apprehension to the insensible creatures but implyes that all things do but as it were waite in their naturall courses till the day of Judgment wherein it shall be seen who are the Children of God on whom the crowns that God has layd up for the conquerours shall be bestow'd that being the glory which shall be bestow'd on us of which he speakes at the 18. v. of that chapter The reward amongst those Grecians is observ'd to have been greater than their labour it being commonly provided by great personages but the Christian's reward is infinitely greater than his labour and therfore the Apostle cals it an exceeding weight of glory 2 Cor. 4.17 Now that which the Apostle cals amongst the Grecians a crown was not alwayes a crown in the strict sense though chiefely so but somtimes it was a triumphant Garment adorn'd with palmes so is the heavenly reward call'd somtimes a garment as Apoc. 3.5 Hee that overcoms the same shall be cloth'd in white raiment Yet amongst those Grecians a crown was oftentimes the reward and according to the diversities of reward and contention it was different thus had they their crowns of Laurell Olive Myrtle Grasse Branches Flowers and some of matter lesse corruptible but all were corruptible for their glory but the Christian's crown is truly incorruptible The Aegyptians indeed had a kind of crown which by emblem might aptly expresse the excellency of the Christian's crown and that was a crown of Cinnamon inclos'd in Gold Gold in the Scripture does frequently expresse Glory and Cinnamon Grace Spirituall grace for the sweet Odour of it Prov. 7.17 and Cant. 4.14 And does not this excellently expresse the triumph of the righteous in heaven shall they not there have a crown of Cinnamon inclos'd in Gold shall they not have grace inclos'd in glory The Grecians did use to adorne with crowns their Temples Altars Sacrifices pots and Gates as Tertullian tels us de coronâ militis and shall not all heaven every thing in heaven be crown'd with glory There shall the Martyr have a crown for all his sufferings a crown more precious than the world which he overcame a crown more precious than his sufferings There shall the Virgin find a crown for the tedious victory over the lusts of the body which then shall be crown'd as a conquerour because in this life it was conquer'd There shall the Preacher find a crown for all his labours and watchings and shall then learn a new watching for all eternity without all labour He that sav'd a Citizen had anciently an Oaken crown it was a more lasting crown so shall the Preacher have that saves a Christian from the enemy the devil And as they thus shall find a crown so shall they as certainly find a Kingdome a Kingdome for Extent both of itself and of God's Magnificence a Kingdome large enough for every Saint At the last resurrection the earth shall hold all the children of men the earth which is but as the 18. part of one of the smallest of the fix'd starres that is of the sixt magnitude which are contrived into constellations as received Astronomy received amongst Christians teaches us And since the greater part of men as is generally feared without a paradoxe will unhappily loose their part of Heaven about a fortieth part even of such a starre may hold all that shall be saved there will be left a kingdome large enough for every Saint They shall find a Kindome for Sufficiency in which they shall have God who is all-sufficient who will lay open to them the treasures of his allmightinesse which treasures he shall make theirs as truely by possession as they are his own by Creation They shall find a Kingdome for Glory the Body shall there be more glorious than if it were all Eie God will impart unto it a glory like his own It shall be cloathed with light as with a garment and if it could there admire any thing but God it might fall into a just admiration of it selfe Lastly they shall find a Kingdome for Firmnesse a Kingdome as incorruptible as the Crown that is laid up in it which as S. Peter saies 1 Epist 1.4 is an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away reserv'd in Heaven for us But shall not Heaven it selfe passe away How then shall the Crown and Kingdome that is there be eternall surely the Heavens may grow old as doth a garment not in respect of any corruption as wearing of them but in respect of continuance they shall wax old not because they shall be corrupted but because they shall be renewed Heaven and Earth shall passe away Luk. 21. not the substance but the figure the figure of this world shall passe away 1 Cor. 7. There shall be a new Heaven Apoc. 21. but as there was at our Saviour's comming a new commandement it was not different from the substance of the old but it was newly delivered it was refin'd and now more clearely reach'd to the thought of the heart whereas before it seemed to extend but to the outward act Thus shall there be a new Heaven that is there shall be a renewed Heaven It shall be renewed from the old conditions of it all the Heavens shall hereafter stand still There shall be no more Time and so no more Motion of the Heavens which is the measure of time True it is the creature is now subject to vanity Rom. 8. The Heaven is subject to vanity and does by motion serve for the use of inferiour nature it serves for the production and corruption of things in this lower world not that it selfe in its own nature is subject to corruption Nay it shall be freed from that bondage whereby it now serves unto the corruption of other things It shall be delivered into the glorious liberty of the Children of God Rom. 8.21 that is when at the last day all the Children of God which shall be till that day shall be delivered into a glorious libertie then shall the Heaven also be delivered frō that vanity of service with the libertie of Gods Children find also a like proportionall libertie But we our selves shall not only have libertie but also Royalty a Kingdome and in that Kingdome a crown Yet shall every one have a crowne Does not S. Paul say that all runne but that one receives the prize Surely there is none that shall have a crown by his own merit but only our blessed Saviour but by the participation of his merit every one of the righteous shall also have one We are the members of Christ or else we could never assend to Heaven Nay we are not only one body with him but also one spirit as the Apostle testifies 1 Corinthians Yet he only shall have the most excellent crown Amongst the Grecians he only had the most excellent the golden crown that had seal'd the walls or entred a shipp or the fort of an enemy and thus only our Saviour shall have
