sweet is theâ—r membrance of thee to the soule that lives in bitterness I doe not think the Lord did impute it for sin to Job or Jeremy that they were so weary of their bitter Lives and did so often wish That their change might come Or that King Edward the sixth did sin when in his death bedsickness he prayd so earnestly Lord take me out of this wretched World Nor Dr. Hamond who under the tortures of the Stone whereof he dyed was so often heard to say Lord make hast though I doubt not but in all these there was implyed a tacit submission to the will of God Thirdly That a man may be taken away frâ—m the evill to come This was a mercy promised to Josiah upon his humiliation 2 Kings 22.19.20 as it was the misery of his surviving Sonne Zedekiah to see the evill which his Father was taken from and to suffer in it Wise men fore-see evill to come in the causes of it and in the â—ore-runners of it And the Lord mentions it as a mercy That he will take them away from those evills and they may without sin Pray for that mercy Isay 57.1 Fourthly That they may be freed from the burden of the flesh and the bondage of corruption inherint in it that Ground Ivie in the Wall which will never be pluckt out root and branch till the Wall be thrown down It was under the sense of this that St. Paul cryes out Rom. 7.24 O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death this will never be done but by the death of this body Fifthly In extremity of old age when a man becomes a burden to himselfe and others when he is fallen into those years of which David saith His life is nothing but labour and sorrow and the years of which he shall say I have no pleasure in them when not onely his body grows weak but his mind also and his intellectuall faculties faile his understanding weak his apprehension dull his memory unfaithfull his affections Childish and he becomes unserviceable not able to doe that good which he hath done and should doe when a man becomes thus superannuate he may doubtless without sin make it his suite to Almighty God To take away his soule Vse This Meditation is usefull to comfort and to confirme us against the feare of death either of our selves or our friends why should we make that the object of our feare which others have made the object of their hope and desire Holy men wise men good men men that have had a great interest in the world have been willing to lay down all and to leave all and made it their suite that they might dye in assurance of a change for a better life To help us to pass through this Gulfe with comfort and courage weigh well but these two things 1. What a world we leave behind us the Terminus à quo 2. What a world we have before us the Terminus ad quem And these two considerations will make the passage through that medium easie First For the Terminus à quo the world we leave behind us a very sink of sin a duâ—ghill of uncleanness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The whole World lyes in wickedness as St. John speaks nothing in it but sinne and sorrow and travaile and trouble and malice and mischief and that which may well make any wise man out of love with it and even weary of it The best things in it which men make most account of have been weighed to our hands by the wisest of the Sonnes of Men and upon the tryall found To be lighter then vanity it selfe not onely vanity but vexation of spirit For first They are all transitory Secondly They are not all satisfactory Thirdly All imbitter'd with so many cross Ingredients that there is no true contentment in them nor true comfort to be taken out of them We could shew you examples of the greatest of men Kings Emperours Lords of the world such as have had as much of the glory of it and all other worldly good in it as the world could give or lend yet have seen so farr into the vanity and emptiness of it as to despise it to lay down all and take themselves unto a private and monasticall life which is a death to the world and the shaddow of death it selfe Secondly For the Terminus ad quem Consider what a world in dying we are going to it would require a world of time and words to describe it the best description of it is to describe it to be such for the transcendency of the glory of it as that it cannot be described For neither hath the eye seen nor the eare heard nor can the heart of Man comprehend the great things that God hath prepared for them that love him 1 Cor. 2.9 St. Paul shaddows it out in part Heb. 12.22 where he shows the happiness of the Church militant in their communion with the Church triumphant thus But you are come to Mount Sion and to the City of the living God the Caelestiall Jerusalem and to the company of inâ—numerable Angels And to the Assembly and Congregation of the first borne whose names are Written in Heaven and to God the Judge of all and to the spirits of just Men made perfect And to Jesus the Mediatour of the new Testament and to the blood of sprinkling which speaketh better things then the blood of Abel Here 's a description in part of the Place and Society which we shall goe to when we shall come to be joyned with the Church triumphant in glory now be you well assured that all things els there are suitable to these which must needs render it transcendently joyous and glorious O! if we could but draw the Curtaine of Heaven and look in the Sanctum Sanctorum to see the joy and glory that is there we would never care for this world more the most pretious things in it would be despised in our eyes our whole life would be nothing but a Cupio dissolvi esse cum Christo I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ and we would long for the time when the Lord would take away our soul that we might be translated thither I reade of one Cleombrotus that hearing Plato discoursing of the immortality of the soul and the happines of the other life to come Threw himself headlong off from a high Rock to quit himself of this life that so he might enter into that other life that Plato so much commended And if a Heathen man could be so sensible of advantaging himself by his change into the other life upon those weak grounds which Plato's Philosophy could give as to hasten his own death upon the hope of it Surely we that are Christians and have better grounds to build our faith and hope upon then any Plato's Philosophy could give may with much more Comfort think on Death with much more hope and
