Gods children over death Oh death where is thy sting oh grave where is thy victory death is the greatest swallower and yet it is swallowed up by Christ death hath swallowed up all and when it hath swallowed up it keepeth them It keeps the dust of Kings Subjects great and small to the generall day of judgement when death shall be swallowed up of it selfe It is therefore of the nature of those that Solomon speaks of that cry give give and yet is never satisfied like the grave yet this death is swallowed up in victory But how commeth death to be swallowed up Christ will swallow up death in victory for himselfe and his First of all because sin brought in death our Saviour Christ became sinne a sacrifice to his fathers justice for sinne he was made sinne for us he was made a curse for us to take away the curse due to us and sinne being taken away what hath death to doe with us and hell and damnation the attendants on death nothing at all Therefore Coll. 2. upon the crosse Christ did naile the law and sinne and the devill there he raigned over principalities and powers which were but executioners let loose by reason of our sinnes And God being satisfied for sinne the devill hath nothing to doe with us but to exercise us except it be for our good So that he hath swallowed up death because by his death he hath taken away sinne and so the power of Satan whose power is by sinne And therefore it is excellently set downe Heb. 2. 14. He also tooke part of flesh and blood that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death that is the devill So Christ by death overthrew Satan that had the power of death because by death he tooke away sinne the sinnes of all and bare our sinnes upon the crosse and was made sinne for us that knew no sinne he is ours if we believe For then Christ is given to a particular man when hee believes Beloved Christ upon the crosse did triumph over all our spirituall enemies sinne and death and all It was a kingdome of patience You know there is a double kingdome of Christ a kingdome of patience and a kingdome of power Christ on the crosse suffering punishment due to sinne overcame the law and the devill and sinne which is the kingdome of patience the kingdome of power he hath in heaven If Christ were so able in his kingdome of patience to conquer our greatest enemies what will he doe in his kingdome of power As Paul reasoneth Rom. 5. If by his death we are saved much more now he triumphs in heaven and appeares for us is he able to convey greater matters to us If Christ in the daies of his flesh did conquer how glorious will his conquest be at the day of judgement Now Christ hath conquered all in his owne person as our head then he will conquer for us in his mysticall body what is now done in his person shall be done in his members In the meane time faith is our victory his conquest over death our victory his victory over all our spirituall enemies is our victory every one that believeth is a conquerour of death though he die because he sees it conquered in Christ his head and as it is truly conquered in him so Christ will conquer it in all his members For as Christ in his naturall body is gone to heaven there to appeare in our behalfe so shall mysticall Christ be wholly in glory he will not leave a finger we shall all triumph over all our spirituall enemies as Christs naturall body is glorious in heaven as our head so shall also his mysticall body be You see then how death is swallowed up by Christ as our surety as the second Adam upon the crosse and truly swallowed up in him and by faith this victory is ours and time will come when in our owne persons it shall be swallowed up in victory This might be inlarged but I haste to make use of it Marke I beseech you how death is swallowed up by Christ in his owne person for our good he gave a great way to death for death seised on him upon the crosse death severeth soule from body death had him in his owne cabinet his grave for three daies nay this great King and tyrant death had a great conquest over Christ himselfe but here was the glory of this victory when death this great conquerour of the world had Christ upon the crosse and in his owne dominion in the grave where he rules and raignes consuming and swallowing up all death was faine to give up all and Satan thought to have had a great morsell when he devoured Christ but there was an hooke in his divine power that catched him that when he thought to have swallowed up Christ was swallowed up himselfe his head was then broken he never had such a blow as by Christ on the crosse when he was overcome being a scorne of the world visibly yet invisibly in Gods acceptation of that sacrifice and in a spirit of faith Christ triumpheth over Satan death was subdued even in his owne kingdome and that makes the victory great Death by seising on Christ without right Christ hath freed us from the evill of death when it had right to us Death hath lost all its right by fastening on Christ and so is become as a Drone without a sting so the great swallower of all is swallowed up it selfe at last by Christ Now for comfortable use of it First let us consider that God oftentimes giveth a great deale of way to his greatest enemies God useth a stratagem of retiring he seemes to retire and give liberty to his enemies but it is to triumph and trample upon them with greater shame he will tread them to dust afterward Christ gave death a great deale of liberty he was crucified and tormented then had to the grave and there he lay And this was to raise a greater triumph over this great prevailer over the world and death it selfe It is continued so in the Church Doth not he give way to the enemies of the Church they may come to say ahah ahah so would we have it Now the poore children of God are where we would have them but then comes suddaine destruction God to make his victory more glorious and more to discover their cruelty comes upon them when they be in the top of pleasure and the Church in the bottome of abasement then God swalloweth up all in victory as Christ did death when it seemed to have bin it selfe victorious This is a very comfortable consideration for if death be overcome when it seem'd to overcome Christ what need wee feare any other enemy Christ hath broken the net as an Eagle or great bird and the rest escape by him You may inlarge this in your owne meditations hee will swallow up death in victory
and life goeth together with a christian as Christ saith he is the light of the world and the life of the world First light for life commeth with light and light conveyeth life All grace is dropt into the will through the understanding and wheresoever Christ is life he is light because true knowledge is a transforming knowledge but if religion be not knowne to purpose it hardens and makes worse We are now by Gods good providence come to farther businesse to partake of these mysteries yet it should be the desire of our soules that our eyes may be opened that in these divine and precious mysteries he would discover hidden love which is not seen with the eyes of the body they may see and taste and relish his love and goodnesse in Jesus Christ that as the outward man is refreshed with the elements so the inward man may be refreshed with his spirit that they may be effectuall to us that we may justifie the course God takes so farre as to come charitably and joyfully to them THE Fourth Sermon ISAIAH 25. 