fearing the Shame and not knowing well how to spare so much Mony as was needful in the case To all other Duties he finds mighty impulsions to close with any opportunity for them and against every Temptation to sin strong aversations and reluctances so that he feels the Law of the Spirit of Life within his own Bowels though too often alass too often he is disobedient to it 3 He measures all Persons Places Employments by their subserviency to the Divine Life in his Soul and still comes off with Shame and great Heaviness where he spends one Hour without some spritual advantage 4 He hath a real compassion for all Men making it his Heart's Desire to God that they may be saved but his delight lies in those that have most of the Image and likeness of God upon them those that are begotten by the same immortal seed formed into the same divine Nature acted and fed by the same Almighty Spirit of Life with himself these are his Beu'ah's his Hepthsibahs he thinks â—he could not live in the World without â—hem 5 This notwithstanding he still finds himself out of his Proper Center he is daily under powerful tendencies and restless desires after the full enjoyment of and the nearest conjunction with the blessed God in Christ Jesus which desires are mightily strengthned by a deep Sense of his present misery under hard bondage the impetuousness of in-dwelling Corruption and violent Temptations which make every Day of his Life a bloody Warfare so that his Soul almost chooseth Strangling and Death rather than Life he loaths it he would not live always at such distance from the blessed God in such incessant and dangerous conflicts with World Flesh and Devil for a thousand Worlds so far as he is willing under the Tears and tediousness the Conflicts and Dangers of this Mortal Life by way of pure Compliance with the Will of God he really judgeth the greatest act of Self-denial that he is capable of performing 6 To sweeten a Life so much in the Gall of Bitterness and Bonds of Iniquity he makes it his Business to be much with God through an Almighty Redeemer and much in the Fellowship of the Holy-Ghost and this not only at the stated times of publick private and secret Duties but especially of secret Duties where he sets himself no bounds but takes all opportunities which he finds his Heart fit to comply with many times in company and employment of another Nature he is weary of forbearing and his Heart restless till he find room for such retirement for he hath found that Life and Power that divine solace and sweetness in it with which all the Delights of Sense are no more worthy to be compared than a Dunghil with the Sun And oh when Heaven hath thus come down in Smiles to him and filled him with Righteousness Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost how often hath he been afraid to make an end of the Duty How often when rising off his Knees hath he fallen down again not willing to leave his sweetness and his Fatness so and so doubled the Time of his Duty Thus was his whole Sheet of Paper filled whether there was any thing more written of this kind we cannot find The preservation of this Sheet seems to be an intimation of Divine Providence that he shou'd be shewed to the World in those colours that he had lay'd on himself He lived till the Non-conformists had a little Smile from the Court after a Decad of Severity and Frowns And now having got a little Liberty by the Licences the King granted to those of his Station he took the Gale of Opportunity to be more abundant in the work of the Lord. And that in the Age of his full Vigour and Strength Yet even now see he is at leisure to think of Death and being Poetically given composed this Dialogue betwixt a Person dying and Death Thus prefacing it Oppress'd with Pain I groan'd as one unwise Death's horrid Aspect did my Soul surprize This frightful Picture ghastly to behold Did all his Terror on my Thoughts unfold At first confounded all amaz'd I stand But gaining confidence thus I demand Moriens or Person Dying Are you that King of Terrors which they say Doth conquer Empires and great Kings dismay Death The very same Sir Death both name and thing My Looks kill some all die that feel my Sting Person Dying Poor Death your looks speak not your strength but fear You cannot live I guess self-judg'd you are Death And would it not torment the greatest Powers My Empire large as Nature Grace devours Person Dynig What that 's the reason of your hollow Eyes Of all the paleness on your Cheeks that lies You have some secret Wound if I guess right Your vital Blood is gone you look so white Death My vital Blood was Poyson and my Sting Did give me Power and create me King Person Dying Your Poyson who destroy'd Christ on the Cross Your Sting great Jesus dying caus'd this loss How came this Palsie in your trembling Hand For fear of losing Scepter and Command Scepter Poor Death it is a Spade I judge No sign of Majesty but of a Drudge Go dig my Grave I would repose in Dust Death you must help to scower off my Rust This Mortal Life will kill me Welcome Grave My hidden Life in Christ is all I have Death do your Office Heaven calls away Dissolve my Bonds my Soul shall win the Day I cannot live indeed unless I die Such is Death's Triumph such his Victory Neither did he forget to think on Heaven upon which he hath bestowed a larger Poem as also others upon Faith Hope Repentance c. which shew the way thither Which possibly the Reader may find in some other place For he delighted to fetter his Thoughts in Verse And though he hath not such high flights as some may expect yet there is in his Poems the devout Breathings of a Divine Poet he wrote not for the Stage nor a King Arthur But that which speaks his Heart most to have been in Heaven is not a Poem but what his serious Reflections and Meditations wrote in Prose in the Treatise following God is pleased to exercise many of his Servants with thoughts of Heaven as it were to prepare them for it immediately before he call them to it Thus Mr. Bolton was writing de quatuor novissimis particularly of Heaven when he dyed Thus the late Reverend Dr. Bates had finished his last Treatise of spiritual Perfection not long before he had expired the last words of which Book are Enter thou into the Joy of thy Lord. Many more might be named But our own Author must not be forgotten who had taken much pains to transcribe what he had preached and fitted for the Press his Meditations upon this Subject It may be there are few Subjects more cultivated and none on which more is to be said God and Heaven fall under no Hyperbole A late Doctor
