Mount Pisgah, or, A prospect of heaven being an exposition on the fourth chapter…Movnt Pisgah, or, A prospect of heaven being an exposition on the fourth chapter…

Secondly: ¹He will own and acknowledge all the holy duties, public and private, which they have done in obedience to his Commands; their hearing, praying, fasting, and afflicting their Souls for their own sins, and for other mens sins; their fearing of God, and laying to heart the reproaches of Religion, and Blasphemies, cast upon his Name; their mutual holy conferences, ²one with another, &c. All these were written in a book of Remembrance of old, and laid up before him, that they might never be forgotten; and now the Book shall be brought forth, and read in the Audience of the world, for their greater honour, even the very secret duties which they have performed in their Closets, when no eye saw them but God's; even they shall be proclaimed in the Audience of this Universal Assembly at the last day; ³Thy Father which saw in secret, will now reward thee openly, not a prayer, but it was filed up; not a sigh, ⁴nor groan, but it is booked; not a tear, but is bottled; not an holy ejaculation, but was upon Record, and shall be now publicly produced and acknowledged: I know your Works and your Labour, and your Charity, and your Service, ⁵and your last Works to be more then the first, &c.

Secondly: ¹He will own and acknowledg all the holy duties, publick and private, which they have done in obedience to his Commands; their hearing, praying, fasting, and afflicting their Souls for their own sins, and for other mens sins; their fearing of God, and laying to heart the reproaches of Religion, and Blasphemies, cast upon his Name; their mutual holy conferences, ²one with another, &c. All these were written in a book of Remembrance of old, and laid up before him, that they might never be forgotten; and now the Book shall be brought forth, and read in the Audience of the world, for their greater honour, even the very secret duties which they have performed in their Closets, when no eye saw them but God's; even they shall be proclaimed in the Audience of this Universal Assembly at the last day; ³Thy Father which saw in secret, will now reward thee openly, not a prayer, but it was filed up; not a sigh, ⁴nor groan, but it is booked; not a tear, but is botled; not an holy ejaculation, but was upon Record, and shall be now publickly produced and acknowledged: I know your Works and your Labour, and your Charity, and your Service, ⁵and your last Works to be more then the first, &c.

1. 13. In their Du•ies and attendance
2. 2Mal. 3.16.
3. 3Mat 6.6.
4. 4Psal. 56.8.
5. 5Rev. 2.19.

Thirdly: ¹Jesus Christ at that day will own the fidelity of his Saints, their constancy and perseverance in their holy Profession, and confess them before all the world: I know your Works, and where you have dwelt, even where Satan's seat was, and you have held fast my Name, ²and have not denied my Faith, even in those days wherein Antipas, (Cranmer, Ridley, Latimer, &c.) were my faithful Martyrs; who were slain among you where Satan dwelleth; behold! to you who have been faithful to the death, do I now give a Crown of Life? To you who ⟨p. 129⟩have overcome, do I grant to sit with me in my Throne, ³as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his Throne.⁴

1. 14. In their fidelity and perseverance. Rev. 2 13.
2. 2Chap. 2.10.
3. 3Chap. 3.21.
4. 45 In their sufferings.

Fourthly: He will own and acknowledge the Saints, in their sufferings for his sake. All the reproaches, hard speeches, ^*incivilities, abuses, scandals, persecutions, which ever they sustained in their names, persons, lively-hoods, and lives, upon Christ's and the Gospels account, he will acknowledge; and bespeak them in some such language as this, Isa. 66.7. Your Brethren which hated you, that cast you out for my names sake, said, ^*Let the Lord be glorified: but, now I appear to your joy, and they shall be ashamed: Or, as he once encouraged his Disciples in the days of his flesh; You are they which have continued with me in my temptations, and behold, I appoint unto you a Kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me; that you may eat and drink at my Table, in my Kingdom, &c.

Fourthly: He will own and acknowledg the Saints, in their sufferings for his sake. All the reproaches, hard speeches, ^*incivilities, abuses, scandals, persecutions, which ever they sustained in their names, persons, lively-hoods, and lives, upon Christ's and the Gospels account, he will acknowledg; and bespeak them in some such language as this, Isa. 66.7. Your Brethren which hated you, that cast you out for my names sake, said, ^*Let the Lord be glorified: but, now I appear to your joy, and they shall be ashamed: Or, as he once encouraged his Disciples in the days of his flesh; You are they which have continued with me in my temptations, and behold, I appoint unto you a Kingdome, as my Father hath appointed unto me; that you may eat and drink at my Table, in my Kingdome, &c.

