Selected quad for the lemma: fire_n
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A50858
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A beame of light darted thorough [sic] the clouds, or, Truth breaking forth from under a veil by Joshua Miller.
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Miller, Joshua, 17th cent.
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1650
(1650)
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Wing M2062; ESTC R35047
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30,283
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75
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Saint I judge that all punishment for sin according to the terme of the word is taken away only a loving correction whether God castigates for sin or from sin I have a latitude in my judgement to suppose both may be true and I believe that Christ never so satisfied God as that he should not correct his people for Christs death did not at all extend to that particular when Christ bad his Disciples pray he exhorts them to say forgive us our trespasses Now if they need not to ask pardon in this sense why was this Petition included so it is spoken to Saints by the first words say Our Father now in what sense this Prayer may meane we should aske pardon I answer onely as to a Father and no otherwise so John If we confesse our sins he is faithfull and just to forgive us our sins 1 John 1.9 why was not sinne forgiven before Yea in respect of justification but this confession and pardon is only under a fatherly relation Yet hereby I doe not understand that our Prayers make any change in Gods Will but rather in praying God doth manifest what he will do to us and for us so then I judge that a Christian ought not to pray to God as a Judge for pardon but may consider him as a Father CHAP. V. Whether this visible world shall be destroyed or changed and how GOD from age to age brings forth some old truth as new unto the world therefore let not the Reader stumble if he find that here which may at present be contrary to most mens judgements For that opinion of some that say the world is judged already in the Saints in some respect is true to him that lives in spirit but I will not speak of that I leave the end to try all things My discourse shall only be of this question Whether this visible frame of things shall be destroyed or changed which is a great question amongst godly men which I say not that I will resolve but only hint at it as the truth is manifested in me First that this visible world shall be destroyed by materiall sire as some places seem to allow as 2 Pet. 3.7 where the heavens and the earth are kept in store reserved unto fire some think that as the old world was destroyed with water so the Anti-type must be like it that is to say destroyed by fire An argument for this opinion may be thus framed Fire is an element strong and fierce therefore all matter that is tangible by it may be consumed but the visible world hath matter fit for fire to feed upon therefore it shall be burnt But this argument is more logicall then theological and it wil not be a hard matter to prove that a great part of the earth and heavens is not matter for fire but rather fights against it In the 12. Verse of the aforesaid Chapter the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved and the element shall melt with fervent heat that as fire consumes all stubble so there shall be an utter consummation So in 2 Thes 1.8 he shall come in flaming fire taking vengeance some from these places conclude that it will be materiall fire and all things shall be burnt up Now to answer these places there are some Scriptures that speak not of an utter desolation and if I erre consider with thy self I am not alone I may ask whether those former places speak of fire in a metaphoricall sense and by way of allusion and no more that as the nature of fire is to purge and purifie drosse out of metalls and it suddenly burnes up all combustible matter so this may note the suddennesse of that change and that it will purge the world of its drosse And for the havens melting with fervent heat it may point this to us that they shall melt so as wax doth by the candle where it is not destroyed but onely made pliable to receive the impression of the scale so the heavens may thus be said to melt that is to say not destroyed but only changed from those corrupt qualities that are in it not of the substance it shall receive the deep impression of Gods image and glory Now to illustrate this that there will only be a change 2 Pet. 3.13 Neverthelesse we look for a new heaven and a new earth wherein dwells righteousnesse This seems to allow that only the corruption shall be taken away and we shall have a new heaven and earth in righteousnesse They shall be brought forth into a state of purity freed from bondage Non per interitum pristinorum sed commutationem in melius not by a destruction of the old but by a change into a better so David speaks Psal 102.26 The heavens shall waxe old as a garment as a vesture shalt thou change them and they shall be changed He saith not here destroy them Now the changing a thing is a converting the same to the best advantage And the allusion seems to be strange that as a vesture when changed is not destroyed but onely refined drest the best side outward So the world hath at present corruption covering it as a garment therefore it may be translated into a better state For if Davids words hold true then it must be changed but not destroyed And indeed the worst side of the world is now outward since Adams fall But I will not determine whether this change will be by materiall fire or whether fire in those places be a figurative speech For the instrumentall cause of this change I may have some ground to suppose the contrary but will leave this to the end which tries all things Some have converted these Scriptures into other mysterious senses and I judge a spirituall use may be made of all things Yet let none be so ignorant as to bind one sense upon such places as these are for some Scriptures have both a literall and a spirituall meaning under them For instance where Christ is said to raise the dead cleanse the lepers heal the sick and the like no man can truly deny but that CHRIST did fulfill this in the letter yet he doth it in a spirituall sense also every man hath Microcosmos Ecclesiast 3.11 a little world in him Now God in order to the great change begins first in mans heart therefore let Christians take heed of denying one truth by binding it to another For to avoid error I would take such Scriptures in the largest sense for both these meanings may be in few words CHAP VI. Whether all creatures shall be restored to their pristinate state in Adam THE whole Creation since Adams fall hath been subject to innumerable evills and changes Now some are of opinion that all creatures shall be restored excepting such as are for the food and cloathing of man and they give this reason because man shall have no need then of such helps but shall be perfect I answer By the same rule all creatures shall
