cloathed with a glorified Body as for other holy Ones tho they see Death yet they are translated too carried from Earth to Heaven from Creatures to God The Body must descend into the Grave and there lye putrifying corrupting crumbling until it return to Dust as it once was but the Spirit returns to God that gave it I desire you all frequently to call this to mind and consider it with the greatest seriousness and see that you have sanctified Souls Souls rightly prepared brought into such a frame as may be fit to appear in so glorious a Presence and converse with so pure and holy a Majesty that when they return to God they may be welcome to him and being come into his Presence for ever dwell and abide there and not afterwards cast out and banisht as the Object of his loathing Thirdly Holy Souls may very well be willing yea glad to go to God As a Bride is to go to her endeared Husband and as a Child at School under severe Discipline is to go to his most affectionate and tender Parents from whom instead of hard Blows he shall meet with soft Embraces Some Saints upon record in Scripture we find were in such a frame Good old Simeon was in haste and prayed for his Dismission Luke 2. 29 30. Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace according to thy word for mine eyes have seen thy salvation Having seen Christ he would sain see the Father too Having got Christ in his Arms he would have the World on his back He reckon'd that he had liv'd long enough here and would needs be gone He had now got his full freight and therefore desired to set up his Sail for the other World Having beheld so great a sight as the Lord of Glory tho but in his Infancy and Swathing-bands he was loath that his Eyes should be embased with the beholding of earthly Vanities any more Paul likewise had the same thing in his desire so he told us in Phil. 1. 23. I have a desire to depart and to be with Christ. He would go from all that he may go to him and leave all that he might be with him and he understood himself and acted rationally in this desire for it is saith he in the next words far better Heaven is inconceivably better than Earth when it is in the greatest Peace when it expresseth the greatest Kindness He very well knew what he said he was a competent Judge having been an Eye-witness of the Felicity and Glory above taken up into Paradice into the Third Heaven And tho others have not been partakers of that Priviledge not so rapt as Paul was yet they are of the same Judgment and have the same Desires working in them therefore he speaks of it as a Spirit and Disposition common to all the Saints while they are in this Tabernacle Their hearts stand Heavenward as the Needle doth to the North-Pole when it hath been once touch'd with the Loadstone as you may see in 2 Cor. 5. 2. In this we groan earnestly desiring to be cloathed upon with our house which is from heaven They had not only some small Inclinations that way and languid faint Desires but earnest Groans And again verse 8. We are confident I say and willing rather to be absent from the body and present with the Lord. We are willing not only out of necessity because this is a thing must be but out of choice we had rather leave the Body that we might go to God But now we are to enquire why it is thus And you will find there is sufficient yea abundant reason for it if you do consider these four following Particulars First In going to God they go to their Father This was the comfort and joy of our Saviour's heart with this he comforted himself and with this he comforted his Disciples looking upon it as a Cordial strong enough for them all John 20. 17. Go to my brethren and say unto them I ascend unto my Father and your Father and to my God and your God Mine by Nature yours by Adoption I am now going to one that I am most nearly related to and most fully interested in And in Iohn 17. we find him insisting and dwelling upon this as that which he took singular delight in and suckt a great deal of sweetness from verse 1. Father the hour is come Verse 5. O Father glorify thou me with thine own Verse 11. I come to thee Holy Father Verse 21. Thou Father art in me and I in thee Verse 24. Father I will that they whom thou hast given me be with me where I am Verse 25. O righteous Father the World hath not known thee but I have known thee c. It is certain that when wicked Men the worst and vilest of them dye they go to God Did I say Go Rather they are forc'd and drag'd against their will they cannot help it It is to a God that many of them did not believe but laboured with all their might to obliterate the Notion of his Being because troublesome and tormenting to them Psalm 14. 1. The fool hath said in his heart there is no God It is to a God that none of them cared to know and be acquainted with Job 21. 14. They say unto God Depart from us for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways Neither of his ways nor of himself They go to God as their Righteous Judge but not their reconciled and gracious Father They are brought before his Tribunal as Malefactors to receive their Doom but they do not enter into his Kingdom as Children to take Possession Whereas those that are truly gracious go to him as a Father as a Father of Mercies yea and as their Father in Christ to him as a God yea and to their God in Covenant to a God and Father by whom they were begotten of whom they were born whose Spirit they have received and whose Image they bear Wicked Men go to God to give an account of what they have done in the Body and when once Sentence is past upon them and they adjudged to their Place and eternal State they go to Devils Matth. 