Debt-book is crossed in his blood Quest. How is Death ours Answ. Two wayes 1. It is the Out-let to Sin 2. It is the In-let to happiness 1. Death to a Beleever is an Out-let to Sin we are in this life under a sinful necessity even the best Saint There is not a just man upon earth that doth good and sinneth not Evill thoughts are continually arising out of our hearts as sparks out of a Furnace Sin keeps house with us whether we will or no the best Saint alive is troubled with In-mates though he forsakes his sinnes yet his sinnes will not forsake him 1. Sin doth indispose to good How to performe that which is good I finde not Rom. 7. ver 18. When we would pray the heart is as a Voyal out of tune When we would weepe we are as clouds without rain 2. Sin doth irritate to evil The Flesh lusts against the Spirit There needs no winde of Tentation we have Tide strong enough in our hearts to carry us to Hell Consider sinne under this threefold notion 1. Sin is a body of death and that not impertinently First It is a body for its weight The body is an heavy and weighty substance so is Sin a body it weighs us down When we should pray the weights of Sin are tied to our feet that we cannot ascend Anselm seeing a little Boy playing with a Bird he let her flie up and presently pulls the Bird down againe by a string So saith he it is with me as with this Bird when I would flie up to heaven upon the wings of meditation I finde a string tied to my leg I am over-powered with corruption but Death pulls off these weights of sin and le ts the Soul free Secondly Sin is a body of death for its annoyance It was a cruel torment that one used he tied a dead man to a living that the dead man might annoy and infest the living Thus it is with a childe of God he hath two men within him Flesh and Spirit Grace and Corruption here is the dead man tied to the living a proud sinful heart is worse to a childe of God then the smell of a dead Corps Indeed to a natural man sinne is not offensive for being dead in sinne he is not sensible of the body of death but where there is a vitall principle there is no greater annoyance then the body of Death Insomuch that the pious soule oft cries out as David Wo is me that I dwell in Mesek and sojourn in the tents of Kedar So saith he Wo is me that I am constrained to abide with sin How long shall I be troubled with inmates How long shall I offend that God whom I love When shall I leave these Tents of Kedar 2. Sinne is a Tyrant it carries in it the nature of a Law the Apostle calls it the law in his members There is the law of Pride the law of Unbelief it hath a kinde of jurisdiction as Caesar over the Senate perpetuam dictaturam What I hate that do I The Apostle was like a man carried down the streame and was not able to beare up against it Sinne takes us prisoners whence are our carnal fears whence our passions whence is it that a childe of God doth that which he allows not yea against knowledge only this he is for a time Sinnes Prisoner The Flesh oft prevailes though in coole blood the elder shall serve the younger whence is it that he who is borne of God should be so earthly The reason is he is captived under sin but be of good chear where grace makes a Combate death shall make a Conquest 3. Sin is a leprous spot It makes every thing we touch uncleane We reade when the Leprosie did spread in the walls of the house the Priests commanded them to take away the stones in the wall in which the Plague was and take other stones and put in the place of those stones and take other morter Levit. 14.42 But when the Plague spread againe in the wall then he must break downe the house with the stones and timber thereof Vers. 45. Thus in every man naturally there is a fretting leprosie of sinne pride impenitency c. These are leprous spots now in conversion here God doth as it were take away the old stones and timber and put new in the roome he makes a change in the heart of a sinner but still the leprousie of sinne spreads then at last death comes and pulls down the stones and timber of the house and the soule is quite freed from the leprousie Sinne is a defiling thing it makes us red with guilt and black with filth 'T is compared to a menstruous cloath we need carry it no higher Pliny tells us that the Trees with touching of it would become barren and Hierom saith Nihil in lege menstruato immundius there was nothing in the Law more uncleane then the menstruous cloath this is sinne Sinne drawes the Devils picture in a man malice is the Devils eye oppression is his hand hypocrisie is his cloven foot but behold death will give us our discharge death is the last and best Physician which cures all diseases the aking head and the unbelieving heart Peccatum erat obstetrix mortis mors erit sepulchrum peccati Sinne was the Mid-wife that brought Death into the World and Death shall be the Grave to bury Sinne O the Priviledge of a Beleever he is not taken away in his sinnes but he is taken away from his sinnes The Persians had a certaine day in the yeare which they called vitiorum interitum wherein they used to kill all Serpents and venemous creatures Such a day as that will the day of death be to a man in Christ. This day the old Serpent dies in a Beleever that hath so often stung him with his temptations this day the sinnes of the godly these venemous creatures shall all be destroyed they shall never be proud more they shall never grieve the Spirit of God more the Death of the body shall quite destroy the Body of death 2. Death to a Believer is an Inlet to happinesse Sampson found an honey-combe in the Lions carcase so may a childe of God suck much sweetnesse from death Death is the gate of life death pulls off our rags and gives us change of rayment all the hurt it doth us is to put us into a better condition Death is called in Scripture a sleepe 1 Thes. 4.14 Those that sleepe in Iesus as after sleep the spirits are exhilarated and refreshed so after Death the times of refreshing come from the presence of the Lord. Death is yours Death opens the portal into Heaven as Tertullian speakes The day of a Christian's death is the birth-day of his heavenly life it is his Ascension-day to glory it is his Marriage-day with Jesus Christ. After our Funerall begins our Marriage Well then
