Debt-book is crossed in his blood Quest. How is Death ours Answ. Two wayes 1. It is the Out-let to Sin 2. It is the In-let to happiness 1. Death to a Beleever is an Out-let to Sin we are in this life under a sinful necessity even the best Saint There is not a just man upon earth that doth good and sinneth not Evill thoughts are continually arising out of our hearts as sparks out of a Furnace Sin keeps house with us whether we will or no the best Saint alive is troubled with In-mates though he forsakes his sinnes yet his sinnes will not forsake him 1. Sin doth indispose to good How to performe that which is good I finde not Rom. 7. ver 18. When we would pray the heart is as a Voyal out of tune When we would weepe we are as clouds without rain 2. Sin doth irritate to evil The Flesh lusts against the Spirit There needs no winde of Tentation we have Tide strong enough in our hearts to carry us to Hell Consider sinne under this threefold notion 1. Sin is a body of death and that not impertinently First It is a body for its weight The body is an heavy and weighty substance so is Sin a body it weighs us down When we should pray the weights of Sin are tied to our feet that we cannot ascend Anselm seeing a little Boy playing with a Bird he let her flie up and presently pulls the Bird down againe by a string So saith he it is with me as with this Bird when I would flie up to heaven upon the wings of meditation I finde a string tied to my leg I am over-powered with corruption but Death pulls off these weights of sin and le ts the Soul free Secondly Sin is a body of death for its annoyance It was a cruel torment that one used he tied a dead man to a living that the dead man might annoy and infest the living Thus it is with a childe of God he hath two men within him Flesh and Spirit Grace and Corruption here is the dead man tied to the living a proud sinful heart is worse to a childe of God then the smell of a dead Corps Indeed to a natural man sinne is not offensive for being dead in sinne he is not sensible of the body of death but where there is a vitall principle there is no greater annoyance then the body of Death Insomuch that the pious soule oft cries out as David Wo is me that I dwell in Mesek and sojourn in the tents of Kedar So saith he Wo is me that I am constrained to abide with sin How long shall I be troubled with inmates How long shall I offend that God whom I love When shall I leave these Tents of Kedar 2. Sinne is a Tyrant it carries in it the nature of a Law the Apostle calls it the law in his members There is the law of Pride the law of Unbelief it hath a kinde of jurisdiction as Caesar over the Senate perpetuam dictaturam What I hate that do I The Apostle was like a man carried down the streame and was not able to beare up against it Sinne takes us prisoners whence are our carnal fears whence our passions whence is it that a childe of God doth that which he allows not yea against knowledge only this he is for a time Sinnes Prisoner The Flesh oft prevailes though in coole blood the elder shall serve the younger whence is it that he who is borne of God should be so earthly The reason is he is captived under sin but be of good chear where grace makes a Combate death shall make a Conquest 3. Sin is a leprous spot It makes every thing we touch uncleane We reade when the Leprosie did spread in the walls of the house the Priests commanded them to take away the stones in the wall in which the Plague was and take other stones and put in the place of those stones and take other morter Levit. 14.42 But when the Plague spread againe in the wall then he must break downe the house with the stones and timber thereof Vers. 45. Thus in every man naturally there is a fretting leprosie of sinne pride impenitency c. These are leprous spots now in conversion here God doth as it were take away the old stones and timber and put new in the roome he makes a change in the heart of a sinner but still the leprousie of sinne spreads then at last death comes and pulls down the stones and timber of the house and the soule is quite freed from the leprousie Sinne is a defiling thing it makes us red with guilt and black with filth 'T is compared to a menstruous cloath we need carry it no higher Pliny tells us that the Trees with touching of it would become barren and Hierom saith Nihil in lege menstruato immundius there was nothing in the Law more uncleane then the menstruous cloath this is sinne Sinne drawes the Devils picture in a man malice is the Devils eye oppression is his hand hypocrisie is his cloven foot but behold death will give us our discharge death is the last and best Physician which cures all diseases the aking head and the unbelieving heart Peccatum erat obstetrix mortis mors erit sepulchrum peccati Sinne was the Mid-wife that brought Death into the World and Death shall be the Grave to bury Sinne O the Priviledge of a Beleever he is not taken away in his sinnes but he is taken away from his sinnes The Persians had a certaine day in the yeare which they called vitiorum interitum wherein they used to kill all Serpents and venemous creatures Such a day as that will the day of death be to a man in Christ. This day the old Serpent dies in a Beleever that hath so often stung him with his temptations this day the sinnes of the godly these venemous creatures shall all be destroyed they shall never be proud more they shall never grieve the Spirit of God more the Death of the body shall quite destroy the Body of death 2. Death to a Believer is an Inlet to happinesse Sampson found an honey-combe in the Lions carcase so may a childe of God suck much sweetnesse from death Death is the gate of life death pulls off our rags and gives us change of rayment all the hurt it doth us is to put us into a better condition Death is called in Scripture a sleepe 1 Thes. 4.14 Those that sleepe in Iesus as after sleep the spirits are exhilarated and refreshed so after Death the times of refreshing come from the presence of the Lord. Death is yours Death opens the portal into Heaven as Tertullian speakes The day of a Christian's death is the birth-day of his heavenly life it is his Ascension-day to glory it is his Marriage-day with Jesus Christ. After our Funerall begins our Marriage Well then
