eternall damnation and the sweetnesse of imaginarie gaine what proportion hath it with the bitternesse of so great a losse Riches have wings they take their leave honour is transitorie pleasures flie away whereas the soule of man is the subject of immortalitie And thy poore neglected soule must bide by it for an everlasting pledge and pay the debt O! then continue this glory that is nothing First seeke Gods kingdome and the glory of it suffer not heaven to stand at so great a distance to thy soule tast and see how gracious the Lord is by one drop of water from that celestiall fountaine by one crumme from that heavenly table and then as concerning the things below thou wilt account them as drosse and dung in comparison of that joy and peace of conscience Resolve as Themistocles when hee saw a goodly bootie hee would not stoupe to take it up leave these things for the Children of this world But let your care be to please the Lord and to gaine the peace of a good conscience First seeke the kingdome of God which consists not in meat and drinke but in righteousnesse and peace and joy in the holy Ghost Remember the vanitie of the things of the world remember how unable the soule is to enjoy hell and to lose heaven without eternall horrour and in consideration hereof Use the World as though you used it not and use this as a proofe hide it in a sanctified memorie and write it in the table of a sanctified conscience if it were possible with a pen of Iron and the point of a Diamond What is a man profited if hee gaine the whole world and lose his owne soule FINIS CHRIST HIS SECOND ADVENT OR THE APPROACH OF THE GOD OF RECOMPENCES ACT. 1. 11. This same Iesus which is taken up from you into heaven shall so come in like manner as you have seene him goe into heaven Epist. JUDE vers 14. Behold the Lord commeth with ten thousand of his Saints to execute judgement upon all and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deedes which they have ungodly committed and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him LONDON Printed by Iohn Dawson for Ralph Mabbe 1639. CHRIST HIS SECOND ADVENT OR THE APPROACH OF THE GOD OF RECOMPENCES SERMON XXIII REVEL 22. 12. Behold I come shortly and my reward is with me to give every man according to his workes THe Angell having described to Saint Iohn in the Chapter immediatly before and in the former part of this Chapter the exceeding great joy and glory and felicitie that all the godly shall have in the kingdome of heaven by comparing it to a Citie built with precious stones having twelve gates and twelve foundations wherein there is no darknesse they needing no candle nor the light of the Sunne for Christ Jesus the Sunne of righteousnesse is the continuall light thereof And that therein is no miserie no crosse no imperfection no want no calamitie but continuall joy and rejoycing Where their songs are Halelujah and their shields felicitie in the continuall enjoying of the presence of Almighty God the glorious Trinitie Having I say thus described these joyes he doth in the words of my Text for the comfort of the godly Who have here no continuing Citie but are strangers and forreiners and pilgrims and travellers to another Citie and seeke a Countrie And in this their travell they meete with many crosses and afflictions and miseries And likewise for the terrour of the wicked that make this world their kingdome and are the chiefe Lords and commanders of the same for the comfort of the one and the terrour of the other the Angell here in the person of Christ saith hee will come and that shortly to bee a speedy deliverer of the one and a just Judge against the other Behold I come shortly and my reward is with me c. In which words observe these particular branches First the word of preparation or attention in the first word Behold which is as it were a Trumpet that sounds before the comming of the great Judge bidding every one to fit and prepare himselfe to hold up his hand at the barre Behold Secondly the Person and that is the Judge himselfe speaking in the person of the Angell I Christ Jesus himselfe Thirdly his action I come Fourthly the speedinesse of his comming shortly Fiftly the end of his comming to Judgement and that is to reward every man according to his workes Sixtly and lastly the quantitie and the qualitie of the reward inclusively set downe which is according to the qualitie of the workes for if the workes be good there shall be a great and good reward but if they be bad the reward shall be accordingly The small model of time will not suffer mee to runne over all these particulars therefore my meditations and your attention shall be in one doctrine from the words in generall and that is this that Christ Iesus will hasten his comming to Iudgement to reward the godly with everlasting and eternall felicities but the wicked and ungodly with endlesse woe and perpetuall miserie For the proofe of which doctrine you may