indeed Believers to be so far one with Christ Idem velle Idem nolle vera est amicitia and that is a very sweet and precious union to will and nill the same things is an high degree of love and oneness but to say no more of the Union betwixt Christ and his Saints is to say too little Sixthly Neither is this Union barely a Sacramental Vnion whereby Christians in either of the Sacraments or any other Evangelical institution are in an Elemental professional way joyned to Christ and Christ to them Thus all good and bad Elect and Reprobate Simon Magus as well as any of the Believing Samaritans Acts 8.12 13. Judas as well as Peter all I say are made one with Christ in an external professional use of those Gospel-institutions while in the mean time a real Believer in a true living spiritual saving way is made partaker of Christ and of all his benefits in all Gospel-Ordinances Seaventhly In contradistinction to the Union which we have with Christ by vertue of his assuming our humane nature Christ was incarnate in the Womb of the Virgin and thereby was personally united to our flesh which is the highest advancement of the humane nature that can be conceived Heb. 2.16 For verily he took not upon him the nature of Angels but the seed of Abraham Christ assumed mans nature being God from all Eternity he took on him the one to the other and so made of those two natures one person by this we have a kind of Union with Jesus Christ ver 11. He which Sanctifieth and they which are Sanctified are both of one i.e. of one God say some the Son of God and Saints are all of one God the Father others understand it of Adam Christ as concerning the flesh and all the sanctified are of one common root and Father though by a different generation But of one here is to be referred principally to the nature whereof both the sanctifier and sanctified are partakers i.e. Acts 17.26 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they are of the same blood and kindred of the same mould constitution of the same humane nature This is a near and an honourable Conjunction for by this means Jesus Christ is become our Immanuel God with us bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh but yet this Conjunction is common to all sanctified and unsanctified prophane and holy and verily it will be found an high aggravation of sin in the great day that sinners should dare to profane and prostitute that nature to sinful purposes Heb. 2.11 which the Son of God hath sanctified by so wonderful an assumption of it into one and the same personality with the divine nature Thus the sanctified are one with him that sanctifieth but that 's not all Eighthly It is real in contradistinction to that contemplative Vnion which the Saints have with Christ in their holy Meditations Meditation doth bring the object and the faculty together and makes them one And thus the Saints are often united to Jesus Christ in holy contemplation whereby they let in Christ into their Souls and their Souls into Christ and become as it were One Spirit or one in Spirit with him but neither is this all for even common gifts and parts may produce this Conjunction as well as Grace Art may thus Unite Christ and the understanding as well as Faith One may be thus United to Christ for a time and yet be separated from Christ for ever Again Ninethly It is a real Union in contradistinction to Reconciliatory Vnion Falling out separates between person and person Reconciliation makes them one again Reconciliation is the Attonement of Enemies and thus indeed God and Sinners are Reconciled by Christ by him we have received the Attonement those whom sin made two Rom. 5.11 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Reconciliation Christ makes one This is a choyce fruit of Christ's death a concomitant of our Union with Christ yet not the very Vnion it self or not the whole of this Union there is between Christ and Believers the Union of Friendship 2 Cor. 5.18 19. But neither is that all Tenthly and lastly This Vnion is real in contradistinction to affectionate Vnion Crederes unam animam in duobus esse divisam Min. Fel. Oct. Love is as an uniting affection it makes the lover and the beloved one as if two persons had but one Soul between them thus Christ loves the Saints Rev. 1.5 and the Saints love Christ again 1 Pet. 1.8 Christ's love to them is the cause their love to Christ is the effect 1 Jo. 4.19 Yet this Union is rather a fruit of that Union we are now speaking of than the Vnion it self as in Marriage the conjugal bond and conjugal love are distinct things Indeed Love doth Unite Christ and the Saints but Love is rather the fruit of this Union than the Union it self there is somewhat more real in this Union than the Love it self None of all these reach the nature of this Union The Scripture describes it to be a real and a solid Union as real as that beween Head and Members Root and Branches for although it be a Spiritual Union yet doth it not therefore cease to be real things are not therefore less real because Spiritual yea therefore more God who is the most absolute and real Being a Being which gives Being to every thing which hath a being is most spiritual John 4.24 God is a Spirit and the nearer any being or excellency approximates unto God the more real it is the more it self as we see in Angels and the Souls of men Our Saviour his giving of us his Flesh to eat is not as the Papists believe or rather as they would make us believe they do believe literal and carnal the truth it self bearing witness John 6.63 The Flesh profiteth nothing q. d. If you could literally tear my Flesh with your teeth and pour my Blood down your throats this would not profit you at all in point of Salvation What then will Why the words which I speak are Spirit and Life i. e. they are to be understood in a Sacramental and spiritual sense c. And yet although Christs Body be not food in a fleshly but in a spiritual sense Jo. ◠55 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Truly or Verily it is not therefore less real no my flesh is meat indeed and my Blood is drink indeed it is neither painted nor Enchanted meat but real and substantial yet not corporal but spiritual yea it is so real that in comparison of that all other corporal food is but imaginary and metaphorical it is but like bread it is but like wine painted bread Quasi food and painted wine not so indeed and in truth compared with Christ in the holy Supper Such is this Union although yea because it is not a corporal but a spiritual Union therefore it is so true and real that in comparison of it all Unions and
