Commentary on 2 Peter

THere is no comfort that sticks longer to a man than Hope; none that more unwillingly leaves him: nay it never forsakes, unless it be forsaken. Non •• icit, nisi cùm reijciatur. And when it is desperately cast of, it leaves us desolate and destirute of all comfort. But for Hope, the heart would break: and and when it departs, the heart is broken. Not broken by remorse; a fracture which the hand of mercy hath promised to heal: but broken by despair; such a breach as will not suffer it self ever to be made up again. Our souls are anguished with the sense of our sins: we lie under that unsupportable lode, pa •• ing, and groaning, and afflicting ourselves with inconceivable • angs; yet there is hope: A pardon from our offended king revives us, and we • look up with comfort. Our bodies are sick; they languish away in faint sweats, and painful distempers: yet there is Hope. For God hath created both medicines to heal us, and Physicians to apply them: And there is something in the great world to help the little one: something in nature, to relieve man, if they can light upon it. Or if these fail, yet he hath prescribed us another method of Physic: Pray unto the Lord, and he will make thee whole. But go we further: Our friends die, our children die, ourselves die: where is our hope now? yes; death may kill our life, not our hope. Still we hope to find those in Heaven, that have left us upon Earth: and we patiently resign our own bodies to the grave, in the hope of a better resurrection. Still hope cleaves to the Soul, as Ruth to Naomi; Whither so ever thou goest, I will go with thee. When we consider this goodly fabric, the magnificent structure of Heaven and Earth; of so spacious a capacity, and of so specious a form and beauty: it cannot but wonderfully astonish us, to think that this glorious All should be reduced to nothing. If that were so doleful a lamentation, I am seges ubì Troja; corn grows in the streets of Troy. Or if the foresight of Jerusalem's downfall, drew tears from the Son of God: certainly, the thought of the worlds abolition, may justly confound the hearts of the Sons of men.

But blessed be our God, that hath not left us without hope; even the clear hope of a better renovation. This world shall perish, a more perfect one shall succeed. These Heavens, and this Earth shall pass away; but Hope hath comforted us with a restitution. For we look for new Heavens, and a new Earth. Neither have we a groundless or unwarranted expectation of this; but a confident hope; built on so sure a foundation, as the infallible promise of God: According to his promise. Nor shall there be a blended confusion or mixture of good and bad, of order and disorder, of holiness and sin, in this new place: but justitia habitat; Righteousness dwelleth there; only righteousness, and that forever.

Conceive the whole Verse to be one entire building; and therein we have

• 1. The foundation of it; The Promise of God.
• 2. The material parts of it; Heaven and Earth.
• 3. The quality of those parts; They are New: new Heaven, &c.
• 4. The inhabitant that dwells there; Righteousness.
• 5. The hope of it; for it is a reversion, a future inheritance: therefore there is a looking for it: and it is a thing worth our looking after: We look for.
• 6. The heirs that expect it: not all the world; for hell is ordained for some: but we; all those that serve the Lord in all holy conversation and godliness. Before we come to these particulars, I intend to set down certain Theses, grounds, and positions in general; to give the better light to the ensuing discourse.

1. There is a certain infallible end and consummation determined to the world. Aristotle thus scoffed this opinion in his days: I was once afraid, says he, that either tempest or time would overthrow my house: but now I have great cause to fear the ruin of my house, and of myself too: for the •• be some, that, in words, go about to pull down the world. But to be ser •• us, there is a twofold end, the one of corruption, the other of annihilation. The end of annihilation is, when a thing so loseth its present being, that no part of it, whether matter or form, remains in nature, but as of nothing it was framed, so it is turned into nothing: and such an end the world shall not have. The end of corruption is, when a thing is changed, not simply from a being to a not being, as if it altogether ceased to exist in nature; but into another being, which before it had not. As when fire hath turned wood into ashes, we say there is a corruption of the wood; for it ceaseth to be wood, and is become ashes: But we cannot say, there is an annihilation of it; for there is a substance remaining: and the matter, which was under the form of wood, hath now put on the form of ashes. Of wood corrupted are ashes generated: according to that worn axiom; Corruptio unius generatio alterius: And such an end the world shall have.

2. Creatures, of their natural disposition, infused by God, do not desire their own corruption, much less annihilation: but rather they have a natural love to be, and an innated hatred of destruction. Why else is there such a Sympathy, and Antipathy, even in things destitute of reason? The Lamb, though it never had experience of the Wolves cruelty, yet at the very first sight of him, doth tremble and fly for fear. Scaliger tells us of a tree, that at a man's approaching, draws in her large shoots and branches; and at his departure, spreads them out again; which is therefore called the shame-faced tree. But this is not so much shame, as a natural divination of some present or imminent danger, and and an uniting of the dispersed forces, for the stronger resistance. That same groaning of the whole creation, and fervent expectation of the creature, must not be understood of any intent it hath to corruption, but to perfection: not being contented with the inherent form, it affecteth a better. As the militant Saints, though they groan under their burden, do not desire to be unclothed, but to be clothed upon, that mortality may be swallowed up of life. Like the child, that cries to put off the old coat; not that it would go naked, but put on a new garment. The basest degree of being, is better than not to be at all. It is perfection therefore, not abolition, which is in the natural appetite of Heaven and Earth.

3. It must be some higher power than nature, that can effect this renovation. For as Nature cannot make something of nothing; so neither can She bring any matter from being to a not being; because She hath a finite and limited power. A natural agent may change a form, whether substantial or accidental; but never work an utter extinction. We may turn a river, we cannot dry up the water. Tyrants may kill the living body of a man, and make it a carcase; they may burn it with fire, and bring it to ashes: and this is as near to nothing, as all their power can possibly reduce it: But let them spend a thousand thousand woods, in the burning of one poor carcase; yet still ashes are ashes; the elements are elements: and they shall never bring this body to nothing. Much less can any natural power annihilate the heavens. Yet an end they shall have; but such a one as man hath: whose body in death is not lost, but changed into the first matter; whose soul is not extinct, but passeth from time to eternity. So the world is uncapable of Annihilation; but shall be changed into a more glorious condition, in the Day of the Lord.

4. Concerning the Incorruptibility of the Heavens, some questions would be moved, and some errors removed. It hath not only been the Tenet of Antiquity, but the observation of all ages, that there is an immutable estate of the heavenly bodies. In the sublunary Region of elementary bodies, we find great variety, and almost a circular alteration: but not so in the Heavens. And if the heavens were capable of corruption, How could the Sphere of the Moon, being situated so near to the Region of Fire, continue so long unconsumed? It is not right to say, that Ob previsum peccatum, by reason of sin foreknown, the Heavens were made corruptible: for, in propriety of speech, we cannot say so of any creature; much less of the Heavens. And when Job saith, The heavens are not clean in his sight; he does not mean that they were unclean; but that they have not so perfect a cleanness as in God; and what cleanness soever they have, is by the gift, and manutenency of his Providence. As Plato brings in the supreme God telling the inferior ones; that they were corr • ptibiles per se, and only kept from corruption by Him. The Truth is, that the Heavens are corruptible, for they shall be changed: unless we say, that this change shall be no more, but only the staying of the wheels of the clock; the clock still remaining the same: so there shall be a cessation of motions in the Heavens, the use whereof serves for the generation and corruption of mixed bodies. They shall depart as a scroll that is rolled together, and the host of heaven shall be dissolved; as we sh • t up a book when we have done reading it. The clear Sum is this; The Heavens are capable of corruption; and they are only kept so long in this constant and unchanged estate, by the same hand of God that shall hereafter change them. They shall wax old as doth a garment; and as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed.

5. There is no impeachment of God's Justice, in this dissolving of the world. It was an old cavil; If God be infinitely good, and the world also good in its nature and degree, why should he destroy it? Shall one Good ruin another? If he destroy that which is good, how shall he continue good himself? If he pull it down, because it is evil, how shall he be free from evil, that made it so? The answer is plain and easy; The world in its original state was good, for all things were very good, so allowed upon the Makers review; but doth it therefore follow, that it is so now? Doth not a man pull down his house, when it is grown rotten and infected, that he may build up a new? But the Heavens were not infected, why should they perish? I answer; who can clearly prove, that the sin of man hath not also infected them? Or if they were granted to be clean, yet they were made for some other end, hereafter to be revealed, and not for themselves. Therefore must they be dissolved, that that end might appear for which they were ordained. An egg-shell is curiously framed, yet to manifest the end for which it was made, it must of necessity be broken. So the present state of this world must be dissolved, that the glorious Kingdom of Heaven may be manifested. This degenerated condition must be done away, that the state of incorruption and immortality may be restored. This world shall have an end then; not of annihilation, but of corruption: not a destructive, but rather a perfective end. The light of the Moon, shall be as the light of the Sun, and the light of the Sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days. Not that this greater light shall emane from the glorified bodies in Heaven: Nor that it shall be only by the removal of those fogs, clouds and vapors, which formerly did obscure those lights. But certainly, those Luminaries have lost much of that clearness and splendor, which they had in the Creation, and which at the worlds end shall be restored to them. Not that there shall be an augmentation of their heat, with their light: for as Heaven shall have no need of their light; (That City hath no need of the Sun, nor of the Moon to shine in it, for the glory of God doth enlighten it.) So nor Earth of their heat, when there is nothing to be generated by it. This permutation of the world therefore, doth nothing derogate from the Divine Justice.

6. Yea, it is the praise of his mercy and goodness, to place perfection in the stead of imperfection; or for a less perfection, to give us a greater. Heaven and Earth shall pass away, that better may succeed: Perituri, & veterandi sunt; they shall wax old, and perish: Qua formula solam indicant accidentalem permutationem. The use of a garment is wearing: no wearing, no further use. when the number of the Elect is complete; and that there is no need of the Heavens for more generation; they shall be no longer for garment, they may be for ornament. Thus in a familiar phrase of speech, the world is said to perish; as we say, a man is past his Infancy, an old man hath lost his youth: these vanish, but in neither of these did the man himself perish. If the world should be reduced to a Non esse; the Apostle would not have said, Novos caelos, new Heavens, but Alios caelos, other Heavens. But as in the resurrection, men's bodies shall be of the same substance, though of a purer disposition: Or as our imperfect knowledge in the after-world shall be abolished, that a more perfect knowledge of God may take place. So must the Scripture be understood, when it speaks of the worlds destruction: that it shall only suffer a permutation, and the same substance be endued with a more glorious condition. The Stoics glance at the means of this dissolution, concluding the instrument to be fire. They thought that the Stars and the very Skies were fire; and that they had a wasting action upon the inferior Elements: so that their nourishing moisture, by little and little, decaying; when as neither the Air can have power of procreation, nor the Earth receive further refection by the water; there should then remain nothing but fire, to consume all: from whose ashes should arise a new world. This their opinion was something consonant to our Apostles doctrine; saving that they differ in this: The Philosopher ascribes all to a natural necessity, the Apostle to a supernatural destiny; even to the purpose of God at the first, and to the hand of God at the last. Yet this dissolution shall not reach, either to the seat of the blessed souls in Heaven, nor to the dungeon of the damned spirits in Hell: neither the joys of the Saints, nor the torments of the damned, shall be interrupted by it.

These conclusions being laid in general, would not pass without some useful application to ourselves.

1. Let us never repine at any alteration of our being, which shall conduce to our better being. If the world must be dissolved, how shall man escape a dissolution? Location is inseparable to existence: therefore seeing the world, which is man's habitation and mansion-house, must be changed; the principal inhabitant must needs have a joint and fellow-dissolution. The Heavens shall cease, not from being, but from motion. The ordering of things below, the continuance of generation, the propagation of the Species in living creatures; is the end of their motion: this end being ended, there is also an end of their motion. So the labor and trouble of mortal man, shall cease together with this motion of the Heavens. Yea, there is an end put to the travel of the Earth, to the working of the Sea, to the procreation of those elementary, lifeless and under-bodies. Not that we attribute all this only to the quiet rest of the Heavens: For when at the prayer of Joshua, the Sun stood still in Gibeon, and the Moon in the valley of Aialon, and with them the rest of the celestial bodies; there was not a cessation of the natural actions of things below: for even then, the Israelites did fight, and their enemies did fly. But the true cause of all this rest from motion, is the will of the first cause; without whose adjuvant working, the second causes are not only suspended, but disabled to perform their functions. As therefore when the Firmament, and other inferior Spheres together with the Elements, put off these accidents and affections of corruption, fit for the continual generation of natural bodies; they do not then cease to be: but are endued with a far more excellent condition, and receive other qualities fit for that incorruptible estate of the future world: their substance remains, howsoever they alter or better their qualities; whereat nature does not repine, but rather incessantly desire it. So is death to man: it may change him, it cannot destroy him. Nay, that permutation is In melius; as Ambrose speaks of the greater world. We may call both these dissolutions, a perishing: Quia pereunt ab eo quod sunt, dum immutantur in melius. They perish from what they are, by being converted into better.

To die is gain: this is a paradox, which the world will not believe. They think wealth the only gain, and life the only time of this gain: and death, not only a loss of life, but of all things with it. But Death a gain? Let them take this gain, that have a mind to it: as for themselves, they will none of it. This some melancholy and miserable Christian may imagine a profit; who is so weary of his life, that he thinks it an advantage to die. But rich men that are wise enough to refuse no gains, would none of death by their wills. As Gueverra cites one of their Epitaphs.

But what do the Heavens lose by their changing, or men by their dying? Have we not Cedar for mulbery, and for Brick, marble? As it was said of the Temple, so is it true of the world after this destruction, and of man after his dissolution; The glory of the second House shall be much greater than the glory of the first. Death is the Sleep: In the morning, after sleep, the body riseth more fresh and full of vigor, than it was over night when it lay down. Our bodies lie down in weakness, dishonor, mortality: they are raised up again in power, in honor, and to immortality: and, I pray you, What loss can you find in this? But vivere damnum, to live is a loss; a double loss: Privative, because it hinders us from the joy and peace that is in Heaven: Positive, because it subjects us to miseries and judgments, and to, worse than all, sins. But in death there is a privative gain; it frees us from all ears and troubles: and a positive, for it helps us to all joys and comforts. If my Landlord pull down my sere, weather-beaten cottage; and build me up a stately palace for it, I have no cause to complain. Could the Physician turn my foul, crazy, rotten, aged body; into a vigorous and youthful one; in reason, I should rather reward him, than blame him. Death, which is the end of the little world, man; and the last Day, which is the death of that great man, the World; are not works of dissolution, so much as of absolution: The world shall be repolished, man immortalized, and in all God shall be glorified.

2. Seeing that a Dissolution is determined upon the world, and all these lower things are condemned to the Fire; Let us set our affections on things above, not on things below: Let us seek heavenly things. Seek we will certainly, for something; and something there must be for the mind of man to rest upon. If we make this world our Center, that and our hopes must fail together: the Fire shall dispatch them both at once. Therefore it were wisdom for us, to seek for somewhat without the extent of this combustion, and there to repose our hearts. The sum of man's natural desire, is rest and glory: pleasure and riches, safety, health, and liberty, are but subordinate to them, and comprehended under them. Neither of them is to be found here. Not rest; what the Devil sought in envy, and Solomon in vanity, that all men seek in curiosity: Walking through these dry places, they seek rest, but find none. Here we all dwell in Mesek, and meet with nothing but disquietness. They that are tossed in a tempest, how do they long for a good Haven or Harbor of rest? And the more our pilgrimage is prolonged, the more we seek this rest, find it how we may. But now the Heavens move; they have no rest: the Earth fructifies; she hath no rest: the Waters, Winds, Clouds, and all work; they have no rest. Man least of all: no rest is allowed him, below. Let us not think to set up our rest here, in this tumultuous throng of troubles. Where envying and strife is, there is confusion, and every evil work. Upon this Wheel ever whirling about, we are no sooner set down, but some trouble or other rouseth us with a Surgite; Non habemus hîc requiem: Here we cannot have it; This is not our rest.

