priviledges from God every one desires to joyn with such societies as have great priviledges now Gods people have such as are very great Psal 87. 3. Glorious things are spoken of thee O City of God! What glorious things They have glorious priviledges What are they To them are committed the Oracles of God as the Apostle reasons for the Church of the Jews So to every Church of God is committed the Oracles and the Ordinances of God and those Offices for the dispensation of the mysteries of God which were the great gift that Christ triumphingly ascending to Heaven gave and surely that gift must needs be great The benefit but of one Ordinance the Ministery of the Word dispensed rightly is made an argument by God himself for the comfort of his people in all their adversities Isaiah 30. 20 21. And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction yet shall not thy Teachers be removed any more into a corner but thine eyes shall see thy Teachers The word in the Ministery of it in the the right way is a great blessing When Chrysostom was banished many godly people were so grieved that they professed it were more sufferable for the Sun to withdraw his beams and so be darkned then for the mouth of Chrysostom to be stopped If this one Ordinance be so blessed what a blessing then is the enjoyment of all and that in a right way Every Church-fellowship is as the pillar to hold forth the truth to the world as a light set upon a hill to hold forth the glory of God And they have amongst them the broad seal of Heaven To Gods people that are together in a Church-fellowship the seals are committed now this is a mighty priviledge And besides they have the power of Christ with them 1 Cor. 5. 4. the power of Christ is committed to them And amongst other priviledges this is one of great worth that all the promises of God made to his Church in former ages is the heritage of every present Church Isaiah 54. 17. These are great and high priviledges and worth the enduring of a great deal of hardship to be made partakers of the good of them Tenthly it is a blessed thing to be with them though with some hardship because God is working more and more good for his people every day Now he is about fulfilling the glorious promises that we have in the Prophets to make an end of all the glory that he does intend in the world Now if God be working great things for his people as we hope he is To set up Jerusalem as the praise of the whole earth Is it not good to be with them that we may be partakers of the glory that God intends to them Isa 58. 14. There is a promise that the Church shall ride upon the high places of the earth There is a time a coming that the society of Gods people in this world shall be set above all societies in the world and Isa 2. that The mountain of the Lord shall be raised above all mountains we cannot see how this hath been fulfilled Isaiah 60. 19. The Sun shall be no more thy light by day neither for brightness shall the Moon give light unto thee but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light and thy God thy glory This prophesie is spoken of the estate of the Church of God when was this fulfilled that there should be so much glory in the Church that there need not be any Sun or Moon but God should be in stead of Sun and Moon and all the glory of his people and to be with Gods people when God does such great things for them is worth the enduring much hardship In the former part of Isaiah 60. v. 7. God says He will glorifie the house of his glory and mark what follows ver 8. Who are those that fly as a cloud and as the Doves to their windows Seeing God will glorifie the house of his glory his people should fly to it as a cloud Those who are of heavenly not of drossie sensual spirits will do so and as Doves to their windows those who are of Dove-like spirits loving society and purity they will do so And it was the reason why some desired to live because in a few years they hoped to see some great things for his people And so the 102 Psalm is a prophetical Psalm into what a happy condition the Lord will bring his people and in the latter part of the Psalm the Psalmist brings in a gracious heart living in those times bemoaning the condition of it that it hath a sickly body and weak and like to dye before God would make good those promises made to the Church as if he should say Lord thou art bringing glorious things to pass for thy Church and thou art gathering the Kingdoms to serve thee Lord then take not me away in the midst of my days O God let me live to see all fulfilled Eleventhly It is good to be with Gods people because they are those people we shal live withal in Heaven If there were a company travelling together in a strange countrey and knew when they came to their own countrey they should live together in some great preferment in the Court how would they delight in one another So the godly should look upon one another here we have communion one with another and these are they we must joyn in communion withal hereafter to praise God eternally in the highest Heavens Lastly it is Heaven already to joyn with the people of God in communion The Scripture calls the Church of God and Church communion Heaven And therefore where there is a promise of God to restore his Church and recover it from thraldom and misery Isaiah 65. 17. Behold says God I create new heavens and new earth and so in Rev. 12. where the vision of the restoring of the Church was shewn to John it was shewn that way there was a new heaven and a new earth so that the Church of God is heaven it is not onely a company we shall live withal in Heaven hereafter but it is Heaven now and therefore our Savior says The least in the kingdom of Heaven shall be greater then John the least that lived after John in the Christian Church could speak more of Christ then John could The Kingdom of Heaven is like a man sowing his field with wheat that is the estate of the Church is a field sown with wheat and after the adversary sows tares in it The Church says Chrysostom in one of his Sermons upon the Corinthians is the place of Angels the Palace of Heaven yea Heaven it self And if it be so that communion with Gods people is Heaven already surely it is worth enduring of much affliction to be with them CHAP. XX. Perswasions to draw to the joyning with the people of God in the nearest communion HEnce then let me
have felt the work of God regenerating your souls upon which you have followed me you shall sit upon twelve thrones Some do interpret this place Regeneration the estate of the Gospel and so make it not to be the work of God upon the soul but the work of God upon the world to make a new world as the glorious estate of the Church under the Gospel is called a new heaven and a new earth and so take it Ye that have followed me in this new world ye shall sit upon twelve thrones c. but I rather take it the other way not wholly excluding this they are onely those that follow Christ in the Regeneration that shall have this reward It is called the new birth because there is such a strange change there is a new spirit and a new life put into a man Suppose a rational soul were put into a beast what a change would be in that creature Suppose an Angelical nature were put upon us what a change would there be By the change that is wrought in regeneration there is a greater difference the highest degree of glory in heaven is not so different from the lowest degree of grace here as the lowest degree of grace here is different from the highest excellency of nature because the difference between the highest degree of the glory of heaven from the lowest degree of grace is but a gradual difference but the difference that is between the lowest degree of grace and the highest excellency of nature is a specifical difference Therefore you that hope for glory know there must be a regeneration that work of God upon your souls that must cause a greater difference in you from that you were by nature then there is in the glorified Saints that have the highest degree of glory from the meanest Saint in the world as the reward is a mighty glorious thing so the work of God in preparing a soul for this reward is a mighty glorious work And therefore do not content your selves in every poor slight thought of heaven know heaven lies upon that which is a mighty work of God in you Thirdly if you ever come to Heaven there is a principle of heaven put into your souls here that is a heavenly principle that carries you heavenward I mean the work of God causing you to have heavenly mindes and heavenly hearts Our conversation is in heaven says the Apostle In Cant. 3. 6. the Church is compared to pillars of smoke that ascend upward to heaven Though the Church be black and dark in regard of her infirmities yet it hath a principle to carry it upward to heaven The Saints are compared to Eagles that fly aloft towards heaven though their bodies are not there their hearts and souls are there if our treasures be in heaven our hearts are there already I read of Edward the first who had a mighty desire to go to the holy Land to Ierusalem and because he was hindred and could not get thither he gave his Son a charge upon his death-bed to carry his heart thither and he prepared Two and thirty thousand pound to carry his heart thither So the Saints though they have not their bodies in heaven their hearts are there and they take much pains and are at great charges to get their hearts thither All things in nature have a principle to carry them to their proper place because the place of fire is on high therefore fire hath a principle to carry it on high and because the place of earth is below therefore earth hath a principle to carry it downward So if the place and center of the heart be in Heaven then certainly it hath a principle to move naturally thither to move upward to heaven and therefore that soul that hath nothing but a principle to carry it downward to the earth and to the lusts of it to these things below heaven is not the proper place for such a soul and when the soul goes out of the body it wil not go to Heaven Take earth and close it in a vessel and take fire and put into a vessel open the vessels and let them out and they go both to their places so the souls of men when they are gone out of the body they go to the place whither they had a principle to carry them therefore do not think the principle shall be put into them when you dye but you must have a principle before if your hearts be prest down by earthly things when you dye they will fall down and therefore observe which way your souls work Can you say as in the presence of God My soul works heavenward though I have weights of corruption that would weigh me down yet I have a principle that does work to Heaven But the consciences of many tell them their souls work downward to vanity and sensuality and you have no other principle and therefore when your souls depart they fall downward Fourthly what soul soever hath an interest in heaven heaven is in that soul already The kingdom of God is in them and they have taken hold of eternal life now eternal life abides in them Whom he hath justified he hath glorified already they have the glory of heaven begun you heard what that was In heaven there is the perfection of our natures the image of God shall be renewed now is the image of God begun hath God marked you and set the stamp of his image upon you There is no soul that God does intend to put glory upon but he marks that soul and stamps his image upon it in the work of conversion and says Here is a soul I set the stamp of my image upon because I mark it out to glory if ever you come to Heaven God must see his own Image and Superscription upon you As the Beast set his mark upon men and would suffer none to trade but those that had his mark so God will set his mark upon his people and none shall come into his Kingdom but those that have his mark now a mans Image is upon a thing when by beholding of it I am put in minde of him that it is an Image of so if you have this Image and stamp of God a man that knows God as soon as he looks upon you as soon as he beholds your conversation he is put in minde of God and he says I have heard and read much of God of the holiness and righteousness of God and by this mans conversation I am put in minde of that holiness and righteousness of God the brightness of which I see shining here Again in Heaven you know God himself is the portion of the Saints they have the presence of God What presence of God do you enjoy here Were your souls ever acquainted with the presence of God in the Ordinances What blessed vision have you of God here Those who come to Heaven God gives a sight of himself here
