are required at our hands we may be sure that we have spiritual life in us we may build upon it that Christ dwelleth in our hearts by faith and that we live in him by grace 3. Our benefit by them is manifold in this life and the life to come In this life peace of conscience their soul shall dwell at ease 2. Good success in all we undertake what soever we do it shall prosper 3. The service of the creatures for all things work for the best to them that love God Lastly a comfortable pass out of this world we are sure our end shall be peace In the life to come the benefits are such as never eye hath seen nor ear hath heard nor ever entred into the heart of man God grant therefore our heart may enter into them quia Aristoteles non capit Eurispum Eurispus capiat Arist otalum because we cannot comprehend the joyes of heaven let them comprehend us You expect something to be spoken of our dear Sister deceased and much might be said and should by me in her praise but that one of her chiefest commendations was that she could not endure praise Laudes quia merebatur contempsit quia contempsit mag is merebatur becanse she deserved praise she desp ised it and because she despised it she the more deserved it Silent modesty in her was her crown in her life and modest silence of her was the charge at her death Her life was well known to most of this place and her death was every way answerable to her life all that visited her in her sickness might behold with sorrow a pittiful anatomy of frail mortality and yet with joy a perfect pattern of Christian patience and a heavenly conversation and though she were full of divine conceptions and she had a spring by her of the waters of life in the devotion of her dearest helper especially in the best things yet when I came to her she desired she might be partaker of some of my meditations they were her own words and when I prayed with her and for her she joyned not so much with me with her tongue as her affections and answered more in sighs and tears then in words often she complained of her tuff heart that would not yeeld to her dissolution and long long she thought it till she should come to appear before the God of Gods in Sion Her last words were sweet Father help me and she had her request for presently he helped her both by the zealous and most feeling prayers of her Husband and by the holy spirit assisting her in her own prayers with sighs and groans that cannot be expressed and immediately her sweet Father released her of her pangs and received her to himself on his own day On the Lords day morning before the morning watch I say before the morning watch she entered into her rest and began to keep her everlasting Sabbath in heaven where she reapeth what she sowed and seeth what shebelieved and enjoyeth what she hoped for and is now entred into those joyes which never entred fully into the heart of any living on earth nor shall into ours till we with her be made perfect and all of us come to Mount Sion and the heavenly Jerusalem and innumerable company of Angels and to the Congregation of the first-born whose names are written in heaven and to the spirits of just men and women made perfect Whither the God of peace bring us in our appointed time who brought again from the dead the great shepheard through the blood of the everlasting Covenant To whom with the holy Spirit c. FAITHS ECCHO OR THE SOULES AMEN SERMON XLVI REVEL 22.20 Amen Even so come Lord Jesus THese words they afford to us a comfortable and sweet argument to be conversant in From the sixt verse of this Chapter is set down to us the confirmation of the whole Prophesie and Book of the Revelation partly by the affirmation of God as likewise of Jesus Christ and of John himself that heard and saw all these things and likewise of the Church of God in verse 17. It is likewise confirmed by the promise of Blessing and Happiness pronounced upon them that shall do all these things and shall faithfully expect the accomplishment of them This Verse a part of which I have read to you is the Repetition in few words of all that matter that goeth before from verse 6. to it and hath in it First an attestation of our Lord and Saviour Christ in the former part of the Verse Behold I come quickly Secondly an acclamation of the Church in the latter part these words I have read to ye Amen even so come Lord Jesus In the attestation of Christ he promiseth he will come to his Church he will come shortly both for the accomplishment of all his promises and likewise for their safety and deliverance from all enemies and all miseries and molestations whatsoever To this the Church makes an acclamation and saith Amen even so come Lord Jesus In this acclamation of the Church to which we must now come we are to consider First the person of the Speaker whose words they be Secondly what is the matter or substance contained in them Ye shall see whose words they be if ye look back but to the 17. verse of this Chapter there ye shall find that first it is said the Spirit saith Come By the Spirit is not meant the third Person in Trinity the holy Ghost because he is not subject to these passions to these desires but he resteth himself in the execution and present disposing and dispensing of things according to his own will and pleasure Neither by Spirit here is meant any wicked spirit or Angel for they do with fear and horrour expect the same coming of our Lord and Saviour Christ because his coming shall be the accomplishment of their misery and eternal infelicity But by Spirit here is meant the spirit in all the Elect and holy people of God in whomsoever the Spirit of God is that Spirit doth say come and doth wish the accomplishment of all these most gracious promises For this is not the desire of the flesh or of nature but an earnest and vehement desire of the Spirit of God in the Elect that saith come Again secondly the same verse telleth us that the Bride saith come That is the Church of God in general the Catholick Church the whole Church of God being now hand-fasted to Christ and entred into a spiritual contract with him She desireth the consumation of the Marriage the solemniation of the Marriage which is already begun in the contract of it and not only every particular member of the Church in whom the Spirit of God is saith come but the Church of God in general the Bride saith come the whole Church saith come wishing and desiring the accomplishment of the Marriage which is already begun In the third place the same verse
a man to wait upon God it is but a short time and resolve in the time of thy waiting upon this that when thou art fittest for mercy it shall come and when it cometh it shall come with an abundant weight and sweetness such as shall countervail all thy expectation and waiting Thus I have told you how men should exercise patience by exercising their faith and how they should strengthen patience by hope and how they should perfect patience by selfe-denyal The reason why I took this Text for the present occasion is that there might be a concurrence between the rule and the example Here is the rule Let patience have her perfect work that you may be perfect and intire wanting nothing One reason among others was this because we know not what changes and tryals God hath reserved any of us to therefore we had need of patience Our Sister here is the example a pattern to others of those tryals of life whereto a Christan may be exposed even to extremity Howsoever it pleased God to give many other mercies to her yet nevertheless she had a continual exercise of patience in extream anguish of body in a vexing tormenting pain that a long time for many years together held her under such extremity of torture that a man on the rack or in any other extremity could hardly have greater torments then she sometime felt in the time of that extremity upon her God laid this affliction upon her to perfect her patience and that she might be a pattern of patience to you that you might study and pray for Patience and endeavour after it that when afflictions fall upon any of you you may not be found wanting and destitute of patience So much for this time A RESTRAINT OF EXORBITANT PASSION OR GROUNDS AGAINST Unseasonable Mourning SERMON V. 2 SAM 12.22 23. And he said while the child was yet alive I fasted and wept for I said who can tell whether God will be gracious to me that the child may live But now he is dead wherefore should I fast can I bring him back again I shall go to him but he shall not return to me THese Words contain Davids answer to a question that was put to him in the Verse going before the Text by some of his servants The question was grounded upon their observation of his divers carriage when the child was sick and when the child was dead When the child was sick he fasted and wept and lay upon the ground and prayed When the child was dead he forbeareth weeping washeth himself calleth for bread c. And now they ask him the reason for they thought rather that he would have exprest a greater sorrow then he had done before as it may be discerned in the consultation among themselves every man was loth to tell David of the great losse that was beâ—…llen him that his child was dead When he heard of it and altereth his carriage and sheweth himself more chearful contrary to their expectation they plainly put the question to him What should be the reason of this The words I have read to ye 〈◊〉 an Answer to that question He telleth them the reason both of his fasting and weeping in the time of the sicknesse of the child and of his calling for meat and forbearing to weep now at the death of the child The reason of his former carriage he giveth in the 22. verse While the child was yet alive I fasted and wept for I said who knoweth whether the Lord may be gracious to me that the child may live The reason of the alteration of his carriage why he exprest himselfe in another manner upon the death of the child he giveth in the 23. verse But now he is dead wherefore should I fast 〈◊〉 shall return to him he shall not return to me In the former part the reason of his sad and mournful carriage during the time of the sicknesse of the child then saith he I did fast Yea have first the declaration of his action and behaviour and carriage at that time While the child was yet alive I fasted and wept And the reason of this action and carriage for I said Whoâ—… aâ—… tell whether the Lord will be gracious to me that the child may live I shall be brief in speaking of this part only First for his carriage I fasted and wept These are â—…ut external actions fasting of it self is not a worship of God but as it helpeth and furtheâ—… another 〈◊〉 as it helpâ—…th a man in prayer as it fuâ—…eretâ—… the work of humination and declareth that For neither if we eat are we the better nor if we eat not are we the worse as the Apostle speaks And the kingdom of God consisteth not in meat and drink There is a fast inforced by necessity that which either is by sicknesse or want and is meerly civil and outward without any respect to God And there is a fast too which hath a pretence of respect to God which is not acceptable as that of the Pharisees that rested only in the external action There is a fast that is religious and accepted of God and that is that which is both a testimony of the inward humiliation of the soul as also a help and furtherance of it Such a fast was this that David speaks of here A fast that did arise from a sense of his unworthinesse of the creature and did expresse the sorrow of his heart for sin A Fast which he did set upon only for this end that he might be more free and more fit for prayer And so likewise for the mourning and weeping he speaks of It was not such a weeping as ariseth meerly from the temper of the body as in some that are more apt for tears are such as the tears of Esau to his father he lift up his voice and wept hast thou not one blessing more blesse me even me also oh my father But they were tears that did arise from a holy affection from a gracious disposition of heart from inward contrition and sorrow like the tears that Peter shed when he went out and wept bitterly They were tears that discovered the inward vehemency of his spirit in prayer like those tears of Jacob when he wrestled with the Angel the Prophet Hosea telleth how he wrestled he prayed and wept Such tears were these as did expresse the fervency of his spirit in prayer the earnestnesse of his desire in putting up this request he had now to God like those of Hezekiah I have heard thy prayers and seen thy tears saith God such tears as God putteth iâ—…to his bottle such tears as he takes special notice of There are no tears that are shed for sin our of an inward sorrow of heart that are shed in prayer to exprese a holy desire that proceed from an inward inflamed affection and fervency of spirit but they are very precious with God as far I say as
