such a glorious reward such blessed things as these reserved for the people of God hence then let us dwell a little in admiring at the goodness of God at the infinite treasures of the riches of the glory of the grace of God towards the children of men Certainly Brethren great are the thoughts of God towards mankinde wonderful are his ways to this poor creature of his What is man says the Psalmist nay what is man indeed when as we consider what God hath done for him In Rom. 8. 31. after the Apostle had spoke of glorification and of the blessed estate of Gods people hereafter says the Apostle What shall we say to these things So seeing these things are so that are revealed What shall we say to these things O the heighth and length and depth and breadth of the loving kindeness of the Lord how unsearchable are his judgements shall we say How unsearchable are his mercies and his mercies past finding out O how great is thy goodness which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee which thou hast wrought before the sons of men Psal 31. 19. If ever God wrought about any thing it was about the communication of his goodness to mankinde yea how great is it before the sons of men before us that have but a little made known to us How great is it before Angels then and before God himself In Psal 113. 6. it is said God humbleth to behold things that are done in heaven It is much that God should vouchsafe to behold any thing in heaven but now that God should vouchsafe to behold such a poor wretched creature as man is here upon earth and not to behold him onely but to work thus gloriously for him and that from all eternity to make it his great work to communicate himself to man O how does God humble himself here and how is his mercy and goodness to be admired and adored by the sons of men God is to be praised for the least of his mercies here but he is to be admired in the glory of his rich grace in heaven We read Psal 136. God is praised twenty five times for his mercies but the conclusion of all is Praise the God of Heaven for his mercies endure for ever his mercies as he is the God of heaven they are the glorious mercies indeed When the Scripture would set forth the excellency of a thing it expresseth it by heaven as the excellency of Christ He is the Lord from heaven 1 Cor. 15. 47. The excellency of God the God of heaven Jonah 1. 9. It is made the top of Christs glory that he is made higher then the heavens Heb. 7. 26. When Christ would shew the excellency of the bread of life he says It is bread from heaven the excellency of spiritual blessings is set out in this that they are blessings in heavenly places Eph. 1. Because gold is the most precious mettal therefore we lay it over other things not onely wood and cloth but silver it self so because heaven is so excellent the Lord gilds as it were his choicest blessings with this adjunct and all to shew the wonderful excellency there is in heaven it self Brethren God hath therefore revealed these things to us to that end that the glory of his grace might be great in the world God would have us have high and honorable and glorious thoughts of his goodness God would have the high praises of his grace to be in the hearts and in the mouthes of his Saints it is a great evil to have low and mean apprehensions of the glorious grace of God to mankinde you do not know what dishonor you bring to God in it If your hearts be not raised on high and enlarged in the thoughts of the free and glorious grace of God to mankinde it is an exceeding dishonor to him To see the riches of Gods glorious grace to the children of men it is a mighty work of faith and such a work as the soul is enabled to do onely by a mighty and glorious work of the holy Ghost in it indeed there is in the world a base and poor and mean apprehension of the grace of God in Christ such as does not work at all to raise and enlarge and glorifie the heart of a man but the true sight of the riches of Gods glorious grace it hath a mighty power to raise and enlarge and glorifie the hearts of the children of men while they are here as mark the expressions of the Apostle in his Prayer for the Ephesians 1 Ephes 17. 18. That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of glory may give unto you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him The eyes of your understanding being enlightned that ye may know what is the hope of his calling and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the Saints not the inheritance of the Saints but the inheritance in the Saints and the glory of the inheritance and the riches of the glory and they must not onely have understanding to know this but the eyes of their understanding must be enlightened and this must come from the knowledge of Christ from the Spirit of wisdom and Revelation and from the Father of glory the God of our Lord Jesus Christ The sight of the excellency and riches of Gods grace here it is that that is the work of God shining into the heart 2 Cor. 4. 6. For God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ The unsearchable truths of the Gospel are in that which hath been revealed so far as we are able to wade into them The sight of Gods rich glory is that which the Princes of the world have not known it is that which requires a work of the Spirit of God Of that Spirit which searcheth the deep things of God O brethren if you had a true spiritual sight of the richness of the goodness of God in the way of his communication of happiness and glory to the children of men then you see into the great design of God into the deep counsels of his wisdom then God hath laid open his heart unto you God hath brought you into the treasures of his riches and given you a view of them the very secrets of Gods soul are imparted to you and blessed are your eyes that have seen these things if the sight of Gods glory in his grace towards mankinde be seen in true beauty and height and glory indeed there is no fear that they should do hurt to any soul it is true the apprehension of the grace of God in a natural way is the cause of security or presumption in many but there was never any in the world that was furthered in a way of security and presumption upon the spiritual sight and view they
the Churches when they had got a little rest from their enemies Acts 9. 31. Then had the Churches rest through all Iudea Galilee and Samaria and were edified and walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the holy Ghost were multiplyed It is wisdom while our ship is in the haven to mend it there and to prepare it for storms that it may meet withal at sea when storms arise it is no time then ships lie in the harbor on purpose to prepare them for the dangers they meet withal afterwards in Sea Naturalists tell us that while the Halcyon bird is brooding her eggs and bringing forth her yong ones there is usually fair weather from whence we call pleasant weather Halcyon days she neglects not any of those days but is diligent in bringing forth her yong God gives us fair weather much peace that we may be diligent in our work to provide for after-times let none of those Halcyon days be lost CHAP. V. The Reasons of the afflicted estate of Gods people from the malice of the Devil and wicked men BUt what are the reasons why it must needs be that the estate of Gods people must be an afflicted estate First as long as there is a Devil in the world it must needs be he in his instruments is that red Dragon red with fury and rage he is that old Serpent full of poyson and deadly malice Pliny speaks of the Scorpion that there is not one minute wherein it does not put forth the sting as being unwilling to lose any opportunity of doing mischief He is called Satan an adversary the destroyer roaring Lyon he infinitely hates God and sins that sin that is the sin against the holy Ghost every moment he hates the holiness of God and the glory of God which especially shines in his Saints with deadly hatred he is cast out himself and therefore envies and vexes at the Salvation of any as one that had committed the sin against the holy Ghost said he wished that his wife and children and all the world might be damned together with him hence he is resolved that if any be saved it shall be with as great difficulty as he can procure Secondly the poyson of this old Serpent ungodly men have sucked up they swell with it and by it are enraged against godliness It is reported of Tygers that they enter into a rage upon the scent of fragrant spices so do ungodly men at the blessed savor of godliness I have read of some barbarous Nations who when the Sun shines hot upon them they shoot up their arrows against it so do wicked men at the light and heat of godliness There is a natural antipathy between the spirits of godly men and the wicked Gen. 3. 15. I will put enmity between thy seed and her seed Prov. 29. 27. An unjust man is an abomination to the just and he that is upright in the way is an abomination to the wicked Now the contrariety of antipathy is First deep rooted in the very natures of the things a contrariety of act is not so much as a contrariety of nature two sheep may oppose one another but there is not that opposition between them as between a wolf and a sheep Secondly it is an active opposition that will presently stir at the first appearance the wicked will presently discern a godly man and their hearts do quickly rise up against him Thirdly it is a strong vehement opposition For first it breaks all bonds of nature the bond between father and childe between brother and brother and all bonds of love and kindeness we have a remarkable example for this Numb 22. 3 4. Moab was irked because of Israel or did fret and vex so the words the same with that Exod. 1. 12. There was no cause for the Moabites thus to fret they were allyed to Israel for Moab was of Lot to whom Abraham was Uncle Israel passed by them in peace and by the slaughter of the Amorites they had freed them from evil Neighbors which had before taken away part of their Land and were likely in time to take away more yet being of a different Religion malice breaks all these bonds The like ver 4. of the Midianites who came of Abraham Gen. 25. 1 2. The Israelites had freed them from Sihons yoak and yet they conspire against them and seek their ruine Secondly it is mighty bitter where it is Psal 7. 