swoln like an impostume with all wicked Plots and treasonable designs against Heaven shall in Hell feel the ach of Gods heavy Displeasure and break into an Eternal Agony of unsufferable Pain The Face that was here the deadly Bait of Bestial desire exercising a lustful Tyranny over and commanding a secret adoration from the amorous Lover shall have no such sweetness now as to move any pity no such attractive Beauty now as to captivate any Eye nor any such silent Rhetorick as to draw a Sigh a Tear a Groan from any beholder but must now gather blackness for ever and instead of the garish paint of comely Features which will all melt away under the hot scorching Beams of Gods sore displeasure be filled with the confounding blushes of Eternal Flames (c) Gen. 6.5 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plus est dicere figmentum cogitationum quam cogitationes simpliciter Jetzer ipsas etiam incompletas cogitationes videtur includere quicquid homo in animo concipit format fingit Amama Antibar Bibl. lib. 2. pag. 395. Luke 16.24 The Heart that was here the Minthouse of all inordinate affections shall now meditate Terror for ever be shot through with ten Thousand invenomed Arrows of the Almighty and now every Sin every Lust it hath harboured shall be turned into so many Scorpions and Furies to sting and torment and rend it for ever Thus if like a skilful Anatomist I should go through the Whole Body of Man criticize upon every part I might shew you how their Eyes will start out for very anguish their Tongues be scorched with thirst their Lips quiver their Flesh tremble their Sinews be dreadfully wracked their Bones are all shatter'd in pieces their Moisture and Marrow dried up their Bowels shudder for Horrour (d) Matth. 22.13 their Hands and Feet bound fast in fiery Chains of Eternal Wrath the Joints of their Loyns loosed (e) Dan. 5.6 and their Knees like Belshazzars smite one against another for that Eternal Wrath and Misery which must come upon them But waving the several Parts of the Body as capable of no more than the Body and mere outside of Hellish Torments I must tell you that all the faculties and Powers of the Soul shall have their share in all the unsufferable endless Torments of Hell which indeed will be the Soul the Emphasis the sting of those Hellish Torments Here the Understanding shall be dreadfully perplexed when the Soul shall see how for a little sugared Poyson a little sensual delight and wanton dalliance it hath lost a Crown of Life lost the enjoyment of the ever Blessed God and Eternal Glory and plunged it self irrecoverably in everlasting unpreventable Misery (f) Revel 6.15 16 17. Here the Will shall also be filled with all the ingredients of Wrath and Misery obfirmed in Wickedness captivated for ever in the Labyrinth of Horrour and Heart-rending despair without any thread of escape desiring nothing more than for ever to be swallowed up and lie hid in the most abhorred estate of annihilation from the Wrath to come Here the various affections of the Soul which however distant if not contrary in the circumference of their differing objects did yet all of them accord to meet and concenter themselves in this Life upon nothing but Lust and Sin and Creature-Vanities will wage an everlasting intestine War begetting such tumultuary Jars (g) Isa 57.20 pernicious Schisms unquiet agitations Heart-rending conflicts and Boyling estuations within that now the damned in Hell will be like the troubled Sea indeed having no rest Night nor Day for ever Here in a word the Memory that faithful remembrancer of all opportunities lost all Mercies slighted all Sins committed and of all favours abused shall now be an everlasting Fury bringing all those things to mind (h) Mark 9.48 and reflecting them continually to the Conscience which awakned through the scorching heat of Gods heavy displeasure shall now become not only a Thousand Witnesses but a thousand ragâ—ful Devils to throw the Soul into an Everlasting Agony to excruciate sting and torment it as with Scorpions for ever And if this must be the Lot of the damned in Hell so that no Member of Body no Faculty of Soul shall be free from such exquisite unsufferable Torments what a prodigy of madness is it then for Men by neglecting Heaven and Eternal Glory to expose themselves Body and Soul to all this Wrath and Horrour and universal unpreventable Misery Think of it seriously and consider if now you cannot endure the ach of our Member how ever you will be able to suffer when all of them must be most dreadfully tortured together in one common destruction What will you do when all the Senses of your Body which here you have studied so much to gratify shall have all their pleasing objects turned into matter of Horrour and Everlasting anguish Nay what will you do in what abyss will you hide your selves from your selves from your Sins from the Wrath of God when your poor Souls that were chief in sinning shall now be chief in suffering and shall be turned into so many living Hells full of nothing but the Wine of astonishment together with the Fury and indignation of the Lord for ever 4 CONSIDER the immutability of Hell Torments which makes the condition of all those remediless upon whom soever they have once taken hold Every condition in this Life is a Compound of mutability vicissitudes and various changes Health and Sickness Ease and Pain Joy and Sorrow mutually succeeding one another Nor is there any Man so miserable through Sin and the Hand of God upon him for Sin but breaking off his Sins by Repentance he may find Mercy (i) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ignat. Epist ad Smyrn pag. 122. the Lord being always ready in this Life to crown with Glory all those that by patient continuance in well-doing seek after him as willing to touch by Faith the Golden Scepter of his Grace But Wo and alass if letting slip the Day of Grace you be once condemned at Christ's Tribunal now you must inevitably be banished his Glorious Presence and shut up for ever amongst the damned in the Prison of Hell without either Bail or Main-prize there being now no more any Day of Grace any calling to Repentance any Heavenly Manna falling any Angel descending into the Pool any Jacob's Ladder let down from Heaven by the climbing whereof you might escape out of the bottomless fiery Dungeon of Tophet where the Prisoners would not live yet can neither die nor evade their Torments (k) Luke 16.26 Quemadmodum in ejusmodi hiatu in quo urbes vel terrarum tractus absorbentur non potest transiri ab uno hiatus labro ad alterum cum as non sit compressum sed hiatus maneat ita significavit Dominus fieri non posse ut ullo modo transeatur ab eorum statu qui sunt tormentis adjudicati ad statum quietis