hath made them sc by vertue of their Union with Jesus Christ Doth Christ call God his Father and his God behold He Heb. 2.11 being not ashamed to call them Brethren lets them know that he is their God and Father God to my Brethren and say to them John 20.17 I ascend to my Father and your Father to my God and your God Once more Hath the Father appointed him a Kingdom so doth he appoint unto them a Kingdom Luk. 22.29 Hath the Father assigned him a Throne so doth Christ assigne unto his Saints a Throne also To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me Rev. 3.21 in my Throne even as I also overcame and am set down with my Father in his Throne My Brethren what a Soul-enriching beatifical Union is this There be Unions in nature which convey nothing communicate nothing but empty and insignificant titles which make the person admitted into them not a whit the richer the better not a jot the more noble or happy but this Union as that divine essential Union between the Father and the Son doth invest Christ into all divine properties and prerogatives with the Father so this between Christ and the Believer invests the Believer into the whole Christ and all his riches and all his glory in so much as the Spouse gives in the whole accompt in this vast and invaluable sum Cant. 2.16 My Beloved is mine and I am his he is mine the whole Christ is mine in his natures offices excellencies prerogatives and inheritance In all he is and in all he hath it is all mine for my good and for my glory This is the voice of her Faith and then I am his this is the voice of her love I am his in all I am in all I have in all I can make by my interest in the world and if it were a thousand times more he should have it all and all too little for him who hath loved me and washed one in his own Blood and hath taken me into so rich and glorious an Vnion with his own self To him be glory for ever Amen This is the fourth Property I proceed to a fifth property of the Union Fifth Property an intimous Vnion and it is a near inward intimous Union To hint the intimateness of this Union the Holy Ghost in Scripture carries us through the climax of all Unions under Heaven and compares it with them of what nature and kind soever Whether Artificial Whether Political Whether Natural Wherein although you may find different degrees one exceeding another yet all falling short of this blessed Vnion in respect of closeness and intimacy It tells you that look how the house and foundation are one so are Christ and Believers 1 Pet. 2.4 5 6. yea higher It tells you that look how Husband and Wife are one so is Christ and his Saints Hos 2.19 Eph. 5.30 only with this incomparable difference Husband and Wife make but one flesh 1 Cor 6.16 17. but Christ and the Believer make one Spirit ut supra It tells us yet higher that look how the Head and Members are one so is Christ and his Church 1 Cor. 12.12 how root and branches are one John 15.1.6 so Christ and Believers and closer yer the Scripture tells us that look how Food and the body are one so also is Christ and the Believer one hence we hear of eating his Flesh and drinking his Blood John 6.51 53 54 55 56. and nearer yet if nearer can be It 〈◊〉 that look how the Soul and Body are one how Life and the subject wherein it resides are one so is Christ and the Believer Colos 3.4 when Christ who is our life shall appear c. Behold here Christians is an Union which amounts tantum non to an identity say only with Cyprian it is not such an Union as is between the two natures in Christ Non miscet personas nec unit substantias Cypr. It is indeed an Union of persons but not a personal Union Mystici Theologi A Believer trans-essentiated into God and Bread and Wine transsubstantiated into Christ are much of a Language So they call the Holy Ghost auram zephyri caelestis and pardon of sin Deos superos manesque pacare Card. de Bemb which makes them but one person not such an Union as is between the three glorious Persons in the blessed Trinity who notwithstanding the distinction of their personality are but one nature and essence and you cannot say or think too highly of this Vnion yea whatsoever you can say or think will be short of the intimacy and excellency of this Union Onely we must tell the world that those mystical divines amongst the Papists as they call themselves who talk of the Saints being trans essentiated into God and those Seraphicks amongst us as they would be called but Phanatiques more truly and properly who rant at the same rate Christed with Christ and Godded with God these speak as men so ambitious of being accounted sublime and Angelical in comparison of all other men whom they scorn as illiterate Literatists that they think it a lessening to them to speak in a common and sober Dialect and rather then not speak bigger words then other men they fear not to speak Blasphemy The Lord convince them Notwithstanding I must add this to what I have said that because no Union under Heaven was close enough to express the oneness which is betwixt Christ and the Believer therefore our Lord Jesus himself carries us up to Heaven there to contemplate the essential Union which is between the Father and the Son Jo. 17. and puts them into the same parallel As thou Father art in me and I in thee that they may be one in us yet still we must be careful to understand the words of Christ in a sober sense lest whil'st our Lord doth honour our Union with himself by comparing it to divine Union in the Trinity we do in the least dishonour that Union by levelling it with ours we must duly remember that this comparative particle as doth not here intend equality but likeness oâ—â—y the truth of the intimacy and not the nature or the degree of it to lift up this mystical Union above all other Unions in nature but we must still keep the divine Union in its own place This is the fifth property The sixth property Sixth property total It is a total Union The whole Christ is United to the whole Christian as the whole humane nature in Christ is joyned to the whole divine nature so the whole person of a Believer is joyned to the whole person of Christ yet not so as to make Christ and the Believer but one person but as in the conjugal Union between Man and Wife making up one mystical body or as in the body natural every Member is joyned to the head and the head to every member so is Christ and the Believer Yea once
a while and all will not do but down it will come Roof and Walls and Props and All. Or again Natural i. e. such as hath natural motions operations and affections such as are proper only to the fallen Nature of man feeble slow limited and temporary But now behold in opposition to all these acceptations it is raised a spiritual body not in regard of the substance of it as if it were turned into a Spirit but 1. Because animated and acted by the Soul now in its glorified capacity made perfect with all heavenly qualifications and so Spiritualized in all its faculties and operations Heb. 12.23 The Spirits of just men made perfect that it is called no more by the name of a Soul but of a Spirit To the conduct and motions whereof the body NOW shall yield absolute and immutable obedience and conformity Here the Soul depends as it were upon the body Anima sequitur temperamentum Corporis because though the body be acted by the Soul yet the Soul acts according to the temperament of the body and the disposition of the Organs The difference if we take notice of it between men and men in respect of Wisdome and judgment and other natural excellencies Omnes animae sunt ejusdem perfectionis ariseth not from any disparity that is between their Souls for all Souls are of a Size the Soul of a Fool is as perfect as the Soul of a Wise man But the difference ariseth from the Crasis and Complexion of the body which many times puts Yokes and Manacles upon the Soul so that at the best it is but as a close Prison or dark Lant-horn which obstructs and restrains the more noble and liberal operations of the Soul and penn's in those beams of light which if within more