lived but nine hundred sixty and nine yeares and David saith the life of man is cut shorter The Text saith they shall live and reigne with Christ in that sense taking living properly and all the phrases properly they must necessarily say that men shall live when that time comes a thousand yeares together Againe it cannot bee the sense of this Scripture because that cannot bee the sense of this Scripture which crosseth the sense of other Scriptures to make this Scripture to affirme that Christ shall reigne on the Earth a thousand yeares and other Scriptures tell you that Christ shall stay in Heaven in person till all men shall rise from the Dead every man shall rise then cometh the end 1 Cor. 15. 23 24. But every man in his owne order Christ the first fruits afterwards they that are Christs at his coming Then cometh the end c. 2 Thess 2. 1. Now wee beseech you Brethren by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and by our gathering together unto him Then besides it doth crosse the Scripture to say that at Christs coming onely some men shal rise but not all Job 14 10 11 12. But man dieth and wasteth away yea man giveth up the ghost and where is hee As the waters faile from the Sea and the Flood decayeth and dryeth up So man lieth down and riseth not till the Heavens bee no more they shall not awake nor bee raised out of their sleepe Job telleth you expresly That the Dead shall not bee raised till the Heavens bee no more and that cannot bee the thousand yeares for there will bee a Earth and a Heaven then and in Peters phrase The Heavens shall melt away like a scrowle c. Now to make a Resurrection before a Resurrection it is that which the Scripture doth no where mention John 5. 28 29. Marvell not at this for the houre is coming in the which all that are in the Graves shall heare his Voyce and shall come forth they that have done good unto the Resurrection of life and they that have done evill unto the Resurrection of damnation The judging of the just and unjust shall bee the same houre and upon Christs coming all men shall bee judged 2 Tim. 4 1. I charge thee therefore before God and the Lord Iesus Christ who shall judge the quicke and the dead at his appearing and his Kingdome So that Christs appearing and Christs coming is a judging of the quick and the dead Now beloved then to make this Scripture to say that Christ shall come on the Earth before his last coming this is to crosse other Scriptures then of necessity therefore it cannot bee the scope of thâ—s for there is no jarring between one phrase of the Scripture and another Fifthly when the scripture saith here That they live and reigne with Christ a thousand yeares it is not spoken whether it bee a reigning with Christ in Heaven or on Earth so the phrase neither carrieth it one way or another Sixthly John doth not say that hee saw the bodies of men that were beheaded and they reigned with Christ but he dâ—d in a vision see the Souls of them that were beheaded now to say they must come to reigne on the Earth for a thousand yeares it were a great inconveniency to them it is said I saw the soules of them The thousand yeares cannot bee applied to Christs Personall Reigne For so Jesus Christ hath an eternall Kingdome he doth not reigne a thousand yeares on Earth or in Heaven but everlastingly Kingdomes and States of this world have lasted a thousand yeares and to make Christs Kingdome to last no longer it is to give Christs Kingdome too narrow a confine I have consulted with many Authors and I finde the current of Interpreters generally runne this way though some doe fancy that Text speakes of the binding of the Devill for a thousand years and during this time the Saints should live and reigne with Christ a thousand yeares The sense and scope of this place is this The period of time when this time began that the Devill was bound Interpreters doe unanimously give this Opinion that it began in the reigne of Constantine the Great hee being the first Christian Emperour in the World hee coming after 300 yeares Persecution by the Roman Emperours who made great massacre and havock in the Church of God in so much that in the booke of Martyrs wee reade that there may bee for every day in the yeare five thousand Christians slaine this is a dreadfull Persecution and the Devill raged and stirred much Now upon Constantines reigne the Devill was bound up that is the Roman Emperours who were acted by the Devill to all this cruelty when Constantine a Christian Emperour came to reigne hee gvae out imperiall Edicts and Lawes for establishment of the Christian Religion and that put an end to the Persecution of the Roman Emperours and to this Opinion many Interpreters give in their consent Brightman Napier Gerard and these thousand yeares when the Devill was bound did end 300 yeares ago and more and this is given to be the scope and sense of the Scripture Object I but