World and does provide for himself lasting Comforts and faithful Companions which will never leave him nor forsake him a Happiness large as his Desires and Durable and Immortal as his Soul Let us then do all the good that possibly we can whilst we have opportunity Let us serve God industriously and with all our Might knowing that no good Action that we do shall be lost and fall to the ground that no Grace and Virtue that we Practise in this Life nor any Degree of them shall lose their Reward If we faithfully improve the Talents which are committed to us to our Masters advantage when he comes to call us to an Account and finds that we have done so we shall not fail to receive both his Approbation and Reward And what a Comfort will it be to any one of us to hear those Blessed words from the Mouth of our Lord Well done thou good and faithful servant thou hast been faithful in a little I will make thee ruler over much enter thou into the joy of thy Lord We shall not need to plead our Services to him and put him in Mind of them Our Judge himself will celebrate our good Deeds upon the Theatre of the World and commemorate them to our advantage and interpret every good Office we have done to any of his Poor and Afflicted Members as if it had been a Kindness immediatly done to himself So our Lord represents the Proceedings of the great Judge and King of the World in the great day of Recompence Mat. 25.34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the World For I was an hungred and ye gave me meat I was thirsty and ye gave me drink I was a stranger and ye took me in naked and ye cloathed me I was sick and ye visited me I was in prison and ye came unto me Then shall the righteous answer him saying Lord when saw we thee in any of these circumstances hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and ministred unto thee And the King shall answer and say unto them Verily I say unto you In as much as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my Brethren ye have done it unto me Who would not be ambitious and glad to serve such a Prince who will so benignly Intepret and so bountifully Reward the least Service we do to him III. The Consideration of this should likewise be a great Argument and Support to our Patience under all those Evils and Sufferings and Persecutions which many times attend Good Men in this World They are for the present perhaps very heavy and grievous But there is a time shortly coming when we shall be at ease and perfectly freed from them when we shall find rest from our labours and sufferings when we shall enter into peace and rest in our beds every one walking in his uprightness that is reaping the Comfort and enjoying the Reward of his Sincerity towards God and constant Suffering for his Cause and Truth And therefore it was well said of a Good Man Blessed be God that we are to die because to Good Men that is a certain Remedy of all the Evils of this Life and will unquestionably put an end to them The Grave is a place of Rest and discharge from all Trouble as Job elegantly describes it Chap. 3.17 18 19. There the Wicked cease from troubling there the weary be at rest There the prisoners rest together they hear not the voice of the oppressour The small and the great are there and the Servant is free from his Master So soon as we enter into the other World we are secure against the Pursuit and Danger of all those Evils which Afflicted us in this World and nothing will remain but the joyful remembrance of our Sufferings and the plentiful Reward of our Constancy and Patience under them And the more our Tribulations and Persecutions have abounded the greater will our Comfort and Happiness then be which saith St. Paul is a manifest token a clear demonstration of the righteous judgment of God that ye may be accounted worthy of the kingdom of God for which ye also suffer seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompence to you who are troubled Rest with us when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven with his Mighty Angels 2 Thess 1.5 6 7. IV. The Consideration of the extream Sufferings which are to fall upon the faithful Servants of Christ in the last times and which seem now to be begun in the World should make us very contented to leave this World and glad of any fair Oportunity and Excuse to take our leave of it and to be out of the reach and danger of those violent and more than humane Temptations with which our Faith and Constancy may be assailed Nay to esteem it a particular Grace and Favour of God to us to be taken away from the Evil to come and to prevent if God sees it good those Extremities of Sufferings which are coming upon the World These seem now to be begun in some part of it They in our Neighbour Nation have a bitter Cup put into their hands a Cup of Astonishment to all those that hear of it Whether this be that last and extream Persecution spoken of here by St. John I shall not pretend positively to determine It is plainly distinguish'd in the Visions froth that under the first Beast described Rev. 13. from Verse the first to Verse 11. And Chap. 17. there is a description of the Beast upon which the woman sitteth on whose forehead is a name written Mystery Babylon the Great And this Beast