for ever And when He said take and eat He commanded Heb. 5. 6. us not to offer up His body but only to feed on it So also another abuse of the Papists is to deny the Cup to the people whereas Christ in His institution said Drink ye all of this It is a high Sacrilegious impiety thus expresly to go against Christ's institution in His own words It is by faith alone we eat the body and drink the blood of Christ And yet we say not that the body of Christ is included in the Bread and His blood included in the Cup but if we will enjoy the truth and reality of the Sacrament we must have our hearts lifted up heaven-wards and look upwards where Christ is in the glory of His Father and from whence He shall come to be our Judge for he that seeks Him corporally in these corruptible elements manifestly errs So for me to eat the body of Christ crucified for me and to drink His blood shed for me is not only firmly to believe the whole passion and death of Christ and by it to obtain remission of Joh. 6. 35. to 54. sins and everlasting life but also by His Spirit which dwelleth in me to be more and more united to His blessed body as Christ there said He that eateth My Joh. 6. 56. â—lesh and drinketh My blood dwelleth in Me and I in him So that although Christ is in Heaven and we on Earth yet we are flesh of His flesh and bone of His bone Eph. 5. 30. 3. 16 17. 4. 15 16. Joh. 6. 57. Even as all the members of the body are quickened and directed by one soul so are we by one and the self same S-pirit So then our eating the body and drinking the blood of Christ which is not corporally but spiritually done signifies four things 1. Our believing of the passion and death of Christ 2. Our receiving remission of sins and everlasting life by faith in Him 3. Our union with Christ by His Holy Spirit which dwelleth both in Christ and us 4. The benefit of quickening by the same Holy Spirit So to eat the body and drink the blood of Christ is to believe that we through the merits of Christ are received by God into grace and favour and by the same faith we receive remission of sins and are reconciled unto God and that the Son of God that Word which was made flesh who hath Joh. 1. 14. united to Himself our humane nature which He personally took doth dwell in us and hath joyned us to Himself and His assumed humane nature by pouring upon us His Holy Spirit by which He regenerates us and restores light in us righteousness and eternal life the same which shineth in His assumed humane nature Or more briefly thus to eat the body of Christ is 1. To believe in Him 2. By faith to receive remission of sins 3. To be united unto Christ 4. To be made partaker of the life of Christ or to be conformable to Christ by His Holy Spirit which worketh the same things both in Christ and in us This our eating is our communion with Christ which the Scripture teacheth and which in this Sacrament we do profess namely our spiritual union with Christ such as is of the members with the head and of the branches with the vine This eating of His flesh Christ teacheth in John 6. and confirmeth it by these outward signs in the Lord's Supper For in the Lord's Supper as we do eat the Bread and drink the Wine even so there as surely Christ gives to all true believers His body to eat and His blood to drink This is clearly manifested to us in the words of institution Mat. 26. 26 27 28. 1 Cor. 11. 23 24 25. And this promise is repeated by St. Paul 1 Cor. 10. 16 17. The cup of blessing which we bless is it not the communion of the blood of Christ The bread which we break is it not the communion of the body of Christ For we being many are one bread and one body for we are all partakers of that one bread To explain this briefly It is called the cup of blessing or of giving thanks because it is received to this end that we should give thanks to Christ for His death and passion for us or that we should use it so as to put us in mind of Christ's benefits towards us and for these to give Him thanks Communion of the blood of Christ Communion is a participation of a common thing the Communion of the body and blood of Christ is by faith to be made partakers of Christ and all His benefits the same Spirit being in us which is in Christ and working the same thing in us which he doth in Christ It is a spiritual communion which believers have with Christ as members with the head and as branches with the vine For the Bread and Wine are the Communion that is the sign and testimony of our Communion with Christ This Communion as the Apostle there said consisteth in this that we being many are one body This makes against the corporal eating of the Papists in this Sacrament for our communion with Christ is only by faith and by the Holy Ghost Christ is the common head His benefits are common and communicated to all His