transparent Walls would send forth a greater luster to enlighten the world But now in the Resurrection it shall not be so the body then shall depend wholly upon the Soul and be acted properly and indistarbedly by the Soul Here the Soul seems to be flesh it self because acted by the flesh Every way subject to the motions and desires of the Soul Spiritui subdita and is oft subservient to the flesh but then the very body shall seem to be a Spirit because acted by the Spirit and shall be universally and uniformly serviceable to the Spirit The Soul shall immediatly be acted by God and the body shall immediatly be acted by the Soul thus it shall be a Spiritual body Secondly It is raised a spiritual body because it shall subsist as a Spirit it shall stand in no need of those gross material Aliments of meat and drink and sleep by which it is now underpropt but it shall be susteined meerly by vertue of its union with the Soul as the Soul by vertue of its union with Jesus Christ this is to be a spiritual body when the body shall subsist as a Spirit or as an Angel doth subsist Thirdly Spiritual because the motions operations Care Angelica Angelified flesh Tert. de Res and affections of the body shall then be all Spiritual it shall be in the Resurrection of so pure and refined a Complexion that it shall be diaphanous and transparent and move up and down with the agility and celerity of a Spirit Zanchius resembleth it to the motion of birds in the Aire Zanch. De Operibus Dei that the body being hatcht as it were in the Resurrection shall be able to mount up into the Heavens and as lightly flie through the skies as if it had wings David shall then need to wish no more for the wings of a Dove but be able to contend with fouls of the swiftest flight Augustin hath an higher streyn and saith that Miraceleritate The body shall move from place to place with what celerity it listeth and after him Luther expresseth it by the swiftness of a Thought as instantaneous as the Lightning which in the twinkling of an eye passeth from one end of Heaven to another Likewise the operations of the body shall then be all spiritual operations It shall then be abased no more to any of the servile drudgeries of this present state it shall work no more toyl no more sin no more the Offices of the body shall be as far above its present functions as the work of a King transcends the imployment of a Swine-herd or Scullion they shall for ever be freed from all those uses which do imply a state of infirmity and shall be taken up wholly in Heavenly and Angelical Services sc to stand before the Throne of God and of the Lamb and to praise him for ever and ever And lastly the body shall then be Spiritual because it shall be indued with Spiritual Affections it shall not be liable to weariness sickness pain or external injuries no more than a Spirit is It shall not indeed be an Aerial and Spiritual body as the Socinians and others do inconsequentially inferr from this and other Scriptures but it shall be no more capable of a stroke or wound or any other violence than the Air or Sun or the Heavens themselves It shall be a true real body but no more vulnerable or penetrable than if it were a Spectrum an imaginary body a meer Apparition It is true Flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God but the meaning is not that in the Resurrection the bodies of the Saints shall cease to be flesh and blood Ver. 50 51. but that they shall be devested of all the defects and infirmities of flesh and blood This is the mystery of it The Fire of the last day the only Purgatory We shall be changed The fire of the last Judgment that only Purgatory of the Saints that we dull Protestants know shall not consume the bodies of the Saints but their corruption only it shall not destroy the substances but refine their qualities as the Goldsmith maketh a new Vessel of old Plate not by altering the mettal but by changing the form and fashion The furnace of the Resurrection shall purge out all the slime and dross and filth and imperfection out of the bodies of the Saints and refine them into a body that shall exceed the Celestial bodies of the Sun Moon and Stars in clarity and purity This is that Affection and Property which the Schools call Impassibility No more capable of a blow or wound than the Air or Heavens or the Sun it self they shall be put into a blessed incapacity or irreceptiveness of any even the least injury or prejudice incident to the humane nature in this state of mortality They shall be no more liable to suffering than the glorified Angels in Heaven or the Spirits of just men made perfect Behold these be now the beatifical properties wherewith the very bodies of the Saints shall be arayed and beautified in the Resurrection Of Corruptible Ignominous Weak Natural It shall be made Incorruptible
bodies shall be transfigured into the likeness of his own Glorious body How according or suitably to the mighty working whereby he is able to subdue even all things unto himself God can do what he will and that 's enough And thus I have opened the first Consequence of Christ his Last Coming sc The Resurrection of the Saints as formerly in respect of the 1. Author The Lord Jesus 2. The Precedency of it they that are alive shall not prevent them which are asleep they shall rise first So also now 3. In respect of the manner of it the bodies of the Saints shall be invested with four glorious qualities 1. Incorruptible 2. Glorious 3. Powerful 4. Spiritual By all which it shall be conformed to the Glorious Body of our Lord Jesus It may be of Use 1. For Counsel 2. For Comfort and but a word of either First It may serve by way of Counsel 1. Use Of Counsel and that unto all indefinitly You that would secure unto your selves an interest in the glory which shall be put upon the Saints bodies in the Resurrection labour to experience this beatifical transfiguration first in your Souls on this side of the Grave Labour to get your vile spirits to be made like to his glorious Spirit Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ put Him on by an holy and universal Imitation Labour to be meek as He was meek Holy as He was Holy Pure as He was Pure Merciful as He was Merciful Heavenly as He was Heavenly And Joh. 4.34 Let it be your meat and drink to do the will of him that sent you and to finish his work * A. Christ was the brightness of his Father's glory 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Insculpta forma the express Image of his Person So do ye study in your finite capacity to be the brightness of Christ his glory the express Image of his Person Oh labour to get his Image and similitude to be deeply engraven upon your hearts and to scatter the beams of it in your Conversations Philip. 