more then all the rest we not onely burthened pressed down and wearied with the many actings of sin and surrounded about also and invironed with the dwellings thereof in us in this body of death which though sometimes it lie still ready as an Armie round about us in readinesse to ambush and come upon us we know not how where nor when like a lurking serpent still waiting to sting and suddenly surprize us which body of death made St. Paul though otherwise a man of an invincible courage to master vanquish and overcome all afflictions and make a tush and light matter of them as sorrowing saith he yet alwaies rejoycing as having nothing and yet possessing all things 2 Cor. 6.10 being a strong man to master these and all other crosses yet cry out on this as too hard for him Rom. 7.24 O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death But in heaven there shall be no more sorrows crying tears or cause of complaints Our death will be the death of this body of death no sorrow or shame or complaints in heaven no ambushes of sin can lie there nor Serpent shall creep in into that Paradice to seduce us anymore we shall for ever be freed from this body of death and have a body like unto Christs glorious body In all which respects and many more these meditations and impressions of eternity of glory in the life to come maketh such reflexions upon us to make us to sigh and groan earnestly to be cloathed with our house which is from heaven unlesse in Some Cases when Beleevers otherwise very good men cannot thus sigh and groan to be cloathed with this their house which is from heaven Which may appear both in regard of others and our selves First for others Many beleevers are contented to spare this Sighing and Groaning at least suspend the same Because they would live to do more good unto others to see some fruit of their labours and seed sown how it growes to see the prosperity of the Church as David did Psal. 106.4 Remember me O Lord with the favour of thy people visite mee with thy Salvation that I may see the felicity of thy chosen and rejoyce with thy people and glory with thine inheritance And some also as St. Paul are very able to comfort and help others and therefore are sparing to Sigh and Groan for this heavenly house because they may be profitable unto others as Paul though in regard of himselfe he could have been contented to have flowne into heaven yet in regard of Others he armed himself with that wonderfull self denial to be contented to live for their sakes And so also may many other good Christians linger and draw back from earnest groaning after this heavenly house in regard of Others Parents sometimes would live to see their children bred and brought up in the fear of God and see the prosperity of other friends and are not so earnest in Sighing and Groaning after their Dissolution Secondly For our selves Wee may draw back from Death and Sighing and Groaning after this heavenly house to be cloathed therewith in divers cases First When we want the comfortable Assurance of our Salvation and when our Evidences of heaven are so slurred and blotted that we cannot read the same or have forgotten them Then we cannot sigh and groan after this heavenly house until we are able more clearly to read our evidences And Secondly We are sometimes ignorant of the Glory Excllency and Eternity thereof and so we cannot sigh and groane earnestly for the same which we are ignorant of and know not and yet for all this may be good Christians and Beleever though they fail and come short in these meditations And Thirdly When for our humbling the Lord is pleased sometimes to set our sins before us and therewith the wrath due unto them then not daring to looke God in the face they dare not look on death to encounter that and so are far from sighing and groaning after this heavenly house as wee see in David a holy reconciled man after Gods own heart yet Ps. 38.4 when God suffered his sins to stare him in the face he then complains Mine Inquities are gone over my head as a heavy burthen they are too heavy for me and so prays Ps. 39.19 Stay thine hand from me that I may recover my strength before I go hence be not Now a sense of sin and wrath now and then being given unto the Saints they cannot then groane earnestly to be cloathed with this heavenly house Fourthly And again We are sometimes to bustle with the delights and pleasures of this world which steals away our hearts from sighing and groaning after this heavenly house which makes that with so much adoe we are drawn away from wallowing in them as we see in Lot a good holy man yet what adoe was there to draw him away from Sodome that whilest he prolonged the time he was in a manner pulled out of it and when he was pulled away from it yet he makes intercession for Zoar which was one of those Cities that his soul might live Gen. 19.20 And sometimes again Fifthly The soul is as it were in prison and off hooks as a door off the hinges with strong and many amazing distractions so as the soule is not it self nor able to look after heavenly things having much adoe to wrastle after these encumbrances when it is unfit to sigh and groane earnestly after heavenly things yea not to mannage earthly comforts as it fell out with the children of Israel Exod. 6.9 that though Moses told them excellent things of the Egyptian bondage and captivity yet it is said there That they hearkened not unto Moses for anguish of Spirit and for cruel Bondage So that vexations of earthly encumbrances and wants are great impediments unto this sighing and groaning earnestly after heavenly things in this our house which is from heaven And sometimes also in regard that our Accounts are not ready we shrink and draw back again being loath to encounter death Lastly in this case we make no hast but shun death and sighing and groaning after this heavenly house because we look on death under wrong notions and apprehensions and therefore run from it as Moses fled from his staff when it was turned into a Serpent untill God quiet our spirits and bid us to take it up again shewing us that there is no danger in it and making us in love with it For indeed Death is a part of the Saints portion 1 Cor. 3 22 all things are yours saith he whether it be Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the World or life or death whether they be things present or things to come all are yours c. what great matter is this for death to be ours O yes a great matter as it is ordered as the Grave is sanctified and perfumed by Christ and as it were an inlet unto Glory being the
