fnllen, Ut institutionibus honum an9elorum non oint estitui, But that by the eounl and labour of the g angels, they may b restOl' in. Origen is thought to be single, singular in this doctrine, but he is hot. Even St. Ambrose, interpl'eting that ploee, tht St. Paul sys He was nade a miniter of the Go»pel, to the intent that the isdom of GM mOkt, by the churck, be ade kno«cn to power» andprincipalitie» «, interprets it of fallen angels; that they, the fallen nngels, might reeeive benefit by tbe preaehig of the Gospel in the ehureh. Prudentius ys hot , but th he does y, that upon this day, when out blessed Saviour se from hell, Pa»narum cebr sub 8ty/ye feriw, and, ui, l, licii» mitibus, nec rreut »olito flumina ulphure, Some relnxation, some ee in their torments, nt ome time, some very good men hnve imagined, even in hell. And more than that; they have hot absolntely eried down (for, so mueh it deserve) thnt fable of Trnjan; That after tiret emperor had bn some time in hell, yet, upon the prnyers of Pope Grego', he was removed to heaven. ay, more than thnt; (for tlt was but of one man) but an author of our age ', and nmeh esteemed in the I{oman church, delivers his own opinion, (and thinks he bath thc subtler pa of the school on his side) that tbat, which is so often id,./om hell there is no rede»pt&n, is only to be understood of them, whom God sends to hell, as to their lt place; to them, certainly there is no redemption. But, says he, God may send sou of the heathen, who had not the benefit of any Christian church, and yet were good moral men, to burn out ceain ermrs, or ignorances, or sins in hell, and then remove them to heaven; tbr, so long time, they are but iatores, they are but in their way, and not concluded. Beloved, dmt we might bave something in tlm balance to weigh down the cruelty, and tho petulancy, and the peinoeity of those men, who in these later times have so attenuated the mercy of God, as that they bave almost brought it to nothing, (for there is no mercy where there is no misery, and they phce ail mercy to have been given at once, and that, before man was fallen into misery by sin, or before man w ruade) and have pronounc¢d, that God ne'er meant to show mercy to a them, « Eph. iii. 10.
nor but to a very few of them, to whom he pretended to offer it, that we might have something in the balance to weigh against these unmercifid men, I bave staid thus long upon these overmerciful men, that have carried mercy upon the saints of God, in temporal abundances after the resta'rection, and upon the hcathen who never heard Gospel preached, and upon the angels fallen in heaven, and upon those angels fallen ri'oto heaven into heli, and upon the souls of men there, hot onlv in the ease of their torments, but in their translation fi)m thence to heaven. That so out later men might see, that the ancients thought God so far from hcginniug at hate, (that God shouid first, tbr his glory, hate somc, and then make them that he might execute his hate upon them) as that they thought God implacable, inexorable, irrcconcilable to none; theretbre to these unmerciful, have we opposed these over-mereiful men. But yet, fo them we nmst say, A=«mquid Deus indi.qet mend«cio 'estro, tt)pro êo lo9uamini dolos *? Shall we lie for God, or speak deeeitfullv for him deeeive your souls, with over-extending his merev . we ma.y derive merey from hell, though we earrv hOt mercy to he|l. (;êhenna non solum eorum, qui punientti, cattsa.tàcta, sed et eorum, qui,airandi "; Hell was hot only ruade for their sakes, who were fo suflèr in it. but tbr theirs, who were to be warned by it; and so there is mere.v in hell. ç'ooleratur re.qno, savs St. ChtTsostorn, elegantly, Hell bath a eo-operation with heaven, it works upon us, in the advaneement of out salvation, as well as heaven; Vec ltt ritiw res est, sed misericordi«e, Hell is hot monument of God's cruelty, but of his mercy, Et nisifid,set iatentata g&euna in.qehennam omnes cecidissemtts, If we were hot told of heil, we should ail thll into hell; and, so there is merey in hell. And therefore, says the sanie father, out of an unspeakable wisdom, and fatherly tare, (as ththers will speak loudest to their ehildren, and look angerliest, and make the greatest rods, when they intend hot the severest incorrection) ristns sceiVitts sehennom commbuztus est, quam regnvm pollicitus, Christ in his Gospel, bath oftener threatened us with hell, than promised us heaven. We are bound to praise God, says he, as mueh for driving Adam out of Paradise, as for plaeing him there, Et asere gratias tare * Job xiil. 7. *e Origen.