nor Barzillai of his lamenesse There are five Properties of the glorified bodies 1. They shall be agil and nimble the bodies of the Saints on earth are heavy in their motion and subject to wearinesse but in Heaven there shal be no elementary gravity hindering but our bodies being refined shall be swift and facile in their motion and made fit to ascend as the body of Elias In this life the body is a great hindrance to the soule in its operation The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak The soul may bring its action against the body when the soul would flie up to Christ the body as a leaden lump keeps it down 't is vivum sepulchrum but there is a time coming when it shall be otherwise the bodies of the Saints shall be agil and lively they shall be made fully subject to the soul and so no way impede or hinder the soul in its motion 2. The bodies of the Saints shall be transparent full of clarity and brightnesse as Christs body when it was transfigured Matth. 17.2 our bodies shall have a divine lustre put upon them here they are as iron when it is rusty there they shall be as iron when it is filed and made bright they shall shine tanquam Sol in fulgore saith Augustine as the Sun in its splendour nay seven times brighter saith Chrysostome here our bodies are as the gold in the oar drossy and impure in heaven they shall be as gold when it spangles and glisters so cleare shall they be that the soule may sally out at every part and sparkle through the body as the wine through the glasse 3. They shall be amiable beauty consists in two things 1. Symmetry and proportion when all the parts are drawn out in their exact lineaments 2. Complexion when there is a mixture and variety in the colours white and sanguine thus the bodies of the Saints shall have a transcendency of beauty put upon them Here the body is call'd a vile body Vile ortu in its birth and production de limo terrae of the dust of the earth The earth is the most ignoble element And vile officio in the use that it is put to the soul oft useth the body as a weapon to fight against God but this vile body shall be ennobled and beautified with glory it shall be made like Christs body How beautiful was Christs body upon earth in it there was the Purple and the Lily it was a mirrour beauty For all deformities of body issue immediately from sinne but Christ being conceived by the holy Ghost and so refined and clarified from all lees and dregs of sin he must needs have a beautiful body and in this sence he was fairer then the children of men Christs body as some Writers aver was so fair by reason of the beauty and grace which did shine in it that no limner could ever draw it exactly and if it was so glorious a body on earth how great is the lustre of it now in heaven That light which shone upon Saint Paul surpassing the glory of the sunne was no other then the beauty of Christs body in heaven O then what beauty and replendency will be put upon the bodies of the Saints they shall be made like Christs glorious body 4. The bodies of the Saints shall be impassible free from suffering We read that Iob's body was smitten with biles and Paul did beare in his body the marks of the Lord Iesus but ere long our bodies shall be impassible not but that the body when it is glorified shall have such a passion as is delightful for the body is capable of joy but no passion that is hurtful as cold or famine it shall not be capable of any noxious impression 5. They shall be immortall here our bodies are still dying quotidiè en im dempta est aliqua pars vitae cúm crescit vita tum decrescit It is improper to ask when we shall die but rather when we shall make an end of dying first the infancy dies then the childhood then youth then old age and then we make an end of dying it is not only the running out of the last sand in the glass that spends it but all the sands that run out before Death is a worm that is ever feeding at the root of our gourds but in Heaven our mortal shall put on immortality As it was with Adam in innocency if he had not sinned such was the excellent temperature and harmony in all the qualities of his body that it is probable he had not died but had been translated from Paradise to Heaven Indeed Bellarmine saith that Adam had died though he had not sinned but I know no ground for that assertion for sinne is made the formal cause of death however there 's no such thing disputable in Heaven the bodies there are immortal Luke 20.36 Neither can they die any more If God made Manna which is in it selfe corruptible to last many hundred years in the golden pot much more is he able by a divine power so to consolidate the bodies of the Saints that they shall be preserved to eternity Rev. 21.4 And there shall be no more death our bodies shall run parallel with eternity CHAP. XIV The Ninth Prerogative Royal. THE next Priviledge is we shall be as the Angels in Heaven Matth. 