follow He desires not so much the end of this Life whatever he now suffered as the blessedness of the next Life which he hoped for It was not an Annihilation to put a period to his present sufferings but a happy Change which he groan'd for Not a Ruin but a temporary dissolution of this earthly House in order to an Eternal Advantage Not a bare privation of this Life but a passage to a better He doth not groan so much from the Sense of present Evil as by reason of the Absence of his most desired Good He was not so much burdened by what he felt and could not avoid or remove as by what he foresaw and expected and could not yet Enjoy He must dye first and have the old House pull'd down before he could reach that compleat Felicity which he so earnestly aspires after SECT VI. 2. It is therefore further exprest as that which he groaned and longed for viz. to be Cloathed upon To lay aside this mean and little troublesome Garment for a more beautiful and commodious one To have this earthly House dissolved and moulder into dust with the Expectation of reassuming Another or the Same with a glorious Change And in that sense the Expression verse 3. may be understood That being thus cloathed that is with such a glorified Body we may not be found Naked or without any Body at all Though * A. B. Cant. 3. Vol. Serm. 6th some carry the expression Desiring to be cloathed upon as wishing not to put off this Body at all but to be in the number of those who shall be found alive at the coming of Christ to Judgment which some of the Disciples of Christ expected by a mistake of what he said concerning St. John If I will that he tarry till I come And so the words may be read If so be that we shall be found cloathed and not naked That is if at Christ's coming we shall be found Alive and not Dead and so have this mortal corruptible Body changed into a Spiritual Glorious and Immortal one without Dying Whether that was the sense of the Apostle or not I shall discourse of these words as the common Sentiment of real Christians who have no hope of Living till the end of the World but expect to dye e're it be long and carnestly desire a future Blessedness for Soul and Body in another Life and therefore when they lay down this Body in the Dust they groan to be cloathed upon to have these vile Bodies made like the glorious Body of Christ or as the Apostle himself expresses it 1 Cor. 15.53 To have this Corruptible put on Incorruption and this Mortal put on Immortality The putting off there is the same with the being cloathed upon here That is they groan to have this present State changed for the Felicity and Glory of that future State which Christ hath given them to expect both for Soul and Body in another Life SECT VII 3. There is yet another Expression which riseth higher That Mortality may be swallowed up of Life That which is Mortal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This our mortal Life which is subject to Dangers Afflictions and Death it self That this may be Swallowed up of Life as is that which is Imperfect by that which is Perfect as Infancy and Childhood by Maturity and Manhood or as Darkness is swallowed up in Light The meaning is that our low Animal Life may be changed into an Heavenly one that our frail short and transitory Life may be changed into an Immortal Eternal one that the Corruption and Mortality which our Bodies are liable to and which remain in them while they are in the Grave may be removed Or according to the Apostles Phrase That Death may be swallowed up in Victory may be finally perfectly and for ever Destroyed For so the expression does import and is often rendered in other places * See Dr. Hammond 1 Cor. 15.54 g. for ever And that includes the Resurrection of the Body to an happy State as one part of this Desire For if by Dying we are more miserable than before Death is not swallowed up in Victory it rather is too hard for us and gains a Victory over us But if our state be bettered by Death not only as to our Souls but our very Bodies are also to be raised again to a glorious Life if when Death hath done its utmost our Souls pass into a State of Rest and Bliss to be compleated in a glorious Resurrection of the Body and to be continued and increased to all Eternity we are then Victorious over Death Death may be said to be swallowed up in Victory or Mortality swallowed up of Everlasting Life CHAP. II. The Method and Design of the following Discourse Good men in the present state are burdened with their Sins and Sufferings so as to groan for Deliverance SECT I. After this Paraphrase and Explication of the words that which I design as the Ground of my following discourse is this That it becomes the State and Frame of real Christians while they are burdened in these mortal Bodies earnestly to desire a better an Immortal Life wherein the Body as well as the Soul shall be gloriously Changed In discoursing of this I shall first show That such is the present State of good men in these Bodies that they groan under manifold Burdens that may well make them long for Deliverance II. That they have the certain Expectation of a better State and Life after the dissolution of this earthly Tabernacle by Death III. That it is agreeable to the Temper of a Christian Spirit so far as renewed and sanctified to long for that better State and Life beyond the Grave IV. That it is not such a State and Life wherein they expect to