13. it is said that God hath ordained his arrows against the persecutors the word signifies such as burn in danger and malice against the godly and the word translated ordained signifies God hath wrought his arrows he doth not shoot them at random but he works them against the wicked Illiricus hath a story which may be a Commentary upon this Text in both the parts of it One Felix Earl of Wartenburg one of the Captains of the Emperor Charls the fifth swore in the presence of divers at supper that before he dyed he would ride up to the spurs in the blood of the Lutherans here was one that burnt in malice but behold how God works his arrows against him that very night the hand of God so struck him that he was strangled and choaked in his own blood so he rode not but bathed himself not up to the spurs but up to the throat not in the blood of the Lutherans but in his own blood before he dyed Saint Paul Acts 26. 11. says of himself before his conversion that he was exceeding mad against the Saints of God this bitter malice that is in the hearts of wicked men against the godly puts them upon ways of opposition against all reason and common sence After John Huss was burnt his adversaries got his heart which was left untouched by the fire and beat it with their staves St. Paul in 2 Thess 3. 2. desires the brethren to pray That they might be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men the word is absurd men The malice of wicked mens hearts against the godly makes them break all bounds of humanity and go against Laws or any thing in way of opposition against the servants of God In the History of the persecution of the Merindolians we read of the Bishop of Aix being full of rage against them when the President Cassaneus would have allayed it a little telling him that the arrest of Merindol was not definitive and that the Laws and Statutes of the Realm did not permit the execution thereof without further process then said the Bishop If there be either Law or Statute that do hinder or let you we carry in our sleeves to dispense therewithal the President answered It were a great sin to shed innocent blood then said the Bishop The blood of them of Merindol be upon us and upon our successors then said the President I am very well assured that if the arrest of Merindol be put in execution the King
yet their glorious end raiseth their worth exceeding high and a spiritual eye looks much at the end and issue of things and therefore looking upon the Saints in regard of the issue of all they cannot but have a high esteem of them Eye hath not seen nor ear heard neither hath it entred into the heart of man to conceive the excellent things that God hath prepared for them that love him 1 Cor. 2. 9. And now a spiritual eye can see these things which a natural eye cannot as if they were present the glorious things that are to come and the glorious condition that such a one shall be in a spiritual eye cannot but fasten upon such a one and bless him as the blessed of the Lord. We do use to look upon great heirs that are appointed for great things and shall have great possessions with honorable respect though now they be meanly clothed in russet cloth or eating course bread and playing with beggars children so Gods servants howsoever they are in the esteem of the world yet those that know what they are to inherit what they shall receive hereafter cannot but look upon them as honorable A spiritual eye sees that that body that is now clothed so meanly within a few years shall shine more bright then the Sun in the firmament and that soul that is weak in parts and gifts it sees it as a vessel that shall be filled to the brim with all the glory of God and the Image of God to be made perfect and to have perfect knowledge of God and of the blessed Trinity and the mystery of the Gospel and all the great works of God A spiritual eye can see within a little while when Christ shall come in his glory he will own them before men and Angels and tell men and Angels These are those for whom the eternal councels of my Father did work and I was content to shed my blood for them and all that was intended in the great work of Redemption was for these A spiritual eye can see that within a while they shall be taken up with our Savior to judge the whole world to judge the Angels with Crowns upon their heads and palms in their hands triumphing ascending up with Christ to see the Father and to enjoy him everlastingly And if these things be seen as real and certain they cannot but raise esteem there is so much in Gods people here as not onely does convince a gracious heart but sometimes will convince one that hath but natural principles of their excellency Some men and women that do sometime rail at Gods people if we could see into their bosoms do sometimes bless them and wish that their condition were such as theirs shall be As Balaam wished he might dye the death of the Righteous and John the Baptist though he was mean for outwards yet Herod reverenced him because he saw some glimmerings of the excellency that was in him And that is observable that we have of Joash King of Israel 2 Kings 13. 14. he was a wicked man yet when he comes to Elisha and sees the Prophet was to dye says he O my Father my Father the Chariots of Israel and the Horsemen thereof this is the speech of one that was ungodly he had a reverend esteem of Elisha and it seems he walked so as he gained mighty esteem from wicked men as in 2 King 3. 12. three Kings came down to the Prophet to speak with him they do not send for him True it is one of them was a good man but the other two were wicked it was indeed in the time of their affliction yet it was a mighty honor the Prophet had from them It is reported of the Emperor Severus when Origen came to him he came very meanly cloathed onely one garment Severus sent him a Chariot and change of garments to come in pomp to him he refused to come in pomp and yet when he saw the piety and gravity of the man he was mightily convinced and it gained much respect from him The godly will gain respect from wicked men much more from a gracious heart that can judge as God judges and see the ends of things CHAP. XVII What we are to learn from that high esteem a gracious heart hath of the Saints in their sorest afflictions HEnce we see what a difference is between the men of the world and Gods people The men of the world are such as in all their outward pomp and bravery are base and wretched and Gods people in all their baseness and meanness are precious and honorable The wicked men are so vile as all the glory that the world hath cannot make them blessed and Gods people are so blessed as that all the evil of the world cannot make them any way miserable If a man had his hearts desire in all things that are here below he may remain as a base cursed creature but let him be gracious and godly and let him have all the misery that can be put upon him in the world he is one that God and the Angels and Saints look upon as the glory of the earth That is very observable we have of Antiochus Epiphanes in Dan. 11. 21. In his estate shall stand up a vile person and yet he was the great King of Assyria And Josephus reports the Samaritans wrote to him because he tormented the Jews to excuse themselves that they were no Jews and they writ Antiochus the mighty God and his name Epiphanes in English does signifie one that is illustrious and famous above others Though he was the great King of Assyria and by flattery was called the Mighty God and by his name called Illustrious famous above others yet by the holy Ghost he is called a Vile person But David speaking of Gods people whom he should do good unto says They are the excellent of the earth in whom is my delight Psal 16. the word signifies the magnificent of the earth The one is called The vile of the earth in the Psalm before and the other called The magnificent in this Psalm God hath made a separation between the wicked and the godly and therefore Moses says in Exod. 33. ver 16. Thou hast separated between us and other people the word that is translated separated is thou hast wonderfully separated between us and other people so God hath wonderfully separated between us and the world that the one should be so cursed that all the good of the world cannot make them blessed and the other so blessed as all the evil of the world cannot make them miserable When Agrippa was so admired that the people cryed The voyce of God and not of man God gives an Angel authority to smite him and he was eaten up with worms John though he was mean in the world the Holy Ghost calls him the greatest that was born of a woman Secondly this rebukes those that can see no excellency in those that are godly
therefore when any was converted it is said they were added to the Church And S. Paul Heb. 10. 25. lays a charge upon them though it were at such a time as they hazarded their lives Not to forsake the assembly of the Saints as the maner of some is And Mr. Calvin in a Sermon upon that Text Seek ye my face interpreting it thus The face of God is Gods Ordinances as a man is known by his face so God maketh himself known in his Ordinances and so he urges that place Seek my face that all Christians in conscience are bound to go where Gods Ordinances may be enjoyed if possibly they can And he says further It is better they should scrape the ground with their nails then to be any where else where they should not ioyn with Gods people in the ways of his Ordinances Certainly it is a great blessing to be with them though upon never such hard terms in regard of afflictions That is observable that we read of Jacob blessing his sons Gen. 49. 28. it is said He blessed every one of them How was that for you shall finde he rather seemed to curse three of them Reuben Simeon and Levi he speaks onely of evil to them but because they were not rejected from being amongst Gods people although they were to be under great and sore afflictions yet they are said to be blessed Well but why should we suffer much affliction for the joyning with Gods people What is there in them or amongst them that makes joyning with them to be so desireable First that point we handled before might be enough to shew the reason of this they are the excellent of the earth Isaiah 43. 