When we so esteem it and look upon it with such a regard as it is presented to us in the glass of Gods Word immediately we shall feel our hearts begin to draw towards it This is the first business of a devout Christian who would love the appearing of his Saviour to perswade his heart to have a respect to it far above all other things That blessed day all pious hearts who have any hope of his favour should think of and look for as the brightest that ever shone The Coronation of a King the Triumph of a Conquerour the publick applause in the Olympick Games the most famous Showes that have ever been or can be made are all they must remember but as so many little Puppet-plays in comparison with that grand spectacle When all the world shall be in a gaze when Angels as well as men shall wonder and admire when the Sun shall blush to see it self out-shone and overcome in brightness when the hosts of blessed Spirits shall be the only Stars and our great Lord the only Sun that appears in the firmament when the righteous themselves shall shine in the same splendor by the reflection of his rayes upon them Thus we must discourse with our selves continually if we would be sensible of our happiness as St. Chrysostome * Tom. V. Orat. 1. in Pentecost p. 608. advises those who would understand their high birth and nobility We must look unto Heaven to the very Throne the Royal Throne for there sits says He the first-Fruit of mankind Who will come again will certainly come again leading all his Hosts along with Him the Legions of Angels the several Squadrons of Arch-Angels the Societies of the Martyrs the Quires of the Righteous the Tribes of the Prophets and Apostles and in the midst of these immaterial Camps the King Himself will appear 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in a certain unutterable and inexpressible glory O Dark House or cave of Earth will every one who believes this heartily be apt to say How willingly would I leave thee if I might be transported to meet our blessed Lord thus royally incamped in the air O poor world How come I so far to value thee as to suffer thee to captivate this heart How glad should I rather be to see thee no more if I might but behold him whom my soul loveth appear Nay it ought not to grieve me to see this earth and all things in it in a flame if that coelestial glory would but show it self There is nothing here so dear which I should not chuse to part withal most chearfully for the sake of so great a Blessedness Come my Friends and my Relations the dearest goods in this world let us set our hearts on this and desire to meet together with our Lord. Let our hearts be united in this love as much as they are in all things else There is nothing we enjoy of such esteem but we ought to be content to see it vanish and disappear before that illustrious sight Happy will that time be which shall eclipse all that beauty which now presents it self unto us with so much address Blessed will be the day that shall put out the luster of the whole world which now so strangely dazzles our eyes A great deal better will that moment be which shall dissolve if God think good all our stately Palaces than that which reared them and built them up Away away you trifling Vanities Why do you thus bewitch our eyes and inchant our ears and draw aside our thoughts with your flattering inticements Trouble us no more you false or unsatisfying glories But leave our minds free to think of that great and solemn day when you must all be benighted not by the want but by an excess of light and brightness Awake awake and open thine eyes upon us O thou sweet morning of our happiness Arise shine forth O thou Sun of Righteousness and make us blessed with a sight of thy glory Nay it would content us more than if we had all the world if we might but see the clouds break if we could but behold the shadows of the night beginning to haste away if thou Lord wouldst but dissipate these dark vapours that now incompass us and cause the light of Divine Faith as the day-star to shine continually in our hearts II. But hitherto we have only laid the foundation of Love Which supposes moreover that we have some sympathy as I may call it with that which we apprehend to be so Good for us and that we take our selves to be very much concerned in it For there are some things that are excellent in themselves to which notwithstanding we find little or no inclination because they are not sutable to our dispositions necessities and desires The greatest Perfections and merits oftimes meet with more Admirers than they do Vassals and we see those every day who bow other hearts to their service but find us inflexible to their attractions As we have not an appetite to all sorts of meats even those which we judge to be wholesome and good so we have not an inclination to all persons and things even those which we hold to be well deserving We praise many things which we do not love We allow divers objects our approbation which we cannot much affect And that which in reason we needs must commend yet doth not always command our hearts and draw them to its embraces The Loadstone as is commonly observed which draws Iron to it finds Lead and Copper to have no perception of its touches and that face as I said before which bewitches some eyes leaves others insensible of its beauty The Love then which we contract with any Good arises from the convenience that is between us and it We perceive an agreeableness in it either to our needs or to our nature and thence affection springs The likeness and resemblance that there is between two beings is not the only cause of their readiness to embrace each the other but the correspondence also and proportion which the one bears to the others necessities is a sufficient ground of it A man that languishes under a dangerous sickness may conceive a great affection for an incomparable and very compassionate Physician though there be no similitude between them because he apprehends that sufficiency in him which is able to supply the great defects and wants that are at present in himself But when these two correspondence and similitude which several have such power over the affections shall both meet together in one thing so that what we want is that to which by nature we incline it cannot fail to produce a love exceeding all other in intire union ardency and perpetuity For how can we refuse to yield to that Good or what would we have more than that which our hearts feel at once to bear a great resemblance to them and to answer all or most of their needs a Good which is what we are
live in these remote places and ages of the world and have heard indeed with the hearing of the ear of Christ Jesus our Dearest Saviour and of his incomparable love and of the honour he hath done us and still intends to do us But have not yet been so happy as to have our eyes intertained much less satisfied with the blissful sight of him as theirs were who lived near him and conversed with him at his first appearing If we had any hope therefore of his appearing again though in less splendor than I have told you we could not but look up unto Heaven where he lives with earnest expectations and say When will he come when will he come and manifest himself visibly unto us Because as yet we know nothing of him but by the report of those who had the honour to be EYE-WITNESSES OF HIS MAJESTY We have been told by them that they saw this amiable and gracious person and clearly discerned that he was God manifested in the flesh They have assured us that he was born of a spotless Virgin that his name was Jesus that he was acknowledged the Son of God by voices from Heaven and by the descent of the Holy-Ghost in a visible manner upon his head and yet that he was contented to become poor and mean that he might inrich us to suffer his hands and his feet and his heart to be pierced that he might heal our wounds yea we have heard that he descended into the lowermost parts of the Earth for our Salvation and that he rose from the dead again after three dayes and that he ascended up on high and now sits at the right hand of the Father and will come again to judge the world and to take up his faithful Servants unto himself And most comfortable news all this is which hath arrived at our ears and we must needs with all thankfulness dutifully acknowledge that we are marvellously beholden to the Almighty Goodness which hath taken such care to perswade and fully assure us of its truth But still every pious heart that sincerely and ardently loves Him is apt to say When will he come again that then we may see as now we believe the certain truth of all this which we have heard of him with our ears When shall we be satisfied by such evidence as the Apostles and other of his Attendants had who beheld his person and saw his glory as the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth May not we also hope to be as they were eye-witnesses of his Majesty O when will his holy Angels descend unto us and say as they did to them Come and see that he is risen When shall we hear a voice from Heaven saying come up hither and behold my beloved Son in whom I am ever well pleased When will the trump of the Archangel sound and proclaim in all our ears that he is Judge of quick and dead O how many days must we stay and wait before we rise again to ascend up to him where he is How long will it be before we leave this earth to behold him exalted at the right hand of the Majesty on high O most gracious Saviour who hast done such great things for us Come and let us see that thou art alive and still lovest us Come and put us out of all doubt that thou livest for evermore Let us behold those bright those loving eyes which wept so oft and with so much kindness over us Let us see that sweet and now most glorious face which sweat as it had been drops of blood for our sake Stretch forth those hands that were wounded in our service O stretch them out to lay hold on us and lift us up to the vision of thee Do not long defer before thou lettest us enjoy what we now believe Make no long tarrying O blessed Lord but turn the faith of thy servants into sight And by thy second appearing be pleased to make us as sure as thou didst those who then lived by thy first We are perswaded that the fame of those things which we wait for is nothing comparable to the sight of them We cannot but think that all present reports fall far short infinitely short of future enjoyment Thy type the great Solomon O Lord puts us in mind of thee and makes us more desirous to see thee We would fain go like the Queen of Sheba from these furthermost parts of the earth that we may stand before thee in thy heavenly Jerusalem Not the half we believe of thy Magnificence hath been related to us No not the shadow of thy glory and Majesty hath been brought to these far distant climates where we hear little or nothing of thee Nay we believe we cannot now understand thy greatness if it should be all related to us If we should see thee as thou art in thy royal apparel on the Throne of thy Glory with all thy Heavenly Attendants and noble Ministers round about thee there would be no more spirit left within us We should faint away under the weight of that sight unless thou O Lord wouldst disburden us of this flesh and make us become all Spirit And that 's the happiness indeed which we desire and groan in Spirit till we injoy There is no greater good we can wish than to be caught up from this earth and have eyes bestowed upon us bright and strong enough to behold thy Majesty We cannot but long for this that we may stand in thy presence and be satisfied with thee that we may see thee who hast loved us and given thy self for us thee whose love hath won our hearts and conducted us thus far in our way towards thee thee who art our hope and with whom our life is hid That we may see thee O Lord in the height of thy glory and thy face may shine upon us and our eyes sparkle for joy with the light of thy Countenance Of which we are the more desirous because we never yet had the favour to see thee who art so dear unto us O favour us therefore so much most gracious Lord as to come and gratifie our desires with that unknown that long lookt for sight of thee III. And there is still a greater reason to desire it and to be in love with his appearing because then we hope to be perfected and consummated in Love This is an affection you have heard so pleasurable that we are inticed thereby or rather sweetly forced to strain our souls to the utmost expression of it When we have found an object worthy of this passion the delight it gives us invites nay compels our hearts to the most abundant effusion of it that so we may not want the highest degree of delight and joy But alas Love in this world though exceeding sweet is not as we usually speak all Hony but there is some bitterness mingled together with it The heart that is struck with it receives a wound which
a great while for certain reasons which he best knows before he come as he stayed two days after he heard of Lazarus his sickness notwithstanding the love he had for him and his intentions to rescue him from death yet we ought not to be discouraged if we be sure he loves us but believe that he will appear at last and that he will raise us up though we lye dead in our graves and have lain so perhaps many years and that he will bid us come forth and go along with him whither his endless love will lead us CHAP. XVIII A continuation of the former Argument concerning the mighty power of the Divine Love and the Benefit we have by loving our Lords Appearing HAve we not great reason then to love him and to love his appearing since that will be the best argument of his love to us and his love you see will prove such an assurance of all his blessings What will move us if this cannot do it Need there any thing more be said to draw our affections towards him If there do then let me assure you that love will even transform us into him There is nothing more discernible in this passion than that it assimilates us unto the Thing or Person which we love Which should teach us indeed to have a great care what and whom we love but should excite us to love him our Dearest Lord without any measure Because nothing is so desireable as to be like to him and nothing can prepare us so surely for his glorious appearing In that which every man loves in that he lives saith St. Austin upon those words of the great Apostle St. Paul not I live but Christ liveth in me So great so mighty a thing is true love that it carries the heart from the place where it is and translates it thither where it loves If thou lovest thy self merely then thou livest altogether in thy self But if thy heart be set on any other person or thing then thou livest in that which hath ingaged thy affection And if it be Jesus whom thou lovest in sincerity it is certain that in him also thou livest Of so great importance it is that we love aright For he that loves ill lives ill and he that loves well cannot but live well too But there is no danger at all in loving our Lord and his appearing and therefore we need not stand to ask our selves whether we should love him or no or how much we shall love him or with what passion and concernment we should set our hearts upon his coming again to take us into his glory There is nothing to hinder us from loving here as much as ever we are able no fear our affections should be too far ingaged as they may be in other cases all that caution is useless here which when we are in pursuit of lesser injoyments is but necessary to put a check upon our hearts and cool a little our love towards them The more we love him the more we shall be like him the more we love him the more we shall live in him This love makes us divine and heavenly it purifies us and makes us fit to live with him I must add also that according to this rule by loving his appearing we shall be formed to some likeness of it as much as we are capable here to be wrought and fashioned to an imitation