Elijah's nunc Dimittis. OR The Authors own Funerall SERMONS, In his Meditations upon 1 Kings 19.4. It is now enough: Lord take away my Soule, for I am no better then my Fathers.

Where also is Treated;

  • Of the immortality of the Soule.
  • Of the state of it, when separated from the Body.
  • Of the Destruction of this lower World by Fire.
  • Of Locall-Hell, with the graduall Torments thereof.
  • Of the Heavens, of the Superiour World, and the Inhabitants of them, their happiness and glory.

By Thomas Bradley, D. D. one of his late Majesties Chaplains, and Praebandary of York; and Preach't in the Minster there, and in his Rectory of Ackworth, 1669. Aetatis suae, 72. Oxon. Exon.

Lord now let thy Servant depart in peace, that mine Eyes may see thy Salvation.

Sic sic juvat ire sub umbras.

YORK, Printed by Stephen Bulkley, 1669.

Elijah's Nunc Dimittis; Or, The Authors own Funerall Sermon, In his Meditation upon the 1 Kings 19.4. the latter end of the Verse, It is now enough, Lord take away my Soule, for I am no better then my Fathers.

THese Words are the Complaint, or the Petition, or the Suite, the Wish, or Re­quest, (call it what you will) of the Prophet Elijah, now weary of his Life, and desiring he might dye; The causes and occasion of it, you may reade in the context, and in the Chapter immediately precedent, where ye have the whole narration of the business, the sum of all you finde in the 14th. verse of this Chapter: I have been very zealous for the Lord God of Hosts, be­cause the Children of Israel have forsaken thy Cove­nant, cast down thine Altars, and Slaine thy Prophets with the sword, and I onely am left, and they seek my [Page 2]life to take it away. That wicked woman Jezabell, (in revenge of her Chaplains, the Priests of Baal, which he had lately so clearly, and so powerfully convinc't and silenc't, and proved to be false Pro­phets) had sworn his death, Warrants are seal'd, and Pursuivants sent out to take him: Upon this, the Prophet flies for his life as farr as to Beersheba, the utmost border of all Israel on the South, as Dan was on the North; yet not thinking himselfe secure there neither, though at so great a distance, he takes a farther flight, a dayes Journey into the Wilderness, supposing haply he might finde more kindnes there among the wild beasts, then amongst men in Samaria more savage then they: But here he meets with another enemy, as dangerous as any of the rest, Hunger and Thirst, in danger to pine and perish through famine, his fear and hast, not allowing him either time or means to furnish him­selfe with viaticum for such a Voyage, nor the bar­ren wilderness affording him supplies of sustenance in such a want. The Prophet now compast about with so many deaths and dangers, and not know­ing which way to turn himself, hungry and thirsty, faint and weary, layes him down under a Juniper Tree, wishing, That might might be the end of his Pil­grimage, and with his Pilgrimage, of his Life too. Here [Page 3]in this Wilderness he makes his Will; Wherein, first, He bequeaths his soule to God that gave it; Lord take away my soule, his body to the Earth from whence 't was taken, wishing, That spot of ground upon which he lay, might be his Grave, the Juni­per Tree over him his Monument, with no other Inscription upon it, but onely this instead of an Epitaph, I am no better then my Fathers. It is now e­nough, Lord take away my soule, for I am no better then my Fathers.

In the Division of the Text, I shall not use any curiosity at all, the words neither require, nor ad­mit it. For the summe of them, you may call them if you please, in old Simeons Language, The Pro­phet Elijah's nunc Dimittis; Or in St. Pauls, his Cupio dissolvi. In it these Parcels.

First, The Dimittis it self, in these word, Lord take away my Soule.

Secondly, Two Reasons perswading him to make this his Suite at this time: The one prefixt, and set before the Dimittis, in these words, Nunc satis est, It is now enough. The other annext, and fol­lowing after it, in these words, Nam non sum melior majoribus meis, For I am no better then my Fathers.

In all reason, we must begin first with the for­mer Reason, both because it stands first in the [Page 4]Text; and because it stands in our way to the Nunc Dimittis; and because it is a motive ushering it in, therefore of it first, of Nunc satis est, before of Nunc Dimittis: It is now enough.

And Elijah's satis est, may be reasonably ground­ed upon these four Considerations; or in four re­spects might he well say, It is now enough.

  • 1. In respect of what he had seen.
  • 2. In respect of what he had suffered.
  • 3. In respect of what he had done.
  • 4. In respect of the years he had lived.

In all these respects, the Prophet might reasona­bly say, Nunc satis est, It is now enough; As if he should say, Lord I have seen enough to make me weary of this World; And I have suffered enough to make me weary of my Life: And I have done enough in the faithfull discharge of my duty in the Office of a Pro­phet, whereunto I was called: And I have lived long enough, even to desire to live no longer in this wretched World; therefore now Lord, I beseech yee dismiss me, Lord take away my Soule. So here are four enoughs, and they are all grounded in the 14. verse of this Chapter, and in this Text. For first, He complains there, The Children of Israel have forsaken thy Cove­nant, broke down thine Altars, and Slaine thy Pro­phets with the Sword: There's his Satis Vidi, I have seen enough.

Secondly, He complains, That he onely is left, and they seek his Life to take it away: There's his Satis Tuli, I have suffered enough.

Thirdly, I have been Zealous for the Lord God of Hosts: There's his Satis Feci, I have done enough.

Fourthly, Those three things before mentioned, which he had Seen, which he had Suffered, and which he had Done, were not the worke of a short time; they were the worke of many years; he was now grown old under his sufferings, and doing his Duty, and so willing to follow the Generation of his Fathers, For I am no better then my Fathers: There's his Satis Vixi. And in all these respects he concludes, It is now enough, and begs for a dismissi­on, Lord take away my Soule.

To all these enoughs, we shall speak something briefly, with the inferences from them: And first of his Satis Vidi, I have seen enough: That is, (as himself Interprets himself, ver. 14.) of the wick­edness, irreligion, profaneness, and Idolatry of the times and places that he lived in, to make him weary of the world, and of his life: And that is the first ground of this his request to Almighty God, to take away his Soule.

The inference from hence is this:

That to live in evill times and places where [Page 6]iniquity doth abound, is to pious Souls, and to such as fear God, matter of great griefe and sor­row of heart, even enough to make them weary, not onely of those times and places, but even of their Lives too. St. Peter tells us of Lot dwel­ling in Sodom, That his righteous Soule was vext from day to day with their unlawfull doings, 2 Pet. 2.7.8. The holy Prophet David complains in this case, and bewails his hard condition in this respect, even in passionate expressions, Woe is me that I am con­strained to dwell in Mesech, and to have my habitation among the Tents of Kedar. And the Prophet Habak­kuk, as passionately as he, in the same case, Hab. 1.2, 3, 4. O Lord, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not heare! yea, even cry out of violence, and thou wilt not help? Why dost thou shew me iniquity, and cause me to behold sorrow? for the Law is dissolved, and judg­ment doth not goe forth: the wicked doth compass about the righteous: therefore unjust judgement doth proceed. Thus we see how righteous souls are affected in these cases, and afflicted with grief and sorrow un­der the sence of the wickednesses, & abominations that are committed under the Sunne, in the times and places where they live. Reasons.

1. Because hereby God is dishonoured, whose glory is dear unto them.

[Page 7] 2. The Church is scandalized, holy Religion reproached, the Gospel of Jesus Christ aspersed, and the way of God evill spoken of, especially if these things be done, and suffered in a Christian Church, or Common-wealth.

3. It gives so great offence to many weak ones, that it causes them to with-draw themselves from the society of the faithfull, to abhorre the Sacrifi­cer of the Lord, to despise the standing Ordinan­ces of the Church, and for those evills, which we see, to forsake that which is good, to throw up all, and to make separation.

4. Hereby they destroy their own souls, of which others fearing God, are more sensible then they themselves: Christ beholding Jerusalem, and fore-seeing the calamity that hung over it, Wept for it, they did not so for themselves.

5. They provoke wrath, and draw down judge­ments upon the place where they live, both upon themselves and others for their sakes: For these things sakes comes the wrath of God upon the Children of disobedience, Ephes. 5.6.

Upon these Considerations, pious souls, men fearing God, are sensible of the sins of others, as well as of their own; and of the iniquity of the times and places where they live, and they are un­to [Page 8]to them matter of great sorrow and greif of heart: I beheld the transgressors, and was greived, Psal. 119.158.

1. It should teach men wisedom, where they can, and as farr as they can, to use prudence in the choyce of the places of their habitation, and when to make this one of their respects among all other, that they may seat themselves in such a place where the fear of God is amongst them. Lot made but an ill choyce (though he lighted on the [...] the Land) when he chose the plain of Sodom to pitch his Tent in: Abraham might well be afraid to sojourne in Gerar, when he perceived the feare of God was not in that place, Gen. 20.11. When we match our Sons, or Daughters, we enquire dili­gently, what Portion, what Parentage, we enquire after the fatness of the Land, fruitfulness of the Soyle, convenience of situation, and the like, and all this with good discretion too; but among all the rest, we should not leave out this as a maine consideration, whether we dispose of them to such a place where the fear of God is among the people the Inhabitants there, whether they live under a good Ministery, a good Majestracy, a good Government, where wickedness and vice is punished, were Religion and godliness is set up, [Page 9]countenanc't, and encouraged, whether the feare of God be in the place? a very considerable bles­sing, and a great part of their happiness.

2. Try your zeale and love to God and his truth to holy Religion, and the Gospel by this Touch­stone, by your hatred of sin, as well in others, as in your selves, and by your grief and sorrow of heart, when you see it reign and abound in the Land, and in the times and places where you live. Beloved, we live in evill times, and in places bad enough, where you have occasion enough given you to ex­ercise your zeale, and to shew your love, and grief, and anger, if you have any in this case, you may see as our Prophet did, the Law forsaken, the Co­venant broken, the Worship of God neglected, the Ordinances despised, the Sabbath prophan'd, the Sacraments slighted, &c. if we can see these things, and not be sensible of them, and sorry for them, at least where we cannot help them, surely our zeale is cold, and our love but small; Set a Marke (saith the Lord) upon the Foreheads of all those that Mourne for the aboninations that are done in the City, Ezek. 9.4. 'Tis an Argument of a gracious heart, to take to heart the iniquities of the times, to sigh and mourn for them, to be displeased with them, and troubled at them.

[Page 10] 3. Here's an object and opportunity for such as are in place and power, to exercise their authority in suppressing sin, in punishing the wickedness of the times and places where they live, in stopping the course and current of iniquity prevailing: If Magistrates, they must be cloathed with zeale as with a cloak, they must put on Justice as a Robe, and Judgement as a Crown or Diadem, they must be girt about with the Sword of vengeance, and let proud and insolent offenders know, they doe not beare that Sword in vain: If Ministers, they must cry aloud, and not spare, and never leave crying out against the prevailing and reigning sins of the times and places where they live, till they have cryed them down, and take heed they doe not by their silence and connivence, make themselves partakers of other mens sins: Parents of Children, Masters of samilies, they are in those lesser societies which they are set to Govern; both Kings, Priests, and Prophets, all which Offices they must execute in the Government of their little Common­wealth, every one in the severall Sphere wherein he moves, and Calling wherein he is set, according to his place and power is to endeavour the sup­pressing of sin, the punishment of wickedness, and the maintenance and encouragement of true Reli­on and vertue.

[Page 11] 4. Here's occasion and opportunity (in such evill times as here we speak of) for the Saints and servants of the most high, the favourites of Heaven, to stand up, and to shew themselves, to make in­tercession for the People, and Places where they are, for the diverting of those Judgements which these sins call for, to use the Interest which they have in God, to intreat for the rest, that God would spare them, to stand in the Gap (as Moses did) to make Atonement for the People and Places where they are, as Aaron did, to divert, stay, suspend, or re­move Judgement denounc't against them, when wrath is gone forth, and the Plague begun; and happy those Places which have such as these are in them, though but a few favourites of Heaven, to make in to God, to use their interest in him, to in­treat for the rest, great things hath God done at their request in the behalfe of others, and even those that despise them, are more beholden to them then they are aware of.

5. In such evill times and places as we speak of, we are to be admonished to walk warily for fear of Infection, for fear of seduction, least we come to be corrupted and infected by them, and so while we complain the times are evill, we our selves make them worse; so St. Paul argues, Ephe. [Page 12]5.15. Walk circumspectly, because the dayes are evil; By no means to have any fellowship with the un­fruitfull works of darkness, but rather reprove them, (Ephes. 5.11.) to shew our dislike of them by avoyding them, to reprove them by a sober, righte­ous, and godly conversation, the most reall re­proofe to the lewd and loose carriage and behavi­our of wicked men that can be; by this opposi­tion, the holy conversation of godly men becomes more illustrious; thus doth their light come to shine before Men, so that they seeing their good works, are moved to glorifie the Father which is in Hea­ven; this is to walk as Children of the light, and to shine as lights in the midst of a froward, and a dark Generation, which will be the great convi­ction and condemnation of those wicked men they live amongst, and their own high prayse and great reward another day: This was the high prayse of Noah, Gen. 6.9. Noah was a just Man in his Generation: Why, what Generation was that? it was an evill Generation; When all Flesh had cor­rupted their wayes before the Lord, Noah still kept his integrity, he was a just Man in his Generation. For Abraham in Caldea, Lot in Sodom, Job in Ʋz, Noah in his Generation to hold fast his integrity, was their high prayse.

And so we have done with Elijah's first Satis est, the first of his enoughs, In respect of the evill he had seen.

We come now to consider of the second, which respects the evill that he had Suffered, Satis Tuli, I have suffered enough; and this ariseth out of those words in the latter end of the 14. ver. They have Slain thy Prophets with the edge of the Sword, and I onely am left, and they seek my Life to take it away: By this, you may gather in what condition he was in respect of sufferings, by Persecution, Banish­ment, Hunger, and Thirst, and variety of dangers, threatning even Death it self.

The inference from hence is this;

That it is no news to see the best of Saints to suffer the worst things that the world can doe un­to them: To see Joseph in the Prison, Job upon the Dunghill, Jeremy in the Dungeon, Jonah in the Whales belly, Isay under the Saw, Paul under the Axe, Stephen under a storme of Stones, and all this under the hands of wicked men; and more then this, when such wicked and ungodly men live at ease, and in peace, prosper, and flourish, Come in no misfortune like other men; neither are they plagned like other men, as the Prophet David ob­serves, Psal. 73.5. These things may seem strange [Page 14]to humane apprehension, and doe; but they are no news to those that are well read in the wayes of Providence, nor strange neither, when wisely weighed, and rightly considered: And to help you in those Considerations, I commend you to two of Davids Psalmes, the 37. and the 73. both spent wholly upon this subject, to take away the scandall of the Crosse; In both which, he first rayses the Objections, and then brings in full an­swers to them for the clearing of Gods Justice in this cross dispensation of Providence, and for the satisfying of himself and others in this matter: I shall therefore wave what the Prophet hath there delivered, and onely shew you very briefly some Reasons why and how it comes so to passe, and what profitable Use we may make of this Medi­tation, and so passe on to the next.

Reasons.

If you aske me then, How it comes to pass that the best men should suffer the worst things here in this world? I Answer:

1. This proceeds from the malice of Satan, ever contriving mischief against the Church, even to the utter ruine of it, if it were possible, that the gates of Hell should prevail against it; There is [Page]an enmity between the Woman and the Serpent, which will never be reconciled.

2. From the hatred that wicked men (well nigh as bad as himselfe) bear against it; his very Instruments and Agents are ready to execute his will upon it; the enmity is not onely between the Woman and the Serpent, but between their Seed also: Wicked men are the very Seed of the Serpent, and doe as naturally maligne and hate the Church, and Children of God, as the Serpent doth a man.

3. From their own folly, which by sinne lay themselves open to their malice: Balaam knew he could have no power over the Israelites to hurt them, except he could devise some way how to draw them to sin against God. But when he had contriv'd a way to make them commit Fornication with the Daughters of Moab, he knew he had his purpose on them in exposing them to wrath and judgement, Numb. 25.

4. This comes to pass by the just and wise Providence of God, not onely permitting, but or­dering it so, for holy ends, and good purposes.

1. For tryall of their Faith, that they may come out of them as Gold refined.

2. For exercise of their Graces, Ʋt probentur, [Page]approbentur, improbentur; that they may be proved, approved, improved.

3. For purging out and mortifying of their cor­ruptions, crucifying of their lusts, and inordinate affections.

4. For holding of them close to Duty, as of Repentance, Prayer, and a constant dependance upon God.

5. For the weyning of them from this present evill world, that they might seek and affect better things in a better world, and minde the things that are above, Colos. 3.1.

6. That they may have nothing to suffer here­after, they are chastised in the world, that they may not be condemned with the world.

Ʋses.

1. Are these the ends why God suffereth his Saints to suffer? Then wellcome sufferings by the grace of God; Wellcome Afflictions by the will of God, they shall be a benefit unto us, a greater advantage then the Ease, Peace, and Pro­sperity of wicked men can be unto them; nay, then these could have been unto our selves, if we had had them: Ease slayeth the foolish, and the prosperity of Fooles destroyeth them, Prov. 1.32. Standing Pooles gather mud and dirt, when run­ning [Page 17]Streames keep pure and clear; Winde and Thunder purge the Ayre, and the Fire doth not consume, but refine the Gold that is cast into it: and such are the sufferings of the Saints & servants of God to those that are exercised under them.

