the Heavenly Canaan lyes through the Briars and Thorns of afflictions and that through many Tribulations we must expect to enter into the Kingdom of God We may learn from them that it is possible for poor frail Men to overcome all the Rage and Cruelty of the World that the greatest Torments may be patiently endured and that Christ can Ride Triumphant on such poor Worms as we are and by the weakest conquer all the strength and power of the World The same Spirit that animated and enabled them is yet alive to Cloath us with like Magnaminity and Resolution the Captain of Salvation is the same the Spiritual Weapons that we are to fight with are the same the promises of Spiritual supplies and supports are the same why then should Christians now despond or despair of like success and victory How many of the Primitive Saints did trend in their steps despising Torments and trampling on Death it self Justin Martyr * In dial cum Tryph. Jude◠applies that of Micah 4.4 to the Christians of his time he thus Addresses to the Enemies of the Church saying You behead us burn us and in several other ways kill us but yet you cannot make us afraid or destroy us When the Devil raged in the Roman Heathen Emperour Rev. 12.1.2 3 4. A great Red Dragon standing before the Church that was as a Woman in Travel to devour her Man-Child to destroy any Christians as soon as they were Spiritually brought forth to Christ yet this did not hinder Men from Embracing and Professing Christianity v. 11. but they overcame all the threatnings and cruelty of the World by the Blood of the Lamb and the word of their Testimony and they leved not their lives unto the death Cyprian said of old Nos Christiani Spiritu magis viventes sumus quam Corpore We Christians do live rather in our Spirits than in our Bodies They did estimate and value the life of their Better and despise the life of their Baser part Arnobius contr Gentes tells the Heathen You benefit and not hurt us by killing of us our Souls are in our Bodies as in a dark Prison and by Martyring of us you do but pull down the Walls of our Prison and let in the pure and comfortable light upon us What a great Speech is that of Ignatius in Epist ad Rom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Now being bound in Christ I learn to desire no worldly or vain thing He intimates he was weaned from and dead to all things in this World And doth not the same Spirit dwell and act in all the Saints of God How then should we trust upon the same Spirit for the same quickning Courage and Strength Direction 7. We must look beyond this World and above our ill Treatment and Usage here Faith sees him that is invisible Heb. 11.27 and causes the Soul to look at the things that are not seen 2 Cor. 4. last Though Christ be withdrawn from the Eye of Sense and Heaven be behind the Vail far removed from the Apprehensions of the Natural Man yet Faith can pierce the Heavens behold the Churches King there in his Glory and see that goodly Heavenly Canaan that is afar off Isa 33.17 If your Eye doth not go out of the World your Hearts will not go beyond it and if your Eye and Hearts do not pass out of this World you will never be willing to go without the Camp to Jesus It is Faith that must survey that glorious City that is above and make report of it to the Soul It is the Belief of what is testified of it in the Scripture that must animate the Soul to overcome all the Dangers and Difficulties that are in the way to it You must listen to what the Word declares concerning this excellent City Glorious things are spoken of this Heavenly Zion the City of our God Christ mentions it as an excellent Privilege to have the Name of the City of his God to be written on any Man and for him to be reputed a Citizen of the New Jerusalem Rev. 3.12 I will write upon him that overcomes the Name of the City of my God There is no Temple or need of the Light of the Sun or of the Moon in this City God is All here to his People to their Souls without Ordinances and to their Bodies without Creatures Rev. 21.22 23. This is a most rich and self-sufficient City it needs not Provisions to be brought in from without the Tree of Life grows in it Rev. 22.1 2. and a River of pure Living Water issues from the Throne of God and of the Lamb. The Fruit of this Tree of Life and this River of Living Water will make a delicious and eternal Feast to all the Inhabitants of this Blessed City Look for this abiding City that hath Foundations Heb. 11.10 Heb. 13.14 from whence all Sorrow Pain Misery and Death are banished for ever and where fulness of joy doth dwell and rivers of spiritual pleasures do flow for evermore All Gods Children shall be