7 8. I will destroy in this Mountaine the face of the covering cast over all people and the vaile that is spread over all Nations He will swallow up death in victory c. WE have heretofore at large spoken of the spirituall and eternall favors of God set out in the former Verse In this Mountain will the Lord of Hosts make a Feast of fat things While our soule is in the body it is much guided by our fancy spirituall things are therefore presented by outward and conveyed to the soule that way onely we must remember that there is a farre greater excellency in the things themselves than in their representation for what is all Banquets fatnesse with Marrow Wine on the Lees to the joy and sweetnesse of Religion begun here and accomplished in the world to come In Christ there is nothing but all Marrow and sweetnesse in Religion that may refresh a man in the lowest condition if hee can but have a taste of it Now because the spirituall things of Christ doe us no good as long as they are hid therefore the Holy Ghost setteth downe a Promise That God will take away the covering cast on all people and the vaile spread over all Nations But there be some things that will dampe all mirth Now here is security against them that our joy may bee compleat and this in the next verse to which I now come Hee will swallow up death in victory hee will wipe away teares from all faces The Prophet having spoken of a great Feast before an excellent Feast sets forth here the services of that feast what is it that accompanies it First of all there shall be light to discover the excellency of the feast the vaile is taken away and a knowledge given to know divine things in a spirituall manner Then which will damp all feasts the feare of death is taken away He will swallow up death in victory and wipe away all tears that is all sorrow the effect is put for the cause This is an excellent promise an excellent Service in this spirituall banquet Suppose a man were set at a Feast furnished with all Delicates royally attended Cloaths suitable and had a Sword hung over his head ready to fall upon him it would cast such a dampe on his spirit as would spoile the joy of this feast So to heare of Spirituall excellencies and yet death and hell and damnation comming along alas where is the comfort you speake of And therefore to make the feast more perfect there is not onely light and knowledge but removall of it ever may dampe the feast So this must needs come in to comfort all the rest He shall swallow up death in victory and wipe away tears from all faces Death is here represented to us under the word victory as a Combatant as one that we are to fight withall a Captaine And then here is the victory of him Christ overcomes him and overcomes him gloriously It is not onely a Conquest but a swallowing of him up Usually God useth all sorts of enemies in their owne kinde he causeth them that spoile to be spoyled them that swallow up to be swallowed up So Death the great swallower shall be swallowed up Beloved Death is the great King of Kings and the Emperor of Emperors the great Captaine and ruling King of the world for no King hath such Dominion as Death hath it spreads its government and victory over all Nations he is equall though a Tyrant As a Tyrant spares none he is equall in this he subdueth young and old poore and rich he levels Scepters and Spades together he levels all there is no difference between the dust of an Emperor and the meanest man he is a Tyrant that governeth over all And so there is this equity in him he spares none He hath continued from the beginning of the world to this time but he is a Tyrant brought in by our selves Rom. 5. Sin let in Death it opened the doore death is no Creature of Gods making Satan brought in sin and sinne brought in death So that we be accessary our selves to the powerfull stroak of this prevailing Tyrant And therefore sinne is called the cause of death Sinne brought in death and armeth death the weapon that death fights with and causeth great terror it is sinne The cause is armed with the power of the wrath of God for sinne the feare of hell and damnation So that wrath and hell and damnation arming sinne it bringeth a sting of it self and put as venome into death All cares and feares and sorrowes and sicknesses are lesse and petty deaths harbingers to death it selfe but the attendants that follow this great King are worst of all As Rev. 6. I saw a pale horse and death upon it and after him comes hell what were death if it were not for the Pit and Dungeon that followeth it So that death is attended with hell and hell with eternity Therefore here is a strange kind of prevailing There is no victory where there is no enemy and therefore death must needs be an enemy yea it is the worst enemy and the last enemy Death is not planted in the forlorne hope but it is planted at last for the greatest advantage and is a great enemy what doth death It depriveth us of all comfort pleasure communion with one another in this life callings or whatsoever else is comfortable The grave is the house of oblivion Death is terrible of it selfe even to nature as Augustine saith where it is not swallowed up of Christ for it is an evill in it selfe and as I said armed with a sting of sinne after which followes Hell Now this death is swallowed up When the Scripture puts a person upon death it is not uncomly for us to speak as the Scripture doth The Scripture puts a persouupon death and a kind of triumphing spirit in
sendeth his Angels to fetch them and he helps them in their combat we must not therefore feare overmuch There is a naturall feare of death death wrought upon Christ himselfe God-man not only death but such a death he was to be left of his Father and lie under the sense of the wrath of God the seperation of that soule from the body he tooke upon him was terrible and therefore he saith If it be possible let this cup passe from me that was nature and without it he had not bin true man But that I say is that grace may be above nature death is a time of darknesse it strips us of earthly comforts friends callings imployments but then comes the eye of faith to lay hold on the victory of Christ in time to come when death shall be only swallowed up in victory and then the glorious state to come to which death bringeth us so that here faith must be above sense and grace above nature and therefore I beseech you let us labour for it There be two sorts of men to whom I would speake a little First those that in a kind of bravery seeme to slight death men of base spirits as we call them fooles vain-glorious spirits empty spirits Is there any creature unlesse in Christ able groundedly to slight so great an enemy as death armed with a sting of sinne and attended with hell and damnation The Romish and divellish spirits are terrible but if thy sinnes be not pardoned it is the most terrible thing in the world to die for there is a gulfe afterwards what shall we say then of single Combatants that for vain-glory are prodigall of their lives that for a foule word a little disgrace will venture on this enemy that is armed with sinne and if they dye they dye in sinne And which is the miserable condition of him that dyes in sinne his death opens the gate to another death which is eternall They say they have repented but there is no repentance of a sinne to be committed Canst thou repent of a sinne before it bee committed that is but a mockery of God And what saith the Scripture Is it not the most terrible judgement under heaven to dye in our sinnes A man that dyes in sinne dyes in hell he goeth from death to hell and that eternall I wonder therefore that the wisedome of flesh and bloud should take away mens wit and faith and grace and all so much as to slight death and repentance as if it were so easie Now beloved death is a terrible thing it hath a sting and thou shalt know it if thou hast not grace to feele the sting of it whilst thou livest when thou dyest the sting will revive then thy Conscience shall awake in hell Drunkennesse and jollity takes away sense of sinne but sinne will revive and conscience will revive God hath not put it into us for nought death is terrible if not disarmed before hand And if thou goe about to dye without disarming it before it will not be out-faced It is not an enemy to be scorned and slighted and therefore be Christians in good earnest else leave profession and perish eternally for wee must all dye and it is a greater matter than we take it but if we be true Christians it is the sweetest thing in the world an end of all misery a beginning of true happinesse an inlet to whatsoever is comfortable blessed are they that are in the Lord by faith and them that dye in the Lord their death is better than the day of life Our Birth-day brings us into misery and therefore let me speak to true Christians and bid them be ashamed of fearing death too much which of an enemy is become a reconciled friend This may in the next place yeeld great consolation to those that are in Christ Jesus that death by Christ is swallowed up in victory and the rather because the holy Ghost meaneth more than a bare victory over death Death is not onely subdued but is made a friend to us As Psalme 110. it is said his enemies shall bee his footstoole Now a footstoole is not onely trampled upon but an helpe to rise