a well grounded Hope to go to Heaven because the Promises do belong to thee and thou art within the Covenant and also to thee pertaineth the Adoption inasmuch as thou art so long a Son and Servant of God as thou dost his Will and obeyest his Commands The Scripture doth make known the place of Heaven and also the way which each one must walk in if he would arrive at and enter therein viz. by keeping the Commandments of God which are written and recorded in that same Book The People of old time and of former Generations did talk and preach of the things pertaining to the Kingdom of God after the same manner as we do now Such as were his Saints and Children did live by Faith Hab. 2.4 and died in Faith Not having received the Promises but having seen them afar off and were persuaded of them and embraced them Heb. 11.13 And even the ignorant and ungodly Multitude of former Generations have also passed through the Door or Gate and Entrance into the invisible World I mean Death And as the Devils believe and tremble And as the Souls of Abraham Isaac and Jacob do at this Day live so their Souls also live and exist and they have a more clear knowledge and apprehension of the Decree of God concerning Mankind than they had or we have in the days of our Flesh so that in them who sin wilfully what was formerly Ignorance or Unbelief is now a certain fearful looking for of Judgment and fiery Indignation which shall devour them for having been God's Adversaries But such as in the Days of their Flesh were willing and obedient they shall eat the good of the Land Isa 1.19 even of the new Heavens and new Earth where Righteousness dwells And as those who did refuse and rebel shall have a certain fearful looking for of Judgment so unto the Vpright there ariseth Light in the Darkness even after they are passed the darkness of the shadow of Death and they have a comfortable expectation of good things to come The Children of Men will then remember how that the Sinners and Ungodly and merry Men of the World did in their life time receive their good things that is they received their Portion in this Life Psal 17.14 Because by them their Portion is fat and their Meat plenteous Hab. 1.16 And the Godly and Righteous received evil things Persecutions Afflictions Poverty but now they are comforted and the others are tormented Luke 16.25 As is the condition of those who are already gone off from the Stage of this Earth so will ours be in a short time they are dead and we are dying As for my part I was young and now am elderly tho not old and I am fearful and apprehensive every Week of tasting of this bitterness of Death But I do yet more exceedingly fear and quake lest my Soul should be shut under Harches by Death before I have a better and more assured Hope whither it would go As it is written Gather not my Soul with Sinners Psal 26.9 So it is the continued Desire and Prayer of my Soul as the same should be my utmost endeavour throughout this life O Lord our Creator the Invisible One when this Body must return to the Earth as it was and the Spirit to God that gave it O then do Thou not gather my Soul with the Sinners and Transgressors of former Generations Which Prayer as I did write down and lift up my Soul unto God for the same it was thereupon immediately answered directed and dictated unto me That if thou wouldest not have thy Soul gathered with the Sinners and Transgressors of former Generations then thou must be sure not to be one of their number that is thou must not be a Sinner and Transgressor in that Generation wherein thou now livest But this is my Request and my coueting and the thing that I long for That the Lord would be pleased to bind up my Soul in the bundle of Life Into thy Hands I commit my Spirit for Thou hast Redeemed me O Lord God of Truth that my Soul may be gathered up unto the Father of Spirits and that when I do depart or decease from out of this Body I may come unto Mount Sion and to the City of the Living God the heavenly Jerusalem and to an innumerable Company of Angels to the general Assembly and Church of the First-born which are written in Heaven and to God the Judge of all and to the Spirits of Just Men made perfect My Flesh and my Heart faileth but God is the strength of my Heart and my Portion for ever Psal 73.26 It is certain that this Flesh doth fade as a Leaf wax old like a Garment and wither as a Stick and it will not long hold the Soul in and therefore against the time that this our Heart and our Flesh faileth yea our Heart faileth already and before-hand at the thorough Thought and Apprehension thereof It must be our best and wisest and most excellent way to have God for the Strength of our Heart and for our Portion for ever That against the time this Tenement of Clay fails by mouldering and falling down into