22.30 Christ doth not say we shall be Angels but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Angels Qu. How is that R. Not only that we shall not die but in regard of our manner of worship The Angels fulfill the will of God 1. Swiftly 2. Perfectly 3. Chearfully 1. Swiftly When God sends the Angels upon a Commission they do not hesitate or dispute the case with God but presently obey The Angels are set out by the Cherubims which had wings this was not to represent their Persons for spirits have no wings but their Office to shew how swift they are in their obedience it is as if they had wings Dan. 9.21 The man Gabriel this was an Angel was caused to flie swiftly as soone as ever God speaks the word the Angels are ambitious to obey now in Heaven we shall be as the Angels This is a singular comfort to a weak Christian alas we are not as the Angels in this life when God commands us upon service to mourne for sinne to take up the Crosse O what a dispute is there how long is it sometimes ere we can get leave of our hearts to go to prayer Jesus Christ went more willingly to suffer then we do often to pray how hardly do we come off in duty God had as good almost be without it Oh but if this be our grief be of good comfort in Heaven we shall serve God swiftly we shall be winged in our obedience we shall be even as the Angels 2. The Angels serve God perfectly they fulfill God's whole will they leave nothing undone
might Solomon say Better is the day of a mans death then the day of his birth Death is the spiritual man's preferment why then should he fear it Death I confesse hath a grimme visage to an impenitent sinner so it is ghastly to look upon it is a pursuivant to carry him to hell but to such as are in Christ Death is yours It is a part of the Joincture Death is like the Pillar of cloud it hath a dark-side to a sinner but it hath a light-side to a believer Deaths pale face looks ruddy when the blood of sprinkling is upon it in short Faith gives us a propriety in Heaven Death gives us a possession Feare not your priviledge the thoughts of death should be delightfull Iacob when he saw the Chariots his spirits revived Death is a Waggon or Chariot to carry us to our Fathers house What were the Martyrs flames but a fiery Chariot to carry them up to Heaven How should we long for Death This world is but a Desart we live in Shall we not be willing to leave it for Paradise We say It is good to be here we affect an earthly eternity but grace must curb nature Think of the priviledges of Death The Planets have a proper motion and a violent by their proper motion they are carried from the West to the East but by a violent motion they are over-ruled by the Primum Mobile and are carried from the East to the West So though naturally we desire to live here as we are made up of flesh yet grace should be as the primum mobile or master-wheele that swayes our will and carries us in a violent motion making us long for death Saint Paul desired to be dissolved and 2 Corinth 5.2 In this we groane earnestly desiring to be cloathed upon with our house which is from heaven we would put off the earthly cloathes of our body and put on the bright robe of immortality we groane 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 'T is a Metaphor taken from a mother who being pregnant groanes and cries out for delivery Austine longed to die that he might see that head which was once crowned with thornes We pray Thy Kingdome come and when God is leading us into his Kingdome shall we be afraid to go The times we live in should me thinks make us long for death we live in dying times we may heare as it were Gods passing Bell ringing over these Nations Foelix Nepotianus qui haec non videt as Hierome said in his time Nepotian is an happy man that doth not see the evils which befall us they are wel that are out of the storm and are gotten already to the haven To me to die is gaine Quest. But who shall have this priviledge Answ. death is certaine but there are only two sorts of Persons to whom we may say Death is yours 'T is your preferment 1. Such as die daily We are not borne Angels die we must Therefore we had need carry alwayes a deaths-head about us The Basilisk if it see a man first it kills him but if he see it first it doth him no hurt The Basilisk death if it sees us first before we see it 't is dangerous but if we see it first by meditating upon it it doth us no hurt study death often walke among the Tombs It is the thoughts of death before-hand that must do us good In a dark night one Torch carried before a man is worth many Torches carried after him one serious thought of death before-hand one teare shed for sinne before death is worth a thousand shed after when it is too late 'T is good to make Death our familiar and in this sense to be in Deaths oft that if God should presently seal a lease of ejectment if he should send us a Letter of Summons this night to surrender we might have nothing to do but to die Alas how do we adjourne the thoughts of death 'T is almost death to think of it There are some that are in the very threshold of the grave who have one legge in the earth and another legge in hell yet put farre from them the evil day I have read of our Lysicrates who in his old age dyed his gray hairs black that he might seeme young againe When we should be building our Tombes we are building our Tabernacles die daily lest you die eternally The holy Patriarchs in purchasing for themselves a burying place shewed us what thoughts they still had of Death