of God! If Sirs you think â—an Honour to appear Good (b) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ignat epist ad Magnes pag. 52. Omnino enim nihil prodest nomen sanctum habere sine moribus quia vita à professione discordans abrogat illustris tituli honorem per indignorum actuum vilitatem Salvian de Gubern Dei lib. 3. pag. mihi 94. is it not much morâ—â—n Honour to be so indeed What alas is the Name of Christian worth if you will goâ— put on the Nature of a Christian To think I was well reputed of amongst God's People I was called a good and had the Name of a Christian can this be a Cordial when you come to die Or will it comfort your Hearts when appearing before the Judgment-seat of (c) Quid est in quo nobis de Christiano nomine blandiamur cum utique hoc ipso magis per nomen sacratissimum rei simus qui à sancto nomine discrepamus Nam ideo plus sub religionis titulo Deum ludimus quia positi in religione peccamus Idem paulo post the great God where all your Paint and Varnish being washed off you must now be punished as Hypocrites with everlasting Destruction from the Presence of God and from the Glory of his Power To be counted Rich and yet turn Bankrupt to be judged healthful and yet sick unto Death would but aggravate in such cases a Man's Misery So to be counted Holy and yet Profane to have a Name to live and yet after all be found dead in Trespasses and Sins oh this will most dreadfully aggravate the Hypocrites Misery another day this will sink them deeper in Hell than the notoriously ungodly this will prepare flaming Ingredients for the Cup of Wrath and put new Stiâ—gs into those fiery Scorpions that will vex and torment them for ever If then you love your Souls give diligence now to have the best side inward doing every thing from the Heart sâ—â—cerely as unto God! Strive you must to make clean the inside as well as the outside of the Platter and to have pure Hearts as well aâ—â—lean Hands would you ever (d) 2 Tim. 2.21 be Vessels of Honour 〈◊〉 for the Master's use The foolish Virgins they had Lamps in their Hands a Profession of Godliness (e) Mat. 25.3 adorned with many glorious Performances But these were not animated with an upright Heart they wanted the Oyl of Grace within and therefore depart from me saith Christ I never knew you Christ will know those well he will know them to be Men of pure Minds and upright Hearts whom he receives to dwell with himself in eternal Mansions of Glory Otherwise if a Work of Grace be wanting within if the Heart be unsound and not inwardly Holy they must look to depart accursed into everlasting burnings where the painted fire of all their pretended zeal shall most surely be punished with the true fire of God's heavy wrath and sore displeasure Thus you may possibly appear Holy before Men and have your Christian Profession adorned with many seemingly glorious Performances But in case your Hearts be not upright before God now he throws you down for ever into Hellish-torments now he punisheth your Souls with everlasting Destruction from his own Presence now he commands you to depart accursed into everlasting Fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels and you must obey him Oh then what a woful thing is a rotten Heart and how much doth it concern us all to be that indeed which we are in shew He that is seemingly good but really bad though die he may with seeming hopes for Heaven and Glory yet fall he must into a real Hell of Misery and eternal endless Torments 7 SEE that you mortify through the Spirit the Deeds of the Body That which thou sowest saith the Apostle (f) 1 Cor. 15.36 is not quickned except it die so except first you die to Sin you can never be quickned nor raised to enjoy the Reward of eternal Life The way to die hereafter is to live here And the way to live hereafter is to die here They that now live in Sin must hereafter expect Death and eternal Misery as the just Reward and Punishment of their Sins But they that now die to Sin crucifying the Flesh with the Affections and Lusts shall hereafter live with God in eternal Mansions of Glory For saith the Apostle if ye live after the (h) Rom. 8.13 Flesh ye shall die But if ye through the Spirit mortify the Deeds of the Body ye shall live Here you see are described two ways the one leading to Death the other to Life the one to Hell the other to Heaven the one to endless Torments the other to all fulness of Joy in God's own presence So then he that will save the Life of his Sins shall lose his Soul But he that will mortifie himself his beloved Lusts and Sins and dearest Corruptions he shall live for ever Though then you cannot totally kill (g) Gal. 5.24 your Corruptions in this Life yet see that you be daily mortifying them Though you cannot wholly cast them out from remaining yet be sure to keep them under from reigning in your mortal Bodies that you should obey them All Sins are meritoriously Mortal but none save those which are left unmortified do eventually prove so (i) Rom. 6. Though it