the Dust He may take us unto his own Home and receive us into Everlasting Mansions which are in our Father's House That as it is written And ye shall go forth and grow up as the Calves of the Stall Mal. 4.2 So we may be fixed and seated in Stalls and Apartments of Glory For the Lord's Portion is his People Jacob is the lot of his Inheritance He found him in a desert Land in the waste howling Wilderness Deut. 32.9 10. This last is just like our Condition now here on Earth where God finds and culls out such and such of the Sons and Daughters of Men the Lord knoweth them that are his as are his People and Jacob for the lot of his Inheritance Now a Lot takes some and leaves others even a few and single ones from out of the Multitude So of old time he took out Jacob for his peculiar People from the rest of Mankind Now therefore if ye will obey my voice indeed and keep my covenant then shall ye be a peculiar people unto me above all people for all the earth is mine Exod. 19.4 And so he doth at this day take out by Lot as it were his peculiar People from all Nations Countrys and Languages of Mankind even only those who obey his Voice indeed and keep his Covenant Both the Voice Covenant shewed and manifested within them as also what is written in Ink and Paper in the lively Oracles the Book of the Lord which we commonly call the Bible There is a very great deal said in the Old Testament concerning Heaven Immortality and Eternal Life yea much more then many People are aware of for Heaven Immortality and Eternal Life are there couched and comprehended under all those several Expressions which are repeated over innumerable times in the
A DISCOURSE OF THE Misery of Hell AND Happiness of Heaven Grounded from the following Words Matth. 25.46 And these shall go away into Everlasting Punishment but the Righteous into Life Eternal THE foregoing part of the Words is to be understood of the Goats of those of all Nations v. 32 33. and Generations who shall be placed on the Left Hand That is as it is spoken in other places of â—cripture such as shall then be found to have been Sinners â—nbelievers Hypocrites the Children of Disobedience â—icked and Ungodly and such like According as is writâ—â—n The Hour is coming in the which all that are in the Graves â—â—all hear his Voice and shall come forth They that have done â—ood unto the Resurrection of Life and they that have done Evil â—â—to the Resurrection of Damnation We are told and warned â—hat the final Condition of Mankind will be and what … t shall be allotted to the one and what shall be allotted 〈◊〉 the other Now as we are in the Body we are con … med herein and in short every one of us must go to â—â—e of them either to Heaven or to Hell They go to Hell â—f whom it is written And these shall go away into Everâ—asting Punishment And here this word Everlasting Punishment sounds terrible â—nd dismal at the very first for alas so weak and little so â—…etful and impatient is our present Nature and Condition that we cannot or at least we do not care to endure or undergo any short Pain or Punishment now how much more intollerable must that then be which is Eternal Who now think it so irksome to tarry a few and evil Days here on Earth although they have several good ones intermingled How can they endure to be in Hell for Thousands and Millions of Years without an Hour of Comfort or Freedom from Misery Even now although there are the Intervals of Sleep and those necessary and common Actions of Life which divert from the Sence and Feeling thereof yet still a wounded and troubled Spirit who can bear Much more may the Question be asked Can thine Heart endure under the gnawing of the Worm which shall never die To whom every least spark of Fire that falls upon any part of the Body is so painful Can thine Hands be strong or how can they abide to lie down in Everlasting Fire Or how can they rest in a Cradle of Flames Or to be refreshed in that Fire which the Breath of the Lord like a stream of Brimstone doth kindle It is as bad as bad can be For lay together all the Evils Pains Torments Fears Diseases Afflictions Crosses and such like which are throughout the whole Earth and they do not make up the ten thousandth part so bad as the Damnation of Hell It will be one of the Torments of Hell to be depriv'd not only from the Beatifical Vision but even from the sight of the Heavens of God Persecute and destroy them in Anger from under the Heavens of the Lord Lam. 3.66 which must needs be very melancholy and uncomfortable not so much as to see the outside of that place where Blessedness dwells For if one should be kept in a very low Pit without Light or Company What a restless thing would this be or as they took Jeremiah and cast him down into the Dungeon that was in the Court of the Prison and they let down