be without any Body at all but to have their Bodies raised and changed and glorified To be cloathed upon with an House from Heaven and to have mortality swallowed up in Life The consideration of these particulars will make way for the practical Application suitable to this solemn Occasion on which I am desired to preach on this Text. SECT II. First That such is the present state of good Men in these Bodies that they groan under manifold Burdens which may well make them long for Deliverance I need not run far into the common Theme of the Miseries of humane Life which every one feels or knows of those that do Our Sufferings and our Sins while in this earthly Tabernacle will be sufficient to be considered under this head 1. Our Sorrows and Sufferings while in the Body Our early Tears when we come into the World prognosticate a good share of these to be expected Not to mention the Vexation of disappointment in our Temporal Injoyments as a great part of this Burden the actual Sorrows and Afflictions which all partake of are very many and great heavy and afflictive they are such as extort the Cries and Tears and
consisting of Soul and Body and our Bodies Sanctified by him and are the Temples of the Holy Ghost and therefore shall be raised by him Yea we are said to rise with him and to be set down in heavenly places in and with him It is not more true that he died for our sins than that be rose again for our Justification and if for that he rose for our Resurrection too For the guilt of sin being removed which is the meritorious cause of Death Death which is the Punishment shall not remain but be swallowed up in Victory whereas it lives and reigns and keeps the Field till the Restirrection But we are assured that The Sea and Death and the Vniversal Grave shall give up their Dead Rev. 20.13 And then not only the sting of Death but Death it self shall dye and cease for ever for there shall be no more death Rev. 21.4 Our dead Bodies shall then live so as to dye no more For if we believe on him that raised Christ from the dead the same Spirit that raised Christ shall be the Author of our Resurrection Rom. 8.23 And if we believe that Jesus dyed and rose again even them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him 1 Thes 4.14 He that was dead is now alive and behold he lives for evermore and he hath the keys of Death and Hell Rev. 1.18 And he has expresly told us that the hour is coming in the which All that are in their graves shall hear his voice and shall come forth They that have done good unto the Resurrection of Life and they that have done evil unto the Resurrection of Damnation John 5.28.29 And this is the will of God that sent him that every one who believeth on him shall have everlasting Life and he will raise him up at the last day John 6.40 The like he declares afterwards to Martha I am the Resurrection and the Life he that believeth in me tho he were dead yet shall he live John 11.25 He is the First born from the dead and Believers are the Children of the Resurrection Colos 1.18 His Resurrection not only proves the possibility of ours but it is the pledge of the performance God having raised him up hath loosed the pains of Death since it was impossible he should be holden by them Naturally impossible because of his Divine Power and legally impossible because Divine Justice after such a Satisfaction as the Death of Christ required that he should be raised to Life and receive a Discharge and Reward We could hardly believe the Dead should rise to Life if Christ by his own Resurrection and by raising others had not proved it possible and already done But he hath not conquer'd Death for himself alone but for his Members too and to them he has promised that they shall * John 11.26 never see Death or come within the Prospect or Danger of it And not only shall not but cannot dye any more after the Resurrection for they shall be equal to the Angels Luke 20.36 His Victory over Death was declared by his Resurrection and his entrance into Glory did Compleat the Conquest Now as Christ hath carried his Humane Nature into Heaven we are to be made like him and bear the Image of the Heavenly Adam and therefore our Flesh shall be raised too He is the first-fruits of them that sleep 1 Cor. 15 20. And it is * Bishop Vsher observable tha the Rose from the Dead on that Day whereon the Jews observe their Feast of First-fruits That Feast was not stinted to any day of the Month as other Feasts were but was to be always on the Morrow after the Passover Sabbath that so it might fall always on the First day of the Week the Day of Christ's Resurrection Well therefore might the Apostle say Christ being Risen is become the First-fruits of them that sleep As the Offering of the First-fruits amongst the Jews Consecrated all the rest SECT IV. Neither can we suppose our Happiness would be compleat without the Resurrection of the Body As Soul and body concur to the Constitution of man the Soul is in a State of widowhood till reunited to the Body And in this Life the Body has a share in the work and service of the Man which is to be rewarded or punished as executing the designs of the Soul And the members of the Body serve as members of Righteousness or Sin The Law of God commands the intire Man composed of Soul and Body and this Law is obeyed or violated by both though the moral good or evil of our Actions be chiefly attributed to the