2. Think not strange of those fiery tryalls, and that the best men are so often under them, it were strange if it were not so; Christianus Crucianus, the Crosse is the Christians badge, the Cognisance of a Disciple, our Lord himself the Captain of our salvation, was made perfect through sufferings, he carried the Cross upon his own shoulders up Mount Calvary, upon which himself was Crucified; and we may not think much that come after him, with Symon the Cyrenian to carry one end of it: Shew me the man of any standing in the profession of Christianity, that hath been constantly free from sufferings, and I will say, He is either a Miracle, or a Monster in Religion.

3. Think not the worse neither of your selves, nor others in this case; Crosses are not Curses, nor the greatest Sufferers (therefore) the greatest Sin­ners: The sufferings of the Saints are so farr from being Arguments of Gods displeasure towards them; that clean contrary, they are rather evi­dences of his love and favour: So St. Paul Ar­gues, [Page 18] Heb. 12.6. Whom he loveth he chasteneth, and correcteth every sonne whom he receiveth. St. Jerom never feared his estate worse, then when for three years together he lived in peace, and was free from all trouble and adversity. If thou faint in the time of adversity, thy strength is small: Remem­ber, all promises of blessings and good things made to Gods Children, are made with exception of the Cross, against which, even grace and good­ness, piety and obedience, holiness it self is no pro­tection: Sanctity and suffering may stand toge­ther. They were holy ones of whom God spake, Ps. 89.32.33. Their iniquity will I visit with the rod, and their sins with scourges: but my loving kindness will I never take from them, nor suffer my truth to faile.

4. Beware of murmuring, by no means suffer your hearts to break out in any evill thoughts against God and his Providence, even in his most severe proceedings against you, as if he dealt too hardly with you, this were to charge God foolish­ly; But let him be ever justified in his sayings and doings, and clear when he is judged; and to si­lence all clamour, murmurings, and mutinous thoughts. In this case take with you these two considerations. First, See sin in all, let the means [Page 19]by which you suffer be what it will, and the In­struments of it what they can, doe but look well into it, and you shall finde, Sinne lyes at the bot­tome: David saw this, Psal. 25.18. Look upon my adversity and my trouble, and forgive me all my Sinne. Jeremy saw it in his Lamentations, cap. 3.39. Why doth living man complaine, man suffering for his Sinnes? as if he should say, There is no reason for it, let him consider well of it, and he shall find, his Sinnes are greater then his sufferings, his sufferings less then his deservings. Secondly, See God in all, though sin be the cause of all, 'tis God that is the Judge of all: Is there any evill in the City, and the Lord hath not done it? And if it be the Lord, let him doe what he will, he neither can, nor will doe unjust­ly? When Moses told Aaron in a grievous Affliction that befell him, Levit. 10. That it was from the Lord; The Text sayes, Aaron held his peace, ver. 3. he had no more to say. If it be the Lords doing, let him doe what is good in his eyes; his will be done at well upon us, as by us, and as well in taking away, as giving: Ever say with holy Job in the like case, Blessed be the Name of the Lord, Job 1.22.

5. In the sufferings of the Saints and servan [...]s of God here in this world, let wicked and ungod­ly men reade their own doome, and certainly con­clude, [Page 20]That they have a heavy reckoning to make to God in the day of account, that great is the wrath of the Allmighty against them, and feare­full the Judgements that doe await them. Behold (saith the Lord) I visit the City upon which my name is called, and doe you think to escape? you shall not escape. And if the righteous be scarely saved, where shall the ungodly and the Sinner appeare? Surely if he doe so severely scourge his own Children with Scourges, he will torment them with Scorpions. Solomon observed in his time, Eccles. 8.11. That because Judgement was not speedily executed upon evill doers; therefore the hearts of the sonnes of men were wholly set upon wickedness. But there is no reason for it, if they knew all; alas! they see not that their day is comming, they may make a Covenant with the Grave, and with Hell be at agreement, but that Covenant will not stand; they may cry, [...]ace, peace unto themselves, where there is no peace, and so sleep a while in their security, but their damnation sleepeth not; they may sing Requiems to their souls, Ede, bibe, lude, Eat, drink, and be merry, but they see not the hand-writing on the Wall, Mene, Mene, &c. Thou art weighed in the bal­lance, and art found too light: they heare not the dreadfull noyse, Stulte hac nocte, This night shall they [Page 21]fetch away thy soule. With what derision doth the wisedom of God speak to such, Eccles. 11.9. Re­joyce, O young man, in thy youth, and let thy heart cheere thee in the dayes of thy youth, and walk in the sight of thine eyes, and the wayes of thine heart; but remember, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgement. But the Lord speaks terror to them by his royall Prophet David, Psal. 50.21. Thus and thus hast thou done, and I held my tongue, and thou thoughtest me such a one as thy selfe: but I will reprove thee, and set thy sinnes in order before thee. Beloved, take this for a most certaine observation, 'Tis the most dangerous state in the world for a man to goe on in sinne, and prosper, to live in sinne, and to live at ease, free from adversity and affliction: Ephraim is given unto Idols: let him alone, saith the Lord by the Prophet Hosea, c. 4.17. Nolo istam misericordiam, (saith St. Jerom) Lord let me have none of that mercy, to be let alone in my sinne: Scinde, ure, seca ut in aeternum parcas: Let me suffer any thing in this life that thou shalt please to lay upon me, that I may be spared in the life to come, and have nothing to suffer in the other world. Let all secure sinners know, There is a Pit digging up for them, a very significant ex­pression of the Prophet, Psal. 94.13. Ʋntill the [Page 22]Pit be digged for the ungodly: Now the longer the Pit is in digging, the deeper it will be; and the deeper it is, the greater will be the fall into it, and the more impossible the recovery out of it, and so deep it may be, that it may let the sinner down into Hell it self. I conclude this Point with that Advertisement of Saint Paul which he gives to all such secure sinners, Rom. 2.4. Know ye not that the patience and long suffering of God should leade to Repentance? But thou out of thine hardness, and heart that cannot repent, treasurest up unto thy selfe wrath against the day of wrath, and the declaration of the righteous judgement of God. And what a miserable thing is this, for a man to treasure up unto himself wrath against the day of wrath, and all his dayes to be carrying fuell to that fire in which himselfe is eternally to burne?

Lastly, From this truth, let all men certainly conclude a Judge to come; for he that is the Judge of all the world hath said it, That he will render to every man according to his works, Rom. 2.6. But we see, that is not done in this life; in this life here are cross dispensations of Provi­dence, by which it falls out oft times clean con­trary. Solomon observed this in his time, Eccles. 8.14. That there be righteous Men to whom it cometh [Page 23]according to the working of the wicked: and there be wicked Men to whom it cometh according to the work of the righteous. The royall Prophet David before him observed the same, [...]sal. 73. and complineth of it, That the wicked flourish, when the righteous perish; they live at ease, and have all things that their hearts can wish: When the righteous are under the Cross, and under the Rod, chastised every Morn­ing, and visited every moment, Hic pietatis honos? Is this the reward of piety? Is this to render to every man according to his works? surely no, and if things should rest thus, then well might Saint Paul complain, That of all men, the Saints and ser­vants of God were most miserable: If in this life onely we have hope, then are we of all men most miserable: But say not so, and think not so, but possesse your souls with patience for a time, and mark the end, and you shall finde, it is not so. Remember that of St. Paul, Acts 17.31. That God hath appointed a day wherein to Judge the world in righteousness, by his Sonne Jesus Christ, when he will make all these crosse reckonings right and streight, wherein he will render tribulation to them that have troubled his, and to those that have been troubled, rest with him; when he will say to all those secure and sensuall sinners, (as to the rich Epicure in the [Page 24]Gospel,) Sonnes, remember you in your life time re­ceived pleasure, and these my servants received pain: now they are comforted, and you are tormented: that's the day wherein this word shall be made good, That he will render to every Man according to his works, therefore called, The day of refreshing, Acts 3.19. The day of restauration: The day of the righte­ous judgement of God, Rom. 2.5. Gods Judge­ments are alwayes righteous, but they are not alwayes declared to be so: but then they shall be declared to be so, in the sight of all the world, men, and Angels, and they shall all confesse and say, as in the Psalme, Verely there is a reward for the righteous: doubtless there is a God that judgeth the earth.

And so we have done with the Prophets second Satis est, the second of his enoughs spoken in re­ference to what he had suffered, Satis Tuli, I have suffered enough. We now pass to the third, spoken in reference to what he had done.

3. Satis Feci, I have done enough: And this ariseth out of the first words of the 14. verse, I have been very jealous, or zealous, for the Lord God of Hosts: this word is very significant and comprehensive, it containes in it much; as the faithfull discharge of his duty in the Office of a [Page 25]Prophet whereunto he was called, his care to maintaine the true Religion and Worship of God, his courage in reproving the sinnes of the ten Tribes, even in the greatest, Ahab himselfe not excepted; his zeale in convincing and silencing the Priests of Baall in those perillous times, when they had the protection and countenance of Au­thority on their sides, and much more; and that he did not these things coldly, negligently, per­functorily; but with all earnestness and fervency, (as the word imports) for it comes from [...], to hisse, as Iron doth, when being red hot it is dipt in Water, such was his activity in the performance of these his duties, and fervency of affection: Quicquid egit, valide egit, as the Italians are said to doe, The zeale of Gods House did even consume him, as another Prophet speaks: he did these du­ties with zeale as hot as fire: neither in this te­stimony did he arrogate to himselfe any thing at all more then due, nor commend himselfe above his measure, the Story of his Life and Actions evidently declares the truth of what he here as­serts, That he had been very zealous for the Lord God of Hosts, in doing his Will, in seeking his Glory, and in upholding and maintaining his true Worship against all opposers, &c.

The Inferences from hence are these three.

The first, Those that are for God, must doe the will of God.

The second, It is not enough to doe, Oper [...] operato; but they must doe it as they should be done, in due manner, with due affections, and they must doe it home, or els it will never reach to Elijah's Satis est, It is enough.

The third, It shall be their greatest comfort in the evill day, that they have done so: the illa­tion of these is cleare out of Elijah's Satis est in the Text, compar'd with the first words of the 14. v.

First, Those that are for God, must doe the will of God in that Place, Calling, and Condition of Life wherein God hath set them: They must doe his will, whether it be Prophet, or Apostle, or a common Christian, Magistrate, or Minister, or com­mon Beleever, every one must in his Place, doe the will of God: It is our dayly Prayer, That his will may be done in Earth, as it is in Heaven: And in this Prayer, Is it fit that we should over-look our selves? No, as it is our dayly Prayer, so it should be our dayly practise to doe his will: Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, but he that doth the will of my Father which is in Heaven. Not the hearers, but [Page 27]the doers of the Law shall be justified: If you know these things, blessed are you if you doe them. Chri­stianity calls for Action; it is not Logicall, but Morall; not speculative, but practique: it consists not in saying, nor in knowing, nor in professing, but in working; there must be a Feci in it: Regnum Dei non datur otiosis, (as St. Bernard speaks) the Kingdom of God is not given to idle professors, and pretenders; the Calling of a Christian is a laborious Calling, a Building, a Husbandry, a Warfare, all these call to work, there is somthing to be done whereby we may bring glory to God, good to men, and comfort to our own souls: The very Heathen were sensible of this, That they were bound to doe some good in the Generation wherein they lived; and they that did not so, they were reproach't, as In utile pondus terrae, an unprofitable burden to the Earth. Fruges con­sumere nati: as if they were borne onely to de­voure the good things of the Earth. He was an honest Moralist that spake it, Mortem non timore, quia ita vixi, ut frustra me natum non existimem; I am not afraid to dye, because I have so lived, as that no man may think that I was born in vaine: a testimony that may shame many Christians that so live and dye as if they were born in vain, im­profitable [Page 28]burdens to the Earth: Terrible is the doome of the unprofitable servant in the Gospel, Take the unprofitable servant, binde him hand and foot, and cast him into utter darkness: He doth not charge him as being an hurtfull servant, but as an unprofitable servant; not with wasting his Talent, but with not improving it. Beloved, God looks we should be profitable servants, that we should bring glory to his name, honour to the Gospel, and that we should doe good in our Generation, that the world should be the better for our com­ming into it, not the worse: Can any man ima­gine, or can it stand with reason to think, That the most holy God, and wise Creator of all things, should Create such a Creature as Man is for nought, and not look for service from him, and glory out of him? Why there is no Creature that he hath made, though never so mean and despi­cable, but he looks for glory by it, and service out of it, in it's kind; Natura nihil facit frustra, The God of Nature hath made nothing in vain: And shall Man, the most excellent piece of the Crea­tion (next unto the Angels) be unserviceable, and bring in nothing to the glory of the Creator? Man, endued with such rare gifts and abilities to doe good withall, both to himself and others, [Page 29]Did the Creator endue him with such rare excel­lencies above the rest of the Creatures, such as Understanding, Will, Memory, Affections, Rea­son, Judgement, Knowledge, Conscience, for nought? No surely, To whom much is given, of him much will be required: great receipts will make men liable to great accounts: A time will come when they shall give an account both of their Time, and of their Talents, how they have used and improved them, what good they have done with them. Beloved, That man shall never dye comfortably, which hath not in his life time, in some sort, answered the end of his Creation; The end of his Creation is, to glorifie God, to doe good to men in his Generation, and to fur­ther the salvation of his own soule: Blessed is that servant whom when his Master cometh, he shall finde so doing.

Ʋses.

1. It reproves all carnall, careless, and secure Christians, if I may call them such, and not rather Epicure, or Atheist, that make no Conscience at all of doing good; sure they think salvation will come of course, and God will drop down happi­ness into their laps, while they sit still, and never look after it: What shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or where withall shall we be cloathed, are [Page 30]the things that take up their care and thoughts? but the Ʋnum necessarium, that one thing that is necessary, wholly layd aside: Surely a great part of the world are very Atheists, they either think there's no heaven at all, or they are much mistaken in the way to it, and the means of attaining it; We must work, walk, runne, fight the good fight of Faith; Strive to enter in at the streight gate: through many tribulations, many sufferings, ma­ny cumbatings; there are corruptions to be mor­tified, Lusts to be crucified, Temptations to be re­sisted, afflictions to be suffered, spirituall wicked­nesses to be wrastled withall: Qui cupit optatam cursu contingere metam, multa tulit fuitq pius sudovit & alsit: Christianity is no idle Calling, it will take up the whole man, and the whole time, it will keep us doing in the practise of all Christian duties, and the exercise of all Christian graces.

2. This reproves the Sc [...]pticks and [...]nosticks of these times, whose Religion lyes all in their Braine, and in their Tongue, the Practique part of Christianity they lay by, and place it all in Theory and speculation, they have found out a neerer way to Heaven then ever our Fathers knew, an easier, and a cheaper, they can talk thems [...]lves thither, and dispute themselves thither, and all [Page 31]this while sit still, and neither work, nor walk for it at all; the good works which Christianity calls for, they pay with good words; their devotion is turn'd into disputing, their faith into faction, and their charity into contention; the mayne of Re­ligion they place in hearing of Sermons. Pliny writes of a certain Serpent, Aure concepit, Ore parit, That it conceives in the Eare, and brings forth at the Mouth: as fit an Embleme for such professors as can be: They conceive by the Eare, in an insatiable desire of Hearing; and bring forth at the Mouth, by endless disputing, and discour­sing. But as to the Hand by working, or the Foot by walking, their Religion reacheth not, without which, all the rest is but vain, as St. James tells us. Therefore, Set me as a Seale upon thine heart, and as a Bracelet upon thine Arme, saith the Church to Christ, Cant. 8.6. Upon which, St. Bernard thus Glosseth, In corde sunt cogitationes, in brachiis sunt operationes, ergo super cor, & super brachium: The heart is the seat of affections, the Arme the In­strument of actions: Set me therefore as a Seale upon thy heart, and as a bracelet upon thine arme, that with the one I may ever affect, and with the other effect the things that please thee. Beloved, Not onely the Law, but the Gospel, every where [Page 32]calls for good works at our hands: Be zealous of good works, Titus 2.14. Fruitfull in good works, Col. 1.10. And let ours also learn to shew forth good works: What? though they be not Causa Regnandi, The cause why we shall reigne; yet they are, Via Regni, The way to the Kingdome, and the way which God hath appointed we should walk in thither: What though they doe not ju­stifie, nor merit? yet they are profitable for ne­cessary uses: By them is our Heavenly Father glo­rified, the Gospel of Jesus Christ honoured and adored; they are evidences of the soundness of our Faith, the sincerity of our profession; they bring comfort to the Conscience here, and there is a certain reward for them in Heaven; though not, Propter opera; yet Secundum opera, according to our works to be given unto us. Blessed are the dead which dye in the Lord, even so saith the spirit, for they rest from their labours, and their works fol­low them: And happy is he which hath store of them in that day to prayse him in the gates.

And thus much of the first inference, drawn from Elijah's third Satis est, that is, I have done enough: Those that are for God, must doe the will of God.

