Incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved in heaven for you Who are kept by the power of God through Faith and Salvation ready to be revealed in the last time So that beloved if you be kept for Heaven and made meete for Heaven that is a demonstration that Heaven is prepared for you I now come to the second Quere which is this I but how can this Scripture say that by Christs Ascention Heaven is prepared for us when other Scriptures say that heaven was prepared for us from the beginning of the World Mat. 25.34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand Come yee blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdome prepared for you from the foundation of the World Now if a Kingdome was prepared for them from the beginning of the World how doth this Scripture appropriate a preparing of the Kingdome of Heaven but from the Ascension of Christ Divines doe answer That you must distinguish between the decrees of God and betweene the cleare manifestation and full execution of those decrees Now if you respect the decrees of God then the Scripture is true that the Kingdome of heaven is prepared from the beginning of the World for the decree and purpose of God was before the World was that the Elect should have Heaven as an Inheritance but if you expect the cleare manifestation of it then it was not till Jesus Christ Ascended and this distinction the Scripture allows of it especially of the poynt of Justification in this poynt the Scripture doth cleare this distinction Heb. 9.8 The Holy Ghost this signifying that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest while as the first Tabernacle was yet standing The meaning is this that the way to Heaven it was not manifest to the Jewes whilst their Tabernacle stood that is whilst their Leviticall Ceremonies were in use the way to Heaven was not manifest the godly went to Heaven before Christs time but it was not manifested for the common sort of the Jewes did not understand that by Jesus Christs Passion and Ascension they must come to Heaven therefore the Apostle saith the way to the holiest of all was not yet manifested whilst their first Tabernacle stood So my Text is true that Heaven was prepared for Believers by the Lord Jesus Christ by his Ascension The third Quere is this I but you will say if Christ by his Ascension into Heaven did prepare Heaven for Believers then what became of all the people of God and holy men of God under the old Testament Whither went they that if this bee true that Christ did prepare Heaven by his Ascension The Jesuites raise this difficulty from this Text. They say that before Christ Ascended none did goe to Heaven therefore they make Abraham Isaac and Jacob all the Patriarks and all the holy men of God they make them to be in the place called Limbus Patrum which was for the good men till Christs Ascension Then there is Limbus Infantum a place of receipt of Infants Then there is Purgatory for men guilty of grosse sins Heaven and Hell they concurre in to be a truth Limbus Patrum say they was the place to receive all the good men till Christs Ascension and then Christ tooke them all into Heaven Protestant Divines doe take a great deale of paines to vindicate this Text. If you will aske mee what is become of the Patriarks and all the good men of old before Christs going into Heaven how can they come to Heaven if Heaven be prepared by Christs Ascension First I may say that of Christs Ascension as Gerrard doth of Christs Passion The Death of Christ it was availeable before it was in being so I may say of Christs Ascension that Christs Ascension was availeable before it was in being Gerrard hee hath another passage that the benefits wee have by Christ they are not onely to be restrained to ages that are to come after Christ but to looke backward to all ages before Christ Revel 5.9 And they sung a new Song saying Thou art worthy to take the Booke and to open the Seales thereof for thou wast slaine and hast redeemed us to God by thy Blood out of every Kindred and Tongue and People and Nation Not only the Lambe slaine decretively in Gods Decree not onely the Lambe slaine Typically in the ceremoniall Sacrifices but virtually that there was vertue in Jesus Christ that all the godly Jewes had vertue by CHRISTS Death there is my first Answer Secondly observe this That the Scripture doth not say that Christ by going up to heaven did open heaven for us but onely to prepare heaven for us hee being our Mediator sitting at Gods right Hand in Heaven Heaven was open before but not so fully adorned as it was by Christs Ascension Heb. 9.8 The holy Ghost this signifying that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest while as the first Tabernacle was yet standing The Grecians doe observe that Christ doth not use a word that signifies to open a thing that is shut but to open cleare and manifest a thing that is obscure it was open before Thirdly there are against the Jesuits conceit of Limbus Patrum that there are cleare passages in the Scripture and undenyable reasons drawn from the Scripture that doth prove Believers under the old Testament went to Heaven before CHRISTS Ascension As in Luke 16.22 And it came to passe that the Beggar dyed and was carried by