they shall be in the morning of the Resurrection Oh what a glorious change shalt than behold How unlike it self shall this poor vile body appear in the Resurrection It was 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 In a word It was sown a vile body It is now transfigured in the Resurrection into a most eminent Conformity with Christ's Glorious body Be of good Comfort Oh ye mourners of hope here is a perfumed Hankerchief to wipe off all tears from your eyes You that sow in tears shall reap in joy you that carry forth precious Seed weeping shall come again rejoycing and bring your Sheaves with you The Resurrection shall make amends for all I have done with the first Consequent I come now to the second Consequent of Christs Rising Second Consequent Triumphant Ascention of the Saints sc The Saints Triumphant Ascention Verse 17. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the Clouds c. Here we have a further instance of the Saints Conformity unto Christ in the Resurrection Christ himself when he was risen did Ascend He was carried up into Heaven So shall it be with the Saints when they are raised up out of their beds of dust they shall be caught up into the Clouds they shall Ascend to meet their Lord. And this Ascention according to the Analogy of Scripture we may conceive shall be effected by a Three-fold medium 1. Medium The power of Christ Scil. 1. The Power of Christ 2. The Ministry of the Angels 3. The Spirituality of the Saints own bodies First the Ascention of the Saints in the Clouds shall be effected by the Power of Christ By the same power whereby he raised them out of their Graves will he lift them up unto Himself yea this taking them up is a branch of the Resurrection it is continuata Resurrectio as Divines say that Providence is continuata Creatio a Progressive Creation So I may call this Rapture of the Saints into the Air It is nothing else but a Progressive Resurrection the continuation and perfection of the Resurrection the proper work also of Him who is the Resurrection and the Life It is the second part of the Resurrection without which the first would differ little from the state of the Dead In vain should the Saints be raised out of the dust if being raised Christ should leave them at a distance from Him and the Resurrection of the Saints themselves would look too like the Resurrection of the Wicked a Punishment rather than a Blâ—ss Separation from Christ being half yea the worst half of Hell though even there the damned have a kind of Life Surely the Children of the Refurrection might have too real occasion to weep Absoloms dissembling complaint to his abused Father Why am I come from Geshur if I may not see the Kings face Why are we brought up out of the Grave if we may not enjoy the Lamb's presence But the Amen the faithful and true Witness cannot be worse than his word He spake it at his Departure to his Disciples and he will make it good at his Return I will come again and receive you to my self that Joh. 14.3 where I am there you may be also In order therefore to the accomplishment of this Promise the first work the Lord Jesus will do at his Coming in his Kingdom after he hath awakened his Spouse out of her sleep will be to lift her up unto Himself now sitting upon his triumphant Throne to Judg both the Quick and Dead This is the first Receiving of them unto Himself Christ his first receiving of the Saints to Himself Joh. 12.32 his drawing of them up unto Him according to his own phrase in the days of his flesh And I if I be lifted up from the earth will draw all men unto me All men i. e. All my Redeemed ones which promise although the Spirit expounds it upon his being lifted up upon the Cross verse 33. This he spake signifying what death he should dye Yet we may not without warrant extend it also to his glorious Exaltation in the great Day of his Judging the World this being both the design and reward of his Passion to the intent that whom he drew to Himself by the merit of his Cross he might also actually draw unto Himself by the power of his Resurrection and Ascention I will draw all men unto me or I will attract unto me As the Loadstone draweth the mettal unto it self by its magnetick vertue or as the Sun draweth up the vapours of the Earth by its attractive beams so will the Lord Jesus Christ that Sun of Righteousness when his glory shall arise upon the world with healing under his wings draw all his Saints unto Himself by the soveraign attractive influence of that mysterious Union between Himself and his Members This is the first and great Medium of the Saints Ascension the Power of Christ A second Medium is the Ministry of the Angels Second Medium the Ministry of the Angels Heb. 1. Ult. for which though we have not certainty of demonstration to compel belief yet we want not more than bare probability of argument to invite Assent For if it be in the Commission of the Angels to be Ministring Spirits for them who shall be Heirs of Salvation we have no reason to imagine their Commission should expire until the time when the Saints shall be actually and safely invested into their long-expected Inheritance And therefore if they were the Saints Life-guard in the state of their defilement and infirmity to bear them up in their hands lest at any time they should dash their foot against a stone How much more ready and active now in the Saints Virgin-state of Purity and Perfection will the Angels be to be their Convoy to conduct them in their Ascention going now to meet the Lamb Sure we are the Lord Jesus though he be the Resurrection and the Life yet is pleased to make much use of the Ministry of the Angels about the Resurrection of the Godly They shall sound the first Trump at the sounding whereof the Dead do rise They gather the Elect together from the four Corners of the Earth and sever the Wicked from them the Tares and all things that offend and them which work Iniquity are by them bound up in bundles and cast into the fire All this is the Angels Office not because our Lord could not with equal facility do it Himself Why should we think the service of the Angels should cease until the whole Scene of the Resurrection be finished Yea to determine our dubious thoughts we hear the Lord of the Harvest giving charge to his Reapers which are none but Angels not only to reap the Wheat but to carry-in
much as you know your labour is not in vain in the Lord. And accept of this imperfect Monument set up for your continual Inspection and the blessed Childrens Memorial By Your Faithful and most Affectionate Father-in-Law THOMAS CASE To the Reverend Author SIR THis Paper cometh to you with a design to beg a larger draught of that discourse of yours on 1 Thes 4.14 whereof in the other days converse you were pleased to give me a taste and to beg it not for my self only but a more common good what more profitable Argument can you recommend to the World than a discourse about those better things which are Reserved in Heaven for us You know better than I that all true Wisdome consisteth first in a fixed intention of the end next in a choise of apt meanes lastly in diligent pursuit our great End and scope is or should be to be for ever with the Lord which if men would more steadily fix and propound to themselves they would sooner understand their way for their End would shine to them all along their Course and level and direct all their actions yea not only become a measure to them but a motive to quicken them to seek what they hope for with Industry Vigilancy and Self-denyal and so cast off those many Impertinencies and Inconsistencies with which we usually sill up our Conversations and with all the Labours Sorrows and difficulties of the way would be the better overcome Sir what have we Ministers to do but to Convince people of the Truth and worth of things unseen We owe it to the inconsiderate part of the world the far greatest part of mankind is sensual and bruitish and blind and cannot see a-far off therefore live as if they only came into the world to Eat Drink and Sleep or to camber themselves with much serving That they may do well here We cannot enough awaken these sleepy Sensualists that they may remember Home and make earnest and serious preparation for the World to come We owe it to the Afflicted part of the World whose true and proper solaces and supports are to be drawn from the Everlasting Estate of the Blessed Comfort one another with these words saith your Apostle Yea we owe it to the better and more serious part of the World who need continually to be warned to open the eye of Faith and shut that of Sense to overlook things seen which are Temporal but to have always in the eye of their Faith and Hope things unseen which are Eternal and Glorious how little would Temptations make Impressions upon us could we learn to wink out both the Terribleness and Amiableness of the Creature and how would all present things be lessened in our opinion estimation and affection had we once but the Eagle-eye of Faith to look beyond the Mists and Clouds of this lower and vain World to that Blessed Estate above Sir Let your discourse go Abroad and try what it can do to the Cure of in Unbelieving and Inconsiderate World I know what you Object the many writings of this kind Extant But necessary things must be often enforced and every one hath his peculiar gift and way of Writing which if it relish not with all meeteth with an answerablâ—â—â—â—â—st in other Readers and surely discourses are most apt to edifie which come from them who have a deeper sense of the World to come than others have and where is that to be presumed to be but in them who are in the very Confines of Eternity where your Good Old Age and late soar Sickness have placed you and so given you a stronger sense and clearer Prospect of the things you write of Sir trust it with Gods