Elijah's nunc Dimittis. OR The Authors own Funeral SERMONS, In his Meditations upon 1 Kings 19.4. It is now enough: Lord take away my Soul, for I am no better than my Fathers.  
Where also is Treated; 

Of the immortality of the Soul.  
Of the state of it, when separated from the Body.  
Of the Destruction of this lower World by Fire.  
Of Locall-Hell, with the gradual Torments thereof.  
Of the Heavens, of the Superior World, and the Inhabitants of them, their happiness and glory.    
By Thomas Bradley, D. D. one of his late Majesty's Chaplains, and Praebandary of York; and Preached in the Minster there, and in his Rectory of Ackworth, 1669. Aetatis suae, 72. Oxon. Exon.  
Lord now let thy Servant departed in peace, that mine Eyes may see thy Salvation.  
Sic sic juvat ire sub umbras.  
YORK, Printed by Stephen Bulkley, 1669.   

Elijah's Nunc Dimittis; Or, The Authors own Funeral Sermon, In his Meditation upon the 1 Kings 19.4. the latter end of the Verse, It is now enough, Lord take away my Soul, for I am no better than my Fathers.  
THese Words are the Complaint, or the Petition, or the Suit, the Wish, or Request, (call it what you will) of the Prophet Elijah, now weary of his Life, and desiring he might die; The causes and occasion of it, you may read in the context, and in the Chapter immediately precedent, where ye have the whole narration of the business, the sum of all you find in the 14th. verse of this Chapter: I have been very zealous for the Lord God of Hosts, because the Children of Israel have forsaken thy Covenant, cast down thine Altars, and Slain thy Prophets with the sword, and I only am left, and they seek my life to take it away. That wicked woman Jezabell, (in revenge of her Chaplains, the Priests of Baal, which he had lately so clearly, and so powerfully convinced and silenced, and proved to be false Prophets) had sworn his death, Warrants are sealed, and Pursuivants sent out to take him: Upon this, the Prophet flies for his life as far as to Beersheba, the utmost border of all Israel on the South, as Dan was on the North; yet not thinking himself secure there neither, though at so great a distance, he takes a farther flight, a day's Journey into the Wilderness, supposing haply he might find more kindness there among the wild beasts, then amongst men in Samaria more savage than they: But here he meets with another enemy, as dangerous as any of the rest, Hunger and Thirst, in danger to pine and perish through famine, his fear and haste, not allowing him either time or means to furnish himself with viaticum for such a Voyage, nor the barren wilderness affording him supplies of sustenance in such a want. The Prophet now compassed about with so many deaths and dangers, and not knowing which way to turn himself, hungry and thirsty, faint and weary, lays him down under a Juniper Tree, wishing, That might might be the end of his Pilgrimage, and with his Pilgrimage, of his Life too. Here in this Wilderness he makes his Will; Wherein, first, He bequeathes his soul to God that gave it; Lord take away my soul, his body to the Earth from whence it was taken, wishing, That spot of ground upon which he lay, might be his Grave, the Juniper Tree over him his Monument, with no other Inscription upon it, but only this instead of an Epitaph, I am no better than my Fathers. It is now enough, Lord take away my soul, for I am no better than my Fathers.  
In the Division of the Text, I shall not use any curiosity at all, the words neither require, nor admit it. For the sum of them, you may call them if you please, in old Simeons' Language, The Prophet Elijah's nunc Dimittis; Or in St. Paul's, his Cupio dissolvi. In it these Parcels.  
First, The Dimittis itself, in these word, Lord take away my Soul.  
Secondly, Two Reasons persuading him to make this his Suit at this time: The one prefixed, and set before the Dimittis, in these words, Nunc satis est, It is now enough. The other annexed, and following after it, in these words, Nam non sum melior majoribus meis, For I am no better than my Fathers.  
In all reason, we must begin first with the former Reason, both because it stands first in the Text; and because it stands in our way to the Nunc Dimittis; and because it is a motive ushering it in, therefore of it first, of Nunc satis est, before of Nunc Dimittis: It is now enough.  
And Elijah's satis est, may be reasonably grounded upon these four Considerations; or in four respects might he well say, It is now enough.  

1. In respect of what he had seen.  
2. In respect of what he had suffered.  
3. In respect of what he had done.  
4. In respect of the years he had lived.   
In all these respects, the Prophet might reasonably say, Nunc satis est, It is now enough; As if he should say, Lord I have seen enough to make me weary of this World; And I have suffered enough to make me weary of my Life: And I have done enough in the faithful discharge of my duty in the Office of a Prophet, whereunto I was called: And I have lived long enough, even to desire to live no longer in this wretched World; therefore now Lord, I beseech ye dismiss me, Lord take away my Soul. So here are four enough, and they are all grounded in the 14. verse of this Chapter, and in this Text. For first, He complains there, The Children of Israel have forsaken thy Covenant, broke down thine Altars, and Slain thy Prophets with the Sword: There's his Satis Vidi, I have seen enough.  
Secondly, He complains, That he only is left, and they seek his Life to take it away: There's his Satis Tuli, I have suffered enough.  
Thirdly, I have been Zealous for the Lord God of Hosts: There's his Satis Feci, I have done enough.  
Fourthly, Those three things before mentioned, which he had Seen, which he had Suffered, and which he had Done, were not the work of a short time; they were the work of many years; he was now grown old under his sufferings, and doing his Duty, and so willing to follow the Generation of his Fathers, For I am no better than my Fathers: There's his Satis Vixi. And in all these respects he concludes, It is now enough, and begs for a dismission, Lord take away my Soul.  
To all these enough, we shall speak something briefly, with the inferences from them: And first of his Satis Vidi, I have seen enough: That is, (as himself Interprets himself, ver. 14.) of the wickedness, irreligion, profaneness, and Idolatry of the times and places that he lived in, to make him weary of the world, and of his life: And that is the first ground of this his request to Almighty God, to take away his Soul.  
The inference from hence is this:  
That to live in evil times and places where iniquity doth abound, is to pious Souls, and to such as fear God, matter of great grief and sorrow of heart, even enough to make them weary, not only of those times and places, but even of their Lives too. St. Peter tells us of Lot dwelling in Sodom, That his righteous Soul was vexed from day to day with their unlawful do, 2 Pet. 2.7.8. The holy Prophet David complains in this case, and bewails his hard condition in this respect, even in passionate expressions, Woe is me that I am constrained to dwell in Mesech, and to have my habitation among the Tents of Kedar. And the Prophet Habakkuk, as passionately as he, in the same case, Hab. 1.2, 3, 4. O Lord, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear! yea, even cry out of violence, and thou wilt not help? Why dost thou show me iniquity, and cause me to behold sorrow? for the Law is dissolved, and judgement doth not go forth: the wicked doth compass about the righteous: therefore unjust judgement doth proceed. Thus we see how righteous souls are affected in these cases, and afflicted with grief and sorrow under the sense of the wickednesses, & abominations that are committed under the Sun, in the times and places where they live. Reasons.  
1. Because hereby God is dishonoured, whose glory is dear unto them.  
2. The Church is scandalised, holy Religion reproached, the Gospel of Jesus Christ aspersed, and the way of God evil spoken of, especially if these things be done, and suffered in a Christian Church, or Commonwealth.  
3. It gives so great offence to many weak ones, that it causes them to withdraw themselves from the society of the faithful, to abhor the Sacrificer of the Lord, to despise the standing Ordinances of the Church, and for those evils, which we see, to forsake that which is good, to throw up all, and to make separation.  
4. Hereby they destroy their own souls, of which others fearing God, are more sensible than they themselves: Christ beholding Jerusalem, and foreseeing the calamity that hung over it, Wept for it, they did not so for themselves.  
5. They provoke wrath, and draw down judgements upon the place where they live, both upon themselves and others for their sakes: For these things sakes comes the wrath of God upon the Children of disobedience, Ephes. 5.6.  
Upon these Considerations, pious souls, men fearing God, are sensible of the sins of others, as well as of their own; and of the iniquity of the times and places where they live, and they are unto to them matter of great sorrow and grief of heart: I beheld the transgressors, and was grieved, Psal. 119.158.  
1. It should teach men wisdom, where they can, and as far as they can, to use prudence in the choice of the places of their habitation, and when to make this one of their respects among all other, that they may seat themselves in such a place where the fear of God is amongst them. Lot made but an ill choice (though he lighted on the 〈◊〉 the Land) when he chose the plain of Sodom to pitch his Tent in: Abraham might well be afraid to sojourn in Gerar, when he perceived the fear of God was not in that place, Gen. 20.11. When we match our Sons, or Daughters, we inquire diligently, what Portion, what Parentage, we inquire after the fatness of the Land, fruitfulness of the Soil, convenience of situation, and the like, and all this with good discretion too; but among all the rest, we should not leave out this as a main consideration, whether we dispose of them to such a place where the fear of God is among the people the Inhabitants there, whether they live under a good Ministry, a good Majestracy, a good Government, where wickedness and vice is punished, were Religion and godliness is set up, countenanced, and encouraged, whether the fear of God be in the place? a very considerable blessing, and a great part of their happiness.  
2. Try your zeal and love to God and his truth to holy Religion, and the Gospel by this Touchstone, by your hatred of sin, as well in others, as in yourselves, and by your grief and sorrow of heart, when you see it reign and abound in the Land, and in the times and places where you live. Beloved, we live in evil times, and in places bad enough, where you have occasion enough given you to exercise your zeal, and to show your love, and grief, and anger, if you have any in this case, you may see as our Prophet did, the Law forsaken, the Covenant broken, the Worship of God neglected, the Ordinances despised, the Sabbath profaned, the Sacraments slighted, etc. if we can see these things, and not be sensible of them, and sorry for them, at least where we cannot help them, surely our zeal is cold, and our love but small; Set a Mark (saith the Lord) upon the Foreheads of all those that Mourn for the aboninations that are done in the City, Ezek. 9.4. 'Tis an Argument of a gracious heart, to take to heart the iniquities of the times, to sigh and mourn for them, to be displeased with them, and troubled at them.  
3. Here's an object and opportunity for such as are in place and power, to exercise their authority in suppressing sin, in punishing the wickedness of the times and places where they live, in stopping the course and current of iniquity prevailing: If Magistrates, they must be clothed with zeal as with a cloak, they must put on Justice as a Robe, and Judgement as a Crown or Diadem, they must be girt about with the Sword of vengeance, and let proud and insolent offenders know, they do not bear that Sword in vain: If Ministers, they must cry aloud, and not spare, and never leave crying out against the prevailing and reigning sins of the times and places where they live, till they have cried them down, and take heed they do not by their silence and connivance, make themselves partakers of other men's sins: Parents of Children, Masters of samilies, they are in those lesser societies which they are set to Govern; both Kings, Priests, and Prophets, all which Offices they must execute in the Government of their little Commonwealth, every one in the several Sphere wherein he moves, and Calling wherein he is set, according to his place and power is to endeavour the suppressing of sin, the punishment of wickedness, and the maintenance and encouragement of true Relion and virtue.  
4. Here's occasion and opportunity (in such evil times as here we speak of) for the Saints and servants of the most high, the favourites of Heaven, to stand up, and to show themselves, to make intercession for the People, and Places where they are, for the diverting of those Judgements which these sins call for, to use the Interest which they have in God, to entreat for the rest, that God would spare them, to stand in the Gap (as Moses did) to make Atonement for the People and Places where they are, as Aaron did, to divert, stay, suspend, or remove Judgement denounced against them, when wrath is gone forth, and the Plague begun; and happy those Places which have such as these are in them, though but a few favourites of Heaven, to make in to God, to use their interest in him, to entreat for the rest, great things hath God done at their request in the behalf of others, and even those that despise them, are more beholden to them then they are ware of.  
5. In such evil times and places as we speak of, we are to be admonished to walk warily for fear of Infection, for fear of seduction, lest we come to be corrupted and infected by them, and so while we complain the times are evil, we ourselves make them worse; so St. Paul argues, Ephe. 5.15. Walk circumspectly, because the days are evil; By no means to have any fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them, (Ephes. 5.11.) to show our dislike of them by avoiding them, to reprove them by a sober, righteous, and godly conversation, the most real reproof to the lewd and lose carriage and behaviour of wicked men that can be; by this opposition, the holy conversation of godly men becomes more illustrious; thus doth their light come to shine before Men, so that they seeing their good works, are moved to glorify the Father which is in Heaven; this is to walk as Children of the light, and to shine as lights in the midst of a froward, and a dark Generation, which will be the great conviction and condemnation of those wicked men they live amongst, and their own high praise and great reward another day: This was the high praise of Noah, Gen. 6.9. Noah was a just Man in his Generation: Why, what Generation was that? it was an evil Generation; When all Flesh had corrupted their ways before the Lord, Noah still kept his integrity, he was a just Man in his Generation. For Abraham in Caldea, Lot in Sodom, Job in Us, Noah in his Generation to hold fast his integrity, was their high praise.  
And so we have done with Elijah's first Satis est, the first of his enough, In respect of the evil he had seen.  
We come now to consider of the second, which respects the evil that he had Suffered, Satis Tuli, I have suffered enough; and this ariseth out of those words in the latter end of the 14. ver. They have Slain thy Prophets with the edge of the Sword, and I only am left, and they seek my Life to take it away: By this, you may gather in what condition he was in respect of sufferings, by Persecution, Banishment, Hunger, and Thirst, and variety of dangers, threatening even Death itself.  

The inference from hence is this;  
That it is no news to see the best of Saints to suffer the worst things that the world can do unto them: To see Joseph in the Prison, Job upon the Dunghill, Jeremy in the Dungeon, Jonah in the Whale's belly, Isay under the Saw, Paul under the Axe, Stephen under a storm of Stones, and all this under the hands of wicked men; and more than this, when such wicked and ungodly men live at ease, and in peace, prosper, and flourish, Come in no misfortune like other men; neither are they plagned like other men, as the Prophet David observes, Psal. 73.5. These things may seem strange to humane apprehension, and do; but they are no news to those that are well read in the ways of Providence, nor strange neither, when wisely weighed, and rightly considered: And to help you in those Considerations, I commend you to two of David's Psalms, the 37. and the 73. both spent wholly upon this subject, to take away the scandal of the Cross; In both which, he first raises the Objections, and then brings in full answers to them for the clearing of God's Justice in this cross dispensation of Providence, and for the satisfying of himself and others in this matter: I shall therefore wave what the Prophet hath there delivered, and only show you very briefly some Reasons why and how it comes so to pass, and what profitable Use we may make of this Meditation, and so pass on to the next.   

Reasons.  
If you ask me then, How it comes to pass that the best men should suffer the worst things here in this world? I Answer:  
1. This proceeds from the malice of Satan, ever contriving mischief against the Church, even to the utter ruin of it, if it were possible, that the gates of Hell should prevail against it; There is an enmity between the Woman and the Serpent, which will never be reconciled.  
2. From the hatred that wicked men (well nigh as bad as himself) bear against it; his very Instruments and Agents are ready to execute his will upon it; the enmity is not only between the Woman and the Serpent, but between their Seed also: Wicked men are the very Seed of the Serpent, and do as naturally malign and hate the Church, and Children of God, as the Serpent doth a man.  
3. From their own folly, which by sin lay themselves open to their malice: Balaam knew he could have no power over the Israelites to hurt them, except he could devise some way how to draw them to sin against God. But when he had contrived a way to make them commit Fornication with the Daughters of Moab, he knew he had his purpose on them in exposing them to wrath and judgement, Numb. 25.  
4. This comes to pass by the just and wise Providence of God, not only permitting, but ordering it so, for holy ends, and good purposes.  
1. For trial of their Faith, that they may come out of them as Gold refined.  
2. For exercise of their Graces,  probentur, approbentur, improbentur; that they may be proved, approved, improved.  
3. For purging out and mortifying of their corruptions, crucifying of their lusts, and inordinate affections.  
4. For holding of them close to Duty, as of Repentance, Prayer, and a constant dependence upon God.  
5. For the weyning of them from this present evil world, that they might seek and affect better things in a better world, and mind the things that are above, Colos. 3.1.  
6. That they may have nothing to suffer hereafter, they are chastised in the world, that they may not be condemned with the world.   

Uses.  
