necessities in this world Christ saith vnto them Luk. 12.31 Feare not litle flocke for it is your fathers pleasure to giue you the kingdome and what greater preferment can they looke for Yea which is more that which but one can haue in a Realme here euery one shall be as a king Else how should it be true which wee read Reue. 3.11 Behold I come shortly hold that which thou hast that no man take thy crowne And that which the Apostle speaketh of himself 2. Tim. 4.7 I haue fought a good fight and haue finished my course For henceforth is laid vp for me the crowne of righteousnesse And the 24. Elders cast down their crowns before the throne of God Reue. 4.10 Earthly Princes want no worldly ioyes and they that weare crowns in heauen shall far more abound in all happinesse Those ioies which are highest on earth are of least account in heauen for all shall be crowned According to the speech of the Apostle 2. Tim. 4. Henceforth is laid vp for me the crowne of righteousnesse which the Lord the righteous iudge shall giue not to mee onely but vnto all them also that loue his appearing The place of Ierusalem where God would be worshipped which was in king Salomons time is now there which we do call the holy land which in times past was so famous that all nations had recourse thither And because of Gods worship and seruice and his manifold gracious blessings powred vpon that place therefore is the kingdome of heauen compared to this and called the new Ierusalem Likewise also Canaan that plentifull land which flowed with milke and honey which was the land that was promised to the people of Israel is compared to this heauenly habitation But as many dyed short of it and neuer entred into the land of Canaan some for murmuring some for whoredome some for idolatrie some for one offence some for an other So although wee heare of the ioyes of heauen and of this new Cittie and many would enter therein yet for their manifold offences in this time of our life in this time of our triall many are debarred from thence and fewe there are that are made the citizens of heauen Thus much for the place now for the commodities The heauenly ioyes of the soule The commodities which belong to this heauenly Ierusalem are first concerning the soule beeing the principall part of man Secondarily as touching the body for the body beeing ioyned vnto the soule shal be partaker of this inestimable happinesse that both in body and in soule the whole man may receiue his full perfection And whereas it is the chiefest delight of a godly minde to serue GOD especially in the Church and in the congregation in this celestiall Ierusalem there shall bee no Temple no Church And I sawe no Temple therein How then why the presence of GOD himselfe shall bee vnto them in stead of a Temple and Church For the Lord God Almightie the lambe are the Temple of it Thus in the presence of God shal be all happinesse and at his right hand there are pleasures for euermore And as it is said that the 24. Elders fel down before him that fate on the throne and worshipped him that liueth for euermore and cast their crowns before the throne so shall the Saints in heauen continually sing forth Gods praises Reue. 4.10 and 14.1 The hundred fortie and foure thousand which had the name of God in their foreheads did sing a new song before the throne and no man could learne that song but the hundred fortie and foure thousand which were redeemed from the earth Reue. 7. And there were that were cloathed in long white garments hauing palmes in theyr hands which cryed with a loud◠voyce saying Saluation be ascribed to him that fitteth vpon the seate of our God And all the Angels stood in the compasse of the seate which fell before the seate on their faces and worshipped God saying Amen Blessing and glory and wisedome and thankes and honour and power and might be vnto our God for euermore Now shall the minde heart thought and imagination of those that are thus blessed bee filled with all aboundance of spirituall comfort For now wee see as it were through a glasse but then shall wee see face to face Reue. 22.4 Then shall all errour and darknesse of ignorance bee vtterly taken away then shall wee not desire as now we doo in this life to see God as the Prophet Dauid speaketh My soule thirsteth after thee Like 〈…〉 Hart desireth the water brookes so 〈…〉 my soule after thee O God My soule 〈◊〉 athirst for God yea euen for the liuing God when shall I come to appeare before the presence of God At that time shall all our desires be fully satisfied And that which was denied the Prophet Moses to see the glory of God in this life Exo. 33.20 shall then be graunted to euery one that there shal be placed The griefe of minde and sorrowe of heart shall then be vtterly remoued no weeping no mourning no lamentation to be heard throghout that holy mountaine Behold saith the Prophet Esay in the person of God Chap. 65.13 My seruants shall reioyce and sing for ioy of