that occasioned my conversion who taught me c. And this may clearly be gathered out of Scripture 1. For if Adam before the fall had that measure of Illumination That he knew Eve and from whence she came Gen. 2. 23. at the first sight much more we who then shall be filled with the Holy Ghost and with wisdom shall know each other and all the Saints whom we never saw before in the flesh Now we see as through a glass darkly 1 Cor. 13. 12 but then face to face now we know in part but then shall we know even as also we are known 2. If Peter James and John who accompanied Christ in His Transfiguration had then a tast and glimps of glorification and were able thereby to know Moses and Elias whom they had never seen who lived many hundred of years before neither could they know their visage by statues or pictures which was a thing utterly forbidden to the Jews but by the alone grace and favour of God which put into their hearts this immediate light of wisdom and knowledg How much more shall we being fully enlightned and perfectly glorified in heaven know exactly all the blessed ones though never acquainted with them here upon the earth 3. Samuel being inspired by God â— Sam. 9. 17. knew Saul whom he had never seen before 4. John Baptist in his Mother Elizabeth's womb leap'd for joy to Luk. 1. 41. hear the voice of the blessed Virgin the Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ If the minds of these were so enlightned with the beams of the Spirit and did so shall not we much more know each other in heaven when all clouds and mists of darkness shall be wholly taken away and we shall be fully illuminated and glorified 5. Christ tells the Jews That they Luk. 13. 28. shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the Prophets c. in the kingdom of heaven therefore they must know them 6. And it is clearly gathered out of the Parable in Luke 16. 23 24 25 that the Saints do know the Saints in the Kingdom of heaven and the Reprobates in torments do know each other In this knowledg each of other the heap of reward encreaseth For as the Elect do more and more rejoyce when they see those whom they have loved on earth to rejoyce with them so the wicked in Hell when they see whom they dearly loved in this world to be tormented with them not only their own punishment but the punishment of those whom they so much loved in this life adds unto their misery Where-hence we conclude that the glorified Saints then plentifully endu'd with all knowledg and supernaturally enlightned by the Holy Ghost shall know each other and those Saints also whom they never knew in the flesh There all men shall be known of every several man of what Nation Country or stock soever he came and every several man shall be known of all We shall know the spiritual substances offices orders and excellencies of the holy Angels And the nature immortality operations and originals of our own souls yea and all things knowable But above all we shall be beatifically enlightned with a clear and glorious sight of God Himself which Divines call the Beatifical Vision which alone makes us blessed and happy for evermore Beholding the inexpressible glory of God issuing from His glorious Face whereby we shall be wonderfully taken with His Beauty and our souls inwardly ravished with the things that we shall behold with a delight of them and nothing shall be able to make our joys either to faint or to fail Immediately after that Christ hath crowned all the Elect with crowns of glory then every one taking the crown from his head shall lay it down at the feet of Christ prostrating themselves and with one heart and voice in a heavenly harmony shall say Praise and honour glory and power be unto Thee O blessed Lamb who settest upon the Throne Who hast Redeemed us to God by Thy bloud out of every kindred and tongue and Rev. 4. 10. 5. 9. people and nation and hast made us unto our God Kings and Priests to reign with Thee in thy Kingdom for evermore O now let us look and long for this blessed estate and this heavenly City whose builder and maker is God Heb. 11. 10. This was it which St. Paul longed for to be dissolved and to be with Christ Phil. 1. 23. which was best of all Every one would desire this blessed estate Therefore live the life of Grace here else thou 2 Cor. 4. 17 shalt never live the life of Glory hereafter Grace is glory begun and glory is grace consummate Without holiness Heb. 12. 14 none shall see God Into that holy place no unclean thing shall enter Rev. 21. 27. Therefore let us now strive to cleanse our selves from all filthiness both of flesh and spirit endeavoring to perfect holiness in the fear of God In Rome heretofore they must first pass through the Temple of Vertue before they came to the Temple of Honour This honour have all Gods Saints Psal 149. 9. Josh 23 14. And as not one good thing hath failed of all that the Lord promised concerning His Israel So we shall have cause then Psal 37. 24. to say As the Lord hath guided us by His counsel now He hath received us into His glory Therefore blessed be the Psal 72. 18 19 Lord God the God of Israel who only doth wondrous things And blessed be His glorious Name for ever and let the whole world be filled with His glory Amen and Amen Lo this is our God we have waited Isa 25. 9. for Him and He hath saved us this is the Lord we have waited for Him He hath brought us to His glory we will rejoyce and be glad in this His eternal salvation Amen FINIS
