things not seen so that the work of faith is there seen Whosoever speaks of the reward that is in heaven if the glory of the world be not darkned in their eyes it argues there is no true saving faith A second difference is a gracious heart looks upon the reward by some experimental sweet and good that he findes in himself as the beginning of that eternal good he expects whereas others look upon the reward as a thing onely to come unto them hereafter He reads in the word and hears Preachers say so and so he can speak of them but it is not from any experimental sweetness that he findes of the beginning of eternal life wrought in him That place is very remarkable for this in Heb. 10. 34. Knowing in your selves that ye have in heaven a better and enduring substance Other men may know in others in books that there is a reward but a gracious heart knows in himself by that experimental sweetness of the beginning of eternal life that he findes in himself A third difference is The eye that a gracious heart hath unto the recompence of reward is a fixed eye a setled constant eye Another man that is an hypocrite may have a flash of lightning even from heaven it self that may discover something unto him of the glorious condition of the people of God as Balaam Let me dye the death of the righteous and let my last end be like his This was more then natural I may call it a supernatural work that was upon Balaam yet not saving and gracious It appeared not to be saving because it had not a saving power went with it and it was not constant and so many hypocrites that are unfound when they have enlargement in prayer they may have some flashes of lightning let into their hearts they may have some glimmerings of the glorious things of heaven and as the Holy Ghost speaks in Heb. 6. 5. they may have a taste of the powers of the world to come but a gracious heart hath it not as a flash of lightning but as a constant light that is set up in his soul and as that light which does transform his spirit into light and makes him to be a childe of light Fourthly there is a great deal of difference in this the eye that a gracious heart hath is truly spiritual the other is but carnal A spiritual eye what is that that is he looks at the reward as a spiritual thing a carnal heart looks at it carnally O the flashes of joy to have a crown and a kingdom but a spiritual heart looks at the reward spiritually time is coming when I shall be wholly free from the body of sin and death time is coming when as the image of God shall be made perfect in my soul time is coming when I shall behold the blessed face of God and live to the praise of that blessed God without any intermission joyning with those blessed creatures that are eternally blessing God Now the heart that looks at it thus spiritually and looks at the top of it to be a spiritual good such an one sees the reward after another maner then any carnal heart doth The last difference is the eye of the gracious heart is a believing eye such an eye as he looks upon the glorious and blessed things of heaven as the things that his soul hath an interest in as the things wherein his riches and happiness does consist another may look upon them as glorious things that may be desired but for an eye to be fixed upon the promise so as to be content to venture all upon the bare word of God for such great things so as to count his riches to consist in these things that he hath but a bare word for such a believing eye as this is not the eye of a carnal heart CHAP. XLI What is this recompence of reward NOw the third thing that we are to come to is to shew what this reward is we can but give you a little glimpse of it Whatsoever will be said it will rather even darken it then otherwise in regard of the wonderful excellency of it all the stars in heaven if they were all Suns they would be but a dark shadow to set out this reward and therefore it is reserved to eternity to be known but yet because the Lord hath been pleased to let out a beam of light unto us in his word we shall endeavor to give a little glimpse of it to you so that the hearts of Christians may be revived in their way and they may gather up their feet to go on chearfully in their course having respect with a discerning experimental spiritual fixed believing eye unto the glorious recompence of reward First take all the beauty excellency the sweet and good that there is in all the world if there could be a confluence and extract of the quintessence of all good in all creature in this world and all to be communicated to one man yet it were but as a dark shadow of the glory that is to be revealed Secondly this reward certainly it is that which is beyond all the expression that we have in Scripture of it Great things are spoken in the word but there is more to be revealed and to be enjoyed then is yet revealed in all the Book of God Isa 64. 4. For since the beginning of the world men have not heard nor perceived by the ear neither hath the eye seen O God besides thee what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him And therefore in 2 Thess 1. 10. it is said Christ shall come to be glorified in his Saints and to be admired in all them that believe Now the cause of admiration it is the sight of something more then was known before that was not thought of and was not understood even then at the first coming of Christ he shall appear in so much glory as he shall be admired as if the Saints should say We heard much concerning Christ and his glory but we never thought that there was so much glory in Jesus Christ as now we finde and therefore we stand admiring at the glory of Christ Thirdly all those consolations those admirable soul-ravishing comforts that the Saints of God have ever had in this world have all been but the first fruits of those glorious things that are hereafter to to be revealed they are but as the Clusters of grapes that that blessed Land of Canaan is so full of Fourthly then all the expressions that man can give of those things that are to be hereafter must needs be but dark resemblances of what shall be revealed hereafter As the infant in the womb knows not what the light the glory and beauty of the world is so we while we are in this darkness know little of the beauty and glory of heaven St. Augustine speaking concerning what we can say of it says It is