1. Are these the ends why God suffereth his Saints to suffer? Then welcome sufferings by the grace of God; Welcome Afflictions by the will of God, they shall be a benefit unto us, a greater advantage than the Ease, Peace, and Prosperity of wicked men can be unto them; nay, than these could have been unto ourselves, if we had had them: Ease slayeth the foolish, and the prosperity of Fools destroyeth them, Prov. 1.32. Standing Pools gather mud and dirt, when running Streams keep pure and clear; Wind and Thunder purge the Air, and the Fire doth not consume, but refine the Gold that is cast into it: and such are the sufferings of the Saints & servants of God to those that are exercised under them.  
2. Think not strange of those fiery trials, and that the best men are so often under them, it were strange if it were not so; Christianus Crucianus, the Cross is the Christians badge, the Cognisance of a Disciple, our Lord himself the Captain of our salvation, was made perfect through sufferings, he carried the Cross upon his own shoulders up Mount Calvary, upon which himself was Crucified; and we may not think much that come after him, with Simon the Cyrenian to carry one end of it: Show me the man of any standing in the profession of Christianity, that hath been constantly free from sufferings, and I will say, He is either a Miracle, or a Monster in Religion.  
3. Think not the worse neither of yourselves, nor others in this case; Crosses are not Curses, nor the greatest Sufferers (therefore) the greatest Sinners: The sufferings of the Saints are so far from being Arguments of God's displeasure towards them; that clean contrary, they are rather evidences of his love and favour: So St. Paul Argues, Heb. 12.6. Whom he loveth he chasteneth, and correcteth every son whom he receiveth. St. Jerom never feared his estate worse, than when for three years together he lived in peace, and was free from all trouble and adversity. If thou faint in the time of adversity, thy strength is small: Remember, all promises of blessings and good things made to God's Children, are made with exception of the Cross, against which, even grace and goodness, piety and obedience, holiness itself is no protection: Sanctity and suffering may stand together. They were holy ones of whom God spoke, Ps. 89.32.33. Their iniquity will I visit with the rod, and their sins with scourges: but my loving kindness will I never take from them, nor suffer my truth to fail.  
4. Beware of murmuring, by no means suffer your hearts to break out in any evil thoughts against God and his Providence, even in his most severe proceed against you, as if he dealt too hardly with you, this were to charge God foolishly; But let him be ever justified in his say and do, and clear when he is judged; and to silence all clamour, murmur, and mutinous thoughts. In this case take with you these two considerations. First, See sin in all, let the means by which you suffer be what it will, and the Instruments of it what they can, do but look well into it, and you shall find, Sin lies at the bottom: David saw this, Psal. 25.18. Look upon my adversity and my trouble, and forgive me all my Sinne. Jeremy saw it in his Lamentations, cap. 3.39. Why doth living man complain, man suffering for his Sins? as if he should say, There is no reason for it, let him consider well of it, and he shall find, his Sins are greater than his sufferings, his sufferings less than his deservings. Secondly, See God in all, though sin be the cause of all, 'tis God that is the Judge of all: Is there any evil in the City, and the Lord hath not done it? And if it be the Lord, let him do what he will, he neither can, nor will do unjustly? When Moses told Aaron in a grievous Affliction that befell him, Levit. 10. That it was from the Lord; The Text says, Aaron held his peace, ver. 3. he had no more to say. If it be the Lords doing, let him do what is good in his eyes; his will be done at well upon us, as by us, and as well in taking away, as giving: Ever say with holy Job in the like case, Blessed be the Name of the Lord, Job 1.22.  
5. In the sufferings of the Saints and servants of God here in this world, let wicked and ungodly men read their own doom, and certainly conclude, That they have a heavy reckoning to make to God in the day of account, that great is the wrath of the Almighty against them, and fearful the Judgements that do await them. Behold (saith the Lord) I visit the City upon which my name is called, and do you think to escape? you shall not escape. And if the righteous be scarely saved, where shall the ungodly and the Sinner appear? Surely if he do so severely scourge his own Children with Scourges, he will torment them with Scorpions. Solomon observed in his time, Eccles. 8.11. That because Judgement was not speedily executed upon evil doers; therefore the hearts of the sons of men were wholly set upon wickedness. But there is no reason for it, if they knew all; alas! they see not that their day is coming, they may make a Covenant with the Grave, and with Hell be at agreement, but that Covenant will not stand; they may cry, ●●ace, peace unto themselves, where there is no peace, and so sleep a while in their security, but their damnation sleepeth not; they may sing Requiems to their souls, Ede, bibe, lude, Eat, drink, and be merry, but they see not the hand-writing on the Wall, Mene, Mene, etc. Thou art weighed in the balance, and art found too light: they hear not the dreadful noise, Stulte hac nocte, This night shall they fetch away thy soul. With what derision doth the wisdom of God speak to such, Eccles. 11.9. Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth, and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the sight of thine eyes, and the ways of thine heart; but remember, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgement. But the Lord speaks terror to them by his royal Prophet David, Psal. 50.21. Thus and thus hast thou done, and I held my tongue, and thou thoughtest me such a one as thyself: but I will reprove thee, and set thy sins in order before thee. Beloved, take this for a most certain observation, 'Tis the most dangerous state in the world for a man to go on in sin, and prosper, to live in sin, and to live at ease, free from adversity and affliction: Ephraim is given unto Idols: let him alone, saith the Lord by the Prophet Hosea, c. 4.17. Nolo istam misericordiam, (saith St. Jerom) Lord let me have none of that mercy, to be let alone in my sin: Scinde, ure, seca ut in aeternum parcas: Let me suffer any thing in this life that thou shalt please to lay upon me, that I may be spared in the life to come, and have nothing to suffer in the other world. Let all secure sinners know, There is a Pit digging up for them, a very significant expression of the Prophet, Psal. 94.13. Until the Pit be digged for the ungodly: Now the longer the Pit is in digging, the deeper it will be; and the deeper it is, the greater will be the fall into it, and the more impossible the recovery out of it, and so deep it may be, that it may let the sinner down into Hell itself. I conclude this Point with that Advertisement of Saint Paul which he gives to all such secure sinners, Rom. 2.4. Know ye not that the patience and long suffering of God should lead to Repentance? But thou out of thine hardness, and heart that cannot repent, treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath, and the declaration of the righteous judgement of God. And what a miserable thing is this, for a man to treasure up unto himself wrath against the day of wrath, and all his days to be carrying fuel to that fire in which himself is eternally to burn?  
Lastly, From this truth, let all men certainly conclude a Judge to come; for he that is the Judge of all the world hath said it, That he will render to every man according to his works, Rom. 2.6. But we see, that is not done in this life; in this life here are cross dispensations of Providence, by which it falls out oft times clean contrary. Solomon observed this in his time, Eccles. 8.14. That there be righteous Men to whom it cometh according to the working of the wicked: and there be wicked Men to whom it cometh according to the work of the righteous. The royal Prophet David before him observed the same, ●sal. 73. and complineth of it, That the wicked flourish, when the righteous perish; they live at ease, and have all things that their hearts can wish: When the righteous are under the Cross, and under the Rod, chastised every Morning, and visited every moment, Hic pietatis honos? Is this the reward of piety? Is this to render to every man according to his works? surely no, and if things should rest thus, then well might Saint Paul complain, That of all men, the Saints and servants of God were most miserable: If in this life only we have hope, then are we of all men most miserable: But say not so, and think not so, but possess your souls with patience for a time, and mark the end, and you shall find, it is not so. Remember that of St. Paul, Acts 17.31. That God hath appointed a day wherein to Judge the world in righteousness, by his Son Jesus Christ, when he will make all these cross reckon right and straight, wherein he will render tribulation to them that have troubled his, and to those that have been troubled, rest with him; when he will say to all those secure and sensual sinners, (as to the rich Epicure in the Gospel,) Sons, remember you in your life time received pleasure, and these my servants received pain: now they are comforted, and you are tormented: that's the day wherein this word shall be made good, That he will render to every Man according to his works, therefore called, The day of refreshing, Acts 3.19. The day of restauration: The day of the righteous judgement of God, Rom. 2.5. God's Judgements are always righteous, but they are not always declared to be so: but then they shall be declared to be so, in the sight of all the world, men, and Angels, and they shall all confess and say, as in the Psalm, Verily there is a reward for the righteous: doubtless there is a God that judgeth the earth.  
And so we have done with the Prophets second Satis est, the second of his enough spoken in reference to what he had suffered, Satis Tuli, I have suffered enough. We now pass to the third, spoken in reference to what he had done.  
3. Satis Feci, I have done enough: And this ariseth out of the first words of the 14. verse, I have been very jealous, or zealous, for the Lord God of Hosts: this word is very significant and comprehensive, it contains in it much; as the faithful discharge of his duty in the Office of a Prophet whereunto he was called, his care to maintain the true Religion and Worship of God, his courage in reproving the sins of the ten Tribes, even in the greatest, Ahab himself not excepted; his zeal in convincing and silencing the Priests of Baal in those perilous times, when they had the protection and countenance of Authority on their sides, and much more; and that he did not these things coldly, negligently, perfunctorily; but with all earnestness and fervency, (as the word imports) for it comes from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, to hisse, as Iron doth, when being red hot it is dipped in Water, such was his activity in the performance of these his duties, and fervency of affection: Quicquid egit, valide egit, as the Italians are said to do, The zeal of God's House did even consume him, as another Prophet speaks: he did these duties with zeal as hot as fire: neither in this testimony did he arrogate to himself any thing at all more than due, nor commend himself above his measure, the Story of his Life and Actions evidently declares the truth of what he here asserts, That he had been very zealous for the Lord God of Hosts, in doing his Will, in seeking his Glory, and in upholding and maintaining his true Worship against all opposers, etc.  
The Inferences from hence are these three.  
The first, Those that are for God, must do the will of God.  
The second, It is not enough to do, Oper● operato; but they must do it as they should be done, in due manner, with due affections, and they must do it home, or else it will never reach to Elijah's Satis est, It is enough.  
The third, It shall be their greatest comfort in the evil day, that they have done so: the illation of these is clear out of Elijah's Satis est in the Text, compared with the first words of the 14. v.  
First, Those that are for God, must do the will of God in that Place, Calling, and Condition of Life wherein God hath set them: They must do his will, whether it be Prophet, or Apostle, or a common Christian, Magistrate, or Minister, or common Believer, every one must in his Place, do the will of God: It is our daily Prayer, That his will may be done in Earth, as it is in Heaven: And in this Prayer, Is it fit that we should overlook ourselves? No, as it is our daily Prayer, so it should be our daily practice to do his will: Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, but he that doth the will of my Father which is in Heaven. Not the hearers, but the doers of the Law shall be justified: If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. Christianity calls for Action; it is not Logical, but Moral; not speculative, but practic: it consists not in saying, nor in knowing, nor in professing, but in working; there must be a Feci in it: Regnum Dei non datur otiosis, (as St. Bernard speaks) the Kingdom of God is not given to idle professors, and pretenders; the Calling of a Christian is a laborious Calling, a Building, a Husbandry, a Warfare, all these call to work, there is something to be done whereby we may bring glory to God, good to men, and comfort to our own souls: The very Heathen were sensible of this, That they were bound to do some good in the Generation wherein they lived; and they that did not so, they were reproached, as In utile pondus terrae, an unprofitable burden to the Earth. Fruges consumere nati: as if they were borne only to devour the good things of the Earth. He was an honest Moralist that spoke it, Mortem non timore, quia ita vixi, ut frustra me natum non existimem; I am not afraid to die, because I have so lived, as that no man may think that I was born in vain: a testimony that may shame many Christians that so live and die as if they were born in vain, improfitable burdens to the Earth: Terrible is the doom of the unprofitable servant in the Gospel, Take the unprofitable servant, bind him hand and foot, and cast him into utter darkness: He doth not charge him as being an hurtful servant, but as an unprofitable servant; not with wasting his Talon, but with not improving it. Beloved, God looks we should be profitable servants, that we should bring glory to his name, honour to the Gospel, and that we should do good in our Generation, that the world should be the better for our coming into it, not the worse: Can any man imagine, or can it stand with reason to think, That the most holy God, and wise Creator of all things, should Create such a Creature as Man is for nought, and not look for service from him, and glory out of him? Why there is no Creature that he hath made, though never so mean and despicable, but he looks for glory by it, and service out of it, in its kind; Natura nihil facit frustra, The God of Nature hath made nothing in vain: And shall Man, the most excellent piece of the Creation (next unto the Angels) be unserviceable, and bring in nothing to the glory of the Creator? Man, endued with such rare gifts and abilities to do good withal, both to himself and others, Did the Creator endue him with such rare excellencies above the rest of the Creatures, such as Understanding, Will, Memory, Affections, Reason, Judgement, Knowledge, Conscience, for nought? No surely, To whom much is given, of him much will be required: great receipts will make men liable to great accounts: A time will come when they shall give an account both of their Time, and of their Talents, how they have used and improved them, what good they have done with them. Beloved, That man shall never die comfortably, which hath not in his life time, in some sort, answered the end of his Creation; The end of his Creation is, to glorify God, to do good to men in his Generation, and to further the salvation of his own soul: Blessed is that servant whom when his Master cometh, he shall find so doing.   

Uses.  
1. It reproves all carnal, careless, and secure Christians, if I may call them such, and not rather Epicure, or Atheist, that make no Conscience at all of doing good; sure they think salvation will come of course, and God will drop down happiness into their laps, while they sit still, and never look after it: What shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or where withal shall we be clothed, are the things that take up their care and thoughts? but the Vnum necessarium, that one thing that is necessary, wholly laid aside: Surely a great part of the world are very Atheists, they either think there's no heaven at all, or they are much mistaken in the way to it, and the means of attaining it; We must work, walk, run, fight the good fight of Faith; Strive to enter in at the straight gate: through many tribulations, many sufferings, many cumbating; there are corruptions to be mortified, Lusts to be crucified, Temptations to be resisted, afflictions to be suffered, spiritual wickednesses to be wrestled withal: Qui cupit optatam cursu contingere metam, multa tulit fuitq pius sudovit & alsit: Christianity is no idle Calling, it will take up the whole man, and the whole time, it will keep us doing in the practice of all Christian duties, and the exercise of all Christian graces.  
2. This reproves the Sc●pticks and gnostics of these times, whose Religion lies all in their Brain, and in their Tongue, the Practic part of Christianity they lay by, and place it all in Theory and speculation, they have found out a nearer way to Heaven then ever our Fathers knew, an easier, and a cheaper, they can talk themselves thither, and dispute themselves thither, and all this while sit still, and neither work, nor walk for it at all; the good works which Christianity calls for, they pay with good words; their devotion is turned into disputing, their faith into faction, and their charity into contention; the main of Religion they place in hearing of Sermons. Pliny writes of a certain Serpent, Aure concepit, o'er parit, That it conceives in the Ear, and brings forth at the Mouth: as fit an Emblem for such professors as can be: They conceive by the Ear, in an insatiable desire of Hearing; and bring forth at the Mouth, by endless disputing, and discoursing. But as to the Hand by working, or the Foot by walking, their Religion reacheth not, without which, all the rest is but vain, as St. James tells us. Therefore, Set me as a Seal upon thine heart, and as a Bracelet upon thine Arm, saith the Church to Christ, Cant. 8.6. Upon which, St. Bernard thus Glosseth, In cord sunt cogitationes, in brachiis sunt operationes, ergo super cor, & super brachium: The heart is the seat of affections, the Arm the Instrument of actions: Set me therefore as a Seal upon thy heart, and as a bracelet upon thine arm, that with the one I may ever affect, and with the other effect the things that please thee. Beloved, Not only the Law, but the Gospel, every where calls for good works at our hands: Be zealous of good works, Titus 2.14. Fruitful in good works, Col. 1.10. And let ours also learn to show forth good works: What? though they be not Causa Regnandi, The cause why we shall reign; yet they are, Via Regni, The way to the Kingdom, and the way which God hath appointed we should walk in thither: What though they do not justify, nor merit? yet they are profitable for necessary uses: By them is our Heavenly Father glorified, the Gospel of Jesus Christ honoured and adored; they are evidences of the soundness of our Faith, the sincerity of our profession; they bring comfort to the Conscience here, and there is a certain reward for them in Heaven; though not, Propter opera; yet Secundum opera, according to our works to be given unto us. Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord, even so saith the spirit, for they rest from their labours, and their works follow them: And happy is he which hath store of them in that day to praise him in the gates.  
And thus much of the first inference, drawn from Elijah's third Satis est, that is, I have done enough: Those that are for God, must do the will of God.  