is there said to have seven heads and ten horns which are thus explained by St. John Chap. 17.9 10. And here is the Mind which hath Wisdom the seven Heads are seven Mountains upon which the Woman sitteth and there are seven Kings that is as is generally agreed by Interpreters a succession of seven Governments And Verse 12 13 14. And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten Kings which have received no Kingdoms as yet but receive power as Kings one hour with the Beast These have one mind and shall give their power and strength unto the Beast and shall make war with the Lamb. And Verse 18. And the woman which thou sawest is that great City which reigneth over the Kings of the earth So that this Beast is plainly the Roman Empire and the Woman that sitteth upon her is the great City standing upon seven mountains which reigneth over the Kings of the earth which can be no other than Rome as is agreed by Interpreters on all sides Bellarmine l. 2. c. 2. de Rom. Pontif. confesseth that St. John in the Revelations every where calleth Rome Babylon as Tertullian saith he hath noted and as is plain from Chap. 17. where Babylon is said to
Solomon's Temple which some that were then alive had seen in its glory yet in other respects it should far excel it for the time would come that this second Temple should be graced with the Presence of the Messias which would be a greater Glory to it than all the Riches of Solomon's Temple And this is fully exprest in the words which I have read unto you Thus saith the Lord of hosts Yet once it is a little while and I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land And I will shake all nations and the desire of all nations shall come and I will fill this house with glory saith the Lord of hosts The silver is mine and the gold is mine saith the Lord of hosts The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former saith the Lord of hosts and in this place will I give peace saith the Lord of hosts Now that it is some very great thing which is here foretold and promised for the Honour of this second Temple no Man can doubt that considers in what a solemn manner it is here exprest this great and glorious Title the Lord of hosts being no less than five several times used within the compass of these four Verses the like Instance whereto is not perhaps in the whole Bible Thus saith the Lord of hosts Yet once it is a little while and I will shake the heavens and the earth verse 6. And I will fill this house with glory saith the Lord of hosts verse 7. The silver is mine and the gold is mine saith the Lord of hosts ver 8. And twice ver 9. The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former saith the Lord of hosts and in this place will I give peace saith the Lord of hosts So that by the solemn manner of expressing of it we may imagine that it is some very great thing which is spoken of and such as the like had never been before and such was the incarnation and coming of the Messias I know that the Modern Jews will by no means have this Text to be understood of the Messias and not without cause for he that is spoken of in the Text was to come into the second Temple which hath now been destroyed above 1600 Years ago and they do not believe the Messias to be yet come and therefore whatever shift they make they must interpret this Text of some other Person than the Messias But then it is plain for what Reason they do so it being evident from their own Talmud that the Ancient Jews did understand of the Messias but being harden'd in their Unbelief they pervert all those Texts whereby they might be convinc'd that Jesus our Blessed Saviour was the True Messias And indeed whoever carefully considers the several Expressions and Circumstances of this Prediction cannot understand it of any other To make this Evident I shall explain the several Expressions in the Text Thus saith the Lord of hosts Yet once it is a little while Yet a little while so it is in the Hebrew Yet once more so the LXX render it and so it is quoted from the LXX in the New Testament Heb. 12.26 and this Sense the Hebrew word may likewise bear and our Translation of the Text takes them both in Yet once it is a little while If we take the Words in the first Sense Yet a little while they signifie that God was then beginning those Changes in the World which were to precede and make way for the coming of the Messias This indeed was not till about Four Hundred Years after but a great while before that time God began those Changes in the World which were to prepare the way for his coming and considering the long time which was past from the first promise made to Abraham Four Hundred Years in comparison of that may seem but a little while But I rather choose the latter Sense of this Phrase Yet once more because the Hebrew will bear it and because it is so quoted in the New Testament as if the Prophet had said That God had before done a great thing in the World and accompanied with great Miracles viz. The giving of the Law by Moses which was attended with great Commotions both in Egypt by bringing the People of Israel out from thence with a mighty hand and by destroying the Nations before them whose Land God gave them for a Possession but now he would do one