the chief contentment of thy soul Is it possible that the chief contentment of a creature should be in sinning against an infinite God That thy chief contentment should be in departing from God in striking at God So thou doest in the way of sin That thy chief contentment should be in incensing the wrath of an infinite Deity against thy soul That thy chief contentment should be in putting thy self under the everlasting curse that bindes thee over to eternal death That thy chief contentment should be in that which being committed if ever it comes to be pardoned must cost more then Heaven and Earth is worth Thou goest out in the morning and goest into thy company and countest thy self happy that thou hast money to spend and so takest thy pleasure This day thou hast done that which if ever it be pardoned it must cost more then Heaven and Earth is worth There must be a price paid more worth then a thousand worlds to purchase the pardon of it Canst thou choose that for thy chief contentment which was such a dreadful but then to Jesus Christ that made the soul of Christ to be heavy to the very death that squeazed out clods of blood from him What is the chief pleasure and delight of thy soul in that which a true enlightened gracious heart would rather suffer all the torments in the world then do it If so be it were put to him either such a sin must be committed or else all the tortures that can be devised by all the world must be inflicted upon him A gracious heart had rather choose all the tortures that can be inflicted then do that which thou makest the great pleasure of thy soul What an infinite difference is between thy base heart and a gracious heart Thy wretched heart doth choose this deliberately as the great pleasure of thy life which a gracious heart would rather suffer all the torments of the world then be brought to do it To delight in sins against conscience is the most desperate folly in the world No man rejoyces in any error or fault in other things but is rather ashamed onely in the errors in the rule of life and obedience men owe to God they rejoyce in Secondly those come under this reprehension who though they do not choose things for their chief pleasures that are sin yet do choose to themselves pleasures that come in by sin and though this be not so ill as the other yet ill enough that is those that shall strain their consciences to get something in the world to raise their estates and when they have got estates and money and things well about them then they can be merry then their tables are furnished and they can eat and drink and this they delight in O poor deluded heart what is this that can give thee so much content Thou hast cause to look upon thy table and every morsel that thou eatest as having death in it and every draught you drink as having the curse of God in it Little cause thou hast if thou knewest all to rejoyce in these pleasures that come in by sin certainly there can be no good that comes in by sin as sin I know God may turn sin to the good of some but that which sin brings in of it self it is impossible good should come of it that which thou takest pleasure in that which thou art merry and jocund in delighting thy self withal is it may be the calamity and misery of others and how hard is that heart that can make that his mirth and joy that is the sorrow and distress of his brother Chrysostom in a Sermon against luxury and excess cryes out against those who riot in those things that they have got by making others miserable and says It is the most grievous thing that can be Thirdly those who do neither of these they choose not to themselves the pleasures that are sin nor the pleasures that come in by sin but such pleasures in the enjoyment of which they do sin though the pleasures be in themselves lawful they choose to let out their hearts unto them and spend the strength of their spirits on them they think because there is no hurt in them in themselves therefore they may give liberty to themselves there is a great deal of mistake in this we may sin exceedingly in things that are lawful when men shall spend so much time as many that are professors do in giving themselves content in some sports and delights to the flesh as they cut God short of his time that time that should be spent in examining their hearts humbling their souls seeking the face of God is spent in some slight vain idle sport Many are guilty of this especially those that have means and their callings do not require such a necessity of continual attendance How is that time spent wherein you have liberty from your callings Certainly no good account can be given of that time much might be gained to your souls in it and much converse and communion you might have with God and what ill choice do you make when as many poor Christians would bless God if they could have a little liberty from their callings On the one side there is this liberty for you to enjoy communion with God and furnish your souls with heavenly excellencies On the other side there is a little vain delight and carnal content and ease to the flesh and you rather choose this It may be though God hath helped you in the main you chose right yet be convinced this day of the evil of this particular choice in giving such inordinate contentment to your selves in giving that ease to your bodies liberties to the sluggishness of your spirits and reform You have not honored God as you ought and therefore your lives are not so beautiful In the general you continue in the ways of Religion but there is not that convincing lustre and beauty in your lives you do not draw others to that love of godliness because your hearts become so vain and so slight in choosing inordinate liberties to your selves in spending your times and strength in the pleasures of the flesh and therefore when you come to spiritual employment you have no strength but your hearts are dead I appeal to your consciences when you have given your selves leave to have content to the flesh when you come to communion with God what dead flat hearts have you Let me speak to such this day from the Lord this liberty you take to your selves in the pleasures of the flesh hath been the root of the Apostacy of many as 2 Pet. 2. 18. those who fell off were allured through the lusts of the flesh even though they are said to be clean escaped from them who live in error yet through wantonness they were drawn aside Wanton professors seldom prove lasting professors at least in any power of godliness Take this one note
pleasantly First be sure to keep the heart right within be sure to keep all at peace within thy soul you know according to the temper within so there is the relishing of things without He that hath peace within can easily go through the duties that are required without with joy Further exercise faith in the work and office of the holy Ghost that office that the holy Ghost is designed unto by the Father and the Son to be the Comforter of his people to bring joy and comfort to them look upon the holy Ghost as designed by the Father and the Son to bring joy and delight to the souls of his people What an infinite difference there is between the comforts of a carnal heart and the comforts of the godly The one come from a little meat and drink and the other come from the exercise of faith about the office of the holy Ghost that is designed to this work Thirdly in all that thou doest be sure to be upright Though thou beest able to do but a little in any way of God if thou beest upright God accepts of it and and thou wilt finde comfort Thou sayest thy duties are mean it may be so but if thou beest upright thou mayest have comfort it becomes the upright to be joyful whereas the most glorious performances if they be not in uprightness are but abominable Again sweeten all your duties by spiritual meditation a Christian that treasures up spiritual meditation and every duty that he performs brings it in by meditation and hath a great many meditations to rowl his duty up and down in this is delight To go to duty and to have a barren heart to act there is no delight but to go to a duty and to exercise spiritual meditation this is sweet Again labor to principle thy heart aright in the ways of godliness to understand what they are if thou understoodest what they are they would be delightful and the reason why many do not go on delightfully is because they do not understand what is in the ways of God to cause delight You will say What is there in the ways of God to cause delight First every work of godliness and that ability that grace hath to exercise is a beam of that infinite choice eternal electing love of God upon thy soul if thou lookest upon it so it will be wonderfully delightful Secondly look upon every duty of godliness as having more of the glory of God in it then the whole frame of heaven and earth besides Take all Gods works in the Creation in Providence in the Heavens the Sun Moon and Stars in the Earth and the Seas there is not so much of the glory of God in them all as in one gracious action that a Christian performs and if you looked at it thus it could not but have pleasure in it Thirdly look at that action of grace as that in which God attains his end in creating heaven and earth more then in other things besides as there is more of God in it so God attains more in it the end of God in his counsels is more attained by any gracious act then by any thing else that can be done save of the same nature How delightful should we be in the ways of godliness if we looked thus at them Fourthly look upon every gracious act as the seed of glory and eternal life Every work of grace in the heart and life of Gods people is a seed of glory and eternal life And these four considerations being put upon every gracious act do confirm that which was said in the opening of the point they must needs be full of pleasantness Be not satisfied in doing any thing in the ways of God till you do it pleasantly I hear the ways of God are pleasant I have gone on being haled by conscience but little have I understood of the pleasantness of them there is more to be looked after then I have attained to By this thou shalt come to be mightily strengthened and it wil be a marvellous help to make thee continue in the ways of godliness And as I said in handling that argument of the easiness of the ways of godliness those that are continually thinking of the hardness of Gods ways will fall off but by having them pleasant it will carry thee on against temptations and the current of all arguments The last Use of all is If the ways of wisdom be ways of pleasantness what is the end of wisdom If the neather springs be so sweet what will the upper be If the lower Jerusalem be paved with gold surely that upper Jerusalem is paved with pearls It is an excellent speech of Bernard Good art thou O Lord to the soul that seeks thee what art thou then to the soul that findes thee How sweet and pleasant are the ways of wisdom then How sweet and delightful is the end of wisdom If grace be pleasant how pleasant is glory therefore the Saints dye so pleasantly because there is a meeting of grace and glory Grace is delightful glory more delightful but when these both meet together what delight will there then be It is a speech of Jerome speaking of carnal delights None can go from delight to delight but it is not so spiritually the more delight we have here the more we shall have hereafter and therefore let this be all our prayer Lord give us evermore this pleasure satisfie our souls with this pleasure if the drops be sweet the rivers of pleasure and joy that are at Christs right hand how sweet are they Moses his Choice The second Part. CHAP. XVI A spiritual eye can see an excellency in Gods people though under great affliction THe fourth Doctrinal Conclusion that was raised from the words was That a spiritual eye can see an excellency in Gods people though under never so great affliction Moses chooses rather to suffer affliction with the people of God Who were this people A despised people an afflicted people Yet Moses could see an excellency in them while they were making their brick while they were whipped by their task-masters and contemptible in the eyes of all the Egyptians yet by the eye of faith Moses could look upon them as the most excellent of the earth as the most glorious people that lived in the world and desires rather to joyn with them though in the greatest afflictions then to abide Pharaoh's Court in the enjoyment of all worldly delights let the world cast what dirt they will upon them and darken their glory what they can yet they are precious and honorable in the Saints eyes The excellent of the earth and the glory of the world Job scraping his sores upon the dunghil and Jeremy sinking into the mire in the dungeon are more beautiful and glorious then the great men of the earth when they are crowned upon their Thrones Though you have lien
