For the first of these,

The words of Comfort laid down by the Apostle in this model, 10 Words of Comfort. may be reduced unto 10 Heads, some of them very comprehensive, and all of them like mother of Pearl (dissolved) exceeding Cordial and Restorative.

The first word of Comfort is this, The first word of Comfort. namely, That our pre­tious Relations, over whose departure we stand mourning and weeping, are but fallen asleep; I would not have you ig­norant, Brethren, concerning them which are asleep. We may say of departed Saints, as our Saviour said concerning the Damsel, Math. 9.24. They are not dead but sleep: the same phrase he also used to his Disciples concerning Lazarus, John 11.11. our Friend Lazarus sleepeth. A notion which the Disciples at first understood not, because their understandings were not yet inlightened; they dreamed of a natural sleep saith the Text; of taking Rest in sleep. And yet, as men in their sleep do somtimes dream true, so did they in this dream of theirs, speak truer than they were aware of; they said, Lord, if he sleeps, he shall do well; it is true indeed, the Saints of God do but sleep, when they lye down in the Grave; that, which we call death (in such) is not death indeed; It is but the Image of Death, the shadow and metaphor of death, deaths younger Brother; a meer sleep, and no more. The Holy Ghost, who best knoweth what things be, hath phrased it so, and that, not so little as twenty times in Scripture, to shew, that it was not a sudden expression, incautelously dropt from the Pen of any one of the Secretaries of Holy Writ; but the true, proper, [Page 3]and genuine notion of death suggested to them by the infalli­ble dictate of the Spirit of God; they do but sleep; and if they sleep, they shall do well: their sleep shall be sweet unto them; as sweet as once the Prophets was, Jer. 31.26.

I shall not follow the Analogy that is between Death and Sleep, in the latitude of it, sufficient to our purpose it will be, to take notice of two main properties of Death, which do carry in them a lively resemblance of sleep.

The first is, Is [...]. Ligath su [...]. That sleep is nothing else but the binding up of the senses for a little time; a locking up of the Doores, and shutting of the Windows of the body for a season, that so na­ture may take the sweeter Rest and Repose; being freed from all disturbance and distractions: Sleep is but a meer Paeren­thesis to the Labours and Travels of this present life.

Secondly, Sleep is but a partial privation, a privation of the Act only, not of the Habit of Reason. They that sleep in the Night, do awake again in the Morning, then there is a regress or return of the habit to its Act again: The Soul re­turneth to the discharge of all her Offices again: In the inter­nal faculties; to the act of Judging, and discourse in the In­tellect; to recalling things for the present, and recording things for future use in the memory; It returns to its Empire and command in the will, to its judicature in the Conscience, Ex­cusing, Accusing, Condemning, Et sic in caeteris: So likewise the soul returns again to the execution of all her functions in the external senses; to seeing in the eye, to hearing in the ear, to tasting in the pallate; as also to working in the hands, to walking in the feet, and so in the rest. In a word, the whole man is Redivivus, restored again to its self as it were by a new Providentia est continuata Creatio. Creation; that which lay as senseless, and useless, tan­tum non, dead all the night, is raised again more vive and fresh, and active in the morning, than it lay down at night.

Such a thing as this (for all the world) is that, which we commonly call Death, but with this considerable advantage, that in the interim of Death the soul acts more vigorously than before, as being released from the weights and intangle­ments of the body.

First, It is but a longer and closer binding up of the senses; Nature's long vacation; The Grave is a bed, wherein the body is laid to Rest, with its Curtains drawn close about it, that it may not be disturbed in its repose; so the Holy Ghost pleaseth to phrase it. Isa. 57.2. He shall enter into peace, they shall rest in their beds, every one walking in their uprightness. Death is nothing else, but a Writ of ease to the poor weary Servants of Christ, a total Cessation from all their labour of nature, sin, and affliction. Rev. 14.13. Blessed are the dead that dye in the Lord, that they may rest from their Labours, &c. While the Souls of the Saints do Rest in Abrahams Bosome, their bodies do sweetly sleep in their Beds of dust, as in a safe and Consecrated Dor­mitory. Thus Death is but a sleep.

Secondly, And then again, as they that sleep in the night, do awake in the morning; so shall the Saints of God do: This heaviness may endure for a night, (this night of mortality:) but joy cometh in the morning: In the morning of the Resur­rection they shall awake again; Psal. 17.15. it will not be an everlasting night, an endless sleep, but as sure as we awake in the morn­ing, when we have slept comfortably all night, so sure shall the Saints then awake, and shall stand upon their feet, and we shall behold them again with exceeding joy.

Oh Blessed morning! How should we long and wait for that morning, more than they that watch for the dawning of the day?

It is an errour in Philosophy, to call Death a total privati­on of the habit, Divinity hath corrected that errour, while it hath taught us to call the dissolution of Nature in the Saints, (at the most) but a sleep; Mors ista quam adeò perhor­rescimus adeò timemus non est exitus sed transitus veni et eterum qui nos in lucem re­ponat dies. Sen. which in the Philosophers own no­tion, is but a partial privation, and doth admit of a Regress or returning again to the habit, or former state and capacity, more beautiful, active, and vigorous than ever; as hereafter shall appear.

A comfortable notion! which were it realized by Be­lieving, would be able to silence our complaints, and to still all our moan-makings over our departed Christian friends and Relations; how sweet and precious soever they have been to us.

For, do we indeed take on so, when any of the Family are gon to Bed before us, in the Evening? Do we, indeed, cry out, woe and alas, my Father is fallen asleep, my Mother is laid to Rest, my dear Yoak-fellow is gone to bed before me; my sweet Child, the delight of mine eyes, the joy of my heart, his eyes are closed, the Curtains drawn close about him, and I cannot awake him? Do we I say thus take on and afflict our selves in this case? no surely, he would be accounted little better than a Mad-man, or a Fool, that should do so; Oh fie, then fie for shame, why do we so here? the case is the same; only if the night be a little longer (which yet no man can determine before hand) the morning will be infinitely more joyous, and make us more abundant compensation for our patience and expectation: why are we so unlike our selves in one, and in the other? Surely, because we either forget our notions, or believe them not; we call the absence of our Friends by a wrong name. We say, my Father is dead, my Mother is dead, my Isaack is dead, my dear Yoak-Fellow is not, and these be killing words: Dead! the Letter killeth. [...]. Death is the most terrible of all terrible things, the very name of it strikes a chilness, and coldness into our hearts; enough to kill us before our time; (for even worldly sorrow many times causeth death.) Call we then things, as God calls them; make we use of the notions, which God hath suggested to us: say we, my Parent is gone to bed, my Yoak-Fellow is at Rest, my beloved Babe is fallen asleep So also in Scripture, is death tearm­ed a depar­ture, 2 Tim. 4.6. an absence from the bo­dy, a going from home, an uncloath­ing, 2 Cor. 5 4.8. Job. 15.11. An entring into peace, a going to rest, Isa. 57.2., and behold, the terrour of death will cease.

If God hath cloathed this horrid thing Death with softer notions for our comfort, let not the Consolations of the Al­mighty be a small thing with us. Oh how comfortable lives might we live, had we but the right notions of things, and Faith to realize them! Our Friends are not dead, but sleep.

Comfort one another with this Word.

The second Consolatory Argument is,

The hopeful condition of these our sleeping Relations, 2d. Word of Comfort. Blessed be God, we are not without hope of their happiness, even while they thus sleep.

There be indeed that dye, and neither carry away any hope with them, nor leave any hope behind them, to th [...] surviving Relations: but the Righteous hath hope in his [...], Prov. 14.23. when our gratious Relations dye (we n [...] [...]se the word sometimes, that we may be understood) there is hope; They are infinite gainers by their death. Sometimes, they dye full of hope in their own sense; Job. 19.25 26, 27. I know saith J [...]b, that my Re­deemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth; and though after my skin, Worme, destroy this body, yet in my flesh I shall see God, &c. Oh Blessed hope [...]! And thus holy Paul, 2 Cor. 5.1. We know that if the earthly house of this Tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, Eternal in the Heavens; Glorious Triumph! And thus again, we may find him in his own name, and in the name of other of his Brethren, and Companions in Tribulation, and in the Kingdome, and patience of Jesus Christ, marching out of the field of this world in a Victorious manner, with Colours flying, and Drums beating; and thus insulting over Death as a Conqueror, 1 Cor. 15.56.57. Oh Death where is thy Sting? Oh Grave where is thy Ʋictory? The Sting of Death is Sin, the strength of sin is the Law; but thanks be to God which giveth us the Victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ! And thus 2 Pet. 1.11. An abundant entrance is administred unto them, into the everlasting Kingdome of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ; Oh the superabundant Consolation of the Heires of promise! And, if any of the Saints of God (at any time) their Sun have set under a Cloud, so, that they are not able to ex­press their own hopes; yet they leave behind them sollid Scripture evidences of God's everlasting Electing Love; and of their effectual vocation out of the world, into the King­dome and Fellowship of his dear Son Jesus Christ our Lord; Evidences of saving vocati­on, Gal. 5.22, 23. such as are, The Fruits of the Spirit, Love, Joy, Peace, Long-suffering, Gentleness, Goodness, Faith, Meekness, Tempe­rance, Their Poverty of Spirit Holy Mourning For Their own and Other mens Sins. Math. 5.3.

• [Page 7] Their hungering and thirsting after Righteousness.
  6. v. 8.
• Their purity of heart, visible in the holiness of their lives.
• Their peaceable and peace-making dispositions.
  9.10, 11, 12. Ch. 5.8.
• Their patient bearing of the Cross.
• Their keeping of the word of God in the precepts of it, and keeping close to it in the Truth of it.
• Their superlative Love to Christ.
  Math. 10.37.
• Their Cordial Love to the Saints.
  1 Jo. 3.14.
• Their Contempt of the World.
  1 Jo. 2.15.
• Their Love of Christs appearance.
  2 Tim. 4.8.
• In a word, Their conformity to Christ their Head.
  Rom. 8.29.

These, and the like Divine Vertues, although not seldome more visible to a judicious stander by, than to themselves, and not to be weighed, but with some graines of allowance, in the ballance of the Sanctuary; these, I say, may administer abun­dant matter of hope, and rejoycing to surviving Friends, that those Relations, which are fallen asleep, were a people whom God hath set apart for himself, pretious in his sight, honoura­ble and beloved of him; a people formed for himself, to shew forth his praise, Col s. 1.13. and made meet to be partakers of the Inheri­tance of the Saints in Light.

Yea even in them, whose Sun goes down in the morning of their Youth.

• A teachable Spirit,
  Math. 13.16. Isa. 28.9. 71 Psal. 5. Jo. 16.8. 1 John 2.13. John 17.3.
• Pious Inclinations,
• Sense of a lost Estate by Nature,
• A Competent knowledge of God, and of Jesus Christ in his Offices,
• A real sense of the need and use of Christ,
  1 Pet. 2.7. 2 Tim. 3.15. Ps. 119.13.
• An early acquaintance with the Scriptures,
• A good understanding of the Word Preached, not with­out some savour of it.
• Respects to Gods Sabbaths,
• And in a word,
  1 Kings 14.13.
  Any good thing toward the Lord God of Israel.

These early Impressions (I say) where ever they are found, (though according to different ages and capacities more or less legible in them) are so many hopeful Indiciums that God hath been at work upon their hearts betimes, and that he doth not untimely take them away in judgment, but are polished Jewels, which he hath, of special grace laid up, and secured from the violence, and prophanation of a reprobate world.

Nay, once more: Those very Babes and Sucklings, whom God is pleased to remove from us very early; snatched from their Mothers Breasts: yea possibly, who pass swiftly from the Womb of their Natural Mother, unto the belly of the Earth, their Original Mother; even these I say, they being

• A Covenant seed;
• Appendices of their believing Parents,
• Children of promise, Act. 2.39.
• Consecrated unto God by their Baptisme, or, by the Tears and Prayers of their holy Parents (in the want of it) having a right to the mercies,
  1 Cor. 7.14. Rom. 9.11. Mar. 10.4. Luk. 1.44. Gal. 1.15. Renatiante quam nati. Aug.
  privi­ledges of the Covenant, as well as to Baptisme.

Among whom is dispersed

• God the Father's Election.
• God the Son's purchase.
• God the Holy Ghost's Influence and Operation.

Even these are not to be looked upon as a lost Generation, but may in the warrantable judgment of Scripture Charity, be hopefully reputed for an Holy Seed, Gods adopted Children; own­ed by Christ, and in him heires, co-heires of the Kingdome of Heaven; by special prerogative advanced to their Inheri­tance, (as it were) before their time.

Upon this Foundation stands our hope, concerning our Godly Relations, which are fallen asleep, of what age, or state soever; we are not to mourn for them even as others, which have no hope. Let them mourn excessively, who know not the Scriptures, nor the power of God in raising the Dead; who bury their Relations and their hopes together in one [Page 9]Grave: but you, that (upon these Scripture evidences) have good hope through grace, concerning your deceased Friends, that while you are mourning on Earth, they are rejoycing in Heaven; that whiles you are Cloathed with black, they are Cloathed in white, even in the long white Robes of Christs Righteousness; while you are rooling your selves in the Dunghil, they are sitting with Christ upon his Throne. Do not, (I beseech you,) profane your Scriptural hope, with an unscriptural mourning; give not the world occasion to judge, either your selves to live without Faith, or your Relations to dye without hope: but let your Christian moderation be known to all men, that it may be a visible Testimony to all the world, of God's grace in them, and of your hopes of their glory with God. Therefore comfort one another with this word also.

A third word of comfort followeth, and that is, A third word of Comfort

Our gratious Relations are not alone in their Death; The Captain of their Salvation did march before them, through those black Regions of Death and the Grave, Jesus died; this is implied in the following words, If we believe that Jesus died: This is a third consolatory Argument, and it car­ryeth in it strong consolation. Our sweet Relations in dy­ing, run no other hazard, than Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob did, no other hazard, than all the Patriarchs. and Pro­phets, and Apostles did, in their generations, they all died, and were resolved into their first dust.

Yea, what shall I say? They run no other hazard, than the Lord of all the Patriarchs, Prophets and Apostles did, Jesus died; this is wonderful indeed, the Lord of Life died! The eternal Son of God was laid in the Grave!

If our Children die, we know we begot them mortal: The Son of God had no principle of mortality in him i.e. No sin in him to de­serve it, nor disease to cause it. and yet he died.

Be our Children never so precious to us, they cannot be so pretious to us (God forbid they should) as the Lord Jesus was to His Father, who testifies concerning him from Hea­ven with a loud voyce, This is my well-beloved Son, Math. 3.17. in whom [Page 10]my Soul is well pleased: And yet God gave up this well be­loved of his Soul to the death, Jesus died!

And we indeed justly: Death is but our wages, wages as truly earned, as ever was a penny by the poor hireling for his days labour; both we, and our Off-spring have forfeited our lives over, and over again by continual reiterated Trea­sons against the supreme Majesty of Heaven and Earth: yea the best blood which runs in our veins is Traytors blood by succession from our first Rebellious Parents, for which God might justly have executed the sentence (at first imposed) even as soon as ever we draw our first breath, Thou shalt dye the death, Gen. 3.

But He! what evil had he done? He was holy, harmless, undefiled, Heb. 7.26. Isa. 53.61.71. Heb. Ho hath made the iniquity of us all to meet in him. separate from sinners — He did no sin, neither was there guile found in his mouth; He fulfilled all Righteousness; and yet Jesus dyed! And why so! Surely he was wounded for our Transgressions, he was bruised for our Iniquities, the Chastisement of our peace was upon him, and by his stripes we are healed; we all like Sheep have gone astray, we have turn­ed every one to his own way, and the Lord hath laid upon him the Iniquity of us all! Jesus Christ was the Center, in whom the sins of all the Elect of God did meet, and unite together, to make Him, as it were the common sinner. For God made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the Righteousness of God in him; and under the insupportable burthen of our sin, he swet, and wept, and bled, and groaned, and gave up the Ghost.

Behold! Rom. 8.31. So God the Father Loved us, that he spared not his own Son, but delivered him up to the death for us all; and shall we think much to give up the dearest Treasures of our blood, in death, to Him?

So much did God the Son love us, that, He died for love of us; he died the first death, that we might not die the second death; he died for us, that we might live with him; And shall we count our lives, or the lives of our dearest Relations too dear for him? especially, when no such advantage can accrue to the Lord Jesus by our death, as did accrue to us by his death? also, in as much as neither we nor ours, are in any capacity [Page 11]to reap the fruit, and advantage of his death, until we dye also! and the sooner we dye, the sooner shall we reap those fruits.

Behold! God's First-borne was laid in the Sepulchre; and shall we think God deals hardly with us, if we follow our first-born to the Grave, and leave them there, till our Lord himself come to awaken them?

Especially, since therefore Jesus died, and was buried, that he might sanctifie death to us by his death, and by his being buried, might perfume the Grave, and make it a sweet Dor­mitory, or bed of spices for his members to rest in, until the Morning of the Resurrection.

Oh Christians, Let us comfort our selves, and one another with these words also, Jesus dyed.

The fourth word is yet more Cordial, A fourth word of Comfort. and that is, al­though Jesus dyed, yet He rose again. He died indeed, but he rose again from the dead. God suffered his dear Son to be laid in the Sepulchre, but he did not leave him there, nor suffer any taint of Corruption to seize upon his precious Body. And to that end, Christ made hast to rise again out of the Grave, he rose the third day, and that very early in the Morning (saith the Text) as soon, as ever it could be called day: The Alarm no sooner went off (as it were) but the Lord Jesus did lift up his Royal head, and put on his Glorious Apparel, and came forth out of his Grave, as a Bridegroom out of his Chamber, in State and Triumph.

And this was the Cordial, which our Lord himself took before his passion. Thou wilt not leave my Soul in Hell, Psal. 16.10. nei­ther wilt thou suffer thine holy one to see Corruption: There­fore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoyceth, &c. This was his Triumphant Song: And it may be ours, as well as his; yea therefore ours, because his (whether in reference to our selves, or to our gratious Relations.) For therefore was not Christ left in Hell (i. e. in the state of the dead) that he might lift up us also out of the pit, and therefore his body saw (i. e. sustained) no corruption or putrefaction (no not for the least particle of time) that our mortal bodies might not inherit Rottenness and Oblivion in the dust, for ever. And [Page 12]indeed, in this phrase in the Text, Jesus arose again, there be three things implied, which interest every believer in this Triumph of Christs Resurrection, &c. Jesus rose a­gain, impli­eth three things.

• First, Power.
• Secondly, Right.
• Thirdly, Office.

First, 1st. Power. [...] Jesus Rose again, it implieth Christs power, Viz. That Jesus Christ rose by his own power. It is not said, Jesus was raised, which might have spoken Him passive onely in his Re­surrection, but Jesus rose, which speaketh Him active; namely, that he rose as a Conquerour by his own strength; as Himself professeth, I have power to lay down my life, and I have power to take it again. Joh: 10.18. What power that was Rom. 1.4. will tell us, declared to be the Son of God with power, accor­ding to the spirit of holiness, by the Resurrection from the dead. It is true, it is elsewhere said that Christ was raised from the dead by the Glory of the Father, Rom. 6.4. And like­wise that he was quickned by the Spirit, Pet. 3.18. To shew that neither the Father nor the Holy Ghost were excluded from a joynt share and concurrence in his Resurrection, but here as elsewhere it is said also, that Christ rose, to shew that he was not merely passive in his Resurrection, as the Chil­dren of the Resurrection are, but that he rose also by the mighty power that was seated in his own Royal person.

The divine Nature in Christ, to which the humane nature was personally united, Alteram Christi naturam in­telligamus, nempe [...]. Verbi incarnati potentiâ. was that Spirit of Holiness, by which the Lord Jesus did rise Triumphantly from the dead. In the same language, speaks another Apostle; he was put to death in the flesh, but quickned by the Spirit, i.e. by the Divine es­sence which was in Christ. Death and the Grave had swal­lowed a morsel, which they could not keep: but as the Whale, when it had swallowed Jonas (in this, the Type of Christ) was forced to vomit him up again, [...]. it being impossible Christ should be holden by death: The power of the word incarnate, loosed or dissolved the bonds of Death, as a thread of Tow is [Page 13]broken, when it is touched with the fire. Yea (Sampson-like, herein also another type of his) Jesus Christ did break in sun­der the bars of the Grave, and carried away the Gates of death upon his shoulders, making a shew of them openly.

Thus Jesus rose again, as a Conquerour by his own power, and this is our Triumph, and Rejoycing: For surely, He, that thus raised up himself, can raise up us also, and will indeed raise us up by the same power, Phil 3 21. whereby he is able to subdue even all things unto himself.

Secondly, Jesus rose again; it implieth his Office; Second. Office. he rose as a Jesus, a Saviour, the Mediator of our peace; who having finished the work he came about, namely to satisfie divine Justice, and to bring in everlasting Rightcousness, so making peace by the blood of his Cross; God the Father sent a publique Officer from Heaven, to open the Prison doores; Math. 28.2. an Angel to rool away the stone from the mouth of the Sepulchre; thereby proclaiming to all the world, that the debt was paid, and, that God had received full satisfaction for the sins of the Elect, saying as it were, Deliver him, for I have received a Ransom.

This is another ground of our Triumph, that Jesus rose, that is, he rose, as our Jesus, our Saviour, and so by dying, hath delivered us from death, and from him, Heb. 2.14. 1 Thes. 1.10. that had the po­wer of death, which is the Devil. — Jesus who delivered us from the wrath to come.

Thirdly, Jesus rose again, it implieth his right to us, 3ly. His right and interest. and interest in us. He rose as our Jesus, i. e. as a publick Head, in whom all believers are considered. Jesus Christ as he di­ed not in a private capacity (for he had no sin of his own, Goel in the Hebr. signifies both a Re­deemer and the next of Kin, because the right of Redemption belonged to the next of Kin. for which death might have any dominion over him) so neither did he rise again in a private capacity, but in a publick capaci­ty, as he was our Goel, our next of kin, unto whom the right of Redemption did belong: He rose as our sponsor and surety, yea as our Husband and Bridegroom having espoused us to himself on the Cross; He rose as the Captain of our Salvati­on, the publick Head, and Representative of all the Elect of God.

And this consideration layeth another foundation for our Triumph in Christ his Resurrection. Christs Resur­rection our Triumph, On a two sold accompt. 1. Account, all the Saints are risen in Christ already judi­cially, legally.

And that upon a twofold account.

1. In as much as Christ being a publique person, all the Saints of God are risen already in Christs Resurrection, that is to say, judicially, legally, as in their Sponsor, and in their stead. In the sense of the Law, what the sponsor or surety doth, the principle debtor is said to do also: when the surety is laid in prison, the principle is laid in prison also; when the sure­ty payeth the debt, the principle is accounted as if he had paid the debt himself; when the surety is discharged, the debtor is discharged also, because in the sence of the Law, the principle and surety are but one person.

Thus the Lord Jesus as our Sponsor and Representative, having paid the debt, we are reputed, as if we had paid it our selves; he being discharged, we are discharged; he rising from the dead, we also rise in him, and with him: So speak the Scriptures.

Quickned together with Christ, raised up together, and made to sit together in Heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

Whatsoever he doth, as our Mediator, we are said to do the same in a juridical sence.

Hence our Blessed Saviour calls Himself, Iohn. 11.25. the Resurrection: I am the Resurrection and the Life, &c. He doth not say, egoresuscito &c. (It is Tertullian his observation) but ego sum Resurrectio; not I raise the Dead, but I am the Resurrecti­on; to shew, that, as in Adam all dye, so in Christ (the second Adam) all (his spiritual seed) shall be made alive; that, as the first Adam was puteus mortis, a pit of sin and death, to all his natural posterity; so the second Adam is fons vitae, a Well-spring of Righteousness & Life to all his believing seed. So again, He saith, not, I give Life, but I am the Life, to shew that it is but one and the same Life, which Christ and Believers Live, Col. 3.3. that his Life (he being their Repre­sentative) is their Life. When Christ who is our Life, &c.

This is a word of Comfort indeed; The Saints of God are [Page 15] risen already in Christ their Head; those precious pieces of beauty and delight, the loss of whom we lament with brinish tears and sighs dipt in blood; they are risen, they are not here, they are quickned together with Christ, raised up toge­ther, and made to sit together with Christ in Heavenly places: I say, (in a forensical or Court-sence) reputed so in Christ their Head and Surety. This is much: but this is not all, there is yet a second accompt, and that is,

Secondly, Second Ac­compt. The Saints shall use with Christ really. The Saints shall arise a­gain in their own persons. Jesus his rising again gives us infallible assurance of their, and our future Resurrection: As they are risen with Christ legally, so they shall rise with Christ really and perso­nally.

God, in the Resurrection of Christ, hath given to the world an instance and a pledge of the Saints Resurrection in the last day.

There is an inseparable connexion between the Resurrecti­on of Christ and the Resurrection of the Saints, and it is fourfold: scil.

A Connexion of

• 1. Merit.
  A sour-fold Connexion between Christ's Resur­rection and the Saints Re­surrection, &c 1. Connex. of Merit.
• 2. Influence.
• 3. Design.
• 4. Union.

The first Connexion that is between Christ's Resurrection and the Saints Resurrection, is a Connexion of Merit.

The Lord Jesus by his Death purchased both the Persons and the Priviledges of the Elect of God. Rom. 14.9. To this end Christ both died and rose again, that he might be the Lord both of the dead and the living: In the former verse the Apostle asserts the absolute dominion which the Lord Jesus hath. over us; whether we live or dye, we are the Lords: Here, he tells us what right or title that is, whereby he holds that dominion, scil. by the right of purchase; For this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived [Rose and Revived] that is, rising a­gain he did revive; by his death he merited of the Father, that both in death and in life, both dying and rising again, he might dispose of the Saints to his own advantage. Why, now [Page 16]the Lord Jesus having bought his Elect at so dear a rate, if the Saints should not rise again, he should lose his purchase; there were no more Merit in the death of Christ, than in the death of any of the Sons of Adam; and even in this re­spect Christ had died in vain, and risen in vain.

A second Connexion between Christs Resurrection, 2 Connexion of Influence. and the Resurrection of Believers, is a Connexion of Power, and Influence. There is power in the Resurrection of Christ, for the quickning of the dead; Psal. 110.2. This is that which the Psalmist call­eth the dew of Christs Youth; from the womb of the morning, thou hast the dew of thy Youth. In the Hebrew it is more than the dew of the morning, thou shalt have the dew of thy Youth: The Resurrection of Christ is called his Youth, wherein he did as it were spring and grow forth again: and the quicken­ing influence of his Resurrection is compared to the morning dew, to shew, that what vertue there is in the dew of the morning, to cause the languishing plants of the Earth to re­vive and flourish, that (and much more) power and efficacy there is in the Resurrection of Jesus, to quicken and revive all his Saints, after they have lyen all the night of their separated state, in the Grave: So the Prophet Isaiah interprets it in words at length, Isa. 26.19. thy dew is as the dew of herbs; to what end? it follows; and the Earth shall cast forth her dead: The dead shall arise by vertue of this dew; the warm animating influence of Christs Resurrection. Hence it is, (as I have hinted before) that our Lord calls himself the Resurrection and the Life, namely to intimate to us, that by the same spi­rit of holiness, whereby he raised himself from the dead, he will also quicken their mortal bodies. This is a second Con­nexion, which inseparably links in the Resurrection of the Saints with the Resurrection of Christ: For surely, were it not so, the Resurrection of Jesus Christ would signifie no more, than the Resurrection of Lazarus, or any other of the Saints mentioned, Math. 27.52, 53. Yea, the Resurrection of Christ would not be of so great vertue, and influence, as the dry bones of the Prophet, the very touch whereof raised the dead man, 2 King. 12.21. which was cast into his Grave.

Thirdly, There is between the Resurrection of Christ, Third Con­nexion of Design. and the Resurrection of the Saints (at the last day) a Con­nexion of Design. The Lord Jesus had a design upon the Saints in his rising again from the Dead: and what that was; he tells us in the last passionate prayer before his passion, John 17.24. Father, I will that all those, whom thou hast given me, be with me, that where I am, they might be also: There­fore Christ arose and ascended, that he might come again and awake them out of their Graves, and take them home to himself into Mansions of Glory: So he comforted his Disci­ples before his departure, Joh. 14.3. If I go, and prepare a place for you, I will come, and receive you unto my self, that where I am, there you may be also.

Christ counts not himself full, Eph. 1.23. The Head is not compleat without the Members. Although: I thus sence the words, yet I would not be thought to exclude every other mean­ing, as know­ing that [...] signifies as well quod impletur as quod implet. till he hath all his Members with him; therefore is the Church called, the fullness of him that filleth all things: marke it, Christ is the fulness of all things, and yet the Church is called, the fulness of Christ: how so? Christ is the fulness of the Church, as the Head is the fulness of the Members (supplying them with Life and Influence) and the Church is the fulness of Christ, as the Members are the fulness of the Head, making of it a com­pleat and perfect man; Christ is the fulness of the Church for internal animation, and the Church is the fulness of Christ for external consummation. The Church is Christs outward not inward fulness, see Jeans on Colos. 1.19. page 19.

This is then a third inseparable Connexion, between Jesus rising again from the Dead, and the Saints rising again; be­cause without this, Christ should loose the very plot and pro­ject of his own Resurrection, and be defective even in his state of Glory, as an Head without his Members. This must not be, it cannot be.

And this casts us upon the fourth Connexion, Fourth Con­nexion of Ʋ ­nion. (before we are aware of it) sc. A Connexion of Ʋnion. The Connexion, which is between Christ his Resurrection, and the Saints Re­surrection; is that very Connexion, which is between him and them, namely the Union which is between the Head, and [Page 18] Members; The wicked rise not by vertue of Christs Resur­rection, there being no such. Ʋnion between Christ & them, they are raised by a general po­wer of Christ as a Judge. Christ is the Head, Eph. 1.22. and the Saints are the Members of his body, v. 23. his Mystical body.

It would not be proper here to discourse largely concern­ing the nature of this Ʋnion, especially, in as much, as I shall have occasion to meet with it again in the process of this dis­course, sufficient to my design it is to shew you how this spi­ritual Ʋnion that is between Christ and Believers, is one of the In Nature we see that the Winter Trees which seem to be dead, revive again in the Spring; because the Bo­dy, Armes, and Graines of the Tree are joyned to the Root, where the Sap lies all the Winter, and by means of its Conjunction, it conveys vegetation to all parts of the Tree: Even so our life is hid with Christ in God; And in the day of the Resurrection, by reason of this mystical Conjunction, Divine and quickening Vertue shall stream from Christ to his Elect, and cause them to rise again, &c. Foundations whence the Resurrection of the Saints is necessarily inferr'd upon the Resurrection of Christ himself. For if the Head be risen, the Members cannot be long behind; witness the Word of Christ to his Disciples, (and in them to all Believers, a word more precious than the whole Creation) Because I live, ye shall live also. The Resurrection of the Saints is bound up in the Resurrection of Christ, as the effect is bound up in the cause, because I live, you shall live; be­cause Jesus rose again, Saints shall rise again. Christ is our life; and therefore, when Christ shall appear, we shall appear with him in Glory.

Can the cause be without the effect? can the Head live, and the Members remain dead? Yea, can the Saints life live, and they themselves continue in a state of death? This is an happy contradiction, a blessed impossibility! Oh write this com­fortable word upon your hearts Christians, Christ is our life: Christ is your Life, and the Life of your Christian Relations; and as sure as Christ as risen, they shall rise, and because he lives, those Members of his, for whom you weep and bleed, (as dead) shall live also with him. Surely if the Devil, and all the powers of darkness were not able to keep Christ in the Grave, neither shall they be able to hold one of his Members [Page 19]there for ever! Hence you shall find the holy Apostle dis­puting from the Resurrection of Christ, to the Resurrection of Christians; If Christ rose from the Dead, 1 Cor. 15.12. how say some that there is no Resurrection of the Dead? and back again from the Resurrection of Christians, ver. 13. to the Resurrection of Christ; if there be no Resurrection of the Dead, then Christ is not risen. Indeed the form of words is Negative, but the sense is Affirmative; and for the greater assurance, it is re­peated over and over in the following verses; backward and forward as Convertibles; grant one, and ye grant the o­ther; deny one, and ye deny the other. And the result is this, But now is Christ risen from the Dead, ver. 20. and become the first Fruits of them that sleep; Christ is risen, Christ rose as the first fruits, in which the whole Harvest is considered. and risen as our first Fruits, as a pledge and part of the whole Harvest; for if the first Fruits be holy, the Lump is also holy; if the first Fruits be laid up safe in Gods Barns, the whole Harvest shall (in due time) be safely brought in thither also, onely it must stay its time appointed by the great Husband-man, whose method is this, first, Christ the first Fruits, and after­ward, they that are Christs at his coming.

Be of good cheer Christians, weep not; it is the Fathers good pleasure, that not a Sheaf, not an Ear, not one grain be l [...]st; so witnesseth the Truth, and the Life; the Truth to testifie it, and the Life to make it good; John 6.39. this is the Fathers will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. [...]. nothing of all that, &c. i.e. not the least Person, nor the least Member of the least person, how mean, and contemptible so­ever.

Will this content thee, Christian? Thy sweet Relation is not lost, but sowen, and that which is sowen, is not quickned, unless it dye. At the Harvest time, thou shalt have thy seed again; revera faenore interitu, injuria usura, lucro damno: Tertul. de Re­sur. when that, which thou callest perishing, shall be thy improve­ment; thy treasure is not cast away, but put to use; and thy loss shall be thy gain.

Christians, This believed, is a word of Comfort indeed, so [Page 20]the Text tells us; If we believe that Jesus died, and rose a­gain: thy dead men shall live, Together with his dead body shall they arise.

Obj. But what, not else?

Answ. Oh not so! not our Resurrection, or the Resur­rection of our gracious Friends, depend upon our Faith, but our assurance and comfort of their Resurrection depends upon our Faith.

The Resurrection of the Saints stands upon a surer foun­dation than our Faith, it stands upon a four-fold foundation, as you have heard.

Sc. The

• Merit.
• Influence.
• Design.
• Ʋnion, which is between Christ & his Saints;

A Foundation which stands surer than Heaven and Earth: Heaven and Earth may pass away, but not one of these Foun­dations shall ever pass away, or faile; The Foundation of the Lord, stands sure, 2 Tim. 2.19. So then not their Resur­rection, but our comfort in their Resurrection, is that, which depends upon our Faith. Sence stands blubbering and cry­ing, my Parent is dead, my Yoke-fellow is lost, my dear Child is perished: No saith Faith, no such matter, they are alive, they are safe, they are happy. And all this, Faith inferreth upon Christ His Resurrection: So that whosoever hath Faith enough to put Christ's Resurrection into the premises, may by the same act of Faith, put the Saints Resurrection into the conclusion. He that by an eye of Faith, can look upon Christ's Resurrection, as past, may by the same eye of Faith, see the Resurrection of the Saints as to come: he that by Faith can say, Christ is risen; may with the same breath of Faith, say also, The Saints shall rise: because I live, you shall live al­so: as a pledge and instance whereof, when Christ arose, ma­ny of the Saints which slept, were enlarged out of the Prison of the Grave (the heart strings whereof were now broken) to attend the Solemnity of their Lord's Resurrection, Math. 27.52, 53. and were as an other kind of first fruits of the last Resurrection of all Believers.

By all these evidences, and demonstrations, Jesus Christ now in Heaven, speaks to his mourners, as once he did (in the days of his flesh) to Martha, thy Brother shall rise again; so he speaks to us, man, woman, thy Yoak-fellow shall rise a­gain, thine Isaac whom thou loved'st, shall rise again. And oh, that we had but Faith enough to answer with Martha! I know he shall rise again in the Resurrection at the last day: This would be a soveraign Cordial to keep our hearts from fainting under our sorrows. If indeed we have not Faith to realize this comfortable truth, our dear Relations, if they could speak, would cry to us out of their Graves in some such language, as that, in which our Saviour rebuked the women which followed him to his Cross, Daughters of Jerusalem weep not for me, &c. So ours; Son, Daughter, Husband, Wife, Father, Mother, (and whatever other dear Relations) weep not for us, but weep for your selves, and for the unbelief of your own hearts.

I, Christians, there is the spring-head of all our misery, Hinc illae Lacrymae! our unbelief; It is unbelief which robs us first of our sweet Relations, and afterwards of our comfort in their gains: and, if we look not to it the better, it will keep us and them asun­der to all Eternity: we cannot enter in, (to their rest) if we continue in our unbelief: Mark 9.24. cry we then with the Father of the Child, I believe, Lord, help my unbelief. If we believe, that Jesus rose again, even so them also, which sleep in Jesus, will God bring with him, which brings me to the fifth word of Comfort.

Them that sleep in Jesus.

The first word of Comfort in this model was, Fifth word of Comfort, the Saints sleep in Je­sus. that our Christian Relations departed this life, are not dead, but fallen asleep.—Here followeth a word of Comfort, of a richer im­port, which tells us, that as they do but sleep, so they sleep in Jesus.

