absent from the Body and to be present with the Lord. Here you may see that while the Souls of the Saints are present in the Body as they are during this life they are absent from the Lord albeit Jesus Christ dwelleth in them by his Spirit and they are spiritually united to him yet in regard of local distance they are absent from Christ in respect of his Humane nature not seeing him face to face they walk by faith not by sight Moreover when their Souls are absent and seperated from the Body by death they shall be present with the Lord not walking by faith at a distance from Christ but resting in his presence immediately beholding him The Souls of the Saints then do not die with the Body but live in the presence of their Saviour at the very same time when they are absent and seperated from the Body by death This must needs be meant of the state of the Soul not after the resurrection but between death and the resurrection for that is the only time when the Soul is absent from the Body and during that time the Apostle saith it shall be present with the Lord. To these may be added that gracious answer of Christ to the penitent Malefactor Verily I say unto thee this day shalt thou be with me in Paradise Luke 27.43 viz. the very same day wherein he died Now the heavenly Paradise is no burying place for dead Souls but a glorious habitation for the living spirits of just men made perfect Observe likewise that argument of Christ grounded upon the speech of God to Moses at the bush which strongly proveth both the resurrection of the Body and the immortality of the Soul as well before as after the resurrection Matth. 22.31 32. Have you not read what is spoken to you by God saying I am the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob God is not the God of the dead but of the living This was spoken long after the natural death of Abraham Isaac and Jacob and so the Argument standeth thus Those who have God for their God by Covenant are not dead but living but Abraham Isaac and Jacob have God for their God by Covenant Ergo they are not dead but living So then they live in their principal parts their Souls while they are absent from the Body whereunto their Bodies are to be re-united at the great day that their whole persons may fully enjoy their God and perfectly possess the fruit and benefit of God's covenant verse 34. this argument silenced the Sadduces Finally consider what meant Stephen's prayer at his death Lord Jesus receive my Spirit or Soul Acts 7.59 If his Spirit or Soul had died with his Body why should he call upon Christ more for the receiving his Soul but because he knew his Spirit or Soul was immortal and must live and subsist when it was seperated from the Body he prayed Christ to give present entertainment to his Soul that he might rest in the bosome of his love until his Body should be raised and reunited to it Now as this may stop the mouth of this lying Spirit which of late is crept forth into the World again so it may demonstrate according to the point in hand that the Souls of the Faithful after their seperation from the Body are instated into blessedness By which places fore-mentioned and such like is refuted their Heresie who either directly deny the immortality of the Soul or imply it as the Socinians who say that Mori est penitus extingui V.d. Gens in Confes remonstrant p. 254 256. resurgere est ex non ente iterum existere And this Opinion some others have seemed to favour in the Declaration of their Opinions about the Articles of Religion in that they are altogether silent in the point that concerneth the blessed rest of the Saints Souls after this life CHAP. XVIII Of the blessedness of the Soul in general MUch more might have been spoken of the blessedness of the Soul in glory when it is absent from the Body but because these things belong as well to the Soul re-united to the Body when it hath full possession of salvation I chuse to treat of them under that consideration 1. This shall be the wonderful felicity of the Soul in that it shall have a Body every way suitable to it self immortal spiritual incorruptible glorious as its habitation for a pure immortal glorious Spirit to dwell in in this respect the glorified Souls now in Heaven all the time of their seperation do even vehemently desire and wait for the redemption of their Bodies who were their yoke-fellows in the day of their pilgrimage upon Earth Though the Soul of a Believer reign with Angels yet hath she a passion for her Body and all the good she doth possess cannot take her from the desire and memory thereof though she hath made trial of its revolts though this friendly Enemy hath oftentimes persecuted her and that she hath desired death to be freed from the tyranny thereof yet doth she languish as it were and vehemently long after it Though the Body be reduced to dust though it cause pity in its Enemies and though it cause horror in those to whom it was lovely yet she forbears not to desire it and to expect the resurrection with a kind of impatience that her Body may partake of the bliss which she enjoyeth The Souls of the Saints departed this life do not account their glory their blessedness compleat till their Bodies be reunted hence they do naturally desire their re-union and as they cry under the Altar How long Lord how long will it be ere thou avenge our blood so all the Souls of just men made perfect with one voice cry out How long Lord how long will it be ere thou redeem our Bodies that we may be perfectly blessed in the full fruition of thy self Oh then how shall the glorified Soul rejoyce in its glorified Body raised from among worms dust and rottenness rescued from its captivity from under the power of death and corruption and now again made one with the Soul no longer to be a snare or burden to it but a companion meet for it taking in no object by the senses that may in the least degree endanger the polluting of the Soul and having nothing in it that may stupifie the affections or any way discompose the eternal rest disturb the peace eclipse the joy of the Soul interrupt its enjoyment of God or any way diminish its compleat happiness 2. There shall be a perfect harmony between the Body with all its parts and the Soul with all its powers and both Soul and Body shall be fully conformed to Christ and so shall most sweetly comply each with other and I conceive the very remembrance of that dulness sottishness earthiness and drossiness which in the state of mortality is in the Body shall be matter of great joy to the Soul now that it
still keeps its splendor but when the Cloud is gone we see it So Christ in regard of his Deity had this glory always it was hidden from him in regard of the infirmities which he took upon him as sufferings death c. Now Christ our Head being glorified all his Members that suffer with him shall also be glorified together they are now glorified in capite and when Christ hath prepared places for all his Members then he will take them home to his Father's house Christ is now preparing their glory and fitting their heavenly Mansions he is decking their Crowns of Righteousness he is trimming their Robes Christ is now in his own Person glorious but Christ mystical is not glorious it is in a suffering condition there are many of his Members that are not yet brought home to God Christ hath a care of his mystical Body as of his natural Body he gave his natural Body to redeem his mystical Body therefore as he is glorious in his natural Body so he will be glorious in his mystical Body for St. Paul saith he shall come to be glorified in his Saints The Son of God rose gloriously out of his Tomb and after he had given assurance of it to his Apostles he was taken up into Heaven to reign there eternally with his Father the Angels made a part of his Triumph his Body that was pierced with the nails rent with stripes torn with thorns was set at the right hand of his Father on a Throne whose Ornament was Justice and the Foundation Mercy as one well noteth His mystical Body shall receive the like glorious entertainment the Saints shall be admitted into the Society of the Blessed and reign in Heaven with the Angels Those Members that have suffered in the quarrel of Jesus Christ shall be freed from all miseries and reign in glory everlastingly with their Head that the blessedness of Jesus Christ may have its accomplishment and he may be as happy in his Members as in his Person Jesus Christ and his Members are united in their sufferings on earth and by a necessary consequence we may be assured they shall be so one day in their glory in Heaven To this end Christ prayed for his Church to his Father when himself was upon earth The glory which thou gavest me I have given them Father I will that they also whom thou hast given me be where I am that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me John 17.22 24. It is observable that in other things when Jesus Christ speaks to his Father it is with so much respect that he seemeth rather a Servant then a Son but when he asks that his Members may reign with him in glory it is with so much liberty of speech that his Request is rather a determination then a Prayer Volo Pater Father I will that where I am there my Servants may be CHAP. V. Of the quality of the Saints glory NOw that I may set forth the nature of the Saints glory you are to know that there is no specisical or essential difference between our gracious and glorious estate as there is no specifical or essential difference between the Corn of the First-fruits and that of the whole Harvest only some accidental differences as there is no specifical difference between a Child and a grown Man they have both the same essential parts and principles there is only an alteration of degrees not of parts gradus non variat speciem Now our present estate is our Infancy our future estate is our Man-hood for the present the Children of God have glory given them godly Men are for the present glorious the Scripture calls them nothing else but blessed yea even then they are blessed when the world looks upon them as most miserable when shame reproach and trouble is cast upon them then doth the Spirit of glory rest upon them they having grace bestowed upon them have glory Glory is nothing else but the splendour the brightness of grace Vita gratiae nihil est aliud quam aetas infantilis gloriae he that is gracious is glorious We shall have the same individual Bodies and Souls after the Resurrection as we have in this life only some alteration in respect of some new qualities as in our first Resurrection from the death of Sin to the life of Righteousness there is no transmutation of the essence but an alteration of the qualities or a super-introduction of new qualities by which we are said to be new Creatures 2 Cor. 5.17 not in quantity but in quality so in Heaven we shall become new Creatures in respect of what we are now and those very qualities which do principally concur to the constitution of our happiness in Heaven are in some measure communicated to us in our first regeneration now we have drops then rivers of delights Psal 36.8 both the same in nature This will be the more evident if we examine wherein our happiness hereafter doth consist and compa ing it with our present estate Our spiritual and supernatural blessedness consisteth in the fruition of such an object as is perfectly all-sufficiently and principally good which is only God therefore it standeth in our perfect union to and communion with God the faculties of the soul being by the Almighty power of God dilated extended and enlarged so far as to be as it were capable of the fulness of God and by the perfect operations of the understanding will and affections united to God in all their actions and when these natural weak and vile Bodies of ours by the same hand of Omnipotency are transfigured and transformed into spiritual powerful and glorious Bodies and so united to the Soul then are we come to the perfection of our blessedness the properties of which blessedness are First That it is everlasting Secondly That we shall discern it so to be And thirdly That as it fulfilleth the largest desires of our hearts so we shall be extraordinarily affected with it and perpetually affected to it and incessantly desirous of it our glory consisteth not in having what our weak Souls can now wish for but what they can desire when they are gloriously corroborated and enlarged So that now you see there is no specifical or essential difference but only a gradual or circumstantial difference between the state of grace here and the state of glory hereafter for Regnum coeleste est Dei contemplatio glorificatio Gregor Nazianzâ—n Orat. contr Arrian celebratio cum Angelis communis saith one of the Fathers who commonly describeth the state of the blessed to be nothing else but the full and perfect accomplishment of such spiritual blessings as are already begun in us and in part already communicated to us when God shall by a most perfect and immediate irradiation of the understanding and sanctification of the will and affections to know love and delight in God and transformatâ—on of the Body into the likeness of Christ's effect
