Arms should be such as that holy Martyr Mr. Hooper had when Installed Bishop of Worcester A Lamb in a Flaming-bush with raies from Heaven shining on it A Lamb for meekness innocency and profitableness in a Bush burning amidst wicked men brambles and thorns set on fire of Hell and burning with malice Yet 1. Sweet influences of Heaven let out upon it he hath the grace and enjoys the consolation of the Blessed Spirit Now Heb. 13.20 21. that you may be truly righteous righteous before God then you will shine forth here 1. With a clear a glorious light such a convincing light as may condemn the world of sinners for their aberrations and shame some Saints out of their deviations from the ways of holiness and righteousness and encourage weaker Christians to make a farther progress in them 2. With your own innate light as true Nathanaels Jews inwardly and not only in outward show and profession as such in whom there is no guile then your conversation will be as the shining light which shineth more and more unto the perfect day Prov. 4.18 3. With a constant durable light in Heaven your light of glory will everlastingly shine before Saints let your light of grace and holiness on earth continually shine before men To quicken you thereunto Consider again and again security of the Coelestial Kingdom the glory of it and the seasonableness of the time when you shall there shine forth in glory as you have heard 1. It 's a most safe and secure place 1. By reason of its height 't is above far out of the reach of scandals such as do offend and do iniquity of all sinners and persecutors be they men or Devils Luther being asked when many were engaged and enraged against him and sought his life Where he thought he might be safe replied either in one corner or other under heaven or in heaven I 'le assure you you will have little content comfort and peace on earth if your hopes and hearts be not much in Heaven and they will never fix on Heaven if your thoughts and affection be not set upon it Every day cast up an eye towards Heaven and by the Telescope of your faith taâ—e the height of it 2. 'T is a most holy place after Saints have been in heaven upon earth had much communion with God and comfort they fall into some sin and such a condition that all their hopes of ever getting to heaven are in a manner lost and gone When God hath once seated you in heaven you need not fear being plucked or falling thence Adam abode not in Paradise Divines think one day some Angels that dwelt in heaven preserving not their original excellency soon left their habitation But God takes his children to his house that they may abide and dwell there for ever 2. Take an exact observation view the glory of it 't is the Kingdom of our Father where he sits in his Majesty in glory 'T is ours our own Inheritance our Father prepared it for us before the foundation of the world Every morning every evening through the perspective of the Word contemplate Heaven some mornings Lords-days at least rise before the Sun look up through the Aereal to the Sidereal Heaven and thus meditate Yonder are the glorious Heavens where God hath pitched a Tabernacle for the Sun that glorious bridegroom comes out of his chamber how doth he smile and rejoice to run his race from the end of the heaven to the ends thereof Through grace I shall hereafter be even in this body more glorious than that Sun There 's another the Empyrean the third heaven the place of residence of the God of glory Thither one day will he take me up to live for ever with himself in glory my Redeemer is already gone thither and sits at his right hand in the glory of the Father Oh the height of that heaven 't is infinitely higher than that inferior heaven whence the Sun comes forth to shine for a while yet a little while and that Sun will be laid aside and set set once for all and be and shine no more when I with blessed Saints and Angels shall be with Christ and God and shine with them in glory to all eternity Oh the height of that heaven 't is infinitely above the reach of Persecutors of all the Devils of all the Damned they will never pluck them thence out of the hands of Jesus the Son of God they can't pluck him out of the right hand of his Father nor his Father from his Throne Oh the holiness of that place And when your thoughts and meditations have made you more spiritual more holy more heavenly and to shine more in grace and holiness that day then at the evening when ye look out of your doors or windows or walk forth behold and think how do those Stars an innumerable company differ in glory yet all glissen What a vaste resplendent body is the Moon each of the Planets all the light they have was imparted to them by the Sun that shined in the day-time all is nothing to the glory of Heaven Oh the holiness of the highest heavens Where all the Stars the Saints that shined as lights in the world shall give forth their light and shine as the Sun and with light and glory imparted from the Lord Jesus the Sun of Righteousness shall shine out in the glory of the Father How incomprehensible even to Saints Angels Christ himself as man must the glory of the Father be that communicates such light to Christ Angels and Saints This bespangled firmament