heaven and heavenly things It is not said this or that place is the 1 Cor. 10 28. Lords but the earth is the Lords and the fulness thereof Therefore seeing we believe God to be our Father and our heavenly Father so He is able and willing to hear and help us this should moderate our care for the things of this life For if we know our selves to be the children of God then we must also know that God will provide for us As we know in a family the father of the family provideth for all those of his houshold God is the great house-keeper of all the earth He provideth Psal 145. 16. for the Raven his food when his young ones cry to God and wander for lack of meat He giveth to the beast his food Job 38. 41. Psal 147. 9. and to the young Ravens which cry Doth God take care of Beast and Ravens 1 Cor. 9. 9. and will He not much more take care for His Children those of His own Houshold If we should see a young man provide for himself and no one else for him surely we would say his Father is dead even so when a mans care both day and night is set wholly for the things of this life it argues either that God hath cast him off or else that he takes God for no Father of his Again if the Lord doth thus take care of His Children and provideth for them all kind of benefits What a horrid wickedness is it for men to get their living by ungodly means as lying cheating fraud carding dicing and such like exercises If a man were perswaded that God were his Father and would provide sufficiently both for his soul and body so that using lawful means he should ever have enough out of all doubt he would never after the fashion of the world use unlawful and profane means to get a living But this plainly evidenceth that however such men say that God is their Father yet indeed they deny Him Our blessed Saviour in the Fourth Petition of the Lords Prayer teaches us to pray to our heavenly Father to give us this day our dayly bread Where bread by a Synecdoche very usual to the Hebrews signifies all corporal good things necessary for this life as food clothing health peace and such like and also a good use of them Therefore all these good things Christ comprehends under the name of Bread and that for these reasons To bridle our lusts that only bread is to be pray'd for only things necessary for the sustentation of this life whereby we may be the better enabled to serve God and our Neighbour in our Vocation and Calling whether in our general calling as we are Christians or in our particular calling in that place and calling God hath set us in 2. To teach us also to beg of God the wholsom and good use of these outward things So then in the Fourth Petition when we beg Bread of God it signifies 1. Not great riches but only things necessary such a proportion of maintainance credit liberty health wealth Prov. 30. 8. food and rayment c. as is convenient for us And that with condition if God see it fit for us and if it be His good-will and pleasure Which exception is a caution proper to this Petition for outward things 2. We beg hereby that these things may be bread to us that is that by the blessing of God they may be wholsom and good unto us And we beg our bread not anothers that which God sees fir for us which we may call our own God as a Father of a Family distributeth to every one a portion which we beg may be given to us And our bread bread gotten by our own labour and industry that so we may eat the labour of our Psal 128 2. 1 Thes 4. 11. 2 Thes 3. 12. own hands and eat our own bread And so that is called our bread which comes to us by the blessing of God on our lawful endeavours so that neither God nor Man can justly implead us for it And that we may use it with a good conscience and with giving of thanks Let him that stole steal no more but rather Eph. 4. 28. let him work with his own hands that he may have wherewith to give to him that is in want God would have us â—e sure that when He giveth us these good things He gives us power to use and enjoy them and He would not have us to use His gifts as Thieves but freely and with thanks-giving to Him for them Q. Why do we pray for Dayly Bread A. Because God would have us every day to ask so much as is sufficient for us for each day 2. That God may bridle our unsatiable and unruly desires Our Father Mat. 6. 32. knoweth what we have need of A little that a righteous man hath is better than Psal 37. 16. the â—iohes of many wicked No good and needful things shall be wanting to them that fear the Lord. In the proper Psal 34. 10. language of the Spirit of God it is that bread which is fit for me and agreeable to my condition Q. Why do we pray Give us this day A. 1. That we may be taken off from distrust and covetousness 2. That we may depend on God alone and beg things necessary from Him and expect them wholly from Him 3. That the exercise of Faith and Prayer may be daily continued in us 4. We Pray for This day to teach us to Pray for Bread for a day not for a moneth or a year so to teach us for to restrain our care that it reach not too far but to rest on God's Providence and present blessings and so not to be covetous Hereby we profess the moderation of our care and desire of earthly things with our purpose every day by Labour and Prayer to seek these blessings at the hands of God Here also our affections are forbidden to pass measure not to have a carking and troubling care seeing the present Mat. 6. 34. vexation of the day is enough for it self But to commit our ways to God and Psal 37. 5. Prov. 16. 3. to rowle all our matters upon Him who will bring them all to pass So here we see that a moderate appetite and desire of having these earthly things and a moderate care of procuring them is approved and required Eph. 4. 28. 2 Cor. 12. 13 14. that we may not be burdensome but rather helpful unto others There are two extreams hereof we must know that every virtue is a middle between two extreams 1. The first extream is carelessness and neglect of our goods and estate For as he is commended who gathereth in seasonable times so he is much blamed Prov. 10. 5. 6. 6. who neglecteth those opportunities and is censured by the Apostle to be worse than an infidel 1 Tim. 5. 8. 2. The second extream is
