presence with God is ever Their vision is ever Their fruition is ever Their conformity to God is ever We shall ever be with the Lord. Quest But why What good have the Saints done to merit such an ever of bliss Answ Nay Christians if we go that way to work we shall be sure to fall short of this ever An Heaven proportionable to the Saints merit is not to be found unless it be amongst their Antipodes in the Regions of darkness if there be an heaven there The wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Rom. 6. ult Hell is the wages of sin pure and proper merit but Heaven is a free gratuitous gift a gift in regard of us though merit in regard of Christ Eternal life is the gift of God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So that if it be demanded Why Heaven must be for ever The first and only account of merit is the blood of Jesus Christ the Saints were once a lost generation Reasons why the Saints reward in glory must be for ever 1. Christs merit that had sold themselves and their inheritance too and had not wherewithall to redeem either But they had a neer Kinsman even their elder Brother by the Mothers side to whom the right of redemption did belong who being a mighty man of wealth the Heir of all things undertook to be their Goel and out of his own proper substance to redeem both them and their inheritance them to be his own inheritance Ephes 1.10 and Heaven to be theirs 1 Pet. 1.4 And therefore had Heaven been but a moment short of eternity the Redeemer had over-bought it for he laid out the infinite treasures of his blood upon the purchase the blood of God Acts 20.28 had not Heaven been infinite also as in value so likewise in duration it had not stood with the justice of God or his love to his Son to have taken so dear for it It is this ever in the Text which makes Heaven to be but an even bargain were there a period of time though after the revolution of never so many Ages wherein the purchase were to expire Price and Inheritance and Heirs were all lost for ever Behold this is the first Reason A second account may be in respect of the elect themselves 2. Reason Saints have immortal Souls The Saints have immortal souls souls that have an ever stampt upon them an ever a parte post an enduring ever though not a parte ante a beginning ever or rather an ever without beginning of such an ever the Saints were uncapable God himself with holy reverence be it spoken could not have bestowed such an ever upon the Creatures for then he must have made them so many Gods and this God could not do and that because he is omnipotent there is but one supreme but one omnipotent but now an ever a parte post an enduring ever God by divine Covenant conferr'd upon their souls and will invest their bodies also with at the Resurrection that so eternal Beings might be capable of eternal Rewards the wicked of torments the godly of bliss both eternal If there were not this ever upon the beatitudes as well as upon the persons of the Saints they would be extreamly losers by it and outlive their own happiness Thirdly 3. Reason Saints Graces are eternal Such a cessation of the joyes of Heaven would be as inconsistent with the Saints Graces as it is with their beings God hath beautified their immortal souls with immortal graces 1 Cor. 13. ult their love abides for ever their zeal is eternal their holiness eternal and all their qualifications for glory are eternal and can their glory it self be mortal It were in vain to contend for perseverance in Grace should we admit falling away from Glory Poor Saints indeed if neither grace here nor glory hereafter could secure their happiness Were grace indeed amissable in this life and glory in the future the foundation of the Lord were not sure and the Saints of all men most miserable Such a cessation is totally inconsistent with the Orthodox faith as well as with the wisdom of God who certainly if he had furnisht the Saints with immortal principles and qualifications for an heaven which would or might determine had taken far more care upon the Mediums than upon the End And oversight incompatible with a wise man much more with the only wise God But the main pillars upon which this blessed Article of our faith everlasting life is built The Attributes of God the main pillars of Heavens eternity 1. The Wisdom of God are the glorious Attributes of God I shall therefore pursue the discovery of this delightful contemplation unto the Spring-head First then The Wisdom of God is the head corner stone upon which we build the belief of this Doctrine Heavens eternity Not to recur to any thing already spoken I shall only take the hint of the Psalmists Question Psal 89.47 Wherefore hast thou made all men in vain For the better understanding whereof we are to take notice that the rise of the Question is a passionate complaint of the Prophet concerning the brevity and misery of the