if we hearken to this we shall never fear that Surgite venite then Arise you dead and come to judgement That is the first The Summons Secondly the Appearance after the Summons all shall make their appearance We must all appear before the Judgment seat of Christ 2 Cor. 5.10 This Appearance it is general and personal the general all must come the particular and personal every one shall come in his own person We shall appear for our selves every man for himself shall give an account to God Rom. 14.12 In other Courts if men appear for themselves by another it is enough but here Per se by himself That is the reason that this day it is called in Scripture the day of manifestation First because Christ himself shall be revealed and manifested in that day We look for the day of the Revelation of Jesus Christ 1 Cor. 1.7 Secondly because the Attributes of God shall be revealed then his patience and long animity his righteousness and justice a day of Revelation of the just judgment of God Rom. 2. Finally because we our selves shall be revealed and manifested all our wayes and works the godly and the works that they have done though never so secret the wicked and their works the secret sins that they have committed That is the second thing in the manner of the Judgment First that all shall be summoned secondly upon the Summons all shall be made to appear Thirdly the Separation that shall be made at that time for when all are congregated by and by all shall be severed and separated a separation and division shall be made amongst them some shall be set at the right hand of the Judg some at the left hand As a shepheard searcheth his flock in the day when he is amongst his sheep that are scatered so I will search out my sheep at that day and I will divide between cattel and cattel between the sheep and the goats The Sheep and the Goats here they flock feed and fold together they will do so they must do so The Tares here must be let alone and grow with the corn till the day of harvest but yet afterward there shall be a division and a separation the wicked and the godly live together here but at the last the wicked shall be separated from the godly like the chaff from the wheat as when two travel one way they pass together and lodg together but the next morning they part and take several wayes so the wicked and the godly after they have been here a time eating and dirinking conversing and living and perhaps dying and rotting in the graves together notwithstanding when this day that I here speak of shall come then there shall be a separation and division made then the sheep shall be set on the right hand then you shall know which is Jacobs flock and which is Labans which belong to Christ and which belong to Sathan then the chaff shall be winnowed from the wheat and we shall see which is for the Barn and which is for the fire Go on you wicked still seem the same you are not delude the eyes of the world that you have the same heart that you appear you have Masks and Vizards now the time will come your paint shall be washed off your fig-leaves shall be stripped and your nakedness shall be seen and all manifest at that day of God there shall be a separation of the good from the bad as the shepheard separateth his sheep from the Goats Fourthly with this separation there shall be a tryal the Scripture speaks of after the conventing and separation there shall be a tryal I saw faith Saint John Revel 20.12 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 those books according to their works Mark there are several books and so as there are several books there are several judgments some are tryed by one book some by another First there are some books by which the works of men are tryed the book of Nature the book of Scripture the book of Conscience They that never heard of Christ shall be judged by the book of Nature there is enough in the book of Nature to leave all unexcusable They that live in the Church shall be tryed and judged by the book of the Scripture Of the Law They that have sinned under the the Law shall be judged by the Law Of the Gospel God shall judg the secrets of all hearts according to my Gospel Both of them shall be judged according to the book of Conscience for God will lay that book so clear and open that they shall see what they have done against that Book Lord what a many of sins have we committed here that we never remember and think of when they are done Our memory and conscience row is a Book clasped up we see not a thousand things that are registred there but when God shall lay open that Book and inlarge our memories and inl ghten our consciences then men shall clearly see what they had forgot before they shall promptly dictate the whole course of our lives and aquaint us with every action that hath past us and every circumstance to accuse and excuse This is the kind of the tryal by which the works of men shall be tryed Lastly with the Summons there shall be an appearance and with that a separation and a tryal after all these are done then cometh the sentence then the Sentence shall be pronounced upon the one and upon the other the one Sentence full of sweetness and comfort every word droppeth as a honey combe Come you blessed of my Father inherit the kingdome prepared for you from the beginning of the world The same voyce that Christ spake to them here Come to me the same shall be there Come ye blessed and as they were careful to come to Christ here so they shall make a happy coming to Christ there The other is a sentence of Hell and wrath and horrour Depart ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the divel and his Angels as they desired here to depart from God and said to him depart from us so they shall hear that word of horrour and woe pronounced at that day they shall be sent away into fire to have their portion with the Divel and his Angels Thus brefly I have shewed concerning the person Judging First for the Judg himself God And then for the Judgment first that it must be and then the manner how I should go on to the next general point that is to consider the things and persons Judged every work of every man whether it be good or whether it be evil And so I should have given the Application and Use of all together But so much for this time A TRYAL OF SINCERITY
this a meeting for the solemnization of a Marriage I might further descan upon this plain-song that ariseth from the inference of Mens honouring of Women What have I said if it were a Marriage solemnity surely howsoever here be before our eyes the eyes of our bodies a visible object of mortality yet notwithstanding here is before us an invisible occasion of rejoycing as at a Marriage solemnity to the eye of our soul understanding and faith for while here we live in the world Jesus Christ our Spouse he hath his friends friends of the Bridegroom his Ministers and messengers that in his name come to us woo us use all the means that may be to move us to accept of Christ for our Lord and Husband When a man accepts of this offer there is then the contract consummated in regard of the Mutual consent that passeth between the one and the other Christ having his Proxies here we the Ministers being for him and every believing soul for himself This contract continueth so long as here we remain in this world when we depart the body is laid in the Bride-bed quietly to rest and sleep till the Bride-groom be pleased to come and awake his Spouse and it will be a blessed voyce that he shall come withal Come ye blessed of my Father receive the kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world As for the soul that goeth immediatly to Christ and is in his Fathers house with him the Spouse in that part with her Husband the Lord Christ enjoying an eternal inviolable communion and sweet society But howsoever this is thus to the invisible eyes of the soul we now must look upon the object here before us and answerably order out matter and therefore with this touch I let pass the inference and come to the substance of the Text. You heard the sum you heard the parts But we must hear proceed Huesteron and Proteron and clean invert the order of the words as I hope your selves will discern if you do but well mark the order and method Life is in the last place grace before it the right that cometh before it and the extent of that right before all I suppose therefore you will think that first it is meet to lay forth the priviledge it self Life and then to speak of the ground of it then of the right that we have and then of the Extent of that right and this order I purpose to follow First therefore concerning the Priviledge it self Life For brevities sake I forbear to speak much of the divers acceptations of life and distinctions thereof as it is in the Creatour the only true God Father