of the former For thou shalt change this vile body and make it like to thy glorious body this corruptible shall put on incorruption and whatsoever is mortal in us shall be overcome and swallowed up by life With these same languishing eyes I shall behold thee upon a Cloud of the Heavens and a Throne of fire with these ears that are going to be stopt I shall hear the sound of the last Trump and the Songs of the blessed Angels with this Tongue that can scarce speak and move I shall sing forth thine Eternal and Divine praises with the Church Triumphing with these dying hands I shall embrace and take hold of thee with these feet that are already in the Grave I shall follow thee whither soever thou goest and walk about the streets of the new Jerusalem this same Body that is now dropping into the rotten Grave shall be carried up into Heaven to shine as the Stars or as the Sun for ever and ever O Lord I am ready to depart out of this Tabernacle there is nothing but a breath in my nostrils the shadow of Death appears upon mine eye lids and my Soul is upon my lips but I am fully perswaded that in this flâ—sh which shall be cast away to the worms and left in a rotten Grave I shall behold thy Glory and magnificence I shall see thy face and shall be satisfied with thy likeness when I shall awake again Amen CHAP. 24. The Twelfth Consolation the Destruction of Death and the Eternal and most Blessed Life which we shall enjoy both in Soul and Body after our Resurrection WE have sufficiently treated of that happiness which is prepared for our Souls at their departure from the Bodies and of the glorious Resurrection promised to these Bodies when Jesus Christ shall come down from Heaven in his Glory to judge the quick and the dead It seems 〈◊〉 we have nothing more to say but as Moses when he had made the Ark of Shittim wood and lined it with fine Gold he put round about a Crown of Gold upon the Top. In the same manner now that we have declared unto you the incorruption and future glory of our Bodies which are to be look'd upon as sacred Arks 〈…〉 God 's Majesty shall dwell for ever Now that we 〈…〉 how by the Almighty and gracious power of 〈…〉 they shall become more uncorruptible than the 〈◊〉 wood and more glorious than fine Gold I will nâ—w with Gods a â—â—â—ance draw about them a Crown more precious than the purest Gold and richer than all the â—ewels in the World I mean to Crown this work and intend to end it with as perfect a Picture as I am able to draw of the Eternal Glory and Happiness which we expect to enjoy both in Soul and Body after our Resurrection But first I must say something of the entire and perfect destruction of all our Enemies and represent unto you the overthrow and the fatal end of Death When Jesus Christ shall appear again to Judge the World in Righteousness he shall sit upon a glorious and a most splendid Throne Solomons magnificent Throne was but its shadow and imperfect Type he shall then send forth his Angels who shall gather together the Elect with the sound of a Trumpet from the four parts of the World and from one end of the Heavens to the other The sight of this glorious Saviour shall then fill us with an unspeakable joy and cause us to burst forth into this Language Is 25. Lo this is our God we have waited for him and he will save us This is the Lord we have waited for him we will be glad and rejoyce in his Salvation But when all the kinreds of the Earth shall behold this glorious King in the Clouds of Heaven with power and great glory they shall lament and strike their Breasts in despair they shall call to the Mountains and Rocks Revel 6. Fall upon us and hide us from the face of him that sitteth upon the Throne and from the wrath of the Lamb for the great day of his wrath is come who shall be able to stand It is then that the Lord shall bring to light the hidden things of darkness and shall manifest the thoughts of the heart with the most secret contrivances The Books shall be opened not only of the guilty Consciences where Satans Image and Deeds shall be engraven but also the other Books where God himself hath written with his own finger all our actions words and our most secret thoughts All Men shall be judged according to the things written in the Books St. John declares this in the 20. of the Revelations I saw a great White Throne and him that sate on it from whose face the Earth and the Heaven fled away and there was no place for them And I saw the Dead small and great stand before God and the Books were opened and another Book was opened which is the Book of Life and the Dead were judged out of those things which were written in the Books according to their works Unto this St. Paul agrees we must all appear before the judgement Seat of Christ that every one may receive in his Body according as he hath done whether it be good or evil There are three sorts of persons that are to stand before this glorious