declaim very bitterly against devourings and spoilings There were Kine of Bashan seeding in the mountain of Samaria which did nothing but oppress the poor and crush the needy Amos 4. 1. The Prophet complains of Jerusalem the City of God that she was wholly oppression in the midst of her Violence and spoil was heard in her Grief and wounds were continually in the sight of God Jerem. 6. 6 7. Scarce is there a Kingdom in the World so well governed but oppressive Acts may be found in it The Ass of the Fatherless is driven away and the Widows Ox taken for a pledg the naked are made to lodge without cloathing and to be without a covering in the cold The fatherless are plucked from the Brest and the sheaf is taken from the hungry Oh that many such unrighteous actings were not to be found in our own Land Well however it be on earth most certain it is That in this heavenly Country there is none of this work If a man travel from one end of Heaven to another he shall hear no complaining in the streets of it there is no crying Widows no sighing of the Fatherless by reason of violence and oppression there are no Plunderers no Exactors to be found in and oppression there are no Plunderers no Exactors to be found in all this land of righteousness Judgement doth here run down like waters and Righteousness as a mighty stream That is a very glorious promise which is made to the Church Isa 60. 18. Violence shall no more be heard in thy Land wasting nor destruction within thy borders This promise shall perfectly be fulfilled in Heaven there shall neither be wasting nor destruction to all eternity There is no unrighteous person in Heaven as hath been shewed before and where there are no unrighteous men there cannot be any unrighteous acts Fourthly There is neither sickness nor weakness in this Country In all earthly Kingdoms there are diseases and sicknesses of several sorts the whole world indeed by reason of sin is but a Lazaretto a great Hospital of sickly creatures Though the Climate be never so temperature the Air never so pure yet cannot weakness and pains be kept out of any wordly Kingdom or Family Tombs and Sepulchres are to be found in every Country which is an argument that diseases and dyings have been and still are there A man can hardly peep into a Family but he shall see some Emblem of mortality In all Kingdoms men eat and drink and where there is eating and drinking there will bee dying In the state of Innocency man should have eaten and lived but now they eat and die But now Heaven is a healthy Country The Angels of God that have lived there ever since their Creation have never yet felt head-ach or pain And the bodies of the Saints that shall spend their eternity there after the Resurrection shall not feel one moments sickness They shall bunger no more nor thirst no more neither shall the Sun light on them nor any heat but God shall wipe away all tears from their eies Rev. 7. 16 17. Plagues Feavers Coughs Consumptions Stone Gout Head-ach and other diseases are things unheard of in this heavenly Country This is good news for sickly Saints You that have lain bed-rid on earth you that have had the Cottage of the body often set on fire by burning Feavers you that have seen the pillars of your earthly house decaying by lingring Consumptions you that have felt the tormenting pains of Ulcers of Stone and other grief creating distempers if you can but get within the bounds of this heavenly Countrie you shall never feel any such afflictions You shall for ever have perfect health both of bodie and mind without the least distemper One blast of that pure Air which comes from the spicie mountains will Antidote the craziest bodie against Diseases and put it into a state of undecaying health Fifthly It is a Land in which there is perfect peace and quietness The Kingdoms of this world are full of strife and contention The servants of God though they are a meek and peaceable people desiring to follow peace with all men yet they cannot injoy peace Woe is me faith David that I sojourn in Mesech that I dwel in the Tents of Kedar my soul hath long dwelt with him that hateth peace I am for peace but when I speak they are for War Psa 120. 5 6 7. The Nations of the world are full of tearings tumults seditions emulations variances and strifes but now in Heaven there is none of these briars and thorns there is neither maligning nor undermining nor envying one another but perfect Amity and perfect Charity amongst all the Inhabitants thereof All those sinful distempers which occasion strife on earth are banished out of Heaven Pride is one of the mothers of Variance Onely by pride commeth contention Prov. 13. 10. In Heaven there is no Pride and therefore no Contention Whispering and Tale-bearing is another root of discord Where there is no tale-bearer the strife ceaseth Prov. 26. 20. There is not one of these kindle-coals in Heaven and therefore no discord Difference of judgement is another cause of variance In heaven all the Inhabitants are of one mind and therefore no disagreement The Apostle tels us that wars and fightings amongst men arise from those lusts that war in their members Jam. 4. 