24. 41. Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels You followed his Conduct you did his Drudgery now take your Wages with him Where he is there shall his Servants also be When the Saints go to God they go to stay and to take up their everlasting abode with him Rev. 3. 12. Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God and he shall 〈◊〉 no more out As they shall be exalted so fixed their Happiness shall never be abated their Glory never eclipsed Once in Christ and ever in Christ there is no total and final falling from Grace they that are indeed planted in the house of the Lord shall never be pluckt up and so in the present case once in Heaven and in Heaven
and long to be Father I come as soon as ever I have drunk off that Cup which thou hast given me to drink of I come and how am I straitned till that be accomplished and glad I am at my very heart that thereupon I come to thee Now I come it will be but a little while first and the sooner the better I am willing to leave all for thee to leave the World for thee yea to leave my dear Disciples for thee tho they be my Friends the Men of my Choice the Purchase of ray Blood the Members of my Mystical Body yet do I freely leave them for thee Only Father I consider where I leave them in a World that hates me and will be sure to hate them for my sake and therefore while I leave them for thee I would leave them with thee I put them into thy hand let that uphold and defend them I shelter them under thy Wing let that secure and comfort them I have kept them while I was with them when I shall be gone do thou undertake and be Surety for them for good that they may be safe in the midst of Enemies and stedfast in the midst of Temptations and Assaults yea and chearful too in the midst of Sufferings and Troubles having my Joy fulfilled in themselves And now come I to thee The Doctrine which from hence I shall observe and speak to in the following Discourse is this Doct. An Holy Soul is and very well may be willing yea heartily glad to leave the world because when it doth so it will go to God I look upon the words of the Text as the Words of one rejoycing the Language of one whose heart did even leap within him of one whose Soul was upon the wing of holy Desires longing to be at its home Now come I to thee and when I once am with thee I shall be where I would be and with whom I would be in the best place and with the best Company what suits me most and therefore must needs please me best Now I come to thee whom I like abve all being infinite in all Perfections and whom therefore I love and prefer before all Now I come to thee who art mine Eternal Father and wilt be my Eternal Satisfaction Our Saviour had before told his Disciples in John 14. 28. That if they loved him they would rejoice because he said I go to my Father because that his departure would be glorious to himself and advantagious to them but whether they through want of a judicious Love would rejoyce in it or no he himself would perfectly understanding how things were and would be Now come I to thee Once I came from thee to do thy will and that was pleasing to me I delight to do thy Will O my God thy Law is within my heart Now I come to thee to enjoy thy Presence and that will be to me incomparably inexpressibly sweet Thus it was with our dearest Lord and Saviour this was the frame these the actings of his Spirit and thus likewise it ought to be with all his People who were predestinated to be conformed to his Image and who ought to have the same mind in them that was in him for he acted and suffer'd he liv'd and died leaving us an Example that we should tread in his Steps In the Doctrine which I have laid down there are three things which we ought to take notice of First That Gracious and Holy Souls must leave this World The World to come will be their Eternal Habitation but in this present evil World they will have but a short stay Those that have the largest share of its good things those that are most useful in it and live to the best purpose serving their Generations according to the Will of God must leave it Their loving Father never intended this for the place for their constant Residence nor the Comforts and Enjoyments here for their Portion The highest Heaven in his Throne the Habitation of his Holiness and Glory and he was always resolved to have his Children about him there This World is but your School to learn in during your Minority your House to work in till you have finished what was given you to do your Tyring-room to dress in that you may be ready for the Marriage of the Lamb a Stage to act your Part upon see that you so quit your selves as to be at last found to Praise and Honour but it is not to be your rest because it is polluted God hath too much of the heart of a Father and loves his Children too well to keep them always in a Vale of Tears where they shall be frequently Suffering and Sighing Complaining and Groaning always in a