evil but only good for from an absolute Goodness nothing can proceed but good And such are as will appear Even things necessary for this life they are called Good things In Deut. 6. 11. We read of houses full of all good things In the Book of Job there is mention made of such a wretched kind of people which said unto God Depart from us and what can the Almighty do for them Job 22. 17. And yet in the 18. v. t is said He filled their houses with good things Says Abraham to the rich Man in Hell Luk. 16. 25. v. Son remember that thou in thy life time receivedst thy good things St. James calls them precious fruits of the Earth Jam. 5. 7. v. and therefore precious saith an Interpreter because they cost hard labor and because they are choice blessings of God Called they are in Scripture Our life Because they are the very sinews of our life It is said of the Woman in the Gospel that she had spent all her living upon the Physicians Luk. 8. 43. In the Greek it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 she spent her whole liâ—e upon the Physitians because she spent her estate by which she should live No Man can live in the world without some portion had of the things of the world Here I may fitly transcribe the words of a good Preacher As saith he theâ—e be three Ages of Man An Infant who creeps upon the ground with all four a young man who goes upon his two leggs an old man who goes on three counting his staffe for one So there be three conditions of Men the worldly man who goes upon all four and looks to earthly things The Saints in Heaven who trample these things of the world under their feet going upright and scorning so much as to look towards them they need them not at all But the Saints on earth though they tread upon them in their esteem yet they must look a little towards them in their necessity because they cannot be without them as long as any of us have the old man about us we cannot go without the staffe of Bread as long as we abide in the world we cannot be without some things of the world and even these things you see are called good things But yet our labor should be chiefly about Eternal good things Because though the things of this life are good yet Eternal good things are the best the chiefest and excellentest of good things they are the only things worth the laboring for many things are hard to come by and yet of no great use or worth when by great labor and pains taking they are gotten or brought to pass Aelians censure of the Chariot I have read of made by Myrmccidas and Callecrates so small that it might be hid under a Fly in my conceit was good and applicable to my purpose For when others wondered at it he said it was worthy no wise man's praise but was rather to be accounted a vain expence of time and how much vain expence of time may be noted amongst many men laboring for what is not worth the labor used to gain them As some more excellent Schollars of great parts and abilities spend their time and studies about very unprofitable Questions and Disputations and intricate subtilties about Moon-shine in the Water as one complains that Spider-like eviscerate themselves and spend their bowels to make Cob-webbs of Wit So a man cannot but have observed what time and labor some men spend in and about some things that neither are of advantage to their Souls or their Bodies But now Eternal good things they are indeed hard and difficult to obtain but will be found to be singularly excellent good things Eternal good things to the very best of worldly good things are as the Sun to the least of Starrs as some stately Pallace the seat or habitation of a great Monarch to a smoaky and thatch'd Cottage the habitation of a Peasant they are as Gold to Brass Et melius est pallens aurum quam fulgens aurichalcum a little of the palest and coursest Gold is farr better then much of the finest and brightest Brass One Christian's share of Eternal good things is farr better then what all the Kings and Potentates in the world do injoy of the world Hi numerosè aggrigant penes se densissimum lutum as the Prophet Habakkuk speakes chap. 2. 6. v. Wo to him that increaseth that which is not his how long and to him that ladeth himself with thick clay These are laden with thick clay Illi aurum igni exploratum possident They are inriched with pure Gold Revel 3. 18. v. Their Exchequer may be full but t is only the World 's counterfeit coyn the other have the true treasure Their Wardropes may be plentifully furnished but t is only with glassy Pearl the other injoy that precious Orient Pearl which to purchase the wise Merchant sold all There is as much difference between Temporal good things and Eternal good things as there is between the light of a Candle and the light of the Sun when it shineeth in its full brightness at mad-day A Candle in a dark-night makes a great shew but the light thereof when the Sun cometh vanisheth and is nothing Even such are all those things that men now so much affect and labor so much for if compared with what will indure to Eternity the worth of them doth vanish and come to nothing What think you of those new investitures of the Soul after the Resurrection of those royal endowments of glorified souls in Heaven shining there like the glorious body of our Saviour upon Mount Tabor What think you of having our bodies to glitter in glory like those spangles in the Firmament of those Sun-like bodies we shall have in Heaven Of corruptions putting on incorruption and mortality putting onimmortality What think you of the beatifical vision of beholding him who is invisible in the presence chamber of his glory of the souls living for ever in the continual prospect of the infinite beauty and Majesty of God in the most glorious and eternal sanctuary of Heaven of taking a full view of that All-glorious Deity whose very fight gives blessedness to the beholder of having the beams of our Creators heavenly glory to shine in our faces of so seeing God as never more to look of him of so enjoying him that he shall for ever be all in all unto us Of seeing the glory of Christ which is the glory of glories What think you of the Golden City beautified and irradiated with the unconceivable splendor of the glory of God where Streets Walls gates and all is gold and Pearl nay where Pearl is but as mire and dirt and nothing worth of walking through the streeâ—s of Paradise where Sorrow is never felt complaint is never heard matter of sadness is never seen evil success is never feared but instead thereof there is all good without any thing of
