the greatest felicity But this discovers their mistake for if it be so that when we shal attain the highest pitch of created felicity our happiness will receive its denomination from hence VIZ. That we shal be like Christ then certainly the more any are like Christ in this World the more of true happiness they now possess It is true conformity to Christ in this evil World procures Men hatred and persecution and that makes Men who Judge according to outward appearance vote them miserable but still their inward unseen Glory which proceeds from their consimilitude to Jesus Christ is a preponderating blessedness and as it is it self a Man's good estate so also it derives those solid joyes to the Soul of him that is so that render it full of unspeakable Glory in the midst of the greatest outward oppression because whiles they are thus hated and persecuted for their conformity unto Jesus Christ The Spirit of God and of Glory rests upon them 1 Pet. 4. 14. Begun happiness is founded on holiness here and perfected holiness shal be found to be true happiness in the Kingdom USE II. For Exhortation to the Children of God Shal we be like unto Christ at his appearance and is this consideration so full of Satisfaction Then 1. Be we exhorted to labour in preparing for that Day that so we may then be like him There is a work to be done by the People of God in this life in order to their glorious likness to Christ in that other And our Apostle tells us what endeavours the hopes of it will excite in those that are possessed of them in the verse following my Text He that hath this hope purifieth himself as he is pure It is q. d. they that expect to be like Christ then will use means to be like him now Holiness is the way to happiness Heb. 12. 14. Christ first sanctifieth his Church before he glorifieth it Eph. 5. 26 26. And we must labour in this Work to get Sin mortified Paul having put his Colossions in mind of that Glory which they shal have at Christ's appearance takes argument from thence to press this duty Col. 3. 4 5. They that look for such a change hereafter are under strong tyes to an heavenly conversation here Phil. 3. 20 21. Our Conversation is in Heaven from whence we look for Christ c. And a like advice the Apostle Peter gives to them he writes unto 2 Pet. 3. 14. Seing ye look for â—such things be diligent that you may be found in him in Peace without spot and blemish We should therefore lament that we are so much unlike him now and pray to God for his Spirit to dwel powerfully in us and to lead us effectually in his way to purge our hearts from all impurity and fill them with holiness 2. Labour we to draw consolation and establishment to our Souls from the forethoughts of this great benefit there are many troubles and discouragements which the Children of God â—â—â—t with all here in this life and their hearts are often born down therewithal but if we did but truly ponder and well digest this consideration of that glorious condition which we shal be put into at that great Day it would lift up the hands that hang down and strengthen the feeble knees it would make us patient in tribulation quiet under all the affronts and disgraces that are put upon us willing to wait and in the mean while not weary of well doing could we but know in its dimensions what it is to be like Christ what an admirable felicity it must needs be to he assimilated to him in that Day it would set us down with Paul's perswasion Rom. 8. 18. That the sufferings of the present time are not worthy to be compared with the Glory that shall be revealed in us Yea the very ghuesses and conjectâ—res which we may make of it affords matter of solid joy and triumph to the Children of God Pray therefore earnestly to God for this Divine illumination pray Pauls Prayer Eph. 3. 16. to 20. Oh! How glorious will Christ appear when he comes to Judge the World when he shal come in the Glory of his Father when he shal be attended with an innumerable company of Angels and in great Majesty sit down upon a Throne of Judgement when Holiness shal be to him for a Robe and Righteous for a Garment Then to be like Christ holy as â—e is holy adorned with his Robes Resplendenâ— with his Glory sitting down upon Thrones with him and with him Judging the World when he shal declare us Heirs of his Kingdome Children of his Father and make us sharers with him in the purchased Possession and it shal be known that he took possession of all that Glory not for himself alone but in the name of all those who had believed in him then it shal be known that it was not a vain thing to serve him and to suffer with and for him then shalâ— our happiness be full perfect eternal when we shal by plentiful experience know that to be like him is to be everlastingly blessed in the full fruition of the most glorious God to all eternity For we shall see him aâ— he â—s These words are an argument which the Apostle brings by way of evidence to make good his former assertion or prove that we shal be like him under which is contained another great truth concerning the happiness of the Children of God in another World As for the force of the Argument very briefly It may at first blush seem to argue weakly at least obscurly to prove our likness to him from our vision of him Devils and wicked Men shal see him as Rev. 1. 7. but they will not thence be more 〈◊〉 him I answer it is true these shal see a great deal of his Glory they shal see him coming as their Judge but they shal not see him aâ— their Saviour as the Saints shal Again they shal see him with great horror and fly from his presence as Adam did in the Garden and as they shal do Rev. 6. 20 21. Whereas the Children of God shal see him with great content and satisfaction Some thinks that John argues from the cause supposing that this Vision will be a transforming Vision changing us into the Image or likness of Christ perfectly others suppose him to argue from the part to the whole the Doctrine of the Beatifical vision being a received Doctrine in the Church as being the perfect felicity of the understanding Hence He argues for our whole perfection for if in one part oâ— faculty we shal be perfected by consequence all our whole man shal be rendred perfect for it is an whole blessedness that we shal have and that consists in perfect conformity to Christ But that which seems best to clear the argument is to look upon him as arguing from the effect or consequent Paul tells us that without Holiness no Man shal see God Heb. 12
he wil it were good for that man if he had never been born USE II. This truth may afford potent argument to encourage unbelievers to seek after Faith and to believe in Jesus Christ What do you think of it who have been often invited in the Gospel to embrace him Will not this present him before you as one worth the entertaining Receive him by a true Faith and he will make you not only Friends but Children unto God And for the further urging of this argument think seriously of these two motives 1. Consider what you are at present to whom God makes this proffer that you may be the Sons and Daughters of the living God what are we all but a company of poor abjects base born creatures lying upon the dung-hill objects of contempt ignominy and disgrace Remember your original your father the Amorite your mother the Hittite Ezek. 16. begin Then I. Hast thou no shame in thee Art thou not abashed at thy vile beggarly disgraced condition Can you look to your fathers house the extract of fallen man without blushing or think of it without confusion But now come hither and here you may have all this shame covered and removed by being taken in to this honourable relation to God himself II. Have you no ambition How do men account of and with what aspiring desires do they reach after a claim of kin to great and eminent personages If some earthly Prince should make such a proffer among his Subjects yea the best of them as the great God doth now among poor and vile men what welcome what embraces would it find among them all How eagerly do you grasp after the worlds honours How pleasing are high titles to the Children of men But lo here is a title against which if all