1. In Heaven all these lusts are perfectly mortified All the dwellers in this Country are such as seek one anothers good as well as their own There is no growing one upon another no incroaching one upon another within the Bounds of this Country Consider it In Heaven there is perfection of Love in the Saints to God and to one another Every Saint sees the Image of God clearly not onely in himself but in every other Saint which is a strong Load-stone to draw out the Affections And besides all those imperfections blemishes spots which were in the Children of God whilst they had their abode on earth which rendered them less lovely to one another are now removed The bodie ariseth out of the grave as free from sin renders Saints very lovely one to another and because there is perfect love there must of necessity be perfect agreement Heaven is a place of peace there shall never be jarring or contending to all eternity which gives it the preheminence over all earthly Countries Sixthly It is a Land wealth and plenty Here is the best provision bread of life and water of life The meat that indures to eternal life Joh. 6. 27. Here is mountains of Spices how pleasant how plentifull is this Country A Martyr wrote to his friend a little before his death That he was going to that Country where Gold and Silver bore no price And well may it be thus said of Heaven which is the City whose streets is of pure Gold Rev. 21. 21. The Uses are these First With what eyes do they look on Heaven that prefer their
the world as none of theirs They have ever acknowledged themselves Pilgrims and Forreigners on earth I am a stranger with thee saith that heavenly Saint and a stranger as all my Fathers were Psal 39. 14. The world accounts them as strangers and so do they account themselves They know Christ hath told them That they are not of this world as he is not of this world They are in the world but they are not of the world they disavow the world as much as the world disavows them As they disclaim the world so they lay claim to heaven We desire say the holy Apostles to be cloathed upon with our house which is from heaven 2 Cor. 5. 2. Beleevers thogh they have never so great an estate below yet are they indeed house-less and homeless though all the world be theirs in regard of the little they have to it yet do they account the world none of theirs Heaven is their home Heaven is their house heaven is their Country I shall by way of explication unfold these two particulars First Prove that Heaven is their Country Secondly Shew how they come to have a title to it That Heaven is the beleevers Country is clear if we consider these following particulars First From hence they have their Nativity The place of mens birth is that which is stiled their Country The beleevers birth as a beleever is from heaven though he be born again on the earth yet is he not born again from the earth The Scripture teacheth us that all that are new creatures are born from above John 3. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Regenerating-work is heavenly work The Holy Ghost which is the principal efficient of Regeneration is not from earth but from heaven No person would ever be renewed on earth if principles of Renovation were not infused from heaven The word of God which is the seed of the new birth as the Apostle calls it 1 Pet. 1. 23. is a heavenly word The dew of blessing by which the word is made successful is not from earth but from heaven Should all the Angels of God come down to plant grace in the hearts of men the work would certainly miscarry under their hands if the divine benediction did not concur The soul in its first creation is infused from heaven and the renuing of it when corrupted is from thence likewise The Elect are not born again of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God so the Holy Ghost tels us Joh. 1. 13. The child that is conceived in the womb may as well be said to beget it self as the soul that is dead in sins and trespasses to renew it self Of his own will begat he us by the word of truth So the Apostle tells us Jam. 1. 18. An unregenerate heart hath neither power to change it self nor a will to be changed untill it be given from above All the births of Grace are heavenly births we are said to be Gods Off-spring as we are men Act. 17. 28. Much more are we the Off-spring of God as renewed men This is the first particular 2 There are their spiritual Kindred A beleevers nearest Allies best acquaintance are in Heaven There is God who is his Father The Divine Essence is every where filling Heaven and Earth God is included in no place excluded out of no place yet the place of his chief Residence is in Heaven there he keeps his royal Court of glory Heaven is his Throne Earth his Footstool Isa 66. 1. We are taught in that holy model of Prayer to look up to God as dwelling above Our Father which art in Heaven As God the Father of beleevers is in Heaven so Christ their elder Brother is there likewise he did bodily ascend thither after his Resurrection and there he sits on the right hand of the Majesty on high Heb. 1. 3. The humane nature of Christ shall not stir from Heaven till he come to judge the World and to fetch his redeemed ones into Heaven The blessed Spirit who is the very soul of the beleevers soul that gives it life and preserves it alive is in Heaven also There also are the holy Angels the beleevers Life-guard and from thence they are sent down to wait on him as he stands in need of their service Heb. 1. 