are imitable by us and which we ought to follow so our Sanctification consists in a conformity to the ways of Christ's ordinary obedience So we read that Christ went about doing good No guile Acts 10. 38. 1 Pet. 2. 22. Joh. 4. 34. was found in His mouth He made it His meat and drink to do his Fathers will when he was reviled he reviled 1 Pet. 2. 23. not again when he suffered he threatned not but committed his cause to him that judgeth righteously He learned obedience by the things which He suffered Heb. 5. 8. Luk. 22. 42. Joh. 13. 14. Joh. 2. 14 17. He resigned His will to God's will He shewed us an excellent pattern of humility in washing His Disciples feet shewed admirable zeal for the glory of God and when He was thereunto called meekly resigned His Soul Luk. 23. 4â— into the hands of God And so the whole life of Christ was an exemplary precept unto men and we ought not to follow men any farther than they 1 Cor. 11. 1. Rev. 14. 4. follow Christ Let us follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth Now if Christ be a rule and pattern of holiness unto us then let us take heed that we be not a rule to our selves Every thing that Moses did about the material Tabernacle was to be done according to the pattern which he had seen in the Heb. 8. 5. Mount And every thing which we do in these spiritual Tabernacles we are to do it after the pattern of Him who is set before us looking unto Jesus the Heb. 12. 2. Author and finisher of our faith So let us be regular in all our speeches and actions doing all according to rule walking exactly and accurately as the Apostle bids us so the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Eph. 5. 15. in the Original signifies Not as fools but as wise though the wise fools of the world may think us too precise therein And let us enquire out of the Scriptures whether Christ would have done this or that or no at least whether He allow it or no. And as many as Gal. 6. 16. walk according to this rule peace be on them and mercy and upon the Israel of God And thus while we follow Christ we are out of all danger whoso thus Prov. 1. 33. hearken to Him shall dwell safely and shall be quiet from fear of evil being sure to be upheld and kept by Him in His way The more we follow Christ the nearer still we come unto Him Let us deny our selves our natural self and our sinful self and Christ will be all in all unto us He will guide us comfort counsel 2 Thess 2. 17. settle strengthen stablish us in every good word and work in this our Pilgrimage in the life of Grace here and Psal 73. 24. at length in His own good time bring us safely to the life of glory hereafter Thus we see what a comely and becoming thing holiness is what holiness is and the parts of it and how to attain it Holiness is a becoming thing As Moses when he had long conversed Exod. 34. 29. with God his face did shine So the Saints whose fellowship truly is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ do shine as lights in the 1 Joh. 1. 3. â—hil 2. 15. world Holiness makes us comely as in the sight of God so also in the sight of men So the promise is In that day that is Isai 4. â— in the times of the Gospel the Branch that is Christ shall be beautiful and glorious and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely that is the Spouse and people of Christ who are chosen out of the world and who live upon the earth they shall be excellent and comely So the Saints are comely through Christ's comeliness which He hath put upon them Oh how great is his goodness Ezek. 16. 14. Zech. 9. 17. Psal 149. 4. and how great is his beauty he will beautifie the meek with Salvation The Sanctification of the Elect and chosen of God it is to be taught by the Holy Spirit through the Ministry of the word in the Gospel of the good-will of God towards them to be regenerated and through faith to be made the temples of God and members of Christ that they may mortifie the deeds of the flesh and walk in newness of life going on in that way apprehending comfort â—nd joy in God and so are kept to life everlasting God's sanctifying of us and our sanctifying of God do differ for we sanctifie God by believing by attributing to God His holiness that is all His holy attributes which He claims to Himself in His Word by acknowledging and confessing them and by our holy obedience Sanctifying of God contains the whole worship of God God sanctifieth us by making us inviolable safe and secure against Sin Hell the World Death Devil Enemies and all Evils God sanctifieth us in teaching us by His holy Spirit through the Ministry of the Gospel of His good-will towards us by regenerating us and by faith making us the temples of God and members of Christ to mortifie the flesh and to walk before God in newness of life and so are kept to life eternal Thus far of holiness and the word becometh Now of the next words Thine house O Lord for ever The house of God in Scripture hath several acceptations it signifies and it is taken sometimes for 1. Heaven which is God's upper house His house of Glory of which Joh. 14. 2. Christ said In My Fathers house are many mansions And St. Paul calls it a building 2 Cor. 5. 1. not made with hands eternal in the heavens Here even the poorest Saint who hath not an house to put his head in upon earth hath yet an house in Heaven into which no unholy thing shall enter 2. It is taken for the Church and people of God whether 1. Distributively every pious person is God's house Whose house Heb. 3. 6. are we 2. Collectively and then it is taken sometimes for a particular assembly So St. Paul said to Timothy that thou mayst 1 Tim. 3. 15. know how to behave thy self in the house of God which is the Church of the living God c. And sometimes it is taken for the Catholick Church and this Heb. 3. 2 5. is here meant whether the whole Church of God or every individual person holiness becometh them and is required of them 3. By the house of God in Scripture sometime is meant the true Religion taught and professed within the Church of God The zeal of Thine house hath Psal 69. 9 eaten me up 4. The temple at Jerusalem whereof it is spoken My house shall be called the Luk. 19. 46 house of Prayer The temple of God is holy whose temple 1 Cor. 3. 17. we are Every thing about the material temple and in it was holy
that occasioned my conversion who taught me c. And this may clearly be gathered out of Scripture 1. For if Adam before the fall had that measure of Illumination That he knew Eve and from whence she came Gen. 2. 23. at the first sight much more we who then shall be filled with the Holy Ghost and with wisdom shall know each other and all the Saints whom we never saw before in the flesh Now we see as through a glass darkly 1 Cor. 13. 12 but then face to face now we know in part but then shall we know even as also we are known 2. If Peter James and John who accompanied Christ in His Transfiguration had then a tast and glimps of glorification and were able thereby to know Moses and Elias whom they had never seen who lived many hundred of years before neither could they know their visage by statues or pictures which was a thing utterly forbidden to the Jews but by the alone grace and favour of God which put into their hearts this immediate light of wisdom and knowledg How much more shall we being fully enlightned and perfectly glorified in heaven know exactly all the blessed ones though never acquainted with them here upon the earth 3. Samuel being inspired by God â— Sam. 9. 17. knew Saul whom he had never seen before 4. John Baptist in his Mother Elizabeth's womb leap'd for joy to Luk. 1. 41. hear the voice of the blessed Virgin the Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ If the minds of these were so enlightned with the beams of the Spirit and did so shall not we much more know each other in heaven when all clouds and mists of darkness shall be wholly taken away and we shall be fully illuminated and glorified 5. Christ tells the Jews That they Luk. 13. 28. shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the Prophets c. in the kingdom of heaven therefore they must know them 6. And it is clearly gathered out of the Parable in Luke 16. 23 24 25 that the Saints do know the Saints in the Kingdom of heaven and the Reprobates in torments do know each other In this knowledg each of other the heap of reward encreaseth For as the Elect do more and more rejoyce when they see those whom they have loved on earth to rejoyce with them so the wicked in Hell when they see whom they dearly loved in this world to be tormented with them not only their own punishment but the punishment of those whom they so much loved in this life adds unto their misery Where-hence we conclude that the glorified Saints then plentifully endu'd with all knowledg and supernaturally enlightned by the Holy Ghost shall know each other and those Saints also whom they never knew in the flesh There all men shall be known of every several man of what Nation Country or stock soever he came and every several man shall be known of all We shall know the spiritual substances offices orders and excellencies of the holy Angels And the nature immortality operations and originals of our own souls yea and all things knowable But above all we shall be beatifically enlightned with a clear and glorious sight of God Himself which Divines call the Beatifical Vision which alone makes us blessed and happy for evermore Beholding the inexpressible glory of God issuing from His glorious Face whereby we shall be wonderfully taken with His Beauty and our souls inwardly ravished with the things that we shall behold with a delight of them and nothing shall be able to make our joys either to faint or to fail Immediately after that Christ hath crowned all the Elect with crowns of glory then every one taking the crown from his head shall lay it down at the feet of Christ prostrating themselves and with one heart and voice in a heavenly harmony shall say Praise and honour glory and power be unto Thee O blessed Lamb who settest upon the Throne Who hast Redeemed us to God by Thy bloud out of every kindred and tongue and Rev. 4. 10. 5. 9. people and nation and hast made us unto our God Kings and Priests to reign with Thee in thy Kingdom for evermore O now let us look and long for this blessed estate and this heavenly City whose builder and maker is God Heb. 11. 10. This was it which St. Paul longed for to be dissolved and to be with Christ Phil. 1. 23. which was best of all Every one would desire this blessed estate Therefore live the life of Grace here else thou 2 Cor. 4. 17 shalt never live the life of Glory hereafter Grace is glory begun and glory is grace consummate Without holiness Heb. 12. 14 none shall see God Into that holy place no unclean thing shall enter Rev. 21. 27. Therefore let us now strive to cleanse our selves from all filthiness both of flesh and spirit endeavoring to perfect holiness in the fear of God In Rome heretofore they must first pass through the Temple of Vertue before they came to the Temple of Honour This honour have all Gods Saints Psal 149. 9. Josh 23 14. And as not one good thing hath failed of all that the Lord promised concerning His Israel So we shall have cause then Psal 37. 24. to say As the Lord hath guided us by His counsel now He hath received us into His glory Therefore blessed be the Psal 72. 18 19 Lord God the God of Israel who only doth wondrous things And blessed be His glorious Name for ever and let the whole world be filled with His glory Amen and Amen Lo this is our God we have waited Isa 25. 9. for Him and He hath saved us this is the Lord we have waited for Him He hath brought us to His glory we will rejoyce and be glad in this His eternal salvation Amen FINIS
uprightness Jer. 30. 21. and may engage my heart to approach unto God to walk before Thee to do every thing as in Thy sight and presence Lord help me to keep my heart with all diligence and to wash Prov. 4. 23. my heart from wickedness that I may be clean that although vain and evil Jer. 4. 14 thoughts will pass through me yet I may not give them entertainment or suffer them to lodge within me Take Thou away this stony heart from me and give me a heart of flesh a heart Ezek. 36. 26. pliable and flexible and capable of being governed and guided by thy Spirit Vnite my heart to fear thy name Let Psal 86. 11. 119. 80. my heart be sound in thy statutes That so when my heart is sound Christ may set me as a seal upon his heart and as a seal upon his arm keeping me nearly Cant. 8. 6. and dearly joyned unto Him and refresh me by the comfort of the presence of His Grace setting me as a signet upon his right hand to have me always Jer. 22. 24. in His eye and in His heart to be present with me to guide me in His ways to bless me and to do me good that at last He may present me glorious not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing but holy and without blemish For holiness becometh thine house O Lord for ever as here in this life which is glory begun so especially in Heaven where Grace and Glory is consummate and made perfect into which place no unholy thing shall ever enter Holiness is the badge of Christs people Addition Isai 63. 18. they are called the people of his holiness Israel was holiness to the Lord Jer. 2. 3. The Spirit of holiness distinguisheth and setteth a mark upon the sheep of Christ they are sealed with the holy Spirit of promise Eph 1. 13. Holiness setteth us apart for God and Psal 4. 3. Tit. 2. 14. for His Service to do His Will and to serve Him He hath set apart him that is Godly for himself to see and enjoy him for without holiness none shall see Heb. 12. 14. the Lord Our holiness is not the cause of our Salvation but it is the way thereunto Holiness hath none but gracious and honourable effects it filleth the soul with joy comfort and peace with joy unspeakable and full of glory with Rom. 15. 13. 1 Pet. 1. 8. Isai 32. 17. peace and quietness and assurance for ever Everlasting joy shall be upon their heads They shall obtain joy and gladness and sorrow and sighing shall Isai 35. 10. flee away God is glorious in holiness and glories most in the Attribute of holiness God stands upon nothing more than to appear to all the world to be a Exod. 15. 11. holy God therefore the Angels when they celebrate the glory of God cry out Holy holy holy is the Lord God of hosts Isai 6. 3. Let those therefore that draw nigh to God and make profession of his name labour to hold forth above all things the glory of his holiness in their lives and conversations EXERCITATION THE EIGHTH Jer. 23. 9. For because of Oaths swearing the Land mourneth IF the holy Prophet in his dayes cryed out as in the former Verse Mine heart within me is broken because of those cursings and oaths which do make the Land to mourn that is which draw down God's judgments upon the Land as it is evident in the following words the pleasant places of the wilderness are dryed up namely God did send drought and scorching heats and withheld the rain in its due season for those crying sins so it cannot be meant Metonymically the Land for the People of the Land but the Land mourned because the people had no hearts to do it Oh what cause have we now to break our hearts with sighting to have rivers Psal 119. 136. of water to run down our eyes because God's Laws are so broken and his name so highly dishonoured by hellish Oaths and Blasphemies by damned damning curses and execrations whose judgment 2 Pet. 3. 