Heaven won by Violence OR A TREATISE Upon MAT. 11.12 Compendiously containing very nigh The Whole BODY OF Practical DIVINITY And shewing VVhat a Sacred Violence is and how it must be used and offered in Believing Repenting and all the Duties of your High Calling Together with A New and Living Way of Dying upon Heb. 11.1 added thereunto By Christopher Jelinger And Published with the Dedications thereof by some Christian Friends London Printed in the Year 1665. To the Right Worshipful ANTHONY REEVE The Mayor And his Brethren The MAGISTRATES And to all the Inhabitants of the populous Town of TOTNES Mercy and Peace from God the Father and from our Lord Saviour Jesus Christ I Have been much sollicited earnestly written to to communicate these my Labours because when I preached them first at your Town it pleased God of his infinite Mercy thereby to convert a poor soul then present and one more elsewhere from Darkness to Light and from the power of Satan to God which hath occasioned the coming forth of this Treatise unto the publick view of the VVorld by a Friend whose desire it was to publish the same For who can tell whether it may not be the Beneplacit and will of God that more souls be thereby won to God The subject matter thereof you see is as apt as any by the good blessing of God to subject souls to the mighty Power of that VVord which here I hold forth and press to make you press toward the Mark for the Price of the High Calling of God in Christ Jesus to strive that you may enter into the narrow Way which leads to Life to offer a Sacred Violence to Heaven to your selves nay to God himself blessed for ever to take to win to get that great that glorious that spacious Kingdom of Heaven by Force forcing your selves to leave the VVorld to abandon Sin to fight against Satan and to lay hold on eternal Life O Sirs here is work for all your Town for all this Country for all England for all your dayes The Ancient of dayes so diffuse his holy Spirit into your hearts that you may all become men of another spirit labouring for Heaven Heaven is worth the striving the strugling the pains-taking which in this Treatise is required that you may be saved Townsmen commonly are more at leisure to listen to such a discourse as this is because they are not under such a pressure of worldly work as those are which mansion in the Country therefore I hope you wil afford some of your spare hours to read that Lecture which here is read from so precious a Scripture and that you will not put off these tenders of my Love and such a Theam as this is like that unwise King of Macedon who when one tendred unto him a Treatise tending to Immortality said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is I am not at leisure I beseech you Sirs by the Mercies of God in the Bowels of Christ Jesus that you will be serious once and set your selves in earnest to that great VVork which is here proposed working out your Salvation with fear trembling for your time runs out apace in the Glass of time and I have this confidence in you all 2 Cor. 2.3 that you would not willingly have the silver Cords of your lives broken before your hearts with sorrow for sin be broken nor would depart this evil world before ye depart from sin and have left the vanities of the world and gotten a sound assurance of an other better world nor yet cease to be retainers to the Sun created before ye be retainers to the Sun of Righteousness nor take your farewel of the Elements before you have bid farewel to this present life's Allurements And therefore why do ye linger why do ye not break away from Satan by force why do ye not once begin to have a low and abject esteem of this common way of existence this retaining to the Elements and become the Servants of Holiness why do ye not strive to be the Children of Light before ye cease to be maintained by the usury of light Usura Lucis why do ye not set all things apart to have your part in that holy taking of that great glorious Kingdom of Heaven by Violence I for my part when I take a full veiw and circle of my self do conceive that without this I am nothing my life nothing my performing of duties nothing Do you conceive so too and then be doing as wel as reading the things in this Book contained Nay my Beloved do this especially before ever you take this Treatise in hand to peruse it resolve to be Assaulters urgers Pressers Forcers of your selves and of Heaven by it but withal beg and pray before you read one line that upon your bended knees seriously and ardently that the great God of Heaven himself will write these lines in your hearts which I have written in this Book that you may do them O that you would hear me in this For how many Books have been read in vain without this This this must make this my labour of love auspicious your reading prosperous and your laudable endeavours salutiferous But I also my self will pray for you O my God bedew theresore these silent lines with thy Benediction so as that this populous Town of T may consider in this her day the things which belong to her peace and tend to immortality as they are tendered to it in this Book for all eternity So prayeth Your most humble Orator to the Throne of Grace Christopher Jelinger ORATIO SIVE POEMA Authoris 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ad Jesum Christum Regem Coeli ac Terrae