14. There is the general Assembly of the first-born Heb. 12. 23. The names of all those that shall be saved are inrolled there In one word all a beleevers spiritual Kindred either are or shall be there This is the second particular 3 There they have their Habitation A Beleevers fixed seat is Heaven here he is but a lodger there he is an Inhabitant there lies his Estate there are his Revenues a Beleevers Inheritance is above The Lord is my portion saith my soul this was the Churches claim Lam. 3. 24. Thou art my dwelling place saith David Psal 90. 1. The corruptible the fading possessions of the Saints are on earth but their Inheritance that is incorruptible that withereth not is reserved in Heaven 1 Pet. 1. 4. They have some annual Rents coming in in this life but the grand Estate lies there their Crown their Scepter their Robes all their Regalia their royal habiliments are lockt up in Heaven and thither must they be translated before they have the full possession of any of these This is the third particular 4 The language they speak is the language of Heaven Mens speech do discover what Country they are of Thou art a Galilean say they to Peter and thy speech agreeth thereto Mark 14. 70. The time was when there was but one lip in the world Gen. 11. 1. All the sons of Adam spake one and the same language but ever since God confounded the language of the World for that insolent attempt of men Nations have been distinguished one from another by their several Tongues As Nations have languages whereby they are known one from another so have the people of God a distinct language whereby they are known from other men A wicked man though he may sometimes have heavenly discourses in his mouth yet he doth but lisp the language of Canaan those that do observe him will find him at some time or other speaking the language of Hell his tongue cannot be so bridled but it will break out into wicked discourses or into vain communication Perhaps when he is amongst the people of God he may speak as a Saint but when he converses with his own Companions his speech is agreeable to theirs But now a Beleever speaks the language of Heaven wheresoever he is let him be amongst scoffers amongst prophane men yet he is still talking in the speech of his own Country something of God of Grace of Christ of Heaven he is uttering in every company If he do at any time let fall an unseemly word how is his heart troubled he cannot have peace till he hath wept out his sorrows by humble confessions
earthly Country before it Abundance are of that prophane Cardinals mind who would not give his part in Paris for his part in Paradise Most prefer Egypt before Canaan These are none of Abrahams stock he thought Heaven better than Canaan they judge every dirty Country better than Heaven It is a sign these men have never travelled in this Celestial Country it is a sign they beleeve not what they hear reported of it that prefer House and Shop or such Mannors in their own Country before those rich possessions that are in Heaven Secondly Be contented if God have given you an Inheritance in this Country though you have not so great Estates on Earth as others have One foot breadth in Heaven is worth a hundred Millions of Acres on Earth if you have an interest in the body glory honor riches of this celestial Country you have more than if you had ten thousand Worlds I have all my Brother faith Jacob Gen. 33. 11. He had the dew of Heaven as well as the fatness of the Earth A man may be a Lord of many Earthly Countries and yet live and die under the wrath of God Ahasuerus had the command of all those Countries from Judea to Ethiopia even One hundred twenty seven Provinces and yet because he was not an Inheritor of the Kingdom of Heaven he died miserable and poor Thirdly You that have an interest in this Country boast of it It is a great mercy to have our being in a wholesom Country such is Heaven Revel 21. 4. What a mercy is it to have a spiritual being from Heaven and an eternal being in Heaven Glory in your Country that others may be provoked to travel to it to trade in it This is the second Point The third and last Doctrine is A true Beleever hath strong desires after his heavenly Country 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 faith Text they seek it they seek it with their strongest desires as sick man seeks health as a covetous man seeks money They groan after it so the Apostle expresseth it 2 Cor. 5. 2. For in this we groan earnestly desiring to be cloathed upon with our house which is from Heaven Our conversation saith the Apostle is in Heaven Phil. 3. 20. Their hearts were carried out aftes it they longed to be in it A beleever when he is under some sad darknesse of spirit when he hath some great work to do for the good of the Church may be unwilling to leave the world as Hezekiah was Isa. 38. 2 3. But when their work is done when all is clear between God and their souls then they would be in their heavenly Country Quest What is implyed by this phrase desiring a heavenly Country Answ 1. To desire Heaven is to labor to have an interest in it To labor to make it sure to our selves that it doth belong to us to make good our propriety in it according to that of the Apostle 2 Pet. 1. 