of Mr. Rutherford were these Glory glory dwells in Emmanuels land We should pray for the clearest sights and prospects that may be of the heavenly glory The clearer sights we can get of eternal things the more shall we finde our hearts crucified to the things of time and the more shall we finde our hearts carried up aloft to those things that are above even whilst we are fain to use these other things for our present necessitie We come now to the Reasons of the Doctrine why we ought to lay hold on eternal life Reason 1 1. This life is a short transient thing it soon glides and slips away How soon do we pass from one state to another from infancie to childhood from thence to youth thence to grown age and from thence to old age and death My days are swifter then a weavers shuttle Job 7.6 Swifter then a post they go away Job 9.25 This life is a vanishing thing it is an easie prospect to see to the end of it the longest life here on earth is nothing to eternity Therefore since this life is so shppery short and uncertain it is our great wisdom to set our hearts upon that life that is solid durable permanent What wisdom is it to set our hearts upon that which is not perminent We have here no continuing city Heb. 13.14 Thsi life is madeup of changes and vicissitudes and abides in no consistency it is our great concernment to minde that life which is stable and enduring Reason 2 2. Eternal life is that state that we must rest and abide in That life which we shall live in the other world will always stick and abide by us as we are then we shall ever be It is not so with us now we are not now as we shall ever be we are still changing from one state to another But eternal life is that state we shall always rest and abide in When once we are entred into eternal life we may say It shall never be otherwise with me then now it is this is the state I must take up with and thus it shall be for ever Now doth it not become us to be reaching out in our souls after this state Certainly we ought to overlook this life and the whole of our time as a little short thing and fasten our eyes upon the unchangeable state above where we must six and abide for ever We look not to the things that are seen for they are temporal but to the things which are not seen for they are eternal 2 Cor. 4.18 Reason 3 3. Eternal life is the onely true life it is the most noble and excellent life What a poor life is this life to converse with this world and the things of it in comparison of eternal life in which we shall converse with God and the holy Angels What a poor life is this life which is made up of wants of sorrows of complaints of miseries of distresses of he constant fear and expection of death in comparison of that life where there is all joy no sorrow all fulness no want all satisfaction no complaint all happiness no misery all life no death nor fear of death Oh this is the life that we should be suspiring and breathing after Reason 4 4. We ought to lay hold on eternal life because the thoughts and expection of eternal life will carry us up above the difficulties troubles and afflictions of this life He that seeth the Port before him though he be out at Sea and is tossed with waves and tmepests yet he knows if he can get safe to the Port all is quiet placid and serene there He that hatha prospect by the eye of Faith of eternal life and the heavenly Country though he be tossed up and down with many afflictions tryals and distresses here yet he knows all is tranquil and serene above Ibi nulla mors nulla aegritudo There is no sickness no death The thoughts of eternal life may well swallow up all our afflictions This life is but for a moment in eternal life there shall be none of these things to trouble or disquiet us Let us wait patiently for the blessed hope and the revelation of eternal life and we shall know these sorrows no more Reason 5 5. If we lay hold on eternal life death will be no surprise or terror to us when this life fails we shall have another life in view nay we shall feel the beginningso f another life in us This is eternal life to know thee c. Joh. 7.3 So much as we know God adhere to him rest in him live upon him and are satisfied with him we have the beginning of eternal life and this is such a life as shall never end That natural life which is in a Saint fails and must have anend Oh! but there is in his soul the seed of eternal life Joh. 4.14 The water that I shall give shall be in him a well of water springing up to everlasting life A true Believer hath the Spirit of God an the grace of the Spirit dwelling in him and this is the seed o eternal life The Spirit of God which hath begâ—â— the knowledge of God and love to God in the soul of a Saint here on earth will continue that knowledge of God and love to God in the soul to eternity yea in eternal life this knowledge this love shall be perfected and consummated Hence is that of the Apostle Rom. 8.10 The body is dead because of sin but the spirit is life because of righteousness The body dies and the life of it perisheth and vanisheth away but the spirit the soul of a Saint which is the seat of Grace and the habitation of the Spirit of God continueth and lives when the life of the body ceaseth If the soul should dye with the body then grace it self must be extinct and perish But saith the Apostle the spirit is life because of righteousness The spirit of a godly man having a principle of righteousness in it continues in being and the spiritual life of it remains when the body dyes It is true the soul of a wicked man is immortal and continues to live when his body dyeth but the life which remains to a wicked man after this life being a life of misery and torment the Scripture chooseth to call it by the name of death rather then of life But a godly man enjoys an happy and a blessed life in his soul when this life ceaseth Hence is it that we read of the spirits of just men made perfect Heb. 12.23 And Paul desired to be dissolved and to be with christ which was far better Phil. 1.23 Now when we feel such a life in us as cannot expire neither can be taken away from us why should we fear death Luther observes that the great cause why men fear death is a secret suspition that lyes at the bottom of their hearts Quasi non semper victuri as if they should not