Tribunal such as never had any other teacher but Nature who were not acquainted with any other Works of God but of Creation and Providence for God hath not left himself without witness in doing good The second sort have been assisted with a Divine Revelation from above under the Law which hath distinctly taught them what Works are pleasing to God These may have heard something of a Messias from the ancient Prophets they may have seen his pourtraiture in the Types and Shadows of Moses ordinances The other sort have had the Grace of God clearly and plainly revealed unto them unto whom our Lord Jesus Christ hath brought Life and Immortality to light through the Gospel There are none of these persons if they have lived in Impiety and debauchery and are dead in impenitency that shall be able to excuse themselves in this dreadful day of Judgement But some are more guilty than others therefore they shall be condemned to more greivous Tortures The knowledge that God hath bestowed upon Man hath been darkened by the Prince of darkness but it hath not been totally extinct and that Law which God hath engraven in the Soul of Man hath not been altogether blotted out but there remains yet some relicks So that there is no Man living that can affirm that he hath done all the good deeds which his Conscience was perswaded that he ought to perform and that he hath omitted all the evil acts of which his Conscience did convince him They who have lived and are Dead without any Law of God revealed unto them shall be judged without the Law Such shall be condemned for having taken pleasure in
our ears and in our mind Put off thy shooes from thy feet for the place where thou standest is holy ground Exod. 6. Cast off there thy base and earthly affections and renounce thy sottish and filthy Lusts for thou art always before my eyes that are too clean and pure to suffer the sight of evil and the place where thou standest is sanctified by my presence Heb. 1. Remember that I see thine Heart that I search thy Reins and that I read thy most secret thoughts Revel 2. Christian souls imagine that God calls unto you from Heaven continually as hed id unto Abraham Walk before me and be perfect Gen. 17. Let therefore the dread of this Divine Majesty seize upon thee and possess thee When Potiphar's Wife tempted chaste Joseph to defile himself with Adultery she perceived nothing in the room but this object of her Lust but this Holy man perceives the Glorious Godhead between him and this lascivious Woman he perceives God's Eye that seeth into the greatest depths This made him break out into this expression How can I do this thing and sin against God Thus if our Flesh tempts us and if the vicious and prophane intice us into secret and shameful retreats to share in their filthy crimes Let us then remember that God is every where and wheresoever we hide our selves God hath an Ear to hear us an Eye to see us an Hand to record our Deeds Words and Thoughts God is all Ear all Eye and all Hand he discovers us as easily under the dark shadows of the night as at break of day he spies us through our Fig-leaves and beholds us in our most subtle disguises he understands our most inward thoughts and listens to the silent language of our Hearts he searcheth into all the Clossets of our Souls and into all the foldings and windings of our Consciences In a word all things are naked and altogether open to the Eyes of him with whom we have to doe An antient Philosopher did perswaded such as desire to be vertuous to chuse some grave and vertuous person and to represent him always in their presence and to live as in their sight Seneca We need not represent unto our selves imaginary appearances for in every place where we are and what ever we can do or think we are always in the sight of the Holy of Holies who is both our Witness and our Judge It was David's Meditation when he cried out O Lord whither shall I go from thy Spirit or whether shall I flye from thy presence If I mount up to Heaven thou art there if I go down into the pit thou art there also if I take the wings of the morning and fly to the uttermost parts of the Sea thither shall thine hand guide me and thy right hand uphold me If I say the darkness shall cover me behold the night shall be like light round about me darkness shall not hinder me from thee and the night shall shine as the day the night and the day are to thee alike 53. If the Devil and the World have ensnared us in their Nets and if we have been unhappily lull'd asleep in the bosome of some deceitful pleasure This consideration alone that God sees and understands us is able to awake us with an Holy dread and fear Let therefore the words of St. Paul sound continually in our minds Awake thou that sleepest and arise from the dead and Christ shall enlighten thee or Awake to Righteousness and sin not Eph. 5. 