true dost thou not Judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the Earth And long white robes were given to every one and it was said unto them that they should rest for a little season untill their fellow servants and their brethren that should be killed even as they were were fulfilled This Scripture makes for our purpose all along For first Who are they that here complain the Text sayes They were Martyrs and those are Saints of the first lift and if their souls were not received into the fulness of joy and happiness at their dissolution what souls are But that they were not it appears First By their complaint How Long Lord how long Secondly By the answer given unto them perswading still to waite for a season and to possess their souls with patience til the rest of the number of their brethren were accomplished without whom they could not be made perfect and that could not be till the Resurrection and the Generall Judgement at the great day Aquinas doth excellently describe Summum bonum or the highest felicity to be Quies Mentis or Acquiescentia Mentis in ultimo fine the rest or acquiescence of the mind in the last end beyond which nothing can be desired to make it more happy But those souls which yet cry How long Lord how long doe declare That they have not yet attained their ultimate end and therefore they doe not perfectly acquiesce but are in expectation of a farther degree of fuller happiness yet to be given unto them And thus I have made good this Proposition in both the Parts That the souls separated from the body by Death are not in the same state from the time of their separation to the time of their re-union again at the day of Judgement that they shall be in after that day to all eternity But then me thinks I heare you ask me In what state are they then during that time Where are they Or what becomes of them And to this Quaerie I shall endeavour to satisfie you too and that Ad partes to both the parts of it both as it concerns the souls of the just and the souls of the unjust and wicked men And first as to the souls of wicked men If you ask me where or in what state they are I answer They are in the same state and in the same places that the evill Angells are in and what that was you heard even now out of Jude 6. they are secured in prison they are with them reserved in chains unto the judgement of the great day For proofe of this take these two Scriptures the first in 1 Pet. 3.19 The second in Luke 12.20 In the first St. Peter speaking of the death of Christ saith thus ver 18. Christ also suffered for sinners the just for the unjust that he might bring us to God who was put to death as concerning the flesh but was quickned in the Spirit By which spirit also he went and Preach't to the spirits in prison v. 19. If ye ask What spirits he tells you ver 20. Those spirits which in time past were disobedient In what time In the times of Noah and before the Flood for so it followeth When once the long suffering of God abode in the dayes of Noah while the Ark was preparing wherein few that is eight persons were saved from perishing in the waters There you have St. Peter plainly interpreting himselfe that the spirits here mentioned are the spirits of the sinners of the old world which perished in the Flood but their spirits perished not neither were they presently sent to the Lake of everlasting Burnings but they are secured in Prison as the evill Angels are and so reserved unto the Judgement of the great day That place in St Luke speaks the same thing where the Voyce is heard speaking to the secure Epicure singing a requiem to his own soule Soule take thine ease eate drink and be merry thou hast goods layd up for many years Alas he dreams of many years when he hath not many hours to live Stulte hac nocte Thou foole this night shall they fetch away thy soule then whose shall these things be Nay Whose shalt thou be This night shall they fetch away thy soule Which they The evill Angels When good men dye the good Angells are ready to receive their souls as they did the soule of Lazarus Luke 16. and carry them into Abraham's bosome But when wicked men dye the evill Angells fetch away their souls Thou foole this night shall they fetch away thy soule And whither think you were they to carry it but to their own Quarters to those Prisons in which themselves are secur'd as in chains unto the judgement of the great day But then here ariseth another Question What those Prisons are Or Where it is that they are secured unto that day And to this I Answer There are three vast large and spacious Prisons in which the evill Angells are secured and with them the souls of wicked men unto the Judgement of the great day And they are 1. The Aire 2. The Earth 3. The Sea First The Aire with all the severall Regions of it into which the Apostate Angells were banished When for their rebellion against their Creator they were expell'd out of Heaven For this see St. Paul in his Epistle to the Ephesians cap. 6.12 You wrestle not against flesh and blood but against Principalities and Powers and spirituall wickednesses in high places And what or who are those spirituall wickednesses but those evill spirits And what are those high places but the Regions of the Aire And therfore is the Principall of the Devills called The Prince that ruleth in the Aire for even amongst them there is Order and subordination We reade of a Prince among Devills Ephes 2.2 The second of those Prisons is The Earth and therein first The vast and howling Wildernesses and Places uninhabited where no foot doth tread but where Ostriches doe dwell where Ziim doth boade and the Satyres dance Secondly The vast caverns and concavities within the earth amongst which the hollow mountains of Aetna Vesuuius and in Ireland that hollow vault called Saint Patriarchs Purgatory famous in story But in America many such and more evident dens of Daemons But above all these the vast hollowness in the very heart and Center of the Earth for who knows what vast and spatious receptacles there may be for such spirits It is not unreasonable nor against any Article of Faith or of Scripture to conceive That there is in the very heart and Center of the Earth such a vast hollowness both for a fit receptacle for such spirits and by which that vast and weighty body is buoy'd up that it sink not any way towards the Circumference on any side though no way supported neither by Poasts nor Pillars What is it that sustains the vast and weighty Ships in the Sea with all the Anchors Ordnance and Fraught in them but the