with the glory of heaven far beyond all earthly cloathings and furnitures And such a cloathing as shall make an everlasting distinction betwixt us and wicked men for ever whatsoever imputations now lie upon us conversing amongst them Malach. 3.18 such a house like Christ himself the glory of that house from wâ—om and every thing in the house we may at all times fetch whatsoever we want to supply all So that Heaven is all things unto us as God is the universall good so hath he the fulnesse of all to supply us with which he can convey when and by what means it pleaseth him All things are ours because Christ is ours who is all things unto us and hath all things his whence at all times we may fetch every thing we want out of this heavenly glorious house for which the soul therefore in its most excellently composed temper sighs and groans as hath been said that our garment of salvation and robe of Righteousnesse we are now cloathed with in this our naturall condition may be heightned up to the full perfection of heavenly beauty with a superadded tincture of Glory in that highest place of eminencie and excellencie far above all Not that it would be uncloathed this is not the cause of the sighing and groaning but cloathed upon The soul in this case hath no peremptory desire to die not any pleasure of complacencie that way Oh Life is precious and long life is a blessing from God To live long in the Land and to have opportunity to do much good and to recover a great deal of the blessed Image of God It knowes Death to be of it self an enemy and the last enemy which shall be destroyed and no man will willingly cast himself in the jaws of his enemy which without a garment of Grace will but lead us unto the King of Terrours into that Eternity of that tormenting Tophet for ever No it is not willing to uncloath it self of this garment of Grace Christs Righteousnesse but to gird and keep it faster faster about us for in that great day Christ must see us thus cloathed or else wee can have no cloathing upon the same with a garment of Glory And therefore in this life it is willing to submit it self unto the Will of God here in all Active and Passive Obedience and though it be forced to live here a sinfull life where it cannot chuse but sin yea and sometimes an unprofitable life laid by as it were good for nothing yet it knowes the sins shall be forgiven and the good actions be all recorded in mind and it to be an high act of our holinesse even to submit to God and live in such an estate as doth sin wherein we must suffer For we can be in no such Estate here in this life but we may bring Glory to God and glorifie him whilest our patience is attaining unto its perfect work in us that we may be entire wanting nothing O but this is the matter and cause of this sighing and groaning That mortality may be swallowed up of Life That is that all this whole body of death with all the effects causes forerunners attendants and followers thereof that all possibility of dying all necessity of dying all fear of dying or sinning any more the whole body of sin and death with all the relations and apurtenances thereof may be swallowed up of life quite abolished and taken away for ever Even as it was in the case of Korah Dathan and Abiram with all the families and goods of all which nothing was to be seen when the earth had swallowed up all and closed up again or as Revel. 12.16 It is said that the earth helped the woman and swallowed up the flood which the Serpent cast out against the woman So it is here the soul in sighing and groaning after a heavenly estate sighs and groans to be freed of all the acts of sin and whatsoever it looketh on as fruits of sin which are pressing down burthens unto it in this body of mortality And then again as this mortality is a remembrance and witnesse of sins contagion and filthinesse it sighs and groans to be freed from it and would have all memorials and witnesses of sin done away And further mortality it self as is a remembrance and witness of sin c. It is sin and is attended with the fruits of sin This with all the relations thereunto it sighs to have done away that all manner of impurity may be so abolished as nothing thereof may remain either in thought or action And then again seeing all the parts of our mortality as hath been said are clogs and burthens and hinderances unto us in Gods service as weights to keep us down as fetters to chain us and keep us under for when our spirits are mounted up and would flie unto heaven and converse there this mortality pulleth us down again and hindereth us from spiritual actions and meditations not to perform them with any life or comfort In this case also the soul sighs and groans to be gone And as the soul desireth further union and communion with God without these interruptions clouds damps and eclipses of the sunshine of its comfortable feelings it now hath It groans and sighs earnestly that its mortality may be swallowed up of life And