Son and holy Spirit or as it is the invisible and glorious creatures the Angels or as it is in men who are animated by a reasonable soul or as it is in those creatures that are guided only by sense Beasts Fowl Fish or otherwise as it Trees and Plants that come forth out of the earth having a vegetative life only The life here meant is that we call eternal life consisting in our communion with Christ our Spouse and this is a life proper to the Saints proper unto them because coming from the grace of God extended unto them alone proper unto them because they are heirs of it And in this extent there is a restraint howsoever the extent be in divers considerations yet a restraint a qualification only believers only found true Christians to them it is proper And this life is to be considered either in the Inchoation and beginning thereof or in the consummation and accomplishment thereof In regard of the Inchoation of this special life of the Saints it is here begun in this world I now live faith the Apostle speaking even of this life by the faith of the Son of God And the Just shall live by faith This life it is by Christs dwelling and living in us I now live yet not I but Christ liveth in me faith the Apostle in the place before quoted The other it is in the world to come and it is by a sweet feeling and fruition it is by our abiding with Christ and living with him in which respect faith our Lord Christ to the penitent believer upon the Cross This day the very day that he dyed shalt thou be with me in Paradise and so Saint Paul saith of himself I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ implying that upon the dissolution immediatly there is a fruition a communion with Christ And the same Apostle speaking of those Saints that shall be upon the earth at the very moment of Judgment when the dead faith he are raised then shall we also that are alive and remain be cought up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the ayr and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Now then mark here you see the soul hath present communion with Christ upon the dissolution of the body and the body also shall have communion with him at the great day of the Resurrection of all flesh Now this life and communion with Christ is proper to the Saints by vertue of their union with Christ A mistical union For Christ the Son of God he is life originally in himself for as the Father hath life in himself so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself He is also Life communicatively communicating life unto us therefore he is said to be the Bread of life and in this sence because he is that Bread which cometh down from heaven and giveth life unto the world The Use of this point my brethren is manifold I will but touch it First it doth instruct us in the great love and good respect that God beareth to us children of men that of his own good pleasure hath written our names in the book of life and hath sent his Son to purchase life for us and to bring us also to this life Beloved what love the Father hath shewed to us in Christ Secondly this is a demonstrrtion of the woful plight wherein naturally men are in this world they may seem to be of some account they have a life that is far different from the life of Plants and also from the life of Beasts they have a reasonable soul to animate them Oh but this this is not the life Natural life indeed is a death compared to this life that is here noted to be proper to the Saints which cometh by grace wherof we are heirs and therefore of all natural men it may be said as the Apostle said of the wanton Widdow she is dead while she liveth even so are all such dead while they live dead in sins and trespasses and if so be those that are in this kind dead continue so till the death of the body seize upon them wo wo wo to them upon this followeth an eternal death endless easeless
only in brief run them over this being not the thing that I purposely aym at First in Cities and Corporations there is a Register wherein the names of the Free-men are inrolled So in heaven also there is a Register a certain book of Records as it were wherein are written the names of as many as God hath appointed to life Rejoce not faith our Saviour in this that the divels are subdued unto you but rejoyce that your names are written in heaven And all that are not found written in the book of life are cast into the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone Rev. 20.15 God in his secret counsel and purpose in his special providence and love takes notice of all his servants even of their names and he hath them as sure as if they were written down in a book there is not one man that cometh to heaven but the Lord knows him already to be a man ordained to that estate and condition Secondly as in all Cities and Societies there is a certain law whereby they are all governed in obedience to which they live So there is a law whereby all the Citizens of heaven all the houshold of God are governed that law which the Apostle Saint James calleth the royal law a law which commandeth the very spirits of men a law that disposeth the whole man to a heavenly frame and subjection to the will of God the great King of Heaven so that a man while he is here below by degrees is drawn off from the world in his affections and disposition and carriage and madesutable and conformable to the rule of righteousness Thirdly as in all Cities there is a kind of safety and security to those that dwell there not only as they are incompassed with walls but also as there is watching and warding some waking while others sleep to keep the rest in safety So in this heavenly society the Angels pitch their Tents about those that fear God nay the Lord himself is the Shepheard of Israel that neither slumbereth nor sleepeth while men oppose them God defends them while men are labouring and plotting and devising against them and they it may be are secure and fear no danger God disperseth and disappointeth a thousand projects intended against his servants It was so with his own people Israel while they were in the plains securely lying in their tents there is Balack and Balaam consulting upon the mountains how to curse them but the God of Israel that is above the mountains that sitteth on the highest Heavens he ordereth the matter so that Balaam for his life though he might have had all the wealth and honour of the Kingdome could not pronounce one curse against Israel because God had said to him that he should not curse Fourthly As in Cities and societies on earth men have communion and society one with another the less have interest in the greater and the greater in the less and all have interest one in another the inferiours receive from the superiours protection and provision and the superiours receive from the inferiours subjection and submission So it is in this heavenly Corporation in this spiritual Jerusalem Jerusalem is a City at unitie in it self There is a communion and fellowship that the Saints have with God the Father with Christ with the Angels with the Saints in heaven and one with another on earth With God the Father they have an interest in him as subjects of his kingdome as servants and children of his family there is not the meanest subject in this kingdome but he may make his request known to this Prince there is not the least servant in this Family but he may make his complaint to this Master they may as children go boldly to the throne of grace and make their request known unto him though it be but in sighes and groans Hence it is that God takes notice of them your heavenly Father knoweth that you have need of all these things and therefore he will supply them If you that are earthly can give good things to your children how much more shall your heavenly father give good things to them that ask him They have interest in Christ also he is their Intercessour therefore hence it is that he is said to sit at the right hand of God making intercession for us He is their Advocate if any man sin we have an Advocate with the Father even Jesus Christ the righteous He is their Lord and Captain the Captain of the Lords Army to defend his Church Michael the great Prince standeth up for the children of his people They have interest also in the holy Ghost the third Person in Trinity they have not only the love of God the Father but the communion and fellowship of the holy Ghost as the Apostle wisheth for the Corinthians Hence it is that the Holy Ghost is ready to help their infirmities to in able them to put up their requests when they know not how to pray as they ought Hence it is that he sanctisieth them and therefore they are said to be Born again of water and of the spirit that he comforteth them therefore he is called the holy Ghost the Comforter As the