suffering of God should leade to Repentance But thou out of thine hardness and heart that cannot repent treasurest up unto thy selfe wrath against the day of wrath and the declaration of the righteous judgement of God And what a miserable thing is this for a man to treasure up unto himself wrath against the day of wrath and all his dayes to be carrying fuell to that fire in which himselfe is eternally to burne Lastly From this truth let all men certainly conclude a Judge to come for he that is the Judge of all the world hath said it That he will render to every man according to his works Rom. 2.6 But we see that is not done in this life in this life here are cross dispensations of Providence by which it falls out oft times clean contrary Solomon observed this in his time Eccles 8.14 That there be righteous Men to whom it cometh according to the working of the wicked and there be wicked Men to whom it cometh according to the work of the righteous The royall Prophet David before him observed the same â—sal 73. and complineth of it That the wicked flourish when the righteous perish they live at ease and have all things that their hearts can wish When the righteous are under the Cross and under the Rod chastised every Morning and visited every moment Hic pietatis honos Is this the reward of piety Is this to render to every man according to his works surely no and if things should rest thus then well might Saint Paul complain That of all men the Saints and servants of God were most miserable If in this life onely we have hope then are we of all men most miserable But say not so and think not so but possesse your souls with patience for a time and mark the end and you shall finde it is not so Remember that of St. Paul Acts 17.31 That God hath appointed a day wherein to Judge the world in righteousness by his Sonne Jesus Christ when he will make all these crosse reckonings right and streight wherein he will render tribulation to them that have troubled his and to those that have been troubled rest with him when he will say to all those secure and sensuall sinners as to the rich Epicure in the Gospel Sonnes remember you in your life time received pleasure and these my servants received pain now they are comforted and you are tormented that 's the day wherein this word shall be made good That he will render to every Man according to his works therefore called The day of refreshing Acts 3.19 The day of restauration The day of the righteous judgement of God Rom. 2.5 Gods Judgements are alwayes righteous but they are not alwayes declared to be so but then they shall be declared to be so in the sight of all the world men and Angels and they shall all confesse and say as in the Psalme Verely there is a reward for the righteous doubtless there is a God that judgeth the earth And so we have done with the Prophets second Satis est the second of his enoughs spoken in reference to what he had suffered Satis Tuli I have suffered enough We now pass to the third spoken in reference to what he had done 3. Satis Feci I have done enough And this ariseth out of the first words of the 14. verse I have been very jealous or zealous for the Lord God of Hosts this word is very significant and comprehensive it containes in it much as the faithfull discharge of his duty in the Office of a Prophet whereunto he was called his care to maintaine the true Religion and Worship of God his courage in reproving the sinnes of the ten Tribes even in the greatest Ahab himselfe not excepted his zeale in convincing and silencing the Priests of Baall in those perillous times when they had the protection and countenance of Authority on their sides and much more and that he did not these things coldly negligently perfunctorily but with all earnestness and fervency as the word imports for it comes from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to hisse as Iron doth when being red hot it is dipt in Water such was his activity in the performance of these his duties and fervency of affection Quicquid egit valide egit as the Italians are said to doe The zeale of Gods House did even consume him as another Prophet speaks he did these duties with zeale as hot as fire neither in this testimony did he arrogate to himselfe any thing at all more then due nor commend himselfe above his measure the Story of his Life and Actions evidently declares the truth of what he here asserts That he had been very zealous for the Lord God of Hosts in doing his Will in seeking his Glory and in upholding and maintaining his true Worship against all opposers c. The Inferences from hence are these three The first Those that are for God must doe the will of God The second It is not enough to doe Operâ— operato but they must doe it as they should be done in due manner with due affections and they must doe it home or els it will never reach to Elijah's Satis est It is enough The third It shall be their greatest comfort in the evill day that they have done so the illation of these is cleare out of Elijah's Satis est in the Text compar'd with the first words of the 14. v. First Those that are for God must doe the will of God in that Place Calling and Condition of Life wherein God hath set them They must doe his will whether it be Prophet or Apostle or a common Christian Magistrate or Minister or common Beleever every one must in his Place doe the will of God It is our dayly Prayer That his will may be done in Earth as it is in Heaven And in this Prayer Is it fit that we should over-look our selves No as it is our dayly Prayer so it should be our dayly practise to doe his will Not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the will of my Father which is in Heaven Not the hearers but the doers of the Law shall be justified If you know these things blessed are you if you doe them Christianity calls for Action it is not Logicall but Morall not speculative but practique it consists not in saying nor in knowing nor in professing but in working there must be a Feci in it Regnum Dei non datur otiosis as St. Bernard speaks the Kingdom of God is not given to idle professors and pretenders the Calling of a Christian is a laborious Calling a Building a Husbandry a Warfare all these call to work there is somthing to be done whereby we may bring glory to God good to men and comfort to our own souls The very Heathen were sensible of this That they were bound to doe some good in the Generation wherein