present life in Job's phrase Heb. Short of dayes and full of trouble In the former part of the verse Lord remember how short my time is And in this latter part of the verse he doth as it were expostulate the case with God why God would have it so Wherefore hast thou made all men in vain In which words although he seem to ask God the question yet he giveth himself the answer and the answer is negative q. d. No God made not men in vain It is not possible that the Wisdom of God should make such an excellent Creature as man the master-piece of the whole neather world to no purpose It cannot be that God should bring in such a Creature only to take a turn or two in the world and then to disappear never to be heard of any more What then Why thence he doth rationally infer that certainly in mans creation God had a design upon him in order to a future estate And what was that But what the wise man discovers to us Prov. 16 4. The Lord hath made all things for himself i. e. for his own glory scil The wicked for the day of evil to the manifestation of his justice and the godly for the day of redemption to the exaltation of his free grace in both which however the wicked may seem in this world to go unpunished and the godly unrewarded yet God will have time enough to make reparations to his justice in another world hell and heaven will make amends for all But now after all this should there be a period wherein the flames of hell should be extinguished or the joyes of heaven annihilated if after the first creation suffered a miscarriage the second also should prove
12. Ch. 5.8 Their patient bearing of the Cross Their keeping of the word of God in the precepts of it and keeping close to it in the Truth of it Their superlative Love to Christ Math. 10.37 Their Cordial Love to the Saints 1 Jo. 3.14 Their Contempt of the World 1 Jo. 2.15 Their Love of Christs appearance 2 Tim. 4.8 In a word Their conformity to Christ their Head Rom. 8.29 These and the like Divine Vertues although not seldome more visible to a judicious stander by than to themselves and not to be weighed but with some graines of allowance in the ballance of the Sanctuary these I say may administer abundant matter of hope and rejoycing to surviving Friends that those Relations which are fallen asleep were a people whom God hath set apart for himself pretious in his sight honourable and beloved of him a people formed for himself to shew forth his praise Col s 1.13 and made meet to be partakers of the Inheritance of the Saints in Light Yea even in them whose Sun goes down in the morning of their Youth A teachable Spirit Math. 13.16 Isa 28.9 71 Psal 5. Jo. 16.8 1 John 2.13 John 17.3 Pious Inclinations Sense of a lost Estate by Nature A Competent knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ in his Offices A real sense of the need and use of Christ 1 Pet. 2.7 2 Tim. 3.15 Ps 119.13 An early acquaintance with the Scriptures A good understanding of the Word Preached not without some savour of it Respects to Gods Sabbaths And in a word 1 Kings 14.13 Any good thing toward the Lord God of Israel These early Impressions I say where ever they are found though according to different ages and capacities more or less legible in them are so many hopeful Indiciums that God hath been at work upon their hearts betimes and that he doth not untimely take them away in judgment but are polished Jewels which he hath of special grace laid up and secured from the violence and prophanation of a reprobate world Nay once more Those very Babes and Sucklings whom God is pleased to remove from us very early snatched from their Mothers Breasts yea possibly who pass swiftly from the Womb of their Natural Mother unto the belly of the Earth their Original Mother even these I say they being A Covenant seed Appendices of their believing Parents Children of promise Act. 2.39 Consecrated unto God by their Baptisme or by the Tears and Prayers of their holy Parents in the want of it having a right to the mercies 1 Cor. 7.14 Rom. 9.11 Mar. 10.4 Luk. 1.44 Gal. 1.15 Renatiante quam nati Aug. priviledges of the Covenant as well as to Baptisme Among whom is dispersed God the Father's Election God the Son's purchase God the Holy Ghost's Influence and Operation Even these are not to be looked upon as a lost Generation but may in the warrantable judgment of Scripture Charity be hopefully reputed for an Holy Seed Gods adopted Children owned by Christ and in him heires co-heires of the Kingdome of Heaven by special prerogative advanced to their Inheritance as it were before their time Upon this Foundation stands our hope concerning our Godly Relations which are fallen asleep of what age or state soever we are not to mourn for them even as others which have no hope Let them mourn excessively who know not the Scriptures nor the power of God in raising the Dead who bury their Relations and their hopes