2. The second follows, and 'tis this, That it is [Page 33]not enough to doe the will of God, Opere operato: but they must doe it as it should be done, or els it will never reach to the Satis est in the Text: Now this Satis: est, hath respect to two things in doing the will of God. First, The manner of do­ing it. Secondly, The extent of it. The first re­quires, that it be done well. The second, that it be done home, they both are included in the Word Zealous: I have been Zealous for the Lord God of Hosts. Zeale is a vehement affection, com­posed of Love and Anger, and Actions flowing from these two, are ever done in earnest, they are done home and throughly, and so ought we to doe all things that we doe for God: The Opus operatum, the work done will not serve the turne, but it must be rightly qualified in all the circum­stances of it, and done in a right manner: If we love the Lord our God, we must love him with all our heart, with all our soule, with all our mind, and with all our strength: If we serve him, we must serve him with reverence and godly seare: If we worship him, we must worship him in Spirit, and in Truth Luther said well, That God loves Ad­vers, rather then Verbs, the manner of doing, more then the work done, the will more then the deed, the mind more then the matter, we must not serve [Page 34]God negligently, nor we must not serve him by halves, either of these make our obedience fall short of Elijah's Satis est in the Text: To say, we beleeve in God, we love God, and we feare God, and not to obey him, to shew our faith by our works, and our fear by our worship, Non satis est, it is not enough; but to our faith to joyne our obedience, and to our fear to joyne our worship, and to our love our care to keep his Commande­ments, Satis est, it is enough: To profess that we know God, to confess his Name, to draw neer unto him with our lips, and in all outward de­portment to have a forme of godliness, Non satis est, it is not enough; but to know God in Christ, reconciling the world unto himselfe, to draw neer unto him with our hearts, and dearest affections, and with the forme of godliness to shew forth the power of it, Satis est, it is enough: To cry Lord, Lord, as in the Gospel, and Templum Domini, Tem­plum Domini, The Temple of the Lord, The Temple of the Lord, as the Jews did in Jeremy, Non satis est, it is not enough: but to doe the will of our Fa­ther which is in Heaven, and in his Temple to speak of his Honour, and to worship him aright, Satis est, it is enough. To make our boast of God, and of his Law, to heare every day a Sermon, to [Page 35]know the Mistery of the Gospel, to have a mouth full of Scripture ready at all times to throw at an adversary in dispute or discourse, Non satis est, it is not enough: but to know the truth as it is in Jesus, to receive the truth with the love of the truth, to answer the end of the Evangelicall Law, which is Love out of a pure heart a good Conscience, and Faith unfeigned, Satis est, it is enough. To bring multitudes of sacrifices and oblations unto the Lord, to stretch out our hands before him, and to make many Prayers, Non satis est, it is not enough: but to wash us, to make us cleane, to take away the evill of our works from before his eyes, to cease to doe evill, and learne to doe well, Satis est, it is enough. To come be­fore the Lord with thousands of Rams, and ten thousand Rivers of Oyle, to give the fruit of my body for the sin of my soule, (Micha 6.6.7.) Non satis est, it is not enough: but to doe Judgement, to love Mercy, and to walk humbly before the Lord, Satis est, it is enough. To conclude this point, to be admitted into the visible Church, to be matri­culated into it by Baptisme, to live in a professed subjection to the Gospel of Christ, to come to Church, to heare Sermons, to sit out the Service, and at the appointed times to receive the Sacra­ment [Page 36]of the Lords Supper, (though this be more then we can gaine of many among you,) Non satis est, it is not enough: but to make it our care all the dayes of our life, to make good the Cove­nant which we made in our Baptisme, to become Members of the invisible Church, incorporated into it, and united unto it by the bonds of faith and of the spirit, to express the power of the Word, Sacraments, and Spirit working by them in a constant holy walking before the Lord, as becomes the Members of that holy Society, Satis est, it is enough: And so we have made good the second Inference drawn out of Elijah's third Satis est, in reference to what he had done, Satis Feci, I have done enough. But stay a little, be­fore we take our leave of this Satis est, it is ne­cessary we should answer an Objection that lyes in our way, and must be removed before we can proceed any further.

Obj. Quid audio? What is that I heare? Satis feci, I have done enough: Who can say so? be he a Prophet, be he an Apostle, an Evangelist, be he the holiest of Saints that ever lived, can he say of himselfe, Satis feci, I have done enough? Is there a Satis in our obedience unto which we may arrive, and then say, It is enough? Our Saviour [Page 37]tells us, That when we have done all that we can, we are unprofitable servants: How then can any say, It is enough? or I have done enough?

Sol. To this I answer by a double distinction.

First thus, There is a Satis ad Justificationem; and there is a Satis ad Testificationem: there is a Satis as to Justification; and there is a Satis as to Testification. As to the former, there is no man can say, He hath done enough. Enter not into judge­ment with thy servant, O Lord, for in thy sight shall no man living be justified. Psal. 143.2.

But as to the later, there is a Satis ad testifica­tionem, to testification, that is, To testifie the truth of our faith, the sincerity of our obedience, and the uprightness of our hearts in the Service of God. When Abraham was so ready, upon Gods command, to offer up his Sonne Isaac in sacrifice to him, as to bring him to Mount Moriah, there to build an Altar, to lay the Wood in order upon it, and binde his Sonne to the Wood, to take the Knife in his hand, and to stretch forth his hand to Slay him: God staies his hand, bids him hold his hand, proceed no further, Satis est, It is enough, for now I know that thou lovest me, seeing thou hast not refused to offer up thine onely Sonne in sacrifice to me at my com­mand, Gen. 22. Here's a Satis ad testificationem, [Page 38]enough to testifie his love and obedience; and so, though none of Gods Saints and servants can reach to a Satis in reference to justification; yet as to the testification of the soundness of their faith, the sincerity of their obedience, and the uprightness of their hearts in his Service, there is a Satis which they may reach to, and of which God himselfe will testifie, and say, Satis est, It is enough.

The second distinction in Answer to this Obje­ction, is this: There is another two-fold Satis:

  • First, Satis ad perfectionem.
  • Secondly, Satis ad acceptationem.

First enough, In reference to perfection. And,

Secondly enough, In reference to acceptation.

As to the former, Nunquam satis est, we can ne­ver arrive enough as to perfection; Our Saviour hath set us a Coppy, that we can never come neer, Mat 6. Be you perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect. Alas! our highest perfection, is to ac­knowledge our imperfection: and the best of us all, when we have done our best, to acknowledge, We are unprofitable servants: To confess, with the Centurion, Domine non sum dignus, O Lord I am not worthy the least of thy mercies: and with the Publi­can, [Page 39]to pray, Lord be mercifull to me a sinner: so that if we look at perfection, Nunquam satis est, we shall never arrive to that degree, or height of obe­dience, as to say, Nunc satis est, It is now enough. But if we look at acceptation, blessed be God, there is a Satis, whereunto the Saints and servants of Almighty God may, and doe arrive, even in this life, through the mercy of God, and the in­dulgence of our Heavenly Father, which, where he sees a willing mind, accepts of the will for the deed, and of what we can doe, instead of what we should doe, which accepts according that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not: And so this rubb being removed, we pass to the third Inference, which is this:

That thus to have so done, the will of God will be our greatest comfort in an evill day, when we shall stand in most need of it. Hezekiah found it so, when the Message came to him by the Prophet Isay from the Lord, That he should set his house in order, for he must dye. O Lord remember, I have walked before thee with an upright and a perfect heart, and have done that which was good in thy sight, Isay 38.1, 3. Nehemiah found it so, who having done worthily for the people of God in obteining Commission from the King of Persia for [Page 40]the redeeming of the Jews out of the Babylonish Captivity, and building the Walls of Jerusalem, often comforts himselfe with the remembrance of it, Nehemiah 13.14. Remember me, O my God in this, and blot not out the kindness that I have shewed to thy house. And verse the 22. Remember me, O my God, concerning this also, and pardon me according to thy great mercy. And again verse 31. Remember me, O my God, in goodness Indeed he needed not have put God in mind to remember him, the Lord would have remembred him, and his kindness shewed to his people, though he should forget it: God is not unfaithfull that he should forget the labour and love shewed unto his Saints. We see in Matthew 25 how he did remember it, when they had forgotten it that shewed it, ver. 42.43. When I was hungry, you gave me to eate: when I was thirsty, you gave me to drink: when I was naked, you cloathed me: sick, and in prison, you visited me, and ministred unto me: this they had forgotten, and therefore asked, Lord, when saw we thee hungrty, or thirsty or naked, or sick, and in prison, and ministred unto thee? he remembred it, when they had forgotten it, and doth not onely remem­ber it, but reward it too, and now they finde the comfort of it. With such a remembrance doth [Page 41]Saint Paul comforts himselfe, 2 Tim. 4.7. I have fought the good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. Henceforth is layd up for me a crowne of righteousness: He was not afraid to sing out his Cupio dissolvi, I desire to be dissolved. Nor our Prophet in the Text, to make it his suite to the Lord, To take away his soule, when he remembred, how zealous he had been for the Lord God of Hosts, while he was in the body. The very Heathens were sensible of this, and it was a great incitement to them to justice and honesty, and all morall vertue: Conscientia benè acta vitae, multorumque benefactorum recordatio jucundissima est: The Con­science of a life well spent, and the remembrance of much good done in his life time; O what a Cordiall it is to an old man, a dying man. And so is the contrary, the remembrance of a life ill spent, and of much evill done in a mans life time, as great a corrasive at such a time: Thou writest bitter things against me, and makest me to possess the sins of my youth, saith J [...]b, cap. 12.25. and he none of the worst of men. Beloved, there will come a time when Conscience awakened, and enlighte­ned, will be serious with us, in calling us to ac­count for things done in our life time, how we have spent our life, our time, and our Talents; [Page 42]what good we have done with them ever since we came into the world: And what a sad account is this, when a man can give no better account to God, nor his own Conscience, but thus, That he hath lived upon earth forty, or fifty, or sixty, or seventy years, or more, to doe nothing, but eate, and drink, and sleep, and play, or worse, and spent his life, Aut nihil agendo, in doing nothing; Aut aliud agendo, in doing things impertinent, which is as good as nothing; Aut malè agendo, or in do­ing evill, which is worse then nothing, and now is going out of the world, before ever he hath thought of his errand, wherefore he came into it: If this be not to be an unprofitable servant, what is? and what his doome is, we have heard, and may reade, Matthew 25. Beloved, Let this Meditation teach us wisedom, so to lay out our selves while we live in this world, so to improve our time, and our Talents, as that we may be able to give some account of them to God, and to our own Consciences, so to live that we need not be afraid to dye, to be doing some good here in our life time, the remembrance whereof may yeeld us comfort in our sickness, and hope in our death, so to lay out our selves in this world, that we may have somewhat to take to in the other [Page 43]world, when we shall leave this, and all that we have in it, and so shall we be great gainers by the change.

And so we have done with this third Inference also, deduc'd out of the Prophets third Satis est, It is enough, spoken in reference to what he had done, Satis feci, I have done enough. We now come to the fourth, as spoken in reference to his Age, and the years of his Life, Satis vixi, I have lived long enough.

In all likelihood, the Prophet was now an old man, and there are five things which perswade us to think so.

First, He was President of the Colledge of the Prophets, and the Prophets Children, such as were bred up in an Academicall, or Studious way, whereby they might be fitted for that Office, when called unto it; he was President over them, and that was not a Charge for a Novice or a Neo­phite to undertake.

Secondly, He had wrought many great Mira­cles, and done great and signall services among the people of God, (as his story testifieth,) which were not the work of a short time, and he could not be less then thirty years old when he was first Anointed unto the Office of a Prophet, for that [Page 44]was, Aetas Sacerdotalis, as St. Jerome calls it; and if it were so still, the Church would receive no damage by it.

Thirdly, He was now commanded to Anoint Elisha Prophet to succeed in his roome; an Argu­ment, that he had finished his course in Prophesy­ing, and was now ready to resigne.

Fourthly, The last words of this Verse seems to import as much, For I am no better then my Fa­thers; they had their time here on earth, and are now dead and gone. I have had my time too, and what should I doe now, but follow after them, and be gathered unto them, For I am no better then my Fathers.

Fifthly, Because he makes it his request, To be dissolved, which if he were in his best Age, and strength, and fit and able to serve God and his people in that high Office, he would not have done, nor could without sin; in all these respects we may rationally conclude, he was now an old man. And although there be nothing in this world so desireable as that it should make a man in love with it in any state of his life, and in his best years; yet much more when his best dayes are gone and past, when he is entring into that state of life of which David saith, It is but labour [Page 45]and sorrow, and those years approach of which he shall say, I have no pleasure in them, may he with good reason be content to leave the World, and make it his request, That the Lord would take away his soule. When the keepers of the house trem­ble, and the strong men bow themselves; when the grinders cease, because they are few, and they wax dark that look out at the windows: When the Al­mond Tree shall flourish, the Grashopper shall be a burden, and all the daughters of singing shall be aba­sed: When the Silver cord is lengthened, and the Golden Ewer broken, when the Pitcher is broken at the Well, and the Wheele broken at the Cisterne, &c. as that great Master of Wisedom elegantly de­scribes old Age, Eccles. 12.3. &c. then for an old Barzillai, to refuse the pleasures of the Court: Or an old Simeon, to sing his Nunc dimittis. Or an aged Paul, To desire to dissolved: Or an old Elijah, to beseech the Lord, To take away his soule, is no wonder, and all this as old Age meerly considered in it selfe, without any other grievances added to it to make it burdensome, and irksome, it is a burden to it felfe; but who ever saw it come, but attended with a world of infirmities to make it more tedious, Catarrs Rhumes, Aches, Pal­sies, akings in the Bones, Gouts, Dropsies, and in [Page 46]all these, inability to help it selfe; Senex bis puer, it is a second Childhood, and 'tis a question whe­ther the second be not worse then the first. Upon these, and some other considerations, it hath often been my Prayer to the Lord God, and is at this instant, That he would not detain this soule of mine in this Tabernacle of Clay wherein it hath now lodged these seventy years and upward, unto extremity of old Age. But farther, If to all these there should be added any externall grievances, poverty, and want, discontent in the Family, dis­obedience in prodigality of Children, divisions a­mong Brethren, vexatious Suits, or the like, these were enough, not only to make an old man desire dissolution, but to hasten it, and to bring his gray baires with sorrow to the Grave.

Another discouragement to old Age that helps to take away the comfort of it is, That they are very apt to be despised, though it should not be so, God hath stampt such a reverend aspect in the very face and gray haires of an old man, as should command reverence from the younger sort, if they were not unreasonably uncivill; and hath commanded it too, Thou shalt rise up before the boary head, and honour the person of an old Man; Age is honourable, a Crowne of glory, (saith Solo­mon,) [Page 47]the gray haires are the silver Crowne and Image of Gods eternity, who is described to have his head and his haire white as Wooll, or Snow, Revel. 1.14. where he is pleased so farr to honour old Age, as to take a simile from the gray haires, to shaddow forth his own Eternity: yet such is the corruption and vitiousness of men, to make that the matter of their reproach, which should be of their honour: what more ordinary, then call such, Old dotard, old foole, old any thing, that may sound reproachfully: Honour thy Father that begat thee, and despise not thy Mother when she is old, (saith Solomon,) Prov. 23.22. implying, that she is never more subject to be despised, then when she is old.

I will add but this one discouragement more which helps to take away from old men the com­fort of their lives, and that is this, That they see the world grows weary of them, although they have deserv'd never so well of it, yet, now they have done what good they can, and they see they can get no more good out of them, they grow weary of them, and would be shut of them. I have read of a barbarous Country, where, when men come to that extremity of old Age, that they grow useless, they knock them on the head, [Page 48]and bury them. We are not grown to that barba­risme in England, but surely I doe beleeve, there are some that could wish it were so, some of their very neer relations, so their hand were not upon them, especially if while they live they be any way troublesome or chargeable to them; or at their death they look for some benefit by them: A strange ingratitude, and most unreasonable, that those which receive most benefit from them, should afford them least respect, and be most wea­ry of them; but these are great discouragements to old Age, which may make them as weary of the World, as the World is of them, and wish with all their hearts, with our Prophet in the Text, That the Lord would take away their soule. I will conclude this Point, with my Advice to such, though they need not be put in mind that their day is far spent, and the night closing upon them, their Sunne is set, and they but as a Candle spent to the end, and blinking within the socket, their gray haires and wrinkled cheeks, their dim eyes, trembling hands, and weak knees, reade unto them continuall Lectures of mortality, and advise them to withdraw out of the tumultuous Sea of this troublesome World, and to put in to the Haven of quiet rest, and repose; to give them­selves [Page 49]to Prayer and Meditation, to meditate up­on the vanity of the time past, the shortness of the time present, and Eternity to come; to set their House and their Heart in order, and to pre­pare for a change at hand, and all the few dayes of their appointed time to waite till that change doe come, that so it may be unto them a happy change, and they may with hope and comfort re­signe their soules into the hand of their Creator, and not be afraid to say with our Prophet in the Text, Lord take away my soule, which is the re­quest it selfe, which in old Simeons Language, I call the Prophets Nunc dimittis: In which are these three things; First, The Person, The Lord. Secondly, The Act, take away. Thirdly, The Object, my soule.

