I Shall not deteine you by any impertinent Preface, sith the shortnesse of time for this Service, together with the indulgence of this so Learned an Auditory, anticipates an Apology, and gives hopes of much Candor, under so manifold Impraepara­tions.

And so I addresse my selfe to the serious businesse of my Text; The scope whereof amounts to this summe, Namely, to comfort Timothy about the nigh approach of Saint Pauls Martyrdome, mentioned, ver. 6. The argu­ments of Consolation are two, each depending on the other. 1. The first taken from his Holy course of life, constantly conti­nued, comfortably finished, ver. 7. 2. The second, from the [Page 2]certainty of his Blessed estate, assured to him after this Life, ver. 8. And indeed, the Apostle seems to put on him the affe­ction of a dying 1 Thes. 2.11. Father, willing to inhibit, or at least to 1 Thes. 4.13. moderate the passions (which like Ambergreese may doe well in a compound of grace) of his indeared children, en­compassing, as Gen. 49.1, 2. Jacabs Sons, his Death-bed; as if he had thus Deut. 32.2. dropt his words upon them: What doe ye thus Act. 21.13. weeping, and breaking my Heart? 1 Thes. 1.10. God, my owne Rom. 9.1. Conscience, your selves are witnesses, how holily, and without crime, I have 1 Pet. 1.17. pas­sed the time of my sojourning here, God, by his grace hath (according to his promise) 2 Tim. 4.18. preserved me 1 Cor. 1.8. 1 Thes. 3.13. blamelesse unto the end: You know what happy things he hath 1 Cor. 2.9. prepared for them that love him, into the Heb. 11.40. Beginnings whereof my Soule shall enter, at my Phil. 1.23. Dissolution; the Psal. 16.11. fulnesse, and consum­mation I expect at that great and Act. 2 20 notable day of the gene­rall Resurrection, and Retribution: Right so the Apostle here, to the same effect, to comfort Timothy, whom (having 2 Tim. 1, 2. and 2. [...]. be­gotten him spiritually through the Gospell, to the Faith of Christ) he found even as a Naturall Phil. 2.22. Son, with his Father most affectionately tender, obedient and observant, unto his very last expiration: I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand; (yet neverthelesse be comfort­ed, for) I have fought a good fight, &c. and henceforth, there is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousnesse, &c. This for the Con­text, and scope of this Scripture.

I have fought a good fight.] The expression is borrowed from those who strive for 1 Cor. 9.25. 2 Tim. 2, 5. masteryes, and after a sharpe in­counter, or heate of Contention, doe at last prove Rom. 8.37. Con­querors.

I have finished my Course,] id est. Cursum certaminis, qua­lis est corum, qui in stadio currunt, as Estius expounds it; The speech being taken from such as runne in a race, who give not out till the prize be obtained, see 1 Cor. 9.24, 25, 26. I have kept the Faith.] That is, That Fidelity, or trust, and faithful­nesse, which he had constantly made good in the discharge of his Apostleship, and Ministery, in preaching the Gospell far and neere, throughout many 2 Cor. 10.14.16. Gal. 1.16. Regions, from the time of the first Commission of the same, unto his 1 Cor. 9.17. Dispensation: The [Page 3]Apostle in his owne practise, accomplishing that, which he re­quired in all other the Stewards of like sacred Mysteries, 1 Cor. 4.2. for this also, he gave God thankes, for counting him faithfull, in putting him into the Ministery, committing the glorious Gospell unto his 1 Thes. 2.4. trust, 1 Tim. 1.11.12. upon which he was assured of his, Euge, Bone serve, & fidelis. Well done, good and Mat. 25.21. faithfull Servant, enter into thy Masters joy. Ere I come to the more particular elucidation of the parts, I may not omit to mention those quaeries, and resolutions, which some of the antient Fathers have not unprofitably raised, and given upon these words.

Quaer: 1 The first whereof is this; Whether Saint Paul did not, un­der this profession, boast in a kinde of vaunting ostenta­tion?

Answ. Answ. To this Saint S. Chrys. in Loc. Chrysostome makes answer thus; [...], He doth not magnifie himselfe, or boast in any way of vaine-glorious Non haec jactantiae verba sunt, sed bonae Conscien­tiae, Estius ad Loc. 1 Cor. 10.31. Ostentation, (a sin which, else where, he ex­treamely cautions against, Phil. 2.3. Gal. 2.16.) but they are the words of a Saint, uttered in a modest, meek, and humble protestation, whereby he owneth the graces of God within him, and gives all the * glory in their vigorous exercise, to God the Originall Fountaine, and bestower of them.

Quaer: 2 Quaest. Whether Saint Paul did well to Commemorate, and make mention of his gracious Actions, and good Deeds?

Answ. Answ. To which Saint Gregory makes answer thus; Fas est viris sanctis in morte recordari, imo & recolere virtutes vitae actae, &c. It is lawfull for Holy men, and Saints of God, in Death to recollect, and to recount the vertuous deeds of their former lives past; Not indeed, as an occasion of exaltation in themselves for the same; But, Ʋt fiduciam praebeant, & de­sperantem timorem premant, for the suppression of feare, and Desperation, in the last Houre; in as much as good workes are the Jam. 2.18. fruit of a saving Faith; that, as Faith justifies the person in a Correlation to Christs merits, (it as an hand Rom. 5.17. [...]. receiving, apprehending, and applying them as all-sufficient to the soule) so good workes (being the way to eternall life, Eph. 2.10.) Declaratively, and Praesentially justifie the Faith, shewing it [Page 4]not to be Counterfeit or dead, but Reall, and living; It being the innate property of such a Faith to be Vera sides viva est, Nec potest esse otiosa. Juell. in Apolog vivacious, manifest­ing it selfe in its godly Gal. 5.6. Operations: Hence was the saying of the Schoole Divines, that Charitas was forma virtutum, Charity (which is the Rom. 13.8. summe of the Law) consisting in love towards God, for his own sake, and towards our 1 Ioh. 3.14. Neighbour, for Gods sake, it was the Forme of the Theologicall Vertues; Not but that Faith, and Hope, and other graces of the Spirit, have their owne severall and particular Formes, which doe specifically forme them to their owne Identicall Natures, and diversifie them from others, so that Faith is not Hope, nor Hope is not Charity; but for that love, doth as it were, forme them to ac­ceptability before God, to this purpose may be applicable that practise of zealous Nehemiah, Chap. 13.14. Remember me, O my God, (saith he) concerning this, and wipe not out my good Deeds, that I have done for the House of my God, and for the Of­fices thereof: and the like is that we also read of good King Hezekiah, upon a Summons to Death, Isa. 38.3. And he said, Remember now, O Lord, I beseech thee, how I have walked be­fore thee, in Truth, and with a perfect Heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight.

Quaer. 3 A third Quaerie is, Whether Saint Paul spake all this, as out of a selfe-confidence, without having an eye to Gods Divine assistance therein?

Answ. Answ. To which, saith venerable Bede, Absit ut tantus Do­ctor ignoraverit legem Dei, Deut. 8.17. God forbid that so great a Doctor should be unacquainted with the word of God, which teacheth utterly to disclaime all selfe-power, though it were but to become wealthy, or potent, even in things Temporall; yea, himselfe seriously acknowledgeth all spirituall sufficiency to be of God, 2 Cor. 3.5. evermore ascribing the totall of his supernaturalls to the free grace of Christ, 1 Cor. 15.10. through whose strength alone it was that he discharged his Trust in the Gospell, and went through with all other graci­ous performances, Phil. 4.13.

Quaer: 4 The fourth, and last Querie is, How Saint Paul came to know so assuredly, that there was a Crowne of Righteousnesse laid up for him in Heaven?

Answ. Answ. To which some answer, That he had it by Revelation extraordinary, as an Apostolicall priviledge daigned to him from God, the better to chear him on in the course of the Gospell, and to steele his resolutions against all opposers of the glorious Truth therein revealed: or, as Anselme thus, He had that assurance, Non re plenissimâ, sed spe firmissimâ: grounded upon a firme hope, and expectation: But of this more anon.

Having thus pointed at the Quaeries: I come now to the more particular handling of the words, out of which I ob­serve two generall parts.

• 1. A solemne Profession of the discharge of his Office, verse 7.
• 2. A large Remuneration, and Reward of that Discharge, verse 8.

In the former, we have 1. The Person, I. 2. His Act, fought. 3. The object of that Act, A fight. 4. The quality of that fight, A [good] fight. 5. The time of all this, noted from the expression in the Praeter tense, I [have] fought [...], I have fought a good fight: the rest of the words in this verse I take to be, upon the matter, but as the exegesis, and exposition of the former.

In the second maine part, The reward; We have it ampli­fied. 1. By the Donor, or bestower of it, The Lord, described here by a Periphrasis, and styled, [...], The Righ­teous Judge. 2. By the Title given to it, A Crowne of Righte­ousnesse. 3. By the manner of it, it is laid up. 4. By the time of Donation, In that Day. 5. By the persons to whom bestowed, To Paul himselfe; and that, not by any restrictive enclosure, as if onely to himselfe, and to none other besides; but by a farther expansion, it reacheth unto others with him­selfe; provided they be found under due qualification of loving the appearance of the Judge; Not unto me onely, but unto them also that love his appearing.