Blessing and let the Church enjoy this increase of its Treasure I am Yours in all Christian Observance THOMAS MANTON TO THE READER The Author Wisheth Grace and Peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ Reader TO help the Weaker sort of Christians in the understanding of this more dark and difficult Context which containeth the Description of our Lords last coming and to quicken the more slow and drowsie Spirits to a greater vigour in the pursuit of the Glory which is to be Revealed at that Coming have I not without the importunity of divers Friends sensible of their need of the meanest helps put my self upon the Publishing of these more private Essaies Calculated only for the use of mine own Family Yet since they may by the blessing of God be of a larger Influence Bonum quò communius eò melius and knowing that Good is so much the more Good by how much it is a more diffusive Good I chose rather to adventure my name than be guilty of Sacriledg in not Casting in my Mite into the Publique Treasury of the Churche's Service I must confess had I consulted a Reputation to my self I could never have made choice of a more improper Season wherein endless Opinions and Interests do inevitably expose a man that will be writing to a necessity of Censure not the most gentle Condemnation of the times and the unskilfulness inadvertency of Mechanique Artists whom the Learned Montacute late Bishop of Norwich justly calleth Animalia ad perdendam Remp. Literariam nata Vid. Thean thropicon p. 6. doth not a little gratifie the malevolence of opposite parties who are glad of any shadow that may justifie their disparagement of others who are not of the same Sentiments with themselves As for me I can truly say Acts 20.24 none of these things trouble me But being by the good Providence of God hitherto spared and kept alive I have looked upon it as my duty the Death-Watch every night in my bed sounding in mine ears to leave some Watch-word behind me to awaken this sleepy and secure Generation wherein the most I would it might not be said the better part of Christians have lost the sight of Heaven and are digging hard into the Earth to search whether possibly they might not meet with a Summum Bonum between this and the Centre But oh that before they go off the Supersicies they would look back Rev. 2.5 to see from whence they are fallen and Repent and do their first works Behold I am here shewing you the thing which you are so eagerly pursuing It is risen it is not here Oh that you would with Moses get up into the Mount from whence you might take the Prospect of that good Land where only Blessedness dwelleth I must Confess the Vision is much darkned by the dimness of the Eye and the feebleness of the Hand which drew this imperfect Land-skip But this I dare be bold to say that by the Optick-glass of Faith upon the knee of Prayer a man may make such a discovery of glory here as when he cometh down from this Mount may serve quite to extinguish all the Glory of this neather World and to fix the eye with that * Act. 7.25 proto-Martyr
of us all Jesus Christ was the Center in whom the sins of all the Elect of God did meet and unite together to make Him as it were the common sinner For God made him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the Righteousness of God in him and under the insupportable burthen of our sin he swet and wept and bled and groaned and gave up the Ghost Behold Rom. 8.31 So God the Father Loved us that he spared not his own Son but delivered him up to the death for us all and shall we think much to give up the dearest Treasures of our blood in death to Him So much did God the Son love us that He died for love of us he died the first death that we might not die the second death he died for us that we might live with him And shall we count our lives or the lives of our dearest Relations too dear for him especially when no such advantage can accrue to the Lord Jesus by our death as did accrue to us by his death also in as much as neither we nor ours are in any capacity to reap the fruit and advantage of his death until we dye also and the sooner we dye the sooner shall we reap those fruits Behold God's First-borne was laid in the Sepulchre and shall we think God deals hardly with us if we follow our first-born to the Grave and leave them there till our Lord himself come to awaken them Especially since therefore Jesus died and was buried that he might sanctifie death to us by his death and by his being buried might perfume the Grave and make it a sweet Dormitory or bed of spices for his members to rest in until the Morning of the Resurrection Oh Christians Let us comfort our selves and one another with these words also Jesus dyed The fourth word is yet more Cordial A fourth word of Comfort and that is although Jesus dyed yet He rose again He died indeed but he rose again from the dead God suffered his dear Son to be laid in the Sepulchre but he did not leave him there nor suffer any taint of Corruption to seize upon his precious Body And to that end Christ made hast to rise again out of the Grave he rose the third day and that very early in the Morning saith the Text as soon as ever it could be called day The Alarm no sooner went off as it were but the Lord Jesus did lift up his Royal head and put on his Glorious Apparel and came forth out of his Grave as a Bridegroom out of his Chamber in State and Triumph And this was the Cordial which our Lord himself took before his passion Thou wilt not leave my Soul in Hell Psal 16.10 neither wilt thou suffer thine holy one to see Corruption Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoyceth c. This was his Triumphant Song And it may be ours as well as his yea therefore ours because his whether in reference to our selves or to our gratious Relations For therefore was not Christ left in Hell i. e. in the state of the dead that he might lift up us also out of the pit and therefore his body saw i. e. sustained no corruption or putrefaction no not for the least particle of time that our mortal bodies might not inherit Rottenness and Oblivion in the dust for ever And indeed in this phrase in the Text Jesus arose again there be three things implied which interest every believer in this Triumph of Christs Resurrection c. Jesus rose again implieth three things First Power Secondly Right Thirdly Office First 1st Power 〈◊〉 Jesus Rose again it implieth Christs power Viz. That Jesus Christ rose by his own power It is not said Jesus was raised which might have spoken Him passive onely in his Resurrection but Jesus rose which speaketh Him active namely that he rose as a Conquerour by his own strength as Himself professeth I have power to lay down my life and I have power to take it again Joh 10.18 What power that was Rom. 1.4 will tell us declared to be the Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by the Resurrection from the dead It is true it is elsewhere said that Christ was raised from the dead by the Glory of the Father Rom. 6.4 And likewise that he was quickned by the Spirit Pet. 3.18 To shew that neither the Father nor the Holy Ghost were excluded from a joynt share and concurrence in his Resurrection but here as elsewhere it is said also that Christ rose to shew that he was not merely passive in his Resurrection as the Children of the Resurrection are but that he rose also by the mighty power that was seated in his own Royal person The divine Nature in Christ to which the humane nature was personally united Alteram Christi naturam intelligamus nempe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Verbi incarnati potentiâ was that Spirit of Holiness by which the Lord Jesus did rise Triumphantly from the dead In the same language speaks another Apostle he was put to death in the flesh but quickned by the Spirit i.e. by the Divine essence which was in Christ Death and the Grave had swallowed a morsel which they could not keep but as the Whale when it had swallowed Jonas in this the Type of Christ was forced to vomit him up again 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it being impossible Christ should be holden by death The power of the word incarnate loosed or dissolved the bonds of Death as a thread of Tow is broken when it is touched with the fire Yea Sampson-like herein also another type of his Jesus Christ did break in sunder the bars of the Grave and carried away the Gates of death upon his shoulders making a shew of them openly Thus Jesus rose again as a Conquerour by his own power and this is our Triumph and Rejoycing For surely He that thus raised up himself can raise up us also and will indeed raise us up by the same power Phil 3 21. whereby he is able to subdue even all things unto himself Secondly Jesus rose again it implieth his Office Second Office he rose as a Jesus a Saviour the Mediator of our peace who having finished the work he came about namely to satisfie divine Justice and to bring in everlasting Rightcousness so making peace by the blood of his Cross God the Father sent a publique Officer from Heaven to open the Prison doores Math. 28.2 an Angel to rool away the stone from the mouth of the Sepulchre thereby proclaiming to all the world that the debt was paid and that God had received full satisfaction for the sins of the Elect saying as it were Deliver him for I have received a Ransom This is another ground of our Triumph that Jesus rose that is he rose as our Jesus our Saviour and so by dying hath