1 Cor. 15. Truly if we be not stupified and besotted above measure This dreadful voice that God thunders from Heaven is able not only to awake us from the sleep of iniquity but to oblige us also to cry out with Jacob God is here and I knew it not O that this place is dreadful it is the house of God it is the Gate of Heaven Gen. 28. Assoon as Peter had taken notice of our Saviours looks that were cast upon him he went out of the High Priests Hall and wept bitterly for his Apostacy Thus if we could but perceive and acknowledge that God casts his eye continually upon us we should repent of our Vices and our Hearts would quickly melt into Tears of Contrition 54. And because it is sometimes necessary to retain our selves with an Holy awe and to withdraw our selves out of Lust as out of the Fire you Religious Souls keep always in your mind a short Collection of the Judgements of God that have happened from time to time upon all manner of sinners Consider how God dealt with the Celestial Spirits who have not kept their original purity they are reserv'd for utter darkness and for eternal Chains until the great day of Judgement and say unto your selves If God hath not spared the Apostate Angels with he spare Man that rebels against him and offends him with delight remember the dreadful fall of our first Parents who although they had been fashioned with Gods own hand and instructed by himself have lost both themselves and all their posterity by listning to the deceitful suggestions of the old Serpent Cast your thoughts upon the first wicked World that was destroyed by a Deluge and upon the Cities of Sodom Gomorrah Admah and Zebolim upon whom fell the Fire and Brimstone of God's hot displeasure Look upon Pharaoh and the Egyptians overwhelmed with all their pride in the waves of the Red Sea Consider the three thousand that were kill'd with the Levites Swords because of the Idolatry of the Golden Calf and the four and twenty thousand whom a suddain death swept away because they went a whoring after Paal-Peor Look with fear upon the burning Serpents of the Wilderness that did cast their poison upon the Murmurers against God and their Superiors upon the Earth that open'd its mouth to swallow Corah Dathan and Abiram upon that Heavenly Fire that consum'd Nathan and Abihu who offered strange Fire unto the Lord upon the Bears that went out of the Forrest to devour two and forty young Rascals who mock'd Elisha the Prophet upon the Lion that devour'd the Prophet who disobey'd God's Command and hearkened to a lying Brother In short cast your eyes with astonishment upon Nebuchadnezzar feeding amongst the Beasts of the field Jezabel eaten up by Dogs Agrippa consumed with Worms and the rich Miser burning in the flames of Hell Dan. 4. 2 Kings 9. Acts 12. Luke 16. 55. Above all things think upon the last Judgement and consider this last day in which we must all appear before the Judgement Seat of Christ to receive in our Bodies that which we shall have done whether it be good or evil remember that in this dreadful day God will bring to light the hidden things of darkness the secret contrivances and thoughts of the Heart before this Throne of Fire the Books shall be opened not only God's Books where all our Sins and Impieties are Registred but also the Books of our Consciences where the frightful
Image and grievous remorses of Conscience will appear In the day of this glorious coming the Heavens shall melt the Elements will be dissolved the Earth and all its works shall be burn'd with fire and every man shall give an account of every idle word how much more of every wicked action and prophane discourse Matt. 5.12 56. That we may not be confounded nor ashamed in this fearful day in which God will judge the world by the man whom he hath ordained Let us be inwardly perswaded that it is not sufficient to abstain from outward sins but we must also hate and inwardly abhor them Acts 17. For as the Leopard in Chains leaves not his Skin nor his Spots and changes not for all his restraint his rapacious and cruel nature for it continues nevertheless to be a Leopard and as a Thief in Fetters shut up in a Dungeon remains a Thief in his heart and disposition likewise such as abstain from exterior sins for fear of Man and the severity of the Laws are nevertheless esteem'd to be vicious and abominable in the sight of God and of his Holy Angels if every time that he thinks upon his crimes he is not moved with a true contrition and an inward abhorrency of his soul to abominate them The best means to render our Conscience whole is to tear it in pieces with the sorrows of repentance 57. It is not sufficient to abstain from the thoughts words and actions that God prohibits but we must also apply our selves to the study of true Piety of Vertue and generally of all the good Works that God requires for as the Praise and Honor of a good Bow-man is never bestowed upon one who hath only the skill of not breaking his Bow his Arrows