only in himselfe but as he is attended by others and so he will make the day great if we consider 1. by whom 2. by how many he shall thus be attended 1. By whom They shall be creatures of great glory and excellency The glorious Angels shall be Christs attendants at the great day in which respect Christ is said to come Luk. 9.26 in the glory of the holy Angels and Mat. 25.31 it 's said that the Son of man shall come and the holy Angels with him and Luk. 12.9 that Christ will deny some before the Angels of God and 2 Thes 1.7 the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels These angels that excell in strength are his heavenly hosts his Ministers to do the pleasure of Christ their great Lord and Commander If at the time of his Nativity Tentation Passion Resurrection Luk. 2.13 Ascension they readily gave Christ their attendance how much more shall they do it at the great day when all the glory of Christ shall be revealed Luk. 7.53 Gal. 3.19 Deut. 33.2 Illi in obsequio hic in gloriâ Illi in comitatu hic in suggestu illi stant hic sedet hic judicut illi ministrant Ambros lib. 3. de fid Mat. 24.31 Psal 103.20 2 Thes 1.7 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Col. 3.4 1 Thes 4.17 If at the promulgation of the Law upon Mount Sinai Angels waited upon him how readily shall they serve him when he shall come to Judgment for the execution of that Law What glory shall be in that day when the very servants of the Judge who shall wait upon him run at every turne and upon every errand who shall blow the Trumpet summon to appear bring the prisoners before the Bar and take them away again when even these waiters I say shall be Angels of power the heavenly host every one being stronger then an earthly army holy Angels creatures of unspeakeable agility and swiftnesse glorious Angels who as much exceed in glory the greatest Emperour in the world as the Sun in the Firmament doth a clod of earth Nor can it be but the day must be very illustrious if we consider that the Saints shall appear also with Christ in glory that they shall meet the Lord in the air and be witnesses for nay assessors with Christ in judgement and partakers of that victory which in the last day he shall have over all his enemies That all the enemies of Christ and his Church shall stand before the Saints to be justly judged whom they in this world have judged unjustly and in a word that every one of these Saints shall in their spiritual bodies shine as the Sun Mat. 13.43 when it appears in its perfect lustre But 2 Christ as attended will make the day great if we consider by How many he shall bee attended At that great day there shall be a generall assembly a great number even all his servants waiting upon him both Saints and Angels hence 1 Thes 1.13 is mentioned the Coming of the Lord Jesus with all his Saints and Eph. 4.13 the meeting of all In this glorious concourse there shall not be one wanting If Christ will raise up every Saint from the grave then doubtlesse shall every Saint appear in glory at the last day Joh. 6.39 He will not lose his cost laid out upon them But if he bestowes new liveries upon his servants they shall all when adorned with them wait upon him Nor shall there be one Angel but shall glorifie him in that day Psal 148.2 Heb. 1.6 If all the angels of God are commanded to praise and worship him then undoubtedly will they performe this duty at that day wherein the glory of Christ shall be so eminently manifested all the holy angels Mat. 25.3 shall come with the son of man And if all the Angels and Saints must wait on Christ the number must needs be vast Heb. 12. and the multitude exceeding great of angels there must be an innumerable company Myriads ten thousands of Saints or holy ones Dan. 7.10 Jude 14. a definite number being put for an indefinite And about the throne Rev. 5.11 are said to be ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands ten thousands of Saints An innumerable company of Angels attended the solemn delivery of the Law at Mount Sinai Deut. 33.2 Vid. Rivet in loc in allusion to which the triumphant Ascension of Christ into heaven is described Psal 68. to be with twenty thousand Chariots even thousands of angels and of those who stood before the throne clothed with white robes and having palmes in their hands there was Rev 7.9 a great multitude which no man could number c. Now if the glory of one angel was so great Judg. 6.22.13.22 that those who of old time beheld it expected death thereby and if for fear of an Angel whose countenance was like lightning the keepers Mat. 28.4 did shake and became as dead men how great shall be the glory of all the millions of Angels and Saints at the great day when God shall let out his glory unto them and fill them as full of it as they can hold that he may be admired in them Who can imagine the greatnesse of that day wherein the Judge shall be attended with so many millions of servants every one of whom shall have a livery more bright and glorious then the Sun The splendor of this appearance at the great day will ten thousand times more surpass that of the attendance of the greatest Judges and Kings in the world than doth theirs excell the sporting and ridiculous acting of their more serious solemnities by children in their playes 2. This day of Judgement shall be great in respect as of the Judge so likewise of the Judged and the judged shall make the day great as they fall under a fourfold consideration or in four respects 1. In respect of the greatnesse of their company and number 2. The greatnesse of their ranks and degrees 3. The greatnesse of their faults and offences 4. The greatnesse of their rewards and recompences 1. In respect of the greatnesse of their numbers When many persons are tryed and judged many prisoners cast and condemned we ordinarily say that the Assizes or Sessions are great though the number of the persons judg'd be not so great by an hundred parts as the number of those who stand by to hear the Tryall How great then shall the day of Judgement be wherein all shall be tryed and judged It was of old prophesied by Enoch that the Lord would execute judgement upon all Before the Throne of the Son of man all nations shall be gathered Mat. 25.32 Rom. 14.10 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Cor. 5.10 Act. 17.31 And 2 Thes 2.1 the day of judgement is call'd the time of our gathering together unto Christ We must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done
the perfection of Christ When Darius his mother had saluted Hephestion instead of Alexander the great who was Alexanders Favourite she blushed and was troubled but Alexander said to her It is well enough done for he is also Alexander The meanest Saint is to be beloved for what of Christ is in him he is an old Casket full of pearls But above all how destructive to brotherly love is oppression 1 Thess 4.6 defrauding and grinding our brethren Let no man saith Paul defraud his brother in any matter Even the Jew who might take usury of an Heathen might not take it of his Brother If Lillyes rend and tear Lillyes what may Thorns do Nor must a Christian content himself in not hurting a Christian his care must be to benefit him to do him good And that for his Soul All thy Spiritual gifts of knowledge utterance c. must profit thy brother 1 Cor. 12. 1 Cor. 14.26 Comfort him in his troubles of mind direct him in his doubts reprehend him gently for his faults Not to rebuke him is to hate him Levit. 19.17 To be angry with the sin of our brother is not to be angry with our brother To love the soul is the soul of love so to love thy brother as to labour to have him live in heaven with thee For his name not casting aspersions on him but wiping them off not receiving much less raysing accusations against him but laying hold upon the theif that pillaged his name as knowing that the receiver in this case is as bad as he For his body visiting and sympathising with him in his sicknesse helping him to utmost ability to find the jewel of health For outward necessaries pittying him in his low estate◠casting the dung of thy wealth on the barren soyl of his poverty making his back thy wardrobe his belly Psal 16.3 thy barn his hand thy treasury For body and soul praying for him calling upon God as Our Father not thine alone In the Primitive time saith one there was so much love Tert. Apol. c. 39. that it was ad stuporem Gentilium to the wonder of Gentiles but now so little that it may be to the shame of Christians That which was the Motto of a Heathen Dic aliquid ut duo simus Say something that we may he two must not belong to Christians It s best that dissention should never be born among brethren and next that it should die presently after its birth When any leak springs in the Ship of Christian society we should stop it with speed The neerer the union is the more dangerous is the breach Bodies that are but glewed together may if severed be set together as beautifully as ever but members rent and torn cannot be healed without a scar What a shame is it 1 Joh. 3.14 1 Joh. 5.1 1 Joh. 4.7 8 c. that the bond of grace and religion should not more firmly unite us than sinful leagues do wicked men A true Christian like the true mother to whom Solomon gave the Child may be known by affection As the spleen grows the body decayeth and as hatred increaseth holiness abateth In summ This love to the faithful must put forth it self both in distributing to them the good they want and in delighting in them and rejoycing with them for the good they have Both these how profitable how honourable how amiable are they Most honourable it is for the meanest Christian to be a Priest to the high God Heb. 13.16 to offer a daily sacrifice with which God is well pleased to resemble God in doing rather then in receiving good to be the hand of God to disperse his bounty to have God for his debtor to lend to the Lord of heaven and earth What likewise is more profitable than that our distribution to Saints like an ambassador by lying Lieger abroad should secure all at home that this most gainfull employment should return us pearls for pibbles jewels for trifles crowns for crumbs after a short seed-time a thousand fold measure heaped shaken thrust together and running over What lastly so amiable as for members of the same body children of the same father and who lay in the same womb suck at the same brests sit at the same table and expect for ever to lodg in the same bosom to be at union with and helpful to one another And on this side heaven Psal 16.3 Vid. doctiss Rivetum in loc where should our complacency center it self but upon the truly excellent noble illustrious ones who are every one Kings and more magnificent than ever were worldly Monarchs for their allyance having the Lord of heaven and earth for their Father the King of Kings for their elder Brother Psal 45.9 a Queen the Church the Spouse of Christ for their Mother having for their treasures those exceeding precious promises 2 Pet. 1.4 more to be desired than gold yea Psal 19.10 than fine gold in comparison of which a mountain of gold is but a heap of dung For their guard having the attendance of Angels Psal 34.7 John 6.27 Cant. 1.2 Cant. 4.7 nay the wisdom care and strength of God For their food having bread that endures to eternal life drink better than wine and a continual feast For their apparel having the robes of Christs righteousnesse here which makes them as beautifull as Angels all fair and without spot and attire to be put on hereafter which will shine more gloriously then an hundred Suns made into one For their habitation a palace of glory a building of God an house not made with hands eternal in the heavens Having thus first explained this love here desired by the Apostle in its several sorts I come in the next place to touch briefly upon those rare and excellent properties of this grace of love both as it is set upon 1 God 2 Man 1. This grace of love set upon God is true cordial and sincere 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not in word or outward profession but in truth and in the inward man not complemental but reall the inward purpose of the heart having an emphasis Of love that hypocrisie and expressions cannot reach And the truth is our loving of God Eph. 6.24 is not so properly said to be sincere as to be our very sincerity Then and then alone a dutie is done in sincerity when 't is done in love and herein stands hypocrisie when though there is much doing yet there 's no loving The love of an hypocrite to Christ like the shining of the Gloworm is without any inward heat and stands only in a glistering profession or like some spices which are cold in the stomack though hot in the mouth or like the fire in Moses his bush it burneth not while it blazeth it proceeds from humane inducements of education Countenance or Commands of Superiours Interest an apprehension of the love of Christ barely to mankind or from this that Christ is out
shall never have so much or so little as to make them unfit for service Christ loves to keep them in working case Even of outward necessaries they shall have what they want if not what they would Christ gives them all things that pertain to life and godlinesse he encourageth them 2 Pet. 1.1 4. he assisteth them in their work he gives them exceeding great and precious promises hee feeds them with his own flesh and blood 2 Pet. 1.4 he cloathes them with his own righteousnesse he directs them with his own spirit 4. By protecting his family from all dangers There 's no safety but in Christs family never are his servants in danger but when they go out of it 1. Sam 2.9 He is the keeper of his Israel peculiarly Though he sometimes suffers evils to touch Psal 105.14 15. he never suffers evils to hurt them he visits them in and delivers from all their troubles he suffers not Kings to hurt any of his servants He takes the wrongs offered to his servants as offered to himselfe 5. 1 Pet. 4.17 By correcting it for its miscarriages Judgment commonly begins at the house of the Lord. His servants are safe but must not be secure he suffers the world to do that which he will not endure in his own family His servants will never be faithfull to him nor find him faithfull to them if he did not sometimes chastise them He judgeth them 1 Cor. 11.32 that they may not be condemned with the world And whensoever the chides he doth it not because he loves it but because they want it 6. By rewarding every servant according to his service He is indeed the only Lord but he hath sundry sorts of servants He is a good master but most that call themselves his servants are unprofitable and only titular and complementall wearing his badg but refusing his work using the name of the Lord and crying Lord Lord but shunning the rule of their Lord. The reward of these is to be cast into utter darknesse Mat. 25.30 who heretofore were unprofitable under light His good and faithfull servants shall be rewarded with the joy of their Lord even the presence of him whom they served faithfully in his absence Mat. 25.21 Their labour of love shall not be forgotten by Christ but all their former toyl shall bee forgotten Their work though never so great is but small to their wages nor is the weight of their labours comparable to that of their crown Jesus Christ will pay them for every work which they have forgotten Their services are all book'd He who formerly gave them abilities to work will now give them a recompence for working 2. In what respect is Christ called Only Lord 1. Not to exclude the Father and the Holy Ghost 2d Branch of Explicat to whom with the Son all outward works are common and frequently to the whole Trinity of Persons is this name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Lord given in Scripture Act. 4.24 Rev. 6.10 God the Father Joh. 17.3 is called the only true God not to exclude the Son and God the Son is called the only Lord not to exclude the Father who is represented in the naturall glory of the Deity as the Son in the voluntary office of a Mediatour But secondly in respect of all creatures is Christ called only Lord 1 Cor. 8.6 One Lord Jesus Christ Eph. 4.5 One Lord and that 1. To exclude the partnership of any other in the government with him The rule is not shared between him and other Lords In government he hath no copartner He is Gods only Vice-gerent There is no â—ther name under heaven given among men Act. 4.12 Mat. 28.18 Heb. 1.2 Isai 63.3 Isai 54.16 To him hath the Father committed all power in heaven and earth as Pharaoh did set Joseph over all the land of Egypt God hath appointed him heir of all things And as Christ had no co-adjutor in the work of redemption so hath he no partner in the glory thereof 2. 1 Tim. 6.15 To note his superiority and preheminency above all other Lords In which respect he is called King of Kings and Lord of Lords for 1. He is the only absolute Lord. All other Lords are subordinate to him dependent on him advanced by him receive authority lawes gifts from him are responsible for the use and abuse of these to him and are therefore punishable by him The supreme of earthly Lords are in respect of him inferiour Lords 2. Phil. 2.10 He is the onely universall Lord. To him every knee must bow The three kingdoms of heaven earth and hell never had any Lord but Christ In the first of these he doth eminently shew his glory and beauty in the second his power of ruling and directing in the third his strength and severity Angels and glorified Saints in heaven Saints sinners and every creature on earth the damned and divels in hel are all his subjects He is Lord of all Act. 10.36 3. Psal 110.3 He is the only Lord for power and might He is able to subdue all things to himselfe Philip. 3.21 and 1 Tim. 6.15 He is called the only Potentate He made and he can annihilate the world with one word He can kill the soul and throw both body and soul into hell Happy we that earthly Lords though never so tyrannicall cannot do this He can subdue the hearts of men even of his deadliest enemies unto his love and obedience Happy would earthly Monarchs think themselves if they could do thus But he who only made can only mend the heart 4. Hee is the only Lord for majesty and glory All the glory of all the Caesars Emperours Kings who ever were combined in one heap is but a black coal in comparison of the splendor of his glory Mat. 6.29 If Solomon in all his glory was not arraied like the lillies of the field how much lesse was he like the Lord of the world The glory of Agrippa and Bernice was but a great fansie Act. 25.23 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 How easie and often doth Christ stain the pride of the glory of the greatest and even cause shamefull spewing to be upon it The glory of Kings is but a borrowed ray or spark from his Majesty When he shall appear in his glory all the nightly glow-worms of worldly splendor shall be put out and all worldly majesty shall be exstinguish'd Nay the poorest Saint shal appear with him in that glory of which all the splendor of Emperours is not so much as a shadow 5. He is the only Lord in respect of his deportment toward his servants 1. He is the most discerning Lord and Master no earthly Masters are so able to observe the wayes and workes of their servants as he is for the closest and subtilest among them cannot deceive him he spies them in every corner nay every corner of their hearts in them He now in some sort is absent
what continuance hath the reflection in the glass if the man who looks into it turn away his face The constant supplies of the spirit of Jesus Christ are the food the fuel of all our graces The best men shew themselves but men if God leave them He who hath set them up must also keep them up It s safer to be humble with one talent then proud with ten yea better to be a humble worm than a proud angel 2. Nothing is so truly base and vile as sin Observat 2. 'T is that which hath no proper being and is below the lowest of all creatures It 's very nature stands in the defection of nature and privation of goodnesse what is it but the deflowring and fall the halting and deformity of the creature So obscure is its extract that there can be no being properly assigned to it as its originall cause It came not from nature as it was but as it was of nothing Sin alone debaseth and disennobleth nature What prodigious folly is it to be patient under it much more to be proud of it what generous princely spirit can contentedly be a servant of servants A slave to sin is guilty of a more unsutable condescention sin alone is the souls degradation We never go below our selves but in sinning against God Omnis elongatio ab altissimo est descensio Parisiens They who glory in sin glory in their shame they who are ashamed of holinesse are ashamed of their glory Sin removes from the highest and therefore it must needs be a descending 3. Observ 3. In defection from God there is an imitation of the divel He was the first who left his first estate Every backslider followes Satan though every one goeth not so farre as hee all decayes in holinesse are steps towards his condition Satans chiefest industry is to pull others after him he loves to have followers and not to be sinfull and miserable alone if he can make men to decline in grace Luk. 22.31 he can be contented to let them thrive in the world he cares for no plunder but that of jewels and being the greatest enemy he studies to deprive us of our greatest happinesse Christians of all decayes take heed of those that are spirituall Better to lose thy gold then to lose thy God to be turned out of thy house then to part with holinesse and heaven He that loseth all the comforts in the world can but be a beggar but he who forsakes God becomes a divell Of this largely before 4. Observ 4. 'T is hard to be high and not to be high-minded to be adorn'd with any excellencies and not unduly to reflect upon them It s a naturall evill to make our selves the centers of our own perfections 2 King 18.33 34 45. Rom. 10.3 Phil. 3.6 9. Ezek. 38.2 6. to stay and rest in our excellencies Men of power are apt to deify their owne strength men of morality to advance their own righteousnesse and to rely on their merits men of wisdome to set up their own reason How just is it with God to hinder the creature from inchroaching upon his owne prerogative to make those low Humiliatio humilitatis mater Psal 9.19 20. who otherwise would not be lowly and to let them know that they are but men God singles out such to be the most notable monuments of his justice and their own folly who vie with him in divine prerogatives Act. 12.23 If God hath appointed that we should go out of our selves unto things below for a vitall subsistence to bread for food to clothes for warmth c. much more will he have us to go out of our selves for a blessed and happy subsistence more being required unto blessednesse then unto life Psal 10.14 Zeph. 3.12 Hos 2.7 It 's the poor who commits himselfe to God Nothing will make us seek for help above our selves without an apprehension of weaknesse in our selves The vine the ivine the hop the woodbind are taught by nature to cling and to wind about stronger trees Men commit themselves to the sea naked and do not load themselves with gold treasure and rich apparel How fearfull should poor worms be of that sin which God allowed not in angels and whereby they became divels Let us be cloathed with humility 1 Pet. 5.5 The adorned with this grace are only meet to attend upon the King of Glory Quis sicut Deus even an Archangel Michael hath humility imprinted on his name Humility is the ornament of angels and pride the deformity of divels If heaven will not keep a proud angel it will keep out a proud soul In all conditions of highnesse we should take heed of highmindednesse As 1. in the highnesse of worldly advancements poverty and disgrace are the food of humility Riches and honour are the fuel of pride I have read of a bird that is so light and feathery that it alwayes flies with a stone in its mouth lest otherwise the winds should carry it away In high conditions we shall be carryed away with pride unlesse we carefully keep our hearts David and Asa were both lifted up in their outward greatnesse It s hard to walk in slippery places of prosperity and not to slip by pride we commonly most forget God and our selves when he remembers us most 2. In the highnesse of raised endowments abilities and performances It s said of Nazianzen that he was high in his works and lowly in his thoughts a rare temper our very graces and good works not seldome occasion pride I have heard of a man who having kill'd an Elephant with his weapon was himselfe kill'd with the fall thereof And nothing is more ordinary than for high services possibly the conquest of some corruption or tentation to usher in that pride which may hurt the performers Sciendo bona opera nesciamus illa Magna rara virtus manifestam omnibus tuam te solum latere sanctitatem We should know our good works as if we knew them not It 's a rare and noble temper when that worth which all others observe is only hid to him in whom it is How few are there who hide their beautifull endowments by humility as Moses's parents did their beautifull son for safety and with Moses when hee spake with God pull off their shoos and hide their faces Uncover and acknowledge the lownesse the infirmities and cover the beauty and comelinesse of their services When Satan spreads our gifts and graces let us spread our sins our weaknesses before our eyes and so the soul may have its ballast evenly proportioned and on both sides There 's no poyson hurts so dangerously although delightfully as the contemplation of and reflexion on our seeming deservings Scotus dist 6. q. 2. art 2. Scotus calls the sin of the angels Luxuriam spiritualem a kind of spirituall luxury whereby they were too much delighted in their own excellencies It s only a
