are nowe For otherwise it is to be presupposed that the lord would not destroy the more perfite and creat others more vnperfit in their place and roome Finally that dwelling shalbe exceeding large and spatious for there shal be no separation betwixt the heaven and the earth betwixt the dwelling place of the Lord and the dwelling place of Men but conforme to his promise hee shall dwell with vs and wee with him as Citizens of a Citie And thus much concerning the Description of the dwelling place A Declaration of the Company which we shall inioye in the World to come AS to the Companie which we shall haue in that heavenly habitation it is first to be marked that wee shall be quite of all evil company For all wicked men shall be perpetually banished from that faire cuntrie Know ye not saith the Apostle Paul that the vnrighteous shall not inherite the kingdome of God Be not deceived Neither Fornicators nor Idolaters nor adulterers nor wanton persons nor buggerers nor theeues nor the covetous nor drunkards nor raillers nor extortioners shall inherite the kingdome of God which is to be vnderstood except they be washen sanctified and justified in the name of Iesus Christ and by the spirit of God like as the Corinthians were to whome Paul wrote this Epistle which did repent and amend their liues The same is affirmed by Saint Iohn in his Revelation saying the fearfull and vnbeleving and the abhominable murtherers and whoremongers and sorcerers and Idolaters and all liers shal haue their part in the lake that burnes with fire and brimstone which is the second death And again speaking of that holie Citie he saith There shal enter into it no vncleane thing neither whatsoever worketh abhomination or lies The companie then which we shall injoy shall be all holy and righteous Thy people shall be all righteous saith the Lord speaking to his Church they shal possesse the land for ever Lord who shall dwell in thy Tabernacle saith the Psalmist who shal rest in thine holy mountaine He that walks vprightlie and works righteousnes and speakes the trueth in his heart In such sort that wee shall continuallie converse with the Saints that is to say with men and women which served God in spirit and trueth in this life and that not onelie of the people of our owne cuntrie or of the Iewes and Israelites which are called Gods people But also of all cuntries and nations of the earth and that of all estates degrees Assemble your selues and come saith the Lord drawe neere togither ye abject of the Gentiles Look vnto me and yee shall be saved All the ends of the earth shal be saued For I am God and there is none other I haue sworne by my selfe the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousnes and shall not returne That every knee shall bowe vnto me and every toung shal sweare by me And againe the Lord saith to his Son Christ Iesus It is a small thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise vp the tribes of Iacob and to restore the desolations of Israell I will also giue thee for a light of the Gentiles that thou maist be my salvation to the end of the world Likewise the Apostle Iohn saith that the glory and honour of the Gentiles that is to say of all Nations aswell as of the Iewes shall be brought vnto the holie Citie And this shall not onely be of the faithful of one age or of them which are living nowe but of all ages which hath bene from the beginning of the worlde and shal be vnto the consumation thereof and latter comming of Iesus Christ. Wee shall then frequent the societie and fellowship of al the godly Martyrs which constantly hath suffered for the name of Christ Iesus in this life And likewise of the Disciples and Apostles of Christ Iesus which hath sounded his Gospel thorow the whol world Of the holy Priests and true Prophets of the Lord of the godly Kings and Rulers of the Earth which as the Lords lieftenants did ministrate justice and judgment in their liues We shall haue for our familiar brethren and companions our first progenitor Adam Noe Lot Abraham Isaac Iacob and the twelue Patriarks the sonnes of Iacob Likewise wee shall see by familiar and contract friendship brotherhood which never shall be dissolved with Moses Aaron Iosua and the just judges of Israell with Samuell Elias and Elisha Esay Ieremie Ezechiell and Daniell with David Ezechias and Iosias with Iohn the Baptist Peter Paul Iohn whome our Saviour loved with whome wee shal dwell as brethren and Citizens of a Cittie Moreover not onely shall wee be in company with faithful men and women but also with the whole armie of the holy Angels of the Lord whome hee hath appointed to preserue and defend vs in this life The whole ordour of them shall rejoyce greitumlie of our comming and salvation and shall be continually conversant with vs in perpetual societie and friendship There shal we enter in fellowshippe with the Cherubims Seraphins Thrones Dominions Principalities Powers Arch-angels Angels and