These, at least, as to my observation, are the parts of this Scripture; which being so many, I must be constrained, as the Disciples passing through the Corne-fields upon the Sabbath day, [...], to pluck but an eare, Mat. 2.23. or two of the [Page 6]choycest notice; or as some Lapidaries of rich Jewells are wont, shew them onely in a short cursory view, and so lay them up a­gaine.

The first words, I have fought a good fight, admit of a di­vers Interpretations, yet each of them suitable to the Analogy, and Rom. 12.6. proportion of Faith.

They may then be taken, either as the expression of Saint Paul himselfe, quatenus Apostolus, as under the notion of an Apostle: or else as a Christian, in the condition with other Members of the Church of Christ with himselfe, for that we read in the close of the eighth verse, The Crowne of Righteous­nesse was laid up for all that loved the appearing of the Lord.

If we take them in the former sense, then from the first par­ticular, The Person; The note of Magali­anus, ad loc. Magalian is apposite, Stus Paulus Dux fuit, & antesignanus eorum quae praecipiebat; That we looke at Saint Paul as an Exemplary leader to all his suc­cessors, (though indeed not in an Apostolicall Latitude, yet) in the office, and worke it selfe of the Ministery, practically first doing what he would have others to observe in, and about the dispensation of the Gospell: see Phil. 4.9. And this was our Saviours owne Course, Act. 1.1. He began to doe and Teach, first to doe, and then to Teach; its noted by Barradius upon that Prophesie, Isa. 9.6. which had relation to our Savi­our, it was said, The Government should be upon his shoulders, intimating, that himselfe would first beare in his owne person, what he intended to impose upon others, to wit, in things capa­ble of Imitation; even as he said unto John Baptist, when he cender'd himselfe to be Baptized of him, and he in an humble renuence grew shy, as deeming himselfe unworthy of so great an Honour, Mat. 3.15. Suffer it to be so now, saith he, for thus it becommeth us to fulfill all Righteousnesse; Haec est enim Iustitia, ut quod alterū facere velis, prior ipse incipias, & tuo alios horteris exemplo, as Saint S. Am­ [...]e in Luc. Ambrose expounds the words; This was righ­teousness, that is, an equal, and just thing, that what thou would­est have another to observe, and do, thou thy selfe shouldest first exemplifie in thine owne actions suitably; whereunto was that serious advise of S. Paul unto his Son Timothy, 2 Tim. 4.16. [Page 7] Take heed unto thy selfe, and unto thy Doctrine, for so thou shalt both save thy selfe, and those that heare thee; Where the chiefest heed was to be given to himself: Truly spake Saint Gregory in Job 23. Saint Gregory, cum Imperio docetur, quod prius agitur, quàm dicatur, Then shall we with Authority speake what we doe, when we doe what we speake: But this is a Discourse fitter for a Visitation, than a Fu­nerall; were it not, that it is at the obsequies of such a worthy Divine, (for whom we now performe this last Christian good office) whose practise herein was an accurate Comment upon the whole speech.

From the second and third particular, (in this acception of the words) its obvious to every apprehension, that the worke of the Ministery is a Fighting, yea, a continuall Warfare: so Bruno, and with him Espenceus ad Loc. Espencaeus observes, that where the Verbe and Substantive run in the same termes, one conducing to, the other to perfect the Emphasis of the expression, there is ever­more a [Frequency] of that Act implyed: I should but cast drops into the Ocean, to endeavour a large proof of so clear a Truth: Whilest Noah, both by his Lips and by his Hands (in Heb. 11 7. buil­ding the Arke) was a 2 Pet. 2 5. Preacher of Righteousnesse, in the old world, was it not thus? whilst the spirit of God (in his Mini­stery) Gen. 6.3. strove with the obstinate corruptions of that wicked world, what aspersions, what oppositions, what misusages, and abasures had the Prophets in their dayes, being Ier. 20.7. derided, traduced, 2 Chro. 36.16. Mat. 23.37. misused, insulted on, even for the Conscientious discharge of their Function? The pretious Sons of Sion com­parable to fine Gold, how were they esteemed as earthen Pitchers, the worke of the hands of the Potter? Lam. 4.2. And, who knowes not the exact accomplishment of old Simeons Prophecy of our Saviour himselfe, Luke 2.34. How he was set for a signe, which was and should be In signum contrad ci­b [...]le. Tert. de Ca [...]ne Christi, cap. 28. Is. 8.13. spoken against, [...], for a signe of contradiction, he should be as a common Illirio. Bishop Hall in Paraphr: Piscator & Fran­ciscus Lu­cas. marke, whereat the arrowes of reproach shall be fully shot: Of all the Holy Apostles its noted, 1 Cor. 4.13. They were made as the filth of the world, and the Confer. Lam. 3.45. off-scou­ring of all things continually; [...], signifieth that reject­ament, which is scraped from the dirty pavement, from whence the shooes gather defilement; and [...], it being a [Page 8]word in a Composition, carryes with it the greater Emphasis, and denotes the polluted rakeings of the streets, fit for nothing but the common Dunghill; In so low a state of abjection, and in so vile an esteem were those very 2 Cor. 5.20. Ambassadors of Hea­ven, among an Atheisticall and Act. 2.40. Phil. 2.15. crooked generation: our ve­ry Apostle here professeth, 1 Cor. 15.32. That he fought with Beasts at Ephesus, [...], which some would have meant Literally, of his being dilaniated, and rent in his body, (as many Primitive Christians were in the first Cruell times of raging persecution) by wilde Beasts to which Nero, that De­dicator Damnationis, T [...]rt. in Apologet. as Tertullian styles him, being himselfe a 2 Tim. 4.17. Lyon, was wont Tyrannically to cast the bodies of the Chri­stians: But others better, in my poore understanding, expound it of those Ethicall or Morall Beasts, who with Demetrius, and the rabble that cryed up the great Diana of the Idolatrous E­phesians, so violently withstood and opposed Saint Paul, who cryed downe that their abhominable superstition at Ephesus, Act. 19. in which place a great door, and effectuall was opened unto him, but there were many 1 Cor. 16.9. Adversaries, 1 Cor. 16.8, 9. those Apostles indeed experimenting the proofe of what their Lord and Master foretold them, that they must be sent forth even as Sheep among Mat. 10.16. Wolves, who would attempt to teare them in pieces: and which of us in particular, encounters not his discouragements? Yea, woe is me! We seeme to be fallen into those times, wherein many men (as if directly Isa. 6.10 infatuated from Heaven) out of a grosse misprision apprehend the Mi­nistery it selfe the greatest inconvenience; and (that great cheat, that grand Pantomime of Christendome, the cunning Jesuit (now almost bare-fac'd) hath instilled (as is feared) so pernicious a principle into such as are (for ought we can see) willing to be deceived, as to question the 1 Tim. [...].1. Rom. 11.13. office it selfe, and to dispute the Institution; as if they would have men scorne the Physitian when sickest, and shun the Chirurgion when sorest; And (which must not be forgotten) there are not wanting some, who are apt to charge on that sacred Calling, the oc­casion, if not the cause of all the Calamities of this latter Age: just as those of whom Suidas reports, that they were wont to write with Inke or blood on a glasse, and so set it against the [Page 9]Moon, making all those spots or blurres that were in the glass, to be in the Moon, and not at all in the glasse, upon which alone they were written: meane while, never at all anatomizing their owne Ulcerous, Corrupt insides, or repenting for their Prov. 13.5. Ezek. 36.31. loath­some selfe-abhominations (and among them as principall, for the contempt of Gods faithfull Ministers.) Which sins becom­ming so Epidemicall, and Nationall, as they are, call for Wrath and Indignation from that Lord, who is here styled in my Text, the Righteous Judge. And yet, though this be a Fight, neverthelesse it is, for the quality, a [good] Fight, and that for these reasons;

First of all, because its undertaken for the 1 Tim. 6.12. Faith of Christ, and for the Salvation of Soules, whereof even one single one is more worth than a Mat. 16.26. whole World; O what comfort will it be, in the day of retribution, when a 1 Cor. 4.2. faithfull Minister, after all his sharpe conflicts with the Act. 2.40. wayward oppositions of corrupt men, shall say; Loe me, and the Isa. 8.18. Heb. 2 13. people, which thou hast gi­ven me, as the fruit of all my labour in thy Gospell, being a­ble thus to give up an Heb. 13.17. account with joy, and not with griefe.