2.15 for the enlightning of a dark world Behold this shall be the evidence and first-fruits of your future conformity to Him in the Resurrection of the just The ground and Reason is because that blessed Transfiguration which shall conform the Saints to Christ their Head and Husband in the Resurrection and from thenceforth to all Eternity hath its beginning here in Regeneration Ephes 4.23 24. or the New Birth wherein they are renewed in the Spirit of their minds Bâ—ta referts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unto 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In the Regeneration ye also shall sit upon twelve â—nâ—â—nes and do put on habitually the New man which after God is Created in Righteousness and true holiness Jesus Christ is formed in their hearts And upon this very account is the Resurrection styled also the Regeneration Math. 19.28 In the Regeneration ye also shall sit i. e. in the Resurrection ye also shall sit c. And it is therefore called the Regeneration because the Resurrection shall perfect in the Saints what the Regeneration begun sc Conformity to Christ their Head and Husband in Holiness Yea at the Resurrection the Image of Jesus Christ shall be compleated as on their Souls so on their bodies also because that Image was begun upon their Souls on this side the Grave in their New Birth accordingly as they were predestinated to both in the purpose of God Rom 8.29 from all Eternity The Resurrection to Grace here and to Glory hereafter is but one and the same Regeneration Whosoever therefore is a Stranger to this Transformation of Spirit in the Resurrection to Grace shall never partake of that Transfiguration of body in the Resurrection to Glory The bodies of the wicked shall be raked out of their Graves with all their defects and excesses all their mis-shapes and deformities which they carried with them to their Graves in their perfect ugliness which were the shame and curse of the fallen nature an abhorrency to God and Angels c. Yea to the very Devils themselves whom they shall have to be both their Companions and Executioners The Saints of God were the world 's derided persecuted Non-Conformists here but themselves shall be Christs and his Saints Non-Conformists hereafter when their Carcasses shall be cast out for a spectacle of shame and abhorrency unto all flesh for ever Isa 66. ult Christians as you love your Souls and would bear the Image of the Son of God in his Kingdom and glory Study this Soul-Conformity now and make it your business Labour to feel this blessed change wrought in your hearts and let the world behold it in your lives without which all your Confidences concerning that day will prove but so many delusions Rom. 5.5 to aggravate your shame and everlasting dispair Hear oh hear how the Disciple of Love doth argue When He shall appear we shall be like Him Glorious But why 1 Joh. 3.2 cum c. 4.17 Because As He is so are we in this world He disputes from Conformity to Christ in the Gospel-state to Conformity to Him at this Appearance We shall c. because we are c. By such Argumentations Christians Philip. 2.12 1 Tim. 6.18 19. 1 Joh. 4.17 Work out your Salvation with fear and trembling that ye may have boldness in the day of Judgment c. Secondly It may serve by way of Comfort Second Use Consolation and for that end it is written by the Comforter Himself in this model for Comfort I say in reference to our sweet Relations that sleep in Jesus over whom not seldom we spend our fruitless Tears take we heed lest sinful also while we compare their once lively sweet amiable Countenances which sparkled so much beauty and delight in our eyes with their pale ghastly Visages in the Grave where they say to Corruption Job 17.14 thou art my Father and to the Worm thou art my Mother and my Sister We look upon them I say not without a kind of trembling and horrour as if their Ghosts appeared to us out of their Graves or that we our selves were buried with them alive in the same Coffin Ah Sirs why stand ye not with the men of Galilee Act. 1.11 gazing up into Heaven but with Peter stooping down and looking into the Sepulcher Behold I bring you glad tydings of great joy The day is coming when that Corruptible shall put on Incorruption and that Mortal shall put on Immortality when that poor dust over which thou now mournest that vile body shall put on its Angelical Robes and shall more surpass it self in its freshest and liveliest colours while yet in the land of the living than that beautiful pile of flesh and blood did exceed it self when it was resolved into rottenness and dust Look not then oh ye Children of God upon your Selves or your Relations as they lye in the Grave but contemplate them as
scil Non implent plenum postulatum legis justitiae neque super impios neque super pios Streso in Act. 17.31 exemplary Vengance to shew there is a Providence that God is not an idle Spectator in the world And somtimes it is let alone to tell the world that there is a Judgment to come the full punishment of sin is not till then Thus Reason says He may Come But now Faith goes further and says He must Come He shall Come The Lord Himself shall descend from Heaven It is a truth not only which God can make good but a truth which God cannot but make good Witness Christ must come 1. His Purchase says so 1. His Purchase would Christ buy a people at so dear a rate and then go away and come no more at them Nay 2. Witness also his promise And if I go John 14.3.2 His Promise I will come again He will especially considering the design of his leaving them for a time it was but to go and prepare a place for them and he hath done it the place is prepared Mansions in his Fathers house are made ready for them ver 2. Why now Christ being gon to this very end and all things prepared for their entertainment if he should not come again he should certainly fail not his promise only but his project too this cannot be He that never yet failed his own promise Fidelis Deus in Omnibus in extremo non desieret nor his peoples expectations will not now do it No I will come and receive you He that went from them only to prepare the place for them will certainly come again to receive them into that place now it is prepared He loves them so well that he will not he cannot be without their company I will come and receive you that where I am there you may be also Heb. 11.11 Faithful is he that hath promised who also will do it 3. Witness The Sacrament of his last Supper 3. The Sacrament of his last Supper 1 Cor. 11.26 which is nothing else but a pledg and seal to keep alive the memorial of his second Coming As oft as ye eat of this bread and drink of this cup ye do shew the Lords death till he come Now when the Lord Jesus Christ hath engaged the expectation of his people by so solemn a Covenant if he should fail their expectation this Grand Institution had been in vain Nay surely He never said to the Seed of Jacob Seck ye my face in vain He speaketh Righteousness Isa 45.19 4. And lastly Witness his Resurrection that is 4. His Resurrection the Assurance given in the Text Act. 17.31 He will judge the world by that man whom he hath appointed How may we be sure of that why he hath given the world assurance of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Non quod omnibus fidem in Christum dederit Sed quod omnibus argumentum dederit Streso in loc what assurance in that he hath raised Christ from the dead He hath given assurance Gr. he hath offered Faith the meaning is God could not have confirmed his purpose and promise of sending Christ to Judge the world at the last day by a more firm and solemn Argument than by raising him from the dead after he had paid the debt made satisfaction to divine Justice upon the Cross Partly in as much as Jesus Christ was hereby openly declared to be the Son of God with power To judg the world is an act of divine Power and Authority and what fitter