2. lingreth not and their damnation slumbereth not These as natural brute beasts made to be taken and destroyed shall Verse 12. utterly perish in their own corruption These are raging waves of the Sea foaming Jude 13. out their own shame to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever We read of a flying rowle which is interpreted a curse that goeth forth over Zech. 5. 2 3 4. the earth for every one that stealeth shall be cut off on that side according to it and every one that sweareth shall be cut as on that side according to it I will bring it forth saith the Lord of hosts and it shall enter into the house of him that sweareth falsly by My name and it shall remain in the midst of his house and shall consume it with the timber thereof and the stones thereof Oh this dreadful denunciation O that prophane Swearers would consider it and lay it to heart hearing God's dreadful threatnings on themselves both Souls and Bodies and all that they have yea even their houses and habitations where they dwell and that for their sakes How many times doth the Lord God and how frequently forbid this horrid sin of Swearing Ye shall not falsly swear by My name Levit. 19. 12. neither shalt thou prophane the name of the Lord thy God I am the Lord. Where-ever in Scripture this is added I am the Lord it is to shew that God is faithful in revenging the breach of His Commandments and on the contrary that He is faithful in rewarding the observation or keeping His Commandments Our blessed Saviour biddeth us Swear not at all that is in our ordinary discourses but let your communication be Mat. 5. 34. 37. yea yea nay nay for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil The word in the Original is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from that evil one meaning the Devil who is the father of all lyes oaths and blasphemies Joh. 8. 44. So Saint James But above all Jam. 5. 12. things my brethren swear not neither by heaven neither by the earth that is by nothing which is either in heaven or earth neither by any other oath but let your yea be yea and your nay nay lest ye fall into damnation No less punishment than everlasting damnation is here threatned against all prophane Swearers If of every idle word that we shall Mat. 12. 36. speak of the same shall we give account at the day of judgment how much more then of every horrid oath and wicked cursing Oh that the terror of 2 Cor. 5. 11. the Lord might awaken and perswade men The Lord is a Sin-revenging God a consuming fire a jealous God Who Heb. 12. 29. Isai 33. 14. can dwell with everlasting burnings who can dwell with devouring fire These even
he that hath it It is better felt than expressed 3. We may know if we be in Covenant with God by our own knowledg After God had rehearsed the Covenant Jer. 31. 34. there He adds And they shall all know Me from the least to the greatest c. True knowledg of God in Christ first makes us to put off the old man with his deeds and to be renewed in the Spirit of our mind and to put on the Newman Eph. 4. 22 23 24. which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness and which is renewed in knowledg after the image of Him that created Him And 2. It worketh in us a readiness and Col. 3. 10. willingness to obey God and to serve Him when we are brought out of the slavery of Satan and from the bondage of sin and corruption that sin doth not reign over us then will we run the Rom. 6. 12. ways of God's Commandments and that with alacrity and chearfulness not thinking it a burden run and not be Psal 119. 32. Isai 40. 31. weary walk and not faint They who are thus in Covenant with God have a special interest in Him and have access with boldness to the throne of Grace through our great High-Priest Jesus the Son of God that they may obtain mercy and find Grace to help in time Heb. 4. 14 16. of need Therefore Abraham after God had so entred into Covenant with him refused the King of sodom and his gifts wholly relying on God's Covenant for His blessing and said I have lifted up my hand Gen. 14. 22 23. unto the Lord the most high God the possessor of heaven and earth that I will not take from a thred even to a shoo-latchet and that I will take any thing that is the King of Sodoms lest thou shouldst say I have made Abraham rich This also upheld David when he had 1 Sam. 30. 6. lost wives and children and goods the City burnt all lost and the people spake of stoning him then he encouraged himself in the Lord HIS God He glories in his Covenant-interest with God that God yet had made an everlasting Covenant with him ordered in all things and sure For this said he 2 Sam. 23. 5. is all my salvation and all my desire c. God saith to His Covenant-people The mountains shall depart and the hills Isai 54. 10. be removed but My kindness shall not depart from thee neither the Cavenant of My peace be removed saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee Read all the Chapter For the Lord hath avouched thee to Deut. 26. 16 17 18. be His peculiar servant that thou mayst be holy to the Lord thy God and thou hast avouched the Lord to be thy God to walk in His ways and to keep His Statutes Numb 14. 24. and His Commandments and His Judgments and to hearken to His voice And thou hast chosen thee the Lord to Josh 24. 22. serve Him O my soul thou hast said to the Lord thou art My Lord thou hast chosen and appropriated the Lord Jehovah Psal 16. 2. 140. 6. to be thy Lord. Let not therefore other Lords have â—saâ— 26. 13. dominion over thee as Satan sin thy foolish noysom lusts the profits or pleasures or vanities of this world ever bewitch thee or steal away thy heart from following this thy Lord and that fully As thou hast yielded thy members servants Numb 14. 24 to uncleanness and to iniquity unto Rom. 6. 19. iniquity Even so now yield thy members servants to righteousness unto holiness Let holiness to the Lord be written Zecâ— 14. 20. on thy heart and forehead on all the inward faculties of thy Soul and on all the members of thy body and on all thy whole conversation and commerce with men That all may take notice of Acts 4. 13. thee that thou hast been with Jesus that thou walkest the way to Zion with thy face thitherward and that thou hast joyned thy self to the Lord in a perpetual Jer. 50. 5. Covenant which shall not be forgotten that thy light may so shine before men that seeing thy good works they may glorifie thy Father which is Matt. 5. 16. in Heaven That thou mayest declare plainly that thou dost seek a countrey and Heb. 11. 14 16. that thou desirest a better countrey that is an heavenly that God may not be ashamed to be called thy God for He hath prepared for thee a City Even a City wherein is no Temple For in the Temple were the outward signs of God's presence but God in this heavenly City shall manifest Himself face to face to His elect in Christ And this City hath no need of the Sun Rev. 21. 22 23. neither of the Moon to shine in it for the glory of God doth lighten it and the Lamb is the light thereof In that heavenly glory my husband Jesus Christ shall be the only means of of all the communication that I and all the Elect shall have in the glory and light of God in whose presence is fulness Psal 16. 11. of joy and at Whose right hand there are pleasures for evermore This God is my God and in Covenant Isai 25. 1. with me I will praise Him and bless His Name for ever and ever As the Lord hath entred into Covenant with me and married me unto Himself so He gives me always to be arrayed in sine linnen clean and white which Rev. 19. 8. sine linnen is the righteousness of the Saints that I may watch and keep my garments lest I walk naked and men see Rev. 16. 15. my shame That I hating even the garment Jude 23. Rev. 3. 4. spotted by the flesh may walk with God in white and may be esteemed worthy through the worthiness and righteousness of Christ imputed unto me In whom alone I desire to be found not Phil. 3. 9. having on mine own righteousness which is as menstruous rags but that Isai 30. 22. which is of God by faith I can never sufficiently magnifie and admire the eternal love of God to me in Christ that He hath chosen me in Him before the foundation of the world that I should be holy and unblameable before Him in love having predestinated me Eph. 1. 4 5. unto the adoption of a Child by Jesus Christ unto Himself according to the good pleasure of His will and hath entered into Covenant with me and so Ezek. 16. 8. hath made me to become His own And that not for any foreseen faith or works in me but according to the election of Grace He loved me because he loved Rom. 11. 5. me and He had compassion upon me because He had compassion upon me Oh Rom. 9. 15. the good Will of Him that dwelt in the Deut. 33. 16. Bush There is a mutual promise and obligation between God and me and all
