Third Argument shall be drawâ— from the shortness of the Saints continuance iâ— this vale of tears Their tribulation cannâ—â— possibly be of any long duration The are but travellers through the world anâ— will quickly be at their journeyes enâ— A few years nay perhaps a few months will bring them to eternity and when time is no longer there will be no longer trouble The thoughts of death though terrible to the ungodly as putting a full stop to all their consolation may be refreshing to the Saints Death is their last Enemy after death no enemy can molest them Their dayes are swifter than a Weavers Shuttle they hast to an end as the Ships of desire to the Haven or the Eagle to the prey and as their dayes post away so their troubles and distresses make speed to a conclusion 4. A fourth Argument shall be drawn from the Saints immediate entrance into rest upon their dissolution The Apostle joyns being dissolved and being with Christ together and speaking of believers in the general he sayes 2 Cor. 5. 1. For we know that if our earthly house of this Tabernacle were dissolved we have not we shall have but we have a building of God an house not made with hands eternal in the Heavens The spirits of just men immediately upon their separation are made perfect perfectly free from sin and misery which while united to the body they were loaded with The Papists distinguish the Church into Triumphantem in caelis militantem in terra laborantem in purgatorio Triumphant in Heaven Militant on Earth Labouring in Purgatory The last member of the Division labouring in Purgatory the Scripture no where mentions but express affirms the contrary Rev. 14. 13. Blessed are the dead that dye in the Lord from henceforth yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labours Several miserably deluded souls argue for perfection here else say they how can the Saints be fitted for glory if they are defiled all their dayes It is easily answered that the work of grace is carryed on all their life time and at their dissolution their souls are perfected Death may be called a great change not only in regard of the body but in regard of the Soul too because the soul is perfectly purified and sin quite and clean abolished Neither let it seem absurd that such a change should be for if in the first moment of conversion there is an alteration or change from no grace to grace surely 't is not unreasonable to think that at the moment of dissolution there should be a change from imperfect grace to grace that is compleat Thus the penitent Thiefs soul was perfected at his expiring else he could not have been that day he dyed with Christ in Paradise It 's plain that the Saints upon their departure hence do enter into rest therefore it must be granted that their tribulation is but as they are short liv'd nay perhaps they may outlive their tribulation and behold a lightsome ever-tyde after a day of darkness and of gloominess They may live to see the Gospel in esteem after disgrace and peace upon Israel after trouble USE I. Is the tribulation of the Saints short then let not their faith fail let it hold out a little longer and its work will be at an end Let faith but keep up the Ship but a little while longer in the storm and it will be safely landed Leane a few dayes more upon the promises of support and shelter you will be past the pikes and beyond all peril When you are entred into the City of God the door will be shut and as you shall come out no more so no evil shall enter after you to molest or grieve you USE II. Is the tribulation of the Saints short then let not Patience grow weary Nâ—w Patience indeed is a needful grace but hereafter there will be no necessiâ—y or use of it because you shall never feel any more burthens The benefit of affliction and the nearness of your rest should induce you to bear all with cheerfulness When you see the end of the Lord you will confess they are happy that endure Jam. 5. 11. USE III. Is the tribulation of the Saints short Then let their expectation be raised Yet a little while and he that shall come will come and will not tarry Heb. 10. 37. Your Lord will be as an Hart or young Roe upon the mountains of separation and when he comes he will wipe away tears from all faces and for all your affliction and tribulation you shall have joy and triumph double treble nay ten thousand times ten thousand fold USE IV. Is the tribulations of the Saints short See the difference between the Saints and Sinners The Saints sufferings are like the sinners ease and prosperity both for a moment Let not the world imagine believers miserable their misery is no longer then the worlds happiness And as the men of the world cannot be counted happy because their happiness doâ—s so soon vanish so neither can believers justly be esteemed miserable because their misery is so transient What is it to have tribulation for ten dayes and then to triumph in the presence of God and of the Lamb for ever The Seventh Doctrine Whatsoever sufferings he is exposed to a Christian must be faithful All the children of Abraham should resemble their father of whom it is said that the Lord found his heart faithful before him Neh. 9. 