some knowledge of God and Christ at first but we must labour to come to a more accurate exact knowledge of God and Christ 3. The Apostle would have them come to the riches of the full assurance of understanding 1. Here is riches that sets forth copiousness and abundance The Apostle would not have them have some slender tastes of God and Christ onely but he would have them inriched with the knowledge of God and Christ Phil. 1.9 This I pray that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgement 2. He would have them labour to attain unto the greatest certainty and assurance in their knowledge he would have them come to the riches of the full assurance of understanding This full assurance of understanding I take to be opposed to wavering and to doubting The Apostle would have us to come to a certainty in our knowledge A Christian should not be fluctuating and hesitating in his thoughts concerning God and Christ but he should endeavour to come to this that he may be able to say Upon this bottom I can live and dye that which I know concerning God and Christ is such a bottom that I can venture my hope my happiness my all upon This I take to be the meaning of that expression the full assurance of understanding Now these are the things above that we are to seek and to set our affections upon viz. God and Christ our thoughts are to be conversant about these things we ought to be taken up in the study of the mystery of God and Christ and then do we seek the things that are above when we converse much in our thoughts with God and Christ 2. By the things above we are to understand the glory and blessedness of heaven by the things above saith a Learned man we are to understand the kingdom of heaven Davenant the beatifical vision of God those joys which the saints shall one day partake of with Christ their head and the holy angels We ought to seek the things which are above as much as if he should say we ought to minde the glory and blessedness of the future state This is also to be gathered from the context If ye be risen with Christ seek the things which are above where Christ sits at the right hand of God as much as if the Apostle should say When I speak of the things above I intend nothing else but such things as are in Heaven such things as Christ injoys in the presence of the Father Seek the things which are above where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God It is as much as if the Apostle had said consider what it is Christ now injoys in the presence of the Father consider what glory Christ is possessed of Christ is above sorrow above pain above misery above death Christ enjoys perfect happiness in the presence of the Father now consider what Christ injoys and these are the things which are above This is manifest to be the Apostles scope from the fourth verse When Christ who is our life shall appear then shall we also appear with him in glory It is as much as if it had been said Christ is now in glory and we shall one day be made like our Head we also shall appear with him in glory The Apostle would have us to minde this to think what that glory is that Christ our head is possessed of and what the glory is we shall be brought unto in conformity to Christ our Head the Head and Members must be like one another if Christ be now in glory the same glory is prepared for all that are Christs and this appears from our Saviours last prayer The glory which thou gavest me I have given them that they may be one even as we are one Joh. 17.22 Therefore look what glory Christ as man and Head of the Church injoys we in our measure shall have a share in if we be Christs and Members of his Body This then we are to understand by the things above the glory and blessedness of the future state I have often thought there is nothing we are more wanting and defective in then this viz. in studying and contemplating what the glory and blessedness of the future state is we stick in present sensible things and do not elevate our hearts to the future glory but we ought to be of another frame 2 Cor. 4. Paul tells us He looks to the things which are not seen that is unto the things of the invisible world to the glory of heaven and the blessedness of the Saints there elsewhere he saith He reckons that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us Rom. 8.18 that was an argument he had his heart taken up with the glory of that state 3. By the things above we may understand the life and imployment of the saints in heaven and our communion with God in heaven we ought to seek the things above that is we ought to think much of our future life and consider what our life and imployment in eternity is like to be though this be of near affinity with the former because our happiness in heaven and the glory and blessedness of that estate consists in the life we shall live there yet we may consider this under a distinct head and the distinct consideration of this will help to illustrate the former particular The Apostle tells us when we are absent from the body we shall be present with the Lord 2 Cor. 5.8 From this Scripture we may argue If when we are absent from the body we are present with the Lord then there is a life in which the soul shall live with God when it is in a separate state from the body a life that we shall live in the Divine Presence Now this is to seek the things that are above to consider what the life is that we shall live in the presence of God and the holy Angels when we have laid down this burden of flesh and are discharged from the body of death and shall be made free among the heavenly Society and admitted into the number of the Spirits of just men made perfect to know what our life and imployment shall be in that state this is to seek the things which are above Though we cannot comprehend fully and perfectly what this life will be yet we may understand a little of it as the Scripture doth reveal it the Scripture teacheth us thus much that hereafter we shall walk by sight 2 Cor. 5.7 Now we walk by faith not by sight That intimates when the life of faith ends then the life of sight and vision begins Here indeed we live the life of faith hereafter we shall live the life of sight and vision Matth. 5.8 Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God The Scripture teacheth us when we shall appear we shall be
