Second SERMON Preached before the King and Queen, AND QUEEN DOWAGER, In Their MAJESTY'S Chapel at St. James', upon All-Saints Day, November 1. 1685.  
By the Reverend Father Dom. PH. ELLIS, Monk of the Holy Order of S. Benedict, and of the English Congr.  
Published by His Majesty's Command.  
LONDON, Printed by Henry Hills, Printer to the King's most Excellent Majesty, for his Household and Chapel. 1686.   

SECOND SERMON Preached before the KING and QUEEN, AND QVEEN DOWAGER, On All-Saints Day, Nou. 1. 1685.  Gaudete, & exultate, quia merces vestra copiosa est in coelis. Matth. 5.12. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven. Matth. 5.12. 
IT is more than Eight hundred Years (most Sacred Majesty) since the Church Militant, the Parent as well as Sister of the Church Triumphant, condescending to pious Instances of her Children tending to Perfection, appointed this Solemnity for our encouragement, and in memory of the just made perfect. And tho' a Feast of this Denomination be not so much recommended for its Antiquity, as for the Piety, which is always seasonable, and the fitness of its Institution; 
Psal. 150.1.  yet it is no new thing to praise God in his Saints, as the Royal Prophet exhorts; 
Hebr. 6.10.  nor to minister to them while living (as the Apostle advises) nor after their departure to erect Altars to Almighty God under their Invocation, crowned with Garlands, and echoing with Hymns of Joy, on the Anniversary Days of their Deposition, as was the Practice of the first Ages.  
For since they possess what St. Paul with so much earnestness and assiduity of Prayer wished the Ephesians; 
Ephes. 1.17.  The spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of God, the eyes of their understanding being enlightened, to discern what is the hope to which the Father of Glory calls them, and how great are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in his saints; We who are Candidates of that Wisdom, who are cleansing and preparing our Eyes for that Revelation, can do no less than congratulate their Felicity, then celebrate their Victories, then attend their Triumphs. And since we all fight under the same Standard where they conquered, observe the same Order and Discipline which rendered them victorious, join in the same Faith, (or at least in a preparation of mind to it) and in the same Practices of a holy Life, (or in a tendency to them) which produced their Reward in Heaven; So is it fitting that Once a year we draw all our Devotions together, which were dispersed through the revolution of their separate Festivals, and that the Church Militant join in Body with the Triumphant, to contemplate that Glory which we hope one day will be our own, nay which is already ours by Anticipation, because it is that of our Fellow-Members and Brethren.  
For besides the blessed hope that we shall arrive to the fellowship of the saints, a hope that does not only entitle us to a Possession, but even gives while it promises, since They were in a mortal Condition whom he calls not strangers and foreigners, 
Ephes. 2.19.  but citizens of the saints, and the household of God. Besides this, I say, there is not any one in this most Honourable and Religious Assembly, that has not a peculiar interest in the Honour of this Day; There is not any one of us that does not piously confide, that he has a Parent, or a Child, or a Relation, or a Friend, and what is an accumulative joy to a Christian Heart, an Enemy and Persecutor enroled in this blessed Society. And how joyful a Reflection is it to your Sacred Majesties, that so many of your Royal Ancestors, and mighty Predecessors, 
1 Pet. 5.4.  inherit a never-fading crown of glory, and possess a Kingdom which they do not transmit, but willingly share with their Posterity, without lessening their Greatness! a Kingdom, where the Enjoyment is eternal, where Peace is essential, where the Lion and the Lamb lie down together, the red and white Roses are twisted in the same Garland, the Edward's and the Henrys embrace, and the fierce Britain rejoices that the Royal Blood of Scotland runs in English Veins. This blessed Expectation bore up their Spirits under the weight of Cares and Solicitudes, which are inseparable from an earthly Crown; it kept a rain upon the effervescence of Nature amidst the Temptations that hover about a Court; it made them postpone the Magnificence of their State, to the adorning their Souls; and while they desired what they did not see, made them contemn what they saw, 
Phil. 3.8.  and count all as dross that they might gain Christ. Now they see what they believed, they possess what they hoped, they obtain what they desired; and thus shall the man be blessed that fears our Lord; especially your Sacred Majesties, who inherit their Virtues no less than their Crowns, making it the principal Subject of your Joy, That your reward will be great in heaven. I beg also it may be the Subject of your Attention, after I have implored the assistance of Him that is the crown of all the Saints, and which I hope to obtain by her Intercession who is so dignified a Member of that blessed Assembly, that if the other Saints are the Friends and Domestics, she alone is the Mother of God, becoming so when the Angel Saluted her, Ave Maria.  