it not rather be said Count this a cause of weeping sighing wringing of hands No saith the Apostle count it all joy when trouble cometh upon trouble wave upon wave storm upon storm when the winds blow and the rain falls and the waves beat upon you then count it all joy call upon your souls to rejoyce call upon your hearts to Magnifie God clap your hands leap for joy 2. It informs us that they are the happy ones of the Earth who are the greatest sufferers for Righteousness sake thus St. James Chap. 1.2 Blessed is the man that endureth temptation or tribulation James 5.11 Behold we count them happy which endure saith the same Apostle What a paradox is this to a man that mindeth earthly things Call you him blessed that is imprisoned in fetters in a dungeon reviled mocked tortured persecuted hated of all count you him an happy man that is spoiled of his goods destitute of friends who is ready to perish through famine count you a man in misery an happy man Yes saith the Apostle he is a blessed man we count him happy whom all men hate who suffer hunger cold nakedness imprisonment death banishment for the name of Christ we count him happy who endures most misery with and for Christ we count him and him only a miserable man that can laugh and sing away care and sorrow who sits like a Queen and sees no sorrow who fares deliciously every day who can eat drink and play and so pass his time of life away he is a miserable man For 't is not what a man is for the present which makes him happy or miserable but what a man shall be to eternity he that is miserable for the present but shall be happy to eternity we count him happy and he that is happy for the present time but shall be miserable to eternity we count him a cursed man Lazarus in the depth of his misery was an happy man because he is glorious to all eternity the rich Glutton was a miserable wretch in the height of his jollity because he is miserable to eternity Hence I conclude that the glory that shall be revealed in us will make us perfectly blessed but our present sufferings cannot make us miserable for the Saints are happy in the thickest of them Math. 5.11 12. Then doth the Spirit of God and of glory rest upon them 1 Pet. 4.14 Our present miseries at the uttermost can but rob us of a temporal life which will come they or come they not fail us at length but glory bestows upon us and crowns us with an everlasting blissful life He that hath an interest in Christ may cry out with that great Apostle What shall separate us from the love of Christ and may say I am perswaded that neither Death with its terrours nor life with its charmes neither Angels with their beauties nor Devils with their deformities things present with their allurements things future with their promises or threatnings nor Hell with its torments can ever separate me from the love of God in Christ and indeed how should they saith St. Augustine because death though never so hideous leads us to him life is found in his possession Angels and Devils are the Ministers of his justice or his mercy things present are false things to come uncertain Hell with God would be our happiness and Heaven without him would be our torment or we may say again with the same Father that nothing can separate a Christian from Jesus Christ and make him miserable Not death because there is no Christian can be brought into so dismal an estate as to be deprived of his love not the Angels because being united to Christ we are stronger then all Spirits combined together against us not the vexations of life because they are sweet when undergone for his honour and serve only to give us a nearer conjunction to his person Not things to come because nothing can be bestowed nor promised which can countervail him Not Heaven because it is the recompence of them that serve him Not Hell because it is made for none but those that forsake him by all which we see that a man firmly united to Christ cannot by these outward things be removed from him Oh the solidity perspicuity and self-sufficiency of that Paradise and place of delights of that Celestial company and Crowned society who is able to express the comfort and contentment of that estate and condition where we shall have all blessedness Internal External and Eternal what can be done or suffered to answer so great a reward the diseased will endure the cutting and searing of their Members for the enjoyment of a short tedious life Heathens have suffered great things for a little vain glory if they prize the shadow so much at what rate should we value the substance what are a few drops of blood for the Kingdom of Heaven how may this comfort us under afflictions considering that the afflictions of this life are but small showers at the most but some short storms which are followed with an Eternal calm Isa 54.8 CHAP. XII Sect. I. I shall now in the next place by Divine assistance adventure to speak something of the excellency of Heavens glory though some there be that think silence and astonishment to be the best commendations we can give it I confess our understandings are too shallow to comprehend the greatness of it When the great Voice saith Come up hither come and see then we shall be best resolved concerning it If the Queen of Sheba confessed that the one half was not told her of the Wisdom Prosperity and Glory of Solomon which she had heard reported in her own Countrey when she came in person to his Court how much more shall the Saints confess when they come to Heaven that the Thousandth part was not told them of all the honour glory and blessedness which they shall find in that heavenly Jerusalem Here then let us consider The Circumstances of this glory The Substance of this glory The Adjuncts of this glory The Circumstances are two Time and Place as for the Time it shall be 1. In the day of the Creatures Restoration we read Act. 3.21 That the Heavens must conlain Christ until the time of the restitution of all things And St. Paul tells us That the Creature it self also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the Sons of God Rom. 8.21 Here divers questions are to be propounded Quest 1. What Creatures are to be delivered into this glorious liberty Resp 1. Under this word Creature we are not to comprise the Elect Angels because never subject to vanity nor the reprobate Angels and Men because they are destroyed with an everlasting destruction from the presence of God 2. Neither are we to comprise the godly Elect men under this Word Creature in this place for although it be most true that all the godly shall be perfectly delivered from all
Men or Angels is able sufficiently to set forth the height of this blessedness III. It shall be at such a time when the Devil and all his Instruments the Enemies of God and his People shall be cast into outer Darkness and swallowed up of everlasting Destruction when their day shall wholly end their glory be finished and their prosperity be utterly extinguished and overthrown when they shall be for ever seperated from God the fountain of all blessedness of which Separation Chrysostome thus speaketh That if a thousand fires of Hell were joyned together in one they should never be so great a pain to the Soul as it is for the Soul to be separated in this wise for ever from Almighty God We read Isa 14.9 10. That the Kings and Potentates of the Earth seem to be brought into rejoycing at the fall of Lucifer viz. the King of Babilon when he was brought low it was matter of triumph to the Children of Israel that the Lord saved them from the hand of Pharaoh and the Aegyptians that pursued them to the red Sea and that Israel saw the Aegyptians dead on the Sea shore the Waters covering the Chariots the Horsemen and all the Host of Pharaoh that came into the Sea after them that there remained not so much as one of them the Children of Israel walking upon dry Land in the midst of the Sea the Waters being a wall to them on the right hand and on the left Exod. 14.28 29. Was it not a great priviledg for Noah to sit secure in the Ark above the Waters that covered the tops of the highest Mountains at the same time when the whole World of the Ungodly were drowned and buried in the Flood what then may we conceive the happiness of the Saints will be when they shall be advanced to the heigth of heavenly glory when their Enemies shall be overwhelmed with the depths of shame and misery what encouragement may this be to us to raise our hearts Heaven-ward and to have our affections set on things above while the hearts of Worldlings are rooted in the Earth that at the same time when their end shall be destruction we may be put into the possession of eternal glory should not we be as unwilling now to have fellowship with them in their unfruitful works of darkness as we are desirous to be in Heaven when they shall be cast into Hell fire IV. It shall be at a time when all the labours sorrows and sufferings of the Saints shall be at an end Write saith a Voice from Heaven to St. John Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord from henceforth yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labours and their Works do follow them Rev. 14.13 They shall then be eased from the toilesome and troublesome travels of this Life being translated from this worlds vanity into Heavens felicity where shall be neither labour in action nor pain in passion where they shall be neither annoyed with pinching cold nor parching heat and as sleep is a resting and refreshing to our weak frail and weary bodies so our bodies being laid down in the bed of our Graves they shall rest and be free from all sickness and sorrow weakness weariness and all work and whatsoever else are fruits and effects yea punishments of sin and attendants of this life yea the Saints after they have wearied themselves in striving against sin in subduing corruption after they have spent themselves in the work of the Lord and after the Enemies to piety have tyred out themselves with malice scoffs reproaches slaunders persecutions they shall rest from all their labours and sufferings in perfect peace and blessedness and the fruit comfort and reward of their works shall follow them and abide with them for ever They shall then arrive at a safe harbour after a dangerous passage through Shelves Storms Rocks and Pirates which then shall be so much the more welcome to them Read St. Pauls Catalogue 2 Cor. 11.23 And think how sweet Heaven will be to one that hath had such a hard passage thither Through labours more abundant stripes above measure many prisons chains fetters whippings scourgings shipwracks deaths journeyings perills of Waters Robberies by his own Countrey-men by the Heathen True it is he gives in a large bill of his charges as it were but when he cometh to speak of his wages he makes nothing of his labours and sufferings in comparison of the reward 2 Cor. 4.17 For these light and momentany afflictions do work out for us an exceeding eternal weight of glory The highest Mountain in the World is very light in comparison of the whole Earth even so are the greatest afflictions of the greatest sufferers in comparison of the glory of Heaven It is said of Isachar Gen. 49.15 That he saw that rest was good and that the Land was pleasant therefore he put his shoulders to labour and became servant to Tribute So I may say the rest and glory of the Saints is good but the Land that brings forth this rest will be best and most pleasant to them after all their labours and sufferings are fully ended then to receive this glorious rest will be most sweet unto them and most seasonable Were Heaven nothing else but an Haven of rest we know how welcome the one is to a Sea sick weather-beaten Traveller and by that we may conceive how welcome the other will be to a Soul that hath been long tossed in the Waves of this troublesom World sick of its own sinful imaginations and tyred out with outward temptations the happiest Soul that ever hath sailed over this Euripus in the best Ship in the most healthful body that ever was never had so calm a passage saith a good Divine but that it hath had cause enough often to wish it self on shoar Sa. Ward on the life of faith in death Is there any Palace or Tower here so high or strong that can keep diseases from the body or cares sorrows fears or Satan's assaults from the Soul were there but such an Island as some have dreamed of here on earth that might free mens bodies or minds from disquiet but for the time of this life how would people strive to dwell there Certainly in this heavenly Countrey there shall be perfect tranquillity to all the Inhabitants thereof Oh how will it ravish the hearts of the Saints when they have finished their course and are come to the end of their race oh how sweet will Heaven and how glorious will the Crown of Immortality be to them in the end If Seamen when they have been many moneths upon the Sea where they have encountred with many dreadful storms and boystrous tempests and have been often in danger of drowning and shipwracks when they shall at last descry but a Creek of Land do leap for joy and cry out Oh Land land we are nigh to such a Coast where we would be then much more those that have run
vehement affection and take them home to his own House after a tedious pilgrimage in the World wherein they have met with harsh unkind usage How did Jacob tender Benjamin that he would not let him go from him till he was forced to it and saw the necessity of it but his joy is not exprest upon his return because he heard that his beloved Joseph was alive and when he saw the Waggons and Charets that Joseph had sent to fetch him and his family into Egypt Oh then it is inconceivable and inexpressible with what affections our heavenly Father will take home his Children to his everlasting habitations when they are of full age and ready to receive their inheritance Moreover they are the temples of the holy Ghost and with what abundance of love think you will God receive the Saints when they are perfumed all over with sweet odours from Heaven with all the graces of God's Spirit The Spirit here is the source of all Divine gifts for being the prime radical donation of our heavenly Father there is no grace he confers upon us which bears not the image of this first and prime gratuity the Spirit is the pandora through which all other blessings are bestowed upon us Now the Spirit is given to sanctifie those whom Christ hath redeemed and to preserve them to God's heavenly Kingdom whom Christ had purchased and delivered from everlasting destruction God manifested much love to his People on Earth in that his Spirit dwelling in his Saints when it was often grieved by them yet would not leave nor quit his old habitation what abundance of love then will he express to them when he shall find nothing in them that is contrary or displeasing to him Besides the Saints are espoused to the Lord Jesus Christ and that great day wherein they are to be received to glory shall be the full consummation of the Marriage Oh what abundance of love will the Lord Jesus express to his Bride when she shall be brought home to him after a long time of separation one from another With gladness and rejoycing shall they be brought unto the King and enter into the Kings Palace Psal 45.15 Though the Church sigh here below she knows her Beloved will keep his word that having had a part in his sorrows she shall have a share in his heavenly triumphs Oh how shall the countenance of the glorious Son of righteousness chear the hearts of God's People at the last day with abundance of joy when he that is an universal Friend shall supply the place of a gracious Lord of a loving Father and act the part of a loving Brother Tu mihi qui conjux pariter scaterque paterque Tu Dominus tu Vir tu mihi Prater eris Ovid. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arrian in Epictet of a Head of a Husband of a Root and be every thing to us Methinks the serious consideration hereof should be a forcible attractive to draw Sinners to Christ and to cause them to receive him into their hearts by faith whatsoever offers the Devil can make them or whatsoever entertainments they may have from the World they are not worth a naming to the magnificent and sumptuous entertainment that the Lord Jesus will give to his Spouse at the last day Oh what a Feast will Christ make for all his Children when he shall bring them all together into the House of his Father and if that word be too strait into the City of the great King and if that be too strait into the World to come where there shall be room enough for them all What comfort may the meditation hereof afford to you that are poor Christians that are now the out-casts of the World know ye though the World exclude you yet Heaven will receive you though the World afford you no house-room but shut you out of doors yet the everlasting Gates shall be opened to you and God shall take you into his own House yea into his own Bosome ye have a Father in Heaven his House is richly furnished and there you shall be sumptuously and royally entertained though the World refuse to feed you with the crumbs that fall from their tables yet you shall eat and drink with Christ at his table in his Kingdom yea he shall be your meat and drink who is the bread of life and the well-spring of Salvation the Lord will think nothing he hath too dear for you but you shall have part with Jesus Christ and share with him in all his enjoyments I have read of Cyrus who never liked any dish of meat but he sent a part of it from his table to his Friends he loved most yea sometimes the very bread and meat he had upon his own trencher with this kind and friendly salutation Cyrus tibi ista quod ipsi fuerint jucundissima King Cyrus sends you this because he likes it best himself and holds it to be most choice and dainty So the Lord will entertain his People with his own glory and felicity whereupon St. Bernard hath this expression Non aurum pollicetur Dominus the Lord doth not promise gold nor silver nor pretious stones but himself he will be their substantial joy and everlasting comfort What tongue or pen is able to set forth that large and kind entertainment that God will give to his Children on that day when they shall see the Lord Jesus like a faithful Shepherd conducting all his Flock to the Fold which was ordained for them before the foundations of the World were laid when they shall see him like a valiant General and triumphant Conqueror riding in the Heavens in the head of his troops and glorious train who shall follow him with Crowns on their heads and Palm branches in their hands Oh the shoutings oh the songs of joy and vollies of praises and Hallelujahs that shall fill the World in that great and glorious day when Jesus Christ shall come in his own glory and in the glory of his Father and of the holy Angels Luke 9.26 CHAP. XV. SECT I. Of the substance of the Saints glory HAving spoken of the circumstances let us now consider more particularly the substance of that glory and blessedness which the glorified Saints shall possess in their souls and bodies and first in their bodies but before I speak of that glory which God will put upon the bodies of the Saints I shall speak of that which goes before it and leads unto it viz. the resurrection of their bodies However God's Children are subject to death as well as others yet they shall be raised again to a state of blessedness and their bodies shall be re-united to their souls For 1. God hath decreed it and it shall certainly come to pass John 6.39 40. Christ saith This is the Father's will which hath sent me that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing but should raise it up again at the last day and this is the will of
attend the Sepulchre yet notwithstanding our Saviour who had wrought many miracles upon others hath wrought a greater upon himself the sealed stone iâ— removed the watchmen are deceived and a dâ—ad carâ—cass revived 2. The Antients makâ— Isaac a type of Christ's passion and resurrection as namely Abraham's taking Bâ—â—a in Geâ—es 22. Isidor dâ—â—ccâ—es offic lib. 1. cap. 29. binding and laying his Son upon the Altar was a type of Christ's death and passion and as Isaac carried wood for himself so did Christ Jesus carry the wooden Cross Now will ye see a rising without death or sleep behold Isaac as near the stroke as the hand of his Father arising from the funeral pile he had taken the knife in his hand stretched out his hand to slay his Son and then between the sacrificing knife and Isaac's throat God sheweth favour to Abraham bidding him to stay his hand and a Ram was brought by the power and providence of God to rescue and redeem Isaac from death here was a sacrifice offered yet not slain and though not slain yet accepted Heb. 11.8 Thus Abraham received his Son Isaac from the dead in a figure verse 19. being a type of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead who by the power of his Divinity raised his Humanity from death to life 3. But perhaps it will more gratefully affright you to see a man taught to be buried alive and more yet to out-live his funeral behold then Joseph a most excellent type of Christ Joseph is basely betray'd and sold by his Brethren into Egypt is falsly accused by his Mistress and cast into prison and after three years imprisonment is delivered so Jesus is betray'd to the Jews by Judas his own Apostle Friend and Follower and falsely accused before Pilate by the Jews and is put to death but on the third day Christ is raised up from the dead and as Joseph after his deliverance out of prison is advanced in the Kingdom of Egypt so Christ after his resurrection is glorified in the Kingdom of Heaven Behold then Joseph from the Tomb-stone of his Prison rising into a triumph as eminent as innocency which before had conquered his passion and now his affliction behold in Joseph the mystical Body of our Saviour a Body admirably mortal and incorruptible a Body that suffered rather the Grave then Death 4. Sampson was also a type of Christ as in many things so in these two especially of his his death and resurrection for after he had slept at Gaza when the Gazites compassed him in and laid wait for him all night in the gate of the City that they might kill him in the morning he arose at midnight and carried away the gates of the City upon his back carrying them up to the top of an Hill that is before Hebron carrying away the doors of the gates of the City and the two posts bar and all upon his shoulders So maugre the watch that the Jews set to keep Christ's Sepulchre Vide Ferum in Matth. p. 292. Christ arose with the mystical Gates of Hell and Death upon his back no marvel Hell-gates cannot prevail against his Church together with the Posts and Pillars thereof and as Sampson by pulling down the House upon the heads of the Philistines was avenged of his Enemies so Christ by opening the sealed Sepulchre hath subdued Death yea conquered him in his own Den and Cabin 5. But what more proper type can there be then Christ makes of himself and that is Jonas Matth. 12.40 which is thus fitted and parallell'd Jonah's casting into the Sea was a sign of Christ's Death his being taken by the Fish and received into his Belly a sign of his Burial and his casting on shore again a sign of his Resurrection Three days he lay in his new night of astonishment as if he had found an Egypt in the belly of the Whale and did acknowledge the watry Purgatory at last the grave of the Prophet casts up the living he had surely died had he not been buried here 's a resurrection of this rare Anchorite though not a reviving for he and his Tomb were both alive But the Tomb of our Saviour was as desperate as his Death yet was it not possible that he should be holden of it Acts 2.24 for he arose on the third day from the Grave the Humane Soul of Christ did not of it self return and quicken his Body but his Divinity which rested raised his Humanity that suffered that is by the vertue and omnipotent power of his God-head whereby he is able to do all things he reduced and brought back his reasonable Soul and re-united it to his organical Body and this Body that arose was altogether glorious being void of all infirmities and weakness whatsoever being now no more subject to hunger thirst cold weariness or the like True it is he called for meat after his resurrection Luke 24.41 42. and did eat it truly but not that he needed any meat or nourishment his Body being then immortal Edebat Christus non ut necessitati satisfaceret sed ut veritatem humanae naturae ostenderet Pet. Mart. and impassible but he doth it to prove himself to be really risen again for as when he had restored others to life as Jairus's Daughter Lazarus and others to prove that they were truly restored to life he caused meat to be set before them so to manifest and declare the truth of his own resurrection he calleth for meat and eateth it before them and that it might appear there was no falshood nor forgery in the business he brought not his meat with him but he takes such things as he found them furnished with and which they had provided and although he eateth he doth it not for his own sake by reason of the necessity of nature or the infirmity of the flesh but for the sake of his Disciples for the strengthening of their faith and not for the nourishing and cherishing his own flesh Though the necessity of eating and drinking in glorified bodies be taken away saith Augustine yet it was free and in his power to eat if he would Peter Martyr tells us he did sometimes after his resurrection ad testandam veritatem humani Corporis to testifie the truth of his humane Body as namely his affording himself to be seen and felt of Thomas and others and his eating and drinking with his Disciples And some again ad suam gloriam demonstrandam to shew forth his glory of which sort was his conveying himself from them they knew not how and his coming in among them clausis januis the doors being shut If you demand what became of the meat that Christ did thus eat I answer it was a most easie matter for him that made all things of nothing to cause a little meat and drink to consume and vanish to nothing Stell Enarrat in Luc. 24. Stella out of Chrysostome saith that Christ laid aside all accidental properties in
his Body after his resurrection but retained the essential as longitude latitude circumscription c. SECT IV. BUt will you see the manifold proofs of Christ's resurrection if you will turn over the notes of time you may believe that Pharaoh as about that time of the year when Christ rose from the dead was invaded by an host of waves which conquering his Charets made him without wheels to hurry faster into Hell while Moses led his Israel through the Wilderness of the Sea passing through the shadow of death in the monument of Waters Did not our Lord also leave his Tomb without an equal and contrary wonder then the Waters seemed to be firm rising into Alps as now the Earth was made to quake like the Waters and well might the Earth tremble when the Lord conquered it and forsook it The Angel too made a little Earthquake in the Grave when he removed the mighty Stone with which the senseless Jew tried to oppress our Saviour after death as if he would have sealed him up to an utter impossibility of rising again the Earth now moveth and danceth for his exaltation and the Stones give place to his omnipotency The Angel having opened the Tomb shall we look into the place whence Christ is risen but behold he is not there to be found an Angel supplieth his place which he had conquered to obedience as if he had meant to rest himself in triumph after the conflict of his miracle his rayment white as snow which he did imitate in purity his countenance was like lightning but more wonderful for that 's of so instant a terror that it 's rather the object of our memory then our eye but this with a courteous Majesty was patient to be beheld the terrified Women quickly behold this sight being encouraged by the Angel but first by their innocence the Souldiers beheld it too but with such guilty faintness that they seemed as much to disgrace their sex as their profession disarming themselves at once both of their weapons and souls together they became as breathless carcasses and were rather the Captives then the Keepers of the Grave But now the Women being comforted they receive a commission from the Angel to preach the Resurrection of our Saviour and out of the Tomb they hasten with the confused speed of fear and joy and while they seek the Disciples they find their Saviour himself who comforteth them with his presence and speech and again sendeth them to teach his own Disciples and to shew their obedience to be as quick as their love they depart from Christ to their duty and speedily find Peter and John for their Auditors who no sooner hear the news of Christ's resurrection but they run as fast to the Tomb as the Women ran from it where no sooner are they entered but they perceive Christ's victory over Death acknowledged by the Linnen cloathes his spoils of Death and these spoils too had been divided the Napkin off his head being laid up by it self It seems the Angel at our Saviour's resurrection attended to be a Witness of it to the Women and to leave a testimony of it to the Disciples Thus that he was not stoln away as was given out appears by the inconvenience and leisure of his undressing and by the method of the Linnen which the affrighted policy of the Souldiers did no more touch then observe and they no more observed it then the Women who after the sight of the Angel had their eyes as much amazed as their minds the Souldiers too did more tremble then watch but the Disciples had less fear and more time Besides they learnt somewhat which they were not taught and could now teach the Women this news of the Grave Lo here the Lion of the Tribe of Juda whose Almighty strength vouchsafed to couch under the power of the Grave and lo the greatness of his love hath raised him up from the sloth of the Grave Will ye behold how he was raised behold how the Potter worketh upon the wheel he taketh clay he maketh it a vessel and this vessel being made in the hands of the Potter he makes it again as he best pleaseth Christ was immortal Clay and Earth purer then Heaven when by the wonder of Omnipotency the Creator and Creature were made into one and of one matter did consist both the Potter and his Pot from this broken Clay there did arise the same and a renewed Christ Could any man in this point be yet an Infidel if any could see how he converts them he lets Thomas disgrace himself to a belief and by his distrust mercifully and miraculously encreaseth his faith Can any body doubt he was renewed in a Body of glory when he was full of God had he not a glorious Body whom the doors that were shut when he entered to his Disciples did obediently acknowledge to be the King of Glory though he were patient under Death three days yet since the first part of the first was spent before he died and the last part of the last after he revived there was the number but not the length of three days and thus he made so short a change as seemed rather a sleep then death He rose not sooner lest he might have been thought not to bâ— fâ—lly dead he lay no longer lest he might have been thought to have seen corruption This resurrection of Christ proved him to be true God as his birth life death burial proved him to be true Man It was his own Argument against the Jews Destroy this Temple and in three days I will raise it up again John 2.19 And St. Paul among other things tells us He was declared mightily to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead Rom. 1.4 Methinks this might have stopt the black mouthes of the blasphemous Jews who at the time of his execution bade him come down from the Cross and save himself and they will believe on him Matth. 27.42 which though he would not do yet here he doth a greater matter Plus fuit ex Sepulchro resurgere quam de Cruce descendere Gregor to rise was more saith Gregory to rise again out of his Grave then to descend from the Cross This likewise declareth his dominion over Sin Death Hell and all Enemies Christ therefore died rose again and revived that he might be Lord both of the dead and living if he had died and not risen again then had he at least seemed not to have conquered and overcome death but to have been foyled in the Field and overcome of Death and then how could he have been the death of Death and the destruction of the Grave and have delivered us from the power of Hell Hosea 13.14 This likewise sheweth us the sufficiency of his satisfaction and him to be an absolute and all-sufficient Saviour whereof we might have doubted had he only died for we think not a mans debts then paid when he or his Surety goes