Nor glory: we love rest well enough; yet for glory we are content to disquiet ourselves. How many enter themselves into a restless course of life, for a little puff of honor; which the Princes breath blows up, and the people's breath blows away? This is not to be here, Loco pulicum & culicum: In the garden of our delight we find Wormes; and Spiders even in Kings Palaces: This is the Orbe of Wormes and Spiders; and can we find glory in dust and cobwebs? Yet if two such things, as Rest and Glory, might be had upon Earth; they can never be had together. The most honorable places afford not the quietest lives: and they that live in most quiet, are least glorious. Mortall rest is a thing inglorious, and secular glory a thing restless. Some men are of Issachar’s mind; Rest is good, though it be between a pair of panniers: They bow their shoulders to bear, and become servants to tribute. If we would live unmolested, we must live ungraced; more for ease, than for honor. For reputation, like that Strumpet in the Proverbs, is always gadding abroad, and meets with none but the stirring. But if we will be famous men, of place and credit, then farewell rest. The Fane is advanced above the house, but the wind will not let it be in quiet. The obscure man's door may stand safely open, but the Noble man's gate gets many a knock.

Well, though these are not to be had here, they are to be had somewhere; even both of them, and both together, and that forever. For rest; O that I bad wings like a Dove, then would I flee away, and be at rest. In Christ there is rest: and that not only for the body, which sleep may seem to afford; but you shall find rest unto your souls. The rest of the soul is the very life and soul of rest. The soul is from above, and above is this rest, and there only to be found. Return unto thy rest, O my soul: Where is that? In the land of the living. I, there, there's the joy of it. Would it not grieve a man, that hath toiled and turmoiled out his whole life in this world, at his dissolution, when he looks for rest, to hear the Lord swear, Non introibit in requiem meam: that he shall not enter into my rest? How unhappily have they spent their labors, that at the end of these temporary pains, must begin everlasting pains? And for their working without thanks, be rewarded with working without ease, where there is no rest day nor night? But it is blessedness and comfort, to be called from our holy labors, to enter into God's rest: for that is rest indeed. Glory also is his, and He gives it only, there. It is but folly to be ambitious of it below: it were to seek fresh water in the midst of the sea: or as the Angels said to the women; Why seek ye the living amongst the dead? After two years, Felix is gone, Festus succeeds: the wheel turns, places are changed: such is the case of all secular glory. Princes and Nobles are but great during their life, or at most the worlds life: then all those Titles and distinctions cease. Thus then for the rest and glory of Earth: either we seek and not find them; or find one separated from the other; or if both together, yet soon we lose them again: they are gone in a trice. But to them that by patient continuance in well-doing, seek for glory, and honor and immortality, shall be eternal life. Only in Heaven let us seek them; there we shall be sure to find them, and to find them both together; and have good assurance to hold them both, and that unchangeably forever.

Nevertheless, we, according to his Promise] Of which, first, the material parts, the Heavens and Earth; next the quality of them, which is Novitas, or rather Renovatio; they are New: and then the manner or method of this Renovation, which is a purgation by Fire: Of these having formerly treated, I will now only give you the sum: and that for our plainer proceeding, by the resolving of of certain doubts or questions.

1 That the Apostle only mentions heaven and earth in this dissolution, or renovation, without those media Elementa, it is no otherwise than Moses in the creation; In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. But the first question is, why the heavens should be purged, that never were corrupted. The Angels sinned in the highest Heaven, the glorious Court of the Deity: yet this was never threatened, nor ever shall be punished with an Innovation. We answer, that the same reason holds not. First, because their abode in heaven was but short: Non steterunt in veritate: They abode not in the truth. And as they fell presently into sin, so they were presently cast out of heaven. But Man, and his sin continued long in the World: so that this infection did soke into the grain of nature, and stained it quite thorough; and that so •• ulely, that nothing can get it out but Fire. Secondly, that Heaven was the Presence-chamber of the omnipotent and most holy King; and his infinite Goodness was of force to keep the room from any contagion, which the sin of those ambitious spirits could br ••• he into it. For if in nature, these be antidotes and preservatives, to keep 〈◊〉 house or man from pestilent infection: much more could the immense Goodness of God preclude all access of contamination from his own dwelling. But the divine Majesty did not dwell in this world so presentially; nor was He pleased to exercise his Grace so powerfully and extensively to us: so that the world was defiled by man's transgression, and therefore must undergo this final Repurgation.

So there be some that exempt these Elements which have permission with other bodies and qualities, from this necessary Restauration: as the Fire under the Sphere of the Moon, and the Air in his highest Region. But in vain doth man dispute for the unnecessarinesse of that, which God hath decreed: whose Decree only doth make a thing necessary. Whether compound o • simple, whether Heaven or the Elements, the Maker and Owner of them all, hath determined them to a final Renovation.

2. There is a wondrous mutiny amongst Popish Writers, the Soldiers of error, What should become of those Infants that die without Baptism, at the last Day: Where should they dwell? They are uncapable (say they) of Heaven, by reason of original sin: and they have not deserved Hell, because they were never guilty of actual: What then shall become of them? Whither should they go? Lord, what a puzzling thing is error; and how many absurdities may be built upon the foundation of a false principle? Whether should they go? Let me ask them, Where are they now? If they can demonstrate to me, where they are for the present, I can certify them whether they shall go at the last. There they shall be then, in the same place wheresoever they are now. They point me to a Limbo Infantum: but where is that Limbo? Catharinus, Pighius, and divers other promise those unbaptized Children, a certain natural blessedness, and a pleasant abode in some Paradise: that they shall have knowledge of God, and of separated substances, and the Revelation of Angels. Bellarmine is as hot on the other side, and reproves Catharinus for such an opinion: Affirming them to be the Children of wrath, forsaken of God, under the power of the devil; and that then there shall be but one place of punishment: they that are not in Heaven, must be in Hell. Thus Bellarminus against Catharinus: Salmeron and Pineda differ from them both: Who will have them to be in the same state, that man was in puris naturalibus; yet not free from all Satan's molestations. Some say, this privilege shall not be to them at all: Others, that it shall be, but they know not where; and others allow it, but they cannot tell how. For if the Elements should be reduced to their first order; then Omnia pontus erat; The Waters covered the Earth, as being the lighter Element: and were restrained by God's immediate Hand, for the conveniency of man's habitation. Now if those Waters shall return to their first place, Where shall be their Paradise for those unchristen'd Infants? Pineda so expoundeth Job: He hath compassed the Waters with bounds, until the day and night come to an end: and concludeth, that after this vicissitude of day and night, when time shall be no more, Antiquum locum obtinent, they shall return to their first being. What then? Shall their Paradise be under Water? That were a drowned conceit. Shall it be in the Orbe of the Moon? Or must the man in the Moon resign his place, and in his stead, there be shall children in Moon? These be the fancies of Moonesicke brains. The truth is plain, and needs no evasions or starting holes. Why may not the Children of Christians, being within the Covenant, though they die without the seal of the Covenant, be admitted through the blood of the Covenant, into the place promised by the Covenant, the Kingdom of Heaven? What should be against it, when the Scripture is for it? I will establish my Covenant the 〈◊〉 and thee, and thy • e • d after thee • nd I will be a God unto thee, and to thy se • d of h •• ••• e. Who shall hinder them, whom Christ will receive? Suffer th • se little •• es to c • me •• to Him, a •• d forbid 〈◊〉 not. In truth; neither is there to 〈◊〉 , ••• h shall be then, any third place • all men shall perish in Hell for their sins, that a • t 〈◊〉 •• ved in Heaven by the merits of JESUS CHRIST.

3. To what end shall these new Heavens and Earth serve in the next world? What use shall be of them? The answer must be partly negative, and partly affirmative. Negatively; the Sun and Moon shall not serve for times and seasons; to distinguish days, months and years; for then there shall be neither winter nor summer: Time it self shall be no more. Nor by their motions and influences to cause a fructifying power in the earth: for then there are no creatures for whose use the Earth should being forth: The Sun shall not come as a bridegroom out of his chamber, nor rejoice as a Giant to r ••• e his course: His circuit shall no more be from one end of Heaven to the other. But rather it shall be as in the days of Ioshau, when The S •• ne stood still in Gihean, and the Moon in the Valley of Aialon: there shall be an everlasting Sols •• e. Nor shall they serve to give light to the world, for then there shall be no darkness at all. Not that their light shall be diminished, much less extinguished; but septupled and multiplied. The Sun may be left without heat and motion, because these qualities tend to generation; yet still the light may continue: Many things are lightsome, that give no heat, as the glistering and shining precious stones: Nor shall the earth labor of fruits in her pregnant womb, waiting for the heat of the Sun, and moisture from the Clouds, her old midwives to deliver her of her burdens. The ministry and service of all things, such as it is now, shall cease: It shall be a time of rest, the great year of universal jubilee to all creatures. Neither yet shall the new Earth be without inhabitants. Bellarmine's conceit, that it shall be operta aquis, covered with the waters, and so unfit for habitation, may easily be refuted. First, The first Heavens and first Earth are passed away; and there was no more Sea. If we take this literally, there shall be no more Sea; much less shall all be one universal Sea. Secondly, Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the Earth. This promise is not performed here, therefore we look to have it fulfilled hereafter. Thirdly, The state of all things shall then be most perfect: not confused and mingled together, as it was in the first act of the creation: when the Earth was without form and void, darkness upon the face of the deep, and the deep covering the face of the Earth; until God made a distinction and separation of things, reducing all to order, beauty and harmony; which harmony and beauty shall be restored at the great day, and blessed with an unchangeable perfection.

Nor yet shall the Saints so inhabit the earth, as to live in terrene delights; eating, drinking and sporting after the old manner. This was the heresy of Cerinthus, and the dream of the carnal Jews concerning a terrestrial Paradise: and the damnable doctrine of that juggling prophet Mahomet. For in the Turkish Histories, we read of one Alahodinas, the founder of the Assassins; who with this strange imposture got many adherents, and made them the instruments of his bloody designs. He provided a garden most pleasantly situated; so secure, that there could be no looking over the sense. This abounded with all earthly delicacies; curious music, beauteous women, sumptuous cheare, delicious wines, fruits, junkets, and whatsoever might content a sensual appetite. By an intoxicating drink he would cast them into a dead sleep, whom he meant to practice on: in which sleep he conveyed them to his garden: where waking, they found themselves encompassed with variety of pleasures. Having there solaced themselves a while, by the help of the same drink, he reported them to their former place: and these at their next waking, would give out with noise and confidence, that they had been in Paradise. But corruptible pleasure is not for an incorruptible place. The eye hath not seen, nor the ear heard, nor can any heart of flesh comprehend those delights which are given to the Saints and Angels. Our joys here, are mere toys and vanities, in regard of those that are laid up for us, in this new World, the blessed Kingdom of JESUS CHRIST.

Thus negatively; now for the affirmative part of the question: To what end shall they serve then? If not for these purposes, yet for some other, sure. What are those? First, it is for the glory of God, that they should remain. Praise the Lord, ye Heavens: that cannot praise him, that hath no being. But how should they praise him? Man is occasioned to praise God, by the Heavens, and for the Heavens. Not only now, but even then also: The Heavens shall declare the glory of God, and the Firmament show his handy work. The clear and perspicuous light of this new world, the perfect harmony, the glorious beauty, the wonderful contexture of Heaven and Earth, shall present us with continual occasion to magnify the Creator of all. This is one end; and that were enough: there can be no higher, no greater, than the glory of God. All ends are swallowed up in this, as all rivers run into the Sea. Secondly, the other end is for the use of man; not such an use as we have now: but as there is a new world, so a new use of that world. The first Heavens and the first Earth are passed away: and the first use of them is gone with them. Heaven and Earth shall be the seat of the blessed: not only Heaven; for that is granted. All that we stick at, is the Earth: How should the Earth be the habitation of the righteous? In the state of this question, I determine not: I speak nothing definitively, but by way of probability; and, I think, I have good reasons to prove what I say.

1. From the Text it self: Saint Peter speaks of both Heaven and Earth, and affirmeth that in them both dwelleth righteousness. What is this righteousness? It is a gracious quality: and every quality must have some subject to inhere in. This cannot be the matter of the Earth: for what righteousness can an insensible subject be capable of? We do not say, there is justice in Plants, or holiness in stones, or religion in Beasts. And for the righteousness of God; that indeed filleth all places, but properly dwelleth in himself. Therefore by righteousness, we understand the righteous: On Earth shall the righteous dwell, and in them dwelleth righteousness.

2. We may collect it from that promise of our Savior: Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the Earth. They do not now inherit it: they, of all men, have the lest share in it. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we, of all men, are the most miserable. Nimrods, and tyrants, and oppressors, men of rapine and violence; these now divide the Earth amongst them. Whereas men of a meek spirit are thrust Sedibus, aedibus, out of house and home. Innumerable are the places, where the godly are called Strangers, and Pilgrimes upon Earth: therefore they can have no inheritance there. Pilgrimage and Inheritance, are far different things. The meek have it not here, therefore they must have it hereafter; or how can they inherit the Earth? This old earth is a place for usurpers, and roarers, and those sons of violence; there is nothing but noise and disturbance in it. What Earth then should the meek inherit? Sure it must be mansuetorum terra: this is not to be found here, therefore to be expected hereafter. Besides, Christ ascribes Blessedness to the heirs of the Earth: but millions have fair inheritances upon this corrupt Earth, that are far from blessedness. Some have whole countries, large continents, yea, many kingdoms, yet without blessedness. How vast dominions hath the Turk, yet (I am sure, you will say that) he is not blessed. It must be the habitation of a new Earth, that affords blessedness: therefore this new Earth shall be inherited by the righteous.

3. As the Elements had corruptible qualities, fit for the generation of corruptible bodies: so, then, they shall be made answerable to the state of incorruption. But what needs this renovation and concord of the Elements, if the bodies of the Saints should not converse where this new Earth and Elements are? It is true that now Heaven is the receptacle of blessed souls; where Christ sits in his Throne: yet this hinders not, but that both the new Heavens and Earth may be the habitation of the Saints, after this life. Why may there not be such an intercourse between Heaven and Earth then, as hath been before? The Angels did often come from Heaven, and appear in human bodies upon the Earth. In the next world, the Elect shall be Sicut Angeli, as the Angels of God: even their bodies shall be made Spiritual: and by the supernatural property of a glorified body, may ascend and descend at their pleasure. Moses and Elias came down from Heaven, to talk with Christ on the mount. Our Savior himself, after his resurrection, was conversant with his Apostles upon the Earth 40. days. Why may there not still be such an intercourse between the circumference and the center, betwixt Heaven and Earth?

4. Further yet; The Saints shall be ever with the Lord, wheresoever He is. They shall follow the Lamb whither so ever He goeth. Now Christ is not bounded in Heaven: He hath liberty to go where he pleaseth; and certainly the Saints will wait upon him, with incomparably more diligence, than ever Courtiers did attend their King. The glorious presence of God can make a Heaven upon Earth: and wheresoever the Lamb is, the place is blessed, and all blessed with him.

5. Lastly, it is but reason, that God should be there glorified, where he was dishonored. The Earth was witness of the offenses done against him; let this new Earth bear witness of the praises given unto him. Besides this, all the combats and conflicts of the Saints were upon the Earth: therefore even there also let them wear their crowns. On Earth they were persecuted; give them leave in the same place to triumph. Here they suffered; here also let them be solaced: that the memory of their passed sorrows, may be an accidental variation of their infinite and essential joys. When they shall thus revolve with themselves; Here we were derided, there oppressed: in this place wounded, in that martyred. Now those old Monuments of our pains, shall turn to Trophies of joy And that Earth, which was the land of the dead, is become Terra viventium, the land of the living. How spacious shall be the Kingdom of the Saints, when Heaven and Earth is within their dition.

But it is not safe wading without a bottom: this is one of those secrets, which shall be revealed, when this old world is dissolved. How the Elect shall be disposed of; whither wholly to Heaven, or sometimes to Heaven, sometimes to Earth, at their own choice; or how otherwise it pleaseth God to place them, is a great mystery not yet opened unto us. But that the Saints shall have the liberty of coming to the Earth, seems very probable by good reason, gathered from the Scripture. And this is enough for us to believe, concerning this point. That there shall be new Heavens, and a new Earth, prepared for the righteous; and that GOD shall have a glorious Church, the new Jerusalem, both in Heaven and Earth; for in them both dwelleth Righteousness. Wheresoever God's glorified Children shall be, they shall never want the beatifical vision, the fullness of Joy, the brightness of Glory, the eternity of Peace, the society of Saints and Angels, and the blessed fruition of Jesus Christ.