Rejoice, and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven.  
THere never was a Question started so early in the World, nor so warmly discussed, and, what was most unhappy to Mankind, so late resolved, as that of the Rational Soul existing in another World, and of a well-spent Life being attended with a Reward in Heaven. The sober and sound Men of every Age singled it out as the chiefest Object of their profoundest Speculation, and the Libertine made it the Subject of his Mirth and Raillery; with this only difference between other Times and these we live in, That the most Witty, and best Parted Men of the Gentiles, were the most serious Enquirers after this Verity, arrived to a glimpse of it by the light of Nature, and wrought out an imperfect Idea of it by the force of Reason: But in our Days, in the Noon of Christianity, and the clearest Proposal of our End, it is become the Character of a Wit, either wholly to neglect this greatest Concern, or to study the Resolution merely to revive the Question; and while the Heathen submits to the Doctrine of Christ, the Christian endeavours to subject it once more to Dispute; verifying the Paradox of the Philosopher, That no one can be happy against his will, nor would the ill Man be so by his good will.  
Indeed no Man can be so miserable as not to desire to be happy, and self-love, which is the occasion of his misery, is the root of this desire. But Men frame to themselves so childish, so mean, or so sensual a Beatitude, that themselves blush to own; but while they are not ashamed to pursue it, they lay an Obligation upon us, who are the Dispenser's of the Mysteries of God, to show,  
That there is no true happiness to be found in the World (which is my First Point;) unless it be in a firm Belief, Division. 1 and serious Practice of Christian Religion, which is admirably comprised in the Gospel of the Day: This is my Second Point, and the only way that leads to a final Beatitude in Heaven (my last Consideration) where it is bestowed as a reward of our Faith and good Life, which shall make my Conclusion.  
I. THE Holy Ghost instructing King Solomon how to delineate the folly of Man, and his progress in it, who calculates his Happiness from worldly Enjoyments, reduces the multitude of our Errors and Mistakes touching that Point, to Three principal Heads, as our Blessed Master and Doctor of Justice, seated on a Mountain (to express the sublimeness of his Doctrine,) comprehends all the Methods leading to a true Felicity, in Eight Beatitudes.  
For every Man that yields to the bent of Nature, seeks his Enjoyment either, 

1. In corporal Pleasures, the Delights of the Senses;  
2. Or in Honour and Greatness, the Delights of the Passions;  
3. Or in Wisdom and Knowledge, the Delights of the Mind.    
A Gradation taken notice of by S. John, tho' expressed in other terms, 
1 John 2.16.  Concupiscence of the flesh, concupiscence of the eyes, and pride of life.  
1st. When a Man is arrived to the opening and bloom of his Reason, that part of Life we call Youth, he becomes more heady then to be governed entirely by the Reason of another, yet remains more weak and unsteady then to be guided by his own: Wherefore Sense takes the Chair, the heat of Blood and corruption of Nature put in for his bosom Counsellors, and by their advice he abandons himself to Libertinism and Disorder. His Language and Behaviour is admirably personated in the Book of Wisdom; Let us go, says he, 
Sap. 2.6, etc.  and enjoy the things that are before us. Et utamur creatura tanquam in juventute celeriter. Let us live apace, and use the creature before that and our youth pass away. Let us bathe our temples in rich wines, and shed sweet ointments on our heads, let no flower of the field escape our hand; we will crown ourselves with roses before they whither; we will leave marks of our luxury and riot wherever we go, Quoniam haec est pars nostra, & haec est sors, This is our portion, and this is our end; 
1 Cor. 15.32.  Let us eat and drink, for to morrow we shall die.  
But when by access of years that irregular Heat evaporates, and the Spirits grow more cool and temperate, he soon grows weary of such Pleasures as he finds by a woeful Experience to ruin the Health and Constitution of his Body, and sadly to deface the Beauty of his Soul. Then he upbraids his charming Deceivers, and expostulates with the Objects of his folly; Risum reputavi errorem, 
Eccl. 2.2.  & gaudio dixi, cur frustra deciperis? Laughter and merriment I thought a cheat, and I said to joy, Why hast thou vainly deceived me? For he plainly sees, that can never be the Happiness of a Reasonable Creature, which is a torment to the Reason, and a remorse to the Conscience, where the Delight passes, and the Sting remains.  
