sublimest felicity of Christ and of his Saints signifies as well the plenty as the eternity of their advantages He encompassed about Psal 21.3 We may hereby understand that this Crown of life shall intitle them to innumerable and immortal satisfactions it shall therefore be a true life How wrongfully do we abuse this pleasant Title in bestowing it upon the present unworthy subsistency of the soul and body O miserable estate how vainly do we flatter our beings with this gratefull conceit Can that ever be a life that drags us continually to our Grave that causeth us to die as soon as we begin to breathe and that is joyned unto death by the inward Principles of our existence Can that be a life that carries death in its bosome that makes us sensible of a thousand deaths before we breathe forth the last gasp and that is interrupted by sleep idleness and sickness as by so many deaths which deprive us of the benefits of life by which it is to be esteemed rather than by the continuance of the soul with the body at least in the judgement of a wise Moralist who hearing of a wicked man that was lately expired in a very old age Diu fuit said he sed non diu vixit At this rate how unworthy is our present subsistence of the pleasing and glorious title of life This therefore is promised in my text in opposition to that which we now lead to express the excellency and reality of that Heavenly Life free from those miseries which now do attend us Tolerantia transitoria Corona aeterna pugna modica merces immensa poena levis gloria inestimabilis dabo tibi post morzem pro morte vitae aeternitatem Aug. de civit Dei As if our Saviour should thus compare them together for the encouragement of the faithful What if my interest doth expose you to your enemies cruelty what if you are forced to lay down your lives in the maintenance of my cause what reason have you to prize so inconsiderable a loss when the Exchange brings unto you Returns of a more unspeakable value Grudg not to part with this shadow of life Grieve not to surrender it Refuse it not when I shall require it I have another life in reserve for you whose advantages do as highly excel those of this present being as the Crown doth the other enjoyments of the body a life both glorious and pleasant Erit status omnium bonorum aggregatione perfectus Boetius de consol where nothing shall be wanting to increase your satisfactions but cares trouble and pain which now do cause us to relish the sweetness of our earthly pleasures I will give thee c. This expression presents us with the greatest variety of Excellencies That they may better appear unto you take a view of them and of that supernatural estate of Heaven in these following propositions 1. It shall be an unseparable union of the soul and body for all eternity We shall live no more upon condition to die The fear of death that doth usually torment us more than the sense shall then cease with the cause Men shall never be disquieted with those importune Apprehensions that disturb us as they did Belshazzar in the midst of his carousing Cups and that cause us to be weary of life as that Roman was who being pursued by the cruelty of the Triumvirat offered himself freely to his Enemies pleasure to be delivered by death of the daily fear of dying But then we shall be secure both from the sense and apprehension of death and of all approaching evils and we shall rest in that blessed Tranquility that shall never have cause to dread an alteration there shall be no more divorce made between the soul and body it shall not be possible to separate that most loving couple Gods Wisdom and Power shall joyn them together in such a manner that neither Time nor any Accident shall be able to cause a separation For God upon whose pleasure all his Creatures do depend shall remove all deadly principles and grant us an eternal continuance which shall proceed not onely from his immutable Decree and immediate influence but also from the nature and manner of the union of the two parties that shall no longer be entertained by the assistance of the Creatures and a supply from the Elements but onely by a greater correspondency by more spiritual and more sutable Embraces At present although the soul hath a natural tendency to enliven to move and inform the body between them there is a vast difference that can never consent unto any conjunction without the mediation of the vital spirits extracted from the more subtil and purer substance of the meats refined by their successive concoctions But then our Bodies shall depose and cast off that gross and earthly matter and become more convenient companions of the soul by a nearer assimilation to that Celestial being For this mortal must put on immortality and this corruptible must put on incorruption as St. Paul teaches at large in the 1 Cor. 15 Chap. where he further declares the Mystery of the Resurrection and of the estate of our bodies in the 42 43 44. Verses The body is sown in corruption it is raised in incorruption it is sown in dishonour it is raised in glory it is sown in weakness it is raised in power it is sown a natural body it is raised a spiritual body From hence we may discover the future substance of our Bodies which shall be almost as subtil as those earthly Spirits raised by the ordinary systole and diastole Mercat lib. 1. par 4. clas 4. quast 120. the two motions of the heart which Spirits have the nearest access to the soul of man and by which it is tied to its present residence for this blessed life and its eternity is established upon a resemblance and nearer