Eternal Reward that God sets before us Heart Purity with a Life of practical Godliness that 's the Regia Via the King of Heaven's High-way which leads to Glory So that whoever hath a due respect to heavenly Glory desiring that as the Reward of all his Labours can no more make liâ—ht Performances than a Man who desires Life can sâ—t Light by Food and Raiment with such like Comforts that are as Oyl to feed that Lamp ¶ Scientia id praestat ut quomodo et quo perveniendum sit noverimus virtus ut perveniamus Alterum sine altero nihil valet ex scientia enim virtus ex virtuâ—e Summum Bonum nascitur Lact. Instit lib. 3. câ—p 12. p. 271. As there is no possibility of arriving at Heaven without Knowledge of the way So neither is it possible that we should ever come to Heaven the way being known without walking therein 'T is not the Jacob's Staff of Speculation but the Jacob's Ladder of a Godly Conversation by which we must Climb the Tree of Life The School-men have large Disputes pro and con about the Nature of Divinity Whether it consist more in Speculation or in Practise Aquinas makes Theologiam Speculativam and Scotus will have it Practicam but indeed 't is the Complication of both these that makes a good Christian whose Gospel Light must be Animated with a Gospel Life and all whose Knowledge must Expatiate into Obedience These things if you know saith the Lord of Life happy are ye if you do them John 13.17 Knowledge may be our Pilot to guide us in our course but Practise is the Ship in which we must Sail to the Shore of eternal Soul-satisfying Happiness Hence the Apostle James 1.25 pronounces the Practical Hearer Blessed though not for his Deed yet in his Deed clearly making Practise the Evidence thô not the Ground of our Happiness the Way that leads to a Crown of Life though not the Price whereby we should think to purchase it As God is a plentiful Rewarder of those that diligently seek him so he will be sought before ever the reward of eternal Glory can be had Having therefore our Eyes upon the Star of True Happiness let us keep our Hands to the Helm of Practical Holiness [†] Qui vult sapiens ac beatus esse audiat Dei vocem discat justitiam humana contemnat divina suscipiat ut Summum illud Bonum ad quod natus est possit adipisci Lact. He that would be Blessed desiring to be Wise to Salvation let him hear the Voice of God let him work Righteousness let him despise humane Vanities let him enterprize divine Offices that he may come at length to the full Enjoyment of that Chiefest Good for which he came into the World We must quit ourselves like Men on Earth or never look to be made glorious like the Angels in Heaven True Happiness is a rich Jewel Lockt up in the Cabinet of Heaven in the Kingdom of God Holiness must turn the Key or the Door of Blessedness the Gates of the Heavenly Jerusalem will never open to us Keep we therefore our Eyes upon Heaven's Glory and then forbear we to do the Work of God upon Earth if we can It 's hope of Gain that makes the diligent Tradesman be up so early and so patient to endure hardship How much more should the Hope of gaining not Earth but Heaven not those Riches which perish in the using but the Riches of eternal Glory make us labour to be Holy Oh let Carking for this World be expelled with our Care for Heaven Let this eat up our Hearts with desire to have the Injoyment of that glorious Inheritance 'T is Fabled of Leobis and Biton that their Father having been imploring the greatest Blessing from the Gods upon these his Two Sons the next morning they were found both Dead in their Beds The greatest Blessing that can befall a Child of God is to dye in the Lord bidding Adieu to this vale of Tears and so entring upon his Master's Joy The Happiness of God's People doth indeed dawn in this Life in the Beauties of Holiness from the womb of the Morning but the Noon-tide of their Happiness the Meridian Light of Glory doth never shine forth upon them till they come to Heaven Most of a Christian's Drink in this Life is Oxymel Heaven alone puts that pure Cup of Consolation into his hand wherein there is no sour Ingredients True Blessedness grows indeed upon the Tree of Godliness which hath indeed some Bloomings and Buds of Comfort here but it comes not to it 's full growth till another Life This World is too Cold a Climate to bring it to Ripeness it must first be transplanted into the heavenly Canaan and have the Sun of Righteousness shining upon it in full strength before the blessed Fruit of this Tree will ever be brought to it's full Maturity So that a Christian doth not Wither when plucked up of Death as it were by the Roots but he changes the place of his growth leaving the Wilderness to be Planted in Canaan where the Fruit of Holiness is now Crowned with Life everlasting COME ¶ Veniant qui esuriunt ut coelesti cibo saturati sempiternam famem ponant Veniant qui sitiunt ut aquam salutarem de perenni Coelestique Fonte plenissimis faucibus trahant Hoc cibatu atque potu Dei et coeci videbunt et surdi audient muti Loquentur claudi ambulabunt stulti sapient aegroti valebunt mortui revivescent Lact. de vit Beat cap. 27. pag. 732. Edit Gal. then come all ye that Hunger that being satisfy'd with this heavenly Food ye may lay aside your Hunger for ever This Meat and Drink which God hath provided in Heaven is of that Sovereign Virtue that it both makes the Blind to See and the Deaf to Hear and the Lame to Leap for Joy and the Foolish to know Understanding and the Sick it restores to Health and the Dead it makes to Live a life of endless Glory Tully would have a Prince fed with Honour and drawn to Heroick Atchievements by the desire of Glory and Renown And I â—â—kewise would have God's People to live upon the Glory to come as that which will draw them to walk worthy of God who hath called them out of Darkness into the Kingdom of his dear Son Can any Man that sees Heaven and knows what it is to be with the Lord for ever go on in a course of sensual brutish living not regarding to prepare himself for the Glory to be revealed in him So sweet is the Pleasure of that eternal Light that if we should enjoy the same no more than one short hour yet for this one hour's Happiness we ought and that deservedly to despise all the Delights and Pleasures that the universal confluence of Worldly enjoyments could afford us TELL me then if God's People be not well advised to study Holiness Tell me
runneth not the Race hath no hope of the Garland he that Fighteth not the Battel hath no hope to obtain the Crown Why thus my Friends if you sit down satisfied without Grace not labouring to become pure and holy and unblameable before God in love you can never have any good hope to enjoy the Harvest the Garland the Crown of Eternal Life Ephes 2.12 PROMISE yourselves what happiness you please and be as confident of your own good condition as you will Yet believe it Sirs unless now with the Wise Virgins you get Oyl in your Lamps and Grace in your Souls you must never sit down with Christ in the Kingdom of God to the Marriage-Supper For to presume of Life and Happiness without (a) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cyril Grace and Holiness is the next way to lose them both and to plunge yourselves deeper in Eternal Misery Presumption being still the Preface to Damnation And are you grown so secure indeed that you can sit down satisfied without that which alone can make you meet for Heaven and Eternal Glory Oh methinks that unmarcescible Crown of Life that far more exceeding and eternal weight of Glory whereof you must everlastingly fall short if you keep it not in the way of serious Practical Holiness should make you give all diligence to get Grace into your hearts and to become holy Is it nothing do you think to miss of Eternal Glory to be eternally shut out of God's heavenly Kingdom and for ever to lose that Crown of Righteousness that fulness of Joy and those Pleasures which are at God's Right Hand for evermore Oh what everlasting hellish horrour will fill your Souls at