was an Asylum a place of refuge and protection 1 Kings 2.28 The souls of these Martyrs were seen under the Altar to intimate their security their safety no evill might touch them As to that saying of our Lord to the penitent theefe upon the Cross This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise I give these two answers First That Paradise is not so limited to the highest Heaven where the Throne of God is but that it may comprehend some other place adjacent to it where he might be in joy and felicity with Christ who as to his Divine Nature is every where the word signifieth A place of pleasure and such are the places assigned to be the receptacles of the souls of the just when they are separated from their bodies I answer secondly That for the souls of Enoch before the Law and of Elijah under the Law and of this penitent theefe under the Gospel I doe not deny but they might have speciall priviledge in the translation of them that the Lord in their examples might give good assurance to all beleevers and to all the just that ever have or shall live in any Age of the World whether before the Law under the Law or since the Law as well of their ascension and glorification as of their resurrection As to this penitent theefe in particular dying with him upon the Crosse that he might shew a specimen of the power of his death in saving justifying and glorifying penitent sinners though never so great offenders but then we must remember withall that these were peculiar priviledges of singular persons And Privilegia sunt paucorum the Civill Law will tell us That Priviledges are the portion but of few This doth not weaken the truth of my ascertion That the souls of just men dying doe not immediately upon the separation of them from the body pass into the highest Heaven nor to the highest glory nor to that fulness of joy which they shall enter into at the Resurrection when they shall be re-united to their bodies and so both together shall be taken into the everlasting habitations and shall stand in the presence of God and enjoy the beatificall Vision in whose light they shall see light when they shall see God face to face in whose presence is fulness of joy and at whose right hand there are pleasures for evermore This the Royall Prophet by his spirit of Prophesie foresaw long agoe and rejoyced under the hope of it Psal 17.15 I shall behold thy face in righteousness and when I awake I shall be satisfied with thy Image When I awake that is in the morning of the Resurrection then I shall be satisfied with thine Image then and not till then shall I be fully satisfied with thine Image But then here ariseth another Question as there did of the souls of wicked men Where are the souls of the just in the mean while between the time of their separation from the body by death and the re-union of them with the body at the Resurrection Where are they What becomes of them In what state and condition have they their being What is their imployment What is their enjoyments To all these foure Quaeries I shall endeavour to give you some satisfaction as touching the Place the State the imployment and the enjoyments of souls separated And as to the first of these The place of the souls separation I shall not send you to the Elysan fields of the antient Poëts to seek them Nor to the Gardens nor Orchards of the Hesperides Nor to the Mahometan Paradises all these conceived and beleeved That the souls of vertuous and just men as soon as they were separated from the body did pass into some place of rest and joy wherein they were not deceived but for want of a more distinct knowledge of the Place where they had their being and their state in it they set it forth by comparing it to the being in those places which they conceived to be most happy pleasant and joyous But certainly that which is most agreeable to reason in this case and is no way repugnant to any Article of Faith nor to any discovery in Scripture made to the contrary is this That the souls of the just being separated from the bodies doe pass into those high Heavens which are above the Starry Firmament as the souls of wicked men doe pass into the Regions of the Aire below it For that there are Heavens above the Starry Firmament it cannot be denyed two we reade of before we come to the Empyrean Heavens where the Throne of God is and where the Lord of Hosts with all his holy Angells keeps his Court in Majesty and Glory The lower-most of these is called Caelum aqueum The watery Heaven from the clearness and the transparancy of it The other above that is called Caelum Crystallinum The Crystall Heaven from the purity and the pellucidity of it for still the higher the Heavens are and the neerer they approach to the Empyrean Heaven where the Throne of God is the more glorious are they and the more noble the Inhabitants of them Now between every of these Heavens there is a vast space of infinite capacity and it must needs be so by reason of the greatness of their circumference the least and lowest of them is of greater capacity and comprehension then all this space that is between the Earth and the Starry Firmament and the rest greater then it proportionably Now I would ask Of what use these vast and comprehensive Heavens are if this be not one to be the receptacle of the souls of the just when they are taken out of their bodies Natura nihil facit frustrà The God of Nature the Creator of all things hath made nothing in vain There is no part of the world which he hath made but he hath stor'd and stock't it with Inhabitants suitable to it The Earth he hath stor'd and stock't with Beasts