relation between the soul and body whose beings must be rendred more conformable before they can be secured from a dissolution or from the sense of violence because that onely this conformity is able to render the communion unseparable and to free it by that means from the insults and affronts of all enemies It is therefore most certain that it shall not be in the power of any beings to put us to the sufferance of pain for as the pain which proceeds from the body is derived from an apprehension or a possibility of separation from that being upon which it depends or from that which tends unto it As the pain of the soul doth from a seeming or a real separation from God the fountain of all good or from that which stands us in some manner instead of God It cannot be imagined how they shall be able to suffer who are adorned with the qualities of immortality whose beings are free from alteration and not subject to the least weakness and whose senses shall never receive any contrary impressions nor convey unto the appetite
are pleasures for evermore 5. This life shall be a life of Holiness and Righteousness a life of Piety and Justice and of sobriety a life of integrity for then we shall be arrived to the supreme degree of perfection as well as of happines we shall come to that perfect stature of regeneration which is in Christ Jesus our Lord The works of the Devil shall then be utterly destroyed and that great disorder which his Apostacy hath caused shall then be reformed In Heaven no impure thing shall enter Rev. 21. Heb. 12.14 For without holiness none shall see God The glorified shall never be able to offend their God for the inward motions of the soul being rightly disposed according to his Will and our affections perfectly reformed the outward actions of the body must needs be conformable When there should be another Serpent to tempt us and another Eve to assist him they could never prevail upon us because we shall be no more in a possibility of sinning for our understandings shall be no more capable of mistakes nor our wills corrupted with importune desires nor our actions forced from us against our election And besides this blessed disposition from whence shall proceed a constant practice of the Commandments of God he will also by his continual influence to strengthen our resolutions and determine our wills that they shall abhor whatever might displease him the sight of his holiness shall convey the same disposition into our minds as St. John tells us and his infinite power shall be engaged 〈◊〉 â—â—eserve them whom his love hath espoused and for whom he hath been at so vast an expence to raise them to that estate Therefore God we shall for ever adore with all the powers of the soul and body his service we shall attend with delight our brethren we shall love without dissimulation How pleasant will this life be when there shall be a continual Emulation between God and his creatures and between themselves who shall exceed in love and affection when all the glorified in Heaven shall interchange daily expressions of kindness when there shall be a perfect agreement a living correspondency a sweet fellowship a delightful conversation without envy or malice without care or tediousness This is sufficient to render us most happy when all other things should be wanting for happiness consists rather in a perfect disposition of the mind than in a plentiful enjoyment of outward advantages But besides our bodies shall be adorned with heavenly qualities the present shall see a most happy change with the visible substance Conveniens est us sicut damnati habent extremas tenebras ita beati habeant extremam lucem Basil lib. Hexa Caro sine moln pondera sine deformitate ita ut sit animae ornamentum non tormentum Aug. Serm. 139. de tempor c. 3. and other qualities shall be added with which we are not at present acquainted It is therefore needless to question whether we shall know one another seeing we shall scarce know our selves the change will be so great It is certain that we shall move without trouble we shall ascend without help our strength shall be encreased our deformities removed our infirmities deposed our appearance shall be full of majesty and glory as Daniel informs us They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever In which words you may further observe a difference in the glories of Heaven sutable to their inclinations and employments on earth for the one shall shine as the Firmament the other as the Stars a sensible distinction shall be both in the nature and the greatness of their Rewards for according to the several dispositions of men and their several capacities God will accordingly bestow upon them his riches and his glory Therefore a Father adviseth us to enlarge our perfections and the faculties of the soul by a continual exercise in humane sciences that they may be then more capable to receive and contain the mysteries of Gods Wisdom and better able to bring forth glorious actions for this eternal Sabbath is an estate where all our abilities shall be in the highest perfection where we shall act and move without the least inconveniency Occasions we may have to exercise our Vertues not such as will cause us to suffer but such as without that strength of nature we should find a default in our happiness It is therefore our wisdom now to accustom our selves to that which shall be our employment for ever and upon which shall depend our satisfaction and glory which shall be revealed in us as St. Rom. 18.18 Paul informs us In our souls by a perfect enjoyment of supernatural