than an Apparition may confirm us in several Fundamental Doctrines, as the Being of a God, the Certainty of a Future State, and the Rewards and Punishments of another Life. And according to the same Notion of a Miracle, to suppose an Apparition to do thus, is to suppose a Miracle; and if Miracles are Ceased, it consequently follows that Apparitions must be so too, and then the Inference is plain, there can be no farther necessity for them, in order to the Reformation of Mankind. Now the truth of this is Evident from plain Matter of Fact; and they who have used that piece of Necromancy in Consulting with the Dead, touching Matters of concernment to themselves or others; have met with this particular Judgement from God, for their Indirect and Unwarrantable Practices; that they have grown more Obstinate and Hardened in their Impieties, till at length they have been driven to the utmost Horror and Despair: There are several Instances in Scripture to this purpose. I begin with Saul, who applies himself to the Witch of Endor, and must needs have Samuel raised from the Dead to Inform him of some things wherein he was not satisfied; and here I shall not enter into a Dispute, whether the true Samuel appeared (tho' I believe it was not, and most Expositors are of the same Opinion,) it being never known that any of the Prophets were subject to such Diabolical Conjurations. However, we find that Saul believes the Spirit appearing in the Form of Samuel, to be Samuel indeed, and therefore Saul behaves himself with all possible respectfulness, bows down before him and so propounds his doubts. But alas! He was so far from being informed of any thing that was material; so far from being reduced to Obedience by what he either saw or heard from the Spirit, Ghost, or Apparition; that he became more confirmed in his Obstinacy and Rebellion against God: Insomuch that some are of opinion, that for this very Transgression he was at length cut off. But lest Saul's wickedness should be thought to have obstructed the proceeding; and that some may thereupon be induced to think it may prove otherwise, where God gives the opportunity of doing it; I say, notwithstanding such Evasions, common Experience shows the contrary. And altho' we read of our Blessed Saviour's raising Lazarous, after he had been dead four Days, yet the Scribes and Pharisees were so for from being affected with it, so far either from believing in Christ, or obeying his Commands, that they consulted how to put him to Death. Thus also when Herod had beheaded St. John the Baptist, and came to hear of the fame of Jesus, he presently concludes with himself that St. John Baptist was risen from the Dead; which altho' it was false, yet Herod believed it was true; and altho' he was persuaded that St. John was risen, and that God had signally attested the Horrid Wickedness of the One, and the Real Innocency of the Other, yet notwithstanding all this, Herod continued in those very Sins which St. John the Baptist reproved him for before. Nay, our Blessed Saviour himself died and risen again, and yet the Chief Priests and Elders of the Jews (instead of being wrought upon thereby) endeavoured by the most subtle Devices to abolish the very Memory and Report of his Resurrection. Thus you see how ineffectual extraordinary Means are, when Men have hardened themselves against all Impressions from Divine Revelation; and I dare make this Challenge to any Man, whose Reading or Observation can inform him, of any that have been made true Converts Apparitions from the Dead. I know the Popish Legends and other Writings of that kind, mention very strange Effects produced in the Living by Apparitions from the Dead; but the Vanity and Imposture of such Reports is so Notorious, that it would give them some kind of Credit to attempt a set and industrious Refutation of them; and therefore I shall hasten to the last thing proposed, and that is to show the inconsistency of the Supposition with Reason. 3dly, To grant there may be such a thing as the Apparition of a Deceased Person, yet no Man (I presume) will deny but it is God's Prerogative and peculiar Privilege to Fashion and Compose a Man; and every Man from the first Creation till the Dissolution of all things, is the undeniable Work of his Hand: For it is he that has made us and not we ourselves, his Eyes beheld our Substance when imperfect, and in his Book (and his alone) are all our Menbers written. Now if to Create, is God's peculiar Privilege? If nothing of an Inferior Being can pretend to it? If Death makes a real Division and Separation both of Soul and Body, by the special Appointment and Designation of God himself, and such a Dissolution that the Body returns to Dust, Corruption and Putrefaction, and the Soul is taken into the safe Custody of Angels, who are to answer for it