SEI. XXIV.] PIEACHED ON' EASTEH D..'. 493 pro.qdenna, quam pro rey/no, And to give him thanks, as well for hell, as for heaven. For, whefler he cauterise or foment, whether he dmw blood, or apply cordials, he is the saine physician, and oeeks but one end, (out spiritual health) by his divers ways. For m, who by this notification of hell, eoeape hell, I[é shall hot die, but llre; that is, hot die so, but tht ve shll lire again: themfore is death called a sleep, (Lazarus sleepetk, says Christ'.) And Caiterla re dormitoria, Chchyards are out be. And in those beds, and in all other beds of death, (for the dead have their beds in the sea too, and sleep even lu the restless motion therf} the voice of the archangel, and the trumpet of God shall awake them thut slept in Christ belote, and they and we sball be mfited in one body; for, as our apostle ys here, prevent them, so he says also, That tk«ff skall hot be ruade peçtèct witkout us . Though we lire to see Christ, we shall hot prevent them, though they bave attended Christ rive thousand yeal's in the grave, they shall not prevent us, but united in one body, Rapiemur, They and we skag be cau[lht, &e. R«piur, We shall be caupht up. This is a true rapture, in whieh ve do nothing oumelves. [)iii- last aet towas Christ, is as oui" first; in the first aet of our eOllversion we do nothing; nothing in this last aet, our resurrectiOll, but rapiemur, we are eaught. In ever)'thing, the lnore there is lcft to ourselves, the wome it is done; that that Goal does entily, is entirely good. St. Paul had a rupture too; IIe was caupht tke body, or out " the bod[t, he cannot tell '. We ean tell, that this rapture of ours, shall be iu body and soul, in the whole man. Man is but a vapour; but a glorious, and a blessed vapour, when he is attraeted, lld eaugllt up by this sun, the Son of nlall, the Son of God. 0 wllat a blessed alleviation posses that nan and to what a blessed levity, (if without levity ve may oe eak) to what a eheerful lightness of splrit is he corne, that cornes newly ri'oto confession, and with the seal of ablution upon him Then, when nothillg troubles his eOllseienee, then, when he bath disburdened his soul of all that lay llcavy ulmn it, then, when if his eontssor should unjustly reveal it to any other, yet God will never speak of it more m his eonseienee, nor upbl'aid him with it, 0 Psal. cxvfii. 17. John xi. 11. IIeb. . 39. » 2 Cor. xii. 4.
49 PSEACE» o. EAS'R v_,,'. [sn. Xxv. hot reproach him tbr it what b]essed alleviatlon, wbat a holy cheerfulness of suirit the endoents which we shall receive in the raptre of this text, where we do hot on]y divest all sins pa, (as in confeion) but ail possiility of filture sins; and pt vn, Qot only incoption, bt incorptib]eness; hot on]y impeccancy, but impeccability. And to be invested with this enclosent, lVe shall be cau9ht tp, and Rapiemur iu nubibtts, skall be cau9ht in tke clouds. We take star to be the thiekest, and oe the impurt, and ign»blest part of that sphere; and yet, by the illustration of the sun, it bomes glorious star. Clouds are but the beds, and wombs of distempered and malinnt impoeions, of vapours, and exhalations, and the furnaces of lightnings and of thunder yet by the Wesnce of Chri, and his enlplopnent, these clouds are ruade glorious chariots to bring him and his sints together, Those vapours nd clotds which Dard speaks of ', St. Austine interplts of the ministers of file church; tht they are those clouds. Those ministe my bave clouds in their understanding and knowledge, (some nmy be ]e ]earned than others) and c]ouds in their e]ocution and utternce, (some may ]rave an unacceptab]e deliverance) and clouds in their aspect and coun" tenanee, (sonle may bave an unpleasing presence) and clouds in their respect and maintenance, (some may be oppressed in their tbunes) but still they are such clou as are sent by Christ to bring thee up to him. And as the childn of lsrl received direction and benefit, well by the piller of cloud, as by the Tillar OEflre ', so do the children of God in the church, as well by preachers of inferior gifts, as by higher. In nubibus; Christ does hot corne in a chariot, and end ca for us. He cornes as he went; This saine Jesus, which is taken from you itto heaven, shall so corne, in like »tanner as ye bave seea him go itto heaven , say the angels at his ascension. In what manner did they sec him ! He u'as taken , and a cloud receied him out OEtheir siht . So he went, so he shall return, so we sha be taken up, I.n the clods, to meeg him in the air. The transfigation of Christ was hot acted upon so high a: L cw 7. Exod. . 21. Ac i. ll. a Le v. 50.