his own Power and Authority shall assemble all his Elect that ever have been upon the face of the Earth into one general Assembly 2. Yet doth not this exclude the Ministry of the Angels Christ may make use of them in the separation of the Elect from the Reprobate and this is expresly affirmed by our Lord Himself The Angels shall come forth Mat. 13.49 Or from the mid'st of the Just and sever the Wicked from the Just This same full and final separation of the precious from the vile the Sheep from the Goats the Seed of the Woman from the Seed of the Serpent it belongs to the Angels Office the Angels shall come forth and sever Christ doth it Authoritatively but the blessed Angels do it Ministerially Christ gives out the Commission He shall send his Angels but they shall execute the Commission Christ gives out the word Gather my Saints together unto me But the Angels those Ministring Spirits they go forth and gather 3. There is yet another Cause mentioned sc the Instrumental or signal Cause and that is the Alarm of a Trumpet He shall send his Angels with a great sound of a Trumpet It seemeth not improbable that the Congregation shall be called together by sound of Trumpet for though some both Antient and Modern do understand all that is said concerning the Trumpet sounding metaphorically yet doth the phrase of Scripture favour their opinion more who understand the speech of a literal sounding the Trumpet Schindler in his Lexicon and Schindler tells us that the Jews thought this to be one end of the feast of Trumpets to put them in mind of the last day in the which the dead shall rise with the noise of a Trumpet and be gathered together not otherwise than as when people do hear the sound of a Trumpet they assemble themselves together into some place And why may we not think that as the Trump is used in order to the Saints Resurrection so also there may be use made of it in order to their gathering together when they are raised May not this be suggested from Math. 24.31 though neither the Resurrection nor the Congregating of them together are effected properly by this sound it being not a Physical but a moral instrument only or signal 'T is not the sound of the Angels Joh. 5.28 but the voyce of Christ which the dead hear and live That voyce being the voyce not of a meer man but of God-man may well be allowed to have both quickning and congregating power in it Hence in some Churches it is sung Tuba mirum spargens sonum Per Sepulchra regionum Coget omnes ante Thronum The Trump of God diffusing sound Through all the Graves now under ground Shall cause the Dead Christ's Throne surround To this end it is observable in the Text 1. That in the Original it is not as in other places the sound of a Trumpet only but the Voyce of a Trumpet implying it to be a Vocal Trumpet giving out not only an audible but even an Articulate Voyce speaking in a Language which the Saints shall understand 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So in 4 Copies Bez. and therefore some Greek Copies as Beza observeth make the Voyce additional to the Trump sc with the Trumpet and a Voyce 2. It is observable It is not a Voyce only but a great Voyce a Voyce of some unusual terribleness and power a Voyce it seemeth that can do what it speaketh that when it saith Rise ye Dead they Rise and when it saith Come they Come it shall not only summon but bring them together before the Throne of Christ and this probably is the very same with this in the Context verse 16. The Voyce of the Arch-Angel and the Trump of God That Voyce which before raised the Dead shall now bring them together by a sweet compulsion into one Triumphant Assembly The Church of the first-born Heb. 12.23 Quomodo primâ—genitus esse potuit nisi quoniam sâ—cundum divinitatem ante emnem creaturam ex Deo pâ—â—â—e Sermo esset Tert de Trin. Use not Children only but Heirs Heirs of God and co-Heirs with Christ who being the First-born of every Creature hath invested all the Children of Promise into the same prerogative of Primogeniture with himself and are therefore stiled the Church of the first-born But as the Scripture would have us take notice of this Antecedent of the Saints Ascension so it doth teach us also how to improve it to A three-fold Comfort 1. In case of undue mixtures of Saints and Sinners whether in Church-Assemblies or in Civil-Societies How far either of them may be lawful is not an Enquiry proper for this place sure I am much in both is unavoidable A total separation from impure Society in either may well be the object of our wishes but it cannot be of our hope while we are in the world we may separate from Church to Church we may remove from Country to Country roll up and down from the one end of the world unto another But the Apostle tells us we must go one step further if we will avoyd the society of Sinners 1 Cor. 5.10 then must ye needs go out of the World Yea But here is the Comfort and it is the signal use our Lord makes of this very Doctrine The time is coming when a thorow separation shall be made Under that double parable of the Seed and the Net Math. 13. Ver. 26. In the one the Tares grow up with the Wheat Vers 47. In the other all kind of Fishes are gathered good and bad Concerning the former the Servants of the Housholder were offended at it it grieved them at the heart to see the Weeds growing yea and it may be over-growing the good Corn and so hindring the maturing of it They make their addresses to him for a present separation verse 27. and offer their faithful service for an utter radication of the Tares verse 28. verse 29. Wilt thou that we gather them up Nay saith the Lord a total extirpation of the Tares may do more hurt than ye are aware of Better it seems it is that some Tares should remain then the least grain of Wheat to perish The distinguishing-Time is at hand In the time of Harvest I will give order to the Reapers for a perfect separation All this our blessed Redeemer expounds for the comfort and encouragement of his offended Servants to be accomplished at the Resurrection So shall it be at the end of the world the Son of man shall send forth his Angels and they shall gather out of his Kingdom all things that offend and they that do iniquity As if he should say Be of good chear The time is coming when impure mixtures will no more be a temptation to the Saints of God for ever Saints and Sinners shall no more be burdensome one to another The Seed of the Serpent shall no more be an offence to the
cheeks with Tears asking solicitously of every one they met Saw ye not him whom my Soul loveth I say To meet him now on the Throne of his glory of whom could they have had but a glimpse in a glass darkly in the Evangelical Ordinances Can. 6.12 their Souls would have made them like the Chariots of Aminadab To see him whom having not seen they loved and in whom though they then saw him not yet believing they rejoyced with joy unspeakable and full of glory I say now to see him and so to see him as to have a full sight of his unveyled face shining more gloriously than ten thousand Suns at Noon-day Once more So to see him as never to lose the sight of him to all Eternity How will this transport their Souls with unspeakable extasies of joy which will cause them to break forth into Triumphant Hymns yea and to call to their now fellow Angels to help them with their Coelestial Hallelujahs Behold such and infinitely more than tongue can express or heart conceive will be the mutual joy triumph between Christ and his Saints at his blessed appearance Go forth in the mean time Use Oh ye Daughters of Sion and behold King Solomon with the Crown Cant. 3.11 wherewith his Father will Crown him in the day of his Marriage and in the day of the gladness of his heart Gird up the loyns of your minds 1 Pet. 1.13 be sober and hope to the end for the grace that is brought to you at the Revelation of Jesus Christ Ch. 4.13 that when his glory shall be revealed you may be glad with exceeding joy Thus I have done with the first thing considerable in this meeting The Persons meeting Christ and the Saints I come to the second The place of meeting and that is In the Air. We shall be caught up to meet the Lord in the Air That is the place where Christ stays for his Saints There they meet him and there this great Oecumenical Assize will be held The Judge shall sit upon the Throne and all the Saints shall be placed on bright Clouds as on seats or Scaffolds round about him The Wicked remaining below upon the Earth there to receive their final doom and sentence and from thence to be drag'd away by the Executioners of divine Vengeance Infernal Spirits to the place of Execution the bottomless-Pit yet standing and to the greater aggravation of their horror looking on If it be demanded Qu. Why this Solemn Meeting must be in the Air. Answ It may suffice for answer The Lord Jesus hath made choyce of this place It is the priviledg of earthly Judges in their Circuits to appoint the place where they will keep their Assizes or Sessions wherein if stat pro ratione volunt as their will is a sufficient reason surely it is not less the prerogative of this great Judg of the quick and the dead to appoint the place where he will hold this last and tremendous Judgment And we may well acquiesce in the choyce not only because his will is the soveraign Law of the Creature but as his insinite Wisdome hath judged it the place most convenient for the designe And yet if it be lawful to make our Conjectures where Scripture is silent we may humbly suppose this two-fold Account of it 1. The Capacity of the Place 2. The Conspicuity of the Judgment 1. The Capacity of the Place Vast For the Capacity of the Place and as to us insinite will be the numberless numbers of those that do meet in this universal Assembly Behold the Lord will come with ten thousands of his Saints Jude 14. Yea thousand thousands minister unto him and ten thousand times ten thousand stand before him All the Saints that slept in Jesus from the Creation of man and all the Saints which are found alive upon the Earth at Christs Coming must all appear before the Lord Josus And besides these the Judge cometh with his Royal Satellites his Officers of State Myriads and Legions of Angels All