Commentary on 2 Peter

the little hills to rejoice on every side: therefore is great joy compared to the joy of harvest. But when God restrains these heavenly influences, then the little hills droop on every side: no fatness, no more rejoicing then. There be too many, that never think of God till dinner time; that they are put in mind of it by the Chaplains saying grace: and it is somewhat if they mind him then. These are far from David's per totum diem: From the rising of the Sun to the going down of the same, the Lord's Name is to be praised. But what if they should want a dinner, and know not where to get it? Not so much food, as would keep life and soul together? How would they praise him then? But for a Nunc dare, where would be the Nunc laudare? Such irreligious souls know not how to bless the Lord fasting: No devotion with them, but upon a full stomach. Like to those baser instruments, they can yield no music till you have filled their paunches and even then, the sound that comes from them, is harsh to all holy ears. Divites laudantes you have store: but show me a miserum laudantem. For a Dominus dedit, you have a world of Benedicite's: but one Benedicite for a Dominus abstulit is worth them all.

The Lord looks for Glory, not only in fair weather, but even in storms and tempests: not only in high fortunes, but even out of the dust he ordaineth praises. The worldling cast upon his sick bed, and hopeless of remedy, asks what he should praise God for? O ungrateful wretch, how innumerable be the blessings he hath received of him; and yet does he ask for what he should praise him? That he hath life, and the use of reason, is a blessing. How justly might God have bereaved his body of a soul, his soul of understanding, his understanding of all possibility of comfort? That he hath space to repent, a tongue and time to call upon God for mercy, is a blessing and far more than God owes him. There be natural medicines for his body: that is a blessing: there is spiritual physic for his soul; a rich blessing. Besides all the former blessings, these he hath in present. As Christ once said to the Jews, For which of my good works do you stone me? So now, for which of my good blessings do you despise me? If he should give us no more, yet reason would make us thankful for what we have received. But to see him give, that does not for the present receive: one that will plead Christ's cause without a fee: one that can say with Job, Though he kill me, I will trust in him: or with those three Saints, Though the fire consume us, we will serve him: whatsoever good I want, whatsoever evil I suffer, I will ever give Glory to the Lord: here is the heart and voice of a Saint. Thus every condition, rich or poor: every state, whether of health or sickness: every place, at home or abroad: every time, prosperous or adverse: every temper, of joy or sorrow: every occasion, of peace or war: every access, of friend or foe: every event, of life or death, is our Nunc to celebrate the glory of Christ. This circumstance further affords us three Instructions.

1. Glorify him for the present; that is thy Nunc. Delay is not only Periculum, but Peccatum. As we have opportunity, let us do good to all men, Perhaps that is not a man's will, which is his Testament: he would keep that by his will, which he is fain to give away by his testament. We read of one man that did Cunctando restituere rem: it was but unus homo, very rare: Thousands for that one, do Cunctando perdere rem, and that a Rem so precious, that the whole world is not worth it. He that makes hast to be rich, shall not be innocent: but he that makes hast to be innocent shall be rich: in the favor and blessings of God. When I read that Christianity is compared to a race, how can I but wonder at them that sit still? He that hath a long journey to go, and but a short time allowed him; cannot well stay to take every acquaintance that he meets, by the hand. He that believeth, will not make hast: not hast to mend the pace of God's purposes: but he that believeth, will make hast to set forth God's praised. We are discontented if God defers the grant of our prayers: and will he be pleased when we put off the publication of his praises? Shall we say, we will bless God tomorrow, for what he gives us today, and think that time enough? Things are acceptable, when they be seasonable. Is this all thy succors to the poor beggar, came again tomorrow? Alas, his body may die for want of meat, and thy soul may die for want of mercy, before the morrow. Miserum in miseris mora. Christ condemns the Judge that was long ere he did Justice, though he did it.

If God's favors were only mere futurities, natural men would cry; we will thank him for them when we have them: As they tarry for his blessings, so he should tarry for their praises. But that the mouth of all wickedness might be stopped, they are enriched with his present benefits, to incite their present thankfulness. Vbique decurrit beneficium, vbique recurrat vox laudum: Let the same place that is witness of his mercies, be also witness of our thankfulness. My soul doth magnify the Lord: it is Magnificat, in the present: not Magnificabit, in the future. Minus ex crastino pendet, qui hodierno manum injicit. Be sure to do that good today, which thou art not sure to do tomorrow. They that received the word, were the same day added to the Church: the same day. Zacchaeus made hast to receive Christ: the same hour. Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace: the same moment, that was Simeon's Nunc. This same day let us join ourselves with the Church in the praises of Christ: This same hour let us receive him joyfully into our hearts: this same moment, in our very Nunc, let us depart from sin, and fall to repentance. Let us be sudden in our turning to Christ, for he will be sudden in his coming upon us. The day of the Lord cometh as a thief in the night. O how should this menate thunder-strike the secure sinner; that the dreadful Judge shall surprise him suddenly? Let the swearer tremble; for whiles he is rapping out a volley of oaths, God's hand may stop his blasphemous mouth, with those wicked speeches in it: he may die blaspheming: God may smite him suddenly. The intoxicated body may spew out a drunken soul, into the bosom of the Prince of darkness, when he disgorgeth his surfeited stomach: as the Poet describes one bleeding to death; Purpuream vomit ill animam, he sends forth his purple soul: The Lord may smite him suddenly. The vain-glorious boaster, so ambitious of titles, that like Herod, he hath not the modesty to refuse vox Dei, when it is put upon him; may immediately be smitten by an Angel; and feel both his honor and life worm-eaten: The Lord may smite him suddenly. The sacrilegious with-holders of God's dues, and defrauders of their Pastors, to the horror of many in this City, may speed like Ananias and his wife: The Lord may smite them suddenly. The covetous Worldling, while both his hands are raking in Mammon, may fall into the hands of fatal destruction: the Lord may take him away suddenly. All impenitent sinners may share in this one phrase of wretchedness; God may smite them suddenly. He will make his Name glorious: If thou refuse to honor him with a graicous life, he will honor himself upon thee by a fearful death. We have heard of some dying with curses in their mouths, instead of prayers: What was the reason, but that they were more used to cursing, than to praying? Be careful therefore of thy Nunc: Glorify God while thou hast time: For as it is usual with him, Tarditatem supplicit gravitate pensare: so not rare, Tarditatem paenitendi impaenitentiâ punire. Our nature is dull to goodness: but wherefore serve the spurs of diligence? Naturam nobis formare non possumus, possumus diligentiam. As Paul being sent into the Church to preach Christ, so we being sent into the world to praise Christ, had need of an Ananias to excite us: Why tarriest thou? Let us never Confer with flesh and blood about the conveniency, when we are called to celebrate God's Glory.