Lord is pleased to condescend to our weakness to express his especial presence with his Church and therefore it is good to be with them these are the expressions of it But wherein does the presence of God with his people appear more then with other people In these two things especially First because there God makes himself known reveals himself there and makes his beauty to appear Psal 27. 4. One thing have I desired of the Lord that I will seek after that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord and to enquire in his Temple It is the glory of Heaven to see God in his beauty and this is one of the greatest promises of God to his Church that they shall see the King in his majesty We may see some glimmering light of God in the Heavens Sun Moon and Stars but in the Church there God shews his beauty there we may see the face of God and this is that which Moses did desire Lord-shew me thy glory It is much granted to us in the Church in enjoying his Ordinances and there is no way to see Gods face so clearly as this way Every childe of God that is in the Temple shall speak of Gods glory for they see God in his glory in a special maner Secondly the especial presence of God with his people is especially manifested in that he communicates to his people as namely First the choice mercies of God are communicated to his people If you would have any share in Gods choice mercies his peculiar mercies come amongst Gods people joyn with them as that place is observable in Psal 134. 3. The Lord that made Heaven and earth bless thee out of Sion He does not say the Lord that made Heaven and Earth bless thee out of Heaven and Earth but the Lord that made Heaven and Earth bless thee out of Sion as if he should say The blessings that come out of Sion are the choice blessings and the peculiar mercies of God even above any that come out of Heaven and Earth Secondly God communicates his mercies more fully then any where else Isa 25. 6. And in this mountain that is in the Church I will make a feast of fat things a feast of wines on the lees of fat things full of marrow c. and Psal 36. 8. They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures In a private way there may be some drops of pleasure from God but there is not that full communication from God as with his people in his Ordinances there is in the world in the creature drops in private communion there are ponds but in a pulique Church-communion there are rivers of pleasure and that is the height of all Thirdly God communicates his mercies more powerfully in the Church then any where else Psal 133. 3. For there the Lord commanded the blessing even life for evermore God did not onely speak and said there should be a blessing but spake in a commanding way There Where is that There in the Church amongst his people there God commanded the blessing even life for evermore Lastly God blesseth more universally with all kinde of blessing and therefore he is more present there and in that respect the Psalmist says Psalm 87. 7. All my springs are in thee This whole Psalm is to set out the excellent condition of the Church and he concludes the Psalm with this All my springs are in thee Now this expression is very emphatical Spring is taken two or three ways in Scripture The Law of God the Doctrine of Gods Law is compared to a spring and heavenly knowledge is compared to a spring and then it is thus All my springs All the truths I have all the knowledge I come to be made partaker of are all in the Church Again All my springs all the comforts of my heart and that good and joy my spirit receives and all the graces of the Spirit that I have and all the quickning and strengthning I have is communicated to me this way And upon this ground the Church is called the very perfection of all beauty Psal 50. 2. Out of Zion the perfection of all beauty God hath shined Out of Zion there is his glory wonderfully apparent The word that is translated the perfection of beauty is translated by some the universality of beauty all kinde of beauty all kinde of excellency as if the Psalmist should say Put all excellencies together that possibly you can imagine to make a thing comely and lovely they are all in the Church Thus you see it is good being with Gods people when as God is thus present with them in a special maner Eighthly it is good being with Gods people because there is Gods special protection others are but as the wilderness the Church is as a garden enclosed Cant. 4. 12. A man regards his garden that he hath enclosed and bestowed cost about more then a wilde field the fields have hedges to keep out the beasts but gardens have brick wals or wood walls Isa 27. 3. I the Lord do keep it I will water it every moment lest any hurt it I will keep it night and day How full is this his care over it is such as he threatens those which shall but touch it Jer. 12. 14. to pluck them out of their land Zach. 2. 5. God promiseth he will be a wall of fire round about his people alluding to the custom of travellers in the wilderness who used to make fires round about them in the night for their safety because then none of the wilde beasts durst come near them such a defence is God to his people There is nothing in the Book of God wherein God is so full in his expression as when he comes to this argument to manifest his affection to his Church Christ is the Shepherd and when sheep are together they are under the protection of the Shepherd when the sheep are scattered the Shepherds eye is not so over them And therefore in Hosea 4. 16. God threatens his people he would feed them as a Lamb in a large place as a Lamb getting from the fold goes up and down bleating so when Gods people are scattered they are as a Lamb in a large place and when God would threaten the sorest judgement against his people Ezekiel 34. he says He will scatter them and they shall become to be meat to the beasts of the field And hence it is that the condition of the Church is so stable a condition and therefore in Isaiah 60. 15. the Church is called an eternal excellency because it is under the Lords protection and is it not good being there to be under the wing of God Ninthly to be amongst Gods people is a blessed thing because they have so many
the Monarchs and great ones of the earth and so to be honored in the eyes of those that were their enemies and contemned and reproached them and vilified them before and likewise their glory shall be in this to rejoyce in the execution of the sentence that is pronounced upon those that are condemned Lastly their glory shall be in their glorious ascension with Christ into the highest heavens ranked in their comely order with triumph and joy singing Stand open ye gates and be ye open ye everlasting doors that the King of glory and all his redeemed ones may come in Thirdly the possession of heaven the Kingdom of heaven shall be theirs the heaven of heavens great things are spoken of that there are these things considerable in it First it is the third heaven there is the heaven that is the space between the visible firmament and the earth the second heaven is the Orbes wherein the Sun and Moon and Stars are and then there is an heaven above them which is the seat of the blessed which is of an infinite heighth above all now it as a sweet confideration for the people of God when you are going out in the evening and seeing the firmament spangled with the Stars to have such thoughts as these What shall one day this body of mine be lifted up beyond yonder place Though now you lie low in some dark hole there is a time when God shall lift you up to be above that spangled firmament that spangled firmament is but the pavement of your Fathers house it is but the outside and if the outside and footstool of Gods house be so glorious how glorious is it within how glorions is the presence Chamber This world is made for Dogs for the Enemies of God and those that are more vile then any creatures he does not think much to have swine live here but you do not suffer swine to come into the presence Chamber or into the Dining-room now heaven is the presence Chamber and Dining-room for that eternal feast to be solemnized in and that must needs be glorious Secondly it is called our Fathers house This is not our Fathers house though we should be caught up where the Stars are that is not our Father house that is but the out-room Says Christ In my Fathers house there are many Mansions God was from all eternity a heaven to himself before the world was then he created the highest heavens to be the place of his presence not that he is comprehended there but that he would have a place for his glory more fully to shine in Again it is a place prepared from the beginning of the world and Christ is gone to prepare it for us If there were such a building here that all the men of the world had been building from the beginning of the world and they had all the pearls and jewels of the world to set into it and all the inventions and strength of men and Angels to help them to build it would be glorious but in comparison it is but a dungeon to this The brightness of this is exceeding glorious says Chrysostom when you see a sumptuous pallace you look upon it and are taken with it but it is but as a dungeon to your Fathers house The light of that shall be of another nature then the light of the world the light that we have here is a material light but the whole body of heaven is of an higher nature then the body of the Sun and there shal be such a glorious presence of God as there shall need no Sun Moon and Stars to enlighten it and then with the brightness of the body of Christ and the brightness of the bodies of the Saints there shall be a glorious lustre And for the large extent of it the lowest heavens are but as a prick of the center in comparison to the starry heaven and the starry heaven is but as a prick of the center to the highest heaven Men boast here if they have but a few clods of land as Socrates put a scorn upon Alcebiades that boasted of his lands he brought him to the Map of the whole world and prayed him to shew them there and there was not one prick vouchsafed for them in it What is a little land to a countrey and what is a countrey to the world and the world is but as a prick to the lowest heaven and the lowest heaven is but as a prick to the starry heaven and the starry heaven is but as a prick to the highest heaven and the Saints shall possess all that You that have no possessions here know there is a possession hereafter that is more then if you had all the Lands in the world Besides it is of an incorruptible nature it is an inheritance incorruptible The reason why the heavens and so the soul is incorruptible is because it is not made out of pre-existing principles it was made out of nothing and nothing but an infinite power can annihilate a thing as well as make a thing out of nothing Much is said of that place for the description of it Jerusalem was but a Type of it and the Land of Canaan was but a Type of it and Paradise was but a Type of this glorious place that is provided for the Saints of God Let us therefore raise up our hearts to consider of this And as we read in Gen. 13. 14 15. where God shewed to Abraham the Land of Canaan says God look Northward and Southward and Eastward and Westward for all the land which thou seest to thee will I give it and to thy seed So consider the vastness of the Heavens and the exceeding extent of them and consider this is the Inheritance of the Saints We know we have an abiding eternal inheritance our bodies shall abide eternally and the Heavens themselves are eternal this should quiet our hearts when we finde any discontent in our habitations it is no matter in what Countrey we are here there is a glorious Countrey we are going to Christ our elder Brother is already gone and hath taken possession of Heaven for us as if so be there were some great inheritance did befal you here and you cannot go to possess it and if you hear one is there for you who hath taken quiet possession for you and you shall be sent for in time convenient will you not be content So we are not fitted for Heaven but Christ is gone before to take possession and within a while we shall go and live with him The earth is too mean a place for the Saints and yet the world is not worthy of the Saints of God in a mean condition then the world shall not be worthy of the Saints in their glorious condition and therefore there must be a place above the world Yet know Heaven is not enough for the Saints the Saints of God are of such spiritual raised spirits as
that they cannot be satisfied with any thing but God himself Suppose God should cause all the Emperors and Kings of the world to come and cast down their Crowns before the Saints and say All these are yours An heart that is truly raised would say This is not enough this is not God himself Suppose God should bring all the splendors of all the creatures in heaven and earth and they should be cast at the feet of the Saints they would say This is not enough for this is not God Suppose God should cause all the glory of heaven not onely of Sun Moon and Stars but of the highest heaven to be laid before the Saints they would say This is not enough this is not God If all the Angels should come and say We are sent to put all our glory upon you they would say This is not enough this is not God and therefore when God hath given them heaven he must give them himself to or else they are not happy And that is the fourth thing CHAP. XLV The Saints enjoyment of God to be their portion their happiness in having his presence GOd himself will be the portion of the Saints Augustine says of the happiness of the Saints If God gives such good things to wicked men does he keep nothing for the Saints Yes he keeps heaven it self but says he Surely I speak of too low a thing when I speak of heaven he will give himself to them Heaven is beautiful but more beautiful is God himself the God of heaven Therefore God must give himself to them or else their souls are not satisfied It is a sweet and excellent expression that Bernard hath Lord as whatsoever we give unto thee unless we give our selves cannot satisfie thee so Lord Whatsoever thou givest to us unless thou givest thy self we cannot be satisfied The Lord said to Abraham Fear not I am thy exceeding great reward but says Abraham What wilt thou give me seeing I go childeless Surely he had respect to Christ or else it could not but be a fault that Abraham should not be fully satisfied in what God said for as God does make the Saints to be his portion so God is the portion and the inheritance of the Saints The enjoyment of God is Heaven it self and therefore in Scripture God is called heaven I have sinned against heaven In this there are these seven things First the presence of God Secondly the blessed vision of God Thirdly the happy union with God Fourthly the glorious communion with God Fifthly the fruition of God Sixthly the rest that their souls shal have in God Seventhly the enjoyment of themselves in God O beloved for preparation to hear these things that we had spiritual hearts says one It is not for your carnal base sensual voluptuous spirits to hear of those things For those that know no better things then to eat and drink and to be unclean what is it for them to hear of such excellent things As for the pleasures of the flesh they do infect and defile the soul and make it unfit for the hearing of such things we had need of spiritual ears to hear them God says to Abraham in Genes 13. 