the honours and gloryes which the world owns were set they would weigh no more than the light dust in the ballance and yet how cold and remiss are men in pursuing after it 2. Consider how excellent a priviledge how desireable a benefit this is Believe it to be indeed an advantage yea ponder upon it and see if it be not really so enquire then and say whither there be any thing that can come within the reach of your desires that is not to be found included in it For 1. Would you be honourable and this is a thing which the world sets an high price on eagerly seeks after and courts But what greater honour can we conceive of then now to be owned and declared the Children of God Are the Children of earthly Princes accounted noble and all respect shown to them How honourable then are the Children of the great King whose Dominion is an everlasting Dominion and to whom all the Kings and Potentates in the world are Vassals How excellent must theâ— be that can claim the nearest relation to the Sovereign of the whole world that are able to call the everlasting Jehovah Father this is an honour indeed and he that hath it may with Moses trample on the highest gloryes of the world and look upon them all with an eye of contempt This honour have all his Saints 2. Would you have Riches and these the grasping desires of the sons of men are greatly carried after this is the only way to come by them Rom. 8. 17. If Sons then Heirs heirs of God and joynt heirs with Christ And can a man be such an heir and be poor The things which this world calleth riches are poor things if compared with those which believers are made to possess And if they count such men rich who enjoy a small part of this earth which is it self but a spot and a few of the perishing things of this lower world is not he then rich indeed who truly and without vanity call the whole world his own what then shall we say of him who hath the wealth and treasures of two worlds to make use of and a never failing title to them both such you may be by Faith 1 Tim. 4. 8. Godliness hath the promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come You are now poor and in straits plotting and toyling to vanquish this poverty of yours turning every stone and crying all conclusions and all to little purpose but there is no plot like unto this it is a design that cannot miscarry get Faith and you are owners of more than heart can wish 3 Would you have a free use of the Creature and this well thought of might be a prevailing motive Consider but upon what account unregenerate sinners stand in reference to all the good things of God which they do make use of turning of them by their ill improvement of them into so many treasuries of wrath and vengeance Rom. 2. 5. So much as they do enjoy of God's goodness so many witnesses there are against them to accuse and condemn them before him Every meals meat every draught of drink every garment which they wear all the contentment that they enjoy in this life will add to and make their torments so much the greater in hell With what trembling doth the awakened sinner eat and drink and make use of all the comforts of life and this because he now is made to understand that in all he doth but encrease his guilt and render his account more fearful But lo here is the way to be delivered from the tyranny of these tormenting thoughts and to be able truly to rejoyce in the goodness of God Get Christ to be yours by faith and then these will be no longer stollen comforts ending in bitterness but you may be able to rejoyce in the Lord and in his goodness having all coming to you as new Covenant mercyes sanctified by the blood of Christ 4. Would you enjoy Divine Protection this I am sure you stand in need of whose precious lives then are so many that seek to deprive you of who ly open every moment to so many oppressing evils Consider the world we live in the awful dangers that are before us and daily passing over our heads the danger that we are continually obnoxious unto the poor helpless state of man in himself now to be left to your own care and keeping to be turned out into the midst of so many evils alone is a sad thing But believe in Christ and now are you the Sons of God and then you are secure They that harm you must first strike through his Omnipotence Consider Psal 91. throughout and what have you to say to all these things Can you still strengthen your selves in unbelief are you still unwilling to come to Christ or do you begin to say Happy they whom the King of Glory shall admit to this honour Will Satan will the World yea can they invest you with such a dignity Is it not better to be a Child of God than a Child of the Devils Do not then reject this so fairly proffered priviledge USE III. For Exhortation to believers As
their tears repentance secret mournings and renewals of Faith and restorings to peace and soul-comfort are secret And hence Though the Righteous Man be indeed surpassingly more excellent than his neighbour yet is he not thought so to be Whereas did the World see and understand whose sons they are what inheritances thâ—â— are the undoubted heirs of and what are those Gloryes they shall ere long be made to possess it would alter their opinion and make them afraid of them and not dare to do them any wrong How fearful was Abimelech of Abraham when God did but tell him he was a Prophet Gen. 20. 7 8. 2. Here we see the reason why the People of God are often so doubtful disquiet discontent and afraid to dy I put things together The ground of all this is because they do not as yet see clearly what they shall be It would be a matter of just wonderment to see the Children of God so easily and often shaken so disturbed and perplexed in hours of Temptation were it not from the consideration that they at present know so little of themselves or their happiness Sometimes their sonship it self doth not appear to them but they are in the dark at a loss about the evidencing of it to the satisfaction of their own minds and from hence it is that many doubtings arise and their souls are disquieted Sometimes their present sufferings look bigger in their thoughts than the conceptions or apprehensions which they entertain of their future Glory these things being near and the other looked on at a distance and hence they out-weigh in their rash judgements and now they are disquiet and discontent and say with him 〈◊〉 7â— 13. I have cleansed my heart in vain and 〈◊〉 my hands in innocency And usually in 〈◊〉 good frames they apprehend more of the sweetness of present Communion with God in his Ordinances than of that blessed immediate communion in Glory and this makes them with good Hezekiah to turn away their faces from the messages of death and change All these things are arguments of the weak sight and dark thoughts which we here have of the things of another world which yet it is the holy pleasure of God that it shall be so a while for the advancing of his own ends in his Saints 3. Learn hence a reason why the present sufferings of God's Children can neither argue against nor yet prejudice their felicity for the time is not yet come wherein they are to appear like themselves Joseph's prisoned condition and prison robes set him never the further off from his preferment in Pharaoh's Court but were indeed the very harbingers of it When the appointed time for the manifestation of the Sons of God shall come he can fetch them out in hast change them in the twinkling of an eye and cloath them upon with all that excellency and splendid Glory whereby they who were but the other day lying among the pots shall with their dazling lustre outshine the Sun in the Firmament It is the Almighty's good pleasure that their life for the present should be hid with Christ in God But yet he hath his time and will take â—is opportunity to reveal and make it known 4. This teacheth us that the Glory of the sons of God must needs be wonderfully and astonishingly great For why Have they not already in hand that which surpasses the knowledge of all the world and which is in value transcendently more worth than all the Crowns and Kingdoms and Gloryes of it Do they not live upon and satisfie their souls with marrow and fatness here Psal 63. 