we may expect Salvation Isa 4.2 And is it not so far a decent Worship to adore such a God by the Mediation of such a Jesus to Pray to God in the Name of Christ to be usher'd into the Audience of the Father by the Intercession of his only Son to have access into the Court of Heaven in the Name of the Son of God who hath loved us and given himself for us Hag. 2.7 The Desire of all Nations 3. The Ministers by the Instrumentality of whom c. I mean not those Pseudoes that run before they are sent those lying Spirits that under pretence of Teaching deceive the People but those Ministers of the Gospel which Preach the Word faithfully and divide it skilfully and administer all the Sacred and Sacramental Ordinances impartially without addition or diminution that Preach with zeal and Pray with fervour and live well and study to approve themselves honest Pastors that need not be ashamed they that endeavour to reduce the straying sheep to warn the unruly to rebuke the gain-sayer to comfort the weak commending themselves to the Consciences of their Hearers in the sight of God and these I say if we have any such amongst us as no doubt but we have tho' I wish their number were greater are Men of a welcome Presence of beautiful Feet of pleasant Countenances Isa 52.7 The very Office it self is an Ornament thoh ' the Church never wanted those Adversaries that in despite to the Light threw Stones at the Lanthorn The Minister is a Terrestrial Angel they should be so and good Ministers are so To the Angel of the Church c. Rev. 2.1 of Ephesus Sardis c. they are Starrs and shining Lights in the dark World and Starrs ye know enamel the Hemispheres They are the Servants of the living God which shew to us the way to everlasting Salvation I would not say these things to puff the Clergy up with Pride and Vain-glory but I would have the People know those Men that are set over them and admonish them and give double Honour to them that labour faithfully in Word and Doctrine and acknowledge the beauty of their feet which run to them upon these Evangelical Errands and pay a due and humble deference to that Sacred Function and account them more than the Horse-men of Israel and the Chariots thereof 4. The Place where Whether it be a ' Tabernacle or a Temple or other place consign'd to the Holy Service not that we attribute any inherent Holiness to such places now especially under the Gospel but what depends meerly upon the relation it bears to the Work and Employment 't is devoted to and upon this score the Place ought to be dear to us and appear amiable in our Eyes and we should be so in love with the Place for the Works sake as to say of it as the Patriarch of Bethel How dreadful is this place this is none other than the House of God! and lo here the Angels of Heaven ascending and descending as it were upon a Ladder or as the Prophet David Psal 84.1 c. How amiable are thy Tabernacles O Lord of Hosts 't is the perfection of Beauty shinning with the light of the Divine Countenance Psal 50.2 't is that Zion which the Lord hath chosen and desired for his habitation saying this is my rest for ever here will I dwell here will I treat my Spouse the Church with the sweetest Wines the fattest Delicates the choicest Ordinances in the World Manna from Heaven Angels Food the Waters of Life Nectar and Ambrosia Nourishment for Souls to fit them for Eternity Forgive me Sirs if I speak with some spice of Fondness and Admiration all the World besides is common ground compared to this Sacred Appartment and all our Employment besides in comparison of this is nauseous and impertinent here 's the Vineyard of red Wine that the Lord himself doth keep Isa 25.6 better far than all the Taverns than all the Theaters than all the Elysian Camps of the wide Universe Glad then may we be when they say unto us We will go into the house of the Lord we will worship towards his holy Temple we will go and keep holy-day in the Courts of the Lord's house on the hill of Zion in the midst of Jerusalem Hallelujah Here we have better Company than any where in the World besides I mean in a more especial manner here more peculiarly than any where else we have Heaven it self in Emblem Mount Zion in Effigie the Coelestial Jerusalem the City of the living God the Coier of Angels the Court of Saints a sweet correspondency with the best of Spirits in both the Churches in both the Worlds Militant and Triumphant Earth and Heaven which brings me to 5. The People who The Holy Church the best of Men and Angels and Spirits separate the select Company called out from the rest of the World to adore their Lord and communicate of his Grace and prepare for and partake of his Glory not that all who are called are accepted the Chaff and Wheat the Corn and Tares the good and bad Fish the Sheep and Goats the Sincere and Hypocrite are both for a while jumbled together in promiscuous Company but none are real Communicants in this sweetness but real Believers the rest feed upon the shell these eat the Kernel the rest look on these taste the Comforts the rest fill up a space and serve for some purposes they hew wood and draw water for the use of the Tabernacles these are invested in the Communities Priviledges and Dignities of the Place they have all one Coat