and Conduct it to that State, either of Happiness, or Misery, where it is to remain till the Resurrection; yet there can be no reason to think (supposing there may be an Apparition) that this Apparition should consist of the same Body and Soul which did belong to the Deceased Person; because it is God's Prerogative only, to Create and Unite the Body and Soul of Man; and the same Body and Soul being once dissolved and separated by Death, are consigned by the Wise Order and Appointment of God to their respective States until the last Trumpet sound, and Command them to rise again; and therefore as it cannot be with the same Body and Soul, it is altogether as unlikely it should be with the Body or Soul of any other Deceased Person whatever, for the same reason of Confinement already given. And therefore to suppose there may be an Apparition, yet of what can we imagine it should consist? It must either consist of Substance or Matter, or else it must be Immaterial and without Substance: If it consists of Substance and Matter, and consequently may be Seen, Felt, and Understood, why may it not be secured and kept for the Conviction of such as will not believe there are such Being's; but this was never yet attempted, and therefore I dare conclude, that either there can be no such thing at all, or if there be, it must be Incorporeal or Immaterial. And to suppose this: How is it likely it should perform the same operations with Matereal and Corporeal Being's (as is frequently pretended either by discoursing with, discovering things past, or foretelling things that are to come.) Or, to suppose a Point further; that it is neither merely Corporeal, nor yet merely Incorporeal. But (as some Philosophers Imagined) a Being or Existence between both; yet if so, how is it likely it should so nearly resemble such a Being, as was both Material and Immaterial, and as such consisted both of Soul and Body; for if it be Incorporeal, it must necessarily be Immaterial, and if it is Immaterial, it must as necessarily be Invisible, and if so, the Controverfie is at an end. But to beg your Patience a while longer; according to the Platonic Hypothesis, Spirits are Embodied; Mr. Locks Humane Understanding page 162. Book 2d. Chap. 23. and altho' a very ingenious Person seems to think that Spirits can assume to themselves Bodies of different Figure and Conformation of Parts; yet the same Person as ingeniously confesses, 'tis but a mere Conjecture, owns that he can give no manner of Reason for it, but common Report; and is so far from imposing it upon the World, that he calls it his own extravagant Opinion. Historians I am sensible make frequent mention of the Miracles of Magicians, and several other Unaccountable Prodigies by Invisible Powers and wicked Spirits; thus they tell us, that not only the time, but the place of Caesar's Death was foretold to Pompey and Crassus; but as this happened in a little time after, so it was as much expected as it was foretold, as Tully witnesses, lib. 2. de Divinatione. And altho' some of their Predictions might happen to be true, yet this must be supposed in Common Reason, to happen but by Chance, because they so often failed; which can be owing to nothing more than the overruling Power and Providence of God who bringeth the Counsels of the Heathens to naught, and maketh their Devices to be of none effect. thus Demosthenes confessed that the Delphian Oracle was determined by Philip of Macedon, and their Corruption is clearly taken notice of in several other Authors. Eusebius Prepar. lib. 4. shows that several of the Heathen Priests publicly confessed the Impostures of their Oracles, and that their Confessions have been, if they are not still upon Record; and as the World increased in Knowledge, they were rejected and laid aside: For as soon as Light and Immortality became discovered by the Power of the Gospel, they were visibly slighted and disregarded till at length they became despicable every day more and more. I make no doubt but there have been Apparitions, as in the several forementioned Instances from Scripture for Ends and Designs best known to God, as perhaps for the Manifestation of his Power and Wisdom, of his Love and Goodness to Mankind; but I cannot see the least reason why or how, there should or can be any such in these times; Since Miracles are Ceased, God's ways are sufficiently known upon the Earth, and his saving Health amongst all Nations. For as God cannot propose any thing considerable to Mankind, (as to the Revelation of his Will and Pleasure here, or his Rewards and Punishments in the other Life) either by raising the Dead, or suffering or permitting an Apparition, (as has been already shown) so neither can I think, that any other Being has Power to do it. for altho' the Devil had a Power once given him to Metamorphose