person in the Trinity is there to judg the world righteously than He that was unrighteously judged by the world put to death in the Flesh but quickened in the Spirit raised by his own divine power Partly because that after his Resurrection God the Father took him up into Heaven Vid. Strev in loc and placed him at his own right hand A certain evidence that when the whole number of his Redeemed shall be accomplished he will send him the second time to take Vengeance in his own Person on the Shedders of his Blood and the Oppugners of his Gospel Else it had been all one as if Christ had been left to lye still in the Grave Thus you see Christ his personal Coming at the last day established upon its four-fold Foundation 1. Use His Purchase 2. His Promise 3. His Supper 4. His Resurrection Now therefore O ye Saints of God cast not away your Confidences either in respect of your selves or of your sweet Relations which have out-run you to the Sepulcher He that shall come will come and will not tarry In the mean time let the just live by their Faith keep up your Faith and your Faith will keep up your hearts from sinking 2 Cor. 4.16 for this Cause we faint not c. I proceed to the third Circumstance The manner of Christ his coming In the Description whereof we find a three-fold Summons or Citation to all the world to make their appearance at this great Oecumenical Assize 1 Summon◠A Shour sc 1. A Shout 2. The Voyce of an Arch-Angel 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hortatorius clamor The Trump of God The first solemn summons is a Shout the Lord shall descend from Heaven with a Shout The word in the Greek signifies such a Shout as is to be heard amongst Marriners and Seamen when after a long and dangerous Voyage they begin to descry the Haven crying with loud and united voyces a shore a shore as the Poet describes the Italians when they saw their Native Country lifting up their voyces and making the Heavens ring again with Italie Italie Italiam Laliam laeto clamore salutani Virg Aeneid Irgenti Angelorum jubile acclamatione Atetius Or as Armies when they joyn battail rend the air with their loud Acclamations In like manner shall the mighty Angels of God with united clamour proclaime the Advent of their Lord crying aloud with a voyce that shall be heard from one end of the Heavens to another the Earth and Sea and Hell it self shall hear and tremble Behold the Lord cometh Jud. v. 14. Jud. v. 14. Math. 25.5 Behold the Bridegroom cometh Math. 25. v. 6. The second Summons is the Voyce of the Arch-Angel Expositioric vice Calv. This clause some take to be Exegetical to the former expounding that hortatory clamour or shout mentioned before q. d. with a shout i. e. with the voyce of the Arch-Angel Arch-Angelus praeconts fungetur officio citet vivos mortues ad Christi tribunal Others conceive it to be added by way of eminency All the Angels shall shout for joy but the Voyce of the Arch-Angel shall be heard above all the rest The greatest Angel hath the greatest voyce lowder and shriller than all the other Angels as Captain General to them all The third Summons is the Trump of God Great Trees Trees of God High
and shall be filled with horror and astonishment in the certain looking for of Judgment and that siery Inaignation which shall devour the Adversaries and even now already seising upon them For surely this Sight shall be the beginning of their sorrows but of everlasting joys and triumphs to the followers of the Lamb Who now comes in glory to meet them and to receive them to himself Which brings me to the second Meeting mentioned here in the Text c. The Saints meeting with Christ their Head The Saints meeting with Christ Jesus to meet the Lord in the Air. In this Meeting there be three things considerable 1. The Persons meeting 2. The Place where they meet 3. The ends of their meeting 1. The Persons meeting Christ and his Saints He Descends to meet them and they Ascend to meet him Such is the Love and Condescention of the Lord Jesus to his Saints that he cometh out of his Royal Pavilion more than half way to meet them and then sends his Charrets and Horse-men a Guard of Angels to carry them up in the Clouds and to conduct them unto the place where he stayeth for them There shall they be brought into his Royal presence and like a Royal Spouse who hath been long separated from her Bridegroom by distance of place they shall fall down before Him and with Tears of joy shall wash his feet and wipe them dry with the Kisses of their Lips while at the same time Christ will take his Bride up into his Arms and with the Father of the Prodigal fall upon her neck and kiss her and with all the unconceivable expressions of Love and Joy receive her to Himself and bid her welcom into his presence Oh! what Soul can conceive what mutual Joy and Triumph there will be between Jesus Christ and his Saints in this blessed Interview Oh how welcome will the Saints be to the Lord Jesus at that day The Saints under a three-fold Relation when he shall look upon them under a three-fold Relation sc 1. As the Father's Election First The Fathers Election Joh 10.6 Eph 1.18 To see the whole number of names which were given unto him by the Father from all Eternity as the fruit and reward of his Passion now at the last all gathered together and given into his actual possession as an inheritance for ever 2. To look upon them as the Purchase of his own Blood 2. The Sons Purchase If it was a satisfaction to the Lord Jesus when behold he was in the throws and agonies of his Travel with them upon the Cross to see his Seed Isa 53 11. when they were but in the swadling Cloaths of their imperfect Regeneration according to their successive generations wherein they were to be brought into the Church Oh what infinite satisfaction will it now be to the Lord Jesus to see the Travel of his Soul in their perfect and consummate estate all the mixtures of Corruption and Infirmity now deleted and they come to a perfect man to the measure of the Stature of the fulness of Christ to see them all brought in not a Soul wanting of all those whose names he bare upon his breast while he hung upon the Cross that not one drop of Blood not one Prayer not a Sigh or Groan or Tear that ever he spent for them in the days of his Flesh is lost or fruitless as to any one Soul whom he purchased of the Father Joh. 17.12 In the Pastoral charge of Christ there was one Son of Perdition but in his Mediatory charge not one Soul shall miscarry but all shall be presented to him safe and entire at his appearance And over them shall he glory saying as it were All these are mine the Travel of my Soul the Purchase of my Blood the Fruit of my Agonies for these I was born and for these I was made under the Law For these I Bled Joh. 1â— 24 and for these I made my self an Offering for sin Father I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am that they may behold my Glory which thou hast given me Come near unto me my Sons and my Daughters that I may kiss you Gen. 27.27 See the smell of my Redeemed is as the smell of a field which the Lord hath blessed A Woman when she is in Travel hath sorrow because her hour is come Joh. 16.21 but as soon as she is delivered she remembreth no more the anguish for joy that a man-Child is born into the World Surely the joy of our Lord will so much