dependance upon them but eternal and inconditionate Whether Man were considered of God electing as in the pure Mass is much controverted And many there are both Pious and learned do wholly oppose it making Man in the corrupt Mass to have been the object of Predestination But how to reconcile that opinion either with the unering rule of Scripture or the genuine dictates of right Reason I must ingenuously confess I see not Not with Scripture ¶ Rom. 9.20 23. which makes Predestination in both the branches of to be a pure Act of Gods sovereignity and universal Dominion over all Creatures wherby he may dispose of them to different ends according to what seems good in his own infinite Wisdom assigning no other Reason to mitigate the seeming Rigour of Predestination and to silence all the captious Cavils of carnal Minds against it who think to insnare God by their Subtilties than his Holy and righteous Will Nor can I reconcile it with the Dictates of right Reason which teacheth that every wise and understanding Agent will attempt nothing without the Predestinating of it to some certain end Whereas to make Man lapsed and miserable in Sin the Object of Predestination doth imply that God first decreed to Create Man before ever his Wisdom provided what to do with him and to permit his fall into Sin and Misery before ever he determined any thing certain about his everlasting and final Condition If Man's Wisdom which is but a drop to the vast Ocean compared with God's observe a better Decorum in all Undertakings first determining the end of his Work and then accordingly disposing of his Workmanship it is certainly hardly-conceivable how such Preposterousness should sort with the infinitely wise God whereby he is represented as decreeing the Creation and Fall of Man before ever he came to any Result in his own Thoughts nay before ever he entertain'd so much as one serious Thought about Man's great End and everlasting unchangeable Estate in the World to come However it be in this Controversy yet certain it is that there was nothing foreseen in God's Elect as a Motive or Reason influencing him to ordain them to obtain Salvation or inducing him to prepare for them rather than others the Reward of eternal Life For God's Will is of that supreme Sovereignty and absolute independency that he need not look out of himself at any Qualification in the Creature for the determining of it Nor can there be any thing more absurd than to make something in the Creature the cause of God's Will as if Faith foreseen good Works and final Perseverance in them should either be before it above it or have a casual Influence upon it to determine it when that indeed is the supreme Reason into which the Grace of Election must be wholly resolved Our Saviour therefore will give no other Reason why Gospel Mysteries were hidden from some and revealed to others But sends us wholly in this case to the sovereign Will and good Pleasure of God not at all subscribing the difference to the foresight of our Will receiving or rejecting the Tenders of his Grace Even (a) Mat. 11.26 so Father for so it seemed good in thy sight Nor can we indeed assign any thing in Man as a Cause or Reason upon the Prevision whereof God should be moved to elect him Since there is nothing of Grace or Goodness in any Man but what God hath decreed from Eternity to communicate to him and doth graciously in time bestow upon him as the genuine and proper effect of his electing Love That Grace which makes a saving difference betwixt us and others in time is nothing but the Fruit of God's eternal Love wherewith he loved us before all time Hence we may find the holy Ghost asserting Faith to be the Effect not the cause of Election So that to hold Election upon foreseen Faith and good Works is no less absurd than to make the Sun receive its Light from the Day the Tree its Sap from the Fruit growing upon it and the Fountain its fulness from those Streams which by a natural emanation do flow continually from it For saith (b) Acts 13.48 the Apostle telling us what entertainment the Gospel Preached found amongst the Gentiles and as many as were ordained to eternal Life because they believed But therefore they believed because first they were ordained to eternal Life Where the Participle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ordained is added as a Reason why these believed whilst others rejecting the Gospel continued in their Impenitency and not as denoting any Preparations or Predispositions in them to eternal Life before Faith in Christ For that were much more absurd than if you should affirm a young Bird whilst yet without Wings to be prepared for and disposed to fly Faith being the first Qualification preparing for eternal Life and that spiritual Wing upon which the Soul takes her first flight towards Heaven More might be urged but what our Saviour saith (c) John 15.16 of his own Disciples they had not chosen him but he had chosen them and the Apostle of (d) 1 John 4.19 all Believers that they therefore love God because he loved them first may well satisfie any in this case who are willing to captivate their own Reason to the belief of the Truth as it is in Jesus For if Faith and good Works foreseen were the cause why God chose us then the clean contrary would be true that we chose and loved him before he either chose or loved us which yet we cannot say without Confronting the Spirit of Truth speaking in the Scripture Truth is we do not prevent God with our Love but he prevents us with his Love Our Love is but of yesterday and is the Spirit of his His Love bears date from Eternity and is the Root from whence ours springs We did not first prepare our selves for Glory by having an Eye of Faith to the Recompence of Reward But God first prepared Glory for us by casting a propitious Eye of Love upon us from Eternity that in time he may give us the Reward of Life everlasting Oh then what manner of Love is this that before we had any Being or so much as a thought of a Being in this World God should be plotting our Happiness and providing for our eternal well-being in the World to come Before Christian thou had it either Name or Life thy Name (e) Rev. 21.17 was then written in the Lamb's Book of Life and shall never be blotted out Before ever thou did'st or could'st do one stroak of Work in God's Vineyard he was thinking what glorious Reward to bestow upon thee preparing a Kingdom for thee before so much as the Foundation of the World was laid Before ever thou hast any spiritual Appetite to what is good any Hungerings or Thirstings after Righteousness even from Eternity was God preparing a Feast of fat things for thee a Feast of Love and Life of Glory
interest in this Glorious Reward than a dead Man is capable of being made the Monarch of the whole Universe The Tree must first take root and be filled with sap before any precious Fruit can grow upon it So you must first have the Root of the matter within you and be filled with the Sap of Sanctifying Grace before ever you can be Trees of Righteousness bearing Fruit to Eternal Life A Man must first be born into the World before he can have any Dignities Honour on Preferment conferred upon him in the World Thus a Man also must first be born again from Heaven by the Holy Ghost before ever he can be preferred to the full enjoyment of Life and Eternal Glory in the Kingdom of God (c) John 3.3 For except a Man be born again from above saith Christ he cannot see the Kingdom of God d A Man must first be a Member of the Church militant on Earth by Sanctification before he can possibly be made a Member of the Church triumphant in Heaven by eternal glorification (e) Rom. 5.21 The Grace of God in Christ Jesus is that alone which must Crown us with Glory if ever we have it And yet know you must that the Grace of God itself will never reign but through Righteousness unto Eternal Life The grand Reward of a Christian is the beatifical Vision of God in Glory But because he is an infinitely pure and holy God (f) Heb. 12.14 why therefore without Holiness you must never look to see him as your Happiness and Reward What should they do with an Holy God who are not themselves sanctified Or how can they behold with