Death and Judgment should you spend your lives in Vanity not striving to perfect holiness in the fear of God! Oh that you would look upon a graceless condition and negligence in the ways of God now as you will look upon it when for want of grace and diligence in Heaven's way the Lord shall throw you down for ever into hellish Torments the Lord shall punish you with everlasting destruction from his own blessed Presence and bid you depart accursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels Oh the unspeakable horrour Oh the everlasting dreadful confusion that will then fall upon you Oh what Worlds would you not give to be saved when for want of sanctifying grace you must of necessity be damned for ever Oh what would you not now do to come to Heaven when for want of Holiness you are sure to be thrown down into hellish Torments and there shut up amongst damned Spirits in everlasting Chains under darkness In the fear of God Sirs and out of tender compassion to your own Immortal Souls do not rest a moment longer in a graceless condition but as ever you desire to be saved now labour to be throughly sanctified and as ever you would see the face of God in Glory now labour to walk before him in all holy Conversation and Godliness Never think to be Mercenarij if you will not be Operarij You can never receive the Reward of Eternal Glory when you dye if you work not hard in God's Vineyard so long as you live The Lord will give you both the upper and the nether Springs both Grace and Glory But on this condition that you espouse Achsah his Daughter that you devote yourselves to the practice of Piety endeavouring to perfect holiness in the fear of God Heb. 12.28 There is a Kingdom that cannot be moved there is a (b) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Crown of Life more glorious than the (c) 1 Cor. 9.25 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sun in it's Noon day Brightness there is fulness of Joy in God's Presence together with Soul-satisfying (d) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Words signify such Pleasures as shall never end but will run Parallel with Eternity it self Pleasures at his Right Hand for evermore and all this you may have for your Portion and to make you everlastingly happy but then you must seek it in God's own way by patient continuance in (e) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cyrill Hier. Cateches 1. Pag. 2. Well-doing and by a life of Serious Practical Holiness He that would have a good Harvest must diligently Till and Sow his Ground So you must break up the fallow Ground of your Hearts endeavouring to Sow to the Spirit would you ever obtain a blessed Harvest in which you may reap a full Crop of Eternal Joy God hath tyed Grace and Glory Holiness and Happiness together So that no Grace no Glory no Holiness here no Happiness hereafter Whosoever leads a lewd unsanctified life on Earth shall never lead a blessed and glorified life in Heaven As no Man might be in the Wedding-house not having on a Wedding-garment Mat. 22.11 12. So whoever is not found cloathed with the garments of Righteousness he shall never enter into a Mansion of glory into an house not made with hands eternal in the Heavens 2 Thes 2.13 The Image of God must first be renewed upon you in the Beauties of Holiness before ever you can be capable of seeing the face of God in Sion or be counted meet to be Inhabitants of the New Jerusalem Look at Heaven and Glory as much as you will and let your eye be still fixed upon the Recompence of the Reward Yet if you seek it not by patient continuance in well doing endeavouring to cleanse yourselves from all filthiness of Flesh and Spirit you are never like to be Crowned with it In vain do we look at Heaven and Eternal Glory so long as we live in Sin never striving to be holy which is nothing but to walk in the way that leads to Hell and everlasting Misery For then only have we due respect to the Recompence of the Reward when we seek it in a way of Obedience endeavouring to be changed into the likeness purity and holiness of that God who hath promised that so doing he will Crown us with it CHAP. V. The Doctrin Proved evincing the lawfulness of having a Respect to the Recompence of the Reward in Twelve Particulars III. HAVING thus shewed you What it is to have Respect to the Recompence of the Reward and how you may do so we are in the next place to evince it for your better satisfaction by some Scriptural Demonstrations That you are allowed of God to have respect to the Recompence of the Reward and may lawfully do so in all your Obedience 1. WE may lawfully have Respect in our Obedience to the Recompence of the Reward because God himself hath commanded us that we should do so Had not the Lord by his own Authority enjoyning us by Patient continuance in Well-doing to seek after Heaven and Glory made it our duty to do so we might well have questioned the Legality of such a practise But now there is not the least ground of Hesitancy nor any colour of Reason why we should question Whether
indeavouring above all things in the world to Gâ—ther them The Happiness of a Christian 't is Grace glorified 't is Holiness arrived at it's highest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and pitch of heavenly Perfection Heb. 12.14 which surely we are all of us bound to follow after pursuing it with all our might as that without which we can never see the Lord. ¶ Gen. 15.1 Ipse Deus est merces promissa fidelibus ergo dum aeternam mercedem expectant et intuentur non aliud a Deo intuentur Dav. in Coloss cap. 1. ver 5. Praemium virtutis erit ipse qui virtutem dedit et qui seipsum quo melius et majus nihil possit esse promisit August de Civit. Dei lib. 22. cap. 30. pag. 738. And as for the Reward of a Christian it is God himself 't is to be with the Lord for ever to see his Face and enjoy his Favour for ever which surely we are also bound to seek after giving all diligence to make God our Portion and the strength of our Heart for ever Psal 73.26 And shall we say that a Christian Sins or is Disingenuous for Obeying with an eye to Holiness and with respect to the God of Heaven who alone is the fixed Centre of Rest and Happiness Or Dare we say That Christians are not to regard Holiness on Earth but to live as they list nor to long for the full injoyment of God in Heaven but to be the centre of their own Happiness Surely God never intended that we should sit down satisfied without Him and be Happy by reflexion upon our own Excellencies as if Life and Happiness could be found where nothing but remorseless Death and Misery keep their walk As God never rested till he had made Man in his own Likeness leaving a Tincture of his own Purity and Holiness upon him so he hath put Emptiness and Dissatisfaction into all our Creature Enjoyments Psalm 17.15 that we may never rest till returning to God that made us we shall behold his Face in Righteousness and be satisfied with his Likeness Whatever Grace whatever Holiness God's people have it 's wholly derivative from him So that whatever Felicity whatever Happiness they may look to enjoy it stands wholly in reduction to God himself as the Original and Fountain-Cause The motion of every gracious Soul it 's like that of Coelestial Bodies purely Circular so that it can never rest but will still be rolling and breathing and panting after God unsatiably