together in one Grave but you that upon these Scripture evidences have good hope through grace concerning your deceased Friends that while you are mourning on Earth they are rejoycing in Heaven that whiles you are Cloathed with black they are Cloathed in white even in the long white Robes of Christs Righteousness while you are rooling your selves in the Dunghil they are sitting with Christ upon his Throne Do not I beseech you profane your Scriptural hope with an unscriptural mourning give not the world occasion to judge either your selves to live without Faith or your Relations to dye without hope but let your Christian moderation be known to all men that it may be a visible Testimony to all the world of God's grace in them and of your hopes of their glory with God Therefore comfort one another with this word also A third word of comfort followeth and that is A third word of Comfort Our gratious Relations are not alone in their Death The Captain of their Salvation did march before them through those black Regions of Death and the Grave Jesus died this is implied in the following words If we believe that Jesus died This is a third consolatory Argument and it carryeth in it strong consolation Our sweet Relations in dying run no other hazard than Abraham Isaac and Jacob did no other hazard than all the Patriarchs and Prophets and Apostles did in their generations they all died and were resolved into their first dust Yea what shall I say They run no other hazard than the Lord of all the Patriarchs Prophets and Apostles did Jesus died this is wonderful indeed the Lord of Life died The eternal Son of God was laid in the Grave If our Children die we know we begot them mortal The Son of God had no principle of mortality in him * i.e. No sin in him to deserve it nor disease to cause it and yet he died Be our Children never so precious to us they cannot be so pretious to us God forbid they should as the Lord Jesus was to His Father who testifies concerning him from Heaven with a loud voyce This is my well-beloved Son Math. 3.17 in whom my Soul is well pleased And yet God gave up this well beloved of his Soul to the death Jesus died And we indeed justly Death is but our wages wages as truly earned as ever was a penny by the poor hireling for his days labour both we and our Off-spring have forfeited our lives over and over again by continual reiterated Treasons against the supreme Majesty of Heaven and Earth yea the best blood which runs in our veins is Traytors blood by succession from our first Rebellious Parents for which God might justly have executed the sentence at first imposed even as soon as ever we draw our first breath Thou shalt dye the death Gen. 3. But He what evil had he done He was holy harmless undefiled Heb. 7.26 Isa 53.61.71 Heb. Ho hath made the iniquity of us all to meet in him separate from sinners He did no sin neither was there guile found in his mouth He fulfilled all Righteousness and yet Jesus dyed And why so Surely he was wounded for our Transgressions he was bruised for our Iniquities the Chastisement of our peace was upon him and by his stripes we are healed we all like Sheep have gone astray we have turned every one to his own way and the Lord hath laid upon him the Iniquity
bondage come hither I say and set your feet upon the neck of this King of terrors and fear not to make that triumphant challenge of the Apostle Oh death 1 Cor. 15.55 where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory Death is swallowed up in victory and being conquered serves to that high and honourable end scil to be the Saints Vsher of State to bring them into the presence of the King of glory to behold his face and to hear his wisdom from thenceforth for ever to be with the Lord Death serves the Saints now for no use but to kill mortality and to extinguish corruption This corruptible must put on incorruption ver 33. and this mortal must put on immortality i. e. We shall ever be with the Lord a in perfect incorruptible state of glory and this must be effected by means of death Oh what were ten thousand deaths ushering in the Soul into so much glory The glimmering presence of God with a believer here below may conquer the fear of death Psal 23.3 Though I walk in the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for thou art with me How much more may the hope of a full fruition of God in glory deliver the Saints from the bondage of fear Ever with the Lord This puts Lillies and Roses into the ghastly face of Death and makes the King of terrors to out-shine Solomon in all his glory Ever with the Lord this makes death not only tolerable but amiable desirable For we know 2 Cor. 5.1 that if the earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved we have a building of God an house not made with hands eternal in the heavens and for this we groan carnestly desiring to be cloathed upon with our