Potentissimum Dominum suum Clementissimum MAgno Nate Deo Magni Dominator Olympi Verbum subsistens et Patris ore potens Summum Sanctorum Caput Illustrissime Regum Qui Mundum fulcis Numine perpetuo Irrecitabiliter manans de Corde Parentis Quo Mundus sumpsit Principe Principium Ut Philomela suis attemperat Organa Cannis Fitque repercusso dulcior aura melo Sic mea Musa cupit te decantare per Orbem Terrarum totum Divitiasque tuas Non me linque ergo Rex Prestantissime Regnam Qui praesto es Sanctis dasque Salutis opem Sed me sustenta dextrae virtute potenti Quae fulcit Sanctos angelicosque Viros Et mihi Dux esto Cortus Cursumque per auras Dirigito in Caelos Christe beate Tuos Ut ceu constructura favos apis omnia linquens Floribus Instrepitans poplite mella rapit Sic rapere ipse queam Coelestia mella beatis Promissa in Coelis Optime Christe tuis Pierides Christo nune vestras dicite laudes Qui Sermo est Magni Progeniesque Dei Christo Cujus amor suavis mihi Crescit in horas Dicite sit semper Gratia Magnatibi Sit lans excellens celebris sit fama per Orbem Atque in perpetuum Gloria summa tibi
imbibed all this into their hearts and ears cut off all their members which they have upon earth Col. 3.5 I mean their dearest sins as Fornication Uncleanness inordinate affectiō evil concupiscence and Covetousness which is Idolatry and that they will go as far as their legs I mean the legs of Faith will carry them even so far as to the loving of their very enemies the giving of their bodies to be burnt the losing of their estates their ease their sinful and sensual delights and the incurring of the hatred of all their friends yea of all the world rather than go from Christ and go from Life and go from the World which is to come The uses of the point will be these 1. use will be one of Information Then how desirable must needs such a Ministry be You do all desire and covet to have such servants and workmen as do their work so faithfully so painfully and so well as that you may perceive and see your selves how much they do advance your estates on Earth and if so how much to be desired then is that painful and powerful Ministry which doth so labour to advance your spiritual estates and your soules that they may win Heaven We read John 5.4 that An Angel went down at a certain time into that Pool and troubled the waters and that whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of what disease soever he had and how much longed for the comming down of such an Angel was to the people then especially to the lame and to the blind and to the impotent and to the withered ver 3. I leave to you to judge Now every powerful and Christ-preaching-Minister is such an Angel so he comes into the Pulpit so he troubles the water making the Word which he preacheth to be troublesome to obstinate and impenitent sinners and so he causes it by God's blessing to become wholesome to many a poor creature that is blind or lame or impotent or withered which then and thereupon can and will being made whole and sound even offer a Sacred Violence to Heaven it self and strive to take it by force and therefore O how lovely O how amiable O how desirable O how much to be loved and longed for must needs be a powerful Christ-preaching-Ministry and those Gospel-Angels which come to us in the Name of the Lord O how welcome must they needs be to sin-sick and sin-lame souls though they trouble them a little first because they come with healing in their preaching and cure them at last and make them to make out for Heaven 2. Use is one of Exhortation Is it so Then 1. Encourage such a Ministry Quest How I answer 1. Hear it carefully as Mat. 3.5 they came from all parts to hear the Baptist preach even from Jerusalem and from Judea and all the regton round about Jordan So when such Johns teach let all the people that can come and hear them stirring up one another as those in Isaiah saying Come ye and let us go up to the Mountain of the Lord to the House of the God of Jacob and he will teach us his wayes for out of Zion shall go forth the Law and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem Isa 2.3 2. Follow and do what such a Ministry teacheth according to that famous Scripture Jam 1.22 But be ye doers of the Word and not hearers only deceiving your own selves Mark deceiving your own selves so that you do but deceive your own souls when you but come and sit before us and do none of the things which are taught by us when you say What will this babler say when having heard us press the forwardness of the Saints ye will not live as Saints when having been told how ye must force Heaven ye mind nothing less than Heaven when after ye have drunk in our Sermons tending to Life and Glory ye will not so much as wag one foot nor stir at all that ye may drink in those ineffable Pleasures which flow and stream from Jehova's Face in the Kingdom of Glory And besides what encouragement do ye give us as long as ye regard our words no more than fables after they have been with all seriousness and sadness tenderness trueness earnestness and eagerness powerfulness and piercingness faithfulness and ferventness delivered uttered and preached by us O it must needs be a deading of our affections a cooling of our courage a stupifying of our spirits when after all our Gospel-Reports made by us we must take up that sad complaint of