who is subtle and watcheth all advantages against but he is alwayes giving them his Fatherly advice warning them of their danger shewing them a way how to escape it they have the voice of his Spirit behind them telling them this is the way Isai 30. 21. they have the guidance of his most wise counsel to keep them in the right way unto glory Psal 7424. 5. He will assist and strengthen them he will lend them an helping hand to carry them through all their difficulties temptations straits that they are engaged or involved in in their Christian course and the discharge of their duty in all of them 2 Tim. 4. 17. The Lord was with me and strengthened me they have a great work to perform to serve God in their Generation but his Grace standing by them becomes their sufficiency a Fathers love draws forth his helping hand to assist his Son and carry him well through all that is before him 6. He will Correct and Chasten them for their Faults Heb. 12. 6. He chastneth every son whom He receiveth They like foolish Children may now reckon this for their damage but it is indeed none of the least of those benefits which the Children of God do enjoy God lets wicked men alone to go on in their pernicious wayes They have their wills in the world that they may be destroyed for ever But God here afflicts his Children that their souls may be saved in the day of the Lord 1 Cor. 11. 32. We are chastened of the Lord that we should not be condemned with the World 7. He will commend and encourage them when they do well see what an high commendation he gives Abraham for his love and what a precious promise he gives him upon it Gen. 22. 16 17. the poorest services which they do being done in sincerity to him if it be but a cup of cold water given to one of his Disciples in that Name shall not lose its acceptance and reward yea such is his Fathers respect that he owns and crowns the very good will and purposes as much as if they really performed them David doth but resolve to build an House to his Name and Glory and God takes it kindly and promiseth richly upon it 2 Sam. 7. these things belong unto them as they are Children in the Family and carry Consolation in the very mentioning of them 3. They receive the spirit of Adoption Rom. 8. 15. Gal. 4. 5 6. and here we are to observe that the Spirit of Adoption doth not decipher any distinct spirit but that it is one and the same spirit who doth illuminate convince humble engraft the soul into Christ c. but it deciphers to us a distinct and peculiar observation of the Spirit of God in us so that the dignity of this priviledge is to be discovered in the effects which are consequent upon it and they are such as these viz. 1. The obsignation or sealing up of Believers to the certain and infallible enjoyment of their inheritance Eph. 1. 13. 4. 30. when God hath once admitted a poor Soul into the number of his Children he now confirms and ratifies to him all the promises and makes them unto him surer than the foundation of the World yea so sure that neither outward Enemies nor inward Evils shall ever be able to deprive them of this Title Rom. 8. 39 39. I am perswaded that neither height nor depth c. shall separate us from the love of God which is in Christ It is possible that they may not alwayes with alike clearness discern it some cloud or other interposing but it is ever with an equal certainty therein inasmuch as it is a gift of God that is without Repentance 2. The testimony which the spirit of God gives in to their state of Adoption witnessing in them that God hath numbred them to his Children and joyned them in the inheritance of all blessings with his own Son Rom. 8. 16 17. The spirit it self leaveth witness c. The effect consequent upon this testimony is assurance which assurance is in it self a piece of inchoate Glorification but the witness which the Spirit of God bears in us by vertue of which we are confirmed in this knowledge is a priviledge of Adoption and though Believers do not alwayes so distinctly hear him testifying and to be able to draw the comfort of it to their Souls yet they have alwayes this witness in them because the Spirit of God is ever with them 3. The enlivening of their Faith and thereby enabling of them to God to God as a Father and claim this Relation and upon the claim believingly to plead with him for the acceptance of their persons the audience of their Prayers the granting of their requests and supplying of all their wants Rom. 8. 15. Ye have received the Spirit of Adoption whereby we cry Abba Father yea the spirit of God enables them thus to act Faith in consideration of this relation not only in times of outward favour when the candle of the Lord shineth upon their Tabernacle and all things go well with them but also in the most cloudy times of darkest dispensations when God hides his face from them and carries it towards them as if he were their Enemy hence that chalenge of Faith at such an hour Isai 63. 17. Doubtless thou art our Father 4. The powerful preservation of them in a state of Grace 1 Pet. 1. 5. Who are kept by the power of God through Faith unto Salvation Believers are weak in themselves and ly open to many strong temptations and if they were left to themselves those floods that assail them would easily and quickly drown them But the spirit of God is still blowing upon this spark and supplying of it with new fuel whereby he makes the faith of Believers to live and flourish in dispite of all those endeavours that are used to extinguish and ruin it 5. His constant assistance in spiritual duties enabling them to perform them acceptably and particularly in the great duty of Prayer to God Rom. 8. 26 27. We know not what we should pray for as we ought but the spirit it self maketh intercession c. they are weak to do duty and carry about in them a masse of corruption a body of Death which presseth them down evil is ever present when they would be doing of good so that without him they can do nothing and it would be a vain thing for them to set about any service to God in their own strength but he stands by them and is ready to put to his helping hand supplying them with the influences of spiritual Grace whence when they are weak in themselves they are strong in him 6. To communicate to them the discoveries of the love of God and thereby to fill them with spiritual rejoycing Rom. 5. 5. The Love of God is shed abroad into our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us he applies the precious promises to