heart I will ioy in my people and the voyce of weeping shall be no more heard nor the voyce of crying Reue. 21.4 For God shall wipe away all teares from their eyes and there shal be no sorrowe nor any more paine for the first things are past that is those things which wee suffred in this life shall not molest any more Then shall sorrow be neuer felt complaint shall neuer be heard matter of sadnesse shall neuer be seene neither shall euill successe at any time be feared No cause of feare no cause of griefe for that they shal possesse thee O Lord which art the perfection of their felicitie In him shall wee finde all knowledge all wisedome all bewtie all riches all nobilitie all goodnesse all delight and whasoeuer besides eyther deserueth loue and admiration or worketh pleasure and contentation All the powers of the minde shall be filled with the sight and presence and fruition of GOD all the sences of our body shall bee satisfied GOD shall bee the vniuersall felicitie of all his Saints containing in himselfe all particular felicities without ende number or measure He shal be a glasse to our eyes musicke to our eares hony to our mouthes most sweete and pleasant balme to our smell hee shall be light to our vnderstanding contentation to our will continuation of eternitie to our memory In him shall we enioy al the varietie of times that delight vs here and all the pleasures and ioyes that content vs here Finally the soule shall bee restored to the Image of of God in full measure and be throghly adorned with all righteousnes holinesse all heauenly and spiritual graces The heauenly ioyes of the body The commodities and priuiledges of the body also thus vnited to the
be placed in the heauenly Ierusalem and reckoned amōg the saints of God that the day of iudgement may not be a day of eternall condemnation vnto vs but euen the perfection of our saluation and redemption and the beginning of all ioy comfort While we liue here in this world let vs be alwayes ready by spending the time well For as we sowe so shall we reape As the holy Apostle doth put vs in minde Gal. 6.7.8 Bee not deceiued God is not mocked For he that soweth to the flesh by practising the workes of the flesh shall therefore reape corruption or rather as if he had said condemnation But he that soweth to the spirit by mortifying the deeds of the flesh by the good motions of Gods spirit shall there hence reape euerlasting life Which sentence I pray God print in all our hearts and so graciously prepare vs vnto the day of iudgement Now the very God of peace keepe vs in all well doing and in all good workes to do his will working in vs that which is pleasant in his sight through Iesus Christ to whom be praise for euermore Amen 2. Pet. 36. The world that then was perished ouerflowed with water 2. Pet. 3.7 But the heauens and earth which are now are kept by the same word in store and reserued vnto fire against the day of iudgement and of the destruction of vngodly men vers 9. The Lord is not slack but patient vers 10. Howbeit the day of the Lord will come as a theefe in the night in the which the heauens shall passe away with a noyse and the elements shall melt with heate and the earth with the workes therein shall be burnt vp Seeing therefore that all these things must be dissolued what manner persons ought ye to be in holy conuersation and godlynesse Looking for and hasting vnto the comming of the day of God by the which the heauens being on fire shal be dissolued But we looke for new heauens and a new earth according to his promise wherein dwelleth righteousnesse Wherefore beloued since ye looke for such things be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace without spot and blamelesse And suppose that the long suffering of our Lord is saluation 1. Pet. 4.7 Now the end of all things is at hand Be ye therefore sober and watching in prayer Luk. 21.34 Take heed to your selues least at any time your hearts be oppressed with surfetting and drunkennesse and cares of this life and least that day come on you at vnawares For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth Watch therefore and pray continually that ye may be counted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to passe and that ye may stand before the Sonne of man Arise ye dead and come to iudgement The end of the first Treatise A TREATISE OF the Ioyes of Heauen 1. Cor. 2.9 But as it is written The things which eye hath not seene neither eare hath heard neither came into mans heart are which God hath prepared for them that loue him IF the holy Apostle S. Paul being taken vp into Paradice heard such words which cannot bee spoken and are not possible for man to vtter as he testifieth of himselfe 2. Cor. 12.3 How should I take vpon mee to shewe you those Ioyes which neither eye hath scene nor eare hath heard nor euer entred into the heart of man Herein I know mens mindes wil run vpon needlesse curiosities which is no part of my