yet more It sighs to be at home in Heaven because there shal be an explanation and full discovery of the extent of all the word of God and of the utmost fulfilling of all the promises with a sight and apprehension of Gods goodnesse what God Christ have done for us and that we thereafter might never have any thought motion or desire contrary unto the will of God All which in all these cases are warrantable and spiritual grounds for the soul betrothed unto Christ here to desire sigh groan and long for the consumation of the marriage with him in heaven For the more holy spirituall any one is and gratious the more they desire this union and communion with Christ in Heaven As Rev. 22.20 Even so come Lord Jesus come quickly Untill the day break and the shadows flie away return my wel-beloved and be like a Roe or a young Hart upon the mountains of Bethel Cant. 2.17 And thus the souls of the faithfull here though they would not be uncloathed yet sigh groan earnestly to be cloathed upon that mortality may be swallowed up of life Which ardent desires in them are both wrought continued nourimed in them and perefcted by the spirit 2. Cor 5.5 Which maketh request for them according to the will of God Rom. 8.27 And thus by Gods mercy and assistance of his blessed spirit we have been led along to have a glimpse of this heavenly building not made with hands but eternal in the heavens and of the glory excellency and eternity thereof with both the causes and lets of sighing and groaning after it And now that we are come unto a
of all the tempest of his afflictions supporting himself with the hope of the life and glory to come and his interest therein For I am sure that my Redeomer liveth c. And what is more frequent in all the Scriptures than still upon all occasions to raise up our thoughts from hence unto Heaven I will onely instance a few more places that 2 Thes. 1.7 He comforts that distressed estate they were in with that everlasting rest they should enjoy when the Lord Jesus should shew himself from heaven with his mighty Angels in flaming fire against wicked men c. When he shall come to be glorified in his saints and made marvellous in all them that beleeve and 2 Pet. 3.13 after he hath spoken of the heavens and the earth to be burnt up and renewed which now are he adds But we look for new heavens and a new earth according to his promise wherein dwelleth righteousness And Christ in all his exhortations to the seven Churches in the Revelation still points them unto those glorious things to come where he promiseth the overcomers To eat of the tree of life which is in the middest of the Paradise of God not to be overcome of the second death to have a Crown of life to eat of that Manna which is hid to have a white stone and new names written upon them to write upon them the new name of God the City of God the new Ierusalem and to sit with him in his Throne as he overcame and sitteth with the Father in his Throne All which I have onely named to shew a glimpse of that support the Scriptures afford in general for comfort against afflictions here and wherewith the former darling Saint in the ancient times in the days of their flesh have stayed and supported themselves and to shew that in all our destractions present We must soundly anchor in heaven ere we can find true comfort upon earth or be throughly armed against the fear of death To which effect it is written Heb. 2.14 That forasmuch as the children were partakers of flesh and blood Christ himself also likewise took part with them that he might destroy through death him that had the power of death that is the Divel and that he might deliver all them who through fear of death were all their life time subject to bondage In which case we must not look upon death alone without Christ who by his death hath perfumed the grave for us otherwise without him it is a passage onely unto the King of terrours and everlasting death but as it is subdued by Christ as it is 〈◊〉 Cor. 15. swallowed up in victory O Death where is thy sting O Grave where is thy victorie and as it is a smooth passage unto heaven and blessednesse to go home unto our fathers house as it is a sleep after the weary toils of this life a gathering unto our people and fathers again from whence for a while we have been estranged and as it is a passage from mortality to put on immortallity to be swallowed up of life Thus must we look upon death as upon a stinglesse Serpent which now onely affrights but hath no sting to hurt and as upon our best friend who rids us in a moment for ever of all those Amalekites and vexing Perrizites those fins and cares as thorns in our sides that as Sampson we may be contented to lose our lives with these Philstims of all which and the like vexations whatsoever we may then confidently and rejoycingly say as Moses did of those Egyptian Persecutors of the Church of God Exod. 13.14 Fear ye not stand still and behold the salvation of the Lord which he will shew you this day for the Egyptians whom you have seen this day ye shall never see them again a wonderfull comfort to be freed from all at once And it seems that the Saints in Scripture upon their removall hence make thus much good in their unmoved departures How quetly did Iacob and Ioseph die having finished all their earthly business with what peace did Moses and Aaron die in their appointed Mounts And what shall we say of holy David I Chron. 