From the first note, He might not take it away himselfe, his soule was not his own, he might not of his own head dismiss it himselfe, though it were in him in never so much bitterness; but he must stay the time till God that gave it him re­mands it again, in the meane time, In his p [...]tience possess his soule, and all the dayes of his appointed time, waite untill his change should come. It is the re­fore a desp [...]rate course of desperate men, to ante­date this Act of God by offering violence to [Page 50]themselves, and so letting out their own soules, as Achitophel and Judas did; such think thereby to rid themselves of some present griefe, or discon­tent, by ridding-themselves of their lives; but it is a delusion of Satan to tell them so, herein they doe but leape out of the Frying Pan into the Fire, as the Proverbe is; for if this life did scourge them with scourges; that other, without the ex­traordinary mercy of God, will torment them with Scorpions. It was said of Hanniball, That he alwaies carried three or foure drops of strong poyson inclosed under the stone of his Ring, that at any time if he were hard set, (as Saul once was upon the loss of the day in a Battell against the Philistines,) he might sup them out, and prevent his falling into his enemies hands, as Saul then, upon the same occasion, fell upon his Speare, and with the help of the fugitive Amalekite, Slew himselfe. And that stout hearted Prince, which being taken Prisoner, and carried about by the Conqueror in a silver Cage, impati­ent of his Captivity, and not having where with­all to make away himselfe, beat our his braines against the barrs of the Cage. We could instance in too many such (God knows) which by hang­ing, drowning, poysoning, and other kinds of death, have made away themselves; these our [Page 51]Law calls, Felones de se, Felons of themselves, and inflicts upon them as grievous a punishment as they are capable of being dead, by an ignomi­nious buriall: And yet I dare not say peremptori­ly of all such, that they are certainly and eternal­ly damned, though there be nothing visible to us whereby we may judge otherwise of them; yet who can limit the mercies of the most high, or know what secret communication of spirit there may be in them, between the beginning of the act, and the end of it, Inter pontem & fontem, be­tween the bridge, & the brook; between the stir­rup and the ground, mercy I ask't, mercy I found. Judas was not damned for hanging himselfe, but for his I reason; but to leave them to their own Master and Maker to stand or fall.

But Secondly, There are more Felones de se, selfe murderers, or which at least are accessary to their own deaths then these, though the Law doe not call them so. As first, All lewd and ungodly persons, which having not the feare of God be­fore their eyes, take wicked courses, commit rob­beries, burgleries, rapes, [...]elones treasons, mur­ders, and other such capitall Crimes, such as that the Laws of the Land take hold of them, and [...]ut them off as not worthy to live upon the Earth, [Page 52]not among the Society of men: The cruell and blood thirsty man shall not live out halfe his dayes: all such are at least accessary to their own deaths.

Secondly, All luxurious and intemperate per­sons, which by surfetting, drunkenness, and riotous living destroy themselves, fill their bodies with noxious humours, which breed in them mortall diseases, Sur [...]ets, Fevers, Dropsies, dead Palsies, and the like, by which they shorten their dayes. The Philosopher observ'd [...] long agoe, That Plures gulâ quam gladio: There were more dyed by in­temperance, then by the sword.

Lastly, All quarrelsome Persons, such as are apt to give offence to others, and to provoke others to give offence to them, and so from words they fall to blows, or to challenge one another to fight Duells, in which, both parties are guilty of Mur­der by the sixth Commandement; and as well he that is killed, as he that killeth, is at least accessa­ry to his own death: In none of these cases can a man say confidently, That the Lord doth take away his soule, he throweth it away himselfe, and de­stroyeth himself.

2. From this the Prophets request unto the Lord, To take away his soule; we may inferr, That though a man may not take away his own soul, yet [Page 53]in some cases, he may make it his Suit to Almigh­ty God, that he would doe it: So did old Simeon before mentioned: So did St. Paul, 2 Tim. 4.6. So did Moses Numb 11.15. So did Job, cap. 6.8.9. So did Jeremiah, cap. 20. So did Jonas, Jonah 3.3. So did our Prophet in the Text: I dare not justifie, nor excuse all these which I have mentio­ned in this their request; I suppose that in some of them it proceeded from passion, and impati­ence, and so it was their infirmity, and blame­worthy; yea, in this our Prophet himself, if there were not in this his request a tacite submission to the will of God, it could not be excused, but it proceeded from infirmity in him; but this doth not infringe the truth of my inference,

That in some cases the Saints and Servants of Almighty God, may without sin make it their Suite to him, That he will take away their soules, that is, by death and dissolution, separate them from their bodies.

First, That so he may be taken out of a wicked world: Oh what a Hell is it to a pious foule to be ingag'd in a wicked world? For a Lot to live in Sodom: A David in Meshech: It was a farr greater mercy which God shewed to Enoch, in taking him [Page 54]out of the world from the Flood at hand, then that he shewed to Noah in preserving him in it.

Secondly, In case of long and lasting, sharpe and griev [...]us Affl [...]ctions: Oh death, how sweet is the [...]r membrance of thee to the soule that lives in bitterness? I doe not think the Lord did im­pute it for sin to Job, or Jeremy, that they were so weary of their bitter Lives, and did so often wish, That their change might come. Or, that King Edward the sixth did sin, when in his death bed­sickness, he prayd so earnestly, Lord take me out of this wretched World. Nor Dr. Hamond, who under the tortures of the Stone, whereof he dyed, was so often heard to say, Lord, make hast: though I doubt not but in all these, there was implyed a tacit submission to the will of God.

Thirdly, That a man may be taken away fr [...]m the evill to come: This was a mercy promised to Josiah upon his humiliation, (2 Kings 22.19.20.) as it was the misery of his surviving Sonne Zede­kiah, to see the evill which his Father was taken from, and to suffer in it. Wise men fore-see evill to come, in the causes of it, and in the [...]ore-run­ners of it: And the Lord mentions it as a mercy, That he will take them away from those evills: and they may without sin Pray for that mercy, Isay 57.1.

Fourthly, That they may be freed from the burden of the flesh, and the bondage of corrupti­on inherint in it; that Ground Ivie in the Wall, which will never be pluckt out root and branch, till the Wall be thrown down: It was under the sense of this that St. Paul cryes out, Rom. 7.24. O wretched man that I am: who shall deliver me from the body of this death? this will never be done, but by the death of this body.

Fifthly, In extremity of old age, when a man becomes a burden to himselfe, and others; when he is fallen into those years of which David saith, His life is nothing but labour and sorrow, and the years of which he shall say, I have no pleasure in them: when not onely his body grows weak, but his mind also, and his intellectuall faculties faile, his understanding weak, his apprehension dull, his memory unfaithfull, his affections Childish, and he becomes unserviceable, not able to doe that good which he hath done, and should doe; when a man becomes thus superannuate, he may doubt­less without sin, make it his suite to Almighty God, To take away his soule.

Ʋse.

This Meditation is usefull to comfort, and to [Page 56]confirme us against the feare of death, either of our selves, or our friends; why should we make that the object of our feare, which others have made the object of their hope and desire? Holy men, wise men, good men, men that have had a great interest in the world, have been willing to lay down all, and to leave all, and made it their suite, that they might dye, in assurance of a change for a better life. To help us to pass through this Gulfe with comfort and courage, weigh well but these two things:

  • 1. What a world we leave behind us, the Terminus à quo.
  • 2. What a world we have before us, the Terminus ad quem: And these two consi­derations will make the passage through that medium easie.

First, For the Terminus à quo, the world we leave behind us, a very sink of sin, a du [...]ghill of uncleanness: [...], The whole World lyes in wickedness, as St. John speaks, no­thing in it but sinne, and sorrow, and travaile, and trouble, and malice, and mischief, and that which may well make any wise man out of love with it, [Page 57]and even weary of it: The best things in it which men make most account of, have been weighed to our hands by the wisest of the Sonnes of Men, and upon the tryall found, To be lighter then vanity it selfe; not onely vanity, but vexation of spirit. For first, They are all transitory. Secondly, They are not all satisfactory. Thirdly, All imbitter'd with so many cross Ingredients, that there is no true contentment in them, nor true comfort to be taken out of them. We could shew you examples of the greatest of men, Kings, Emperours, Lords of the world, such as have had as much of the glory of it, and all other worldly good in it, as the world could give or lend; yet have seen so farr into the vanity and emptiness of it, as to despise it, to lay down all, and take themselves unto a private and monasticall life, which is a death to the world, and the shaddow of death it selfe.

Secondly, For the Terminus ad quem, Consider what a world (in dying) we are going to, it would require a world of time, and words to describe it; the best description of it is to describe it to be such (for the transcendency of the glory of it) as that it cannot be described, For neither hath the eye seen, nor the eare heard, nor can the heart of Man comprehend the great things that God hath prepared [Page 58]for them that love him, 1 Cor. 2.9. St. Paul shad­dows it out in part, Heb. 12.22. where he shows the happiness of the Church militant, in their communion with the Church triumphant, thus: But you are come to Mount Sion, and to the City of the living God, the Caelestiall Jerusalem, and to the com­pany of in [...]numerable Angels: And to the Assembly and Congregation of the first borne, whose names are Written in Heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just Men made perfect: And to Jesus the Mediatour of the new Testament, and to the blood of sprinkling, which speaketh better things then the blood of Abel. Here's a description in part of the Place, and Society which we shall goe to, when we shall come to be joyned with the Church tri­umphant in glory; now be you well assured, that all things els there, are suitable to these, which must needs render it transcendently joyous, and glorious. O! if we could but draw the Curtaine of Heaven, and look in the Sanctum Sanctorum, to see the joy, and glory that is there, we would never care for this world more, the most pretious things in it would be despised in our eyes, our whole life would be nothing, but a Cupio dissolvi, & esse cum Christo: I desire to be dissolved, and to be with Christ; and we would long for the time, [Page 59]when the Lord would take away our soul, that we might be translated thither. I reade of one Cleombrotus, that hear­ing Plato discoursing of the immortality of the soul, and the happines of the other life to come, Threw him­self headlong off from a high Rock to quit himself of this life, that so he might enter into that other life, that Plato so much commended: And if a Heathen man could be so sen­sible of advantaging himself by his change into the other life, upon those weak grounds which Plato's Phi­losophy could give, as to hasten his own death upon the hope of it: Surely we that are Christians, and have better grounds to build our faith and hope upon, then any Plato's Philosophy could give; may with much more Comfort think on Death, with much more hope and confidence waite for it: and when it comes, bid it welcome, as our friend that comes to free our soul out of the prison of the body, the sole im­pediment of it's perfection, and to open the doore to let us into a better world, and into a better life. Thus of the Person to whom he makes his suit, The Lord.

2. Now we are to consider of the Act, Take away my soule. How doth the Lord take away souls?

Not by annihilation, or reducing them to nothing, as at the first Creation: Nor by laying them a sleep to­gether with their bodies, till the Resurrection, the Opi­nion of the Arabians: Nor by a Metempsuchosis, trans­mitting them into some other body, to informe them: Nor by fixing them, as Starrs in the Firmament: Nor [Page 60]by sending them into purgatory, as the Papists teach: But thou that gavest it me, take it unto thy self, either by thine own immediate power and grace, who art a Spirit, and the God of the spirits of all flesh; or by the Ministery of thy good Angells, let them be ready to receive it, at the parting of it out of my body, as they did the soul of Lazarus, and to carry it up to rest and glory: Thus, Lord take away my soule.

From hence, note first, That our souls are immor­tall, they dye not with the body; but when the body at the dissolution returns to the earth, from whence it was taken the soul returns to God that gave it: All the expres­sions of holy men dying, imports as much: Lord Jesus receive my spirit, saith St. Stephen. Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit, saith our Saviour: Lord take away soul, saith our Prophet; all expressing their faith in this truth, That their souls were immortal. Feare not them that can kill the body, and are not able to kill the soul, saith our Saviour: So then, the soul cannot be killed. Our bles­sed Lord disputing with the Sadduces concerning the Resurrection, Mat. 22. tells them out of the Scriptures, That God was the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, who were dead and buried a thou­sand years before; and from thence concludeth, the im­mortality of the soul, inasmuch, as God was not the God of who dead, but of the living, ver. 32. their spirits did never dye, their souls were still alive, and in being, and he was their God.

Ʋses. First, It is of Use to quiet our spirits, and to satisfie our minds, sometimes troubled upon the consi­deration of the perplexities of Providence, in the cross dispensation of evill and good, to the good and the evill here in this world; the unravelling of this Clue, of the souls immortality from the beginning to the end, will guide us through this Labyrinth, so that in the end, we shall say, The wayes of the Lord are right: when a day shall come, when it shall be said to the Epi­cures of this world, which have had their portion in this life, as in Luke 16.25. Sonne, Rentember you have had your pleasure in your life time, and my servants received pain: now they are comforted, and you are tormented.

2. This Meditation is of Use to comfort, and to confirme us against the fear of death, either our own, or our friends, inasmuch, as beleeving in the Lord, me shall live, though we dye: And he that liveth, and be­leeveth in him, shall never dye eternally: Indeed, we shall not dye at all, totally; for though we lay down our bodies into the earth to sleep; yet our spirits shall not dye at all, but being delivered from the burden of the flesh, shall live with the Lord, and be translated into a state of joy and feli [...]ity, Et meliore sui parte superstes [...] erit, The better part is still living, and therefore the Scripture will hardly call it a death, but a Sleep, a Change, a Dissolution, a Departure, a Translation.

3. It is of use for the contempt of this world, in [Page 62]which we have no surer footing, and of the best things of this world, of which we have no better hold, nor longer enjoyment, but for this short & uncertain life.

4. This Meditation of the immortality of the soul, is of speciall use, to teach and to admonish to pre­pare, and to provide for that our future condition, to lay up for our selves treasure in Heaven, that we may have something to take to, when we come into the other world, when we shall leave this, and all that we have in it behind us, to make us friends of the Mam­mon of iniquity, that when time comes, they may re­ceive us into the everlasting habitations, to lay here a good soundation against the time to come, that seeing our fouls are immortall, and shall have an eter­nall being, it may be in well being; that seeing they shall live eternally, it may be in bliss and happiness, now is the time to provide for it: O how miscrable will be the condition of those souls, which having lost their time here, when this life is ended, shall be swal­lowed up into eternity, and all that while shall live in woe and misery, in pain and torment, easeless, end­less, and remediless? How much better had it been for such if they had never been born? Or being born, that their souls had dyed with their bodies? or living after them, there had been some period of time where­in they might have been extinguished? But when they must so continue for ever, That the worme shall ne­ver [Page 63]dye, nor the fire never goe out, that they shall con­tinue in torment to all eternity: Who can conceive the misery of it? That word eternity, into what a deep bottomeless gulfe doth it swallow up the mind that thinks upon it? Great wonder it is, and a miracle indeed, that a point of such great importance, and high concernment, should be no more heeded and regarded: Some live, as if they had no souls at all; or if they have any, that they are but as the souls of bruits, which perish with their bodies; and well were it with them if they did so: they live, as if they never thought to dye, and dye, as if they never thought to rise again; they have no hope in their death, nor any care of their immortall soules ever after. To these I say no more but this, Lord have mercy upon their poor miserable soules, they will have time enough hereafter, when it is too late, to see their error, and to repent of this their stupidity and security.

Secondly, Note here the holy and heavenly ex­pressions of the Saints and Servants of the Lord at their departure out of this life: O Lord, I have waited for thy salvation, saith the Patriarke Jacob upon his death bed, Gen. 49.18. Lord now let­test thou thy servant depart in peace, (said old Simeon, Luke 2.29.) for mine eyes have seen thy salvation. [Page 64]Saint Stephen the holy Martyr, with these words breath'd out his soule, Lord Jesus receive my spirit, Acts 7.59. Our Lord himselfe upon the Cross, giving up the ghost, with these words breath'd his last, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit, (Luke 23.46.) in sense the same with the Pro­phet in the Text, Lord take away my soule. With such holy expressions as these, did holy Men dying take their leave of the World, and breathe out their spirits. I could instance in many more, Bi­shops, Martyrs, Confessors, and other holy men and Women dying, some in my own hearing; others in the hearing of other Men, and recorded in the stories of their Lives and Deaths, with the gratious expressions utter'd by them in their death-beds, in words full of faith, full of hope, full of comfort, much to the edification of all that were present; and it is a great advantage to be present with such men, at such a time, for then are they most serious, then are their soules loosing from the prison of their bodies, and are prominen­tes, (as it were looking out before they take their flight) then have they clearer Vision of things then they had before, when they were in the close prison of their bodies, the light breaks in at the chinks, and at the doores and windows opening to [Page 65]let out the soule; then have many of the Saints had rare Discoveries, and Revelations, by which they have Prophesied of things to come; and the words of dying men, are much to be heeded and regarded. But if you would have the Lord to draw neer unto you in these wayes when you are dying, you must draw neer to God in his wayes while you are living; You must acquaint your selfe with God, and be at peace with him, as Eliphas speaks in Job, cap. 22.21. you must live in commu­nion with him, you must call upon his Name, prayse him, and give him thanks, worship him, and doe his will, then will he own you; and be mercifull to you at that time, and draw neer unto you, and have a care of your soule that it shall not miscarry: but he himselfe will take it away.