Saints have interest in the three Persons in the Trinity in respect of their dependance upon them so the blessed Trinity hath an interest in them also If I be a Father where is my honour if I be a Master where is my fear Because they acknowledg God to be their Father they honour him because they acknowledg him to be their Lord they fear him c. They have interest in the Angels also Hence it is that they are called Ministring spirits sent forth for the good of the Elect They were Christs messengers his Angels and now they are made Messengers Angels to the Saints therefore faith Christ Offend not one of these little ones for I tell you that their Angels behold the face of my father in heavenâ—… They have interest in them not as worshippers of Angels which the Apostle condemneth Coll. 2. as foreseeing to what a height Popish superstition would rise in this kind I say not to worship them to invocate them to pray to them we know no such will-worship which is without the rule We have an Angel comforting Hagar we have an Angel defending Elisha we have an Angel incouraging Jacob we have an Angel carrying Lazarus into Abrahams bosome But we never had any Angel that stood in this place to have worship and adoration This indeed the Angels have from us imitation of their obedience we pray thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven They have interest in the Saints also yea in those that are dead not as though they paayed for us yet they have a common desire of the welfare of the whole Church The souls under the Alter cry How long Lord holy and true wilt thou not
men oft rejoyce they are prudent and wise And you see that this is a vain thing In the second place if a young man rejoyce in his honour and credit amongst men this also is vain Solomon hath shewed it Eccles 2.16 He declareth to us that all the honour of the world will end in oblivion there is saith he no remembrance of the wise more then of the fool for ever for that which now is in the dayes to come shall be forgotten and how dieth the wise man as the fool Again if a man rejoyce in honour and much glory he cannot beleeve so faith Christ John 5.44 How can you beleeve since you seek honour one of another and not the honour that cometh of God only And it is noted to be the reason why many of the chief Rulers that beleeved on Christ did not confesse him without which faith cannot be unfeigned because they loved the praise of men more then the praise of God John 10.43 Nay further the Apostle sheweth us that this is the cause of envy Gal. 5.26 Be not desirous of vain-glory envying one another Envy is a vexing affection this vain-glory is the cause of this envy whereby we shall pine away when we see the happiness and welfare of our brethren Further if young men delight in pleasures which is the common course of youth these also are vain things I said in my heart saith Solomon Eccles 2.2 Go to now I will prove thee with mirth therefore enjoy pleasure and behold this also is vanity Kings that have had the greatest wisdome to invent them and the greatest leisure to use them yet they never found full contentment in the same I made me saith he vers 4. great works I builded me houses I planted me vineyards I made me gardens and orchards and planted trees in them of all kind of fruits I made me pools of water I got me servants and maidens also I had great possessions of great and small cattel above all that were in Jerusalem before me I got me men-singers and women-singers and the delights of the sons of men as musicall instruments of all sorts Here were the pleasures of Solomon But vers 11. Behold saith he I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought and on the labour that I had laboured to do and behold all was vanity and vexation of spirit and there was no profit under the Sun The wise Solomon that had been trying every creature whether it had any thing in it that might give him a true rellish profest that there was no profit under the Sun Yet further these pleasures shall cease there shall be an end of them 1 Cor. 7.29 The time is short it remaineth that those that have wives be as though they had none they that rejoyce as though they rejoyced not they that buy as though they possessed not they that use the world as not abusing of it for the fashion of this world passeth away Lastly our Saviour Christ in Luke 8.14 sheweth that the pleasures of this life choak the word of God that it cannot bring forth grateful fruit to God Fourthly if young men delight in riches and rejoyce in their estates that God that given them this likewise is a vain thing For first many times wealth is gotten by deceit and then God bloweth on it Jer. 5.27 As a cage is full of birds so are their houses full of deceit therefore they are become great and waxen rich shall not I visit for these things saith the Lord and shall net my soul be avenged on such people as this Again wealch is kept with much sorrow Eccles 5.12 The sleep of the labouring man is sweet whether he eate little or much but the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep Thirdly wealth is lost with a great deal of sorrow and vexation Rev. 18.18 when the smoak of Babylon ascended up to heaven Oh what lamencation there was they cryed out What city is like unto this great city and they cost dust on their heads and cryed weeping and wailing saying Alas alas that great city wherein were made rich all that had shipps in the sea by reason of her costliness for in one hour is she made desolate But suppose further that a man should get and keep his wealth in the fear of God yet these things are most uncertain as the Apostle faith 2 Tim. 1.16 Charge them that are rich in this world that they trust not in uncertain riches Lastly these riches cannot preserve our life so faith Christ himself Luke 12.25 Take heed and beware of Covetousness for no mans life is preserved by the abundance of that he possesseth In the last place If young men rejoyce in friends and Allies this also is a vain thing For Psal 62.9 The man of low degree is vanity and the man of high degree is a lie to be laid in the ballance they are lighter then vanity Again no friend can deliver us from Death Psal 49.7.8 No man can by any means redeem his brother nor give to God a ransome for him for the redemption of their soul is precious and it ceaseth for ever that he should still live for ever and not see corruption Thus I have shewed several things that young men rejoyce in and have shewed likewise that their joy is founded upon vanity upon nothing And this is the second means to heal young men of the inordinateness of their Joy to meditate with themselves how vain and frivolous all things are that they delight in The third means is to betake themselves to seek spiritual joy The well-head of this Joy is God whom the Scripture calleth the God of cousolation The instrument to convey this Joy is Faith Rom. 5.1 Being jnstified by faith we have peace with God The grounds of this Joy are twofold First the good things exhibited Secondly the good things promised The good things exhibited That God hath written our names in the book of life Here is the fountaine of spiritual joy to a true Christian Rejoyce saith Christ not that the divels are fallen before you but that your names are written in the book of life Secondly the other ground of spiritual joy is the good things promised us And those may be reduced to two heads God hath made promises either in regard of evil things as we call them of afflictions that befall us Or the weakness of the graces that are in us Now in the evil of Affliction we may rejoyce first In the promise of protection in affliction 2. In the promise of Edification by affliction 3. In the promise of deliverence from affliction All in the best season Again for the defects of grace in us which indeed is a thing exceeding grievous to a true Christian Here we may rejoyce First In the promise of preserving of grace 2. In the promise of augmentation and