and Creed and Profession but these all have one Mind one Mouth one Hope one Way and one End they mutually partake and Communicate together in the same Prayers Praises Promises Priviledges every thing that is sweet and salutary and tho' their Faces differ their Natures do not tho' in Opinions about some lesser punctillio's they consent not in their Charity they are all one One so entirely that all the Cunning and Violence in the World shall not be able to dissolve the Knot One so entirely that their Interests their Intercessions their Cares and Crosses are the same the whole Company espouse the same Cause all drive at the same End all mean the Divine Glory and the good of Mankind in general if one be weak the other is weak if one be offended the other burns all the Members of the same Body do sweetly and amicably sympathize together Christians as widely distant one from the other as the two Poles meet in their Prayers in their Eucharists even the Angels stoop to us and we aspire to them we are all carrying on the same Work we shall all receive the same Wages we shall all shortly together be with the Lord Tho' our Brains be different yet our Hearts are not Bishop Hall nor our Ends shall not The Church is lovely orderly unanimous as an Army with Banners In short the Churches
AN ESSAY UPON THE WORKS OF Creation and Providence BEING AN Introductory Discourse TO THE History of Remarkable Providences Now preparing for the Press To which is added a FURTHER SPECIMEN of the said WORK AS ALSO Meditations upon the Beauty of Holiness By William Turner M. A. and Vicar of Walberton in Sussex The Heavens declare the Glory of God and the Firmament sheweth his Handy Work Psalm 19.1 LONDON Printed for John Dunton at the Raven in Jewen-street and are also sold by Edm. Richardson near the Poultry Church 1695. To the Worshipful JAMES BUTLER OF Patcham in Sussex Esq AND HIS Virtuous Consort Sir and Madam MY Design is not to offer you here any Flattering Encomium but to acknowledge a Score that I have run upon in your Books for some time to make a little Apology for the seeming negligence and forgetfulness I have been guilty of And this I the rather do because you will guess by these Presents not only that I am alive but the Favours you have sometime shewed me are alive in my thoughts too Only my self lie half-buried in Cares and Books so that I want leisure to pay my Debts and Devoirs in due time and manner and faculty to do it in due measure Be pleased to contemplate a little while with me here the Beauty of the Outward Parts of Heaven and thence make conjecture at the Wisdom of Him that made the World and the Provision He hath made in the Highest Heavens for all that Love and Obey Him in Truth This is but a Harbinger for a more Compleat History of Divine Providence designed e're long for the Press It cannot be improper certainly to Ascend Pisgah by degrees we may see the Outward Skirts of Heaven from the Foot of the Mount When we can get to the Top our desire is to take a prospect of the whole Hemisphere to leave the Stars whilst we make enquiry after all the Invisible Host of the Middle Region that are employed about us either as Friends or Enemies The God of Heaven make your Graces shine more and more in the mean time that they may outshine and outlast the Stars and you your selves be fixed in their room for ever so pray I for you pray you so for Worshipful Sir and Worthy Madam Your Obliged Servant W. T. TO THE READERS SIRS 'T IS the Prerogative of Human Nature that me have not only a Lofty Figure and Visage but Intellectuals too far superiour to all the Bruitish kind And this Endowment bestowed upon us by Him that made us for very Wise and Good Ends Not to be more ingeniously Wicked and Dishonest to immerge our selves deeper in the Concerns and Pleasures of a Material and Sensual World but to live Above it My Design is to climb a Jacob's Ladder to satisfie a little the Curiosity of my Nature to inform my self first of all and then my Fellows so far as soberly and modestly I may with all the Phenomena of the Etherial Region To acquaint my self and others with the Outward Face of Heaven first of all and all the Visible Furniture of the Outward Court Those Glorious Spangles of Stars and Planets those Fiery Meteors and other Strange Exhalations and Vapours that occur to our Senses and common Observations And this not for Bare Contemplation only but with a Design to make as Natural Genuine and Reasonable Deductions for Practice as possible This is all I aim at in this Treatise but with a full purpose if it please God to spare my Life and Health to make a New Survey e're long of that Spiritual and Invisible World where those Dii Medioxami Intermediate Agents are employed as Reporters and Transporters Monitors Couriers Apparitors Guardians Adversaries between This and the other World For certainly 't is lawful whilst we live here to peep out of our Prison and take acquaintance in what degree lawfully we can with Angels and Naked Spirits Vpon the score of our Kindred and Alliance to them and Concernment with them we are obliged so far we must do it or we are not only Disingenuous but blind to our own Interest And why doth the Almighty use so frequently and remarkably in the World those