the wicked lest we fall from our own stedfastness If Satan double his rage let us double our guard Doctor Taylor reports of a noble Lord who was wont to say That he would never go without a sword so long as there was a Papist about the Court Never let us lay off our spirituall weapons till Satan be taken from us by judgement or we out of his reach by death Let us even taught thus much by our adversary make the shortnesse of our time a motive to lay out our selves the more for God short seasons require speedy services The nearer we come to judgement the fitter let us labour to be for it Let the sweetest part of our lives be at the bottom and as Samsons let our last prove our greatest goodnesse To conclude this Let those poor soules who are daily buffetted by Satan consider that his judgement is approaching that all conflicts with him shall then be at an end and that the fury of his assaults prove not their success but the shortnesse of continuance Thus far of the first particular considerable in the punishment of these Angels at the Bar viz that to which they are reserved to Judgement The second follows the time when they shal be brought to judgement viz. at the Great day Two things for the Explication hereof 1. Explication How the word Day is here to be taken 2. In what respect it s called a Great day For the first There are three opinions 1. Some take the day here spoken of precisely and properly as if the day of the last judgement should not exceed that space and proportion of time 2. Some conceive that by the Day is meant a 1000 years because some are said to sit on thrones and have judgement given unto them that is power of judging and to live and raigne with Christ a thousand years Rev. 20.4 But I conceive that this judgment and raign of a thousand years cannot be understood of the last Judgement because death the last enemy shall in the Resurrection be destroyed now after the end of the thousand years mentioned by Saint John Satan shall be loosed out of prison and the nations deceived by him shall compasse the camp of the Saints about Isai 27.1.2 14.3 12.1 4.1.2 2.11.17 Per quot dies hoc judicium extendatur incertum est scripturarum more diem poni solere pro tempore nemo nescit Aug. l. 20. de Civ Dei cap. 1. Mat. 7.22 Luk. 21.34 2 Tim. 1 12.18 4.8 Joh. 6.39 40. 44.46 54. 2 Pet. 3.7.12 Rom. 2.5.16 Act. 17.31 Apoc 6.17 and the beloved City and fire shall come down from God out of heaven and devour them 3. Others seem more safely to apprehend that the day here mentioned is to be taken improperly for time indefinitely it being in Scripture very ordinary to put a day for time In an acceptable time have I heard thee in a day of salvation have I helped thee Isai 49.8 If thou hadst known in this thy day Luk. 19.42 Your father Abraham rejoyced to see my day Joh. 8.56 c. There must be a day wherein that great work of judgement shall begin but the duration thereof is to be measured by the nature of the thing and the counsell of God With Augustine I determine nothing peremptorily concerning the continuance of the last judgment day For the second the greatnesse of this day The titles given it in the Scripture speak it great it being called that day the last day the day of judgment and perdition of all ungodly men The day of God the Lord The day when God shal judge the secrets of men a day wherein he will judge the world in righteousness the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgement of God the day of the Lambs wrath the day of Jesus Christ Phil. 1.6.10 c. More particularly this day of Judgement is called great in respect of the Judge Judged Properties of the Judgment 1. The Judge who is Jesus Christ And herein two particulars are considerable 1. That Christ shall be Judge 2 Wherein his being Judge shall make the day great The first is evident 1. From the frequent and expresse mentioning him as Judge in Scripture which assures us that God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ Heb. 10.27 Tit. 2.13 Act. 10.42 Phil. 3.20.4.5 1 Tim. 6.14.15 Rom. 2.16 that Jesus Christ shall judge the quick and the dead 2 Tim. 4.1 that the Lord Jesus shall be revealled from heaven 2 Thes 1.7 that the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father Mat. 16.27 that they shall see the son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory Mat. 24.30 that the son of man shall come in his glory Mat. 25.31 that hereafter we shall see the son of man coming in the clouds of heaven Mat. 26.64 that the same Jesus who is taken into heaven shall so come in like manner as he was seen to go into heaven Act. 1.11 that he cometh with cloudes and every eye shall see him Rev. 1.7 In which respect the day of Judgement is call'd The day of the Lord Jesus Christ 1 Cor. 1.8 so 1 Cor. 5.5 2 Cor. 1.14 Phil. 1.6.10 and Phil. 2.16 And the seat of judgment is call'd The judgment seat of Christ Rom. 24 10. 2 Cor. 5.10 And some understand that place Heb. 4.12 The word of God is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a discerner of the thoughts concerning the Hypostatical word c. Nor is the old Testament destitute of testimonies of this kind though somewhat more obscurely exprest Abraham speaks to the son of God when he said Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right Gen. 18.25 And the Father spake to the Son when he said Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron thou shalt dash them in peices like a Potters vessel Psal 2.9 And that of Isaiah chap. 45.23 By my selfe have I sworn unto me every knee shall bow the Apostle Rom. 14.11 applies to Christ and thence proves that we shall all stand before his judgement seat 2. By Gods appointment of him and giving him authority to judge He is ordained of God to be the judge of quick and dead Act. 10.42 He will judge the world by that man whom he hath ordained c Act. 17.31 Humilitas carnis no strae throno judicator is honorata est Cypr. in ser deaf Sedebit judex qui stetit sub judice damna bit veros reos qui factus est falsus reus Aug. Homil. 150. Pater dedit ei potestatem facere quia filius hominis est cum magis quasi hoc expectaretur ut diceret quo niam filius Dei est sed quia filium Dei secundum id quod in forma Dei aequalis est patri videre iniqui non possunt oportet judicem vivorum mortuorum coram quo judicabuntur justi videant iniqui Aug. lib. 1. de trin c. 13. Patrem
nemo videbit in judicio quia filius hominis est ut possit ab impiis videri August lib. 1. de trin cap. 13. Talis apparebit judex qualis possit videri ab iis quos coronaturus ab iis quos damnaturus est Prosp The Father judgeth no man but hath committed all judgement to the Son he hath given him authority to execute judgment Joh. 5.22.27 And all power is given him in heaven and in earth 3. By his former estate of humiliation As he emptyed and humbled himself according to his humane nature so in that hee is to be exalted He humbled himselfe and became obedient to death c wherefore God hath highly exalted him Phil. 2.9 And as Christ in his humane nature was unjustly judged so in that nature shall he justly judge Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many and he shall appear the second time without sin Heb. 9.28 4. By reason of the necessity of the visibility of the Judge and judiciall proceedings at the last day He executes judgement because he is the Son of man Joh 5.27 and every eye shall see him The Judge is to be beheld and heard by the Judged God will judge the world by that man c. In respect of the judiciall process a man must be our Judge for God is invisible and the Judge shall so appear as to be seen both of those whom he shall crown and of those whom he shall condemn Nor can it be but that God will be the more justified and men without all excuse having one who is bone of their bone and flesh of their flesh to be judge between God and them Notwithstanding all which immediate audible visible administration of the last judgement by the second Person this judgement belongs to the other Persons in Trinity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in respect of Authority Dominion and judiciary power though to the Son only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in respect of dispensation and office and externall exercise 2. For the second viz. Wherein the Judge makes the day of Judgement great 1. He makes it a great day 1. As he is considered in himselfe 2. As he is attended and accompanied by others 1. As we consider him in himselfe and that either 1. as God or 2. man 1. As God He who shall be the Judge is the mighty God It is Jehovah to whom every knee shall 〈◊〉 Isai 45. Hence the Apostle cals the appearance of this Judg who is God glorious in those words Tit. 2.13 The glorious appearing of the great God If the great God be Judge the day of Judgement must needs be a great day How great is the day of an earthly Judges appearance a man a worme dust and ashes one who though hee can give yet cannot avoid the sentence of death and one who hath scarce a faint reflection of that majesty with which this King of glory is adorned think then and yet thoughts can never reach it what it is for God before whom the whole world though full of Judges is as nothing and less then nothing and vanity to come to judge the word God is a judge Omnipotent and therefore one whose voice as the living who are distanced so many thousands of miles shall hear and obey so even the dead shall hear being quickned and shall at his beck come and stand before his judgment seat He shall come with great power 2 Thes 7.9 and the wicked shall be punish'd with everlasting destruction from the glory of his power Nor shall he use the ministry of Angels for necessity but Majesty God is an omniscient Judg infinitely onely wise his eyes are clearer then ten thousand suns one who will in the day wherein the brightnesse of his omniscience shall shine in its full lustre bring every hidden work to light and tell to all as the woman of Samaria said all that ever they did one who doth not as earthly Judges onely know what to ask but what every one will answer who wants no witnesses nor needs he that any should testifie of man for he knows what is in man God is a true and a just Judge The Apostle 2 Tim 4.8 cals him The Lord the righteous Judge hee will render to every one according to his works The Apostle proves the righteousnesse of God from his judging the world Rom. 3.6 and Abrahams question asserts it strongly Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right Other Judges may do righteously but God cannot do otherwise The wils of other Judges must be regulated by righteousnesse but so righteous is God that righteousnesse it selfe is regulated by his will which is the root and rule of all righteousnesse 2. This Judge shall make the day great as he is Man greatly amazing and dismaying must his appearance as Judge in mans nature needs be to sinners who have denyed him persecuted crucifyed and put him to an open shame all whose designes have been to crush and keep him under With what horror shall the Jews then see their delusion who would not heretofore beleive him to be the Messiah Needs must they and others who would not have this man to reign over them to whom he was a stumbling stone when low and small contemptible in his former discoveries upon earth now find and feel him a rock to fall upon them from heaven and crush them to powder Greatly comforting and refreshing must the appearance of this man be to beleevers who shall not onely behold him to be the great Judge of the whole world who hath taken upon him their nature but who hath also given to them his spirit whereby through faith they are mystically united unto him as their head their husband and upon whom they have fixed all their hopes and expectations of happinesse for and with whom they have so long suffered from the world whom they look upon as their treasure their portion and for whose coming they have so long'd and sigh'd and groan'd In a word How greatly glorious shall his appearance in our nature be both to good and bad when in it he shall be deck'd and adorn'd with Majesty and clothed with unspeakeable glory above all the Angels he being to come in the glory of his father Mat. 16.27 with power and great glory Mat. 24.30 The glory of a thousand Suns made into one will be but as sack cloth to that wherein Christ shall appear in mans nature that great day The glory of the Sun scatters the clouds but from the glory of Christs face the very earth and heaven shall flie away Rev. 20.11 The beames of his glory shall dazzel the eyes of sinners and delight the eyes of Saints The wicked shall be punish'd with everlasting destruction from his presence and the glory of his power 2 Thes 1.9 and when his glory shall he revealed the Saints shall be glad with exceeding joy 1 Pet. 4.13 2. The Judge shall make this day of judgement great considering him not
God the Father Secondly the Observations follow 1. Even our holinesse administers matter of humility Obs 1. Our very graces should humble us as well as our sins as these later because they are ours so the former because they are none of ours Sanctity is adventitious to Nature Heretofore holinesse was naturall and sin was accidentall now sin is naturall and holinesse accidentall when God made any of us his garden he took us out of Satans waste ws are not born Saints the best before sanctification are bad and by nature not differing from the worst the members that God accepts to be weapons of righteousnesse were before blunted in Satans service when God sanctifieth us he melteth idols and makes of them vessels for his own use Before any becomes as an Israelites wife he is as a captive unpared unwash'd unshaven Sanctification is a great blessing but was this web woven out of thine own bowels the best thou didst bring to thine own sanctification was a passive receptivenesse of it which the very worst of heathens partake of in common with thee having a humane nature a rationall soul and was there not with that a corrupt principle of opposition to God and all the workings of God was not God long striving with a cross-grain'd heart how many denyals had God before he did win thee to himself How far was the iron gate of thy heart from opening of its own accord and if he had not wrought like a God omnipotently and with the same power wherewith Christ was raised Eph. 1.19 20. had thy resistence been ever subdued and when the being of grace was bestowed from whence had thy grace at any time its acting Didst thou ever write one letter without Gods guiding thy hand didst thou ever shed one penitentiall tear till God unstop'd thy spouts smote thy rock and melted thy heart didst thou hunger after Christ till God who gave the food gave the stomack also Was ever tentation resisted grace quickned corruption mortified holy resolution strengthened power either to do or will received from any but from God Doth not every grace the whole frame of sanctification depend upon God as the stream on the fountain the beam on the Sun when he withdraws his influence how dead is thy heart in every holy performance onely when he speaks the word effectually bidding thee go thou goest and do this or that thou dost it 2. Obs 2. The reason why all graces of a sanctified person are for God they are from him Gods bounty is their fountain and Gods glory must be their center He planted the Vineyard and therefore he must drink the wine We are his wormanship and therefore we must be his workmen All our pleasant fruits must be laid up and out for our well-beloved All things but particularly our graces are from him and for him we can never give him more or other then his own when we give all we can The streames will rise as high as the fountain head and so should our graces ascend as high in duty as he who gave them Where should God have service if a sanctified person denyes it 3. Obs 3. From this Author of Sanctification I note t s excellency and worth It s a rare work certainly that hath such a workman a beauteous structure that hath such a builder What is a man to be desired for but his sanctification if we see a beauty on that body which hath a soul how much more on that soul that hath the reflexion of God himself upon it Every Saint is a woodden casket fill'd with pearls The Kings daughter is all glorius within Love Jesus Christ in his worky-day clothes admire him in his Saints though they be black yet they are comely Did the people of God but contemplate one anothers graces could there be that reproaching scorn and contempt cast upon one another that there is Certainly their ignorance of their true excellency makes them enemies they strike one another in the dark 4. Obs 4. Great must be the love that God bears to Sanctification It s a work of his own framing a gift of his own bestowing God saw that the work of the first creation was very good much more that of the second Wonder no more that the faithfull are call'd his garden his Jewels his Treasure his Temple his Portion God hath two heavens and the sanctified soul is the lesser How doth he accept of Saints even in their imperfections delight in their performances pity them in their troubles take care of them in dangers He that hath given his Son for them promised heaven to them and sent his Spirit into them what can he deny them Jesus Christ never admired any thing but grace when he was upon the earth the buildings of the Temple he contemned in comparison of the faith of a poor trembling woman Certainly the people of God should not sleight those graces in themselves that God doth so value as they do when they acknowledge not the holinesse that God hath bestowed upon them Shall they make orts of those delicates that Jesus Christ accounts an excellent banquet 5. The love of God is expressive Obs 5. really and effectually in us and upon us even in sanctifying us Creatures when they love will not put off one another with bare words of bidding be clothed sed c. much lesse doth God If there be love in his heart there will be bounty in his hand Thou sayst that God is mercifull and loves thee why what did he ever do for thee work in thee hath he changed thy nature mortified thy lusts beautified thy heart with holinesse Where God loves be affords love-tokens and such are onely his soul-enriching graces No man knows love or hatred by what he sees before him but by what he findes in him If our heart moves toward God certainly his goeth out toward us the shadow upon the Dyall moves according to the motion of the Sun in the Heaven 6. Obs 6. We are to repair in our wants of Sanctification to God for supply He is the God of grace The Lord will give grace and glory He hath the key of the womb the grave the heavens but chiefly of the heart He that sitteth in heaven can onely teach and touch the heart How feeble a thing and unable is man whether thy self or the Minister to do this He hath the windes in his own keeping and till he send them out of his treasury how necessarily must thy soul lye wind-bound Whither shouldst thou goe but to him and how canst thou go but by him The means of grace are to be used in obedience to him Parum prodest Lectio quam non illuminat Oratio not in dependancy upon them A golden key cannot open without him and a woodden can open with him Man may with the Prophets servant lay the staff upon the fore-head but God must give life How many fat and rich Ordinances have been