18 There is no fear in love c. And also largely to that place Rom. 8. 15 Ye have not received the Spirit of bondage again to fear c. That place in Rev. 21. 8 But the fearful c. shall be cast into the lake of sire c. answered What is that fear of God here commanded farther set down in three particulars Q. What are the special marks of the true fear of God answered in seven particulars Q. What the arguments are to induce us to fear God answered in eight things In way of a conclusion Thirteen sentences about the fear of God Exercitation V. Of waiting upon God upon these words My Soul wait thou only upon God for my expectation is from Him Three ingredients to wait upon God What waiting upon God is Four signs of our waiting upon God Four helps for strengthening us against troubles An explanation out of the Greek of waiting and expectation The manner of our waiting in three things Gods waiting upon us Wait upon God only What expectation is What we expect from God Examples of the miseries of those who would not wait upon God Exercitation VI. The way to salvation repentance and faith On these words Mark 1. 15 Repent ye and believe the Gospel What repentance is Repentance is twofold 1. Legal 2. Evangelical What they both are The signs whereby they may be known Four parts of Evangelical repentance Repentance must be renewed What faith is Five acceptations of faith The object of true saving faith The manner of Gods working of it The absolute necesssity of it in every part of Gods worship Encouragements to labour for it Exercitation VII Holiness on these words Psal 93. 5. Holiness becometh thine house O Lord for ever What Holiness is 1. As applyed to God 2. To believers Our holiness must bear a conformity to Christs holiness in four things What sanctification is The terms from which and to which Two degrees of sanctification Two parts of it The ends of it in two things What we must do that we may be holy Four things thereto Three things to be observed for holiness sake Christ is the principle of our holiness and also the pattern of it the comeliness of holiness Of Gods house How holy it is and how holy we must be A Scriptural Prayer to God for Holiness A farther Encomium and praise of Holiness Exercitation VIII Of Swearing On these words Jer. 23. 9 For because of Oaths the Land mourneth A sad complaint of the over-spreading and greatness of this horrid sin of prophane swearing Of taking Gods name in vain Superstitious and foolish swearing How an Oath is to be taken The parts of an Oath The form of an Oath The end of an Oath The divers kinds of an Oath How an Oath is to be performed Is it lawful for Christians to take an Oath Proved affirmatively by four reasons An exploding the Opinion of the Anabaptists c. by six Arguments By whom we must swear About what things an Oath may be taken Whether all Oaths are to be kept How God in Scripture is said to swear The sum of the third Commandment Six Corollaries Of the government of the tongue Exercitation IX Hardness os heart On these words And Pharaoh hardened his heart at this time also The Plague of hardness of heart Examples of it To harden the heart what it is 1. In reference to God 2. â—o Satan 3. To a mans self Of conscience what it is How did God harden Pharaohs heart and how he did iâ— himself The miseries ensuing hardness of heart Exeroitation X. Of the Sabbath On these words in Exod. 31. 13 14 15 16 17. 20. 8 Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy The necessity of a sabbath The morality of it The excellency of the Moral Law above the Ceremonial or Judicial What the sanctifying of the sabbath is the parts of it A short Paraphrase on Isai 58. 13 14. which is borrowed The strict observation of the sabbath belongs more to us then to the Jews the reasons of the alteration of it How the sabbath is a sign Woe to sabbath prophaners and sabbath idlers The right manner of sanctifying of the sabbath Be not weary of sabbath-duties For Reasons why it is called sabbath The many sabbaths of the Jews formerly Three Reasons why God commands us to observe the sabbath We must lay out our strength in sabbath-duties Exercitation XI Of Patience On these words Luk. 21. 19 In your patience possess ye your souls Of afflictions to the Godly 1. For correction 2. For tryal Inferences upon each Examine for what particular sin God so afflicts Afflictions a sign of Gods love Why afflictions are called temptations What patience is Of impatience The good effects of patience Motives to it The true nature of patience towards God our selves and others Four Arguments to strengthen us in our patience The vices contrary Exercitation XII Pride and humility On these words James 4. 6 God resisteth the proud but giveth grace to the humble What Pride is The parts of Pride How it is shewed Of pride against God and of pride towards men Of the sin of the fallen Angels and of the sin of our first Parents Four helps to subdue pride What grace is Several acceptations of grace A description of humility Humility towards God humility towards men Five means to attain humility towards God Three marks of humility towards men Humility farther described and praised Incitations to humility Some additional notes about pride and humility Fourteen Aphorisms about humility Exercitation XIII Of Care On these words 1 Pet. 5. 10 Casting all your care upon God for He careth for you Seven Arguments against carefulness Twofold care of outward things Worldly cares compared to thorns in four respects Irregular cares are 1. Superfluous 2. Sinful We are to do our duty faithfully and then trust in God who is our Father and the great house-keeper of all the earth The fourth Petition in the Lords Prayer fully explained If we rowl our selves upon God He hath engaged Himself to relieve us Outward things are necessary for us in a threefold respect Rest upon Gods Providence What Gods actual Providence is Of the fate of the heathen Philosophers The parts of Providence Depend upon Providence Wait Gods time Live by faith Be we diligent in our callings The tenderness fidelity and wisdom of Gods Providence The twelve miracles observed about Manna More of Gods Providence and twelve Corollaries thereabout Exercitation XIV Of death judgment hell and heaven On these words Rev. 20. 12. 15 And I saw the dead small and great stand before God and the books were opened and another book was opened which is the book of life and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books according to their works And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire 1. Of death what death is The causes of it The