with Christ in his sufferings this was one thing that Paul desired to know Phil. 3. 10. and this the Children of God do know inasmuch as they suffer for his Name sake and in his cause and that the Name of God may be glorified in their sufferings and also because he supplies them with patience and constancy therein for that they do not dishonour him and hereby they come to know that blessedness is theirs Mat. 5. 12. Rejoyce and be glad for great is your reward in Heaven for so persecuted they the Prophets which were before you They are made to understand that being joâ—ned with Christ in his sufferings they shall not be separated from him in Glory 2 Tim. 2. 12. If we suffer with him we shall also reign with him Paul counts the Saints suffering a manifest token as of the amazing destruction of their persecutors so also of their future felicity in another world 2 Thes 1. 5 6. 2. The fruits of the spirit in them working in all the graces thereof in their souls and giving them their free exercise Their love to God their faith in Christ their hope of Glory their hatred of sin their delighting of themselves in holiness c. The Apostle tells us the fruits of the spirit are manifest and what they are Gal. 5 22 23. The glory of Gods Children is inward and spiritual and by the maintenance and increase of this is a Child of God to apprehend a Fathers love growing grace is a good confirmation of approaching glory 3. The testimony of the spirit of God added to and confirming of the testimony of their own spirits in witnessing to their Sonship Rom. 8. 16. By vertue of which testimony at such times as God enables them to read it they can Triumph in the hopes of glory trample upon all the scoffs and scorns and persecutions and despise all the flatteries and fair promises of the world He gives them inward consolation and enables them to call God Father in greatest straits and strengthens them to roll themselves upon him to commit their wayes to him to cast all their burdens on him and to wait with holy confidence and boasting for the manifestation of the Sons of God and in expectation of receiving an immortal and eternal Crown then at the hands of the righteous Judge they love his appearing 1. Are Believers now Gods Children It may then teach us what a dangerous thing it is for any to go about to do them any injury or wrong The ignorant world seeing the Saints of God so low and despicable to have so few friends here below to take part with them and to be so poor and disregarded among men they are hereupon ready to think they may do their pleasure against them there is no danger is like to a â—ise upon it but they abide secure though they slander revile persecute and do them all manner of imaginable wrong They have none to take in with them none to plead their Cause for them none to stand up in their defence And being thus animated with what boldness virulency and spite do they prosecute them But they grievously mistake themselves and shall in Gods time find that they have so done to their cost God will not suffer his own dear Children to be abused and see that abuse to go free and escape unpunished Whosoever they be though armed with the greatest worldly power yet they had better take a Bear by the tooth a Lyon by the Paw than meddle with the least meanest obscurest and most seeming contemptible Saint of Christ to do him any the least injury If an earthly Father see his Child abused or misused by a stranger how will his fatherly affection stir his bowels boile and put him upon it to vindicate that wrong How much more will God do so for his Children who are to him as the apple of his eye and to whose mercys the bowels of most affectionate Parents are not to to be compared God may possibly seem to wink and keep silence for the present and men may take encouragement therefrom to vent their spite and malice but he will not do so alwayes but a time shall come and that quickly when he will call them to an account for all and a dreadful account it will be when it comes God doth many times in this world testifie to his displeasure upon this very account and there are several remarkable instances in Scripture of his severity upon the malicious adversaries of his Saints enough to put a dread upon any such would they but consider of it Do Korah and his accomplices arise up against Moses and Adronâ— They shall not dy as other men but a new work shall be done the earth with her opened mouth shall swallow them up quick and they shall go down alive into the pit Doth Babylon triumph in cruelty over the People of God when it is used as a Rod in Gods hand to manifest his displeasure against them in punishing of their sin Babylon shall smart for it Isa 47. 6. c. I was wroth with my People I gave them into thy hand thou didst shew them no mercy Neither shal Edom be forgotten who in Jerusalems day of visitation cryed Raze it raze it to the ground Psal 137. 7. How are Edom and Ammon and Moab and mount Seir and the Philistians and Tyrus threatned upon this account See Ezek. chap. 25. and 26. But supposing that they should escape here and God doth not alwayes presently let fall his hand upon the Persecutours of his People yet is the time a coming when the Persecutors of the Saints shall be made to know that they persecuted Christ and shall find how hard a thing it is for them to kick against the pricks when God shal rendeâ— tribulation to the troublers of his Children 2 Thes 1. 6. Their blood may for a season seem to ly still and speak nothing but now are their souls under the altar and are there crying to their God and father for revenge and he who is holy and true will not alwayes hold his peace Tremble then at the thoughts of such a thing that poor persecuted despised Saint whom you seem to trample under the feet of pride hath a Redeemer that is mighty â— Father in Heaven that will plead his cause Make the Children of God your friends and they will be ready to speak a good word to their Father for you and however you may judge of them contemptuously yet there is a blessing in their prayers But if you make them your enemies wo to you you had better bring all the world about your ears The cryes of Saints when they are under the exercise of the envy and hatred of men coming up into the ears of God and Christ for the wrongs which are done unto them are affecting cryes and will stirr up the holy jealousie of the great God and he that is under the male diction of them scorn he it as much as