And so death is not onely subdued but it advanceth Gods Children and raiseth them higher It is not onely an enemy but a reconciled friend for he doth that which no friend in the world can doe It ends all our misery and is the inlet into all happinesse for eternity And whatsoever it strips us of here it giveth us advantage of better in another world It cuts off our pleasures and profits and Company and Callings here but what is that to our blessed change afterward to our praysing of God for ever to the Company of blessed soules and the profits and pleasures at the right hand of God for evermore And therefore it is not onely conquered but to shew the excellency of his power hee hath made it a friend of an enemy and the best friend in the world It indeed seperates soule from body but it joyneth the soule to Christ so that the conjunction wee have by it is better than the separation if the Conjunction makes us partake of our desire I desire to be dissolved saith St. Paul but that is not well translated I desire to depart and to be with Christ which is best of all so that it is not onely not an enemy but a friend and therefore the Apostle makes it our joyncture part of our portion all things are yours Why you are Christs and Christ is Gods what are ours things present things to come life death And well may death be ours because sinne is our enemy that remainder that is kept in our nature to exercise us and humble us and fit us for grace as Austin saith I dare be bold to say it is profitable for some to fall to make them more carefull and watchfull and to prize mercy more so that not only Death but sinne and the devill himselfe is ours for his plots are for our good God over-shooteth him in his owne Bow Hee will give them over to Satan saith the Apostle that they may learne not to blaspheme yet though they have a spirit of blasphemy by the humbling of their bodies they be taught not to blaspheme so that not onely death but sinne and hee that brought sinne into the World the Devill are become our friends This being so it may be for speciall comfort that wee not feare the King of Feares The Devill hath great advantage by this affection of feare when it is set upon this object Death Overcome death and all troubles are overcome who will fear any thing that hath given up himself to God Skin for skin and all that a man hath will he give for his life The Devill knoweth that well enough Therefore feare not saith Christ them that can kill the body feare causeth snares saith Solomon snares of Conscience But if a man
and praying and doing good and abstaining from evill the Law of the Spirit of life frees us from the Law of sinne and death I beseech you inlarge these things in your thoughts They bee things wee must all have use of beforehand against the evill day It should bee comfortable and usefull to us all to heare that our enemy our greatest enemy Death is swallowed up in victory And yet there 's more comfort in the Text. THE Fifth Sermon ISAIAH 25. 8. And all teares shall be wiped away from all faces NOt only death shall be swallowed up in victory but God will wipe away all tears from all eyes Religion shall be religion good things shall be good things nothing shall go under false notions all tears shall be wiped away we have now many causes of teares In the world there is continuall raising of clouds that distill into drops of teares had we nothing without us to raise a vapour to be distil'd in teares we are able to raise up mists from our owne mists from our owne doubts and conflicts within As we should weepe for our owne sinnes so for the sinnes of others as wee may see in Jeremy where the Prophet saith Oh that my head were a fountaine of teares that I might weepe continually for the sinnes of my people And indeed good men are easie to weepe as the heathen man observeth they are easie to lament not onely for their own sinnes but the sinnes and misery of another Our blessed Saviour himselfe we never read that he laughed wee have heard that he wept and for his very enemies Oh Jerusalem Jerusalem He shed teares for them that shed his bloud Teares were maine evidences of Christs sweetnesse of disposition as that hee would become man and a curse and die for us and that he would make so much of little children and call all to him that were weary and heavy laden that hee never refused any that came to him Hee that wept specially for the miseries and afflictions this shewed his gracious and sweet disposition And that in heaven he is so full of sympathies in glory that when Paul persecuted the Church Why dost thou persecute me So though he is free from passion in heaven he is not free from compassion from sympathie with his Church And so every child of God is ready not onely to grieve for his own sinnes and the miserie that followeth them but the sins and miseries of others Mine eyes gush out with rivers of teares saith the Prophet David when hee saw that men brake the law of God whom he loved A true naturall child takes to heart the disgrace of his father if we be not grieved to see our father disgraced wee are bastards not sonnes They that make a sport of sinne what are they Alas they have not one sparke of the spirit of adoption they are not children who rejoyce at that at which they should grieve So Saint Paul I have told you often and now tell you weeping there be many enemies of the crosse of Christ When he saw some men preach against and others enemies of the crosse of Christ whose end is damnation hee telleth them of it weeping Wee have cause therefore to mourne for the sinnes of others and for the miseries of others whether we respect God or the Church or our selves First the love of God moveth us to weepe when wee see him dishonored If we love the Church we should mourne for any sinnes that may prejudice their salvation Doth it not pitty any man to see an Oxe go to slaughter to see a man of parts otherwise by sinning against conscience going to slaughter to see an ordinary swearer an uncleane person a prophane wretch covering himselfe with pride as a garment scorning God and the world and all Can a Christian looke upon this see flesh and blood like himself under the Gospell under a cursed condition unavoidable without serious repentance and not be affected with it Can a man see a poore Asse fall under a burthen and not helpe to take it up and yet see man falling to hell and not be affected with it Thus we see wee have cause enough of teares And as there is cause so we should be sensible we ought to take to heart the afflictions of Joseph hee is a dead man that hath not sense in this kinde If wee go to the body and state or any thing about a man there is cause of griefe hath not every member many diseases and is not our lives a kind of hospitall some sicke of one thing some of another But as there is cause wee should bee sensible of it wee are flesh and not stones therefore it is a sottish opinion to be stockish and brutish as if to out-face sorrow and griefe were a glory When our Saviour was sent into the world Christi dolor dolor maximus there were no patience without sensiblenesse away then with that iron that flinty Phylosophy that thinks it a vertue to be stupid And as the Apostle saith Romans 1. 31. without naturall affections He counteth it the greatest judgement of God upon the soule yet they would have it a vertue Why should I smite them any more saith God they have no sense no feeling The proud Phylosopher thought it was not phylosophicall to weepe a proud stoicall humor but Christians desire it And therefore we ought to labour to be more sensible that we might make our peace and reverence the justice of God and be more sensible of him afterwards It is most true that Sapiens miser plus miser the more wise any man is the more sensible of misery And therefore of all men the best men have most griefe because they have most quicke senses they be not stupified with insensibility and resolutenesse to beare it bravely as the world but they apprehend with griefe the cause of griefe And as they have a more sanctified judgement than other men so they have a more wise affection of love and a quicker life of grace where life is there is sense and where there is a cleare sight or cause of griefe there is most griefe Therefore the best men have most griefe because they be most judicious most loving Then they have most grace to beare it out of all others therefore considering there is cause in our selves and in others of griefe continually wee ought to labour to be sensible of it else it were no favour to have teares wiped away So that there is cause of teares and teares is a duty of Christians sensible of the cause both of sinne and misery upon one and another And as it is an unavoidable griefe so it is good wee should grieve we must stoope to Gods course we must bring our hearts to it and pray that since our necessities and sins doe call for this dispensation that we must under correction he will make us sensible of his rod that
