sight and Contemplation he found it so sweet that it was good to be there longer 3. Lastly To all this may be added Immortality as the Diamond set in the ring of all the rest their Mortality hath put on Immortality the Body never more after it is cloathed upon therewith being subject unto Corruption Death it self is then struck dead and swallowed up in a final Victory unto all Eternity To which purpose ye may do well to meditate at leisure those very apposite and pertinent Scriptures 1 Pet. 5.4.2 Cor. 5.1 Rev. 2.11.1 Cor. 15.54.55 compared with Hos 13.14 and to this purpose the places of blisse are styled c mansions or abiding and resting places John 14.2 And this is the reward couched under this Metaphor of a Crown the Bliss whereof indeed transcends the skill and tongue even of Angels themselves to express Saint Paul speaking of the excellent goodness was treasured up but in the gifts and graces of Regeneration in this life saith even of them that the natural eye hath not Seen nor the ear Heard nor hath it entred into the Heart of an unspiritualized man to conceive the things which God hath prepared for them that love him 1 Cor. 2.9 Much less surely can this be done Excellent glory above in Heaven Wherefore the joy thereof being so incomprehensible as it is when it could not enter into the faithful servant mentioned in the Gospel then he was bid to enter into it even into that joy of his Master Mat. 25.21 And thus far of the remuneration it self at large both in the Certainty and the Dignity thereof It is a Crown of Rightiousness I come next to consider the Donor or the Bestower of the same the Lord set forth unto us here under the periphrasis of being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Righteous Judge Where note saith the Roman Catholique that the Reward is a Reward of Justice not of favour rendeâ—…ed as a due debt not given as a gratuitous benevolence so Cajetan on the Text Dicendo reddet Justus Judex debitum jus significate and so by consequent the good works to which its rendered are properly meritorious and God shall be unjust if he deny them his due reward even due of debt But whilest these overweening spiders suck poyson the Humble Bees draw honey from these fragrant and sweet flowers To Cajetan though none of the meanest Schoolmen we may oppose Primasius who hath this more solid expression quomodo â—…st acâ—…rona bebita redderetur nisi prius illa gratuita donaretur How can that Crown be said to be rendered as due unless first it was bestowed as free and again oper a Bona sunt Dei bona The Lord in crowning our good deeds doth but reward us with his own gifts in this case we must be all constrained to say as David on another occasion 1 Chron. 26.14 All things come of thee and of thine own have we given thee Wherefore Saint Paul the great Assertor of free grace hath styled most fitly life eternal it self wherein consisteth the absolute consummation of all graces 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a free gift Rom. 6.23 a word not used in any Heathen Author but peculiarized to the inspired penmen of Holy Writ besides the manner of the Apostles expression is very remarkable even in this very Text where the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is laid up and the other of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall give both these expressions imply a free donation no meritorious purchase at all elsewhere our reward in heaven is called an inheritance Ephes 1.14 Act. 26.18 which is a thing comming freely by descent unto the rightful Heir Moreover works meritorious according to the determination of the Patrons of merit themselves They must be 1. Nostra our own works wrought out of our own strength and done by our own power whereas the Evangelical Prophet hath otherwise assured us Isa 26.12 Thou O Lord faith he hast wrought all our works in us He means gracious works Alas we are not such Silk-worms as to spin a thred of Felicity out of our own bowels we must remember that the highest style which the Scripture gives the Saints is but to be Vessels of Salvation to receive the graces of God distilled into them from above Not Springs or Fountains to derive them to our selves and by the very Schoolmen themselves the graces of the Spirit are called Habitus infusi Habits not acquisite by frequent Acts as moral vertues are but infused by God into the Heart Every good and perfect gift descending from above as Saint James saith Jam. 1.17 Yea it was the positive assertion of our Saviour himself John 15.5 Without me ye can do nothing He means Acceptably He doth not say as Saint Austin observes sine me difficulter potestis or non potestis persicere without me ye can hardly do any thing or ye are not able to bring any act unto perfection but simply and expressely thus Without me that is without leaning upon me having my special and gracious assistance Ye can do nothing at all that is good and gracious and our Apostle also elsewhere professeth that all our sufficiency namely in things supernatural is meerly and solely of God alone 2 Cor. 3.5 Therefore we may well conclude that whatsoever good works there are in us they be none of our own Secondly As they must be our own so likewise are they in the sense of those grand Impostors of the Christian world to be perfect as in which nothing is to be found defective nothing redundant whereas all our righteousness as it is inhaerent in us Alas it is but as a defiled nasty and polluted menstruosity Isa 64.6 the highest pitch or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of perfection that whilest we are clad with the raggs of our vile flesh we the very best of us all can attain to in this life is as I have shewn elsewhere but to see and to acknowledge our imperfections as in the clearest serenity of the Firmament some speckling cloud may be discovered so in our most accurate and exact performances either in the Matter or in the Manner or in the Degree measure or end of doing we all prove some way defective even the very best things that we do have enough in them to be pardoned if the Lord should discusse them without mercy in a rigorous severity and be so extream as to mark what in them is done amiss To this effect the forementioned School Divines have styled the greatest Saints as they are yet Members but of the Church militant on earth but Viatores walkers in the way whose motion is but only progressive not Comprehensors till actually instated Members of the Church Triumphant above in glory in the mean while that maxime in Divinity is Orthodox and solid Successivâ—…rum non simul est esse perficere Those things which admit of a succession in their motion or degrees of growth their being
So the Church of God is called the house of God and sometime it is understood of the Church militant and sometime of the Church triumphant Of the Church triumphant In my Fathers house are many mansions There it is heaven the place of the blessed Then for the Church militant Moses was faithful in all his house faith the Text. And Paul exhorts Timothy how he should carry himself in the house of God that is in the Church militant As for those that live above us they need not our good works and actions therefore it is intended of those that are here in the Church militant that is called Gods houshold because there is such a communion amongst beleevers as amongst those that live in the same house that abide under the same roof that live under the same government that eat at the same Table c. So then you have the meaning of all which is no more but this Take those advantages of times which you can obtain or else many will slip unprofitably to be conversant in such actions of mercy which tend to the relief of those that want them If there be extream necessity do good to all but if you may make choyce of persons to whom you may do good choose the houshold of faith Thus you have the substance and the meaning of the words In them you may observe briefly these three parts The first is a determination or limitation of time to which the Saints are tied in the performance of the duties that are in joyned them as you have opportunity and while you have time Secondly there is a declaration of duty do good Thirdly there is a description of the persons to whom this good must be done first more generally Do good to all and then more particularly and with an especial note Especially to those of the houshold of Faith Of these in order First for the determination of time to take the words as they lie while you have time therefore or as you have opportunity the words themselves do render the main point It is the duty of Christians to take their advantages of times to take the best opportunities of their life to do good I will speak somewhat by way of Explication of the point and something by way of Application and so proceed to what follows First for the Explication what is intended or meant in it when we incite you to embrace times and opportunities Briefly these two things are meant in it First that you should be sure not to lose the time of life And Secondly that you should not forego the advantages and opportunities of estates You shall not alwayes have life to do good and it may be if you have life you shall not alwayes enjoy means and ability to do good While you have life therefore and time do good or while you enjoy means and so power to do good embrace these opportunites That is the meaning of the Apostle in this place First then there must be a doing good while you have life let your good works go before you do things while you live and defer not the performance of them till your death Make you friends of the unrighteous Mammon that when you want they may receive you into everlasting habitations He calls that unrighteous Mammon not that it is unrighteously gotten only though that may be meant but that which is unrighteously kept is unrighteous Mammon to you if you procured it never so justly unless you do rightly dispose of it and if you be desirous to do right in disposing of your Mammon of your wealth do it now That when you want that power and those times you may enjoy the comfortable fruit of the well-redeeming of the time of your life to receive you into everlasting habitations In the 25. verse of the 16. Luke it is the challenge of Abraham to Dives Son remember that thou in thy life-time haddest thy goods for so the word signifieth thou haddest thy opportunities of life and of goods too but now thou hast neither life nor goods left thee to do good with and therefore he is blessed and thou art tormented It was the folly of those five Virgins they took not the opportunity of life for that is the thing meant there but they posted over all to the last and hoped that all might be effected in a trice or miniute of their life which would have held them employment enough all the dayes of their lives And therefore they came short of heaven the gates were shut against them as you see when the Bridegroom came If any man imagine because it is said Blessed are they that die in the Lord for they rest from their labours and their works follow them That therefore it matters not so long as a man doth good at his death though he have neglected the wayes of goodness all his life Let them know that by works there is not meant the actions of men but the fruits of their actions Their works follow them not the works they have deferred untill death but the fruits of those works they did while they were living and received not the benefit of them untill death Their works follow them that is the fruits of their works It is more good and pleasant by far to have the actions go before and the fruits and comfortable effects to succeed and follow after But if any man yet suppose that he may make that up in his Will which he hath neglected all his life long and though he have lived miserably covetously and unprofitably all the dayes of his life yet his thoughts may tell him that by the Charitable Requests of his last Testament as bequeathing largely to the Church and Common-wealth and to all sorts of people be may at the last make fit compensation and satisfaction for neglect of former duties Let no man deceive himself with such a bad resolution for first it argues a sign of infidelity that a man will not trust God for fear he should want in his life-time what is the reason else that he defers the doing good in health unless it be for fear of wanting himself such distrust he hath in the providence of God Besides the same God which bids thee do good when thou hast opportunity and while thou enjoyest the advantage of life he expects it now And it may be truly said of many that neglect those times of doing good while they lived and have now supplyed that defect in their death by the large benevolence of their Wills Their will is good but their deed is naught So much for the first point I proceed unto the second that is thou must not only take the time of thy life but also the opportunity of thy means and thy estate while there is yet a price in thine hand while thou hast opportunity and enjoyest wealth to do good with redeem the advantages and opportunities by employing them in
