Looking unto Jesus a view of the everlasting gospel, or, the souls eying of Jesus as carrying on the great work of mans salvation from first to last / by Isaac Ambrose ...

SECT. VII. Of Christ and his Saints going up into heaven, and of the end of this World.

7. FOR Christ and his Saints going up into heaven, and so for the end of this world: no sooner are the Reprobates gone to their place, but the Saints ascend; now Christ ariseth from his judgment-seat, and with all the glorious company of heaven, he marches towards the heaven of heavens. Oh what a comely march is this? what songs of triumph are here sung and warbled? Christ leads the way, the Cherubims attend, the Seraphims wait on, Angels, Arch-angels, Principalities, Powers, Patriarches, Prophets, Priests, Evangelists, Martyrs, Professors, and Confessors of God's Law and Gospel fol∣lowing, attend the Judge, and King of Glory; singing with melody, as never ear hath heard, shining with Majesty as never eye hath seen, rejoycing without measure as never heart conceived. O blessed train of Souldiers! O goodly Troop of Captains! each one doth bear a palm of Victory in his hand, each one doth wear a Crown of Glory upon his head; the Church Militant is now Triumphant; with a final overthrow have they conquered Devils, Death, and Hell; and now must they enjoy God, Life, and Hea∣ven; sometimes I have with much wonder and admiration beheld some Regiments pas∣sing our streets; but had I seen those Roman Armies when they returned Victors, and made their solemn Triumphs in the streets of Rome, oh then how should I have then ad∣mired? never was the like sight to this of Christ and his Army in this World. O the comely march they make, through the sky, and through the Orbs, and through all the Heavens, till they come to the Heaven of Heavens! were ever so many glistering Suns together in one day? was ever so many glories together on this side the Kingdom of glo∣ry? not to speak of Christ, or his Angels, O who is she that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the Moon, clear as the Sun, and terrible as an Army with Banners? are not in the head of these Regiments Adam, and Abel, and Noah, and Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob; and all the Patriarchs and all the Prophets, and all the Apostles? And (if thou art a Saint that readest this) art not thou one Son appointed by God amongst the rest to follow Christ? here's enough to fill thy heart with joy before-hand; as sure as yond Sun now shines in the Fir∣mament shalt thou that believest pass by that Sun in its very orb, and by reason of thy glory it shall lose it shine? oh then what spreading of beauty and brightness will be in the heavens as all the Saints go along! what lumps of darkness shall those glittering Stars appear to be, when all the Saints of God shall enter into their several orbs and spheres? and thus as they march along higher, and higher, till they come to the highest, at last heaven opens unto them, and the Saints enter their Masters joy; what is there done at their first entrance, I shall discover another time; only for a while let us look behind us, and see what becomes of this neather World.

No sooner Christ and his company in the Empyreal heaven, but presently this whole world is set on fire; To this prophane Authors seem to assent, As,

1. Philosophers, especially the Stoicks were of this mind. Humor primordium, ex∣itus ignis, said Seneca: Moisture was the beginning, and fire shall be the end of this World. And speaking of the Sun, Moon, and Stars; mark (says he) whatsoever now shines in comely and decent order, shall at last burn together in one fire.

2. The Poets grant this; Lucan speaking of those whom Cesar left unburned at the Battel of Pharsalia; Hos Caesar populos si nunc non urserit ignis, uret cum terris. If fire shall not now burn these, when Heaven and Earth, and all shall burn, then must they burn.—Ovid in like manner, Esse quoque in fatis—quo mare, quo tellus—ardeat. A time shall come, when Sea, and earth, and all the frame of this great World shall be consumed in flame.

3. The Sybills grant this, to which the Roman missal seems to allude, joyning them with the Prophet David, though I know not by what warrant. Dies ira, dies illa, solvet saeculum in favilla, teste David cum Sybilla.

A day of Wrath, a day of fire, So David with the Sybills doth conspire.