Comfort the Holy one of Israel who have not a pure Eye but are all over polluted and stained with Sin Never think to be a Vessel of Glory if first thou be not seasoned throughout in Body Soul and Spirit with renewing Grace But oh how long shall these things be Paradoxes and hidden Mysteries amongst you Where is the Man in our Congregations that knows by his (c) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clem. Alex. own experience what it is to be made a new Creature to be born of the Spirit from above to have his Heart washed in the Laver of Regeneration from all uncleaness and in a Word to be â—aised by the Almighty irresistable power of God from the Death of Sin to the Life of Grace Are not most Men pleasing themselves with external performances making their Prayers their Alms their good Works a fufficient Qualification for Heaven whilst they never think of getting sanctified Hearts and renewed Natures (g) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Macar Hom. 30. Oh that all such amongst you would now consider how impossible it is for any Man to obtain the Reward of Eternal Glory not being first born again from above and made a new Creature Poor self destroying Sinners if here you become not Men of a pure Heart you must never see the Face of God in the Kingdom of Heaven but the Furnace of Hell is heating for you and a Night of Eternal Darkness abides you in the World to come And is it nothing do you think to be shut out of Heaven and to fall into Hell irrecoverably Is it nothing to miss of Eternal Life and for ever to lose the Reward of Eternal Glory that you can live and die so well satisfied in a carnal unregenerate Condition True it is while we are in this World living by sense little do we conceive what it is to be saved to sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the Prophets in the Kingdom of God what it is to have full and Everlasting Communion with God in Glory nor can we so prize these things now as we ought to do Oh but we shall come to breath out our Souls into Eternity and must stand trembling at God's Tribunal to receive our everlasting doom then to be sure Life Happiness and Eternal Glory will be in request Oh then that in such a Day when all the World cannot comfort you Life may be yours and Salvation yours and the full enjoyment â—f God in Heaven yours give diligence now to have the Truth and Life of Grace in your inward Parts endeavouring to find a through sanctifying Change wrought upon you Remember if you die in a carnal Condition you are undone for ever damned for ever But if sanctified through the Spirit and made new Creatures the Reward of Eternal Glory shall be your Portion 4 Lay hold upon Jesus Christ by a lively Faith above all things labouring to get an interest in him Christ hath purchased by his own Death the reward of Eternal Life But it s not for all promiscuously whether good or bad but only for those that by Faith receive him making him their Saviour Though Christ were as universal a cause of Salvation as the Arminians dogmatize Yet till by Faith you embrace him as willing to receive him in all his Offices as a Prophet to instruct and teach you as a Priest to intercede and die for you as a King to command sanctifie and govern you to be sure he will never profit you to Life and Salvation * John 5.12 He that hath the Son hath Life but he that hath not the Son hath no Life Both the Life of Grace and the Life of Glory come in by Christ he alone is the Tree from whence you may gather this Fruit of Paradise And therefore of necessity you must close with Christ would you either have the Life of Grace to make you holy or the Life of eternal Glory to make you happy Salvation for lost Sinners could no otherwise be purchased but by the precious Blood of the Lord Jesus And though now the purchase be thus made yet the Blood of Christ cannot save you unless you receive him to dwell in your Hearts by Faith Communion is never to be found but where first some kind of union went before to usher it in So that though Christ came into the World to repair our lost condition to cleanse us from all unrighteousness to deliver our Souls from the Wrath to come and to make us meet by â—his Spirit working in us for the full enjoyment of God in Glory Yet if first we be not united to Christ we can never have the Happiness of Communion with him in these and the like glorious Priviledges but notwithstanding the Blood the Death the Sufferings of Christ must for ever fall short of Eternal Glory How dreadful then is the condition of every Christless Sinner There is an All-sufficiency of Merit in Christ but it shall never procure their Pardon There is a redundancy of Grace in Christ But it shall never sanctify nor make them holy There is a Soveraignity in the Blood of Christ but it shall never cleanse their Souls from Sin a There is an indeficient Fountain of Life in Christ But refusing him they must inevitably die the Death and suffer the
Actions of praying repenting and believing these are good as to the matter of them But our remisness our negligence our weakness in the exerting of them this is sinful and argues the most perfect in all the World to be yet imperfect falling short in all that do (c) Job 1.22 Neither doth that Scripture so much triumphed (b) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Omnes justitiae nostrae sunt sicut panniculus remotionum id est faeminarum quo ob menses suos seponuntur Exod. 28.38 in by a Pontificianizing Doctor of our own where 't is said that in all this Job sinned not at all incommodate this too sadly experimented Truth For the Negation there is only of acts sinful in the matter of them which Satan tempted that Holy Man to commit and into which he expected Job would through impatience and the sharpness of his Afflictions have been transported Nor doth it any thing at all advantage the cause of the Perfectionits which this Doctor hath taken upon him to assert that the good Works and Graces of God's People are wrought by the holy Spirit of God in them (d) Deus quidem primus boni operis est author sed ejus ductu homo est actor For though the Spirit work these things in us yet that 's only by way of efficiency as the Author of them and not formally as one Person with us (e) Opera fidelium si simpliciter omnino Dei essent omnino pura et perfecta essent at non sunt sed simul fidelium qui impuri perfecti ex parte sunt ideoque opera ex parte perfecta sunt The Spirit of God doth not believe and repent for us but enableth us thereto As it is not God that eateth drinketh or walketh but we ourselves by ability received from him Though then that which proceeds from the Spirit of God as the sole immediate cause thereof without the intervention of any other subordinate cause can never be impreached of the least defect Yet Grace being subjectively in us and good Works formally wrought by us as the Spirits Instruments do admit without any reflexion upon him of much imperfection and defilements Here our Graces are mingled with Corruption our best Duties with some undutifulness (f) Gal. 5.17 and all our religious undertakings with the sad counterlustings and countermotions of the Flesh against the Spirit in them Oh but Christians such is the pure Nature of this glorious Reward that it will perfectly change you into the spotless Purity and Holiness of itself Truth is the great Reward of Grace is Grace itself a Christian being never compleatly happy till crowned with an absolute perfection in Grace and Holiness But oh how happy will this Reward make thee when all thy defects and weaknesses shall be done away when all thy Graces that are now in their minority and as so many Undergraduates shall grow up to their full stature in Christ commencing Doctors as it were and taking their highest degree of Blessed Perfection in Glory Here Grace is like Gold in the Oar having much dross of Sin and indwelling Corruption mingled with it but in Heaven it will be fined into an absolute and unmixt purity This Reward indeed for a little Time dissolves the frame of Nature parting Soul and Body asunder But it easily makes amends for that perfecting that frame of Grace and at length brings both Soul and Body together again