spiritual right and all their enjoyments are theirs by the new Covenant 2. They have the Ministry of the blessed Angels Heb. 1. 14. Are they not all ministring Spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be Heirs of Salvation Those glorious Beings which attend before the Throne of God are also made to wait upon Gods Children they guard these Heirs of Salvation they are unto them tutelary Angels to defend them from evil and to watch for their good Psal 91. 11. He shall give his Angels charge concerning thee they pitch their tents round about them Psal 34. 1. they bring them messages of peace from Heaven even answers of their Prayers Dan. 9. 23. they strengthen and confirm them in their secret conflicts Luk. 22. 43. and when they come to die they are a convoy to carry their Souls home to eternal rest Luk. 16. 22. The Angels carried Lazarus into Abrahams bosom 3 They have the cooperation of all things to do them good Rom. 8. 28. Gods Children are called to pass through varieties of changes in this life they meet with manifold afflictions they have many enemies men and devils that are engaged to plot their harm and take all advantages to bring it about but yet all these being over-ruled by the power and wisdom of God which stand on his peoples side are made beneficial to them and whatever they plot for evil is turned to good and though sorely against their will whom nothing more grieves then the welfare of the Saints all helps them forward for heaven and contributes to the encrease of their eternal glory every reproach and injury doth but add weight to their Crown 6. They are made Royal Heirs they are conjoyned with Jesus Christ in the glorious inheritance that is prepared Rom. 8. 17. Joynt Heirs with Christ they are as Children of the great King entituled to a Kingly estate yea they are constituted Heirs of all things God is theirs Christ is theirs the Throne and Crown that are prepared and the exceeding eternal weight of Glory are theirs and though for the present during their nonage and minority here in this life they seem but little different from servants to the observation of others their Inheritance being as yet in reversion and they mean while under manifold exercises of their graces yet erelong when they are made perfect men in Christ and having finished the work set them to do in this World shall be brought to take full possession of their own it shall then be known what happy ones they are 4. For the evidence of the Doctrine or wherein it appears that they are now the Sons of God notwithstanding their present despicable condition here take only two Conclusions 1. There is nothing in their present mean and despicable estate but what is well enough consistent with their Sonship though they are hated despised persecuted afflicted and every way as low and mean as is to be imagined For 1. That the World hates them is rather an evidence of their Sonship than any Argument against it as being an exercise and discovery of that enmity which God hath put between the seed of the Serpent of the Woman The Devil who is the Father of ungodly Men is Gods great Enemy and the ringleader of Rebellion against him and no wonder since he cannot touch God in his Being if Hell rise up against him and oppose him in his Children It is true that wicked men do not know them to be certainly the Children of God for the world know us not ver 1. but they know them to be other kind of men from themselves and for this reason they hate and persecute them our Saviour foretold his Disciples that they must expect to meet this measure from the World and gives the reason Mat. 10. 22. Ye shall be hated of all men for my Name sake it is for the profession which they make and the glory of God which they are bound for that they are hated and scorned in the World 2. That God suffers the World to afflict and persecute them denies not his fatherly care of them for in this very thing he makes men and devils to serve them there is no Saint that ever was or ever shall be a loser by all that Gods and his Enemies shall do against him and that because what they intend for harm God evermore by a powerful over-ruling providence turns for their good his Graces are hereby tried and made to shine forth and that trial proves to be much better than that of God 1 Pet. 1. 7. God hereby puts an advantage into his hands to glorifie him and testifying his love and sincerity to him in chearfully suffering all things for his Name and Faith at such a time teacheth him to rejoyce that he may be counted worthy for this so did the Apostles when scourged before the Council Act. 5. 41. and when wicked men have done their worst to the Children of God they do but prepare for them a glorious Chariot to ride home in tryumph to the City of God 3. That they are low and mean in the world is not because God loves wicked men better than he loves them whom he suffers to flourish and abound in all delights to live at ease and die without bands but because such a condition in this life is usually best for them and still when they are most distressed poor and bare they are his chosen they are rich because God himself is their portion and a Kindom is prepared for them Jam. 2. 6. as long as they are here they are from home they are Strangers and Pilgrims and it is safest for them to be so and still that remains to be a great truth Psal 37. 16. A little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked better because it is his own and he hath it with Gods favour and love 4. That God is often angry with them afflicts them and withdraws the light of his countenance from them and puts them to grief is not because he loves them not but because it is that which their present condition requires they are but Children and childish and foolish and if they were not sometimes chastened they would grow wanton and careless of Duty a Fathers love is evidenced as well in correcting a wanton child as in providing for him God doth it to shew his love Heb. 12. 6. Whom he loves he corrects he doth it for the saving of their Souls 1 Cor. 11. 32. Ye are judged of the Lord that ye may not be condemned with the World when the time comes that all their sin is done away then they shall sorrow no more so that in all this way how dark soever it seems to be God is guiding them by counsel that he may bring them to glory 2. In this mean and despised estate of theirs God is pleased to be giving of them many testimonies and clear evidences of their Sonship As 1. Their fellowship