of the Creed concerning the happiness of the dead and the glorious estate of the Tryumphant Church and the life of the World to come If we desire to be informed concerning the affaires of the Abissens or those of China Sumatra or Japan we confer with those that are of the same Country or have travelled into those parts and for the like reason if we desire to be instructed concerning the state and condition of the Citizens of the Heavenly Jerusalem their insinite number their excellent order their singular priviledges their everlasting joyes their feasts their robes their palmes their thrones their crowns we must enquire of them who either are inhabitants there or have brought us news from thence nothing but a voyce from Heaven can enforce our assent to these heavenly mysteries Now as all words of Kings are of great authority but specially their Edicts and Proclamations so all voyces from Heaven are highly to be regarded and religiously obeyed but especially Decrees and Statutes which are commanded by the authority of the high Court of Heaven to be written for perpetuity such as this is in my Text I heard a voyce from Heaven saying Write with a Pen of Diamond in letters never to be oblitrated write it so that it may be read of men in all succeeding Ages even to the last man that shall stand upon the earth Here I cannot sufficiently admire the boldness of Cardinal Bellarmine who to disparage the necessity of holy Scripture and cry up unwritten traditions which are the best evidence he can produce for his new Trent Creed blusheth not to publish it to the World in print that the Apostles and Evangelists had no command from God to write their Gospels or Epistles but that they wrote upon the entreaty of some friends or some emergent occasious Were there no other Text in all the holy Scriptures but this nor word in this Text but this one Write it were alone sufficient to convince him of gross ignorance if not rather giving the lie to his own knowledge But yet farther rather to confound him with shame then convince him with evidence doth not the Apostle affirme in general of the whole Scripture that it is given by Divine inspiration and what is inspiring but a kind of dictating to all the Pen-men of the holy Ghost and doth not he that dictateth to another both tell him what he shall write and bid him write it Besidesin the 1 of the Apocalypse vers 10 11. Saint John heard a great voyce as of a trumpet saying I am Alpha and Omega the first and the last and what thou seest write in a Book Thirdly besides the general command of committing the whole Word of God to writing and a special mandate for the writing the Apocolypse we have a singular precept for the writing the precise words of this Text and must not that needs be thrice worthy our observation which is written by a threefold command and what is that Blessed are the dead If the dead are blessed the dead are for an argument a terito adjacente ad secundum ever holdeth if the tearms be taken in the proper sence The Metaphisicks demonstrate non ent is nullus esse affectiones that such things as have no existence have no qualities nor real attributes but blessedness is here attributed to the dead the dead therefore are And the Philosopher who being demanded whether the living or the dead were more in number answered that doubtless the living quia mortui ne sunt quiedm because the dead were not to be reckoned upon in regard now they are not at all spake without book and uttered that which is most false as we learn from the mouth of Truth himself who not only affirmeth that the dead are but that they are also living though dead to this World yet not to the World yet not to the World to come dead to men but not dead to God have ye not read saith our Saviour what is spoken unto you by God saying I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob God is not the God of the dead but of the living for all live to him but are all the dead blessed the Text answereth all the dead that die in the Lord That die in the Lord Yea but you will say those that are already dead cannot die what then is the meaning of this phrase the dead that die in the Lord Saint Ambrose answereth he that is dead already cannot die in the same sence that he is dead but he that is already dead in one sence may be said to die in another he that is dead to the World as all the regenerated who have mortified the deeds of the flesh may afterwards die to the body and so die in the Lord that is breath out his soul into the hands of the Lord. This is sound Divinity and a true proposition but no true exposition of this place in which the latter seemeth to be a limitation of the former as God is near to all that call upon him yea all that call upon him faithfully so here blessed are the dead what all dead howsoever they die no but all that die in the Lord. There is much variety among the interpreters about the interpretation of this phrase to die in the Lord. Some will have the meaning thereof to be those that die for the Christian faith and seal the truth thereof with their bloud And they alleage for themselues first parallel texts of Scripture wherein the preposition in is put for pro for as Gen. 18.13 Omnes in te benedicentur all Nations shall be blessed in thee that is for thee and in thy seed that is for thy seed and Gen. 28.18 servivi Berachel word for word I served in Rachel that is for Rachel Next they alleage the antecedents together with the occasion of these words verse 12. here is the patience of the Saints here are they that keep the commandements of God and the faith of Jesus Christ and truly the main scope of the Text seemeth to be to arm the godly with patience and to encourage them to fight against the Beast upon whom before God execute vengeance if it so fall out that many of Gods faithfull servants loose their lives Yet that none should be dismayed therewith because all that so die are blessed for they exchange a temporal life in this World for an eternal in another Thirdly say they it cannot be well conceived how any can die in Domino in the Lord who is the Lord of life if we take the preposition in the proper sence for though in the natural body a member may be cut off and die the head being alive yet it is not so in the mystical body of Christ no true Member thereof can be cut off much less die while it continues in that body by dying in the Lord therefore we must understand dying
not but this I am sure of that there have been too many unkind passages where the fault is your selves know But this is to be taken into consideration that God removeth them from ye as if ye were worthy of none If God send us these helps and Lampes that waste themselves to shine to us and to break and dispence to us the bread of life shall we not give them incouragement in their studies that they may go on quietly and peaceably A word is enough for that Howsoever some of ye would not suffer him to rest God hath taken him to his rest There is more might be said but I will not say too much For the other since I came from my house I had information at my first footing in the Parish they said she was as good a woman as lived At my first footing in the house they said she was a very good woman Those that have lived in the Parish they testifie that she was a woman most eminent for her piety and vertue Shall she want a memorial I asked of those that have known her of old they say she was a righteous woman for the righteousness of piety and a merciful woman for the righteonsness of mercy She had respect to both tables to her duty to God to her Neighbour For the mercy of charity she was good to the poor she was a lender to those that were in necessity and a giver too For the mercy of piety she was very compassionate to those that were in afflictions she sympathized with them visited them and comforted them For the mercy of peace in time of contention she laboured to set all strait she had a soft answer co pacifie wrath She was a merciful woman and God hath given her the reward hath took her to his rest She was a lover of peace he hath taken her to the place of peace She was one hat studied happiness and he hath taken her to a place of happiness He hath took her from these evils that we are reserved to and that we may fear That is the difference between a godly and an impenitent man Impenitent men if they be took away they are taken to further evill if they be left alive they are left to further evil Merciful men if they be took away they are taken away for the eschewing of evil and if they be left on the earth it is for the diverting of evil They divert them while they live and shun them when they die As they labour to honour God in their lives so God gratifieth them in their death he takes them to himself This consideration and occasion is a proof of the Text. As it is proved in all the Text let us disprove it in our selves that this word may never go in the course it lieth here but in a contrary course That righteous men perish and men do lay it to heart let it be said so and merciful men though they be took away yet there are those that take it into consideration I have done with the last part and with the occasion THE GOOD MANS EPITAPH OR THE HAPPINESSE OF Those that Die VVell SERMON IX REVBLAT 14.13 I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me write Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from hence forth yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labours and their works do follow them THE Scripture will afford us many Texts for Funerals Me thinks there is none more fit nor more ordinarily preached on than two and they are