other true believers that God for ever will be the God of His people and of their posterity also if they walk in God's ways and make not void His Covenant And they again promise and oblige themselves to God to be His people to keep His Covenant by believing in Him and obeying His Commandments Let all those that truly endeavour to keep Covenant with God beware of Covenant-breaking if they fail that way be duly humbled for it and be more watchful and wary for the future striving to recover themselves by serious and renewed repentance Let them set God always before their Psal 16. 8. eyes endeavouring to walk before Him Gen. 17. 1. and to be perfect The meaning is let them bear God always in their mind as present with them rest themselves by faith on Him alone depend upon His Providence and regulate all their actions according to His Will revealed in His Word God hath made His Covenant between Him and all such and God declares it is so and enlargeth on it saying to Abraham I will establish My Verse 2. 4. 7. Covenant between Me and thee and thy seed after thee to be a God unto thee and to thy seed after thee These words to be a God to thee signifie as if God had said By virtue of my Covenant I will communicate to thee and thy seed the effects of all the perfections of My nature and all that I am in My Self I will be on their behalf and as I do live eternally so will I cause all mine to live likewise And so in reference to our part of the Covenant it is as much as if God had said I will be He alone whom thou shalt serve acknowledge and worship as God and upon whom alone thou shalt absolutely depend forsaking all others For so the words of the Covenant are I will put My Law in their inward Jer. 31. 33 34. parts and write it in their hearts and I will be their God and they shall be My people and they shall all know Me from the least even to the greatest of them saith the Lord for I will forgive their iniquities and remember their sins no more And in Ezekiel it is laid down thus Ezek. 36. 25 26 27. I will sprinkle clean water upon you even the sanctifying Graces of My Spirit and ye shall be clean from all your filthiness and from all your Idols will I cleanse you A new-heart also will I give you and a new-spirit will I put within you and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and will give you an heart of flesh And I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes and ye shall keep My judgments and do them They that are thus brought into the Ezek. 20. 37. bond of the Covenant may say and so said the Apostle Paul I am perswaded Rom. 8. 38 39 that neither death nor life nor Angels nor Principalities nor Powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall ever be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. I entered into Covenant with thee saith the Lord God it is in the Hebrew the Lord Jehovah Where-ever in Scripture in the Old Testament the Word Lord or God is written in great or Capital Letters it is in the Hebrew Jehovah Jehovah setteth out God's eternity in that it contains all times to come or present or past The 3 syllables in the word Jehovah contain the notes of all times The first syllable Je denotes the time to come The second Ho the time present The third Vah the time past God hath His being and is from Himself He always is always liveth and always is the same For He is unchangeable Mal. 3. 6. So none can say IAM but Exod. 3. 14. God alone Thus the title given to Christ which Rev. 1 4 8. is and which was and which is to come is an express interpretation of Jehovah It sets out also God's Self-existency coming from the Verb that signifieth to be God gives a being to Himself to His Creatures and to His Promises When-ever in Scripture some special Levit. 19. 12 14 16 18 25 30 34 37. Mercy is promised or some extraordinary Judgment threatned the Name of Jehovah is affixed or added I am Jehovah To shew that God is just and faithful in the performance both of His promises and threatnings This Name Jehovah as the Hebrews well note consisteth of Letters quiescent or Letters of rest to shew that there is no rest till we come to Jehovah and that in Him we may safely rest There the wicked cease Job 3. 17. from troubling and there the weary be at rest The Septuagint in the Greek Translation do almost every-where render the Name Jehovah 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lord for He that is Jehovah namely whose essence and being is from Himself who giveth to all their beings and preserveth and upholdeth them therein He is most absolutely and properly Lord. Jehovah sometimes is used essentially for the three Persons in the blessed Trinity joyntly as Exodus 20 2 5 7. Sometimes personally for the Father Jehovah said to my Lord sit thou on my Psal 110. 1. right hand c. that is God the Father to God the Son Sometime Jehovah is used personally for the Son as Jehovah rained from Gen. 19. 24. Jehovah fire and brimstone upon Sodom and Gomorrah out of Heaven that is God the Father from God the Son For the Father hath committed all judgment Joh. 5. 22. to the Son And sometimes the Name Jehovah is given to the Holy Ghost as it is understood and gathered out of Numb 12. 6. God in the Hebrew tongue in the Old Testament hath been pleased to name and manifest Himself by ten Names whereof three are from His being or ab esse as Jehovah Jah Ehejeh Sum Ero from His eternal Essence Three more from His Almighty Power or a posse as El Eloheh Elohim And three from His being over all or a prae-esse as Adonai Shaddai Jehovah Tzebaoth or Deus exercituum the Lord of Hosts And the last Name of God is from His eminency or ab eminere Gnel jon which signifies God above all or Lord over all This last Name of God is used in Psal 73. 11. Is there knowledg in the most High And in Genes 14. 10. 20. Blessed be Abraham of the most High God the possessor of Heaven and Earth And blessed be the most High God c. He alone is King of Kings and Lord Rev. 19. 16. of Lords By His Name Jehovah hath He been Exod. 6. 3. Isai 26. 4. made known to us Therefore trust we in the Lord for ever for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength As all things were made by Him and for Him so all things are upheld and preserved by Him He
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