10. Give all diligence to make your calling and election sure 2. To desire every day more and more to fit our selves for it He that saith he desires an heavenly Country and doth not use all diligence to be made meet for it as the Apostle speaks Col. 1. 12. doth but mock himself 3. To seek a heavenly Country is to long continually to be in it This is that which was the Patriarchs seeking they longed to be in that heavenly Canaan of which the earthly was a pledge and seal Qu. 2. Why do Beleevers so desire their heavenly Country Ans. These desires of their heavenly Country spring from a double root 1. The unsatisfactoriness they finde in their earthly Countries They find nothing here but labor sorrow sin toyl emptiness disappointment vexation c. They have had enough of their earthly Countrie alreadie therefore they desire a better Country It is enough Lord saith Elijah take away my life for I am no better than my Fathers I King 19. 4. He had had as much of the world as he did desire he had found it to be a lying vanity therefore he desires to be in another place And then secondly The felicity they beleeve and hope for in their Heavenly Country They know that they shall have in that Country all that their souls can wish They shall have Grace in perfection Joy in perfection I desire saith the Apostle to be dissolved and to be with Christ which is best of all Phil. 1. 23. They see that in their heavenly Country which will make them compleatly happy So faith Paul We know that if our earthly house of this Tabernacle was dissolved we have a building of God a house not made with hands eternal in the Heavens For in this we groan earnestly desiring to be cloathed upon with our house which is from Heaven 2 Cor. 5. 1 2. The Uses are these First It condemns them that never have any desire of this Heavenly Country They have no serious thoughts of it they study not how to get thither they pray not for it they speak not of it they love not discourses about it They drudge and toyl for the world rise early go to bed late c. but they minde not Heaven This is very sad How will such men do when they come to die what comfort will they have if Heaven be not their Country Hell must This Country you must leave and you know not how soon and what will your hundreds and thousands your Houses your Lands then stand you in stead you must pack away and leave all you have scraped together behind you When you see death at your bed side you will wish you had minded a better Country more and the world less It is the complaint of the Church Cant. 1. 6. against her mothers Children They made me saith she the keeper of the vineyards but my own vineyard have I not kept You will another day curse all your care and diligence about the world which hath hindred you from seeking Heaven and this Heavenly Country Secondly Let me intreat all of you to imitate this example of the Patriarchs Seek your better Country It is good when men seek the good of their Earthly Countrie You are met this day to testifie your respects towards your Native Country It is a lawful and warrantable thing to do so Nature commands men to desire their native Countrie It is unthankfulnefs to forget the place which gave us breath and provided for us our first food The Greek Proverb is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The smoak of a mans own Country is brighter than flame in a strange Land Ulysses longed to see the smoak of his Country It is an honorible thing for men that have Estates to consult how they may advantage their native Country These Meetings heretofore have been very instrnmental for much good in the erecting of Schools the maintaining of Lectures you may help to save many a soul as you have ability and opportunity it would do well to think on these
things But above all things be mindful of your Heavenly Countrie First Never be at rest till you get good evidences of your Right to the inheritance of that Country You will be miserable whatever outward advantages you have till you have a possession in that Country Prove your spiritual Estate and Condition you are all by nature of another Country we are all born the children of wrath as well as others Eph. 2. 1 2. T is Repentance Saving Faith the work of Grace that will witness our right to Heaven Take heed of these false Evidences of common Profession Common Gifts worldly prosperitie on which most men build their hopes of Salvation All these are but sandie Foundations Consider such Scriptures as these 2 Cor. 5. 17. Rom. 8. 10. If Christ be in you the body is dead c. Better you had never been than not to have a Title to Heaven Secondly When you have proved your Right to it let your thoughts be much on it Mind the things of your Country the glorie the happiness of that Country Let your hearts dwell upon the meditation of Heaven and the things of heaven It is Gods command Col. 3. 1. That we would set our affections on things above It was the Apostles practise Phil. 3. 20. I might use many Arguments to perswade you to these thoughts and studies As First Your calling is a Heavenly calling Heb. 3. 1. It is a heavenly calling in regard of the Original and Efficient Cause It is heavenly in regard of the Object of it it is all about things of a heavenly nature It is heavenly in regard of the tendencie of it It is a call to Heaven that is the Terminus ad quem Whom he called them he glorified Rom. 8. 