joy and pleasure length of time makes them better Heavens Eminency is its Permanency Things are prized and valued by the time we have in them lands or houses in fee-simple which are to a man and his heirs for ever are esteemed far better then leases which soon expire The Saints do not lease heaven it is not their Landlords house but their Fathers house And this house never falls to decay it is a mansion-house Iohn 14.2 There is nothing excellent saith one of the Fathers that is not perpetual The comforts of the world are fluid and uncertain like a fading garland therefore they are shadowed out by the Tabernacle which was transient but Heaven is set out by the Temple which was fixed and permanent It was made of strong materials built with stone covered with Cedar over-laid with gold This is the Heaven of Heaven We shall be ever with the Lord 1 Thes. 4. ver 17. Eternity is the highest link of the Saints happinesse the soul of the believer shall be ever bathing it selfe in the pure and pleasant fountaine of glory As there is no intermission in the joyes of heaven so no expiration When once God hath set his Plants in the celestial Paradise he will never pluck them up any more he will never transplant them never will Christ lose any member of his body you may sooner separate light from the Sunne then a glorified Saint from Jesus Christ. O eternity eternity what a Spring will that be that shall have no Autumne what a day that shall have no Night Me thinks I see the morning-Star appear it is break of day already And this inheritance of glory fades not away 1 Pet. 1.4 Had it not been enough for the Apostle to have said It is an inheritance incorruptible Nay but he addes It fadeth not away There is a sacred climax in this the meaning is heaven doth not lose its glosse or vernancy A Rose may continue in its being when it doth not retaine its beauty The substance of it may be preserved when the colour and savour is lost but such is the glory of this inheritance that it cannot be made so much as to wither but like the flower we call Semper-vivens it keeps fresh to eternity Concerning the glory of this blessed inheritance let me super-adde these foure things 1. The glory of heaven is ponderous and weighty It is called A weight of Glory 2 Cor. 4.17 Immensum gloria calcar habet God must make us able to beare it This weight of glory should make sufferings light This weight should make us throw away the weights of sinne out of our hands though they be golden weights who would for the indulging of a lust forfeit so glorious an inheritance Lay the whole World in scales with it it is lighter then vanity 2. It is infinitely satisfying there is no vacuity or indigency This Encomium can be given properly of nothing but heaven You that Court the world for honour and preferment remember the creature saith concerning satisfaction It is not in me The world is made in manner of a circle the heart in manner of a Triangle a circle can never fill a triangle heaven only is commensurate to the vast desires of the soul. Here the Christian cries out in a divine extasie I have enough my Saviour I have enough Thou shalt make them drink of the Rivers of thy pleasures not drops but rivers and these onely can quench the thirst It shall be every day festivall in Heaven there is no want at a feast There shall be excellency shining in its perfection The world is but a Jaile the body is the Fetter with which the soule is bound if there be any thing in a Jaile to delight what is the Palace and the Throne what is Heaven If we meet with any comfort in Mount Horeb what is in Mount Sion All the world is like a Landskip you may see Orchards and Gardens curiously drawn in the Landskip but you cannot enter into them you may enter into this heavenly Paradise 2 Pet. 1. ver 11. For so an entrance shall be made abundantly into the everlasting Kingdome c. Here is soul-satisfaction 3. Though an innumerable company of Saints and Angels have a part in this inheritance there is never the lesse for thee Here is a propriety in a community another mans beholding the Sunne doth not make me to have the lesser light Thus will it be in glory Usually here all the land goes to the Heire the younger are put off with small portions In Heaven all the Saints are Heires the youngest Believer is an heire and God hath land enough to give to all his heires All the Angels and Arch-angels have their portion paid out yet a Believer shall have never the lesse Hereditas illa non minuitur copiâ possessorum non fit angustior numero cohaeredum Aug. in Psal. 49. Is not Christ the heire of all things Heb. 1. vers 2. and the Saints co-heires Rom. 8. vers 17. They share with Christ in the same glory 'T is true one vessel may hold more then another but every vessel shall be full 4. The soules of the Elect shall enter upon possession immediately after death 2 Corinth 5. vers 8. We are willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. There are some that say the soules of the Elect sleep in their bodies but the Apostle here confutes it for if the soule be absent from the body how can it sleep in the body There is an immediate transition and passage from death to glory The soule returnes to God that gave it Christs Resurrection was before his Ascension but the Saints Ascension is before their Resurrection The body may be compared to the bubble in the water the soule to the winde that fills it you see the bubble riseth higher and higher at last it breakes into the open aire so the body is but like a bubble which riseth from infancy to youth from youth to age higher and higher at last this bubble breakes and dissolves into dust and the spirit ascends into the open aire it returnes unto GOD that gave it Be of good comfort we shall not stay long for our inherirance it is but winking and we shall see God O the glory of this Paradise when we are turned out of all let us think of this inheritance which is to come Praemium quod fide non attingitur faith it selfe is not able to reach it it is more then we can hope for There can be no want where Christ is who is all in all Ephes. 3.11 In Heaven there is health without sicknesse plenty without famine riches without poverty life without death There is unspotted chastity unstained honour unparallel'd beauty there is the Tree of Life in the middest of Paradise there is the river that waters the garden there is the Vine flourishing and the Pomegranates budding there
shall see clearly whether Iezabel had more minde to keep a fast or to get Naboths Vineyard then we shall see whether Herod had more minde to worship Christ or to worry him all the secrets of mens hearts shall be laid open Me thinks it would be worth dying to see this sight We shall then see who is the Achan who the Iudas the womens paint falls off from their faces when they come neere the fire before the scorching heat of Gods justice the hypocrites paint will drop off and the Treason hid in the heart will be visible These mysteries will God reveal to us our knowledge shall be clear CHAP. XI The sixth Prerogative Royal. THE next priviledge is Our Love shall be perfect Love is the Jewell with which Christ's Bride is adorned in one sense it is more excellent then Faith for Love never ceaseth 1 Cor. 13.8 The Spouse shall put off her Jewel of Faith when she goes to heaven but she shall never put off her Jewel of Love Love shall be perfect 1. Our love to God shall be perfect The Saints love shall be joyned with Reverence for a filial disposition shall remaine but there shall be no servile feare in Heaven Horrour and trembling is proper to the damned in hell though in Heaven there shall be a reverencing fear yet a rejoycing fear we shall see that in God which will work such a delight that we cannot but love him And this love to God shall be 1. A fervent love we love him here secundùm studium there secundùm actum as the Schoolmen speak Our love to God in this life is rather a desire but in Heaven the smoak of desire shall be blown up into a flame of love we shall love God with an intensenesse of love here our love is lukewarme and sometimes frozen a childe of God weeps that he can love God no more but there is a time