the chief contentment of thy soul Is it possible that the chief contentment of a creature should be in sinning against an infinite God That thy chief contentment should be in departing from God in striking at God So thou doest in the way of sin That thy chief contentment should be in incensing the wrath of an infinite Deity against thy soul That thy chief contentment should be in putting thy self under the everlasting curse that bindes thee over to eternal death That thy chief contentment should be in that which being committed if ever it comes to be pardoned must cost more then Heaven and Earth is worth Thou goest out in the morning and goest into thy company and countest thy self happy that thou hast money to spend and so takest thy pleasure This day thou hast done that which if ever it be pardoned it must cost more then Heaven and Earth is worth There must be a price paid more worth then a thousand worlds to purchase the pardon of it Canst thou choose that for thy chief contentment which was such a dreadful but then to Jesus Christ that made the soul of Christ to be heavy to the very death that squeazed out clods of blood from him What is the chief pleasure and delight of thy soul in that which a true enlightened gracious heart would rather suffer all the torments in the world then do it If so be it were put to him either such a sin must be committed or else all the tortures that can be devised by all the world must be inflicted upon him A gracious heart had rather choose all the tortures that can be inflicted then do that which thou makest the great pleasure of thy soul What an infinite difference is between thy base heart and a gracious heart Thy wretched heart doth choose this deliberately as the great pleasure of thy life which a gracious heart would rather suffer all the torments of the world then be brought to do it To delight in sins against conscience is the most desperate folly in the world No man rejoyces in any error or fault in other things but is rather ashamed onely in the errors in the rule of life and obedience men owe to God they rejoyce in Secondly those come under this reprehension who though they do not choose things for their chief pleasures that are sin yet do choose to themselves pleasures that come in by sin and though this be not so ill as the other yet ill enough that is those that shall strain their consciences to get something in the world to raise their estates and when they have got estates and money and things well about them then they can be merry then their tables are furnished and they can eat and drink and this they delight in O poor deluded heart what is this that can give thee so much content Thou hast cause to look upon thy table and every morsel that thou eatest as having death in it and every draught you drink as having the curse of God in it Little cause thou hast if thou knewest all to rejoyce in these pleasures that come in by sin certainly there can be no good that comes in by sin as sin I know God may turn sin to the good of some but that which sin brings in of it self it is impossible good should come of it that which thou takest pleasure in that which thou art merry and jocund in delighting thy self withal is it may be the calamity and misery of others and how hard is that heart that can make that his mirth and joy that is the sorrow and distress of his brother Chrysostom in a Sermon against luxury and excess cryes out against those who riot in those things that they have got by making others miserable and says It is the most grievous thing that can be Thirdly those who do neither of these they choose not to themselves the pleasures that are sin nor the pleasures that come in by sin but such pleasures in the enjoyment of which they do sin though the pleasures be in themselves lawful they choose to let out their hearts unto them and spend the strength of their spirits on them they think because there is no hurt in them in themselves therefore they may give liberty to themselves there is a great deal of mistake in this we may sin exceedingly in things that are lawful when men shall spend so much time as many that are professors do in giving themselves content in some sports and delights to the flesh as they cut God short of his time that time that should be spent in examining their hearts humbling their souls seeking the face of God is spent in some slight vain idle sport Many are guilty of this especially those that have means and their callings do not require such a necessity of continual attendance How is that time spent wherein you have liberty from your callings Certainly no good account can be given of that time much might be gained to your souls in it and much converse and communion you might have with God and what ill choice do you make when as many poor Christians would bless God if they could have a little liberty from their callings On the one side there is this liberty for you to enjoy communion with God and furnish your souls with heavenly excellencies On the other side there is a little vain delight and carnal content and ease to the flesh and you rather choose this It may be though God hath helped you in the main you chose right yet be convinced this day of the evil of this particular choice in giving such inordinate contentment to your selves in giving that ease to your bodies liberties to the sluggishness of your spirits and reform You have not honored God as you ought and therefore your lives are not so beautiful In the general you continue in the ways of Religion but there is not that convincing lustre and beauty in your lives you do not draw others to that love of godliness because your hearts become so vain and so slight in choosing inordinate liberties to your selves in spending your times and strength in the pleasures of the flesh and therefore when you come to spiritual employment you have no strength but your hearts are dead I appeal to your consciences when you have given your selves leave to have content to the flesh when you come to communion with God what dead flat hearts have you Let me speak to such this day from the Lord this liberty you take to your selves in the pleasures of the flesh hath been the root of the Apostacy of many as 2 Pet. 2. 18. those who fell off were allured through the lusts of the flesh even though they are said to be clean escaped from them who live in error yet through wantonness they were drawn aside Wanton professors seldom prove lasting professors at least in any power of godliness Take this one note
sweetness in the activeness of them when the box is broken and the precious oyntment is poured forth then it sends forth its delightful savour so when the heart is broken with afflictions and the grace is poured forth then they give a sweet smell in the nostrils of God and men A tool that is daily used is kept bright and shining and so grace when it is most exercised it it is most beautiful The glory of the things of the world minishes in the use of them but grace is ever better for the wearing Fifthly in afflictions the power of grace does much appear the abiding strong against opposition is a true argument of strength this was the honor of Josephs strength in his blessing Gen. 49. 