shall he no more As there shall be no more sorrow and pain so there shall be no more death and sin All tears shall be wiped from our eyes I will ransom them from the power of the grave and redeem them from death More then this This yet addeth to our comfort Christ will so destroy Death as be will not only subdue him for us but also reconcile him to us not only foil him as an Enemy but propitiate and make him our friend We have all our enemies subdued to us but some are so subdued that they are reconciled Death is one of them it is a reconciled as well as a subdued enemy Instead of bringing forth children for bondage it becometh a purchaser of our freedom it is so far from plucking us from Christ as rather it letteth us into Christ so far from being a loss as it bringeth gain so far from being a dammage that it is part of our Dowry therefore the Apostle reckoneth it as a prerogative as he saith that the world and life and Christ is ours so Death is ours Indeed if Death were not ours life were not ours for our only way to life now is by Death Such a friend is this Enemy become that it is a Bridge to pass to heaven the Chariot that we are took up to heaven in What we get of life toward life we lose in death but what we get in death toward life we never lose Now for the Application and conclusion of all Something I have to say by way of comfort and something by way of counsel First by way of comfort Against the fear of Death or against over-much sorrow for those that Death takes away It is true Death is an Enemy But to whom only to the wicked that are out of Christ to those that have no benefit at all by his Death and Resurrection and Ascension When Death cometh and findeth out these they may say as Ahab did to Eliah and more truly a great deal hast thou found me oh mine Enemy It is the worst Enemy they have in the world It is a cruel Sergeant that catcheth them by the throat and arresteth them for a debt that they are never able to pay It draggs them to the Jayl casteth them into the Dungeon to the chains of Darkness I have not a word of comfort to say to them They have no more comfort in Death then they have in Hell where though they shall lie in torments and pain they shall not have a drop of water to cool their tongue But to the saithful in Christ there is comfort upon comfort For though Death be an Enemy yet remember first it is a subdued Enemy Secondly a reconciled Enemy Thirdly and lastly an Enemy that one day shall not be at all It is a subdued Enemy that is one comfort The strength and sting of it is gone When a Bee hath lost his sting and is a Droan it can hurt no more So Death is a Droan to a Christian it hums and buzzeth it doth no hurt it cannot sting the sting is gone Against all those Enemies that I formerly told ye of that are attendants on Death here is comfort First it is true Death cometh with ill Harbingers it bringeth sicknesses and aches and pain but there is comfort against this For when God sendeth pain remember he promiseth to send patience too that he will put his hand under to help His left hand shall be under us and his right hand over us to catch us he hath promised comfort upon our sick beds to make our bed in our sickness We need not make such an Allegory as Ambrose doth this sweet flesh of ours the Bed of our soul it is under infirmities and weaknesses God helpeth us he makes our bed he saith to the sick of the Palsey Take up thy bed he turneth our bed in our sickness either he sends us health so some exponds it he turns the bed of sickness into a bed of health or God turneth our bed for us in our sickness that is he refresheth us giveth us ease when we lie upon our sick beds It is a Metaphor borrowed from those that attend sick persons that help to make their Beds easie and soft and turn them that they may lie at ease So God hath promised his children in the painfull time of sickness to make their Beds easie and soft to cause them to lie at ease by the Patience that he will give them Secondly it is true Death bringeth dissolution and dissolveth the frame of nature it separateth and divorceth those two loving companions the Soul and the Body But there is comfort in this For though it divorce the Soul and the Body yet it cannot destroy the soul and the body even the body is in the hand of god when it is rotting in the earth as the Soul is translated to heaven Again though they be separated yet it is but for a time one day they shall meet more joyful and glorious then ever before and after that they shall never be separated again Lastly though he separate the soul from the body and the body from the soul yet neither from Christ nor Christ from them Nay it is so far from separating that it helpeth to unite us to Christ as I said before the dssolution of those shall be the conjunction with him I desire to be dessolved and to be with Christ Thirdly it is true the horrour of the Grave attendeth Death and the putrifaction of this flesh of ours that must turn to corruptness it makes it terrible and fearful But there is comfort against this For after that time of putrifaction there shall be a time of restitution and though the worms devour this flesh of ours yet in thâ—… very flesh of ours we shall see God another day These eyes shall see him There is comfort in that that when God shall come to restore us with himself what the Grave hath cloathed with corruption he will cloath with glory these vile bodies he will make them like the glorious body of Christ without all corruption Fourthly it is true Death depriveth us of worldly friends of worldly imployments this makes it terrible Yet there is comfort against this Though we be deprived of worldly friends it carries us to heaven to better company to Angels to the spirits of just and perfect men to God the Judge of all to Jesus the Mediatour of the New Testament Nay besides one day he will restore again those very friends of which here we are deprived though we lose them for a time in heaven we shall meet again and there renew a perpetual league of society and love So though it deprive us of worldly benefits it cannot of heaven and those are better they are not pleasures of sin that last for a season but at the right hand of God that endure for ever So though it deprive us of worldly
give attestation to the sentence that he pronounceth and say Amen to the condemnation of the wicked So that the difference is easily reconciled and we see how God and Christ and the Saints are said to judg The Authority is Gods The Execution Christs The approbation the Saints The Apostle in Rom. 2.16 makes the point plain he telleth us that God shall judg by Christ In that day God shall judg the secrets of all hearts by Jesus Christ So Christ himself Joh. 5. The Father Judgeth no man but hath committed all power to the Son He hath given him power to execute judgment as he is the Son of man Why to him For this Reason That his second coming may be in glory to make amends for his first coming in humility Christ at his first coming into the world he came meanly and homely at his second coming he shall come triumphantly and gloriously Before he came like a Lamb then he shall come like a Lyon Before in the forme of a servant then in the form of a Lord. Before Pilate sate upon the Bench and Christ stood as a malefactour but then Pilate shall stand at the Barr as a Malefactour and Christ shall sit on the Bench as Judg. He shall then openly come to shew himself a just Judg amongst men as before he came to be Judged when he came privately he was Judged of them that were unjust It was once a scorn that he the Son of man should be Judg of the world therefore God will have him come and appear in that very form he was scorned in that now they may behold him in his Majesty that before would not take notice of him when he appeared in humility that they who the more contemptuously before esteemed him in his baseness may now more severely taste of his justice God then is Judg. Not men Not Angels but God himself Had men been our Judges we might not fear the face of men because they are vessels of the same earth as we took out of the same pit hewen out of the same rock If Angels had been our Judges we should not have stood in so much fear because though they be Spirits more glorious then we yet by their own confession they are our fellow creatures and our fellow servants therefore we after a sort participate with them in some degree of nature But neither men nor Angels shall be Judges then but Almighty God that as much excelleth men and Angels as the heavens do the earth And look what is necessarily required to the office of a Judg it is incomparably found in him To the office of a Judg there are three properties specially required Knowledg to discern Power to determine Justice to execute In God these are all of them transcendent and eminent For Knowledg he is the most wise For Power most absolute For Execution most just Knowledg to discern that is the first He that assumeth the person of a Judg must needs be one of wisdom and understanding Though he have the Scepter of authority in his hand if he have not the eye of wisdom in his head if he be not able when men plead their case before him as the two Harlots before Solomon to decide to whom the right of the case belongeth as he to whom the living child pertained he is as unfit to be a Judg as an illiterate Ignaroe is to be a Priest The Judges ignorance is the honest mans overthrow We commonly paint Justice blind not because he should be so that sits in Gods seat of justice to decide Cases but only in respect of persons Blind Isaac was fain to put forth his hands to feel whether it were Esau or no that came to ask the blessing it is a hard case when Judges have sore eyes that they cannot discern the right Case but only by feeling But it shall not be so here God is the Judg that is of infinite wisdome and understanding that is able to discern right and wrong Of necessity it must be so because he is Omniscient he knoweth all things he hath the true understanding of them it is impossible to deceive him Earthly Judges they somtime are blinded in the hearing of Cases that are brought before them for what their eyes see not they are not able to discern there are no glass windows into the bosoms and breasts of men by which they are able to come into their hearts all the information they have is from Evidences and Witnesses the hear-sayes and reports of others where if any thing be concealed or mistold how easily may they miscarry But Gods knowledg is not so unsound or uncertain because he himself is an eare and an eye-witness of all things that are he knoweth whatsoever is done he beholdeth not the actions only but the very intentions he is able to judg of the thoughts and intentions of the heart It is but folly to think to hide any thing from him heaven is not so high but he can reach it hell is not so deep but he can search it the earth is not so wide but he can spanit the night is not so dark but he can see it the chamber the bed the closet is not so close but he can pierce it He that sitteth upon the circle of the heavens and whose eyes are as flames of fire seeth every thing Heb. 4. There is no creature that is not manifest in his sight but all things are naked and open like an Anatomized body for thence the Metaphor is drawn where the bowels are laid open and every nerve and muscle and ligament every Atome discovered so that we may take a full view of it In a word if it were Davids commendation that he was wise as an Angel of God how wise must God be that infuseth wisdome into the Angels and in whose sight the Angels are foolish That is the first thing requisit in a Judg he must have knowledg to discern In the second place He must have power to execute he must have authority to command and not be as an Image set against a wall for if he be so Abjects will insult over him though peradventure some may regard him because he hath eyes to see yet others will contemn him because he hath no hands to punish so innocency shall be hopeless of recompence and the wicked of their desert Again if he have not power if he have power only to hear and not to determine or if his power be restrained to some petty Cases and not also extended to matters of greater consequence and moment Appeals will be made as commonly they are from inferiour Courts to the higher But it is not so here God is the Judg who as he is infinite in knowledg so he is in power and authority We stile the King Supream head over all persons and in all causes in his Dominions but God is over all the Dominions of the earth supream over all not only