greater thing more the sending of the Messias and the planting of his Religion in the World in order whereunto there should be much greater and more universal Commotions and Changes in the World and more and greater Miracles wrought Yet once more and I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land and I will shake all nations From which Words the Apostle to the Hebrews argues the abolishing of the Jewish Dispensation and the bringing in of another that should be unalterable Heb. 12.27 And this Word Yet once more says the Apostle signifies the removing of those things that are shaken that those things which cannot be shaken way remain And this I shall have occasion to explain more fully in the following parts of this discourse Yet once more I will shake the heavens and the earth c. For the understanding whereof we are to consider That the Hebrews have no one Word whereby to express the World and therefore they do it by an enumeration of the principal Parts of it So Gen. 1. when Moses would express the Creation of the World he says In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth And so St. Peter when he would express the Revolution of all things after the universal Conflagration of the World calls it a new heaven and a new earth 2 Pet. 3.13 Nevertheless we according to his promise look for new heavens and a new earth that is a new World a quite other Frame and State of things than that which we now see And so the Prophet here in the Text to express the great Commotions and Changes that should be in the World before the coming of the Messias says that God will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land that is he would cause great Revolutions in the World there should be great Wars and Confusions and the Empires of the World should pass from one Hand to another And thus we find this very expression interpreted ver 21 22. of this Chapter I will shake the heavens and the earth and I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms and I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the nations And to shew that by shaking the heavens and the earth is meant great Changes in the World and as it were an universal Commotion of it he adds in the Text by way of farther Explication and I will shake all nations And then it follows and the desire of all nations
for his Religion when he cannot be persuaded to live according to it So that by this we may try the Sincerity of our Resolution concerning Martyrdom For what Profession soever Men make he that will not deny himself the Pleasures of Sin and the Advantages of this World for Christ when it comes to the push will never have the Heart to take up his Cross and follow him He that cannot take up a Resolution to live a Saint hath a Demonstration within himself that he is never like to dye a Martyr SERMON X. The Blessedness of Good Men after Death Preached on All-Saints Day REV. XIV 13. And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me Write Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth Yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labours and their works do follow them I Will not trouble you with any nice Dispute about the Author of this Book of the Revelation or the Authority of it VOL. II. tho' both these were sometimes controverted because it is now many Ages since this Book was received into the Canon of the Scriptures as of Divine Authority and as written by St. John Nor shall I at this time enquire into the particular meaning of the several Visions and Predictions contained in it It is confessedly in several parts of it a very obscure Book and there needs no other Argument to satisfie us that it is so than that so many Learned and Inquisitive Persons have given such different Interpretations of several remarkable Passages in it as particularly concerning the slaying of the Two Witnesses and the number of the Beast The words which I have read to you tho' there be some difficulty about the Interpretation of some particular Expressions in them yet in the general Sense and Intendment of them they are very plain being a Solemn Declaration of the Blessed State of Good Men after this Life And that we may take the more notice of them they are brought in with a great deal of Solemn Preparation and Address Serm. X. as it were on purpose to bespeak our attention to them I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me Write Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth And for the greater Confirmation of them the special Testimony of the Spirit is added to the voice from Heaven declaring the Reason why they that die in the Lord are Pronounced to be in so happy a Condition Yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labours and their works do follow them In the handling of these Words I shall First inquire into the particular Sense and Meaning of them Secondly Prosecute the general Intendment of them which I told you is to declare to us the Blessed Estate of those that die in the Lord that is of Saints and Good Men after they are departed this Life First I shall enquire into the particular Sense and Meaning of the Words To the clearing of which nothing will conduce more than to consider the Occasion of them which was briefly this In