gathered into their Fathers House all his Subjects shall be taken into and shall dwell in the Kings Palace And Gods Palace is not like the Great Turk's Seraglio * Turkish Seragl at the end of Tavernier 's Travels which one ingeniously calls a Paradise for one but a Prison to all others that reside in it But this Royal Mansion of the King of Glory is not only a Paradise to Christ but to all his Members they enjoy the Riches partake of the Honours and taste the Pleasures of it Let Faith pass within the Walls and walk in the Streets of this heavenly Jerusalem O! strive by a Spiritual Eye to see the true King Solomon wearing his Glittering and Glorious Crown though men hid their Faces from him as a Leper trod on him as a Worm despised and abbhored him Is 49.7 yet he was glorious in the Eyes of the Lord God the Father received him into Heaven and welcomed him thither with these Honourable Words Sit thou on my Right Hand till I make all thy Foes to be thy Footstool Ps 110.1 And as Christ was treated after his Sufferings so will he entertain his People after their Sorrows and Afflictions How welcome will they be to him when they come out of the Field and arrive from off a Stormy and Raging Sea how will he chear and comfort them How kindly will he speak to them What marks of Honour will he put upon them How will he praise their Faith commend their Love approve and applaud their Constancy and Loyalty to him 1 Pet. 1.7 How honourably doth Christ speak of Antipas Rev. 2.13 He Styles him Antipas his Faithful Martyr So Christ will Paint out the Services and Sufferings of his People before his Father he will acknowledge and confess their Names thus These are they that have followed me in a Wilderness that have walked after me in the Valley of the Shadow of Death that have abode with me in
a Crown is laid up 2 Tim. 4.8 an Inheritance is reserved 1 Pet. 1.4 a Rest remains for them Heb. 4.9 While their Bodies feed on God's Creatures their Souls may delight in and feast on their Fathers Love accounting that he gives bread to them that fear him he will ever be mindful of his Covenant Psal 111.5 that he spreads their Table fills their Cup Psal 23.5 annoints their heads and hearts with Oyl of Joy as Ointment was poured on great and noble Guests when they were entertained at a Feast Cant. 1.12 Mat. 26.7 They take all as coming immediately from God Gen. 48.15 The God that fed me all my life long He looks beyond Joseph Egypt and all Creatures he ascends to God as the Priests had the Lord for their Portion he provided and gave maintenance to them the Altar was as it were their Field from whence they had Bread and Flesh Mal. 1.22 therefore what was brought to and laid on it is called the Fruits of it as if it grew there for the Priests that had their Portion of the Sacrifices and are therefore said to live upon holy things and partake with the Altar 1 Cor. 9.13 Even so God is the Portion of his People even in Temporal as well as Spiritual respects Psal 16.5 The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and of my cup. Their very outward Enjoyments are as Shew-bread or Face-bread as it is in the Original Exod. 25.30 They receive them as those Loaves of Shew-bread from the Face of God they see his Face and Love in them and therefore may call them Peniel Gen. 32.30 They take their daily Provision as a Dish sent from their Father's Table as Joseph is said to send Messes from before him to his Brethren Gen. 43. last Their Food is seasoned with the sense of their Father's Love and with the hope of his Kingdom and Glory and so their Sawee is better than their Meat Besides after this Hundred-fold in the present time they are to inherit Everlasting Life Christ saith He that loseth his life shall find it but he that finds it shall lose it Mat. 10.39 David said Died Abner as a fool 2 Sam. 3.33 So I may say Do Saints die as Fools Do they lavish out their Blood and rashly squander away their Lives Surely no they well understand themselves and know what they do if they lose their Lives for Christ they shall find a better Life for their very Bodies They lay down the vile common Plebeian Life of the first Adam but they shall at the Resurrection receive and take up the Honourable Royal and Glorious Life of the second Adam Phil. 3.21 He shall fashion our vile Bodies like his glorious Body If we be faithful to the death we shall receive from Christ the Crown of Life Rev. 2.10 Mark that Expression The Crown of Life This very Life is a Crown it is a Royal Life Rom. 5.17 it is said That they that receive an abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life So that Saints lose a base and common Life and are recompensed with a Kingly Life All Vails shall be taken off all Clouds shall be scattered all Reproaches shall be wiped away from the Saints the righteous shall shine out in the kingdom of their father Matth. 