be true that every Sin deserveth Death even the Motus primò primi concerning which the Schoolmen write the very first risings and ebullitions of Lust in the Soul which do prevent all use of Reason though standing in her highest Watch-tower of Vigilancy to descry and with all curiosity to make observation of every approaching Enemy Yet there is no Sin though aggravated by supervening Circumstances to an equality of Guilt and heinousness with the most prodigious and horrid â—mpieties that were ever yet perpetrated by any Offender that doth actually infer Death exposing a Man to the Vengeance of eternal Fire unless suffered to go unmortified The least Sin when allowed of is enough for thy Damnation and the greatest when mortified can by no means hinder thy eternal Salvation The Life of Sin and the Life of a Sinner are like two Buckets at a Well if the one go up the other must go down Thus if your Pride your Hypocrisie your Covetousness your Carnality your vile Affections live in you you must die eternally but if through the Spirit you mortify them you shall live for ever Behold then I now set before you Life and Death Mount Ebal and Mount Gerrizzim Blessings and Cursings the Pleasures of Heaven and the Torments of Hell and oh that you would choose not Death but Life not Ebal but Gerizzim not Cursings but Blessings not hellish intolerable Torments but heavenly Glory There are but two Estates of Men in this present Life and but two proportionate to them in the Life to come Some here live after the Flesh and they must die
ΜΙΣΘΟΣΚΟΠΙΑ A PROSPECT OF Heavenly GLORY For the Comfort of Sion 's MOURNERS By Joseph Cooper Minister of the Gospel Author of the Domus Mosaicae Clavis For our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory while we look not at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen For the things which are seen are temporal but the things which are not seen are eternal 2 Cor. 4.17 18. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cyril Hier. Catech. 18. p. 210. Legant priùs posteà despiciant ne videantur non ex judicio sed ex odii praesumptione ignorata damnare Hieron 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clem. Alex. 290. London Printed by W. Redmayne and to be Sold by John Cooper Apothecary at the Half-moon and Seven Stars in White-chappel and Joseph Cooper Toyman at the Corner of Hungerford-market in the Strand 1700. TO THE Honourable the LADY Elizabeth Barnadiston AT the Desire of the Authors Relations I prefix your Ladyships Name to a Treatise by himself prepared for the Press and committed to my purusal at the motion of Dr. Bates who among the brightest Luminaries now shines in his expected and desired Firmament The ensuing Picture drawn by his impartial Intimate will revive your remembrance of the Blessed Mr. Cooper who was so highly esteemed by your Honourable Mother and among many other ejected Ministers no small sharer in the effects of her Beneficence which she exerted there not as a Boon to oblige the Needy but for a Testimony to that cause for which he suffered and a just return to his occasional Labours whence greater Blessings were designed to herself and Family But seeing the Subject treated of viz. The Glory of the Saints Reward is that under the Power whereof you determine your Choice bear your Afflictions and direct your Actings it would be vain to labour at a further Apology for this Dedication The Design pursued by the high displays of Glory in this Book respect both Sinners and Saints Sinners are concernedly perswaded to enter into the way of Heaven from a Conviction that the good there received infinitely exceeds in Pleasure Honour and Advantage whatever can be found in a sinful course This part is so warmly and wisely managed that the obstinate Reader must ascribe his ruin to his own perverseness for this motive from eternal Rewards is enforced with that account of the vanity and vileness of a temporal Bliss as must put any considering Person to the blush who sets up Earth as a Rival with Heaven or takes up with a Portion in it yea though endless Misery were not the Wages of that Madness Yet assured this last will be found true and that God governeth us by fear as well as hope the prudent Author describes Hell in a manner fit to terrifie the most secure from persisting in ungodliness to their neglect of Christ and forfeiture of this great Salvation The mind impressed with the prospect of these two extremely different States he leaves neither under despair of recovery nor yet under darkness what means he should apply himself to And therefore he prescribes the method to be used by the unconverted yet still in a dependance on the Grace of Christ from the demonstrated impotency of meer nature and total want of human merit and encourageth a compliance with the said method by full assurances that a disappointment cannot arise from our fallen State as irrecoverable But least the mistaken Presumption of the Hypocrite should fix his danger by a claim to Saintship he faithfully states the infallible sign of the Heirs of this heavenly Kingdom and warns against a conceit of safety before these be evident The other part of his design is to fix the Eyes of Saints so upon this certain and glorious Crown of Life as thence to derive relief and strength against those endangering Snares worldly Allurements afflictive Sufferings and tiresome Labours which will attend them in their Pilgrimage this he treats of as a Man first forced on this Subject for a divine composedness under his own exercise and then from the experimented fixing transporting power thereof commends the same to Zion's Mourners as effectual to make them happier even under Sufferings than without them It may be less proper in an Epistle to your Ladyship to mention the doctrinal points