4. The last question is, what Creatures shall be restored in the next World. In the clearest likelihood, though thereof we can deliver no certainty, no living creatures shall be restored, but only men. That the unreasonable creatures, as Beasts, Fishes, Fowls, shall cease, there be probable reasons.

Non sunt ad immortalitatem condita; as the rest, which shall remain, were: such are the Heavens, Earth, Sun and Moon. Neither yet were these later made by their constitution, apt to immortality: howsoever some Schoolmen have thought so, because they are a simple body, without qualities one repugnant to another. But immortality is the frank gift of God, and dependeth not à vi naturae: for naturally, as they had a beginning, so they must have an end. In the purpose of God, those creatures that shall remain, were created to immortality, so were not the Beasts.

[unspec 2] Those Creatures only, besides Man, shall be restored with Man, which immediately pass from their corruptible estate, into the glorious Liberty of the Sons of GOD. But the unreasonable Creatures, after they are dissolved, do not enter into Glory: nay, they fall into corruption; their Life and Spirit is extinguished with them. But the Heavens and Earth, in the same instant, shall both be freed from corruption, and receive a glorious liberty. And herein appears the Divine equity: The Heavens and Earth, for Mans cause, were subdued to vanity, almost from the beginning of the World, to the end. The other Creatures are but a while under this servitude of corruption: their time in the World is but short; and they are renewed and multiplied by continual Generation. Therefore it is just, that they who stood the whole term of Bondage, should at last be restored to Liberty: whereas they that for a time only suffered, vanish with time into nothing.

[unspec 3] If the unreasonable Creatures should be restored, then either the same that were before; (as the same individual bodies of Men shall rise again) or some other of the same kind newly Created. But not the former; for the parts of those Creatures die with them. Were it not absurd to think, that there shall be a Resurrrection of Beasts; as if Balaam's Ass, or Job's Oxen should rise again? Nor of the second; for in that day there shall be no new Creation. Acts 3.21. It is a time of Restitution, not of Creation.

No kind of Creatures shall remain, Nisi opus aliquod habiturae sint, unless they have something to do: For it is against nature, to constitute anything, Quod omnino sit otiosum. It is a trite axiom, that without necessity, we must not imagine a plurality in nature; for she abhorreth vanity. These irrational Creatures now serve for the profit or pleasure of Man: There shall be no such use of them, then; therefore, by consequence, no such Creatures. But in this point I confess, with the Master of the Sentences: Se nescire, quod in sacris Scriptures se non meminerit legisse. Doubtless, nothing shall be wanting, which may conduce to the perfecting of our joy in JESUS CHRIST.

For application of all: Seeing there shall be a new Earth and Heavens; why do not we become new, that hope to dwell in them? As we do not Put new wine into old bottles, Grace into corruption: so neither will God admit old Tennants into this new World, corruption into Glory. If he therefore will pull down Veterem mundum, the old World: shall not we mortify, destroy, and pull down Veterem hominem, the old Man? We must put off the old Mun, before we enter into that new Jerusalem. We have heard how the Heavens and Earth shall become new; by way of Purgation: the same must be our way too. There is a way of purging the body, by letting it blood. So that corrupt blood, with which the ill diet of wickedness hath filled the veins of the Soul, must be let out. Hebrews. 4.12. The Word of GOD, is that sacrificeing knife, which opens the Veine where this ill blood lies. The hearts of those Jews were fowl, subject to the Pleurisy of presumption, till Acts 2.37. Peter pricked them: that punction cured them. There is a Veine of Covetousness in thee: humbly desire GOD to open that Veine, though by the knife of Poverty; rather be content to lose thy wealth, than thy Soul. So could that Heathen conclude, when he was put to the choice: I had rather that poor Aristippus should lose his Wealth, than that rich Aristippus should loose his Life. Or indeed, save God the labor, and let thyself blood of thy redundant riches, by a charitable beneficence. Cast away thy superfluities, thy health will be the better for it. Hast thou a vein of pride? Breath it out by humiliation. What sinful affection soever hath distempered thy Soul; do not launce thy flesh, like a superstitious Priest of Baal; but rent thy heart, like a penitent Servant of Christ. If the Heavens cannot be made new without a purging, much less shall we enter into those Heavens, but by a gracious renovation.

This is principally the work of God upon us; even of the whole Trinity. The Father purgeth the branches of the Vine: the Son washeth all those that have part in him: The Holy Ghost reneweth us by regeneration. Yet doth not God so minister all the ingredients, that he leaves no Dos for ourselves to put in. Lord, do thou Purge me with Hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me and I shall be whiter than snow. So also man, purge thyself: Wash thy heart from iniquity, that thou mayest be saved. And everyone that hath this hope, Purifieth himself, even as He is pure. What be our ingredients, and where shall we find them? The Apothecaries shoppe, is the storehouse of Grace; the Physicians prescript, is the word of grace. There the good Samaritan hath both oil and wine: wine to search, and oil to supple: One handful of the Law to humble us, and another of the Gospel to revive us. Let Moses cast thee down, that Jesus may raise thee up. Physicians to swellings in the body, first apply fomentations, then cataplasms: the former gentle and lenitive, the other, purging and sanative. Eli put in too much oil, not wine enough; Do no more so my Sons. James and John put in too much wine, not oil enough; when they would have commands fire from Heaven upon the Samaritans. Thunder without Rain, is a sign of much wind: they that only thunder judgments, and never shower down mercies, are but windy Preachers. You never found us so doing, to build judgment on the ruins of mercy. Neithey yet dare we handle your so gently, as not to be felt. For whiles we are no further than in your dead flesh, you can be quiet: but if we once touch the quick, we shall quickly hear of it. If I might teach you to make a spiritual purge, it should be after this manner.

Take a bundle of Time, the consideration of the shortness of thy life: a scruple of the Law, to correct thy proud humor: a dram of the Gospel, for a cordial to thy fainting spirits: Take Humility, Temperance, Patience, of each a like quantity: Put in a great deal of Charity: and that Simple which is the carrier of all the rest, Faith; without which no Physic will work. Mingle all these in the liquor of thy own tears: be sure to steep them in repentance; That is a constant ingredient in all our compositions: no recipe, with us, without a resipisce: There is no Bill, that hath not this in it, to which we dare underwrite a Fiat Potio. After this cleansing, the Patient must keep a good diet; of holiness and obedience: otherwise he will relapse into the same sickness by a misordered life. He must keep himself unspotted of the world. But you will say; Heaven and Earth shall be purged with fire: why are not we put to such a purgation? We are, doubtless, not seldom. Therefore Think i • not strange concerning the fiery trial: Think it not strange; for it is an usual custom with GOD to bring his Children this way to Heaven. It is a fore trial; yet better this fire to purge us, than Hell fire to burn us. Any way to Christ, how sharp soever: Let me be saved, although it be through Fire.

To conclude; we look for a new Earth, and new Heavens; and those new Heavens and Earth look for new creatures. All men are greedy of news: Concerning, news abroad, or news at home, is the universal question. Scarcely, two of acquaintance meet; but after salutation, and a a little complement, the next word is, What news? Loe, my whole argument hath been of news; of new Heavens, of a new Earth, of a new World, and of new things in that world: from the first to the last, here hath been nothing but news. But there is yet one news wanting; our being made new creatures in Christ: What joy would it be for us to report, and for Heaven and Earth to hear this news; That we had left our old ways, our old works, our old customs and sins, and were become new men; new borne to that new World, wherein are those new delights forever.

According to his Promise] This is the foundation of the building. The foundation of our faith, the foundation of our hope, the foundation of our patience, the foundation of all our comfort, is the Promise of God.

1. But where shall we find this Promise? What Evidence, what Record can we show for it? Hugo and Catharinus cite for it; Revel. 21. I saw a new Heaven, and a new earth. But our Apostle could not well have relation to that testimony: for in all likelihood, Peters Epistle was written before John's Revelation. He speaks of a Promise which they then had, not of a future one which they hope to receive. and in nature, a Promise must go before the expectation of it. Thomas Anglicus refers us to Luk. 22.29. I appoint unto you a Kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me. There is a Promise indeed; and an effectual one, and that of a kingdom: but there is no mention of the place. Christ's glorious Kingdom is in the highest Heavens; But what is this to the Renovation of Heaven and Earth? Some clearer testimony therefore must be found out; and that we may do without much difficulty. Isaiah 65.17. Behold, I create new Heavens and a new Earth, and the former shall not be remembered. This is to purpose; What can be plainer? Neither does He speak of a future act, but de presenti; not I will create; but I do create; for the more certainty of it, as if He were now doing it. This is Promise and assurance enough, that He will do. Nor is this promise single: though one word from the mouth of God be sufficient: But Once hath God spoken; twice have I heard it: So that if it be not ex ore duorum, yet ex ore uno bis prolatum. As the new Heavens, and the new Earth which I will make, shall remain before me, so shall your seed and your name remain. The reason is drawn from the certainty: I will as surely save you, as I will make a new Heaven and Earth wherein you shall be saved. We may add that, Isaiah 64.4. I am not ignorant, that divers interpreters understand by all these places, that restitution of things which the first coming of Christ should bring with it. Old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. And I make all things new. As if it were only meant, that there should be a new face and form of the Church: and to this purpose (they farther allege) Paul quotes that of Isaiah 64.4. in his 1 Cor. 2.9. Eye hath not seen, &c. But by their leaves, this exposition takes it off from the literal sense, and turns it into a mystery: Nor yet doth this applying it to the time of grace, hinder the referring of it also to the day of glory. So the Fathers understand that of Isaiah, concerning the beatifical vision; and those other places literally, of a new Heaven and Earth, and the Church triumphant in them. And indeed, if we make all this no Promise, Where shall we find it? Unless we shall add that Psalm. 102.26. They shall all wax old as a garment; but thou art the same. The Maker is unchangeable, but these shall be changed: now this mutation shall not be impejus, certainly.

2. This Promise then we have: the Prophet delivers it, the Apostle repeats it, we believe it, and Saint John in a vision sees it; I saw the new Jerusalem. The Heavens and the Earth, and the Elements between them, shall be restored into the glorious liberty of the sons of God. What the form and fashion of those new Heavens and Earth shall be, as it is not expressed, so it were curiosity for us to inquire. But that the Heavens and Earth shall be new, of this the Scripture makes us certain. It may be expressed by this similitude: As a Nurse that brings up a Kings son, is made Partaker of his preferment when that Prince comes to his kingdom. So the Heavens and Earth are now our Nurses, contributing their virtues to our preservation, and cherishing us with their best indulgence: therefore it is fit, that when Christ shall advance us to our glory, they should also be made glorious with us. When God was about to make man, he provided an excellent dwelling for him; a beautiful roof, and a fruitful pavement: so when he is pleased to remove man from this lower tenement, into an everlasting mansion: he will make a new Heaven, and a new Earth for him: and this is his Promise.

3. The foundation of our Faith, is the Promise of God: without a promise there can be no Faith. Orationis fundamentum & basis est fides, fidei fundamentum est Dei promissio. Man hath diverse ways or means of apprehending things. That which I know by sense, is my knowledge: that which I know by argument is my reason: that which I know by proof and trial, is my experience: that which I know by authority, is my Faith. The Sun shines, and I see it: I am pained with grief, and I feel it; this I know by my sense. The pillars of an house uphold it; take away those pillars, and it will fall: this I know by my reason. In my sickness or bodily distempers, I have found such and such things comfortable to me, and available to my recovery: therefore I conclude, they are good for me: this I know by experience. In my wantonness I have often flien out and sinned: affliction hath humbled me, and brought me home again by repentance: therefore experience makes me know, that it is good for me that I was afflicted. God hath promised eternal life to all them that are in Jesus Christ: this I know by authority, and it is my faith.

Now this faith is either Divine or Human. The object of Divine faith is the Promise and Word of God only: the object of human faith is the report of men. That Saint Peter was at Rome, and Bishop there, is not God's Word; therefore it does not bind my Divine faith. Yet see the wonder! Upon this supposed foundarion all Popery depends. For thereby the Pope challengeth to be his right Successor; and under that title, obligeth men upon pain of damnation, to believe and obey whatsoever he decrees. Thus the authority of Popish faith is only tradition, the report of men, and not the Word of God. Hence it comes that they have so much of their own stuff, and so little of Christ's: Five Ave-maries, for one Pater-noster; more of our Ladies Psalter, than of our Lord's. So they have seven Sacraments, whereas Christ ordained but two. As a grave Divine, expounding that miracle of the seven loaves, and two fishes, wherewith Christ fed so many thousands; and finding some of the Pontifician writers, by a stranger kind of miracle to turn them into their seven Sacraments; and so to make a flourish as if they had gotten Scripture for it: wittily observed; that there was indeed some proportion or resemblance between them. For saith he, here be seven things in all; five loaves, and two fishes: Two of them were of God's making, the two fishes; and the other five of man's making, the five loaves. So two of their seven Sacraments, Baptism and the holy Supper, are of Christ's institution; but the other five of man's invention. But other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. His Word is that we build upon: his Promise is the rock whereon we fixe the trust of our hearts, the life of our hope, and the dear salvation of our souls. To make this useful to us.

First, if God hath spoken it, this binds us all to believe it: Shall we call in question the truth of God, the God of Truth? Heaven and Earth shall fail, that his Word may stand: Heaven and Earth shall be restored, that his Word may not be infringed. Believe God's Word, who doth no • : You may speak this to Gentiles; but God is well known in Jury, and his Name a • gr ••• in Israel. But here is the misery of it; our hands give our tongues the lie. We say, we believe; and it may be, we believe what we say: But may we not be deceived in both? Faith is a thing not seen, and Faith is of things not seen: yet there is a Faith that may be seen: invisible in it self, visible in the fruits it produceth. In the City of our God, as we have heard, so have we seen. We have not only heard the profession of Faith, but seen the works of it. Faith is a spark, and a deluge of lusts may drown it. There is an historical Faith, which believes that there shall be new Heavens and Earth: but this comes short of true blessedness: And there is Fides salvifica, that believes our own part in that new glory: that we shall have a dwelling in those Heavens, prepared for us by Jesus Christ: and this is the Faith that shall do us good. It was small comfort for the old world to see Noah's Ark a building, whiles themselves had no hope of preservation in it. But Noah believed that it was built for his safety; and rejoiced. The want of our Faith shall not disannul or frustrate the Promise of God, nor make his Word of none effect: That shall stand, though we perish. Lord, thou wilt make this new World for us, make us new for it: that we in it, and thou by us may be glorified for evermore.

Next, let us always bear in mind the Promises of God: much good comfort is lost for want of memory. The troubles of a Christian heart be very great, for number, variety, and bitterness: only there is one Ingredient that sweetens them all; the Promise of God. I will be with thee in trouble; and Thou shalt not be tempted above thy strength: If we could but remember these Promises, when we feel such assaults or pangs, How could we want courage? Why should we fear poverty, the loss of a little rubbish; or death, the breaking of a brittle glass; that have God's infallible Promise, both for a new World and a new Life in that World, never to be taken from us? The memory is Aerarium animae, the souls Exchequer or Teasury, the safest hold in her Citadel. All the Promises of God are Jewels, more precious than Gold or Rubies: Where should those Jewels be stored up, but in this Cabinet, the memory? This place is not built of Brasse, but frail and brittle. Of all faculties in man it does first senescere, wax old: Beauty, which is but a flower, doth often outlast it. Of all powers in man, it is least at command: a man may be the Master of his Invention, of his elocution: but who could ever boast himself to be the Master of his memory, or promise himself that that should not fail? There is a Thief still lurking at the door of this Treasury: even he that robbed us of our first estate, the innocence of nature; and would also filch away our second, the happiness of Grace. Therefore look well to thy memory; keep that Closet full of the divine Promises: that in all thy spiritual distempers, thou mayest have a Cordial ready to revive thy fainting heart. But alas, our memory is more apt to lose, than to gain: there is both land and sea in it: the losing part, that's the sea: the keeping part is the land. Many hear the word, as a Tankard-bearer fetches water from the Conduit: all the way he hath it, carries it, feel • it: but at last he empties it into another's Ci • terne, and is never the better for it. We are ha • rowed with oppressions, hurried with persecutions; our estate is taken from us, death dissolves us: yet what can dishearten us, if we affie this Promise, that a new Heaven, new Earth, a new Life, and new Glory shall be provided for us, and everlastingly abide with us?