This expression noteth to us, that blessed and admirable Ʋnion, which is between Jesus Christ, and his Saints, 1 Cor. 15.18. They who are fallen a sleep in Christ. an Uni­on frequently set out to us in Scripture under a twofold notion.

Scil.

• 1. Christ in the Believer.
• 2. The Believer in Christ.

First, Christ in the Believer, Rom. 8.10. If Christ be in you, the body is dead, &c. Colos. 1.27. Christ in you the hope of Glory; and here in the Text, they are said to be in Jesus.

Secondly, The Believer in Christ, 1 Cor. 1.30. of him are ye in Christ Jesus; who of God is made, &c. 2 Cor. 5.14. If any man be in Christ, he is a new Creature, Colos. 1.2. the Saints in Christ. See both together,

• John 14.20. You in me, and I in you.
• 15.4. Abide in me, and I in you.
• 5. He that abideth in me, and I in him.

These expressions are the same for substance, both setting forth to us the Ʋnion it self, a mutual intimate in-dwelling, or in-being between Christ and his Saints; He in them, and they in him, so making one.

They differ somewhat in the notion and import of the phrase, hinting to us a different mode and fruit of this mutual In-be­ing, viz.

• Christ is in the Believer, by his Spirit, 1 Jo. 4.13. and 1 Cor. 12, 13.
• The Believer in Christ, by Faith, John 1.12.
• Christ in the Believer, by Inhabitation, Rom. 3.17.
• The Believer in Christ, by Implantation, Jo. 15.2. Rom. 6 35.
• Christ in the Believer, as the Head in the Body, Col. 1.18. as the root in the branches, Jo. 15 5. Be­lievers are in Christ, as the Members are in the Head, Ephes. 1.23. as the Branches in the Root, John 15.1.7.
• Christ in the Believer, implieth Life and Influence from Christ, Col. 3.4. 1 Pet. 2.5.
• [Page 23]The Believer in Christ, implieth Communion and fellowship with Christ, 1 Cor. 1.30.
• When Christ is said to be in the Believer, we are to understand it in reference to sanctification.
• When the Believer is said to be in Christ, it is in or­der to justification. It is Christ without us,
  1 Cor. 1.30. Righteous­ness.
  that justifieth; it is Christ within us, that sanctifieth. Grace (in the Apostles phrase) is Christ formed in the heart.
  Gal 4.19.

These and the like expressions, hold forth that transcen­dent, and mysterious Ʋnion which is between Christ and the Believing Soul, whereby they are not only joyned together; but in a sober Gospel-sense united, oned as it were; Christ becomes one with them, and they one with Christ.

This Union with Christ, for the clearer and safer under­standing of so great and precious a mystery, Six or seven properties of this Union. I shall endeavour more fully to open in these six or seaven distinguishing pro­perties,

• It is a 1 Spiritual, Union.
• It is a 2 Real, Union.
• It is a 3 Operative, Union.
• It is a 4 Enriching, Union.
• It is a 5 Intimous, Union.
• It is a 6 Total, Union.
• It is a 7 Indissoluble, Union.

The first property. It is a Spiritual Ʋnion. First proper­ty, It is Spiritual. When we speak of this Union, we must abstract from all that is gross and fleshy; there is nothing in it obvious to sense, percepti­ble by the eye, or by the ear, or by the touch, or tast; it is not effected by any corporeal contact: Christ, and the Belie­ver are not tied together by any material bonds, and fleshy sinews, but their Union is a pure, immaterial, sublime Ʋnion; altogether Spiritual; and that upon a double accompt.

First, partly in as much as by this Union, Christ, 1 Cor. 6.17. and the Believer are made one Spirit; He that is joyned to the Lord, [Page 24]is one Spirit: not onely, one Spiritually, but one Spirit: not as exclusive to the body it self, Ephes. 2.29. for we are Members of his Body, of his Flesh, and of his Bones; but expressing to us the top and perfection of this Union. He, that is joyned to an Harlot; is one flesh, in an impure, and carnal sense. Man and Wife, 1 Cor. 6 16. though their conjunction be more honourable, yet are but one flesh also, in a conjugal sense: For two, saith he, shall be one flesh; I, but he that is joyned to the Lord, is one Spirit; an Union infinitely more honourable, than that in Marriage; the Believer is joyned to Christ, into one, and the same Spirit; he is animated, and acted by one and the same Spirit with Christ, though in a different degree and measure, for God gave not the Spirit by measure unto him. Jo. 3.34. [...]. Christ as Mediator (for in that capacity Believers are United unto him, and not merely as second person) received the Spirit without mea­sure Christ was anointed with the oyl of gladness a­bove his fel­lows, Psal. 15. [...]. [...] he had a larger effusi­on of the Spi­rit poured out upon him, than all other Kings and Priests and Prophets..

Believers have but their stinted measure and proportion, and yet notwithstanding the Spirit of God dwelling as truly in them, as it did in Christ himself; (though not essentially) they thereby become one Spirit with Christ.

And then again, It is a spiritual Union.

2. Partly, because the bones and ligaments of this Union, are not Carnal, but Spiritual; Scil. the Spirit whereby Christ Unites himself to the Believer on Christs part; The presence of the Spirit maketh this Union, by vertue of which God communicates with us, as with his Sons, and we commu­nicate with God, as with our Heavenly Father: The exer­cises of Communion on both sides, are managed by the Spi­rit of Christ, Gal. 4.6.—And the bond of Faith on the Be­lievers part, whereby the Believer is Ʋnited to Christ, as the Cion is engraffed into the Stock, and thereby grows up to be one with the Stock: So is the Believer implanted into Christ by Faith, Ephes. 3.17. grows up in him, receiveth life and nourishment from him, and is preserved in him to life eternal; kept by the power of God, through Faith, unto Salvation, 1 Pet. 1. Behold! [...] here is the subordination of these two bonds; Faith keeps the Believer, and the power of God keeps his Faith; Per organum [...]lei & Sp [...]ri­tus Christi vir­tu [...]. [Page 25]now the Spirit of God, is that power. Upon this twofold ac­count then, is this Union a spiritual Ʋnion, viz. 1. Because an Union of Spirit. 2. Because effected by spiritual bonds.

A second property of this Union. It is a real Ʋnion, A second Property. Real in a ten­fold oppositi­on. Entia Rationis. and that in a tenfold distinction.

First, In opposition to an imaginary Union, it is no meta­physical notion, or like those things which Logicians call In­tellectual beings; or your Mathematical Lines, which have their existence only in the understanding and fancy.

Secondly; Nor is it a Relative Ʋnion only; as Father and Child, Master and Servant are united: such an Union there is between Christ and Believers; but that is not all.

Thirdly; Neither is it a legal Ʋnion only. Christ and the Believer are not one only, as the Debtor and the Surety are one in Law, in a forinsecal sence, i.e. in the interpretation and judgment of the Court. In this sence they are one indeed, viz. in the judgment of God, as a Judge, (as I have formerly shewed) but not only so.

Fourthly; Nor is it an Union only of assent in point of doctrine and judgment, though so much it is, for saith the A­postle in the name of all Believers. We have the mind of Christ. 2 Cor. 2.16. [...]. The Believer, (so far as he is a Believer) is of the same mind, judgment, and opinion with Jesus Christ in all things. And this truly gives them a kind of oneness; whence a firm and stedfast continuance in the Faith, i.e. in the doctrine of Jesus Christ, Fides quae cre­ditur. is called an in being in Christ, John 15.4.6. and an abiding in Christ, 1 John 2.24.28. Scil. a professional or doctrinal Union with Christ. This the Saints of God have, but neither is this all.

Fifthly; Nor yet is it merely an Union of consent; The Believer is not one with Christ, only by consent of wills. The Arrians whilst they blasphemously deny the Deity of the Son, betray a double ignorance (and if but ignorance, there sin is the less) the one in the doctrine, or assertion it self; the other in the ground, which they alledge for it, which is Christs own words, praying to his Father for Believers, John 17.22. [Page 26]that they may be one, even as we are one; whence they (sup­posing Believers to be one with the Father and the Son, only by consent of wills) do infer, neither are the Father and the Son one in any other sence. But say we, they err in the very foundation: we acknowledg indeed Believers to be so far one with Christ, Idem velle, I­dem nolle vera est amicitia. and that is a very sweet and precious union: to will and nill the same things, is an high degree of love and oneness; but to say no more of the Union betwixt Christ and his Saints, is to say too little.

Sixthly; Neither is this Union barely a Sacramental Ʋni­on; whereby Christians (in either of the Sacraments, or any other Evangelical institution) are in an Elemental professional way joyned to Christ, and Christ to them. Thus all, good and bad, Elect and Reprobate, Simon Magus as well as any of the Believing Samaritans, Acts 8.12, 13. Judas as well as Peter: all I say, are made one with Christ in an external pro­fessional use of those Gospel-institutions; while in the mean time a real Believer, in a true, living, spiritual, saving way, is made partaker of Christ, and of all his benefits in all Gospel-Ordinances.

Seaventhly; In contradistinction to the Union which we have with Christ, by vertue of his assuming our humane nature. Christ was incarnate in the Womb of the Virgin, and thereby was personally united to our flesh; which is the highest ad­vancement of the humane nature, that can be conceived, Heb. 2.16. For verily he took not upon him the nature of An­gels, but the seed of Abraham; Christ assumed mans nature, being God from all Eternity; he took on him the one, to the other; and so made of those two natures, one person: by this we have a kind of Union with Jesus Christ, ver. 11. He which Sanctifieth, and they which are Sanctified, are both of one, i.e. of one God, say some; the Son of God, and Saints are all of one God the Father: others understand it of Adam; Christ as concerning the flesh, and all the sanctified, are of one com­mon root and Father, though, by a different generation. But [of one] here is to be referred principally to the nature, where­of [Page 27]both the sanctifier and sanctified are partakers, i.e. Acts 17.26. [...]. they are of the same blood and kindred, of the same mould & consti­tution, of the same humane nature. This is a near and an ho­nourable Conjunction; for by this means Jesus Christ is be­come our Immanuel, God with us, bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh: but yet this Conjunction is common to all, sanctified and unsanctified, prophane and holy; and verily it will be found an high aggravation of sin in the great day, that sinners should dare to profane and prostitute that nature to sinful purposes, Heb. 2.11. which the Son of God hath sanctified by so wonderful an assumption of it into one and the same per­sonality with the divine nature. Thus the sanctified are one with him that sanctifieth, but that's not all.

Eighthly; It is real in contradistinction to that contempla­tive Ʋnion which the Saints have with Christ in their holy Meditations. Meditation doth bring the object and the fa­culty together, and makes them one: And thus the Saints are (often) united to Jesus Christ in holy contemplation, whereby they let in Christ into their Souls, and their Souls into Christ, and become as it were One Spirit, or one in Spi­rit, with him: but neither is this all, for even common gifts and parts may produce this Conjunction, as well, as Grace; Art may thus Unite Christ, and the understanding, as well, as Faith. One may be thus United to Christ for a time, and yet be separated from Christ for ever.

Again, Ninethly; It is a real Union in contradistinction to Reconciliatory Ʋnion. Falling out separates between person and person; Reconciliation makes them one again; Reconcili­ation is the Attonement of Enemies: and thus indeed, God and Sinners are Reconciled by Christ; by him we have re­ceived the Attonement; those whom sin made two, Rom. 5.11. [...]. Reconciliati­on. Christ makes one. This is a choyce fruit of Christ's death, a conco­mitant of our Union with Christ, yet not the very Ʋnion it self, or not the whole of this Union: there is between Christ and Believers the Union of Friendship, 2 Cor. 5.18, 19. But neither is that all.

Tenthly and lastly; This Ʋnion is real in contradistinction [Page 28]to affectionate Ʋnion. Crederes unam animam in duo­bus esse divi­sam. Min. Fel. Oct. Love is as an uniting affection, it makes the lover and the beloved one; as if two persons had but one Soul between them: thus Christ loves the Saints, Rev. 1.5. and the Saints love Christ again, 1 Pet. 1.8. Christ's love to them is the cause; their love to Christ, is the effect, 1 Jo. 4.19. Yet this Union is, rather a fruit of that Union (we are now speaking of) than the Ʋnion it self; as in Marriage, the conjugal bond, and conjugal love are distinct things: Indeed Love doth Unite Christ and the Saints, but Love is rather the fruit of this Union, than the Union it self; there is some­what more real in this Union, than the Love it self.

None of all these, reach the nature of this Union. The Scrip­ture describes it to be a real and a solid Union; as real as that beween Head and Members, Root, and Branches; for, al­though it be a Spiritual Union, yet doth it not therefore cease to be real; things are not therefore less real, because Spiritual, yea therefore more. God, who is the most absolute, and real Being (a Being which gives Being to every thing which hath a being) is most spiritual: John 4.24. God is a Spirit; and the nearer any being or excellency approximates unto God, the more real it is, the more it self; as we see in Angels, and the Souls of men.

Our Saviour his giving of us his Flesh to eat, is not, as the Papists believe (or rather, as they would make us believe, they do believe) literal and carnal, the truth it self bearing witness, John 6.63. The Flesh profiteth nothing, q. d. If you could literally tear my Flesh with your teeth, and pour my Blood down your throats, this would not profit you at all in point of Salvation. What then will? Why, the words which I speak, are Spirit and Life, i. e. they are to be understood in a Sacramental and spiritual sense, &c.

And yet although Christs Body be not food in a fleshly, but in a spiritual sense, Jo. [...].55. [...]. Truly or Veri­ly. it is not therefore less real; no, my flesh is meat indeed, and my Blood is drink indeed, it is neither paint­ed nor Enchanted meat, but real and substantial; yet not cor­poral but spiritual; yea, it is so real, that in comparison of that, all other corporal food is but imaginary and metaphori­cal: [Page 29]it is but like bread, it is but like wine, painted bread, Quasi food. and painted wine; not so indeed, and in truth, compared with Christ in the holy Supper.

Such is this Union, although, yea, because, it is not a corpo­ral, but a spiritual Union; therefore it is so true and real, that in comparison of it, all Unions and Conjunctions in na­ture, are nothing else but so many figures and shadows: It is as real as the Believer himself, as real as Christ himself; Christ, and the Believer are not more really one in them­selves, than they are in, and with one another 1 Cor. 6.16. spiritually. Yea our Lord carryeth us one step higher; It is an Union as real, as that essential Union between the Father and the Son. John 17.21. As thou Father art in me, and I in thee; that they also may be one in us, as i. e. as truly, as verily, though not substantially; It notes (I say) the reality of the Union, though not the kind and manner of it.

Third Property.

Thirdly; This Ʋnion is an operative Ʋnion. Third Pro­perty, opera­tive. Gal. 2.20. Colos. 3.4. Christ is in the Believer, as the soul is in the body a principle of life and o­peration. I Live saith the Apostle; but as if he had said too much, he recals what he had said, yet not I; but, Christ liveth in me; q. d. It is not so much I that live, as Christ in me. Christ is my life, it is he that animates me, he, that acts me, it is he, that doth all his work in me, and my works for me; It is he that believes in me, that desireth in me, (whatsoever is good, and spiritual) it is he that repents in me, and loveth in me, and prayeth in me. My meaning is not to gratifie the Antinomians; for though the Acts be efficiently from Christ, yet formally they are wholly ours; Christ is the next Efficient Cause, but not the next Formal Cause: though he be the immediate cause in respect of the vertue and power by which we act; yet he is only a mediate Cause in respect of the Order of acting; and therefore properly the act only denominates us, and not him. Though the act be mine, the strength is his; I can do all things through him that strengthen­eth [Page 30]me; I am but the instrument only, which his hand man­ageth; it is his Finger that toucheth me, his skill that makes the Musick. It is such an Union as from whence the Believer, by Faith draws life, and vertue from Jesus Christ to all spiri­tual and saving intents, and purposes.

The influence of his Death, for the mortifying of his Cor­ruptions; they that are Christ's (by vertue of this blessed U­nion) have Crucified the flesh with the Affections and Lusts, sc. Gal. 6.14. by vertue derived from his Cross, The power of his Resur­rection, for the quickening and strengthening of them to all the Acts and Operations of Grace; Phil. 3.10. yea, whereby all the Offices of the holy Life, become sweet, facile, and complacen­tial; those duties, and imployments, which unto the Ʋnre­generate man are hard, 1 Jo. 5.4. and grievous, and even so many im­possibles, by Faith, improving its Union with Christ, are made light, easie, and Connatural, even as the operations of ano­ther nature: All this the Apostle would have us to under­stand, when he saith, his Commandements are not grievous There is a [...] in the words, more is understood than exprest..

A Fourth Property is like unto this, Fourth Pro­perty, en­niching. and that is

4. This Union is a Soul-enriching Union. By vertue of this blessed Union, the Saints are invested into all the unsearch­able Riches of Jesus Christ; as by vertue of the Marriage­knot, the Wife is enstated into all the Reveneues, and Privi­ledges of her Husband. 1 Cor. 1.30.

Of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us Wisdom, Righteousness, Sanctification, and Redemption. Ob­serve Christians!

In Christ Jesus: ther's the Union, and thence flowes Com­munion, and Fellowship with him in all his priviledges, Wis­dom, Righteousness, Sanctification, and Redemption. Here you have the very Epitome, and summa totalis of the Gos­pel; Christ in four words. the whole Christ in four words; the benefit, and fruit of all his Offices, suitable and sufficient to supply all the de­fects and indigences of the Creature: For behold! here is Wisdom for our Folly; Righteousness for our guilt; Sancti­fication for our impure natures, and Redemption for our [Page 31](every way) lost and undone condition: wisdome to make us wise to salvation, there is the fruit of his prophetical Office; they shall all know me, Jerem. 31.34. Righteousness for our justification; Rom. 10.4. Christ is the end (or complement) of the Law for Righteousness to every one that believeth Finis impleti­onis; or if you will, rather fints intentionis: The scope of the Law; He to whom the Law leads and directs us for justification, Gal. 3 24. It equally an­swers my de­signe., there is the fruit of his Priestly Office; Sanctification, to begin holiness where it is wanting, and to encrease it where it is begun, (Christ is a Fountain of holiness, as well as a Fountain of happiness) there is the fruit of his Kingly Office; he sets up his Kingdome in the Soul, Rom. 14.17. Redemption, fully, and finally to deliver us from the powr of darkness, from wrath to come, from all the remainders of sin, and misery; and to translate us into the Kingdome of Grace and Glory; there is the joynt-fruit of all his Offices.

Behold Christians! This is the rich and precious fruit which grows upon the Offices of Jesus Christ, and all made ours by means of this glorious Ʋnion. First, in Christ, then fol­lows Wisdom, Righteousness, Sanctification, and Redemption.

Yea, one step higher yet: By vertue of this Union with Christ, Believers are made Believers are not only made partakers of the fruits of Christ's Offices, but are invested into the very Offices them­selves. Was he anointed to be a King? so are they: he hath made us Kings, &c. Rev. 1.6. Kings, was Christ anointed to be a Prophet? Believers also partake of the same unction. 1 Jo. Prophets, 2.20. Ye have an unction of the holy one, and ye know all things. Was Christ anointed to be a Priest? so are they, Priests. ye are a chosen Generation, a Royal Priesthood. 1 Pet. 2.9. Here are two Offices twisted together, Royal, ther's their Kingly Office; Priesthood, ther's their Sacerdotal; a Kingdome of Priests, Exod. 19.6. 1 Pet. 2.5. as Moses phraseth it; Priests, as they stand in relation to God, to offer up spiritual Sacrifice to God, acceptable by Jesus Christ: and Kings in respect of men, to rule over others, and them­selves too.

This is much, and yet this is not all;

By vertue of this Union, Believers share with Christ in all his (communicable) titles and dignities. Is he a Son? Gal. 4, 5. so are they; Christ, the Son of God by Nature; they the Sons of [Page 32]God by Adoption. Was Christ the Heir of all things, Heb. 1.3? Believers are Heirs also in him, and with him. If Children, Rom. 8.17. then Heirs, Heirs of God, and joynt-Heirs with Je­sus Christ; though they are not joynt-Purchasers (by their good works) as the Papist would make them, yet they are joynt-Heirs (by grace), as God hath made them; sc. by ver­tue of their Union with Jesus Christ.

Doth Christ call God his Father, and his God? behold! He, Heb. 2.11. (being not ashamed to call them Brethren) lets them know that he is their God, and Father. God to my Brethren, and say to them, John 20.17. I ascend to my Father, and your Father, to my God and your God.

Once more: Hath the Father appointed him a Kingdom? so doth he appoint unto them a Kingdom, Luk. 22.29. Hath the Father assigned him a Throne? so doth Christ assigne unto his Saints a Throne also. To him that overcometh, will I grant to sit with me, Rev. 3.21. in my Throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his Throne.

My Brethren! what a Soul-enriching, beatifical Union is this! There be Unions in nature, which convey nothing, com­municate nothing, but empty, and insignificant titles, which make the person admitted into them, not a whit the richer, the better, not a jot the more noble or happy: but this Union (as that divine essential Union between the Father, and the Son doth invest Christ into all divine properties and preroga­tives with the Father, so this between Christ and the Belie­ver) invests the Believer into the whole Christ, and all his riches, and all his glory, in so much as the Spouse gives in the whole accompt in this vast and invaluable sum. Cant. 2.16. My Beloved is mine, and I am his; he is mine; the whole Christ is mine in his natures, offices, excellencies, prerogatives, and inheritance; In all he is, and in all he hath, it is all mine, for my good, and for my glory: This is the voice of her Faith, and then I am his, this is the voice of her love, I am his, in all I am, in all I have, in all I can make by my interest in the world; and if it were a thousand times more, he should have it all, and all too little for him, who hath loved me, and washed one in his own [Page 33]Blood, and hath taken me into so rich and glorious an Ʋnion with his own self. To him be glory for ever, Amen. This is the fourth Property.

I proceed to a fifth property of the Union, Fifth Pro­perty, an intimous Ʋ ­nion. and it is a near, inward, intimous Union. To hint the intimateness of this Union, the Holy Ghost in Scripture, carries us through the climax of all Unions under Heaven, and compares it with them, of what nature and kind soever,

• Whether Artificial,
• Whether Political,
• Whether Natural,

Wherein, although you may find different degrees, one ex­ceeding another, yet all falling short of this blessed Ʋnion, in respect of closeness, and intimacy; It tells you that, look how the house and foundation are one, so are Christ and Be­lievers, 1 Pet. 2.4, 5, 6. yea higher.

It tells you, that; look how Husband and Wife are one, so is Christ and his Saints, Hos. 2.19. Eph. 5.30. only with this incomparable difference, Husband and Wife make but one flesh; 1 Cor 6.16, 17. but Christ and the Believer make one Spirit ut supra.

It tells us (yet higher) that look how the Head and Mem­bers are one, so is Christ and his Church, 1 Cor. 12.12. how root and branches are one, John 15.1.6. so Christ, and Be­lievers; and closer yer, the Scripture tells us, that, look how Food, and the body are one, so also is Christ, and the Believer one; hence we hear of eating his Flesh, and drinking his Blood, John 6.51, 53, 54, 55, 56. and nearer yet (if nearer can be.)

It [...], that look how the Soul and Body are one, how Life, and the subject wherein it resides are one, so is Christ and the Believer, Colos. 3.4. when Christ who is our life shall appear, &c.

Behold, here (Christians) is an Union which amounts tan­tum non to an identity; say only with Cyprian, it is not such [Page 34]an Union as is between the two natures in Christ, Non miscet per­sonas nec unit substantias. Cypr. It is indeed an Union of per­sons, but not a personal U­nion Mystici Theo­logi. A Believer trans-essenti­ated into God, and Bread and Wine trans­substantiated into Christ, are much of a Language. So they call the Holy Ghost, auram zephyri caelestis and pardon of sin, Deos supe­ros, manesque pacare. Card. de Bemb. which makes them but one person; not such an Union as is between the three glorious Persons in the blessed Trinity, who notwith­standing the distinction of their personality, are but one na­ture and essence, and you cannot say or think too highly of this Ʋnion; yea whatsoever you can say, or think, will be short of the intimacy and excellency of this Union.

Onely we must tell the world, that those mystical divines (amongst the Papists) as they call themselves, who talk of the Saints being trans- essentiated into God; and those Seraphicks amongst us (as they would be called) but Phanatiques more truly and properly, who rant at the same rate [Christed with Christ, and Godded with God,] these speak as men so ambiti­ous of being accounted sublime, and Angelical in compari­son of all other men, whom they scorn as illiterate Literatists, that they think it a lessening to them to speak in a common and sober Dialect; and rather, then not speak bigger words then other men, they fear not to speak Blasphemy; The Lord convince them.

Notwithstanding, I must add this to what I have said, that because no Union under Heaven was close enough to express the oneness which is betwixt Christ and the Believer; there­fore our Lord Jesus himself carries us up to Heaven, there to contemplate the essential Union, which is between the Father and the Son, Jo. 17. and puts them into the same parallel; As thou Father art in me, and I in thee, that they may be one in us; yet still we must be careful to understand the words of Christ in a sober sense, lest, whil'st our Lord doth honour our Union with himself, by comparing it to divine Union in the Trinity, we do in the least dishonour that Union by levelling it with ours; we must duly remember, that this comparative parti­cle as, doth not here intend equality, but likeness o [...]y; the truth of the intimacy, and not the nature, or the degree of it; to lift up this mystical Union above all other Unions in na­ture; but we must still keep the divine Union in its own place. This is the fifth property.

The sixth property. Sixth pro­perty total.

It is a total Union. The whole Christ is United to the whole Christian; as the whole humane nature in Christ, is joyned to the whole divine nature; so the whole person of a Believer, is joyned to the whole person of Christ; yet not so as to make Christ and the Believer but one person; but as (in the conjugal Union between Man and Wife) making up one (mystical) body; or, as in the body natural, every Member is joyned to the head, and the head to every member: so is Christ and the Believer.

Yea, once more. By vertue of this Union with Christ, the Believer is likewise united to the whole divine nature and essence in the Deity, though not essentially; and he is likewise united to each person in the Trinity, the Father, and the Ho­ly Ghost, as well as to the Son, John 17.21. Behold, that thus it is done to the man, whom God will honour! Thanks be to God for this unspeakable Grace.

This is the sixth Property.

The Seaventh and last Property.

This Union is an indissoluble Ʋnion. Seventh pro­perty, Indis­soluble. This Union between Christ and the Believer, is not capable of any separation. They are so one, that all the violence of the world, or all the powers of darkness, can never be able to make them two a­gain.

Hence the Apostle's Triumph Challenge, Rom. 8.35. who shall separate us from the love of Christ? If the question did not imply a strong negation, ver. 38, 39. the Apostle himself doth give us a negation in words at length, neither death, nor life, nor Angels, nor Principalities, nor Powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us, &c.

A long Catalogue, consisting of a large induction of vari­ous particulars! but in all these 'tis observable; he only in­stanceth [Page 36]in the creature, nor any other creature, — he leaveth out God, and why? because God himself is the Author of this Union; 1 Cor. 1.30. of him are ye in Christ Jesus; It is of God, and that

Upon a three-fold Account,

1. It is of God's Preordination. This Union of Christ and his Saints, was the design of God's everlasting, Electing Love. Ephes. 14. He hath chosen us in him, before the Foundation of the World. As the Ʋnion, so the very purpose of it, was founded in Tanquam in capite, though not tanquam in causâ; not as the cause of Election, but as the cause of the good of E­lection; for it is not said for him, but in him. Vid. Twiss. vindic. grattae, lib. 1. part 2. Digres Prim. Secund. Tert. Christ, He hath chosen us in him.

2. It is of God the Fathers efficiency: the Father tyeth this Marriage knot between his Son and his Spouse; for, we are his Workmanship, Created in Christ Jesus, &c. The new Creation, it is God's work, and it is founded on Christ, or in Christ, created in Christ Jesus, &c.

3. It is of Gods support. As in the first Creation, when God had finished the world, he took not his hand off; but up­holds it still by the word of his power, Heb. 1.3. So in this se­cond and new Creation; when he hath wrought it, he takes not off his hand; if he should, it would quickly collapse into its first nothing. How comes it then to pass it doth not? why saith the Apostle, 1 Pet. 1.5. you are kept by the power of God, through Faith to Salvation: Faith keeps the Believer in this Union; but the power of God keeps Faith. Why now, if af­ter all this, God should at any time suspend the influence of this power; or, by any malice, or fraud of men, or Devils, suffer this Union to miscarry, he should fail and cross his own project, he should desert his own design; this cannot be.

Here is the Foundation then, upon which the Apostle e­recteth this Triumph: God who only can dissolve this Union will not; the Creature, which only would dissolve this Union, cannot; so it stands on a surer bottom then Heaven and Earth, our life is hid with Christ in God. The Believer is in Christ, as Christ is in God, hence the unseparableness of this Union: John 10.28, 29. There is no more pulling the Believer out of the bosome of Christ, then there is of Christ out of the bosome of his Father.

And therefore once more, upon this account it is, that our Lord compareth this blessed Ʋnion to that substantial Ʋnion between the Father and the Son, that they may be one, as we are one, namely to express, as the reality and inwardness, so also, the indeficiency of this spiritual Ʋnion, as thou Father art in me, and I in thee. As, i.e. as fixedly, as inseparably, as im­mutably.

This is the transcendent excellency of this Union above all others, it is Eternal. Indeed it had a beginning, but it shall never have an end. All other Unions may suffer a dissolution; a Whirl-wind may throw the house off from its foundation, Job. 1.18, 19. as we see in the case of Job's Children; a Bill of Divorce may dissolve the Union betwixt Man and Wife: in case of the vio­lation of the Marriage Bed. Math. 5.31, 32. An Axe may dissolve the Uni­on between the Head and Members.

Death dissolves the Union between the Soul and body, &c.

I, but nothing can dissolve the Union between Christ and the Believers; nothing shall be able to separate us, &c.

My Text gives us a further instance of this; the Saints sleep in Jesus; The Union ceaseth not, no not in the Grave. The Saints sleep in Jesus. Ob­serve the progress of it, it began in their Regeneration; then they received their first Implantation into Christ, Rom. 6.3 4, 5. whence the Apostle makes Regeneration, and being in Christ synonimous, Rom. 6.3, 4.

Next, they are said to live in Christ, and Christ in them, Gal. 2.20.

Then to shew there is no in and out; In to day, and out to morrow, in this Union (as some fondly dream) we read of their abiding in Christ, not only by way of precept (which might (possibly) imply duty only, as John 15.4, 5.) but by way of promise also, as 1 John 2.27. Ye shall abide in me; which certainly doth express assu­rance, and establishment for ever, Rom. 4.16.

Therefore they are said in the next place, to dye in Christ; Blessed are the dead that dye in the Lord: so verse 16. after the Text, makes mention of the dead in Christ; so that, that which dissolves all other Unions, dissolves not this, death it self; when the Union between body and Soul is dissol­ved, [Page 38]the Union between Christ and Believers dissolveth not.

Yea, see one strain higher yet; not only in death, but even after death, The Soul sleeps not. Heb. 12.23. this Ʋnion holds; the Saints are said to sleep in Je­sus; that part of the Saints, which is capable of sleep, is not capable of separation from Christ; while their more noble part is united to Christ in Heaven, amongst the Spirits of just men made perfect; Christ is United to their Inferiours and more ignoble part in the Grave, their very dust; they sleep in Jesus.

Thus I have opened unto you the blessed and admirable U­nion which is between Christ and his Saints, and it's most ex­cellent, and transcendent properties, scil. as it is

• 1. Spiritual.
• 2. Real.
• 3. Operative.
• 4. Enriching.
• 5. Intimous.
• 6. Total.
• 7. Indissoluble.

Opened, did I say? Alas it is impossible! This Union is a mystery; a great mystery, Ephes. 5.32. next to that Union betwixt the three glorious persons in Trinity, and that other (like unto it) between the two natures in Christ, profound and ineffable! 1 Cor. 2.14. Quia nihil ani­mal animali su­perius, cogitare potest. the heart of man is not able to conceive it, nor the tongue of an Angel to express it: the natural man knows it not at all, no more of it, than a Swine knows what the Union is between the Soul and body in man; it is above his principle, 1 Cor. 2.14. The spiritual man under­standeth it very imperfectly; all we know is rather, that it is, than what it is; the full and perfect knowledg of it, is re­served for the future state; so our Lord hath told us, John 14.20. At that day ye shall know, that I am in the Father, and you in me, and I in you; then, and not till then: we shall ne­ver perfectly understand this Union, until we come fully to en­joy it.

In the mean time, if a short improvement of such a rich point might not be judged too much improper in such a con­templative discourse, as this is; a few things might be hinted from hence, by way of Use.

Use

First; Here we may discover the main Foundation, 1 Perseve­rance stands not in the na­ture of Grace. and Reason of the Saints perseverance; surely it consists not in the nature of Grace, infused in their Regeneration; this differs not specifically from the Grace which Adam received in his first Creation; that was the Image of God, Gen. 1.26, 27. and so is this, Colos. 3.10. and therefore of it self, can­not produce any higher or more noble effects under the one Covenant, then it did under the other.

Secondly; 2. Nor in free­dom of will. Nor doth it consist in the liberty and rectitude of their own Wills, though Regenerate; for if Adams free will did him so little service in his perfect state, when it was entire, free, without any mixture of servility, how little secu­rity (think you) can the liberty, Ex nolentibus facit volentes. Aug. wherewith Christ maketh the will free in the new Creation, afford the Saints, wherein the state of Grace is yet imperfect? and the freedom of their wills mixt with so much bondage, that it made the holy Apostle look upon it, little different (for the present) from a capti­vity, Rom. 7.24. and to cry out (to astonishment) for a Redeemer to come in and make a rescue? O Wretch that I am, who shall deliver me? &c. He found by experience, that if it were not more for a Christ, than for the freedom of his own will, that body of death, which he carried about him, would infallibly prove his total and final ruine: but [I thank God for Jesus Christ our Lord] there was his security. But, 1. In the Co­venant of Grace.

Where then shall we bottom the stability and fixedness of the Saints? surely upon a two-fold Foundation.

First; Divine Compact. Grace in the Saints is under a Co­venant; God the Father hath Astipulated with the Media­tor for his spiritual believing seed; not only to repair the Ruines of the first Creation (his Image) in them, but to up­hold and secure it from ever dissolving & decaying again totally [Page 40]or finally partial, temporary decays and recidivations there may be; but saith the word of the Covenant, to the Redeemer (in Reference to his divine off-spring) my Spirit which is upon thee, Isa. 59.21. and my words which I have put into thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy Seed, nor out of the mouth of thy Seeds Seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth and for ever.

Adams grace was under no such Covenant, and there­fore left to it self; it was exposed to the power of Temptati­on, and perished. This is one account of the Saints perse­verance. But

Secondly; Secondly, U­nion with Christ. The next and immediate Foundation of it, is, this blessed Ʋnion whereof we are now speaking; by vertue whereof the true Believer is so made one with Christ, as Christ is one with his Father, ut supr.—As we are one, as, that is (as it hath been expounded) spiritually, really, opera­tively, enrichingly, intimously, indissolubly;—in a word in­fallibly, and availeably to all saving intents and purposes. Here is the ground and foundation of the Saints perseve­rance; Rev. 3.1. They are not only fixt Stars in Christs right hand (if no more, it would be hard pulling them thence.) But their lives are bound up in the same bundle with Christs own life; Jo. 14.19. our life is hid with Christ in God. Christ and his Saints have, as it were, but one life between them, and that life is Christs; whence Christ himself makes the inference; be­cause I live, Col. 3.3. you shall live also. Upon such an instance, it may be questioned, and (possibly) without breach of charity, whether they who deny the infallible perseverance of the Saints, did ever truly study or believe the notion and nature of the happy and glorious Ʋnion which is betwixt Christ and them The insepa­rableness of the Union, is given as the account of the Saints perse­verance. No­thing can se­parate us. Rom. 8 39..

• If we should form what hath been said unto such a Syllo­gism as this, namely,
• They that are United to Christ by a spiritual, real, opera­tive, enriching, intimate, inseparable Union, can never totally or finally fall away; But all true Believers are so United.

Therefore they can never so fall away.

I say, cast all into such a form, and we find that both the Premisses and the Conclusion, are of Christ's own making; Because I live, ye shall live also. And therefore, until I hear that Christ is dead the second time (which I am sure I shall ne­ver do, for Christ being raised, dieth no more, Rom. 6.9. death hath no more dominion over him, &c.) I dare not believe this doctrine; The possibility of the Saints total and final Apostacy.

Only, because Satan can transform himself into an Angel of Light, and the heart is deceitful above all things, Caution. and despe­rately wicked, my earnest advice, and obsecration to all such as do pretend to this blessed Ʋnion, (as to mine own Soul), is. To give all diligence, upon solid Scripture-evidence (that is to say) by the precious and powerful influences of this Ʋnion upon their Souls; and by the gracious Reciprocations of Faith and Love, and sweet, holy communion with the Father and the Son, &c. by these. I say, and the like, to secure the Assumption, ‘ But I am thus Ʋnited to Christ,’

And the Conclusion need not fear the gates of Rome, or Hell; but the Believer may boldly send forth St. Pauls chal­lenge, Who shall condemn? What shall separate? 1 Cor. 15.57. Thanks be to God, who hath given us the Victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

In the second place. Second Use.