transcend the joy of all natural Mothers by how much his agonies were more bitter the birth more precious and his Soul more capacious of higher and purer joyes than are to be sound in the poor narrow Creature 3. When he shall look upon them as the charge and deposisitum of the Holy Ghost Whom the Father did Elect the Son was to purchase and whom the Son purchased the Spirit was to Sanctifie Who therefore is called the Holy-Ghost not only because as the third glorious Person in the blessed Trinity he is essentially holy in himself but because by Office he is a Fountain of Holiness to all the Elect. The Blood of Christ indeed is the Fountain of Merit but the Spirit of Christ the Fountain of operation and efficacy gathering the Elect out of the world wherein they lay in common with the rest of the lost Sons and Daughters of Adam Gal. 5.22 23. planting their Souls with the habits of Grace which are therefore called the Fruits of the Spirit and then acting supporting preserving and ripening those habits into perfection The Father's Election and the Son's Purchase are both perfected by the Sanctification of the Spirit The Father's Election 2 Thes 2.13 so the Apostle tells his Thessalonians God hath from the beginning chosen you to Salvation through Sanctification of the Spirit The Son's purchase Tit. 3.5 He saved us by the washing of Regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost Oh how acceptable then must the Offering up of the Saints be to Jesus Christ because thus Sanctified by the Holy-Ghost And when Christ shall thus present his Redeemed unto Himself a glorious Church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing but Holy and without blemish How will he rejoyce over her as the Bridegroom over his Bride That day being indeed the Marriage of the Lamb of which anon Rev. 19.7 Thus will the Lord Jesus the King of glory rejoyce to meet the Saints And surely the Saints according to their finite capacity will not less rejoyce and triumph to meet their Lord. Oh! to meet him now whom their Soul loved whom in the days of their Pilgrimage upon Earth they often sought and could not find sought him in Prayer Meditation Conference c. but could not find him and when they could not find him mourned for him lamented after him bedewed their
one another and yet unseparable by reason whereof when but one of them is mentioned both of them are to be understood 6. If satisfaction be imputed Righteousness must be imputed also both being the peculiar and proper Office of the Mediator neither of them falling within the capacity of the Creature standing at the Bar of Divine Justice The third end of the Saints meeting with Christ in the Air â— Psal 116. 3d. End Consummation of the Saints Nuptials is The solemn Consummation of the Saints Nuptials with Christ their Bridegroom They were Contracted here on Earth when Christ and the Saints gained one another's consent Jesus Christ did then solemnly Espouse the Saints to himself Hos 2.19 20. I betrothed thee unto me for ever yea I betrothed thee unto me in Righteousness and in Judgment and in loving kindness and in Mercies I even betrothed thee unto me in faithfulness Indeed the Church in her self when Christ came to make Love to her was a very unlovely Creature whose emblem therefore is a poor wretched Infant in the Blood of its Nativity Ezek. 16.4.6 But Jesus Christ did first Love her with a Love of Pity Ezek. 16.6 I saw thee polluted in thine own Blood I saw thee that is I cast an Eye of Pity upon thee my bowels yearned towards thee And then as Love-less as she was that he might have a Legal right to her Eph 5.25 he Purchased her of his Father He Purchased her at a dear rate for He gave himself for her first He gave himself for her and then He gave himself to her They were wont to buy their Wives of the Father of the Damosel but never did Husband buy a Wife at such a Rate as the Lord Jesus did the Church Shechem bid fairly for Dinah Gen. 34.12 Jacobs Daughter Ask me never so much dowry and gift and I will give according as ye shall say unto me Jacob served seven years for Rachel as it fell out twice over c. yea but the Lord Jesus gave himself for his Church he purchased her with his own blood Act. 20 2â— Thirdly That he might love her with a love of Complacency he doth sanctifie her Eph. 5.27 and cleanse her by the washing of water by the word As he doth purchase the Church with his blood so he doth purifie the Church by his Spirit compared to water for the cleansing vertue thereof in the Ministry of the word as Ahashuerus had the Virgins first purified and perfumed before he took them into his bed Fourthly He woeth her by the Ministers of the Gospel who love their Lord and poor Souls so well that they will take no denial at her hand as Eleazer Isack's Steward Gen. 24.33 would not eat before he had sped for Rebeccah to Wife for his Master's Son 2 Cor. 11.2 And when they have gained her consent then they present her as a chast Virgin unto Christ Fifthly Christ and his Church upon their mutual interview like one another so well that they mutually engage and contract themselves one to another Cant. 2.16 they do mutually give away themselves one for and one to another My Beloved is mine and I am His. Sixthly Christ doth nourish her and cherish her until she be of age fit for his Marriage-Bed Seventhly And then He cometh for her and meets her by the way as Isaack met Rebeccah sc in the Air as here in the Context Lastly Consummation of the Marriage Then and there he Consummates the Marriage before God and Angels and Men and Devils he doth take her to himself as his Royal Queen saying Come my Love my Dove my Vndefiled one He embraceth her and kisseth her with a Marriage kiss and takes her to Wife The Marriage knot is knit Heaven and Earth are witnesses to it thousand thousands yea ten thousand times ten thousand even a great multitude whose voyce is as many waters and as the voyce of mighty thunderings This was the Wedding unto which John was invited Rev. 21.9 Come hither I will shew thee the Bride the Lamb's Wife He that had the Bride was the Bridegroom the Lord Jesus King of Kings c. but John the Friend of the Bridegroom Jo. 3 29. stood and rejoyced greatly to hear the Bridegrooms Voyce then indeed was his joy fulfilled At the Consummation of this Marriage what inconceivable Triumph and Rejoycing will there be the loud Musick of Heaven shall sound the voyce of mighty thundrings all the Angels Cherubims Seraphims with all the Blessed Quoire of Celestial Spirits who attend this glorious King of Saints shall praise God with the still Musick of their Hallelujahs yea all the Saints of God whether Patriarchs or Prophets and Apostles all the Martyrs and Confessors of Jesus Christ with the whole number of the Redeemed who are both Guests and Bride in this glorious solemnity will make the Arches of Heaven to Eccho when they shall be joyful in glory and the high praises of God shall be in their mouths Rev. 19.7 singing one to another Let us rejoyce and be glad for the Marriage of the Lamb is come and his Wife hath made her self ready The Gates of Hell and the very foundations of the Kingdom of darkness shall tremble and be confounded at the report of this Triumphant Jubilâ—e This Nuptâ—ll solemnity finished Fourth end of Saints meeting Christ To sit as Assessors with him