5. Are they not here replenished with the fatness of God's house Psal 36. 8. Who but he that enjoys it can declare what an happiness it is to enjoy peace with God and fellowship with Christ assurance of his love and consolation of his spirit Who but he that hath felt it can tell what it is to have the love of God shed abroad in his heart and in his Soul to hear the sweet voice of Pardon and promises of Glory to ly all night in the bosom of Christ and have his left hand underneath his head and his right hand imbracing of him And yet he that knows all this doth not know what he shall be These are but the displayes of the outward Temple or holy place what then is to be seen in the holy of Holies These are but drops and rivulets which come in Pipes and in little portions how glorious a thing then must it needs be to dwel at the fountain and swim for ever in those bankless and bottomless Oceans of Glory How happy then are the dead in Christ who are now seeing tasting knowing and experiencing these things USE II. For Exhortation learn we hence 1. Not to judge of our selves or of our own state by our present sense It is the delight of Satan to be keeping the thoughts of the Children of God looking and poring upon their present sinful and sorrowful condition that they may be held under discouragement by thinking themselves miserable but we live by hope and Hope that is seen is not hope Rom. 8. 24. As often then as your sense would dishearten you now betake your selves to and stirr up your Faith set your selves to meditate upon the unknown Gloryes which are coming and think them not less but greater because they appear not this being one main reason why they do not as yet appear because they are too big for our present comprehension 2. Think it not hard that God should call you to 〈◊〉 sufferings for his Name but let the consideration of that unseen Glory that is a coming arme and animate you for whatsoever Dayes of trouble you may have good reason to think are not afarr off that when they do come they may not be burdensome but may weigh light Learn therefore of Paul to place the scales right that you may be able to draw the same conclusion which he doth when you come to weigh your future felicities that you have in hope against all the present sorrows and sufferings you are at the present undergoing for Christ 2 Cor. 4. 17 18. 3. Wait patiently for your Glory though you do not now enjoy it no nor make a full and through discovery of it at the present yet be patient and wait and you have those encouragements so to do 1. The time is not long It is but when he shall appear Context There is a little work for you to do for God here and then the reward And as you have need of patience for this that when you have done the will of God you may receive the reward Heb. 10. 36. So there is this given to animate you in the chearful exercise of it that it is but a little while and he that shall come will come and will not tarry vers 47. Christ is but gone to heaven to prepare and then he will come again for you 3. You have mean
while good security for it There are the many precious promises in the Book of God engaging his faithfulness truth and power to the performance of it you have the seal of the spirit for it Who hath sealed you to the day of Redemption Eph. 4. 30. And you have all those earnests which are given in the inchoative felicity which you have found in those tasts that you have had of the love of God in Christ and all these are built upon a foundation of God and in an eternal Decree which must stand sure and what would you have more 3. This glory is worth the waiting for I am not able to tell you what it is no nor if an Angel should come and declare it to us are we who dwell in mortal bodies capable of understanding it But this we may know that it will recompence all our Faith and Patience all our sorrows and sufferings nay all the sufferings of this present life are not worthy of the Glory that shall be revealed If it did appear and our blear eyes could now look upon it without dazling it would not be so great as it now is which when it shall appear will transport us with everlasting admiration that shall eccho back in eternal Hallelujahs But we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him Our Apostle having in the foregoing words endeavoured to satisfie those whom he writes unto in the reason why Notwithstanding they were sons of God and consequently great heirs their condition was at the present so obscure viz. Because the time of their manifestation was not yet come he proceeds in the rest of this Vers to encourage and strengthen their Faith in the consideration of the Glory which shall in due time be revealed in them It is q. d. Have patience and tarry but a little while and then you shall look like your selves and have Glory enough to declare you unspeakabley happy The words before us are an assertion concerning the future happiness of God's Adopted Children in which we may take notice of three things that are worthy of our diligent observation viz. 1. The certainty and evidence of it We know 2. The time when it shall be When he shall appear 3. The nature of it or that wherein it shall mainly consist We shall be like him We may take up these in their order 1. For the certaincy and evidence of it We know The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies to know certainly and the Apostle useth the word in opposition to an uncertain ghuess or conjecture by which a man doth but only probably suppose that the thing may be so Here observe 1. The thing which he here asserts to be known is the future glorious estates of the Sons of God It is that condition which is reserved for them and unto which they shall in due time be brought for his present discourse properly relates unto what thâ—y shall be in the great Day 2. Concerning this knowledge it is considerable 1. That he clearly intimates the object to be a thing knowable or that which hath its evidence it is q. d. though what it shall be appears not plainly to us yet that it shall be is out of the reach of doubting Or though we cannot understand it in its Latitude yet we may discern its fâ—turity 2. That he doth not Monopolize this knowledge to himself and the rest of the Apostles as though it were a peculiar priviledge to them coming in a way of extraordinary revelation but he makes it a common favour bestowed upon the Children of God And hence Coming by ordinary means He doth not say I know it and give you my testimony of it which you may credit but we know you and I have the evidence of it in our selves and such grounds of certainty upon which we may safely draw this conclusion Hence Doct. As the future Glorious Estate of the Children of God is a thing certain in it self so it is that whereof they may also have a certain and infallible Knowledge Though they cannot tell how well it shall be with them yet that it shall be well they may know That their is a remaining Glory and that that Glory shall be theirs Not only that their is a number of the Children of Men who shall be blessed in the eternal enjoyment of God in Christ but that they also in particular are of that number And this indeed is a main and essential part of a Believers present inchoative happiness that now he knows and is firmly perswaded of it that he shall be happy for ever Knowledge is here opposed Negatively or Privatively to ignorance disparately to opinion And in the clearing up of this point we may 1. Consider something of the nature of knowledge in general And then 2. In particular evidence that our future happiness comes within the reach of it 1. Concerning Knowledge in general we may observe that the proper and suitable object of the understanding is Truth in the search and contemplation whereof it is imployed and when it is so imployed it is about its own work and Truth being a property or affection of every being that is Hence The understanding applyes it self to the searing of Truth in the things that be Now these truths are either simple and single such as are the several affections inclinations and tendencies in things