Ioseph of Arimathea erected his Sepulchre in his Garden we have many that set up the Trophies of their victories others that set up their Scutchions that they may blaze their honour but how few that set up their Sepulchres who erect in their hearts the serious thoughts of death Oh remember when you are in your gardens in places most delicious and fragrant to keep a place for your Tomb-stone die daily There is no better way to bring sinne into a Consumption then by oft looking on the pale horse and him that sits thereon By thinking on death we begin to repent of an evil life and so we disarme death before it comes and cut the lock where its strength lies 2. Such as are in Heaven before they die death is yours If we will needs be high-minded let it be in setting our minde upon heavenly things Heaven must come down into us before we go up thither A childe of God breaths his faith in Heaven his thoughts are there When I awake I am still with thee Psal. 139.17 David awaked in Heaven his conversation is there Philip. 3.20 For our conversation is in Heaven The Believer often ascends Mount Tabor and takes a prospect of glory O that we had this celestial frame of heart When Zacheus was in the croud he was too low to see Christ therefore he climbed up into the Sycomore-Tree When we are in a croud of worldly businesse we cannot see Christ Climb up into the tree by divine contemplation If thou wouldest get Christ into thy heart let Heaven be in thy eye Set your affections upon things above Colos. 3.2 There needs no exhortation to set our hearts upon things below How is the curse of the Serpent upon most men Upon thy belly shalt thou go and dust shalt thou eat all the dayes of thy life Those that feed onely upon dust Golden dust will be unwilling to returne to dust Death will be terrible The tribes of Reuben and Gad desired Moses that they might stay on this side Iordan and have their portion there it being a place convenient for their Cattel It seems they minded their Cattel more then their passage into the holy Land so many Christians if they may have but a little grazing here in the world in their Shops and in their Farms they art content to live on this side the River and minde not their passage into the Land of Promise you that are in heaven
Mal. 3.17 The world is the shrine or Cabinet where God locks up these jewels for a time The world is yours it was made for you The creation is but a theatre to act the great work of Redemption upon The world is the field the Saints are the corn the ordinances are the showers the mercies of God are the Sunshine that ripens this corn death is the sickle that cuts it down the Angels are the harvesters that carry it into the barn The world is yours God would never have made this field were it not for the corn growing in it What use then is there of the wicked They are as an hedge to keep the corn from forrain invasions though oft-times they are a thorn-hedge Quest. But alas a childe of God hath oft the least share in the world how then is the world his Answ. If thou art a believer that little thou hast though it be but an handfull of the world it is blest to thee If there be any consecrated ground in the world that is a believers The world is yours Esau had the venison but Iacob got the blessing a little blest is sweet A little of the world with a great deal of peace is better then the revenues of unrighteousnesse Every mercy a childe of God hath swims to him in Christs blood and this sauce makes it relish the sweeter Whatever he tastes is seasoned with Gods love he hath not only the mercy but the blessing So that the World is a Believers An Unbeliever that hath the World at will yet the World is not his he doth not taste the quintessence of it Thornes and thistles doth the ground bring forth to him He feeds upon the fruit of the curse I will curse your blessings he eats with bitter herbs So that properly the World is a Believers He only hath a Scripture-tenure and that little he hath turnes to creame Every mercy is a present sent him from heaven 2. All things that fall out in the World are for your good 1. The want of the World all is for your good 2. The hatred of the World all is for your good 1. The want of the World is for your good By wanting the honours and revenues of the World you want the temptations that others have Physicians observe that men die sooner by the abundance of blood then the scarcity 't is hard to say which kills most the sword or surfet A glutton with his teeth digs his own grave The world is a silken net the prosperity of fools shall destroy them Him whom I shall kisse saith Judas take him so whom the world kisseth it often betrayes The want of the world is a mercy 2. The Hatred of the world is for your good Wicked men are instruments in Gods hand for good albeit they mean not so they are flails to thresh off our husks files to brighten our graces leeches to suck out the noxious blood Out of the most poisonful drug God distils his glory and our salvation A childe of God is beholding even to his enemies The ploughers ploughed upon my back if they did not plough and harrow us we should bear but a very thin crop After a man hath planted a tree he prunes and dresseth it Persecutors are Gods pruning-hook to cut off the excrescencies of sin and evermore the bleeding vine is most fruitful the envy and malice of the wicked shall do us good God stirred up the people of Egypt to hate the Israelites and that was a meanes to usher in their deliverance The frownes of the wicked make us the more ambitious of Gods smile their incensed rage as it shall carry on Gods decree for while they sit backward to his command they shall row forward to his decree so it shall have a subserviency to our good Every crosse winde of providence shal blow a believer neerer to the port of glory What a blessed condition is a child of God in kill him or save him alive it is all one The opposition of the world is for his good The world is yours §. 