consider these foure things First of all the certaintie and celeritie of Christs comming to Judgement Secondly the signes that prognosticate his comming Thirdly the Judgement it selfe Lastly the end For the certaintie of Christs comming to judgement I perswade my selfe that there is none here among you so ignorant that hee doth not know or so Atheisticall that he doth not beleeve you know it is an Article of our beliefe that he ascended into heaven and there hee sits at the right hand of his Father in glorie and from thence he shall come at the end of the world to judge both the quicke and the dead Therefore I may spare the labour and the time in any further proofe of that Now concerning the speedinesse of his comming to judgement If so be the day of Judgement was at hand sixteene ages since as both Christ and his Apostles proclaimed if then even in Christs dayes the ends of the world were come as Saint Paul saith 1 Cor. 10. 11. If then was the last time as Saint Iohn saith 1 Iohn 2. 18. If then the end of all things were at hand as Saint Peter saith 1 Pet. 4. 7. can we thinke that now it is farre off Nay so sure and so certaine as God is God and his Word is truth and not one jotte nor tittle thereof shall passe away he is neere at hand hee will come shortly But before wee proceed there lies two stumbling blocks in the way that wee must remove wherewith many stumble concerning this point In the time of the Apostles there were two heresies confuted the one by Saint Peter the other by Saint Paul Saint Peter in 2 Pet. 3. 3. he wills us to understand that in the last dayes there shall come scoffers men
held Secondly in his members by changing the nature of it to them and making it of a curse a blessing of a losse a gaine of a punishment either a great honour or a speciall favour or a singular advantage a great honour as to the Martyrs who thereby acquired so many Rubies to their crowne of glory as they shed drops of blood for their Saviour A speciall favour as to Abraham Iosiah and Saint Austin who were taken away that they might not see and feele the miserie that after their death fell on the postarity of the one the subjects of the other and the diocesse of the third A singular advantage to all the faithfull who thereby are discharged from all cares feares sorrowes and temptations and presently enter into their Masters joy For blessed are the dead that dye in the Lord for they rest from their labours and their workes follow them Now the meanes whereby Christ conquered death and utterly destroyed it are diversly ser downe by the learned some argue a contrariis contraries say they are to bee destroyed by their contraries as heate by cold moysture by drought sicknesse by health Death therefore must needs bee destroyed by life as the contrary but Christ is the resurrection and the life in him was life and life was the light of men Saint Austine declareth it after this manner Life dying contended with Death living and got a glorious and signall victory Nyssen thus the Devill catching at the flesh of Christs humane nature as a baite was caught by the hooke of his divine Saint Leo and Chrysologus thus if a Bayliffe or Serjeant arrest the Kings sonne or a privileged person and lay him up in a close prison without commission hee deserveth to bee turned out of his place for it So Death Gods Serjeant seizing upon his Sonne in whom there was no fault without warrant or commission was justly discharged of his office Is Death thus discharged hath Christ changed the nature of Death and freed all his Members from the sting of the temporall and feare of eternall death hath hee of a Posterne made it a street-doore of an out-let of mortall life an in-let of immortalitie why then are wee so much afrayd of death which can no more hurt us then a hornet or waspe after her sting is plucked out Christ fought with a living death wee with a dead death which doth not so much severe our soules from our bodies as joyne them to Christ not so much end our life as our mortalitie not so much exclude us out of the Militant as render us to the Triumphant Church Nothing is more dreadfull I confesse to the naturall man then Death which dissolveth the soule and bodie and the Grave which resolveth the bodie into dust and ashes To cure this maladie of the minde there is no vertue in any Drugge of nature the Philosophers in this case are Physitians of no value they tell us that sicknesse and death are tributa vivendi and the Grave the common house of the dead But of what of this what comfort is here doth this speculation discharge us from the tribute or make the payment thereof the easier doth it enlighten the darknesse of these prisons of nature or take away the stench from these under-ground houses no whit Yet God bee thanked there is a magazen in Scripture to pay these tributes there is light in Goshen to enlighten these houses there is Spicknard to perfume these dankish roomes there are 