4. I do not now speak of them particularly though every Saint is honorable but especially they are honorable in a way of Church communion Now we know it is a credit and priviledge to have society with those that are honorable Gods people are so they are the glory of the world as for others God speaks of them as dirt and dross Psal 119. 118 119. but now Gods people are called the glory of God himself Isaiah 4. 5. now it is good being with such as those are Peter when he saw but two of Gods servants together with Christ Moses and Elias says It is good being here let us make three Tabernacles one for thee one for Moses and one for Elias he never thought of himself it is good being here though he should lye in the field and in the rain and so says a gracious heart It is good being here with Gods people for they are precious whatsoever hardship we suffer amongst them Secondly there is no such comfortable communion in the world as with Gods people It is comfortable First in the very beholding of the shining of the graces of Gods Spirit in them says Heathen Seneca The very look of a good man delights me What is the glory of God himself but to see his own glory shining in the world in the works of creation and providence If God delights so much to see the resplendency of that glory that shines in his works surely it must be a great delight to those that have any work of grace to see grace shining in others Besides there is a blessed fragrancy of graces in Gods people as the eye is satisfied in beholding the beauty of them so the heart is satisfied in the sweetness of them Cant. 6. 2. My beloved is gone down into his garden to the beds of spices the Catholike Church is as the garden and every particular Church if it be as it should be is as a bed of spices that gives forth a very fragrant smell It is reported of Alexander his body was of such an exact constitution that it gave a sweet scent where it went and so a Church is of so good a constitution that it gives forth a wonderful sweet fragrant smell to those that have their right senses Again no such comfort as in communion with Gods people in regard of the nearness of their union one with another their hearts joyn and are one if they be truly spiritual other societies are but as the iron and the clay in the toes of Nebuchadnezzars Image they may cleave together but they will not incorporate one into another The more spiritual any thing is the more it does unite with that which is spiritual spiritual things are more unitive then such things as are bodily as if you have a heap of stones they do not joyn so close together but now a thousand beams of the Sun will unite together in one point because they are spiritual things in comparison and this is the reason why there is such a full union between God and a spiritual heart because God is so spiritual and the more spiritual the heart is the more union and so Christians having grace and grace being spiritual the more grace the more spiritual and the more spiritual the more union and the reason why in Church-fellowship there is so little union is because they are so carnal and therefore the Apostle says the contentions that were in the Church of Corinth were because they were carnal If you were more spiritual there would not be such division between you As it is in wicked communion those who are more spiritually wicked for there is a kinde of spiritual wickedness they do more unite together those that are more fleshly wicked do not so closely unite as your drunkards and prophane fellows though they call good fellows yet upon every cross word they are ready to fall out but others that are wicked in a malicious way against the godly and wicked in a way of policy to work to undermine the way of godliness such as those joyn together a great deal more strongly then those that joyn together in an outward fleshly way Now because Gods people are spiritual in a gracious way therefore they have such near union and union causes abundance of comfort We read Exodus 26. of two sorts of Curtains for the Tabernacle the one verse 1. of fine twined linen blew purple and scarlet and the tatches were of gold to couple them the other were of goats hair ver 7. and the tatches to couple them were of brass ver 11. Which may set forth the several sorts of people in the Church some are of a finer make then others more spiritual and the bonds of their union are golden others are more course and the bonds of their union are not so glorious but this is a truth for ever the more spiritual the more union the more pure the souls of men are and of the more excellent temper the more close sweet excellent in their union Again no such comfort as with Gods people because of the suitableness of that disposition that is in their spirits one with another having but one spirit and but one divine nature led by the same principles
garment of the Kings daughter the Church be of divers colours yet why may it not be like Christs garment without seam For the Lords sake let us take heed of divisions and quarrels especially let us take heed that under the pretence of Religion we do not maintain quarrels for this is to bring down the holy Ghost from appearing like a Dove to appear in the form of a Vulture or Raven You know what S. Paul says of speaking with several tongues will not he that comes in say you are mad When wicked men hear of so many dissonant opinions of so many dissentions among you will they not think you mad And because you all pretend Religion will they not think that that kinde of Religion which you pretend is a mad thing So far shall you be from making the way of Christ honorable in their eyes which yet should be the thing you should more desire seek after rejoyce in then your lives Religion hath the name from binding and certainly it is the best band of humane societies there is great reason then that we seek to keep it in the band of unity And that is the third thing I would say to those that are in Church-fellowship not to darken the excellency that is in communion with the Saints The fourth exhortation is that you would walk and live so as by your walking you may draw others to be in love with this fellowship as God hath made it to be glorious so that you would set out the glory of it to others that all that go by you should say Surely they are the blessed of the Lord certainly God is with them and therefore we will likewise joyn with them O what a blessed thing were it if we could by our lives convince others that we are the plants of the Lords own planting The lives of men convince more strongly then their words The tongue perswades but the life commands is the speech of an Ancient We read in Rev. 14. Those that stood with the Lamb upon Mount Zion enjoying communion there they had his Fathers name written upon their foreheads the glory of God shined in their foreheads a convincing conversation is that which God calls for at your hands Let the name of God be precious to you Is it not a precious thing to live so as to bring honor to God to hold forth the honor of God is all the glory we can bring to God let us be known to be those we profess our selves to be separated from the world by the holiness of our lives as Tertullian says of the Christians in his time they were known to be Christians from the amendment of their former lives You are joyned near to Christ as a girdle about a mans loyns take heed you be not as that girdle Jer. 13. A rotten girdle fit for nothing so were the Church of the Jews at that time but you should be as that girdle of Christ Rev. 1. A golden girdle about his paps By which the beauty and glorious condition of the Church in the Primitive times is described Let us walk so as to manifest and hold forth the beauty and amiableness of godliness in the eyes of all that they may see it whether they will or no and to force esteem from the consciences of men Cant. 6. 4. it is said of the Church She is terrible as an army with banners A Church of God that walks close to the rule is terrible to guilty consciences Let us walk so as when the Balaams of the world look upon us they may see our comely order so as to be forced to say O how goodly are thy tents O Jacob and thy Tabernacles O Israel as the valleys are they spread forth as gardens by the Rivers side as the trees of Lign-Aloes which the Lord hath planted and as Cedars beside the waters Numbers 24. 5. St. John Epist 1. chap. 1. 3. expresseth his desire for those whom he wrote to that they might have fellowship with him and the rest of the Saints and he brings this as an argument Truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ this would be a mighty prevailing argument indeed if we walked so before others as to manifest that we in truth have fellowship with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ then our fellowship would be desireable indeed CHAP. XXIII How should Gods people so walk as to draw others in love with their communion BUt how should Gods people so walk as to bring others in love with their communion First in the general take heed of those sins especially that those which you converse with are guilty of that they be not able to spy the same sins in you which their consciences accuse themselves of take heed of the pollutions of the world Cant. 6. 10. Who is she that looketh forth as the Morning fair as the Moon clear as the Sun and terrible as an army with banners The Church of God ought to be fair as the Moon but the Moon hath spots and therefore it follows Clear as the Sun and then she is terrible as an army with banners Either she will draw the hearts of others to love her or she will daunt their hearts Yea let them not see any defilement answerwable to their defilement for wicked men though they cannot spy evils in the godly yet surely they think they are guilty of the sins which they live in as well as themselves as Nero because he was unchast thought all the world was unchast and therefore the godly should labor to keep themselves from such sins as the world is guilty of that they may not spy such in them A godly man should not onely labor to be kept from outward defilement that may be done by the strength of a natural conscience without any sanctifying grace and it should be a shame to one that hath grace if he should not do that if he cannot do that how can he purge himself from secret and spiritual evils that are in the heart Secondly if you would walk so as to draw others in love to communion with you walk in singleness and uprightness of heart Acts 2. 46 47. They did eat their bread with gladness and singleness of heart praising God mark what follows having favor with all the people and God added to the Church Singleness of heart makes Church-communion lovely But what is that uprightness and singleness of heart that we are to walk withal By that I mean this namely to be sure that there be an answerableness in our conversation unto all those principles of godliness that we profess for take the most strict principles of Religion and the men of the world cannot speak against them and when it comes to this is all they have to say Ah! if it were in truth and in sincerity it were something but they are hypocrites they acknowledge the principles are right but they
