that God may be seen by the eye i.e. understood of the glorified understanding cannot be denied by any that believe Scripture or duly consider wherein the happiness of the glorified Saints must needs consist But how or in what manner he shall be seen is that which by this dim light which now we see by is wholly undeterminable The Schoolmen are wont to say that the blessed shall see God essentially or by his essence immediately intuitively comprehensively not indeed comprehensively as God sees and knows himself but yet comprehensively in contradistinction to apprehensively Yet some of them say that the Vision of God is not comprehensive but apprehensive only all make it intuitive quidditative immediate and some of our own Divines follow them in this Tenent I shall give my thoughts of it in a few Conclusions There be some Arguments against this immediate intuitive Vision that either cannot 1 Conclusion or at least have not been answered to satisfaction I will form but one only Argument in which I will suppose nothing but what is granted by all which is this that the understanding of the blessed is not infinite thus That which is infintte cannot by a finite understanding be known so as it is in it self But the Divine essence is infinite Therefore it cannot be known as it is in it self by a finite understanding The Major is grounded on a thing infinite which is such as it cannot be passed over so as to come to the end of it Answers to this Argument I have met with many but such as are either apparently impertinent or else do plainly yield the cause of this there will be little doubt by any that shall read over the Discourse of Gishertus Voetius de visione Dei per essentiam for in that Discourse the Answers to this Argument are out of various Authors recited and replied unto and that to satisfaction A second Conclusion I lay down is this 2 Conclusion This immediate intuitive Vision is not therefore to be denied because there are some Arguments against it which we know not how to answer for there are Arguments for it which carry in them great probability and will difficultly be solved and the state of bliss is such as eye hath not seen nor ear heard nor did ever yet enter into the heart of man Thirdly 3 Conclusion Therefore Scripture is to be searched and if the phrases thereof do hold out such a vision we may warrantably receive it if not it must be rejected or at least be left as a Probleme to be disputed rather in the Schools than to be handled in Pulpits A fourth Conclusion is this 4 Conclusion The expressions of Scripture do not necessarily infer an intuitive immediate vision of the divine essence This can be proved only by examination of the particular places that are brought by the assertors of this Vision They are either of the old or of the new Testament In the old The Lords answer to Moses is much insisted on Thou canst not see my face for there shall no man see my face and live All that these words intimate will be must be granted and it is no more than this That such a full sight of Gods glory as Moses desired is not to be expected till the dust of mortality be blown out of our eyes the eyes of our mind now can no more endure to see the face of God than the eyes of an Owl can behold the Sun in its noon-day glory this although it were a gross mistake of the Jews to infer natural death presently to befal any person that should have a sight of God under any visible representation yet it might well give occasion to Augustine to make that quick reply Lord if I may not see thy face and live let me dye to see thy face But how an Argument should from thence be formed to conclude an immediate intuitive vision of God in glory I cannot easily conceive more colour there is in the Apostles phrase Now we see through a glass darkly but then face to face 1 Cor. 13.12 now I know in part but then shall I know even as also I am known These truly are wonderful expressions and such as afford unto us the greatest security that all privative imperfection shall be done away and that we shall have as full a sight of God as our natures are capable of we shall have as full a knowledge of the Divinity as we can rationally wish for such as shall leave no room for complaint much less for envy Greater things then this I find not are said of the Theology of the blessed Angels their happiness is but this They are ever beholding the face of God Mat. 8.10 But let a Syllogisme be thence formed They who shall be admitted to see God face to face shall see him immediately intuitively quidditatively But glorified Saints shall see God face to face Therefore They shall see him immediately c. I will deny the Major and do despair of ever seeing it proved from this Text the phrase of seeing God face to face doth not necessarily import such a vision for then should Jacob Moses c. on this side glory have seen God comprehensively immediately intuitively quidditatively which I presume none will affirm nor is there any circumstance in the tex or context that should determine it so to signifie in Saint Paul's speech Object It is said We shall know as we are known Answ It is true But similitudes do not alwayes quadrate run upon all four God knoweth us so far as we are knowable Do we know God so to It is impossible God should not know us but is it impossible we should not know God Could he not hide himself from us if he pleased We do not know God in every respect as he knows us therefore it doth not follow from this phrase that we should know him quidditatively immediately intuitively because he knoweth us so unless there be some other Scripture remaining on which such a kind of knowledge may be built and other there is not unless it be that of Saint John John 3.2 We shall see him as he is These words I confess come nearer the terms of the Schools than any other I could ever observe in Sacred Writ yet neither can these without violence be extended to the seeing of the Divine essence essentially my reason is because the object here promised is not the Divine nature or being but the Lord Jesus Christ the Mediator and that according to the nature which he assumed in the fulness of time and in which he shall at last appear to judge the world when he so appeareth we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is i. e. in the brightness and fulness of his state of exaltation here we saw him but in his state of humiliation then we shall see him in his state of exaltation As he is set on the right hand of
you to is to exercise your selves much in the vision of God here and to that end I would have you 1. Make much of your glasses But 2. Take heed of resting in and being satisfied with your glasses First Make much of your glasses Be thankful for them How many Churches of Jesus Christ have their glasses taken away or broken Robb'd and spoiled of all their precious things and have not so much as a glass left wherein they might have some glimpses of divine light conveyed into their understanding Oh Christians before it be so with you make use of your mediums While you have the light walk in the light c. Bless God that the Sun is not totally gone down upon your Prophets Mich. 3 6 nor the day dark over them God hath done that for you in as much wonder and more mercy that once he did for Joshua caused your Sun to stand still in your Gibeon c. Oh bless God for it Make his praise glorious And secondly Make good use of your mediums attend Reading and Hearing and Prayer and Sacraments while you have them take heed of that dangerous notion of being above Ordinances it is a Precipice upon which many have stumbled into darkness Oh that it may not prove utter darkness the blackness of darkness for ever There is a living above Ordinances which hath a good sence in it that is First When God hath taken away Ordinances or permitted men to take them away then to live above them i. e. to be able to live immediately upon God as knowing that though God hath tied us to means he hath not tied himself to means he that converts and saveth by Ordinances can do his work without them the means can do nothing without God but God can do what he will without the means so to live by faith is exceeding precious Secondly In the use of Ordinances to look above Ordinances to look up to God whose Ordinances they are as only able to make his own Institutions effectual to the accomplishing of his own ends thus to use Ordinances and to trust God is excellent but for a people while they have Ordinances to slight them and neglect them and talk of living above Ordinances this is intollerable pride and folly yea it is a mocking of God to be wiser than God and instead of living above Ordinances to live without God Oh learn to make much of the Ordinances lest that angry question come and sweep away all Wherefore is there a price in the hand of a fool to get wisdom Prov. 17.16 seeing he hath no heart to it A second thing I would call you to is while you use Ordinances to