shortly coming when our love to God shall be fervent it shall burn as hot as it can the damned shall be in a flame of fire the elect in a flame of love 2. A fixed-love Alas how soon is our love taken off from God! other objects presenting themselves steal away our love Your goodnesse is like a morning cloud and as the early dew it goeth away In the morning you shall see the grasse covered with drops of dew as so many pearls but before noon all is vanished so is it with our love to God perhaps at a Sermon when our affections are stirred the heart melts in love and at a Sacrament when we see Christs blood as it were trickling downe upon the crosse some love-drops fall from the heart but within a few dayes all is vanished and we have lost our first love this is matter of humiliation while we live But O ye Saints comfort your selves in Heaven your love shall be fixed as well as fervent it shall never be taken off from God any more such beauty and excellency shall shine in God that as a divine loadstone it will be alwayes drawing our eyes and hearts after him 2. Our love to the Saints shall be perfect Love is a sweet harmony a tuning and chiming together of affections It is our duty to love the Saints 1. Though they are of bad dispositions sometimes their nature is so rugged unhewn that grace doth not cast forth such a lustre it is like a gold ring on a leprous hand or a Diamond set in iron yet if there be any thing of Christ it is our duty to love it 2. Though they in some things differ from us yet if we see Christ's image and portraiture drawn upon their hearts we are to separate the precious from the vile But alas how defective is this grace how little love is there among Gods people Herod and Pilate can agree wicked men unite when Saints divide For the divisions of England there are great thoughts of heart Contentions were never more hot love never more cold Many there are whose musick consists all in discords whose harp is the Crosse that pretend to love truth but hate peace Divisions are Satans Powder-plot to blow up Religion Sin brought forth separation and this daughter of separation hath brought forth the grand-childe of division For these things there are great searchings of heart It were not strange to hear the harlot say Let the childe be divided but to heare the mother of the child say so this is sad If Pope Cardinall Jesuite all conspire against the Church of God it were not strange but for one Saint to persecute another this is strange For a Wolfe to worry a Lamb is usuall but for a Lamb to worry a Lamb is unnatural For Christs Lily to be among the thorns is ordinary but for this Lily to become a thorne to teare and fetch blood of it self this is strange How will Christ take this at our hands Would he not have his Coat rent and will he have his Body rent Oh that I could speak here weeping Well this will be a foyl to set off heaven the more there is a time shortly coming when our love shall be perfect there shall be no difference of judgement in heaven there the Saints shall be all of a piece Though we fall out by the way and about the way we shall all agree in the journies end When once the blessed Harp of Christs voice hath sounded in the ears of the Saints the evill spirit shall be quite driven away When our strings shall be wound up to the highest peg of glory you shall never hear any more discord in the Saints Musick In Heaven there shall be a perfect Harmony CHAP. XII The seventh Prerogative Royal. THe next glorious priviledge to come is the Resurrection of our bodies This is an Article of our faith Now for the illustration of this there are three things considerable 1. That there â—s such a thing as the Resurrection 2. That this is not yet past 3. That the same body that dies shall rise again 1. I shall prove the Proposition that there is a Resurrection of the body There are some of the Sadduces opinion that there is no resurrection then let us eat and drink for to morrow we die 1 Cor. 15.32 To what purpose are all our prayers and tears and indeed it were well for them who are in their life-time as bruit beasts if it might be with them as beasts after death but there is a resurrection of the body as well as an ascension of the soul which I shall prove by two Arguments 1. Because Christ is risen therefore we must rise the head being raised the rest of the body shal not alwayes lye in the grave for then it would be an head without a body his rising is a pledge of our resurrection 1 Thes. 4.14 2. Ex AEquo in regard of justice and equity the bodies of the wicked have been weapons of unrighteousnesse and have joyned with the
which as the Primum mobile or master-wheel carries the whole soul with it 4. The believer consents to have Christ pro termino interminabili never to part more he desires an uninterrupted communion with him he will part with life but not with Christ indeed death when it slips the knot between the soul and the body it ties it faster between the soul and Christ. 5. The Believer doth so consent to have Christ as he makes a deed of gift resigning up all the interest in himself to Christ he is willing to lose his own Name and sirname himselfe by the Name of Christ to lose his own will and be wholly at Christs dispose Ye are not your own he resigns up his love to Christ. In this sense the Spouse is said to be a spring shut up She hath love for Relations but the best of her love is kept for Christ The world hath the Milke of her love but Christ hath the Cream of it the choisest and purest of her love is a Spring shut up it is broached onely for Christ to drink This is the second Act of faith §. III. Opening the nature of Recumbency The third thing is Recumbency The soul having given its consent that the match should be made up and done it out of choice now it casts it selfe upon Christ as a man that casts himselfe upon the stream to swim it makes an holy adventure it clasps about Christ and saith My Lord my Jesus which is as it were the joyning of hands This Act of Recumbency is sometimes in Scripture call'd a coming to Christ sometimes a leaning upon Christ This is that faith which justifies Now concerning this faith I shall lay down two Rules 1. That faith justifies not as a formal cause but purely as an instrument viz. as it lays hold on Christ the blessed object and fetcheth in his fulnesse and in this sense it is call'd a precious faith the worth lies not in faith but in Christ on which it doth centre and terminate Faith in it selfe considered is not more excellent than other graces Take a piece of Wax and a piece of Gold of the same Magnitude the Wax is not valuable with the Gold but as this Wax hangs at the lavell of some Will by vertue of which a great Estate is confirmed and conveighed so it may be worth many hundred pounds So faith considered purely in it self doth challenge nothing more than other graces nay in some sense it is inferiour it being an empty hand But as this hand receives the precious Almes of Christs Merits and is an instrument or channell thorow which the blessed streams of life flow to us from him so it doth challenge a superiority above other graces Indeed some affirme that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the very Act of believing without reference to the Merits of Christ justifies To which I shall say but this 1. Faith cannot justifie as it is an Act for it must have an object we cannot if we make good sense separate between the Act and the Object What is faith if it do not fix upon Christ but fancy It was not the people of Israels looking up that cured them but the fixing their eye upon the Brazen Serpent 2. Faith doth not justifie as it is a Grace This were to substitute faith in Christs roome it were to make a Christ of Faith Faith is a good Grace but a bad Christ. 