nay when the body shall have no covering but all the whole world shall stand naked trembling either with horrour or reverence looking-up unto the Lord of glory He shall come with all his Saints who shall assist him in judging the world Doe ye not know that the Saints shall judge the world 1 Cor. 6.2 They shall assist him by their holy lives compar'd with the abhominations of the wicked They shall assist him by their consent and applause of his sentence against the wicked They shall assist him with honourable attendance being taken up into the aire at the time of this judgment and placed at his right hand The Apostles more especially shall assist him in this judgment Our Saviour himself told them as much Matt. 19.28 When the Sonne of man shall sit in the throne of his glory ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones judging the twelve Tribes of Israel And peradventure as some reverently thinke their seats shall be glorious cloudes proportion'd to their excellency who though they shall judge the World which resisted or despis'd their Doctrine yet more particularly shall they judge the twelve Tribes of Israel For when the Jewes shall be about to say for themselves that they could not beleeve in Christ because they were commanded to keep the Law of Moses the Apostles sayes S. Chrysostome shall judge them because they likewise did first obey the Law of Moses and afterwards chang'd that obedience into Faith in Christ So also meditates S. Jerom. Nor shall they only judge Men but also Angells Know you not sayes S. Paul that we shall judge Angells 1 Cor. 6.3 those wicked Angells that would have exalted themselves against the Almighty Behold also the Solemnity of this judgment in the Continuance of it For to the glory of this Session and of the Saints before the face of the wicked S. Austin thinks that it shall continue at least the length of a day Unto which some would extend the meaning of those words Matt. 24.27 As the Lightning comes out of the East and shines even unto the West so shall also the comming of the Sonne of man be As if our Saviour should spend the length of a day in passing from the East unto the West that so he might be beheld of all the world But the safest knowledge of these Circumstances must be obtaind not by the bold inquiry of study but by the modest expectation of experience The method of the actions in that day being chiefly to be learn'd in that day in which the sinnes of the whole world shall be reveal'd Which Manifestation of sinnes shall be one of the most wonderfull actions of our Saviours power in that day in which the Lord will search the World as he said he would search Ierusalem Zeph. 1.12 he will search it with candles there is light in the search he will not only search but also discover Thou didst it secretly said the Lord by Nathan unto David but I will doe this thing before all Israel and before the Sunne But how will the Lord in that day discover sinne even as the Sunne-beame pearcing into a room discovers the dusty atoms which before we saw not he will discover them as easily as he can discover the multitude of fishes now hid in the Sea if it should but please him as he speakes by the Prophet Isaiah 50.2 to drie-up the Sea and make the rivers a wildernesse and make their fish die for thirst But how will the Lord in that day discover sinne why S. Paul tels us 1 Cor. 4.5 that the Lord at his comming will both bring to light the hidden things of darknesse and will make manifest the counsailes of the heart It shall be donne by the power of God by the light of Revelation Yet how will the Lord in that day discover sinne why the bookes shall be open'd the bookes of men's consciences shall be open'd they shall be open'd whether they will or no and they shall be read not only by every man's ownselfe but also by all others not only every man's sinnes shall be made known to himselfe but also to every man els by the power of God and the miraculous light of revelation to every particular man as S. Chrysostome teaches us and S. Anselm who sayes that men's sinnes shall be seen as the Sunne is seen by every eie S. Basil sayes they shall be so revealed that they shall be heard 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of all Angels and men And then will the Almighty pronounce Sentence upon the workes of men In the last day of the Creation God examin'd all his own workes and pronounc'd them all to be very good and in the last day of judgment he will examine all the works of men but what judgment will he pronounce of Them Surely he will say They are almost all very bad Yea he will pronounce a more dreadfull judgment upon the Authours of them who shall beginne their pain before their judgment is pronounc'd For as S. Bernard sayes The just shall be call'd first Christ shall first say unto the righteous come ye blessed of my Father that so the wicked sayes he may be the more tormented according to that of the Prophet David Ps 112.10 The wicked shall see it and be greiv'd he shall gnash with his teeth and melt away the desire of the wicked shall perish And then shall that burden of the wicked be layd upon them Depart ye cursed into everlasting fire O what a separation will that bee when the holy angells shall catch-up the Godly to meet Christ in the aire 1 Thes 4.17 then the wicked shall be cast into a furnace of fire In the beginning God divided between the light and the darknesse So will he doe at the last day What is the light in figure but the Just what the darknesse but the wicked So speakes the Apostle Eph. 5.8 Yee were sometimes darkness but now are yee light in the Lord that is you were once wicked but now are righteous In this world there is both light darknesse but in the end of the world the light and darknesse shall be separated In this world there are both good and bad but in the end of the world the bad shall be separated from the good Which separation is a part of the Execution for which this judgment is so dreadfull They shall depart from the face of the Lord but O whither shall they depart shall they depart as Cain to be vagabonds upon the face of the earth No there is no returne unto the earth though some have thought but never prov'd that the place of torment shall be on the earth and in the channels where the Seas now swell But this is oppos'd not only by truth but also by errour that errour of some who because it is said there shall be a new earth wherein dwels righteousnesse have therfore beleev'd that the godly at least a great part of them shall even here injoy for ever a heaven on
earth beyond the Poëtry of the Millenaries But can this earthly heaven agree with our Saviour's Ascension will not this want its intended effect if by the vertue of this the righteous also the members of his mysticall body shall not ascend when therfore it is said there shall be new heavens and a new earth wherein dwels righteousnesse we may understand it not only of the Heavens though some margents would so instruct us but also of the Earth though with this difference that in the new heavens there shall be righteousnesse and in the new earth there shall be no more unrighteousnesse the wicked and consequently wickednesse being taken away But whither shall the wicked at last depart some have placed their Hell next under the Sphere of the Moone induced by mistake of the parable of Lazarus and the Rich man between whom because there is express'd a discourse they have thought that Hell borders upon Heaven But parables being in effect Similitudes are not so properly intended for stories of truth as for the Illustration of it Besides we need not for proofe of the possibility of the dialogue imagine a neighbourhood of these different places since it were as easy for the divine power to make the Ear to heare from heaven to hell as it was to make the eie of his martyr Stephen accurately to discerne from earth to heaven Besides though their Imagination were granted it would not halfe serve the turn the distance from the concave of the Moone to the highest heavē so much exceeding the space between the earth and the Moone Most men then considering the extreme opposition of the just