unto nay present with him by his universal care and providence he being not far from every one of us for in him we live c. Act. 17.27 28. 2 By assuming the nature of man into a personal conjunction with himself in the Mediator Christ 3 By conversing with man by signs of his presence extraordinary visions dreams oracles inspiration and ordinarily by his holy Ordinances wherewith his people as it were abide with him in his house 4 By sending his holy Spirit to dwell in man and bestowing upon man the divine nature 5 By taking man into an eternal habitation in heaven Psal 16. ult where he shall be ever in his glorious presence 2 There is a love of God to man considered as a love of benevolence or of good will or of willingness to do good to the thing beloved what else was his eternal purpose to have mercy upon his people and of saving them Rom. 9.13 but as it s exprest concerning Jacob this loving them And to whom can a will of doing good so properly agree as to him whose will is goodness it self 3 There is a lover of God to man considered as a love of beneficence bounty or actual doing good to the thing beloved Thus he bestoweth the effects of his love both for this life and that which is to come And the beneficence of God is called Love 1 Joh. 3.1 Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the Sons of God And Joh. 3.16 So God loved the world that he sent c. By this love of beneficence bestowes he the good things of nature grace glory God doth good to every creature hating though the iniquity of any one yet the nature of none Gen. 1.31 for the being of every creature is good and God hath adorn'd it with many excellent qualities According to these loves of benevolence and beneficence God loveth not his creatures equally but some more then others in as much as he willeth to bestow and also actually bestoweth greater blessings upon some than upon others he makes and preserves all creatures but his love is more especially afforded to mankinde he stileth himself from his love to man Tit. 3.4 and not from his love to Angels or any other creature He is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a lover of man but never 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a friend of Angels or creatures without man His love is yet more peculiarly extended to man in creating him after his own image Psal 8.5 Heb. 2.16 Rom. 5.8 and in giving him lordship over the creatures in giving his Son to take upon him mans nature and exalt it above heavens and Angels to dye for sinning dying man offering him to man in the dispensation of the Gospel with wooing and beseechings Mat. 28.18 and yet of men he loveth some more especially and peculiarly than others Omnia diligit Deus quae fecit etinter ea magis creaturas rationales et de illis eas amplius quae sunt membra Unigeniti et multo magis ipsum Unigenitum Aug. T. 9. in Joh. namely those whom he loveth with an electing calling redeeming justifying glorifying love God loves all creatures and among them the rational and among them the members of his Son and much more the Son himself 4. There is a love of God to man considered as a love of complacency and delight in the thing beloved he is pleased through his Son with his Servants and he is much delighted with his own image wheresoever he finds it He is pleased with the persons and performances of his people He hath made us accepted in the Son of his loves the Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him Psal 147.11 Zeph. 3.17 They reflecting his excellencies and shewing forth his vertues he rejoying over them with joy he resting in his love accounting a Beleever amiable his soul a lesser heaven his prayers melody his sighs incense his stammerings eloquence his desires performances 2 There is a love of Man to God which is when the Soul is moved Amor concupiscentiae non requiescit in quacunque extrinseca aut superficiali adeptione amati sed quaerit amatum perfectè habere quasi ad intima illius perveniens Aq. 1.2 ae q. 28. ar 2. drawn and called out to desire the participation of his presence yeelding up and conforming it self to his will as also quietly resting in the enjoying of him This love is considerable in its several kinds 1 It s a love of desire to enjoy him for ours as the source of all our happiness The Soul loves God under the apprehension of the greatest good and therefore puts forth it self in strongest desires toward him This love is as strong as death and can take no denyal It is the wing and weight of the Soul that carries all the desires into an intimate unity with the thing beloved stirreth up a zeal to remove all obstacles worketh an egress of the Spirits and as it were an haste of the Soul to entertain and meet it According to those expressions of the Saints in Scripture The desire of our soul is to thy name Es 26.8 Ps 119.10.81 119.20 Psal 42.2 Psal 84.2 With my whole heart have I sought thee My soul fainteth for thy salvation My soul breaketh for the longing it hath to thy judgements at all times My soul thirsteth for God I am sick of love c. Oh the vehement panting breathing and going forth of the soul of one toward God who is in love with him he contemns the most serious worldly employments when he is taken up with this and who so discourseth with him of earthly concernments speaks as with one not at home all the world not satisfying without the kisses of the lips of our beloved our desires being a thousand times more for one smile of his face than for all the wealth under the Sun No difficulty so great no danger so imminent nay no death so certain which this love carries not through for the obtaining of the thing beloved this love being a falling mountain that breaks down all that stands betwixt it and the place of its rest In a word no means shall be left unused that by God are appointed for the obtaining of our beloved enquiries of or from others how to find him letters of love sighs tears sobs groans unutterable are sent to win him desires to hear again from him in his promise of grace are expressed The soul is never gotten neer enough till it be in the arms the bosome of God in heaven It saith not as Peter of his Tabernacles Lord Let there be one for me and another for thee but let us both be together in one It s ever night with one who loves Christ till the Sun of his presence be arising He is like a certain kinde of Stone of which some report That if it be thrown into the water
he gave his body to be burn'd 1 Cor. 13.3 Nucleus donorum animus and had not love he should be nothing nothing in Esse gratiae in point of truth worth and grace Love is the beauty of our performances their Loveliness is Love to God in doing them Love is the Marrow of every duty Love is the salt which seasons every Sacrifice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the exquisitest service without it is but as a dead carcass embalmed God delights in nothing which we give him unless we give our selves first He more regards with what heart we give than what we give God accepts no duty when we do it because we dare not do otherwise but when we do it because we love to do it it is acceptable to God He who wants Love though he do the thing commanded yet he breaks the Law Commanding He who Loves keeps the Command Evangelically while he breaks it Legally 3. Observ 3. Love set upon other things beside God is wrong placed The world must often be left and loathed at the most but used never loved So to love it as thereby to lessen thy love to God so to love it as to be excessive either in grief for wanting it or joy for having it and to be over earnest in using it and injudicious in preferring it before thy God is to love it unduely and sinfully if at any time the creature be beloved innocently 't is beloved in and for God as a pledge of heaven as a spur to duty Among all the Creatures there cannot be found a helper fit for man Between the soul and them there can be no match with Gods consent He that is wedded in love to the Creature is married to one that 's poor base vexing false 1. Poor the whole world is but a Curt and unsatisfying good the sieve in the water hath something in it pull'd thence 't is empty the Creature apart from God is empty of all loveliness it 's a brest fill'd with nothing but wind Should the whole world be cast into our Treasury it would hardly be a Mite Hagar out of Abrahams house found nothing but scarcity and all plenty which is not God is but penury Earthly blessings like to numbers cannot be so great but still we may reckon and our desires reach some one beyond them Men in their contentions for the world prove it a scanty thing and that it cannot satisfie all A lover of the world can endure no rivals as knowing how scanty an object he contends for So large a good is God that he who loves him delights in company 2. Base ignoble Whatsoever is below a God is below our soul it s as unfit to rule our hearts as the bramble to rule the trees What we love subdues us it to it self and we are alway below it to love these earthly drossie comforts is to make thy soul a vassal to thy vassal a servant of servants Love leaves the impression of the thing beloved upon the soule if thou lovest the earth thou hast the impression of vilenesse upon a noble soule the impression gives denomination a piece of gold is call'd a Jacobus an Angel a Serpent a Lion according to the stamp it beareth If therefore earthly objects have by love set their impression upon thy soule what is that golden excellent heaven-born creature but a lump a clod of earth The earth should be under our feet not upon our heart 3. Vexing and unquiet Love set upon the world hath more of anguish than love it ever wrangles with us for not giving it enough Peace is the only product of the enjoyment of God If Christ be not in the ship the storms will never cease nor can any thing but his presence bring a calmnesse upon the sonle Rest is peculiar only to Gods Beloved Love never stings but when you disturb anger it and hinder it from resting in a God in him it's hive it is alway and only quiet and innocent 4. False and inconstant They are but lying and flying vanities A soul that loves the world is match'd to that which will soon break and run away none are so foolishly prodigall as the covetous who assures all to that which can assure nothing no not his own again to him The World is like to Absaloms mule that runs away when its lovers most want reliefe it s not able to love again those that love it most The love of that which is inconstant and weak is the strength of our misery The best of earthly blessings have their moth and their thiefe Mat. 6.20 Prov. 25.31 Observ 4. Plus bonitas quam benificientia Expiat infinita venustas omnem injuriam they make themselves wings they flee away as an Eagle towards Heaven 4. God is an Object very meet for our love to be set upon Much he deserves it even for whathe is His own lovely excellencies are so great that even for these our hearts should be set upon him although his hatred were set upon us Goodnesse is more than beneficience God is a bundle an heap of all worth and perfections all the scattered excellencies of the whole Creation Center and meet in him a flower he is in which meet the beauties of all flowers Suppose a creature composed of all the choycest endowments of all the men that were since the Creation of the World famous in any kind One in whom were a meek Moses a strong Samson all the valiant Worthies of David a faithfull Jonathan a beautifull Absalom a rich and wise Solomon all the holy men of God eminent for any grace Nay all the Angels of Heaven with their understandings strength agility splendor spiritualnesse holinesse and suppose this creature had never known us help'd us benefited us yet how would our hearts be drawn out towards it in desires and complacencies but this alas though ten thousand times more exquisitely accomplish'd would not amount to a shadow of divine perfection God had in himselfe assembled from Eternity all the excellencies which were in time and had not he made them they had never been If every leafe and spire of grasse nay all the stars sands atomes in the World were so many Souls and Seraphims whose love should double in them every moment to all eternity yet could not their love be enough for the lovelinesse of our God There is nothing in God but what is amiable Cant. 5.16 he is altogether lovely nothing to cause loathing fulsomness or aversation though we enjoy him to all Eternity And it should much draw out love from us to think what God doth for us Man doth but little and it 's counted much God doth much and it 's counted little and whence is this distemper'd estimate Must mercy therefore be under-valued because it comes from God Doth water lose it's nature because it is in the fountain or heat because 't is in the fire and not in some other subject Can we be thankfull to a thiefe
Christ Gal. 1.23 He now preacheth the faith which before he persecuted So 1 Tim. 4.16 Gal. 3.2 So here in this place of Jude Faith once delivered is to be understood of the faith of heavenly doctrine the word of faith which the Apostle saith God had delivered to them and they were to maintain against the opposite errours of seducers This holy doctrine being called faith 1. Because it is the instrument used by God to work faith The Spirit by the word perswading us to assent to the whole doctrine of the Gospel and to rest upon Christ in the promise for life In which respect faith is said to come by hearing Rom. 10.15 And the Gospel the power of God Rom. 1.16 c. to every one that believes The faith to be believed begets a faith believing 2. Because it is a most sure infallible faithfull word and deserves to be the object of our faith and belief The Author of it was the holy and true Rev. 3.7.14 Tit. 1.2 2 Pet. 1.2 the faithful and true Witnesse God who cannot lie The Instruments were infallibly guided by the immediate derection and assistance of the holy Ghost The Matter of it an everlasting truth the Law being a constant rule of righteousnesse the Gospel conteining promises which shall have their stability when heaven and earth shall passe away and of such certainty that if an angel from heaven should teach another doctrine he must be accursed It abounds also with prophesies predictions most exactly accomplished though after hundreds yea thousands of years The form of it which is its conformity with God himself sheweth that if God be faithfull Heb. 4.12 Psal 19.7 9. needs must his word be so its powerfull it searcheth the heart its pure and perfect true and faithfull and all this in conformity with the power omniscience purity perfection truth of God himself The end of it is to supply us with assured comfort Rom. 15.4 Observ 1. 1. The word of life is most worthy of assent and approbation No word so much challengeth belief as Gods it 's so true and worthy of belief that it 's called faith it self When in Scripture the object is called by the name of the habit or affection it notes that the object is very proper for that habit or affection to be exercised about Heaven is in Scripture called joy to shew it 's much to be rejoyced in and the Doctrine of salvation is called faith to shew that its most worthy of our faith Infidelity is a most inexcusable and incongruous sin in us Tit. 1.2 Heb. 6.18 Isa 53.1 when the faithfull and true God speaks unto us It 's impossible for God to lie and yet Who hath beleeved our report may be a complaint as ordinary as it is old How just is God to give those over to beleeve a lie who will not beleeve the truh How miserable is their folly who beleeve a lie and distrust faith it self 2. Observ 2. Deplorable is their estate who want the doctrine of salvation They have no footing for faith they have they hear nothing that they can beleeve Uncertainty of happiness is ever the portion of a people who are destitute of the Word He who wants this light knows not whither he goeth The Fancy of the Enthusiast the Reason of the Socinian the Traditions of the Papist the Oracles of the Heathens are all Foundations of sand death shakes and overturns them all 3. Observ 3. The true reason of the firmnesse and stedfastnesse of the Saints in their profession they lean upon a sure word Spiritus sanctus non est Scepticus ne◠opiniones in cordibus sed assertiones producit ipsâ vit â omni experientiâ certiores a more sure word than any revelation a word called even faith it self Greater is the certainty of Faith then that of Sense and Reason It 's not Opinion and Scepticism but Faith The holy Ghost is no Sceptick it works in us not opinions but assertions more sure than life it self and all experience The more weight and dependency we set upon the word so firm a foundation is it the stronger is the building None will distrust God but they who never tryed him 4. Our great end in attending upon the word should be the furthering of our faith The jewel of the Word should not hang in our ears but be lock'd up in a beleeving heart 'T is not meat on the table but in the stomack that nourisheth and not the Word preached but beleeved that saves us The Apostle having specified the thing which they were to maintain Faith he amplifieth it and that three wayes 1. Explicat 2. He saith it was delivered The word in the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here translated delivered signifieth to be given or delivered from one to another severall wayes in Scripture according to the circumstances of the place where and the matter about which 't is used Sometime it importeth a delivering craftily deceitfully or traiterously in which respect the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is often rendred to betray as Matth. 2.4.10 and Chap. 26 15 16 21 23 24 25. and Chap. 16.45 46 48. In some places it signifieth a delivering in a way of punishment and suffering As Mat. 4.12 Jesus heard that John was delivered up So Mat. 5.25 and 10.17.19.21 and 17.22 and Acts 7.42 c. In other places it signifieth a delivering in a way of committing something to ones trust to be carefully regarded and preserved as Mat. 11.27 and 25.14 20. and John 19.20 and 1 Pet. 2.23 And thus it frequently signifieth a delivering by way of information or relation of doctrines and duties from one to another to be kept and observed And that both from God first by the speech and afterward by the writing of holy men for the use of his Church as 1 Cor. 11.2 2 Thes 2.15 and 3.6 2 Pet. 2.21 and also from men who often deliver doctrines to others not written in the word Mat. 15.2 Mark 7.9.13 but invented by men In this sense the delivering here mentioned is to be taken namely for such an information or relation of Gods will as they to whom it is delivered are bound to preserve and keep as their treasure In which respect the delivering of this faith or doctrine of salvation comprehends first Gods bestowing it secondly Mans holding and keeping it 1. Gods bestowing it and in that is considerable 1. In what wayes and after what manner God delivered it 2. What need there was of this delivery of the faith by God 1. In what wayes God delivered the faith the Scripture tels us he hath delivered it either extraordinarily Num. 12.6.8 Heb. 1.1 as immediately by himselfe by Angels by a voice by a sensible apparition to men sometime when they were awake at other times when they were sleeping by dreams sometime only by inward inspiration Or ordinarily and so he delivers the doctrine of faith 1. To his
In Christo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the two Natures should be united 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so as that there should be no confusion mutation commixtion of them but that both natures should remain distinct and entire in their properties wils and actions without any change of one into the other 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 individually and inseparably so as one nature should never be separated from the other no not by death there never being two Christs but one Son of God manifested in the flesh How great was that wisdome which found out a way for the Mediator between God and Man to partake of the natures of both those parties between whom he mediates and which contrived a Reconciliation between God and Man by the marriage of the natures of both 2. How eminent was that Justice of God that would be satisfied no way but by the Son of God his assuming the nature of man the vailing his Glory emptying himself of Majestie and a debasing to the death of the Crosse Phil. 2.8 So that God may seem more severe in sparing man this way then if he had punish'd him without sending his Son thus to redeem him 3. How transcendent was the Love of God to poor lost man to weave the garment of his spotted and defiled nature anew in the Virgins womb to become a new and living way over that gulf of separation which was between God and Man whereby God might be willing to come to man and man able to go to God! to disrobe himself of Majestie and to cloath himself with the rags of Mortalitie Did ever Love cause such a condescention as this The Thistle did not here send to the Cedar but the Cedar comes to the Thistle to wo for a marriage Let the deepest apprehensions despair to dive to the bottom of this humble undertaking Angels themselves may stoop to look into it 1 Pet. 1.12 and be Students in this piece of Divinitie but never can they be compleatly apprehensive what it is for the Maker of the World to be made of a woman for the everlasting Father to be an infant in the womb for Majestie to be buried among the chips for him who thundred in the clouds to lie in the cradle for him who measured the heavens with a span to be a child of a span long 3. Observ 3. Isai 43.11 Hos 13.4 Any other Saviours beside Christ are altogether needlesse and fictitious If Christ be God there is no other Saviour and he no more wants the help of men or Angels in the Redemption of the world then he did in the Creation To an infinite power nothing can be added and the strength of Christ to save is infinite What brings the creature to God but wants and weaknesses That which receives all its strength from God adds no strength to God There 's none but a God able to do the Work and fit to receive the Honour of a Saviour The highest of all Popishly voyced Saviours throw down their Crowns at the feet of Christ and with one voice acknowledg him their Saviour The Crown of purchasing our salvation is too heavie for any created head Did those glorified spirits in heaven know how much honour is taken from Christ by casting it upon them some think that heaven should be no heaven to them 4. Divine Justice is compleatly satisfied Observ 4. and the sins of beleevers are perfectly removed The Merits of Christ are of infinite value the least sin was a burden too heavie for all the created backs of Men and Angels to undergo None but he that was God Heb. 7.25 John 1.29 Mic. 7.19 Isa 44.22 Isa 38.17 Psal 32.1 Jer. 31.34 could perfectly satisfie a God Christ is able to save to the uttermost He taketh away the sin of the world Our iniquities are said to be subdued Thrown into the bottom of the sea Covered washed away Blotted out as a cloud Vtterly forgotten and Cast behind the back of God Beleevers have nothing to pay to Justice The payments of Popish Merits are not in currant but copper coin which will not goe in heaven but will certainly be turned back again The sins of one beleever are ten thousand times greater than Satan can represent but yet the merits of the blood of God infinitely exceed all the sins of all men put together The blood of Christ cleanseth from all sin 1 John 1.7 Christians take heed of a sacrilegious ransacking of the grave of Christ wherein he hath buried your sins If Christ be God desperation is the greatest of sins Is there any spot so deep which the blood of God cannot wash out any disease so desperate which the blood of God cannot cure any heart so faint which the blood of God cannot revive any debt so great which the blood of God cannot satisfie any burden so heavie which the shoulders of God cannot bear away Oh beleever Luke 1.47 let thy spirit rejoyce in God thy Saviour 5. How high is the advancement of humane Nature Observ 5. Hee who hath taken it into the unity of his Person is true God Hebr. 2.16 Phil. 2.10 The seed of Abraham is now more highly dignified then the nature of Angels There 's not a knee either in heaven in earth or under the earth but shall bow at the name of Him who is God and man in one person Let us fear to debase that nature which Christ hath magnified Psal 15.4 There 's nothing but sin that makes a man a vile person How unworthy a condescension is it for that nature to stoop to Divels which is advanced above Angels 1 Sam. 5.5 The Philistims tread not on that threshold upon which their Idol Dagon fell and shall man suffer lust and Divels to trample upon and defile that nature which the Son of God assumed Oh man acknowledg thy dignitie and being made a companion of the divine Nature be not so degenerous as to become a slave to Sin 6. Observ 6. How peculiarly dignified and blessed are all Beleevers Their Head their Husband is very God They have not onely the common honour of all men in the union of humane nature with the Son of God but a speciall priviledg in being united to him by his Spirit through Faith Man is advanced above other creatures in respect of the first Beleevers are advanced above other men in respect of the second union And if thus we are united to him who is God what influences of holinesse wisdom power c. shall flow to us from such a Head A Prince who hath all the gold and ornaments of the world will not suffer his Wife to want necessaries and certainly the Spouse of Christ shall have what shee wants if not what she would 7. Observ 7. Whatever it is that Christ who is God ordains and owns deserves our highest estimation The Day instituted by