take heed of resting in and of resting contented with Ordinances an Ordinance of God without the God of the Ordinance what an empty glass is it There is a vision of Ordinances and there is a vision in Ordinances oh take not up with that without this pray for such a spirit as he had whose voice it is Psal 63.1 My soul thirsteth for thee my flesh longeth for thee David was now in the wilderness banished from the Tabernacle and Ark Altars those legal Ordinances of the Sanctuary I but it is not the bare Ordinances that will serve his turn but God in the Ordinances thee thee my soul thirsteth for thee my flesh longeth for thee Oh Christians let the same mind be in you which was in holy David make God the object of your vision in your Evangelical attendances God commands it Seek ye my face Psal 27.8 Seek the Lord and seek his strength and seek his face evermore Psal 105.4 Oh let your hearts eccho with David's Thy face Lord will I seek or as it may be read Let my face Lord seek thy face What he meaneth by the face of God and so by thee thee in the 63. Psalm he expounds himself ver 2. That I may see thy power and thy glory in the Sanctuary namely the powerful and glorious manifestations of God in his Ordinances the manifestation of all his divine attributes and excellencies that which God offered unto Moses Exod. 33.23 and which our Lord promiseth to all his loving and obedient Disciples John 14.21 He that loveth me shall be loved of my Father and I will love him and will manifest my self unto him yea Father and Son ver 23. we will come and make our abode with him This is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the height and altitude of our Gospel vision as God told Moses thou shalt see my back-parts the face of God the vision of God his essence whatever it is that is reserved for an higher form the vision in glory yea I must tell you the clear manifestation of any divine truth in the brightness of it upon the understanding and in the sweetness of it upon the heart is this Evangelical vision as well as those higher manifestations of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit in divine ravishments I say when it pleaseth God by the Spirit to beam in Gospel-truth from the very face of Christ not into the head only but into the heart with such a glorious light 2 Cor. 4.6 1 Peter 2.9 that it seems to be the same in the Soul as it is in Jesus the very glory of God so that the Soul stands wondering at the light when in his light we see light divine truth by a divine irradiation not by borrowed mediums and natural representations only by its own native brightness and lustre This this Christians is Gospel vision which as it doth necessarily tend to so it will infallibly expire into the beatifical facial vision in glory How rare are those Christians that do experience this vision of God in the Ordinance yea how rare are they that do thus breath and pant and cry out for the living God with this holy Psalmist Hence darkness hence deadness hence formality a powerless profession hath wofully spread it self upon the face of Christianity yea upon the very reformed parts of it Let Christians stir up themselves and let their souls press hard after God when they come to Ordinances or else this very thing will be worse to them than all the evil that befell them from their youth until now it may provoke God to withdraw even the Evangelical vision from them here and without great repentance to deny them admission to the beatifical vision hereafter They that will not seek Gods face in Grace shall not see Gods face in Glory The sixth and last object of the beatifical vision is Sixth Object of the blessed vision All things in God All things in God God is the universal Library of all truth whether divine or natural yea all truth quà truth is divine and doth emanate from the God of truth in whom it is there to be read as in its original and lieth open for all the whole Vniversity of those heavenly Academicks to peruse Yet we must remember that the
it with all thy might Labour hard here 's eternal rest after thy labours Rev. 14.13 Blessed are the dead that dye in the Lord for they rest from their labours Thou hast but a moment to work in but an eternity to rest in be industrious now and anon thou shalt be glorious Enter now into thy Lords Vineyard and soon thou shalt enter into thy Lords Joy Take pains here there remains a rest an eternal rest not an eternity of being only but an eternity of well-being Ever be with the Lord. Ply the Oar of duty Christians a blessed Haven is at hand you look for more than others what do you do more than others Never did servants expect such a recompence of reward The gift of God is eternal life Rom. 6. ult Oh let the fear of missing this glory urge you to the greater diligence let it stir you up to the most severe and intensive acts of holiness and obedience Phil. 2.12 Work out your expected salvation with fear and trembling he that runs for a great prize fears he should fall short Let us fear Heb. 4.1 lest a promise being left us of entring into his rest any of us should seem to fall short you cannot merit it by your diligence but your may forfeit it by your sloth Oh work and work out your salvation Hope calleth up a Saint to duty he is said therefore to be saved by hope Christ in the soul and hope of glory Rom. 8. 1 John 3.8 cannot be an idle and sluggish principle He that hath this hope purifieth himself even as he is pure There are no bounds to his holy endeavours after conformity to Christ his hope to live with Christ in heaven puts him upon utmost essayes to live the life of Christ here on this side heaven Momentany enjoyments are strong inducements to worldlings to greatest pains and labours and will not the everlasting fruition of God make you stedfast unmoveable and alwayes abounding in the Lords work 1 Cor. 9.52 They run saith Paul for a corruptible crown but we for an incorruptible Oh how should we run They rise early to build an house that in one hour may be consumed to ashes what pains should we take to get an interest in that house which is eternal with God in the heavens They toil and moil and sweat to heap up riches for an unknown possessor and shall not we labour for that better portion that cannot be taken from us Heb. 3.2 Moses was faithful and active in the house of him that appointed him Chap. 11.26 and this did in a great measure excite him he had respect to the recompence of reward and shall we fear to over-do our work who have a clearer prospect of heaven than Moses had His face was vailed we see with open face There 's no inducement to take pains comparable to this ever with the Lord 2 Cor. 3.13 18. Ever in the Presence-chamber of the greatest Monarch in the world may ever upon the Throne giving laws to Kingdoms ever increasing treasures of gold and silver and precious stones ever bathing in the full streams of sublunary pleasures is no wayes comparable to one moments enjoyment of the presence of the Lord in heaven Let that mans money perish with him said that noble Marquess Galeacius Caracciolus who esteemeth all the gold in the world worth one dayes society with Jesus Christ and his holy Spirit c. I have often thought with my self that if heaven were capable of grief those very rivers of pleasures would swell with the tears of glorified souls to think that they have served God no more served him no better did no more for that God who hath prepared such an heaven full of glory for such an unprofitable servant as I have been Oh how coldly did I pray for this inestimable blessedness How unaffectedly did I hear the report of this great salvation And what little pains did I take for this exceeding and eternal weight of glory which exceeds all hyperboly While slightest expressions are too big for my diligence What! all this joy and so little pains to obtain it All this glory and so little zeal for the glory of God! So great an harvest and so little seed sown So great a reward and so little service Surely there would be a day of humiliation kept in heaven and it might well take up half eternity to bewail the Saints remissness in the work of the Lord were heaven capable of it or did not the reflection of glorified souls upon the former iniquities of their holy things issue only unto the admiration of the riches of that grace which hath brought them to glory But though heaven will not admit of grief thy present estate will mourn therefore that thou hast been so dead and so dull in the service of God who hath set before thee no less a reward than the enjoying of himself to all eternity and let the sense thereof quicken thy dead heart to work after another rate for the little remnant of mortality yet behind Say not yet there is two much sand left in the glass for God and eternity say rather Oh that were it not to keep me so much the longer from my Fathers presence oh that every hour yet behind were a day every day a month every month a year