Soul as the principal Agent But on this Account the Body shall partake in the rewards or Punishment of the next Life if the intire Person be to be recompenced And it is with respect to the Body that seemed to be lost that the Resurrection is promised the Body resolved into dust or swallowed in the Sea or consumed by fire Such promises of the Resurrection are made to Believers for their encouragment and hope Besides there are many Objects in the heavenly State that do suppose a Body and are to be discerned by our bodily senses as the glorious beauty and magnificence of the blessed mansions and the Humane Nature of our glorious Redeemer c. On which and many other accounts the Body shall be raised and changed and glorified SECT V. Reason it self would make this Probable Man being created with a Body and a Soul which have so natural an Inclination to one another that there is an appetite and desire as it seems to be united and co-operate together and many of our Capacities of Joy and Comfort as well as of Sorrow and Grief result from and depend upon this Union In order therefore to the full and final Felicity that God will confer on some and for the greater Misery wherewith divine Justice will punish others it is very probable from principles of Reason that God will raise the Bodys of men That being united to their Souls they may be better capable of enjoying the promised Happiness or suffering the threatened misery of the next World This seems to be the sense of Job 14. Chap. 14. ver where he says that all the days of his appointed time I will wait till my change come Speaking of the Resurrection of the Body There is hope of a Tree he saith if it be cut down that it will sprout again but man dyeth and where is he he lyeth down and riseth not till the Heavens be no more If a man dye shall he live again All the days of my appointed Time c. * Mr. Howe of Blessedness p. 210. According to common Apprehension and Appearance the State of man at death is hopeless But he professeth his Expectation that at a set and appointed Time God would remember him so as to recall him out of the Grave And therefore puts the question If a man dye shall he
to a Prison than to their God and had rather be Panished to a Land of Strangers than sent to Heaven O Lord must I that am called thy Child and an Heir of Heaven and a Co heir with Christ have no more Acquaintance with my Glorified Lord and no more Love to thee who art my Portion before I go hence and come to thee Must I go hence so like a Stranger to my home O what do I beg for so frequently and so earnestly for the sake of my Redeemer as the Spirit of Life and Consolation that may shew me the pleased face of God and unite all my Affections to my glorified Head and draw up this dark and drowsie Soul to love and long to be with thee O God forbid that this sinful Flesh should be more powerful to draw me downward than Faith and Hope and Love to carry my Desires up to God O thou that freely gavest me thy Grace maintain it to the last against its Enemies and make it finally Victorious It came from thee it hath been preserved by thee it is on thy side and wholly for thee O let it not now fail and be conquer'd by blind and base Carnality or by the Temptations of a Hellish conquered Enemy It is thine Image which thou lovest it is a Divine Nature and Heavenly Beam VVhat will a Soul be without it but a Dungeon of Darkness a Devil for Malignity and dead to Holiness and Heaness O rather deny me the Light of the Sun than the Light of thy Countenance Less miserable had I been without Light or Being than without thy Grace O forsake not a Sinner in his extremity who consents to thy Covenant and would not forsake thee My God I have often sinned against thee but yet thou knowest I would fain be thine I have not served thee with that Resolution Fidelity and Delight as such a Master should have been served But yet I would not forsake thy Service nor change my Master or my Work I can say with thy Servant Paul Act. 27.23 That thou art the God whose I am and whom I serve And O that I could serve thee better For to serve thee is but to receive thy Grace and use it for my own and others good and so to glorifie thee and please thy Will which being Love it self it pleased best when we receive it and do most good Nothing in this World is more my Grief than that I love thee no more Forsake not then a Sinner that would not forsake thee that looks towards thee that feels it as his trouble to be so dark and strange unto thee that groaneth and gaspeth after thee feeling to his greatest sorrow that while he is present in the Body he is absent from the Lord. My Lord I have nothing to do in this World but to seek and serve thee O pardon all my Carnal Thoughts and all my Unthankful Neglects of thy precious Grace and Love and let the fuller Communications of thy forfeited Grace now tell me by experience that thou dost forgive me When I have said VVill the Lord cast off for ever And will he be favourable no more My Conscience has replyed That this is mine Infirmity I never wanted Comfort because thou ever wantedst Mercy but because I wanted Faith and Fitness to receive it and perceive it But hast thou not Mercy also to give me even that Fitness and that Faith My God all is of thee and through thee and all is to thee and when I have the Felicity the Glory of all for ever will be thine If I can live and dye in trusting in