which the understanding finds out and layes by themselves and whereby it is furnished for further discoveries Or else they are compound when the understanding discovering a subject and having found out those simple truths which concern it or supposing it self so to have done it puts them together and makes an Axiom sentence assertion or negation about them Now there are various postures in which the understanding may stand to the things and various affections in which the things may stand related one to another I intend not the distinct producing of all that here might be said on this account but only so far as is to our present purpose 1. Referring to the understanding Sometimes it discernes not the ground of the composition or relation of one thing to another And hence It can declare or conclude nothing at all about it and this is that which we call ignorance Sometimes this ignorance is attended with a fond apprehension that he doth see it mistaking and confidently concluding it to be that which it is not this is properly Errour which is buiâ—â— upon Ignorance accompanyed with an opinion of knowledge Sometimes he doth see or discern these differences and is able to make a true Aphorisme or Declaration about them and this is called Judgement which is nothing else but a skill of putting simple Truths together right as they should be and according to the natural and genuine relation they have each to the other so as to make them into a true conclusion 2. Relating to the things themselves We must consider that the reason of our compounding or
knowledge of God in Christ which is Eternai life Joh. 17. 3. There is a sealing of the spirit which confirmes everlasting happiness to us Eph. 4. 30. There is an earnest now given by which God confirmes the title of the Inheritance to the Souls of his People Eph. 1. 14. 2. That these effects are discernable and legible and that not only by special revelation but also in a rational way of arguing and inferring If this were not a truth then all such Scripture-precepts as put us upon this duty of self-examination in respect of our spiritual estate were in vain and meerly superâ—luous It is true the law puts us upon duties impossible to fallen man and this course God useth with us to make us know our need of Christ But the Gospel puts Believers upon nothing but what may be done Now this is made the Believers duty in divers Gospel-respects 2 Pet. 1. 10. 2 Cor. 13. 5. 1. Cor. 11. 28. Nay why should the Gospel propound Rules of tryal to us if there were no discovery to be made by the application of them Of what use is a Touch-stone to us if by applying of it we could not be able to make discovery what Mettle is genuine and what is deceitful 3. That every Child of God is furnished fâ—â— this discovery He hath an habitual power in him and sufficient help afforded unto him for the discerning these effects For 1. The effects themselves are manifestly distinguishable from the common Graces of Moral Men and the counterfeit graces of hypocrites though they may have some resemblance yet there are differencing notes 1 Joh. 3. 10. In this the Children of God are manifest and the Children of the Devil 2. Every Child of God hath a conscience whereby he is able to reflect upon himself to take a Survey of his own actions to see what is in him and to compare it by the rule and to judge of it accordingly Hence We shall find Paul making an appeal to the Testimony of his own Conscience 2 Cor. 1 12. 3. The Spirit of God dwels in the understanding and conscience of every Believer to illâ— minate it and to give it a judgement and diâ—cerning of spiritual things 1 Cor. 2. 10 14. anâ— this is a common priviledge of all Believers theâ— have all of them the indwelling spirit to helâ— them in their work 4. The Spirit of Adoption is also a witneâ— in a Child of God to confirm and ratifie thâ— the testimony which his Conscience gives iâ—â—â—ncerning the premises whence there are twâ—â—â—bstantial witnesses to the same truth Hence He is said to bear witness with our spirits Rom. 8 16. 4. By the discovery of these present effects hâ— is infallibly assured that he shall inherit Glorâ— hereafter A state of Grace and of Glory havâ— but their gradual differences Grace is Glory begun Glory is Grace finished or perfected Grace is the seed whereof glory is the genuinâ— Fruit Grace if it dy not will bring forth glory undoubtedly but it cannot dy being an immortal seed and abiding True grace is a spring that never ceaseth flowing till it reach eternaâ— Life Joh. 4. 14. Paul counts it a good argument and that the inferrence will hold that iâ— God hath begun he will also perfect the good work Phil. 1. 6. God cannot call back his grace for it is without repentance Rom. 11. 29. Heb. 13. 5. The Believer cannot renounce nor reject it for God will not suffer him to depart away from him Ezek. 36. 27. The Devil and all his instruments cannot rob him of it because they cannot pluck him out of Chist's hand Joh. 10. 29. And when we have â—aid all these things together Judge now whither this doth not amount to that which may truly and properly be called knowledge viz a Judgement of certainty about our everlasting felicity USE I. Here we see one Reason why many of the Children of God bear all the changes of the life with so much quietness and tranquillity it lyes here because they have grounded expectations of future glory The Men of the World wonder at them yea scoff and flout and take them for mad Men to feed their fancyes and hopes with unseen things and therefore in their opinion the greatest uncerteintyes Truly if the hopes of the Children of God were grounded in opinion and depended upon meer contingencyes I cannot see how their life should not be the most perplexed sorrowful and miserable of all men for if after they have left all for Christ it were yet a thing dubitable whether they should ever see and enjoy him in glory they have indeed nothing left them to lean the weight of their confidence upon But this is their felicity in the midst of all turns that still their main interest in eternity is secured And this indeed is the very thing which declares them to be the only happy Men All other Men live by meer opinion these only are the men of knowledge Other men know not certeinly what it is that they labour for nor what shall be the event of all their pains and cares but these men know that their labour is not in vain and that there will be a good end of all their troubles and pains As to the things of this life and with respect to subordinate ends the Children of God labour under equal uncerteintyes with other men Eccl. 9. begin All things fall out alike to all And vers 11. Time and chance happeneth to them all They are not sure to prosper in their Estates to enjoy health and long life and ease in this World But as to their last end and the concurrent tendency of all means to it here they have good security and this makes them patient in tribulation quiet under sorest afflictions Thus we find Paul argues himself into patience and chearfulness 2 Cor. 4. 17 18 5. 1. If Storms nay Hurrycanes arise in their Voyage yet they are not amazed for they know who is Pilot and where they shall certeinâ—y Arrive if they lose all they have in this World yea and life it self yet because they cannot lose glory they are not filled with consternation For though they cannot tell what that glory shal be yet they know that it shall be glory and such as God himself shal give that God who doth all things like himself and they are satisfied that this shall be enough to fill you with everlasting joyes USE II. We hence learn how vain are all the attempts of the enemyes of God's Children wherein they seek to make them miserabe or to discourage them in the service of God It is true if their felicity were grounded in contingency the Saints enemies might have some probable hopes to undermine and blow them up but those that fight against the truth shall not be able to prevail That Rock on which the happiness of the Sons of God is built lyes too deep for all the endeavours of their enemyes to undermine That truth that no