every year a life it were all too little for that hope which is laid up for me in heaven Oh had I an hundred pair of hands they were too little to imploy in my heavenly Fathers work an hundred pair of feet they would not carry me fast enough in the way of his Commandments an hundred pair of eyes were not enough to behold God in every Creature round about me Col. 1.13 a thousand tongues were not sufficient to trumpet forth his praises who hath made me meet to be a partaker of the inheritance of the Saints in light Oh Eph. 5.16 what shall I do If I cannot love God more serve him better bring him more glory than hitherto I have done I am undone I am undone Oh redeem Christians the eternal Jubile is at hand the trumpet is ready to sound and the glorious eternal liberty of the Saints and Servants of God ready to be proclaimed up and be doing now as ye would be found when Christ shall come with his mighty Angels and his reward with him that you may hear the blessed Euge Well done good and faithful servant enter into the joy of the Lord. Vse 4 In the fourth place This may serve as a preservative to the people of God to keep them from fainting and falling away in time of sufferings and persecution for righteousness sake after a moments sufferings they shall have eternity of rest they shall ever be with the Lord and thenceforth there shall be no more sufferings nor sorrow all tears shall be wiped from their eyes and everlasting joy shall be upon their heads once hous'd in
12. Ch. 5.8 Their patient bearing of the Cross Their keeping of the word of God in the precepts of it and keeping close to it in the Truth of it Their superlative Love to Christ Math. 10.37 Their Cordial Love to the Saints 1 Jo. 3.14 Their Contempt of the World 1 Jo. 2.15 Their Love of Christs appearance 2 Tim. 4.8 In a word Their conformity to Christ their Head Rom. 8.29 These and the like Divine Vertues although not seldome more visible to a judicious stander by than to themselves and not to be weighed but with some graines of allowance in the ballance of the Sanctuary these I say may administer abundant matter of hope and rejoycing to surviving Friends that those Relations which are fallen asleep were a people whom God hath set apart for himself pretious in his sight honourable and beloved of him a people formed for himself to shew forth his praise Col s 1.13 and made meet to be partakers of the Inheritance of the Saints in Light Yea even in them whose Sun goes down in the morning of their Youth A teachable Spirit Math. 13.16 Isa 28.9 71 Psal 5. Jo. 16.8 1 John 2.13 John 17.3 Pious Inclinations Sense of a lost Estate by Nature A Competent knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ in his Offices A real sense of the need and use of Christ 1 Pet. 2.7 2 Tim. 3.15 Ps 119.13 An early acquaintance with the Scriptures A good understanding of the Word Preached not without some savour of it Respects to Gods Sabbaths And in a word 1 Kings 14.13 Any good thing toward the Lord God of Israel These early Impressions I say where ever they are found though according to different ages and capacities more or less legible in them are so many hopeful Indiciums that God hath been at work upon their hearts betimes and that he doth not untimely take them away in judgment but are polished Jewels which he hath of special grace laid up and secured from the violence and prophanation of a reprobate world Nay once more Those very Babes and Sucklings whom God is pleased to remove from us very early snatched from their Mothers Breasts yea possibly who pass swiftly from the Womb of their Natural Mother unto the belly of the Earth their Original Mother even these I say they being A Covenant seed Appendices of their believing Parents Children of promise Act. 2.39 Consecrated unto God by their Baptisme or by the Tears and Prayers of their holy Parents in the want of it having a right to the mercies 1 Cor. 7.14 Rom. 9.11 Mar. 10.4 Luk. 1.44 Gal. 1.15 Renatiante quam nati Aug. priviledges of the Covenant as well as to Baptisme Among whom is dispersed God the Father's Election God the Son's purchase God the Holy Ghost's Influence and Operation Even these are not to be looked upon as a lost Generation but may in the warrantable judgment of Scripture Charity be hopefully reputed for an Holy Seed Gods adopted Children owned by Christ and in him heires co-heires of the Kingdome of Heaven by special prerogative advanced to their Inheritance as it were before their time Upon this Foundation stands our hope concerning our Godly Relations which are fallen asleep of what age or state soever we are not to mourn for them even as others which have no hope Let them mourn excessively who know not the Scriptures nor the power of God in raising the Dead who bury their Relations and their hopes together in one Grave but you that upon these Scripture evidences have good hope through grace concerning your deceased Friends that while you are mourning on Earth they are rejoycing in Heaven that whiles you are Cloathed with black they are Cloathed in white even in the long white Robes of Christs Righteousness while you are rooling your selves in the Dunghil they are sitting with Christ upon his Throne Do not I beseech you profane your Scriptural hope with an unscriptural mourning give not the world occasion to judge either your selves to live without Faith or your Relations to dye without hope but let your Christian moderation be known to all men that it may be a visible Testimony to all the world of God's grace in them and of your hopes of their glory with God Therefore comfort one another with this word also A third word of comfort followeth and that is A third word of Comfort Our gratious Relations are not alone in their Death The Captain of their Salvation did march before them through those black Regions of Death and the Grave Jesus died this is implied in the following words If we believe that Jesus died This is a third consolatory Argument and it carryeth in it strong consolation Our sweet Relations in dying run no other hazard than Abraham Isaac and Jacob did no other hazard than all the Patriarchs and Prophets and Apostles did in their generations they all died and were resolved into their first dust Yea what shall I say They run no other hazard than the Lord of all the Patriarchs Prophets and Apostles did Jesus died this is wonderful indeed the Lord of Life died The eternal Son of God was laid in the Grave If our Children die we know we begot them mortal The Son of God had no principle of mortality in him * i.e. No sin in him to deserve it nor disease to cause it and yet he died Be our Children never so precious to us they cannot be so pretious to us God forbid they should as the Lord Jesus was to His Father who testifies concerning him from Heaven with a loud voyce This is my well-beloved Son Math. 3.17 in whom my Soul is well pleased And yet God gave up this well beloved of his Soul to the death Jesus died And we indeed justly Death is but our wages wages as truly earned as ever was a penny by the poor hireling for his days labour both we and our Off-spring have forfeited our lives over and over again by continual reiterated Treasons against the supreme Majesty of Heaven and Earth yea the best blood which runs in our veins is Traytors blood by succession from our first Rebellious Parents for which God might justly have executed the sentence at first imposed even as soon as ever we draw our first breath Thou shalt dye the death Gen. 3. But He what evil had he done He was holy harmless undefiled Heb. 7.26 Isa 53.61.71 Heb. Ho hath made the iniquity of us all to meet in him separate from sinners He did no sin neither was there guile found in his mouth He fulfilled all Righteousness and yet Jesus dyed And why so Surely he was wounded for our Transgressions he was bruised for our Iniquities the Chastisement of our peace was upon him and by his stripes we are healed we all like Sheep have gone astray we have turned every one to his own way and the Lord hath laid upon him the Iniquity