Isaiah the Prophet Who hath beleived our Report Isa 53.1 Wherefore as those Sorcerers which heard Paul preach were so affected with and wrought upon with his preaching as that they kindled a fire and burnt their books before all men not at all regarding the price thereof which amounted to fifty thousand pieces of Silver nor the loss which thereby they sustained because they would rather lose their Books and lose their Gain and lose all their Silver than lose their Souls and lose Life and lose Heaven Heaven being far more valued more esteemed more prized of them than all their books which were burned by them So do ye now go and do likewise ye need not kindle a fire for it for I have kindled a fire for you already by this my preaching for is not my Word like Fire saith God Jer. 23.29 Do ye only bring I 'l not say your books but your sins which I have preached against in this Sermon and burn them before all men that is let the Word which I have taught you now so burn them up as that we may see them no more hear of them no more be troubled about them and with them no more as when a thing is burnt we are troubled with it no more O Sirs where are those your books I should say yoursins which must be burnt bring them hither and burn them here before me in and by this Fire which I have made for you bring hither your Usury your Pride your Lusts your Uncleanness your Lasciviousness your Anger your onvious dispositions your idle courses your Drunkenness your Gurmandizing your Laziness your Slothfulness your Covetousness which is Idolatry and all the evils of your tongues which though little are such unruly members and let them all be eaten up by this Fire which I have now kindled crying and saying Lord burn up these our Corruptions by this Sermon O Sirs do not your hearts already burn as the Disciples hearts when Christ opened the Scriptures to them Luke 24.32 Do ye not feel this Fire O that God would work now upon your souls O that he would blow this Fire O that he would cause his holy Spirit to blow upon your spirits O that he would by his co-operation make this Word of his which I preach and which is indeed like Fire effectual to your salvation O that he would make it burn up all
Resolution much accepted with God and his mind the readier to return to the like Resolution again to put it manfully in execution Wherefore as the Lord by the Prophet Hosea bids Israel to say We will not ride upon Horses nor will we say any more to the work of our hands Ye are our gods Hos 2.3 As if they should say we will never more be so swift and hasty as to rush into sin like a Horse into the battle nor will we have any more to do with Idols So do I bid you to say and to resolve now here before the Lord after all your former endeavours used and forementioned in the preceding Uses and Directions We will never more by the Grace of God be so wild so fierce so hasty so eager in the pursuit of sin and lust as we have been nor will we have any more to do with those sensual delights those filthy lascivious courses those unlawful sports those inordinate passions of anger and revenge those vile thoughts those vain and unclean communications those covetous desires and practices those bloody Oaths those impure touches those wanton gestures those monstruous fashions those scarlet and crimson abominations which were our Idols hitherto and to whom we said upon the matter Ye are our God's I add neither will we walk one day or hour longer in that broad way which is as it were between the two posts of delight and ease and leads to destruction I spake but now of two posts for so some †Jun. Tremel Expositors and Translators render and expound that place in Mat. 7.14 Enter ye at the strait Gate for wide is the Gate and broad 〈◊〉 Way which leads to destruction and many gâ—… in thereat or * In Syr. Translation per medium ejus thorow the midst thereof that is say they thorow that space which is betwixt two posts In which sence the Hebrew word wch the Syriack Translation here answers is * 〈◊〉 apprimitur a Rab. Davide Kimchi Hebraorum doctissimo read Zach 4.12 Again Resolve and say here in the presence of God and of his holy Angels every one of you as Joshua once As for me and my house we will serve the Lord Josh 24.16 Or thus Let all this People say in their hearts as God's People once with their lips We also will serve the Lord for he is our God Josh 24.18 Nay but we will serve the Lord Josh 24.21 As if they should say Nay we will stand to it O my Brethren such Promises and Resolutions will put a mighty tye upon your consciences for when a man makes a promise he is bound and his promise becomes a debt which must be paid So that though in my former direction I perswaded you to leave Sin yet now again I fall upon Sin but in an other manner shewing how by the help of Resolution you may be rid of it and the same design I have for that which I shall speak hereafter concerning all those Duties which I shall press upon your Consciences to tye you thereunto by such a Promise and Resolution as here I perswade you to The Lord direct ye and the Lord assist you in the making of it that ye may not only make it but also keep it Amen So be it 2. In Resisting For though you do cry against Sin and cry to be converted and resolve against sin never to commit it more yet will it like an †Improbitas Muscae improbous and