begin his happyness and feoffe him in that glory which he cannot but for ever injoy This made holy Basil so resolute in his answer to Modestus the Emperor's Lieutenant when he threatened him with death Death saith he is a benefit to me it will send me sooner to God to whom I live to whom I desire to hasten This made that noble army of Martyrs mentioned in Ecclesiactical History such Lambs in suffering that their persecutors were more weary with striking then they with suffering This made them slight the sentence of death go cheerfully to the stake and leap into beds of Flames as if they had been beds of Down and to suffer the most exquisite deaths and torments that ever the wit or malice of men or divels could invent or inflict upon them 3. Eternal good things will do a Christian good and stand him in stead when he shall be brought to stand at Christ's tribunal in the day of Judgment when all the world shall be on fire about his ears and all earthly glory shall be consumed yet our Saviour encourages such then to look up and lift up their heads for their redemption draweth nigh Luk. 21. 28. v. We have seen the man injoying Eternal good things upon his death-bed not shrinking or trembling at death sed post hoc judicium but after this the Judgment Heb. 9. 27. v. whither if we follow him though he stands at Christ's barr yet not fettered in chains like a Malefactor expecting a dreadful Sentence neither trembling at Judgment to come as Felix when he was a Judg upon the bench did when he heard St. Paul preach of Judgment to come The Epicures Atheists and those debauched ones that now Hector it out so stoutly in the world and brave it in a way of all manner of Voluptuousness both in despite of God and men these would be glad if death were ultima linea rerum the last line of all things that when they dye and lye down in their graves there might be no Resurrection As Solomon calls the Grave a long home Eccles 12. 5. v. they could wish it were rather an everlasting home and that the grave might never give up her dead Rev. 20. 13. v. But as death is a sleep so it might be an Eternal sleep that there never might be any more Evigilation or waking out of sleep It would please them to hear the grave called Invium retrò sepulchrum a place that had no regress thence and they could wish from their hearts the doctrine of the Saduces against the Gospel were as true as the Doctrine of Jesus Christ in the Gospel Jesus Christ in the Gospel tells us both of a day of Resurrection and a day of Judgment but the Saduces teach that there is no Resurrection no Judgment nor Judg as these wish there were not so dreadful are the thoughts of that day unto wicked men This day will be the greatest for terror to those who never possessed more then this world but the greatest for joy to those who not contented with this world had their hearts taken up with the great things of another world When the greatest part of the world shall be sent trembling to Hell being doomed to everlasting Flames and for ever to remain in the same condition of the Divels themselves then they shall go triumphingly to Heaven be actually stated in an everlasting happy condition and for ever delivered from their fears and doubts of Salvation which all their lives-time were a grievous burthen unto them Terrible will this last day be to all those who never looked after providing for the Soul's welfare but it will be a joyful day to those who have laid up treasures in Heaven whither both Soul and body those two old companions are joyfully hastening together Happy Christians are they who in this day of Grace the only time men have to provide for their Eternal Condition have gotten their souls stored with Grace those who now have their souls made gracious shall then have both their souls and bodies made glorious Time was when sin had changed their souls from their Original beauty and glory had changed them from their primitive excellency and holyness their natures were then altogether sinful but at their conversion Nature was turned into Grace and now at their Resurrection unto Judgment those who had here gracious souls will then have as glorious souls so glorious bodies Then their souls shall be wholly freed from all sins and corruptions and brought to their primitive beauty and comliness and their bodies from mortality and all sinful uncleanness that they may by Christ be fashioned like unto his glorious body It was a rare saying of holy Bernard and worthy to be written in letters of Gold says he Christ hath a double coming He comes now by his Ministers to make his peoples souls gracious and at the day of Judgment he will come in his own person to make their bodies glorious those that have gracious Souls now shall have glorious bodies then even bodies conformable to the glorious body of Christ Phil. 3. 21. v. Who shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body like unto the Sun-like resplendent body of Christ Their corruptible bodies shall be changed and be made incorruptible their natural bodies shall be changed and be made spiritual bodies their mortal bodies shall be changed and be made immortal bodies 1 Cor. 15. 42 43 44. 53. v. Behold says St. Paul I shew you a mystery we shall not all sleep but we shall all be changed 1 Cor. 15. 51. v. speaking there of the last day Indeed the Apostle was already changed and the Corinthians were already changed if we consider what St Paul and the Corinthians once were they will appear to have been changed Nature in them was already changed into Grace but the change he speaks of which should be at the day of Judgment is this Grace should then be turned into glory Their gracious souls should be made glorious souls and their vile bodies should be made glorious bodies As the Inhabitants of Samaria once said Isay 9. 10. v. The Sycomores are cut down but we will change them into Cedars the Sycomore is but a mean despicable tree to the Cedar the bodies of the best are but vile and despicable bodies now but at the day of Judgment they shall be changed into glorious bodies In that glorious morning when Christ shall come to Judgment every one that hath gotten grace here shall put on a new fresh suit of flesh richly laid and trimmed with glory says an ingenious person So much good will Grace do us then and stand us in stead then Then to have an interest in God the God of all grace will also do us good and stand us in stead then those who have gotten God for to be their God in Covenant with them will find their interest in God to do them good though God will then be a
sin out of their hearts he makes them pertakers of the divine nature and in due time cleanses them from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit he puts upon them the new man which after God is created in righteousness and true holyness Admirable have been the works of God towards even those that never had him for their God in Covenant unto what great promotion have some such been advanced Iphicrates that brave Athenian was but the Son of a Coblar Eumenes one of Alexander's best Captains but the Son of a Carter Agachocles King of Scicily was but the Son of a Porter Abdolominus a poor Gardener and yet became to be King in Sidon Thus God sometimes raises the poor out of the dust and lifâ—eth up the beggar from the dunghill to set them among Princes and to make them to inherit the throne of Glory 1 Sam. 2. 7 8. v. The Lord maketh poor and maketh rich he bringeth low and lifteth up He raiseth up the poor out of the dust and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghil to set them among Princes and to make them inherit the throne of Glory So true is that of the Psalmist Psal 75. 