Psal 45.9 the next and fourth act in that solemn meeting will be that the Bridegroom will take the Queen his Bride and set her upon his Throne at his right hand as King Agrippa did Bernice Act. 25.27 as a Confessor with himself in the following part of the Judgment which He as Judg shall pass upon the Reprobate world of men and Devils who have all this while stood trembling below upon the Earth beholding to their infinite shame and horror all this glory put upon the Saints and fearfully looking for their own Judgment and that fiery indignation which shall devour the Adversaries which now succeeds For the Elect Angels who are appointed to be the Satellites or Posse comitatus to attend the Judg shall now drag that miserable company of Jale-birds those reprobate Caitifs of infernal Spirits The judgment of the wicked and wicked Men before the Tribunal of the great Judg there they shall pass under a most impartial exact and severe Tryal Mal. 3.16 the books shall be opened the book of Gods Remembrance and the book of their own Consciences and out of them they shall be judged for all the evils which ever they committed from the time they first had a being in the world The Reprobate Angels shall then be judged for their first Apostacy Ad solomen calamitatis suae non desinunt perditi perdere Min. Fel. Oct. and for all their malice and revenge which since that cursed defection they ever acted against God and against his Saints yea and against the
clap on the wound of conviction of sin in the promise of the seed of the woman that should break the Serpents head Gen. 3.15 Lest the wound should take cold fester and by delay prove incurable all the Promises in Scripture they are but so many Receipts written down beforehand in the Book of the great Physitian of souls for the use of all Gods Family the Saints of God from the beginning of the world there are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises i. e. concerning exceeding great and precious things 1 Pet. 1.4 and they are all yea and Amen in Jesus Christ verity and infallibility Thither therefore let all Gods Patients go and search and read and take whatever Receipt suiteth best with their Malady and they shall rightly applied find present ease and infallible cure in the constant and believing use thereof For whatsoever was written aforetime was written for our learning that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope Rom. 15.4 Gods compassions over his mourners are great and therefore his consolations are not small Though God would have his people deeply humbled and tried to the quick yet he would not have their spirits sink under the temptation and therefore when he observes them to begin to faint he ceaseth contending with them and begins his comforting work for the iniquity of his covetousness Isa 57.18 I smote him and was wrath but when God saw that would do no good he trieth another course I will restore comforts to him Just as when a Parent is correcting a Child and the Child cryes and swoons presently away goes the rod and the strong-water-bottle is snatcht up and applied to the mouth of the Child so compassionately dealeth God with his fainting Children It is a wonderful expression which God useth towards Ephraim Jer. 31.20 My bowels are troubled for him Ephraim saith I smote upon my thigh and presently God smites upon his heart and cryes out My bowels are troubled for him I will have mercy upon him O ineffable sympathy answerable whereunto God hath a cup of consolation prepared in his hand which he putteth to their mouths and bids drink yea drink abundantly of it till they forget their sorrows even that overflowing cup Fulness of joy and pleasures for ever at his right hand Ever with the Lord. Psal 103.13 Surely as a father pitieth his children so the Lord pitieth them that fear him and such compassions would he have to fill the bowels of all his Evangelical Messengers Isa 40.1 2. Comfort ye comfort ye my people saith their God speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem c. Thus doth God fill up his Title brim-full and running over The Father of mercies 2 Cor. 1.3 and the God of all comfort In the fourth place 4. Branch of Information here you may see the absolute and indispensable necessity of faith without which all the choicest consolations and richest cordials the Word can afford are but so much water of life in a dead mans mouth or as Elisha's Staffe upon the face of the dead Child â— King 4. which causeth neither voice nor motion Heb. 10.38 The just shall live by faith an unbelieving man is but a dead man for as faith is the first principle of spiritual life so it is the constant medium whereby the spiritual fewel and restoratives of that life are brought in and made vital to the soul The life I now live in the flesh I live it by the faith of the Son of God Christs flesh is meat indeed and his blood is drink indeed but it is to faith only it is not meat indeed if there be not faith indeed He that cometh to me shall never hunger What 's that He that believeth on me shall never thirst The Word of God is the power of God to salvation Rom. 1.16 but it is to them only who believe God hath provided a cup of consolation for his fainting people in their swooning fits but it is the hand of faith that must take it and the mouth of faith only that can drink it The unbeliever is an unhappy man nothing can do him good Heb. 4.2 The word doth not profit not being mixt with faith The body and blood of Christ proves poyson instead of divine nutriment because it is not received by faith This is the will of him that sent me saith our Lord that he that believeth on me may have everlasting life Divine Cordials so magisterial that they are able as it were to put life into a dead man give them to an unbeliever they signifie no more than water in the shooes Oh get faith Saints act your faith or else ye are undone Great notions are but small comforts to a natural man and the reason is because they are above him nothing can act above its principle you can never comfort a Swine with arguments of reason no more can ye comfort a carnal heart with heavenly consolations the reason is Quiequid recipitur recipitur ad modum recipientu because both are above the constitutive principles of either Divine notions may serve a man without faith to discourse by but they will never serve him to live by reason may discourse upon them but faith must live upon them The life I now live I live by the faith c. Therefore doth the Apostle there put the cup of consolation into the hand of faith ver 14. If we believe that Jesus died and rose again c. There is an inexhaustible fulness of comfort in Christ and in the Promises but not one drop to be drawn forth without faith The breasts of Scripture-consolation are full they even drop again but it is the mouth of faith that must suck them out the still-born Child may as well-draw the Mothers dug as a faithless Christian make the teats of Scripture to afford any drop of divine influence to his drooping soul but to the believer it is cried at least by way of accommodation Suck ye Isa 66.11 12. and be satisfied with the breasts of consolation milk out and be delighted with the abundance of glory A man may as well live and laugh without a soul as have true evangelical comfort without faith which is the bond of union between Christ and the Soul and so being united to the fountain 1 Pet. 1.18 Believing ye rejoyce with joy unspeakable and glorious This is that golden pipe through which all the golden oyl of grace and comfort is derived into the heart Zech. 4.12 The men of the world may have vast proportions of knowledge both natural and divine but meer knowledge is light without heat but faith warms the heart as they said one to another Did not our hearts burn within us when he spake unto us If I assent and consent to the glorious Doctrine of the Resurrection knowing with Job that my Redeemer liveth c. I can in that triumph over all occurrent
