to be true. If there be any thing in the life before described, which all sound reason doth not justify and command, let him that is able manifest so much: if not, it is no superstition" to live as a man that is governed by God, and led by reason, and to do that which all our faculties were made for. And for austerities, I have pleaded for none which is not become needful to our own preservation and felicity: as a patient will endure a strict diet, and exercise, and blood-letting, and bitter physic, for his health. It is not any affected, unprofitable austerities that I plead for, but those which are for our good, and fit us for our duty, and keep the flesh from rebelling against reason, and keep man from living like a beast: even less than many of the philosophers plead for; and he that useth but this much which is needful, will find it both opposed, as insufferable by the world, and murmured against by his suffering and displeased flesh; and that the soul cannot do its duty, but at a considerable cost and trouble to the body. Though there may be an evil masked and cunningly moderated, which men call goodness, which may be had at a cheaper rate. But saith Seneca truly, Non est bonitas, pessimis esse meliorem.

CHAP. XIV.

That there is a Life of Retribution after this.

To know whether there be a life after this for men to receive rewards or punishments in, is a matter of the greatest importance to mankind to be fully resolved in: upon which depends our comforts and our religion, and without which we know not what to expect, to hope for, or to fear, or what to intend and seek after through our lives, or how to order our hearts or actions.*

u

Qui totos dies precabantur et immolabant, ut sui liberi sibi superstites essent, superstitiosi sunt appellati; quod nomen patuit postea latius: qui autem omnia quæ ad cultum Deorum pertinerent, diligentur pertractarent, et tanquam relegerent; sunt dicti religioso ex relegendo, ut elegantes ex eligendo, à diligendo diligentes, ex intelligendo intelligentes: superstitiosi et religiosi, alterum vitii nomen, alterum laudis.-Cicero de Nat. Deor. lib. 2. pp. 73, 74. Ardua res hæc est opibus non tradere mores.-Martial. Pittaci dictum est, Perdifficile est esse bonum.-Bruson. All Cicero's books de finib. show the worthlessness of pleasure, in comparison of virtue.

* Senec. Consol. ad Marciam:' Cum tempus advenerit quo se mundus renovaturus,-omni flagrante materia uno igne, quicquid nunc ex disposito lucet, ardebit-Nos quoque fælices animæ, et æterna sortitæ, cum Deo visum

This, therefore, I shall inquire into by the help of reason and natural evidence, as one that would not be deceived, or deceive, in so great a matter; and I shall pass by those arguments which are commonly fetched from the soul's immateriality, and independence upon matter, and other such like, which are commonly to be found in physics and metaphysics, as being not such as my present method leadeth me to, and shall make use of such as are the necessary consectaries of the certain truths already proved.

Object. But whatever rationalities may be drawn from the divine attributes, to prove a future state, yet, it depending wholly on the divine attributes, and the divine will being absolutely free, we can have no rational inducements to bring us to any sufficient knowledge of it, but by a clear revelation of the divine will.

Answ. Is the law of nature no clear revelation of God's will; or is it a law without any rewards or penalties? It depended on God's will whether man should be his subject or no, obliged to obey him; but doth it follow, therefore, that it cannot be proved? By making him a rational free-agent, and sociable, placed among occasions of good and evil, God did reveal that it was his will that man should be his subject, and obey him. One action of God doth often reveal his will concerning another. Those attributes of God which signify his relation to us do reveal much of his will concerning what he will do with us in those relations; and though his will be free, his perfections consist not with falsehood and mutability. If, in freedom, you include indetermination, then, when we prove the determination of it ad unum, you will plead no longer that it is free; any more than it is yet free whether he will make the world.

Sect. 1. He that is the most righteous Governor of the world, making a just difference, by rewards and punishments, between the obedient and the wicked, which yet he maketh not in this life, will certainly make it after this life; but God is the most righteous Governor of the world, making a just difference, by rewards and punishments, between the obedient and the wicked,

erit, iterum ista moliri-Fœlicem filium tuum Marcia, qui ista (mortuus) jam novit. Duæ sunt viæ, duplicesque cursus animorum è corpore exeuntium: nam qui se vitiis humanis contaminarunt, et libidinibus se tradiderunt; iis devium quoddam iter est, seclusum à consilio Deorum. Qui autem se integros castosque servarunt, quibusque fuit minima cum corporibus contagio, suntque in corporibus humanis vitam imitati Deorum; iis ad illos à quibus sunt profecti, facilè patet reditus.-Socrates in Cicer. Tuscul, 1.

which yet he maketh not in this life; therefore he will make it after this life.Y

That God is the Governor of the world, in a proper sense, by laws and moral government, is proved; and that he is righteous, is contained in the perfection of his nature: to deny either of these, is to deny him to be God. That his laws of nature have not only precepts of duty, but sanctions of reward and punishment, is also proved; and further may be, thus: 1. If there be no rewards or punishments, there is no judgment or execution; but there is judgment and execution; for they are parts of government. Ergo. 2. Without rewards and punishments, precepts would be vain to such as us, and ineffectual as to their ends; but God hath not made his laws in vain. Ergo. Object. Governors use not to give men rewards for their obedience: subjects must obey without reward.

some.

Answ. It is not the name, but the thing that we inquire of. Call it a benefit, if you had rather: all government is upheld by rewards and punishment. Reward is either that which is common to all obedient subjects, or such as is specially proper to All subjects that are faithful have title to protection, and approbation, and justification against all false accusations, and to their share in that peace and felicity of the commonwealth which is the end of the government; and some commonwealths having far greater felicities than others, accordingly the subjects of them have their right and part: and this is the common reward or benefit of obedience and fidelity. Besides which, some great exploits are usually rewarded with some special premium. In human kingdoms, as such, the end is no higher than the beginning: temporal governors give but temporal rewards. The felicities of the kingdom, which are the ends of government, as they are from man, are but temporal; and our share in them is all our reward from man: but the original and end of the kingdom of God are higher; and of further prospect, the benefits of fidelity are greater, as shall be further proved.