impudent Flie return again and therefore must be still resisted as well as Satan 1 Pet. 5.9 O dear Christians do not you find by experience how since you took that great work of Resolution in hand which I formerly spake of and since you began to take Heaven by Violence you met with open war as it were within your selves Sin warring against you in your members as Paul also found it in himself Rom. 7.25 and as most of the †Cypr. l. 1. c. 1. Aug. l. 1. doctr Chr. c. 23. Greg. Mor. 4. c. 23. Cyril l. de orat Orighom 30. in Exo. Hilar. in Psa 118. Bern. in Psal 90. Ancient Worthies can and do speak of it in their Books and the reason of it is this for that the Devil possessing quietly your souls before lay still and sought only means to content the same by putting in new and new delights and pleasures of the flesh but when he seeth that ye offer to go from him he begins strait to rage and to stir up your selves against your selves and to move sedition within your selves This in figure was shewn by the Example of Laban Gen. 31. who never so persecuted his Son-in-Law Jacob untill he would depart from him And therefore I must needs put you upon resisting O Sirs as the Apostle said once to the Hebrews Heb. 12.4 Ye have not yet resisted unto blood striving against sin so may I say to most of you with a little alteration Ye have not yet resisted to the utmost and as ye ought striving against sin and therefore I may well stir ye up as I do even most earnestly to resisting saying O strive O stir as for Life against Sin I mean against Pride and against Lust and against Passion and against Worldliness for all these sins will trouble you again and again and again and therefore you must resist them again and again If you ask me How I answer as the Apostle in the Faith 1 Pet. 5.9 Believing verily that God for Christ's sake will subdue them in you and for you for ye have a precious Promise for it Rom. 6.14 Sin shall not have dominion over you 3. In Reading Search the Scriptures saith Christ John 5.39 and that requireth labour for so much the Original emphatically doth imply 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and that our sluggish flesh doth not like and therefore Reading Searching is so much neglected by us for where be the men that will not only read but search the Scriptures dayly Acts 17.11 It is well if we read dayly many will not do that Again where be the Christians that will read the Scriptures in their journies as the Enuch Acts 8. who was but a Jew in his Chariot it is well if we read them at home And therefore I must needs stir you up as much as I am able to this most excellent Duty perswading you all that after you have set up your Resolution for Heaven and Eternal Life you will also reade as for Life for therein is to be had Eternal Life John 5.39 If the flesh draw back do ye prick it forward if it will not follow you do ye follow it if your eyes be heavy and will not look into God's Book as you would have them force them and by that make them lively by compulsion to reade and to peruse the Book of Life and of Salvation O this kind of Reading and Searching and Forcing How will it * Like the men of Berea who so became Nobles
Wine-bibber in the same place where it is exercised When be beareth the words of this Curse that be blesseth himself saying I shall have peace though I walk in the imagination of my heart to add Drunkenness to Thirst The Lord will not spare him but then the Anger of the Lord and his jealousie shall smoak against that man and all the Curses that are written in this Book shall lie upon him and the Lord shall blot out his name from under heaven and the Lord shall separate him unto evil Deut. 29.19 2021. Now Drunkards saith this Ministry and all ye that live and lie in any of the sins fore-mentioned Can you say say it truly that such as you are in the state of Life when God who is Truth it self saith you are in the state of Death will ye say that ye are blessed when he saith that ye are accursed will you harbour a conceit that ye shall be saved when he tells you that ye shall be damed will you entertain an opinion that Heaven is and will be yours without contradiction when the Mouth of the Lord hath spoken it that that glorious Place and Kingdom which we call Heaven will be kept from you to an endless duration O men befooled and unwise You go to Heaven saith this Ministry if Toads if Vipers if Devils may go to Heaven you may continuing in your sins wherein hitherto you lye wallowing as so many Sowes wallowing in the mire 2 Pet. 2.22 which when it fills the ears of deluded souls it also fills them with horror with anguish with grief with trouble of mind and vexation of spirit and makes them cry out as a woman in travel desiring to be delivered and that by Jesus Christ that they may be saved and so such a Christ-preaching-Ministry doth mightily advance the winning of Heaven by a Sacred Violence Understand still if God's Blessing go with it 6. Ground It acquaints men with the absolute necessity of believing I mean of believing savingly for saith this Ministry as Christ said once Except you eat the Hesh of the Son of Man and drink his Blood namely spiritually and by a lively Faith ye have no life in you John 6.53 And be that helieveth not namely savingly shall be damned Mark 16.16 whatsoever the man be learned or unlearned bond or