3. Not as a Work which must needs be if as some affirme it be in lieu of obedience to the Moral Law Then we should be justified by Works contrary to that Ephes. 2.9 where the Apostle speaks expresly Not of works So that it is clear faith's excellency lies in the apprehending and applying the object Christ therefore in Scripture we are said to be justified 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 through faith as an Instrument deputed not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for faith as a formall cause The second Rule is that Faith doth not justifie as it doth exercise grace It cannot be denied but faith hath an influence upon the graces it is like a silver thred that runnes thorow a Chain of Pearl it puts strength and vivacity into all the vertues but it doth not justifie under this Notion Faith begets obedience By faith Abraham obeyed But Abraham was not justified as he obeyed but as he beleeved Faith works by love but it doth not justifie as it works by love For as the Sun shines by its brightnesse not by its heat though both are inseparably joyned so faith and love are tyed together by an indissoluble knot yet faith doth not justifie as it works by love but as it layes hold on Christ. Though faith be accompanied with all the graces yet in point of justification it is alone and hath nothing to do with any of the graces Hence that speech of Luther in the justification of a sinner Christ and faith are alone Tanquam sponsus spomsa in thalamo As the Bridegroom and Bride in the Bed-chamber Faith is never separated from the graces yet sometimes it is alone And thus I have shewn you the Essentials of faith §. IV. Shewing what are the fruits and products of faith I proceede to the Consequentials of faith There are many rare and supernatural fruits of faith 1. Faith is an heart-quickning grace it is the vitall Artery of the soul The just shall live by his faith Hab. 2.4 When we begin to believe we begin to live Faith grafts the soule into Christ as the cion into the stock and fetcheth all its sap and juyce from that blessed Vine Faith is the great quickner it quickens our graces and our duties 1. Faith quickens our graces the Spirit of God infuseth all the seeds and habits but faith is the fountain of all the acts of grace it is as the Spring in the Watch that moves the Wheels not a grace stirs till faith set it a work How doth love work By faith When I apprehend Christs love this doth pullize and draw up my love to him again How doth humility work By faith Faith humbles the soul it hath a double aspect it looks upon sin and a sight of sin humbles it looks upon Free-grace and a sight of mercy humbles How doth patience work By faith If I believe God is a wise God who knowes what is best for me and can deliver not onely from affliction but by affliction This spins out patience Thus faith is not only viva but vivifica it puts forth a divine Energy and operation into all the graces 2. Faith animates and quickens our duties What was the blood of Bulls and Goats to take away sin It was their faith in the Messiah that made their dead Sacrifices become living Services What are Ordinances but a dumb shew without the breathings of faith in them therefore in Scripture it is called the prayer of faith the hearing of faith and the obedience of
lose a member of his body then his body is not perfect for how can that body be perfect which wants a limb and if Christ may lose one member from his body why not as well all by the same reason and so he shall be an head without a body but be assured the union with Christ cannot be broken Ioh. 17.12 and so long the inheritance cannot be lost What was said of Christs natural body is as true of his mystical A bone of it shall not be broken Look how every bone and limb of Christs natural body was raised up out of the grave and carried into heaven so shall every member of his mystical body joyned to him by the eternal Spirit be carried up into glory Feare not O ye Saints neither sinne nor Satan can dissolve your union with Christ nor by consequence hinder you of that blessed place where your Head is Quest. Here it will be asked Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord Psal. 24.3 who shall be a Citizen of this new Hierusalem which is above Answ. The new creature this you reade of 2 Cor. 5. vers 17. This new creature doth disponere ad coelum prepare for the new Hierusalem This is the Divine and curious Artifice of the Holy Ghost in our hearts forming Christ in us the same Holy Ghost that overshadowed the Virgin Mary and formed the Humane Nature of Christ in her wombe doth work and produce this new creature O thou blessed man and woman in whom this new creature is formed I may say to thee as the Angel to Mary That which is conceived in thee is of the Holy Ghost Of all God's creatures the new creature is the best Then let me aske Art thou a new creature Art thou a scion cut off from the wilde Olive of nature and ingrafted into a new stock the Tree of Life Hath God defaced and dismantled the old man in thee doth some limbe drop off every day Hast thou a new heart Ezek. 36. verse 26. Till then thou art not fit for the new heaven Art thou new all over Hast thou a new eye to discerne the things that differ Hast thou a new appetite Doth the pulse of thy soul beate after Christ It is onely the new creature which shall be heire of the new Hierusalem When thou wert sailing to Hell for we have both winde and tyde to carry us thither hath the North and South-winde awaked Hath the gale of the Spirit blown upon thee and turned thy course Art thou now sailing to a new Port Hath the seale of the Word stamped a new and heavenly print upon thee Then I am speaking all this while to thee this blessed inheritance is entailed upon thee But if thou art an old sinner expect that heaven should be kept as Paradise with a Flaming Sword that thou mayest not enter Be assured God will never put the new Wine of glory into an old musty bottle Heaven is not like Noah's Arke that received cleane beasts into it and uncleane this inheritance doth not receive all comers It is only the wheat that goes into Christs garner what hath the chaffe to do there this inheritance is only for them that are sanctified Act. 20.32 Is thy heart consecrated ground We read that in the time of Ezra after the returne of the people from the captivity some who were ambitious of the Priesthood sought the writings of the Genealogies but they were not found among the numbers of the Priests therefore they were put by as polluted from the Priesthood So whosoever they be that think to have a part in this blessed place if their names be not found that