his holy Angels Math. 25.31 There shall not be an Angel as it were left in Heaven as it were Jacob met two Hosts or Camps of Angels of God in his Travel Gen. 32.12 Our Saviour mentions more then 12 Legions which as a commanded party Math. 26 53. would have been in an instant sent out for his rescue if there had been need What an infinit Army of Angels must it needs be then when all the Angels come in Christ's Train An innumerable company of Angels Heb. 12.22 And all these must not appear in confused heaps and multitudes but in their distinct ranks and order and the Saints are to sit in Order in their several degrees round about the Throne Why now the Place had need be of an huge extent and circumference that will suffice to receive and contain such variety of multitudes So that even in this respect no place so fit for this August and solemn Convention as the Air for its vast extensiveness and capacity But Secondly Much more in respect of Conspicuity that so the Judg and Judgment with all the Assessors and Attendants might be more eminently visible from Heaven above to the Earth beneath that the whole process of this general Assize may be heard and seen by all good and bad Elect and Reprobate Heaven and Hell Heaven would be too high the Earth would be too low the smoke of the bottomless pit would obscure this glorious vision The Air where is no interposition of Hills and Mountains and now serened and brightned by the confluence of so many glorious Suns will render this last tremendous Transaction visible and audible to every Creature Behold he cometh with Clouds Clouds which will not obscure him but bright Clouds which filled with the beams of his glory shall render him most visible and conspicuous Math. 24.30 Rev. 1.7 So it is Prophesied Every eye shall see him c. Thus it shall be and this will make for the exceeding Glory and Majesty of the Judg For thus it is even in humane Judicatories upon Earth the Tribunal of the Judg and Bench of Assessors is erected in open Court and lifted up on high in the sight of all the people that all may see and hear the whole judicial procedure of the Law with the posse Comitatus attending in Arms for the greater solemnity and honour of the Judge Upon the same accompt hath our Lord made choyce of the Air to keep his great Arsize in there to erect his Royal Throne and to place seats of Judgment for all the Saints to sit upon round about him all the holy Armies of Angels surrounding them This will make Christ very glorious in the eyes of all the Spectators Hence it is said He shall come in the glory of his Father and his own glory The Father sends the Son about this great Work of the last Judgment with as much pomp and glory as can
no more for ever yea the Lord Jesus nailed all their sins to his Cross Colos 2.14 Rom. 4.15 and buried them all in his Grave yea and crossed the debt-book with the red lines of his own blood If now he should call them to remembrance to charge the Saints with their sins he should undo what he had done he should cross the great design of his Cross Rom. 4.25 upon the matter deny himself to be risen again from the dead and disown his own hand and seal Upon this foundation stands the absolute impossibility that sin the least sin the least circumstance of sin should be so much as once mentioned by the Judg in the process of that judicial tryal unless it be in a way of Absolution and so sin shall be mentioned indeed The Saints Absolved of Sin in the day of Iudgment in what sence 1 In their own Conscience but in order to the magnifying of their Pardon and Absolution Their sins may then be said to be blotted out in a two-fold respect First Because the Saints shall then be fully and finally Absolved in their own Consciences It is true there be some of the Saints even in this life to whose Consciences the Spirit of God doth evidence and seal up Remission of sin who are not only safe but sure and possess not only the blessedness of a pardoned estate but the comfort and assurance of that blessedness nevertheless 1. Not all the Saints 2. Nor any at all times 3. Nor alwaies in the same degree as they have their lucida intervalla so they have also and more frequently their dark times their Eclipses as well as their Transfigurations and no wonder since the Sun of Righteousness himself suffered an Eclipse upon the Cross so dreadful as forced the great Master of Astrology in Egypt to cry out Either the God of Nature suffers Aut Dâ—us naturae patitur aut mit di machina dâ—ssolvituâ— or the whol frame of nature is dissolved and caused the Lord Jesus Himself to the just astonishment of Heaven and Earth to cry out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Is it any wonder then if many of the poor Saints of God with Paul and his Ship-wrack't Company see neither Sun-light nor Star-light for many days together and no small tempest doth often lye upon them Act. 27.20 so that all hope of being saved is taken away yea not a few precious deserted Hemans are there Psal 38.15 who from their youth up are afflicted and ready to dye and while they suffer the terrors of God are even distracted yea and that which is more tremendous their Sun as to any observation which Standers by could make though very rarely hath set in a Cloud I but now at this blessed day the Judg of the Quick and the Dead shall Absolve the Saints of God not only at the Tribunal of his own Justice but at the Tribunal of their Conscience He will proclame that Name in their Bosoms which he Proclamed before Moses The Lord the Lord God merciful and gracious long-suffering abundant in Goodness and Truth pardoning Iniquity Transgression and Sin c. And He will speak so audibly that every Saint shall hear the voyce and so particularly that every one shall know he speaketh to him and shall all eccho back again with joy and joynt acclamation Who is a God like unto thee Micah 7.18 pardoning Iniquity c Nor shall any reflexion either upon sin or sorrow ever damp that joy any more Though the Saints cannot plead Not-guilty in regard of fact yet they shall be acquit by the Sentence of Christ Not that they never sinned but that they are before the Judg as if they had never sinned Not in His Account only but even in their own Consciences and that will fully and finally resolve the Question which all the Ministers in the world while they lived on Earth could never resolve with all the Absolutions which ever they applied to their doubting Souls though it were even Clave non errante from the testimony of the Word This Proclamation shall do it and leave no room for doubting or misgiving thoughts for ever Secondly 2ly The Saints absolved in open Court The Saints are then said to receive their full and final Absolution because then their Absolution shall be Proclaimed in open Court the Judg in Person shall pronounce their Absolution in the Audience of God and all the Elect Angels and of the whole world of Men and Devils what Christ in the days of his flesh said to one poor trembling Penitent he will now say to all Sons and Daughters be of good cheer your sins are forgiven you This will be good Cheer indeed These be the times of refreshment from the presence of the Lord when the sins of the Saints shall be blotted out Acts 13.19 blotted they were before out of God's book but now they shall be blotted out in the sight of all the world so that now indeed Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods Elect since Heaven and Earth yea and Hell it self must be witnesses to the Crossing of the book and to the Cancelling of the Bond wherein they stood obliged to Divine Justice Oh what inexpressible inconceivable refreshment will this be to the Saints of God even the perfecting of all their former refreshments The sense of their pardon pronounced by the Spirit to some of their Consciences within was wont to be exceeding sweet yea any Scriptural hopes of purdoning mercy though apprehended by a weak and trembling hand of Faith were a reviving to their drooping Spirits What must needs then the highest plerophory ratified by the most solemn Proclamation of the great Judg before the upper and neather world as well as to Conscience be but life from the dead Surely it will be even Heaven before the Saints come to Heaven Nor shall any reflection either upon sin or sorrow ever damp that joy any more nor shall Willow-boughs mix with the Palms of the Saints Triumph in that blessed Jubile but everlasting joy shall be upon their Heads and sorrow and sighing shall flee away The Second Branch of the Saints Justification is that the Judg will pronounce them perfectly Righteous This may seem superfluous as supposed to be included in the sentence of Absolution Not to be a Sinner seemeth to imply a Saint To be pardoned all sin and all the degrees of sin and all kinds of sin omissive as well as commissive all defects of perfection all want of conformity to as well as transgression of the Law of God this seemeth to be perfection Answ It doth seem so and truly it doth but seem so for Pardon relates to what is past only Rom. 3.25 Remission of sins that are past it is but privativum quid a freedom from Guilt and a freedom from Punishment it doth not suppose any real and positive Righteousness which may set a man rectus in