Secondly, Because its undertaken for a good reward, which is no lesse, than a Crowne of Righteousnesse; What S. Gregory said of afflictions for a good Conscience, will hold here alone, Consideratio praemii minuit vim flagelli, The consideration of the Reward, abates of the Difficulty of the Fight; even so its noted of Moses, that having respect unto the recompense of the reward, he preferred the reproach of Christ to all the rich­est treasures in Aegypt, Heb. 11.26. the same was it likewise that animated that noble Prophet under all his discouragements, and fruitlesse endeavours among men, Isa. 49.4. I have labour­ed in vaine, and spent my time for nought, yet surely my Judge­ment is with the Lord, and my worke, that is, the reward of my worke is with the Lord; who rewardeth his Ministers, secun­dùm laborem, though not secundùm proventum, as S. Bernard speakes, according to their Labour, and pious endeavours, which themselves undergoe in the Gospell, though not ac­cording to the successe of their Labours, which is 1 Cor. 3.6. Gods alone to bestow.

And thus farre of the words, in their first acception, uttered by S. Paul as an Apostle.

I might next consider them also, as spoken in the name of all other Christians at large, even of all such as, who love the appearing of the Lord Christ Jesus at his comming.

And under that notion of them, we may observe, That the Life of a Christian is a continuall warfare upon the Earth, so Chrysologus, Christiano militare est, id quod vivit in seculo, suitably unto that of Job, Chap. 7.1. Where the word rendered an appointed time, is by many translated a Warfare, which was hinted to us in the first Gen. 3.15 enmity between the two seeds; after againe, in Esau and Iacob Gen. 25.22. strugling together in the same wombe; and to this effect is that speech of our Saviour, I came not to send Peace on the Earth, but War, Division Mat. 10.34, 35. and variance, namely, between Grace and Corruption; which was experi­mented mightily in the breast of this our Apostle, when the Law in his Members rebelled against the Law of his Minde, Rom. 7.23. it was [...], a warring Law; and elsewhere he saith, The flesh lusteth against the spirit, as the spi­rit lusteth against the flesh, Gal. 5.17. and to the same purpose also Saint Iames, Chap. 4.1. From whence come Warres, and Fightings among you? Come they not hence, even of your Lusts, that Warre in your Members? Surely Contention comes from Corruption; see likewise, 1 Pet. 2.11.

Now, I might here take occasion to treat of the Doctrine of the spirituall Warfare, and pursuing the Metaphor, present you with those severall things that concurre to make up a com­pleate Battaile; as 1. A Bickering, and encounter it selfe, Nisi praecesserit pugna non potest esse Victoria, as Saint S. Cypr. li de Mor­tal. c. 9. Cyprian, there cannot properly be said to be a Victory, where never was a fighting, delicata jactatio est, ubi periculum non est, its but a fond, or esseminate kinde of boasting of a Conquest, where never was danger. 2. In a Warre there must be Enemies, with whom to encounter, quis enim certat nisi inimicum habet? saith Prosper, there cannot be a Contention, where there is not an Adversary: Now in this Warfare, the great and the grand Adversary is the Devill, who, with an [...], is styled [...], The Adversary, 1 Pet. 5.8. Iam. 4.7. He [Page 11]is as the chiefe Champion, the World also and the Flesh as un­der him;

Sunt tria quae tentant Hominem, Mundus, Care Daemon. And in relation to the severall Temptations of each of these, Schoolmen have given them distinct names, or Titles, being cal­led by them, either Obrepentes, or Ascendentes, or Immissa: Those which are from the World seeme full of slattery, and creep on, after a sort, insensibly, and deceive us; Those from the flesh ascend, as it were out of our selves, therefore the more dange­rous, because the lesse perceptible, they being so pleasing to Corrupt Nature, and a selfe-snare: Those from the Devill are sent from without, with more vehemency, therefore called [...], Darts [...], Ephes. 6.16. because cast into a man; for in very deed the Devils [...]. Macar. Homil. knows no mans Heart, one­ly deales, at first, (till after farther experience) by Conjecture; all which (if I had time) it were easie to inlarge upon. 3. In a Warre, there must be Armes, and Weapons; and to furnish our selves with these, we have a full Armory, or panoply in the Holy Scriptures; The whole armour of God we have for all sorts of Weapons, whether Offensive or Defensive, in Ephes. 6.13, 14. &c. 4. There must be policies, or stratagems in War; meanes to Circumvent, disappoint, over-reach, overthrow the Enemy, &c. These and many the like, are the parts to make up this spirituall warfare: all which must of necessity, (if, as it ought to be spoken to fully) will ingrosse more time, than I have left to goe through with my other businesse.

Wherefore, waving that so copious a Theame, at this pre­sent; I proceed on now to the second generall part of my Di­vision, which is the Remuneration, or reward of Saint Pauls fidelity in the discharge of his trust, in the Dispensation of the Gospell; Henceforth is laid up for me a Crowne of Righteous­nesse, &c.

Much (but that I study Brevity) might be said of the Dignity of this reward, it being stiled, a Crowne; and largely also I might discourse of the certainty thereof proved, and assu­redly to be made good, partly from the promise of God, of that 2 Thes. 3 3. faithfull God, who is ever Psal. 111. 5. mindfull of it, and never disappointeth a true believer of performance, namely so as he [Page 12]promiseth, Esay 40.10. Behold, the Lord God will come with a strong hand, and his arme shall rule for him, behold his reward is with him. See also Isa. 62.11. and Psal. 31.19. The Psalmist see­meth, after a sort, ravished, and in a kind of extasie, transport­ed out of himselfe, in wonder at the meditation, O how great is thy goodnesse which thou hast laid up for them that feare thee, which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee, before the sonnes of men! And elsewhere, Psal. 58.11. Verily there is a reward for the righteous, doubtlesse he is a God that judgeth in the earth. And Heb. 6.10. God is not unrighteous to forget, &c. nor was ever any mans labour (maugre the blasphemie of all those Infidels, Mal. 3.14.) in vaine in the Lord, 1 Cor. 15.58. See also Rom. 2.7. And this is partly also to be made good from the meritorious expiation of the Lord Christ, the vertue whereof extended not onely to a deliverance from all paine and misery, which he pur­chased by his Passion; but also to the opening a way to everlast­ing happinesse, by his all-glorious Resurrection, and Ascension, Rom. 8.32. 2 Pet. 1.11. Joh. 14.2. And lastly, this may be col­lected likewise from the present afflictions of Gods servants, 2 Thes. 1.5. for else, as the present case now stands with them, they are in this life of all men else most miserable, 1 Cor. 15.19.

Now, the Schoolmen have reduced the summe of all the fu­ture Blessednesse, and Reward, unto two maine heads, which they stile, Dotes animae, & Corporis; as it were, the Dowries of the Soule and Body, both which, as they have beene sharers in obedience, so shall they also be in the Compensation of the just reward. Those of the Soule are these,

1. The cleare 1 Jo. 3: 2. Vision of God, which they say is, tota mer­ces, beholding him 1 Cor. 13.12. face to face, namely, so farre as a finite Being (for so our Humane Nature continues still, though glori­fied) may be capable to apprehend of that Majesty, which is Infinite; in this advanced condition, the Soule (which is here clogg'd, and drossy, and much praegravated by the Body, subject to corruption) shall beatifically see God, as he is, in the full splendor of his immortall glory; whereas beneath, it seeth onely in part, and knoweth but in part, nor can the greatest part of our sublunary knowledge, make up the least [Page 13]part of our Ignorance; the discovery that we have now of Heaven, is but [...], as by reflexion from a glasse Darkely, being changed into the Image of God, by degrees, from one glory to another, 2 Cor. 3.18. but then, all clowds shall be dispelled, the Intellectuall eyes fully cleared up into a perfect and bright serenity, and withall enjoy a sweet oblecta­tion, Contentation and Delight accompanying that inex­pressible and blissefull Vision.

2. In the will, perfect fruition of the Divine glory, tention, and (for the measure of the Creature) Comprehension, a compleate assimilation, and likenesse to that glorious Ma­jesty, in Holinesse and Righteousnesse; In those new Heavens dwelleth nothing but righteousnesse, 2 Pet. 3.13.

3. In the whole Soule, Joy unspeakable and full of glory, 1 Pet. 1.8. In the Body, 1. Impassibility, it is not, nor can be subject there to any Ach, Ague, or Paine, no discontent­ing or agonizing vexations whatsoever, All Teares shall be wiped away from our eyes, Rev. 7.17. 2. Agility, expedite quicknesse, free from all manner of Lumpish pondero­sity, or defatigation whatsoever; Yea moreover, perfect Cla­rity, and glorious splendor, such as the Sun it selfe, in its full Brightnesse partakes not of: Here below the Beauty of the Saints is shadowed, and much clouded, partly by the interpo­sition of Hypocrifie (Copper often passing before weake eyes for Gold, Formality for Reality) eclipsing that 2 Cor. 1.12. [...], & simplicity which would both Tit. 2.10. adorne the Gospell, and grace the purity of profession: partly also by afflictions, to which the godly are Act. 14.22. appointed in this life, where Christianus is quasi Crucianus, and that Mat. [...]0.22. Baptisme of blood, and Suffering is made the character of a true Believer, as that of Water is of an outward visible Member of the Church: And partly also by Corruption, which like spriggs, or suckers sprouting forth even under the choycest graffe, will sometimes be shewing of it selfe in the defection of our best actions, yea, in some parti­culars of Jam. 3.2. G [...]l. 6.1. Exorbitancy; so that whereas, in these severall re­gards, the Beauty of the Saints is much obtenebrized, and ob­soured, yet then shall they Mat. 13.42. shine forth, [...], even as the Sun from out of a Clowd, in full clarity, and re­fulgent [Page 14] Phil. 3.21. glory; which was praefigured, after a sort, in that shining transfiguration of our Saviour upon the Mount, Mat. 17. When the vision was so glistering, and resplendent, that Peter could have beene contented, (though but from that glimpse of glory) to have erected a Mat. 17▪ 4. Tabernacle, for a far­ther sight and Contemplation, he found it so sweet, that it was good to be there longer. 3. Lastly, To all this may be added Immortality, as the Diamond set in the ring of all the rest, there Mortality hath put on Immortality, the Body never more, after it is cloathed upon therewith, being subject unto Cor­ruption, Death it selfe is then struck dead, and swallowed up in a finall Victory unto all Eternity: To which purpose ye may doe well to meditate at leisure those very apposite and perti­nent Scriptures, 1 Pet. 5.4. 2 Cor. 5.1. Rev. 2.11. 1 Cor. 15.54, 55. compared with Hos. 13.14. and to this purpose the pla­ces of blisse are styled [...]. mansions, Joh. 14.2. or abiding and resting places, John 14.2.