or his Quiver but to him who strikes the mark and aims well and he is not to be reckoned a good Artist who works not ill because he doth nothing at all but he who works well and shews excellent pieces of worknanship likewise he is not to pass for a good and Religious Christi-who only abstains from evil and commits no outward sins but he who doth good and applies himself to Vertue Every Tree that bringeth not forth good Fruit although it bears no evil Fruit is hewen down and cast in the fire Matt. 2. our Saviour curs'd the Fig-tree not because that it brought forth evil Fruits but because it brought forth no good Fruit but was altogether barren The wicked servant was cast out into utter darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth not because he had lost or mispent his Talent but because he had not employed it well and turned it to his Lords advantage Matt. 25. Not only such shall be condemned to the Flames prepared for the Devil and his Angels who afflict God's Children on Earth and spill the bloud of his servants but such as have not cloathed his Members visited and comforted them nor given them to eat and drink In short if you enquire from the rich Miser how he comes to be condemned to Hell tortured in the Flames he will not tell you it was because he took what was not his own or because he committed no Murders Violences and other horrid Deeds but because he lived without Charity and had no pity of the poor 58. And because God requires that we should proceed daily forward until we become to the measure of the perfect stature in our Lord Jesus Christ we must very frequently take a view of our former life and feel the pulse of our Lusts to see whether they be not more fervent and violent than before whether the old Man continues to decline and how much we have gain'd upon our wicked affections and reformed our corrupt disposition for as those who swim against the stream if they slack but a little are carried downwards by the violence of the Current Likewise if we employ not all our strength to swim up to our Heavenly Source Integrity and Perfection the torrent of our Lusts and of evil Customs will hurry us down into the deep Abysse of Death and Eternal Destruction we must therefore often examine every day what progress we have made in Piety and Holiness and whether since so many years that God speaks to us and instructs us to discover to us what is pleasing to hime if we have more Piety Zeal and Charity and mors Holiness than before we must imitate the solicitou care of such as have transplanted some rare plant of the East in this Northern climate they have always the eye upon it to take notice of every thing that happens to it We must propose for our example a Steward who hath a great account to make up he looks often upon his Memorials and his Registers An Heathen Philosopher was highly prais'd because he did never lay himself down to sleep until he had well examin'd what progress he had made in Philosophy and Moral Vertue Likewise a good Christian should never cast himself upon his Bed to sleep at night until he hath seriously considered how he hath proceeded forward in Piety and the love of God In a word a true Christian by this means shall never be less alone than when he is alone for thon he shall entertain himself with his God and shall discover unto him his Heart and his most secret thoughts then he shall speak seriously unto his Soul and shall examine exactly his Conscience then he will look to his wicked deeds to weep and lament for them with Tears of a sincere repentance then he will cast himself upon the infinite Mercy and Goodness of his God to embrace it with a lively Faith and assurance then he will make a reflexion upon God's Commands to walk in them with an Holy Zeal and Earnestness all the days of his life 59. Amongst these directions that I intend to give to him that desires to apply himself to the practice of Piety and to abandon Vice I must not forget this advice that he must never satisfy his carnal Lusts and Pleasures but he should rather check and bridle them for when we grant them what they desire we are so far from extinguishing the feavorish Flames and satisfying these hellish longings that we do but increase and encourage them the more as he that loves Money is not satisfied with Money and as the ambitious is never exalted high enough in Honor Thus the lustful Worldling is never contented with the fullest enjoyment of the carnal pleasures It is a Fire that kindles another and a Flame that never saith It is enough These filthy Lusts are like the Serpent that stings the bosom of the person that warms it in his Breast or as the Furnace of Babylon that burnt up those who had first lighted it for such as entertain the Flames of their fleshly Lusts they keep in their bosoms a Fire that will at last burn and totally consume them 60. We must resist the first motions of the Flesh and with