30. Glorification is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of effectual Vocation 2. All your happiness is in Heaven there it is that your Crown lies there all your treasure is and where should your hearts be but where your treasure is Matth. 6. 21. There is your Riches there is your eternal abiding if you be Saints There are your best and dearest Relations 3 Not to mind the things of Heaven is an implicite deniall of the resurrection of Christ See Col. 3. 1. he that doth beleeve that Christ sits at the right hand of God cannot but be often looking up that waie It is a good evidence that Christs Resurrection and Ascention have had some spiritual power upon our hearts when we minde the place where he is 4. The serious minding of heavenly things will make us less careful about all earthly occurrences He that lives much in Heaven is prepared to entertain any Providences God pleases to produce on earth the heart of such a Christian will be quiet and composed whatever fall out The serious thoughts of the good things of that upper Country will make the heart patient though it have but little will preserve it from pride and surfeiting of the greatest portion of the good things of these lower Countries 5. It is the way to have a long Heaven It is the way to have a double Heaven he that lives most in Heaven on Earth hath the longest Heaven The serious thoughts of Heaven do after a spiritual manner translate the soul into heaven that is a pertinent place to this purpose 2 Cor. 3. 18. he that doth by holy meditation view the glory of the Lord shall be visibly changed into the image of the Lord. And then Thirdly and lastly Be desirous to be put into possession of it You must staie in this lower world till God send the messenger of death for you but yet you may long and breath for such Translation It is the last prayer of the Spouse Can. ult ult the last prayer of the Church Rev. 22. 20. That Christ would hasten his coming It is a happie thing to be contented to die twice happie to be desirous to die Plutarch saith that the Egyptians at their feasts did usually bring in the Anatomie of a dead mans bodie And Strabo writes that the Persians at their Feasts used Pipes made of dead mens bones He that sets the Deaths head on his Trencher will eat most spiritually most soberly most thankfully He that is fit to die and willing to die is prepared for whatever shall come upon the World We shall never be like Abraham Isaac and Jacob till we have these desires after our Heavenly Countrie FINIS
word of God Reason can see no reason why any thing much less such a glorious Fabrick should be produced out of nothing but faith beleeves that the world with all things therein contained were made at first out of no pre-existent matter by the powerful creating word of God Thus the Apostle amplifies the Argument in hand by describing the nature of faith He doth it Secondly by illustrating the grace of faith from the examples of the beleevers of the Old Testament These are either such as lived before the Flood as Abel Enoch Noah of whose faith he speaks fully vers 4 5 6 7. Or they are such as lived after the Flood in the several Ages of the world of whom he makes largely mention what glorious undertakings their faith carryed them through from vers 7. to the end of the Chapter The Text falls under the description of the faith of the renowned Patriarchs Abraham Isaac and Jacob. Abrahams faith is commended by two eminent acts of it First By his readiness to forsake his native Country upon a divine Command By faith Abraham when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an Inheritance obeyed and he went out not knowing whither he went vers 8. A call from heaven will make a beleever do any thing though it seem never so irrational never so self-destructive Faith hath feet to walk after God it hath no heart to dispute against God or against any of his Commands Though Abraham knew not whither he went yet he knew whom he followed though the Traveller was ignorant yet he did beleeve he had a skilful Guide The wise God can neither mis-lead nor mis-place any of his Children Secondly The faith of Abraham is commended by his so journing in the land of Promise as in a strange Country vers 9. And in this act did Isaac and Jacob concur with him By faith he sojourned in the land of promise as in a strange Country dwelling in Tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob the heirs with him of the same promise The holy patterns of Parents are very prevalent to perswade their children It was much that a man should be contented to leave a certainty for an uncertainty but it was exceeding much that when he came to the place which was promised he should not live in a fixed habitation but in moveable Tabernacles It is a high and noble act of faith to get the affections unglued from the things of the world Nothing but victorious Faith can obtain victory over the world The reason of that loosness of heart which was in these holy Patriarchs from the land of Canaan was the certain perswasion they had of a better Canaan Their faith did not rest in the land of Promise as if the possession of that could make them happy they looked higher namely to the Celestial Canaan of which they knew the Terrestrial was but a Type They looked for a City that hath