6 7. v. For promotion comeeth not from the East nor from the West nor from the South But God is the Judg he putteth down one and setteth up another But in the work of Sanctification and Holyness he does a greater work then all this there he makes Grapes to grow upon thornes and â—iggs upon thistles he turns the worst weeds into sweet and beautiful flowers Oâ—â— of the most crooked pieces in the timber he makes a glorious Building Of stones he raises up children unto Abraham turns Gall into Honey Darkness into Light Wolves into Lambs barren Wildernesses into pleasant Gardens How should this make us to shut our eyes to all Creatures as if they were not and look wholly to God and there make our desires and labors to terminate as having nothing further to labor and as desiring no other portion When the Sun shines to us though there be never a Starr is it not day do we not call it so Again when all the Starrs shine and the Sun is set is it not night Thus it is to those that have an injoyment of God though they have him alone nothing besides him for their portion yet as he makes them good so he alone is sufficient to make them happy This is that very thing which hath made those who have known the truth of this very thing to be restless in their souls until they have centered themselves in God and the injoyment of God All creatures say Philosophers desire their Center and do no where rest but in their proper places The spark of fire tenders upwards stones they move downwards The floods and all waters have many turnings and windings but they never cease until they come into the Sea that common receptacle of all waters So the soul of man hath its Center which is God it never rests until it be there and when it injoys God it would never be removed Fecisti nos Domine propter te in quietum est cor nostrum donec perveniat ad te says holy St. Augustine Lord thou hast made us for thy self and our hearts are unquiet until they be wiâ—h thee for indeed the Creature is not capable of an higher blessedness then to have God for his God in God is to be found enough in God are to be found such things as will fit all times all occasions of soul and body fully 3. The third Instance is that of Jesus Christ the Eternal Son of God and heir of the King of glory who in time became Man for his Elect who is the fountain and foundation of all our Bliss in this world and the world to come Verily the Lord Jesus Christ is the whole of Man's happiness he is the Jacobs Ladder by whom God descendeth unto man and man ascendeth unto God Nothing can make that man miserable who hath Christ for his possession for the life and liberty the peace and safety the wealth and glory the present and future happiness of a Christian are treasured up in him The Lord Jesus Christ is richly worth the laboring for when as all things without him are worth nothing they are in comparison of Christ but as a drop of a Bucket and as the small dust of the ballance they are in comparison of Christ who is a pearl of choisest Worth but as base and vile He does very shamefully abuse Christ that prefers and esteems any thing above Christ that makes not all things to vail and stoop to Christ The fulness of the world without Jesus Christ is but a dry bone without marrow a shell without a kernel an empty pit without water a casket without a jewel and as a barren tree without fruit It is not the having an abundance of riches and temporal good things in the house but the having of Christ in the heart that will make the possessor contented and happy He that looks for either contentation in or happyness from any thing but Christ seeks for water to quench his thirst in a broken Cistern As he said of Plato Vnius Platonis calculum inter mille the approbation of Plato alone was instead of a thousand so the injoyment of Christ alone is instead of a thousand other things Prov. 8. 11. v. For Wisdom is better then Rubies and all the things that can be desired are not to be compared unto it And doubtless Christ is the wisdâ—m there spoken of in whom there is a confluence of all blessedness and happyness he that hath Christ he is rich he is full he hath all he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All in All. In him there are unsearchable riches Ephe. 3. 1. v. The Spanish Embassador coming to see the Treasury of St. Mark in Venice which is cryed up so through all the world fell a groping to find whether it had any bottom and being asked why he did so answered In this amongst other things my great Master's Treasure differs from yours in that his hath no bottom as I find yours to have alluding to the Mines in Mexico and Potosy but what are the Spanish Treasures to the unsearchable treasures that are in Christ He is such a golden Mine of all good things that all the Saints and Angels can never digg to the bottom This hath made those that have in some measure known the worth of Christ to account him precious 1 Pet. 2. 7. v. Vnto you therefore which believe he is precious above all the things of the world As the chiefest amongst ten thousand Cant. 5. 10. v. It hath made them esteem of Christ above all things St. Paul's sublime spirit counted all things but loss for the excellency of Christ yea he counted them but dung 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dogs meat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he might win or gain Christ and be satisfied with a larger
consuming fire to burn up souls like stuble that had not God for their God yet those who have this intrerest in God they may look upon him not as an enemy that will set himself against them but as a friend that is reconciled unto them not as an angry Judg that will condemn them but as a merciful Father that willingly hath pardoned them they may behold him not as clothed with dread and terror but with mercy and compassion though then God will frown upon them who never labored to get an interest in him yet will he turn away his anger from them who have chosen him for their God and will behold them with a smiling countenance Most men highly value an Interest in great persons and too many value this more then to have an interest in a great God But experience shews how mutable the friendship of men is they are like weathercocks upon Steeples that turn with every wind somtimes in their friendship they are like the Sun in its full strength but anon some cloud of a small or imagined offence darkens all their love and nothing is more common then to find friends dying oftentimes one to another even whilst they live and their somtimes injoyed friendship then does them no good nor stands them in stead whatever be their straits they come into But when once a Christian hath gotten an interest in God God will be a God to him as long as he is God God is a God for ever and he will be his God for ever What God is he was from Eternity and what God is to any he will be to Eternity there shall never come the time when God will withdraw his love or his good will cease towards them He will always do them good and always stand them in stead both in life and death and the day of Judgment God that hath done them good and stood them in their greatest straits of this life will do as much for them at this day An Interest in God did stand David in stead when he was in that great strait at Ziglag the City was burnt by the Philistins in his absence his wives carryed captive the people ready to stone him but David he incouraged himself in the Lord his God So Psal 31. 