Christ deserves rather to be esteemed holy than any dayes of mans ordaining It should be accounted both a good day and an high day having such an Instituter The Ordinances of Christ should be preferr'd before humane traditions No Institutions but his shall stand nor should religiously be esteemed I fear Luk. 19.27 that the great and bloody Controversies which so long Christ hath had with England are about some Ordinances of his which yet we will not take up and some Traditions of our own which in stead thereof we will keep up What is become of those men and of their wisdom Sapientes sapienter in infernum descendunt whose wise work it was heretofore to invent and impose their own Innovations for Christs Institutions The Servants and Messengers of Christ should be more loved and honoured than the servants of any earthly Potentate They are the servants of God We should love as he loves It 's more honourable to be a servant of God than a King over men Our delight should be in those excellent ones who bear the image Psal 16.2 and wear the badg of Christ The feet of his Ambassadors should be beautifull whether we regard their Master Rom. 10.15 or their Message Lastly his Word should be preferred before any other writings Col. 3.16 Let the word of Christ dwell in us plentifully Let it be taken in not stand at the doors or lodg only in our books or on our shelves let it dwell there not be turn'd out again Let it dwell plentifully in all that is within us Understanding Will Affections Memorie and plentifully in all that is of it in its Threatnings Commands Promises It is the word of God who hath strength to back it In a word Take heed of opposing this great God in any kinde If God the Father be offended Christ is our Advocate but if Christ be provoked who shall mediate Thus far of the description of the dignity of him whom they opposed Next we must shew How they opposed him or Wherein that Opposition did consist They Denyed him EXPLICATION Two things are here to be explained 1. How Christ may be said to be Denyed and particularly What Denyall of him is here to be understood 2. Wherein the sinfulnesse thereof shews it self 1. How Christ may be said to be denyed Denying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Denyall properly is verball respecteth our words and signifieth the contrary to affirmation Thus those envious Rulers spake concerning the notable miracle of healing the lame man Acts 4.16 that they cannot dis-affirm or deny it Mat. 26.70 Joh. 18.25 27. John 1.20 Thus Peter denyed openly before them all that he had been with Jesus Thus John denyed not who he was c. But improperly and figuratively denyall may be taken for such a renouncing or rejection of a thing as may likewise be express'd by the actions and in realitie And thus Moses is said to deny Heb. 11.24 or refuse to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter and so some are said to have a form of Godlinesse 2 Tim. 3.5 and to deny namely in their course and carriage the power thereof And Christ may be said to be denyed 1. Doctrinally and by our words 2. Really and by our works 1. Doctrinally and by our words And thus Christ hath been denyed 1. In his Person 2. In his Offices 1. In his Person and thus 1. the Jews deny his Person wholly or that he was the promised Messiah Act. 3.13 14. And the followers of Simon Magus taught as he himself had taught them that he was the Son of God Epiphan lib. 1. c. 21. Aug. de Hares cap. 1. Joseph l. 2. c. 12 Tertul. lib. de Haeres The like is reported of Menander Judas of Galilee and he who stiled himself Bencocab all which as credible Stories relate gave out that they were Christs and Messiahs the later whereof though he call'd himself Bencocab the son of a Star applying to himself that prophesie of the Star of Jacob was afterward by way of derision called Barcozba the son of a lie 2. Christ in respect of his person hath been denyed in either of his Natures In his Godhead by the Ebionites Cerinthians Arians Samosatenians and of late by Servetus and his followers In his Manhood by the Valentinians Marcionites Manichees Apollinarists and of late by some Anabaptists 3. The Person of Christ hath been denyed by those who opposed the hypostatical union of the two Natures and thus he was denyed by Nestorians Euticheans Sabellians the first dividing Christ into two persons The second confounding and mixing his two Natures The third mixing him with the person of the Father 2. In his Offices 1. Christ in his Prophetical Office is denyed by Papists who impose upon us a new Scripture 1. 1 Cor. 11.26 Hebr. 13.4 1 Tim. 4.3 By taking away from it in denying the Eucharistical Cup to the people meats also and marriage and which is worse in denying the food of life the reading of the holy Scriptures to the common people 2. Col. 3.16 By adding to it in bringing in a second place for punishment after this life the fained fire of purgatory by inventing five sacraments and introducing their own unwritten traditions which they equally esteem with and often prefer before the Scriptures and by making a Pope the infallible judge of the controversies of faith 2. In his Priestly office Christ is denyed 1. 1 Joh. 2.2 Mat. 20.18 Mar. 10.45 Heb. 10.12 14 2 Cor. 5.21 By Socinians who teach that he dyed not for us that is in our place and stead but only for our benefit and profit to shew us by his example the way which leads to salvation 2. By Papists who teaching that the Masse is a propitiatory sacrifice make the sacrifice of Christ imperfect and by joyning many other mediators and advocates with Christ deny him to be the One and Only Mediator They mingle the blood of Martyrs yea of traytors with the blood of Christ teach that images are to be worshipped Angels invoked relicks adored c. 3. In his Kingly office Christ is denyed by Papists who acknowledge the Pope the head of the Church and teach that all power is given to him in heaven and earth and that he can make lawes to bind the conscience and is universall Bishop c. In a word the eastern Turk denyes the person of Christ and the western his offices 2. Christ is denyed really and by our works And this denyall I conceive the Apostle here principally intends for had these seducers in word denyed Christ the Church would easily have espyed them In speech therefore they professed Christ but in their deeds they denyed him Tit. 1.16 Christ may be denyed by mens workes sundry ways 1. Heb. 10.29 By a malicious and dispitefull opposing Christ and his Gospel of the truth and benefit whereof the holy Ghost hath so evicted a person that he opposeth the
enemies how can God want weapons to beat them when he can beat them with their own how impossible is it but God should prevail over them when he doth so by being oppos'd by them how should this encourage the afflicted Church of God! when his enemies most resist him they are against their wills compell'd most to serve him and his Church 13. Observ 13. God is most faithfull in keeping promise with his people God mis-reckon'd not his people one day nay not one hour in four hundred and thirty years All the pathes of God are mercy and truth Psal 25.10 Psal 89.33 Isai 55.3 2 Cor. 1.20 Josh 21.45 and 23.14 1 King 8.56 Jer. 33.20 Isai 54.19 The faithfulnesse of God never failes nor will he alter the thing which is gone out of his lips The promises of God are called the sure mercies of David sure unto all the seed of David that are in covenant with God as David was They are yea and amen There shall not fail one word of all the good which God hath promised to do for his people The promises of God are built upon the unchangeable purpose of God which is a sure and unshaken foundation 2 Tim. 2.19 Hence it is that God is said to have promised eternall life before the world began because the promises which are made in time are according to that purpose of God in himselfe And Hebr. 6.17 the Apostle grounds the truth of the promise upon the stablenesse of Gods counsell so that unlesse Gods counsell and purpose change the promise cannot faile Psal 89.3.35 Heb. 6.17 Heb. 9.16 17 To assure us of the certainty of his Covenant God hath given us the pledges of his oath his seal of the blood of Christ the Mediatour the earnest of his spirit 2 Cor. 1.22 Let the true Israelites hence gather strong consolation Christians you are not worthy to be beloved but God is worthy to be beleeved The promises are as sure as they are great Though all the world falter and deceive you yet the promises of God are firm and stable God will try your faith but never disappoint it Judge of his faithfulnesse not by his providences but by his promises Of this more in the last part of the verse 14. Observ 14. The great God hath all the creatures at his command He commands in chiefe and the creatures are his hosts even from the least of the lice that crept upon the poorest Egyptian to the most glorious Angell in heaven Psal 148.8 Psal 77.16 If he say to a plague Go it goeth if Come it cometh they all fulfill his word the unruly sea tamely stands still if God command it yea though of it selfe it be unkind and raging it lovingly opens its bosome to entertain the Israelites Hee can make the swift sun to stop its course yea to go backward Josh 10.12 Isai 38.8 The greedy and cruell Lions are muzled up and grow gentle at Gods command If God speak unto the fish it shall take retain and restore Jonas How should this relieve the faithfull in all their exigencies Their friend their father hath all the world at his command to supply their wants to deliver them from troubles to destroy their enemies Man roweth but God bloweth The Egyptians pursue but the wind the sea the chariot wheels shall all obey the God of Israel Never need a true Israelite fear who hath such a friend Never can an Egyptian be fafe that hath such an enemy 15. Observ 15. Wicked men grow not wise till it be too late Why could not the Egyptians as well refraine from the pursuit of Israel as endeavour a retreat It had been better for them not to have entred into the sea than to struggle to get out when once they were in it They might with more wisedome have said Let us not follow after than have said Let us flye from the Israelites Wicked men do not beleeve their danger til they feel it Satan suffers not their eyes to be opened till they be with the blinded Syrians in the midst of their enemies Oh sinner Labour to be wise betimes in this thy day know the things that belong to thy peace It s easier to be warned of the wrath to come than to wade out of it 16. Observ 16. God makes those conditions and imployments easie to his people when they are once in them which before seem'd impossible Israel rather thought that the wildernesse should have given them graves then that the sea should have given them passage They who feared that none could role away for them the stone of the sepulcher when they came found it roll'd away to their hands The workes of God are sweet in the performance which are unpleasing in their undertakeing the yoke of Christ is greivous to take up but easie to bear and undergo it s otherwise in the imployments of sin they are easie and delightfull in the beginning but bitternesse in the end The Israelites find the sea shut against them when they approach it but it was open in their passage through it The Egyptians found it open at their approach but shut when they would return The waies of God are narrowly broad The wayes of sin broadly narrow Israel hath nothing to do but to follow God and to beleeve For their way if mercy do not find it easie it will make it so The second part of this example of the Israelites is their destruction after their forementioned deliverance in these words Afterward destroyed EXPLICATION Two things may here be explained 1 What this destruction was which befell Israel afterward 2. Wherein the eminency and remarkablenesse of this destruction which was afterward did appear 1. For the first The Scriptures record sundry destructions brought upon the Israelites while they were in the wildernesse after their deliverance from Egypt As 1. Some were destroyed after their idolatrous worshipping of the Golden Calfe Exod. 32.28 〈◊〉 by the command of Moses to the number of three thousand men 2. There was a destruction by fire which the Lord kindled mentioned Num. 11.1 2 3. whether this fire brake out of the earth or came from the Pillar of fire which went before the Israelites or was poured upon them from heaven it is not expressed certain it is that it was a grevious burning and therefore the place where it burnt was called Taberah 3. Another destruction by the plague wee read of in the same chapter ver 33. at Kibroth Hataavah after the people had impatiently and discontentedly lusted for flesh 4. There 's a destruction by fiery serpents recorded Num. 21.6 Where after their murmuring for want of water it 's said much people of Israel dyed 5. Many of the Israelites were destroyed about the conspiracy of Corab and his complices related Num. 16.31 Where besides the swallowing up of sundry in the earth and the consuming by fire of two hundred and fifty who offered incense fourteen thousand seven hundred more
were destroyed for murmuring and raging against the former judgments 6. For committing whoredome with the daughters of Moab and bowing down to their gods wee read Num. 25.9 of a plague by which dyed twenty five thousand 7. Besides the death of ten of the spies who brought up a slander upon the promised land a discomfiture of the Israelites by the Amalekites and Canaanites is recorded Num. 14.45 for a rebellious attempt to invade it against the will of God These destructions by violent death are the principall which are mentioned particularly in the sacred story But though the destruction which is here intended by the Apostle be not exclusive of these yet is it to be extended beyond them and to be understood of that more generall destruction which Numb 14.29 c. is threatned against all the Israelites from twenty yeers old and upward whose carcasses for forty yeers fell in the wildernesse in regard of their rebellious and unbeleeving murmurings against God upon the evill report which the spies had brought upon the land of Canaan For the second viz. the eminency and remarkablenesse of this destruction it was a dispensation compounded of Severity principally intended Mercy also comprehended in the setting down of this example I. First For its severity This appears in these two considerations 1. The persons who were destroyed 2. The season when they were destroyed 1. The persons who were destroyed are considerable 1. in their quality and priviledges 2. In their quantity and number 1. In their quality noted in the word them They were the seed of Abraham the friend of God Israelites according to the flesh Not heathens but a peculiar a chosen people priviledged above all the people of the earth to whom belonged the covenant sacrifice 1 Cor. 10.3 4. Rom. 3.2 Rom. 9.4 Deut. 4.33 Psal 147. ult Deut. 33. ult sacraments worship of which Christ came according to the flesh A people who so heard the voice of God speaking out of the fire as none other ever did to whom God had shewn his statutes and his judgments after which manner he had not dealt with any nation In a word a people whose priviledges Moses thus admires Happy art thou O Israel who is like unto thee O people c. How conspicuous was divine severity in destroying a people so neer so dear to him and whom he only knew of all the families of the earth Oh Lord saith Joshuah what shall I say Josh 7.8 when Israel turneth their backs before their enemies Oh smart severity thus to fetch blood from a son a first born to destroy not Egyptians Canaanites but even Israelites Docet Paulus quadringentis triginta annis post promissiouem à Deo factam Abrae legem Mosis latam esse Cum ergo ab hoc tempore usque ad ingressum Jacob in Aegyptum anni ducenti quindecim effluxerint necessariò sequitur restare usque ad legem datam tertio mense egressionis populi ex Aegypto annos omnino ducentos quinde cim Lorin in Act. 7. Rivet in exercit in Genes Psa 102.10 Job 29. per totum cap. 30 2. The persons destroyed are considerable in their quantity and numbers The power and mercy of God were not more remarkeable in the recruting of seventy soules in two hundred and fifteen yeers to six hundred thousand besides women and children than in the reducing of so many hundred thousand in forty yeers to two persons a Joshuah and a Caleb Oh how angry was their father to go round his family with his rod yea how just was their judg to ride such a large circuit with his sword 2. The severity of this destruction is considerable in the season when they were destroyed noted in the word Afterward after they were saved out of the land of Egypt and so it was a severity which admits of a threefold amplification 1. This distruction of the Israelites afterward was a fall after an eminent advancement The higher a place is from which a man falls the more dangerously doth he fall How wofull is it to have been happy It s a double mercy to be rais'd up from a low to an high estate and it is a double misery to be thrown down from an high to a low degree Thou hast lifted me up and cast me down saith David And thus Job amplifieth his misery with admirable elegancy Young men saw me and hid themselves Princes refrained talking c. But now they who are younger then I have me in derision whose fathers I would have disdained to have set with the dogs of my flock c Oh how glorious was Israel in their Egyptian preservation their red-sea-deliverance their wildernesse-provisions and protections being as Moses in admiration of their happinesse breaks out a people to whom none was like in being saved by the Lord. And if so then was no people so miserable in being forsaken by the Lord. 2. This destruction of the Israelites afterward was a miscarriage after vast cost and expences laid out upon them How angry is that father with his Son who casts him off after all his care and costs of education How hatefull is that house to the owner which he pulls down after vast and immeasurable expences about its structure and furniture How much anger did God expresse in the destruction of the Temple when after all the cost which David and Solomon laid out upon it the Babylonians burn it to ashes and carry away all the gold and sumptuous monuments thereof Was ever God at such charges with any nation as he was at with Israel For their sake he turns Egypt up side down he rebuked kings he scattered and destroyed armies the wild water waites upon them in a standing posture the Pillar of a cloud and fire conducts them the heavens pour them down miraculous shours of Angels food the rock splits it self into cups and gives them drink their garments continue fresh and grow not old and which is infinitely beyond all this God renewes his Covenant with them and gives them a law from heaven speakes out of the fire and sends them an epistle to instruct them written with his own hand and after all this cost and care how great must Israels destruction be 3. Yet further this destruction of the Israelites afterward was a sad disappointment of highest expectations Israel was now cast away as it were in the haven They who not long since were singing and dancing at the spectacle of floting Pharaoh and his followers they who had past thorow the furnace and the sea and escaped both their oppressours and pursuers they who had safely marched through an hot howling wildernesse even unto the borders of the promised land and were now safely arrived at the confines of Canaan In a word they who had nothing now as they hop'd to do but to enter and take possession of a land flowing with milk and hony Numb 14.25 29.30 are not only farbidden to enter it but