2. Being entered into this holy course, let us follow it. The ecclipticke line of his praise must run quite through the Zodiac of our life: our whole Nunc must be spent in his holy Service: our Nunc in the full latitude of it. So long as we have any blessings on Earth, Let the Earth ring with the praises of the Founder. Shall we think any Nunc sufficient? We have not done it before, we never mind it hereafter: only Nunc, now for a gird we will be hot upon the business. Must all our thankfulness be dispatched in a moment? That which is but for a moment, is indeed of no moment. But blessed is he that doth righteousness at all times. Every day will I bless him, and praise thy Name forever and ever. The day will have an evening: If his praise should last no longer, the night would bring in silence: nay but For ever and ever: the glorious day of eternity hath no night. While I live will I praise the Lord: I will sing praises unto my God, while I have any being: Not only while I live, for this life will have and end: but while I have any being; that can never have an end. To continue in giving Glory to Christ, is no less requisite than to begin: though the beginning be more than half, yet the end is more than all. The God of all perfection looks, that our ultimum vitae, should be his optimum gloriae. The Philosopher being asked in his old age, why he did not give over his practice, and take his ease, answered; when a man is to run a race of forty furlongs, would you have him sit down at the nine and thirtieth, and so lose the prize? We do not keep a good fire all day, and let it go out in the evening when it is coldest: but then rather lay on more fuel, that we may go warm to bed. He that slakes the heat of his zeal in his age, will go cold to bed, and in a worse case to his Grave. Wary travellers ride fare and softly when they come near their journeys end: but if we lagged so in the way of godliness, we shall never come to the expected end of our journey. The eternal God, though he passed over infinite millions of Generations, before he came to a Creation of the world; yet when he began, did never intermit his work, but continued it day today, till he had perfected the whole: and then he rested, deposing it in the hands of a Sabbath. It should not be long before we enter into the Vineyard; (no hour prescribes unto God, yet God prescribes an hour to us, and that the first hour of our day) the sooner the better: but being once entered, we must intermit no labor, never give over workeing till our Sabbath comes, that Eternal rest in Heaven.

In the institution and bringing on of his Church, God proceeded by degrees: First, he began with the law of nature, a rule engraffed in our minds: But the characters of that being almost worn out by the custom of sin, he wrote his Law in Tables; legible to their eyes, and durable to time, uncapable of alteration: But because this law could not save them, he promised a Messias: and yet perceiving that men would not sufficiently rely upon his promise, he gave them types, and ceremonies, and sacrifices, prefiguring their expected Messias. This was not yet enough, therefore when the fullness of time was come, he sent his Son: which was so much the more perfect than all the rest, as the substance is more than the shadow: still the most perfect came at the last. So what degrees of goodness soever we have past through, God looks (after his own example) that our best shall come at last. Cleave unto him, that thou mayest be increased at thy last end. Decrementum vitae, must have incrementum justitiae. Other men set forth the good wine at first, but thou hast kept the best wine till the last. Hypocrites, Ex fervidis tepidi, ex tepidis frigidi fiunt: Their wine turneth into vinegar: for at first, it was mingled with water; and no more wine in it, than would give it a color. But the right Christian vents his best wine at last; the stars of his graces shine brightest in the evening of his life. Samson slew abundance of Philistines in his life time, but more at his death. Daily are the faithful killing up the Philistines, mortifying their sins all their life: but on their death-bed they kill them all; far more dying, than they did living. Let us frame the desires of our hearts, all our speeches and actions, to give Glory to Christ, so long as our Nunc lasts, till our mortal days be ended. And when we have no more Nunc left to do it in here, we shall be blessed to do it in that Aeternum hereafter.

3. That we may the better perform it, durante Nunc, God hath wrapped up His glory in every Creature: Not as fire in flint, which appears not without some violence: but as light in the Sun, which is not only visible it self, but making all other objects visible. So easily may we see his glory in every creature, that we cannot see the Creature but through his glory, as we can see nothing but by the light. He hath so folded up his glory in them, that we must annihilate them before we can destroy his glory: Nay when the Creatures shall be dissolved, yet his glory will remain clear and entire. Heaven and Earth shall pass away, but his glory shall never pass away. As the Artificer wrought his own name so cunningly in the shield of Minerva, that it could not be picked out, unless there were a dissolution of the whole frame. More inviolably is the Name of God wrought in all things, in our bodies, in our souls: and those bodies and souls must be reduced to nothing, before his Name can suffer diminution. Nay, when those bodies are turned to dust, and those souls sent to their own place, His most honorable Name will still stick upon them: Either the Name of Savior in their salvation, or the Name Judge in their just confusion. It is an observation in Philosophy, that if the motion of the Heavens should cease, there would be no generation of things upon earth. The flowers which we see here below, are begotten of those flowers of light, the Stars we see above. The Earth the lower Milstone, that lies still: The Sun that higher Milstone, that runs round, and keeps the other in heat: both must concur to the preparing of bread for us. The Earth is as the wife, the Sun as the Husband; she cold, he of a power to give heat: the wife without the Husband, the Husband without the wife, cannot beget children: by the marriage and uniting of this couple, we have our fruits. The Sun, the Father of them is more noble: but the Earth cannot be left out for procreation. God that made both the Earth, the Sun and Stars, is of more powerful operation than they all: our natural hearts are as the cold and barren Earth: from that Sun of Righteousness comes all the influence of grace: the cause of fructifying is in him; he gives the whole operation of being, or doing good. If we do not return him all the glory, the wife is worthy to lose her Husband, the Earth to want her Sun, the Soul to be deprived of her Savior. As when the king removes, the Court follows: and when the Court is gone, the hangings and stately furniture is taken down: So if through our unthankfulness, God remooves from our heart, where he once kept his Court, His Grace will not stay behind; and if they be once departed, down go the hangings and ornaments of peace and prosperity: all the noble virtues leave us: it may be our sins, the black guard will tarry with us. Our Apostle begins this Epistle with a Salutation, wherein he wisheth Grace and Peace unto us: so Paul continually joins them together. As Grace and Peace salute together, so Grace and Peace bid farewell together. Grace and Peace will take no pleasure to stay after Glory: and Glory will not stay when sin is placed in the chair. At the birth of Ichabod, away goes Glory. If sin be once borne, cockered, and dandled, and made the darling; our soul, the woeful mother, may weep, cry, and complain; The glory is departed from Israel. She shall not only cry in this sorrow, but die in this sorrow: the child to which she gave life, shall be her death: her lying in shall prepare for her laying out: from the bed of her delivery, she is delivered over to the bed of the Grave. Such an unhappy issue is sin, and above all sin the robbing Christ of his Honor, that it destroys the own mother. At the nativity of unthankfulness, the soul is left forlorn of comfort and succor; for grace, and peace, and glory forsake her altogether.