house ver 2. which is from heaven For in this we groan i. e. in this tabernacle for this is earthly earnestly desiring to be cloathed upon with our house which is from heaven the reason is because that house is eternal in the heaven A Saint looks out of the windows of this earthly Tabernacle and cryeth out as the Mother of Sisera Why stay the wheels of his Chariot thus long When shall I be carried to those eternal Mansions where I shall ever be with my Lord and Bridegroom Is any thing sweeter than life Yes death to a believer That of Solomon holds best in this case the day of death is better than the day of birth It is transcendently so to a Child of God who is conveighed by death into his Fathers presence where he shall dwell for ever The passage is dark Psal 16.1 but it shall be quick and speedy Thou wilt shew me the path of life the path of life lieth through the grave but Christ hath gone it already and will take the believer by the hand and lead him through it into the Presence-chamber of the King of glory where he shall hear the Bridegrooms voice and his joy shall be fulfilled then tremble thou not believer at the approach of death but go forth and meet him with this friendly salutation Come in thou blessed of the Lord Art thou come to fetch me to my Father Welcome death thou art my best friend next to Jesus Christ Death is only my passage into a blessed eternity Death is Joseph's Chariot not to carry the Saints down into Egypt but up into Canaan and how quickly doth he carry a believer thither It is but winking and he is at home as soon as the eye of the body is closed here the eye of the soul is open there O blessed vision to behold at once all the glories of eternity Say then with Jacob Jesus my Lord and Redeemer is yet alive and seated on the Throne at the right hand of the Majesty on high there proclaiming in the cars of all his trembling followers Rev. 1.18 I am he that liveth and was dead and behold I live for evermore Amen and have the keys of hell and death Fear not O thou believer to say with Jacob I will go and see him not before I dye but I will dye that I may go and see him Death is but the flames that must singe asunder the cords of thy mortality the hand that shall open the Cage that thy soul may get loose and take her flight for the Mountain of Spices the glorious immortality and liberty of the Sons of God Be of good chear Believers thou shalt dye but once and then ever be with the Lord with whom is the fountain of life life bubbling up unto all eternity The damned are alwayes dying repeating death every moment their flames only serve them to read over the black lines of death which have neither Full-point or Comma But death enters not into the borders of the heavenly Canaan they say there is no Spider in Ireland it is certain there is no putrid matter in heaven to breed the vermin of mortality in heaven only death cannot live when thou dyest thou shalt rise again and dye no more but death shall dye and shall rise no more thy grave shall be the eternal grave of death It is appointed for all men once to dye and for believers to dye but once Do but clear up thine interest in the death of Christ and thou mayest bid farewell to the fear of death for ever for the worst thing that death can do to thee is thee best thing that can be done for thee even to guide thy poor straying soul home to thy Fathers house and so shalt thou ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words Lastly It may teach us how to prize Christ Vse 6 that triumphant Grace a Grace that hath eternity stampt upon it it out-lives Faith for faith gives way to vision and it doth out-last hope for hope is swallowed up in fruition what a man seeth why doth he yet hope for Whether there be prophesies they shall fail whether there be tongues they shall cease whether there be knowledge it shall vanish away but charity never fails but as long as God lives it lives for God is love and they that love dwell in God and God in them I have finished I cannot say perfected the main work intended seil the opening of the ten words or Arguments of Comfort here laid down in this model or platform by the Holy Ghost as so many soveraign Cordials to revive disconsolate and fainting Christians over the death of their hopeful Relations with the several improvements which each word by it self may afford unto us But before I do Manum de tabula tollere dismiss this discourse I do observe divers useful Corollaries and Instructions lye couched in the general improvement of these words Comforting one another which will serve as so many branches of information which without guilt I cannot omit and they are ten 1. Several branches of Information arising from this general exhortation Comfort one another 1. Branch of Information Sorrow