and take strange shapes upon him, (as he did to Eve in the shape of a Serpent) yet it does not follow that he has the same Power to do so still; and altho' God might permit and suffer it in those times, and likewise Eve to be tempted by him, (perhaps to bring about that profound Mystery of his Love, the Incarnation and Crucifixion of our Blessed Saviour,) yet since the Coming of our Saviour into the World, (according to that Prediction of him) the Seed of the Woman has bruised the Serpent's Head, the Power of Satan is destroyed, and his Kingdom is at an End, and thanks be to God who has given us the Victory through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. God has engaged himself by a solemn Promise to us, in the first Epistle to the Corinthians, chap. 10. that no temptation shall befall us, but such as is common to Man, and more over that he will not suffer us to be tempted above that we are able. Now, if this be so, it cannot be in the Power of Satan or any of his Agents to make any extraordinary Assaults upon us without our own Concurrence; and altho' some Persons do pretend to Preternatural and Extraordinary Temptations; I dare be positive this is more owing to their own Wickedness, and Debaucheries, then to any thing else besides. For, when Men have once thrown aside Religion, turned God himself out of their thoughts, and make no scruple to commit Evil, 'tis no wonder God should have done with them, that he should leave them to a Reprobate Mind, till at length they believe a Lye. But then on the other hand whilst Men are careful to order their Conversation as becomes the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Devil can have no Power over them. But if this be the least of all their thoughts, they grow restless and uneasy, subject to the grossest Superstitions, wild and unsettled in their Heads, till at length they fall into downright Atheism. I plainly see two Objections that will be offered against what I have here said, which I think it needful to Answer, before I conclude. 1st. Some will say 'tis a piece of very ill breeding to disprove what has been Asserted and Attested by very many Persons of good Integrity and Sense. 2dly, Others again will say that I have gratified the Devil in one main Point of his Controversy with us, whose Policy it is to Propagate the Unbelief of Apparitions, whose Concession Infers his Existence; and if no Apparitions, than no Devil. To the First I Answer, that multiplicity of Opinions cannot Defend and Secure us from being imposed upon. For to suppose any thing true, only because a Multitude does Attest it, is to suppose Whoring or Defrauding justifiable, because so many in these times delight in the One, and practise the Other. As it was in the Days of Old, so many will not be persuaded to believe such things as may be any ways disagreeable to their first Notions and Apprehensions of things. But certainly this can be no Argument of Truth, for altho' many have hitherto been imposed upon, yet it does not follow but that many more may be so again. How many were deluded by the Priests of Baal into the Belief of soothsaying, and many other superstitious Idolatries? How grossly were the Romans imposed upon by Junius Proculus one of the Chief of their Nobility? who, (Notwithstanding Romulus had been torn in pieces in the Senate House,) swore that he was taken up among the Gods, and that he had appeared particularly to him, and commanded him to tell the People that it was the pleasure of the Immortal Gods to have him continue among Mankind, till he had founded a City whose Empire and Glory should far surpass all others; and that he would always be a Propitious God to them, under the Name of Quirinus. And thus likewise in some Christian Churches (if all be true that is reported) there are very strange deceptions, some whereof are still confessed by the Name of Pious Fraud. Theudas an Impostor led away four Thousand Persons in the Wilderness, and the Delusions of Mahomet almost the fourth part of Mankind; all Heresies how gross soever, have found a Welcome with the People. Thus many of the Jews were wrought into a Belief that Herod was the Messiah; and how many in these times of the more inferior sort of People, are openly and daily deluded by Fortune-tellers, Jugglers, and other incantatory Impostors; unto whom (which is very deplorable in Christians) too many apply themselves between Jest and Earnest, till at length they are prevailed with to quit the Truth, and being once deceived themselves, they must needs be subject to very great Mistakes and Errors. But besides all this, there are others who (who out of a supine carelessness and neglect of Enquiry even of such Matters whereof they doubt themselves) are yet willing to believe many things rather than be at the trouble and difficulty of