But let the Glory of Christ be our delight: let us more rejoice in doing Him honor, than in our own salvation. Let the covetous repair to their riches, like birds to their nests: and the lustful to their brothels, like flesh-flies to the larder: the ambitious to their honors, like butterflies to a poppy: the strong to their holds, as Snailes creep into their shells: the learned to their arts, as Bees to their hives: Atheists to their sensual refuges, as Dogs to their kennels: and Politicians to their wits, as Foxes to their holes: the holy soul will know no other Sanctuary but Jesus Christ. I met with an apologue, and it is this. A Stationer hung up in a mart, the pictures or small printed counterfeits of men famous in their kinds: among which, he had also the picture of Christ. Divers men bought according to their several fancies. The Soldier buys his Caesar, the Lawyer his Justinian, the Physician his Galen, the Philosopher his Aristotle, the Poet his Virgil, the Orator his Cicero, and the Divine his Augustine: every man after the addiction of his own heart. The picture of Christ hung by still, of less price than the rest. A poor Chapman, that had no more money than would purchase that, bought it saying; Quando quisque Deum abstulit suum, da mihi, bone vir, meum Christum. I speak not for his Picture painted to the eyes, but for his lively Image to be placed in our hearts. The affianced Virgin hath the picture of her Beloved, drawn a in little tablet, which she wears in her bosom, next to her heart. There let us have the Image of Christ; not limmed in our chambers, but fixed in the inner chamber of our hearts. She makes much of every token sent her from her Beloved, and rejoiceth in the sight of them; and memory of him, upon all occasions: every blessing is a token of Christ's love to us: in the fruition of any of them, let us remember Him whom our soul loveth, and set forth his Glory.

Lastly, Quoúsque, how long must this reddition of glory last? For ever. So [unspec 6] far is eternity beyond the capacity of man in his militant estate, that we want language to express it, and a name how to call it. Various are the interpretations of this 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 . Junius renders it, Ad tempus sempiternum: there is indeed a Sempiternum above, but no Tempus: time is swallowed up in everlastingness. Some say, In secula: and to make it more complete, others add to it, and make it up In secula seculorum. Indeed they had no reason to pinch it of measure, when as it is For ever. Divers phrases do abbreviate it, none can make it too long. Seculum some derive à sequendo; as if it signified only Series temporum. Others more probably, à secando, because it cuts off: as Secula, (which comes from the same root) signifies a Sythe or Sickle, to cut down the grass and grain of the earth. It is generally taken for an age: but of what dimension, there is difference of opinions. But whether we take it for thirty, or for an hundred, or for a thousand years; still it is but a time, and what is time to eternity? Jerome and Montanus read, In diem aeternitatis; which is both strictiùs ad literam vel sonum, and pleniús ad sensum. Eternity is without time, and day excludes nigh: there is no night in heaven, but altogether day: no time is there, but altogether eternity. Nor is it only, In diem aeternam; but In diem aenernitatis, for the fuller exposition of it. I know that, For ever, is divers ways taken in the Scripture.

1. For the life of man: Samuel a Priest to the Lord forever: yet this Ministry was but during his life: death determined his Priesthood.

2. For the year of Jubilee: The servant whose ear was bored, Shall serve his master forever: yet at the year of Jubilee he was to return to his own family, and to be free.

3. To the first coming of Christ. My Covenant shall be in your flesh, a Covenant forever. You shall keep the Feast of the Passover by an Ordnance forever. The garments of Aaron are said to be a Statute to him forever. Circumcision, the Passover, Aaron's Priesthood, the Sacrifices and Ceremonies, were all said to be a Law and an Ordinance forever: yet we know that Christ did put an end to them all. For Circumcision, and the Passover, the Sacrifices, and Ordinances; they are all taken away by Christ. They could not last forever; for they were at first moritura, and now they are mortifera.

4. To the second coming of Christ; that is the end of the world. Thou art a Priest forever: And He shall reign over the house of Jacob forever. Yet of that Priesthood, and of that kingdom, there shall be an end; when Christ hath delivered up the Kingdom to God the Father. His sacerdotall Office shall cease, when there be none left to intercede for; all his members being in heaven. Jonah in the deep complained, that the earth with her bars shall cover him forever: yet that could but have reached to the Resurrection: then earth and sea must give up their dead. For ever, in all these places, is taken pro longo temporis intervallo: but this forever, here, is a duration without end. Observe;

1. The difference between the King of heaven, and the Kingdom of heaven: Either of them hath an eternity, but the Kings eternity exceeds. God's Aeternum is the duration of an uncreated being: our aeternum is but the duration of a created being. God was King, when there was no heaven, for He made heaven: and of necessity the Maker must be before the work. Heaven, and the Angels and Saints who dwell in that Court, had a beginning, though they shall have no end: but God hath neither end nor beginning. The heavens contain us, they cannot contain Him: nay, He contains the heavens. Time was but a little breath of his mouth, and all the wheels of time, but the motion of his finger. Eternity is his Nature: He is perfect eternity it self: and the continuance of the world is but a shadow or abridgement of it; far shorter than Himself. He lays his hands upon both ends of everlastingness, comprehending it within his infinite eternity, and eternal infiniteness.