8. This charge in the text is strict Be thou faithful And truly 't is but needful if these three things are considered 1. A Christians heart is treacherous and apt to start aside like a deceitful bow A besieged City when the besiegers have friends wâ—thin the walls that are ready to lay hold of any opportunity to betray it the Inhabitants had need to be the more circumspect and vigilant Such a City is the embleme of a believer though his heart be renewed yet 't is only in part it remains still in part corrupted and that corruption sides with the tempter and is ready to yield and open to him Faithfulness therefore to the Lord and to himself is often to be pressed upon the Christian 2. Shaking temptations are likely to be met with Mat. 7. 27. The rain will descend and the floods come and the winds blow and beat upon the house to try whether it is founded on a Rock or upon the sand onely 1. This charge to be faithful is very requisite if we consider that in time of shaking many will take offence and depart from Christ Christians in shew will then discover their want of faith and love in truth And when these fall off the Saints had need to be cautioned Do not you also leave me That so they may reply with Peter Joh. 6. 67 68. Lord to whom shall we go Thou hast the words of eternal life and eternal life it self to bestow on us In the further handling of this Doctrine First I shall shew
sorrow prevail unto your discomposure but manifest to all the world that you have somthing of God in you by undergoing what bare nature would sink under Suffer not as wilful but as conscientious be able to give Scripture reasons for what you practice and for what you refuse Beg of the Lord to make your way plain and the way of duty being discovered though there be a Lion or a thorn hedge in that way go forward notwithstanding And among others let these encouraging arguments be pondered by you 1. God is glorified by your sufferings indeed on your adversaries part he is evil spoken of but on your part he is glorified 'T is a sign you really believe the Lords greatness and power when you had rather have the whole world your enemies than him to be your enemy 'T is a sign you indeed believe his goodness and his promises when you had rather part with all visible comforts than be cast away from his presence and favour And by thus believing you glorifie him exceedingly It argues also that the Lord hath your hearts in good earnest when no troubles no afflictions which for his sake you are assaulted with can alienate your affections from him Further you proclaim to all what a good Master you serve when your adversaries by all that they can do are not able to divert you from following him cannot compel you to forsake his service And who knows what convictions in the consciences of them that observe you may be the effect of your constancy Who knows but that by this means some may be brought to make tryal of your Lord and so to the liking and loving of him 2. By your suffering the Gospel is advanced The mighty power and efficacy of the Gospel is shewn forth when it makes and keeps the Disciples hearts undaunted though sufferings in the most fearful shapes and forms are objected to their view How is the Gospel magnified when believers are content to be the mark for an adulterous generation to shoot at rather than be ashamed of it 'T is evident that the Gospel is from God else it could not thus support and comfort The Apostle tells the Philippians Chap. 1. 12. that his bonds and confinement were to the Gospels furtherance and enlargment his Brethren grew bold to speak the word without fear and the word spoken was the more readily entertained being credited by sustaining Paul and other Saints in all their tribulation 3. By your sufferings your selves are dignified You are highly graced when called forth to be the Lords Witnesses The Spirit of Glory and of God resteth upon you The Lord singles you out to combate with the Powers of earth and darkness and he will encourage and help and give you victory The Apostles when they were beaten did not murmur but rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for the name of Jesus Acts 5. 