ss. xxv.] P.^CHF.n ON .ASrE DA'. 495 scene, as this out aeeess to Christ shall be. That hill was hot so high, nor so near fo the heaven of heavens, as this region ot" the air sha]] Le. /Nor was the tranguration so eminent a manifestation of the g]ory of Christ, as this lais coming in the air to judgment sha]] Le. And yet Peter that saw but that, desired no rnore , but thought it happiness enough to be there, and there fo fix their tabernacles. But in this out meeting of Christ in the air, we shall see more than they saw in the transfiguration, and yet be but lu the way of seeing more, than we see in the air then; we shall be presently well and net improving. The king's presence nmkes a village the court; but he that bath service to do at coma, wou]d be glad to find it in a lodgeable and conveuient place. I can build a church in my bosom; I can serve God in my heart, and never clothe rny prayer in words. God is often said to ear, and answer in the Scriptures, when they to whom he speaks, have said nothing. I can build a church at my bed's side; when I prostate myse]f in humble prayer there, I do so. I can praise God cheerfuily in my chapel, cheerfully in my parish chm.ch, as David sys, In ecclesffs, plurally, Ic e conyrey«tons , In every conregation will I Lless the Lord; but yet, I tind the highest exalttions, and the noblest elevations of my devotion, when ] yie tans the great conyregatio», and praise him among muck people «°, for so methinks, I corne nearer and nearer to the communion of sints in heaven. Where it is therefore said that there is no temple, ([ saw no temple in kearen «') because ail heaven is a temple, And because the Lord God Almiykt.q, and the Lamb, (who fill ail heaven) are, (as St. John says there) the temple thereo.f. So far towards that, as into the air, this text carries us, Obviam Domino, To meet the Lord. The Lord requires no more, hot so much af out hands, as he does for us. When he is corne from the right hand of his Father in heaven, into the air fo meet us, he is corne farther than we are to go from the grave to meet him. But we have met the Lord in many a lower place; in many unclean actions have we met the Lord in out own hearts, and satd to ourselves, Surely the Lord is here, and secs us, aud (with sa Matt. xvii. 14. » Psal. xxvi. 12. oPsal..xxxv. 18. e Rev. xxi. 22.
Joseph) How tken n I do thi yreat wiednes, and Mn again mg God «? and yet bave proceeded, gone forward in the accomplishment of that sin. But thel, it was Obeiam Je, obia» Chrito, We met a Je, tu, we met a 6krist, God of lnerey, who folgave us those sins. Herein in our text, it is Obviam Domino, We must et tke Lord; he invests here no other naine but that; he hath laid aside his Ckrist, and his Jesu, names of mercy, and l'cdeml»tiou, and lvation, and cornes only in the name of power, Tke Lord, the judge of quiek and dead. In whieh judgment he shows no merey; ail llis mercy is exereioed in this lire; and he that hath hot reeeived his poloEion of that merey before his deatll, sllall never reeeive any. There he judges only by our works, Whom ht thou d, whonl hast thou elothed Tllen in judgment we nleet tlle Lord, the Lord of poweç and the lt time that ever we shall meet a Jesus, a Christ, a God of lllelVy, is upon our death-bed; but there we shall meet him so, as that when we meet hiln il another naine, Tk« Lord, in the air, yet by the benefit of the former mercy received from Jesus, lire skall be 'ith tke Lord.lb," ever. First L:rimus, lié shall be, we shall have being. There is nothing more contl'ary to God, and his proceengs, than annihilation, nothing, do nothing, think nothing. It le not so high u step, raioe the or out of the dust, and to lift the needy ri'oto the dungllill, and oet him with princes «; to nlake a king of a beggar, is lmt nmch, as to make a WOlan of nothing. XVhatver God bath ruade thee slnce, yet his greatest work un thee, was, that he lnade rime; and however he extend his bounty in preferring thee, yet his gretest largeness, is, in preserving tllee in thy being. And therefore his own nanle of Majesty, is Jellovall, which denotes his essence, llis being. And it is usefully nmved, and safely relved in the school, that the devil himself cannot deliberately wish himself nothing. Suddenly a man may wish himself nothing, because that seems to deliver him fi'om the sense of his present nlisery; but deliberately he cannot: cause whatsoever a nian wishes, must be sonlethillg better than he bath yet; and whatsoever is better, is hot nothing. 2Vihil contrarium Deo «', Thcre is nothing tl'uly « Gen. xix. 9. « P. exiii. 7. « Augstin