Jeremiah with Cords and in the Dungeon there was no Water but Mire so Jeremiah sunk in the Mire Jer. 38.6 Here were Sufferings indeed which would make ones Heart ake to thoroughly think of it much more would it fill the Soul with Anguish and Restlesness to undergo it And what is it to be in a Dungeon for a few Days or Years in comparison to be in the lowest Hell for all Eternity The other is Light and as nothing in comparison unto it As to all the Devices and Places of Torment Vexation and Misery which People now use one to another all these are but Instruments in the Hands of God who created the Waster to destroy and made all those Places and Things which are now used for Pain and Punishment And if he hath created such on this Earth as we sensibly know and see much more hath he created alike Things under the Earth and in Hell beneath He is the great law-giver who is able to save and to destroy As he doth Good so likewise he can and doth punish There are on this Earth some things which are very grievous and irksome but as long as there is Life even in the worst Evils that befall the Children of Men there is no such thing as perfect absolute and compleat Misery I mean such Misery as is without any Good or Comfort There is no such thing on Earth as utter Darkness or the Blackness of Darkness for in the most cloudy and misty Night some little of Light may be still perceived especially if you look up towards Heaven Again on this Earth all things are short and passing away But in Hell it is perfect compleat and absolute Misery That is It is Misery wholly throughout and nothing but Misery The Egyptians had for three Days such Darkness which may be felt even thick Darkness Exod. 10.21 22 23. But in Hell there is utter Darkness cast the unprofitable Servant into utter Darkness and the Blackness of Darkness for ever Which word for ever is the greatest Sting and Aggravation of the Torment and Punishment hereof for herein it infinitely exceeds and is worse than all the Evils and Pains on this Earth and of this State for whereas they all pass away either they go off again from the Sufferer or else they make an end of the Sufferer so as to kill him and render him in such a Condition that he becomes past feeling thereof It will be otherwise as to Hell for there if the Spirit should fail before him and the Souls which he hath made yet they are kept alive still to undergo and endure the Severity of God's Vengeance It is called Death the Second Death for it is a State of ever dying and never dead In that Day shall Men seek Death and it shall flee from them Now Death is the worst and most terrible thing in the World for all other things are so much the more feared as they may the sooner occasion or bring on this thing of Death But the second Death or Death Eternal is indeed worse than any Tongue of Man can express forth I cannot pencil forth Shadows dark enough to set forth the utmost Horror and Misery thereof The Lord preserve every one that will be sure to comply and to work together with his Grace from doing those things the end whereof is Death Eternal So that the Reader may not know and feel how bad indeed it is One saith well Let us not flee from Sermons of Hell that we may flee from Hell and by that manner of Speech of John Baptist who
Books of Moses the Psalms and the Prophets The Lords portion is his people the Lord the hope of their fathers Jer. 50.7 Happy is that people whose God is the Lord Psal 144.15 Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help whose hope is in the Lord his God Psal 146.5 And by all such Phrases and Forms of Speech there which the Holy Ghost makes use of to shew that such of his Creatures as serve and obey him they have also an Interest and Propriety in him He is their God or my God or such like In all these as under a Vail is contained Heaven Immortality and Eternal Life For there is a way of assuredly gathering and reasoning out of the Scriptures to bring out such and such Truths although they seem to speak nothing thereof in plain and express Words Even so it is here for by the same way of assuredly gathering and reasoning out of the Scriptures as is used in Heb. 11.16 He was not ashamed to be called their God so far goes the Text there cited out of the Old-Testament but then saith the Reasoning by the Spirit further for he hath prepared for them a City From this very place we lay down and establish that grand Position and Affirmation which is certainly true That where-ever in the Old Testament God is said to be their God therein is contained the Promise of Heaven Immortality and Eternal Life this being that City which he hath prepared for them And to make this Matter a little more plain and clear the Reason hereof stands on this wise He is not ashamed to be called their God for he hath