13.14 put on the Lord Iesus Christ Thus when thou art decked with these externall and internall robes of grace and with the inherent and imputed righteousnesse of Christ the same shal be as the cloake of Elias 2. Kin. 2.14 deuiding the waters of the Iordan of this troublesome world that thou mayst passe ouer to the beautifull Iericho of eternall ioy And as when Isaac smelled the sauour of Iacobs garments Gen. 27.27 he blessed him so when the Lord smelleth the sweet aire of these garments of grace he will assuredly blesse thee with the white robes of eternall glorie in his euerlasting kingdome Reu. 6.11 SECT 6. Of stately buildings and sumptuous furniture HE that will see the vanitie of stately buildings with the complemeÌ„ts thereunto belonging let him take a view of Salomons house 1. King 7.1 which was thirteene yeares in building vnder the hands of so many thousand workmen and heare him also what he saith of it Eccle. 2.4.5 I haue built me houses I haue planted me vineyards I haue made me gardens and orchards and planted in them trees of all fruite c. Whatsoeuer cost or art could do or deuise Salomon had it to beautifie his workes but marke his censure as well as his description Vers 11. I looked on all the workes that my hands had wrought and behold All is vanitie and vexation of the spirit What is the vsuall foundation of stately buildings but pride and ambition Did not this humor set the builders of the towers of Babylon on worke Gen. 11.4 For they will build them a citie and a tower whose top may reach vnto the heauen that they may get them a name And this is also euident in the arrogant brag of that loftie king many hundred yeares after Dan. 4.27 Is not this great Babel that I haue built for the house of the kingdome by the might of my power and for the honour of my maiestie Marke how the conceipt of the greatnesse makes him arrogant and in false assuming the honour of the worke he is very impudent But if the matter be well waighed there is no great reason that any one should be proud of his buildings for euery one hauing his due the honour of the worke rather belongs to the builder then to the owner nay many may haue cause to be ashamed of their stately houses being void of habitation and nothing but meere mock-beggers 2 As pride layeth the foundation so crueltie and oppression doe oft times finish the worke Are there not many to whom the Prophets commination doth iustly belong Ier. 22.13 Wo vnto him that buildeth his house by vnrighteousnesse and his chambers without equitie and this circumstance makes it more odious that such cost is bestowed and employed with neglect of the Lords house The Prophet Aggeus taxeth and taunteth the Iewes after their returne from the captiuitie in these words Is it time for your selues to dwell in your seeled houses Agge 1.4 and this house lie waste Doubtlesse there was neuer any age more culpable in this kinde then ours for euery one that hath enough for his owne house hath nothing to bestow in repayring the Church Yea there are manie wretched cormorants who doe not onely let the Lords house lie waste but doe their vttermost euen vtterly to ruinate it Yea some with the spoyles of the Church do purchase lands and build them goodly houses and yet these sacrilegious wretches would bee counted faithfull Christians Saint Iames willeth them to shew him their faith by their workes Iames 2.18 If their stately houses the fruite of their fraud and couetousnesse and the monuments of their pride and arrogancie may be demonstrations of faith the world shall witnesse with them that they are very good Christians but thus many do make their buildings worse then the buildings of Iericho Iosua 6.26 not laying the foundation thereof in the bloud of their bodies but in the bane of their soules And let such know that the curse of God is vpon their glorious houses and that the stones of the wall shall crie out for vengeance Hab. 2.11 and the beame out of the timber shall answer it with an eccho and say Amen 3 What becommeth of all these are the buildings perpetuall or permanent yea doth not time with sundry accidents as fire thunder lightening tempests earthquakes and the like consume them Câ—â—er Epist sa n. lib. 4. Ep. 5. The carkasâ—s of mighty townes and cities such as Aegina and Corinth are scarce to be seen Where is that goodly building of Ierusalem that rauished our Sauiours disciples with admiration and are not those Egyptian Pyramides which were reckoned amongst the wonders of the world exceedingly defaced and decayed Chrys in Ep. ad Coloss Hom. 2. medio Therfore doth Chrysostome verie well compare mens buildings to swallowes neasts which in winter do fall downe of themselues and wherein as he saith do we differ from litle children which in their sports doe build them houses saue that their building is with play and pleasure ours with labour and paine The like may be sayd of domesticall ornaments which hath bene said of the houses