only in brief run them over this being not the thing that I purposely aym at First in Cities and Corporations there is a Register wherein the names of the Free-men are inrolled So in heaven also there is a Register a certain book of Records as it were wherein are written the names of as many as God hath appointed to life Rejoce not faith our Saviour in this that the divels are subdued unto you but rejoyce that your names are written in heaven And all that are not found written in the book of life are cast into the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone Rev. 20.15 God in his secret counsel and purpose in his special providence and love takes notice of all his servants even of their names and he hath them as sure as if they were written down in a book there is not one man that cometh to heaven but the Lord knows him already to be a man ordained to that estate and condition Secondly as in all Cities and Societies there is a certain law whereby they are all governed in obedience to which they live So there is a law whereby all the Citizens of heaven all the houshold of God are governed that law which the Apostle Saint James calleth the royal law a law which commandeth the very spirits of men a law that disposeth the whole man to a heavenly frame and subjection to the will of God the great King of Heaven so that a man while he is here below by degrees is drawn off from the world in his affections and disposition and carriage and madesutable and conformable to the rule of righteousness Thirdly as in all Cities there is a kind of safety and security to those that dwell there not only as they are incompassed with walls but also as there is watching and warding some waking while others sleep to keep the rest in safety So in this heavenly society the Angels pitch their Tents about those that fear God nay the Lord himself is the Shepheard of Israel that neither slumbereth nor sleepeth while men oppose them God defends them while men are labouring and plotting and devising against them and they it may be are secure and fear no danger God disperseth and disappointeth a thousand projects intended against his servants It was so with his own people Israel while they were in the plains securely lying in their tents there is Balack and Balaam consulting upon the mountains how to curse them but the God of Israel that is above the mountains that sitteth on the highest Heavens he ordereth the matter so that Balaam for his life though he might have had all the wealth and honour of the Kingdome could not pronounce one curse against Israel because God had said to him that he should not curse Fourthly As in Cities and societies on earth men have communion and society one with another the less have interest in the greater and the greater in the less and all have interest one in another the inferiours receive from the superiours protection and provision and the superiours receive from the inferiours subjection and submission So it is in this heavenly Corporation in this spiritual Jerusalem Jerusalem is a City at unitie in it self There is a communion and fellowship that the Saints have with God the Father with Christ with the Angels with the Saints in heaven and one with another on earth With God the Father they have an interest in him as subjects of his kingdome as servants and children of his family there is not the meanest subject in this kingdome but he may make his request known to this Prince there is not the least servant in this Family but he may make his complaint to this Master they may as children go boldly to the throne of grace and make their request known unto him though it be but in sighes and groans Hence it is that God takes notice of them your heavenly Father knoweth that you have need of all these things and therefore he will supply them If you that are earthly can give good things to your children how much more shall your heavenly father give good things to them that ask him They have interest in Christ also he is their Intercessour therefore hence it is that he is said to sit at the right hand of God making intercession for us He is their Advocate if any man sin we have an Advocate with the Father even Jesus Christ the righteous He is their Lord and Captain the Captain of the Lords Army to defend his Church Michael the great Prince standeth up for the children of his people They have interest also in the holy Ghost the third Person in Trinity they have not only the love of God the Father but the communion and fellowship of the holy Ghost as the Apostle wisheth for the Corinthians Hence it is that the Holy Ghost is ready to help their infirmities to in able them to put up their requests when they know not how to pray as they ought Hence it is that he sanctisieth them and therefore they are said to be Born again of water and of the spirit that he comforteth them therefore he is called the holy Ghost the Comforter As the Saints have interest in the three Persons in the Trinity in respect of their dependance upon them so the blessed Trinity hath an interest in them also If I be a Father where is my honour if I be a Master where is my fear Because they acknowledg God to be their Father they honour him because they acknowledg him to be their Lord they fear him c. They have interest in the Angels also Hence it is that they are called Ministring spirits sent forth for the good of the Elect They were Christs messengers his Angels and now they are made Messengers Angels to the Saints therefore faith Christ Offend not one of these little ones for I tell you that their Angels behold the face of my father in heavenâ—… They have interest in them not as worshippers of Angels which the Apostle condemneth Coll. 2. as foreseeing to what a height Popish superstition would rise in this kind I say not to worship them to invocate them to pray to them we know no such will-worship which is without the rule We have an Angel comforting Hagar we have an Angel defending Elisha we have an Angel incouraging Jacob we have an Angel carrying Lazarus into Abrahams bosome But we never had any Angel that stood in this place to have worship and adoration This indeed the Angels have from us imitation of their obedience we pray thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven They have interest in the Saints also yea in those that are dead not as though they paayed for us yet they have a common desire of the welfare of the whole Church The souls under the Alter cry How long Lord holy and true wilt thou not
all the Angels and Saints in Heaven the spirits of just men made perfect to Abrahams bosome to be with Christ Et quanta 〈◊〉 felicitas What greater happiness It was much that Moses obtained to see the back-parts of God but how much greater favour is it to see him face to face to have eternal fellowship with God the father with Christ the Redeemer with the Holy Ghost the sanctifier The knowledg of this benefit of Death makes the face of it comfortable to Gods servants and causes them to strive with their own natural weakness that so they may even long for their day of dissolution But now against this point divers Objections may be alledged For first the Apostle Paul sayes that Death is the wages of sin And else-where he stiles it Christs enemy the last enemy that he shall subdue is Death How should not death then be rather a day of misery to be trembled at then a day of happiness to be longed for To this I answer that we are to distinguish touching Death for it must be considered two wayes First as it is in its owe nature Secondly as it is altred by Christ in the first sence it is true that Death is the wages of sin and the very suburbs and the gates of hell But in the second taking of Death it ceases to be a plague and becomes a blessing inasmuch as it is even a door opening out of this world into Heaven Now the godly look not upon Death simply but upon Death whose sting and venome is plucked out by Jesus Christ and so it is exceeding comfortable But then secondly it is objected that we read of many that have prayed against death as namely first David Return O Lord faith he and deliver my soul oh spare me for thy mercies sake for in death there is no remembrance of thee Secondly Hezekiah when the message of death was brought to him Thirdly Christ himself Father if it be possible let this cup pass from me To all these I answer first touching David that when he composed that sixt Psalm he was not only grievously sick but also exceedingly tormented in mind for he wrastled and combated in his conscience with the wrath of God as appears by the first Verse of that Psalm therefore we must know that he prayed not simply against Death but against death at that time in asmuch as the coming of it was accompanied with extraordinary apprehensions of Gods wrath for at another time he tells us that he would not fear though he walked through the valley of the shaddow of Death And the like I say touching Hezekiah that his prayer proceeded not from any desperate fear of Death but first that he might do more service to God in his Kingdom And with such a kind of thought was Saint Pauls desire of dissolution mingled Secondly he prayed against Death then because he knew that his death then would be a great cause of rejoycing to evil men to whom his reformation in the State was unpleasing Thirdly because he wanted issue God had promised before to David that there should not fail a man of his seed to sit upon the throne of Israel so that his children did take heed to their wayes Now it was a great discomfort to him to die chidless for then he and others might have thought that he was but an Hypocrite in as much as God had promised issue to all those Kings that feared him and for this cause God heard his prayer and after two years gave him a son Manasseh by name And so I say the same touching our Saviour Christ that he prayed not against Death as it is the separation betwixt Body and Soul as appears by what the Apostle faith that he was heard in that he feared for he stood in our room and became a Curse for us it was the Curse of the Law which went with Death and the unspeakable wrath and indignation of God which he feared and from this according to his prayer he was delivered But thirdly we see in most good men a fear of Death and a desire of life and I my self may some godly man say do feel my self ready to tremble at the meditation thereof and yet I hope I belong unto God I answer that there are two things to be considered in every Christian Flesh and Spirit Corruption and Grace and the best have many inward perplexities at times and doubtings of Gods favour Now it is a truth which our Saviour delivers that the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak And as in all other good purposes there is a combate betwixt the flesh and the spirit so is there in this betwixt the fear of Death