and of Christ but we should pray for spiritual sense and experience as well as knowledge O taste and see that the Lord is gracious the more experimental sense we have of the sweetness of God and Christ in our own souls here on earth the more ardent will our defires be after the full injoyment of him in heaven and the more shall our hearts be fixt and set upon the contemplation of what we shall there injoy 3. Another great impediment of Heavenly-mindedness is sensuality and too much addictedness to present things It is the property of sensuality to be conversant about present things The Schools observe the motions of sensuality do tend to such things onely as are delectable to the outward senses sensuality mindes nothing but the delights of the body Now this principle of sensuality pulls us down so much to these inferiour things which are present and occur to sense that we cannot rise up in our thoughts to things that are absent and out of sight Sensuality is like a plummet of lead that hangs upon the soul and presseth it down and hindereth it from rising up unto its proper object it hinders the soul from ascending unto the contemplation of God and eternal things Austin If the minde have that from whence it may be delighted from without it will remain without delight from within Sensuality is a strong and forcible principle it carries us with a great force and violence and with a great impetuousness to those things that delight the senses and so strong is the power of sensuality that it oftentimes captivates the will and understanding and draws those superiour faculties of the soul after it so strongly is sense bent and set upon its object that it violently hurries the understanding and will and causes the minde to think of nothing else and the will to pursue nothing else but what sense is inclined unto When the soul is in this hurry it cannot be free for the contemplation of heavenly things holy contemplation requires a free sedate serene and well-composed soul When the soul is bent downward to temporal and earthly things it cannot rise up to the contemplation of eternal things 4. Another impediment of Heavenly-mindedness is unmortified lust When the Apostle had exhorted us here in the Text To seek the things which are above he bids us in the next place to mortifie our members which are upon the earth Intimating this that without the mortification of our lusts we shall never be fit to practice the great duty of Heavenly-mindedness Mortifie your members which are upon the earth Why members on the earth because corrupt lusts they do always tend to earthly things and they do detain and keep the minde to earthly things onely Now these fleshly lusts they are said to war against the soul 1 Pet. 2.11 One unmortified lust draws the strength of the soul after it and therefore they are said to war against the soul Fleshly lusts hinder the soul in the pursuit of its great interest the great interest of the soul is to injoy God and maintain communion with God Now unmortified lust carries the strength of the soul another way and so it hinders the soul in its ascent to the chief good 5. Another impediment of Heavenly mindedness is multiplicity of worldly business and immoderate cares about the things of this life Luk. 21.34 Take heed lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness and cares of this life and so that day come upon you unawares Here are two impediments of Heavenly-mindedness spoken of by our Saviour The first is sensuality comprehended in those words Take heed lest your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness A man that is given up to those lusts surfeiting and drunkenness is a sensual-minded man he is drowned in sensuality The other impediment is the cares of this life When a man is opprest with worldly care this hinders him in his preparation for death and judgement A man that is involved in multiplicity of worldly business and opprest with earthly cares hath no time or leasure to think of his soul to meditate on eternity and to contemplate the things of the other world His head and heart is so full of other things that he hath no time or leasure to minde eternal things It is the wisdom of a man that would keep his spirit free for God not to thrust himself into more worldly incumbrances then needs he must It is true if God call a man to more then ordinary work or business if his call be clear he may expect so much the more grace and assistance for God is not wont to be wanting to us when he gives us a call but when a man out of a covetous humour grasps at more then he is able to manage without prejudice to his spiritual state and calling as a Christian this oftentimes proves a great snare and a great impediment to Heavenly-mindedness It is true there is a double extreme Too much business or too little it is the will of God we should walk in a particular Calling and be diligent in it Christianity is no patron to idleness But then as the neglect of a lawful Calling is one extreme so too much worldly business too much incumbrance about earthly things more then we are called to is another extreme and oftentimes proves a great impediment to Heavenly-mindedness How is it possible a man should be free for God and heavenly things that is wholly drunk up and immers'd in the cares of the world 6. Another impediment of heavenly-mindedness is inordinate affection to lawful things When a man loves lawful things inordinately and too much this is a great impediment to heavenly-mindedness If any thing have more of the heart then God and Christ that must needs hinder the ascent of the soul to its proper object Where a mans treasure is there will his bea rt be if a mans treasure be above if he account it his great happiness to live with God and to enjoy him for ever such a man will keep his heart free for God A man who is heavenly-minded whose treasure and happiness is in heaven is most careful to keep his heart free for God he is most curious and jealous over his affections fearing lest any thing should have that room and place in his affection that should be reserved for God and Christ When we let out our affection inordinately beyond due bounds and measure when we over-love the creature and over-delight in the creature this is a great impediment to heavenly-mindedness Nothing can be that to us which God and Christ is nothing ought to be that to us which God and Christ is Holy and experienced souls are wont to say as Austin doth There is no reward more sweet to be had from God then God himself whatever God gives thee beside himself is less then himself Now when we set up the creature in the place of God and