wherein this divinely heated Soul discovers much Light and Judgment How accurately and strongly doth he prove against the Antimonians the lawfulness of a Saints respect to the recompence of reward the rectoral connexion between Gospel Duties and Benefits the necessity of Repentance in order to forgiveness c. which I hope will be the more regarded from him because his opinion about Predetermination and the object of Reprobation is more pleasing to them than that of others of us be Madam a Book of which these are the Contents must be acceptable to one in whom such Truths had an early regenerating Power and can entail on Posterity a great stock of Prayers sent up by the Author and his Brethren at the request of the Lady Wimbleton whose Death invites you to an imitation of her exemplary Life Her Ladyship with the Reverend Author are now beholding and enjoying that Glory in its fullness the darker glimpses whereof sufficed to raise them above this World and reconcile them to Death yet were their present Station capable of a blush reflections on their low Apprehensions remiss Labours scanty layings out and faint longings for that Glory would compel it It s but a few moments and our State is decided for Eternity and the unseen World shall be felt in its greatness as well as reality beyond our comprehension Oh what a change will the very Borders of it make in our Thoughts advancing cleansing and improving such as are most sublime and best whilst all others perish which are carnal false or foolish That you may dayly proceed in a meetness for Heaven by further evidence of title and agreeableness of temper that none of your Off-spring may come short thereof by degenerating from their eminently pious Ancestors And that these uncontroverted Truths which deserved an earlier Publication as well as larger Auditories than the time of Preaching them would admit may be of saving use to them and many others shall be the fervent Prayer of Madam Your Ladyship 's Most Humble Servant Daniel Williams THE EPISTLE Some Memorials of the holy Life of that Learned Person Mr. Joseph Cooper the Author of the ensuing Treatise SEeing some Readers are better pleas'd with a Book when they know who and what manner of Person he was that wrote it tho' it be excellent in itself it is thâ—â—ght fit to prefix something of the Characters of this Great and Good Man both which Titles the Reader shall find made good to him before he hath gone over many Pages Great for his Learning and acquired Abilities Good for his extraordinary Piety Modesty Sobriety Contentment
a fiery Chariot Thus Holy Meditation it would carry us above the Clouds it would give us Possession of Heaven before we come there and set us in the midst of all the Glory and Royalties of Eternal Life as if they were already present Heavenly thoughts are as so many steps towards our Eternal Rest When by these therefore we Travel every day to the City of God and delightfully walk therein when every day we take as it were a turn or two in Paradise seriously Meditating Heaven together with the glory that shall shortly be revealed in us then we have Respect indeed to the Recompence of the Reward 4. EARNESTLY to desire and long for it When we see so much of the Excellency Worth and Glory of the World to come that we groan within ourselves desiring with all our hearts to get out of these Houses of Clay and to be cloathed upon with our House which is from Heaven then we have respect to the Recompence of the Reward 2. Cor. 5.2 When Paul had once been wrapt up into the Third Heaven and seen the Paradise of God his Note was ever after I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ Thus the Soul that hath a respect to the Recompence of the Reward he hath been in the Heavenly Paradise he hath tasted some Clusters of Canaan and therefore he cannot but long for more he can never be soon enough with Christ he can never soon enough get above the World and Sin and Temptations he can never be soon enough with God in Glory Oh! when shall it be They that have the first Fruits of the Spirit cannot chuse but have their eyes always fixed upon the Recompence of the Reward earnestly desiring the time of Harvest when they shall Reap a full Crop of Eternal Happiness and Glory in the Heavenly Canaan AS Noah's Dove was restless finding no place whereupon to set the sole of her foot till she came into the Ark so Christians if your eyes are rightly fixed upon the Recompence of the Reward you will find your selves carried out after Heaven and Glory in a restless manner and will never sit down satisfyed till you come to rest in the Bosome of God's Eternal Love Never Christians did Rachel more long for Children nor David for the Waters of Bethlehem nor Absalom to see the King's Face than your Souls will long for the glorious Liberty of the Children of God to be drinking the Waters of Life in the Heavenly Paradise and to come to the Beatifical Vision of God in Glory where you shall see him Face to Face in case you have an eye rightly fixed upon the Recompence of the Reward THE Language of every Soul whose eye is rightly fixed upon Heaven and Glory it is like unto that of Job speaking forth his desires after God Oh that I knew where to find him that I might come even to his seat Job 23.3 Such a Soul is impregnated with holy desires and longings after God in Glory and with these the Soul travels all the day long crying out with the Church in the Revelations as in pain to be delivered from under the bondage of Sin and Corruption into Heavenly Glory GIVE the Soul Riches give it Honours give it all the Pleasures that can be thought of to ravish the heart of a Carnal Man yet having an eye rightly fixed upon the Recompence of Reward in vain shall you seek by these to bribe it out of its holy desires and