great Concern lies in but on by-Businesses and inconsiderable things that are all nothing to the main Pray Sirs let us think of it we are all busy every day one is planting another is building another is purchasing another is trading another is tilling one is doing this another is doing that and every Body upon the Matter is taken up with something or other of the things which are seen yet alas Sirs our great Matters our great Concerns lie neither in one or another of these seen things that are temporal but in unseen things which are eternal Think on it Soul to day I say to thee that whatever it is which thou art about and most taken up with amongst things which are seen this is not thy Matter this is not thy Business this is not thy Great Concern thou hast a greater Matter a greater Concernment than this to mind and tend viz. thy future unseen eternal Estate I say Soul the thing is what shall be thine eternal Condition what thou shalt see in another World for ever Thy great Concernments lie in the things that are yet out of sight This is one thing we may learn hence and O that you would take it into your Thoughts and say to your selves where are we what are we doing what is this we are busying our selves about are we not out and off our great Concernment O our Matter is not 1. Where we dwell what our Habitation is while among seen things but where we shall take up our Lodging and make our Abode when we are come to unseen things 2. Nor how we are accommodated with Lands Meat Drink Clothes Money and other Conveniencies now while seen things are present but how we shall be accommodated what shall be our Portion and where our Lines shall fall when we go to enter on and begin with things not seen that we shall never end with 3. Nor who are our Neighbours our Friends and Relations that we are now living and sojourning among conversing and companying with but who we must come to see and be in Company of and spend Eternity with when we go to change seen Neighbours Friends and Relations for others that are yet unseen They are thus our unseen things and not our seen things our eternal things and not our temporal things that are our great Concernments our main Matters lie in Matters that are beyond all that our Eyes see under the Sun Alas Sirs it 's a common thing with many to say upon meeting with some smarting Cross or sad Loss in their Estates Comforts or Relations O now I am undone I am quite broken and on the other side if they meet with any special Success in any of their Matters or compass any of their Designs according to their Desire to say O now I am made now I shall be happy But truly this is a great Mistake and you are much out when you say or think on this fashion for seen things can neither make you nor undo you no body to this day was ever made or undone by them they are unseen things that will be a making or undoing to you the unseen things of Death and Judgment of Heaven and Hell are the making and the undoing things and when these come in sight then you 'l indeed be made or undone and that for ever 2. We may hence see that we have been and are a great way out of the way of our Duty many of us it has been our Duty to be much in looking at unseen things O but Sirs have we not been little in our lookings this way and to these things Pray Sirs look a little back and take a serious review of what is past and what you have been eying and minding all along and then tell me if among the many things that you have look'd at these unseen things have not had the least room in your Eye and then I fear there will be but few very few exceeding few if they 'l deal truly who must not confess that they have been very guilty in this particular Alas Sirs not only our Rabble of profane and dissolute Persons or our Crouds and Companies of mere Worldlings have been Strangers to the Practice of this Duty but many that have looked towards Religion have yet looked little towards this Duty the Truth is Sirs there is little looking at unseen things O who almost 1. Puts a Price on these 2. Who carries them in his Thoughts 3. Who set them before them as their Mark and Aim 4. Who goes after them Or 5. Who is waiting with an earnest expectation for them Alas seen things stand between us and unseen things and as they stand between us and unseen things so they come between us and looking at them we look but little over them or behind them This is another thing this Truth may convince a great many of us that we are not looking the right Way we are not looking at the right Object or that which is our grand Concernment Alas Sirs do we not Dine and Sup at our accustomed Times go to Bed and rise at our Hours Converse and Commune one with another as we were wont Trade and Till and tend our Occasions and Matters in the World Day after Day but among all suffer Death to creep on us Judgment to come towards us and another World approach and hasten every Day without taking them at all into our Eye or looking at them on that manner that Matters of that Moment deserve to be looked at Truly Sirs this Text and Truth speaks enough to shame us all for where are the Men the Women the Christians the Professors Young or Old in one Condition or another that can say we look not at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen 3. We may hence learn that there are other things to be seen than those that we have yet seen or are seeing we have not seen all that we must see it was Solomon's Observation in his Time that there was no new Thing under the Sun Eccles 1.9 The Thing which hath been is that which shall be and that which is done is that which shall be done and there is no new thing under the Sun q. d. All things in this World have in all Ages been the same for Nature and Substance there has been no Diversity Variety and Novelty save in outward Circumstances and Appearances of things that that is now is but the same o're again in another dress which has been afore and that which shall be will be no more but the same o're again which now is and there is nothing new under the Sun This he puts to Men that may seem otherwise minded viz. to name the thing that may seem to be new Ver. 10. Is there any thing whereof it may be said see this is new and then constantly affirms that it hath been in former time it hath been already of old Time which was before us and only