even so must we be and that in all the faculties and powers of our souls and in all the members of our bodies Let us therefore have holy and heavenly thoughts holy and gracious speeches Let our speeches be always gracious Col. 4. 6. seasoned with salt with the salt of wisdom and discretion that it may Eph. 4. 29. minister Grace unto the hearers that others may be edified and bless God for our holy and religious speeches and discourses And let our affections be set upon heaven Col. 3. 2. Phill. 3. 20. and heavenly things and our conversation be in heaven but the word here rendered conversation is in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a City holding forth thus much that we are Burgesses Citizens free-Denizens of Heaven and therefore it is the property as well as the glory of all holy persons true believers to whom only Heaven belongeth to live in this world as if they were in Heaven already Sith God when we Eph. 2. 5 6. were dead in sins hath quickned us together with Christ and hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus The meaning is thus there is a most strict union between Christ our glorious Head and us His members that which is done to the Head is done and belongeth to all the members therefore the members of Christ's body in right and in virtue of the infallible cause and in certainty and assurance of faith are already raised up and glorified and at the appointed time shall really and effectually be so Thus as members of so blessed an Head in Heaven let us so live in this world as if we were in Heaven already bending all our thoughts and desires all our speeches and actions that way having heavenly thoughts when we are about our earthly and worldly employments And so walk in that way which is called the way of holiness that holiness to the Isai 35. 8. Zeâ—h 14. 20. Lord may be written both on our hearts and foreheads for the Lord hath called us not unto uncleanness but unto holiness that God may establish our hearts unblameable 1 Thess 4. 7. 3. 13. in holiness before Him That our holiness may not be like the righteousness of the Israelites as a morning-cloud and as the early dew that passeth Hos 6. 4. away therefore God threatned them That they should be as a morning-cloud and as the early dew that passeth away as the chaff that is driven with a whirlwind Hos 13. 3. out of the floore and as the smoak out of the Chimney that is they should not be stedfast or established but quickly dispersed and brought to nothing But let us walk as becometh holiness Titus 2. 3. how much soever holiness is slighted and derided by the prophane ungodly wretches of this world yet strive we to go on perfecting holiness in the fear of 2 Cor. 7. 1. God For without holiness no man shall Heb. 12. 14. see the Lord that is to his comfort So that yeilding our members servants Rom. 6. 19 22. to righteousness unto holiness we may have our fruit unto holiness and the end everlasting life To sum up this last briefly Hath God quickned us together with Christ and hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ That is not only so hath done spoken in the Preterperfect tense for the Future tense that He will assuredly do it or that it is as sure as if it were already done for that we do believe But this expression signifieth something more that as we are mystical members of the body of Christ quickned and raised up together with Him and made to sit together in heavenly places in Him How then should we have raised thoughts sanctified affections and a holy and heavenly conversation being cloathed with the long white robes of the Imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ the Sun of Righteousness to have the Moon Rev. 12. 1. which is in the lowest Orb that is all these sublunary and lower earthly things under our feet Therefore what manner of persons ought we to be in all holy conversation and Godliness looking for and hastning unto the coming of the day of God c. And sith we look for such things to be diligent that we 2 Pet. 3. 11 12 14 may be found of Him in peace without spot and blameless Wherefore as we are thus partakers Heb. 3. 1 2. 14. of the holy and heavenly calling let us consider the Apostle and great High Priest of our profession even Jesus the Son of God 6. 20. who as our forerunner is for us entered into the heavens and is gone to prepare a place for us so will He come again and Joh. 17. 17. 19. receive us unto Himself that where He is there we may be also that we may for ever behold the glory which His Father and our Father hath given Him Who when He was here upon earth prayed to His Father to sanctifie us through His truth his word is truth And for our sakes did he sanctifie himself that we also might be sanctified through the truth For both he that sanctifieth and they who Heb. 2. 11 are sanctified are all of one therefore he is not ashamed to call us brethren For our sake did he sanctifie himself the meaning is though He was perfectly holy and sanctified in His humane nature wherein for us He did accomplish all righteousness and all manner of holiness He did consecrate Himself to the death of the Cross to cleanse us from all our sins and to procure for us the gift of the Holy Ghost to regenerate us in a holy and permanent newness of life We are Gods house the Temple â—eb 3. 6. God's house under the Law was overlaid within with pure Gold Let us especially look to our hearts our inward parts and strive to cleanse our 2 Cor. 7. 1. selves from all filthiness of the spirit as well as of the flesh For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts murders adulteries Mat. 15. 19 â—0 c. These are the things which defile a man Oh these heart-wickednesses The heart is as a cage full of unclean birds The heart of man is deceitful Rev. 18. 2. above all things desperately Jer. 17. 9. wicked who can know it Let us give our hearts to God as He Prov. 23. 26. commands us For the Lord searcheth the heart and tryeth the reins and hath 1 Chron. 29. 17. pleasure in uprightness God is the great heart-maker He must be the heart-mender Go to God in these or the like expressions and pray O create in me a clean heart O Psal 51. 10. God and renew a right spirit within me Let my heart be perfect with Thee 1 Kin. 8. 61. that I may walk before Thee in truth in righteousness and in