the Angells into Abrahams Bosome the Rich man also dyed and was buried Hee lived two thousand years and more before Christ was borne heaven is called Abrahams Bosome and the Elect that dyed are said to goe into Abrahams Bosome and Eliah and Enoch are in Heaven perfectly Heb. 11.5 By Faith Enoch was translated that hee should not see death and was not found because God had translated him And in Heb. 11. there the bodies of the Patriarks are reckoned up together in the 16 verse But now they desire a better Countrey that is Heavenly wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God for hee hath prepared for them a City He is not ashamed to be their God therefore they have a City prepared for them by God that likewise if it be a History or a Parable Lazarus was said to be carried by Angels into Abrahams Bosome this was before Christ dyed then frequent Scriptures there are touching Christs transfiguration that when Christ was taken up that hee saw Moses and Elias from thence Divines gather that they must be in Heaven There are foure undeniable Reasons that will prove that the godly before Christs Ascension they went to Heaven First it appeares by this because it is said that those that were carried to heaven they were carried to heaven by the Angels the Angels carried Lazarus into Abrahams Bosome now certainly Angels are not in Limbus Patrum Luke 16.22 Againe if the Believers of old should not go into
of Christ is now in Heaven it were enough then that Opinion of Transubstantiation is hereby confuted Christs Body cannot be in Heaven and on the Earth both at one time Fourthly the ascension of Christ it overthrows the Opinion of the Carpocraciani that hold that onely his soule did goe to Heaven and his body perished as others And this cannot be for the Disciples said that they saw Christ ascend and this must be his Body for they could not see his soul for the soule is a spirit Now you see the reason why I spent so much time in the morning in giving you many Texts of Scripture to prove this poynt because there are so many Hereticks that doe oppugne this Doctrine of CHRISTS Ascension I now come to give you three or foure practicall deductions First is Christs body now in Heaven then I infer O thou that canst lay a grounded clayme for an interest in Jesus Christ O be not thou afrayd to die doe not thou be afrayd to die that canst lay a claime in Jesus Christ because thy Christ is in Heaven and when thou diest death is but a Trap-doore to let thee in to endlesse joy where Christ is why should wee bee as children to looke on death as a Bugbeare but looke upon death as being a passage into thy Fathers house as being a Trap-doore to let thee in where Jesus Christ is Gen. 45.25.27 And they went up out of Aegypt and came into the Land of Canaan unto Jacob their Father And they told him all the words of Joseph which hee had said unto them and when hee saw the Waggons which Joseph had sent to carry him the spirit of Iacob their Father revived Did Jacob rejoyce to see a Wagon or a Chariot that would carry him into Aegypt to see his Sonne Joseph and wilt not thou rejoyce to thinke that death is a chariot to carry thee to Jesus Christ to carry thee to Heaven O therefore let not thy heart be troubled to die because death is but a chariot to carry thee to Heaven Is Christ gone into heaven Then secondly labour thou whilst thou livest on the Earth to ascend to Christ in Divine and holy Ejaculations and Meditations Is Christ in Heaven then why should not thy heart be where thy head is why shouldst thou be grovelling on the Earth seeing thy Christ is now in Heaven It is a speech of Christ Canticles 3.6 Who is this that cometh out of the Wildernesse like Pillars of smoke perfumed with Myrrhe and Franckincense with all powders of the Merchant Thou shouldst ascend up to Christ though thou beest in trouble in the Wildernesse of this World O ascend up to Christ in holy Meditations the use the Apostle makes of it Colos 3.1 If yee then be risen with Christ seeke those things which are above where Christ sitteth on the right Hand of God The argument is where Christ sits at the right Hand of God set your affections there and so in the Phil. 3.20 For our conversation is in Heaven from whence also wee looke for the Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ Christ is in Heaven therefore our conversation must be where our head is It is a notable Text Mat. 24.28 For wheresoever the Carkeise is there will the Eagles be gathered together That Christ being in Heaven it should make you ascend in your hearts heavenward It is true there are some that wrest these words and give this sence of them that they make the carkeise to be the Jewes and the Eagles to be the Romans because the Romans diduse the Eagle in their Banner and Ensigne of War therefore they say where the Jews were the Romans should come though this was a truth yet not the scope of the Text it is generally overthrowne by most Interpreters But where the carkeise is thither will the Eagles resort Gerrard doth chiefly referre it to the day of judgement where the carkeise is thither will the Eagles resort that is where Jesus Christ is in Heaven as the Eagles doe follow after the carkeise to feed upon that so the people of