and take the blame and shame of my sins upon my self and if he be angry I will bear it because I have sinned I will yeild my self to his pleasure and receive his stroaks and I know they shal be wounds which shal not kill but heal my Soul I will confess and not cover my sins and so ly down before him and let him say what he will unto me I will still say good is the word of the Lord and if he be wroth with me for a little season I will wait till it be overpast because I know assuredly that his love to me shal endure for ever 5. When you are strongly oppressed with the slavish fear of Death When the fore thoughts of your going out of this world are distressing thoughts to your mind especially being either by gray hairs those Blossoms of the Grave or by pining sicknesses c. by the dangers of troublesome times growing warned of the probable nearness and approach of it and you are hereby put out of frame and greatly hurried and disquieted in your spirits think now and meditate But was ever a Child unwilling to go home especially where he knew that he should have all things according to his hearts desire and was at present under manifold troublesome exercises Is rest a thing so unwelcome or ungrateful to the weary man why then should I shrink from it Did not my dearest Saviour comfort himself with this thought when he drew near to a most cruel and bitter Death yet he was going to his Father and my Father And am I unwilling to go to my Fathers House to that Pallace and Court where I who have been a stranger all this while in a strange Country going under a disguise so as the World I live in knows me not and therefore despiseth and persecuteth me shall be set forth and adorned like the Child of a King And what Is it a thing so hard to bear and that which should make me to draw back and fly from it is to be stript out of these rags of mortality this dirty defiled garment of flesh and to receive in exchange for it those Princely Robes of Glory and be made to appear in such Oriency and splendor as will out-shine the light of the Sun in the firmament And is this the thing I am so much afraid of Is it this at which my thoughts do so much start and give back No no I will not fear but make all the hast I can that I may in due season finish my work and go home The World is weary of me and would gladly part with me and I am as weary of it and as willing to leave it And were it not that I have a little work to do for the glory of my God and Father here I could be content forthwith to be gone However I am willing to tarry on his business but when my Father shal please to call I will say Lord here am I and in the mean while I will wait till my chang comes 5. Be alwayes comforting of your selves with the thoughts of your Adoption Draw your comforts at this Tap fetch your Consolations from this relation be therefore often chewing upon the precious priviledges of it and make them your rejoycing Hence 1. Let this joy out-strip the verdure of every other joy let all earthly delights and pleasures as it were wither before it There are many things in which it is lawful to take some content many things which God hath appointed to give us some comfort in this life but all these delights should like starrs disappear before this Sun Luk. â—0 20. In this rejoyce not that the spirits are subâ—â—ct to you but rather rejoyce that your Names are written in Heaven Count all other things comparatively not deserving the boasting of Psal 4. 7. 2. Let this joy dispel the mists of every sorrow and clear up your souls in the midst of all troubles and difficulties With it David labours to get his heart up Psal 42. ult Dwel therefore much upon these thoughts who it is that hath owned you for his Child The great God What he hath done for you viz. Taken you under his care given you his Spirit set you aâ— liberty from thraldome confirmed you in a title to all his good things bestowed upon you a Royal Guard of glorious Angels And what he intends to do having assured you of it by promise and will ere long accomplish it Live in the midst of your Priviledges and Dignities and be sucking the sweet out of them Live above the World above sin above life above Death let nothing terrifie you nothing perplex nor stumble you you are Children and then Heirs and then you may well reckon all sufferings as inconsiderable things and triumphantly wait and joyfully look for the manifestation of the Children of God who when they shal be brought forth in their Royalty at the second coming of Christ shal be the wonder and astonishment of Angels wicked Men and Devils And it doth not yet appear what we shall be Our Apostle having thus encouraged those unto whom he writes to constancy in their Faith and to stand it out in opposition unto Antichrist and all the seductions of such as would pervert them and that by the consideration of their sonship and the Glorious dignity of it and laboured to perswade them in the belief of the verity of it by a bold and confident conclusion asserting it to be so In these and the remaining words of the Vers he obviates anâ— objection which the Children of God may be 〈◊〉 ready in an hour of Temptation to raise viz. If we are Sons as you say we be how comes it to pass then that we are so treated in the world and that God seems to take so little care of us that our outward condition here is not better but rather much worse than the condition of other men We are persecuted reviled trodden upon and our spiritual condition also is full of trouble and Temptation as if God did not regard us at all We are outwardly mean and sorrowful and inwardly molested and is this the way in which God is wont to treat his Children If we are his Sons he seems to deal better with his enemies than with his Sons Thus we find Asaph was once tempted Psal 73. Thus Rebeckah when the Children strugled in her womb was ready to say If the Lord be with me why is it thus That he may either prevent or remove this difficulty the Apostle layes down two conclusions 1. That the time is not as yet come for the manifestation of that happiness whereof they are the undoubted Heirs 2. He declares what their glorious estate shal be when that time doth come It is the first of these we have under our present consideration These words relate to the foregoing by way of Prolepsis and hence the copulative And is put for the exceptive but â—s is frequent in that Language The words