unthankfulness What greater enmity Therefore it was the speech of that parrabolical King in Luke 19. which is Christ the King of the Church these mine enemies that would not that I should reign over them bring them hither and stay them before me Such is the state of all those men that have wealth and abuse it consume it upon their lusts as Saint James speaks upon their pride in excess in apparel meats c. that have wit and spend it like Turtullus to cry down the wayes of God to harden themselves and others in the course of sin that have greatness and authority and mis-imploy it to the crushing of good persons and good causes these and the like are Stewards that abuse their Masters goods mis-imploy them to his dishonour these Christ counteth his enemies and he will not bear it There is a third thing that God expects of all his Stewards and that is this that they should do him Homage that they should appear at his Court dayes Gods Sabbaths are Gods Court dayes wherein he calleth and assembleth his servants together He will have every one to wait there upon him that they may know his will as Cornelius bringeth his family together and saith he We are all present to hear what is commanded thee of God So God I say will have his servants present at his Court dayes and not only so not only to be present there to here his will and to understand his mind but to submit to his orders to yeeld obedience to his Laws to be governed by his rules God hath certain rules to which he will have every man subject there be rules for Magistrates for Ministers for Masters for Parents for Servants for Children for all and he is a rebel and carrieth not himself as Gods Steward that doth not keep the rules that God hath set up in his own house Again fourthly God expects this from all his Stewards that whensoever he sendeth his Bayliffs for rent that they return him the fruit of his own ground Every soul is Gods ground from which God expects some fruit or other and he sends his Bayliffs his Servants continually to gather these fruits from men When he sends a poor man to the rich there 's a Bayliff sent to him to gather some fruit of his wealth When he sends an oppressed man to those that are in authority there 's a Bayliff sent to him to gather the fruit of his power and greatness When he sends an ignorant man to those that have wisdom and knowledg there 's a Bayliff sent to him to gather the fruit of his Knowledge And so we may say of all things whatsoever whatsoever endowments of body or mind or estate any man hath if another need it that other is Gods Bayliff sent to him to call for his rent to call for the fruit of his ground and thou must return it by such a one for thou art but a Steward and you know how fearful the proceedings of the great King was in Matt. 21. He sent his servants to the Husbandmen to those to whom he had let out his ground to receive the fruits of it and there was none what was the issue of it He was full of wrath and cometh upon the Husbandmen and slew them So when God shall send the poor to thee for relief and thou helpest him not shall send the ignorant to thee for instrustion and thou informest him not shall send any one to thee that may have use of thy gifts and abilities and thou doest not imploy them that way thou deniest the great Lord the fruit of his own ground and art of the number of those Husband-men that must expect this at his hands to be slain in his wrath Ye see the Point opened That all men are Gods Stewards both in respect of what God hath bestowed on them and what God doth expect from them I come briefly now to make some use of this Are all men Gods Stewards Then certainly there is some work required of every man in the world by vertue of this title put upon him that he is Gods Steward It concerns therefore Every one to look to his place There are two things required of every Steward First a dispensation Secondly a right ordering of his dispensations First a Dispensation For a Steward ye know is appointed for laying out he is made for others not for himself for the good of the Family in which he is set not for his own benefit God hath made every creature to be for the use of others and not for it self those heavenly bodies the Sun and Moon and Stars their motion and influences are for us for the service of the world the Earth with the fruits of it the Beasts and all are for the service of man So every man in his several place hath some work to do for others some abilities given him for the service of others Hence it is that the Magistrate is said to be the Minister of God for the peoples good Hence it is that Ministers are said to be the servants of the Churches I am a debtour saith Paul to the Jew and to the Gentiles to the Greeks and to the Barbarians Hence it is that a Master of a Family is said to be worse than an Infidel if he provide not for those of his own house And every other Christian though he stand not in these relations to others he hath some gifts or other that are to be laid forth for the use and advantage of others and every private person in the world he may be of some use or other in the place in which he is set Hence it is that the name of Brother is common to all Christians and ye know Joseph acknowledged that he was preferred to those honours and that authority and place for the good of his Brethren for his Fathers house so should all Gods ' people acknowledge other Christians their Brethren and that whatsoever parts they have they have them for the good of the Family Hence it is that Christians are called Members one of another Every Member is of use to the whole body so must every Christian be of use to another to some by the riches of the body to some by the riches of the mind to some by the abilities of their estates every one according to the treasure he is intrusted with and the Talent that is committed to him This is the first thing that men must make conscience to do to be dispencers of their goodness of any thing they have to be communicative to defuse and extend themselves to others as occasion shall be offered And indeed where there is any goodness in a man he will express it this way by doing all the good to others he can Secondly it is required of a Steward that he consider of the manner and right ordering of his dispensations There be two Rules for that That he
yet Abel was the first that died Adam committed the transgrestion the elder son was Cain the second Abel in the course of nature the eldest should have gone first but Abel righteous Abel that was the moyty the half of his comfort and the greater half though the younger Adam sinneth first and yet righteous Abel dieth first He gives the reason to be this because God would let us see in the Portal of death the table of the Resurrection he would shew us the linnaments of the Resurrection in the first man that dieth that righteous Abel is took away that we should be assured that he was but translated there was hope of the Resurrection confirmed even in his death But yet that is not all the reason I conceive that is more proper to this is righteous Abal dieth first to shew that even righteous and merciful men must not expect immunity from death and from suffering tribulation in this world it is the condition that befalleth Abel the righteous as well as Cain the Pharisee It belongeth to faithful Abraham as well as to Apostatizing Gemas to beloved Jacob as well as to rejected Esau to meek Moses as well as to cursing Shemei to Deborah the Prophetess as well as to usurping Athaliah to devout Josiah as well as to impious Ahab to tender-hearted David as well as to churlish Nabal to the humble Publican as well as to the vaunting Pharisee It is the law and rule that is set to all there is no exemption righteousness piety and works of mercy then do not exempt Eor if they could exempt how should piety have the reward when should godliness come to the full recompence It is death that makes way to the hope of reward And if it be so that righteousness excuseth not then neither honour nor strength nor beauty nor riches can excuse in the world for these are of far less prevalency with God then piety So the Argument standeth strongly If Job died that was a merciful man if Abel was taken away that was a righteous man look to other conditions then Casar that is the Princes of the world shall be cut off their state and pompe shall not keep them then Cressus that is the rich men of the world shall die their purse and plenty shall not excuse them then Socrates that is the prudent and learned men of the world their wisdom shall not prevent it then Helena that is the Minnions of the world the decking of their bodies and their beauty and painting shall be setched off they will expose them to death they shall not free them then Sampson that is the strong men of the world those that are healthy of able parts likely to out-live nature their strength shall not excuse them that no man should glory in any thing without Neither the strong man in his strength nor the wise man in his wisdom or the rich man in his wealth but if he glory in any thing to glory in the Lord. Though we must not boast our selves of piety yet as the A postle saith yea have compelled me If a man may boast of any thing it is of piety that is rejoyce in this If God have made a man a vessel of mercy and an instrument of doing any good but otherwise to boast of it even that shall be the stain and further disgrace of it for righteousness it self excuses not from death all are subject to the same law that is the first observation Mercifull men are taken away as well as others Secondly there is a difference in the manner though they be subject to death yet it is a subjection under another subjection Death is made subject to them they conquer Death So both stand together they die and not die because their death is but a translation but a removing There are two persons two men in every penitent and godly man there is somewhat of a righteous man and somewhat of a sinner somewhat of the flesh and somewhat of the spirit so according to these two both laws are kept the Law of commination that is kept thou shall die the death there is the reward of sin the law of promise that is kept thou shall live for ever there is the reward of righteousness Mortality giveth the reward to sin immortality to piety Though they die they are but taken away The word implies these two things First it implies that their death is but a temporary death Taking away is not a final translation it doth not implie a nullity Death though it cut the knot of nature yet not grace It is true there is the sharp Axe of death there is no knot so Gordian but it will cut it a funder It is a great knot that was first knit between the body and the soul it cutteth that asunder It is a sure knot which is the Conjugal knot between man and wife it cutteth that asunder There is a natural bond and union between Parents and children it cuts that asunder There is a civil union between friend and friend it cuts that knot asunder it takes one friend from another But there is the mystical union between the head and the members between Christ and the Church it cannot cut that knot asunder But look as Christs body in the Grave it was not deprived of the Hypostatical union so likewise the body of a Saint when it lies in the grave in corruption it is mellowing for immoratlity and eternity yea then it enjoyeth the benefit of the mistical Union there is somewhat of a member of Christ that lies in the grave that dust that the body of a Saint is resolved into it is holy Dust because that mistical Union is not cut asunder Death cutteth not that knot It perfecteth the misticall Union in respect of the soul and it is but an interruption of the manifestation of the union in respect of the body it is never severed As the Husbandman hath some corne in his ground and some in his Barn the Corn in his ground is of no less value and account then that in his house and Barn Nay it is of more for that that is in his Barn shall not multiply so many bushels he putteth up and so many he receiveth but that which is in the ground multipiles therefore it is in as great account So it is with God There are many bodies of the Saints walking on the earth and those that are laid in the grave that are sowen as the Apostle faith for immortality The bodies of the Saints in the grave are of no lesse account with God then those which walk up and down in the world and glorisie him with works of piety why the body is sown to immortality there is still somewhat of Christ That is the first thing it implies They are taken away it argues that their death is temporary Secondly it sheweth it is deliberate that their death is not sudden For there is a difference between these two to be snatched away
seems according to the very notion of the word in use among the Jewes themselves among whom the posterity of Jonadah because of their holiness of life and strictness in religion were called hhasidim 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Asidaeans 1 Mach. 7.13 as much as Holy-ones Good-men or Saints But not to insist farther upon the translation The name of Saints is given sometimes by the Fathers to holy men departed and reigning with God but so the word is very rarely used in the Scripture but more ordinarily it is given to the faithful in this life and so the notion in Scripture is most frequent So 1 Cor. 1.2 To the Church of God at Corinth called to be Saints or Saints by calling So also Eph. 6.18 Rom. 12.13 c. There is a double sanctity 1. Of outward profession 2. Of inward regeneration and so the word is here more specially understood They are Gods Saints whom he separates to himself or calls unto holiness of life The Saints on the earth such as excell in vertue Psal 16.3 And there is reason for it that there be some Saints in this life because that which makes Saints is attainable here not Popish Canonization but Gods Election Gods Spirit Gods grace the Merit and holiness of Christ as it is 1 Cor. 1.2 Those of the Church of Corinth were Called to be Saints with all that in every place call on the name of Jesus Christ Who was both 1. A pattern of holiness that his people might be so by his example and 2. A foundation of holiness that his fulness might be conveyed to his members Vse 1. If there be Saints in this life it is against the Church of Rome which shuts up all the Saints into heaven and suffers none to be Saints but such whom the Pope canonizeth Bellarmine delivers it 1. That Canonization which is a publike testification of the assured holiness and glory of some by which publike worships are decreed them is pious and lawful 2. That this power of Canonization is only in the Pope 3. That the Popes judgement on Canonization is infallible But Beside that this third proposition is gain-said by men of his own side The practise it self also of Canonization was unknown till Leo the thirds time anno 800. or till fourscore yeares after that till the time of Adrian and it was ever anciently held that no man can judge infallibly of anothers condition or may admit any into the number of Saints The ancient Church had their commemorations of holy men and women departed but without worship So may we honourably speak of such as are with God and we do so Luther cals Thomas Aquinas Saint and Melancthon sticks not at it to call Authony Bennard Dominick and Francis so too We seldome name those glorious Doctours otherwise then Saint Basil Saint Greg. Naz. Saint Ambrose Saint Augustine And so we use to commemorate the holy Apostles the blessed Martyrs and the Fathers And think we have as much liberty as the Church of Rome to call godly men of our late acquintance Saints as I remember a learned and reverend Bishop of ours to have called Master Greenham But withall as the Scriptures do so we may also call the living beleevers and they are so before they come to heaven Vse 2. If there be some let us all aspire unto that honour to-be such as excel in vertue to be put in Albo Sanctorum and to have our names in the Calender or roll Let us follow the foot-steps of Christ and holy men learn of me faith Christ Mat. 11.29 for I have given you an example that ye should do as I have done unto you Joh. 13.15 And let us follow them that have followed Christ to take out the patterns that have been set us by Apostolicall and holy men In the ancienter times of more pure and servent zeale people were ready to run to any lights that did burn and shine among them to take example from them how to regulate their lives Hence came many religious professions though since much degenerate and corrupted who were won to the immitation of those practises of self-denyall contempt of the world mortifying of voluptuous affections c. which they saw in them We might make a profitable use of the lives of holy men and Martyrs of old or of late to copy out their sanctity And let it be an incouragement to the study of piety and religion to consider what honour it brings along with it it Saints us so that we need not be at that extream expence and charge which we read some have been at in the Court of Rome to procure Canonization Vse 3. If their be some such here and they be men holy and religious then take we heed that we speak not ill of such that we abuse them not that we open not our mouths against heaven against them that are Incolae coeli Inhabitants of heaven either by an actuall possession of glory or here by an heavenly conversation Devout and religious men whose thoughts and hearts are above do not count this their Country they do but sojourn with us abuse not strangers then especially these strangers for their country sake We use to say De Sanctis nil ni si bonum we should not speak any thing to the prejudice of the Saints The Romanists are presently upon us that we forget this rule Sanctos Dei non esse peculiari honore colendos docent omnes hodierni haeretici So Lorichius accuses us for we know whom he means The truth is we dare not give them divine worship nor make them Gods as the Papists when they have wearied themselves in fitting their distinctions of latreia and douleia to little purpose do it roundly enough and the people in their practise But we give them their due and as much as themselves would be willing to receive as we gathered from the behaviour of the Angel that was sent to John Apoc. 19.10 But in the mean time while they make a thriving trade of the flattering of the Dead they neglect and abuse the living Saints not only writing a Dele in their Indices expurgatory upon the testimony of Pius or Prudens given by some more ingenuous men of theirs to some of our Divines in particular but also traducing the whole estate of our reformed Churches for schismaticall and heretical Vse 4. If there be some Saints of God here let us choose to be of their acquaintance and keep their company because they do best of all know the way to heaven and it is good to go safely that journey by direction of the best and most skilful guides lest we miss it in those places where the way turns or where the path is not so well beaten as the other Road. 2. Gods Saints do also die The Death of his Saints 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 holiness frees not from death Abel Noah Abraham Moses David the Prophets the Apostles the Fathers are all dead
Temple assuring us that we shall live there with him this is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 heaven before heaven the life of the Soul the keeper of Christ the keeper of God This is a second Gate There is another gate the gate of Charity by this we enter not but press in unto God and are not led but transported unto God and carried in a fiery Chariot By this grace we approach not neer unto God but forgeting the greatness of his Majesty we lay hold on him we hang upon him we imbrace him we familiarly converse with him we freely consult with him we inseparably cleave unto him more close then any Polypus doth unto the Rock Another gate is the gate of humility a low gate but a sure and certain gate the exaltation of the soul the honour the dignity of the soul that which subjects the soul immediately to God and so seateth it above all the creatures that gate whereby the soul steals into heaven though the gate be never so streight by crouching bowing bending pinching of it self At these gates if you knock earnestly by devout prayer and frequent Almes you may enter into this glorious and magnificent house with which the Saints desire to be cloathed upon and this is the first house which they desire There is another house which the Saints desire and that is the house of their bodies glorified while they are here in this life they have a cottage rather than a house a cottage seated in a low watery myrish place exposing the soul to Agues Feavers and variety of diseases so that she is sometimes down at the best but crasie and valetudinary scarse any vicissitude and change either of age or place or calling but the soul is dangerously affected with it and in great hazard a dangerous Cottage ready to fall upon the soul and crash it in pieces a cottage full of holes and rifts in every storm and tempest of adversity it rains through this cottage into the soul and makes the soul unhealthy in the Sun-shine of prosperity the beams of the Sun beat upon the soul and make it faint and weak many times a ruinous cottage so that the inhabitant is forced to spend almost all his time in repairing it in keeping it up in supplying the necessities of it distracted rent and torn with cares and sollicitudes for it so that little time is left for better duties for duties proper to the inner man and when the soul setteth her self to these duties then this Cottage is an impediment unto her taking off her mind from it by some sudden gust of a vain thought or hindring her by some indisposition or compelling her by some urgent necessity to break off before shee is willing These and the like incumbrances do much afflict the Saints therefore they desire to be cloathed upon with a pure house a pleasant house a lightsome house a healthful house a durable house a glorious house that might be a help and incouragement to the soul in holy and religious duties In this we groan earnestly c. You that are owners of the wonder are not ignorant what a wonder man is a composure of different natures Celestial terrestrial Angellical beastial corporal spiritual greater then the world less then the world the richest Pearle and the basest foyl the Image of GOD and a peece of clay you are not ignorant how these two are affected one to the other in the Regenerate man if the body be sound and well it kicketh against the spirit if it be ill it afflicts the Spirit How do I love my body as my fellow servant and eschew it as a mine enemie how do I hate it as my clogg and reverence it as my fellow-heir I buffet it as a slave and imbrace it as a friend I chastise it and keep it under and then I want a companion to assist me in the works of piety I cherish it and nourish it and then am I stung with the lusts of it it is a flattering enemy a treacherous friend Oh my conjunction and oh my alienation that which I fear I imbrace and that which I love I fear before I make war with it I am reconciled and before I am reconciled I am at variance what a strange mystery is this therefore the Saints mortifie and crucifie their bodies they gird them close with the cords of strong resolutions they macerate them with watchings and fastings and make them thin and pale and wan that so they may be serviceable to the Spirit they labour that their hands may be translucent with fasting as the hands of Elphogus were that their countenances may be living documents of humility that their bodies may be as transparent glasses wherein the thoughts of their hearts may be seen that their soules may have no more residence in the heart but may as evidently be seen in every part of the body as there This they aym at and when they have done all this yet they complain of the dulness deadness heaviness lumpishness of the body and are at enmity with it and cry out Oh miserable man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of death not that they are simply enemies to the body but to this earthly corruptible body this sinful body that depresseth the mind musing of many things and desire the deposition and laying down of the same that so they may receive a glorified a clarified an incorruptible spiritual body not made of a spirit but serviceable to the spirit they desire that these eyes may be so defecated that if they cannot behold the essence of God yet they may stedfastly behold the Empirian heavens the splendour of our Saviour and the lustre of the bodies of the Saints more bright then the Sun seven times they desire that these hands may be blessed with the contractation of that sacred body that redeemed them they desire that this body may be so transparent and lucid that the soul may sally bout freely not at the eye alone but at every part to contemplate those glorious objects that it may be so prelucit that the very thoughts of the heart and the divine fancies that are in the imaginative part may be seen through it that it may be so stript of corporal density and grosseness that like lightning it may be here and there that it may be fit for raptures and extrasies and the Soul no more doubtful whether she be in the body or not in the body This the Saints desire and long after And let me speak this of you oh triumphant Souls that are now in bliss without the least impeachment of your happiness This even you thirst after you esteem it an imperfect estate to be without your bodies though you glorifie and praise GOD in your souls yet you count it an imperfect work and say with the Psalmist In death no man remembreth thee and in the grave no man shall give thee thanks though your spirits do it without ceasing
is the Antichrist so that the second sign being fulfilled the end cannot be far The third is the general departure of the most from the Faith There hath been a general departure in former times when Arrius spread his heresies almost all the whole world became an Arian and for the space of 500 years together from the time of Boniface the world was so infected with Popish heresies that the faith of Christ could scarsely be discerned they were as a handful of wheat to a great deal of chaff so that this sign it is already fulfilled in part but there shall alway be a falling away and a departing from the faith till Christ come to judgement The fourth sign stands in exceeding great corruption in the manners of men And the Apostle makes this a sign of Christs last coming to judgement 2 Tim. 3. This know that in the last dayes perrillous times shall come men shall be lovers of themselves covetous boasters proud blasphemers disobedient to parents unholy without natural affection truce-breakers false accusers incontinent fierce dispisers of those that are good traitours heady high-minded lovers of pleasures more then lovers of God The Apostle makes this a sign and mark that shall be in the last dayes Beloved if ever this were fulfilled in these dayes of ours for there is a general corruption in the manners of men It is very hard to find those that in all truth and sincerity labour to discharge a good conscience towards God and men And Christ hath said himself that when he comes to judgement he shall scarse find faith on earth such a general corruption there shall be in the manners of men so that this fourth sign being already past the end cannot be far The fifth sign is exceeding great persecution and affliction of the Church and the Saints of God This hath been fulfilled in former times You know there were ten fearful persecutions in the Primitive Church And so it is fulfilled even in these dayes of ours for the Whore of Babylon that spotted beast she laboureth to make her self drunk with the bloud of Gods Saints There are but few years nay months or weeks wherein some of the bloud of Gods Saints is not sacrificed to appease the wrath of the Persecutors Then if in these dayes this sign be fulfilled the end cannot be far The sixt is a general security so that men will not be moved neither with the preaching of the word of God nor yet with judgements from heaven they have such exceeding dulness and deadness of heart that neither of these will move them For the former you know God hath sent many judgements amongst us we have had fire and famin and pestilence and invasion of forrein enemies inundation of waters thunder and lightning from heaven but all these will not work upon our hearts The Lord he hath scourged us oft but yet we set light by his corrections we harden our hearts against all his judgements our hearts will not be softned and mollified what effect hath all these wrought where is our humiliation our repentance and reformation And for the preaching of the word of God alas that can get no entrance at all mens hearts are so crusty and so hardned that the seed of Gods word it lies uncovered it takes no root at all in the heart it works no reformation at all so that if ever this sign were fulfilled it is in these dayes It shall be saith Christ speaking of the general security that shall be when he comes to judgement as in the dayes of Noah and of Lot they were eating and drinking and marrying and giving in marriage till the fire came from heaven and burned them and the water over-flowled the world so that this sixt sign being past the end cannot be far The seventh and last sign of Christs coming to judgement is the calling of the Jewes which the Apostle Rom. 11.25 calls the fulfilling of the Gentiles When God hath the number of his Elect among the Gentiles then the Jewes shall be called again but of the time and the manner and number the word of God doth not reveal it so that it is likely this sign is yet to come all the rest are fulfiled and therefore the end cannot be far The second sort of signs are such as are immediately before Christs coming to Judgement and that is the darkness of the Sun Moon and Stars The Sun shall be darkned the Moon shall lose her light the Stâ—…rs shall fall from heaven the very powers of heaven shall be shaken the foundations of the heavens shall tremble Alas what shall the little shrubs in the Wilderness do when the tall Cedars of heaven shall be shaken what shall poor sinful man do when the Angels shall be afraid The last sign shall be in Christs coming to Judgement Mat. 24.29 it is called the sign of the Son of man Then shall appear the sign of the Son of man and then all the tribes of the earth shall mourn What this sign of the Son of man is Divines do vary Some hold it is the sign of the Cross which all eyes shall behold even they that pierced him as John saith Revel 1. Some others which I rather assent unto take it to be the glorious beams of Christs Majesty immediately before his personal appearance to enlighten the world being darkned by reason of the want of the light of the Sun and Moon So you see what these signs shall be The signs that prognosticate Christs coming Those that shall be fulfilled long before they are all effected but one as you heard Therefore it stands us all upon as wise Virgins to prepare oyl in our lamps that when our Bride-groom Christ shall come we may be ready to enter into eternal joy So we come from the signs that prognosticate the judgement to the judgement it self Concerning the judgement it self You must know that after death there are two judgements There is a particular and there is a general Judgement The particular Judgement is immediately as soon as ever the breath is gone out of the body As soon as ever the soul is gone out of the body it is conducted by the Angels before the Tribunal seat of God and there receives the particular sentence either of joy or torment according as it lived in the body in this life We need not speak of this we have example for the proof of it in Scripture of Dives and Lazarus the one whereof being dead was presently carried to joy the other presently to torment The other is a general judgement so called because it shall be of all men in general that ever lived and breathed upon the face of the earth men women and children all shall be presented before the Tribunal seat of Christ all must hold up their hands at the Bar of his judgement all must give an account of all their words thoughts and actions all must