bodies shall be transfigured into the likeness of his own Glorious body How according or suitably to the mighty working whereby he is able to subdue even all things unto himself God can do what he will and that 's enough And thus I have opened the first Consequence of Christ his Last Coming sc The Resurrection of the Saints as formerly in respect of the 1. Author The Lord Jesus 2. The Precedency of it they that are alive shall not prevent them which are asleep they shall rise first So also now 3. In respect of the manner of it the bodies of the Saints shall be invested with four glorious qualities 1. Incorruptible 2. Glorious 3. Powerful 4. Spiritual By all which it shall be conformed to the Glorious Body of our Lord Jesus It may be of Use 1. For Counsel 2. For Comfort and but a word of either First It may serve by way of Counsel 1. Use Of Counsel and that unto all indefinitly You that would secure unto your selves an interest in the glory which shall be put upon the Saints bodies in the Resurrection labour to experience this beatifical transfiguration first in your Souls on this side of the Grave Labour to get your vile spirits to be made like to his glorious Spirit Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ put Him on by an holy and universal Imitation Labour to be meek as He was meek Holy as He was Holy Pure as He was Pure Merciful as He was Merciful Heavenly as He was Heavenly And Joh. 4.34 Let it be your meat and drink to do the will of him that sent you and to finish his work * A. Christ was the brightness of his Father's glory 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Insculpta forma the express Image of his Person So do ye study in your finite capacity to be the brightness of Christ his glory the express Image of his Person Oh labour to get his Image and similitude to be deeply engraven upon your hearts and to scatter the beams of it in your Conversations Philip. 2.15 for the enlightning of a dark world Behold this shall be the evidence and first-fruits of your future conformity to Him in the Resurrection of the just The ground and Reason is because that blessed Transfiguration which shall conform the Saints to Christ their Head and Husband in the Resurrection and from thenceforth to all Eternity hath its beginning here in Regeneration Ephes 4.23 24. or the New Birth wherein they are renewed in the Spirit of their minds Bâ—ta referts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unto 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In the Regeneration ye also shall sit upon twelve â—nâ—â—nes and do put on habitually the New man which after God is Created in Righteousness and true holiness Jesus Christ is formed in their hearts And upon this very account is the Resurrection styled also the Regeneration Math. 19.28 In the Regeneration ye also shall sit i. e. in the Resurrection ye also shall sit c. And it is therefore called the Regeneration because the Resurrection shall perfect in the Saints what the Regeneration begun sc Conformity to Christ their Head and Husband in Holiness Yea at the Resurrection the Image of Jesus Christ shall be compleated as on their Souls so on their bodies also because that Image was begun upon their Souls on this side the Grave in their New Birth accordingly as they were predestinated to both in the purpose of God Rom 8.29 from all Eternity The Resurrection to Grace here and to Glory hereafter is but one and the same Regeneration Whosoever therefore is a Stranger to this Transformation of Spirit in the Resurrection to Grace shall never partake of that Transfiguration of body in the Resurrection to Glory The bodies of the wicked shall be raked out of their Graves with all their defects and excesses all their mis-shapes and deformities which they carried with them to their Graves in their perfect ugliness which were the shame and curse of the fallen nature an abhorrency to God and Angels c. Yea to the very Devils themselves whom they shall have to be both their Companions and Executioners The Saints of God were the world 's derided persecuted Non-Conformists here but themselves shall be Christs and his Saints Non-Conformists hereafter when their Carcasses shall be cast out for a spectacle of shame and abhorrency unto all flesh for ever Isa 66. ult Christians as you love your Souls and would bear the Image of the Son of God in his Kingdom and glory Study this Soul-Conformity now and make it your business Labour to feel this blessed change wrought in your hearts and let the world behold it in your lives without which all your Confidences concerning that day will prove but so many delusions Rom. 5.5 to aggravate your shame and everlasting dispair Hear oh hear how the Disciple of Love doth argue When He shall appear we shall be like Him Glorious But why 1 Joh. 3.2 cum c. 4.17 Because As He is so are we in this world He disputes from Conformity to Christ in the Gospel-state to Conformity to Him at this Appearance We shall c. because we are c. By such Argumentations Christians Philip. 2.12 1 Tim. 6.18 19. 1 Joh. 4.17 Work out your Salvation with fear and trembling that ye may have boldness in the day of Judgment c. Secondly It may serve by way of Comfort Second Use Consolation and for that end it is written by the Comforter Himself in this model for Comfort I say in reference to our sweet Relations that sleep in Jesus over whom not seldom we spend our fruitless Tears take we heed lest sinful also while we compare their once lively sweet amiable Countenances which sparkled so much beauty and delight in our eyes with their pale ghastly Visages in the Grave where they say to Corruption Job 17.14 thou art my Father and to the Worm thou art my Mother and my Sister We look upon them I say not without a kind of trembling and horrour as if their Ghosts appeared to us out of their Graves or that we our selves were buried with them alive in the same Coffin Ah Sirs why stand ye not with the men of Galilee Act. 1.11 gazing up into Heaven but with Peter stooping down and looking into the Sepulcher Behold I bring you glad tydings of great joy The day is coming when that Corruptible shall put on Incorruption and that Mortal shall put on Immortality when that poor dust over which thou now mournest that vile body shall put on its Angelical Robes and shall more surpass it self in its freshest and liveliest colours while yet in the land of the living than that beautiful pile of flesh and blood did exceed it self when it was resolved into rottenness and dust Look not then oh ye Children of God upon your Selves or your Relations as they lye in the Grave but contemplate them as
all that believe 2 Thes 1.10 Oh how will such an Acknowledgment as this made by the Judg himself fill the Elect Angels with Admiration and the Reprobate with Envy that not the least guilt should be charged upon them by whom they themselves knew so much having been so many eye-witnesses as I may say the one to their grief as Tutors the other to their joy as Tempters Yea how will it fill the Saints themselves with amazement while they are secretly accusing themselves with Josephs Brethren we are utterly guilty concerning our Brother our Lord and elder Brother I say to hear the Lord himself not charging them with the least unkindness yea representing them before God men and Angels even as it were as immaculate as the Angels themselves who kept their first Estate yea in all this putting the Crown upon their head Rev. 4 10. which they cast down at his feet saying Not unto us O Lord not unto us but unto thy Name give the Glory Behold such honour have all the Saints And oh Use of Consâ—lation How will this infinitely compensate all the reproaches and scandals which a generation of malignant Cainites did cast upon the Saints of God while they sojourned with them in Mesech had their habitation in the Tents of Kedar speaking all manner of evil against them 〈◊〉 malam Verbum Gr. lying falsely for Christ's sake How will it cut them to the very heart to hear the Judg himself speak so honourably of those very persons whom they reviled with so much pride and contempt Mich. 7.10 shame shall now cover them which said Where is the Lord your God Their eyes shall behold them and now they shall be troden down as the mire in the streets Math. 5.12 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let them rejoyce and skip for joy Oh let the Saints even here rejoyce and be exceeding glad because for their repreach they shall have praise and for their shame they shall have double sc renown and glory and for their confusion they shall rejoyce and triumph in the approbation of their Judg and Redeemer c. yet behold all this is but the beginning of their Triumph I come now to a second end of the Saints meeting with Christ in the Air Second end The Saints publick justification consisting and that is their Full and final Justification And this consists of two parts 1. Their publick Absolution 2. The Judg's Pronouncing of them to be Righteous First Their publick Absolution Pardon of Sin is the privative part of Justification Imputation of Righteousness is the positive part Pardon or Remission is the Sinner's Justification sc from sin both from the guilt of sin and from the sentence or punishment due to sin By him sc by Christ all that believe are justified from all things Acts. 13 39. from which they cannot be justified by the Law of Moses This now must be one branch of the solemn justification of the Saints at their meeting with the Lord Jesus in the Air as a Judg he shall fully and finally in open Court Absolve the Saints from all their sins both guilt and punishment from which there was no Absolution ever to be expected by the Covenant of works This truly was done before initially at their first Conversion then were their sins truly and perfectly pardoned though not as