3. Shewing That life is a believers 3. The next thing is Life is yours Hierome understands it of the life of Christ. It is true Christs life is ours the life which he lived on earth and the life which he now lives in heaven his satisfaction and his intercession both are ours and they are of unspeakable comfort to us But I conceive by life in the text is meant Natural life that which is contradistinguished to death So Ambrose But how is life a Beleevers Two wayes 1. The priviledge of life is his 2 The comfort of life is his 1. The priviledge of life is a believers that is life to a childe of God is an advantage for heaven this life is given him to make provision for a better life Life is the porch of Eternity here the Believer dresseth himself that he may be fit to enter in with the Bridegroome We cannot say of a wicked man unlesse catachrestically that life is his Though he lives yet life is not his he is dead while he lives He doth not improve the life of nature to get the life of grace he is like a man that takes the lease of a farm and makes no benefit of it Diu fuit in mundo non vixit he hath been so long in the world as Seneca speaks but he hath not lived He was borne in the Reigne of such a King his father left him such an estate he was of such an age and then he died there 's an end of him his life was not worth a prayer nor his death worth a tear But life is yours 't is a priviledge to a Believer while he hath natural life he layes hold upon eternal life how doth he work out his salvation what a do is there to get his evidences sealed what weeping what wrastling how doth he even take heaven by storme So that life is yours It is to a childe of God a season of grace the seed-time for eternity the longer he lives the riper he grows for heaven The life of a believer spends as a lamp he doth good to himselfe and others the life of a sinner runs out as the sand it doth little good The life of the one is as a figure ingraven in marble the life of the other as letters written in dust 2. The â—â—â—fort of life is a beleevers rejoycingâ—ake â—ake a childe of God at the 〈◊〉 disadvantage let his life be â—ver-cast with clouds yet if there be any comfort in life the believer hath it Our life is oft imbecill and weake but the spiritual life doth administer comfort to the natural Homo componitur ex mortali rationali Man saith Augustine is compounded of the mortal part and the rational part the rational serves to comfort the mortal So I may say a Christian consists of a natural life and a
before you die Death is yours An earthly Saint is a contradiction 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies a man refined and separated from the earth if an Astronomer in stead of observing the Planets and the motions of the Heavens should take a reed in his hand and fall a measuring of the earth would not this be counted a solecisme and is it not as great a solecisme in Religion when men that pretend to have Christ and heaven in their eye yet minde earthly things Phil. 3.19 Our souls me thinks should be like to a ship which is made little and narrow downwards but more wide and broad upwards So our affections should be very narrow downwards to the earth but wide and large upwards towards heavenly things Thus we see death is a priviledge to believers death is yours the heire while he is under age is capable of the land he is borne to but he hath not the use or the benefit of it till he comes of age be as old as you will you are never of age till you die Death brings us of age and then the possession comes into our hands CHAP. VII The second Prerogative Royall of a Believer NOw I proceed to the second Prerogative which is yet to come what holy David saith of Sion Glorious things are spoken of thee O thou City of God Psalm 87.3 I may apply to these blessed things in reversion 2. The second Prerogative royall of a Christian is he shall be carried up by the Angels In this life a believer is carried by the Saints they lift him upon the wings of their prayers and when they can carry him no longer after death the Angels take him and carry him up thus shall it be done to the man whom God will honour Wicked men who are of the Devils life-guard when they die they shall have a black-guard of Angels to carry them Thou who art an old sinner that hast an hoary head but thy heart is as young in sinne as ever I may say to thee as Christ said in another sense to Peter When thou art old thou shalt stretch forth thy hands and another shall gird thee and carry thee whither thou wouldest not So I say Thou old sinner the time is shortly coming when thou shalt stretch forth thy hands on thy death-bed and another shall binde thee and carry thee whither thou wouldest not thou shalt be carried by a black-guard but a believer shall be carried by the Angels into Heaven The begger died and was carried by the Angels into Abraham 's bosome Abraham's bosome is a figurative speech representing the seat of the Blessed thither was he carried by the Angels Poore Lazarus when he was upon earth he had no friends but dogs to come at him when he was dead he had â— convoy of Angels After our fall the Angels as well as God fell