of conscience and the book of Gods remembrance will agree exactly together 2.172 Whispers of conscience to be hearkened unto 2.172 Conversion in conversion how sins past present and to come are pardoned and how not 2.134 Righteousness imputed to the saints the first moment of their conversion 2.160 Converse knowledge of one another in heaven a great motive to converse one with another on earth 3.11 Covenant a comparison between the covenant of works and the covenant of grace 3.81 Creature we should sit loose from it 3.113 Cross the merit of Christ's cross is for justification and the power of his cross for mortification 2.156 Cup the cup that Christ drank was bitter but it was sweetned with three ingredients 1 But a cup not a sea 2.151 2 His Fathers cup not the Devils ibid. 3 A gift not a curse ibid. D Dead how to behold dead friends 2.103 Relations that die only fallen asleep 1.2 Death our Relations not alone in it 1.9 Our wages 1.10 Every person subject to it 2.65 At the hour of death the Saints are fully pardoned 2 134 Not terrible to a child of God 3.140 Death of some persons dreadful to themselves and to standers by 3.160 It is but a sleep 1.2 Resembled to it in two respects 1.3 Not a total privation of the habit 1.4 The godly infinite gainers by it 1.6 Degree different degrees of the Saints glory 3.5 Delusion how are the whispers of God distinguished from the delusions of Satan 3.129 Denyal there will be no denying of sin at the great day 2.167 Desertion Saints under desertion often bely themselves 2.131 Devised the world have counterfeit cordials 3.154 Disappointment a most afflicting evil and admits of three aggravations 3.115 Divine essence we shall not have an intuitive vision of it 3.27 How far we shall have a vision of it 3.30 Do this and live not a commandment only but a covenant 2.144 Draw all men to me how to be understood 2.105 Duties all the Saints duties performed publick or private shall be owned at the last day 2.128 Duty of Christians to imitate Christ universally 2.101 E Earth the place where the wicked will receive their sentence 2.124 It cannot be made sure 3.112 Election and purchase both perfected by the sanctification of the Spirit 2.123 Holiness not the cause of election but the end of it 3.43 Elect the future estate of the elect and reprobate set forth by eternity 3.89 Endeavour after assurance an evidence heaven 3.119 Enjoyments worldly enjoyments not what we fancy them 3.70 Eternity a description of it 3.84 97 Souls not eternal a parte ante and why 3.86 The future estate both of the elect and reprobate set forth by eternity 3.88 Eternity of God is an assurance of heaven being eternal 3.92 Evidences of heaven 3.119 A good evidence to be sollicitous about evidences 3.123 Exaltation Christ his exaltation and abasement compared together 3.21 Examination we should examine our selves and suffer others to examine us 3.162 Excuse no excuse for sin at the great day 2.167 172 Eye Gods essence cannot be seen by the bodily eye though glorified but by the eye of the understanding 3.23 F Faith the great saving office of it is to unite the soul to Jesus Christ 1.43 It is an hand to apply the righteousness of the first covenant as fulfilled by our Surety 2.146 Many do believe and yet do not believe that they do believe 3.71 Fear there is never a fear in a Christian but there is a fear not in the Scripture as an Antidote 3.147 Fidelity the faithfulness of the Saints will be owned at the last day 2.128 Fruition whatever the Saints see they enjoy in heaven 3.58 It consists of a tenfold Ingredient 1 Propriety 3.58 2 Possession 3.61 3 Intimacy 3.63 4 Fulness 3.65 5 Suitableness 3.67 6 Fixedness 3.70 7 Reflection 3.71 8 Freshness 3.73 9 Present 3.75 10 Complacency ibid. G Glory different degrees of the Saints glory 3.5 The glory of God will swallow up all private and personal considerations 3.14 God he can do what he will 2.100 His essence cannot be seen by the glorified corporeal eye but by the eye of the understanding 3.26 Godly Christ his being Judge great comfort to them 2.75 Good the good of the Saints will be mentioned not their evil at the great day 2.130 None of the good that ever the wicked did shall be mentioned to their honour 2.170 Gospel and Law reconciled in the mystery of justification 2.153 Tryal by the Gospel will be the most severe of any 2.166 Grace in the Saints is under a covenant 1.39 A comparison between the covenant of grace and the covenant of works 3.81 Graves the wicked raked out of them in their ugliness 2.102 They are beds wherein the bodies of the Saints are laid to rest 1.4 Guilty to be not guilty and to be righteous are two different capacities 2.139 H Happiness looking more after holiness than happiness is an evidence of heaven 3.120 Heaven it belongs to the Saints 1 By inheritance 3.60 2 By purchase ibid. In heaven none have the less for what others do enjoy but every one an whole God 3.65 It is a place of unmixed joy 3.69 It may be made sure 3.111 To look after an