Countenance those inward supports of heart that sweet communion which their Souls have with God in an Ordinance in hearing the Word at a Sacrament in their Closets on their knees powring out of their Prayers and tears into the bosom of their Father Those holy transports are riddles and matters of laughter and scorn to them and if they know not what is how should they understand that which is to come 3. The Children of God themselves whiles they are here do not fully know what they shal be it doth not yet appear to them It is true 1. The Word of God hath said a great deal concerning their future Glory There are many high and towring expressions to our apprehension used in the Scripture worthy descriptions of that great City and the Inhabitants of it and if we would study the Scripture more we might know more of it But yet when we arrive at the Kingdom and come once to see and view and experience it we shal say as the Queen Sheba to Solomon 1 King 10. 6 7. 2. The People of God have their sips and foretastes and first fruits of this Glory here They are made to tast of those Graps of which the Wine is made in Canaan They have not only their assurances but also sometimes their extasies They are taken into the Mount rapt up into the third Heaven their souls are lifted up aboue the world and all that is in it God is pleased at some times to carry them out so farr in their meditations and reveal so much of himself and his infinit love to their contemplation that they are loth to come down or to have any thing more to do with the sink and puddle of this world They know so much of that after state that when they are under these precious discoveries and the irradiations of the spirit of God upon their souls they cry out Who will give me the wings of a Dove that I might mount up and be gone And with Paul their hearts are carried forth with a longing desire to depart and be with him in full possession of all this Glory But 3. A full clear and manifest discovery of their happiness is not made to any of God's People here They that have seen most of heaven while upon this earth have seen it but â—â— Landskip They that have had the most ravishing tasts of the love of God have but imperfectly tasted it All our knowledge all our sight here is but in part 1 Cor. 13. 9. We know but in part That which is pâ—â—fect is yet to come vers 10. The are but dawnings at the most which we have here what those rayes will be which shal beam forth from the Sun of Righteousness in the mid-day splendour of Celestial Glory we now cannot tell but must be content to wait till we go thither where it is to be seen and enjoyed 2. For the ground of the Doctrine or reason why it doth not yet appear 1. God makes it not known to the ungodly 1. Lest they should be allured by it All which they hear and enjoy here must therefore be Aenigmatical or obscure to them lest they should be converted it is an awful word but Christ himself hath spoken it who knew his Fathers and his own mind and purpose Mar. 4. 11. 12. To them that are without these things are done in parables c. Lest at any time they should be Converted 2. That they may by Persecutions and oppositions try the Graces of his Children There is great use and fruit in this tryal it is more precious than that of Gold And God is pleased to use wicked men as instruments of the tryal And hence they shall not know who these be nor what their Glory is for if they did they would without doubt suspend if not in love yet in fear of them Christ himself must come in a disguise that so the determined Counsel of God might be fulfilled iâ— him 1. Cor. 2. 7 8. They would else never have Crucified him 2. The reason also why the People of God themselves have no comprehensive discovery of their own future estate 1. Because it is too big a sight for their weak eyes to gaze upon They must be prepared for their Glory as well as their Glory for them or else it would swallow them up Rom. 9. 23. Hence When Christ is upon the one work in Heaven the Spirit of Christ is on the other here Should a full description of that state be given us it must be in a Language which we understand not They are but dark similitudes dim and dull comparisons accommodated to our own weak capacity which the Scripture affords The words which Paul then heard when he was in the third Heaven were ineffable words and such as were not lawful to utter 2 Cor. 12. 4. Not unlawful because forbidden by any precept but because they did out-bid his ability If the Glory to be revealed should now be revealed to us in this our imperfect state it would over oppress and sink us 2. That they may with more patience abide the time allotted then here and serve there Generation in the doing of that work which God hath set out for them to do before they go to be possessed of this Glory We find that after St. Paul's rapture he had great wrestlings with his own spirit and much ado to keep up in himself a willingness to tarry here any longer Phil. 1. 21. I am in a strait between two Having a desire to depart And such have been the frames of God's dear Children after that they have had some extraordinary beamings of his love and been feasted by him with some special visits they have been long ere they could quiet themselves from longing and praying that the Chain might be cut and they might hoise Sail and be gone Might the Saints be permitted to know here as much as shall be known hereafter it would be harder perswading them to be willing to live than it is now to make them willing to dy USE I. For informations learn we from Hence 1. The reason why the Children of God are so little regarded here in the World it is because the World knows not who they are nor what they are born unto Their great Glory for the present is within outwardly they look like other men they eat drink labour converse in earthly imployments as others do the communion which they have with God in all of these is a secret thing They are Sick Poor Naked Distressed like other men those in ward supports which they have under all those exercises are remote from publick view They dy and are buried under the Clods and their bodyes putrifie and rot like other men and none see those joyes that their souls are entred into nor that guard of Angels which comes as a Convoy and carryes them into Abraham's bosom Naâ— they have their sins their spots their imperfections and weaknesses here as well as other men but