And this is the reward, couched under this Metaphor of a Crowne, the Blisse whereof, indeed, transcends the skill, and tongue even of Angells themselves to expresse: Saint Paul speaking of the excellent goodnesse was treasured up, but in the gifts and graces of Regeneration in this life, saith even of them, that the naturall eye hath not Seene, nor the eare Heard, nor hath it entred into the Heart of an unspiritualized man, to conceive the things which God hath praepared for them that love him, 1 Cor. 2.9. Much lesse surely can this be done, in re­gard of the 2 Pet. 1.17. Excellent glory above in Heaven; Wherefore the joy thereof being so incomprehensible, as it is, when it could not enter into the faithfull servant mentioned in the Go­spell, then he was bid to enter into it, even into that joy of his Master, Mat. 25.21. And thus farre of the remuneration it selfe at large, both in the Certainty and the Dignity thereof, It is a Crowne of Righteousnesse.

I come next to consider the Donor, or the Bestower of the same, the Lord, set forth unto us here, under the periphrasis of being [...], The Righteous Judge.

Where note, saith the Roman Catholique, that the Reward is a Reward of Justice, not of favour, rendered as a due debt, [Page 15]not given as a gratuitous benevolence, so Cajetan on the Text, Dicendo, reddet Justus Judex, debitum jus significat; and, so by consequent, the good workes, to which its rendered, are properly meritorious, and God shall be unjust if he deny them his due reward, even due of debt: But whilst these overweening spiders suck poyson, the Humble Bees draw honey from these fragrant and sweet flowers: To Cajetan (though none of the meanest Schoolmen) we may oppose Primasius, who hath this more solid expression, quomodo ista corona debita redderetur, nisi prius illa gratuita donaretur? How can that Crowne be said to be rendered as due, unlesse first it was bestowed as free? and a­gaine, opera Bona sunt Dei dona, The Lord in crowning our good deeds, doth but reward us with his owne gifts; in this case we must be all constrained to say as David, on another oc­casion, 1 Chron. 29.14. All things come of thee, and of thine owne have we given thee; Wherefore, Saint Paul (the great Assertor of free grace) hath styled most fitly life eternall it selfe, (wherein consisteth the absolute consummation of all gra­ces) [...], a free gift, Rom. 6.23. a word not used in any Heathen Author, but peculiarized to the 2 Tim. 3.16. 2 Pet. 1.11 inspired penmen of Holy Writ; besides, the manner of the Apostles expression is very remarkable, even in this very Text, where the word [...], [is laid up] and the other of [...] [shall give] both these expression simply a free Donation, no meritorious purchase at all; elsewhere, our reward in Heaven is called an Inheritance, Ephes. 1.14. Act. 26.18. which is a thing comming freely by descent unto the rightfull Heyre: Moreover, workes merito­rious, according to the determination of the Patrons of merit themselves; They must be, 1. Nostra, our owne workes, wrought out of our owne strength, and done by our owne power, whereas the Evangelicall Prophet hath o­therwise assured us, Isa. 26.12. Thou O Lord, saith he, hast wrought all our workes in us, He meanes, gracious workes: Alas, we are not such Silkewormes as to spin a thred of Faelicity out of our owne bowells; we must remember that the highest style, which the Scripture gives the Saints, is but to be Act. 9.15. 2 Tim. 2.20. Vessells of Salvation, to Rom. 5.17. receive the graces of God distilled into them from above; Not Our heart is as barren of any good, as they re­port the Isle of Patmos is, where no­thing will grow, but on earth that is brought from other places. D. Stough­ton. Springs or Fountaines to derive them to our Tanquam fi [...]ius gra­tiae B ad­wardin. de S. Paulo. [Page 16]selves; and by the very Schoolmen themselves, the graces of the Spirit are called, Habitus infusi, Habits, not acquisite by frequent Acts, as morall vertues are, but infused by God into the Heart, Every good and perfect gift descending from above, as Saint James saith, Jam. 1.17. Yea, it was the positive assertion of our Saviour himselfe, John 15.5. Without me ye can doe no­thing, He meanes 1 Pet. 2.5 Acceptably; He doth not say, as Saint Austin observes, sine me difficulter potestis, or, non potestis per­ficere, without me ye can hardly doe any thing, or, ye are not able to bring any act unto perfection, but simply, and expressely thus, Without me, that is, without Cant. 8.5 leaning upon me, having my spe­ciall and gracious assistance, Ye can doe nothing at all that is good and gracious; and our Apostle also, elsewhere, professeth, that all our sufficiency, namely in things supernaturall, is meer­ly and solely of God alone; 2 Cor. 3.5. Therefore we may well conclude, that whatsoever good workes there are in us, they be none of our owne.

Secondly, As they must be our owne, so likewise are they, (in the sense of those grand Impostors of the Christian world) to be perfect, as in which nothing is to be found defective, nothing redundant; whereas all our righteousnesse, as it is inhaerent in us, Alas! it is but as a defiled, nasty, and polluted menstru­osity, Isa. 64.6. the highest pitch, or [...] of perfection, that (whilest we are clad with the raggs of our Pyil. 3.21. vile flesh) we, the very best of us all, can attaine to in this life, is (as I have shewne See my Sermon, styled, The Remedy of Schisme, preached at Pauls Lond 1640 p. 18, 19. elsewhere) but to see, and to acknowledge our imper­fections; as in the clearest serenity of the Firmament, some speckling cloud may be discovered, so in our most accurate and exact performances, either in the Matter, or in the Manner, or in the Degree, measure or end of doing, we all prove some way defective; even the very best things that we doe have enough in them to be pardoned, if the Lord should discusse them with­out mercy in a rigorous severity, and be so extreme as to Psal. 130 3. mark what in them is done amisse: To this effect the forementioned School Divines have styled the greatest Saints, as they are yet Members but of the Church militant on earth, but Viatores, wal­kers in the way, whose motion is but only progressive, not Com­prehensors, till actually instated Members of the Church Trium­phant [Page 17]above in glory, in the meane while, that maxime in Di­vinity is Orthodoxe and solid, Successivorum non simul est esse, & perficere, Those things which admit of a succession in their motion, or degrees of growth, their being and perfection is not all at once, nor altogether; wherefore our very Apostle elsewhere, Phil. 3.12.15. professeth, though he were perfect, in regard of sincerity and uprightnesse, yet not so, in regard of the full measure; He was so in respect of Parts, he was not so in respect of Degrees, therefore he said, that he had not as yet fully apprehended; Fuit perfectus, spe futurae glorificati­onis, Fuit Imperfectus, onere Corruptionis; Fuit perfectus, ex­pectatione muneris; Fuit Imperfectus, fatigatione Certaminis, as most appositely to our present purpose, Fulgent. lib. 1. ad Mo [...]im. Fulgentius: perfect he was, in the Hope of future Glorification: he was imperfect, under the burthen of present corruption; He was perfect in the expectation of his reward, but yet imperfect being tyred under the great conflict, and encounter that he had with the opposers of the Gospell of Truth; compleate perfection he professed not; much lesse may others, so farre inferiour unto so great, and most illustrious a Saint, as S. Paul was.

3. Workes meritorious, as they must be our owne and per­fect, so also (in their sense) Indebita, more than due, supere­rogatory transcending the Command; whereas (proud Catha­rists and brittle pot-sherds as they are) they might observe what the great Law-giver hath declared in that Case, Luk. 17.10. When we have done all that we are able to doe, we remaine still most defective, and most unprofitable servants, and have at the utmost (if we could reach to that) done but duty.