being so common and we apt every moment to fall under some trial or other There be four vertues and special effects that faith works in the soul which will inable us to go through great trials and therefore we should labour to get this grace of faith into our souls First faith gets assurance Secondly breeds submittance Thirdly dependance and lastly conveyance First faith gets assurance it can eye God as our God though the storms be very great yet God can quiet it When a man though he sees his outward comfort dead yet Faith sees it in the hand of a living God Faith assures the soul God will put an end to the trial though there be a changeableness in the outward condition yet there is safety in God and setledness in God Though a man may look with a dull eye upon his loss yet if he can look upon God with the eye of faith as his God the absence of a poor creature cannot so much trouble him as the presence of a gracious and a glorious God can comfort and support him Secondly submittance is another effect of faith which faith works in the soul our outward condition is subject to many changes and many times we meet with them and we are hindered in our comforts and naturally we grow impatient and murmur and quarrel with Gods providence but now there is a vertue in faith it fashions the heart and the mind to the condition faith makes a man submit to God in all estates to make us stoop to our burthen it is the Lord saith Eli. 1 Sam. 3. let him do what seems good unto him and in the 39. Psal saith David I was dumb and opened not my mouth because the Lord did it Observe this unbelief makes a man dumb and faith made David dumb Zachary because he beleeved not the word that the Angel spake he was dumb and David because he beleeved the word of the Lord he was dumb unbelief procures dumbness as a judgment from God but faith makes a Christian dumb from complaining it quiets the soul in silence from murmuring against God it doth not make a person dumb as not to pray and to praise God but dumb in complaint Good is the word of the Lord saith Faith A third effect of Faith is dependance it will make a man trust God in frowning dayes though he kill me yet will I trust in him saith Faith we can never lose any outward comfort but Faith can find a better in God though an outward loss may come yet Faith can make it up in God in the want of an outward comfort it will trust God Lord what wait I for saith David truly my hope is in thee Though the Christian estate may be at some time moanful yet at no time it is hopeless A fourth effect that Faith works is conveyance it can convey something to inable the soul to bear it up in all trials as Faith is an active grace to inable the soul to the performance of duty so Faith is a passive grace to strengthen the soul to suffer and bear affliction To you saith the Apostle it is given not only to beleeve but also to suffer for his Name Faith will call in strength enough to bear affliction we see many times a poor Christian by the strength of faith is able to bear a great loss and undergo a great trial God is pleased to exercise a Christian with great affliction but Faith carries the soul along through all remember this Faith bears Gods trials with Gods strength there is a power in Faith which exceeds all outward crosses and losses Faith draws strength from the Promise for there is no cross nor affliction but Faith can find a support in the promise of deliverance Faith makes a man see the affliction as it were come out of the hand of the Lord out of the hand of Mercy Faith can convey comfort to the soul in affliction by making it see the chastisement delivered from the hand of a wise and loving Father that our chastisement is for our profit for our future advantage and that this is sent for our personal good if thou couldest get but a sensible denyal of thy self and by faith see all things measured out by the Lord this would make us with patience take from God what he imposes upon us Faith will make a man conquer himself it will silence all murmuring and make the Soul bear its cross with patience THE PRIVILEDGE OF THE FAITHFUL OR The Joint-Inheritance OF ALL BELIEVERS SERMON XXXIII 1 PET. 3.7 As Heirs together of the grace of life TO let pass all by-passages you have in this Text the priviledge of Women which is the very same with that of Men especially in relation to the greatest priviledge that belongeth to either of them The very priviledge it self as at the first view of the Text may appear to you affordeth a fit Theam for such an occasion as this is which is the solemnization of the Funeral of a Grave pious and prudent Matron who was indeed while she lived a Mother in Israel in the Church of God who in her life-time testified much love to the Saints of God and in that respect I may say deserved now she is taken away this respect of Gods Saints and Children which by you is now shewed to her in accompanying her to her bed of rest The forenamed words of my Text doth branch it self forth into two parts One setteth out the priviledge it self The other the partakers thereof The Priviledge therein you may observe two points First the kind of it Life Secondly the ground of it grace The partakers of this priviledge are set forth in a compounded Article Joynt-heirs Co-heirs heirs together having relation to Women The simple consideration of the Word shews the right they have to the forenamed priviledge they are heirs The compound shews the extent of it Co-heirs one with another Men and Women heirs together of the grace of life That yet you may a little more distinctly discern the scope of the Apostle in this Text in a word note the inference of it upon that which goeth before or the connection of it therewith Lift up therefore your eyes but a little higher to the words going before and you may observe the Apostle giving a direction to men to honour Women notwithstanding they are the weaker vessels Vessels they are therefore capable of that which God shall be pleased to infuse into them his grace they are weak vessels so are men also they are earthen vessels these are the weaker these comparatively may be said to be as glassie vessels and yet notwithstanding you have a common saying that a glass with good keeping may last as long as an earthen Pot but both brittle Now notwithstanding this Sex be brittle and the weaker yet to be honoured and that upon this ground because partakers with Men and as well as Men of the greatest priviledge the grace of life Were
die to see thee who would not die for the present to dwell ever where his hope is If in this life we had only hope then were we of all men the most miserable but our hope is not onely in this life of the things of this life therefore we are not of all men most miserable no not miserable at all I have done with my Text You see the occasion of our present meeting to Inter this little Child in Christian burial the last service and duty we owe to deceased Saints I cannot and I know you expect not that I should say any thing of it It is a Child of the Covenant sealed in the Covenant died in the Covenant resteth according to the Covenant with the God of the Covenant of whom I doubt no more of a happy rest with Christ the mediatour of the Covenant then I do of the Covenant that Christ hath sealed and so I leave it in that rest and return our selves to our own duty and service to call upon God for a blessing THE PLATFORM OF CHARITY OR THE LIBERAL MANS GUIDE SERMON XXXIX GAL. 6.10 As we have therefore opportunity let us do good to all especially to them who are of the houshold of Faith IN the sixt verse of this Chapter the Apostle begins to perswade these Galatians to whom he wrote to Beneficence and having in the ninth verse the verse before the Text given them great incouragement in this course Be not weary saith he of well-doing for in due season we shall reap if we faint not The words I have now read to you are an inference upon that which went before seeing if we hold out we shall reap in due time then saith the Apostle As we have opportunity let us do good to all c. To speak something for the opening of the words and then to observe the main things the Apostle intends in this place As we have opportunity Cairos signifieth more than time As we have time so the old Translation reads it but the word signifieth more there is a Chronos and a Cairos a time and an opportunity of time There is a time taken in the largest sence there is an opportunity of time restrained to those advantages of times that a man by wisdome may make unto himself for the performing of any duty that God 〈◊〉 of him This must be understood with a reference to what was spoken of before We shall reape if we faint not He shewes there is a time of sowing and a time of reaping and so in Eccles 3. There is a time for all things there is a time to sow and a time to reap Now while the sowing time lasts for that is the opportunity that he now speaks of while the time of sowing lasts let us embrace those times and opportunites for the doing of good Let us as we have opportunity do good to all Do good is of a large extent it is of as large an extent as the law All is good that is agreeable to Gods will revealed Be renewed in the spirit of your minds that you may know what the good and acceptable will of God is But in this place it is restrained to some particular acts of Beneficence towards men towards the servants of God which are theâ—… said to be good deeds and good acts when there is a concurrence between the action and the affection with conformity to the Rule First theâ—… must be actions It is not speaking good nor meaning good only but it is doing good Saith the Apostle If a brother be naked or hungry or cold and you say to him go in peace warm thee but you give him no fire and go and cloath thee but you give him no apparel and go and feed thee but you give him no meat Here are good words now but the deeds are not answerable here are no good deeds at all Solomon compares such complemental charity that is only vernal and in outward expression to Cloudes and winds without rain Not much unlike the boxes of Apothecaries that are adorned with glorious titles without but open them and examin their in-sides you shall find nothing but emptiness Well that is the first thing there must be good actions Again secondly these must have a good rise they must proceed from a good affection too 〈◊〉 else they lose the name of good actions Make the tree good and the fruit shall be of the same condition the actions are not good if the affections be naught and therefore the same God that requires beneficence he commands benevolence also and would have men become tender-hearted and put on the bowels of compassion that they should Sympathize with others and be like affectioned to them to mourn with those that mourn and to be with those that are bound as being bound with them This is that which our Saviour called being merciful Be merciful as your heavenly Father is merciful He saith not only do works of mercy but be merciful do them from a merciful heart from bowels of compassion that yearn towards those that are in necessity That is the second thing But then thirdly these actions and these affections whence they rise they must hold conformitiy with the Law There is no good but what is conformable to the rule of goodness that is the written word of God and therefore all those will worships and idle ceremonies made according to the inventions of man as a thousand devicies in Popery wherein they intimate a show of great Liberality they are not good deeds because they want that good rule that should uphold and make them so So much shall serve for the opening of it Good deeds then are such actions as rise from a sanctified affection and receive ground and warrant from Gods will revealed in his Word to men Again there is a third term yet Do good to all men What doth the Apostle mean that every man should receive the fruits of our Beneficence There are some men notorionsly wicked and rather to be punished than relieved The Apostle means not such for he giveth you a Caution If any man worke not let him not eate Relieve him not that hath ability to get and will live idly and unprofitably But do good to all men that is to all men so far as you see them in extream want unable to help themselves if their lawful necessities call upon your charity in this respect all men must be looked unto but especially To the houshold of Faith By houshold of faith here he means the multitude of beleevers and not only those that dwell near us and about us but those that are deispersed throughout the whole earth the Churches of God The dispersion spoken of through all the parts of the world are this houshold of faith all the Saints of God in what difference or distance soever one from another yet they are of the same houshold together of the same Church of God