to prison for them and there abideth but when he cometh out again with a general discharge so that he dares bid defiance to all Bailiffs and Serjeants whatsoever or whosoever can pretend any thing to say to him thus much Christ declared to the World by his rising from the dead for though he discharged our debt by dying yet we have our acquittance by his rising again 1 Pet. 3.21 Rom. 4.25 SECT V. WIll ye consider the wonder of the resurrection as well as the change do but imagine that in the dawning birth of the morning you saw the revelation of a grave emulating the morning a Coarse rising with more comfort and glory then the Sun a winding-sheet falling away like an empty cloud the feet and the hands striving which shall first recover motion the hands helping to raise the body and the feet helping to bear the body and the hands the tongue so eloquent that it can tell you it can speak again the ears so pure that they can perceive the dull silence of the grave the eyes looking forth of their tombs as if they were glad to see their own resurrection Would you not be affrighted as well as instructed at the Divine power would you not be turn'd into very Coarses to see this living Coarse would you not be struck as pale as the very winding-sheet you lookt upon But when all this shall be done as well in mercy as in majesty as well to raise thee to an hope of eternal life as to strike thee with a remembrance of a temporal death as well to make thee like unto God as to make thee know that thou art not like him how then wilt thou dissolve into compassion as if thou wouldst hasten to the like resurrection how wilt thou then kiss those hands which before thou fearedst and then stedfastly examine and adore the resurrection of that Body which is the hope and cause of the resurrection of our Bodies for therefore did he raise himself that he might raise us Christ rose not as a private but as a publick Person as a Burgess in a Parliament representeth the whole Body of the Incorporation for which he is chosen so Christ as our Head represents the Persons of all them that are Heirs of Salvation Ephes 2.6 Christ as in his Passion so in his Resurrection sustained the Persons of the Elect and so we in him as in Capite rise with him St. Paul tells us that Christ standing in our stead representeth our persons Rom. 5.18 19. this appeareth in that he rose not alone but many bodies of the Saints rose with him and attended him Matth. 27.52 53. to shew that the vertue of him our Head diffused and extended it self unto all the Members of the Church his Body and his rising first shewed him to be the first-fruits of them that slept Christ rose by his own power and not as we by a borrowed power from Christ I have power to lay down my life saith he and power to take it up again John 10. â—8 it was prophesied of him Psal 110. ult therefore shall he lift up the head As in his Passion when he suffered he bowed down his head and gave up the ghost with a loud voice to note that his sufferings were voluntary John 19.30 so in his Resurrection he is said to lift up the head himself to note that he had life in himself and that it was impossible he should be holden under death who was the Lord of life SECT VI. NOw he that could raise up his own Body by his Divine power can much more raise up our Bodies also he it is that shall quicken our mortal Bodies Rom. 8.11 a privatione ad habitum non datur regressus and therefore however the Angels are instruments in respect of some antecedent and consequent cause of the Resurrection Matth. 24.31 yet the immediate cause is God alone Christ himself in respect of his Humane nature being excluded for howbeit the Resurrection is ascribed to his Person yet only according to his Divine nature yet in the communion of both natures we acknowledg Christum agere quod suum est verbo operante quod verbi est carne exequente quod carnis est Yet I grant as in the raising up Lazarus and the Widows Son of Naim Luke 7.14 so in the general resurrection Christ's Humane nature shall perform what belongs to it that is give some evident sign of his coming to Judgment which shall be as an instrument of his Divine power for the raising up of the dead which shall have its instrumental force as that voice in raising the Widows Son of Naim Luke 7.14 and that voice in raising Lazarus John 11.43 44. And this sign is exprest diversly in Scripture John 5.28 it is said all that are in the graves shall hear his voice In Matth. 24.31 He shall send his Angels with a great sound of a trumpet and they shall gather together his Elect from the four winds from the one end of Heaven to the other And St. Paul saith 1 Cor. 15.52 The trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed And the same Apostle saith 1 Thes 4.16 The Lord shall descend from Heaven with a shout with the voice of the Arch-angel and with the trump of God and the dead in Christ shall rise first By all which places I suppose may be gathered that the voice of Christ shall be used at that day as an instrument to awake all that sleep in the dust But what shall we rise too and shall this dust be taken up and breathed on shall every man by this second Adam be made as wonderful as the first Adam Beloved shall we want faith when God wanteth not power or shall we think it harder to unite the Body then to make it he that made us etantillo semine shall he not be able to raise us etantillo pulvere It were an impious discourtesie to deny that to God which God denied not to his own Servant Did not the Widow of Sareptah thus receive a Son by Elias who was neither the Father nor the God nay did not his Servant do more for the Shunamite to whom he promised a Son before he was conceived and restored him after he was dead nay did not the bones of this Elias give life to one that was as dead as themselves teaching him to confess the mercy of a grave It is an high act of mercy of the living God to give life to the dead yet by a greater mercy he makes it an act of justice freely binding himself to admit our boldness not so much to request as to claim a resurrection for shall the Bodies of the Saints be more remembred by their tombs then their labours or shall they be worse oppressed by death then they were by their torments shall those eyes that did still watch or mourn for ever want respect as much as sight shall those hands that have
been exercised in extending themselves and mercy to the poor be for ever bound by the ingratitude of death shall those knees which have bowed with such willing reverence be so held down by the violence of mortality that they can never rise up again Where are then thy tears O David if thine eyes shall not enjoy the happiness of their own sorrow What then O Job is become of thy faith and patience if thy body be now as much without hope as before it was without rest Where are then O Esaias thy victorious sufferings if after the ignorant fury of the saw and schism of thy body thy body suffer a wider disordation from thy soul for tedious eternity Where are thy travels then O Paul if after thy Christian Geography and Conquest of Paganism thou art for ever confin'd to the dull peace of a Grave No the Almighty which hath made man with wisdom of Art will neither lose his glory nor his work but as he made the greater Heaven for his Angels so made he the less and mortal Heaven of Man's Body as I may so speak for his Soul and will have it eternal as his Soul SECT VII THere is more excellency of workmanship in the Soul but more variety in the Body the Soul doth more truly express God the Body more easily the Soul judgeth best but the Body first and though the eyes of the Soul do behold the work of God more clearly yet doth the eye of the Body most properly Nay should not the Body be raised to life and Heaven how great a part of Heaven and that life would be lost whiles not enjoyed and be as unnecessary as it is wonderful God hath prepared joys for the Saints which the eyes have not seen nor the ears heard but which the eye shall see and the ear shall hear and without the pleasure of a trance for ever possess as much without error as without measure such honour will the Creator of our Bodies do to the Bodies of all his Saints They shall acknowledge Corruption yet overcome it they may in their journey be the Guests of the Grave but at last they shall be the Inhabitants of Heaven Yet the Lord cannot hereafter honour Humane flesh by raising it as he hath already by assuming it it was before his Servant now his Companion that was a resurrection of the flesh when it was raised unto God but the only resurrection of our flesh is when it is raised unto the Soul At the last day of Judgement though there be no Marriage of sexes yet there shall be of parts when Souls shall be united to Bodies in so entire and so inexorable a Matrimony that it shall admit no hope nor fear of a divorce nor need we fear in the jealousie of this Match the Ignoble Parentage of the flesh since what it wanteth by Birth is supplied by Dowry and flesh now is become such refined earth being made wonderful in shape and office that the Soul may be thought scarce more noble but that it seems more reserved by being invisible this mortal body shall put on immortality this Body sown in corruption shall be raised in incorruption it shall not only be freed from death but also from corruption yea and whatsoever savoureth of mortality or the least decay And notwithstanding these principles of earth fall into such an heap of dust that they are with as much difficulty to be seen as numbred yet thus divided among themselves retaining still though not an appetite yet an obedience to a resurrection Nature hath not lost this and God will supply that and as easily unite as distinguish each dust to yield to this is the Creed of the Creed If any mans faith in the assent to this mystery be as weak as his reason he may help both his faith and his reason by sense by which he shall be either convinced or perswaded If you will be but as hardy as Antiquity you may propose to your selves the solemn Poetry of the Phoenix a Creature rarer then the Resurrection though not so admirable in whose ashes you may find the fire of life expecting but to be fann'd to the resurrection of a flame as if this Creature by a riddle of Fate would by a fire both perish and revive But without the courtesie of supposition you may in earnest behold the Eagle shoot forth new quills wherewith may be written and testified his endeavor of immortality thus doth God teach Nature how to teach us mysteries and without the magical learning of the language of Birds to understand without their voice their secret instruction But perhaps you will think that to discern this truth in the nature of Eagles would require a sight as sharp as the Eagles Remove then your eyes from the Fowls of the Air but to the Trees whereon they nest and with a negligent view you may observe how after the nakedness and death of Winter they bud forth afresh into life and beauty yet why should we in the sloth of this easie contemplation study so broad an object let our eye with more grateful industry confine it self with the small seed of corn and at least take the pains to see the pains of the Husbandman and shall we not admire at his delightful Arithmatick of nature to behold a seed whose hope seems as small as it self by being cast away to be found by destruction to receive increase from the same furrow to take both a Burial and a Birth He that shall now see a little drop of man's seed in a glass and a lump of earth together would think the one as unlikely to become a man as the other and yet we see how miraculous and curious a work the Lord makes every day of the principle of seed which made David cry out I am fearfully and wonderfully made Psal 139. and he can easily restore our Bodies out of a praeexistent something which may confute the erronious opinion of the Sadduces who denied the resurrection Matth. 22.23 of the Athenian Philosophers who derided it Acts 17.18 holding the Pythagorean transmigration of Himeneus and Philetus who said the resurrection was past 2 Tim. 2.18 and lastly of all those Atheists and Epicures Isai 22.13 that cry out and say Mors ultima linea rerum SECT VIII BUt now the Soul will have its old Companion again for should the Soul for ever want the Body it should want both perfection and wonder Is not the Soul most perfect when it is most noble is it not most noble when it is most bountiful and is it not most bountiful when it gives life to the dead Is it not likewise most full of wonder when it is thus perfect in that which is imperfect when it mixeth with corruption and yet is incorruptible when it is most burthened and yet is most variously active Thus by this necessary inclination of the Soul the Resurrection is as natural in respect of the union as it is above Nature in respect of