confidence waite for it and when it comes bid it welcome as our friend that comes to free our soul out of the prison of the body the sole impediment of it's perfection and to open the doore to let us into a better world and into a better life Thus of the Person to whom he makes his suit The Lord. 2. Now we are to consider of the Act Take away my soule How doth the Lord take away souls Not by annihilation or reducing them to nothing as at the first Creation Nor by laying them a sleep together with their bodies till the Resurrection the Opinion of the Arabians Nor by a Metempsuchosis transmitting them into some other body to informe them Nor by fixing them as Starrs in the Firmament Nor by sending them into purgatory as the Papists teach But thou that gavest it me take it unto thy self either by thine own immediate power and grace who art a Spirit and the God of the spirits of all flesh or by the Ministery of thy good Angells let them be ready to receive it at the parting of it out of my body as they did the soul of Lazarus and to carry it up to rest and glory Thus Lord take away my soule From hence note first That our souls are immortall they dye not with the body but when the body at the dissolution returns to the earth from whence it was taken the soul returns to God that gave it All the expressions of holy men dying imports as much Lord Jesus receive my spirit saith St. Stephen Father into thy hands I commend my spirit saith our Saviour Lord take away soul saith our Prophet all expressing their faith in this truth That their souls were immortal Feare not them that can kill the body and are not able to kill the soul saith our Saviour So then the soul cannot be killed Our blessed Lord disputing with the Sadduces concerning the Resurrection Mat. 22. tells them out of the Scriptures That God was the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob who were dead and buried a thousand years before and from thence concludeth the immortality of the soul inasmuch as God was not the God of who dead but of the living ver 32. their spirits did never dye their souls were still alive and in being and he was their God Vses First It is of Use to quiet our spirits and to satisfie our minds sometimes troubled upon the consideration of the perplexities of Providence in the cross dispensation of evill and good to the good and the evill here in this world the unravelling of this Clue of the souls immortality from the beginning to the end will guide us through this Labyrinth so that in the end we shall say The wayes of the Lord are right when a day shall come when it shall be said to the Epicures of this world which have had their portion in this life as in Luke 16.25 Sonne Rentember you have had your pleasure in your life time and my servants received pain now they are comforted and you are tormented 2. This Meditation is of Use to comfort and to confirme us against the fear of death either our own or our friends inasmuch as beleeving in the Lord me shall live though we dye And he that liveth and beleeveth in him shall never dye eternally Indeed we shall not dye at all totally for though we lay down our bodies into the earth to sleep yet our spirits shall not dye at all but being delivered from the burden of the flesh shall live with the Lord and be translated into a state of joy and feliâ—ity Et meliore sui parte superstesâ— erit The better part is still living and therefore the Scripture will hardly call it a death but a Sleep a Change a Dissolution a Departure a Translation 3. It is of use for the contempt of this world in which we have no surer footing and of the best things of this world of which we have no better hold nor longer enjoyment but for this short uncertain life 4. This Meditation of the immortality of the soul is of speciall use to teach and to admonish to prepare and to provide for that our future condition to lay up for our selves treasure in Heaven that we may have something to take to when we come into the other world when we shall leave this and all that we have in it behind us to make us friends of the Mammon of iniquity that when time comes they may receive us into the everlasting habitations to lay here a good soundation against the time to come that seeing our fouls are immortall and shall have an eternall being it may be in well being that seeing they shall live eternally it may be in bliss and happiness now is the time to provide for it O how miscrable will be the condition of those souls which having lost their time here when this life is ended shall be swallowed up into eternity and all that while shall live in woe and misery in pain and torment easeless endless and remediless How much better had it been for such if they had never been born Or being born that their souls had dyed with their bodies or living after them there had been some period of time wherein they might have been extinguished But when they must so continue for ever That the worme shall never dye nor the fire never goe out that they shall continue in torment to all eternity Who can conceive the misery of it That word eternity into what a deep bottomeless gulfe doth it swallow up the mind that thinks upon it Great wonder it is and a miracle indeed that a point of such great importance and high concernment should be no more heeded and regarded Some live as if they had no souls at all or if they have any that they are but as the souls of bruits which perish with their bodies and well were it with them if they did so they live as if they never thought to dye and dye as if they never thought to rise again they have no hope in their death nor any care of their immortall soules ever after To these I say no more but this Lord have mercy upon their poor miserable soules they will have time enough hereafter when it is too late to see their error and to repent of this their stupidity and security Secondly Note here the holy and heavenly expressions of the Saints and Servants of the Lord at their departure out of this life O Lord I have waited for thy salvation saith the Patriarke Jacob upon his death bed Gen. 49.18 Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace said old Simeon Luke 2.29 for mine eyes have seen thy salvation Saint Stephen the holy Martyr with these words breath'd out his soule Lord Jesus receive my spirit Acts 7.59 Our Lord himselfe upon the Cross giving up the ghost with these words breath'd his last Father into thy hands I commend