conceives pleasant Divine joy moves in the same manner as earthly joy doth but onely pitcht upon a higher object These two wayes divine joy manifests it self to us First union is the principall conduit-pipe through which this joy proceeds A soul united to the Lord hath all from him What an ocean of joy coms into the soul with that appropriating title God is mine For all true joy flowes as naturally from this as the river runs from the Sea and indeed the cause of mans misery in earth ariseth from a not-knowing himself united to the Lord by one Spirit for this union is much more glorious then any relation on earth and carries all sweetnesse and delight with it The knot of union is tied so strong by divine love that what ever is Gods pleasure can never be a Saints paine propriety gives life to a cause when a soul can say God and all in him is mine and for me what joy do you think it will produce Then secondly possession adds much to a divine joy thus faith doth give the soul a possession of him who possesseth all things untill a man hath possession in his own lands he can never fully rejoyce for this aggravates my joy when I have so much as at my command Good old Simeon when he had imbraced Christ in the arms of faith then for joy desired to die that he might fully possesse him Thus a soul when injoying Christ in the arms of faith his sorrowes are gone what joy was there for the lost Prodigall when he was come to his Fathers house As in outward delights those of incorporation are better then those of adhesion so inward joyes they are strongest because they proceed from a fruition of good not a speculative apprehension Now God is such an infinite eternall good that the soul is united to him joy by this dilates and opens the heart whence it is called Latitia which signifies joy to be a spreading passion for the object is so universally good and sweet that divine joy cannot be bound but runs out freely to this glorious object and there can be no locking up of divine joy but it runs forth as the father to meet the lost Prodigall The nature of this joy as one saith is like the water of Esculapius his well which is not capable of putrifaction This I am sure of where the soule joyes in God there can no poison mix with it and there can be no excesse in this delight for heaven is its proper title which signifies a Kingdome of Joy At thy right hand are pleasures for evermore Now the excellency of divine joy further appears in two things 1. First it beholds life in eternity for in all naturall things joy doth arise from some kind of life or motion Eternall life is the womb of divine joy that first brought it forth and is the nurse that feeds it and strengthens it Therefore when the soule rightly understands that it shall live with the Lord the spirit is exalted to satiate it self upon life on the contrary take a man that knowes not this life for the most part when he comes to die he is sad despairing for death naturally produceth sorrow as life doth joy Therefore there shall be more joy in heaven at the conversion of one sinner then of ninety nine that need no repentance to intimate unto us that the joy of a dead man raised to life is much increased by the difficulties it met with in conquering death 2. Secondly Divine joy transports the soul beyond a fear of suffering nay the soul thus set upon glory rejoyceth in tribulation it selfe Col. 1.11 Therefore the Saints of old rejoyced that they were counted worthy to suffer Now affliction is an evill not to be desired yet considering the event all sufferings that they make way for a greater glory thus a Saint in divine joy sees to the end of all sufferings And as a woman in travail forgets her pains for joy that a man-child is born into the world so divine joyes snatches up the soule above all earthly burthens As some Martyrs sung in the fire M. Philpot said the world wonders how we can be so merry in such misery but they consider not that God turneth our miseries into felicitie So Vincentius laughing at the tortures laid upon him said they were his Jocularia Ludicra matters of sport and pastine to him Now another reason why Saints joy in suffering is Christ went as a patterne before us Heb. 12.2 Who for the joy that was set before him indured the Crosse despised the shame Old Latimer tells us that it 's the greatest promotion God gives in this world thus a soul in divine joy calls death no more Marah but Naomi A man in heavenly joy we may ask him quid agis but may as well draw in all the breath of the world as tell what a Saint is about not that there is want of words but want in words to expresse it Therefore it is called unspeakable joy 1 Pet. 1.8 not but that we may speak of it but we cannot describe the dimensions of this joy Thus far of the nature of divine joy An incouragement to joy in the Lord. AS a bird while prisoned in a cage sings little and dolefully but when set at liberty in the open aire it sings sweetly so a Saint is in a cage of an uncleane world where his joy is but sparkling but when in the open aire of Gods sweet Kingdome then the soule will sing sweetly as the singers of Israel Rejoyce then in hope O my soule let thy winter seasons be past over with delight For thy summer is nigh Art thou afraid of death Look into the land of the living and tell me is not death swallowed up in victory Art thou afraid of men why behold Collos 3.3 thy life is hid with Christ in God lock'd up as a Jewell in a Casket Art thou afraid of finne doth that hinder joy The sting of death which is sinne is taken away Christ hath fully satisfied the father for thee death is but life growing out of it sorrow is joy in its seed budding forth sufferings are but so many lesser Crownes breaking forth into greater glories Why should not a Saint rejoyce in all states look on thy Saviour hast thou not cause to joy in him While I thus beheld the God of Love alas what 's the world to me In its smiles frownes deaths contradictions I compare it thus It is as a picture drawne out by a curious Artist where it is not one colour makes the image comely but all the colours the black as well as the white line the red as well as the blew that makes it delectable Thus all in the world is but a connexion of colours take all together they make a sweet harmony then O soul rejoyce and know that all things work for thy good the dark part as well as the bright part of things whilest thy joy is in the Lord then in every thing thou meetest with thou meetest with a pleasure for thy God doth all things well delight thy heart in the Lord if Satan hurt thy soule vvith his bloud-hounds fly to the rock of Gods love thou art safe fly in all thy distresse by this wing of love to love A Saint filled vvith joy flies to heaven aforehand and hath the svveet fellowship of Gods Angells spirits of just men in this blessed work of joy Paul was thus rapt up to the third heaven O the sweet glorious divine everlasting surpassing viveficating soul-filling spirit-strengthning unknown yet well known joys of glory thy joy O earth is but as the crackling of thorns thou art drossy frothy frenzy in thy joy all thine is but imaginary conceited joy A Christian sees that every thing is but borrowed in the world time will challenge all suddenly the great man rich man noble man voluptuous man covetous man time will challenge you all then whose are your honours riches pleasure profits all die with you but blessed are such as partake of divine Joys I onely can point at this joy but cannot paint it out to you Therefore rejoyce in the Lord alway and again I say rejoyce Phil. 4.4 FINIS