2. The second follows, and 'tis this, That it is not enough to do the will of God, Opere operato: but they must do it as it should be done, or else it will never reach to the Satis est in the Text: Now this Satis: est, hath respect to two things in doing the will of God. First, The manner of doing it. Secondly, The extent of it. The first requires, that it be done well. The second, that it be done home, they both are included in the Word Zealous: I have been Zealous for the Lord God of Hosts. Zeal is a vehement affection, composed of Love and Anger, and Actions flowing from these two, are ever done in earnest, they are done home and throughly, and so ought we to do all things that we do for God: The Opus operatum, the work done will not serve the turn, but it must be rightly qualified in all the circumstances of it, and done in a right manner: If we love the Lord our God, we must love him with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind, and with all our strength: If we serve him, we must serve him with reverence and godly sear: If we worship him, we must worship him in Spirit, and in Truth Luther said well, That God loves Advers, rather than Verbs, the manner of doing, more than the work done, the will more than the deed, the mind more than the matter, we must not serve God negligently, nor we must not serve him by halves, either of these make our obedience fall short of Elijah's Satis est in the Text: To say, we believe in God, we love God, and we fear God, and not to obey him, to show our faith by our works, and our fear by our worship, Non satis est, it is not enough; but to our faith to join our obedience, and to our fear to join our worship, and to our love our care to keep his Commandments, Satis est, it is enough: To profess that we know God, to confess his Name, to draw near unto him with our lips, and in all outward deportment to have a form of godliness, Non satis est, it is not enough; but to know God in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, to draw near unto him with our hearts, and dearest affections, and with the form of godliness to show forth the power of it, Satis est, it is enough: To cry Lord, Lord, as in the Gospel, and Templum Domini, Templum Domini, The Temple of the Lord, The Temple of the Lord, as the Jews did in Jeremy, Non satis est, it is not enough: but to do the will of our Father which is in Heaven, and in his Temple to speak of his Honour, and to worship him aright, Satis est, it is enough. To make our boast of God, and of his Law, to hear every day a Sermon, to know the Mystery of the Gospel, to have a mouth full of Scripture ready at all times to throw at an adversary in dispute or discourse, Non satis est, it is not enough: but to know the truth as it is in Jesus, to receive the truth with the love of the truth, to answer the end of the Evangelicall Law, which is Love out of a pure heart a good Conscience, and Faith unfeigned, Satis est, it is enough. To bring multitudes of sacrifices and oblations unto the Lord, to stretch out our hands before him, and to make many Prayers, Non satis est, it is not enough: but to wash us, to make us clean, to take away the evil of our works from before his eyes, to cease to do evil, and learn to do well, Satis est, it is enough. To come before the Lord with thousands of Rams, and ten thousand Rivers of Oil, to give the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul, (Micha 6.6.7.) Non satis est, it is not enough: but to do Judgement, to love Mercy, and to walk humbly before the Lord, Satis est, it is enough. To conclude this point, to be admitted into the visible Church, to be matriculated into it by Baptism, to live in a professed subjection to the Gospel of Christ, to come to Church, to hear Sermons, to sit out the Service, and at the appointed times to receive the Sacrament of the Lords Supper, (though this be more than we can gain of many among you,) Non satis est, it is not enough: but to make it our care all the days of our life, to make good the Covenant which we made in our Baptism, to become Members of the invisible Church, incorporated into it, and united unto it by the bonds of faith and of the spirit, to express the power of the Word, Sacraments, and Spirit working by them in a constant holy walking before the Lord, as becomes the Members of that holy Society, Satis est, it is enough: And so we have made good the second Inference drawn out of Elijah's third Satis est, in reference to what he had done, Satis Feci, I have done enough. But stay a little, before we take our leave of this Satis est, it is necessary we should answer an Objection that lies in our way, and must be removed before we can proceed any further.  
Obj. Quid audio? What is that I hear? Satis feci, I have done enough: Who can say so? be he a Prophet, be he an Apostle, an Evangelist, be he the holiest of Saints that ever lived, can he say of himself, Satis feci, I have done enough? Is there a Satis in our obedience unto which we may arrive, and then say, It is enough? Our Saviour tells us, That when we have done all that we can, we are unprofitable servants: How then can any say, It is enough? or I have done enough?  
Sol. To this I answer by a double distinction.  
First thus, There is a Satis ad Justificationem; and there is a Satis ad Testificationem: there is a Satis as to Justification; and there is a Satis as to Testification. As to the former, there is no man can say, He hath done enough. Enter not into judgement with thy servant, O Lord, for in thy sight shall no man living be justified. Psal. 143.2.  
But as to the later, there is a Satis ad testificationem, to testification, that is, To testify the truth of our faith, the sincerity of our obedience, and the uprightness of our hearts in the Service of God. When Abraham was so ready, upon God's command, to offer up his Son Isaac in sacrifice to him, as to bring him to Mount Moriah, there to build an Altar, to lay the Wood in order upon it, and bind his Son to the Wood, to take the Knife in his hand, and to stretch forth his hand to Slay him: God stays his hand, bids him hold his hand, proceed no further, Satis est, It is enough, for now I know that thou lovest me, seeing thou hast not refused to offer up thine only Son in sacrifice to me at my command, Gen. 22. Here's a Satis ad testificationem, enough to testify his love and obedience; and so, though none of God's Saints and servants can reach to a Satis in reference to justification; yet as to the testification of the soundness of their faith, the sincerity of their obedience, and the uprightness of their hearts in his Service, there is a Satis which they may reach to, and of which God himself will testify, and say, Satis est, It is enough.  
The second distinction in Answer to this Objection, is this: There is another twofold Satis: 

First, Satis ad perfectionem.  
Secondly, Satis ad acceptationem.   First enough, In reference to perfection. And,  
Secondly enough, In reference to acceptation.  
As to the former, Nunquam satis est, we can never arrive enough as to perfection; Our Saviour hath set us a Copy, that we can never come near, Mat 6. Be you perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect. Alas! our highest perfection, is to acknowledge our imperfection: and the best of us all, when we have done our best, to acknowledge, We are unprofitable servants: To confess, with the Centurion, Domine non sum dignus, O Lord I am not worthy the least of thy mercies: and with the Publican, to pray, Lord be merciful to me a sinner: so that if we look at perfection, Nunquam satis est, we shall never arrive to that degree, or height of obedience, as to say, Nunc satis est, It is now enough. But if we look at acceptation, blessed be God, there is a Satis, whereunto the Saints and servants of Almighty God may, and do arrive, even in this life, through the mercy of God, and the indulgence of our Heavenly Father, which, where he sees a willing mind, accepts of the will for the deed, and of what we can do, instead of what we should do, which accepts according that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not: And so this rub being removed, we pass to the third Inference, which is this:  
That thus to have so done, the will of God will be our greatest comfort in an evil day, when we shall stand in most need of it. Hezekiah found it so, when the Message came to him by the Prophet Isay from the Lord, That he should set his house in order, for he must die. O Lord remember, I have walked before thee with an upright and a perfect heart, and have done that which was good in thy sight, Isay 38.1, 3. Nehemiah found it so, who having done worthily for the people of God in obtaining Commission from the King of Persia for the redeeming of the Jews out of the Babylonish Captivity, and building the Walls of Jerusalem, often comforts himself with the remembrance of it, Nehemiah 13.14. Remember me, O my God in this, and blot not out the kindness that I have showed to thy house. And verse the 22. Remember me, O my God, concerning this also, and pardon me according to thy great mercy. And again verse 31. Remember me, O my God, in goodness Indeed he needed not have put God in mind to remember him, the Lord would have remembered him, and his kindness showed to his people, though he should forget it: God is not unfaithful that he should forget the labour and love showed unto his Saints. We see in Matthew 25 how he did remember it, when they had forgotten it that shown it, ver. 42.43. When I was hungry, you gave me to eat: when I was thirsty, you gave me to drink: when I was naked, you clothed me: sick, and in prison, you visited me, and ministered unto me: this they had forgotten, and therefore asked, Lord, when saw we thee hungrty, or thirsty or naked, or sick, and in prison, and ministered unto thee? he remembered it, when they had forgotten it, and doth not only remember it, but reward it too, and now they find the comfort of it. With such a remembrance doth Saint Paul comforts himself, 2 Tim. 4.7. I have fought the good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. Henceforth is laid up for me a crown of righteousness: He was not afraid to sing out his Cupio dissolvi, I desire to be dissolved. Nor our Prophet in the Text, to make it his suit to the Lord, To take away his soul, when he remembered, how zealous he had been for the Lord God of Hosts, while he was in the body. The very Heathens were sensible of this, and it was a great incitement to them to justice and honesty, and all moral virtue: Conscientia benè acta vitae, multorumque benefactorum recordatio jucundissima est: The Conscience of a life well spent, and the remembrance of much good done in his life time; O what a Cordial it is to an old man, a dying man. And so is the contrary, the remembrance of a life ill spent, and of much evil done in a man's life time, as great a corrasive at such a time: Thou writest bitter things against me, and makest me to possess the sins of my youth, saith J●b, cap. 12.25. and he none of the worst of men. Beloved, there will come a time when Conscience awakened, and enlightened, will be serious with us, in calling us to account for things done in our life time, how we have spent our life, our time, and our Talents; what good we have done with them ever since we came into the world: And what a sad account is this, when a man can give no better account to God, nor his own Conscience, but thus, That he hath lived upon earth forty, or fifty, or sixty, or seventy years, or more, to do nothing, but eat, and drink, and sleep, and play, or worse, and spent his life, Aut nihil agendo, in doing nothing; Aut aliud agendo, in doing things impertinent, which is as good as nothing; Aut malè agendo, or in doing evil, which is worse than nothing, and now is going out of the world, before ever he hath thought of his errand, wherefore he came into it: If this be not to be an unprofitable servant, what is? and what his doom is, we have heard, and may read, Matthew 25. Beloved, Let this Meditation teach us wisdom, so to lay out ourselves while we live in this world, so to improve our time, and our Talents, as that we may be able to give some account of them to God, and to our own Consciences, so to live that we need not be afraid to die, to be doing some good here in our life time, the remembrance whereof may yield us comfort in our sickness, and hope in our death, so to lay out ourselves in this world, that we may have somewhat to take to in the other world, when we shall leave this, and all that we have in it, and so shall we be great gainers by the change.  
And so we have done with this third Inference also, deduced out of the Prophet's third Satis est, It is enough, spoken in reference to what he had done, Satis feci, I have done enough. We now come to the fourth, as spoken in reference to his Age, and the years of his Life, Satis vixi, I have lived long enough.  
In all likelihood, the Prophet was now an old man, and there are five things which persuade us to think so.  
First, He was Precedent of the College of the Prophets, and the Prophet's Children, such as were bred up in an Academical, or Studious way, whereby they might be fitted for that Office, when called unto it; he was Precedent over them, and that was not a Charge for a Novice or a Neophyte to undertake.  
Secondly, He had wrought many great Miracles, and done great and signal services among the people of God, (as his story testifieth,) which were not the work of a short time, and he could not be less than thirty years old when he was first Anointed unto the Office of a Prophet, for that was, Aetas Sacerdotalis, as St. Jerome calls it; and if it were so still, the Church would receive no damage by it.  
Thirdly, He was now commanded to Anoint Elisha Prophet to succeed in his room; an Argument, that he had finished his course in Prophesying, and was now ready to resign.  
Fourthly, The last words of this Verse seems to import as much, For I am no better than my Fathers; they had their time here on earth, and are now dead and gone. I have had my time too, and what should I do now, but follow after them, and be gathered unto them, For I am no better than my Fathers.  
Fifthly, Because he makes it his request, To be dissolved, which if he were in his best Age, and strength, and fit and able to serve God and his people in that high Office, he would not have done, nor could without sin; in all these respects we may rationally conclude, he was now an old man. And although there be nothing in this world so  as that it should make a man in love with it in any state of his life, and in his best years; yet much more when his best days are gone and passed, when he is entering into that state of life of which David saith, It is but labour and sorrow, and those years approach of which he shall say, I have no pleasure in them, may he with good reason be content to leave the World, and make it his request, That the Lord would take away his soul. When the keepers of the house tremble, and the strong men bow themselves; when the grinders cease, because they are few, and they wax dark that look out at the windows: When the Almond Tree shall flourish, the Grasshopper shall be a burden, and all the daughters of singing shall be abased: When the Silver cord is lengthened, and the Golden Ewer broken, when the Pitcher is broken at the Well, and the Wheel broken at the Cistern, etc. as that great Master of Wisdom elegantly describes old Age, Eccles. 12.3. etc. then for an old Barzillai, to refuse the pleasures of the Court: Or an old Simeon, to sing his Nunc dimittis. Or an aged Paul, To desire to dissolved: Or an old Elijah, to beseech the Lord, To take away his soul, is no wonder, and all this as old Age merely considered in itself, without any other grievances added to it to make it burdensome, and irksome, it is a burden to it self; but who ever saw it come, but attended with a world of infirmities to make it more tedious, Catarrhs Rheums, Aches, Palsies, achings in the Bones, Gouts, Dropsies, and in all these, inability to help itself; Senex bis puer, it is a second Childhood, and 'tis a question whether the second be not worse than the first. Upon these, and some other considerations, it hath often been my Prayer to the Lord God, and is at this instant, That he would not detain this soul of mine in this Tabernacle of Clay wherein it hath now lodged these seventy years and upward, unto extremity of old Age. But farther, If to all these there should be added any external grievances, poverty, and want, discontent in the Family, disobedience in prodigality of Children, divisions among Brethren, vexatious Suits, or the like, these were enough, not only to make an old man desire dissolution, but to hasten it, and to bring his grey baires with sorrow to the Grave.  
Another discouragement to old Age that helps to take away the comfort of it is, That they are very apt to be despised, though it should not be so, God hath stamped such a reverend aspect in the very face and grey hairs of an old man, as should command reverence from the younger sort, if they were not unreasonably uncivil; and hath commanded it too, Thou shalt rise up before the boary head, and honour the person of an old Man; Age is honourable, a Crown of glory, (saith Solomon,) the grey hairs are the silver Crown and Image of God's eternity, who is described to have his head and his hair white as Wool, or Snow, Revel. 1.14. where he is pleased so far to honour old Age, as to take a simile from the grey hairs, to shadow forth his own Eternity: yet such is the corruption and viciousness of men, to make that the matter of their reproach, which should be of their honour: what more ordinary, then call such, Old dotard, old fool, old any thing, that may sound reproachfully: Honour thy Father that begat thee, and despise not thy Mother when she is old, (saith Solomon,) Prov. 23.22. implying, that she is never more subject to be despised, then when she is old.  
I will add but this one discouragement more which helps to take away from old men the comfort of their lives, and that is this, That they see the world grows weary of them, although they have deserved never so well of it, yet, now they have done what good they can, and they see they can get no more good out of them, they grow weary of them, and would be shut of them. I have read of a barbarous Country, where, when men come to that extremity of old Age, that they grow useless, they knock them on the head, and bury them. We are not grown to that barbarism in England, but surely I do believe, there are some that could wish it were so, some of their very near relations, so their hand were not upon them, especially if while they live they be any way troublesome or chargeable to them; or at their death they look for some benefit by them: A strange ingratitude, and most unreasonable, that those which receive most benefit from them, should afford them least respect, and be most weary of them; but these are great discouragements to old Age, which may make them as weary of the World, as the World is of them, and wish with all their hearts, with our Prophet in the Text, That the Lord would take away their soul. I will conclude this Point, with my Advice to such, though they need not be put in mind that their day is far spent, and the night closing upon them, their Sun is set, and they but as a Candle spent to the end, and blinking within the socket, their grey hairs and wrinkled cheeks, their dim eyes, trembling hands, and weak knees, read unto them continual Lectures of mortality, and advise them to withdraw out of the tumultuous Sea of this troublesome World, and to put in to the Haven of quiet rest, and repose; to give themselves to Prayer and Meditation, to meditate upon the vanity of the time past, the shortness of the time present, and Eternity to come; to set their House and their Heart in order, and to prepare for a change at hand, and all the few days of their appointed time to wait till that change do come, that so it may be unto them a happy change, and they may with hope and comfort resign their souls into the hand of their Creator, and not be afraid to say with our Prophet in the Text, Lord take away my soul, which is the request itself, which in old Simeons' Language, I call the Prophets Nunc dimittis: In which are these three things; First, The Person, The Lord. Secondly, The Act, take away. Thirdly, The Object, my soul.  