my spirit Luke 23.46 in sense the same with the Prophet in the Text Lord take away my soule With such holy expressions as these did holy Men dying take their leave of the World and breathe out their spirits I could instance in many more Bishops Martyrs Confessors and other holy men and Women dying some in my own hearing others in the hearing of other Men and recorded in the stories of their Lives and Deaths with the gratious expressions utter'd by them in their death-beds in words full of faith full of hope full of comfort much to the edification of all that were present and it is a great advantage to be present with such men at such a time for then are they most serious then are their soules loosing from the prison of their bodies and are prominentes as it were looking out before they take their flight then have they clearer Vision of things then they had before when they were in the close prison of their bodies the light breaks in at the chinks and at the doores and windows opening to let out the soule then have many of the Saints had rare Discoveries and Revelations by which they have Prophesied of things to come and the words of dying men are much to be heeded and regarded But if you would have the Lord to draw neer unto you in these wayes when you are dying you must draw neer to God in his wayes while you are living You must acquaint your selfe with God and be at peace with him as Eliphas speaks in Job cap. 22.21 you must live in communion with him you must call upon his Name prayse him and give him thanks worship him and doe his will then will he own you and be mercifull to you at that time and draw neer unto you and have a care of your soule that it shall not miscarry but he himselfe will take it away But secondly If you would have the Lord to take away your soule you must keep your soul with all diligence and preserve it pure and undefiled that the Lord may own it and accept it and place it among the holy souls of his Saints and his redeemed ones The Lord our God is a holy God of pure eyes which cannot behold any thing that is impure but with indignation and there is nothing more odious to him then sinne and corruption nor which renders us more abominable in his sight Compared therefore to Leprosie to the Leopards spots to menstruous pollution If therefore our souls shall be presented unto him stained with sinne polluted with uncleanness defiled with spirituall leprosie of corruption spotted with noysome lusts and pleasures Will the Lord look at them will he own them will he accept them Can we desire the Lord or hope that he will take away such souls or imploy his good Angels to fetch them as he did to receive the soule of Lazarus and carry it into Abraham's bosome No there are other soule-gatherers ready to take away such souls even those which were imployed to fetch away the soule of the covetous rich Man in the Gospel Luke 12.20 If we would have the Lord to take away our souls we must present them pure unto him without spot and blameless They must be wash't cleane in the blood of the Lambe and cleansed by the sanctifying vertue of the holy Ghost our Consciences the highest faculty of the soule Must be purged from dead works to serve the living God We must purge our selves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit and grow up in true holiness in the feare of the Lord The Place which our souls are to goe to it holy the Company holy the exercises holy and so must our souls be also that they may be suitable to all the rest and then the Lord will take away our souls and place them amongst them in joy happiness and glory Thus of The Act. The Object followes My soule 2. Branch The soule is the spirituall part of Man the principall and essentiall part whereof Man doth consist the fountaine of life sense and motion which by the spirits vitall naturall animall the souls cursitors running into all the parts of the body actuates and informes it and useth it as an Organ or Instrument whereby to performe it's severall operations This soule of man is pretious in these seven respects First In respect of the Fountaine of it it proceeds originally from the immediate breathing of God himselfe For when God had made Man of the dust of the earth he breath'd into him the breath of life and Man became a living soul Gen. 2.7 Secondly In respect of the rare faculties of it the Understanding the Will the Memory the Affections Reason Judgement Wisedome Knowledge Conscience the highest of all the rest considered in both the parts of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the one The Treasure the other The Soules Controuller c. Thirdly In respect of the immortality of it it dyes not with the body but being taken out of the body is preserv'd unto Eternity Fourthly In respect of the Image of God once stampt upon it which though miserably defac't since by the fall yet not so utterly raz'd out but there are goodly lineaments of that Image yet left upon it Neither is it so irrecoverable but that by the spirit of grace and the grace of sanctification it may be so repaired and renewed as that the soule may be and is said still Thereby to be made partaker of the Divine Nature 2 Peter 1.4 not in the substance of the Deity but in holiness and righteousness wisedome knowledge goodness love and light which are as the beames of the Image of God shining upon it Fifthly In respect of the purchase of it It is the price of blood not of Bulls and Goats but of the Divine blood of Jesus Christ our Redeemer 1 Peter 1.19 Sixthly The pretiousness of souls may appear by the pains and cost that Satan and his Instruments will be at to gaine a soule they will compass Sea and Land to gaine a soule give a Kingdome for a soule Mat. 4.8 All the Kingdoms of the world with the glory of them Omnia haec tibi dabo All these things will I give thee if thou wilt fall down and worship me ver 9. Seventhly By the great care that Almighty God hath taken to preserve souls and to save them from perishing he hath given his Word to direct them his Ministers to instruct them his Sacraments to confirme them his Spirit to guide them and his Angels to guard them and all this to preserve them and to save them from perishing In all these respects it appears that souls are pretious Our blessed Lord which well knew the price of souls lays one soule in one ballance and the whole world in the other against it and upon the tryall tells us That one soule weighs downe the whole world in the other scale What shall it profit a Man to win the whole