of the world do envy one another because the good they look upon as their last end is so strait that if one have much room the other is straitned but the godly need not be straitned their good is in God and they have place enough to expatiate themselves and satisfie themselves If men were riding or sailing in a narrow passage they would envy him that were sailing before them that hinders but in the Sea they do not envy them because they have room enough to sail So in Christians that place their happiness in God where there is room enough there should not be envy Fourthly take heed of pettishness and frowardness or passions these do darken communion the meek spirit is fit for communion Moses suffered much for communion with Gods people and indeed he was fit to get good and to do good by communion he was the meekest man upon earth Fifthly take heed of self-ends in communion when men are so politick as to wheel about their own ends and not seem to aym at such things this hinders the sweetness of communion and though such may carry things a while as not to be discerned yet at last they will be discerned to have self-ends and all will be shy of them If you would have sweet communion indeed labor for open hearts to one another that you may trust one another Sixthly labor so to improve your communion now as every time you do enjoy it it may make your hearts to spring putting you in minde of that blessed communion you shall have with God and his people and think thus If we finde so much joy in enjoying communion with Gods people here what will there be in that communion our souls shall have in Heaven when we shall not onely have communion with some few of Gods servants but with all Abraham Isaac and Jacob and all the Prophets and Patriarchs As Cicero hath a notable speech concerning the happiness of his death O famous day that I shall go to the counsels of those famous men that I shall go from this rout of people and go and converse with those famous men But brethren for us to think that we through Gods mercy here have communion with Gods people and shall hereafter enjoy communion with the Saints of God for ever what is it worth the enduring if it were but the enjoying of communion with Moses alone it were worth all you have endured and therefore comfort your selves for the present in that you have and let your hearts be raised in hope of better things hereafter when you shall have them perfect Now we rejoyce that we are with Gods people if they be conferring about any thing of God and Christ but hereafter we shall see nothing but God in his Saints we shall see the full glory of God shining in them then the very bodies of the Saints shall shine more glorious then the Sun How glorious shall their souls be then There shall then be no more danger of fallings out and frampold carriages no more jealousies and suspitions but we shall see the image of God perfectly in them and we shall have perfect love to rejoyce in the salvation of any as in your own salvation and then we shall be with them in all holy exercises It is good to be with Gods people to trade with them but better to be with them to pray with them to receive Sacraments with them the better the exercise is the better it is to be with them Then what is it to enjoy communion with them and to be always in holy exercises always singing praises to the Lamb and giving glory to him that sitteth on the Throne for evermore blessing God for the great Mystery of the Gospel And therefore improve your communion so here as not onely to put you in minde of your communion hereafter but to prepare and fit your souls for it And thus is this point finished and now we are come to the seventh and last Doctrinal point out of Moses his Choice which is from the last words of the Verse Then to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season The Doctrinal Conclusion is this CHAP. XXV Whatsoever is but for a season cannot satisfie a gracious heart THat whatsoever is but for a season cannot satisfie a gracious heart Or Nothing but that which is eternal can satisfie a gracious heart Moses if he would have been satisfied with any thing that abided but for a season he might have had satisfaction enough but his heart was set upon eternity and therefore could have no satisfaction in things that were but for a season St. Paul says in 2 Cor. 4. 18. We look not at things that are seen but at the things which are not seen for the things which are seen are temporal but the things which are not seen are eternal We do not so much as look at things seen for they are temporal but there are other things that our hearts are upon which are eternal we look not at things that are seen but at things not seen The word notes these two things especially not onely that we believe things that are not seen eternal things but we look at them we minde them we do not much minde things that are temporal but eternal things are minded of us Secondly we do not make things that are seen that are temporal to be our scope and aim that which satisfies the heart is that which is looked at as the end and aim and scope of the spirit so that if a man could look at things seen as his aim and scope they would satisfie him but nothing that is seen can be the scope and aim of a gracious heart but eternal things are his scope and aim and therefore they satisfie him That nothing which is but for a season can satisfie a heart rightly principled appears First because there is no proportion between an immortal soul and fading transitory things indeed the sensitive soul that does depend upon the present temper of the body that is satisfied onely with present things and the reason is because it depends upon that which is present but the rational soul being immortal and not depending upon any such thing whatsoever it be that continues not for ever cannot satisfie it Secondly a gracious heart knows the things of eternity after another maner then any other does God hath revealed eternal things to it and upon the sight of those eternal things it comes to know it is taken off from all temporal things for all temporal things be they never so glorious yet in comparison of eternal they are but as the point of a centre to an infinite circumference Indeed while a man knows no better then temporal things the heart is let out upon them as the greatest good but when it comes to know the things of eternity the heart is greatned and all temporal things are but small to that soul when it comes to
45. Bless them says Christ that curse you pray for them that despitely use you that ye may be the children of your Father c. Why were they not children before Yes but this declares it now God owns them for his children If we behave our selves thus we shall have the comfort of this that our reproaches come to us as to Gods people whereas others cannot have the comfort of this you cannot have any comfort from this argument unless you behave your selves under reproaches after this maner Now what a great evilis this to cut a man off from that comfort which hath been spoken of in this argument and if you do behave your selves christianly under reproaches God is more and more engaged to stand for your names and you are more prepared for glory As he is not fit to govern that is not fit to serve but he that is fit to serve is so much the fitter to govern so those that can bear disgrace are fit to be honored and the greater glory will be afterwards As the Sun that shines through the clouds shines the brightest so when honor shall come through dishonor it shall be the greatest honor And then you shall come to know that honor is sanctified to you and that it is in love and you shall be more able to rejoyce in the honor that God shall bring to your names then you would have done and so your reproachers shall be servants to you There is onely one place of Scripture that I shall adde and so I have done with this point Job 17. compare the 6. verse with the 8. and 9. verses ver 6. He hath made me also a by-word of the people Job was a godly man and yet he was made a by-word What then at the 8. verse Upright men shall be astonied at this How Two ways either they shall be astonished at the horrible wickedness of men that shall contemn so godly a man as Job was and say Lord what boldness is in the hearts of the wicked that shall presume to dare to contemn such a servant of thine or the upright shall be astonished they shall admire at the wonderful way of God towards his people that the Lord shall suffer wicked men so far to go on in wickedness as to reproach his people The innocent the godly man shall see those that are hypocrites for not onely gross prophane ones are reproachers often times but hypocrites The innocent shall stir up himself against the hypocrite he shall not be damped but stir up his thoughts against the hypocrite The righteous also shall hold on his way shall not decline and not onely so but he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger And so I pass to the next point CHAP. XXXIV The reproaches of Gods people are the reproaches of Christ. IF you take the reproaches either materially or formally materially that is when all the sufferings of Gods people for which they are meanly esteemed and looked upon as contemptible all their sufferings are the sufferings of Christ Formally and that is the very scorn that is cast upon them is the scorn of Christ I intend to handle this point in both these materially and formally So that the thing we have to handle is That all the sufferings and contempt and disesteem of Gods people are the sufferings and contempt and disesteem of Christ So that Gods people may turn the speech of Christ concerning his Father The reproaches of them that have reproached thee have fallen upon me But we may say Lord and blessed Savior the reproaches of them that have reproached us are fallen upon thee and mark therefore in Heb. 13. 