then you will say though the Devill was bound how comes the Devill to be loose againe Answ They answered this that in the yeare 1300 the Turkish Emperour began to beare sway Gog and Magog called the Turke prevailed and hath gotten the greatest part of the world within his power and hee was the Gog and Magog that did persecute the Saints and did spread almost over all the Earth and truly comparing Scripture and story together this seemes to be the neerest and the truest sense of this place and this interpreters doe generally concurre in Two Objections by those who plead for a thousand yeares First is this we read in the Century of the Church that the Church of God was pestered by Valens the Emperour after these 300 yeares and of Julian the Apostate that did greatly persecute the Christians and how can this be true when we read of so much persecution after the Devil was bound up Answer that when it is said the Devil is bound up it is not meant simply that there should bee no temptation to sinne for that there should bee Valens the Emperour did establish Arrianisme and troubled the Church of God One answereth it was nothing like the persecution of the Roman Emperours it was nothing so long nor so tedious as the persecution under the Roman Emperours for for every day in the year 5000 Christians were put to death In Dioclesians reigne there were 17000 Christians killed in one Moneth there was some sprinkling persecution in the time of Valens and Iulian the Apostate but it was nothing to that of the Roman Emperours Object Another Objection is this I but the Scripture saith that this is the first Resurrection that the Saints living and reigning with Christ a thousand yeares this is the first Resurrection how can it bee said that after
of pardon they may sympathize with and carry more tenderness of compassion towards them that are troubled in minde it was one end of Christs sufferings his soule was in an agony and under a desertion crying My God my God why hast thou forsaken me what was the end of it it was for this that Christ might carry more compassion and more bowels of tendernesse towards persons that are under deep desertions Let a scholar that studies many things read in a Booke of the storms and distresses that sea-men are subject unto yet by all he reads he cannot pity men in a storm if he have never been in a storm himselfe let one read what the scripture mentions of the pangs of a woman in travell she cannot so compassionate a woman in travell unlesse shee hath had the pangs her selfe so in Divine things it is experience that makes men have compassion Secondly It is for this reason to raise up in mens hearts a higher esteem of pardoning grace things hardly come by are highly set by what is the reason that birds do chirp and sing more sweetly in the spring then in any other part of the year it is for this because after the vanishing away of a long and tedious winter the refreshing Spring comes in Beloved The Lord makes his people chirp and sing in the sense of pardoning grace rejoycing in that the more the longer the winter of desertion hath been when God lets them have long desertion then they doe the more rejoyce and sing when pardons are attained Men do then prize the shore when they have been tossed by a tempest on the sea Those that have been tossed on the waves of spirituall trouble that have had a storm and tempest in their conscience they will prize pardoning grace most Thirdly God doth sometimes pardon a mans sin yet not tell him of it and it is for rebuke to him because he hath not lived in the exercise of grace thou keepest back obedience from God and God keeps back comfort from thee this is a main reason why sometimes God pardons a sinner and yet doth not tell him of it in his own conscience It is done in heaven the pardon is written there but it is not done in the conscience it is not written here It is to give thee a rebuke a check in thine own heart surely I have not exercised grace therefore surely God will not give me the comforting work of his Spirit when thou art not much in grace then thou shalt be but little in peace it is just with God so to doe Fourthly the Lord pardons a sin when he doth not tell that it is pardoned it is to make the repentance of men more visible and satisfactory to the world that hath been offended by their sin The Lord will make the world see that if men will sinne notoriously they shall smart bitterly to make the world see that repentance is no slight worke and to make peace with God is not easie Fifthly to make men to taste the evils and bitternesse of sin should a man that is notoriously wicked presently attain the sense of pardon it may be he would not tast the bitternesse of sin 6. Another reason is this to teach doubting Christians that assurance is not essentiall to pardon it is separable from pardon it is separable from faith therefore from pardon A man