prepared for them a City That is They had Confidence and Assurance that God would do somewhat more for his Servants than Temporal and present Mercies for they were also common unto others But as he is just and good so he would make some Requital for Obedience and for that Hardship and Inconvenience his Servants meet with from the World for his sake which they did expect hereafter in another place and that is Heaven and also themselves should remain or else be raised up again into a State capable to receive and partake of that great Good God had prepared for his Creatures which must be by continuing or giving them Life again For they were sensibly bereaved of this present Life and here they did not continue by reason of Death So that of Necessity therein must virtually be contained the Promise of Immortality and Eternal Life and therefore Paul saith appositely and pertinently to the Matter here treated of in Hope of Eternal Life which God that cannot lie promised before the World began but hath in due time manifested his Word through preaching Tit. 1.2 for discovery hath been made thereof by little and little It was contained in those general Expressions afore-mentioned the Lord their God I am the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob and such like God was the same then and his Decrees alike sure although they were not so clearly made known unto Men. And therefore now it is called Hope which entreth into that within the vail Heb. 6.19 a better hope Heb. 7.19 a lively hope 1 Pet. 1.3 all in opposition to those faint Guesses and imperfect Knowledge they had thereof under the Law It is speaking plainly under the Gospel according to John 16.25 in opposition to those dark Speeches which God spake by Moses or those Parables and Proverbs which he spake by his Servants the Prophets They under the Old-Testament Dispensation had but a dull and glimmering Prospect beyond the Earthly Canaan But now the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ hath abolished Death and hath brought Life and Immortality to light thro' the Gospel 2 Tim. 1.10 And tho in the Gospel it is spoken more plainly concerning Heaven Immortality and Eternal Life and also more suitable unto our Carnal Apprehensions and Fleshly Mind in describing it by the outward Representations of a Marriage Supper Gold Honour Pleasure Satisfaction Blessedness and such like yet there is also somewhat spoken of these things in the Old-Testament But all that and much more than all that is comprehended under that one saying The Lord our God the Lord is my Portion for ever Perhaps the Hearer or Reader may expect that now I am a discoursing of the Happiness of Heaven here I should be unto thee as a very lovely Song of one that hath a pleasant Voice and can play well on an Instrument Ezek. 33.32 This being so very delightful a Subject that if here thou canst not tickle the Ear and please thy Auditory thou never wilt But now suppose I should here use Ten Thousand Words in Rhetorical Flourishes in the greatest Eloquency and Wit of Man with the most smooth Language with the greatest Connexion and Exactness of Stile and all concerning this best of Subjects the Happiness or Joys of Heaven yet as it is said That she who cast her two mites into the treasury cast in more than all they who gave of their abundance So here it would be there would be more said concerning Heaven in these four or five words only the Lord my God or the Lord is my Portion for ever For all these are the Words which the Spirit did dictate so that there is more contain'd in them than in five Millions of other Words concerning it This will also further appear from this following significancy and Reasoning viz. If the Lord is our God or if the Lord is my Strength and my Portion for ever thence it follows also of consequence That all that Blessedness Happiness Goodness Delight Satisfaction and Immortality which is in God the Everlasting Creator of the Ends of the Earth as it is all in him which is any where in the World for they are all but Rays and Emanations from this infinite Fountain of Life and Being I say all these are communicated and imparted forth even as far as the small Vessel is capable to receive brimfull and running over to such of his Creatures and People to whom he is the Lord their God and they are his Portion and the Lot of his Inheritance â—s they can reciprocally say The Lord is my strength and my portion for ever There is but one thing in the World which hinders all the reasonable Creatures on the Earth from this Blessedness and Union with their God and that is Sin O accursed thing which we gather assuredly from what is written Repent ye therefore and be converted that your sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord Acts 3.19 As the foregoing part of the Verse doth illustrate and shew that so by the latter part of the Verse the Holy Ghost doth signifie that such of his Creatures as shall then be more nearly and immediately in the Presence of God where is fulness of Joy and at whose Right Hand are Pleasures for evermore all Refreshing Content Satisfaction yea and