Elijah's nunc Dimittis OR The Authors own Funerall SERMONS In his Meditations upon 1 Kings 19.4 It is now enough Lord take away my Soule for I am no better then my Fathers Where also is Treated Of the immortality of the Soule Of the state of it when separated from the Body Of the Destruction of this lower World by Fire Of Locall-Hell with the graduall Torments thereof Of the Heavens of the Superiour World and the Inhabitants of them their happiness and glory By Thomas Bradley D. D. one of his late Majesties Chaplains and Praebandary of York and Preach't in the Minster there and in his Rectory of Ackworth 1669. Aetatis suae 72. Oxon. Exon. Lord now let thy Servant depart in peace that mine Eyes may see thy Salvation Sic sic juvat ire sub umbras YORK Printed by Stephen Bulkley 1669. Elijah's Nunc Dimittis Or The Authors own Funerall Sermon In his Meditation upon the 1 Kings 19.4 the latter end of the Verse It is now enough Lord take away my Soule for I am no better then my Fathers THese Words are the Complaint or the Petition or the Suite the Wish or Request call it what you will of the Prophet Elijah now weary of his Life and desiring he might dye The causes and occasion of it you may reade in the context and in the Chapter immediately precedent where ye have the whole narration of the business the sum of all you finde in the 14th verse of this Chapter I have been very zealous for the Lord God of Hosts because the Children of Israel have forsaken thy Covenant cast down thine Altars and Slaine thy Prophets with the sword and I onely am left and they seek my life to take it away That wicked woman Jezabell in revenge of her Chaplains the Priests of Baal which he had lately so clearly and so powerfully convinc't and silenc't and proved to be false Prophets had sworn his death Warrants are seal'd and Pursuivants sent out to take him Upon this the Prophet flies for his life as farr as to Beersheba the utmost border of all Israel on the South as Dan was on the North yet not thinking himselfe secure there neither though at so great a distance he takes a farther flight a dayes Journey into the Wilderness supposing haply he might finde more kindnes there among the wild beasts then amongst men in Samaria more savage then they But here he meets with another enemy as dangerous as any of the rest Hunger and Thirst in danger to pine and perish through famine his fear and hast not allowing him either time or means to furnish himselfe with viaticum for such a Voyage nor the barren wilderness affording him supplies of sustenance in such a want The Prophet now compast about with so many deaths and dangers and not knowing which way to turn himself hungry and thirsty faint and weary layes him down under a Juniper Tree wishing That might might be the end of his Pilgrimage and with his Pilgrimage of his Life too Here in this Wilderness he makes his Will Wherein first He bequeaths his soule to God that gave it Lord take away my soule his body to the Earth from whence 't was taken wishing That spot of ground upon which he lay might be his Grave the Juniper Tree over him his Monument with no other Inscription upon it but onely this instead of an Epitaph I am no better then my Fathers It is now enough Lord take away my soule for I am no better then my Fathers In the Division of the Text I shall not use any curiosity at all the words neither require nor admit it For the summe of them you may call them if you please in old Simeons Language The Prophet Elijah's nunc Dimittis Or in St. Pauls his Cupio dissolvi In it these Parcels First The Dimittis it self in these word Lord take away my Soule Secondly Two Reasons perswading him to make this his Suite at this time The one prefixt and set before the Dimittis in these words Nunc satis est It is now enough The other annext and following after it in these words Nam non sum melior majoribus meis For I am no better then my Fathers In all reason we must begin first with the former Reason both because it stands first in the Text and because it stands in our way to the Nunc Dimittis and because it is a motive ushering it in therefore of it first of Nunc satis est before of Nunc Dimittis It is now enough And Elijah's satis est may be reasonably grounded upon these four Considerations or in four respects might he well say It is now enough 1. In respect of what he had seen 2. In respect of what he had suffered 3. In respect of what he had done 4. In respect of the years he had lived In all these respects the Prophet might reasonably say Nunc satis est It is now enough As if he should say Lord I have seen enough to make me weary of this World And I have suffered enough to make me weary of my Life And I have done enough in the faithfull discharge of my duty in the Office of a Prophet whereunto I was called And I have lived long enough even to desire to live no longer in this wretched World therefore now Lord I beseech yee dismiss me Lord take away my Soule So here are four enoughs and they are all grounded in the 14. verse of this Chapter and in this Text. For first He complains there The Children of Israel have forsaken thy Covenant broke down thine Altars and Slaine thy Prophets with the Sword There 's his Satis Vidi I have seen enough Secondly He complains That he onely is left and they seek his Life to take it away There 's his Satis Tuli I have suffered enough Thirdly I have been Zealous for the Lord God of Hosts There 's his Satis Feci I have done enough Fourthly Those three things before mentioned which he had Seen which he had Suffered and which he had Done were not the worke of a short time they were the worke of many years he was now grown old under his sufferings and doing his Duty and so willing to follow the Generation of his Fathers For I am no better then my Fathers There 's his Satis Vixi And in all these respects he concludes It is now enough and begs for a dismission Lord take away my Soule To all these enoughs we shall speak something briefly with the inferences from them And first of his Satis Vidi I have seen enough That is as himself Interprets himself ver 14. of the wickedness irreligion profaneness and Idolatry of the times and places that he lived in to make him weary of the world and of his life And that is the first ground of this his request to Almighty God to take away his Soule The inference from hence is this That to live in evill times and