29.10 Who departed hence so chearfully blessing God after that he had given order for them Temple building and old Barzillai when he would no more remain at Court craves leave to go home and die all whom with Steven amongst a shower of stones saw unto the other side of Death so making a peaceable resignation of this life to exchange it for a better And so I make no question others may if their whole life hath been so spent in meditation and engrossing the Scripture comforts against that day But yet the surest and most lasting comfort against that encounter is to be often every day washed in the fountain of Christs blood with the seasonable right application of his everlasting Righteousnesse unto the soul which will Comfort that we being in him and he in us by the habitation of his spirit That there is no Condemnation to such Rom. 8.1 And that they already sit with him their head in heavenly places Ephes. 2.6 When being transformed into his blessed image from Glory to Glory in this life and having put on the Lord Jesus in all his holy vertues being thereby pertakers of the Divine nature 2 Pet. 1.3 they need not to fear but being transplanted from nature to Grace and planted with him in regeneration unto the similitude of his death but they shall be also made like unto the similitude of his Resurrection Rom. 6.5 So that Christ the head being in heaven he must of necessity quicken and draw all his members after him who is said to be the Resurrection and the life Iohn 11.25 and therefore must raise and quicken all again But this is not our intended work at this time to treat of death though I have bordered upon it and could not shun it it standing so just in our way as we are now in our journey towards life but to outface it look through and beyond it at the Certainty and excellencie of heaven and the glory to come thereby to arm us against it that we may see what a royall exchange we shal make with parting from our earthly house for That building not made with hands but eternall in the heavens in the Certainty of which building as I take it there is a Double certainty 1. The Certainty of the thing that there is such a building 2. Our Certainty of attaining unto it For the first The Certainty that there is such a Place as Heaven I Will be short therein for besides what the Scriptures speak thereof which should abundantly satisfie us and which is wonderfull large The whole frame of Nature it self proclaims with a loud voice That there is such a place and mansion of Eternitie called Heaven the Eternal dwelling of God Angels and blessed souls departed which Building even the outside thereof David Psal. 8. admires O
full point in discovery of this Heavenly House being discended from this transfiguring mount to wander a while longer into the wildernesse of this world ere we can attain thither to live for ever what 's now finally to be done Can we or shall we now part with a sight thereof without looking back to have a review of the same as men do with a sight of beloved friends at pâ—â—â—ing to have them in eye so long as we can O yes now that the impressions thereof are new and strong let us make some use of all ere we part with the sight and sense of such excellencies First Let us joy in love delight and admire those inhabitants and expectants of heaven whilest they are amongst us upon earth who shal be our companions in glory for whose sakes all the Angels are said to be ministring spirits therewith thinking and studying what to do for them the King of Heaven so honours as to have built a house for them so gorgiously adorned with all matchlesse excellencies in such magnificent height safety and state not made with hands but eternall in the heavens For this eternity is that which as it sours all wicked mens comforts so it is that which sweetneth all the sorrows and miseries of this life unto the Saints having such an eternity in it as they shal taste of eternity every moment And withall let us give glory to God and be much wrapped up in servent love to Jesus Christ who hath purchased for us this eternal inheritaÌ„ce walking suitably â—s those who professe themselves to be heirs of this great salvation in this Heavenly House Secondly Let us infrom and reform our judgements soundly in this grand point which hath been so fully proved now that onely Beleevers are in a very happy condition and that whosoever looseth yet that in all estates they are gainers even by afflictions and death it self For by affliction Heb. 12.10 so by death they come to be partakers ' of his glory John 17.24 for which Christ did so earnestly pray and unto which they attain after the momentary sufferings here And therefore we must assure our selves Thatsoever we lose here which brings us in Grace and sets us nearer unto glory is good for us In all which Sampsons riddle is verified Iud. 14.14 Out of the eater came meat out of the strong came honey So after death which consumeth all at length commeth life glory and immortality and by those strong crosses we wade through at length commeth death which bringeth us thither And therefore in the next place seeing Our greatest sorrows bring us nearest unto our greatest joys our everlasting glorious estate let us never look upon death but whither it carrieth us at somewhat comming after it looking through it at the glory and eternity whither it leadeth us and learn to die before we die that like wicked men we may not die after we are dead And therefore a short and frail life a life full of weaknesse and diseases clogged with afflictions should be Musicke unto a Godly mans ears who then with a fixed heart assures himselfe that now there are great possessions at hand a comming wherewith we shall be invested in Heaven for ever And therefore all these and the like reports should make us contented joyfully to leave this smoaky earthly house for This building given of God not made with hands but eternal in the Heavens as Paul did whose care was for nothing else but How he might finish his course with joy win and know Christ attaining thereby unto a joyfull Resurrection of the dead Phillip 3.10 whereby we may assure our