dutie to satisfie as also to shew you mine owne deuices and imaginations were a thing to set forth my owne folly But so far forth as mans reason may search but there we must stay for mans reason in spirituall affaires is altogether foolishnesse nay rather so far forth as Gods word doth instruct vs we may be desirous to learne as also to be content although many things bee hid from vs. Let it therefore be sufficient vnto vs if wee may haue but a taste of those Ioyes and that it pleaseth God in a measure to graunt vs some knowledge of them Adam beeing in the earthly paradice knewe not all the secrets and commodities thereof and how shall wee thinke to attaine to the full knowledge of heauenly Paradice But seeing God doth graunt vs the vnderstanding of these matters but after a sort he doth it for our good that seeing those ioyes that we can conceiue are surpassing excellent and yet the heauenly ioyes do surmount our cōceits by many degrees further we might the more be drawne in loue with God himselfe who hath ordained such rare vnspeakeable incomprehensible and endlesse excellencies for them that loue him and liue in his obedience As also considering our own great vnworthinesse we might with the Prophet Dauid breake foorth into the praises of God 14.4.3 and say Lord what is man that thou hast such respect vnto him or the sonne of man that thou so regardest him Now as the Prophets doo stir vp the peoples mindes to serue and honor God by setting before them the temporal blessings of this life and thereby giuing them an earnest of greater blessings to come so is the happie estate of euerlasting life described vnto vs by such earthly comparisons as our natural capacitie can conceiue That we beholding in minde and contemplation those wonderfull Ioyes which we can conceiue we may grow into admiration of those heauenly and incredible excellencies which are altogether past our conceit and farre beyond our reach and vnderstanding For as spiritual blessings do far surpasse corporall blessings so heauenly ioyes do far exceed al earthly glory Yea and these stately secrets of an other life are so much hidden from flesh and bloud that all the learning of the wise men of the world can come nothing neare them That in this case they may truly say with the Astrologers of King Nabuchadnezzer Dan. 2. It is a rare thing and there is no other that can declare them but God himselfe whose dwelling is not with flesh The Turkish Paradice But let vs a little behold what flesh and bloud hath set downe concerning these ioyes of heauen In the Turkish Alcoran that is a booke which they vse in stead of a Bible which Booke Mahomet their Prophet left vnto them as the learned haue searched out thus the ioyes of heauen are set downe Their Prophet promiseth them garments of silke of all sorts of colours bracelets of gold and amber parlours and banquetting houses vpon flouds and riuers vessels of gold and siluer Angels seruing thē bringing in gold milk in siluer wine lodgings furnished cushens pillows and downe beds most bewtifull women to accompany them gardens and orchards with harbors fountains springs and all manner of pleasant fruits riuers of milk honey and spiced wine all manner of sweet odours perfumes fragrant sents and to be short whatsoeuer the flesh shall desire to eate Thus fleshly people haue a fleshly religion
and a fleshly paradice to inhabit and sensual men haue imagined the ioyes the heauen according to their sensual delights yet to them that haue any sence and reason it canot chuse but seeme to end all in a fable These ioyes are seene in Princes courts these ioyes are seene in the Turkissh kingdome but the ioyes of heauen are such that no eye hath euer seene them But to leaue these deceiued Turkes to their false and fained ioyes let vs consider what other haue imagined not much vnlike to this Which is expressed by way of cōparison of a poore mans miserable estate suddenly changed into most vnlooked for happinesse whereby the ioyes of an other life may appeare by the miseries of this life As if a poore man that were out of his way wandring alone vpon the mountaines in the midst of a darke and tempestuous night farre from company destitute of money beaten with raine terrified with thunder stiffe with colde wearied out with labour almost famished with hunger and thirst and neare brought vnto dispaire with multitude of miseries shuld vpon the suddain and in the twinckling of an eye This chāge is sudden and vnlooked for be placed in a goodly large and rich pallace furnished with all kind of cleare lights warme fire sweet smels daintie meates soft beds pleasant musicke fine apparell and honorable company all prepared for him and attēding his cōming to serue him to honor him and to annoynt crown him a king for euer Behold that miseries of this life the Ioyes of an other yet is this but an imagination and the wit and wisedome of man can deuice a great deale more and yet all are farre