〈◊〉 in holy Scripture to strengthen the heart not onely against deadly maladies but also against death it selfe For there we heare of a voyce from heaven not onely affirming the happinesse of the dead but confirming it with a strong reason for they rest from their labours and their works follow them we heare of Tabernacles not made with hands but eternall in the Heavens wee heare that when wee are absent from the body wee are present with the Lord wee heare the Lord of life opening the eares and chearing the heart of the dead and saying I am the resurrection and the life whosoever beleeveth in mee though hee were dead yet shall hee live There wee heare death not onely disarmed of his sting but also slaine downe right O Death I will bee thy death O Grave I will bee thy destruction Secondly hath Christ destroyed Death and hath hee both the keyes of Death and of Hell then beloved when wee lye on our death-bed let us not have recourse after the popish manner to any Saint or Angell no not to the blessed Virgin her selfe but to her Sonne who is the Lord of life who satisfying for our sinnes at his death thereby plucked out the sting of death and after his resurrection quite destroyed this serpent In which regard he is styled stella matutina the Morning starre because hee ushereth in the day of eternitie and primitiae dormientum the first fruits of them that slept because in him the whole lump is sanctified When therefore the fiery Serpent hovereth over us to sting us to eternall death let us looke upon the Brazen Serpent and the other shall not hurtus Lastly hath Christ conquered Death and Hell and that for us let us then give him the honour of the greatest Worthy and noblest Conquerour that ever the World saw Cyrus and Alexander and Caesar were no way to bee compared to him for they subdued but mortall enemies hee immortall they bodilie hee ghostly they with great Armies and power of men but hee alone they when they were alive and in their full strength and vigour but hee at the houre of his death and afterwards I conclude therefore with Saint Ierome his insultation over Death and thanksgiving to the Lord of life O Death thou didst bite and wert bitten thou didst devoure and art now devoured by him whom for a time thou didst devoure by his death thou art slaine by his death wee live everlastingly thankes bee rendred unto thee O Saviour who hast subdued so powerfull an adversary and put him to death by thy death and passion The Ethiopians as Herodotus relateth make Sepulchres of glasse for after they have dryed the corps they artificially paint it and set it in a glazed Coffine that all that passe by may see the lineaments of the dead body but surely they deserve better of the dead and more benefit the living who draw the lineaments of their minde and represent their vertues and graces in a Mirrour of Art for I am not of their judgement among us who properly and deservedly are called Precisians because out of the purity of their precise zeale ita praecidunt they so neere paire the nayles of Romish superstition that they make the fingers bleed who out of feare of praying forsooth for the dead or invocating them are shie of speaking any word of them or sending after them their deserved commendations for it is pietie to honour God in his Saints
bee dissolved wee shall presently have not a temporary habitation in Purgatory but an eternall in Heaven wee know that those who beleeve in Christ come into no condemnation but passe from death to life Wherefore let us not take on too much for those whom God hath taken away from us let us not trouble our selves for them that are at rest let us not shed over-many teares for them who can now shed no more teares let us not â—…oo much grieve for them who are free from all paine and griefe And for our selves let us not be as some are strucken dead with the very name of death let us not draw backe when God calleth for us when wee draw on and our Sunne is setting when the pangs of death give us warning againe and againe to goe out from hence out of our houses of clay let us embrace the day which bringeth us to our everlasting home which having taken us away from hence and losed us from the snares of this world returneth us to Paradise and the Kingdome of Heaven It followeth And their Workes follow them In the handling of this branch before wee tast of the sweet juyce we must pill the root wherein wee shall finde a fourefold difficulty 1. How workes are here distinguished from labours 2. How workes may be said to follow them 3. Whither they follow them 4. When they overtake them The first difficulty is thus expedited the workes of the dead are neere distinguished from their labours as the fruit from the branches that beare them the hyre from the day labour the prize from the race As those who taste the fruit of a tree are said by an Hebraisme to eate of the tree to him that overcommeth saith the Spirit I will give to eate of the