selves that there stands but a little betwixt a Beleever and his eternal estate a little breath a frail short life not two lives but one and that is our own Thirdly If there be so much Glory Excellencie and Eternity in this heavenly building as is shewed then let us never hereafter take on and so mourn for the departure of our Christian friends hence as those who have no hope surely it is a token we felt not Gods love nor received such comforts from his hand as we ought to have done If we should not thankfully give back to God things received as Hannah did Samuel and whilest we plead our love to husband wife children and friends what unkindnesse do we bewray to God as though he were not the onely wise God to know the fittest and best time to come in and go out of this worke Oh what mourn we for because they are escaped the storms and tempests of this life in Abrahams bosome their warfare at an end at rest from their labours freed for ever from sin and Satan set with spirits of just and holy souls come to perfection at the Fountain head drinking fully of the water of Life never to thirst again fraught with all heavenly knowledge and understanding enjoying the fruit of all their labours prayers sighings sufferings and meditations in the full fruition of the Beatifical vision for ever Oh is this love this is usually self-love in us not love to the dead for love in its excellencie aims at the best good of the beloved and as it comes from heaven so it envies no friend of heavenly Glory In which case our Saviour pleads excellently to purpose with his Disciples sad at the news of his departure hence from them Ioh. 14. If ye loved me ye would rejoyce when I said I go unto the Father Still it argues that the heart was too much glued and knit unto that it was so loath to part with for our life is oft too much in the life of our friends as Iudah told Ioseph of Iacob that Iacobs life was bound up in Benjamins which God takes unkindly for how many friends have we in him who rather than we should want friends can make our enemies our friends and this is an everlasting Rule That the heart which is most pitched and rolled upon God is lâ—osest from the Creature or excessive mourning wherein our bustling and tossing hindereth us from inspecting into Gods excellent working agravates the losse unhooketh the soul from its most noble temper quietly to submit to God in all things and shews that we relied or trusted too much upon that removed from us for the Creature too much relied or doted upon beyond the Creator or thought of in whatsoever cases doth so far Deifie it and so justly procure it removal from us for whom certainly nothing is longer good than God will have us to enjoy the same Happy were we if once we could atrain unto this high pitch of faith and confidence in God To beleeve that he as he is onely wise so nothing is done but that it is in the heighth of wisdome effected and in the most seasonable time for our everlasting good in this life and in that to come Now these with the like considerations will wean us from the world and with the Church clotted with the same
perpetuall peace and reft what can replenish us with more delight and fill our hearts with invincible courage in our spirituall warfare than having fought the good fight of faith in assurance of victory to meditate with hopefull expectation on that glorious crown which God hath infallibly promised to those that overcome what can be more pleaâ—ing in the time of our nonage then to think on that rich inheritance which we shall enjoy when we come to full age and what can more chear and refresh us in our tedious pilgrimage then to meditate on the joys and delights which we shall shortly attain unto in our heavenly country neither is this conversing in heaven whilest we are here upon earth more pleasing than profitable Seeing if our thoughts be thus taken up with these heavenly excellencies we shall not judge any thing too much which we can do or suffer for God glory from whose free grace we expect the full fruition of such inestimable happinesse Nothing can more inflame our hearts with the fervent love of our dear Saviour then to consider that by his merits and bitter passion he hath purchased for us this heavenly inheritance Nothing can more confirm our patience in our light and momentary sufferings in and for Christ than to have our thoughts taken up with that far exceeding eternal weight of glory prepared for us with which the afflictions of this present life are not worthy to be compared Nothing next unto Gods glory can be a more effectual intentive and motive unto all holinesse or conversation than this rich wages with which this our good and bountifull master will of his free grace reward our worthlesse service and weak endeavours And therefore seeing our Authour in this book doth piously and profitably discourse on this subject which is so pleasant and usefull and as it seemeth to me not in a verbal manner but with a sweet rellish and experimentall feeling of these heavenly joys in his own soul unto which he inviteth others being already approved and licenced by an abler hand and better judgement I also commend it Christian Reader to thy perusall and pray that thou maiest reap that fruit and benefit in thy reading which the Authour intendeth in the writing of it Thine in the service of Iesus Christ Iohn Downam GRACE Leading unto GLORY FAith seeth all this World on fire as holy Ierome thought he alwaies heard the sound of the last Trumpet sounding in his ears arise ye dead and come to judgement and therefore suits its actions affections and meditations according to the report of that wonderfull and matchlesse admiration yea and helpeth it self in all the exigents of this life with supportation and strength to passe through all the afflictions and occurrences thereof with the excellent surmounting thoughts of the Life and Glory to come Wherein my desire was now in the decaying of this our earthly house and of all outward things to stir up both my self and others to meditate upon the more high and enduring substances which fade not away but endure for ever Now the end of faith being the salvation of our souls that grand businesse we have to agitate and eye in all our actions being in all to plot for possession of that eternall glory promised reserved for us in the heavens whereunto by the mighty power of God we are kept by faith unto salvation 1. Pet. 1. 