2 . With such Reflections the Prodigal returning into himself, takes leave of his former Courses, and enters upon another more refined and elevated, changing indeed his Passion, but not his Slavery. He quits the concupiscence of the flesh for concupiscence of the eyes, and pride of life; the proud and curious Person being only the sensual Man reformed. He aspires to Honour and Preferment, courts Fame and Esteem, entertains the largest Retinue he can make, and worships the Populace, that they may return his Adoration with Interest; and, in a word, labours to hid and varnish over the Stains of a corrupt and infamous Life, with the formalities and lustre of Greatness. But no sooner is he well acquainted with his new Choice, than he discovers the vanity and emptiness of that too; the thing for which he is so valued by others, sits uneasy upon his Shoulders; Use and Custom take off the sense of Pleasure, and his Happiness corrupts into Affliction of spirit. He experiences that Honours too have their weight, that Dignities are Burdens and Servitude under a finer Name; Fulgidi compedes & clara miseria, Golden Fetters, and a dazzling Misery: Riches, but the occasion of Disquiet; Pomp, the object of Envy; Fame, but the opinion of Men, and of no longer duration than their other Fancies. 
Psal. 75.6.  Dormierunt somnum suum (says a Prince, as Great and Powerful, as he was Learned and Holy,) & nihil invenerunt omnes viri divitiarum in manibus suis; Thus the Rich and the Great sleep out their golden dreams, and when they awake find nothing in their hands.  
3 . But perhaps the Contemplation of Wisdom may afford a more solid fruition. To distinguish Verity from Vanity, Truth from Falsehood, seem to raise a Man above the level of Mankind, distinguishes him from the unthinking Multitude, and cuts off many Branches of our Misery which spring from Ignorance, and want of Reflection. But alas, the Crop does not answer the Tillage: 
Eccles. 1.18.  Qui addit scientam, addit & laborem; He that increases knowledge, adds to his labour, but not to his satisfaction. In many things our Principles are merely supposed, our Maxims prove but Opinions; the causes and natures of the lowest and most obvious things are so far above our reach, and our Understanding so clouded and circumscribed within so narrow limits, that again with the wifest of Men he deserts all his labour, and discovers even This to be the greatest vanity of all; while the fruit he reaps from so much pains, 
1 Cor. 8.1.  amounts only to a puffing up of the mind (as the Apostle speaks,) and as S. Augustine ingeniously Comments from his own experience, Superbae dejectioni & inquietae lassitudini, To a haughty dejection of Spirit, and restless weariness of Heart.  
There is no Man that gives way to the Inclinations of corrupt Nature, but has followed one or more of these Courses; and I appeal to his own experience, if he has not failed of his expectation: if his eye has been satisfied with seeing, or his ear with hearing, or his heart with desiring. I allow him to have found a Beatitude where no wise Man would have fought it. But while I see him like the Dove flying from the Ark, and not finding where he can rest his foot; while I contemplate every Sinner in the state of a weary and weatherbeaten Traveller, that sits down on the barren Sands in an untraced Desert, uneasy in himself, and uncertain whether he be nearer his Journeys end then when he first set out; I am ready to pronounce with the Royal Prophet, 
Psal. 11.9.  In circuitu impii ambulant; The wicked walk in a circle: They make forward in vain, they only change their Place by shifting their Pleasures, but they approach not a Hairs-breadth nearer the Centre, Beatitude.  
You desire to be happy; so far you are in the right, 'tis what you were created to: Bonum quaeris, 
St. Aug.  sed non benè; What you seek is good, but 'tis not where you look after it; 
Job. 28.13.  It is not found in the land of those that live deliciously, said holy Job. You search after Life in the Region of Death, and in despite of our Saviour's Admonition, you are still looking for Grapes upon Thorns, and Figs upon Thistles; for Joy in the Vale of Tears: non invenitur. You place your End among things inferior to yourselves; 
Luc. 17.27.  you inquire after Happiness among things without, while the Kingdom of God is within you.  
It is my Second Point, That nothing but Christian Religion, and the observance of its Doctrines and Precepts, can make Man happy.  