both of them voices from heaven One was to Isaiah the Prophet He was commanded to crie The voyce said Cry And be said What shall I cry All flesh is grasse and all the goodness thereof is as the flower of the field You will say That is a fit Text indeed So is this here A voyce from heaven too But Saint John is not commanded to cry it as Isaiah was he is commanded to write it That that is written is for the more assurance It seemeth good to me faith Saint Luke in his preface to his Gospel Most excellent Theophilus to write to thee of these things in order that thou mightest know the certainty c. It did not please God for many generatious to teach his Church by writing The Fathers before the flood he did not teach by writing They lived long their memory served them instead of books and they had now and then some Divine revelations They needed no writing But after that the dayes of man grew short as they did in the time of Moses the man of God the dayes of our years are threescore years and ten then I say when the dayes of man came thus to be shortned it pleased God to teach his Church by writing And although the whole will of God all things necessary to solvation be written yet God did appoint some special things above all others to be written some passages of divide truths As that same history of the foil of Amalek in the wilderness Scribehoc ad monumentum saith God to Moses write this for a memorial in a book So God commandeth Isaiah to take to himself a great roul and to write in it with a mans pen. So to Exekiel Son of man write thee the name of the day even of this same day the king of Babylon set himself against Jerusalem this same day And Saint John to go no further though he was commanded to write this whole Epistle and all the Visions he saw yet there is some special thing that God in a more special manner would have him to write And here is one Write this same voyce this 〈◊〉 that came down from heaven write it Though that writing addeth nothing to the Authority of the Word For the word of God is the same Word and is as well to be obeyed and as well to be beleeved when it is delivered by tradition as when it is by writing yet notwithstanding we are to blesse God that we have it written How many Divine truths have been turned into lies And how many divine Histories have been turned into fables when things have been delivered by tradition from hand to hand and from man to man Tradition was never so safe a preserver of Divine truths We are to thank God I say for the whole Scripture for every part of it for whatsoever is written is written for our learning that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope But what comfortable thing is this that here Saint John is commanded to write Write what Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord so saith the spirit they rest from their labours and their works follow them In the which you have five things First you have a Proposition Dead men are blessed Blessed are the dead Now because this is not generally true therefore Secondly you have a Restriction all Dead men are not blessed But who are blessed then
growth in grace 3. In the promise of bringing the weakest grace to perfection Here you have the well-head of Joy Oh that young men would know God and Christ Jesus and the word of God and the promises that they might leave this sinful and sottish joy whereto they are so adicted This is the means to be rid of it by getting into their souls the sence and feeling of the true Joy of the children of God Again in the second place Young men should be exhorted not to walk after their own heart which is the next thing that Solomon noteth as a fault in them The heart saith Jeremy is deceitful above measure and desperately wicked It is so deceitful such a Cheator that we are not able to comprehend it it is desperately wicked Who will follow a false guide and a disperate wicked guide so is the heart of man Lastly they should not walk after the sight of their eyes David prayed Turn away mine eyes that I regard not vanity and quicken me in thy Law And again Open mine eyes that I may see the wondrous things of thy Law There is much danger in following our eyes Eve was misled by her eye she looked upon the forbidden fruit and saw it beautiful and so lusted after it And when I saw saith Achan among the spoiles a goodly Babylonish garment and a wedge of gold then I coveted them and took them David was defiled by the eye He saw Bathsheba from the roofe of his house washing her self and then he lusted Holy men have prayed to God that he would keep their eyes in a right frame and temper These are the particulars that Solomon giveth to young men in direction to take heed of carnal joy to take heed of walking after their hearts or after their sense And these things brethren I have now committed in direction to you The last use of this Doctrine is for old men For if young men may not rejoyce carnally much less may old men Youth may plead for it self in want of wisdome and gravity sobriety and experience better then those of age If young men may not have evil hearts and evil eyes much less old men Look to it you that hear me this day that are stricken in age as the Scripture speaks that are smitten in your limbs with age that you cannot walk with activity and nimbleness and are smitten in your senses with age that you cannot well see and hear and taste Oh that your hearts would smite you for your sins May not young men rejoyce in pleasures in friends in honours in wealth Much less may those of old age Must young men be careful to chase away all carnal joy and to get spiritual joy that beginneth in godly sorrow much more must old men It is no time for those that are old to rejoyce in carnal things a few daies will make an end of them and lay them in the Grace Oh then you that are of years break off your sins by repentance and your iniquities by mercy Rejoyce in being good and in doing good This Joy will continue with you as for the Joy of corn and wine and oyle and silver and gold this joy will die when you die Yea notwithstanding all the supports of this joy in this life yet in another life you may be transported to hellish torments Thus much for this first In the second place Solomon sheweth the remedy against this carnal Joy in young men which also may be a preservative against sin both for young and old But know thou saith he that for all these things God will bring thee to judgement The Doctrine is thus much That the Lord God will certainly bring men to judgement for all the sins they have committed This is an infallible truth Know thou this that for all these things God will bring thee to judgement Malach. 3.18 A book of remembrance is written before God for those that fear the Lord and thought upon his name So the Lord hath a book of remembrance wherein he writeth down the sins of the sons of men and this shall be opened and unciasped in the evil day Eccles 12.14 God will bring every work into judgement with every secret thing whether it be good or whether it be evil 2 Cor. 5.10 We must appear before the Judgement seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his body according to that be hath done whether it be good or bad 1 Thes 4.16 The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout with the voyce of the Arch-angel and with the trump of God Epistle of Jude vers 14 And Enoch the seventh from Adam prophesied of this saying the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his Saints to execute Judgement upon all and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him For opening of this point I will briefly shew you these two things First what is the reason that God will bring all these things to Judgement Secondly what manner of Judgement it shall be For the first What is the reason that God will bring all these things to Judgement The first reason is His Decree Heb. 9.27 It is appointed to all men once to die and after this the Judgment Even as it must needs be that man must die because God hath so appointed it so also it must needs be that men must come to Judgement in regard of the purpose and decree of God Secondly God will do this in regard of his righteousness He is a holy God a hater of iniquity But many times in this world it is well with the wicked and ill with the godly Lazarus he is in woful misery and Dives he is in abundance of prosperity Now God will shew his love to the righteous and his hatred to the wicked in this Judgement If judgement here begin at the house of God It is impossible the family of Sathan should escape hereafter Thirdly God will by this means clear his wayes as the Apostle speaks Rom. 2.5 There are many wayes of God that are dark and cloudy to us but then God will manifest himself before men and Angels Then those wayes and works of God against which the hearts of unsanctified men have boyled shall appear to be as they are holy and good and righteous to their condemnation and terrour Yet further The particular Judgement that God inflicts upon men in this life may prove the universall The burning of Sodom and Gommorah the drowning of the old World the plaguing of Egypt and the desolation of Jerusalem These shew the insinite hatred of God against sin therefore no doubt he will take a time to revenge himself of the impenitent amongst the sons of men because of their sins Lastly the consciences of men may prove that