4. Lastly, Works meritorious must be proportionata ad mercedem, exactly proportionable unto the just Reward; but surely if (as they cannot) our Passions, and Rom. 8.18. Sufferings cannot equall the Reward, much lesse can our Actions, or our imperfect doings; sweetly singeth the Psalmist, God Crowneth indeed, but it is in his owne mere mercy, and loving kindnesse, not for any pos­sible desert in the primest Creature; yea, Meritū me­um misera­tio Domini. Be [...]n. it's a maxime in the very Schoolmen themselves, That Principium meriti prius est merito, and that principium is Gods free Grace, Mercy, favour.

Quaer. So then, yeild all this: But, How then is it free, and yet a Re­ward of Justice?

Answ. Answ. Some answer thus, namely, by understanding Justice, in this Text, of Gods Fidelity, and faithfulnesse in keeping pro­mise, as in that Text, 1 John 1.9. where [...] are joyned together, if we confesse our sinnes, God is faithfull and Just to forgive us our sinnes: And in this sense, (rightly ap­prehended) its true indeed, to say that its Debita merces, A re­ward of Debt, because God hath, after a sort, bound himselfe by his owne promise to give it unto us: Promittendo se fecit Debitorem, saith S. Aug. de verb. Apost. Serm. 16. Debitor Deus factus est, Non aliquid â nobis acci­piendo, sed quod ci pla­cuit pro­mittendo— illo ergò modo possu­mus exige­re Domi­num no­strum, ut dicamus, Redde quod promisisti, quia feci­mus quod jussisti, & hoc tu fe­cisti, qui la­borantes juvisti— Non dici­mus Deo, Redde, quia accepisti; sed redde, quid pro­misisti, Gonr. Die­teric. Dn. 9 post Trin. in Fine. Augustine, he hath made himselfe a Debtor to his Church by promise, in which only regard it is, that we may exigere Dominum, as he speakes, urge and presse the Lord upon his word, so we reade the Church under affliction did, Jer. 14.21. Remember, breake not thy Covenant with us; compare herewith, Neh. 1.8. Deut. 9.5. Others more directly give us this answer; Aeternall life, is in respect of us, [...], a mere Gratuity, or free gift; But in respect of the personall merit of Christ, its a reward of Justice; The Lord Christ Jesus having purchased unto all his true Believers, by his Humiliation and Obedience, this Crowne of their Imputative righteousnesse, how imperfect soever their owne personall Righteousnesse was: And from this title of the Lord, his being a righteous Judge, all his faithfull Servants may assuredly rest upon the Infallibility of the reward of their Service and Fidelity, sith the Lords owne word, aequity and faithfulnesse is ingaged for it; Surely he is faithful who hath promised, Heb. 10.23. nor can he faile or deny himfelse, 2 Tim. 2.13. Yea, he himself is our shield and our excee­ding great reward; Gen. 15.1. and indeed, in enjoying God, we enjoy all happinesse, and soule-satisfying Contentation; where­fore its not impertinently observed by the Hebrews, that in the Essentiall Name of God [...] all the Letters are Litera quie­scentes, Letters of Rest, to denote, that without God there can be no solid joy, or quietnesse of Soule, which will still be tossed in a kinde of restlesse inconsistency, till it doe indeed ter­minate at last in him; which made that man, so much after Gods owne heart! as in a flame of fervent zeale) experimentally to put the question, Psal. 73.25. Whom have I in Heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee.

The next particular that fals under my consideration is the time of donation, when this Reward is to be actually conferred, expressed to be [in That Day, and at the Lords appearing.]

These 1 Tim. 4.1. and 2 Tim. 3.1. latter times, into which the 1 Cor. 10.11. ends of the world are fallen, abounding (as men in old age) with variety of Mund [...] senescens, patitur phantasias. Gerson. phan­cies, have given us occasion to enquire, what Day of the Lords appearance it is, which is here meant? whether it be the great. and Act 2.20. 2 Tit. 4.1. notable day of the Joh. 6.39, 40, 41. last generall Judgement; or else of some other manifestation of the Lord Christ upon earth, before that last day of all doth come?

There are some (otherwise abundantly knowing) whose wits have herein proved more wanton, than their judgements solid, whose apprehensions have led them to conjecture, if not to be­lieve an appearance of the Lord Christ personally, in a way of raigne and triumph, to be manifested upon earth, a thousand yeares before the last day of the Generall Judgement: such, in the Greek expression, are called Chiliasts, and by the La­tines, Vid. Aug. lib. 20. De Civ. Dei c. 7 & Philastr. c. 59. De Heres. & Aug. De Heres. c. 8. Mistenaryes: some have fetched the name, and conceit so high as from Euseb. 1.3 c. 25. Histor. Ecclesiast. Cerinthus, a blasphemous Heretick, even in the dayes of the Apostles themselves, who daringly avouching the Lord Christ to be no more than a meer man, and borne after the common way of humane generation (which gave occasion to S. John, that soaring Euch. 1.10. Eagle, to write that his so sublime Gospel, wherein, in the very Joh. 1.1, 2, &c. entrance of it (He proves his Divine Na­ture) He gave out, that after the resurrection, there should be in the great City Jerusalem, an outward way of pomp, and a kinde of voluptuous indulgence to corporall vanityes, and delights, during the terme of a thousand yeares; which opinion He was thought to have sucked from the Breasts of the Jewish Syna­gogue, that people mistaking the nature and quality of Christs Mat. 20.21. A &. 1.6. Kingdome, thinking it to be after an externall glory, and not (as it is indeed) consisting Luk. 17 21. within, in the soule, after a Rom. 14.17. spi­rirtuall manner, ruling and raigning over the spirituall part of man: But this Blasphemer being exploded, and cryed down by all the Primitively-Orthodox Fathers, and Christians, as the Historyes of those Times informe us.

The next, who most clearely speak of it, or was, indeed, sup­posed the first who more directly vented the opinion, was one [Page 20] Papias Bishop of Hieropolis, as Euseb. l. 3. c. 36. Eccl. Hist. Eusebius acquaints us, a man of a weak and slender judgement, who if not utterly neglecting, yet but slightly valuing the Authority of the Holy Scriptures, pretended for his conceit, Apostolicall Traditions; and by rea­son of the venerable name of Antiquity, it is not to be denyed, but that some of the ancient Fathers received some tang of the same opinion from him, as may be seen, or collected of Justin: Martyr, Dialog. Cum Tri­phon Jud: pag. 239 Justin Martyr, and in the end of Trajans time Baron: in Annal. Ann: 118. sect 2. & Hieron. in Catalog. illustr. cap. de Papiâ. Apollinarius, Tertul. l. 3. advers. Marc. c. 24. Ter­tullian (too much misled by Montane and Lactantius) who were in part spiced with this Millenarisme; so perilous a thing, it proves to the Supine, and out of a secure or carelesse dis­regard, to suffer Humane Tradition to become a Diotrephes, and to have the 3 Epist. John 9. preheminence above the infallibity of the un­doubted Scriptures; which sacred, and unerring written Word of God doth hold forth (as of certaine credibility inspired by the Divine, and first verity that can never deceive) no such clear truth, that the Lord Christ shall in Person before the General Resurrection, come visibly, and corporally upon the earth, and as by a Re 20.6. first resurrection cause all those who dyed Re. 14.13. in, and for him, to arise, and with him in a peacefull tranquility, and glory to reigne, and to beare sway over the wicked, as Vassals, for a thousand yeares; which date of time being expi­red, immediately shall ensue the General Resurrection, and the day of the last Judgement. No such evidentiall verity is demon­strated in Holy Writ, as of Absolute Necessity to be believed unto salvation: But whatsoever is alledged out of the prophe­tick Scriptures for the stablishing of that opinion, is to be un­derstood, either of the first coming of Christ in the flesh, or of the state of the N. T. in generall; or else, of the glorious estate of the Church triumphant to be expected hereafter in the eter­nall Kingdome for ever in Heaven, as Joh: Ge­rard, loc. com. To. 9. c 7. sect. 80 Gerard judiciously: I have not time to alledge, or you patience to heare, on this oc­casion, the severall Texts cited by the Chiliasts, or of the Or­thodox; many See Bish. Hall in his Revelations unrevealed, edit. 1650. D. Prid: serm. on 2 Pet. 3.13. & serm. on Joh. 6.14. Per. Dem. of Probl. vid. Dierer. In die fest. Bar. Ap. p. 7 14. &c. vol. 4. Bul. l. 2. c. 11. con [...]r. Anabapt. & sixt. Senens. l. 6. Annot. 347. reverend, and renowned Divines have eased us all of that labour; let it suffice, at the present, to take notice, from our Saviours own lips, that his Kingdome is not of this world, John 18.36. but within us, Luke 17.21. and from Hea­ven; and besides, we finde, in our Creed (which is founded on k Lactant. l. 7 c. 24. Institut. [Page 21]the Scriptures, and may in every article thereof be Art. 6. of the Ch: of England. proved by them) we finde, I say, in our Creed, mention made but of two visible comings of Christ, the first in Phil. [...].8. Mat. 21.5. Humility to suffer, and to be judged; the other, at the end of the world (but not be­fore) in the 2 Pet. 1.17. glory of his Father, to Acts 17.31. 2 Tim. 4.1. 1 Pet. 4.5. judge the world, both quick and dead in righteousnesse; and unto them that look for him, saith the great Apostle, shall he appear, the [ See my Sermon, stiled The Grand As­sizes, pag. 37. edit. 1653. preached at Winche­ster. second] time, without sinne, that is, without suffering any more as a sacrifice for sin unto salvation, Heb 8.28.