divert stay suspend or remove Judgement denounc't against them when wrath is gone forth and the Plague begun and happy those Places which have such as these are in them though but a few favourites of Heaven to make in to God to use their interest in him to intreat for the rest great things hath God done at their request in the behalfe of others and even those that despise them are more beholden to them then they are aware of 5. In such evill times and places as we speak of we are to be admonished to walk warily for fear of Infection for fear of seduction least we come to be corrupted and infected by them and so while we complain the times are evill we our selves make them worse so St. Paul argues Ephe. 5.15 Walk circumspectly because the dayes are evil By no means to have any fellowship with the unfruitfull works of darkness but rather reprove them Ephes 5.11 to shew our dislike of them by avoyding them to reprove them by a sober righteous and godly conversation the most reall reproofe to the lewd and loose carriage and behaviour of wicked men that can be by this opposition the holy conversation of godly men becomes more illustrious thus doth their light come to shine before Men so that they seeing their good works are moved to glorifie the Father which is in Heaven this is to walk as Children of the light and to shine as lights in the midst of a froward and a dark Generation which will be the great conviction and condemnation of those wicked men they live amongst and their own high prayse and great reward another day This was the high prayse of Noah Gen. 6.9 Noah was a just Man in his Generation Why what Generation was that it was an evill Generation When all Flesh had corrupted their wayes before the Lord Noah still kept his integrity he was a just Man in his Generation For Abraham in Caldea Lot in Sodom Job in Vz Noah in his Generation to hold fast his integrity was their high prayse And so we have done with Elijah's first Satis est the first of his enoughs In respect of the evill he had seen We come now to consider of the second which respects the evill that he had Suffered Satis Tuli I have suffered enough and this ariseth out of those words in the latter end of the 14. ver They have Slain thy Prophets with the edge of the Sword and I onely am left and they seek my Life to take it away By this you may gather in what condition he was in respect of sufferings by Persecution Banishment Hunger and Thirst and variety of dangers threatning even Death it self The inference from hence is this That it is no news to see the best of Saints to suffer the worst things that the world can doe unto them To see Joseph in the Prison Job upon the Dunghill Jeremy in the Dungeon Jonah in the Whales belly Isay under the Saw Paul under the Axe Stephen under a storme of Stones and all this under the hands of wicked men and more then this when such wicked and ungodly men live at ease and in peace prosper and flourish Come in no misfortune like other men neither are they plagned like other men as the Prophet David observes Psal 73.5 These things may seem strange to humane apprehension and doe but they are no news to those that are well read in the wayes of Providence nor strange neither when wisely weighed and rightly considered And to help you in those Considerations I commend you to two of Davids Psalmes the 37. and the 73. both spent wholly upon this subject to take away the scandall of the Crosse In both which he first rayses the Objections and then brings in full answers to them for the clearing of Gods Justice in this cross dispensation of Providence and for the satisfying of himself and others in this matter I shall therefore wave what the Prophet hath there delivered and onely shew you very briefly some Reasons why and how it comes so to passe and what profitable Use we may make of this Meditation and so passe on to the next Reasons If you aske me then How it comes to pass that the best men should suffer the worst things here in this world I Answer 1. This proceeds from the malice of Satan ever contriving mischief against the Church even to the utter ruine of it if it were possible that the gates of Hell should prevail against it There is an enmity between the Woman and the Serpent which will never be reconciled 2. From the hatred that wicked men well nigh as bad as himselfe bear against it his very Instruments and Agents are ready to execute his will upon it the enmity is not onely between the Woman and the Serpent but between their Seed also Wicked men are the very Seed of the Serpent and doe as naturally maligne and hate the Church and Children of God as the Serpent doth a man 3. From their own folly which by sinne lay themselves open to their malice Balaam knew he could have no power over the Israelites to hurt them except he could devise some way how to draw them to sin against God But when he had contriv'd a way to make them commit Fornication with the Daughters of Moab he knew he had his purpose on them in exposing them to wrath and judgement Numb 25. 4. This comes to pass by the just and wise Providence of God not onely permitting but ordering it so for holy ends and good purposes 1. For tryall of their Faith that they may come out of them as Gold refined 2. For exercise of their Graces Vt probentur approbentur improbentur that they may be proved approved improved 3. For purging out and mortifying of their corruptions crucifying of their lusts and inordinate affections 4. For holding of them close to Duty as of Repentance Prayer and a constant dependance upon God 5. For the weyning of them from this present evill world that they might seek and affect better things in a better world and minde the things that are above Colos 3.1 6. That they may have nothing to suffer hereafter they are chastised in the world that they may not be condemned with the world Vses 1. Are these the ends why God suffereth his Saints to suffer Then wellcome sufferings by the grace of God Wellcome Afflictions by the will of God they shall be a benefit unto us a greater advantage then the Ease Peace and Prosperity of wicked men can be unto them nay then these could have been unto our selves if we had had them Ease slayeth the foolish and the prosperity of Fooles destroyeth them Prov. 1.32 Standing Pooles gather mud and dirt when running Streames keep pure and clear Winde and Thunder purge the Ayre and the Fire doth not consume but refine the Gold that is cast into it and such are the sufferings of the Saints servants of God to those that