Child of God shal ever be lost that no weapon that is formed against them shall ever prosper that the foundations of the World shall sooner be shaken the Pillars of the Earth faulter crack and crumble in pieces than they fail of eternal felicity is unchangeable he that will keep a Child of God from Heaven and happiness must make void the everlasting purposes of an unchangeable God violate the eternal Covenant of Redemption disanul Gods firm and undeciveable promises kill the immortal seed of grace overcome the Omnipotent Spirit of God Till all this can be done the Believers well-being stands secure which whiles Men and Devils are contriving and endeavouring he may stand still and smile at their bold and impossible undertakings and whiles his hope is built and his eye fixt upon these strong Pillars it is as vain for them to think to scare or terryfie him I confess if God should hide his face and with-draw the light of his Countenance and leave him but a while to combate diffidence and doubting his Spirit is easily overwhelmed But if God stand by and give him the advantage to live in this light his evidence is so good and his knowledge so firmly grounded that all which can be done against him will but help to confirm him Lightly grounded opinions may easily be confuted by as probable contradictions but firmly fixed principles and clear evidences of Divine knowledge are not shaken by the greatest contradiction of sinners Such is the perswasion that a Child of God hath of his love to him that he is withal fully perswaded that all which can be done against it cannot dissolve it Rom. 8. 37 38 39. And hence Nothing will prejudice them against God and his service nothing will turn them out of their way of duty and obedience to God because they are not labouring for uncerteintyes or looking for things that may not be they live not upon deceivable hopes they know whom they have trusted and that he is able to keep that which they have committed unto him to the day of the Lord and therefore are they not weary nor faint as those that know that in due time they shal reap if they faint not and though their enemyes may take away their comforts of Life deprive them of their Estates of their good name among men of their liberty yea of their lives too yet because they know they cannot rob them of their glory therefore are they resolved in their way and will be faithful unto death USE III. For Exhortation to the Children of God in two Lessons 1. Study much for this knowledge The wise man's assertion Light is sweet is true of material light much more of spiritual and there is never a ray of it which brings more of delight with it than that which discovers unto us our names written in Heaven The Philosopher could say a little knowledge and that conjectural which deserves not the title of knowledge in heavenly things is to be preferred before a great deal and that certein in earthly things And yet were his thoughts bounded on this side of the third heaven But here we have the best and surest knowledge the clearest and most demonstrable light is to be had of the things of eternity Man's nature inclines him to love knowledge in general let grace rectifie nature and employ you in the disquisition of theirs the knowledge whereof can be no less than inchoative happiness Of all knowledge that which concerns our selves is the most profitable and of our selves that which informes us about our eternity is the most desirable The souls immortality is discovered by a beam of natâ—res light the happiness of some and misery of others in their immortality is evident by Scripture revelation the uncerteinty of our present condition here is known by constant experience He therefore and only he can enjoy solid comfort who hath an hope grounded in knowledge that it shall at last go well with him â— Make use of this knowledge to establish your hearts against all the evils and threatned dangers of this present life The eâ—couragement in our Text as we have heard is accommodated by our Apostle to the dayes of Antichrist that he might confirm true Believers by the consideration of their sonship to a resolute standing by the sincere profession of Christ and maintenance of an holy life Their Godliness is the great quarrel which the world have against the Children of God Their present Sonship and future glory known is the great relief they have against the Temptations of such an hour This knowledge is practical and the strength of the practice is the being much in exercise of Faith of which the Apostle gives that encomine Heb. 11. That it is the evidence of things not seen His meaning is that it makes those future things so plain as if they were present and gives in such demonstrations of them that there is no room to call the truth into question Let the Children of God fear nothing but sin for all other things â—â—mend them to God and your Souls with theâ— in wel-doing If you look only upon the revolutions of times and changes of this lower World these things may be too intricate for your understanding to resolve Their tracing of the motion oâ— the wheels of Providence may be too high and hard for you But if now you do but look foreward as far as Eternity and take a view of the concerns of that future life where indeed your great concerns ly here you may read Lectures of consolation to your own souls and knowing and being assured that after a troublesome way the latter end shall be peace your hearts may be fixt trusting in the Lord. When he shall appear The second thing here asserted concerning the happiness of the Children of God is the time when it shall be compleated When he shall appear There being an Ellypsis in the Words it hath occasioned divers interpretations for there is no mention made of the subject appearing Hence Some refer it to the foregoing words what we shall be and read it when it shall appear and so leave the time indefinite and yet so it intimates thus much viz. There will be a time when Gods Children shall appeâ—â— like themselves others refer it to Him â—â— their following words and read it as our translation when he shall appear and expound it of Jesus Christ and make it parallel to and interpreted by that of Paul in Col. 3. 4. When Christ who is our life shall appear we shall appear with him in Glory We have an Ellypsis like this in Psal 87. 1. His foundation is in the holy hills clearly intimating God In the Text it is if he shall appear 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and if we so read it we are not to take if for an If of doubting but only of supposing and connecting q. d. If Christ shall ever appear glorious then shall Believers too or there is as great a certeinty
it be done to one whom the King of glory delights to honour VSE I. For Information learn we hence 1. That this Truth may satisfie us in the great reason why the People of God are not now known nor esteemed by the World it is because the time of their manifestation is not yet come we are often ready to think in our selves if we are his Children why doth he suffer us so little to be taken notice of and so much contemned and are hence prone to judge and censure his Providence in this respect whereas it is his Wisdom and good pleasure that it should be so Christ had his mean and obscure state upon Earth and so must his followers if we would be like him in glory we must be conformable to him in obscurity God hath his appointed seasons Men do not as yet know God nor Christ how then should they know his Children but they shall know him they shall see him and be astonished at him and they shall see and know his People and it is our duty to think Gods time the best 2. How miserably mistaken shall the Saints Persecutors ere long find themselves to have been about the Children of God whom they persecuted they think if they can but get the People of God under ground if they can but see an end of them in this World there is then an end for ever and now they can triumph over them and promise themselves henceforward never to be troubled with them any more they have their wills and hearts desires and are apt to boast over them and say where are now your great confidences your faith your hope what is become of all your Prayers and resolute patient sufferings in expectation of a desired end methinks I see what blushing what confusion of face what dismal consternation these poor cheated wretches are filled withal when as soon as they look out of their Graves in the morning of the Resurrection one of the first sights that accosts them is those very Saints whom they oppressed persecuted slew and hoped they had perished for ever appearing before them in highest state and glory shining in robes of Majesty and blessed in the company of Jesus coming to see the fearful judgement executed upon their proud Enemies and it will be no little aggravation of their misery to see those whom they despised contemned and hated made thus happy when they themselves are for ever miserable and when that shall be verified concerning them Psal 49. 