13.43 * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Sun that disperses all Clouds But those that resolve to save their lives shall lose them This is certain that by a fond and sinful sparing of their Lives here they shall cut themselves off from all the Glory and Blessedness that Saints shall enjoy in their Souls and Bodies Hereafter they shall only Be to be Miserable and be continued to endure the Blows of an Almighty Arm to drink the Wine of the Wrath of an Eternal God and this is but a Husk and Carcase of Being Isa 66. last to be preserved to be Fuel of Everlasting Flames This State of the Wicked therefore is not called Life but the second Death yea sometimes in this Life Apostates meet with remarkable and infamous punishment and quickly lose that Life that sinfully they preserved He in Queen Maries days that said See Foxes Acts Monuments he could not burn for the Gospel of which in King Edward's Days he had been a forward Professor was himself and all his House and Family burnt in the Night by a Fire that rose suddenly And the Priest that denied the Truth in France to save his Life and was discharged out of Prison as he was going home met with two Men that had a quarrel with him for merly who fell upon him and killed him See Clarke 's History of the French Martyrs Secondly I shall now lay down some Directions how you may attain such a frame of Spirit as will incline you readily and freely to go forth without the Camp to Jesus Direction 1. Endeavour to get a clear sight of the Shortness of Life and the Vanity of all the Things of this World Surely every man walks in a vain shew Psal 39.6 What is this vain shew I answer It is the Natural Life and the earnest and restless Endeavours of Men about it and for it This Life is but a vain shew of Life as a Shadow that hath the shape of Man's Body but yet is but a vain shew of a Body or a Picture that hath the resemblance of a Man of his Head Face Body Hands and Feet but come to handle it there is nothing but Canvas and Colours there is only a vain shew of a Man and of his Members but no Flesh Bones or Life So this present Life is but a Shadow a vain shew of that true and real Life that flows from Jesus Christ and is to be enjoyed for ever with him And all the Labours and Toil of Men to provide for and maintain this Life is but a vain shew of Business Men seem to do something but indeed do nothing to purpose as long as they neglect theit Souls It is a busie Idleness a laborious doing of nothing just like Children that make Pies build Houses dress Babies and talk over every piece of their Work as if it were some very serious weighty thing and all is but a piece of childish Folly and Vanity When God awakes to judge the World how will he himself despise and render most ridiculous and contemptible to others this Image of worldly men Psal 73.20 How will he deride their Folly that forget their Souls cast God and his Word behind their backs banish the Thoughts of Eternity out of their Minds and satisfie themselves with such a vile Life and such a vain Image of Happiness And the Psalmist in this 39 Psalm ver 6. saith That a worldly Man heaps up Riches and knows not who shall gather them He seems to allude to the Custom of some Countries where the Corn is heaped up and set Artificially in the Field so as to preserve it from Weather till all
though Zion be as a Tabernacle weak and contemptible in the Eye of the World yet its Stakes shall not be removed nor its Cords broken Christ must reign till he hath subdued all his Enemies And though to serve Christ's Kingdom seems to be as the Potter's Vessel and his Enemies seem to have the Rod of Iron to dash it to pieces yet Faith hath another View and Prospect of Things it beholds all the adverse Powers of the World but as a frail Potter's Vessel and Christ as having the Rod of Iron and an Almighty Arm to use it for the dashing of them to pieces This Treatise My Lord that I humbly present to Your Honour is not unseasonable If we look abroad into the World we may perceive that God hath made many Shilohs among the Protestant Churches Jer. 7.12 and he sends us to those Shilohs to behold their Ruines and Desolations We yet stand on the Shore and behold the Shipwracks of others but if he that Parks in the wild Ocean and treads its mountainous Waves into a smooth Plain doth not prevent we may quickly feel and taste the same Fruits of Antichristian Rage Fury My Lord I have Dedicated this small Piece to Your Honour as