and wicked have accordingly suppos'd the places prepard for them to be at an extremity also of distance The wicked then must depart from the face of the Lord and this is their pain of losse whither shall they depart but into everlasting fire This is their pain of sense The Lord shall swallow them up in his wrath and the fire shall devoure them Psal 21 2. And so indeed some literally thinke as Abulensis that the earth shall open and swallow them up into hell and then shall close upon them as it befell the three rebels Corah Dathan and Abiram In prosecution of which supposall some imagine that in the midst of the earth there shall be prepar'd a hollownesse of capacity sufficient for the multitude of the wicked and that since their bodies naturally heavy must descend towards the center they shall there make one unhappy masse or lumpe in eternall sorrow But such wild phansy we may rather restrain with the sobriety of that wise Jew the Authour of the second book of Esdras chap. 9. v. 13. Bee thou not curious how the ungodly shall be punish'd that is to know what God would not have thee know The humane wisdome of Aristotle did indeed examine the curious errours of the Philosophers about the Soule and the Christian wisdome of the learned Irenaeus studied the depths and madnesse of the Valentinians counting the knowledge of them as usefull as the defence vile and teaching us more happily to escape them then to understand them Led then by Scripture we may severely know that with fire the wicked shall be tormented the power of which we must acknowledge though we know not the kind and to them it may be said as it is in Isaiah chap. 5. 11 Behold all yee that kindle a fire that compasse your selves about with sparkes walke in the light of your fire and in the sparkes that you have kindled This shall ye have of my hand ye shall lie down in sorrow Yet does not the same Prophet crie-out again chap. 33.14 Who amongst us shall dwell with the devouring fire who amongst us shall dwell with everlasting burnings He implies not yet the impossibility of them but the horrour For in sorrow they shall lie down they shall dwell with fire they shall dwell with death with Eternall death Seneca though a Heathen could say Mors timenda erat si tecum esse possit Death were a terrible thing indeed if it could be a part of a man's houshold if it could inhabite with a man And there it is so death feeds upon them It was the Lord that said Deutr. 32.41 42. If I whet my glittering sword and my hand take hold on judgment I will render vengeance to my enimies and will reward them that hate me I will make mine arrowes drunke with blood and my sword shall devoure flesh Here is the execution of the threatning The worme of Conscience shall feed on them that worm bred out of the Corruption of their owne foule sinnes Death shall feed on them Like sheepe they are layd in the grave death shall feed on them Psal 49.14 These sheepe shall become pasture and as Innocentius sayes as grasse when it is fed on is not pull'd-up by the rootes but only the blade of it is cropt that so it may perpetually renew so shall the wicked as the pasture of death perpetually renew to be fed-upon And this apprehension of Eternity is that which breaks the heart of the wicked The perpetuall hills did bow his wayes are everlasting sayes the Prophet Habakkuk c. 3.6 Incurvati sunt colles mundi ab itineribus aeternitatis ejus sayes the Latine Interpreter which some do mystically understand of mighty sinners that even the proudest and mightiest sinners in the world stoope and are heart-broken with the remembrance of the eternity of hell-torments Nor shall they have in that journy of eternity any companions to comfort them they shall have no companions but such as hunger thirst watching fire darknesse devils and desperation Yet will the Lord cast-off for ever and will he be favourable no more Is his mercy clean gone for ever doth his promise faile for evermore Hath God forgotten to be gracious hath he in anger shut-up his tender mercies as the Prophet David askes Psal 77. v. 7.8.9 You shall have the Lord 's owne answer by his Prophet Ezechiel c. 7.4 Mine eie shall not spare thee neither will I have pitty but I will recompence thy wayes upon thee O then let us tremble at God's judgment that we may never tremble under it Let us avoid it by meeting it He that by meditation continually feares hell has least need to feare Remember that instruction of our Saviour Pray that your flight be not in winter or on the Sabbath-day Matt. 24. That is sayes S. Chrysostome that it be not in such a time wherin thou canst make no escape In the winter the weather hinders thee from flying and on the Sabbath the Commandement stayes thee To all that are unready in their account in that day of judgment it shall prove a winter a Tempest And they shall find a severer command than on the Sabbath they must stay whether they will or no. Let us therfore judge our selves that wee may not be judg'd and that so when the Lord Iesus shall appeare
Speech of S. Gregory In natura humanitatis novit Christus diem judicii sed non ex natura humanitatis He knows it being man not as he is man But this day was a secret which he reveal'd not to his Disciples but to stay their curiosity told them It was not for them to know the times and seasons which the father had kept in his own power Upon which words saies S. Austin In vain is all search to know the end of the world since Truth it self had made known unto us thus much for truth that this truth is not to be known Dreadfull also is this judgment for the Sodainesse The former dreadfullnesse which was from the secrecy was in respect of our Knowledge but this from the Sodainesse shall be in respect of Preparation A man may be prepar'd against many things that shall come secretly but this shall also come sodainly the world shall not be prepar'd In such an houre as you thinke not the Sonne of man comes Matt. 24.44 The day of the Lord so comes as a theefe in the night for when they shall say Peace and safty then sadaine destruction comes upon them as travaile upon a woman with child and they shall not escape 1 Thess 5.2 3. As in the dayes of Noah and of Lot there was water and fire though not to purifie but confound so shall it be by fire in the day of the Lord. Indeed when he comes what should stay his Judgment for when he comes shall he find faith on the earth As in the dayes of Noah but eight righteous persons were found and as in the dayes of Lot but halfe so many in the Cities which were then destroy'd so shall it be in the day of the Lord though not strictly so few yet but very few shall then escape the wicked becomming fuell in that fire and their number increasing it when therfore the signes of that day come the world shall be surpriz'd with fear and horrour with such feare and horrour as shall be their first Hell Dreadfull is this Judgment for the Preparation also there shall be preparation for it in the Heavens in the Aire in the Seas in the Earth Preparation in the heavens in the Sunne and Moone They shall now be signes not of comfort but of Judgment The Sunne shall be turn'd into darknesse and the moone into blood before the great and the terrible day of the Lord come Joel 2.31 Which gastly darknesse in the Sunne and Moone the wicked shall not be able to neglect And though they did in this life neglect the signes of Gods