But secondly, If you would have the Lord to take away your soule, you must keep your soul with all diligence, and preserve it pure, and undefiled, that the Lord may own it, and accept it, and place it among the holy souls of his Saints, and his redeemed ones. The Lord our God is a holy God, of pure eyes, which cannot behold any thing that is impure, but with indignation; and there is nothing more odious to him then sinne and corruption, nor which renders us more abo­minable [Page 66]in his sight: Compared therefore to Le­prosie, to the Leopards spots, to menstruous pollu­tion: If therefore our souls shall be presented unto him stained with sinne, polluted with un­cleanness, defiled with spirituall leprosie of cor­ruption, spotted with noysome lusts and pleasures; Will the Lord look at them? will he own them? will he accept them? Can we desire the Lord, or hope that he will take away such souls? or imploy his good Angels to fetch them, as he did to receive the soule of Lazarus and carry it into Abraham's bosome? No, there are other soule-gatherers rea­dy to take away such souls, even those which were imployed to fetch away the soule of the covetous rich Man in the Gospel, Luke 12.20. If we would have the Lord to take away our souls, we must present them pure unto him, without spot, and blameless: They must be wash't cleane in the blood of the Lambe, and cleansed by the sanctifying vertue of the holy Ghost; our Con­sciences, the highest faculty of the soule, Must be purged from dead works, to serve the living God. We must purge our selves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit, and grow up in true holiness in the feare of the Lord: The Place which our souls are to goe to it holy, the Company holy, the exercises holy, and so [Page 67]must our souls be also, that they may be suitable to all the rest, and then the Lord will take away our souls, and place them amongst them in joy, happiness, and glory. Thus of The Act. The Ob­ject followes, [My soule.]

2. Branch. The soule is the spirituall part of Man, the principall and essentiall part whereof Man doth consist, the fountaine of life, sense, and motion, which by the spirits vitall, naturall, ani­mall, the souls cursitors running into all the parts of the body, actuates and informes it, and useth it as an Organ or Instrument whereby to performe it's severall operations. This soule of man is pre­tious in these seven respects.

First, In respect of the Fountaine of it, it pro­ceeds originally from the immediate breathing of God himselfe: For when God had made Man of the dust of the earth, he breath'd into him the breath of life, and Man became a living soul, Gen. 2.7.

Secondly, In respect of the rare faculties of it, the Understanding, the Will, the Memory, the Affe­ctions, Reason, Judgement, Wisedome, Know­ledge, Conscience, the highest of all the rest, con­sidered in both the parts of it, [...], and [...], the one, The Treasure; the other, The Soules Con­trouller, &c.

Thirdly, In respect of the immortality of it, it dyes not with the body; but being taken out of the body is preserv'd unto Eternity.

Fourthly, In respect of the Image of God once stampt upon it, which though miserably defac't since by the fall, yet not so utterly raz'd out, but there are goodly lineaments of that Image yet left upon it: Neither is it so irrecoverable, but that by the spirit of grace, and the grace of sancti­fication, it may be so repaired and renewed, as that the soule may be, and is said still, Thereby to be made partaker of the Divine Nature, 2 Peter 1.4. not in the substance of the Deity; but in holi­ness, and righteousness, wisedome, knowledge, goodness, love, and light, which are as the beames of the Image of God shining upon it.

Fifthly, In respect of the purchase of it, It is the price of blood, not of Bulls, and Goats, but of the Divine blood of Jesus Christ our Redeemer, 1 Pe­ter 1.19.

Sixthly, The pretiousness of souls may appear, by the pains and cost that Satan and his Instru­ments will be at to gaine a soule; they will com­pass Sea and Land to gaine a soule; give a King­dome for a soule. Mat. 4.8. All the Kingdoms of the world, with the glory of them, Omnia haec tibi [Page 69]dabo, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me, ver. 9.

Seventhly, By the great care that Almighty God hath taken to preserve souls, and to save them from perishing; he hath given his Word to direct them, his Ministers to instruct them, his Sa­craments to confirme them, his Spirit to guide them, and his Angels to guard them, and all this to preserve them, and to save them from perishing.

In all these respects, it appears that souls are pretious: Our blessed Lord, which well knew the price of souls, lays one soule in one ballance, and the whole world in the other against it; and upon the tryall, tells us, That one soule weighs downe the whole world in the other scale: What shall it profit a Man to win the whole world, and to lose his foule?

Ʋse.

1. It should teach all men to value their souls according to the worth of them, and not to de­stroy them, nor to pass them away so carelesly, and inconsiderately, as ordinarily men doe to their eternall undoing: Some desperately wound them to death, by desperate, willfull, and presumptu­ous sins: Heale my soule, for I have sinned against [Page 70]thee: implying, that by sinne he had wounded it: Some sell their souls, and that for triflles, that are worth nothing; for pleasures of sinne, which are but for a season; for treasures of wickedness, which profit nothing; for satisfying some sinfull lusts, which are worse then nothing: Some give away their souls for nought, for sins in which there is neither pleasure, nor profit; as Cursing, Swearing, idle and lewd Communication, and the like, these make the worst bargains of all: Others pawne their souls, they will give themselves liber­ty to walk in the sight of their own eyes, and in the wayes of their own heart, and to serve their lusts but for such a time, and then they will take up, and repent, and recover themselves, and their souls again, as if it were in their own will, and power, to come in when they will: All these make ill bargains, and pass away their pretious souls for a thing of nought, which all the King­doms of the world cannot buy again: We see this, we heare it, and we condemne them for it; yet are there dayly amongst us that are guilty of the same folly, and by Covetousness, Voluptuous­ness, Ambition, Malice, Perjury, and the like, sell themselves, and their souls for less, and pass them away upon worse termes then they have done: [Page 71] Adam sold himselfe for an Apple: Esau for a Mess of Pottage: Achan for a Wedge of Gold: Ahab for a Vineyard: Judas for thirty pieces of silver. How many are there to be found amongst us which for less matters will lye, will sweare, will forsweare, will steale, deceive, cheate, and cosen, and what not? That to satisfie their base, sinfull, and un­reasonable lusts, and humours, will part with a good Conscience, forfeit the favour of God, their hope of Heaven, their interest in Christ, and in the Gospel, sell themselves, and soules, and all for less then a Mess of Pottage. The resolution of Balaam was good and honest, just and religi­ous, if he had kept it as well, Numb. 24.13. If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I would not goe beyond the Word of the Lord, to doe more or less: Let it be the resolution of every soul, and God give us grace and power to keep it.

2. Are souls so pretious? Then let us look to them carefully, preserve them charily, as we would doe our chiefest Jewells; Keep thy soule with all diligence, examine the state of it, see it want no­thing of that which should be for the happiness, and the prosperity of it: Our care is much for the body, What shall we eate, what shall we drinke, where­withall shall we be clothed? in the meane while the [Page 72]soule is neglected, set by, and least look't after; but as our Saviour saies in a like case, Mat. 6.25. Is not the body better then the rayment? So say I, Is not the soule better then the body? Is there any compa­rison between the Jewell and the Cabinet that it is layd up in? It was Martha's reproofe, That she cared for many things more then she needed: And for the one thing that was more necessary, less. It is our just re­proofe in this case; We enquire after the health and welfare of our friends, and after their prospe­rity, how they thrive in this world; but without any regard to their spirituall estate, and the well­fare and prosperity of their souls. St. John, in his Epistle to Gaius, with a more spirituall salutation, hath a more speciall eye to the prosperity of his soule; Beloved, I wish chiefly that thou doe prosper, as thy soule prospereth, 3 John 1.2. David did more rejoyce in the good the Lord had done for his soule, then for all the good he had done to him, and for him in his body, in his estate, or in any other his relations: Hearken to me (saith he) all you that feare God, and I will tell you what the Lord hath done for my soule: The Lord had done great things for him otherwise, and he could have given them a large narrative of them; but in his re­membrance of his great favours to him, he passes [Page 73]by all these, and mentions the other, as farr greater then all the rest, I wil tell you what the Lord hath done for my soul: So the care of all those holy men dying, which I have mentioned, was chiefly for the safety of their souls, Lord Jesus receive my spirit, Acts 7.59. Father into thy hands I commend my spirit. And in the Text, Lord take away my soul: Though the bo­dies of the Saints dying, are not to be neglected, but decently to be inter'd, as in hope and expecta­tion of a blessed Resurrection, as the body of St. Ste­phen was, and the body of our blessed Lord; yet the care they had of their souls, swallowed up all the care of their bodies, so that it is not so much as mentioned by them, nor by our Prophet in the Text, but onely his soul, Lord take away my soul.

3. Are souls so pretious? Then this is a severe ad­monition to us (that have undertaken, Curam ani­marum, the care of souls) to look well to our charge, as such as must give an account of the greatest trust in the world, even the souls of Gods people com­mitted to our charge. I cannot but tremble, when I reade St. Paul giving up his account to God, to his Peoplae, and to his own Conscience in this matter, Acts 20.26. I am free from the blood of all Men. What blood doth St. Paul here speak of? he was no Sword Man, there was no fear of his shedding any mans [Page 74]blood by violence: How comes he to clear himself from blood? (Bel.) the blood here meant is more pretious then the life-blood of man can be, it is the blood of souls: implying, That if he had not faithfully, and conscionably performed the duties of his Pastorall charge amongst them, he had been guilty of the blood of souls. Oh let this sink deep into our hearts, that we may not become guilty of the blood of souls: How earnestly ought we to endeavour the salvati­on of our people, as of our selves? and at the hour of death to Pray, That the Lord would be mercifull to them, and take away their souls.

Quest. But here now ariseth a great question, a grand inquiry, not without great caution and so­briety to be resolved, Touching the state of souls se­parated, and taken out of the body, What becomes of them afterward? Whether upon their separation they doe presently enter into that state in which they are to remain, and continue during this vast space of Eternity, without all change or alteration of their condition?

Ans. I answer no; For the soule of man from the time of it's first being in him, whether by Cre­ation, or by infusion, or by traduction generation I dispute not; nor of the praeexistence of it be­fore, an Opinion that hath great Patrons too, especially among the Philosophers, the Gymnoso­phists [Page 75]of Egypt, the Brachmans of India, the Magi of Persia, and the Jewish Cabalists, and among them, some Christians also, Origen for one; but I wave that dispute too: But I date my discourse from the souls first being in the body, from that beginning it passes it's immortality under three conditions, or a three-fold estate, every one of them different from other. The first is the state of the foule during the time of it's being in the body, which it doth actuate and informe. The second is the state of it between the time of the separation of it from the body, by dissolution, and there union of it again with the body at the Re­surrection, & the day of Judgement. And the third is from that day to Eternity, and for ever after: That these three states of the soule are different one from the other is evident enough: Of the first of these we have experience in this life, while our souls are in our bodies, which are given unto us to actuate, and informe them, and to use them as Organs, or Instruments for glori­fying God by them, and doing good: Glorifie God in your bodies, and in your spirits, for they are his, 1 Cor. 6.20. this is done, by giving up the facul­ties of the one, and the parts of the other: Not as members of unrighteousness to unrighteousness, but [Page 76]as instruments of righteousness unto holiness, and ac­cordingly as we have so done, shall we give an ac­count unto God, in the day of account: For we must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ, to render an account for the things done in the body, whe­ther they be good or evill, 1 Cor. 5.15. Therefore now is the time of working, now is the time of doing our selves good, now is the time of laying a good foundation for the time to come, now is the time of laying up that, which may be for the furtherance of our account then; now in this first estate of the soule, while it is in the body, must we provide for the well-being of it in the second estate, and in the third, and to Eternity: Now as this first estate of the soule in the body is different from the second estate of it, as it is separated from the body; so is that second estate of it out of the body different from the third estate of it, when it shall be re-united to the body again, and put into that estate in which it shall remain for ever, and to all Eternity. It is the generall Opinion of men, but withall, a generall mistake, That as soon as ever the soule is separated from the body, it passes immediately into that estate either of joy & glory, or of misery and torment, in which it shall remain for ever, without any alteration. True it [Page 77]is, That at the separation of the soule from the body, there is a particular judgement passes upon it, by which it is made known to it, what shall become of it Eternally, and is presently put into the beginnings, either of the one, or the other, and into a state previous to that third estate, in which it is to remain for ever, without alteration: but that either the souls of wicked men are imme­diately upon their separation from the body cast into that extremity of misery and torment which is prepared for them: Or that the souls of the just doe then pass into that heigth of joy and glory which God hath prepared for them, I doe confi­dently deny, and shall prove the contrary in both the parts of it. And first for the souls of wicked men, that they are not upon their separation from the body cast into that extremity of torment which is prepared for them: I prove by an Argu­ment à Majori, thus: ‘ The very Devills themselves are not yet cast into that extremity of torment that they are condemned unto. Therefore the souls of wicked men are not immediately upon their separation cast into those torments.’

The Consequence of this Argument is clear, for no man will judge the state of wicked men to [Page 78]be worse then the state of Devills. The Antece­dent I prove by two clear testimonies of Scripture; The first out of St. Mat. 8.29. where those fierce Devills which had possessed two men among the Gergesens, seeing Christ comming towards them, are stricken with terror at his presence, and cry out, What have we to doe with thee, Jesus thou Sonne of God? Art thou come to torment us before the time? They knew they were condemn'd to torment, but there was a time set when they should be cast into it, but that time was not yet come; and therefore seeing him comming towards them, they cry out against him, as if he came to antedate their mi­sery, by casting them into it before the time, Art thou come to torment us before the time? The other proofe is both a confirmation of the truth in hand, and an illustration of this Text: It is in the Epistle of Jude, ver. 6. The Angels also which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in chains of darkness, unto the Judge­ment of the great day; where you have the time when they shall be cast into that extremity of tor­ment unto which they are condemned, at the judgement of the great day; and the estate that they are in, in the mean time, they are reserv'd in chains of darkness, the chains noting, the safe keeping [Page 79]and securing of them, that thus can no ways make their escape: And the darkness, noting their dis­mall and uncomfortable condition all that while: They are reserv'd in chains of darkness, unto the Judgement of the great day; an expression borrowed from the state of condemned prisoners, which af­ter they are condemn'd, are secured in chains or fetters, and cast into the dungeon, and there re­served unto the day of Execution. And this is a sufficient proofe of the truth of this assertion in the first part of it, as touching the souls of wicked men, That the state of their souls, from the day of their separation from their bodies, untill the day of Judgement, is not the same that it shall be after that day, though it be a woefull estate too, as will farther appear in the sequel of this discourse. We are now to make good this Proposition in the other part of it, Concerning the souls of the just, that they en­ter not presently upon their dissolution into the fullness of joy and glory intended them, and pre­pared for them. And for that I alledge, Rev. 6.9.10.11. where at the opening of the fifth Seale, St. John sees under the Altar, the souls of them that were killed for the Word of God, and for the testimony which they maintained. And they cryed with a loud voyce, saying, How long Lord, how long, holy and true, [Page 80]dost thou not Judge, and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the Earth? And long white robes were given to every one, and it was said unto them, that they should rest for a little season, untill their fellow ser­vants, and their brethren that should be killed, (even as they were) were fulfilled. This Scripture makes for our purpose all along; For first, Who are they that here complain? the Text sayes, They were Martyrs, and those are Saints of the first lift; and if their souls were not received into the fulness of joy and happiness at their dissolution, what souls are? But that they were not, it appears, First, By their complaint, How Long Lord? how long? Se­condly, By the answer given unto them, perswa­ding still to waite for a season, and to possess their souls with patience, til the rest of the number of their brethren were accomplished, without whom they could not be made perfect, and that could not be till the Re­surrection, and the Generall Judgement at the great day. Aquinas doth excellently describe Sum­mum bonum or the highest felicity to be, Quies Mentis; or Acquiescentia Mentis in ultimo fine; the rest, or acquiescence of the mind in the last end, beyond which nothing can be desired to make it more happy: But those souls which yet cry, How long Lord? how long? doe declare, That they have [Page 81]not yet attained their ultimate end; and there­fore they doe not perfectly acquiesce, but are in ex­pectation of a farther degree of fuller happiness yet to be given unto them. And thus I have made good this Proposition, in both the Parts, That the souls separated from the body by Death, are not in the same state from the time of their separation, to the time of their re-union again at the day of Judgement, that they shall be in, after that day, to all eternity.

But then, me thinks I heare you ask me, In what state are they then during that time? Where are they? Or what becomes of them?

And to this Quaerie, I shall endeavour to satisfie you too, and that, Ad partes, to both the parts of it, both as it concerns the souls of the just, and the souls of the unjust and wicked men. And first, as to the souls of wicked men; If you ask me where? or in what state they are? I answer, They are in the same state, and in the same places that the evill Angells are in, and what that was, you heard even now out of Jude 6. they are secured in prison, they are with them reserved in chains unto the judgement of the great day. For proofe of this, take these two Scriptures; the first in 1 Pet. 3.19. The second in Luke 12.20. In the first, St. Peter speaking of the death of Christ, saith thus, ver. 18. Christ [Page 82]also suffered for sinners, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, who was put to death as con­cerning the flesh, but was quickned in the Spirit. By which spirit also, he went and Preach't to the spirits in prison, v. 19. If ye ask, What spirits? he tells you, ver. 20. Those spirits which in time past were disobe­dient: In what time? In the times of Noah, and before the Flood, for so it followeth; When once the long suffering of God abode in the dayes of Noah, while the Ark was preparing: wherein few, that is, eight persons were saved from perishing in the waters. There you have St. Peter plainly interpreting him­selfe, that the spirits here mentioned, are the spi­rits of the sinners of the old world, which peri­shed in the Flood, but their spirits perished not, neither were they presently sent to the Lake of everlasting Burnings, but they are secured in Pri­son, as the evill Angels are, and so reserved unto the Judgement of the great day. That place in St Luke, speaks the same thing, where the Voyce is heard speaking to the secure Epicure, singing a requiem to his own soule, Soule, take thine ease, eate, drink, and be merry, thou hast goods layd up for many years: Alas! he dreams of many years, when he hath not many hours to live: Stulte hac nocte, Thou foole, this night shall they fetch away thy soule: then [Page 83]whose shall these things be? Nay, Whose shalt thou be? This night shall they fetch away thy soule: Which they? The evill Angels. When good men dye, the good Angells are ready to receive their souls, as they did the soule of Lazarus, Luke 16. and carry them into Abraham's bosome. But when wicked men dye, the evill Angells fetch away their souls, Thou foole, this night shall they fetch away thy soule: And whither (think you) were they to carry it? but to their own Quarters, to those Pri­sons in which themselves are secur'd, as in chains unto the judgement of the great day.