the matter that interrupteth his joy may be taken away Those that will be joyfull and not search to the bottome must needs with shame be brought backe to sorrow When wee will joy to purpose let us judge our selves that we may not be judged of the Lord mourne for our sinnes and then lay hold upon the promise that all they that mourne for sinne shall be comforted And blessed are they that shed teares here for all teares shall be wiped away Wee are subject to wrong our selves both good and bad for the good thinke if they be in misery they shall be ever so the bad if they be in prosperity they shall allwaies be so and they blesse themselves in it Now the the joy of the hypocrites is as the crackling of thornes and the griefe of the godly is but short and therefore let not the wicked foole themselves with groundlesse hopes nor the godly vex themselves with needlesse feares but put off conceitednesse of the long continuance of troubles time is but short and ere long God will wipe away all teares from our eyes No mists no clouds shall be extended to heaven the state in heaven shall be like the state of heaven there is no cloud there but all pure all serene Therefore in Christianity consider not their beginning but their ends Marke the end of the upright for the end of the upright is peace Psal 37. 37. Wayes have their commendation from the terme in which they end If by any meanes I may attaine the resurrection of the dead saith Paul Phil. 3. 11. Through thicke and thinne faire and foule rugged windes dry or bloudy death If by any meanes I may come to the resurrection of the dead the first degree of glory all is well it s a good way that ends well Non qua sed quo consider not what way he brings us to heaven but whither he brings bs If he bring us to heaven through a valley of teares it s no matter for in heaven all teares shall be wiped from our eyes And therefore Christianity is called wisdome And this wisdome is justified of her children What is the chiefest point of wisdome To looke home to the end and to direct all meanes to that end He is wise that is wise for eternity The wicked will have their payment here But woe to them that laugh for they shall mourne saith Christ Luke 6. 25. They will not stay for ground of joy hereafter but will have present payment But though the wayes of Christians be foule and wet with teares yet blessed are they for God will wipe away all teares from their eyes comfort one another with these words THE Sixth Sermon ISAIAH 25. 8. And he shall swallow up death in victory and God will wipe away teares from all faces that the rebukes of his people may be taken away from off the earth for the Lord hath spoken it YOu have heard heretofore of a feast provided for Gods people the founder of it being God himselfe who only can indeed comfort that which is specially to be comforted the soule and the conscience he being above the conscience The place where the feast is kept is Mount Syon the Church of God the delicacies are described by fat things wine refined on the lees c. The best of the best that can be thought of which is Christ with all his benefits who is bread indeed and drinke indeed that cherisheth and nourisheth the soule to life everlasting And because there should be nothing to disturbe the solemnity of the feast he promiseth to destroy the face of covering to take away the vaile spread over all nations the vaile of ignorance and infidelity to shine upon the soule and fill it full of knowledge and heavenly comfort And because there can be no comfort where death is feared being the greatest enemy in this life therefore he will swallow up death in victory and all that makes way for death or attends death and when this is taken away all the attendants vanish with it God will wipe away all teares from all faces Because the best things have not the best entertainment in the world nor the best persons God promiseth that the rebukes of his people shall be taken away from off the earth what they are they shall be knowne to be These be very great matters and therefore there is a great confirmation they have a seale and what is that The Lord hath spoken it The last day I shewed that Gods children shall shed teares and that they have cause to do it I will now inlarge it a little It is the condition of men since the fall in Paradise before there was no cause of teares nothing was out of joynt all inframe there was no sinne therefore no sorrow therefore no apprehension of sorrow And so in heaven there shall be no teares because no cause of it they shall be as farre from heaven as the cause This life is a valley of teares a life of misery and therefore we shed teares here And wee want no cause of it as long as sinne is in the world and sorrow and misery that followeth sinne Our own sins and the sins of others our owne miseries and the miseries of others And surely a child of God finds this the greatest cause of mourning in this world that he hath a principle in him alwaies molesting him in the service of God he cannot serve God with that chearfulnesse his unfeelingnesse that he cannot be so sensible of God dishonoured by himselfe and others is his burthen hee is grieved that he cannot grieve enough he can find teares for other things matter of this enough as the heathen man could say A man loseth his estate and hath teares for them but forceth teares for other things which are the true ground of griefe a child of God hath a remainder of corruptions which puts him on to offend against God and hinders him in his service in the liberty and chearfullnesse of it And this he complaines of with Paul and others Miserable man that I am not for his affliection though that was much but who shall deliver me from this body of death I will here adde a case Some say they cannot weep but they can grieve whether then is it necessary or no to weepe Teares are taken for the spring of teares griefe all griefe shall be taken away Teares are but the messengers of griefe and often times the deepest apprehension that takes things deepely cannot expresse it in teares In some the passages fetching the conceit to the heart are made more tender that they can weepe Now the griefe of a Christian is a judiciall griefe a rationall griefe not onely sensible teares must have sensible griefe but a Christians griefe is a sensible judiciall griefe hee hath a right judgement of things that cause sorrow willeth it and teares are onely an expression of it But how shall I know whether
glory that rested upon him and expressed himselfe to be the servant of God He that takes away from our good report if we be good he addeth to our reward Our Saviour Christ saith as much Blessed are you when you be ill spoken of for great is your reward THE Seventh Sermon ISAIAH 25. 