their hearts God will rent the caul â—oâ— â—â— 3. of their hearts consume and destroy them Humility is to acknowledg that all the good things which are in us or done by us are not from any worth or excellency in our selves but meekly from the free-grace and goodness of God And so from the acknowledgment of His Divine Majesty and our own frailty and unworthiness to submit our selves wholly to God to give glory of all those good things in us to Him alone and so truely to fear God to acknowledge and deplore all our sins wants and weaknesses not to desire great things or high places but to contain our selves within our own place and callings not resting on our own endowments but wholly on Gods help not to despise others in comparison of our selves nor hindering them in the performance of their duties but to acknowledge that others are and may be as worthy instruments of Gods glory as our selves and so to give them honour and respect accordingly Not to affect excellency above others but to be content with our place and those gifts which God hath given us and to employ all our gifts and studies and parts to Gods glory and the good of our Neighbours not to murmur against God if we are frustrated of our hope if we are contemned and despised of some but in all things to give unto God the praise of His Wisdom and Justice This is the practice of an humble man Job 22 29. When men are cast down then thou shall say there is a lifting up and God will save the humble person He forgetteth Psal 9. 12. not the cry of the humble He will Psal 10. 17. hear the desire of the humble A mans pride shall bring him low but honour shall uphold the humble in spirit It is Prov. 29. 23. Prov. 16. 19. better to be of an humble spirit with the lowly than to divide the spoil with the proud God said by Moses to Pharaoh How Exod. 10. 3. long wilt thou refuse to humble thy self before Me When he had so many Plagues and Judgments upon him yet he did not humble himself but his heart and the hearts of his servants were not humbled therefore they were utterly destroy'd and consum'd and sunk like a stone in those mighty waters of the Red-Sea So God brought them low Now these things are written for our 1 Cor. 10. 11. 7. 8. admonition that we should not be proud and stubborn haughty and rebellious c. as they were lest God pour down His vengeance and judgments on us likewise The humble shall see and be glad Psal 34. 2. and consider it their heart shall live that seek God O consider this ye that proudly forget God lest He tear you in pieces and Psal 50. 22. there be none to deliver yet there is hope for all this if thou wilt humble thy self and pray and seek the face of God and turn from thy wicked wayes then 2 Chron. 7. 14. Isai 55. 7. will the Lord hear from heaven and will pardon thy sins and will have mercy upon thee For God resisteth the proud but giveth grace to the humble Humility makes men like to the holy Addition Angels but Pride made those become Devils that were Angels Pride was born in Heaven and as if it had forgotten which way it fell there-hence it can never return thither again Pride is the very beginning and end and cause of all Sin it is the root of all evil and Mistress and Queen of all other vices Other vices do only oppose and fight against those virtues which they are contrary unto as Drunkenness warreth against Sobriety Anger against Patience Wantonness and Whoredom against Chastity c. but Pride lifâ—eth up it self against all virtues and like a general and pestiferous Disease corrupts them all One said well there are four things draw the Chariot of Pride 1. Desire of Dominion 2. Love of ones own praise 3. Contempt of others 4. Disobedience And the wheels of this Chariot are boasting and arrogancy multitude of words and levity The Chariot-driver is the spirit of Pride and all they that are lovers of this present world are carried in this Chariot the horses of this Chariot are unbridled the wheels are very slippery the Chariot-driver very perverse and furious and they that are carried therein very infirm and weak persons Therefore this sin of Pride is to be cut down and grubbed up even at the very roots lest hiddenly and secretly it rising up it grow and increase by our allowing and bearing with it and so become stronger by use and custome much care and watchfulness is required against it Pride overthrew the Tower of Babel confounded our Speech prostrated Goliah hanged Haman slew Nicanor killed Antiochus drowned Pharaoh destroyed Sennacherib made Nebuchadnezar like a beast Herod to be eaten up with worms ruined stately Cities and Palaces and God sets Himself against all proud persons The Heathens could say Nosce teipsum è caelo descendit Know thy self is a saying or an Oracle from Heaven They that know themselves cannot be proud persons for they see so much sinfulness weakness ignorance and infirmities in themselves which kills Self-love that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and makes them even out of conceit with themselves seeing they have nothing but sin in and from themselves Every man of himself is a very Devil having nothing but wickedness in him All the imaginations and thoughts of his heart are only evil continually evil and extreamly evil If Gen. 6. 6â— he hath any good at all in him it is from God He cannot think a good thought as of himself much less speak or do that which is good all our sufficiency is 2 Cor. 3. â— of God Man by the fall of Adam was despoyled of all spiritual and supernatural gifts as faith love righteousness c. so also of all natural gifts as understanding judgment will c. which although they are not taken away yet the uprightness soundness and regularity of them is lost The understanding being filled with darkness and blindness the will with crookedness and perverseness c. yea and all things which belong to the blessed life of the soul are extinguished and lost until by grace of regeneration they are recovered Because Christ restoreth all these things to us therefore they are accounted from another and not from nature and therefore were once taken away Reason was not taken away by the fall but it was exceedingly corrupted and depraved that only foul ruines thereof do now appear The light shined in darkness Joh. 1. 5. and the darkness comprehended it not In the perverted and degenerate nature of man there shine yet some sparks which shew him to be a reasonable creature differing from brutes because he is endued with understanding and yet that light is choaked with great and thick mists of ignorance that it cannot effectually get abroad I might farther