II. It is the peculiar advantage, the excellence, and (as I may say) the incommunicable Attribute of Christ's Doctrine, that it discovers a Man to himself, that it opens, and searches and heals those Wounds, which all other Religions either imperfectly cure, as the Old Law; or labour to conceal, as the Moral of Philosophy; or widen and inflame, as the Pagan and Mahometan Worship. None but Christianity proposes an End worthy an intellectual Being, and prescribes Means to obtain it proportioned to a reasonable Agent.  
For the Jewish Law, 
Rom. 7.12.  (as the Apostle says) indeed was just and holy, yet brought nothing to perfection; 
Hebr. 7.19.  its Promises for the most part mean and carnal, a Land flowing with milk and honey, a numerous issue, and length of life: The Means servile and coactive, terrible in the Promulgation, amidst Thunder and Lightning; Severe in the Exaction, with Menaces of Death, repeated at every turn; And in fine, difficult and heavy in the Execution, a yoke, 
Acts 15.10.  which neither our fathers, says St. Peter, nor we were able to bear.  
The Religion of the Pagans or Gentiles, stands condemned for no less than gross and palpable Contradictions to the inborn Principles of Reason. For a fundamental Error in the Object of Divine Worship, by constituting a plurality of Gods, by paying Divine Honours to Creatures. For the manner too of their Worship, humane and ungrounded Inventions, and these, either unnaturally cruel, as the sacrificing of Men; or superstitiously foolish, as adoring Idols; or shamefully unclean, such as Cato, or any grave Person, would blush to assist at. For the End, either merely Negative, by teaching the mortality and perishing of the Soul; or by assigning it an idle and empty Happiness in the Elysian Walks, which rises no higher than to a mere privation of Pain.  
Every one knows the Doctrine of Mahomet to be stuffed with so many Absurdities, the Means of its propagation so violent and bloody, and the End (a carnal Paradise) so beneath the Inclinations of an honest Mind, that one may wonder how it can be favoured by any, except that barbarous People, whose Brutality it indulged, and with whose Arms it travelled and conquered. Believe me, Christians, a just Punishment of God upon those Nations (a Punishment which I pray may never come home to our own Doors,) for the abuse and contempt of a more holy Religion.  
And these Religions considered in their sounder Parts, principally regard the exterior, and Ceremonies of Worship more than the Substance; they draw not Man into himself, and therefore merit not the Denomination they bear; they are levelled to the gross Conceptions of the Vulgar, but are not Religions for Men of good Sense and Learning.  
A Religion purely spiritual, would indeed be more adapted to the Understanding of sharp and Learned Men, but what would become then of the far major part of Mankind, that is led by sensible to spiritual things? Now only Christian Religion can pretend to this double perfection, being a debtor both to the Greeks and to the Barbarians, both to the wise and to the unwise, to the Unlearned as well as to the Learned; showing in her exterior a grave decency of Rites and Ceremonies; and offering to the interior a Doctrine so chaste, so pure, so perfect, that a gentile and docil Soul would be sorry it should not be true, and which a Man of Reason must acknowledge to be the only true one.  
For that Religion can only be so, which proposes to Man the knowledge of himself, as I before alleged; for without the discovery of himself and of his Nature, he can never know what is his End, or what are the Means directing to it, and by evident Consequence can have no true Idea either of God or Virtue.  
Now to the knowledge of his own Nature, 'tis requisite he discern the Dignity and Misery of it; the Perfection of which it is capable, and the Corruption in which it is immersed. If we do not conceive ourselves to be most excellent and noble Creatures, (says an eminent Writer) we are intolerably stupid; and if we do not perceive at the same time, that we are wretched, full of pride, passion, and weakness, we are strangely blind. Yet not any Teacher besides Jesus Christ ever pretended to clear and lay open those two important Verities, That by the excellency of our Nature we are capable of enjoying the sovereign Good, and of reigning with God in Heaven; but by the Corruption of our Nature we are unworthy of him. 'Tis absolutely and equally necessary in order to Man's Happiness, that he be convinced of these Truths; for it is equally dangerous to know our designed End, without knowing our deserved Misery; and to know our Misery, without knowing the Means how to repair our Ruins, to retrieve our Innocence, to ward the Punishment, and to re-entitle us to the Reward in Heaven.  