Tree of Life which is in the midst of the Paradise of God So here in this Text workes are taken for the fruit of workes or their recompence of reward But how are workes in this sense said to follow the dead For all the works of the dead are either transient as meditations prayers pious ejaculations present relieving the poore and the like or they are permanent as their writings their building Colledges Hospitalls Churches and other Monuments of Pietie the former cannot follow the dead because they remaine not now nor the latter because they stay behind them here on earth I answer the speech is figurative and signifieth no motion of the deads workes but rather promotion of their persons and plentifull remuneration for their workes the phrase imports no more then that all their workes whether they bee actions of Saints or passions of Martyrs shall not come short of their guerdon but shall bee most certainely and undoubtedly rewarded If wee follow this interpretation of the verbe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may some say will not Popish merit follow thereupon is not Heaven compared to servants wages to the souldiers crowne to the racers garland and here to the labourers pay and doth not a true labourour merit his pay a faithfull servant his wages a valiant souldier his crowne a speedie racer his prize this doubt may bee cleared and the question resolved by these Assertions following 1 That our good workes shall undoubtedly bee rewarded for it is the very dictate of nature that hee that soweth should reape and it is one of the first principles of Divinitie that there is a God and that hee is the rewarder of them that diligently seeke him yea so exact a rewarder is hee that not a widowes Mite not a cup of cold water but shall have an allowance for it Did Abraham did Isaack did Iacob did Ioseph did Iob did Solomon did Constantine did Theodosius and other prime servants of God serve him for nought did hee not open the treasures of his bounty in such sort to them all that they could not but in thankefulnesse subscribe to that protestation of the Propheticall King verily there is a reward for the righteous even in this life and much more in the life to come for Ecce venio behold I come quickly and my reward is with mee to give to every man according as his workes shall bee to them who by patient continuance in well doing seeke for glory and honour and immortalitie eternall life whence Saint Bernard draweth this corollarie though charity is not mercenary yet shee never goes from God empty handed 2 That this reward is some way due unto our workes for the labourâ—… sayth Christ is worthy his hire and the Apostle is bold to say it is just with God to recompence to them that trouble you tribulation but to you rest and hee seemeth to claime a crowne to himselfe as his due I have fought a good fight henceforth is layd up for mee a crowne of righteousnesse which the Lord the righteous judge shall give unto mee it is sayd to be given indeed but given by a righteous judge and as a crowne of righteousnesse and therefore some way due 3 Our good workes concurre actively to the attainment of this reward the words of our Saviour seeke ye first the kingdome of God and the righteousnesse thereof labour for the meate that perisheth not and strive to enter in at the narrow gate and of the Apostle worke out your salvation with feare and trembling and this momentarie affliction worketh unto us a superexcellent weight of glory import no desire 4 Notwithstanding all this our good workes no way merit at Gods hand their reward neither absolutely neither by the contract of the Law nor by the covenant of grace Not absolutely 1 Because no creature can simply merit any thing of the Creatour as Saint Austin proves by many invincible arguments 2 Because our workes are no way advantagious or beneficiall to God wee indeed gaine by them but he gaines nothing 3 Because there is no proportion betweene our worke which is finite and the reward which is infinite Neither can wee be sayd to merit by the contract of the Law as our Romish adversaries would beare us in hand 1 Because what God requireth by the written Law wee are bound to performe even by the Law of nature and when we doe but that which wee ought to doe our Saviour teacheth us not to tearme our selves arrogantly meritours at Gods hands or such as hee is engaged to recompence but unprofitable servants 2 Because we do not our work sufficiently and therfore cannot challenge as due by contract our reward our best workes are scanty and defective 3 Because wee loyter many dayes and though at some times wee doe a dayes worke such as it is yet many times wee doe not halfe a dayes worke nay for one thing wherein we doe well we faile in a thousand Lastly neither can wee be truly said to merit no not by the covenant of Grace 1 Because the Grace which worketh in us all in all is no waies due to us but most freely given us of