Intelligent and Spiritual Ministers in the Exercise of his Providence if we might not enquire after them and take acquaintance with them Is He ashamed of his Spiritual Train and Family Or are they so mighty strange and foreign to our Natures or so very far above us that we must run away like People Afrighted out of our Wits to hide from all such Apparitions in Corners of Thick Darkness But why should we be so ungrateful to those Angelical Creatures as to suppress all those Occurrences of History all those conspicuous Remarks of the Divine Providence wherein their Footsteps are plainly visible not only to their Grief and Dishonour but to the Great Encouragement of Atheism and Infidelity in the World Thus far I humbly conceive we may safely climb Our Scala Coeli to the Veil that interposeth between us and the Inner Court to the Gate of the New Jerusalem and no farther The Lord Guide us the Angels Guard us in all our ways till we are got safe into that place where we shall be satisfied with Glories which now we little know or comprehend where we shall be sweetly surprized and bravely entertained with Joyous Company and Glorious Objects and Tread not only the Moon but all the Starry Globes under our Feet for evermore Amen Your Servant in all Christian Offices W. T. THE CONTENTS CHAP. I. OF the greatness of the Heavens CHAP. II. Of the Quality of the Heavens CHAP. III. Of the Scituation of the Heavens CHAP. IV. Of the Stars and Planets CHAP. V. Of Comets Thunder and Lightning Air and Winds Storms and Tempests Hail Rain Snow and Frosts Extraordinary Signs and Apparitions CHAP. VI. Of the Continuation of the Heavenly Bodies CHAP. VII Of the Extensiveness of the Heavens CHAP. VIII Of the Glorious Body of the Sun Meditations on the Beauty of Holiness A Scheme of the History of Providence A further Specimen of the said History AN ESSAY UPON THE WORKS OF Creation and Providence IN my Contemplation of this Subject my Design is to take measure by the Sublimity of Our Aspect and the Excellency of the Object for the Order and Method of my Thoughts Both these seem naturally disposed to determine my Choice of the Heavens and Heavenly Bodies and the Appurtenances that are more nearly related to them and depend upon them for the Subject of my present Discourse leaving this Globe of Earth the very Sediment of the Creation and the most Dreggy Part of the World for my future Thoughts and Meditations And because in all our Disquisitions and Actions we ought to propound to our selves for our main End the Glory of God I shall consider I. The Greatness of the Heavens II. The Quality of them III. Their Scituation IV. The Stars and Planets V. Other Inferior Appurtenances
Eternity and reconcile the Notion of a Compleat Happiness to the exercise of a continual Devotion and yet this is handsomly represented to us in the Scheme of the Heavenly Bodies the Sun Moon and Stars are never weary never decay never wander out of their place but still are exercised in a continual Motion and keep still their brightness and glory and yet they are inanimate sensless Creatures Why should we think it strange or absurd that the blessed Spirits in the other World should be still employed in the Offices of Devotion and yet still possess'd of Ease and Bliss and which I drive at why should we not strike up and mend our pace at present Why do we often mutter and complain as if it were a weariness to serve the Lord And cry out When will the Sabbath be over that we may return to our worldly Cares and Pleasures again Is there so much difference indeed between Grace and Glory between the Apprentice-ship and the Profession between the Church here and hereafter Or is it possible think ye to make so quick a return from one Extreme to another To be all Earth and Flesh and sin here and Heaven and Spirit and Holiness there Or must we not a little at least be Heaven'd in our Minds now and be in a continual Motion to the end of our happiness Having these things always in remembrance 2 Pet. 1.15 or as Psal 119.112 Enclined to perform the Statutes of the Lord always or Psal 1.2 Exercising our selves in his Law day and night And when we can do this and do it with delight we are upon the brink of a blessed Eternity upon the skirts of the Holy Land upon the Borders of Heaven when our Light shines without darkness tho it do Twinkle now and then and shines continually when our Devotion doth not Die with the Day but glimmers through the darkest Night then and not till then we are in a fair way to the Life of Angels and the Spirits of Just men made perfect 3. Learn we hence to look for that which is lasting In this World we have no continuing City nothing durable no lasting motion unless it be that of Changes and Vieissitudes Summer and Winter Day and Night Peace and War Health and Sickness Life and Death even the Earth changes its Face according to the Seasons and the Seas tho they flow continually they are supplied from the Clouds above and both Earth and Sea and every thing here depend upon the Heavenly Bodies for that motion and continuance which they have In Heaven only is to be found the perpetual Motion Everlasting Life an House Eternal durable Riches and Righteousness Rivers of Pleasure for evermore there only is a continual Day