longings after God in Glory For scorning and trampling upon them all as unworthy to come in competition with God it even breaketh through desire after him and can truly say of God with holy David Whom have I in Heaven but thee and there is none upon Earth that I desire besides thee Psal 73.25 'T IS just with the Soul as with some Women in the time of their Impregnature who if they see any thing when they are with Child that they have a mind to they must have it or else they will long and dye for it Thus the Soul that by Faith hath got a sight of Heavenly Enjoyments now the heart of such a Soul it is set upon Heaven and he must have Heaven upon a Crown of Life and he must have a Crown of Life upon God and Christ and Eternal Glory and he must have them all together or else give him what you can he will long and die unsatisfied THERE is so much of the Beauty Loveliness and Glory of Christ revealed to the Soul in looking upon the Recompence of Reward that now it grows impatient of living any longer without him crying out as she did in another case Why are his Chariots so long in coming and Why tarry the wheels of his Chariots When will my beloved make haste and be like a young Roe upon the Mountains of Spices When will the day break and the shadows fly away that I may see my beloved in his Glory When will he come to put an end to these days of Sin and Sorrow that I may rest for ever in the Bosome of his Eternal Love When will he take me by the hand and lead me out of the Wilderness of this World into the Heavenly Canaan When will he rebuke the Winds and the Seas that will give me no rest in this Troublesome World and set me safe on the Shoar of Eternal Happiness When will he deliver me from this Body of Death and gather my Soul to the Spirits of Just Men made perfect When will he take from me these Rags of Mortality and cause me to be cloathed upon with an House not made with hands Eternal in the Heavens When will he make me return and come to Sion with Songs and everlasting Joy upon my head When will he cause me to obtain fulness of Joy and Gladness with him in Eternal Mansions of Glory that Sorrow and Sin and Sighing being done away I may be with the Lord for ever Oh when shall I once see that blessed day NOW What is it I beseech you after which your hearts do thus strongly breathe thus insatiably thirst thus impatiently long If Riches will not satisfy but you must have a Treasure in Heaven if Worldly Honour will not satisfy but you must have a Crown of Righteousness from Christ himself if Carnal Pleasures will not satisfy but you must have that fulness of Joy which is in God's Presence and those Pleasures which are at his Right Hand for evermore if in a word the Life that now is will not satisfy but you must though you dye for it go live for ever with Christ in Glory why then there is no doubt Christians but with Moses you have an eye to the Recompence of Reward For then our eye is rightly fixed upon the Recompence of Reward when our Souls are carried out in strong desires after God and Christ and Eternal Glory as our only Happiness 5. TO be by the consideration of it exceedingly encouraged to diligence and
felicity Oh be not such enemies to your own Happiness as to make light of the certain unchangable Glory of Heaven preferring the uncertain mutable and perishing enjoyments of this World before it If you will make your choice choose not for your portion uncertain Riches but choose oh choose the favour of God in Christ which is certain choose Heaven and Glory they are certain choose the Kingdom of God choose that better part with Mary which is certain and can never be taken from you 4 CONSIDER al Creature-enjoyments they are fraudulent and deceitful Many Cheats there are in the World but the most absolute cheat of all is the World it self (g) Poma Gomorrhaea pulchra quidem sunt sed cum franguntur in vigum pulverem falis unt T is storied of certain Apples growing nigh to the lake of Sodom that they have a golden outside and are pleasant to look upon but being touched they deceive expectation all crumbling away into dust and rotteness Thus the World with all its enjoyments they have a fair outside and appear desirable but if once we grasp them too eagerly they will shame our hopes and deceive our expectations all mouldering away into the rotteness of disappointment We often come to the World as Christ to the barren Fig-tree expecting the delicious fruit of delight and satisfaction But upon tryal we find nothing save only the leaves of an empty â—romise to shame our hopes Many large promises the World will make us of pleasure delight and satisfaction from what we enjoy (h) Arridet mundus ut saeviat blanditur ut fallat allicit ut occidat extollit ut deprimat But as Cyprian well hath it therefore it smiles that it may exercise its cruelty upon us it flatters us that it may deceive us it entertains us with all blandishments of Fortune that it may destroy us and sometimes it will promote us that afterwards it may depress us and plunge us the deeper in some sudden unpreventable Misery Achan he promised himself much delight and happiness in a wedg of Gold and Babylonish garment But in the issue they proved devoted and accursed things not only deceiving his expectations but also procuring his utter and inevitable ruin Thus the World with all its enjoyments they will promise safery and yet they cannot profit us in a day of Wrath. (i) Luke 12.20 They will promise long life and yet they cannot hinder but that the same night a Mans Soul amidst all his abundance may be taken from him They will promise in a Word all delight and contentment to those that have them and yet then they usually fill us with sorrow and vexation of spirit and leave us most discontented Let not him then amongst you that would not be