justice and judgment and so opened to him a way that he might run head-long to his own utter ruine and destruction So God confounds his implacable enemies two ways here 1. By hardness of heart which ariseth as we said before when God with-draweth His Grace from a man and leaveth him to himself so as he goeth on from sin to sin and never repenteth to the last gasp And we must esteem of it as a most fearful and terrible judgment of God for when the heart is possessed therewith it becomes so flinty and rebellious that a man will never relent or turn to God This was manifest in Pharaoh for though God sent most grievous plagues upon him and all the Land of Egypt yet would he not submit or humble himself save only for a fit while the hand of God was so heavy upon him for when the hand of God was removed he returned to his former obstinacy wherein he persisted until he was drowned in the red Sea And this judgment of God of hardness of heart is the more fearful because when a man is in the midst of all misery he feels no misery 2. God confounds His enemies as by hardness of heart so by final desperation I say final because all kind of desperation is not evil for a man may despair of himself and of his own power in the matter of Salvation which tends to his everlasting comfort But final desperation is when a man utterly despairs of the pardon of his sins and of everlasting life Examples we have in Saul that slew himself in Achitophel and Judas that hanged themselves c. This sin of desperation is caused thus so many sins as thou committest without repentance so many wounds thou givest to thine own soul and in life or death God will make thee to feel the smart of it and the weight of them all whereby the soul sinks down to the gulph of despair without recovery The sins which thou committest lye at the door of thy heart though thou feel them not as God said unto Cain Gen. 4. 7. sin lyeth at the door and if thou dost not prevent them by speedy and timely repentance God will make thee to feel them once before thou dyest and raise up such terrours in thy Conscience that thou shalt think thy self to be in Hell before thou art there They that were sent from the chief Priests c. to apprehend Christ though He had acknowledged I am He and they were astonished and fell to the ground and He had miraculously healed Joh. 18. 12. Malchus his ear yet for all though they had seen his wonderful power both in word and deed they proceed in malice against Him and bind Him as a Malefactor In this we note what a fearful sin hardness of heart is The danger whereof appears in this that if a man be possessed with it there is nothing that can stay or daunt him in his wicked proceedings no not the powerful words and deeds of our Saviour Himself And indeed among all God's judgments there is none more fearful than this of hardness of heart and yet how rife is it among us even in these our days For it is very evident that the more men are taught the Doctrine of Gods Law and Gospel the more hard and senseless are their hearts like unto an anvil the more it is beaten upon with the iron hammer the harder it is So that that denunciation against the Jews Acts 28. 26 27. is fulfilled in them It is such a terrible judgment of God into which when a man is fallen he feels neither pain nor grief Therefore we have cause with fear and trembling to look into it lest it take such hold of us that we be past all hopes of recovery Sin is a deceitful thing and custom in sin brings hardness of heart therefore read that Heb. 3. 13. and Rom. 2. 5. Let us bewail and be humbled for our hardness of heart whereby we are hindered from knowing and acknowledging God aright and from discerning His glory and Majesty from acknowledging God's judgments or our own sins dreaming we are safe from God's vengeance and such perils and miseries which arise from sin whereas all those out of Christ and in this estate have nothing stands between them and vengeance EXERCITATION THE TENTH Exod. 31. 13 14 15 16 17. Verily my Sabbath ye shall keep for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctifie you Ye shall keep the Sabbath therefore for it is holy unto you every one that defileth it shall surely be put to death for whosoever doth any work therein that soul shall be cut off from among his people Six days may work be done but in the seventh is the Sabbath of rest holiness to the Lord. Whosoever doth any work in the Sabbath-day he shall surely be put to death Wherefore the Children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations for a perpetual Covenant It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel for ever for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth and on the seventh He rested Exod. 20. 8. Remember the Sabbath-day to keep it holy HEre we have the Commandment of God for the strict observation of the Sabbath-day No one Commandment so often iterated or so much pressed This Commandment requireth at the hand of every man one day of seven in every week to be set a-part unto a holy rest and requireth all persons to separate themselves from their ordinary labour and all other exercises to God's Service alone on that day that so being severed from their worldly businesses and all the works of their Labours and Callings concerning this Nehem. 13. 15. 22. life they may wholly attend to the Worship of God alone wholly to separate themselves to the Worship and Service of God that they may with more freedom of Spirit perform the same If Adam in his perfection had need of this holy day as it was first enjoyned in the state of innocency much more Gen. 2. 2 3. have we To teach man from time to time on the Sabbath-day to withdraw himself from the cares and labours of this life to apply himself in freedom and tranquillity of mind to the meditations and actions of a spiritual life Q. But some will say this fourth Commandment is ceremonial and so it is taken away by the death of Christ A. I answer No but it is constantly and perpetually to be observed 1. For it is placed in the number of the ten Commandments which are perpetual otherwise the Moral Law should consist but of nine which is contrary to God's Word And He declared unto Deut. 4. 13. you His covenant which He commanded you to perform even ten Commandments 2. Because this fourth Commandment among the rest and in the middle of them as a Diamond in a ring was written
God Who Job 9. 4. ever hardened himself against God and prospered Know as thou canst not contend with Him so He knows thee afar Psal 138. 6. Psal 73. 27. off and all they that be far from Him shall perish Talk no more so exceeding proudly let not arrogancy come forth of thy lips for the Lord is a God of judgment 1 Sam. 2. 3. and by Him actions are weighed Though in thy towring thoughts thou thinkest highly of thy self yet when God weighs thee in the ballance thou wilt be found a pitiful poor empty creature Therefore hear and give ear for Jer. 13. 15. the Lord hath spoken these things against thee and be not proud any longer The height of pride is scornfulness He that is proud and haughty scornful is Prov. 21. 24. his name who worketh in the pride of his wrath this man despiseth his neighbour Prov. 18. 3. and therefore is destitute of understanding Judgments are prepared for scorners and stripes for the backs of such Prov. 19. 29. proud fools And so I leave them Surely God scorneth the scorners but He giveth Prov. 3. 34. grace unto the lowly Q. What are the proper means whereby pride may be subdued A. 1. With the consideration of the greatness and power of God the serious apprehension thereof will make us vile Job 42. 5 6. Rom. 9. 20. 21. in our own eyes and to abhor our selves in dust and ashes 2. So the second means is the consideration of our own vileness 3. The consideration of those obligations and tyes by which we are bound to subject our selves wholly to God as He is our Creator Up-holder Provider and our Lord. 4. The consideration of God's wrath and indignation against all proud persons and His grace and favour toward the humble Come we now to the second Proposition God giveth grace to the humble 2 Proposition There are several acceptations of Grace in Scripture But to wave them Grace in God is His eternal favour and good-will which is the well-spring of all the benefits we have So we have it 1 Tim. 1. 9. according to His own purpose and Grace So Rom. 11. 