2. The difference betwixt this Now, and forever. Nunc hath both a beginning, and an end: forever, hath a beginning, no end. Nunc is spun out by degrees: forever, is perfect at once. Of nothing we become children, of children men, of men aged, and in age (if not before) we must die: one Nunc brings us into this world, another Nunc carries us out. In the Orbe of this forever, there is no increase and decrease, no infancy and age, no growth and death: all are perfect at once, all shall continue perfect forever. As for death, he may here ramble abroad, and deal about his bloody and fatal blows; and heaven is quite out of his reach. In that upper world, death hath nothing to do; his power, his credit is lost there: above they laugh at his fury. Our Nunc here hath many alterations: it is subject to changes and chances. Stay but a Nunc, and the greatest man of the East is become a Beggar: but another Nunc, and the healthiest man droupes: this minute he was well, and he is ill this minute. He feels a sudden change and alteration to worse, and cannot tell the cause, nor call it by any name. This variable, and therefore miserable condition of man, was not imprinted by God: for as Himself is immortal, so He did put a beam, a coal of immortality into us. This by our obedience we might have blown into a flame, but by our sin we blew it out. We beggared ourselves, by hearkening after false riches: we infatuated ourselves, by listening after false knowledge. So that now we do not only die, but die upon the rack, die by the torment of sickness: And because we fear sickness and death, we are even sick before sickness comes, and die before death comes. For the very jealousy; and pre-apprehension of sickness and death, is an antedating of sickness and death. We make ourselves sick, before we are so; and are ready to die, ere death comes at us. We are not sure we are ill; but by feeling of our pulse, one hand asks the other how we do: and our eye asks our own urine, how it is with us. We die, and cannot enjoy death, because we die in the torment of sickness: we are tormented with sickness, and cannot stay till the torment comes: but make ourselves sick with presages, and even die of suspicion. These mutations and miseries are involved in our Nunc: none such belongs to forever. In heaven there is no sin, therefore no sickness: no sickness, therefore no death: but for those three incidents of our Nunc, three beatitudes in forever: For Sin, Grace: for Sickness, Glory: and for Death, Life and Immortality.

3. The difference between the Saints militant, and those triumphant: between us in our Nunc, and them in their forever. We have the battle to fight: they have fought it, and are Conquerors. We are troubled with temptations, they tread the Tempter under their feet. We have the bitter cup of affliction to drink, they are past it, and filled with comfort. We have our degrees to take in the rough School of the Cross: they are perfect and complete Doctors. We have but the Grace, they have the Glory of Saints. We have an apprenticeship to serve, under our good Master Christ: They are free men of the new Jerusalem. We are heirs of the same Kingdom, but yet in our minority: they are possessed of the Inheritance. We live below in the veil of miseries: They above, in the Mount of blessedness. We have the earnest of Heaven, they are stated in the whole bargain. We are upon the way, they at their journeys end. Our race is to run, they have got the Prize. We are Pilgrimmes in this world, they are at home in their own Country. We seek For a Citty which hath a foundation, they have found it. We are in black, our mourning garments: they In white, the habit of rejoicing. And which is worst, we are haunted with sins; those pernicious Heathens cannot be quite expelled out of our Canaan. Too often do they draw us into the offense of our Maker: for which our hearts smite us with remorse, and we go heavily all the day long: They above, are rid of all these solicitations; and think this the happiest of all their deliverances, that they are safely delivered from their sins. We sin against the Lord for trifles, they would not offend Him for a thousand Heavensr This is the sorest inconvenience of our Nunc: not so much that it is a vale of miseries, as a vault of sins. The good soul had rather suffer the evil that displeaseth her sense, than do the evil that displeaseth her Maker. Here we have continual work for repentance: O how much of our time is spent in undoing that by sorrow, which we have done up amiss by sin? In our house sin continually makes dust, and repentance must be the Beesome to sweep it. In Heaven there is nothing but purity and perfection. Here we give Christ some Glory, but it is with the intermission of sleep, and interruption of sin: and too often we dishonor Him, which costs us many bitter tears. In that Orbe of Eternity, His praises are perpetually sung, and there is no stay of his Glory.

4. There is yet a Communion betwixt this Now, and For ever: the Saints that are gone before us, are not perfect without us. There is an association of both, them above, and us below; a communion of Saints. For the militant and triumphant Church make but one Parish: Though this world be scarce the Belfry in respect of that upper Choir. When Christ was upon the Earth, he was not out of his Diocese; nor out of his Temple, when he was in our flesh. They sing not the praises of Christ alone; we answer them. As when the Angels began; Glory to God on high; the shepherds followed, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen. The militant Church, in this joins with the Church triumphant: Therefore with Angels, and Archangels, and with all the company of Heaven, we laud and magnify thy glorious Name: Evermore praising thee, and saying, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Hosts: Heaven and and Earth are full of thy glory: Glory be to thee, O Lord most High. The goodly fellowship of the Prophets praise thee: The glorious company of the Apostles praise thee: The noble army of Martyrs praise thee: And not only so, but The Holy Church throughout all the World doth acknowledge thee. We have our part, and this himne must not be sung without us. The Epithalamium of that happy marriage of Christ to our nature, was begun by Angels: yet there were men on Earth that did second them: The song was not let fall, but as it came from Heaven to the Earth, so was it sent up again from the Earth to Heaven. The exaltation of our Nature in the Son of God, was entertained with Angelical anthems. His Session at the right hand of his Father, is lauded by the whole quire of Heaven: yea and it is rebounded, resounded by the Saints below. They from the battlements of Glory, we from the Earth, the pavement of this Temple answers them: Blessed be the Name of the Lord, from this time forth and for evermore. This song shall never cease: Nunc and Aeternum, shall both incessantly give him Glory. They cease not day and night, saying, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty: No interruption of that music; but still Glory be to the Father, to the Son, and to the holy Ghost. How for a Nunc only? Once, and no more? At this hour, and so have done? No, but As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be world without end: Gloria in altissimis, is the song of my soul in the house of my pilgrimage: I sing it Per modum voti, yea per modum devoti; my heart is devoted to his praise, and my tongue shall speak of his righteousness. We have no Angels to sing this Gloria in excelsis, and it is music for an Angel: But they are well pleased to take us into the Consort, to make up the fuller Harmoney. Yet let us take heed that we do not mar the music: If our breasts be hoarse; and stuffed with the crudities of unrepented sins, our voices will yield but a harsh sound: and God's praises would be sung with a clear breast. As we desire to sing with the Saints in Heaven, let us live like those Saints upon Earth. When we have cleansed our hearts from all unrighteousness, and made them Temples of the Holy Ghost; then do we rise above ourselves, and approach somewhat near to those blessed Spirits. Then are we in state with Saints and Angels, to magnify the glorious Name of Christ. There is joy among those Angels in Heaven, to hear their songs kept alive upon Earth. When the Son of God came down from Heaven to Earth, and when he went up from Earth to Heaven, still He was entertained with songs of praise. Let us praise Him both for the one, and the other, here; till we come to sing it in that glorious Choir above: No more of wish then, but of fruition, and so of gratulation For ever.