Hence we may take notice of the honour and dignity of the Saints, how meanly and basely so ever reputed, in, The Dignity of the Saints. 1 Cor. 4.13. [...]. and by a reprobate world, even as the filth of the world, and the off-scouring of all things, the scraping of their Shooes, or the com­mon Town-Dung-cart, into which every one cast's their soil and draught: I say, though the Saints of God are thus base and contemptible in the opinion of the ignorant World, yet they have another rate and value set upon them in Heaven: Heb. 11.6. Heb. 2.11. Cant. 4.8.11. Rev. 21.9. God is not ashamed to be called their God, nor Christ ashamed to call them Brethren. Yea, he dignifies them with the stile of his Spouse, the Bride, the Lambs Wife; and all this [Page 42]upon the account of that admirable, and inconceivable Ʋnion which is between Christ and them, that spiritual, real, opera­tive, inriching, total, intimous, and indissoluble Ʋnion, by ver­tue whereof, 1 Cor. 6.17.15.19. they are in Christ, and Christ in them; as to their more divine part, their Soul's, one spirit with the Lord; and even as to their terrene and corruptive part, their Bodies, Members of Christ, and Temples for the Holy Ghost to dwell in; yea, saith my Text, their very dust is United to Christ: They sleep in Jesus.

Such Honour have all his Saints.

How should the sense of it engage them to Honour Christ, Third Use. who hath put so great honour upon them! (yea to honour themselves whom Christ hath so highly honoured? to stand upon their advancement, and not to prophane themselves by any thing that is common, or unclean, or upon the least ac­count unsutable to their glorious Union with Jesus Christ; but to possess their Vessels in Sanctification and Honour, 1 Thes. 4.4. as under an holy awe of that tremendous Sentence;

Surely the thought of so near and intimate an Union with the Son of God, should make sin become an impossibility; Upon all the Adulterous solicitations of the Flesh, World, or Satan, to make holy Joseph's quick reply; How can I do this great Wickedness, and sin against my Ʋnion with Jesus Christ?

Fourthly; Fourth Use. And oh that such as have for many years toge­ther, Exhortation to such as are yet out of Christ. sitten under the Ministry of the Gospel of Christ, and to this day are altogether strangers to this blessed Union with Christ, would now, with all seriousness and holy contention, apply themselves to know it, and to know it experimentally; that they would (with holy Paul) account all things loss and dung for the excellency of the knowledg of Jesus Christ, Phil. 3.8, 9, even this, that they may be found in him, to know him with interest, to know him in this mysterious and beatifical Ʋ ­nion, Christ in them, and they in Christ; This only is the [Page 43] saving knowledg of Jesus Christ, to be able to make out our Conjunction with him upon Scripture-evidence. Alas! this is the undoing Mistake of thousands, that are called Christians; they know somewhat of the History of Christ; they have some notions of a Christ in their heads, but this is the preci­pice, upon which they ruine themselves, They think to be saved by a Christ without them, they hang upon the outside of the Ark, they live upon bare notions, The Son of God took our na­ture upon him; died for sins; rose again, James 1.21. [...]. and is gon up into Heaven, and sits at God's right hand: and therefore conclude they shall be saved: Oh but what a paralogism and fallacy do they put upon their own Souls! They put more into the Con­clusion, then there is in the Premisses, while they leave out this great, and indispensible medium of Ʋnion, and Conjunction with Jesus Christ! without which a Christ, and no Christ, is all one.

Men and Women generally take Faith to be nothing else, but a loose conjectural application of Christ and his Merits to themselves, not considering that the great saving Office of Faith, is, To unite the Soul to Jesus Christ, Eph. 3.17. It is true, there is no Condemnation; but it is, only to them that are in Christ Jesus, Rom 8.1.

Christ is the hope of Salvation; it is true; I, but it is not simply Christ in the Womb of the Ʋirgin, not simply Christ on the Cross, not Christ in the Grave, no, not (alone) Christ on the Throne; but saith the Apostle, Christ in you, the hope of Glory, Colos. 1.27. It were an easie thing to be saved, if a Christ without us were all; and I know no reason why re­probate men and Devils might not get to Heaven on such terms: No, but as there is no other name under Heaven, Acts 4.12. given amongst men, whereby we must be saved, but the Name of Je­sus Christ, i. e. his merit and influence: So, there is no other medium, whereby that merit and influence can be effectually applied to the Soul, but only this spiritual, real, operative, enriching, intimous, total, and inseparable Union with Jesus Christ.

Christ must be in us by his Spirit, and we must be in Christ [Page 44]by Faith, or else our persons and our hope (as to the present state) are both reprobate, 2 Cor. 13.15.— Of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made Wisdom, Righteousness, Sanctification and Redemption. 1 Cor. 3.22, 23. All is yours, if you be Christ's, as Christ is God's. Appear before God's Tribunal in the great day, Math. 7.21, 22, 23. Luk. 13.26.27. without this Ʋnion, and plead what you will, your answer will be, I never knew you; depart from me, &c.

Believe this, Oh all you carnal Christ-less Christians, and tremble, and swim no longer down the stream of Security, lest it empty you forth into the Lake of Perdition: but work out your Salvation with Fear and Trembling, and give all dili­gence to make this conjunction with Christ, sure to your own Souls; Colos. 3.3, 4. that, when He shall appear, you may also appear with him in Glory.

Remember, All your true and solid comfort and rejoycing in life, in death, and at the day of Judgment, is all bound up in your Ʋnion with Jesus Christ: Christ in you the hope of Glory.

Fifthly and Lastly, Fourth and last Use. Consolation.

The Doctrine of this glorious Union with Christ, is not more for the honour of the living, than for the comfort of the dying Saints, and of their surviving mourners; And for their sakes it is here specially calculated by the Holy Ghost; behold this Ʋnion is not dissolved by death it self; though it dissolve the Union between Body and Soul, it cannot dissolv [...] the Ʋnion which is between Christ and his Members. Hence you find even death it self filling up the Apostle's Triumph; What can separate? neither life, nor death, &c. Not life, for Christ (by vertue of this Union) is their life; Not death, for as terrible as it is, let death do its worst, it cannot dissolve this blessed Ʋnion. Neither life nor death can separate, &c.

Why do ye tremble at the thoughts of death, O ye Saints of God! and why do you indeed, (what the Jews supposed Mary did, John 11.31.) go (so oft) to the Sepulcher to weep there? be­hold, your beloved Lazarus, is not dead, but sleepeth; yea, that which is of an infinitely higher consideration, he sleeps in [Page 45] Jesus. Did he live in Christ? behold he died in Christ also; Did he dye in Christ? behold he sleeps in Christ; Christ is nearly related to the Saints dust; their ashes are not laid up in the Grave, so much, as in Christ; yea, though (after death,) they should pass through never so many changes and revolutions, and should be scattered at length into all quarters and corners of the world, Dormire in Christo, est con­junctionem reti­nere in morte, quam habemus cum Christo. Calv. in loc. he that calls the Stars by their own names, knows every dust of their precious bodies; keeps them in his hand; and is as really united to them, as to his own hu­mane nature in Heaven.

This may be as Jonathan's honey upon the top of the rod; taste of it oh ye mourners of hope, and your eyes will be en­lightned: look not on your pretious Relations, so much as they lye rotting in the Grave, or resolved into dust, as upon their dust as it is laid up in a sacred Ʋrn, in the hand and bo­some as it were of Jesus Christ; for which, he himself will be responsible, and bring it forth safely and entirely in the morning of the Resurrection; there shall not be so much as a dust wanting; for so it followeth, Them which sleep in Je­sus, will God bring with him: which is a wider breach.

The sixth Word of Comfort. Sixth word of Comfort. God will bring his Sleeping Saints with him.

God will come, and when he cometh, He will bring them with him, which sleep in Jesus.

God will, or God shall,] &c.

Some understand it of God the Father, others of God the Son; I know not why they should be separated; they that say God the Father, include God the Son, i. e. God the Fa­ther shall bring them with him, in Christ of by Christ, re­ferring [he shall bring] unto the former clause in Jesus. The Verb [...]. So Erasmus and Tertul.

Or, by Jesus; so reading it, God shall bring them by Jesus.

And, they who understand here God the Son, exclude not God the Father. And verily, the order of working, which is between the three glorious Persons in Trinity, will not allow us to seclude either in this place; For, as all the external [Page 46]works of the Trinity are common, Opera Trinitatis ad extrà, sunt indivisa. and undivided, so Divines observe this method or order in their working.

• The Father worketh all things of himself, in the Son, by the Holy Ghost.
• The Son worketh from the Father, by the Holy Ghost.
• The Holy Ghost worketh from the Father, and from the Son by himself.
  • The Original of the action is ascribed to the Father.
  • The Wisdom and manner of working, to the Son;
  • The Efficacy of the operation to the Holy Ghost.

All external operation, begins in the Father, is continued in the Son, and terminated in the Holy Ghost. This is a mystery rather to be adored, Psal. 139.6. than curiously to be pried into; such knowledg is too wonderful for us; it is high, we cannot at­tain unto it.

But, as to the words of the Text, God will bring them with him, I conceive they relate more properly and peculiarly to the Son, [...] Jesus Christ the Lord. For so it follows, The Lord himself shall descend, &c. And when he cometh, he will bring them with him, that sleep in him. The propriety of the work is ascribed to Jesus Christ, God-man, the Mediator between God and man; he shall bring them with him, when he descend­eth from Heaven,

And that in a four-fold respect,

• 1. Their Spirit or Souls, from Heaven;
• 2. Their Bodies, from the Grave,
• 3. Body and Soul united, he shall take up to himself into the Clouds.
• 4. And then carry all his Saints back with him into Heaven.

First, when the Lord shall descend, he will bring the spirits of just men made perfect, with him from Heaven. The Souls of all his glorified Saints (whose bodies to this moment have slept in the Grave) shall follow Christ out of the gates of the New Jerusalem, to attend that glorious solemnity: so it is [Page 47]prophesied, Behold, Jude v. 14. the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his Saints. When Christ cometh to judg the world, there shall not be a Saint left in Heaven saith Chrysostom. [...]. Heaven shall as it were be left empty to attend the King of Glory going forth out of his Royal Palace, to finish the work of the great and last Judgment of the world; he shall come attended with all his Saints, they shall fill up his Train.

Secondly, As Christ will bring their Souls with him from Heaven, so he will bring their bodies from the Grave. It is noted how that in the Transfigu­ration, the bo­dy of Moses which was hid in the Valley of Mo­ab, appeared in the Mount of Tabor, which assures us that the bodies of the Saints, where-ever they be lodged, are not lost, but laid up, to be raised to glory; the same numerical body that was laid down in dust. Christ at his coming to Judgment, will first go to the Graves of the Saints, and cry to them aloud in some such language as once he did to their Souls in the days of their unregeneracy (when dead in sins and trespasses,) in the Gospel-call, Awake thou that sleepest, and stand up from the dead, and I will give thee Life.

Or, as somtimes in the days of his flesh, he did to Lazarus, John 11.41. when he had lien four days rotting in the Grave, Veniet aliquan­do Christus cum potestate et majestate carnem illam quaerere, & illud corpus ca­daverosum con­figurare corpors claritatis suae. Bern. (a lively Emblem and Type of the general Resurrection) Lazarus come forth: and they that are dead shall come forth. It was the tenour of his own prediction, while yet in the world, The hour is coming, in the which all, that are in the Graves, shall hear the voyce of the Son of man, and shall come forth, &c.

I shall not stay here to inquire into the nature and proper­ties of the Saints bodies, when Christ shall raise them up out of their Graves: that inquiry will be more proper and sea­sonable in some of the following clauses of this context.

Concerning the manner of it (for the help of our Infant-understandings) briefly, The manner of the Resur­rection. we may conceive it after this me­thod.

First, The holy Angels of God shall be sent abroad, to ga­ther together the scattered dust of the Saints, though sepa­rated one from the other at never so great a distance into all the quarters and extremities of the earth, Math. 24.31. and shall bring them [Page 48]together, Math. 24.31. The incinera­tion, & dissipa­tion of their dust shall have a Recol­lection in the Resurrection. not so much as one dust wanting (for he that num­bers the Stars, doth number also the dust and ashes of his Re­deemed): as not an hair of their heads, so not a dust of their resolved flesh shall perish.

Thus gathered together, Christ by his mighty power shall unite dust to dust, every dust in its own proper place, and form it up into the same numerical body it was, when it was dissolved and laid down in the Grave.

And thus made up into a beautiful Structure, (more beau­tiful than ever it was in its first Creation, as I shall shew hereafter); Christ will put each Soul into its own body a­gain, and unite them together into the same sweet conjugal society and fellowship they possessed before their separation; this friendly espoused Pair, shall now be solemnly Married together, before God, and Men, and Angels, never to suffer Divorce any more, and they shall become one entire person, a totum compositum, as they were in the days of their first con­tract.

And this excellent person will Christ animate, and quicken with the influences of that blessed Union with himself, which during all this long interval of their sleeping in the Grave, was not dissolved, but hidden only, and suspended.

Now shall the Saints know, and feel the meaning of that word which Christ spake to Martha, I am the Resurrection, and the Life. Martha in the verse immediately before, had professed her Faith of a Resurrection. — I know that my Brother shall rise again, in the Resurrection at the last day: Presently Christ replieth, Jo. 11.25. I am the Resurrection and the Life: discovering to her the Fountain and Cause of that Resur­rection; namely, that Life and Vertue shall then go forth from himself to animate and quicken all his Members, and shall cause them to stand upon their feet again, as the Chil­dren of the Resurrection.

Thirdly; Soul and body thus Ʋnited, Christ God-man, shall bring with him unto the place where the great Assizes of the quick and dead shall be solemnly kept, which the 17th. v. tells us will be in the Air (of which more distinctly when [Page 49]we come to that verse.) Thither Christ will bring with him all his Elect (whose bodies to that moment have slept in him,) Christ will carry the risen Saints with him to the Judgment.) when he hath awakened them;

And that upon a Twosold Accompt.

First; For the greater Ho­nour of that Day. For the greater solemnity of that last and tremendous Judgment. The Saints shall be brought out of their Graves, to attend the Judge for his greater State and Grandeur, to strike the greater Terrour into the hearts of Reprobate men and Angels, who then shall be brought forth in Chains to the Tribunal of Christ, to see, and suffer the severity and impar­tiality of that last Tryal.

The Glory of a King, consists in the multitude of his No­bles and Royal Attendants.

The Judge of Assize is brought in with the Posse Comita­tus, the power and gallantry of the Country, for the striking of the greater terror and aw into the hearts of offenders.

Angels and Saints shall be Christ's Life-guard, as it were; Christi Satelli­tium. or as his Troops and Legions which shall conduct him in State and Triumph to the Judgment Seat.

Secondly, when Christ shall have raised his sleeping Saints out of their beds of dust, he shall bring them with him from the Grave to the place of Judgment, That they may accompany him, and be with him throughout the whole carriage, and conduct of the last judicial process, to hear and applaud his righteous proceedings. This is that which the Apostle calls, The Saints judging of the World, and judging of Angels; yea, 1 Cor. 6.2, 3. it seems that is not all; our Saviour tells his Apostles, that in that day, Math. 19.28. [...] N [...]mpe ut Chri­sti, vere & pro­p [...]è Judicis, Ass [...]ss [...]res. Bern. in [...]oe. they shall sit on twelve Thrones, judging the twelve Tribes, &c. judging or condemning, how? certainly not as bare Specta­tors only, but as Assessors, to sit with Him on the Bench to justifie and consent to the judgment of Christ, the great and Supream Judg, giving in their full and free suffrages to the final sentence, which he shall pass upon the Reprobate world of Jews and Gentiles, of Men and Devils: probably in some such language as we hear from the Saints upon the downfall of Antichrist; Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God [Page 50]Almighty; And by that Doctrine they shall be judg­ed also in the general judg­ment, Math. 13.18. Jo. 12.48. Heb. 117. [...], He condemned the world partly, as the building of the Ark was a visible pre­diction of the Flood; part­ly, as it was a witness and conviction of their infideli­ty. just, and true are thy waies, thou King of Saints: for thy judgments are made manifest.

Here, the Apostles and Ministers of the Gospel judged the Wicked of the world by their Doctrine, and both Ministers and others of Gods faithful Servants judged them by their Holy lives, and patient bearing of the Cross; as it is said of Noah, that by his Faith in believing the warning, and obey­ing the Command of God, in preparing the Ark, he judg­ed, or condemned the unbelieving World; The holiness of the Saints is a tacit reproach and conviction upon the Consciences of Wicked men, whereby they condemn them before hand; yea whereby wicked men become [...] Self-con­demned.

But now the Preachers of the Gospel, with the rest of the Saints, shall Judge the world judicially, and (probably) by an audible Vote to, and with the Judgment of Jesus Christ; Rev. 16.5 Thou art Righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, and shalt be, because thou hast judged thus; This honour shall all the Saints have at that Day: Thus Christ shall bring the raised Saints with him to the place of Judgment.

But Fourthly; Fourthly. God shall bring them with him, i. e. (that last and solemn Judgment being finished) Christ shall carry all his Saints back with him, from the place of Judgment, the neather Heavens, into the upper, the supreme Heavens, where the Throne of God is, and the seat of glorified Angels and Saints; All the Saints of God shall follow the Judg in a Triumphant manner, into the streets of the New Jerusalem, the gates whereof shall be set wide open to receive them; An abundant entrance shall be administred unto them into the ever­lasting Kingdome of the Lord and Saivour Jesus Christ, where they shall be welcomed home with lowd Acclamations of joy; Heaven will ring again with Triumphant shoutings. Thus also God shall bring them with him, that sleep in Jesus; he will bring them into the Glory of his Father: but of this I shall have occasion to speak more largely hereafter.

This is another Word of Comfort, and there is great need of it, Use. upon a two-fold Account. Comfort to living Saints First, To the Saints yet living.

First; In reference to the Saints of God yet living. You are now scorned and persecuted, the ungodly world doth now judge you, and condemn you: the Psalmist observed it in his time; Psal. 94.6. they gather themselves together against the Souls of the Righteous, and condemn the Innocent blood. Innocence is no security against cruelty and oppression; yea, it seems, no wine so sweet to wicked men as Innocent blood; Jam. 5.6. ye have con­demned and killed the just: and yet, that open violence may not want a pretence of Justice, they act in the form of a legal process, before they kill, they do condemn; but alas! those Fig-leaves will not cover their nakedness. It is the just, [...]. whom they do unjustly Condenm and Murder; so it was in Davids time, and so it was in St. James his time, One saith, I should suspect him to be no Abel, who hath not a Cain to perse­cute him, ver. 7, 8. and so it is now; the Reprobate world holds on its course to this day; and so it will be to the end of the World. God's Righ­teous Abels must expect no better justice at the Tribu­nals of these unrighteous Cains.

But be patient, my Brethren, till the Coming of the Lord, and stablish your hearts, for that coming of the Lord draweth nigh; and then the Scene shall be altered; you shall have the Law as it were (then) in your own hands; your turn shall be to sit upon the Bench, and your Enemies shall stand at the Bar; They Judg and Condemn you now, but there is a day coming, when you shall Judg and condemn them; and they indeed Ʋnrighteously, but you shall Condemn them Righteously, because your Judgment shall be according to the Judgment of that Righteous Judg of Heaven and Earth, the Searcher of the hearts; who will judg men by those two im­partial Books, the Book of his own Remembrance, and the Book of their Consciences. Yea, you shall judge them for their Ʋnrighteous judging of you: So it was Prophesied of old.

Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his Saints to Execute Judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly [Page 52]among them, of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him; not in his person only, but in his Members also: Loq [...]untur lapi­des. all their ungodly deeds, and all their hard speeches, wherewith they have unjustly judged the Saints of God, shall be judged over again. And this honour shall all the Saints have, they shall judg their Judges, and not be guilty. Psal. 49.14. The Righteous shall have the Dominion over them in the morning.

Surely, this is an advancement which the poor oppressed people of God could never have expected, were they not as­sured of it from the mouth of him that shall be the Judg at that day: Let this stay, and stablish your hearts.

Secondly; Secondly. In reference to the Saints departed. It is a word of comfort in reference to the Saints departed, our precious Relations; the sense of whose loss and absence we are not able to bear, while we think of them as smothered, and extinguisht in their own ashes, silent in the land of forgetfulness, in whose sweet converse, we were wont to solace our selves with much delight, their souls having left the habitation of their bodies, and their bodies resolved into dust, and that dust (possibly) mixt with the dust of wicked men, or of the brute Creatures, it may be, dispersed into the remotest part of the world. Ah these be some of the heart-dividing thoughts, wherewith we do afflict our Souls! But give check to your passions, Oh ye mourners of hope, and make use of the Cordials which your Heavenly Physitian hath prescribed to keep you from fainting. Remember, that al­though their bodies are in the Grave, their Souls are with the Spirits of just men made perfect, beholding the face of their Fa­ther, which is in Heaven, from whence Jesus Christ, God­man, when he shall come in the glory of his Father, attended with all his mighty Angels, will bring them with him.

And then shall he go to their Graves, and as he formerly said unto them, Come my people, enter into thy Chambers, shut the doors about thee, go to bed in the Grave, and take thy rest; so now he will awaken them out of their sleep with a sweet voyce, Awake, and sing you that dwell in the dust, Arise, [Page 53]shine, for thy light is come, the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee, &c. yea, he will kiss them awake, with the kisses of his mouth; and then as a Father, and a Priest, will give the Soul in Marriage to the Body again, and unite them one to another, and both to Himself in an indissoluble bond.

Oh Christians! think with your selves what a joyful meet­ing that will be; when two such ancient Friends, that have been parted so long, shall meet, and embrace, and kiss one another, never to suffer any more Divorce, or fear of Di­vorce, to Eternity! How will the Soul bless God, when it shall receive its own body again, it's true Yoak-fellow and Fellow-labourer, which laboured with it much in the Lord, and which was wont to be its Oratory, and Temple, wherein the Soul performed all its Sacra, its holy devotions, in season and out of season?

And how will the Body rejoyce to see the Soul again, to whom it was espoused, which was the guide of its youth, that (in its capacity) which Christ is to the Soul, it's King, Priest, and Prophet, and by vertue of whose conjunction with it, the very body, as poor and mean as it was in its original ex­traction, was preferr'd and admitted into Fellowship, and Communion with the Son of God; and (upon that account) not forgotten all the while it slept in the land of forgetfulness, and thought not of it self: I say, Solace your selves with the praevision of that Triumph and Exultation that will fill this blessed new-Married couple! especially, when they shall re­ceive one another so much more excellent than themselves at their last parting; that the body shall seem to be Trans­essentiated into a Soul, and the Soul transformed into an Angel of Light; Rejoyce, O Christian Soul, to think how these two morning Stars will sing for joy, in this their new and for ever blessed Conjunction.

Thirdly; Thence follow them (in your Contemplations) following the Judg to the place, where the Thrones shall be erected for judgment, and there placed on Thrones, not as Spectators only, but as joynt-Commissioners. Where, the Saint of a day, shall judg the Sinner of an hundred years old; [Page 54]yea, they shall judg the Old Serpent himself, and all his infernal Angels; And as that Sentence leaves them, so shall they remain to all Eternity.

Fourthly, and in the last place; Christians, think not so much on your precious Relations, as lying in the Grave, their Beauty turned into Rottenness and deformity; think not of them as (possibly) by a premature death (as you may think) snatcht from an earthly Inheritance before their time: but think on them as co-heirs with Jesus Christ, riding now in Triumph with him, and with the whole general Assembly, and Church of the First born, whose names are written in Hea­ven, to take possession of their Inheritance with the Saints in Light. Thus behold them, not, as they are in the night of the shadow of death, but as they shall be in the morning of the Resurrection, when God will bring them with him; and, I had almost said, Mourn if you can.

So much for the Sixth word of Comfort.

And that upon a twofold account. 1. R. Why Christ will come perso­nally, sc. be­cause the Judgment must be visi­ble.

1. The Lord himself will Descend in his own Person, Be­cause the judgment must be visible: and therefore the Judge must be so too: There is a dispute whether Christ shall sit on a visble Throne; and it is very probable he shall: sure we are [Page 71]from the Scripture, that he shall appear in the Clouds of Hea­ven, that He may be heard and seen of all, Behold, Rev. 1.7. he cometh with Clouds, and every eye shall see him. Clouds are visible things: and these Clouds shall not obscure him, but rather render him more conspicuous; Every eye shall see him. He shall so come with Clouds, that they shall be a Throne to ex­alt and lift him up to the view of all the world: therefore is the posture noted as well as the Throne: Ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of Power, Math. 26.64. and coming in the Clouds of Heaven; Clouds shall be his Throne, and sitting will be the posture; the posture of a Judge.

To judge the world is an act of supream Authority; and therefore it must be done by one of the three Persons.

Now the Father and the Spirit are invisible; therefore hath the Father appointed a day, Act. 17.31. wherein he will judge the world by the man Christ Jesus. The Flesh of Christ is a Veil to his Deity, by which God is made visible to an eye of Flesh: Christ is God manifest in the Flesh: 1 Tim. 3.16. [...]. God conspicuous in the humane nature; and in that humane nature which he assumed of the Virgin, will Jesus Christ appear in Judgment: that so every eye may see him: the wicked to their terror, but the God­ly to their unspeakable joy, Isa. 66.5.

Secondly; 2. R. for the recompence of his abase­ment. The Lord himself shall appear for a recompence to his abasement. It is requisite that he that was judged by the world, should now come to judge the world. He came at first humble, lowly, despised, sitting upon an Ass, spit upon, Cru­cified: but he shall come again in power and great glory.

It is good somtimes to compare the two Comings of Christ together.

At first he came into the Flesh; In Car [...]. he shewed himself in the nature of man, to be judged.

But at his second coming, he shall come in the flesh. In Carne. He shall come from Heaven, in the same humane nature which he carried up with him into Heaven: there to be the Judg both of the quick and the dead.

His fore-runner then was John the Baptist; the voyce of one crying in the Wilde [...]ness; At his second coming, his fore-runner shall be an Arch-Ang [...].

With the voyce of an Arch-Angel, and the Trump of God; as in the Text.

Then, his Companions were poor Fisher-men: Now his Attendants shall be the mighty Angels of Heaven. 2 Thes. 1.7.

Then, he came riding on an Ass, a Colt, the Foal of an Ass: Now, he shall come riding on the Clouds: sitting on a Throne.

At his first coming, he appeared in the form of a Servant.

Now, he shall come as a Lord, in the glory of his Father.

Then, he came in the likeness of sinful Flesh: to suffer as a Sinner, for Sinners. Now, he shall appear the second time, to them that look for him, Heb. 9. last. without sin unto Salvation.

Then he drunk of the brook in the way: but now shall he lift up his head.

This, for the recompence of his humiliation.

Thirdly, Third Reas. to finish his Mediatory Office. Our Lord Jesus Christ must come himself at the last day to perfect and finish his Mediatory-Office.

At his first coming, his Mediatory-work was to pay a price to divine Justice, 1 Per. 1.19. So he is called [...] and [...]. and so to purchase us of his Father.

At his second coming, his Mediatory-work will be, to ga­ther all his Redeemed ones together, and to present them a glo­rious Church to his Father, not having spot or wrinckle, or a­ny such thing: but holy and without blemish: in some such language as was long before Prophesied. Behold here am I, and the Children whom thou hast given me. Isa. 8.18.

And again (as when he was going out of the world, he gave his account to his Father) of all whom thou hast given me, Joh. 17.12. I have lost none but the Son of perdition.

At his first coming, his Mediatory-work was to fight with the Devil, Act. 26.18. Colos. 1.13. Luk. 11.21, 22. In this respect he is called [...]. Rom. 11.26. and all the powers of darkness, and to rescue what he had bought of the Father, out of the power of Satan, that strong man armed, who kept his goods in peace.

At his second coming, his Mediatory-work will be to van­quish all those Enemies, out of whose dominion he hath freed his Elect; to bind them with chains, to cast them into ever­lasting darkness, and to seal the bottomless pit upon them for ever.

And when he hath done this, the Lord Jesus shall deliver up the Kingdome to his Father; His Office is not compleated till this be done. God's Oath is past upon it, and cannot be reverst, Isa. 45.23. &c. The Text is applyed to Christ, pre­sently upon his Exaltation, to this very purpose, Phil. 2.20.

Well then, we have now found out the person of the Judg.

The Lord Himself, &c.

And for the

Use, it may serve.

• 1. For infinit terror to the Wicked.
• 2. For unspeakable Consolation to the Godly.

First it serves for infinit terror to the Wicked. Use. 1 That the Judgment now should be put into the hand of Him, Terror to the Wicked. whom (of all the world) they counted their Enemy: (at least, if they did not call him so, they used him so:) Oh what a dreadful sight will his Appearance be!

If Ahab cryed out with so much discomposure of spirit, at the suddain appearance of Elijah the Prophet of God, Hast thou found me, Oh mine Enemy? With what horror and affrightment, will Reprobate Gaitiff's cry out when they shall be drag'd from before the Tribunal of the Lord Jesus, the Lord of the Prophets! Hast thou found us, Oh our Ene­my!

If Josephs Brethren were so astonished at the presence of Joseph, when he said unto them. I am Joseph whom you sold into Egypt! How will all the world of ungodly men be confounded at the presence of the Lord, now coming in the glory of his Father, to Judg them; when he shall say unto them, I am Jesus.

I am Jesus, whom ye sold, for less than ever Judas sold me, even for the price of a base Lust.

I am Jesus, whom ye Crucified over and over again to your selves; and put me to an open shame!

I am Jesus, whose Person you have slighted; whose Go­vernment you have spurn'd at; crying in the Pride and Re­bellion of your obstinate spirits, We will not have this man Reign over us.

I am Jesus, whose Counsel you have rejected; whose Threatnings you have laughed to scorn; whose Promises you have derided and set at nought.

I am Jesus, whose Blood you have trampled under your feet as an Ʋnholy thing, even doing despite to the Spirit of grace, &c.

I say, Now will the Reprobate world be confounded at the presence of their Judg!

Behold in the days of his Flesh, when he appeared in the forme of a Servant, and was even led away as a Sheep to the Slaughter, and as a Lamb before the Shearer, not opening his mouth (by way of murmur against his Father, or reviling against his Enemies) yet how did that Lamb-like Word [I am He] fill the hearts of those sturdy Souldiers, (who came to apprehend Him) with horror, and strike them to the ground, like a blast of Thunder and Lightning?

Oh how will that word, when he shall come cloathed with Majesty and terror, with all the glorious Host of Heaven at­tending his Person; [I am he] fill Reprobate Souls with astonishment and distraction, and even strike them backward into Hell before their time! How will it cause them to woo the Mountains and Rocks (now as hard and inexorable, as their hearts once were, in the day of God's patience, crying out to them, (to the amazement of Heaven and Earth) Mountains, Fall on us; Rev. 6.26, 27. Rocks, cover us, and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth on the Throne, and from the presence of the Lamb; for the great day of his Wrath is come, and who shall be able to stand?

But all in vain! As the Lord Jesus once in the day of his grace, cryed unto them, and they would not answer, &c. So they shall now cry to Heaven and Earth, to Rocks and Mountains, Prov. 1.24, 25, 26. Psal. 50.22. and they shall not answer; yea the Judg shall laugh at their Calamity, and mock when their fear cometh.

Oh consider this, ye that forget God, lest he tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver.

Second Use. Second Use of Comfort to the Saints; Christ Himself will be their Judg.

But (on the contrary) unspeakable Consolation may this doctrine of Christ's personal Appearance, speak to the Godly; the Sheep of Christ which have heard his voyce speaking to them in the Gospel of peace, and have obeyed it.

Behold, He that in the days of his flesh came to be their Redeemer; now in the day of his power shall come to be their Judge. He that so often pleaded for them to his Father, and for whom they so often pleaded and contended, with a disobedi­ent and gain-saying Generation;

(I say) He shall now be their Judg, and pass sentence upon them: their Friend, their Brother, their Head, their Hus­band. What need they fear that Tribunal, where not their Enemies, (who were wont fas [...]y to accuse and condemn them;) no, not their prejudiced and imprudent Friends, who som­times have rashly and causelesly mis-judged them; much less the Accuser of the Brethren; Rev. 12.10. who accused them before their God, day and night; none of these (I say) shall sit in Judg­ment; But their dear Redeemer, who for their sake came down from Heaven: that loved them so dearly, that he died for love of them, that he might Redeem them, and wash them in his own Blood: He that Regenerated, Sanctified, Justifi­ed, Preserved, and Perfected them: He to whom, both in Life and Death, they were so nearly and inseparably Ʋnited; and by vertue of which Conjunction, they are now awaken­ed, and set upon their feet again, in a most beautiful & perfect state; I say where He, and none but He, who long since be­came their Adocate, shall now (by the appointment of the Father) be their Judge; Oh what matter of Joy and Tri­umph will this administer unto the Saints at that day! How may they lift up their heads with joy, because their Redemp­tion and Redeemer shall then draw nigh. Second branch of Comfort in reference to the Saints de­parted.

Again; The Doctrine of Christ his Personal Appea­rance at the last day affords no less Consolation in reference to the Saints departed; and to this very end, doth the Holy [Page 76]Ghost mention it in this place, The Lord himself shall descend from Heaven. The Relative consideration. I told you the words have a Relative conside­ration in them: as they do imply an account why the Saints which are alive at the coming of Christ, shall not prevent them which are asleep: why? (it immediatly follows): For the Lord himself shall descend. The Saints of God need not doubt of this, either in reference to themselves; or to their Relations, whom they have sent before them to the Grave; The Lord that bought them, will see to Their Resurrection in the first place: It was the will of him that sent him, that of all which he hath given him, Joh. 6.39. he might lose nothing, but that he should raise it up again in the last day. And Jesus Christ is so punctual to his trust, that He will not delegate it to any of the Angels or Seraphims; but will come in Person to accomplish that charge; that so not any one of his little ones may possibly be forgotten, [...]. nothing may be lost: neither Person nor Member, nor Dust: but that Christ may present it entire­ly to his Father at his coming, in the same language he spake when he went out of the world;

He bought them at too dear a rate, to leave any one of them in the Grave; and therefore, to make all sure, He will come in Person, and finish his work Himself: As sure as He ascended up into Heaven after his own Resurrection, so surely shall he descend from Heaven to perfect that Resurrection in his Saints; which brings me to the second Particular.

The second particular in this Eighth word of Comfort, The second word of Com­fort. He shall [...] is, The Certainty of his coming couch'd in the Verb here, He [...] shall descend from Heaven. He shall: i.e. most certainly and infallibly.

And so all the Scriptures which mention the Coming of the Lord, speak of it in the notion of a most unalterable Decree and Statute of Heaven; thus the Apostle to the Athenians. God hath appointed a day wherein he will judg the world in righteousness, Act. 17.31. by that man whom he hath ordained, whereof he hath given us assurance, &c.

See how many words here are heaped one upon another, to assure our Faith of the infallible certainty of Christs Com­ing.

First he hath appointed a day; [...]. Statuit diem. There is the divine Appoint­ment and Decree, past upon it in Gods Eternal purpose and Counsel: It is a Statute enacted in Heaven, that there shall be a future Judgment; a Statute more sure than ever the Laws of the Medes and Persians; for Heaven and Earth may pass away, but Gods Decree shall stand, &c. And then there is a certain Day appointed for it, a stated time by the same Power; A day which can neither be adjourned nor accelerated. The time is fixed. He hath appointed a day, and it cannot be alter­ed. And then the Work is determined as well as the day: and that is judgment; wherein He will Judge: The Judgment is not left Arbitrary or Contingent; but God is resolved on't; He will Judg; not, peradventure, he may Judg, [...] but as sure as He is God, he will Judg.

The Persons to be judged are also specified; [...]. not less than the whole world; He will Judg the world, not a single Person shall escape that Judgment; 2 Cor. 5.10. we must all appear before the Judgment-Seat of Christ.

As the Persons to be Judged, [...]. so likewise the Person that is to Judg, is named, and designed to it already; That man, that special, that peculiar man; the man Christ Jesus.

And to make all sure, he hath his Commission already.

That man whom he hath Ordained the Judg, [...]. Joh. 6.27. is Elected and commission'd under the broad Seal of Heaven, is passed.

And if all this be not enough, there is yet further Assu­rance and evidence given of it already to the world; open and evident demonstration; if men will not shut their eyes, [...]. Fide, palam facta omnibus.— of which he hath given assurance unto all men: what that assu­rance is, I shall shew anon. In the mean time see how the Holy Ghost useth all the words and expressions which may create a firm assent to the doctrin of Christs coming to Judg­ment; that there may be no room for doubting left: Formid, Oppo­siti, as the Schools calls it. no hesitancy in the minds of men: And not here only, but in [Page 78]many other Scriptures; 2 Cor. 5.10. that, hinted even now, We must all appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ, &c. Not we may (only) but we must; Christ must Judg, and we must (all) appear. But; (not to multiply Scriptures,) take we a brief account of the Grounds. And: Behold

• 1. Reason says,
  Reasons or Grounds of the certainty of Christs coming.
  He may Come.
• 2. Faith says, He must Come.