For what are they but baites for theeues care for seruants worke for rust foode for moaths and mice and other base creatures The garden may instruct vs rather then delight vs by shewing vs what we are euen a flower and it is a good place to set our sepulcher in with Ioseph of Arimathea that in the middest of our delights we may remeÌ„ber our death As for orchyards they may preach humiliation vnto vs by remembring vs of our common calamitie through the tasting of the forbidden fruite This being the due estimation of these momentanie vanities it may serue to abate the arrogancie of those who waxe proud and stately because of their stately buildings and rich furniture Such may remember that a little womb contained them at their birth and a small graue will serue them at their death and why then should they seeke for such pompous habitations in the time of their life Let vs rather imitate Noah Gene 8.20 who after the flood built an altar then Caine Genes 4.17 who after the Lords threatning built a citie Let vs seeke better habitations then those that may perish by sundrie meanes in the time of our life and must needs be forsaken at our death Heb. 11.10 Abraham being called of God was easily perswaded to forsake his house and his owne countrey because hee locked for a citie whose builder and maker is God so the children of God should remember that they haue a building giuen of God 1. Cor. 5.1 that is an house not made with hands but eternall in the heauens The remembrance whereof should make these earthly tabernacles vile in their eyes As for the wicked who are so besotted with the loue of this world that they endeuour to erect perpetuall habitations in this
then the great kings of Tyrus and BabyloÌ„ that conquering Lord of Bezeck or that mightie Monarch of Greece Behold they are all gone and haue lost left their pompe behind them yea their honourable memoriall is perished with them Almost euery one saith with Saul honour me amongst the people 1. Sam. 15. and that is the limit of their base conceipt Many stand gloriously vpon their honor and reputation but fewe haue due regard of honestie and religion But our blessed Sauiour when he came into the world taught vs to despise worldy pompe and credite both by his birth life and death In his birth he disrobed himselfe of diuine honour Phil. 2.7 and tooke vpon him the shape of a seruant In his life he refused the dignitie of a king and sought not his owne glorie Ioh. 8.18 And in his death he suffered himselfe to be stript of all externall reputation when he was buffetted by the rascall souldiers Mat. 27.30 35.39 crucified on the reprochfull crosse and derided by the base passengers Christians therefore should learne his precept and imitate his practise according to that Learne of me Mat. 11.32 for I am meeke and lowlie of heart If we suffer with him we shall be glorified with him Rom. 8.17 and if we be humbled with him we shall bee exalted with him Let your light so shine before men Mat. 5. that they may see your good workes and glorifie your father which is in heauen saith our Sauiour Let your conscience be vpright and your conuersation holy so shall you glorifie God and haue praise with God tenne thousand times more woorth then all the vaine and momentanie applauses of men yea if thou desire to be truly honorable in the eyes of men do this Worldly honour and estimation is not vnfitly compared to the Crocodile which flyeth being pursued but pursueth a man when he flieth For those that contemne this transitorie honor and seeke the aduancement of Gods glorie shall vndoubtedly haue true honour pursuing them though they lose it in their fathers house with Ioseph yet shall they find it in Egypt though they leaue it in Pharoos Court with Moses they shall meete with it in the wildernesse and forsaking it in their owne countrey with Abraham shall finde it in Canaan For those that honour the Lord he will honour them 1. Sam. 2.30 The womans cost and kindnesse in honouring our blessed Sauior with the box of oyntment shall neuer be forgotten Mat. 26.13 But wheresoeuer the Gospell shall be preached throughout the world there shall also this that shee hath done be spoken of for a memoriall of her And when as the vnworthie honor of the wicked shal be buried in obliuion or be turned into reproch Psal 112.6 the righteous euen in this life shall be had in euerlasting remembrance and in the life to come shall enioy a glorious kingdome thrones of maiestie and the neuer-fading crownes of eternall glorie Lo thus shall be done to the man whome the Lord will honour SECT 9. Of Pleasures VVE are now entring into the garden of Adonis as it is in the Prouerbe which the world makes her garden of Eden The flowers that grow therin are the vaine plants of pleasure which albeit they make a glorious shew to the eye yet is their root bitternesse their glosse vanitie and their fruite deadly poyson What is pleasure but a delightfull motion seated in the