Mercy yet shall they not be able to neglect these signes of his Justice They shall not escape this darknesse by a figure taking the Sunne and Moone for the Church which in the time of Antichrist shall be Obscur'd or phantastically making the Sunne to signifie the Devill and the Moone the Reprobate as Origen implies though this last would be no comfort to them They shall not escape this darknesse by saying the Sunne and Moone shall Seeme to be dark'ned because they shall be Out-shind by the Glory of Christ at his comming no this darknesse shall be a signe before the glorious comming of Christ They shall not escape this darknesse by making it only a kind of speech to signify the Calamity of that time for this were to make the signes rather in the earth than in the heaven But our Saviour sayes expressely There shall be signes in the Sunne and Moone Now what signes were in them if there were no Change in them Nor shall they escape it by quarrelling with the manner of effecting it which shall not be as some have ridiculously phansied by the vast clouds of smoake that ascend from the burning of the world this darknesse shall be before that fire or els there would be no body left to see that darknesse but it is said that at that dreadfull sight mens hearts shall faile them Nor shall this darknesse be effected by an eclipse the Astronomers can tell us that by an eclipse the Sunne and Moone cannot both at once be darkned the Sunne being eclips'd by the interposition of the Moone between his light and our eie the Moone being eclips'd by the interposition of the earth between the Sunne and Moone Nor need we suppose the interposition of some cloudes or the like darke bodies in that day to hinder their light He is able to deprive those glorious bodies of their light nay which is a greater wonder he is able leaving them their light to take from them their power of sending-forth their light as he tooke away the power of burning from the fiery furnace into which the three children were cast But shall we define the wayes of the Allmighty and appoint him his Counsailes No more may we appoint the Continuance of this darknesse which whether it shall be longer then the darknesse in Aegypt which lasted three dayes or shorter then the darknesse at our Saviour's Passion which lasted but three houres we have no more use of such knowledge then knowledge of the Continuance But this we know that it shall be long enough to prove the instant approach of the Lord 's comming and to drive the wicked not into repentance but into desperation But yet there must be more preparation in the heaven whiles preparation in the Starres For the Starres shall fall from heaven Matt. 24.29 though Reason and the Astronomer will undertake to demonstrate that a starre is of that bignesse that the whole earth is not able to intertaine a starre or two Besides that the heaven is incorruptible and the starres fix'd in that incorruptible body Indeed there is no absolute necessity to understand this Literally but yet S. Austin thought it not improbable and S. Chrysostome not only thought it probable but alleadges also that of the Prophet Isaiah 34.4 All the host of heaven shall be dissolved and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll and all their host shall fall downe as the leafe falls off from the vine and as a falling fig from the figtree What is this sayes that Father the Starres shall fall from heaven as the leaves fall from the vine whiles the vine has fruite so long it requires the use of leaves to protect it but afterwards the leaves fall away so whiles there are inhabitants on the earth the Starres in heaven will be needfull for the earth but when night it selfe shall cease to be then likewise the Starres shall be no more Which interpretation does no way disagree either with the wonder of that day which shall be a day of wonder or with the omnipotency of God who can easily make them lesse and make them fall who of nothing made them into this bignesse Irreverent it were for us to examine whether he will doe it by a miraculous compression of the substance of a starre or otherwise who can performe it so many wayes beyond the feeble and ridiculous guesse of Reason
Which literall interpretation if any man lesse like of he may take S. Anstin's who by the falling of the Starres understands the preparation that shall be against that day in the Aire For he thinkes it more probable that by this speech is meant that the Lightnings flames and fiery exhalations which shall be before the last day shall be so dreadfull that one would thinke the very Starres did fall from heaven And easily may the world be thus affrighted when as there shall be preparation in the very Powers of heaven which shall be shaken Matt. 24.29 The powers of heaven that is as the Holy Fathers teach us to expound it The blessed Angells of God in heaven shall tremble with reverent feare before the day of judgment at those dreadfull wonders which God will declare in the very heavens There shall be also preparation in the Seas The Sea and the waves shall roare Luk. 21.25 The height of the waves shall frighten those that dwell by the shoare and the Out-crie of the waves shall frighten those that dwell afarre off There shall be preparation also on the Earth The Sibylls tell us that at that time the beasts shall rune belowing and roaring through the fields and Cities that the Trees shall sweat blood and that the Sea shall throw-up fish on the drie ground Nay the Scripture tells us that Men shall be more amas'd that their hearts shall faile them for feare and for looking after those things that are comming on the earth Luk. 21.26 A sinner shall then be like a bird that has flowen about in the pleasure of the fields and at last falls into a nett So shall the sinner fall into a snare he shall be caught The pleasures of the wicked shall be like Jonah's gourd they shall for a time sit under the shadow of their honours of their wealth of their pleasure but these shall all passe away and leave them to the fury of the Sunne of righteousnesse God shall arme all heaven against them and a flood of fire after all shall be as a tenth wave for there shall come also a flood of fire unto which the Prophet David seem'd to allude Psal 50.3 Our God shall come and shall not keep silence a fire shall devoure before him and it shall be very tempestuous round about him But the Prophet Malachi is more evident cap. 3.1 Behold the day comes that shall burne as an oven and all the proud yea and all that doe wickedly shall be stubble and the day that comes shall burne them up sayes the Lord of hosts S. Paul told his Thessalonians as much 1 Epist. 