some too presumptuously affirm all past present and to come Rom. 3.25 for sin to be pardoned before committed is somwhat an uncouth doctrine yet all 1. As to sins already past 2. All as to the state of Remission Jus ad rem though not jus in re an aptitudiâ—al right though not an actual 1 Jo. 1.9 Ch. 2.1 Rom. 8.16 they had a perfect right to the pardon of all their sins past present and to come though not an equal investiture Pardon was theirs and Absolution theirs though it was to be applied to them from time to time upon new acts of Repentance in them and new acts of Intercession in the Mediator and so likewise by new acts of Application by the Spirit thus the Saints were truly pardoned at the first moment of their Regeneration or new Birth And Secondly Fully and perfectly their sins were forgiven at the moment of their dissolution at death I say not only their right and state of Absolution was perfected but all their sins were so fully and finally forgiven them that at the moment of their Souls going out from the body there was not one sin Omissive or Commissive nor any Aggravation or least Circumstance left standing in the book of God's Remembrance And this is the true Reason 1 Jo. 1.7 The reason why the Judg makes no mention of the Saints sins why there is not as I told you even now the least mention made of sin in their tryal at Christ's Tribunal because they were all pardoned fully and finally at the hour of their death all scores were then crossed so that now when the books are opened and perused there is not a sin to be found but all blotted out and all Reckonings made even in the blood of Christ There was a punishment indeed due to sin but that was forgiven or taken off Psal 32.1 Ashre nesuâ— pâ—shing nesui from nasa Hebr. elevaâ—e Num 23.24 Châ—sui from Chasah â—gâ—re Lo Jaâ—ha shâ—b Iehovah is gnavon as the word signifieth blessednesses to the man whose transgression is forgiven i.e. the punishment of whose transgression is taken off There was a stain or pollution in sin but that is covered covered so close that it cannot be seen no not by God's all-seeing eye he hath not seen iniquity in Jacob c. Likewise there was a guilt in sin but that is not imputed and that 's the meaning of the former passage he hath not seen iniquity in Jacob i. e. not seen so as to impute it I say there was sin enough and enough for which God might have sentenced all the Jacobs in the world to Condemnation and have cast all the Israels that ever were into the bottomless pit but it is gone it is forgiven pardon makes such a clear riddance of sin that it is as if it had never been Isa 1 18. the scarlet Sinner is as white as snow snow newly fallen from the skie which was never fullied the Crimson Sinner is as wool wool which never received the least tincture in the dye-fat Here is I say Ier. 50.20 the reason why when the iniquity of Israel is sought for there is none and the sins of Judah and they are not to be found Ier. 31.34 for I will pardon them c. Yea not forgiven only but forgotten and should they now be remembred The Judg had long since cast their sins behind his back and he will not now surely set them before his face Ier. 38.17 he had cast them into the depths of the Seas bottomless depths of everlasting Oblivion that they might be buoyed up
Eph. 3.10 Lectures read in the Assemblies of the Saints for some insight into the mystery of Christ in the Gospel Oh how ready and able will they be to pay their debts with an abundant interest out of the immense volumes of knowledge which they have treasured up The Communications of their love their holiness their zeal their heavenliness c. what united flames will they make when they be joyned in communion and converse with the graces and perfections of the Saints Object If it be objected Is there not enough in God to fill the Saints to the vastest capacity What need then of Star-light when the Sun shines Yea may not the Saints conversing with Angels and one another be thought to be a diversion from the supreme object of light and love Sol. To this I answer No and the reason is because all the perfections and excellencies which are in the Creature are as so many beams and emanations leading the eye of the beholder to the Sun it self the body and fountain from which they do spring August saith we shall see God in his Saints and their glorious actings as well and as manifestly as now we see mens bodies in the vital actions of their bodies De Civit. Dei l. 22. c. 29. or as learned and holy mens Commentaries and Expositions are to the holy Scripture which do neither detract from nor add to that immense volume of truth but serve only to illustrate it and to render it more intelligible to the dark and imperfect understanding of the Creature Surely such an infinite full Text as God is will stand in need of some marginal notes as it were To see God in his Saints and the Saints in God this will be no diminution of the bentifical Vision All the excellencieâ— in the Creature are but drops from God the Fountain 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The glorious Angels and Saints are alwayes sunning themselves in the presence of â—od and will keep company together to all Eternity A fourth Object The glorified body of the Son of God to help the Reader as Christ is said in the dayes of his flesh to be the Exegesis or Interpreter of the Father unto us John 1.18 So may the Angels be to the Saints in Heaven and such is all the glory of Heaven yea so is the humane nature of Christ himself now in glory the great Expositor of the Divine Essence a Mirrour or Glass wherein we come to see God more clearly and fully Which brings me to A fourth Object of the beatifical Vision and that is Christ himself or the glorified humane nature of the Lord Jesus Christ in his humane nature exalted to the right hand of his Father the highest seat in glory far above all principality and power Eph. 1.21 and might and dominion and every name that is named not only in this world but in that which is to come This is the highest beatifical object in Heaven next to the divine Essence the sight of Christ as man it was the great design which the Lord Jesus had in redeeming them with his blood â—â—â—n 17.24 Father I will that they whom thou host given me be with me where I am that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me And sâ—rely this will be a glorious sight indeed behold of the glory of Christ in his transfiguration it is said That his face did shine as the Sun and his rayment was white as the light If the glory of his transfiguration was so excellent what will the glory be of his exaltation If the glory of his foot-stoul was so excellent how will the glory of his throne excel in glory If he appeared so bright upon an carthly Mountain how transplendent will he appear upon Mount Sion the Mountain of God that heavenly Mountain If such were his lustre in his state of humiliation before passion what beams of Majesty will shine from his face in his state of glorification when he is to receive the reward of his passion Behold there appeared then with him only Moses and Elias what will his glory be when all the Patriarchs and Prophets all the Apostles and Martyrs the whole Society of the Saints with the whole host of the mighty Angels that begirt his Throne with their hallelujahs and joyful acclamations Mark 9.6 That vision of Christ on earth did fill Peter and the Disciples with wonder and astonishment even to an extasie so that the Text tells us He knew not what he said Oh with what joy and ravishment shall the sight of Christ in glory fill the glorified Saints when their faculties shall be so raised that they shall understand what they see and profess what they unstand Surely Peter and all his fellow Saints will then say and know what they say Lord it is good for us to be here What a beautiful beatifying Object this will be Considerations evidencing the glory of Christs humane nature 1 Considerat The reward of his Passion we may guess for more we cannot by these three Considerations The first Consideration is this The glory of the humane nature of Jesus Christ in Heaven is the reward of his Passion here on earth In respect of the divine nature and as Jesus Christ was the second Person in Trinity the glory which the Lord Jesus now possesseth at his Fathers right hand was the glory which he had with the Father from before the foundation of the world John 17.24 but as to the assumption of the humane nature it was glory given him by the Father Christ had a twofold right to the Kingnom of glory sc natural and constitutive natural as he was the only begotten Son of God and so of the same nature and essence with the Father from all eternity and so whatever power and glory was essentially the Fathers was essentially the Sons also But then besides that Heb. 1.2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tuit Jesus Christ had also a constitutive right or a right by donation as he was appointed and made heir of all things now this constitutive glory as I say was the fruit and reward of his sufferings Phil. 2.7 8 9 Because he humbled himself and became obedient to death even the death of the Cross Therefore hath God highly exalted him and given him a name above all names c. Because and Therefore the exaltation of his humane nature was the merit and compensation of his humiliation and abasement Now then if we would make an estimate of the glory of Christ now at his Fathers right hand we cannot find out a more proper medium than to make a serious and if it were possible a thorow search and enquiry into his abasement and humiliation And certainly if there had been nothing else in it but his incarnation or the assumption of our flesh it had been an infinite abasement to the Son of God so deep an abasement as it had been blasphemy for men or Angels to