man shall set upon thee to hurt thee It is endless to quote all the texts in the Old and New Testament to this purpose I will only add a few Corollaries 1. God will have glory attributed Corollarâ—â—â— to Him not only as He is the Creator and Upholder of Heaven and Earth but also the most High Wise Just and Great Governor and Directer of all things This is against the Figments of the Bpicureans and Pelagians 2. This Doctrine of Providence may confirm and strengthen our hearts against the Blasphemies of the Manichees and Libertines who say that God willeth sin as it is sin Whereas He willeth the act but not the evil of the act c. 3. Against the Opinion of the Stoicks for all things are govern'd by Gods most free and unchangable Decree 4. Therefore He will be acknowledged and praised by us as the Author Fountain and Worker of all good things for nothing in any creature is or can be of good unto us but by Gods Will affectually working in it and by it 5. Seeing all good things are from God Let us not sacrifice to our own â—â—â— 1. 16. nets or burn incense to our own drag that is not resting in creatures or second causes by which we may be benefited but giving all glory and praise to God to acknowledg the creatures are but instruments and ministers in His hand and by His ordering to do good unto us 6. Sith nothing rashly or casually happeneth to us but all things betide us by Gods most Blessed Just and profitable Decree and Good-will towards us Let us effectually be stirred up by knowing and acknowledging hereof to exercise patience in all our adversities As Psal 39. 9. David said I was dumb and opened not my mouth because Thou hast done it Job 1. 21. And Job the Lord hath taken away blessed be the Name of the Lord. 7. Let our confidence and comfort be sound firm and established in the Lord who will defend and preserve us in the midst of all enemies and dangers moderating and ordering all evils so that they tend to our good and salvation For we know that all things work Rom. 8. 28. together for good to them that love God 8. By all our past and present afflictions let us be bettered and amended Sith not by chance but by God they are inflicted upon us that we may say Psal 119. 71. It is good for me that I have been afflicted c. 9. For future crosses and afflictions seeing they are signs and tokens of Gods anger against sin Let us fear them and strive to avoid them by fleeing and abstaining from sin the cause of them 10. Let us not faint much less despair when we are in dangers troubles or adversities when the outward means of our deliverance fail and the creatures seem to be against us because God is not ty'd to help by them For man lives not by bread alone c. The Mat. 4. 4. 16. 18. gates of Hell shall not prevail c. There 1 Sam. 14. 6. is no restraint to the Lord to save by many or by few He can deliver either by means or without means or against means 11. Seeing all events are ordered by God and no wholsome counsels can be undertaken without Him neither doth any thing please Him but what we undertake according to His Word Let us not be lifted up in confidence of our own wisdom and power c. but demeaning our selves in the fear of God let us pray that all our actions may be directed by Him and so blessed unto us and that we may never depart from His Will revealed unto us And then confidently wait on Him for sâ—ccess 12. Sith we know as before we said God hath a care of all things especially of mankind and most principally of His own Children whom He peculiarly loveth and careth for so as Christ said the hairs of our head Mat. 10. 31. are all number'd and we are of more value than many Sparrows Let us in doing our duty faithfully in our places rest confidently on the Providence of God Casting all our care on Him for He careth for us EXERCITATION THE FOURTEENTH Rev. 20. 12 15 Verses And I saw the dead small and great stand before God and the books were opened and another book was opened which is the book of life and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books according to their works And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire EXpect not a Logical Analysis of the words and a procedure thereon accordingly that I leave to Divines in their Sermons But according to my use in my former Exercitations to chuse out some heads out of the words read and so meditate and dilate upon them And here we may consider these four heads 1 Death 2 Judgment 3 Hell 4 Heaven Accordingly we shall frame our ensuing discourse 1. Death out of these words And I 1 Death saw the dead c. First there must be death before they could be dead 2. Judgment out of these words 2 Judgment Stand before God c. and they were judged c. 3. This Judgment shall be according to their works They that have done good shall go into life everlasting and 3 Heaven they that have done evil into everlasting 4 Hell fire So it is in the Creed of Holy Athanasius And so also in the Apostles Creed I believe that Christ shall come to judg both the quick and dead I believe the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting So also in the Nicene Creed That is everlasting life for the good in heaven and everlasting life for the wicked in hell in those never Mark 9. 44. dying flames where the worm dyeth not and the fire never goeth out First to speak of Death Death is the 1 Death fruit of Sin Sin brings shame misery and death 1. Sin brings shame for before the fall our first Parents were both naked Gen. 2. 25. and were not ashamed But since the fall sin causeth shame in all men and women except those who are come to that height of impudence that they are past shame of whom the Prophet speaks Were they ashamed when they had Jer. 6. 15. committed abomination nay they were not at all ashamed neither could they blush Therefore said the Apostle What Rom. 6. 21. fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed c 2. Sin brings all sorts of miseries calamities losses c. I have wounded them Jer. 30. 14 15. with the wounds of an enemy with the chastisement of a cruel one for the multitude of thine iniquities because thy sins were increased I have done these things unto thee 3. Sin brings death the end of these Rom. 6. 21. things is death So we see that sin guiltiness and