1.7 8. That when the Lord Iesus shall be reveal'd from heaven he shall take vengeance in flaming fire S. Peter is more particular The earth and the workes that are therein shall be burnt-up 2 Pet. 3.10 and the elements shall melt with fervent heat And the heaven it selfe is reserv'd unto fire against the day of judgment 2 Pet. 3.7 nay that the heaven shall be sett on fire and be dissolv'd vers 12. and that the heavens shall passe away with a great noise vers 10. well therfore may we remember what the Lord said by the Prophet Joel 2.30 I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth blood and fire and pillars of smoake Yet concerning the order of this flood of fire S. Austin places it in the end of the day of Judgment though others would have it before that this face of the world may be destroyd before that great Session And then shall the signe of the Sonne of man appeare in heaven which some thinke shall be some insigne of our Saviour's Victory Some more particularly though without warrant thinke that it shall be the signe of the Crosse and that when darknesse shall have overcast the world there shall appeare in the East a Crosse of Light to foreshew the comming of the Lord. Others thinke this signe shall be the glorious wounds in our Saviour's body at which sight in the day of Judgment the Jews especially may be confounded Yet some others thinke it shall be that Prerogative Glory with which our Saviour shall then appeare But since the interpretation of this signe is kept as secret as the day in which it shall appeare Let us consider how dreadfull the Session it selfe shall be A Session which shall be usherd with the mighty voice of an Archangell and of a Trumpet It was the voice of a Trumpet which the Jews did use in their warres in their Temple in their Feasts in their Assemblies Numb 10. It was with the voice of a Trumpet that the Law was given at Mount Sinai but here the dead shall heare this Trumpet and this voice calling them unto judgment And then shall they see the Sonne of man comming in the Clouds with power and great Glory Matt. 24.30 They shall see that humane nature which was prophan'd on earth they shall see him come to be their Judge whom once they judg'd The Jewes that would not know him and the Heathen and wicked Christians that car'd not to know him shall now behold him not without horrour whom once they beheld not without hate or neglect But now they shall see him come in the cloudes with power and glory with glory for he shall come upon a throne of cloudes with power for he shall come upon a throne of cloudes the worke of his own hands yea all the wonders of that day shall be the works of his power and he shall come with power to judge the quicke and the dead He shall come with glory such glory that all the Angels shall with reverent obedience waite upon him upon him whom none but impudent and obdurate sinners durst contemne Will you see his glory Moses shall shew it to you as it appear'd to the Elders of Israel who saw the God of Israel and there was under his feet as it were a paved worke of a Saphire stone and as it were the body of heaven in his clearnesse Fxod 24.10 Will you see his glory S. John shall shew it to you as it appear'd to Him who saw a great white throne and him that sate on it from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away and there was found no place for them Rev. 20.11 Will you see his glory you shall see his Kingdome for then shall be fullfill'd that petition in our prayer Thy Kingdome come That shall be the first day of his glorious Reigne Behold his Assistants Angells Saints more especially the Apostles He shall come with all his holy Angells Matt. 25.31 Heaven shall be empty sayes S. Chrysostome in the day of judgment when all the Angells and the Saints of heaven shall descend from heaven to attend the Lord Iesus unto judgment O glorious judgment O dreadfull Judge before whom all the persons that have been from the creation and shall be till that day shall in that day all at once appeare when sinne shall have no cloake
disconsolate yet are they secretly guided by the true Spirit of comfort Sorrow does sometimes also keepe-in teares when the heart is excessively contracted when it so cals in the vitall heat that the moisture of the brain is meerly congeal'd such winter also does the righteous sometimes feel and only would shed teares because he can not and thus his will does weep though his eies doe not It is indeed only Man's Intentive will that is the cause why only Man does weep and good reason it is since it was only his will that was the cause of his sinne and consequently an occasion of his teares The soft heart is naturally most ready to weep and it is the soft heart that is spiritually most ready to weep Yet if you would know the true cause of teares you may observe nay for feare of errour you must observe that as teares flow from the moisture of nourishment receiv'd into the body so spirituall sorrow flows from grace receiv'd into the Soule Unto which grace of sorrow in our Conversion in the first point of conversion the will is meerly passive meerly passive in respect of an inward change though it has still naturall liberty by which it is always active active in generall to concurre to an Act of faith as to an Act not in speciall as to such an act an act of Faith The Naturall will can concurre to the work of God in respect of outward means as it can freely heare or not heare the word preach'd but the inward efficient cause of conversion is the Holy Ghost In which expression we may understand all subordinate causes inservient in that worke though not working by their owne power but by the power of God And thus we may say that conversion is the worke of Man as he is the subject of it but the worke of God in respect of the first motion The will in this is like Elisha's eie which had a naturall power to see but it needed a supernaturall power to discerne a supernaturall aide of angels An active Liberty then unto grace the will by meer nature can not claim nor may wee though some doe attribute an active power to the water in baptisme though Sacramentall much lesse to the teares in repentance as if the water did concurre actively and physically to the production of grace God does indeed sometimes exalt a naturall agent to an ability above his degree in his kind but never above his kind The first is to helpe things in their Order but the last is to destroy order The God then of Nature and of order does not make a Naturall agent the proper cause of a supernaturall Effect which truth may save us from the magisteriall impositions of mistaking Reason Our Prophet here does wish for this sorrow it was not then according to the measure he desir'd either in his own possession or at all in his power The cause then of Spirituall sorrow can not be naturall and as holy teares have thus their Cause from grace so also have they their Abundance And here we may farther observe the apt wisdome of the Prophet who expresses his sorrow a work of Grace by similitude and parallel to the work of Nature Now in Nature there is not only a fountain that sends forth streams but there are also waters in the Cavernes of the earth to nourish the fountain so must there be not only a fountain in the penitent eie but there must also be inwardly store of waters He wishes therfore not only that his eies were a fountain but also nay first of all that his Head were waters And if we consider the collection of waters which are in the earth we shall find some affirme it to be caus'd by Protrusion as we may call it by a violent blast forcing those waters into the Pores of the earth so S Basil Some also we shall find that attribute it to the attractive influence of the Heavens so Aquinas Both which waies we shall find proportionall to God's manner of working in the Soule whiles some he Thrusts into tears by Affliction as some he Drawes into teares by Love And as the waters in the earth as some think doe serve to temper the veines of metall so does the secret sorrow of the heart serve to temper the hardnesse of the heart that at last it confesses