5. This is one sympathy of the Church, triumphant and militant: we all agree in this one harmony, of giving Glory to Christ. To Him be Glory in our Nunc: and To Him be Glory in their For ever. Howsoever there may be distance in place; they on high, we below: and difference in Grace; theirs perfect, ours inchoate: and difference in Glory; they have it in Re, we but in Spe; and difference in the effects of Faith: We believe what we shall have, they have what they believed: yet in this there is concord and consent; and without much difference, Christ hath his Glory both here, and there. Though there be a local and ceremonial difference between us, in place and honor: We Soldiers in His warfare, they at peace in His Palace, like Princes in his Court: Yet still there is a Communion of Saints, and we are all members of the same Head. Though we be like the feet of the Body, nearest to the Earth, yet we are parts of the same Body; and all of us have but one Head, Jesus Christ. So inseparably are they in Heaven, united to us on Earth; that the Church upon Earth is called the very Kingdom of Heaven. There was war in Heaven. Is not that the place of peace? Was not the Dragon long since cast out of Heaven? Can he get in thither, to work their disturbance? What, any war in Heaven? No certainly, there is all welfare, no warfare. But this Heaven is the Church militant; and it is honored with the name of Heaven for seven resemblances. First, It shines bright as Heaven. Fulget Ecclesia Doctoribus, ut coelum syderibus. Secondly, In Heaven, one Star differs from another Star in Glory: so here be different measures and degrees of Grace. Thirdly, Heaven is incessant in motion, so the Church continually moves toward God. Fourthly, Heaven gives influence to all lower things. So all good to the World is conveyed through the Church. Fifthly, Heaven hath none but pure inhabitants; and all the Churches Children are Heavenly: Their Treasure is in Heaven, Matth. 6.26. Their desires in Heaven. Coloss. 3.2. Their conversation in Heaven. Philip. 3.20. The Lord of Heaven dwells in them. Ephes. 3.17. And wheresoever He is, His very presence makes a Heaven. Sixthly, Heaven covers all sublunary things: So the Church hath the Moon under her feet, she treads upon the World. Revelation. 12.1. She is (as it were) shod with the Moon, and crowned with the Stars. Seventhly, as Satan is cast out of Heaven, so also thrown out of the Church: His place was no more found in Heaven. Revelation. 12 8. But you will say he rangeth in the World, how then hath he no place? He hath none ad nocendum: If he cannot hurt, he hath no place? He may still have power to tempt, not to hurt: Even the Devil himself shall work to our good. The Prince of this World hath nothing in me: Nec quicquam in me nec quicquam meis. Thus the Name of Heaven is communicated to us upon Earth: so certain are we in our Nunc, to be co-stated in their For ever.

Sixthly, This For ever, is the perfection of the Glory of Heaven. It were a Glory scarce worth glorying in, if it did not last For ever. This consummates the joy, that it cannot be lost: It would droupe and languish at the very height, if the head of it were not borne up with this For ever. This is the Crown of the Crown of Life; that the kings there shall wear their Crowns For ever. The very hope of this, is the best inheritance of the greatest Prince upon God's Earth: After a kingdom which he must leave, to enjoy a Kingdom which shall never leave him: To change a crown of gold, for a Crown of Glory: To change the glory of a Crown which must vanish, for the Crown of Glory which can never be taken from him. Alexander gave away all, and left himself nothing but hope: but it was not this hope: He wept when he heard of another World: He had wasted some time in winning this: and now to hear of another, when he had not gotten all this; it melted his great heart into tears. He thought one World indeed too little for him: Vnus Pellaeo Iuveni non sufficit Orbis: This he made account to have wholly his; yet still he wanted a part. But now there was another World, wherein he had no part at all: this made him weep; but he wept as one That had no hope. 1 Thes. 4.13. No earthly greatness can secure us from treachery and violence: Two of the Kings Chamberlaines conspire against Ahasuerus. He that ruled over millions of Men, through a hundredth twenty and seven Provinces, cannot assure himself from the hand of a villain. He that had the power of other Men's lives, is in danger of his own. O blessed they that are possessed of a Crown incorruptible, unfadeable; of a Kingdom in Heaven. No force, no Treason can reach thither: there can be no peril of either violence, or forfeiture. What a-do there is in the World for Annuities, for Leases of life, of three lives, for Free-holds and Perpetuities? So undeterminable is the love of this World which determines every minute. We are very earnest and industrious about the continuance of our Nunc: O that we were half so careful about the assurance of our For ever. Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years, eat, drink, and be merry: He was but a fool. But when we have Peace, Happiness, and Glory, (which are the true goods indeed) laid up for us, not for many years, nor for many ages, but For ever, we may then be merry indeed. The best joys of our souls here, though they be the beams of God's favor, are often clouded. In our fairest day, it often rains before night; and our jollity concludes in tears. If we escape outward crosses, yet we cannot avoid sins, and they do (and nothing but they should) set us a weeping. There is neither Clouds nor Rain in that Eternal day above: They have nothing to weep for, therefore no place for tears. The Lord sometimes smiles upon us, and then we say in our prosperity: We shall never be moved, thou hast made our hill so strong. Psalm. 30.6. But abscondisti faciem; and then we hang down the head, like Bul-rushes in a shower. In Heaven the Face of God is never hidden; The Saints and Angels behold it continually. Matth. 18.10. This In aeternum crown all their crowns, rejoiceth their joys, and even glorifies their glories, by confirming them in blessedness: the assurance that they shall be crowned For ever, blessed For ever, joyous and glorious For ever and ever.

For application of all; we must do what we can, to make the glory of Christ last For ever: Not only In aeterno suo, for that shall be done without us: but In aeterno nostro, which is to be done by us, So let us honor him while we live, that our very memory may occasion his honor when we are dead. This shall be written for the generation to come, and the people yet unborne shall praise the Lord. O happy men that do such good works, for which the future ages shall praise him. Nature is pregnant in this office: The outgoings of the morning and evening praise thee: to teach us, neither to lie down, nor rise up, without remembering of our Maker. Day unto day, and night unto night, doth publish it: their Language is heard everywhere: How much more should we be diligent in the celebration of his praises? One generation shall praise thy works to another. The faith of Abraham, in not sparing his only son, glorifies God even to this day. The patience of Job, proclaims to all the world his honor. The gracious lives of the Saints departed, do still magnify him: in every place we hear of them, and are moved to glorify God for them: As if his Name had been less famous, if these men had not been, or not been so holy. Not that they could add renown to God, but God renowned himself by them. For if his Justice gets honor by a Pharaoh, much more doth his mercy by a Moses. We cannot look upon an Hospital or alms-house, but we are occasioned to glorify God, for giving men the grace to do such good works. Their works follow them; yea, and (in another sense) tarry behind them too: The reward goes with them, that their souls may be saved: but the work it self stays behind, that God may be glorified. For this cause we remember in our thanks to God, the Wickams, and the Suttons, and the benefactors of forms ages: blessing him that raised them up, and reflecting all to his honor. Do good therefore, ye rich men, with your goods: and think it not enough to glorify God with your professions whiles you live; but that God through your occasions may be glorified when you are dead. These are better monuments than your alabaster or marble sepulchers; better than all the elegies of poets, and Inscriptions upon your tombs: your lasting good deeds, which be the visible trophees of your goodness: That is your Aeternum in this world and by this you shall give glory to Christ forever. This is that praise of God, which shows that he was the God of your praise. Build refectories for his members, and Temples to his service: you shall die, but Non norant haec monumenta mori. If Israel builds houses to his praise, he will dwell in them, and so is said to inhabit the praises of Israel. In our several stations. Let us endeavor all ways to glorify him, and in heaven he will glorify us forever.