14. The upright shall have dominion over them in the morning then shall they confess how foolish they had been so to despise and abuse those honourable and precious ones 3. The Children of God ought not to value themselves according to what they are at present but what they shall be at Christs appearing If the present visible condition of the Saints were the only rule of judging themselves by they might reckon themselves among the most unhappy of mankind and hence when their judgments have been byassed that way and they have looked with a carnal eye upon themselves which is bounded on things present they have been ready to be envious at the wicked and foolish men but if they could ever keep an eye firmly fixt upon the day of revelation and contemplate what is providing for them against that day could they but fetch up the evidence of those unseen things and feed their hearts with such thoughts they would soon turn their envy into scoâ—n at least pity and confess their former thoughts to have been ignorant foolish bruitish USE II. For Exhortation to the Children of God the great Lesson which the Doctrine teacheth you is to live by Faith all a Believers Consolation is laid up in the promise and must be thence extracted by Faith when Paul would strengthen the hearts of his Corinthians with the thoughts of their future Glory he inserts this necessary parenthesis 2 Cor. 5. 7. For we live by Faith not by sight The Saints Life of Glory is an hidden Life at present Col. 3. 3. Your Life is hid with Christ in God It is hid from the sight of the World and hid from their own sence but Faith is the evidence of things not seen Faith must carry us as far as the great judgement that day of Christs appearance and thence we must gather our comforts and present supports and there are three things especially unto which we should exercise our Faith upon this consideration Viz. 1 To a patient bearing of all the afflictions and troubles of the present time troubles and afflictions are unwelcome Ghuests to the mind of Man nature is averse to them and if grace doth not afford something to sweeten them they will be hard to bear and there cannot be a greater cordial against these Faintings then a due application of the consideration of that happy day wherein the glory of the Children of God shall be made manifest this hope will put life into the Soul Rom. 8. 24. For we live by hope the thoughts of this day were those which did put courage into Christians in their greatest adversities and made them valiant in suffering for God and Christ yea to contemn and despise those sufferings and speak of them as poor things and scarce to be valued see what Paul thinks of them Rom. 8. 18. Not worthy to be compared with the Glory to be revealed and 2 Cor. 4. 17. Our light affliction which is but for a moment How David contents himself in such a meditation Psal 17. ult I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness And Asaph Psal 73. 24. when a Child of God sits down and thinks with himself thus I that now suffer for Christ shall Reign with him ere long I that now am judged and condemned by the World shall shortly at Christs Bar be approved and acquitted that for which now shame and reproach is cast upon me shall then be my glory what though I am now in heaviness through manifold temptations am despised disgraced trampled upon and made a mock and laughter for a wicked World when Christ shall appear then I shall be honoured approved arraâ—ed in state and crowned with Glory and they that now despise me shall see it they that will not now believe shall then know that my reward was with God how can he châ—se but find his heart quieted and the tumults thereof appeased with such thoughts as these yea quietly to suffer all things for Christ in these hopes of Glory 2. To a chearful willingness to tarry and wait till Christ shall appear for the manifestation of our happiness be we content to live obscurely and die obscurely and be forgotten for a while this should satisfie our mind when we are ready to think it long to remember and consider that Christ defers our appearance no longer than he doth his own that as soon as he shall appear we shall appear with him and is it not enough that the Disciple be as his
Spouse of Christ hence called the Bride the Lambs Wife Rev. 19â— 7 21 9. And it is the Wives prerogative to share in her Husbands Honour They are the members of Christ he is their head now the whole man partakes in the honour which the head is adorned withal they are Christ mystical 1 Cor. 12. 12. And therefore are not to be divided from him in his Glory 4. The Intercession of Christ He is in Heaven interceding with his Father for this very thing when Christ was ready to depart the World as to his bodily presence he gave us a specimen of this intercession of his in that mediatorial Prayer of his Joh. 17. In which he positively declares that this is one thing which he importunately and without taking of any denial pleads vers 24. Father I will that they whom thou hast given me be with me where I am 5. From the condition of the Covenant of Grace For though there be nothing of merit in it yet their is certainty and a promise which cannot be made void Now this is ingaged to those that serve him Joh. 12. 26. Where I am there shall my servants be That follow him Mat. 19. 28. Ye that have followed me in the regeneration when the Son of Man shall sit upon his Throne ye shall sit upon Thrones That suffer with him 2 Tim. 2. 12. If we suffer with him we shall also reign with him 6. Finally Union is the ground of Communion Hence these being made one with Christ by the same spirit dwelling in them which dwelt in him so they come to be like him in Glory Hence Our Saviour Christ puts them together Joh. 17. 21 22 23. That they may be one in us c. And the Glory which thou gavest me I have given them c. I in them and thou in me that they may be made perfect in one 3. What ground of satisfaction ariseth from hence Ans In summe if we shall be like Christ there needs no more to make us fully blessed and conspicuously glorious He cannot be ought less than unexpressibly happy in the great day of Christs appearance that shall then be like him for although we can at present no more know what Christ shall be then we can what we shall be yet the consideration that we shall be like him may afford to us these grounds of satisfaction 1. That our happiness shall countervail and more than make us amends for all the sorrows and sufferings of this life Christ was a Man of sorrows with an Emphasis he was put to the greatest grief and yet he hath a full compensation for all his Exaltation holds a full proportion to his Humiliation Phil. 2. 7 with 8 9. He was deeply humbled so was he highly exalted Such was it that the very thoughts of it before hand carried him resolutely through all that he was to meet withal Heb. 12. 2. For the joy that was set before him he endured the Cross and despised the shame And if he hath enough to answer his how then must the People of God needs have that which will dry up their tears and wash off their griefs and troubles Hence with this David comforts himself in midâ—â— of such thoughts as he had been labouring under Psal 17. ult I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness 2. That our happiness shall be so discovered that our Enemies and those that scorned and scoffed at us here shall be ashamed and confounded at the sight of it It shal then appear not only to our selves but to all the World too that it was not as they thought in vain to serve God and unprofitable to pray to him Christ's second appearance shal fill his Enemies with horrid con fusion Rev. 1. 