1. Reason saith, He may Come.

The very Course of Providence shews it. The Godly are not the happiest in this world; 1 Cor. 15.9. If in this life only (says the ho­ly Apostle) we had hope in Christ, we were of all men most misc­rable. Vertue hath not a full reward, nor Vice sufficient punishment in this life. Dives the Representative of the Vo­luptuous world, flowed in ease and pleasure; while Lazarus, a godly man, afflicted with pain and hunger, was glad to dine with his Dogs at the dore. The Dogs were both his Almo­ners and his Chirurgeons. Things must not go after this rate for ever. Sooner or later, a man shall say, i. e. He that is no more than a man; that hath no better eye in his head, than the eye of Sense and Reason, shall be convinced of this, and compelled to confess of a truth, There is a reward for the Righteous: Verily, he is a God that judgeth the Earth.

Sin is now somtimes punished with In judicijs suis quae Deus in hoc mundo exercet non est ista ple­na mensura justitiae quae erit in judicis ulti­mi Dici. scil. Non implent plenum postu­latum legis & justitiae, neque super impios, neque super pios. Streso in Act. 17.31. exemplary Vengance, to shew there is a Providence; that God is not an idle Spectator in the world. And somtimes it is let alone to tell the world that there is a Judgment to come: the full punishment of sin is not till then.

Thus Reason says, He may Come.

But now Faith goes further, and says, He must Come. He shall Come. The Lord Himself shall descend from Heaven.

It is a truth not only which God can make good, but a truth which God cannot but make good.

Witness. Christ must come. 1. His Purchase says so.

1. His Purchase; would Christ buy a people at so dear a rate, and then go away and come no more at them? Nay.

[Page 79]2. Witness also his promise; And if I go, John. 14.3.2. His Promise. I will come a­gain; He will, especially considering the design of his leaving them for a time, it was but to go and prepare a place for them, and he hath done it; the place is prepared; Mansions in his Fa­thers house are made ready for them, ver. 2. Why now Christ being gon to this very end, and all things prepared for their entertainment; if he should not come again, he should cer­tainly fail, not his promise only, but his project too; this can­not be: He that never yet failed his own promise, Fidelis Deus in Omnibus, in ex­tremo non desi­eret. nor his peoples expectations, will not now do it; No, I will come and receive you. He that went from them, only to prepare the place for them, will certainly come again to receive them into that place now it is prepared. He loves them so well, that he will not; he cannot be without their company: I will come and receive you, that where I am, there you may be also. Heb. 11.11. Faithful is he that hath promised who also will do it.

3. Witness, The Sacrament of his last Supper; 3. The Sacra­ment of his last Supper. 1 Cor. 11.26. which is nothing else but a pledg and seal to keep alive the memorial of his second Coming. As oft as ye eat of this bread, and drink of this cup, ye do shew the Lords death till he come. Now when the Lord Jesus Christ hath engaged the expectation of his people, by so solemn a Covenant; if he should fail their ex­pectation, this Grand Institution had been in vain. Nay surely, He never said to the Seed of Jacob, Seck ye my face in vain:

He speaketh Righteousness. Isa. 45.19.

4. And lastly; Witness his Resurrection; that, is, 4. His Resur­rection. the Assu­rance given in the Text, Act. 17.31. He will judge the world by that man whom he hath appointed. How may we be sure of that? why he hath given the world assurance of it; [...]. Non quod omni­bus fidem in Christum dede­rit: Sed quod omnibus argu­mentum dede­rit. Streso in loc. what assurance? in that he hath raised Christ from the dead; He hath given assurance, Gr. he hath offered Faith: the mean­ing is, God could not have confirmed his purpose and promise of sending Christ to Judge the world at the last day, by a more firm and solemn Argument, than by raising him from the dead, after he had paid the debt, made satisfaction to divine Justice upon the Cross.

• [Page 80]Partly in as much as Jesus Christ was hereby openly de­clared to be the Son of God with power. To judg the world is an act of divine Power and Authority; and what fitter person in the Trinity is there to judg the world righteously, than He that was unrighteously judged by the world; — put to death in the Flesh, but quickened in the Spirit? raised by his own divine power?
• Partly because that after his Resurrection, God the Father took him up into Heaven,
  Vid. Strev. in loc.
  and placed him at his own right hand.

A certain evidence, that when the whole number of his Redeemed shall be accomplished, he will send him the se­cond time to take Vengeance in his own Person, on the Shed­ders of his Blood, and the Oppugners of his Gospel. Else it had been all one as if Christ had been left to lye still in the Grave.

Thus you see Christ his personal Coming at the last day, established upon its four-fold Foundation.

Now therefore, O ye Saints of God, cast not away your Confidences, either in respect of your selves, or of your sweet Relations which have out-run you to the Sepulcher.

He that shall come, will come, and will not tarry.

In the mean time, let the just live by their Faith: keep up your Faith, and your Faith will keep up your hearts from sinking; 2 Cor. 4.16. for this Cause we faint not, &c.

• I proceed to the third Circumstance.
• The manner of Christ his coming.
• In the Description whereof we find a three-fold Sum­mons or Citation to all the world, to make their ap­pearance at this great Oecumenical Assize,
  1 Summon [...]. A Shour.
  sc.
  • 1. A Shout.
  • 2. The Voyce of an Arch-Angel.
  • 3.
    [...] Hortatorius clamor.
    The Trump of God.

The first solemn summons is a Shout: the Lord shall descend from Heaven with a Shout. The word in the Greek signifies [Page 81]such a Shout as is to be heard amongst Marriners and Sea­men, when after a long and dangerous Voyage, they begin to descry the Haven, crying with loud and united voyces, a shore, a shore; as the Poet describes the Italians, when they saw their Native Country; lifting up their voyces, and making the Heavens ring again with Italie, Italie! Italiam, Lali­am, laeto cla­more salutani. Virg Aeneid. Irgenti Angelo­rum jubile & acclamatione, Atetius. Or as Armies when they joyn battail, rend the air with their loud Acclamations. In like manner shall the mighty Angels of God with united clamour, proclaime the Advent of their Lord, crying aloud with a voyce that shall be heard from one end of the Heavens to another; the Earth and Sea, and Hell it self, shall hear and tremble.

The second Summons is the Voyce of the Arch-Angel. Expositioric vice. Calv. This clause some take to be Exegetical to the former; expound­ing that hortatory clamour or shout mentioned before; q. d. with a shout, i. e. with the voyce of the Arch-Angel. Arch-Angelus praeconts funge­tur officio, & citet vivos & mortues ad Christi tribu­nal. Others conceive it, to be added by way of eminency; All the Angels shall shout for joy; but the Voyce of the Arch-Angel shall be heard above all the rest. The greatest Angel hath the greatest voyce; lowder and shriller than all the other Angels, as Captain General to them all.

The third Summons, is the Trump of God; Great Trees, Trees of God; High Moun­tains, Moun­tains of God; A great fire, [...] fire of God. Job. 1.16. it may signifie a mighty Trump; after the manner of the Hebrew phrase, which useth to call works and wonders of unusual proporti­on, works of God, and wonders of God; so the Trump of God, i. e. a mighty Trump; a voyce of more dreadful horror than all that went before: But, whether it be to be understood metaphorically or properly, is questioned amongst Expositors. Some understand it only metaphorically, and in an Analogical sense, signifying no more than the Vertue and Power of Christs Voyce and Proclamation; summoning both the living and the dead to appear at his Tribunal.

But why we may not take it literally and in propriety of [Page 82]speech, I see no reason, so for the voyce of an audible Trump, which shall be lowder than all the former; And it may well be the same with that which the Apostle calls the last Trump: this sounding last of all, 1 Cor. 15.52. [...]. Math. 24.31. [...], Sonora & voca­lissima tuba. Bull. Numb. 10.1.9. In quo speci­men quoddam editum fuit hu­jus ultima po­puli Dei, congre­gationis, Id. or continuing longer than the for­mer; our Lord calls it, The great sound of a Trumpet.

Thus are these three Summons distinct, and each of them lowder and shriller than the former. And it may allude to the manner of the calling together of the Jews to their publick worship; and that (possibly) typical to this; signifying thus much to the world, that like as their Assemblies were sum­moned by the sound of Trumpets; so the last and solemn day of judgment, that great general Assembly of the Living and the Dead, shall be summoned together by the sound of Trum­pets from Heaven; the vastest and most universal Assembly that ever was beheld by the eye of Creature.

But a clearer Type and Prophecy hereof seems to be that at the giving of the Law, when Christ came down on Mount Sinai, to give the Law, it was in a very glorious manner, sc. with Thunder and Lightnings, Numb. 19.16. and a thick Cloud upon the Mount, with the voyce of the Trumpet exceeding loud, &c.

This did Typifie Unto us, Christ his second Coming at the end of the world to require the Law; which surely ought to excel in glory. Let us compare these two Comings together a little.

• At his coming to give the Law, 2 Pet. 3.10. Deut. 33.2. Jud. v. 14. Dan. 7.10. Exod. 19.19. Mount Sinai was all in a flame; Now the whole world shall be on fire.
• Then Christ came with ten thousands of his Saints, but Now, thousand thousands shall Minister unto him, and ten thousand times thousands shall stand before him.
• Then the voyce of the Trumpet sounded long, and wax­ed lowder and lowder: In like manner Now, there shall be first a shout of all the Angels of God with a joynt acclamation; Next the voyce of the Arch-Angel, which shall be lowder and shriller than they. And last of all the Trump of God, by way of eminency, distinct from the two former, & lowder & shriller than either;
• [Page 83]God then spake with a voyce, the voyce of a Law-giver, commanding the Law; God spake all these words, saying, I am the Lord thy God, &c.
  Exod. 20.1.2.
  Now God shall speak with the voyce of a Judg, re­quiring an account of the Law: viz. what men have done with that Law: whether they have obeyed or re­belled against that holy Command, and he shall accor­dingly Judg them.

This now is the third Circumstance or considerable parti­cular which the Holy Ghost commends to our notice, in the Coming of Christ which is the Eighth word of Comfort in this Model, sc. The manner of his coming. And this is to set forth unto us the Glory and Majesty of Christ his coming to Judg­ment. These fore-runners of the coming of Christ, these va­rious Heraulds which shall proclaime his Advent, scl.

• 1. The Hortatory clamour.
• 2. The voyce of the Arch-Angel.
• 3. And the Trump of God.

These shall add much to the State and Solemnity of this great Judg his approach.

When he came into the Flesh, his Herauld was John the Baptist, a man of a mean and contemptible presence, Math. 3.2. a Prea­cher of Repentance, Repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand. Now his fore-runners and Heraulds shall be, The mighty An­gels of God.

Then he came in a still soft voyce, Math. 3.3. the voyce of one crying in the Wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his path straight. Now, he shall come with a loud and terrible voyce. Voyce upon Voyce, Trump upon Trump, Alarm upon Alarm; Each lowder and more dreadful than other, in comparison whereof, the lowdest Thunder which was eyer heard from the Clowds of God, shall be but as the shooting off of a pistol, or the blowing of a Rams Horn; A dreadful shout, which shall even shake the Heavens and the Earth, Heb 12.26. and Hell it self.

And it makes much for the terrour and astonishment of the wicked; Use. A Terror to the wicked. who in the pride of their hearts, would not lend an obedient ear, to the sweet and gentle summons of the Word, saying Repent, Deut. 29.19. and believe the Gospel; but blest themselves in their hearts; saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the imaginations of my heart, and add Drunkenness to Thirst.

Oh to all such, surely, this will be a tremendous blast, which shall not so much raise as affright them out of their Graves, Some of the Jewish Doctors have a Conceit that wicked men shall never rise again, which they ground upon their own mistake of that Scripture, Isa. 26.14. But, though it can­not be properly said they Rise, yet they shall be raised; not from Death to Life; but from one Death to another; from the first Death to the second Death; from Death to Judgment, and from Judgment to Execution, to torment. with horrour and amazement. Behold the Judg cometh, Arise ye Dead and come to Judgment. This will be the dreadful meaning of that Ministerial Excitation, in the Con­sciences of the Reprobate world; Appear in Court, there to answer for all the Contempt to the Calls and Counsels of Jesus Christ in his blessed Gospel!

Oh what would Drunkards, and Swearers, and Adulterers give that they might never be raised out of their Graves? or being raised, What would they give then for a Rock or a Mountain to fall upon them that might hide them from the face of him that sitteth on the Throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb? but all in vain; Then, to hide will be impossible, and to appear will be intolerable. Use. 2

But as glorious and acceptable is this description of Christ's coming to the Saints, Comfort to the Saints. for whose sake this clause is added, as a word of Comfort, even to them that sleep in Jesus.

This three-fold Alarm, Shout, and Voyce, and Trump, shall be no more terror or amazement to them than the roaring of Cannons, when Armies of Friends approach a Beseig'd City for the relief of them that are within. These sounds and ratlings, how terrible a sense soever they may impress upon the hearts and Consciences of the wicked, will be to them that sleep in Jesus as the sweetest melody that ever sounded in their ears, as the voyce of Harpers harping with their Harps, to [Page 85]awaken them out of their sweet sleep, with the sweetest Mu­sick and Harmony that ever sounded in their ears; and these shall be their Heavenly Ditties. Awake and sing, oh ye that dwell in the dust, &c. Or (as in the Gospel-Call, a little vari­ed.) Arise, shine, for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen Ʋpon thee; Isa. 60.1.2. for behold darkness shall cover the Earth; even (everlasting) darkness, all the wicked of the world: but the Lord shall rise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee to all Eternity.

In a word, This terrible treble Summons shall have no other signification upon the hearts of them that have believed and obeyed the Gospel, than that mid-night cry had upon the Wise Virgins; Behold the Bridegroom cometh, Math. 25.6. go ye forth to meet him.

Lift up your heads with joy, Luk. 21.28. for your Redemption draweth nigh.

And therefore, Oh ye Saints and Servants of God, com­fort one another with this Word also; Concerning your gratious Relations which are gone to Rest,

The Lord Jesus Himself shall come to awaken them; And those Triumphant Summons and Alarms which shall usher in his Coming; as they shall add to the Glory and Majesty of their Lord, in whose bosom they have slept all this while, So they shall, on the one side, bid War and Battel to the Re­probate world; and on the other side, call together the Assemblies of the Saints, Psal. 50.5. who have made a Covenant with him by Sacrifice, and it shall be for their Honour and Exaltation in that day of his Triumph.

The sum is this: Your Dear ones, whose immature depar­ture you so much lament, that are asleep in the dust, shall a­rise; Christ himself shall come for them, Isa. 66. [...]. and that in a most Triumphant manner, for their glory and their Enemies shame.

I have done with the Eighth Word of Comfort, The Com­ing of Christ; and come now to the

Nineth Word of Comfort, sc. The blessed Consequences of his Coming, which are three: [Page 86]

• 1.
  Three Conse­quencies of Christs Com­ing.
  The Resurrection of the Saints which are fallen asleep. The dead in Christ shall rise first.
• 2. The Triumphant Ascent of both, (the living and sleeping Saints together,) into the Clouds; We which are alive, shall be caught up together with them into the Clouds.
• 3. The Blessed meeting of all the Saints together with Jesus Christ, their Lord and Bridegroom; who comes from the Sedes Beatorum, the third Heaven, to meet them above half way; even to the lowest Region of the Aire.

To which, notwithstanding I have already spoken under two distinct Notions (lead thereunto by some of the former passages in the Context,) sc.

• 1. In reference to the Author of the Resurrection, Jesus Christ: Christ shall bring them with him, v. 14.
• 2. In reference to the precedency of it (in that transaction;) They that are alive, shall not prevent them which are a­sleep, i. e. The dead in Christ shall rise first; as here, verse 16.

Yet notwithstanding; this being a main Circumstance in the Resurrection of the Saints, worthy to be taken notice of, (before I proceed to the following circumstances of Christ his coming,) I judg it very proper to speak a word or two of it (also) in this place, The manner of Resur­rection. 1. Cor. 15.35. sc. 3. The manner of the Resurrection.

The Apostle supposeth the Query, 1 Cor. 15.35. Some man will say, How are the dead raised? i. e. with what body do they come? A Query neither frivolous nor impertinent; and therefore himself (by the Spirit) thinks it worth the reso­lution.

And the resolution of it, A twofold de­scription of the Resur­rection. is two-fold

• 1. In general.
• 2. In particular.

[Page 87]1. In general, He gives us to understand, 1. General the same bo­dier. that the Saints shall rise, with the very same bodies they lay down with, in the Graves; it is expressed under the metaphor of Seed; God giveth it a body, &c. and to every Seed his own body; his own body, not specifially only, but numerically its own proper body, [...]. no ways alienated or transformed into another. And holy Job (even upon the Dung-hill) believed and Preached the ve­ry same Doctrine long before. Though after my skin, Job. 19.26, 27. Worms destroy this body [i. e. after Worms have dig'd through my skin to consume my flesh;] yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for my self; and mine eye shall behold and not another, &c.

Observe how express and significative the words are, weigh them well; first, This body; Job points as it were with his finger to his body, and crys This; there is no more in the Text [body] is supplied to make up the sense; this, Heb. Soth. So the Anti­ent Believers were wont, when they re­peated the Article of the Resurrection, to adde Etiam hujus Carnis, as the Apo­stle this Cor­ruptible. 1 Cor. 19.5.8. Pointing to his own body as it were. Heb. 12. to ex­press the contemptibleness of his body, q. d. this Ulcerous and (already) Worm-eaten Carcass; this putrified rotten flesh; this nothing, this, worse than nothing: Yet this, as vile and putrid as it is, shall be raised up again at the last day.

In my flesh I shall see God; I shall not see God with my Soul only; amongst the Angels and Spirits of just men made perfect; but I shall see my Redeemer God-Man in my flesh, in this body of flesh, wherewith I am now cloathed.

And I shall see him for my self: i. e. not by a deputy or proxy, but in mine own person, to my own infinit happiness and satisfaction.

And yet again, mine eyes shall behold him; a further de­claration of his individual seeing of Christ; from the Instru­ment or Organs; mine eyes, these numerical eyes that are now in mine head: with these eyes, wherewith now I see the Sun, the Heaven, the Earth, and all these objects of sense here below; with these I shall have the viewing of my Glori­ous Redeemer.

And yet, to express it more Emphatically, he addes the Negative to the Affirmative [not another] a phrase of speech which men use when they would be sure to prevent all [Page 88]mistakes, with my own body, not a strange body; not trans­formed or changed into any thing else than now it is; with mine own eyes, not anothers, not a borrowed eye, not a new created eye placed in the room of this, &c.

Thus Job in variety of words, doth express the invariety, or same-ness of body in the Resurrection, to the same sense with the Apostle, to every Seed, his own body.

To this, Obj. if it be Objected, that in the 37. verse of that Chapter, under the metaphor of Seed, he tells the incredu­lous Fool (that cannot believe this Article of Faith, the Re­surrection) Thou sowest not that body which shall be. Not that body which shall be. It seems then the body shall be another thing, from that which is now sown?

Ans. Answ. Yea, and indeed so it shall be; in respect of quality, though not of kind. There is diversity in one and the self same body: as it is in the Metaphorical, so it shall be with the natural; the Grain's sown mean and bare, but it springeth up after another manner, beautiful and green; yet the same Grain: Meliorata sub­stantia non nu­mero multipli­cata. Tert. the body likewise is the same, when it riseth as it was sowen, for Substance, Parts, Members, and Organs; but not the same for beauty and excellent Properties.

The Infant shall rise a man of perfect Age; the Lame shall rise Sound; the Blind shall rise Seeing; the Deaf shall Hearing; the Dunth shall be able to Speak; the Resurrection shall take away all Defects and Excesses of Nature; the Defor­mities of the Saints shall not be raised together with their bodies; yea, Deformities shall be turned into Comelinesses and Beauties: and yet all these Alterations, do no more change or destroy the Individuality of Person, than Youth doth make the Person numerically different from what it was in Infancy; or Old Age, from what it was in Youth; or, as it was in the Persons of all sorts, which Christ healed (in the day of his Flesh); they were the same Individuals after Cure, as they were before; Cure makes not another Indivi­dual man of a Cripple, nor Health of the Sick; so shall it be in the Resurrection; the bodies of the Saints (for of them only I speak, not at all of the wicked) shall be the same for sub­stance [Page 89]and matter; but wonderfully changed for Form and su­pernatural Endowments and Qualities: Second de­scription in particular. Which brings me to the particular description of the Resurrection, sc. in respect of admirable and transcendent Properties; of which our Apostle hath instanced Four, sc.

Four Properties of the risen bodies of Saints.

• 1. Incorruption.
  Prope [...]ies of the body in the Resur­rection. 1 Cor. 15.42, 43, 44.
• 2. Glory.
• 3. Power.
• 4. Spirituality.

All these in opposition to the contrary Infirmities and De­formities of the state of Mortality; Contraria [...]uxta se p [...]sita [...]g's [...]lucescunt. That so by Compari­son, the (well-nigh) infinite disproportion of both Estates may appear, and the Super-excellencies which the Resurrecti­on puts upon the Body, may shine forth more conspicu­ously.

First, it is sown in Corruption; it is raised in Incorruption. 1. Property Incorruptible. It is sowen in Corruption. Behold, the body is Corruptible, whiles it liveth; a Nursery of such Seeds and Principles, as will inevitably destroy it self: a Spittal of all manner of Dis­eases: but when it is dead, it is Corruption it self: Infirmity resolved into Rottenness and Deformity; the fondest Relation who (while living) layed it in the Bosom, cannot now endure it in the sight: Give me a Burying place (said Abraham of his beloved Sarah) that I may Bury my dead out of my sight: Gen. 23 4. It is now the picture of all ghastly Loathsomness.

But Oh, how unlike it self, shall it be in the Resurrection!

It is raised in Incorruption: When Christ hath fetcht the body out of the Grave, and set it upon its feet again, there shall not be the least smell or savour of Mortality upon it; as there was no smell of the fire upon the Raiment of the three Children, when they came out of the fiery Furnace. Dan. 3.27. All the Principles of Corruption and Mortality shall be put off and lest, together with the Grave-Cloaths, in the Sepulcher. The body (as some think) shall give forth a sweet fragrant smell, like the Flowers of Paradise: it shall be an Angelified body, [Page 90] Flesh Immortalized; subject to no more Corruption than the Soul it self. There shall be no more Death, nor fear of Death; nor possibility of Death for ever.

Secondly, It is sown in dishonour.] As soon as the Soul is enlarged from its Imprisonment; the body is presently stript naked of all its Robes and honourable Attire, and wrapt up in a poor shroud of no other use than to hide Deformity; and, as a mean contemptible thing, it is buried under ground: Yea, somtimes, denied so much honour; it is exposed naked above ground, in the sight of the Sun, without any other Funeral, than what it may have in the bowels of the Fouls of the Heavens, Psal. 79.1. or the Ravenous Beasts of the Earth. But, be the Burial never so Ignoble; the Resurrection of it shall be Glo­rious. Second Pro­perty, Glori­cu [...].

It is raised in Glory. We may truly say, Solomon in all his Glory was not arayed like one of these Children of the Resur­rection; there shall be a glory put upon the Body, which shall out-shine the Sun in its brightest refulgency. And that upon a double account.

• 1. By vertue of a Principle within.
• 2.
  The body shall be glori­ous in the Re­surrection. 1. By vertue of an Inward Principle.
  By means of a Glorious Irradiation without.

1. By vertue of an Internal Principle: The Soul, which is the Candle of the Lord, is here for a time put into a dark Lant­horn of the Body: But then the glorified Soul being now re­turned (by the power of Christ) into its antient habitation; and become a Vessel replenished with Immortal and unmixed light, will transmit such beams of glory into the refined body, that it shall shine like an Angel of Light; the body of the poorest Lazar that ever lay on the Dunghill, shall be cloath­ed with such ravishing rayes of Beauty, as will transcend the most absolute Beauty that ever mortal eye beheld. 2 By vertue of External Irradiation from Christ. 2 Thes. 2.10. Heb 1.3. [...].

Secondly, By vertue of an External Irradiation: It is said of Jesus Christ at that day, He shall come to be glorified in his Saints, and admired in all them that believe: As, Jesus Christ was the Brightness of his Fathers Glory; (it is spoken of him, not as he was the second person in Trinity, God blessed for [Page 91]ever; but as he was Verbum Incarnatum, The Word Incar­nate;) all the beams of Divine Majesty and Glory did shine forth in him, with such a refulgent brightness, that, thorow his Flesh, the Godhead was as it were made visible; we saw his Glory as the Glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth: So shall the Saints at his Coming (in their proporti­on) be, the brightness of Christ his glory; the beams of that glory, which shall shine forth from the glorified Person of their Redeemer, shall reflect such a glittering Splendor upon the Saints in the Resurrection, that they shall be glorious even to admiration: They shall be admired by the very Angels, by one another, and even by themselves also: they shall wonder to behold this strange Change wrought upon themselves; as a poor Captive-maid taken out of the Dungeon, stript of her nasty stinking raggs, and cloathed with Prince-like Robes, adorned with rich and costly Jewels, to be Married to a King; would stand fill'd with wonder and delight, to look round a­bout upon her self, and behold the beauty and lustre of every part: So shall it be with the Saints in the Resurrection. The reflexes of Christs glory shall shine forth in them, even to wonder and astonishment: Christ shall be glorified in his Saints, and in all them which believe; Christ shall not be glo­rious in Himself only, but glorified in all his Saints.

Thirdly, It is sowen in weakness] weakness indeed! What more impotent than Man while yet alive, Vanity it self, Psal. 39.5. Yea, hear that Text out, and you will say he is vanity indeed; for first it is every man, Kings as well as Beggars; C [...]l Adam. Giants as well as Pygmies; every man, take where ye will: And secondly, as it is every man, so it is Every vanity, or, Col-Hebel Ʋniversa Va­nitas. altogether vanity: Every man is the Center of every vanity; he is not only mixt vanity, partly somthing and partly nothing; some solidity and some froth; but va­nity throughout; vanity, and nothing else! And then (a­gain) it is every man in his Nitztzab. best Estate; or, according to the Heb. Nitztzab. Standing: Yee need not stay till he is down, when he is languishing (suppose) in his sick bed: but, take him standing in his most erect posture, when he is most him­self, [Page 92]in his bravery; Heb. Chasde. or, as it is Isa. 40.6. take him in his goodliness, Gallantry; in his freshest colours and excellencies; and yet then, even then, he is vanity; every man is every va­nity: Ach. Ʋtique. and, that you may not doubt of it, the Holy Ghost hath set a double seal to it; one in the front, Verily, and ano­ther in the heel of the Text, Selah; Verily, every man in his best Estate is altogether Vanity, Selah; such a piece of vanity that he is not able at his best to free himself of, or fence him­self against, the injuries of the most contemptible creature that ever God made; Frogs, and Flies, & Lice, and Worms, have courage enough to encounter, and strength enough to conquer the proudest, potentest Tyrant; as we see in Pharaoh, Herod, &c.

Thus weak he is in his Strength: what is he in his Weakness? So feeble he is when he stands: how feeble, when he is fallen, in sickness, in his old decrepit age, his second Infancy? Read and ponder on that graphical description which the Holy Ghost hath drawn of him, Eccles. 12. Eccles. 12. We will pick out but some of those lively Characters, ver. 3. The Keepers of the House tremble; the Arms and Hands, the principal instruments in repelling evil from the body; they tremble with Palsies and shakings.

The Strong men bow themselves] the leggs and thighs which were wont to carry the body upright, with strength and vi­gour; now faulter and shrink under their weight, and buckle together for very debility; the ligaments of nature being now untied.

The Grinders cease because they are few] the Teeth that were wont to grinde the Food, and prepare it for the Stomach, they cease from their function, because but few, and having lost their ke [...]nness.

Those that look out at the Windows are darkned:] the eyes, those Spies and Intelligencers of this little world, by reason of the driness and ineptitude of the Organs, defluxion of hu­mours, &c. do fail in the execution of their office.

The Doors are shut in the street; All the Senses, which are the Doors by which objects enter, are so weakned, that they are unusefull and of very little service.

They rise up at the voyce of the Bird:] Old men through difficulty and want of sleep, rise at the crowing of the Cock, or the chirping of a Sparrow; the least noise disturbs their sleep, See the more full and accu­rate expositi­on of this de­scription of Old Age, in the English Annot. upon Eccles. by the Reverend and Learned Dr. Reynolds. verse 5. They are afraid of that which is high:] they go slowly and timorously, lest they should stumble at every stone, or the least unevenness in the way.

The Grasshopper shall be a burden:] the lightest hop of the least creature, is burthensome to Old Age.

Desire fails] all the sensual appetitions of Youth are now un­desired and unsavory.

Behold here is weakness to perfection; And yet all-this-while there is Life; the Soul yet imbalms the body, and keeps it from putrifying.

But Man returns to his long Home] This same dry Seed is sown, and it is sowen in weakness indeed; not only meat for Worms; but it turns into Worms and Vermin; and hasten­eth into its first feeble principle of dust, to which it was sen­tenced by Divine Justice: Dust thou art, Gen. 3.19. and to dust thou shalt return.

But now, behold this feeble thing shall be raised in power: 3. Property Powerful. The body even of the weakest Infant, shall be invested with an Angelical power; A Monument whereof, the formidable Host of Sennacherib King of Assyria hath erected for all po­sterity: wherein, 2 King. 19.35. one Angel went out and smote one hundred fourscore and five thousand, who over-night, like so many Goliahs, defied the Armies of the Living God; but in the morning, lay upon the ground so many blasted life-less Corpses; and all by the Ministry of one Angel. Such Vessels of strength and Activity shall the bodies of the Saints be in the Resurrection; they shall be indued with such power (saith one) that they shall be able to remove the Globe of the Earth with their foot, as if it were but a foot- ball: they shall be cloathed with a kind of Omnipotence; Gideon, Sampson, Jephtah, David, and all his famous Worthies, are but as suoking Babes to the Children of the Resurrection: He that is weak among them shall be as David, and he that is as David shall be as the Angel of God. Again;

It is sowen a natural body, according to the Greek, word for word, an [...]. Abnimal body: i. e. such a body as is animated, susteined and acted by the Soul; The holy na­tural: 1. Because acted by a na­tural Soul. yet in so low a way, that it is subject to Corruption, and is no sooner deserted by the Soul, but it resolves into dust, (ut supr ^à) or Natural, i. e. such a bo­dy as stands in need of natural helps, of meat, drink, rest, sleep, 2. Because it stands in need of natural props. 3. Because en­dued only with natural affections, &c. [...]. Fourth Pro­perty, Spiritu­al. to shore up the feeble Tabernacle of dust for a while: and all will not do; but down it will come Roof and Walls, and Props and All. Or again Natural, i. e. such as hath na­tural motions, operations, and affections; such as are proper only to the fallen Nature of man; feeble, slow, limited, and temporary.

But now behold, in opposition to all these acceptations, it is raised a spiritual body; not in regard of the substance of it, as if it were turned into a Spirit; but

1. Because animated and acted by the Soul now in its glo­rified capacity, made perfect with all heavenly qualifications, and so Spiritualized in all its faculties and operations, Heb. 12.23. The Spirits of just men, made perfect. that it is called no more by the name of a Soul, but of a Spirit; To the conduct and motions whereof, the body NOW shall yield absolute and immutable obedience and conformity. Here, the Soul depends (as it were) upon the body: Anima sequitur temperamentum Corporis. because, though the body be acted by the Soul, yet the Soul acts according to the temperament of the body, and the disposition of the Organs.

The difference (if we take notice of it) between men and men in respect of Wisdome, and judgment, and other natural excellencies, Omnes animae sunt ejusdem perfectionis. ariseth not from any disparity that is between their Souls; for all Souls are of a Size: the Soul of a Fool is as perfect as the Soul of a Wise man. But the difference ariseth from the Crasis and Complexion of the body, which many times puts Yokes and Manacles upon the Soul; so that (at the best) it is but as a close Prison, or dark Lant-horn, which obstructs and restrains the more noble and liberal operations of the Soul; and penn's in those beams of light, which (if within more transparent Walls) would send forth a grea­ter luster to enlighten the world.

But now in the Resurrection, it shall not be so: the body [Page 95]then shall depend wholly upon the Soul, and be acted properly and indistarbedly by the Soul. Here the Soul seems to be flesh it self, because acted by the flesh, Every way subject to the motions and desires of the Soul. Spiritui sub­dita. and is oft subservient to the flesh: but then the very body shall seem to be a Spirit; because acted by the Spirit, and shall be universally and uni­formly serviceable to the Spirit: The Soul shall immediatly be acted by God, and the body shall immediatly be acted by the Soul; thus it shall be a Spiritual body.

Secondly, It is raised a spiritual body; because it shall subsist as a Spirit; it shall stand in no need of those gross material Aliments, of meat, and drink, and sleep; by which it is now underpropt; but it shall be susteined meerly by ver­tue of its union with the Soul; as the Soul by vertue of its union with Jesus Christ; this is to be a spiritual body, when the body shall subsist as a Spirit, or as an Angel doth sub­sist.

Thirdly, Spiritual; because the motions, operations, Care Angelica, Angelified flesh, Tert. de Res. and affections of the body, shall then be all Spiritual: it shall be in the Resurrection of so pure and refined a Complexion, that it shall be diaphanous and transparent; and move up and down with the agility and celerity of a Spirit.

Zanchius resembleth it to the motion of birds in the Aire, Zanch. De Operibus Dei. that the body being hatcht (as it were) in the Resurrection, shall be able to mount up into the Heavens, and as lightly flie through the skies, as if it had wings. David shall then need to wish no more for the wings of a Dove, but be able to con­tend with fouls of the swiftest flight. Augustin hath an higher streyn, and saith, that, Miraceleritate The body shall move from place to place with what celerity it listeth: and (after him) Luther expresseth it by the swiftness of a Thought, as instantaneous as the Lightning, which in the twinkling of an eye passeth from one end of Heaven to another.

Likewise the operations of the body shall then be all spiritual operations: It shall then be abased no more to any of the servile drudgeries of this present state: it shall work no more, toyl no more, sin no more; the Offices of the body shall be as far above its present functions, as the work of a King tran­scends [Page 96]the imployment of a Swine-herd or Scullion: they shall for ever be freed from all those uses which do imply a state of infirmity, and shall be taken up wholly in Heavenly and Angelical Services: sc. to stand before the Throne of God, and of the Lamb, and to praise him for ever and ever.

And lastly; the body shall then be Spiritual, because it shall be indued with Spiritual Affections; it shall not be liable to weariness, sickness, pain, or external injuries, no more than a Spirit is. It shall not indeed be an Aerial and Spiritual body, as the Socinians and others do (inconsequentially) inferr from this and other Scriptures; but it shall be no more capable of a stroke or wound, or any other violence, than the Air or Sun, or the Heavens themselves. It shall be a true, real body, but no more vulnerable or penetrable, than if it were a Spectrum; an imaginary body, a meer Apparition. It is true, Flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God: but the meaning is not, that in the Resurrection, the bodies of the Saints shall cease to be flesh and blood, Ver. 50, 51. but that they shall be devested of all the defects and infirmities of flesh and blood. This is the mystery of it, The Fire of the last day; the only Pur­gatory. We shall be changed. The fire of the last Judgment (that only Purgatory of the Saints, that we dull Protestants know) shall not consume the bodies of the Saints, but their corruption only; it shall not destroy the sub­stances, but refine their qualities, as the Goldsmith maketh a new Vessel of old Plate; not by altering the mettal, but by changing the form and fashion. The furnace of the Resur­rection shall purge out all the slime, and dross, and filth, and imperfection out of the bodies of the Saints, and refine them in­to a body that shall exceed the Celestial bodies, of the Sun, Moon, and Stars, in clarity and purity.

This is that Affection and Property which the Schools call Impassibility; No more ca­pable of a blow or wound, than the Air or Heavens, or the Sun it self. they shall be put into a blessed incapacity or irreceptiveness of any (even the least) injury or prejudice in­cident to the humane nature, in this state of mortality. They shall be no more liable to suffering, than the glorified Angels in Heaven, or the Spirits of just men made perfect.

Behold, these be now the beatifical properties wherewith the very bodies of the Saints shall be arayed and beautified in the Resurrection!

Of

• Corruptible,
• Ignominous,
• Weak,
• Natural,

It shall be made

• Incorruptible.
• Glorious.
• Powerful.
• Spiritual.

A Change which we are not in a capacity to understand, till we shall possess it.

And all these admirable Properties the blessed Apostle hath cast up into one Word, a word of a most incomprehensible signification, the Summa totalis; the vast comprehensive esti­mate of all the rest, sc.

This short comprehensive description of the glory of the Resurrection, is exprest (also) by way of Opposition to its Contrary; that the excellency of the Resurrection might be more illustrious, being compared with the meanness and ob­scurity of the present state; and either of them is absolved in one word.