a Light that suffers no Darkness a Sun always shining an everlasting Summer along Eternity of Bliss and Happiness This is easily demonstrable to any one that knows the present World and can but see the Skirts of the Holy Land the very Borders of Heaven Were it not Wisdom for us then to leave off building with so much anxiety here to take down our Scaffolds and get a Jacobs Ladder and climb up to that place of Angels to send our Hearts before us and cast our Anchor safe within the Veil and choose that other world for our portion and think and speak of it and provide for it and account it as our own and pack up all our last cares and passions for it that whilst we live upon Earth we may have our Conversations above and then we shall be eternally safe from Hell beneath But especially at the approach of any unkindly stop or period in our worldly comforts whether it be a black Night or a cloudy stormy Day or an ill Winter or Poverty or Shame or Sickness or Death Let us then take the advantage of the opportunity and look up as high as the Firmament and further even beyond the Starry Orbs and say with our selves In those Countries in that World is no Night or Darkness or Sickness or Sea or Hell let us scorn to grovel here as we have done Let us pack hence our Best Goods and be gone Let that be our Home and the Lord of that Country our Father and let us live heavenly holily humbly as becomes Citizens of that Heavenly Jerusalem the Metropolis of both Worlds 4. Let us live by Rule as those Coelestial Bodies all do even the Rule prescribed us by our Maker and fitted to our Natures and conducive to the ends of our being and this without stragling aside deviation or error on the one hand or the other without intermission or passion or weariness or any thing that may disturb our Motion I know as our Natures are more excellent than the Stars so we are upon greater disadvantages upon the score of sin that hath so enfeebled our Spirits and emasculated the courage and vigour of our Piety that as long as we live we shall be apt to flag but then let it be considered that our God hath offered to accommodate us with all the excellent helps of the Gospel and the assistance of his Spirit and therefore in the strength of these let us go on from day to day in the exactest course of a Religious Piety making no considerable blot or faulter if possible in the whole series of our Life or if that thro the frailty of Humane Nature may not be done let the blot be presently washed off by the Tears of a sound Repentance and then by that means all the crookedness of our former ways being made streight let us take care for the time to come to move upright steady and streight according to the excellent Rules prescribed us in the Laws of God and Life of our Saviour Let us try not only to keep pace with the Sun but to out-vy all the Stars of the Firmament and let it be accounted no disgrace to be thus watchful and curious about the keeping of our Orbs and observing our due Postures and modelling our Actions but rather our greatest excellency and glory Slight those who say amidst their sickly Healths Thou liv'st by Rule What doth not so but Man Houses are built by Rule and Common-wealths Entice the Trusty Sun if that you can From his Eccliptick Line becken the Skie Who lives by Rule then keeps good Company Herb. CHAP. VII Of the Extensiveness of the Heavens The Stars and Firmament the expanded Sky and all the Hosts of the Etherial Orbs speak expresly unto all the Nations of the Earth that there is a God to be worshipped and with such a Worship as becomes his Infinite Excellency Their words are so loud they may be heard to all the Ends of the Word Then let us consider 1. WHether the most dark and distant Nations of the Earth have taken notice of this Rule heard this Voice 2. What they have understood by it 3. What they might understand 4. What Inferences we may deduce from the whole for our own use 1.
join in a serious and solemn Commemoration of the Death Passion Love and Merits of our dying Lord when like Brethren of the same Society and of the same Family they symbolize together in Celebration of the Holy Eucharist eating at the same Table of the same Bread drinking of the same Wine in memory of that blessed Body and Blood which were both given for the Nourishment of us to Eternal Life when we commemorate his Cross with a Croud of Passions and crucisie our Lusts with a warm Devotion and look upon our Saviour's immense Love with weeping Eyes and wondering Hearts Faith Gladness and great Delight and with one Consent enter our selves afresh under his Banner to engage all the sinful Powers of the World and promise faithfully to be all for the time to come better Servants and more faithful in the precedure of our Lives When we solemnize the Memory of our dearest Saviour and his Love like loving Disciples with an ingenuous return of hearty Love to him agen and with a mutual Love to one another When Humility Faith Obedience and Charity all meet at the Passover together and we are in quarrel with nothing but what God himself quarrels at Sin and Hell Psal 96.6 8. The Glory for which we worship is exceeding beautiful If we consider 1. The Description given of it in Sacred Scripture under the Mosaic Oeconomy