God as Eagles are gathered about a carkeise the people of God shall be gathered about Jesus Christ and this I doe confesse is the chiefe scope of the place and doe believe it is the chief intendment of the holy Ghost but Gerrard hee makes another use of it too and referres it to the power and efficacy of the Gospell in this Life Christ is now in Heaven saith Gerrard that the Gospell shall be as powerfull on men in the World that it shall make men as eager to come after Christ into Heaven as the Eagle is after the prey so your Soules shall be as eager after the Lord Jesus Christ in heaven as the Eagle is after her prey Thirdly I infer hence that before you presume to apply the benefits and the comforts of Christs Ascention into Heaven labour to feele in your own hearts the efficacy of Christs Death and Ascention every man applies the Benefit of Christs Death and Resurrection and Christs Ascention before they finde the efficacy of his Death and the efficacy of his Resurrection It is the Apostles word saith hee I labour to finde the power of his Resurrection so do you labour to finde the power of his Death and the power of his Ascention before you finde the comfort of it It is to make thee less Earthly minded more passionately eager and importunely earnest after the Lord Jesus Christ dost thou feele the power of his Ascention to make thee more heavenly minded and lesse earthly minded O labour to feele the efficacy and power of it else I might say to you as Jacob said to his Mother in Genesis 27.12 My Father peradventure will feele mee and I shall seeme to him as a deceiver and I shall bring a curse upon mee and not a blessing Nay without a peradventure God will feele and try whether you are men or no that have right to a blessing that shall have any reall advantage by the benefit of Christs Death of Christs Resurrection and Ascention God will try whether you doe not seeke to deceive your owne Soules and deceive God himselfe if so you will rather have a curse then a blessing if you seeke to apply the comfort of Christs Ascention before you feele the efficacy of it on your owne hearts For those that hold Christs Ascention with us yet they doe vary about some properties about the manner of Christs going away which I give it to you in these properties First Christ went to Heaven visibly in Acts 1. It was no transcient glance of the Eye but they stedfastly beheld Jesus Christ they saw him when hee went away Againe Secondly Christ went to Heaven bodily therefore those do erre that hold that onely his Soule did goe to Heaven and his body perished as others doe Thirdly hee went to Heaven locally hee ascended locally there are some men that hold that every place is Heaven where God is
a worse condition then hee found it if Christ must come on the Earth hee must leave his Church in a worse condition then hee found it and I draw it from that Text which they pretend to be the strength of their Argument Revel 20.5.7.8 But the rest of the Dead lived not againe untill the thousand yeares were finished This is the first Resurrection And when the thousand yeares are expired Satan shall be loosed out of his Prison And shall goe out to deceive the Nations which are in the foure quarters of the Earth Gog and Magog to gather them together to Battell the number of whom is as the Sand of the Sea So that after the thousand yeares the Devill shall be let loose againe and there shall be an innumerable company of enemies and they shall destroy multitudes of the godly Therefore Christ would leave his Church in a worse condition then hee found them if this were true that Christ should reigne a thousand years upon the Earth Fifthly if Christ should come to reigne a thousand yeares upon the Earth then this incongruity will follow that there must be three personall comings of Jesus Christ for his first coming was in the Incarnation Second coming to these thousand yeares And his third coming must be to judge the World that is the last coming but the Scripture makes but two comings of Christ First his coming from Heaven when hee was borne his second coming when hee comes to judge the World againe Sixtly if Christ comes personally out of Heaven this incongruity will follow that either the Saints and Angells must come or not come with Christ if they must come with Christ then it is a losse to them for them to come to leave the imediate presence of God and come upon the Earth where wicked men shall be amongst them or if they must not come with Jesus Christ yet it is a lose to them to remaine there they shall lose for a thousand yeares the Body of Christ if Christ be on the Earth hee cannot be in Heaven the same time Therefore it would be a losse to the Saints and Angells for them to be a thousand yeares in Heaven without the company of Jesus Christ not to have the person of Jesus Christ with them A seventh Incongruity will follow that if Christ shall come to reigne upon the Earth then Christs Kingdom must be a worldly terrene Kingdome then it will be against the Word of God he must be a visible King to the Jewes and a visible King to all the World besides this would follow then that Christs Kingdome must not be a spirituall Kingdome but a Terrene a Worldly pompous Kingdome Iohn 18.36 Jesus