necessities in this world Christ saith vnto them Luk. 12.31 Feare not litle flocke for it is your fathers pleasure to giue you the kingdome and what greater preferment can they looke for Yea which is more that which but one can haue in a Realme here euery one shall be as a king Else how should it be true which wee read Reue. 3.11 Behold I come shortly hold that which thou hast that no man take thy crowne And that which the Apostle speaketh of himself 2. Tim. 4.7 I haue fought a good fight and haue finished my course For henceforth is laid vp for me the crowne of righteousnesse And the 24. Elders cast down their crowns before the throne of God Reue. 4.10 Earthly Princes want no worldly ioyes and they that weare crowns in heauen shall far more abound in all happinesse Those ioies which are highest on earth are of least account in heauen for all shall be crowned According to the speech of the Apostle 2. Tim. 4. Henceforth is laid vp for me the crowne of righteousnesse which the Lord the righteous iudge shall giue not to mee onely but vnto all them also that loue his appearing The place of Ierusalem where God would be worshipped which was in king Salomons time is now there which we do call the holy land which in times past was so famous that all nations had recourse thither And because of Gods worship and seruice and his manifold gracious blessings powred vpon that place therefore is the kingdome of heauen compared to this and called the new Ierusalem Likewise also Canaan that plentifull land which flowed with milke and honey which was the land that was promised to the people of Israel is compared to this heauenly habitation But as many dyed short of it and neuer entred into the land of Canaan some for murmuring some for whoredome some for idolatrie some for one offence some for an other So although wee heare of the ioyes of heauen and of this new Cittie and many would enter therein yet for their manifold offences in this time of our life in this time of our triall many are debarred from thence and fewe there are that are made the citizens of heauen Thus much for the place now for the commodities The heauenly ioyes of the soule The commodities which belong to this heauenly Ierusalem are first concerning the soule beeing the principall part of man Secondarily as touching the body for the body beeing ioyned vnto the soule shal be partaker of this inestimable happinesse that both in body and in soule the whole man may receiue his full perfection And whereas it is the chiefest delight of a godly minde to serue GOD especially in the Church and in the congregation in this celestiall Ierusalem there shall bee no Temple no Church And I sawe no Temple therein How then why the presence of GOD himselfe shall bee vnto them in stead of a Temple and Church For the Lord God Almightie the lambe are the Temple of it Thus in the presence of God shal be all happinesse and at his right hand there are pleasures for euermore And as it is said that the 24. Elders fel down before him that fate on the throne and worshipped him that liueth for euermore and cast their crowns before the throne so shall the Saints in heauen continually sing forth Gods praises Reue. 4.10 and 14.1 The hundred fortie and foure thousand which had the name of God in their foreheads did sing a new song before the throne and no man could learne that song but the hundred fortie and foure thousand which were redeemed from the earth Reue. 7. And there were that were cloathed in long white garments hauing palmes in theyr hands which cryed with a loud◠voyce saying Saluation be ascribed to him that fitteth vpon the seate of our God And all the Angels stood in the compasse of the seate which fell before the seate on their faces and worshipped God saying Amen Blessing and glory and wisedome and thankes and honour and power and might be vnto our God for euermore Now shall the minde heart thought and imagination of those that are thus blessed bee filled with all aboundance of spirituall comfort For now wee see as it were through a glasse but then shall wee see face to face Reue. 22.4 Then shall all errour and darknesse of ignorance bee vtterly taken away then shall wee not desire as now we doo in this life to see God as the Prophet Dauid speaketh My soule thirsteth after thee Like 〈…〉 Hart desireth the water brookes so 〈…〉 my soule after thee O God My soule 〈◊〉 athirst for God yea euen for the liuing God when shall I come to appeare before the presence of God At that time shall all our desires be fully satisfied And that which was denied the Prophet Moses to see the glory of God in this life Exo. 33.20 shall then be graunted to euery one that there shal be placed The griefe of minde and sorrowe of heart shall then be vtterly remoued no weeping no mourning no lamentation to be heard throghout that holy mountaine Behold saith the Prophet Esay in the person of God Chap. 65.13 My seruants shall reioyce and sing for ioy of heart I will ioy in my people and the voyce of weeping shall be no more heard nor the voyce of crying Reue. 21.4 For God shall wipe away all teares from their eyes and there shal be no sorrowe nor any more paine for the first things are past that is those things which wee suffred in this life shall