is holy be ye holy because God is holy In a word study an holiness that knows no limits but what it shall have in Heaven an holiness without any stint still pressing after further degrees of conformity unto Jesus Christ unless your holiness be of this impression you can never hope to see Gods face and if your hope be a true Scripture hope your holiness will be a right Scripture-holiness 1 John 3.3 S◠diaeeru fot est periisti He that hath this hope in him purifieth himself as he is pure Where ever you stick you perish Labour for such an holiness as will give you admittance not into the Church only but into Heaven without which no man shall see God no men of what classis or form soever they be whether such as have no holiness and care for none all profane persons Shall eyes full of adultery ever see God the holy God Shall eyes full of anger and revenge see God! the meek merciful God Et sic in caet All such as deride holiness or despise holiness or persecute holiness such as have neither name nor thing yea that perfectly hate both shall they enjoy God The Apostle sends them this word expresly There is no room for them in Heaven And indeed what should such do there There is nothing in Heaven but what is holy holy Angels and holy Saints and above all a thrice holy Trinity Father Rev. 4.8 Son and Holy Ghost Holy Holy Holy the Lord God Almighty the beauty of whose face is holiness alas there is nothing for them to see or hear but what is an abomination to their souls Holy words yea the very word Holiness they now stop their ears at it it is vinegar to their teeth they make faces at it holy Ordinances they cannot bear them the impurer the Ordinance is the better they like it An Holy God they say of him Isai 30.11 Cause the holy One of Israel to depart from before us preach as much as you will of the merciful One of Israel and of the bountiful One of Israel c. but tell us not so much of the holy One of Israel Molest us no more with messages of holiness and the severities thereof yea See learned Gataker in loc they say not only so of God but they say as much to God to his very face They say to the Almighty depart from us we desire not the knowledge of thy wayes they say so by interpretation if not in words at length he that can expound actions as well as language tells us they say so yea they are not ashamed of the very language it is a piece of their gallantry to profess to them that reprove them or but meekly admonish them I say to answer with scorn enough We are none of your Saints Proud scorner what art thou then An unclean swine yea an unclean spirit incarnate Devil a profane Hellitean as one faith for thy speech betrayeth thee What need farther proof Ex ore suo c. Put such an herd of Swine into Heaven and verily they would need no other damnation But God made Heaven for better purposes than to be an Hell for the haters of holiness Tophet is prepared of old for them Isai 30.33 and thither they must be packt away with the reprobate Angels down they came when they had laid aside their holiness and shall such maligners of holiness and holy ones ever come there Let them not fear the company of Saints shall never molest them they would have none of their society on earth and they shall have none of their society in heaven Possibly with their elder brother Dives they may have a prospect of Heaven where they may see * Luk◠16.23 Lazarus in Abraham's bosom and with others of the reprobate family they may see Abraham Luke 13.28 Isaac and Jacob and all the Prophets in the Kingdom of God Oh quam miserum est Deum videre perire Et ante praeteritur conspectum perire but that vision will be so far from beatifical as that it will be the aggravation of their damnation for as it follows verse 28. They themselves shall be thrust out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cast out with as much contempt and violence as ever they themselves cast the Saints out of their Societies Certainly that vision will be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth These haters of holiness would have none of God Psal 81.11 They said to the holy One of Israel Depart from us When it was too late And now God will have none of them I know you not whence ye are they bad the first word but will have the last They said depart from us Depart from me all ye workers of iniquity not a man of them shall stand in Gods presence but be cast out for ever into utter darkness Then shall the back slider in heart be indeed filled with his own wayes Mal. 25.41 They banished God and his Saints out of their company and now they themselves shall be punished from the presence of the Lord and his Saints and from the glory of his power 2 Thes 1.9 Second Use Vse 2 Labour to see God on this side glory to begin your vision on Earth which shall never cease in Heaven Indeed the vision in Grace and the vision in Glory are one and the same vision the object is the same God and the faculty is the same the eye of the Soul they differ only in two circumstances First In the Medium Here we see in glasses the Works of God Psal 19.1 2. the Creatures are a glass the Heavens declare the glory of God Praesentemque refert quaelibet herba Deum and the providences of God are a glass Day unto day uttereth speech and night unto night sheweth knowledge Every dayes experience and every nights experience is a glass wherein much of God is to be seen and the Gospel is a glass wherein we all as in a mirrour 2 Cor. 3.18 behold the glory of the Lord And lastly the glass of Ordinances Preaching and Prayer and Sacraments all these be glasses and meditation is a glass faith is another way of vision by faith Moses saw him who is invisible all these I say Heb. 11.27 are glasses wherein we may see God But alas The glass takes away from the object and darkens our vision as painted glass in the Church windows they let in some light but keep out more but in Heaven we shall see without glasses face to face the Lamb shall be the light in that Temple Secondly These visions differ in their degree of light and clearness here we see in part this is but a partial vision that in glory is extensive a full-eyed vision as one calls it a most ample perfect vision we shall know as we are known the understanding here is dark dim and narrow there clear and vastly capacious Now that which this word of Exhortation calls
all things to be known the knowing whereof may any way make us happy in Heaven we shall know as much of all the mysteries of Grace and Nature as we would know Etiam curiositas satiabitur Anselm John 14.20 Curiosity it self shall be satisfied we shall know whatsoever it is we desire to know with this our Lord satisfieth his Disciples concerning those two great mysterious unions the essential union union between the Father and the Son that I am in my Father and the mystical union that is between him and all believers you in me and I in you q. d. although now ye are ignorant of these high transcendent mysteries yet let this stay and comfort your hearts when I shall come again in glory to take you unto my self that where I am there you may be also then these shall be no mysteries unto you but so many evidential Revelations At that day ye shall know then and not till then And so it may abundantly satisfie the insatiable desires of inquisitous spirits into the deep mysteries both of Creation and Redemption That when Christ shall appear we shall also appear with him in glory and then shall the veil be taken away and they shall see God and all things in Gods face which their souls desire to see the soul shall be filled and inebriated with variety of all desirable knowledge that may any way tend to its perfection This may satisfie save that it may set their souls a longing for that day and cause them to cry out with the Bride Even so come Lord Jesus come quickly The third Priviledge contained in Cohabitation is Fruition A third Priviledge implyed in the Saints being with the Lord 3. Priviledge Fruition is Fruition Vision in Glory is accompanied with fruition and this is that which makes it