senses Cic. defiâ— bon lib. 2. so that the fiue senses are as so many rootes foorth of the which pleasures doe spring and grow Beautifull obiects delight the eye sweete sounds doe please the eares fragrant aires affect the nose delicate substances content the branched nerues daintie viands satisfie the tongue and what hath man in all this which is not common to him with the bruite beasts 2. Pet. 2.12 In regard whereof Saint Peter calleth those that are led with sensualitie bruite beasts And are not these senses so many faire windowes by the which pleasures giue sinne passage and entrance into the heart and soule of men The serpent was more subtile then any beast of the field Gen. 3.1 and so was a daungerous snare vnto Eue but alas when she gaue entertainement to pleasure she was assaulted by a more dangerous beast For pleasure directed her eye and guided her hand to the forbidden fruite brought it to her mouth and perswaded her to take and tast it Now as pleasures are brutish so are they exceeding momentanie like the fierie Comets which last no longer then their exhaled matter indureth and that cannot be long So that euen now you may see Baltasar quaffing in great iolitie Dan. 5. and by and by behold his countenance chaunged his knees beat together and his pleasure turned into horrour To day you may see the Israelites stretch themselues vpon their beds of Iuorie Amos. 6.4 eate the lambes of the flocke drinke wine in bowles and sing to the sound of the Violl and to morrowe behold them in great misery and thraldome by the Assyrians and Babylonians If a man will not leaue his pleasures when he is young they will assuredly leaue him when he is old and theâ—fore Salomon I sought in my heart to dâ—aw foorth c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eccles 2.3.11 when he had drawne out the threede of delight and stretched the webbe of pleasures on the largest tenter of varietie saith he found nothing in it but vanitie and vexation of spirit The learned both heathen and Christians haue compared pleasures to the anglers baite Plato Cice. Ambr. de bon mort cap. 6. which hath a hooke hid vnder it wherewith those that are inconsiderate are caught and killed The golden cuppe in the spiritual whores hands is a goodly cup Reu. 17.4 but it is full of abhominations so is pleasures cup a very faire one but it is full of deadly poyson The Bee hath honie and waxe but she hath a sting withall so hath pleasure the honie to intice and the waxe to enflame but take heed of the deadly sting wherewith shee strikes The best fruite that can grow from pleasures is Repentance and remorse of conscience For sweet meate must haue sower sauce and the soule that tooke pleasure in sinning must needes suffer paine in sorrowing So shall it befall the soule giuen to pleasures Esa 13.22 as Esay threateneth to Babylon Iim shall cry in their pallaces and dragons in their pleasant places those soules and bodies that should haue bene the temples of the holy Ghost 1. Cor. 6.19 but haue bene made the pallaces of worldly pleasures shall haue the Fairies Furies of anguish and horror lodging and liuing there 2 Are not pleasures the occasions of sicknesse and weaknesse Chrys ad pop Antio hom 55. in ipso initio for as the course of waters doe weare weaken the banke and at last carie it cleane away so doe pleasures diminish
meditations is rather to stirre vp the affections of the godly then to conuerse with the conceipts of any curiously affected August de Genes ad Li er lib. 2. cap. 9. I like his iudgement who holds the disputes about the forme and figure of the heauens to bee vnprofitable and his censure Damasc de Orthodox fid lib. 2. c. 6 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. who saith That to search out the substance of them is vnlawfull whereunto if I may adde my owne opinioÌ„ I hold it impossible Farewell theÌ„ to the schoolemens friuolous and fruitlesse discourses about the forme the substance and quantity of the heauens Very glorious things are spoken of thee Psal 87.3 thou citie of God If the Prophet might say so of the terrestriall Ierusalem how much more may it iustly bee said of the celestiall citie which is aboue and the mother of vs all And Saint Iohn indeede hath made a very excellent description of that glorious kingdome Reu. 21. calling it first in generall Reu. 21.11 The holy Ierusalem which had the gloâ—ie of God shining in it and her shining was like a stone most precious as a Iasper stone and cleare as Christall Then in particular he sets downe the forme of it which was very perfect being quadrangular then the quantitie it was large and spacious containing many cubits then the matter and ornaments of it which was pure gold and all manner of precious stones then the adiuncts belonging to it the brightnes of glorie shining therein By which speeches borrowed from things which are most precious in mens estimation Saint Iohn would teach vs to conceiue of those excellencies