23 24. The archers have sorely grieved him yet his bow abode in strength It is nothing for a man to go on in the profession of Religion while all things are well about him while he feels no trouble but God hedges about his way if God should always prosper his people in outward things who would not be a professor of godliness When the people saw how Mordecai was raised then many became Jews I read of one Pamachius a Heathen that he said to the Pope Make me a Bishop and I will be a Christian Every bird can sing in fair sun-shine weather but here is the power of grace not to be offended in Christs sufferings Blessed are they who are not offended in me says Christ to desire to know nothing but Christ and him crucified To embrace Christ in his rags in his poverty in his shame in his afflictions and sorrows this argues a power of grace indeed it argues the power of love that much water cannot quench it It is a note that Josephus hath writing the History of the time of Christ At that time says he Jesus a wise man did many miracles and although he was condemned to the cross yet did not those that followed him from the beginning forbear to love him notwithstanding the ignominy of his death He notes it is an argument of great love in his followers as it was indeed that they did not forbear to love notwithstanding his ignominious death As it is a sign our love to sin is strong when we have many afflictions to quench our love when we meet with much trouble and opposition in a way of sin and yet our love to it is not abated so it argues our love to God and godliness is very strong when the greatest opposition cannot prevail against it to account Christ precious as a tree of life although we be fastened to him as to a stake to be burned this is love indeed It was the glory of Scipio in which he much boasted that there was not any of his Soldiers but would venture his life for him if it were to leap into the Sea to cast themselves from a high Tower or any other way that he should require of them this argued their strong love to him and it is the glory of the Lord in which the Lord delights that he hath a people whose hearts are closely knit to him in the most afflicted distressed condition that can befal them who are content to suffer any thing for him to submit to his blessed will to honor him any way that he shal please though it be in the loss of dearest comforts and suffering the sorest and hardest afflictions Sixthly by afflictions the graces of the Saints are much increased as Israel never increased so much as when Pharaoh most oppressed for two hundred and fifteen years before they increased but to seventy but in less time when they were oppressed they increased to more then six hundred thousand men fit for War besides women and children thus the spiritual increase of the true Israel of God is much in afflictions more usually then at other times Gods people to whom afflictions are sanctified never thrive so much in grace as when they are watered with their own tears The Rose is sweeter in the Still then upon the stalk Fish thrive better in cold and salt waters then in warm and fresh the largest fish are not in the fresh Rivers but in the coldest salt Seas The ground is most fruitful that is most harrowed The most plentiful Summer follows after the hardest Winter The face of Religion is never so beautiful as when it is washed with its own tears The Walnut tree is most fruitful when it is most beaten Camomel flourisheth most when it is most trodden on and pressed down suffering for truths does much confirm men in them that which a man hath bought at a dear rate he is loath to part with thus we finde it in men who suffer for errors they are ever the more stiff in them like the Merchants holding up their commodity because it cost them dear All oppositions if they do not overcome they strengthen that which they do oppose as water cast upon the fire it makes that fire burn hotter that it does not quench Wind shaking the tree makes it grow more steady Thus the tribulations of the godly and the persecutions they suffer do oppose their graces but because they cannot overcome them they strengthen them As we read Psalm 45. when the Church forsakes all when she leaves her fathers house and her kindred then doth the King greatly delight in her beauty her beauty is great then and exceeding delightful in the eyes of the Lord Cant. 2. 14. O my dove says Christ to the Church thy voyce is sweet thy countenance is comely let me hear thy voyce let me see thy countenance This is spoken of the state of the Church after her deliverance from great afflictions after her return from captivity before her captivity she was loathsom and vile in Gods eyes God hateth her as appears Jer. 12. 8. Mine heritage is unto me as a Lyon in the forrest it cryeth out against me therefore I have hated it but now she is delightful Christ bids her arise his love his fair one and come away God before cared not for her solemn meetings they were a burthen to him as appears Esay 1. 11 12 13 c. but now he expresseth his desire of their solemn meetings O my dove that art in the clefts of the rocks in the secret places of the stairs thou who worshippest me in secret places in holes and corners let me see thy face let me see thee assembled into the face of a Church in my Sanctuary let me hear thy voice let me hear thee there calling upon me singing praises unto me Psal 66. 12. We went through fires and through waters says the Church but thou broughtest us into a wealthy place Thus God deals with his Church spiritually by bringing them through the fire and water of afflictions he brings them to a wealthy place a wealthy estate The Church of Iudah before the Captivity was as a Vine that brought forth wilde Grapes upon whom the Lord
free my self And so Athanasius they called him Sathanasius because he was a special Instrument against the Arrians And Cyprian they called him Coprian one that gathers up dung as if all the excellent things he had gathered in his works were but dung And if we look into the ways of Gods permissive providence in these latter times what reproachful and scornful blood hath run in the veins of wicked men and what horrid things hath been invented upon the most famous persons of our latter times As Luther this report came to him he being yet alive That Luther upon his death-bed had recanted and he desired the Sacrament and after he was dead there was a fearful Earthquake that shook the place where he lay and they saw the Host he had taken hanging in the Ayr and when he was put into the Grave they heard a great noise but they saw nothing but a filthy stink arose and his body was taken away And so of Calvin though he had a sweet death yet was it said by the Popish Party that he was eaten up with worms as those said of David An evil disease cleaves fast to him and then when he was to dye he called upon the Devil and blasphemed the name of God And so Oecolompadius that he slew himself and others reported that the Devil slew him It were endless to name the reproaches that we finde of the servants of God that were most eminent Yea I remember Seneca hath such an expression concerning Philosophy says he You are not yet happy if the rout of people do not deride you if you will be happy prepare your selves to contemn being contemned And an other Philosopher says If one does but begin to set himself to the study of Philosophy he must expect to be scorned and derided Now if this be the wickedness of mens hearts as they cannot so much as endure moral Philosophy much more if a man begins to walk according to the rule of God This is that which many fear and they bring it to keep others from Gods ways and say If you embrace Religion you will be derided at and scorned and by this many are kept from the good ways of the Lord and therefore I being faln upon this argument I shall labor to take away this stumbling block that it may not hinder any Thus you have seen the thing it self that it is so that Gods people are a people under reproach Now the reasons for it First because the men of the world look upon the servants of