a Token of my Respects and as a Testimony of my Gratitude to You for Your Favour and Kindness expressed towards me who am one of the meanest of the Servants of Christ As the Sacrifices of the Law did not discharge the Debt of Sinners but were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Col. 2.14 a Hand-writing or Bond by which they confessed themselves obnoxious to God their Great Creditor so I presume not to pay my Debt by offering Your Honour this small Treatise but to recognise my Obligations and to confess my Engagements to Your Lordship That the Wing of Providence may overshadow Your outward and that the Well of Life may refresh Your inward Man That You may be established in the sound Belief and exemplary Practice of Gospel-Truths and so feel the Power and taste the sweetness of them for Your Eternal Comfort and Happiness it is the earnest Desire and it shall be the servent Prayer of Febr. 7. 1681. My Lord Your most Humble and Obliged Servant SAMVEL TOMLYNS Heb. 13.13 Let us go forth therefore unto him without the Camp bearing his Reproach IN the Twelfth Verse the excellent Author of this Epistle speaks of the Sufferings of Christ as prefigured and typified by the solemn Sacrifice for sin that was Offered by the Jewish High-Priest on the day of Attonement That Sacrifice was not offered on the Altar as other Sacrifices were but was burnt without the Camp only the blood of the Sacrifice was brought into the most Holy Place to make Reconciliation for iniquity and for this end was sprinkled on Lev. 16.14 and before the Mercy Seat and the Fat of the Sin-Offerings only was burnt on the Altar Lev. 16.25 but the Flesh and Skins both of the Bullock and of the Goat that were offered for sin were to be carried without the Camp and there to be burnt Lev. 16.27 vid. Lev. 4.12 21. These solemn Anniversary Sacrifices offered on the great day of Attonement being the tenth day of the seventh Month did not only shadow out the Nature of Christ's Sacrifice viz. that he was to be a Sacrifice for sin Isa 53.10 2 Cor. 5. last but did also point at the very place of his Sufferings that he should be carried without the Gates of the earthly Jerusalem and there be put to death When the Israelites were Travellers in the Wilderness the Sacrifice was burnt without the Camp but when they arrived at and were setled in Canaan then the Sacrifice was burnt without the Gates of the City of Jerusalem And Jesus Christ to fulfill this Type suffered without the Gate The Divine Penman of this Epistle proceeds in the words of the Text to improve the Doctrine that he had delivered concerning Christ's suffering without the Gate and on it doth ground an excellent Exhortation and press a weighty Duty to wit To go forth to Jesus without the Camp bearing of his reproach The Sufferings of Christ were not only expiatory but also exemplary they did not only serve to appease God but also to instruct and animate men to tread in his steps to imitate his pattern to bean his Cross As Christ was an Abject so his people must expect to be Out-casts the world that was so unkind to him will not be friendly towards them as he was treated as unworthy to live among men so they must reckon to be cast out as unmeet to be accounted and reputed either as Parts of the Common-wealth or Members of the Church they must look to drink of Christ's Cup and to be baptized with his Baptism Rom. 8.36 1 Cor. 4.9 and so account themselves as Sheep for slaughter as men devoted to death as condemned Malefactors going without the Gate to Execution In the words we may observe these several Parts 1. A Duty urged and enforced on the Hebrews in which the Author of this Epistle doth comprize and comprehend himself Let us go forth to Jesus 2. The place to which they were to go viz. without the Camp 3. We have the difficulty of this Duty and what it will cost us to comply with it we must share in the reproach and ignominy of Jesus Christ To be separated from the world to be exclaimed against to be hooted and pointed at by men to be spoiled imprisoned condemned and executed as vile Hereticks as infamous Malefactors carries in it a great deal of shame in the Eye of sense When the people of God do suffer hard things they that are either actors in their Tragedies or spectators of their Miseries are very prone and ready to conclude that they have committed some great evil of sin and so deserved this evil of punishment I suffer saith Paul 2 Tim. 2.9 as an evil-doer even unto Bonds And Christ foretels to his Disciples that the men of the world should cast out their names as evil Luke 6.22 and elsewhere Matt. 5.10 11. he intimates that Adversaries should revile them and