with the whole number of the celestiall Legions Which receiveth those styles to declare their glory power distinct ofices These shal delight to magnifie extol the Majestie of the lord togither with vs insatiantlie with vnspeakable joy gladnes But the chief company wherein we shuld most rejoice is That we shall haue the ful fruition of almightie God the Father of his Sonne Christ Iesus our Saviour and of the holy Ghost which is the spirit of God There we shal see them face to face in their full majestie and glory which none can behold nor apprehend in this life but by faith only The almighty God shall behold and blesse vs from his high and holy throne as his owne sonnes and heires whome hee hath adopted The Lambe Christ Iesus shall imbrace kisse vs as his brethren sisters he shall congratulate our comming and present vs faultlesse vnto his Father And the Comforter the spirit of trueth which nowe doth secreetly assist vs governe vs and work in our hearts by measure shal then be visiblie and personally ever present among vs and really and with effect shall possesse both our soules and bodies and replenish vs with ful measure Thus much shall suffice to haue spoken of the Company which wee shall injoye and with whom we shal liue in the world to come A Rehearsall of the Pleasures which we shall inioy in the world to come LET vs nowe come to the pleasures whereof we shal be made participant in the life to come Like as the Geographor by symmetrie and proportion describes all the Cuntries of the earth into the bounds of a litle globe and is accostomed to write throughout the partes thereof This is a cuntrie this is a famous Citie this is a river these are mountains this is an arme of the sea
A Treatise OF THE FELICItie of the life to come VNSAVORIE TO THE obstinate alluring to such as are gone astray and to the faithful full of consolation By A.H. HEB. 12.22 But ye are come vnto the mount Sion and to the Citie of the living God the celestiall Ierusalem and to the company of innumerable Angels EDINBVRGH PRINTED BY ROBERT Walde-graue Printer to the Kings Majestie 1594. Cum Priuilegio Regali THE PREFACE TO the faithfull Readers WITH great humilitie and reverence Brethren and not without a warrant of Gods Word ought wee to speake of heavenly things and specially in treating of the life to come there is a singular discretion modestie required both in the teacher and the hearer For the matter is so loftie and transcends so far the vnderstanding of man that as a godly Pastor hath saide It is much more easie to describe and vnderstand the way to heaven and eternall life nor to describe the place and life it selfe Therefore when wee cannot vtter the dignitie of the matter it selfe which is aboue our capacitie we are forced to speake by similitudes and vnder shadowes of natural things which we can conceiue that thereby the things supernatural may be better conceived And this is no wonder seeing the Apostle saith that hee was taken vp into Paradise and heard words which cannot be spoken which are not possible for man to vtter Yea the very spirit of God speaking of the glory of the Elect in the world to come he makes their dwelling place to be made of gold and of precious stones their meat to be of fat things and of twelue manner of fruites and their drink to be of cleare springing waters and of sweet fined Wines And why speakes he after this maner Because we vnderstand this language and by reason of our weaknes and ignorance can mount no higher nor conceiue any farther Now then when I say that in the world to come we shall be delighted with bodily and sensual pleasures and that our senses of seing hearing smelling tasting and of feeling shall be delighted with their owne objects that are proper vnto them I speake so for penuritie of language For how shall that spirituall matter be otherwaies expressed seing there is not an other language for spirituall things nor there is for things naturall but that there is many attributiōs common to them both We see that in the scriptures mention is made of the mouth of God and of the hand of God when notwithstanding the Lord is a spirit and hath neither mouth nor hands as man hath but by the one is signified his word and by the other his power in preserving or punishing Likewise the life is called life aswell of the soule as of the body Death also is a word common both to the soul the body There is no other word for the joy of the soule and the joy of the body but joy and the nurishment of the soul is called Food aswell as the nourishment of the bodie Yet there is no doubt but our bodies shall arise at the last day perfit in all the senses If then we haue the senses of necessitie they must haue their owne objects and consequently that delectation which results of the objects may be pertinently called a bodily or sensuall delectation because it falles vnder the senses of the body Neverthelesse neither shall our bodies and our senses nor yet