one another and yet unseparable by reason whereof when but one of them is mentioned both of them are to be understood 6. If satisfaction be imputed Righteousness must be imputed also both being the peculiar and proper Office of the Mediator neither of them falling within the capacity of the Creature standing at the Bar of Divine Justice The third end of the Saints meeting with Christ in the Air â— Psal 116. 3d. End Consummation of the Saints Nuptials is The solemn Consummation of the Saints Nuptials with Christ their Bridegroom They were Contracted here on Earth when Christ and the Saints gained one another's consent Jesus Christ did then solemnly Espouse the Saints to himself Hos 2.19 20. I betrothed thee unto me for ever yea I betrothed thee unto me in Righteousness and in Judgment and in loving kindness and in Mercies I even betrothed thee unto me in faithfulness Indeed the Church in her self when Christ came to make Love to her was a very unlovely Creature whose emblem therefore is a poor wretched Infant in the Blood of its Nativity Ezek. 16.4.6 But Jesus Christ did first Love her with a Love of Pity Ezek. 16.6 I saw thee polluted in thine own Blood I saw thee that is I cast an Eye of Pity upon thee my bowels yearned towards thee And then as Love-less as she was that he might have a Legal right to her Eph 5.25 he Purchased her of his Father He Purchased her at a dear rate for He gave himself for her first He gave himself for her and then He gave himself to her They were wont to buy their Wives of the Father of the Damosel but never did Husband buy a Wife at such a Rate as the Lord Jesus did the Church Shechem bid fairly for Dinah Gen. 34.12 Jacobs Daughter Ask me never so much dowry and gift and I will give according as ye shall say unto me Jacob served seven years for Rachel as it fell out twice over c. yea but the Lord Jesus gave himself for his Church he purchased her with his own blood Act. 20 2â— Thirdly That he might love her with a love of Complacency he doth sanctifie her Eph. 5.27 and cleanse her by the washing of water by the word As he doth purchase the Church with his blood so he doth purifie the Church by his Spirit compared to water for the cleansing vertue thereof in the Ministry of the word as Ahashuerus had the Virgins first purified and perfumed before he took them into his bed Fourthly He woeth her by the Ministers of the Gospel who love their Lord and poor Souls so well that they will take no denial at her hand as Eleazer Isack's Steward Gen. 24.33 would not eat before he had sped for Rebeccah to Wife for his Master's Son 2 Cor. 11.2 And when they have gained her consent then they present her as a chast Virgin unto Christ Fifthly Christ and his Church upon their mutual interview like one another so well that they mutually engage and contract themselves one to another Cant. 2.16 they do mutually give away themselves one for and one to another My Beloved is mine and I am His. Sixthly Christ doth nourish her and cherish her until she be of age fit for his Marriage-Bed Seventhly And then He cometh for her and meets her by the way as Isaack met Rebeccah sc in the Air as here in the Context Lastly Consummation of the Marriage Then and there he Consummates the Marriage before God and Angels and Men and Devils he doth take her to himself as his Royal Queen saying Come my Love my Dove my Vndefiled one He embraceth her and kisseth her with a Marriage kiss and takes her to Wife The Marriage knot is knit Heaven and Earth are witnesses to it thousand thousands yea ten thousand times ten thousand even a great multitude whose voyce is as many waters and as the voyce of mighty thunderings This was the Wedding unto which John was invited Rev. 21.9 Come hither I will shew thee the Bride the Lamb's Wife He that had the Bride was the Bridegroom the Lord Jesus King of Kings c. but John the Friend of the Bridegroom Jo. 3 29. stood and rejoyced greatly to hear the Bridegrooms Voyce then indeed was his joy fulfilled At the Consummation of this Marriage what inconceivable Triumph and Rejoycing will there be the loud Musick of Heaven shall sound the voyce of mighty thundrings all the Angels Cherubims Seraphims with all the Blessed Quoire of Celestial Spirits who attend this glorious King of Saints shall praise God with the still Musick of their Hallelujahs yea all the Saints of God whether Patriarchs or Prophets and Apostles all the Martyrs and Confessors of Jesus Christ with the whole number of the Redeemed who are both Guests and Bride in this glorious solemnity will make the Arches of Heaven to Eccho when they shall be joyful in glory and the high praises of God shall be in their mouths Rev. 19.7 singing one to another Let us rejoyce and be glad for the Marriage of the Lamb is come and his Wife hath made her self ready The Gates of Hell and the very foundations of the Kingdom of darkness shall tremble and be confounded at the report of this Triumphant Jubilâ—e This Nuptâ—ll solemnity finished Fourth end of Saints meeting Christ To sit as Assessors with him Psal 45.9 the next and fourth act in that solemn meeting will be that the Bridegroom will take the Queen his Bride and set her upon his Throne at his right hand as King Agrippa did Bernice Act. 25.27 as a Confessor with himself in the following part of the Judgment which He as Judg shall pass upon the Reprobate world of men and Devils who have all this while stood trembling below upon the Earth beholding to their infinite shame and horror all this glory put upon the Saints and fearfully looking for their own Judgment and that fiery indignation which shall devour the Adversaries which now succeeds For the Elect Angels who are appointed to be the Satellites or Posse comitatus to attend the Judg shall now drag that miserable company of Jale-birds those reprobate Caitifs of infernal Spirits The judgment of the wicked and wicked Men before the Tribunal of the great Judg there they shall pass under a most impartial exact and severe Tryal Mal. 3.16 the books shall be opened the book of Gods Remembrance and the book of their own Consciences and out of them they shall be judged for all the evils which ever they committed from the time they first had a being in the world The Reprobate Angels shall then be judged for their first Apostacy Ad solomen calamitatis suae non desinunt perditi perdere Min. Fel. Oct. and for all their malice and revenge which since that cursed defection they ever acted against God and against his Saints yea and against the
the glorified estate Rev. 7.14 21.4 God shall wipe all tears from their eyes Secondly We answer that there shall be such a perfect conformity of will between God and the Saints that there will be no dissent in the least It shall not be then as it is now to the no little imbittering of their present estate first by sin and then by grief for sin but what pleaseth God shall abundantly please them This the Saints pray for here but there shall they be fully possessed of it here it is their duty but there it shall be their reward the Saints in glory would have nothing otherwise than God would have it so that now to the full and perpetual silencing of this Objection I answer That the glory of God shall so perfectly swallow up all private personal considerations that I am confident it is no breach of charity to say that the believing Husband shall rejoyce in the damnation of the unbelieving Wife the holy Parent in the damnation of the stubborn and ungodly Child Et sic in caet Gods Will is the Law and his Glory the triumph of the Heavenly Inhabitants Oh let Parents and Ministers and Governours and Tutors and Yoke-fellows Brethren Friends c. be but as good now as Dives was in hell I mean let them be but in as good carnest here as he was there that their Relations may never come into that place of torment and if they do wilfully cast themselves headlong into that irrecoverable Gulf it will be no grief of heart to them when they come to Heaven But even as God himself they being then swallowed up in God they will even laugh at their calamity and mock when they see their condemnation This shall suffice to have spoken of the second Vision in Glory A third Vision which the Saints shall have in Heaven is that of the elect Angels Gregor do Valent. in Thom. Aquin gives many reasons of that multitude of Angels asserted by Tho. Aquin. and ads Certum est in hac multitudins Angelorum nt mero differentium jus esse Hierarchlas quarum quaelibet contineat tres ordines ita in universum esse novem ordines Angelorum neâ—pe Seraphin Cherubin Thronos in primo Dominationâ—s Virtutes Potestates in secunda Principatus Archangelos Angelos in tertio Gregor tom 1. pa. 10â—6 1027. Certum est saith he de fide in his ipsis ordinibus alios Angelos esse afficio dignitate superiores alios inferiores The Platonists assert as many Angels as there are Species or sensible Creatures Aristotle makes as many Angels as Orbs. R. Moses affirms all the powers and operations of superiour and inferiour things to he so many Angels Tho. Aquinas confidently asserts the number of the Angels incomparably to eâ—ceed the number of material Substances Maniminus Arrianus saith there are ninety nine times more than the number of men in the world they shall see those glorious ministring Spirits those flames of fire the Angels of God by what names or titles soever they are dignified or distinguished in their Hierarchical orders if there be any which because it is a dispute of greater fancy than Scripture evidence and hath filled the world with more empty speculation than substantial knowledge I shall wholly wave it Heaven will be the place only where we shall exactly know their nature number order distictions if any and not so only but have sweet and heavenly converse and communion with them About the way and manner of the Saints knowing and conversing with the Angels is a query of some difference amongst the Learned Some are of opinion that the Angels shall assume aerial bodies to entertain the eyes of the Saints withall and to bring them into a nearer capacity of conversing with them Some è contra conceive that the bodily eyes of the glorified Saints shall be spiritualized and angelified that they shall be able to see the very essence of the Angels as not being so remote from materiality as the Divine Essence Others tell us of a vehiculum Caro Angelificata Text. dâ— Resur or a visible glory as the rayes about the Sun wherein the Angels