8. And the rebukes of his people shall he take away from all the earth For the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it THis is a great promise and I pray you be comforted with it For of all grief that Gods people suffer in the world there is none greater than reproach disgrace and contumely Movemur contumeliis plus quam injuriis We are more moved with reproaches than injuries Injuries come from severall causes but disgrace from abundance of slighting No man but thinks himselfe worthy of respect from some or other Now slanders come from abundance of malice or else abundance of contempt and therefore nothing stickes so much as reproaches specially by reason of opinion and fancy that raiseth them over high Our Saviour Christ endured the Crosse and despised the shame That shame that vaine people cast upon Religion and the best things they despise that and make that a matter of patience They knew the Crosse would not be shaken off Persecution and Troubles must be endured and therefore they endured the Crosse and despised the shame Now to bear Crosses take the counsell of the Holy Apostles look up to him consider Christ and whatsoever disgrace in words or carriage wee shall endure we are sure though wee shall never know it till wee feele it by experience The spirit of glory shall rest upon us and rebuke shall be taken away Ere long there will be no glory in heaven and earth but the glory of Christ and of his Spouse for all the rest shall be in their owne place as it was said of Judas that he went to his place Their proper place is not to domineere but to be in hell and ere long they shall bee there Heaven is the proper element of the Saints that is the place of Christ the head And where should the body be but with the head where the Spouse but with the Husband I say this shall come to passe that all the wicked shall be in their place and all the godly in theirs with Christ and then shall the rebukes of Gods people be taken away A great matter and therefore it is sealed with a great confirmation The Lord Jehovah hath spoken it therfore it must and will be so The mouth of the Lord hath spoken it This is not in vaine added for the Lord knoweth well enough we need it to believe so great things that there is such a Feast provided And that there is such a victory over death our last enemy and that there will be such glory that all the glory shall bee Christs and his Spouses that the wicked that are now so insolent shall be cast into their proper place with the Devill by whose Spirit they are led They bee great matters and there is great disproportion between the present condition and that condition in heaven and infidelity being in the soule its hard to fasten such things on the soule that so great things should be done but they are no greater than God hath said and hee is able to make good his Word The Lord hath said it and when God hath said it heaven and earth cannot unsay it when heaven hath concluded it earth and hell cannot disanull it The mouth of the Lord hath spoken it That is truth it selfe hath spoken it that cannot lye A man may lye and be a man and an honest man too he may sometimes speak an untruth it taketh not away his nature But God who is pure truth unchangable truth truth it selfe cannot lye When we heare of great matters as matters of Christianity be great matters they be as large as the capacity of the soule and larger too And yet the soule is large in the understanding and affection too When wee heare of such large matters wee need a great faith to believe them Great faith needeth great grounds and therefore its good to have all the helps we can When we heare of great things promised great deliverances great glory to strengthen our faith remember God hath spoken them He knoweth our weaknesse our infirmity and therefore helps us with this prop The mouth of the Lord hath spoken it Let us therefore remember those great things are promised in the word of God in the word of Jehovah that can make them all good that gives a being to all his promises He is being it selfe and gives being to whatsoever he saith he is able to doe it Set God and his power against all opposition whatsoever from the creature and all doubts that may arise from our owne unbeleeving hearts The mouth of the Lord hath spoken it But yee will say the Prophet Esay saith it whose words they were I answer Isaiah was the Pen-man God the mouth the head dictateth the hand writeth Christ the head dictates and his servant writeth So that holy men write as they were inspired by the holy Ghost a better spirit than their owne Why doe yee look on me saith Isaiah thinke not it is I that say it I am but a man like your selves but the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it VVee should not regard men nor the Ministerie of men but consider who speaks by men who sendeth them with what commission doe they come Ambassadors are not regarded for themselves but for them that send them And therefore Cornelius said well We are here in the presence of God to heare what thou wilt speake in the name of God Acts 10. 33. And so people should come with that reverend expression VVee are come in the presence of God the Father Sonne and Holy Ghost in the presence of the blessed Angells to heare what thou shalt say in the Name of God by the Spirit of God VVe are not to deal with men but with God And therefore he saith The mouth of the Lord hath spoken it Hence may this question be easily answered VVhence hath the Scripture authority VVhy from it selfe it is the Word it carryeth its owne Letters testimoniall with it Shall God borrow Authority from men No the Authority the Word hath is from it selfe It hath a supreame authority from its selfe And wee may answer that question about the Judge of all controversies What is the supreame Judge the Word the Spirit of God in the Scriptures And who is above God It is a shamelesse ridiculous impudency of men that will take upon them to be Judges of Scripture as if man would get upon the Throne and as a Judge there Judge The Scriptures must judge all ere long yea that great Antichrist Now an ignorant man a simple man that perhaps never read Scriptures must judge of
all controversies yea that that is the Judge of all and of himselfe the Word which is from the very mouth of God You will aske me how shall I know it is the Word of God if the Church tells us not A Carrier sheweth us these bee Letters from such a man but when wee open the Letter and see the hand and seale we know them to be his The Church knowes the Word and explaneth it and when wee see and feele the efficacy of the Word in it selfe then we believe it to be the Word for there is that in the Word that sheweth it to bee the Word the Majesty that is in it the matter that is mysterious forgivenesse of sinnes through a mystery forgivenesse of sinne victory over death life everlasting in the world to come great matters which eye hath not seen nor eare heard nor entred into the heart of man If it had not been revealed it could not have entred into the heart of Angels It containeth such glorious transcending mysteries And then againe the Word to all them that belong to God hath the Spirit of God by which it passeth rightly accompanying it witnessing to the soule of man that it is so and by a divine efficacy it is mighty in operation What doth it in the heart It warmeth the heart upon the hearing and speaking and discoursing of it As when the Disciples went to Emaus It hath a heat of Spirit going with it to affect the heart with heavenly joy and delight it hath power going with it by the Spirit to raise joy unspeakable and glorious It hath a power to pacifie the soule amidst all troubles When nothing will still the soule the Spirit of God in the Word will doe it by its divine power Yea it will change a man from a beastly or devillish temper to a higher and happier estate as you have it Isaiah 11. 6 7 8 9. It makes Lions Lambs Leopards Kids And what is the ground of all In that very place the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord. The knowledge of God reconciled is such a powerfull knowledge that it hath a transforming vertue to alter mens dispositions What was Paul before Conversion and Zaccheus Therefore it is the Word because it hath divine operation to heat the soul and raise the soule and change the soule and cast downe the soule as low in a manner as hell in sense of its owne miserie It will make a Foelix to tremble a man that it doth not effectually worke upon The Truths of it are so moving that it will make a carnall man to quake When Paul spake of judgement to come of giving account of all that is done in the flesh when a possibility of it was apprehended it made Foelix to quake It makes mountains levell and it fills up the valleyes The Word can raise up the soule when man is as low as hell and looketh for nothing but damnation the Spirit with the Word will fetch him from thence as the Jaylor Acts 16. there was little between him and hell What shall I doe to be saved Why believe in the Lord Jesus And with these words there went out an efficacy he believed and he afterward was full of joy The first Gospell ever preached in pardon was by God himselfe never was any creature so neare damnation as our first Father Adam cast from the greatest happinesse Miserrimum est fuisse faelicem for he that enjoyed before communion with God and his Angells having sinn'd