God as having very poor low spirits now those are men that are liable to contempt and reproach Gods people are not for the braveries of the world and the glory of the world and when they see their hearts are taken off from that which they count the bravery of the world they contemn them Secondly they look upon their ways as irrational There is no reason why men should be so afraid of the least sin they are stricter then they need and do more then they need so that the more earnest Gods people are upon their way the more wicked men will scorn them because they see them earnest upon that which they see no reason for Again they think the ways of Religion are but imaginary things and notions and there is no certainty in them and think it strange men should suffer for things that are to come they know not when and are they know not what and therefore one gives that reason why Cyprian was called Coprian because he gathered such fables and tales meaning the Gospel as they termed them which they saw no reason for But especially it does proceed from the pride and malice of wicked men from pride and swelling and envying one at another a proud and envious man will seek to cast disgrace upon that excellency that himself wants as Licinius who was joyned with Galerius in the Empire being ignorant himself not being able so much as to write his own name he was an enemy to learning and as Eusebius reports of him he called the liberal Arts A publike poyson and pestilence What was the reason that should cause Sanballat and Tobiah to make such a stir to reproach Nehemiah Certainly the ground was this Sanballat and Tobiah were in Samaria with a mixt people and they had got a Temple and endeavored to magnifie that Now they thought that the Temple of Nebemiah would darken the glory of their Temple and therefore they sought to cast disgrace upon them to bring them into contempt And the malice of mens hearts when it cannot vent its self by open persecution then it will vent its self by the persecution of the tongue malice makes men very watchful to observe any thing whereby it may gain matter of reproach and malice will make men exceeding inventive to finde out strange ways of reproach and exceeding bold in venturing upon reproaches For the first that place is remarkable in Proverbs 16. 27. An ungodly man diggeth up evil and in his lips there is a burning fire if things be not plain and fair enough because he hath an evil spirit he will dig up evil if he can dig up any old business to reproach them for Now the ways of invention that malice hath to reproach upon the ways of God are many As the straining of any word to the utmost and putting glosses and false interpretations upon words and thus it is easie to make any man a transgressor for a word yea for any word as it was with those Isa 29. 21. They make a man an offender for a word and lay a snare for him that reproveth in the gate A second way is by casting out doubtful speeches they will not accuse one directly because it will be a shame to them if it be false but they cast out doubtful speeches they know some will turn them the worst way and if they be examined they can turn them another way to save themselves Another invention is some secret intimations that others may gather and it cannot be said they spake any thing but by some gesture or the like others may gather something Fourthly to speak things as from others and not from themselves and in the speaking of them to say I believe such things are not true and yet they spread the report Another way is to speak evil and yet so as to manifest a great deal of grief and sorrow for such reports and secretly desire that they may spread and take where they come Sixthly when they want apparent matter for reproach they will pretend some love to get matter for reproach so you may read in Ezra 4. 1 2. when the adversaries of Judah could not reproach them apparently they pretended love and this and that they sought the same God they did and would sacrifice to him and therefore would build with them So Sanballat and Tobiah desired to meet lovingly with
promises of direction says Christ Take no thought when you are called before rulers for my names sake how or what you shall speak for it shall be given you in that same hour what you shall speak Thirdly there are promises of assistance I will be with you to the end of the world Fourthly there is a promise of acceptance He that forsaketh houses or brethren or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands for my names sake shall receive a hundred fold and inherit eternal life Fifthly a promise of blessing Blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you and say all maner of evil falsly on you for my sake Sixthly a promise of a Kingdom If we suffer with him we shall likewise reign with him Luke 22. 28 29. Ye are they which have continued with me in my temptations and I appoint unto you a Kingdom as my father hath appointed unto me the appointing of a Kingdom follows upon their continuing with Christ in temptation Brethren God promises much to those that shall be sensible of the reproaches of others much more when thou thy self sufferest in the cause of Christ In Zeph. 3. 18. I will gather them that are sorrowful for the solemn Assembly time was when the solemn Assemblies of Gods people their gathering together to hear a Sermon was their reproach and they were contemned by many were you ever in any place where the Assemblies of Gods people were reproachful and was this a burthen to your souls and grievous to you mark the blessed promise I will gather them together but to be reproached our selves and to bear our reproaches in a Christian maner great and rich promises are made unto it Seventhly in reproaches and sufferings for Christ there are rich consolations never such consolation let out to a gracious heart as when it is under reproaches and sorest persecutions if ever Christ does turn water into wine it is the tears of Gods people that are turned into wine of consolation Basil in his Oration for Barlaam that famous Martyr says He delighted in the close Prison as in a pleasant green meadow and he took pleasure in the several inventions of tortures as in several sweet flowers And Vincentius the Martyr speaking of the great things he suffered for Christ hath this expression I have always desired these dainties Luther reports of that Martyr St. Agatha that as she went to Prisons and Tortures she said she went to Banquets and Nuptails And Iames Bainham said when they kindled the fire at his feet Me thinks you strew roses before me And Mr. Saunders hath a most full expression of his consolation he felt a wonderful sweet refreshment flow from his heart unto all the members of his body and from all the parts of his body to his heart again And that Martyr Hawks lifts up his hands above his head and claps them together when he was in the fire as if he had been in a triumph this is a special fruit of the Spirit of God and of glory of which St. Peter speaks 1 Pet. 4. 