deceived by Creature-enjoyments any longer suffer his Heart to be set upon them You may come to the World as to a Lottery with an Head full of Projects hoping to get a great prize But you will doubtless return with an Heart full of Blanks as Men disappointed of your Hopes and utterly deluded in your expectations For the World doth always put a cheat upon its greatest admirers And such as expect most from it are most frequently deceived by it Why then will you set your Hearts upon that which will shortly break your Hearts with the heavy stroke of disappointment How many hath the World already deceived promisiâ—â— them Ease when behold Trouble Honour when behold Disgrace Pleasure when behold Pain and Life when behold nothing but Death and inevitable Misery have been their portion The World Sirs may beget in your 〈◊〉 lâ—â—ge Hopes and make you many profuse Promises in case you will adore it But remember when the promises are fairest you do then lie obnoxious to the greatest disappointment from it What large Promises of further Honour and Preferment in Ahasuerus his Court did it seem to make that wicked Haman when all the promotion it designed for him was to send him out of the World with an hempen Squincy hanging him on the same Gallows that his own Malice had erected for poor Mordecai Thus whoever loves the World designing for himself no greater Happiness than the Riches Honors and Pleasures of this present Life he will find them like a broken Reed not only deceiving but mortally wounding him And is this your Wisdom to desire what will certainly disappoint your expectations and may possibly prove the occasion of your Eternal Ruin (k) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The soft Sands have betrayed more to shipwrack than the hard Rocks (l) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theog 377. 605. Thus your Creature-enjoyments thâ—t make you large promises of Happiness they may sooner expose you to inevitable Misery than the want of them can do * Vinâ— Hannibalem solverunt armis vicit vitiis victus est Sen. Epist 3. pag. 104. Hannibal's Army having overcome the troublesome Alpes was afterward spoiled by the Italian Dainties Thus Christians there is nothing that will more easily betray you into the hands of heart-rending disappointment and unpreventable misery than an Heart inordinately set upon the World's Dainties (n) Fortuna quem nimium fovet stultum facit Mimus The World never cockers any whom she makes not a Fool. (o) Convivis suis prosperitas ab initio propinat dulcia ut cum inebriati fuerint lethale vulnus admisceat Chrysolog She gives her Guests pleasant Cups at the beginning that when once they are soundly drunk she may give them a deadly wound What alass are all your Creature-enjoyâ—ents but like Esthers invitation of Haman to a bâ—nquet with the King which though it filled him for a while with some windy Hopes yet it suddenly ended in his over ruin If therefore the World with all itâ— enjoymâ—â—â— be so deceitful promising Happiness but exposing 〈…〉 save misery and disappointment let us set our Eyes and Hearts upon that which is true â—â—d cannot deceive us upon that which will make good infinitely more to the enjoyer than ever it promised to the expectant Though the World promise much yet it performs little But whatever Joy Happiness and satisfaction God promiseth us in Heaven it shall be made good with the advantage of a thousand fold (p) 1 Kings 10.6 7. As the Queen of Sheba coming to Solomon had satisfaction beyond the report which made her cry out as in an extasy the one half was not told me thy Wisdom and Prosperity exceeds the Fame which I heard So Christians when once we come to the full enjoyment of God in Heaven we shall find that Happiness and Glory there which will make us cry out Lord it was a true report that we heard of thy Kingdom and Glory in promises but behold the one half was not told us of that Happiness and Glory which we now enjoy Who then that is wise would prefer the lying Vanities of the World before this true Treasure Why will you set your
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
And oh what a sumptuous Feast what glorious a Kingdom what a blessed Reward must that needs be upon which the infinitely wise God was spending from Eternity his Thoughts and providing for you If the Temple were thought so Glorious and Magnificent because as the Jews told Christ it was forty and six Years a building How glorious then how surpassingly Rich and Magnificent must the heavenly Jerusalem be the Temple of God in Zion that City whose Foundation was laid before Eternity in God's electing Love which was a framing from everlasting and whose builder and maker in time was God over all Blessed for ever Though this stately Building were reared up in time yet it was a Framing before all time yea from all Eternity This Tree of Life thought it only Bud and Blossom and bring forth Fruit in time yet it was planted from all Eternity in the Paradise of God's everlasting good Will towards his People And do not think that the great God would spend his Thoughts from Eternity upon Trifles or the Framing a poor pitiful Cottage from everlasting No you will find it answerable to the Preparations made for it such a City such a Feast such a glorious Reward as the great God will not be ashamed to own for the Fruit as well of his infinite Wisdom as of his eternal Love 11 THE Reward whereunto God allows his People a Respect in all their Obedience it 's a continued and an uninterruptible Reward In this present Life we have nothing constant no Comfort no Enjoyment no Priviledge whereof we can always have the actual Fruition and wherewith we can sensibly delight our selves every day But in the Reward of eternal Life there is no such Inconstancy whatever Glory whatever