interest in heaven is an argument of wisdom 3.115 Evidences of it 3.119 Heavenly mindedness the evidence of 〈◊〉 heavenly blessedness 2.112 Hell separation from Christ the worst part of it 2.105 It is a place of unmixed sorrow 3.69 Holy Ghost why so called 2.122 Holiness by the Spirit of holiness Rom. 1.4 what meant 1.12 It doth best capacitate the soul for the Vision of God 3.39 41 In the Saints it is the divine nature not the divine being 3.42 God loveth it more than the creature how it is true and how in Arminius his sense not true 3.42 It is not the cause but the end of election 3.43 What holiness that must be that can capacitate us to see Gods face 3.44 Looking more after holiness than happiness an evidence of heaven 3.120 Humane nature of Christ the highest beatifical object in heaven next to the divine Essence 3.18 The glorifying of Christ's humane nature is the reward of his passion 3.19 Hypocrite no hypocrite in heaven 3.8 I Image that the Image of God suffered a miscarriage was not of improvidence but of ordination 3.80 Imitation it is the duty of Christians to imitate Christ universally 2.101 Immutability the immutability of God giveth assurance of the eternity of heaven 3.91 Imputation of righteousness is the positive part of justisication 2.133 Imputed righteousness is the same materially that the Law requireth 2.149 Indictment the sinners indictment and plea 2.147 Innocence is no security against oppression and cruelty 1.51 Intercessor there is no Intercessor at the great assize 2.171 Interest to look after an interest in heaven an argument of wisdom 3.115 Justice of God an assurance of the eternity of heaven 3.95 Judge Christ must be the Judge of great terror to
an earthly inheritance to run from Lawyer to Lawyer to attend eary in the morning and late at night to give see upon fee to spend half a patrimony or an estate to secure the rest and as if heaven and the beatifical vision were the only trivial worthless thing a meer accident that might adesse or abesse sine subjecti interitu be present or absent without the least prejudice at all to a mans happiness I say to take up that upon trust and to leave this ever with the Lord upon a peradventure Oh unspeakable folly and madness Oh that the sons of the earth should thus shame the heirs of heaven Hab. 2.6 that an earthly inheritance should be more valuâ—d by sense than the heavenly is by faith more care taken to be sure of dirt and dung thick clay than of that which is infinitely more valuable than câ—ral or pearls whose price is above rubies 1 Pet. 1.18 19 as bought not with silver and gold but with the precious blood of Jesus Christ as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot Were this errour the fruit only of incapacity as it is in little Infants that cannot judge what belongs to their present or future good verily it were a thousand pities an infelicity upon the humane nature to be lamented with tears of blood but that rational Creatures furnished with such noble faculties for such divine and heavenly purposes should through a mere brutish sensuality be so willingly content to remain at such uncertainties is the most dreadful prodigy that can possibly enter into the heart of man That adult persons grown up to maturity should despise their birth-rights and desperately neglect to look into their writings which relate to such an immortal estate argues not only the woful degeneracy of the humane nature how rife and pregnant the seeds both of ignorance and atheism are therein but even a judicial blast upon their understandings as if the God of Heaven had given them up to the God of the world 2 Thes 1.9 to blind the eyes of them which believe not lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ who is the Image of God should shine unto them Oh that men would consider seriously what avail will it be at death and judgment to have had assurance of many large earthly possessions while they lived and then to have neither scrip nor scrol as we say to shew for heaven that blessed inheritance of the Saints in light when they come to dye to be able to say now my house and my land and my silver and my crown and my kindom but not then my Lord and my God my heaven and my inheritance I have bestowed all my time and strength to assure my earthly possessions but now I can keep these no longer and can call nothing mine own but the dungeon of darkness there to be staked down to easeless and endless torments or at best to cry out with that heathen Emperour Animula Adrianus Imp. blandula vagula quo vadis nescio I know not whither thou art going O my precious darling my never dying soul Confident and presumptuous supposals may quiet and satisfie the sleepy and slothful Conscience in fair weather but in the hour of temptation Mat. 7.27 when the rain shall descend and the floods come and the winds blow then these foolish confidences will fall