excellencies in our bodies that shall be free from all weakness and beautified with glorious qualities Therefore this estate is called a Crown of Life for as the Crown is of a round and a perfect figure it is most proper to express the infiniteness and perfection of those heavenly delights that shall accompany that life besides the Crown is the sacred emblem of joy and honour this expression therefore presents us with the notion of the most pleasant and the most honourable estate together for there is nothing more acceptable than life nor more glorious than a Crown and that we may better understand wherefore Christ promiseth Heaven under this notion we must take notice that chiefly four sorts of persons were dignified with a Crown amongst the Ancients Kings to express their Authority and supream Command A new married couple at the nuptial Feasts therefore by the Greeks they were called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Priest in the solemn Sacrifices to render the offering more acceptable and the devotion more glorious or rather to shew what qualification was anciently required in one that presented to the Divinity the Homages of the people Another sort were crowned they who had given open testimony of their valour and cunning either in private Disputes and Plays allowed by authority or in a publick War in the maintenance of the general interest To these several sorts of Crowns were given which were in value and esteem according to the nature of the vertuous action Now the faithful in Heaven shall be Kings enjoying a supream command over the infernal Spirits and damned Souls They shall be Priests Rev. 2.26 sending up unto God the perfume of their praises They shall be married unto Christ in love and affection In these several respects this Crown may become them But our Saviour in this promise hath more especially an eye to the Crowns that were the rewards of a generous Perseverance that had obtained the Victory for he mentions the difficulties that were to be overcome A death to be endured and adds this encouragement I will give thee O faithful soul a Crown of Life It was the ancient custom to crown the Temples
and pleasures that are onely there to be found Other Reasons and passages of Scripture may be alledged for this Truth which makes St. Paul fly out into an Admiration and St. John breathe forth nothing but wishes all the holy Martyrs embrace and hug the Flames that did convey them into this estate Was it not sufficient O blessed God that thou shouldest deliver man from his deserved punishment was it not sufficient that thou shouldest render him capable of thy favours But must such a favour be granted must thou admit him to a participation of the divine Nature by this unspeakable Union St. Peter O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and goodness of our God! You know not mortal men what God hath reserved for them that fear him What may we not expect from his love when we shall come to this estate If there be any good at Gods disposal any sweetness any pleasure and benefit in heaven or in earth it shall be theirs and in their possession Rom. 8.32 unto whom he hath at present given his Son and Spirit and will also give himself as St. Paul tells us Besides this Union shall cause an interrupted Communion between God and our souls God shall pour his blessings upon us in abundance and we shall render unto him unfeigned testimonies of thankfulness We shall spend Eternity in his praises and he shall spend his Treasuries upon us we shall think of nothing but how to glorifie him and he shall strive to satisfie us we shall contend in mutual offices of Love and Friendship O happy contention O blessed communion unto which our present Piety and Religion intends to bring us We have now a communion with God in holy duties and by his divine Spirit for no other end but that we might thereby be prepared for his eternal communion in Heaven In this Union and Communion with God consists the chief happiness of the creature for besides that they shall remove from us whatsoever looks like an evil they shall procure unto us advantages suitable unto that supernatural honour and estate Isa 64.4 Which eye hath not seen c. Our present knowledge shall be changed into sight our hope into fruition our love to God into endless transports our desires shall be satisfied our Prayers granted and turned into eternal Allelujahs our understandings shall be no more darkened with ignorance our wills no more corrupted with vice a blessed perfection shall reign within us And this shall proceed from an immediate infusion of divine Knowledge and a communication of spiritual qualities that shall fit us for the vision of God for we shall see his Face and his Name shall be in our foreheads Revel 22. We know saith St. John when God shall appear we shall be like him For we shall see him as he is not only with our corporal eyes we may see that inacessible light which always accompanies the visible declaration of his Glory and Power but also with the eyes of our souls we shall behold as much of the essence of God as the creature can perceive he will expose himself to our view And therefore we shall be transformed into his resemblance we shall be as so many Images of the Godhead so many living Pictures of his Infinite Being representing his glorious perfections as a clear fountain doth the body of the Sun or rather as Moses face did the brightness of the beams with which the Divine Majesty was cloathed upon the Mount Sina God will imprint in us the noble Characters and lineaments of his