it is waters and the eies as a fountain send forth streams of tears Now streams as they passe doe commonly cleanse such places as they passe-through so surely the tears of the truly penitent do not only wash away his finnes but they indeavour also to wash away other-mens and consequently the calamity due unto them Which Object of sorrow we should next behold if through the darknesse of sorrow we could behold it But alas what pleasure is in Destruction which being contrary to nature is also contrary to pleasure What pleasure in garments rolled in blood which doe afford more Horrour than warmth what pleasure in the tumult of the Battell where not to be furious is to be Cowardly where Mercy is held an Absurdity and to be barbarous a glory This is the prerogative and the supererogation of the Sword This claimes alone the triumph over the conquer'd this usually alone over-acts the triumph Yet thus did the sword sleight Iudah to a slaughter and wound the Prophet also with Compassion But is Judah so destroy'd that it has left none like unto her Yet then her vices also were gone with her but surely there will alwaies be a People and but too like her whiles as much in sinne as in an undeserv'd love and whiles in sinne too probably a Judah in Calamity God will not want a People nor will they want faults nay by turning his Blessings into sinnes they make him turne them into Curses the Punishment of sinnes The deformity of which if in the wisdome of your fear you would behold but in the extreamity of your fear can not insteed of the eie understand by the eare and the Prophet will tell you that this his People the people of Judah were liers slanderers slanderers of their brethren deceivers that their tongue was a bow a bended bow v. 3. nay and an arrow too yea an arrow shot-out v. 8. that when their tongue spake peaceably their heart lay'd wait v. 8. that their habitation was in the midst of deceite v. 6. Take yee heed every one of his neighbour sayes the Prophet and trust ye not in any brother for every brother will utterly supplant Heare him accuse them farther They proceed from evill to evill v. 3. you see their degrees They weary themselves to commit iniquity v. 5. you see their unhappy diligence They bee all adulterers an assembly of treacherous men v. 2. O what a Judah is this and shall such a Judah be found in our Judah O Let every Conscience be its owne Confessor and whisper it self an answer to amendment And can we desist then from bewailing our owne sinnes and
him to the defence of his own truth Or say of his truth as the Jews did of his Sonne Let him deliver it if he will have it If we discerne any that preferre the giddinesse of their own reason under the notion of sound Reason before the Sobriety of the holy writings and the Church shall we presently either reele out of the way or stagger in it About the eleventh year of this present Century of the Church a new starre-gazer one Fabricius in the upper Germanie publish'd at Witteberge by the vertue of a strange glasse a pretended discovery of strange spots in the Sunne about which time in the lower Germanie a like acute Novelist publish'd pretented spots in the best Belgique Church But as the clearest-sighted though of a lesse excellency then S. Stephen's eie judg'd those suppos'd staines through divine permission to have been by the grand Artist the devil juggled into the starre-wise glasse not into the Sunne so the best-sighted though not so wonderfull as Lyncius yet free from the Jaundice of Opinion discern'd through the right Optique of sacred truth the spots to be not in the Church but in the Novelist and so that his mistakes were the staines If then we see any departing from the truth shall not we depart from Them shall we not rather partake with the Prophet in his tears than with them in such backsliding as deserves such tears You see then enough yea too much cause of sorrow and yet you can not but see the little Effect it produces And must we not confesse this to bee very unnaturall that where there is so great cause there is so litle Effect where so much sinne so few teares for sinne O let us then with severity look upon our Own sinnes let us with compassion behold other mens and shall we make ourselves so unhappy as not to bewaile our own unhappinesse shall we weep for the death of our Friends Bodies and shall we not weep for the death of our Own Soules That being for them but to fulfill the Law of Nature but this being for us to violate the Law of God! When David and his men saw Ziklag burnt and their wives and children carried into Captivity it is said they wept untill they had no more power to weep 1 Sam. 30.4 And shall not we weep as much to see our Soule which is the City of God set on fire by vice and all the vertues and ornaments of our Soules to be lost to be Triumph'd-upon by the Enemies of our Soules Surely as the wind by gathering many clouds makes a shower so our mind by meditation collecting the many evils of our own lives and others will easily cause a shower of tears And indeed who would not willingly by a temporall sorrow scape eternall sorrow since in this life a few accepted teares can wash away the greatest sinnes that shall be remitted but after this life eternall teares can not wash away the least sinnes Let us then crie here for the guilt of our sinnes that we may not hereafter crie for the punishment of them Let us bemoan our selves like Ephraim repentant Ephraim in this our Prophet chap. 31.19 with a holy indignation Surely after that I was turn'd I repented and after that I was instructed I smote upon my thigh I was asham'd yea even confounded because I did bear the reproach of my youth Let us with the wise man Eccles 2.2 crie-out of mirth what does it crie-out of the madnesse of it The Septuagint term it there 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the turning-about the Giddinesse of mirth Let us turn our hearts by Meditation towards Hell that they may never be neerer to it than by Meditation Can we remember how the Israelites mourn'd by the waters of Babylon and not imitate their mourning The waters of Babylon sayes S. Austin are the transitory pleasures of this world by which the Godly mourne as in a strange Country when they remember Sion the heavenly Ierusalem And what more powerfull Motives can we have for teares whether we consider our selves or God than Feare or love both which God has provided for us There are sayes S. Gregory two causes of tears the first for Fear of Punishment the Second for delay of our happinesse both which are intimated according to that Father by that double blessing which Caleb as it is Josh 15.19 bestow'd upon his daughter Achsah to whom he gave the upper and the nether springs the nether spring is Fear the upper Love To the same purpose did Nazianzen observe that Noah's flood came partly from the Earth and partly from Heaven so sayes he the purging flood of tears comes partly from the feare of Hel land partly from the desire of Heaven from the love of God And surely as waters which are distill'd from the rose by the force of fire yeil'd a sweet smell so much more sweet are the waters of the head which are press'd-out by the heat of divine Love It is indeed the Spirit of divine love that from the eies forces holy tears according to that of David Ps 147. Hee causes his wind to blow and the waters flow The same Prophet sayes