seems glorious 't is not heaven nothing like it not like the floor and pavement of our Fathers house 't is an out-room which shall be pulled down and burnt Above above is the Presence-Chamber I long to see the King in his Beauty in his Palace and will through grace live as a child of God and hold forth the word of life in my conversation 3. Ponder upon the seasonableness of the time not now but 1. at the Resurrection day when sin affliction sorrows shall flee away and so forward an inconceivable tract of time Eternity not measured by the duration of any creature but of the ever-living God shall ye shine out Think then through the disposition of the only wise God some have their Sun-shine others rainy and tempestuous seasons all their days say what though I have been most if not all my days disesteemed yea contemn'd and scorned in the world under many various long and sore afflictions and had small comfort but in suffering with and for Christ This is my lot and portion Hereafter I shall reign with Christ and be glorified My Saviour once said â—o sinners this is your hour and the power of darkness You have your authority by Divine permission and your Father the Devil the Prince of Darkness his Usurpation by your high Court of Justice to extinguish me the Sun of Righteousness the
of the calamities which befell the Jews under Antiochus at that very time the Church shall have an eminent Temporal deliverance a pledg of one more glorious eternal Salvation by the coming of the great Prince Michael the eternal Son of God Who is like him the Lord of hosts that standeth on his Churches side against the Devil and all in confederacy with him So in the Antiparallel Rev. 20.8 when the City is begirt assaulted battered and storm'd the Lord Christ the Captain-General comes in to its relief works such a deliverance as soon ends in everlasting salvation for then many all an innumerable companies of Saints whose bodies slept in the dust shall arise unto an eternal life in glory as appears by its being opposed to that shame and everlasting contempt the rest shall awake unto Isa 66.24 and stand as statues of ignominy to all eternity 1 Joh. 3.2 Now we are and shine as the children of God in grace but it appears not what we shall be and how we shall shine in glory hereafter The Excellencies of the righteous innate light Grace Holiness and righteousness of Truth appear only to a few Some Philosophers unwise as they are have gone about to number the Stars but Gen. 15.15 Jer. 32. God only Psal 147.4 all don't appear at all time to all persons nor to any at the first view and at too great a distance They that have the best eye-sight and longest and most carefully view them observe most In the Church some Saints give forth more light and are very conspicuous 2 Cor. 8.18 Some less which yet is well discerned by such as take an exact view of them and as near as they can true grace will shine where ever it is but some persons graces are little observed by others that think they have none Some cast out a very little light which is seen only by those that have the spirit of discerning after long observation and some do not go for Saints which would appear such if exactly viewed and not at too great a distance and will be approved at the day of Judgment 1 Cor 4.6 2 Tim. 2.19 1 Joh. 3.1 But as to the blind world Saints shine not they that are most eminent for grace holiness seem mean obscure very contemptible in the eyes of the generality both sinners and hypocrites especially of your Don Illustrissimo's and Virtuoso's in the world 2. That instant when the Excellencies of Saints shall shine forth is opposed to that moment of time when the Tares all hypocrites unrighteous ones shall be thrown head-long by the Angels into the flaming fiery furnace that deep yea bottomless pit of far worse than Egyptian darkness when the world was drowned Noah and his family were saved and when God will not spare hypocrites but give them their portion Mat. 24.51 immerse them in a deluge of everlasting fire Mat. 25.41 46. Then Mal. 3.17 18. they shall appear most glorious when the childten of the Devil shall be tormented and seeing the children of God thus dignified advanced shall envying them and their happiness fume and fret and for rage and madness gnash their teeth which it seems will be their posture and guise to all eternity For the demonstration of this truth the foregoing Scripture-exposition of the subject affords us these undeniable arguments for satisfaction of our judgment and confirmation of our belief of it 1. Because they are the children of God he hath designed them for future for eternal glory 1. He has chosen them in Christ that they should be holy and shining in grace here and most happy and glorious hereafter to the praise of his own glorious grace Eph. 1.3 4 6 11. 