Examining them; and either from an Unactive Temper of Mind to put in Execution the Dictates and Suggestions of their own Reason, or else by a strange Kind of contentment and acquiesceny in every Species of Truth, they readily embrace the least Shadow thereof. But certainly had our Forefathers sat down and taken up such Resolutions, the Face of Truth had been abundantly more obscured then now it is. 2dly, To the other Objection it may be Answered that I have not any where denied the Being of Spirits; and how strange soever it may seem to some, that I cannot believe there are Apparitions, yet I desire such Persons to consider, how destructive the Belief of them has been for several Ages to the Christian Religion. For upon what else but such pretended Apparitions and Revelations do the Papists ground their Purgatory and Prayers for the Dead; and very much of the same strain are those pretended Infusions of New Lights and Enthusiastic Inspirations from another sort of People. Now, since Almighty God has been pleased to Reveal every thing needful to be known by us, in the Holy Scriptures, both as to our chief Interest, and Duty in this present World; it rather concerns us to show ours●ves truly thankful for, and humbly to acquiesce in so gracious a Revelation, than to raise any farther Scruples or Doubts concerning any one thing that is contained in it. And if Men could but once be prevailed upon for to Act thus, we should be be abundantly convinced of the Truth and Certainty of a Future State and the Rewards and Punishments of another Life, without molesting or disturbing the Dead, to make proof of it. Has not the Prophet Daniel above two Thousand Years ago? Chap. 7.9. discovered as much to us by what the Almighty was pleased to show him in a Vision, when his Throne was like a fiery Flame, when Thousands Thousands ministered unto him, and ten Thousand times ten Thousand stood before him, when the Judgement was set, and the Books were opened. And has not the same Prophet told us farther? Chap. 12.2. that they who sleep in the Dust of the Earth, shall rise some to everlasting Life, and some to Everlasting Shame and Contempt. And how often are we told in the New Testament? That God will render unto every One according to his Works. Has not St. Paul descended farther, specified the very time, and given all Imaginable satisfaction and positive Assurance that the Heart of Man can reasonably desire, as to the Case before us? When he tells us, God has appointed a Day in which he will Judge the World in Righteousness, by that Man whom he hath ordained, whereof he hath given assurance unto all Men, in that he hath raised him from the Dead. I might lay before you, many other places of Scripture to the same purpose, which I must needs omit, lest I should exceed the narrow Proportion of a Letter; whoever has a mind to see these at large, may have full satisfaction, from the learned Dr. Scot, in his Christian Life, and Dr. Sherlock in his Treatise of a Future Judgement. And altho' our chief Evidence for Proof of a Future State, does depend on Scripture, yet those Persons who will question the Scriptures in a point of so great Moment, will question any thing, That Almighty God in a thing of so great Importance, has not left himself without witness to all the World, will appear upon these two accounts. First, By considering the Nature of God. Secondly, By considering the Nature of Man. First, By considering the Nature of God himself, who is an Omnipotent, Powerful, and Wise Being, which appears by the bare Work of his Creation: He regards not the Actions of his People (whom he hath made) so as to have only a Naked speculative Knowledge of them, but with an Eye of Providence and Judgement; he does not merely gaze upon us, as an indifferent and unconcerned Spectator, but beholds and views us with the highest concernment; either with Infinite Complacency, or Detestation. And what can we imagine all this should be for? But in order to be produced either for or against us, whensoever he shall be pleased to call us to an Account, that so he may distribute his Rewards or Punishments accordingly; this Solomon clearly Determines, Eccles. 12.14. he will bring every Work into Judgement, with every secret thing. And if there are any, who will not be persuaded as to the truth of this, only because God has spoken it, who is not a Man, that he should lie, nor the Son of Man, that he should Repent; there will be a time when with Shame and Confusion of face they shall be forced to confess, Righteous art thou Oe Lord, and true are all thy Judgements. Almighty God is not only a Powerful and Omnipotent Being, but Truth and Justice are Attributes as Essential to him as any other; and if God be Just, he must needs do Justice to every Person, for shall not the Judge of all the World do right? And if he does not distribute this Justice for the present, it unavoidably follows that it must be done hereafter, and that the dispensations of his Providence, are in many things promiscuous and uncertain now, is an invincible Argument of the Great Certainty of a Future State. 