and Cattell the Sea with Fishes the Ayre with Fowle and with Aeriall Inhabitants every of the Spheres above it with Starrs and Planets which by their light heare influence and motion divide the times and Governe this inferiour world The Starry Firmament that is spread out as a vaile between this inferiour and the superiour world between these lower and the higher Heavens it is peopled as it were with innumerable Golden Starrs of severall magnitudes specious to behold and pretious for their use and influence The Empyrean Heavens the highest of all the rest is stor'd and Inhabited with Angells and Arch-Angells Cherubims and Seraphims and the other Orders of those Heavenly Courtiers that stand in the presence of God waiting his pleasure and ready to execute his will and to fulfill his Word Thus the whole Universe is replenished with Inhabitants suitable to the places which the Great Creator and high disposer of all things hath appointed for them And doe these beautifull Heavens the Aqueall and Chrystalline Heavens so
specious and so spacious between the Starry Firmament and the Empyrean Heaven stand voyd and empty without Inhabitants No it cannot be but they have their Inhabitants too and they are the souls of the Just when they are separated from their bodies by death and dissolution who being next unto the Angells in holiness are placed in receptacles next unto them in glory The Chrystalline Heaven next and immediately under the Empyrean Heaven and the Aqueall or Watry Heaven next immediately under it and as they have atteined to the degrees of purity here in this life so are they disposed of into the one or into the other of them neerer or farther off from the Throne of glory for as after the Resurrection there shall be severall and different degrees of glory so in this state of separation the souls separated shall be in severall and different degrees of joy and happiness according as they are prepared for it and have atteined to severall degrees of holiness and purity in this life while they were in the body Secondly If you enquire into the state of those souls separated it must needs be blessed and glorious suitable to the glory of those Heavens wherein they are Where first They are delivered from the burden of the Flesh the body the very prison wherein they were deteined and sole impediment of their perfection Secondly They are freed from all sin and sorrow concupiscence and corruption from all temptations and sollicitations from the world the devill and the flesh and from all the evill of this lower world which they have left behind them and which now As that glorious Woman Rev. 12.1 they trample under their feet all tears are wipt from their eyes all sorrow and grief and pain are flowne away they dyed in the Lord they are blessed they rest from their labours and so they are in Abraham's bosome They are in the hand of God as Solomon speaks Wisedom 3.1 so that no evill shall touch them they are got above the reach of the malice of men or Devills 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Greek Proverbe hath it out of the danger of the dart And so their state agrees with that which St. John sayes of them Rev. 6. That he saw them under the Altar yet all this is but their privative happiness consisting in their freedom from all evill and their security from all danger but they are in present possession of a positive blessedness too in a great measure and high degree of present joy and glory Their very imployment is a part of their blessedness which is no less then Angelicall to laud and prayse and magnifie the living Lord to sing Hosanna to Hosannah's in the highest and Hallelujahs to him that sitteth upon the Threne to admire the glory and the greatness and the goodness and the power and the holiness of the mighty Lord God of which they have now a clearer sight and apprehension then before and in particular his singular and unspeakable grace and goodness unto them which hath done such great things for them as to bring them thither to triumph in the apprehension of it and to rejoyce and glory in the sence of it I know not whether I should rather ranke these things under their imployments or their enjoyments they are blessed duties which are both With what sweet contentation and selfe satisfaction doe they converse together in pure love and light With what joy and comfort can they now remember the difficulties and the dangers which they have past through in their comming thither What temptations what afflictions they have met withall What strong corruptions they have wrestled with What importunate lusts they have denied and subdued What sollicitations from the World from the Flesh and from the Devill they have resisted and rejected and how now they bless themselves that they have done so and God that gave them grace and strength to doe it With what joy and prayse doe they congratulate one another in their happy victories over sin and Satan Death and Hell and all the enemies of their salvation and in their safe passage through all the dangers and difficulties that stood between them and Heaven and that having escaped all the corruption that is in the world through Lust they are at length arrived to the Place where they would even to the top of Mount Syon the Place of their rest and joy where now they are taken into neerer Communion with God then they could be before they have more clear manifestation of him sweet influences from him and union with him they converse with Angels congratulating them in their happiness and with Euges of joy and prayse well-coming them into those Heavens the habitations of their happiness the Paradise of their joy and glory And now their Charity invites them to Pray for the whole estate of Christs Church militant here on Earth That the Lord would guide them and keep them in the way of Truth that he would bring them safe through all the dangers and difficulties that stand in the way between them and Heaven that the Gospel may have free passage through the world that it may runne prosper and be glorious that by it he would call in all that are yet uncalled that he would shortly accomplish the number of his elect and hasten his Kingdom that they with them