and the desire of Death sometime the one prevails and sometimes the other but yet alwayes at last the desire of Death doth get the victory Carnal respects do often prevail far with the best care of wise children and the like These are their infirmities but as other infirmities die in them by degrees so these also at last are subdued and the servants of God seeing clearly the happiness into which their Death in Christ shall enter them do even sigh desiring to be clothed upon with their house which is from Heaven Here then is a good Mark by which we may know our selves to be Gods servants viz. by the state of our thoughts and meditations touching Death I will so deliver it as may be most for the comfort of those that truly fear God I demand therefore of thee Dost thou know that the confident and comfortable expectation of Death is the work of the Holy Ghost in Gods servants Dost thou desire unfeignedly that the same may be wrought in thy heart Dost thou labour to know what happiness comes by Death to those that feare the Lord Dost thou grieve at thine own weakness to whom the thought of Death is sometime troublesome and unsavory Dost thou pray the Lord so to assure thee of his favour in Christ that death may be desired before it comes and welcome when it is come Dost thou when thou hearest this speech of Simeon wish that thou wert able to use the like words with the like resolution Surely these things shew that thou art Gods servant and that by Death the Lord will draw thee to a place of rest If these thoughts which I have now named be strangers to thy heart and thou dost not love to trouble thy self to study about Death it is an evil sign The servants of God are not wont to be so secure in matters of this quality And thus much for the first particular in the first general part the desire in the godly of death the second is their care for it the point thence is that It is the care of Gods servants to be alwayes so prepared for death as at what instant soever the Lord shall send it they
for at the last Resurrection the bodies that are raised shall be immortal never to die again so here those souls that are quickened to the life of grace they are raised to a durable immutable immortal estate never to die again That which Christ saith of those that shall be accounted worthy to attain the second Resurrection the Resurrection of the body it is true here also he saith those that shall be accounted worthy of the world to come of the Resurrection to life they shall never die for they are as the Angels of Heaven Luke 20.35 39. Those that partake of that Resurrection can never die so here those that partake of this spiritual Resurrection to the life of grace they shall never die this Resurrection to the life of grace it shall continue in them For the spirit of grace when he once cometh into the soul and quickens it it continues there and remains there for ever it is as a Well of water springing up to eternal life as Christ speaks Joh. 4.14 Whosoever shall drink of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up to everlasting life Now we know a stream of water is of a vanishing nature yet if it be nourished with a continual Fountain that can never be dry the stream will continually run so it is with the stream of grace in the soul it is nourished with a continual fountaine such a one as can never be dried up Thus you see here is comfort against sin against the death of the soul Those that are united to Christ by faith they may be assured that Christ will be to them a Fountaine of spiritual life Secondly here is comfort against the death of the body against natural death If thou be united to Christ thou needest not to fear temporal death remember that though the body be dead because of sin yet the spirit is life as it is Rom. 8.10 The body that is dead that is it is mortal and subject to death because of sin but the spirit the soul that liveth it passeth from the life of grace here to the life of glory Yea and the body too that is laid in the Grave notwithstanding shall be raised again by the quickening power of Christ Remember Christ is thy head and therefore he being risen from the dead thou shalt not perish You know as long as the head of the natural body is above the water none of the members of the body can be drowned so it is here as long as Christ is risen none of his members can be held captive in the Grave Remember Christ is the first fruits of the dead the first fruits of them that sleep therefore his Resurrection may be a pledge and an assurance to thee of thy resurrection As we have borne the Image of the earthly saith the Apostle so we shall bear the Image of the heavenly 1 Cor. 15.49 As we have borne about us these corruptible bodies so when we rise again we shall rise with immortal and incorruptible bodies and live a glorious life with Christ and so be made conformable to Christ our head therefore fear not the death of the body Remember that Death can destroy nothing in thee but sin therefore fear not This consideration may comfort us as against our own death so against the death of our friends Let us therefore receive comfort hence as Martha in this Chapter I know that my brother shall rise again in the Resurrection at the last day and that did comfort her But here this question may be demanded but is not this Resurrection of the body a benefit common to the wicked are not they partakers of this benefit from the resurrection of Christ as well as the godly shall not they be raised and quickned as well as the godly by Christ his Resurrection To this I answer that this Resurrection of the body to life it is a benefit proper to the faithful to the true members of Christ for though unbeleevers and wicked persons shall be raised up again yet By a different cause And to a different end I say first by a different cause the wicked that are out of Christ cannot have any benefit from the Resurrection of Christ because they are out of Christ therefore they shall be raised indeed but not by a quickning power flowing from the resurrection of Christ but by the divine power and command of Christ as a just Judge and they shall be raised by vertue of that curse pronounced in Paradice Gen. 2. In the day thou eatest thou shalt die the death that includes eternal death therefore this curse must be executed upon them and therefore they must rise out of the Grave again that body and soul may die eternally but the faithful members of Christ shall be raised by the quickning power of Christ as their head and Saviour Again as the wicked shall be raised by a different cause so to a different end for they shall not be raised to life to speak properly that state is stiled eternal death therefore their Resurrection is stiled the resurrection of condemnation Job 5.27 they that have done good shall come forth to the resurrection of life and they that have done ill to the resurrection of condemnation they shall not rise to life but to eternal death but the godly only shall attain this Resurrection of life and therefore they only are stiled the sons of the resurrection Luke 20.36 So much may suffice for comfort A second Use of the point may be for trial and examination since we profess to be Christians to be members of Christ let us here try the truth whether we be so in deed or no. Christ is the Resurrection he is the Author of the first Resurrection to a spiritual life The first thing that Christ doth in the soul of a sinner is to raise the soul to a spiritual life therefore examine whether thou have felt this quickning power or no this first Resurrection to a spiritual life When Christ was upon the earth he had power to raise up all those to life again that died but yet he raised but few there are but three that we read of those that we named before The Widdows son Jairus Daughter and Lazarus here So likewise Christ now hath power to quicken all those that are dead in sin to raise them to spiritual life but yet he quickens but few in comparison of those that continue still in their sins Therefore let us all examine our selves upon this point whether we have attained the first Resurrection or no. If we be true members of Christ we partake of the first Resurrection for Christ is a fountain of spiritual life to all his members therefore examine this look to the first resurrection to the Life of grace thou maist know it briefly by three signs First by forsaking of sin
God had allotted allowed and decreed There are two propositions which naturally issue from the words and comprehend the juyce and marrow of the Text. First that there is a change which will befall the sons of men Secondly we should alwayes wait till it come I begin with the first that There is a change which will befall the sons of men Be we poor or be we rich be we noble or be we ignoble be we prosperous or be we afflicted be we strong or be we weak be we old or be we young be we good or be we bad be we male or be we female whatsoever our natures be whatsoever our parrs be whatsoever our places be whatsoever our ages be whatsoever our courses be whatsoever our wayes be how fair and how durable our estates may appear yet at length there is a change which will befall us That which Jacob spake in a pathetical way Joseph is not and Simeon is not may truly be said of all the sons of men once they were now they are not though once we reckoned them upon our account yet at length they are shut out and stand aside as cyphers But that you may the better understand what change it is that is here meant you are to know that there is a fourfold change First a change of the condition this I call a temporal change wherein some or more or all of our outward comforts are shrivelled and seared up by some present misery When poverty breaks in upon us as the hunter doth upon his game and causeth our riches as so many birds to which Solomon compares them to take to themselves wings and flie away When sickness stayeth our health in the bed and imprisoneth us to the chamber When our friends glide away from us like a river through their Apostacy or start aside like a broken bow through their falshood or treachery When the neer relation of Husband and Wife Parents and Children is cut asunder and the many sad tears for their loss imbitter all our former comforts But this is not the change intended in the Text. Secondly there is a change of the Body and this I call a corporal change for even these vild bodies of ours shall be changed Look as the spring is a refreshing change to the season of the year so shall the Resurrection be an exceeding change to our bodies or as the morning is a change to the night so at the Resurrection shall our bodies awake and their corruption shall put on incorruption neither is this the change which Job here intends immediatly though some expound his aim to be at this from whom I cannot absolutely dissent yet I think they hit not the right scope Thirdly there is a change of the Soul that I call a Spiritual change wrought in the soul by the spirit of God nothing makes in this life such a change as true grace We all with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image from glory to glory even as by the spirit of the Lord 2 Cor. 3.18 This change is like the turning of a disordered instrument or like the refining of corrupt mettal or like the clearing of the dark air or like the quickening of a dead Lazarus but neither is this change that the text intends Fourthly there is a change of the life and this I call a mortal change we shall all be changed faith the Apostle 1 Cor. 15.5 life hath the first course but death will have the second As in a Comedy several persons have several parts to act which when they have dispatched they all draw off of the stage so though in life we all present our selves on the stage of this world and act several Scenes and parts yet at length we must all retire and pass away through one and the same door of mortality This is the change which Job speaks of to wit a change of this life by Death Here then are two things to be demonstrated and proved for the making good of the point in hand viz. 1. That death is a change 