The body now is a vile body, Gr. [...]. Our body of this vile­ness: A word of so full a signification, that in the whole Dictionary of Language, there cannot be found a term more proper, [...]. to express the meaness and ignominie of the present state; Some derive it from a Greek word, which signifies to bury; expressing such a corrupt and fordid thing, as if with [Page 98] Lazarus it had layn four days stinking in the Grave: Joh. 11.39. a Carcase that stincks above ground; how much more when it is buried indeed?

Others derive it from a word that signifies to stamp and tread under-foot: [...], cal­cari. See Mr. Cala­mies Sermon Preached at Dr. Boltons Funeral. implying the body (in it self) to be of so fordid and base an Extraction (since the Fall) as is fit for no­thing, but to be cast out upon the dunghill, and trampled un­der the feet of man and beasts; whether alive or dead, it is a vile thing, (set aside only its divine workmanship) Vileness it self.

Why-but now, the Resurrection shall make amends for all; Then this vile body shall be fashioned, [...]. like unto Christ his glo­rious body; like, i. e. of a like form and fashion to Christs bo­dy; that must needs be a ravishing beauty indeed: for, mark ye, it is not like to Christ his body, in his state of Humilia­tion, which yet was full of beauty, though the blind world could not see it: Isa. 53. Joh. 1.14. The divine beauty beam­ing it self through the very body of Christ, and adding lustre unto it. Exod. 34.30. they whose eyes were opened saw and admired; we beh [...]ld his glory, as the glory of the only begotten of the Fa­ther, full of Grace and Truth. But in the Resurrection, it is said, Our vile bodies shall be fashioned like to his Glorious body; surely that must needs excel in glory.

Behold, if such were the brightness of Moses his face, at the giving of the Law, that the Israelites were not able to bear it; They were afraid (saith the Text) to come nigh him: If St. Stephens Countenance did shine as the face of an An­gel, when he stood holding up his hand at the bar of his Un­righteous Judges, in the posture of a Malefactor! what think we is the lustre and brightness which shines forth from the glorified body of the Lord Jesus, 1 Tim. 6.15, 16. who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords, who only hath immortality, Math. 17.3. dwelling in the light which no man can ap­proach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see? Behold, in his transfiguration, Heb. 11.3. In Regia Cae­lorum sedet Je­sus ad dex­tram Patris. Tert. de Re­surr. Carnis, his Face did shine as the Sun, and his Ray­ment was white as Snow! What ravishing beams of light and glory do Moses, and Elias, and Peter, now see sparkling from his glorified Person exalted to the right hand of the Ma­jesty on high, i. e. on the highest Throne of the highest Ma­jesty [Page 99]in the Court of Heaven: Illud corpus ca­daverosum con­figurabit corpo­ri claritaris su [...]. Aug. Ver [...]or ne te­merarium sit, omne quod de illa proferiur el [...]qui [...]m. August. de ci­vit. Dei. Lib. 22. Cap. 21. Surely the glorified body of Christ doth as far surpass the Sun in brightness, as the Sun surpasseth a clod of Earth; and yet to this Exemplar of glory, must the bodies of the Saints be conformed in the Resurrecti­on! Surely, glorious things are spoken of the Resurrection: So great, so glorious, that, had not the Spirit of God spoken them before, it had been daring presumption, to have re­ported or believed it.

Qu. But some may say, How can these things be? or, How is it possible, that such rotten stinking Carcasses should be capable of such a glorious Metamorpho­sis?

Ans. It may well non-pluss our poor dark Infant-under­standings; For eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, 1 Cor. 2.9. nor hath it en­tred into the heart of man, what glory God hath prepared for the very bodies of his Saints! But, because it is wonderful in our eyes, Shall it be wonderful in the eyes of the Lord of Hosts?

With men indeed this is impossible; but with God all things are possible. [O LORD GOD, thou knowest:] Ezek. 27.3. was the an­swer which the Prophet of old returned to that non-plussing question, concerning the Resurrection of the dry bones of the house of Israel (a Type of this last and general Resurrection) He referr'd it (as being a mystery transcending his under­standing) to Divine Wisdome and Omnipotence, to resolve.

And upon the same bottom doth our Apostle here fix this Mystery and our Faith, sc. It is, according to the working of his mighty Power, whereby he is able to subdue, even all things to Himself. In his own Resurrection, the Lord Jesus as Me­diator, gave us a signal specimen of his power; Colos. 2.15. when he spoil­ed Principalities and Powers, and made a shew of them open­ly: He subdued the Devil, Hell, and the Grave, to himself; got them under his feet, and led Captivity Captive; by ver­tue of which Conquest, he became the Resurrection and the Life: and therefore is able to exert the same power and in­fluence in raising his Members, and in conforming them to [Page 100]their Head, which he put forth in his own Resurrection; it is a work of no greater difficulty: [...]. The bodies of the Saints shall be rais­ed; tanta fa­cilitate, quanta faelicitate, with as much ease as happiness. Aug. If it were, He is able to sub­due even all things; (it is a note of similitude.) All things are alike to Omnipotence; the greatest are as the least. Our Im­possibles are all one to him, as our facilities: nothing can stand in his way, which he cannot subdue and conquer to Himself: i. e. at his own pleasure, to his own glorious purposes and designes: And therefore, even this admirable and stu­pendious Transformation shall be effected upon those poor de­formed Carcasses of his Saints, which sense and reason gave for lost; Faith says, it shall be done, our vile bodies shall be trans­figured into the likeness of his own Glorious body; How? ac­cording, or suitably, to the mighty working, whereby he is able to subdue even all things unto himself: God can do what he will, and that's enough.

The Resurrection of the Saints, as (formerly,) in respect of the

• 1. Author; The Lord Jesus.
• 2. The Precedency of it; they that are alive, shall not prevent them which are asleep; they shall rise first: So also (now)
• 3. In respect of the manner of it; the bodies of the Saints shall be invested with four glorious qua­lities.
  • 1. Incorruptible.
  • 2. Glorious.
  • 3. Powerful.
  • 4. Spiritual.

By all which it shall be conformed to the Glorious Body of our Lord Jesus.

It may be of Use

• 1. For Counsel.
• 2. For Comfort; and but a word of either.

First; It may serve by way of Counsel; 1. Use. Of Counsel. and that unto all (indefinitly). You that would secure unto your selves an inte­rest in the glory which shall be put upon the Saints bodies in the Resurrection; labour to experience this beatifical transfi­guration, first in your Souls, on this side of the Grave. La­bour to get your vile spirits to be made like to his glorious Spirit. Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ; put Him on, by an holy and universal Imitation.

• Labour to be meek, as He was meek.
• Holy, as He was Holy.
• Pure, as He was Pure.
• Merciful, as He was Merciful.
• Heavenly, as He was Heavenly.

And, Joh. 4.34. Let it be your meat and drink to do the will of him that sent you, and to finish his work.

* A. Christ was the brightness of his Father's glory, [...], Insculpta forma. the ex­press Image of his Person: So do ye study (in your finite ca­pacity) to be the brightness of Christ, his glory, the express Image of his Person: Oh labour to get his Image and simi­litude to be deeply engraven upon your hearts; and to scatter the beams of it in your Conversations, Philip. 2.15. for the enlightning of a dark world.

Behold this shall be the evidence and first-fruits of your fu­ture conformity to Him in the Resurrection of the just. The ground and Reason is, because that blessed Transfiguration which shall conform the Saints to Christ, their Head and Hus­band in the Resurrection (and from thenceforth to all Eterni­ty;) hath its beginning here in Regeneration, Ephes. 4.23, 24. or the New Birth, wherein they are renewed in the Spirit of their minds, B [...]ta referts [...]. unto [...] In the Rege­neration, ye al­so shall sit up­on twelve [...]n [...]nes. and do put on (habitually) the New man, which after God is Created in Righteousness and true holiness; Jesus Christ is formed in their hearts. And upon this very account, is the Resurrection styled also, the Regeneration, Math. 19.28. In the Regeneration ye also shall sit, i. e. in the Resurrection ye al­so shall sit, &c. And it is therefore called the Regeneration; [Page 102]because the Resurrection shall perfect in the Saints, what the Regeneration begun, sc. Conformity to Christ their Head and Husband in Holiness. Yea at the Resurrection, the Image of Jesus Christ shall be compleated; as on their Souls, so on their bodies also: because, that Image was begun upon their Souls on this side the Grave in their New Birth; ac­cordingly as they were predestinated to both in the purpose of God, Rom 8.29. from all Eternity. The Resurrection to Grace here, and to Glory hereafter, is but one and the same Regeneration. Whosoever therefore is a Stranger to this Transformation of Spirit, in the Resurrection to Grace, shall never partake of that Transfiguration of body in the Resurrection to Glory. The bodies of the wicked shall be raked out of their Graves with all their defects and excesses; all their mis-shapes and de­formities, which they carried with them to their Graves; in their perfect ugliness; which were the shame and curse of the fallen nature; an abhorrency to God and Angels, &c. Yea to the very Devils themselves, whom they shall have to be both their Companions and Executioners. The Saints of God were the worlds derided, persecuted Non-Conformists here; but themselves shall be Christs and his Saints Non-Conformists hereafter, when their Carcasses shall be cast out for a specta­cle of shame and abhorrency unto all flesh for ever. Isa. 66. ult.

Christians, as you love your Souls, and would bear the I­mage of the Son of God in his Kingdom and glory: Study this Soul-Conformity, now, and make it your business; La­bour to feel this blessed change wrought in your hearts; and let the world behold it in your lives: without which, all your Confidences concerning that day, will prove but so many de­lusions, Rom. 5.5. to aggravate your shame and everlasting dispair. Hear, oh hear, how the Disciple of Love doth argue, When He shall appear, we shall be like Him, Glorious!

But why? 1 Joh. 3.2. cum. c. 4.17. Because, As He is, so are we in this world. He disputes from Conformity to Christ in the Gospel-state, to Conformity to Him at this Appearance.

By such Argumentations, Christians, Philip. 2.12. 1 Tim. 6.18, 19. 1 Joh. 4.17. Work out your Salva­tion with fear and trembling, that ye may have boldness in the day of Judgment, &c.

Secondly; It may serve by way of Comfort; Second Use. Consolation. and for that end it is written by the Comforter Himself in this model: for Comfort, I say, in reference to our sweet Relations that sleep in Jesus; over whom (not seldom) we spend our fruitless Tears, (take we heed lest sinful also) while we compare their once lively, sweet, amiable Countenances, which sparkled so much beauty and delight in our eyes; with their pale, ghast­ly Visages in the Grave; where they say to Corruption, Job. 17.14. thou art my Father; and to the Worm, thou art my Mother, and my Sister: We look upon them, I say, not without a kind of trembling and horrour; as if their Ghosts appeared to us out of their Graves; or that we our selves were buried with them alive in the same Coffin.

Ah Sirs, why stand ye not (with the men of Galilee,) Act. 1.11. gazing up into Heaven? but, (with Peter) stooping down, and looking into the Sepulcher? Behold I bring you glad tydings of great joy; The day is coming, when that Corruptible shall put on Incorruption; and that Mortal shall put on Im­mortality: when that poor dust, over which thou now mourn­est, that vile body, shall put on its Angelical Robes, and shall more surpass it self in its freshest and liveliest colours, while yet in the land of the living; than that beautiful pile of flesh and blood did exceed it self, when it was resolved into rotten­ness and dust.

Look not, then, oh ye Children of God, upon your Selves or your Relations, as they lye in the Grave; but, contem­plate them, as they shall be in the morning of the Resurrecti­on: Oh what a glorious change shalt than behold! How unlike it self, shall this poor vile body appear in the Resur­rection?

It was sown in Corruption, it is raised in Incorruption; it is sown in dishonour, it is raised in Glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. In a word, It was sown a vile body; [Page 104]It is now transfigured, in the Resurrection, into a most emi­nent Conformity with Christ's Glorious body.

Be of good Comfort, Oh ye mourners of hope; here is a perfumed Hankerchief to wipe off all tears from your eyes; You that sow in tears, shall reap in joy: you that carry forth precious Seed weeping, shall come again rejoycing, and bring your Sheaves with you.

The Resurrection shall make amends for all!

I have done with the first Consequent.

I come now to the second Consequent of Christs Rising; Second Con­sequent. Triumphant Ascention of the Saints. sc.

The Saints Triumphant Ascention.

Verse 17. Then we which are alive and remain, shall be caught up together with them in the Clouds, &c.

Here, we have a further instance of the Saints Conformity unto Christ in the Resurrection. Christ himself when he was risen did Ascend; He was carried up into Heaven: So shall it be with the Saints, when they are raised up out of their beds of dust, they shall be caught up into the Clouds; they shall Ascend to meet their Lord.

And this Ascention, according to the Analogy of Scrip­ture, we may conceive, shall be effected by a Three-fold medium, 1. Medium. The power of Christ. Scil.

• 1. The Power of Christ.
• 2. The Ministry of the Angels,
• 3. The Spirituality of the Saints own bodies.

First, the Ascention of the Saints in the Clouds shall be effected by the Power of Christ.

By the same power whereby he raised them out of their Graves, will he lift them up unto Himself; yea this taking them up, is a branch of the Resurrection; it is continuata Re­surrectio, as Divines say, that Providence, is, continuata Crea­tio, a Progressive Creation: So I may call this Rapture of the Saints into the Air, It is nothing else but a Progressive Resur­rection; [Page 105]the continuation and perfection of the Resurrection; the proper work (also) of Him, who is the Resurrection and the Life; It is the second part of the Resurrection, without which the first would differ little from the state of the Dead. In vain should the Saints be raised out of the dust, if being raised, Christ should leave them at a distance from Him: and the Resurrection of the Saints themselves would look too like the Resurrection of the Wicked, a Punishment rather than a Bl [...]ss; Separation from Christ being half, (yea, the worst half) of Hell: though even there the damned have a kind of Life. Surely, the Children of the Refurrection might have too real occasion to weep Absoloms dissembling complaint to his a­bused Father; Why am I come from Geshur, if I may not see the Kings face? Why are we brought up out of the Grave, if we may not enjoy the Lamb's presence?

But the Amen, the faithful and true Witness, cannot be worse than his word; He spake it at his Departure (to his Disciples;) and he will make it good at his Return;

I will come again and receive you to my self, that, Joh. 14.3. where I am, there you may be also.

In order therefore to the accomplishment of this Promise, the first work the Lord Jesus will do, at his Coming in his Kingdom, (after he hath awakened his Spouse out of her sleep) will be, to lift her up unto Himself, now, sitting upon his triumphant Throne, to Judg both the Quick and Dead.

This is the first Receiving of them unto Himself, Christ his first receiving of the Saints to Himself. Joh. 12.32. his draw­ing of them up unto Him, according to his own phrase in the days of his flesh; And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me: (All men i. e. All my Redeemed ones,) which promise, although the Spirit expounds it upon his be­ing lifted up upon the Cross, verse 33. This he spake, signify­ing what death he should dye: Yet we may (not without war­rant) extend it also to his glorious Exaltation in the great Day of his Judging the World: this being both the design and reward of his Passion; to the intent, that whom he drew to Himself, by the merit of his Cross, he might also actually draw unto Himself by the power of his Resurrection [Page 106]and Ascention. I will draw all men unto me; or, I will at­tract unto me; As the Loadstone draweth the mettal unto it self by its magnetick vertue; or as the Sun draweth up the vapours of the Earth by its attractive beams: so will the Lord Jesus Christ that Sun of Righteousness, when his glory shall arise upon the world, with healing under his wings; draw all his Saints unto Himself, by the soveraign attractive influence of that mysterious Union between Himself and his Mem­bers.

This is the first and great Medium of the Saints Ascension; the Power of Christ.

A second Medium is the Ministry of the Angels; Second Medi­um, the Mi­nistry of the Angels. Heb. 1. Ult. for which, though we have not certainty of demonstration to compel be­lief; yet we want not more than bare probability of argument to invite Assent.

For if it be in the Commission of the Angels to be Mini­string Spirits, for them who shall be Heirs of Salvation, we have no reason to imagine their Commission should expire until the time, when the Saints shall be actually and safely in­vested into their long-expected Inheritance. And therefore, if they were the Saints Life-guard in the state of their de­filement and infirmity, to bear them up in their hands, lest at any time they should dash their foot against a stone; How much more ready and active, now, in the Saints Virgin-state of Purity and Perfection, will the Angels be, to be their Convoy to conduct them (in their Ascention) going now to meet the Lamb! Sure we are, the Lord Jesus, though he be the Re­surrection and the Life, yet is pleased to make much use of the Ministry of the Angels about the Resurrection of the Godly; They shall sound the first Trump, at the sounding whereof, the Dead do rise.

They gather the Elect together, from the four Corners of the Earth, and sever the Wicked from them; the Tares and all things that offend, and them which work Iniquity, are by them bound up in bundles, and cast into the fire. All this is the Angels Office; not because our Lord could not with equal facility do it Himself? Why should we think the service of [Page 107]the Angels should cease, until the whole Scene of the Resur­rection be finished!

Yea to determine our dubious thoughts, we hear the Lord of the Harvest giving charge to his Reapers (which are none but Angels) not only to reap the Wheat, but to carry-in the Sheavs into his Barn; I will say to the Reapers, but gather the Wheat into my Barn! Behold this is the Angels Office; their work is not done, till the good Corn be Inn'd.

This, in the Metaphor of the Marriage of the Lamb, is no­thing else but the Angels attendance on the Saints, the Lambs Wife, while She is making ready, Revel. 19.7, 8. that when She is arayed in fine Linnen, clean and white, they may then take her up in their winged Arms, and conduct her in state to the place, where her Royal Bridegroom is staying for her.

Thirdly; Third Medi­um. The Spiritu­ality of the Saints bodies. The Spirituality and Power wherewith the bodies of the Saints are endowed in the Resurrection, may well con­curr also to this Ascention.

By vertue of that marvellous Spirituality and Agility, wherewith the Resurrection shall, (if I may so say) inform the Saints bodies; they shall be able to mount upward (ut sup.) and move with admirable celerity up and down, to and fro in the Air; as Swallows in a Sun-shine day, dart them­selves through the skie; or as the Angels themselves, who with equal facility, Descend and Ascend, with a motion as swift as their Wills.

In the Resurrection, indeed, the Saints were purely passive; as passive as when their bodies were first formed out of the dust, and had the breath of Life breathed into them.

But now, in their Ascention they shall be active and agil. Mooved, indeed, they shall be, by an extrinsick power; why else are they said to be caught up into the Air? But yet not so, but that they may move themselves by an intrinsick Princi­ple: Else, 1 Cor. 15.42, 43, 44. God and Na­ture do no­thing in Vain. those supernatural affections of their re-divine bo­dies, might seem to be superfluous and insignificant. Sutably to this, it is storied of Elijah his Ascention (a Prophesie and figure of this universal Translation of the Saints) that al­though a Charet of fire parted Him and Elisha; yet He [Page 108]went up by a whirlwind into Heaven: He was carryed, and yet he went up; so the Saints, &c.

Thus I have shewed the probability (at least) of a threefold Medium in the Saints Ascention. 1. Christs Power. 2. The Angels Ministry. Object. 3. The Agility of the Saints bodies.

But it may be Objected.

What meaneth this Concurrence of Mediums? For, if any one of these be sufficient, What use of them all?

For Answer, Ans. Twofold I shall offer two things to your conside­ration.

First: This Concurrence of Mediums is no other than we meet with in the Ascention of our Lord in his own Per­son. For,

First: Act. 1.9. [...]. Of the Lord Jesus Himself, after his Resurrection, it is said, He was taken up, or lifted up; the phrase may im­port the Power of the Father, as (formerly) in raising him up from the dead: So, now also, in lifting him up into Glory, ac­cording to that, Act. 5.31. Him hath God the Father exalt­ed with his right-hand: Here is the power of the Father in the Sons Ascention. And then you have the subserviency of second Causes added; first a Cloud is prepared, as a Royal Charet to carry up this King of Glory to his Princely Pavili­on, [...]. Luk. 24.51. He was carry­ed up into Heaven. A Cloud received him out of their sight.

And then a Royal Guard of mighty Angels surround the Charet; if not for support, yet for the greater state and solemnity of their Lords Ascention; He was carried up into Heaven, Luk. 24.51.

Yet notwithstanding all this, it is said of the Lord Jesus, He went up, Act. 1.10. while the Disciples looked stedfastly towards Hea­ven: He went onward, or he went upward; as implying that his motion was not only passive, but active; he mounted up into Heaven by his own divine power, He Ascended. Behold here we have a perfect Pattern of the Saints Ascension in all the Mediums of it; they hold exact proportion with their Lord. The Father lifted up the Lord Jesus; the Lord Je­sus, He lifts up his Saints. A Cloud received Him; the Saints also are caught up in the Clouds. Angels attend upon [Page 109]their Lord in his Ascension; nor do they refuse their atten­dance on the Saints in their Ascension. Jesus Christ, notwithstanding, Ascended by the Power of his own glorified Person: The Saints likewise Ascend by vertue of those super­natural properties, wherewith their bodies were adorned in the Resurrection.

I Answer, Secondly; Second Answ. That in both Christ's and the Saints Ascention, this variety of Mediums is neither superfluous, nor inconsistent; but signal instances of that sweet harmonious subordination of Causes, which the only wise God hath esta­blished in his own Counsel, for the managing of his works and wonders of providence, viz.

Second Causes working together in their several Sphere and Orb.

The supream cause, ordering, influencing, and actuating the second causes to his own ends and designs.

And lastly, See a notable instance of this subordi­nation. Hos 2.21, 22. Rev. 11, 12. Particular Beings and Persons lest to act ac­cording to the mpressions of their own individual natures, notwithstanding their subordination.

All these Mediums, we may observe once more, concur­ring in the Resurrection of the Witnesses, mentioned in the Revelations; There, you have,

1. A great voyce from Heaven calling them, Come up hither; There's th Power of Christ: It was a great voyce, a voyce of Power; a voyce which did what it commanded.

Second; The subserviency of the Clouds; the Witnesses rode upon a Cloud into Heaven in Triumph.

Thirdly; And to shew their motion was not violent, but free also, and voluntary; it is said, they Ascended.

Fourthly; And there is yet one Circumstance more of special remark, and that is, This was in the sight of their E­nemies. Their Enemies beheld them; beheld them with great fear, verse 11. [...]. Horrour and Astonishment took hold of their Persecutors, Envying their Advancement, and vexing them­selves that they should have no more power to Persecute the Witnesses, and (add to all this) confounded in the expectati­on of their own succeeding judgment.

This one Scripture is a perfect prediction and model of the general Resurrection of the Saints in the last day.

The Lord Jesus from his Throne shall call them up by a po­werful voyce: Come up hither, Clouds shall be their Chariots, and Horses to carry them. And yet they shall Ascend up­wards by a supernatural principle, spontaneously, and of their own proper motion.

While, in the mean time, the whole world of reprobate Men and Angel; shall be left below upon the Earth, looking upward and gnashing their Teeth, to see such a sudden and tremen­dous Turn of things: the Saints, whom they despised and per­secuted, snatcht out of their reach, and ascending in so much pomp and royalty to meet their glorious Redeemer; they themselves being left behind with a certain looking for of Judg­ment and fiery Indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. Then shall begin their weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of Teeth, which shall never have an end.

For Use,

In the first place it may serve as a Cordial to the Saints of God; Use 1. A Cordial. whether in reference to their own dissolution, or the dissolution of their precious Relations already fallen asleep.

Behold! the descent of the Saints of God into the Grave, is not with so much weakness, ignominy, and abasement, as their Ascent after the Resurrection, to meet their Lord in the Air, shall be with Power, Triumph, and Glory.

• Christ shall draw them.
• Clouds shall carry them.
• Angels shall conduct them.

Yea, they shall mount up to Heaven, by vertue of those Christ-like impressions stampt upon their glorified bodies in the Resurrection.

• Each one of these were sufficient:
• All these must needs be exceeding Glorious! yet,
• Such honour have all the Saints!

Secondly; There is Caution in it, as well as Comfort; Use 2. Caution. And that is, Begin this Ascention betimes. Labour to experience this Heavenly motion on this side of the Grave. Sursum corda, Lift up your heads Oh ye Gates, and be ye lift up, Oh ye ever­lasting Doors: behold;

The Resurrection and Ascention in the future state of hap­piness, have their spring and rise in the present state of holiness; they are linke in, and joyned one to another, in the eternal counsel and purpose of God; with the very same Con­nexion wherewith Birth and Conception are lincked toge­ther; Harvest and Seed-time. So that look what impossibi­lity there is in nature, that there should be a Birth, where was no Conception; or an Harvest, where no Semination; the same impossibility there is, that such a person should share in the Resurrection of Glory, that is a stranger to the Resur­rection of Grace, the new Birth; or that a Man or Woman should Ascend to meet Jesus Christ in the Clouds, who in the state of Regeneration, labours not often to meet Christ in the Mount of holy Meditation.

If therefore ye be risen with Christ, Colos. 3.1, 2. seek those things which are above, where Christ sits at Gods right hand; set your affections on things above.

Christ, after he arose from the dead, did often ascend to his Father, till, at the end of 40 days, He went up to Heaven in the sight of his Disciples. Acts 1.9, 10.

Do ye also imitate your blessed Lord, in your frequent ascentions after him; and thereby evidence to your selves, not only that you are already risen with Christ in the Resur­rection of Holiness; but that ye shall also arise with Him, and Ascend to Him at his coming in his Glory.

Christians, let not that man think ever to be caught up to meet the Lord in the Air, who is patient of being a stranger to Christ in the Spirit; without God (in the world), Eph. 2.12. and without hope; he burieth his hope of Ascending, where Christ is, who burieth his heart and affections in the dunghil of worldly and sensual fruitions. Oh labour to say with the Apostle, though our Commoration be on Earth, our [...]. or Traffique Burgesship. Conversation is in Hea­ven, [Page 112]from whence we look for a Saviour; Phil. 3.20. though ye walk be­low, Aug. The Saints do uti mundo, but frui Deo. Car­nal men do uti Deo, & frui mundo. Corpore ambu­lamus in terra, corde habita­mus in coelo. Aug. yet live above. Though ye use the world, yet labour to enjoy God, and to be able to say with holy David, Whom have I in Heaven but thee, and there is none upon Earth that I de­sire besides thee, Psal. 73.26.

Though ye have your converse with men, let your Commu­nion be with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ, 1 Joh. 1.3.

Labour to say with Augustine, Our bodies are on Earth, our hearts in Heaven: while the men of the world Earthlize Heavenly things, do you study how to Heavenlize Earthly things; labour, (as he did) to eat and drink, and sleep Eter­nal Life.

So may you, with an holy Confidence, go along with the Apostle, from whence we look for the Lord Jesus. Christi­ans can no further look for the Lord Jesus to Descend from Heaven, then as they themselves (in the mean time) labour to be often Ascending with him into Heaven. Heavenly­mindedness, is the Saints Evidence, and first-fruits of their Heavenly-blessedness. I have done with the second Conse­quent; I come to the third Consequent of Christ's Coming.

• Thirdly:
  Third Conse­quent of Christs Com­ing.
  The Saints joyful meeting, and it is two-fold
  • 1. One with another.
  • 2. With Christ their Head.
• The one is Implied, the other Exprest.

The Saints meeting one with another, [...] is implied in this Ad­verbial particle, Ʋnà Together, we shall be caught up together with him, i. e. We, which shall be found alive upon the face of the Earth at Christs coming; together with them (which being fallen asleep before, of elder or later time) Christ hath now raised up out of their Graves; we and they, shall All be caught up together, &c.

This I say presupposeth their meeting together, antecedaneous to their Ascention: how else can they co-Ascend, if not con­gregated before they Ascend? And therefore, in order of nature, though the Saints meeting together should have been [Page 113]spoken to before their Ascention; yet the series of the words not well admitting this method, it will not be improper to consider it where it meets us.

The Scripture takes notice of the Saints meeting one with another, as distinct from their meeting with the Lord Jesus, Mat. 24.31. The Elect shall be gathered together from the four winds, from one end of the Heavens to another. At what distance soever (imaginable) they were disperst and scatter­ed, they shall all meet together into one distinct body, or Assembly: And then co-ascend, to meet their Lord. Some of the School-men apply that passage of the Prophet, Isa. 10.34. They shall Mount up with wings as Eagles, to this ascention of the Saints after the Resurrection. Whether that be so or no; we may not incongruously suppose, the Elect of God to be ga­thered together into some one Some sup­pose the Val­ley of Jeh [...]sha­phat. vast capacious tract or regi­on of ground on the right hand of the Judgment-seat, from thence to take their flight together to meet the Judg in the Air. We must un­derstand the placing of the Sheep on the right hand, and the Goats on the left hand, to be upon the ground (for the Wicked shall not Ascend to meet Christ); and the Godly, when Ascended, shall be placed on Seats round about the Throne, Mat. 25.33.

And of this Congregation of the Elect, the Scripture assigneth a two-fold Cause.

1. CHRIST, the principal efficient Cause: The Son of man shall come in the Clouds, and shall send his Angels, and shall gather the Elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the Earth, to the uttermost part of Heaven. He, not They; Christ, not the Angels; shall gather his Elect together: Christ Autocratorically by his own Power and Authority, shall assemble all his Elect that ever have been upon the face of the Earth into one general Assembly.

2. Yet doth not this exclude the Ministry of the Angels; Christ may make use of them in the separation of the Elect, from the Reprobate; and this is expresly affirmed by our Lord Himself;

The Angels shall come forth, Mat. 13.49. Or from the mid'st of the Just. and sever the Wicked from the Just. This same full and final separation of the precious from the vile, the Sheep from the Goats, the Seed of the Woman from the Seed of the Serpent, it belongs to the Angels Office; the Angels shall come forth and sever; Christ doth it Authoritatively, but the blessed Angels do it Ministerially: Christ gives out the Commission; He shall send his Angels; but they shall execute the Commission. Christ gives out the word; Gather my Saints together unto me: But the Angels, those Ministring Spirits, they go forth and gather.

3. There is yet another Cause mentioned; sc. the Instru­mental or signal Cause, and that, is the Alarm of a Trumpet: He shall send his Angels with a great sound of a Trumpet.

It seemeth not improbable that the Congregation shall be called together by sound of Trumpet: for though some (both Antient and Modern) do understand all, that is said concern­ing the Trumpet sounding, metaphorically; yet doth the phrase of Scripture favour their opinion more, who understand the speech of a literal sounding the Trumpet: Schindler in his Lexicon. and Schindler tells us, that the Jews thought this to be one end of the feast of Trumpets, to put them in mind of the last day: in the which the dead shall rise with the noise of a Trumpet; and be gathered together, not otherwise than as when people do hear the sound of a Trumpet, they assemble themselves together in­to some place. And why may we not think that as the Trump is used in order to the Saints Resurrection; so also there may be use made of it, in order to their gathering together, when they are raised? May not this be suggested from Math. 24.31. though neither the Resurrection, nor the Congregating of them together, are effected properly by this sound; it being not a Physical, but a moral instrument only, or signal; 'Tis not the sound of the Angels, Joh. 5.28. but the voyce of Christ, which the dead hear and live. That voyce being the voyce, not of a meer man, but of God-man, may well be allowed to have both quickning and congregating power in it; Hence in some Churches it is sung, [Page 115]

To this end it is observable in the Text;

1. That in the Original, it is not (as in other places) the sound of a Trumpet only; but the Voyce of a Trumpet; im­plying it to be a Vocal Trumpet: giving out (not only) an audible, but (even) an Articulate Voyce, speaking in a Lan­guage which the Saints shall understand: [...]. So, in 4 Co­pies, Bez. and therefore some Greek Copies (as Beza observeth) make the Voyce, additional to the Trump, sc. with the Trumpet and a Voyce.

2. It is observable: It is not a Voyce (only) but a great Voyce; a Voyce of some unusual terribleness and power; a Voyce (it seemeth) that can do what it speaketh; that when it saith, Rise ye Dead, they Rise; and when it saith Come, they Come; it shall not only summon, but bring them together be­fore the Throne of Christ; and this probably is the very same with this in the Context, verse 16.

The Voyce of the Arch-Angel, and the Trump of God.

That Voyce, which before raised the Dead, shall now bring them together, (by a sweet compulsion,) into one Tri­umphant Assembly: The Church of the first-born; Heb. 12.23. Quomodo prim [...] ­genitus esse po­tuit nisi quoni­am s [...]cundum divinitatem an­te emnem crea­turam ex Deo p [...]e Sermo es­set? Tert de Trin. Use. not Children only, but Heirs, Heirs of God, and co-Heirs with Christ; who being the First-born of every Creature, hath in­vested all the Children of Promise, into the same prerogative of Primogeniture with himself; and are therefore stiled the Church of the first-born.

But, as the Scripture would have us take notice of this Antecedent of the Saints Ascension; so it doth teach us also how to improve it to

• A three-fold Comfort.

[Page 116]1. In case of undue mixtures of Saints and Sinners, whe­ther in Church-Assemblies, or in Civil-Societies.

How far either of them may be lawful, is not an Enquiry proper for this place; sure I am, much, in both, is unavoid­able. A total separation from impure Society in either, may well be the object of our wishes, but it cannot be of our hope: while we are in the world, we may separate from Church to Church, we may remove from Country to Country, roll up and down from the one end of the world unto another: But, the Apostle tells us, we must go one step further, if we will a­voyd the society of Sinners; 1 Cor. 5.10. then, must ye needs go out of the World.

Yea, But here is the Comfort, and it is the signal use our Lord makes of this very Doctrine; The time is coming when a thorow separation shall be made; Under that dou­ble parable of the Seed and the Net. Math. 13.

Ver. 26. In the one the Tares grow up with the Wheat.

Vers. 47. In the other, all kind of Fishes are gathered, good and bad; Concerning the former, the Servants of the Housholder were offended at it; it grieved them at the heart to see the Weeds growing, yea (and it may be) over-grow­ing the good Corn, and so hindring the maturing of it. They make their addresses to him for a present separation; verse 27. and offer their faithful service for an utter radication of the Tares: verse 28. verse 29. Wilt thou that we gather them up? Nay, saith the Lord, a total extirpation of the Tares, may do more hurt than ye are aware of. Better (it seems) it is, that some Tares should remain, then the least grain of Wheat to perish: The distinguishing-Time is at hand; In the time of Harvest I will give order to the Reapers for a perfect separation.

All this our blessed Redeemer expounds (for the comfort and encouragement of his offended Servants,) to be accom­plished at the Resurrection; So shall it be at the end of the world; the Son of man shall send forth his Angels, and they shall gather out of his Kingdom all things that offend, and they that do iniquity, As if he should say

Be of good chear, The time is coming when impure mix­tures [Page 117]will no more be a temptation to the Saints of God, for ever. Saints and Sinners shall no more be burdensome one to another. The Seed of the Serpent, shall no more be an of­fence to the Seed of the Woman, nor è contrà; but there shall be a perfect separation. The Sheep shall be separated from the Goats; the Elect from the Reprobate; there shall not be a Servant of the Lord amongst the Worshipers of Baal; nor a Son of Beltal among the Sons of God: Sinners and none but Sinners, Saints and none but Saints, shall make up these two distinct Congregations. Nay so terrible will the glory which Christ will put upon his Saints be, upon the faces of the Repro­bates; and so great the horrour of their own guilty Consci­ences; that they shall now as much dread their Society, as once they hated it, and chuse rather to leap alive into the burning Lake, then to mix themselves unto them; or so much as to put their head within that holy Assembly. [...], in praestituto tem­p [...]re. Verse 30. [...]. This Christ assureth to his Mourners shall be effected in the appointed time; if not, in our time, yet in Gods time, in the time of Harvest. But what shall we do in the mean time? why, saith our Lord, Suffer them to grow together: suffer them; not, by sinful toleration, (in Rulers); nor by sinful compliance (in people): Expectardo non teme [...]è occu­pando. If we cannot separate from Churches, yet separate from their Corrup­tions and de­filements. 2 Use. but suffer them by patient expectation (in case of necessity), having no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather re­proving them. If you cannot avoyd the Workers, yet avoyding the Works of darkness: and then, in your patience do you possess your Souls.

2. This Circumstance of the Saints separation from the Wicked, is improved for comfort, (by our Lord Jesus Christ himself.)

In case of undue exclusion from Church Ordinances, of such as Christ would not have excluded.

Our Lord Jesus hath foretold, that the power of the keys should fall (sometimes) into such hands, as would so diametri­cally pervert the use of them, as that oft-times none should be excluded, but whom Christ would have admitted; nor ad­mitted, but such as Christ would have shut out.

They shall put You out of their Synagogues, 1 Joh. 16.2. [...]. i. e. Excommu­nicate you: You, my Disciples; you, my Friends. Hard measure! I, but here is comfort; the time is coming, where­in all the Elect shall be Congregated into one universal Assembly, never to suffer exclusion or ejectment any more to all Eternity. And then their unrighteous Excommunicators shall be righteously Excommunicated; yea they shall be Ex­communicated with the highest sort of Excommunication, (higher than any Church of Christ ever used) Excommuni­cated for ever; delivered unto Sathan, not for the destruction of the flesh only, but to be punished with everlasting destructi­on from the presence of the Lord, 2 Thes. 1.9.10. and from the glory of his Po­wer; (when he shall come to be glorified in his Saints): That's a dreadful Excommunication indeed; the Anathema Ma­ranatha in the highest sense: quum Dominus venit: quia Do­mino quasi in manus citra veniae spem dedentur.