speak all manner of evil falsly against them for his names sake Nothing is more ordinary and common than that the world should calumniate brand and black those that will not wear its Livery and shape themselves after its Manners and Example And in these words bearing of his reproach we may discern and espy a motive and argument secretly couched to encourage and animate them to go forth to Jesus and to bear reproach for it is his reproach we are no worse used and treated than our Lord was we are but conformed to him in ignominy and revilings Was the Prince of life the King of glory thus clouded and eclipsed thus blackt and stigmatized by the world and shall we be tender of our Names shall we doat on our Credit or be fond of our Reputation shall we shrink and recoil from sufferings and
dark hours of Temptation that have passed through Fiery Tryals and have endured great Fights of Affliction have taken joyfully the Spoiling of their Goods that have rejoyced they were accounted worthy to suffer for my Namessake that have not loved their Lives to the Death How will such a Confession of their Names by Christ put Eternal Honour on the Saints O! look beyond this gloomy Valley of the Shadow of Death to an Inheritance in Light Col. 1.12 Look beyond this short Night of Sorrows and Sufferings to the bright and glorious Morning of the Resurrection Ps 49.14 Though Saints now bow down and are laid as the Mire of the Streets Is 51. last Yet the upright shall have Dominion in the Morning they shall tread down the Wicked they shall be as Ashes under the soles of their Feet Ps 45.14 Mal. 2.3 Abigal went forth to David in his Afflicted State 1 Sam. 25.4 14 40 42. Married and followed him in a Wilderness and afterwards did partake of his Honour and Prosperity We read that after Sauls Death he led her out of this Wilderness-state into the Royal City of Hebron 2 Sam. 2.2 Even so if you now go out to Christ while his People are in a Wilderness Afflicted and Persecuted in the world Jesus Christ will make you partakers of his Honour Felicity and Glory The time will come when this Spiritual King David will lead his Afflicted Spouse to his Royal City above will place her at his Right Hand and delight in her as his Hephzibah for ever 8. Direct We must be filled with the Spirit Eph. 5.18 As there is such a strong and swift Current that always runs in at the Straits Mouth into the Mediterranean Sea that a Ship cannot come out at the Straits Mouth if it hath not a good stiff Gale of Wind So truly there is such a strong Torrent of Self-love and Carnal Affections that runs into the Camp of this World that a Soul can never come out to Jesus through the Streights of Afflictions and Sufferings and cross this violent Stream of sinful self-love and worldly lusts if the Sails of our Souls be not mightily filled with the Gales of the Spirit The Hebrews after they were enlightned endured a great fight of Afflictions Heb. 10.32 And who is it that doth enlighten but the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation Eph. 1.17.18 Our sight is cleared and recovered by the Spirits Eye-Salve Rev. 3.18 so that we can see more and further than the rest of the World Hence Saints are called Children of Light Luke 16.8 because they look into and take hold of another world As Stephens Eye was extraordinarily fortified and improved that he could see up into Heaven and behold Jesus at the Right Hand of God Acts 7.55 56. So the Spirit doth so renew and enlighten the Eyes of Saints Minds that they can see Invisible Heavenly and Eternal things And it is this sight that establishes the Heart against the threatnings and terrors of the World That which is born of the Spirit is Spirit John 3.6 that is Such are Spiritual Creatures and are also called Heavenly 1 Cor. 15.48 If you are Spirit you will not lust after and be captivated by Carnal things If you are heavenly Creatures you will not stoop and bow down to this Earth for your Happiness It is by the Spirit that we must mortifie the Deeds of the Body and Members upon Earth Rom. 8.13 Col. 3.5 These lusts that are fixed on fed and filled by Objects on Earth are tempting and drawing down Souls to a Center and Portion here below and it is by the Power of the Spirit only that we can repress and subdue them The Apostle bids Timothy to partake of the Afflictions of the Gospel according to the Power of God 2. Tim. 1.8 If we are to bear them our selves and were left to the frailty of Nature how soon should we be foiled and overcome But Saints by the Spirit and its power are enabled to deny themselves to conquer the Flesh and tread the world under their Feet Christ hath promised not to leave his