members Hence also it follows that the members are common among themselves whence should flow mutual love and amity The Papists to uphold their Transubstantiation do say that we must take the words litterally and so immediately after the words of consecration at the last syllable of the last word that the Bread is transubstantiated or changed into the very body of Christ and the Wine into His blood But this is a Sacramental speech of Christ This is my body As St. Austin to that general rule about Sacramental actions adds this instance of eating the body of Christ This is a certain way said he of finding out whether such a phrase or speech be proper or figurative that whatsoever in Divine Word or holy Scriptures cannot be done by honest and good manners nor be properly referred to the truth of our faith we must know it to be a figurative speech And shortly after instances in that place Vnless ye eat the flesh of the Son of man Joh. 6. 53. and drink His blood ye have no life in you Doth our Saviour here command such a nefarious act to have the Jews fall upon Him kill and â—ley Him to eat His flesh and drink His blood No it is a figurative speech there Christ commands them to communicate with the passion and sufferings of the Lord and most sweetly to lay it up in remembrance that for us His body and flesh was crucified and wounded So also this is a figurative speech when our Saviour speaks of the Bread This is my body and of the Cup This is my blood This Cup is the New Testament in My blood where the
that hideous cry Art thou come to torment us before the time This terrible fire these hideous torments prepared for the Devil and his Angels all wicked Mat. 25. 41. men must enter into and remain in and and that for ever Oh that dreadful word Eternity never never to have end The damned might think themselves some ways mitigated to endure these horrible pains and extremest horrors more millions of years than there be sands on the Sea-shore or stars in the firmament c. they would still comfort themselves with thinking that their misery will once have an end But alas this amazing word Never will rend their heart in pieces with much rage and hideous roaring and give still new-life to those insufferable pains and sorrows which infinitely exceed all expression or imagination There are in Hell both Corporal and Spiritual plagues and torments The punishment of loss and the punishment of sense 1. The pain of loss the privation of Gods glorious presence and eternal separation from those everlasting joys happiness and blessedness in Heaven which is a most unutterable and inexpressible torment 2. The pain of sense the extremity exquisiteness and perpetuity thereof no tongue can possibly express or heart of man conceive It doth not only exceed with an incomparable disproportion all possibility of patience and resistance but also even ability to bear it And yet notwithstanding it must of necessity be born so long as God is God They shall weep to see how that weeping it self can nothing prevail yea in weeping they shall weep more tears than there is water in the Sea for the water of the Sea is finite but the weeping of the reprobates shall be infinite Their Consciences shall ever sting them like an Adder when they think how God used all means for their Salvation how Christ wooed them by His Ministers to be reconciled unto God 2 Cor. 5. 20. offering them freely remission of sins and the Kingdom of Heaven if they would but believe and repent and how easily they might have obtained mercy in those dayes and yet they suffered the Devil and the World and their unruly lusts to lull them asleep and keep them still in impenitency and unbelief and how the day of mercy and grace is now past and will never dawn again Oh that men and women would timely and seriously think hereupon that they may never come into this place of torment to lye as it were in fire and brimstone kept in the highest flame by the unquenchable wrath of God and that for ever Where they shall have nothing about them but darkness and horror wailing and wringing of hands desparate yellings and gnashing of teeth Their old companions in sin and vanity cursing them with much rage and bitterness wicked Devils insulting over them with Hellish cruelty and scorn the never-dying worm of conscience feeding upon their Soul and flesh for ever and ever the smoak of their Rev. 14. 11. torments ascending also to all eternity This is the estate of the reprobates in Hell this is the second death the general perfect fulness of all cursedness and misery 4. Come we to the last head mentioned 4 Heaven Heaven When Christ by His Almighty power and Ministry of His Angels hath cast the Devils and all the reprobates into hell the righteous Psal 58. 