knowledge of God in Christ which is Eternai life Joh. 17. 3. There is a sealing of the spirit which confirmes everlasting happiness to us Eph. 4. 30. There is an earnest now given by which God confirmes the title of the Inheritance to the Souls of his People Eph. 1. 14. 2. That these effects are discernable and legible and that not only by special revelation but also in a rational way of arguing and inferring If this were not a truth then all such Scripture-precepts as put us upon this duty of self-examination in respect of our spiritual estate were in vain and meerly superâ—luous It is true the law puts us upon duties impossible to fallen man and this course God useth with us to make us know our need of Christ But the Gospel puts Believers upon nothing but what may be done Now this is made the Believers duty in divers Gospel-respects 2 Pet. 1. 10. 2 Cor. 13. 5. 1. Cor. 11. 28. Nay why should the Gospel propound Rules of tryal to us if there were no discovery to be made by the application of them Of what use is a Touch-stone to us if by applying of it we could not be able to make discovery what Mettle is genuine and what is deceitful 3. That every Child of God is furnished fâ—â— this discovery He hath an habitual power in him and sufficient help afforded unto him for the discerning these effects For 1. The effects themselves are manifestly distinguishable from the common Graces of Moral Men and the counterfeit graces of hypocrites though they may have some resemblance yet there are differencing notes 1 Joh. 3. 10. In this the Children of God are manifest and the Children of the Devil 2. Every Child of God hath a conscience whereby he is able to reflect upon himself to take a Survey of his own actions to see what is in him and to compare it by the rule and to judge of it accordingly Hence We shall find Paul making an appeal to the Testimony of his own Conscience 2 Cor. 1 12. 3. The Spirit of God dwels in the understanding and conscience of every Believer to illâ— minate it and to give it a judgement and diâ—cerning of spiritual things 1 Cor. 2. 10 14. anâ— this is a common priviledge of all Believers theâ— have all of them the indwelling spirit to helâ— them in their work 4. The Spirit of Adoption is also a witneâ— in a Child of God to confirm and ratifie thâ— the testimony which his Conscience gives iâ—â—â—ncerning the premises whence there are twâ—â—â—bstantial witnesses to the same truth Hence He is said to bear witness with our spirits Rom. 8 16. 4. By the discovery of these present effects hâ— is infallibly assured that he shall inherit Glorâ— hereafter A state of Grace and of Glory havâ— but their gradual differences Grace is Glory begun Glory is Grace finished or perfected Grace is the seed whereof glory is the genuinâ— Fruit Grace if it dy not will bring forth glory undoubtedly but it cannot dy being an immortal seed and abiding True grace is a spring that never ceaseth flowing till it reach eternaâ— Life Joh. 4. 14. Paul counts it a good argument and that the inferrence will hold that iâ— God hath begun he will also perfect the good work Phil. 1. 6. God cannot call back his grace for it is without repentance Rom. 11. 29. Heb. 13. 5. The Believer cannot renounce nor reject it for God will not suffer him to depart away from him Ezek. 36. 27. The Devil and all his instruments cannot rob him of it because they cannot pluck him out of Chist's hand Joh. 10. 29. And when we have â—aid all these things together Judge now whither this doth not amount to that which may truly and properly be called knowledge viz a Judgement of certainty about our everlasting felicity USE I. Here we see one Reason why many of the Children of God bear all the changes of the life with so much quietness and tranquillity it lyes here because they have grounded expectations of future glory The Men of the World wonder at them yea scoff and flout and take them for mad Men to feed their fancyes and hopes with unseen things and therefore in their opinion the greatest uncerteintyes Truly if the hopes of the Children of God were grounded in opinion and depended upon meer contingencyes I cannot see how their life should not be the most perplexed sorrowful and miserable of all men for if after they have left all for Christ it were yet a thing dubitable whether they should ever see and enjoy him in glory they have indeed nothing left them to lean the weight of their confidence upon But this is their felicity in the midst of all turns that still their main interest in eternity is secured And this indeed is the very thing which declares them to be the only happy Men All other Men live by meer opinion these only are the men of knowledge Other men know not certeinly what it is that they labour for nor what shall be the event of all their pains and cares but these men know that their labour is not in vain and that there will be a good end of all their troubles and pains As to the things of this life and with respect to subordinate ends the Children of God labour under equal uncerteintyes with other men Eccl. 9. begin All things fall out alike to all And vers 11. Time and chance happeneth to them all They are not sure to prosper in their Estates to enjoy health and long life and ease in this World But as to their last end and the concurrent tendency of all means to it here they have good security and this makes them patient in tribulation quiet under sorest afflictions Thus we find Paul argues himself into patience and chearfulness 2 Cor. 4. 17 18 5. 1. If Storms nay Hurrycanes arise in their Voyage yet they are not amazed for they know who is Pilot and where they shall certeinâ—y Arrive if they lose all they have in this World yea and life it self yet because they cannot lose glory they are not filled with consternation For though they cannot tell what that glory shal be yet they know that it shall be glory and such as God himself shal give that God who doth all things like himself and they are satisfied that this shall be enough to fill you with everlasting joyes USE II. We hence learn how vain are all the attempts of the enemyes of God's Children wherein they seek to make them miserabe or to discourage them in the service of God It is true if their felicity were grounded in contingency the Saints enemies might have some probable hopes to undermine and blow them up but those that fight against the truth shall not be able to prevail That Rock on which the happiness of the Sons of God is built lyes too deep for all the endeavours of their enemyes to undermine That truth that no