14. If ye suffer reproaches happy are ye the Spirit of God and glory rests upon you and one consolation one beam of Gods face is worth all the riches of the world The Sun enlightens the world says Cyprian but he that made the Sun is a greater light to you in prison that darkness which is the horrible deadly darkness of the place of punishment to others he irradiates to you with his bright and eternal light Vobis idem qui Solem fecit majus in carcere lumen fuit horribiles caeteris atque funest as paenalis loci tenebr as aeterna illa candida luce radiante Cyp. Ep. 16. Eighthly in reproaches and sufferings there are riches of glory both before the day of Judgement and after riches of glory before if so be that opinion of some be true which I dare not altogether deny of Christs coming to reign in the world here before the day of Judgement though I will not affirm it as a truth yet if there be not a truth in it I confess I cannot make any thing of many places of Scripture Rev. 20. 5. But the rest of the dead lived not again till the thousand years were finished This is the first resurrection Blessed holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection on such the second death hath no power but they shall be Priests of God and of Christ and shall reign with him a thousand years I know this is ordinarily interpreted of the resurrection from sin to grace and reigning with Christ a thousand years that is reigning with him in Heaven but this cannot be the meaning of the Text this thousand years must be before the day of Judgement because Satan must be loosed after now if this prove to be true O the riches of glory that those that suffer for Christ shall have all those that have suffered for Christ they especially shall be raised up to reign with Christ on the earth and therefore you have it in ver 4. And I saw thrones and they sate upon them and judgement was given unto them and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Iesus and for the word of God and which had not worshipped the beast neither his image neither had received his mark upon their foreheads or in their hands and reigned with Christ a thousand years Suppose it to be so then the more any do suffer for withdrawing himself from Antichrist the more glory they shall have when Christ comes to reign upon the earth Some are loth to receive the mark of the Beast upon their foreheads openly to appear for Antichrist yet they will have the mark of the Beast in their hands but here is a promise to them that shall refuse both and it is not meant onely of those that suffer death in their lives the death in our liberties and death in our estates and other kinde of deaths shall not go unrewarded it is a point that was spoken of in the Primitive times and afterward it was condemned upon this ground because many grew to be sensual and thought the Kingdom of Christ should be for a thousand years in pleasure to the flesh but take the Kingdom of Christ to be spiritual in the glory of his Ordinances as I am confident that Christ shall reign Personally in his flesh I will not say but Spiritually farre more gloriously then he hath done But then at the day of Judgement O the glory of those that suffer for Christ they shall have Crowns upon their heads and Palms in their hands and all their persecutors stand as base creatures before them O the imbracings that there shall be then If a father send his childe abroad about business and the childe meet with much difficulty and comes home in a rainy tempestuous day how gladly his father receives him and all are
natures shall be raised unto and in that consider these three things First the perfection of their bodies Secondly the perfection of their souls Thirdly the perfection of the whole man First the perfection of the bodies of the Saints is no little matter and because so long as we are in the flesh and live by sense they are bodily things that do affect us therefore I will shew a little the perfection of the bodies of the Saints they shall have much of the recompence of the reward in their bodies In the general their bodies shall be made like the glorious body of Jesus Christ Phil. 3. 21. Certainly the body of Christ is very glorious in the transfiguration of Christ which was but a little glimpse of his glory how glorious was the body of Christ In Rev. 1. Saint John had a little glimpse of the representation of Christ and how glorious is it set forth the body of the meanest Saint shall be like the glorious body of Christ What is that I will go no further then that I finde in 1 Cor. 15. 42 43 44. and there are four things that set forth the glory of the bodies of the Saints when they come to attain the recompence of reward First it is raised in incorruption Secondly it is raised in glory Thirdly it is raised in power Fourthly it is raised a spiritual body First every Saint of God shall have an incorruptible body there shall be no more death it shall be made incorruptible in regard of that fulness of the presence of God with it If spices enbalming of dead bodies can keep them so long as they do sometime from smelling surely the glorious presence of God with the body shall have infinite more power to keep the bodies of the Saints incorruptible What would we give if a Physitian were able to give us a potion to make our bodies incorruptible that they should never dye yet as they are now it is hardly worth the desiring to have them incorruptible but when they shall be glorified and incorruptible too that is glorious They shall be incorruptible not subject to any suffering as God is able to binde up the active power of a creature that it shall not be able to act so he can binde up the corruptible power that it shall not work to corruption as in fire God can binde up the power of fire that it cannot burn so God can binde up the power of any creature that hath any corruptible power that there should not be the least passion that tends to corruption All sufferings come from the prevailing of the stronger agent over the patient and when any suffer it comes from some kinde of inability of the form of the patient whereby it begins to leave the matter in some degree now the bodies of the Saints shall be so formed with such an excellent form and so filled with the glory of it as that there can be no power external or internal that shall prevail against this form to weaken it And besides the reason that is given why the Heavens are incorruptible may be given why the bodies of the Saints shall be incorruptible the Heavens are of so excellent a form that the capacity of the matter is fully filled up and there may be truth in that reason so the bodies of the Saints being in their blessed estate into which they shall be raised they shal have such full satisfaction with the form wherewith they are informed that there shall not be the least propension to receive any other from Secondly it is raised in glory and that consists in these two things First in the admirable beauty of it Secondly in the wonderful lustre and splendor of it First in the admirable beauty of it having all parts in proportion and exact temper whatsoever can make one beautiful shall be in the bodies of the Saints if we could extract all the beauty of all the men and women in the world and put them into one it were but as a deformed thing in regard of the meanest of the bodies of the Saints in Heaven and much of the beauty will be not onely from their exact temper and comeliness that God shall put upon them but likewise from the excellency of their souls within them and from the unspeakable joy and cheerfulness of the heart And then the splendor and the lustre of their bodies says the Scripture They shall shine as the stars in the Firmament look what splendor is in the stars such shall be in these clay bodies of ours Daniel 12. 