is if they are not new creatures they shall be put away as polluted from this inheritance CHAP. X. The fifth Prerogative Royal. I Passe on to the next thing to come which is 5. Our Knowledge shall be clear Knowledge is a beautifull thing such was Adam's ambition to know more that by tasting the Tree of Knowledge he lost the Tree of Life In Heaven our knowledge shall be cleare Religion is a continued riddle many things we have now but in the notion which then we shall see perfectly now we know but in part The best Christian hath a vaile upon his eye as the Iews have upon their heart hereafter the vaile shall be taken off Here we see through a glasse darkly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in a riddle or mystery then face to face that is clearly There are five Mysteries which God will clear up to us when we are in heaven 1. The great Mystery of the Trinity this we know but in part Unity in Trinity and Trinity in Unity where One makes Three and Three make but One this is bad Arithmetick but good Divinity we have but dark conceptions of it it is a Mystery so deep that we may soon wade beyond our depth Augustine being to write his Books of the Trinity was taught modesty by a childe who was lading the Sea into a little Spoon to whom Augustine said that he laboured in vaine for his little Spoone would not containe the Sea to whom the childe answered My little Spoone will sooner hold this vast Ocean then your shallow brain can containe the depth of the Trinity How little a portion is known of God If Iob asked the question Who can understand the Thunder we may much more ask Wo can understand the Trinity but in heaven we shall see God as he is that is perfectly Quest. But shall every Saint enjoy God so perfectly that he shall have the same knowledge that God hath Answ. the infinite essence of God shall appâ—ar to the Saints Tota but not totaliter we shall have a full knowledge of God but not know him fully yet we shall take in so much of God as our humane nature is capable of it will be a bright and a glorious knowledge here we know him but ab effectu by his Power Wisdom Mercy we see but his back-parts there we shall see him face to face 2. The Mystery of the incarnation Christ assuming our humane nature and marrying it to the divine Therefore call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God-man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God with us A Mystery which the Angels in heaven adore God said The man is become as one of us Gen. 3.22 but now we may say God himselfe is become as one of us it was not only mirandum but miraculum There was nothing within the sphere of natural causes to produce it The incarnation of Christ is catena aurea a golden chaine made up of several links of Miracles For instance that the Creatour of heaven should become a creature that eternity should be born that he whom the heaven of heavens cannot containe should be enclosed in the womb that he who thunders in the clouds should crie in the cradle that he who rules the starres should suck the breasts that he who
soul in sinne their eyes have been a casement to let in vanity their hands have been full of bribes their feet have been swift to shed blood therefore justice and equity require that they should rise again and their bodies be punished with their souls Againe The bodies of the Saints have been members of holinesse their eyes have dropped down tears for sinne their hands have relieved the poor their tongues have been trumpets of Gods praise therefore justice and equity require that they should rise again that their bodies as well as their soules may be crown'd There must be a resurrection else how should there be a remuneration We are more sure to arise out of our graves then out of our beds the bodies of the wicked are lockt up in the grave as in a prison that they may not infest the Church of God and at the day of judgement they shall be brought out of the prison to tryall and the bodies of the Saints are laid in the grave as in a bed of perfume where they mellow and ripen against the resurrection Noah's olive-tree springing after the flood the blossoming of Aaron's dry rod the flesh and sinews coming to Ezekiel's dry bones what were these but lively emblems of the resurrection 2. That this resurrection is not yet past some hold that it is past and make the Resurrection to be nothing else but Regeneration which is call'd a rising from sinne and a being risen with Christ and do affirme that there is no other resurrection but this and that only the soul is with God in happinesse not the body Of this opinion were Hymeneus and Philetus 2 Tim. 2.18 But the rising from sinne is call'd the first resurection Rev. 1.6 which implies that there is a second resurrection and that second I shall prove out of Dan. 12.2 And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake he doth not say they are already awake but they shall awake And Iohn 5.28 The houre is coming in which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice and shall come forth they that have done good unto the resurrection of life and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation Observe Christ doth not say they are come forth of the grave already but they shall come forth Here a question may be moved Whether the bodies of some of the Saints are not in Heaven already then it will seem that their resurrection is not yet to come as we read that Elias was taken up to heaven in a fiery chariot and Enoch Heb. 11.5 was translated that he might not see death Answ. I know the Question is controverted among Divines But there are some reasons do perswade me that Enoch and Elias are not yet bodily in Heaven nor shall be till the resurrection of all flesh when the rest of the Elect like a precious crop being fully ripe shall be translated into glory The first is Heb. 11.13 where it is said These all died in faith where Enoch was included Now why we should restraine this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 these only to Abel Noah Abraham and not also to Enoch I see no rational ground Quest. But is it not said he was translated that he might not see death How can these two stand together that Enoch died yet he did not see death Answ. This word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he might not see death I conceive with some Divines the meaning is that he might not see it in that painful and horrid manner as others his soule had an easie and joyful passage out of his body he died not after the common manner of men so saith Peter Martyr Seeing and feeling are in Scripture oft exegetical the one is put for the other as Rom. 7.23 I see a law in my members that is I feel a law 2. My second Argument is 1 Iohn 3.2 It doth not yet appeare what we shall be but we know 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when he shall appeare we shall be like him We read in Scripture but of two Appearings of Christ his appearing in the flesh and his appearing at the day of judgment Now his appearing in this text must needs be meant of his last appearing And what then then saith the Apostle we shall be like him that is in our bodies Phil. 3.21 The spirits of just men being already made perfect Heb. 