free rich or poor young or old professor or no professor for there is no respect of persons with God so that if a man being a professor should give all his goods to the poor pray and prostrate himself at and before the Throne of Grace oftimes in a day peruse those sacred leaves which are in the Book of God beyond all his neighbours soar up by his strong elevations and high contemplations beyond the Moon beyond the Cassiopeia it self into Heaven it self as he supposeth and talk like an Angel yet if he want true saving Faith in Christ he can never live nor be nor mansion hereafter with Christ but must be without where Whoremongers and Sorcerers and Lyars are as being unworthy of Lise unworthy of Salvation Rev. 21.8 which when it drums in peoples ears they are astonished at this Doctrine as those Mat. 7.28 and cry out saying O then what will be come of us that believe not O what shall our poor souls do O that we had Faith O that we could believe as these and these in the Son of God! O that God would look upon us and deliver unto us such a Faith as he hath to others Jude 2. O that we could obtain like-precious Faith with others 2 Pet. 1.1 O that God would help our unbelief Mark 9.24 O that the time were come for us to come to the Faith of God's Elect which they have in Jesus Tit. 1.1 O that by Faith we could eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink his Blood that we also as well as others who beleive in Jesus might be saved Joh. 6.53 And so such a Christ-preaching Ministry mightily advanceth the winning of Heaven by a Sacred Violence 7. Ground It will inform them of that strictest way of living which Christ requireth of all that will enter into Life everlasting For saith this Ministry as Christ said once Except your Righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the Scribes Pharisees who yet fasted twice a week compassed Sea and Land to make a Proselyte made long prayers were no Extortioners no Adulterers no unrighteous persons such as Theeves and Defrauders in bargaining and Usurers are nay as some write of them lay upon boards not beds by night ye shall in no case enter into the Kingdom of God Mark in no case if you would give all your substance for it would seek very much after it would go so far to enter into it as that it might be said of you as Christ said to that young man Thou art not far from the Kingdom of God Mark 12.34 so you are not far from the Kingdom of God yet shall ye in no wise enter unless ye go farther unless you go thorow unless ye do more than Hypocrites do and be more holy more humble more just more heavenly more patient more devout more meek more sober and more truly pious than they are Again saith this Ministry with St. James James 2.10 Whosoever shall keep the whole Law and yet offend in one point is guilty of all Observe whosoever without exception whether he be a Jew or Christian Minister or Hearer a great man or a poor man how big soever he look how high soever he esteem and think of himself nay though he be a man that is well esteemed by all his neighbours in the place where he liveth for his almes-deeds for his kind carriage for his peace-making among them for his square dealings with every man and especially for the good order he keeps in his own family for praying much and often in and with his family and apart for reading for repeating of Sermons and for catechizing his Sons and Servants yet if he offend in one point if he omit or neglect any one needful Duty live but in any one known sin that one but will spoile all and he will be guilty of all and so die for it without mercy As if a man should keep all the Laws of our Land but kill one man he dieth for it if he had a thousand lives by the Laws of the Land So strict saith this Ministry is the Law of God which when poor sinners are acquainted with O what fears O what doubts O what stirrings O what cares it raises and causes in mens and womens hearts and O what sorce will not they use and what pains besides all them that they have taken will they not take that Heaven by Violence they may take Some have made themselves Eunuches for the Kingdom of Heavens sake Mat. 19.12 And so I do verily beleive that some rather than they will be cut off from their hopes of Heaven they will after they have heard
by his infinite and by us undeserved Mercy Tit. 3.5 4. If you relyed on your sayings go farther hereafter and do not only say that you do believe but labour to believe indeed that is never be satisfied in that point nor think that yo do believe till you see Faith to be in you by its effects wrought in you I mean 1. Love 2. Holiness And 3. Pureness For it is like Sarah it will have out Hagar that is slavish and servile Fears and all the Lusts of the Flesh with the Affections thereof and like Solomon it will overlay the Temple of the holy Ghost all with Gold that is it will make us all glorious within nay throughout both within and without even glorious in Holiness Acts 26.18 and glorious in Love Gal. 5.6 Need you Incentives after all my Directions and Solutions given you then take these Consider that that Kingdom of Heaven which I perswade you so much to take by Force is a Kingdom which is 1. Very High 2. Very Great 3. Very Rich. 4. Very Pleasant 5. Very Glorious 6. Very Durable 1. Very High 1. For its Distance from us 2. For its Terms upon which it must