2. In pursuance thereof God hath out of his electing love through his abundant mercy regenerated them Now consider 1. The Kingdom of Heaven is his and the power 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the right to confer it on as many and whom he pleaseth and Luk. 12.13 't is his good pleasure to bestow it upon all the righteous and only upon them Amongst men the eldest son goes away with the Inheritance the younger with Portions only the regenerate as children of men may not be born to any great matters but as they are the children of God they are born to the glorious Kingdom of their Father in Heaven 2. All the glory of and in Heaven is Gods own and at his sole disposal Rom. 5.2 He loves the righteous whom he hath made so near and dear to himself as that he will confer it on them An earthly King can bestow his Kingdom only upon the Prince his eldest Son but the God of glory hath Phil. 4.19 riches in glory enough for the Prince and all his other children whom he makes coheirs with Christ of that incorruptible inheritance even heirs of God himself This is not gotten by them but they are begotten to it by a mighty work of God upon their hearts and that according to his abundant mercy 1 Pet. 1.3 out of meer grace and love will he freely confer it on them 2 Because they are one with Christ here and shall have a more perfect indissoluble union with him hereafter Christ doth therefore all that are by faith united to him shall shine in glory 1 Tim. 3.16 he was re assumed into glory not only received assumed and taken up into glory So Saints that never were in Heaven shall be received or assumed Psal 49.15 after God has guided them with his counsel he will receive them to glory i e. assume and take them up into a copartnership to have their share in it every one his proportion but Christ that came down from Heaven was again received or assumed into glory according to his prayer Joh. 17.5 Christ was glorious within both as God and man here but his glory did not shine out only the few that were near and had an exact view of him Joh. 1.14 he was covered with a vail of flesh as to humane infirmities in the likeness of sinful flesh which darkened his glory A world of contumelies yea blasphemies cast on him did more obscure it That which did eclâ—pse it was Divine desertion when under the sense of Divine wrath for our sins laid upon him with a great skreik he gave up the Ghost when the Sun also in the Firmament as it were in sympathy put on mourning and seemed a meer lump of darkness which made the Philosopher that observed it cry out Either the God of Nature suffers or the world will be dissolved Christ abased himself and emptied himself of his glory during the state of Humiliation At his glorious Ascension into Heaven he shone forth as God with the glory he had with God from eternity and the humane nature sharing with the Divine according to its capacity as God man he is glorified with God himself and shines forth in the glory of the Father What he suffered was as our surety as a publick
all are burning and shining lights 2. They shall shine out here as the Greek word intimates are they under a cloud hereafter they shall break forth shine clearly and gloriously as the light of the Sun doth when on a sudden it breaks out as we think from under a Cloud there 's too much here that darkens and obscures their lustre splendor radiant and shining brightness which then shall be scattered dispel'd driven away and that for ever 1. Alas they are much darkened here by bodily weaknesses and distempers 2. Much more by humane frailties though regenerate they are but men though Saints not glorified remainders of inbred corruption and prevalent temptations much obscure them Paul the chief of the Apostles speaks most of his Infirmities 3. Most of all in the eyes of others by abundance of dirt a world of slanders as false as foul aspersions flung upon them which at present too much Eclipse their light and lustre but will serve then only for the better setting of it off Besides 4. Here they are under the Cross and manifold Afflictions which make many speak and censure hardly of them and yet work together only to purge their filth away and to file off their dross 1 Pet. 1.6 7. For then 3. they shall shine forth as the Sun i. e. 1. With a most full perfect and glorious light such as we are not able to conceive of much less to express 'T is therefore shadowed out by a familiar Metaphor from the Sun which even Children know to be the greatest and the clearest light Here they appear and twinkle now and then like the Stars those lesser lights of Heaven then shall they shine with a far greater an incomparably more glorious light like the Sun it self 2. Nativo lumine with their own light received at their first Creation their Regeneration and from that time encreasing in Grace till it advance to its full growth and perfection in glory The path of the just shineth more and more unto the perfect day Whereas Hypocrites like the Ignes faetui Fire-drakes blaze a little here with an Adventitious light which will evaporate quickly be extinct and dye with them as soon as those gross vapors sumes and exhalations from the Earth whereof they consist are spent and gone whilest the Coast is clear and the Air serene they glister but when the wind and storms arise they go out in a snuff and stench 3. With a perpetual yea an everlasting light The light of the Sun who is the fountain of light and the Eye of the World is constant and cannot be extinguisht unless you could pluck or put it out 2. The place where The Kingdom of their Father that is Mat. 5.16 in Heaven where he sits upon his