foundations whose maker and builder is God v. 10. They expected another dwelling they had another place in their eye and therefore sat so loose from the place of their present abode This Country must either be their own earthly Country or some other It was not their own Country for saith the Apostle If they had been mindful of that Country from whence they came out they might have had opportunity to have returned vers 15. Therefore of necessity it must be some other Country if they looked after another Country it was either an earthly or an heavenly not an earthly for no earthly Country would recompence the loss of their own And therefore he concludes that it was a heavenly Country which they reached after But now they desire a better Country that is an heavenly I shall first open the words and then lay down the points which they do afford us But now 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This phrase doth not here signifie time but hath the force of an illative conjunction T is as much as atqui igitur as Beza observes well upon the place They did not seek an earthly therefore an heavenly Country We meet with the same expression 1 Cor. 15. 20. But now Christ is risen from the dead thatis therefore is Christ risen So in this place But now they desire that is therefore they desire from whence saith Estius it appears how weakly they argue who would from this Text prove that the holy Patriarchs do not yet injoy the vision of God but are still in expectation of it This phrase speaks nothing at all of time They desiâ—e 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The word signifies not a cold faint frigid with but a strong vehement earnest desire such a desire as a covetous man hath after his Mammon The love of mony is the root of all evil which while some coveted after they have erred from the faith 1 Tim. 6. 10. T is the very same word which is here used 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Never did a hungry Earth-worm thirst after silver and gold more than these holy Patriarchs did now thirst after heaven they had burning flaming affections their souls were in a fervent heat after this Celestial Object A better Country This word Country is not in the original Text but is necessarily to be supplied for the Apostle speaks of a Country vers 14. The nature of this Country the Text tells us namely an heavenly It is called a Country in opposition to that moveable unsetled estate which they had in Canaan there they lived in Tabernacles but they were in expectation of a place where they should have a fixed abode This he calls an heavenly Country The Text consists of three general parts First The notion by which heaven is described T is a Country Secondly The nature or quality of this Country T is an heavenly Country Thirdly The beleevers affection this heavenly Country he desires it very earnestly These three afford us a threefold Observation First That heaven is a beleevers Country Secondly That this heavenly Country is the best Country Thirdly That true beleevers have vehement and strong desires within them after this heavenly and better Country Doct. 1. That Heaven is a beleevers Country A wicked mans Country is here below here he lives and here he desires to live An unbeleever is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Socrates called himself he is a Citizen of the world terrae filius a son of earth He is one that minds only earthly things His delights his contentments his happiness are in this life Psal 17. 14. And if he might have security that he should alwayes continue here he would never desire any other place of abode Give him Paris and let who will injoy Paradice But the true beleever 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eph. 2. 19. is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Citizen of heaven a free Denizen of that Country where Jesus Christ is at the right hand of God Beleevers do disclaim and disown
30. It was Davids custom to go constantly with his Train to the place of publique worship where the Ordinances of Grace used to be dispensed Psa 42. 4. Many in our sad times of Apostacy that pretend to a higher pitch of Religion than others have relinguished these holy practises of Gods antient Saints and they judge it their perfection that they are beyond such forms they have found out a nearer way to Heaven which is indeed the way to the Chambers of Death They can travel to heaven with half that cost which the people of God have been at in former times They can lay aside prayer in their families they can cast away the Scriptures and yet as they conceive come as soon to Heaven as they that use these things The madness and folly yea the gross prophaneness of these Nick-named Self-creating-Saints should provoke the rather all that are true members of this heavenly Country to keep up these usages Do dutys and rest on Christ this is the old way and the good way Abhor with all detestation this fond kind of Religious prophaneness which the Devil labours to impose on men for perfection of Piety and walk in the steps of those Renowned Saints These practises through Faith in Christ have brought them thither whither you are travelling Continue in them as they did and you shal inherit that glory which they now possess Thus much for the first point That Heaven is a Beleevers Country The Second Doctrine That this Heavenly Country is the best Country The Land of Canaan was the best of earthly Countries It is called the glorious Land or the Land of ornament Dan. 11. 