were in it and Death and Hell delivered up the Dead which were in them and they were judged every Man according to their Works The triumphant Church was seen Rev. 21. That there be unseen things may be proved from the very Confessions of Pagans and Heathens those who have not had the Light of the Word have yet had some confused obscure and imperfect Apprehensions of unseen things or that there are invisible things Saith Plato Extabat lex de hominibus sub Saturno semper nunc etiam extat apud Deos quicunque homines juste piéque vitam egissent cum è vita migrarent ad beatorum insulas profecti in omni foelicitate viverent à malis longe sejuncti qui vero injuste impiéque vixissent in punitionis justique supplicii carcerem quod appellant Tartarum irent in Gorgia pag. 356. Qui ob scelerum magnitudinem insanabiles esse videntur hos omnis conveniens sors mergit in Tartarum unde nunquam egrediuntur Idem in Phaedone pag. 84. Socrates rejoiced that he was to die because he should then go to see Homer Hesiod and other Worthies that were gone before Yea Bion of Boristenes the Atheist who all his Life time had denied the Gods and derided their Worship yet when Death came was extreamly afraid of dying and that not so much because of the loss of Life or Pains of Death but for fear of what followed after Death I might much enlarge here from this Principle those things took their Rise that we find either in Poets or Philosophers concerning the Elysian Fields the Stygean Lake c. From these Arguments we may see that there are unseen things The next Enquiry we shall make is Secondly What these things are which are not seen and which Christians are to look at Now the Holy Scripture which must be our Guide in this Enquiry brings us tidings of many things that to us and all the Living are not seen do not appear I shall at this Time confine my self to and sum up all I shall say as to this in four Heads there are these four things which are not seen and that it concerns us to look at 1. Death 2. Judgment 3. Heaven 4. Hell 1. The things of Death are unseen things things not seen as in a word 1. The time of Death is unseen The Living know that they shall die Eccl. 9.5 but they know not when they shall die Gen. 27.2 I know not the Day of my Death So thou and I may say I know not the Hour Day Week Month Year wherein Death will come it 's unseen When an Hour is past or a Day over we may say that was not the Day or Hour but we cannot say of the Day or Hour which is yet to come that it shall not be the Time Prov. 27.1 Boast not thy self of to morrow for thou knowest not what a Day may bring forth the Day thou art now in and spending on may bring forth unseen Death The time of Death is one thing unseen this is one no Man knows when it will be at what Day in what Year it will come whether in Youth or in old Age. O think on this Sirs the Time will come when you must die but when this will be is covered from you you see it not it may be at any Instant in any Moment Mark 13.35 Watch ye therefore for ye know not when the Master of the House cometh at Even or at Midnight or at the Cock crowing or in the Morning 2. The Place of Death is unseen this is another As we see not when so we see not where we must die in what Place whether at Home or Abroad in the House or in the Field in the Bed or at the Board It may be thou hast been shewed where it was that thou wast born in what Place thou camest into the World and took thy first Breath ay but they that have shewed thee this cannot take thee again by the Hand and lead thee to see the Place where thou must take thy last Breath and die and go out of this World into another this is unseen thou cannot say lo it is here or lo there it is or if thou wilt yet it may be neither here nor there but somewhere else that thou never thinkst of It 's said of Eschilus the Poet in Sicily that on a Day walking out of the Town where he dwelt to take the Air he sate him down upon a high Place and having his Head being bald bare and uncovered an Eagle flew over him in the Air with a Tortoise in her Talons and seeing his white Head took it for a Stone and so let it fall from a great Height thereon to break the Tortoise-shell which broke his Scull whereof he died presently One would have thought that this could not have been the Place of such a Death but rather that it was impossible for any thing to fall on his Head unless the Heavens themselves had dropt down but alas Death can come on us any where we are no where out of its reach neither know we where it will meet us when we think our selves most safe or never think of it it may thus drop on our Heads When Bibulus the Roman General was riding in Triumph in all his Glory through the Streets of Rome a Tile fell from a House and beat out his Brains Many have seen Death where they have never thought of seeing it and thou knowest not where thou may'st see it Psal 89.48 What Man is he that liveth and shall not see Death That 's the Psalmist's Question it may be mine What Man is he that lives of you that are here to day that can tell where it is he must see Death which he cannot scape seeing somewhere and it 's a Question you can none of you answer O that you would think of it and labour to be such as you may be ready to see it in any Place 3. The manner of Death is unseen as we see not when or where so we can as little see how we must die by what kind or manner of Death we must go out of this World there is but one way of coming into the World one Door that we all came in at at our Entrance but there are many ways out of the World Mors est bellua Centiceps and comes a hundred ways The Jews reckon 903 kinds of Death but among all the kinds that we may observe we can't see our own so as to single it out and say by this kind of Death I shall go into another World this is covered from the Eyes of all Flesh Jacob died in his Bed Josiah by the Sword Job's Children by the fall of the House where they were eating Eli by a fall from the Seat where he was sitting Death began with Asa in his Feet and struck him there e're it came to strike him at the Heart 2 Chron. 16.12 Death begun with the Murmuring Israelites at