16. I will make thy seed to be as the dust of the earth afterward in Gen. 15. 5. he says He will make his seed as the stars of heaven The seed of Abraham are of two sorts Some are of the seed of Abraham that are visible members of a Church and yet have earthly hearts but there are others of his seed and they are as the stars of Heaven of spiritual hearts now as we are of the seed of Abraham outwardly in profession let us not be of that seed that are of the dust of the earth onely fit to hear of earthly things but let us shew that we are of the seed of Abraham that are as the stars of Heaven and shall hereafter come to enjoy the God of Heaven For the first the presence of God that glorious presence that the Saints shal have of God in Heaven is a great part of their happiness Heaven it were not Heaven without the presence of God The presence of God in the most miserable place that can be were a greater happiness then the absence of God in the most glorious place that can be David would not be afraid though he walked in the valley of the shadow of death so that God were with him Psal 23. Luther would rather be in Hell with Gods presence then in Heaven God being absent If the presence of God takes away the dread of the shadow of the valley of death and makes Hell to be more desired then Heaven what will the presence of God make Heaven to be The three Children in the fiery furnace with Gods presence were happy how happy then are the Saints with Gods presence in Heaven The Saints desire Gods presence even when he is angry they are loth to be out of his presence then It is very observable that we have recorded of David Psal 51. ver 9. he cryes to God to hide his face from his sins for Gods face was then an angry face against him yet ver 11. he cryes again Cast me not away from thy presence he was not willing to be out of Gods presence howsoever upon which St. Auguhath this expression Whose face he fears even his face he invocates God made rich promises to Moses yet he could not be satisfied without the presence of God If thy presence be not with us bring us not hence And the Apostle when he would set out the misery of those that are damned in 2 Thess 1. 9. says the Text They shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord now the presence of God must needs be the happiness of the Saints First because this must needs draw out all their graces in all the sweet savor of them Cant 1. 12. While the King sitteth at his table my spikenard sendeth forth the smell thereof As it is with the Sun it draws forth all the vertue that there is in the plant and makes a sweet savor in things so the presence of God must much more draw forth the fragrancy of all the graces of his Spirit in the souls of his Saints Secondly the presence of God must needs quicken all the comforts of the souls of his people and keep them always in vigor and activity for as we know the Sun it does quicken things that lay dead so the presence of God hath a wonderful quickning power it keeps the comforts of Gods people fresh so long as we have the presence of God all our comforts are green and lively The Saints in heaven have always the presence of God and therefore their comforts are always vigorous and lively When they shall be presented faultless before the presence of his glory it shall cause exceeding joy Jude 24. the word there signifies leaping springing exalting joy
glorious sight It is not yet Six thousand years since God did any thing out of himself and what is six thousand years to eternity and if God have done such great things in Six thousand years what may God do in the next Six thousand years and so in the next who now can tell A Workman doth his meanest works at first and this world is but the beginning of Gods works and for a creature to see what God shall thus work for ever is an infinite blessed thing The seventh thing wherein this blessed vision of the Saints appears is that they shall look upon all the ways and works of God as to see their happiness consisting in them there is a great deal of difference in seeing an object that is excellent in its self and to see an object that is excellent wherein consists my happiness As in riding over a Land one that is a Stranger rides over it another that is an Heir the Stranger rides over it and takes delight to see the Trees and Fruit to grow but the Heir looks upon it after another maner as the Land for which my Father laid out much and all to enrich me as the Land that is mine Inheritance so were it that we were but admitted to this glorious sight of God meerly to have the view of God it were a great priviledge to the Creature but to see all the shine and all that excellency that is in God is to make me happy and all the counsels and ways of God are working for my happiness and glory this is blessedness indeed There is difference between a Stranger looking upon the King and the Queens looking upon a King A Stranger may see Beauty and Majesty in the King but the Queen looks upon the King and his Beauty and majesty as her own and so the souls of the Saints shall see all in God as their own to make them happy Eighthly the blessedness of the sight of God consists in this that it shall be a transforming sight such a sight of God as shall be a transforming perfecting sight not onely a perfect sight but a perfecting transforming sight The light that shall come from God upon the minde shall perfect the minde and transform the minde into the same likeness with God It shall not be a meer notional sight as men may speak much of God and have a notional vision of God but there is a great deal of difference between the notional vision of God and the Deifical vision of God for it is not only beatifical but Deifical for it does transform a man into the likeness of God A deformed man may see a beautiful object and that sight shall not make him like that beautiful object but the sight of God shall make the soul glorious as God is glorious as you shall have it in 1 Iohn 3. 2. We shall be like him what is the ground We shall see him as he is Ninthly the sight of God will be a full sight a sight whereby the minde shal be raised to that heighth of excellency as it shall be able to see God in his excellency we cannot look upon the Sun now in its excellency if we will see the Sun we must see in its reflection but the understanding of the Saints shal be raised to that heighth that they shall be able to look full upon the face of God and this will be the reward especially of Faith for those that are godly do believe above reason Now because the Saints are willing to fear God so far as to captivate their reason and to believe upon bare testimony above reason therefore hereafter God will give them this rereward to see things fully and the reason of things Again it shall be such a sight of God as shall be without any discourse or labor but there shall be the present vision of God at the opening of the eye We are glad if we can come to understand the creature with labor but to come to understand God the Creator without labor is a great happiness Again to have the sight of God so as never to lose it that addes much to the happiness of the Saints To have but one glimpse of the face of God though it were gone presently it were a great happiness beyond all that the world affords but God shall not onely pass by but stand still so as the soul shall never lose the sight of God but it shall have it to all eternity and the eyes of the soul shall be eternally opened to see God If a man looks upon a delightful object he is loth to have the eye drawn from it you shall never have your eye drawn from God Further in the sight of God you shall see all things that do any way concern your selves in ordering of you to all eternity and this is made by some the ground why it is impossible for the Saints in Heaven in the least degree to fall there because they shall have a continual view of God and in him see fully all circumstances of all actions and all things that any way do or shall concern them to all eternity For there is no falling or declining from God but it comes at first from some error in the theoretical or practical work of the understanding or in some inconsiderateness but there cannot be the least error in the minde or the least inconsiderateness because the soul shall be so fully taken up with the sight of God what an infinite delight must this needs be It was the desire of a Philosopher to see the nature of the Sun though it were to be burnt by it he could be content so if God should grant us this happiness You shall come to see me but the sight of me shall destroy you this were a desireable thing but to have a sight of God that is a perfecting sight and such an excellent and glorious sight in which our happiness shall consist for ever how glorious must this needs be Lastly to see God in our selves It is an happiness to see God in the Creature but much more to see God in our selves the chiefest of the glory of God next to that which appears in Jesus Christ shall appear in the Saints and the chief excellency of God that the Saints shall see shall be within themselves they shall see more of the glory of God within themselves then in all the Heavens besides The Heavens are glorious now the Sun Moon and Stars are glorious but to see the highest Heaven that were more glorious But the meanest Saint of God in Heaven shall see more of God and of his glory in himself then does appear in all the Heavens beside and then much more then does appear in all the World We might make it out there is more of the glory of God in one Saint then in all the Heavens and Earth besides for the Heavens and the Earth are but Gods foot-stool not his image
to give all things to us richly to enjoy 1 Tim. 6. 17. There is no creature can give us to enjoy another another may give a man such and such things in which may be comfort but he cannot give him comfort in the thing it must be God that must give to enjoy no creature can properly give the enjoyment of another because though it gives the thing it cannot give the comfort with it but God gives the thing and he gives the comfort with it and so a man is said to enjoy it Fourthly it is such an enjoyment as the having of it does perfect that which does enjoy it and by that we shall understand the difference between other creatures attaining to their end and the rational creature attaining his end the other creatures when they attain their end they perish so as they cannot be said to enjoy their end the plants and beasts that God hath made for the use of man when man comes to have the use of them then they come to have their end but they do not enjoy their end because in having their end they are destroyed but the rational creature when he comes to have his end then he comes to have the highest perfection and so he may be said to enjoy it because when he comes to have his end he is made the more perfect so take these four together and you may know what I mean by fruition of God and that is the fifth particular 6. The sixth particular in having God to be their portion is the Rest that the foul hath in God The term of all motion is rest every thing that moves moves that it may have rest Now here in this world the creature is altogether in motion and especially man because he is not here in his proper place every thing moves to its center till it comes to its place Psal 38. 10. My heart panteth the word in the Original signifies such a kinde of motion running up and down as Merchants run up and down from one Countrey to another and it is observable there is the two last radical letters double and that is to note That it is more then an ordinary stirring and motion of the spirit because it is not come to its rest but when the foul comes to the term unto which it moves then it comes to have rest God hath let out good things to other creatures and they never return back again directly to him but the good that God lets out to mankinde and to his people it returns back again to God The Saints are made by God and they come and return to the first fountain from whence they came whereas other creatures do not As the wicked they come from God but do not return to God again as their rest And therefore it is an expression of Jeremy Those that seek onely after the satisfying of their senses they go out from God like unto rivers that run from the fountain but there is no regress of them they do not return back again but the godly come from God and have their returns back again unto God unto their fountain there to rest and to have their happiness Psal 12. 9. The wicked walk on every side the wicked move up and down in a circle but never unto the center onely keep their round from one creature to another but never have any direct motion unto God to come to him as their center and so to finde true rest in him Return O my soul unto thy rest Psal 116. 