Amen. This is the conclusion of all. Concerning which, some things are observable in the word it self, and some in the sense of the word.

1. It is a word Omnium Linguarum, of all Languages. Originally it is Hebrew; the Greeks took it up, the Latins followed them, all other nations entertain it, and it shall never be laid down. There be many Hebrew words, which we retain in their proper dialect, without translation of them: as Halleluiah, Immanuel, Hosanna, Maranatha, Racha, Manna, Mammona, Abba, Cherubim, Seraphim: but the most frequent and familiar of them all is Amen. It is kept in the original, and not translated; first to preserve the honor of the Hebrew tongue. As that was the first language of the world, and thought to be still the language of heaven; so it shall have honor in the midst between both these: for all nations shall speak the language of Canaan: In time the consent of all nations shall come in, to testify the truth of the Gospel. And howsoever it be now a stumbling block to the Jews, and an offense to the Gentiles; yet the day will come, when both Jews and Gentiles shall receive it, and to the word of Christ, they shall say Amen. Next, it is a pledge to the Gentiles, that there shall be a re-engraffing of the Jews: Christians call God; Abba, Father, in the tongue of the Jews; implying that the Jews shall become Christians. As we received our first faith from them, so they shall receive their last faith from us. It is not then unlawful to use Greek or Latin words in our Sermons, when as we are allowed to use Hebrew words in our prayers. But as we refuse no meat that conduceth to the nourishment of our bodies, so all words are good that tend to the edification of our souls.

2. It is a word omnium Idiomatum; signifying a Noun, a verb, an adverb. First, It is taken for a Noun; real and substantial truth: These things saith Amen, the faithful witness. All the promises of God are Yea and Amen. So every Evangelist shuts up his Gospel; Amen. So Paul, Peter, and John conclude their Epistles Amen. So the holy Ghost seals us the Scripture: the last word of the Bible is Amen. To show that whatsoever therein is contained, is perfect and absolute truth. Secondly, It is taken for an Adverb: so frequently, it is used by Christ; Amen, Amen, dico vobis; verily, verily I say unto you. It is sometimes used in the Old Testament: The woman shall say, Amen, Amen. In diverse places of the Psalms: by which some would distinguish them into five books, in imitation of Moses his Pentateuch; every book containing thirty Psalms, and the number distinguished by Amens. It is thus taken, an asseveration, some call it Iuramentum. But that Christ, when he said Amen, Amen, did so often swear or take an oath were hard to affirm. Thirdly, It is taken for a verb: wherein we wish something to be. Deut. 27.15. Neh. 5.13. Psal. 89.52. Thus it is a note of confirmation, tam asserendo, quàm optando. It is every way a Seal to the truth of that which is delivered: The promises of God are Amen in Christ; In ipso sunt Ipsum. And to the truth of our receiving and believing it; so we shut up our Creed with Amen.

3. It is a word Omnium locorum; placed in the beginning, in the midst, in the end. In the beginning to express the Truth of that which follows: In the end to witness the Truth of what went before: In the midst, it is Ipsa veritas. Christ commonly used it in the beginning of his speech: so he begun his Sermon to Nicodemus. And Paul so begins his Epistle to the Galatians. So the Spirit begun his letter to the Laodiceans. In the midst it hath a place also. Romans 9.5. Like a Selah in the midst of a Psalm. And in the Lord's prayer, though it be but once mentioned or uttered, and that in the end; yet it is implied in the midst, and belongs to every petition: as well to Fiat voluntas tua, as to Dimitte debita nostra: to Adveniat regnum tuum, as to Da panem nostrum. To them all generally we say, and to everyone particularly we intend Amen. In the end, it is never to be omitted: whether we pray alone, or with the congregation, we must conclude with Amen. Every where then it challengeth a room: Especially S ^t . John, repeating the words of our Savior, ever doubles it; Amen, Amen. Some would strangely allude it to the age of John: that as in the Greek elements of the word Amen, the numerical letters amount to ninety nine: so they say, S ^t . John lived ninety nine years. As those that collect, because the Beasts name, and Solomon's yearly talents of gold, were both of a number, each of them six hundredth sixetie and six: that therefore Antichrist at that time must be as rich, as ever was Solomon: they do but invent fantastical dreams, and groundless curiosities. Amen is a word of honor, the voice of faith, and faith presupposeth understanding; not to be used upon every trivial circumstance, with unadvised lips: for through a custom or habit of speaking it, they blunder out Amen at a ventures, and not seldom seal a curse to themselves. It cannot be used with too much reverence.

It was a complaint of the Jewish Teachers; we may too justly transfer it upon ourselves: that the Amen of God's Clients in the Church is very defective: there is a fault in it, that would be amended. One Amen they called Pupillum: when a man says Amen to he knows not what: he understands not the prayer. Another they called Subreptitium; when one says Amen before the time comes: he is loath to tarry till the prayers be done. The last they called Sectile: when a man cuts off his devotion, and divides it into two parts. He sleeps out the first part, and his mind is wandering in the last part; only he awakes in the midst, inopportunely says Amen to that. But a perfunctory and careless Amen, to thy private, or the public prayers, will procure thee none of the required blessings: it will bring but sorry comfort to thy conscience. Saint Jerome saith, That in the Primitive Church, the people's Amen, at the end of public prayer, was like thunder; above the shout of an army in a triumph: that it would almost astonish a man to hear, Populum reboantem Amen. With so submiss a voice do we answer the Minister in our suffrages, as if we were afraid that men should hear us: we do but whisper, whereas they did thunder: Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh: our praising God with so low a voice, argues a poverty of devotion in our hearts. If we knew what a seal our hearty Amen were to all our petitions, we would sooner rend the clouds, than whisper to our pewes so necessary a Fiat.