of a thing so bright and full of glory It will raise our minds that is to a noble pitch and highly improve our degenerate nature It will invite him to manifest himself to us and graciously to shine upon us It will possess us with a lively sense of him and of the glory wherein he lives The light of his countenance will be lifted up on our souls and he will fill us with a stronger sense of life and immortality It will chase away the base fear of death and kill all vitious affections in us We shall be purified and refined from all our dross by these holy fires There is no sin will be able to live in the same place with this heavenly love but will continually languish and decay as this increases and grows stronger in our souls Our spirits thereby will become more cheerful light and aerial They will ascend more easily towards those celestial places and be less inclined though they feel its attractions toward this lower world O what a Coronet of Glory will this love place before-hand on our head It is it self a royal ornament and a diadem of glory It 's a participation of a Divine Nature an entrance upon the life of God an Heaven upon earth a pleasure whereby we anticipate the joys of the other world for if all love have a sweetness in it this Divine love sure cannot but entertain us with a transcendent satisfaction By this we have our conversation in Heaven and it is there only to be ever with the Lord as much as our condition here will give us leave for nothing but love will make him familiar to our thoughts and present him frequently to the eye of our minds Yea this is the best glass we have while we are here below wherein to see God If there be any way to know the meaning of those words we must learn it of this Teacher which alone can discover to us so great a mysterie Nothing else can lead us into that secrecy and reveal to us what lies hid in that retirement the Vision of God Never hope for any key to open a door into the Holy of Holies unless it be this of heavenly love If it be possible to peep a little behind the veil it is love only that enjoys so singular a priviledge For God you see is love and the Apostle tells us that when Faith and Hope shall be done away it is charity alone that still remains as a thing of longer duration than this world and whose proper place is Heaven This is one of the Cherubims of Glory that inhabits the most holy place and attends upon the Majesty on high This is of an Angelical Nature and is always there where God is It waits upon him it ministers to him it knows his mind it is privy to his thoughts and designs and makes us understand more of him than all the wit in the world can do beside There is nothing can lend wings to the soul but only love which raises us above this world and sets us in the presence of him that made it And what a sight doth it give us there of his boundless bottomless Goodness If it can show us nothing else it will not fail to let us see how gracious how wonderfully gracious the Lord is With what kindness doth love behold almighty Providence spreading it self in tender mercy over all its works It is this alone can make us feel how inclinable the Divine Nature is to pour out its Benefits Nothing but love can make us know what an everlasting spring
ever beheld thy face that was not impatient to be conformed to thee None have tasted thy sweetness who could be satisfied till they came to the fountain of it Therefore suffer us Good Lord to beg some more of thee since thou hast given us so much Yea suffer us to ask when thou wilt come and give us all that so we may ask no more of thee O how joyful will that time be which shall make us so complete that all our business will be to praise and thank thee How comfortable will thy appearing be which shall make us appear with thee O come Dear Saviour that we may come to thee Come that we may so come to thee as to be for ever with thee CHAP. VII Two further steps in this Love of Christs appearing III. NOW when we feel our souls thus touched with any thing that seems very good and convenient for us the first approaches of it beget a complacence in the heart and give it a sense of no small joy and pleasure For when the Image you may observe of any good that imprinted it self is on the mind or imagination it instantly endeavours to proceed further and creeps into the heart the will and affections which cannot but turn themselves towards it to feel what this is which shows so fairly and comes so kindly to salute them Now when the heart thus looks about to see what it is that courts it you shall find if you mark it that at the very first greeting it is entertained with a certain delight and pleasure which this new-come guest brings along with it to invite us to it For if you examine things strictly and with such a curious eye as some have done you will perceive that this Image which imprints it self upon us is of the same nature with light or any shining body It casts as I may say its bright rays round about the soul it disperses it self by a kind of illumination into the will and affections that they may be sensible how amiable it is Which when they are the Light is not more pleasant to the eyes than this is to the heart It rejoyces in this good which presents it self to its enjoyment as a man doth in the welcome approach of an ancient Friend whom he is glad to see but much more glad to feel in his arms And such is the contentment that the belief of Christs appearing gives to all those who fix their thoughts upon it It chears and refreshes their spirits It smooths their minds and makes them so calm and still that the Halcyon days are but fabulous shadows of that rest and peace which then they feel in themselves Their heart is intirely delighted and satisfied with this belief It is so transported beyond it self with this comfortable perswasion that it can easily overlook all other joys when it lifts up it self in the contemplation of this incomparable blessedness No musick can then be so sweet to the ear as the sound of the trump of God No beauty so fair to the eye as that glory which shall be reveal'd No company so inviting and welcome to the heart as that great Assembly of Christ with all his holy Angels And heark O my soul do they not call upon thee to cast a look that way that thou may'st behold them in their surpassing glory Listen a while and hear if they do not say We are preparing our selves and making ready to come for thee and for all those that love His appearing O hearken again my soul what is it they say to thee Turn thy self about and lift up thine eyes towards Heaven that thou may'st know what it is that 's promised to thee Will thy Lord indeed come again in power and great glory Will He once more leave his heavenly place and descend to call us up to himself Shall we see Him who loves us so much and be transformed at the sight of Him O welcome news When didst thou meet with any tidings like to this which sheds such a sudden and transcendent joy and gladness abroad in thy heart and prevents my forward thoughts which were going to exhort thee to rejoyce What hadst thou lost if thou hadst turned away thine eyes from this blissful sight How great an happiness hadst thou been deprived of if thine heart had not opened when the report of His coming knockt at its door But O my soul how sweet then will this appearing it self be the hope of which is so delicious How will that sight intrance us the news of which at this distance is so comfortable to us Into what raptures will it cast us which now inspires such joy into our hearts What a bright day will that be which through all the clouds wherein we are wrapt spreads round about us such a cheerful light If the representation of our Lord in the holy Sacrament of His body and blood and that but in His sufferings and low estate give such satisfaction to the heart What will the sight of Himself do to us and that when he appears in his glorious Majesty as the Lord of Heaven and Earth O sweet Jesus come and let us see what that Majesty and Glory is come and draw aside the veil do away the shadows and present thy self as the King of Glory before our eyes They have long looked for thee They would gladly know what it is to behold thee in thy glory O how gladly would they understand what the meaning is of thy coming in the Clouds of Heaven The brightness of them we believe is infinitely beyond all that eye ever saw The thoughts of it revive our hearts and make our faces shine Our souls are drawn out and run to meet thee by the joy we have conceived at the promise of thy coming Though we have not seen thee yet we love thee and though we now see thee not 1 Pet. i. 8. yet believing we rejoyce O that we could say with joy unspeakable and full of glory O blessed Lord do not deny to compleat our joys by hastning thy coming to let us see thee Come and fill our eyes which cannot here be satisfied with seeing Come and shew us thy glory that we may say it sufficeth And let our hearts in the mean time rejoyce in nothing so much as in the hope of thy glory Let them always prefer this above their chiefest joy and never wish for any thing with so much fervour as for thy coming IV. Now from this pleasant sense which is excited in us by the appearance of any Good to us there naturally follows not only a desire but a vehement motion and as it were an effusion of the heart towards that which is so agreeable and promises it so much satisfaction Complacence you must know is but the beginning of love For by that delicious pleasure which the heart feels when any good approaches it is invited further and even forced to pour forth it self upon that fair thing which presents it self
thee Let the time come that there shall be no more night but a perpetual day with me O hasten the time when I my self shall shine like the Sun in thy Celestial glory VII Now in the mean time till love come to a perfect union as it is incessant in its motion so it grows more vehement in its desires and endeavours For as frequent agitations make the fire burn more fiercely so doth the stirring of this passion make it break out with a brighter flame The desire of union increases the swiftness of its motion and the more speed it makes the nearer it is like to come to its desired union And which is very considerable the more earnest and assiduous our motion is towards any Good the greater hopes we have that we shall enjoy it and the greater our hopes are the more are we still pricked on and spurred forward in the pursuit of that which we would fain enjoy A thing which is of exceeding great moment in this pious and devout love of Christian people For without a GOOD HOPE which St. Paul saith our Lord who is our Hope hath given us 2 Thess ii 16. 1 Tim. i. 1. our motion would slacken if not be extinguished We should have no heart to prosecute our design but let it fall immediately if it were not in hope of eternal life which God that cannot lye hath promised i. Tit. 2. As on the contrary by the help of this sure and certain Hope our diligence is doubled and such oyl poured on our wheels as makes them move not only more easily but with greater speed and quickness also All the lovers therefore of Christs Appearing are said to wait for it to expect it and to look for the coming of that blessed Hope as you shall see in the conclusion of this Argument from those well known places iij. Phil. 20. ij Tit. 13. and many other And if you examine the holy Scriptures carefully you shall find that this is comprehended in the love we ought to have for his Appearing being such a natural effect of love that they are put indifferently the one for the other As may be seen by comparing these two places together 1 Cor. ij 9. with lxiv. Isa 4. in the former of which the Apostle says the things which surpass our conception are prepared by God for them that love him and in the other the Prophet saith He hath prepared them for him that waiteth for Him Just as the people of Israel praying without the Sanctuary in the Court to which they were confined waited for the Priest when he should come from the Altar of Incense or rather for the High-Priest on the day of Atonement to return from the most holy place and the Ark of the Covenant to bestow the blessing on them So do all good Souls who are devoted sincerely to the service of Christ while they remain in this outward Court the Earth wherein we dwell which is at a great distance from the Heavens look up to the holy place where Jesus the great High-Priest of our profession is iij. Heb. 1. iv 15. and wait for the time when He will come forth to bless them saying Come ye blessed of my Father xxv Mat. 34. inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world They cannot but frequently cast their eyes and turn their hearts that way as the place of their Rest which He is gone before to prepare for them They are ever calling upon their Souls to follow hard after their dear Saviour as David says lxiij Psal 8. his heart did after the enjoyment of God in his Sanctuary For this they seek as he there speaks with thirsty desires to see his power and his glory so as they have never yet seen him nor can see him no not in their nearest approaches to him while they live in these earthly tabernacles They wish therefore He would come and bless them with a clear and full sight of Him After this their desires grow daily more ardent and they endeavour to stir up stronger and more affectionate motions towards so great an happiness They are apt to cry out saying Draw us and we will run after thee yea we will fly we will take the wings of an Eagle in our passionate desires that we may mount up aloft and get more and more above this world to be with thee And this gives them good Hopes likewise that they shall be with Him insomuch that they cannnot but say O blessed Jesus thou hast set our Souls into a longing for thee and now they cannot cease to desire to come to thee Thou hast made us believe the most excellent surpassing glory wherein thou shinest and ever since we cannot chuse but look towards it and wish to behold thee in that glory If we be very earnest for this sight if our Souls sigh and say xlij Psal 2. O when shall we come and appear before thee we do but return thine own breath who hast inspired us with these desires after thee And may we not hope to come thither where thou art when thou thy self attractest our souls to thee Wilt thou not satisfie those longings which not we but thou hast raised in our hearts Give us leave to remember thee of what thou thy self hast said who didst pronounce those BLESSED WHO HAVE NOT SEEN xx Joh. 29. AND YET HAVE BELIEVED O let it be unto thy servants according to thy word For we are such believers as thou hast blessed We never saw thee and yet believe thou camest forth from God xiij Joh. 3. and art gone to God and art most high in the glory of the Father ix Rom. 5. God blessed for evermore Do not our hearts cleave unto thee though they have only heard of thee Are not our eyes continually towards thee though they have never yet beheld thee Thou wilt not always sure absent thy self but turn our faith at last into a sight of thee For what is the BLESSEDNESS of which thou spakest and hast faithfully promised to such believers Is it not that they shall one day behold thy glorious face and reign with thee in thy glory Is it not that thou wilt manifest thy self unto them here and at last appear again to take them to thy self that they may live where thou art O dear Saviour as thou hast made us to BELIEVE in this manner so make us likewise thus BLESSED As we have received thee though we have not seen thee so let this be the reward of our receiving thee that we may see thee We will hope thou wilt make us thus happy as thou hast made us thus faithful We will expect till thou makest us see what thou hast promised as thou hast made us do what thou hast commanded We will rejoyce in hope of thy glory and do thou make our joy to be full yea bring us unto thee and bid us enter into the joy of thee our Lord. CHAP.