in fulness of Glory You must never think to be so gracious so pure and holy as you would be Christians till you come to Heaven Where only the Law in our members struggling against the Law of our Minds shall have an end where all decays and languishings of Grace shall be removed where all deficiencies of Grace shall be filled up and the first Fruits of the Spirit which here we receive as an earnest of Glory shall be turned into a full Vintage Your Graces are now like smoaking Flax in which there is most Vapour and but little light or like a broken Reed that is easily shattered with every blast But in Heaven it shall be turned into purest Glory and made a stately Pillar to stand unshaken for ever in the Temple of God Like the Sun wrapt up in a thick Cloud such are the Graces of God's People now But when once the Reward of Eternal Glory shall be given them then their Graces shall be like the Sun shining for in its strength with most radiant sparkling beams of Brightness You then that go languishing all the day long that your knowledge of heavenly Mysteries is so dark and confused your desires after God so faint your Love to Christ so cold your zeal for his Glory so remiss your delight in his Ways so small and all your Graces so full of Weaknesses and Imperfections Oh lift up your Heads with Joy and take Comfort in the hope of this glorious Reward which will quite do away all your present defects crowning all your Graces with fulness and most heavenly perfection Grace in the Heart of God's People here is like a Plant that grows in a barren Soil which thrives but slowly and bears little Fruit But when once it shall be transplanted into the heavenly Canaan there it meets with that proper and fertile Soil which will bring it on to perfection causing every Grace like a flourishing Vine to be laden with full Clusters of most sweet delicious Grapes for ever Oh then what manner of Reward is this and how much to be desired which will thus change Grace into Glory and our morning Twilight into a Noonday brightness making all Gods People as perfectly pure as perfectly holy and gracious as their Heart can now wish to be if not much more This Reward must needs make Grace perfect because Perfection in Grace is the principal part of this blessed Reward Needs must this Reward perfect Grace into heavenly Glory because the greatest Glory of Heaven next to God himself is Grace perfected and blossoming into the Flower of unspotted purity 9 THE Reward whereunto God allows his People a respect in all their obedience it 's a most safe Reward and such as can never be lost nor taken from them They are not only sure to have this Reward as we shewed in another particular but they are sure to hold it so as never to be deprived of it Other Rewards may be lost and a Man may be cheated of them he knows not how But the Reward of Eternal Glory it s a safe Reward out of this all the cheats in Hell are not able to rook you (g) Luke 10.42 as being indeed that better part which shall never be taken from you This Reward is our Treasure laid up in Heaven and therefore it can neither be corrupted by the Mâ—th nor be taken by the Hand of violence (h) Mat. 6.20 Here though we lay up Treasure under Lock and Key in Chests of Adamant and make it never so
remain ungrateful under such transcendently great and glorious discoveries Doth God allow you to walk at all times with Heaven in your Eye and will you not strive to make melody to the Lord in your Hearts Shall your heavenly Father shew you his back parts and cause all his Glory to pass before you and yet can you be unthankful not endeavouring to glorifie his great Name The God of all Consolation Christians is no niggard of his Cordials to us And shall we then shew our selves niggards in our retribution of thanks to him Shall God's Hand be opened and ours shut Is his Heart enlarged and shall we be straitned in our Bowels Can we make so light of Heaven and Eternal Glory as to think the Lord unworthy our Praises for allowing us a full prospect of them If the Disciples were in such an extasy of admiration when taken up into the Mount with Christ and beholding some obscure glimpses of heavenly Glory How much more cause have we to stand as in an extasy admiring the Goodness of God whom he allows to live every Day upon the mount of transfiguration shewing us all the Beauty and causing us to anticipate the Pleasures Glory and Happiness of the World to come God might have left us under a necessity of obedience without any hope of an Eternal reward in Heaven and yet even in that case all thankful acknowledgments had been done to him How much more when our Work is sweetned with the assured Hope of an Eternal reward so that now going on in the way we may look at Heaven and Glory as that which will be the end of every Duty Oh let us all with enlarged and ravished affections with the utmost vigour and activity of enflamed Hearts recount the wonderful condescention and stupendious love of God in vouchsafing us for our encouragement a prospect of the Land of Promise in the Way thither To admire the Riches of free Grace and to warble out the Praises of God will be a great part of our Work when we come to Heaven (a) Artem nunc aliquam laudandi Dominum addiscamus quam oporteat aliquando infinitis seculis exercere Arrow Tact. Sacr. lib. 3. Sect. 15. pag. 361. let us now therefore begin the employment of Heaven whilst we live on Earth adoring the Lord 's remunerative Goodness whereby we have so great encouragement no less than a Crown of Glory to all Holy Self-denying and upright walking before him When God shews us Heaven and Glory as in a mirrour that by the bright reflections of it our Hearts may be rejoiced 't is but equal that we should strive to become the Monument of his Praise at all times blessing the Lord in our Hearts and with our Mouths speaking good of his Name The Glory of Heaven is so transcendently great that we may sooner lose our selves in the admiration of it than ever return thanks to God proportionate to the least glimpse that proceeds from it Oh be not any longer unwilling to be much in thanksgiving and praise to him who sowillingly allows you the encouragement of so transcendently blessed and glorious a reward in all your obedience What can you bless God for giving you a Crum and not for shewing you a Crown of Life as the certain reward of all holy performances If liberty to use the good things of this World be matter of thankfulness to God how much more shall we thank the Lord admiring his Goodness for the Liberty which in all our obedience he allows us to have respect to all the Good things of Heaven and Glory and the World to come If enjoying the Meat that perisheth we are bound to bless the Lord and speak good of his Name for such a temporal fruition how much more should we adore the Lord whilst eying the Meat that will endure to Life everlasting though but yet in expectation The Queen of Sheba having obtained a sight of Solomon's Glory was so strangely transported that she had almost lost her Soul in an extasy of admiration In what an extasy of admiration should it then put us causing us with all thankfulness to adore the divine remunerative Goodness when the Lord gives us a sight of his own Glory every Day making us to behold in our prospect here on Earth all the Royalties Immunities and Soul-entrancing delights of the heavenly Jerusalem Had God Christians given you the Kingdoms of the World with all the Glory of them they had not been worth so much as the least glimpse of that Glory to which the Lord allows you to have an Eye in all your endeavours Be therefore no longer unthankful to God but admire him rather (b) Psal 63.3 Because thy loving kindness saith the Psalmist is better than Life my lips shall praise thee So my Brethren because the Lord allows you that respect to the recompence of reward that sight of Heaven that prospect of Eternal Glory which is better than Life it self why therefore let your Lips yea and your Lives too praise him The sight of Heavenly Glory puts Life into the Soul and so makes it go on with delight in ways of obedience Oh therefore let that God who thus makes your Hearts chearful be sure to find them thankful and