Happiness doth arise from him as Waters do flow from the Fountain Light doth proceed from the Sun or as Heat doth issue forth from Burning Fire to the things that are next unto it As on the foregoing part of our Being he is our Creator and he is our Preserver in the mean while who holds our Soul in Life all the time that it is in the Body and afterwards also he that first breathed into us the Breath of Life can and also doth preserve it when it is gone forth So in his being our Portion for ever he will take Care of and do good for us in the time to come and throughout the succeeding Eternity Vnto God shall all flesh come Ps 65.2 that is good and bad promiscuously to appear before him in judgment but unto him shall the gathering of the People be Gen. 49.10 This in a particular manner is meant of his own particular Elect Redeemed and Chosen People who in this Life and on this Earth do gather and make towards God by Faith and Obedience by Love Trust and Adherence and hereafter they shall flow back unto as Rivers again to the Sea from whence they did first arise and be admitted into his immediate Presence to the nearest Communion and closest Union with the Godhead himself He will gather all Souls which are his which he hath made and which he hath redeemed that is from Sin here and from Death and the Devil hereafter as nearly and as closely to himself as a Hen doth gather her Chickens under her Wings It is somewhat too gross an Expression to say that the Souls of the Righteous shall be incorporated with the Deity for that denotes somewhat too material a Conception of such Spiritual and Immaterial things But the Union will be as near and as close as what is ingrafted into such a Stock is near and close to the same stock and it becomes as one and the same with it And the nations of them that be saved shall walk in the light of it Rev. 21.24 But this is not all for further they shall be one and as it were the same with God himself Holy Father keep thorough thine own Name those whom then hast given me that they may be one as we are And now I come to thee that they may be all in one as thou Father art in me and I in thee that they also may be one in us Joh. 17.11 13 21. This being one and as it were the same with God who shall then be all in all but the Creatures have and derive it from him by Union and participation will be the highest and greatest and only Happiness in Heaven The Truth whereof may be hence understood for God is a most happy Being For he created all Happiness and Good and he is comprehensive of all Happiness and Good so that all Happiness and Good do reside and lodge in him as in their Foundation Stock or Fountain from whence do flow forth all Derivations and Emanations of Good and Happiness So as when any one is nearer to the Sun he is nearer to the Light and Heat so the Nations and Persons of those who are saved who are nearer to God are also thereby nearer to Good and Happiness Himself in a peculiar and eminent manner is stiled the Blessed Art thou Christ the Son of the Blessed Mark 14.61 And as Christ himself doth promise Where I am there shall my servant be if any man serve me him will my father honour John 11.26 That they may be all one as thou Father art in me and I in thee that they also may be one in us And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them that they may be one even as we are one John 17.22 23. which Prayer of Christ is heard and granted accordingly he elsewhere calls him My Father and your Father my God and your God Joh. 20.17 By expressing of which on this wise he shews himself to be the first born of many Brethren that Christ in all things should have the Pre-eminence But from all this put together it may be most surely Argued and Reasoned that if Christ be the Son of the blessed then they that are Christ's are the Sons of the Blessed and accordingly the Scripture doth elsewhere expresly averr the same Behold now are we the sons of God 1 John 3.2 and if they are the Sons of the Blessed then we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is This Reasonng out of the Scriptures is right preaching for so did Paul reason out of the Scriptures concerning several things and so are we allowed to bring out all those many Truths relating to the Kingdom of God and man's Salvation We know further that some of his blessedness will be derived from him and conveyed and communicated forth unto us The least Drop or Ray whereof will then suffice us for we are but little Beings and that is