From the first note, He might not take it away himself, his soul was not his own, he might not of his own head dismiss it himself, though it were in him in never so much bitterness; but he must stay the time till God that gave it him remands it again, in the mean time, In his patience possess his soul, and all the days of his appointed time, wait until his change should come. It is the refore a desperate course of desperate men, to antedate this Act of God by offering violence to themselves, and so letting out their own souls, as Achitophel and Judas did; such think thereby to rid themselves of some present grief, or discontent, by ridding-themselves of their lives; but it is a delusion of Satan to tell them so, herein they do but leap out of the Frying Pan into the Fire, as the Proverb is; for if this life did scourge them with scourges; that other, without the extraordinary mercy of God, will torment them with Scorpions. It was said of Hannibal, That he always carried three or four drops of strong poison enclosed under the stone of his Ring, that at any time if he were hard set, (as Saul once was upon the loss of the day in a Battle against the Philistines,) he might sup them out, and prevent his falling into his enemy's hands, as Saul then, upon the same occasion, fell upon his Spear, and with the help of the fugitive Amalekite, Slew himself. And that stout hearted Prince, which being taken Prisoner, and carried about by the Conqueror in a silver Cage, impatient of his Captivity, and not having where withal to make away himself, beat our his brains against the bars of the Cage. We could instance in too many such (God knows) which by hanging, drowning, poisoning, and other kinds of death, have made away themselves; these our Law calls, Felones de se, Felons of themselves, and inflicts upon them as grievous a punishment as they are capable of being dead, by an ignominious burial: And yet I dare not say peremptorily of all such, that they are certainly and eternally damned, though there be nothing visible to us whereby we may judge otherwise of them; yet who can limit the mercies of the most high, or know what secret communication of spirit there may be in them, between the beginning of the act, and the end of it, Inter pontem & fontem, between the bridge, & the brook; between the stirrup and the ground, mercy I asked, mercy I found. Judas was not damned for hanging himself, but for his I reason; but to leave them to their own Master and Maker to stand or fall.  
But Secondly, There are more Felones de se, selfe murderers, or which at least are accessary to their own deaths then these, though the Law do not call them so. As first, All lewd and ungodly persons, which having not the fear of God before their eyes, take wicked courses, commit robberies, burgleries, rapes, ●elones treasons, murders, and other such capital Crimes, such as that the Laws of the Land take hold of them, and ●ut them off as not worthy to live upon the Earth, not among the Society of men: The cruel and blood thirsty man shall not live out half his days: all such are at least accessary to their own deaths.  
Secondly, All luxurious and intemperate persons, which by surfeiting, drunkenness, and riotous living destroy themselves, fill their bodies with noxious humours, which breed in them mortal diseases, Sur●ets, Fevers, Dropsies, dead Palsies, and the like, by which they shorten their days. The Philosopher observed 〈◊〉 long ago, That Plures gulâ quam gladio: There were more died by intemperance, then by the sword.  
Lastly, All quarrelsome Persons, such as are apt to give offence to others, and to provoke others to give offence to them, and so from words they fall to blows, or to challenge one another to fight Duels, in which, both parties are guilty of Murder by the sixth Commandment; and as well he that is killed, as he that killeth, is at least accessary to his own death: In none of these cases can a man say confidently, That the Lord doth take away his soul, he throweth it away himself, and destroyeth himself.  
2. From this the Prophet's request unto the Lord, To take away his soul; we may infer, That though a man may not take away his own soul, yet in some cases, he may make it his Suit to Almighty God, that he would do it: So did old Simeon before mentioned: So did St. Paul, 2 Tim. 4.6. So did Moses Numb 11.15. So did Job, cap. 6.8.9. So did Jeremiah, cap. 20. So did Ionas, Jonah 3.3. So did our Prophet in the Text: I dare not justify, nor excuse all these which I have mentioned in this their request; I suppose that in some of them it proceeded from passion, and impatience, and so it was their infirmity, and blame-worthy; yea, in this our Prophet himself, if there were not in this his request a  submission to the will of God, it could not be excused, but it proceeded from infirmity in him; but this doth not infringe the truth of my inference,  
That in some cases the Saints and Servants of Almighty God, may without sin make it their Suit to him, That he will take away their souls, that is, by death and dissolution, separate them from their bodies.  
First, That so he may be taken out of a wicked world: Oh what a Hell is it to a pious foul to be engaged in a wicked world? For a Lot to live in Sodom: A David in Meshech: It was a far greater mercy which God shown to Enoch, in taking him out of the world from the Flood at hand, then that he shown to Noah in preserving him in it.  
Secondly, In case of long and lasting, sharp and grievous Afflictions: Oh death, how sweet is the●r membrance of thee to the soul that lives in bitterness? I do not think the Lord did impute it for sin to Job, or Jeremy, that they were so weary of their bitter Lives, and did so often wish, That their change might come. Or, that King Edward the sixth did sin, when in his death bedsickness, he prayed so earnestly, Lord take me out of this wretched World. Nor Dr. Hamond, who under the tortures of the Stone, whereof he died, was so often heard to say, Lord, make haste: though I doubt not but in all these, there was employed a tacit submission to the will of God.  
Thirdly, That a man may be taken away fr●m the evil to come: This was a mercy promised to Josiah upon his humiliation, (2 Kings 22.19.20.) as it was the misery of his surviving Son Zedekiah, to see the evil which his Father was taken from, and to suffer in it. Wise men foresee evil to come, in the causes of it, and in the forerunners of it: And the Lord mentions it as a mercy, That he will take them away from those evils: and they may without sin Pray for that mercy, Isay 57.1.  
Fourthly, That they may be freed from the burden of the flesh, and the bondage of corruption inherint in it; that Ground Ivy in the Wall, which will never be plucked out root and branch, till the Wall be thrown down: It was under the sense of this that St. Paul cries out, Rom. 7.24. O wretched man that I am: who shall deliver me from the body of this death? this will never be done, but by the death of this body.  
Fifthly, In extremity of old age, when a man becomes a burden to himself, and others; when he is fallen into those years of which David saith, His life is nothing but labour and sorrow, and the years of which he shall say, I have no pleasure in them: when not only his body grows weak, but his mind also, and his intellectual faculties fail, his understanding weak, his apprehension dull, his memory unfaithful, his affections Childish, and he becomes unserviceable, not able to do that good which he hath done, and should do; when a man becomes thus superannuate, he may doubtless without sin, make it his suit to Almighty God, To take away his soul.   

Use.  
This Meditation is useful to comfort, and to confirm us against the fear of death, either of ourselves, or our friends; why should we make that the object of our fear, which others have made the object of their hope and desire? Holy men, wise men, good men, men that have had a great interest in the world, have been willing to lay down all, and to leave all, and made it their suit, that they might die, in assurance of a change for a better life. To help us to pass through this Gulf with comfort and courage, weigh well but these two things: 

1. What a world we leave behind us, the Terminus à quo.  
2. What a world we have before us, the Terminus ad quem: And these two considerations will make the passage through that medium easy.    
First, For the Terminus à quo, the world we leave behind us, a very sink of sin, a dunghill of uncleanness: 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, The whole World lies in wickedness, as St. John speaks, nothing in it but sin, and sorrow, and travail, and trouble, and malice, and mischief, and that which may well make any wise man out of love with it, and even weary of it: The best things in it which men make most account of, have been weighed to our hands by the wisest of the Sons of Men, and upon the trial found, To be lighter than vanity itself; not only vanity, but vexation of spirit. For first, They are all transitory. Secondly, They are not all satisfactory. Thirdly, All imbittered with so many cross Ingredients, that there is no true contentment in them, nor true comfort to be taken out of them. We could show you examples of the greatest of men, Kings, Emperors, Lords of the world, such as have had as much of the glory of it, and all other worldly good in it, as the world could give or lend; yet have seen so far into the vanity and emptiness of it, as to despise it, to lay down all, and take themselves unto a private and monastical life, which is a death to the world, and the shadow of death itself.  
Secondly, For the Terminus ad quem, Consider what a world (in dying) we are going to, it would require a world of time, and words to describe it; the best description of it is to describe it to be such (for the transcendency of the glory of it) as that it cannot be described, For neither hath the eye seen, nor the ear heard, nor can the heart of Man comprehend the great things that God hath prepared for them that love him, 1 Cor. 2.9. St. Paul shadows it out in part, Heb. 12.22. where he shows the happiness of the Church militant, in their communion with the Church triumphant, thus: But you are come to Mount Zion, and to the City of the living God, the Celestial Jerusalem, and to the company of in●numerable Angels: And to the Assembly and Congregation of the first borne, whose names are Written in Heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just Men made perfect: And to Jesus the Mediator of the new Testament, and to the blood of sprinkling, which speaketh better things than the blood of Abel. Here's a description in part of the Place, and Society which we shall go to, when we shall come to be joined with the Church triumphant in glory; now be you well assured, that all things else there, are suitable to these, which must needs render it transcendently joyous, and glorious. O! if we could but draw the Curtain of Heaven, and look in the Sanctum Sanctorum, to see the joy, and glory that is there, we would never care for this world more, the most precious things in it would be despised in our eyes, our whole life would be nothing, but a Cupio dissolvi, & esse cum Christo: I desire to be dissolved, and to be with Christ; and we would long for the time, when the Lord would take away our soul, that we might be translated thither. I read of one Cleombrotus, that hearing Plato discoursing of the immortality of the soul, and the happiness of the other life to come, Threw himself headlong off from a high Rock to quit himself of this life, that so he might enter into that other life, that Plato so much commended: And if a Heathen man could be so sensible of advantaging himself by his change into the other life, upon those weak grounds which Plato's Philosophy could give, as to hasten his own death upon the hope of it: Surely we that are Christians, and have better grounds to build our faith and hope upon, than any Plato's Philosophy could give; may with much more Comfort think on Death, with much more hope and confidence wait for it: and when it comes, bid it welcome, as our friend that comes to free our soul out of the prison of the body, the sole impediment of its perfection, and to open the door to let us into a better world, and into a better life. Thus of the Person to whom he makes his suit, The Lord.  
2. Now we are to consider of the Act, Take away my soul. How doth the Lord take away souls?  
Not by annihilation, or reducing them to nothing, as at the first Creation: Nor by laying them a sleep together with their bodies, till the Resurrection, the Opinion of the Arabians: Nor by a Metempsuchosis, transmitting them into some other body, to inform them: Nor by fixing them, as Stars in the Firmament: Nor by sending them into purgatory, as the Papists teach: But thou that gavest it me, take it unto thyself, either by thine own immediate power and grace, who art a Spirit, and the God of the spirits of all flesh; or by the Ministry of thy good Angels, let them be ready to receive it, at the parting of it out of my body, as they did the soul of Lazarus, and to carry it up to rest and glory: Thus, Lord take away my soul.  
From hence, note first, That our souls are immortal, they die not with the body; but when the body at the dissolution returns to the earth, from whence it was taken the soul returns to God that gave it: All the expressions of holy men dying, imports as much: Lord Jesus receive my spirit, saith St. Stephen. Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit, saith our Saviour: Lord take away soul, saith our Prophet; all expressing their faith in this truth, That their souls were immortal. Fear not them that can kill the body, and are not able to kill the soul, saith our Saviour: So then, the soul cannot be killed. Our blessed Lord disputing with the Sadduces concerning the Resurrection, Mat. 22. tells them out of the Scriptures, That God was the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, who were dead and buried a thousand years before; and from thence concludeth, the immortality of the soul, inasmuch, as God was not the God of who dead, but of the living, ver. 32. their spirits did never die, their souls were still alive, and in being, and he was their God.  
Uses. First, It is of Use to quiet our spirits, and to satisfy our minds, sometimes troubled upon the consideration of the perplexities of Providence, in the cross dispensation of evil and good, to the good and the evil here in this world; the unravelling of this Clue, of the souls immortality from the beginning to the end, will guide us through this Labyrinth, so that in the end, we shall say, The ways of the Lord are right: when a day shall come, when it shall be said to the Epicures of this world, which have had their portion in this life, as in Luke 16.25. Son, Rentember you have had your pleasure in your life time, and my servants received pain: now they are comforted, and you are tormented.  
2. This Meditation is of Use to comfort, and to confirm us against the fear of death, either our own, or our friends, inasmuch, as believing in the Lord, me shall live, though we die: And he that liveth, and believeth in him, shall never die eternally: Indeed, we shall not die at all, totally; for though we lay down our bodies into the earth to sleep; yet our spirits shall not die at all, but being delivered from the burden of the flesh, shall live with the Lord, and be translated into a state of joy and felicity, Et meliore sui parte superstes● erit, The better part is still living, and therefore the Scripture will hardly call it a death, but a Sleep, a Change, a Dissolution, a Departure, a Translation.  
3. It is of use for the contempt of this world, in which we have no surer footing, and of the best things of this world, of which we have no better hold, nor longer enjoyment, but for this short & uncertain life.  
4. This Meditation of the immortality of the soul, is of special use, to teach and to admonish to prepare, and to provide for that our future condition, to lay up for ourselves treasure in Heaven, that we may have something to take to, when we come into the other world, when we shall leave this, and all that we have in it behind us, to make us friends of the Mammon of iniquity, that when time comes, they may receive us into the everlasting habitations, to lay here a good soundation against the time to come, that seeing our fouls are immortal, and shall have an eternal being, it may be in well being; that seeing they shall live eternally, it may be in bliss and happiness, now is the time to provide for it: O how miscrable will be the condition of those souls, which having lost their time here, when this life is ended, shall be swallowed up into eternity, and all that while shall live in woe and misery, in pain and torment, easeless, endless, and remediless? How much better had it been for such if they had never been born? Or being born, that their souls had died with their bodies? or living after them, there had been some period of time wherein they might have been extinguished? But when they must so continue for ever, That the worm shall never die, nor the fire never go out, that they shall continue in torment to all eternity: Who can conceive the misery of it? That word eternity, into what a deep bottomeless gulf doth it swallow up the mind that thinks upon it? Great wonder it is, and a miracle indeed, that a point of such great importance, and high concernment, should be no more heeded and regarded: Some live, as if they had no souls at all; or if they have any, that they are but as the souls of bruits, which perish with their bodies; and well were it with them if they did so: they live, as if they never thought to die, and die, as if they never thought to rise again; they have no hope in their death, nor any care of their immortal souls ever after. To these I say no more but this, Lord have mercy upon their poor miserable souls, they will have time enough hereafter, when it is too late, to see their error, and to repent of this their stupidity and security.  
Secondly, Note here the holy and heavenly expressions of the Saints and Servants of the Lord at their departure out of this life: O Lord, I have waited for thy salvation, saith the Patriarch Jacob upon his death bed, Gen. 49.18. Lord now lettest thou thy servant departed in peace, (said old Simeon, Luke 2.29.) for mine eyes have seen thy salvation. Saint Stephen the holy Martyr, with these words breathed out his soul, Lord Jesus receive my spirit, Acts 7.59. Our Lord himself upon the Cross, giving up the ghost, with these words breathed his last, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit, (Luke 23.46.) in sense the same with the Prophet in the Text, Lord take away my soul. With such holy expressions as these, did holy Men dying take their leave of the World, and breathe out their spirits. I could instance in many more, Bishops, Martyrs, Confessors, and other holy men and Women dying, some in my own hearing; others in the hearing of other Men, and recorded in the stories of their Lives and Deaths, with the gracious expressions uttered by them in their deathbeds, in words full of faith, full of hope, full of comfort, much to the edification of all that were present; and it is a great advantage to be present with such men, at such a time, for then are they most serious, then are their souls losing from the prison of their bodies, and are prominentes, (as it were looking out before they take their flight) then have they clearer Vision of things than they had before, when they were in the close prison of their bodies, the light breaks in at the chinks, and at the doors and windows opening to let out the soul; then have many of the Saints had rare Discoveries, and Revelations, by which they have Prophesied of things to come; and the words of dying men, are much to be heeded and regarded. But if you would have the Lord to draw near unto you in these ways when you are dying, you must draw near to God in his ways while you are living; You must acquaint yourself with God, and be at peace with him, as Eliphas speaks in Job, cap. 22.21. you must live in communion with him, you must call upon his Name, praise him, and give him thanks, worship him, and do his will, then will he own you; and be merciful to you at that time, and draw near unto you, and have a care of your soul that it shall not miscarry: but he himself will take it away.  