singular comfort if we take them as a commination and they afford us much or more if we take them as Saint Paul and S. Chrysostome do by an insultation As a man offering sacrifice for victory and full of mirth and jollity he leaps and tramples upon Death lying as it were at his mercy and sings an Io Poean a triumphant song wherewith Gerardus a great friend of Saint Bernards breathed out his last gasp of whom he thus writeth In the dead time of the night my brother Gerard strangely revived at midnight the day began to break I sent for to see this great miracle found a man in the very Jaws of death insulting upon death and exulting with joy saying O death where is thy sting Death is not now a sting but a song for now the faithful man dyeth singing and singeth dying And so having plucked away the prickles and opened the leaves by the Explication of the letter I come now to smell to them and draw from thence the savour of life unto life Ero pestes tuae ô mors As Saint Jerome writeth of Tertullian his Polemmical Treatises against hereticks Quot verba tot fulmina Every word is a thunderbolt so I may truly say of this verse quot verba tot fulmina So many words so many thunder-bolts striking Death dead by the light whereof we may discern three parts 1. The menaced or party threatned Death 2. The menacer or party threatning I. 3. The judgment menaced plagues 1. The menaced impotent mors Death 2. The menacer Omnipotent Ego I. 4. The judgment most dreadful pestes plagues 1. First of the party menaced Death Christ threatneth destruction to none but to his or his Churches enemies But here he threatneth Death Death therefore must needs be an enemy and so the Apostle termeth it the last enemy that shall be destroyed is Death For albeit Death by accident is an advantage as oftentimes an enemie doth a man a good turn which occasioned that excellent Treatise of Plutarch wherein he sheweth us how to make an Antidote of poyson and a good use of other mens malice yet is it in it self an enemy alwayes to Nature and to grace also it sets upon the elect and the reprobate the believer and the Infidel the penitent and the obstinate but with this difference it flyes at the one with a deadly sting but at the other without a sting the one it wounds to death the other it terrifieth and paineth but cannot hurt But there being divers kinds of death which of them is here meant Death is a privation and privations cannot be defined but by their habits that is such positive qualities as they bereave us of for instance sickness cannot be perfectly defined but by health which it impaireth nor blindness but by sight which it destroyeth nor darkness but by light which it excludeth nor death but by life which it depriveth us of Now if there be a four-sold life spoken of in Scripture viz. 1. Of nature 2. Of sin 3. Of grace 4. Of glory There must needs be a four-fold death answerable thereunto 1. The death of Nature is the privition of the life of nature by parting soul and body 2. The death of sin is the privation of the life of sin by mortifying grace 3. The death of Grace is the privation of the life of grace by reigning sin 4. The death of Glory is the privation of the life of Glory by a total and final exclusion from the glorious presence of God and the kingdome of heaven and a casting into the lake of fire and brimstone prepared for the devil and his angels Of Death in the first sense David demandeth who is he that liveth and shall not see death and shall he deliver his soul from the hand of hell of Death in the second sence Saint Paul enquireth how shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein Of Death in the third sense Saint Paul must be meant where he rebuketh wanton Widdows Shee that liveth in pleasure is dead while shee liveth Of Death in the fourth sense Saint John is to be understood blessed is he that hath part in the first resurrection for on such the second death hath no power Saint Austin joyneth all these significations and maketh one sentence of divers senses he is dead to death that is Death cannot kill burt or affright him who is dead to sin And another of the Ancients makes a sweet cord of them like so many strings struck at once he that dyeth before he dies shall never die he that dyeth to sin before he dyeth to nature shall never die to God neither in this world by final deprivation of grace neither in the world to come of glory Of these four significations of Death the first and last sort with this Text for that the first is to be meant it is evident by the consequence here O grave I will be thy destruction And by the antecedents in Saint Paul When this corruptible shall put on incorruption c And that the second is included may be gathered both from the words of Saint John And Death and Hell were cast into the lake of fire and of our Saviour I was dead and I am alive and have the keyes of Hell and of Death And so I fall upon my second Observation viz. the person menacing J the second person in Trinity our blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ The word here used Ehi is the same with that we read Exod. 3. Ehi Ashur Ehi I am that I am and if the observation of the Ancients be current that wheresoever God speaketh unto man in the old Testament in the shape of man of Angel we are to understand Christ for that all those apparitions were but a kind of preludia of his incarnation then the Person here threatning can be no other then he besides the word Egilam in the former part of this vers being derived from Gaal signifying propinquus fuit or redemit jure propinquitatis pointeth to our Saviour who by assuming our nature became our Alie by blood and performed this office of a kins-man by redeeming the inheritance which we had lost But we have stronger arguments then Grammatical observations that he who here promised life to the dead and threatneth plagues to Death was the Son of God the Lord of quick and dead for the same who promiseth to redeem from the Grave threatneth to plague Death but we all know that Redeemer is the peculiar stile of the Son as Creator is of the Father and Sanctifier of the Holy Ghost tu redemisti nos thou hast redeemed us to GOD by thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and Nation To the redemption of a slave that is not able to ransome himself three at least concur the Scrivener who writeth the Conditions and sealed the Bonds the party who soliciteth the business and mediateth for the captive and layeth down
their patience to endure for Gods cause whatsoever man or divel can inflict upon them to part with any limb for their head Christ Jesus gladly to forfeit their estates on earth for a crown in heaven chearfully to lose their lives in this vail of tears that they may find them in the rivers of pleasures that spring at Gods right hand for evermore Here is work for their faith also to see heaven as it were through hell eternal life in present death to beleeve that God numbreth every hair of their head and that every tear they shed for his sake shall be turned into a pearl every drop of blood into a Ruby to be set in their crown of glory To confirme both their faith and patience Christ proclaimeth from heaven that howsoever in their life they seemed miserable yet in their death they shall be most blessed and that the worst their enemies can do is to put them in present possession of their happiness Blessed are the dead c. So saith the spirit whatsoever the flesh saith to the contrary Here we have 1. A proposition De fide of faith 2. A Deposition or testimony of the spirit A Proposition of the happy estate of the dead A deposition of the holy Ghost to confirm our faith therein 1. Saint John sets down his relation 2. A most comfortable assertion 3. A most strong confirmation The relation strange The assertion as strange of a possession without an owner a blessed estate of them who according to the Scripture phrase are said not to be The Confirmation as strange as either by an audible testimony of an invisible witness So saith the spirit Or because this asseveration concerning the condition of the Saints departed is propositio necessaria as the Schools speak we will cloath the members of the division with terms apodictical and in this verse observe 1. A conclusion sientifical whereof the parts are 1. The subject indefinite mortui the dead 2. The attribute absolute beati blessed 3. The cause propter quam the Lord or dying in the Lord. 2. The proof demonstrative and that two-fold 1. A priori 1. By a heavenly oracle I heard a voyce c. 2. A divine testimony So saith the spirit 2. A Posteriori by arguments drawn 1. From their cessation from their work They rest from their labours 2. Their remuneration for their works Their works follow them Where the matter is pretious a decision of the least quantity is a great loss and therefore as the spie of nature observeth the Jewellers will not rub out a small clowd or speck in an orient Ruby because the lessening the substance will more disadvantage them then the fetching out of the spot advance them in the sale Neither will the Alcumists lose a drop of quintessence nor the Apothecaries a grain of Bezar nor an exact Commentatour upon holy Scriptures any syllables of a voyce from heaven the eccho whereof is more melodious to the soul then any consort of most tuneable voyces upon earth can be In which regard I hold it fit to relinquish my former divisions and insist upon each word of this verse as a Bee sitteth upon each particular flower that we may not lose any drop of doctrins sweeter then the honey and the honey comb any lease of the tree of life any dust of the gold of Ophir 1. J there were three men in holy Scripture termed Jedidiah that is Beloved of God Solomon Daniel and Saint John the Evangelist and to all these God made known the secrets of his Kingdome by special revelation and their prophecies are for the most part of a mystical interpretation This Revelation was given to John when he was in the spirit upon the Lords day and if we religiously observe the Lords day and then be in the spirit as he was giving our selves wholly to the contemplation of Divine mysteries we shall also hear voyces from heaven in our souls and consciences Heard with what ears could Saint John hear this voyce sith he was in a spiritual rapture which usually shutteth up all the doors of the sences I answer that as spirits have tongues to speak withall whereof we read 1 Cor. 13.1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and Angels so they have ears to hear one another that is a spiritual faculty answerable to our bodily sense of hearing The Apostle saith of himself that he was in the spirit and as he was in the spirit so he saw in the spirit and heard in the spirit and spake in the spirit and moved in the spirit and did all those things which are recorded in this Book When Saint Paul was wrap'd up into the third Heaven and heard there words that cannot be uttered and saw things which cannot be represented with the eye he truly and really apprehended those objects yet not with carnal but spiritual sences wherewith Saint John heard this voyce A voyce from Heaven The Pythagoreans taught that the Coelestial sphears by the regular motions produced harmonious sounds and the Psalmist teacheth us that the Heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament sheweth his handy work and that there is no speech nor language where their voyce is not heard but that was the voyce of Heaven it self demonstrately proving and after a sort proclaiming the Majesty of the Creatour But this is vox de coelo a voyce from Heaven pronounced by God himself or formed by an Angel so Gasper Melo expresly teacheth us Saint John heard a voyce not sounding out wardly but inwardly framed by that Angel who revealed unto him the whole Apocalypse Saint John here heard a voyce from Heaven commanding him to Write and Saint Austin heard a voyce from Heaven commanding him to Read Tolle lege and most requisite it is that where Heaven speaks the earth should hear and where God writes that man should read There never yet came any voyce from Heaven 〈◊〉 did not much import and concern the earth to hear The first voyce that came from Heaven was heard on Mount Sinai and it was to confirm the Law to be of divine authority and establish our faith in God the Creator A second voyce from Heaven we hear of in Saint Peter on the holy Mount when the Apostles were there with Christ and it was to confirm the Gospel and to establish our faith in Christ the Redeemer A third voyce or sound was heard from Heaven in the upper room where Christs Apostles were assembled in the day of Pentecost and it was to confirme our faith in the holy Ghost the Comforter A fourth voyce that came from Heaven was heard by Saint Peter in a vision and it was to confirme our faith in the Catholike Church and the Communion of Saints and the incorporating both Jewes and Gentiles in one mystical body Lastly a voyce was heard from Heaven by Saint John in this place to establish our faith in the last Article