of infinite Contentment and Satisfaction As the Apostle argues Furthermore we have Fathers of our Flesh which corrected us and we gave them reverence shall we not much rather be in subjection to the father of spirits and live for they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure but he for our Profit that we might be partakers of his holiness Heb. 12.9 10. From which very last words I do reason that if we may be partakers of his Holiness here as this Text doth most plainly import that we may then assuredly we shall be partakers of this Happiness and Blessedness hereafter From whence note That the only way to Happiness is by Holiness because of what is said in this same Chapter Without holiness no man shall see the Lord ver 24. who have not Holiness here that man or Woman will not have Happiness or Blessedness hereafter Concerning this future and everlasting Happiness of Blessedness many things do arise in the Mind which are hard to be uttered and hard to be conceived For since the beginning of the World Men have not heard non perceived by the heart neither hath the Eye seen O God besides thee what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him Isa 64.4 As we do this Day in this Ordinance of Hearing his word or that love him But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit Which same Spirit spake by the Prophets Christ and the Apostles out of whose Words and Writings this same description of Heaven and the Joys thereof hath been brought forth And what shall I say more where I begun and found it there I must leave it If I should multiply never so many Words I cannot say more than what I have said already That the whole of Heaven and the Happiness thereof is comprised in these very few Words The Lord our God the Lord is the strength of my heart and my Portion for ever Or in the Language of the Gospel We that is only his Elect shall ever be with the Lord 1 Thess 4.17 If you set aside these kind of Expressions and then if you Read or Hear never so much concerning Heaven yet when you come there you will affirm as the Queen of Sbeba did of the Wisdom of Solomon The one half was not told me But if you once add and mention The Lord shall be my Portion for ever Or We shall ever be with the Lord therein the whole and utmost of Heaven was told unto thee before hand and the Souls of such as shall be Saved and admitted there will make their return As we have heard so have we seen in the City of the Lord of Hosts in the City of our God God will Establish it for ever Selah Psal 48.8 When the Apostle Paul in 1 Thes 4. doth mention how we shall ever be with the Lord He thereupon immediately annexes and subjoyns Wherefore comfort in the Marginal Reading there it is exhort One another with these Words And as it is here said God will establish it that is the City he hath prepared for his People for ever Selah So it is Meet and Right that by the way of Retaliation and Common good Will Paul Calls it a Good Mind towards God this little while that we are in the way that his Servants and their Seed should be established before him in his Worship and Service in finishing his Work and doing his Will They should be settled fixed and rooted herein Be thou faithful unto Death and I will give thee a Crown of Life Rev. 2.10 But he that shall endure unto the end the same shall be saved Mat. 24.13 Hereby also People will be enabled in this World of Tryal and Temptation to chuse rather to suffer affliction with the People of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season esteeming the Reproaches of Christ greater Riches than the Treasures of Egypt For he had respect unto the recompence of reward Heb. 11.25 26. So they will go through the course of what is imagined the dulness irksomness and tediousness of a Religious Life which indeed is real Peace and Satisfaction to the Heart of Man to such who universally comply and conform unto it all along although the World and Strangers to this Joy and also our fleshly corrupt Nature are apt to call it so rather than to enjoy the outward Mirth Recreations and Pleasures of Sin for a season knowing that all the Reproaches and Inconveniencies which we meet withal for holding and continuing in this our good way are greater Riches than the Treasures of the World for we have respect unto the recompence of reward Keep an Eye still to that and this will prevent that we wax not weary in well doing for we shall reap in due season if we faint not Whilest let others do what they will we do all along follow propose and endeavour after an end which is worthy viz. To serve God here with all our Mind Body and Estate that we may enjoy Him hereafter and so ever be with the Lord Amen Written by Richard Stafford FINIS LONDON Printed and are to be Sold by E. Whitlock near Stationers-Hall 1697.