truly beatifical whatever glorified Saints see they do enjoy else this Vision would not differ much from Report nor that state of glory from an Heaven in a well-drawn Launskip The very Reprobate it seemeth have a prospect of Heaven Luke 13.28 but to their torment they themselves being thrust out Now Fruition consists of a ten-fold Ingredient or Property Viz. 1. Propriety 2. Possession 3. Intimacy 4. Suitableness 5. Satiety or fulness 6. Freshness 7. Present 8. Fixedness 9. Reflection 10. Complacency The first Ingredient into Fruition is Propriety 1. Ingredient Propriety Whatsoever the Saints see in Heaven is their own God saith to Abraham Gen. 13.14 now in the heavenly Canaan what he once said to him of the earthly Lift up thine eyes and look from the place where thou art Northward Southward Eastward and Westward for all the land which thou seest 〈◊〉 thee do I give it whatever is within that vast circumference of Heaven it is Abraham's and all his spiritual seeds for ever Now David may tune his Michtam a key higher and instead of Gilead is mine Psal 60.7 8 and Manasseh is mine Ephraim and Judah c. he may now sing God is mine and Christ is mine and the Spirit is mine all the elect Angels are mine and all the whole Congregation of the first-born mine all the glory of Heaven is mine And so may the best of the Saints in heaven triumph all is mine and what pleasures or riches or honours or glory or joyes are in the presence of God they are all mine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 John 1.13 They did sing so while yet in the valley of tears or they might have sung so Faith gave them a title their Jus adrem a right to Heaven but the blessed vision giveth them now real interest Jus in re right in Heaven and they need not now fear to call it theirs they might have said my God my Christ and my Comforter here below but one thing was to be done first sound Scripture evidence was to be cleared out and sealed up to their souls but some or other defect therein did not seldom check their confidence and damp their joy for a time But now in glory Propriety is beyond all dispute their evidences were seen and allowed at their first admission into Heaven and now mine mine is their song and triumph to all eternity and God is not ashamed to be called their God truly he was not ashamed to be called so even when they had but too much cause to be ashamed of themselves and gave God too much cause to be ashamed of them But now God is so far from being ashamed of owning them that he rejoyceth in them and glorieth over them This people I have formed for my self Isai 43.21 they shall shew forth my praise And again Fear not for I have redeemed thee verse 1 I have called thee by thy name thou art mine Yea I have loved thee with an everlasting love Jer. 31.3 therefore with loving kindness have I drawn thee The Lord Jesus Christ is not ashamed to call them brethren to own them for Subjects Friends Rev. 15.3 chap. 14.1 Coheirs with himself in glory his Bride And they claim their Propriety in him as such The King of Saints chap. 1.6 verse 5 9 with their Fathers name written in their foreheads they follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth chap. 21.9 Mat. 18.10 owning themselves as his beloved his redeemed Kings and Priests unto God and his Father yea as the Lambs Wife They have a propriety in all the elect Angels of God they be still their Angels as ready to do them brotherly offices as ever and take more complacency in their company and in them than ever by how much more purified and Angelified they are then when they lay among the pots of the earth now made like themselves fellow Angels as it were as well as fellow Saints They have propriety in one another although they may know some of the Saints under the notion of natural relations yet do these all cease there as now being retired into the first and chief root and Spring-head of divine Relation Children of one heavenly Father in whose House they are all together embracing and courting one another in purest communion and communications of love each Saint not more himself than his fellow Saints In a word the place where the Saints are met together never to part it is their own not a strange Country where they see one another as Strangers and Pilgrims do sometimes visit and comfort one another Heaven is not a borrowed Palace where they are admitted by curtesie to celebrate a Festival for a few dayes or years but the Saints in Heaven are at home now 2 Cor. 5.2 in their own house and Kingdom Their own 1. By Inheritance Col. 1.13 An Inheritance prepared for them from before the world had any foundation but what it had in Gods Decree Matth. 25.24 2. By purchase Therefore is Heaven called the Purchased possession Ephes 1.14 Their dear Lord and Bridegroom purchased them and their Inheritance together with his own blood 1
of a rich and honourable match and when hands come to be joyned then to be rejected this is enough to distract Thirdly The less hope of recovery the fadder and more killing is the disappointment to be cast in a Suit of Law for an Inheritance which is uncapable of a second trial is enough to put a man besides himself Behold oh precious souls disappointment at the day of Judgment falls under the terror of this threefold aggravation and that in the most dreadful notion that tongue can express or heart conceive 1. Here disappointment is in a matter of no less value than a Crown a Kingdom A Crown of Righteousness 2 Tim. 4.8 Life Rev. 2.10 Glory 1 Pet. 5.4 A Kingdom of God Luke 13.28 29. Heaven Matth. 5.3 Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ 2. Pet. 1.11 Oh how dreadful will that disappointment be especially with that addition Everlasting kingdom 2. This will be the disappointment of highest confidences and presumption None are so confident of beaven as those who have nothing to shew for their right to it most Christians promiscuously so caled think themselves as sure of heaven as if they were there already and oh when these shall come and knock at the door with their bold Lord Lord Mat. 7.21 22 23. cum Luke 13.16 27. open to us crying loud and pleading hard what they have done how they have preach'd and pray'd and received Sacraments and possibly converted others expecting now to have the door opened and ready to set foot over the threshold of heaven and shall then be thrust back with that terrible blast I never knew you depart from me Oh what shame and confusion will this disappointment fill their faces and consciences with for ever Surely this will be the very emphasis of damnation to have been within a step of salvation and yet miss 3. And all this without the least hope of speeding or speaking to Christ any more for ever about the matter of salvation Now therefore fear and tremble and pray that this may not be the portion of your cup from the hand of the Lord. Another Consideration may be This will make you Motive 5. fruitful in the work of Grace Christians that make their calling and election sure will and cannot but be fruitful in good works for by these you must maintain your assurance as being the fruits and evidences of your salvation A third improvement of this point Vse 3 Is this the glory and happiness of the future estate in heaven Let it then excite in us an holy ambition to be often looking into this glory to anticipate it by our frequent contemplations the sweeter the vision the more taking it should be with men of ascending and ambitious spirits Can earth-worms take such complacential contentment from beholding a bag of gold or a field of corn or a sumptuous fabrick and please themselves in a peculiar manner with the reflexion of their interest Psal 108.8 this is mine that appertains to me as David sings Gilead is mine and Manasseh is mine Ephraim also is the strength of my head And shall not Saints turn their song to an higher key and be joyful in glory singing upon their beds God is mine and Christ is mine and the Holy Ghost is mine Angels are mine and Saints are mine all the glory of Heaven is mine this for ever with the Lord is mine I knew a rich Mammonist near the place where I was born In Kent that would once a day take all his bage of silver and gold out of his trunks and laying them in several heaps for he was exceeding rich upon a large table would go to the utmost end of the room and there having glutted his eyes with so delightful an object for a good while would all on a sudden take his run to the table and with stretched out arms gathering all into one vast heap as a man overcome and distracted with joy cry out All is mine Quere all is mine Why may not the Children of the Kingdom rejoyce in hope of the glory of God and collecting those treasures of glory into several heaps and embracing them with the arms of faith Filius ante diem patrios inquirit in annos cry out in an holy extasie All is mine all is mine Shall the adult heir of a fair Lordship or principality be often enquiring