by the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and those among the Latine by the word Genii It properly is a word which intends the office of angels and signifieth no more than messengers or those who are sent at the command and by the commission of their superiours And yet it comprehends and recalls to mind the essence of Angels which is considerable before the office and without which the office is but a meer notion Briefly therefore for the explaining thereof I shall consider 1. The nature and essence 2. The office and imployment of Angels 1. For their essence Angels are spirituall and incorporeall creatures subsisting by themselves 1. By the name of spirits the Scripture useth to expresse the essence and nature of angels Nomen spiritus nomen est naturae Aug. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Psal 104.4 Heb. 1.14 and it s used both to denote good and bad angels of the former its said he maketh his angels spirits a place cited in the New Testament Heb. 1.14 Of the later 1 Kings 22.21 22. its said There came forth a spirit to perswade Ahab to go to Ramoth Gilead Who afterward proved a lying spirit in the mouth of all his Prophets And Mat. 8.16 when they brought to Christ many who were possessed with divels the Evangelist immediately subjoyns that hee cast out the spirits with his word And our Saviour plainly expresseth that such persons who have not flesh and bones and such are angels are spirits Luk. 24.39 Nor is it imaginable but that those are spirits of whom a legion that is at least six thousand according to Hierom may be in one man but this is clearly asserted concerning the divels or evill angels Luk. 8.30 Where it s added that many divels were entred into the man Nor can any but spirits get entrance into bodies without moving or hurting them and into prisons and other places when closely shut up and most narrowly watch'd 'T is true angels have often appeared in humane bodies and shapes The Son of God before his incarnation as also the holy Ghost afterward did so and yet it followes not hence that their essence is corporeall as neither can it be evinc'd that soules are corporeall because Moses appeared to the Disciples in an outward shape These their bodies might either be such only in shew and appearance or if they were true bodies they were only joyned to them for a time by Gods power and afterward resolved againe into their own principles as also were their garments which the angels did wear while they conversed with men And whereas * Tertul. lib. de carne Christi et contra Praxeam Aug. de Trin. lib. 2. c 7. lib. 3 c. 1. De div Daem cap. 3 5. l. 15 c. 23. de Civ Dei Bern. ser 5. in Cant. Angeli compa ratione nostrorum corporum sunt spiritus sed comparatione summi et incircumscripti Spiritus sunt cor pora Greg. Mor. l. 2. c. 2. Angeli non sunt absolutè simplices compouuntur ex actu potentiâ ex subjecto accid eutibus ex esse essentia Polan Synâ—ag 1779. pag. sundry of the Fathers have asserted that the angels are corporeall and have bodies of their own they are to be understood commonly as speaking of them in comparison of God as if though being compared with us they are spirits yet compared with God they are bodies And certain it is that angels are not spirits purely and altogether simple as God is who only is that most simple Spirit and yet it s conceived by learned Zanchy that their bodies are more refined subtil and pure than either bodies aeriall or celestiall which were created out of the first matter and that the substance of the bodies of the angels is very like to the substance of the heavens of the blessed or the Empyrean wherein he saith they were created and which are of a corporeall substance but far more excellent for their purity than the other heavens From this spirituall nature of the angels flowes their immortality incorruptibility or immutability for since they are immateriall and free from all contrary qualities composition of matter and forme and the contrariety of qualities being the causes of intrinsecall corruption they are rightly termed incorruptible Indeed only God is simply immutable who is a being of himselfe and not by participation and every creature is mortall mutable 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and may be brought to nothing by him who made it of nothing should he only withdraw his sustaining power Easi in angelorum naturg nul la propriè est potentia passiva propter quam possunt dici corruptibiles propter potentiam tamen Dei activam à qua illorum esse dependet simpliciter dici incorruptibiles non possunt Zanc. de op Dei But a thing may be said to be mortall and corruptible two ways either by a passive power which is in it self or by an active power which is in another and upon whom it depends now although in the nature of angels there be no passive power wherby they are corruptible yet in respect of the active power of God upon which their being depends they cannot simply be termed incorruptible because if God withdraw his power they would instantly perish though denomination being from the nearest and internall cause they may properly be call'd incorruptible 2. Angels are true subsistences or substances by themselves and separately subsisting The Sadduces of old and the Libertines of later ages have held that angels are only certaine inspirations motions and inclinations of the mind and that the good of these are the good angels and the bad of these the bad angels But that they are Vera 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that they are substances and truly subsist by themselves is most clearly evinced 1. From their creation Accidentia sunt concreata Psal 104. Actiones sunt suppositorum God created no accidents separately from their sustances accidents were concreated in and with their substances But angels were created by themselves and not in any subject 2. From their actions they praise God they worship the Son they are heavenly messengers they assume bodies defend the faithfull they have wrastled eaten been received as strangers had their feet wash'd c. they shall gather the Elect from the four corners of the earth they shall come with Christ to judgement none of which actions could be done unlesse they were substances 3. From their endowments they have life power understanding wisdom they are immortal they are excelling in strength some things they know not as the day of judgement Some of them sinn'd others abide in the truth 4. From their happinesse and misery Some of them behold the face of God and are blessed and glorious Mat. 18.10 Mat. 25.41 Mar. 12.25 others are punish'd in everlasting fire prepared for the divell and his angels 5. From that likenesse which we shall have to them in heaven where we shall be
as the Angels Shall we there cease to be true substances This for their Essence 2. The consideration of the Office of angels follows and this the word Angels properly denotes Angelus nomen officii spiritus naturae Aug. in Psal 104. Luk. 7.24 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nuncii legati Mat. 11.10 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ex co quod est spiritus est ex eo quod agit angelus est Aug. ubi sup Mal. 3.1 Dan. 4.17 which is not a word expressing the nature but the office of angels and the words both in the Hebrew and Greek intend the same they importing messengers or such as are sent The word Angels or messengers is applyed in Scripture both to good and bad angels 1. To good angels most frequently who are those ministring spirits spoken of Heb. 1.14 and are in Scripture more commonly called by a name of office than of nature because God delights in their service and they themselves are more glad of obeying God than of their very being In regard of office that Christ himselfe accepted the name and is called the Angel of the Covenant They are by God sent forth for the good of his people Hence they are called watchers ministring spirits c. And for those who shall be the heirs of salvation they minister three wayes 1. In their life 1. By defending them from their enemies Their angels saith Christ always behold the face of my Father Matt. 18.10 Apoc. 12.7 2 Kin. 6.16 Psal 91.11 Dan. 10.20 Psal 34.7 Isai 37.36 Act. 12.23 Michael and his angels fought in defence of the Church and the prophet Elisha spake of the angels when he told his fearfull servant that there were more with them then against them The angels of the Lord pitch their tents about them that fear him An angel it was that slew the army of the Assyrians that delivered Peter out of prison as also preserved Lot 2. By comforting them Thus an angel encouraged Jacob Gen. 32.5 when he feared his brother Esau an angel it was who bid Mary not to fear Luk. 1.30 and who stood by Paul and bid him be of good chear Act. 27.24 when Daniel had fasted an prayed and angel it was who said O Daniel greatly beloved c. And afterward fear not Dan. 9.13 10.19 Luk. 22.43 Mat. 28.5 The women at the sepulchre meet with an angel who comforted them Yea an angel appeared unto Christ and strengthned him The servant comforted the master 3. By inciting and stirring them up to holinesse and in furthering their salvation they suggest nothing but what is agreeable to the will of God they can no more suggest a doctrine contrary to that which is revealed in the Scripture Gal. 1.8 Rev. 22.16 Act. 7.53 Gal. 3.19 Luk. 1.31 Act. 1.11 Rev. 19.10 Act. 8.26 Act. 10.5 Act. 12.7 than they can be accursed The law was revealed by the disposition of angels in respect of their service and attendance in the giving thereof by an angel was the incarnation of Christ foretold to the virgin and by a multitude of angels was it proclaimed afterward These instruct the Apostles concerning the coming of Christ to judgement and forbid the worshipping of themselves as idolatrous An Angel leads Philip to expound the Scripture to the Eunuch sets Peter at liberty to preach the Gospel bids Cornelius send for Peter to be instructed by him Act. 16.9 and prayes Paul to come over to Macedonia to help them namely by preaching the Gospel 2. In and after their death An angel strengthned Christ when he was in his great heavinesse of soul Angels conveyed the soul of Lazarus into Abrahams bosom Luk. 16.22 he who living was lick'd by dogs is now dead attended by angels The glorious angels are as forward to carry the souls of the faithfull to heaven as every one is to share in the bearing the body of a great prince to the grave The good angels in this work of conveying souls are thought to watch for prevention of the bad who alwayes seek to devour the Saints living and dying At the end of the world the angels shall be the glorious attendants of the great Judge shall cite all to appear and shall separate between the good and the bad gathering the elect from the four winds Mat. 24.31 from one end of the heaven to the other so that there shall not one be lost 2. The term Angels or Messengers is also in Scripture bestowed upon the wicked and unclean spirits Thus it s said Diodat Annot. Psal 78.49 1 Cor. 6.3 that God sent evill angels among the Egyptians and of this the Apostle speaks in that Scripture Know ye not that we shall judge the angels and 2 Pet. 2.4 He spared not the angels that sinn'd And these evil angels are imployed 1. In exercising the faithfull with tentations which God alwayes turns to their good Job 1. Luk. 22.31 these angels stir up terrors against the faithfull inwardly and troubles outwardly Satan sent his messenger to buffet Paul 2 Cor. 12.7 Apoc. 2.10 He casts the faithfull into prison He casts his fiery darts sometime tempting and alluring at other times affrighting and dismaying 2. In being the executioners of Gods displeasure against the wicked whom for their wickednesse 2 Cor. 4.4 Gal. 3.1 God delivers up to these wicked angels to blind harden and bewitch them with sin and then to drive them to despair for sin Satan imployes them as slaves in the basest of work and rewards them as slaves with the smartest of stripes often in this life as in the case of Saul and Judas and Abimilech alwayes after it both by dragging away those soules to punishment who have followed him in sin and by being a tormentor afterward of those of whom first he was the tempter OBSERVATIONS 1. Observ 1. How glorious a majesty is the God of Angels If the lowest of earthly creatures if a spire of grasse a worme an ant speak his wisdome and power how much more do those glorious spirits who excell in strength and understanding How pure and simple a being is that God who is the father of all these spirits How glorious he whom angels adore and before whom principalities fall down How strong is he who with one word of his mouth made so many thousands of those angels one of whom overthrew an hundred fourscore and five thousand men in one night How wise he who is the father of all that light which angels have and which is but one ray of his sun Infinitely greater is the disproportion between one God and all the angels than between all those glorious hosts and the least ant upon the molehill How can that king of glory want forces who hath such a militia so many thousands of such Chariots to ride upon Psal 68.7 such a heavenly host as all the millions of angels Wonder O man that this Majesty who is furnish'd with the attendance of angels should
accept of the services of worms That he the beholding of whose face is the heaven of those blessed spirits and who hath their beuties constantly before him to look upon and the sweetnesse of the exactly skilfull and melodious musick of a consort a chore of angels to delight him that this God should accept of the chatterings of cranes the blacknesse of Ethiopians the stammerings the lispings of infants the jarrings of our poor broken instruments the bungling services of which even poor we our selves are ashamed What a word of condescension is that of Cant. 2.14 Let me see thy countenance let me hear thy voice for sweet is thy voice and thy countenance is comely and Joh. 4.23 The father seeketh such to worship him Lord thou dost not seek thus because thou wantest servants but because we want work not because thou art defective in attendants but abundant in grace and rewards and delighted with that of thy selfe which thou seest whereever thou findest it 2. How highly advanced is he who is God and man Observat 2. The excellency of angels speaks the greater excellency of him who is above all principalities and power Eph. 1.21 Phil. 2.9 and might and dominion who hath a name above every name Heb. 1.4 6.1 Pet. 3.23 who is made better than the angels whom all the angels are to worship and unto whom angels and authorities Mat. 4.11 and powers are made subject When Christ was upon earth the angels were his ministers angels proclaimed his entrance into the world Yea not only at his incarnation but tentations resurrection ascension angels attend him serve him woship him Our King hath not a guard of men as the great princes of the earth but a guard of princes and not of princes only but even of principalities and powers Christ is the Lord of the holy angels Exod. 25.20 The eyes of the Cherubims are fix'd upon the Mercy-seat the angels look upon Christ as their Master expecting his commands The vail of the tabernacle which covered the most holy Exod. 26.31 expresly signifying the flesh of Christ which hiding his divinity made way for us to heaven was made of broydered work with Cherubims there being hereby noted unto us the service which the angels give to Christ as man They are called Mat. 16.27 the angels of the Son of man Christ tooke not upon him the nature of angels and yet they undertake the service of Christ Blush O man that angels should obey him and that thou shouldst rebell against him Oh since he is come to his own let them receive him Let not Christ suffer for his condescension If submission to Christ be the grace of angels contempt of Christ is the sin of divels Oh kiss the Son subject your selves to him and so stoop to your own blessednesse And take heed of disgraceing that nature by sin and of making it lower than divels which Christ hath advanced above Angels 3. Observat 3. Psal 8.3 How much below angels is poor mortall man When David saw the Moon and Stars he had selfe-debasing thoughts how much more should wee when we contemplate angelicall excellency Angelus si cum anima rationali comparetur dici potest anima perfecta quemadmodum a nima dici potest angelus imperfectus Angelus est integr a perfectáque substantia spiritualis anima human a dimidiata imperfecta quia est forma corporis ac pars hominis Angelus est totus spiritus homo partim spiritus partim caro vel partim Angelus partim bestia Bell. de ascensione grad nov Even the best part of man his soul is lower then angels An angell is a perfect soul and a soul but an imperfect angel for the angel is an intire perfect spirituall substance but the soul is a spirit but imperfectly and by halfs because it is the form of the earthly body and hereby a part of a man An angel is all spirit man part spirit and part flesh partly like an angel and partly like a beast an angel is all gold a man partly gold partly clay How childish yea brutish and dull is our understanding in comparison of that of angels What great pains doth man take for a little knowledge how is he beholding for it to his senses and discouse from the effects to their causes and after all industry how doubtfull superficial and staggering is he in his apprehensions but angels behold things with one view at once discern things both effects and causes and pierce into the substance as well as the accidents of things As much difference between the knowledg of men and of angels as there is between the sight of an Owl and an Eagle an illumin'd Doctor and a sucking child How weak and impotent are the operations of the soul of man in comparison of those of an angel the soul by the command of its will can only move its own body and that too how slowly how creepingly and with what a dull progressivenesse upon the dunghill of this earth nor can it bear up this upon the water in the aire and carry it whithersoever it will whereas these spirits with their alone force can carry vast and heavy bodies upward and whither they please One angel wants no weapons nay no hands to destroy a whole army How far below the angels are we in habitation The poorest pigeon-hole is not so much inferior to the ivory palaces of Solomon or the blackest under-ground dungeon to the most magnificent mansions of a king as is mans habitation to that of the angels How glorious is that court which is adorned with the presence of the King of glory and how blessed those attendants which ever behold his face therein Poor man hath no better lodging for his noble heaven-born soul than a cottage of clay and that too so frail and crazy as were it not once or twice every day daub'd over it would fall about his ears and whethersoever he goes he is forced to carry to drag this clog this clay this chaine with him whereas angels free from the shackels of flesh can move from heaven to earth from earth to heaven even as swiftly as can our very thoughs Poor man wilt thou yet be proud Oh that we were as low in heart as in condition How uncomely a garment is pride for those who imbrace the dunghill when the glorious angels are clothed with humility But alas as the height of heaven cannot make an angel proud so neither can the lownesse of earth no not of hell make sinners humble Oh that we might only have high thoughts of that condition Luk. 20.36 wherein we shall be equall to the angels Lord though I beg that I may be more thankfull for the metcies which I enjoy than dejected for the troubles which I endure in this life 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet grant till I come to be like the angels in the full enjoyment of thy selfe that about the sweetest of
earthly comforts I may rather be imployed with patience than delight 5. Observ 4. Angelicall services require proportionable abilities As angels excell in forwardnesse so in sufficiency to be Gods messengers they are wise strong swift Provide thou said God when he directed Moses what Officers to chuse for publick employment out of all the people Exod. 18.21 able men such as fear God men of truth c. not favour money seniority c. but grace wisdome and courage must advance men unto rule A steed is not commended for prancing and trappings but for swiftnesse and holding out officers in Church and State are not for sight but for service We judg not of a pillar by its beauty but its strength Should the pillars of a building bee all gilded and adorned yet if within they were rotten and crazy we should fear to abide within that building It s better to be under a zealous faithfull John Baptist though his rayment bee hair and leather than under a silken Diotrephes who is all for preheminence nothing for performance Oh with what unworthy trash and rubbish have we and still do we put off the gerat King In prelaticall times he that could but sing and crosse and cringe and since he that can but make a noise and hath but boldnesse enough for an hour was and is sufficient for that work which requires the abilities of an angel Mal. 1.14 Cursed be that deceiver who hath a male in his flock and sacrificeth to the Lord a corrupt thing And what but curses from God and man those will meet withall by whose means such corrupt and contemptible services are offered to the great King I do not understand Is thy lame thy sickly thy dullest child the refuse of all thy number good enough to make a Minister Had Achish no need of mad men and hath God need of Ideots 5. Angelicall abilities require proportionable services Observat 5. Angels excell in sufficiency and they likewise excell in forwardnesse to be Gods messengers They are wise strong swift but they think not their best and greatest gifts too good too great for him that is the best and greatest God expects his tribute out of all our receits and they should be all for him as they are all from him Luk. 12.48 Where much is given much again is required They who are full should be free and pour out to others We must returne as we have received They who have received the endowments of angels should return their employments He who hath ability to do better than others and yet is but equal to them doth therefore worse because he doth not better How unworthily do those deal with God who are angels for taking in and yet below the very brutes for laying out of their abilities even the very Oxen are strong to labour How bad how hard a master is God proclaimed by such servants who can but will not work How little is the place the age wherein they live beholding to them David served his generation and then fell asleep but these fall asleep while they should be serving their generation and rest from their labours even before they are dead How just with God is it that these who will not give God the interest should forfeit the principall and that they who will not use should lose what God hath given them Gifts will not be augmented unlesse acted nay how frequently but sadly have I observed that they who have been even angels for their abilities have by sloth and sensuality grown even below men and lost the edg and smartnesse of all their parts and like unsavoury salt been good for nothing but the dunghill 6. Observ 6. Greatly is that God to be feared who hath all the angels at his command Sinners are never safe when most securely sinning If God speaks the word angels will execute his pleasure upon them Who dares to provoke a General that is in the head of a puissant army The heavenly hosts do but wait for the word to destroy the enemies of their Master and Commander in chief An angel smote proud Herod who robb'd God of his glory How foolishly-bold is that sinner who thinks to prevail against God by rebellion The best policy is for us to cast downe the weapons of sin and to make him our friend in Christ who is the Lord of all those glorious hosts and if a King should consider whither he be able with ten thousand to meet another King coming with twenty how should we consider whether our hearts can be strong in contending with that God between whom and us there is an infinite disproportion and as we are sinners an infinite opposition 7. Observ 7. Psal 34.7 Gods people are alwayes safe The angel of the Lord pitcheth his tents about them that fear him None are so nobly attended as Saints they have a life-guard of angels to encompasse them about Angels are as carefull of the faithfull as a nurse of her sucking child they bear them up in their arms that they dash not their feet against a stone Psal 91.11 God at the birth of the faithfull puts them as it were out to these to tend and at their death he makes these nurses to bring home his children again They keep them from receiving hurt from others and offering hurt to themselves The faithfull are not to be judg'd by what we see of their danger but what we read of their safety Could they but open the eyes of their faith they might see the mount ains full of horses and Chariots in all dangers and more with them then against them 8. Observat 8. It s our duty to take the care of those who are below us None can be so much under us as we are under angels If those heavenly spirits attend upon a lump of earth how regardfull should we be one of another Heb. 13.3 Isai 58.7 as being in the body How unsutable is it to hide our eyes from our own flesh The angels are not ashamed to serve us though we smel of the earth and the dungeon and do more condescend than a Prince in attending upon a man full of sores and vermine Rom. 12.16 let us condescend to men of low estate and account no work too low for us but sin 9. The higher the priviledges are which any abuse Observ ult Psal 103.20 Mat. 12.29 Rev. 10.1 2 Kin. 19.35 2 Chron. 6.17 Psal 68.17 Psal 14.20 Dan. 8.16 and 10.14 the greater shall be the punishment for abusing them Angels were creatures placed in the highest form of the Creation for their nature they are spirits for their dignity they are principalities and powers for their employment the messengers of the most high in strength they excell the Divell is call'd the strong one Angels can break iron chains open prison doors and iron gates one can destroy whole armies They are the hosts of heaven Gods militia his chariots For their