shall be an honour to him to have such subjects who by his Almighty Power are so nobly preferred The magnificence and greatness of his Kingdom will appear in the greatness and splendor of all his Friends and followers It shall be seen in them what he is and how highly God the Father hath exalted him whom he gave him to be the head over all things to the Church which is his body i. Ephes 22 23. the fulness of him that filleth all in all Certain it is he cannot be perfect as he is the Head of the Church without all his members In which regard several both of the Greek and Latine Fathers * V.S. Chrys Oecumenium S. Hieron think that his Body the Church is called his FULNESS because he will not be absolutely compleated and consummated till all his members be knit together in one body and joyned to him in such a glory as is befitting those that are so nearly related to him who is able to communicate to them out of his fulness what excellencies he pleases This says St. Chrysostom is the hope of our calling which the Apostle speaks of before the riches of the glory of the inheritance the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe For whom he hath such an affection and loves us with so great tenderness that he doth not think himself intirely happy unless we be promoted to be with him where he is and to reign with him for ever So much is his heart set upon our advancement that he accounts himself to be but in part glorious till we be numbred among his Saints in glory everlasting Then will he shine in greater splendor and majesty than ever according to those words of St. Paul in another place 2 Thess i. 10. where he saith He shall come to be GLORIFIED in his Saints and to be ADMIRED in all them that believe For first of all as Oecumenius hath collected the sense of the ancient Fathers about this business it will be a glory to him that he hath so many Saints to whom he will distribute his goods and make illustrious with him For as his riches saith he is our salvation so it will be a glory to him And secondly He will be glorified also by his Saints when they shall behold him sitting 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. in his Fathers Glory the God and the Judge of all And thirdly We may add that the Saints will procure him glory from the spiritual powers when they shall see what a recompense of reward he hath vouchsafed to his servants Who as they shall give occasion to his being glorified so to his being admired also because it will be a most wonderful and amazing sight to see those who were thought so vile and abject in this present life that they were persecuted and murdered accounted worthy then of such and so great good things as he will bestow upon them And truly as our Lord will be thus magnified and admired at that day so this ought now to be very wonderful in our eyes Who have little consideration if we be not exceedingly in love with his appearing when self-love so strongly inclines and prompts our affection to it Can we find in our hearts to turn away our eyes from that or cease to long for it with ardent desire which Nature it self calls for as the greatest Good Here our own interest combines with his to make us wish for that blessed day which shall make him more illustrious by the brightness of our glory Here two great Seas meet and run into one to make our souls swell and rise up in bigger expectations of his happiness Come should your heart and mine say come O blessed Jesus and at once make us and thy self intirely glorious Arise O thou Sun of Righteousness and shed thy beams so plentifully upon us that we may shine with thee as the Sun in the Kingdom of the Father Great are the things which are spoken of thy coming when the exceeding greatness of thy power shall appear to us-ward who believe O come and compleat thine own fulness by filling us out of thine exuberant Goodness with all the blessings of thine heavenly Inheritance Do not want that happiness any longer which will make us happy too together with thee Delay not to put on those Kingly Robes wherein when thou appearest we shall be promoted to reign as Kings with thee for ever How will our ravisht spirits then rejoyce in that great salvation How will they triumph to see every knee bow to thine exalted Name Nay to see thee admired in us cxlviij Psal 14. when thou shall exalt the honour of thy people the praise of all thy Saints O come that the greatness of thy Glory and Majesty may appear in thy Saints and thy wonderful power and love in all those that believe And till thou comest lot all thy Saints be joyful in glory cxlix 4 5. Let them sing aloud in perfect quiet and repose Yea let the high praises of our God be in their mouth who hath given us hope of victory over all our enemies Let them never cease to praise him who takes pleasure in his people and will beautifie them with his Salvation Praise him who hath promised to come and visit us in greater love than ever praise him who is the head over all things to the Church and will prefent it to himself a glorious Church v. Eph. 27. not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing Let his name be alway engraven upon our hearts who hath comforted us with the blessed hope of seeing him in all his glory Let the memory of his transcendent love be ever most dear unto us who intends to lift us up to sit with him in Heavenly places Let us never forget to rejoyce in his holy Name with whom we expect to rejoyce in the highest happiness of endless Life And O blessed Jesus that we may be so happy now as to long for that day on thy account as well as our own May it delight us to think how thou wilt be admired and highly praised in our exaltation Make us so much in love with thee as to desire to see our selves raised unto honour because it will make thee also appear in greater glory CHAP. XII Other Reasons why we should love his appearing drawn from the love we have to our selves THus I have made a fair way to introduce the second thing which I propounded for the compleating of this Discourse Wherein I am to show how the natural Affection we all bear to our selves should powerfully dispose us to love the Appearing of our Lord Jesus And this will admit of no less than these TEN Considerations which will instantly at the very first hearing win our assent to the truth of them For I. First We cannot but passionately desire if we have any belief of this Appearing to see so great an honour as will then be done to our Nature So
for the suffering of death CROWNED with glory and honour So St. John saw him in a vision as he tells us xiv Rev. 14. sitting upon a white i. e. a bright and shining cloud having on his head A GOLDEN CROWN And thus our Lord hath caused it to be proclaimed in the Gospel of his Grace it shall be done to all those whom God delights to honour He hath shown in our blessed Saviour what he will bestow upon his constant followers And in what he hath done for him he hath shown also that he is upright and that there is no unrighteousness in him They may depend upon his word and be confident he will not fail their expectation but crown their faith and patience with immortal glory I say their patience because he will have them wait long and stay a great while before they receive this Crown which cannot be set upon their heads till the day of his Appearing He will take up all pious Souls indeed into a state of joy and bliss surpassing all that we can now conceive as soon as they depart this life but the perfection of it they must wait for till he have gathered the whole body of the faithful to him that he may crown them all together So the Ancients understand that place xi Heb. 39 40. as may be seen in Theodoret Oecumenius Theophylact and others And so the last named Writer discourses at large upon the xxiij Luke 43. according to the doctrine of St. Chrysostom whom he constantly follows Who pronounces that the soul lies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * In 1 Cor. xv 19. uncrowned till the resurrection of the dead which is the time when we shall all receive according to what we have done in the body whether it be good or whether it be evil Which was not his opinion alone or the sense of some few others but the current doctrine of the ancient Fathers Who look upon that invisible place and state wherein the souls of good men are before the Resurrection as so much inferiour to that wherein they shall be afterward that they have bestowed very different names upon them expressing the imperfect though very happy condition in which we must remain till our Lord will be pleased to appear for our consummation It will not be amiss to mention the descriptions they give of both The place and state before the Resurrection they call Paradise the Bosom of Abraham the feast of the Patriarchs the outward Altar below the Altar the Porch of the Sanctuary the Courts of the Lord the Custody and the storehouse of Souls secret receptacles the hidden seats or Tabernacles of the godly convenient or due places places meet for them or worthy of them the place of refreshment of Light of Peace a portion of the spiritual Rest the rest of security a certain retiring place of everlasting Rest the port of eternal security the bright the fragrant the royal Tabernacles the earnest or pledge of the Kingdom the White rayment a Chamber in the Palace Royal an Habitation with God the Asylum or place of refuge with other such like names which are so obvious that none can fail to be acquainted with them who read the ancient Doctors of our Religion Among whom St. Ambrose hath adventured to give us a very particular account of this state which I shall set down because it will be very pleasing to those who are desirous of some distinct conception of the happiness we hope for before the Resurrection in the celestial Tabernacles Where the joy of just souls L. de Bone Mortis c. xj saith he will be disposed per Ordines quosdam by certain orders ranks or degrees First there is the joy that they have overcome the flesh and were not crooked by its inticements Secondly that at the rate of their industry and innocence they enjoy security and are not intangled like the souls of the wicked in errors and perturbations and are neither tortured with the memory of their vices nor vexed with the rage of solicitude and cares Thirdly that they are supported with the Divine Testimony of their having observed the Law so that they are not in fear of the uncertain event of their deeds in the last judgement Fourthly because they begin to understand their Rest and Ease and to foresee their future glory and pleasing themselves with that consolation in their dwelling places they live at ease with great tranquillity invironed with the guards of Angels And the Fifth Order or Rank hath the sweetness of a most plentiful exultation or triumph that they are escaped out of the prison of this corruptible body into light and liberty and possess the promised inheritance For there is an order of the rest as there is of the resurrection We shall all rise but every one in his order Christ the first-fruits then they that are Christs who believe his coming and then is the end There shall be therefore a different order of dignity and glory as there will be an order of deserts So that in the sixth Order their Countenance will begin to shine as the Sun and to be compared to the lights of the stars but is such a brightness as cannot decay And the seventh Order will be that they may exult with confidence and full assurance and confide without any doubting and rejoyce without trembling making haste to see his Countenance to whom they have devoted the Obedience of a most diligent service From whence by the remembrance of an innocent Conscience they may presume a glorious reward of a small labour which they beginning to receive shall know that the sufferings of this present time are unworthy that so great a glory of an eternal recompense should be compared with them This is the Order wherein he places just souls before our Lord come to bring them into his heavenly Kingdom And some body under the name of St. Austin hath more briefly expressed it thus * L. de salutaribus Documentis c. xl Tom. 4. We believe that when our soul is freed from the bonds of the flesh if we have lived well and uprightly before God the Quire of Angels will presently come to meet us and troops of all the Saints will run into our embraces and bring us to supplicate the true Judge Then peace will incompass us and deep security We shall fear no more the fiery darts of the Devil nor any other enemy that desires to cast our souls into danger Not sword not fire not the cruel face of the Tormentor not hunger not thirst nor any sickness The flesh shall no longer be contrary to the spirit nor shall we fear any danger but having cast off the burden of the flesh the holy Spirit to whom we had before given a mansion in our body will give us a mansion in Heaven And so we shall joyfully and gladly expect the day of judgement in which the souls of all men shall receive rewards according to their deeds Now
in our eclipsed nature O when will that sweet breath come that shall make them shine and set them free to fly to their element above When shall those flashes of light which sometime break forth be blown up into a clearer and more constant flame Can one believe and not wish to find himself in the House of God in the midst of the heavenly Ministers surrounded with such glorious sights as eye never saw nor heart can possibly conceive I am not able to refrain from saying O when shall I see my mind incircled in the rays of divine light When shall it beam forth in such heavenly thoughts and make my heart burn and sparkle with such ardors of love that they shall cast a glory round about my head This is the Crown which my soul desires to wear This is the Garland I would win the glorious Diadem wherewith my restless mind would be adorned It is not Silver and Gold Pearls and Pretious-stones or any such like things whose rich names I borrow to express my present thoughts that I wish and desire But the brightness of the knowledge of God to fold it self about my head and that I may sit invironed in a Ring of admiring thoughts of pure undisturbed never ending thoughts of thee and of thy marvellous kindness towards me Which happiness till my mind enjoy the pain that I feel will not cease unless thou Lord wilt be pleased to asswage it by comfortable hopes and joyful expectations of such an eternal weight of glory Even when I have left this world and am come to those light some Tabernacles which thou hast prepared for those that truly love thee I shall long to know more of thee and desire still to be nearer to thee and look to see thee come out of thy Royal Palace to Crown the faith and hope of thine obedient Servants And in the mean time may I be so happy as to be disposed into the Order of those who perpetually talk of thy love and sing thy praises and rejoyce with perfect confidence and full assurance and are ever lifting up their heads to see thee and often saying one to another when will he come when will he appear in the highest and most exalted glory O blessed day I when mixed with the Quire of Saints we shall fly in their company to meet the Spouse and say every one of us I have found him whom my soul loveth I have found him the sight of whom I shall lose no more but indued with the glory of immortality and the splendor of incorruption shall live