he putteth in this Male and Female and of these he saith All are one in Christ no difference for the Female at first were made after the same Image that the Male were He made them Male and Female in his own Image Gen. 1.27 Both sorts have the same Saviour and are redeemed by the same price A Woman said My soul rejoyceth in God my Saviour Luke 1.47 they are both sanctified by the same Spirit the Apostle saith that when an unbelieving Husband is knit to a believing Wife The Husband is sanctisied by the wise as well as in the other case the Wife is sanctified by the Husband And this my brethren giveth a check to the undue the unjust consure that many do give to this weaker vessel that this Sex is as it were the imperfection of nature and I know not what I will not stand upon it as most unworthy the confutation But for the Sex it self it is a particular consolation against that matter of griese which it might conceive through Eves first sin not only in sinning her self but in taking Satans part to tempt her Husband whereupon followed subjection to the Man and likewise pain in travel and bringing forth of children But notwithstanding saith the Apostle of that Sex they shall be saved if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety So that you see they have a right too And the truth is that God hath graciously dealt with them in making them the means of bringing forth the principal ground of this right of the one and of the other which is the Lord of life the Saviour of the world who was born of a Woman Now this Sex is to comfort themselves in this that notwithstanding there be some differences in outward condition yet they are made partakers of the greatest and best priviledge alike joynt heirs of the grace of God I find but two things that in Scripture are exempted from that Sex two priviledges one to have jurisdiction over the Husband another publickly to teach in the Church of God But yet notwithstanding mark a kind of recompence made for this The former is but particular between Husband and Wife but in lieu therefore a Woman may reign over many men yea over Nations Queens shall be thy nursing mothers saith the Prophet Isaiah to the Church And for the latter to recompence that they may be and have been endued with the gift of prophesie so that we see how God doth every manner of way incourage them One word more concerning men and so I will conclude this point Namely admonition to them answerably to respect the other Sex as those that are Co-heirs with them and therefore while they live according to their places according to their gifts according to the bond of relation that is between them to respect them and to shew the same when they are dead by a decent comely Funeral and maintaining their credit and giving of them their due praises Thus much for the Text. And now my brethren give me leave I beseech you to step a little further and to speak a word concerning this object before me Howsoever I am not over-forward at any time to speak much on such occasions yet at this time I suppose I should do much wrong to the party in concealing those things that are meet to be made known to the honour of that God who bestowed those excellent endowments upon her and also injury to those that knew her I do not fear to be accounted a flatterer by any that hear me and if any else shall imagine any such thing it may it must needs be their envy in that they censure what they know not My fear is lest those that did know her should think that wrong is done to her by that little that shall be spoken for enough cannot be spoken of her You see here a black Herse before you a body in it deprived of life and within these few dayes animated by a divine soul now as we have just cause to believe glorified in heaven The body of Mistris I. R. in regard of Marriage being the Daughter of Master I. B. a Gentleman in C. It seemed that as God endowed her with excellent parts every way so she had good education She was married to Master I. R. a grave prudent man that lived in the fore-named place who had been twice Major there and long continued Alderman still relyed upon when any matter of employment was to be performed and therefore oft chosen to be a Burgess of the Parliament out of that Corporation In the beginning of her marriage she attending to the Word as Lydia did God was pleased to open her heart and that specially under the Ministry of a reverend Pastour now some years with God faithful painful powerful in his place while he lived who yet liveth in the many works he published in his life-time I say by his Ministry being wrought upon she wonderfully improved the grace that was so wrought in her and used all means for the growth thereof by continual applying her self to the publick ministry of the Word conscionably on the Lords day frequently also on other dayes both in that City and in this also whither she came often times upon sundry imployments both while her Husband lived and likewise since she hath been a Widdow which hath been about the space of five years Now I say as she did thus help on the growth of grace by this publick means so also by private diligently reading the Word not contenting her self with a coursory reading it over by task as some do but she had a Paper-book by her and in reading would note down particular points note specially duties that belonged to such and such persons to Magistrates to Ministers to Husbands to Wives to Masters to Servants General duties that belonged to Christians as they were Christians and that in such a manner as if so be they had been the Common places of some young Divine And here by the way let me tell you what my self have seen of an Alderman of this City some while dead who left behind him Volumes of books written with his own hand his manner was first he would read and after that he would walk up and down and meditate upon what he read and write down the sum and particulars of it as he conceived by which means he made himself excellently skilful as in Divine so in humane learning Thus did this grave Matron hereby she came to much knowledge she gathered also many signs whereby she had evidence of the truth of grace and there yet remain divers such heads noted by her with her own hand signs of grace signs of the truth of it of the growth of it of the effects of it means to grow in grace c. An excellent course Thus she shewed piety in reading of the word of God the like she did in prayer hearing others perform that duty in her Family but
others with whom she had long and private intimacy of many years acquaintance I must and will speak That which I told you was recorded of Rachel that she was fruitful in procreation of Children may in a great measure be spoken of her for if the Scripture account bearing but of two children fruit certainly it will make an extraordinary fruit in bearing of twelve which she did It is a certaine token of a true and faithful servant of God to frequent his house to pray unto him to praise him in his Church earnestly to labour to be instructed in his will out of his Word then and there read and preached to them all which evidences of a good Christian were found in this our Sister For her constant coming to Church I my self can now speak upon my own knowledge I have seriously and strictly examined my self and I profess ingeniously before God that knows my heart and you that here me speak that I cannot call to mind that ever she mist coming to Church twice a Sabbath day since I came which I would be heartily glad I could speak as well of others of this Parish as of her For some of them have got such a fisking trick up and down to go to other Churches as if there were no rellishable food at their own that I fear at the last they will come to none at all I pray God they amend this fault It was a vertue in her that deserved commendation and it is a vice in them that deserves reprehension When she was in Gods house she did not as too too many do imploy her time in sleeping or some such ill course but I ever observed her to listen very diligently and attentively to what was delivered for the nourishing of her soul I confess I do not remember that ever I saw her take any notes in the Church of Sermons that were