10. shall rejoyce to see the vengeance and glorifie God in the confusion of His enemies and have cause then to say Verily there is a reward for the righteous verse 11. verily there is a God that judgeth in the earth Then the elect shall be by Christ carried up into Heaven and put in possession of His glorious Kingdom where they shall be unspeakably and everlastingly blessed and glorious in 1 Cor. 13. 10 12. Body and Soul Being freed from all imperfections and infirmities yea from such graces as imply imperfection as Faith Hope Repentance c. and endued with perfect Wisdom and Holiness possessed with all those rivers of pleasures Psal 16. 11. Rev. 3. 21. 2 Tim. 4. 8. 2 Pet. 3. 13. Psal 17. 16. 1 Thess 4. 17. Heb. 12. 22. which are at Gods right hand seated as Princes in thrones of Majesty Crowned with crowns of glory possessing the new-heaven and new-earth wherein dwelleth righteousness beholding and being filled with the fruition and enjoyment of the glorious presence of God and of the Lamb Jesus Christ in the company of innumerable Angels and holy Saints c. The efficient cause of this eternal blessed life generally is the whole Trinity But especially the Lord Jesus Christ who by His merits hath obtained it for us and by His effectual Power gives it unto us Hence He is called the eternal Father or rather the Father Isa 9. 6. of Eternity And the Lord our righteousness Jer. 23. 6. And He also calls Himself metonimically I am the life John 14. 6. This eternal happiness shall be clearly seen by our freedom from all evil both of sin and suffering and by the variety greatness and eternity of all joys and happiness God shall wipe away all tears from our eyes and there shall be Rev. 21. 4. no more death neither sorrow nor crying neither shall there be any more pain for the former things are passed away The variety of those Heavenly joys may farther appear and be seen in these following particulars 1. In the glorification of the whole man both Body and Soul 2. In the pleasantness and sweetness of those Heavenly mansions 3. In the blessed Society of the Angels and Saints 4. But above all in our communion with God To insist briefly upon these The variety of Heavenly joys appear 1. In the glorification of our whole man 1. Our bodies shall be endued with impassibility that is never capable to suffer more with nimbleness and agility with subtility and clearness shining as the light and as the Dan. 12. 3. brightness of the firmament and as the stars for ever and ever and fashioned like to Christs glorious body 2. Our Phil. 3. 21. Souls shall be far more perfect then shall we have understanding without error light without darkness wisdom without ignorance reason without obscurity memory without forgetfulness c. 2. The pleasantness and sweetness of these Heavenly mansions was shadowed by the temple of Solomon and the New-Jerusalem Glorious things are spoken Revel 20. 10 to 27. Psal 87. 3. of thee O thou city of God 3. The blessed Society of Saints and Angels we shall not only have a communion Mat 22. 30. Luk. 28. 36. with them but we shall be as Angels 4. The communion we shall have with God shall be such as we shall see Him without end love Him for ever and praise Him without weariness In Psal 16. 11. whose presence is fulness of joy and at whose right-hand are pleasures for evermore God so of His gracious good will distributeth glory that none shall have cause of
punishment did grow from the fall of our first Parents The punishment of sin which we now speak of is the wrath and curse of God by whose just sentence man is delivered over for his sin into the power both of bodily and spiritual â—eath begun here and to be accomâ—lished hereafter Bodily death is the separation of the â—ul from the body with all personal â—iseries and evils that attend thereon â—â— make way thereunto Spiritual death is the final separation â—f both soul and body from God together with spiritual bondage and all â—re-runners of damnation Or more particularly All the misery â—f man God in this one word Death â—â—th comprehended In the day thou Gen. 2. 17. â—â—est of the tree of knowledg of good and â—â—il thou shalt dye There are four degrees of death 1. There is a spiritual death which a privation of spiritual life whereby man is destitute of saving Grace and â— lives only unto sin So Christ of the â—hurch of Sardis I know thy works Rev. 3. â— â—ou hast a name that thou livest but thou â—t dead 2. The second degree is of afflictions â—d miseries So Pharaoh said to Moses â—d Aaron Pray ye to the Lord that He Exod. 10. 17. â—ay remove from me this death only 3. Corporal death which is a privaâ—on of natural life and a resolution of the body into dust and returning oâ— the soul again unto God Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was and Eccles 12. 7. the spirit unto God that gave it 4. The fourth degree is everlasting death or the state of the damned Rev. 21. 