we may expect Salvation Isa 4.2 And is it not so far a decent Worship to adore such a God by the Mediation of such a Jesus to Pray to God in the Name of Christ to be usher'd into the Audience of the Father by the Intercession of his only Son to have access into the Court of Heaven in the Name of the Son of God who hath loved us and given himself for us Hag. 2.7 The Desire of all Nations 3. The Ministers by the Instrumentality of whom c. I mean not those Pseudoes that run before they are sent those lying Spirits that under pretence of Teaching deceive the People but those Ministers of the Gospel which Preach the Word faithfully and divide it skilfully and administer all the Sacred and Sacramental Ordinances impartially without addition or diminution that Preach with zeal and Pray with fervour and live well and study to approve themselves honest Pastors that need not be ashamed they that endeavour to reduce the straying sheep to warn the unruly to rebuke the gain-sayer to comfort the weak commending themselves to the Consciences of their Hearers in the sight of God and these I say if we have any such amongst us as no doubt but we have tho' I wish their number were greater are Men of a welcome Presence of beautiful Feet of pleasant Countenances Isa 52.7 The very Office it self is an Ornament thoh ' the Church never wanted those Adversaries that in despite to the Light threw Stones at the Lanthorn The Minister is a Terrestrial Angel they should be so and good Ministers are so To the Angel of the Church c. Rev. 2.1 of Ephesus Sardis c. they are Starrs and shining Lights in the dark World and Starrs ye know enamel the Hemispheres They are the Servants of the living God which shew to us the way to everlasting Salvation I would not say these things to puff the Clergy up with Pride and Vain-glory but I would have the People know those Men that are set over them and admonish them and give double Honour to them that labour faithfully in Word and Doctrine and acknowledge the beauty of their feet which run to them upon these Evangelical Errands and pay a due and humble deference to that Sacred Function and account them more than the Horse-men of Israel and the Chariots thereof 4. The Place where Whether it be a ' Tabernacle or a Temple or other place consign'd to the Holy Service not that we attribute any inherent Holiness to such places now especially under the Gospel but what depends meerly upon the relation it bears to the Work and Employment 't is devoted to and upon this score the Place ought to be dear to us and appear amiable in our Eyes and we should be so in love with the Place for the Works sake as to say of it as the Patriarch of Bethel How dreadful is this place this is none other than the House of God! and lo here the Angels of Heaven ascending and descending as it were upon a Ladder or as the Prophet David Psal 84.1 c. How amiable are thy Tabernacles O Lord of Hosts 't is the perfection of Beauty shinning with the light of the Divine Countenance Psal 50.2 't is that Zion which the Lord hath chosen and desired for his habitation saying this is my rest for ever here will I dwell here will I treat my Spouse the Church with the sweetest Wines the fattest Delicates the choicest Ordinances in the World Manna from Heaven Angels Food the Waters of Life Nectar and Ambrosia Nourishment for Souls to fit them for Eternity Forgive me Sirs if I speak with some spice of Fondness and Admiration all the World besides is common ground compared to this Sacred Appartment and all our Employment besides in comparison of this is nauseous and impertinent here 's the Vineyard of red Wine that the Lord himself doth keep Isa 25.6 better far than all the Taverns than all the Theaters than all the Elysian Camps of the wide Universe Glad then may we be when they say unto us We will go into the house of the Lord we will worship towards his holy Temple we will go and keep holy-day in the Courts of the Lord's house on the hill of Zion in the midst of Jerusalem Hallelujah Here we have better Company than any where in the World besides I mean in a more especial manner here more peculiarly than any where else we have Heaven it self in Emblem Mount Zion in Effigie the Coelestial Jerusalem the City of the living God the Coier of Angels the Court of Saints a sweet correspondency with the best of Spirits in both the Churches in both the Worlds Militant and Triumphant Earth and Heaven which brings me to 5. The People who The Holy Church the best of Men and Angels and Spirits separate the select Company called out from the rest of the World to adore their Lord and communicate of his Grace and prepare for and partake of his Glory not that all who are called are accepted the Chaff and Wheat the Corn and Tares the good and bad Fish the Sheep and Goats the Sincere and Hypocrite are both for a while jumbled together in promiscuous Company but none are real Communicants in this