the Visions of this and the foregoing Chapter is represented to St. John the great Straits that the Christians the true Worshipers of the True God should be reduced to On the one hand they are Threatned with Death or if they be suffered to live they are interdicted all Commerce with Humane Society Chap. 13.15 And he had power to cause that as many as would not worship the Image of the Beast should be killed And Verse 17. That no man may buy or sell save he that had the Mark of the Beast And on the other hand they that do Worship the Beast are Threatned with Damnation Chap. 14.9 10. If any man do worship the Beast the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God and shall be tormented with fire and brimstone So that whenever this should happen it would be a time of great Trial to the sincere Christians being threatned with Extream Persecution on the one hand and Eternal Damnation on the other and therefore it is added in the 12 Verse Here is the Patience of the Saints Here are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus This is represented in St. John's Visions as the last and extremest Persecution of the true Worshipers of God and which should preceed the final Downfall of Babylon And when this should happen then he tells us the Patience of the Saints would be tried to purpose and then it would be seen who are faithful to God and constant to his Truth and upon this immediately follows the Voice from Heaven in the Text And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me Write Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth Yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labours and their works do follow them The main Difficulty of the words depends upon the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from henceforth which Interpreters do variously refer to several parts of the Text. Some by changing the Accent and reading it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 would change the signification of the word into omninò omninò beati sunt they are altogether blessed very happy who die in the Lord. But this is altogether destitute of the Countenance and Warrant of any ancient Copy We will then suppose that the word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and to be rendered as we Translate it from henceforth from this time All the Difficulty is to what part of the Text we are to refer it Some refer it to the word Blessed Blessed from henceforth are the dead which die in the Lord As if from this time and not before the Souls of Good Men were immediately after Death admitted into Heaven which many of the Ancient Fathers thought the Souls of Good Men who died before the coming of Christ were not But then this Blessedness ought to have been dated not from the time of St. John's Vision but of Christ's Ascension according to that of St. Ambrose in the Hymn called Te Deum When thou hadst overcome the sharpness of death thou didst open the Kingdom of Heaven to all Believers Others refer it to dying in the Lord Blessed are the dead that from henceforth die in the Lord. But this hath no peculiar Emphasis in it because they were blessed that died in the Lord before that time Others refer it to the words following concerning the Testimony of the Spirit yea from henceforth saith the Spirit All these Varieties agree in this Sense in general That some special Blessedness is Promised and Declared to those who should die after that time But what that is in Particular is not easie to make out But the most plain and simple Interpretation and that which seems to be most suitable to the Occasion of these words is this that the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from henceforth is to be referred to the whole Sentence thus from henceforth blessed are the
Rule and Government of this inferiour World and this not for his own ease for to Infinite Power nothing can be difficult or troublesom but for their happiness and he therefore employs them in his Work and Service that they may be capable of his Favour and Rewards And that the Angels of God are the great Ministers of his Providence here in the World hath not only been the constant Tradition of all Ages but is very frequently and plainly asserted in Scripture In the Old Testament we often read that God employed his Angels to be the Messengers of his Will and Pleasure to Men and to carry good Tidings and comfortable News to them upon several Occasions As to Abraham to foretel the miraculous Birth of his Son Isaac and afterwards to rescue him from being sacrificed To Jacob when he was so afraid of his Brother Esau To Manoah and his Wife to foretel the Birth of Sampson the great Deliverer of Israel from the Philistines And upon that great Occasion of bringing the People of Israel out of Egypt and conducting them through the Wilderness he sent a great and mighty Angel called the Angel of his Presence to go before them and guide them in their way And the Apostle tells us that the Law was delivered to them upon Mount Sinai by the Disposition of Angels On the other hand God frequently made them the Messengers of his Wrath and Instruments of his Vengeance Thus he sent them to foretel and to execute that terrible Destruction upon Sodom and Gomorrah And he sent a Destroying Angel to brandish his Sword in a visible manner over Jerusalem and to smite them with the Pestilence for David's Sin in Numbring the People And by the Ministry of an Angel he slew in the Camp of the Assyrians in one Night an Hundred and eighty five thousand And Acts 12.23 it is said that the Angel of the Lord smote Herod for receiving the blasphemous Acclamations of the People Nay the Angels shall be the Instruments and Executioners of God's Vengeance upon the Wicked at the Judgment of the great Day So the Judge himself tells us Matth. 