Joy whatever Comfort Happiness and Soul-satisfying Pleasures that carrieth in it we shall have the actual Perception the sweet tast and the sensible lively Fruition of it every moment without any the least intermission As the damned in Hell have fulness of Misery without one moments Respite one comfortable Divertisement from those hellish Torments under which they lie or one half Minutes ease to all Eternity So the Saints of God in Heaven they have fulness of Joy without any the least moments intermission of it without any interim of Disturbance without any unhappy Divertisement to suspend hinder or discontinue their Joy their Happiness their actual delight in God so much as one moment for ever Our Comforts in this Life are like the Sea that have their Fluxes and Refluxes their Ebbings and Flowings if this hour we have a full Tide yet the next it 's low Water and our Comforts are withdrawn But in Heaven it 's always high Water with God's People they have Rivers of purest Pleasures that will never pass away from them here they have a full spring Tide of Joy and sweetest Comforts that will never be over What the holy Ghost affirms of the four living Creatures praising God which is (f) Rev. 4.8 that they rest not day and night will hold true of all the Saints when they come to Heaven where they shall not rest day and night nor one moment of either rejoycing in God and warbling out his Praises for ever Nor doth this at all incommodate the Nature of the Saints Happiness which is (g) Heb. 4.9 said to be a Rest remaining for them Not yet evacuate that other Scripture where such as die in the Lord are pronounced Blessed (h) Rev. 14.13 because then they rest from their Labours For 't is not from the Exercise of such Graces as a State of Happiness will comport with that God's People rest in Heaven But from that Difficulty and those Weaknesses which attending our Graces here on Earth do keep us that we cannot always be in the actual exercise of them From enjoying God from delighting in him and from glorifying of him they rest not in Heaven But it is from enjoying him from delighting in him and glorifying of him with Perfection Deadness Heart-wounding Distractions and Weariness as now they do that they rest in Heaven For though Happiness be defined to be a perfect State of a reasonable Creature wherein it enjoys all Good that is due to it Yet you must (i) Cum beatitutio consâ—â—at in ultimo hominis actu necesse est ipsam esse aliquam hominis operationem Aq. 1. 2. q. 3. â— 2. not think this throws a Man into a dull unactive Lethargy obstructing like some mortal Apoplexy the Souls Operations Though the Happiness of God s People be called a Rest which is said to be the Perfection of Motion yet sure I am this Rest will never put an end to all Motion nor hinder the Soul from delighting in God from loving and praising him so much as one moment to all Eternity The Truth is the Rest which remains for the Saints in Heaven that eternal Sabbatism of Happiness it lies (k) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mainly in this that they shall never rest nor be taken off night nor day from beholding and loving from loving and praising from praising and enjoying God for ever without all weariness Whilst here we live in the croud of worldly Business and have our Souls clogged with a Body of Death why alas there are a thousand things step in to divert our Thoughts to damp our Devotion to interrupt our sweet Communion Fellowship and Peace with God But this Reward will no more endure any such Divertisements nor admit of such Soul-sadning Interruptions than the Sun in its noonday Brightness will endure the presence of a darksom Night Though here Christians your Condition be often cloudy and your Joy that shone bright yesterday is eclipsed to day Yet in Heaven your Joy your Comfort your Fellowship with God shall not be thus inconstant but there you shall have an uninterrupted Sun-shine of Glory and Happiness OH then Christians think what is the excellency exceeding greatness and Glory of your Reward in Heaven where you shall have the quick and accurate sense of all fulness of Joy where you shall not meet with any thing to distract you to divert your Thoughts to take you off no not for the least moment from your God your Redeemer your Comforter your Happiness to all Eternity Here you find God like a way-faring Man that turns into your Souls but for a Night and is gone in the Morning But in Heaven he will make his constant abode with you he will ever be letting out of his Love of his Goodness to you and will cause you not now and then but every moment to be drinking of the River of his Pleasures Like the sight of a Star through an Optick Glass when held by a Palsie-hand such is our sight of God and Heaven and Glory in this Life we are long ere we can fix the Eye of our Faith upon them and though the sight be very pleasant yet we soon lose it our Thoughts wavering through our Minds Weakness Sometime from