Throne in Majesty Isa 66.1 So it is 1. a most glorious place God as to his Essential Powerful Providential presence is every where fills Heaven and earth Jer. 23.23 24. Psal 139.8 c. But his most special glorious presence is in Heaven called 2 Cor. 12.1 the third Heaven Whatever Philosophers may opine concerning the number of the Heavens Scripture enumerates them to be three 1. The place betwixt the visible Firmament and the Earth Gen. 1.20 2. Where the Sun Moon and Stars are fixed Gen. 1.14 Psal 19.1 4. The third above all where is Gods Dwelling-place Psal 123.1 and Sion-Colledg the Mansions and Lodgings of Blessed Angels and glorified Saints They have all their name from the Hebrew word which signifies light Some light there is in the Aereal Heaven from the Sun Moon and Stars which makes it comfortable much more in the Sidereal where those glorious lights are set up Infinitely more in the Empyrean where God is light 1 Joh. 1.5 the Sun the fountain of it Jam. 1.17 and dwells in light 2 Tim. 6.16 the sight whereof no creature can endure till glorified and made meet for it so great is the supereminence of the Divine Glory yet here the righteous partaking thereof shall shine forth as the Sun according to the several degrees of Divine light which they receive 2. A most secure place Their several Orbs are so fixed here they shall never fall or be plucked out An Astrologer observed a new Star in Cassiopea others fancy they have seen more but was it ever found that any of the old Stars were extinct and lost but these lower Heavens 2 Pet. 3.10 in the twinkling of an eye shall pass away and be seen no more with a great noise as many famous places the Exchange did in the dreadful Conflagration a ratling noise or like the noise of the wheels of Chariots that run swiftly or of waves in a storm at Sea rushing by us or as Parchment hizzeth when 't is cast into the fire the Firmament that scroll of the Heavens shall be rolled up thrown into the fire and shrivel up with fervent heat and the Sun shall no more set as Poets fancied in Thetis her lap a sea of waters but shall be extinct in an Ocean of fire and so put out then that Heaven wherein righteousness the spirit of the just made perfect Christ and God dwell for ever For 2. It is the highest Heaven far out of the reach of the Prince and all the powers of Darkness and their Comrades the Beast and false Prophet All which accursed crew shall be thrown into the lowermost hell And it is the Kingdom of God Almighty who is able to preserve them The Rabbins do not groundlesly assert that the souls of the righteous in Heaven do adhâ—re unto and hold fast by the right hand of God for ever in that he held the Stars his faithful Ministers and Saints here and can any think you if they would attempt it in Heaven pluck them out 2. It is Psal 24.3 the Lords holy place the Holy of holies where there can be no sin as there was in Paradise or temptation unto sin From eternity God was a Heaven to himself Then with his own hands he created and built Heaven of old Ps 102.25 not that he might be comprehended there but to be a palace for his residence the habitation of his holiness Psal 103.19 and an house for his children to live comfortably in safety Saints of themselves could not it may be would not continue in grace here in glory hereafter but God is not only able to preserve them in glory but their gracious God and Father and he will do it After 3. The time then which carries a double Antithesis in it 1. More generally of time future of eternity I should say to this now this moment of their life here Job 14.1 the few days of Saints are full of trouble Act. 14 22. The clearest Sun-shining day succeeds the darkest night and glorious deliverances of particular Saints and the whole Church after days of most sore affliction at length after that time of trouble such as never was before Dan. 12.1 2. understand it
his as it was of the Lords preaching in the land of Zebulon The people which sat in darkness saw great light and to them which sat in the region of the shadow of death light sprang up And lastly in this great City where his sphere being not spacious enough for so great a light was enlarged Here he intended to have given forth a compleat body of Divinity but alas after he had demonstrated the Being and Existence of God this Sun set before he had gone over half of his transcendent Excellencies and Perfâ—ctions The last subject he treated on and finished was the Patience of God He was looking what to say next of the Mercy Grace and Goodness of God which he is gone to see and to admire for he found that which he most looked and longed for The mercy of our Lord Jesus unto eternal life in heaven where he shines now Indeed all the while he was upon the Attributes of God he moved with that extraordinary strength and celerity 't was an argument of his near approach unto his center his everlosting Rest and if it be true as some say that the Soul doth prominere in Morte his words were too true Predictions and from his Soul when he said that concerning Divine patience would be his last Sermon which the Lord grant may prove Salvation to all that heard him Let me advise you dry your eyes he is translated to Heaven to shine forth Here