3. Yea they shall be in greater splendor then the stars they shall be as the Sun Matthew 13. 43. He that hath ears to hear let him hear and believe this that it shall be so that the bodies of the Saints shall shine more glorious then the Sun in its strength You will say How is it possible that this should be yes this is but according to that expression in Phil. 3. 21. Who shall change our vile bodies that it may be fashioned according to his glorious body according to the working whereby he is able to subdue all things unto himself It does not require a greater power to raise from the least degree of glory to the highest possibility as it is to make a thing out of nothing and therefore the making of the least creature out of nothing will argue more power then making the bodies of the Saints to shine brighter then the Sun in the Firmament Now certainly God in the glorifying of the Saints will manifest that power that he did in the creating of the world and if it does not require so much power to raise their bodies into such a glorious condition as to create a creature out of nothing then there is no reason why we should not believe this We know when Moses had been but forty days on the Mount with God when he came down among the Israelites his face did so shine that they were not able to behold it surely the glorified bodies of the Saints being eternally present with God shall shine far more gloriously then Moses face did and that is for the splendor of them Thirdly it is sown in weakness and raised in power now the strength and power of them appears in these four things First in that the body shall be able for to attend the soul in the most high operations here if the soul be exercised about any high and glorious object the body presently fails as in the extasies of the Prophet when God revealed himself extraordinarily to Daniel his body failed He fainted and was many days sick Dan. 8. 27. But there shall be that power in the body as it shall be serviceable to the soul in the most high and glorious operations that it shall have when God shall manifest himself in the fullest way that possibly can be Secondly in that it it shall every moment to all eternity without any intermission be exercised in
the highest things that a body can be in without any weariness Thirdly there must be a great deal of power to be able to bear the weight of glory that shall be put upon them 2 Cor. 4. 17. Our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory such a weight as certainly if the body were not by the power of God upheld it were impossible it should bear it here we finde when there is great joy in the heart the body is not able to bear it but then there shall be a power to bear the weight of glory they shall have And the last is that which I finde expressed in Luther namely The bodies of the Saints shall have that power as to toss the greatest mountains in the world like a Ball. And I finde it in an expression of Anselem It shall be such power as they shall be able to shake the whole earth at their pleasure and we cannot think this incredible upon that ground that was named before there is not so much difference between the raising a thing from the lowest degree of power to the highest possibility as in raising a thing from nothing to the lowest degree of power Suppose a creature had but so much power now as to stir the least mote that is in the Sun to raise this power so high as to stir the whole earth does not require so much power as to make a thing out of nothing and if God do intend to manifest his power in glorifying the Saints and in making of them powerful why should we not think that God will extend that possibility of power that is in the body to that heighth certainly glorious shall be the power of the bodies of the Saints and that is the third thing Fourthly it is sowen a natural body and it shall be raised a spiritual body not that it shall be turned into a spirit It shall remain a body but the spiritualness consists in three particulars First that it shall be in a spiritual condition they shall have no more need of meat or drink or clothes or marriage or the like that now the body stands in need of the Angels themselves shall have as much need of meat and drink and clothes as their bodies shall so says Christ They shall not be married nor given in marriage but they shall be as the Angels in Heaven Secondly the spiritualness of the body consists in the absolute subjection of the body to the spirit as to be fully and absolutely serviceable to the spirits of the Saints which here they are not Here many times is a strife between the spirit and the flesh the spirit is willing when the flesh is not but then there shall be an absolute subjection of the body to the spirit As here the spirit of a carnal man is called flesh because his soul is serviceable to the flesh to make provision for the sins of the flesh his soul is counted carnal the wisdom of the flesh is enmity against God As the soul now is as it were carnal because it is serviceable to the flesh so the body shall be spiritual because it shall be serviceable to the spirit for you to have such a body as to be serviceable to your souls as you would desire it were a great blessing time will come when it shall be so Thirdly the spiritualness of the body consists in the agility of the body the ability it shall have to move up and down which way it will and that suddenly they shall move in the Heavens as the birds do in the ayr I remember an expression that Luther hath that the body shall move up and down like a thought And Augustine saith They shall move to any place they will as soon as they will These words we do not finde in Scripture but lay this for a ground that whatsoever we can expect for the excellency of a body it is that we speak of or beyond it and then we have a great deal of liberty to invent what expressions we can for our comfort certainly there shall be that happiness of the body that shall come to that we speak of or to more Fourthly some make the spiritualness of the body to consist in the transparency of it Aquinas says It shall be so clear and transparent that all the veins and humors and nerves and bowels shall be seen as in a glass Now brethren the reasons why God will reward the Saints in this part are First because humane bodies as well as humane souls have an hypostatical union with the second person of the Trinity and therefore God rejoyces to raise humane bodies as well as humane souls unto happiness Secondly Christ suffered so much in his body therefore God will glorifie the bodies of the Saints Thirdly our bodies are part of the members of Christ our bodies are joyned in a mystical union with Jesus Christ Fourthly our bodies are the temples of the Holy Ghost and God will glorifie his own temples Fifthly our bodies are in part sanctified