But secondly, If you would have the Lord to take away your soul, you must keep your soul with all diligence, and preserve it pure, and undefiled, that the Lord may own it, and accept it, and place it among the holy souls of his Saints, and his redeemed ones. The Lord our God is a holy God, of pure eyes, which cannot behold any thing that is impure, but with indignation; and there is nothing more odious to him then sin and corruption, nor which renders us more abominable in his sight: Compared therefore to Leprosy, to the Leopard's spots, to menstruous pollution: If therefore our souls shall be presented unto him stained with sin, polluted with uncleanness, defiled with spiritual leprosy of corruption, spotted with noisome lusts and pleasures; Will the Lord look at them? will he own them? will he accept them? Can we desire the Lord, or hope that he will take away such souls? or employ his good Angels to fetch them, as he did to receive the soul of Lazarus and carry it into Abraham's bosom? No, there are other soule-gatherers ready to take away such souls, even those which were employed to fetch away the soul of the covetous rich Man in the Gospel, Luke 12.20. If we would have the Lord to take away our souls, we must present them pure unto him, without spot, and blameless: They must be washed clean in the blood of the Lamb, and cleansed by the sanctifying virtue of the holy Ghost; our Consciences, the highest faculty of the soul, Must be purged from dead works, to serve the living God. We must purge ourselves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit, and grow up in true holiness in the fear of the Lord: The Place which our souls are to go to it holy, the Company holy, the exercises holy, and so must our souls be also, that they may be suitable to all the rest, and then the Lord will take away our souls, and place them amongst them in joy, happiness, and glory. Thus of The Act. The Object follows, [My soul.]  
2. Branch. The soul is the spiritual part of Man, the principal and essential part whereof Man doth consist, the fountain of life, sense, and motion, which by the spirits vital, natural, animal, the souls cursitors running into all the parts of the body, actuates and informs it, and useth it as an Organ or Instrument whereby to perform its several operations. This soul of man is precious in these seven respects.  
First, In respect of the Fountain of it, it proceeds originally from the immediate breathing of God himself: For when God had made Man of the dust of the earth, he breathed into him the breath of life, and Man became a living soul, Gen. 2.7.  
Secondly, In respect of the rare faculties of it, the Understanding, the Will, the Memory, the Affections, Reason, Judgement, Wisdom, Knowledge, Conscience, the highest of all the rest, considered in both the parts of it, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the one, The Treasure; the other, The Souls controuler, etc.  
Thirdly, In respect of the immortality of it, it dies not with the body; but being taken out of the body is preserved unto Eternity.  
Fourthly, In respect of the Image of God once stamped upon it, which though miserably defaced since by the fall, yet not so utterly razed out, but there are goodly lineaments of that Image yet left upon it: Neither is it so irrecoverable, but that by the spirit of grace, and the grace of sanctification, it may be so repaired and renewed, as that the soul may be, and is said still, Thereby to be made partaker of the Divine Nature, 2 Peter 1.4. not in the substance of the Deity; but in holiness, and righteousness, wisdom, knowledge, goodness, love, and light, which are as the beams of the Image of God shining upon it.  
Fifthly, In respect of the purchase of it, It is the price of blood, not of Bulls, and Goats, but of the Divine blood of Jesus Christ our Redeemer, 1 Peter 1.19.  
Sixthly, The pretiousness of souls may appear, by the pains and cost that Satan and his Instruments will be at to gain a soul; they will compass Sea and Land to gain a soul; give a Kingdom for a soul. Mat. 4.8. All the Kingdoms of the world, with the glory of them, Omnia haec tibi dabo, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me, ver. 9  
Seventhly, By the great care that Almighty God hath taken to preserve souls, and to save them from perishing; he hath given his Word to direct them, his Ministers to instruct them, his Sacraments to confirm them, his Spirit to guide them, and his Angels to guard them, and all this to preserve them, and to save them from perishing.  
In all these respects, it appears that souls are precious: Our blessed Lord, which well knew the price of souls, lays one soul in one balance, and the whole world in the other against it; and upon the trial, tells us, That one soul weighs down the whole world in the other scale: What shall it profit a Man to win the whole world, and to lose his foul?   

Use.  
1. It should teach all men to value their souls according to the worth of them, and not to destroy them, nor to pass them away so carelessly, and inconsiderately, as ordinarily men do to their eternal undoing: Some desperately wound them to death, by desperate, wilful, and presumptuous sins: Heale my soul, for I have sinned against thee: implying, that by sin he had wounded it: Some sell their souls, and that for trifles, that are worth nothing; for pleasures of sin, which are but for a season; for treasures of wickedness, which profit nothing; for satisfying some sinful lusts, which are worse than nothing: Some give away their souls for nought, for sins in which there is neither pleasure, nor profit; as Cursing, Swearing, idle and lewd Communication, and the like, these make the worst bargains of all: Others pawn their souls, they will give themselves liberty to walk in the sight of their own eyes, and in the ways of their own heart, and to serve their lusts but for such a time, and then they will take up, and repent, and recover themselves, and their souls again, as if it were in their own will, and power, to come in when they will: All these make ill bargains, and pass away their precious souls for a thing of nought, which all the Kingdoms of the world cannot buy again: We see this, we hear it, and we condemn them for it; yet are there daily amongst us that are guilty of the same folly, and by Covetousness, Voluptuousness, Ambition, Malice, Perjury, and the like, sell themselves, and their souls for less, and pass them away upon worse terms than they have done: Adam sold himself for an Apple: Esau for a Mess of Pottage: Achan for a Wedge of Gold: Ahab for a Vineyard: Judas for thirty pieces of silver. How many are there to be found amongst us which for less matters will lie, will swear, will forswear, will steal, deceive, cheat, and cousin, and what not? That to satisfy their base, sinful, and unreasonable lusts, and humours, will part with a good Conscience, forfeit the favour of God, their hope of Heaven, their interest in Christ, and in the Gospel, sell themselves, and souls, and all for less than a Mess of Pottage. The resolution of Balaam was good and honest, just and religious, if he had kept it as well, Numb. 24.13. If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I would not go beyond the Word of the Lord, to do more or less: Let it be the resolution of every soul, and God give us grace and power to keep it.  
2. Are souls so precious? Then let us look to them carefully, preserve them charily, as we would do our chiefest Jewels; Keep thy soul with all diligence, examine the state of it, see it want nothing of that which should be for the happiness, and the prosperity of it: Our care is much for the body, What shall we eat, what shall we drink, wherewithal shall we be clothed? in the mean while the soul is neglected, set by, and lest looked after; but as our Saviour says in a like case, Mat. 6.25. Is not the body better than the raiment? So say I, Is not the soul better than the body? Is there any comparison between the Jewel and the Cabinet that it is laid up in? It was Martha's reproof, That she cared for many things more than she needed: And for the one thing that was more necessary, less. It is our just reproof in this case; We inquire after the health and welfare of our friends, and after their prosperity, how they thrive in this world; but without any regard to their spiritual estate, and the welfare and prosperity of their souls. St. John, in his Epistle to Gaius, with a more spiritual salutation, hath a more special eye to the prosperity of his soul; Beloved, I wish chief that thou do prosper, as thy soul prospereth, 3 John 1.2. David did more rejoice in the good the Lord had done for his soul, then for all the good he had done to him, and for him in his body, in his estate, or in any other his relations: Harken to me (saith he) all you that fear God, and I will tell you what the Lord hath done for my soul: The Lord had done great things for him otherwise, and he could have given them a large narrative of them; but in his remembrance of his great favours to him, he passes by all these, and mentions the other, as far greater than all the rest, I will tell you what the Lord hath done for my soul: So the care of all those holy men dying, which I have mentioned, was chief for the safety of their souls, Lord Jesus receive my spirit, Acts 7.59. Father into thy hands I commend my spirit. And in the Text, Lord take away my soul: Though the bodies of the Saints dying, are not to be neglected, but decently to be interred, as in hope and expectation of a blessed Resurrection, as the body of St. Stephen was, and the body of our blessed Lord; yet the care they had of their souls, swallowed up all the care of their bodies, so that it is not so much as mentioned by them, nor by our Prophet in the Text, but only his soul, Lord take away my soul.  
3. Are souls so precious? Then this is a severe admonition to us (that have undertaken, Curam animarum, the care of souls) to look well to our charge, as such as must give an account of the greatest trust in the world, even the souls of God's people committed to our charge. I cannot but tremble, when I read St. Paul giving up his account to God, to his Peoplae, and to his own Conscience in this matter, Acts 20.26. I am free from the blood of all Men. What blood doth St. Paul here speak of? he was no Sword Man, there was no fear of his shedding any man's blood by violence: How comes he to clear himself from blood? (Bel.) the blood here meant is more precious than the life-blood of man can be, it is the blood of souls: implying, That if he had not faithfully, and conscionably performed the duties of his Pastoral charge amongst them, he had been guilty of the blood of souls. Oh let this sink deep into our hearts, that we may not become guilty of the blood of souls: How earnestly ought we to endeavour the salvation of our people, as of ourselves? and at the hour of death to Pray, That the Lord would be merciful to them, and take away their souls.  
Quest. But here now ariseth a great question, a grand inquiry, not without great caution and sobriety to be resolved, Touching the state of souls separated, and taken out of the body, What becomes of them afterward? Whether upon their separation they do presently enter into that state in which they are to remain, and continue during this vast space of Eternity, without all change or alteration of their condition?  
Ans. I answer no; For the soul of man from the time of its first being in him, whether by Creation, or by infusion, or by traduction generation I dispute not; nor of the praeexistence of it before, an Opinion that hath great Patrons too, especially among the Philosophers, the Gymnosophists of Egypt, the brahmin's of India, the Magis of Persia, and the Jewish Cabalists, and among them, some Christians also, Origen for one; but I wave that dispute too: But I date my discourse from the souls first being in the body, from that beginning it passes its immortality under three conditions, or a threefold estate, every one of them different from other. The first is the state of the foul during the time of its being in the body, which it doth actuate and inform. The second is the state of it between the time of the separation of it from the body, by dissolution, and there union of it again with the body at the Resurrection, & the day of Judgement. And the third is from that day to Eternity, and for ever after: That these three states of the soul are different one from the other is evident enough: Of the first of these we have experience in this life, while our souls are in our bodies, which are given unto us to actuate, and inform them, and to use them as Organs, or Instruments for glorifying God by them, and doing good: Glorify God in your bodies, and in your spirits, for they are his, 1 Cor. 6.20. this is done, by giving up the faculties of the one, and the parts of the other: Not as members of unrighteousness to unrighteousness, but as instruments of righteousness unto holiness, and accordingly as we have so done, shall we give an account unto God, in the day of account: For we must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ, to render an account for the things done in the body, whether they be good or evil, 1 Cor. 5.15. Therefore now is the time of working, now is the time of doing ourselves good, now is the time of laying a good foundation for the time to come, now is the time of laying up that, which may be for the furtherance of our account then; now in this first estate of the soul, while it is in the body, must we provide for the well-being of it in the second estate, and in the third, and to Eternity: Now as this first estate of the soul in the body is different from the second estate of it, as it is separated from the body; so is that second estate of it out of the body different from the third estate of it, when it shall be reunited to the body again, and put into that estate in which it shall remain for ever, and to all Eternity. It is the general Opinion of men, but withal, a general mistake, That as soon as ever the soul is separated from the body, it passes immediately into that estate either of joy & glory, or of misery and torment, in which it shall remain for ever, without any alteration. True it is, That at the separation of the soul from the body, there is a particular judgement passes upon it, by which it is made known to it, what shall become of it Eternally, and is presently put into the beginnings, either of the one, or the other, and into a state previous to that third estate, in which it is to remain for ever, without alteration: but that either the souls of wicked men are immediately upon their separation from the body cast into that extremity of misery and torment which is prepared for them: Or that the souls of the just do then pass into that height of joy and glory which God hath prepared for them, I do confidently deny, and shall prove the contrary in both the parts of it. And first for the souls of wicked men, that they are not upon their separation from the body cast into that extremity of torment which is prepared for them: I prove by an Argument à Majori, thus: The very Devils themselves are not yet cast into that extremity of torment that they are condemned unto. Therefore the souls of wicked men are not immediately upon their separation cast into those torments.  
The Consequence of this Argument is clear, for no man will judge the state of wicked men to be worse than the state of Devils. The Antecedent I prove by two clear testimonies of Scripture; The first out of St. Mat. 8.29. where those fierce Devils which had possessed two men among the Gergesens, seeing Christ coming towards them, are stricken with terror at his presence, and cry out, What have we to do with thee, Jesus thou Son of God? Art thou come to torment us before the time? They knew they were condemned to torment, but there was a time set when they should be cast into it, but that time was not yet come; and therefore seeing him coming towards them, they cry out against him, as if he came to antedate their misery, by casting them into it before the time, Art thou come to torment us before the time? The other proof is both a confirmation of the truth in hand, and an illustration of this Text: It is in the Epistle of Judas, ver. 6. The Angels also which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in chains of darkness, unto the Judgement of the great day; where you have the time when they shall be cast into that extremity of torment unto which they are condemned, at the judgement of the great day; and the estate that they are in, in the mean time, they are reserved in chains of darkness, the chains noting, the safe keeping and securing of them, that thus can no ways make their escape: And the darkness, noting their dismal and uncomfortable condition all that while: They are reserved in chains of darkness, unto the Judgement of the great day; an expression borrowed from the state of condemned prisoners, which after they are condemned, are secured in chains or fetters, and cast into the dungeon, and there reserved unto the day of Execution. And this is a sufficient proof of the truth of this assertion in the first part of it, as touching the souls of wicked men, That the state of their souls, from the day of their separation from their bodies, until the day of Judgement, is not the same that it shall be after that day, though it be a woeful estate too, as will farther appear in the sequel of this discourse. We are now to make good this Proposition in the other part of it, Concerning the souls of the just, that they enter not presently upon their dissolution into the fullness of joy and glory intended them, and prepared for them. And for that I allege, Rev. 6.9.10.11. where at the opening of the fifth Seal, St. John sees under the Altar, the souls of them that were killed for the Word of God, and for the testimony which they maintained. And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long Lord, how long, holy and true, dost thou not Judge, and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the Earth? And long white robes were given to every one, and it was said unto them, that they should rest for a little season, until their fellow servants, and their brethren that should be killed, (even as they were) were fulfilled. This Scripture makes for our purpose all along; For first, Who are they that here complain? the Text says, They were Martyrs, and those are Saints of the first lift; and if their souls were not received into the fullness of joy and happiness at their dissolution, what souls are? But that they were not, it appears, First, By their complaint, How Long Lord? how long? Secondly, By the answer given unto them, persuading still to wait for a season, and to possess their souls with patience, till the rest of the number of their brethren were accomplished, without whom they could not be made perfect, and that could not be till the Resurrection, and the General Judgement at the great day. Aquinas doth excellently describe Summum bonum or the highest felicity to be, Quies Mentis; or Acquiescentia Mentis in ultimo fine; the rest, or acquiescence of the mind in the last end, beyond which nothing can be desired to make it more happy: But those souls which yet cry, How long Lord? how long? do declare, That they have not yet attained their ultimate end; and therefore they do not perfectly acquiesce, but are in expectation of a farther degree of fuller happiness yet to be given unto them. And thus I have made good this Proposition, in both the Parts, That the souls separated from the body by Death, are not in the same state from the time of their separation, to the time of their reunion again at the day of Judgement, that they shall be in, after that day, to all eternity.  
But then, me thinks I hear you ask me, In what state are they then during that time? Where are they? Or what becomes of them?  
And to this Quaerie, I shall endeavour to satisfy you too, and that, Ad parts, to both the parts of it, both as it concerns the souls of the just, and the souls of the unjust and wicked men. And first, as to the souls of wicked men; If you ask me where? or in what state they are? I answer, They are in the same state, and in the same places that the evil Angels are in, and what that was, you heard even now out of Judas 6. they are secured in prison, they are with them reserved in chains unto the judgement of the great day. For proof of this, take these two Scriptures; the first in 1 Pet. 3.19. The second in Luke 12.20. In the first, St. Peter speaking of the death of Christ, saith thus, ver. 18. Christ also suffered for sinners, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, who was put to death as concerning the flesh, but was quickened in the Spirit. By which spirit also, he went and Preached to the spirits in prison, v. 19 If ye ask, What spirits? he tells you, ver. 20. Those spirits which in time past were disobedient: In what time? In the times of Noah, and before the Flood, for so it followeth; When once the long suffering of God abode in the days of Noah, while the Ark was preparing: wherein few, that is, eight persons were saved from perishing in the waters. There you have St. Peter plainly interpreting himself, that the spirits here mentioned, are the spirits of the sinners of the old world, which perished in the Flood, but their spirits perished not, neither were they presently sent to the Lake of everlasting Burn, but they are secured in Prison, as the evil Angels are, and so reserved unto the Judgement of the great day. That place in St Luke, speaks the same thing, where the Voice is heard speaking to the secure Epicure, singing a requiem to his own soul, Soul, take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry, thou hast goods laid up for many years: Alas! he dreams of many years, when he hath not many hours to live: Stulte hac nocte, Thou fool, this night shall they fetch away thy soul: than whose shall these things be? Nay, Whose shalt thou be? This night shall they fetch away thy soul: Which they? The evil Angels. When good men die, the good Angels are ready to receive their souls, as they did the soul of Lazarus, Luke 16. and carry them into Abraham's bosom. But when wicked men die, the evil Angels fetch away their souls, Thou fool, this night shall they fetch away thy soul: And whither (think you) were they to carry it? but to their own Quarters, to those Prisons in which themselves are secured, as in chains unto the judgement of the great day.  