13. the reproaches of Christs people are called the reproach of Christ Let us go forth unto him without the camp bearing his reproach And the sufferings of Gods servants are called the sufferings of Christ Colloss 1. 24. and fill up that which is behinde of the afflictions of CHIST they are the afflictions of Christ and every one must make account to fill them up not the satisfactory sufferings of Christ but the sufferings of Christ in his mystical body in his members And so every member is to fill up a share in his sufferings And so Isa 63. 9. In all their afflictions he was afflicted The sufferings and troubles of Gods people are the sufferings and troubles of Christ he is sensible of them and therefore in Acts 9. 4. Christ cryes out Saul Saul why persecutest thou me Further compare two places together in one Psal 79. ver 4 12. at the 4. verse says the Text We are become a reproach to our neighbors a scorn and derision to those that are round about us And at the twelfth verse it is Render unto our neighbors sevenfold into their bosom their reproach wherewith they have reproached thee O Lord He goes on in the same argument and first he calls them the reproach of the Church and then the reproach of God But is it said here the reproach of Christ It may be asked Why not the reproach of God the Father or the reproach of the Holy Ghost The reproaches of Gods people are the reproaches of Christ in a special maner because Christ is the head of the Church and it is from the fulness of Christ that they have that grace conveyed which is reproached and the union they have with God and with the Spirit is by Christ and therefore it is the reproach of Christ here named according to the several workings of the Father and Son and Holy Ghost so the three persons are reproached by mans sin There is a reproach unto God as God and unto Christ as Christ and unto the Spirit as the Spirit There is a reproach unto God as he is Creator the preserver of the world and governor of all things When the work of God the first Person of the Trinity is reproached then he is reproached Prov. 14. 31. He that oppresseth the poor reproacheth his maker It is a work of the Father to order things so as to make one poor and one rich And you take an advantage to mock at the poor upon this difference which God hath made in the world when as you should honor the work of God in making any difference between you and others but in stead of honoring of it you cast an aspersion upon his work and despise others because God hath put them in a low condition you reproach your Creator in this And when the work of Redemption is despised when that is opposed and when the profession of the Gospel hath dishonor put upon it then Christ is reproached Heb. 6. 6. the Apostle says Those that fall off after they have tasted of the heavenly gift and the good word of God and the powers of the world to come they put the Son of God to an open shame And when enlightning and drawing and the quickening and comforting work of the Spirit is reproached and vilified then the Spirit
is reproached Heb. 10. 29. They do despite to the Spirit of grace So that you see both Father Son and Holy Ghost all three are reproached by mans sin not that the sin of man is able to cast the least stain upon the glory of the blessed God or make God to be less glorious no more then a little dust cast up into the air can darken the brightness of the Sun shining in its strength but it keeps the glory of God from shining upon others and upon himself so as he and others shall not see it and admire it and adore it as they ought If you ask why the reproaches of Gods people are called the reproaches of Christ I answer First as Chrysostome because they do suffer the same things that Christ suffers you shall finde the reproaches of Gods people and the reproaches of Christ are just alike one another In Psal 42. 6 7 8. there are three things upon which Christ seems to be reproached and they are the three special things upon which Christians are reproached As first the outward means of Christ in the world I am a worm and no man so the outward mean and low condition of Gods people subjects them to reproach Secondly Christ bore the world in hand that he trusted in God and depended upon God and no outward help and therefore they said Let us see whether he will deliver him being he trusted in him so the men of the world scorn at Gods people because they speak so much of God and trusting in God Thirdly they reproached him because he said God delighted in him so because the Saints of God do profess their relations to God and do expect an especial love of God therefore the world reproaches them Secondly it is the reproach of Christ in regard of the near relation and close union that is between Christ and his people As the reproach of the Wife is the reproach of the Husband and the reproach of the Husband is the reproach of the Wife because of their union and therefore in 1 Cor. 11. the Apostle calls the woman the glory of the man Either in regard that the man may glory in her if she be godly and good or else because the woman does honor the man the Wife is to honor her Husband and to give glory to him as the people of God are called The glory of God partly because God does glory in them and partly because they do give glory to God so the woman should be such a one as the man may glory in her and such a one as may give glory to her husband Now the Church is the glory of Christ as the wife is the glory of the man and therefore it is said in 2 Cor. 8. 23. speaking of Titus and others which were messengers of the Church he says they are the glory of Christ then certainly their reproaches must be the reproaches of Christ Nay there is a nearer union then this for this is onely by convenant but there is a union between the head and the members that is a nearer union the Church is not onely flesh of Christs flesh and bone of Christs bone but it is the flesh of Christ and the bone of Christ it is the very fulness of the body of Christ Eph. 1. 23. it is a high expression Yea and besides this the Church is called Christ mystical Christ 1 Cor. 12. 12. For as the body is one and hath many members all the members of that one body being many are one body so also is Christ that is The Church having many members ought to be joyned in union as the body yea there is yet anearer union between Christ and his people the in-being is mutual Christ is in them and they are in Christ John 14. 20. You in me and in you The arm is in the body but the body is not in the arm the branch is in the vine but the vine is not in the branch but here as the Saints are in Christ so Christ is in them and in regard of this near union between them their reproaches may well be esteemed the reproaches of Christ Thirdly because they are reproached for the sake of Christ if a dog be abused for the sake of his master it is the abuse of his master much more when Gods own people are abused for the sake of Christ and therefore we finde that this hath been the plea of Gods people for thy sake have we been killed all the day long it was for Christs sake rather then any evil in themselves And therefore though they be reproached for their sins it may come to be the reproach of Christ namely thus When as men shall take advantage the rather against them because they are professors of Religion and were it not for this reason they might justly reproach them yet when as they put in this reason They could bear well enough with the sin were it not they were professors of Religion then the reproaches that they justly might suffer for their sins do come to be the reproaches of Christ And further when in these they will take advantage to reproach the shews of Religion which in others they cannot bear well enough as when one that is a Professor expresses devotion in lifting up his eyes or his hands to Heaven they will reproach him for making shews of Religion and presently they are Hypocrites and yet there are others can make mighty shews and they are commended Again they are the reproaches of Christ because they are reproached in the work of Christ As when David sent messengers to the children of Ammon to congratulate their King and they cut off their garments half way and cut off half of their beards David presently counted it his reproach and so when Gods people are in Gods work and reproached surely it Christs reproach So Nehemiah was in Gods work and he suffered a great deal of reproach and mark how God is more provoked then Nehemiah Nehem. 4. compare the third verse with the fifth Lastly it is the Spirit of Christ that is in them that is reproached As if so be that the skill or influence that comes from a skilful Attificer that is put into one that hath learned that does as it were but act his spirit if he shall see him reproached for that work which is done by vertue of that influence which he had of his spirit in him then he counts himself reproached so all the gracious works of Gods people are by the influence of the spirit of Christ and therefore when they are reproached Christ is reproached we have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit of God says the Apōstle this is the reason of all opposition because of the difference of spirits now the spirit of God and the Spirit of the world are opposite But to come to the application of the point First if the reproaches of Gods people be the