14. v. there also this man who was a man after God's own heart is in a great calamity and trouble but an interest in God did him good and stood him in stead then For says he I trusted in thee O Lord I said thou art my God God will have them to know that they have not any cause to fear nor be dismayed wheresoever they are or whatsoever condition they lye under so long as they have him to be their God Isay 41. 10. v. Fear thou â—at for I am with thee be not dismayed And he gives the reason which is satisfactory enough to all that know what God is and what it is to have God for their God the reason is in these words For I am thy God O the happy condition of that man who hath God for his God God being his then whatsoever is in God whatsoever God can do and whatsoever God hath is his because God himself is his The propriety that he hath in God extends throughout to all that is in God to all that God is or can do for his good Whatsoever there is in God shall be as truly that man 's for his good as it is God's for his own glory God will do that man good not only whilst he lives but when he dyes for God is not his God only while he lived but when dead he is his God to do him good at death and to do him good at Judgment Whilst he lived God was his God to pardon his sins they both go together I will be their God and I will forgive their Iniquities and remember them no more Jer. 31. 33. v. When he dyes God is his God even when he passeth through the valley and shadow of death he is with him and when his soul leaves his body he sends a guard of Angels to carry that into Abraham's bosom And when the body hath lyen a while in the Grave as he is his God he will raise it up out of the grave to glory in the day of Judgment he shall be made up with God's Jewels at that day Then also an Interest in Jesus Christ will do good let the terror of that Judgment be never so great to the greatest part of the children of men it will not be so to those that have gotten Jesus Christ to be their Saviour and that then shall have Jesus Christ to be their Judg. It will be a dreadful day to all those that have been ashamed to make a profession of Jesus Christ that have been ashamed of the ordinances of Jesus Christ Luk. 9. 26. v. Whosoever is ashamed of me and of my words of him shall the Son of Man be ashamed when he shall come in his own glory and in his Father's and of the holy Angels And that have shewed no mercy to the poor afflicted and distressed members of Jesus Christ that have shut their bowels against those that have been related to Jesus Christ Matth. 25. 41 42. v. Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Divel and his Angels But why so sad a doom For I was an hungred and ye gave me no meat I was thirsty and ye gave me no drink I was a stranger and ye took me not in naked and ye clothed me not sick and in prison and ye visited me not And that have had no sincere love to Christ 1 Cor. 16. 22. v. If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ let him be Anathama Maranatha Let him be Anathama that is let him be accursed When Maranatha when Christ comes to Judgment And that have not yielded obedience to the Gospel of Jesus Christ 2 Thes 1. 7 8. v. The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty Angels In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. But Jesus Christ will stand them in stead who shall then be found having an interest in Christ Will it not stand one in stead at the barr of Man's tribunal that the Judg upon the bench is his friend that the Judg is one that loves him dearly that he is one who designs the good and welfare of the prisoner that the prisoner knows assuredly Well my Lord the Judg whatever accusations are brought in against me will be my friend I am sure he will save my life I am sure he will acquit me Indeed if the Judg were a man's enemy such a one hath cause to fear So if then the Divel or wicked men were to be our Judges we should have cause to tremble but Jesus Christ he is to be our Judg he that was once judged condemned and executed in our stead is to
wearing the oyl of their Lamps wasting â— and time is carrying them towards the habitations of Eternity and they quickly come to an end but in Heaven our being our blessed being shall have no end Ibi esse nostrum non habebit mortem It is the promise made to those who are believers John 3. 15. v. That whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have Eternal life the life in Heaven is a lasting life indeed Adeo diutina quod nequit terminari So lasting as it is everlasting A life that is as Eternal for continuance as he that had no beginning That not to be termed a life which consisteth of the body and the soul but that even that is truly life which flourisheth in the memory of all ages and which Eternity it self ever beholdeth says one Illa illa vita the life of glory that is life indeed where when a Man hath lived as many thousand years or ages or Centuries as there are piles of Grass on the ground or grains of Sand on the Sea-shore or Starrs in the Sky he shall be as new to begin again as the first day he lived in Heaven We are here ready to admire the great age of some men of such as live long but Nihil longam quod finem habet that is truly long that lasts for ever And this life that lasts for ever is enough to Comfort any Christian in the loss of a present life that will last but for a few years When Philip asked Democritus if he did not fear to lose his head he answered No for quoth he If I dye the Athenians will give me a life immortal his meaning was only this he should be Statued in the treasury of Eternal fame So may every Christian say who hath gotten Eternal good things for his portion When they dye and have an end put to this life God will give them a life immortal Such a man cannot but have his soul brimful of brave thoughts that in a dying hour is able to refresh himself with this meditation Though I now must dye and have an end put to my natural and miserable life yet I shall now enter upon an Eternal anâ— happy life 3. That Joy which is to be had in Heaven is Eternal Joy Whilst the best here in the world are weeping and many times full of Sorrow the worst and vilest oâ— men are full of joy and abound in their pleasures buâ— here is their misery the posting Sun of their joy anâ— pleasures after a short gleamand a few days vain glistering will set in the Ocean of endless Sorrow Thâ— wicked man's joy is but a short-liv'd joy soon puffed out and lasts but for a moment to speak of when it lasts longest Job 20. 5. v. The triumphing of the wicked is short and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment and therefore it is by the Preacher Eccles 7. 6. v. compared to the crackling of thornes under a pot It is as soon out as in makes a great noise and dies But the joy of Heaven is lasting ye everlasting begun here and lasts to all Eternity called therefore Everlasting consolation such is the Saints joy 2 Thes 2. 16. v. We may compare their joy in Heaven as ones does God's rich mercy from whence it flows to the Oyl in the cruse which was still spending but never spent They who have made sure a provision for Eternity shall have joy for evermore In the world indeed they meet with many changes in this Babylon they are oftentimes forced to hang their Harpes upon the Willows and disabled from singing sweetly to the Lamb their Hebrew songs their estates and conditions are as variable as you see the Heavens at this time and season are now fair by and by foul now the Sun shines most gloriously but by and by the whole Heavens are cloudy and sending down showâ—â—s Their comforts have an Autumn and their joys a fall of the Leaf Their joys are soon clouded with sorrows for if God do but hide his face they are troubled Psal 30. 