12.23 Whence I infer Enoch is not yet ascended bodily into heaven because none of the bodies of the Saints shall be fully made like Christ till his second appearing 3. Besides this may be added the judgement of many of the Fathers who were pious and learned It is not probable that Enoch and Elias should be taken up in their bodies into heaven saith Peter Martyr and he urgeth that saying of our Lord No man hath ascended into heaven that is saith he corporeally but the Son of man that descended from heaven Of this opinion also is Oecolampadius Martinus Borrhaeus and learned Doctor Fulk who in his marginal notes upon the 11th to the Hebrews hath this descant It appeareth not saith he that Enoch now liveth in body no more then Moses but that he was translated by God out of the world and died not after the common manner of men And concerning Eliah the same reverend Authour hath this passage It is evident that he was taken up alive but not that he continueth alive And again because we read expresly that he was taken up into heaven 2 King 2.11 It is certaine saith he that his body was not carried into heaven Christ being the first that in perfect humanity ascended thither 1 Cor. 15.20 Christ is become the first-fruits of them that sleep He is called the First-fruits not only because he was the most excellent and sanctified the rest but because he was the first Cluster which was gathered the First that went up in a corporeal manner into the Seat of the Blessed For my part I see not how Christ could properly be called the First-fruits if Enoch and Eliah were bodily in heaven before him Hence we see that the Resurrection is yet to come 3. The third thing is That at the resurrection every soul shal have its own body the same body that dies shall arise Some hold that the soul shall be cloathed with a new body but then it were improper to call it a Resurrection of the body it should be rather a Creation It was a custome in the African Churches to say I believe the resurrection hujus carnis of this body I confesse the doctrine of the resurrection is such that it is too deep for reason to wade here you must let faith swim For instance Suppose a man dying is cast into the Sea several Fishes come and devour him the substance of his body goes into these fishes afterwards the fishes are taken and eaten and the substance of these fishes goes into several
men now how this body thus devoured and as it were crumbled into a thousand fractions should be raised idem numero the same numerical body is infinitely above reason to imagine we have scarce faith enough to believe it Quest. How can this be Answ. To such I say as our blessed Saviour Matth. 22.29 Ye do erre not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God 1. Not knowing the Scriptures The Scripture tells us expresly that the same body that dies shall rise again Iob 19.26 In my flesh shall I see God not in another flesh And vers 27. My eyes shall behold him not other eyes So 1 Cor. 15.53 This mortal shall put on immortality not another mortall but this mortall And 2 Cor. 5.10 That every one may receive the things done in his body c. not in another body Death in Scripture is called a sleep it is farre easier with God to raise the body then it is for us to awake a man when he is asleep 2. Ye erre not knowing the power of God that God who of nothing created all things cannot he reduce many things to one thing when the body is gone into a thousand substances cannot he make an abstraction and bring that body together againe Do we not see the Chymist can out of several metals mingled together as gold silver alcumy extract the one from the other the silver from the gold the alcumy from the silver and can reduce every metall to its own species or kinde and shall we not much more believe that when our bodies are mingled and confounded with other substances the wise God is able to make a divine extraction and re-invest every soul with its own body Use 1. This is comfort to a childe of God As Christ said to Martha John 11.23 Thy brother shall rise againe so I say to thee thy body shall rise again The body is sensible of joy as well as the soul and indeed we shall not be perfect in glory till our bodies be re-united to our souls Therefore in Scripture the doctrine of the resurrection is made matter of joy and triumph Isa. 26.19 The dead men shall live together with my dead body shall they arise Awake sing ye that dwell in the dust Death is as it were the fall of the leafe but our bones shall flourish as an herb in the spring of the resurrection That body wich is mouldred to dust shall revive Sometimes the Saints do sowe the Land with their bodies Psal. 142.7 and water it with their blood Psal. 79.3 But these bodies whether imprisoned beheaded sawn asunder shall arise and sit down with Christ upon the Throne O consider what joy will there be at the re-uniting of the body and soul at the resurrection As there will be a sad meeting of the body and soul of the wicked they shall be joyned together as briars to scratch and teare one another So what unspeakable joy will there be at the meeting together of the soul and body of the Saints how will they greet one another they two being the nearest acquaintance that ever were what a welcome will the soul give to the body O blessed body thou didst suffer thy self to be martyrd and crucified thou wert kept under by watchings fastings c. when I prayed thou didst attend my prayers with hands lifted up and knees bowed down Thou wert willing to suffer with me and now thou shalt reigne with me cheare up thy self my deare friend thou wert sowne as seed in the dust of the earth with ignominy but now art raised in glory thou wert sowen a natural body but now art raised a spiritual body O my dear body I will enter into thee again as an heavenly sparckle and thou shalt cloath me againe as a glorious vestment I will I say enter into thee againe and both of us will enter into our Masters joy Use 2. It shews the great love and respect God bears to the weakest believer God wil not glorifie the bodies of his dearest and most eminent Saints not the Patriarchs or Prophets not the body of Moses Elias till thou risest out of thy grave God is like a Master of a Feast that stayes till all his guests are come Abraham the father of the faithful must not sit down bodily in Heaven till all his children are born and the body of every Saint perfectly mellow and ripe for the resurrection 3. If the bodies of the Saints must arise then consecrate your bodies to the service of God these bodies must be made one with Christs body The Apostle makes this Use of the Doctrine of the resurrection 1 Cor. 6.14 And God hath both raised up the Lord and will also raise up us by his own power there is the Doctrine Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ shall I then take the members of Christ and make them the members of an harlot ver 15. there is the Use. It is enough for wicked men to adulterate and defile their bodies The drunkard makes his body a tunnel for the wine and strong drink to run thorow The Epicure makes his body a living tombe to bury the good creatures of God The adulterer makes his body a stewes The body is called a vessell in Scripture