2dly, This Truth will appear farther, by considering the Nature of Man. The very Nature and Condition of Man, shows him to be a Creature that must give an Account of himself hereafter; this the Scriptures are positive in, and therefore St. Paul tells us, Rom. 14.12. Every one must give an Account of himself to God. But besides the Scripture, Reason will make out as much, for as Man was Created in time, his Creation must needs argue some Design in the Creator, and as Man was endued with Reason; it is but rational to think, that he should be also Accountable to his Creator, how far he has answered the Design of his Creation, either here, or hereafter; this has been Universally consented too by Mankind. That Almighty God does not permit and suffer his Servants upon their departure out of this World, either to lie sleeping in the Dust, or to be hover about unrewarded to the End of it: But as soon as they have finished their Work upon Earth; he either admits them to the Joy of their Master, i. e. to all the Felicities, that their separated Spirits are capable of, in those several Degrees and Measures of Perfection which they have arrived to: Or else dismisses them into a State of Misery and Horror, where they are to remain during their separation from the Body, expecting the farther Completion of their Happiness or Misery by a General Resurrection; is sufficiently attested by the Primitive Sages of the Church, as Ireneus, Tertullian, Clemens, St. chrysostom, and many others; plainly Intimating that the Souls of the Righteous after Death, are kept in proper Receptcles, enjoying certain Degrees either of Happiness, or Misery, till the Day of the Resurrection. This is called in Scripture sometimes by the Name of Paradise, sometimes by the Name of Abraham's Bosom. And the Souls of the Righteous are expressly said to be sustinentes Resurrectionem, eternitatis candidati, i. e. waiting with a solicitous expectation for the Resurrection, and to stand Candidates for Immortality. And that there is nothing in all this, but what is agreeable to Scripture, is evident from Zachariah, chap. 9.10, 11. where the Souls of the Righteous, are styled Prisoners of hope, lying in the Lake where there is no Water, i. e. (as some interpret) no constant Stream of Joy; but yet they are supported with certain Showers, and farther Illuminations of their Hope. And that the Souls of the Wicked are confined to a State of Misery▪ St. Judas plainly intimates when he tells us, verse 13. that they are reserved unto the Blackness of Darkness. When St. Paul reasoned with Felix, of a Judgement to come, it made him tremble; and that the Common Heathens themselves were convinced of as much, appears from their Notions (which are still upon Record) of Minos, Aeacus, & Rhadamanthus: And with what Artificial and plausible pretences soever, Men may seem and endeavour to Colour over their Debaucheries, yet 'tis not in their Power to drown or stifle the Clamours of their Consciences, which will suggest what they must expect hereafter. Let us then resolve with a Holy Sobriety and Religious Prudence, (instead of questioning) to confine our hopes and desires only to be directed by the written Word of God; which is every way fitted and proportioned for the regulating our Lives, in order to that Great End of making us wise unto Salvation, and if we have such a certain Rule, proposed to us, will it not argue the most monstrous Vanity, and unaccountable Perverseness, to departed from it. And if Men will not believe that there is a God, and a Future State of Rewards and Punishments, without an Apparition or some New Revelation, they are never like to have it. For God has no where undertaken to gratify the vain desires and peevish Inclinations of his People; he has sufficiently provided for their Welfare and Happiness, both by Nature and Revelation; and it is not from any thing but the want of a modest and humble Submission thereunto, that so many grow wild and unsettled in their Heads, that they are always gadding after New Discoveries and Revelations; and for all those that will not be saved, unless it be according to their own Way and Method of Invention, how Insulting or Atheistically soever they may carry it for the present, yet there will be a time when they shall be forced to lie down in their own Shame, and to cover themselves with their own Confusion. FINIS. ADVERTISEMENT. A Sermon Preached at the Funeral of Mrs. Bullivant, Who was Barbarously Murdered by Edmund Eudley. By B. Crook, A. M. Rector of St. Michael Woodstreet.