your Mouths running over with his Praises in every condition For remember it he that is not truly thankful to God for Glory in expectation shall never have Heaven and eternal Glory in their full fruition You must now admire the goodness of God in the hope of Eternal Life or you can never taste how good the Lord is in the bestowance of Eternal Life upon you 2 Walk uprightly doing all that you do in the Ways of God not for vain-glory nor from any ambitious desire of popular applause but purely from a principle of love to that God who in all your obedience hath allowed you the strong and everlasting encouragement of having an Eye to the recompence of the reward You need not Christians to look asquint in your obedience nor do any thing that you do to be seen of Men so long as the Lord sets before you the reward of Eternal Glory allowing you to look on that as a Feast wherewith to refresh you as Robes of Righteousness wherewith to adorn you as a consort of Celestial Musick wherewith to delight you and as a Royal Diadem wherewith to crown you after all your labours when once you come to Heaven (c) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Macar Hom. 19. Let not therefore vain-glory nor any such low and sordid principles act you in the Ways of God but let the Love of God who allows you by way of encouragement a respect to the recompence of Eternal Life be the spring of all holy motions in your Souls Look you may at the recompence of the reward but shall never receive it if in all your obedience you have not God and Eternal Glory but the praise of Man and vain-glory for your end Be
enough we have Heaven in our eye and a Crown of Life lies before us What though you have but little in hand yet so long as you have Heaven in hope and a clear prospect of Eternal Glory in your eye why should you not be content and sit down satisfied Whatever Christians your conditions be in this present Life yet you may say with holy David considering that glorious recompence of Reward which God allows you to have an eye to in Heaven's way the lines are fallen to me in pleasant places yea I have a goodly Inheritance If as Solomon saith it be such a pleasant thing for the eyes to behold the Sun and that which would give them content if with any thing they could be satisfied how much more should you count it pleasant to behold by the Eye of Faith the Sun of Righteousness to behold an eternal Reward of Glory giving diligence to sit down satisfied with so blessed a sight The poor weather beaten Sea-man how well satisfied is he though yet tossed with Storms and impetuous Tempests when once he discovers Land and comes within â—en of the Harbour And will not you Christians labour to be content when whatever Troubles abide you whatever pelting Storms you are tossed with upon the boysterous Sea of this ungrateful World yet still you may discover the Land of Promise and are always within ken of Heaven that wished Harbour of eternally blessed and glorious Rest That which learned St. Paul the great mystery of contentation enabling him to sit down as well satisfied in every condition was his stedfast fixed beholding of eternal Glory Paul though sadly troubled and perplexed and always delivered unto Death for Jesus sake yet he murmures not but is well content with all this as having fixed the Eye of his Faith not upon Earth but Heaven * 2 Cor. 4.17 not upon things that are seen but upon an eternal weight of unseen Glory And why is it that we having the same Reward set before us and the same Crown of eternal Glory to fix our eyes upon cannot learn of that blessed Man in every condition therewith to be content Oh take heed Christians that you murmure no longer against Heaven but strive that having stedfastly fixed your eye upon heavenly Glory you may well be satisfied in every condition not only when God gives but also when he taketh not only when we receive good from the Hand of the Lord but also when we receive evil not only when you abound with Blessings but with Crosses too not only when you enjoy all things but when you are stript of all Oh Christians how welcome should every thing be where nothing is deserved If we look at our own deserts we may wonder rather at what we have than repine against God for what we want If we want something 't is a Mercy that we want not all If we lie in a Prison 't is a favour that we are not shut up in Hell amongst damned Spirits If we have not so much in hand as many yet here is a miracle of Mercy to satisfie us that we have as much in hope as heart can wish This consideration then Christians like Hagar's Well may make us refrain our weeping and sit down content when our Bottles are empty Though here we should be stript naked yet hereafter we shall be cloathed with the Garments of Salvation Though here we should wander up and down in hunger seeking our Bread from desolate Places yet hereafter we shall feed with delight upon the Tree of Life in the Paradise of God Though here we sit in Darkness and have no Light yet this should make us content in every such disconsolate condition that hereafter we shall partake of the Inheritance of Saints in Light where we shall have a bright Sun-shine of eternal Glory 4 Walk humbly acknowledging your own unworthiness that ever God should give you the encouragement of so glorious a reward When the Lord for your better encouragement to all holy Self-denying and upright walking before himself allows you to look up to Heaven you have then cause if ever to walk humbly and be abased as low as Earth Where the guilt is great and the receiver as in this case altogether unworthy the most sutable return that can be is Humility and self-abasement God's People should never lie lower in Humility than when he raiseth them highest in their Hopes and full assurance of Eternal Glory (a) 2 Sam. 7.18 Thus holy David when God had spoken of establishing his Throne and Kingdom for ever he now as admiring the wonderful condescention of God in his preferment confesseth his own unworthiness saying who am I oh Lord God and what is my House that thou hast brought me hitherto Well! The Lord hath spoken to us of an everlasting Kingdom assuring us of that in the end as the reward of all our labours and shall not this teach us all humility causing every one to acknowledg his own unworthiness of so great Mercy (b) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plut. Praecept Coning The Moon doth never shine less than in her nearest approaches to the Sun from whom she borrows her light Thus Christians we should never think our selves to shine less than when God causeth us to approach nearest to himself in the tenders of Heaven and Glory which his Goodness affords us They that know not these Treasures of Love and Sweetness may admire themselves and have big-swelling thoughts of their own Worthiness But let those amongst you that are come to have a prospect of Heavenly Glory fixing their Eye upon an object of the first magnitude be vile in their own apprehensions losing themselves in the fulness of God's free Grace and remunerative Goodness There is nothing that should more humble us than to think how highly the great God is about to exalt us Nor any thing that should more debase us than to consider how Glorious the Lord promises at length to make us We should see our own Poverty in the Riches of God's Bounty to us And be ashamed of our own drop when he makes us thus lanch forth in the fathomless Ocean of his own remunerative Goodness The Stars vanish when the Sun appears and so the small Candle of our own worth should presently disappear and be put out under an everlasting extinguisher when once the Glory of Heaven ariseth in our thoughts (c) 1 King 19.13 Elijah wrapt his face in a Mantle when the Glory of the Lord passed before him Thus when God gives us a prospect of Heaven causing all his Glory for our better encouragement in a way of Duty to pass before us 't is time that we should now wrap our selves in the Mantle of true Humility The greatness of God's Mercy in giving us a sight of Heavenly Glory should make us if any thing can to be little in our own Eyes 'T is then most easy to see our own pollution and vileness when God takes us up