Essence therefore well might David promise to himself As for me I will behold thy face in righteousness I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness So that this blessed life shall not so much consist in the union of the soul and body as in the union of both soul and body with God our Creator In the next place in this life there shall be an excellent order and subordination in our souls all the passions and affections shall be ruled by the command of our Reason These inward motions shall not cease but they shall be bound to their good behaviour they shall no more offer to raise a rebellion within us to disturb our tranquility they shall not be capable of evil impressions Isa 32.18 nor bear the marks of corrupted nature There shall be a beautiful symmetry between the parts of our soul and body insomuch that perfection and integrity shall appear within and without How happy shall that life be when we shall perfectly enjoy our selves when all our affections shall endeavour to accomplish our felicity These are our present enemies they procure all the inconveniences that happen unto us whether in our bodies or estates by perswading us to embrace that seeming good which proves our deadly poyson But then they shall be no more corrupted by the sight of apparant advantages nor tempted to betray our interest for a vain enjoyment they shall always carry us to the performance of Duty and to that real good which shall fully satisfie us with content Unless they be thus reformed it is not possible for man to taste happiness in the most blessed Estate For what are Honours Riches and the greatest Blessings to one tormented with the desire of an increase or to a peevish discontented soul that apprehends a change or sees a happiness afar off which it prefers to the present or to one whose passions gaul him The least pain is sufficient to qualifie the greatest pleasures therefore in this happy life unruly passions shall cease with outward inconveniences they shall suffer us to relish the sweetness of our possessions they shall rather awaken our senses and give them a fuller and a quicker apprehension of the excellency of the heavenly delights and although our happiness shall not be confined to those pleasures that are furnished by our senses for they are not sufficient inlets to receive as much as the soul requires to accomplish her felicity besides it is not proper that the Bliss of so excellent a part should depend upon its correspondency with the baser or that it should borrow its satisfaction from its union with the body Caro spiritualis effectae per omnes sensus suos multimodis exuberabit delitiis Laur. yet it is most certain that they shall not want a share of those pleasures in which the soul shall so freely swim they shall not be brutish or such as Mahomet promiseth to his Mufulmans but they shall be sutable unto the spiritual body of the Righteous and far excelling the base and rotten pleasures of this miserable life in quality for they shall be without the least mixture of bitterness in the quantity for they shall be proportion'd to our capacities and in the durance for they shall be continual without interruption and eternal as David informs us Psal 16.11 speaking unto God In thy presence is fulness of joy and at thy right hand
of the dead Bodies when their lives had been exemplary Plin. by this ceremony the Heathens did express a Reward that was due to a vertuous life and the Honour which a righteous Soul hath purchased to himself What they performed to the Body Christ promiseth to do unto both Soul and Body I will give thee c. You have seen the Picture of this Crown with many Jewels of the greater bulk an infinite number of the lesser sort of Pearls and Flowers we shall never know but by experience And so I proceed to a brief consideration of the Assurance that my Text gives of this Estate unto the faithful I will give thee c. It is no wonder to see Julian the Apostate a professed enemy of Christ a promoter of Gentilism upbraid Christians with the easiness of their belief and scoff at this perswasion That there is a Crown of Glory to reward the Righteous It is no marvel if amongst the Heathens men nursed up with prejudices against the Truth ignorant of the power and goodness of our God should call in question the Articles of the Resurrection of the dead and of the happiness of another life but that in the bosom of Christianity under the most visible expressions of Gods Omnipotency Justice and Mercy there should be some of that dull apprehension as not to understand and of those strange principles as to oppose these sacred and beneficial Truths it may seem at first very strange But see what manner of men are capable of this folly amongst us and you will cease from admiring they are the Disciples of Diagoras and Epicurus rather than of Christ men that are degenerated into beasts by their condescention to bruitish pleasures whose souls are sunk into their senses and have lost both the use and knowledge of the noblest functions they are those that defie Heaven by their crimes whose lives are a scandal and their persons a reproach to the society And do you wonder wherefore they are enemies to these truths that are no friends to the peaceable enjoyment of their lusts that lay before their eyes the punishments that are reserved for them do you wonder if these graceless wits cannot comprehend an estate so far above their capacities and contrary to the present let their natural abilities be never so great such know no other life but that of the senses no other felicity but the