sweetness but real Believers the rest feed upon the shell these eat the Kernel the rest look on these taste the Comforts the rest fill up a space and serve for some purposes they hew wood and draw water for the use of the Tabernacles these are invested in the Communities Priviledges and Dignities of the Place they have all one Coat and Creed and Profession but these all have one Mind one Mouth one Hope one Way and one End they mutually partake and Communicate together in the same Prayers Praises Promises Priviledges every thing that is sweet and salutary and tho' their Faces differ their Natures do not tho' in Opinions about some lesser punctillio's they consent not in their Charity they are all one One so entirely that all the Cunning and Violence in the World shall not be able to dissolve the Knot One so entirely that their Interests their Intercessions their Cares and Crosses are the same the whole Company espouse the same Cause all drive at the same End all mean the Divine Glory and the good of Mankind in general if one be weak the other is weak if one be offended the other burns all the Members of the same Body do sweetly and amicably sympathize together Christians as widely distant one from the other as the two Poles meet in their Prayers in their Eucharists even the Angels stoop to us and we aspire to them we are all carrying on the same Work we shall all receive the same Wages we shall all shortly together be with the Lord Tho' our Brains be different yet our Hearts are not Bishop Hall nor our Ends shall not The Church is lovely orderly unanimous as an Army with Banners In short the Churches
Eternity and reconcile the Notion of a Compleat Happiness to the exercise of a continual Devotion and yet this is handsomly represented to us in the Scheme of the Heavenly Bodies the Sun Moon and Stars are never weary never decay never wander out of their place but still are exercised in a continual Motion and keep still their brightness and glory and yet they are inanimate sensless Creatures Why should we think it strange or absurd that the blessed Spirits in the other World should be still employed in the Offices of Devotion and yet still possess'd of Ease and Bliss and which I drive at why should we not strike up and mend our pace at present Why do we often mutter and complain as if it were a weariness to serve the Lord And cry out When will the Sabbath be over that we may return to our worldly Cares and Pleasures again Is there so much difference indeed between Grace and Glory between the Apprentice-ship and the Profession between the Church here and hereafter Or is it possible think ye to make so quick a return from one Extreme to another To be all Earth and Flesh and sin here and Heaven and Spirit and Holiness there Or must we not a little at least be Heaven'd in our Minds now and be in a continual Motion to the end of our happiness Having these things always in remembrance 2 Pet. 1.15 or as Psal 119.112 Enclined to perform the Statutes of the Lord always or Psal 1.2 Exercising our selves in his Law day and night And when we can do this and do it with delight we are upon the brink of a blessed Eternity upon the skirts of the Holy Land upon the Borders of Heaven when our Light shines without darkness tho it do Twinkle now and then and shines continually when our Devotion doth not Die with the Day but glimmers through the darkest Night then and not till then we are in a fair way to the Life of Angels and the Spirits of Just men made perfect 3. Learn we hence to look for that which is lasting In this World we have no continuing City nothing durable no lasting motion unless it be that of Changes and Vieissitudes Summer and Winter Day and Night Peace and War Health and Sickness Life and Death even the Earth changes its Face according to the Seasons and the Seas tho they flow continually they are supplied from the Clouds above and both Earth and Sea and every thing here depend upon the Heavenly Bodies for that motion and continuance which they have In Heaven only is to be found the perpetual Motion Everlasting Life an House Eternal durable Riches and Righteousness Rivers of Pleasure for evermore there only is a continual Day a Light that suffers no Darkness a Sun always shining an everlasting Summer along Eternity of Bliss and Happiness This is easily demonstrable to any one that knows the present World and can but see the Skirts of the Holy Land the very Borders of Heaven Were it not Wisdom for us then to leave off building with so much anxiety here to take down our Scaffolds and get a Jacobs Ladder and climb up to that place of Angels to send our Hearts before us and cast our Anchor safe within the Veil and choose that other world for our portion and think and speak of it and provide for it and account it as our own and pack up all our last cares and passions for it that whilst we live upon Earth we may have our Conversations above