Husband 2. There shall be an happy meeting in the air in the morning of that day between Christ and his thus adorned Spouse where they shall meet him as in the quality of a great judge so as their Friend their Husband their Saviour coming to finish and compleat their Salvation and take them home to himself they shall meet him who is the beloved of their Souls whom they have longed for whom they have often prayed to make hast and whose appearance they have loved And the state in which he shall come will add to their glorious manifestation all that pompous attendance of Angels those ten thousand times ten thousands and thousands of thousands of ministring Spirits waiting upon Christs coming to fetch home his Spouse shall reflect upon them to shew how blessed they are see 1 Pet. 4. 16 17. and that glorious coming of Christ Dan. 7. 9 10. 3. When the great judgement is set these shall be placed on the right hand of Christ Mat. 25. 23. He shall set the sheep on his right hand which is spoken after the manner of Men intimating the honour and dignity which shall be conferred upon them and this shall be most conspicuous Rev. 1. 7. Every eye shall see him and if him then them that are so placed they shall then appear to be his Favourites and Friends to be such in whom he takes delight to make them honourable and happy 4. In the process of the great judgement they shall be openly cleared and acquitted from all those false imputations of Hypocrisie and iniquities which here were cast upon them their sincerity shall be made manifest and now it shal be known that they were not such fools as the World judged them to have been that they were not the troublers of Israel as they were censured to be it shall by this appear that they had a God whom their Enemies thought to have had none they shal stand in the judgement and no accusation shall prevail against them nor any be to condemn them Rom 8. 33. 5. There shall be an happy Sentence past upon them adjudging of them to a Kingdome and Crown and Glory Mat. 25. 34. Come ye blessed inherit the Kingdome and when this comâ—s to pass it shal make amends for all their sufferings and sorâ—ows which here they underwent for Christ when he shal declare them blessed and bid them to come with him and be where he is in his Kingdome that prepared Kingdom that Kingdom which is filled with all Glories and all the World shall hear this Sentence pronounced then shall they appear to be happy men whiles those standing on the Left hand are tremblingly waiting to hear a contrary doom 6. They shall have that honour conferred upon them to be assessors with Christ and to judge the World 1 Cor. 6. 2 3. Know ye not that the Saints shall judge the World after what manner this shall be is not for us to determine Christ is the great Judge their lives when they were upon Earth did condemn a sinful Generation Heb. 11. 7. and these may be alledged there and they shall certainly assent to and acquiess and rejoyce in the righteous Judgment which Christ shall pass upon his Enemies and shall in a royal equipage sit and attend as so many Judges until that great affair shall be finished 7. When the great work of the last Judgement is over they shall all return with Christ to Heaven when that great Court shall break up the Judge with his retinue shall go again to his own place where they shall appear happy indeed now shall the ungodly World see these Darlings of Christ and beloved of his Father to be carried away into everlasting joyes to be taken nearer to Christ than Angels themselves who shall no sooner be gone but they shall leave the other in endless Torments with Devils and damned Spirits where when they come home to their Kingdom and every child of God is placed upon his own Throne and the Man Christ himself having resigned up his Mediatorial Kingdom into the hands of his Father shall solace himself with theirs and them with his company for ever recreating and sporting themselves each in the other when Eternity shal be filled with fresh joyes and delights new and ravishing continually when they shal ever be with the Lord and there shal be no tediousness in those perfect pleasures but the Soul shall be alwayes satisfied in them now shall it appear what it is to be a Son of God But what are those happy entertainments of that place none but one that hath been in the third Heaven can know and did he know he could not utter or if he could utter we could not conceive noâ— credit but such things there shall be and then they shall be known fully to them that enjoy them and to the wicked they shall appear sufficiently foâ— their conviction and confusion 3. Why this discovery is reserved till then Ans The timing of all divine dispensations depends on the Soveraign good pleasure of God but yet there seem to be â—ivers good reasons why this making of them to appear should be allotted to that time 1. It is the time when Christ himself is to appear and it is fit that the redeemed should wait for the discovery of their glory till he that redeemed them cometh in his besides their appearing depends upon his till the World be made to know that he is both Lord and Christ they cannot acknowledge that Believers in him are the Children of God and Heirs of Glory and if Christ be willing to tarry till then for his manifestation his People then have no reason to murmure or to think the time of their clearing long 2. There are many Elect who are chosen to be Sons that must be brought in and suffer many things for Christ in fulfilling their testimony and there will be till that time a gathering in of such and it is the holy pleasure of God that they that are gone before should wait that there may be a full and universal discovery made of them all at once Rev. 6. 9 10 11. if they should appear sooner the World would be afraid to do to them as is appointed 3. The Day of Judgement is the fittest time for this it is a day appointed for the setting of things to rights to clear up all false Judgements and Mistakes which there were here it is a Day wherein the presence of all the Creation shall be to look on Heaven and Hell being for the while emptied of all their Inhabitants to come to this meeting and general Assembly so that it will be the greatest Glory and most pompous appearance when a Child of God on such a day and in such a presence shall be openly owned and rewarded when he shall be set to view in all his glorious state and the proclamation shall be audibly heard from one end of Heaven to another saying Behold a Son of God and so shall