inferiour in degree to those true ioyes that hereafter shall be found See how the inuētiōs of mē blinded with their naturall conceits run all vpon outward comforts and sensuall ioyes all for the body and as for the soule that is not once remembred Now from the deuice◠inuentions and imaginations of men all which come nothing neare to the effect of this matter let vs now come to the Reuelation of the Scripture and if any where this blessed estate be to be found we shall read it in the Booke of the Reuelation Wherein although many things bee hard and intricate and passing mans vnderstanding yet is this matter liuely described after a measure and in a sort vnder the name of the citie of God and the heauenly Ierusalē And strāge it is that those matters that neither eye hath seene nor eare hath heard nor euer entred into the heart of man should so much bee opened and reuealed as there we may read Reue. 21. First thē let vs speak cōcerning the place The description of the place where these ioyes are to be found vnder the name of Ierusalem then concerning the commodities therto appertaining The place is heauenly Ierusalem the citie of God the land of the elect which the Apostle describeth after this sort And I Iohn saith he sawe the holy citie new Ierusalem come downe from God out of heauen prepared as a bride trimmed for her husband Whereof the Prophet Isay speaketh in the person of God Chap. 65.17 For loe I will create new heauens and a new earth and the former shall not be remembred nor come into minde But bee you glad and reioyce for euer in the things that I shall create For I behold I will create Ierusalem as a reioycing and her people as a ioy And I will reioyce in Ierusalem and ioy in my people and the voyce of weeping shall be no more heard in her nor the voyce of crying Likewise in the Epistle to the Heb. 12.22 we may behold the blessed estate of those that shall enioy the life to come Ye are come to the mount Sion and to the Citie of the liuing God the celestiall Ierusalem and to the company of innumerable Angels and to the congregation of the first borne which are written in heauen and to God the Iudge of all and to the spirits of iust and perfect men and to Iesus the mediator of the new testament And how this heauenly Citie and new Ierusalem is described we may read it notably set downe in the Reue. 21. Where by diuers earthly similitudes the glory thereof is shadowed setting foorth the same by those things which make earthly Cities famous and admirable as the compasse and height of the walles and stately building the gorgious furniture thereof Iewels and precious stones pleasant riuers and the tree of life in the midst thereof no night in the Citie But let vs behold the order and frame of this citie as we may read in the aforesaid 21. chap. of the Reuelation whither still I referre you The matter declared is as followeth beginning at the 12. verse of the Chapter This Citie Ierusalem had a great wall and a high and had twelue gates The Church disperced through the wordld Therefore the gates East West North South and at the gates twelue Angels and the names written which are the twelue Tribes of the children of Israel On the East part there were three gates and on the North side three gates and on the South side three gates and on the West side three gates And the wall of the Citie had twelue foundations and in them the names of the lambes 12. Apostles And the citie lay foure square and the length is as large as the bredth of it and the length and the breadth and the height of it are equall And the building of the wall of it was of Iasper and the foundations of the wall of the Citie were garnished with all maner of precious stones And the twelue gates were 12. pearles and euery gate is of one pearle and the streete of the citie is pure gold as shining glasse The names of the precious stones are further there recited You see in these words how glorious this citie of God is the walles of Iasper the foundations of precious stones the gates of Pearles the pauement of pure gold And if the walles streetes and gates bee such how much more ioyfull comfortable and incredible are those things within the citie for wee must perswade our selues that there are many hidden treasures and matters of farre more account Many things spoken of the outward place but those things which are within are vnsearchable According to that we read Reue. 2.17 To him that ouercommeth will I giue to eate of the Manna that is hid and will giue him a white stone and in the stone a new name written which no man knoweth sauing he that receiueth it So secret and hidden are the things within the citie This Ierusalē is also called a kingdome Luk. 22.29 Therefore saith Christ I appoynt to you a kingdome as my father hath appointed vnto me that ye may eate and drinke at my table in my kingdome and sit on seates and iudge the 12. Tribes of Israel And to cōfort the godly in all wants distresses and