Leaving then those Millenarian conjectures to such as abound with leisure; rest we in the solid determination of Orthodox, and stable judgements, who resolve by the day, and by the ap­pearing here mentioned in this text, to be meant the last great day of the generall Judgment, according to that Scripture Acts 17.31. and the Lord Christ his second 2 Tim. 4.1. coming upon that day, in Mat. 25.31. glorious Majesty, unto the judgement of all the wolrd: so that however, those who 1 Tim. 5.17. labour in the Word and Doctrine, meet often with so great discouragements, that they seem to labour all in vaine, and spend their strength for nought, as the Prophet speaks Isa. 49.4. yet surely their Judge­ment is with the Lord, and their worke, that is, the reward of their work is with the Lord; his goodnesse is laid up for them; O how great! Psal. 31.19. In the mean time, let it be our de­light and contentment that we Mat. 24.46. doe our Masters work, not as by constraint, but 1 Pet. 5.2. willingly; sith indeed such a vertuous ser­vice ever carryeth its owne reward with it, as being a thing to be desired, and embraced for its own worth; and certainly that sweet comfort, and complacency that a righteous soule findeth in the sincere discharge of his duty (within its proper station) in conscience of God, is infinitely more valuable than all the H [...]b. 11.25. treasures the earth can afford without it; only, as the Hus­bandman, we may not anticipate the season of the Harvest, but we must Jam. 5.7 wait, & then in due time, we shall reap, if we faint not, Gal. 6.9. Heb. 10.36.37. & when the reward actually cometh, it (being so large) will abundantly recompence all our work, yea, end all our patience too; sith the manner of it will be the more manifest, and conspicuous before all in that great day, when Rev. 20.12. all, of all sorts, both great and small, shall, upon the generall [Page 22]summons, stand before the last Tribunall, and then upon the appearance of the Chiefe Shepheard, we shall receive a Crown of Glory that fadeth not away, 1 Pet. 5.4.

Hereof S. Paul had a particular assurance in his owne per­son, when he saith, Henceforth is laid up for [me] a Crowne of Righteousnesse; and if for him, why may it not be also possible for others to be in like manner assured of the same, especially provided, that we are such as do love his appearing?

This question, I confesse, is solid, yet such, as wanteth not its intricacies: The Roman Catholicks in this controversie are wont to resolve thus, that indeed for so great a Saint, as S. Paul was, this assurance might be possible, yea, was attained to by Revelation extraordinary, by meanes of his fides privile­giata, his special and priviledged faith, which as an Apostle, and a Act. 9.15. chosen vessel of honour, he was endowed and adorned with­all from Heaven; for that God had a great 2 Tim. 4.17. service for him to do, who was selected, as it were, to take up the Gauntlet in the quarrel of the Gospel, against the manifold, fierce, and po­tent 1 Cor. 16.9. Adversaries of the same, so that (as I said in the begin­ning) to steele his resolution with the greater courage, he was fortifyed before-hand, and armed with an extraordinary assu­rance of a glorious reward, after his work, and warfaring there­in was over: Quer. But now, whether this assurance be possible for an ordinary Christian, by the use of ordinary lawfull means to attaine, is the next disquisition? Answer. To which the resolution is affirmative, the thing is possible, though confessedly very diffi­cult: and this possibility is both Certitudine Objecti, and also Certitudine Subjecti; both, as it is sure in it self, as it is determin'd by God; & likewise, in the particular evidence, & speciall expe­rience of the same in the soule of a true believer: and this is pro­ved, partly from those Scriptures, which exhort unto a diligent endeavour after it, 2 Pet. 1.10. 2 Cor. 13.5. Now, the nature of Evangelicall precepts, and exhortations, in a contradistinction to those of the Law, is, that they carry a spirit, a secret energy, vertue, and power with them, inabling, through grace, unto observation, therefore the Gospel is called John 6.63. life and spirit, 2 Cor. 3.6. and I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me, Phil. 4.13. partly also, this is proved from one principall [Page 23]end of the spirits Donation, his being given us, namely, That we may know the things that are freely given unto us of God, and to co-witnesse with our spirits, that we are his Sons and Daughters, 1 Cor. 2.12. Rom. 8.16. 1 John 5.13. Thirdly, from the duties required of us, upon this account, as, thankfulnesse, Ephes. 1.3. Col. 1.12, 13. What wise man will give thanks for that, which he hath no certainty that he doth enjoy? this were for a man to boast of a Prov 25 14. false gift, as of a Jud. v.12 cloud without water: so likewise of Love, we love God, because he first loved us, 1 John 4.19. in so freely giving his Son to us. John 3.16. and together with him all things that do accompany salvation, Rom. 8.32. even to be the Author of life and salvation unto all that obey him, Heb. 5.9. And how come we to know of all this love, but by that experimentall proofe thereof, that is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us? Rom. 5.5. And lastly, by the examples of Saints that have had this assurance in them­selves, as Job 19.25. Abraham, Rom. 4.21. and here, in my Text, Saint Paul, which eminent Saints were not set forth in Holy Writ, as Wonders, meerely to be gazed at, but as Patternes of imitation; and though ordinary Christians and Saints cannot reach to the same steps, yet they may walk in the same path, and may possibly attaine, though not to the same measures, yet to the same foundnesse of perswasion; and indeed, as a reverend B. King, lect. 38. on Joan. Divine observes its firmnesse, rather than fulnesse of assurance, (namely, in respect of adherence, or of recumbency) that the Saints in this life arrive unto, but to this firmnesse they may come by the use of the ordinary, and of the right means, as here S. Paul did by fighting the good fight, by finishing his course, and by keeping the faith; hereby, as by the ordinary meanes, he concluded (therein likewise shewing us an example) that from henceforth there was a Crowne of Righteousnesse laid up in Heaven for him, yea, and for all others with himselfe, who loved the appearing of the Lord Jesus.

But, though it be (cautionately understood) thus possible; notwithstanding it is very difficult, and hard to be attained, and that for many weighty, and important reasons. As

First, in regard of the difficulty to put a distinction between seeming Vertues, and reall Graces, which are the signes, and [Page 24]fruits of Election, and which give the best evidence of glory; so that there needs much discussion, and an exact spirit of Phil. 1.9, 10. Dis­cerning, to put a Difference, and to discriminate the one from the other; yea, we are to take notice, that there are many Vices neere of Fallie cnim viti­um proxi­mitate, honi. kinne to many Vertues, and carry in semblance, a neare affinity, as it were, with them; There is, saith devout Bernard, à minium virtutis, a certaine kinde of Vermilion, wherewith Satan paints over the outside of Vices, and makes them shew like Vertues, and but by an Eye and an Heart Heb. 5: 14. ex­ercised in piety hardly discernable each from the other; thus Flattery sometimes carryes the style of affability; Covetous­nesse of Frugality; Rashnesse of Fortitude; a Divellish Mat­chiavelisme, of a lawfull policy; excesse and ryot, of good fellowship; and under this mistake of judgement, that is taken for zeale, which is nothing but an impetuous 2 Tim. 3.4. headinesse, or a fiery kinde of vehemency, that in stead of heating the house, is apt to burne it; Thus in short, presumption passeth often for Faith, this being the Jer. 17.9. 2 Cor. 11 3. guile of our hearts, and Satan complying with it, (who can transforme himselfe into an 2 Cor. 11 14. Angell of Light) and set a faire glosse upon naughty wares, making the tinsell of Hypocrisie to passe for the Silver of sincerity▪ we must not too much relye upon our Prov. 3.5. owne Judgements in this matter, but bring things to the 1 Thes. 5.21. beame of the Sanctuary, and there Rom. 12.2. prove and weigh them; the Word of God ever giveth right Judge­ment, and the searching hereinto, John 5.39. Act 17.11. and examining of these matters, hereby requiring great deliberation, this makes the assurance difficult, when the Evidence is perplexed, and not presently cleared.

Secondly, its hard, in regard of the plenty of Lusts, and of the Gal. 5.19. workes of the flesh, which too much over-grow, and a­bound in every mans Heart; but graces are but rare, and come up thin, much chaffe and little solid graine; our graces are like Gideons Army, but a handfull in comparison, but our sinnes and like Midiknites, Jude 7.12. Innumerable as Grashoppers; Hipps and Hawes (saith one) grow in every hedge, when choycer fruits are but in some few Gardens; and every soyle almost▪ yeilds stone▪ and rubbish, but Gold and precious stones are found in very few places; [...]nw S. Peter, who exhorts to give diligence [Page 25]to make Election sure, exhorts also, 2 Pet. 1.5, 6. to adde to Faith, Vertue, to Vertue, Knowledge, &c. a large enumerati­on, or induction of graces is required to clear up this assurance, and certainly that is a matter of no ease.