2. That this change of death will befall all the sons of men First that Death is a change not an anihilation A change is a different and a divers order or manner of being Anihilation is one thing and mutation is another thing there the thing ceaseth utterly to be here the thing only ceaseth to be as once it was so it is with Death it doth not reduce us to nothing but alter our former something it changes our manner or order of being not our being absoluteâ—…y Now observe Death is a change in five respects First it changes that neer union of the Soul and the body and makes of one two severals they that were as the hands mutually clasped or as two persons conjugally tyed together when Death comes it plucks them asunder and divides one from the other as far as heaven is from the earth Secondly it changes our actions or work Whiles life remained here in our bodies while our day lasted we might have sed the hungry clothed the naked visited the sick relieved the distressed frequented the ordinances bewailed our sins but when death once enters the night is come in which no man can work thou art then turned changed into an insensible rotten and loathsome carkass Thirdly it changes our country Whiles we live here we are as children put abroad to school in a strange place hence it is we are so often in the Scripture called Pilgrims and strangers This earth this lower world is not the proper home of the Soul But when Death comes we change our country we go home to our own place to our own City the wicked shall go to their own place as it is said of Judas and the godly to their own Mountain to their own Kingdome Fourthly it changes our company In this life we converse with sinful men empty creatures infinite miseries innumerable conflicts but when Death comes all this shall be changed we shall go to our God and Father to our Christ and Saviour and to the innumerable company of blessed Angels and Saints and the spirits of just men made perfect Fifthly it changes our outward condition When Death comes thou shalt never see the wedge of gold again thou shalt never find thy delights in sin any more all the excellency of the creature and the contentments of them and the sensual rejoycing in them shall go out with life Death shall shut and close them up in an eternal night which shall never rise to another day So much for the first thing that Death is a change I come now to speak briefly of the second that this change of Death will besal all the sons of men Psal 89.48 What man is he that liveth and shall not see death shall be deliveâ—… his soul from the hand of the grave We love to see most things the eye is never satisfied with seeing and yet
their patience to endure for Gods cause whatsoever man or divel can inflict upon them to part with any limb for their head Christ Jesus gladly to forfeit their estates on earth for a crown in heaven chearfully to lose their lives in this vail of tears that they may find them in the rivers of pleasures that spring at Gods right hand for evermore Here is work for their faith also to see heaven as it were through hell eternal life in present death to beleeve that God numbreth every hair of their head and that every tear they shed for his sake shall be turned into a pearl every drop of blood into a Ruby to be set in their crown of glory To confirme both their faith and patience Christ proclaimeth from heaven that howsoever in their life they seemed miserable yet in their death they shall be most blessed and that the worst their enemies can do is to put them in present possession of their happiness Blessed are the dead c. So saith the spirit whatsoever the flesh saith to the contrary Here we have 1. A proposition De fide of faith 2. A Deposition or testimony of the spirit A Proposition of the happy estate of the dead A deposition of the holy Ghost to confirm our faith therein 1. Saint John sets down his relation 2. A most comfortable assertion 3. A most strong confirmation The relation strange The assertion as strange of a possession without an owner a blessed estate of them who according to the Scripture phrase are said not to be The Confirmation as strange as either by an audible testimony of an invisible witness So saith the spirit Or because this asseveration concerning the condition of the Saints departed is propositio necessaria as the Schools speak we will cloath the members of the division with terms apodictical and in this verse observe 1. A conclusion sientifical whereof the parts are 1. The subject indefinite mortui the dead 2. The attribute absolute beati blessed 3. The cause propter quam the Lord or dying in the Lord. 2. The proof demonstrative and that two-fold 1. A priori 1. By a heavenly oracle I heard a voyce c. 2. A divine testimony So saith the spirit 2. A Posteriori by arguments drawn 1. From their cessation from their work They rest from their labours 2. Their remuneration for their works Their works follow them Where the matter is pretious a decision of the least quantity is a great loss and therefore as the spie of nature observeth the Jewellers will not rub out a small clowd or speck in an orient Ruby because the lessening the substance will more disadvantage them then the fetching out of the spot advance them in the sale Neither will the Alcumists lose a drop of quintessence nor the Apothecaries a grain of Bezar nor an exact Commentatour upon holy Scriptures any syllables of a voyce from heaven the eccho whereof is more melodious to the soul then any consort of most tuneable voyces upon earth can be In which regard I hold it fit to relinquish my former divisions and insist upon each word of this verse as a Bee sitteth upon each particular flower that we may not lose any drop of doctrins sweeter then the honey and the honey comb any lease of the tree of life any dust of the gold of Ophir 1. J there were three men in holy Scripture termed Jedidiah that is Beloved of God Solomon Daniel and Saint John the Evangelist and to all these God made known the secrets of his Kingdome by special revelation and their prophecies are for the most part of a mystical interpretation This Revelation was given to John when he was in the spirit upon the Lords day and if we religiously observe the Lords day and then be in the spirit as he was giving our selves wholly to the contemplation of Divine mysteries we shall also hear voyces from heaven in our souls and consciences Heard with what ears could Saint John hear this voyce sith he was in a spiritual rapture which usually shutteth up all the doors of the sences I answer that as spirits have tongues to speak withall whereof we read 1 Cor. 13.1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and Angels so they have ears to hear one another that is a spiritual faculty answerable to our bodily sense of hearing The Apostle saith of himself that he was in the spirit and as he was in the spirit so he saw in the spirit and heard in the spirit and spake in the spirit and moved in the spirit and did all those things which are recorded in this Book When Saint Paul was wrap'd up into the third Heaven and heard there words that cannot be uttered and saw things which cannot be represented with the eye he truly and really apprehended those objects yet not with carnal but spiritual sences wherewith Saint John heard this voyce A voyce from Heaven The Pythagoreans taught that the Coelestial sphears by the regular motions produced harmonious sounds and the Psalmist teacheth us that the Heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament sheweth his handy work and that there is no speech nor language where their voyce is not heard but that was the voyce of Heaven it self demonstrately proving and after a sort proclaiming the Majesty of the Creatour But this is vox de coelo a voyce from Heaven pronounced by God himself or formed by an Angel so Gasper Melo expresly teacheth us Saint John heard a voyce not sounding out wardly but inwardly framed by that Angel who revealed unto him the whole Apocalypse Saint John here heard a voyce from Heaven commanding him to Write and Saint Austin heard a voyce from Heaven commanding him to Read Tolle lege and most requisite it is that where Heaven speaks the earth should hear and where God writes that man should read There never yet came any voyce from Heaven 〈◊〉 did not much import and concern the earth to hear The first voyce that came from Heaven was heard on Mount Sinai and it was to confirm the Law to be of divine authority and establish our faith in God the Creator A second voyce from Heaven we hear of in Saint Peter on the holy Mount when the Apostles were there with Christ and it was to confirm the Gospel and to establish our faith in Christ the Redeemer A third voyce or sound was heard from Heaven in the upper room where Christs Apostles were assembled in the day of Pentecost and it was to confirme our faith in the holy Ghost the Comforter A fourth voyce that came from Heaven was heard by Saint Peter in a vision and it was to confirme our faith in the Catholike Church and the Communion of Saints and the incorporating both Jewes and Gentiles in one mystical body Lastly a voyce was heard from Heaven by Saint John in this place to establish our faith in the last Article
Christ for all Cui c. VICTORIS BRABAEUM OR THE CONQUERORS PRIZE A SERMON Preached at Rotheriffe at the Funeral of M ris Dorothy Gataker Wife to the Worthy and Reverend Divine Master Thomas Gataker B. D. SERMON XLVI Apoc. 14.13 So faith the Spirit that they may rest from their labours and their works follow them THe longer a man enjoyeth the benefit of life the more cause he hath to desire death for cares grow with years and sins with cares and sorrows with sins and fears with sorrows which trouble the quiet and confound the musick and blend the mirth and damp the whole joy of our life so that he who spinneth the thred of his life to the greatest length gaineth nothing thereby but this that he can give a fuller and clearer evidence of the vanity of the world and yeild a more ample testimony to the misery of man during his abode in the flesh whom if we take at the best advantage of his Worldly happiness he must needs confess that he hath nothing of all that is past but a sad remembrance nor of that which is to come but a solicitous fear As after a great feast at which a man hath glutted his appetite nothing remaineth but loathsome and stinking fumes ascending from the stomack to the head and offending the brain so of all the pleasures of sin past nothing remaineth but a bitter tast in the conscience or rather to use Saint Bernards Metaphor amar a foeda vestigia foul and stinking prints left in the floar where he danced after the Devils pipe sorrow and shame for what he hath been and fear for what he shall be mingles and sours all the joy and delight in that he is And what is he at the best a poor tennent at will of a ruinous cottage of loam or house of clay ready to fall about his ears with a Grashoppers leap in a spot of ground His apparel is but stoln raggs his wealth the excrements of the earth his dyet bread of carefulness got with the sweat of his brows and all his comforts and recreations rather as Saint Austin tearms them solatia miserorum quam gaudia beatorum sauces of misery then dishes of happiness For albeit a good conscience be a continual feast and the testimony of the Spirit an everlasting Jubilee in the soul yet the most righteous man that breaths mortal ayr either by frailty or negligence or diffidence or impatience or love of this present life or suttlety of perswasions or violence of temptations so woundeth his conscience and grieveth the Spirit of grace that this feast is turned for a time into a fast and the Jubilee into an ejulate or howling All things therefore laid together the scorns of the World assaults from the flesh temptations from the Devil rebukes from God checks from conscience sensible failing of Grace spiritual dissertions with many a bitter agony and conflict with despair I cannot but perfectly accord with the Poet in his doleful note Foelices nimium quibus est fortuna peracta jam sua they are