into his patrimony search into his writings and even grow great with the thoughts and contemplations of what he is born to And shall not the Heirs of the Inheritance of the Saints in light much rather delight themselves with the fore contemplation of their incorruptible 1 Pet. 1.4 undefiled inheritance that fadeth not away reserved in heaven for them Object Yes so we would if we were sure it were ours Sol. And is that the cause of your apathy and flatness of spirits to these heavenly fruitions Truly this very uncertainty should even startle and affright us into an earnest contention to make heaven sure so infinite a weight of glory and we not ascertained of our interest upon some good Scripture-evidence is enough to make us to forget to eat our meat enough to break our sleep and to keep our eyes waking all the night long and to make us take little comfort in the present comforts we possess Quest You will surely ask then Evidences of Heaven What are the Evidences Answ 1. Why Evidence 1. truly this one thing would amount to an evidence and not the least evidence viz. Active endeavour to assure our selves of a share in this Inheritance of the Saints this would argue an high appretiation of this estate in the practical judgment as most incomparably and absolutely eligible this is the very language of an heaven-born-soul What have I to count upon but my treasure which is in heaven What business have I on earth comparable to this to ensure my portion in heaven for this cause I was born and for this end I came into the world the whole earth in comparison of heaven is but a dunghill Cabul 1 Kings 9.13 as Hiram called the Cities which Solomon gave him dirty or displeasing This will argue a child-like spirit Children mind their inheritance absent Children long to be at home at their Fathers house they are often there in their thoughts and wishes so the Saints We groan within our selves desiring to be cloathed upon with our house which is from heaven and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. Secondly Evidence â— Especially if the holiness of heaven do kindle those desires in us more than the happiness when a poor foul can truly say I should not account it an heaven were it not that it is a land of holiness a land flowing with milk and honey of pure and immaculate joyes that there the beauty of holiness shines forth with unconceivable lustre and glory and there saith the soul I shall be in some degree
thy self nor set any of the houshold of Faith at work for an higher Boon than for Assurance Oh get some special Favourite under the great Mediator some Noah some Job some Daniel c. Men or Women of great acquaintance and much communion with God Christians of large experience and eminent holiness to such God usually denyeth nothing And Heb. The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him Psal 25.14 his Covenant to make them know it Speaks to others as men and women ordinarily bespeak prayers Pray pray for me and the like and truly for the most part it passeth for a common if not a vain Complement and there 's an end of it speak to some not Heathen and they will laugh at thee they know not what thou sayest speak to others and they 'l forget thee He that makes not assurance his own concernment how can he make it thine Speak to serious solid broken-hearted Christians who know what assurance is and what it is worth earnestly beg of them If there be any consolation in Christ if any comfort of love if any fellowship of the Spirit if any bowels and mercies That they would plead hard for that in the interest of our Lord Jesus if God would remember your poor thirsty soul for one draught of this wine of this consolation Assurance and they cannot yea they dare not forget thee They know whose prayers have prevailed for themselves in the like petitions and they dare not but pay their debts But whilst thou settest others to pray for thee Caution forget not to pray for thy self forget not to pray for thy self If thou settest others to pray for thee and prayest not thy self thou art an Hypocrite and God will account thee as one that mockest and thou wilt get a curse and not a blessing wherefore pray pray constantly and pray instantly Vehementia constantia in istu petitionibus requiritur c. knock hard at the gate of heaven for this grand mercy and if God open not the first or second or twentieth or the hundreth time yet with Peter continue knocking let God know as it were that thou art resolved to take no denial to thy Petition for assurance This was the greatness of the poor woman of Canaans Faith Mat. 15.27 she would not be denied Be constant and conscientious in your attendance upon Christs Table 9. Help behold it is the sealing Ordinance his Banquetting-house his Presence-chamber his Marriage-feast his Bed of love where he doth use to give out to his Spouse his Loves Cant. 6.12 〈◊〉 Behold the Spirits run in the blood and the sealing Spirit of Christ is not seldom conveyed in the precious streams of Christs blood in that mysterious Ordinance The holy Supper was the pledge of his dying Love a Seal of his last coming to receive home his Spouse to himself This Cup is the New Testament in my blood 1 Cor. 11.25 26. this do ye as est as ye drink it in remembrance of me As oft as ye eat c. Christ would have his Spouse perpetuate the remembrance of his dying love 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Pet. 3.12 that thereby they might look for a hastning of his coming Oh let not thy place be empty at such a glorious festivity who can tell whether the Lord may come in the very hour of this solemn Ordinance which he hath appointed to be the very sanction and pledge of his glorious and triumphant coming Sam. 20.27 and say concerning thee Where is the son of Jesse to day Oh at such a time for the Bridegroom to find thee absent how unkindly may he take it Who that he might be sure not to miss thy company at this Love-feast hath said As oft as ye eat c. Lastly Wait. This is blessedness in assurance 10. Help next to the beatifical vision it self and there wants not blessedness in waiting for it while short spirited Christians can find no sweetness but in a plerophâ—ry gracious souls can tast blessedness in waiting for it Lam. 3.26 The Saints in Scripture have been not only a praying generation but a waiting generation the old Testament Believers waited for the Promise of the Messiah Luke 2.25 It is said of good old Simeon He waited for the consolation of Israel And the Primitive believers in the new Testament after Christs Ascention were commanded by our Lord to wait for the Promise of the Father Acts 1.4 which said he ye have heard of me namely the Promise of the Holy Ghost which should fill their hearts with assurance and seal them up to the day of Redemption Indeed there is Patience in Faith as well as Power it knoweth as well how to stay the Lords leasure as to wrestle with him for the blessing Indeed it is a rare temper to be importunate with God and Christ willing to stay Gods leisure but it is most excellent and there is nothing lost by it Holy David gives us his own experience Psal 40.1 I waited patiently for the Lord and he inclined unto me and heard my cry Go you and do likewise Pray and wait wait and wait patiently and if the Lord answer not as soon as your souls could wish know this that you do not so much wait for God as God for you Isai 30 18. The Lord waits to be gracious God doth but wait the fittest season of mercy and therefore blessed are they that wait for him And let me tell you this for your unspeakable encouragement that if assurance come not till your dying hour nor then neither to your own or others sence and observation yet vigorous and persevering indeavours shall wear the same Crown with assurance in heaven not want of assurance but the neglect of it is the sin which God takes unkindly It was the last words wherewith holy Jacob went triumphing out of the world I have waited for thy salvation Gen. 49.18 O Lord. And thus I have done with the second Use of this Ever I come to a third Ever with the Lord. Use 3. 1 Cor. 15 ult It may serve as a spur to diligence and activity in the wayes of God It is the very use the Apostle makes of this blessed Doctrine Therefore my brethren be ye stedfast unmoveable alwayes abounding in the work of the Lord for as much as ye know your labour is not in vain in the Lord. Not in vain a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 more is to be understood than is exprest the meaning is your reward shall be great and glorious What is that this motive hath relation to the glorious resurrection treated on in the whole foregoing Chapter q. d. on the other side of the resurrection God hath prepared an eternity of glory for you and therefore bestir your selves in good earnest do somewhat for God on this side the grave that may if possible bear some proportion with your future expectation Whatever thy hand findeth to do do