lose a member of his body then his body is not perfect for how can that body be perfect which wants a limb and if Christ may lose one member from his body why not as well all by the same reason and so he shall be an head without a body but be assured the union with Christ cannot be broken Ioh. 17.12 and so long the inheritance cannot be lost What was said of Christs natural body is as true of his mystical A bone of it shall not be broken Look how every bone and limb of Christs natural body was raised up out of the grave and carried into heaven so shall every member of his mystical body joyned to him by the eternal Spirit be carried up into glory Feare not O ye Saints neither sinne nor Satan can dissolve your union with Christ nor by consequence hinder you of that blessed place where your Head is Quest. Here it will be asked Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord Psal. 24.3 who shall be a Citizen of this new Hierusalem which is above Answ. The new creature this you reade of 2 Cor. 5. vers 17. This new creature doth disponere ad coelum prepare for the new Hierusalem This is the Divine and curious Artifice of the Holy Ghost in our hearts forming Christ in us the same Holy Ghost that overshadowed the Virgin Mary and formed the Humane Nature of Christ in her wombe doth work and produce this new creature O thou blessed man and woman in whom this new creature is formed I may say to thee as the Angel to Mary That which is conceived in thee is of the Holy Ghost Of all God's creatures the new creature is the best Then let me aske Art thou a new creature Art thou a scion cut off from the wilde Olive of nature and ingrafted into a new stock the Tree of Life Hath God defaced and dismantled the old man in thee doth some limbe drop off every day Hast thou a new heart Ezek. 36. verse 26. Till then thou art not fit for the new heaven Art thou new all over Hast thou a new eye to discerne the things that differ Hast thou a new appetite Doth the pulse of thy soul beate after Christ It is onely the new creature which shall be heire of the new Hierusalem When thou wert sailing to Hell for we have both winde and tyde to carry us thither hath the North and South-winde awaked Hath the gale of the Spirit blown upon thee and turned thy course Art thou now sailing to a new Port Hath the seale of the Word stamped a new and heavenly print upon thee Then I am speaking all this while to thee this blessed inheritance is entailed upon thee But if thou art an old sinner expect that heaven should be kept as Paradise with a Flaming Sword that thou mayest not enter Be assured God will never put the new Wine of glory into an old musty bottle Heaven is not like Noah's Arke that received cleane beasts into it and uncleane this inheritance doth not receive all comers It is only the wheat that goes into Christs garner what hath the chaffe to do there this inheritance is only for them that are sanctified Act. 20.32 Is thy heart consecrated ground We read that in the time of Ezra after the returne of the people from the captivity some who were ambitious of the Priesthood sought the writings of the Genealogies but they were not found among the numbers of the Priests therefore they were put by as polluted from the Priesthood So whosoever they be that think to have a part in this blessed place if their names be not found that is if they are not new creatures they shall be put away as polluted from this inheritance CHAP. X. The fifth Prerogative Royal. I Passe on to the next thing to come which is 5. Our Knowledge shall be clear Knowledge is a beautifull thing such was Adam's ambition to know more that by tasting the Tree of Knowledge he lost the Tree of Life In Heaven our knowledge shall be cleare Religion is a continued riddle many things we have now but in the notion which then we shall see perfectly now we know but in part The best Christian hath a vaile upon his eye as the Iews have upon their heart hereafter the vaile shall be taken off Here we see through a glasse darkly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in a riddle or mystery then face to face that is clearly There are five Mysteries which God will clear up to us when we are in heaven 1. The great Mystery of the Trinity this we know but in part Unity in Trinity and Trinity in Unity where One makes Three and Three make but One this is bad Arithmetick but good Divinity we have but dark conceptions of it it is a Mystery so deep that we may soon wade beyond our depth Augustine being to write his Books of the Trinity was taught modesty by a childe who was lading the Sea into a little Spoon to whom Augustine said that he laboured in vaine for his little Spoone would not containe the Sea to whom the childe answered My little Spoone will sooner hold this vast Ocean then your shallow brain can containe the depth of the Trinity How little a portion is known of God If Iob asked the question Who can understand the Thunder we may much more ask Wo can understand the Trinity but in heaven we shall see God as he is that is perfectly Quest. But shall every Saint enjoy God so perfectly that he shall