into the Mount of Transfiguration and causeth the light of the Glory of Heaven to shine round about us The Sun indeed having dazled our Eyes we see nothing well But yet we discern our selves and see our own unworthiness best of all when our Eyes are most dazl'd with the brightness of that Glory which God sets before us As therefore with one Eye we behold the good that is done by us so to keep us humble let us stedfastly look with the other upon the good that is laid up in Heaven for us What is all our Work to so glorious a reward What is the Wilderness of our barren obedience to that fruitful Canaan a Land that flows with Milk and Hony What in a word are all our weary Weeks of Labour and Travail to that Eternal Sabbath of Rest that will follow after Do but consider Christians the transcendent worth and excellency of that reward which God sets before us and then be proud if you can of your own worth and religious performances how excellent soever (d) 2 Cor. 4.17 That far more exceeding and Eternal Weight of Glory may well keep you humble and cause whatever you can do or suffer for it to seem lighter than vanity it self We that did not deserve the least glimpse of heavenly Glory what doth the Lord afford us a full Sun-shine We that could not expect the smallest tast of his Goodness what doth he give us a whole Cluster of Canaan We that have deserved nothing but to be filled with the fear of Wrath the foretasts of Hell the dreadful preoccupations of Eternal Burnings doth the Lord allow us for our encouragement the hope of Glory the first fruits of Heaven and the joyful prelibations of an Eternal recompence of reward there Oh then let us all fall down and adore his matchless Goodness endeavouring to be as low in Humility as the Lord hath made us to be high in our priviledges We that have risen thus in God's thoughts should fall in our own striving most to humble our selves when most assured of a Blessed Exaltation to Life and Eternal Glory (e) Non potes intrare per portam aliquam angustam nisi te humilies nisi te humiliaveris non intrabis in regnum Dei Stella de contemnendis Mundi vanitatibus lib. 2. Remember Sirs you must stoop low in Humility would you ever enter in thro' the strait Gate into the Kingdom of God Man by Nature is full with the emptiness of Self-admiration and till this be removed out of the Way he can never be filled as a vessel of Honour with the new Wine of eternal Consolation We lay up the richest Wine in the lowest Cellars So doth God the Riches of heavenly Glory in the humble and lowly Hearts (f) Prov. 18.12 Whom ever God intends to exalt he first humbles them Giving none the blessing of Eternal Life till first he have brought them upon their knees (g) Ama esse parvus humilis ut mereà ris à Deo exaltari in alto throno gloria Stella de Cont. Mundi vanitat ubi suprà Be little therefore in your own Eyes that you may be great in God's heavenly Kingdom And if ever you would sit high in Glory be sure to live low in self-abasement Men that neither desire Glory nor consider the worth of it may well be proud standing much upon their own worth But you that would come to Glory at last as having seen the excellency of it must count it your greatest worth to be sensible of your own unworthiness resolving to creep to Heaven upon the bended knees of true humility And truly there is nothing that will lay Men so low in themselves as to think seriously how high for their encouragement God raiseth them in promising and how much higher God will raise them in bestowing Eternal Life upon them If any thing can empty us of Self-admiring thoughts and can keep us humble 't is duly to consider how richly God will fill us erelong with Eternal Soul-ravishing Comforts Then if ever will the Soul lie at the feet of God when her Eye is stedfastly fixed upon those entrancing Pleasures which are at God's right Hand for evermore He that thinks to rise in Glory cannot choose but be humble lying down in his own shame 5 Walk resolvedly going on in the way of your Duty with what difficulties soever it may be attended Most Men are apt to measure duty by their own safety are unwilling to engage in the wayes of Christ till all difficulties are removed by a secular arm and if once the Times frown upon any religious exercise their faces are no longer towards that Duty as formerly nor can you possibly prevail with them to lanch forth any further for Christ than if at any time a storm should arise they may get safe to the Shore again But judge in your selves is it seemly for those to make shy of Duty because of seeming dangers attending it to whom God allows the hope of an Eternal reward for their encouragement the way of Duty Shall they leave themselves at a loose indifferency performing or omitting Duty at their own choice to evade the Cross who shall erelong have their Heads incircled with an immarcessible Crown of Glory Did Noah thus Did Abraham thus Did the three Jewish Worthies thus though threatned with the scorchings of an hot fiery Furnace Did Daniel thus who notwithstanding the Royal Edict to the contrary upon pain of being made a Prey to the ravine of furious Lyons was yet frequent in the invocation of holy Prayer calling upon God and giving thanks to him as he did afore-time (h) Dan. 6.10 Oh methinks Christians it should shame us to decline Duty not persevering in the faithful and constant performance thereof how dangerous and difficult soever having allowed us for our encouragement a prospect of Heaven as a bright glimpse of future Glory and in all our religious undertakings a respect unto the recompence of reward Do you not observe Christians how the Merchant-venturer puts to Sea running many a desperate hazzard amidst Storms and Tempests in hope of a gainful return And with what undaunted courage doth the valiant Souldier take his Life in his hand encountring the fiercest adversary upon the hope of an uncertain victory Why then should we decline our Duty for fear of any Storm who are always within ken of the Harbour where once being landed we are sure to enjoy an everlasting calm * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost hom 16. ad pop Antioch Rom. 8.37 Why should not we valiantly fight the Lord's Battels who fight not as uncetain but are sure of the Day before we enter the Field and may sound a triumph before the Victory as knowing that through Christ we shall be more than Conquerors Oh why should we be afraid to grapple with any Goliah-afflictions to encounter a whole host of crosses or to suffer any fiery tryal in a way of
way as thou dreamest of or if there be why yet in that very Lyon thou mayst find Hony The way to Heaven is not so dark and gloomy as most imagine though indeed it be strait and tedious to Flesh and Blood yet there stands a bright Crown of eternal Glory at the end which makes it comfortable Be ashamed then having such encouragement to walk disconsolate in Heavens way There are not so many Thorns to prick you as Roses to refresh you Nor half so much cause of Sorrow â—s there is of Comfort and rejoycing of Spirit Christians walking in Heaven's Way they may meet I confess with a fiery Tryal but then there is some Light for their Comfort as well as Heat to Torment them And let me tell you the more your Hearts are melted and softned in such a Flame the deeper will be the Impression of divine Love Consolation and Sweetness upon them A sight of Glory from Heaven is then most Cordial when we can see nothing but Bonds and Imprisonments and forest Afflictions to abide us on Earth (a) Acts 7.55 How sweetly did Stephen that blessed Proto-martyr fall asleep under a Shower of Stones as if he had gone to Heaven in a Bed of Down The Reason of all was this he saw Heaven open and Jesus standing at the right Hand of God ready to turn every Stone that was thrown at him into an orient Pearl and to Crown him so soon as ever he had passed the Straits of Death with eternal Life Thiâ— made him forget his Sorrow and walk on with Comfort through the Valley of Death that at length he might come to that Glory in Heaven which he found such a Cordial to his Soul when ready to leave her earthly Tabernacle And why is it that we having the same Recompence of Reward set before us