and all others that shall depart out of this life in the faith and feare of his holy Name may have their perfect consummation and bliss both in body and soule in his eternall and everlasting glory Which is the third estate in which immortall souls doe pass their immortality which begins from the day of the generall Judgement and lasts from thence to all eternity Of which though we had the Tongue of Men or Angells it is impossible to speak to the full and as the subject requires O Aeternity Aeternity How is the Heart astonish't and the Mind swallowed up that enters into the thoughts of it with the state of the just and the unjust in it the joy and glory of the one and the misery and torment of the other both which being unexpressible I shall forbeare to enter into the description of them and in stead thereof onely referr you to the words of the sentences at the great day to be given upon them both the sentence of absolution to the just on the right hand and of condemnation to the wicked on the left both which the Judge himselfe that shall pronounce them hath told us before hand and left us in terminis upon record Mat. 25. And first The sentence of absolution because that shall be first pronounc'c that the wicked on the left hand may see Heaven opened and have a sight of the joy and glory of the Celestiall Paradise and see the just taken into it and set down with Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven and themselves cast out that they may see what happiness they have lost by wilfully forsaking
be taken up into those pure habitations into which no unclean thing may enter not to defile or clog them with sinne and guilt whereby they may be prest down and hindered in their flight and passage into the higher Heavens the glorious receptacles appointed for them Fifthly It is usefull for the overthrowing of that Limbus Patrum Limbus Infantum and other roomes and spacious places in the Fabricke of the Popish Purgatory which they have erected in their own imaginations for receptacles wherein they would lodge the souls of men when they are separated from their bodies there to remain for a long tract of time in prison and in pain till they be sufficiently purged and punished except there be some extraordinary means used for the reliefe or release of them or for the mitigating of their paine either first by a multitude of Masses dayly said and sung for them Or secondly By the suffrages of the living praying for the dead from whence all these Epitaphs upon their Graves and Tombes Orate pro animâ Pray for the soule of such a one Or thirdly By some munificence or eminent works of Charity done upon their account Or fourthly By applying unto them some of the works of supererogation taken out of the Treasury of the Church and by the Popes special favour confer'd upon them c. These imaginations before the truth in this Discourse declared fall to the ground while it teacheth That there is no such Limbus Patrum as they pretend to nor need there any but that their souls presently upon the separation of them pass into the Etheriall Heavens where they are in rest and peace in bliss happiness and glory that the blood of Christ shed in due time that was in the fulness of time was as effectuall to the purging washing saving and sanctifying of the souls of the Fathers that lived in the first generation of the world before his comming in the flesh as it is now for the purging washing saving and sanctifying of the souls of beleevers since his coming and will be to the end of the world that as to the vertue of his Death Passion Resurrection and Ascension He was a Lambe slaine from the beginning of the world and whose going out have been from the beginning and from everlasting as the Prophet Micah tells us and as the Apostle declares him Jesus Christ yesterday and to day and the same for ever Lastly It is usefull for the answering of that great question with which we are so frequently and so importunately urged by inquisitive people to shew them where Locall Hell is They cannot satisfie themselves where Locall Hell is and therefore they are apt to beleeve there is none at all This Discourse satisfies them where it is for the present it is where the evill Angells are confin'd and secur'd in chains of darkness It is where the souls of wicked men are imprisoned both reserved to the Judgement of the great day And where that is this Discourse tells and not this Discourse or Treatise but the Apostle St. Jude ver 6. St. Paul Ephes 6.12 Ephes 2.2 St. Peter 1 Pet. 3.19 Those places where those evill Angells and where the souls and spirits of wicked men are imprisoned and secured untill that day are the Locall Hell for the present If you ask further Where Locall Hell shall be after that great day I Answer What need you look any further for it then the vast space conteining this wretched and wicked inferiour world wherein we now dwell You know what St. Peter hath Prophesied concerning it with all the Elements in it all the Creatures and works upon it all the visible Heavens over it that they shall be consumed by fire 2 Peter 3.10 The Heavens shall pass away with a noyse and the Elements shall melt with fervent heat and the Earth with the works therein shall be consumed by fire Now when these things shall be destroyed consumed annihilated what need we look any further for a Locall Hell then this vast space which these mighty bodies took up when they were in being When there shall be no Sunne to rule the day nor Moon nor Starrs to govern the Night nor to divide the times there shall be no distinction between day and night but all shall be night without day when the Sunne shall be no more the Sea shall be no more time shall be no more the Earth shall be no more all these visible Heavens within the reach of the conflagration shall be no more there 's space enough for the Locall Hell so much enquired after I have described to you before the present Hell the Prisons in which the evill Angells and souls of wicked men with them are secur'd unto that day and so are already in the beginnings of that Hell kept for fire they shall be burnt up they shall pass away with a great noyse melt with fervent heat be dissolved and all