out with us and became our enemies hence we reade that the Angels set out by the Cherubims stood with a flaming sword to keepe our first Parents out of Paradise Gen. 3.24 but being at peace with God we are at peace with the Angels Therefore the Angell comes with an Olive-branch of Peace in his mouth and proclaimes with triumph the newes of Christs incarnation Luk. 2.11 For unto you is borne in the City of David a Saviour which is Christ the Lord the Angels blesse God for mans Redemption Ver. 13. And suddenly there was with the Angel a multitude of the heavenly hoast praising God and saying Glory be to God in the highest The Angels love mankinde especially where there is the new-man and are ready to do all friendly offices for us as in our life-time they are our supporters Psal. 91.11 He shall give his Angels charge to keep thee So after death they are our Porters Lazarus was carried up by the Angels The Angels are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ministring Spirits they are willing to minister for the good of the Saints Hence some observe it is said Lazarus was carried 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the Angels in the plurall not by one Angel as if the Angels had been ambitious to carry Lazarus and every one strived which should have a part wicked men do not strive more who shall have a part in the death of the godly then the Angels do who shall beare a part in their ascension O in what pomp and triumph did Lazarus's soule now ride never was Dives so honoured in his life as Lazarus was at his death For a King to help to carry the Hearse of one of his Subjects were an high honour but a believer shall have a guard of Angels to conduct him Amasis King of Egypt that he might set forth his magnificence would have his Chariot drawn with foure Princes which he had conquered in the War but what was all this to the Chariot in which Lazarus and the soul of every believer shall be drawn at their death they shall be carried by the Angels of God CHAP. VIII The third Prerogative Royal of a Believer THe next great Prerogative is The Believer shall be with Christ in glory Phil. 1.23 I desire 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be dissolved or loosen anchor and to be with Christ This is a priviledge of the first magnitude surely we can be no losers by being with Christ. A graft or scion though it be taken out of the tree it doth not perish but is set into a better stock thus it is with a Christian while he is here even after Conversion there is much of the wilde Olive still in him now when this scion by death is cut off he doth not perish but is set into a more noble and generous stock he is with Christ which is farre better a state of perfection is better then a state of imperfection Our graces are our best jewels but they are imperfect and do not give out their full lustre they are like the Moon which when it shines brightest hath a darke spot Our faith is mingled with unbeliefe our humility is stained with pride the flame of our graces is not so pure but it hath some smoake grace is but in its infancy and minority it will never be of full growth till we are with Christ. This is the highest link in the chaine of glory we shall be with Christ. What is it the pious soule desires in this life is it not to have the sweet presence of Christ he cares for nothing but what hath aliquid Christi something of Christ in it he loves duties only as they are manuductions to Christ why is prayer so sweet but because the soul hath private conference with Christ Why is the Word precious but because it is a meanes to convey Christ he comes down to us upon the wings of the Spirit and we go up to him upon the wings of Faith An ordinance without Christ is but feeding upon the dish in stead of the meat Why doth the wife â—ove the Letter
shall see clearly whether Iezabel had more minde to keep a fast or to get Naboths Vineyard then we shall see whether Herod had more minde to worship Christ or to worry him all the secrets of mens hearts shall be laid open Me thinks it would be worth dying to see this sight We shall then see who is the Achan who the Iudas the womens paint falls off from their faces when they come neere the fire before the scorching heat of Gods justice the hypocrites paint will drop off and the Treason hid in the heart will be visible These mysteries will God reveal to us our knowledge shall be clear CHAP. XI The sixth Prerogative Royal. THE next priviledge is Our Love shall be perfect Love is the Jewell with which Christ's Bride is adorned in one sense it is more excellent then Faith for Love never ceaseth 1 Cor. 13.8 The Spouse shall put off her Jewel of Faith when she goes to heaven but she shall never put off her Jewel of Love Love shall be perfect 1. Our love to God shall be perfect The Saints love shall be joyned with Reverence for a filial disposition shall remaine but there shall be no servile feare in Heaven Horrour and trembling is proper to the damned in hell though in Heaven there shall be a reverencing fear yet a rejoycing fear we shall see that in God which will work such a delight that we cannot but love him And this love to God shall be 1. A fervent love we love him here secundùm studium there secundùm actum as the Schoolmen speak Our love to God in this life is rather a desire but in Heaven the smoak of desire shall be blown up into a flame of love we shall love God with an intensenesse of love here our love is lukewarme and sometimes frozen a childe of God weeps that he can love God no more but there is a time shortly