But then here ariseth another Question, What those Prisons are? Or, Where it is, that they are secured unto that day?  
And to this I Answer. There are three vast, large, and spacious Prisons, in which the evil Angels are secured, and with them the souls of wicked men, unto the Judgement of the great day. And they are, 

1. The Air.  
2. The Earth.  
3. The Sea.    
First, The Air, with all the several Regions of it, into which the Apostate Angels were banished: When for their rebellion against their Creator, they were expelled out of Heaven. For this, see St. Paul, in his Epistle to the Ephesians, cap. 6.12. You wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against Principalities and Powers, and spiritual wickednesses in high places: And what? or who are those spiritual wickednesses, but those evil spirits? And what are those high places, but the Regions of the Air? And therefore is the Principal of the Devils, called, The Prince that ruleth in the Air; for even amongst them there is Order, and subordination: We read of a Prince among Devils, Ephes. 2.2.  
The second of those Prisons, is, The Earth; and therein first, The vast and howling Wildernesses, and Places uninhabited, where no foot doth tread, but where Ostriches do dwell, where Ziim doth boade, and the Satyr's dance.  
Secondly, The vast caverns and concavities within the earth, amongst which the hollow mountains of Aetna, Veswius, and in Ireland that hollow vault, called, Saint Patriarches Purgatory, famous in story: But in America many such, and more evident dens of Daemons: But above all these, the vast hollowness in the very heart, and Centre of the Earth; for who knows what vast and spacious receptacles there may be for such spirits? It is not unreasonable, nor against any Article of Faith, or of Scripture to conceive, That there is in the very heart and Centre of the Earth, such a vast hollowness, both for a fit receptacle for such spirits, and by which that vast and weighty body is buoyed up that it sink not any way towards the Circumference on any side, though no way supported, neither by Posts, nor Pillars. What is it that sustains the vast and weighty Ships in the Sea, with all the Anchors, Ordnance, and Fraught in them, but the hollowness of them? What is it that sustains the Clouds in the Air, infinitely greater, and more weighty than they, so as they fly to and fro, but as bottles in the Air, as Job speaks, or like bladders full of wind, that they fall not down in great dashes, enough to make another Deluge, but the hollowness of them? That such a hollowness there is in them, appears by the Lightning, the Thunder, and the Thunderbolts, and the spiritual vapour that proceeds out of them, when they break of such force, that it penetrates, and burns, and breaks, and tears in pieces all that it lights upon: And who can deny, but it is agreeable to reason, that there may be such a hollowness in the heart of the earth, whereby it may, by the power and providence of the Creator, be sustained in the place which he hath appointed for it; and also be a fit receptacle of evil spirits, where they may be secured as in a Prison, and reserved unto the Judgement of the great day. In the Apostolical Creed, we profess to believe, That Christ descended into Hell. And St. Paul tells us, He descended 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, into the lower parts of the Earth: This cannot be understood of the descent of his body by his burial, that scarce went into the Earth at all, but was laid in the Sepulchre which Joseph of Arimathea had made for himself in his Garden, which was above the ground, or, at least, the most part of it, if any part at all of it were under, or within the ground, it was not so low, as that we may say of it, It was in the lower parts of the Earth. How then will you understand this Article of our Lord's descent into Hell, except you understand it of his Soul, and of his Spirit? And where will you find this Hell more agreeable to Scripture, and Reason, then as I have described it? and that by his Spirit, he went to Preach to the spirits in prison there.  
The third vast Prison wherein the evil Angels are secured unto the day of the general Judgement, is, The Sea; for there are Sea Spirits, as well as Land Spirits, or Aerial Spirits. When the Disciples, being in a Ship, saw Christ coming towards them walking upon the Sea, the Text says, They were troubled, and thought they had seen a Spirit, Mat. 14.26. whereby it appears, That there were Spirits that did appear in the Sea, as well as on the Land. And in St. Matthew 8. we read, That the Devils being cast out of the man which they had possessed, entered into an Herd of Swine, and carried them headlong into the Sea: by which it seems, there was their abode. And in Mark 5. which by many circumstances seem not to be the same story, with this of St. Matthew: we read, Of a whole legion of Devils, entering into a Herd of no less than two thousand Swine, and carrying them with great violence into the Sea: these were Sea Spirits, whose abode was in the Sea, which is the third Prison wherein these evil Angels are secured, and confined unto the Judgement of the great day, and with them, the souls of wicked men, both to be brought in, and judged at that general Assizes, which though they be not till then cast into the Lake of everlasting burn; yet is their condition in the mean time woeful, and miserable: 'Tis miserable to consider how wilfully they have forsaken their own mercy, and what opportunity they have lost of preventing this their misery, never to be recovered, nor recalled: 'Tis miserable to lie in Prison, in such a Prison, and for such Crimes of which they know themselves they shall be found guilty at that day, and condemned to suffer the vengeance of everlasting sire: 'Tis miserable to see Hell open before them, and ready to receive them: 'Tis miserable in the mean time to lie under the wrath of the Almighty, and under the torments of a wounded soul: Yet neither are the torments of the souls of wicked men, during this time of their separation from their bodies all equal; as neither shall they be after the general Judgement, as shall be showed in the sequel of this Treatise; but in the mean while, (having showed you the state of the souls of wicked men) It now rests that I should show you, What is the state of the souls of just men, from the time of their separation from their bodies, till the time of their reunion again with their bodies at the day of the Resurrection.  
And in answering to this inquiry, the Scripture gives us some light in four expressions; When the body returns to dust from whence 'twas taken, the spirit returns to God that gave it, saith Soloman, Eccles. 12.7. The Angels receive it, and carry it into Abraham's bosom, saith St. Luke, cap. 16.22. It is laid under the Altar, saith St. John, Rev. 6.9. It is carried into Paradise, saith our Saviour to the penitent thief upon the Cross, Luke 23.43. All these are most comfortable, and heavenly expressions, setting forth the blessed and happy estate of the souls of the just which they enter into, when they are delivered from the burden of the flesh, the great impediment of their perfection; yet they do not all amount to this, That upon their separation they pass into the highest Heaven, and into the fruition of the immediate vision of God, and that fullness of joy and glory, that they shall enter into at the last day, when it shall be said unto them, Come ye blessed of my Father, enter into the inheritance of the Kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world. For we cannot imagine that these words are spoken only in reference to the bodies, then newly raised out of their graves; but to the whole man, body and soul united together, and so to the entire persons of them, Come ye blessed, enter into the Kingdom. For that of Solomon, That the soul returns to God that gave it, it is true; that is, It is taken up into the higher Heavens, and is in nearer communion with God than it was before, it is admitted nearer into his presence, it is taken into his more immediate care to dispose of it, in a place and state of bliss and felicity, of joy and glory, even presently upon the separation of it from the body: For that of Saint Luke, That the Angels received the soul of Lazarus: the meaning is, That he was gathered unto the rest of the faithful, of which Abraham is said to be the Father, and carried to a place of rest, intimated by Abraham's bosom: Sinus Patriarcharum recessus, quidam est quietis aeternae, Ambr. For that of St. John Rev. 6. Where he sees the souls of the Martyrs under the Altar: the meaning is, That they were in a place of security, where no evil should touch them, as in the third of the book of Wisdom, The souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, and no evil shall touch them, v. 1. The Altar was an Asylum, a place of refuge and protection, 1 Kings 2.28. The souls of these Martyrs were seen under the Altar, to intimate their security, their safety, no evil might touch them.  
As to that saying of our Lord, to the penitent thief upon the Cross, This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise: I give these two answers. First, That Paradise is not so limited to the highest Heaven, where the Throne of God is, but that it may comprehend some other place adjacent to it, where he might be in joy and felicity with Christ, who as to his Divine Nature is every where; the word signifieth, A place of pleasure: and such are the places assigned to be the receptacles of the souls of the just, when they are separated from their bodies. I answer secondly, That for the souls of Enoch before the Law, and of Elijah under the Law, and of this penitent thief under the Gospel: I do not deny, but they might have special privilege in the translation of them, that the Lord in their examples might give good assurance to all believers, and to all the just that ever have, or shall live in any Age of the World, whether before the Law, under the Law, or since the Law, as well of their ascension, and glorification, as of their resurrection: As to this penitent thief in particular, dying with him upon the Cross, that he might show a specimen of the power of his death, in saving, justifying, and glorifying penitent sinners, though never so great offenders; but then we must remember withal, that these were peculiar privileges of singular persons: And, Privilegia sunt paucorum, the Civil Law will tell us, That Privileges are the portion but of few: This doth not weaken the truth of my ascertion, That the souls of just men dying, do not immediately upon the separation of them from the body, pass into the highest Heaven, nor to the highest glory, nor to that fullness of joy, which they shall enter into at the Resurrection, when they shall be reunited to their bodies, and so both together shall be taken into the everlasting habitations, and shall stand in the presence of God, and enjoy the beatifical Vision, in whose light they shall see light, when they shall see God face to face, in whose presence is fullness of joy, and at whose right hand there are pleasures for evermore. This the Royal Prophet by his spirit of Prophecy foresaw long ago, and rejoiced under the hope of it, Psal 17.15. I shall behold thy face in righteousness: and when I awake, I shall be satisfied with thy Image: When I awake, that is, in the morning of the Resurrection, than I shall be satisfied with thine Image, then, and not till then, shall I be fully satisfied with thine Image.  
But then here ariseth another Question, as there did of the souls of wicked men, Where are the souls of the just in the mean while, between the time of their separation from the body by death, and the reunion of them with the body at the Resurrection? Where are they? What becomes of them? In what state and condition have they their being? What is their employment? What is their enjoyments? To all these four Queries, I shall endeavour to give you some satisfaction, as touching the Place, the State, the employment, and the enjoyments of souls separated.  
And as to the first of these, The place of the souls separation. I shall not send you to the Elysan fields of the ancient Poets to seek them: Nor to the Gardens nor Orchards of the Hesperides: Nor to the Mahometan Paradises; all these conceived and believed, That the souls of virtuous and just men, as soon as they were separated from the body, did pass into some place of rest and joy, wherein they were not deceived; but for want of a more distinct knowledge of the Place where they had their being, and their state in it, they set it forth by comparing it to the being in those places which they conceived to be most happy, pleasant, and joyous. But certainly, that which is most agreeable to reason in this case, and is no way repugnant to any Article of Faith, nor to any discovery in Scripture made to the contrary, is this, That the souls of the just being separated from the bodies, do pass into those high Heavens which are above the Starry Firmament, as the souls of wicked men do pass into the Regions of the Air below it. For that there are Heavens above the Starry Firmament, it cannot be denied: two we read of before we come to the Empyrean Heavens, where the Throne of God is, and where the Lord of Hosts, with all his holy Angels keeps his Court in Majesty and Glory: The lower-most of these is called, Caelum aqueum, The watery Heaven, from the clearness, and the transparancy of it: The other above that is called, Caelum Crystallinum, The Crystal Heaven, from the purity, and the pellucidity of it, for still the higher the Heavens are, and the nearer they approach to the Empyrean Heaven, where the Throne of God is, the more glorious are they, and the more noble the Inhabitants of them. Now between every of these Heavens, there is a vast space of infinite capacity; and it must needs be so, by reason of the greatness of their circumference, the least and lowest of them is of greater capacity and comprehension, than all this space that is between the Earth and the Starry Firmament, and the rest greater than it proportionably. Now I would ask, Of what use these vast and comprehensive Heavens are, if this be not one, to be the receptacle of the souls of the just, when they are taken out of their bodies? Natura nihil facit frustrà, The God of Nature, the Creator of all things, hath made nothing in vain: There is no part of the world which he hath made, but he hath stored, and stocked it with Inhabitants suitable to it: The Earth he hath stored and stocked with Beasts and Cattles; the Sea with Fishes, the Air with Fowl, and with Aerial Inhabitants; every of the Spheres above it, with Stars and Planets, which by their light, hear, influence, and motion divide the times, and Govern this inferior world: The Starry Firmament that is spread out as a veil between this inferior, and the superior world, between these lower and the higher Heavens, it is peopled (as it were) with innumerable Golden Stars of several magnitudes, specious to behold, and precious for their use and influence: The Empyrean Heavens, the highest of all the rest, is stored and Inhabited with Angels, and archangels, Cherubims, and Seraphims, and the other Orders of those Heavenly Courtiers that stand in the presence of God, waiting his pleasure, and ready to execute his will, and to fulfil his Word: Thus the whole Universe is replenished with Inhabitants suitable to the places which the Great Creator and high disposer of all things hath appointed for them. And do these beautiful Heavens, the Aqueall and Crystalline Heavens, so specious, and so spacious between the Starry Firmament and the Empyrean Heaven, stand void and empty without Inhabitants? No, it cannot be, but they have their Inhabitants too, and they are the souls of the Just, when they are separated from their bodies by death and dissolution, who being next unto the Angels in holiness, are placed in receptacles next unto them in glory. The Crystalline Heaven next and immediately under the Empyrean Heaven; and the Aqueall, or Watery Heaven next immediately under it; and as they have atteined to the degrees of purity here in this life, so are they disposed of into the one, or into the other of them, nearer or farther off from the Throne of glory; for as after the Resurrection, there shall be several and different degrees of glory; so in this state of separation, the souls separated, shall be in several and different degrees of joy and happiness, according as they are prepared for it, and have atteined to several degrees of holiness and purity in this life, while they were in the body.  
Secondly, If you inquire into the state of those souls separated, it must needs be blessed and glorious, suitable to the glory of those Heavens wherein they are? Where first, They are delivered from the burden of the Flesh, the body, the very prison wherein they were detained, and sole impediment of their perfection. Secondly, They are freed from all sin, and sorrow, concupiscence and corruption, from all temptations and solicitations from the world, the devil, and the flesh, and from all the evil of this lower world which they have left behind them; and which now, As that glorious Woman, Rev. 12.1. they trample under their feet, all tears are wiped from their eyes, all sorrow, and grief, and pain are flown away, they died in the Lord, they are blessed, they rest from their labours, and so they are in Abraham's bosom. They are in the hand of God, as Solomon speaks, Wisdom 3.1. so that no evil shall touch them; they are got above the reach of the malice of men or Devils, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 (as the Greek Proverb hath it) out of the danger of the dart: And so their state agrees with that which St. John says of them, Rev. 6. That he saw them under the Altar; yet all this is but their privative happiness, consisting in their freedom from all evil, and their security from all danger; but they are in present possession of a positive blessedness too in a great measure, and high degree of present joy and glory: Their very employment is a part of their blessedness, which is no less than Angelical, to laud, and praise, and magnify the living Lord, to sing Hosanna to Hosannah's in the highest, and Hallelujahs to him that sitteth upon the Throne; to admire the glory, and the greatness, and the goodness, and the power, and the holiness of the mighty Lord God, of which they have now a clearer sight and apprehension then before; and in particular, his singular, and unspeakable grace and goodness unto them, which hath done such great things for them, as to bring them thither to triumph in the apprehension of it, and to rejoice and glory in the sense of it. I know not whether I should rather rank these things under their employments, or their enjoyments, they are blessed duties which are both: With what sweet contentation, and self satisfaction do they converse together in pure love and light? With what joy and comfort can they now remember the difficulties, and the dangers which they have passed through in their coming thither? What temptations? what afflictions they have met withal? What strong corruptions they have wrestled with? What importunate lusts they have denied and subdued? What solicitations from the World, from the Flesh, and from the Devil, they have resisted and rejected, and how now they bless themselves that they have done so, and God that gave them grace and strength to do it? With what joy and praise do they congratulate one another in their happy victories over sin and Satan, Death and Hell, and all the enemies of their salvation, and in their safe passage through all the dangers and difficulties that stood between them and Heaven; and that having escaped all the corruption that is in the world through Lust, they are at length arrived to the Place where they would, even to the top of Mount Zion, the Place of their rest and joy, where now they are taken into nearer Communion with God, than they could be, before they have more clear manifestation of him, sweet influences from him, and union with him; they converse with Angels, congratulating them in their happiness, and with Euges of joy and praise, wellcoming them into those Heavens, the habitations of their happiness, the Paradise of their joy and glory. And now, their Charity invites them to Pray for the whole estate of Christ's Church militant here on Earth, That the Lord would guide them, and keep them in the way of Truth, that he would bring them safe through all the dangers and difficulties that stand in the way between them and Heaven; that the Gospel may have free passage through the world; that it may run, prosper, and be glorious; that by it, he would call in all that are yet uncalled; that he would shortly accomplish the number of his elect, and hasten his Kingdom; that they with them, and all others that shall departed out of this life in the faith and fear of his holy Name, may have their perfect consummation, and bliss, both in body and soul in his eternal and everlasting glory:  
Which is the third estate, in which immortal souls do pass their immortality, which gins from the day of the general Judgement, and lasts from thence to all eternity.  