7. v Though they somtimes taste of the waters of life yet again they do drink of the waters of Marah Now they are with God in the Mount and see his face at another time they are walking in the valley of the shadow of Death and there wandring in a maze of perplexed thoughts heavy cares afflicting fears and bitter sorrows If at one time they have the oyl of joy and gladness yet at another time they have the spirit of heaviness and sadness If at one time they have sweet tastes of Heaven yet at another time they are even distracted with fears of Hell But in Heaven they shall have nothing but joy and no sorrow all tears there shall be wiped from their eyes and all sorrow driven from their hearts there they shall injoy full joy without any mixtures of sorrow they never sow again in tears but shall injoy good days for ever Rev. 21. 4. v. There will be no more death neither sorrow nor crying But Isay 61. 7. v. Everlasting joy shall be unto them yea fulness of joy and pleasures for evermore Psal 16. 11. v. there will be pleasures to all Eternity and millions of years multiplyed by Millions do not make up a minute to this Eternity The joy of Heaven is such a joy Quod non divellit aeternitas A joy that Eternity begins but Eternity shall never end Great was the Jews joy after that the lamentable and sad decree of Ahasuerus was reversed and Haman's plot defeated insomuch that the days that were appointed for their death and ruine were turned into day of feasting and joy and wherein they sent presenâ—s every man to his Neighbor and gifts to the Poor Esâ—her 9. from verse the 17. to 28. and this joy as it was then great so it hath been lasting for the Jews cease not to celebrate the same to this day But what is the Continuance of the Jews joy for this great Deliverance from Haman to the joy of every believer in Heaven for their deliverance from Hell that hath been but for some hundreds of years from the time of Ahasuerus to this present and say this annual commemoration should last as long as the World shall last yet would â—t be nothing to the joy in Heaven that shall last for ever 4. That Inheritance which is to be had in Heaven is an Eternal Inheritance The greatest Inheritances that men do settle upon their children put them all together are not equivalent unto it When an Embassador told Henry the fourth that magnificenâ— King of France concerning the King of Spain's ample Dominions First saith he he is the King oâ— Spain â—s he so saith Henry and I am King of France but â—aith the other he is â—ing of Portugal and I am King of France saith Henry He is King of Naples â—and I â—m King of France He is King of Sicily and I am King of France He is King of
compareth the deceitfulness of Riches and cares of the world to thornes which prick not the flesh only but pierce through the mind and heart and wound the souls and conscience with manifold hurts and smart-pain Our Saviour and St. Paul confirm the verdict of Solomon to shew the vexation of spirits that attends all Temporal good things As Bees have honey and wax but they have a sting with all so verily have most of earthly and Temporal things they have honey in them to intice and wax to inflame but with all too oftentimes deadly stings wherewith they sting the possessors of them and therefore Solomon unto vanity adds vexation of mind If ever there were any man fit and able in respect of his wealth to try of industry to search and of wisdom to judg of the things of this life it was King Solomon and yet Solomon when he had imployed his wealth wisdom and industry in this diligent scrutiny and distilled forth even the purest spirits of these Terrestrial bodies he found amongst them vanity but that is not all vexation of spirit When Hezekiah had defaced the Serpent which had defaced God s glory he called it in contempt Nehushtan It is a piece of Brass that so it might be vile in the eyes of those who did adore it for by this name he gave the people to understand that there was no Deity in it and therefore no worship to be done to it no sacrifice or Incense to be offered unto it in a word that it was not what they took it to be neither did it deserve to have such an high esteem as they had of it For it was but a piece of brass and no more and a piece of brass was no such thing as to be worshiped and adored In like manner so does Solomon call all sublunary and Temporal good things Vanity and vexation of spirit thereby to undervalue them in the eyes of those that over valued them thereby to debase and villiâ—y them and to shew others what he after tryal made had found to be in them no contentation but rather vexation Who would not think Kings and Princes to be the only happy ones They are to make their lives happy and full of Felicity if it may be had most liberally provided for they have stately Palaces costly Ornaments honorable Services delicate Meats variety of Pleasures they have all Honors Dignities and Rule at their dispose they are able to raise at their pleasure the meanest Man to an high place and with a frown to disgrace the mightiest and what ever precious Rarities choice and desirable things their eyes which are the principal Seates of desire or lusting can desire are not kept from them unto which we may add their ample and Royal Revenues rich Exchequers great tributes out of their Kingdoms and Provinces And yet even their Raign and Rule is but a Noble Servitude as Antigonus said to his Son so many are the calamities depending upon Regal Crowns and miseries that do compass Scepters and States of Princes besides the dayly trouble in Government in Domestick and forreign Affairs what secret censures murmurings and dispraises do they undergo what continual fears do they lye under In their Palaces they are afraid lest Servants in the day-time do poyson them or in the night-time murther them In their Kingdoms least their Guards betray them least their Nobles forsake them and least the rude and common People incouraged by discontented great ones Rebell against them From abroad also their fears are increased somtimes least their Allies desert them and least their Enemies invade them And after a whole life of Dangers and Fears how often are they but even ill rewarded by those they have defended and protected nay by some they have favored enriched and advanced Somtimes they have been at last hissed at and chased from their Thrones with Shame and Confusion Have mean ones been derided so have Princes Have mean ones been restrained so have Princes Have mean ones been imprisoned so have Princes Have mean ones been banished so have Princes Have mean ones been murthered so have Princes Not only is their whole life a life of Fears and Dangers as Dionysius told Damocles but their deaths have been both â—gnomius and barbarous Demosthenes after he had been a just and faithful Governor of the Common-wealth of Athens was in â—he end without cause unjustly banished So was Aâ—istides of whom it used to be said A man might as â—oon turn the Sun in her course as turn Aristides from doing Justice These Temporal good things are like to those waâ—ers of Babylon where the Jews sate down and wept Psal 137. 