till returning back unto him it hath fixed it self in the Sabbatical centre of everlasting Communion with him Such a Soul is touched with the true Loadstone of Grace so that now it sees such an attractive magnetical Beauty in a Deity that it cannot possibly settle upon any thing below God himself That 's the language of every gracious Soul and the proper Idiom of its more sublime and clarified Affections wherein we find the Sweet Singer of Israel make expression of his Love to God saying Whom have I in Heaven but thee and there is none upon Earth that I desire besides thee Psal 73.25 As the Moon and Stars those glorious Lamps of heaven are not able to supply the absence of the Sun nor will their united Light amount to so much as to make up one Day or one Moment of a Day though they should knit and concentricate all their Beams So David he knew full well that thô in Heaven there be the Moon-light of glorious Angels and the Star-light of those imparadised Souls the Spirits of â—ust men made Perfect yet without the bright Irradiations of a Deity and the Light of God's Countenance tâ—ey could never make up the least shadow of Glory the least Ray of Soul â—atisfying Happiness which makes him look beyond them all desiring neither Saints nor Angels nor Heaven it self with all its Glory Royalties and Paradisical Pleasures in comparison of the God of Heaven Thus also it is with every one of God's People they look upon him as their Happiness so that Heaven it self would not be Heaven to them this Goshen would prove an Egypt this Canaan would be turned into a Wilderness if the Lord should withdraw his glorious Presence The presence of the King is that we say which makes the Court and as it was told Commodus Ibi Roma ubi Augustus that where the Emperor is there was Rome So that which God's People do count their Heaven that which they look upon as a Garden of Flowry Pleasures as a Paradice of all Delights and spiritual Contentments is the full and immediate Injoyment of God himself 'T is not so much the Society of Saints and Angels in Heaven as the Beatifical Vision as the Downey Bosome of a Deity as eternal Communion with the God of Heaven that they desire and make their Happiness All other Lines meet in this Centre all other Stars borrow their Light from this glorious Sun and all other Comforts do empty themselves into this vast Ocean wherein Rivers of purest Pleasures do meet and everlastingly concentricate themselves to make glad the City of God Et ipsa est beata vita gaudere ad te de te propter te ipsa est et non est altera August Conf. The injoyment of God in Glory this is the Apogaeuâ— of heavenly Joy this is the highest Zenith of true Blessedness this is the coâ—pleat Volumn of perfect Felicity wherein all the Particulars of Happiness are not Epitomized but so amplified inlarged and paraphrased upon that the Heart of Man cannot possibly desire any more For whatever can be desired to mâ—ke one Happy is richly treasured up in God as the indeficient and over-flowing Fountain of all Goodness So that all the Glory and Happiness whereof God's people look to be made partakers when they come to Heaven is reductively and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 summed up in this that they shall be with the Lord for ever 1 Thess 4.17 If then Holiness may be desired or God himself loved by us and sought after why then doubtless we may lawfully have Respect in our Obedience to the Recompence of Reward as being co-incident therewith and nothing else He may well have Respect in his Obedience to the Recompence of Reward and fix his eye upon heavenly Glory who makes God his Portion and his exceeding great Reward desiring no other Heaven than for ever to be with the Lord beholding his Face in Righteousness loving him without loathing and praising him without ever being weary Deus finis erit desideriorum nostrorum qui sine fine videbitur sine fastidio amabitur sine defatigatione laudabitur Ubi supra 6. WE may lawfully have Respect in our Obedience to the Recompence of the Reward because to such and to such only is the promise of eternal Life made Thô the Promise of eternal Life were conceived in the Womb of Free Grace and brought forth by the auspicious Midwifery of God's riâ—â— Mercy in Christ Jesus and so is eveâ—y
of God! If Sirs you think â—an Honour to appear Good (b) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ignat epist ad Magnes pag. 52. Omnino enim nihil prodest nomen sanctum habere sine moribus quia vita à professione discordans abrogat illustris tituli honorem per indignorum actuum vilitatem Salvian de Gubern Dei lib. 3. pag. mihi 94. is it not much morâ—â—n Honour to be so indeed What alas is the Name of Christian worth if you will goâ— put on the Nature of a Christian To think I was well reputed of amongst God's People I was called a good and had the Name of a Christian can this be a Cordial when you come to die Or will it comfort your Hearts when appearing before the Judgment-seat of (c) Quid est in quo nobis de Christiano nomine blandiamur cum utique hoc ipso magis per nomen sacratissimum rei simus qui à sancto nomine discrepamus Nam ideo plus sub religionis titulo Deum ludimus quia positi in religione peccamus Idem paulo post the great God where all your Paint and Varnish being washed off you must now be punished as Hypocrites with everlasting Destruction from the Presence of God and from the Glory of his Power To be counted Rich and yet turn Bankrupt to be judged healthful and yet sick unto Death would but aggravate in such cases a Man's Misery So to be counted Holy and yet Profane to have a Name to live and yet after all be found dead in Trespasses and Sins oh this will most dreadfully aggravate the Hypocrites Misery another day this will sink them deeper in Hell than the notoriously ungodly this will prepare flaming Ingredients for the Cup of Wrath and put new Stiâ—gs into those fiery Scorpions that will vex and torment them for ever If then you love your Souls give diligence now to have the best side inward doing every thing from the Heart sâ—â—cerely as unto God! Strive you must to make clean the inside as well as the outside of the Platter and to have pure Hearts as well aâ—â—lean Hands would you ever (d) 2 Tim. 2.21 be Vessels of Honour 〈◊〉 for the Master's use The foolish Virgins they had Lamps in their Hands a Profession of Godliness (e) Mat. 25.3 adorned with many glorious Performances But these were not animated with an upright Heart they wanted the Oyl of Grace within and therefore depart from me saith Christ I never knew you Christ will know those well he will know them to be Men of pure Minds and upright Hearts whom he receives to dwell with himself in eternal Mansions of Glory Otherwise if a Work of Grace be wanting within if the Heart be unsound and not inwardly Holy they must look to depart accursed into everlasting burnings where the painted fire of all their pretended zeal shall most surely be punished with the true fire of God's heavy wrath and sore displeasure Thus you may possibly appear Holy before Men and have your Christian Profession adorned with many seemingly glorious Performances But in case your Hearts be not upright before God now he throws you down for ever into Hellish-torments now he punisheth your Souls with everlasting Destruction from his own Presence now he commands you to depart accursed