We lo • ke for new Heaven • ] When as God hath prepared this Inheritance, and promised it; built it, and given us the grant of it; it is fit we should do our part, and confidently expect to Expectation is the action of hope, a continual action • as hope a even ceaseth looking, Till it be stated in possession. Hope is taken three ways: first, for the Doctrine of Faith: Render a reason of the hope that i • in y •• . Next for the Object of Hope, the thing expected: We •• it for the hope of righteousness by f • ith, Lastly, for that holy affection of the mind, which looks for the promised blessedness. Faith and Hope differ three ways. First, Ordine; Faith goes before and begetteth Hope: Faith is the Hypostasis or foundation of things hoped for. Yet not Faith, but the Spirit of God is the efficient Cause of Hope. Faith may be the Mother, but the holy Ghost is the Father of all gracious Hope. He begets us again to a lively hope. There is Spes inflata, an Hope blown into us, and as soon blown from us: But this is Spes generata; and Generatio terminatur ad substantiam; it brings forth a substance. Secondly, Operatione; the proper office of Faith is to justify us; of Hope, to support us. Thirdly, Subjecto; and this differs three ways; Modo, gradu, tempore. In the manner; for Faith relieth on the Promise, Hope resteth in the thing promised. Fides respicit verbum rei, Spes autem rem verbi. In the measure; our salvation begins in Faith, is perfected and made complete by Hope. In the time: Faith apprehendeth the remission of sins and justification in present: Hope is exercised in the expectation of Life to come.

We expect these things, we have them not yet. We are saved by hope: but hope [unspec 2] that is seen, is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? It may be said, we now see Heaven, Why then do we hope for it? There is one Heaven and Earth which we look upon; another which we look for: They be old we look upon, we look for new. But Stephen looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the Glory of God. Yes, he saw Dei gloriam, non suam: we look for the things which concern our se • ves. Stephen saw the glory which he should have; yet until his death he did not enjoy it, but in Hope. But a man running in a race, may set his eye upon the prize which he runs for, and hopes to obtain: so there is a an Hope seen. We answer, that there be two things in Hope; Material, the material part, which is the thing it self: and Formal, the formal part, which is the obtaining and fruition of it; The former may be seen, not the latter but in Hope.

The future estate of the militant Saints is an inheritance, and that is properly [unspec 3] a state of Expectancy, and so a fit Object for Hope. Our Hope is in this Life, our Inheritance in the Life to come. Hope we have here, in the state of Grace: Inheritance there, in the state of Glory. Vain is the Hope which looks no farther, than to the pleasure of a mortal condition: that hopes only to be rich, noble, happy here. The blame is not in Hope, but in our misplacing it. As that is we hope in, such is our Hope. We lean on a Reed, take hold by a Cobweb, catch at a Shadow: we put our hope in them that must die, and then our Hope must die with them. Hope not in Princes: for if we do, to dust they turn, and there lies our Hope in the dust with them. But a right Hope makes a man alive again, that was half dead: when he droopes, give him Hope, and his spirits will come a-fresh. As Jacob, when he was put in Hope to see Joseph alive, revixit spiritus, he revived. The other Hope is but vigilantis some •• ium, a waking dream: but this is the Helmet of hope, the Anchor of of hope: things of substance; that will hold, that have metal in them. When breath, life, and all fail, this Hope fails not: but even then puts life into us, when our life is going from us. When we must forgo our life, it bids, Let it go: when it is gone, it presents us with a better; even an eternal Mansion in the Heavens. My soul had fainted within me, but that I hoped to see the goodness of the Lord in the Land of the living.

That there is an Expectamus, it is granted; But who are they to whom it is [unspec 4] granted? For as Saint James speaketh; If any man seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, that man's religion is in vain. So if any man hopes for this new Inheritance above, and does not first become a new creature below, that man's expectation is in vain. For shall a man engross this world, heap up riches, and glew his soul to them; and yet after all this present felicity, look for a new Heaven and a new earth, to boot? No, that rich man heard otherwise from Abraham; Son remember, thou in thy life time received it good things, and Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. To him that had all this plenty, all this pleasure; Post tantas divitias, post tantas delicias, is this spoken. But this expectation belongs to God's afflicted ones; they that suffer so much misery in this old world, to them is promised a new. For if in this life only we have hope in Christ, we of all men are most miserable. But we have a hope that can make us rich; and rich the poorest Christian may be, in three respects.

1. By propriety and right which he hath to an estate, though for the present it be out of his hands. The wealthy Merchant may be sometimes out of cash; because his wealth lies in traffic or commerce, or is entrusted out to others: yet in respect of the evidences and obligements he hath to assure him his own, he is still rich. Let a Saint be miserable, even to the want of bread, yet he hath a right and evidence to infinite riches; the treasure of blessedness laid up in this new world: confirmed to him under the hand and seal of God; a sure debtor, that never broke his Word. Yea, he hath already the earnest of this glorious estate; a heavenly peace in his heart: So that he may say to the richest worldling: Plus mihi in cord, quam tibi in arcâ. Wealthy Croesus had not so much riches in his coffers, as poor Job had in his conscience. So long as Heaven hath any treasure in it, and that Christ himself does not break, the believer cannot be poor. Well therefore may we look for these new Heavens, that have so little under the old. Here is one expectamus, of right it belongs to us.

2. By reversion. A man purchaseth a Lordship, endowed with fair revenues, to fall unto him after the decease of someone in present possession of it. During this expectation he cannot be called poor: for before the expiration his credit is good, and at the expiration his state is good. We prefer the reversion of some great Manor, before the present possession of a small Farm. This glorious new world is the militant Saints in reversion: though we tarry for it, we shall have it. Temporal reversions wait the end of another's life: for this we must wait until the end of our own life. This is another Expectamus for us, it is also ours by reversion.

3. By heritage. The heir, so long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a serservant, though he be Lord of all. The heir in his minority lives at his fathers finding; and must learn how to rule, by being first taught how to serve. We are heirs, but yet in our non-age. And as the Law provides in some Tenures, that men shall not come to their lands, before they come to their wits: so this inheritance is not given to us, till we be fitted for the inheritance. There is great difference betwixt a temporal, and this eternal heritage. Below, the inheritance comes not but by death of the party in possession: Above there is no prejudice to the Ancestor: he dies not, for the heir to succeed him. We need not fear to do God any wrong, from whom it comes, by our coming to it. Below, the father must be dead, and the son living: but above, the Father is ever living, and the Son cannot inherit till first he be dead. Here we come to inherit by the death of others: there we come to it by our own death. There is no Filius ante diem, patrios inquirit in annos. But rather Successio minorum, sine recessione majorum: a succession, as of lights: the second burns clear, yet the first goes not out, but burns as clear as it. Thus rich we are, though our purses be empty. Hath not God chosen the poor of this world, rich in faith, to be heirs of the Kingdom, which he hath promised to them that love him? We say of a rich man's son, There goes a great heir, though for the time his means be short enough. We are now the sons of God, but it doth not yet appear what we shall be, We are now the Children of grace, we shall be the Sons of glory. We confute our own distrusting hearts, with what we are: and the disgracing world, with what we shall be. Let them devour this World, that have a mind to it: this rotten, perishing, troublesome habitation: We look for new heavens and a new earth, full of peace and pleasure, and that forever.

Wherein dwelleth righteousness.] A Heathen could say, M • llens virum sine pecucunia quam pecuniam sine viro: so a man without a house, or an house without an inhabitant, is an unhappy separation. To what purpose should God be at such cost in the reparation, at such trouble in the repurgation of this great building, if at last there should be none to dwell in it? But he that re-edifies the house, will be sure of a Tenant, and such a one as will pay him rent duly for it; even all he requires; Thankfulness and praises. But what do you call this Tenant? Righteousness: which is a gracious quality, or rather an habit: but what is this to an inhabitant? Shall we imagine a quality without a subject? Holiness dwells in God's material houses on Earth, as being consecrated to him, and hallowed by him: but yet doth any holiness that is inherent to the walls or seats, praise him? Do the stones set forth his glory? No, there must be some other nature, endued with life and understanding, that can be capable of this office. Righteousness alone cannot do it, nor can it be done without righteousness. To what purpose is the Suns shining into an empty house? It might be as well dark as light, if nobody ever comes into it. We must therefore seek out some capacities, wherein this righteousness may be resident. Of this there be divers interpretations: Vnusquisque abundat sensu suo.

1. Some understand by this righteousness, the clear justice of God, which shall pronounce a general sentence upon all the world; rewarding every man according to his works: Binding the ungodly with everlasting chains of darkness, and crowning the Saints with a glorious peace. Then shall his righteousness shine forth; and it shall be the universal acclamation of all creatures, The Lord is just. Here, men that live best, commonly speed worst: misery waits only at the door of Piety: None but Christians dwell at the sign of the Cross. Pleasure courts the rich, and the rich court pleasure: All their things are Res secundae, fortunate; and Res facundae, fruitful. They prosper with them, as if prosperity it self had sworn not to dwell without them. Is this thy righteousness, O Lord? (forgive our expostulation) Is this Justice? that thorns should flourish, vines languish? That thy friend should mourn, while thine enemies are jocund? Is this the God you have served all this while, says Job's wife to him? Curse him to his face, and die: But Loqueris ut stulta; she had that for her labor. When trouble comes to a good man, one would think that the messenger were mistaken; and should be told that he knocks at the wrong door. While the innocent suffer, and the guilty domineer, is this Justice? Yes the Righteousness of God is beyond exception: All men shall find it; they to their cost, that cavil against it. The Sun of that Divine Justice shines clear now: but there is a mist before our eyes; we do not so well perceive it. In this renovation of the world, it shall be perspicuous and manifest: All men and Angels shall take full notice of it in that final sentence of Come and Go: Come ye blessed, and Go ye cursed: And it shall be the acknowledgement of Heaven and Earth, and of all Creatures: Righteous art thou, O Lord, in all thy ways, and holy in all thy works.

2. But if we thus understand it; the Justice of God dwells everywhere: no place can exclude that which is infinite. Heaven is full of his Justice; crowning those souls there, that are justified by the Righteousness of Christ. Hell is full of his Justice; punishing those impenitent spirits with insufferable pains. The Earth is full of his Justice: the wicked are often met withal in their sins, and the innocent are delivered from their enemies. Michaiah is justified, Nabaoth is revenged, the Baalites confounded, and Ahab judged. Justice keeps her circuit: yea, without deferring all matters to the last Assizes; she walks her round, and does Martial law upon incorrigible offenders. Though the last day shall be honored with the full execution of God's Justice, yet it hath a dwelling in all places: in the highest Heavens, in the lowest Hell, and in the midst between both; Vbique habitat Iustitia. Therefore some make the opposition thus; in •• vo or be habitat Iustitia, in hoc misericordia. Now the mercy of God suffers evil men to live promiscuously among the good: in that new world there shall be a separation: the Goares shall be driven from the Sheep, the Tares w •• ded from the wheat, the Chaff sinned from the Corn, the dust and rubbish shall be swept into Hell, and this new house shall be filled with nothing but righteousness.

There is no hope beyond mercy; and this is the time of it; the next is of Justice. There is no hope of mercy without repentance, and this is the time of that too; the next is of judgment. All things are not in season at all times: Repentance is now in season: first, because there we weep for sin where we have done it: then because there we cease from sin, where we might still continue in it. If the heart be broken now, mercy is ready to heal it: but if that day find it obdurate, Justice shall fearfully break it. The tears we shed now, shall be dried up then: but if our eyes be dry till that day, they shall be set a running forever, without either ease or pity. Repentance now seeks sinners, and they will not entertain it: sinners shall then seek repentance, and not find it. If they could; yet in that world repentance shall do them as little good without mercy, as in this world mercy will do them without repentance. Now therefore let us embrace repentance for our sins, because here dwells mercy to pardon them: at that day it will be too late, for there dwells only Justice to punish them.

3. Others by this righteousness, conceive those new delights, and spiritual pleasures, which shall fill this new world. So they would have the opposition to stand between the sorrows of the old, and joys of the new. This is the vale of miseries, that the mount of blessedness. And why should not righteousness be taken for delight, as well as sin is put for anguish? Never did man find pleasure upon earth, like the sweet testimony of an appeased conscience; cleansed by the blood of the Lamb, and quieted by the presence of the holy Ghost. It is a continual feast: other feasts may be soon broken off, as was Adonjahs; or conclude in bitterness as did Belshazzar's: this is an everlasting banket.

What meet we with in this old world, but trouble and misery? If we travel into this little world man, we shall find new discoveries. Let him be a world, and himself will be the land, and misery the Sea. Misery, like the Sea, swells above all the hills, and reacheth to the remotest parts of this Earth, Man. We are but dust, coagulated and kneaded into earth by tears: our matter is earth, our form misery. We may have one day in seven a holy-day of happiness; but our whole week is misery. We may have a breathing of happiness; but our whole journey is misery. If there be one greenswarth or fair meadow to refresh us, yet the greater part of our pilgrimage is rough and dirty. There may be a dram of honey in the brim of the cup, but the main draught is bitterness. Few and evil are our days: few in number, and those few evil in nature; not one of them named for good. Few and evil below, many and good above. Misery is our familiar, happiness but a stranger to us. Of this worlds happiness, man is the Tenant, of misery the Landlord: of happiness the Farmer, of misery the Freeholder: of peace but the usu-fructuary, of trouble the proprietary. If we have one dish of comfort, once in many meals; yet our continual diet is sorrow: My tears are my meat day and night. The deluge of calamity overflows this human Earth, many cubits. Of this Earth, the highest ground, the loftiest hills are kings: and yet even they have not line enough to fathom this Sea, and to say, my misery is but thus deep. Hodie quoque su • m M • ssah habet, & s ••• Me •• ah: Bitter, bitter all. As the repining Jews said of the bread of Heaven, We see nothing but Manna: so we may justly say of the bread of Earth, the bread of affliction, we see nothing but misery. Misery in want, misery in abundance: in want, the misery of murmuring and impatience: in abundance, the misery of riot and unthankfulness. Misery in honor; pride and envy: misery in a low estate, nastinesse and drudgery. In health misery, misery in sickness: there wantonness, here painfulness: in the latter men cry, O their head: in the former they might cry, O their heart. The next world begins with happiness, and with a happiness that never ends. Therefore we look for new Heavens and a new Earth, Wherein dwelleth righteousness; that we might exchange our old woes, for new pleasures.

4. All these be fair expositions, and analogical to the truth: they all bear a good sense. But why should we not take righteousness here, in the literal acception? There dwelleth righteousness: that is, holiness, pureness, innocence, and the perfection of goodness. There dwelleth Christ, and he is righteousness: The Lord our righteousness. So here is the full Antithesis of this new world to the old. Righteousness dwells there, unrighteousness here: Here, sin and guiltiness; there grace and holiness: Below transgression, sanctification above. This world is the Orbe of sin, which corrupted all: that new one, the Orbe of righteousness which restoreth all. This is the winter wherein all things wither; that is the spring which revives them. The world was made good, only sin depraved it. Satan was honorable before sin, for an Angel: amiable before sin, for a celestial intelligence: His nature was good, his disposition good; but sin, when that came, marred all. Good was before evil; before malice charity. Decay entered by sin, dishonor by sin, death by sin. Call his name Ichabod, for the glory is departed. At the birth of Ichabod, sin; the glory is gone, the Ark of God is removed. This is a constant incumbent of the earth; never non-resident, never out of business. No place can be rid of him, no time exclude him, no action escape him. He crept into Heaven with an Angel, into Paradise with a Devil, into man's nature with the root of that nature. Where can we devise to keep it out? At home in our houses he is Famelicus, abroad Socius, in our Travels Conviator at our Feasts Conviva, in our Taverns Compotor, in our beds Consors, in our bosoms Tyrannus: ubique Inimicus. In God's Temple sin will not leave us: at our prayers it will be interrupting us: It insinuates it self into every action we do: even our best is not without some touch of sin, or at least some assault of sin. It may get into our beneficence, and he vain glory; Into our devotions, and be hypocrisy: Into our friendship, and be flattery: Into our hope, and make it smell of presumption: Into our humility, and turn it into base dejection: Into our repentance, and work it down to desperation: Into our best works, and there be an opinion of merit: which is a blow with the left heel that kicks down all our milk.