1. v. By the river 〈…〉 Babylon there we â—ate down yea we wept like unto which waters â—re these Temporal good things not only for their â—wift passing away and never returning but for the â—oubles that attend them they being to the possessors thereof no little cause of vexation of Spirit of weeping and small sorrow The whole world as one calls it is but a Sea of glass for its vanity and mingled with fire for its vexation Rev. 15. 2. v. And the things of the world like so many sweet Bryars or like the Rose which is a fragrant flower but yet it hath its pricks and to one Rose in the Worlds-garden we meet with a thousand thornes Let men set what esteem they will upon them yet are they not pure Wine but mixed and have in them more dreggs than spirits they are like the River Plutarch speaks of where the waters in the morning run sweet but in the Evening run bitter Like the profitable Bee which though it affords the owner Honey yet again many times stings him and for one Ounce of Honey the World affords we meet with a Tunn of Gall. It fares with many men in this respect as it did with Lot Gen. 13. 10 11. v. When he beheld all the plain of Jordan to be well watered and that it was like the Garden of God he chose all the Countrey and departed from Abraham But many sad dangers and many dayly vexations did this unwise choice of his cast him into and bring upon him In like manner the injoyment of these things oft expose to dangers Multos sua felicitas stravit Many men their lives had been longer if their riches had been less that which they counted their happyness made them miserable Consolationes factae sunt desolationes as one says the same things that have somtimes made their lives comfortable at another time have occasioned them afterwards to be miserable Pro. 1. 19. chap. that they have been weary of their injoyments and weary of their very lives But we never did nor ever will hear of any weary of Grace weary of the love of God weary of Heaven and Eternal glory Can any think that the Saints in Heaven are weary of their being in heaven or that they are weary of the presence of God there Vident semper videre
saying Take I pray thee my blessing that is brought to thee because God hath dealt graciously with me and because I have enough I have enough saith Esau I have enough saith Jacob though the word â—e one and the same in both places in the English I have enough yet it is by Divines observed that there is a difference in the Original Jacob's word is different from Esau's Jacob's word signifies I have all things and yet Jacob was poorer than Esau Esau had much but Jacob had all but how had he all Because he had the God of all he had God that was all And indeed as one observes Habet omnia qui habet habentem omnia He hath all things that hath him that is all things God alone was enough to Jacob and God alone would satisfy David's desire Psal 73. 25. v. Whom have I in heaven but thee and there is none I desire upon earth besides thee So great is the capacity and largeness of the Soul of Man that no Riches no Dignities Kingdoms nor the Empire of the whole World no Pleasures in a word no finite and limitable good can quench its insatiable thirst and desire nothing can do this but some immense infinite and boundless good and such as containeth in it self by way of Eminency or preheminency the fulness of all good whatsoever This David insinuated Psal 17. 15. v. Satiabor cum apparuer it gloria tua as the vulgar translation renders those words I shall be satisfied and filled when thy glory shall appear As if David had said No other thing can give me full contentment except the manifestation of thy glory which is an infinite and illimitable good David is here conceived to speak of that confidence and hope that himself and others of God's people have of happyness and satisfaction after this life when their bodies that sleep in the grave shall be awaked to the resurrection of Eternal Life then their happyness will be full in the measure without want of any thing that can make them happy all their desires shall be then satisfied They shall be abundantly satisfied with thâ— fatness of thy house Psal 36. 8. v. It were impossible to imagine that any one should have an interest in God and not be happy Psal 144. 15. v Happy is that people whose God is the Lord But in this life the happyness of the best is but like an house in building hereafter when they shall injoy God in heaven and be glorified with Christ in those heavenly Mansions when they shall wear upon their heads a Crown of life and be blessed associates unto Angels and all glorified spirits then the top-stone of perfect and everlasting happyness shall be put on At their conversion they are restored to the possession of some of those good things they lost in Adam but in heaven they shall injoy all those good things they lost in Adam 6. Our labor and pains ought cheifly to be imployed not about perishing but Eternal good things Because Eternal good things concern our Souls other good things concern the body only As the soul is to be preferred before the body so our labor and pains should rather be for those things that concern the soul than for those that concern the body only It is most true there is an excellency even to be taken notice of in the body and most excellent things might be observed touching the Noble Structure and Symetry thereof its figure frame temperature and proportion not any part of the common lump of Claâ— being fashioned like to it It is said of Galen that he gave Epiâ—urus an hundred years time to imagine a more commodious Configuration or Composition of any one part of a humane body When David spends his thoughts upon the curious frame of Man's body he seems to look upon himself as it were in amazed Extasies See Psal 139. 13 14 15. v. Thou hast possessed my reins thou hast covered me in my Mothers womb I will praise thee for I am fearfully and wonderfully made marvelous are thy works and that my Soul knoweth right-well My substance was not hid from thee when I was made in secret and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth Where David compares the Workman-ship of the body to the curious Needle-work of some skilful Woman The body is indeed a little miracle of Nature a vessel made capable of the best Jewel an house prepared for the best inhabitant every part whereof hath its wonder neither is there any piece in this Exquisite frame whereof the place use and form doth not admit wonder and exceed it God having invested the body with many noble Endowments made it a mirror of beauty and printed upon it surpassing excellencies But yet a Christians greatest labor and pains should not be for the body but for the soul the body indeed is to be provided for but the more special care should be for and about the soul The Egyptians parted with their money after that with their cattel and last of all with their land to buy bread to feed their bodies and what should not a man part with and do for the good of the soul The Heathen man could say Major sum ad majora genitus quam ut