this while and amongst them all not one word of purgation purifying or refining or reserving the substance of it It is clear St. Peter himself speaks not of a refining in respect of the qualities but an utter abolition of the substance it selfe of this old world As the Pageant being finished the Stage is taken away so all the Tragedies which are Acted upon the Stage of this world being ended the Stage shall be pulled down broken in pieces burnt with fire as an Engine or Fabrick of which there is no more use it shall be no more But what shall we say to the other Objection raysed out of the words of St. Peter ver 13. But we look for new Heavens and a new Earth according to his promise wherein dwelleth righteousness Which words seem to import That though this present old World shall then be dissolved consumed burnt up yet if there doe not spring up as a Phoenix out of the Ashes of it another World yet God will Create another new World in the room of it and then we are but where we were in respect of the space and place and room we should have for Locall Hell these new Heavens and Earth will take it up To this I Answer That indeed we doe look for new Heavens and a new Earth according to his promise and according to St. Peters words and shall enjoy them too and dwell in them But what are those Heavens but those highest Heavens the Celestiall Paradise the glorious habitations of the Saints and of Gods Elect which he hath prepared for them from the beginning of the world and into which he will receive them at that day when he shall say unto them Venite benedicti Come ye blessed enter into the Kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world and these are called New not in respect of their new making but in respect of our new taking possession of them by a most happy change for our new habitations So that New Heavens and New Earth in this place signifieth no more but a
New Habitation farr more glorious then this that we now have in this lower world that as now the Earth under us and the Heavens over us are the place of our Habitation so after these shall be destroyed that we may not fear we shall want a habitation he tells us We shall have another and a better Habitation farr more excellent and glorious then this is which in allusion to these he calls New Heavens and New Earth to make us know we shall be no losers by the change And for this exposition I might quote you Authors enough Ireneus Hilary Hypolitus and others but I will cite you a whole Library of Fathers and Schoolemen and all in one who was himselfe a living Library I meane the late Learned and Reverend Lord Bishop of Worcester Doctor Prideaux Regius Professor in the University of Oxford and Rector of Exeter Colledge in which I lived under his Government some years He Preach't at the Court upon this very Text 1 Peter 3.13 his Sermon is in Print and intitled The Christians expectation where all along he proves The New Heavens here mentioned to be no other but the highest Heavens appointed for the Habitations of the Saints in glory But what need we trouble our selves to search the Libraries of the Fathers and Schoolemen to ask their Judgement and Consent in this matter St. Peter himselfe has cleered the Point in question to our hands That the Heavens in the Text though here called New can be no other but those glorious Heavens above now in being For thus he further commendeth them to us That they are Heavens wherein dwelleth righteousness he doth not say wherein shall dwell righteousness in the future but wherein now dwelleth righteousness in the present Tense We cannot say of Heavens hereafter to be Created That righteousness now dwelleth in them before they are in being But the Apostle saith expressly of the Heavens which we look for That righteousness now dwelleth in them therefore they are now in being long since Created from the beginning That which is in expectation and the newness here mentioned is not to be understood in respect of the making of them or the future being of them as if they were not yet in being but in respect of our entrance into them our taking Possession of them and Habitation in them so they shall be new to us I know there are of the other Opinion not a few for the new Creation of a new World new Heavens and a new Earth in the roome of this present World when it shall be abolisht and dissolved But see how weakly they prosecute that fancy when they would confirme themselves and others in it They tell us of what excellent use it shall be As first For a Monument of what hath been Secondly For a receptacle of such as had deserved neither Heaven nor Hell such as they thought were not capable of the one and they thought it pitty they should be condemned to the other such as Infants dying without Baptisme Idiots and ignorant people that wanted capacity to understand the truth honest morall men which never had the way of Gospel-salvation made known unto them such as Plato Aristotle Plutarch Cato c. Thirdly That it might be an out-let or as it were a Country House for the Saints and Angells to come down into where to solace themselves for their recreation and the like all but Rabbinicall fancies and Jesuiticall surmises without any ground any where but in their own imaginations As if the Lord had not roome enough wherein to dispose of his Saints and Angells and all his respectively except he should make another new World to entertein them in Whereas our Saviour tells us Their receptacles were prepared for them from the beginning of the world Mat. 25. Known to the Lord are all his works from the beginning and he will not have so many supernumeraries in the end of the World as that the Fabrick made in the beginning for the reception of them should not serve the turne But to satisfie the doubtfull in this scruple let it be well minded what St. Peter saith further here in this Text We look for new Heavens not for a new Heaven in the singular but for new Heavens in the Plurall number By which it appears there are more Heavens then one in the World above for the Lord to dispose of his Saints and Angells in a justification to what I have said in the former Part of this Treatise wherein I affirmed That there are more