[5.] Man is capable of a divine nature, which consists not only in the bare knowledge, but love of God : 2 Peter i. 4, ' Whereby are given to us exceeding great and precious promises, that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature.' He is capable of the image of God : Eph. iv. 24, ' And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.'
[6.] Man is capable of a sweet familiar communion with God and friendship with him: 1 John i. 3, 'And truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.' Therefore the state of man dying must needs be different from that of a beast, who hath no knowledge, no desire, no love to God, no capacity of communion with him, unless it be in respect of receiving the effects and bounty of his common providence.
2. The dignity of man : ' God made him a little lower than the angels, and crowned him with glory and honour,' Ps. viii. 5. Now if he were not immortal, he would be of all creatures most miserable ; his reason only would serve to make him capable and apprehensive of the greater calamity and trouble. Sure it is that man is the masterpiece of this visible world, in respect of the majesty of his person, the abilities of his mind, and his sovereignty over all the works of God's hands, all which are marks of special favour of the creator to man above other creatui-es. Now, if God hath given to man the next place in order of dignity to the angels above his other creatures, what would his love signify if he be in a worse condition than the beasts, and liable to so many cares, encumbrances, grief, and remorse of conscience, which the beasts are freed from ? Alas ! considering the calamities of his life, infirmities of his body, perplexities of his mind, his reason is a sad privilege to liim, and his torment rather than his blessedness, whilst it only givetli him a doleful remembrance of what is past, a care about what is present, and awakens fears of what is to come. The beasts indeed have a sense of what is present, but no remorse for what is past, no presage of what is to come ; but man hath all these, a bitter remem-
SERMON UPON ECCLESIASTES XII. 7. 73
brance of sins past ; and for present evils, they are more than those of the beasts, such as poverty, banishment, imprisonment, slavery, loss of estate, sundry sicknesses and diseases, and man hath a more bitter sense and apprehension of them. And for time to come, he hath a foresight of the end, which the beasts have not : so that we have twenty-fold more cares and labours than they have, who live in tranquillity and liberty, and free from those disquiets which vex mankind, and have no I'emorse to sour their pleasures, either from the afflictive remembrance of what is past, or solicitude about what is to come. Therefore if our happiness were here only, man would be less happy than the beasts, many of whose lives are longer and sweeter, who have a more sincere use of bodily pleasures. But here is their happiness ; God had pro- vided some better thing for them to be enjoyed in the other world. It cannot be imagined that he hath made his noblest creature in the world with a nature that should be a necessary misery and vexation to itself, above the calamities incident to the rest of the creatures. The very apprehensions and desires that a man hath of an higher good would be a torment and burden to him if there were no calamity else, for he seeth a better estate which he cannot enjoy ; as an horse tied up from the provender which is near unto him and cannot reach it. Our nature inclineth us to know and love that we cannot obtain : we can think aforehand of our death and abode in darkness, which beasts cannot, for they are not troubled with these thoughts : yea, we fear miseries after death, and know not how to be exempted from them. Now it is incredible that God should make his noblest creature most miserable, by setting before his eyes a certain death, and possible torments and miseries after death, and provide no remedy against these things.
3. God governeth men by the hopes and fears of another life, and therefore such a life there is, and so the souls of men are immortal. The reason is, because God needeth not to govern the world by deceit and lying : this would be against his holiness and benignity, and would destroy the very government he would establish ; for it would tempt us to insincerity, and to cheating and deceiving others ; for men are no better than their religion, it were well if they were as good. The foolish, bad, and ignorant may use such arts; but the wise, holy, and good would not. In ludicrous things we fright our children with bugbears and names ; but in such a serious thing as the government of the world, it cannot be imagined that God should use such an artifice.