cannot endure the like Hardships with the same Comfort Must there be so much ado to make us live upon those Cordials which Heaven it self hath provided for us Are the Consolations of God grown small with us that we resolve thus to walk with sorrowful Hearts whilst he shews us Heaven as in a Glass and sets Glory in our Eye Shall every light Affliction eat â—ut the Heart of our Comfort when we see there lies before us a far more exceeding and eternal Weight of Glory Either Christian let thy Heart feel more or thy Eye see less of Heaven And do not go to bring up an ill Report upon the celestial Canaan by walking disconsolate in the way thither For you that have Heaven before you to come weeping after for you that have Glory in your Eye to be filled with Sorrow for you that may hope to live with God for ever in the Mount to go mourning from day to day like Doves of the Valley how unseemly were this If the World be bitter yet sweet is Paradise If the Earth cast you out yet Heaven will receive you If here you be tossed with Storms like a Ship at Sea yet arriving at the wished Shoar of Eternity you will find rest If in this (b) Mat. World Men Revile you and Persecute you saying all manner of Evil of you falsly for Christ's sake yet still you should walk rejoycing and be exceeding glad because great is your Reward in Heaven And what so great Matters are all our Afflictions on Earth that they should be able to imbitter Heaven Pray you (c) 2 Cor. 4.16 what is Affliction to Glory What is light Affliction to a weight of Glory What is a short momentary Affliction that like a little Cloud will soon be blown over to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a far more exceeding and eternal Weight of Glory beyond all possible Hyperbole that will never be over That Man sure never looked by Faith so far as Heaven whom any Affliction on earth can make to go weeping â—ike Rachel refusing to be Comforted 11 WALK purely endeavouring to cleanse your selves from all filthiness of Flesh and Spirit and to mortifie every Lust â—hat would spoyl you of your Reward It becomes not those that have the Recompence of eternal Life before them to love the Wages of Unrighteousness Nor those that have Glory in their Eye to make themselves by the Polâ—utions that are in the World through Lust like one of the base Fellows The Inheritance of the Saints in Light â—ts a pure and an undefiled Inheritance And therefore beholding it we must labour to be changed into the â—ame undefiled Purity and Holiness with it would we ever come to the full Enjoyment of it The Lord alows us a sight of Heaven in all our Obedience that beholding from day to day we might at length receive a Tincture of Purity and unspotted Holiness from it He gives us a prospect of our future Happiness that be (d) 2 Cor. 3.18 holding with open face the Glory of the Lord we might be changed into the same Image from Glory to Glory The difference betwixt Grace and Glory is not as some observe from these words specifical but gradual They differ not in Kind but only in Degree Grace is Glory inchoate and Glory is Grace consummate Grace is Glory Militant and Glory is Grace Triumphant Grace is Glory dawning and Glory is Grace shining forth in its noon-dayâ— brightness And I know no better way to ripen Grace into Glory than for Grace to behold and continually sun it self in the warm Beams of eternal Glory The Hope of future Happiness is the strongest Inducement to present Holiness Every Man (e) 1 John 3.3 that hath this Hope in him purifieth himself as he is pure Hope to be like Christ hereafter Glorious as he is Glorious and Blessed as he is Blessed will work in us a desire to be as like him as we can here Pure as he is Pure and Holy as he is Holy He that hath most hope of being saved will give most diligence of all others to be sanctified We never cleanse our Hands so much as when we have Glory in Hope Nor do we ever Purify our Hearts so throughly as when we have Heaven in our Eye When Moses had been with God upon the Mount he came down with his Face shining Thus if at any time God calls us up into the Mount with himself giving us a sight of that Glory which shall shortly be revealed in us we should be sure to come down having not only our Faces but our Hearts likewise shining with unspotted Purity It were the most unbecoming thing in the World for those to Dâ—file themselves with any Unrighteousness who have their Eye continually fixed upon an undefiled Inheritance expecting as the full Reward of all their Labours a Crown of Righteousness What shall not Heaven's Brightness expel the Darkness of Hell Shall not the Hope of eternal Happiness promote in our Hearts and Lives the Work of Holiness Is there a Crown of Glory at the end of our Christian Course and shall not that make us walk Pure
plunge the Soul in remediless intolerable Misery 2 Be sure that you quit your own Righteousness giving diligence to see the Insufficiency of it to Life and Salvation Such is the Corruption of our Nature that though the Covenant of Works be violated and the Condition thereof unperformable to Man lapsed Yet still we would Trade for Heaven in a way of working building our Hope for eternaâ— Life upon the sandy Foundation of a Self-opiniative Righteousness If at any time Men are startled by the powerful Impressions of a Soul-searching Ministry and begin to feel the Sting of Sin in their Consciences you may presently see them have recourse not to Christ but to Moses not to the Righteousness which is of God by Faith but to the Righteousness which is of the Law placing their whole Affiance in the supposed Worth and Merit of their own good Works as if these could save them But know you must that those who put Confidence in their own Righteousness will as surely fall short of Heaven and Glory as those who make no Conscience of Righteousness at all Good Works when rested in and made the Matter of our justification before God are as infallibly Damning as evil Works when never Repented of (p) Gal. 3.10 For as many as be of the Works of the Law trusting in and expecting Salvation by them are under the Curse The Law at first was an easie way to Righteousness and from thence to Salvation But now every step thereof sinks as low as Hell It 's written within and without with Curses which way soever a Man stirs he finds nothing but Death before him One Man's way by the Civility of his Education the Ingenuity of his Disposition the Engagement of other ends or Relations may seem more smooth and plausible than anothers but by Nature they all run into Hell as all Rivers though never so different in other Circumstances run into the Sea And the Reason of all this the Apostle hath subjoyned in the following words taken from that everlasting Inability that we lie under to fulfil all Righteousness which the Law in its utmost rigour and latitude doth require at our Hands as pronouncing all those Accursed that continue not in all things which are written in the Book of the Law (q) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 M. Eremita to do them So then though Sin and Death go together as Work and Wageâ— yet eternal Life must never be expected as the Purchase of our own good Works but as the free Gift of God in Christ Jesus The Ways of Sin (r) Rom. 6.23 is Death saith the Apostle But the Gift of God saith he purposely changing the manner of his Speech is eternal Life Say therefore the Papists what they will of their Merit of Condignity proportionate in worth and excellency to eternal Glory Yet would you not for ever be shut out of Heaven and fall short of Glory you must Renounce all Opinion of your own Merit laying hold on eternal Life as the free Gift of God For can we rationally think that our imperfect Obedience should justly deserve with God the Reward of eternal Glory Do we fail coming short in every Duty and shall we yet look for Heaven and not of Debt and not of Mercy If the (s) Rom. 8.18 Sufferings of this present Life are not worthy to be compared with the (a) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Oecum in loc Glory that shall be revealed in us what little reason can we have to think by any inferior act of Obedience to merit such a far more exceeding and eternal weight of Glory (b) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost in Philip. Homil. 