Wilderness that is over-run with Briars and Thorns and an innumerable company of Beasts of Prey the wicked of the World are their irreconcilable Enemies and implacably hate them therefore they shall not always have them to wreak their Malice and Rage upon They will for ever envy and gnash their Teeth at them because of their happiness in Heaven but they shall not for ever exercise their Patience and disturb their Peace upon Earth Often O Saints repeat in your thoughts that this World is but the House of your Pilgrimage therefore let not any of you love it too well but while you live in it be you weaned from it remembring there is a better place prepared and taken up for you whither the forerunner even Jesus is entred an house not made with hands eternal in the heavens whose builder and maker is God Secondly Whensoever Gracious and Holy Persons leave this World they go to God The decayed and crazy Body doth no sooner cease to be any longer capable of housing so noble and excellent a Guest as the Soul and the Soul doth no sooner dislodge and leave that once-beloved Structure but that it doth immediately take its flight and mount up with a swift and speedy Motion and a direct tendency without the least and shortest Digression to its great Creator even to him who alone is the Father of Spirits It cares not for any further Converse with things below being intirely set for Communion with him by and for whom it was made and on this side of whom it is and cannot but be resiless and unquiet Gen. 5. 24. Enoch walked with God and he was not for God took him i. e. he took him home he took him to himself into the presence of his Glory into the bosom of his Love And thus it hath been is and will be with all those who walk as Enoch did who tread in the same Steps and keep up the same Communion tho indeed they do not all go the same Way yet they go to the same Place and to the same God Enoch was translated that he might not see death Hebr. 11. 5. He was presently carried up to Heaven having his Soul purified and his Body freed from Corruption He was soon
in your hearts mitigate and abate the sense of pain Look to it that you do not leave him while you live and then rest confident of this that he will not forsake you when you come to die David could say Psal 23. 4 Tho he did walk through the valley of the shadow of death he would fear no evil for God's rod and staff did comfort him I am apt to think the pains of Death are worst at a distance and not seldom more terrible to the Spectators than to the Patient And I do not in the least question but the throws and agonies of many poor Women in Child-bearing and those Pains also which are caused by the Cramp the Gout the Stone or Strangury are far greater and more severe than the Pains of Death usually are But however we may be sure of this those Pains be they what they will are but short if compared with that blessed Eternity which shall succeed them and so light as not worthy to be mention'd the same day with that far more exceeding weight of glory which shall be graciously bestowed upon them that overcome So the holy Apostle Paul saith Rom. 8. 18. I reckon that the sufferings of this present life take them altogether from the first to the last moment are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us Therefore by Prayer earnestly beg of God a willingness to go to him and take pains with your own Souls in order to the working of them up thereunto Humbly and freely leave it to him who is infinite in wisdom to chuse the time when it shall be to him who is love it self and whose compassions do not fail to order out the manner how it shall be only be you careful to prepare and get ready labour to be fit to die and meet for the inheritance of the Saints in light and when that grim Messenger comes bid him welcome and let your hearts be glad and your glory rejoice Do your Souls now at any time wander from God call them in and chide them home and when you come to die sing them home and the good Lord enable you by being with you while you walk in the valley of the shadow of Death comforting you with his Rod and Staff giving you to look within the veil and to see your Advocate and Mediator Jesus at the right hand of God ready to receive you that so you may as the Protomarryr Stephen did commend your spirit into his hand and besides what hath been already said before the time of your departure come lay your selves in with these comfortable meditations First God whom you go to is the best and dearest Friend In him there is infinite Fulness and everlasting Love As the Sun when up and shining forth in his Glory doth so obscure and darken all the Stars that in his Presence they hide their Heads and disappear so doth the Glory of God prevail and triumph over all the Beauty and Glory of the Creature He hath all Perfections and is pleasant for Delights It is his Glory to be Self-sufficient and All-sufficient He hath enough for himself and for the holy Angels who look no further and desire no more therefore he cannot but have enough for you And as there is All fulness in him so All-sweetness too Here indeed a gracious Soul may sometimes discover that in God which strikes a terror in it The Psalmist remembred God and was troubled Psalm 77. 3. The Prophet cried out I am undone for mine eyes have seen the King the Lord of Hosts Isa 6. 