have the same knowledge that God hath Answ. the infinite essence of God shall appâ—ar to the Saints Tota but not totaliter we shall have a full knowledge of God but not know him fully yet we shall take in so much of God as our humane nature is capable of it will be a bright and a glorious knowledge here we know him but ab effectu by his Power Wisdom Mercy we see but his back-parts there we shall see him face to face 2. The Mystery of the incarnation Christ assuming our humane nature and marrying it to the divine Therefore call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God-man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God with us A Mystery which the Angels in heaven adore God said The man is become as one of us Gen. 3.22 but now we may say God himselfe is become as one of us it was not only mirandum but miraculum There was nothing within the sphere of natural causes to produce it The incarnation of Christ is catena aurea a golden chaine made up of several links of Miracles For instance that the Creatour of heaven should become a creature that eternity should be born that he whom the heaven of heavens cannot containe should be enclosed in the womb that he who thunders in the clouds should crie in the cradle that he who rules the starres should suck the breasts that he who
might Solomon say Better is the day of a mans death then the day of his birth Death is the spiritual man's preferment why then should he fear it Death I confesse hath a grimme visage to an impenitent sinner so it is ghastly to look upon it is a pursuivant to carry him to hell but to such as are in Christ Death is yours It is a part of the Joincture Death is like the Pillar of cloud it hath a dark-side to a sinner but it hath a light-side to a believer Deaths pale face looks ruddy when the blood of sprinkling is upon it in short Faith gives us a propriety in Heaven Death gives us a possession Feare not your priviledge the thoughts of death should be delightfull Iacob when he saw the Chariots his spirits revived Death is a Waggon or Chariot to carry us to our Fathers house What were the Martyrs flames but a fiery Chariot to carry them up to Heaven How should we long for Death This world is but a Desart we live in Shall we not be willing to leave it for Paradise We say It is good to be here we affect an earthly eternity but grace must curb nature Think of the priviledges of Death The Planets have a proper motion and a violent by their proper motion they are carried from the West to the East but by a violent motion they are over-ruled by the Primum Mobile and are carried from the East to the West So though naturally we desire to live here as we are made up of flesh yet grace should be as the primum mobile or master-wheele that swayes our will and carries us in a violent motion making us long for death Saint Paul desired to be dissolved and 2 Corinth 5.2 In this we groane earnestly desiring to be cloathed upon with our house which is from heaven we would put off the earthly cloathes of our body and put on the bright robe of immortality we groane 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 'T is a Metaphor taken from a mother who being pregnant groanes and cries out for delivery Austine longed to die that he might see that head which was once crowned with thornes We pray Thy Kingdome come and when God is leading us into his Kingdome shall we be afraid to go The times we live in should me thinks make us long for death we live in dying times we may heare as it were Gods passing Bell ringing over these Nations Foelix Nepotianus qui haec non videt as Hierome said in his time Nepotian is an happy man that doth not see the evils which befall us they are wel that are out of the storm and are gotten already to the haven To me to die is gaine Quest. But who shall have this priviledge Answ. death is certaine but there are only two sorts of Persons to whom we may say Death is yours 'T is your preferment 1. Such as die daily We are not borne Angels die we must Therefore we had need carry alwayes a deaths-head about us The Basilisk if it see a man first it kills him but if he see it first it doth him no hurt The Basilisk death if it sees us first before we see it 't is dangerous but if we see it first by meditating upon it it doth us no hurt study death often walke among the Tombs It is the thoughts of death before-hand that must do us good In a dark night one Torch carried before a man is worth many Torches carried after him one serious thought of death before-hand one teare shed for sinne before death is worth a thousand shed after when it is too late 'T is good to make Death our familiar and in this sense to be in Deaths oft that if God should presently seal a lease of ejectment if he should send us a Letter of Summons this night to surrender we might have nothing to do but to die Alas how do we adjourne the thoughts of death 'T is almost death to think of it There are some that are in the very threshold of the grave who have one legge in the earth and another legge in hell yet put farre from them the evil day I have read of our Lysicrates who in