godly convincing conversation Suppose others have cast an aspersion upon the ways of godliness because such are false and covetous yet walk thou in the contrary that Gods people may answer Though such and such be so what say you to such an one is not the breach made up in those And so much for that Use Sixthly we must not onely labor to wipe away the reproach of Christ But if Christ have suffered so much in us and for us let us labor to honor Christ as much as we can in the world and set up the name of Christ as much as others pull it down How are we to set up the name of Christ First in holding forth the beauty and glory of the Spirit of Christ in our lives that though Christ be reproached in others he may be glorified in us Others may be forced to say in their consciences Blessed be God that ever I saw such men I never saw the graces of Christ shine more brightly in any then in them And then set up Christ in speaking all the good we can of Christ in bringing others in love with him As they in the Canticles said What is thy beloved more then another beloved says she My beloved is the chiefest among ten thousands Again let us set up the Ordinances of Christ therein appears the honor of Christ and let the beauty of his holiness appear in his Ordinances that men may say Blessed are the people that are in such a case Fourthly let Christ have the honor of our names and of all our comforts Surely if he have the shame of our reproaches he should have the honor of our honors If he have the pain of our sufferings surely he must have the praise of our comforts Christ hath a share in our sorrows shall he not have a share in our comforts when we are reproached he is reproached when we are honored let him be honored too What a sad thing will it be that when you go out of the world it should be said Christ hath had more dishonor by you then he hath had honor Seventhly If Christ suffers in all our sufferings hence we learn not to rush into sufferings before we be called to them nor to withdraw from sufferings when we are called to them Christ suffers in all our sufferings then it is not in our liberty to rush into sufferings when we please though it should be in the cause of Christ Indeed if we suffered alone we might venture but because Christ is interessed in it we must stay till we know whether Christ be willing to suffer though our time be come yet it may be Christ will say My time is not yet come because it is in a good cause you think you may suffer in it but consider is Christs time come In Proverbs 10. 10. it is said He that winketh with the eye causeth sorrow but a prating fool shall fall when a man is loth to stand for those truths of God that shall bring him into suffering he winks He that winketh with the eye causeth sorrow he will bring sorrow to his heart But others will say We will not wink with the eye it is the cause of God and we will stand for it but a prating fool shall fall A true man may ride in the rode and fear no danger yet he will not willingly ride into dangerous places and so a man is not to ride into danger As now if you be partners with another you cannot give what you will because it is not your own but it is your partners too If a man have a cottage of his own alone in a field he may set it on fire but if he set his own house on fire in the town it may cost him his life because others are interessed in the damage as well as himself Again if Christ do call we must go freely because they are the sufferings of Christ It is reported of Peter in Ecclesiastical Story that he was coming out of Rome for fear of suffering and as he was coming out of the gates he met Christ and he asked Christ wherefore he came says he I come to be crucified then he thought Christ came to be crucified in him and therefore he went back and resolved to suffer and so he was crucified And so though we be shy of suffering yet if we know Christ calls to it we must yield as being willing to suffer in us But when are we called There is an ordinary call and an extraordinary call The extraordinary call is by the Spirit And that is first when there are none that will stand for the cause of God in an ordinary way Secondly those that God calls extraordinarily are such as have extraordinary graces They act not their own natural boldness but are carried beyond it by a mighty work of Gods Spirit And therefore thou mayest suspect thy self that thou art not called extraordinarily but after much humiliation and much abilities to deny thy self But for an ordinary call First then we are called when if we do not suffer Gods cause will suffer Secondly when God does take away the means and helps of delivering us from suffering Thirdly the more helps are taken from us the more we finde the consolation of Gods Spirit come into us But when helps are taken away and the Spirit of God does absent it self shall we fear then that we are not called Some think surely they must not suffer then they shall betray Gods cause If they do because they do not finde God present with them If God do give you a fair way to escape when his presence is gone you may take it but if he shut you up that you cannot escape you may comfortably go on though now he be gone he will return again as it was with Mr. Glover who wanted the presence of God even till he came to the Stake and then he clapt his hands and cryed He is come he is come The last Use of the point is this If Christ suffer in his people and if all the evil you cast upon Gods people is Christs then all the good you do to them is Christs If when you speak evil of Gods people and reproach them you reproach Christ then when you speak well of Gods people you speak well of Christ If when you persecute Gods people you persecute Christ then when you relieve Gods people you relief Christ Christ will own the good that is done to his people as well as the evil And therefore as the argument once was Relieve all strangers for some unawares have done good to Angels So now do all the good you can to Gods people for unawares you may do much good to Christ And thus I have finished the second point from this Verse That the reproaches of Gods people are the reproaches of Christ Now we are to proceed to the third CHAP. XXXVIII A gracious heart hath a high esteem of
natures shall be raised unto and in that consider these three things First the perfection of their bodies Secondly the perfection of their souls Thirdly the perfection of the whole man First the perfection of the bodies of the Saints is no little matter and because so long as we are in the flesh and live by sense they are bodily things that do affect us therefore I will shew a little the perfection of the bodies of the Saints they shall have much of the recompence of the reward in their bodies In the general their bodies shall be made like the glorious body of Jesus Christ Phil. 3. 21. Certainly the body of Christ is very glorious in the transfiguration of Christ which was but a little glimpse of his glory how glorious was the body of Christ In Rev. 1. Saint John had a little glimpse of the representation of Christ and how glorious is it set forth the body of the meanest Saint shall be like the glorious body of Christ What is that I will go no further then that I finde in 1 Cor. 15. 42 43 44. and there are four things that set forth the glory of the bodies of the Saints when they come to attain the recompence of reward First it is raised in incorruption Secondly it is raised in glory Thirdly it is raised in power Fourthly it is raised a spiritual body First every Saint of God shall have an incorruptible body there shall be no more death it shall be made incorruptible in regard of that fulness of the presence of God with it If spices enbalming of dead bodies can keep them so long as they do sometime from smelling surely the glorious presence of God with the body shall have infinite more power to keep the bodies of the Saints incorruptible What would we give if a Physitian were able to give us a potion to make our bodies incorruptible that they should never dye yet as they are now it is hardly worth the desiring to have them incorruptible but when they shall be glorified and incorruptible too that is glorious They shall be incorruptible not subject to any suffering as God is able to binde up the active power of a creature that it shall not be able to act so he can binde up the corruptible power that it shall not work to corruption as in fire God can binde up the power of fire that it cannot burn so God can binde up the power of any creature that hath any corruptible power that there should not be the least passion that tends to corruption All sufferings come from the prevailing of the stronger agent over the patient and when any suffer it comes from some kinde of inability of the form of the patient whereby it begins to leave the matter in some degree now the bodies of the Saints shall be so formed with such an excellent form and so filled with the glory of it as that there can be no power external or internal that shall prevail against this form to weaken it And besides the reason that is given why the Heavens are incorruptible may be given why the bodies of the Saints shall be incorruptible the Heavens are of so excellent a form that the capacity of the matter is fully filled up and there may be truth in that reason so the bodies of the Saints being in their blessed estate into which they shall be raised they shal have such full satisfaction with the form wherewith they are informed that there shall not be the least propension to receive any other from Secondly it is raised in glory and that consists in these two things First in the admirable beauty of it Secondly in the wonderful lustre and splendor of it First in the admirable beauty of it having all parts in proportion and exact temper whatsoever can make one beautiful shall be in the bodies of the Saints if we could extract all the beauty of all the men and women in the world and put them into one it were but as a deformed thing in regard of the meanest of the bodies of the Saints in Heaven and much of the beauty will be not onely from their exact temper and comeliness that God shall put upon them but likewise from the excellency of their souls within them and from the unspeakable joy and cheerfulness of the heart And then the splendor and the lustre of their bodies says the Scripture They shall shine as the stars in the Firmament look what splendor is in the stars such shall be in these clay bodies of ours Daniel 12. 3. Yea they shall be in greater splendor then the stars they shall be as the Sun Matthew 13. 43. He that hath ears to hear let him hear and believe this that it shall be so that the bodies of the Saints shall shine more glorious then the Sun in its strength You will say How is it possible that this should be yes this is but according to that expression in Phil. 3. 