Sin is the epidemical disease of the world: as the Air is a common benefit, so sin is a common mischief. Other Elements know their own Lord's: for the Earth, this piece of ground is one man's, that another's: For the Water, this Well is mine, that my neighbors: for the Fire, every man sits by his own harth: But the Air is equally beneficial to all: the Tenant hath as much Air as the Landlord, the Fool as the Learned, the Beggar as the Prince. So sin is a common infection. In many things we sin all. One man languisheth of a consumption, another labors of a fever, a third is racked with the gowte, a fourth swollen with the dropsy: everyone hath a several disease, to bring him to the common end, death. But sin is the universal disease of all: Death passed upon all, for that all have sinned. The sin of the world, is indeed a world of sin.

As the assaults of sin are incessant for continuance of time, so also innumerable for choice of place. There is no faculty of the soul, no member of the body, but is a speeding place for sin; but especially it aims at the heart. Let us watch and ward everywhere; the one an ocular, the other a manual, martial, presidiary defense; but especially keep the heart. The tongue is an unruly member, yet it hath fewer bars: only the teeth and the lips are set to keep in the tongue. But for the heart, there is an omni custodià, and all little enough to keep the heart. Some men doth sin shoot in the eye, and here his arrow is uncleanness: thus he wounded David in the eye, by the beauty of Bathsheba: some in the hand, as Gehazi; and his shaft was bribery: Some in the tongue, as Ananias, by lying; and this is his common artillery for tradesmen: some in the gall, as Joab; and they are all for blood; turning their embraces into embrocadoes: some in their foreheads; and they will carry the mark of the beast to their graves: some in the foot, by profaneness; and they are not only swift to shed blood, but ready to trample upon all religion and goodness: others in the head, with the frenzy of dissimulation: others in the heart by covetousness; and Satan shall have more service of them for an ounce of gold, than God shall have for the Kingdom of Heaven. Thus standeth man in the midst of the assaults of sin, like the anatomized figure of him in the frontispice of an Almanac: where Aries is discharging at his head, Taurus at his neck, cowardly Leo at his back, Cancer is gnawing his stomach, Sagittarius is shooting at his thighs, and Pisces nibbling on his toes. By this time you perceive, that this present world is the region of sin: Sin will dwell in us, so long as we dwell in these Tabernacles: Let us now look upon the condition of the next.

There dwelleth righteousness:] no sin there, altogether righteousness. Here indeed we have some righteousness, but it is blended with sin: In the most regenerate Saint on Earth, there is flesh as well as spirit; and it is a question sometimes, which of them shall get the predominance. We have a righteousness that is perfect, now; but that dwells in Heaven, in the person of Christ, and is only imputed to us. This is a justifying righteousness, and it is absolute; but extra nos, without us. That same sanctifying righteousness, which is intra nos, inherent to our own persons, is so imperfect, that sin is joined tenant with it in our mortal body: and there is a perpetual contention between them, which shall have the superiority. They are like the land and sea within us: the one would keep, the other would gain, Michael and the Dragon, in one Heaven: Caesar and Pompey, in one Empire: Nehemiah and Samballat, in one city: Isaac and Ishmael, in one family: Jacob and Esau in one womb: the Ark and Dagon, in one Temple: Grace and corruption, in one Christian. Michael against the Dragon, Caesar against Pompey, Nehemiah against Samballat, Isaac against Ishmael, Jacob against Esau, the Ark against Dagon, Grace against corruption, shall prevail: but Nondum, not yet. The flesh is vulnerata, non victa; or victa, non mortua. We are still mortifying it so fast as we can: but it hath a Serpents trick, to keep the head and tail safe and whole. Often it bites us, and not seldom stings us: till we are full of Saint Paul's groan, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? Nothing will rid it out of us, but that which riddes us out of the world, Death it self.

Only these new Heavens and Earth challenge this privilege, that there shall dwell righteousness without sin, life without pain, happiness without fear, and joy without sorrow. Darkness (we know) is compared to sin: Opera tenebrarum: now sin is as universally overspread this deformed world, as darkness was over that unformed world: until God said, Let there be light: and there was light, when as yet there was no Sun. Before the light was made, darkness was over all: afterwards, the light being formed, darkness was reduced to one place and season, the night. This light continued for three days unfixed: on the fourth day God created the Sun: and then it is likely that all the former dispersed light was gathered into that one body, and treasured up in that great luminary the Sun. So shall it be in the recreation of this world: now grace and sin are scattered all over, as light and darkness in the twilight is confused throughout the Air: it is twilight with us yet. But at the last day Christ shall make a separation; as the waters once were gathered into the sea, that the dry land might appear: All darkness, all sin and wickedness; shall be removed down into Hell, and there be confined, never to break out. All light, that is, all Righteousness and holiness shall be gathered into this new Heaven and Earth, and there be concentred forever. There dwelleth Righteousness, and happy they that dwell with it.

Wherein dwelleth Righteousness] As Travelers that have embarqued themselves for the discovery of some new land, unknown, but not undesired, purposing to make a plantation there; when they are once arrived in it, labor to satisfy themselves of the particular commodities it affordeth: pretermitting no occasion or convenience, but thoroughly examining the site, the air, the fertility, the strength and safety of it: no corner escapes unsearched, no pleasure unconsidered: and finding all according to their desire, they not only resolve themselves, but also invite their friends to dwell there. So these four Sabbaths together, our meditations have been busy in surveying this new World, the Land of Promise, the Inheritance of the Saints, and the Habitation of Righteousness. And yet all we have said is but e Theologiâ negativâ: and indeed, What other way is there to describe this future happiness, than by removing from it such defects, as fill all temporal things with encombrances? One days journey more let us add to our former discovery; that the glorious beauty of these new Heavens and Earth may both enflame our own hearts, and kindle an holy Fire in others, to desire it. This present world is troubled with three diseases; a Contagion, a Consumption, and a Palsy. The Righteousness that dwells in this new World, as it is out of the reach and danger of these distempers, so it is diametrally opposed to them. First, Contagion or Infection, as in the pestilent Fever, is full of spots: but Righteousness is most pure. Secondly, the Consumption is a pining away, and languishing into death: but Righteousness is immortal. Thirdly, the Palsy is a shaking grief; they that are troubled with it, can hold nothing steadily: but Righteousness is constant, inflexible, unalterable, and endures forever. Thus by the present sickness of the old world, we may guess of the death of the new

1. This world is infected, yea, infection it self. Take it metaphorically, and what find we in it but infection? Our evil deeds infect by their example: our evil words infect, by their persuasion: our looks infect, by their allurement: we breathe nothing but infection. Materially, this earth soils us: in Summer we are soiled with dust, in Winter with dirt. These be those Inquinamenta mundi, which we are evermore rubbing, or brushing, or washing, or wiping off. There is nothing in this lower region, but it is subject to soil: the very earth it self is a soil: our land we call the soil; How can it then but soil us? Nothing undefiled below: what ever it is, where ever it is, it must needs savor of the nature of the soil. All foul, all blemished here: but in that new World dwells Righteousness; a pure and sincere being, without any foreign mixture: an Inheritance undefiled, not capable of defilement. Nothing can come in to soil it. Into that City shall enter no unclean thing: all uncleanness shall be kept out forever. We would have all things clean here below; we cannot: we desire to have clean houses, clean ways, clean diet, and clean apparel. O how sweet will it be to dwell with Righteousness in those new Heavens, where all things are clean! Chrystals and Diamonds, nay the Firmament and Stars be not now so pure. That same Galaxie or milken way, a bright circle of the Sky, which the Poets imagined to be a walk for their gods and goddesses in Summer evenings; but Philosophy better says, is caused by the reflection of stars: it is but wan and duskish in comparison of the diaphanous clarity of all things in this new Kingdom.

2. This World is in a Consumption; the vital parts of it are corrupted. The best estate of things doth not hold long: and if the substance remains, yet the luster is gone: and the first symptom or degree to a Consumption in a man, is the losing of his color. The glory of all flesh is but as the flower of the grass: Grass, that's for the substance; Flower, that's the beauty of it. The Grass it self lasts not long, but the Flower of the Grass, nothing so long as the Grass it self. Helen outlived her fairness, David his strength. Let no blasting change the flower, no canker eat it, no beast tread it down with his foot; yet of it self will it fall off, and leave the stalk standing. The Rose will marcere, and the Violet livere, of themselves; though no violence be done to them: the one will fade, the other wax pale and wan. A flourishing estate is not kept long; either by the flowers that are worn, or by us that wear them. Were the things of this World clean, yet take them at their best, they are fading. Every year flowers and leaves too fall off; till the Spring comes and revives them. Of many things the substances themselves fade; and of this fading we all complain. Or if they fade not of themselves, to us they do. We are hungry, and we eat; yet even that fades; and we are as weary of our fullness, as we were of our fasting. We are weary, and we rest; yet even that fades; and we grow as weary of our rest, as ever we were of our weariness.

There is a melting tabe upon all temporary things: but Righteonesse, the housholdstuffe of this new Mansion, knows no Consumption. Decay and death are the effects of sin: Above there is no sin, therefore no decay: no decay, therefore no death. The Roses and flowers that make up the garland of Righteousness, never can wither: The Pearls and Diamonds, and stones more precious, set in that Crown of Righteousness, can never be fullied. The songs of that triumph never cease. There is an eternal Spring; and as the glory is new to us at first, so old it cannot wax: it shall be new forever. As the shows made for the glory and state of some solemn day, are first seen of vulgar eyes, before they arrive at their sight for whom they were ordained. So the honor and bravery of this Earth is more in the spectators, than in the spectacle; more in the lookers on, than in the persons that wear it. Say they are gallant shows, yet but shows, transient things, Pageants wherewith the eye is soon glutted. After three or four times beholding them, they grow old and stale, and we look upon them with an idle and careless eye. But the glory of these new Heavens, the splendor of Righteousness, those true and substantial honors, as they are ever permanent, so they are ever new: as they are never fading, so never cloying: there is infinite variety, satiety none at all. Of vanity we soon surfeit grow weary and loath it: but the joys of Righteousness will be as everlasting in our desires, as they are in their own sweetness.

3. The things of this World are taken with a Palsy; so shaking, that their joints cannot hold together. There is nothing certain, nothing steady: nor can we be more certain of anything among them, than of the uncertainty of them. They tumble daily from man to man: one man's inheritance shakes into another man's purchase. From them that have riches, to them that are covetous, there is a continual shaking. Much wealth is escheated for want of heirs; or confiscated for some offenses; or rioted and made away by unthriftiness; or consumed with Fire, or drowned with Water: many a fair patrimony falls to the ground. Seges ubi Troia; yea, ubi oppidum, aqua. Or if riches be not taken from us, yet we are taken from them; which comes all to one pass. The choice is not great, whether I lose my servant, or my servant loseth me: either way he may be masterless, and I without a servant. Such a Palsy possesseth all secular things! Do we not find it true by proof daily? When we feel the pulse of nature, by the hand of time, do we not complain that it is sick of a Palsy? Yet even in this unfaithfulness of the creatures, there is a kind of faithfulness to us: they are our friends, in telling us their own fickleness. As the Mechanicke that had a parcel of rich stuff delivered to him, to make up a curious garment; told his Customer plainly, that for a small matter given him in courtesy, he would save him a great deal of monie: Put it to another, quoth he, that hath more skill; for if you trust me with the making of it, I shall certainly spoil it. So when we are about to place our confidence in worldly things; they tell us really, experimentally, the down-right truth: We are fickle creatures, and have paralytic and trembling hands, that can hold nothing steadily for you: Set your minds upon heavenly things: they are constant to you. Trust us with nothing, but what you give for lost, and mean to be deceived of: This is plain dealing. Not unto us, say they, not unto us, but to the Lord give your hearts and confidence. Charge them that are rich in this world, that they put not their trust in uncertain riches. Not only doth God charge Paul, to charge Timothy to charge us; but even the creatures themselves do charge us, not to put our trust in their unstablenesse. They will not suffer us to set up our rest in them; not in anything below: but they force us upon the Creator of all; who hath provided an Inheritance for us, out of all danger; whereof we shall never be disseized: Gold that shall never be embased by any bad mixture: a Crown without cares, without rivals, without envy, without end: There is a Treasure worth our heatrs.

It is an Inheritance, and all shall inherit; yet without prejudice to the right Heir; Christ. There shall be no wrong done, by Him to us, or by us to Him. Earthly inheritances are divided oftentimes with much inequality: and the privilege of Primogeniture stretcheth farther in many places, than it did among the ancient Jews: so that Minor servit majori. One carries it from all, and the rest go without: or, if they have any share, the patrimony of the eldest by so much is the less. In this new World it is not so: all the sons of God are heirs, none underlings: and not heirs under wardship and hope, but possessive inheritors: and not inheritors of a small pittance of land, but of a Kingdom: and that not of a temporary kingdom, subject to domestical treasons, or foreign invasions: no murmuring, no conspiracy, no mutiny shall disturb this Kingdom. There may be dispar gloria singulorum, yet there is communis laetitia omnium. All shall have the same glory, though not the same degree of glory. It is of the nature of light, and such spiritual things; which he Omnibus una, and Singulis tota. So it is in sounds and smells: Let there be a thousand together, when the bells ring; and they hear all alike. Let there be multitudes in a garden of flowers, and everyone smells as much sweetness, as if there were no more but himself. There is but one Heaven, and what room soever we have in it, we shall find peace without trouble, joy without sorrow, glory without envy, and pleasure without end.

1. For the application! If we would dwell with Righteousness, first, let Righteousness dwell with us: if we with that in the new World, that with us in the old. Many would dwell in Heaven, but they have no mind to Righteousness. We have three lives: Vitae, here; Famae, when we are dead: and Gloriae, in Heaven: but there is a fourth, which is the life of all these lives; Iustitiae, the life of grace and Righteousness: without which, not only our bodies shall rot in the dust, but even our memories shall stink above ground, and our souls perish in the lowest pit. Righteousness is life indeed. But doth Righteousness dwell with us? Where, O where shall we find it? If we look for it in the county; there it is ignorance and superstition: If in the city, there it is fraud and oppression: If in the Court, there it is pride and affectation. But you will say, it dwells in our hearts: Who can tell that? In men's lives we do not see it; only in their lips we hear it. So then Righteousness is hard driven for habitation; when it can be admitted no farther than the mouth, and have no other dwelling than in the lips. Into the chamber of our hearts it may not come: in the hall of conversation it is not seen: only we allow it a little residence in the door of our lips: a lip-righteousness; that's all. It is in many men's courses or lives, as in some discourses or treatises: we can see no fruit for leaves, nor matter for words. But I remember what answer a Statesman made to a frivolous petition: I may divide, saith he, your petition into two parts; Matter and Words: now your matter is naught; and with me, assure yourself, your words shall not carry it. There be two things respectible in a Christian; his Life, and his Profession: and if his life be naught, let him never think that his profession shall carry it out with God.

Who shall ascend into the Hill of the Lord, or who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart, &c. He shall receive a blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his salvation. We must get Righteousness to dwell with us, or never look to dwell with Righteousness. If we do not entertain it here, it will reject us there. When Mercy and Truth have met together; and Righteousness and peace have kissed each other. Then shall Truth spring out of the earth, and Righteousness shall look down from Heaven. But alas, Terras Astraea reliquit: those holy-days be gone: we are nothing less than righteous. When we read the Volumes of the Fathers, we would think they did nothing else but write: when we consider their devotions, we might think they did nothing else but pray. But coming to these our days, and marking the backs of men and women, we may well think they study nothing but pride: observing their full tables, that they mind nothing but excess and intemperance: looking upon their lives, that they regard nothing but sins: and mind no such thing as Righteousness.