as well as our souls and therefore shall also be glorified Lastly our bodies shall be glorified for the further terror and confusion of the damned because they in their bodies shall see the glory of the Saints and be confounded Here you see a way to get your bodies in a blessed condition here is a stir for clothing of our bodies but there shall be a cloathing with immortality you that have sickly and weak bodies remember this you shall one day receive your bodies in another maner then you have them now Eusebius tels us of one of the children of the Macchabees that were put to death for the profession of the truth when they cut off his members says he I have received these from Heaven and now I do give them unto the God of Heaven and I hope I shall have them again Let us be willing to put our bodies to pain if our bodies suffer hunger or thirst or nakedness or be tyred or suffer Imprisonment or any violence be offered to our bodies in the cause of God What great matter is it we shall receive our bodies in another maner The overcoming of the flesh is the destruction of it but the overcoming the flesh is the glory of it When we speak of the happiness of our souls we are not so capable of it but when we speak of the happiness of our bodies we are sensible of that Now certainly there shall be much more for our bodies here is a way to provide for your bodies Lay up provision for your flesh is spoken as an argument of a carnal heart in Rom. 13. 14. the Apostle exhorts them not to make provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof but there is a way of laying up provision for the flesh that is lawful and that this day I exhort
appears to be in others prating of him but now when men do not understand any great good in themselves then they account the evil of the world despising them a great evil Many men judge of themselves rather by the esteem other men have of them then by any good they know in themselves and no marvel though these men be so much troubled at other mens despising of them If a Merchant have a Ship come home laden with many thousand pounds worth of rich Commodities though his Servant should do something amiss that day he would not be froward at it but pass it by because he hath such great profit and good coming in so the evils of the world are nothing in comparison to that soul that knows the great things of the Kingdom of God to be its own Thirdly there is a mighty deal of power in it because this respect unto the recompence of reward does so much take up the faculties of the soul the intention of the minde being taken up about so great an object other things are not minded in comparison and this is the reason why those that are in a phrensie are insensible of what you do unto them because their mindes are taken up about that which they apprehend so strongly as nothing else is minded by them and if there was any object made known to take up the minde of man it must be such great things as these made certain and real to the soul by faith It is a property peculiar to God that though he hath many glorious things that he exercises his wisdom about yet he does minde the least thing the least creature in the world as much as if there were nothing else to minde but no creature can do so no creature can minde great things with intention of minde and yet minde inferior things with any strength of intention too but if he mindes great things with intention other things must be lightly minded An Ecclesiastical Historian tells us of the Christians they did so minde the glory of God and the glory of Heaven as that the pains they suffered were as in the bodies of other men and not in their own bodies It is reported of Archimides who was a great Mathematician that when the City was taken wherein he was and the Warlike instruments of death clattering about his ears and all was in a tumult yet he was so busie about drawing his lines that he did not know there was any danger and heard no noise If such objects as these can take up the intention of the minde so as not to minde other things then much more such an object as eternal life and eternal glory and happiness And therefore that place is very observable in 2 Cor. 4. 16. We faint not in our sufferings because we look not at things that are seen but at things that are not seen We are so intense about Heaven and the glory of God that we do not give a look at things that are seen So in Heb. 11. 15 16. They were not so much as mindeful of that Countrey from whence they came because they sought a Countrey that was better and heavenly It is a notable expression that Basil hath concerning the Martyrs says he They do not look at the danger they are in but at the crown And again he says They do not look at the Officers and Executioners that are whipping of them but they look to the Angels that are giving acclamations and that are encouraging of them As a carnal heart a man that mindes earthly things his minde is so taken up about them because they are an object suitable to him as when all the glory of God and of Christ and of Heaven is set before him he lets it pass without any minding so a gracious heart that by faith can see into the reality of the glory of Heaven and eternal life so taken up with them as not to minde earthly things and that is the third particular Fourthly the respect unto the recompence of the reward hath a mighty power to carry on the soul in a way of suffering because the soul by this comes to see how infinitely well pleased God is with it and with that it undertakes for his names sake in suffering any thing in his cause and this does mightily prevail with a gracious heart If God does but give his command to do a thing this might be enough to shew Gods good pleasure in that action but when with command God reveals such infinite glorious things that he will reward that action withal this discovers more of the infinite good pleasure of God so that the soul in this does not onely see its own happiness but sees the infinite good pleasure of God in it and reasons thus How hath God set his heart upon me And what infinite good pleasure is it that he takes in that I poor worm shall suffer for his names sake when he does not onely tell me it is according to his will but he hath such infinite glorious things to reward that I do except his heart were much upon it taken with it there would never such great and glorious things have been for the rewarding of it but in that these things are so revealed and I in some measure see them I cannot but think God takes infinite delight in these sufferings for his names sake God forbid that any thing in the world should take off my heart from that which I see God takes such infinite pleasure in when a gracious heart shall see God holding forth a crown to set on his head in suffering it sets the soul on fire in suffering for God if thou hadst onely given forth thy command it had been enough to make all creatures obedient to thee but that thou shouldest manifest thy self thus to crown them with this glory and to lay up these treasures of the riches of thy glory for them Who would not do and suffer any thing in thy cause O blessed God! The fifth particular wherein the power of this argument consists is the abundance of sweet that there is in the hope of this reward to fill the heart with joy and peace the more joy and peace the heart is filled withal the more certainly it is able to do great things So Nehemiah tells the people when he would have them rejoyce The joy of the Lord is your strength Neh. 8. 10. When as the heart is strengthned with joy it is able to do mighty things now the hope of these glorious things do mightily fill the heart with joy and so strengthens the heart A man that hath his body strong he can endure cold and bear great burthens that a weak body cannot bear and nothing strengthens the heart more then this joy of the Lord where the heart is filled with it Vessels that are empty will soon be broke with the heat of the fire which they will not be if they be full this hope