and having conscience of his sinne considering his great parts and apprehension of the state he had beene in this must needs affect him deeply and being in this condition the promise of the seed of the VVoman to breake the Serpents head revived him There is a strange efficacy in the Gospell The Roman Empire was the greatest enemy that the Church ever had The ten Persecutions you see what they were and yet notwithstanding the VVord grew upon them and never rested the spreading of the Gospell and the Spirit with it till the Crosse got above the Crown as it did in the time of Constantine and so it continueth And must not this be a divine word which hath this efficacy to revive comfort change cast downe raise up againe search secrets search the heart to the bottome A poore Ideot that comes to heare the word of God when he heares the secrets of his heart laid open by the word he concludes certainly God is in you and you are Gods Ministers The word divideth betweene the marrow and the bone it arraigneth the heart before Gods Tribunall Seat Those that are saved it hath these effects in them that I have named And if you ask how they know whether the word be the Word A man may answer I have found it to be so raising me up comforting me and strengthening mee I had perished in my affliction if the word had not raised mee Principles are proved you know from experience for they have nothing above them There is no other Principle to prove the word but experience from the working of it How know you the light to be the light but by it selfe and that fire is hot but by it selfe Principles prove themselves onely by experience And this Principle is so proved by it selfe that there is no child of God but can say by experience that the word is the word If a man might goe to reason one might bring that which could not be easily answered for the satisfaction of an Atheist Let him but grant there is a God hee will grant one thing in Religion or another But let him grant there is a God and a Reasonable Creature then there must be a service a Religion and this service must bee according to some Rules prescribed for the superior will not be served as the inferior pleaseth he must discover what good the superior intendeth and what duties he expects this must be revealed in some word God and the Reasonable Creature and Religion make a necessity of a word and that must be the word we have or another and what word in the world is probable to bee the word but this You will say it may be corrupt The Jewes looked to the old Testament that it should not be corrupted for they knew every sillable in it and preserved every letter It is one part of their superstition and God blesseth that superstition to take away all such cavills For the New Testament the Jewes cared not for but Hereticks on their side watch over it that there should be no corruption they will so observe one another But what are these reasons to those which the soule of a gracious Christian knoweth by the operation of the Word upon the heart And therefore let us regard it as the word of God hear it as the word of
God read it as the word of God A company of prophane wretches you shal have the scums and basest of the people that will discourse and to grace their Discourse they must have Scripture phrases but whose word is it it is the word of the great God Eglon was a Heathen King and yet when a Message came from God hee arose up and made obeysance Wee should never read the Word but with reverence considering whose book it is and that we must be judged by it another day If it be the word I beseech you consider what we say and know that God will make every part of it good there shall not a jot of it faile nothing of it shall miscarry God speaketh all these words And therefore if you be blasphemers you shall not carry it away guiltlesse God hath said it if you continue not to obey you are under Gods curse unlesse you repent you shall perish every threat God will make good you must repent and get into Christ else perish eternally God hath said it and we may confirme it in the unfolding and reading of it the time is comming for the execution of it and then God is peremptory Now God waiteth our leisure and intreateth us but if wee will not repent wee shall have that Arrow in our sides that will never be gotten out till we dye in hell whose sinnes are condemned in Scripture they are condemned by God and whom we shut heaven to by opening the Scriptures God will shut heaven to The opening of the Scriptures is the opening of heaven If the Scripture saith a man that liveth in such a sinne shall not be saved heaven shall be shut to him he is in a state of death he is strucken and remaineth in danger till he repenteth How many live in sins against Conscience that are under the guilt and danger of their sinnes they be wounded they be struck by the word there is a threat against their sinnes although it be not executed and they be as much in danger of eternall death as a condemned Traytor onely God suffers them to live that they may make their peace they have blessed times of visitation O make use of it it is the word of God and know that God will make every part of his word good in threats as well as in promises Take occasion from hence likewise to shame our selves for our infidelity in the promises when wee are in any disconsolate estate we are in Jobs case being in trouble the consolation of the Almighty seemed light to him These be the comforts of God When we come to comfort some though the sweet promises of the Gospell be opened yet they doe not consider them as being the word the consolations of the Almighty and therefore they seem light to them But it should not be so Consider they be the comforts of the word and therefore we should heare them with faith labour to affect them and shame our selves Is this Gods word that giveth this direction that giveth this comfort and shall I not regard it Is it the consolation of the Almighty and shall not I embrace it Therefore we should be ashamed not to be more affected with the heavenly sweet things promised of God than we are A man that refuseth heavenly Comforts to imbrace comforts below how should hee reflect upon himselfe with shame Hath God promised such things God that cannot lye and shall I lose my hope of all these glorious things for the enjoying of the pleasures of sin for a season I professe my selfe to be a Christian where is my faith where is my hope A man must acknowledge either I have no faith for if I had faith believing God speaking these excellent things I would not venture my losse of them to get the enjoyment of poor temporary things here for the good things promised in another world Labour therefore to bring mens hearts to believe the word and desire God to seale it to our soules that it is so I will give one direction Labour for the Spirit of God that writ the word that indited the word Beg of God to â—eale to our soules that it is the word and that he would sanctifie our hearts to be suitable to the word and never rest till wee can finde God by his Spirit seasoning our hearts so that the relish of our soules may suit to the relish of divine truths that when wee heare them we may relish the truth in them and may so feele the worke of Gods Spirit that we may bee able to say hee is our God And when we heare of any threatning we may tremble at it and any sinne discovered wee may hate it For unlesse wee by the Spirit of God have something wrought in us suitable to the word we shall never believe the word to bee the word And therefore pray the Lord by his Spirit to frame our hearts to be suitable to divine Truths and so frame them in our affections that we may find the word in our joy in our love in our patience that all may be seasoned with the word of God When there is a relish in the word and in the soule suitable to it then a man is a Christian indeed to purpose till then men will Apostatize turne Papist turne Atheist or any thing because there is a distance betweene the soule and the word the word is not ingraffed into the soule they doe not know the word to bee the word by arguments fetched from the word and therefore they fall from the power of the word But if we will not fall from divine truths get truth written in the heart and our hearts so seasoned by it and made so harmonious and suitable to it that we may imbrace it to death that we may live and dye in it To goe on In that day shall it be said loe this is our God we have waited for him Here is a gracious promise that shutteth up all spoken before He spake of great things before And now here is a promise of a day wherein hee will make all things promised good to the soule of every believing Christian In that day it shall be said this is our God wee have waited for him he will save us It is an excellent portion of Scripture to shew the gracious disposition that the Spirit of God will worke in all those that imbrace the gracious promises of God The time shall come when they shall say Loe this is our God wee have waited for him and now wee enjoy him The points considerable are these First of all by supposition that there bee glorious excellent things promised to the people of God Rich and precious promises of Feasting of taking away the vaile of conquest over death by victory of wiping away teares and removing rebukes great things if vve goe no farther than my Text. Secondly these have haâ— day vvhen they shall bee performed vvhich is not presently for