for ever with the Lord. O happy state of Saints Ex L. de Viro perfecto sub nom S. Hieron Tom. iv when they shall have flesh without earth a body without sense of pain a soul without fear life without death age without time light without night and blessedness without end Christianity will never let us be satiated with these delectable thoughts This is its refreshment this is its delight this is its pleasure and joy in mind and heart to go to the Seat of God and there to take its place and seize on its share in that Seat not by its own presumption but by the promise of God Who hath already exalted our Lord Christ in that blessed place and by our relation to him we challenge a right to be so happy For he is the Head of his body the Church He is the head of all principality and power From whom all the body by joynts and bands ii Col. 19. having nourishment ministred and knit together increaseth with the increase of God CHAP. XV. Three Considerations more to draw our Affections to the Appearing of our Lord. VIII I Have already said so much of the Happiness we expect when our Lord shall come again that here I might put an end to this Discourse if it would not be more profitable distinctly to consider that after we are caught up from this earth to meet the Lord in the air and he hath done us honour in the sight of all the world we shall all as I have already suggested march with him unto Heaven in goodly array and comely order with those Crowns of Glory which he hath given us upon our heads This should mightily move us to love his Appearing that we shall then appear together with him and not abide in the Air though incompassed with so much glory but be carried up with him far higher into the purest sky When our minds are made all Light we shall see a vast way before us and behold the Palace where God himself dwells inviting us unto it Thither our Lord will have us attend upon him and accompany him when he hath finished the judgement of the great day Where the Holy Books inform us we shall be sumptuously treated with no less kindness magnificence and joy than a King we may conceive would entertain his only Son when he brought home his beloved Bride whom he had long ago espoused to himself For whose reception he prepares the most Royal Supper a glorious Marriage-Feast to welcome her unto his house And will not this make every faithful soul who is a holy member of that Body the Church whom our Lord is pleased to own for his Bride still more desirous if not impatient of the coming of the celestial Bridegroom to perfect his love and complete the promises wherein he stands ingaged by the gracious covenant he made with us when he contracted us to himself What is there that we all so much covet as the excess of joy and the highest pitch of pleasure And where are these to be found in so much purity in such fulness and so perpetual as in his most blessed Presence Which should force us to burst out with the greatest earnestness when we think of that Heavenly Feast which he hath prepared for us into such expressions as those of David As the Hart panteth after the water-brooks so panteth my soul after thee O God My soul thirsteth for God even the living God O when shall I come and appear before God I have small satisfaction alas in these dull and short delights which I find on earth What taste is there in this green trash And there is little other fruit that grows in the garden of this world but what is sowre and harsh and sets my teeth on edge It is too far from thy beams to bring forth any thing very sweet Nothing can be ripened at this distance from thee to satisfie a font and yeild it all the contentment it desires Bring me therefore into thy Paradise above O conduct me into thy Eden the Garden of thy delights Lead me to those fruits which are brought to maturity by the constant presence of the Sun of righteousness Let me feast on those pleasures which are all pleasure and enter into the joy which is fulness of joy for evermore And till thou thinkest me meet for such entertainments may it please thy love but
mighty Power was the Author of it There are two places I know alledged by a Great Man which he thinks sound this way 1 Pet. i. 7. and 1 Tim. vj. 14. But it is far more agreeable to the coherence of those places to expound them of the Appearing we still expect Of which we may look upon his coming to destroy his Crucifiers and save his Servants as an Emblem and as a Pledg For it demonstrated both the Power of our Lord Jesus and his Faithfulness to his word assuring us that He will one day crown the patience and constancy of all his Friends with Eternal Life and punish the insolence of his Enemies with everlasting Fire However it is past all doubt that in this place I am treating of the Apostle speaks of the last and greatest appearing of our Saviour to finish the work of our Redemption and bestow the Crown of Righteousness which is laid up in Heaven for all that love him Which part of our Christian Faith I have shewn is to be understood in this manner That our Lord will in person present himself once more to the World and be seen at the last day to be what he is the King of Angels and Men and all Creatures For as at his first coming into the World He appeared in our likeness which the Ancients called his Epiphany a name that still sticks to the last day of the Feast of his Nativity and as He appeared in the same likeness when He rose from the dead and in that form and nature of a man went up into Heaven and still keeps it there as several have seen since his Ascension so he will in like manner appear in the end of the world only in greater Majesty and Glory as becomes Him who is over all God blessed for ever Amen ix Rom. 5. CHAP. III. A further Illustration of the APPEARING of our Lord Jesus Christ THERE is nothing to be added to what hath been said but only this That the word Epiphany or APPEARING denotes not meerly the presenting of himself in Person to the view of all the World but the whole SHOW as we call it that will accompany his coming from Heaven and all the things that shall be done by him as the Lord and Judge of the World He sits now on the Throne of his Glory and there shines in the splendor of the Divine Majesty and in that Majesty will one day descend from thence into this Air which the King of Heaven will never suffer his Son to do without a most Royal and Glorious Attendance sutable to the quality of his Person and to the dignity of his Office which is to judge the quick and the dead This illustrious SHOW is described by our Apostle in the 1 Thes iv 16. where he tells us that first of all He shall descend from Heaven 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with a SHOVT That is with great Acclamations such as use to be made when a mighty Conqueror appears and rides in Triumph Thus we learn to understand it from xlvij Psal 5. where God is said to be gone up with a SHOVT the Lord with the sound of a Trumpet That is the Ark which was the token of Gods Presence among them returned to Mount Sion with great and joyful Ovations of all the people after the conquest they got by the Divine aid over their powerful enemies In such a manner will our Saviour descend as being about to compleat his Victories by conquering Death it self the last enemy that shall be destroyed For all the Heavenly Hosts we may well conceive will be wonderfully pleased to see him go forth upon this design and calling upon each other to perform to him the most cheerful service upon that great day will rejoyce to wait upon him in that most glorious Action and triumph before-hand in the assured Victory which he will get over Hell and the Grave 2. For then saith the Apostle will be heard the voice of the Archangel that is one of the chief Leaders and Commanders of the Coelestial Hosts MICHAEL I suppose the Protector of the Christian Church shall march before his Majesty calling aloud to all the rest of that Heavenly company to follow after in their order 3. And then will the Trump of God sound which the Apostle adds to signifie after the manner of men the powerful summons which will be issued forth to alarm all the World to attend at this great solemnity For the gathering of the Congregation of Israel together was by the sound of a Trumpet as we find among other places in iv Jer. 5. Blow ye the Trumpet in the land cry gather together and say Assemble your selves To which the Apostle seems to allude and calls it the Trump of GOD to distinguish it from all other and to express such a mighty and penetrating sound as shall be heard every where Such an one as is fit to precede none but GOD the Father Almighty himself or Him that holds his place his only begotten Son when he comes to judge the World In short this seems to be an expression borrowed from the appearance of God at Mount * So Thenphylact other Greek Interpreters Sinai whither all Israel being to be gathered together they were summoned thither by Thunders and Lightnings and a thick cloud and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud which made all the people tremble xix Exod. 16. So that the meaning of the Apostle is that our Lord shall come as the Great King of the World in a most venerable Majesty which shall make all Mankind stand in awe of him and tremble before him as the Israelites did at the Appearance of the Divine Majesty on Mount Sinai And a great deal more For 4. When he appears it will be as I have intimated already with innumerable glittering troops of Angels all clothed in very bright and shining Clouds as his Guard or Retinue to attend upon him So we are informed in several other places For the Son of Man saith our Lord himself xvj Mat. 27. shall come in the glory of his Father with his Angels and then he shall reward every man according to his works Which Saint Luke expresses thus more fully ix Luk. 26. Whosoever shall be 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 Some of which glorious Creatures appeared to the Apostles and told them as much when they stood gazing after our Saviour as He ascended up into Heaven i. Act. 11. This same Jesus say they which is taken up from you into Heaven shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into Heaven Now he went thither in a most illustrious manner in the bright Clouds of Heaven attended by the Coelestial Ministers who came to conduct him into his Glory For that is the meaning it were easie to shew if this place were
word for it Because God the Father Almighty the blessed and only Potentate who authorized Him to make this promise and hath since that raised him from the dead is immortal and hath an indefectible life in himself of his own nature His will as I have said doth not alter and his power cannot be impaired or suffer any decay and therefore He can and will continue and perpetuate the Kingdom He hath given to our blessed Mediator Christ Jesus and keep him in full power and authority till that great day And when the fulness of time is come bring Him again upon the stage of the World if I may so speak and shew Him openly as the great Lord of all whom He hath honoured already with his own high title of KING OF KINGS and LORD OF LORDS xix Revel 16. All this is as easie for Him to do as it was at first to raise him out of his grave and then advance him to the Throne of his Glory where he now sits at the right hand of the Majesty on high And there is the greater reason to believe that He will both perpetuate the Kingdom of Christ to the worlds end and conclude it with the glorious exaltation of all his subjects when he shall appear again it being no more difficult than it was to carry him to heaven because as the Apostle further notes V. HE DWELLS IN LIGHT INACCESSIBLE which no man that is can enter into or approach This signifies the inconceivable brightness of the Divine Majesty both as to His Essence which cannot by us be comprehended and as to the place where He more eminently manifests Himself in an amazing splendor He is the Great King who lives above in the highest Heavens as in His Palace where he represents Himself in a Glory so shining and dazeling called in Scripture his Majesty that it is not for such as we till there be a marvellous change wrought in us to come nigh it Nor is it so beseeming that He should descend Himself from thence in that most Glorious MAJESTY to judg the World and to transform all those who shall be accounted worthy to obtain that better world and the resurrection from the dead And therefore we may be confident our Blessed Saviour who long ago was ordained to be the person will according to his word come as His Commissioner to do it in his stead It is not so agreeable to His state and greatness if I may so express it to come Himself out of His Orb of Light to fetch us to his house and dwelling-place But since He hath appointed a day of recompences we may be sure He will send his Son in the glory of the Father as he tells us ix Luk. 26. that is in a Majesty like that I now spake of and in the glory of his holy Angels who use to attend him to meet us and conduct us safely thither Or we may conceive of this expression after this manner GOD the Father that is the Son and the Holy Ghost is in that high and holy place the Sanctuary above into which no man hath yet entred save only the great High-Priest of our Salvation the Lord Jesus And yet GOD hath made us a promise by him before He went to heaven that we also shall live with Him and be there where He is From whence we may conclude that this great High-Priest will certainly come in his Royal Majesty out of that place into which He is gone to bless us by bringing us to that region of Light and Glory which He himself only as yet inherits and which is not any way accessible but only by his means In whose power we may be satisfied it is to promote us thither being in such favour with the Divine Majesty and sitting at His right hand who inhabits or possesses this glorious place as His own proper Dwelling and therefore can dispose of a Mansion in it to whom He pleases VI. And indeed the Apostle bids us remember which is the last thing that no man hath SEEN GOD nor CAN SEE HIM is capable that is to be in his glorious presence Which signifies partly the same with the former and also may suggest among other things the faithfulness of Him who hath promised to show us this Appearing of Christ Jesus of GOD that is the Father Almighty Who we see here plainly is the person of whom the Apostle hath all this time been speaking as St. Ambrose and St. Chrysostome also if his gloss be well weighed understand him not of our Saviour who hath been seen already and shall be seen again at his second appearing And you know He hath promised to the pure in heart that they shall SEE GOD v. Mat. 8. A favour which in this state no man hath enjoyed or can enjoy as St. Paul here tells us It is not for such as we to see God and therefore there must be a time when according to his faithful promise Christ Jesus shall appear again to change us and put us in such a condition that He may bring us to that sight of Him which no man in this World can have Either we must remain for ever without the sight of Him and then God would not be true who hath said by His Son that we shall see him or we must be carried up from hence unto His heavenly Palace and then our Lord must appear to fit us for it and make us capable of such a blessedness and to transport us thither For how we should otherways be conveyed to a place so much above us but by the coming of our Lord to lift us up and promote us to it we cannot understand Since this is the way that He hath described and our Lord Jesus is to have the honour of doing all the good to his faithful servants which GOD in his infinite goodness designs to bestow upon them This I take to be intimated in these words Whom no man hath seen nor can see which declare still more fully than was said before the super-eminent excellence and perfection of the Divine Nature and the astonishing brightness of his Majesty Which whilst we are here we cannot reach or attain any considerable sight of and therefore Christ Jesus who hath promised we shall see Him will appear again to fit us for conversation with Him And indeed since God hath already fulfilled his promise of the first appearance of His Son and sent Him born of a Woman to bring the glad tydings of Salvation to us by which he did in one sense make us see God that is understand His Mind Counsels and Will i. Joh. 18. and since another promise likewise of his coming to destroy his Crucifiers when every eye he saith should see him i. Rev. 8. that is his power and glory at Gods right hand should be abundantly thereby manifested to the world is punctually and exactly made good What reason have we to doubt of the certainty of his other appearing which is still