Of which, though we had the Tongue of Men, or Angels, it is impossible to speak to the full, and as the subject requires: O Eternity, Eternity, How is the Heart astonished, and the Mind swallowed up, that enters into the thoughts of it! with the state of the just, and the unjust in it; the joy and glory of the one, and the misery and torment of the other: both which being unexpressible, I shall forbear to enter into the description of them, and in stead thereof, only refer you to the words of the sentences at the great day to be given upon them both; the sentence of absolution to the just on the right hand, and of condemnation to the wicked on the left, both which the Judge himself that shall pronounce them, hath told us before hand, and left us in terminis upon record, Mat. 25.  
And first, The sentence of absolution, because that shall be first pronounc'c, that the wicked on the left hand may see Heaven opened, and have a sight of the joy and glory of the Celestial Paradise, and see the just taken into it, and set down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven, and themselves cast out; that they may see what happiness they have lost, by wilfully forsaking their own mercy, and putting from them the Kingdom of Heaven offered unto them; and what happiness, joy, and glory the servants of God are arrived unto, whom they despised, to the greater aggravation of their sorrow and misery: Therefore shall the sentence of Absolution be first pronounced in these comfortable words, Come ye blessed of my Father, enter into the Inheritance of the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: Every word carries in it life and glory: Come ye blessed ones, take possession of a Kingdom; Who? and what are we, that the Lord should do so much for us (may they well say) as to give us a Kingdom? That's the day of which St. Paul writing to the Thessalonians, tells them, Jesus Christ shall be admired in all them that believe, 2 Thes. 1.10. not only by them, but in them, by Men and Angels, to see that the Lord hath exalted his poor, humble, and despicable servants to so high honour, that he hath brought them hitherto: Then shall the righteous shine as the Sun in his brightness, (Wisdom 5.1, 2, 3, 4.) in the Kingdom of their Father.  
After this shall the Judge turn himself to the wicked, on the left hand, and pronounce against them the sentence of condemnation, in these words, Ite maledicti, Go ye cursed into everlasting fire, prepared for the Devil and his Angels: Every word full of death and terror; Go, and go ye cursed, and go into fire, and fire everlasting, and fire prepared, (Isay 30.33.) and prepared for the Devil and his Angels: so these shall go into everlasting torments, and the righteous into life eternal. And this is the third estate of of immortal souls, and in this they shall abide for ever, without alteration, without end. And so I end my Discourse upon this Subject, in which, I may truly say with Moses, I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing, Heaven and Hell, that so you may choose the better, and that you may do it in time, while remedy may be had, That you may live, and not die; that you may be blessed, and not cursed; that your Portion may be in Heaven, and not in Hell, Amen.  
IT tests now, that I should speak something 〈◊〉 the third part of the Text, in these words.   

For I am no better than my Fathers.  
But an intervenient occasion makes me interpose a few Lines for the satisfaction of some, of whom I hear they should say, That in the former Discourse concerning the state of souls separated from their bodies, I Preached New Doctrine; And asked whereunto is was useful? Which exception hath two parts in it: The first, Concerning the newness of it. And the second, Concerning the uselessness of it. To both which I must say something in way of vindication. And as to the first, The newness of it, To pass by all that hath been Written by the Learned Schoolmen, of the Romish persuasion, because they were of the Romish persuasion, (and yet, if we should reject all that is written by the learned of the Romish persuasion, because they were of the Romish persuasion) we shall do ourselves as much wrong as them; but to wave them, I could fill up my Page with the testimonies of Learned, and holy men unexceptionable, which have declared themselves of the same Judgement in this matter, That neither the souls of the just, nor the unjust, do immediately upon the separation of them from the body, 〈…〉 the state of their ternall being, but into a state intermediate, and different from the third state, at least in degree, in which they do remain until the Resurrection, and the general Judgement: The one in Prison, the other in Paradise: The one amongst the evil Angels, the other among the good Angels: The one in the mouth of Hell itself, and in the beginnings of woe and torment in a great degree, and the other in the very entrance into the highest Heaven in bliss and joy, and happiness unspeakable, and glorious. I should make a long business of it here to cite, and to recite the testimonies of the Ancients in this matter; but to save myself and Reader that labour, let me entreat him to consult the Writings of an eminent Divine, well known and approved of in the Evangelicall Churches for Learned and Orthodox, and Professor of Divinity in the University of Lausanna, I mean Bucanus, a man as directly opposite to Purgatory and Popery, as Light is to Darkness, in his Common Places, Loc. 39 under the Title, De Vita aeterna, he proposes this very Question in these words. First of the souls of the faithful;  Anne anunae piorum nunc a corporibus separate perfecta, & tonsummata beatitudine fruantur? 
Whether the souls of the faithful separated from their bodies, do presently enjoy perfect bliss, and consummate happiness.  
Unto which he makes this Answer:  
Satis sit nobis scire illicô à discessu è corpore, spiritum redire ad Deum, qui dedit illum, Eccles. 12.7. Esse cum Christo, Philip. 1.23. In Paradiso, Luke 23.43. In pace, Sapien. 3.3. In requie, Heb. 4.3. In consolation, Luke 16.25. In refrigerio, Sap. 4.7. In securitate, Job 11.15. In manu Dei, ut minime attingit eum cruciatus, Sapien. 3.1. In glorificatione, Wisd. 5.1. Thus Englished:  
Let it be enough for us to know, That presently upon the departure of it out of the body, the spirit returns to God that gave it; that it is with Christ, that it is in Paradise, that it is in Peace, in rest, in comfort, in a place of refreshment, in security, in the hand of God, so that no evil shall touch it; that it is in glory, all glorious expressions, setting forth the happy state of the souls of the Saints which they pass into, presently upon the separation of them from the bodies. But then, mark what follows, he comes in upon all this with an adversitive tamen, notwithstanding, which in answer to the Question here proposed, hath the force of a negative, for thus it followeth;  
Quia tamen resurrectionem corporum expectant, & fruitionem plenissimam omnium bonorum quae Deus promisit diligentibus ipsum, non in perfecta, & jam consummata, sed inchoata beatitudine versari dici possunt. Englished thus:  
Yet notwithstanding, because they expect the resurrection of their bodies, and the most full fruition of all those good things, which God hath promised to them that love him, they may be said to be not in the full fruition of their perfect and consummate happiness, but in the beginning of it, or their happiness inchoated; and begun. Thus Bucanus Com. Loc. 39 pag. 447.  
And for proof of this, he allegeth the same Text of Scripture, that I have done, Rev. 6.9, 10, 11. Vsque quo Domine? How long Lord, how long?  
Aquinas brings in a another Scripture for proof of this truth, 2 Tim. 4.8. From henceforth is laid up for me a Crown of righteousness, which the Lord the righteous Judge shall give unto me at that day. At what day? At the day of his glorious appearing, as it follows in the same Text, When Christ shall appear in flaming fire to render vengeance. 2 Thes. 1.7. When the Son of Man shall come in the Clouds, with power and great glory, and all his holy Angels with him: That's the day of his appearing; at that day shall St. Paul receive his Crown, not before; till then, it is laid up for him. At that day shall those souls under the Altar, before mentioned, receive their Crowns of Martyrdom also; for the present, there were white Robes given to every one of them; but not the Crowns till that day. The same also doth he affirm of the state of the souls of wicked men separated from their bodies; Sic puniri ut etiam reserventur in diem judicii longe aliis asperioribus paenis aeternis, videlicet, in corpore, & anima cruciandi: That they are so punished here, during the time of their separation, that they are also reserved unto the Judgement of the great day, then to be tormented in body and soul with far more sharp and grievous punishments for evermore.  
But if you would see more of Antiquity in these matters, and will be at the pains of it, do but consult Athanasius, in an Epistle of his, cited by Epiphanius, Haeres. 77. and in his Book, De Incarnatione Verbi. St. Cyrill, De r●●ta side ad Theodosium. Oencumenius, and divers others, who in their Expositions of that Text in St. Peter, 1 Pet. 3.19. Who was put to death as concerning the Flesh, but quickened by the Spirit. By which Spirit, he went and Preached to the spirits which are in Prison. We prove first, Christ's descent into Hell; and upon the words following, That he Preached unto the spirits, or souls detained in that Prison. As Saint Judas saith of the evil Angels, That they are in prison, and bound in chains of darkness, reserved unto the judgement of the great day: The evil Angels, and the souls of wicked men, both in the same condition, both secured in Prison, both in chains, both reserved unto the judgement of the great day: And it will follow by the rule of opposites, That if the souls of the Saints and Martyrs be not yet in the fruition of their perfect and consummate happiness; then neither are the souls of wicked men in that exquisite torment, which they are condemned unto, and into which they shall be cast at the judgement of the great day: but that there is an intermediate estate, though that very wretched and miserable, under which they lie, until that day: And, I think, this is sufficiently proved in both the branches of it by Scriptures, strong and clear for it, and by the jugdements of holy and learned men, commenting upon them; and so is a sufficient answer to the first Part of the exception, and enough to free me from Preaching New Doctrine, and to declare that I am not alone in this Opinion, Of the intermediate estate of souls separated from the body, both of the just, and the unjust, nor walk in an untrodden path, where no foot is gone before me.  
The second Part of the exception lies in this, That it is useless: That admitting these tenants be true, yet they are useless: It demands therefore Whereto they are useful? To which I Answer.  
Sol. The knowledge of them is useful to many special purposes; particularly to these:  
First, It is very satisfactory to the mind of every man (I think) that hath a soul, to know the state of it, both present and future; yea, to know as much of it, as is knowable: Knowledge is precious, and a great delight unto the soul; When wisdom entereth into thy heart, and knowledge delighteth thy soul, saith Solomon, Prov, 2.10. So knowledge is a delight unto the soul, and the more high and excellent the object is, about which it is conversant, the more excellent and precious is the knowledge. But what more high and precious object can there be, next unto God, and the Angels, than the spirits and souls of men? What more worthy to take up our most serious thoughts, and diligent studies, than the disquisition of those high things that do concern them? What more satisfactory than the attaining of them in all those things that are knowable.  
Secondly, 'Tis useful for preserving of men against Atheism, that brutish sin, which doth so spread itself in the world, and invaded so great a part of the Sons of men; for though they do not speak out plainly with their Tongues, yet how many of them say in their hearts and lives, There is no God, nor Devil, nor Heaven, nor Hell, nor Angels, nor Spirits, nor souls of Men? and all through their ignorance of this Point, That they cannot satisfy themselves what becomes of the souls of men separated from their bodies, through so long a tract of time as two, three, four, or five thousand years intermediate between the time of their dissolution by Death, and their reunion again at the Resurrection.  
Thirdly, 'Tis useful to confirm men in the assurance of the Immortality of the soul, while it informs them what becomes of it, where it is, and what it does or suffers, where is the place of it, what the state of it, what the employments, what the enjoyments: Concerning all which, being before ignorant, and in the dark, they could not tell what to think of the souls of men, more than of bruits, of which Solomon takes notice, Eccles. 3.20, 21. speaking in their Language, Who knoweth whether the spirit of Man ascend upward? and the spirit of a Beast descend downward? All go to one place, etc. and therefore ran away in their own fancies, and vain imaginations, into divers errors, concerning the souls of men dying; some imagining they were annihilated, and altogether extinguished: Some, that they were laid asleep, as the bodies were, till the Resurrection: Some, that they were transmigrated out of one body into another: Some one thing, some another; in the midst of these doubtful varieties, they began to question, whether there were any difference between the souls of men, and of bruits, as Solomon here intimates; and for want of some more distinct knowledge in this matter, lived at a venture. Against all these errors and evils, the truths here delivered are a sure and sovereign remedy; the vain imaginations in which men ran away in the variety of their own fancies, concerning the extinction, annihilation, sleeping, transmigration, etc. of the souls of men dying, all dye before these truths here delivered, and vanish away, and men's minds are settled and confirmed in the assurance of the immortality of the souls, while they do distinctly inform them, what becomes comes of them, into what receptacles they are received upon their separation, and in what several states they pass their immortality.  
Fourthly, It is useful for admonishing of all men while they are in the body, to take care of their souls, and to provide for their future condition, to preserve them pure, that upon their separation, they may be taken up into those pure habitations, into which no unclean thing may enter, not to defile, or clog them with sin and guilt, whereby they may be pressed down, and hindered in their flight and passage into the higher Heavens, the glorious receptacles appointed for them.  
Fifthly, It is useful for the overthrowing of that Limbus Patrum, Limbus Infantum, and other rooms and spacious places in the Fabric of the Popish Purgatory, which they have erected in their own imaginations for receptacles, wherein they would lodge the souls of men, when they are separated from their bodies, there to remain for a long tract of time in prison, and in pain, till they be sufficiently purged and punished, except there be some extraordinary means used for the relief, or release of them, or for the mitigating of their pain, either first, by a multitude of Masses daily said and sung for them. Or secondly, By the suffrages of the living, praying for the dead, from whence all these Epitaphs upon their Graves and Tombs, Orate pro animâ, Pray for the soul of such a one. Or thirdly, By some munificence, or eminent works of Charity done upon their account. Or fourthly, By applying unto them some of the works of supererogation, taken out of the Treasury of the Church, and by the Pope's special favour conferred upon them, etc. These imaginations (before the truth in this Discourse declared) fall to the ground, while it teacheth, That there is no such Limbus Patrum as they pretend to, nor need there any; but that their souls presently upon the separation of them, pass into the Etherial Heavens, where they are in rest, and peace, in bliss, happiness and glory, that the blood of Christ shed in due time, that was in the fullness of time, was as effectual to the purging, washing, saving, and sanctifying of the souls of the Fathers that lived in the first generation of the world, before his coming in the flesh, as it is now, for the purging, washing, saving and sanctifying of the souls of believers since his coming, and will be to the end of the world, that as to the virtue of his Death, Passion, Resurrection, and Ascension, He was a Lamb slain from the beginning of the world, and whose going out have been from the beginning, and from everlasting, as the Prophet Micah tells us; and as the Apostle declares him, Jesus Christ yesterday, and to day, and the same for ever.  