telleth us that as the Spirit and the Bride say come so he that heareth saith come that is not only the Church of God that is now present here upon the face of the earth but the successive parts of the Church in all future Ages they are all of the same mind having received the same Spirit they all say come Whosoever heareth this Prophesie whosoever heareth of these promises in any Age or Country of the World all they having the same spirit they must needs say come he that heareth saith come he that is acquainted with the promises that cometh to the knowledge of them and doth mingle them with the faith of his soul this man must needs say come to the accomplishment of them And lastly He that is a thirst saith come too that is whosoever hath tasted of the sweetness of Christ in any measure whatsoever and thereby hath wrought in him a vehement thirst after more this man will say come Whosoever hath such a sense of Christ in his promises as to taste of the sweetness of these never so little as he that hath tasted a drop of hony wisheth for more so he that hath tasted of the sweetness of Christ a drop of his grace and mercy this setteth upon his spirit a heavenly thirst he saith come he would have more he is never quiet till he have the promise accomplished to him These are the persons every particular member of the Church that hath the Spirit the whole Church in general not only the particular part of the Church now in the World or in any Age but the several parts of the Church in several Ages whosoever is a thirst that hath tasted of Christ must needs say come Even so come Lord Jesus These are the persons The second thing is the matter of this acclamation of the Church First the matter contained in it it is a vehement and earnest desire of the people of God after Christs most happy return in these words Amen even so come Lord Jesus The matter of it therefore is either infolded and implicite in the word Amen even so or unfolded and explicite in the latter words Come Lord Jesus It is infolded I say in the word Amen This word signifieth in the Scripture either the Author of the truth himself or else it is an affirmation of the truth In the Revelation thus saith the Amen the faithful and true witness here Christ himself is called Amen because he is the Author of all truth and verity the faithful and true witness Sometime this word is used and most frequently in Scripture for the affirmation of the truth either witnessing of the truth or wishing the truth For the witnessing of the truth as in all those vehement speeches of our Lord and Saviour Christ Amen Amen I say unto ye or verily verily I say unto ye this is a vehement asseveration and a witnessing to the truth which a man ought to believe or would have to be believed Or otherwise for a wishing and earnest desiring of the truth to be accomplished So in the conclusion of the Lords prayer and all our prayers we add this word Amen that is so be it or Let it be so we wish it with earnestness of affection and desire and with a confidence and faith of our hearts we hope and believe that this shall be so This is that we profess when we say Amen In this place this word is used both for affirmation and witnessing of the truth and likewise it is a vehement wish and desire of the accomplishment of these promises with an earnest and certain hope and expectation of faith that all these promises and good things shall be accomplished to the soul of a Christian Again the matter of this Acclamation is unfolded and explained in the latter words Come Lord Jesus Where there is both the Action and the person to be considered The Action Come Christ cometh to his Church many wayes He cometh in his Word He cometh in his Spirit He cometh in his mercies He cometh in his Judgments and Justice None of these are here meant But he cometh to his Church in person and appearance even in the appearance of his body and humane nature Thus Christ cometh two wayes to his Church in person First in his Incarnation he appeareth to the world in the similitude of sinful flesh he came in humility he came to suffer to die That is not here meant for that was past when as the Evangelist Saint John wrote this prophesie But the Second coming in person of our Lord and Saviour Christ is his coming in the flesh in glory in exaltation to judge the quick and the dead to shew himself a mighty God from heaven This is the coming which is here meant Christs second coming to Judgment in glory That is the Action The person is described by these two Titles Lord Jesus Wherein the Church desireth that he may come both as a Lord and as a Jesus That he may come as a Lord to vindicate the Church and revenge him upon his enemies to destroy the kingdome of darkness the kingdome of the Devil the kingdome of Antichrist which hath been a great argument in this book of the Revelation And not only come thus as a Lord but as a Jesus to save his Church to vouchsafe to her comfort and peace and joy that he would come to cloath her with immortality and glory which she cannot expect on earth in a mortal state This is the sum and substance of this Petition and request that the Lord would come in majesty and glory both as a Lord against the enemies of the Church to destroy them utterly and as a Saviour to bestow upon the Church even all saving mercies especially that great mercy of everlasting blessedness that is not mixed with sin and corruption that is not mixed with any infirmity and defect whatsoever This is the sum and substance of the Text which I have in few words shortly explained to ye Whence the point I observe wherein we will insist by the grace of God at this time is this That it is the nature and property of every true member of the Church of God earnestly and longingly to desire the second coming of Christ for the full redemption of his Church The Spirit saith Come and the Bride saith Come and whosoever heareth saith Come whosoever is a thirst saith Come therefore every godly man that hath the Spirit of God that is a part of this Bride that is partaker of those promises that hath a caste of Jesus Christ every one of these must necessarily say Come Even so Come Lord Jesus This is so proper to believers and to every one of them as they are all of them described by this property in Scripture 2 Tim. 4.8 The Crown which the righteous Judge shall give me at that day and not only to me but to all them that love his appearing The Apostle he might have said to all saints
and godly whatsoever and to all faithful believers but he makes choyce of this Epithite he describeth them by this that they are such as love his appearance Heb. 9.28 Unto them that wait for him shall he appear the second time for salvation The godly are there described by this very property they wait and long and desire after his appearance the second time In the 24. of Saint Mathews Gospel it is made the property of a good and faithful servant there that he waiteth for his Masters coming and prepareth all things in a readiness it is opposed to the sloathful servant that doth clean otherwise Ye see the truth of it in Scripture But ye will say Is this the property of the Elect and faithful Do not ungodly men and sinners believe the coming of Christ and that he shall come to judge the quick and the dead Doth not every man make this profession of his faith I believe that Jesus Christ shall come to Judge the quick and the dead Why then do ye make it the property of Believers since every man believeth and looks for it To this I answer There is a twofold expectation of Christ his return to Judgment The one An expectation with desire and with an earnest longing the expectation of the faithful of a Lord of a gracious Redeemer nay of a loving Husband Therefore every faithful soul cannot but wait upon him As a faithful servant that hath done his work longeth for his Masters coming home that he may give an account of his faithfulness and may be acceptable to his Master for his faithful service that he hath done in his absence that he may expect his Masters remuneration But there is another expectation of Christ to come that is not with desire but with horrour and dread and fear out of guiltiness of Conscience This is the expectation of a Malefactor in the Jayl he waiteth and looks for the coming of the Judge to pass sentence on him and so to be dragged to execution thus wicked men expect Christ thus wicked Angels expect him But the expectation of the godly is an expectation with love and desire an expectation not of a severe Judge but of a loving husband of a faithful Master that hath promised a recompence to the service of believers even the least and lowest if it be the gift of a cup of cold water in his name Therefore ye must take knowledg of the expectation here meant this I say is proper to believers Let us see the truth of the Doctrine in the Reason of it why every faithful soul must needs long and desire the second coming of Christ First because it is a part of Christs gracious promise which the faith of the soul leaneth on The proper object of faith is the promise of the Gospel this ye may see in the Text Christ had promised to come Amen even so here is the reason of this desire because his promise goeth before it The faithful soul apprehendeth every other inferiour promise and every less promise much more this main promise the very knot of all the very complement of all faith must needs expect and clasp fast hold upon this promise and give assent and acclamation to it as in the word Amen even so come as thou hast said and promised Many promises to this purpose hath our Lord and Saviour Christ pronounced for the stirring up of our faith and affection as namely that in the 14 of Saint Johns Gospel toward the beginning where he comforteth his Disciples in his absence If I go I will come again And so in Acts 1.11 As ye see him ascend with your bodily eyes in his Person and flesh so ye shall see him descend But we need not go far for promises for immediately before the words two verses besides in this Chapter the 7. and 12 Behold I come shortly This is the property of every godly man having the promise of the coming to lean upon it and to desire the accomplishment of the promise In the old Testament they had the promise of the first coming of Christ that they earnestly desired as Jacob Gen. 49.18 Lord I have waited for thy salvation and Abraham saw Christs day afar off and rejoyced And in the New Testament we read of Anna and Zacharias and Elizabeth and the faithful that wait for the consolation of Israel they waited for the accomplishment of this promise the coming of Christ in the flesh his first coming Shall they wait and earnestly desire the first coming of the Son of God in humility and humanity and baseness and shall not we earnestly expect his second coming in glory to manifest not only his glory but our glory shall not we expect that coming of his wherein we shall be married to himself and whereby we shall be took up to himself Thus ye see the promise of Christ is one ground yea and a principal ground of this expectation of the faithful The second Reason is drawn from the Union and conjunction between Christ and the faithful soul That is in the Text too the Bride saith Come Now there is a neer union and conjunction in this same conjunction of Marriage among men wherein the love must needs be imperfect and but a drop of that Ocean and wherein the love of the parties must needs be sinful yet notwithstanding we see how vehement it is in the absence of one another the one longeth and pineth after the other and one party enjoyeth not himself without the other Much more ought it to be so here in this heavenly contract between Christ and his faithful Spouse should not hear the Spouse be sick of love as the Spouse professeth of her self in the second of Canticles This vehement desire must needs arise out of the neerness and undevidedness of that conjunction that is between Christ and a Christian There is little love where there is little desire of the thing beloved when it is absent Why doth the member of the Body desire immediate conjunction with the head but because it knows that the seperation from the head is the death of the member So it is in this neer conjunction between Christ the head and his members the Church they must needs desire immediate and inseparable conjunction with the head because the seperation from the head must be the death of the members That is the second Reason The third Reason of the Point is this because the Saints of God they know that the accomplishment of the full happiness of the Church of God and likewise of themselves that are members of the Church it consisteth in this in Christ his second coming again to judgment therefore they do earnestly desire it and effect it and say Amen even so Come because I say they know this is the coming that perfects the Church of God perfects their glory in the state of happiness which the Church and every member thereof doth expect they know that that is the time which
shall be the Revelation of the sons of God who are here obscure and shall be till that day come They know well that all the graces and perfections that the child of God can attain to in this imperfection all is but the first fruits all is but a taste and therefore they cannot possibly but lift up their heads and raise up their hearts to the expectation of that day wherein these first fruits shall be perfected with full measure shaken together and running over whereas there shall be an absolute freedome from all sin and from all the appurtenances of it an absolute perfection not of grace only but of glory which is the highest grace They shall be one with the head this is that which makes them look for it Heb. 9.28 the place I named before it is said Christ shall appear to save them that wait for him He shall bring a full horn of salvation he shall perfect the salvation of the Saints till that day there is no perfection in the salvation of the Saints No though they go to heaven yet before that day there is no perfect salvation because their bodies are not joyned to their souls This is a third Reason even the expectation of the full accomplishment of all the promises The Lord hath dealt with us as he dealt with his own Israel in their wilderness he gave them a taste of the fruit of the good land he caused the searchers to carry some clusters and bunches of the fruit to the Israelites in the Wilderness that they tasting of it might hie themselves to that rich and goodly and fat countrey so the Lord giveth us some drops of grace and only giveth us a taste of that happiness that we wait for that we may hie our selves so much the faster through this wilderness to enjoy it This therefore is a strong reason wherefore the people of God must needs say Come Even so Amen let it be so because I say they know till Christ come the second time they must not expect the accomplishment of their hope and the perfection of their happiness The fourth and last Reason of this Point may be this because we are taught by our Lord and Saviour Christ to pray Thy kingdome come That is not only that the kingdome of grace may come into our hearts while we are here but that the kingdome of glory may hasten upon us and we are sure that this Petition shall never be granted to us till Christ his return again to judgment till he come to accomplish this main promise of all for then only Christ cometh as our Lord and Jesus Then he cometh as a Lord and makes an end of all the warrs of the Church then he shall throw down all enemies before him treading Sathan and all his instruments under his feet then he shall manifest to the world that he hath the Keyes of hell and of death then he shall destroy the kingdome of Antichrist that must be abolished by the brightness of his coming And then and not till then he shall come as a Saviour to perform perfect salvation for his Church to deliver his Church not only from condemnation but from the molestation of sin not only from tyranny and oppression of enemies but even from all the presence of enemies that at that day a separation being made it may be said to the Saints of god as Moses said to the Israelities when they were afraid of the Egyptians stand still fear nothing the enemies that your eyes have seen to day ye shall never see them more