delight in Sin or take pleasure in it 10 A due respect had to this glorious Reward it will comfort your Hearts in all your Afflictions and make you greatly rejoice under them how many and grievous soever An Eye stedfastly fixed upon heavenly Glory this will bring down Heaven inro your Souls causing your consolations to abound by Christ (c) 2 Cor. 1. when ever your sufferings abound for him A bright prospect of the celestial Canaan as it bears up the Spirits of God's People with invincible patience under all their Pressures and Calamities which befal them in the Wilderness of this present World So it anoynts their Head with Oyl causeth their Cup to overflow with Gladness and makes their Hearts to rejoice with Joy unspeakable and full of Glory (d) 2 Cor. 7.4 Thus we find Paul professing of himself I am exceeding joyful in all our tribulation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I do overflow saith he with Joy I have more than Heart can hold (e) Acts. 16.25 Nor is this profession of his any hyperbolical strain but an experimented Truth whereof we have full assurance from Paul and Silas his Prison vouches when in bonds together then brim full of Joy so full that their Hearts could not hold it from breaking out and running over at their Mouths into Psalms of Praise Like the Tree cast into the bitter Waters of Marah Faith eying the recompence of the Reward it sweetens all Afflictions enabling the Soul not only to stand it out in a fiery tryal but to glory for Gladness of Heart under the Cross at the Stake in the Flames of Martyrdom The Soul that can rejoice in hope of the Glory of God will easily glory in all the tribulations that it suffers for God (f) Rom. 5.3 So saith the Apostle we glory in tribulation also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that word implieth the triumphant act of Joy a Joy expressed with holy Boasting and exultation of Spirit such a Joy as the Soul is not ashamed to own and make her boast of let Earth and Hell let the Devil and wicked Men do their worst This Truth I might give you subscribed by all the holy Martyrs and confessors of Christ who thought Famine dainty fare for Christ that complemented wild Beasts to devour them that snatcht at Torments as if they had been rich Treasures that laid down their Bodies as a Man would lay off an old Garment to put on a new that went as gladly to their Flames as a labouring Man to his Bed and embraced the most cruel Martyrdom as an holy stratagem to escape the stroak of Death (g) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to pass from Life to Life as Basil hath it (h) Euseb Eccles Hist lib. 5. cap. 1. Hence when Juliâ—n the Apostate had caused Marcus Bishop of Arethusa to be tormented one of his Nobles admiring that holy Man's Joy cries out we are ashamed oh Emperour the Christians laught at your Cruelty growing more resolute thereby so that these things are more fearful to the Tormentors than to the sufferers (i) Acts and Mon. vol. 3. pag. 177. Were it needful I might tell you of Dr. Tayler Martyr in the Marian persecution who drawing nigh to the place of Execution leapt for Joy as Men do in dancing professing himself never better in all his Life for now I know saith he I am almost at home I have but two Stiles to go over and then I am at my Father's House With like holy Joy was Cicely Ormes Martress filled (k) Acts and Mon. vol. 3. pag. 853. who when brought to the Stake came and kissed it saying Welcome the sweet Cross of Christ and when now the Flames were kindled upon her my Soul quoth she doth magnifie the Lord and my Spirit rejoiceth in God my Saviour (l) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Basil Orat. in 40. Martyr After the same manner we find certain Martyrs that were cast out naked in a Winters night and to suffer the next Day comforting one another from this Recompence of Reward in these Words sharp is the Cold but sweet is Paradise troublesome is the way but pleasant will be the end of our Journey let us endure cold a little and the Patriarchs Bosom shall refresh us for ever Nor is the story of Theodoret unworthy our remembrance who found so much sweetness in this even when he was upon the Rack in the midst of his grievous Torments that he found not the least anguish in his torture but a great deal of Pleasure Insomuch that when they took him off from the Rack he complained that they had done him much wrong in ceasing to torment him For said he all the while I was tortured upon the Rack me thought there was a young Man in white an Angel from the Lord stood by me who wiped off the sweat wherein I found much sweetness which now I have lost In these and many the like instances which might be given we see how an Eye fixed upon Heaven's Glory in our sufferings brings down much of that Glory into them making the cruel Tortures of God's People infinitely more sweet than their ease and more desirable to them Let Faith but reallize the Glory of Heaven behold the Reward of Eternal Life and observe the infinite Pleasures which are at God's right Hand for evermore and then the Soul cannot choose but rejoice taking Pleasure in Reproaches in Persecutions in Exile in Imprisonments in Death itself for the sake of Christ This good Mr. Glover found true who going to the stake though before he were a Man of Sorrows yet now he is a Man of Joys and so filled with divine Consolations that he can no longer contain but crieth out speaking of the Comforter making his Heart to rejoice in hope of this glorious Reward he is come he is come Oh little can you now conceive what Comfort what Gladness of Soul what Joy in the Holy Ghost God's People have in their sufferings when stedfastly eying the Glory that shall be revealed in them NOW they find an Hony-comb in the Lyon's Carcass they suck sweetness out of the bitterness of Herbs now they gather Grapes of Thorns and Figs of Thistles now they have a warm Sunshine of Comfort from God to make glad their Hearts Would you therefore have Comfort Christians and be able to smile when the World frowns upon you Would you have your Prison be turned into a Paradise Would you if banished into a strange Land find a spiritual Eden a Garden of all heavenly delights in every howling Wilderness through which you may wander When reproached when fawn asunder when cruelly scourged tormented and dying in the hottest Flames of Martyrdom would you then triumph rejoicing with Joy unspeakable and full of Glory Oh see then see that you look within the veil fixing your Eye upon that Crown of Life which is set before you This will turn your Sorrow into Joy this will give you the Oyl of