Qui rectè et honestè curriculum vivendi à naturà datum confecerit, ad astra facilè revertetur. Non qui aut immoderatè, aut intemperanter vixerit.— Cic. de Univ, Improbo bene esse non potest.-Cic. Par. Impii apud inferos pœnas luunt.-Cic. 1. de Legib. Impiis apud inferos sunt pœnæ præparatæ.-Cic. 1 de invent. Sic habeto, te non esse mortalem, sed corpus hoc.-Cic. Som. Scip. Cicero saith, that their worshipping of Hercules, and other heroes, doth imply, that animi omnium sunt immortales, sed bonorum divini.-Cic. 2. de Leg. Bonorum mentes mihi divinæ atque æternæ videntur, et ex hominum vità ad Deorum religionem sanctimoniamque migrare.-Idem. Deorum providentiâ mundus administratur, iidemque consulunt rebus humanis, neque solum universis, verum etiam singulis.—Cic. 1. de Divinat,

But let it be noted, that this objection saith nothing against a life of punishment. Governors never leave their precepts without this sanction; and he that believeth future punishment will easily believe a future reward.

Let it also be noted, that paternal government hath, evermore, rewards in the strictest sense; that is, a special favour and kindness showed to the child that is specially obedient: and so the rest according to their measures. But the kingdom of God is

a paternal kingdom, as is proved. That God will make, in his retributions, a just dfference between the good and bad, is proved from his justice in government. If his laws make no difference, then men are left at liberty to keep or break them; nor can it rationally be expected that they should be kept; nor could he be said so much as to love, or approve, or justify the obedient more than the rebellious; but so unholy a nature, and so indifferent between sin and duty, and so unwise and unjust in governing, is not to be called God: either he justly differenceth, or he doth not govern."

That God maketh not a sufficient, differencing retribution in this life is the complaint of some, and the confession of almost all the world the bad are commonly the greatest, and the lords and oppressors of the just. The Turks, the Tartarians, the Muscovites, the Persians, the Mogul, and more such brutish monarchs, who use the people as the slaves of their pride and lust, do take up the far greatest part of the earth. Few places are so good, where goodness exposeth not men to sufferings, from the rabble of the vulgar, if not from the governors. Slanders and abuses are the common lot of those that will differ from the carnal, wild, rebellious rout. And poverty, pain, sickness, and death, do come alike to all. The sensual, that have wit enough so far to bridle their lusts as to preserve their health, do usually live longer than more obedient men: and they deny themselves none of those fleshly pleasures, which the obedient do continually abstain from.

Object. But do you not, ordinarily, say, that vice bringeth its punishment with it in its natural effects; and obedience its reward? Is not the life of a glutton and drunkard punished by poverty and shame, and sickness? And is not godliness a pleasure in itself? If it be our highest end and happiness to love

z Persuasum hoc sit à principio hominibus, Dominos esse omnium rerum ac moderatores Deos; eaque quæ gerantur, eorum geri ditione atque numine. Et qualis quisque sit, quid agat, quid in se admittat, quâ mente, quâ pietate colat religionem, intueri, piorumque et impiorum habere rationem.-Cicero de Leg. 2.

God, and please him; then, surely, the beginnings of it here must have more good than all the pleasures of sin: and so God maketh a sufficient difference here.

Answ. Some vices that are sottishly managed, do bring poverty, shame, and sickness; but that may easily be avoided by a vicious wit. Gluttony and drunkenness may fall short of sickness. Fornication, and adultery, and incest, may be managed with greater craft. Pride, and ambition, may attain dominion and wealth. Theft may be hid, and cheating and fraud may make men rich, and free them from the pinching wants, and cares, and the temptations to discontent and contention of the poor. Malice may delight itself in secret revenges, in poisonings, murderings, and such like; without any worldly hurt to the transgressor. A Tiberius, a Nero, a Caligula, a Domitian, a Commodus, a Heliogabalus, a Sardanapalus, may be on the throne, when a Socrates, a Seneca, a Cicero, a Cato, a Demosthenes is put to death; yea, when a Paul or Peter, an Ignatius, a Cyprian, are sacrificed to their bloody rage.

Yet it is true, that all this while they want the dignity and comfort of the just: but while they value it not, and feel not the want of it, they take it not for a punishment, but choose it as a felicity.

And as for the present rewards of virtue, to speak impartially, I verily think that if there were no life to come, virtue and holiness were rationally more eligible: but that is much because God is an end above ourselves. And for our own content, in many, holiness would give the mind more pleasure, than all fleshly pleasure and worldly greatness could counterpoise. But with many others, whose afflictions are very heavy, and pains and poverty very great, and who are grievously tormented by cruel persecutors; and, perhaps, a melancholy constitution may forbid them much delight, it is hard to say, that if they durst let loose themselves to all sin, which maketh for their fleshly interest, their pleasure would not be much greater. While the soul is in flesh, it unavoidably partaketh of the pain or pleasure of the flesh. Therefore, the torment of the stone, or strangury, or of a rack, or strappado, will reach the soul and the operations of the soul being in and by the body, a tormented body will hinder those contemplations which should feed our joy, and also hinder the joy of those contemplations. Most Christians enjoy little comfort in holiness, through the very cares of this life, and the weakness of grace, and power of corruptions,