they shall be so far from oppressing the Church that they shall never molest the Church not so much as by their presence then he shall dispose the kingdome to his members as the Father hath disposed the kingdome to him These are strong and effectual reasons to prove this point to us that the members of the Church true beleevers cannot possibly but wait and expect and vehemently desire the coming of Christ the second time for the salvation of his Body the final salvation of his people Here one objection may be made by the way and so we will descend to the Use and Application of it Here it may be said But why do the people of God thus expect and wait for the coming of Christ in all the Ages of the New Testament for the space of 1600 years and yet he cometh not What reason have they to be commanded to expect and wish and wait for the coming of Christ when he cometh not in so long a time Have not all been frustrate of their expectation And may not we as well as they that lived in the Ages before us for we see no appearance of his coming no more then was many hundred years since To this we answer That the patient abiding and waiting of the just never miscarrieth the Saints of God never lost nor shall lose for their expecting and waiting for Christs second coming to Judgment The Saints of God in former ages 1600. years ago waited for Christs coming but were they losers by it though he came not This expectation of his coming it kept them in the exercise of their faith of their hope of their patience of their watchfulness it kept all their graces a working therefore they were no losers by it though they had not the accomplishment of the main promise in expecting the promise they were savers and no losers because all their graces were kept in exercise Besides this in the second place the very expectation of Christ in the Ages of the New-Testament though he came not it is fruitful and useful to draw up the hearts and minds of the godly to heavenly thoughts and to a heavenly conversation and so in the very first Ages of the New-Testament the Apostle tells us that this is the use of their expectation Phil. 3.19 Our conversation is in heaven from whence we look for a Saviour they looked for a Saviour then when he was but newly ascended was it fruitless because he came not of 1600. years after No but Our conversation is therefore in heaven because we wait for his coming In all ages since this expectation hath been a means to raise the heavy mold of earth the heart of man to heaven and heavenly-mindedness therefore this expectation doth not fail because it is of use to help them to the full fruition of it in the time of it Besides the Saints of God never murmure because Christ cometh not they never murmure as those that shall lose their hopes and expectation because they are taught to frame their minds and wills to the will of God and of Jesus Christ their head Now the will of God is that we should still wait though Christ come not because hereby the Lord doth glorifie himself in the gathering in together the number of the faithful The number of the Saints must be gathered in and none must be neglected Now is there any Saint of God and beleever in
of each of these Schoolmen have given them distinct names or Titles being called by them either Obrepentes or Ascendentes or Immissoe Those which are from the World seem full of flattery and creep one after a sort insensibly and deceive us Those from the flesh ascend as it were out of our selves therefore the more dangerous because the less preceptible they being so pleasing to Corrupt Nature and a self-snare Those from the Devil are sent from without with more vehemency therefore called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Darts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ephes 6.16 because cast into a man for in very deed the Devil knows no mans Heart onely deales at first till after further experience by Conjecture all which if I had time it were easie to enlarge upon 3. In a Warre there must be Armes and Weapons and to furnish our selves with these we have a full Armoury or panoply in the Holy Scriptures The whole armour of God we have for all sorts of Weapons whether Offensive or Defensive in Ephes 6.13 14. c. 4. There must be policies or stratagems in War meanes to Circumvent disappoint over-reach overthrow the Enemy c. These and many the like are the parts to make up this spirituall warfare all which must of necessity if as it ought to be spoken to fully willingross more time than I have left to go through with my other business Wherefore waving that so copious a Theame at this present I proceed on now to the second general part of my Division which is the Remuneration or reward of Saint Pauls fidelity in the discharge of his trust in the Dispensation of the Gospel Henceforth is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness c. Much but that I study Brevity might be said of the Dignity of this reward it being stiled a Crowne and largely also I might discourse of the certainty thereof proved and assuredly to be made good partily from the promise of God of that faithful God who is ever mindful of it and never disappointeth a true believer of performance namely so as he promiseth Esau 40.10 Behold the Lord God will come with a strong hand and his arme shall rule for him behold his reward is with him See also Isa 62.11 and Psal 31.19 The Psalmist seemeth after a sort ravished and in a kind of extasie transported out of himself in wonder at the meditation O how great is thy goodness which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men And elsewhere Psal 58.11 Verily there is a reward for the righteous doubtless he is a God that judgeth in the earth And Heb. 6.10 God is not unrighteous to forget c. nor was ever any mans labour maugre the blasphemy of all those Infidels Mal. 3.14 in vain in the Lord 1 Cor. 15.58 See also Rom. 2.7 And this is partly also to be made good from the meritorious expiation of the Lord Christ the vertue whereof extended not onely to a deliverance from all paine and misery which he purchased by his Passion but also to the opening a way to everlasting happiness by his all-glorious Resurrection and Ascension Rom. 8.32.2 Pet. 1.11 Joh. 14.2 And lastly this may be collected likewise from the present afflictions of Gods servants 2 Thes 1.5 for else as the present case now stands with them they are in this life of all men else most miserable 1 Cor. 15.19 Now the Schoolmen have reduced the sum of all the future Blessedness and Reward unto two main heads which they stile Dotes animoe Corporis as it were the Dowries of the Soul and Body both which as they have been sharers in obedience so shall they also be in the Compensation of the just reward Those of the Soul are these 1. The clear Vision of God which they say is tota merces beholding him face to face namely so far as a finite Being for so our Humane Nature continues still though glorified may be capable to apprehend of that Majesty which is Infinite in this advanced condition the Soul which is here clogg'd and drossy and much praegravated by the Body subject to corruption shall beatifically see God as he is in the full splendor of his immortal glory whereas beneath it seeth onely in part and knoweth but in part nor can the greatest part of our sublunary knowledge make up the least part of our Ignorance the discovery that we have now of Heaven is but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as by reflexion from a glass Darkly being changed into the Image of God by degrees from one glory to another 2 Cor. 3.18 but then all clowds shall be dispelled the Intellectuall eyes fully cleared up into a perfect and bright serenity and withall enjoy a sweet oblectation Contentation and Delight accompanying that inexpressible and blisseful Vision 2. In the will perfect fruition of the Divine glory tention and for the measure of the Creature Comprehension a compleate assimilation and likeness to that glorious Majesty in Holiness and Righteousness In those new Heavens dwelleth nothing but righteousness 2 Pet. 3.13 3. In the whole Soul Joy unspeakable and full of glory 1 Pet. 1.8 In the Body 1. Impassibility it is not nor can be subject there to any Ach Ague or Paine no discontenting or agonizing vexations whatsoever All Tears shall be wiped away from our eyes Rev. 7.17.2 Agility expedite quickness free from all manner of Lumpish ponderosity or defatigration whatsoever Yea moreove perfect Charity and glorious splendor such as the Sun it self in its full Brightness partakes not of Here below the Beauty of the Saints is shadowed and much clouded partly by the interposition of Hypocrifie Copper often passing before weak eyes for Gold Formality for Reality eclipsing that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and simplicity which would both adorn the Gospel and grace the purity of profession partly also by afflictions to which the godly are appointed in this life where Christianus is quasi Crucianus and that Baptisme of blood Suffering is made the character of a true Believer as that of Water is of an outward visible Member of the Church And partly also by Corruption which like spriggs or suckers sprouting forth even under the choycest grasse will sometimes be shewing of it self in the defection of our best actions yea in some particulars of Exorbltancy so that whereas in these several regards the Beauty of the Saints is much obtenebrized and obscured yet then shall they shine forth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 even as the Sun from out of a Clowd in full clarity and refulgent glory which was praefigured after a sort in that shining transfiguration of our Saviour upon the Mount Mat. 17. When the vision was so glistering and resplendant that Peter could have been contented though but from that glimpse of glory to have erected a Tabernacle for a farther
only in brief run them over this being not the thing that I purposely aym at First in Cities and Corporations there is a Register wherein the names of the Free-men are inrolled So in heaven also there is a Register a certain book of Records as it were wherein are written the names of as many as God hath appointed to life Rejoce not faith our Saviour in this that the divels are subdued unto you but rejoyce that your names are written in heaven And all that are not found written in the book of life are cast into the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone Rev. 20.15 God in his secret counsel and purpose in his special providence and love takes notice of all his servants even of their names and he hath them as sure as if they were written down in a book there is not one man that cometh to heaven but the Lord knows him already to be a man ordained to that estate and condition Secondly as in all Cities and Societies there is a certain law whereby they are all governed in obedience to which they live So there is a law whereby all the Citizens of heaven all the houshold of God are governed that law which the Apostle Saint James calleth the royal law a law which commandeth the very spirits of men a law that disposeth the whole man to a heavenly frame and subjection to the will of God the great King of Heaven so that a man while he is here below by degrees is drawn off from the world in his affections and disposition and carriage and madesutable and conformable to the rule of righteousness Thirdly as in all Cities there is a kind of safety and security to those that dwell there not only as they are incompassed with walls but also as there is watching and warding some waking while others sleep to keep the rest in safety So in this heavenly society the Angels pitch their Tents about those that fear God nay the Lord himself is the Shepheard of Israel that neither slumbereth nor sleepeth while men oppose them God defends them while men are labouring and plotting and devising against them and they it may be are secure and fear no danger God disperseth and disappointeth a thousand projects intended against his servants It was so with his own people Israel while they were in the plains securely lying in their tents there is Balack and Balaam consulting upon the mountains how to curse them but the God of Israel that is above the mountains that sitteth on the highest Heavens he ordereth the matter so that Balaam for his life though he might have had all the wealth and honour of the Kingdome could not pronounce one curse against Israel because God had said to him that he should not curse Fourthly As in Cities and societies on earth men have communion and society one with another the less have interest in the greater and the greater in the less and all have interest one in another the inferiours receive from the superiours protection and provision and the superiours receive from the inferiours subjection and submission So it is in this heavenly Corporation in this spiritual Jerusalem Jerusalem is a City at unitie in it self There is a communion and fellowship that the Saints have with God the Father with Christ with the Angels with the Saints in heaven and one with another on earth With God the Father they have an interest in him as subjects of his kingdome as servants and children of his family there is not the meanest subject in this kingdome but he may make his request known to this Prince there is not the least servant in this Family but he may make his complaint to this Master they may as children go boldly to the throne of grace and make their request known unto him though it be but in sighes and groans Hence it is that God takes notice of them your heavenly Father knoweth that you have need of all these things and therefore he will supply them If you that are earthly can give good things to your children how much more shall your heavenly father give good things to them that ask him They have interest in Christ also he is their Intercessour therefore hence it is that he is said to sit at the right hand of God making intercession for us He is their Advocate if any man sin we have an Advocate with the Father even Jesus Christ the righteous He is their Lord and Captain the Captain of the Lords Army to defend his Church Michael the great Prince standeth up for the children of his people They have interest also in the holy Ghost the third Person in Trinity they have not only the love of God the Father but the communion and fellowship of the holy Ghost as the Apostle wisheth for the Corinthians Hence it is that the Holy Ghost is ready to help their infirmities to in able them to put up their requests when they know not how to pray as they ought Hence it is that he sanctisieth them and therefore they are said to be Born again of water and of the spirit that he comforteth them therefore he is called the holy Ghost the Comforter As the Saints have interest in the three Persons in the Trinity in respect of their dependance upon them so the blessed Trinity hath an interest in them also If I be a Father where is my honour if I be a Master where is my fear Because they acknowledg God to be their Father they honour him because they acknowledg him to be their Lord they fear him c. They have interest in the Angels also Hence it is that they are called Ministring spirits sent forth for the good of the Elect They were Christs messengers his Angels and now they are made Messengers Angels to the Saints therefore faith Christ Offend not one of these little ones for I tell you that their Angels behold the face of my father in heavenâ—… They have interest in them not as worshippers of Angels which the Apostle condemneth Coll. 2. as foreseeing to what a height Popish superstition would rise in this kind I say not to worship them to invocate them to pray to them we know no such will-worship which is without the rule We have an Angel comforting Hagar we have an Angel defending Elisha we have an Angel incouraging Jacob we have an Angel carrying Lazarus into Abrahams bosome But we never had any Angel that stood in this place to have worship and adoration This indeed the Angels have from us imitation of their obedience we pray thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven They have interest in the Saints also yea in those that are dead not as though they paayed for us yet they have a common desire of the welfare of the whole Church The souls under the Alter cry How long Lord holy and true wilt thou not