the manner But now see the curious zeal of the Soul it will not only have a Body again but in a precise society it will have only its own again not any other new created Bodies but the same numerical and substantial Bodies shall rise again and be re-united to their proper Souls 1 Cor. 15.53 54. Phil. 3.21 Job 19.26 27. St. Paul saith This corruptible shall put on incorruption and Christ shall change our vile Bodies And Job saith in his flesh he should see God whom I shall see for my self and mine eyes shall behold and not another though my reins be consumed within me There may be some general alteration in respect of their stature deformities superfluities c. to a glorified perfection but still it shall remain the same essential Body and good reason there is for it 1. The justice of God requireth that the same Body which hath been instrumental in the actions of righteousness or unrighteousness should be rewarded or punished The Godly must receive their rewards according to what good they have done in these Bodies 2 Cor. 5.10 It were injustice that this flesh should be killed and that should be crowned that the same Body in which we served God wherein God was glorified Absurdum Deo indignum ut haec caro lanietur illa vero coronetur ut corpora quae in via sacta fuerint membra Christi in patria aliis suffectis in eorum locum arcerentur Tertul. de Resurrect cap. 56. which suffered for God and was for Christ exposed to all the injuries indignities and torments of wicked Persecutors should be eternally laid up in the dust and another Body should be created to receive the reward due to the Body in the grave 2. Because if God should not raise the very same Bodies of his People in which they lived and served God in their generation then God shall not deal so honourably with the dead Saints as with those that shall be found alive at Christ's coming for their very same Bodies shall be delivered from the bondage of mortality and corruption into incorruption and immortality 3. Because Christ who is the pattern of the resurrection did not rise in another Body but in that in which he was fastened to the Cross in which also after his death appeared the prints of the nails in his hands and the holes in his side John 20.27 Therefore Christ after his resurrection for the cure of Thomas his unbelief whose faith lay in his fingers bids him put his finger into his hands and side and not be faithless but believing It seems those scars remained in Christ's Body after his resurrection Vulnerum signa virtutum insignia Aquinas else how could Thomas see and feel them as he is willed to do But these scars were no blemishes in his Body then they were no signs of defect but ensigns of Victory For as that worthy and renowned Captain Caius Marius being on a time accused of Treason in the Senate tore his clothes and shewed his wounds and scars and slashes he had received in the Wars in the service and for the safety of his Country saying Quid opus est Verbis Vulnera clamant What need is there of my Words my Wounds cry loud enough So Christ might shew his pierced Side goared Hands and Feet not only to shew that it was the very same organical Body of his that was crucified on the Cross but also to shew his love to his People and what he did and suffered for them And when the eleven Disciples were gathered together at Jerusalem Jesus appeared to them and they being affrighted supposing they had seen a Spirit he said unto them Why are ye troubled and why do thoughts arise in your hearts Behold my hands and my feet it is I my self a Spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see me to have Luke 24.39 40. A Spirit hath not parts members and dimensions as I have therefore you may be sure being infallibly taught by your sense that it is my very Body which you see in which I long conversed with you suffered and was buried which is now truly risen again Whence as Theodoret saith he proveth it was his true Body that was crucified on the Cross that was now raised from the dead 4. Should not the Saints rise with the same Bodies it were no resurrection but a new creation Moreover the same Souls do rise unto Grace from the death of Sin to the life of Righteousness which is called in Scripture the first Resurrection Rev. 20.6 therefore the same Body shall rise unto Glory in the second Resurrection 5 Consider that Death in Scripture is called a Sleep a Dream and the Resurrection an awaking from Sleep Psalm 17. ult therefore as the same Body that lies down to sleep at night awaketh in the morning so the same Body that lies down to sleep in the dust shall awake and rise again in the morning of the Resurrection Hence we see that the Soul will have its own numerical Body again for the preserving of such numerical identity there shall be wonderfully restored the substantial union which is but formally distinguished from the parts united there shall be restored a personality and lastly the native temperament which doth contain the individuating dispositions whereby such a matter hath a peculiar appetite to such a form which matter by vertue of such inclination remains as formerly the same though it may be varied by extension as when the Infant shall be raised into a Man the person shall be enlarged but not multiplied Object But that of the Apostle may be objected who saith That flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God 1 Cor. 15.50 Resp St. Paul speaks of corruptible qualities of flesh and blood not of the substance of it Identitas formae in quacunque materia consistit q. ex identitate formae consequitur identitas materiae cum materia nullam per se habeat actualitatem sed esse suum accipit à forma Numerica identitas non continetur in sola identitate primae materiae nudae sed etiam identitate corporis humani Durand sent 4. distinct 44. plura de resurrectione Vide Synops purior theol disput de resurrect as is manifest in the last clause of the verse neither doth corruption inherit incorruption But flesh and blood by the Almighty power of God may be without corruption as the Body of Christ was after his Resurrection incorruptible immortal and spiritual not converted into a spirit but to the distinction of a living body that must be maintained by food Luke 24.39 This then may confute those that deny the identical resurrection of the Body and affirm that our Bodies at the resurrection must be aerial of a more subtil nature not consisting of flesh and members such were divers of the Anabaptists of Germany and Socinus with his Followers who call into question this Article of our Creed Credo resurrectionem carnis I
believe the resurrection of the flesh or body SECT IX SEe here the sacred eagerness of the Soul it will neither lose nor change a dust nor will it only possess but adorn the Body In the day of the resurrection mankind shall feel and express a youthful spring the walking-staff and the wrinckle shall be no more the help and distinction of age and Death it self shall suffer climacterical fates Oh how the wonder will almost out-act faith when the Infant and the Dwarf shall be made a proper man when the limbs exhaled with famine shall be replenished with as much miracle as faith when the Child that left its own Soul before it left the Womb shall in an instant without growth be as big as the Mother when sleep shall be commanded from the eye-lids no more by care but by immortality which shall chase Death out of Nature and with importunate triumph cry out O Earth Earth Earth hear the word of the Lord Thy dead men shall live with their primitive Bodies shall they arise Awake and sing ye that dwell in the dust for your dew is as the dew of Herbs The Bodies of the Saints shall then have nothing cleaving to them that may in the least degree impair their blessedness darken or blemish their glory St. Paul saith Christ loved the Church and gave himself for it that he might cleanse and sanctifie it by the washing of water through the word that he might present it to himself a glorious Church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing but that it should be holy and without blemish both in Soul and Body Ephes 5.25 26 27. First it is said He gave himself to it that he might cleanse and sanctifie it by the washing of water through the word and that he might not only cloathe it with his own righteousness made over and imputed to it but also that he might really purifie it by the water of sanctification that he might present it a glorious Church to himself not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing It is one thing to present his Church and each Member of it to his Father a glorious Church in himself as a Mediator cloathed with his righteousness as with a spotless robe of glory but 't is another thing to present the Church a glorious Church to himself which he doth without a Mediator for although there be a Mediator between God the Father and his Church even the Man Christ Jesus yet there is no Mediator between Christ and his Church God the Father looks on his Church mediante Christo but Christ looks on the Church immediately and therefore when he presenteth the Church to himself a glorious Church without spot c. it is evident that the Church shall then be glorious and spotless not only in way of imputation in God the Father's acceptation through Jesus Christ his Beloved but also really and in it self although it shall receive all this from the overflowing fountain of Christ's fulness through the freeness of God's love and the riches of his grace and for the greater consolation of the Saints the Apostle saith when Christ shall present his Church to himself as glorious it shall be without spot or wrinkle no spot of defilement or wrinkle of deformity shall be in it nor the least imperfection for what are wrinkles but signs or effects of natural defect when the moisture of the Body is exhausted or consumed Nature beginning to decay and wanting matter to fill up the Body but then there shall be no wrinkle in the Body or defect in the Soul for both shall have their full measure of glory And to this the Apostle addeth those general terms nor any such thing that he might cut off all conceits of any defect imaginable as if he had said Imagine what you can that may in the least degree impair or lessen the glory of the Church I assure you there shall not be any such thing SECT X. ANd we may most easily remember by whom we rise by remembring him by whom we fell yet if we behold the original of their humanity we shall find they were both without sin and that the first Adam had his best Paradise within himself but when he was fallen by the weakness of the Woman that was made for his help never did Woman prove a strong help to Man before the Virgin-mother of Christ God and Man then though the first Adam had eaten up the fatal Apple the second Adam swallowed up Death he had before made the poor Man take up the Bed of his sickness and walk but he himself was the first that ever took up Death's Bed and walked Yet some before our Saviour borrowed a fantastical resurrection as Saul's equivocal Samuel and some rose again in earnest but to die again in earnest as supererrogating Lazarus that paid to nature one death more then he owed but our Lord Jesus is risen with as much perfection as power and with as much power as love and glory The Poetical Chymick tells us plainly of an Alchymistical man at the Earth's centre who by a spherical diffusion of his vertue doth like a subterranean Sun improve Mettals to a metamorphosis which as it is bold in the Fable so by a devout mithology may be modest in the moral this secret Workman shall be our Saviour whose vertue was dispersed into the bowels of the Grave that at his resurrection he improved Carcasses into Saints who rose with him went into the holy City and appeared unto many as the Witnesses and Attendants of his power of which something hath been already spoken Indeed to advance the head without the members were so unnatural that it were rather like an execution then preferment and it were stranger to see a Captain or Leader without his Souldiers then without his Arms Besides were it fit when the Master is risen the Servant should lie still thus then they were raised as much to holiness as to life it was not only a resurrection but a consecration and Christ was the first-fruits of them that rose he had the precedency both in order and vertue The first-fruits under the Law were the first handful as acceptible as ripe by a bountiful mediation obtaining holiness and entertainment for the rest this first offering did commend it self to the Lord rather by the speed then the quantity the Jew offered this at his own home and it was as domestick as his thoughts being a present of eloquent simplicity which at the same time did honour and overcome the Almighty Oh how our Saviour made this figure solid when at once he conquered for us Death and Heaven as I may so speak He was but the first handful of Corn and yet as powerful as small making all the rest of a like holiness though not of an equal But there were greater first-fruits which the Jews went to pay at Jerusalem and as the first were an offering of humility so those of pomp Those did