But this is above the flight of Reason, without the assistance of Revelation, that is, Religion. Philosophy leaves us quite in the dark, the Stoa and the Academy talk wildly upon the Point, and prescribe Methods that can never be reduced to Practice, and would not do the work if they could be: And tho' divine Plato discovered the Happiness of the Creature to consist in becoming like the Creator; yet his Morals are as defective as those of his Neighbours, and he must yield up his mighty Title to Jesus Christ the Teacher of Justice, who in the Gospel of this Day (which is the beginning of that truly divine Sermon recorded by the Evangelist in this and the two following Chapters) establishes all the natural Principles of Truth and Goodness, fills up the Imperfections of the Judaical, dashes out the unlawful Permissions of the Heathen Moral, delivers a perfect Idea of the Science of Saints, 
Sap. 10.10.  Scientiae Sanctorum; and in a word, draws an exact Map of all the Ways that lead to our eternal Beatitude. To show this is my last Point.  
III. God often tells us in his holy Word, that he has set fire and water, good and evil before us, that we may stretch out our Hand to which we please, giving us sufficient strength to pursue the one, and to avoid the other: In the right use of which liberty, and compliance with Divine Grace, consists true wisdom; 
Eccles. 12.13.  for to fear God, which chief regards the avoiding of evil, and to keep his Commandments, which regards the election of good, is the whole duty of man, Deum time, etc.  
Now this avoiding of evil is chief placed in restraining our Affections, and weaning them from the love of temporal things; and because (as S. Paul observes) those that will be rich, fall into temptation, 
1 Tim. 6.9.  and the snare of the devil; Therefore Beati pauperes, Blessed are the poor. Yet because a Man may turn his Poverty into a Subject of Vanity, and as Plato smartly replied to the Cynique, may trample upon Riches and Greatness with greater Pride than another retains them, Therefore, Beati pauperes spiritu; Blessed are the poor, not simply, but such as are poor in spirit. For when God has bestowed upon you a plentiful Fortune, the Law of Christ does not oblige you to renounce that as evil, which is the Gift of God, and a Blessing; but to limit your Desires, and to consider yourself as his Steward, through whose Hands he conveys his Blessings unto your indigent Neighbour. This you must do, if you would avoid evil. But the election of good stops not here; Charitas Christi urget nos, The love of Christ carries us on to be earnest and zealous for the performance of every Duty; earnest in our own Practice, and zealous to encourage others in the Ways of Heaven; Therefore Beati qui esuriunt, Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after justice, and when they arrive to the term of their labours, they shall be satisfied. But the mean time they must not lose courage, if they meet with any opposition in the way; 
2 Tim. 2.5.  for he shall not be crowned that does not fight lawfully. The Law of Arms to the Soldiers of Christ, is chief passive Valour. Prayers and Tears are the only Weapons of a Christian, (say the Fathers) and those that otherwise resist, 
Rom. 13.2.  (cries the Apostle) shall receive to themselves damnation. Therefore Beati qui persecutionem patiuntur, Blessed are they that suffer persecution for justice sake. And that no one may think this a hard Lesson, the Encouragement is so bright, that any wise Man as well as St. James, would count it all joy to fall into divers temptations; for the reward is so great in Heaven, that nothing less than the Kingdom of Heaven itself shall be the Reward: for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.  
Such is a Christian in the Field; but he is also the Member of Civil Society, and the best Constituted Government in the World; which teaches him such Calmness in his Motion, such Modesty in his Behaviour, such Sincerity in his Deal, such a Command of his Passions, as set a Beauty on our Religion, which never any other so much as pretended to, as Canonize Civility, and make good Breeding a Christian Virtue, worthy a Beatitude, for Blessed are the meek, deserving a Reward, for they shall inherit the land, no question that which the Psalmist mentions, 
Psal. 26.13.  the land of the living.  
But if you sit down contented with your own Performances, you will fall short of the Reward; 
Eccl. 17.12.  Because Mandavit unicuique de proximo suo; God has commanded every one to be concerned for his Neighbour. And it is not sufficient to take notice of his corporal Wants, if you pass by his spiritual unregarded. Therefore, Beati qui lugent; Blessed are those that mourn, that lay to heart, and take home to themselves the Excesses and Corruptions of their Fellow-Members. For if the King and Prophet had reason to lay claim to a share in the Merits of all good Men, 
Psal. 118.63.  I am a partaker with all those that fear thee, and keep thy commandments; have not we as much reason to apprehend we shall be accountable for all the Sins of Mankind that we can obviate, or for not bewailing them, if we cannot? and tho' the Effect correspond not to our Endeavours, yet our reward shall be great in Heaven; Ipsi consolabuntur, Such shall be comforted.  