Heavens then one above the Starry Firmament I named two between it and the Empyrean or fiery Heaven where the Throne of God is and who knows how many more there may be Let no man object against this what St. Paul sayes of his Rapture into the third Heaven and therefore there are no more that doth not follow A man is taken up into a third place therefore there is not a fourth nor a fifth It would follow rather the contrary that there were For Non dicitur primus nisi in ordine ad secundum A first is not said to be so but in order to a second and so forward In numeris ordinalibus in numbers of order till you come to the last I say farther that in such accounts a respect is to be had where you begin to number according to which the same place may fall in account to be first or second or third or fourth Thirdly The Heavens are said to be more or less as they are distinguished and divided So Aristotle numbers but eight Ptolomie nine Purbacchius ten Maginus eleven and this distinction they make from the distinct motions they have observed in the wandring and fixed Starrs Our Christian Divines generally number but three and that from Saint Pauls rapture mentioned before Yet a Reverend and Learned Bishop of ours I mean Bishop Bilson in his Survey of Christs sufferings numbers foure and that fourth to be that which is called The Heaven of Heavens For That Christ is said to have ascended farr above all Heavens Ephes 4.10 Thus you see here are great varieties of Opinions touching the number of the Heavens and the Celestiall Orbs And yet in the midst of all this variety the difference is not so great but it may be fairly reconciled so as there shall be found no contradiction at all betwixt them as thus Be they as many as they will they may all conveniently be divided or sorted into these three Heavens or compages of Heavens if you will The Aëriall the Sydereall and the Etheriall Heavens Under the first of these is comprehended all that space which from the Earth upwards reacheth unto the Moone the lowest of the Luminaries of Heaven Foules flying in it are called Foules of Heaven Mat. 6.26 Under the second is comprehended all those Orbes and Sphears wherein the Starrs are placed whether the fixed or the wandering Starrs The Starrs are called Starrs of Heaven And under the third is comprehended
all that infinite space which is above the Starry Firmament and the Sydereall Heavens be it never so great or the Heavens in it never so many and so in this three-fold division of the Heavens into Aëriall Sydereall and Etheriall we shall easily reconcile Astronomy and Divinity together the Mathematicall Account with the Theologicall In it St. Paul may finde his third Heaven Bishop Bilson his fourth Aristotle may finde his eight Ptolomy his nines Purbacchius his tenn and Maginus his eleven and neither of them wrong other in the reckoning so they seek them while they are there in being but that must be before the Conflagration here in this Text Prophesied of by St. Peter For in the great burning here spoken of the two former the Aëriall and the Sydereall Heavens with the whole compages of them will be destroyed burnt up dissolved they all fall under the fury of the Conflagration St. Peter hath exprest the manner of it in tragicall expressions filling the heart with terror and astonishment to think on The burning of a House a Towne a City is a lamentable sight At the burning of Jerusalem and the Temple Titus himself which was the executioner of it lamented greatly and was sore grieved and troubled at so lamentable a spectacleâ— But what was that in comparison to this not so much as the burning of a Cottage in comparison of it selfe The burning of Sodom and Gomorrah Admah and Zeboim foure Cities in the Plaine with fire and brimstone from Heaven was a Type of this burning but slenderly representing it as so many bonfires to a mighty burning The Prophet Isaiah fore-telling the horrible destruction of the King of Assyria shadows it forth under the type and title of Tophet or Hell Isay 30.33 in terrible termes as before remembred For Tophet 〈◊〉 prepared of old yea even for the King it is prepared meaning the King of Assyria which in his close siege against Jerusalem lay there with his Army and went off with the loss of one hundred fourescore and five thousand men he hath made it deep and large the pile thereof is fire and much wood the breath of the Lord as a streame of brunstone doth kindle it This Tophet was a Valley on the South side of Jerusalem Josh 18.16 in which the Idolatrous Jews did burn their Children in the fire to offer them up in sacrifice unto Moloch contrary to the express command of God Levit. 20.1 It was called Tophet from Toph which in the Hebrew signifieth a Drumme from whence Tophet the diminutive of it signifying a little Drumme or Tabret because while these Children were burning the Idolatrous Priests beate upon these Drumms and playd on these Tabrets partly for the solemnity of the service and partly to drowne the crying and shreeking of the poor Innocents in the flames It was the Land of one Hinnom therefore called The Valley of Hinnom and in the New Testament Gehenna and taken for Hell Matth. 5.21 Matth. 8.9 Josiah had such indignation against this Idolatrous place that in his great Reformation 2 Kings 23.10 He defiled it he made it the very sinke and dunghill of the City a place for the execution of Malefactors and where those which were denyed buriall were cast out and lay unburied a place where to carry and cast all the noysom Carrion of the City where the Foules of the Ayre and the beasts might Prey upon them yet for feare they should corrupt the Ayre and cause infectious diseases there were continuall fires kept all-wayes burning to consume the bones and putrified Carkasses whether of men or beasts which were cast out there And for the loathsomness of the place and the continuall burnings in it it was called Gehenna Hell and Hell fire Unto which it is probable our Saviour alludes when describing Hell he saith The Worme never dyes nor the Fire never goeth out The Worme that is bred out of those putrefactions which farther gnawing causeth farther putrefaction never ceaseth to administer matter of burning to the fire nor the fire ever goeth out or ceaseth to feed it selfe upon it Yet as there are divers degrees of heate in the fire and the fiery furnace into which the three Children were cast was heat seven times hotter then at other times So it is cleere by the Scriptures That the torments of the damned are not all equall We reade of the Servant That knew his Masters wilt and did it not And of another That knew it not and did it not The former was to be beaten with many stripes The latter was to be beaten too but with fewer stripes The Stoicks were â—â—rr out in their Moralls when they taught Peccata esse aequalia That all sinns were equall Our Saviour his exposition of the sixth Commandement hath taught us otherwise Matth. 