be taken by us First For its Distance from us For how sar is it think you from the Center of the World to the Sun onely * Minima solis distantia a centro mundi continet semidiametrum terrae millies septuagies Lambert Dan. in Phys Chrys p. 2. tract 4. c. 18. p. 160. Astronomers tell us that the Distance which is between them contains the Semidiameter of the Earth One thousand seventy times And how far it is from thence to the Empyrean Heaven who can tell no man living The Scripture therefore calls Heaven Heights Psal 148.1 and saith further that Heaven for Height is unsearchable Prov. 25.3 So that no Thieves can approach it no Enemies assault it no Wars reach it There may be another reason given for this why Heaven is above the reach of all its opposites because it is not to be seen being far above all aspectable Heavens Ephes 4.8 The †Fratres Roseae Crucis Brethren of the Red Cross as they call themselves give out as I have read it in one of their own printed Books that the house of their meeting is not to be seen which I question whether they speak true in it though they say that they are of the purest Protestants But this is undoubtedly true that the Heaven of Heavens is a place which by us here cannot be seen for the eye hath not seen the things whereof this Heaven is one prepared for those that love him 1 Cor. 2.9 If then ye will be a in safe secure place indeed which may not be lyable to surprizals then labour for this Kingdom to take it by force Secondly For its Terms upon which it must be taken by us For what are the Terms upon which it stands think ye the Terms of it are such as these They that will enter me saith this Kingdom must exceed in Righteousness even the strictest Pharisees that ever lived For except your Righteousness exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees ye shall in no case enter into the Kingdom of Heaven saith Christ Mat. 5.20 and ye must be perfect as God is perfect saith this Kingdom according to Mat. 5.48 Now if some men were to serve as Souldiers under a Captain or General who promises them that they shall have for their Service whatsoever they take though it be a Kingdom but that they must do more work than all other ordinary Souldiers must wake when others sleep must fast when others feast they would all say O what high and hard terms be these And yet to win a Kingdom be perswaded to serve such a General and even force themselves to it and take extraordinary pains for it because the Terms proposed are so high as that otherwise they cannot have it And so should we force our selves to win the Kingdom of Heaven and take extraordinary pains for it because of the high Terms of it and because else we shall never enter it unless we do more work than all other common Sonldiers among men and keep our selves waking when other men are sleeping and abstain from all manner of meat many times and from all excessive eating and drinking at all times and that even then when others at their feasts are inebriciting themselves with strong drink and glutting themselves with creature-delights and varieties of dishes and dainties 2. A very great Kingdom The World with the Kingdoms of it is an extraordinary great thing They write that the * Mr. Bolton in his direct for a comf walk p. 13. So Speed Ambitum ejus quidam esse volunt Leucarum Gallicarum novem millium et amplius Lamb. Danaeus in sua Phys Christ p. 2. tract 3. c. 23. compass of it is about one twenty thousand English miles and somewhat more but Heaven is infinitely greater for Behold Heaven and the Heaven of Heavens cannot contain Thee as if he should say though it be so extraordinary great how much less this House which I have built saith Solomon 2 Chron. 6.18 Now there is a time when we may not seek great things for our selves Jer. 45.5 but at all times we may and should seek after the great Kingdom of Heaven and now more especially having been so much perswaded to it and therefore go forth O my Brethren in the greatness of your spirits and heighth of your hearts to win to take to force this great Kingdom of Heaven which I have so much extolled and which cannot be otherwise taken but only by Force The Lord help you in the doing of it 3. A very rich Kingdom for in it are Streets of Gold and Gates of Pearls Rev. 21.21 So as that that * Mr. Fox in his Acts and Mon. blessed Woman-Martyr of Exceter might well say when one offered her Money and she refused it I am going to a place where Money bears no mastery all the Wealth of England all the Gold of both Indies all the Pearls in the Erythean Seas are not to be compared with the Riches of it Now if Riches be any thing esteemed by you and ye desire to be rich indeed then strive to win this Kingdom by Violence for then you are made rich for ever by it unutterably rich for all the Riches of Solomon all the Treasures of Hezekiah nay all the Treasures of Egypt were as nothing to the Riches of it 1 Kings 10.23 Isa 39.2 Heb. 11.26 4. Very Pleasant for there the Sun shineth alwayes I mean the Sun of Righteousness which is the Light thereof Rev. 21.23 and besides there are Pleasures for evermore Psal 16.11 Mark For evermore and therefore far better Pleasures than here for the Pleasures of Sin and of this life are but for a season Heb. 11.25 like Jonas's Gourd soon come soon gone Jonas 4.10 yea like Lightning which is gone sooner