3. I therefore though the unworthiest of all to meddle in so high and transcendant a Subject by Gods assistance undertook to lanch forth the frail barque of my weak endeavours into this great and vast Ocean knitting together some old and new store gathered from some of our late most eminent and spirituall Divines touching the great and strange operations of the blessed Spirit as he assures salvation unto glory even untill those strange and extraordinary sighings and groanings which he stirreth up in the Saints longing to the full enjoyment of heavenly Glory Honey we know is gathered out of the sweets of diversity of sweet flowers and what is sweeter then honey or the honey-Comb save Gods word which in sweetnesse far surmounts all the Aromatick fragrancies and sweets whatsoever Therefore we even out of diversity of gifts may pick out much sweetnesse and delight finding some rarities and much strength therein as a bunch of arrows knit together is of more strength than one or two of them Wherefore as 1 Sam. 14. 27. Ionathan having tasted a little honey on the end of his rod had his sight revived So no question if we please to put forth our selves to lick deeply of this ensuing honey pot vented in this discourse we may also by Gods blessing attain to have our eies further so anointed and cleared with this eye salve as we shall so much the more cleerly see into things invisible tasting how gratious the Lord is who before the foundation of all the world had provided for us eternall habitations in so great and superabounding glorious mansions for ever and so be stirred up unto so much the more thankfulnesse unto the everlasting praises of our good God who hath done and still doth for us so aboundantly above all that we are able either to think or speak so becomming the more perfect upon earth of our everlasting work in heaven whilest not certain of any thing here we rest assured of what we shall enjoy eternally there For Certain it is That we can never yeeld to part with this life until we be assured of a better and that the assurance of the certaintie and excellencie of that future glorious Estate to come in Heaven for ever is the onely Antidote unto a Beleever to make him out face Death looking beyond it and all other incident crosses in the way unto it As we know Saint Paul did who seemed to take care for this onely one thing as the sum of all things to know Christ the vertue of his Resurrection the fellowship of his affliction being made conformable unto him in Death if by any means he might attain unto the Resurrection of the dead Phil. 3.10 11. This seems also that one thing which holy David desired and says he would require that he might dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of his life to behold the beauty of the Lord and to visit his temple to be hid in the secret place of his Pavillion and to be set upon a Rock Psal. 27.4 5. That a day in Gods courts is better than a thousand every where Psal. 84. And in another place eying Heaven and the glory to come he affirms that a thousand years in Gods sight are but as yesterday and a watch in the night Psal. 90. v. 4. And Psal. 39.6 when he hath shewed that man walketh in a vain shadow disquieting himself in vain with heaping up these earthly things he adds And now Lord what wait I for mine hope is even in thee So Job 19.25 he there flies out in the middest
good subjects submitting themselves thereunto that they should have a pardon of all their sins and inherit eternall life having freedome to come and drink freely of the water of life Of all which and a great deal more the spirit convinceth us of Because Christ our surety is at liberty having paied all our debts and returned in our nature and flesh into heaven now set down at the right hand of the father pleading our cause and making good there his purchased redemption by his continuall intercession for us in heaven putting sweet incense and odors into our prayers that they may be accepted But this is not all for yet a main thing remains though we be convinced of the forementioned two things yet here are The sons of Anak to be encountred with Principalities and powers to wrestle against strong oppositions within and without us of the world the flesh and the Divel concerning our continuance and holding out unto the end in all these tumults we are to passe through and war against so many dangerous enemies Here then in the next place comes that third conviction of the Spirit to convince our best judgements that our fears are in vain and that we shall notwithstanding all the rubs in our way overcome all and triumph over all as Christ our head hath done for us so shal we conquer all in him as it is Rom. 8. nay that in all these things we are more than conquerours in him who hath loved Us For the Prince of this world is judged meaning that as a condemned man hath no power no sentence no voice no freedome but is limited bound and manacled so is it with the Divell who is judged chained and fettered up from hurting us and therefore that Christ as he is the Author so he will be the finisher of our faith Heb 12.2 And