avenge our blood on those that dwell upon the earth All the Saints departed their souls cry to God to finish these dayes of sin and hasten the coming of Christ And besides this this further benesit we have that we are all members of the same body there is a gathering under one Head as the Apostle calleth it under Christ they are the superiour members we the inferiour all joyned under one common Head Lastly the Saints on earth have interest one in another by vertue of this communion they have interest in the prayers in the gifts in the wealth one of another sofar as necessity and love requireth Fifthly and lastly as in earthly Cities and Corporations there is trading and traff quing buying and selling c. So here this heavenly conversation consisteth in a kind of heavenly traffique as the word importeth We either are all or should be all heavenly merchants even here upon earth The kingdome of heaven is compared to a treasure hid in a field which when a man findeth he hideth it and for joy departeth and selleth all that he hath and buyeth that field It is compared to a Pearl which when a man descrieth the excellency of it he giveth all that he hath to possess that Pearl There is a heavenly thing that is worth all that we can give and it must be bought too It is our Saviours counsel come buy of me yea come buy wine and milk without money without price It must be bought but bought without money there is nothing that is subject to corruption that can buy heavenly things Buy of me eye-salve that you may see and gold that you may be made rich and garments that your nakedness may not appear This must be bought but what must we give for it Christ tels us he saith that he himself is the Pearl the treasure and that which we must give for him is no more but this Let a man deny himself and take up his cross and then follow him He must deny his worldly pleasures his carnal affections the love of his lusts he must renounce his sins If thy right hand offend thee cut it off and cast it from thee if thy right eye offend thee pluck it out and cast it from thee What is that that a man should dismember himself No such matter What then To do that which a man accounteth as harsh a peece of work as to pluck out his eye or cut off his hand that is to mortifie his carnal affections to part with his sweetest lusts which a man holdeth as dear and sets as high a rate upon as on his right hand or his right eye there should he no sin so precious no gain so sweet no pleasure so delightful but a man should be willing to let it for Christ there should be no worldly thing whasoever that a man should so set his heart upon but if persecution for the Gospel should come he should be contented to leave it for Christ and in the mean space to let his affections hang loose to it that whensoever Christ shall call him to part with his estate with his contentments with himself he may let all fall for his sake and the Gospels This is the heavenly traffique of a Christian I might here lay down some tryals by which men may be able to judg of themselves in this particular whether their conversation be in heaven I will instance but in some generals because I hasten to that I principally intend See how thy affections stand such as is a mans mind such is the man such as is a mans affection such is his conversation a heavenly affection argueth a heavenly conver sation a heavenly conversation presupposeth a heavenly affection for it is impossible for any man to walk in a heavenly course but he that is of a heavenly mind It sheweth the errour of those men that think that that pitch of holiness and careful walking with God in newness of life is too strict a point to be pressed what say they will you have us to be Saints are we not men shall we not have infirmities still Yes that thou wilt when thou hast done what thou canst But here is the thing What is the bent of thy heart what is the strength of thy mind what is the endeavour of thy whole man which way are thy affections carried What dost thou mourn for most what dost thou rejoyce in most what dost thou hope for most According to thy affections so will thy labour and endeavour be A heavenly heart sorroweth most for sin a heavenly affection rejoyceth most in Christ Many say who will shew us any good but Lord lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us thou hast given me more joy of heart then they had when their corn and wine and oyle abounded A heavenly affection hopeth most for heaven and that not so much that thereby he way be released from worldly troubles as that he may be possessed of those heavenly joyes that are to be had in the presence of God and in a perfect communion with him that he may be freed from sin and fully brought into the glorious liberty of the sons of God And this is that which stirreth him up with all industry and endeavour and carrieth him along mainly and chiefly to seek after not the wealth and honour and pleasure of the world but how he may get into the Covenant of grace and an interest in Christ how he may attain evidences of heaven and testimonies of the love of God He speakes of heaven as the worldly man speaks of the world A worldly man speaks of the world and the world heareth him faith Christ every table ringeth of his worldly talke every company soundeth of his worldly affections in every meeting he sheweth his worldly disposition So a heavenly-minded man is alwayes talking of heavenly things alwayes labouring to draw heavenly uses out of earthly things let crosses come he can draw comforts from thence he makes them means to take off his heart from the world to set it more toward heaven as Noahs Arke the more the waters increased the neerer it was raised to heaven so a heavenly man the more worldly crosses come the higher his soul riseth toward heaven the worldly man sinketh under afflictions but he is lifted up neerer to Christ This is a heavenly conversation But I will not stand on this The second thing which I told you was observable from the first part of the Text was this That in this very life the children of God are stated in a heavenly condition Our conversation is now in heaven faith the Apostle When a man is brought by repentance and faith unto Christ he is brought into a heavenly state actually possessed of heaven And that in two respects In respect of right and title In respect of possession First in respect of right and title and that also first in respect of
of the Creed concerning the happiness of the dead and the glorious estate of the Tryumphant Church and the life of the World to come If we desire to be informed concerning the affaires of the Abissens or those of China Sumatra or Japan we confer with those that are of the same Country or have travelled into those parts and for the like reason if we desire to be instructed concerning the state and condition of the Citizens of the Heavenly Jerusalem their insinite number their excellent order their singular priviledges their everlasting joyes their feasts their robes their palmes their thrones their crowns we must enquire of them who either are inhabitants there or have brought us news from thence nothing but a voyce from Heaven can enforce our assent to these heavenly mysteries Now as all words of Kings are of great authority but specially their Edicts and Proclamations so all voyces from Heaven are highly to be regarded and religiously obeyed but especially Decrees and Statutes which are commanded by the authority of the high Court of Heaven to be written for perpetuity such as this is in my Text I heard a voyce from Heaven saying Write with a Pen of Diamond in letters never to be oblitrated write it so that it may be read of men in all succeeding Ages even to the last man that shall stand upon the earth Here I cannot sufficiently admire the boldness of Cardinal Bellarmine who to disparage the necessity of holy Scripture and cry up unwritten traditions which are the best evidence he can produce for his new Trent Creed blusheth not to publish it to the World in print that the Apostles and Evangelists had no command from God to write their Gospels or Epistles but that they wrote upon the entreaty of some friends or some emergent occasious Were there no other Text in all the holy Scriptures but this nor word in this Text but this one Write it were alone sufficient to convince him of gross ignorance if not rather giving the lie to his own knowledge But yet farther rather to confound him with shame then convince him with evidence doth not the Apostle affirme in general of the whole Scripture that it is given by Divine inspiration and what is inspiring but a kind of dictating to all the Pen-men of the holy Ghost and doth not he that dictateth to another both tell him what he shall write and bid him write it Besidesin the 1 of the Apocalypse vers 10 11. Saint John heard a great voyce as of a trumpet saying I am Alpha and Omega the first and the last and what thou seest write in a Book Thirdly besides the general command of committing the whole Word of God to writing and a special mandate for the writing the Apocolypse we have a singular precept for the writing the precise words of this Text and must not that needs be thrice worthy our observation which is written by a threefold command and what is that Blessed are the dead If the dead are blessed the dead are for an argument a terito adjacente ad secundum ever holdeth if the tearms be taken in the proper sence The Metaphisicks demonstrate non ent is nullus esse affectiones that such things as have no existence have no qualities nor real attributes but blessedness is here attributed to the dead the dead therefore are And the Philosopher who being demanded whether the living or the dead were more in number answered that doubtless the living quia mortui ne sunt quiedm because the dead were not to be reckoned upon in regard now they are not at all spake without book and uttered that which is most false as we learn from the mouth of Truth himself who not only affirmeth that the dead are but that they are also living though dead to this World yet not to the World yet not to the World to come dead to men but not dead to God have ye not read saith our Saviour what is spoken unto you by God saying I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob God is not the God of the dead but of the living for all live to him but are all the dead blessed the Text answereth all the dead that die in the Lord That die in the Lord Yea but you will say those that are already dead cannot die what then is the meaning of this phrase the dead that die in the Lord Saint Ambrose answereth he that is dead already cannot die in the same sence that he is dead but he that is already dead in one sence may be said to die in another he that is dead to the World as all the regenerated who have mortified the deeds of the flesh may afterwards die to the body and so die in the Lord that is breath out his soul into the hands of the Lord. This is sound Divinity and a true proposition but no true exposition of this place in which the latter seemeth to be a limitation of the former as God is near to all that call upon him yea all that call upon him faithfully so here blessed are the dead what all dead howsoever they die no but all that die in the Lord. There is much variety among the interpreters about the interpretation of this phrase to die in the Lord. Some will have the meaning thereof to be those that die for the Christian faith and seal the truth thereof with their bloud And they alleage for themselues first parallel texts of Scripture wherein the preposition in is put for pro for as Gen. 18.13 Omnes in te benedicentur all Nations shall be blessed in thee that is for thee and in thy seed that is for thy seed and Gen. 28.18 servivi Berachel word for word I served in Rachel that is for Rachel Next they alleage the antecedents together with the occasion of these words verse 12. here is the patience of the Saints here are they that keep the commandements of God and the faith of Jesus Christ and truly the main scope of the Text seemeth to be to arm the godly with patience and to encourage them to fight against the Beast upon whom before God execute vengeance if it so fall out that many of Gods faithfull servants loose their lives Yet that none should be dismayed therewith because all that so die are blessed for they exchange a temporal life in this World for an eternal in another Thirdly say they it cannot be well conceived how any can die in Domino in the Lord who is the Lord of life if we take the preposition in the proper sence for though in the natural body a member may be cut off and die the head being alive yet it is not so in the mystical body of Christ no true Member thereof can be cut off much less die while it continues in that body by dying in the Lord therefore we must understand dying