their objects be naturall mortall or corruptible as they are in this life But they shall be spiritual immortal and incorruptible for as the Apostle saith There is a naturall body and there is a spirituall body neither can flesh and blood inherit the kingdome of God That is our naturall bodies as they are now while they be made newe and incorruptible by the spirit of Iesus Christ cannot inherite the kingdome of God Farther the substance and forme of this litle treatise to declare it shortly is this Having laied this ground that the miseries of the righteous are many There is heereupon two questions moued the one is why the Lord doeth so hardly intreat his servants in this life not onely in witholding his temporal benefits from thē but also in sending them great trobles To the which bipartite question it is answered severally that hee measures his giftes according vnto our strength and the pilgrimage which we haue to make that his chief reward is not temporall but everlasting and that he knowes affliction to be good for vs. The other question is why the godly suffers paciētly these wrongs which they might resist The answere is that the reverence which they beare to the Lords commandement and the hope which they haue of the reward promised which is eternal life is the very cause of it And forasmuch as that reward seemes to the naturall man to be farre of and the passage therevnto to be fearefull and difficill It is therefore shewen that neither the reward of the godly is farre off nor yet death by thē to be much feared And to remoue all doubtings of the resurrection It is prooved by diuers similitudes taken from things which we see daily wrought by God in nature to be nothing impossible This done vnto such as beleeue the resurrection of the bodies and the everlasting life is described the felicitie thereof which is collected of the excellencie of the place of the dignitie of the indwellers of the perfection of the pleasures and of the diuturnitie of the time The excellencie of the place is taken from the situation the fabrick and the bewtie thereof from the high stiles that are given vnto it in the Scriptures and from the worthines of the architoure and inhabitants thereof which is also aggreged by the liuely description of a bewtifull terrestriall place and consideration of the bewtie of the firmament the Sunne the Moone and the starres and argumentation from the lesse to the more The dignitie of the indwellers is manifested by their righteousnes and are the three persons of the Trinitie the holy Angels or ministring spirites and all the Saintes or elect people of God which is confirmed by the scriptures Thereafter to expresse the pleasures of the life to come comparisō is made betwixt them and the pleasures of this life whereby the perfection of the one more evidently appeares by the consideration of the other The pleasures of this life are devided in the pleasures of the body and the pleasures of the minde The bodilie pleasures are severally described by giuing an instance of the most plesant objects that can fall vnder the outward senses And the pleasures of the minde which exceeds the sensuall in greatnes are conceived vnder the rare gifts of the body and of the spirite joined with all kinde of honour and worldly promotion This done enumeration is made by an Epilogue of the greatest pleasures which the wit of man can devise and yet are proved to be inferior to the joyes of the life to come But
the fleshe in dignitie and worthines Were it not a great contentment to the mind to haue thy body als bewtiful and of seemlie proportion as thy heart would wishe And that thou were equall in strength speed and agilitie with any other man Likewise that thou were of such skil and dexteritie at al games and exercitions of the body aswell these that are naturall vnto man as in these which needes art and instruction as summing balling handeling of thine armour and others such like that none were able to out-match thee and therewithal to haue thy bewtie ever flourishing never to fade and thy body never to decay but ever to remaine in perfite vigour and strength Moreover wouldest thou not think it a great felicitie to be so pregnant quick of spirit that nothing could seeme hard or difficil vnto thee But that thou hadst the knowledge of all artes and sciences of all tongues and languages and with thy knowledge to haue a facund and ornate tongue to vtter the conceptions of thy mind Farther is it not very delectable to the heart of man to haue obtained a great victory and to haue defait the enemies of his natiue cuntrie brought the same to libertie and freedome by his owne deedes and vertue as the stronge Sampson did in subduing the Philistims David in slaying of Goliah Iudith in killing of Olophernes or as the valiant Roman Cockles did with great praise and commendation of all men It is also no litle contentment to the spirit to haue found out a singular and subtile devise