1. *L•quntur lapides.
2. *So mocking God, and deriding the Godly for their confidence in God. Luk. 22.28, 29, 30. 6. In all the Offices of love done to him or his.

1. 1Math. 2•.7.
2. 2Math: 25 40.
3. 3Math. 6.3.

First, ¹That, in that large Recital which shall then be read, of the Saints lives, there is not the least mention made of sin; they had (sure enough) the remainders of their original corruption, (surviving their conversion) defiling & molesting their most holy Services, which were as so many scourges in their sides, and Thorns in their eyes, uncessantly tempting them, and exposing them to temptation; forcing from them sad laments and out-cries; ²O Wretch that I am, who shall deliver me? They had (and not rarely) their actual Surprises and Seductions, their Lapses and Relapses, which brought them upon their knees with holy Job's Confession, ³I have sinned, what shall I do unto thee, O thou Preserver of men? but none of these things come up into remembrance against them in that day. As, here below, God saw no Iniquity in Jacob, nor perverseness in Israel, to impute it to them: so, in their appearance before the Judge; God remembereth no iniquity against the Saints, to charge it upon them, or to reproach them with it. In the petty Sessions which Christ held with some of his Saints and Churches (here on Earth), amongst their Commendations, there were some Exceptions; and some faultinesses were charged upon them, an [Howbeit,] 2 Chron. 22.33. a [Nevertheless] Ch. 33.17. as abatements of their excellencies. Nevertheless, I have a few things against thee, Rev. 2. So in the Process against the Church of Ephesus, ⟨p. 131⟩verse 4. Nevertheless; a But against Pergamos, verse 14. Against Thyatira, v. 20. a Notwithstanding, &c. But now in the judicial Process of this last and Universal Assizes, there is not found in all those voluminous Records (which shall be opened,) so much as one unsavoury But to blemish the fair Characters of the Saints: as if (even before they got into Heaven) they had obtained that privilege, to be, just men made perfect! This is very wonderful.

First, ¹That, in that large Recital which shall then be read, of the Saints lives, there is not the least mention made of sin; they had (sure enough) the remainders of their original corruption, (surviving their conversion) defiling & molesting their most holy Services, which were as so many scourges in their sides, and Thorns in their eyes, uncessantly tempting them, and exposing them to temptation; forcing from them sad laments and out-cryes; ²O Wretch that I am, who shall deliver me? They had (and not rarely) their actual Surprises and Seductions, their Lapses and Relapses, which brought them upon their knees with holy Job's Confession, ³I have sinned, what shall I do unto thee, O thou Preserver of men? but none of these things come up into remembrance against them in that day. As, here below, God saw no Iniquity in Jacob, nor perversness in Israel, to impute it to them: so, in their appearance before the Judge; God remembreth no iniquity against the Saints, to charge it upon them, or to reproach them with it. In the petty Sessions which Christ held with some of his Saints and Churches (here on Earth), amongst their Commendations, there were some Exceptions; and some faultinesses were charged upon them, an [Howbeit,] 2 Chron. 22.33. a [Nevertheless] Ch. 33.17. as abatements of their excellencies. Nevertheless, I have a few things against thee, Rev. 2. So in the Process against the Church of Ephesus, ⟨p. 131⟩verse 4. Nevertheless; a But against Pergamos, verse 14. Against Thyatira, v. 20. a Notwithstanding, &c. But now in the judicial Process of this last and Ʋniversal Assizes, there is not found in all those voluminous Records (which shall be opened,) so much as one unsavoury But to blemish the fair Characters of the Saints: as if (even before they got into Heaven) they had obtained that priviledg, to be, just men made perfect! This is very wonderful.

1. 1A twofold advantage of the Recital made of the Saints Graces.
2. 2Rom. 7.24.
3. 3Job. 7.20.