command Gen. 22. Here 's a Satis ad testificationem enough to testifie his love and obedience and so though none of Gods Saints and servants can reach to a Satis in reference to justification yet as to the testification of the soundness of their faith the sincerity of their obedience and the uprightness of their hearts in his Service there is a Satis which they may reach to and of which God himselfe will testifie and say Satis est It is enough The second distinction in Answer to this Objection is this There is another two-fold Satis First Satis ad perfectionem Secondly Satis ad acceptationem First enough In reference to perfection And Secondly enough In reference to acceptation As to the former Nunquam satis est we can never arrive enough as to perfection Our Saviour hath set us a Coppy that we can never come neer Mat 6. Be you perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect Alas our highest perfection is to acknowledge our imperfection and the best of us all when we have done our best to acknowledge We are unprofitable servants To confess with the Centurion Domine non sum dignus O Lord I am not worthy the least of thy mercies and with the Publican to pray Lord be mercifull to me a sinner so that if we look at perfection Nunquam satis est we shall never arrive to that degree or height of obedience as to say Nunc satis est It is now enough But if we look at acceptation blessed be God there is a Satis whereunto the Saints and servants of Almighty God may and doe arrive even in this life through the mercy of God and the indulgence of our Heavenly Father which where he sees a willing mind accepts of the will for the deed and of what we can doe instead of what we should doe which accepts according that a man hath and not according to that he hath not And so this rubb being removed we pass to the third Inference which is this That thus to have so done the will of God will be our greatest comfort in an evill day when we shall stand in most need of it Hezekiah found it so when the Message came to him by the Prophet Isay from the Lord That he should set his house in order for he must dye O Lord remember I have walked before thee with an upright and a perfect heart and have done that which was good in thy sight Isay 38.1 3. Nehemiah found it so who having done worthily for the people of God in obteining Commission from the King of Persia for the redeeming of the Jews out of the Babylonish Captivity and building the Walls of Jerusalem often comforts himselfe with the remembrance of it Nehemiah 13.14 Remember me O my God in this and blot not out the kindness that I have shewed to thy house And verse the 22. Remember me O my God concerning this also and pardon me according to thy great mercy And again verse 31. Remember me O my God in goodness Indeed he needed not have put God in mind to remember him the Lord would have remembred him and his kindness shewed to his people though he should forget it God is not unfaithfull that he should forget the labour and love shewed unto his Saints We see in Matthew 25 how he did remember it when they had forgotten it that shewed it ver 42.43 When I was hungry you gave me to eate when I was thirsty you gave me to drink when I was naked you cloathed me sick and in prison you visited me and ministred unto me this they had forgotten and therefore asked Lord when saw we thee hungrty or thirsty or naked or sick and in prison and ministred unto thee he remembred it when they had forgotten it and doth not onely remember it but reward it too and now they finde the comfort of it With such a remembrance doth Saint Paul comforts himselfe 2 Tim. 4.7 I have fought the good fight I have finished my course I have kept the faith Henceforth is layd up for me a crowne of righteousness He was not afraid to sing out his Cupio dissolvi I desire to be dissolved Nor our Prophet in the Text to make it his suite to the Lord To take away his soule when he remembred how zealous he had been for the Lord God of Hosts while he was in the body The very Heathens were sensible of this and it was a great incitement to them to justice and honesty and all morall vertue Conscientia benè acta vitae multorumque benefactorum recordatio jucundissima est The Conscience of a life well spent and the remembrance of much good done in his life time O what a Cordiall it is to an old man a dying man And so is the contrary the remembrance of a life ill spent and of much evill done in a mans life time as great a corrasive at such a time Thou writest bitter things against me and makest me to possess the sins of my youth saith Jâ—b cap. 12.25 and he none of the worst of men Beloved there will come a time when Conscience awakened and enlightened will be serious with us in calling us to account for things done in our life time how we have spent our life our time and our Talents what good we have done with them ever since we came into the world And what a sad account is this when a man can give no better account to God nor his own Conscience but thus That he hath lived upon earth forty or fifty or sixty or seventy years or more to doe nothing but eate and drink and sleep and play or worse and spent his life Aut nihil agendo in doing nothing Aut aliud agendo in doing things impertinent which is as good as nothing Aut malè agendo or in doing evill which is worse then nothing and now is going out of the world before ever he hath thought of his errand wherefore he came into it If this be not to be an unprofitable servant what is and what his doome is we have heard and may reade Matthew 25. Beloved Let this Meditation teach us wisedom so to lay out our selves while we live in this world so to improve our time and our Talents as that we may be able to give some account of them to God and to our own Consciences so to live that we need not be afraid to dye to be doing some good here in our life time the remembrance whereof may yeeld us comfort in our sickness and hope in our death so to lay out our selves in this world that we may have somewhat to take to in the other world when we shall leave this and all that we have in it and so shall we be great gainers by the change And so we have done with this third Inference also deduc'd out of the Prophets third Satis est It is enough spoken in reference to what he had done Satis feci I