But then here ariseth another Question, What those Prisons are? Or, Where it is, that they are se­cured unto that day?

And to this I Answer. There are three vast, large, and spacious Prisons, in which the evill An­gells are secured, and with them the souls of wicked men, unto the Judgement of the great day. And they are,

  • 1. The Aire.
  • 2. The Earth.
  • 3. The Sea.

First, The Aire, with all the severall Regions of it, into which the Apostate Angells were bani­shed: [Page 84]When for their rebellion against their Crea­tor, they were expell'd out of Heaven. For this, see St. Paul, in his Epistle to the Ephesians, cap. 6.12. You wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against Principalities and Powers, and spirituall wickednesses in high places: And what? or who are those spiri­tuall wickednesses, but those evill spirits? And what are those high places, but the Regions of the Aire? And therfore is the Principall of the Devills, called, The Prince that ruleth in the Aire; for even amongst them there is Order, and subordination: We reade of a Prince among Devills, Ephes. 2.2.

The second of those Prisons, is, The Earth; and therein first, The vast and howling Wildernesses, and Places uninhabited, where no foot doth tread, but where Ostriches doe dwell, where Ziim doth boade, and the Satyres dance.

Secondly, The vast caverns and concavities within the earth, amongst which the hollow mountains of Aetna, Vesuuius, and in Ireland that hollow vault, called, Saint Patriarchs Purgatory, famous in story: But in America many such, and more evident dens of Daemons: But above all these, the vast hollowness in the very heart, and Center of the Earth; for who knows what vast and spatious receptacles there may be for such spi­rits? [Page 85]It is not unreasonable, nor against any Arti­cle of Faith, or of Scripture to conceive, That there is in the very heart and Center of the Earth, such a vast hollowness, both for a fit receptacle for such spirits, and by which that vast and weigh­ty body is buoy'd up that it sink not any way to­wards the Circumference on any side, though no way supported, neither by Poasts, nor Pillars. What is it that sustains the vast and weighty Ships in the Sea, with all the Anchors, Ordnance, and Fraught in them, but the hollowness of them? What is it that sustains the Clouds in the Aire, infinitely greater, and more weighty then they, so as they fly to and fro, but as bottles in the Aire, as Job speaks, or like bladders full of winde, that they fall not down in great dashes, enough to make ano­ther Deluge, but the hollowness of them? That such a hollowness there is in them, appears by the Lightning, the Thunder, and the Thunder-bolts, and the spirituall vapour that proceeds out of them, when they break of such force, that it pe­netrates, and burns, and breaks, and tears in peeces all that it lights upon: And who can deny, but it is agreeable to reason, that there may be such a hollowness in the heart of the earth, whereby it may, by the power and providence of the Creator, [Page 86]be susteined in the place which he hath appointed for it; and also be a fit receptacle of evill spirits, where they may be secured as in a Prison, and re­served unto the Judgement of the great day. In the Apostolicall Creed, we profess to beleeve, That Christ descended into Hell. And St. Paul tells us, He descended [...], into the lower parts of the Earth: This cannot be understood of the descent of his body by his buriall, that scarce went into the Earth at all, but was layd in the Sepulchre which Joseph of Arimathea had made for himselfe in his Garden, which was above the ground, or, at least, the most part of it, if any part at all of it were under, or within the ground, it was not so low, as that we may say of it, It was in the lower parts of the Earth. How then will you understand this Article of our Lords descent into Hell, except you understand it of his Soule, and of his Spirit? And where will you finde this Hell more agreeable to Scripture, and Reason, then as I have described it? and that by his Spirit, he went to Preach to the spirits in prison there.

The third vast Prison wherein the evill Angells are secured unto the day of the generall Judgement, is, The Sea; for there are Sea Spirits, as well as Land Spirits, or Aeriall Spirits. When the Disci­ples, [Page]being in a Ship, saw Christ coming towards them walking upon the Sea, the Text sayes, They were troubled, and thought they had seen a Spirit, Mat. 14.26. whereby it appears, That there were Spirts that did appear in the Sea, as well as on the Land. And in St. Mathew 8. we reade, That the Devills being cast out of the man which they had pos­sessed, entred into an Heard of Swine, and carried them headlong into the Sea: by which it seems, there was their abode. And in Mark 5. which by many circumstances seem not to be the same story, with this of St. Matthew: we reade, Of a whole legion of Devills, entring into a Heard of no less then two thou­sand Swine, and carrying them with great violence into the Sea: these were Sea Spirits, whose abode was in the Sea, which is the third Prison wherein these evill Angells are secur'd, and confin'd unto the Judgement of the great day, and with them, the souls of wicked men, both to be brought in, and judged at that general Assizes, which though they be not till then cast into the Lake of everlasting burnings; yet is their condition in the mean time woefull, and miserable: 'Tis miserable to consi­der how wilfully they have forsaken their own mercy, and what opportunity they have lost of preventing this their misery, never to be recove­red, [Page 88]nor recalled: 'Tis miserable to lye in Prison, in such a Prison, and for such Crimes of which they know themselves they shall be found guilty at that day, and condemn'd to suffer the venge­ance of everlasting sire: 'Tis miserable to see Hell open before them, and ready to receive them: 'Tis miserable in the mean time to lye under the wrath of the Almighty, and under the torments of a wounded soule: Yet neither are the torments of the souls of wicked men, during this time of their separation from their bodies all aequall; as neither shall they be after the generall Judgement, as shall be shewed in the sequel of this Treatise; but in the mean while, (having shewed you the state of the souls of wicked men) It now rests that I should shew you, What is the state of the souls of just men, from the time of their separation from their bodies, till the time of their re-union again with their bodies at the day of the Resurrection.

And in answering to this inquiry, the Scripture gives us some light in foure expressions; When the body returns to dust from whence 'twas taken, the spirit returns to God that gave it, saith Soloman, Eccles. 12.7. The Angells receive it, and carry it into Abra­ham's bosome, saith St. Luke, cap. 16.22. It is layd under the Altar, saith St. John, Rev. 6.9. It is car­ried [Page 89]into Paradise, saith our Saviour to the penitent theese upon the Crosse, Luke 23.43. All these are most comfortable, and heavenly expressions, setting forth the blessed and happy estate of the souls of the just which they enter into, when they are delivered from the burden of the flesh, the great impediment of their perfection; yet they doe not all amount to this, That upon their separation they pass into the highest Heaven, and into the fruition of the immediate vision of God, and that fulness of joy and glory, that they shall enter into at the last day, when it shall be said un­to them, Come ye blessed of my Father, enter into the inheritance of the Kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world. For we cannot imagine that these words are spoken onely in reference to the bodies, then newly raysed out of their graves; but to the whole man, body and soule united to­gether, and so to the entire persons of them, Come ye blessed, enter into the Kingdom. For that of Solo­mon, That the soule returns to God that gave it, it is true; that is, It is taken up into the higher Hea­vens, and is in neerer communion with God then it was before, it is admitted neerer into his pre­sence, it is taken into his more immediate care to dispose of it, in a place and state of bliss and feli­city, [Page 90]of joy and glory, even presently upon the separation of it from the body: For that of Saint Luke, That the Angells received the soule of Lazarus: the meaning is, That he was gathered unto the rest of the faithfull, of which Abraham is said to be the Father, and carried to a place of rest, intimated by Abraham's bosome: Sinus Patriarcha­rum recessus, quidam est quietis aeternae, Ambr. For that of St. John Rev. 6. Where he sees the souls of the Martyrs under the Altar: the meaning is, That they were in a place of security, where no evill should touch them, as in the third of the book of Wisedom, The souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, and no evill shall touch them, v. 1. The Altar was an Asylum, a place of refuge and protection, 1 Kings 2.28. The souls of these Martyrs were seen under the Altar, to intimate their security, their safety, no evill might touch them.

As to that saying of our Lord, to the penitent theefe upon the Cross, This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise: I give these two answers. First, That Paradise is not so limited to the highest Heaven, where the Throne of God is, but that it may comprehend some other place adjacent to it, where he might be in joy and felicity with Christ, who as to his Divine Nature is every where; the [Page 91]word signifieth, A place of pleasure: and such are the places assigned to be the receptacles of the souls of the just, when they are separated from their bodies. I answer secondly, That for the souls of Enoch before the Law, and of Elijah un­der the Law, and of this penitent theefe under the Gospel: I doe not deny, but they might have speciall priviledge in the translation of them, that the Lord in their examples might give good assu­rance to all beleevers, and to all the just that ever have, or shall live in any Age of the World, whether before the Law, under the Law, or since the Law, as well of their ascension, and glorifica­tion, as of their resurrection: As to this penitent theefe in particular, dying with him upon the Crosse, that he might shew a specimen of the power of his death, in saving, justifying, and glorifying penitent sinners, though never so great offenders; but then we must remember with­all, that these were peculiar priviledges of sin­gular persons: And, Privilegia sunt paucorum, the Civill Law will tell us, That Priviledges are the portion but of few: This doth not weaken the truth of my ascertion, That the souls of just men dying, doe not immediately upon the sepa­ration of them from the body, pass into the high­est [Page 92]Heaven, nor to the highest glory, nor to that fulness of joy, which they shall enter into at the Resurrection, when they shall be re-united to their bodies, and so both together shall be taken into the everlasting habitations, and shall stand in the presence of God, and enjoy the beatificall Vision, in whose light they shall see light, when they shall see God face to face, in whose presence is fulness of joy, and at whose right hand there are pleasures for evermore. This the Royall Pro­phet by his spirit of Prophesie foresaw long agoe, and rejoyced under the hope of it, Psal 17.15. I shall behold thy face in righteousness: and when I awake, I shall be satisfied with thy Image: When I awake, that is, in the morning of the Resurrecti­on, then I shall be satisfied with thine Image, then, and not till then, shall I be fully satisfied with thine Image.

But then here ariseth another Question, as there did of the souls of wicked men, Where are the souls of the just in the mean while, between the time of their separation from the body by death, and the re-union of them with the body at the Resurrection? Where are they? What becomes of them? In what state and con­dition have they their being? What is their imploy­ment? What is their enjoyments? To all these foure [Page 93]Quaeries, I shall endeavour to give you some sa­tisfaction, as touching the Place, the State, the imployment, and the enjoyments of souls sepa­rated.

And as to the first of these, The place of the souls separation. I shall not send you to the Ely­san fields of the antient Poëts to seek them: Nor to the Gardens nor Orchards of the Hesperides: Nor to the Mahometan Paradises; all these concei­ved and beleeved, That the souls of vertuous and just men, as soon as they were separated from the body, did pass into some place of rest and joy, wherein they were not deceived; but for want of a more di­stinct knowledge of the Place where they had their being, and their state in it, they set it forth by comparing it to the being in those places which they conceived to be most happy, pleasant, and joyous. But certainly, that which is most agree­able to reason in this case, and is no way repug­nant to any Article of Faith, nor to any discovery in Scripture made to the contrary, is this, That the souls of the just being separated from the bo­dies, doe pass into those high Heavens which are above the Starry Firmament, as the souls of wicked men doe pass into the Regions of the Aire below it. For that there are Heavens above the [Page 94]Starry Firmament, it cannot be denyed: two we reade of before we come to the Empyrean Hea­vens, where the Throne of God is, and where the Lord of Hosts, with all his holy Angells keeps his Court in Majesty and Glory: The lower-most of these is called, Caelum aqueum, The watery Heaven, from the clearness, and the transparancy of it: The other above that is called, Caelum Crystallinum, The Crystall Heaven, from the purity, and the pellu­cidity of it, for still the higher the Heavens are, and the neerer they approach to the Empyrean Heaven, where the Throne of God is, the more glorious are they, and the more noble the Inhabi­tants of them. Now between every of these Hea­vens, there is a vast space of infinite capacity; and it must needs be so, by reason of the greatness of their circumference, the least and lowest of them is of greater capacity and comprehension, then all this space that is between the Earth and the Starry Firmament, and the rest greater then it proporti­onably. Now I would ask, Of what use these vast and comprehensive Heavens are, if this be not one, to be the receptacle of the souls of the just, when they are taken out of their bodies? Natura nihil facit fru­strà, The God of Nature, the Creator of all things, hath made nothing in vain: There is no part of the world [Page 95]which he hath made, but he hath stor'd, and stock't it with Inhabitants suitable to it: The Earth he hath stor'd and stock't with Beasts and Cattell; the Sea with Fishes, the Ayre with Fowle, and with Aeriall Inhabitants; every of the Spheres above it, with Starrs and Planets, which by their light, heare, influence, and motion divide the times, and Governe this inferiour world: The Starry Firmament that is spread out as a vaile be­tween this inferiour, and the superiour world, be­tween these lower and the higher Heavens, it is peopled (as it were) with innumerable Golden Starrs of severall magnitudes, specious to behold, and pretious for their use and influence: The Em­pyrean Heavens, the highest of all the rest, is stor'd and Inhabited with Angells, and Arch-An­gells, Cherubims, and Seraphims, and the other Orders of those Heavenly Courtiers that stand in the presence of God, waiting his pleasure, and ready to execute his will, and to fulfill his Word: Thus the whole Universe is replenished with In­habitants suitable to the places which the Great Creator and high disposer of all things hath ap­pointed for them. And doe these beautifull Hea­vens, the Aqueall and Chrystalline Heavens, so speci­ous, and so spacious between the Starry Firma­ment [Page 96]and the Empyrean Heaven, stand voyd and empty without Inhabitants? No, it cannot be, but they have their Inhabitants too, and they are the souls of the Just, when they are separated from their bodies by death and dissolution, who being next un­to the Angells in holiness, are placed in receptacles next unto them in glory. The Chrystalline Heaven next and immediately under the Empyrean Heaven; and the Aqueall, or Watry Heaven next immediately under it; and as they have atteined to the de­grees of purity here in this life, so are they dispo­sed of into the one, or into the other of them, neerer or farther off from the Throne of glory; for as after the Resurrection, there shall be seve­rall and different degrees of glory; so in this state of separation, the souls separated, shall be in seve­rall and different degrees of joy and happiness, according as they are prepared for it, and have atteined to severall degrees of holiness and purity in this life, while they were in the body.

Secondly, If you enquire into the state of those souls separated, it must needs be blessed and glorious, suitable to the glory of those Heavens wherein they are? Where first, They are delivered from the burden of the Flesh, the body, the very prison wherein they were deteined, and sole impediment of their per­fection. [Page 97]Secondly, They are freed from all sin, and sorrow, concupiscence and corruption, from all temptations and sollicitations from the world, the devill, and the flesh, and from all the evill of this lower world which they have left behind them; and which now, As that glorious Woman, Rev. 12.1. they trample under their feet, all tears are wipt from their eyes, all sorrow, and grief, and pain are flowne away, they dyed in the Lord, they are blessed, they rest from their labours, and so they are in Abraham's bo­some. They are in the hand of God, as Solomon speaks, Wisedom 3.1. so that no evill shall touch them; they are got above the reach of the malice of men or Devills, [...] (as the Greek Proverbe hath it) out of the danger of the dart: And so their state agrees with that which St. John sayes of them, Rev. 6. That he saw them under the Altar; yet all this is but their privative happiness, consisting in their freedom from all evill, and their security from all danger; but they are in present possession of a positive blessedness too in a great measure, and high degree of present joy and glory: Their very imployment is a part of their blessedness, which is no less then Angelicall, to laud, and prayse, and magnifie the living Lord, to sing Hosanna to Hosan­nah's in the highest, and Hallelujahs to him that sit­teth [Page 98]upon the Threne; to admire the glory, and the greatness, and the goodness, and the power, and the holiness of the mighty Lord God, of which they have now a clearer sight and apprehension then before; and in particular, his singular, and unspeakable grace and goodness unto them, which hath done such great things for them, as to bring them thither to triumph in the apprehension of it, and to rejoyce and glory in the sence of it. I know not whether I should rather ranke these things under their imployments, or their enjoy­ments, they are blessed duties which are both: With what sweet contentation, and selfe satisfa­ction doe they converse together in pure love and light? With what joy and comfort can they now remember the difficulties, and the dangers which they have past through in their comming thither? What temptations? what afflictions they have met withall? What strong corruptions they have wrestled with? What importunate lusts they have denied and subdued? What sollicitations from the World, from the Flesh, and from the Devill, they have resisted and rejected, and how now they bless themselves that they have done so, and God that gave them grace and strength to doe it? With what joy and prayse doe they congratulate [Page 99]one another in their happy victories over sin and Satan, Death and Hell, and all the enemies of their salvation, and in their safe passage through all the dangers and difficulties that stood between them and Heaven; and that having escaped all the cor­ruption that is in the world through Lust, they are at length arrived to the Place where they would, even to the top of Mount Syon, the Place of their rest and joy, where now they are taken into neerer Communion with God, then they could be, before they have more clear manifesta­tion of him, sweet influences from him, and union with him; they converse with Angels, congratu­lating them in their happiness, and with Euges of joy and prayse, well-coming them into those Hea­vens, the habitations of their happiness, the Para­dise of their joy and glory. And now, their Cha­rity invites them to Pray for the whole estate of Christs Church militant here on Earth, That the Lord would guide them, and keep them in the way of Truth, that he would bring them safe through all the dangers and difficulties that stand in the way between them and Heaven; that the Gospel may have free passage through the world; that it may runne, prosper, and be glorious; that by it, he would call in all that are yet uncalled; that he would shortly accomplish the number of his [Page 100]elect, and hasten his Kingdom; that they with them, and all others that shall depart out of this life in the faith and feare of his holy Name, may have their per­fect consummation, and bliss, both in body and soule in his eternall and everlasting glory:

Which is the third estate, in which immortall souls doe pass their immortality, which begins from the day of the generall Judgement, and lasts from thence to all eternity.