ex justitia in peccatum Estius in 2. Sent. Dist 3. § 4. Wee must not think that angels were inferiour to men If man from the beginning was holy why not angels And as bodies cannot be said to fall but from a higher place than is that into which they fall so neither can there be a fall of spirits but from the height of some good which formerly they had which fall from good is not so much in regard of locall motion as of their defection from righteousnesse to sin whereof their change of place is afterwards a punishment And how can any but most impiously imagine that he who is perfectly and absolutely good and goodness it self should create evil And if God doth righteously punish the sin of Angels then God did not create them sinful for how can God punish for the being of that which he himselfe made to be And it is by all the Learned exploded for impious Manicheism to hold that any creature is evill by a necessity of nature It s plainly exprest God saw all that he had made and it was very good Singula bona sunt bonitate naturae suae sed omnia valde bona quia bonitati singulorum accedit pulcherrimus ordo quo cuncta sibi invicem aptissimè congruunt Est in 2 sent Dist 1. §. 7. Tantae excellentiae in comparatione pecoris est homo ut vitium hominis na tura sit pecoris Aug. de pec Orig. c. 40. The creatures were good with a goodnesse of nature and very good because to the goodnesse of every particular creature there was an accession of the goodnesse of that order whereby they did all harmoniouâ—â—sute and agree with one another for the making up the beauty of the whole And whereas some object that the Wolfe is by nature ravenous and the Fox subtle and deceitfull Therefore that angels may possibly be subtle and cruell by nature its answered That this is the dignity and excellency of intellectuall nature either angelicall or humane that what is the nature of beasts is a sin in angels and man To which may be added that the forenamed qualities of cruelty and subtilty in angels and man would be against a law given to them but this cannot be said of those beasts which are not capable of a law Holinesse then it was which at first God bestowed upon the angels and from this first estate of holinesse they made a defection An heinous offence whither we consider what this holinesse was bestowed upon them and when it was bestowed 1. It was a conformity to the originall pattern of purity and excellency It was that by which they as much resembled the great and glorious God as creatures yea the best of creatures could do That whereby they who stood are still called the sons of God yea Gods To cast dirt upon Job 1.6 Gen 33.10 or to cut in pieces the picture of a King is an heinous offence but to trample upon and spoil the image of God is an infinitely more heinous indignity We are wont to burn or openly disgrace the pictures only of traitors or eminent offenders and we account that the dishonour of the picture is the dishonour of the person the image of God in man was very excellent but it was far more excellent in an angel who was a subject more capacious to receive it and wherein it might more gloriously appear But 2. When was this holinesse bestowed it was bestowed upon angels at their creation It was given to their nature it was their first estate These angels were as it were crowned in the cradle God was a benefactor to them betimes And what an impiety was â—o trample upon so early a mercy That land which comes to us by inheritance with Naboth we love to keep though bequeath'd by an earthly father yea a gift which is bestowed upon us as soon as we are born we love to keep all our days but these angels threw away a gift even born with them as old as their beings conveyed by God himself 2. The angels forsook also their own habitation y these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their own habitation some understand those heavenly places of happinesse and glory in this sense as if for their defection from their originall holinesse they were cast out and compell'd to depart from them but because the punishment of their fall is subjoyned in the second part of the verse I conceive with learned * Quidam illud accipiunt de domicilio coelesti sensu eo quod ob crimen laesae majestatis pristinum suum domicilium relinquere fuerint coacti sed quia de poena lapsus in verbis sequentib demum agitur rectius acci pitur hoc modo quòd cum primum fuerint in certa statione collocati transfugae facti illam deseruerint Gerhard in 2 Pet. 2.4 Gerhard and others that by their own habitation we are rather here to understand that proper station and set office in heaven wherein their great Lord and Master was pleased to fix them for serving him The Apostle comparing them to a company of fugitive souldiers who leave their colours and that station in the army where by their Commander they are placed And this interpretation seems to bee much favoured by these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their owne that place properly and peculiarly appointed allotted and set out for them by God viz. to serve and honour him in and this is the force of the word in other places of Scripture when used either concerning persons or places God in the beginning appointed severall places for his creatures wherein they were to perform their services unto him and like a Master of a family who hath sundry servants distinct offices to all sorts of creatures Heaven was the place of angels and the melodious praising of God in heaven the work of angels and possibly in heaven those glorious spirits might have their severall parts peculiarly appointed to each of them all of them together making up the celestiall harmony and because there are sundry titles of dignity given them in Scripture it seems to follow That there are sundry sorts of duties allotted to them from which severall duties for in respect of their nature angels are all alike some are simply called angels some archangels some powers some principalities though what the particular differences between these are and what the offices of these I confesse with * Quid inter se distant dicant qui possunt si tamen possunt probare quod dicunt ego me ista ignorare confiteor Tom. 3. in Euchr. c. 29 Austin I understand not I conceive its neither my duty to know nor my danger to be ignorant of these things The bold determinations of Aquinas and other Schoolmen herein are by the learnedst and godliest Writers rather noted than liked And this forsaking of their owne habitation seems in a due and proper sense to be subjoyned to the former expression of the
And custome without truth is at the best but the antiquity of error The old path and the good way are put for the same Jerem. 6.16 If the removall of the ancient bounds and landmarks which our fathers have set be a sin so frequently prohibited how heinous is the violation of the ancient boundary of holinesse which at the first was fixed by God himself 3. The depravation of nature Observ 3. introduceth all disorder in practice When these angels had left their originall purity they soon forsake their originall employment and Mat. 7.18 the divel abiding not in the truth becomes a murderer All the irregularities of life are but derivations from unholy principles The corrupt tree yeelds not good fruit Luk. 6.45 Out of the evill treasure of the heart are evill things brought forth The wheels of the Clock going wrong needs must the hand do so the Translation will be according to the Original We see at what door to lay all the prodigious impieties in the world which are but the deformed issues of corrupted nature How foolishly are men angry with themselves for outward and visible transgressions in their lives when they tamely and quietly endure an unchanged nature like men who dung and water the roots of their trees and yet are angry for their bearing of fruit How preposterous and how plainly begun at the wrong end are those endeavours of reformation which are accompanyed with the hatred of renovation If the tree be bitter and corrupt all the influences and showrs of heaven cannot make the fruit good When these angels had lost the integrity of nature even heaven it self did not help them to it How miserable lastly is he who hath no better fountain than corrupted nature for the issuing forth of all his services Even the best performances of an unrenewed person cannot be good coming not from a pure heart Phil. 1.11 Eph 2.10 a good conscience and faith unfained they are but dead carcasses embalmed and at the best but hedg-fruit sowre and unsavoury till they who bear them are ingrafted into Christ and partake of his life 4. Corrupt nature cares not for the joyes Observ 4. joyned with the holinesse of heaven As soon as these angels had left their first estate of integrity they forsook even that holy though most happy habitation Heaven it selfe was no heaven to them when they became unholy A sinner may not unfitly be compared to a common beggar who had rather live poorly and idly than plentifully in honest imployment How great is the antipathy of corrupt nature to heavenly performances when they will not down though never so sweetened The enmity of sin against God and holinesse is not to be reconcil'd How little are we to wonder that heaven is a place only for the pure in heart and that Christ at the last day will say to the workers of iniquity Mat. 7.23 Job 22.17 Depart from me since they not only in this life say to God Depart from us Job 21.14 but should they be admitted into that habitation of blisse with unholy hearts they would be unwilling there to continue with him Let it be our care to be made meet for the inheritance of the Saints in light if we expect to have nay to love the joyes thereof 5. Observ 5. How irrationall is every sinner There 's no person in love with any sin but is indeed out of love with his owne happinesse These angels for a meer supposed imaginary happinesse of their own contriving part with the reall blessednesse of enjoying the satisfying presence of the blessed God None can become a divell till first he become a beast A sinner can with no better plea of reason yeeld to any tentation of sin Jud. 16.6 then could Samson to that motion of Delilah Tel me where thy great strength lieth and wherewith thou mightest be bound to afflict thee Wicked men are rightly call'd unreasonable 2. Thes 3.2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jud. 10. Psal 49. ult or absur'd such whom no reason will satisfie and brute beasts led with humour and sense against all reason Who that had not laid aside even reason would lose his soul for a trifle a shadow and die as Jonathan said for tasting of a little hony He who accounts it unreasonable to part with the poorest worldly commodity without a valuable consideration much more to exchange a conveyance of a thousand pound per annum for a painted paper is yet much more absur'd in sinning against any command of God which is back'd with the very height of reason both in respect of our duty to the Commander and benefit by the command 6. It s a sin for any even the highest Observat 6. to exempt himselfe from service Angels have their tasks set them by God which they must not leave There 's no creature but hath an allotment of duty Though we cannot be profitable yet must we not be idle God allowes the napkin to none upon whom he hath bestowed a talent nor hath he planted any to cumber the ground and only to be burdens to the earth If wee are all of him we must be all for him It s not consistent with the soveraignty of this great King to suffer any subject within his dominions who will be absolute and not yeeld him his homage nor to his wisdome to make any thing which he intends not to use The first who adventur'd to cease from working was a divel and they who follow him in that sin shall partake with him in the sutable punishments of chains and darknesse It s a singular mercy to have opportunities of service abilities for it and delight in it at the same time It s the priviledg of the glorious angels to be confirmed in their work as well as in their happinesse God never is so angry with any as those whom he turns out of his service 7. The glorifyed are in heaven as in an habitation Observ 7. Luk. 16.9 Joh. 14.2 2 Cor. 5.1 Heb. 11.10 16 Heb. 13.14 Heb. 4.9 Omnis homo est advena nascendo incola vivendo quia compellitur migrare moriendo Aug. in q. 91. sup Lev. Heaven is in Scripture often set out by expressions importing it to be a place of stability setlement and abode as Everlasting habitations a Fathers house Mansions a building of God an House not made with hands eternall in the heavens A city a city which hath foundations a continuing city a Rest How sutable are fixed and immovable affections to this permanent and stedfast happinesse everything on this side Heaven is transitory The fashion of this world passeth away here we have no continuing city Our bodies are tabernacles and cottages of clay which shortly shall bee blown down by the wind of death * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Isid Pelus l. 1. ep 65. yea their falling begins with their very building and this whole world is an habitation which ere long will be
gratiâ sed naturâ suâ c. Greg. de Val. q. 14. punct 1. Aquin. 1. p. q. 63. Esti l. 2. d. 7. Etiamsi ab initio tales conditi fuissent quales nune per gratiam confirmationis facti sunt nec sic tamen ex conditione naturâ impeccabiles essent sed ex dono gratiae quod etsi hactenus naturale dici posset quia cum ipsa natura datum esset in natura insitum eâ dem tamen naturâ atque essentiâ salvâ posset auferri Solus Deus est qui non gratiâ cujuspiam sed naturâ suâ non potest nec potuit nec poterit peccare Aug. l. 3. cont Max. c. 12. or free from all possibility of sinning Some of them indeed determine it affirmatively but herein they oppose the Fathers Ambrose Augustine and Hierome The two former of whom teach that because it s said that God only hath immortality it follows that he only hath immutability and so by consequence only by nature impeccability The same argument is also used by the learned Junius who denyes that simply God could have made the Angels better then they are by nature because then they should have been most constant in their own perfect goodnesse by themselves which can only be attributed to God Also to the forecited Fathers agree the Schoolmen of the greatest note among whom Estius asserts That supposing that the Angels had been from their beginning created such as they are now made to be by the grace of confirmation yet even so they had not been impeccable or free from a possibility of sinning by the condition of nature but by the gift of grace which although it may be termed naturall as given with and implanted in their nature yet it might have been taken away and removed without the destruction of their nature And he saith It s no derogation from the power of God that a Creature cannot be made by nature impeccable for the thing spoken of is not in the number of possibles Res de qua agitur non est de numero possibilium Includit enim contradictionem ut quod creatum est i.e. ex nihilo productum deficere non possit Ideo non potest Deus facere creaturā ex natura impeccabilem quia facere non potest ut creatura non fit creatura Siquidem eo ipso quo creata est defectibilis est Deo potente subtrabere vel esse vel operari vel ipsius operationis rectitudinem ex quo manifestum est non negatione sed positione creaturae per naturam impeccabilis derogari potentiae Dei. Est in 2. sent Dist 7. § 9. and it is a contradiction to say that a Creature that is a thing made of nothing should not be able to change and that therefore God cannot make a creature by nature immutable because he cannot make that a creature should not be a creature which as such is defectible God being alwayes able to withdraw its being or the operation of its being or the rectitude of its operation Whereby saith he its manifest that not by the denying but by the granting that a creature may be impeccable by nature we derogate from the power of God But 2. I answer with Aquinas p. 1. q. 36. a. 2. that God appointing an inequality in the things which hee created hereby made the world after the best manner The perfection of the whole requires that there should be an inequality in the severall Creatures that so there might be all degrees of goodnesse made up and this is one degree of goodnesse that somthing be so good that there should bee an impossibility for it ever to swerve from its goodnesse and another degree of goodnesse is that some things should bee made defectible and in a possibility of leaving their goodnesse And as the perfection of the world requires that there be not only incoruptible but also corruptible creatures so likewise that there should be some things defectible from goodnesse If angels might have been made more excellent in themselves yet not in relation to that goodly order and admirable beuty which God hath caused in the world by making them in that capacity wherein they were created A Captain a Colonel are better then a common souldier in an army but yet it s better for the order and beuty of the army that some should be common souldiers and commanded than that all should be Officers and Commanders And God as * Aug. Ench. c. 11.27 Melius judicavit de malis bene facere quam mala nulla esse permittere Augustine saith thought it better to bring good out of that which was evil then not at all to suffer evil to be For he that is perfectly good would not suffer evil in his works unlesse he were so omnipotent as to bring good out of that evil 2. By way of explication of this second branch 2d Branch it may be enquired what was that first sin whereby this defection was made or this first estate of the angels not kept And here sundry opinions offer themselves Some falsly expounding that place of Gen. 6.2 Philo. Orig. Josephus Irenaeus Justin Mart. in Apol. pro Chr. Clem. Alex. strom l. 3 Tertul. l. de hab mul. Lactant. The sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair and they took them wives c. imagined that the angels being taken with the love of women sinn'd by lust Strange it is that so many learned men among the ancients should embrace an opinion so flatly opposite to Scripture and reason For not to speak of the spirituall nature of angels whereby they are incapable of Carnall and sensible pleasures or of the different nature of their by some supposed bodies from ours theirs being if they be at all not compounded of the elements but so pure and thin that its impossible they should be fit for generation the Scripture plainly teacheth that the angels fel from their integrity before there were any daughters of men in being besides Christ tels us that the angels in heaven neither marry nor are given in marriage Mat. 22.3 Others conceive that the first sin of the angels was hatred of God Odium omne ex amore est Nascitur odium Dei tanquam prohibentis amantem ab eo quod inordinatè amat Est in 2. l. sent dist 6. §. 2. the adhering of the angels unto God being by love their departure from God they say must needs be by hatred but this opinion seems false because hatred of God must needs proceed from inordinate love of something else God being hated because he hinders the creature from something which it loves inordinately Hatred therefore could not be the first sin but the irregular affecting of something else or some other sin A third opinion is of those who hold that the first sin of these angels was envying the dignity of man in being created after the image of God but this is confuted by Augustine