carnal nor other delights but of the body 1 Cor. 2.14 and how is it possible that such should have the least apprehension of that supernatural condition that shall raise man and all his faculties to the highest perfection of activity It is a mystery but onely to them whose minds are inlightned by the Spirit of God they also have no clear insight into this estate Therefore Christ in my Text pities the weakness of our capacities and adds to his promise of heavens glories sufficient reasons to convince us of the reality of these Rewards They are contained in these Particulars 1. In the Qualities of the person that promiseth and his engagement 2. In the nature of the Recompence or in that excellent relation between the estate of the faithful on earth and that in Heaven other reasons shall be added drawn from the rules observed in the disposition of the Creatures The person that promiseth this Crown of Life is described in the 8th verse of this Chapter The first and the last which was dead and is alive By which words is intimated his sufficiency for the performance for thereby are signified his Divinity and Humanity his death by which he purchased this celestial Diadem for us his Almighty Power and his Truth that are engaged to see us in the possession of it 1. Christs Death hath given us an unquestionable Right to this Crown and to all its dependencies Before in the estate of Innocency we had a natural claim to Heaven In coelumque redire animas coelumque venire Manil. lib. 4. by reason of our soul that is an immaterial substance conformable to the celestial Beings so that by this law of Nature established in the Creation which assignes unto every thing a final residence where first it had its derivation if man had continued in his integrity he had always continued in that glorious Right and might have called for an entrance into that Seat of Glory and happiness But this natural Priviledge hath been forfeited by Rebellion The soul by sin hath lost together the Title to demand and the Power to deserve an admission and hath seen it self banished out of Heaven by the procurement of its two great adversaries Guilt and Corruption But Christ by his death hath overcome them and all impediments by his Blood he hath satisfied an offended Justice Heb. 9.12 14 and obtained for us an eternal redemption Therefore he is said to be a propitiation for us and our peace Rom. 3.25 Eph. 2. by whom we have an access to the Father And in 10 Heb. 19 20. St. Paul teacheth We have boldness to enter in to the Holiest by the blood of Jesus by a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us through the vail that is to say his flesh But the Infinite merits of our Redeemer have not onely re-established us in our former Right but purchased for us a degree of Perfection and Honour Aug. lib. 12. de Civit. far above that unto which we might have ascended by the strength of Nature in the estate of Innocency according to the judgement of the Fathers and of St. Paul who in Rom. 5. therefore mentions many advantages which we have received by Christ for one lost by Adam and tells us that the blood of the former is far more effectual and beneficial unto us than the transgression of the latter hath been hurtful So that by this means Gods eternal Justice is engaged to bring us to this estate which hath been lawfully purchased for us Heb. 9.24 In order thereunto Christ hath transported our nature and introduced it into the highest heavens that it might take possession in our names of Immortality and Bliss Eph. 2.6 2. But the goodness of our Title to Heaven into which Christ is entred had not been sufficient to secure us the fruition unless he had been enabled with a power sutable to so great an undertaking therefore we are informed That all power is given to him in heaven and in earth That God hath put all things under his feet That he sits at the right hand of God with the Scepter of an Almighty power in his hand This is signified in the former description by being alive from the dead Rom. 1.4 an infallible testimony of the Divinity of our Saviour As many difficulties I confess will strive to hinder our entrance into Heaven as there were nations that did oppose the Israelites passage into the promised Land our selves and Affections are not the least But what cannot he overcome by whom all things
The ASSURANCE OF THE FAITHFULL OR The Glorious Estate Of the Saints in Heaven DESCRIBED And the certainty of their future Happiness manifested by REASON and Scripture By M. D. Batchelor of Divinity Parva non sunt contemnenda fine quibus magna constare non possunt Seneca Ratio fide praecedente plurimum valet Aug. Epist 222. Ratio subsequatur fidem ut intelligat fidelis quid credat Ambros de fide contra Arrianos LONDON Printed by J. R. for Edward Man at the Sign of the Swan in the Strand near York-house 1670. To the Right Honorable Lady ELIZABETH Countess Dowager of Northumberland c. MADAM I Was afraid to venture these Meditations from the Pulpit to the Press through a mixed multitude alone without a Protection for although they have had the happiness to be well received in a famous Audience especially from the Persons of Quality who have perswaded me to suffer them to appear in publick I knew not but that they might meet with some morose and ill-natur'd Zoilus whose common practice is to bespatter the best approved Writings of our age but since your Honour favours them with your acceptance I have been delivered from all apprehension I fear no more the mistakes of the ignorant and the malice of our sensual Wits because I