41. Shame is dignity reproach is glory loss is gain sorrow is joy pain is pleasure when endured for the sake of Christ Several of the Martyrs in the Marian Persecution when they went to the Stake gave thanks upon this very account that they died a death so noble as to dye Martyrs for the truth against Babels abominations and to ascend as it were â—n fiery Charots to the New Jerusalem 4. When you are suffering what a stock of prayers is going for you 'T is an happiness to be hardly dealt with so we are prayed harder for Our tribulation makes the bowels of mercy which are in our Brethren to yearâ— towards us they are bound with us in the same Bonds and sâ—mpathize in our sufferings this makes them the more instant and earnest with the Father of mercies on our behalf When James the brother of John had lost his life being killed by the Sword and Peâ—er had lost his liberty being apprehended and put in prison 't is said that Prayer was made without ceasing of the Church to God for him Acts 12. 5. And Prayer having entered into Heaven brought an Angel to his rescue it shook the chains off Peters hands and caused an iron gate of iâ—s own accord to open to him Behold the strength of believers prayers For my own particular I seriously confess that my imprisonment hath most happily in this regard befallen me I have no reason to be vexed with but rather to thank my adversaries for their kindnesse in thus confining of me The strictnesse and closenesse of my prison hath made my case sâ—mwhat peculiar and that also is turned unto good for hereby the spirits of hundreds both in City and Country were stirred up to pray for me with greater fervency and enlargment And to have so many prayers poured out for One particular person is an inestimable priviledge My Friends I thank you Gâ—d hath answered your requests I have had that in prison which is ten thousand times better than liberty than the world than life than ten thousand worlds and lives My Enemies I cannot but thank you too because you were the occasion of the mercies I have received though I really grieve to think that you did me good with so much harm to your selves 5. When you suffer the Lord himself suffers with you Not only your fellow Members but your Head doth sympathize and feel your burthens In all your afflictions he is afflicted Isa 63. 9. You have not an High Priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of your infirmities and the effect of this sympathie must needs be a most tender regard to you and readiness to relieve you in due season Luther very well observes that when any member of the natural body is harmed the sense of pain appears in the head and face the brows are knit the forehead wrinkled and the tongue cryes Oh! the whole countenance is alter'd And in like manner 't is in the mystical Body when any member is wronged if the injurious wretches could but see the face of Christ the Head they might plainly perceive he feels the stroak and is wounded in the wounds of his faithful followers Therefore when Paul while a zealous son of the Jewish Church did persecute the Disciples of the Lord and being exceedingly mad against them did hale men and women and commit them to prison Christ out of heaven cries out to him Saul Saul why persecutest thou Me And since the great Physitian is himself wounded in your wounds you may confidently expect an healing balm from him 6. To encourage you consider Great is the power that rests upon you in your sufferings Such a power as shall not only make you strong as David but as the Angels of the Lord. A Saint strengthned by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob though shot at by the Archers his Bow shall abide in strength therefore in Scripture he is compared to an iron pillar to a brazen wall to a defenced City Jer. 1. 18. To shew that though he is assaulted and that with violence yet he stands firm
and gazing at him whose glory should it but shine forth would overwhelm the most sanctified mortal here on earth And when the 〈◊〉 of God is seen the soul is all light all love All the excellencies and beauties in the creatures whereby affection is attracted in comparison of what is to be seen in God are not so much as the thousandth part of the least spark of fire compared with the Sun when it shines in its greatest strength and noon-tide glory The face of God will then be smooth not one frown to be seen not one look that will manifest the least displeasure Nothing but smiles and glorious aspects which will evidently shew the incomprehensible greatness of his love unto and joy that he takes in the perfectly purified vessels of glory 2. Another consequent of this union to God will be likeness to him But as for me sayes David I will behold thy face in righteousness I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness Psal 17. 15. The sight of God will be transforming and that likeness will cause abundant satisfaction The beholding of the Lord in his ordinances does in a degree change us into the same image from glory to glory 2 Cor. 3. ult and much more the beholding of him in his kingdom 1 Joh. 3. 