into everlasting Fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels and you must obey him Oh then what a woful thing is a rotten Heart and how much doth it concern us all to be that indeed which we are in shew He that is seemingly good but really bad though die he may with seeming hopes for Heaven and Glory yet fall he must into a real Hell of Misery and eternal endless Torments 7 SEE that you mortify through the Spirit the Deeds of the Body That which thou sowest saith the Apostle (f) 1 Cor. 15.36 is not quickned except it die so except first you die to Sin you can never be quickned nor raised to enjoy the Reward of eternal Life The way to die hereafter is to live here And the way to live hereafter is to die here They that now live in Sin must hereafter expect Death and eternal Misery as the just Reward and Punishment of their Sins But they that now die to Sin crucifying the Flesh with the Affections and Lusts shall hereafter live with God in eternal Mansions of Glory For saith the Apostle if ye live after the (h) Rom. 8.13 Flesh ye shall die But if ye through the Spirit mortify the Deeds of the Body ye shall live Here you see are described two ways the one leading to Death the other to Life the one to Hell the other to Heaven the one to endless Torments the other to all fulness of Joy in God's own presence So then he that will save the Life of his Sins shall lose his Soul But he that will mortifie himself his beloved Lusts and Sins and dearest Corruptions he shall live for ever Though then you cannot totally kill (g) Gal. 5.24 your Corruptions in this Life yet see that you be daily mortifying them Though you cannot wholly cast them out from remaining yet be sure to keep them under from reigning in your mortal Bodies that you should obey them All Sins are meritoriously Mortal but none save those which are left unmortified do eventually prove so (i) Rom. 6. Though it be true that every Sin deserveth Death even the Motus primò primi concerning which the Schoolmen write the very first risings and ebullitions of Lust in the Soul which do prevent all use of Reason though standing in her highest Watch-tower of Vigilancy to descry and with all curiosity to make observation of every approaching Enemy Yet there is no Sin though aggravated by supervening Circumstances to an equality of Guilt and heinousness with the most prodigious and horrid â—mpieties that were ever yet perpetrated by any Offender that doth actually infer Death exposing a Man to the Vengeance of eternal Fire unless suffered to go unmortified The least Sin when allowed of is enough for thy Damnation and the greatest when mortified can by no means hinder thy eternal Salvation The Life of Sin and the Life of a Sinner are like two Buckets at a Well if the one go up the other must go down Thus if your Pride your Hypocrisie your Covetousness your Carnality your vile Affections live in you you must die eternally but if through the Spirit you mortify them you shall live for ever Behold then I now set before you Life and Death Mount Ebal and Mount Gerrizzim Blessings and Cursings the Pleasures of Heaven and the Torments of Hell and oh that you would choose not Death but Life not Ebal but Gerizzim not Cursings but Blessings not hellish intolerable Torments but heavenly Glory There are but two Estates of Men in this present Life and but two proportionate to them in the Life to come Some here live after the Flesh and they must die
ever as much unsatisfied as ever (l) Ibi non gustabunt quam suavis sit Deus sed implebuntur saturabuntur dulcedine mirificâ nihil ets deerit nihil oberit omne desiderium eorum Christus praesens implebit Et paucis interjectis erit denique Deus omma in omnibus illius praesentia omnes animae corporis implebit appetitus Cyprian de Ascent § 9. pag. 526. But yet when once the Soul comes to Heaven seeing God as he is feeding upon the good things of his House and drinking of the River of his Pleasures now the Soul wants no more now she hath enough to fill up all her desires to supply all her needs and to answer all her longings now she is satisfied to the full now she is got to her Journeys end she is safely arrived at the Harbour of perfect rest she is come like a Stone to her proper Center and can go no further can desire no greater Happiness no better God nor Christ nor Comforter no better Heaven no greater Glory no fuller Joy than now she hath and shall have to all Eternity In this Life God's People indeed have those glimpses of heavenly Glory those divine Communications of Grace and Goodness those sweet illapses of the Spirit those foretasts of Heavens Chear those delicious sips of Canaan's Wine that are enough to imbitter all secular enjoyments to them and soundly to inflame though not fully to satisfy their spiritual thirst But in Heaven they sit down to a full Meal they bath themselves in Rivers of purest Pleasure (m) Isa 25.6 they have now a Feast of fat things a Feast of Wines on the Lees of fat things full of Marrow of Wines on the Lees well refined here Chri bids them welcome beyond expectation (n) Cant. 5.1 entertaining them in his own words to the Spouse I am come into my Garden my Sister my Spouse I have gathered my myrrhe with my Spices I have eaten my Honycomb with my Hony I have drunk my Wine with my Milk eat O Friends and drink yea drink abundantly O beloved And surely the Soul that is entertained with such a Feast of Love as this cannot choose but be fully satisfied Here is the Hony and the Hony-comb here is Wine and Milk Here is abundance o satisfy Hunger and abundance to quench the Thirst and what can any Man desire more I tell you Christians if all the Glory of Heaven can satisfy your Souls you shall have it if all the fulness of God can satisfy you◠Souls you shall have it if all the redemption purchased by the Blood of Christ can satisfy your Souls you shall have it if all the Comforts of the Holy Ghost if fulness of Joy in God's Presence and Pleasures at his right Hand for evermore can satisfy your Souls you shall have them all to content you when you come to Heaven Now when we find Peter under a dark glimpse of this Glory crying out in the Mount of Transfiguration as a Man in some Measure satisfied it is good to be here How can we reckon of any thing less than fulness of satisfaction when we come to mount Sion and unto the City of the living God to the heavenly Jerusalem and to an innumerable company of glorious Angels to the general Assembly and Church of the First-born which are written in Heaven to the Spirits of just Men made perfect and to the full enjoyment of God himself whom to see and love will be perfect Happiness Never fear Christian that thy Soul though enlarged to the utmost of all created Capacities and crying out for the present like the Horse-leeches Daughters give give will want any good thing when once crowned with this glorious Soul satisfying Reward The Soul that hath God blessed for ever to be his Reward and Portion need never complain of want any more than a Man standing at the Fountain Head or enjoying the glorious Sun need complain of Thirst or Darkness One Sun is sufficient to give light to the whole World To be sure one God in Christ when fully enjoyed is a sufficient Portion to quiet the Heart and satisfie the most enlarged Desires of every gracious Soul in the World If Jacob could say it is enough hearing that his Son