6. if of Grace then not of works This is the Grace of Election which makes us gracious and acceptable unto God There is also Grace freely given as the gifts of the Spirit freely bestowed upon us so we are bid to grow in Grace So also faith with all the saving 2 Pet. 3. 18 effects and fruits thereof which are called Grace because they are freely given unto us So also the free imputation Rom. 5. 1. 15 17. 20 21. of Christ's righteousness or our justification is by God's Grace and called the Grace of God which hath abounded unto many By the name of Grace we use to comprehend the free favour of God in Christ and His gifts from that Grace whether given to believers as ingraffing into the body of Christ by His Spirit remission of sins final perseverance or to hold out unto the end and in the end eternal life These gifts are not given of God but only to those who are in His Grace and favour that is to true believers But corporal and temporal good things are given to many yea to those that are not true believers and have no faith whereby men alone may please God Heb. 11. 6. Some do understand by Grace in this place favour and acceptation with God Luk. 2. 80. and men So we read that Jesus grew in Grace and savour with God and men so it is in the Original The Lord will give his people grace and glory and no good thing will â—e withhold from them that Psal 8â— 11. walk uprightly So God gives grace to the humble makes them accepted and favoured with God and men Briefly Grace in Scripture is used three ways 1. For comeliness stature meekness or mildness 2. For free favour whereby one embraceth another pardoning former injuries and receiving the party offending into favour So Gen. 6. 8. Noah found grace in the eyes of God 3. For all kinds of gifts and graces which of God's free favour are given whether temporal or eternal Eph. 4. 7. So I understand that grace is taken here Now to speak of humility we have the same expression in St. Peter as is here All of you be subject one to another and 1 Pet. 5. 5 6. be clothed with humility for God resisteth the proud but giveth grace to the humble Humble your selves therefore under the mighty hand of God that He may exalt you in due time A humble man signifies one lowly-minded A description of Humility esteeming others better than himself ascribing all unto God being little in his own eyes or account even as a weaned child Whosoever shall humble Mat. 18. 4. himself as this little child saith our Saviour the same is greatest in the kingdom of God So David to profess his humility said Surely I have behaved and quieted my self as a child that is weaned of his mother my soul is even Psal 131. 1. â— as a weaned child Christ in his incarnation exceedingly humbled Himself for us in that He would be man a Servant and subject to death yea the death of the Cross He being equal to God God Phill. 2. 5 6 7 8. abaseth Himself to behold the things in heaven how much more the things on earth The great God hath two houses where He dwells as in His glory He Psal 113. 6. dwells in Heaven so is He present by His grace to dwell with His humble afflicted poor servants here on earth To this man will I look saith the Lord even to him that is poor and of a contrite Isai 66. 2. spirit and that trembleth at My word Thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity whose Name is holy I dwell in the high and holy place with Isai 57. 15. Him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit to revive the spirit of the humble and â—o revive the heart of the contrite ones A man is never so humble as after he hath received the holy Spirit of promise The best men are worst and lowest in their own eyes As the attaining of great learning makes us see our own ignorance more and more for the emptiest vessels sound most so the more grace we have the more we see our own weaknesses and corruptions to be humbled under the sence of them and to loath our selves in our own sight for all Ezek. 36. 31. our iniquities This puts a man quite out of conceit with himself for that the Lord comes in as the Sun-shine and shewes him those corruptions which he never saw before that he wonders at himself how he hath lived so long with himself and knew himself no better This makes him humble and is a means to keep him humble Now there is a Two-fold Humility 1. Toward God 2. Towards Man 1. Of
heaven and heavenly things It is not said this or that place is the 1 Cor. 10 28. Lords but the earth is the Lords and the fulness thereof Therefore seeing we believe God to be our Father and our heavenly Father so He is able and willing to hear and help us this should moderate our care for the things of this life For if we know our selves to be the children of God then we must also know that God will provide for us As we know in a family the father of the family provideth for all those of his houshold God is the great house-keeper of all the earth He provideth Psal 145. 16. for the Raven his food when his young ones cry to God and wander for lack of meat He giveth to the beast his food Job 38. 41. Psal 147. 9. and to the young Ravens which cry Doth God take care of Beast and Ravens 1 Cor. 9. 9. and will He not much more take care for His Children those of His own Houshold If we should see a young man provide for himself and no one else for him surely we would say his Father is dead even so when a mans care both day and night is set wholly for the things of this life it argues either that God hath cast him off or else that he takes God for no Father of his Again if the Lord doth thus take care of His Children and provideth for them all kind of benefits What a horrid wickedness is it for men to get their living by ungodly means as lying cheating fraud carding dicing and such like exercises If a man were perswaded that God were his Father and would provide sufficiently both for his soul and body so that using lawful means he should ever have enough out of all doubt he would never after the fashion of the world use unlawful and profane means to get a living But this plainly evidenceth that however such men say that God is their Father yet indeed they deny Him Our blessed Saviour in the Fourth Petition of the Lords Prayer teaches us to pray to our heavenly Father to give us this day our dayly bread Where bread by a Synecdoche very usual to the Hebrews signifies all corporal good things necessary for this life as food clothing health peace and such like and also a good use of them Therefore all these good things Christ comprehends under the name of Bread and that for these reasons To bridle our lusts that only bread is to be pray'd for only things necessary for the sustentation of this life whereby we may be the better enabled to serve God and our Neighbour in our Vocation and Calling whether in our general calling as we are Christians or in our particular calling in that place and calling God hath set us in 2. To teach us also to beg of God the wholsom and good use of these outward things So then in the Fourth Petition when we beg Bread of God it signifies 1. Not great riches but only things necessary such a proportion of maintainance credit liberty health wealth Prov. 30. 8. food and rayment c. as is convenient for us And that with condition if God see it fit for us and if it be His good-will and pleasure Which exception is a caution proper to this Petition for outward things 2. We beg hereby that these things may be bread to us that is that by the blessing of God they may be wholsom and good unto us And we beg our bread not anothers that which God sees fir for us which we may call our own God as a Father of a Family distributeth to every one a portion which we beg may be given to us And our bread bread gotten by our own labour and industry that so we may eat the labour of our Psal 128 2. 1 Thes 4. 11. 2 Thes 3. 