Jude 14. Now; the Saints of God are glad to get into Corners by twoes and by threes, (and, blessed be God, not without a promise) to seek the face of God; so making the Harlot's Text, Prov. 17.17. speak chast language; Stollen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret, is pleasant.

But in that glorious Morning of the Resurrection, they shall meet by millions and myriads of millions; and there shall be none to disturb or offend them; yea their Enemies shall look on and gnash their Teeth for anguish and vexation of Spirit, to see them now got (for ever) out of their power.

3. 3 Use. And lastly, for Comfort in case of the Saints separation one from another, whether by the unrighteous hand of Vio­lence, or the righteous hand of Providence: Now; by means of Dispersions, Imprisonments, Exile, &c. the people of God are like Arms and Legs torn out of the body, and lye bleed­ing in their separations. Yea, God Himself is pleased to make sad breaches between them, and their sweetest Relations, by Death; Under which they are many times like Rachel (not without sin) weeping for her Children, and refuse to be Comforted, because they are not; lifting up their voyces and crying; Oh! my Father Abraham, and Oh! my Son Isaac. [Page 119]O Absolon my Son, my Son Absolon, would God I had dyed for thee. I will go down to the Grave to my Son, mourn­ing, &c.

But here is Comfort; the time is coming when the Parent and Child, Husband and Wife, Friend and Friend, with the whole Family of Heaven and Earth, from all their dispersi­ons, from the uttermost part of the Earth, to the uttermost part of Heaven, shall meet together, and embrace one another; Everlasting Joy shall be upon their Heads, and sorrow and mourning shall flee away.

In a word; how may all the Saints of God (in what state or condition so ever for the present) solace themselves in the fore-contemplation of the Triumphant gathering together of the Elect of God? What a joyful Sight will it be when all the Saints and Servants of the most high God, which ever saw one anothers faces, or heard of one anothers names; yea, and all they which never saw or heard each of other: All of every Tongue, Nation, Kindred or Family of the Earth; of what Age, Sex, Generation soever, from the day wherein God made time, to the day wherein time shall be no more, shall meet together, and stand on tip-toe, ready to take their flight, to meet their Lord and Bridegroom, coming in the Clouds with his mighty Angels? Yea, what a glorious sight will it be to see all

• The glorious Company of the Apostles,
• The goodly Fellowship of the Prophets,
• The whole Army of Martyrs, with
• The holy Church throughout all the World!

A Congregation of Kings and Priests in all their Royal Robes: Yea (as I may so say) a Congregation or Constella­tion of Morning-Starrs, yea of so many Noon-day Suns, arising from the Earth, co-Ascending through the several Regions of the Air, to meet the Sun of Righteousness, now descending from his own Orb of Supream Glory and Ma­jesty in the highest Heavens, to Judg both the quick and the dead?

Surely such an Assembly, eye never saw, ear never heard of, nor can it enter into the heart of man, to conceive how immense, how august, how exceeding, it will be in glory!

While, in the mean time, the Congregation of the Repro­bate, the Malignant Church that are left below upon the Earth on the left hand, shall stand trembling, looking up­wards, and gnashing their Teeth to see this sudden and tre­mendous turn of things; the Saints whom they despised and persecuted before, thus snatched out of their cursed power and fellowship, Ascending in so much Pomp and Royalty to meet their glorious Redeemer! They themselves left behind to curse themselves, and one another, for their Prejudices, Envy, and Rage, which once they breath'd out against Gods people: and shall be filled with horror and astonishment, in the certain looking for of Judgment, and that siery Inaignation which shall devour the Adversaries; and even now already, seising upon them.

For surely, this Sight shall be the beginning of their sorrows; but, of everlasting joys and triumphs, to the followers of the Lamb, Who now comes in glory to meet them, and to receive them to himself,

In this Meeting there be three things considerable.

• 1. The Persons meeting.
• 2. The Place where they meet.
• 3. The ends of their meeting.

1. The Persons meeting, Christ and his Saints. He De­scends to meet them, and they Ascend to meet him. Such is the Love and Condescention of the Lord Jesus to his Saints, that he cometh out of his Royal Pavilion more than half way to meet them; and then sends his Charrets and Horse-men, [Page 121]a Guard of Angels to carry them up in the Clouds, and to con­duct them unto the place, where he stayeth for them. There shall they be brought into his Royal presence, and like a Royal Spouse, who hath been long separated from her Bridegroom by distance of place, they shall fall down before Him, and with Tears of joy shall wash his feet, and wipe them dry with the Kisses of their Lips: while, at the same time, Christ will take his Bride up into his Arms, and (with the Father of the Prodigal) fall upon her neck, and kiss her; and, with all the unconceivable expressions of Love and Joy, receive her to Himself, and bid her welcom into his presence. Oh! what Soul can conceive what mutual Joy and Triumph there will be between Jesus Christ and his Saints in this blessed Inter­view?

Oh how welcome will the Saints be to the Lord Jesus at that day? The Saints under a three-fold Relation. when he shall look upon them under a three-fold Re­lation! sc.

1. As the Father's Election: First. The Fathers Election. Joh 10.6. Eph: 1.18. To see the whole number of names which were given unto him by the Father, from all Eternity, as the fruit and reward of his Passion, now (at the last) all gathered together, and given into his actual possession, as an inheritance for ever.

2. To look upon them as the Purchase of his own Blood. 2. The Sons Purchase. If it was a satisfaction to the Lord Jesus, when behold he was in the throws and agonies of his Travel with them upon the Cross, to see his Seed, Isa. 53 11. when they were but in the swadling Cloaths of their imperfect Regeneration, according to their successive generations (wherein they were to be brought in­to the Church); Oh what infinite satisfaction will it now be to the Lord Jesus, to see the Travel of his Soul in their perfect and consummate estate, all the mixtures of Corruption and In­firmity now deleted, and they come to a perfect man, to the measure of the Stature of the fulness of Christ? to see them all brought in; not a Soul wanting of all those whose names he bare upon his breast, while he hung upon the Cross? that not one drop of Blood, not one Prayer, not a Sigh or Groan, or Tear, that ever he spent for them, (in the days of his Flesh) [Page 122]is lost or fruitless, as to any one Soul whom he purchased of the Father? Joh. 17.12. In the Pastoral charge of Christ, there was one Son of Perdition, but in his Mediatory charge, not one Soul shall miscarry; but all shall be presented to him safe and entire, at his appearance: And over them shall he glory, saying (as it were) All these are mine, the Travel of my Soul, the Pur­chase of my Blood, the Fruit of my Agonies; for these, I was born, and for these I was made under the Law: For these I Bled, Joh. 1 [...].24. and for these I made my self an Offering for sin: Fa­ther, I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me, where I am, that they may behold my Glory which thou hast given me: Come near unto me, my Sons, and my Daughters, that I may kiss you. Gen. 27.27. See, the smell of my Redeemed is as the smell of a field which the Lord hath blessed.

A Woman when she is in Travel, hath sorrow, because her hour is come; Joh. 16.21: but as soon as she is delivered, she remembreth no more the anguish, for joy that a man-Child is born into the World: Surely, the joy of our Lord will so much transcend the joy of all natural Mothers, by how much his agonies were more bitter, the birth more precious, and his Soul more capaci­ous of higher and purer joyes, than are to be sound in the poor narrow Creature!

3. When he shall look upon them as the charge and deposi­situm of the Holy Ghost. Whom the Father did Elect, the Son was to purchase; and whom the Son purchased, the Spi­rit was to Sanctifie: Who therefore is called the Holy-Ghost, not only because, as the third glorious Person in the blessed Trinity, he is essentially holy in himself; but because by Office he is a Fountain of Holiness to all the Elect. The Blood of Christ indeed is the Fountain of Merit; but the Spirit of Christ the Fountain of operation and efficacy; ga­thering the Elect out of the world, wherein they lay (in common with the rest of the lost Sons and Daughters of Adam,) Gal. 5.22, 23. planting their Souls with the habits of Grace, (which are therefore called the Fruits of the Spirit) and then acting, supporting, preserving, and ripening those habits into per­fection.

The Father's Election, and the Son's Purchase, are both perfected by the Sanctification of the Spirit.

The Father's Election; 2 Thes. 2.13. so the Apostle tells his Thessalo­nians, God hath from the beginning chosen you to Salvation, through Sanctification of the Spirit.

Oh how acceptable then must the Offering up of the Saints be to Jesus Christ, because thus Sanctified by the Holy-Ghost? And when Christ shall thus present his Redeemed unto Him­self a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing, but Holy, and without blemish: How will he rejoyce o­ver her, as the Bridegroom over his Bride? That day being, indeed, the Marriage of the Lamb: (of which anon.) Rev. 19.7.

Thus will the Lord Jesus, the King of glory rejoyce to meet the Saints. And surely the Saints (according to their finite capacity,) will not less rejoyce and triumph to meet their Lord. Oh! to meet him now, whom their Soul loved; whom in the days of their Pilgrimage (upon Earth) they of­ten sought and could not find; sought him in Prayer, Medita­tion, Conference, &c. but could not find him; and when they could not find him, mourned for him, lamented after him; bedewed their cheeks with Tears; asking solicitously of every one they met, Saw ye not him, whom my Soul loveth?

I say; To meet him, now on the Throne of his glory; of whom, could they have had but a glimpse in a glass darkly, in the Evangelical Ordinances, Can. 6.12. their Souls would have made them like the Chariots of Aminadab. To see him whom (having not seen) they loved: and in whom, though they (then) saw him not, yet believing, they rejoyced with joy un­speakable and full of glory! I say, now to see him, and so to see him, as to have a full sight of his unveyled face, shining more gloriously than ten thousand Suns at Noon-day! Once more, So to see him, as never to lose the sight of him to all E­ternity: How will this transport their Souls with unspeakable extasies of joy, which will cause them to break forth into Tri­umphant Hymns, yea, and to call to their now- fellow Angels, [Page 124]to help them with their Coelestial Hallelujahs?

Go forth in the mean time, Use. Oh ye Daughters of Sion, and behold King Solomon with the Crown, Cant. 3.11. wherewith his Father will Crown him in the day of his Marriage, and in the day of the gladness of his heart.

• Gird up the loyns of your minds, 1 Pet. 1.13. be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is brought to you at the Revelation of Jesus Christ, Ch. 4.13. that when his glory shall be revealed, you may be glad with exceeding joy.
• Thus I have done with the first thing considerable in this meeting; The Persons meeting, Christ and the Saints.
• I come to the second; The place of meeting, and that is, In the Air.

We shall be caught up to meet the Lord in the Air; That is the place where Christ stays for his Saints: There, they meet him; and there, this great Oecumenical Assize will be held. The Judge shall sit upon the Throne, and all the Saints shall be placed on bright Clouds, as on seats or Scaffolds round about him; The Wicked remaining (below) upon the Earth, there to receive their final doom and sentence; and from thence to be drag'd away, by the Executioners of divine Vengeance, Infernal Spirits; to the place of Execution (the bottomless-Pit,) yet standing; and (to the greater aggravation of their horror) looking on.

If it be demanded;

Qu. Why this Solemn Meeting must be in the Air.

Answ. It may suffice for answer, The Lord Jesus hath made choyce of this place.

It is the priviledg of earthly Judges in their Circuits, to appoint the place where they will keep their Assizes or Sessions, wherein if stat pro ratione volunt as, their will is a sufficient rea­son; surely, it is not less the prerogative of this great Judg of the quick and the dead, to appoint the place where he will [Page 125]hold this last and tremendous Judgment. And we may well acquiesce in the choyce, not only because his will is the sove­raign Law of the Creature, but as his insinite Wisdome hath judged it the place most convenient for the designe.

And yet (if it be lawful to make our Conjectures, where Scripture is silent) we may humbly suppose this two-fold Account of it.

• 1. The Capacity of the Place.
• 2. The Conspicuity of the Judgment.

1. The Capacity of the Place; Vast, For the Capa­city of the Place? and (as to us) insinite will be the numberless numbers of those that do meet in this universal Assembly. Behold, the Lord will come with ten thousands of his Saints; Jude 14. Yea thousand thousands minister un­to him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stand before him; All the Saints that slept in Jesus from the Creation of man, and all the Saints which are found alive upon the Earth at Christs Coming, must all appear before the Lord Josus. And be­sides these, the Judge cometh with his Royal Satellites, his Officers of State, Myriads and Legions of Angels;—All his holy Angels, Math. 25.31. There shall not be an Angel (as it were) left in Heaven as it were. Jacob met two Hosts or Camps of Angels of God, in his Travel, Gen. 32.12. Our Saviour mentions more then 12 Legions, which as a com­manded party, Math. 26 53. would have been (in an instant) sent out for his rescue, (if there had been need). What an infinit Army of Angels must it needs be then, when all the Angels come in Christ's Train? An innumerable company of Angels? Heb. 12.22. And all these must not appear in confused heaps and multitudes, but in their distinct ranks and order; and the Saints are to sit in Order, in their several degrees round about the Throne.

Why now, the Place had need be of an huge extent and cir­cumference, that will suffice to receive and contain such va­riety of multitudes: So that even in this respect, no place so fit for this August and solemn Convention, as the Air; for its vast extensiveness and capacity. But

Secondly: Much more in respect of Conspicuity, that so, the Judg and Judgment, with all the Assessors and Atten­dants, might be more eminently visible from Heaven above, to the Earth beneath, that the whole process of this general Assize may be heard and seen by all, good and bad; Elect and Reprobate; Heaven and Hell. Heaven would be too high, the Earth would be too low; the smoke of the bottomless pit would obscure this glorious vision: The Air, (where is no interposition of Hills and Mountains,) and now, serened and brightned by the confluence of so many glorious Suns, will render this last tremendous Transaction, visible and audible to every Creature. Behold, he cometh with Clouds! Clouds, which will not obscure him, but bright Clouds, which, filled with the beams of his glory, shall render him most visible and con­spicuous: Math. 24.30. Rev. 1.7. So it is Prophesied, Every eye shall see him, &c. Thus it shall be, and this will make for the exceeding Glory and Majesty of the Judg,

For thus it is (even) in humane Judicatories upon Earth, the Tribunal of the Judg, and Bench of Assessors, is erected in open Court, and lifted up on high in the sight of all the peo­ple, that all may see and hear the whole judicial procedure of the Law, with the posse Comitatus attending in Arms for the greater solemnity and honour of the Judge. Upon the same accompt hath our Lord made choyce of the Air to keep his great Arsize in, there to erect his Royal Throne, and to place seats of Judgment for all the Saints to sit upon, round a­bout him; all the holy Armies of Angels surrounding them. This will make Christ very glorious in the eyes of all the Spectators. Hence it is said, He shall come in the glory of his Father, and his own glory. The Father sends the Son about this great Work of the last Judgment, with as much pomp and glory as can be put upon him, for the recompencing of the ignominy and abasement of his first coming in the flesh.

I come now to the ends of this Meeting; And the ends why the Saints ascend to meet Christ in the Air, we may conceive to be such as these: [Page 127]

• 1. Their publick Reception and owning by Christ.
• 2. Their full and perfect Justification.
• 3. The Consummation of their unptial Contract.
• 4. Their Consession, or Sitting together with Christ in the Judgment.
• 5. Their compleat and sinal Benediction, or blessed Sen­tence.
• 6. Their solemn and triumphant Attondance on the Judg, going to take possession of the Kingdom.
• These (or the like) ends of the Saints meeting with the Lord in the Air, are not obscurely hinted to us in Scripture.

The first is, Their publick reception and owning by Christ, (come, now, to judge the world). The Elect Angels having gathered together the Elect Saints (according to the Com­mission upon which they were sent forth, Go ye and gather my Saints together unto me; those that have made a Covenant with me by Sacrifice) and having carried them up into the Air, where the Judge stayeth for them (for he will do nothing until they come): I say, their Angels shall now present them before Him, in the rich and glorious attire of their (now) perfected Resurrection; wherein, their (once) vile bodies, are now made like to Christ his glorious body. With gladness and rejoycing shall they be brought into the King's presence: and the first publick Act which the King shall do, is, solemnly to receive them, Come ye blessed of my Father, and embraceing them in his armes, and kissing them (as it were, as Joseph once did his Brethren) in the open view of Heaven and Earth, he will solemnly own them, and acknowledg them; and that

First, in their Persons and Relation unto himself.

A Prerogative long-before promised, Mal. 3.17. Christ will own the Saints. 1. In their persons. They shall be mine when I make up my Jewels. That is the very work which Christ is now come about; to make up his Jewels (to lay them up in their Heavenly Cabinet.) And the first word he will speak, is, These are mine (he appropriates them for his own) they be mine, my Jewels, my Gems, my S [...]gullah. precious Trea­sure. [Page 128]As the Saints have not been ashamed of Christ before men; so neither will Christ now be ashamed of them before his Father, Luk 9 Heb. 1.11. 2 In their Re­lations. and all his mighty Angels: he will not be ashamed to call them Brethren; yea, he will appropriate them as his Children; a Seed given him of his Father, as the great reward of is Passion; saying, These be the Children which God hath given me; Ver. 13. my Sons and my Daughters, who have served me: thus he owns them in their Relations.

Secondly: 3. In their Du [...]ies and attendance He will own and acknowledg all the holy duties, publick and private, which they have done in obedience to his Commands; their hearing, praying, fasting, and afflicting their Souls for their own sins, and for other mens sins; their fearing of God, and laying to heart the reproaches of Religi­on, and Blasphemies, cast upon his Name; their mutual holy conferences, Mal. 3.16. one with another, &c. All these were written in a book of Remembrance of old, and laid up before him, that they might never be forgotten; and now the Book shall be brought forth, and read in the Audience of the world, for their grea­ter honour, even the very secret duties which they have per­formed in their Closets, when no eye saw them but God's; even they shall be proclaimed in the Audience of this Univer­sal Assembly at the last day; Mat 6.6. Thy Father which saw in secret, will now reward thee openly, not a prayer, but it was filed up; not a sigh, Psal. 56.8. nor groan, but it is booked; not a tear, but is botled; not an holy ejaculation, but was upon Record, and shall be now publickly produced and acknowledged: I know your Works and your Labour, and your Charity, and your Ser­vice, Rev. 2.19. and your last Works to be more then the first, &c.

Thirdly: 4. In their fi­delity and perseverance. Rev. 2 13. Jesus Christ at that day will own the fidelity of his Saints, their constancy and perseverance in their holy Pro­fession, and confess them before all the world: I know your Works, and where you have dwelt, even where Satan's seat was, and you have held fast my Name, Chap. 2.10. and have not denied my Faith, even in those days wherein Antipas, (Cranmer, Ridley, Lati­mer, &c.) were my faithful Martyrs; who were slain among you where Satan dwelleth; behold! to you who have been faith­ful to the death, do I now give a Crown of Life? To you who [Page 129]have overcome, do I grant to sit with me in my Throne, Chap. 3.21. as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his Throne. 5 In their suf­ferings.

Fourthly: He will own and acknowledg the Saints, in their sufferings for his sake. All the reproaches, hard speeches, L [...]quntur la­pides. incivilities, abuses, scandals, persecutions, which ever they sustained in their names, persons, lively-hoods, and lives, up­on Christ's and the Gospels account, he will acknowledg; and bespeak them in some such language as this, Isa. 66.7. Your Brethren which hated you, that cast you out for my names sake, said, So mocking God, and de­riding the Godly for their confi­dence in God. Luk. 22.28, 29, 30. 6. In all the Offices of love done to him or his. Let the Lord be glorified: but, now I appear to your joy, and they shall be ashamed: Or, as he once encourag­ed his Disciples in the days of his flesh; You are they which have continued with me in my temptations, and behold, I appoint unto you a Kingdome, as my Father hath appointed unto me; that you may eat and drink at my Table, in my Kingdome, &c.

Fifthly and lastly: The Lord Jesus will own all the Ser­vices and Offices of Love, done to Himself, or to any of his Members; Cloathing, Feeding, Visiting them when Sick, coming to them when in Prison; He will acknowledge all be­fore Heaven and Earth: yea, what they themselves have for­gotten, never thought-worthy of their own notice, much less of Christ's notice; Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee; or thirsty, and gave thee drink, &c? Observe (by the way) the difference between Saints and Shadows! Hypocrites can boast of what they never (truly) did, they can own what God will disown! We have fasted, say they; nay, saith God, In the day of your fast, ye find pleasure! ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness, &c. We have, say they, afflicted our Soul; no such thing, saith God; Ye have bowed down the head like a bul-rush for a day; ye have spread Sack-cloath and Ashes under you: Is this a Fast? will you call this, Soul-afflicting? if you will, I will not. I but now, on the contrary, as to true, real Saints, God owneth what themselves dare not own; but though they have forgotten, God is not unrighteous to forget their work and labour of love, which they have shewed towards his Name, Math. 2 [...].7. in ministring to the Saints; but all shall be remembred, even from the Alabaster­box [Page 130]of costly Spikenard, to the Cup of cold water given in the name of a Disciple; and proclaimed in the Audience of that general Assembly; Math: 25 40. For as much as you have done it to one of these little ones, ye have done it unto me; yea, those very acts of Charity, which have been done so secretly, that the left hand did not know what the right hand did, Math. 6.3. shall be now published upon the house-top (the great house of Heaven and Earth); they were not so closely done, but they shall as openly be rewarded; the book of God's remembrance shall be brought forth and opened, and publickly read, that all the good which any of the Saints of God ever did, may be men­tioned to their everlasting praise; and that with a double cir­cumstance of signal honour.

First, A twofold ad­vantage of the Recital made of the Saints Graces. That, in that large Recital which shall then be read, of the Saints lives, there is not the least mention made of sin; they had (sure enough) the remainders of their original cor­ruption, (surviving their conversion) defiling & molesting their most holy Services, which were as so many scourges in their sides, and Thorns in their eyes, uncessantly tempting them, and exposing them to temptation; forcing from them sad laments and out-cryes; Rom. 7.24. O Wretch that I am, who shall deliver me? They had (and not rarely) their actual Surprises and Seductions, their Lapses and Relapses, which brought them upon their knees with holy Job's Confession, Job. 7.20. I have sinned, what shall I do unto thee, O thou Preserver of men? but none of these things come up into remembrance against them in that day. As, here below, God saw no Iniquity in Jacob, nor perversness in Israel, to impute it to them: so, in their appea­rance before the Judge; God remembreth no iniquity against the Saints, to charge it upon them, or to reproach them with it. In the petty Sessions which Christ held with some of his Saints and Churches (here on Earth), amongst their Com­mendations, there were some Exceptions; and some faulti­nesses were charged upon them, an [Howbeit,] 2 Chron. 22.33. a [Nevertheless] Ch. 33.17. as abatements of their excellencies. Nevertheless, I have a few things against thee, Rev. 2. So in the Process against the Church of Ephesus, [Page 131]verse 4. Nevertheless; a But against Pergamos, verse 14. Against Thyatira, v. 20. a Notwithstanding, &c. But now in the judicial Process of this last and Ʋniversal Assizes, there is not found in all those voluminous Records (which shall be opened,) so much as one unsavoury But to blemish the fair Characters of the Saints: as if (even before they got into Heaven) they had obtained that priviledg, to be, just men made perfect! This is very wonderful.

Had Reprobate men and Angels had the drawing up of the Report of the Saints lives, Heb. 12.23. See the rea­son of it page, 134. sub fine what a black Bill of Inditement would they have preferred against them? to be sure, all the evil which they ever did in their whole lives, with all their blackest aggravations, should have been raked up, and pro­duced against them. Yea, if the Saints themselves had been trusted with giving in the story of their own lives, they would not have dealt much more kindly by themselves, than the Seed of the Serpent would have done; to be sure, if there were any thing worse than other, they would not have concealed it; vilifying the good, and aggravating the bad, (as somtimes they were wont to do in their desertions, even beyond truth and justice,) as if Satan had hired them to bely themselves: I but now the Righteous Judg of Heaven and Earth, He is far from dealing so with them: but, as if he himself had never known any evil by them; he brings in Omnia bene in his presentment, all fair and well, and so it is proclaimed in that High Court of Justice.

This is no small Encouragement for the poor self-accusing Saints of God! Use. Rev. 12.10. Although the accuser of the Brethren and his seed do not cease to accuse them before God, day and night; yea, and doth often (taking advantage of their natural distem­pers) even to force them to accuse themselves (not much more Righteously then He himself doth) yet will not the Righteous Judg accuse them.

But is it not Prophesied of the day of Judgment, Object. Eccles. 12.14. that God shall bring every work into judgment, whether it be good, or whether it be evil? How then is there no mention made of their sins?

That Scripture is to be understood Respective; Sol. sc. with a just respect to the two great parties which are to be judged, good and bad; godly and ungodly; that is to say, All the good of the good shall be brought into the judgment of mercy; and all the evil of the wicked, into the judgment of Condemnation; the godliness of the godly, that it may be gratiously rewarded, and the wickedness of the wicked, that it may be righteously punished:

Here, Caution. I say, is encouragement for the Saints, howbeit not to sin; such a vile Conclusion would ill become such Premisses; and were sufficient evidence to un-Saint any person, that should (deliberately) make such Inferences, as being a Logick taught in the Devils School, not in Christ's; and exploded by all real Saints, with the greatest abhorrency, Ab sit! God forbid, Rom. 6.1. Comfort, then, here is for the Saints, but such as will make them more Saints, 1 Jo. 3.3. Every one that hath this hope in him, purifieth himself even as he is pure.

But Secondly; Secondly; The Crown of praise is put on the Saints Head. Another Circumstance of honour in Christ's acknowledgment of the Graces in, and Duties performed by, his Saints, is, that although their Graces were nothing else but so many drops of Christ his own fulness, [Grace for Grace] and their duties so many operations of his own Spirit in them; [...]. Joh. 1.16. (nothing their's but the very act of Believing, and the act of Repentance, and the act of Love to Christ, and the act of Prayer, & sic in caeteris); yet Christ is pleased to ascribe all the Praise, and all the Glory, both of their Graces and Duties, unto the Saints (assuming nothing to himself, to whom the whol was wholly due) as if not only the act it self, but the principle also, from whence they acted, had been their own; This is truly wonderful! here is the bredth and length, depth and height of the Love of Christ, Eph. 3.18, 19. which passeth knowledg. Christ then, will indeed, be glorified in his Saints, and admi­red in all that believe: 2 Thes. 1.10. Oh, how will such an Acknowledgment as this, made by the Judg himself, fill the Elect Angels with Admiration; and the Reprobate with Envy, that not the least guilt should be charged upon them, by whom they themselves knew so much, having been so many eye-witnesses, (as I may [Page 133]say) the one, to their grief, as Tutors; the other to their joy, as Tempters! Yea how will it fill the Saints themselves with amazement, while they are secretly accusing themselves (with Josephs Brethren) we are utterly guilty concerning our Brother (our Lord and elder Brother,) I say, to hear the Lord himself not charging them with the least unkindness; yea representing them before God, men and Angels, even (as it were) as immaculate as the Angels themselves, who kept their first Estate; yea in all this, putting the Crown upon their head, Rev. 4 10. which they cast down at his feet, saying, Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy Name, give the Glory. Behold such honour have all the Saints?

And oh, Use of Cons [...] ­lation. How will this infinitely compensate all the re­proaches and scandals, which a generation of malignant Cainites did cast upon the Saints of God (while they sojourn­ed with them in Mesech, & had their habitation in the Tents of Kedar) speaking all manner of evil against them, [...] malam Verbum, Gr. (lying false­ly) for Christ's sake? How will it cut them to the very heart, to hear the Judg himself speak so honourably of those very persons whom they reviled with so much pride and contempt! Mich. 7.10. shame shall now cover them which said, Where is the Lord your God? Their eyes shall behold them, and now they shall be troden down as the mire in the streets! Math. 5.12. [...]. Let them re­joyce and skip for joy. Oh let the Saints (even here) rejoyce and be exceeding glad; because, for their repreach they shall have praise; and for their shame, they shall have double (sc. renown and glory) and for their confusion, they shall rejoyce and triumph in the approbation of their Judg and Redeemer, &c. yet behold, all this is but the beginning of their Triumph!

I come now to a second end of the Saints meeting with Christ in the Air, Second end. The Saints publick justi­fication, con­sisting— and that is their

Full and final Justification;

And this consists of two parts

• 1. Their publick Absolution.
• 2. The Judg's Pronouncing of them to be Righteous.

First: Their publick Absolution. Pardon of Sin is the privative part of Justification; Imputation of Righteousness, [Page 134]is the positive part. Pardon or Remission is the Sinner's Justifi­cation, sc. from sin, both from the guilt of sin, and from the sentence or punishment due to sin. By him (sc. by Christ) all that believe are justified from all things, Acts. 13 39. from which they can­not be justified by the Law of Moses. This now must be one branch of the solemn justification of the Saints at their meet­ing with the Lord Jesus in the Air; as a Judg, he shall fully and finally, in open Court, Absolve the Saints from all their sins, both guilt and punishment, from which there was no Ab­solution ever to be expected by the Covenant of works. This truly was done before, initially, at their first Conversion; then were their sins truly and perfectly pardoned, though not (as some too presumptuously affirm) all past, present, and to come, Rom. 3.25. (for sin to be pardoned before committed, is somwhat an uncouth doctrine) yet all 1. As to sins already past: 2. All as to the state of Remission; Jus ad rem, though not jus in re an ap­titudi [...]al right, though not an actual. 1 Jo. 1.9. Ch. 2.1. Rom. 8.16. they had a perfect right to the pardon of all their sins past, present, and to come, though not an equal investiture; Pardon was theirs, and Absolution theirs, though it was to be applied to them from time to time, upon new acts of Repentance in them; and new acts of Intercession in the Mediator; and so likewise, by new acts of Application by the Spirit: thus the Saints were truly pardon­ed at the first moment of their Regeneration, or new Birth, And

Secondly; Fully and perfectly their sins were forgiven at the moment of their dissolution; at death, I say, not only their right and state of Absolution was perfected, but all their sins were so fully and finally forgiven them, that at the moment of their Souls going out from the body, there was not one sin, Omissive or Commissive, nor any Aggravation or least Cir­cumstance, left standing in the book of God's Remembrance.

And this is the true Reason, 1 Jo. 1.7. The reason why the Judg makes no mention of the Saints sins why there is not (as I told you even now) the least mention made of sin, in their tryal at Christ's Tribunal, because they were all pardoned fully and finally at the hour of their death; all scores were then crossed; so that now when the books are opened and perused, there is not a sin to be found, but all blotted out, and all Reckonings [Page 135] made even in the blood of Christ: There was a punishment in­deed due to sin, but that was forgiven, or taken off, Psal. 32.1. Ashre nesu [...] p [...]shing, nesui from nasa, Hebr. eleva [...]e. Num 23.24. Ch [...]sui from Chasah [...]g [...]re. Lo Ja [...]ha sh [...]b Iehovah is gnavon. (as the word signifieth blessednesses to the man, whose transgression is forgiven; i.e. the punishment of whose transgression is taken off.) There was a stain or pollution in sin, but that is covered, covered so close, that it cannot be seen, no not by God's all-seeing eye; he hath not seen iniquity in Jacob, &c. Likewise, there was a guilt in sin, but that is not imputed; and that's the meaning of the former passage, he hath not seen iniquity in Ja­cob, i. e. not seen so as to impute it. I say, there was sin e­nough, and enough, for which God might have sentenced all the Jacobs in the world to Condemnation; and have cast all the Israels that ever were, into the bottomless pit; but it is gone, it is forgiven; pardon makes such a clear riddance of sin, that it is as if it had never been; Isa. 1 18. the scarlet Sinner is as white as snow; snow newly fallen from the skie, which was never fullied: the Crimson Sinner is as wool, wool which never re­ceived the least tincture in the dye-fat: Here is (I say,) Ier. 50.20. the reason why, when the iniquity of Israel is sought for, there is none; and the sins of Judah, and they are not to be found, Ier. 31.34. for I will pardon them, &c. Yea, not forgiven only, but forgotten; and should they now be remembred? The Judg had long since cast their sins behind his back; and he will not now (surely) set them before his face; Ier. 38.17. he had cast them into the depths of the Seas (bottomless depths of everlasting Oblivion) that they might be buoyed up no more for ever: yea, the Lord Jesus nailed all their sins to his Cross, Colos. 2.14. Rom. 4.15. and buried them all in his Grave, yea, and crossed the debt-book with the red lines of his own blood. If now he should call them to remem­brance, to charge the Saints with their sins; he should undo what he had done; he should cross the great design of his Cross, Rom. 4.25: (upon the matter) deny himself to be risen again from the dead, and disown his own hand and seal! Upon this foun­dation stands the absolute impossibility that sin, the least sin, the least circumstance of sin, should be so much as once men­tioned by the Judg, in the process of that judicial tryal, un­less it be in a way of Absolution, and so sin shall be mention­ed [Page 136]indeed, The Saints Absolved of Sin in the day of Iudgment, in what sence? 1 In their own Consci­ence. but in order to the magnifying of their Pardon and Absolution. Their sins may then be said to be blotted out in a two-fold respect.

First: Because the Saints shall then be fully and finally Ab­solved in their own Consciences: It is true, there be some of the Saints even in this life, to whose Consciences the Spirit of God doth evidence and seal up Remission of sin; who are not only safe but sure; and possess not only the blessedness of a pardoned estate, but the comfort and assurance of that blessed­ness: 1 nevertheless, 1. Not all the Saints; 2. Nor any, at all times; 3. Nor alwaies in the same degree: as they have their lucida intervalla, so they have also (and more frequently) their dark times, their Eclipses as well as their Transfigura­tions; and no wonder, since the Sun of Righteousness him­self suffered an Eclipse upon the Cross so dreadful, as forced the great Master of Astrology in Egypt to cry out, Either the God of Nature suffers, Aut D [...]us natu­rae patitur, aut mit di machina d [...]ssolvitu [...]. or the whol frame of nature is dissolved: and caused the Lord Jesus Himself (to the just astonishment of Heaven and Earth to cry out) My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Is it any wonder then, if many of the poor Saints of God with Paul and his Ship-wrack't Company, see neither Sun-light nor Star-light for many days together; and no small tempest doth often lye upon them, Act. 27.20. so that all hope of being saved is taken away? yea, not a few precious deserted He­mans are there, Psal. 38.15. who from their youth up are afflicted and ready to dye, and while they suffer the terrors of God, are (even) distracted? yea, and (that which is more tremendous) their Sun (as to any observation which Standers by could make, (though very rarely) hath set in a Cloud.

I but now, at this blessed day, the Judg of the Quick and the Dead, shall Absolve the Saints of God, not only at the Tri­bunal of his own Justice, but at the Tribunal of their Consci­ence; He will proclame that Name in their Bosoms, which he Proclamed before Moses, The Lord, the Lord God, mer­ciful and gracious, long-suffering, abundant in Goodness and Truth; pardoning Iniquity, Transgression, and Sin, &c. And He will speak so audibly, that every Saint shall hear the [Page 137]voyce; and so particularly, that every one shall know he speaketh to him; and shall all eccho back again with joy and joynt acclamation, Who is a God like unto thee; Micah. 7.18. pardoning Ini­quity, &c? Nor shall any reflexion, either upon sin or sor­row, ever damp that joy any more: Though the Saints can­not plead Not-guilty in regard of fact, yet they shall be acquit by the Sentence of Christ, Not, that they never sinned; but that they are before the Judg as if they had never sinned; Not in His Account only, but even in their own Consci­ences; and that will fully and finally resolve the Question, which all the Ministers in the world (while they lived on Earth) could never resolve, with all the Absolutions which e­ver they applied to their doubting Souls; though it were even Clave non errante, from the testimony of the Word; This Proclamation shall do it, and leave no room for doubting or misgiving thoughts, for ever.

Secondly, 2ly. The Saints absolved in o­pen Court. The Saints are then said to receive their full and final Absolution; because then their Absolution shall be Pro­claimed in open Court; the Judg in Person, shall pronounce their Absolution in the Audience of God, and all the Elect Angels, and of the whole world of Men and Devils; what Christ in the days of his flesh said to one poor trembling Penitent, he will now say to all, Sons and Daughters, be of good cheer, your sins are forgiven you; This will be good Cheer indeed; These, be the times of refreshment from the presence of the Lord, when the sins of the Saints shall be blotted out; Acts 13.19. blotted they were before out of God's book; but now they shall be blot­ted out in the sight of all the world; so that now indeed, Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods Elect? since Hea­ven and Earth, yea, and Hell it self must be witnesses to the Crossing of the book, and to the Cancelling of the Bond; wherein they stood obliged to Divine Justice! Oh what in­expressible, inconceivable refreshment will this be to the Saints of God? even the perfecting of all their former re­freshments? The sense of their pardon pronounced by the Spirit, to some of their Consciences within, was wont to be exceeding sweet; yea any Scriptural hopes of purdoning mer­cy, [Page 138]though apprehended by a weak and trembling hand of Faith, were a reviving to their drooping Spirits; What must needs then the highest plerophory, ratified by the most solemn Proclamation of the great Judg, (before the upper and neather world, as well as to Conscience,) be, but life from the dead? Surely it will be even Heaven, before the Saints come to Heaven! Nor shall any reflection either upon sin or sorrow, ever damp that joy any more; nor shall Willow-boughs mix with the Palms of the Saints Triumph in that blessed Jubile; but everlasting joy shall be upon their Heads, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

This may seem superfluous, as supposed to be included in the sentence of Absolution: Not to be a Sinner, seemeth to imply a Saint; To be pardoned all sin, and all the degrees of sin, and all kinds of sin, omissive as well as commissive; all de­fects of perfection, all want of conformity to, as well as trans­gression of the Law of God, this seemeth to be perfection.