5. But in the other World where the sight will be clear and full you shall see nothing in him save that which will be your Comfort and Joy Then every sight of him will be ravishing and every thought of him precious He will then be in your Account altogether lovely You will then see he hath such a Glory as knoweth no blemish such a Fulness as knoweth no defect so that you cannot desire him better than he is nor would you have him other than he is for as all his Attributes are his own Glory so they will all contribute to and issue in your Satisfaction Secondly Heaven is the sweetest place that you can be in We have reason to conclude it must of necessity be so since God hath chosen it for his own Seat the place of his own Residence This World is but a Wilderness since Sin entred into it that is a Paradice far beyond the Terrestial one out of which our first Parents were driven This World is but a Dunghil that is a Mountain of Myrrhs there be the Beds of Spices There is nothing to pollute nothing to offend no danger of falling no fear of losing nothing to disturb the Spirit to break the Peace or damp the Joy Read and consider that excellent Description which is given of the New Ierusalem in that Rev. 21. 10 c. some passages whereof are these The foundations of the wall garnished with all manner of precious stones the twelve gates were twelve pearls the City yea the very street of it is pure gold the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it the Glory of God doth lighten it and the Lamb is the light thereof And if there be such a Glory in that great City which descends from God out of Heaven what do you think and how great is the Glory of that great City which is in Heaven What words are big enough to express it What mind large enough to conceive it Deus Coelum non patiuntur hyperbolem God and Heaven are incapable of an Hyperbole our most raised and inlarged Thoughts will be too narrow short and low I will add but one thing more and shut up this Discourse Lastly When once you come to Heaven you will never be weary of being there Here indeed we are quickly weary and tir'd out at the best of our comforts A Man may lie in a Bed of Down till he is weary and his Bones ake He may sit at a noble and sumptuous Feast till he is weary and would be glad of a dimission We may pray and preach and hear till we are weary tho we should not be weary of Gospel-Ordinances and Religious Duties yet we may be weary in them But there is no such thing as this in Heaven no nothing like it throughout Eternity The Saints there will neither be weary of God nor of Heaven nor of themselves nor of one another Their Eye will not be weary of beholding God and contemplating his Glory nor the Tongue weary of blessing and praising him nor Soul and Body weary of maintaining a close and intimate converse with him As there will be a compleat Enjoyment so constant and fresh Delight A Fulness and All fulness of Joy and that will infallibly afford Pleasures for evermore God hath made a great Breach among you who meet in this place by taking away his Servant who labour'd in the Word and Doctrine It is above Fifty years since our first Acquaintance we having been of the same College and under the same Tutor He was a Learned Man and as I am persuaded truly Godly one that denied himself and suffered much for Conscience-sake I came hither to do you good not to commend him for that is needless you having known his Doctrine and manner of Life His Course is finished and God hath call'd him home so that you shall see his Face no more I beseech you to live the Truths he brought you and since you are taken with the goodness of this Air and the pleasantness of this Place for the health of your Bodies see that you neglect not you Souls but chearfully allow to the procuring and setling one among you that may feâ—d you with sound Knowledge and Understanding by your Liberality therein manifest the value you have for the Gospel and the good Lord send one in whose Light you may rejoyce FINIS
to eternity 1 Thess. 4. 16 17. The dead in Christ shall rise first then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air so shall we ever be with the Lord. After that meeting there shall not be a parting any more Secondly When holy Souls go to God they shall he heartily welcome and find as loving and gracious a Reception as they can desire When a Sinner doth here in this life by a sincere Repentance break off from his Sins and returns to God there is rejoycing above Luke 15. â— and 10. There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth Where upon Bernard said The Tears of a Sinner are the Wine of Angels At such a time indeed and upon such an account Hell is in an uproar and the Devils fret and rage they cannot endure to think that they should lose any of their Prey and that one of their Vassals should be brought into the liberty of the Sons of God But in Heaven there are Triumphs and singing of Allelujahs This our Lord sets out in the Parable of the Prodigal Son upon whose return to his Father and his Duty there were Kisses and Embraces Feasting and making Merry The good old Man forgot his Age and found his Legs ran to meet him and the Family following so good an example was in a transport Just so there is in Heaven