mancipium sim mei corporis I am more noble and born to more noble ends then that I should become a Slave to my body And should not Christians who are made capable of an infinite good and do far exceed him in spiritual nobility as having God for their Father Christ for their elder-brother conclude it far short of those noble ends for which they were born to toyl and labor all their whole life only to nourish to feed and cloth the body and in the mean time to neglect the soul which is far more excellent then the body Shall they only look after what is conducing and accommodated to a corporal life and not mind what will be good for their souls when they must injoy an Eternal life It is said of Caesar Major fuit cura Caesari libellorum quam purpurae That he had greater care of his books then of his Royal robes for swimming through the waters to escape his enemies he carried his Books in his hands above the waters but lost his Robes That heathen Epimanondus being dangerously wounded with a Spear so that he sunk down as one dead and after coming to himself he asked if his Target were safe his cheif care was about his Target So should it be with a Christian about his Soul his cheif care should be about his soul that must in the first place be regarded and cared for the body is but the souls upper garment and although that should fall into hands of unreasonable men though the Soul should lose its upper garment yet if the soul it self be safe all is safe but if the soul be lost all is lost God lost and Christ lost and the society of glorious Angels and blessed Saints lost and
that they will not only conform to â—he sinful lusts and pleasures of the World but they so idolize Temporal things that they place their onely and chiefest happiness in the enjoyment of the World they terminate their happiness here Though a man may as well think to extract Oil out of a flint or fire out of water as happiness out of these Temporal and terrestrial things To seek for happiness in any thing below is to seek for the living among the dead 3. Reas Because these temporal things being near at hand do dazâ—le the mind and distract the Judgments of men The sight that now the best here below have of those Eternal good things in Hâ—eaven is but weak dark and obscure for saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 13. 12. v. Now we see through a Glass darkly And again Now I know in part If Saint Paul and other enlightned ones see but darkly and in part surely Children of darkness see nothing at all If the vigourous and sparkling eyes of Heavens darlings see no clearer the blind and bleer eyes of others behold nothing The Saints see a great deal yet nothing to what they shall see in Heaven where the illustrious beauty of Eternal good things shall be displayed in a most glorious Emphasis and they have their eyes fixed upon them through all Eternity An Eagle-eyed Christian by the eye of Faith beholding the beauty of these things sees a great deal of excellency and worth in them why they should be laboured for and the oftner he looks thereon the more he is enamoured therewith and he is made restless until he enjoys them As it is said of Apelles that by his often beholding and looking on the Woman whose picture he was drawing though at first he minded his Art only yet secretly love did creep into his affection at the same time which made him languish away till Alexander helped her to him as his wife so 't is with a Believer his heart pants after these things as the Hart pants after the water brooks and his Soul even languisheth away till God help him to possess them as his own But now a generation of men having no other but sensual eyes which serve only to behold Objects near hand not Objects at a great distance they apprehend nothing in these Eternal things to affect them withal and therefore do they acknowledge nothing in them to make them desirable or worth taking pains for I remember what I have read of Nicostratus who being himself a cunning Work-man he finding a curious piece of work and being wondred at by one and asked what pleasure he could take to stand as he did still gazing on the picture answered Hadst thou mine eyes my Friend thou wouldst not wonder but rather be ravished as I am at the inimitable art of this rare and admired piece Had these men the eyes of Faith to behold things within the vail to see the Sun-like resplendent Body of Christ there to look upon our Jehovah's face there and the glory of all crowned Martyrs and other the glorious Inhabitants of that happy place surely things below would not dazâ—le their eyes so much as they do they would rather be looked upon as so much dung and dross in comparison of these but though they are sharp-sighted into things of Earth yet are they blinder then a Mole in beholding any Spiritual or Celestial beauty As Moses did Heb. 11. 27. v. so other of the Saints do see him who is invisible but these see nothing but what is visible They have no other but bodily eyes to see with and so God cannot be seen 2 Tim. 6. 16. v. Whom no man hath seen nor can see And having no other but bodily eyes it is no wonder if things as far off as Heaven do seem very small and little unto them and those things which are nearer unto them seem of a greater magnitude It is here as it is with many ignorant men who standing here below and looking upon the Sun Moon and Stars in Heaven whereof the first and several of the last are many times bigger then the Earth yet by such ignorant People the Stars are judged to be only pretty little golden spots of the breadth of a peâ—ny or of a man's finger and the Sun or Moon not broader then a bushel or a Cart-wheel The reason of this mistake is this these Heavenly luminaries are at a great distance from them from the Earth to the Starry Heaven Astrologers have made it sixteen millions three hundred thirty-eight thousands five hundred sixty two miles and such ignorant Persons will not allow for the distance and so are not able to judge thereof So it is here with carnal ignorant ones the things of Heaven are now accounted but small because of their distance though in themselves great but Earthly things are accounted great because of their nearness though in themselves small Now as Eve's looking upon the Tree of knowledge did her much prejudice she was thereby tempted to eat thereof and thereby lost an Earthly and hazarded an Heavenly Paradise So to men looking upon such things as the Temporal good things of this life are with no other eye then that of sense their eyes are dazled with the splendour of them and they seem great and do them a great deal of prejudice they make thousands not to hazard only but even to lose an Heavenly Paradise whilst all their searchings and enquiries all their plottings and contrivings all their labour and pains are chiefly after them neglecting those Magnalia Aeternitatis those great things of Eternity Why do not men love those things more why do not men desire them more why do not men labour and take pains for them more The very reason is because they see them no clearer If men saw them clearer they would love them more If men saw them clearer they would desire them more If men saw them clearer they would labour for them more When Jacob had seen Rachel's beauty he loved her loving of her he desired to have her to be his Wife desiring her he laboured twice seven years to obtain her And though Lovers hours are full of Eternity yet his love towards her and his desire of her did facilitate his labour and made the time seem short But now Temporal things being near at hand and more clearly seen men who are devoid of Grace have their eyes dazled and their hearts bewitched therewith for the World is a bewitching thing and as one says the World at last day shall be burnt for a Witch Herewith the dâ—vâ—l who is daily trading with men for the Souls be witcheth millions The World is the greatest price that the Dâ—vâ—l hath to give for a Soul What else doth the Dâ—vâ—l use when he would be dealing with Christ As that which was the most forcible temptation he could use he offers him all the Kingdoms of the World and the glory of them he had been tampering with Christ before but