answered My Kingdome is not of this World if my Kingdome were of this World then would my Servants fight that I should not be delivered to the Jewes but now is my Kingdome not from hence Luke 17.20 And when hee was demanded of the Pharisees when the Kingdome of God should come hee answered them and said The Kingdome of God cometh not with Observation Would not all the World observe this for Christ to come bodily from Heaven and in the Majesty of a Monarch Now Christs Kingdome doth not come with Observation When the Disciples looked after an Earthly Kingdome No saith Christ my Kingdome is for to Rule and Reigne in your hearts you shall never see mee for to be an outward pompous King in the World for Christs Kingdome it is a spirituall Kingdome Eightly that if Jesus Christ shall come to take a Kingdome on the Earth for a thousand yeares then this Incongruity will follow As if Jesus Christ had not a Kingdome and were not a King all this while hee is in Heaven they apply that that place in Daniel and all those Phrases in the new Testament that the Kingdome of the World is become the Kingdome of the Lord they deny that Christ is a King in Heaven When hee was in the Cratch and borne in the Stable hee was a King at that very houre Psalme 2. The Apostle referres it to Christs Birth and Christs Resurrection Christ when hee arose from the Dead hee was a King then and the Gospell under Christs time is called a Kingdome It is remarkeable in John 18.37 Pilate therefore said unto him Art thou a King then Jesus answered Thou sayest that I am a King Christ was a King though hee would not be an Earthly King to destroy Earthly Governments Therefore when the people in a tumult would have made him a King yet hee would not Zech. 9.9 Rejoyce greatly O Daughter of Zion shout O Daughter of Jerusalem behold thy King cometh unto thee hee is just and having Salvation lowly and riding upon an Asse and upon a Colt the fole of an Asse Hee was a King when hee was on that slow contemptible creature so that now to say Christ shall come to reigne as King it is to intimate to the World as if Christ were not a King at this day and whereas hee is King of Kings and Lord of Lords in heaven therefore cannot come a thousand yeares to reigne on the Earth Now I will deale fairely to shew you what strength and give you the strongest Scriptures that have most shew of reason for the maintaining of this Opinion and shall labour to take them off and cleare it to you There are multitudes of quotations that varieties of mens thoughs fasten upon to prove this poynt yet those they most stand to I shall fasten upon their chiefe Pillar is in Revel 20.2 4 5 6. And hee laid hold on the Dragon that old Serpent which is the Divell and Satan and bound him a thousand yeares And I saw thrones and they sate upon them and judgement was given unto them and I saw the Soules of them that were beheaded for the witnesse of Jesus and for the Word of God and which had not worshipped the Beast neither his Image neither had received his marke upon their foreheads or in their hands and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand yeares But the rest of the dead lived not againe untill the thousand yeares were finished This is the first Resurrection Blessed and holy is hee that hath part in the first Resurrection on such the second death hath no power but they shall be Priests of God and of Christ and shall reigne with him a thousand yeares Now from this Text which is the chiefest in the Scripture they seeme to build these two things upon First That Jesus Christ shall live upon the Earth and the Saints reigne with him for a thousand yeares Secondly Those that were Martyrs by Antichrist shall rise from the dead and come upon the Earth these thousand yeares to continue with Iesus Christ This they build much upon That Christ shall come to reigne a thousand yeares upon the Earth But I shall shew you that this cannot be the sense of it and I shall give you Six Answers First that though the Scripture
depart and to be with Christ which is far better So that the Apostle doth only make these two conclusions a departing out of the World out of this Life and a desire to be with Jesus Christ hee mentions no place for a good soule to goe to hee mentions no Purgatory nor Limbus Patrum And so likewise a fourth Text you have in 2 Cor. 6.8.9 Therefore wee are alwayes confident knowing that whilst we are at home in the body wee are absent from the Lord. Wee are confident I say and willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord Wherefore we labour that whether present or absent wee may be accepted of him Marke That the Apostle doth onely make these two conclusions to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord so that the soule is present with the Lord whilst absent from the body Then againe that Prayer of Stephen proves it likewise in Acts 7.59 And they stoned Stephen calling upon God and saying Lord Jesus receive my spirit It had beene uncomfortable for him to have thought that hee should have beene stoned for Jesus Christ and it must have beene above 1600 yeares before Christ should have received his soule but hee prayed Lord Iesus Christ receive my Soule which hee would not have done if hee had not believed