their own mercy and putting from them the Kingdom of Heaven offered unto them and what happiness joy and glory the servants of God are arrived unto whom they despised to the greater aggravation of their sorrow and misery Therefore shall the sentence of Absolution be first pronounc't in these comfortable words Come ye blessed of my Father enter into the Inheritance of the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world Every word carries in it life and glory Come ye blessed ones take possession of a Kingdom Who and what are we that the Lord should doe so much for us may they well say as to give us a Kingdom That 's the day of which St. Paul writing to the Thessalonians tells them Jesus Christ shall be admired in all them that beleeve 2 Thes 1.10 not onely by them but in them by Men and Angells to see that the Lord hath exalted his poor humble and despicable servants to so high honour that he hath brought them hitherto Then shall the righteous shine as the Sunne in his brightness Wisedom 5.1 2 3 4. in the Kingdom of their Father After this shall the Judge turne himselfe to the wicked on the left hand and pronounce against them the sentence of condemnation in these words Ite maledicti Goe ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devill and his Angels Every word full of death and terror Goe and goe ye cursed and goe into fire and fire everlasting and fire prepared Isay 30.33 and prepared for the Devill and his Angels so these shall goe into everlasting torments and the righteous into life eternall And this is the third estate of of immortall souls and in this they shall abide for ever without alteration without end And so I end my Discourse upon this Subject in which I may truely say with Moses I have set before you life and death blessing and cursing Heaven and Hell that so you may chuse the better and that you may doe it in time while remedy may be had That you may live and not dye that you may be blessed and not cursed that your Portion may be in Heaven and not in Hell Amen IT tests now that I should speak something 〈◊〉 the third part of the Text in these words For I am no better then my Fathers But an intervenient occasion makes me interpose a few Lines for the satisfaction of some of whom I heare they should say That in the former Discourse concerning the state of souls separated from their bodies I Preach't New Doctrine And ask't whereunto is was usefull Which exception hath two parts in it The first Concerning the newness of it And the second Concerning the uselesness of it To both which I must say something in way of vindication And as to the first The newness of it To pass by all that hath been Written by the Learned Schoolemen of the Romish perswasion because they were of the Romish perswasion and yet if we should reject all that is written by the learned of the Romish perswasion because they were of the Romish perswasion we shall doe our selves as much wrong as them but to wave them I could fill up my Page with the testimonies of Learned and holy men unexceptionable which have declared themselves of the same Judgement in this matter That neither the souls of the just nor the unjust doe immediately upon the separation of them from the body 〈…〉 the state of their ternall being but into a state intermediate and different from the third state at least in degree in which they doe remain untill the Resurrection and the generall Judgement The one in Prison the other in Paradise The one amongst the evill Angells the other among the good Angells The one in the mouth of Hell it selfe and in the beginnings of woe and torment in a great degree and the other in the very entrance into the highest Heaven in bliss and joy and happiness unspeakable and glorious I should make a long business of it here to cite and to recite the testimonies of the Ancients in this matter but to save my selfe and Reader that labour let me intreat him to consult the Writings of an eminent Divine well known and approved of in the Evangelicall Churches for Learned and Orthodox and Professor of Divinity in the University of Lausanna I meane Bucanus a man as directly opposit to Purgatory and Popery as Light is to Darkness in his Common Places Loc. 39 under the Title De Vita aeterna he proposes this very Question in these words First of the souls of the faithfull Anne anunae piorum nunc a corporibus separate perfecta tonsummata beatitudine fruantur Whether the souls of the faithfull separated from their bodies doe presently enjoy perfect bliss and consummate happiness Unto which he makes this Answer Satis sit nobis scire illicô à discessu è corpore spiritum redire ad Deum qui dedit illum Eccles 12.7 Esse cum Christo Philip. 1.23 In Paradiso Luke 23.43 In pace Sapien. 3.3 In requie Heb. 4.3 In consolatione Luke 16.25 In refrigerio Sap. 4.7 In securitate Job 11.15 In manu Dei ut minime attingit eum cruciatus Sapien. 3.1 In glorificatione Wisd 5.1 Thus Englished Let it be enough for us to know That presently upon the departure of it out of the body the spirit returns to God that gave it that it is with Christ that it is in Paradise that it is in Peace in rest in comfort in a place of refreshment in security in the hand of God so that no evill shall touch it that it is in glory all glorious expressions setting forth the happy state of the souls of the Saints which they pass into presently upon the separation of them from the bodies But then marke what follows he comes in upon all this with an adversitive tamen notwithstanding which in answer to the Question here proposed hath the force of a negative for thus it followeth Quia tamen resurrectionem corporum expectant fruitionem plenissimam omnium bonorum quae Deus promisit diligentibus ipsum non in perfecta jam consummata sed inchoata beatitudine versari dici possunt Englished thus Yet notwithstanding because they expect the resurrection of their bodies and the most full fruition of all those good things which God hath promised to them that love him they may be said to be not in the full fruition of their perfect and consummate happiness but in the beginning of it or their happiness inchoated and begun Thus Bucanus Com. Loc. 39. pag. 447. And for proofe of this he alleageth the same Text of Scripture that I have done Rev. 6.9 10 11. Vsque quo Domine How long Lord how long Aquinas brings in a another Scripture for proofe of this truth 2 Tim. 4.8 From henceforth is layd up for me a Crowne of righteousness which the Lord the righteous Judge shall give unto me at that day At what day At the day