and what we would be too a Good wherein we see the image of our selves in that perfection to which we desire to be advanced All they therefore who would be truly disposed to love the appearing of our Lord must have a deep apprehension of the meanness and vileness of this present state They must be possessed with a serious sense of their many imperfections and great weakness in the best condition that this world affords of the poverty and emptiness of all earthly enjoyments yea and of the scantiness and narrowness of all those Divine participations which their Souls are here capable to be blessed withal And then the Appearing of our Lord will seem a Good so suitable to them that they cannot chuse but have the same affection for it that a crazy and diseased person hath to the most skilful Physician In hope that He will perfect their nature cure the disorders under which they labour supply their defects fill their appetites nay enlarge their capacities and raise them to a greater pitch of true goodness and bliss Let us suppose such persons to be so much in the favour of God as to have a liberal share even in the blessings of this World as well as of those which are more peculiarly in the gift of our Saviour Christ yet it is impossible one would think they should be so much pleased in the highest Dignities that can be conferred on them in the rarest Delicates that the bounty of Nature or curiosity of Art can provide for them in the society of the choicest and dearest Friends or I may add in their own secret joy though descending from heaven to them as not to think still that it is far more desirable to see the Lord Jesus come to promote them and all their pious Relations and Friends to an incomparably better condition in his Coelestial Kingdom It is their interest to have Him appear again and besides they have such a likeness and resemblance to Him that the bent and inclination of their Souls cannot but make them long after the sight of Him as a good more delightful and agreeable than any other For there is another Coming of Christ before that which we expect Quo per totum tempus in Ecclesia sua venit c. as St. Austin speaks * L. xx de Civ Dei Cap. v. by which He comes through all the time between his first appearing and the last in His Church that is his members particulatim atque paulatim working in every one of them by little and little according to his promise xiv Joh. 21 23. that if any man keep His Commandments He will look upon it as such a testimony of his love that He will love that man and the Father will love him and we will come saith He unto him and make our abode with him Now when we heartily entertain Him and He is so truly setled there that we are made partakers of his Blessed nature and disposition and all the lineaments of Him if I may so speak are drawn upon our hearts We shall find them inclined to wish for the day when he will compleat his work and fill up the whole image of Himself to the very life and not only make us glad with the light of His countenance but make us look perfectly like Him and intirely assimilate us to His own most Blessed nature Do you not see how the holy Scriptures represent this Appearing of Jesus as the most lovely of all other things and therefore apt to draw our hearts with an irresistible force towards it It is expressed there I observe under the character of that which is wont to touch the Soul with such an agreeable stroke that it ravishes it from it self I mean Beauty For as that is nothing else according to Plato but the splendor and glittering of that which is good so this appearing is set forth as exceeding bright splendid and glorious and as that which will make us so also to the end we may be affected with it as the most beautiful sight that ever was Read ij Tit. 13. xiij Mat. 43. And St. Luke I told you before mentions a threefold glory wherein He will appear His own His Fathers and His holy Angels ix 26. which is said I believe to make this day appear the more illustrious and amiable in our eyes The only visage of Scipio we read made him Master of some barbarous Nations he piercing further into their hearts by his countenance than by his sword And Heliogabalus as bad as he was was no sooner shown by his Mother to the Souldiers but from Priest of the Sun he became Emperour of the World Why then should not the beauty of that day when the Prince of all the Kings of the Earth shall appear in the most glorious splendor attended by the greatest Principalities of Heaven with all their shining Hosts in admirable order captivate the hearts of all those that love Him since there is none so powerful did they but behold His glory as the Apostles did and look upon Him as the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth to draw those to his Religion who love Him not How can they refuse to yield to do Him homage and suffer themselves to be carried after Him as the Conquerour of all Souls and above all desire to wait upon Him at his appearing which they discern will be so glorious and render them so amiable that they will become as I doubt not to show a considerable addition to his Triumphs The hearts of all the faithful cannot chuse but leap for joy at the very thought of so great a Good though widely distant from them and wish it would come nearer to make them happy by its presence with them They are apt to sigh and say when they deeply ponder these things with the Prophet David in another case ci Psal 2. O when wilt thou come unto me It is a long time O Lord since thou didst promise to come We have waited for thee and for thy salvation more than they that wait for the morning I say more than they that wait for the morning May I not pray thee to hasten thy desired coming O when wilt thou display thy self and show thy glory more openly before us O when wilt thou be pleased to impress thine own image more fairly on us When shall those little touches that we have received of thee be perfected and figured into a more exact resemblance of thy beauty We cannot refrain but we must long to have all our defects supplied out of thy fulness to have all spots wiped off our souls to be rendred clear as the Sun free as the Air and as unstained as the pure influences of heaven For how should we think O blessed Lord that we bear any love to thee if we can be content to remain as we are so much unlike thee There is none can see thee and not ardently love thee There is none
conduct it to take up its lodging there This is the meaning of that effusion of the Soul which I spoke of before whereby it would dissolve it self into that which it loves and be so mingled as to become perfectly one with it When an agreeable object I told you hath imprinted its image on the mind it casts a certain light into the soul and shines so comfortably on the affections that they are powerfully warmed and excited by it Now when the heart is full of this splendor it doth not satisfie it self with those rays and emissions of light and heat which are imparted to it but strives to unite it self to the very center of it and would feel the spring from whence such life and pleasure flows Just as Iron when it is impregnated with the vertue of the Loadstone is not contented with those effluxes it hath received but moves towards the body from which they stream so is it with an heart which receives this joyful news from our Lord that He will appear again in glory It amuses not it self in those delightful thoughts it sits not down in those ravishing joys nor thinks it enough to be melted in the passion of love to Him and to so great a blessedness But it seeks to knit it self to the very mind and spirit of Christ that it may feel how blessed He intends to make it It studies I mean to be changed and transformed more and more into His likeness and by an intire agreement of will with his will to begin its transfiguration and be prepared for a perfect and eternal union with Him It is not sufficient to a heart that is in love with that great day to live in a constant expectation of it which is excited by the Revelation He hath made of it in his Gospel and is the light which he now sends from heaven into us but it would gladly prevent as I have already noted that happy time by feeling Him appear every day more gloriously there It longs to shine more clearly in the light of his heavenly knowledge to burn more brightly in the ardors of his love and by being more richly adorned with the Graces of His Spirit to be recommended to all in the beauty of His Holiness There is nothing can better explain all that hath been hitherto said than the example of the Loadstone which I just now mentioned As soon as a piece of Iron feels the power of it we see how it turns it self towards it and by its quivering declares the complacence and pleasure as we may call it that it takes in its touches Then we behold how it creeps a little towards it still advancing and bearing it self more and more that way till it come to join it self with that thing from whence it first received those inclinations Here you have all the parts of love that have been already mentioned most lively represented First the mind apprehends and is made sensible of some Good which communicates an image or picture of it self unto it Then the heart is secretly surprised with a certain delight by which the agreeableness of that image intices it from its self And then it moves towards it and goes to see it And at last when it finds it to be what it appeared it flies as I may say into its embraces and endeavours to knit it self so fast unto it that they may never hereafter be divided And just such like is the temper of that soul which heartily loves our Lords Appearing Which it perceives to be a happiness so great that it cannot be satisfied with any entertainment it finds in this world but presses forward to the blessed sight of Him in all his glory Nothing can quiet it nor hinder its motion till it become one spirit with Him All that it hath as yet attained all the wisdom wherewith it is filled all the joys of piety which it sometime feels are little and inconsiderable in comparison with what it desires to feel And therefore on it proceeds in a serious study to be more like Him out of a design never to cease its earnest endeavours till it come to be for ever with Him O thou great and most Magnetick Good should every pious heart say O thon soveraign attractive of all souls I feel my self wonderfully touched by thee Thou hast put my spirit which was foolishly wandring after other things in a setled motion unto thee O what an inclination hast thou awakned in my heart to be with thee Thou hast mightily stirred all the powers of my soul which is wholly turned about to look most earnestly towards thee O cease not to shine perpetually into this cloudy mind which is all in darkness without thee Cease not to invigorate this dull and sluggish spirit which is thus excited by thee O spare not those mighty effluxes of thy love but draw me still after thee I cannot be willing to stand at any distance from thee nor to stop my progress till I be closely united to thee Therefore still continue to make me feel thy power till I be so happy as to move no more but to rest in thee Couldst not thou be pleased O blessed Lord with any thing less than an union with such sinful flesh as this of ours is would it not suffice thee to look down from heaven upon us and show us a glympse of thy glory but thou must come also and dwell among us and make thy self to be bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh that we might be one with thee How can I be contented then only with looking up unto thee How should I be satisfied if I have nothing more but meerly some glances from thee O my most gracious Lord give me leave to imitate thy love Suffer me to desire and seek to become what thou art by being perfectly transformed into thy likeness And do not think it too great a presumption if I wish and long to be so united to thee My Love as to be for ever with thee Let me have the happiness at least to sigh and mourn after thine Appearing Affect my heart so sensibly with it that I may groan in spirit if I can do no better for that blessed time when I shall lose the sight of thy face no more when I shall lye under the warm beams of the light of thy countenance when I shall live in the very element of love when I shall be so near thee that I shall feel my self to move in the very same Orb with thee thou bright Sun of Righteousness I seem now alas to be a great way off from thee I feel my self like the cold earth in the winter which turns towards the Sun and looks upon that glorious Light of Heaven that great lover of all the world but alas is very far removed from its comfortable rays O that I might be so happy as to approach nearer to thee O that I were fixed and might never turn about any more from