upon a gracious Soul's arrival there after its dissolution The great God doth welcome it even the whole Trinity the Father who elected it the Son who redeemed it the Holy Ghost who sanctified it It s old Relations and godly Friends do welcome it for they will not then be Strangers to one another but both know and be known It shall be welcom'd by an innumerable company of Angels who are now ministring Spirits unto the Heirs of Salvation and by the general Assembly and Church of the First-born by all the Spirits of just Men made perfect in Heaven Whatever weeping and mourning bitter sighs and lamentations there are here for being deprived of a faithful Friend a comfortable Yokefellow a pleasant and hopeful Child a learned orthodox and painful Minister an useful warm and exemplary Church-member that did adorn Religion and credit his holy Profession there are Triumphs above for the addition of another Star that will for ever gloriously shine in that celestial Orb. Then indeed is that fulfilled which is written in Psal. 45. 14 15. Those thrice-happy Souls are brought unto the King in rayment of needle-work a curiously embroidered garment a spotless beautiful robe of righteousness wrought for them by the hand of Christ himself with gladness and rejoicing are they brought they do enter into the King's Palace So shall they be received with the highest demonstrations of affection Christ hath most graciously and faithfully promised that when Sinners do now come unto him he will in no wise cast them out And when Saints do at death come to him he will in no wise shut them out but an abundant entrance shall be ministred to them into the glorious Kingdom of their God and Saviour Yea and when the Lord Jesus shall have delivered up his Mediatorial Kingdom to the Father they shall still keep the Mansions prepared for them in their Father's house and God himself shall be all in all to them Thirdly These holy Souls shall not only meet with an hearty welcome from God and all the blessed Inhabitants of that Region of Light and Love but also they shall find a most splendid and glorious entertainment such as will evidently shew forth the Love and Greatness and Glory of God himself and not only issue in their full satisfaction but likewise excite and keep up in them eternal Admirings There are many Mansions and a place provided for every one of them in which they shall have room enough and whatsoever will be pleasant to them for Delights A Throne a Robe of Glory a Crown of Righteousness hidden Manna the Tree of Life which is in the midst of the Paradise of God and to render their happiness complete those bodies of theirs which are now bodies of vileness when they come to be raised out of their Bed of dust by the Divine Power and reunited to their Souls shall be made like unto Christ's own most glorious body Philip. 3. 21. What shall I say Had I the Tongues of men and Angels I could not speak more than is the largest descriptions will fall unspeakably short when you come there you will say not one half was told you I may say this in general in Heaven you will meet with that which will far more than defray all the Charges you were put to here that which will abundantly compensate and make amends for all the hardships you endured here Those that have been the greatest Sufferers in this world when they come into the next will thankfully and chearfully acknowledge they are no Losers They shall receive that which shall richly reward all their pains so that instead of complaining their labour is lost they shall wonder such sorry services should be so recompenced and cry Grace Grace to it They shall have the accomplishment of all their hopes their former askings and thoughts being outdone That which is laid up for them and shall be given out to them will transcend their highest expectations be a full and complete answer to all their Prayers satisfy silence and put an everlasting period to all their desires for their enjoyments will be so great and their capacities so fill'd that there will be no room left for more God will then make good all his Promises which are exceeding great and precious so that not one tittle of them shall fail and by this means all tears shall be wiped from their eyes sorrow and sighing shall flee away never more to return and they shall enjoy an endless Sabbath an everlasting Triumph being fill'd with joy unspeakable and full of glory In short there is that which mortal eye hath not seen nor ear heard nor hath it entred into the heart of man and though the holy and blessed Angels which kept their standing and continue to be Heaven's Courtiers do both see and enjoy it yet they are not able to express it there is all that which our dearest Lord Jesus did purchase at the inestimable price of his own heart-blood Now from all this which hath been spoken there is abundant reason to conclude Lastly That those holy and truly happy Souls are better with God in Heaven than they were while here or could ever possibly have been True love is free and liberal to its endeared object it studieth to be so and takes singular pleasure in it Those that are kind and affectionate Husbands and live up to the Law of their Relation do and will make it their business and endeavour to make the Lives of their Yokefellows not only easy to them