do move and whereby they are discerned and distinguished from one another But all these are but so many uncertain Comments of mens brains As for that Opinion which makes them knowable only by their operations The Sadduces vigour and activity it is too narrow for so they are known unto us even in this life The immediate and continual converse which the Saints shall have with them in Heaven doth necessarily infer an higher way and manner of knowing them The seeing of them by the glorified eye of the understanding is the clearest and surest way we can pitch upon on this side the place of their constant Residency So they know one another and so they know the Saints and so for the Saints to see and know them is not inconsistent with the analogy of Scripture and Reason In what way and manner this mutual converse and communion betwixt the Saints and Angels in glory shall be managed is not determinable by us poor mortals until this mortal shall put on immortality how they communicate their minds and thoughts one to another is yet dark to us Concerning the Angels converse amongst themselves the Schools speak very rationally when they say it is by the opening of their wills one to another when ever they would communicate their minds and notions and meanings one to another it is done when they would be understood by one another they are understood And the same way they converse with one another it is most probable they converse with the Saints and the Saints with them the Saints may more rationally be conceived to communicate their thoughts to the Angels by opening their minds than by opening their mouths partly because the Angels have no corporeal organs to receive what the Saints express by their corporeal instruments of speech and partly because the superiour part of the Saints their glorified souls being of so spiritual and cognate a nature to the Angels that way of communication which is most agreeable to divine Spirits we may well conceive to be common to those heavenly Inhabitants Whatever the way or manner be this we may be sure of sc that the communion and converse with the Angels in Heaven will be no small augmentation of their happiness and of their joy if we consider their Angelical perfections especially those two of Knowledge and Zeal therefore called in Scripture flaming fire flames for brighiness of illumination and fire for the ardency of their love and zeal Oh what rare notions and experiences will the Angels be able to communicate to the Saints in Heaven having ministred about the Throne of God from the foundation of the world and been sent forth continually to manage the great affairs of the world but especially of the Churches The Apostle tells us they are beholden to the *
Pet. 1.19 He bought the Inheritance for them and them for the Inheritance at the same price This is the first thing implyed in Fruition Propriety without which the vision were no way beatifical for how can that make me happy which I have no title to or interest in Tolle meum tolle Deum Take away mine and ye take away Heaven yea take away mine and ye take away God good is no farther good to me than as it is mine and as I may warrantably claim my right to it and interest in it A second Property of Fruition is Possession 2. Ingredient Possession the Saints have not only propriety in Heaven but Possession of Heaven when their dearest and sweetest Lord left the world and ascended to his Father they took possession of Heaven in him as in their great Representative and Head Joh. 14.2 But when they ascended to him now they take possession of it in their own persons They had livery and seasin given them by the Father upon the consummation of their marriage with his dear Son Jesus Christ their Royal Bridegroom And it was done in the presence of the eternal Spirit the publick Notary of Heaven 1 John 5.8 All the holy Angels standing by as so many Witnesses so that God himself could not make Heaven surer to them than he hath made it While the Saints were upon earth Heaven was theirs but it was only in reversion and they counted themselves blessed in that Matth. 5.3 But now reversion is turned into possession the Saints hold nothing in Heaven by reversion that title ceaseth there All the Beatitudes in Heaven are present possession God and Christ and the Holy Ghost Angels and Saints and all the glory of the upper world are so many possessions the Saints are possest of God and possest of Christ and possessed of the Holy Ghost and possest of glory as on the contrary the damned in hell are possest of the Devil they are possest of hell and of utter darkness and of the worm that shall never dye c. Oh dreadful possession Hope was once their tenure Titus 1.2 Rom. 5.1 In hope of eternal life which God that cannot lye c. And they rejoyced in it Ye rejoyce in the hope of the glory of God and they blessed God for it Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus which hath begotten us again unto a lively hope c. of which hope faith was the substance and basis Heb. 11.1 and even this hope was very precious unto them a little heaven upon earth save that now and then some clouds of fear and doubts did interpose between heaven and their dim eye and so eclipsed their vision But faith and hope did set them down at the gate of heaven and then with Moses died in the mount and took leave of them for ever And if faith was so precious to them then what is sight now If hope made their hearts not seldom leap for joy how doth possession now fill them with joy unspeakable and glorious 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 above all hyperbolye of expression Object If any should be so critical as to object In heaven the Saints live in the hope and faith of the continuance of heaven We make use of the Apostles Maxime for Answer Hope seen is not hope Rom. 8.24 All the glory of heaven is seen and all is present there is no futurity in heaven heaven iâ— but one point of eternity 1 Cor 13. last the Saints have all beatitudes and all at once in God now abideth indeed faith and hope but then possession Mat. 18.1 They shall sit down with Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven The Kingdom of Heaven is theirs and they shall sit by it All the precious priviledges of the Gospel which cost Christ so dear are now perfected into full possession Adoption is now perfect now they are the Sons of God and they know what it is to be the Sons of God Justification is now compleat Sanctification is now at perfect age In a word all their hopes are now their inheritance This is fruition A third Ingredient of which Fruition doth consist 3. Property Intimacy is Intimacy Propriety and Possession are not sufficient to constitute fruition Mutual converse will not serve the turn without intimate communion Communion not with one anothers persons only but with one anothers spirits this is fruition when friends are possest of one anothers heart and one anothers spirits In Heaven there is not mutual cohabitation only but mutual inhabitation 1 John 4.16 This is the great beatitude of heaven even vital vision with all the beatifying objects thereof mutual in dwelling and mutual in being God dwells in the Saints and the Saints dwell in God It was so here God is Love He that dwells in love dwelleth in God and God in him The Saints love to God is now made perfect without a figure and as their love is so is their mutual in being perfect I in them John 17.23 and they in me that they may be made perfect in one Perfect according to the supreme Exemplar verse 21 As thou Father art in me and I in thee that they also may he one in us This also had its imitation on earth it hath now its consummation in heaven the Saints can be no nearer God than they are Essential union is the sole prerogative of the glorious Trinity They dwell also in Christ I in them and they in me Eternity is their wedding day Heaven their bride-chamber their bed of love is the heart of Christ and it is alwayes green alwayes fresh and alwayes flourishing with interchangeable loves There the Saints see the place where they were conceived from all eternity and read the very original thoughts wherewith their Redeemer and Bridegroom loved them when as yet they were not formed in their Mothers belly and their Epithalamium or Nuptial song is I am my Beloveds and my Beloved is mine Cant. 2 1â— they began this Song in the day of their espousals and continue it in their everlasting wedding-day which they celebrate in mutual embraces and festivities joying in one another and glorying in one another delighting themselves in mutual appropriations and appreciations mutually contemplating and commending one anothers beauties and perfections Behold thou art fair my Love behold thou art fair and there is no spot in thee The Angels and Saints in light behold they dwell not with one another only but in one another they inhabit as it were in one anothers hearts That primative Congregation Acts 4. was a lively type of this Royal Congregation of the first-born Acts 2.1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Crederes unam aniâ—am in omnibus â—esse divisam Chap. 4.32 They are all with one accord in one place so these one place holds them all and one soul animateth and acts them all The whole multitude of Saints in heaven are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