12. own hands and eat our own bread And so that is called our bread which comes to us by the blessing of God on our lawful endeavours so that neither God nor Man can justly implead us for it And that we may use it with a good conscience and with giving of thanks Let him that stole steal no more but rather Eph. 4. 28. let him work with his own hands that he may have wherewith to give to him that is in want God would have us â—e sure that when He giveth us these good things He gives us power to use and enjoy them and He would not have us to use His gifts as Thieves but freely and with thanks-giving to Him for them Q. Why do we pray for Dayly Bread A. Because God would have us every day to ask so much as is sufficient for us for each day 2. That God may bridle our unsatiable and unruly desires Our Father Mat. 6. 32. knoweth what we have need of A little that a righteous man hath is better than Psal 37. 16. the â—iohes of many wicked No good and needful things shall be wanting to them that fear the Lord. In the proper Psal 34. 10. language of the Spirit of God it is that bread which is fit for me and agreeable to my condition Q. Why do we pray Give us this day A. 1. That we may be taken off from distrust and covetousness 2. That we may depend on God alone and beg things necessary from Him and expect them wholly from Him 3. That the exercise of Faith and Prayer may be daily continued in us 4. We Pray for This day to teach us to Pray for Bread for a day not for a moneth or a year so to teach us for to restrain our care that it reach not too far but to rest on God's Providence and present blessings and so not to be covetous Hereby we profess the moderation of our care and desire of earthly things with our purpose every day by Labour and Prayer to seek these blessings at the hands of God Here also our affections are forbidden to pass measure not to have a carking and troubling care seeing the present Mat. 6. 34. vexation of the day is enough for it self But to commit our ways to God and Psal 37. 5. Prov. 16. 3. to rowle all our matters upon Him who will bring them all to pass So here we see that a moderate appetite and desire of having these earthly things and a moderate care of procuring them is approved and required Eph. 4. 28. 2 Cor. 12. 13 14. that we may not be burdensome but rather helpful unto others There are two extreams hereof we must know that every virtue is a middle between two extreams 1. The first extream is carelessness and neglect of our goods and estate For as he is commended who gathereth in seasonable times so he is much blamed Prov. 10. 5. 6. 6. who neglecteth those opportunities and is censured by the Apostle to be worse than an infidel 1 Tim. 5. 8. 2. The second extream is
man shall set upon thee to hurt thee It is endless to quote all the texts in the Old and New Testament to this purpose I will only add a few Corollaries 1. God will have glory attributed Corollarâ—â—â— to Him not only as He is the Creator and Upholder of Heaven and Earth but also the most High Wise Just and Great Governor and Directer of all things This is against the Figments of the Bpicureans and Pelagians 2. This Doctrine of Providence may confirm and strengthen our hearts against the Blasphemies of the Manichees and Libertines who say that God willeth sin as it is sin Whereas He willeth the act but not the evil of the act c. 3. Against the Opinion of the Stoicks for all things are govern'd by Gods most free and unchangable Decree 4. Therefore He will be acknowledged and praised by us as the Author Fountain and Worker of all good things for nothing in any creature is or can be of good unto us but by Gods Will affectually working in it and by it 5. Seeing all good things are from God Let us not sacrifice to our own â—â—â— 1. 16. nets or burn incense to our own drag that is not resting in creatures or second causes by which we may be benefited but giving all glory and praise to God to acknowledg the creatures are but instruments and ministers in His hand and by His ordering to do good unto us 6. Sith nothing rashly or casually happeneth to us but all things betide us by Gods most Blessed Just and profitable Decree and Good-will towards us Let us effectually be stirred up by knowing and acknowledging hereof to exercise patience in all our adversities As Psal 39. 9. David said I was dumb and opened not my mouth because Thou hast done it Job 1. 21. And Job the Lord hath taken away blessed be the Name of the Lord. 7. Let our confidence and comfort be sound firm and established in the Lord who will defend and preserve us in the midst of all enemies and dangers moderating and ordering all evils so that they tend to our good and salvation For we know that all things work Rom. 8. 28. together for good to them that love God 8. By all our past and present afflictions let us be bettered and amended Sith not by chance but by God they are inflicted upon us that we may say Psal 119. 71. It is good for me that I have been afflicted c. 9. For future crosses and afflictions seeing they are signs and tokens of Gods anger against sin Let us fear them and strive to avoid them by fleeing and abstaining from sin the cause of them 10. Let us not faint much less despair when we are in dangers troubles or adversities when the outward means of our deliverance fail and the creatures seem to be against us because God is not ty'd to help by them For man lives not by bread alone c. The Mat. 4. 4. 16. 18. gates of Hell shall not prevail c. There 1 Sam. 14. 6. is no restraint to the Lord to save by many or by few He can deliver either by means or without means or against means 11. Seeing all events are ordered by God and no wholsome counsels can be undertaken without Him neither doth any thing please Him but what we undertake according to His Word Let us not be lifted up in confidence of our own wisdom and power c. but demeaning our selves in the fear of God let us pray that all our actions may be directed by Him and so blessed unto us and that we may never depart from His Will revealed unto us And then confidently wait on Him for sâ—ccess 12. Sith we know as before we said God hath a care of all things especially of mankind and most principally of His own Children whom He peculiarly loveth and careth for so as Christ said the hairs of our head Mat. 10. 31. are all number'd and we are of more value than many Sparrows Let us in doing our duty faithfully in our places rest confidently on the Providence of God Casting all our care on Him for He careth for us EXERCITATION THE FOURTEENTH Rev. 20. 12 15 Verses And I saw the dead small and great stand before God and the books were opened and another book was opened which is the book of life and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books according to their works And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire EXpect not a Logical Analysis of the words and a procedure thereon accordingly that I leave to Divines in their Sermons But according to my use in my former Exercitations to chuse out some heads out of the words read and so meditate and dilate upon them And here we may consider these four heads 1 Death 2 Judgment 3 Hell 4 Heaven Accordingly we shall frame our ensuing discourse 1. Death out of these words And I 1 Death saw the dead c. First there must be death before they could be dead 2. Judgment out of these words 2 Judgment Stand before God c. and they were judged c. 3. This Judgment shall be according to their works They that have done good shall go into life everlasting and 3 Heaven they that have done evil into everlasting 4 Hell fire So it is in the Creed of Holy Athanasius And so also in the Apostles Creed I believe that Christ shall come to judg both the quick and dead I believe the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting So also in the Nicene Creed That is everlasting life for the good in heaven and everlasting life for the wicked in hell in those never Mark 9. 44. dying flames where the worm dyeth not and the fire never goeth out First to speak of Death Death is the 1 Death fruit of Sin Sin brings shame misery and death 1. Sin brings shame for before the fall our first Parents were both naked Gen. 2. 25. and were not ashamed But since the fall sin causeth shame in all men and women except those who are come to that height of impudence that they are past shame of whom the Prophet speaks Were they ashamed when they had Jer. 6. 15. committed abomination nay they were not at all ashamed neither could they blush Therefore said the Apostle What Rom. 6. 21. fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed c 2. Sin brings all sorts of miseries calamities losses c. I have wounded them Jer. 30. 14 15. with the wounds of an enemy with the chastisement of a cruel one for the multitude of thine iniquities because thy sins were increased I have done these things unto thee 3. Sin brings death the end of these Rom. 6. 21. things is death So we see that sin guiltiness and