am certain that every one will have some esteem and respect for those Labours that are honoured with the Approbation and Allowance of a person of that singular Wisdom and Piety And not onely my private benefit hath obliged me to this Dedication but also that of my Friends unto whom I do not onely discover the unspeakable Excellencies of Heaven but besides I reveal unto them the means of attaining unto that blessed End The former they shall find in the Sermon and the latter they may meet with in the Preface in your Honour and in your most Exemplary life A life that makes you appear an Ornament amongst our English Nobility and especially to the most noble Families that are related unto your Honour * The most noble Family of the Howards One of them God hath blest with a numerous increase of Persons of the greatest worth A Life worthy of our admiration in that it shews us Piety Vertue Wisdom Goodness and Honour as so many Celestial Lights shining together in the same Sphere A Miracle in Grace as well as Nature A Blessing it is to our Nation in this unhappy Age that we have some such Noble Souls that seem to be Angels Incarnate sent amongst us by the Divine Appointment on purpose to maintain the Honour of Religion against the encroachings of Schism and Profaness It is unto such Heavenly Spirits Madam that Christ promiseth a Crown of Life not onely to encourage them in a faithful management of his and their Spiritual concerns but also to oblige them to a total Resignation of themselves and interests to the disposition of his Providence and to enable them to bear worldly misfortunes and present affliction with less pain I do therefore offer the description of that extraordinary felicity unto your Honour as a seasonable meditation where your Piety Madam may meet with Antidotes able to preserve your Noble Mind from the sence of all evil events And as the Original shall one day be worthy your acceptance be pleased now to look favourably upon this Representation which will afford your Honour a sight of those precious Jewels that enrich the Heavenly Crown Here is also the Assurance that Faith and Reason do give of that Glorious Estate unto the Faithful God preserve your Honour in much health and prosperity with all your Noble Relations It is the hearty desire and shall always be the Prayer of Your Honours most Faithful and devoted Servant M. D'Assigny The Assurance of the Faithful OR Heavens Glory made manifest In a Sermon upon these words of the 2d Chapter of the Revelations the latter part of the 10th verse I will give thee a Crown of life WHen a Glorious Victory is assured what faint-hearted Souldier will shun the encounter When the price of a Race is inestimable who will not run to obtain it or when Rewards are promised whose acquisition will procure unto us immortal satisfactions who will delay the performance of the Task who will not be encouraged to labour after the purchase Such is the nature of the Victory over our Spiritual enemies of the price of Virtues race and of those Coelestial Rewards that invite as to the accomplishment of our great Task of obedience to the supreme Authority They are such as becomes an Infinite bounty to bestow such as have required both an Infinite power to create and blood of an infinite value to redeem They are such as are carefully laid up in those heavenly mansions where all things are suitable unto that Majesty that discovers it self there invested with an incomprehensible Glory It seems Christ the eternal Son of God who is very well acquainted with these supernatural Excellencies had no mean esteem of their value and power seeing that he judges them sufficient to recompense and able to encourage the Martyrs in violent persecutions He judges them worth their labours and sufferings Therefore in his letters to his seven beloved Churches of Asia minor that were threatned with the furious assaults of the enemies of the truth he annexes to his reproofs and exhortations a blessed declaration of the greatness of Heavens glory as the assured Reward of their faithfulness that these future hopes might fill them with the contempt of the present difficulties raise their spirits in the midst of temporal afflictions with the joyful expectation of that inestimable happiness and oblige them to encounter all opposition with an inflexible courage and patience These advantages promised to their perseverance are many and glorious yet he summes them up in such different Titles as had some relation either to the present estate of those Congregations or unto those things that were most in esteem in those Regions where they were situated Unto the Ephesians he presents them under the notion of the fruits of the Tree of Life either because the soils did yield most excellent fruit-trees and especially one called by the Naturalists Arbor vitae whose fruit is of an extraordinary vertue or because that Church was in a decaying condition Christ promiseth therefore Heaven as a Soveraign Remedy to all the evils that did torment them borrowing an expression from that wonderful Tree that was appointed to preserve man in the estate of Innocency in his perfection from all those weaknesses Unto them of Pergamus Christ calls the rewards of Heaven a white Stone because that City being a place of Judicature and the Residence of a Proconsul they were acquainted with the manner of absolving the accused which was by casting a white stone into a Pot Christ thereby intimating the joyes of the Saints in Heaven much like unto those of a Criminal when he received from his Judge a white stone of