But to wave all these, one Text of Scripture is to me more than all these. 2 Pet. 3.10. The Heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fer∣vent heat, the earth also, and the works that are therein shall be burnt up. Hence all our Divines agree, that a fire shall seaze on the Universe; only some difference is amongst Divines, whether the World shall be wholly annihilated, or renewed by fire? Jerome and Augustin, and many after them say, the end of this fire is for purifying and refining of the Heaven, and Earth; for all corruptible qualities shall be burnt out of them, but they in their substance shall remain still: if we ask them, to what end shall this neather world be renewed? some say for an habitacle of the restored Beasts; others for a fitter accommodation of men,† and the glorified Saints; others for a perpetual Monument of God's Power and Glory. Polanus and some of our Moderns are of Opinion, that These Heavens and this Earth when purified with those fires, and super-invested with new endowments, they shall be the everlasting habitations of the blessed Saints. But on the contrary, others are of the other opinion, that all the World with all the parts and works (except Men, Angles and Devils, Heaven, and Hell, the two mansions for the saved and damned) shall be totally and finally dissolved and an∣nihilated. And of this opinion were Hilary, Clement, and all the ancients before Jerome; and of our Moderns not a few. For my part I rather incline this way, be∣cause of the many Scriptures that are so express, I shall only mention these.—Man lyeth down, and riseth not till the heavens be no more.—Of old thou hast laid the foun∣dations of the Earth, and the Heavens are the works of thy hands, they shall perish, but thou shalt endure. All the hosts of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heaven shall be rolled together as a scroll, and all the host shall fall down as the leaf falleth from the Vine, and as a falling fig from the fig-tree. To which prophesie John seems to allude, And the heavens departed as a scrowl when it is rolled together, and every Mountain and Island were moved out of their places. Again, heaven and earth shall pass away (saith Christ) but my Word shall not pass away—The day of the Lord will come as a Thief in the night, in the which the Heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the Ele∣ments shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also, and the works that are therein, shall be burnt up.—And the world passeth away, and the lusts thereof; but he that doth the will of God abideth for ever.—and I saw a great white Throne, and him that sate on it from whose face the earth and heaven fled away, and they was found no place for them. Now I would demand, whether being no more, as Job; and perishing, as David; and rolling together, and falling down like a withered leaf, as Isay; and passing away, as our Saviour, and Peter; and flying away, as John; do not include to utter aboli∣tion? If to these Scriptures I should add one reason, I would argue from the end of the Worlds Creation; was it not partly for the glory of God? and partly for the use of man? now for the glory of God, the manifestation of it is occasioned by the manifestation of the world unto man; if man therefore should be removed out of the world, and no creature in it be capable of such a manifestation, what would be∣come of his glory? And for the use of man, that is either to supply his necessity in matter of dyet, physick, building, apparel; or for his instruction, direction, recrea∣tion, comfort, delight; now when he shall attain that blessed estate of enjoying God,

and seeing God face to face, these ends or the like must needs be frustrate. This argu∣ment is weighty, and we need no more. Only we shall hear an Antagonist's objections and give them their answers, and so conclude.

The Texts more especially objected against this opinion, are two; the first is that in Rom. 8.21. The creature it self shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption in∣to the glorious liberty of the Sons of God: here (say the••) is an earnest expectation, attributed to brute Creatures, that they shall be delivered from the bondage of cor∣ruption into the glorious liberty of the Children of God. But I answer, that no immor∣tal being of the brute creatures is here promised, but only a simple deliverance and dismission from the servitude they were in, to ungrateful men. The Birds, Beasts, and Fishes, do now suffer for our dyet; Horses, Mules, and beasts of that nature do now groan under the burthens of our pleasures, or necessities; their annihilation there∣fore to them must needs be a kind of deliverance; and at last they shall be delivered at the time of the glorious liberty of the Sons of God; the Text will bear it thus.† 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 pro 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, The Creature shall be delivered by the glorious liberty of the Sons of God. (i.e.) When such a deliverance comes to men, these shall be freed from their servitude by being not at all, having done all the business for which they were ordained, or cre∣ated.

The second Text is that in 2 Pet. 3.13. We look for new heavens, and a new earth, wherein dwelleth Righteousness. These words (say some) imply a purging, rather than abolishing; a taking off the corrupt qualities only, not the substance. But I am of another mind, and if I must give my sense of the place, I say—

1. Negatively that by new heavens and new earth, is not meant renewed heavens and earth; is it not punctually in the seventh verse, that the heavens and the earth which are now, are reserved unto fire against the day of judgment? and doth he not descend unto particulars in the tenth verse, that the heavens which are now, shall pass away with a great noise? that the Elements shall melt with fervent heat? and that the earth also, and the works therein shall be burnt up? and doth he not infer thereupon in the eleventh and twelfth verses, that all these things shall be dissolved? and in the thir∣teenth verse, that we are therefore to look for new heavens, and a new earth? disso∣lution mends not a fabrick, but destroyes it; how then should that which is dissolved be said to be reserved, and let stand? surely if Peter had thought of this refining only, some words of his would have intimated so much. The end of these creatures was for man's use, and man using them no more, to what end should they be reserved? to say for a monument of what hath been; or for the habitation of the Saints; or for an out-let for the Saints, descending sometimes from the highest heavens to solace them∣selves here below; are but groundless surmises, and deserve no answer at all.