but too hapyy whose glass is well run out and with the Evangelist in my Text beati mortui blessed are the dead for they rest from their labours and their works follow them they rest from those labours which tie us that live and the works which we are to follow follow them A three-fold cable faith the wise man is not easily broken and such is this here in my Text on which the anchour of our hope hangeth 1 The testimony of Saint John Yea. 2 The testimony of the Spirit so saith the Spirit 3 A strong reason drawn from their rest and recompence they rest from their labours and they receive the reward of their labours they are discharged of their work and for their work If they were discharged for their work and not discharged of their work they could not be said blessed because their tedious and painful works were to return And much less happy could they be termed if they were discharged of their work but not for it for then they should lose all their labour under the Sun they should have done and suffered all in vain but now because they are both discharged of their work for they rest from their labour and discharged for their work for their works follow them they are most blessed The Spirit here taketh the ground of this heavenly musick ravishing the souls of the living and able to revive the very dead either from the labourers pay or the racers prize If the ground be the labourers joy for their rest and pay the descant must be this our life is a day our calling a labour the evening when we give over our death the pay our penny If the ground be the racers joy for their prize the descant may be this the Church is the field Christianity is the race death is the last post and a garland of glory the wager let us all so run that we may obtain Yea faith the Spirit We read in the Law and the Prophets Thus faith Jehovah the Lord in the Gospel Thus spake Jesus But in the Epistles and especially in the Revelation thus faith the Spirit now the Spirit speaketh evidently hear what the Spirit faith unto the Churches he that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit faith unto the Churches and the Spirit and the Bride faith come While Christ abode in the flesh he taught with his own mouth the Word of life but now since his Ascention and sitting in state at the right hand of his Father he speaketh and doth all by his Spirit By the Spirit he ordaineth Pastours furnisheth them with gifts enlightneth the understanding of the hearers and enclineth their wills and affections and so leadeth the Church into all truth In which regard Tertullian elegantly tearmeth the Spirit Christi Vicarium Christ his Vicar preaching in his stead and discharging the Cure of the whole World Secondly so faith the Spirit not the flesh the earth denies it but Heaven avereth it when a man removeth out of this World the flesh beholdeth nothing but a corps brought to the Church and a Coffin laid in the Grave but the spirit discerneth an Angel carrying the soul up to Heaven and leaving it in Abrahams bosome till the Father of spirits shall give her again to the body arrayed in glorious apparel There is no Doctrine the Devil the flesh and the World more oppose then this here delivered by the Spirit concerning the blessedness of the dead for all Atheists all Heathen all carnal men all Saduces and sundry sorts of Hereticks deny the Resurrection of the body and the greater part of them also the immortality of the soul A wicked and ungodly person believeth not his soul to be immortal because he would not have it so he would not that their should be another World because he can have hope of no good there having carried himself so
us as proportionable to our extraction God knoweth that the Angels are not Dust and therefore he may justly expect from them and require of them to serve him in altitudinibus in height of performance having a fourfold advantage above men by their very origination First the Angels are incorporeal who can act quicker then I can think My sluggish imagination cannot keep pace with their performances It was but a Poetick fiction that the Spanish gennets were conceived of the Wind. But it is a Theological truth Heb. 1.7 He maketh his Angels Spirits and his Ministers a flaming fire Whereas we poor men do drale and drag a cumbersome corps about us which much hindereth us in all our devotions Secondly Angels have no flesh and we have flesh this will some say interferreth with the former Oh no. Our Saviour had a body and that a real one but no flesh in this sence that is no relique and remnant of original corruption whereas we have both body and flesh too in the worst acception of the latter This Esquire of our body as I may call it is over officious in his dayly attendance so that whilst the Wind of Gods Spirit bloweth us one way the tide of our corruption hurrieth us another way a mischeif from which Angels are secured by their nature Thirdly Angels have no World to tempt them We live 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the middle of Snares so bad that we should not look upon them but so common that we can hardly look beside them Fourthly and lastly Angels are free from any Devil effectually to tempt them should Satan indeavour he could not accomplish it The match cannot be lighted where there is no tinder to take fire Whereas such our corruption it is quickly enflamed with Satans temptations Angels having thus a fourfold advantage above men and seeing they Psal 103.20 Excell in strength whilst we poor mortals exceed in weakness God will expect from us service sutable to the mean matter we are made of and in his accounting with us will give us grains of allowance make favourable abatements and accept of proportionable defalcations remembring that we are but Dust Let me hear make a supposition not only seasable in it self but which de facto we see dayly performed suppose a man had two Sons the one grown to the full strength and stature of a man the other which usually happeneth by the same venter an infant which hath newly learned the method of going alone Suppose further that the Father at the same time commandeth them both to come to him and bring with them somewhat proportionable to their strength in obedience whereunto the man-son bringeth a Beam or Log on his shoulders The Child-son cometh also and what doth he bring with him It is very well if he bringeth himself for every step he stirreth he ventureth a stumbling if not a falling but what if also over and above himself he bringeth a straw or reed in his hand I appeal to you who are Parents of Children others being but incompetent judges of the case in hand to you I say who have paternal affection resident in your breasts and maternal legure in your bosomes whether you would not take it in as good part a reed of your Child-son as a Beam of your Man-sons bringing I trough you would Have earthly Fathers who are but parcel-pittiful such a Court of Chancery in their hearts and shall not God whose mercy is over all his works exceed us in all bowels of compassion God I say who may be said to have two forts of Sons Angels already arrived at their full strength and perfection In the laws of England the Kings eldest Son as Duke of Cornwel was presumed to be to all legal intents and purposes of full Age on the first day of his Nativity sure I am that Angels at the very instant of their creation were out of their non-age and in full maturity whilst men during their living in this life are still in their minority Until Ephes 4.13 we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledg of the Son of God unto a perfect man unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ and therefore God will dispence with our dusty performance remembring that we are but Dust However none can without manifest usurpation entitle themselves to the least share in this Use of comfort if the connection of Davids words whereon they are founded be seriously considered Psal 103.13 14. Like as a Father pittieth his Children so the Lord pittieth them that fear him For be knoweth our frame he remembreth that we are dust See here God only reflecteth with favours on the dusty extraction of those that fear him and no others Therefore let no prophane person suck poyson out of the sweet flower of our comfortable use and dispose himself to leudness or at the best laziness in Gods service presuming that God knowing his Original of Dust will therefore accept of his as of but dusty performance Here let me distinguish betwixt dusty and Dung-hil serving of God Dusty serving of him is when men endeavours to the utmost strength of their weakness to serve him when they present him as Jacob did unknown Joseph Gen. 43.11 with the best and those God knowes but had fruit of our Land in our vessels doing all in sincerity which is Gospel perfection and the mean time confessing of groaning for and fighting against those many corruptions and more imperfections which cleave unto their most perfect performances This is Dusty serving of God Dung-hil serving of him is which proceedeth from persons Dead in Trespasses and sins Ephes 2.1 sending forth the same savour in the nostrills of the God of Heaven with Lazarus when he had been three dayes buried John the 11.39 And although such actions may appear spetious to the beholders yea and breath forth no bad sent at all to wicked men in the same condition one rotten corps is not offensive to an other yet as dead flies cause Eccles 10.1 Ointment of Apothecary to send forth an ill savour so Hypochricy appendant to such actions rendereth them noisom to that infinite being who is Emunclissiminaris most exact and critical in his smelling This is Dung-hill serving of God most odious unto him and therefore the Godly do detest and abhor it whilst they only grieve and bemoan at their dusty service of God which notwithstanding if qualified as formerly stated is acceptable in Jesus Christ Come we now to the Mark to which we all run and unto dust shalt thou return Whence we observe this Doctrine All humane art cannot preserve a corps from final returning to dust I say final although for a time it may repreive the same from being pulverized Far be it from me dispitefully to decoy the ingenious indeavours and they be but endeavours of any in Chyrurgery I will not add any to my ignorance in that mistery yet I say Art must cry craven in