reference to the Soul our duty is to arm our selves against the fear of death as not thinking on the paâ—gs of death which Christ hath sweetned and sanctified to all His but upon that blessed estate that is enjoyed after death And look upon death not as it is seâ— forth in the Law so it is a curse but as it is set forth in the Gospel so it is an entrance into Heaven consider also what God hath promised to the death of the Rev. 14. 13. righteous Blessed are they that die in the Lord for they rest from their labours and their works follow them As we die in the Lord both our Bodies and Souls are really joyned to Christ as it is expressed in the Covenant of Grace and though death make a separation of soul and body yet neither of them are sever'd from Christ our mystical union and conjunction with Christ our Head endures for ever c. God as He Isa 43. 2. is present with us in our sickness so especially will He be with us at our Death when the holy Angels are especially also present with us ready to carry the soul into heaven 2. In reference to the body our duty is To seek to preserve life to recover health as by Diet Physick that is such lawful means and worthy instruments called thereunto and this God requires of us to do 3. Concerning our Neighbour our duty is Reconciliation where any difference is forgiving all men and desiring to be forgiven by them serting our Families in order making our Will which indeed much rather should be in the time of our best health 1 Kings 2. 2. 1 Chron. 28. 9. Gen. 18 19. charging those of our Family to learn believe and obey the true Religion c. Thus let us strive to honour God dying as well as living Now Secondly of the second part 2dly bâ—haviâ—â— Death which is a right behaviour and disposition in Death which is a religious and holy behaviour especially towards God when we are nearer the agonie and pangs of death This religious behaviour contains Three especial duties 1. To Dye in or by Faith relying on Gods special love and mercy iâ— Christ As the Israelites stung with the Num. 21. 8 9. fiery Serpents looked to the brazen Serpent and were cured So we when we find death to draw near and his fiery sting to sting and pierce our hearts then let us fix the eye of a true and lively Faith upon Jesus Christ the true brazen Serpent lifted up and crucifi'd upon the Cross for our sins and for mine in particular and so by death we shall Joh. 3. 14 15 never perish but have everlasting life 2dly To dye in obedience to God As we must live in obedience to God's Cammandments so must we dye be ready willing to go out of the world whensoever God calls us and that withour murmuring or repining Imitating our blessed Saviour who said Father not my will but Thy will be Mat. 26. 39. done 3dly The last duty is To resign and render up our Souls into the hands of God as the most faithful keeper So did our Saviour in the very pangs of death when the dissolution of soul Luk. 23. 46. and body drew on He said Father into Thy hands I commit My Spirit and so gave up the Ghost So Stephen when he Acts 7. 59. was ston'd to death said Lord Jesus receive my spirit And so being dead Joh. 11. 11. Acts 7. 60. 1 Thes 4. 13. sob 7. 21. we are said to sleep which is by a Synechdoche part for the whole For the body only lyes in the earth Now I shall sleep in the dust that is my body only Let us then not fear death Christ hath taken away the sting of it from all true believers He hath sweetned it unto us and made it only a passage to our Fathers house And I saw the dead small and great stand before God that is all without exception shall personally appear before God and come to Judgment of what degree rank estate or condition soever whether Emperours Kings Princes or Beggars then there will be no distinction of persons we must all nakedly appear before this Tribunal we must all appear before the Judgment-Seat of Christ That every 2 Cor. 5. 10. one may receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad Observe the placing of the words small and great the small are put before the great to shew that there will be then no distinction of persons as I said before but all must promiscuously appear before God Then the high and great wicked ones who here through the pride of their countenance will not seek after God God was not in Psal 10. 4. all their thoughts except to swear by His Name or to curse God dam me but rather they think on their father Joh. 8. 44. Psal 2. 3. Jer. 5. 5. the Devil whose works they do and drink healths to him and wish the Devil take them so running on in the practice of all wickedness that no cords or bonds will hold them They altogether break the yoke and burst the bonds All Laws both Divine and Humane they trample under foot But then when the holy Angels shall most powerfully gather together from all quarters of the Earth and Sea all men and set them before the Judg even Jesus Christ from whose faâ—e the heaven Rev. 20. 11. 6. 14 15. 16. and the earth do â—ly away c. denoting the terror and Majesty of the Judg Himself when there shall be such a conclusion of all things Then those high ruffing Gallants will strive to hide themselves in Caves and Rocks of the mountains and cry to the mountains and rocks to fall on them and hide them from the face of Him that setteth upon the Throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. But all in vain for there is no hiding-place but all must appear and Heb. 4. 13. that before Him before whom all things are naked and open and so must be judged according to their works Which brings us to the Second Head that is Judgment I need not prove that there shall be 2. Judgment a Judgment although there are several reasons for it besides the dictates of our own Consciences it is an Article of our Faith And many places both in the Old and also in the New-Testament confirm it For brevity sake I will only cite the Texts and leave them to be read out of the Bible Read Dan. 7. 9 10. Jude 14. 15. Christ's Sermon in Matthew 24 25 Chapters Acts 17. 31. and 1 Thes 4. 16. Heb. â— 27. Now next to speak what this last Judgment is In the end of the world Christ the What is this Judgment Judg shall descend from Heaven in the Clouds in the Glory and Majesty of His Father with His holy Angels and all men shall