IX This Love to the Appearing of our Lord further described in three other fruits or marks of it VIII AND now can any Soul chuse but think of that perpetually which it most dearly loves Doth not every Good use to present it self continually to the mind that is inamour'd of it and remember us of its beauty There is no question to be made of it The very ardency of our affection for it doth more imprint and engrave it on our mind and when by any participation of it we feel how good it is we press it harder and sink it deeper into our hearts There is no man for instance who hath setled his love upon an agreeable person but He finds the image of that friend always before his eyes It accompanies him every where and cleaves inseparably to his thoughts It is a great part of his pleasure to entertain himself with the shadow of that in which he hath lodg'd his heart And therefore if we love the appearing of our Lord we shall solace our selves often with the kind In the multitude especially or tumult of our thoughts within us as the Psalmist speaks xciv 19. the comforts of it will delight our souls We shall be daily calling upon them and exhorting them to look towards it and to fix their thoughts and affections upon it We shall be inclin'd to say as the voice is in the Song of Songs Come my fair one come away O my chiefest Good what shall I desire or wish for so much as for thy coming What is it that I ever saw which should detain my eyes from thy incomparable beauty Or where can I expect to satisfie their hunger but only with the filling sight of thee at thy appearing The spacious Heavens hope to be filled with the Majesty of thy Glory The Sun is but a weak image of thy brightness and will be content to go out to make room for thee when thou appearest All the Stars of light are ready to resign their places and leave the skie to be illuminated by thee alone Whatsoever is lovely and surprises us with its beauty here confesses it is but thy shadow and that when thou breakest forth it must disappear Fix my mind therefore upon thy glory and let it henceforth imploy my busie thoughts Possess thy self O Lord of life and glory intirely of this heart which hath been too long estranged from thee Impress such a lively sense of thee and of thy glory there that I may sooner forget my self than thee and thy appearing Make it my greatest pleasure to sit hours and days and years to think of thy so much desired coming When I meet with my dearest Relations and Friends let nothing entertain us with such delight as to think of being caught up together in the Clouds to meet the Lord in the air Let us love to speak of the glory of thy Kingdom and to talk of thy power to utter abundantly the memory of thy great goodness and to sing of thy righteousness Let us wish with united hearts to see thy power and glory and to behold thee coming according to thy faithful promise out of thy heavenly Sanctuary Let it be our sweetest joy to inspire each others hearts with these holy hopes and to stir up one another to love and to good works And when thou comest O Lord may every one of us be found so doing IX These are some of the pantings of an heart which loves and bears in mind the appearing of Christ For to say the truth Love is the original and source of all the passions that we feel in our hearts They all flow from this as from their spring-head They are but several motions which have their rise from Love Or if you will so conceive it nothing but different figures and shapes wherein it appears It is love which fears and love which grieves and love which hopes and love which rejoyces there would be none of these were it not for some good which we love to which these and all the rest of their kindred owe their birth and nourishment When this is hindred in its designes it breeds anger or impatience or fear or sadness or some such like commotion And when this succeeds and prospers in the pursuance of its ends there arises hope and contentment and joy and gladness as the natural issue of it They that love then Christs appearing will fear nothing so much as to lose the blessedness which He will bring along with Him Nothing will excite such a displeasure in their hearts as that evil which would rob and defraud them of his favour at that happy day And what is there that can give them such a touch of sadness as the thought that they are so far distant from their Dearest Lord Or what can create such joy such exultation of spirit as to hope they shall one day see Him so as never to part from Him any more In one word all the passions of their Souls will run this way and be concern'd for nothing so highly as this that they may be presented faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy True indeed O blessed Saviour doth such an heart meditate in it self I have had a thousand fears in my breast I have dreaded every small danger in this world as if it would prove my utter ruin The terrors that have affrighted me are as innumerable as the things I have fancied to be my happiness But now all these are willing to be gone that they may make way for one greater fear lest I should not enter with thee when thou appearest into thy rest O prevent so intolerable a mischief Whatsoever I lose I shall account my self a gainer if I lose not the blessing which thou wilt give us Take all if thou pleasest I am content so thou wilt give me a share in thy glory when thou comest I have been too long pestered with a world of sensual passions Sometimes sadness hath oppressed me and then anger hath set me all on fire Now vain joyes have swelled my heart and puffed me up and again they have given place to grief and sorrow hath shrunk up my soul and dried up my spirit Fears and Hopes have tossed me up and down as in a tempestuous Sea A small matter hath created me much trouble and I have longed for things which promised much but gave me little satisfaction What a comfort is it but to expect the day which will settle and compose these tumults in perpetual peace and quiet I feel the thoughts of it already appeasing my spirit and bringing a ealm into my breast And if the brightness of thy appearing did but always shine in my mind it would dispel all the clouds and scatter the darkness wherein all this confusion reigns O let the splendor of that day irradiate my soul even at this distance from it and leave no space void of its light and comfort Yea let it eclipse all other joyes and by
is in our wishes most ardent longings and gaspings for it For so that phrase is observed to be used by good Authors in which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies I wish thy good so heartily that is that I would make it fly hither if I were able as swift as my desires VII This declares the highest passion they had for it looking upon themselves as imperfectly happy till they and their Saviour met together at his coming Only they had a perfect hope of it which was an exceeding great comfort to them So St. Peter also expresses it which is the next word Hope to the end or rather as the translation in the margin renders the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 HOPE PERFECTLY And with very good reason because of the grace that is to be brought unto you at the Revelation of Jesus Christ 1 Pet. i. 13. There are great favours to be then bestowed most ample rewards to be distributed which may justly make us value the hope of them more than all the present possessions of this world and rejoyce before we have them that he hath given us such solid and firm grounds of hope one day to receive them Which whosoever understands as he ought to live upon that hope and support himself with a perfect trust in him that lives for ever to make good his promise So he cannot but desire and pray continually to see it accomplished VIII Which is the last thing they cry unto our Saviour and call upon him beseeching with fervent desires that he would come So some understand those words xxij Rev. 17. to be the voice of Christian people not inviting strangers to come and embrace their Religion but earnestly inviting our Saviour Christ to come to perfect their happiness In this they all agreed the SPIRIT that is prophetical persons indowed with the most eminent gifts of the Holy-Ghost and the BRIDE that is the whole body of the Church with one consent say COME And they exhort all others who should read this and receive Christianity to joyn with them in these prayers for so it follows Let him that heareth say COME And let every soul that 's their conclusion who thirsts after divine knowledge especially of future things come and read this Prophecy and partake of that refreshment that water of Life which is here freely offered to him But if that verse should have another meaning yet it is certain that St. John himself who was a fit pattern to all those who believed his Book concludes all his Visions with a Prayer to Christ that he would hasten his coming For when our Lord had said v. 20. Surely I COME quickly He answers AMEN to this promise and echoes back his own words to him Even so let it be so COME LORD JESVS Thy word is all our wishes There is nothing so desireable as that thou would'st come and fulfil thy gracious Word It will be very fit then for us who are come a great deal nearer to the day of the Lord to descend down into our selves and see what passions we have like to these which were of old in Christian breasts Let us call our selves to a strict account and examine whether we be in the number of those thirsty souls that have this hearty affection for the appearing of Christ It is safe for us to feel the pulse of our souls and by these tokens make a judgement of them whether they beat Heaven-ward or no. What is it may every one say to himself what is it that I most admire and holds the principal place in my esteem On what is it that I have fixt my mind and set mine heart What is the chiefest Loadstone of my affections and whither doth the main current of them run To what is it that my actions are addressed What is my Hope and the strength and support of my heart If I might have my wish what would I now see The whole world fall down at my feet to worship me or all these things vanish and disappear before the Glory of the Lord Jesus that we might go and fall down and worship His Majesty What am I content to suffer and endure for this though I stay long before I enjoy it Hath patience had its perfect work and do I rejoyce though in tribulation in hope of this Glory Is this my satisfaction also in the greatest fulness of worldly goods and are mine eyes even then ever towards the Lord Am I still looking up unto Jesus sighing for him and saying Come Lord Jesus come quickly I can appeal to thee that thou knowest there is nothing I so much long for as that thou would'st come O come make haste to come and satisfie the desires of thy Church which have long cryed Come Lord Jesus Let us not deceive our selves this great Apostle hath pronounced a curse upon every one that loves not the Lord Jesus 1 Cor. xvj 20. And he that loves Him loves his appearing and he that loveth his appearing sets his thoughts his heart his design so much upon it as to contrive by all means whatsoever become of him here that when Jesus who is our life shall appear he may appear with him in his glory Riches Greatness Pleasures Fame Long-life and all the train that waits upon them are but as so many big names loud but empty sounds which signifie nothing to him in comparison with these exceeding great things the COMING the APPEARING the KINGDOM and the GLORY of Christ Jesus The sweetest Friend in this world to whom he hath conceived the most passionate love will not hinder him from seeking these but rather by that love he will be excited to remember with what inexpressible affection he ought to pursue such divine enjoyments not only for his own soul but for his second self The best wish he can make for both is that they may be carried with the same eager desires and hasty speed to perfect their love in the incomparably greater joys and blessedness of Christs heavenly kingdom So great they are that having now finished all that was at first propounded to be considered on this subject this Love will not be content that I should here make an end It being such a masterly affection and governing the soul so absolutely as hath been related will not suffer us to lay that presently out of our thoughts which it hath once planted very deep in our hearts It is one of its greatest pleasures to think very much of that Good whose company it doth not yet enjoy and when it is far distant of it self to make it present by a constant image of it in the Mind And therefore it cannot be any wonder if we bear a true love to the appearing of Christ that it will not permit us to be willing to cease our Meditations on so delightful an argument It doth but act according to its nature if it require us again to take another view of it and spend a few more thoughts upon
with all our souls and wish we might likewise see all Nations fall down before thee and worship thee What a joy would it be to see all the kingdoms of the earth become the kingdoms of thee O Christ What greater pleasure can our hearts desire which are not able to express the satisfaction it would give them to behold the kingdom of darkness which is shaken already falling flat upon the ground Overturn it overturn it O thou most Mighty utterly overturn it O come and do that which we endeavour but cannot do Come and let us see thee vindicate thy self from the affronts of all thine insolent enemies Let us see all the Legions of Evil-Spirits haled as Captives at the wheels of thy triumphant Chariot Let us see all the Powers of the Air flying away at thy presence to hide themselves in the pit of Hell for ever O thou who hast subdued us unto thee subdue them likewise and bring them under thee Thou who didst wrest us out of their hands wrest from them all their power and leave them none to get any more into their hands As thou hast conquered so we would gladly see thee triumph As thou hast overcome so we would fain see thee carried in magnificent and royal state as the most victorious LORD OF HOSTS Haste thee therefore O sweet Saviour to receive our Ovations Come that all the world may give thee the acclamations which thou deservest Why is thy Chariot so long in coming Why stay the wheels of thy Chariot O that it would please thee to come while our souls are peeping out of their windows to look for thee while they call and cry and sigh after thee while they are full charged with shouts and praises to bestow upon thee III. There is very great reason you cannot but see that they should be thus desirous of his appearing because it is manifest by what hath been now said it will bring along with it some addition of Glory to our Dearest Lord. If we had a Friend who was elected to be a King should we not often call for the day that would place him on his Throne Or if he were seated there but had some rebellious Subjects still in arms in a corner of his Country should we not be in some pain till we saw his conquering banners return with their spoils Or if that were done and a time then prefixt for a solemn meeting of all the Estates of his Realm in the midst of which he intended to sit himself with the greatest Pomp should we not think it long till we saw him shine there and receive the homage of so many illustrious Persons Tell your selves then with what ardors you should wait for the coming of your Lord. Who though he be now Crowned yet doth not for the present see all his enemies sudued nor appears as yet in the grand assembly not only of the Angels and mighty men but of all people whatsoever who shall be gathered before his Majesty It is true indeed he being inthroned in the Heavens sits there in royal Honour and Glory But St. Luke tells us as you heard before ix 26. that he will appear in the end of the world not only in his own glory but in the glory of his Father also As if that were something more than what he hath already received at his right hand That is he will come from thence to judge the quick and the dead Which will be an exceeding great glory such an high honour as was never conferred upon any person whatsoever to have all judgement committed unto him and sustain the very place of the Supreme Lord and Governour of the World to whom Men and Angels are accountable for their actions This is a thing that is still behind and there are it seems some royal Majestick robes belonging to this high Office which he hath not yet put on O how much should we desire to have Him clothed with them How earnestly should we look to behold him decked with that Majesty and arrayed