thee surely I shall not be confounded * See a more full Example of the Acting of Holy Desires towards the Blessed Change in the Close of his Saints Everlasting Rest These be some of the Dying Thoughts of that Excellent Person SECT II. And yet my Friends mistake me not I say not that all are Graceless that are afraid of Death For Nature desires Life even under Sufferings that are but tolerable rather than dye And this is from meer natural necessary Inclination which Free-will hath not full Power against Death as the Dissolution of our frame as the Separation of Soul and Body cannot for it self be loved The putrifying of this Body in the Grave the greatness of the Change of Death the darkness of our Minds and the weakness of our Grace the remaining Sense of Sin with the dreadful Majesty of that God before whom we must appear joined with our Natural Averseness to Dye may make us shrink and tremble But the Faith of the Invisible VVorld the Love of God and Christ and a desire to enjoy him and please him and be with him should do much to overcome these Fears and make us willing Though some remaining Fear be consistent with Vprightness yet remember that not to desire and long for this Blessed State though mix'd with a Fear of intervening Death is highly criminal and faulty For the Love of God and Christ and earnest Desires to be like him and to be with him seems to be the better half of all Religion 2 Tim. 4.8 2 Tit. 13. 2 Pet. 3.12 Not to desire this Blessed Change is directly a sin against the Gospel whereby we are * 2 Thes 2 12 1 Pet. 1.12 called to the obtaining of the Glory of our Lord Jesus Christ VVithout such Desires we comply not with the Design and VVill of God who hath called us to his eternal Glory by Christ Jesus For how can his Call be answered without an Inclination of Heart to such a State and a Desire after it For a real Member of Christ and Heir of Heaven to be only Content to see the Lord to be Content to be for ever in his Blessed Presence and perfectly holy and freed from Sin is a very hard and harsh expression Men are covetous eager and ambitious after earthly good And shall a Christian's Desire be less earnest after the Heavenly Glory I grant some remaining Fear of Death may consist with Integrity when it is not God and Heaven we are averse to but Death that stands in the way or when it is because of our Doubts of God's Acceptance of us For I question not but most upright Christians would rather dye than live might they but hope to be with Christ and enjoy the Divine Presence As others would be glad of a Removal might it be without Dying because they fear the Pains and Terrors of a dying Hour Might they not be uncloathed but cloathed upon by an immediate Translation they care not how soon it were For there be many such who desire the Second Coming of Christ unfeignedly and the Blessed Consequences of it to whom all the parts of the Heavenly State and Life are sweet and grateful who live and walk in their Integrity before God though their Grace prevail not against this Fear of death VVhereas you ought to consider that the Throes and Pangs of Travelling VVomen in
World when it is most pleasant commodious and inviting Our Spirits are Distempered and out of Order if it be not thus with us And let all the Calamities and Afflictions of this present Life be supported by this Expectation and improved likewise to strengthen and increase such Desires of a better State This is one design of God in our Temporal Crosses to assist our Victory over this World and make us more intensely and earnestly to aspire after Heaven to teach us to long for everlasting Rest and Peace and Glory to bring us practically to reckon and conclude that the expected Glory that is to be revealed in us will infinitely out ballance all the sufferings of our present State In short if you believe and expect such a blessed Change let the Apostles Exhortation take place to be stedfast unmovable allways abounding in the work of the Lord for you know it cannot be in vain in the Lord. Do not regret the Thoughts of labouring and suffering for a little while more and longer in this Body you need not apprehend you shall be loosers or fear to have a hard Batgain For your present Sorrows and sufferings and difficult Services can last but a little while and shall have an eternal Recompence If we are never so abundant in the Work of the Lord if we begin never so soon and last never so long it shall not be in vain in the Lord If therefore you thus believe and expect be perswaded to give all Diligence adding to your Faith Vertue to Vertue Knowledg to Knowledg Temperance to Temperance Patience to Patience Godliness to Godliness Brotherly-kindness to Brotherly-kindness Charity being filled with all the Fruits of Righteousness that are by Christ Jesus to the Glory and Praise of God that an Entrance may be administred to you abundantly into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Let us follow after that we may apprehend that for which also we are apprehended of Christ Jesus Let us reach forth unto those things that are before forgetting those which are behind and press towards the Mark of the Prize of the high Calling of God in Christ Jesus that if by any means we might attain unto the Resurrection of the dead Philip. 