7. The word translated Rest is in the plural number Return O my soul unto thy rests God is the rest of the souls of the Saints Rest and glory seldom meets in this world they who are in glory have not the quietest life and they who have most rest are furthest off from being glorious Issachars condition likes some Gen. 49. 14. Rest was good to him though under burthens and if a man will have a name amongst the great ones of the earth farewel rest but in heaven rest and glory do both happily and perfectly meet together The Rabbies have a note from the name Jehovah that all the letters of that name are quiescentes and they say There is a mystery in it to shew that all our rest is in God Some creatures God hath made so as there is no other good they are capable of but to continue in their beings and therefore they onely seek for their place and no more and there they rest as the Fire and Ayr and the Earth these creatures have no other good but to continue in their beings and you shall observe if they be out of their places with what violence will they move to their proper place As if there be fire or ayr got into the earth it causeth earthquakes it moves there with that violence that it shakes the whole earth that it may come to its proper place because it hath no other good but that Then I would reason thus If those creatures that have no other good but onely to be in their proper place if they be out to get that good shall move with such violence then considering what a good mans soul is capable of if he have not obtained that good with what violence should he move how should the kingdom of heaven suffer violence how should we work toward God who is our proper place and center in whom is so much good But there are other creatures that have an higher good then being in their place as the plants have a Vegetative place and therefore they grow to it and if they have attained that there they rest then the sensitive creature hath an higher good and that moves till it hath got its end namely to all things that are agreeable to sense and they go no further The rational creature looks to that which is suitable to reason And where there is grace grace looks to attain that which is the proper perfection of the life of grace and there it rests and never else Therefore it is the expression of an Ancient O Lord thou hast made us for thee and our hearts are unquiet till they come to enjoy thee and when the soul comes to rest in God that is glorious and that is the Saints happiness to attain the end of their motion and the more glorious is the rest when the end is attained and the glory of the end may be discovered much by the glory of the means that tend to it As if a man will bestow a great deal of Cost and Charges to get his Health then he accounts health worth all those charges and the greater charges are laid out for health argues his greater esteem of it and so if a man be at great charge about a Voyage it is because he accounts much of the excellency of the end of his Voyage and if this be so how excellent is the end of Gods people if we consider the most glorious
means that are used to attain this end and rest as namely the work of God in sending the second person in the Trinity to take mans nature upon him and all the works of God in Election in Redemption in Adoption in Justification in Sanctification yea all the works of God in creation in providence the designing the Holy Ghost to that office he is designed to and all the Ordinances of God look what preciousness is in all these works of God and means it sets out unto us the preciousness and excellency and glory that there is in the last end whereunto Gods people shall attain and that rest they shall have The seventh and last thing in having God to be their portion is the enjoyment of themselves in God as they shall enjoy God and God in themselves so they shall enjoy themselves in God living in God continually the fish does not more truly live in the water and move in the water then the souls of the Saints shall live in God and move in God Col. 3. 3. Your life is hid with Christ in God the life of Saints here is an hidden life and it is hidden in God but then it shall be a revealed life and revealed in God and enjoyed in God Hence is that Phrase Enter into your masters joy that enters not into you but you must enter into it it is your masters joy not onely that joy that your master gives but the same joy your master hath that you shall enter into and live in It is said of Saint John in Rev. 1. that he was on the Lords day in the Spirit it is not said that the Spirit was in him but it is said he was in the Spirit that was as a beginning of the glorious condition of the Saints of God that they shall be in the Spirit of God not onely God in them but they in God as a drop of water in the Sea swallowed up in it Put a drop of wine into the Sea it is changed into the nature of the Sea and so though we cannot be changed into the Divine Nature yet we shall be swallowed up in God so as we shal not any further minde our selves our own good as a created thing nor our selves as creatures but altogether God our mindes shall be so wholly upon God as if they were wholly emptyed of any created good and had nothing to do but with an increated good it shall not will any thing to it self nor to any other creature but all to God and so wholly taken upon with God and upon that ground because they have that likeness unto God and partake of the Divine Nature Here we do good to others because of their likeness to our selves But the Saints shall will all good to God not because God is like them but because they are like to God so that they shall love themselves for God There are three degrees of love to God loving of God for our selves and loving God for himself and loving our selves for God the one is but a natural love the second is a gracious love the third is a love of the glorified Saints First to love God for our selves so an hypocrite may love God because he hath gifts and many blessings from God this is but a natural love But grace goes further then nature that is to love God for himself though we should never have any thing yet if we be gracious we love God for himself but the glorified Saints go further then grace and that is to love themselves for God whereas heretofore we did onely love God for our selves or for himself now we come to love our selves for God and in this kinde of love of God and enjoyment of our selves in him the soul shall be ravished with God and be in a kinde of extasie eternally Now there is a twofold extasie one that is through the weakness of the inferior faculties of the soul when the minde of a man is taken up about an high object seriously the other faculties being weak they fail and so men come to be in a trance and extasie many have had great joy that they have even dyed with it the heart hath so dilated it self as the vital spirits have flown out But there is an extasie comes from the excellency of the object that the minde is busied about but without any weariness of any inferior faculty If then we put all together that hath been said about God and the enjoyment of God and having God to be the portion of the Saints you see the principal part of Heaven and the spiritual part of the glory of the Saints Here is faith called for and why should not our faith go beyond reason to rectifie reason as reason rectifies sense these things be high and great mysteries When as reason says How can this be as when Christ was speaking of the new birth says Nicodemus How can this be let but faith get as far above reason as reason hath got above sense and we may easily see how they can be by sense If a man look up to the Firmament and see the Sun shine he would think it were little bigger then a Bushel or the like now reason will tell men otherwise reason that tells men that this creature that appears to be but in this bigness it is many hundred times bigger then the Earth now if reason can rectifie sense so far Why should not faith go beyond reason as far Now reason will tell us of much happiness that may be had We may conceive by reason by understanding that the rational creature is capable of abundance of glory but when you hear things delivered by the word which are more then reason can conceive let us get faith to rectifie reason and we shall not call those truths into question and yet know that our glory will be beyond our faith as our faith is beyond our reason Here you may see that most people in the world mistake Heaven and look at Heaven in a sensual maner when we speak of Heaven where have we a man or woman that looks at Heaven in these spiritual excellencies about enjoying God in this maner As the Jews looked for a carnal Messiah whose Kingdom should be in the earth and whose glory should be external not considering the Spiritual Kingdom of Christ so most in the world look but for a carnal Heaven It is a good evidence of the truth of grace if you can look to Heaven with a right eye in a right maner to look at the spiritual part and spiritual excellency in Heaven But that which makes people to call these things in question is first because they are not acquainted with God but are sensual their hearts are acquainted with nothing but sensual and earthly things and therefore their hearts are not raised to these things but they look at them as notions but that soul that is acquainted with God and the counsels of God and
knows the minde of God that soul can know how to savor these things and know the reality of them Again another reason why these things are above the reach of most people is because they are not acquainted with the mysteries of the Gospel and what in them is revealed concerning mankinde If we were acquainted with the mysteries of the Gospel we would not think these things strange that are revealed Thirdly because mens hearts are not enlarged with Gods image for the present therefore they cannot savor any thing but that which hath some savor of the creature Fourthly because they are not acquainted with the first-fruits of Heaven whereas those that are godly have some beginnings of eternal life wrought in them here and upon that these things are not so strange to them their hearts can close with them and suck out abundance of comfort from them And thus we have finished the fourth thing of the reward namely To have God for their portion CHAP. L. The Saints happiness in Communion with Christ NOw the fifth particular in the reward of the Saints is the communion that they shall have with Jesus Christ God and Man there are divers things in which the happiness of the Saints consists in having communion with Christ God and Man It was one of Saint Augustines three wishes To see Christ in the flesh It would be a great delight to you to see Christ in the flesh Many make much of the Picture of Christ and if they had it right they would make more of it but if Christ should come to any of your houses as he did when he lived upon the Earth in his mean condition would it not greatly delight you but when we come to enjoy communion with Christ in Heaven it will be another maner of communion then that upon Earth We accounted the Apostles blessed men that lived with Christ upon the Earth what a blessed condition will it be to live with Christ in Heaven If there were such vertue in Christ upon Earth that there came such vertue from the hem of his garment what glory will there be in Christ in his full glory If Christ were so glorious when he was in his transfiguration how glorious is he being glorified before men and Angels eternally in Heaven With the glory that he had with his Father before the beginning of the World If there was so much vertue in the Apostles of Christ in regard of the reference they had to Christ as from the shadow of Peter and the Napkins that were taken from Pauls body there was such power as to heal diseases what vertue must needs come from Christ when we shall come to enjoy him when we come to see Christ that was the author of all our good We read of the poor Cripple when he was healed by the two Disciples he ran and catched hold on them and was loth to go from them who had been the instruments of so great good to him but for the Saints to come and be with Christ who hath been the instrument of so great good to them as Christ hath been what an infinite happiness will this be we read of many that would go long journeys to see those men that had any excellency in them as some would go from the utmost parts of Greece to Rome to see Livie Themistocles to see Christ then in whom is so much excellency will be glorious And then to have communion with him it is he in whom God the Father takes full satisfaction surely he must be the full satisfaction of the Saints this is that which Christ prays for First he prays for his own glory and then he prays for the Disciples and all Believers That they might be with him to see his glory O to see the Lord Jesus glorified as he shall be glorified must be a glorious thing As to see his glory in regard of the lustre of his Divinity through his humanity when Christ pleased to let out any lustre of his Divinity through his humanity here men were not able to bear it as those that came to apprehend him when he said I am he they fell down backward now in Heaven the lustre of Christs Divinity shall shine mightily through his humanity so in him our bodily eyes shall come to see God as much as it is possible for any creature to see him because