But some Offences are directed against ourselves, which we must be as ready to pardon, as to correct those which are committed against others; This being the Heroic, and (as I may say) the Specific Virtue of a Christian, inspiring a Generosity not only to pass by an Injury, not only to scorn a Revenge, (a thing so sweet to Nature, and so honourable to false Reputation) but even to bear above the Resentment; and if I may apply the Apostle's Phrase, To insert the olive-branch into the wild olive, and grafted Kindnesses upon the Stock of Injuries and Ingratitude: for Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. And tho' the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 properly signifies those that give Alms, St. Augustine teaches us there is no Almsdeed like that of forgiving an Injury.  
Yet this Charity limited to our private Concerns, is not easily distinguished from Self-love; and to forgive that we may be forgiven, carries so much of Interest along with it, that a Man who is not tender and compassionate to his Brother, is at the same time barbarous and inhuman to himself. Love, therefore, is of a more diffusive quality, and must extend to all those Feuds and Differences which are daily breaking out between such as have no other relation to ourselves, than the common Bands of Humane Society. And upon this account Blessed are the peacemakers, Beati pacifici; a Benediction that reaches from the Cottager to the Monarch that sits upon the Throne, takes in all Mankind that lends a Hand towards establishing the Empire of Peace, but sheds itself more plentifully on the Head, that sacred Head by whose most wise Conduct, and unwearied Industry, we rest this day in the beauty of Peace, while he sits above a living Representation of the only God we worship, 
Psal. 75.3.  whose Place is made in peace. And if such as contribute the most to the welfare of Mankind, deserve a higher Reward, we that are in a lower Station, cannot envy them a more elevated Benediction; Quoniam Filii Dei vocabuntur, They shall be styled the Sons of God, because they carry on the great Work which the Son of God began in the World, reaching from end to end powerfully, and disposing all things sweetly, 
Sap. 8.1.  as the Wiseman predicted; and by propagating a Blessed Union in this nether Jerusalem, antedate the Joys of that which is above, which is our Mother, and where all her Children have but one heart, and one soul; neither divided by Interest, nor disquieted by Passion, nor stained by Imperfection; but perfectly resembling that of their Blessed Master, described by the Apostle, 
Hebr. 7.26.  Holy, unblemished, innocent, made higher than the Heavens, (which is only the Place of their Beatitude) the Beatitude itself consisting in this, Blessed are the clean of heart, because they shall see God. I reserved this to the last, it being the very top of the mystical Ladder, where our Lord appears leaning; for upon such his Spirit rests, and by such Purity they rest eternally in him.  
And now before I was ware I have cleared the last Point that I designed to Discourse to you, the essential Glory of the Saints. Cleared it, did I say? 'twas an improper word: Had I the Tongue of Men and Angels, I could never express what the heart of man cannot conceive; 
1 Cor. 2.9.  and you know the Heart can conceive infinitely beyond what the Tongue can express. The great Apostle in his Rapture to the Third Heaven, I am apt to think, among those arcana verba, 
2 Cor. 12.4.  those unspeakable words he heard, had some account of this blessed State; but he gives us no other Prospect then through a Glass, and in a Riddle, 
1 Cor. 13.12.  that we know now only in part; the rest is wrapped up in the obscurity of Faith, is left to the expectations of Hope, and an impossibility of Expression, Non licet homini loqui.  
But while my Gospel acquaints you that you shall see God, what need you more to raise your Imaginations, to inflame your Hearts, to quicken and inspirit your Desires? or if the word seeing cannot put into you a lively Idea of that Glory, add to it the Explication in another Text, 
John 17.3.  This is eternal life, to KNOW thee, the true God, and whom thou hast sent, Jesus Christ. To have our Understandings filled with a clear knowledge of the most perfect Being, of the sovereign Truth, of the original Cause of things, and in that of all other Causes, Effects, and Productions, as well natural as supernatural, makes the Man of Reason, the Lover of Truth, to sally out of himself, to strive to break his Chains, and languish to be with Christ, and wish with the Royal Prophet, 
Psal. 55.6.  that He had the wings of a Dove, that he might fly, and be at rest, in Contemplation of that self-evident Truth, supreme Reason, VERITY, (as I say) the chief Attribute of God.  