without doors in comparison of this but this is within it is a sin so inward to the Body that it diffuseth it self through the whole Body and makes it wholly a slave and instrument to its lust yea the Body is as it were the object of these sinful lusts they do in a peculiar manner defile the Body What greater indecorum can there be for one that hopeth to have his Body glorified in Heaven then thus to debase and vilifie it upon the Earth Take heed likewise of intemperance in meats and drinks of gluttony and drunkenness for this also dishonoureth the Body takes away the heart and makes it to stick fast in the mire of sensuality and makes a man a stranger to heavenly-mindedness it sets a man below a rational man much more below a spiritual man whose heart whose hope whose conversation is in Heaven St. Paul saith Meats for the belly and the belly for meats but God shall destroy both it and them If you expect to have your Bodies lifted up to heavenly glory be not ye Sâ—rvants to the belly and to meats and drinks both which are appointed to destruction Miserable then is the condition of those persons now whose god is their belly whose greatest delight is to pamper their bodies and please their palates that have not the least savour of heavenly things The more heavenly minded any man is the more he raiseth his heart far above these things and denieth himself in them and it shall be no little ground of comfort to a glorified Saint when after the mortification and diligent looking to the senses which continued so short a time he finds himself so wholly immersed in that deep fountain of glory without finding any bottom or end of so many and such exceeding great joys Oh then let us make it our meat and drink to do the will of our Father which is in Heaven using these outward blessings as not abusing them as furtherances and not as hinderances in the service of God eating and drinking for Heaven and whatsoever we do doing all for Heaven that this among other may be one good evidence to our Souls that we are Vessels of Honour prepared for glory fitted for Heaven where we shall be full of God and have no need nor desire to fill our selves with meats and drinks Vse 2. This may exhort us to a patient bearing of all afflictions and present evils be they many be they grievous Suppose your Bodies are as full of diseases as the Body of Lazarus was full of sores they are sick weak crazy deformed blind maimed ulcerous leprous if all these or any of these be upon thy Body bear it patiently for Christ will one day redeem thy Body from all these and make it glorious like to his own Body Vse 3. Be hence encouraged to give up your Bodies to suffer for Christ what evil soever cruel Tormentors through God's permission shall inflict upon your Carcasses if they judge thee to the loss of ears of eyes of tongue of hands yea the whole Body to be burned at a stake or to be devoured by wild Beasts such torments Martyrs have endured willingly submit to all Christ will restore those eyes ears tongues hands or any other member whatsoever which your Adversaries shall pull from you Vse 4. Be not afraid of dying neither let the thoughts of the dissolution of thy Body into dust and the long abode of thy Body in the dark prison of the grave be a trouble to thee God will redeem this Body of thine from the grave saying Give up the dead which are in thee give up my Saints and he will make thy Body to out-shine in glory The Grave is God's Refining-pot where he refineth our vile Bodies it is the mould in which he casteth our glorious Bodies to new mould them it is his Work-house wherein he sheweth his power and wisdom in transforming our Bodies Death causeth the Saints to put off these vile Bodies that they may put on more glorious Finally be exhorted to glorifie God in your Bodies since he will one day make them glorious Bodies 1 Cor. 6.20 CHAP. XVII I Have spoken somewhat largely of the substance of that happiness which Christ hath purchased for the Saints so far as concerneth the Body in the next place I shall speak somewhat of that unconceivable blessedness to which the Soul the principal part of man shall be advanced and here is something peculiar in that glory prepared for the Soul above that of the Body not only that the Soul in its own nature is capable of a greater perfection and excellency then the Body but also in respect of the time for whereas the Body shall remain under the power of Death and corruption until the general Resurrection the Soul in the mean time shall be triumphing in glory so that the Souls of the Saints will come under a double consideration 1. Before the Resurrection 2. After the Resurrection 1. Before the Resurrection when the Soul shall remain seperated from the Body of which I shall speak somewhat briefly because among other wretched Doctrines hatched of old and lately revived this is found to be one viz. that the Soul dieth or sleepeth with the Body and so abideth till the great day of the general Resurrection when it shall be raised again with the Body But two clear Scriptures may be opposed against this Opinion the first is in Heb. 12.23 where the Apostle speaking of the priviledge which the Saints have while they are upon Earth said they were come to the spirits of just men made perfect not the Souls of any of the Saints living on the face of the Earth for they are imperfect for we know in part and prophecy in part but when that which is perfect is come that which is in part shall be done away Hence then it remaineth that the spirits of just men made perfect must be no other then the Souls of the Saints seperated from the Body and translated unto glory Now if the spirits of just men seperated from their Bodies are made perfect they are not dead for death is the destruction of perfection the Body is never so imperfect as when it is dead a diseased Body is much more perfect then a dead Corpse so then if the Souls of the Saints were dead with their Bodies they should be so far from being made perfect that they should utterly lose those beginnings of perfection which they had while they were in the Body their graces would be extinguished and there would be a loss to them of that enjoyment of God and communion with him which they had here upon the Earth The second place of Scripture I shall produce against this Opinion of the Mortalists is in 2 Cor. 5.6 7 8. Therefore we are always confident knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord for we walk by faith not by sight we are confident I say and willing rather to be
grace we are shamefully foiled Love and affection to our own vain opinions is a great impediment to sound judgment it breeds prejudice against the truth making men resolute in defending their opinions if by any way of wresting the Scripture to their purpose it be possible But in Heaven the soundness of the Saints judgments shall be answerable to the acuteness of their apprehensions they shall be no longer accompanied with doubts and darkness as they learn without labour so they shall not fear forgetfulness drawing light and wisdom from the very fountain they shall know all things in their principles their Souls shall then be penetrated by the Spirit of God and their judgments clarified with the light of glory the Saints shall then be able not only to view the superficies or surface of things but also to dive into the bottom of them to comprehend the breadth and length the height and depth of them they shall then see that God is ever like himself and that all things in him do most exactly consent and agree together Sicut terra respectu coeli est insensibilis quantitatis sic honitas aliarum scientiarum respectu Scipturarum Durand Durandus saith of the knowledg of the Scriptures that the knowledg of all humane Sciences is no more to be compared to the knowledg of the Scriptures then the Earth to the Heavens for bigness the Earth is but a small insensible point in regard of the Heavens I am sure the knowledg of God which we have from the Scripture from the Creatures is no more to be compared to the knowledg of God which the blessed Saints and Angels in Heaven have it is nothing to be compared with it all Solomon's wisdom and knowledg is nothing It is said that God gave to Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much 1 Reg. 4.29 and largeness of heart even as the sand on the Sea-shore and this was to admiration in this state of mortality but I believe that he that is least in the Kingdom of Heaven shall far surpass Solomon in understanding and judgment If John Baptist according to our Saviour's testimony were greater then any of the Prophets because he saw Christ already come in the flesh whereas they only foresaw Christ to come and yet the least in the Kingdom of God that is in the Church of the New Testament be greater in this respect then John Baptist because they see into the Mystery of Christ not only as already come but as having actually performed the work of our redemption died overcome death risen from the dead ascended into Heaven given forth his Spirit and spread his Gospel over the World how far then shall the understandings of the Faithful in Heaven seeing Christ face to face excel the knowledg which all the Prophets Solomon John Baptist and all Believers under the New Testament had here upon the face of the Earth and as the perfection of these faculties so the excellency and perfection of the objects which they shall thus clearly apprehend and perfectly know shall wonderfully advance the blessedness of the Saints CHAP. XX. SECT I. A description of what things shall be seen in God by the Saints in Heaven HE that seeth a wise and mighty man although he seeth his out-side yet his in-side he seeth not viz. the beauty and perfections of his mind but in Heaven the Saints shall see the Divine beauty and excellency with the eye of the inner man they shall see the brightness of his glory and majesty they shall behold him not by a reflex as a man may see the image of the Sun in a Looking-glass but they shall as it were look upon him in a direct line 1. They shall with admiration behold him as the first eternal Being as the Ancient of days comprehending all the Centuries of years all the ages and generations all the hundreds and thousands of years all the changes and periods of times all of them making up but a moment and being no more then the twinckling of an eye to his eternity 2. They shall see him as he is in himself that he is glorious in himself in his being that he is infinitely glorious in all his Attributes that he is eternally glorious in all his works they shall see him to be such a God as he proclaimed himself to be that he is the Lord God the Lord God of Gods they shall know the immensity of his being the infiniteness of his greatness that he is infinite in grace infinite in mercy infinite in glory they shall then see the unlimitedness of his essence filling them with himself with his presence and fulness filling all things and with his infinite being enclosing all things that are 3. They shall clearly see him as an unchangeable God who hath wrought all the wonderful changes that have hapned in the Heavens in the Earth in the Seas yet that himself hath remained still immutable they shall look upon him as the first universal mover who setteth all things in motion in whom and by whom all things move himself remaining immovable 4. They shall not only be convinced of his Almighty power but shall see it clearly and manifestly discern his infinite strength it is one thing to read of the great strength of Sampson and to believe it as a certain truth it had been another thing and a matter of far greater satisfaction to have seen him smiting the Philistines hip and thigh with a great slaughter killing a thousand of God's Enemies with the Jaw-bone of an Ass carrying away the gates and posts of a City upon his shoulders pulling down with his hands the house wherein thousands of the Philistines were sitting so it is one thing to read and believe the Almighty power of God but another thing and a matter of greater satisfaction to the Soul to have a clear view of it to see God forming Heaven and Earth of nothing and changing times and seasons to see him raising some out of the dust and lifting them out of the dunghil and setting them with Princes and throwing down the mighty from their seats that were exalted to places of great eminency and dignity overturning Nations and Kingdoms and working great wonders These things though past it is conceived they shall be as clearly seen in God when we shall see him face to face as if they were but then in doing With great delight also shall they see his Almighty power that shall bring up all the Potentates of the Earth all men high and low rich and poor young and old before his tribunal in translating all his Children into everlasting glory and throwing the Wicked into everlasting burnings They shall also see God exercising his power in dissolving the frame of this visible World rolling the Heavens together as a scroll and folding them up as a garment melting the Elements with fervent heat and burning up the Earth with the works that are therein Moreover they shall see what God shall do for
us Gal. 6. that he that soweth to the Spirit shall reap life everlasting When the Husbandman soweth his seed in the Earth the seed dieth and is dissolved in the ground there it lies hid he sees no more seed till the harvest cometh but then he reapeth many Bushels for one so he that soweth to the spirit worketh in the strength of those graces shall reap life everlasting he shall have no use of those graces in the life to come but reap the fruit of it even life eternal when the Saints come to possess Heaven as a portion cast out by God's own lot for them from all eternity they shall for ever enjoy the fruit of their piety and the end of their Faith and Hope Oh how sweet shall the remembrance of their work of faith and labour of love and patience of Hope be to all eternity CHAP. XXVII Of the Adjuncts of the glory of Heaven HAving spoken of the Circumstances and substance of the glory of the Saints in Heaven in the next place I shall treat of the adjuncts thereof 1. The glorious state of the Sons of God is a state of liberty Rom. 8.21 I will shew in what respects it is a state of liberty I. A liberty from all subjection Natural Servile Magistratical in this state of liberty all yokes shall be broken to pieces Fathers shall no more exercise their paternal authority and Sons shall not be under their command men shall be no more servants to men the highest Potentates shall no more exercise authority over men as it is said of Marriage They shall neither marry nor be given in marriage so I may say of subjection they shall neither command nor obey in the resurrection 1 Cor. 15.24 He shall put down all rule and all authority and power Christ will put down all the authority which Fathers have over their Children which Masters have over their Servants which Princes have over their Subjects and Vassals all the authority which both the Enemies and Persecutors have over the Church then it shall have no more nursing Fathers and Mothers all Crowns and Scepters shall be cast down at the feet of Christ he will put them down the Greek word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 enervabit he will at the last day put them down not onely that they shall not prevail but that they shall be utterly abolished II. They shall be delivered even from that sweet and gracious subjection to Christ as King and Mediator Christ shall rule over his body not as Mediator but as God he himself will lay down the Crown of his Mediatorship and deliver up his whole government into the hands of God 1 Cor. 15.24 28. And when all things shall be subdued unto him then c. When Christ hath levelled all authority with the ground and shall have trodden down all his Enemies then he will rule no more as Mediator but give up the Kingdom to God the Father and God will be all in all he will immediately govern all his Saints III. A liberty from all spiritual Tyranny in divers respects 1. It is a liberty from the Tyranny of Sin Sin though it doth not rule in the Godly as a King yet as a Tyrant though the Saints do not and never will sell themselves to work evil yet while they are in this body they are sold under sin no slavery is more intollerable to a Holy man than this slavery to sin it is a Godly man's hell to be under the Tyrannical power of any lust Slavery to Pharaoh is liberty compared to slavery to pride to worldly-mindedness or to any lust whatsoever It