Joseph was yet alive oh how much more may a Soul safely lodged in the downy Bosom of eternal Blessedness and living with God in Mansions of Glory say now it is enough I desire no more When the Sun beholdeth the Moon with a full Aspect then the Moon is at the full and no further capable of any the least Accession of Light So when God shall lift up the Light of his Countenance casting a full and propitious Aspect upon his People now shining as so many glorious Stars in the heavenly Orb why then they will be in the full of their Happiness enjoying whatever good (a) Quicquid desiderabimus totum habebimus nihil amplius desiderantes Bern. Medit. cap. 4. pag. 105. thing they can desire and uncapable of desiring any thing more than what they do enjoy Oh then what manner of Reward is this that we who with Noah's Dove have been long hovering over the troubled Waters of Creature-enjoyments and yet found no place of Repose should at length be admitted into such an Ark as will give rest from all Labou◠and Toyl and from every Storm entertaining our Souls with all fulness of Delight and Satisfaction To be happy yea and so happy as not to desire any greater Happiness to be glorious yea and so glorious as not to desire any further Glory to be full of all divine Comforts yea and so full that there is no room to pour in the least drop of Consolation more oh how transcendently blessed is such a Reward and into what Extasies into what heavenly Raptures and Trances of Admiration may it throw us whilst but a little contemplating about it And yet thus it shall certainly be done to the People of God and this shall be the Reward of all such as the King of Glory hath a delight to honour They have now that satisfaction in Communion with God which makes them count one day so spent better than a thousand elsewhere But when crowned with this glorious Reward they will then have that fulness of divine Content and Satisfaction in Communion with God which will make them count Eternity it self but as one day 7 That Reward whereunto God allows his People a respect in all their Obedience its Simultaneous and Insuccessive such a Reward as they shall enjoy altogether and at once Here in this Life (b) Heb. 1.1 the Lord Communicates of his Grace and Goodness to his People 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at sundry times and in divers manners by peace-meal as the Apostle speaks concerning the Revelation of God's Will to the Fathers of old But in Heaven he gives them their Reward their Happiness their Glory by Wholesale pouring out the full Vials of
night yet there will come a day-break of Comfort and you are sure to have Joy in the beauteous (i) Psal 30.5 morning of your Souls happy Transmigration out of its tottering earthly Tabernacle into a Mansion of heavenly Glory Afflicted you may be for ten (k) Rev. 2.10 days a few short moments of time but all will end in an immarcessible Crown of Glory which ten thousand Years no nor yet Eternity it self shall be able to wear out Be it so that the Lord should hide his Face from you and seem (l) Isaiah 54.7 to forsake you yet 't is but for a moment for a little Instant of Fatherly Displeasure So that with great Mercies will he gather you and with everlasting Kindness will he have Mercy on you And albeit you now (m) 2 Cor. 4.17 have one Afflictions upon another yet they are both light and short and such as must quickly give place to a far more exceeding and eternal weight of Glory Oh then how diligent should the nearness of this Reward make us in doing the Work of God and how patient in bearing his Hand when lying most heavy upon us 'T was the complaint of a good Man upon his Death-bed that now he was going to a place where he should never do nor suffer any thing more for a gracious God (a) Non modica enim consolatiâ— est laboris cito sperare judicem remuneratorem constantiam certaminis remuneraturum Haymo AND though we have no cause to complain when God gives any one of us his Quietus est rewarding our weak endeavours with a Crown of Life Yet surely because the distance betwixt us and our eternal Reward is so small we should work the more chearfully redeem time for the Service of God more carefully and endure hardship as good Souldiers of Jesus Christ endeavouring to bring in what revenews of Glory we can into the Exchequer of Heaven Oh Christian labour to fill up that little scanting of time which lies betwixt thee and thy Eternal Reward in Heaven with all Faith Love Virtue and Patience as knowing that thy Glass being once run out now thou shalt never work more for God never any more suffer the least reproach or hardship for God but shalt have a blessed Sabbath of Rest from all thy labours Thy Days dear Child of God! how few soever and full of trouble yet they are all the working Days yea and suffering Days too that ever thou shalt have as being sure ere long to terminate in an Eternal Festival an Everlasting Holy-day of Joy unspeakable and full of Glory Will you then be prevailed with to watch with Christ one Hour and patiently to suffer for him who so quickly will come to reward you and take you to himself Having drunk a little draught of the bitter Waters of Marah the Sugar of Eternal Glory is ready Yet a little while and the Storm will be over the Day will break and all the dark shadows of Sorrow will take Wing and for ever fly away Wait but a few moments more and God will certainly lighten your Darkness discloud your Sun fill up your Comforts and come riding gloriously through the Skies in a triumphant Chariot all paved with Love to fetch you up into an eternal Mansion of Glory with himself in the highest Heavens (b) Gen. 45.27 28. 'T was no small reviving to old Jacob but indeed as Life from the Dead when Joseph his Son sent Waggons to carry him down into Egypt a Land of bondage as it proved But when Christ our dearest Saviour our precious Redeemer whom our Souls have loved and our Hearts longed after shall not send but come in Person taking us up into the Chariot with himself and carrying us away into the Palace of the great King into the glorious liberty of the Children of God oh now what sweet acclamations of Joy and Gladness will our Mouths be filled with as Streams everlastingly flowing from a full Fountain of purest Joy in our Hearts that shall never be exhausted but springing up like a Well of living Water unto Life everlasting (c) Isa 30.18 'T is a blessed thing to wait for the Lord in a way of well-doing but its Blessedness itself and that which will more than recompence all our Service to have Christ coming with millions of glorious Angels to conduct us into Heaven and set the Crown upon our Heads with his own Hands Now the Righteous forgetting that little moment of Sorrow which they had in this World they cry out admiring in this the Day of their glorious inauguration with the Church (d) Isa 25.9 Lo this is our God! we have waited for him and he will save us this is the Lord we have waited for him we will be glad and rejoice in his Salvation The Lord usually comes before expectation to a People waiting for him with a Crown of Life And that makes them look upon him with more delight and entertain him as in an extasie of heart-entrancing Joy and Admiration You cannot but greatly admire the Lord and your own everlasting Happiness when they come because 't is but a little while and he will come putting you in