assuredly that there was a Crown of Righteousness laid up for him in Heaven Answ To which some answer that he had it by Revelation extroardinary as an Apostolical priviledge daigned to him from God the better to chear him on in the course of the Gospel and to steel his resolutions against all opposers of the glorious truth therein revealed or as Anselme thus He had that assurance Non re plenissima sed spe firmissima grounded upon a firm hope and expectation But of this more anon Having thus pointed at the Quaeries I come now to the more particular handling of the words out of which I observe two general parts 1. A solemn profession of the discharge of his Office verse 7. 2. A large Remuneration and Reward of that Discharge ver 8. In the former we have 1. The Person I. 2. His Act fought 3. The object of that Act A fight 4. The quality of that fight A good fight 5. The time of all this noted from the expression in the Proeter tense I have fought 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I have fought a good fight the rest of the words in this verse I take to be upon the matter but as the exegesis and exposition of the former In the second main part the reward We have it amplified 1. By the Donor or bestower of it The Lord described here by a Periphrasis and styled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Righteous Judge 2. By the Title given to it A Crown of Righteousness 3. By the manner of it it is laid up 4. By the time of Donation In that Day 5. By the persons to whom bestowed To Paul himself and that not by any restrictive enclosure as if only to himself and to none other besides but by a farther expansion it reacheth unto others with himself provided they be found under due qualification of loving the appearance of the Judge Not unto me only but unto them also that love his appearing These at least as to my observation are the parts of this Scripture which being so many I must be constrained as the Disciples passing through the Corn-fields upon the Sabbath day 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to pluck but an ear or two of the choysest notice or as some Lapidaries of rich Jewels are wont shew them only in a short cursory view and so lay them up again The first words I have fought a good fight admit of a divers Interpretations yet each of them suitable to the Analogy and proportion of Faith They may then be taken either as the expression of Sain Paul himself quatenus Apostolus as under the notion of an Apostle or else as a Christian in the condition with other Members of the Church of Christ with himself for that we read in the close of the eighth verse The Crown of Righteousness was laid up for all that loved the appearing of the Lord. If we take them in the former sense then from the first particular The Person The note of Magalian is opposite Stus Paulus Dux fuit antesignamus earum quoe proecipiebat That we look at Saint Paul as an exemplary leader to all his successors though indeed not in an Apostolical Latitude yet in the office and work it self of the Ministery practically first doing what he would have others to observe in and about the dispensation of the Gospel see Phil. 4.9 And this was our Saviours own Course Act. 1.1 He began to do and Teach first to do and then to Teach it s noted by Barradius upon that Prophesie Isa 9.6 which had relation to our Saviour it was said The Government should be upon his shoulders intimating that himself would first bear in his own person what he intended to impose upon others to wit in things capable of Imitation even as he said unto John Baptist when he tender'd himself to be Baptized of him and he in an humble renuence grew shy as deeming himself unworthy of so great an Honour Mat. 3.15 Suffer it to be so now saith he for thus it becometh us to fulfil all Righteousness Hac est enim Justitia ut quod alterum facere velis prior ipse incipias tuo alios horteris exemplo as Saint Ambrose expounds the words This was righteousness that is an equal and just thing that what thou wouldest have another to observe and do thou thy self shouldest first exemplisie in thine own actions suitably whereunto was that serious advise of Saint Paul unto his Son Timothy 2 Tim. 4.16 Take heed unto thy self and unto thy Doctrine for so thou shalt both save thy self and those that hear thee Where the chiefest heed was to be given to himself Truly spake Saint Gregory cum Imperio docetur quod prius agitur quam dicatur Then shall we with Authority speak what we do when we do what we speak But this is a Discourse fitter for a Visitation then a Funeral were it not that it is at the obsequies of such a worthy Divine for whom we now perform this last Christian good office whose practise herein was an accurate Comment upon the whole speech From the second and third particular in this acception of the words its obvious to every apprehension that the work of the Ministery is a Fighting yea a continual Warfare so Bruno and with him Espencoeus observes that where the Verb and Substantive run in the same termes one conducing to the other to perfect the Emphesis of the expression there is evermore a Frequency of that Act implyed I should but cast drops into the Ocean to endeavour a large proof of so clear a Truth Whilest Noah both by his Lips and by his Hands in building the Arke was a Preacher of Righteousness in the old world was it not thus whilst the spirit of God in his Ministery strove with the obstinate corruptions of that wicked world what aspersions what oppositions what misusages and abasures had the Prophets in their dayes being derided traduced misufed insulted on even for the Conscientious discharge of their Function the precious Sons of Sion comparable to fine Gold how were they esteemed as earthen Pitchers the work of the hand of the Potter Lam. 4.2 And who knows not the exact accomplishment of old Simeons Propecy of our Saviour himself Luke 2.34 How he was set for a sign which was and should be spoken against 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for a signe of contradiction he should be as a common mark whereat the arrows of reproach shall be fully shot Of all the Holy Apostles its noted 1 Cor. 4.13 They were made as the filth of the world and the off-scouring of all things continually 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth that rejectament which is scaped from the dirty pavement from whence the shooes gather defilement and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it being a word in a Composition carryes with it the greater Emphesis and denotes the polluted rakings of the streets
wounded afresh with some gross act of sin this made David afraid yea to roar out and to make a noyse through the disquietness of his spirit Psal 38.8 Psal 55.2 and under that state of soul to begg earnestly to be spared that he might recover strength in Gods favour before he went hence and was no more Psal 39.13 or else when the Lord shall for divers ends and reasons surcharge the soul and conscience with the sins of youth for which perhaps men have not as became them been sufficiently humbled thus dealt he even with his servant Job writing bitter things against him Job 13.26 see also Job 16.4 But out of those cases it is proprium quarto medo onely the Saints love it all such love it and alwayes and no marvaile sith by this second coming and appearance of Christ in the day of the last Judement they receive very great and inestimable benefits such as are final Redemption of the Body from corruption Rom. 8.23 Freedom from the society of the wicked which here afflict the godly by their violation of Gods Law and Precepts Deliverance not onely from the raign and dominion but even from the inhabitation and being of sin which here they find as a clogg and a burthen too heavy for them and so long to be rid of it Rom. 7.24 and lastly the beatifical vision and perfect fruition of the ever-blessed and all-glorious Trinity in the Heavenly Hieru salem among the innumerable company of Angels being admitted to the general Assembly and Church of the first-borne which are enrolled and written in Heaven and to God the Judge of all and to the spirits of just men made perfect and to Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant in whose presence there is fulness of joy and at whose right hand are pleasures for evermore And thus my brethren after my measure as I could upon so short notice of about a day though not so full after my desires as I would in so great so learned and serious an Auditory have I dispatched my discourse upon the Scripture your candour will I hope connive at the want of polishing and entertain it as it is according to the weight and importance off the matter of it And may the God of grace reap the Total glory Amen FINIS The coherence Devision of the words Prospos Every man in the world is Gods Steward Proved 1. By what every one receiveth from God 2. By what God expects from every one Psal 24 1. Men do not waste his goods 2. That they do not abuse them to ill ends Luke 19 27. James 4 3. 3 To do him Homage Acts 10 33. 4 To return him fruit Matt. 21.33 Vse Two things required of a Steward 1. Dispensation Rom 13 4. Rom 1 14.1 Tim 5 8. 2. Right ordering of his dispensations Luk. 12.42 1. Faithfully Heb. 3.5 Exod. 32.19 2. VVisely Rom. 3.7 1 Tim. 3.17 Gen 18.19 Propos 2. All Gods stewards must give an account Two dayes of reckoning 1. In this life By the VVord Gen 3.11 1 King 19. Matt 3. Acts 2. By the rod. Job 33.14 Mic 6.9 Job 33.19 1 Cor 11.30 Psal 31.5 2 After this life A necessitie of a day of judgement 1. In respect of God his decree Acts. 17.31 Isa 46.10 His honour Eccles 3.16 2. In respect of the Saints 2 Thes 1.5 For the manifestation of their innocency For the reward of their works Mal. 3.17.18 3. In respect of the wicked For the manifestation of Gods righteous proceeding against them Rom. 2.5 For the perfecting of their punishment Why God is said to call all men to an account 1. Because he will proceed in particular Job 27.18 Jam. 5.1.2 James 4.3 Mat. 16. Mat. 5 22. Mat. 15.19 2. Because he will proceed by me hod and order Psal 50. Psal 51. Rom. 7. A direction in the exercise of repentance 3. Because he will proceed by books Dan. 10. Rev. 20. John 12.48 Jer. 17.1 4. Because God will exact of every one according to what he hath been trusted with Luke 12.48 Vse 1. For confutation Atheists in the Church 2 Pet. 3. Vse 2. For instruction 2. Not to judge others Rom. 14.10 1 Cor. 4.5 2. To judge our selves here A two sold reckoning to be made here 1. Reckon with out selves Jer. 8.6 Lam. 3.39 Psal 4. 2. Reckon with others 2. Sam. 12.3 Acts 20.26 Iames. 5.3 3. To Exercise daily repentance Acts 17.31 4. To get an interest in Christ Rom 8.1 Exod. 25.21 5. To lead a holy conversation 1 Pet. 3.11 2 Cor. 5.9 Acts 26.15 16. Vse 3. For Comfort James 5. Heb. 9.27 The Coherence The meaning of the words The devision of the words Observat 1. The death of others is a just occasion of Mourning Gen. 23.2 Gen. 27.41 Gen. 50.10 2. Sam. 25.1 Zach. 12.10 John 11. Act. 20.38 Reas 1. Reas 2. Ier. 5.3 Vse Object Answ A twofold distempe In mens affections 1.2 1 These 4.13 Deut. 14. Observat 2. Death the end of all men Iob 3.14 Zach. 1.5 Reas 1. In regard of Gods decree Reas 2. In regard of the matter whereof men are made Iob 13 12. Reas 3. In regard every man in him hath the cause of death Object Heb 11.5 2 King 2.11 Answ Object Answer Rom. 8.28 Matt. 22. Vse 1. Make account of it for our selves The benefit of the particular application of death to a mans selfe 1. Sin will be made more odious Rom. 5.11 2. The truth and justice of God will bee the more acknowledged 3. Death will be the b 〈◊〉 prepared for Job 14.14.5 Three things wherein here is oâ—… a particular application of â—…h to a man 1. In matter of sinning Acts 5. 2. In redeeming of the time of life 1 Cor. 10.35 Heb. 3 13. Gal. 6.10 3. In the manner of our conversation Vse 1 In respect of the death of others 1. To moderate our mourning for the death of others 2. To improve he life of others Observat 3. It is the duty of the living to lay to heart the death of others Reas 1.1 God is glorified hy it Psal 28.5 Reas 2. Our selves are benefited by it 1. Thereby we come to see the certainty of death 2. Thereby we come to see the nature of death The proper worke of death 1. To separate the body from the soule 2. To separate a man from his estate 3. To separate a man from his friends Gen. 23. 2 Sam. 1. â—… 1 Cor. 7.19 3. Thereby we come tosee the end and cause of death 1 Kings 14.13 2 Chro. 34.18 Isa 57.1 Ezek. 9.4 5. Vse 1 For reproof of the generall neglect of this duty Vse 2. For reproof 1. Of the excess of sorrow for dead freinds Judg. 8.24 Gen 31.30 2. Of the rash censuring of the manner of others death Luke 13.4 Eccles 9.2 Vse 3. For Instruction Luke 2.29 Observat Gods children are subject to the fear of death The outward causes of the fear of death 1. God