me yet my God still He is our God to death and hee is ours in heaven This is our God we will rejoyce in him And therefore well may we boast of God because in God is everlasting Salvation If we boasted in any thing else our boasting would determine with the thing it self but if we rejoyce in God we rejoyce in that which is of equall Continuance with our soules and goeth along with the soule to all eternity And therefore we should learne to rejoyce in God and and then we shall never be ashamed It is spoken here with a kind of exalting a kind of triumphing over all oppositions Loe this is our God Beloved this that God is our God and Christs is ours is the ground of rejoycing and of all happinesse All joy all comfort is founded upon this our interest in God and therefore we must make this good while we live here that God is our God and that we may doe so observe this Christ is called Emanuell God with us God in the second person is God-man and so God with us and the Father in Emanuell is God with us too So we are God the Fathers because we are his All things are yours saith the Apostle whether Paul or Apollo things present things to come why because you are Christs I but what if I be Christs Christ is Gods So we must be Christs and then we shall be Gods if Christ be ours God is ours for God is Emanuell in Christ Emanuell God is with us in Christ who is with us God is reconciled to us in God and man in our nature And therefore get by faith into Christ and get union and get communion by prayer open our souls to him entertaine his speeches to us by his word and spirit and blessed motions and open our spirits to him and so maintaine a blessed entercourse Make it good that God is our God by dayly acquaintance These speeches at the latter end are founded upon acquaintance before This is our God Grace and glory are knit together indissolubly If God be our God here he will be ours also in glory if not here not in glory There is a Communion with God here before communion with him in glory and therefore make it good that God be our God here first by union with him And then maintaine dayly acquaintance with him by seeing him with the eye of faith by speaking to him and hearing him speake to us by his spirit joyning in his ordinances And then he will owne us and be acquainted with us in heaven we shall say Loe this is our God We have had sweet acquaintance one with another He by his spirit with me I by my prayers with him Our Saviour Christ will not be without us in heaven we are part of his mysticall body and heaven were not heaven to Christ without us With reverence be it spoken we are the fullnesse of Christ as he is the fullnesse of his Church And if he should want us in some sort he were miserable he having fixed upon us as objects of his eternall love In what case were he if he should lose that object And therefore as we glory in him he gloryeth in us Who is this that cometh out of the wildernesse who his beloved And woman is this thy faith he admires the graces of the Church as the Church admires him This is the Lord. The Church cannot be without him nor he without the Church These words are spoken with a kind of admiration Loe this is the Lord we will rejoyce in him So I say as there is thanks and joy so their is admiration loe behold This is a God worthy beholding so he wonders at the graces of his Children Beloved there is nothing in the world worthy admiration Sapientis non est admirare It was a speech of the proud Philosopher A wise man will not admire for he knoweth the ground But in heaven the parts are lifted up so high that there is nothing but matter of admiration things that eye hath not seen nor ear heard nor hath entred into the heart of man to conceive of They be things beyond expression and nothing is fit for them but admiration at the great things vouchsafed to the Church And as with admiration so with invitation that is the nature of true thankfullnesse there is no envy in spirituall things no man envyeth another the light of the Scriptures but loe behold with admiration and invitation of all others This is the Lord. Let us therefore rejoyce beforehand at the glorious times to come both to our selves and to others be stiring and exciting one another to glory and rejoyce in God our salvation And therefore learne all to be stirred up from hence not to be offended with Christ or with Religion Be not offended saith Austin with the parvity of Religion Every thing to the eyes of the world is little in Religion A Christian is a despised person and the Church the meanest part of the world in regard of outward glory but consider with the littlenesse and basenesse and despisednesse of the Church the glory to come Time will come when we shall rejoyce and not onely see but boast with admiration to the stirring up of others Loe this is the Lord. And therefore say with our Saviour Christ happy is he that is not offended with me nor with Religion there is a time coming that will make amends for all Who in the world can say at the houre of death and day of judgment Loe this is my riches this my honours alas the greatest persons must stand naked to give account all must stand on even ground to hold up their hands at the great barre We may say to the carnall presumptuous man loe this is the man that put his confidence in his riches And none but reconciled Christians can say loe this is our God Therefore take heed of being offended with any thing in Religion Againe if time to come be so transcendently glorious let us not be affraid to dye let us not be over much cast downe for it shall end in glory And let us be in expectation still of good times waite for this blessed time to come and never be content with any condition so as to set up our rest here We may write upon every thing Hic non est requies vestra Our rest is behind these things are in passage And therefore rest content with nothing here Heaven is our centre our element our happinesse and every thing is contentedly happy and thriveth in its Element The birds in the aire the fish in in the sea beasts on the earth they rest there as in their center And that that is our place for ever it is heaven it is God The immediat injoying of God in heaven that is our rest our Element and we shall never rest till we be there And therefore he is befooled for it in the Gospell