preached for it seems she did it when she came home for since her death going to her house accidentally I met with a book of hers wherein she had written many texts of Scripture with notes the day when they were preached and the persons by whom most of those which I have preached I saw and perused and others of strangers that I my self have heard these qualities are not to be past over in silence but are worthy of your serious imitation Neither did she think it fit barely to set them down for her own instruction only but what she heard upon the Sabbath day that she constantly practised upon the week dayes She catechised her children in those points spending some time in training them up in the knowledge of God and putting them in mind of their duty to him in whom we live and move and have our being by repeating Gods word delivered by hearing them read Gods word printed and by singing Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs That she was a most provident and careful Wife and a most indulgent and loving Mother all that knew her can best testifie and some of them have informed me And this let me speak and I have it from the mouth of some that prehaps did not think I would have mentioned it at this time and would have had it concealed but for reasons best known to my self I hold it very fit to relate she was ever held to be of a most sweet nature and of a very loving disposition that she was very charitable and inclined to relieve the poor It is likewise testified of her she was liberal alway but more liberal now then usually having had a consideration of the hard and needy times to which end as if she had prognosticated her own death she laid some money according to that ability that God had blessed her with for the relief of the poor Let no man censure me for speaking these things I do for if I should not have given her her just and deserved praises some that now hear me and knew her from her cradle might justly have censured me for too much remisness Thus for her life As for her death I can say little touching it It pleased God not to give her any long time of sickness but to take her away though not unprepared yet on a sudden with a short warning When her bitter pangs first came upon her she called to her Husband and desired him to joyn with her in hearty prayer to Almighty God that he would be graciously pleased to extend his mercy towards her that he would be pleased to let her live longer that she might repent of her sins and beg mercy at his hands for them that she might amend her life And if he would not grant this for her yet for those many poor Children that were young that she was to leave behind her she desired him to be a careful Father over them all she prayed to God devoutly to send a blessing both upon him and them Much she could not then speak because of her pains that now began still to increase upon her When she was in the extremity of her labour he being absent as it was fitting she sent down to him to desire him to pray to God on her behalf that he would ease her of those grievons pains and preserve her in the great pain and peril of Child birth The propitious God it seemed heard him and granted his request for presently to the thinking of the standers by she was well delivered Not satisfied with this having received so great a blessing from God she sent down again to desire him to give God thanks for her safe delivery But God that had determined to take out of this miserable life quickly turned that hope of the standers by into a fear and suddenly she changed which perceiving as long as she was able to speak she cried Lord Jesus have mercy on my soul Lord have mercy on me Lord pitty me poor miserable wretch and when she could not speak she held up her hands to heaven as desirous to make her peace with that God whom she knew she had highly offended I make no question but God hath translated her from the valley of tears to the Mount Sion of blessedness whither God of his infinite mercy bring us all THE DEATH OF SINNE AND LIFE of GRACE SERMON XXXVII ROM 6.11 Likewise reckon ye also your selves to be dead unto sin but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. THe intent of this Chapter is to take off an abuse of the Doctrine of the Gospel which publisheth the free Grace of God to great sinners The Apostle had said in the latter end of the 20. Verse of the former Chapter where sin abounded Grace did much more abound From hence some did infer that therefore under the Gospel they might take liberty to sin the more their sins were and the greater they were the more they should occasion God to manifest his abundant Grace upon them This the Apostle answers in this Chapter and he answers it two wayes
in a holy course and then assuredly we shall live with joy and die with peace when we can get grace in our fouls sorrow for our sins new ness in our natures reformation in our lives uprightness in our wayes faith in Christ a discharge from God peace of conscience oh what a happy day the day of death will be to our Souls ITER NOVISSIMUM OR MAN HIS LAST PROGRESSE A SERMON Preached at the Funeral of the Right Worshipful Sir THOMAS THINNE Knight SERMON XLI ECCLES 12.5 Man goeth to his long home and the Mourners go about the Streets ALthough I might in the Kings King Solomon name command yet I will rather in the Preachers his other stile humbly entreat your religious attention to the last Scene and Catastrophe of mans life consisting of two Acts and those very short 1. The dead his pass he goeth c. 2. The Mourners march they go about c. Where as the whole Scripture is a Volumn of divine Sermons and the Author of every Book a Preacher and every Chapter a lesson and every verse and piece of a verse a Text. Gregory Nysscen reasonably demands why this Book which treateth throughout of the vanity of the world and misery of man is intituled The Book of the Preacher To pass by other answers rendred by him and others not so pertinent to our present purpose I conceive this title of the Preacher is in special set over this Book to intimate unto us that according to the Argument thereof there is no Doctrine so fit for all Preachers to teach and all hearers to learn as the vanity of the creature and the emptiness of all earthly delights and comforts And in very deed there is no meditation more serious then upon the vanity of the world no consideration more seasonable then of the brevity and uncertainty of time it self no knowledge more wholsome then of the diseases of the mind no contemplation more divine then of humane misery and frailty Which though we read in the inscription of every stone see in the fall of every leaf hear in the knel of every bell taste in the garnishing and sauce of every dish smell in the stench of every dead corpses feel in the beating of every pulse yet we are not sensible of it we will not take knowledge of it though we cannot be ignorant of it In which consideration the Wise man whose words are as goads and nails vers 11. pricks us deep with the remembrance hereof so deep that he draws blood sanguinem animâ—…e the blood of the soul as Saint Austin tearmeth our tears lachryme sanguis animâ—…e For who can read with dry eyes that those that look out of the windowes shall be darkned Who can hear without horrour that the keepers of the house shall tremble or consider without sorrow that the daughters of musick shall be brought low or comment without deep setched sighs upon mans going to his long home and the mourners going about the streets to wash them with tears and sweep them with Rosemary Origen after he had chosen rather facere periculosè quam perpeti turpitèr to burn Incense to the Heathen gods then to suffer his body to be defiled by a Blackamore and the flower of his chastity which he had so long time preserved to be some way blasted at a Church in Jerusalem goeth into the Pulpit openeth the Bible at all adventures intending to preach upon that Text which he should first light upon but falling upon that vers in Psal 50. But to the wicked saith God what hast thou to do to declare my statutes or that thou shouldest take my covenants in thy mouth which contained his suspension shutteth his book speaketh not a word more but comments upon it with his tears some thinks having read this Text in which I find all our capital dooms written I cannot do better then follow that Fathers president and shut up not only my book but my mouth also and seal up my lips and comment upon the coherence with distraction the parts with passion the notes with sighs the periods with groans and the words with tears for alas as soon as a man cometh into his short booth in this world which he saluteth with tears he goeth to his long home in the next And the mourners go about the streets It is lamentable to hear the poor infant which