8. which in respect of corporal death â—â— called the second death But it is the third of these corporal death which â—â— here meant Spiritual death hath three degrees 1. When a man who is alive in regard of corporal or temporal death lies dead in sins She that liveth in pleasures is dead while she liveth And this 1 Tim. 5. 6. is the case of all men by nature whâ— are children of wrath and dead in sinâ— Eph. 2. 1. and trespasses 2. The second degree is the very end of this life when the body is to be layed in the earth and the soul descendâ— to the place of torment 3. The third degree is in the day oâ— Judgment when the body and soul meâ—â— again and go both to the place of the damned there to be tormented for ever and ever But now we are to speak of temporaâ— or corporal death which is a punishment inflicted on man for sin Deatâ— passed upon all men for that all have Rom. 5. 12. â—inned This death is a miserable priâ—ation of life And yet this death is not so properly as by Gods appointment â—ut from God as revenging on Sin and so properly it is from Sin as the meritorious and procuring cause of it And so this death is not only a simple and a bare privation of life but joyned with a subjection unto misery Therefore it is not an annihilation of the Sinner because the subject of misery being â—aken away then misery it self should be â—aken away also Now sith we must all dye let us labour Heb. 9. 27. to dye well To dye well two things are requisite 1. A preparation 1. Preparation before death before death 2. A right behaviour and disposition in death 1. The preparation unto death is an action of a repentant Sinner whereby he makes himself â—it and ready to dye That which we can do but once how careful should we be to do it well sith there is no place after for amending of errours therein committed This preparation is a duty very necessary to which we are bound by God's Commandment Therefore we are bid to watch and pray As death leaves us so judgment finds us as the tree falleth so Eccles 11. 3. it lyeth This preparation is twofold 1 General 1. General preparation for death 2. Particular 1 General to prepare our selves to dye through the whole course of our life for we know not neither the time of our death nor the place of our death nor the manner how whether of a sudden death or of a lingring sickness Therefore all the days of my Job 14. 14. appointed time will I wait till my change shall come The best Art of living well is to learn the Art of dying well Balaam would dye the death of the righteous Numb 23. 10. and that his latter end might be like to his but he did not care to live the life of the righteous I protest by our rejoycing which I have in Christ Jesus our 1 Cor. 15. 31. Lord said St. Paul I dye daily That is in preparation for it meditation upon it and expectation of it This will keep us humble and further our daily repentance and help us to be contented in every condition and make us watchful over our selves to fly and avoid Sin careful to grow in Grace and to be frequent in Prayer to God that He would teach us so to number Psal 90. 12. our days that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom For if we would live for ever we must begin to live that blessed and everlasting life here before we dye to live the life of Grace here which is the life of Glory begun We all with open face beholding as in a 2 Cor. 3. 18. glass the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image from glory to glory aâ— by the spirit of the Lord that is we by faith contemplating the glorious light of God's mercy truth power c. by which means we are made like unto Hiâ— in the glory of holiness and newness of life by the Spirit of regeneration which hath its progresses in this life until such time as it cometh to its perfection in the life everlasting â— Of particular preparation before 2. Particular preparation â—oâ— death death this contains three duties 1. Concerning God 2. Our selves 3. Our Neighbour â— Concerning God to seek to be reconciled to Him in Jesus Christ This reconciliation is had by renewing our former faith and repentance To see and acknowledg that Visitation of sickness from God's hand and usually it is for sin 1. Therefore make we a new examination of our hearts and â—am 3. 3â— lives search and try our ways and turn again to the Lord. 2. Confess we our sins to the Lord and He will forgive the iniquity of our sins If we confess our sins He is saithful and just to forgive 1 Psal 32. 5. Joh. 1. 9. us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness 3. Pray earnestly unto God with sighs and groans of the Spirit for pardon of sin and that God would assure us of it and that He is reconciled to us in Christ Jesus our Surety 2. Concerning our duties to our selves and that 1. In reference to the Soul 2. In reference to the Body 1. In