that Christ will no fail nor be discouraged untill he bring forth judgement unto victory that is plant in us such a victorious sanctification in the soul which shall overcome all adverse powers in its way betwixt us and heaven This is that third Conviction of the spirit where with the two former going on in a holy frame of sanctification in newnesse of life then our souls are soundly seasoned then are we rightly qualified to know that which is the second thing propounded That we may come to know and he assured of a future glorious estate to come which knowledge our Saviour calleth life eternall Iohn 17.2 To know God thus revealed in the high perfections of Jesus Christ in a Practical way which we may certainly attain unto as it is clear by the whole currant of the Scriptures and those many gratious promises and many trials of the same interest we have in set down to examine our selves by al which were in vain if no such certainty of our future estate to come were attainable But to name a few trials onely passing by the Promises which are so aboundant We know By these signs as of having the spirit of Christ or else to be none of his Rom. 8.9 In our not walking after the flesh but after the spirit Rom. 8.1 Of our being new creatures 2 Cor. 5.17 Of endeavouring to purifie our selves even as he is pure 1 Iohn 3.3 Of having heavenly mounted affections where Christ is at the right hand of the father Colloss. 3.1 Of being translated from death to life becaused we love the brethren 1 Iohn 4 13. Of loving one another v. 17. By conformity with him in his sufferings Rom. 6.5 Of putting on the Lord Jesus and making no provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof Rom. 13.14 Of being partakers of the Divine nature in being full of gratious goodnesse having eschewed that corruption which is in the world through lust 2 Pet. 1.3 whereby and many other the like Trials whereunto gratious exceeding rick and precious promises are belonging True like God himself we may come to know and have assurance of a future glorious estate to come in the heavens having these and other the like qualifications all of them branches of The new Creature as witnesses of the truth of our sanctification in our renewed estate following upon our justification which if in truth is inseparably accompanied with sanctification spreading it self universally through all all the parts and powers and faculties of soul and body though in every part not totally renewed And then in the next place We may know that we know TWO ways 1 By Gods spirit witnessing with our spirit that we are the children of God Rom. 8 16. 2 By the immediate testimony of the spirit sometimes by it self alone not joining with our spirits or the word Which are both mentioned 1 Iohn 5.7 8. For there are three which bear record in heaven The Father The Son and The Holy Ghost and these three are one and there are three which bear record on earth The Spirit The Water and the Bloud and these three agree in one in discovery whereof it may a little help us in this great businesse To distinguish these witnesses how and when they witnesse The witnesse of Gods spirit from the witnesse of our spirit upon earth and betwixt the immediate witnesse of The Spirit as it were immediately from heaven from the witnesse of the same spirit with our spirits which may help to clear this in shew intricate discovery under correction I take 1. The Witness of our Spirit To be nothing else but The Reflecting Testimony or Answer of a good Conscience in our sincere upright walking according unto the Rules prescribed in the word of God whereof it seems St. Paul speaks Act. 24.15 of his keeping a good Conscience before God and Men because he looked for a Resurrection both of the just and she unjust And Ioh 3. This whole chapter is nothing else but the Witness of his Spirit in his Uprightness and sincerity of his Obedience throughout the Commandements So David Psal. 18.20 he makes use of the Witnesse of his Spirit testifying his Obedience and Uprightnesse And so 1 Sam. 12.3 he makes use of the Witnesse of his Spirit this way unto the people clearing himself from oppression and briberie Whose Oxe or whose Asse have I take Or to whom have I done wrong And the whole Church it selfe is brought in clearing her selfe though she were beaten down into the Den of Dragons as it were and covered with the shadow of death Psal. 44.17 That for all this she had not dealt falsly in the Covenant nor stretched out her hands to looke after a strange God whereby it seems that there is a twofold Witnesse of our Spirit The witness of our Spirit in a Calm The witness thereof in a Tempest The former whereof is without difficulty and ordinary the usuall answer and reflecting testimony of a good conscience directed upon all occasions by the rules of the word when we are not hardly and sore put to it by grievous trials of dissertions damps intermissions of