that shall be revealed at the appearance of the Lord Jesus they cannot take up with such miserable comforts as men usually dye with And it must needs be an addition to the torments of hell to leave godly Relations mourning under the dreadful apprehensions of a Relation miscarrying to all eternity And to be regardless of our friends anxiety of spirit even in this respect is somewhat less charity than they have in hell Dives in hell was sollicitous to prevent his brethrens coming thither Graceless Relations dying with the marks of their unregeneracy upon them do even scorch the hearts of their gracious surviving friends with the sence of those flames which they suffer So it will be to them while they are yet in the body Woodcock his Sermon of Heaven p. 657. though at the Resurrection as one saith it shall be no more allay to their joy than if they saw so many fishes caught in a net Impartially therefore and accurately examine your own estates make your Consciences faithfully to answer this Question Can I give my self or friends comfort in this present state should I dye this very moment If Conscience assisted with Scripture light say no this is a lost estate this is a damnable condition I am now in oh poor wretch how highly doth it concern thee this very hour to look about thee for thou knowest not how near thou art to the last point and period of thine appointed time Vide Morning Exercise Giles in the Fields 1659. It is a vain thing for thee to comfort thy self without some Scripture grounds of interest in Christ who is the resurrection and the life Paul sends Tychichus to comfort the Colossians but he must know their state first Colos 4.8 That he may know their state and comfort their heart We have a generation that comfort others without knowing their spiritual estate which is to clap on a plaister without searching the wound a way to lead men to hell hoodwinkt the spiritual estate must be known before comfort can be well applied Examine therefore and suffer others to examine and search how it is with your souls in relation to Christ and Grace what knowledge what repentance what faith what mortification what contempt of the world what love to Christ what thoughts of the world to come If these things be in you and abound then comfort your hearts For so an entrance shall be ministred unto you abundantly into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ In the tenth and last place 10. Branch of Information Hence we are informed how much it concerns every man and woman that would comfortably observe this blessed Command of administring comfort to himself or others who are in tribulation I say how much it concerns them to search the Scriptures O study the Scriptures that Magazine and Store-house of all divine comfort especially in the reading of Scriptures to make a Collection of the Promises which are the nests and boxes of Christs Cordials and Antidotes against the fainting Fits to which Believers themselves are subjects there are the soul-refreshing water-brooks the wells of salvation ever sending forth streams of consolation to make glad the City of God Here is Christs Wine celler and Banquetting-house Cant. 2.4 to which he doth invite his disconsolate Spouse and where he doth revive her fainting soul according to her longing desire Stay me with apples and comfort me with flaggons for I am sick of love What though the Scripture and the Promises do abound with consolation if we be ignorant and unacquainted with the variety nature and use of these heavenly Ingredients they signifie no more to us than for a man to be in an Apothecaries shop fraught with the richest Drugs but he knows not the boxes where they are laid nor the vertue of them he and his friends may dye in a Fit and miscarry in the midst of all those Preservatives or if he venture on them he may peradventure take poyson instead of Cordials Wherefore study the Promises and in studying of them be careful to refer them to their distinct heads Make your selves Catalogues of Promises that refer to several soul distresses and exigencies and do as Apothecaries Collect the Promises of Scripture into distinct heads write their titles over their Heads Promises for pardon Promises for power against corruption Promises for comfort prison Promises sick-bed Promises Promises relating to the loss of gracious Relations c. I say be careful skilfully to sort your Promises that you may know whither to go when you repair to the Scriptures and may not administer mistaken Ingredients Corasives instead of Cordials as Job's friends did nor Cordials instead of Corasives as the generality of ignorant Christians do 2. Study the great art of officing the Promises labour to know to which of the Offices of Christ every Promise doth relate which to his Kingly Office as the Promises of grace and increase of grace and power against temptation the conquering of death and the fear of death which belong to his Prophetical office as promises of knowing God and Christ and the Spirit promises of being taught of God inward powerful experimental knowledge what Promises belong to his Sacerdotal office as promises of reconciliation to God peace with God acceptance of person and performances peace of Conscience joy in the Holy Ghost comfort in the loss of sweetest Relations and this will be of great use to inable you in prayer to plead the Promises and to put them in suit in the proper office a great honour to Christ and a mighty help and incouragement to faith 3 Pray for the Spirit whose Office is to make good the Promises to the Children of Promise and upon that very account called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Comforter The Promises are never comfort until the Spirit apply them to the Conscience and then they are Cordials indeed whether to our selves or others then they are full of life and power and can with one taste comfort more than all the Arguments of Philosophy in the world And verily Christians as all the Cordials in Scripture are no Cordials until they are applyed to the Conscience by a powerful hand and breathed into the soul by the warm vital animation of the Spirit of God to know it your selves are Physicians of no value in this great work of comforting one another until ye learn to joyn the words of prayer with the words of comfort until by prayer you call in the presence and power of the Comforter who only is able to make these words to be so many real consolations Amen Soli Deo Gloria FINIS A TABLE Of the principal things contained in this TREATISE The first Figure notes the Part The second the Page A A Basement of Christ 3.20 Christ his abasement and exaltation compared together 3.21 Absolution the Saints shall be absolved in the last day from all guilt and punishment 2.134 And in what sense 2.136
the wicked 2.73 Of great comfort to the godly 2.75 Judgment-day whether the Saints that are then alive must die literally or analogically only 2.65 Why concealed 2.68 Whether Christ will sit upon a visible throne 2.70 Christ will appear in the same humane nature which he assumed of the Virgin and why 2.71 Christ will appear personally for three reasons 1 The judgment must be personal 2.70 2 A recompence to his abasement 2.71 3 To perfect his mediatory office 2.72 Justification the Saints shall be fully and finally justified at the last day which consists 1 In their publick absolution 2.133 2 In the Judge his pronouncing them perfectly righteous 2.138 God justifieth a sinner in that way wherein he may justifie himself 2.141 It is not by any intrinsick merit in faith but extrinsick object that faith layeth hold on 2.148 It is variously denominated according to its causes 2.153 Legal and evangelical what it is 2.154 Law and Gospel reconciled in the mystery of justification 2.153 K Kindness all kindnesses done to Christ or his members will be owned at the day of judgment 2.129 Knowledge whether the Saints shall know one another with a distinguishing knowledge in heaven affirm 3.8 Knowledge of one another in heaven a great motive to converse one with another on earth 3.11 Whether the knowledge of our elect relations in heaven do not infer a distinct knowledge of our relations in hell and whether that may not be terrible Neg. 3.13 How many wayes we shall have knowledge of God set forth by several steps 3.31 L Law pardon is not the qualification that the Law requireth but perfection 2.139 That which God at first wrote in mans heart and afterwards in two tables of stone was a law of a most holy and absolute perfection 2.143 The law the image of Gods nature and will 2.143 It was given to be 1 A rule and pattern of an holy life 2.144 2 A condition of eternal life ibid. It is of perpetual necessity 2.144 It is not to be dispenced withall 2.144 Christ did not bring in another law but another medium to fulfil the former 2.144 Christ as Mediator was born under the law 2.145 Christ his fulfilling the law was performed in and by the humane nature 2.149 Law and Gospel reconciled in the great mystery of justification 2.153 Likeness we shall be like God in 1 Our understanding 3.78 2 Our will 3.80 3 Our affections 3.80 4 Our memories 5 the whole image 1 The soul 3.81 2 the body 3.82 Loss fear of loosing of heaven would make it worse than hell 3.96 Love of God a great assurance of the eternity of heaven 3.94 A superlative love to Christ an evidence of heaven 3.120 M Marriage of the Lamb consummated at the last day and the solemnity of it 2.162 Marriage its happiness consists in suitableness 3.67 Maityrdom like Elijah 's Charriot 3.139 Means God not tyed to them 3.48 Memory the Saints shall be like God in their memories 3.80 Of the Saints shall be like the ark of the covenant 3.80 Mercy the mercy of God an assurance of heavens eternity 3.92 Ministers must preach nothing but what is warranted by the word 2.67 They may preach with success and yet be cast out 2.171 They must see that the comforts they administer be Gods comforts 3.154 Miscarriage of the image of God in Adam not of improvidence but ordination 3.80 Mistake no mistake of one anothers condition in heaven 3.7 Mixture of Saints and sinners will be here 2.116 Mortification exercise the duties of it 3 130 Motives to assurance 3.111 Mourners are to open their ears and hearts to words of comfort 3.156 Mystery divers mysteries mentioned namely 1 Of the Trinity 2 Of the Incarnation 