thens in their Olympics had their cups, and garments, and crowns that were the rewards of the conquerors ; yea, if a horse did but run a race and won, he had a cup or a crown ; and thereupon Theocritus saith, ' See what poor things the world glories in, that brute beasts are taken with ; their conquerors are crowned, and so are their horses'.i But what were all their cups, garments, and crowns of ivy and laurel, &c., to this crown of life that is promised to the overcoming Christian? You must first be conquering Christians before you shall be crowned Christians. Why do you require that in one place, saith one of the ancients, [Ambrose,] which is due in another? why would you pre- posterously have the crown before you overcome ? Whilst we are in our warring state fighting against the world, the flesh and the devil, a crown does not become us. I have read how that upon a triumph all the Emperor Severus his soldiers, for the greater pomp, were to put on crowns of bays, but there was one Christian among them that wore it on his arm, and being asked the reason of it he boldly answered, Non decet Christianum in hac vita coronari, It becomes not a Chris- tian to wear his crown in this life. That crown that is made out of the tree of life is a wreath of laurel that never withers, a crown that never fades, a crown that will sit fast on no head but the conqueror's. But,
(4.) Fourthly, The crown of life signifies a lasting crown, a living crown. To say the crown of life, is to say a living crown ; and living crowns are only to be found in heaven, Prov. xxvii. 24 ; Ezek. xxi. 25-27. The word crown notes the perpetuity of glory. A crown is round, and hath neither beginning nor ending ; and therefore the glory of the saints in heaven is called an immortal, an immarcessible,2 incorruptible, and never-fading crown, 2 Pet. i. 4 ; 1 Cor. ix. 24. The crown of life signifies the lasting honour and glory of the saints in heaven. I have read of an emperor that had three crowns, one on his sword, another on his head, and then cries out, Tertiam in coelis, * The third is in heaven, and my hope,' saith he, ' shall be in the ever- lasting crown.' '^ The life to come is only the true life, the happy life, the safe life, the honourable life, the lasting, yea, the everlasting life, and therefore the crown is reserved for that life. King William the Conqueror was crowned three times every year all his reign, at three several places — viz., Gloucester, Winchester, and Westminster — but death hath long since put a period to his crown. The crowns of the greatest monarchs in the world, though they last long, yet are cor- ruptible, subject to wearing, cracking, stealing : they will be taken from them, or they from their crowns, suddenly. Witness that pile of crowns, as the historian speaks, [Hakewill,] that was piled up, as it were, at Alexander's gates, when he sat down and wept because there were no more worlds to conquer. All scripture and histories do abundantly tell us that there is nothing more fading than princes' crowns. But,
(5.) Fifthly, The crown of life notes a well-entitled crown ; a crown that comes by a true and noble title. A Christian has the best title imaginable to the crown of life. (1.) He has a title by Christ's blood ;
^ Idyll, xvi , line 40, seq. — G. ' ' Unfading.' — G.
^ See my ' String of Pearls.' [Vol. i. p. 398, seq. — G.]
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(2.) By the new birth ; (3.) By free and precious promises ; (4.) By donation ; (5.) By marriage union and communion with Christ, who is heir-apparent to all the glory of heaven ; (6.) By a sure and ever- lasting covenant.^ King Henry the Seventh of England pretended a sixfold title to the crown ; (1.) By conquest ; (2.) By the election of the soldiers in the field ; (3.) By parliament ; (4.) By birth ; (5) By donation ; (6.) By marriage, But what was his pretended title to that real and full title that a believer has to the crown of life ? But,
(6.) Sixthly, and lastly, The crown of life notes the perfection of the glory of the saints in heaven. As the crown compasseth the head on every side, so in heaven there is an aggregation of all internal and eternal good. One of the ancients,^ speaking concerning what we can say of the glory of heaven, saith, ' It is but a little drop of the sea, and a little spark of the great furnace ; for those good things of eternal life are so many that they exceed number, so great that they exceed measure, so precious that they are above all estimation/ Nee Christus nee codum patitur hyperbolem, Neither Christ nor heaven can be hyperbolised. Nescio quid erit, quod ista vita non erit. And, saith one of the fathers, ' What will that life be, or rather, what will not that life be, since all good either is not at all, or is in such a life ? Light which place cannot comprehend, voices and music which time cannot ravish away, odours which are never dissipated, a feast which is never consumed, a blessing which eternity bestoweth, but eternity shall never see at an end ! ' Do you ask me what heaven is? saith one: when I meet you there I will tell you. The world to come, say the Kabbins, is the world where all is well. I have read of one that would willingly swim through a sea of brim- stone to get to heaven ; for there, and only there, is perfection of happiness. What are the silks of Persia, the spices of Egypt, the gold of Ophir, and the treasures of both Indies, to the glory of another world ? Augustine tells us that one day, when he was about to write something upon the eighth verse of the thirty-sixth Psalm, ' Thou shalt make them drink of the rivers of thy pleasures;' and being almost swallowed up with the contemplation of heavenly joys, one called unto him very loud by his name ; and, inquiring who it was, he answered, I am Jerome, with whom in my lifetime thou hadst so much conference concerning doubts in Scripture, and am now best experienced to resolve thee of any doubts concerning the joys of heaven ; but only let me first ask thee this question. Art thou able to put the whole earth, and all the waters of the sea, into a little pot ? Canst thou measure the waters in thy fist, and mete out heaven with thy span ? or weigh the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance ? If not, no more is it possible that thy understanding should compre- hend the least of the joys of heaven ; and certainly the least of the joys of heaven are unconceivable and inexpressible. But,
Thirdly, There is no power nor policy on earth or in hell, that can deprive a believer of an incorruptible crown : Ps. xxi. 3 ; 1 Cor. ix. 2.5, ' And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things ; now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown, but we an in-
^ Eph. i. 7 ; 1 Pet. i. 3, 4 ; 2 Pet. i. 4 ; Luke xii. 32 ; 2 Cor. xi. 2 ; Heb. i. 2 ; 2 Sam. xxiii. 5 Jer. xxxii. 40, 41. » August, de Triplic. Habitii, c. 4.
WITH HIS PEOPLE IN THEIR GREATEST TROUBLES. 521