these vessels will be found musty at the resurrection fit only to hold that wine which you read of Psal. 75.8 In the hand of the Lord there is a cup and the wine is red this is the wine of Gods wrath It is enough for those bodies to be defiled which shall be joyned to the devil but you that are believers that expect your bodies shall be joyned with Christs body oh cleanse these vessels take heed of putting your bodies to any impure services Present your bodies a living sacrifice Rom. 12.1 Have a care to keep all the passages and cinque-ports sometimes the devil comes in at the eye therefore Iob made a covenant with his eyes and goes out at the tongue therefore David set a watch before his lips Surely those that have their hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience that is the guilt of known sinne will have a care to have their bodies washed with cleane water CHAP. XIII The Eighth Prerogative Royal. I Proceed now to the next Priviledge which is to come viz. The bodies of the Saints shall be enamel'd with glory In this life the body is infirme Physicians have much ado to piece it up it is like a Picture out of frame or an house out of repaire every storm of sicknesse it raines thorow O anima quà m deforme hospitium nacta es How doth the excellent soul oft lodge in a deform'd body The body is like a piece of rotten wood diseases like wormes breed there feavers plurisies aches c. But this body shall be made glorious at the resurrection it shall neither have diseases nor defects Leah shall no more complain of her blear eyes
nor Barzillai of his lamenesse There are five Properties of the glorified bodies 1. They shall be agil and nimble the bodies of the Saints on earth are heavy in their motion and subject to wearinesse but in Heaven there shal be no elementary gravity hindering but our bodies being refined shall be swift and facile in their motion and made fit to ascend as the body of Elias In this life the body is a great hindrance to the soule in its operation The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak The soul may bring its action against the body when the soul would flie up to Christ the body as a leaden lump keeps it down 't is vivum sepulchrum but there is a time coming when it shall be otherwise the bodies of the Saints shall be agil and lively they shall be made fully subject to the soul and so no way impede or hinder the soul in its motion 2. The bodies of the Saints shall be transparent full of clarity and brightnesse as Christs body when it was transfigured Matth. 17.2 our bodies shall have a divine lustre put upon them here they are as iron when it is rusty there they shall be as iron when it is filed and made bright they shall shine tanquam Sol in fulgore saith Augustine as the Sun in its splendour nay seven times brighter saith Chrysostome here our bodies are as the gold in the oar drossy and impure in heaven they shall be as gold when it spangles and glisters so cleare shall they be that the soule may sally out at every part and sparkle through the body as the wine through the glasse 3. They shall be amiable beauty consists in two things 1. Symmetry and proportion when all the parts are drawn out in their exact lineaments 2. Complexion when there is a mixture and variety in the colours white and sanguine thus the bodies of the Saints shall have a transcendency of beauty put upon them Here the body is call'd a vile body Vile ortu in its birth and production de limo terrae of the dust of the earth The earth is the most ignoble element And vile officio in the use that it is put to the soul oft useth the body as a weapon to fight against God but this vile body shall be ennobled and beautified with glory it shall be made like Christs body How beautiful was Christs body upon earth in it there was the Purple and the Lily it was a mirrour beauty For all deformities of body issue immediately from sinne but Christ being conceived by the holy Ghost and so refined and clarified from all lees and dregs of sin he must needs have a beautiful body and in this sence he was fairer then the children of men Christs body as some Writers aver was so fair by reason of the beauty and grace which did shine in it that no limner could ever draw it exactly and if it was so glorious a body on earth how great is the lustre of it now in heaven That light which shone upon Saint Paul surpassing the glory of the sunne was no other then the beauty of Christs body in heaven O then what beauty and replendency will be put upon the bodies of the Saints they shall be made like Christs glorious body 4. The bodies of the Saints shall be impassible free from suffering We read that Iob's body was smitten with biles and Paul did beare in his body the marks of the Lord Iesus but ere long our bodies shall be impassible not but that the body when it is glorified shall have such a passion as is delightful for the body is capable of joy but no passion that is hurtful as cold or famine it shall not be capable of any noxious impression 5. They shall be immortall here our bodies are still dying quotidiè en im dempta est aliqua pars vitae cúm crescit vita tum decrescit It is improper to ask when we shall die but rather when we shall make an end of dying first the infancy dies then the childhood then youth then old age and then we make an end of dying it is not only the running out of the last sand in the glass that spends it but all the sands that run out before Death is a worm that is ever feeding at the root of our gourds but in Heaven our mortal shall put on immortality As it was with Adam in innocency if he had not sinned such was the excellent temperature and harmony in all the qualities of his body that it is probable he had not died but had been translated from Paradise to Heaven Indeed Bellarmine saith that Adam had died though he had not sinned but I know no ground for that assertion for sinne is made the formal cause of death however there 's no such thing disputable in Heaven the bodies there are immortal Luke 20.36 Neither can they die any more If God made Manna which is in it selfe corruptible to last many hundred years in the golden pot much more is he able by a divine power so to consolidate the bodies of the Saints that they shall be preserved to eternity Rev. 21.4 And there shall be no more death our bodies shall run parallel with eternity CHAP. XIV The Ninth Prerogative Royal. THE next Priviledge is we shall be as the Angels in Heaven Matth. 22.30 Christ doth not say we shall be Angels but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Angels Qu. How is that R. Not only that we shall not die but in regard of our manner of worship The Angels fulfill the will of God 1. Swiftly 2. Perfectly 3. Chearfully 1. Swiftly When God sends the Angels upon a Commission they do not hesitate or dispute the case with God but presently obey The Angels are set out by the Cherubims which had wings this was not to represent their Persons for spirits have no wings but their Office to shew how swift they are in their obedience it is as if they had wings Dan. 9.21 The man Gabriel this was an Angel was caused to flie swiftly as soone as ever God speaks the word the Angels are ambitious to obey now in Heaven we shall be as the Angels This is a singular comfort to a weak Christian alas we are not as the Angels in this life when God commands us upon service to mourne for sinne to take up the Crosse O what a dispute is there how long is it sometimes ere we can get leave of our hearts to go to prayer Jesus Christ went more willingly to suffer then we do often to pray how hardly do we come off in duty God had as good almost be without it Oh but if this be our grief be of good comfort in Heaven we shall serve God swiftly we shall be winged in our obedience we shall be even as the Angels 2. The Angels serve God perfectly they fulfill God's whole will they leave nothing undone