therefore they cannot hold out in the time of danger To conclude all we see what will do it what will carry us through sufferings Let us make use of this argument and not look upon the greatness of our sufferings to think my sufferings are greater then others but rather let us look up on high to our God and the greater things that are prepared for us As St. Augustine speaking to a Christian that was to suffer Do not so much attend what punishment thou hast what share thou hast in the whip or in correction but what thou hast in the Testament in Gods Word what is revealed there for tby encouragement And labor to have the light within you or else all will never do though many things have been revealed to your eyes and so you may have light outwardly yet if you have not the inward light this outward light will never strengthen you to hold out And labor for faith to put life in all these arguments that have been spoken of unless faith come and breathe the breath of life upon them they will all lie dead Labor that nothing be between your eye and Heaven and if any thing of the world or vain reasonings shall come between your eye and Heaven labor to remove it keep all clear that upon the turning of your eye you may see beyond the vail and be not onely thinking of these things and make them lively by faith but let your conversation be much in heaven sending up your spirits to heaven and opening your hearts to receive the influence of heaven and then you will be able to endure what God calls you to Who knows what God will call us to God is stirring in the world as if he intended to do some great things in the world and therefore we had need of strong arguments to keep our hearts close to him when many thousand hypocrites shall fall And thus we have finished four things in the opening of this point First that there is a reward for Gods people Secondly how far they may have respect to this reward Thirdly what the reward is Fourthly wherein the power of having respect to this reward lay to undergo any suffering Now the fifth thing that remains is the Application of all that hath been said And if there be such a glorious reward for the people of God then in the first place the offence of the cross is taken away let us be ashamed ever to be hindred in the way of God because of the cross because of any thing we shall suffer in the way of God when as there is such a glorious reward hereafter No storm of the raging Sea should terrifie us considering that everlasting calm that is a coming says Jerome Let no man speak hardly of Gods ways any more I remember I read of St. Augustine before his conversion he said he was convinced of the ways of God but says he I did not like to go through those straits He found the ways of God difficult and that he was like to suffer much and that hindred him and so it does many they see straits they must deny themselves and suffer hard things and upon this they are hindred but let us never be hindred more by this seeing there are such great things revealed of the reward of Gods people hereafter Why should we be so shy of the way afflictions that lead thither is not here enough to pay for all God will not says Lactantius have the path that leads to this immortal blessedness be a delicate path Certainly if any of you should be hindred from the ways of God by any hardship you are like to meet withal how will this confound you when God shall come and say Did not I shew unto you those glorious things I intended for my people and was not all that sufficient to draw your hearts over these difficulties In the Primitive times the offence of the cross was taken away after once they came to be enlightned in such glorious things as these in Heb. 10. 32. Call to remembrance the former days in which after you were illuminated you endured a great fight of afflictions before they were not able to indure that fight of afflictions but after they were illuminated they were so howsoever you might have some hard thoughts of the ways of God before yet now being illuminated having the light of this blessed truth of the reward that is to come revealed to you be willing to endure any fight of afflictions do not look at this stumbling block look up to Heaven and that wil keep you from stumbling When men walk upon the earth if they look upward they may stumble upon stones blocks but it is otherwise in our walking in Religion our looking upwards to heaven does keep us from stumbling Wisdom is on high the way of the righteous is a high way he is lifted above all stumbling blocks by looking at this recompence of reward St. Paul when he had his thoughts about this says he Neither life nor death principalities nor powers nor any thing should be able to separate him from the love of God Secondly if there be such a glorious reward consider that this is a mighty aggravation of the evil of sin that when God hath revealed himself so gracious as to lay up such glorious things for those that walk in the way of obedience for any after this yet to embrace the ways of sin must needs aggravate the horrid and desperate wickedness of mans heart There is evil enough in sin though we should lose nothing by it that it is a disobedience to God a breach of the Law and going against the minde of God but for men to venture upon the ways of sin although they know they shall lose such an infinite good as this is here is not onely desperate wickedness but desperate folly it is a sign that mans heart is desperately set upon sin that he wil go on in sin though it be with the loss of all this glory and these blessed things I remember Ambrose reports of one Theotimus that having a disease upon his body and the Physitian told him Except he did abstain from intemperance drunkenness or uncleanness he was like to lose his eyes his heart was desperately fet upon his sin that he said Farewel sweet light then as if he should say I must have my pleasure in that sin if I must lose my eyes then farewel eyes farewel the light I suppose there is none of you dare reason thus desperately when we come to you in the name of God and speak of some particular sin that your consciences tell you you are guilty of and profess unto you as in the name of God that that way you take cannot stand with eternal life that you must eternally perish and lose all that happiness that God hath prepared for the Saints perhaps none dare say Farewel God and Christ and eternal life and