of his glorious appearing as it follows in the same Text When Christ shall appear in flaming fire to render vengeance 2 Thes 1.7 When the Sonne of Man shall come in the Clouds with power and great glory and all his holy Angels with him That 's the day of his appearing at that day shall St. Paul receive his Crowne not before till then it is layd up for him At that day shall those souls under the Altar before mentioned receive their Crowns of Martyrdome also for the present there were white Robes given to every one of them but not the Crowns till that day The same also doth he affirme of the state of the souls of wicked men separated from their bodies Sic puniri ut etiam reserventur in diem judicii longe aliis asperioribus paenis aeternis videlicet in corpore anima cruciandi That they are so punished here during the time of their separation that they are also reserved unto the Judgement of the great day then to be tormented in body and soul with farr more sharp and grievous punishments for evermore But if you would see more of Antiquity in these matters and will be at the pains of it doe but consult Athanasius in an Epistle of his cited by Epiphanius Haeres 77. and in his Book De Incarnatione Verbi St. Cyrill De râ—â—ta side ad Theodosium OeÌ„cumenius and divers others who in their Expositions of that Text in St. Peter 1 Pet. 3.19 Who was put to death as concerning the Flesh but quickned by the Spirit By which Spirit he went and Preach't to the spirits which are in Prison We prove first Christs descent into Hell and upon the words following That he Preach't unto the spirits or souls detained in that Prison As Saint Jude saith of the evill Angells That they are in prison and bound in chains of darkness reserved unto the judgement of the great day The evill Angells and the souls of wicked men both in the same condition both secur'd in Prison both in chains both reserv'd unto the judgement of the great day And it will follow by the rule of opposits That if the souls of the Saints and Martyrs be not yet in the fruition of their perfect and consummate happiness then neither are the souls of wicked men in that exquisite torment which they are condemned unto and into which they shall be cast at the judgement of the great day but that there is an intermediate estate though that very wretched and miserable under which they lye untill that day And I think this is sufficiently proved in both the branches of it by Scriptures strong and cleere for it and by the jugdements of holy and learned men commenting upon them and so is a sufficient answer to the first Part of the exception and enough to free me from Preaching New Doctrine and to declare that I am not alone in this Opinion Of the intermediate estate of souls separated from the body both of the just and the unjust nor walk in an untroden path where no foot is gone before me The second Part of the exception lyes in this That it is useless That admitting these tenents be true yet they are useless It demands therefore Whereto they are usefull To which I Answer Sol. The knowledge of them is usefull to many speciall purposes particularly to these First It is very satisfactory to the minde of every man I think that hath a soule to know the state of it both present and future yea to know as much of it as is knowable Knowledge is pretious and a great delight unto the soule When wisedom entreth into thy heart and knowledge delighteth thy soule saith Solomon Prov 2.10 So knowledge is a delight unto the soule and the more high and excellent the object is about which it is conversant the more excellent and pretious is the knowledge But what more high and pretious object can there be next unto God and the Angells then the spirits and souls of men What more worthy to take up our most serious thoughts and diligent studies then the disquisition of those high things that doe concerne them What more satisfactory then the attaining of them in all those things that are knowable Secondly 'T is usefull for preserving of men against Atheisme that bruitish sinne which doth so spread it selfe in the world and invaded so great a part of the Sonns of men for though they doe not speak out plainly with their Tongues yet how many of them say in their hearts and lives There is no God nor Devill nor Heaven nor Hell nor Angells nor Spirits nor souls of Men and all through their ignorance of this Point That they cannot satisfie themselves what becomes of the souls of men separated from their bodies through so long a tract of time as two three foure or five thousand years intermediate between the time of their dissolution by Death and their re-union again at the Resurrection Thirdly 'T is usefull to confirme men in the assurance of the Immortality of the soule while it informes them what becomes of it where it is and what it does or suffers where is the place of it what the state of it what the imployments what the enjoyments Concerning all which being before ignorant and in the dark they could not tell what to think of the souls of men more then of bruits of which Solomon takes notice Eccles 3.20 21. speaking in their Language Who knoweth whether the spirit of Man ascend upward and the spirit of a Beast descend downward All goe to one place c. and therefore rann away in their own fancies and vain imaginations into divers errors concerning the souls of men dying some imagining they were annihilated and altogether extinguished Some that they were layd asleep as the bodies were till the Resurrection Some that they were transmigrated out of one body into another Some one thing some another in the midst of these doubtfull varieties they began to question whether there were any difference between the souls of men and of bruits as Solomon here intimates and for want of some more distinct knowledge in this matter lived at a venture Against all these errors and evills the truths here delivered are a sure and soveraigne remedy the vain imaginations in which men rann away in the variety of their own fancies concerning the extinction annihilation sleeping transmigration c. of the souls of men dying all dye before these truths here delivered and vanish away and mens minds are setled and confirmed in the assurance of the immortality of the souls while they doe distinctly informe them what becomes comes of them into what receptacles they are received upon their separation and in what severall states they pass their immortality Fourthly It is usefull for admonishing of all men while they are in the body to take care of their souls and to provide for their future condition to preserve them pure that upon their separation they may