Gods Wisdom Providence Justice and Goodness not to be obedient to God in bearing of adversities which he hath inflicted upon us but through grief to fret against him or do something against his commands not craving deliverance or help from him nor moderating grief by the acknowledging and resting on his Divine Will but to yield to grief so far as to be broken and overcome thereby and so driven to dispair So did Saul and Judas Iscariot To this impatience belongeth that complaining and crying out as if God afflicted us beyond our deserts and we had merited no such thing There is also a Hypocritical Patience as in those who vainly excruciate and torment themselves as those worshippers of Baal who cut and 1 Kings 18. 28 gashed themselves with knives till the bloud gushed out And of the same sort are also the Popish whippings c. There is also a Stoical Apathy or insensibility which we may call stupidity her rejected because a sense of our grief and some complaint or lamentation is not contrary to Patience so that we charge not God foolishly but justify God in his dispensations and utter nothing against him and complain not so much for the affliction as for our sins and acknowledge that he hath punished us less than our Ezra 9. 15. iniquities have deserved Why cryest Jer. 30. 15. thou for thine afflictions thy sorrow is incurable for the multitude of thine iniquities because thy sins were increased God hath done thus unto thee Thus we may glory in tribulation knowing tribulation worketh patience Rom. 5. 3 4 5. and patience experience and experience hope and hope maketh not ashamed because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us That is we rejoyce in our present afflictions which are an assured proof unto us of everlasting 2 Cor. 4. 17. glory These light and momentany afflictions work out for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory Here is a Hyperbole beyond an Hyperbole It is an evident token unto us of Salvation Phil. 1. 28. and that of God The Holy Ghost doth through tribulation fashion and frame us to Patience in which God doth from time to time give us assured proofs of His Grace and Protection whereby we conceive a firm hope in Him grounded upon the love which He bears unto us which He hath given us large cause of feeling and hath lively sealed it to our hearts by His Spirit of Adoption The more Gods servants suffer tribulation and adversity with patience The more they feel in themselves and have experience of His aid and assistance and this makes them more to hope in God as knowing they shall never be ashamed of their faith and hope Rom. 10. 11 and considence in Him Through patience and comfort of the Rom. 15. 4. Luke 8. 15. Scriptures we have hope Let us bring forth fruit with patience such fruits as God by His dispensations calls for and requires of us and that with patience that is persevering to the last in the middest of and notwithstanding all our tryals and afflictions God will render Rom. 2. 7. to them eternal life who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory and honour and immortality So we have need of patience that after Heb. 10. 36. we have done the will of God we may receive the promise In all things approving our selves to be the servants of God who is stiled the God of patience in much patience in afflictions Rom. 15. 4. in distresses in necessities c. which 2 Cor. â— 4. we endure Being strengthned with all might accerding to His glorious power unto all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness So that the Ministers of Col. 1. 11. Christ may glory in us in the Churches of God for our patience and faith in all 2 Theâ— 1. 4. our persecutions and tribulations which we endure Let us follow after righteousness godliness 1 Tim. 6. 11. faith love patience meekness 2 Cor. 8. 7. And as to grow in grace so also in this of patience Adding to our faith vertue and to vertue knowledge and to 2 Pet. 1. 5. 6 7. knowledge temperance and to temperance patience and to patience godliness and to godliness brotherly kindness and to brotherly kindness charity That God may know and approve our works and our labour and our patience that we have born and have had patience and have not fainted Rev. 2. 2 3. That it may be said of us among others Here is the patience of the Saints here Rev. 14. 12. are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus That Christ may say to us Because ye have kept the Rev. 3. 10. word of my patience I also will keep you from the hour of temptation which shall come upon all the world to try them that dwell upon the earth It is not anothers patience that will avail us unless for our example and imitation but in our patience we must possess and that our own souls Consider the work of God In the Eccl. 7. 