which may bring both great pleasure and great commoditie with it not onely to the inventor thereof himselfe but also to the whole estate of a common wealth Wee reade that Pythagoras for finding out by his own ingyne study of a proposition of Geometrie which indeed is esteemed to be very excellent and of great vse in the Mathematicks and is the 47. Proposition of the first book of the Elements of Euclide for very joy he came forth of his cabinet running and crying with a loude voice as though he had bene transported I haue found it I haue found it and thereafter made a solemne sacrifice and oblation of an hundreth Oxen. See we not also howe great rejoycing it is to the heart of him that hath done a notable and noble act pronounced a wise sentence or made a cunning ornat harangue to the great admiration and praise of the hearers and beholders And were it not a pleasant thing to be promoved by a greate Monarche from the estate of a poore miserable cotter to the estate of a welthie potent Lord and to be received in great familiaritie credite with the same monarche To be short I think the greatest joyes which man can wish or imagine are these To haue all thinges that the heart doth require and to lack nothing To haue knowledge of all things and to be ignorant of nothing To be ever glad and never sorrowfull To be ever careles and without feare and never careful nor in dread To be ever in pleasure and neuer in paine To be alwaies wel content and never miscontent nor displeased To be ever in securitie and never in danger To be ever in peace and at rest and never troubled nor disquieted To be ever at libertie and never in thraldome To be ever in health and in good disposition and never sick nor diseased To be ever in a constant and stable estate and never subject to change nor alteration To be free from all naturall infirmities of the body and all passions and perturbations of the mind but in special from the thraldome of sinne and to haue an absolute power over all our affections concupiscenses To be delighted with every thing and never to see nor heare that thing which is grievous or displeasant To hate or envy no man nor yet to bee hated or envied of any But to loue and like all and to be loved and liked of all men To be honoured and esteemed of all men but in speciall to be in the favor of God and to be reciprocklie beloved of them whome wee loue most intirelie and to be sure and certaine never to die but to liue for ever What then of al these joies and pleasures were they ever injoied by any man or is it possible that any man can injoy them in this life No certainlie they cannot be fully injoyed so long as wee dwell here vpon earth and remaines in this tabernacle of fleshe and blood But these are heavenly joyes pertaining to the life to come which all the faithfull shall vndoubtedlie injoye yea and greater nor these also For the wit ingine of man is able to comprehend and vnderstand these joies before rehearsed But the perfit joy and felicitie of the life to come passeth all vnderstanding But nowe let vs see what warrant we haue of the word of God against these things and howe the spirit of God doth certifie vs hereof We are first certified by the spirit of God that in the life to come wee shall be exeemed from all griefe and sorrow so that our joy and pleasure shall not be mixed with sorrowes as the pleasures of this life are For the Evangelist Iohn saith God shall wipe away al teares from their eyes and there shall bee no more death neither sorrow neither crying neither shal there be any more pain for the first things are passed The former trobles are forgotten saith the Lord by the mouth of the Prophet and shall surely hide themselues from mine eies for Lo I will create newe heavens and a newe earth and the former shall not be remembred nor come into minde But be yee glad and rejoice for ever in the things which I shall create For behold I wil create Ierusalem as a rejoicing and her people as a joy and I will rejoice in Ierusalem and joy in my people and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her nor the voice of crying There shal be no more there a Child of yeares nor an old man that hath not filled his daies for hee that shall be an hundreth yeares old shal die as a young man Farther the spirit of God to expresse the joye of the life to come compares it to a day of mariage into the which Iesus Christ is the bridegrome and his Church that is to say the number of his elect is called the bride The Gentiles saith the Prophet speaking of Christs Church shall see thy righteousnes and al kings thy glory and thou shal be called by a new name which the mouth of the Lord shall name Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord and a royall diademe in the hand of thy God It shal be no more said vnto thee Forsaken neither shall it be said any more to thy land desolate But thou shalt be called HEPHZEBAH that is to say My delight in her and thy Land