his old age dyed his gray hairs black that he might seeme young againe When we should be building our Tombes we are building our Tabernacles die daily lest you die eternally The holy Patriarchs in purchasing for themselves a burying place shewed us what thoughts they still had of Death Ioseph of Arimathea erected his Sepulchre in his Garden we have many that set up the Trophies of their victories others that set up their Scutchions that they may blaze their honour but how few that set up their Sepulchres who erect in their hearts the serious thoughts of death Oh remember when you are in your gardens in places most delicious and fragrant to keep a place for your Tomb-stone die daily There is no better way to bring sinne into a Consumption then by oft looking on the pale horse and him that sits thereon By thinking on death we begin to repent of an evil life and so we disarme death before it comes and cut the lock where its strength lies 2. Such as are in Heaven before they die death is yours If we will needs be high-minded let it be in setting our minde upon heavenly things Heaven must come down into us before we go up thither A childe of God breaths his faith in Heaven his thoughts are there When I awake I am still with thee Psal. 139.17 David awaked in Heaven his conversation is there Philip. 3.20 For our conversation is in Heaven The Believer often ascends Mount Tabor and takes a prospect of glory O that we had this celestial frame of heart When Zacheus was in the croud he was too low to see Christ therefore he climbed up into the Sycomore-Tree When we are in a croud of worldly businesse we cannot see Christ Climb up into the tree by divine contemplation If thou wouldest get Christ into thy heart let Heaven be in thy eye Set your affections upon things above Colos. 3.2 There needs no exhortation to set our hearts upon things below How is the curse of the Serpent upon most men Upon thy belly shalt thou go and dust shalt thou eat all the dayes of thy life Those that feed onely upon dust Golden dust will be unwilling to returne to dust Death will be terrible The tribes of Reuben and Gad desired Moses that they might stay on this side Iordan and have their portion there it being a place convenient for their Cattel It seems they minded their Cattel more then their passage into the holy Land so many Christians if they may have but a little grazing here in the world in their Shops and in their Farms they art content to live on this side the River and minde not their passage into the Land of Promise you that are in heaven
shall see clearly whether Iezabel had more minde to keep a fast or to get Naboths Vineyard then we shall see whether Herod had more minde to worship Christ or to worry him all the secrets of mens hearts shall be laid open Me thinks it would be worth dying to see this sight We shall then see who is the Achan who the Iudas the womens paint falls off from their faces when they come neere the fire before the scorching heat of Gods justice the hypocrites paint will drop off and the Treason hid in the heart will be visible These mysteries will God reveal to us our knowledge shall be clear CHAP. XI The sixth Prerogative Royal. THE next priviledge is Our Love shall be perfect Love is the Jewell with which Christ's Bride is adorned in one sense it is more excellent then Faith for Love never ceaseth 1 Cor. 13.8 The Spouse shall put off her Jewel of Faith when she goes to heaven but she shall never put off her Jewel of Love Love shall be perfect 1. Our love to God shall be perfect The Saints love shall be joyned with Reverence for a filial disposition shall remaine but there shall be no servile feare in Heaven Horrour and trembling is proper to the damned in hell though in Heaven there shall be a reverencing fear yet a rejoycing fear we shall see that in God which will work such a delight that we cannot but love him And this love to God shall be 1. A fervent love we love him here secundùm studium there secundùm actum as the Schoolmen speak Our love to God in this life is rather a desire but in Heaven the smoak of desire shall be blown up into a flame of love we shall love God with an intensenesse of love here our love is lukewarme and sometimes frozen a childe of God weeps that he can love God no more but there is a time shortly coming when our love to God shall be fervent it shall burn as hot as it can the damned shall be in a flame of fire the elect in a flame of love 2. A fixed-love Alas how soon is our love taken off from God! other objects presenting themselves steal away our love Your goodnesse is like a morning cloud and as the early dew it goeth away In the morning you shall see the grasse covered with drops of dew as so many pearls but before noon all is vanished so is it with our love to God perhaps at a Sermon when our affections are stirred the heart melts in love and at a Sacrament when we see Christs blood as it were trickling downe upon the crosse some love-drops fall from the heart but within a few dayes all is vanished and we have lost our first love this is matter of humiliation while we live But O ye Saints