But you are not to imagine that the Beatitude of the Saints is placed in a perpetual gazing upon the Divine Beauties, or in a sterial Speculation of Truth; from the Mind it flows into the Heart, from the Understanding into the Will, penetrating all the interior of the Soul, transforming her in a certain manner into God, begetting Ecstasies without emotion, Languish without defect, Enjoyments without satiety, Love without measure, and Fruition without end.  
O you Joys of Heaven, how do you swallow up our thoughts, and fill us at once with Pleasure and Amazement! and yet we must cry out as the Queen of Sheba did when she beheld a faint Representation of you in the Court of King Solomon, that Half your Delights have not been told us. Blessed are they that stand in thy Courts, and minister to thy King Day and Night; Day without Night I should have said, where every Moment is an Age, 
Psal. 89.4.  Et mille Anni tanquam Dies, and a thousand Years cannot fill up a Day: Love is the measure of this Duration, and the Eternity of God the measure of Love.  
Blessed God thy Nature is Goodness, and therefore thy Work must be Mercy; that thou art so free of thy Creatures, I do not wonder; thou bestowest them on Man, thy better Creation; but why art thou so liberal of thyself? Why hast thou prepared such a Happiness in Heaven for those that are seeking a Paradise upon Earth? that are contented to barter their Eternal weight of Glory for a gaudy Trifle, for a shining piece of Earth, for the gratifying a Lust, or an Ambition, for a mean, or a sordid, or at the best, but a momentary Pleasure? Cur posuisti pretium in manu stulti? Why hast thou laid such an inestimable Treasure in the hands of ungrateful and insensible Men, that neither know the value, nor value the use?  
No, Christians, we have no reason to expostulate with our God; for tho' by condescending to our infirmity, he has underset the Joys of his Kingdom, yet there are Conditions proposed, and without the performance of which, there is no Heaven for us. 
Apoc. 21.7.  Qui vicerit possidebit haec; He that overcomes (says he) shall possess these things: And do we fond promise ourselves the Triumph before the Victory, or a Victory before we have struck a Stroke? Indeed Christ bids us be confident, 
John 16.33.  for he has overcome the world; but does not he give us warning, that whosoever observes not the same Discipline, takes not up his cross, 
Matth. 10.38.  and follows him, is not worthy of him? But is not Jesus Christ the author of eternal salvation? 
Hebr. 4.9.  Yes (replies the Apostle) to them that obey him. 
Rom. 1.17. Gal. 5.6.  But does not the just man live by Faith? Yes, if it work by Charity: For he that trusts to the strength of his Faith, without the support of a good Life, is as  as the Apostles, when they rejoiced at their power of ejecting Devils. Tho' our Faith be of such prevalency as to remove mountains, still by Goodworks we are to make our calling and election sure, 
2 Pet. 1.10.  still we are to work out our salvation with fear and trembling, 
Phil. 2.12.  and only rejoice that our reward is great in Heaven, a Reward not bestowed on those who stand all day idle in the marketplace, but to those that labour in the vineyard; a Reward that shall be distributed in number, weight, and measure, in proportion, and beyond all proportion to our smallest Performances; but shall be more plentifully bestowed on those, who like your Sacred Majesties, bear the burden of the heat, and of the day; which we wish for the good of your People, you may long support, and hear, not till after a long and prosperous Reign, that comfortable Invitation of your Original, 
Luc. 22.28.  Ye are they which have continued with me in my temptations, and I appoint unto you a Kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me; that you may eat and drink at my table in my Kingdom, and sit on Thrones, judging the Tribes of your own Israel, In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.   
FINIS.   

A Catalogue of Books Printed for Henry Hills, Printer to the King's most Excellent Majesty, for his Household and Chapel, 1686.  

REflections upon the Answer to the Papist misrepresented etc. Directed to the Answerer. Quarto.  
Kalendarium Catholicum for the Year 1686. Octavo.  
Papists Protesting against Protestant-Popery. In Answer to a Discourse Entitled, A Papist not misrepresented by Protestants. Being a Vindication of the Papist misrepresented and Represented, and the Reflections upon the Answer. Quart.  
Copies of Two Papers Written by the late King Charles II. Together with a Paper Written by the late Duchess of York. Published by his Majesty's Command. Folio.  
The Spirit of Christianity. Published by his Majesty's Command. Twelve.  
The first Sermon Preached before their Majesties in English at Windsor, on the first Sunday of October 1685. Published by his Majesty's Command. Quarto.