Of which, though we had the Tongue of Men, or Angells, it is impossible to speak to the full, and as the subject requires: O Aeternity, Aeternity, How is the Heart astonish't, and the Mind swallowed up, that enters into the thoughts of it! with the state of the just, and the unjust in it; the joy and glory of the one, and the misery and torment of the other: both which being unexpressible, I shall forbeare to enter into the description of them, and in stead thereof, onely referr you to the words of the sentences at the great day to be given upon them both; the sentence of absolution to the just on the right hand, and of condemnation to the wicked on the left, both which the Judge him­selfe that shall pronounce them, hath told us be­fore hand, and left us in terminis upon record, Mat. 25.

And first, The sentence of absolution, because that shall be first pronounc'c, that the wicked on the left hand may see Heaven opened, and have a sight of the joy and glory of the Celestiall Para­dise, and see the just taken into it, and set down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven, and themselves cast out; that they may see what happiness they have lost, by wilfully for­saking their own mercy, and putting from them the Kingdom of Heaven offered unto them; and what happiness, joy, and glory the servants of God are arrived unto, whom they despised, to the greater aggravation of their sorrow and misery: Therefore shall the sentence of Absolution be first pronounc't in these comfortable words, Come ye blessed of my Father, enter into the Inheritance of the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: Every word carries in it life and glory: Come ye blessed ones, take possession of a Kingdom; Who? and what are we, that the Lord should doe so much for us (may they well say) as to give us a Kingdom? That's the day of which St. Paul wri­ting to the Thessalonians, tells them, Jesus Christ shall be admired in all them that beleeve, 2 Thes. 1.10. not onely by them, but in them, by Men and An­gells, to see that the Lord hath exalted his poor, [Page]humble, and despicable servants to so high ho­nour, that he hath brought them hitherto: Then shall the righteous shine as the Sunne in his bright­ness, (Wisedom 5.1, 2, 3, 4.) in the Kingdom of their Father.

After this shall the Judge turne himselfe to the wicked, on the left hand, and pronounce against them the sentence of condemnation, in these words, Ite maledicti, Goe ye cursed into everlasting fire, prepared for the Devill and his Angels: Every word full of death and terror; Goe, and goe ye cursed, and goe into fire, and fire everlasting, and fire prepared, (Isay 30.33.) and prepared for the Devill and his Angels: so these shall goe into ever­lasting torments, and the righteous into life eternall. And this is the third estate of of immortall souls, and in this they shall abide for ever, without alte­ration, without end. And so I end my Discourse upon this Subject, in which, I may truely say with Moses, I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing, Heaven and Hell, that so you may chuse the better, and that you may doe it in time, while remedy may be had, That you may live, and not dye; that you may be blessed, and not cursed; that your Portion may be in Heaven, and not in Hell, Amen.

IT tests now, that I should speak something [...] the third part of the Text, in these words.

For I am no better then my Fathers.

But an intervenient occasion makes me inter­pose a few Lines for the satisfaction of some, of whom I heare they should say, That in the former Discourse concerning the state of souls separated from their bodies, I Preach't New Doctrine; And ask't whereunto is was usefull? Which exception hath two parts in it: The first, Concerning the new­ness of it. And the second, Concerning the use­lesness of it. To both which I must say some­thing in way of vindication. And as to the first, The newness of it, To pass by all that hath been Written by the Learned Schoolemen, of the Ro­mish perswasion, because they were of the Romish perswasion, (and yet, if we should reject all that is written by the learned of the Romish perswasi­on, because they were of the Romish perswasion) we shall doe our selves as much wrong as them; but to wave them, I could fill up my Page with the testimonies of Learned, and holy men unex­ceptionable, which have declared themselves of the same Judgement in this matter, That neither the souls of the just, nor the unjust, doe immedi­ately upon the separation of them from the body, [Page] [...] the state of their ternall being, but in­to a state intermediate, and different from the third state, at least in degree, in which they doe remain untill the Resurrection, and the generall Judgement: The one in Prison, the other in Pa­radise: The one amongst the evill Angells, the other among the good Angells: The one in the mouth of Hell it selfe, and in the beginnings of woe and torment in a great degree, and the other in the very entrance into the highest Heaven in bliss and joy, and happiness unspeakable, and glorious. I should make a long business of it here to cite, and to recite the testimonies of the Anci­ents in this matter; but to save my selfe and Reader that labour, let me intreat him to consult the Writings of an eminent Divine, well known and approved of in the Evangelicall Churches for Learned and Orthodox, and Professor of Divinity in the University of Lausanna, I meane Bucanus, a man as directly opposit to Purgatory and Popery, as Light is to Darkness, in his Common Places, Loc. 39 under the Title, De Vita aeterna, he pro­poses this very Question in these words. First of the souls of the faithfull;

Anne anunae piorum nunc a corporibus separate perfecta, & tonsummata beatitudine fruantur?

Whether the souls of the faithfull separated from their bodies, doe presently enjoy perfect bliss, and consummate happiness.

Unto which he makes this Answer:

Satis sit nobis scire illicô à discessu è corpore, spiri­tum redire ad Deum, qui dedit illum, Eccles. 12.7. Esse cum Christo, Philip. 1.23. In Paradiso, Luke 23.43. In pace, Sapien. 3.3. In requie, Heb. 4.3. In consolatione, Luke 16.25. In refrigerio, Sap. 4.7. In securitate, Job 11.15. In manu Dei, ut minime at­tingit eum cruciatus, Sapien. 3.1. In glorificatione, Wisd. 5.1. Thus Englished:

Let it be enough for us to know, That present­ly upon the departure of it out of the body, the spirit returns to God that gave it; that it is with Christ, that it is in Paradise, that it is in Peace, in rest, in comfort, in a place of refreshment, in security, in the hand of God, so that no evill shall touch it; that it is in glory, all glorious expressi­ons, setting forth the happy state of the souls of the Saints which they pass into, presently upon the separation of them from the bodies. But then, marke what follows, he comes in upon all this with an adversitive tamen, notwithstanding, which in answer to the Question here proposed, hath the force of a negative, for thus it followeth;

Quia tamen resurrectionem corporum expectant, & fruitionem plenissimam omnium bonorum quae Deus promisit diligentibus ipsum, non in perfecta, & jam consummata, sed inchoata beatitudine versari dici possunt. Englished thus:

Yet notwithstanding, because they expect the resurrection of their bodies, and the most full fruition of all those good things, which God hath promised to them that love him, they may be said to be not in the full fruition of their perfect and consummate happiness, but in the beginning of it, or their happiness inchoated; and begun. Thus Bucanus Com. Loc. 39. pag. 447.

And for proofe of this, he alleageth the same Text of Scripture, that I have done, Rev. 6.9, 10, 11. Ʋsque quo Domine? How long Lord, how long?

Aquinas brings in a another Scripture for proofe of this truth, 2 Tim. 4.8. From henceforth is layd up for me a Crowne of righteousness, which the Lord the righteous Judge shall give unto me at that day. At what day? At the day of his glorious appearing, as it follows in the same Text, When Christ shall appear in flaming fire to render vengeance. 2 Thes. 1.7. When the Sonne of Man shall come in the Clouds, with power and great glory, and all his holy Angels with him: That's the day of his appearing; at that [Page]day shall St. Paul receive his Crowne, not before; till then, it is layd up for him. At that day shall those souls under the Altar, before mentioned, receive their Crowns of Martyrdome also; for the present, there were white Robes given to every one of them; but not the Crowns till that day. The same also doth he affirme of the state of the souls of wicked men separated from their bodies; Sic puniri ut etiam reserventur in diem judicii longe aliis asperioribus paenis aeternis, videlicet, in corpore, & anima cruciandi: That they are so punished here, during the time of their separation, that they are also reserved unto the Judgement of the great day, then to be tormented in body and soul with farr more sharp and grievous punishments for evermore.

But if you would see more of Antiquity in these matters, and will be at the pains of it, doe but consult Athanasius, in an Epistle of his, cited by Epiphanius, Haeres. 77. and in his Book, De Incar­natione Verbi. St. Cyrill, De r [...]ta side ad Theodo­sium. Oēcumenius, and divers others, who in their Expositions of that Text in St. Peter, 1 Pet. 3.19. Who was put to death as concerning the Flesh, but quickned by the Spirit. By which Spirit, he went and Preach't to the spirits which are in Prison. We [Page]prove first, Christs descent into Hell; and upon the words following, That he Preach't unto the spirits, or souls detained in that Prison. As Saint Jude saith of the evill Angells, That they are in prison, and bound in chains of darkness, reserved unto the judgement of the great day: The evill Angells, and the souls of wicked men, both in the same condition, both secur'd in Prison, both in chains, both reserv'd unto the judgement of the great day: And it will follow by the rule of opposits, That if the souls of the Saints and Martyrs be not yet in the fruition of their perfect and consum­mate happiness; then neither are the souls of wicked men in that exquisite torment, which they are condemned unto, and into which they shall be cast at the judgement of the great day: but that there is an intermediate estate, though that very wretched and miserable, under which they lye, untill that day: And, I think, this is sufficiently proved in both the branches of it by Scriptures, strong and cleere for it, and by the jugdements of holy and learned men, commenting upon them; and so is a sufficient answer to the first Part of the exception, and enough to free me from Preaching New Doctrine, and to declare that I am not alone in this Opinion, Of the intermediate estate of [Page 109]souls separated from the body, both of the just, and the unjust, nor walk in an untroden path, where no foot is gone before me.

The second Part of the exception lyes in this, That it is useless: That admitting these tenents be true, yet they are useless: It demands therefore Whereto they are usefull? To which I Answer.

Sol. The knowledge of them is usefull to ma­ny speciall purposes; particularly to these:

First, It is very satisfactory to the minde of every man (I think) that hath a soule, to know the state of it, both present and future; yea, to know as much of it, as is knowable: Knowledge is pretious, and a great delight unto the soule; When wisedom entreth into thy heart, and knowledge delighteth thy soule, saith Solomon, Prov, 2.10. So knowledge is a delight unto the soule, and the more high and excellent the object is, about which it is conversant, the more excellent and pretious is the knowledge. But what more high and pre­tious object can there be, next unto God, and the Angells, then the spirits and souls of men? What more worthy to take up our most serious thoughts, and diligent studies, then the disqui­sition of those high things that doe concerne them? What more satisfactory then the attain­ing [Page 110]of them in all those things that are know­able.

Secondly, 'Tis usefull for preserving of men against Atheisme, that bruitish sinne, which doth so spread it selfe in the world, and invaded so great a part of the Sonns of men; for though they doe not speak out plainly with their Tongues, yet how many of them say in their hearts and lives, There is no God, nor Devill, nor Heaven, nor Hell, nor An­gells, nor Spirits, nor souls of Men? and all through their ignorance of this Point, That they cannot satisfie themselves what becomes of the souls of men separated from their bodies, through so long a tract of time as two, three, foure, or five thou­sand years intermediate between the time of their dissolution by Death, and their re-union again at the Resurrection.

Thirdly, 'Tis usefull to confirme men in the assurance of the Immortality of the soule, while it informes them what becomes of it, where it is, and what it does or suffers, where is the place of it, what the state of it, what the imployments, what the enjoyments: Concerning all which, being be­fore ignorant, and in the dark, they could not tell what to think of the souls of men, more then of bruits, of which Solomon takes notice, Eccles. 3.20, [Page 111]21. speaking in their Language, Who knoweth whether the spirit of Man ascend upward? and the spirit of a Beast descend downward? All goe to one place, &c. and therefore rann away in their own fancies, and vain imaginations, into divers errors, concerning the souls of men dying; some ima­gining they were annihilated, and altogether ex­tinguished: Some, that they were layd asleep, as the bodies were, till the Resurrection: Some, that they were transmigrated out of one body into another: Some one thing, some another; in the midst of these doubtfull varieties, they began to question, whether there were any difference between the souls of men, and of bruits, as Solo­mon here intimates; and for want of some more distinct knowledge in this matter, lived at a ven­ture. Against all these errors and evills, the truths here delivered are a sure and soveraigne re­medy; the vain imaginations in which men rann away in the variety of their own fancies, concern­ing the extinction, annihilation, sleeping, transmi­gration, &c. of the souls of men dying, all dye before these truths here delivered, and vanish away, and mens minds are setled and confirmed in the assurance of the immortality of the souls, while they doe distinctly informe them, what be­comes [Page]comes of them, into what receptacles they are received upon their separation, and in what seve­rall states they pass their immortality.

Fourthly, It is usefull for admonishing of all men while they are in the body, to take care of their souls, and to provide for their future condi­tion, to preserve them pure, that upon their sepa­ration, they may be taken up into those pure ha­bitations, into which no unclean thing may en­ter, not to defile, or clog them with sinne and guilt, whereby they may be prest down, and hin­dered in their flight and passage into the higher Heavens, the glorious receptacles appointed for them.

Fifthly, It is usefull for the overthrowing of that Limbus Patrum, Limbus Infantum, and other roomes and spacious places in the Fabricke of the Popish Purgatory, which they have erected in their own imaginations for receptacles, where­in they would lodge the souls of men, when they are separated from their bodies, there to remain for a long tract of time in prison, and in pain, till they be sufficiently purged and punished, except there be some extraordinary means used for the reliefe, or release of them, or for the mitigating of their paine, either first, by a multitude of Mas­ses [Page 117]dayly said and sung for them. Or secondly, By the suffrages of the living, praying for the dead, from whence all these Epitaphs upon their Graves and Tombes, Orate pro animâ, Pray for the soule of such a one. Or thirdly, By some munificence, or e­minent works of Charity done upon their account. Or fourthly, By applying unto them some of the works of supererogation, taken out of the Treasury of the Church, and by the Popes special favour con­fer'd upon them, &c. These imaginations (before the truth in this Discourse declared) fall to the ground, while it teacheth, That there is no such Limbus Patrum as they pretend to, nor need there any; but that their souls presently upon the se­paration of them, pass into the Etheriall Hea­vens, where they are in rest, and peace, in bliss, happiness and glory, that the blood of Christ shed in due time, that was in the fulness of time, was as effe­ctuall to the purging, washing, saving, and sancti­fying of the souls of the Fathers that lived in the first generation of the world, before his com­ming in the flesh, as it is now, for the purging, washing, saving and sanctifying of the souls of beleevers since his coming, and will be to the end of the world, that as to the vertue of his Death, Passion, Resurrection, and Ascension, He was a [Page]Lambe slaine from the beginning of the world, and whose going out have been from the beginning, and from everlasting, as the Prophet Micah tells us; and as the Apostle declares him, Jesus Christ yesterday, and to day, and the same for ever.

Lastly, It is usefull for the answering of that great question, with which we are so frequently, and so importunately urged by inquisitive peo­ple, to shew them, where Locall Hell is: They can­not satisfie themselves where Locall Hell is; and therefore they are apt to beleeve, there is none at all: This Discourse satisfies them where it is; for the present, it is where the evill Angells are confin'd, and secur'd in chains of darkness. It is where the souls of wicked men are imprisoned, both reserved to the Judgement of the great day: And where that is, this Discourse tells; and not this Discourse, or Treatise, but the Apostle St. Jude, ver. 6. St. Paul, Ephes. 6.12. Ephes. 2.2. St. Peter, 1 Pet. 3.19. Those places where those evill Angells, and where the souls and spirits of wicked men are impriso­ned, and secured untill that day, are the Locall Hell for the present. If you ask further, Where Locall Hell shall be, after that great day? I Answer, What need you look any further for it, then the vast space conteining this wretched and wicked [Page 115]inferiour world wherein we now dwell. You know what St. Peter hath Prophesied concerning it, with all the Elements in it, all the Creatures, and works upon it, all the visible Heavens over it, that they shall be consumed by fire, 2 Pe­ter 3.10. The Heavens shall pass away with a noyse, and the Elements shall melt with fervent heat, and the Earth, with the works therein shall be consumed by fire: Now, when these things shall be destroy­ed, consumed, annihilated, what need we look any further for a Locall Hell then this vast space which these mighty bodies took up, when they were in being? When there shall be no Sunne to rule the day, nor Moon, nor Starrs to govern the Night, nor to divide the times; there shall be no distinction between day and night, but all shall be night without day, when the Sunne shall be no more, the Sea shall be no more, time shall be no more, the Earth shall be no more, all these vi­sible Heavens within the reach of the conflagra­tion shall be no more, there's space enough for the Locall Hell so much enquired after. I have described to you before the present Hell, the Pri­sons in which the evill Angells, and souls of wicked men with them are secur'd unto that day, and so are already in the beginnings of that Hell [...] [Page 118] kept for fire; they shall be burnt up; they shall pass away with a great noyse, melt with fervent heat, be dissolved; and all this while, and amongst them all, not one word of purgation, purifying, or re­fining, or reserving the substance of it: It is clear, St. Peter himself speaks not of a refining, in re­spect of the qualities; but an utter abolition of the substance it selfe of this old world: As the Pageant being finished, the Stage is taken away; so all the Tragedies which are Acted upon the Stage of this world, being ended, the Stage shall be pulled down, broken in pieces, burnt with fire, as an Engine or Fabrick of which there is no more use, it shall be no more.