Had Reprobate men and Angels had the drawing up of the Report of the Saints lives, ¹what a black Bill of Indictment would they have preferred against them? to be sure, all the evil which they ever did in their whole lives, with all their blackest aggravations, should have been raked up, and produced against them. Yea, if the Saints themselves had been trusted with giving in the story of their own lives, they would not have dealt much more kindly by themselves, than the Seed of the Serpent would have done; to be sure, if there were any thing worse than other, they would not have concealed it; vilifying the good, and aggravating the bad, (as sometimes they were wont to do in their desertions, even beyond truth and justice,) as if Satan had hired them to belly themselves: I but now the Righteous Judg of Heaven and Earth, He is far from dealing so with them: but, as if he himself had never known any evil by them; he brings in Omnia bene in his presentment, all fair and well, and so it is proclaimed in that High Court of Justice.

Had Reprobate men and Angels had the drawing up of the Report of the Saints lives, ¹what a black Bill of Inditement would they have preferred against them? to be sure, all the evil which they ever did in their whole lives, with all their blackest aggravations, should have been raked up, and produced against them. Yea, if the Saints themselves had been trusted with giving in the story of their own lives, they would not have dealt much more kindly by themselves, than the Seed of the Serpent would have done; to be sure, if there were any thing worse than other, they would not have concealed it; vilifying the good, and aggravating the bad, (as somtimes they were wont to do in their desertions, even beyond truth and justice,) as if Satan had hired them to bely themselves: I but now the Righteous Judg of Heaven and Earth, He is far from dealing so with them: but, as if he himself had never known any evil by them; he brings in Omnia bene in his presentment, all fair and well, and so it is proclaimed in that High Court of Justice.

1. 1Heb. 12.23. See the reason of it page, 134. sub fine

This is no small Encouragement for the poor self-accusing Saints of God! ¹Although the accuser of the Brethren and his seed do not cease to accuse them before God, day and night; yea, and doth often (taking advantage of their natural distempers) even to force them to accuse themselves (not much more Righteously then He himself doth) yet will not the Righteous Judg accuse them.

1. 1Use. Rev. 12.10.

But is it not Prophesied of the day of Judgment, ¹that God shall bring every work into judgment, whether it be good, or whether it be evil? How then is there no mention made of their sins?

1. 1Object. Eccles. 12.14.

That Scripture is to be understood Respective; ¹sc. with a just respect to the two great parties which are to be judged, good and bad; godly and ungodly; that is to say, All the good of the good shall be brought into the judgment of mercy; and all the evil of the wicked, into the judgment of Condemnation; the godliness of the godly, that it may be graciously rewarded, and the wickedness of the wicked, that it may be righteously punished:

That Scripture is to be understood Respective; ¹sc. with a just respect to the two great parties which are to be judged, good and bad; godly and ungodly; that is to say, All the good of the good shall be brought into the judgment of mercy; and all the evil of the wicked, into the judgment of Condemnation; the godliness of the godly, that it may be gratiously rewarded, and the wickedness of the wicked, that it may be righteously punished:

1. 1Sol.

Here, ¹I say, is encouragement for the Saints, howbeit not to sin; such a vile Conclusion would ill become such Premisses; and were sufficient evidence to un-Saint any person, that should (deliberately) make such Inferences, as being a Logic taught in the Devils School, not in Christ's; and exploded by all real Saints, with the greatest abhorrency, Ab sit! God forbid, Rom. 6.1. Comfort, then, here is for the Saints, but such as will make them more Saints, 1 Jo. 3.3. Every one that hath this hope in him, purifieth himself even as he is pure.

Here, ¹I say, is encouragement for the Saints, howbeit not to sin; such a vile Conclusion would ill become such Premisses; and were sufficient evidence to un-Saint any person, that should (deliberately) make such Inferences, as being a Logick taught in the Devils School, not in Christ's; and exploded by all real Saints, with the greatest abhorrency, Ab sit! God forbid, Rom. 6.1. Comfort, then, here is for the Saints, but such as will make them more Saints, 1 Jo. 3.3. Every one that hath this hope in him, purifieth himself even as he is pure.

1. 1Caution.