Nor must this only conclude our supplications, but even our gratulations: as well our thanks for what we have received, as our suits for what we would receive. God will not accept of an Hosanna, without an Hallelujah: Amen must seal up both. Be this then the conclusion of our prayers, wherewith God concludes his Scriptures. The first word is In principio: the last word Amen. A stately beginning, and a powerful ending. What is more stately than Antiquity? Id verum, quod primum. The Doctrine of Moses and the Prophets concerning the true Worship of God, was first: Idolatry and Baalism came in afterwards. The Doctrine of Christ and his Apostles, touching Justification by faith, was first: the Popish Doctrine of Merits and Satisfactions came in afterwards. What more powerful than the Truth? At last it will prevail: all will be Amen, Truth in the end. So the Scriptures have both Vetera and Vera; which are not joined together in any other writings. In human learning, many things are uncertainely true, and more certainly untrue: only the Word of God is sealed with Amen. Amen is the end of it; and let us all say Amen unto it.

To set some method in my discourse; Amen is but one word; and it was hard to divide a word. It is an unwarrantable boldness to tear any word in pieces; much more to rend this word Amen, which is the seal to all the rest. Who but a mad man would tear the seal of his Evidence? Yet though a word may not be divided, it may be distinguished, and that without injury. One word may have divers significations: and though it have but Vnicum sonum, may bear Multiplicem sensum. It is like Manna, which relished to all, according to the delight of every several palate. Many virtues lay claim to this Amen. Desire challengeth Amen, and says, It is mine. Faith lays title to Amen, and says, It is only mine. Thankfulness would engross Amen, as properly belonging to her. We will let them all have it, rather than tear it in pieces, that so none might have it. The root of it is in the heart, and it hath four several Branches in the mouth. First, as it comes from a Desire of the heart, it is Vox Petentis, the word of a Petitioner. Secondly, as it comes from a Perswasion of the heart, it is Vox Credentis, the word of a Believer. Thirdly, as it comes from the Joy of the heart, it is Vox Gratulantis, the word of a Thankesgiver. Fourthly, as it comes from the Resolution of the heart, it is Vox Perseverantis, the word of a Continuer. First, a Desire that so may it be. Secondly, a Belief, that so it shall be. Thirdly, a Rejoicing, that it is so. Fourthly, a Resolution, that so it shall continue. Of these in order.

1. Amen signifies an earnest Desire of the heart, to obtain some good. Geminata precatio: when we have expressed with our mouths, what we desire in our minds, we add Amen: So let it be unto me, O Lord. I come quickly. Amen. And least that Amen should not seem earnest enough, it is seconded by an exegetical instance; Even so, come Lord Jesus. The foregoing prayer is a petition, and Amen is a short repetition of it: a brief and abridgement of all that hath been asked. All the requests of an humble Client, are thus summed up in a word; Amen. It is a Seal put to the end of a conveyance: Prayer is the conveyance of our hearty desires to Heaven: this is not authentical without a seal. As God hath regard to all the terms of the conveyance, and ponders all our requests; so in the bottom of the Instrument He looks for our seal. If Amen be not set to it, it is but a cold conveyance, and will hardly bring us a good assurance. Duplicatum verbum, ardens desiderium. So Isaiah 37.17. Dan. 9.19. Matth. 7.7. The evils be so hurtful, whereof we beg a removal: the Graces so excellent, whereof we pray for a fruition; that we have good cause to be urgent with God, and to put Him in mind of that we have asked, by the conclusion with which our prayers are sealed, Amen. We say Amen, O LORD to our supplications, do thou say Amen to the concessions of them. This is to seal our seal; to set the seal of his merciful grant, to the seal of our humble suit. Amen on earth, is sealed and ratified by the Amen in Heaven.

2. Amen signifies a persuasion of the heart: not only a desire to have it so, but a belief that it shall be so. And though option and expectation be different acts of the Soul; yet they may be at one instant in the Heart, and therefore expressed in one word by the mouth: The Amen of Prayer, which is a Fiat: and the Amen of Faith, which is a Fiet; do not destroy, but rather assist one another. Faith rouseth up Prayer, Prayer cheers up Faith. Credidi & ideo locutus sum; Psalm 116.10. Faith opens the lips of Prayer. I have prayed, that thy Faith might not fail; Luke 22.32. so Prayer keeps Faith in heart. Believe then, that you may pray heartily: Pray, that you may believe firmly. Amen answers to both; as one beam of the Sun yieldeth both light and heat: light to our Faith, heat and fervency to our Prayer. Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my Name, He will give it you: John 16.23. This is the foundation of our Amen. It must rise from a believing heart, and that must needs be an understanding heart. No man will put his seal to a writing, till he understands the contents. Our Prayer, without the Amen of Faith, is an Evidence without a Seal. The Amen of our lips, without the intention of what is prayed for in our hearts, is a Seal without an Evidence. The Suffrage of the whole congregation, crying Amen to the public Prayers, hath ever been, and is the laudable custom of all Churches. But if the common Prayer be not in a common tongue, how shall the people say Amen? When the Priest says Prayers in Latin, it is at his courtesy, whether he will bless or brand the Assembly; and so ignorant Persons may say Amen to their own curse. Say his Charity is better, yet the unlearned Papist is never the wiser. It was a ridiculous observation of the Carnotensian Canons, that forbore to shut up Prayers with Amen in their Churches, because they understood Saint Paul to make it belong only to Idiots: whereas their Assembly consisted of none but noble and learned Persons. But Hugo saith well of them, that they have now just cause, Illud resumere per contrarium; and all to say Amen, because there are none but Idiots and unlearned amongst them. Coeca devotio, rara benedictio. The Romish Priests may conjure, as well as pray, for ought that the Vulgar know. And their Amen to the Orisons, is but like a song of one tune, and the burden of another: or like the ringing of the Saints-bell, after much jangling in the steeple. For though God understands Latin, yet their Latin does not understand God. So we have too many, that huddle up their prayers in a morning, and then think they have served God very well, and are blest for all day. Their minds are busy about one thing, and their tongues talk of another thing: they neither say what they consider, nor consider what they say. So that here is neither hand nor seal, but a mere blank: or a paper scribbled over with nonsense: No man can tell what to make of it. If praying were not an Action of the heart, more than of the lips, you have many Birds that might be taught to say their prayers.