not molest any more Then shall sorrow be neuer felt complaint shall neuer be heard matter of sadnesse shall neuer be seene neither shall euill successe at any time be feared No cause of feare no cause of griefe for that they shal possesse thee O Lord which art the perfection of their felicitie In him shall wee finde all knowledge all wisedome all bewtie all riches all nobilitie all goodnesse all delight and whasoeuer besides eyther deserueth loue and admiration or worketh pleasure and contentation All the powers of the minde shall be filled with the sight and presence and fruition of GOD all the sences of our body shall bee satisfied GOD shall bee the vniuersall felicitie of all his Saints containing in himselfe all particular felicities without ende number or measure He shal be a glasse to our eyes musicke to our eares hony to our mouthes most sweete and pleasant balme to our smell hee shall be light to our vnderstanding contentation to our will continuation of eternitie to our memory In him shall we enioy al the varietie of times that delight vs here and all the pleasures and ioyes that content vs here Finally the soule shall bee restored to the Image of of God in full measure and be throghly adorned with all righteousnes holinesse all heauenly and spiritual graces The heauenly ioyes of the body The commodities and priuiledges of the body also thus vnited to the
and a fleshly paradice to inhabit and sensual men haue imagined the ioyes the heauen according to their sensual delights yet to them that haue any sence and reason it canot chuse but seeme to end all in a fable These ioyes are seene in Princes courts these ioyes are seene in the Turkissh kingdome but the ioyes of heauen are such that no eye hath euer seene them But to leaue these deceiued Turkes to their false and fained ioyes let vs consider what other haue imagined not much vnlike to this Which is expressed by way of cōparison of a poore mans miserable estate suddenly changed into most vnlooked for happinesse whereby the ioyes of an other life may appeare by the miseries of this life As if a poore man that were out of his way wandring alone vpon the mountaines in the midst of a darke and tempestuous night farre from company destitute of money beaten with raine terrified with thunder stiffe with colde wearied out with labour almost famished with hunger and thirst and neare brought vnto dispaire with multitude of miseries shuld vpon the suddain and in the twinckling of an eye This chāge is sudden and vnlooked for be placed in a goodly large and rich pallace furnished with all kind of cleare lights warme fire sweet smels daintie meates soft beds pleasant musicke fine apparell and honorable company all prepared for him and attēding his cōming to serue him to honor him and to annoynt crown him a king for euer Behold that miseries of this life the Ioyes of an other yet is this but an imagination and the wit and wisedome of man can deuice a great deale more and yet all are farre inferiour in degree to those true ioyes that hereafter shall be found See how the inuētiōs of mē blinded with their naturall conceits run all vpon outward comforts and sensuall ioyes all for the body and as for the soule that is not once remembred Now from the deuice◠inuentions and imaginations of men all which come nothing neare to the effect of this matter let vs now come to the Reuelation of the Scripture and if any where this blessed estate be to be found we shall read it in the Booke of the Reuelation Wherein although many things bee hard and intricate and passing mans vnderstanding yet is this matter liuely described after a measure and in a sort vnder the name of the citie of God and the heauenly Ierusalē And strāge it is that those matters that neither eye hath seene nor eare hath heard nor euer entred into the heart of man should so much bee opened and reuealed as there we may read Reue. 21. First thē let vs speak cōcerning the place The description of the place where these ioyes are to be found vnder the name of Ierusalem then concerning the commodities therto appertaining The place is heauenly Ierusalem the citie of God the land of the elect which the Apostle describeth after this sort And I Iohn saith he sawe the holy citie new Ierusalem come downe from God out of heauen prepared as a bride trimmed for her husband Whereof the Prophet Isay speaketh in the person of God Chap. 65.17 For loe I will create new heauens and a new earth and the former shall not be remembred nor come into minde But bee you glad and reioyce for euer in the things that I shall create For I behold I will create Ierusalem as a reioycing and her people as a ioy And I will reioyce in Ierusalem and ioy in my people and the voyce of weeping shall be no more heard in her nor the voyce of crying Likewise in the Epistle to the Heb. 12.22 we may behold the blessed estate of those that shall enioy the life to come Ye are come to the mount Sion and to the Citie of the liuing God the celestiall Ierusalem and to the company of innumerable Angels and to the congregation of the first borne which are written in heauen and to God the Iudge of all and to the spirits of iust and perfect men and to Iesus the mediator of the new testament And how this