coming when our love to God shall be fervent it shall burn as hot as it can the damned shall be in a flame of fire the elect in a flame of love 2. A fixed-love Alas how soon is our love taken off from God! other objects presenting themselves steal away our love Your goodnesse is like a morning cloud and as the early dew it goeth away In the morning you shall see the grasse covered with drops of dew as so many pearls but before noon all is vanished so is it with our love to God perhaps at a Sermon when our affections are stirred the heart melts in love and at a Sacrament when we see Christs blood as it were trickling downe upon the crosse some love-drops fall from the heart but within a few dayes all is vanished and we have lost our first love this is matter of humiliation while we live But O ye Saints comfort your selves in Heaven your love shall be fixed as well as fervent it shall never be taken off from God any more such beauty and excellency shall shine in God that as a divine loadstone it will be alwayes drawing our eyes and hearts after him 2. Our love to the Saints shall be perfect Love is a sweet harmony a tuning and chiming together of affections It is our duty to love the Saints 1. Though they are of bad dispositions sometimes their nature is so rugged unhewn that grace doth not cast forth such a lustre it is like a gold ring on a leprous hand or a Diamond set in iron yet if there be any thing of Christ it is our duty to love it 2. Though they in some things differ from us yet if we see Christ's image and portraiture drawn upon their hearts we are to separate the precious from the vile But alas how defective is this grace how little love is there among Gods people Herod and Pilate can agree wicked men unite when Saints divide For the divisions of England there are great thoughts of heart Contentions were never more hot love never more cold Many there are whose musick consists all in discords whose harp is the Crosse that pretend to love truth but hate peace Divisions are Satans Powder-plot to blow up Religion Sin brought forth separation and this daughter of separation hath brought forth the grand-childe of division For these things there are great searchings of heart It were not strange to hear the harlot say Let the childe be divided but to heare the mother of the child say so this is sad If Pope Cardinall Jesuite all conspire against the Church of God it were not strange but for one Saint to persecute another this is strange For a Wolfe to worry a Lamb is usuall but for a Lamb to worry a Lamb is unnatural For Christs Lily to be among the thorns is ordinary but for this Lily to become a thorne to teare and fetch blood of it self this is strange How will Christ take this at our hands Would he not have his Coat rent and will he have his Body rent Oh that I could speak here weeping Well this will be a foyl to set off heaven the more there is a time shortly coming when our love shall be perfect there shall be no difference of judgement in heaven there the Saints shall be all of a piece Though we fall out by the way and about the way we shall all agree in the journies end When once the blessed Harp of Christs voice hath sounded in the ears of the Saints the evill spirit shall be quite driven away When our strings shall be wound up to the highest peg of glory you shall never hear any more discord in the Saints Musick In Heaven there shall be a perfect Harmony CHAP. XII The seventh Prerogative Royal. THe next glorious priviledge to come is the Resurrection of our bodies This is an Article of our faith Now for the illustration of this there are three things considerable 1. That there â—s such a thing as the Resurrection 2. That this is not yet past 3. That the same body that dies shall rise again 1. I shall prove the Proposition that there is a Resurrection of the body There are some of the Sadduces opinion that there is no resurrection then let us eat and drink for to morrow we die 1 Cor. 15.32 To what purpose are all our prayers and tears and indeed it were well for them who are in their life-time as bruit beasts if it might be with them as beasts after death but there is a resurrection of the body as well as an ascension of the soul which I shall prove by two Arguments 1. Because Christ is risen therefore we must rise the head being raised the rest of the body shal not alwayes lye in the grave for then it would be an head without a body his rising is a pledge of our resurrection 1 Thes. 4.14 2. Ex AEquo in regard of justice and equity the bodies of the wicked have been weapons of unrighteousnesse and have joyned with the
soul in sinne their eyes have been a casement to let in vanity their hands have been full of bribes their feet have been swift to shed blood therefore justice and equity require that they should rise again and their bodies be punished with their souls Againe The bodies of the Saints have been members of holinesse their eyes have dropped down tears for sinne their hands have relieved the poor their tongues have been trumpets of Gods praise therefore justice and equity require that they should rise again that their bodies as well as their soules may be crown'd There must be a resurrection else how should there be a remuneration We are more sure to arise out of our graves then out of our beds the bodies of the wicked are lockt up in the grave as in a prison that they may not infest the Church of God and at the day of judgement they shall be brought out of the prison to tryall and the bodies of the Saints are laid in the grave as in a bed of perfume