3.11 12 13. Let us remember we are to be but a little while in this Body and this earthly House is appointed for Labour it is a work-house Let us therefore give all Diligence to work out our Salvation as knowing we shall not be long in the Body This is the Apostles Argument as to himself and equally concerns us 2 Pet. 1.12 13. CHAP. VIII Of the Characters of such who may and ought to long for this Glorious Change who have a Title to the Desired Blessedness SECT I. FIfthly How sollicitous should we be to find in our selves the Characters of such to whom these Desires are suitable and to clear up our Title to that blessed State which the Followers of Christ do thus earnestly long for The Promise of the Heavenly Inheritance is annexed to our being born of God or being born from above You must therefore look after the Renovation of the Divine Image and Life by the Spirit of Life and Power in Jesus Christ that the Holy Spirit may Witness with your Spirits to his own Work that you may discover and discern those holy Affections as the Fruits of the Spirit which are proper to the Children of God such as an humble Fear of him and diligent Care to please him a fervent Love to God and Christ an intire Resignation to his Will Holy Zeal for his Interest and Glory and trust in his Word c. For till your Natures are changed by the Spirit of Christ and you are so made meet for the Heavenly Inheritance you cannot have a share in this Blessedness no more than if the legal Bar be not removed by the forgiveness of Sin or your Persons not reconciled by the Blood of Christ The Qualification of the Heirs of this great Salvation is variously described in Scripture Sometimes by Faith sometimes by Regeneration sometimes by Heavenly Affections sometimes by Holy Obedience and Fruitfulness in Good Works All must concur to suit us and to Intitle us to the Heavenly State You are therefore to inquire after the Characters of the Children of God and the Heirs of Heaven which is a state of Sinless Perfection And therefore to examine whether you are brought to loath your selves for your Sins and that there is no sin but you would desire to know and are as desirous to be rid of and would rather be freed from Sin than from Affliction Whether you do not aspire after the highest Degrees of Holiness Whether you would not rather be perfect in the Love of God and the Obedience of his Will than have all the Riches and Pleasures of the World Whether you do not like and love that Degree of Holiness in others that you have not yet attained your selves Whether you do not love the Image of God and Christ wheresoever you can discern it Whether you do not endeavour to Mortifie the Flesh not to live or walk after it but to be Crucified to the World and with your chiefest care and endeavour to serve and please God and enjoy him for ever depending on Christ his Sacrifice and Intercession and Spirit for all your Grace and Glory all your Hopes of Acceptance with God and Capacity or Title for Communion with him giving up your selves intirely to be governed by him being willing to obey his Law whatsoever it shall cost you watching over your Heart Affections and Thoughts as well as outward Actions taking Pleasure in the Worship and Service of God as a delightful Work resigning to God and being devoted to his Will Praying frequently for his Grace and casting your selves on his Mercy through Jesus Christ for Eternal Life These are some of the Characters of such as are Heirs of Salvation These you must look after and then endeavour to advance in a Joyful Hope and Assurance that the Heavenly Inheritance is yours labouring for a setled Conscience growing in Grace and especially in Mortified Affections to the World and living in the Exercise of Grace by careful obedience to God as those that are absolutely devoted to him and hope to live in his Blessed Presence for ever CHAP. IX How Few Christians live in the Exercise of such Desires after the Blessed Change What may be the Reason That some fear of Death and particularly of a painful Death may consist with Vprightness That elder Christians and the Sickly and Infirm should endeavour to quicken such a Desire of Deliverance by Death Reproof and Exhortation in reference hereto SECT I. SIxthly Let us be Ashamed that we find in our selves no more of this holy frame That we so over-love this Earthly House and are afraid of Death That our Desires are so faint toward this blessed Change How shameful is our backwardness and unwillingness to
depart and be with Christ And how faulty are the Causes of it which in * See Mourner's Companion Discourse 3d. The Saints Desire to be with Christ another Discourse I have open'd How is it that so few can say with the Apostle I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ which is far better Have we not Experienced enough of the Vanity and Vexation of this World to make us willing of a better Abode Have we not sinned and suffered enough in this Body to desire to be uncloathed at least to wait patiently the Pleasure of God for our Removal And so glorious is the Change which Christians expect that one would think there should rather be need of Patience to make a Believer wait till then But whatever the exercise of this Patience under present Burdens may be we need not doubt but one hours Enjoyment will make amends for all our Waiting and Preparing It cannot be long with the Youngest of us Let us not put it at a great Distance for that will quench the Coal of Heavenly Desire if we look upon Heaven as Twenty or