full possession of heavenly Glory when you thought yourselves to be at a great distance from it 16 AND lastly the Reward whereunto God allows his People a respect in all their obedience it 's an everlasting Reward This Reward is a glorious Sun which when once arisen upon you will never go down but everlastingly refresh your Souls with warmest Beams of Love and Comfort 'T is a full Hogshead of cordial Wine which can never be drawn drie but will run most pure nectareous Spirits of Joy and Gladness without any seculency to all Eternity 'T is an everlasting Spring of Joy and Happiness that shall never lose its most sweet enflowred vernancy through the approach of an injurious Winter (e) Dies septimus vespera est nec habet occasum quia sanctificasti eum ad permansionem sempiternam ut id quod tu post opera tua bona valde quamvis ea quictus feceris requievisti septimo die Hoc praeloquatur nobis vox libri tui quo et nos post opera nostra ideo bona valde quia tu nobis ea donasti Sabbatho vitae aeternâ— requiescamus in te etiam Aug. Cons l. 13. c. 36 The seventh Day as Austin observes had no Evening mentioned to typify an Eternal Sabbath of rest provided of God and fully to be enjoyed by his People when they shall have finished their course Truth is Eternity is the grand aggravation both of the Saints Happiness and of the Sinners Misery Heaven would not be so sweet nor Hell so bitter the Flames of this would not be so scorching nor the smiles of that so entrancing were it not that both the Joys of Heaven and the Torments of Hell shall endure for ever The Night of the damneds Horror and Misery would not be
delight in Sin or take pleasure in it 10 A due respect had to this glorious Reward it will comfort your Hearts in all your Afflictions and make you greatly rejoice under them how many and grievous soever An Eye stedfastly fixed upon heavenly Glory this will bring down Heaven inro your Souls causing your consolations to abound by Christ (c) 2 Cor. 1. when ever your sufferings abound for him A bright prospect of the celestial Canaan as it bears up the Spirits of God's People with invincible patience under all their Pressures and Calamities which befal them in the Wilderness of this present World So it anoynts their Head with Oyl causeth their Cup to overflow with Gladness and makes their Hearts to rejoice with Joy unspeakable and full of Glory (d) 2 Cor. 7.4 Thus we find Paul professing of himself I am exceeding joyful in all our tribulation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I do overflow saith he with Joy I have more than Heart can hold (e) Acts. 16.25 Nor is this profession of his any hyperbolical strain but an experimented Truth whereof we have full assurance from Paul and Silas his Prison vouches when in bonds together then brim full of Joy so full that their Hearts could not hold it from breaking out and running over at their Mouths into Psalms of Praise Like the Tree cast into the bitter Waters of Marah Faith eying the recompence of the Reward it sweetens all Afflictions enabling the Soul not only to stand it out in a fiery tryal but to glory for Gladness of Heart under the Cross at the Stake in the Flames of Martyrdom The Soul that can rejoice in hope of the Glory of God will easily glory in all the tribulations that it suffers for God (f) Rom. 5.3 So saith the Apostle we glory in tribulation also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that word implieth the triumphant act of Joy a Joy expressed with holy Boasting and exultation of Spirit such a Joy as the Soul is not ashamed to own and make her boast of let Earth and Hell let the Devil and wicked Men do their worst This Truth I might give you subscribed by all the holy Martyrs and confessors of Christ who thought Famine dainty fare for Christ that complemented wild Beasts to devour them that snatcht at Torments as if they had been rich Treasures that laid down their Bodies as a Man would lay off an old Garment to put on a new that went as gladly to their Flames as a labouring Man to his Bed and embraced the most cruel Martyrdom as an holy stratagem to escape the stroak of Death (g) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to pass from Life to Life as Basil hath it (h) Euseb Eccles Hist lib. 5. cap. 1. Hence when Juliâ—n the Apostate had caused Marcus Bishop of Arethusa to be tormented one of his Nobles admiring that holy Man's Joy cries out we are ashamed oh Emperour the Christians laught at your Cruelty growing more resolute thereby so that these things are more fearful to the Tormentors than to the sufferers (i) Acts and Mon. vol. 3. pag. 177. Were it needful I might tell you of Dr. Tayler Martyr in the Marian persecution who drawing nigh to the place of Execution leapt for Joy as Men do in dancing professing himself never better in all his Life for now I know saith he I am almost at home I have but two Stiles to go over and then I am at my Father's House With like holy Joy was Cicely Ormes Martress filled (k) Acts and Mon. vol. 3. pag. 853. who when brought to the Stake came and kissed it saying Welcome the sweet Cross of Christ and when now the Flames were kindled upon her my Soul quoth she doth magnifie the Lord and my Spirit rejoiceth in God my Saviour (l) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Basil Orat. in 40. Martyr After the same manner we find certain Martyrs that were cast out naked in a Winters night and to suffer the next Day comforting one another from this Recompence of Reward in these Words sharp is the Cold but sweet is Paradise troublesome is the way but pleasant will be the end of our Journey let us endure cold a little and the Patriarchs Bosom shall refresh us for ever Nor is the story of Theodoret unworthy our remembrance who found so much sweetness in this even when he was upon the Rack in the midst of his grievous Torments that he found not the least anguish in his torture but a great deal of Pleasure Insomuch that when they took him off from the Rack he complained that they had done him much wrong in ceasing to torment him For said he all the while I was tortured upon the Rack me thought there was a young Man in white an Angel from the Lord stood by me who wiped off the sweat wherein I found much sweetness which now I have lost In these and many the like instances which might be given we see how an Eye fixed upon Heaven's Glory in our sufferings brings down much of that Glory into them making the cruel Tortures of God's People infinitely more sweet than their ease and more desirable to them Let Faith but reallize the Glory of Heaven behold the Reward of Eternal Life and observe the infinite Pleasures which are at God's right Hand for evermore and then the Soul cannot choose but rejoice taking Pleasure in Reproaches in Persecutions in Exile in Imprisonments in Death itself for the sake of Christ This good Mr. Glover found true who going to the stake though before he were a Man of Sorrows yet now he is a Man of Joys and so filled with divine Consolations that he can no longer contain but crieth out speaking of the Comforter making his Heart to rejoice in hope of this glorious Reward he is come he is come Oh little can you now conceive what Comfort what Gladness of Soul what Joy in the Holy Ghost God's People have in their sufferings when stedfastly eying the Glory that shall be revealed in them NOW they find an Hony-comb in the Lyon's Carcass they suck sweetness out of the bitterness of Herbs now they gather Grapes of Thorns and Figs of Thistles now they have a warm Sunshine of Comfort from God to make glad their Hearts Would you therefore have Comfort Christians and be able to smile when the World frowns upon you Would you have your Prison be turned into a Paradise Would you if banished into a strange Land find a spiritual Eden a Garden of all heavenly delights in every howling Wilderness through which you may wander When reproached when fawn asunder when cruelly scourged tormented and dying in the hottest Flames of Martyrdom would you then triumph rejoicing with Joy unspeakable and full of Glory Oh see then see that you look within the veil fixing your Eye upon that Crown of Life which is set before you This will turn your Sorrow into Joy this will give you the Oyl of