But Secondly; ¹Another Circumstance of honour in Christ's acknowledgement of the Graces in, and Duties performed by, his Saints, is, that although their Graces were nothing else but so many drops of Christ his own fullness, [Grace for Grace] and their duties so many operations of his own Spirit in them; ²(nothing their's but the very act of Believing, and the act of Repentance, and the act of Love to Christ, and the act of Prayer, & sic in caeteris); yet Christ is pleased to ascribe all the Praise, and all the Glory, both of their Graces and Duties, unto the Saints (assuming nothing to himself, to whom the whole was wholly due) as if not only the act it self, but the principle also, from whence they acted, had been their own; This is truly wonderful! here is the breadth and length, depth and height of the Love of Christ, ³which passeth knowledge. Christ then, will indeed, be glorified in his Saints, and admired in all that believe: ⁴Oh, how will such an Acknowledgement as this, made by the Judg himself, fill the Elect Angels with Admiration; and the Reprobate with Envy, that not the least guilt should be charged upon them, by whom they themselves knew so much, having been so many eye-witnesses, (as I may ⟨p. 133⟩say) the one, to their grief, as Tutors; the other to their joy, as Tempters! Yea how will it fill the Saints themselves with amazement, while they are secretly accusing themselves (with Josephs Brethren) we are utterly guilty concerning our Brother (our Lord and elder Brother,) I say, to hear the Lord himself not charging them with the least unkindness; yea representing them before God, men and Angels, even (as it were) as immaculate as the Angels themselves, who kept their first Estate; yea in all this, putting the Crown upon their head, ⁵which they cast down at his feet, saying, Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy Name, give the Glory. Behold such honour have all the Saints?

But Secondly; ¹Another Circumstance of honour in Christ's acknowledgment of the Graces in, and Duties performed by, his Saints, is, that although their Graces were nothing else but so many drops of Christ his own fulness, [Grace for Grace] and their duties so many operations of his own Spirit in them; ²(nothing their's but the very act of Believing, and the act of Repentance, and the act of Love to Christ, and the act of Prayer, & sic in caeteris); yet Christ is pleased to ascribe all the Praise, and all the Glory, both of their Graces and Duties, unto the Saints (assuming nothing to himself, to whom the whol was wholly due) as if not only the act it self, but the principle also, from whence they acted, had been their own; This is truly wonderful! here is the bredth and length, depth and height of the Love of Christ, ³which passeth knowledg. Christ then, will indeed, be glorified in his Saints, and admired in all that believe: ⁴Oh, how will such an Acknowledgment as this, made by the Judg himself, fill the Elect Angels with Admiration; and the Reprobate with Envy, that not the least guilt should be charged upon them, by whom they themselves knew so much, having been so many eye-witnesses, (as I may ⟨p. 133⟩say) the one, to their grief, as Tutors; the other to their joy, as Tempters! Yea how will it fill the Saints themselves with amazement, while they are secretly accusing themselves (with Josephs Brethren) we are utterly guilty concerning our Brother (our Lord and elder Brother,) I say, to hear the Lord himself not charging them with the least unkindness; yea representing them before God, men and Angels, even (as it were) as immaculate as the Angels themselves, who kept their first Estate; yea in all this, putting the Crown upon their head, ⁵which they cast down at his feet, saying, Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy Name, give the Glory. Behold such honour have all the Saints?

1. 1Secondly; The Crown of praise is put on the Saints Head.
2. 2[Greek or Hebrew]. Joh. 1.16.〈non-Latin alphabet〉. Joh. 1.16.
3. 3Eph. 3.18, 19.
4. 42 Thes. 1.10.
5. 5Rev. 4 10.

And oh, ¹How will this infinitely compensate all the reproaches and scandals, which a generation of malignant Cainites did cast upon the Saints of God (while they sojourned with them in Mesech, & had their habitation in the Tents of Kedar) speaking all manner of evil against them, ²(lying falsely) for Christ's sake? How will it cut them to the very heart, to hear the Judg himself speak so honourably of those very persons whom they reviled with so much pride and contempt! ³shame shall now cover them which said, Where is the Lord your God? Their eyes shall behold them, and now they shall be trodden down as the mire in the streets! ⁴Oh let the Saints (even here) rejoice and be exceeding glad; because, for their reproach they shall have praise; and for their shame, they shall have double (sc. renown and glory) and for their confusion, they shall rejoice and triumph in the approbation of their Judg and Redeemer, &c. yet behold, all this is but the beginning of their Triumph!