2. Positively, by new heavens, and a new earth, is meant the heaven of heavens, and place of glory. Now these heavens are termed new, not in regard of their new making, but of our new taking possession of them for our new habitation; and they are called heavens and earth, because they come in stead of that heavenly covering, and that earthly habitation which we now enjoy; so that the Text may well bear this paraphrase, we look for new heavens (i.e.) the supreme court of God's presence, and a new earth, (i.e.) a new habitation for us; which shall infinitly exceed the commo∣dities and happiness of these heavens and earth which we now enjoy, thus John in his Revelations. And I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven, and the first earth were passed away, and there was no more Sea. This new heaven, and new earth is the place or habitation prepared for the blessed Saints and people of God. A new heaven, where the Moon is more glorious then our Son, and the Sun as glori∣ous as he that made it, for it is he himself, the Son of God, the Son of righteousness, the Son of Glory; a new earth, where all their waters are milk, and all their milk honey; where all their grass is corn, and all their corn is Manna; where all their glebe and clods of earth are Gold, and all their Gold of innumerable Carats; where all their minutes are ages, and all their ages Eternity; where every thing is every minute in the higest exaltation as good as can be. Of these new heavens, and this new earth, I can never say enough, not know enough, till I come there to inha∣bit it. Something only we shall discover of it in our next Sections; for now are the Saints entred in with Jesus Christ.

Only one word of use; Christians! what's the matter that we are so busie about this world? why look about you, not one of these visible objects shall that day re∣main

or have a being; those houses wherein we dwell, these Temples wherein we meet, this Town, this Country, this Isle, and the Seas and waters that surround it, shall be all on fire, and consume to nothing; the Sea shall be no more, and time shall be no more, or if we look higher, yond Sun, and Moon, and Star, shall be no more; that glorious Heaven which rolls over our heads, shall be rolled together as a scrol, and all the hoast shall fall down as a leaf falleth from the Vine, and as a falling Fig from the Fig-Tree:—the heavens shall vanish away like smoak (saith Isaiah) commi∣nuentur in nihilum (as Hierome reads it) they shall be battered into nothing. Alas! alas! what do we toyling all the day (it may be all our life) for a little of this little, almost nothing—earth? you that have an hundred, or two hundred, or a thousand Acres, if every acre were a Kingdom, all will be at last burnt up; so that none shall say here was Preston, or here was London, or here was England, or here was Europe, or here was the Globe of Earth on which men troad: let others b••ast as they will of their inheritances, but Lord give me an inheritance above all these vi∣sibles; heaven shall remain, when earth shall vanish; that Empyreal Heaven, those seats of Saints, those mansions above, prepared by Jesus Christ shall never end, but for my riches, lands, possessions moveables, goods, real or personal, they will end in smoak, in nothing; what? wilt thou set thine eyes upon a thing that is not? upon this the primitive Christians took joyfully the spoiling of their goods, it was but a loss a little before the time, and they knew in themselves that they had in heaven a better, and an enduring substance. O let this be our care! here we have no abiding City, but O let's seek one to come, even that one that will abide for ever and ever, Amen.

Notes

• Cant. 6.10.
• 2 Pet. 3.10.
• †

  Mundus in melius immuta∣tus aperte ac∣commodabitur, hominibus in melius immu∣tatis. August. de civit. Dei. l. 20. c. 16.
• Polan. Syn∣tag. l. 6. c. 70.
• Job 14.12. Psal. 102.25, 26. Isa. 34.4.
• Rev. 6.14.
• Mat. 24.36. 2 Pet. 3.10.
• 1 John 2.17.
• Rev. 20.11.
• Rom. 8.21.
• †

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 pro 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 1 Cor. 10.2. as, sometimes 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 pro 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. Rom. 4.11. 1 Cor. 2.15. So Chrysostome expounds it 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.
• 2 Pet 3.13.
• 2 Pet. 3.7, 10
• 11, 12.
• Rev. 21.1.
• Ʋse.
• Isa. 34.4. Isa. 51.6.
• Prov. 23.5.