a Land all whose Rivers run heavenly Nectar and all whose Trees are ever laden with the sweet delicious Grapes of Paradise (o) Si tanta nobis tribuis in careere quid dabis in patria Aug. de civit Dei If here in the Land of your Pilgrimage so much of Heavens Glory be revealed to you what Tongue of Man or Angel can tell the Happiness the Glory to be revealed in you when at home in your own Country The Crown of Life if now so bright and orient to an Eye of Faith beholding it Oh then what a far more excâ—â—ding and Eternal Weight os Glory will be found in it when a glorious Christ shall set it upon your Head with his own remunerative Hands 12 AND lastly a due respect had to this glorious Reward will bring you safe to it never leaving you till your Souls be crowned with fulness of Glory The Loadstone will draw Iron to itself when intra Spheram activitatis suae within the reach of its own attractive influence Thus the Reward of Eternal Life as an heavenly Loadstone hath that magnetick Virtue in it that if you put yourselves by a due respect had thereto under it it will draw you home to itself The wise Men keeping their Eye upon the Star which went before them were at length brought to Christ Thus keeping your Eye Christians upon this Eternal Reward as a glorious Star it will bring you at length to Christ in Glory whom fully to enjoy is our Life our Comfort our Happiness yea the Heaven of Heavens 'T is true Christians we must be uncloathed of this Body of Death before we can enter into the Joy of our Lord and be cloathed upon with the white Robes of Blessed Immortality Death must break down the Prison Walls of a Mortal Body before our Souls can ever come to the glorious Liberty of God's Children (a) 2 Cor. 5.1 Till our earthly Tabernacle be dissolved there is no having of a Building of God an House not made with Hands Eternal in the Heavens And why should we not be willing that God should pull down these Cottages of Clay who hath promised to raise us up a more glorious Temple The Loadstone cannot draw Iron as some say whilst the Diamond is in Presence Doubtless were it not for a Body of Death that is still present with us an Eye fixed upon Heaven's Glory would immediately draw us into Heaven For besides the interposition of an earthly gross Body together with those corruptions whose Foundation is in that Dust there is nothing as one well observes that hinders a Christian from the full enjoyment of God in Glory So that Death's peculiar Office is to break down this Wall of separation that the Soul may the better come to her God her beloved Redeemer her Eternal Habitation in the Kingdom of Heaven The Soul when once loosed from this dying Body then she hath the Crown of Life set upon her Head then she sees God no longer through a Glass darkly but Face to Face then she is ravished with the unconceivable sweetness of the beatifical Vision (b) Mori plane timeat sed qui ex aqua spiritu non renatus Gehennae ignibus mancipatur mori timeat qui non Christi cruce passione censetur mori timeat qui ad secundam mortem de hac morte transibit quem de seculo recedentem perennibus poenis aeterna torquebit flamma Cyp. de Mortalit pag. 344. Let those therefore tremble at the knocking and approaches of Death who know not what will become of their immortal Souls who not being born again from above are every moment liable to infernal Flames who have no interest in the Glory purchased by Christ who must pass from Death to Death from short momentany Pleasures to everlasting hellish Torments Death to the Wicked is the Trap-door that opening lets them fall down irrecoverably into the dark vault of Eternal Misery But to the Gracious Soul there is no cause of Terrour in Death no Fear in the Grave no Sting to perplex in a bodily dissolution as that which only ushers in her everlastingly Blessed and Glorious Coronation Death comes to a Man dying the recompence of Reward like Moses to the Israelites to deliver him as the Angel to Peter in Prison to set him free as God's fiery Chariot to carry him like Elias into heavenly Glory And are you Christians afraid of entring upon your own Blessedness are you afraid to be cloathed upon with your House from Heaven Get a right notion of Death which as Bernard calls it is nothing but the Gate of Life the Portal of eternal security Though Death look upon thee with a grim Countenance yet it comes upon a good errand to God's People to fetch them out of their Wilderness-condition and to bring them to an everlasting estate of Happiness By Death we go from Earth to Heaven from conversing with Sinful Men to converse with Millions of glorious Angels and what makes us so loath to remove Who would not leave a Cottage to gain a Kingdom Who would not leave an Egypt to inherit Canaan Who would not leave gladly an oppressive Babylon to be made a Citizen of Sion of the heavenly Jerusalem OUR greatest Misery lies not in Death but in Life 'T is the Veil of Flesh that keeps us from entring into the holiest of all c Death gives us a pasport from corruptible Joys to an incorruptible Crown from a Mortal Life to a Life of blessed Immortality from a troublesome condition to a State of perfect tranquillity So that the name of Death should not offend us But the Happiness and Glory to which it leads should delight us The Moon never comes to the full til after her change Thus through the change of Death a Christian comes to all fulness of Joy and hath the white Robes of Glory given him Now the Bridegroom comes to meet the Soul in Happiness now all Tears are wiped away and Heaven Gates are set wide open to give her everlasting glorious entertainment Now the Reward of life everlasting now the Joy of Eternal Salvation now the full possession of the heavenly Paradise comes Now heavenly Mansions instead of earthly Tabernacles now greatest Glory instead of small and Eternal Happiness instead of poor temporal enjoyments are bestowed upon every Child of God What Man that is well in his Wits woâ—ld not part with Life and bid Death welcome upon terms of such everlasting blessed and glorious advantage (d) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost ad pop Ant. hom 7. Death in the true notion (c) Mors haec transitus universorum est transitur à corruptione ad incorruptionem à mortalitate ad immortalitatem à perturbatione ad tranquillitatem Non igitur nomen mortis te offendat sed boni transitûs beneficia delectent Ambros lib. de Bono mort cap. 4. Proemium vitae gaudium salutis aeternae perpetua laetitia possessio Paradisi