7. They scorned him here and he was made a reproach but then they shal tremble and dread his glorious presence shal drive them to seek shelter from him of Rocks and Mountains Rev. 6. 20 21. And when we shal appear with him in Glory then they that said the Saints were unhappy men shal see and confess that they are glorious Then Men shal say Verily there is a reward for the Righteous Verily he is a God that Judgeth in the Earth Psal 58. 11. With this thought the Church in the greatest distress comforts herself and cheks the pride of her Enemies Mic. 7. 8 9 10. 3. That our happiness shal be such as shal serve 〈◊〉 to express the love of God to be like himself Christ is the Son of his love and God to 〈◊〉 that he loved him in our nature hath made him accordingly glorious He hath also loved his People in Christ hence they too must be made to know what that love meaneth That love with which he loves them is special love and not common which all his Creatures are made the partakers of and hence the fruits of it must be special too It shal be such a Glory as shal deserve to have a Proclamation made before it and Angels and Men called to turn their eyes and look upon it to see what were the everlasting thoughts of good will which God did bear to his chosen Ones in Christ 4. What can the Disciple desire better than to be as his Master As he cannot expect to meet with-any thing better here so he can hope for no better hereafter To be with Christ where he is and to be like him in the day of his appearance is as much as the Soul can desire and will be found a felicity so great that his most enlarged reaching will not be able to grasp after more USE I. For Information 1. That the thoughts of the great Day of Judgement ought to be delightful thoughts to the People of God for this is the very day wherein being made like to him they shal look like themselves This thought that then we shal be like him may make the expectation of it very precious to us There are many terrible considerations of that day awful and amazing which may well make the ungodly World to fall a trembling but the consideration of what they shal be then may take off all that dread from the hearts of the Children of God It is the very day wherein Christ comes with great Power and Majesty and all his Saints shal wait upon him in like Robes of Glory unto them which he shal be adorned withal Could we but think of these things with a true discerning of our right and title to them it could not but make us love to be meditating before-hand of that glorious time Paul loves often to be speaking of it 2. Learn hence wherein true happiness consists viz. To be like Christ The World hath greatly mistaken in its ghuess-at the nature of true felicity whiles some have placed it in pleasures others in profits others in honours Some have called the Proud happy others the Voluptuous happy whereas that which is the true happiness namely likness to Christ they have reckoned upon as
14. Now Holiness consists in a conformâ—y to Christ And hence If we shal have such a sight of him it inferrs that we are made like to him If we were not rendred holy and spiritual and that perfectly we then should never thus see him But bearing the argument only with this admonition to warn us that we deceive not our selves thinking to see Christ hereafter with joy and yet abhoring conformity to him in holiness which will be found a piece of undoing presumption at the last I come to the Words as they are an assertion or point of Doctrine and here also they have their difficulty Who this Him is we have already heard viz Jesus Christ though some interpret it of God but it intends Jesus Christ God-man it is he who is to appear and he whom we shal be made like unto wheâ— he shal appear Hence Doct. It will be a great part of the happiness of the Children of 〈◊〉 in the other life◠〈◊〉 they shall see Jesus Christ as he is Our Doctrine treats of the Beatifical Vision 〈◊〉 as whiles we are in this body we are incapable of enjoying so are we no less incapable of knowing what it is Many curious wits have beat their brains and tentered their inventioâ— about it to no purpose but to darken counsel with words without knowledge The School-Men have taken a great deal of pains in it and all but to shew their ignorance Interpreters generally agree that the expression of John's is synonymous to that of Paul's of seeing him face to face 1 Cor. 13. 12. Where there is also an Elypsis of the Object as well as in our Text It is sometime called a seeing of God and is promised Mat. 5. 8. Sometimes a seeing of Christ who is God Rev. 21. 4. Joh. 19. 26. There is a seeing of God here in this life and there is a sight which shal be had of him in Glory For happiness is here inchoated it shal there be perfected Now the great matter of inquiry is about the difference which is between these two Sights The Apostle in 1 Cor. 13. 12. makes a very great difference and so indeed there is beyond our present imagination but in what things it lyes is hard to tell the words are like our present knowledge Aenigmatical a Riddle not easily â—ead and Augustines counsel is here good That we beware lest whiles we quarrel about the way of seeing God we forget and miss of Sanctification by which only he is to be seen Briefly then It is the concurrent Judgement of the Orthodox that the object seen then and now is the same and that the difference consists in two things First The Manner Secondly The Degrees both of which are intimated in the forecited Text. 1. The Manner That now is through a Glass darkly that then is face to face i. e. We now see him mediately whereas we shal then see him immediately now we have a reflex then we shal have a direct sight of him Now there are some who think he is here seen by the reflexion of the of his Attributes and then in his naked Essence and so make the Attributes a part of the Glass but this is a flight too high for me to soar unto It is certain the Attributes are no part of the Glass but they are the Object that is now reflected in the Glass I know that seeing Christ as he is intends more than a seeing the Man Christ in his visible Glory but it doth not therefore necessarily enforce the seeing the Divine Essence Seeing him face to face is some transcendenâ— manner of seeing him and what if it be 〈◊〉 good pleasure that we shall not 〈◊〉 it till we come actually to see it We 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 understand how thâ—â— should be nor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that there is any proportion between an 〈◊〉 object and a finite created understanding Should God make a Being able to know him in his naked Essence he must make one equal to himself Angels are Comprehensors yet they are represented as covering their faces with two of theiâ— wings and that not only by reason of modesty but of weakness too lest they should lose their sight in the contemplation The highest flight of our understanding is to see things in their causes but the Divine Essence is without causeâ— That distinction of seeing comprehensively anâ— seeing apprehensively hath here no place iâ— things that have parts and are divisible and 〈◊〉 may partially come into our view it will hold but the Divine Essence is simple and indivisible and therefore to apprehend and comprehend it are all one Nor is the ground of Opposition between Faith and Sight with respect to the object seen for we heard that is one and the same but to the manner of seeing him and it may rather argue the contrary namely if it be God in his Attributes that is believed in now it must be God in his Attributes that must be seen then Christ saith be it to thee according to thy Faith 〈◊〉 Wâ— now believe that God is Infinite Eternal 〈◊〉 we shall see and apprehend him to be 〈◊〉 and as for that notion of the desire of 〈◊〉 â—rally reaching to see the Godhead 〈◊〉 and hence that it cannot be happy without such a sight it will easily be found a mistake for besides that the desires of fallen man grasp after that which if obtained would certainly prove their misery we may argue here diametrically opposite viz. That which can make a man fully happy can answer all his desires He that knows God to be his God in Christ and knows him to be infinitely wise powerful good glorious c. knows enough to satisfie him in his object but besides this he caâ— know no more and live Exod. 33. 