SI. XXVo] PREACHED O -ASTEn D,Y. 497 ntra to GOe; to do nothing, is contrary to Iris work]ng; but contrry to his ture, contra to his essence there is no&ing. For whatsoever is anything, evcn in that being, and therefore becausc it is, bath a conformity to God, and an anity with God, vho is Being, Essence itoelf. In. kim ee bave out beiq es, sa)'s e apostle. But here it is more than «o; hot only I illo, but 6'um illo, nog only I» Mm, but ltritk bien, noe only in his providence, bu in his presenee. The hoerite bath being, and, in God, bug if is hot with Goe, Quia cor lone, II'itk his lips he konours G'OE, but remore ki» hearl farfrom M»". And Goal sends him after his heart, that he may keep him at that distance, (as St. Gregory reads and interets that place of Esay) Redite rwrar&atores ad cor «, Return O sinners, follow your own heart, and then I ara sure you and I shall nerer meet. ()tir Saviour Christ delivem this distance plainly, Discedite a me, Depart f»m »e, ye cursed into ev«'lastigfire . SVhere the first part of the sentence is incompmbly the heaviest, the departing worse than the fioe; the intenseness of that tire, tbe air of that brimsmne, the anguish of that worm, the discord of that howling, and mashing of teeth, is no comparable, no considerable pa of the tormcnt, in respect of the privation of the sight of God, the banishment tYom the presence of God, an absolute hopelcness, an utter impossibility of ever coming to that, which sustains the miserable in this world, that though I sec no sun here, I sha]l sec the Son of God there. The lDTocrite sha]l hot do so: we shall be, and be rith im, and be witk Mnfor erer; which is fle last thing that doth fall under ours, or cun rail under any consideration. Of St. Hierome, St. Austine says, Quw Hierotymus nescirit, »dlus ominum unquam scirit; That that St. Hierome knew hot no man ever knew. And St. Cyril, to whom St. Augustine said that, said also w St. Augustine, in magni'ing of St. Hierome, Tlmt when a Catholic priest disputed with a heretic, and cited passage of St. Hierome, and the heretic said Hiemme lied, inntly he ws struck dumb; yet of this last and everlasting joy and glory of heven, in the fruition of God, St. Hierome « Acts xvii. 28. «« Isah x. 13. Isaiah xvi. 8. «« $Iatt. v. VOL.!.
498 VRExcnEo ON EX.ER WV. [SUR. XXlV. wou]d venture to say nothing, no not then, when he was divested of his mortal body, dead; for, as soon as he died at Bethlem, he came instantly to Hippo, St. Augustine's bishopric, and though he told him, ][ieronymi anima sm, I am the sou] of that Hierome, to whom thou art now writin about the joys aud g]ory of heaven, yet he said no more of that, but this, QuiJ, quwrls breri immitere rasculo totnm mare? Canst thou hope to pour the whole sea into a thimble, or to take the whole world iuto thy hand. And yet that is casier, thart fo coprehend thejoy and tbe glory of heaven in this lire. ]qor is there anything, that makes this more iucomprehensible, than this semper in our text, the eternity thereof, that zt'e shall be with himfor erer. For, this eternity, this evedastingness is hot only incomprehensible to us in this lire, but even in heaven we eau never know it experimentally; and ail knowledge in heaven is experimental: as ail knowledge in this world is causal, (we know a thing, if we know the cause thereof) so the knowledge in heaven, is eflbctual, experimental, we know it, because we have found it to be so. The endoanents of the blessed, (those which the school calls Dotes beatorum) are ordinarily delivered to be these three, ïslo, Dilectio, Fruitio, The sight of God, the love of God, and the fruition, the enjoying, the possessing of God. Now, as-no man eau know what it is to sic God in hea»'en, but by au experimental and actual seeing of him there, nor what it is to love God there, but by such an actual and experimental love of him, nor what it is to enjoy and possess God, but by an actual enjoying, and an experimental possessing of him, so eau no man tell what the eternity, and everlastinç]ess of ail these, is, tiil he have passed through that eternity, and that everlastingness; and that he eau never do; for, if it could be passed through, then it were hot eternity. How barren a thing is arithmetie! and yet arithnaetie,viii tell you, how many single grains of sand, will fill this hollow vault fo the firmament. I-Iow empty a thing is rhetorie! and yet rhetorie,vill make absent and remote things present to your uttderstanding. How weak a thing is poetry! and yet poetry is a counterfeit creation, and makes things that are hot, as though they were. How infirm, how impotent are all assistances, if they be put to express this eternity! The best help that I ean assign you, is, to use well t«num estrum, Your o eternity; as St. Gregory calls out whole oeurse of this lire, otrm, Out ernity; quum est, t qui in wterno, uo c- it, in »o Deipmiatur, snys he; Itis but justice, that he that hath sinned out his own etenfity, should surfer out God's ernity. So, if you surfer out your o eternity, in submitting yourdves to God, in the whole course of }ur lite, in surrendering your will entirely his, and glorifying of him in constant patience, under all your tribulations, D tMny itl God, (ys out apostle, in his other Epistle to theso Thessaloniats) to recompense tribulatiot to tkem that trouble you, and fo you, tkat are troubled, re»t u'ith us «', says he there; with us, 'ko skali be cauykt up in tke cloud», to neet tke Lord in tke air, and so ekall be u'itl tlw Lord for ezer. Amen.