that his soule would have beene received by Jesus Christ imediately after death And thus I leave those Scriptures to confirme you in this that the soule doth not sleepe in the body but at the parture from the body it doth imediately goe to Heaven Fourthly I prove it to you by shewing those grosse absurdities and inconveniencies that will arise in case it should be denyed that God doth not receive the soule of any Elect man till hee doth come to judge the World First it will follow that the godly will be in a worse condition after they are dead then they were in when they were alive for when they were alive to live is Christ Christ dwelt in their hearts by Faith Now if the soule doth sleepe with the body and perish with the body then Christ doth not live in them Christ doth not dwell there by Faith so that this would be uncomfortable that a believer after death should be in a worse condition then during this Life for here he lives in Christ by Faith Secondly then it will follow that God the Father would be more cruell to his people then hee would have other men be to their servants which have done their worke Marke that Text Levit. 19.13 Thou shalt not defraud thy Neighbour neither rob him the wages of him that is hired shall not abide with thee all night untill the morning That the Master was not to keepe the hire of the Labourer long from him that the Master should not keep the servants wages long from him Now will the great God keepe you who are his servants that have served him here in this World and have done him faithfull service and will hee keepe any reward from you till his last coming No but when you have ended your Life and done your worke you receive your wages when your work is done you have your reward Thirdly observe this if this should be true that the Soules of the Elect men doe not goe to Heaven after death then it will follow that the soules of wicked men doe not goe to Hell after death and how repugnant this is to the Scripture you well know when the Scripture saith in the Epistle of Jude That the men of Sodome and Gomorrha suffered the vengeance of eternall fire And of Judas Acts 25. That hee may take part of this Ministery and Apostle-ship from which Judas by transgression fell that hee might goe to his owne place I could give you multitude of Instances where the wicked are in Hell 1 Pet. 3.19 20. By which also hee went and preached unto the Spirits in prison Which sometimes were disobedient when once the long-suffering of God waited in the dayes of Noah while the Arke was a preparing wherein few that is eight soules were saved by water That is Jesus Christ by his Spirit in the Ministery of Noah did preach to the old World who were disobedient to that Preacher of righteousnesse who is now in Heaven To say that a godly man doth not goe to Heaven imediately after death it will follow that a wicked man doth not go to Hell imediately after death Fourthly it would follow that there should be onely Angels in Heaven and no Saints whereas the Scripture saith expresly that Christ shall come from Heaven with his Saints And wee reade in Scripture that there are the Spirits of just men made perfect as well as the innumerable company of Angells Fifthly this would follow that it would be a great discomfort to a godly man on his death-bed if hee should be so many hundred yeares before Christ would bring him to Heaven what comfort shall a godly man have to die when hee shall say it shall be so many hundred yeares before my body and my soule shall be thought of by Jesus Christ it would be a very uncomfortable Doctrine for a man to thinke that I shall die like a beast that my soule after death shall not be taken up into Heaven And thus I have proved that imediatly after the godly die their Soules are received into Heaven I have proved it by pregnant Instances in the Scripture by generall expressions in the Scripture and by those expresse passages in Scripture and have given you those absurdities that will arise in case it should be denyed A word now from what hath beene spoken If it be so that Christ doth receive thee O thou Believer receive thee to himselfe before his totall and compleate reception I would then give you this use for to comfort you Vse First O feare not a dying time let not death be dreadfull and terrible to thee Beloved were this true indeed that when thou diest thy soule should perish with thy body then a Life is not worth the having but when thou shalt thinke on thy death-bed here now is a Disease a consuming of thy nature and sending of thee to thy grave and now there is but a little time betweene thee and Heaven that when I am a dying I am in the very Suburbs of Heaven a little breath betweene mee and Heaven O how should this comfort a dying man when that hee hath good evidences for Heaven O this should greatly comfort thee against thou comest to die to thinke that thy death-bed is the very Suburbs of Heaven I have read what John said that wrote the Revelations when hee was ready to die I do believe saith hee that in this very day my soule shall be represented before the Lord Jesus Christ. O think now thou art leaving thy friends but it will not be a day before Christ and I shall meete in Heaven As in the Booke of Martyrs wee reade