in his most glorious attire It should not be enough to us to believe that he reigns but we should long to see the last exercise and the greatest proof of his Kingly Authority which is to judge the world in righteousness and to reward all men according to their works O God should every true Christian say who according to thy faithful word hast glorified thy Son Jesus and committed all Judgement to him hasten the day when thou wilt complete the glory thou hast given him and gather all nations before him Cloath him in the Glorious Robes of thy Majesty and let him appear in his Meridian brightness Send him forth of thy Sanctuary and let him outshine the Sun in his strength O that he would shine forth and shoot his rayes as far as this earth Let them not be confined to the highest Heavens but let the air and these inferiour regions be all gilded with the splendor of his beams O blessed Jesus that we might behold thy light breaking out to banish all this smoak and disperse these vapours wherein we are inclosed Let the Troops of thy holy Angels come and expel those evil Spirits which have possessed themselves of these aerial places Let thy glorious throne be set there where they have so long ruled Arise and show thy self O thou Judge of the World Let them all know that they are subject to thy tribunal And sentence them to their proper habitations that after thy appearing they may disappear and never break loose to infest or trouble us any more Then will thy faithful servants shout aloud for joy and triumph in thy praise They will sing a new Song before thy Throne and magnifie thee in some such words as these Who in the Heavens can be compared unto the Lord Who among the Sons of the mighty can be likened unto the Lord lxxxix Psal 6. xv Rev. 3 4. Great and marvellous are thy works Lord God Almighty just and true are thy wayes thou King of Saints Who shall not fear thee O Lord and glorifie thy Name For thou only art holy All Nations are come to worship before thee for thy judgements are made manifest IV. And upon this account we should be the more desirous to see that great day because till then he will want the glory of having us and all his faithful Subjects attend upon him in his heavenly Kingdom It is a very small glory indeed you may be apt to think that he can receive from such poor things as we are Who must acknowledge that we are unworthy utterly unworthy of the favour to approach unto him and if we should be so vain as to think otherwise deserve to be banished for ever from his blessed presence But when we remember how great his love is and what he hath promised to do for us we must likewise confess to the glory of his Grace that he can and will raise us so much above our selves that it
great that no soul who is possessed with a lively sense of it can be tempted any longer to envy the greatness of the noblest Persons no not the high dignity of the blessed Angels The brightest of the Cherubins should not be so grievous to us as to hurt our eyes nor the flames of the Seraphims touch us with the least spark of indignation to see our selves so much excelled by them But we should rather wish they were more glorious and illustrious because the greater they are the greater will the advancement of our nature be which at the appearing of Christ will shine in a place so far above the highest of them Those heavenly Creatures indeed are so splendid that we poor mortals even the holiest of us were wont to be afraid at their appearance They are too glittering for our weak eyes to behold too full of lustre for us who dwell in these caves of darkness to converse withall Whence it was that some pious people in ancient times presently concluded they should dye if they saw an Angel imagining that his business when he appeared was to fetch their souls from their bodies in which while they lived they were not fit for such Society And other excellent persons were so amazed at the glory of these celestial Ministers that they thought of paying them no less than religious honour and prepared themselves to fall down before them and worship them as Gods O what an happiness then will it be to see our Natures so improved and exalted that we shall be able to entertain their company without any trembling at all and instead of those paralytick fears be only struck with a delightful sense of the most harmonious joyes What a glory will it be unto us what a joy to find our selves made equal to those whom we took for Gods To behold our selves as bright as those celestial fires which were wont to dazzle the eyes of the greatest souls and possess them with an apprehension that they were Divine Beings But especially we ought to consider what an honour what a satisfaction it will be to behold not so few as one or two or a thousand of those beautiful Creatures but the whole Heavenly Court whom we were ready to adore come all with bended knees and humbly prostrate themselves in the most profound adorations at the feet of our ever blessed Saviour Christ Jesus Into what a rapture will it cast us to behold our Nature so advanced that all the Gods shall approach and worship this same Jesus who was so debased and abused A most glorious and delightful sight it will be to behold him in the head of all those Heavenly Hosts to see all the air filled with the several Legions of Holy Angels to behold every Troop in that glorious Camp paying their respect to our far more glorious Lord and with their shouts and joyful acclamations following him as their General and chief Commander And all the Powers of Darkness likewise crouching at his feet quaking at his Majestick Presence disarmed of all their weapons and confessing themselves the Captives and Slaves of this victorious Prince Christ Jesus O my ambitious desires where are you What is become of you O my aspiring thoughts You that used to be ever climbing aloft and perpetually heaving up my heart whither are you gone or into what dulness are you now sunk down What is the matter that you lye asleep when so fair an object presents it self to awaken and rouze you up What ailes you that I do not feel you stir who were wont with less temptations to be all on fire Is there any thing we can reasonably thirst after with so much ardor as to have all the world behold us made the companions of Angelical Natures What is there that you can fancy a higher glory than to see this flesh of ours taking place of the Heavenly Spirits To behold all the Armies of Heaven and Earth waiting upon the supreme Judge of the World the Man Christ Jesus Get up then get up and pray perpetually that this most blessed time may come Rouze up your selves and in your most passionate wishes fly before-hand thitherward Let this be the But at which you shoot the mark at which you alwayes aim O my winged thoughts and hasty desires Let this be the end of all your labours O my busie and restless powers And content your selves in any conditino till this most happy state shall come Live upon this joyful hope Chear up your selves with these most comfortable expectations They cannot be utterly miserable no they must needs be very happy whatsoever their troubles be who look for such an incomparable glory Rejoyce therefore and more than that make your boast in this perpetually that one day Angels themselves who are out of the reach of our present calamities shall not excel you But if there be any difference it shall be only such as was between the men of Judah and the men of Israel at the bringing back of King David to his Throne that you shall be able to call this great Son of David BONF OF YOVR BONE AND FLESH OF YOVR FLESH when the highest Angels can challenge no such interest in him O most blessed Hope the staff of our Life the stay and the strength of our Hearts The security of the happy and the sanctuary of the afflicted that which preserves our joyes from becoming sowre and which sweetens the bitterness of all our miseries Our Rest our Peace our highest Satisfaction It is enough that I am owner of such a glorious Hope Be thou ever in mine eye be thou ever in my heart I will walk and labour all the dayes of my life in this holy Hope And I will lye down at last in hope that Thou who now sendest down thy Angels to minister unto us wilt call us up unto thy self and make us to sit with thee in those Heavenly Regions O come come Lord Jesus that we may be all so happy And till thou comest descend sometimes into this heart which loves thee and longs for thee and lift it up unto thee in more ardent desires earnest indeavours and holy hopes to see thy glory and to appear in glory together with thee II. It will be very strange if we believe in Christ and be not possessed with these desires when we attend to the secret inclinations there are in every one of our hearts to wish we might be blessed with the sight of him who is so lovely and who hath loved us so much whom hitherto our eyes have never seen For did any body ever hear of a most excellently accomplisht person full of the most obliging kindness to him and that had infinitely merited of him and designed all the honour in the world for him and not feel a most passionate longing desire burning in him to behold the face of this Great man who had an heart so tender so noble and so graciously affected towards him This is our case who
and sensless heart as this of mine With what thanks ought I to receive the smallest testimony of thine inestimable love Which is so sweet that it makes us sigh because we can enjoy no more of it Ah! that this vessel should be so narrow and strait as to contain so little of thy love Ah the dulness of this heart which entertains thee so poorly that it is no wonder thou makest so short a stay so exceeding short a stay with me How sad is it to think of this heavy clog which will never let me follow thee far when I have the strongest attractions from thee Fain would my soul climb up unto thee but when I have got a little way down I come and have lost that glorious sight I had of thee And if thou art pleased to lift me up as high as Heaven how soon is the mind weighed down again while it museth upon those celestial things O the constant joyes which I hoped to have how are they vanished O the satisfaction which began to be in this heart which now lyes groveling in the dust filled with nothing but sighings after thee And blessed be thy Goodness that it doth sigh after thee I thank thee that I feel such love such vehement desire there as makes it long for more of thee I will never cease to sigh after thee I will still long for that time when thou Lord wilt be pleased to appear and make all sighing fly away by a constant sight and enjoyment of thee For this I will groan that I may be so happy as to see thee and that thou wilt make me as strong as sometime thou makest me desirous to accompany thee I will pray for this that thou wouldest come and heal those wounds which love hath made by making me perfect in thy love O come therefore Dearest Lord and turn my desires into enjoyment my sickness into health my weakness into strength these flutterings of my soul into a flight into a flight I say from this earth into the air where I may no sooner wish to be with thee but I may feel my soul snatcht away and leap for joy to find it self in thy embraces Come O my Lord come thou lover of Souls and let me not languish in these longings any more Come and leave no place for any fears that I shall lose thy company Come and give me the full satisfaction I promise my self in thy sweetest society I am content to suffer one pain that I may thereby put an end to all Death is no longer dreadful to me when I think it will bring me something nearer to thee Thou maiest rend my soul when thou pleasest from this flesh that it may be torn no more as it uses to be when it is pulled back by other things and would gladly follow thee O joyn me perfectly most perfectly to thee that I may love thee as much as the most enlarged spirit is capable to love thee Happy should I be if I could do nothing else but love thee and feel that thou lovest me O hasten the day when my time shall be divided between these two sweetest employments of expressing my most ardent love to thee and rejoycing in the full satisfaction of thy love to me CHAP. XIII Two other Reasons why if we love our selves we must needs love this Appearing IV. SO we ought to wish if we seriously believe there will be such a day because we naturally love Life and Immortality which till then cannot be perfectly bestowed on us Our Lord indeed hath brought these to light and given us an assured hope that none of those who believe in him shall perish But as the everlasting Life he puts us in possession of when we depart from hence I shall show in the next Chapter is not presently compleated so it is out of all question that we must stay till the last day before he perform his so frequently repeated promise vi Joh. 40.54 c. of raising our bodys out of the dust and making them incorruptible that they may live for ever Which is a thing we so much desire that we are prone to please our selves with the meer shadow of it studying when we dye to make our memory survive our ashes We would fain record our Names in the Legend of fame by the performance of some remarkable exploit Or by some memorable work we contrive that the world may speak of us when we are gone down into silence And for fear it should not we teach Marble-stones and Pillars to tell what we were and by this means we fancy we shall live as long as the world shall last But alas this is no better than an imaginary life which we cannot secure neither but must leave the World without any assurance of that for which we are so solicitous and imploy such serious pains No mans Name can be so loudly sounded by the trumpet of fame but it may chance that succeeding ages shall not hear the least whisper of him Or if they do it may fare with him as it doth with Hercules and Bacchus who were as great Souldiers and Conquerers it is likely as Alexander and Caesar and yet now their notable atchievements do but serve to fill up the number of Fables Epitaphs and Escutchions Books and Monuments do all dye as well as men Our Names in all likelihood will at last be buried and perish as well as our selves For this world is the place where death reigns and plays the Rex not only over us but over all the reliques that we leave behind us What should we wish for then what should be the ardent desire of all Nations if they were believers but the time of our Lords appearing when this mortality as the Apostle speaks shall be swallowed up of life and we shall receive from his hands Laurels and Crowns that are incorruptible and never fade away a Name that shall never dye a Glory that shall live and continue in its splendor as long as God himself For as this is the time wherein Death hath dominion so that will be the time of abolishing its Kingdom and putting an end to all its tyranny by setting up Life and Immortality in its stead O welcome time sayes the heavenly minded soul when this great devourer of the world shall have nothing left to feed upon unless it be the Grave which shall dye eternally and never be heard of more O what a joyful name is this of Life and of life for evermore How sweetly doth even the word IMMORTALITY sound in this land of death and destruction What is it that makes our hearts so cold and to feel so few desires to see the Prince of Life appear To see Him who shall raise up that in glory and power which was put into the earth in dishonour and weakness and shall turn this natural this corruptible body into one that is spiritual and incorruptible Are we afraid this world will be burnt up by the