And oh, ¹How will this infinitely compensate all the reproaches and scandals, which a generation of malignant Cainites did cast upon the Saints of God (while they sojourned with them in Mesech, & had their habitation in the Tents of Kedar) speaking all manner of evil against them, ²(lying falsely) for Christ's sake? How will it cut them to the very heart, to hear the Judg himself speak so honourably of those very persons whom they reviled with so much pride and contempt! ³shame shall now cover them which said, Where is the Lord your God? Their eyes shall behold them, and now they shall be troden down as the mire in the streets! ⁴Oh let the Saints (even here) rejoyce and be exceeding glad; because, for their repreach they shall have praise; and for their shame, they shall have double (sc. renown and glory) and for their confusion, they shall rejoyce and triumph in the approbation of their Judg and Redeemer, &c. yet behold, all this is but the beginning of their Triumph!

1. 1Use of Cons• lation.
2. 2[…] malam Verbum, Gr.〈…〉 malam Verbum, Gr.
3. 3Mich. 7.10.
4. 4Math. 5.12. [Greek or Hebrew]. Let them rejoice and skip for joy.Math. 5.12. 〈non-Latin alphabet〉. Let them rejoyce and skip for joy.

I come now to a second end of the Saints meeting with Christ in the Air, ¹and that is their

1. 1Second end. The Saints public justification, consisting—Second end. The Saints publick justification, consisting—

Full and final Justification;

And this consists of two parts 1. Their public Absolution. 2. The Judg's Pronouncing of them to be Righteous.

And this consists of two parts 1. Their publick Absolution. 2. The Judg's Pronouncing of them to be Righteous.

First: Their public Absolution. Pardon of Sin is the privative part of Justification; Imputation of Righteousness, ⟨p. 134⟩is the positive part. Pardon or Remission is the Sinner's Justification, sc. from sin, both from the guilt of sin, and from the sentence or punishment due to sin. By him (sc. by Christ) all that believe are justified from all things, ¹from which they cannot be justified by the Law of Moses. This now must be one branch of the solemn justification of the Saints at their meeting with the Lord Jesus in the Air; as a Judg, he shall fully and finally, in open Court, Absolve the Saints from all their sins, both guilt and punishment, from which there was no Absolution ever to be expected by the Covenant of works. This truly was done before, initially, at their first Conversion; then were their sins truly and perfectly pardoned, though not (as some too presumptuously affirm) all past, present, and to come, ²(for sin to be pardoned before committed, is somewhat an uncouth doctrine) yet all 1. As to sins already past: 2. All as to the state of Remission; ³they had a perfect right to the pardon of all their sins past, present, and to come, though not an equal investiture; Pardon was theirs, and Absolution theirs, though it was to be applied to them from time to time, upon new acts of Repentance in them; and new acts of Intercession in the Mediator; and so likewise, by new acts of Application by the Spirit: thus the Saints were truly pardoned at the first moment of their Regeneration, or new Birth, And

First: Their publick Absolution. Pardon of Sin is the privative part of Justification; Imputation of Righteousness, ⟨p. 134⟩is the positive part. Pardon or Remission is the Sinner's Justification, sc. from sin, both from the guilt of sin, and from the sentence or punishment due to sin. By him (sc. by Christ) all that believe are justified from all things, ¹from which they cannot be justified by the Law of Moses. This now must be one branch of the solemn justification of the Saints at their meeting with the Lord Jesus in the Air; as a Judg, he shall fully and finally, in open Court, Absolve the Saints from all their sins, both guilt and punishment, from which there was no Absolution ever to be expected by the Covenant of works. This truly was done before, initially, at their first Conversion; then were their sins truly and perfectly pardoned, though not (as some too presumptuously affirm) all past, present, and to come, ²(for sin to be pardoned before committed, is somwhat an uncouth doctrine) yet all 1. As to sins already past: 2. All as to the state of Remission; ³they had a perfect right to the pardon of all their sins past, present, and to come, though not an equal investiture; Pardon was theirs, and Absolution theirs, though it was to be applied to them from time to time, upon new acts of Repentance in them; and new acts of Intercession in the Mediator; and so likewise, by new acts of Application by the Spirit: thus the Saints were truly pardoned at the first moment of their Regeneration, or new Birth, And

1. 1Acts. 13 39.
2. 2Rom. 3.25.
3. 3Jus ad rem, though not jus in re an aptitudi•al right, though not an actual. 1 Jo. 1.9. Ch. 2.1. Rom. 8.16.