comfort your selves in Heaven your love shall be fixed as well as fervent it shall never be taken off from God any more such beauty and excellency shall shine in God that as a divine loadstone it will be alwayes drawing our eyes and hearts after him 2. Our love to the Saints shall be perfect Love is a sweet harmony a tuning and chiming together of affections It is our duty to love the Saints 1. Though they are of bad dispositions sometimes their nature is so rugged unhewn that grace doth not cast forth such a lustre it is like a gold ring on a leprous hand or a Diamond set in iron yet if there be any thing of Christ it is our duty to love it 2. Though they in some things differ from us yet if we see Christ's image and portraiture drawn upon their hearts we are to separate the precious from the vile But alas how defective is this grace how little love is there among Gods people Herod and Pilate can agree wicked men unite when Saints divide For the divisions of England there are great thoughts of heart Contentions were never more hot love never more cold Many there are whose musick consists all in discords whose harp is the Crosse that pretend to love truth but hate peace Divisions are Satans Powder-plot to blow up Religion Sin brought forth separation and this daughter of separation hath brought forth the grand-childe of division For these things there are great searchings of heart It were not strange to hear the harlot say Let the childe be divided but to heare the mother of the child say so this is sad If Pope Cardinall Jesuite all conspire against the Church of God it were not strange but for one Saint to persecute another this is strange For a Wolfe to worry a Lamb is usuall but for a Lamb to worry a Lamb is unnatural For Christs Lily to be among the thorns is ordinary but for this Lily to become a thorne to teare and fetch blood of it self this is strange How will Christ take this at our hands Would he not have his Coat rent and will he have his Body rent Oh that I could speak here weeping Well this will be a foyl to set off heaven the more there is a time shortly coming when our love shall be perfect there shall be no difference of judgement in heaven there the Saints shall be all of a piece Though we fall out by the way and about the way we shall all agree in the journies end When once the blessed Harp of Christs voice hath sounded in the ears of the Saints the evill spirit shall be quite driven away When our strings shall be wound up to the highest peg of glory you shall never hear any more discord in the Saints Musick In Heaven there shall be a perfect Harmony CHAP. XII The seventh Prerogative Royal. THe next glorious priviledge to come is the Resurrection of our bodies This is an Article of our faith Now for the illustration of this there are three things considerable 1. That there â—s such a thing as the Resurrection 2. That this is not yet past 3. That the same body that dies shall rise again 1. I shall prove the Proposition that there is a Resurrection of the body There are some of the Sadduces opinion that there is no resurrection then let us eat and drink for to morrow we die 1 Cor. 15.32 To what purpose are all our prayers and tears and indeed it were well for them who are in their life-time as bruit beasts if it might be with them as beasts after death but there is a resurrection of the body as well as an ascension of the soul which I shall prove by two Arguments 1. Because Christ is risen therefore we must rise the head being raised the rest of the body shal not alwayes lye in the grave for then it would be an head without a body his rising is a pledge of our resurrection 1 Thes. 4.14 2. Ex AEquo in regard of justice and equity the bodies of the wicked have been weapons of unrighteousnesse and have joyned with the
yet there can be no faith without knowledge They that know thy Name will put their trust in thee Psal. 9.10 Philo calls it fides oculata quick-sighted faith Knowledge must carry the Torch before faith 2 Tim. 1.12 For I know whom I have believed As faith without works is dead so faith without knowledge is blind Devout ignorance damnes which condemns the Church of Rome that think it a piece of their religion to be kept in ignorance these set up an Altar to an unknown God they say Ignorance is the mother of devotion but sure where the Sun is set in the understanding there must needs be night in the affections So necessary is knowledge to the being of faith that the Scripture doth sometimes baptize faith with the Name of knowledge Isa. 53.11 By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justifie many knowledge is put there for faith Now this knowledge of Christ which goes before faith or rather is the embrio and first matter of which faith is formed consists in four things The soul through this optick glasse of knowledge sees 1. A preciousnesse in Christ he is the chief of ten thousand the pearl of price Christ was never poor but when he had on our rags there is nothing in Christ but what is precious he is precious in his Name in his Nature in his Influences he is called a precious stone he must