Answ. It doth seem so, and (truly) it doth but seem so; for Pardon relates to what is past only; Rom. 3.25. Remission of sins that are past; it is but privativum quid, a freedom from Guilt, and a freedom from Punishment; it doth not suppose any real and positive Righteousness, which may set a man rectus in curiâ, perfect before the Tribunal of Gods Justice.

Obj. If it be objected; There is not a third State, or a third Person, viz. one that is not Guilty, and yet not Righte­ous; a man must be one of these, either Guilty or Righteous; if he be not Guilty, he is Righteous; if Righteous, he is not Guilty?

Answ. The objection admits of a fair and easie solution, namely this; The Law is satisfied by suffering the Penalty in mens pre­cepts, but not in God's; wherein not only Penal­ties are threatned, but Blessings are promised. Down de Justif. It holds true in matters of criminal Justice, where a person is tried upon Indictment of a Crime, suppose Theft, or Murder, or Sacrilege, or the like; there, upon Examination, to be found Not Guilty, is to be Righteous, [Page 139]Legally Righteous; there being no other Righteousness looked after in that Tryal, but, Whether Guil [...]y of the Fact, or not Guilty: But in matters of remunerative justice, where the Law propounds a reward to such and such qualifications, there a not-Guilty will not suffice. Ex. gr. If a Scholar in the University be a Candidate for an office there, or a Fellow­ship in a Colledg, where the Statutes do require such and such qualifications there: upon Examination, to be found not-Guilty of Murther, of Sacriledg, or any other Crime; this will not capacitate the Candidate for the preferment; this is the case in hand, The Saints are now Candidates for Heaven and Glory, Absolution or Pardon is not sufficient to capacitate them for this glory; yea though it be supposed the pardon be extensive to all (not the transgressions only of the Law, but) the very omissions & defects too, yea to the least non-conformi­ty, unto the Law in its utmost perfection, it sufficeth not; because a pardon is not the qualification which the Law re­quireth; but a positive perfection, Fac hoc, &c. Do this, and Live.

Whether God, by absolute Prerogative, cannot dispence with this qualification, and pardon the want of it, I will not dispute; but, Whether God can in Justice dispence with his own Law, and with that Condition of Righteousness and Life established in the first Covenant, is the main Enquiry, (of which anon.)

It is true, there is not a third State, a State which is neither a state of Guilt, nor a state of Righteousness; neither is there a third person: there is not a person to be found which is neither Guilty nor Righteous; but though there be not a third State, or a third Person, yet there is tertius Conceptus, a third Conception or notion in the understanding; though there be not a person which is neither Guilty nor Righteous, yet to be not-Guilty, They differ as to the praedi­cate, though they be not separate as to the subject. and to be Righteous are two different capacities, considerable in one and the same person; it is one thing for a man to be considered meerly as not Guilty (or purely as an absolved person,) another thing to be considered, as a Righteous person, invested with all those excellent qualifi­cations, [Page 140]which may capacitate him for the priviledg annexed to the condition.

Ex. gr. As it is between Sin & Holiness; He that is not sinful, is holy; there is not a person to be found who is not sinful, and yet not holy: the notions are different, though the subject be one and the same:

So it is between not-Guilty and Righteous; there is not a person, who is neither, not-Guilty, and yet not-Righteous; for although the considerations be unseparable, yet they are not identical: Not-Guilty is not the same notion with Righ­teous; that is purely privative, this positive: though they are ever Ʋnited, yet they are not to be Confounded.

Again, as in point of Eternal punishment; He that is punished with the pain of Loss, Paena damni. Paena sensus is punished also with the pain of Sense; yet is not the pain of Loss, the same with the pain of Sense: He that is deprived of Gods presence, and the joys of Heaven, doth suffer the torments of Hell with the Devil and his Angels for ever; the punishments are distinct, though they be inseparable: So it is between the two capaci­ties, relating to these two places, Hell and Heaven.

The Person under the notion of not-Guilty, is an absolved person, and acquitted from Hell and eternal damnation: And, as under the notion of Righteous, he is capacitated for Heaven and life everlasting: Not-Guilty relates to freedome from Hell: Righteousness, relateth to Heaven, as the proper qualification thereof: Do this and Live; though, where the one is, there is the other, yet the one is not formally the o­ther.

And according to these two capacities and places, there are two great Works, which the Redeemer did undertake for the Redeemed: The one to make satisfaction for sin to divine justice by his Blood, i. e. by his Death.

The other to yield most absolute Conformity to the Law of God, both in Nature and Life.

By the one, we may conceive the Redeemed freed from Hell and everlasting burnings; by the other, we may con­ceive them qualified for Heaven and everlasting Glory.

Yet, not so precisely, neither the one or the other, but that both may be produced by both: Active and Passive obedi­ence may have a joynt influence upon both; his Active to save from Hell; and his Passive to bring to Heaven: As a man that payeth a debt, and purchaseth an Inheritance, either of them to the value of five hundred pounds (at the same time) with a Jewel worth a thousand, one half whereof relates to the debt, the other to the Purchase; yet so, as it is hard to distinguish which is done by which; there is a distinct consi­deration in it, yet so, as that both concurr to both: so in the case in hand. As the Active and Passive obedience in Christ, suppose not two Redeemers, but one and the same Person under both these distinct engagements; so Absolution, and positive real Righteousness infer not a distinction of persons, but diver­sity only of considerations in one and the same person.

But further; That a positive Righteousness is requisite to the justification of a Sinner, as well as Absolution from guilt and punishment, may appear upon a four-fold account, viz.

Of

• 1. The Justice of God.
• 2. The Perfection of the Law.
• 3. The Necessity of the Sinner.
• 4. The Excellency of the Redeemer.

First, the Justice of God: 1. Accompt. The justice of God. this is for the glory of Gods Justice, to justifie man in such a way, as wherein he may also justifie himself: This the holy Apostle counts highly worthy our best observation; That he might be just, Rom. 3.26. and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus: God would shew himself a Righteous God in justifying of Ʋnrighteous men: and this he declareth in both the parts of Justification.

Sc.

• Pardon.
• Accounting Righteous.

First: In Pardon, God shews himself just. 2 He declareth his Righteousness for the Remission of Sins, that are past. Re­mission [Page 142]looks backward, Righteousness forward; Pardon re­lateth to a state past already, Righteousness to a state future, the State of a Sinner for the time to come. Now in both these, God's design is to declare himself a just God: in Remission he declareth himself a just God: by pardoning upon the accompt of satisfaction (by the justice of God we are to understand the infinite severity of God in punishing sin in a way agree­able to the nature of his justice) and this God eminently de­clareth, Pardoning Sin in God, is not an Act of mercy only, but of Justice. as in the Eternal Damnation of the Reprobates in their own persons; so even in pardoning the sins of the Elect, while he doth not pardon them, Justitia nemine intelligatur summa illa Dei in vindicandis peccaris s [...] veri­tas justissimae ipsius na urae co [...]veniens. Bez. in loc. but upon the accompt of a valuable consideration, namely (as in the beginning of the verse) of that propitiation, or propitiatory Sacrifice, which Christ hath made to divine justice by his Blood, apprehended by Faith. Whether God could not have pardoned sin by absolute Pre­rogative, is an enquiry of an extrinsick consideration to this place; since the Text informs us, God was resolved to Con­sult his own Honour, as well as the Creatures Happiness, in this great Act of jurisdiction, [...]. Placam [...]ntum. Beza. namely, Pardoning of Sin: and purposed in Himself (as highest reason requireth) to pitty Sinners so far as He might not be Cruel to Himself, and to shew Mercy to them, in such a way, as he might not wrong his own glorious Attributes, and cast no blemish upon his Law and Government.

Should God indeed, without any further Consideration, have meerly Pardoned, it might have had the shadow of a Re­flection, sc.

• 1. Upon his Wisdom; as if he had made a Law, either so Strict as could not have been kept, or so inconsi­derable, that, being broken, it was not worth the Vindication; Or
• 2. Upon his All-sufficiency; as if he wanted Power to have Chastised the breach of his Holy and Just, and Good Law, with Condign punishment; Or
• 3. Above all, His Veracity and Justice; who having presentenced the breach of his Law with Death, [Page 143](Death surely, answerable to the nature of his Righteous and Eternal Law), The Law being now notoriously Violated; He should account it a a matter of indifferency, whether He executed the threatned Sentence, yea or no, &c.

Oh how had this been to have prostituted the honour of His Government, to be trampled under foot by bold and presumptuous Sinners?

Nay, but God Pardoning Sin, upon no inferiour accompt, than the Propitiatory Sacrifice, which his own Blessed Son, made to Divine Justice, by his Death; hath born Wit­ness to his High and Glorious Attributes, Wisdom, Power, and Justice, &c.

And hath left such a dreadful Monument of severity in the world, as may for ever affright lapsed Sinners from daring God, and destroying themselves. Thus God is just in not putting up the wrong done to his most glorious Attributes by Sin; without either the death of the Sinner, according to the Letter; or the death of the Surety, according to the Equity of the Threatning.

2dly. As God declareth himself a just God by pardoning upon the accompt of satisfaction; so he declares his Justice also in accompting the Sinner Righteous upon the considera­tion of a positive Righteousness. For the better clearing of which point, I shall briefly speak of the second accompt, viz.

Secondly; The perfection of the Law: And for better un­derstanding of this, I shall lay down these following propo­sitions.

1. Prop. The first is this; The Law which at first God wrote in mans heart, and afterward in two Tables of Stone, was a Law of a most holy, and absolute perfection. It must needs be so; for if God in his own nature, and ends be most Holy; his Law also must be so too, it being the very Image of Gods Nature, and Will: So that the Law was a perfect mirrour, wherein the perfections of the Divine Nature were made visible and conspicuous.

[Page 144]2. Prop. This most perfect Law was given by God for two great Ends, sc.

• 1. To be a rule, and pattern of Eternal Life, and happiness.
• 2. To be a condition of Eternal Life, and happi­ness.

‘ Do this, and Live; It was not only a Command, but a Covenant, with a promise of Eternal happiness, up­on perfect and perpetual obedience.’

3. Prop. These two ends being of perpetual necessity, the Law it self must needs be so too, such an excellent piece of beauty and perfection God never made for an Almanack, to continue but for a year, yea, a day rather, or moment of mans Integrity. It is hard to conceive that God should intend to null this Law; (this had been for God to have let go his hold of man) and to set up another in the room of it, considering the end he aimed at; as soon as he had made it

• A Law of an higher perfection,
  Hoe solum om­nipotenter non potuit.
  God could not make, and
• A Law of an inferiour perfection would not serve the turn, either Gods's or man's.

4. Prop. Although God permitted man to lose the perfection of his nature, he never did intend to lose or dispence with the perfection of his own Law. Heaven & Earth may pass away; but one jot, or tittle of the Law must not pass away: The Righteousness of God's Law, like that of his Nature, is im­mutable and everlasting.

Man being fallen, and so, (by the abuse of his own free will) having rendred himself altogether unable to fulfil this holy and perfect Law, God sent his only begotten Son into the world, not to introduce another Law, or another Righte­ousness, but another medium to fulfil and establish the former, Rom. 3.31. There was no need of a new Law, but of a new Nature to keep and fulfil that which was already in being.

That Law was abundantly able to justifie, but the laps't Nature of man was not able to keep it; what defect there was, lay in the humane Nature, not in the divine Law. The Law was weak, Rom. 8.3. but how? through the flesh: If fallen man [Page 145]could have fulfilled the Law, the Law, as considered in its self, and its first institution could have justified him: Christ therefore, when he comes into the world, destroys not that which was perfect, but repairs, Mat. 9.27. and perfects that which was weak; and that he did, by taking the humane nature into the same Personality with the divine Nature, by a supernatural Conteption in the Womb of the Virgin. Gal. 4 4.

6. Prop. Jesus Christ, as Mediatour, thus born of a Wo­man, was under the Law: He that made the Law, as God, was made under the Law, as God-Man; whereby both the Obligations of the Law fell upon him,

• Paenal.
• Praeceptive.

The Paenal Obligation, (For in the laps'd Estate, there we begin) to undergoe the Curse; and so to satisfie Divine Justice: ‘The Praeceptive Obligation, to fulfill all Righteousness, Math. 3.13. This Obligation, he fulfill'd by Doing; That, he sustained by Dying.’

7. Prop. This double Obligation could not have befallen the Lord Jesus Christ upon any natural account of his own, but upon his Mediatory account only; as he voluntarily be­came the Surety of this new and better Covenant: Heb. 7 22. [...]. So that the fruit and benefit of Christ's voluntary subjection to the Law, redoundeth not at all to Himself, but unto the persons which were given him of the Father, Joh. 17. whose Sponsor he be­came; for their sakes he underwent the Paenal Obligation of the Law, that it might do them no harm; he being made a Curse for us: Gal. 3.13. and for their sakes he fulfilled the Praeceptive Obligation of the Law, Do this, that so the Law might do them good. This the Evangelical Apostle clearly asserts; Rom. 10.4. Christ is the end of the Law for Righteousness to every one that believeth. Weigh the Text.

Christ is the end of the Law: the end; [...]. not finis destructi­vus, to destroy the Law: such he had been indeed, had he [Page 146]come to have brought in any other Law in the room of this holy and perfect Law; Mat. 5.17. but, saith he, I came not to destroy. What end then? [...] Christus Finis legis. i. e. eom­pleti [...] legis. Re­m [...]g. why Finis perfectivus, the perfection and ac­complishment of the Law; not to destroy, but to fulfill, sc. the end of the Law for Righteousness: i. e. to the end, that by Christ his active Obedience, God might have his perfect Law, perfectly kept; that so there might be a Righteousness extant in the Humane Nature, every way adaequate to the perfecti­on of the Law: And who must wear this Garment of Righ­teousness, when Christ hath finished it? surely the Believer, who wanted a Righteousness of his own; for so it follows, for Righteousness to every one that believeth, that is, that every poor naked Sinner believing in Jesus Christ, might have a Righteousness, wherein being found, he might appear at Gods Tribunal, but his nakedness not appear; but as Jacob in the Garment of his Elder Brother Esau, so the Believer in the Garment of his Elder Brother, Jesus, might inherit the Blessing, even the great Blessing of Justification. This leads me to an 8th. Proposition, and that is

8. Prop. Faith, which is commonly called the condition of the new Covenant, is not in its self a new Righteousness, but as it were an instrument, or hand to apprehend and apply the Righteousness of the first Covenant; as fulfilled by the great Sponsor, Rom. 8 3. Perfectionem habet Legis, qui in Christum credit. and Surety on the believer's behalf; That the Righ­teousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us, sc. in our Nature, to our justification: Christ is the end of the Law for Righte­ousness to every one that believeth.

9. As imitation of Adam only made us not Sinners; so imitation of Christ only makes us not Righteous, but imputati­on. Down. of Justi­fit. Prop. This Mediatory Righteousness of Christ (for his Personal and essential Righteousness falls not at all under this consideration) can no way become the Believer's, but, as the first Adam's obedience became his Posteritie's (who never had the least actual share in his transgression) sc. By an act of Im­putation, from God as a Judg. The Lord Jesus having fulfilled the Law as a second Adam, God the Father imputeth it to the believing Sinner; as if he had done it in his own person. I say not, God the Father doth account the Sinner to have done it, but he doth impute it to the believing Sinner, as if he had [Page 147]done it, unto all saving intents and purposes. Thus Abra­ham, the Father of the faithful, was justified; his Faith was imputed to him for Righteousness; his Faith, i. e. objective the Righteousness which his Faith apprehended, sc. Christ his fulfilling of the Law, as the Surety of the New Covenant. And so are all the Children of Abrahams Faith justified al­so; unto whom it shall be imputed also, if we believe on Him, that raised up Jesus from the dead, Who was delivered for our sins, and was raised again for our justification.

10. h. and last Prop. The believing sinner appearing at the Tribunal of the great God, and pleading his Righteousness, thereupon standeth rectus in curiâ, and is pronounc'd Righte­ous in the Court of divine Justice. Thus the Sinner is brought in (as it were in a way of judicial Process) Isa. 45.24. hold­ing up his hand at the Judgment Seat, the Judg on the Bench bespeaking him thus.

‘Sinner thou standest Indited for breaking the holy and just, and good Law of thy Maker, Rom. 3 9. [...] It is verbum forense: Sign. Legally prov­ed. and hereof art proved Guilty:’ Sinner, what hast thou to say for thy self, &c?

To this the Sinner, upon his bended knee, Confesseth Guil­ty; but with-all, humbly craves leave to plead for himself full satisfaction made by his Surety: It is Christ that died, Rom. 8.34.

And whereas it is further objected by the Judg: ‘I but, Sinner, the Law requireth an exact and perfect Righteousness in thy personal fulfilling of the Law!’ Sinner, Where is thy Righteousness?

The believing Sinner humbly replyeth, My Righteousness is upon the Bench; in the Lord have I Righteousness. Christ my Surety hath fulfilled the Law on my behalf, to that I ap­peal, and by that I will be tried: This done, the Plea is accep­ted as good in Law; The Sinner is pronounced Righteous; and goeth away glorying and rejoycing! Righteous, Righteous! In the Lord shall all the Seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory.

If this be not the Righteousness, whereby a poor Sinner is justified, (sc. the Righteousness of the Law fulfilled by a [Page 148]Mediatour on behalf of Gods Elect) I would gladly enquire What is become of the [Do this] in that first Covenant? Is it indeed abolished? Then hath Christ destroyed the Law: de­stroyed it I say, not fulfill'd it, at least in one great and main design of it.

Secondly; If so; I would fain be satisfied, what succeeds in the room of the Fac hoc, to supply the office of a justify­ing Righteousness? what can?

First; Not, surely, Inherent Righteousness, that being quid­imperfectum, and an imperfect Cause can never produce a perfect Effect; which some observing, have had no other [...] left them, Bell. de justif. li. 2. ca. 7. S 3. but, in down right language, to affirm Habitual Righteousness to be perfect; whom we shall leave to the confutation of fire in the last day.

Secondly; Eph. 2.12. Nor can it be Adoption. The terminus à quo in Adoption is a state of alienation from God. The verminus à quo in Justification is a [guilty Malefactor] as to Absolu­tion; and of [want of Righteousness] as to the Condition of the Covenant.

Thirdly; Much less can faith, in its own nature consider­ed, supply this office; For, if faith; then either as it is an [Habit], or as it is an [Act]: not, verily, as an Habit; for so it falls within the List of Graces, and is a branch of Sanctifi­cation. Nor, as it is an Act: For so it is a Work, and would confound the two Covenants.

We assert indeed with the current of Scripture, Justifica­tion by faith; but, in the sense of the reformed Churches, sc. Not by vertue of any intrinsic merit in faith; but by vertue of the extrinsic object, which faith layeth hold on; namely, Christ the great Sponsor of the New Covenant; fulfilling the Righteousness of the Law for Believers.

Fourthly (lastly:) And least of all can Remission of sin supply the office of the Fac hoc: Take it in the utmost extent, and latitude, that may be, sc. as including Commissions, Omissions, Defects or imperfections even to the least want of Conformity to the Law, either in

• 1. Life, or
• 2. Nature.

Pardon can no more make a man Righteous, Anth. Burgess. do justificat. The Law is not fulfilled by the passive Righteousness of Christ only and therefore, pardon alone cannot justi­fie. then it can make a man Learned: Remission not being the qualificati­on, which the Eternal Law of God calls for.

Object. To which if it be Objected: No more is imputed Righteousness. The Righteousness which the Law requireth up­on pain of Damnation, is a perfect obedience, and Conformity to the whole Law of God, performed by every Son and Daughter of Adam in his own person.

To this Objection I offer these particulars following by way of Answer.

1. Imputed Righteousness is the same materially with that which the Law requireth; It is Obedience to the Law of God exactly, and punctually perform'd to the very outmost iota and tittle thereof, without the least abatement. Christ hath paid the uttermost farthing; He is the fulfilling of the Law, for Righteousness, ut suprà.

2. Christ's fulfilling, or accomplishing of the Law was performed in, and by, the humane Nature: For, verily, to this purpose, Heb. 2.16: Rom. 9.8.14. It is not al­ways necessa­ry the debt be paid by the Principal: if it be done by the Surety, it is all one, as if the Principal had paid it himself: Rom. 8.3. Especially if the Creditor gave his con­sent. the Lord Jesus took not upon him the Nature of An­gels, but the Seed of Abraham. Because the Children of Pro­mise (undertaken for) were partakers of flesh and blood; He also took part of the same, to the intent, the Law might be ful­filled in the same Nature, to which it was at first given,

3. It was expresly done in their names, and on their behalf; that the Righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us, as if our Lord had said; This I suffer, and this I do to the use, and in the stead of my Covenant Seed, that they may have a Righteousness which they may truly call their own.

4. All was done, not without full consent of all parties; for,

1. As to the Law-giver, it was his own free gratuitous motion, I will send my Son: God seeing how the case stood with poor lapsed man, took up a resolution to save some, whatsoever it should cost him; Well, (said he) I will send my Son!

2. God the Father no sooner made the motion, Heb. 10.7.9: but the Son echoeth unto it, Lo I come: Yea observe, how quick he is, [Page 150] then said I]: The word was no sooner out of God's mouth, but it laid a Law of sweet Compulsion upon Christ's heart, his bowels yern'd within him, and then said he, Lo I come to do thy Will: by the which Will we are Sanctified, i. e. either the Will of the Father appointing the Son to his Mediatory Office; or the Will of the Son, accepting it so readily; or by both, we are Sanctified, freed from the evil of sin, and ac­counted Righteous, and holy before God. And though, (as we may so say) the Lord Jesus ensnared himself by the words of his mouth, yet he never repented to this day, nor ever sought to be released from this Suretiship, but rejoyceth in it, as if he were the gainer, Psal. 16.7. I will bless the Lord who hath given me Counsel, He giveth thanks to his Father for imploying him in this Work.

Hereunto if it be objected that the Lord Jesus, Object. when the hour of His Sufferings drew nigh, did Repent of his Surety­ship; and in a deep passion prayed to his Father to be releas­ed from his Passion;

Father, Math. 26. if it be possible, let this Cup pass from me, [and that three times over,] ver. 39.42.44.

We Answer, Answ. that in those words of our Lord, there is a twofold Voyce, sc.

• 1. There is Vox Naturae; the Voyce of Nature; Let this Cup pass from me.
• 2. There is Vox Officii, the voyce of his Mediatory Office; Nevertheless, Not as I will, but as thou wilt.

The first Voyce [let this Cup pass,] intimates the Velleity of the Inferionr part of his Soul, the Sensitive part, proceed­ing from a natural abhorrency of death, as he was a Crea­ture.

The later Voyce, [Nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt] expresseth the full and free Consent of his Will, com­plying with the Will of his Father, in that grand everlasting Designe, of bringing many Sons unto Glory, by

Making the Captain of their Salvation, perfect, Heb. 2.10. through sufferings.

It was an Argument of the truth of Christ His humane Nature, that he naturally dreaded a Dissolution. Omne appetit Conservationem sui. He owed it to Himself as a Creature to desire the Conservation of his Being; and He could not become unnatural to himself, Phil. 2.8. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh, &c.

But being a Son, he learned submission; and became obedi­ent to the death, even the death of the Cross, that Shameful, Cruel, Cursed death of the Cross; The suffering whereof he owed to that solemn Astipulation which from everlasting passed between his Father and Himself; 1 Joh. 5.8. As to Christs humane Na­ture, the Cup was Calix a­meritudinis. the third Person in the Blessed Trinity, the Holy Ghost being Witness.

And therefore, though the Cup was the bitterest Cup that ever was given man to drink, as wherein there was not Death only, but Wrath, and Curse; yet seeing there was no other way lest of satisfying the Justice of his Father, Nor did Bride­groom go with more chearsulness to be Married to his Bride, then our Lord Jesus went to his Cross, Luk. 12.50. Ratione officij it was Calix Salxtis. and of saving Sinners, most willingly He took the Cup, and (having given Thanks (as it were) in those words, The Cup which my Fa­ther hath given me, shall I not drink it?) He drank it; It was Bitter indeed, but he found it sweetned with three Ingredi­ents,

• 1. It was but a Cup, not a Sea.
• 2. It was his Father that mingled it, not the Devil.
• 3. It was a Gift, not a Curse: as to himself; The Cup which my Father giveth me.

He drank it, I say, and drank it up every drop; leaving nothing behind for his Redeemed, but large draughts of Love and Salvation; in the Sacramental Cup of his own Instituti­on, saying, This Cup is the New Testament in my Blood, 1 Cor. 11.25. Math. 26.8. for the remission of sins: This do ye in remembrance of me.

Thus (my B.) look upon Christ as a Mediator, (in which capacity only, he Covenanted with the Father, for the Salvation of man-kind;) and there was not so much as a sha­dow of any receding from, or repenting of, what he had un­dertaken.

3. As for the Elect, whose Salvation lay at stake, there [Page 152]was no doubt to be made of their free consent to the Contract. For though they were not originally consulted, à parte antè, yet, as soon as in their several ages, and successions, they come to be acquainted with the compact, between the Father and the Son; and begin to understand how deeply they are concerned in it; they do not only give in their own affirma­tive vote, but, falling down on their faces, they break out into joyful acclamations, Rom. 7.24. and sing We thank God for Jesus Christ our Lord; and again, Thanks be to God, who hath given us the Victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1. Cor. 15 57.

4. Lastly; The whole Astipulation between the Father, and the Son, was solemnly Transacted in open Court, in the presence of a publick Notary, the Holy Ghost; Who being a third Person in the Glorious Trinity, of the same divine es­sence, and of equal power and glory, makes up a third legal Wit­ness with the Father, So the King writes, Teste Meipso. 1 Jo. 5.7. and the Son, They being (after the man­ner of Kings) their own Witnesses also. For there be three that bear record in Heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Ho­ly Ghost, and these three are one.

Behold what can be desired more, to make commutations of parties, in publick contracts, authentique in Courts of Justice, than Consent of all parties, the Allowance of the Judg, and Publique Record?

And if this self-same commutation of Pennance must be al­lowed of by those who are for justification by way of satis­faction only, Bellar. de justi­fic. li. 2. ca. 7. Sec. 4. Staple­ [...]on, &c. Their own argument will serve to prove the ne­cessity of im­putation of Christs active obedience to the Law for justification, because, Nothing, say they, can satisfie for sin (which is an infinite wrong to God) but that only which is infinite in value. By the same reason, Nothing can give us right and title to Eternal Life, (which is an infinite reward) but that which is of infinite worth. why should it seem incongruous in this other branch of justification, sc. by imputed Righteousness? Surely, God would have the Active as well as the Passive obedience, as near the same, required by the Law, as might be, that he might dispence with as little of the Law as was possible.

It only admits one Objection more, and that is, Object. This Doctrine seemeth to reduce the Law again into Office, and to put the crown of Justification upon the head of works; against the universal suffrage of the holy Scriptures, both of the Old and New Testament.

To which I reply: Answ. This doctrine neither destroys the Law with the Antinomian; nor establisheth it, as a Covenant of works with the Papists. But, As the great Office of the Lord Jesus Christ was, to reconcile all things, Colos. 1.20. whether they be things in Earth, or things in Heaven, Ex. gr.

• God's Justice, and God's Mercy,
• God, and Man,
• Jew, and Gentile,
• Man and Himself:

So herein, hath our blessed Lord, and Mediator, magnified his infinite Wisdome and Power in reconciling the Law and the Gospel in this great mystery of Justification; wherein the material cause of our Justification is still the Righteousness of the Law; so that the Law hath no cause to complain, Christ hath done it any wrong.

And the other Causes are supplied by the Gospel, Ex. gr.

The efficient cause, Christ his fulfilling the Law, Rom. 10.4.

The formal Cause, God's Imputation, Rom. 10.4.

The Instrumental Cause (so our Divines phrase it), Faith.

And the moving Final Cause, the exaltation of free Grace. Rom. 1.20: Accordingly we find the Righteousness of Justification to take its various denominations; that is to say,

• In respect of the Material Cause, it is called the Righteous­ness of the Law.
• In respect of the Efficient Cause, the Righteousness of Christ, Rom. 5.17. 1 Cor. 1.30.
• In respect of the Formal Cause, the Righteousness of God, the imputing it, Rom. 3.22. Phil. 3.9.
• In respect of the Instrumental Cause, the Righteousness of Faith, Phil. 3.9.
• And in respect of the moving and Final Cause, we are [Page 154]said to be justified freely by Grace, Rom. 3.24. Tit. 3.7.

In a word: The Law, as it was a Covenant of works, required exact and perfect obedience in mens proper persons; this was legal Justification: In the New Covenant, God is contented to accept this Righteousness in the hand of a Surety; this is E­vangelical Justification.

Thus hath our blessed Lord reconciled

• The Law, also.
• The and also.
• The Gospel. also.

I have done with the Second Accompt. I come now to a Third Accompt.

The Necessity of a Sinner. 3d. Accompt. The necessity of a Sinner. The state and condition of a Sin­ner doth necessarily require a Righteousness should be im­puted to him for his Justification, and that to a two-fold End.

• 1. The Setling of solid Peace in his Conscience.
• 2. The Securing of his Appearance in the day of Judgment.

1. A positive Righteousness is necessary for the setling of solid Peace in the Conscience of the Sinner. The Peace and Comfort of a poor sensible Sinner, can never stand firm and stable, but upon the basis of a positive Righteousness.

This is one of the great Arguments, whereby the great A­postle in his Christian Ca [...]chism (so some of the Fathers were wont to call the Epistle to the Romans) doth invincibly prove Justification by Faith, chap. 5.1. The argument lyeth thus.

That way of Justification, which tends most effectually to settle Peace in the Conscience of a poor Convinced Sinner, that must needs be God's way of Justification:

But Justification by Faith is the most effectual medium to this end. Ergo.

The first Proposition: is founded upon that blessed Truth, which the Holy Ghost witnesseth, Heb. 6.18, 19. the wil­lingness of God, that the Heirs of Promise may have strong Consolation; the result thereof is this, that what-ever medium is aptest to beget strong Confidence and Assurance in their hearts, God is graciously pleased to make use of it, for their abundant satisfaction.

The second Proposition, namely, that, Justification by Faith (in the sense before explained) is the aptest medium to esta­blish solid peace in the bosom of a poor sensible Sin [...]r, may appear by comparing Works and Faith together. Send a poor Sinner to his own Righteousness, which is of the Law, sc. his own good works, Holmess, Fasting, Prayer, or the best Service that ever he did for God, they can afford him little ground of Confidence; alas, hinc illae lachry [...]ae, hence his fears, and doubts, and diffidence do arise; His Prayers need Pardon, his Tears need washing, Job. 10. his very Righteousness will Condemn him; here is no place for the sole of his foot to stand upon [...] If thou, Lord, should'st mark iniquity, O Lord, Psal. 30.3. who shall stand? Gal. 2.19. This was that which scared Paul from com­ing to the Law for Justification. Why, saith he, I through the Law, am dead to the Law, q. d. That I seek not to the Law for Justification and Life; The Law may thank it self; I come to the Law for Justification, and it convinceth me of sin: I plead my innocence, that I am not so great a Sinner as others are; I plead my Righteousness, my duties, and good meanings, and good desires; and it tells me, They are all too leight; the best of my duties will not save me, but the least of my sins will damn me. It tells me, mine own Righteousnesses do, Job. 9.20.21. as filthy rags, defile me; and my duties themselves do witness against me: I plead Repentance, and it laughs me to scorn; It tells me, my Repentance needs Pardon, and my Tears need washing: Besides, if they were never so good, What careth it for my Repentance? It looketh for my Obedience, perfect, and personal, which, because I have not, it tells me, I am Cursed, and pronounceth Sentence; and when it hath so done, it hath no mercy at all for me, though I seek it carefully with [Page 156]Tears. What can I expect from so severe a Judg? Il'e come no more at that Tribunal: Behold, I appeal to the Gospel; there Repentance will pass, and Tears will find pitty; there imperfect obedience (so sincere) will find acceptance, (though not to Justification.) There, there is a better Righteousness provided for me; an exact perfect Righteousness; as perfect, as that of the Law; for it is (indeed) the very Righteousness of the Law; though not performed by me, yet by my Sure­ty for me, The Lord my Righteousness. I, here's a foundati­on for the feet of my Faith to stand upon; here, I can have pardon of all my debts, though the Law will not abate me one farthing; here be long white Robes, though I never spun a thread of them with my own fingers. To this Tribunal will I come, and here will I wait for my Justification; If I Perish, I Perish.

Yea here, Obj. may one say, is foundation for presumption to stand on; here's a Bed for Security to sleep in; here's a doctrine to send men merrily to Hell; while they break the Law, to tell them, There is one that hath fulfilled it for them; while they sin, Christ hath Righteousness enough to justifie them: Surely this is a doctrine; that makes God not only the Justifier of Sinners, but the Justifier of sin too: So disputed the Free-will men of those times against the Apostles; and so the Free-will men of our times against us: but, for Answer.

1. Answ. The Apostle disclaims the Consequence with a vehe­ment negation. Absit. (q. d.) God forbid any one should be so impudent to force such a scandalous Conclusion upon such immaculate Premises.

2. He shews the reason of it; and the reason is taken from the New Covenant, wherein God hath inseparably joyned the merit of Christs Cross, and the power of Christs Cross to­gether; in so much, that whosoever hath a share in the merit of the Cross for Justification; hath also an interest in the pow­er of his Cross, for Mortification: He instanceth in him­self, Verse 20. I am Crucified with Christ, q. d. While, (through grace) I appeal to the merit of Christ's death, for my Justification; I can also (through grace) evidence my ap­peal [Page 157]to be Scriptural, by the power of the Cross, whereby the World is Crucified to me, and I to the World. Gal. 6.14.

And as it is with me, so it is with all truly justified persons; for they that are Christ's, have Crucified the flesh with the Lusts and Affections thereof. They have Crucified them, Gal. 5.24. and they do Crucifie them: they are upon the Cross, and with their Lord and Redeemer refuse to come down, till they can say with him, It is finished; therefore let the scandal of the Cross, and of Justification cease for ever. The Sinner's necessity to such a justifi­cation in the day of Judg­ment. Phil. 3.6. Inveniri in Christo, tacitam habet relatio­nem ad Dei ju­dicium; in ijs nullam invenit condemnatio­nem, quia justi­tiá, qualem esse requirit, i. e. perfectâ ac cumulatâ exor­natos nos inve­nit; nempe justitia Christi per sidem nebis imputa [...]a. Bern. in loc.

Secondly; The other indispensable necessity the Sinner hath of such a Righteousness to his Justification, is, For the securing of his Appearance in the day of Judgment.

The great Apostle, who had as fair a shew for a legal Justification, as any other in the world, protesteth he dares not think of appearing without this positive Righteousness in the last and dreadful Judgment; But, oh that I may be found in him, not having mine own Righteousness, which is of the Law: In Him, in Christ, not in my self: in his Mediatory Righteousnes, not in mine own Personal Righteousnesses; a­way with them, they are but filthy Rags, rotten Clouts, dogs­meat in comparison of Christ's Robes: Give me the Righ­teousness which is of God by Faith; of Gods Ordination, and of Faith's Application: That, that [the Righteousness of the Law fulfilled by Christ in my behalf]! and then the Law can­not say, black is mine eye; I fear it not: In that, if I appear not, I am undone for ever. Behold, here is the Sinner's ne­cessity of such a Justification,

• Peace of Conscience, and
• Boldness in the day of Judgment.

I come to the fourth Accompt. The Excellency of the Redeemer: This way of justifying believing Sinners, doth infinitely become the excellency of our glorious Redeemer, set forth, Heb. 7.26. Such an high Priest became us (saith the Apostle) who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from Sin­ners, made higher than the Heavens.

Holy] By Gods special and immediate Ʋnction, [...]. and Conse­cration of him to his office. [...].

Harmeless,] He did no sin, neither was there guile found in his mouth, 1 Pet. 2.22. He that would expiate the guilt of others, must have none of his own; so expounded, Verse 27.

Ʋndefiled] Immaculate in respect of his humane Nature, [...]. as well as of the divine, without the lest stain or spot of a sinful Nature in him: to the same end also he must be

Separate from Sinners] conceived and born, [...]. not after the Law of other the Sons & Daughters of Adam; for, that which is born of flesh, is flesh.

Made higher than the Heavens,] [...]. i. e. of an higher Per­fection than all created Powers in Heavenly Places, whether Angels or Principalities, &c.