14. day of prosperity rejoyce In the day of adversity consider God hath set the one over against the other to the end that man should find nothing after him That is be wise in discerning the various ways of Gods Providence for to second them with thine affections either of joy or sorrow Since Gods Will cannot be altered wisdom should make a man quietly submit unto it for there are variable things in this world to which we must conform our affections both of joy and grief Here we may expect nothing but changes and alterations for in the middest of life we are in death Here is no perpetuity of any condition Adversity is a considering time when God writeth bitter things against Job 13. 2â— us therefore in the day of adveâ—â—â—ty consider Endeavour to have such a feeling as God calleth the unto by His visitation or dispensation for He hath set adversity against prosperity He hath mixed evil with good to direct man by these different means of mildness and severity unto a happy death for after death there are no more vicissitudes nor varieties all things and conditions are then perpetual neither is there any place for repentance or amendment Q. What is the true nature of this vertue of Patience A. I answer This Christian Patience looks on a Three fold Object 1. On God By whose Good-will and pleasure all adversities are appointed and from thence come This Job in his afflictions did see and acknowledge when he said shall we Job 2. 10. receive good at the hand of God and shall we not receive evil In this regard murmuring against God is opposed 1 Cor. 10. 10. to patience Neither murmur ye as some of them murmured and were destroyed of the destroyer This murmuring against God is the ready way to our
reference to the Soul our duty is to arm our selves against the fear of death as not thinking on the paâ—gs of death which Christ hath sweetned and sanctified to all His but upon that blessed estate that is enjoyed after death And look upon death not as it is seâ— forth in the Law so it is a curse but as it is set forth in the Gospel so it is an entrance into Heaven consider also what God hath promised to the death of the Rev. 14. 13. righteous Blessed are they that die in the Lord for they rest from their labours and their works follow them As we die in the Lord both our Bodies and Souls are really joyned to Christ as it is expressed in the Covenant of Grace and though death make a separation of soul and body yet neither of them are sever'd from Christ our mystical union and conjunction with Christ our Head endures for ever c. God as He Isa 43. 2. is present with us in our sickness so especially will He be with us at our Death when the holy Angels are especially also present with us ready to carry the soul into heaven 2. In reference to the body our duty is To seek to preserve life to recover health as by Diet Physick that is such lawful means and worthy instruments called thereunto and this God requires of us to do 3. Concerning our Neighbour our duty is Reconciliation where any difference is forgiving all men and desiring to be forgiven by them serting our Families in order making our Will which indeed much rather should be in the time of our best health 1 Kings 2. 2. 1 Chron. 28. 9. Gen. 18 19. charging those of our Family to learn believe and obey the true Religion c. Thus let us strive to honour God dying as well as living Now Secondly of the second part 2dly bâ—haviâ—â— Death which is a right behaviour and disposition in Death which is a religious and holy behaviour especially towards God when we are nearer the agonie and pangs of death This religious behaviour contains Three especial duties 1. To Dye in or by Faith relying on Gods special love and mercy iâ— Christ As the Israelites stung with the Num. 21. 8 9. fiery Serpents looked to the brazen Serpent and were cured So we when we find death to draw near and his fiery sting to sting and pierce our hearts then let us fix the eye of a true and lively Faith upon Jesus Christ the true brazen Serpent lifted up and crucifi'd upon the Cross for our sins and for mine in particular and so by death we shall Joh. 3. 14 15 never perish but have everlasting life 2dly To dye in obedience to God As we must live in obedience to God's Cammandments so must we dye be ready willing to go out of the world whensoever God calls us and that withour murmuring or repining Imitating our blessed Saviour who said Father not my will but Thy will be Mat. 26. 39. done 3dly The last duty is To resign and render up our Souls into the hands of God as the most faithful keeper So did our Saviour in the very pangs of death when the dissolution of soul Luk. 23. 46. and body drew on He said Father into Thy hands I commit My Spirit and so gave up the Ghost So Stephen when he Acts 7. 