2. The hope of this future life sweetens all the bitterness of the present. There is nothing that so troubles a good heart, as sin: To be rid of sin, it holds a great happiness. All the epithites and attributes of this world, cannot make up so full a grievance, as this one; that it is sinful. When we have called it, as it is, a vain world, a false world, an unquiet world, a miserable world; one would think we had said enough to disgrace it, and to make it loathed. But they all come short of this; a sinful world, a wicked world: when we have said that, we have indeed hit it right: that alone is sufficient to make it detestable. Let us examine our own hearts, if ever one drop of remorse hath entered into them; whether we would not have given all the world, yea, even our own life, to be sure of the forgiveness of one sin that troubles us. And yet that being forgiven, and our heavenly Father pacified by the blood of his Son, drying up our penitent tears with the beams of mercy; after all this, we are apt to fall into new sin, and again to trouble Heaven and Earth. O what peace can there be in the region of sin? But in this new World there shall dwell Righteousness; and her inseparable companions, Peace, Joy, Glory, Happiness, and eternal Life. Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you: The hearing of which words in the the end, shall make us blessed without end. Amen.

THere are two especial motives to bring us into the way of goodness: the bitterness of this life, which we feel; and the sweetness of the future life, which we expect. For the former, howsoever some besorted Earth-dwellers have deified this World, and call it by no meaner a title than their god, and their maker; yet they shall find it rather a destroyer. There be diverse kinds of makers, in an abusive sense: So drunkenness makes Beasts; that's a kind of maker: so pride makes Devils; that's another maker. The Devil made sin; he is a maker too: Sin made death; that is a maker too: Death made destruction; and hath a stroke in making also. But all these makers be properly unmakers, marrers; destroyers. So we use to say, that wealth makes a man: but what does it make him? It may make him proud, it may make him licentious, it may make him a fool, a sinner, sewell for the fire of Hell: it can never make him a man, much less a Saint. The way for a man to have the world his friend, is not to be friends with it. Men are naturally friends to their friends, and enemies to their enemies: But the cross humorous, and pevish world is his enemies friend, and his friends enemy. Insequeris? fugio: fugis? Insequor. Scorn it, and it will woo thee: love it, and it will undo thee. But is not the world kind to the covetous or voluptuous man, her darling, the worldling? Yes, as Dalilae was to Sampson, or Jael to Sisera: she will cut his throat in kindness, and for pure love send his soul to Hell. But to the poor man that despiseth it, it is indeed a friend, and a means to help him unto blessedness: in the same sense that the law is said to help a man to salvation, or righteousness. For the Law shows him that he hath no righteousness of his own; and so occasions him to seek it where it may be found, which is only in Christ. So the world shows him that it hath no happiness of its own; and therefore sends him to seek it in this new world; there he is sure to find it. And that is the other motive. In heaven there is a constant and eternal fullness of joy: therefore Sursum corda, thither let us lift up our hearts. Wherefore beloved, seeing that, &c.

Generally in the words, we have an insinuation, and an injunction; a matter granted, and a charge imposed. In the insinuation, there is a word of tender affection; Beloved: and a word of charitable persuasion: Ye do look for these things. upon this ground of encouragement is the rest of this Text and charge built: This is the Propter quod of all that follows. First let me dispatch these two, before I come to the distribution of the rest.

Beloved.] There is no better cognizance of Christ's servants than love: there is no love but wisheth good to the person loved: there is no such good to any person, as to be saved. Thus our Apostle expresseth his love to us, by persuading us to diligence in the great business of our salvation. All affections are radicated in love: there is a fear to lose, and that fear is grounded on love, there is a desire to enjoy, and that desire is love: there is a sorrow for parting, and that sorrow proceeds from love. Mary wept for their Abstulerunt Dominum; and this was a Dilexit multùm. Christ was all love: not a word he spake, not an action he did, not a passion he suffered, but was an argument, a character of his love. When he complained of the heaviness of his soul, Non hoc fecit stupor, sed amor: nec amissus erat animus, sed submissus. He opened the windows of his body, that through them we might see the love that was in his heart. He brought love, he bought love, he exercised love, he bequeathed love, he is love. As the Jews said of Esdras, that if knowledge had put out her candle, at his brain she might light it: so if all our love were extinguished, yet at the love of Christ we might easily re-kindle it. Here is the fire, but where is the victima, the sacrifice, our practiall charity? We say, charity begins at home, but Christ's charity began abroad: to show love to us, he neglected to love himself. But our love will neither begin at home, nor abroad: neither at his nor our own fire. Love is the fulfilling of the Law; and the want of it is the transgression of the Law. We complain that the Papists rob God of one commandment: but he that wants love, robs him of all; and so commits the worst sacrilege.

There is too little of this love in the world: Lustful love there is enough, too much, but charitable love is very scant. To that question, Lovest thou me? We answer readily with Peter, yes, Lord I love thee: But to that other question, If thou lovest me, what wilt thou do for me? we are dumb: or if our lips make a fair promise, yet our hands will fail in the performance. Some men indeed at sometimes will be beneficial; that at most times they may be injurious. Their love is like the laughter of Apollo, who was said to smile semel in anno. Such is most men's love to their Pastor, that they will spend ten times as much in law to maintain wrong, as they will give him by way of right. It was a byword; Love and a weapon will kill any man: the worlds love is joined with a weapon; it dwells at the swords point: you shall sooner feel it cold at your heart, than warm in your kitchen. Witness these bloody days, so full of desperate homicides; as if violence would leave nature nothing to do. The mercenary soldier can hardly be justified; for when he puts on his armor, he puts off his charity, and only fights for money. This is Vti robore contra eum qui dedit. When Moses saw the Egyptian smiting the Hebrew, he smote the Egyptian; we may smite our enemies to help our brethren; but when we find our brethren quarrelling, and say to one of them, Why smitest thou my brother? he is ready to reply, Who made thee a Judge? But for us that are tied together by so may bonds; of nature; nation, grace, neighbourhood; upon every flight occasion to be vexing and wounding one another; here is a love that fills the channells with blood: we may truly say, This love lies a bleeding. Miles ornatus, & cives armatus; a curious and spruce soldier, and a furious and rough Citisen, are two of the worst fights.

There is store of love in the world, but it is naught. There is a love to other men's wives, and it is adultery or wantonness: a love to other men's goods, and it is rapacity or covetousness: a love to other men's bloods, and it is murder and revenge: a love to other men's honors and places, and it is envy and ambition. As the Pharisaical Jews had a gramatical devotion, so we have a bastard dilection. But for that love which is the true borne child of goodness; charity to men's persons, to their estates, to their lives, to their names, to their souls; alas it is an Individuum vagum: it is dead in the cold, and buried in the grave of uncharitableness. So that now to preach charity, or to persuade men to be in love with love, is but our oration at the end of a funeral Sermon; which is to go on a dead man's errand. As water is of divers colors in diverse places: in divers places: in the Sea it is green, in puddles black, against rocks foamy, among green herbs clear: So love is according to her different objects: when it affects carnal beauty, it is concupiscence; when riches, it is covetousness; when honor, it is ambition; when any sin, it is malice. It is discouloured according to those sensual things, upon which it reflects. But let it be set upon goodness, upon God himself, and such things as are in ordine ad Deum, in relation to him; as the welfare of the Church, of the state, of ourselves, of our neighbors; it is then clear and perfect: no crystal so diaphanous, no flower so sweet and lovely, as charity. Then in the heart it is compassion, in the eye pity, in the tongue comfort, in the hand beneficence.

If there be love in the Pastor, he will feed his people: if there be love in the people, they will not wrong their Pastor. There is indeed a kind of love in this City to Preachers; but generally it is shown to those voluntaries, that will content themselves with the pay of a benevolence, and graze on the commons. But if he once require his own several, and challenge a proper maintenance by right; though he were an Angel of God, they would abhor him. But it is not Quid dabis? what wilt thou give? But Quid debes, what didst thou owe? First, pay thy debts and just dues; then talk of a benevolence, and work of supererogation. It is far more fit that the Preacher should receive what God gives him, than stand to the people's courtesy: which as it is not honorable for the Priest, so nor is it safe for the people: for then he must square out his positions according to their dispositions; and not dare to speak to the full extent of his conscience: for fear least by displeasing his Auditory, he should loose his Salary; and where is he then? Most of our Patrons are worse; for they love a Divine, as the Usurer loves an unthrift heir; that he may suck his estate, and squeese him, and leave him nothing. The Church at first chose lay men for their Patrons; and now those Patrons have made Churchmen their slaves. In the council of Carthage, some eminent men were chosen to defend the Church against Pagans; they were ordained to oppose the tyranny of others: now they are the worst tyrants to it themselves. O where is charity? It is our prayer frequently, From envy, hatred and malice, and from all uncharitableness, good Lord deliver us. Surely there is more included than some men suddenly think on: we may thus enlarge it in our thoughts: From quarrelling swaggerers, from biting usurers, from litigious neighbors, from seditious lawyers, from corrupt justicers, from simonicall Patrons, from political Church-robbers, from costive engrossers, from all oppressors, and from all their uncharitableness, Good Lord deliver us. Let each one be the others Beloved, Let God be the Beloved of us all, that we all may be the Beloved of God in his only Beloved Son, JESUS CHRIST.

Seeing that ye look for such things. This is the second branch of the insinuation; wherein he presumes of their well disposedness towards it.

1. Expectation is an action of hope, and hope is not without some ground. Blessed be God, who hath begotten us again to a lively hope, and to an Inheritance incorruptible, reserved in Heaven for us. Generavit, He begat us once in the first Adam, to this life: but this being corrupted, Regeneravit, He begat us again in the second Adam, to the hope of a better. This act of regenerating is doubly determined: to hope first, then to the Inheritance: to hope in the state of grace, to inheritance in the state of glory. This is no dead hope, but lively: they that are begotten, are begotten to life; this is somewhat. Yea, to an Inheritance, which is more: for all that are begotten, are not begotten to inherit. Poor men's children, younger brothers, are begotten; but where is the Inheritance? Yet in Inheritances there is some odds: one may be better than another: this is the best of all. And if this were in our old world we would suspect some encombrances: but it is in the new, in Heaven, and there kept. Earth could not keep it: here it were in hazard to be lost every moment: It would go the same way, Paradise went: but there it is safe. These, and there be the things we should look for: But do we? Our wants, our wanton desires find us looking work enough all our lives long; but our looking fails us in the modo, and ubi. Seek the things that are above. So we do; but it is ambitious supra: we would be above one another, in honor, favor, and power. There be high places, which we would not have taken away; but offer in them, and offer for them too, rather than go without them. But such things are too low and base: our Expectation should be higher, above the hills; higher yet, above the clouds; yea, higher yet, beyond our sight, even above the Heavens: there we are right.

2. Expectation is a fervent desire of having. The earnest Expectation of the Creature waiteth for the manifestation of the Sons of God. Do we thus look for it, that we long to enjoy it? No, we are so taken up with worldly things, and with looking upon them, that we have no mind to heavenly things: no looking after them. The possession of the vanity we have, thrusts out the expectation of the felicity we might have. But who does not desire the glory of this new World? Some do not believe it, therefore never desire it: some believe it, but never mind it: others desire it, but not yet: they would have a large share of this world before it. Most men are content to embrace it, but they will take no pains for it, nor seek the way to it. We have fat desires, but lean endeavors: as C. Flaminius played upon Philoxomenes; that he had Pulchras manus, & pulchra crura; sed ventrem non habuit: he had goodly arms, and strong thighs, but he had no belly. He meant that Philoxomenes had brave and valiant Soldiers, fair Troupes of Horse and foot, but no money, to pay them. It may be inverted upon us: for we are all belly, full of appetite and desire to happiness; but we have neither hands nor feet; we will not move nor labor to attain this happiness. If death do but offer to prefer us to it, we will none we thank him: nay, we refuse him with deprecations, and fortify ourselves against him with antidotes and preservatives. Where is our desire of Heaven, when we rather die Necessitatis vinculo, quàm voluntatis obsequio? Instead of looking for it, we look from it: and then only pretend a faint desire to it, when we can make no other shift, but that we must needs venture on it.

3. There is an Expectation of fear. There remains a fearful looking for of Judgment. So the timorous Traveler looks for the Thief: so the conscious Malefactor looks for the coming of the Judge; but had rather he would never come. There is an Expectation of hope: I looked for thy saving health. So in the pangs and sickness of our bodies, we look for ease: so in the agonies and sorrows of our souls, we look for comfort. There is an Expectation of desire; My soul thirsteth for God, even for the living God. We give many a look toward the thing that we love: the chaste Spouse is still looking for her Bridegroom. There is an Expectation of Faith: So Abraham looked for a City which hath a foundation, whose Builder and Maker is God. Our conversation is in Heaven, Whence we look for the coming of our Lord Jesus. A Merchant in a foreign country, that hath wife and children at home, fixeth all his cares, employeth all his endeavors, to confirm an estate to himself, not where he is, but in the place whence he came, and where he desires to be. We make use of spectacles, to succor our eyes in reading: yet we take no pleasure in looking upon the spectacles, but upon the object which is presented through them, and which they help us more clearly to behold. All temporal things are but spectacles, through which we look at the joys of Heaven.

Lastly, besides all these, the expectation of our eyes, of our desires of our hearts, there is also an expectation of our hands: when our profession and our conversation speak all one language; that we earnestly endeavor to be saved. This is the right looking for it; and when either of these part, we take the wrong way, and our souls will miss of their desired end. It is well, quando ea petimus, quae appetimus: prayer is good and necessary; and without this constant devotion, we shall never see the glory of these new Heavens. But if we do not join Orationem and Operationem, prayer and endeavor together, we shall no more get to the new Jerusalem, than our bodies can from one place to another without motion or transportation. There is an heresy in faith, which believes a lie: and there is an heresy in manners, which causeth a lie to be believed. The Devil persuades men, that Christ's death shall save them, though they live not such a life as he hath commanded them. This is a strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: and that is a lie which sensual men believe. Hypocrites with their fair profession, make a show of going to Heaven, though Hell it self be in their hearts: and this is a lie which ignorant men believe. Either of these lies, passive or active, the one which sinners receive, the other which they make is enough to send them to the father of lies. But as we look for that we would have, so let us strive to have that we look for: our eyes, hands, hearts, and all must be employed about this weighty business. Then have we Correctum, when Cor erectum; then pure eyes, when they rest upon none but pure objects; then clean hands, when they meddle only with clean actions. Then indeed are our souls in the way to glory, when they are set forwards by the works of grace. Then may we look for these new Heavens, then do these new Heavens look for us; and the blessed renewer and purchaser of both bring us all together.

Wherefore seeing that, &c.] This is Axis & Cardo: the very point upon which the whole Text turneth. It is as it were a Copula between Heaven and Earth; an argument to win us, a ligament to unite us. We look for a glorious place, wherefore let us be gracious men. Joy and honor is our expectation, wherefore let holiness and innocence take up our conversation. We hope to have an inheritance in that world, wherein dwelleth righteousness: wherefore righteousness looks to have her habitation in us, while we dwell here. This is the sum of all; which I should press in general, before I come to express in particular.

Let Righteousness dwell in us; that is the substance of this verse: Oh that it were granted in all our hearts. If you ask, what is righteousness? you have it here described to be undefilednesse, unblameablenesse, and peaceableness. In these consist righteousness, and that righteousness must now dwell in us, if we look to dwell in those Heavens, wherein dwelleth righteousness. Indeed Christ is The Lord our righteousness: let him dwell in us, and then we shall be sure of righteousness. Let us hear the end of all: Through this righteous and holy life, without spot and blameless, God will be won to dwell with us, which is the perfection of this life: and we shall be admitted to dwell with him, which is the last and highest perfection of the life to come. For with whomsoever Christ vouchsafes to dwell here, they shall dwell with him there. He sends down his grace to us, that he may dwell with us below: he will advance us to his glory, that we may dwell with him above.