Ps 104.3 God layes the beames of his chambers in the waters that is he covers the upper part of the heaven or air with water the just man is such a heaven whose upper parts his soule his head his eies are overflow'n with devout sorrow whose teares doe mystically fullfill that of the Psalmist Ps 148.4 The waters that are above the heavens praise the name of the Lord And more admirably doe these waters the tears of the just praise the justice the Mercy and goodnesse of the Lord Who will not then shed a few such tears that he may never shed any more tears And since our Soule is the Garden of God who will not provide a Fountain of tears to make it pleasant for his intertainment who will not labour who will not Rejoice to shed such tears as God himself will wipe away when he will change the darknesse of sorrow into the light of joy the dark eie into a cheerfull eie when he will work such a wonder in the Soul as he has in the eie by a marvelous raising of light out of darknesse out of the apple of the eie which the Hebrews call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 amongst other reasons from the blacknesse as the word also signifies expressing God's wonderfull work in the composition of the eie when as out of the apple of the eie which is the darkest part of it he raises light The apple of the eie being so black or dark that when in the Proverbs Cha. 7.9 it is said in the black and dark night it is in the Original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if we should say in the apple of the eie of the night Yet out of the darkest sorrow God will at last raise the most cheerfull light From an eie darken'd with humble tears with innocent tears such as
the golden the most excellent crown since he only has entred the fort of our enemy the Divell by his victory over Hell Thus then he only shall have the glorious crown and by his own merit Yet we also shall have crownes though all ours shall in effect be his Since then there is so Glorious a reward proposed unto us let us be temperate in all things that we may strive for the mastery that by getting the mastery we may get the crown And since that our crownes are due to Him let us imitate the Elders who sell down before him that sate upon the Throne and cast their Crownes before the Throne So let us in thankfull humility cast down our selves and our Crownes before his Throne and let us say Thy Kingdome come Our Kingdome come And let us tryumphantly say with them Thou art worthy O Lord to receive Glory and Honour and Power who hast made us unto our God Kings and Priests To thee therefore with the Father and the blessed spirit be ascribed the Crown and the Kingdome for ever for ever FINIS OF God's Husbandry A SERMON BY BARTEN HOLYDAY Doctor of Divinity OXFORD Printed by Leonard Lichfield 1657. 1 Cor. 3.9 Ye are Gods Husbandry THE first cause of Husbandry was sinne the painfull tillage of the ground being imposed on man for his transgression since otherwise even good things had grown of their own accord And this punnishment was so necessarily layd upon man that as a labour it was made a duty God sending him forth of Paradice to till the ground Gen. 3.23 So that now for man not to manage the ground lookes like a sinne and thus all gentler laboures in other callings we may count but Indulgence by a gracious permission and exchange of penalty Yet God in his favour made this duty so honourable that he made it the frequent labour of the ancient Patriarchs And even the Heathen so honoured this profession that they highly honoured them that honoured this which was especially the practice of the Romans amongst whom even the chiefe families were descended from husbandmen witnesse their Names drawn from severall kinds of graine the subject of their employment as the Fabii the Lentuli the Cicero's and others of the like Labour and Honour But God himselfe did at last so honour this labour that as man was at first made a husbandman for the Guilt of sinne so God himself vouchsafed to make himselfe a husbandman to take away the Power of sinne Man is a husbandman about the Earth and God is a Husbandman about man The Earth is our Tillage we are God's Tillage Yet as in a large estate the Lord usually imployes his Baily so in the larger husbandry of man God is pleased to imploy his minister and by way of inferiour deputation continuall to imploy every man in the managing of himself Now whereas the professors of other Arts do cōmonly reserve the mysteries of their knowledge to themselves for which too often as well as for their skill they may justly and unhappily be called Crafts the Husbandman on the contrary delights to impart his knowledge that others may be instructed in their spirituall husbandry in the understanding of this duty they may chiefely consider the Nature of the Ground that is to be husbanded and the Manner of the Husbandry in which two we must imploy study and in which two we may then expect Blessing First then behold the Ground on which we are to bestow our labour which yet without labour we shall find to be man When God says we are his Husbandry you see he does remember us that we are Earth Now the Earth we know is most remote from Heaven and is not man so meere naturall man Is he not most remote from the Gracious thoughts of divine affaires Yet as the earth is capable of the Heavenly Influences so is man capable of the influences of Grace The Earth is singularly fruitfull producing many excellent effects for which cause the Gentiles made it a Goddesse attributing unto it divine honours in like manner have some Philosophicall Christians been so farre inamour'd with the abilities of man that they esteemed the power of man's will in a manner equall to the power of God But as the fruitfullnesse of the Earth in the outward or inward parts of it in the production of Graine or Metall is begunne and finish'd by the influence of the Heaven so is the fruitfullnesse of man's soule by the influence of Grace And as the Earth is incompassed with the Sea by the penetrating moisture whereof as some think dry parts of it are made more firme and compact so is man as drie Earth the better compacted by the moisture of Grace The Earth the more it is plowed and stir'd the more fruitfull it is but if it be suffered to lie continually fallow insteed of fruit it shall bring forth weeds so the soule if exercised and dilligently dressed will prove very fruitfull but if it be left follow then shall it yeild nothing but the weeds of sloth When the ancients pictured the Earth they did adjoyne the picture of a key to signifie that the earth is opened in the Spring and shut in the winter and does not man so truely resemble the Earth Does he not shoot forth in the spring of his youth and is he not shut up againe in his old age The Earth was also anciently painted in the forme of a woman sitting and bearing a drumme which in their conceit well expressed the winds inclosed within the Earth this also does as aptly expresse the nature of man who is filled and disturbed with the passions of his Mind The Romans built unto Vesta in whom they express'd the Earth a round Temple in the midst of which was a perpetuall fire and does not this as truly expresse Man Is not his Body a consecrated Temple and is not his Soul as a perpetuall fire The same picture was also crown'd with white garlands to signifie the foaming waters that continually incompasse and beate the shoare and may not these as aptly signifie the continuall troubles that beset and offer violence unto man And as Earth does thus signifie man so does dust which we may call dead earth as having lost the livening moisture signifie dead man does not the Prophet imply as much Ps 30.9 Shall the dust praise thee O Lord Nor are men thus only like the earth in these properties but also for the many Differences of the earth some ground is Mountanous and some low some fruitfull and other barren the like differences in their conditions doe men admit some being proud and some humble some being fruitfull of good workes and others as barren Cato observ'd that kind of ground to be the best that lies open towards the Sunne so is that Soul the most happy that is truly inlivened with the warmth of grace Varro tels us that if in land there be stones sand gravel or the like it is over heated and