2. Beloved now are we the sons of God and it doth not yet appear what we shall be but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is Then the Image of God begun here will be compleated Here 't is but like a rude draught like a picture in dead colours but then the piece will have had Gods last hand upon it the work will be finished and Oh how exactly like will all the children be to their holy and heavenly Father Now they hunger and thirst after righteousness but then the promise of filling them will be fulfilled and performed to the uttermost 3. Another consequent of this union to God will be the full enjoyment of him The Saints paâ—t after the Lord now as the chased Hart after the water-brooks but in glory they shall have as much of God as they can desire or contain The holy Ghost tells us that God will be all in all 1 Cor. 15. 28. All that they can wish all sufficient to fill them to the brim The goodness and power and faithfulness and love of God have sometimes deep and sweet impressions on the Saints now But whot will the impressions then be how durable how transporting they shall lye as it were with their heads at the fountain of living waters perpetually no thirst no scantiness will be complained of These are the consequents of that near union and communion to God wherein this life above will consist 2. That life above will be most holy and unspotted Sin will be pardoned and quite and clean abolished Filia devâ—rabit Matrem Death the daughter will put an end to sin the mother Believers though alive by grace do carry a body of death about with them which makes the condition somewhat like theirs who fâ—ll into the hands of the Tyrant of old called Mezentins who Mortua jungebat corpora vivis Componenâ— manibusque manus atq oribus ora Virg. joyned the members of a living man to a dead carkass the hands and breast and face of the one to those of the other But when the Saints are come to glory the body of death will be â—illed though the natural body will be raised yet the body of sin will never have a resurrection Instead of Oh wretched who shall deliver us will be glory and everlasting praise to him who hath made us free from sin the worst of evils and from all the lesser miseries that attend it The Spouse of Christ will then be presented a glorious Church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing but 't will be holy and without blemish Eph. 5. 27. Then the blood of Christ will have had its perfect operation The Saints will be washed white as Snow they will look as white or whiter then Adam did in innocency All spots will be done off Every wrinkle wil be smoothed and the members every one of them like their head altogether lovely The Church is now fair as the Moon spots it hath with its fairness sometimes it waxes sometimes it wanes but when 't is translated to heaven 't will be clear as the Sun it self Canâ— 6. 10. 3. That life above will be most sweet and pleasant The Saints shall no longer cry out vanity and vexation of spirit as they did when under the Sun But God will wipe away all tears from their eyes and there shall be no more death neither sorrow nor crying neither shall there be any more pain for the former things be past away Rev. 21. 4. When they come to live in the presence of God their Joy will be so full as to be un 〈…〉 able of any addition when they are at Gods right hand their pleasures will be for ever Even in this vail of tears there is a peace attended which passes all understanding a joy that is unspeakable and full of glory So that the Saints mouthes are songs in the house of their pilgrimage Oh then how short and unsuitable are out apprehensions of the pleasures dealt forth in the heavenly paradise 4. That life above will be most secure and safe Dangers will then be all gone thorow When we are entring into the gate of the New Jerusalem we shall shake hands with all the enemies that before molested us and not so much as one of them will be able to follow us The great gulph between us and them will keep them off at an everlasting distance There will be no danger either from within or from without No serpent in that paradise to tempt man again to fall from his restored innocency The heart will confired in goodness 't wil never have the least inclination to decline from God There will be no need of that vigilancy and standing upon our guard that now is necessary for our hearts will be perfectly cured of their deceitfulness and there will be no adversaries to lay snares for us 5. That life above will be most quiet and peaceable 'T is not improbable that in the latter dayes there will be a more peaceable Church state than as yet there hath been when that promise and others of the like nature will be more visibly accomplished Isa 11. 4 5 6 7 8 9. The Branch of Jesse with righteousness shall judge the poor and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth he shall smite the earth with the Rod of his mouth and with the breath of his lips shall he sâ—â—y the wicked and righteousness shall be the girdle of his loyns and faithfulness the girdle of his reins The Wolf also shall dwell with the Lamb and the Leopard shall lye down with the Kid and the Calf and the young Lion and the