I have done with the general scope of the Text; which persuades us to a pious and sanctified life here, by the hope and expectation we have of dwelling in the new Heavens hereafter. I come now to the particulars; in the handling whereof, I shall desire pardon for the prolixity: the profit (I hope) will make amends for the length of my discourse. If I have not run over things with a brief dexterity; yet (I am confident) with an honest sincerity. Nor would the ampleness of the argument bear with a quick dispatch. The Scripture is like a house of many rooms, that hath many doors; and those doors have their several locks, and those locks require their own proper keys, to let in our understandings to the view of those hidden treasures. So therefore I would, if I were able, distribute a Text, as our blessed Savior did the loaves, when he commanded the broken remainder to be gathered up; that not a syllable might be lost. All places of holy writ are not only to be examined secundum sonum, according to the literal word; but secundum sensum, according to the mystical sense.

Be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot and blameless. This the Apostle makes the use of his former doctrine, the application of all. Wherein we have four dependencies, like so many links of one chain. First, here is an industry required; Be diligent. Secondly, the object of that industry, which is innocence or holiness: without spot and blameless. Thirdly, the end of that object, that we may so be found of the Judge in that day. Fourthly, the blessedness of that end, to be found of him in peace; that is in his love and favor. First, there is no remedy, but we must be found. Secondly, there is no comfort for us, if we be not found in peace. Thirdly, we cannot be found in peace without an unspotted innocence. Fourthly, and we shall never be without spot and blameless, unless we be very diligent so to keep ourselves.

[unspec 1] Be diligent: 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 : this some render, Satagite: which they would have to signify more than a sufficiency of doing; even a vehemency of action. As Quintilian relates of Manlius Sura; who was so nimble and expedite in a design, that Afer said of him; non agere, sed satagere. They take it for some anxiety and distraction about the difficulty of an enterprise: Cum non solummodo agerentur, sed & angerentur sollicitudine. They stretch it very far, and for my part, I would not shorten or restrain the acception of it, in this place, and in this matter: being a business of such consequence, that our eternal life lies upon it. Be as careful as you can; and all little enough: we can never be too diligent in the work of our salvation. Morally we may be Over-just, and press justice so hard, till it grow rank rigor. We may be over-zealous, till our anger against the errors and infirmities of others, become cruelty to their persons. We may be over-patient, till injury grows insolent, and oppressors make use of our insensibleness. We may be over-merciful, and wrong many innocents by favoring one malefactor. But we can never be over-good, nor over-holy, nor over- diligent in our care to be saved. We will never say of such men, with that Heathen: Non amo nimium diligentes, Though we strive never so hard to enter, we shall find the gate of Heaven strait enough. Run we never so fast; we are in danger of being cast behind, or coming short.

[unspec 2] Be diligent. The other reddition is Studete: the former makes it a work of the hand, this of the head: there it is labor, here affection: in both an earnest endeavor. Study is a busy intention of the mind, a searching of the spirit. Scopebam spiritum meum: I communed with mine own heart, and my spirit made diligent search. So that one referreth to action; Satagite: the other to affection, Studete. There be two works that argue spirit and life to be in us; motion and sense. In the Agite, there is motion; in the Studete, sense. There is motus laesus in them that labor not, and Sensus laesus in them that mind not. We must both Satagenda studere, and Studenda satagere; mind what we are to do, and do what we mind. Both together; one is little worth without the other. There be many that will Satagere, find themselves work enough, though they have no thanks for their labor. So Martha was troubled about many things, but she neglected the necessary one. So Peter undertook enough to save his Master, though thereby he had lost himself. Here was Satagere, too much; but without a Studere; no knowledge to guide it right.

There be others that have their Studere, their knowledge in some good measure; but at the Satagere they are quite out. Sapiunt quae caeli, rapiunt quae terra. They have competent science, but are the worst doers in a Country. Less of their study, and more of their practice would do better. Pariter intelligent nobiscum, pariter non diligunt. They understand something of this future blessedness, but they are coldly affected with it. But Studete and Satagite would be kept together. For as in a natural body, it fares between the head and the stomach: a rheumatic head spoils the stomach with distillations; and a distempered crude stomach fills the head with raw vapors: in vicem laedunt. So an erring mind misguides the endeavor, and a wrong endeavor puts the mind out of frame. If there want a Studeie, a mind to Heaven; our Satagere or endeavor will tend to the worse: If there want a Satagere, the endeavor of a good life to come thither, our Studere or contemplation of it is to no purpose. The Studere of the head, without the Agere of the hand, will not stir a foot: The Agere of the hand without the Studere of the head and heart, will move, but out of the way: better sit still. Put them both together in their joint offices, and then give them as much diligence as may be.

But herein alas, our diligence flagges. A runagate son, leaving his father, and living in foreign Countries, was brought to want: and finding little charity among strangers, he was driven to work for sustenance. Industry brought in gains, and the sweetness of gains whetted on industry: soon he grew rich, became a Merchant, and dealt in traffic with diverse Nations: and, among the rest, with some of that Nation wherein his father lived. Hearing news how potent and opulent his father was grown; of his wealth and authority in the city, he resolves to steer his course thitherward. Four businesses he puts in his head: One was to congratulate with his friends and allies, another to be merry with his old companions, the third, to gather up his debts, the last and principal, to be reconciled to his father. Being arrived there, he follows his three former employments close; he fails in none of them: but these did so wholly take up his time, that he quite forgot the main, the reconciliation to his father. The Mariners on a sudden call a-bord, the Tide tarries no man; presently he must take ship, and so leaves that business utterly undone. We are all strangers upon Earth, our Father is the Almighty King of Heaven: we are charged but with four businesses here. First, Honestly to provide for ourselves and our families. Secondly, To perform all just duties to our neighbors. Thirdly, to solace our hearts with the sober and thankful use of God's Creatures. Fourthly, chiefly of all, to serve our Maker in all holy obedience, to acknowledge our sins with humble penitence, to get his pardon through the merits of his Son Jesus, and to make sure our inheritance in these new Heavens. We are diligent in the rest; we heap up riches, we sat ourselves with pleasures, we are indulgent to our bodies: But for the matter of most moment, the pleasing of our God, and the salvation of our souls, we are as negligent, as if they were things not concerning us. Death calls us a-bord, carries us away in his deep bottom; and the main business we came for, is left uneffected. when we truly examine our life, the whole course of it to this day, do we not find this true? We cannot but confess it, let us also amend it: and what ever become of our riches, of our pleasures, of our bodies, let us be diligent to save our souls.

Be diligent: to make up the composition of diligence there must go three ingredients; vigilancy, laboriousnesse, and speed: where either of these is wanting, there is no true diligence.

1 There is no right study without some watchfulness: be diligent, must needs include, be vigilant. Awake thou that sleepest, and Christ shall give thee light. They that be called into Christ, and yet live in sin, are sleepers. They that sleep, sleep in the night. But our day is broken, why then do we sleep? When the Sun is once up, all good husbands think of rising. The slumber of the body and soul are not much unlike. First, when the body is a-sleep, the senses have done working: the eyes are closed, and suspend the act of seeing. In this spiritual slumber, sinners do not hear God's Word, nor see his Sacraments, nor feel his grace and comforts. We do not say they cannot; but we are sure they do not. Secondly, in sleep there is an interruption of the working of the animal faculties: So there is a suspension of graces powerful operation in the soul, during this spiritual slumber. Charity is cold, Faith benumbed, Zeal obstupefied; neither Patience, nor Temperance awake. Thirdly, the ascending of vapors from the stomach, causeth sleep: so worldly thoughts in a covetous heart, hinder the influences of God's Spirit. Spiritual sleep is more dangerous than corporal: this only hinders some actions of mortal life: that robs us of our prayers, meditations, repentance, and things that conduce to our salvation, it borders upon death: when the Divine should preach, he sleeps: when the Magistrate should do justice, he sleeps: when the rich man should show mercy, and hear the complaints of the poor, widows and Orphans, he is fast a-sleep. Call you this diligence? Indeed it is so in one acception, even a diligent course to perdition.

2. The endeavor to be saved, is no easy task: it will require some labor. It is not wickedness glossed over with a fair pretence or profession, as Popery is, but Atheism dipt in the colors of religion. It is not like the trade of usury, to sit still and receive money. Nor a walking in some pleasant Gallery; where that Epicure spent his time, as if he had been hired to do errands from picture to picture. It is not a tumbling upon Roses and Violets, Like the old Sibarites, or our new Libertines; that know no felicity but delicacy, nor other Heaven than sensuality. No, but Heaven is the reward of labor: no labor, no reward. I exercise myself always to have a good conscience, saith Paul. Idleness is allowed to no man, no not to the great man. Quo major sum, magis laboro. And as bodies inclined to be fat, had need of most exercise: so men that have the world coming too fast upon them, and are in great danger to be rich, should be most busy in the works of charity. If riches increase, set not thy heart upon them. If they increase: there is not so much danger till then. S. Paul knew that Nothing could separate him from the love of God in Christ: yet who was in labors more abundant? Nullus labor durus, quo gloria aeternitatis acquiritur. Refuse no work for such a reward; we go to Heaven as Paul went to Rome; when they were glad to row for their lives, to throw their goods over-bord with their own hands; and yet when we are got a-shore, think it a saving voyage.

The Wicked take pains to do mischief: as an able Beggar creeps on his hands and knees in the mire, to get money. Ask the Covetous, whether it be not in vain, that he riseth so early, and so late takes rest. Ask the proud Popinjay, that, like to the fantastical Builder, Diruit, aedificat, mutat quadrata rotundis; is still dressing and undressing, changing tires, yea, changing colors, turning pale into red; and she never out of exercise. As it was said of Cain, Erat aedificans, he did never finish: so of her, Est adornans, she hath never done. Ask the Ambitious, whether with lofty eyes, and an haughty heart, he does not exercise himself in matters too high for him. Ask the pragmatical Censurers of other men's labors; and there is some labor in that too. Howsoever it was the Philosophers answer to that question; What is the easiest thing in the world? To find fault: yet the wits of this age make it their excercise. There is no vanity without weariness: and that which the flesh accounteth her greatest pleasure, is accompanied with labor. Let us run so much the faster, as we run for a better prize. It is a shame that voluptuous men should contend harder for this old earth, than we for that new Heaven. Reward is the encouragement of labor: now the greater reward challengeth the greater labor: We must all confess, that our reward is better: For he that soweth to the flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption: but he that soweth to the Spirit, shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. The ends are divers, the ways are divers, the pains is much at one.

Heat is the state of grace, Coldnesse the state of sin, Lukewarmness medium obtinet: It neither ebbs nor flows, but is just standing water. Sicut à frigore per teporem transitur ad calorem: ita à calore quoque per teporem reditur ad frigus. The sweet and pure waters are ever in motion: but aquae stagnantes breed nothing but venomous and noxious things. Houses that are not inhabited, soon abound with Vermin. Grounds untilled, will be overrunne with weeds. Birds are taken while they sit, not so easily flying: and dum morantur in nidis, they moult and lose their feathers: idleness doth neither get nor save. What is profuseness and the wasting our estates, but the effect of negligence? Earth useth to comsume other men, but the prodigal heir consumes earth. He runs out of his wits first, then out of his patrimony: applauding himself in his witty riot, that though he should sell it for six pence, yet he should be no loser by it, for it never cost him a groat. But that a man should loosely squander away his eternal patrimony, and be so prodigal of the purchase of Jesus Christ, which cost Him no cheaper than his own heart-blood: Ad quid perditio haec? It hath been said, that of all crafts-men, Musicians were the happiest; because they did earn monie with making themselves merry: But to buy everlasting woe and pains, with the expense of a short merriment, is no less than extreme madness. There is a great deal of diligence in the world, a world of diligence; but it is all for the world. If men by chance think on Heaven, they think withal, that a very little diligence will bring them thither. But it will grieve them when it is too late, to find how they have deceived their own souls. The Laborers, not Loiterers, have the reward. The Crown is laid up, not for Cowards, but for Conquerers. There is Corona miseriae, which is worn below: but Corona gloriae is laid up, and you know for whom: even for those who have fought a good fight. Be diligent then, and in this point that you may be saved: yea, in this point of an holy life be diligent, and you shall be saved.

3. Be diligent.] As this implies more than a simple act of diligence; even an habit, which is a continued act: so it binds us to the present. It is a charge that does not only bind semper, but ad semper. It allows no dilation; not Be diligent hereafter: no cessation, not Be diligent until such a day, and then give over: no interruption, not Be diligent sometimes, at other times take your liberty. But it imposeth a constant course, a perpetual practice of diligence upon us. Lingring is dangerous; especially where the days be short, and the ways not very fair. Teach us to number our days: Our life is called Days; for the Brevity, Clarity, Misery of them. First, for Brevity; the longest day will have a night: and Qui numerat dotes, numerat dies. Every day that does not abate our reckoning, increaseth it. Secondly, for Clarity; all works are seen in the day: we may sin in tenebris, by doing opera tenebrarum: but the darkness and the light are all one to God. A man that is in darkness, better sees another that is in the light; than he that is in the light, can discern him that is darkness. But on the contrary; God is in light, yet He plainly sees us in darkness: but we that are in darkness, cannot perceive Him being in light. Thirdly, for Trouble; the day is full of business: our work, we complain, is never at an end. There is no rest till night comes; then we fall asleep. Therefore let me pray; Sit somnus meus, ut laboris, sic peccati cessatio: ne quid per somnia cogitem, quod te offendat, vel me polluat. Death makes a stop of all; whether sin or trouble: it silenceth all tongues; both that which hath discoursed of the Sun and stars; and that which hath conversed with Fiends and Devils. Sleep is the image of death: Let me think therefore, Longum somnum, somuum mortis; Lectum sepulchri, stramentum vermium, operimentum pulveris. Let us do the work of Him that sent us while it is day; for in the night no man can work.

In the driving of a nail, we begin easily; but proceed to the redoubling of our blows: and the oftener we strike, the more is the nail fastened, and the harder to be drawn forth. In the same manner doth sin fortify it self in the soul: so that in our old age, when we grow weaker, the old man in us waxeth stronger: and the sin we are not able to do, we take pleasure to think. What madness is it to defer our amendment to such an unable estate; which is so far unfit to sustain those austere excercises, that both the conversion of a sinner, and convention of a Christian require, that it is scarce able to sustain it self? what caryer will lay the heaviest burden upon the weakest beast? will God accept of the blind, lame, or sick for Sacrifice? If He require the best of our substance, much more the entire substance of ourselves. Heaven and Hell are diametrally opposite; and the ways unto them are full contrary: if we travel altogether the way to Hell, is it possible that in the end of our journey, we should arrive at Heaven? I know it is impiety, to abridge either God's mercy, or his power: but when ever did he promise a happy death to a sinful life? Say that men should repent in their last hour, doth it not rather procecde from fear, than from love? Or if it be from love, is it not rather the love of themselves, than of God? And what thanks shall they have, to forsake their sins, when they have no longer time to enjoy them? Such an advantage the Devil gathers by their delay; that if he can possess them all their life, he will hardly loose them at the hour of their death. I know that God never faileth in his Promise of receiving a sinner, whensoever he turneth to him: but whether this turning to God, when Men are turning out of the World, be a true conversion or not; here is the doubt. They returned not to the most high; they cried not unto him with their hearts, though they lay howling upon their beds.

To die well is a long art, but we have no long time to learn it. Die (we know) we must all: all by the bond of necessity, the righteous by a willing surrender of their souls. Nor is death an easy passion; the very dissolution of the holy, is not without pains. Si sit horribilis mors innocentis, quanto horribilior nocentis. When impediments shall be multiplied, helps diminished, the distraction great, the inclination small, the leisure none: in this hurly-burly of businesses, pangs, assaults, vexations; where shall we get room for a preparation to die well? Shall a man in one days sickness, learn more cunning than he could in many years health? Dare we adventure to cross those Seas, without any fear, wherein so many Passengers have miscarried? whereof so many skillful Pilottes make a doubtful and fearful report? Christ died, that sin should die, and we might live: and shall we suffer that sin to live, which will make us die? look to thy Clock-house, the Time past, and be sorry for the misspense of it: to thy Storehouse, and dispose of thy temporal trash: to thy Closet-house, thy inward Conscience, and cleanse that by repentance. Resipiscere is but Resapere, a point of after-wit. To this Reason, Equity, Law, do bind thee: to this Heaven, Earth, and Hell, Life, and Death, Justice and Mercy, do partly invite, partly enforce, altogether call thee. Wilt thou still desperately persist in sin? The Devils sinned, having no example of Justice to restrain them: thou hast seen many examples of God's just vengeance upon sin; is not thy wickedness, in that respect worse than the Devils? For fear of human laws, thou dost moderate thy delights: and wilt thou not forbear one sinful pleasure for the love of God? A table of delicate meats is presented unto thee: but a friend tells thee in private; Take heed how you eat, for some of the dishes are poisoned: here thy discretion can bridle thine appetite, and thou wilt rather be content with homelyer fare, so it be wholesomer. The whole World is a Table spread full of pleasing daynties: the Prophets and Apostles tell us plainly, there is danger in tasting: we will not believe them, but eat and perish.