because they were built upon the sand and great will be the fall thereof Then when in hell the miserable soul made now as sensible as formerly it was secure shall from thence lift up its eyes and see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the Prophets in the Kingdom of God and it self thrust out what furious and fiery reflexions will then rend and vex the Conscience and the sinner cry out with horrour O damned wretch that I am I might have had pardon and glory as well as others I had as many means and motives I had as much need as they it was as much my concern as any others but I trifled and took up all upon trust and would not give diligence to the full assurance of hope to the end oh now a thousand worlds if I had them for a may be which once I had oh for one of those dayes of grace which I then sinned away and idled out in the pursuit of vanity for one of those tenders and offers of salvation which then pursued me and I would not hearken but thought I might have had heaven time enough when I had done with the world but now I see how miserably I have mocked God and deceived my self the day of grace is now gone and the time of peace is at its full stop and period and instead of ever with the Lord here I must lye and boil and broil in these flames with the Devil and reprobate spirits for ever Oh that sinners would therefore in this their day be wise As I Inâ—ew a prophane wretch in Kent who lived in all kind of wickedness and debauchery against the most passionate and compassionate cautions and expostulations of his godly Minister and would not hearken to him when he came to dye he sent for his Minister who coming and asking him why he had sent for him replyed only this Oh Sir my time is done and my mork a not begun and so died and know the things which belong unto their peace before they be hid from their eyes Consider as Motives Motives to labour for Assurance 1. It may be attained First Heaven way be made sure assurance may be attained 1. God commands it Phil. 2.12 2 Pet. 1.10 Heb. 6.11 Work out your salvation with fear and trembling Give all diligence to make your calling and election sure We desire that every one of you do shew the same diligence to the full assurance of hope And God doth not command impossibility the Law indeed did but he giveth more grace Jam. 4.6 God in the Gospel giveth what he commandeth To which end 2. It is observable that what is a precept in one place is a promise in another that if the command find work the promise may find strength Hence His Commandments are not grievous 1 John 5.3 Phil. 4.13 and I can do all things through Christ that strengtheneth me So run the promises Mat. 7.7 Augustine desired no more of God but dâ— Domini quod jubes jube quod vis Ask and it shall be given you seek and ye shall find knock and it shall be opened unto you A multiplied use of Gospel means will bring in a multiplied increase of Gospel grace and strength 3. Many of the Saints of God have attained assurance of their salvation holy Paul in the name of himself and his fellow Saints 2 Cor. 5.1 could say We know we have an house not made with hands eternal in the heavens not we hope only but we know So the Discâ—ple of love 1 John 3.14 We know we have
passed from death to life and God hath given us eternal life Chap. 5.11 not only will give but hath given as sure as if we were there already and thus in many Scriptures more Now this is certain what hath been may be what some of the Saints have attained and not only by special prerogative others may attain also provided they be not slothful Heb. 6.11 curn 12. but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises Thus heaven may be made sure But on the other side The world nor any part of it can be made sure earth cannot 1. It is not all the ensuring Offices in the world nor all the Law or Lawyers in Westminster-hall that can make an undefeazable entail to secure an inheritance upon the third or second generation not only in respect of the brevity and uncertainty of mans life the great mutability in the Creature the wiles and frauds of men who are cunning to deceive but even in regard of the methods and intricacies of the Law it self 1 Tim. 6.17 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hence the Apostle calls all sublunary possessions uncertain riches to which he opposeth the living God God only is immortal not mutable all the things in the world which men make their riches are uncertain heaven only by a true Copernicisme is fixed the earth moveable and unstable 2. And God would have it so God hath on purpose filled the whole Creation with emptiness and vanity that the heart of man might not be ensnared and beguiled with it for saith God Prov. 23. â— wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not How not Not that which it appears to be a meer non-ens a nothing Not that which the heart of man promises to it self from it happiness and satisfaction nothing less Not fixed and durable for riches verily make themselves wings and fly away as an Eagle towards heaven Supra from whence they came God gave them and when he calls them they take wings and are gone in a moment they cannot be secured as good secure the bird upon the wing as go about to secure the world in any of the elements thereof 3. God would have us sit loose from the Creature here God would have us contented to be at uncertainties Matth. 