that hideous cry Art thou come to torment us before the time This terrible fire these hideous torments prepared for the Devil and his Angels all wicked Mat. 25. 41. men must enter into and remain in and and that for ever Oh that dreadful word Eternity never never to have end The damned might think themselves some ways mitigated to endure these horrible pains and extremest horrors more millions of years than there be sands on the Sea-shore or stars in the firmament c. they would still comfort themselves with thinking that their misery will once have an end But alas this amazing word Never will rend their heart in pieces with much rage and hideous roaring and give still new-life to those insufferable pains and sorrows which infinitely exceed all expression or imagination There are in Hell both Corporal and Spiritual plagues and torments The punishment of loss and the punishment of sense 1. The pain of loss the privation of Gods glorious presence and eternal separation from those everlasting joys happiness and blessedness in Heaven which is a most unutterable and inexpressible torment 2. The pain of sense the extremity exquisiteness and perpetuity thereof no tongue can possibly express or heart of man conceive It doth not only exceed with an incomparable disproportion all possibility of patience and resistance but also even ability to bear it And yet notwithstanding it must of necessity be born so long as God is God They shall weep to see how that weeping it self can nothing prevail yea in weeping they shall weep more tears than there is water in the Sea for the water of the Sea is finite but the weeping of the reprobates shall be infinite Their Consciences shall ever sting them like an Adder when they think how God used all means for their Salvation how Christ wooed them by His Ministers to be reconciled unto God 2 Cor. 5. 20. offering them freely remission of sins and the Kingdom of Heaven if they would but believe and repent and how easily they might have obtained mercy in those dayes and yet they suffered the Devil and the World and their unruly lusts to lull them asleep and keep them still in impenitency and unbelief and how the day of mercy and grace is now past and will never dawn again Oh that men and women would timely and seriously think hereupon that they may never come into this place of torment to lye as it were in fire and brimstone kept in the highest flame by the unquenchable wrath of God and that for ever Where they shall have nothing about them but darkness and horror wailing and wringing of hands desparate yellings and gnashing of teeth Their old companions in sin and vanity cursing them with much rage and bitterness wicked Devils insulting over them with Hellish cruelty and scorn the never-dying worm of conscience feeding upon their Soul and flesh for ever and ever the smoak of their Rev. 14. 11. torments ascending also to all eternity This is the estate of the reprobates in Hell this is the second death the general perfect fulness of all cursedness and misery 4. Come we to the last head mentioned 4 Heaven Heaven When Christ by His Almighty power and Ministry of His Angels hath cast the Devils and all the reprobates into hell the righteous Psal 58. 10. shall rejoyce to see the vengeance and glorifie God in the confusion of His enemies and have cause then to say Verily there is a reward for the righteous verse 11. verily there is a God that judgeth in the earth Then the elect shall be by Christ carried up into Heaven and put in possession of His glorious Kingdom where they shall be unspeakably and everlastingly blessed and glorious in 1 Cor. 13. 10 12. Body and Soul Being freed from all imperfections and infirmities yea from such graces as imply imperfection as Faith Hope Repentance c. and endued with perfect Wisdom and Holiness possessed with all those rivers of pleasures Psal 16. 11. Rev. 3. 21. 2 Tim. 4. 8. 2 Pet. 3. 13. Psal 17. 16. 1 Thess 4. 17. Heb. 12. 22. which are at Gods right hand seated as Princes in thrones of Majesty Crowned with crowns of glory possessing the new-heaven and new-earth wherein dwelleth righteousness beholding and being filled with the fruition and enjoyment of the glorious presence of God and of the Lamb Jesus Christ in the company of innumerable Angels and holy Saints c. The efficient cause of this eternal blessed life generally is the whole Trinity But especially the Lord Jesus Christ who by His merits hath obtained it for us and by His effectual Power gives it unto us Hence He is called the eternal Father or rather the Father Isa 9. 6. of Eternity And the Lord our righteousness Jer. 23. 6. And He also calls Himself metonimically I am the life John 14. 6. This eternal happiness shall be clearly seen by our freedom from all evil both of sin and suffering and by the variety greatness and eternity of all joys and happiness God shall wipe away all tears from our eyes and there shall be Rev. 21. 4. no more death neither sorrow nor crying neither shall there be any more pain for the former things are passed away The variety of those Heavenly joys may farther appear and be seen in these following particulars 1. In the glorification of the whole man both Body and Soul 2. In the pleasantness and sweetness of those Heavenly mansions 3. In the blessed Society of the Angels and Saints 4. But above all in our communion with God To insist briefly upon these The variety of Heavenly joys appear 1. In the glorification of our whole man 1. Our bodies shall be endued with impassibility that is never capable to suffer more with nimbleness and agility with subtility and clearness shining as the light and as the Dan. 12. 3. brightness of the firmament and as the stars for ever and ever and fashioned like to Christs glorious body 2. Our Phil. 3. 21. Souls shall be far more perfect then shall we have understanding without error light without darkness wisdom without ignorance reason without obscurity memory without forgetfulness c. 2. The pleasantness and sweetness of these Heavenly mansions was shadowed by the temple of Solomon and the New-Jerusalem Glorious things are spoken Revel 20. 10 to 27. Psal 87. 3. of thee O thou city of God 3. The blessed Society of Saints and Angels we shall not only have a communion Mat 22. 30. Luk. 28. 36. with them but we shall be as Angels 4. The communion we shall have with God shall be such as we shall see Him without end love Him for ever and praise Him without weariness In Psal 16. 11. whose presence is fulness of joy and at whose right-hand are pleasures for evermore God so of His gracious good will distributeth glory that none shall have cause of