your Timothy was something obscured by manifold infirmities a crazy Body weak Eyes one dark the other dim a Hand that would shake sometimes an infirm Stomack an aking Head a fugitive memory which after it had failed him sometimes he would never trust again but verbatim pen'd and read all his Notes whereas till of late years in Preaching he never look'd within them more by a little Passion or choler which through grace he turned into the right channel most of all by foul and false Aspersions cast upon him as if he was Melancholly Reserv'd Unsociable to which all his acquaintance will give a character of him diametrically opposite How cheerful free loving sweet-disposition'd was he in all Companies where he could take delight He was their Love their Delights Well your Stephen has seen the Glory of God and Jesus at his right hand in the Glory of the Father and now he shines forth as a Star as the Sun it self for ever and ever I know it the Word of God is Truth They that turn many to righteousness shall shine as the stars for ever Dan. 12.3 As a Learned Rabbin comments upon the Words They that in their life-time followed the righteousness of God and were the adjuvant causes to make others to work and do righteousness shall attain to a more eminent degree of light and glory from the brightness of the Shechinah or the Divine Presence and their faces shall shine as the face of Moses did when he had been long fed with and lived upon the Divine-light and that for ever for they shall sin no more as here as oft as they sinned they lost degrees of the excellency of their dignity but shall with an absolute perfection be made perfect Then also whatever did let and oppress their shining forth viz. the Captivity we may say Temptations to sin or their being in part carnal and sold under sin Satan and the evil figment or remainders of corruption shall cease And you know that your Sun which is now set did follow after holiness and rejoyced as a strong man a Giant to run that race the light of his Doctrine was pure perfect sure right enlightning the eyes converting the soul making wise the simple and rejoycing the heart Your Teacher was though not a perfect man a perfect Minister thorowly accomplish'd by the Spirit and the Word of Truth the Old and New Testament I never in all my life knew any that had attained near unto that skill he he had in both their Originals except Mr. Thomas Cawton unto all those four good works of the Ministry 2 Tim. 3.16 1. Doctrine i. e. clearly to Expound 1. the Promise the Covenant of Grace the Gospel 2. The Law and so to Preach over the Apostles whole System of Divinity Faith and Love which is in Christ In this which is the only true Divinity he was a most judicious solid and sound Divine As for 2. Reproof he was an able and an Orthodox Divine a Professor in Divinity able to convince of every sin to refute every error to demonstrate the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of each Antichristian or other false opinion 3. For correction and restauration of any that through infirmity or temptation had fallen into sin to the wounding of his Conscience he was an excellent Casuist a most experimental Preacher a most discreet and experienced Divine 4. For instruction in righteousness he knew the way to Heaven and how to conduct and take his Hearers along with him He was a most Powerful and Practical Preacher He was so but now he is not He is not so to you All that I speak I see doth but renew your grief but moderate your sorrows Yea sorrow not Read what Dr. Bates in his Funeral-Sermon on Dr. Manton cites out of Chrysostom pag. 47. yea read the Text 1 Thes 3. from v. 13. to the end Mr. Charnock his soul is gone his body will be raised to be for ever with the Lord. You 'l say you weep for your selves truly well you may yet think not because he hath left you that you are left of God I own it your loss is so great that it cannot be repaired but by God himself Continue in Prayers that God would please to raise you up a Pastor by whose Ministry you may be called more and more effectually to the obtaining of the Glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Were I to speak to Mr. Charnock's people I should beg of them to be most circumspect and prudent in calling one to establish you if they could meet with to chuse such a one as he was a powerful Preacher a good Casuist a judicious Divine a Doctor yea Professor in Divinity I know not what more to advise pray I will since a Chariot of fire hath parted Mr. Charnock and you that a double portion of his Spirit may be and rest on him whom the Lord shall chuse and direct you to pitch upon to succeed him that whilst you are crying my Father my Father the Chariots of Israel and the Horsemen thereof the enemy may not pursue your Souls break in upon rout scatter and divide and so ruine you and your Congregation Amen! Amen! FINIS Pictores P. Ichram absolutámq faciem rarò nis in pejus effingunt Plin. sec lib. 5. c. 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Stumbling-blocks Traps 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not only as Justin and Gr. Nyssen cite it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 G Nazian Orat. 1â— Rom. 3.10 c. Splendida