Thirdly, (that I may hasten) this is difficult, in regard of the great progresse, that an Hypocrite, or a Cast-away, may make in the wayes of Christianity, and yet never attaine to this assurance; He may have some degrees of Illumination, Heb. 6.4. much like a Coruscation, that a suddaine flash of Lightning maketh in the Ayre; He may have good wishes as Balaam, Numbers 23.10. A sight of sinne as Cain had, Gen. 4.13. Confesse sinne as Judas did, Matthew 27.4. have zeale as Jehu had, 2 Kings 10.16. in these, and in like o­ther gifts may a very Cast-away make a great progresse; But no child of God can have any reall comfort in any thing, wherein he cannot say, he hath (yet) therein gone beyond a Cast-away; and yet, but in the ground, or rule, or end of do­ing, these things are hardly discernable each from other: All which, and much more that might be added to the same pur­pose, shew, though not the utter impossibility, yet surely the very great difficulty of attaining unto this assurance, that a man can say, as S. Paul doth here, in a particular application unto his soule, Christ loved [me] and gave himselfe for [me,] and henceforth is laid up for Gal. 2.20. [me] a Crown of Righteousnesse.

There yet remaines but one Pearle more in the Cabinet of this Text, which I shall onely offer to your short notice, and so conclude, it is that due qualification which renders other Chri­stians, as well as it did S. Paul, capable of the Crown of Righteous­nesse; they must be such, as who do love the Lord Christ's se­cond appearing in the day of Judgement. And, indeed, it is the property of none but Saints, to love it, and long for it. See Phil. 1.23. Rev. 22.20. Amen even so come Lord Jesus.

Some cautions, notwithstanding, must be here remembred, sith it's possible that times may fall out, when we tremble at the thought, or mention of it; as when conscience is wounded afresh with some gross act of sin: this made David afraid, yea, to roar out, and to make a noyse through the disquietnesse of his spirit, Psal. 38.8. Psal. 55.2. and, under that state of soul, [Page 26]to begg earnestly to be spared, that he might recover strength (in Gods favour) before he went hence, and was no more, Psal. 39.13. or else, when the Lord shall, for divers ends and rea­sons, surcharge the soule and conscience with the sins of youth, for which, perhaps, men have not, as became them, been suffici­ently humbled; thus, dealt he even with his servant Job, wri­ting bitter things against him, Job 13.26. see also Job 1.6.4.

But, out of those cases, it is proprium quarto modo, onely the Saints love it, all such love it, and alwayes: and no mer­vaile, sith by this second coming, and appearance of Christ in the day of the last Judgement, they receive very great and ine­stimable benefits, such as are finall Redemption of the Body from corruption, Rom. 8.23. Freedome from the society of the wicked, which here Psal. 119.136. afflict the godly by their violation of Gods Law and Precepts; Deliverance, not onely from the Rom. 6.12. raigne, and Psal. 19.13. dominion, but even from the inhabitation and being of sin, which here they finde as a clogg, and a Ps. 38.4. burthen to Mat. 11.28. hea­vy for them, and so long to be rid of it, Rom. 7.24. and lastly, the beatifical 1 Joh. 3.2. vision, and perfect fruition of the ever-blessed, and all-glorious Trinity, in the Heb. 12 2▪, 23, 24. Heavenly Hierusalem, among the innumerable company of Angels, being admitted to the ge­nerall Assembly, and Church of the first-borne, which are en­rolled and written in Heaven, and to God the Judge of all and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the Media­tor of the New Covenant; in whose presence there is fulnesse of joy, and at whose right hand are pleasures for evermore.

And thus, my brethren, after my measure, as I could (upon so short notice of about a day) though not so fully after my de­sires, as I would, in so great, so learned, and serious an Audi­tory, have I dispatched my discourse upon this Scripture; your candour will, I hope, connive at the want of polishing, and en­tertaine it as it is, according to the weight, and importance of the matter of it: And may the 1 Pet. 5.10. God of all grace reap the To­tall 1 Tim 1.17. glory. Amen.

AS concerning our reverend, and learned Brother deceased. Mr. Abraham Wheelock, Batchelar in Divinity, many yeares fellow of Clare Hall in Cambridge; I could seriously have wished that some silver Trampet of that University (to which he was an ornament, within his station) had sounded out his Encomium upon this occasion: He was there best knowne, where Learning, of all sorts, is now in the Zenith, and the exquisite perfection in the Tongues (much advanced by his skill) in the very Tropick of Cancer.

But, sith it is now fallen to my lot, I may more truly say of him, than Paterc. l. 1. Paterculus did of AE milius Paulus, Vir in tantum laudandus fuit, in quantum Virtus ipsa intelligi potest, He was a man to be praised, so farre as vertue it selfe can be understood, he therein, indeed, being as the Moon at the Eccles. 50.6. full.

For his Theologicall part, a Divine of Tit. 1.9. Orthodex judge­ment, of a Tim. 2.2. godly, an 1 Tim. 4.12. exmeplary, and of a Prov. 11.30. Dan. 12.3. 1 Pec. 3.1. winning con­versation, 1 Tim 3.3. Heb. 13.5. abhorring covetousnesse, who did both [...], and also [...], rightly 2 Tim. 2.15. divide that word of truth after which he walked with Heb. 12. [...]3. strait steps to his feet: wee might have read in his Noclur­ni juvat [impallc­sare] char­is. pale countenance the expresse Characters of his unwearied industry, and studies; cujus vultum nec fuscavit maeror, nec levigavit risus, as s. S Bern. de Mac. Ber­nard wrote of his friend Malachy; be carried mortificati [Page 28]on in his very looks; continuing, without interruption, a constant and 1 Tim. 3.3. [...] Rom. 12.15. Ps. 1226. H.b. 12.14. peacefull son of the Church of England: herein exercising Himselfe to have alwayes a † Conscience void of offence toward God, and toward men: Those [...], mentioned by the learned Apostle, 1 Cor. 12.28. diversi­ties, or kinds of Tongues, he was in much variety, from Heaven superlatively endowed with, by the gift of Gods spirit: He being so eminent a Linguist, he might have said (without envy, or disparagement to any be it spoken) I thank my God I speak with 1 Cor. 14.18. Tongues more than most of them all; the intricacies whereof he had a faculty, and with­all a facility hoth to finde out, and to make pervious, eluci­dating what was obscure, enucleating what hard, that as the Jewish Rabbins, so oft as they met with Texts, which were as S. Peter saith, of some things in S. Paul's Epi­stles, [...], 2 Pet. 3.16. hard to be understood, out of which they could not extricate themselves, were went to shut up all their discourse with this, Elias cum venerit, solver dubia, Elias shall anser this doubt, when he comes; in like sort was he as another Elias to the doubts and difficulties of ma­ny, who (being D. Light­fot Mr. of Katharine Hall in Camridge in his Harmory. accurate in the Rabbinicall Learning were very well able to judge: gave him this testimony a good while since in print, that scarcely anything, that way, pro­ved too hard for him, for his condation or decisian.

Yet one thing I cannot but observe to you of him whom I so well, and so long knew) and it is this, That whereas his experience found that sentence of Thucydides a most au­thentick verity, [...] the lesse the Art, usually the more the vaunting, but the more Ratiocination, the slower the Determination; suitably to that of the great Dactor of the Gentiles, [...], un­ball anced know ledge, like a bladder blowne up with wind, 1 Cor. 8.1. puffeth and swelleth with ostentation; waking many (out [Page 29]of en overweening upon their superficiall excellencies) as Antipheron Orietes (in Aristotle) to imagine, that every where they see their own shapes and pictures going before them; yet, that I say, which I observed remarkable, and wer­thy of universall imitation in him, was, under his many and exceeding abilities, his humble and exeeding modestie; so that others took more notice of him, than he did of him­selfe; much like to the Violet, a flower of a sweet and deli­cous scent, yet groweth lowest in the Garden, covering it selfe often with its owne leaves: Howbeit, as the odorife rous fragrancy thereof cannot but be discovered; so he, to­gether with his accomplishments, could not be concealed; yea, as Eccles. 50.6. Syracides said of Simon the Son of Onias, he was as the morning Star in the midst of a Clound. His sufficien­cies, and, withall, his integrity having made him thus known; to his custody, and ever sight were committed the rich Treasives of Learning, laid up in the choice Library of the University of Cambridge: And about two and twenty yeares past, beyend his owne expectation, though not beyend his merit, he was chosen the first publique professor, and reader of Arabick there; A Lecture first founded at the sote and proper charges of an eminent and truly religious Gentleman of this Citie of London (to which having, like him selfe, bornall the principall offices therein, he hath long been an honour) Mr. Alderm. Thomas Adams, who ever since continned is by his bounty to him, of full 40 l. per annum, constantly paid; for which munificent Act he de­serves of all Schollars (whom co nomine, he affectionately regardeth) an honour able mention, and of all learned po­sterity and ps. 112.6. everlasting memoriall. Et memorem famam qui bene gessit, habet. Ovid. To this worthy Citizen, of so high a Gal. 2.2. reputation; must be added the example of a noble Knight, to whom, and to whose Heires (inheriting his lear­ning [Page 30]and [...]. isocrat. Vid 1 Reg. 5.7. vertues, as well as his lands) the Common wealth of Literature rests deeply engaged, by name Sir Henry Spelman (of pious memory) who, with great expence of time and treasure, restored many precious monuments of antiquity (very usefull to Gods Church and very tart Monu­mentum quasi moni­mentum. war­nings to pitchy Sacriledge) from dust and obscurity, to beau­ty and light: who, at his owne cost, first erected, about ten yeares past, a Saxon Lecture in the same University, esta­blishing it by an Annuall Pension of 20 l. which was secon­ded by his learned Sr. John Spelman. Son; and since, continued by his M. Roger Spelman. Grand­child (a Gentleman of gallant ingenuity) so that what the Poet said of the golden branch holds true in that Progeny,