But when The heart hath indicted a good matter, and the tongue hath set it down like the pen of a ready writer; Psalm 45.1. Then is the seal opportunely put to them both; Amen. Some preproperous devotions are delivered, as Sermons are taken, in Brachigraphy: They love to be short with GOD, as if it were enough that he knew their meaning. Others are long and tedious, like the prayers of the Pharisees, full of superfluous repetitions, and idle misplacings. Like Anagrams; for as there is a transposition of letters, so here is a misposition of requests: The beginning is where the end should be, and the end where the beginning: so that in the wrong Vbi, there is skrewed in Amen.

3. Amen signifies the joy of the heart, and so it is a gratulation for some good received. Thus most properly, and according to the genuine nature of it, it is taken here. To GOD be glory forever; Amen. We do not only desire that so it may be, and believe that so it shall be, but also rejoice that so it is. Saint Chrysostom tells us, that the People in the Primitive times, so soon as ever they heard these words uttered, To whom be Glory forever, they presently thundered out Amen. It is Vox gratulantium; as when the Magistrate hath pronounced, GOD save the King; The whole multitude showteth forth Amen. Whensoever we hear any man blessing the Name of God, it is a key to open our lips, and a motive to affix our Seal to His Prayses with Amen. The best way to pledge the Kings health, is by our hearty prayers for him: And it is not the least way of honoring Christ, when others have begun his Holy Prayses, to pledge them in our consents, to answer them in our echo's, of Amen. O that men would praise the LORD for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the Children of Men. Psalm. 107.8. and Psalm. 116.13. Though we cannot make a long Oration of His worthy Prayses, nor a narration of His great and glorious acts; yet when we hear the Preacher declare what He hath done for us, and ascribe all honor to His Name, We cannot but know how to say Amen. It is a word neither hard to learn, nor troublesome to remember, nor difficult to pronounce; Amen. All Plants receive influence from the Sun: only the thankful Heliotropium turns it self to the Sun, and would fain follow it. If the beams of Christ's Graces have thoroughly warmed our hearts, we still look towards Him, we rejoice in His Blessings, and close up all our praises of Him with Amen. All the Tribe of Manasseh went not over Jordan, some stayed behind: Manasseh is said to signify forgetfulness: though we forget many of GOD'S mercies and benefits, yet let some tarry behind in our memories, and not pass away without our thankfulness. We have dull hearts, if we can taste the sweetness, and digest the fatness of his blessings, without returning Him continual thanks, sealed with Amen.

4. It signifies the resolution of the heart; that as the glory of GOD shall continue forever in it self, so we with all our best endeavors will maintain it. And that as His favors towards us are not mutable, so we will be no changelings in setting forth His Prayses. Amen is Truth, and Truth is firm: implying that neither Christ's Honor, nor our thankfulness are fadable things: but of a durable subsistence, and such as will last forever. In witness of which perpetuity, we set to our Seal of Amen. There is no question of His Glory; all the doubt lies in the perseverance of our Grace. The Apostles Were continually in the Temple, praising and blessing GOD. Luke 24.53. If we be not always in the Temple of GOD, made by the hand of Man; yet we are never out of this Temple of Man, made by the Hand of GOD. So long therefore as our Souls are the Priests, and our Bodies the Temples; and these mortal Temples contain those immortal Priests; Let there be offered to Christ the continual sacrifice of thankfulness. Let us draw out Amen to the full length, and evermore sing his Prayses. When the old Man had entertained the gods, and they so liked of his Hospitality, that they bade him ask what he would, and it should be granted him: He only begged that his little Tenement might be turned into a Temple, and himself be accepted as the Priest, to offer sacrifice to them. Much like to David's unum petii, & hoc requiram; even to dwell in the house of GOD forever. Psalm 27.4. They say, happy are the Stones whereof Temples are made: GOD made the whole World a stately Temple, wherein He will be worshipped: And to do that, is the perfection of the world. The inferior Orbes have their several motions; some are turned this way, and others that way: but the Empyreall, the highest Heaven is never moved: the rest of that cannot be disturbed: Immobility and immortality belongs to that. So the lower Spheres of our Soul, our sensitive affections and passions may be whirled up and down: But let our heart continue firm, and stick fast to the honor of Christ: There let our Amen be laid up forever. The Amen of Mercy, the Son of GOD, when He undertook the work of our Redemption, never gave it over till he came to his Consummatum est. The temptations of Satan, the persecutions of the Jews, the afflictions of his body, the passions of his soul; could not call him down from the Cross, till he could triumph in his Consummatum est: then He gave up the Ghost, with Father, into thy hands I commend my Spirit. So when we have continued in His Service to the last, speaking and doing, believing and living to His Glory; then may we with comfortable assurance breath forth our spirits into his bosom; Lord into thy hands I commend my soul. This is our Amen, and Himself say Amen unto it.

To conclude; Hugo Cardinalis hath a pretty observation: That Amen, under the Law, was answered to the curses, but not to the blessings: But Amen, under the Gospel, is answered to the blessings, not to the curses. For the Law, it is plain that there was an Amen enjoined to be said to the curses; and that not in general, one Amen for all. But in particular, every curse must have the several Amen: Which we shall find by perusing these places. Numbers, 5.22. The woman shall double her Amen. Deuteronomy, 27. from Verse 15. to 26. All the People shall say Amen. But in the next Chapter, where the blessings follow; there is no Amen affixed, nor commanded to be affixed to them. Deuteronomy. 28. from Verse 2. to 12. No Amen spoken of there. contrarily in the Gospel, to all the blessings there is an Amen, but none to the curses. If any Man love not the Lord JESUS CHRIST, let him be Anathema Maranatha: 1 Corinthians, 16.22. A fearful curse, but no Amen to that. But Grace be with all them that love the Lord JESUS CHRIST in sincerity: Ephesians, 6.24. There is an Amen to that. Thus doth Christ's Amen seal up mercy to us: Thus let our Amen seal up Glory to him forever.

To shut up all with this Amen. Now the GOD of Peace that brought again from the dead our Lord JESUS that great Sheapheard of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting Covenant: Make you perfect in every good work, to do that which is well pleasing in his sight, Amen. To GOD the Father, that made me after His own blessed Image: To GOD the Son, that redeemed me by His own precious Blood, and called me to be a Minister of his Holy Gospel: To GOD the Holy Ghost, who hath inspired and enabled me to begin and finish this Exposition: To those three glorious Persons, One only infinite and Eternal GOD, be all Praise, all Honor, all Glory, now and forever. Amen.