seed by keeping the Sunne and the showers from it so that it has neither necessary heat nor seasonable moisture thus likewise doe the spirituall thornes keep from us the inlivening heat of God's Grace in his word which otherwise would bring forth in us the fruits of the spirit they likewise turne away the seasonable showers of Grace even as a violent wind dos often drive a showre another way Besides thornes doe by intangling hinder the Corne denying it a liberty of groth whereas otherwise it would rise higher thus likewise doe cares and wealth and pleasures keep down the soul which otherwise might ascend to the cogitations of divine things O then whiles we have time let us seriously intend the husbandry of our own soules let us plow up the fallow ground of our own hearts let us provide our selves of the best the weighty seed the immortall seed of Gods Word and Grace let us be sure also to prevent the weed and thorne Or else we shall with those negligent husbandmen fall a sleep and after the good seed has been sow'd suffer the envious man to come and sowe tares but shall the seed of the word be sow'd in vaine O let us remember that of the Apostle to the Hebrews 12.15 Look diligently lest any man faile of the grace of God lest any root of bitternesse spring up and trouble us But alas how vast a multitude is there that is profoundly fallen a sleep in this duty of love to their own soules nay that only prove themselves to have soules because they are a sleep that is not dead How many lye so soundly a sleep that they are scarce awake to Ambition whiles the Divell does very methodically and gradually sow in them the tares of Lust Ignorance Pride Opression and Blasphemous Novelty but Oh Let us remember not only the prosperous growth but also the end of such tares which oftentimes are suffered to grow as long as the wheat even till the harvest when it shall be said as it was by the Angell to him that sate upon a cloud like unto the Sonne of man Apoc. 14.15 Thrust in thy sicle and reape for the time is come for thee to reape for the harvest of the earth is ripe O let us take care that we may be gathered as the wheat into the Barne and not as the tares to be made into bundles and cast into the fire The wicked saies S. Austin shall be gathered into bundles the Usurer saies he shall with his Wife and Children whom he nourished by usury be bound into one bundle The corrupt Judge with his Notary Advocate and false witnesse shall be bound in an other bundle The Harlot and her Lovers and her servantes with the contrivers of their Lust shall be bound in a third bundle And thus shall they all all those tares be cast into everlasting fire Now though it pleases God to use mercifull delay to put in execution such judgement we must not use unmercifull delay to put in execution our diligence True it is indeed as S. Chrysostome well observed that men are long in building but quickly destroy but that God on the contrary does quickly build but is long ere he destroys So in the blessing of good ground God uses speed but in the cursing of bad ground he uses delay The Apostle expresses as much Heb. 6.7 The earth which drinketh in the raine that cometh oft upon it and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed receives blessing from God There you see is a present blessing of the good ground But that which beares thornes and briars as it followes in the next verse terra reprobata est so the Latine Interpreter has it it is reprobate earth and is nigh unto cursing It is not presently cursed but it shall be Cursed there 's Gods mercifull delay of his judgement But this increase of his Mercy must increase in us a diligence in our husbandry and since that no crop can be without seed we must especially endeavour to be provided of good seed which as it is an absolute part of our providence so must it likewise be of our Thankfullnesse since this seed is both a necessary gift a meer gift That it is Necessary we may proportionally learne from the Earth which though it brings forth wheat yet it cannot unlesse there be seed bestowed upon it no more can the heart though it hath a possibility bring forth any fruit if the word of God be not bestowed upon it And in like manner that it is a meer guift we may as easily understand Good ground in the Parable Luk. 8. being not good by nature but by grace good but not till grace be bestowed upon it so grace both makes it good and brings forth also good fruit It is not good according to any precedent qualitie but good according to God's favour so truly good ground is the Elect not good before Grace but by grace And as seed though cast into the Earth sends not forth the corne if it be not watred with the seasonable showers of Heaven so if the word received be not nourished by grace we may rightly say it was never rightly received And since this spirituall seed is sow'd in the heart by the ministers of God and afterwards watered by the showers of Grace frequently descending with their laboures you must strive alwaies to be a part of that ground which receives the blessing And if you truely receive it you will returne thanks 〈◊〉 is the first blessing of that blessing and the 〈◊〉 fruits of good ground We must bring our firâ—â— fruits unto God and then the whole harvest will be blest We must bring them betime whiles they are yet even green which was expressed in the name of the month in which they were offered it being called the month of Abib that is of the green eare of corne Exod. 13.4 The Grecians called the same month of the first fruits 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because then in the spring the earth beganne to grow warme And so must every Christian even in the spring of his conversion when he growes warme with the heat of Grace make that the season of offering his first fruits Yet afterwards as he growes in age he must grow in fruitfullnesse for as some say of wheat that the longer it stands it will yield the more so doubtlesse it may be said of a Godly man the longer he lives he will bring forth the more fruit And as we must increase in store so we must also increase in true excellency we must look that we bring the best we can as much was implyed in that name by which first fruits are called in another place namely Lev. 2.14 where they are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our Translation renders it green eares but it may be rendered eares of Carmel that is such fresh and goodly eares of Corne as grew