the beavens from this full perswasion did arise this heavenly affection in this we green earnestly But alas how different is our disposition from this heavenly temper how pale how wan is our countenance at the mention of Death at the least summons of our last accounts as vinegar to our teeth as smoak to our eyes as a sudden damp to our lights as an horrid crack of thunder in the middest of our jollities so is the mention of Death If any ask the reason of this it is too manifest Want of judgement what is the true good of the sons of men Want of apprehension of the happiness of the Saints Want of faith in God of Union with Christ our souls never make any holy peregrination from the body and seat themselves with Angels and Archangels and trace the streets of New Jerusalem we anticipate not the joyes of the life to come by devout meditations and contemplations we have not our conversation in heaven from whence we look for our Redeemer Our soul thirsteth not our flesh longeth not after the living God The reason of this is we hang upon the teats of the world like babes and children we suck venome out of it to our souls we walk upon our bellies as unclean beasts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we jutt against God and offend him our accounts are not streight and even therefore we are afraid at the appearance of our Saviour and of our citation to appear before his Tribunal we groan when we hear of death we groan not that we may die this is our condition and are not these different one unto another Doth not this stain the verdure of our countenances and cover us with shame and confusion to observe so manifest a declination of the fervor of the Spirit That you desire this heavenly temper I doubt not I should offer violence to Charity the Queen of Graces if I should think otherwise For this cause many of you are strict in the perforamnce of holy duties agreeable and convenient to this sacred time That your devotions may attain a happy end let me lend you a helping hand whilst I discourse these words which even now founded in your eares In this we groan earnestly c. Which I will resolve into three Propositions 1. That we are strangers in this life without our house 2. That the Saints desire their true and proper house 3. The intention of their desire In this we grown c. That we are strangers do not the sacred Oracles declare our conversation our polity is in beaven faith the Doctor of the Gentiles Our life it is hid up with Christ Col. 2. We are fellow Citizens with the Saints of the houshold of God Ephes 2. Doth not the chief of the Apostles intreat us as Pilgrims and strangers to abstaine from fleshly lusts which fight against the soul and do not these and the like demonstrate unto us that a Christian lives with men yet above men in earth yet in heaven bound yet free detained with us yet far above us living a doubble life one manifest the other Hid with Christ one contemptible the other glorious one natural the other spiritual that his Parentage is from heaven that his Treasure is in heaven that his heart is in heaven that his root is fastened in the everlasting mountains though his branches are here below that his dwelling is in heaven though his peregrination be here on earth and did not these Oracles tell us thus much yet are there not enforcing arguments to convince us of this Truth Are not they strangers that are out of their proper place and are not Christians while they are here out of their place Is this world made for Man an Ark of travel a School of vanity a Laborinth of errour a Grove full of thorns a Meadow full of Scorpions a flourishing garden without fruit a fountain of misery a river of tears a feigned fable a detestable frenzy and is this the place of man What means the fabrick of our body lifted up to heaven our hands eyes head upward but to shew us as Chalcidius the heathen man observed that our Progenitors are from heaven that our place is in heaven Every place is adequate to the thing placed in it is this world adequate to man are not his desires infinitely extended beyond the same Every place hath a conserving vertue in it Doth this world Preserve man well may it minister a little food to this beast of ours which we carry about us but can it afford the least savory morsell to the soul it were to be wished that it did not poyson contaminate and desile the soul so that the safest way for the soul is to flie from the world as from the face of a Serpent Is this world the place of man why doth our tender Mother the Church assoon as we come into the world snatch us out of the world and as assoon as we breath in the ayre bury us by Baptism in the grave of Christ and assoon as we move in this world consigne us with the sign of the Cross to fight against the the world and all the pomps of the same and are not we strangers Are not they strangers that have different lawes and divers customs and another Prince to rule and command them You have heard of the Prince of the ayre and the Lawes of the flesh of the fashions of the world of the wisdome that is from below and earth-creeping Are Christians guided by these rules have they not the God of heaven and earth the Lawes of the Spirit and the wisdome that is from above and customes that are from heaven whereby to regulate them Who are the men of this world are they not those who have the God of this world to reign in their hearts who are led captive by him whose understandings are darkned their wills obfirmated their hearts hardned their consciences seared their conversation defiled with all uncleannesses their senses open breaches for sin to enter their tongues blaspheming the name of God and are these conversations fit for the Saints and are they not strangers Are not they strangers that are not capable of honours of possessions in the place wherein they live as being not free Denizens of the place and is not this proper to Christians whose duty it is to vilisie riches and honours and pleasures in themselves as much as they that have these do others that have them not to account riches the greatest poverty and pleasures the greatest torments and honours the greatest ignominy and power the greatest weakness not to possesse the world not to enjoy it not to account any thing good that maketh not the owner better not to admit any thing from the world but so far as it may advance the true Nobility of man the purity of the Image of God his restitution to his ancient descent his re-estating him in the possession of heaven and the society of Angels and Archangels to rise
up in Armes against this materiall world and to rend himself from this faecaelent matter and out of the greatness of his Spirit and nobleness of his disposition to be altogether ambitious of the presence of God and of these constant and unchangeable good things This is the duty of Christians and are not they Strangers Are not they strangers that have double Impost and double customes and the greatest taxations laid upon them is not this peculiar unto the Saints in this life have they not afflictions laid upon them in the greatest measure must they not through many afflictions enter into the kingdome of heaven Have they not tears and that in abundance for their meat and for their drink Have they not enemies from within and enemies from without Must they not be conformable to their head Christ their elder brother as he had his double portion in this life of afflictions and punishments so must they have as he was sanctified by afflictions so must they also The gold is not pure unless it be tryed nor the water sweet if it have not a currant nor the vessel bright unless it be scoured nor the Saints fit for heaven unless they be prepared by afflictions what man was there that ever set himself seriously either to reform himself or others that found not great opposition from himself and from others and are not these strangers Are not they strangers that are ad placitum Principis to stay in the Land or to be gone according as he shall manifest his royall pleasure by his Proclamation and are not we here in the world upon these termes how soon all of us or any of us shall be dismissed who knows who dares promise to himself the late evening or secure himself of the least atome or moment of time he that dreamed waking of long continuance had scarce liberty to dream sleeping for that night they took away his soul and he himself was branded to succeeding generations with the name of a fool and are not we strangers Did not the Saints of God whose judgements were most refined those that had the honour to approach most near unto God himself alwayes so repute themselves Doth not the holy Patriarch that wrestled with God and hath principality over him Did not he acknowledge that few and evil were the dayes of his pilgrimage Did not he that was a man after Gods own heart that had a special promise that his house should continue for ever Yet did not he acknowledg that he was a stranger as well as his fathers were is it not his earnest prayer unto God I am a stranger upon earth hide not thy Commandements from me as if he had said I am a Traveller upon earth I am speeding to Jerusalem which is above I am to passe through this dark calignous world thy Word is a light to my feet a lanthorn to my steps the rule the square the cannon of all rectitude hide not this light from me lest I run out of the way or linger in the way or stumble or fall in the way I am a stranger upon earth c. What should I instance in particulars are they not summed up to my hand by the Apostle Heb. 11.13 All these Patriarks Prophets Saints all of them did acknowledg themselves to be strangers Examples have in them an universality of Doctrine and instruction especially the examples of the Saints because Praxis Sanctorum is Interpres pracceptorum the practice of the Saints is the best interpretation of the precept Examples have in them a directive force because those that are best disposed in mind and body are a rule for the rest Examples have an incentive force to give life spirits vigour transmitting by a kind of Metem Psychosis the soul the spirits the resolutions the affections of the pattern to him that reads it extorting deep sighs and tears and groans and other alterations at their pleasure And if any Examples have this force have not these much more Other examples have the testimony of men these have the testimony of God himself he is not ashamed a wonderful condiscention of the one and the supream elevation of the other to be called their God the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob the Father of the faithful and the God of the beleevers There are examples whereof men boast but God is ashamed of them corrupt examples of wicked the imperfect examples of heathen men of these God is ashamed but of these God is not shamed and shall we be ashamed of them We are then strangers Let me instill into your ears the voyce of that was heard in the Temple before the ruin of it Migremus hinc Let us go from hence Let me say unto you with our Saviour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let us go from hence let us truss up our fardels and on with our sandals and promote our way to heaven Let us depose and lay down all burthens and impediments and make our selves expedite and fit for our journey we are in an Inne let us look about us and leave nothing behind but carry all with us or send it before us we have but an instant of our abode here let us imploy it to the best advantage It is the greatest loss it is the most shameful loss it is the most irrecoverable loss that may be to lose this instant upon which eternity depends eternity of misery or eternity of felicity let us follow our Saviour let us seek his face let us ascend with him let us not rest here Sleep may overtake us a false Prophet may deceive us the snare may intangle us the Armie of the enemy may fall upon us let us be above all these Let us seek those things that are above What where Sun and Moon are nothing less Where then where God is where Christ who is our house our temple our habitation that we may be cloathed with him this is the desire of all the Saints and this leads me to the second point That the Saints desire a true and proper house In this we groan earnestly c. What is meant by this house whether the Joyes of heaven or a Glorisied body is hard to determine by the context I incline to Calvins opinion that both are meant as making up that compleat house which the Saints desire the one as the introition the other as the consummation of their bliss and into both these houses I shall labour to introduce your spirits and affections The first house is the Joyes of heaven a kingdome else-where for the amplitude for the abundant sufficiency for the honour royalty of them yet because many in kingdomes see not the face of the King and of those that see his face few are of his house and family and of those that are of his Court few are familiar with him or converse with him and of those that converse with him few are his sons his heirs Therefore this kingdome is an house wherein all