People comfortless John 14.16 18. but that he would send them the Comforter What the Spirit shews John 16.13.8 Rom. 16.17 Eph. 1.13 testifies seals to the Souls of Believers is sufficient to buoy up the Hearts of Christians against all Temporal Evils If the Spirit could make supply instead of Christs Bodily Presence with his people if it could chear them in the absence and withdrawing of Christs Humane Nature can it not much more comfort us in the absence or loss of outward Enjoyments As a Tree that hath a River at its Root can retain its Verdure and Flourishing Sate though there be a great Drought and no Showers come upon it Jer. 17.8 Ps 5.2 So if we have the Comforter within if we are watered by the Rivers of its Consolations may we not be satisfied from our selves Prov. 14.14 though we have no Showers of worldly comforts or enjoyments If men would stir and labour and thereby excite their Natural Heat they would not absolutely need Fire in the coldest Weather to warm them So if Christians did more stir up Faith and walk in the Comfort of the Holy Ghost Acts 9.31 they would little need or regard the worlds consolations If you be led by the Spirit of Christ it will in some measure work in you as in him it will raise in you such apprehensions and kindle in you such Affections as were found in Jesus He that is joyned to the Lord is one Spirit 1 Cor. 6.17 That is He is of the same Spirit of the same Temper of the same Disposition and Inclinations with Jesus Christ As if the same Soul did animate many Bodies these several Persons would be of the same Will and have the same Affections So the Spirit of Christ dwelling in his People the same will be in them as was found in Jesus Rom. 8.9 Phil. 2.5 O! how freely did Jesus Christ yield himself to sufferings and death Ps 40.7 8. Lo I come I delight to do thy will O God yea thy Law is within my Heart And what was the Will of God that Jesus Christ did delight to do We are told what this Will was in Heb. 10.10 viz. that Jesus Christ should offer his Body once for all How difficult and hard was this Service yet such a Law of Love to the Father and perishing sinners was written in the Heart of Christ that he was straitned till this Bloody Baptism was fulfilled Luke 12.50 Though his Cup of Sufferings was so deep so large tempered with so many bitter Ingredients yet he resigned himself and said Father if this Cup may not pass except I drink of it thy Will be done Matt. 26.42 When Peter tempted him to favour spare and indulge himself he sharply rebuked him and said Get thou behind me Satan thou art an offence to me Matt. 16.22 23. How did Christ deny himself and subject his Will to the Will of God And when Christ was raised from the Dead how did he despise and disdain to be tempted to stay here below by the best things of this World Would the Riches Honours Pleasures of this world then have allured the Eye captivated or chained the Heart of Christ here below Could such things stay or stop detain or six him here below Was he not exceedingly raised in his Mind and Affections above the best things of this world This was his Request and Prayer to the Father Now glorifie me with thy own self with the glory that I had with thee before the Foundations of the World John 17.5 His Mind did soar upwards his Heart did aspire to a heavenly Kingdom and Glory Now if this Spirit of the Lord Jesus do dwell in our Hearts will it not fix our hearts and fortifie our resolutions to go through Fire and Water Floods and Storms for the Honour of God and for the Glory of Christ Shall we be of timerous base dastardly Spirits if the blessed Spirit of Jesus do dwell in us And shall we not slight also and contemn turn our Eyes from and our Backs upon all the Beauty and Excellency of this world if the Spirit hath given us a sight of the Glory of God in the Face of Christ Shall we not cry out to God as the Psalmist Ps 73.25 26. Whom have I in Heaven but thee and there is none on Earth that I desire besides thee How will such a Soul rate away and rebuke tempting Objects and say Get you gone I have fatness and sweetness I have fulness and satisfaction in my Lord Jesus my Eyes are closed against your Beauty my Ears are stopt against your Charms Christ I have chosen and I see no cause to repent of my choice to him therefore will I cleave and stick for ever And that you may obtain this blessed Spirit and all Spiritual good things as flowing from him Bow your Knees to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ And if Parents that are evil do yet know how to give good gifts to their Children much more shall our heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him Luke 11.13 FINIS