door of life this also is Ours and a great part of our portion one of Christs prime Legacies It seems that Iob had no Crosse or bad apprehensions of Death Job 6.11 What power have I saith he that I should endure or what is my end if I should prolong my life And David he saith Mark the upright man and behold the just for the end of that man is peace Psal. 37.37 and indeed if we look through the Scripture Glasse upon Death it is nothing to a Beleever apprehending it rightly For then we see it to be nothing else but A sleep A peaceable rest A gathering to our fathers and people The funeral day of all our sins and final destruction of all our enemies The gate of heaven as it were Our Coronation day and the Resurrection of all our comforts with which and the like apprehensions we may come as it were to bury death it self The Apostle we see speaking of death he passeth it over slightly mentioneth onely the clothing after it insisting upon that which we shall have when we have put off this earthly Tabernacle And in the Phillipians speaking of Death he passeth over it and mentioneth onely our being with Christ In all these and many more cases too tedious now to insist in the soul cannot sigh and groan earnestly to be cloathed with this heavenly house though otherwise Beleevers and good Christians wherefore in these and the like cases we must not be at quiet with our selves until we have shaken off these lazy pressing down habits of our distempers with holy David chiding our selves as he did his soul Why art thou cast down O my soul and why art thou disquietêd within me wait on God for I will yet give him thanks he is my present help and my God But at other times when it pleaseth him to say unto our souls I am thy Salvation when hee anoints our eyes with spiritual eye-salve to see a far off into things invisible when heavens gates are opened unto us by a powerful preaching and opening of the word of truth unto us our beleeving breaking forth into rejoycing when with an enlarged heart we can run the ways of his commandements the feet of them that bring glad tidings being beautiful upon the mountains unto us And Christ comming by them leaping by the mountains and skipping by the hils of our sins to comfort and stablish us when the water of our sanctification is clear and not muddie so as we can read our evidences in brightnesse with many strong reports of the spirit joyning with our spirits when the bloud in our justification runs fully and clearly before us that we can powerfully apprehend the same And when in meditation wrapt a little heaven and heavenly things seem great and glorious unto us and earthly things compared with them mean and contemptible when Christ becommeth that pretious pearl known and beloved above all things for which we are contented to sell all when we have got some sight and assurance of heaven and eternity of glory having been victorious in some sharp crosses trials and afflictions having sacrificed our Isaacs and attained unto some good measure of self denial in uprightnesse and sincerity being humbled Saintlike to sit down at Gods feet and be whatsoever he will have us to be Then then the soul cannot chuse but sigh and groan earnestly to be cloathed with its house which is from heaven And very great reason there is to sigh and groan earnestly for a house of glory such a house as will keep us out of all dangers and supply all our wants This is that cloathing we so sigh and groan earnestly so To be cloathed with our house which is from Heaven of which our Garment cloathing us there is a threefold consideration 1. That cloathing we had in the Estate of Innocencie which covered our shame and nakednesse and which we kept not for sin discovered our shame so that it was quickly lost 2. There is the garment and cloathing of Christs righteousnesse in Iustification and Sanctification consisting in Holinesse and Righteousnesse mentioned Isa. 61.10 called the garment of Salvation and robe of Righteousness cause of great rejoycing to the soul to joy in God being cloathed with the garments of Salvation and covered with the robes of Righteousnesse And 3ly There is under this notion of cloathing the Glory of Heaven understood and looked at Christ his Righteousnesse is indeed a garment of Glory making us all glorious which garment we are now cloathed with I whereunto when there shall be added a tincture of Glory in Heaven then are we cloathed with our house from Heaven for the soul wishes not to be rid of that garment of Grace is now wears but to have it beautified and adorned to the height of all excellencie when it shall be cloathed with a tincture of Glory to make it appear most of all excellent Which glory even Christ himself in the days of his flesh prayed for Iob. 17.5 And now O Father glorifie me with thine own self with that glory which I had with thee before the world was that is that the glory of the Divinity might shine forth joyned with his Humanity as bright as ever Now this cloathing is first a most rich and pretious cloathing above all other cloathing whatsoever exceeding that of the lillies spoken off which surpassed Solomons glory in all his excellency and royalty And the secondly It is a durable cloathing which shall never wear nor wax old but be new and alike fresh for ever as it was said of the children of Israels garments and shoes in their journey unto that earthly Canaan a Type of the heavenly not onely that these did not wear but were as fresh and new as at the first And then thridly It is a lovely garment which shall be perfected with Gods comelinesse and that beauty he shall put upon it mentioned Ezek. 16.14 which if he call it perfect upon earth In how much more perfection of beauty shal this cloathing be in heaven where the fulnesse of glory doth so abundantly shine forth about the Beatificall vision And as for Excellencie so for Vse this garment of glory is such a cloathing as shall cover all our shame and all our nakednesse For if the estate of innocency knew not shame till sin discovered it much lesse shall there be any shame in heaven where this garment of glory so far excels surmountingly our first garment of innocency Such a garment as we shall always keep close about us where no winds troubles or temptations shall be to make us any more in danger to loose our garments as here And then such a garment as shal keep us warm for ever such a house and garment as shall preserve us for ever from all outward incumbrances and troubles supplying all natural wants without naturall helps doing all these things to us so as we shall never have need of them any more A house cloathed