unseen things that is they are not begun with us we are not entred on them you and I are not yet entred on the things of Death or the things of Judgment on the things of Heaven or on the things of Hell O Sirs the Saints Heaven Harvest and Happiness is not yet begun but to begin the Saints Kingdom is not yet come but to come Tertullian in his Book de Spectaculis disswading the Servants of God from them hath this Motive Nostrae coenae nostrae nuptiae nondum sunt So I say the Saints Happiness is not yet it 's yet out of sight and to come And so Sirs the Sinners and Ungodly's Hell and Horror and Torment is not yet begun but to begin Do you see them Ranting and Revelling Swaggering and Gallanting it out from Day to Day O think it not strange for I say their Hell is not yet begun they are yet in their Heaven and their Hell is to begin their Time nay their Eternity of Darkness and Chains and Fire and Weeping and Gnashing are yet to enter on O consider it you that live ungodly I may say to you as the Apostle James 5.5 Ye have lived in Pleasure on the Earth and been wanton and nourished your Hearts as in a Day of Slaughter Ay but where is it Sirs that you have lived is it not on Earth that you have lived thus in Pleasure is it not on Earth that you are living it's on Earth it 's on Earth only and beyond Earth there 's an unseen Hell How will you live there will you live in Hell as you have lived on Earth in Pleasures in Jollity in Delicacy will you take up a sensual Life a delicate way of living when you are in Chains in everlasting Burnings suffering the Vengeance of an eternal Fire and drinking whole Cups nay Rivers of the Wine of the Wrath of God Almighty O those will be no Delicacies then your Heaven will be past as Luke 16.25 Thou in thy Life-time receivedst thy good Things and Lazarus evil Things but now he is Comforted and thou art Tormented 5. I may add this Unseen things are things which are not considered observed or regarded they are not seen that is they are not minded and regarded or taken notice of by many This Phrase of seeing is used thus for taking notice of and care about a Matter Psal 66.5 Come and see the Works of God observe and mark them So Mat. 22.11 And when the King came in to see the Guests he saw there a Man which had not on a Wedding-Garment when he came in to take notice of his Guests Mat. 27.4 See thou to that i. e. take thou care about that look thou to that So also verse 24. See ye to it And so here we look saith the Apostle at things not seen that is we look at things that are little look'd at in the World that are out of sight and out of mind with many that many ne'r regard or once trouble themselves about This is another and in this respect also these things of Death Judgment Heaven and Hell are as to many unseen things they mind them not they take no more notice of them than if they were not among the multitude of Thoughts that are within them and pass through them every Day there are none of this sort no serious pondering Thoughts of the things of Death the things of Judgment of Heaven or Hell O Sirs how many be there who have gone over twenty thirty forty Years and yet it may be feared the Time is yet to come that ever they spent one single Hour Day or Night Night or Day one time or another in serious Thoughts about unseen things pray look home Sirs to your own selves and see what you have done in this Case These are I say with many unseen things things they are mindless of and careless about SERMON III. 2 Cor. 4.18 While we look not at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen for the things which are seen are temporal but the things which are not seen are eternal FOurthly We shall inquire what Looking at these unseen things imports and implies You see 1. That there are unseen things 2. What these unseen things are 3. How they are unseen Now the next inquiry may be what it is to look at unseen things or what this looking at unseen things which is the great Concern of Christians includes and implies Now this Phrase includes and carries many things in it I shall only at this Time point at these five that are bound up in it To look at thâ—ngs which are not seen is a Phrase that implies 1. A real Valuation or Estimation of unseen things as things meet to be minded and deserving to be regarded by us This Phrase is thus used to denote that which deserves to be regarded and valued 2 Kings 3.14 And Elisha said As the Lord of Hosts liveth before whom I stand surely were it not that I regard the Presence of Jehoshaphat the King of Judah I would not look towards thee nor see thee that is I would not have matter'd nor set by thee it 's Jehoshaphat that I look at and regard in the Matter So here to look at unseen things is to reckon of them as valuable things as things to be mattered and made account of by us And this now Sirs is our Concern and Duty it concerns thee and me and lies on us not to slight these unseen things as many do as if they were poor worthless inconsiderable Matters not worthy to be taken notice of or regarded take heed of this reckon not of Death of Judgment of Heaven of Hell as sorry as inconsiderable things as things too little and mean to be minded but look at them that is make them Matters of Moment Matters of Concernment of greatest Moment and Concernment of any Matters in all the World for so they are and such they will be found with every one of us another Day If there be nothing in Death Judgment Heaven Hell to be minded or matter'd by us who are on the way towards Death Judgment Heaven or Hell then there 's surely nothing nothing in the World nor any thing out of the World to be made any Matter of What is it that you make a Matter of that you look on as valuable if these be nothing with you surely Sirs these are things to be look'd at And this is one we must look at unseen things that is get and keep a home a lively and affecting Impression upon our Hearts of the Weight and Concernment of unseen things Art thou a gracious Person look at that is get and keep a-foot an affecting an abiding Sense of the Height of unseen Glory thou art going to of the Depth of unseen Wrath thou art delivered from and it will teach thee whatever comes to reckon as the Apostle our light Afflictions c. If Shame if Loss if Tribulation if Persecution O what