6. ver 25. Take no thought for your life 34. Take no thought for to morrow In the concerns of the present life God would have us live at an holy kind of adventure and leave all to providence i. e. as to the issues and events of things But oh how are men turned Gods antipodes What cannot be made sure and God would not have to be sure that vain man would make sure and that which may be made sure which God commands us to make sure and what the Saints have made sure this and this only he takes upon trust and leaves it upon Why nots and peradventures Thus man stands as one saith upon his head and shakes his heels against heaven It is a Lamentation and shall be for a Lamentation A second Consideration may be this Motive 2. To get assurance of heaven is a work never unseasonable but never more seasonable than in times of danger and uncertainty when all sublunary things are in a doubtful and wavering condition in such a juncture of time he that can secure heaven by making his calling and election sure he is like the Philosophers good man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 four-square cast him which way you will he alwayes falls upon a square he is built upon a Rock and cannot be shaken or though he be moved he cannot be removed but stands like a pillar in the Temple of God even like those pillars in Solomon's Temple Jachin and Boaz stability and strength This is the most important business incumbent on us and it being about an Inheritance which is fixed and sure it is both our duty and our wisdom to be so too uncertainty in things of uncertainty is no solecisme but to be uncertain in things of greatest assurance and permanency is an intollerable shame Heaven secur'd our work is done a man may sit down and sing a requiem to his own soul in an holy security Rora hora brevis mora O sidurasset saying Soul thou hast goods laid up for many years for years of eternity eat drink and be merry and not fear the rebuke of O thou fool The joy of the Lord enters into the soul before the soul entreth into the Lords joy the Inheritance safe a man may well be merry for he can never be miserable He that is sure of Heaven knoweth also that whatever he hath more or less in this life he hath it as The fruit of Gods everlasting electing love The purchase of Christs blood With Gods love as well as with Gods leave By promise as well as by providence As part of his childs portion in earnest of what is to come He knoweth that whatever befalls him on this side heaven Honour or dishonour Good report or bad report Health or sickness Prosperity or adversity Peace or persecution Life or death All shall work together for good his best his spiritual his eternal good Rom. 8.28 Who but a mad man would leave such an estate upon uncertainties The world may call him if they will a wise man but a greater fool goeth not about the streets with a whisk and a batible And truly without this a man cannot rationally take any delight in these inferiour enjoyments this will be a care at the bottom yea it is well now but what it will be hereafter to all eternity I know not Consider in the third place Motive 3. The more wisdom any have attained to the greater hath been their care and diligence to secure to themselves an interest in this future blessedness Witness holy David and Paul Porphyry saith of Photinâ—â— that he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whose indifferency about the present and contention about the future estate was such as if they had forgotten they were in the body Whom have I in heaven but thee and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee so sings David Psal 73.25 And I forget the things that are behind and press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus so professeth holy Paul Phil. 3.13 14. Oh happy security they were careless of the world that they might secure themselves of heaven Fourthly and lastly consider Motive 4. That disappointment is the most afflicting evil that a rational Creature is capable of And there be three Aggravations which render it intolerable First The more precious the concernment the more grievous the disappointment to be disappointed of a common preferment is very vexatious what is it then to be disappointed of a Crown a Kingdom Secondly The higher the confidence of speeding the deeper the anxiety of disappointment to come to the Church door in expectation