20. There shall no man see me and live I know many Interpreters limit this to our present state in this life but God doth not so do nor is there any neâ—d to do it See also 1 Tim. 6. 16. Who dwelleth in the light which none can approach unto whom no man hath seen nor can see Joh. 1. 18. No man hath séen God at any time There are several Glasses which here represent God unto us as the Glass of Creation and the Glass of Providence in which his Being and his Wisdom Power and Goodness do shine forth there is the Glass of the Scriptures the Law and Gospel the Glass of Ordinances Preaching and the Sacramentâ— in which God and Christ are exhibited to our Faith but our maâ—â—er of seeing him through all these is darkly and is rather compared to a report 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the ear than an ocular demonstration these things bring us the happy news of 〈◊〉 an one and are the means whereby we that have not seen yet do believe as 1 Pet. 1. 8. This Glass is not a Prospective Glass which represents things near and plain and the things themselves but it is a Looking Glass which reflects only the rayes and representations
the advantage to raign without any rebuke or check and men begin to grow impudent when there are none left to reform them nor any to avert the sore indignation of God from theâ— When Joshua and that good Generation that went with him into Canaan were dead theâ— aâ—ose a new Generation that knew not the Lord what followed but Apostasy and Calamity See Judg. 2. 8. c. And this will help to illustrate the second enquiry viz. 2. Why God then takes them away when he is about to bring evil upon a place Answ There may be two especial reasons assigned for this 1. God doth it with a gracious and favourable respect to themselves Since they could not by all their pious endeavours reclaim a degenerate People but misery must come God takes them away that their eyes might not see it This God promiseth as a special favour to Josiah 2. Chr. 34 28. Thou shall be gathered to thy Grave in Peace neither shall thine eyes see all the evil that I will bring upon this place Truly when ever a Godly man dyes he rests from his Labour but when he is taken away from the face of evil it is a particular blessing to him How could his tender and pitiful heart have born to look upon all those Calamities which his Country his Friends his Children and Relations must suffer To see all going to Rack before his eyes would be a lamentable sight God therefore in great love respect takes them home where they are removed out of the noise or tumult of all these things dwelling in the fulness of present Joy and Glory 2. God doth it also that he may have no Remora or Hinderence lying in the way to stop the course of his anger These were they who before held his hands we find that he could do nothing to Sodom till Lot was out of it And he is put to ask Moses to let him alone Exod. 32. 10. Godly Men are God's Jewels he cannot set fire to the Rubbish till they are secured they are his tender Ones to whom he hath a peculiar respect and they must be marked before the destroyâ—â— Angel executes his Commission they must 〈◊〉 many times housed in their Graves before he 〈◊〉 give full scope to his Indignation and these 〈◊〉 by 〈◊〉 supposed to be those Chambers in which God calls his People to hide themselves before such a Day Isa 26. 20. But when once they are gone now God can shut up his Bowels against a Rebellious Nation USE I. This truth may afford us help to unfold that Riddle of Divine Providence at the which many are ready to stumble viz. That Godly men are often suddenly and strangly taken away when wicked men are let alone and suffered to live It is the Wise Man's observation Ecâ—les 7. 16. There is a Just man that perisheth in his Righteousness and there is a wicked man that prolongeth his Life in wickedness Let none suppose that God therfore discountenanceth his Servants and approves of ungodly men no thâ— one is taken away in mercy to himself though in judgement to the World the other is spared to his greater misery either here or hereafter Godly men when ever they die are then certainly happy and at sometimes it is a peculiar priviledge for them to die that they may get away from the sight and report of these direful dispensations of divine displeasure that are coming upon a surviving Generation The Philosopher saith every thing hath two handles a right and a wrong and most men take Providence in some cases by the wrong handle they interpret many dispensations to be Judicial and so indeed they may be but their folly is that they interpret them so to be in respect of the persons suffering them when as it is indeed to themselves when Solomon had with some consternation viewed these things he recollects himself and draws this safe conclusion Eccles 8. 12. Surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God and so it shall but woe to the World when holy Men flock to their graves as Doves to their Windows before a Storm and they may when they are departing speak to surviving Mourners in the Language of our Saviour Christ to those weeping Women Luk. 23. 28 29 30. Daughters of Jerusalem weep not for me but for your selves and for your Children c. USE II. This may serve to reprehend their folly who are weary of the company of righteous men they think that the World hath been troubled with them even long enough they look upon them as Enemies as busie bodies as men that are the troublers of Israel and no body can be quiet for them so wicked Ahab unjustly censured holy Elijah And hence They take it for certain that it would be much better for the place which they live in if they were well laid up in their Graves They wisâ— them in Heaven as the vulgar note of wicked men is What do these men do but in effect 〈◊〉 and impreeate upon themselves a mischief 〈◊〉 God grant them their desires upon this account 〈◊〉 would but carry the godly to the place of their 〈◊〉 and bring them home to the 〈◊〉 of their eternal rest But in the mean time when they are gone who shall plead and pray and mourn for a sinful People Will God hear wicked sinners Who shall stand in the Gap to keep out Judgement and Wrath Shall wicked and ungodly men Assure we our selves that so much of Godliness as goes away from a place so much of God goes away too and it may not be long ere the time comes when those that so earnestly longed for their removal and were inwardly satisfied and glad that they were taken away shall as much wish that they had them again when it will be too late USE III. For Tryal is it so sometimes then it may put us upon the enquiry whether there be not good ground for us to fear that it 〈◊〉 may be so with us at this day I might urge it more particularly to our selves of this Congregation from whom God hath of late years taken away many pious and precious Servants of his and wâ— that are left alive ought to lay it to hearâ—â— But I shall take liberty to urge it on a more publick account as it bears respect to this People in general and here give me leave to further this tryal by leaving such things as these to consideration 1. They are Apostatizing or declining times by reason of which there is dâ—uotless much of provocation offered to the holy Majâ—â—â—◠〈◊〉 Heaven I need not to seek out witnesses 〈◊〉 this Habemus confitentes reos yea and 〈◊〉 himself hath also testified to it in his many awful and amazing providences It is a thing too manifest that the power of Godliness is now under great decayes and many sins begin to look abroad and dare to hold up their heads And from hence we may safely conclude that it is