God shall be let out through the humanity of Christ as much as it is possible for the Divinity to appear in any corporeal substance or in any creature We shall see him with these our eyes as Iob says We shall see how the power of an infinite God can convey the lustre of a Deity into a creature Certainly Angels and men will be continually viewing of Christ he shall come to be admired of the Saints he shall be admired at the day of Judgement in the Saints but in Heaven they shall see such excellency in Christ God and Man as they shall be admiring at him to all eternity as much as they did at the first moment here if we see any thing that is excellent we admire at first but after a while we do not so but there will be so much excellency in Christ as we shall so admire at it to all eternity as we did at the first moment for there shall be no abatement of our being taken with the glory of the sight of Christ Blessed are your eyes says Christ that see those things you see and blessed are your ears that hear those things you hear It is a blessed thing to see the things we may see here but to see the Divinity shine through the humanity this will be a great blessing And we shall see him in the glory that the Father will put upon him Certainly God will put an infinite glory upon his Son because the Lord was so infinitely well pleased with the satisfaction of his Son Because he subjected himself to the death of the Cross therefore He hath given him a name above all names And we shall see the glory of Christ when all the Angels shall be worshipping of him and all the Saints shall be singing with Praises and Hallalujahs to him And this shall be the business in Heaven eternally to be admiring Christ and praising God for Christ And then we shall see him in his glory triumphing over all his enemies in bringing them down and in his glory when he shall have brought to perfection that great work that he did undertake Now to see Christ thus glorified and for us to enjoy communion with Christ thus in his glory this will be a glorious reward for Gods people This glory of Christ will be made the glory of the Saints as a Queen that sees the Prince in his glory she delights in it because it is her glory and so the Church when she shall see Christ her husband in his glory she shall rejoyce in it because she looks upon it as her own I
exercised in holy duties with others it is good to consider of their weakness whether they be able to hold out and joyn with us but there we shall not need fear weariness in our selves or any others Again we shall see nothing else done by no body else Here we get together and sing and pray and hear the Word and this is comfortable but we see the Sabbath broken by others and that damps our hearts but there is a Sabbath coming shall be so kept as we shall see none break it but every one we have to deal withal shall keep it But yet by the way it is better in a place where it is not altogether so well kept and is in a rising way then in a place where it is better kept for the present but is in a declining way but though it be a grief to us to see the Sabbath broken yet know there is a Sabbath coming that we shall keep and none shall break it Again the happiness of the Sabbath consists in this to keep this Sabbath in these high exercises when so many thousands shall be yelling and roaring under the wrath of an infinite God they shall consider we are now in the presence of God keeping a Sabbath unto him as the children of the Bride-chamber singing songs of triumph to him that sits upon the throne for ever whereas others are cast out from God and are roaring and yelling under the burthen of the wrath of an infinite God and that might have been our portion This addes to the glory of the Saints and therefore the Scripture hath this expression Without shall be dogs That expression is taken from the maner of the Iews marriages usually they were in the night and the Bridegroom and his Bride and their company were taken in with torches and delight into the Bride-chamber others were without without light not taken into the chamber so in Heaven some shall be taken to be exercised in these glorious things and others are cast out as would it not adde much to ones happiness to think thus with ones self I am now going into a place where I shall have abundance of mirth and joy with my friends and others in the mean time lie in the cold starving in the dungeon and I might have been there as well as they if a man should go along with the King in triumph and be at the right hand of the King in glory and as he goes by he should hear a company of poor wretches out of a dungeon crying yelling this sets out his glory so to be at that time thus exercised in those heavenly employments when as others shall be cursing themselves and the time that they were born and blaspheme the name of God it is a comfort to a company of gracious hearts when they are got together in holy exercises to think there are others in the Tavern drinking and swilling and blaspheming what difference is between our condition this day and their condition this does mightily refresh ones heart and enlarge it to praise God for his mercy and so in Heaven the Saints shall know every instant when they are keeping this Sabbath others are howling under the wrath of God and cursing the time they were born Lastly this Sabbath is to be kept in our Fathers house we shall not sing the songs of Zion in a strange Land but in our Fathers house Those godly persons in the times of the Maccabees accounted themselves happy that they might worship and serve God though in the Dens and Caves of the Earth it will be more happiness to serve God in Heaven and in our Fathers House I remember I read of one Marcellus a godly man being cast into a stinking place he did make that his Temple to God and perfumed it with his prayers and after the Christians built a Temple in that place and so we may make a filthy dungeon a Temple but if it be comfortable to be exercised in holy duties in the most filthy and vile places much more comfortable shall it be when we come to Heaven in our Fathers house In Rev. 15. we read of those that sung the song of Moses they stood upon the sea of glass mingled with fire to sing the song of Moses though it be upon the sea of glass this uncertain life of ours full of trouble it is comfortable but to sing it in our Fathers house will be comfortable indeed though we do meet with troubles here yet if we can enjoy the Sabbath we comfort our selves but we shall have a better Sabbath then these even a perpetual Sabbath in our Fathers house put these together and you shall see what this perpetual Sabbath is that Gods people shall have in heaven Now put all together that we have said negatively comparatively and positively the perfection of their natures their bodies and souls and whole persons their glory at the day of judgement their possession of heaven their having God to be their portion their communion with Christ their communion with the Angels and Saints and this perpetual Sabbath that they shall keep and do but apprehend what infinite joy must flow from all these these are as the several streams of this Paradise of God In Gen. 2. we read of Paradise that God made for Adam and there were four streams that were to water it this Paradise of Heaven have these seven streams to water it to make the Saints happy do but consider what infinite joy must flow from all these put together every one does cause joy but put them all together and the joy that comes from hence is a most pure joy and a most spiritual joy and a full joy and a divine joy First pure that is not onely free from any mixture of sorrow but without any thing that should sully it without any sin Here all our pleasures are mixed And spiritual If it were to rejoyce in the good that our bodies shall have it were admirable joy but the joy shall not be so much in regard of the happiness of our bodies but in regard that God is our portion it shall be spiritual yea the happiness of our bodies shall be spiritual and supernatural And it shall be full How full must it needs be they shall enter into their joy because the joy cannot enter into them We rejoyce in believing with joy unspeakable and glorious If the seed time be so glorious how glorious will the harvest be says Cyprian They shall not taste but they shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house The fatness of Gods house in the world does abundantly satisfie the souls of Gods people but the fatness of Gods house hereafter how will that satisfie them The people of God shall have such objects to rejoyce in as is the essential glory of God and all the glory that is put upon him by all his creatures and all the good they have by Gods
communication of himself to them and all the glory of one another Look how many Saints shall be in heaven they shall rejoyce in every ones happiness as in their own their own happiness will cause joy but so many Saints as shall be happy so many times shall their joy be double and therefore it must be full joy Comfort proceeds from the suitableness between the faculty and the object now here is the greatest suitableness between the faculty and the object that can be because here is not onely good in the Concreat but goodness in the Abstract and union with goodness it self is more then union with a good thing Surely the joys of heaven must needs be great because a little taste of them here that the Martyrs have had hath made exquisite tortures grievous and dreadful pains not onely tolerable but comfortable And it is Divine joy It may be said to be Divine in three respects First it comes from God Secondly it is in God Thirdly it is with God First it comes from God being caused by the Spirit of God and that is another maner of joy then the men of the world have Secondly it is in God rejoycing in God and that is other maner of joy then rejoycing in meat and drink Look what difference there is between the excellency that is in God and the excellency that there is in meat and drink and idle sports so much difference is between the joy that Gods people have in God and the joy that wicked men have in the creature And it is divine in regard that it is joy with God it is the same joy that God himself hath carnal hearts rejoyce one with another in sensual things but God does not rejoyce in those things you rejoyce in but the Saints in heaven shall be exercised in the same joy that God himself hath and rejoyce in the same things that God shall rejoyce in to have the beams of our joy mingle with the beams of Gods joy and so to have Gods joy and ours put into one that must needs be admirable joy Notwithstanding this joy of the Saints shall be thus glorious yet the utmost happiness of man consists not in it though joy be a necessary concomitant to mans blessedness yet mans blessedness consists not in it We do not seek the enjoyment of God that we might delight in this enjoyment but we seek delight in the enjoyment because the enjoyment is the greatest good And besides all this there are some circumstances that serve to set out all that I have said yet further and to make the happiness of Gods people yet more glorious First it is a prepared happiness that happiness that God hath had his thoughts upon from all eternity and laid the ground of it from all eternity God hath been working from all eternity to provide this Secondly in that it comes to the people of God by such a glorious way as the purchase of Jesus Christ that I have it and that I have it by such a glorious way that will be exceeding comfortable Thirdly that we who are so vile and so wretched and so abominable as we are in our selves that we who by nature are but firebrands of hell and fuel for eternal wrath that we should be raised to such a height of happiness Fourthly that we are so few Not many wise nor rich nor noble but the mean ones of the world that there should be so many of the world and the great ones of the world cast out and a handful of poor contemptible people should be raised to this glory this is a mighty aggravation of the happiness of Gods people Fifthly that this should be a reward for that which we owe in a way of obedience we owe all our services in a way of obedience to God and we may say When we have done all we are unprofitable Servants and that we do we are bound to do as creatures and yet that God should reward that which we owe to him in a way of obedience this aggravates the happiness of the Saints as if a Master should give his Servant all his estate for doing that which he is bound to do We have more then wages here then how much more is that we shall have hereafter Again that which God is pleased to reward it is but poor mixt service take our duties at the best they are such as deserve Hell there is no one act but if God should observe what is amiss you deserve to be cast from God for ever for it now when we rather deserve that God should cast us down to Hell yet that God should reward us with all this glory what a glorious thing is this Again that the Lord is pleased to make this sure to us if God had left it to uncertainty and bidden us work it might be well with us and may be he will think of us this might have been a comfort to us but that God is pleased to binde himself thus and to make all sure As if a King should make his Crown Kingdom sure to a poor wretch in the way of reward for a poor service so does God he makes this glory ours by reward in a way of Covenant and Testament by Covenant such a Covenant as he does not only cause to be written in his word but in our hearts we have witness of this in heaven and earth three bear witness in heaven and three in earth and he gives us seals to confirm this Covenant and he confirms it by an Oath he swears by himself because there is no greater to swear by and he makes it sure by way of Testament Covenant we think we may break but that which is given by Testament and confirmed by the death of the Testator that is sure and thus hath God made it sure unto us Again all things that do befal us in this world and all the ways of Gods providence do but tend to the furtherance of us to our reward and to the encrease of our reward and that is the wonderful happiness of Gods people this should sweeten all conditions If I be in a meaner condition then another yet this is in order to my reward and this is more then if I had a Kingdom in the world if it were not in order to that but whatsoever I have in the world though never so hard to flesh and blood it is in order to this this satisfies Again this reward is near we shall not stay long for it If God required of us to be burning a thousand years and then to have it we had yet cause to rejoyce but it is at hand and nearer at hand to us in this latter age of the world then to our Fore-fathers God hath but a few things to do in the world to gather but a few more of the Gentiles and his own people the Jews and to pull down Antichrist and then all is done