was the doom of a Godly Martyr to have a dead man chained to him his eyes to the dead man's eyes his breast to the dead man's breast that he might perish by the stench of the dead Carcass Such is a Godly man's present condition to be tyed to the body of sin which is a very death to him in whom is the life of grace Now the state of glory will set all the Children of God at liberty from this thraldome sin will then be put off when glory is put on when the new man is perfectly renewed in respect of degrees and parts the old man which is corrupt according to deceitful lusts shall be perfectly destroyed in respect of presence and operation in the state of glory they will not be afraid of sinning such will their liberty be from sin they shall be as free from all sin as the Sun from the least shadow 2. It is a state of liberty from all tokens effects yea fears of the wrath and displeasure of God Now and then God writes bitter things against his people in this life and makes them his mark to shoot the arrows of his displeasure into their very Consciences What doleful complaints have the Godly made and still do make of God's dealings with them some of them live in Bondage to the fear of God's wrath all the dayes of their lives Now there is no liberty from the fears of God's displeasure in this life so long as there is the remnant of sins within them while we have a body of sin within us we shall have a miserable body now in the state of glory they shall enjoy a perfect liberty from wrath and all their chains of fears shall be knockt off the glorified shall no more fear wrath than the glorified shall hope for favour they shall no more dread Hell than the damned truly desire Heaven their perfect sense of God's love toward them and their perfect love of God will cast out all these fears the state of glory is a fearless estate as far above fear as Heaven above earth the mountain of glory cannot be removed with the greatest tempest of the fears of any evil 3. It is a state of freedom from all afflictions now afflictions are compared in Scripture to Bonds Fetters Chains Yokes and such Engines and Instruments of miserable bondage The evil of sin and afflictions are twins born together and shall cease and dye together when the Soul takes her flight to the mountain of glory she casteth off the mantle of suffering Glory and misery are as inconsistent together as the most contrarious extreams sooner shall East and West meet in one point noon and midnight in one moment than perfection and glory and the least affliction Lazarus is now as great a stranger to afflictions as Dives to pleasures 4. It is a freedom from all temptations and rage of Satan it is impossible for the Devil to tempt a man in glory When man was in a perfect state of grace he tempted him to sin but when man is in a perfect state of glory he cannot tempt him the Devils are cast out of Heaven never to appear there to tempt any who have made their entrance into it the Church hath a promise that Satan shall be bound up a thousand years but then he is bound to eternity the Devils are now in chains of
which then they shall enjoy they shall never be afraid of losing God Christ Heaven Happiness but shall be secured to all eternity which is the Crown of this glorious liberty of the Children of God It is a sore thraldome to be perplexed with fears of losing our enjoyments it imbittereth all our joyes it is death to a worldling to think he must die and leave all his riches honours friends delights much more will it be a very Hell to the afflicted if they should be afflicted with the fears of losing Heaven but no such fears or thoughts shall at any time during eternity perplex the hearts of the Godly it casteth out all such fears they shall see it is impossible for them to lose what they do possess Notable is that phrase Luk. 16.26 Between us and you there is a great gulf fixed that if the glorified would get out of Heaven they cannot come to the damned and the damned cannot come out of Hell to Heaven God hath fast bolted the gates of Heaven and Hell with an everlasting decree CHAP. XXVIII Of the eternity of the glory of Heaven II. THe second adjunct of this glory is the perpetuity of it it shall be everlasting this is abundantly witnessed in the Scriptures I give to them eternal life saith Christ and they shall never perish Joh. 10.28 He that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life Joh. 5.24 To them who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory honour and immortality eternal life Rom. 2.7 it is called eternal life eternal glory eternal salvation 2 Tim. 2.10 Hebr. 5.9 Hebr. 9.15 The Hebrews when they did speak of eternal life they would speak in the plural number 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vitae not vita lives not life implying eternity Quest Here it may be demanded how the blessedness of the Saints is made perpetual endless everlasting Adam was made perfect after the Image of God perfectly blessed perfectly holy and yet he fell both from holiness and happiness this blessed estate of his seemed to have been of very short continuance yea many of the Angels which were more excellent and glorious than man and had none to tempt them yet left their habitation and fell from this blessed estate how then cometh it to pass that the happiness of man shall be everlasting Resp For answer hereunto if I should say that they shall see God face to face and so shall be filled with God and so all occasions of sin and revolting from God shall be prevented and they shall be so abundantly satisfied in God and so invincibly strengthened and confirmed by God dwelling in them that nothing shall so far prevail over them as in the least degree to withdraw their affections from God I see not how this might suffice for doubtless the Angels that kept not their first estate did thus see and enjoy God yet they fell totally and finally Therefore the sole reason is the will of Almighty God his infinite goodness his eternal love toward them according to which he hath made a covenant of grace with them in his Son by his promise and oath assuring them of eternal life and this immutable will and love of God declared in the infallible truth of his gracious promise and covenant is a better and firmer assurance than the highest perfections and excellencies that any meer creature is capable of yea a child of God here on earth having the least measure of true grace mixt with many corruptions almost stifled with the body of death opposed discouraged discountenanced by a wicked and ungodly world assaulted by all the powers of darkness and with numberless temptations is in a safer condition for perseverance and is better assured to hold out to eternal life because of the verity of God's promise and the firmness of his covenant grounded upon the rock Christ-Jesus than one that were by creation perfectly upright and happy if his holiness and happiness were only in his own keeping and not established upon this everlasting foundation the will of God and the infallibility of his promise This being the cause we may also conceive divers holy ends for which as he doth preserve every child of his by his effectual working power unto salvation so having brought them thither he will for ever preserve them in his Heavenly Kingdom As I. That he may have some of the lost seed of Adam to be everlasting Monuments of his rich grace who to all eternity shall be real demonstrations of his infinite love and unspeakable mercy and goodness in redeeming justifying sanctifying cleansing and preserving them II. That he may be to eternity praised for his glorious victories over all his enemies that when the Devil and his Angels have used the utmost of their craft might and malice when the hands of the world have been hot and smoking with the blood of the Saints and their hearts sick with blasphemy and malice against Christ and his followers when sin hath thrown out its most deadly poyson or when death hath been devouring Man-kind so many ages yet shall the Almighty power of God be so prevalent over all as to make and everlastingly to keep his elect in a blessed state and he in them and they with him shall celebrate an eternal and most glorious triumph in the Kingdom of Heaven III. That Jesus Christ may be eternally honoured as a Redeemer God the Father will have the fruit of his Son's purchase to be perpetual and everlasting he will magnifie the infinite value of that price which Christ hath paid the infinite vertue of that blood which Christ shed for the redemption of lost souls by establishing his ransomed ones in everlasting happiness therefore it is said He shall come to be glorified in his Saints and admired in all them that do believe 2 Thes 1.10 Christ is now very admirable and glorious in the hearts of his redeemed ones who are illightened with saving knowledge who have an experimental taste in themselves of the efficacy of his blood and the fruit of that redemption which he hath wrought But oh how admirable and glorious shall he then appear when they shall enjoy the fulness of his redemption in an unchangeable state of blessedness for evermore IV. That he may have everlasting objects of his love to whom he may communicate his goodness sweetness fulness whom he may enrich with the treasures of his Kingdom feast with his love beautifie with his salvation and adorn with the brightness of his glory for ever and this is that wherein the infinite goodness of God delighteth even to give forth and to communicate it self such is his blessedness and perfection that it is beyond all possibility of addition he can receive nothing from any but delighteth to give and communicate and as he is an everlasting fountain of blessedness so he will have everlasting vessels of honour into whom fulness of blessedness may stream and
sure of his bargain and God never takes this earnest back again because it is so the earnest of our inheritance Praesentia quae jâ—m assecutus es de futuris tibi fidem faciunt Chrys in Rom. Homil. 9. until the redemption of the purchased possession as that it is an earnest also that in the mean time God establisheth us in Christ and that he hath created us even for this very thing namely to cloath us with immortality and eternal life Moreover God in giving earnest to assure the end unto us doth thereby undertake against all lets and impediments that should hinder the atchieving of that which is earnested thereby and therefore as Chrysostom saith the things present which thou hast already attained do assure unto thee those things which are yet to come But of this I have spoken before Chap. 4. And as in respect of their present estate so in respect of their future hope as well as their present earnest Futura sperant quicunque sperant August their hope of salvation confirmeth their certainty of it Rom. 8.24 Ye are saved by hope saith the Apostle though hope be properly of future things yet he speaks of salvation as of a thing present Indeed it is not with this hope as with worldly hope worldly hope doth many times fail a man but this doth never therefore it is called an anchor Hebr. 6.19 which hope we have saith the Apostle as an anchor of the soul sure and stedfast Non dixit fundamentum sed anchoram he did not say a foundation but an anchor saith Chrysostom foundations are many times so firm as that they are without any shaking or tottering at all but it is not with a Ship lying at anchor as with an house built upon a foundation a Ship when it lyeth at anchor in the Sea movetur non movetur it is moved and not moved it is moved as the winds stir it but not moved from the place where the anchor holds it Thus it is with the Christian that lies floating in the Sea of this world and yet hath cast anchor in Heaven movetur non movetur he may be both moved and not moved for he stands not like a foundation that cannot be moved the streams of temptation and trouble will agitate and toss him O thou afflicted and tossed with tempests Isa 54.11 yet not moved that he cometh in danger of being utterly overwhelmed for hope is an anchor sure and stedfast that fixeth and setleth him Where there is stedfastness of hope there is assuredness of salvation and that hope may be the anchor of the Soul saith must go before to sound the ground or hope cannot do its office for what more absurd than that hope should have any certainty at all without faith any more than an anchor should have any stay without ground to fasten upon this hope as Hilary noteth is not a presuming of things uncertain but an expectation of things known to us for that cause it is that S. Paul saith Hope maketh not ashamed They that hope saith Theodoret and are deceived of their hope do blush and are ashamed thereof now saith S. August we are certain of our hope for our hope is not uncertain that we should doubt thereof yea we are so certain thereof that S. Paul saith We rejoyce under the hope of the glory of God Rom. 5.2 which confidence and rejoycing of hope groweth from that which the Holy Ghost termeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 full assurance of faith that which the Saints hope for it cannot but come to pass the Spirit of God would never work this undoubted perswasion in their hearts if he did not intend their eternal good the promises of God are sure grounds to cast the anchor of our hope upon they are the pillars of hope David saith often in Psal 119. that he hoped in God's Word CHAP. XXX Sheweth that no afflictions or sufferings shall rob the Saints of their crown of glory Vse 2. HEnce we may be informed that no afflictions shall deprive the Saints of their crown of glory no temptations no trials that we suffer here shall be able to deprive us or to dis-inherit us of the Kingdom of Heaven what though through the malice of Satan the injustice and cruelty of our adversaries we may be put to endure much to suffer much yet when they have all done they shall not shut up Heaven against us we shall have our reward there for all that there we shall receive the crown of glory there are two reasons why they cannot deprive us of that crown 1. That which cannot animam laedere cannot caelo privare that which cannot hurt the soul cannot deprive him of Heaven I have Heaven sure as long as I have my soul safe but no afflictions can do that they cannot prejudice or hurt the soul not endanger the safety of it nor come neer the life of it all the hurt they can do is but to the body onely so far they can reach and no farther Our Saviour gives us that comfort Luk. 12.4 Be not afraid of them saith he that can kill the body and when they have done so there is no more that they can do indeed that 's a comfort worth a thinking on that whosoever our Enemies be or whatever our afflictions be they can onely reach to the hurting of the body but there 's no more that they can do it is a strange barbarousness of nature that some Tyrants will shew when they have killed and Martyred the poor Saints of God as if that were too little to satisfie their rage and that the fire of it could not be sufficiently quenched with their blood they 'l take pleasure to exercise fury upon their dead bodies mangle them hew them and tread them under their feet yea sometimes take them out of their graves when they have been buried as in the time of Queen Mary those merciless Popish persecutors of the Protestant Religion did by Martin Bucer and Paul Fagius when they had long lain sleeping in their graves Alas it onely shewed the barbarous fury of the bloody Papists it did no harm at all to the innocent bodies of the dead Saints when the body is once dead there is no more to be done as our Saviour saith The Heathen themselves apprehended this and cast it out as a Shield of defiance to all their Persecutors and Tormentors as Laertius writeth of Anaxarchus when he was condemned to be pounded to death in a Morter with Pestles of Iron 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lâ—ert lib. 1. ca. 10. he returned the Tyrant this answer Do it saith he pound and break in pieces this case and vessel that holdeth Anaxarchus meaning his body but Anaxarchus thou shalt not touch he knew his soul was out of the Tyrants reach Afflictions and tortures hurt not the soul then 't is only sin hurts that let not sin destroy it nothing shall destroy it and if sufferings and