may beleeve yet know not that he doth beleeve The Lord doth it for that end to teach doubting Christians that though they have not assurance yet they may have faith though they want the sense of pardon they may be pardoned there cannot be fruit but there must be a tree yet there may be a tree when there is no fruit there may be grace in the heart when there is no peace in the conscience to have peace is additionall to grace now the Lord for these holy ends doth sometimes pardon a sin in heaven when the pardon is not sealed to the conscience Thus much for the first case A second Case of conscience is this if God pardons a sin whether or no doth he afflict and punish men for it after it is forgiven this is an usefull question and the reason is because there are errors and mistakes about it mistakes on the right hand and on the left The Antinomians say that a pardoned sinner is never afflicted for sin and say they to say that a man whose sin is forgiven is afflicted for sin doth derogate from the satisfaction and sufferings of Christ Then the Papists say that men are afflicted and punished for sin and that these punishments are for satisfaction to divine Justice and they are meritorious and on this ground they bottome Purgatory that after a man is dead he must for some years lye in Purgatory to satisfie for some notorious grosse sin done in his life Now Beloved to keep you from swerving either way I shall lay down the true genuine state of this Question and resolve it to you First consider this That God doth not afflict any man but where sin is that is my first position God doth not cruciate an innocent creature indeed the Schoolemen have a question whether God by his soveraignty may torment an innocent creature but that is but a nicety but this is most certain that God in the dispensation of his Judgements doth punish no man but where sin is sin entred into the world and death by sin Secondly though God afflicts none sinlesse yet sometimes it may be for triall and not for any particular sin so was Jobs affliction it was not for sin but for triall to try Iobs grace Thirdly and chiefly it is apparant from the Scriptures that pardoned sinners may be punished for their sins Would not this be partiall for a father to beat the servant for a fault yet not beat the child for a worse fault Now the Lord will not leave such a plea as this in any wicked mans heart In all the Kingdomes of the world where sword where pestilence where famin and where plagues have been the good have fallen with the bad the righteous have fallen by the sword as well as the wicked the reason is that the world should not say that he is a partiall God Now to satisfie and to establish your thoughts in this point I shall give you two expresse testimonies in the Scripture that God doth punish his people for sin though their sins be pardoned The one is of David 2 Sam. 12. 14. Howbeit because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme the childe also that is born unto thee shall surely dye I will punish thee in thy child I will pardon thy sin yet I will punish thy sin so likewise in 2 Sam. 7. 14. 15. I will be his father and he shall be my son If hee commit iniquity I will chasten him with the rod of men and with the stripes of the children of men but my mercy shal
whereas the scripture saith expresly that Christ shall come from Heaven with his Saints and wee read in Scripture that there are the Spirits of just men made perfect as well as the innumerable company of Angels Fifthly this would follow that it would bee a great discomfort to a godly man on his death-bed to think he should bee so many hundred yeares soule and body in the grave before Christ would bring him to Heaven it would bee a very uncomfortable Doctrine for a man to thinke on that I shall die like a beast that my soule after death shall not bee taken up into Heaven And thus I have proved that immediately after the godly die their soules are received into heaven I have proved it by pregnant instances in the Scripture by generall expressions in the Scripture and by those expresse passages in Scripture and have given you those absurdities that will arise in case it should be denyed A word now from what hath been spoken If it bee that Christ doth receive thee O thou beleever to himselfe before the totall and compleat reception I would then give you this use for to comfort you Use First fear not a dying time let not death bee dreadfull and terrible to thee Beloved were this true indeed that when thou diest thy soule should perish with thy body then a Life is not worth the having but when thou shalt thinke on thy death-bed here now is a disease consuming thy body and sending of thee to thy grave and now there is but a little time betweene thee and Heaven that when I am a dying I am in the very Suburbs of Heaven a little breath between mee and Heaven O how should this comfort a dying