The time is short says the Scripture the word that is translated short in 1 Cor. 7. 29. is a Metaphor taken from a piece of cloth that is rolled up onely a little left at the end so God hath rolled up all his works onely he hath a little left at the end and then all this glory shall appear the frame of Heaven and earth does but stand till that time and if that time were come the frame of Heaven and earth should presently be dissolved and the ways of Gods providence in this world should be at an end the Heavens and earth groan for this time It is said of Doctor Taylor when he was near at the stake he fetch'd a leap and said I have but two stiles to my Fathers house We in our way here are as Travellers some ride it may be a little faster and get to the Inn first and then another comes a quarter or half an hour after but it is but a short time in comparison he hath promised and he will come quickly with the glory of his Father and all the glory of Heaven with him And then this shall be after all our troubles As Painters first draw all black and then the other beautiful colours so all our troubles here are but as the black ground-work to make our glory the more beautiful hereafter To see land after a long and dangerous voyage how joyful is it As the Trojans after they had been wandring a long time in the Mediterranean and Aegean Seas as soon as they espied Italy they cryed out with exulting joys Italy Italy how much more the Saints after they have passed this troublesom world and come to Heaven what acclamations of joy will the heavens ring of Heaven Heaven Lastly all these things are eternal this puts an infiniteness of worth upon every particular How was Haman puffed up by Esthers inviting of him to one Banquet How shall the hearts of the Saints be taken with that eternal Supper of the Lamb Obed-Edom was blessed in having the Ark but three moneths in his house how blessed they who shall have Gods not onely gracious but glorious presence eternally And so I come to the fourth particular which was propounded in the handling of this point namely 4. Wherein lies the power of the consideration of the recompence of reward to help a man through sufferings Much hath been said but more may be said to shew that there is a mighty power in it to enable the heart to suffer any thing for God it is that which hath mightily wrought upon the Saints of God heretofore That is an observable place that we have concerning Christs Transfiguration and Christs Agony when he was transfigured upon the Mount and his glory was shewed even a glimpse of the glory of Heaven Christ took with him onely three Disciples Peter James and Iohn afterward when Christ was to come to his Agony when his soul was heavy to death and he sweat clods of blood he onely took those three Disciples that had seen him in his glory to see him in his sufferings to shew that those that know what the glory of Christ means those are the fittest to joyn with Christ in his Agony and to endure the greatest sufferings that they can meet withal See in Dan. 7. there is mention made of a cruel Tyrant that should make War with the Saints and should persecute Gods people that devoured and brake in pieces yet there were some that should bear out all that should have the Kingdom given them and God should reward them gloriously Who are they at the 22 verse The Saints of the most high so you read it or The Saints of the highest not onely of the highest God but of the highest places of the highest things they are those to whom the Kingdom shall be given those Saints that did see the most glorious things of the Kingdom of God they had the reward for they held out in sufferings but others whose hearts were low in the earth they did not hold out So those that should hold out in the time of Antichrist and should not worship the Beast Rev. 13. 6 7 8. were such as dwelt in Heaven He opened his mouth in blasphemy against God to blaspheme his Name and his Tabernacle and them that dwelt in Heaven in many places of the Revelations Heaven is taken for the Church of God and the People of God and so Interpreters take it here And it was given to him to war with the Saints and to overcome them but though he prevailed against the Saints to kill them yet he could not prevail against them that dwelt in Heaven to worship him but all that dwell upon the Earth shall worship him all that know no higher good then the Earth they shall follow Antichrist and worship him Here we see the reason why people will not endure the sufferings inflicted by the Beast but follow the Beast have his mark either upon their foreheads openly or in their hands secretly because they do not apprehend the glory of Heaven but if they can come to see those glorious things of Heaven though Antichrist do persecute them they would not worship him in these latter times of the world Antichrist will prevail to get many to worship him but the sight of these glorious things will keep us we shall not worship him In Rev. 12. the Church who is compared to a Woman that was cloathed with the glory of the Sun she had the Moon and all sublunary things under her feet When the soul is seeking after the glory of Heaven and that is always in its eye this causes it to have the Moon by which is signified all things below that are subject to changes under its feet I read of a Martyr that was whipped and almost scourged to death and then being led to the execution he met with his Mother who being a godly gracious woman did not fall of tearing her hair and rending her cloathes as other women used to do but cryed Son Remember eternal life look up to Heaven and see him that reigns there Hence we see that having an eye to the recompence of reward does make the heart to choose the Choice of Moses To suffer affliction with the people of God and to esteem the reproach of Christ greater riches then the treasures of Egypt you see there is a great deal of power and efficacy in it but wherein does this power consist In divers particulars CHAP. LIII Wherein the power and efficacy of eying the recompence of reward consists FIrst there is a great deal of power in looking to this glorious recompence of reward because the glory of this does so much darken all the glory of the things of the world that we are called to part withal when we are called to suffer any thing Now then the argument lies thus That which darkens all the glory of the world and makes it appear to be
therefore they cannot hold out in the time of danger To conclude all we see what will do it what will carry us through sufferings Let us make use of this argument and not look upon the greatness of our sufferings to think my sufferings are greater then others but rather let us look up on high to our God and the greater things that are prepared for us As St. Augustine speaking to a Christian that was to suffer Do not so much attend what punishment thou hast what share thou hast in the whip or in correction but what thou hast in the Testament in Gods Word what is revealed there for tby encouragement And labor to have the light within you or else all will never do though many things have been revealed to your eyes and so you may have light outwardly yet if you have not the inward light this outward light will never strengthen you to hold out And labor for faith to put life in all these arguments that have been spoken of unless faith come and breathe the breath of life upon them they will all lie dead Labor that nothing be between your eye and Heaven and if any thing of the world or vain reasonings shall come between your eye and Heaven labor to remove it keep all clear that upon the turning of your eye you may see beyond the vail and be not onely thinking of these things and make them lively by faith but let your conversation be much in heaven sending up your spirits to heaven and opening your hearts to receive the influence of heaven and then you will be able to endure what God calls you to Who knows what God will call us to God is stirring in the world as if he intended to do some great things in the world and therefore we had need of strong arguments to keep our hearts close to him when many thousand hypocrites shall fall And thus we have finished four things in the opening of this point First that there is a reward for Gods people Secondly how far they may have respect to this reward Thirdly what the reward is Fourthly wherein the power of having respect to this reward lay to undergo any suffering Now the fifth thing that remains is the Application of all that hath been said And if there be such a glorious reward for the people of God then in the first place the offence of the cross is taken away let us be ashamed ever to be hindred in the way of God because of the cross because of any thing we shall suffer in the way of God when as there is such a glorious reward hereafter No storm of the raging Sea should terrifie us considering that everlasting calm that is a coming says Jerome Let no man speak hardly of Gods ways any more I remember I read of St. Augustine before his conversion he said he was convinced of the ways of God but says he I did not like to go through those straits He found the ways of God difficult and that he was like to suffer much and that hindred him and so it does many they see straits they must deny themselves and suffer hard things and upon this they are hindred but let us never be hindred more by this seeing there are such great things revealed of the reward of Gods people hereafter Why should we be so shy of the way afflictions that lead thither is not here enough to pay for all God will not says Lactantius have the path that leads to this immortal blessedness be a delicate path Certainly if any of you should be hindred from the ways of God by any hardship you are like to meet withal how will this confound you when God shall come and say Did not I shew unto you those glorious things I intended for my people and was not all that sufficient to draw your hearts over these difficulties In the Primitive times the offence of the cross was taken away after once they came to be enlightned in such glorious things as these in Heb. 10. 32. Call to remembrance the former days in which after you were illuminated you endured a great fight of afflictions before they were not able to indure that fight of afflictions but after they were illuminated they were so howsoever you might have some hard thoughts of the ways of God before yet now being illuminated having the light of this blessed truth of the reward that is to come revealed to you be willing to endure any fight of afflictions do not look at this stumbling block look up to Heaven and that wil keep you from stumbling When men walk upon the earth if they look upward they may stumble upon stones blocks but it is otherwise in our walking in Religion our looking upwards to heaven does keep us from stumbling Wisdom is on high the way of the righteous is a high way he is lifted above all stumbling blocks by looking at this recompence of reward St. Paul when he had his thoughts about this says he Neither life nor death principalities nor powers nor any thing should be able to separate him from the love of God Secondly if there be such a glorious reward consider that this is a mighty aggravation of the evil of sin that when God hath revealed himself so gracious as to lay up such glorious things for those that walk in the way of obedience for any after this yet to embrace the ways of sin must needs aggravate the horrid and desperate wickedness of mans heart There is evil enough in sin though we should lose nothing by it that it is a disobedience to God a breach of the Law and going against the minde of God but for men to venture upon the ways of sin although they know they shall lose such an infinite good as this is here is not onely desperate wickedness but desperate folly it is a sign that mans heart is desperately set upon sin that he wil go on in sin though it be with the loss of all this glory and these blessed things I remember Ambrose reports of one Theotimus that having a disease upon his body and the Physitian told him Except he did abstain from intemperance drunkenness or uncleanness he was like to lose his eyes his heart was desperately fet upon his sin that he said Farewel sweet light then as if he should say I must have my pleasure in that sin if I must lose my eyes then farewel eyes farewel the light I suppose there is none of you dare reason thus desperately when we come to you in the name of God and speak of some particular sin that your consciences tell you you are guilty of and profess unto you as in the name of God that that way you take cannot stand with eternal life that you must eternally perish and lose all that happiness that God hath prepared for the Saints perhaps none dare say Farewel God and Christ and eternal life and