59. was ston'd to death said Lord Jesus receive my spirit And so being dead Joh. 11. 11. Acts 7. 60. 1 Thes 4. 13. sob 7. 21. we are said to sleep which is by a Synechdoche part for the whole For the body only lyes in the earth Now I shall sleep in the dust that is my body only Let us then not fear death Christ hath taken away the sting of it from all true believers He hath sweetned it unto us and made it only a passage to our Fathers house And I saw the dead small and great stand before God that is all without exception shall personally appear before God and come to Judgment of what degree rank estate or condition soever whether Emperours Kings Princes or Beggars then there will be no distinction of persons we must all nakedly appear before this Tribunal we must all appear before the Judgment-Seat of Christ That every 2 Cor. 5. 10. one may receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad Observe the placing of the words small and great the small are put before the great to shew that there will be then no distinction of persons as I said before but all must promiscuously appear before God Then the high and great wicked ones who here through the pride of their countenance will not seek after God God was not in Psal 10. 4. all their thoughts except to swear by His Name or to curse God dam me but rather they think on their father Joh. 8. 44. Psal 2. 3. Jer. 5. 5. the Devil whose works they do and drink healths to him and wish the Devil take them so running on in the practice of all wickedness that no cords or bonds will hold them They altogether break the yoke and burst the bonds All Laws both Divine and Humane they trample under foot But then when the holy Angels shall most powerfully gather together from all quarters of the Earth and Sea all men and set them before the Judg even Jesus Christ from whose faâ—e the heaven Rev. 20. 11. 6. 14 15. 16. and the earth do â—ly away c. denoting the terror and Majesty of the Judg Himself when there shall be such a conclusion of all things Then those high ruffing Gallants will strive to hide themselves in Caves and Rocks of the mountains and cry to the mountains and rocks to fall on them and hide them from the face of Him that setteth upon the Throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. But all in vain for there is no hiding-place but all must appear and Heb. 4. 13. that before Him before whom all things are naked and open and so must be judged according to their works Which brings us to the Second Head that is Judgment I need not prove that there shall be 2. Judgment a Judgment although there are several reasons for it besides the dictates of our own Consciences it is an Article of our Faith And many places both in the Old and also in the New-Testament confirm it For brevity sake I will only cite the Texts and leave them to be read out of the Bible Read Dan. 7. 9 10. Jude 14. 15. Christ's Sermon in Matthew 24 25 Chapters Acts 17. 31. and 1 Thes 4. 16. Heb. â— 27. Now next to speak what this last Judgment is In the end of the world Christ the What is this Judgment Judg shall descend from Heaven in the Clouds in the Glory and Majesty of His Father with His holy Angels and all men shall
be raised up again which have been dead from the beginning of the world and they that remain alive shall suddenly be changed and so all shall be set before the Tribunal Sâ—at of Christ who shall pass Sentence upon All adjudging the Devils and all the wicked to everlasting punishments but shall receive the godly unto Himself that together with Him and the blessed Angels they may enjoy everlasting glory and happiness in Heaven Or more briefly thus It shall be a manifestation of all hearts and a laying open of all things which men have done and a separating of the wicked from the godly passing Sentence upon All and Execution of that Sentence according to the Doctrine of the Law and Gospel Which will be a perfect deliverance and perpetual blessedness to the Godly and a casting of the Wicked and Devils into everlasting Punishment We will prove the several parts hereof out of the Scripture 1. It shall be a laying open of all things For the Books shall be opened that the secrets of all hearts may be made manifest As Rev. 20. 12. Dan. 7. 10. 2. There shall be a separation of the just from the unjust as a Shepherd separateth Mat. 25. 32 33. the Sheep from the Goats setting the Sheep on his right hand and the Goats on his left 3. This separation shall be by Christ the Judge For the Father hath committed Joh. 5. 22. all Judgment to the Son And Acts 17. 31. God hath appointed a day wherein He will judg the world by Christ 4. There shall be a passing of Sentence For Christ shall say to those on His right hand Come ye blessed c. and to those on His left hand Go ye cursed c. 5. There shall be an eternal Execution of this Sentence for the wicked shall go away into everlasting fire but Mat. 25. 