man when that hee hath good evidences for Heaven O this should greatly comfort thee against thou comest to die to thinke that thy dead-bed is the very Suburbs of heaven I have read what John said that wrote the Revelarions when hee was ready to die I doe beleeve saith hee that in this very day my soule shall be presented before the Lord Jesus Christ O thinke now thou art leaving thy friends it will not bee a day before Christ and I shall meet in heaven As in the Booke of Martyrs wee read that in Queene Maries time two friends were put to death together One of them was fearfull to thinke that the flames should scorch his flesh O saith the other bee of good comfort for halfe an houre hence thou shalt bee in Heaven O thinke though thou art weake and sick even unto death yet that thou shalt shortly bee with Jesus Christ doubt not of the truth of this For I could even pawn my soul of the truth of it that the soules of the Elect are taken up into heaven immediately after death O then let not death trouble you Doct. 4 The fourth Doctrine here mentioned is the benefit of Christs coming and that is to raise your bodies from the dead and receive them to himselfe This is the particular that I am now to insist upon and receive you to my selfe Obser The Observation is this that the maine end of Christs coming againe is for to raise the bodies of the Elect and to receive them to himselfe not onely to save the Soule immediately after death but to raise the body also There are two Queries in the Doctrinall part of this point touching the end of Christs coming which is to raise the bodies of the Elect and to receive them to himselfe First Why Jesus Christ must raise the bodies of the Elect and receive them to himselfe as well as the soules Secondly when Christ doth receive the body to himself then what endowments doth the body receive as now it hath not First why must Christ receive the body to himselfe as well as the soule There are four reasons First because of the Resurrection of his own body Christs own body is raised from the dead and received up into heaven and therefore the bodies of the Elect must be there also where Christ is there must his members be Christ the head is raised from the dead and received up into glory The Apostle doth give this reason 1 Cor. 15. 12. Now if Christ bee preached that hee rose from the dead c. As if he should have said Christ being risen from the dead doth argue that our bodies must rise from the Grave though they be dead there In 1 Cor. 6. 14. And God hath both raised up the Lord and will also raise up us by his own power 1 Thess 4. 14. For if wee beleeve that Jesus dyed and rose againe even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him So that because Jesus Christs body is raised from the dead and received up into Heaven therfore our bodies must bee raised up and received into glory with him Secondly the bodies of the Elect must be raised because of the inhabitation of the Spirit the Spirit doth sanctifie the bodies of the Elect as well as the soules the very God of peace sanctifie you throughout and I pray God that your soule Spirit and Body bee kept blamelesse unto the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ 1 Cor. 6. 18 19 20. Flee Fornication every sinne that a man doth is without the body but he that committeth Fornication sinneth against his own body What know yee not that your body is the Temple of the holy Ghost which is in you which yee have of God and yee are not your owne for yee are bought with a price Therefore glorifie God in your body and in your spirit which are Gods Now the spirit of God having a gracious worke in the body as well as the soule Therefore the body must be raised up from the dead as well as the soule and this the Scripture makes an Argument of the resurrection in Rom. 8. 11. But if the spirit of him that raised up Iesus from the dead dwell in you hee that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortall bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you So that spirit that raised up Christ from the dead if that dwelleth in you and the graces of the spirit that spirit shall quicken your mortall bodies therefore the bodies of the Elect shall be raised from the dead and received into glory with the soule Thirdly because the body hath a conjunction and co-operation with the soule in all gracious working the body shall bee partner with the Soule being received unto Jesus Christ because the body doth co-operate with the Soule Rom. 8. 13. For if yee live after the flesh yee shall die but if yee through the spirit doe mortifie the deeds of the flesh yee shall live Now being that the godly doe mortifie the deeds of the body and do expose their bodies to tortures and torments for Jesus Christ now because the bodies of the Elect doe co-operate with the soule in good therefore the body shall be co-partner with the soule in good