11. The Reward of eternal Life is the gift of God and therefore not to be sought by Works of Righteousness as infinitely exceeding in Worth and Dignity all our performances how glorious soever Misinterpret me not as if I were declaiming against the necessity of inherent Righteousness when indeed the meritoriousness and condignity thereof proportionate to eternal Life is all that we here deny We do not cry down Obedience and good Works as they stand in subordination to â—â—ace and are the genuine Fruits of Sanctification as they of the Romish Faction have maliciously traduced the Reformation But only as they stand in opposition to the free Grace of God in our Justification and are made by Pharisaical self-justitiaries the Foundation whereupon to bottom their hopes for eternal Life We of the Church of England do maintain the necessity of good Works pressing earnestly to the practise of them as antecedaneous to Life Eternal without which no Man can be saved But that wherein we dissent from the Church of Rome is about the causality of good Words with whom we dare not affirm (a) Si propriè appellentur ea quae decimus nostra merita Spei quidem Seminaria sunt charitatis Incentiva occultae praedestinationis Judicia futurae foelicitatis Praesagia Via regni non causa regnandi Bern. lib. de Grat. liber Arbitr but deny them to be meritorious of Eternal Life as if a Man should be saved for them We do allow them with Bernard to be the preservatives of Hope the Incentives of Charity the marks of hidden Predestination the Presages of future Happiness the Way that leads to the Kingdom of Heaven but not the meritorious causes of our reigning with Christ there Take heed then that you think not of your own Righteousness above what you ought to think 'T is your duty to fulfil all Righteousness but will certainly be your undoing if you trust in any Beware therefore oh Man of this sugared Poyson within thee let there be no depending upon thy good Heart thy good Life thy good Performances But remember the proud Pharisee who stands upon his own bottom as well as ungodâ—â— Sinners whose lives are notoriously infamous for all manner of abominable impieties will fall short of Heaven Whoever thinks to find Life in his own Righteousness and Glory in his own Graces will be sunk through such carnal Confidence to lose Life and Eternal Glory for ever Oh then let not any Man be found cloathed in his own Righteousness that would ever be cloathed upon with the Garments of Salvation For Men to despair in themselves counting all their Righteousness but loss for the excellency of Heaven This is the best way to obtain the reward of Eternal Glory in the Kingdom of Heaven He that here cries out as a Man lost and undone in himself will hereafter be found in Christ to the saving of his Soul Never did any Man yet get to Heaven by trusting in his own Righteousness Nor shall any Man fall short of Heaven who renouncing his own Righteousness trusteth wholly to the Mercy of God in Christ Jesus 3 GET renewed Natures making sure of a principle of Grace within (b) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Macar Hom. 30. A Wicked Man in his unregeneracy is no more capable of an
Eternal Glory which is infinitely to be preferred that Inheritance which is incorruptible undefiled and that fadeth not away this God hath reserved for his own People Eternal in the Heavens Oh then what infinite cause have God's People to stand admiring their own Happiness Which though they may as Austin saith obtain it yet they can never to it 's worth value and esteem of it There are thousands in the World that have nothing for their Portion but some perishing creature-enjoyment But now the Lord Jehovah he is your portion he is your shield and your exceeding great Reward who is God 〈◊〉 all blessed for ever And doubtless God shews us â—â—re Love in giving us himself for our Reward than if h◠〈◊〉 crowned us with Royal State and sovereign commaâ—◠〈◊〉 â—â—all the Kingdoms in the World God may giâ—◠〈◊〉 Riches and Houses and Lands and yet hate theâ—â—e may cloath them in scarlet Robes here and yet throw them hereafter into scarlet Flames he may advance them to Honour in this World and yet cover them with shame and everlasting confusion in the World to come he may put a golden Scepter into Mens hands now and yet break them in pieces hereafter like a potters Vessel But in giving us himself for our Reward in making over himself to us by a federal transaction as the strength of our Hearts and our Portion for ever now he bestoweth the highest pledge of his special distinguishing Love upon us For to be sure the Lord Jehovah he is the most transcendently great and glorious Reward that the wisdom of God could devise that the Love of God could give or that the Heart 〈◊〉 Man can desire God is Bonum in quo omnia bona a bâ—ing compleatly replenished with whatever is good and desirable a Sun that always shines with a like brightness and is never eclipsed â—â—â—s as an essence that hath all excellencies and divine perfections bound up in himself as in one infinite volume he is a boundless Ocean without either banks or bottom into which all the Rivers of Wisdom Blessing and Goodness do empty â—hemselves (f) Liquet igitur beatitudinem esse statum bonorum omnium congregaâ—â— perfectum Boeth de cons phil lib. 3. pros 2. pag. â—â— So that if blessedness as Boetius defines 〈◊〉 do consist in the enjoyment of all good things then all that are truly Gracious they are blessed and they shall be blessed as having that God for their Portion and Reward in whom whatsoever things are good whatsoever things are lovely whatsoever things are desirable to make one happy do meet as in the only Center of Life and Blessedness What then is the folly of worldly Men blessing themselves in their havings not having the Lord Jehovah to be their shield and their exceeding great Reward Poor brutish Sinner is thy Rock like a Christian's Rock or thy Reward to compare with a Christians Reward thou thy self being Judge Be it so that thou have Riches Honours and worldly Enjoyments Yet what are these but as Wells without any Water as Trees without Fruit or as Stars without the Sun that may glimmer a little but can never make a Day of Happiness 〈◊〉 thy Soul (g) Qui Deâ—â—â—â—abet omni bono abundat qui verò Deum non habet pauperâ—◠〈◊〉 Extra Deum omnis delectatiâ—â—sta omnis laetitia est vana omnis rerum abundantia est 〈◊〉 indigentia Stella de Cont. mundi lib. 3. cap. 〈…〉 248. He that hath God hath all in point 〈◊〉 â—rue Happiness but he that hath not God for his Râ—â—ard is most wretched and hath nothing at all Have all the Riches in the World without God thou art poor Have all the Honours in the World without God thou art a vile Person Have all the Pleasures in the World wherein to bath thy self like an Epicure every Day yet without God thy condition is miserable there being nothing but fiery Wrath and Indighation that abides thy Soul in the World to come Be ashamed then any longer to count the Creature any thing in comparison of God who is the sure Reward of every believing Soul (h) 1 King 5.12 Do not talk with Naaman as if Abana and Pharpar Rivers of Damascus were better than all the Waters in Israel Do not think thy broken Cisterns to be better than the Fountain of Living Waters What shall Earth compare with Heaven Shall Pebbles compare with this one Pearl of great price Shall a small twinkling Star that uniting all its Beams hath scarce light enough to render itself visible compare with the glorious Sun usurp his Chariot and take upon it to give light to all the World Shall Creature enjoyments that have nothing but Vanity and vexation of Spirit for their very quintessence be compared with a Christian's Reward whose Portion is God over all blessed and blessing him for ever Oh learn to put a difference betwixt Portion and Portion betwixt earthly enjoyments and the Reward of Eternal Life in Heaven The difference is not so great between a Pins-head and the whole Body of the Earth as between all worldly Riches and heavenly Glory (i) Rom. 8.18 For as the sufferings are not so neither