16. the glorious holy mountain Dan. 11. 45. It is called glory of all Lands Ezek. 20. 6. In many respects it was the head and renown of all Nations chiefly in this because it was Gods earthly dwelling place where his Kingdom and Sanctuary was erected yet was the Land of Canaan with all its glory a Cabul a dirty filthy unpleasant place in respect of this Heavenly Canaan No Countrie in the world is worthy to be compared to this Country I shall set forth the excellency of it above all other places in these following particulars First It is a Country of eternal continuance The Apostle speaking of Heaven cals it a City that hath foundations Heb. 11. 10. The New Jerusalem which is no other than this heavenly Country hath twelve Foundations Rev. 21. 14. It is a Kingdom that cannot be shaken Heb. 12. 28. Other Countries are liable to many concussions and shakings yea they are daily in danger of over-turnings There are few earthly Countries but have had their convultions and shakings Sometimes one Lord hath ruled over them sometimes another hath undermined his Throne and reigned in his stead How many mutations of this nature hath our own Land passed under And what further changes may yet pass upon it is onely known to him who is both the planter and supplanter of Nations But now the state of the celestial Country is of perpetual duration it cannot be conquered by any foreign Power it doth and shall continue for ever in the same height of glory it now is All other Countries may be made empty and turned apside down they may be laid waste and brought to desolation but the beauty of this heavenly Country is a beauty that fadeth not God himself cannot be shaken nor can this Country be shaken In all earthly Kingdoms there are Spring-times and Autumns Summers and Winters But in Heaven there is an eternal Spring without Autumn Kingdoms on Earth as men have their increasings perfections and declinings but the glorious state of the celestial Kingdom is a state of perfection that knows neither increasings nor decreasings Secondly There is no ungodly person to be found in this Country It is a Country full of Saints real Saints Saints indeed All Countries on earth have a mixture of good and bad The Church militant is the most glorious Society in the world and yet even here there hath been there is and there will be a mixture this Barn floor hath chaff as well as Wheat this field hath Tares as well as good Corn this garden hath weeds as wel as flowers in this net there are bad fishes as well as good If there be such a mixture in the Church which is the purest body on earth there must needs be mixture of holy and prophane in Nations Yea it may be concluded without breach of charity that there are more vicious than vertuous in every earthly Country Bona terra mala gens This proverb may without scandalizing and defamation be used of most if not of all the Nations of the Earth the Soil is better than the Inhabitants If we search the very best of Countries even those where Religion hath been longest professed we shall find some that are the spots and stains of their Country Some in every Nation will be found that are proud covetous debaucht and prophane Swearers Lyars Adulterers Theeves Blasphemers Traytors Murtherers perjured persons Idolaters these or some of these inhabit every Nation under Heaven And if any such be in your meeting this day they will be spots in your Feast of Charity when they feast with you Jude 12. But now in this Heavenly and better Country which I am speaking of none of these Vermine are to be found none of these impoysoned creatures can live in this Air It is a holy place and no unholy thing shall ever enter into it Be not deceived faith the Apostle neith r Fornicators nor Idolaters nor Adulterers nor abusers of themselves with mankind nor Effeminate nor Theeves nor Covetous nor Drunkards nor Revilers nor Extortioners shall inherit the Kingdom of God 1. Cor. 6. 9 10. God hath made another place in which such as these living and dying so shall be tormented Without shall be Dogs and Sorcerers and Whoremongers and Murtherers and Idolaters and whosoever loveth maketh a lye Rev. 22. 15. Men have not garnished their Parlours to be Sties for Hogs to keep in God hath not made such a glorious place as Heaven is for impenitent and filthy sinners Should a wicked man steal into Heaven he would fright the holy Angels and the spirits of just men made perfect out of that place There is nothing in Heaven which affects a wicked man neither is any thing there which he affects What a glorious Kingdom must that be in which no ungodly person ever did or ever shall take one step Thirdly There is no Oppression nor Injustice in this Country There is no Kingdom under Heaven but unrighteous actings are to be found in it the great devoure the smal and the weaker are trodden down by the stronger The great Empires of the world are but magna latrocinia great places of robbery Even amongst Gods own people where God himself was the immediate Law-giver though there were Statutes perfectly righteous yet there were many violent perventings of Judgement The Prophets