live always If I am sure to live why do I fear death If we lay hold on eternal life and finde the beginnings of that life in our souls we have that life set up in us which cannot expire Joh. 6.44 He that eats my flesh and drinks my bloud hath eternal life How can that be lost which is eternal that which is eternal cannot be lost It is a great skill to be able to distinguish between this natural life which we live in common with other men and that spiritual life which we live as Christians The natural life of a Saint is subject to death as other mens is although the curse of it be taken away but there is a life in a Saint and that is the life which he lives in and by the Spirit of God and this is such a life as cannot be extinguished We should labour for that spiritual skill as to be able to distinguish between these two kindes of life and not be without hope as other men when this natural life ceaseth we should remember there is a life in us that cannot dye If we have begun to know God to love God to live upon him and to live to him here on earth we shall not cease to know him to love him to live upon him to live to him in eternity and to eternity Vse 1 1. We come now to the Uses of this Doctrine and there are onely two that we shall make of it The first Use shall be of Reprehension If we ought to lay hold on eternal life two things are hence to be reprehended 1. That we are so much taken up in following this world and in the pursuit of temporal things 2. That we are so much addicted to the love of this life I. We are to be reprehended that we are so much taken up in following this world and in the pursuit of temporal things Lay hold on eternal life If we ought to lay hold on eternal life then we ought to live above the world and contemn it The eager pursuit of this world is most contrary to our laying hold on eternal life We cannot pursue two things at once while we are pursuing hard after the world we must needs let Heaven and Salvation go The greatest part of men think not on eternal things they live as if they were always to live here on earth they never think of a future state nor do they provide for it But if we ought to lay hold of eternal life if that ought to be the mark and scope in our eye that shews that we are far wide of that which ought to be our true mark and scope when we are wholly taken up with temporal things and neglect eternal II. We are to be reprehended that we are so much addicted to the love of this life We are commanded to love eternal life and to lay hold on that but we are found of this life and loth to part with it He is a rare soul that is satisfied with life here on earth and hath such an apprehension of the reality and excellencie of eternal life that this life groweth out of esteem with him I grant that this natural life is a blessing as other temporal blessings are but as it is possible for us to love other things too much so it is possible yea too common to love this life too much and it is the wisdom of God to imbitter this life to us by many afflictions because we are so fond of it and that he may weary us out of it and cause us to long for that which is the true life Vita longa long a infirmitas a long life is a long infirmity and we may adde Longa tentatio a long temptation What is our whole life but a life of tryals and temptations It is true we may value and prize life for these two ends 1. To work out our Salvation to make ready for the coming of the Bridegroom 2. That we may do some work and service for God that we may glorifie him upon the earth and finish the work that he hath given us to do But to be over-fond of this life meerly for lifes sake is a certain signe of unbelief It is a signe we have little knowledge of another life little acquaintance with eternal life Had we a prospect by faith of a better and more excellent life we should not be so over fond of this life Vse 2 2. By way of Exhortation to exhort us all to put the duty of the Text in practice Let us labour to lay hold on eternal life Oh! let us labour to call up our hearts from visible things to invisible from present things to future from momentary things to eternal the things of the other world are never the less real because they are out of sight Atheists think that eternal life and all future things are but a fiction but we may use to them that Speech of Cyprian In aeternam poenam serò tandem credent qui in aeternam vitam credere noluerunt Cyprian They shall believe too late to their eternal torment who would not believe to eternal life But let Atheists and Scoffers say what they please we do know or ought to know that eternal life is the greatest reality God that cannot lye hath promised us eternal life Titus 1.2 The great promise of the Gospel is eternal life 1 Joh. 2.25 This is the promise that he hath given to us eternal life Unless we make God to be a lyar we must take eternal life for the greatest reality In the prosecution of this Use I shall onely propound some Directions for the better putting in practice of this duty to shew us how we ought to lay hold of eternal life 1. Let us have great and admiring thoughts of eternal life We should labour to have our hearts raised up with the consideration of the excellencie of this life Quanta erit illa faelicitas ubi nullum erit malum nullum latebit bonum Aug. Civit. Dei. How great shall that happiness be where there shall be no evil present and no good shall be wanting where we shall be wholly taken up in the praises of God and God shall be all in all we shall see and love love and praise as Austin expresseth it This natural life which now we live is not worth the name of life in comparison of eternal life nay it deserves to be called a death rather then a life for we always carry about sin with us which is the matter cause of death But in eternal life we shall not onely be free from sorrow but from sin the cause of sorrow yea we shall be free from the possibility of sinning Mans first happiness in the state of Innocencie was posse non peccare a power not to have sinned His last happiness in Heaven is non posse peccare not to be able to sin at all Though man in his first estate was endowed with such a power