But what shall we say to the other Objection, raysed out of the words of St. Peter, ver. 13. But we look for new Heavens, and a new Earth, ac­cording to his promise, wherein dwelleth righteous­ness.

Which words seem to import, That though this present old World shall then be dissolved, consumed, burnt up; yet (if there doe not spring up (as a Phoenix) out of the Ashes of it another World, yet) God will Create another new World in the room of it, and then we are but where we were, in respect of the space, and place, and room [Page 119]we should have for Locall Hell, these new Hea­vens and Earth will take it up.

To this I Answer, That indeed, we doe look for new Heavens, and a new Earth, according to his promise, and according to St. Peters words, and shall enjoy them too, and dwell in them. But what are those Heavens? but those highest Hea­vens, the Celestiall Paradise, the glorious habi­tations of the Saints, and of Gods Elect, which he hath prepared for them from the beginning of the world, and into which he will receive them at that day, when he shall say unto them, Venite benedicti: Come ye blessed, enter into the Kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world: and these are called New; not in respect of their new making, but in respect of our new taking possession of them (by a most happy change) for our new habitations: So that, New Heavens, and New Earth, in this place signifieth no more, but a New Habitation, farr more glorious then this that we now have in this lower world; that as now, the Earth under us, and the Heavens over us, are the place of our Habitation; so, after these shall be destroyed, that we may not fear we shall want a habitation, he tells us, We shall have another, and a better Habitation, farr more excellent and [Page 120]glorious then this is, which in allusion to these, he calls, New Heavens, and New Earth, to make us know, we shall be no losers by the change: And for this exposition, I might quote you Au­thors enough, Ireneus, Hilary, Hypolitus, and others; but I will cite you a whole Library of Fathers and Schoolemen, and all in one, who was him­selfe a living Library, I meane the late Learned and Reverend Lord Bishop of Worcester Doctor Prideaux, Regius Professor in the University of Ox­ford, and Rector of Exeter Colledge, in which I lived under his Government some years: He Preach't at the Court upon this very Text, 1 Peter 3.13. his Sermon is in Print, and intitled, The Christians ex­pectation; where all along, he proves, The New Heavens, here mentioned, to be no other, but the highest Heavens, appointed for the Habitations of the Saints in glory.

But what need we trouble our selves to search the Libraries of the Fathers and Schoolemen, to ask their Judgement and Consent in this matter? St. Peter himselfe has cleered the Point in questi­on to our hands, That the Heavens, in the Text, though here called New, can be no other, but those glorious Heavens above, now in being: For thus he further commendeth them to us, That [Page 121]they are Heavens wherein dwelleth righteousness: he doth not say, wherein shall dwell righteousness, in the future; but wherein now dwelleth righte­ousness, in the present Tense. We cannot say of Heavens hereafter to be Created, That righte­ousness now dwelleth in them, before they are in being: But the Apostle saith expressly of the Heavens which we look for, That righteousness now dwelleth in them, therefore they are now in be­ing, long since Created from the beginning. That which is in expectation, and the newness here mentioned, is not to be understood in re­spect of the making of them, or the future be­ing of them, as if they were not yet in being; but in respect of our entrance into them, our taking Possession of them, and Habitation in them, so they shall be new to us. I know there are of the other Opinion, not a few, for the new Creation of a new World, new Heavens, and a new Earth in the roome of this present World, when it shall be abolisht and dissolved: But see how weakly they prosecute that fancy, when they would confirme themselves, and others in it: They tell us of what excellent use it shall be; As first, For a Monument of what hath been. Secondly, For a receptacle of such as had de­served [Page 122]neither Heaven nor Hell; such as they thought were not capable of the one, and they thought it pitty they should be condemned to the other; such as Infants, dying without Bap­tisme, Idiots, and ignorant people, that wanted capacity to understand the truth; honest morall men, which never had the way of Gospel-salva­tion made known unto them, such as Plato, Ari­stotle, Plutarch, Cato, &c. Thirdly, That it might be an out-let, or as it were, a Country House for the Saints and Angells to come down into, where to solace themselves for their recreation, and the like; all but Rabbinicall fancies, and Jesuiticall surmises, without any ground any where, but in their own imaginations: As if the Lord had not roome enough wherein to dispose of his Saints and Angells, and all his re­spectively, except he should make another new World to entertein them in. Whereas our Savi­our tells us, Their receptacles were prepared for them from the beginning of the world, Mat. 25. Known to the Lord are all his works from the be­ginning; and he will not have so many supernu­meraries in the end of the World, as that the Fabrick made in the beginning for the reception of them, should not serve the turne. But to satis­fie [Page 123]the doubtfull in this scruple, let it be well minded what St. Peter saith further here in this Text, We look for new Heavens, not for a new Heaven, in the singular; but for new Heavens, in the Plurall number: By which it appears, there are more Heavens then one in the World above, for the Lord to dispose of his Saints and Angells in; a justification to what I have said in the former Part of this Treatise, wherein I affirmed, That there are more Heavens then one above the Starry Firmament. I named two between it, and the Empyrean, or fiery Heaven, where the Throne of God is; and who knows how many more there may be? Let no man object against this, what St. Paul sayes of his Rapture into the third Heaven, and therefore there are no more; that doth not follow, A man is taken up into a third place,; therefore there is not a fourth, nor a fifth: It would follow rather the contrary, that there were: For, Non dicitur primus nisi in ordine ad secun­dum: A first is not said to be so, but in order to a second, and so forward; In numeris ordinalibus, in numbers of order, till you come to the last. I say farther, that in such accounts, a respect is to be had where you begin to number, according to which the same place may fall in account to be [Page 124]first, or second, or third, or fourth. Thirdly, The Heavens are said to be more, or less, as they are distinguished and divided. So Aristotle numbers but eight, Ptolomie nine, Purbacchius ten, Maginus eleven, and this distinction they make from the distinct motions they have observed in the wan­dring and fixed Starrs. Our Christian Divines generally number but three, and that from Saint Pauls rapture, mentioned before: Yet a Reverend and Learned Bishop of ours, I mean Bishop Bilson, in his Survey of Christs sufferings, numbers foure, and that fourth to be that which is called, The Heaven of Heavens: For, That Christ is said to have ascended farr above all Heavens, Ephes. 4.10.

Thus you see here are great varieties of Opi­nions touching the number of the Heavens, and the Celestiall Orbs: And yet in the midst of all this variety, the difference is not so great, but it may be fairly reconciled, so as there shall be found no contradiction at all betwixt them: as thus, Be they as many as they will, they may all conveniently be divided, or sorted into these three Heavens, or compages of Heavens (if you will:) The Aëriall, the Sydereall, and the Ethe­riall Heavens: Under the first of these is com­prehended [Page 125]all that space, which from the Earth upwards, reacheth unto the Moone, the low­est of the Luminaries of Heaven, Foules fly­ing in it, are called, Foules of Heaven, Mat. 6.26. Under the second is comprehended all those Orbes and Sphears wherein the Starrs are placed, whether the fixed, or the wandering Starrs: The Starrs are called, Starrs of Heaven. And under the third is comprehended all that infinite space, which is above the Starry Firma­ment, and the Sydereall Heavens, be it never so great, or the Heavens in it never so many; and so in this three-fold division of the Heavens, into Aëriall, Sydereall, and Etheriall, we shall easily reconcile Astronomy and Divinity toge­ther, the Mathematicall Account, with the Theologicall. In it St. Paul may finde his third Heaven, Bishop Bilson his fourth, Aristotle may finde his eight, Ptolomy his nines, Purbacchius his tenn, and Maginus his eleven, and neither of them wrong other in the reckoning, so they seek them while they are there in being; but that must be before the Conflagration here in this Text Prophesied of by St. Peter. For in the great burning here spoken of, the two former, the Aëriall, and the Sydereall Heavens, with [Page 126]the whole compages of them, will be destroyed, burnt up, dissolved, they all fall under the fury of the Conflagration. St. Peter hath exprest the manner of it in tragicall expressions, filling the heart with terror and astonishment to think on: The burning of a House, a Towne, a City, is a lamentable sight. At the burning of Jeru­salem, and the Temple, Titus himself, which was the executioner of it, lamented greatly, and was sore grieved, and troubled at so lamentable a spectacle [...]: But what was that, in comparison to this, not so much as the burning of a Cottage in comparison of it selfe? The burning of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboim, foure Cities in the Plaine, with fire and brimstone from Heaven, was a Type of this burning, but slenderly re­presenting it, as so many bonfires to a mighty burning. The Prophet Isaiah, fore-telling the horrible destruction of the King of Assyria, sha­dows it forth under the type and title of Tophet, or Hell, Isay 30.33. in terrible termes as before remembred, For Tophet [...] prepared of old: yea, even for the King it is prepared, (meaning the King of Assyria, which in his close siege against Jerusalem, lay there with his Army, and went off with the loss of one hundred fourescore and five [Page 127]thousand men) he hath made it deep and large: the pile thereof is fire, and much wood: the breath of the Lord, as a streame of brunstone, doth kindle it. This Tophet was a Valley on the South side of Jerusalem, (Josh. 18.16.) in which the Ido­latrous Jews did burn their Children in the fire, to offer them up in sacrifice unto Moloch, contrary to the express command of God, Levit. 20.1. It was called Tophet, from Toph, which in the Hebrew signifieth a Drumme; from whence Tophet the diminutive of it signifying, a little Drumme, or Tabret; because, while these Children were burning; the Idolatrous Priests beate upon these Drumms, and playd on these Tabrets, partly for the solemnity of the service, and partly to drowne the crying, and shreeking of the poor In­nocents in the flames: It was the Land of one Hinnom, therefore called, The Valley of Hinnom; and in the New Testament, Gehenna, and taken for Hell, Matth. 5.21. Matth. 8.9. Josiah had such indignation against this Idolatrous place, that in his great Reformation, 2 Kings 23.10. He defiled it, he made it the very sinke, and dung­hill of the City, a place for the execution of Malefactors, and where those which were denyed buriall, were cast out, and lay unburied, a place [Page 128]where to carry and cast all the noysom Carrion of the City, where the Foules of the Ayre, and the beasts might Prey upon them; yet, for feare they should corrupt the Ayre, and cause infecti­ous diseases, there were continuall fires kept all-wayes burning, to consume the bones, and pu­trified Carkasses, whether of men or beasts, which were cast out there: And for the loathsomness of the place, and the continuall burnings in it, it was called Gehenna, Hell, and Hell fire: Unto which, it is probable, our Saviour alludes, when describing Hell, he saith, The Worme never dyes, nor the Fire never goeth out: The Worme that is bred out of those putrefactions, which farther gnawing, causeth farther putrefaction, never ceaseth to administer matter of burning to the fire, nor the fire ever goeth out, or ceaseth to feed it selfe upon it: Yet, as there are di­vers degrees of heate in the fire, and the fiery furnace into which the three Children were cast, was heat seven times hotter, then at other times: So it is cleere by the Scriptures, That the tor­ments of the damned, are not all equall.

We reade of the Servant, That knew his Ma­sters wilt, and did it not: And of another, That knew it not, and did it not. The former was to [Page 129]be beaten with many stripes: The latter was to be beaten too, but with fewer stripes. The Stoicks were [...]rr out in their Moralls, when they taught; Peccata esse aequalia, That all sinns were equall. Our Saviour his exposition of the sixth Com­mandement, hath taught us otherwise, Matth. 5.22. when he saith, That whosoever is angry with his brother unadvisedly, shall be in danger of the judgement: and whosoever saith unto his bro­ther, Racha, shall be worthy to be punished by the Councell: but whosoever shall say unto his brother, Thou foole, shall be in danger of Hell fire. Where under the forme of these three Courts among the Jews: First, The Court of three, or the Triumviri, here called, The Judgement, which had the hearing and punishing of smaller matters. Secondly, The Court of three and twenty, here called, The Councell, which had the hearing and punishing of crimes of a higher nature. And thirdly, Of the highest Court of all, consisting of threescore and eleven, which they called their Sane drim, which Judged the highest matters, and punished by death it selfe, whether by hang­ing, beheading, stoning, or burning in Gehenna, before mentioned; he cleerly sheweth, that there are great differences of sin, and sinners; and so [Page 130]there shall be also of punishments proportiona­bly, under which the damned shall be held, and tormented in Hell for evermore. Unto which, the enlargement of Tophet, by the destruction of this world, in the great Conflagration, shall be much conducing, in giving convenient roome for it. And as the punishment, and torment of the damned in Hell shall be of divers, and diffe­rent measures, and degrees; Potentes potentèr cruciabuntur: Mighty men shall be mightily tor­mented; so, that the joy and glory of the Cae­lestiall Inhabitants, shall be as different, in mea­sure, and degree, is clearly revealed in Scripture. They that be wise, shall shine as the brightness of the Firmament, and they that turne many to righ­teousness shall shine as the Starrs for ever and ever, Daniel 12.3. Which Saint Paul in 1 Cor. 15. further confirmes, and more cleerly explicates this, There is one glory of the Sunne, another of the Moone, and another glory of the Starrs: for one Starr differeth from another Starr in glory, ver. 41. And then to prevent all mistakes, and disputes about it, he applyes it to this very purpose, verse 42. Even so is the Resurrection from the dead. And to this doth this Text of Saint Peter well agree, where it sayes, We look [Page 131]for new Heavens, in the Plurall Number, (who knows how many) Ethereall Heavens, but he that made them? but Heavens they are, there­fore more then one, and this necessary for two Reasons: First, for the vast spaces that are re­quired to dispose of the Caelestiall Inhabitants in, spaces which no man can measure for mul­titudes, which no man can number.

Secondly, For the orderly disposing of them in those Heavens according to the dignity, and glory; the purity, and holiness of those that shall be placed in them. For as one Starr; so, one Heaven, differeth from another in glory. In my Fathers House are many Mansions; those Mansi­ons not of equall beauty and magnificence; variety of Mansions for variety of Inhabitants; to some are reserved Crowns, to other Lau­rells; some are clothed in White, the immedi­ate pedissequae of the Lambe, which follows him whethersoever he goeth: others attend at a farther distance. In the second and third Chap­ters of the Revelation, there are seven severall rewards assigned to them that overcome. In the nineteenth of Saint Luke, we see, upon the Account given by the servants of the improve­ment [Page 132]of the Talents committed to their trust, One is made Ruler over ten Cities: another over five: every one hath his reward (according to his care and faithfulness) proportioned unto him. But what need we multiply words, in a case so cleer; consider but the present state of the Caelestiall Inhabitants, the holy Angels, now in glory; and from thence you will easily col­lect, what the state of the Saints shall be after the Resurrection: you will finde them distri­buted into severall Classes, or Orders of An­gels, in dignity and glory, one above another. For we reade of Angells, and Arch-Angells, of Cherubims, and Seraphims, of Thrones, Do­minions, Principalities, Powers, &c. all which are so many Orders, and severall Degrees of Angells excelling one another in dignity and glory. And if there be such graduall distincti­ons now, of the Angells divided, and distribu­ted into so many Orders, one above another in the Caelestiall Hierarchy; certainly much more must it needs be so, after the Resurrection, when the number of the Caelestiall Inhabitants shall be so infinitely augmented by the access of all the Saints, and elect people of God, which have [Page 133]been from the beginning of the world, and shall be to the last man that shall stand upon the Earth at that day. And it were strange, That all these should be limited to one Heaven to be disposed in, which is all that some of you seem to allow: but that Saint Peter hath better in­form'd us in the Text, when he sayes, We look for new Heavens, Heavens in the Plurall, Hea­vens enough for the Creator to dispose of all his people in, and to sort them so, as that they shall all be in those Heavens, which are most conve­nient for them, and suitable to them, and for them to be Inhabitants in, and all these new too; not because then newly Created: but be­cause we shall then newly take Possession of them, and so they shall be new to us; not in them­selves, For they were Created of old, from the be­ginning, from the foundation of the World. Let our Saviours own words, giving possession of them, satisfie, and silence all further dispute, or questi­onings in this matter, Mat. 25.34. with which I shut up this Discourse, Come ye blessed Children of my Father, enter into the Inheritance of the King­dome prepared for you, from the foundation of the World.

FINIS.

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