13.49 50. So shall it be at the End of the World the Angels shall come forth and sever the wicked from among the just and shall cast them into the furnace of fire there shall he wailing and gnashing of teeth And that particular Angels do preside over Empires and Kingdoms and sway the weighty Affairs of them and by a secret and invisible Hand manage and bring about great Changes and Revolutions both Jews and Christians have collected with great Probability and Consent from Daniel 10. where there is mention made of the Prince of the Kingdom of Persia withstanding the Angel that was sent to Daniel and of Michael a Chief Prince assisting him And of this Ministry of Angels in the Government of Kingdoms Clemens Alexandrinus speaks as of a thing out of all Controversie I proceed to the Third Thing which I principally intended and seems to be chiefly designed in the Text and this is the special Office and Employment of good Angels in regard to good Men and for this the Apostle expresly tells us that they are sent forth to minister for them that is in their behalf and for their benefit who shall be heirs of Salvation In which Words there are Three things very considerable for our Instruction and Comfort 1. Their particular Designation and Appointment for this Employment exprest in these Words sent forth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if they were particularly Commissioned and Appointed by God for this very End God himself doth superintend all Affairs and by his particular Designation and Command the Angels do fulfil his Word and execute the Pleasure of his good Will towards us Hence it is so frequently said in Scripture that God sent his Angel to such or such a Person for such or such Purposes 2. You have here the general End of their Employment for good Men they are sent forth on our Behalf and for our Benefit to take Care of us and protect us to succour and comfort to direct and assist to rescue and deliver us 3. Here is the more special End of their Employment in regard to good Men intended in those words for them who shall be heirs of Salvation Hereby signifying that the Angels are employed about good Men with Regard more particularly to their Eternal Happiness and for the Conducting and furthering of the great Affair of their Everlasting Salvation This certainly is our greatest Concernment and therefore they have a more particular Charge and Care of us in Regard to this It was a common Opinion among the Heathen and a constant and firmly believed Tradition among the Jews the Sadducees only excepted who did not believe there was Angels or Spirits that every Man at least every good Man had a Guardian Angel appointed him by God to take a special Care of him and his Concernments both Spiritual and Temporal to guard him from Dangers to direct and prosper him in his Way and to comfort and deliver him in his Affliction and Distress And therefore we find among the Jewish Prayers used by them at this day a particular Prayer wherein they request of God to Command the Angels who have the Care of Humane Affairs to help and assist to preserve and deliver them But especially they believed Good Angels in their Attendance upon Good Men to be very active and diligent to incline them to good and to encourage them therein by holy Motions and Suggestions by secret Comforts and Assistances and by opposing Evil Spirits and defending us against their Assaults and by countermining their malicious Designs and Attempts upon us And accordingly we find that the best Men among the Jews did stedfastly believe if not the particular Guardianship of Angels and that every Good Man had his particular Angel assigned to him by God to take the particular Charge of him yet the common Ministry of Good Angels about Good Men and their more especial care of particular Persons upon particular and great Occasions to protect them from Temporal Evils and to promote and prosper their Temporal Affairs and Concernments Of this Abraham the Father of the Faithful and the Friend of God was most firmly perswaded at least in Matters of great Moment and Concernment to us as appears by his Discourse with his Steward when he was sending him to treat of a Match for his Son Gen. 24.40 The Lord says he before whom I walk will send his Angel with thee and prosper thy way And David the Man after God's own heart does more than once declare his confident Belief of the watchful Care and Ministry of Angels about good Men. Psal 34. and 7. The Angel of the Lord encampeth about them that fear him and delivereth them And Psalm 91.11 12. speaking of the good Man who putteth his Trust and Confidence in God he tells him for his Comfort and Security that the holy Angels