and then we shall be eternally safe from Hell beneath But especially at the approach of any unkindly stop or period in our worldly comforts whether it be a black Night or a cloudy stormy Day or an ill Winter or Poverty or Shame or Sickness or Death Let us then take the advantage of the opportunity and look up as high as the Firmament and further even beyond the Starry Orbs and say with our selves In those Countries in that World is no Night or Darkness or Sickness or Sea or Hell let us scorn to grovel here as we have done Let us pack hence our Best Goods and be gone Let that be our Home and the Lord of that Country our Father and let us live heavenly holily humbly as becomes Citizens of that Heavenly Jerusalem the Metropolis of both Worlds 4. Let us live by Rule as those Coelestial Bodies all do even the Rule prescribed us by our Maker and fitted to our Natures and conducive to the ends of our being and this without stragling aside deviation or error on the one hand or the other without intermission or passion or weariness or any thing that may disturb our Motion I know as our Natures are more excellent than the Stars so we are upon greater disadvantages upon the score of sin that hath so enfeebled our Spirits and emasculated the courage and vigour of our Piety that as long as we live we shall be apt to flag but then let it be considered that our God hath offered to accommodate us with all the excellent helps of the Gospel and the assistance of his Spirit and therefore in the strength of these let us go on from day to day in the exactest course of a Religious Piety making no considerable blot or faulter if possible in the whole series of our Life or if that thro the frailty of Humane Nature may not be done let the blot be presently washed off by the Tears of a sound Repentance and then by that means all the crookedness of our former ways being made streight let us take care for the time to come to move upright steady and streight according to the excellent Rules prescribed us in the Laws of God and Life of our Saviour Let us try not only to keep pace with the Sun but to out-vy all the Stars of the Firmament and let it be accounted no disgrace to be thus watchful and curious about the keeping of our Orbs and observing our due Postures and modelling our Actions but rather our greatest excellency and glory Slight those who say amidst their sickly Healths Thou liv'st by Rule What doth not so but Man Houses are built by Rule and Common-wealths Entice the Trusty Sun if that you can From his Eccliptick Line becken the Skie Who lives by Rule then keeps good Company Herb. CHAP. VII Of the Extensiveness of the Heavens The Stars and Firmament the expanded Sky and all the Hosts of the Etherial Orbs speak expresly unto all the Nations of the Earth that there is a God to be worshipped and with such a Worship as becomes his Infinite Excellency Their words are so loud they may be heard to all the Ends of the Word Then let us consider 1. WHether the most dark and distant Nations of the Earth have taken notice of this Rule heard this Voice 2. What they have understood by it 3. What they might understand 4. What Inferences we may deduce from the whole for our own use 1.
are the Glory of Christ 2 Cor. 8.23 and therefore may well be accounted the Glory of us the Beauty of the World the Jewel of the whole Earth and tho' it be burnt with the Sun of Temptation and Affliction tho' it be spotted as the Moon tho' it be black and homely yet 't is orderly and comely and shall e're long be presented all the Body of them to the Holy Jesus as a glorious Church without spot c. Psal 48.1 2 3. 6. The Graces wherewith And here I have a large Field a pleasant Garden full of sweet odoriferous Herbs and beautiful fragrant Flowers to walk in a Bed of Spices a Baal-Hamon and better than that the Vineyard the Eden of the God of Heaven for he himself doth not disdain to walk in this Paradise to gather these Flowers to divert himself in this Garden Cant. 5.1 I am come c. If ye ask me What is the Garden of God Answ Isa 5.7 Surely the Vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel and the Men of Juda his pleasant plant The Church of the faithful is his Eden his Habitation his Diversion but the Herbs that grow there and the Flowers that flourish there are the Virtues and Graces of his People Here upon these gracious qualities these holy Habits I would fain spend some Praises and set them out in a beautiful dress to the Eye of the World but two things hinder One that 't is hard to praise sufficiently things excellent the other that if I could do it yet their Beauty is not to be seen with carnal Eyes We must wink upon the Flesh if we would see Spirits and we must be blind to carnal Objects when we would survey the beauty of spiritual Graces But really the Graces are the greatest Embellishments of Humane Nature Coats of Embroidery and profitable pleasant glorious the