to have the things of this world for their portion it argues you have low thoughts of an immortal soul you know not what an immortal soul is capable of who can think your selves satisfied in any creature You have but low thoughts of God are there no richer treasures in God then onely a few outward delights meat and drink and sports here Hath God nothing else to communicate to the creature what mean thoughts hast thou of Christ and of all the purchase of the blood of Christ What hath Christ come and laid down his blood to purchase nothing but this to have content in the creature Certainly the God of this world hath blinded thine eyes that thou shouldst not see into the glorious things of eternal life that are in the Gospel and in the Word How many would frame to themselves a kinde of Heaven here an imaginary Heaven As I have read of a King of Persia that he would have an imaginary Heaven and therefore he made a brave Palace and in the top he made the heavens and painted Sun Moon and Stars and underneath Clouds that with Art moved up and down and distilled rain and made thunder and he had a brave Throne glistering above those clouds this might be sufficient for a Heathen and yet how many Christians are guilty of this to imagine Heaven to themselves If they had but this and this that were Heaven Certainly thou wilt finde the loss of these things a hell if there were no pain but know thou canst not lose Heaven but thou must of necessity be plunged into hell you cannot lose all this glory but you must of necessity be under that misery which is contrary to this glory whosoever loses the one though that be ill enough he must be under the misery of the other And know whatsoever thy heart is set upon in this world if it be not in order to this reward it is cursed to thee for the blessing of all comfort does consist in order to this last end O that men were throughly principled in this one principle namely That the good of all things in the world consists in the subordination they have unto the highest and last end for which they were made Now whatsoever a man hath if there be not a subordination of it unto the last end it is all cursed O know thy folly that hast sought to satisfie thy self in the things of the world Know thy folly that thou hast in this like a Swine sought to take contentment in swill and husks when as you hear there is bread enough in your Fathers house Mark what the Psalmist says in Psal 4. 3. How long will you turn my glory into shame how long will you love vanity and seek after lyes By your loving vanity and seeking after lyes you turn the glory of God into shame so all carnal hearts that seek for their portion in this world put a shame upon all that glory that God hath opened to you in this recompence of reward O be not guilty of this when as you have heard of these glorious things in the recompence of reward do not you cast shame and filth upon them as if they were all imaginations Know those things that you esteem to be real and substantial are vanities and imaginations and all substances and realities are in this recompence of reward Fourthly if there be such a glorious recompence of reward for the Saints those also are to be rebuked who seem to go on in those ways that might bring this reward and yet through the wickedness of their hearts do deprive themselves of this reward and these are hypocrites There are three sorts of these First such as though they go on in the hearts same ways that Gods people go in yet there are so base and vile therein as they seek no greater things in them then their own base ends and so lose all Secondly such as go on in the ways that tend to this reward and yet perish at last for some one base lust Thirdly such as go on in those ways and are in a good forwardness and yet prove to be Apostates and so lose all their labor and all their reward First such as go on in the ways that lead to this reward the ways of Religion and godliness they do the same things that Gods people do for this reward but onely this their ends are different they pray as much hear as much and receive Sacraments make a great profession in Religion and their hearts seem to be mightily up in duty yea perhaps they suffer much in the ways of God and are resolute in the ways of godliness and yet lose all in the conclusion upon this ground because though they be in the ways that lead to this reward yet their ends are so base and low they do not look at the glorious reward in these actions but look at some under thing as to give content to men and applause of men and to be accounted some body in the place where they live and to gain some outward respect from such and such and this is the highest pitch their hearts rise unto in the duties of Religion If ever there were any sottish desperate delusion of heart this is it to undertake to do that which others do that come to enjoy all this glorious reward and though you do as much as they and take as much pains as they yet you in the conclusion miss of all and lose all upon your base ends you follow Christ as others do but a gracious heart follows Christ for Christ but you follow him only that your own mindes and wills may be satisfied it may be you know not how to live and this is that you aym at in following Christ and in prayer and in speaking of good things all that you aym at is that you may be accounted those that have parts and gifts and in giving of alms you onely look upon some low and base ends which you shall attain and this is like to be all your reward so says Christ Wo to you hypocrites you have your reward And wo indeed when this shall be said You are forward in Religion to gain to your selves such base things you shall have them says God and this is all the reward you shall have O be ashamed and confounded in your own hearts that you should perform the duties of Religion and take such pains in the ways of God that do lead to such glorious things and yet your ends are so low by having such low ends in religious duties you make Earth your throne and Heaven your footstool whereas God says Heaven is my Throne and Earth is my footstool Why should you be so cross to God in the foolish ways of your vile hearts Some there are that perform these duties to satisfie natural conscience and so they may be unsound and their consciences not accuse them but these hypocrites are the basest that
here is an exhortation and in the name of God a charge upon every soul that does expect to have the portion of it in these great things that they would walk worthy of God who hath called them unto his kingdom and glory it is a great charge to walk worthy of God but to walk worthy of God who hath called us to his kingdom and glory this is great but the life of a Christian must be thus Now consider what life have I Is my life such as may be said to be worthy of God and that God that hath called me unto his kingdom and glory Surely great things must be in the lives of Gods people people talk much of strictness and preciseness that they may be too precise what do you think must this life be that must be worthy of God who hath called us to his kingdom and glory It must not be a dead-hearted life go on with a holy and heavenly chearfulness and courage in Gods ways It becomes the children of the Bride-chamber to be joyful see that in any case you rejoyce before the Lord comfort your selves and one another by these sayings We belye the truth of God if we do not walk joyfully Rejoyce in this that your names are written in the Book of life says Christ they rejoyced that the Devils fell down before them If there were any thing in the world to be rejoyced in one would think they might rejoyce in that but Christ would not have them rejoyce in that in comparison of this Caesar when he was sad he said to himself Think thou art Caesar that that might take away his sadness and so say I to a Christian Think of your Crown and glory let your lives be such as may make it appear you have your portion in these things I may say to some as Jonadab said to Amnon Why art thou lean from day to day being the Kings Son So may I say to every childe of God Why is thy heart so troubled and Why walkest thou so dumpishly in the ways of God being the King of Heavens Son Possibilities of heaven is enough to take away the sting of afflictions but having comfortable hope of these things this should take away even the sense of them at least so far as that they be no way disturbing to us Seneca says That vertue does not consider what it suffers but whither it tends It beseems them well enough but not you it beseems Swine to follow the trough but not the heirs of a Kingdom Plutarch tells of Themistocles that he accounted it not to stand with his state to stoop down to take up the spoyls the enemy had scattered in flight but says to one of his followers You may for you are not Themistocles Thus may it be said to worldly spirits You may be greedy of these things for here is your portion your names are written in the earth you are not the heirs of the kingdom Secondly walk above the world above all things that are here below take heed of ensnarling your hearts of too much mixing your selves with them There is a generation whose names are written in the earth Ier. 17. 13. and it beseems them to look after the things of the earth because their portion is there it is their All but Gods people have their names written in heaven and therefore they should not regard the things below as they do Whosoever was free of the city of Rome might not accept of any other freedom in any other city they counted it a dishonor to the freedom of Rome to take freedom any where else So those that are free of the kingdom of Heaven should not seek to be free here but they should be satisfied with a mean condition here and take heed they do not entangle themselves too much in the things below Besides those that have hopes of Heaven they should labor to have their lives like to Heaven It is that we pray for that the will of God may be done in earth as it is done in heaven How is it done in heaven The Saints and Angels there do it fervently universally readily constantly and therefore the Angels are called by the name of Seraphims it notes burning because they burn with zeal for God labor to conform your life to the life of Heaven Again labor to be much trading for heaven in this world let there be much intercourse between you and Heaven let your conversation be in heaven Phil. 3. 20. If a man intend to live in another Countrey he will have much traffique in that Countrey before he goes and if we believe we shall come to Heaven let there be much trading that way Our conversations should be so in Heaven as all the mercies we enjoy here should raise our hearts to heaven We read Exod. 25. that upon the Table of Shew-bread there was set a crown of gold In those provisions that we have here for souls and bodies our hearts must be raised to that Crown of glory reserved for us for the Shew-bread set before the Lord was to signifie Gods provision for us and the dedication of our bread of all our provision to God Again let us labor to encrease heaven in our hearts and to bring as much of heaven into them as possibly we can And keep your selves in a continual readiness whensoever God shall call you to such a glorious recompence of reward as this is It is said of Daniel though he was in Babylon he opened his windows towards Jerusalem he kept his heart in a readiness to go So you should do keep your hearts in a heavenly frame ready for heaven waiting upon the Bridegroom with your lamps burning that when he comes you may open immediately to him There is a difference between a wife that hath been faithful to her husband and waits for his coming home and another that hath been unfaithful to her husband and hath other lovers in the house when her husband knocks if her husband knocks she doth not go immediately but there is shuffling up and down and she delays the time till she have got the other out of the house but a faithful wife she immediately opens it is true though the wife be not unfaithful yet if the house be not handsom and things be not prepared she is loth to open So Christians they have been dallying with their lusts and their hearts are out of frame and they are loth to open to Christ but we should keep our hearts in such a readiness as immediately to open to Christ and to be willing to dye And when we dye to dye as heirs of such things not to respect things below house or lands or any thing here We read of Pope Adrian when he was to dye he laments his condition because he was to leave all his delights and pompous vanities and cryes out O my soul whither goest thou thou shalt never be merry more he was