Such an High Priest became us: An High Priest of an inferiour perfection would not have done our business for us.

And as, such an High Priest became us, so, truly such a way of justifying believing Sinners, became him; namely, it was becoming a person of such a transcendent worth and excel­lency, to justifie his Redeemed in the most ample and glori­ous way; &c. by working out for them, and then investing them with, a Righteousness, adaequate to the Law of God; a Righteousness, that should be every way commensurate to the miserable estate of fallen Man, and to the holy design of the glorious God. It was a becoming thing, that the second Adam might restore as good a Righteousness, as the first A­dam lost; that this should justifie as sully, as the other did con­demn. Rom. 5. from verse 15. to the last. This is the very designe of that famous Parallel in­stituted by the Apostle between the two Adams, namely, to signifie an equality, not of number in the persons receiving: but of efficacy in the persons deriving, and communicating what was their own, to either of their Seeds: The first Adam to his natural Seed, and the second Adam to his Spiritual Seed; to the end that Men and Angels might take notice, that Jesus Christ the second Adam, was not less Powerful to save, than the first Adam was to destroy: To which purpose [Page 159]it is of great use to observe how exact the Apostle is, in setting the specialties of either Adams Legacy one over against the other, the wound and the cure, the dammage and the repara­tion.

Observe the Parallel.

• The first Adam Pro­pagates his
  • Offence.
  • Guilt.
  • Death. vers. 15.
  • Condemnation.
  • Bondage, Slavery.
  • Sin. ver. 19.
• The second Adam ob­tains
  • Forgivness for many offences.
  • A gift of Righteousness, 17.
  • Life, vers. 18.
  • Justification, ibid.
  • Reigning in Life.
  • Righteousness.

Every way the Salve is as Soveraign, as the Wound was Mortal; the Cure as Vital, as the Sickness deadly; yea the Apostle winds up with a [...] on the second A­dams part, and an [...]. Behold, Absolution for Condemnation, Righteousness for Sin, Reigning for Slave­ry, Life for Death; and [...] eternal Life into the bar­gain.

Thus it became our High Priest to justifie his Redeemed! The great Apostle cannot pass it by, without special notice; He is able to save to the uttermost, such as come to God through him; To the uttermost of what? To the uttermost Obligati­on of the Law, preceptive as well as penal; to bring in perfect Righteousness as well as perfect Innocence: To the uttermost demand of divine Justice; perfect Conformity to divine Will, as well as perfect Satisfaction to divine Justice: Perfection as well as Par­don. To the utter­most Indigency and necessity of the lost Creature; Qualifi­cation as well as Absolution: To the uttermost of our High Priest's perfection, in whom dwelt all the fulness of the God­head bodily.

Oh, for such an one to have saved a cheap way, to drive the [Page 160]Purchase to as low a price as might be, by pardoning their sin, and making reparation to divine Justice; to satisfie for the wrong, which man had done to the Creator, and his Law; This, only, (with Reverence may we speak it) had not be­come so August a Redeemer as the Son of God was. But, to set him upon his Legs again, to make him as good a man as he was in his Created perfection (one way, or other) such as all the Attributes of God should acquiesce in, to put him into a capacity of demanding Eternal life, not by gift only, but by merit (through a Redeemer) yet so still, as it is the Redee­mers merit, not Mans; not that Christ hath merited, that we might merit (as the Papists would vainly varnish that proud doctrine of merit): no; all was done by Him, and is Ours only by Imputation.

Such an High-Priest became us; And such a glorious way of saving Sinners became him; who was made higher than the Heavens, i. e. than all created perfections whatsoever, An­gels, Cherubins, or Seraphims, or what ever Order else may be possibly conceived.

This is the Righteousness, Non est metuen­dum ne nimis divites simus in Christo. wherewith our Redeemer saveth us, and we need not sear to wrap up our selves in this fine Lin­nen, to put on these Robes; we need not fear to be made too rich by Christ, who, when he was Rich, became Poor, that we through his Poverty might be made Rich. 2 Cor. 8, 9.

And this Righteousness indeed, was made over to the Saints of God by Imputation at the very first moment of their Con­version. In this they lived; In this they died, as Standard-Bearers wrapt up and buried in their Colours: And in this they shall arise, and appear at that glorious Appearing of the great God, and our Saviour Jesus Christ, who will then, and thus, be glorified in all them that believe, to the Admiration of all the Elect Angels, the extream horror of the Reprobate, and the infinite joy and ravishment of the Saints; who shall then sing, Isa. 61.10. I will greatly rejoyce in the Lord, my Soul shall be joyful in my God: for he hath Clouthed me with the Garments of Salvation, he hath covered me with the Robe of Righteousness; as a Bridegroom decketh himself with Orna­ments, [Page 161]and as a Bride adorneth her self with her Jewels.

Oh how glorious will Christ be in his Saints, when they shall all wear one and the same sparkling Livery with Christ? and this shall be his Name, Jehovah Tzed-kenu, Jer. 23.6. The Lord our Righteousness.

Thus I have done with the Second End. I should now im­mediately come unto the Third, save that before we wholly dismiss this point, we cannot but take a little notice of the in­solency of the Papists, in Reproaching and Blaspheming this blessed doctrine of Justification by imputed Righteousness: at which, though they scoff, and laugh at with so much scorn and derision, that the Earth is not able to bear their words, call­ing it Spectrum cerebri Lutherani, Staplet. Putativa, & imaginaria justitia, Bellarm. Amentissima insania, Andrad. Yet it seems to stand firm, and unshaken upon these impreg­nable Arguments.

• 1. That way whereby the guilt of the first Adam is made ours, that way the Righteousness of the second Adam is made ours also, Rom. 5.12. cum. 15.
• 2. That way whereby the Redeemer is made a Sinner; that way the Redeemed are made Righteous, 2 Cor. 5. Ʋlt.
• 3. That way, wherein Abraham was justified, are all Be­lievers justified also, Rom. 4. The Father and the Chil­dren have all the same Righteousness, and it is Communi­cated to them the same way. Ʋt sup.
• 4. The fulfilling of the Law, communicatur eo modo, quo communicari potest id quod transit; nimirùm, per Imputatio­nem, as Bellarm. himself confesseth in point of satisfaction.
• 5. The Scripture is clear, and express for those two bran­ches, as of absolute necessity to Justification, scil.
  • Pardon,
  • Righteousness, distinct from one another, and yet unsepa­rable: by reason whereof, when but one of them is mentioned, both of them are to be understood.
• 6. If satisfaction be imputed, Righteousness must be im­puted also, both being the peculiar and proper Office of [Page 162]the Mediator; neither of them falling within the capa­city of the Creature, standing at the Bar of Divine Justice.

The third end of the Saints meeting with Christ in the Air, [...] Psal. 116. 3d. End. Con­summation of the Saints Nuptials. is, The solemn Consummation of the Saints Nuptials, with Christ their Bridegroom. They were Contracted here on Earth, when Christ and the Saints gained one another's con­sent; Jesus Christ did then solemnly Espouse the Saints to himself, Hos. 2.19, 20. I betrothed thee unto me for ever, yea, I betrothed thee unto me in Righteousness, and in Judgment, and in loving kind­ness, and in Mercies, I even betrothed thee unto me in faith­fulness. Indeed the Church in her self, when Christ came to make Love to her, was a very unlovely Creature, whose em­blem therefore is a poor wretched Infant in the Blood of its Nativity. Ezek. 16.4.6. But Jesus Christ did first Love her with a Love of Pity, Ezek. 16.6. I saw thee polluted in thine own Blood: I saw thee, that is, I cast an Eye of Pity upon thee, my bowels yearned towards thee: And then, as Love-less as she was, that he might have a Legal right to her, Eph 5.25. he Purchased her of his Father; He Purchased her at a dear rate, for, He gave himself for her: first, He gave himself for her, and then He gave himself to her. They were wont to buy their Wives of the Father of the Damosel; but never did Husband buy a Wife at such a Rate, as the Lord Jesus did the Church. She­chem bid fairly for Dinah, Gen. 34.12. Jacobs Daughter, Ask me never so much dowry and gift, and I will give according as ye shall say unto me. Jacob served seven years for Rachel, (as it fell out) twice over, &c. yea, but the Lord Jesus gave himself for his Church; 3 he purchased her with his own blood, Act. 20.2 [...] Thirdly: That he might love her with a love of Complacency, he doth sanctifie her, Eph. 5.27. and cleanse her, by the washing of water by the word. As he doth purchase the Church with his blood; so he doth purifie the Church by his Spirit, compared to wa­ter for the cleansing vertue thereof, in the Ministry of the word; as Ahashuerus had the Virgins first purified and per­fumed, 4 before he took them into his bed. Fourthly, He woeth her by the Ministers of the Gospel; who love their [Page 163]Lord and poor Souls so well, that they will take no denial at her hand: as Eleazer Isack's Steward, Gen. 24.33. would not eat before he had sped for Rebeccah to Wife for his Master's Son: 2 Cor. 11.2. And when they have gained her consent, then they present her as a chast Virgin unto Christ. Fifthly; Christ and his Church, 5 upon their mutual interview, like one another so well, that they mutually engage and contract themselves one to another, Cant. 2.16. they do mutually give away themselves; one for, and one to ano­ther: My Beloved is mine, and I am His. Sixthly; 6 Christ doth nourish her and cherish her, until she be of age, fit for his Marriage-Bed. Seventhly; 7 And then He cometh for her, and meets her by the way (as Isaack met Rebeccah) sc. in the Air, as here in the Context. Lastly; Consummati­on of the Mar­riage. Then and there he Consummates the Marriage before God and Angels, and Men and Devils; he doth take her to himself as his Royal Queen, saying, Come my Love, my Dove, my Ʋndefiled one; He embraceth her, and kisseth her with a Marriage kiss, and takes her to Wife. The Marriage knot is knit; Heaven and Earth are witnesses to it, thousand thousands, yea ten thou­sand times ten thousand, even a great multitude, whose voyce is as many waters, and as the voyce of mighty thunderings.

This was the Wedding, unto which John was invited, Rev. 21.9. Come hither, I will shew thee the Bride, the Lamb's Wife. He that had the Bride, was the Bridegroom, the Lord Jesus, King of Kings, &c. but John, the Friend of the Bridegroom, Jo. 3 29. stood and rejoyced greatly to hear the Bridegrooms Voyce; then (in­deed) was his joy fulfilled. At the Consummation of this Marriage, what inconceivable Triumph and Rejoycing will there be? the loud Musick of Heaven shall sound, the voyce of mighty thundrings, all the Angels, Cherubims, Seraphims, with all the Blessed Quoire of Celestial Spirits, who attend this glorious King of Saints, shall praise God with the still Musick of their Hallelujahs; yea, all the Saints of God, whether Patriarchs or Prophets, and Apostles, all the Martyrs and Confessors of Jesus Christ, with the whole number of the Re­deemed, who are both Guests and Bride in this glorious so­lemnity; will make the Arches of Heaven to Eccho, when [Page 164]they shall be joyful in glory, and the high praises of God shall be in their mouths, Rev. 19.7. singing one to another, Let us re­joyce and be glad, for the Marriage of the Lamb is come, and his Wife hath made her self ready. The Gates of Hell, and the very foundations of the Kingdom of darkness, shall trem­ble and be confounded at the report of this Triumphant Jubil [...]e.

This Nupt [...]ll solemnity finished, Fourth end of Saints meeting Christ, To sit as Assessors with him. Psal. 45.9. the next and fourth act in that solemn meeting will be, that the Bridegroom will take the Queen his Bride, and set her upon his Throne, at his right hand, (as King Agrippa did Bernice, Act. 25.27.) as a Confessor with himself in the following part of the Judgment, which He, as Judg, shall pass upon the Reprobate world of men and Devils; who have all this while stood trembling below upon the Earth, beholding (to their infinite shame and hor­ror) all this glory put upon the Saints; and fearfully look­ing for their own Judgment, and that fiery indignation which shall devour the Adversaries; which now succeeds; For the Elect Angels who are appointed to be the Satellites, or Posse comitatus, to attend the Judg, shall now drag that miserable company of Jale-birds (those reprobate Caitifs of infernal Spirits, The judg­ment of the wicked. and wicked Men) before the Tribunal of the great Judg; there they shall pass under a most impartial, exact, and severe Tryal; Mal. 3.16. the books shall be opened, the book of Gods Re­membrance, and the book of their own Consciences; and out of them they shall be judged for all the evils, which ever they committed from the time they first had a being in the world. The Reprobate Angels shall then be judged for their first Apostacy; Ad solomen calamitatis suae non desinunt perditi perde­re, Min. Fel. Oct. and for all their malice and revenge, which since that cursed defection, they ever acted against God, and against his Saints; yea and against the precious Souls of Men, which (they being damn'd themselves) ceased not to draw into the same Condemnation, The Angels which kept not their first E­state, or principality, (Jude 6.) but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in chams under darkness, unto the judgment of the great Day. With these chains ratling at their heels, shall they be drag'd to the bar of divine Judgment; and there, [Page 165]having received their dreadful Sentence, they shall be hanged up in those There be two Chains, viz. God's W [...]ath and their own Guth. chains, in the mid'st of unquenchable flames to all Eternity: but first they shall have a just and a fair Tryal. And as the Reprobate Angels, so the Reprobate world of un­godly men and women, shall be judged for all the wickedness done in the body. For the sin of their Natures, Eph. 2.3. for they were by Nature Children of Wrath: And for their actual sins, for as they were Children of Wrath, so also they were Children of disobedience; they shall be judged for their Atheism, whether secret, by which, as Fools, Psal. 14.1. they have said in their hearts (only), There is no God; or open, whereby as proud Blasphemers, they have set their mouth against the Heavens, Psal. 73 9. saying, How doth God know? and Is there knowledg in the most High? who through the pride of their Countenance, Psal. 10 4, 13. would not seek after God, yea contemning God, said concerning all this wickedness, and that to God's Face, Tush, thou wilt not require it: But that Judgment shall fully convince the Atheist; and he, that would not believe a God, shall know him by the judgments which he executeth. Then shall the Idola­ter, whether Ethnick or Romish, or of what other impression soever; the Blasphemer of God's Name, whether by prodi­gious Oaths, or by lighter taking his Name in vain; the Prophaner of the Sabbath, which violateth that holy day of God by work or sport, either by sinning or idling out that ho­ly time; either by writing against the Sabbath, or by living down the Sabbath; the disobedient to Fathers or Mothers

• Natural
• or
• Political

the Murderer, the Adulterer, the Thief, the false Accuser, the Covetous whom God hateth; all these, I say, in what de­gree of wickedness soever, even to every idle word, Rom. 2.16. Math. 12.36. and every vile, yea vain thought, which (with David, Psal. 119.113.) they have not hated, shall be judged (I say) out of those books: The Gospel-Sinner shall then be brought to the Bar, to answer for his unbelief, impenitency, his rejecting of Christ's Yoke, his despising the tenders and offers of free grace; his ignorance of, and disobedience to, 2 Thes. 1.8. the [Page 166]Gospel, shall then be judged; the Lord Jesus is (now) re­vealed from Heaven, with his mighty Angels, in flaming fire to take Vengeance of them that know not God, and obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. All the Persecutions, whe­ther by the mouth of the Sword, Imprisonment, Banishment, Martyrdom, &c. or by (the sword of the mouth) revilings, scan­dals, false accusations, cruel mockings of proud Sinners, now, they shall be all charged upon the world of ungodly men, whether out of the Church, Jude 15. or in the Church; Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his Saints, to execute judg­ment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly, of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodlily committed, and of all their hard speeches, which ungodly men have spoken against Him, whether his Person or Members; every sin, with all the Circumstances and Aggravations; yea Omissions shall then be reckoned to them that thought themselves safe, be­cause they were not gross and scandalous Sinners, Math. 25.42, 43. men shall be judged for their nots; yea, for defects and coming short in the manner of duties, as well as the matter, Mal. Rom. 2.12. 1.14. Formality and Perfunctoriness, and Hypocrisie shall then come into open view. In a word, all the world of ungodly men (that have sinned, and not repented of their Sin) shall be judged at Christs Tribunal, and every man, ac­cording to the Light and Law, under which he hath lived; As many as have Sinned without Law, shall Perish without Law. Heathens shall be judged by the light of Nature; and as many as have Sinned Bez. [...]. cum lege. Verse 16. in the Law, shall be judged by the Law; And they that have Sinned under the Gospel, shall be judged by Jesus Christ according to the Gospel. Yea, they that sin against the Gospel, shall be judged by the light of Na­ture, by the Law of Moses, and by the Gospel too, as having not only sinned against Moses's Ink, but against Christ his Blood: And all these Tryals will be severe; but especially the Tryal in the Gospel Court: So that whereas Sinners flatter themselves with thoughts, That Tryal by the Gospel, will be the easiest Tryal, as if the Gospel were all Mercy; the Tryal of the Gospel will be found to be the most severe, and above [Page 167]all others intolerable: It was indeed a Gospel of Mercy, and a Gospel of Peace in the tenders and invitations and ex­postulations, and woings and beseechings that were used; the Tears of the Ministers, and the blood of a Crucified Redeemer, while once the long- suffering of God, waited in the day of Grace: but all these are now past and gone, having been re­jected, despised, and laughed to scorn by wretched proud Sin­ners, who with the bloody Jews, preferred a Barabbas before a Jesus; a base Lust before a precious Saviour; now is the time of Recompence come, the day of Vengance from the pre­sence of the Lord is come, and the Sinner shall know it. The terrour of which day will further appear in these following Particulars.

First; There will be no denying of any matter, In the day of Judg­ment there will be 1. No denying of sin. small or great, that shall be charged upon those guilty Malefactors. By the mouth of those two Witnesses, the book of Gods Re­membrance, and the book of Conscience, shall every branch of the Indictment be established; the one of these books was kept before the Face of the Lord continually, so that the great Accuser himself, nor any of his malignant Agents, could get in thither to alter or add to any thing upon Record in that sacred Register, unless per-adventure he could find a time when God was a-sleep; And the other book, the book of Conscience was in the Sinners own keeping, and who could break in there to interline it? Indeed the Sinner writ down many sins there with the juice of a Lemon, but the Fire of the day of Judgment will make it legible; he writ them with the point of an Onion: but God writ them with a pen of Iron, and with the point of a Diamond; deep and durable Characters, that should never be raced out of the Conscience of a Sinner. Now these two Books will agree so exactly (like two Tallies) one with another, that it will be impossible for the Sinner to deny any particular, but he will be [...] Self-con­demned.

Secondly; As there will be no denying, 2. No Extenu­ation. so there will be no room for extenuation; this was one of the Sinner's hiding places, while in the Land of the Living. Sinners have their [Page 168] buts, Eccle. 5.6. I [...] was an Errour, per ex­teruationum, It was but a mistak [...]. now; It was but thus and thus, it was but a little one, &c. Great sins, were but small sins; and small sins, were no sins. Now, the Sinner will have no such Sanctuary to fly unto; the Account will now be inverted, Those that were no sins before, will be sins now; small sins will be great sins, and great sins will be infinite; the last Judgment will give sin its just pro­portion: that which the Law could never do, though it were given on purpose, the Fire of the day of Judgment will effectually do; make sin appear exceeding sinful: The Popish distinction of mortal and venial sin, will vanish before that fire into smoak, while Penitent reforming Sinners will find all their sins Venial in the blood of Christ; secure, impenitent Sinners will find every sin mortal and damning in its own merit and nature; the Carnal Protestant will then find (to his cost) there is no such thing as a small sin, because then he will be convinced there is no small God, against whom sin is commit­ed; no small Law, whereof sin is the violation; no small Christ, whom sin hath Crucified; no small Heaven, which sin hath forfeited; no little Hell which sin hath merited; and by its merit hath (justly) now plunged him into for ever.

Thirdly; 3 No transla­ting of sin. there will be no translating of sin upon others, as here below there was; the Thief enticed me, the Drun­kard seduced me; Gen. 3.13. the Harlot deceived me; the Serpent beguil­ed me; yea, what bold Sinners are not afraid to speak, will not then be heard amongst the Malefactors at Christ's Bar; God tempted me, Jam. 1.13. or God decreed it; no, these and all other palliations and colours, wherewith men do wash the face of sin, will melt before the fire of the day of Judgment; God will say to the Sinner, Jer. 2.17. Hast thou not procured these things to thy self? yea, Sinners shall then own their own guilt & confess that their destruction is of themselves: [...]. P [...]ut de se [...]â Num. vindict. their heart shall cry out, as Apollodore dreamt his heart cried to him in a Cauldron of boyling Lead, O Apollodore, I am the Cause of this Vengeance, how have I hated Instruction, and my heart despised Reproof; and have not obeyed the voyce of my Teachers, nor inclined mine Ear to them that instructed me!

Fourthly; There will lye no appeal from this Tribunal: 4. No appealing. once, there lay an appeal from Moses to Christ, from the Law to the Gospel; but proud Sinners scorned it, or securely presumed, they had made the appeal by a loose, verbal Appli­cation of Jesus Christ; whil'st yet they stuck in themselves and their own foolish presumptions, their serving of God, their good works, and their good meanings, and their good de­sires; and, why should not they be saved as well as others? but now if they should appeal, their appeal's with themselves, will be cast out as Reprobate Silver; this is now the su­pream and last Judicatory; from hence is no appeal, once doomed here, the sentence is irreversible for ever.

Fifthly; 5. No Pardon. Neither is there any Pardon to be expected at this Judgment Seat. Pardons were tendered in the Gospel upon gracious terms, but ungracious Sinners would have none of them, or would have them upon their own terms, Sin and Pardon too; their Pardons were nothing, unless they might have dispensations, also, such as the Pope sells often times; but Christ's Pardons, sc. Pardon & Repentance, Pardon of sin and forsaking of sin, Pardon of sin and Hatred of sin, Act. 5.31. Prov. 28.13. Jude 23. Heb. 12.14. Par­don and Holiness, would not be accepted, and now the time of Pardons is out; the day of Grace is expired; no cries nor entreaties will prevail with the Judg; no, though the Sinner would fall upon his knees, and weep as many Seas of Tears, as once the Ministers wept Tears of Compassion over them; or as Christ himself shed drops of blood upon the Cross; Christ was once upon his knees, in the Person of his Mini­sters, bese [...]ching them to be reconciled. 2 Cor. 5.19, 20. Though the Sinner was first in the Transgression, yet God was first in the Reconcilia­tion; and followed the Sinner (as it were) on his knees, in­treating him to accept of Mercy, as if God had stood in as much need of the Sinner, as the Sinner did of Mercy; but nothing would prevail, a deaf ear was still turned to Christ's importunity, and now Repentance is hid from the eyes of the Judg, as once Repentance was hid from the eyes of the Sin­ner; the things of their peace are everlastingly hid, because they knew them not in that the day of their Vision: As Sin­ners obdurated their heart against Christ's voyce, so Christ [Page 170]will harden his heart against the Sinner's cry, Prov. 1.24.

Sixthly; There shall be no mitigation of the punishment; not a farthing abated of the whole debt, 6. No mitiga­tion. Math. 5.26. there was once Mercy without Judgment, before the Sinner; now there shall be Judgment without Mercy; now Sinners shall know that God is not mocked, that the Lamb of God is also the Lyon of the Tribe of Juda; His voyce was once, Fury is not in me; Isa. 27.4. now the voyce will be, Meckness is not in me, mer­cy is not in me; now must the Sinner expect nothing but the utmost severity of divine justice, who once despised the yearnings of Christ's bowels, the lowest condescentions of divine Grace; the Sinner in his day, knew no moderation in sin, the Judg now in his day, will know no mitigation of Judg­ment; there will be a Sea of wrath, without a drop of Mercy.

Seventhly; Not a word of any good that ever the wicked did, 7. No menti­on of any good that e­ver Sinners did. shall now be mentioned to their honour or advantage: as none of the sins which ever the Saints committed, were men­tioned to their shame in their Process; so none of the good that ungodly Sinners have done, shall be once named, unless it be by way of aggravation of their sins; for indeed they mannaged the good they did at such a rate, Splendida pec­cata, Aug. as even their du­ties differed not from their sin. As under the Law, the Sacrifice of the Wicked was abomination to the Lord; killing Oxen, but Murder; Prov. 15.8. Isa. 66.3. Sacrificing Lambs, but cutting off Dogs necks; Oblations, as Swines blood; Incense, as Idolatry, so under the Gospel, their Prayers were but so many takings of God's Name in vain; and hearing the Word, mocking of God; Fasting, but holding down the head like a bull-rush, Isa. 58.5. re­ceiving the Lords Supper, Christ-murder, &c. All their Ser­vices were but so many sins, and the aggravations of sin; so many provocations of God; as all done from a Carnal princi­ple, by a Carnal rule, to Carnal ends; nevertheless the Scrip­ture tells us, these woful wretches will be ready (there) to plead for themselves their duties and services which they have done for Christ (as vile as they are) as they did in the dayes of their flesh, Isa. 58.3. We have fasted (they said) we have afflicted our Souls, so now also in the day of Judgment; [Page 171] False Apostles, and scandalous Ministers will then be so bold as to plead their Preaching in Christ's Name, (and that, possi­bly, not without success); Lord, we have Prophesied in thy Name, and in thy Name cast out Devils; (peradventure even to the work of Conversion) Judas might cast out the Devil, and yet himself be a Devil, John 6.70. he might convert others, and yet be unconverted himself; they will plead their doing of miracles, healing the sick, and raising the dead, Mat. 7.25. making the Blind to see, and the Deaf to hear, and the Lame to go, and in Christs Name done many mighty works! Lkewise, loose Christians and formal Professors, will then also plead for themselves, their hearing Sermons, and receiving Sacraments, Luke 13.26. &c. take it in their own Language, We have eaten and drunk in thy presence, and thou hast taught in our Streets, their exter­nal familiarities with Christ in the Assemblies of the Saints, their common gifts and graces; any thing then that hath but the likeness of grace upon it, Christ shall hear of it: Rev. 2.18 23. But all in vain, The Judg, whose eyes are a flame of fire to search the hearts and the reins, will reprobate their persons and per­formances with an [I know you not] Luk. 13.25. and again, with greater Emphasis, I tell you, I know you not, verse 27. yea, once more with a more dreadful note of abhorrency, I never knew you, Mat. 7.23. I never approved of you, nor of any of your Services which ever you performed from the first to the last, but my Soul hated both you and them.

Eightly; There will be No begging further time of the Judg; no adjourning the Tryal to another Assize-day: That Court knows no Reprieve; the Sinner's Tryal, and Sentence, 8. No begging of Day. and Execution goe all together; the day of Patience was out in the other world, I gave her space to Repent, and she Re­pented not, and now the Judg swears in his wrath, that Sin­ners shall never enter into his rest.

Ninthly; No days-man tointercede with the Judg: 9. No Inter­cessor. Prov. 1.28: God will not; he will laugh at their Calamity, and mock when their fear cometh; Oh dreadful Calamity, which God will stand and laugh at; Angels will not; Job. 5. [...]. and to which of the Saints will those miserable Caitifs turn themselves? they are upon Thrones round about the Judg, but quite to other purposes [Page 172]than to become Advocates to those guilty Malefactors, as will anon appear.

For, Tenthly; Therefore, the Judg shall proceed to the last Acts of Judgment, Two Acts of Judgment. 1. The Judg will pro­nounce them guilty. which are Two, first to Pronounce them guilty of all the Treasons and Misdemeanors which those wretches have been Indited of. The Judg indeed (to vindi­cate the justice and equity of the Court) will demand of the Convict Sinner, Whether he hath any thing to say for himself, why he should not receive Judgment to Dye, and Sentence to be Executed according to Law? but now Conscience shall speak impartially between the Judg and the Sinner, justifying the Judg, and Condemning the Sinner; who having before hand received in himself the Sentence of Death, shall now be [...] without-excuse, Rom. 2.20. not able to make the least apology or defence on his own behalf, but shall confess before that for­midable Assembly; Lord, though thou judg me to everlasting flames, yet thou dost me no wrong, but art justified in what thou speakest, Psal. 51.4. and clear when thou judgest; and alas! What a miserable thing is this, that all the time that the Sinner and his Conscience dwelt together under one Roof, and Conscience would fain have spoken out; the vile wretch should stop the mouth of his own Conscience, and never suffer it faithfully to do its office, till now, when it will do him no good, and tend to no other end but to justifie God, and to aggravate his own Condemnation! Oh that Sinners would seriously consider this, and lay it to heart in time, and hearken to the secret whispers of Conscience before it be too late; 1 Jo. 3.21. and deal kindly with Conscience now, that Conscience may deal kindly with them in that day, when one good word from Conscience, will be worth a thousand worlds. Oh if the Sinner would have done that once willingly which now he doth whether he will or no, if he would have judged himself in the day of the Gospel; it might have prevented this fatal Judgment now, he should not have been judged of the Lord: 1 Cor. 11.31. Oh if the Judg would now speak such a word to the Convicted multitude of Reprobate Cast-aways, as once he did to wretched Sinners! Behold I make you this Offer, that, if yet before I proceed to Sentence, you will unfeignedly judg your selves, I will not judg [Page 173]you, neither shall the Sentence of Condemnation pass upon you: Oh, what an uprore of joy would there be among those miserable Catiffs? how would they down on their knees, and judg themselves worthy of a thousand Hells, and be con­tent to suffer a thousand years Torment, to expiate their guilt! but though they would do this, and (if it were possi­ble) ten thousand times more, no such word shall ever be spo­ken to them by the Judg; their time of Sinning is past, and their time of being judged is come; and, though they do now really judg themselves, yet the Judg will proceed to judg them also. The Sinner having thus justified the Judg, the Judg shall now Condemn the Sinner out of his own mouth; and solemnly setting himself down in the Judgment-Seat, shall openly in the Court proclaim the Sinner guilty; guilty of the whole Indictment preferred against him; And then pro­ceed to pronounce Sentence in some such words as these; ‘Sinner, thou hast been Indited, Arraigned, and Convicted of High-Treason, against the Supream Majesty of Heaven, in the breach of his holy Law, and in contempt of his blessed Gos­pel, trampling the Son of God under foot, Heb 10 29. Chap 6.6. and Crucifying him over and over again, and putting him to an open shame, &c: Hear now therefore thy sentence, Thou art Accursed for ever; the Wrath of God abideth upon thee, thou shalt not see light; Mat. 25.41. Go thou Cursed into everlasting burnings, prepared for the Devil and his Angels: and what shall be said to one, shall be said to all, Depart from me ye Cursed, into everlasting fire, where the Worm never dyeth, and the fire is not quenched; into utter darkness, where is weeping, and wailing, and gnash­ing of Teeth, there to be tormented with the Devil and his Angels for ever.’ Now during all this tremendous trans­action, the Saints shall sit in judicature as Assessors, or Justices of the Peace with Christ upon the Bench, seeing and hearing all that is done by the Judg, voting with him, approving and applauding him in his judicial proceedings, crying out with loud acclamations, Thou art Righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, and shalt be, because thou hast judged thus: and o­ther Saints shall eccho to them saying, Even so Lord God Al­mighty, true and Righteous are thy Judgments! Thus the Saints [Page 174] shall judg the world, Rev. 16.57. 1 Cor. 6 2. yea, they shall judg the Angels, the Re­probate Angels; but of this I have spoken more largely in the former part of this Treatise.

I come now to the Fifth end of the Saints meeting with Christ, sc. To receive their compleat and final Benediction. Come ye blessed of my Father, receive the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; A blessed Sentence indeed, every word in it is Heaven before the Saints come to Heaven.

Come] my Love, my Dove, my undefiled One, stand at no longer distance, come and follow me, whither I go: I will that where I am, there you may be also.

Ye Blessed] Blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places. Your Enemies on Earth accounted you the filth of the world, 1 Cor. 4.13. and the off-scouring of all things; Sathan hath de­sired to have you, that you might be accursed with him for ever: but ye are blessed, and shall be blessed for ever.

Blessed of my Father] Blessed in the eternal electing love of the Father: Blessed in the Son's purchase; you have washed your garments white in the blood of the Lamb: Blessed by the Laver of Regeneration, Tit. 3.5. and renewing of the Holy Ghost.

Inherit] Ye are Children, Heirs, Heirs of God; joynt-heirs with Christ; behold I have adopted you to be follow-heirs with my self, and the Father hath made you meet to be partakers of the Inheritance of the Saints in Light; Oh come now and take possession of your Inheritance, behold it is not less than a

Kingdom] for it is your Fathers good pleasure to give you the Kingdom; Luk. 12.32. the Kingdom of Heaven, the Kingdom of Glory; behold it is

Prepared] In the Father's decree, God hath laid it out for you before the foundation of the world was laid; and it is pre­pared by my purchase, and by my taking possession of it long since in your Name: Jo. 14.2. I went before to prepare a place for you.

For you] whom I also prepared for it, and for every one of you personally, every one of you shall receive an intire King­dome to your selves, and you shall live and reign with me for ever and ever: As Heaven hath been kept for you, so you have been kept for it, by the power of God, through Faith to [Page 175]Salvation, 1 Pet. 1.5. Oh come now and take possession! Be­hold! This is the Saints full and final Benediction.

I should have spoke to this before I spake of the Sentence pass­ed upon the Reprobate; for in our Lord's method it doth pre­cede, Mat. 25.34. compared with ver. 41. yet because Executi­on of the Sentence begins with the wicked, and ends with the god­ly, as ver. 46. to the end, that the Saints, may behold with their eyes the Sentence Executed, and seeing they may (as God himself doth) laugh at them, saying, Psal. 52.7. Lo these are the men that made not God their strength, but trusted in the abund [...]nce of their riches, and strengthened themselves in their wickedness. I have (I say) therefore chosen to speak of the Sentence of blessedness, which the Judg shall pass upon the Saints, in this place, that from thence I might pass immediatly to the happy Execution thereof upon them (nothing intervening as to the persons of Saints) which is the

Sixth and last end of the Saints meeting with Christ in the Air, sc. Their solemn and triumphant Attendance on the Judg, The Sixth and last end of the Saints meeting with Christ, is Their taking possession. to take possession of the Kingdom. This last judicial process being thus solemnly finished, Sentence on both sides pronounced by the Judg, the Reprobate already dragged away by the Executioners of divine Vengeance, to the place of Execution, (where they shall be tormented with the Devil and his Angels for ever and ever; immediatly the Bench will rise, the Court shall be broken up, that great Occumenical assembly shall be dissolved, and forthwith the Judg shall ascend his Majestick Chariot, waiting ready for him; and all the Saints shall follow him in their Wedding-garments, glittering as the Sun in his Meridian glory, upon their several Chairs of State) all the holy Angels of God attending round a­bout them; with their Ensigns of glory flying, Trumpets sounding, Angels singing, the Saints themselve shouting all the Regions of the Air resounding with their Celestial harmony, the like where­unto never entred the Ear of man, from the day wherein God laid the foundations of the Heaven and Earth, to this happy mo­ment. In this triumphant posture shall they march, till they come to the walls of New Jerusalem, where the Gates of pearl (to whom it shall be proclaimed, Lift up your heads oh ye Gates, and be ye lifted up ye everlasting Doors, and the King of glory shall en­ter in) shall stand wide open to receive them, An entrance shall [Page 176]be administred unto them abundantly into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord & Saviour Jesus Christ; through the Streets where­of, which are of pure gold, as it were transparent glass, they shall ride in Triumph till they come to the Throne of his Majesty, where the Ancient of days sitteth, Dan. 7.9.13. whose garment is as white a [...] Snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool; his Throne is like the fiery flames, and his wheels as burning fire, &c. Then shall the Son of God come to Him, and taking his new Bride in his hand, shall present her to his Father, and bespeak him in some such language as this; Rev. 7.16. Chap. 5.9. Chap. 12.11. ‘ These are they which come out of great Tribulation, who have washed their Robes white in my blood; These are they which have kept the word of my patience; these are they that overcame by my blood, and by the word of their Te­stimony. John 17.6. Verse 12. Thou gavest them me out of the world, thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word; while I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy Name; those that thou gavest me, I have kept, and none of them is lost but the Son of Perdition, that the Scriptures might be fulfilled; I have given them thy word, and the world hath hated them because they were not of the world, even as I was not of the world. O Righ­teous Father, for these I opened my mouth, and for these I opened my sides and my heart; for those was I mocked and scourged, and blindfolded, and buffetted, and Crucified; for these I wept, and sweatt, & bled, and died. Father, I will that they whom thou hast given me, may be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me,’ for thou hast loved me before the Foundation of the world, &c.

Then shall the Father rise from his Throne, and say unto them, Come near unto me my Sons and my Daughters, that I may kiss you: See, the smell of my Children is like the smell of a field, which the Lord hath blessed. Then shall he call for Crowns to put upon their heads, & bracelets upon their Arms; Rings upon their fin­gers, palms of Victory, & Scepters of Royalty into their hands, & appoint them their several Thrones, the Mansions which their Lord went before to prepare for them; upon which they shall be placed, that they may sit and live, & reign with Christ their Hea­venly Bridegroom for ever and ever; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads, all Tears shall be wiped from their eyes, & sorrow and mourning shall fice away. And so shall they ever be