21. Who shall change our vile bodies that it may be fashioned according to his glorious body according to the working whereby he is able to subdue all things unto himself It does not require a greater power to raise from the least degree of glory to the highest possibility as it is to make a thing out of nothing and therefore the making of the least creature out of nothing will argue more power then making the bodies of the Saints to shine brighter then the Sun in the Firmament Now certainly God in the glorifying of the Saints will manifest that power that he did in the creating of the world and if it does not require so much power to raise their bodies into such a glorious condition as to create a creature out of nothing then there is no reason why we should not believe this We know when Moses had been but forty days on the Mount with God when he came down among the Israelites his face did so shine that they were not able to behold it surely the glorified bodies of the Saints being eternally present with God shall shine far more gloriously then Moses face did and that is for the splendor of them Thirdly it is sown in weakness and raised in power now the strength and power of them appears in these four things First in that the body shall be able for to attend the soul in the most high operations here if the soul be exercised about any high and glorious object the body presently fails as in the extasies of the Prophet when God revealed himself extraordinarily to Daniel his body failed He fainted and was many days sick Dan. 8. 27. But there shall be that power in the body as it shall be serviceable to the soul in the most high and glorious operations that it shall have when God shall manifest himself in the fullest way that possibly can be Secondly in that it it shall every moment to all eternity without any intermission be exercised in
the Monarchs and great ones of the earth and so to be honored in the eyes of those that were their enemies and contemned and reproached them and vilified them before and likewise their glory shall be in this to rejoyce in the execution of the sentence that is pronounced upon those that are condemned Lastly their glory shall be in their glorious ascension with Christ into the highest heavens ranked in their comely order with triumph and joy singing Stand open ye gates and be ye open ye everlasting doors that the King of glory and all his redeemed ones may come in Thirdly the possession of heaven the Kingdom of heaven shall be theirs the heaven of heavens great things are spoken of that there are these things considerable in it First it is the third heaven there is the heaven that is the space between the visible firmament and the earth the second heaven is the Orbes wherein the Sun and Moon and Stars are and then there is an heaven above them which is the seat of the blessed which is of an infinite heighth above all now it as a sweet confideration for the people of God when you are going out in the evening and seeing the firmament spangled with the Stars to have such thoughts as these What shall one day this body of mine be lifted up beyond yonder place Though now you lie low in some dark hole there is a time when God shall lift you up to be above that spangled firmament that spangled firmament is but the pavement of your Fathers house it is but the outside and if the outside and footstool of Gods house be so glorious how glorious is it within how glorions is the presence Chamber This world is made for Dogs for the Enemies of God and those that are more vile then any creatures he does not think much to have swine live here but you do not suffer swine to come into the presence Chamber or into the Dining-room now heaven is the presence Chamber and Dining-room for that eternal feast to be solemnized in and that must needs be glorious Secondly it is called our Fathers house This is not our Fathers house though we should be caught up where the Stars are that is not our Father house that is but the out-room Says Christ In my Fathers house there are many Mansions God was from all eternity a heaven to himself before the world was then he created the highest heavens to be the place of his presence not that he is comprehended there but that he would have a place for his glory more fully to shine in Again it is a place prepared from the beginning of the world and Christ is gone to prepare it for us If there were such a building here that all the men of the world had been building from the beginning of the world and they had all the pearls and jewels of the world to set into it and all the inventions and strength of men and Angels to help them to build it would be glorious but in comparison it is but a dungeon to this The brightness of this is exceeding glorious says Chrysostom when you see a sumptuous pallace you look upon it and are taken with it but it is but as a dungeon to your Fathers house The light of that shall be of another nature then the light of the world the light that we have here is a material light but the whole body of heaven is of an higher nature then the body of the Sun and there shal be such a glorious presence of God as there shall need no Sun Moon and Stars to enlighten it and then with the brightness of the body of Christ and the brightness of the bodies of the Saints there shall be a glorious lustre And for the large extent of it the lowest heavens are but as a prick of the center in comparison to the starry heaven and the starry heaven is but as a prick of the center to the highest heaven Men boast here if they have but a few clods of land as Socrates put a scorn upon Alcebiades that boasted of his lands he brought him to the Map of the whole world and prayed him to shew them there and there was not one prick vouchsafed for them in it What is a little land to a countrey and what is a countrey to the world and the world is but as a prick to the lowest heaven and the lowest heaven is but as a prick to the starry heaven and the starry heaven is but as a prick to the highest heaven and the Saints shall possess all that You that have no possessions here know there is a possession hereafter that is more then if you had all the Lands in the world Besides it is of an incorruptible nature it is an inheritance incorruptible The reason why the heavens and so the soul is incorruptible is because it is not made out of pre-existing principles it was made out of nothing and nothing but an infinite power can annihilate a thing as well as make a thing out of nothing Much is said of that place for the description of it Jerusalem was but a Type of it and the Land of Canaan was but a Type of it and Paradise was but a Type of this glorious place that is provided for the Saints of God Let us therefore raise up our hearts to consider of this And as we read in Gen. 13. 14 15. where God shewed to Abraham the Land of Canaan says God look Northward and Southward and Eastward and Westward for all the land which thou seest to thee will I give it and to thy seed So consider the vastness of the Heavens and the exceeding extent of them and consider this is the Inheritance of the Saints We know we have an abiding eternal inheritance our bodies shall abide eternally and the Heavens themselves are eternal this should quiet our hearts when we finde any discontent in our habitations it is no matter in what Countrey we are here there is a glorious Countrey we are going to Christ our elder Brother is already gone and hath taken possession of Heaven for us as if so be there were some great inheritance did befal you here and you cannot go to possess it and if you hear one is there for you who hath taken quiet possession for you and you shall be sent for in time convenient will you not be content So we are not fitted for Heaven but Christ is gone before to take possession and within a while we shall go and live with him The earth is too mean a place for the Saints and yet the world is not worthy of the Saints of God in a mean condition then the world shall not be worthy of the Saints in their glorious condition and therefore there must be a place above the world Yet know Heaven is not enough for the Saints the Saints of God are of such spiritual raised spirits as
but the Saints of God are are his image and this shall be their happiness to see the glory of God in themselves A man may delight to see beautiful colours but you take more delight if you can by looking in a glass see your selves beautiful and see those beautiful colours in your own clothes but if we could have the glory of the Sun and the Moon and all the creatures in heaven shining within our bodies that would be counted glorious indeed but to see the divine excellency and the top of the divine excellency of the infinite God shining within us this will be a mighty happiness Base sensual carnal hearts think there is no content but in satisfying the flesh What sweet and content have many but in their eating and drinking and their pallate is pleased and in that their other senses are satisfied and they think this is the excellency of man But take a schollar that hath but the exercise of his understanding to finde out truths and those things that are suitable to the rational part and he sees more excellency there then in any sensual thing and he can scorn sensual delights If there be so much content to the minde in viewing the things here what content will there be to the minde in beholding God and his glory There are two reasons of content in seeing things In regard of the object or in regard of the act of seeing it self Let the object be what it will there is delight in the act of seeing and understanding For a man to understand that which is evil it gives delight to the minde and it is one of the perfections of God that he understands evil as well as good so that there is content and delight in the act of seeing though there be no delight in the object but when the object is pleasing too that addes much to comfort and delight therefore content in the sight of God must be the highest content because there is the highest act of understanding and the highest object to see that can be And thus I have endeavored to open unto you the second blessed thing that the Saints shall have in Gods being their portion they shall see God Blessed are your eyes says Christ That you see those things that you see and blessed are your ears that heard those things you hear So blessed are the eyes of Gods people that do see any thing of God here and hear any thing of God here but blessed are the eyes that shall see God hereafter That which I labor for in pressing these things is to take off your hearts from these things below and that you may see what you are capable of and if your hearts be mad upon your sins and you will perish you shall know what you lose me-thinks if men did know what they lose by their sin they would cast it off with indignation and therefore when your sin comes and tempts you say What shall I lose all this for such a way of sin CHAP. XLVII The blessedness of Union with God THirdly they shall have union with God Sight is higher then presence and union is higher then sight John 17. 