of evils you can suffer for Christ yet what comparison is there between this death and that life which you shall live in Heaven Had you as many lives as hairs on your heads as a Martyr wished he had had you millions of lives to lose for Christ yet the loss of all these are not worthy to be compared to the life which suffering Christians shall live in Heaven put all together and you shall see there is no comparison between your present sufferings and your future enjoyments of good See what Christ saith Mark 10.29 30. There is no man that hath left House or Brethren or Sisters or Father or Mother or Wife or Children or Lands for my sake and the Gospels but he shall receive an hundred-fold now in this time c. There is no comparison between your present losses and present gains your present sufferings and present reward your present reward is an hundred-fold more then all you can lose the grace of God is present the savour of God is present the right to Heaven which Believers have for the present is far above all their present sufferings Now if the reward which suffering Christians have in this life be an hundred-fold better then their sufferings then doubtless their glory in Heaven shall be a thousand-fold more transcendent SECT II. II. THere is no proportion or comparison if you respect the properties of our present sufferings and our future glory 1. There is no comparison between earthly and heavenly things your present sufferings are earthly the goods of which you are spoiled are earthly your liberty your houses your lives your joys your ease are earthly things but your glory is heavenly every part every degree of your future glory is heavenly 2. There is no proportion between that which is transient passing away and cannot endure and that which is permanent enduring your present sufferings are transient they pass away they endure not Athanasius said of persecution Nubecula est quae cito transiret There is nothing more transient and swift then time your sufferings pass away together with time they cannot endure always all you which are the subject of them shall not endure always now your glory is permanent it shall abide and endure when time shall be no more 3. There is no proportion or comparison between a moment and eternity a moment a minute and for ever and ever your present sufferings are but for a moment a short space of time your glory is eternal for ever and for ever your pain and torment is but for a moment your ease and rest is for ever and ever your suffering imprisonment is but for a moment your glorious liberty is eternal you suffer death but for a moment your life is eternal what comparison is there between the twinkling of an eye and eternity You say you have suffered long as Asaph you are plagued every morning you have been in bitterness all your days ever since you began to look after Heaven you have been afflicted from your youth up to your age even to the day of your death Grant all this to be true yet thy whole life is but a moment compared to eternity the sufferings of a thousand years is but a moment to eternity yea millions of years are but a moment compared to eternity nor will they pass for so much if we did but consider what eternity is 4. There is no comparison between light things and heavy between a feather and a rock between chaff and a mountain of lead your present afflictions are light your future glory is ponderous and weighty 2 Cor. 4.17 observe what a most elegant opposition the Apostle makes he opposeth glory to afflictions he opposeth eternal to momentany he opposeth weight to light and he addeth a most transcendent expression 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we translate it A far more exceeding weight of glory Some by adding some other words do give this sense Our afflictions are out of measure moment any our glory is out of measure eternal our afflictions are out of measure light our glory is out of measure weighty Whatsoever your afflictions are and how grievous soever they are in themselves and how long soever yet they are but light being compared with the glory of Heaven and with the weight of it If you look only on your sufferings and judge of them according to your sense so they are not light but judge of them as opposed to future glory and so they are out of measure nothing 5. Afflictions do not seize on us at all times Christians have their lucida intervalla their moments of ease as well as their moments of trouble their present times of rejoycing as well as their present times and Now 's of sorrowing they even they have their times to sing and dance as their times to weep and mourn Paul had his raptures as well as his pressures David had his time to play on the Harp as times to hang it up and there is no Christian that is afflicted at all times they have their sad Eclipses but now and then but now their glory shall be at all and every moment during eternity they shall have perpetual glory without one moment of shame perpetual joy without one moment of sorrow God will wipe away all tears from their eyes they shall continually sing for superabundant joy of Soul and Body their eyes shall ever see God they shall not see sorrow any more they shall be as the Angels of God who never felt sorrow since their Creation they shall be as very strangers to sorrow as the Damned shall be to joy this present time shall be no more then the afflictions of this present time shall be no more That was an arrogant and false self-deceiving speech of Babilon Lo I sit as a Queen and shall see no more sorrow The godly when taken up into glory shall say it truly now we sit as Kings and shall not see any sorrow no not for a moment whilst eternity lasteth Eternity is nothing else but a perpetual moment of unspeakable and glorious joy and happiness 6. There is no proportion because afflictions are justly due are ye hated of all men ye deserve it and more ye deserve to be hated of God of his Angels for ever Are ye cast by men into Prison into Dungeons ye deserve it and more even to be cast into Hell fire are ye banished from your Countrey friends and acquaintance you deserve that and more ye deserve to be banished from Heaven from your God from your Saviour to Eternity Are ye spoiled of your goods ye deserve it and more even to be spoiled of eternal mercies of eternal Salvation Are your bodies condemned to be burnt or to be cast to Lyons and wild Beasts to tear them to pieces you deserve this and more even to have both body and Soul condemned to Hell fire to be cast to Devils to be devoured ye that sin daily deserve to suffer daily ye that
have sin in you you do deserve that all plagues miseries curses deaths should make a prey on your Souls and bodies but glory is altogether undue the meer and free gift of God in Christ your Title to it is of meer grace so shall be your Possession of it meer grace you were Elected to glory Redeemed to glory Called to glory engrafted into Christ by faith and so become heirs of glory before you suffered any thing for Christ True it is God hath made our sufferings a condition of the Promise of glory it is of his own meer pleasure to ordain our sufferings to be the condition of glory I may say of this condition as Naaman's servant said to him murmuring at the Prophet bidding him go wash in Jordan and be clean My Lord if the Prophet had bid thee do a greater thing wouldest thou not have done it how much more seeing he saith wash and be clean so had God required of us harder conditions Go suffer Hell torments for Millions of years and afterward you shall be glorified should not we do it but now when he requireth and commandeth us to suffer afflictions but for this present time but for a moment but for a short life in the World shall not we couragiously and cheerfully suffer with Christ for this present time 7. There is no comparison between afflictions and future glory if we consider the subject of both the subject of afflictions is either our bodies or our estates liberties only outward things not the Soul Caesar himself hath no power over that said the Martyr to his Persecutors So saith our Saviour Fear not them that can kill the Body they can when God permits kill thy Body imprison thy Body spoil thee of thy goods expose thy Body to hunger cold nakedness and such like outward evils but as for thy Soul the wrath the malice of men cannot reach it But now the subject of glory is both Soul and Body unspeakable glory shall be revealed in your Souls and in your Bodies God kills the Souls and Bodies of the Wicked and he will save the Souls and Bodies of his People God will fill the Souls of Believers with knowledg pureness and joy and their Bodies with immortality and incorruptibility and Sun-like splendour so that they suffer but in part but shall be glorified in the whole they suffer but in these vile Bodies which are by nature mortal and because of sin subject to misery but both Soul and Body must partake in glory 8. There is no comparison between them if we regard the measure and degrees of our sufferings and the degrees and measure of future glory no Christian suffereth in the highest degree God is pleased to mitigate their sufferings and to restrain the rage of their Enemies that they cannot they shall not act according to their wills he that suffereth most may suffer more but future glory shall be in the highest degree to the utmost as far as our natures are capable The measure of our sufferings is not full pressed down and running over but the measure of glory shall be full pressed down and running over therefore the Apostle in the same fore-cited place 2 Cor. 4.17 saith that our glory shall be far more exceeding weighty Observe the gradation 1. It shall be weighty when as afflictions in the highest degree are but light 2. Glory shall be exceeding weighty beyond the weight of our afflictions 3. As if this were too little he addeth shall be more exceeding weighty 4. As if this were too little he addeth the word far shall be far more exceeding weighty The Apostle useth these words because he could not express the ultimate degrees of that glory which shall be revealed in suffering Christians the future happiness of Believers passeth all utterance and understanding 9. There is no comparison if we consider how that we suffer but some one or some few evils but in Heaven we shall receive all kinds of goods all kinds and degrees God gives out sufferings by parcels but glory in the gross or lump some he permits to be tortured others to be mocked others to be imprisoned Heb 11.35 36 37 38. others to be stoned some to be sawn in sunder others to wander hither and thither to be destitute of necessaries some suffer one kind of evil others another one doth not suffer all but now their future glory is made up of all that goodness which God in his wisdom knows conducible to make them eternally blessed Oh how great is that goodness which thou hast laid up for them that love thee cries David Psal 31.19 He gives them drops of sorrow seas of joy and comfort he gives them sparks of torment and gives them a Sun full of glory what goodness is in Heaven is for their happiness God placed in Paradise trees of all sorts for Adam's delight Heaven is God's own Paradise there is nothing wanting there for delight and blessedness In a word God himself will be their glory he will be all in all to them his own joy his own glory his own comfort and goodness shall be theirs they shall then need nothing 10. Consider this one thing and you will see there is no comparison between them the afflictions of this present time are common to wicked and godly they suffer the same evils from men but for different causes the wicked suffer as evil doers the godly suffer for doing well The community of afflictions St. Paul brings as an argument to perswade Christians to bear the burthen patiently 1 Cor. 10.13 There is no temptation hath taken you but such as is common to man Look over your afflictions under which you groan and you shall see other men under the same burthen with you But now this future glory is a Believers peculiar portion wicked men may drink of the cup of their sufferings but shall not have one drop of their joys they may endure cruel mockings but shall never share with them in honour that glory is peculiar to the Saints reserved only for Believers makes it the more invaluable Put case the light of the Sun were but for some men and all the rest lived and walked in darkness we should judge the state of such men incomparably comfortable above others the glory of Heaven is peculiar to Believers the darkness of affliction is common to Unbelievers with them in this respect there is no comparison CHAP. XI Vse THis may inform us what cause Christians have to rejoyce according to the Apostle's exhortation when they suffer and fall into affliction after affliction James 1.2 My Brethren count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations Do not only count it joy but count it all joy joy in nothing more then in this joy only in this when ye fall into temptations that is afflictions A strange exhortation to a carnal heart what is it all joy to be mocked reviled persecuted hated imprisoned tortured to have our Bodies bound at stakes should