it was represented by Types and Emblems and figurative Expressions for in truth the Intellectuals of Mankind were then so gross and cloudy that they had need of Pictures and sensible Ideas to make things spiritual invisible and future intelligible and 't is not much better with Mankind now tho' the World be grown older yet not much wiser We have still need of Material Instruments and Opticks to help us forward in Quest of the World to come The Land of Canaan the Milk Oyl Honey and exceeding fruitfulness of the place were a lively Figure of the promised Inheritance They stuck then so deep in the Mud and adhered so close to the present World that it was hard to draw them over to abstracted and lofty speculations and therefore God Almighty indulged their Infancy of Reason and Judgment so far as to give them a Prospect of Heaven in a fine spot of ground here on Earth A sight of Life everlasting and the World to come in a piece of clear Landskip in this World But a Brighter discovery was reserved to these last times of the World when Men were come to some maturity of Age and Judgment and able to lay aside their Fescues and throw away their Pictures and ruder Elements they had been accustomed to and exercised in so that now we have as full a Discovery and Description of the future Glory revealed to us as we are capable at present of receiving And here I must confess the Beauty is so dazling the Apprehension so amazing that a deep Meditation upon it would go near to strike our Thoughts into a perfect stupor and incuriousness about the things of this World Life and Immortality are brought to light thro' the Gospel but such a light as we are able to receive and no more 2. The Nature of it collected from the chief Topicks of Consideration 1. God himself the Object and Author 2. The Design and Intention 1. God himself the Object and Author Of which I shall say but little for when we stare long upon such Transcendent Objects our Senses fail us and we commonly find our selves at our Wits end We may indeed discourse modestly about them and think at present so far as to make our Thoughts quick and Devotion lively but whatsoever is more than this is more than meet Can we think that that God who made the World and made us with so much Wisdom and exercised a continual Providence over us for so many thousands of Years did not mean some excellent admirable End at the last for the Reward of that Creature which was made the top of all the visible Creation For my part I expect to see and I think upon excellent Reason too the God of Mercy admit me in favour to that Enjoyment the most ravishing sight that ever was or will be in the Vniverse There and then I hope to see what will be the product and effect of that Infinite Wisdom Power and Goodness that first made and now maintains this World Then the Glory of all his Attributes will be made known and exposed to open view and Oh! the Beauty of that Prospect and therefore 2. The Design and Intention of it being to set forth the Divine Glory and Man's Happiness it must needs be full of Beauty As the Case stands with us now a little a lighter kind of Happiness would serve our turns Our Bodies are very frail our Intellectuals very infirm our Natures so bemired with sin and vicious Inclinations that a Mahomet's Paradise or an Elysian Field or a good Constitution of Body and a pleasant Soul and some cheerful Company and a full Purse or Barn would go a great way with us But when the Body is raised incorruptible and all the Man's Faculties renewed and repaired we shall not be content with that Draff we feed on now but call for Manna Angels food more glorious Objects and refined Notions and a clearer Medium for the Conveyance of Idea's and Communion with Spirits and then every thing will be and appear in its due place and order God Angels Men every sense and faculty suited and filled with its meet Object All things full of beauty and Glory without any intermixture of Deformity Defect or Disorder The supream Being in his Throne of Majesty and all his Creatures in their proper places of Subjection and Glory reciprocating the Acts of a Holy Sweet and blessed Communion one with another To which Blessed Estate the Lord grant that both he that writes and he that reads these Lines may be admitted for the sake of our dear Redeemer the Holy Jesus We shall now in the next place come to consider First The Deformity of an unholy life opposita juxta se c. 1. Sin is full of Deformity of its own nature 'T is all of it an Ireegularity a divaricating from the Rule a trangression of the Holy Law of God a disobedience to the Divine Precept a going aside into By-paths and Errors 2. It renders us uncomely and deformed in the sight of God Good Angels and Good Men They look not upon us with that loving eye that liking and approbation that pleasure and delight as upon the righteous and him that fears God As for the former 't is called by God in Scripture Abomination and that which his soul abhors so is all injustice diverse weights and measures proud looks and hypocritical prayers and in a word all the kinds of sin nay the Prophet tells us His Eyes cannot endure to look upon iniquity and besides he hates them so that he will never suffer these qualities to come into his