Lastly, It is useful for the answering of that great question, with which we are so frequently, and so importunately urged by inquisitive people, to show them, where Local Hell is: They cannot satisfy themselves where Local Hell is; and therefore they are apt to believe, there is none at all: This Discourse satisfies them where it is; for the present, it is where the evil Angels are confined, and secured in chains of darkness. It is where the souls of wicked men are imprisoned, both reserved to the Judgement of the great day: And where that is, this Discourse tells; and not this Discourse, or Treatise, but the Apostle St. Judas, ver. 6. St. Paul, Ephes. 6.12. Ephes. 2.2. St. Peter, 1 Pet. 3.19. Those places where those evil Angels, and where the souls and spirits of wicked men are imprisoned, and secured until that day, are the Local Hell for the present. If you ask further, Where Local Hell shall be, after that great day? I Answer, What need you look any further for it, than the vast space containing this wretched and wicked inferior world wherein we now dwell. You know what St. Peter hath Prophesied concerning it, with all the Elements in it, all the Creatures, and works upon it, all the visible Heavens over it, that they shall be consumed by fire, 2 Peter 3.10. The Heavens shall pass away with a noise, and the Elements shall melt with fervent heat, and the Earth, with the works therein shall be consumed by fire: Now, when these things shall be destroyed, consumed, annihilated, what need we look any further for a Local Hell than this vast space which these mighty bodies took up, when they were in being? When there shall be no Sun to rule the day, nor Moon, nor Stars to govern the Night, nor to divide the times; there shall be no distinction between day and night, but all shall be night without day, when the Sun shall be no more, the Sea shall be no more, time shall be no more, the Earth shall be no more, all these visible Heavens within the reach of the conflagration shall be no more, there's space enough for the Local Hell so much enquired after. I have described to you before the present Hell, the Prisons in which the evil Angels, and souls of wicked men with them are secured unto that day, and so are already in the beginnings of that Hell kept for fire; they shall be burnt up; they shall pass away with a great noise, melt with fervent heat, be dissolved; and all this while, and amongst them all, not one word of purgation, purifying, or refining, or reserving the substance of it: It is clear, St. Peter himself speaks not of a refining, in respect of the qualities; but an utter abolition of the substance itself of this old world: As the Pageant being finished, the Stage is taken away; so all the Tragedies which are Acted upon the Stage of this world, being ended, the Stage shall be pulled down, broken in pieces, burnt with fire, as an Engine or Fabric of which there is no more use, it shall be no more.  
But what shall we say to the other Objection, raised out of the words of St. Peter, ver. 13. But we look for new Heavens, and a new Earth, according to his promise, wherein dwelleth righteousness.  
Which words seem to import, That though this present old World shall then be dissolved, consumed, burnt up; yet (if there do not spring up (as a Phoenix) out of the Ashes of it another World, yet) God will Create another new World in the room of it, and then we are but where we were, in respect of the space, and place, and room we should have for Local Hell, these new Heavens and Earth will take it up.  
To this I Answer, That indeed, we do look for new Heavens, and a new Earth, according to his promise, and according to St. Peter's words, and shall enjoy them too, and dwell in them. But what are those Heavens? but those highest Heavens, the Celestial Paradise, the glorious habitations of the Saints, and of God's Elect, which he hath prepared for them from the beginning of the world, and into which he will receive them at that day, when he shall say unto them, Venite benedicti: Come ye blessed, enter into the Kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world: and these are called New; not in respect of their new making, but in respect of our new taking possession of them (by a most happy change) for our new habitations: So that, New Heavens, and New Earth, in this place signifieth no more, but a New Habitation, far more glorious than this that we now have in this lower world; that as now, the Earth under us, and the Heavens over us, are the place of our Habitation; so, after these shall be destroyed, that we may not fear we shall want a habitation, he tells us, We shall have another, and a better Habitation, far more excellent and glorious than this is, which in allusion to these, he calls, New Heavens, and New Earth, to make us know, we shall be no losers by the change: And for this exposition, I might quote you Authors enough, Ireneus, Hilary, Hippolytus, and others; but I will cite you a whole Library of Fathers and Schoolmen, and all in one, who was himself a living Library, I mean the late Learned and Reverend Lord Bishop of Worcester Doctor Prideaux, Regius Professor in the University of Oxford, and Rector of Exeter College, in which I lived under his Government some years: He Preached at the Court upon this very Text, 1 Peter 3.13. his Sermon is in Print, and entitled, The Christians expectation; where all along, he proves, The New Heavens, here mentioned, to be no other, but the highest Heavens, appointed for the Habitations of the Saints in glory.  
But what need we trouble ourselves to search the Libraries of the Fathers and Schoolmen, to ask their Judgement and Consent in this matter? St. Peter himself has cleared the Point in question to our hands, That the Heavens, in the Text, though here called New, can be no other, but those glorious Heavens above, now in being: For thus he further commendeth them to us, That they are Heavens wherein dwelleth righteousness: he doth not say, wherein shall dwell righteousness, in the future; but wherein now dwelleth righteousness, in the present Tense. We cannot say of Heavens hereafter to be Created, That righteousness now dwelleth in them, before they are in being: But the Apostle saith expressly of the Heavens which we look for, That righteousness now dwelleth in them, therefore they are now in being, long since Created from the beginning. That which is in expectation, and the newness here mentioned, is not to be understood in respect of the making of them, or the future being of them, as if they were not yet in being; but in respect of our entrance into them, our taking Possession of them, and Habitation in them, so they shall be new to us. I know there are of the other Opinion, not a few, for the new Creation of a new World, new Heavens, and a new Earth in the room of this present World, when it shall be abolished and dissolved: But see how weakly they prosecute that fancy, when they would confirm themselves, and others in it: They tell us of what excellent use it shall be; As first, For a Monument of what hath been. Secondly, For a receptacle of such as had deserved neither Heaven nor Hell; such as they thought were not capable of the one, and they thought it pity they should be condemned to the other; such as Infants, dying without Baptism, Idiots, and ignorant people, that wanted capacity to understand the truth; honest moral men, which never had the way of Gospel-salvation made known unto them, such as Plato, Aristotle, Plutarch, Cato, etc. Thirdly, That it might be an outlet, or as it were, a Country House for the Saints and Angels to come down into, where to solace themselves for their recreation, and the like; all but rabbinical fancies, and Jesuitical surmises, without any ground any where, but in their own imaginations: As if the Lord had not room enough wherein to dispose of his Saints and Angels, and all his respectively, except he should make another new World to entertain them in. Whereas our Saviour tells us, Their receptacles were prepared for them from the beginning of the world, Mat. 25. Known to the Lord are all his works from the beginning; and he will not have so many supernumeraries in the end of the World, as that the Fabric made in the beginning for the reception of them, should not serve the turn. But to satisfy the doubtful in this scruple, let it be well minded what St. Peter saith further here in this Text, We look for new Heavens, not for a new Heaven, in the singular; but for new Heavens, in the Plural number: By which it appears, there are more Heavens than one in the World above, for the Lord to dispose of his Saints and Angels in; a justification to what I have said in the former Part of this Treatise, wherein I affirmed, That there are more Heavens than one above the Starry Firmament. I named two between it, and the Empyrean, or fiery Heaven, where the Throne of God is; and who knows how many more there may be? Let no man object against this, what St. Paul says of his Rapture into the third Heaven, and therefore there are no more; that doth not follow, A man is taken up into a third place,; therefore there is not a fourth, nor a fifth: It would follow rather the contrary, that there were: For, Non dicitur primus nisi in ordine ad secundum: A first is not said to be so, but in order to a second, and so forward; In numeris ordinalibus, in numbers of order, till you come to the last. I say farther, that in such accounts, a respect is to be had where you begin to number, according to which the same place may fall in account to be first, or second, or third, or fourth. Thirdly, The Heavens are said to be more, or less, as they are distinguished and divided. So Aristotle numbers but eight, Ptolemy nine, Purbacchius ten, Maginus eleven, and this distinction they make from the distinct motions they have observed in the wand'ring and fixed Stars. Our Christian Divines generally number but three, and that from Saint Paul's rapture, mentioned before: Yet a Reverend and Learned Bishop of ours, I mean Bishop Bilson, in his Survey of Christ's sufferings, numbers four, and that fourth to be that which is called, The Heaven of Heavens: For, That Christ is said to have ascended far above all Heavens, Ephes. 4.10.  
Thus you see here are great varieties of Opinions touching the number of the Heavens, and the Celestial Orbs: And yet in the midst of all this variety, the difference is not so great, but it may be fairly reconciled, so as there shall be found no contradiction at all betwixt them: as thus, Be they as many as they will, they may all conveniently be divided, or sorted into these three Heavens, or compages of Heavens (if you will:) The Aerial, the Sydereall, and the Etherial Heavens: Under the first of these is comprehended all that space, which from the Earth upwards, reacheth unto the Moon, the lowest of the Luminaries of Heaven, Foules flying in it, are called, Fowls of Heaven, Mat. 6.26. Under the second is comprehended all those Orbs and Spheres wherein the Stars are placed, whether the fixed, or the wandering Stars: The Stars are called, Stars of Heaven. And under the third is comprehended all that infinite space, which is above the Starry Firmament, and the Sydereall Heavens, be it never so great, or the Heavens in it never so many; and so in this threefold division of the Heavens, into Aerial, Sydereall, and Etherial, we shall easily reconcile Astronomy and Divinity together, the Mathematical Account, with the Theological. In it St. Paul may find his third Heaven, Bishop Bilson his fourth, Aristotle may find his eight, Ptolemy his nine, Purbacchius his ten, and Maginus his eleven, and neither of them wrong other in the reckoning, so they seek them while they are there in being; but that must be before the Conflagration here in this Text Prophesied of by St. Peter. For in the great burning here spoken of, the two former, the Aerial, and the Sydereall Heavens, with the whole compages of them, will be destroyed, burnt up, dissolved, they all fall under the fury of the Conflagration. St. Peter hath expressed the manner of it in tragical expressions, filling the heart with terror and astonishment to think on: The burning of a House, a Town, a City, is a lamentable sight. At the burning of Jerusalem, and the Temple, Titus himself, which was the executioner of it, lamented greatly, and was sore grieved, and troubled at so lamentable a spectacled: But what was that, in comparison to this, not so much as the burning of a Cottage in comparison of itself? The burning of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboim, four Cities in the Plain, with fire and brimstone from Heaven, was a Type of this burning, but slenderly representing it, as so many bonfires to a mighty burning. The Prophet Isaiah, foretelling the horrible destruction of the King of Assyria, shadows it forth under the type and title of Tophet, or Hell, Isay 30.33. in terrible terms as before remembered, For Tophet 〈◊〉 prepared of old: yea, even for the King it is prepared, (meaning the King of Assyria, which in his close siege against Jerusalem, lay there with his Army, and went off with the loss of one hundred fourscore and five thousand men) he hath made it deep and large: the pile thereof is fire, and much wood: the breath of the Lord, as a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it. This Tophet was a Valley on the South side of Jerusalem, (Josh. 18.16.) in which the Idolatrous Jews did burn their Children in the fire, to offer them up in sacrifice unto Moloch, contrary to the express command of God, Levit. 20.1. It was called Tophet, from Toph, which in the Hebrew signifieth a Drum; from whence Tophet the diminutive of it signifying, a little Drum, or Tabret; because, while these Children were burning; the Idolatrous Priests beat upon these Drums, and played on these Tabrets, partly for the solemnity of the service, and partly to drown the crying, and shrieking of the poor Innocents' in the flames: It was the Land of one Hinnom, therefore called, The Valley of Hinnom; and in the New Testament, Gehenna, and taken for Hell, Matth. 5.21. Matth. 8.9. Josiah had such indignation against this Idolatrous place, that in his great Reformation, 2 Kings 23.10. He defiled it, he made it the very sink, and dunghill of the City, a place for the execution of Malefactors, and where those which were denied burial, were cast out, and lay unburied, a place where to carry and cast all the noisome Carrion of the City, where the Fowls of the Air, and the beasts might Prey upon them; yet, for fear they should corrupt the Air, and cause infectious diseases, there were continual fires kept always burning, to consume the bones, and putrified Carcases, whether of men or beasts, which were cast out there: And for the loathsomeness of the place, and the continual burn in it, it was called Gehenna, Hell, and Hell fire: Unto which, it is probable, our Saviour alludes, when describing Hell, he saith, The Worm never dies, nor the Fire never goeth out: The Worm that is bred out of those putrefactions, which farther gnawing, causeth farther putrefaction, never ceaseth to administer matter of burning to the fire, nor the fire ever goeth out, or ceaseth to feed itself upon it: Yet, as there are divers degrees of heat in the fire, and the fiery furnace into which the three Children were cast, was heat seven times hotter, then at other times: So it is clear by the Scriptures, That the torments of the damned, are not all equal.  
We read of the Servant, That knew his Masters wilt, and did it not: And of another, That knew it not, and did it not. The former was to be beaten with many stripes: The latter was to be beaten too, but with fewer stripes. The Stoics were ●●rr out in their Morals, when they taught; Peccata esse aequalia, That all sins were equal. Our Saviour his exposition of the sixth Commandment, hath taught us otherwise, Matth. 5.22. when he saith, That whosoever is angry with his brother unadvisedly, shall be in danger of the judgement: and whosoever saith unto his brother, Racha, shall be worthy to be punished by the Council: but whosoever shall say unto his brother, Thou fool, shall be in danger of Hell fire. Where under the form of these three Courts among the Jews: First, The Court of three, or the Triumvirs, here called, The Judgement, which had the hearing and punishing of smaller matters. Secondly, The Court of three and twenty, here called, The Council, which had the hearing and punishing of crimes of a higher nature. And thirdly, Of the highest Court of all, consisting of threescore and eleven, which they called their Sane drim, which Judged the highest matters, and punished by death itself, whether by hanging, beheading, stoning, or burning in Gehenna, before mentioned; he clearly showeth, that there are great differences of sin, and sinners; and so there shall be also of punishments proportionably, under which the damned shall be held, and tormented in Hell for evermore. Unto which, the enlargement of Tophet, by the destruction of this world, in the great Conflagration, shall be much conducing, in giving convenient room for it. And as the punishment, and torment of the damned in Hell shall be of divers, and different measures, and degrees; Potentes potentèr cruciabuntur: Mighty men shall be mightily tormented; so, that the joy and glory of the Celestial Inhabitants, shall be as different, in measure, and degree, is clearly revealed in Scripture. They that be wise, shall shine as the brightness of the Firmament, and they that turn many to righteousness shall shine as the Stars for ever and ever, Daniel 12.3. Which Saint Paul in 1 Cor. 15. further confirms, and more clearly explicates this, There is one glory of the Sun, another of the Moon, and another glory of the Stars: for one Star differeth from another Star in glory, ver. 41. And then to prevent all mistakes, and disputes about it, he applies it to this very purpose, verse 42. Even so is the Resurrection from the dead. And to this doth this Text of Saint Peter well agree, where it says, We look for new Heavens, in the Plural Number, (who knows how many) Ethereal Heavens, but he that made them? but Heavens they are, therefore more than one, and this necessary for two Reasons: First, for the vast spaces that are required to dispose of the Celestial Inhabitants in, spaces which no man can measure for multitudes, which no man can number.  
Secondly, For the orderly disposing of them in those Heavens according to the dignity, and glory; the purity, and holiness of those that shall be placed in them. For as one Star; so, one Heaven, differeth from another in glory. In my Father's House are many Mansions; those Mansions not of equal beauty and magnificence; variety of Mansions for variety of Inhabitants; to some are reserved Crowns, to other Laurels; some are clothed in White, the immediate pedissequae of the Lamb, which follows him whethersoever he goeth: others attend at a farther distance. In the second and third Chapters of the Revelation, there are seven several rewards assigned to them that overcome. In the nineteenth of Saint Luke, we see, upon the Account given by the servants of the improvement of the Talents committed to their trust, One is made Ruler over ten Cities: another over five: every one hath his reward (according to his care and faithfulness) proportioned unto him. But what need we multiply words, in a case so clear; consider but the present state of the Celestial Inhabitants, the holy Angels, now in glory; and from thence you will easily collect, what the state of the Saints shall be after the Resurrection: you will find them distributed into several Classes, or Orders of Angels, in dignity and glory, one above another. For we read of Angels, and archangels, of Cherubims, and Seraphims, of Thrones, Dominions, Principalities, Powers, etc. all which are so many Orders, and several Degrees of Angels excelling one another in dignity and glory. And if there be such gradual distinctions now, of the Angels divided, and distributed into so many Orders, one above another in the Celestial Hierarchy; certainly much more must it needs be so, after the Resurrection, when the number of the Celestial Inhabitants shall be so infinitely augmented by the access of all the Saints, and elect people of God, which have been from the beginning of the world, and shall be to the last man that shall stand upon the Earth at that day. And it were strange, That all these should be limited to one Heaven to be disposed in, which is all that some of you seem to allow: but that Saint Peter hath better informed us in the Text, when he says, We look for new Heavens, Heavens in the Plural, Heaven enough for the Creator to dispose of all his people in, and to sort them so, as that they shall all be in those Heavens, which are most convenient for them, and suitable to them, and for them to be Inhabitants in, and all these new too; not because then newly Created: but because we shall then newly take Possession of them, and so they shall be new to us; not in themselves, For they were Created of old, from the beginning, from the foundation of the World. Let our Saviour's own words, giving possession of them, satisfy, and silence all further dispute, or questionings in this matter, Mat. 25.34. with which I shut up this Discourse, Come ye blessed Children of my Father, enter into the Inheritance of the Kingdom prepared for you, from the foundation of the World.  
FINIS.