Thirty years off We know not how soon God may call us But have great Reason to lament the strangeness of our Thoughts to the Heavenly State and the faintness of our Desires when the Promised Felicity is so attractive Do we think we shall live ever the longer for being unwilling to Dye Can it enter into our Thoughts that our excessive Love of the Body will procure our Continuance in it Is it possible we should imagine that sincerity of Love to Christ is consistent with our Backwardness to go to him and live with him Why then do we not aspire more earnestly after this glorious Change How is it that we groan under the Burdens of this Earthly Tabernacle and yet are loth to be delivered Will a Sick Man be afraid of his Recovery Or a Prisoner tremble at the News of a Goal-delivery No more should a real Christian be afraid of Death or unwilling of it For considering the Death and Resurrection and Ascension and Promise of Christ it is to a Believer a quick Passage from Sickness to eternal Health from Toil and Labour Captivity and Sorrow to everlasting Rest and Liberty and Joy I think says * Mr. Baxter of Self-denial p. 202. one God has purposely cloathed your Soul with so poor a Dress that you should be the less unwilling to be uncloathed and might learn to set more by your Souls than by your Bodies and make more careful Provision for them It seems he has purposely lodged you in so poor a Cottage that you should not be at too much Care for it nor be too loth to leave it You have its daily Necessities Infirmities and Pains and somewhat of its Filth and Loathsomness to tell you of its Meanness And why should you be so unwilling that so frail a Body should be turned to Dust Dust it is and to Dust it is Sentenced When the Soul has left it but a Week Men can scarce indure to see it or smell it And should the breaking of such an Earthen Vessel be so unpleasant a thing to you And for its Vsefulness though so far as it is obedient it was serviceable to your Souls and to God Yet was it so refractory ill-disposed and disobedient that it proved no better than your Enemy Many a Temptation it hath entertained and cherished and many a Sin hath it drawn you to commit Your Senses have let in a World of Vanity your Wandering Eyes have called in Covetousness and Pride and Lust Your Greedy Apperites have been so eager on the Bait that they have too often born down your Faith and Reason and drawn you to Excess in Meats or Drinks for Matter or Manner for Quality or Quantity or both Many a Groan these Sins have cost you and a sad uncomfortable Life you have had by reason of them in comparison of what you might have had and this Flesh has been the Mother or the Nurse of all You were engaged by your Baptismal Covenant to Fight against it when you entered into the Church and if you are Christians this Combate has been your daily Work and much of the Business of your Lives And yet are you loth to have the Victory and see your Enemy under your feet Have you fought your selves into Friendship with it that you are so tender of it Do you not know that when you are the greatest Friends to the Body it will be the most dangerous Enemy to you Do not think that it is only Sin and not the Body that is the Flesh which the Scripture calls your Enemy For it is the Body as inclining to Creatures from which the sinful Soul cannot restrain it It is the Body as having an inordinate sensitive Appetite and Imagination and so distempered as that it rebels against the Spirit and casteth off the Rule of Reason and would not be curbed of its Desires but have the Rule of all its self Was it not the very Flesh it self that Paul says he fought against and kept under and brought into Subjection lest he should be a Cast-away 1 Cor. 9.26 Why should Sin be called Flesh and Body but that it is the Body or Flesh that is the principal seat of those sins that are so called c. How earnestly should we beg of God that Faith and Hope in Vigorous Exercise that may kindle our Desires and Love towards the Heavenly State and make us long to behold the Lord in Glory when we shall put off this Body and our Souls be filled with Heavenly Light and Love Certainly if we do not now desire it we shall never enjoy it For we can never be happy by full satisfaction in that which we do not know enough of to make us desire But the little Knowledge and Love of God which a real Christian now hath must needs make him Importunate in his Requests for more and will make him value his Hopes of a better State beyond all the Pleasures of Sin and all the Possessions of this World O How Passionately have some excellent Persons lamented the weakness of their Desires and Love and cryed out for more of Heavenly Life and Light and Love to God! O * Mr. Baxter's Dying Thoughts p. 184. 212. where is the longing the rejoycing the triumphing Faith VVhere is the pleasant familiarity above that should make a Thought of Christ and Heaven to be sweeter to me than the Thought of Friends and Health or all the Pleasure and Prosperity in the World Do those that dwell in God and God in them and have their Heart and Conversation in Heaven attain to no more clear and satisfying Preception of that blessed State than I have yet attained Is there no more Acquaintance above to be here expected No livelier sense of future Joys No sweeter Fore tastes No fuller silencing of Doubts and Fears Alas How many Christians are less afraid to go