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
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-new-heaven and new-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
complaint for want of glory nor of envying others that have more Christ after the day of Judgment shall remain King for ever for He shall not so deliver up the Kingdom to His Father 1 Cor. 15. 24. that He shall cease to reign But that He may represent to His Father that His Kingdom is compleat and shall remain so for ever The meaning of those words is thus when Christ as Mediator hath been established King of the whole World but especially of His Church to gather together govern and bring unto His Father all His Elect and to destroy His enemies shall have brought His work to an end and so deliver up the Kingdom to His Father that as verse 28. God may be all in all that is the Father with the Son and Holy Ghost in Unity of Essence and Glory shall begin to reign immediately over His Church in a manner altogether new namely by Himself without any outward means without the work of Angels or Men Ecclesiastical or Political Orders as it is in this world and likewise without any adversaries or oppositions filling all His with His light love life and glory Which indeed will not a whit disannul Christs Kingdom but only change the meaner form thereof into a more sublime majestical glorious and most perfect form That God may be all in all that is that God the whole blessed Trinity may immediately and absolutely work fully in all the Elect who shall then be perfectly united unto God and that He may Possess Govern and Rule them for ever Now to speak a little where these glorious mansions are in Heaven Philosophers speak of ten Heavens but we shall wave that and speak according to Scripture-phrase and so there are three Heavens 3 Heavens The first is all that whole space from the earth to the sphere of the Moon where the birds flie therefore they are called the folws of Heaven and whence Mat. 6. 26. the rain hail and snow thunder and lightning wind and other Meteors do descend So God opened the Windows Gen. 7. 11. Deut. 28. 12. of Heaven and poured down rain upon the earth The second Heaven is and consists of all those visible Orbs where the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or whole expansion is called the Firmament Gen. 1. 14. 15. Gen. 1. 8. and God called the firmament Heaven and in this God hath placed the Sun Moon and other Stars which are called in Scripture the Stars of Heaven Num. 3. 16. The third Heaven is that where God is said especially to dwell whither Christ ascended whither St. Paul in a 2 Cor. 12. 2. rapture was caught up into this third Heaven and where all the blessed ones shall be for ever This is the Heaven whereof we now speak Objection But some may ask Where the Soul is when it goeth out of the body and in what condition the Soul lives being separate from the body until the day of Judgment The Papists feign a Purgatory that Solution they may be purged from their sins which is contrary to the Scripture For the Scripture teacheth us that not the sire of Purgatory after this life of which there is no mention made in Scripture but the blood of Christ laid hold on and applied by a lively faith while we are here in this life doth cleanse our souls from all sin And 1 John 1. 7. that the souls of the faithful after death are not thrust into a place of torment but that they are gathered unto Christ into Abrahams bosome The meaning Luk. 16. 23. of into Abrahams bosome is thus it is the gesture of a good Father towards his little and tender Children to cherish them in his bosome The souls of the faithful presently after their departure out of the body are carry'd by the Angels up into heaven into the communion of all true believers of whom Abraham was the Titular Father and therefore called the Father of the faithful Rom. 4. 16 I say That presently after death the soul appears before God to Judgment Eccl. 12. 7. either to be gathered into the Mansions of the blessed or to be cast into Hell into the state of the damned from whence there is no redemption and then truly are tormented in those infernal flames but yet are reserved for greater torments against the last Day when soul and body shall be joyned together again And for this the Scripture is very clear So our Saviour said Father into Thy hands I commit my Spirit Luk. 23. 46. Stephen at his death kneeled down and said Lord Jesus receive my Spirit Acts 7. 59. Phil. 1. 23. 2 Cor. 5. 8 Paul desireth to be dissolved and to be with Christ which is best of all Therefore not in Purgatory So the faithful are desirous and willing to be absent from the body that they may be present with the Lord. And this is the last Article of Faith as the Crown of all I believe the life everlasting or that there is an everlasting life which holds out these three things 1. I believe that after this life there shall be another life in which all the true members of the Church shall be glorifi'd and shall praise God for ever and ever 2. I believe that I am a member of this Church and so shall be a partaker of everlasting life 3. That in this life I have by Faith the beginning of everlasting life For Christ said He that believeth in Me Joh. 3. 36. hath everlasting life So this profit and comfort hence redoundeth unto me that in and through Christ I am justifi'd before God and am an heir of everlasting life Q. Shall we know each other and our Relations in heaven A. Mark the saying of the Apostle Henceforth know we no man after the 2 Cor. 5. 16. flesh yea though we have known Christ after the flesh yet henceâ—orth know we Him no more that is not with an affection meerly humane civil and natural but wholly with a Divine and spiritual affection befitting the state of glory Having premised this I answer in this Syllogism We shall enjoy in heaven every good thing and comfortable gift which may any way increase or add to our joy and happiness But meeting in heaven with our old dear Christian friends knowing of them and enjoying them never to part more either with them or all other the glorious Inhabitants in those heavenly Mansions will ravish us with sweetest delight Therefore we shall know one another in heaven nay our minds being abundantly enlightned with all wisdom and knowledg we shall be able to know not only those holy persons of our former relation or acquaintance but also such as we never knew before in the flesh even all the faithful which ever were are or shall be We shall be able then to say This was Abraham Isaac or Jacob Samuel David c. This was my Father Mother this was my child c. This was he