pleasing her eyes and her mind with the very shadow of that dear Person or if she have any token of his love left or sent her whereby to remember him is ever and anon taking it into her hands and imprinting her kisses on it so it becomes all those to do who pretend any love to our Lord Jesus who hath endeared himself to us by such incomparable loving kindness and merited so highly of us that it would be exceeding strange if we should be either insensible of his favours or let them slip out of our minds when among the rest of the expressions of his wonderful love he hath taken great care to preserve the remembrance of them there Our gracious Lord the Bridegroom of our souls is gone a long journey even as far as Heaven He hath espoused us to himself it is true in great love most assured love but hath left us for a time here in this world and removed himself so far from us that though there be nothing so desireable as his company to those who are acquainted with him and have any affection for him yet they find the distance is so exceeding great between them that they cannot attain their much wisht for enjoyment of him And therefore every good soul should look towards him and sighing within it self should often say When will he come when will he come and let me have the long desired sight of him When will he come and finish what he hath so graciously begun O that he would come and take me to him O that he would come and satisfie this soul which is ready to dissolve and sweetly melt into that blissful union with him And till he please to grant this desire we should often fasten our expecting eyes on the Picture he hath left us of himself drawn as I may say by his own hand which tells us he will certainly come and requires us to rest assured he will be as good as his word and give us immortal life in the glory where he is We should frequent I mean the holy Sacrament of his body and blood we should love there to communicate with him and knit our selves to him it should be our greatest pleasure to solace our selves in that representation of him till he comes We should affectionately receive into our hands those tokens and pledges of his love which he continually sends us by his Ministers we should take them into our mouths yea let them into our hearts and embracing him in those signs and seals of his grace towards us should rejoyce in his love till he himself appear and lay our souls to rest in his bosom for ever If there were no other benefit we should receive by this means than that thereby our love will be mightily excited towards him who hath loved us so dearly it were sufficient to commend this duty to us But we shall also grow thereby more confident of his appearing again to perfect his love towards us and in the mean time be still receiving fresh tokens of the affection he now hath for us For as the thoughts of his love hath the greatest power over our hearts so we need not fear to say that the love he sees in us is of such force and efficacy with him that it strongly moves his tender compassions towards us If any man love me saith he himself xiv Joh. 21 23. he shall be loved of my Father and I will love him and will manifest my self to him O what a word is this I will love him How it pierces into the heart How it stirs and works how it revives and refreshes there Can there be any thing greater than this to be beloved of the Lord of Heaven the Prince of Life the King of Glory What will not he do for those whom he loves when we see he did not stick to dye for them even before they loved him You know that when Lazarus was sick as I think I have somewhere observed in another Treatise his Sisters sent this news to our Saviour saying Lord behold he whom thou lovest is sick xi Joh. 3. This was a very short Letter And their grief perhaps would not permit them to write a longer But they did not fare the worse because they were not more ceremonious in their addresses this alone did the business O how great a power was there in these few words They say no more to move him but only this Lord thou lovest him and what doth not our Saviour do to show they were not mistaken Up he rises away he goes to the place of his abode there needed no more prayers to bring him thither And though there were many dangers in the way as the story relates though to go thither his Disciples thought was to cast himself into a showr of stones v. 8. though the Jews he knew very well sought to take him and kill him x. 39. yet love being as strong as death carried him through all impediments He could not chuse but go when he heard this charming word he whom thou lovest is sick By which we may learn that to obtain the favour and grace the help and assistance the comfort and the presence of our blessed Saviour we need no long Petitions no great address of words no courtship nor studied complements Let us be able only to tell him that he loves us and it is enough If we can but win his good affection we need no more We may then remember to him his own dear love more than ours We may tell him how much good he hath done us and that is argument sufficient to move him to do more We may relate his graciousness and sweet disposition when we can perceive in our own hearts but disgusts at our selves We may say O my Lord I have seen by many arguments the wonderful great good will thou bearest to me For thou hast instructed my ignorance pitied my weaknesses cured many of my diseases delivered me from the power of temptations I cannot tell what thou hast done for me O most merciful Saviour who art still going on by innumerable ways to testifie thou lovest me And this humble devout acknowledgement will certainly invite a further effusion of his favours For it is a pleasure to him to do benefits especially to those he loves He rejoyces over them to do them good He loves to accomplish his own good purposes and delights as much as they can desire to perfect what he hath happily begun in them And therefore we may intreat him to give himself that pleasure not to lose any of that joy which will so much please and rejoyce us also and make us his debtors his admirers his adorers and lovers to all eternity We may desire him even that it would please him to come again according to his promise because he loves us and because he loves to finish his works of love and we may be confident he will and bring his rewards with him Though he stay we think
love to thee But yet alas when I think of thy wondrous love I am apt to conclude again that I did amiss to say I was satisfied All this upon better thoughts seems a great deal too little and I am as short me thinks of thy love as if I loved thee not at all For what have I given thee when I have paid thee all my acknowledgements What have I bestowed on thee when I have given thee my self and absolutely offered all my affections to thee What is my heart what are a thousand such hearts as this worth that I should think such a present will be of any esteem with thee If all my life were nothing else but the most affectionate the most cheerful obedience to thee what requital should I have made thee for all thy love to me Alas I have so little ability to do any thing worthy of thee that I have not the skill how to speak as becomes me of my duty to thee What do I talk of acknowledgements to thee That 's as if I could number or value thy favours And it is a worse absurdity to speak of giving thee my affections as if I were not a debtor to thee and of bestowing my heart on thee For that 's as if I had any thing I received not from thee But it is worst of all I am ashamed of it to mention a requital of thy favours for that 's as if they were so small or so few as to admit of any return like a recompense unto thee No No I am nothing at all I have nothing I can do just nothing but what is thine more than mine if it be worth any thing I here most solemnly protest that I think my self indebted to thee for all I have I my self am thine my love is thine my prayers and desires are thine my praises and thanksgivings are thine so is my Faith and my Hope my comforts and my joyes they are all thine I cannot so much as confess my debts and obligations but it is from thee I cannot be sensible of my faults but I contract a new debt to thee That I can so much as see and say I am nothing I owe it unto thee What shall I do therefore How shall I express my self to thee Or in what manner shall I approach thee All that I can think of is only this still to cast down my self in the humblest devotion before thee and all thawed and dissolved with thy love to pour out my heart unto thee saying LORD WORK THINE OWN GOOD PLEASVRE IN ME. Make me what thou thy self best likest and lovest And when thou hast loved and obliged me as much as thou pleasest here compleat thine own benefits and crown them with as great a glory as thine own great love can bestow hereafter CHAP. XX. The Conclusion AND here I think it is best to put a period to this discourse which is already come to a competent length For where can I leave you better than in the arms of our Lord intirely resolved into his will and wishing to be united to him and made one spirit with him as much as he pleases And yet how hard is it to cease to desire that happiness in its utmost perfection How can we chuse but ask him leave at least to repete that wish over again The very thoughts of it make the ravished soul thrust it self with the more ardent affection into the bosom of his love They stir it up to ply him with new petitions that he will draw it more strongly after him and knit it more closely to him that he will inspire it with more of his love and by perfecting his likeness in it inseparably unite it to himself O blessed Jesus surely thou wilt appear I believe in due time thou wilt appear I am fully perswaded thou wilt not fail to make good thy word of coming to fetch us to thy self and making us exceedingly more happy than now in our most inlarged thoughts we can conceive I see me thinks the sky cleave and the day break and the Arch-angel thy Harbinger begin to look forth and thrust his head out of the clouds which makes my heart leap for joy as if it would leave this world and instantly go to meet thee my infinitely Dearer Saviour For what splendor is there in Gold Greg. Nyssen Orat. V. in Beatitud that I should desire it What brightness in pretious stones What ornament in the most sumptuous apparel compared with that Good which our hope in thee supposes and sets before us When thou who reignest over all creatures shalt reveal thy self to mankind sitting most magnificently upon a lofty Throne when innumerable millions of Angels shall be seen about thee and when the Kingdom of Heaven which now is such a secret shall be set wide open before all our eyes O let the thoughts of the Trump of God which shall then sound awaken my soul more powerfully to lift up it self to look for thee and for that glorious sight thou wilt bless us withal at thy appearing O let the faith that is in thy heart grow daily more active and work in me a most vigorous love of thee And let my love be inlarged till this heart be stretched to its utmost capacity and thou the infinite Good still fill and overflow it For I am afraid thou shouldest come and find me unprepared for thee I would not for all the world be found unready to meet thee and unfit for the blessings thou wilt bring along with thee If an heart that desires thee most passionately be of any worth if thou canst have any kind thoughts of a mind that prefers thee and thy love above all other things if to love thine appearing far more than the most glorious condition wherein a man can possibly appear in mortal flesh can find any grace in thine eyes behold then a soul that is able to say through thy great goodness that it most earnestly longs for thee See here an heart that desires to be like thee that had rather dye than displease thee and that will welcome thy coming with more joy than a sick man wearied with the restlessness of a long night doth the morning light or a Traveller doth his much desired home or a Virgin espoused doth her long absent Bridegroom the dearly beloved of her soul It is thou who hast begot in me these longings I have received all thou seest in me from thy gracious hands which have made me and fashioned me and made me unsatisfied in any thing but thee and thy love O let not these pious longings also be unsatisfied Let me not want the pleasures from which I have turned mine eyes away here and those pleasures too which I look for so earnestly and promise my self at thine appearing But let the same reason which moved thee to give me so much incline thee to give me more Let that mighty love which hath wrought in me desires bring me to the enjoyment And after thou hast pleased thy bounty in making me receive as much as thou wilt in this present state let it be thy pleasure to receive me to thee in a better and by giving me all I would have in the sight I expect of thee to leave no desires remaining in me Amen and Amen THE END Books written by the Reverend Dr. Patrick and Printed for Richard Royston at the Angel in Amen-corner 1. THE Christian Sacrifice a Treatise shewing the Necessity End and Manner of receiving the holy Communion together with suitable Prayers and Meditations for every Month in the Year and the Principal Festivals in memory of our Blessed Saviour In Four Parts The Third Edition Corrected in Twelves 2. The Devout Christian instructed how to Pray and give Thanks to God Or a Book of Devotions for Families and particular persons in most of the concerns of Humane life The second Edition in Twelves 3. An Advice to a Friend The second Edition in Twelves 4. The Witnesses to Christianity or The Certainty of our Faith and Hope In a Discourse upon 1 S. John v. 7 8. In two Parts in Octavo new 5. A Sermon Preached before the King on St. Stephen's day Printed by His Majesty's special command in Quarto Angliae Speculum a Glass that flatters not Presented to a Country Congregation at the late Solemn Fast April 24. 1678. In a Parallel between the Kingdom of Israel and England Wherein the whole Nation is desired to behold and consider our Sin and our Danger By a dutiful Son of this Church in Quarto The true Intellectual System of the Universe The first Part wherein all the Reason and Philosophy of Atheism is Confuted and its Impossibility Demonstrated By R. Cudworth D. D. in Folio A Sermon Preached before the King Feb. 10th 1677 8. By Z. Cradock D. D. Preacher to the Honourable Society of Grays-Inn and Chaplain in Ordinary to His Majesty in Quarto XXXI Sermons Preached to the Parishioners of Standford-Rivers in Essex upon several Subjects and Occasions By Charles Gibbes D. D. Rectour of that Church and Prebendary of St. Peter's at Westminster in Quarto new The Jesuits Loyalty manifested in three several Treatises lately written by them against the Oath of Allegiance with a Preface shewing the Pernicious Consequence of their Principles as to Civil Government Also Three other Treatises concerning the Reasons of the Penal Laws viz. I. The Execution of Justice in England not for Religion but for Treason II. Important Considerations by the Secular Priests III. The Jesuits Reasons Unreasonable in Quarto