heauenly Citie and new Ierusalem is described we may read it notably set downe in the Reue. 21. Where by diuers earthly similitudes the glory thereof is shadowed setting foorth the same by those things which make earthly Cities famous and admirable as the compasse and height of the walles and stately building the gorgious furniture thereof Iewels and precious stones pleasant riuers and the tree of life in the midst thereof no night in the Citie But let vs behold the order and frame of this citie as we may read in the aforesaid 21. chap. of the Reuelation whither still I referre you The matter declared is as followeth beginning at the 12. verse of the Chapter This Citie Ierusalem had a great wall and a high and had twelue gates The Church disperced through the wordld Therefore the gates East West North South and at the gates twelue Angels and the names written which are the twelue Tribes of the children of Israel On the East part there were three gates and on the North side three gates and on the South side three gates and on the West side three gates And the wall of the Citie had twelue foundations and in them the names of the lambes 12. Apostles And the citie lay foure square and the length is as large as the bredth of it and the length and the breadth and the height of it are equall And the building of the wall of it was of Iasper and the foundations of the wall of the Citie were garnished with all maner of precious stones And the twelue gates were 12. pearles and euery gate is of one pearle and the streete of the citie is pure gold as shining glasse The names of the precious stones are further there recited You see in these words how glorious this citie of God is the walles of Iasper the foundations of precious stones the gates of Pearles the pauement of pure gold And if the walles streetes and gates bee such how much more ioyfull comfortable and incredible are those things within the citie for wee must perswade our selues that there are many hidden treasures and matters of farre more account Many things spoken of the outward place but those things which are within are vnsearchable According to that we read Reue. 2.17 To him that ouercommeth will I giue to eate of the Manna that is hid and will giue him a white stone and in the stone a new name written which no man knoweth sauing he that receiueth it So secret and hidden are the things within the citie This Ierusalē is also called a kingdome Luk. 22.29 Therefore saith Christ I appoynt to you a kingdome as my father hath appointed vnto me that ye may eate and drinke at my table in my kingdome and sit on seates and iudge the 12. Tribes of Israel And to cōfort the godly in all wants distresses and
TWO TREATISES One of the Latter day of Iudgement The other of the Ioyes of Heauen 1. Cor. 15.52 In a moment in the twinckling of an eye shall the Trumpet blow and the dead shal be raised and we shal be chaunged that are found aliue Mat. 24.22 Except those dayes should bee shortened no flesh should be saued but for the elects sake those dayes shal be shortned Imprinted at London by Thomas Creed and are to be solde at his house in the Olde Change at the signe of the Eagle and Childe 1600. The Epistle to the Reader GEntle Reader my desire hath bene of a long time to set downe vnto thee the Excellent the Decaied and the Restored Estate of man if by Gods grace I might or may as yet in good time performe it Wherof I haue finished a great part the which if God giue good successe in due time shall be added to that which is alreadie published wherein I haue set downe the Excellent Estate of man by declaring how God created him after his Image The thing that I haue aimed at both in that and this or any thing else that hereafter I shall do is only to profit and to do good And therefore at this time and according to this time and troublesome dangerous dayes of this world prognosticating the vtter ruine and decay thereof I haue thought good by this Treatise of the Latter Iudgement to put you in remembrance that you may be ready and prepared when the Trumpet shall blowe and when we shall be called to our account That euery one of vs in the meane time may haue this in our minde and in our mouth Good Lord prepare vs to thy kingdom and shorten the daies of sinne Ezekias desired to haue his dayes prolonged And vnto Iosias it was pronounced for a blessing that his time should be shortned Which of these two was the better choyce that I leaue to thy resolutiō perswading thee to that which I take to be best Suprema cogita Cor sit in aethere Foelix qui potuit mundum contemnere Thine to his power S. I. A TREATISE OF the latter day of iudgement Act. 10.36 to 43. Ye know the word which God hath sent to the children of Israel preaching peace by Iesus Christ which is Lord of all Euen the word which came through all Iudea beginning in Galile after the Baptisme which Iohn preached To wit how God annointed Iesus of Nazareth with the holy Ghost and with power who went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the diuell for God was with him And wee are witnesses of all things which hee did both in the land of the Iewes and in Ierusalem whom they slew hanging him on a tree Him God raised vp the third day and caused that he was