cannot speak yet to boad his own misery and to prophecy of his future condition and what are the contents of his Prophecy but lamentations mournings and woes Saint Cyprian accords with Saint Austin in his doleful note Vitâ—…e mortalis anxietates dolores procellas mundi quas ingreditur in exordio statim suo ploratu vel gemitu rudes animae testatur Little Children newly born take in their first breath with a sigh and come crying into the world assoon as they open their eyes they shed tears to help fill up the Vale of tears into which they were then brought and shall be after a short time carried out with a stream of them running from the eyes of all their friends And if the Prologue and Epilogue be no better what shall we judge of the Scenes and Acts of the life of man they yeeld so deep springs of tears and such store of arguments against our aboad in this world that many reading them in the books of Hegesias the Platonick presently brake the prison of their body and leaped out of the world into the grave others concluded with Silenus Optimum non nasci proximum quam primum mori That it was simply best never to be born the next to it to die out of hand and give the world our salve and take our vale at once How-be-it though this might pass for a sage Essay and a strong line amongst Philosophers yet we Christians who know that this present life to all that live godly in Christ Jesus how full of troubles cares and persecutions so ever it be is but a sad and short Preface to endless Volumnes of joy an Eves fast on earth to an everlasting feast in Heaven ought thus to correct the former Apophthegme Optimum renasci proximum quam primum mori That it is best to be new born and then if it so please God after our new birth to be translated with all speed into the new Heaven But soft we cannot take our degrees in Christs school per saltem we must keep our Terms and preform our exercises both of faith obedience and patience we must not look from the Font to be presently put into the rivers of pleasures springing at Gods right hand for evermore We must take a toylsome journey and in it often drink of the waters of Marah We must suffer with Christ before we reigne with him We must taste of the bitter cup of his Passion before we drink new Wine with him in his Kingdome we must sow in tears here that we may reap in joy
telleth us that as the Spirit and the Bride say come so he that heareth saith come that is not only the Church of God that is now present here upon the face of the earth but the successive parts of the Church in all future Ages they are all of the same mind having received the same Spirit they all say come Whosoever heareth this Prophesie whosoever heareth of these promises in any Age or Country of the World all they having the same spirit they must needs say come he that heareth saith come he that is acquainted with the promises that cometh to the knowledge of them and doth mingle them with the faith of his soul this man must needs say come to the accomplishment of them And lastly He that is a thirst saith come too that is whosoever hath tasted of the sweetness of Christ in any measure whatsoever and thereby hath wrought in him a vehement thirst after more this man will say come Whosoever hath such a sense of Christ in his promises as to taste of the sweetness of these never so little as he that hath tasted a drop of hony wisheth for more so he that hath tasted of the sweetness of Christ a drop of his grace and mercy this setteth upon his spirit a heavenly thirst he saith come he would have more he is never quiet till he have the promise accomplished to him These are the persons every particular member of the Church that hath the Spirit the whole Church in general not only the particular part of the Church now in the World or in any Age but the several parts of the Church in several Ages whosoever is a thirst that hath tasted of Christ must needs say come Even so come Lord Jesus These are the persons The second thing is the matter of this acclamation of the Church First the matter contained in it it is a vehement and earnest desire of the people of God after Christs most happy return in these words Amen even so come Lord Jesus The matter of it therefore is either infolded and implicite in the word Amen even so or unfolded and explicite in the latter words Come Lord Jesus It is infolded I say in the word Amen This word signifieth in the Scripture either the Author of the truth himself or else it is an affirmation of the truth In the Revelation thus saith the Amen the faithful and true witness here Christ himself is called Amen because he is the Author of all truth and verity the faithful and true witness Sometime this word is used and most frequently in Scripture for the affirmation of the truth either witnessing of the truth or wishing the truth For the witnessing of the truth as in all those vehement speeches of our Lord and Saviour Christ Amen Amen I say unto ye or verily verily I say unto ye this is a vehement asseveration and a witnessing to the truth which a man ought to believe or would have to be believed Or otherwise for a wishing and earnest desiring of the truth to be accomplished So in the conclusion of the Lords prayer and all our prayers we add this word Amen that is so be it or Let it be so we wish it with earnestness of affection and desire and with a confidence and faith of our hearts we hope and believe that this shall be so This is that we profess when we say Amen In this place this word is used both for affirmation and witnessing of the truth and likewise it is a vehement wish and desire of the accomplishment of these promises with an earnest and certain hope and expectation of faith that all these promises and good things shall be accomplished to the soul of a Christian Again the matter of this Acclamation is unfolded and explained in the latter words Come Lord Jesus Where there is both the Action and the person to be considered The Action Come Christ cometh to his Church many wayes He cometh in his Word He cometh in his Spirit He cometh in his mercies He cometh in his Judgments and Justice None of these are here meant But he cometh to his Church in person and appearance even in the appearance of his body and humane nature Thus Christ cometh two wayes to his Church in person First in his Incarnation he appeareth to the world in the similitude of sinful flesh he came in humility he came to suffer to die That is not here meant for that was past when as the Evangelist Saint John wrote this prophesie But the Second coming in person of our Lord and Saviour Christ is his coming in the flesh in glory in exaltation to judge the quick and the dead to shew himself a mighty God from heaven This is the coming which is here meant Christs second coming to Judgment in glory That is the Action The person is described by these two Titles Lord Jesus Wherein the Church desireth that he may come both as a Lord and as a Jesus That he may come as a Lord to vindicate the Church and revenge him upon his enemies to destroy the kingdome of darkness the kingdome of the Devil the kingdome of Antichrist which hath been a great argument in this book of the Revelation And not only come thus as a Lord but as a Jesus to save his Church to vouchsafe to her comfort and peace and joy that he would come to cloath her with immortality and glory which she cannot expect on earth in a mortal state This is the sum and substance of this Petition and request that the Lord would come in majesty and glory both as a Lord against the enemies of the Church to destroy them utterly and as a Saviour to bestow upon the Church even all saving mercies especially that great mercy of everlasting blessedness that is not mixed with sin and corruption that is not mixed with any infirmity and defect whatsoever This is the sum and substance of the Text which I have in few words shortly explained to ye Whence the point I observe wherein we will insist by the grace of God at this time is this That it is the nature and property of every true member of the Church of God earnestly and longingly to desire the second coming of Christ for the full redemption of his Church The Spirit saith Come and the Bride saith Come and whosoever heareth saith Come whosoever is a thirst saith Come therefore every godly man that hath the Spirit of God that is a part of this Bride that is partaker of those promises that hath a caste of Jesus Christ every one of these must necessarily say Come Even so Come Lord Jesus This is so proper to believers and to every one of them as they are all of them described by this property in Scripture 2 Tim. 4.8 The Crown which the righteous Judge shall give me at that day and not only to me but to all them that love his appearing The Apostle he might have said to all saints