desire to be and would needs rest in the perfection of their own nature neglecting that rule of their superiour whereby they were called to desire the attaining supernaturall blessednesse by the grace of God Or as some expresse it this pride stood in a staying within themselves a reflecting upon their own excellency and by consequence an affecting an independency upon any superiour vertue in being and working making themselves the first cause and the last end of their own motions for since next unto God every reasonable created being is nearest unto it selfe we cannot conceive how it should turn from God and not in the next step turn unto it selfe The third particular to be explained in this first part of the Text Nemo sanae fidei credit apostatas angelos ad pristinam pietatem correctâ aliquando voluntate converti Aug. ep 107. Prosp l. 1. de vit contempt c. 3. De angelis hoc Deus disposuit implevit ut si quis eorum bonitatem voluntatis perderet nunquam eam divino munere repararet Fulgent l. de sid c. 3. Daemones nec malâ unquam possunt carere voluntate nec poena Vid. Aquin at 1. p. q. 64. a. 2. Angeli boni non habent ex suâ naturâ immutabilitatem ex bono in malum sed ex sotâ gratiâ qui tamen cum plenâ deliberatione bonum eligerunt atque ita nec mali habent naturâ suâ immutabilitatem ex malo in bonum sed ex sola privatione gratiae Greg. de Valent Disp 4. q. 15. punct 2. is the degree and measure of the defection of these angels they fell finally they kept not c. they left their c. they quite forsook God his image heaven it selfe and that office therein assigned unto them And as the holy are confirmed in goodnesse so the fallen angels are hardned in the love of that which formerly they made choice of This is intended by Christ in those words John 8.44 There is no truth in him they cannot so much as will to do well but they do immovably cleave to wickednesse These trees as they have faln so they lie Angels went so far that they never turn they fell so low they never arise This is proved from their eternall misery which the Scripture mentions in this verse and else where frequently this everlastingnesse of their punishment including the perpetuity of their sinning and such an eternall forsaking of them by God that they shall never have righteousnesse repaired in them again The school-men are too curious in inquiring into the ground of this total final fal of the angels into sin Aquinas and his followers hold that their obstinacy proceeds from the very nature of the wils of angels according to which say they angels are so inflexible and immovable that they can never hate that which once they have chosen nor chuse that which once they have hated but as I conceive Valentia overthrowes this opinion by arguing that if the immutability of the good angels from good to evill be not from nature but from grace only who yet did with ful deliberation chuse that which was good then the immutability of the evil angels from evil to good comes not from nature but from the just and totall deprivation of grace Others of them assert That God preserves in the wils of the divels an hatred of himselfe and that this preservation is an act of punitive justice and that God causeth that wicked habit in the wils of the divels whereby they are necessarily inclined to sin and this impious opinion is asserted by Occham Biel and Aureolus which I note by the way as wishing that while the Papists behold a supposed mote in the eye of holy Calvin they would observe those reall beams which are in the eyes of their own most famous Schoolmen as to this point of making God the Authour of sin But those who speak more modestly and piously then either of the former give this reason of the obstinacy of the fallen angels namely the totall and perfect privation of all holinesse which is considerable 1. On their part and so it s that defective and depraved quality as Junius cals it that utter impotency to all good Qualitas defectiva intended by those words of our Saviour There is no truth in him and flowing from that defection as its fountain called by our Saviour a not abiding in the truth and here by Jude a not keeping their first estate which defection is so set down by Jude Si non servaverunt sed dereliquerunt profectò habcre destiterunt privati sunt eo quod habebant quod autem privati sunt semel id est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 privati sunt ut qui naturam suam eo privaverint quae cum non possit esse otiosa c. Jun. in loc saith Junius as that this totall impotency to and privation of all good in the angels is also comprehended For saith he what they kept not they ceased to have and were deprived of and what they were deprived of they lost totally 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as he expresseth it once for all as those who deprived their very nature therof And since the nature of these angels though it cannot be holy yet also cannot be idle it enclines incessantly to the contrary to that of which it was deprived there following effects of the same kind with this constant privation 2. On Gods part who hath determined never to bestow upon the fallen angels reliefe and assistance for their recovery which being denied to them it is impossible that ever they should turne from their sin to God but to deliver them totally up to the bent of their own depraved nature God having so layed out their state and ordered the nature thereof that their fall should be the term of their being holy and it 's natural for every thing not to move when once arrived at it's term Hoc est angelis casus quod hominibus mors but there to stop and that as the end of life is the term beyond which God will not offer to sinners his grace so that the fall should even be the same to the angels which death is to man OBSERVATIONS 1. Observat 1. The best of created perfections are of themselves defectible Every excellency without the prop of divine preservation is but a weight which tends to a fall The angels in their innocency were but frail without Gods sustentation Even grace it self is but a creature and therefore purely dependent 'T is not from its being and nature but from the assistance of something without it that it 's kept from annihilation The strongest is but a weakling and can of himself neither stand nor go alone let the least degree of grace make thee thankfull let not the greatest make thee proud Hee that stands should take heed lest he fall 1 Cor. 10.12 What becomes of the stream if the fountain supply it not
when they are not actually in the very place of the tormented in hell because they know that eternall woes are due to them as the scorching distemper of one in a burning feaver is not removed though he be removed into a bed of ivory and the most refreshing place 2. The second particular to be explained is How and why these chains are everlasting By the word in the originall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which singnifies alwayes continuing perpetuall is intended that the fore-mentioned chains shall never be shaken off and that these angels shall stand guilty for ever expecting the last judgement despairing and without any hope of recovery and redemption they having no Saviour nor any means allowed them by God for their release And if it be here demanded why the faln angels rather then faln man stand guilty for ever without any deliverance or hope of recovery it s by severall men differently answered 1. Some say Because man was seduced to sin but the divell sinned meerly by his own will without instigation from any other he fell alone and must if at all rise alone 2. Others say Because in the fall of angels the whole angelicall nature of angels perish'd not but the first man sinning the whole humane nature had perish'd if the goodnesse of God had not afforded a remedy 1 Cor. 15.22 In Adam all die Id. in Joh. Tr. 110. Tanto damnabilior eorum judicata est culpa quanto erat natura sublimior In offend endo creatorem tanto execrabilius beneficio ejus ingrati extiterunt quantò beneficentius sunt creati 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Damascen l. 2. Orth. Fid. cap. 3. 4. Gerh. m 2. Pet. 2. Praestat grato corde Dei 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in remedio generi humano praestito agnoscere quam profunditatem divinorum judiciorum curiosius extra verbi limites scrutari 3. Others say That the nature of the angels being more excellent and sublime their fault was more damnable then that of mans and that so much the more ingratefull to God were they in their fall then man by how much the more bountifull in their Creation God was to them then to man But I humbly conceive we may more safely say with Gerhard It 's better thankfull to acknowledge the love of God to mankind in affording him a recovery then to search into the depths of divine judgements without the warrant of the word with curiosity OBSERVATIONS They whose course and trade of life is in sin Observ 1. do most resemble Satan Sin is a chain to the godly to weary and trouble them but it s a chain to the divell and wicked men wholly to subdue them to its power and obedience The holiest may sometime fall into sin but the ungodly onely live and lie in sin the godly are like a sheep which sometimes may slip and be tumbled into a dirty ditch but the wicked are as swine who tumble and wallow in the ditch The former beat themselves with striving to get out the later are ready to beat and hurt any who labour to help them out The former crie out of sin and sinning as their torment the later like the divell when any go about to reform and hinder them from sin cry out What have we to do with you are you come to torment us before our time The godly sin but the wicked are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 workers of iniquity witty and skilfull practitioners in impiety Sin is the woe of a Saint and the work of a sinner To the former its a thorne in the eye to the later as a crown upon the head In the former sin is but the later are in sin a sober man may have drink in him but the drunkard only is in drink A Saint when he sins is as a poor child when he fals into a pond of water but a wicked man as a fish in the water sports and swims in sin as his element his bibere is his vivere he drinks in sin as the fish drinks in water A sinner performes good duties by fits and starts but sin is his course and standing employ ment a Saint sins by fits but holinesse is his course and he walks with God though sometmes he be drawen away by a tentation Oh that they who live in sin cannot sleep unlesse they sin who are sick with Amnon till they have fatisfied their lusts who can walk in sin from morning to night week after week year after year yea and if they had more lives they would do so life after life would consider who is their father and whom they resemble and never be at rest till they get from under the cruel slavery of sin into the service of Jesus Christ which is the true and only liberty And let them fear lest the Lord at length give them up to final obstinacy Revel 22.11 and say in his wrath Thou that art filthy be filthy still my spirit shall never more strive with thee I will never give one blow more to knock off thy chains but they shall be like the divels everlasting chains and thou who holdest thy sin so fast here upon earth shalt be held and bound by that chain for ever in hell 2. Observ 2. Torments cannot reform divels Hellish horrours cannot change hellish hearts Sinners will not be perswaded either by the rising of one from the dead or their own remaining among the damned The braying of sinners in a mortar cannot make their folly depart from them Outward troubles may break the back only God by his supernaturall working can melt the heart Notwithstanding smiting Isai 1.5 people may revolt more and more After all the repeated plagues upon Pharaoh and Egypt their hearts were hard And though God battered the Israelites with successive judgements yet he testifies they returned not to him Am. 4.8 Judgements move only by way of outward and objective perswasion they cannot reach really work upon or turn the heart The smartest outward poverty cannot make a man poor in spirit The glorified angels are humble in the joyes of heaven the divels are proud in the torments of hell It is not the inflicting but the sanctifying of troubles that can benefit us Whensoever the Lord chastens us Psal 94.12 Jer. 6.29 let us beseech him likewise to teach us otherwise wee shall continue unreformed 3. Restraint much differs from reformation Observ 3. Divels may have a chain upon them and yet no change within them A necessitated forbearance of sin may accompany a divilish nature divine chastisements and humane lawes may hide sin and hinder sinning 't is only a principle of renovation wherby we hate sin Let none please himself with such a conversion as he is forced unto by his earthly superiours They who only leave sin because men forbid it wil upon the same ground be brought to forsake any way of holinesse And yet what is the religion of the most but a meer restraint and hence
cast into utter darknesse i. e. without the Kingdome of God which is light and a Kingdom of light In this phrase of utter darknesse according to some is an allusion to the darknesse which God sent upon Egypt Metaphoricè per tenebras scriptura horrendum maerorem designat Cal. in Mat. 8.12 Tenebrae exteriores domesticae luci opponuntur quum antiquitus nocturnae ut plurimum coenae essent quas plurimae faces lampades illustrabant qui ejiciuntur è regno Dei Christus eos dicit extra in tenebras ejici in tenebras Cal. in Mat. 25. Comprativus superlativi est loco ut sit in tenebras extimas Luc. Brug in Mat. 8. Exod. 10.23 that Egyptian darknesse being without the habitations of the Israelites in all which was light Or as Reverend Calvin conceives to the darknesse wherein they are who are excluded in the night time from places in which are suppers or feasts where they set up many lights and lamps or as others to the darknesse of prisons which were oft wont to be without the City Acts 12.10 Whatever the allusion is by this utter darknesse is intended a state of the greatest remotenesse and distance from the light of Gods presence the joy yea the heaven of heaven for as Brugensis well notes by the comparative note 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 outer may well be intented the superlative utmost or most without furthest or most distant from the Kingdom of light as 1 Cor. 13.13 the greater i. e. the greatest of these is charity This eternall darknesse which stands in the withdrawing of the light of Gods pleased and pleasing countenance wherein is fulnesse of joyes and pleasures for evermore is that here by the Apostle intended to be the portion of these angels in their prison of hell And most fitly is this their wofull estate of separation from Gods presence called darknesse because as the though but deficient cause of darknesse is the departure of the light so the separation from the favourable presence of God is the greatest misery of the damned as the face and comfortable presence of God is the heaven of heavens so absence from God is the hell of hell It is not heaven to be in the place of heaven but to be with God in heaven and it is not hell to be in hell but to be without Gods loving and gracious presence in heaven The misery of which condition of darknesse or separation from Gods presence is in the second place to be explained and it may be amplified two wayes 1 Considering from what this separation shall be 2 How the misery thereof shall be further heightned 1 There shal be a separation from the favorable presence of God which is 1 A full good comprehending all good that wherein all good things are assembled and combined He who hath him who is all things must needs have all things To him there can be made no addition of goodness in parting with him the damned part with whatsoever is good 2 A filling satisfying good enough and sufficient for himself and that which can fill the Ocean can undoubtedly fill the vessell God satisfies all the wants and exigences of the soul My God shall supply all your wants The favour of God is better then life The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want Every good besides God is but of a limited nature answering but to this or that exigency but one God answers to every want Bread relieves hunger water thirst cloaths nakednesse mony poverty God relieves in every want Summa mors animae est alienatio à vita Dei in aeternitate supplicii Aug. lib. 6. de civ Dei c. 12. and hath infinitely more oyl then we have vessels Deservedly therefore is this punishment of loss frequently expressed in the Scripture as the great woe of the damned Matth. 7.23 Luke 13.27 Mat. 25.10 41. The throne of iniquity shall have no fellowship with God Psalm 94.20 Needs must hell be a dismal dungeon where the sunshine of Gods presence never comes But 2. The misery of the loss of this blessed presence of God is further heightned aggravated and made intolerably tormenting Considering 1. The damned in hell know the incomparable worth of what they have lost Their Understandings are cleer though they are not changed Their knowledg increaseth their sorrow How happy comparatively would they be if their Understandings were taken from them if they could but put out their eyes Though they see not God so fully and cleerly as do the blessed in heaven yet they see enough of him to rend and grinde them with inexpressible vexation for losing him A company of wretched beggars who in a dark night stand at the door of that house where there is a Wedding feast though they see not the stately preparations the furnished tables the costly ornaments of the married Couple and Guests so fully and clearly and though they hear not the sweet Musick within so distinctly as do the guests themselves who sit at table yet by lights in the windows the voices of mirth and Musicians with the confused sound of instruments the passage to and fro of attendants with their chear they cannot but observe enough to think themselves being excluded very miserable in comparison of those who are attended at the table and in the midst of all their mirth and plenty Christ makes the Application Luke 13.25.28 Where he speaks of those who stand without and knock c. and shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God and they themselves thrust out The rich man sees Abraham and Lazarus but a farr off see them he must though he would not get to them he must not though he would never so fain And certainly the large vessel of an Angels understanding holds more matter of this torment then can more shallow capacities 2. These damned spirits remember that this loss of the presence of God was a rod of their own making a woe of their own most wilfull procuring The door which shuts them out of heaven was pull'd to with their own hands How much will it sharpen the edg of their horror to consider that none forced them to sin that the forsaking of God was the choice of their own will that they had no enemies but themselves The treasures of glory were not stollen from them but voluntarily dissipated and prodigally mis-spent with their own hands How easily could they have prevented that losse which now is irreparable and have kept their foot out of that snare out of which they can never wind themselves The arrow which falls down upon their heads was shot up with their own hands and as it s said of birdlime that it s made of the dung of birds the destruction which hath caught them was spun out of their own bowels 3. They consider how poor a trifle and contemptible a toy it was for which they have lost the blessed presence of God How doth
decisive passing of sentence To the former sentence viz. that of their own consciences shall be added that of the Judg wherby they shall be adjudged to the punishment of loss pain for ever A sentence which shall be openly promulgated Quo maledicti acrius doleant videntes quid amiseri◠justi videbunt et laetabuntur considerantes quid evascrint Bern. Ser. 8. in Psal Heretofore it was written down in the book now it shall be pronounced before all the world A sentence which shall be published soon after that of benediction hath been uttered to the godly that so the damned may grieve the more to consider what they have lost and the saved rejoyce to observe what they have escaped A sentence every syllable whereof is more dreadfull then ten thousand thunder-claps roaring in their ears to all eternity Wonder one may that so much woe can be couched in so few words In being sentenced to depart from God what pleasure are they not adjudged to lose In being sentenced to the flames what pain are they not adjudged to feel 3 In the judgment to which these angels shall be brought Mat. 5.22 Mar. 3.29 Joh. 5.24.29 Act. 8.33 2 Thes 1.5 Jam. 2.13 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 put for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ille judex nec gratiâ praevenitur nec misericordiâ flectitur nec pecuniâ corrumpitur nec poenitentiâ mitigatur Aug. l. 3. de fid symb 2 Thes 1.9 Expulsi à facie hac terribili ipsius vocē Sicut servi fugitivi post multum temporis dominum suum videntes nihil aliud nisi de verberibus deprecantur sic daemones videntes Dominum in terris ad judicandum se venisse credebant Hierom. in Mat. 8. there shall be an execution of the sentence denounced and frequently in Scripture is judgment taken for punishment to which men are adjudged The sentence shall not bee an empty sound as a report without a bullet a noise without a sting but it shall be executed without any exception delay reply appeal The sentence of malediction shall be a fiery stream proceeding from the throne of the Judg and sweeping the condemned into hell The wicked shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and the glory of his power which place Beza expounds of their expulsion from the presence of the Lord by that terrible voice Go ye cursed Others thus interpret it The glorious power and majesty of Christs presence shall suffice to destroy the wicked If the divels were unable to endure the presence of Christ upon earth when emptied of glory upon considering that hereafter Christ should be their Judg crying out and asking whether hee was come to torment them before their time how shall they abide his presence when fill'd with dreadfull majesty For the second 2 Branch of Explicat Justin in Apol 1. daemones igni sempiterno nondum traditi sunt sed in die judicii tradendi Hanc opini onem amplectitur Irenaeus l. 5. cont Haer. Diabolus non statim in primordiis transgressionis ad poenam detrusus est à Deo idque ut hominem malitiâ suâ exerceret ad virtutem Lactant. lib. 3. Divin Instit cap. 28. How the angels who are already punished and therefore judged can be reserved to judgement We must not conceive with some that because they are said to be reserved to judgment therefore for the present they are not punish'd For if the good angels are before the general judgment in a state of happinesse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 alway beholding the face of God then why should not the bad be in a state of misery Besides if the souls of wicked men are now tormented in hell which neverthelesse may be said to be reserved to judgment why may it not be asserted that the angels who seduced men have been ever since their fall tormented considering that the fall was that to the angels which death is to ungodly men And further if the faln angels be in hell a place of punishment with the damned souls then it is as certain they partake of the same punishment with them as it is absurd to imagine that the holy angels should be in heaven with the souls of the blessed and not be with them partakers of the fruition of Gods presence There is therefore a threefold judgement which the fallen angels incur That wherwith they were punished immediately upon their fall when by God they were thrown into misery Of this speaks Peter 2 Pet. 2.4 God spared not the Angels which sinned but cast them down into hell c. 2 That whereby they are cast out of their dominion Joh. 12.31 and their power over us destroyed by the death of Christ 3 Their full and finall judgement to which they are here by Jude said to be reserved in respect whereof though they are in part punished already yet by it there shall be a dreadfull addition and accession to their present torments in regard 1. of Ignominy 2 Restraint 1. Ignominy for they being most proud creatures cannot but deem it an unspeakable shame 1. To have all their malice and mischeifs that ever they committed since their fall manifested to all the world whereby all who have heretofore honour'd them as gods shall know their vilenesse and look upon them as abominable deceivers and never be brought as formerly to worship them 2 To have it publickly seen that poor man whose nature is so much inferiour to theirs hath done that which they were not able to do in imbracing of holiness and honouring his Creator and obtaining those mansions of glory which they have lost 3 To have it known to all the world how often they would have done evil when they could not and how frequently even women and children have overcome their fierce and fiery tentations 4. To have judgment pass'd upon them not onely by Christ himself but even by those somtimes poor Saints whom formerly they so vilified and persecuted even these shall judg the Angels 1 Cor. 6.3 And that not onely 1 By having their practices compared to those of the damned as the Ninivites and the Queen of the South are said to rise up in judgment Mat. 12.41.42 Luk. 11.31.32 Nor 2 Only by their consenting to and approving of the Sentence which Christ shall pass upon the wicked But also 3. In regard of that dignitas assessoria that dignity whereby they shall be advanced to an honourable assessorship with the Lord Christ in sitting as it were with him upon the Bench Dolet diabolus quòd ipsum angelos ejus Christi servus ille peccator judicaturus est Tert. lib. de poen c. 7 or about the Throne of Judicature As likewise 4. they in that judgment being to appear with Christ manifest victors over all their enemies By trampling upon all the pride malice and weakness of Divels before the whole world and holily insulting over them as vile vanquished and contemptible