46. the just into life eternal 6. Both the godly and the wicked shall be judged according to the Law and Gospel that is they shall be declared just or unjust before the Tribunal of Christ For the absolution of the just shall principally be according to the Gospel and shall be confirm'd by the Law The damnation of the unjust shall be principally by the Law and shall be confirm'd by the Gospel The Sentence on the wicked shall be taken from their merits The Sentence on the godly shall be taken from Christ's merits apply'd to them by Faith the testimony of whose Faith shall be their works Q. When shall this Judgment be A. We know not the time So â—aith our Saviour That day knoweth no man Mark 13. 32. no not the Angels which are in heaven nor the Son that is as man but the Father only Good conceals this day 1. That He may exercise our faith hope and patience that believing in God we may persevere in expectation of the promises and of the glorious deliverance of the Sons of God 2. That our curiosity may be restrain'd 3. That we may be continued in His fear in godliness and careful performance of our duty that we be not secure but always prepar'd because we are uncertain when â—â—â— Lord will come 4. That the wicked may not desser their repentance because they know not the day lest the day take them at Mark 13. 35 36 37. unawares and unprepared Therefore we are bid to watch and to employ our Talents well until Christ Luk. 19. 13. come Let the Saints rejoyce in God for Christ will come who will be a favourable Judg unto us for He is our Brother our Redeemer our merciful High-Priest He will come in Majesty and great Glory He is able to save to Heb. 7. 27 the utmost all that come to God by Him c. And He comes as to reward Vengance to His enemies so to bring us Joh. 17. 24. 12. 26. unto Himself that where He is who is our glorious Head and Husband there we His servants may also be c. Wherefore seeing we look for such things be we diligent that we may be found of Him in peace without spot 1 Pet. 3. 14. and blameless Then shall we have cause to lift up our heads and rejoyce Luk. 21. 28. for our everlasting redemption draweth nigh So we see by Judgment here is meant the pronouncing and executing of that irrevocable Sentence either of absolution or condemnation Judgment is Two fold 1st Particular 2dly General 1. Particular on every man and woman 1 Particular Judgment Heb. 9. 27. at the hour of death As it is appointed unto all men once to dye and after death comes judgment After Hâ—â—l 12. 7. death the body returns to the earth from whence it was and the spirit to God that gave it there immediately to receive its Sentence 2. General Judgment of which we 2. General Judgment Acts 17. 31. here speak upon all men at the Second coming of Christ As the death of every one severally goeth before their Particular Judgment So the General Resurrection of all goeth before their Final Judgment which shall be at the last Day wheâ— all men both dead and living shall be summoned by the Voice of Christ and Ministry of His Angels and by the Shout and Trumpet of the Arch-Angel Whereto the Lord joyning His Divine Power shall in a moment both Raise the dead with their own bodies and every part thereof though never so dispersed and change the living so that it shall be with them as if they had been a long time dead and were now raised to life again I say both the Elect and Reprobate shall rise by the same mighty Voice and Power â—â— Christ in the same bodies whereiâ— they formerly lived but so altered â—â— quality as then they shall be able to abide for ever in that estate whereto they shall be adjudged But there shall be a difference between the Resurrection of the Elect and Reprobate for the dead in Christ shall 1 Thes 4. 16 rise first and also the difference shall be 1. The Elect shall be raised as members of the body of Christ by vertue derived from His Resurrection The Reprobate as Malefactours shall bâ— brought forth out of the Prison of the grave by vertue of the Judiciary Power of Christ and of the curse of the Law 2. The Elect shall come forth to everlasting life which is called the Resurrection of life The Reprobate to shame and perpetual contempt which â—s called the Resurrection of condemnation 3. The bodies of the Elect shall be spiritual that is glorious powerful â—ctive or nimble impassible never â—apable to suffer more fashioned like 1 Cor. 15. 42 43 44 Phil. 3. 21. â—nto Christ's glorious body But the â—odies of the Reprobates shall be full of â—ncomeliness gastliness and horror agreeable to the guiltiness and terror of their consciences and liable to extremest torments 4. The Elect shall with great joy be Luke 21. 28. 1 Thes 4 17. caught up into the