seeing the King â—t an ordinary time and seeing him when he is in his â—obes with his Crown upon his head and his Scepter in his hand and set upon his Throne with all his Nobles about him in all his glory God doth manifest himself now unto his People but this is not all he intends they shall see of him he will manifest himself unto them in â—eaven in his Glory What a most ravishing sight will it be there to see the Lord Jesus Christ wearing the Roâ—e of our humane nature in the presence of his Father arrayed as was said of Mordecat â—sther 8. 15. v. in Royal apparâ—â— and with a great Crown of Gold upon his head to see the noble Army of Martyrs to see those millions of blessed Saints that have lived upon the Earth cloâ—hed in white and following the Lamb whither soever he goes to see the Angels those Morning Stars and to hear those Heavenly Choristers Eternally singing Jehovah's praise And lâ—stly to see what ever of Eternal good things we have mentioned before The best sight we have here of these things is but cloudy and obscure for we see but through a glass darkly whilst our Souls are hid in the dark Lanthorns of our bodies Here we see only some broken beams of Heavens glory but some few glimpses thereof as they are scattered up and down in the Scriptures so much as sets the Soul a longing rather then gives any true satisfaction When we come to possess them then we shall see more thâ—n the Scriptures do mention more then our hearts can conceive I may take up part of that extasie Saint Paul breaks out into 1. Cor. 2. 9. v. Eye hath not seen what God hath prepared for them that love him The eye hath seen many admirable things in nature it hath seen Mountains of Chrystal and Rocks of Diamonds it hath seen Mines of Gold and Coasts of Pearl Spicy Islands so Travellers tell us and Geographers write of the eye hath seen the Pyramids of Egypt the Temple of Diana Mauseolus Tomb which by Geographers are made the wonders of the World but what is all this and more then this to what the eyes of Saints in Heaven shall see Then iâ— shall be said to every glorified one Vide quod credâ—disti apprehende quod sperasti â—ruere quod amaâ—ti Beâ—old now and see clearly what formerly thou believeâ—st faintly Crede quod non vides videbis qâ—â—â— non credis Because that they have not seen and yet believe they shall then see more then now they do believe and have their eyes fixed upon them to Eternity These beautiful and beatifical objects they shall see and still desire to see and though they shall be satisfied in seeing of them yet they shall not be satiated with the sight of them To have but one glimpse of them though it were presently gone it were verily a great happiness beyond all that the World affords but they shall never lose the sight of them they shall have it to all Eternity their eyes shall be Eternally open to see them And without doubt the getting of a sight of these things whilst here will quicken the hearts of the Children of men to labour and take pains for them But what an eye must that be that can see at such a distance as Heaven is some compute that betwixt us only and the Starry Firmament there is no less then seventy four millions seven hundred three thousand one hundred and eighty miles and if the Empereal Heaven as many say be two or three Orbs above â—he Starry Firmament how many more miles is it â—hen beyond And the further distant any thing is from us the less clear sight can be had thereof but at such a distance no Corporeal eye can behold any object whatsoever yet may they be seen by the eye of Faith Faith is a sure Prospective-glass by help whereof the Soul may see things though afar off Did you never observe an eye using a Prospective-glass for the discovering and approximating of some remote and yet desirable Object Such a Glass the Soul hath of Faith it can discover and approximate things that are most remote remote I say and that either in respect of time or in respect of place I shall give an instance or two to clear this And first in respect of time It is said of Abraham by Christ himself who directs his speech to the Jews who were often calling Abraham Father Your Father Abraham rejoyced to see my day and he saw it and was glad John 8. 56. v. It will not be amiss for the understanding of this place to enquire what day this was that the Patriarch Abraham so much rejoyced to see 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Exultavit ut laetitiam gestivit The word signifieth He did leap or skip for joy 't is such a joy as is expressed by some bodily gesture Abraham it seems could not contain his affection could not keep it in but out it must And why He rejoyced that he might see surely it was something worth the seeing that he who was now well nigh an hundred years old should as if he had been grown young again fall to leaping for joy stayed discreet and grave Persons will never be so exceedingly moved but upon some very great occasion And such was â—â—at here in the Text it was to see Christ's day But Christ hath many dayes Christ hath more dayes then one Luk. 17. 22 v. And he said unto the Disciples The dayes will come when ye shall desire to see one of the dayes of the Son of man and ye shall not see it It is true as God he was before all dayes before all time having neither beginning of dayes nor end of life as is said of Melchisedeck Heb. 7. 3. v. Before the day was I am he But as man he hath many dayes The Lords day is his day Rev. 1. 10. v. I was in the Spirit on the Lords day As man he is called Lord of the Sabbath day Math. 12. 8. v. For the Son of man is Lord even of the Sabbath day So the day of Judgment is called the day of Jesus Christ Philip. 1. 6. v. Being confident of this very thing that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. And at 10. v. That ye may approve things that are excellent that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ So Philip. 2. 16. v. Holding forth the word of life that I may rejoyce in the day of Christ The time of Christ's preaching here on Earth is called Christ's day and thus understand that Luke 17. 22. v. before mentioned where Christ tells them they should desire to see one of the dayes of the Son of man that is After Christ was departed out of the world they should desire his bodily presence here with them again to comfort them So also the day of Christ's birth may and is