3 Of Election and Reprobation 4 Of the Creation of the World 5 Of the Resurrection 6 Of all the Arcana Naturae 3.51 We must not pry too much into them 3.55 N Nature the fulfilling of the Law was performed in and by the humane nature 2.149 Negatives cannot fill a dying man with comfort 3.160 O Omnipotence all things are alike to it 2.100 It supports the Saints under their happiness as well as the wicked under their misery 3.90 92 It is omnipotence in God that he cannot sin 3 90 Ordinances a dangerous notion of being above them 3.48 In what sense it is good to live above them ibid. Not to rest in or contented with them 3.49 P Pardon pardon of sin is the privative part of justification 2.133 How sins past present and to come are pardoned in conversion and how not 2.134 Sin fully pardoned at death ibid. It makes sin as if it had never been 2.135 It is not sufficient to capacitate the Saints for glory 2.139 It looks backward Righteousness forward 2.142 It is not the qualification which the Law requireth but perfection 2 139 If God should only pardon and not justifie it would seem to reflect upon 1 Gods Wisdom 2 142 2 Gods â—ll-sufficiency ibid. 3 Gods Veracity and Justice ibid. It maketh not a man righteous 2.148 No pardon at the Judgment-seat 2.169 Perseverance stands not in the nature of grace 1.39 It stands not in the liberty or rectitude of the will though regenerate 1.39 It stands upon 1 Divine compact 140 2 Vnion with Christ ibid. Pleasure sensitive pleasures have only their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 3 108 Praâ—se Saints shall be praised for their graces at the last day though wrought in them c. 2.132 Prayer get the faithful to pray for thee and pray for thy self 3.131 Words of prayer are to be joyned with words of comfort 3.165 Presence the Saints shall ever be in the presence of Christ 3.2 Precepts in one place are promises in another 3.112 Pride there is much of pride in refusing comfort 3.157 Promises ought to be studied 3.163 Learn to which of Christs Offices each promise relateth 3.164 Promises in one place are precepts in another 3.112 Refer them to their distinct heads 3.163 They then bring comfort when they are applied by the Spirit 3.164 Propriety to enjoy heaven and to know I do enjoy it is the happiness of happiness 3.71 Punishment shall not be mitigated at the judgment 2.170 Purchase and election are both perfected by the sanctification of the Spirit 2.123 R Recompence Christ his speaking honourably of the Saints in the last day will abundantly recompence the reproaches they have here 2.133 Reconciliation God is first in reconciliation though sinners first in the transgression 2.169 Redeemer he undertook two great works for the redeemed 1. One to make satisfaction for sin 2. The other to yield absolute conformity to the Law of God 2.140 Regeneration Conformity of the Saints to Christ in the Resurrection hath its beginning in it 2.101 111 Relations ours not alone in their death 1.9 When dead they are not lost but sowen 1.19 Though they cease in heaven yet the remembrance of them ceaseth not 3.12 Remembrance the book of Gods remembrance and book of conscience
will agree exactly 2.167 Reproach Reproaches for Christ better than all the applause of the world 3.83 Reprobate the future estate of the reprobate set forth by eternity 3.89 Resurrection three things interest a believer in the triumph of Christ's resurrection 1 Power 1.12 2 Office 1.13 3 Right 1. ibid. Christ arose by his own strength 1.12 As a publick head 1.13 On which account 1 The Saints are said to be risen already 1.14 2 They are assured they shall arise 1.15 Resurrection of Christ why called his youth 1.16 An inseparable connexion between the resurrection of Christ and of the Saints 1 Of merit 1.15 2 Of power and influence 1.16 3 Of design 1.17 4 Of union ibid. Christ is risen as our first fruits 1.19 Resurrection of the Saints stands upon a surer foundation than our faith 1.20 How Christ shall bring the Saints with him at the resurrection 1 Their souls from heaven 1.47 2 Their bodies from the grave and how 1.47 3 Body and soul he shall take up into the clouds and why 1.48 49 4 He shall carry them back with him into heaven 1.50 It shall put believers that are dead into as good a capacity as those that are alive 2.64 Saints that shall then be found alive will be no otherwise capable of it than under the notion of the dead 2.65 The manner of it 2.86 The admirable properties of it 1 Incorruptible 2.89 2 Glorious 2.90 3 Powerful 2.93 4 Spiritual 2.94 Saints shall rise with the same bodies they lye down with 2.87 The body will depend wholly upon the soul 2.95 Our bodies at the resurrection shall he moved by an extrinsic power but shall move themselves by an intrinsic principle 2.107 Why called the Regeneration 2.101 Three consequents of the resurrection 1 The resurrection of the Saints that are dead 2.86 2 The Saints triumphant ascension 2.104 3 The Saints joyful meeting 1 One with another 2.112 2 All with Christ where 1 The persons meeting 2.120 2 The place where 2.124 3 The ends of their meeting 2.126 Christ will welcome the Saints at the resurrection under a threefold relation 1 As the Fathers election 2.121 2 As the purchase of his blood ibid. 3 As the depositum of the Holy Ghost 2.122 Reward is an encouragement to good works e contra 3.91 Riches have wings 3.105 Righteous to be righteous and not guilty are two different capacities 2.139 Righteousness a positive righteousness is required to the justification of a sinner as well as absolution from guilt and punishment which appears on the account 1 Of the justice of God 2.141 2. Of the perfection of the Law 2.143 3 Of the necessity of the sinner 2.154 4 Of the excellency of the Redeemen 2.157 It looks forward pardon backward 2.142 Righteousness imputed to the Saints the first moment of their conversion 2.160 The mediatory righteousness of Christ comes to be a believers as the first Adam 's disobedience came to be his posterities viz. by imputation 2.146 Imputed righteousness the same materially which the Law requireth 2.149 T Sacrament attend often upon the Sacrament of the Lords Supper 3.132 Saints the dignity of them 1.41 They that are alive at Christ his coming shall have no advantage above those that are dead 2.58 They that are dead shall be first remembred at the resurrection 2.60 Those that are alive will be no otherwise capable of the resurrection than under the notion of the dead 2.65 They shall be solemnly espoused to Christ 2.162 They shall be assessors with him at the judgment 2.164 Scripture inference is Scripture 2.67 It concerns us to search the Scriptures 3.163 In reading Scripture make a collection of the Promises 3.163 Secret whatever kindness was shewed to God in secret shall be openly rewarded 2.130 Self-denyal exercise it 3.130 Separation a perfect separation from the society of sinners at the last day 2.117 Sin why sometimes punished here sometimes not 2.78 The Saints sins not remembred at the last day 2.130 And why 2.134 This is no encouragement to sin 2.131 It is fully pardoned at death 2.134 They will appear as they are at the day of judgment 2.168 A vain thing to call any sin small 2.168 The smallest is dangerous 3.128 It sets us at a great distance from heaven 3.41 An universal hatred of it an evidence of heaven 3.120 It is the Devils image 3.120 Sinner the condition of a sinner doth necessarily require an imputed righteousness 1 To settle solid peace in the conscience 2.154 2 To secure his appearance in the day of judgment 2.157 Sinners are mixed with Saints here contra 2.116 They will dread the society of the godly at the last day as much as formerly they hated it 2.117 They were first in transgression but God first in reconciliation 2.169 Sleep Death but a sleep 1.2 Death resembled to sleep in two respects 1.3 Socinians deceived in saying we shall not have real but aerial bodies at the resurrection 2.96 Sorrow there is a sorrow for departed friends which God condemns not 3.144 Souls all of one size 2.94 Not everlasting a parte ante and why 3.86 Spirit the Spirit of Christ the fountain of efficacy but the blood of Christ the fountain of merit 2.122 Spirit of God hath a twofold office about attaining assurance 3.123 Be tender of it 3.127 None but friends can properly be said to grieve the Spirit 3.128 Sufferings of the Saints will be owned at the resurrection 2.129 T Tears of the Saints are bottled 2.128 Terror it will be horrible terror to the wicked to see the Saints sit in judgment with Christ 2.164 Time no farther time will be granted at the great Assize 2.171 Transgression Sinners were first in transgression but God first in reconciliation 2.169 Translate no translating of sin upon others at the great day 2.168 Tribunal there will be no appeal from the great Tribunal 2.169 Trinity the external works of it are undivided 1.46 The order of their work 1.46 Trumpet one end of the Feast of Trumpets might be to put them in mind of the last day 2.114 Last Trump will not be only audible but articulate 2.115 V Vision six things shall be the object of the Saints Vision 1 The seat of blessed souls 3.3 2 The glorified Saints 3.4 3 The elect Angels 3.15 4 The glorified body of Christ 3.26 5 God in the divine Essence 3.18 6 All things in God 3.42 Of glorified Saints will be wonderful glorious 3.4 We shall not have an intuitive Vision of the divine Essence 3.27 How far we shall have a Vision of the divine Essence 3.30 Of God in Scriture is twofold 1 In Grace 3.40 2 In Glory ibid. How these agree and how they differ 3.46 Unbelief the spring of all our misery 1.21 Understanding the glorified understanding shall have a sixfold perfection 1 Spirituality 3.36 2 Clarity 3.37 3 Capacity 3.38 4. Sanctity ibid. 5 Strength 3.39 6 Fixedness ibid. Our understandings will be like unto God in heaven 3.78 Union