needs be a precious stone who hath made us living stones 2. A fulnesse in Christ the fulness of the Godhead Col. 2.9 all fulnesse Col. 1.19 a fulnesse of merit his blood able to satisfie his Fathers wrath a fullnesse of Spirit his grace able to supply our wants by the one he doth absolve us by the other he doth adorn us 3. A suitablenesse in Christ that which is good if it be not adaequatum suitable it is not satisfactory If a man be hungry bring him fine flowers this is not suitable he desires food if he be sick bring him musick this is not suitable he desires Physick in this sense there is a suitablenesse in Christ to the soule he is quicquid appetibile as Origen speaks whatever we can desire If we hunger and thirst he is pabulum animae the food of the soul therefore he is called the bread of life If we are sick unto death his blood is a sacred balm he may be compared to the trees of the Sanctuary which were both for meat and for medicine 4. A Propensenesse and readinesse in Christ to give out his fulnesse Isa. 55.1 Ho every one that thirsteth come ye to the waters and he that hath no mony buy and not c. Behold here at what a low price doth God set his heavenly blessings it is but thirsting bring but desires Behold the Propensenesse in Christ to â—â—spense and give out his fulnesse buy without money a strange kind of buying there 's bounty in Christ as well as beauty As he is all fulnesse so he is all sweetnesse of a noble and generous disposition he doth not only invite us but charge us upon pain of death to come in and believe he threatens us if we will not lay hold of mercy he waits to be gracious This is the lenocinium and enticer of the affections this draws the eyes and heart of a sinner after him what are the blessed Promises but Christs golden Scepter held forth what are the motions of the Spirit but Jesus Christ coming a wooing and such a knowledge and sight of Christ is necessary to usher in faith now the soul begins to move towards him he sees all this variety of excellency in Christ and withall sees a possibility nay a probability of mercy there is nothing that hinders him God doth not exclude him unlesse he exclude himself Then he thinks thus What is it keeps me off from Christ is it my unworthinesse behold there is merit in Christ is it my wants there is enough in the fountain and Jesus Christ doth not expect that I should carry any thing to him but rather that I should bring something from him he doth not expect that I should carry water to the well only an empty vessel why then should not this fulnesse in Christ be for me as well as others While he is thus parlying with himself the Spirit works a kind of perswasion that Christ is willing that he in particular should taste of this mercy then follows the second act which faith puts forth and that is consent Well I will have Christ whatever it cost me §. II. That Consent is requisite to faith Though Knowledge be a necessary antecedent to Faith yet it is not enough there must be secondly Consent Faith is seated as well in the heart and will as in the understanding as well in the affection as in the apprehension With the heart man believes Scepticks in religion may have a faith in the head but not in the heart they are more Notion then Motion the soul consents to have Christ and to have him upon his own terms 1. As an Head the head hath a double office it is the fountaine of spirits and the seat of government the head is as it were the Pilot of the body it rules and steers it in its motion The believer consents to have Christ not only as an Head to send forth spirits that is comfort but as an head to rule A sinner would take Christs Promises but not his Laws he would be under Christs benediction but not under his jurisdiction A believer consents to have whole Christ non eligit objectum he doth not pick and choose but as he expects to sit down with Christ upon the throne so he makes his heart Christs Throne 2. The believer consents to have Christ for better for worse a naked Christ a persecuted Christ faith sees a beauty and glory in the reproaches of Christ and will have Christ not only in purple but when with Iohn Baptist he is cloathed in Camels haire Faith can embrace the fire if Christ be in it Faith looks upon the Crosse as Iacobs ladder to carry him up to Heaven Faith saith Blessed be that affliction welcome that Crosse which carries Christ upon it 3. The Believer consents to have Christ purely for love if the wife should give her consent only for her husbands riches she should marry his estate rather then his person non est amicitia sed mercatura it were not properly to make a marriage with him but rather to make a merchandise of him the believer consents for love amat Christum propter Christum he loves Christ for Christ Heaven without Christ is not a sufficient dowry for a believer there 's nothing adulterate in his consent it is not sinister there 's nothing forced it is not for feare that were rather constraint then consent a consent forced will not hold in Law it is voluntary The beauty of Christs person and the sweetness of his disposition draws the will