where they mellow and ripen against the resurrection Noah's olive-tree springing after the flood the blossoming of Aaron's dry rod the flesh and sinews coming to Ezekiel's dry bones what were these but lively emblems of the resurrection 2. That this resurrection is not yet past some hold that it is past and make the Resurrection to be nothing else but Regeneration which is call'd a rising from sinne and a being risen with Christ and do affirme that there is no other resurrection but this and that only the soul is with God in happinesse not the body Of this opinion were Hymeneus and Philetus 2 Tim. 2.18 But the rising from sinne is call'd the first resurection Rev. 1.6 which implies that there is a second resurrection and that second I shall prove out of Dan. 12.2 And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake he doth not say they are already awake but they shall awake And Iohn 5.28 The houre is coming in which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice and shall come forth they that have done good unto the resurrection of life and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation Observe Christ doth not say they are come forth of the grave already but they shall come forth Here a question may be moved Whether the bodies of some of the Saints are not in Heaven already then it will seem that their resurrection is not yet to come as we read that Elias was taken up to heaven in a fiery chariot and Enoch Heb. 11.5 was translated that he might not see death Answ. I know the Question is controverted among Divines But there are some reasons do perswade me that Enoch and Elias are not yet bodily in Heaven nor shall be till the resurrection of all flesh when the rest of the Elect like a precious crop being fully ripe shall be translated into glory The first is Heb. 11.13 where it is said These all died in faith where Enoch was included Now why we should restraine this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 these only to Abel Noah Abraham and not also to Enoch I see no rational ground Quest. But is it not said he was translated that he might not see death How can these two stand together that Enoch died yet he did not see death Answ. This word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he might not see death I conceive with some Divines the meaning is that he might not see it in that painful and horrid manner as others his soule had an easie and joyful passage out of his body he died not after the common manner of men so saith Peter Martyr Seeing and feeling are in Scripture oft exegetical the one is put for the other as Rom. 7.23 I see a law in my members that is I feel a law 2. My second Argument is 1 Iohn 3.2 It doth not yet appeare what we shall be but we know 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when he shall appeare we shall be like him We read in Scripture but of two Appearings of Christ his appearing in the flesh and his appearing at the day of judgment Now his appearing in this text must needs be meant of his last appearing And what then then saith the Apostle we shall be like him that is in our bodies Phil. 3.21 The spirits of just men being already made perfect Heb. 12.23 Whence I infer Enoch is not yet ascended bodily into heaven because none of the bodies of the Saints shall be fully made like Christ till his second appearing 3. Besides this may be added the judgement of many of the Fathers who were pious and learned It is not probable that Enoch and Elias should be taken up in their bodies into heaven saith Peter Martyr and he urgeth that saying of our Lord No man hath ascended into heaven that is saith he corporeally but the Son of man that descended from heaven Of this opinion also is Oecolampadius Martinus Borrhaeus and learned Doctor Fulk who in his marginal notes upon the 11th to the Hebrews hath this descant It appeareth not saith he that Enoch now liveth in body no more then Moses but that he was translated by God out of the world and died not after the common manner of men And concerning Eliah the same reverend Authour hath this passage It is evident that he was taken up alive but not that he continueth alive And again because we read expresly that he was taken up into heaven 2 King 2.11 It is certaine saith he that his body was not carried into heaven Christ being the first that in perfect humanity ascended thither 1 Cor. 15.20 Christ is become the first-fruits of them that sleep He is called the First-fruits not only because he was the most excellent and sanctified the rest but because he was the first Cluster which was gathered the First that went up in a corporeal manner into the Seat of the Blessed For my part I see not how Christ could properly be called the First-fruits if Enoch and Eliah were bodily in heaven before him Hence we see that the Resurrection is yet to come 3. The third thing is That at the resurrection every soul shal have its own body the same body that dies shall arise Some hold that the soul shall be cloathed with a new body but then it were improper to call it a Resurrection of the body it should be rather a Creation It was a custome in the African Churches to say I believe the resurrection hujus carnis of this body I confesse the doctrine of the resurrection is such that it is too deep for reason to wade here you must let faith swim For instance Suppose a man dying is cast into the Sea several Fishes come and devour him the substance of his body goes into these fishes afterwards the fishes are taken and eaten and the substance of these fishes goes into several