peculiar to the Church to know the greatest good and greatest evill 4 Obs Where the vaile is taken away there is spirituall joy and feasting Reason The same Spirit is a Spirit of Revelation and consolation Use 1. To labour to have this vaile taken off Meanes For this wee must attend on Ordinances Smile 3. Fashion not our selves after the times 4. Be carefull to practise what we know Quest Answ 5 Love what we know Use 2. Make our studies and closets Oratories for the getting of knowledge We can shut but not open our hearts to divine truths Quest How shall we know that we have heavenly light Answ 1. By a marvelling at the things of faith and the goodnesse of God in revealing them to us 2. By being carried with desire to know more and more 3. When the vaile is taken off by sanctified meanes which we can justifie by our owne experience of them Fourthly When our knowledge worketh upon us Application of this to the Sacrament Death is the great King of Kings Death spares none Death hath continued from the beginning let in by sin Sin armeth Death Hel the attendant of death Christ swallows up death in victory for himselfe and his Reas Because hee hath satisfied for sin A double kingdome of Christ 1. A kingdom of patience 2. A kingdom of power Christ conquereth for us and in us Death was conquered by Christ when he had given way to be under the power of it Use 1. First we see God gives way to his enemies for a time when he will give glorious victory Death is already swallowed up to faith Vse 2. Labour to be one with Christ crucified Vse 3. Be thankfull to God for this victory in Christ The benefits of death to a person that is in Christ Vse 4. Let those that are in Christ be ashamed of the feare of death Death terrible to the wicked They are fools that in a carnall bravery contemn death before disarmed in Christ Of Duellist Vs Of consolation to those that are in Christ Death is not only subdued but made a friend It s profitable to some to fal Satan hath advantage by our fearing death The worst the world can doe is to take away life and in that they doe the godly a pleasure Christ will draw his mysticall body to him into heaven Our comfort by Christ should make us fruitfull to Christ It s better to dye in the Lord than for the Lord. Prepare for death by getting into Christ Sin hath no Law in us to rule by * Good men easie to weepe Christ in heaven not without compassion * Psa 119. 136 * Phil. 3. 18 We have cause to weepe for the sinnes of others 1. From our love to God 2. From love to the Church and our brethren Simile Vse To condemne Stoicisme * Isa 1. 5. The best men aptest to grieve Vse 2. It s good wee doe grieve Avoid what hnders sensiblenesse The life of a Christian is a mixture of joy and sorrow Uses of joy in Christians We should picke matter of comfort out of griefe All causes of sorrow shall be removed The more teares here the more joy hereafter The Order First shed teares and then have them wiped away Reason 1. Our own necessity Simile Reason 2. For the increase of our comfort Simile Use 1. Take notice of the tender mercy of God in this that he will wipe away teares Judge not by sight for the godly here mourn most * 1 Cor. 15. 19. Be not discouraged for our own or Churches causes of griefe * Mat. 5. 4. Christians have more cause of joy than griefe and they ought to eye both This is comfortable while we live and when we die A carnall man is all joy or all sorrow The godly have a mixt condition and should have a mixt disposition Wayes are to be esteemed by their end Mat. 11. 19. Man since the fall subject to sorrow No sorrow in Paradise nor shall any be in heaven The greatest cause of the godlies mourning sin within him Rom. 7. 24. 1. A case about teares Psa 56. 8. God hath no bottle for some teares Marks of good teares 1. When their spring is the love of God 2. When wee weepe for our own sins and sins of others Truth of grace appeares more in grieving for others sins then our own 3. When our teares are shed in secret Jer. 13. 17. 4. When they tend to reformation of what they are shed for 2. Case How can a Christian joy and grieve together Phil. 4. 4. Gods people here are under rebuke and reproach Psal 137. Psal 22. 78. This text points at the conversion of the Jewes Reas There be two seeds in the world 1. Of the Serpent 2. Of the woman Carnall men would have all men thought of alike Men put a false vaile both on godlinesse and wickednesse Use 1. Take heed of laying scandal on religion Use 2. To study to be wise that wee be not misled by the misrepresentation of things The devill a lyar that he may be a murtherer Why it s the course of the world to slander Things shall be known to be as they arâ— Reason From Gods justice Revel 11. Use 1. To direct what course to take under disgrace and scandall 1. Labour to be innocent 2. To be patient 3. To be couragious 4 To be sincere 2 Cor. 5. 13. 14 2 Sam. 6. 20. 21. 5. Commend our credits to God by prayer Comfort your selfe in your own true worth 1 Cor. 4. 3. 1 Pet. 4 14. God putteth a glory upon his children under disgrace Mat. 5. 11. 12. Vse 2. For comfort to the godly their rebukes shall bee taken away God is the author of promises Use Consider God in the Promises to helpe our faith Quest How is it the the word of God sith Isaiah spake it Answ He did but write God did dictate Wee should not so much look on the Ministers as from whom they speak Quest 2. Whence hath the Scripture authority Answ From its selfe The Spirit of God in Scriptures Judge of all controversies Quest 3. How may wee know it is the Word of God but by the Chuâ—ch Answ As wee know a Letter from a friend Simile The word knowne to be of â—od 1. By its Majesty 2. Mysteriousnesse 3. Witnesse of the Spirit 4. Divine efficacy 1. In warming 2. Comforting 3. Changing 4. Casting down the soul Acts 16. 31. Adam nearest damnation 5. Searching b 1 Cor. 14 25. c Heb 4. 12. 5. The word proved to be of God from our experience 6. By reason Object The word may bee corrupted Answ The Jews lookt to the Old Testament Hereticks over the new Use 1. Let us regard heare Scriptures as the word of God Use 2. Know 1. God will make every part good Every threatning in it is ratified in heaven Use 3. Let us take shame to our selves for our infidelity in the promises Meanes To regard the word labour 〈◊〉 spirit that indited them Relishing the word makes a man a Christian indeed The points considerable Promises of God flow from Gods goodnesse Promises free and full Use Let us count promises our best treasure God taketh a long day for performance of promises Reas 1. To exercise our faith Reas 2. To waine from the creature Reas 3. To indear the things promised Reas 4. To fit us for injoyment Simile Simile A condition of waiting is a mixt condition of imperfection and perfection Wee have a taste here of what we shall have hereafter to support us Waiting is a grace whereby God sits us for an imperfect condition Waiting carrieth with it all graces 1. Patience 2. Long suffering 3. Contentment 4. Silence from murmuring 5. Watchfulnesse 6. Fruitfulnes Want of waiting the cause of wickednes Many rubs between us and heaven We are of unsetled dispositions It s hard to overcome tediousnesse of time All to be overcome by waiting God will performe promises to them that wait God keeps times and seasons in his own power There is a glorious day yet for Christians There be particular dayes of performance in this life Good to observe what dayes of performance God gives in A sight of God comparative here Absolute in heaven There 's an influence from the thing hoped for to uphold graces in waiting Simile Wee should look to the last end to fit us for it God will have us continue in a state of waiting Reas 1. It s his pleasure we should live by faith not by sight Reas 2. We are not yet fitted for sight of Glory Reas 3. Because God would have us enjoy the best at last Waiting not an empty thing Simile God fits heaven for us and us for heaven As there is a time of waiting so there will be a time of performing 1 Reas God is Jehovah Reas 2. God is faithfull Reas 3. He hath bowels of compassion towards his people Reas 4. Because the grace we have is but an earnest of what we shall have Our faith should answer Gods dealing Waiting the character of Gods people Directions to help waiting 1 Gods time is the best time 2 God will effect things though by contraries Times are in Gods hands There 's suitable action for every affection In performance of promises be much in thankfulnesse Experience of Gods performances should stir up waiting We ought to treasure up experiences God an inexhaust fountain Gods carriage towards his children is salvation Our joy and happinesse is in the enjoyment of God The joy of a Christian ends in glorying Begin to glory in God here Interest in God Christ is the ground of all rejoycing Therefore we are to make good that interest whilst we are here 1 By Union 2 By acquaintance with him The Church cannot be without Christ nor Christ without the Church In heaven nothing but in its admirable 1 Be not offended at the meanenesse of the Church 2 Nor offended with Religion for there 's a glory to come 3 Be not afraid to dye for heaven is our rest and center 4 Neither rest in any measure of grace or comfort here 5 Be not overmuch dejected for the desolation of the Church The fore taste of heaven is better than all worldly happinesse