when one failes, another of the same metall buddeth forth, and flourisheth: And this Lecture also was first publickly read by this same Professor: Both which he discharged with so compleat abilities, as found acceptation of all, ad­miration in many, hopes of imitation but in a few. yet this was not all, but as when the clowds are full, they drop down, the eares shed, and the fountaines flow out; even so his goodnesse became still diffusive, and was very communica­tive to others, even to the most distant and remote Nations; for which purpose he spent himselfe, as a candle in the soc­ket, to the very last blaze, whilst he was here publishing the foure Gospels of our Saviour, with acute and solid Annoti­tions, in the Persian Tongue; in the progresse of which work, it pleased God to call him Eccles. 12.5. home to his happinesse with himself in Heaven: but as S. S Ambr. De obitu Vaientin. Imper. S. Aug. de Bapt l 4. c. 22. Ambrose writes of the desire, and vowed resolution of Baptisme in Valentinian, that being disappointed, by providence, of the Act thereof, in respect of the outward signe, yet God giving him the grace of that Sacrament, he was accepted as a Christian; [Page 31]and as S. James speaking of Abraham's attempt in offe­ring his onely Son, upon a Divine command, styleth it an Jam 2.21. actuall offering of him, for that in the serious prepara­tion of his minde, he really, and fiduciarily intended it, though the story acquaints us, that the thing it selfe was Gen. 22. 11, 12. prevented by an heavenly Angel: so the indefatigable endeavours of this pious undertaker are interpreted, as a full dispatch of that work, by his gracious God,

And that which yet farther adds a lustre to his praises, is, the ample Testimony given of him both Living, and Dy­ing, by that oracle of all imaginable learning that full ma­gazine of all sanctified Devotion, the glory of the Church of England, the wonder of Christendome, and the triumgh of the holy Angels, who guard and protect him for good. Dr. Usner, the L. Primate of Armagh: as likewise by that famous Antiquary, and living library, Mr. Selden, of whose transcendencies in the Orientall Tongues, and pro­fundities, besides his Classicall Preheminence in all manner of History, and skill in the Lawes, &c. I might write even a voluminous Encomiastick, but that (through a secret con­sciousnesse of my own tenuity) I feare, that I should but dar­ken so shining a Topaze by my rude polishing: Certes, its a verity, what from that Patriark of Philosophers (as that incomparable Writer of the Ecclesiasticall policy, Mr. Hoo ker, styles Aristot. in Ethic. Aristotle) is received, [...] honour reflects with beams of brightnesse, Non potest benus uon esse, qui be­nis placet. S. Bern, ep. 248. and splendor upon the persons honouring is mord conspicuous; such as of these now mentioned is, who, in their severall excel­lencies, have lighted up Tapers to the Christian world, for its illumination.

Such was the esteem of our Brother, whom, sith the world was not Heb. 11. 38. worthy of him, we finde as another Enoch Gen 5.24. wal­king [Page 32]with God, to be translated to his blisse; Heaven having gained a Saint triumphant, whilst we, for the present, misse him in the Church militant.

Misse him did I say? Yea, at this instant season, his losse is most considerable, there being so much need of his shoulder under that Herculean labour, and burthen, that now lyeth upon many worthy renowned Doctors, and eximious Divines, of this our Church of England, who are now about ☞ to publish the Holy Bible in a greater variety of Tongues, and Translations, than ever have been, hitherto, seen ex­tant [together;] their Lamps, I trust, shall never want oyl, till that maugre the impostures of undermining Jesuitisme, of phrentick Anabaptisme, or of Atheisticall Barbarisme) both the Light, and the Heat of the Mal. 4.2. Sun of Righteousnesse Christ Jesus, hath enlightned the eyes, and warmed the breasts of such as belong to Gods election, even unto the Psal. 19.4, 5, 6. ends of the earth.

I have onely thus much to adde farther, which also accu­mulates his commendations, that it may be well said of him, what is recorded of righteous Abel, Being dead, yet spea­keth, [...] or, is yet spoken of Heb 11.4. Nor can his memo­ry die, whilst so many hopefull plants of his setting, spring up after him, and daily grow famous in Cambridge: And which I much rejoyce that I have occasion to mention, (my selfe having beene sometimes a Member of that Society) the Palme for skill in the Orientall Languages may well be given to Kings Colledge; unto some present M. Rich. Hunt. Mr. H: Austin, &c. Fellowes whereof (having atteined a large measure of perfection that way) the inspection and correction of the presse, to perfect the printing of the Persian Gospells, was wished, and much intrusted, by the deceased Professor.

And what shall I Heb. 11.32. more say? The time would faile me to mention the Catalogue of persons of Rom. 16.7. Note, who as the k Phil. 2.29.1. [Page 33] Philippians did Epaphroditus, honoured him living; and since his decease have testified their regards by becoming Benefactors to those of his nearest relations, as the learned Mr. Joh. Sadler, Master of Mag: Coll: in Cambridge, M. Cassels, and divers others of esteem among Schollars. But, quorsum haec? to what purpose is all this profuse Panegy. rick? may some Act. 18.17. Gallio say, one, I mean, who careth for none of those things; sith without humane Tongues, Arts, or Sciences, yea, without Schools, or Academyes, men may be all taught of God, and Heaven it self undoubtedly obtained? To such Julians, who would tumble down all Schooles of Learning, lest their Enthusiasticall irrationalities might be (as Nazianzen gives the reason of that Apostate) pierced thorow by sharp arrows [...], Nazian. feathered from thence; to such I say, I would have the sin laid to their Hearts, though my charity prompts me to pray, as S. Stephen, that it may Act. 7 60. not be laid to their charge.

We find mention made of the 2 Kings 6.1. place of the ancient Pro­phets, and of their Sons, and 2 Kings 9.1. Children educated (no doubt) See 1 Cor 14.32. [under] them, and instructed in their way: we read even of our Saviour himself (in his youth) that he delighted to sit in the Luk. 2.46. midst of the D ^rs. both hearing them, & asking them questions; though in him were Col. 2.3. hid all the treasures of wis­dome and knowledge: And S. Paul was frequent in School-disputations, Act. 19.9. And whereas some have said, that many great Philosophers have bin very unsound in belief; It may be possible, when that skil is unsanctifyed; but otherwise, (without all controversie) many very sound in the Christian belief, have bin also great Philosophers: Moses was Acts 8.22. learned in all the wisdome of Egypt; Dan 4. Daniel, of Chaldee; Job not unexpert in Job 38.31, 32. Astronomy; Jer. 32.44. Am. 6.5. 2 Sam. 23.1. Jer. in the common Laws of his time, David in w Musique, 1 Cor. 14.18. Paul in the Tongues, in Act. 17.28. Tit. 1.12. Poe­try, and in all the knowledge both of Jewes and Gentiles; [Page 34]and the Historyes of the Church acquaint us of Cyprian, Optatus, Lactantius, S. Chrysost. (a Father mightily ta­ken with Aristophanes and Lucian's Dialogues) and many others laden out of Egypt with the treasures, and spoiles of that Learning, being better instructed for Gods service by those helps; as the Temple it selfe of God was forwarded in the structure and state thereof by the timber of Cedar and Firre that 1 Kings 5.10. Hiram (though an exotick Sidonian Prince) brought into that very building.

And, indeed, I am clearely of opinion, that the reason, why so few Jews are converted, is the too remiss regard of their Tongue, and Rabbinicall traditions, out of which (as Ter­tullian, Arnobius, Lactantius, and others, did in their dea­ling heretofore with Ethnicks) till the vanity of their owne grounds be declared, and convinced, there is not so apparent hopes to win them over to become Christian: and it may be by a good providence (even for their seasonable coalition into the same sheepfold, under one and the same Joh. 10.16. Shepheard, Christ Jesus) that their language and antiquityes are now so much studyed in our Universities, as scarcely, with more criticall accuratness, in any age.

It's true indeed, we shall be all taught of God, but it is me­diately, and by the ordinary means; In vaine shall there be an attempt to instill principles of Christianity into either Jewes, or other Pagan Infidels, till the Speech, or Lan­guage of both be understood, which without learning in the Tongues, cannot feasibly be atchieved: Herein our Brother (whose Obsequies we now solemnize) did excell, and so both doe, and will others also, who had the happinesse of his Manuduction.