will agree exactly 2.167 Reproach Reproaches for Christ better than all the applause of the world 3.83 Reprobate the future estate of the reprobate set forth by eternity 3.89 Resurrection three things interest a believer in the triumph of Christ's resurrection 1 Power 1.12 2 Office 1.13 3 Right 1. ibid. Christ arose by his own strength 1.12 As a publick head 1.13 On which account 1 The Saints are said to be risen already 1.14 2 They are assured they shall arise 1.15 Resurrection of Christ why called his youth 1.16 An inseparable connexion between the resurrection of Christ and of the Saints 1 Of merit 1.15 2 Of power and influence 1.16 3 Of design 1.17 4 Of union ibid. Christ is risen as our first fruits 1.19 Resurrection of the Saints stands upon a surer foundation than our faith 1.20 How Christ shall bring the Saints with him at the resurrection 1 Their souls from heaven 1.47 2 Their bodies from the grave and how 1.47 3 Body and soul he shall take up into the clouds and why 1.48 49 4 He shall carry them back with him into heaven 1.50 It shall put believers that are dead into as good a capacity as those that are alive 2.64 Saints that shall then be found alive will be no otherwise capable of it than under the notion of the dead 2.65 The manner of it 2.86 The admirable properties of it 1 Incorruptible 2.89 2 Glorious 2.90 3 Powerful 2.93 4 Spiritual 2.94 Saints shall rise with the same bodies they lye down with 2.87 The body will depend wholly upon the soul 2.95 Our bodies at the resurrection shall he moved by an extrinsic power but shall move themselves by an intrinsic principle 2.107 Why called the Regeneration 2.101 Three consequents of the resurrection 1 The resurrection of the Saints that are dead 2.86 2 The Saints triumphant ascension 2.104 3 The Saints joyful meeting 1 One with another 2.112 2 All with Christ where 1 The persons meeting 2.120 2 The place where 2.124 3 The ends of their meeting 2.126 Christ will welcome the Saints at the resurrection under a threefold relation 1 As the Fathers election 2.121 2 As the purchase of his blood ibid. 3 As the depositum of the Holy Ghost 2.122 Reward is an encouragement to good works e contra 3.91 Riches have wings 3.105 Righteous to be righteous and not guilty are two different capacities 2.139 Righteousness a positive righteousness is required to the justification of a sinner as well as absolution from guilt and punishment which appears on the account 1 Of the justice of God 2.141 2. Of the perfection of the Law 2.143 3 Of the necessity of the sinner 2.154 4 Of the excellency of the Redeemen 2.157 It looks forward pardon backward 2.142 Righteousness imputed to the Saints the first moment of their conversion 2.160 The mediatory righteousness of Christ comes to be a believers as the first Adam 's disobedience came to be his posterities viz. by imputation 2.146 Imputed righteousness the same materially which the Law requireth 2.149 T Sacrament attend often upon the Sacrament of the Lords Supper 3.132 Saints the dignity of them 1.41 They that are alive at Christ his coming shall have no advantage above those that are dead 2.58 They that are dead shall be first remembred at the resurrection 2.60 Those that are alive will be no otherwise capable of the resurrection than under the notion of the dead 2.65 They shall be solemnly espoused to Christ 2.162 They shall be assessors with him at the judgment 2.164 Scripture inference is Scripture 2.67 It concerns us to search the Scriptures 3.163 In reading Scripture make a collection of the Promises 3.163 Secret whatever kindness was shewed to God in secret shall be openly rewarded 2.130 Self-denyal exercise it 3.130 Separation a perfect separation from the society of sinners at the last day 2.117 Sin why sometimes punished here sometimes not 2.78 The Saints sins not remembred at the last day 2.130 And why 2.134 This is no encouragement to sin 2.131 It is fully pardoned at death 2.134 They will appear as they are at the day of judgment 2.168 A vain thing to call any sin small 2.168 The smallest is dangerous 3.128 It sets us at a great distance from heaven 3.41 An universal hatred of it an evidence of heaven 3.120 It is the Devils image 3.120 Sinner the condition of a sinner doth necessarily require an imputed righteousness 1 To settle solid peace in the conscience 2.154 2 To secure his appearance in the day of judgment 2.157 Sinners are mixed with Saints here contra 2.116 They will dread the society of the godly at the last day as much as formerly they hated it 2.117 They were first in transgression but God first in reconciliation 2.169 Sleep Death but a sleep 1.2 Death resembled to sleep in two respects 1.3 Socinians deceived in saying we shall not have real but aerial bodies at the resurrection 2.96 Sorrow there is a sorrow for departed friends which God condemns not 3.144 Souls all of one size 2.94 Not everlasting a parte ante and why 3.86 Spirit the Spirit of Christ the fountain of efficacy but the blood of Christ the fountain of merit 2.122 Spirit of God hath a twofold office about attaining assurance 3.123 Be tender of it 3.127 None but friends can properly be said to grieve the Spirit 3.128 Sufferings of the Saints will be owned at the resurrection 2.129 T Tears of the Saints are bottled 2.128 Terror it will be horrible terror to the wicked to see the Saints sit in judgment with Christ 2.164 Time no farther time will be granted at the great Assize 2.171 Transgression Sinners were first in transgression but God first in reconciliation 2.169 Translate no translating of sin upon others at the great day 2.168 Tribunal there will be no appeal from the great Tribunal 2.169 Trinity the external works of it are undivided 1.46 The order of their work 1.46 Trumpet one end of the Feast of Trumpets might be to put them in mind of the last day 2.114 Last Trump will not be only audible but articulate 2.115 V Vision six things shall be the object of the Saints Vision 1 The seat of blessed souls 3.3 2 The glorified Saints 3.4 3 The elect Angels 3.15 4 The glorified body of Christ 3.26 5 God in the divine Essence 3.18 6 All things in God 3.42 Of glorified Saints will be wonderful glorious 3.4 We shall not have an intuitive Vision of the divine Essence 3.27 How far we shall have a Vision of the divine Essence 3.30 Of God in Scriture is twofold 1 In Grace 3.40 2 In Glory ibid. How these agree and how they differ 3.46 Unbelief the spring of all our misery 1.21 Understanding the glorified understanding shall have a sixfold perfection 1 Spirituality 3.36 2 Clarity 3.37 3 Capacity 3.38 4. Sanctity ibid. 5 Strength 3.39 6 Fixedness ibid. Our understandings will be like unto God in heaven 3.78 Union