calling and not according to the law of charity which binds us to judg the best of others so far forth as may stand with a good conscience and the word of God Judgment may either be of persons or their practices In persons their future or their present estate is to be considered All judgment of mens future estate is to be forborn God may call the worst as well as thee Three things saith Augustiae are exempted from mans judgment the Scriptures the Counsell of God the Condemnation of any mans person For mens present estate if we see men live in whoredom drunkenness swearing we may judg them wicked while continuing in this estate and that they shall be damned if they repent not We may judg the tree by the fruit and this is not rash judgment because it is not ours but the judgment of the word of God Practices are either good bad indifferent or doubtfull Good actions are to be commended if actions be evil judg the facts not the persons yet study withall to excuse the intention if thou canst not the fact Indifferent or doubtfull actions are to be free from censure Christian liberty exempts our neighbour from censure for the former charity allows us not to be censurers of the later If it be doubtful whether a thing were spoken or done or no or being certain to be done whether well or ill in charity judg the best If a man lay with a betrothed damosel in the fields Deu. 22.26 27 the man was only to die because it was in charity supposed that the damosel cryed the best being supposed in a thing doubtfull In matter of opinion if it be uncertain whether an error or no suspend thy judgment till thou know more certainly thy brother may see as much and if he be more learned more than thy self into that which is doubtfull Our ignorance as men though never so knowing should be a strong bar from rash judgment Besides who are we that judg another mans servant this is to reproach God himself for receiving him We are fellow servants with our brethren not fellow Judges with God we must love not judge one another Our Masters house is to be ordered by our Masters will He who by rash judgement destroyes the good name of another is by some termed the worst of theeves in stealing away that which is better then riches and can never be restor'd and the worst of murderers in killing three at once his own Soul in thus sinning his Neighbour whose name he ruines and the Hearer who receiveth his slanders And yet take away this sinfull censuring from many Professors there will nothing remaine to shew them Religious whereas a Just man is a severe Judg only to himself 4. How happy are they who shall be able to stand in the Judgement I know it 's doubted by some Observ 4. Rev. 20.12 Mat. 10.26 Vid. Aquin. q 87. suppl Est in l. 4. sendist 47. Rom. 8.1.33 whether at the last judgement the sins of the Saints shall come into the judgement of Discussion and Discovery Scripture seems to many most to favour the affirmative but that they shall escape the judgement of condemnation 't is not doubted That sun which discovers the sins of the wicked shall scatter those of the godly There 's no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus Who shall lay any thing to their charge The greater their sins are the greater will their deliverance appear The more punishment they deserv'd the more they escape The sins of the Saints will prove as the matter of their songs so the trophees of victorious mercy The wicked shall have judgement with out mercy and the godly shall have mercy in a day of judgement 1 Cor. 11.32 How contentedly may they here undergo that chastisement whereby they escape judgement It 's better to hear the reproofs of a Father then the sentence of a Judge and the correction of a Son is much lighter then the condemnation of a Malefactor It matters not what shall ever be said or done against them to whom Christ shall never say Depart from me Do with me what thou wilt said Luther since thou hast pardoned my sins 5. The greatest enemies of God will be but contemptible creatures at the last judgement What underlings then shall those appear and be who now are principalities and powers Satan who hath had so many followers adorers who now is the Prince of the Aire yea the God of this world shall then openly appear to be a trembling malefactor at the bar of Christ As once Josuahs souldiers set their feet upon the necks of the Canaanitish Kings so the poorest Saint shall at the last judgement trample upon these faln Angels Death speaks the impotency of men but Judgement even that of Angels Legions of Angels shall no more oppose Christ then can a worme all the Angels of heaven Me thinks even all the crowned sceptered adorned adored Monarchs of the world if enermes to Christ should tremble at the approaching of Judgement The greatest safety and honour even of a King will then be to be a subject to Christ and what the Emperor Justinian was wont to call himself the meâ—nest servant of Christ Vltimus Dei servus Robes will then fall off The dimmer light of humane glory will be obscured when the sun of righteousness shal appear Let us neither fear nor admire the greatnesse of any but of Christ much lesse that which is set against Christ How great is the folly of Satans subjects they serve a master who is so far from defending them that he cannot defend himself from Judgement 6. Observ 6. The reason why Satan rageth he knows that his time is but short and after this last judgement his furious and spiteful tentatious shall be ended and he labours to supply the shortnesse of his time with the sharpnesse of his assaults like the besiegers who having often storm'd a Town or a Castle make their last onset the most resolute and terrible A Traveller who desires to go far will go fast if the Sun be neer setting The shortnesse of Satans season occasions his swiftnesse in wickednesse Besides he is in an estate of desperation he knows there 's no possibility of his recovery and as faith is the furtherer of holinesse so is despair of all impiety It was the Logick of despair which argued thus Let us eat and drink for to morrow we shall die I wonder not that these last are the worst and the most perillous times Satan now strives to add to his number to seduce and pervert souls because after his judgement he shall never be suffered to do so any more At all times holy vigilancy over our hearts and wayes is needfull but in these times wherein Satans judgement draws so neer it should be our care more then ever to keep our hearts with all diligence to beware of seduction and Atheisme and of being led away with the error of
worthily than ever before After Christ comes none The condition also of the times of the Gospel is such that they are called The last dayes Heb. 1.2 and after the last comes no time So that Faith shall never in respect of the matter delivered or manner of delivering receive a new edition for enlarging correcting or amending the former 3. Why doth the Apostle add this expression once to the delivery of faith It 's used as a most invinsible argument to prevail with these Christians to preserve the faith and themselves from the wicked and destructive errours and practices of seducers and so it 's a strong argument sever all wayes 1. It 's an argument from the possible nay sure succesfulness of the work of contending they being to contend for a faith that was once delivered that was alwayes to remain that should never be totally removed against which the power of hell should never prevail What souldier would not wilingly fight for the party that doth prevail and is ever sure to do so When 't is not a desperate battel but there is a certainty of success 2. It 's an argument ab honesto from the seemliness of it and that two wayes 1. It 's a faith once delivered and but once once delivered and unchangeably the same which their holy Predecessors Patriarks Prophets and Apostles embraced and defended and therefore to be preserved and maintained Who will not carefully preserve the inheritance which belonged to his ancestors God forbid saith Naboth that I should give the inheritance of my fathers unto thee 1 Kings 21.3 If the antient land-markes be not to be removed much less the faith-markes A ring Pro. 22.28 a jewel which belonged to our father or predecessors of old how precious is it 2. It 's a faith once and so alwayes and perpetually to be delivered and therefore by preserving it to be left as a legacy to posterity to be laid up as a precious depositum or treasure for children and successours We should endeavour that the generation which is yet to come may also serve the same God and enjoy the same Christ and Gospel How desirable is it to put as it were a fallacy upon death by doing good and living when we are dead to derive Religion to Posterity to be like Civet of which the box savours when it is emptied of it 3. It 's an argument à periculoso it 's a faith once delivered i.e. without reiteration and alteration and therfore the errours of Seducers are not this Faith q. d. If you let it go for that pretended faith of these Seducers you part with a pearl for a pibble a rich Conveyance not of an earthly but an heavenly Inheritance like children for a gay The living child by the Seducers is taken away and the dead one laid in its room The faith is unchangeable and therefore the faith which Sectaries would fasten upon you is not faith but fiction Either this faith once delivered or none must be your faith Hence 't is that Paul tels the Galatians Gal. 1.7 That the other Gospel which Seducers had obtruded upon them was not another i.e. was none at all Now how impossible is it in this wildernesse to travell to Canaan without a guide a cloud a pillar How dangerous to walk in a dark place without a light and to follow a false a fools fire which leads unto bogs and precipices 1. Observ 1. The sin folly of those is evident who conceive they can live without and above this doctrine of faith If it be once and perpetually to be delivered it 's perpetually to be imbraced and we stand in perpetuall want of it This Manna must rain till we come to Canaan We must be fed with the spoon of the Ordinance while we are in this age of childhood as the Apostle cals it 1 Cor. 13. Certainly the way of Ordinance-forsakers is their folly not their strength but their weaknesse their sicknesse if ever they recover their health they will fall to their food A standing dispensation of faith is both promised and commanded Ephes 4.13 till we all meet in the unity of the faith and how that commanded dispensation of faith is consistent with a commendable despising thereof I understand not 2. Observ 2. The doctrine of faith is perfect What ever truth or doctrine is needful to life salvation is fully and perfectly delivered in it It needs not another delivery because it cannot be made more perfect The Law of the Lord is perfect Psal 19.7 converting the soul By the Law is meant all heavenly doctrine Rom. 10.18 And St. Paul accommodates that Psalm to the preaching of the Apostles The word is a perfect platform of righteousness The Gospel of salvation is Ghrists testament it contains therefore his whole will and must not be dis-anulled or changed The doctrine of faith is a Canon a rule and if a rule be not perfect 't is no rule It 's able to make us wise to salvation Gal. 6.16 2 Tim. 3.15 17. throughly furnished to every good work It 's propounded as a motive by Christ that the Jews should search the Scriptures because in them they thought to have life eternall John 5.39 John 20.31 Iren. lib. 3. c. 2. Cum ex Scripturis arguuntur haeretici in accusationcm convertuntur Scripturarum quia non possit ex his inveniri veritas ab his qui nesciunt traditionem non enim per literas traditam illam sed per vivam vocem c. Quod tibi creditum non à te inventum quod accepisti non excogitasti cum dicas novè non nova profectus sit fidei non permutatio Vinc. Lyr. These things are written saith John that we might believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and that believing ye might have life in his name The Scripture accepts of no supplement from traditions Papists with all the Hereticks of old are necessitated to flie to traditions as the refuge of their heresies Though they can never with any shew of certainty prove that their traditions were received from Christ or his Apostles many whereof are known to be lately devised fables and all of them when received as a rule of faith are impious and oppose the perfection of the Scripture In vain do they worship God teaching for doctrine mens traditions Obser 3. Ministers have no liberty to deliver any new doctrine to their hearers They must neither add nor diminish Their doctrine is committed to them not invented by them They must preach what they have received not excogitated If they preach after a new manner yet they must not preach new things They must proceed in the faith not change it Timothy is commanded by Paul to keep that which is committed to his trust 1 Tim. 6.20 Ministers are Stewards not Masters of the mysteries of the Gospel They must proclaim not contrive lawes for the conscience Were they Angels from
heaven people must not hear them delivering another Gospel 4. Observ 4. Infinite is the power of God to preserve the faith perpetually and unalterably The doctrine of faith is a torch burning in the midst of the sea It 's a Moses's bush burning not consumed All oppositions are by God turned into victories on its side The smutchings which Hereticks cast upon it are but to make it shine the brighter Naked truth will vanquish armed errour 5. This delivering of the faith once Observ 5. regulates the notion of new lights If we understand by new light a new and further degree of knowledge to understand what is unchangeably delivered in the Scripture new light is a most desirable gift but if by it we understand pretended truths which are new to Scripture varnish'd over with the name of new light they are to be shun'd for false lights which lead to perdition After Christ hath spoken in the word we must not be curious 't is bastard doctrine which springs up after the Scripture This one thing believe that nothing but Scripture Doctrine is to be believed 6. Observ 6. Gods unchangeable perpetuall delivery of the faith is a singular encouragement to expect his blessing in the delivery of it It may encourage Ministers and people He who hath promised a Gospel to the end of the world hath also promised to be with the deliverers of it to that time He who will continue a Gospel to us if sought will also continue his grace to it He who bestows the doctrine of faith will not deny the grace of faith if we duely ask it When the Lord bestowes the seed of his word be encouraged to expect the showers of his blessing If he sticks up his candles comfortably hope that he will put light by his Spirit to them 7. Observ 7. It 's a great comfort to the Saints that in all their changes and losses their best blessings shall never be altered or utterly removed In an impure world there shall ever be kept up a pure word This light shall never be put out till the Sun of righteousnesse ariseth at the last day God will keep his stars in his right hand They who will go about to remove the stars in his right hand shall feel the strength of his right hand Of the Ministry it may be said as Isaac said of Jacob God hath blessed them and they shall be blessed The Saints shall have a golden Gospel though they live in an iron age 8. Observ ult It must be our care to be stedfast in the faith and to shun hereticall superadditions and superstructures We must beware lest being led away by the errour of the wicked we fall from our stedfastnesse 2 Pet. 3.17 To this end 1. We must be grounded in the knowledge of the truth Ignorant and doubting people will easily be seduced Silly women 2 Tim. 3.6 ever learning and never coming to the knowledge of the truth will easily be led away Children in knowledge will soon be tossed with every wind of doctrine Eph. 4.14 They will like water be of the same figure with the vessell into which it 's put They will be of their last doctors opinion 2. We must get a love to the truth Many receive the truth for fear of loss disgrace c. or hope of gaine preferment c. or because others do so and as hounds who follow the game not because they have the sent of it but because their fellows pursue it These who embrace the truth they know not why will leave it they know not how and by the same motives for which they now embrace the truth they may be induced to forsake truth and embrace errour God often sends to those strong delusions that they should beleeve a lie who received not the love of the truth 2 Thes 1.11 3. Nourish no known sin The Jewel of faith can never be kept in a crack'd cabbinet a crazy conscience He who puts away a good conscience concerning faith will soon make shipwrack 1. Tim. 1.19 Those silly women laden with sins may easily be led captives 2 Tim. 3.6 Solomon by following strange women soon embraced strange and idolatrous practices Demas having loved the present world soon forsook Paul 2 Tim. 4.10 Seducers through covetousness wil make merchandise of souls 2 Pet. 2.3 Tit. 1.11 Pride will also hinder from finding and keeping wisdome Prov. 14.6 God giveth grace to the humble and resisteth the proud The garment of humility is the souls guard against every spirituall mischief 'T is prudent counsell to be clothed with humility 1 Pet. 5.5 An humble soul will neither hatch nor easily be hurt by heresies 4. Labour to grow in grace Beware saith the Apostle lest being led away with the errour of the wicked ye fall from your own stedfastness the remedy is immediately subjoyn'd but grow in grace They who stand at a stay will soon go backwards This for the first part of the duty to which the Apostle exhorted these Christians viz. What the thing was which he commended to them to maintain The faith once delivered to the Saints The second followeth namely the means whereby he exhorts them to defend the faith by an earnest contending for it That you should earnestly contend Two things offer themselves in the Explanation 1. 1. Explicat To shew what the force and importance of that word is which is translated earnestly contend 2. More fully what the Apostle here intends by earnest contending for the faith and wherein this earnest contention doth consist as it is imployed for the faith 1. The compound-word in the original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unto which our English words Earnestly contend do answer Decerto Bez. Supercerto Vulg. John 18.36 Luk. 13.24 1 Cor. 9.25 Col. 1.29 1 Tim. 6.12 2 Tim. 4.7 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 propriè dicitur de aestuatione animi in eo qui in certamen descensurus est Accipitur pro luctâ in morte Gerh. Harm is onely used in this place throughout the whole new Testament All the severall translations thereof by interpreters speak this contention to which Jude exhorts these Christians to be eminent extraordinary The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 out of composition though then it importeth not so notable a contention as here in composition it doth is rightly translated to strive to fight and that as for the mastery to labour fervently and signifieth that vehement fighting and striving which was wont to be among wrastlers in their solemn games with sweat pains and trouble but it being so compounded as in this place it importeth a more renowned and famous contention than ordinary It is not agreed by all wherein the force of the composition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 consisteth Some conceive that thereby the Apostle intends they should add one kind of contention to another as possibly an open professed to an inward and secret contention Others that the Apostle would have them