Why should we presumptuously sin against that Majesty, which is only able to pardon our sins? If we be persuaded of his mercy, we are ungrateful to offend him: If we doubt of his mercy, we are unwise to provoke him. If by his mercy we ever come to repentance, the longer we have been without it, the greater sorrow we shall find in it: for our sorrows, in some decree, must be answerable to our sins. Therefore, Explora, Deplora, Implora. Explora; try and examine thine heart: search out the secret sins that there lie sculking. Deplora; weep, mourn, lament for them. Implora, pray for mercy to pardon them, for grace to amend them. Let there be an echo resounding in the thickets of our hearts: Seek ye may face: thy face O Lord, will I seek. And as the echo never answers the voice so well, as where be ruins and ragged buildings: so doth sorrow best echo unto sin, where the heart is ruined and broken with afflictions. The waters stand in the valleys, and fill the furrows: the tears of repentance are found in the humble soul: you shall be sure of them in the fractures and breaches of a contrite heart. We weep, are those tears for our own sins, or for the sins of others? Take either of them, they have a large field to water. The two mid-wives that stifle the brattes of sin in us, are repentance and circumspection; and these are only available in their season. There is abundance of sorrow in Hell, but not one dram of comfort. You remember the story of him, that being often reproved for his ungodly and vicious life, and exhorted to repentance, would still answer, that it was but saying three words at his death, and he was sure to be saved. Perhaps the three words he meant, were Miserere mei Deus, Lord have mercy on me. But one day riding over a bridge, his horse stumbled, and both were falling into the river: and in the article of that precipitation, he only cried, Capiat omnia Diabolus; Horse and Man, and all to the Devil: Three words he had, but not such as he should have had. He had been so familiar with the Devil all his life, that he thinks on none else at his death.

Worldly men let slip no advantage of gain, no occasion of getting riches: but Lord, how many opportunities of getting grace, and pardon for our sins, and of doing good works, pass by us without acceptance, without regard! Alexander having set his army in battle array, and finding a Soldier then mending his arms, cashiered him; saying that that was the time of dealing blows, not of preparing weapons. We use to bridle our horse before we ride, not in the midst of our race: If we do not rein in our passions before our dying time, they will scorn to be checked then. We have our season, and that season is in time, as the joint in a member: if you hit on the joint, you may easily divide: if on this side, or beyond, you shall not do it, or not do it so well. Delay, and diligence are incompatible things: the time is all; the main matter; and more ado ever about that, than the thing it self: of that let us take special care. It was not without great cause that our Savior complained of that point; If thou known in this thy day the things which belong unto thy peace! And so was fain to break off, the tears coming so fast, that he was not able to speak out, but to weep out the rest of the sentence. Those tears show what time is: they show that opportunity is a grace, even to have it: that it is a second grace to know it, but a third grace, and better than both the rest, to make good use of it.

Without spot and blameless.] Some would have these duo nomina synonyma: and indeed they are so in effect; unum signantia; they both tend to holiness of life: that is the main object of this diligence. But can there be such a perfection in this life? Some may be without blame; but is there any without blemish? The World doth blame some that are without spot: and God finds spots in many that appear without blame. There be four sorts of Men; as Saint Bernard makes four habitudes or states of Conscience. First Tr •• quilla, non bona: the way of Nabal, whose heart was dead within him. Secondly, Bona non tranquilla: the way of David, who still was blest in GOD'S Love, yet still complained of his anger, Thirdly, Nec bona, nec tranquilla: the way of Cain; without giving one look toward Heaven. Fourthly, Tam bona, quàm tranquilla: the way of Angels filled with joy above their fellows. So of men. First, some scape without public blame, that are not without inward spots: such are hypocrites. Secondly, some are not spots of scandal, yet undergo much blame: as they picked quarrels with Daniel about his God, and charge Paul with sedition, who had no fault but his devotion: these are maligned innocents. Thirdly, some are both polluted with many spots, and convinced of just blame: and such are dissolute and incorrigible sinners. Fourthly, others are pure from spots, and free from blame; and these be happy Saints. This undefilednesse is proper to Christians; and not as they are in themselves, but as they are in Christ: It is not a legal perfection, but an evangelical righteousness: Holy, unspotted, and blameless they are; vel comparative, in regard of the profane: vel reputative, in regard of the worlds just challenge: vel potius imputatione, in respect of Christ's righteousness made theirs: which doth both cover their sins from the eyes of God, and justify their persons in the presence of God.

Without spot.] That we may be found thus immaculate, two things are required of our diligence: First, that we get off the spots we have, and then keep ourselves from contracting new.

First, we are spotted by nature, we came not into the world without uncleanness: but for this God hath ordained a Laver, a Sacramental Font to wash us in, the blood of Christ. And this remedy must be applied with all diligence: for so God's mercy provided for us, that presently after we are borne according to nature, we should be new borne by his grace: and that the blood of the second Adam, might cleanse us from the sin of the first. Thus cleansed we are: but alas, we not sooner come to able years, than we gather new stains. Wherewithall shall a young man cleanse his way? The youngest man needs cleansing. But can he do it himself? So it seems by the Prophet; Clense thy heart O Jerusalem: and by the Apostle too; Every man that hath this hope, purifieth himself. Ezekiel indeed seems to speak otherwise: I will sprinkle clean water upon you, saith the Lord, and ye shall he clean. Joel saith, Turn ye to the Lo • d: but Jeremiah says, Lord do thou turn me, and I shall be turned. Doth not that of Joel cross that of Jeremiah? Is there Prophet against Prophet? No, cleanse your hands ye sinners, and Lord, Do thou cleanse us, and we shall be clean; may both well stand together. Indeed God only and freely does it: When the filthy sinner is condemned, Inculpabilis Dei Iustitia: when another is purified and cleansed, Ineffabilis Dei gratia. As it is in generation, so in regeneration. Generare is not to make him that was an imperfect man before, to become perfect; sed efficere ut sit homo. So Regenerare is not to help one that desires to be good, sed efficere ut sit Iustus. All is from above nature: That grace which to man in statu primo was natural, in statu lapso is supernatural to him. I will take away your stony heart, and give you a heart of flesh. Non dicit se transtaturum, sed ablaturum. There is no more pliableness in a man's nature to be pure and holy, than there is aptitude in a stone to be soft. Can the Ethiopian change his skin? or the Leopard his spots? Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? No man; only The Lord washeth away the filth of Zion, and purgeth out the blood of Jerusalem.

Christ was long knocking at the Churches door, but she could not open: at last He put in his hand, and removes the bar; loe then she could rise and open to Him. Accedat gratia, & fiunt omnia. By the grace of God I am what I am. In the first act of Regeneration, the will is so cleansed, that it wills it own cleansing. For it is not like to a piece of Wax, merely passive; which without any act of it own, only receives and suffers an Impression: But rather like to Fire, which as soon as it is Fire, burneth; and so soon as it burneth, is Fire. So the will of man, in the same instant that it is converted, moveth it self conversion. I labored more abundantly than they all; yet not I, but the grace of God which it with me. Betwixt Not I, and With me, comes in the Grace of God, in the midst: That grace which is Not I, but With me. He might well say, With me, that had first said Not I. In the Commandment it is manifest, Quid facere debemus: in the punishment, quod non fecimus: in our not doing it, Quid meremur: in faith and prayer, unde gratia habenda: in our conversation and cleansing, a quo recepta: in our perseverance, per quem retenta. Still neither young man, nor old man, nor any man can cleanse away his own spots: only the blood of Christ cleanseth us from all our sins. But in every sin, besides the guiltiness, there is filthiness: and Cùm remittitur reatus, remanet labes. These we daily contract, and there is no hour added to our lives, wherein some uncleanness is not added to our souls. These stains God leaves to our own cleansing: here is work for repentance. And thus must those Scriptures and Fathers be understood, that say, Repentance doth peccata diluere: they mean not secundum reatum, but secundum labem. The blood of Christ gives us all the right tincture: that dies us into the color of righteousness: and this color is in grain: it will never wear out. If we be thoroughly dipped in his blood, that tincture shall last with us; both to justify us on earth, and to glorify us in Heaven. But the garment thus heavenly coloured, may get some stains; and those must be daily washed off with our penitent tears. For this cleansing of our spots, three acts are required: first, cernere, to perceive them: then, spernere, to hate them: and lastly, prosternere, to cast them off.

1. Our first care must be to discern them: for we may have spots, and not be aware of them. A man may have a moale upon his back, and yet because he never saw it, think his skin clear. Polygamie was a sin, and therefore a blemish: yet because it could plead age and example, it was admitted by those elder Saints: and even good Elkanah was tainted with that sin of Lamech. As fashions of attire, at their first coming forth, are disliked for uncomely: but when through custom they are grown common, they be taken up of the gravest: Licita quae solita. The continuance of an unknown sin, currant with the time, doth not hinder the uprightness of a man's heart with God: the least touch of knowledge or willfulness mars his sincerity. Who can understand all his errors? Clense thou me from secret sins. We have many spots which God does not hear from us, because we see them not in ourselves. Who will acknowledge that error, whereof he does not know himself guilty? The sight of sins is a great hapinesse; for it causeth an ingenuous confession. Then Peccavi, we cry; and that our sins are lata, What place have we been in, and not left behind us some witness or monument of our wickedness? Longa, even from our mothers breasts; yea, from her womb: We were conceived in sin: and we have done wickedly even unto this day. Multa, more innumerable than the hairs of our head. Magna, great in quantity; Pardon mine iniquity, for it is great-Alta, ad coelum clamore pertingentia. Our trespass is grown up unto the Heavens. Profunda; We have deeply corrupted ourselves. Gravia; they are a burden too heavy for us to bear. Crassa, we have hailed them on with cords and cartropes: as if they could not come fast enough without a violent attraction. They have given themselves over to lasciviousness, to work all unclennesse with greediness. Qualitate pessima; both because they are committed durâ frontê, with a whores forehead, that refuseth to be ashamed: and done gratis propter vana; What fruit had ye then of those things, whereof ye are now ashamed? No fruit doth appear, but rather we have served the Devil for nothing.

This liberal confession is a degree to our purgation. In the courts of men, confess and be punished: before the Throne of Grace, confess, and be acquitted. Being charged with a same of uncleanness here, we answer, not guilty: and that is a kind of purging: There we charge ourselves; guilty O Lord, I am unclean, and that is the way to be purged. and pronounced clean. This benefit comes by the sight of our sins: for first there must be knowledge, before there will be an acknowledgement. God's Law is the glass that shows us all our spots: let us hold it right to our intellectual eye. Not behind us, as the wicked do; they Cast God's Words behind them. This is to stand in our own light: Can a man see the spots on his face, by setting the glass behind his back? He that rejects this Glass, the sacred Word, cannot but have a leptous soul. Not besides us: there was a rich Worldling that called to Christ for this Glass; and when it was shown him, he thought himself well favored, a very honest man: All this have I kept from my youth up. Surely he held the Glass to the wrong side: that part of him which was spotted with filthy worldliness, he could not see. So Paul while he was a Pharisee, thought himself concerning the righteousness of the Law, blameless: but then the Glass was on the wrong side of him. Afterward, I had not known sin but by the Law: there he held it right. Neither let us turn the backside of the Glass toward us; which is the trick of Hypocrites. I am not as other men are, Extortioners, Unjust, Adulterers, or even as this Publican. Cunning Dissembler! He kept the back of the Glass to him; so that he could see no reflection of himself at all. If he had held it right, he should have discerned a deformed and polluted Creature. As one of the Persecutors in Queen Mary's days, pursuing a poor Protestant, and searching the house for him, charged an old woman to show him the Heriticke: she points to a great chest of linen, on the top whereof lay a fair looking glass: he opens the chest, and asks where the Heriticke was: she suddenly replied; Do you not see one? Meaning that he was the Heriticke, and that he might easily see himself in the Glass. So rightly if he had looked, that Pharisee might have seen the resemblance of an Hypocrite. Nor (lastly) let us look upon ourselves in this Glass, when we are muffled, masked, or cased: for under those veils we cannot discern our own complexions. But let us set the clear Glass before our face, and our open face to the Glass: The fight of our filthiness is the first step toward cleanness.

2. Next, we must learn to detest our spots: The Leopard is full of spots, but he does not dislike them, because they are rather an ornament to him: but shall men think so of their sins? There be some that do: even glory in their shame: but mark their end; It is no better than destruction. Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? Did they blush at their blemishes? When the proud Dame hath a scar or blemish upon her skin, if with artificial colors and medicines she cannot remove it, yet she will carefully hide it: By her good will she would rather have a foul foul, than a foul face. She hath a glass that tells her all her defects: and she studies by it the art of pride, even to the placing of a pin, and ordering of an hair; all which diligence is not worth a pin or hair. Do sinners hate their spots? Do they not rather take a pride in them, and count them an honor? Did you never hear men swear in a bravery? Can there be fouler spots upon the conscience, than vain and outrageous oaths? And, yet is not this esteemed a grace among our Gallants? What say you to a long extravagant lock at the ear; a bush for the sign of a fantastical head? Would any men wear this but for pride? And is not pride the bespottedness of the soul? Is the nature of it so changed since it came to hell, or from hell; that that which made devils, should be thought to become Christians? Alas, for the meretricious foreheads of sinners; that they should glory in the foulness of their spots? Did you ever read of a Leper, that took pleasure in his sores and ulcers? Would not Naaman have given all his wealth and glory, for the cure of his Leprosy? If we could perceive the lothesomnesse of our impieties, it were not possible not to abhor them, not to abhor ourselves for them. Shall we love our own filthiness, as the Ethiopians do their own swarthiness? No, but rather let us hate the garment spotted of the flesh. Be thy sin never so dear to thee, it should not be so dear as thy soul. How well soever thou thinkest it becomes thee, it is a spot, that makes thee odious to God, to Saints and Angels. Away with it though it lies in thy bosom: mortify it, though it stick on thy skin. Will any beautiful woman drink that potion, which she knows will turn her fair body into a leprosy, though it be pleasant to the taste of her palate? Skin for skin, and all that a man hath, will he give for his life. If a man will give skin for skin, to save his life; will he not give spot for spot, to save his sovle?

3. Lastly we must cleanse them: when we come to behold the number of our sports, we easily see the necessity of our tears. Polluere, that is opus peceati: Diluere, that is opus paenitentiae. It is true, that Christ righteousness is a garment, so covering our spots that they cannot be seen: and his blood a medicine so cureing our spots that the • shall not be. But Christ never shed his blood for that man's sins, that for his own sins will not shed so much as tears. One soweth and another reapeth: Indeed Christ sowed and we reap: he sowed in tears, and we reap in joy: yea he sowed in blood and death, and we reap in peace and life: Yet we must sow in tears too, that we may reap in joy. Must not we also have a wet seed time, that look for so glorious a harvest? That Lamb takes away the sin of the world: he did not die to take away our sorrow, but our sin: not to free us from a seasonable contrition, but to save us from everlasting destruction. From the sole of the foot to the head there was no soundness in us; but wounds, and bruises, and putrefying sores: As there was no whole part in us by reason of sin, so nor in him by reason of sorrow. His head was full of thorns, his back full of scourges, his eyes full of tears, his body full of wounds, his soul full of sorrows; and all because we were full of sins. And shall not this fullness of sin work in us a fullness of remorse? shall not our eyes also be full of tears, our bosom full of sighs, our mouths full of cries, our hearts full of sorrows? Did he weep for us, that we should spend our days in laughter?