5.22 when he saith That whosoever is angry with his brother unadvisedly shall be in danger of the judgement and whosoever saith unto his brother Racha shall be worthy to be punished by the Councell but whosoever shall say unto his brother Thou foole shall be in danger of Hell fire Where under the forme of these three Courts among the Jews First The Court of three or the Triumviri here called The Judgement which had the hearing and punishing of smaller matters Secondly The Court of three and twenty here called The Councell which had the hearing and punishing of crimes of a higher nature And thirdly Of the highest Court of all consisting of threescore and eleven which they called their Sane drim which Judged the highest matters and punished by death it selfe whether by hanging beheading stoning or burning in Gehenna before mentioned he cleerly sheweth that there are great differences of sin and sinners and so there shall be also of punishments proportionably under which the damned shall be held and tormented in Hell for evermore Unto which the enlargement of Tophet by the destruction of this world in the great Conflagration shall be much conducing in giving convenient roome for it And as the punishment and torment of the damned in Hell shall be of divers and different measures and degrees Potentes potentèr cruciabuntur Mighty men shall be mightily tormented so that the joy and glory of the Caelestiall Inhabitants shall be as different in measure and degree is clearly revealed in Scripture They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the Firmament and they that turne many to righteousness shall shine as the Starrs for ever and ever Daniel 12.3 Which Saint Paul in 1 Cor. 15. further confirmes and more cleerly explicates this There is one glory of the Sunne another of the Moone and another glory of the Starrs for one Starr differeth from another Starr in glory ver 41. And then to prevent all mistakes and disputes about it he applyes it to this very purpose verse 42. Even so is the Resurrection from the dead And to this doth this Text of Saint Peter well agree where it sayes We look for new Heavens in the Plurall Number who knows how many Ethereall Heavens but he that made them but Heavens they are therefore more then one and this necessary for two Reasons First for the vast spaces that are required to dispose of the Caelestiall Inhabitants in spaces which no man can measure for multitudes which no man can number Secondly For the orderly disposing of them in those Heavens according to the dignity and glory the purity and holiness of those that shall be placed in them For as one Starr so one Heaven differeth from another in glory In my Fathers House are many Mansions those Mansions not of equall beauty and magnificence variety of Mansions for variety of Inhabitants to some are reserved Crowns to other Laurells some are clothed in White the immediate pedissequae of the Lambe which follows him whethersoever he goeth others attend at a farther distance In the second and third Chapters of the Revelation there are seven severall rewards assigned to them that overcome In the nineteenth of Saint Luke we see upon the Account given by the servants of the improvement of the Talents committed to their trust One is made Ruler over ten Cities another over five every one hath his reward according to his care and faithfulness proportioned unto him But what need we multiply words in a case so cleer consider but the present state of the Caelestiall Inhabitants the holy Angels now in glory and from thence you will easily collect what the state of the Saints shall be after the Resurrection you will finde them distributed into severall Classes or Orders of Angels in dignity and glory one above another For we reade of Angells and Arch-Angells of Cherubims and Seraphims of Thrones Dominions Principalities Powers c. all which are so many Orders and severall Degrees of Angells excelling one another in dignity and glory And if there be such graduall distinctions now of the Angells divided and distributed into so many Orders one above another in the Caelestiall Hierarchy certainly much more must it needs be so after the Resurrection when the number of the Caelestiall Inhabitants shall be so infinitely augmented by the access of all the Saints and elect people of God which have been from the beginning of the world and shall be to the last man that shall stand upon the Earth at that day And it were strange That all these should be limited to one Heaven to be disposed in which is all that some of you seem to allow but that Saint Peter hath better inform'd us in the Text when he sayes We look for new Heavens Heavens in the Plurall Heavens enough for the Creator to dispose of all his people in and to sort them so as that they shall all be in those Heavens which are most convenient for them and suitable to them and for them to be Inhabitants in and all these new too not because then newly Created but because we shall then newly take Possession of them and so they shall be new to us not in themselves For they were Created of old from the beginning from the foundation of the World Let our Saviours own words giving possession of them satisfie and silence all further dispute or questionings in this matter Mat. 25.34 with which I shut up this Discourse Come ye blessed Children of my Father enter into the Inheritance of the Kingdome prepared for you from the foundation of the World FINIS