most decent wear for rational and immortal Spirits and durable and fashionable to Eternity Virtues that make Men's Faces shine Converlations glister and every thing that appertains to them appear pardonable lovely and inviting Cant. 4.9 Thou hast ravished my Heart c. So God himself is pleased to accept the Beauty of our Graces the Communications of his Spirit and so Men too are apt to take a Complacency in these qualities Bonus Vir Caius seius c. Jewel I could love thee wer 't thou not an Heathen in thy Opinions but surely thou art an Angel in thy Life and Conversation Give me a Man of a pious sober just humble peaceable charitable Genius a Man that gives his God his Prince his Priest his Neighbour his Enemy his Family himself all their due that keeps up the Rules of Religion Civility Order in Church Countrey Neighbourhood Houshold a Man that keeps his Orb without disorder without confusion that neither flinches for the Sails of Prosperity nor the frowns of an adverse and cross Fortune A Man of a smooth brow an affable Tongue a charitable Hand an honest and devout Heart and an unblameable Lise A Man that doth no wrong in the World that doth all the good he can to Friends to Enemies to all A Man that 's good in all Relations as a Child Husband Brother Neighbour Magestrate Minister Subject This is a Man that gives a Reputation to Religion adorns the Gospel beautifies the Church and shines to the World like Moses coming down from Mount Sinai or the Disciples of whom they in the Acts took cognizance that they had been with Jesus I am very confident might Men be left to their own sober Thoughts and choice they could not desire a Husband Wife Prince Subject Neighbour Enemy Family Kingdom Parent Child any Society or Relation in the World better accomplished and fitted to the uses of a quiet peaceable and sweet Life and Conversation than the Graces of Christianity will make Men Why what are Piety Charity Honesty Meekness Innocence Zeal Modesty Humility Faith Hope Patience Sobriety Justice Chastity Liberality Prudence with all the rest of the Train of Spiritual and Evangelical Virtues but the bravest Qualities that flesh and blood can be cloathed with the finest wear for immortal Spirits raiment of Needle-work Coronets upon the Head and Chains about the Neck So Solomon describes the universal Grace of Wisdom in his Proverbs Pagans saw this Beauty in Virtue and admired it Holiness carries a Majesty in its presence to be adored by Infidels If the Apostles come into a barbarous Nation their very Enemies in calm mood shall make them Garlands and cry them up for Gods descended down from Heaven in the shape of Men one shall be Jupiter and another Mercury He 's worse than an Heathen that sees not an excellency in Holiness a modest loftiness in spiritual Wisdom that deserves both Esteem and Love The sweetness of Temper the Innocency of Deportment the discreet Managery of Affairs the Love Mercy and Condescention that is taught by the Christian Graces is the greatest enoblement of Humane Nature that 't is capable of on this side Heaven These Graces shed a Beauty upon our very Breasts and inward Man as well as upon the outward Life an Actions they bring us to the best way of living we are capable of in this World both in respect of God our selves and all others the Graces and Virtues of our Religion are most transparent beams of Divine Perfection on they make up a Complexion in our Humane Nature according to what is eternally existing in the Holy Nature of God so far as we are capable of a Conformity to it and that in the Judgment of right Reason is the highest and noblest account of all good living for we cannot do better than in our measure to correspond to Divine Perfection what underfiled Religion Worship and Conversation is here communicated to us and made essential to the Christian by these Graces without the least mixture of Idolatry and Superstition what superlative Piety and Virtue without any spot of Vice of Debauchery what punctual and perpetual Truth without the taint of Hypocrisie or Knavery the outward Cloth is Sheeps Wool and the inward Temper is the Innocency of the Dove Here 's no rebellion or undutifulness to Superiours no contempt and scorn offered to Equals no insulting and revenge put upon inferiours but Men are modelled and dressed out in a Habit that renders them amiable to God and pleasant to themselves and comfortable to all about them We are enabled by these heavenly qualities not to offend weak ones to look upon all men with a kind Eye to interpret them in the best sense they are capable of to love all Men to forgive to pray for to shew kindness to them that wrong us In short we are thoroughly furnished to every good work brought to the best way of living the noblest principles of suffering and the best way of dying and is there not a Beauty in these Divine qualifications Sure I am not all the Wit of Man or Policy of Devils