the greatest felicity But this discovers their mistake for if it be so that when we shal attain the highest pitch of created felicity our happiness will receive its denomination from hence VIZ. That we shal be like Christ then certainly the more any are like Christ in this World the more of true happiness they now possess It is true conformity to Christ in this evil World procures Men hatred and persecution and that makes Men who Judge according to outward appearance vote them miserable but still their inward unseen Glory which proceeds from their consimilitude to Jesus Christ is a preponderating blessedness and as it is it self a Man's good estate so also it derives those solid joyes to the Soul of him that is so that render it full of unspeakable Glory in the midst of the greatest outward oppression because whiles they are thus hated and persecuted for their conformity unto Jesus Christ The Spirit of God and of Glory rests upon them 1 Pet. 4. 14. Begun happiness is founded on holiness here and perfected holiness shal be found to be true happiness in the Kingdom USE II. For Exhortation to the Children of God Shal we be like unto Christ at his appearance and is this consideration so full of Satisfaction Then 1. Be we exhorted to labour in preparing for that Day that so we may then be like him There is a work to be done by the People of God in this life in order to their glorious likness to Christ in that other And our Apostle tells us what endeavours the hopes of it will excite in those that are possessed of them in the verse following my Text He that hath this hope purifieth himself as he is pure It is q. d. they that expect to be like Christ then will use means to be like him now Holiness is the way to happiness Heb. 12. 14. Christ first sanctifieth his Church before he glorifieth it Eph. 5. 26 26. And we must labour in this Work to get Sin mortified Paul having put his Colossions in mind of that Glory which they shal have at Christ's appearance takes argument from thence to press this duty Col. 3. 4 5. They that look for such a change hereafter are under strong tyes to an heavenly conversation here Phil. 3. 20 21. Our Conversation is in Heaven from whence we look for Christ c. And a like advice the Apostle Peter gives to them he writes unto 2 Pet. 3. 14. Seing ye look for â—such things be diligent that you may be found in him in Peace without spot and blemish We should therefore lament that we are so much unlike him now and pray to God for his Spirit to dwel powerfully in us and to lead us effectually in his way to purge our hearts from all impurity and fill them with holiness 2. Labour we to draw consolation and establishment to our Souls from the forethoughts of this great benefit there are many troubles and discouragements which the Children of God â—â—â—t with all here in this life and their hearts are often born down therewithal but if we did but truly ponder and well digest this consideration of that glorious condition which we shal be put into at that great Day it would lift up the hands that hang down and strengthen the feeble knees it would make us patient in tribulation quiet under all the affronts and disgraces that are put upon us willing to wait and in the mean while not weary of well doing could we but know in its dimensions what it is to be like Christ what an admirable felicity it must needs be to he assimilated to him in that Day it would set us down with Paul's perswasion Rom. 8. 18. That the sufferings of the present time are not worthy to be compared with the Glory that shall be revealed in us Yea the very ghuesses and conjectâ—res which we may make of it affords matter of solid joy and triumph to the Children of God Pray therefore earnestly to God for this Divine illumination pray Pauls Prayer Eph. 3. 16. to 20. Oh! How glorious will Christ appear when he comes to Judge the World when he shal come in the Glory of his Father when he shal be attended with an innumerable company of Angels and in great Majesty sit down upon a Throne of Judgement when Holiness shal be to him for a Robe and Righteous for a Garment Then to be like Christ holy as â—e is holy adorned with his Robes Resplendenâ— with his Glory sitting down upon Thrones with him and with him Judging the World when he shal declare us Heirs of his Kingdome Children of his Father and make us sharers with him in the purchased Possession and it shal be known that he took possession of all that Glory not for himself alone but in the name of all those who had believed in him then it shal be known that it was not a vain thing to serve him and to suffer with and for him then shalâ— our happiness be full perfect eternal when we shal by plentiful experience know that to be like him is to be everlastingly blessed in the full fruition of the most glorious God to all eternity For we shall see him aâ— he â—s These words are an argument which the Apostle brings by way of evidence to make good his former assertion or prove that we shal be like him under which is contained another great truth concerning the happiness of the Children of God in another World As for the force of the Argument very briefly It may at first blush seem to argue weakly at least obscurly to prove our likness to him from our vision of him Devils and wicked Men shal see him as Rev. 1. 7. but they will not thence be more 〈◊〉 him I answer it is true these shal see a great deal of his Glory they shal see him coming as their Judge but they shal not see him aâ— their Saviour as the Saints shal Again they shal see him with great horror and fly from his presence as Adam did in the Garden and as they shal do Rev. 6. 20 21. Whereas the Children of God shal see him with great content and satisfaction Some thinks that John argues from the cause supposing that this Vision will be a transforming Vision changing us into the Image or likness of Christ perfectly others suppose him to argue from the part to the whole the Doctrine of the Beatifical vision being a received Doctrine in the Church as being the perfect felicity of the understanding Hence He argues for our whole perfection for if in one part oâ— faculty we shal be perfected by consequence all our whole man shal be rendred perfect for it is an whole blessedness that we shal have and that consists in perfect conformity to Christ But that which seems best to clear the argument is to look upon him as arguing from the effect or consequent Paul tells us that without Holiness no Man shal see God Heb. 12