are the Comforts of this present time worthy to be compared with the Glory which shall be revealed in us 6 THE Reward whereunto God allows his People a respect in all their obedience it 's a full and satisfactory Reward Every Creature is short and defective a very compound of Vanity Emptiness and guilded Deceit That albeit the Soul should knock as one well observes at every Creatures Door yet she can find no filling entertainment within no Creature can bid her welcome it would quite exhaust Natures Store-house and indeed bankrupts the whole Creation to feast such a Guest as the Soul to her full content and satisfaction But now the Lord Jehovah he being the Reward of his People there is that fulness of all Good in him that they need no more God hath provided such a sumptuous Feast for them that when they come to sit down at his Table with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the Prophets in the Kingdom of Heaven (k) Psal 63.5 now their Souls shall be filled as with marrow and fatness now their spiritual appetite shall be so fully satisfied that they shall hunger no more neither shall they thirst any more for ever The Appetite of an immortal is too vast and boundless for any nay for all Creatures in the World to satisfy but in the recompence of Eternal Glory there is that which will answer all her cravings that she shall now have no further to seek but rest fully satisfied This present Life is full of nothing but emptiness and dissatisfaction even in the highest Zenith of all its blessedness the Soul of Man hath a kind of infinite appetite desiring this good thing and that good thing and yet having obtained them like an hydropick Body 't is as thirsty as
a Land all whose Rivers run heavenly Nectar and all whose Trees are ever laden with the sweet delicious Grapes of Paradise (o) Si tanta nobis tribuis in careere quid dabis in patria Aug. de civit Dei If here in the Land of your Pilgrimage so much of Heavens Glory be revealed to you what Tongue of Man or Angel can tell the Happiness the Glory to be revealed in you when at home in your own Country The Crown of Life if now so bright and orient to an Eye of Faith beholding it Oh then what a far more excâ—â—ding and Eternal Weight os Glory will be found in it when a glorious Christ shall set it upon your Head with his own remunerative Hands 12 AND lastly a due respect had to this glorious Reward will bring you safe to it never leaving you till your Souls be crowned with fulness of Glory The Loadstone will draw Iron to itself when intra Spheram activitatis suae within the reach of its own attractive influence Thus the Reward of Eternal Life as an heavenly Loadstone hath that magnetick Virtue in it that if you put yourselves by a due respect had thereto under it it will draw you home to itself The wise Men keeping their Eye upon the Star which went before them were at length brought to Christ Thus keeping your Eye Christians upon this Eternal Reward as a glorious Star it will bring you at length to Christ in Glory whom fully to enjoy is our Life our Comfort our Happiness yea the Heaven of Heavens 'T is true Christians we must be uncloathed of this Body of Death before we can enter into the Joy of our Lord and be cloathed upon with the white Robes of Blessed Immortality Death must break down the Prison Walls of a Mortal Body before our Souls can ever come to the glorious Liberty of God's Children (a) 2 Cor. 5.1 Till our earthly Tabernacle be dissolved there is no having of a Building of God an House not made with Hands Eternal in the Heavens And why should we not be willing that God should pull down these Cottages of Clay who hath promised to raise us up a more glorious Temple The Loadstone cannot draw Iron as some say whilst the Diamond is in Presence Doubtless were it not for a Body of Death that is still present with us an Eye fixed upon Heaven's Glory would immediately draw us into Heaven For besides the interposition of an earthly gross Body together with those corruptions whose Foundation is in that Dust there is nothing as one well observes that hinders a Christian from the full enjoyment of God in Glory So that Death's peculiar Office is to break down this Wall of separation that the Soul may the better come to her God her beloved Redeemer her Eternal Habitation in the Kingdom of Heaven The Soul when once loosed from this dying Body then she hath the Crown of Life set upon her Head then she sees God no longer through a Glass darkly but Face to Face then she is ravished with the unconceivable sweetness of the beatifical Vision (b) Mori plane timeat sed qui ex aqua spiritu non renatus Gehennae ignibus mancipatur mori timeat qui non Christi cruce passione censetur mori timeat qui ad secundam mortem de hac morte transibit quem de seculo recedentem perennibus poenis aeterna torquebit flamma Cyp. de Mortalit pag. 344. Let those therefore tremble at the knocking and approaches of Death who know not what will become of their immortal Souls who not being born again from above are every moment liable to infernal Flames who have no interest in the Glory purchased by Christ who must pass from Death to Death from short momentany Pleasures to everlasting hellish Torments Death to the Wicked is the Trap-door that opening lets them fall down irrecoverably into the dark vault of Eternal Misery But to the Gracious Soul there is no cause of Terrour in Death no Fear in the Grave no Sting to perplex in a bodily dissolution as that which only ushers in her everlastingly Blessed and Glorious Coronation Death comes to a Man dying the recompence of Reward like Moses to the Israelites to deliver him as the Angel to Peter in Prison to set him free as God's fiery Chariot to carry him like Elias into heavenly Glory And are you Christians afraid of entring upon your own Blessedness are you afraid to be cloathed upon with your House from Heaven Get a right notion of Death which as Bernard calls it is nothing but the Gate of Life the Portal of eternal security Though Death look upon thee with a grim Countenance yet it comes upon a good errand to God's People to fetch them out of their Wilderness-condition and to bring them to an everlasting estate of Happiness By Death we go from Earth to Heaven from conversing with Sinful Men to converse with Millions of glorious Angels and what makes us so loath to remove Who would not leave a Cottage to gain a Kingdom Who would not leave an Egypt to inherit Canaan Who would not leave gladly an oppressive Babylon to be made a Citizen of Sion of the heavenly Jerusalem OUR greatest Misery lies not in Death but in Life 'T is the Veil of Flesh that keeps us from entring into the holiest of all c Death gives us a pasport from corruptible Joys to an incorruptible Crown from a Mortal Life to a Life of blessed Immortality from a troublesome condition to a State of perfect tranquillity So that the name of Death should not offend us But the Happiness and Glory to which it leads should delight us The Moon never comes to the full til after her change Thus through the change of Death a Christian comes to all fulness of Joy and hath the white Robes of Glory given him Now the Bridegroom comes to meet the Soul in Happiness now all Tears are wiped away and Heaven Gates are set wide open to give her everlasting glorious entertainment Now the Reward of life everlasting now the Joy of Eternal Salvation now the full possession of the heavenly Paradise comes Now heavenly Mansions instead of earthly Tabernacles now greatest Glory instead of small and Eternal Happiness instead of poor temporal enjoyments are bestowed upon every Child of God What Man that is well in his Wits woâ—ld not part with Life and bid Death welcome upon terms of such everlasting blessed and glorious advantage (d) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost ad pop Ant. hom 7. Death in the true notion (c) Mors haec transitus universorum est transitur à corruptione ad incorruptionem à mortalitate ad immortalitatem à perturbatione ad tranquillitatem Non igitur nomen mortis te offendat sed boni transitûs beneficia delectent Ambros lib. de Bono mort cap. 4. Proemium vitae gaudium salutis aeternae perpetua laetitia possessio Paradisi