shewed openly not to all the people but vnto the witnesses chosen before of God euen to vs which did eate and drinke with him after he arose from the dead And he commaunded vs to preach vnto the people to testifie that it is hee that is ordained of God a Iudge of quicke and dead EVery one no doubt is desirous to know what shall bee done at the latter day at the day of doome and iudgement A doctrine very necessary to them that haue any care of themselues and of their owne saluation and very profitable also to prouoke vs to the loue knowledge and feare of God And so much the more profitable and necessary it is by how much the nearer that day is at hand and approacheth beeing as our Sauiour Christ saith hard at the doores Concerning these words which I haue read vnto you I shall require you to haue regard vnto these principall matters First what is the cause why this generall iudgement shal be Diuision Secondly the declaration of this iudgement Thirdly who shall be the iudge Lastly how it pertaineth to the wicked to the godly wherunto I haue thought good to ad an exhortatiō the better to be prepared The cause wherfore Christ shal come to iudgement principally is no other but that which procured death vnto vs and the last generall iudgement shall make that matter more certain not only that this bodily death which is a seperation of our soule body for a time shal not serue the turne be inough to satisfie that punishment which we haue deserued but also that some shall be deliuered to eternal death both of body and soule as indeed we should be all in that estate were it not for the benefite of Christ his death The sinne transgression of Adam as also the sins and transgressions of vs al was is the cause why God is displeased with vs and why his wrath is vpon vs and why we are subiect vnto death and why wee shall appeare before the iudgement seate of God Psal 90.9 For when thou art angry saith the Prophet All our dayes are gone we bring our yeares to an end as it were a tale that is told wee consume away in thy displeasure Thou wilt set our misdeeds before thee and our secret sinnes in the sight of thy countenance Our misdeeds haue procured death had not Christ died for vs and rose againe from death to deliuer vs from feare They were the cause why we were shut out from heauen had not Christ ascended vp into heauen to procure vs an entrance they had brought vs to the fearefull iudgement of God and to the heauy and wofull sentence of euerlasting condemnation and endlesse destruction if by the meanes of our Sauiour Christ we might not be deliuered from it For when we were at hell gates and appointed to destruction he came with this ioyfull message Come againe ye children of men As indeed his first comming here on earth was to saue and not to destroy and to call sinners to repentance that they might bee receiued into the fauour of God and haue their sinnes forgiuen them but this his second comming at the latter end of the world shall be to iudge to tender vengeance and to destroy those sinners who in this life were against his glory and their owne saluation to call them now to account whom when time was he called to repentance and who now shall be punished by the extremitie of the wrath of God Who if they had well regarded it in their life time might haue bene receiued into fauour their sinnes being forgiuen so that at the day of iudgement they should not haue beene put to any hazard for them nor ventured the daunger of losse of body and soule for them Here in this life they might haue escaped that which in that day they shall not be able to auoyd We see in all well ordered Realmes that if it were not for offences committed and for the manifold outrages of robbers theeues and murderers the Iudges needed not ride their circuit neither shuld there be any iudgement heard of But as before that man had disobeied God this sentence was
say they is a day of blacknes darknes the earth shal tremble before him the heauens shall shake the Sun the Moone shal be dark and the stars shal withdraw their shining This day is great and very terrible and who can abide it it commeth cruelly with wrath as fierce anger and hee shall destroy the sinners out of the earth And because the world should haue some time to forethink themselues our Sauiour Christ hath giuen some warning by the signes that shall come before this iudgement day As that there shall be false reachers abroad in the world who shal deceiue if it were possible the very elect and chose children of God Math. 24.24 Warres and seditions Nation shall rise against Nation and Kingdome against Kingdome the father in matters of religion shal be against the sonne and the sonne against the father the mother against the daughter one friend against an other great earthquakes in diuers places hunger pestilence bitter persecution of them that shall professe Christ and his Gospell Charitie shall waxe cold among men men shall leade a leaud and sinfull life altogether carelesse of the Iudgement to come The Gospell shall be published and fewe shal regard it it shall bee preached through the whole world for a witnesse vnto all Nations to make them without all excuse and then shall the end come Feareful things shall be seene the sea and the