21. Christ prays to his Father That they may be one in us as thou art in me and I in thee For the opening of this union with God you are to know that there is first an union that God hath with all creatures in general Secondly an union that he hath with the humane nature of Christ Thirdly the union that he hath with the Saints First the union that God hath with all creatures in general and that union is twofold An union of dependance or an union of his immense presence Of dependance because all creatures in the world depend upon God for their being and continuance of their being every moment therefore there must be an union of God with them for if the union of dependance were broke evey creature would fall to nothing As the beams of the Sun have an union with the Sun and the beams could not continue if they were not united to the Sun so all the creatures have an union of dependance with God without which they cannot continue And then the union of immense presence that must be because God is in every thing and every where there is not the least spire of grass or stone but there is a way of Gods immense presence in that Secondly there is another kinde of union that God hath with the humane nature of Christ and that we call an hypostatical union for the humane nature and the divine nature to be united in one person this is that the Saints and Angels of God shall be adoring God for to all eternity that ever there should be such an union between the Deity and the Creature that if it were not revealed to us in the word it were impossible to be imagined by any creature It is a great work of God to unite an immortal soul with such a base creature as our flesh is into one person I do not know any one work of God in creation so great as this and this is to be admired at but if this be so great a work to unite a rational immortal soul into one person with a corruptible piece of flesh then to unite mans nature into one person with the second person in Trinity this is a great work Thirdly there is an union of God with the Saints and that is in this World or in Heaven In the World there is a fourfold union that God hath with the Saints First there is an union of the inhabitation of the Spirit for the Saints of God in this World are the Temples of the Holy Ghost and the Spirit of God is said to dwell in them and so there is a glorious union by the inhabitation of the Holy Ghost in them The second union that the Saints of God have in this world is the union of similitude the Saints are like God here in some measure they have the image of God stamped upon them God sees his face in the Saints The brightest glass in the world to shew Gods face is the souls of the Saints and there is not onely some likeness of God in the Saints but the likeness of God in his very life A glass may represent my image but that image hath not that life that I have but the image of God in the Saints does not onely represent God but they have the life of God those that are converted live the life of God and by sin we are estranged from the life of God they work as God works God understands himself the highest and infinite good and God wills himself as the highest and infinite good these are the chief actions of Gods life Now the Saints of God live this life they in their measure do here understand God as the highest and infinite good and do will God as the highest and infinite good A
knows the minde of God that soul can know how to savor these things and know the reality of them Again another reason why these things are above the reach of most people is because they are not acquainted with the mysteries of the Gospel and what in them is revealed concerning mankinde If we were acquainted with the mysteries of the Gospel we would not think these things strange that are revealed Thirdly because mens hearts are not enlarged with Gods image for the present therefore they cannot savor any thing but that which hath some savor of the creature Fourthly because they are not acquainted with the first-fruits of Heaven whereas those that are godly have some beginnings of eternal life wrought in them here and upon that these things are not so strange to them their hearts can close with them and suck out abundance of comfort from them And thus we have finished the fourth thing of the reward namely To have God for their portion CHAP. L. The Saints happiness in Communion with Christ NOw the fifth particular in the reward of the Saints is the communion that they shall have with Jesus Christ God and Man there are divers things in which the happiness of the Saints consists in having communion with Christ God and Man It was one of Saint Augustines three wishes To see Christ in the flesh It would be a great delight to you to see Christ in the flesh Many make much of the Picture of Christ and if they had it right they would make more of it but if Christ should come to any of your houses as he did when he lived upon the Earth in his mean condition would it not greatly delight you but when we come to enjoy communion with Christ in Heaven it will be another maner of communion then that upon Earth We accounted the Apostles blessed men that lived with Christ upon the Earth what a blessed condition will it be to live with Christ in Heaven If there were such vertue in Christ upon Earth that there came such vertue from the hem of his garment what glory will there be in Christ in his full glory If Christ were so glorious when he was in his transfiguration how glorious is he being glorified before men and Angels eternally in Heaven With the glory that he had with his Father before the beginning of the World If there was so much vertue in the Apostles of Christ in regard of the reference they had to Christ as from the shadow of Peter and the Napkins that were taken from Pauls body there was such power as to heal diseases what vertue must needs come from Christ when we shall come to enjoy him when we come to see Christ that was the author of all our good We read of the poor Cripple when he was healed by the two Disciples he ran and catched hold on them and was loth to go from them who had been the instruments of so great good to him but for the Saints to come and be with Christ who hath been the instrument of so great good to them as Christ hath been what an infinite happiness will this be we read of many that would go long journeys to see those men that had any excellency in them as some would go from the utmost parts of Greece to Rome to see Livie Themistocles to see Christ then in whom is so much excellency will be glorious And then to have communion with him it is he in whom God the Father takes full satisfaction surely he must be the full satisfaction of the Saints this is that which Christ prays for First he prays for his own glory and then he prays for the Disciples and all Believers That they might be with him to see his glory O to see the Lord Jesus glorified as he shall be glorified must be a glorious thing As to see his glory in regard of the lustre of his Divinity through his humanity when Christ pleased to let out any lustre of his Divinity through his humanity here men were not able to bear it as those that came to apprehend him when he said I am he they fell down backward now in Heaven the lustre of Christs Divinity shall shine mightily through his humanity so in him our bodily eyes shall come to see God as much as it is possible for any creature to see him because God shall be let out through the humanity of Christ as much as it is possible for the Divinity to appear in any corporeal substance or in any creature We shall see him with these our eyes as Iob says We shall see how the power of an infinite God can convey the lustre of a Deity into a creature Certainly Angels and men will be continually viewing of Christ he shall come to be admired of the Saints he shall be admired at the day of Judgement in the Saints but in Heaven they shall see such excellency in Christ God and Man as they shall be admiring at him to all eternity as much as they did at the first moment here if we see any thing that is excellent we admire at first but after a while we do not so but there will be so much excellency in Christ as we shall so admire at it to all eternity as we did at the first moment for there shall be no abatement of our being taken with the glory of the sight of Christ Blessed are your eyes says Christ that see those things you see and blessed are your ears that hear those things you hear It is a blessed thing to see the things we may see here but to see the Divinity shine through the humanity this will be a great blessing And we shall see him in the glory that the Father will put upon him Certainly God will put an infinite glory upon his Son because the Lord was so infinitely well pleased with the satisfaction of his Son Because he subjected himself to the death of the Cross therefore He hath given him a name above all names And we shall see the glory of Christ when all the Angels shall be worshipping of him and all the Saints shall be singing with Praises and Hallalujahs to him And this shall be the business in Heaven eternally to be admiring Christ and praising God for Christ And then we shall see him in his glory triumphing over all his enemies in bringing them down and in his glory when he shall have brought to perfection that great work that he did undertake Now to see Christ thus glorified and for us to enjoy communion with Christ thus in his glory this will be a glorious reward for Gods people This glory of Christ will be made the glory of the Saints as a Queen that sees the Prince in his glory she delights in it because it is her glory and so the Church when she shall see Christ her husband in his glory she shall rejoyce in it because she looks upon it as her own I