faith dead things have no beauty in them it is faith that quickens and beautifies 2. Faith is an heart-purifying grace Having purified their hearts by faith Acts 15.9 Faith is a Virgin-grace of a pure and heavenly nature Faith is in the soule as lightning in the Air which purgeth as fire in the Metals which refines as Physick in the Body which works out the disease Faith works out pride self-love hypocrisie it consecrates the heart That which was before the Devils Thorow-fare is now made Gods Enclosure 1 Tim. 3.9 Holding the mystery of faith in a pure conscience Faith is an heavenly plant which will not grow in an impure soile Faith doth not only justifie but sanctifie as it hath one work in heaven so it hath another work in the heart He that before was under the power of some hereditary corruption as soone as faith is wrought there is a sacred vertue coming from Christ for the enervating and weakening that sin the waters are abated The woman that did but touch the hemme of Christs Garment felt vertue coming out of him The touch of faith hath an healing power Faith casts the Devil out of the Castle of the heart though still he keeps the Out-works Satan hath a party in a Beleever but there 's a Duel fought every day and faith will never give over till as a Prince it prevails This is the faith of Gods Elect Thou that say'st thou believest hath thy faith removed the Mountain of sin and cast it into the Sea What a beleever and a drunkard a beleever and a swearer a beleever and an Apostate for shame either leave thy sins or leave thy profession Faith and the love of sin can no more stand together then two contraries in the same part of the Subject gradu intensivo as light and darknesse Faith is an heart-pacifying grace Peace is the daughter of faith Rom. 5.1 Being justified by faith we have peace with God Faith is the Dove that brings an Olive-branch of peace in its mouth Faith presents God reconciled and that gives peace What is it makes Heaven but the smile of God Faith puts the soul into Christ and there 's peace Iohn 16. ult That in me ye may have peace When the Conscience is in a Fever and burns as hell faith opens the Orifice in Christs sides and sucks in his blood which hath a cooling and pacifying vertue in it Faith gives us peace in Trouble nay out of Trouble 1. It gives Peace in Trouble Faith is an heart-pacifying because an heart-securing grace When Noah was in the Ark he did not fear the Deluge he could sing in the Ark. Faith shuts a beleever into the Ark Christ Lead me to the Rock which is higher than I was Davids prayer Faith plants the soul upon this Rock The West-Indians built their Palaces upon the tops of hills in the Flood the waters covered the hills but a beleever is built higher Isa. 33.16 His place of defence shall be the munition of Rocks but a man may starve upon a Rock therefore it follows Bread shall be given him c. Faith builds a Christian upon the power wisdome faithfulnesse of God This is the munition of Rocks and it feeds him with the hidden Manna of Gods love here is bread given him The way to be safe in evil times is to get faith this ushers in peace and it is such a peace as doth garrison the heart Phil. 4.7 The peace of God shall keep your heart 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It shall keep it as in a Tower or Garrison 2. Faith gathers peace out of trouble joy out of sorrow glory out of reproach This is the key to Samsons Riddle Out of the eater came meat this explaines that Paradox Can a man gather Grapes of Thorns or Figs of Thistles Yes of Trials and Persecutions faith gathers joy and peace here are Figs of Thistles How were the Martyrs ravished in the Flames The Apostles were whipt in prison but it was with Sweet Briar O how sweet is that peace which faith Breeds it is a Plant of the Heavenly Paradise it is a Christians Festival it is his Musick it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Chrysostome speaks the anticipation of Heaven 4. Faith is an heart-strengthening grace a beleever is heart of oke he is strong to resist tentations to bear afflictions to foil Corruptions he gives check to them though not full mate An unbeliever is like Reuben unstable as water he shall not excell A state of infidelity is a state of impotency A Beleever is as Ioseph who though the Archers shot at him his bowe abode in strength If a Christian be to do any thing he consults with faith this is the sinew which if it be cut all his strength goes from him When he is call'd out to suffering he harnesseth himself with Faith he puts on this coat of maile Faith layes in suffering strength furnisheth the soul with suffering Promises musters together suffering graces propounds suffering rewards But how comes Faith to be so strong Answ. 1. Because it is a piece of Gods Armour it is a shield he puts into our hand Eph. 6.16 Above all taking the shield of Faith a shield will serve for a brest-plate a sword if need be an helmet it defends the head it guards the vitals such a shield is Faith 2. Faith brings the strength of Christ into the soul Phil. 4.13 I can do all things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 through Christ that strengthens me The strength of faith lies out of it self it grafts upon another stock When it would have wisdome it consults with Christ whose Name is wonderful Counsellour when it would have strength it goes to Christ who is call'd the Lion of the Tribe of Iudah Christ is a Christians Armory Faith is the key that unlocks it Faith hangs upon the lock of Christ all its strength lyes here cut it off from this lock and it is weaker then any other grace Christ may be compared to that tower of David on which there hang a thousand bucklers all shields of mighty men The faith of all the Elect these shields hang upon Christ. Faith is an Heroicall grace the Crown of Martyrdom is set upon the head of faith By faith they quenched the violence of the fire the fire overcame their bodies but their faith overcamr the flame 5. Faith is a life-fructifying grace it is fruitfull Iulian upbraiding the Christians said that their Motto was Only beleeve and the Papists call us solifidians Indeed when faith is alone and views all the rare beauties in Christ then faith sets a low value and esteem upon works but when faith goes abroad in the world good works are the handmaids that wait on this Queen Though we place faith in the highest Orb in matter of Justification yet good works are in conjunction with it in matter of Sanctification 'T is no wrong to good works to give faith the