Ioh. 14.1 which no man indeed is able to value Our Sauiour cals heauen his Fathers house and therefore it must needes be exceeding beautifull and glorious Dan. 4. Nebuchadnetsar spake ambitiously of his Pallace Is not this great Babel which I haue built for the house of the kingdome by the might of my power and for the honour of my maiestie But of the Lords house it may be iustly said Is not that great Bethel which the Lord himselfe hath built for the house of his kingdome the habitations of his Saints and for the honour and ornament of his Maiestie If the heauens which are subiect to vanitie Psal 19.1 do declare the glorie of God what shall the pure and Christall heauens doe when they are changed and refined Hâ—b 1. If the builders of the tabernacle were renowmed as those that had perfected an excellent worke Psal 74.5 how much more excellent shall that tabernacle bee whose maker and builder is Heb. 11.10 God Psal 84.1 Oh how amiable are thy dwelling places ô Lord of hostes Doth the beautie of the temple exceede Dauids conceipt and leaue him to the taske of admiration Oh how admirable amiable and glorious do wee thinke the kingdome of heauen shall bee Reu. 21.22 where the Lord God Almightie and the Lambe are the temple where the king is Veritie the lawes Charitie the honour Equitie the peace Felicitie the life Eternitie as Saint Augustine saith Plutar. in vita Them 2 Themistocles hauing a peece of ground to sell appointed the Cryer to proclaime in the sale thereof that whosoeuer would buy it should haue a good neighbour so although the kindome of heauen be excellent of it selfe yet Almightie God sending foorth his Criers and Ambassadors to offer the same to the world Mat. 3. 2. Cor. 5. hath caused them to adde this in their proclamation That whosoeuer obtaineth it shall haue many good neighbours euen the holy Saints and blessed Angels that which is aboue all he shall behold God Almightie and Christ Iesus the immaculate Lambe of God shining there in most resplendent glorie Reue. 22.4 They shal see his face and his name shall bee in their foreheads This was one of the last requests made by Christ in the behalfe of his Church Father I will that those which thou hast giuen me Ioh. 17.24 be with me euen whâ—re I am that they may behâ—ld my glorie which thou hast giuen me a gracious petition for a blessed habitation and a glorious vision How earnestly did Moses importune the Lord Exo. 33.18 saying I beseech thee shew me thy glorie and it was a singular fauour that the Lord vouchsafed to shew him a glimpse of his glorie which he calleth his backe parts Vers 23. because a man is almost past fight when his backe is turned But behold Christ hath prayed for and the Lord hath promised a more glorious view of him in the life to come 1. Ioh. 3.2 For wee know that when he shall be made manifest we shall see him as he is A man that lookes into the sea cannot see to the bottome and he that lookes vp to the heauens can behold no further then the HorizoÌ„ and so indeed is this vision of Gods Saints bounded in the limites of finitenesse Yet is there as great difference betweene their present and future contemplation of glorie 1. Cor. 13. as betweene looking a man in the face and beholding him in a glasse for then they shall as fully behold the glorie of God as the fraile condition of mankinde may possibly permit When the Queene of Sheba had seene al the honour and magnificence of Salomon shee said with admiration Happie are thy men 1. Kin. 10.8 happie are these thy seruants that stand euer before thee and heare thy wisedome If those were so happie who stood before Salomon to behold and heare his wisedome oh how happie shall they bee who shall stand before Almightie God and our blessed Sauiour to behold and see their glorie Psal 16.11 For in their presence is the fulnesse of ioy and at thâ—ir right hand are pleasures for euermore And this is the cause Psa 42 1.2 that as the Hart brayeth for the riuers of waters so do the soules of the godlie pant after the Lord longing to appeare before his presence The ponderous stone inclineth downeward and lighter substances are carried vpward thus euery thing seeks his center Now the Lord is the Soules Center and like Noahs doue it finds no rest till it returne to him that gaue it Aug. Confes lib. 1. cap. 1 according to Augustines saying O Lord thou hast made vs for thy selfe and our heart is vnquiet till it rest in thy selfe But when the soule of man hath once attained this mercie then can the child of God say Psal 17.15 I will behold thy face in righteousnesse and 〈◊〉 satisfied with it because it yeelds him the fulnesse of comfort and contentation 3 When Christ was transfigured vpoÌ„ the mount wee reade that Peter albeit himselfe was not changed Luk. 9.33 said vnto our Sauiour Iesus maister it is good to be here If Peter spake thus onely vpon the view of Christs transfiguration how much more shall the children of God reioyce at the last