waters shall roare and mens hearts shall faile them for feare and for looking after those things which shal come on the world The Sunne shall be darkened and the Moone shall not giue her light the starres shal fall from heauen and the powers of heauen shal be shaken wherby the horrible trembling of the world is meant together with the alteration and ouerturning of the whole course of nature And after all these things then shall appeare the signe of the Sunne of man in heauen What effects the signes of the latter day shal worke in the mindes of men The consideration of which signes shall worke diuersly both in the godly and in the wicked For the hearts of the wicked shall be hardned made worse by these signes as King Pharaohs hart by Gods strange punishmēts was more and more hardned vntill the time of his destructiō and that he was vtterly ouerthrowne in the red sea These signes as they shal moue the godly minded partly to repentance in consideration of theyr sinnes and partly to comfort in respect of ioyes to come so the wicked contrariwise shall be giuen to dispaire and to curse the houre that euer they were borne And this is a secret iudgement vpon them that they shall be blinded euen vntill the very houre of their destruction so that when they would seek for remedy there shal be none The godly they wish for the comming of the Lord Come Lord Iesus come quickly for they know that his comming shall end their miseries and begin their ioyes as Christ himselfe doth comfort them Luk. 21.28 And when these things begin to come to passe then looke vp and lift vp your heads for your redemption that is the full accomplishment of the same draweth neare For then as saith the Apostle 1. Thes 4.17 Shall wee bee caught in the cloudes to meete the Lord in the aire and so shall we be euer with the Lord. The last circumstance of this iudgement is Sudden that it shall come vpon the sudden and that most fearefully to the wicked 1. Thes 5.3 For when they shall say peace peace and all in safetie then shal come vpon them sudden destruction as the trauel vpon a woman with child and they shall not escape As it fell out to the rich man in the Gospell Luk. 12.20 Soule saith he take thy ease eat and drinke take thy pastime for thou hast much good laid vp for many yeares But he heard doleful words O foole this night will they fetch away thy soule from thee Or as when Nabuchadnezer vaunted himselfe of his stately buildings a fearefull voyce came suddenly vnto him O King Nabuchadnezer to thee be it spoken thy kingdome is departed from thee Or as when his sonne King Belshasar Dan. 5.6 feasting and hanquetting among his Concubines suddenly there appeared a hand writing vpon a wall declaring the end of his Kingdome and his death This sudden destruction shall worthily fall vpon them who haue made a mock of this iudgement who then shall feele the dint of Gods reuenging sword and they that imboldned themselues in all wicked waies and euill naughtie practises shall then know how far they went a stray The wicked whom no lawe could refraine from their licentious life and who haue died to the sight of men in peace after they haue long enioyed their lusts and diuers pleasures after much violence and wrong which they haue offered after many misdeeds which mans lawes should haue corrected and yet let passe although they haue escaped the iudgement of man yet then shall they receiue according to their deedes But to the good and well disposed it is a watch-word when they heare that the Iudgement day shall be vpon a sudden Let vs therefore with the fiue wise virgins haue oyle in our Lampes remembring Christ his forewarning That which I say vnto you I say vnto all men watch And so much briefly for the second part of the diuision of this Text namely of the description and declaration of the latter Iudgement Who shall be the Iudge The third generall matter which I proposed vnto you was concerning the Iudge and who it should be And as it was said of the Iudgement that it should be sudden so also shall the comming of the Iudge be Mat. 24.27 For as the lightning commeth out of the East and shineth into the West so shall also the comming of the sonne of man be He that was equall with God and tooke vpon him the shape of a seruant hee that was abased despised and persecuted of sinfull men hee shall come in power and great glory to iudge the world and to be reuenged of his enemies He whom God hath placed at his right hand farre aboue all principallitie power might domination and euery name that is named not in this world onely but also in that that is to come hee it is that is ordained of God a Iudge of quicke and dead Whose comming shall not be as at the first poorely and basely but with great maiestie and after a most glorious wonderfull and most dreadfull maner He shall descend from heauen not to come downe on the earth but to sit on the cloudes as his tribunall seate and throne of Iudgement hee shall come with a shout and a maruellous great noise with the voyce of the Archangel and with the sound of the last Trumpet For the Trumpet shall blowe and the dead shall be raised 1. Cor. 15. and hee shall shewe himselfe with thousands of his mighty Angels and that in flaming fire rendring vengeance vnto them