Fifthly we shall not only render our Recovery more difficult for the future but plung our selves for the present into a far more criminal and guilty Condition p. 501.502 c. sixthly we shall not only render our selves more guilty for the present but expose our selves if we die in our sin to a deeper and more dreadful Ruine 508.509 CHAP. V. Containing some short Directions for the more Profitable reading the ensuing Discourse p. 513.514 and also directions for the good Conduct and regular Exercise of our Closet Religion in all the different states of the Christian Life together with Forms of private Devotion fitted to each State p. 517. the first are for the State of Entrance into the Christian Life p. 517.518 c. the second for the state of actual Engagement in it p. 530. the third for the state of Growth and Improvement towards Perfection OF THE CHRISTIAN LIFE CHAP. I. Concerning the ultimate End of the Christian Life IN order to our understanding what is the Nature Use and Excellency of any Means it is necessary we should have a true and genuine Notion of those peculiar Ends which they drive at For the nature of them as they are Means consists in being serviceable to some End but to what they are particularly serviceable must be collected from the nature of those particular Ends whereunto they are directed And therefore till we know what those particular Ends are it is impossible we should know whether they are Means or no or which is the same thing whether they are serviceable to any End or Purpose IT being therefore the Design of this Work to explain the nature of the Christian Life it will be necessary for the clearing of our way to give some account of the blessed End for which it is intended which will very much contribute to our right understanding of the great usefulness and subserviency of each part of it thereunto Therefore I. I shall endeavour to shew what is the peculiar End of the Christian Life II. Wherein the true Nature of this End consists I. As for the End of the Christian Life we are assured from Scripture that it is no other but Heaven it self that state of endless Bliss and Happiness which God hath prepared in the World above for the reception of all those who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory and honour and immortality That this is the End of the Christian Life is evident from hence because 't is every where proposed by our Saviour and his Apostles as the Chief Good of a Christian and the Supreme Motive to all Christian Virtue For so St. John that bosome-Favourite of our Saviour assures us that This is the promise which Christ hath promised us even Eternal Life 1 John ii 25 And if we look into the Gospel of St. John who hath more largely recorded our Saviours Sermons and Discourses than any other Evangelist we shall find Eternal Life still proposed by him as the supereminent Promise to encourage and persuade men to the profession and practice of Christianity For so John iv 36 't is proposed by our Saviour as that which is the Harvest of a Christian to which like the Husbandman's plowing and sowing all our care and endeavour is to be directed He that reapeth receiveth wages and gathereth fruit unto eternal life Consonantly whereunto St. Paul tells us that he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting Gal. vi 8 And this as our Saviour tells us is the great Reward which he gives to all those that hear and follow him John x. 27 28. and this the great argument which he every where insists on that he that believeth hath Life Everlasting that whosoever heareth his word hath Life Everlasting and that his commandment is Life Everlasting And Rom. vi 22 Everlasting Life is expresly said to be the End of having our fruit unto Holiness and as such we are bid to direct our actions unto it to believe in Christ unto Everlasting Life 1 Tim. i. 16 to do good to this end that we may lay hold upon Eternal Life 1 Tim. vi 18 19. to look unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross c. Heb. xii 2 And therefore Heaven is described to be the Christian Canaan to which we are to direct all our steps whilst we are travailing through this World Heb. xi 14 15 16. And the whole life of a Christian is expressed by seeking it Mat. vi 33 Heb. xiii 14 Col. iii. 1 And the incorruptible Crown is affirmed to be as much the end of the race of the Christian Life as those corruptible Crowns were of the races in the Olympick Games 1 Cor. ix 25 For it is to Eternal Glory that we are called 1 Pet. v. 10 2 Thes. ii 14 and in the discharge of all that Duty whereunto we are called we are to look to this blessed Hope as our great End and Encouragement Tit. ii 13 THIS I have the more largely insisted upon because of a great mistake that many persons have lain under in this matter which is that the Glory of God is the only ultimate End of a Christian and that this is a distinct End from Heaven The first of which I confess is very true but the last absolutely false That the glory of God is the last End of a Christian is evident from those Texts which bid us do all to the glory of God 1 Cor. x. 31 and which make the glory of God to be the point in which all the fruits of righteousness do concenter Phil. i. 11 which propose this as the End of all Religious Performances that God in all things may be glorified 1 Pet. iv 11 and affirm that t is to this purpose that we are chosen to be Christians that we should be to the Praise of his Glory Eph. i. 12 But that the glory of God is no distinct End from our being made partakers of the Happiness of Heaven is as evident from hence that this Glory consists not in any thing that we can add or contribute to Him whose essential Glory is so immense and secure that there is nothing we can do can either Increase or Diminish it and there is no other Glory can redound to him from any thing without but what is the Reflection of his own natural Rays He understands himself too well to value him self either the more or the less for the Praises or Dispraises of his Creatures For he is enough of Stage and Theatre to himself and hath the same satisfying Prospect of his own Glory in the midst of all the loud Blasphemies of Hell as among the perpetual Halelujahs of Heaven And having so it cannot be supposed that he should injoyn us to Praise and Glorifie him for the sake of any Good or Advantage that can accrue to Himself by it or out of any other pleasure he takes in
Happiness not only to co-habit but be acquainted with and in Heart and Will united to this Blessed and Glorious Company For what Soul that has any Spark of Cordial Love to Jesus the best Friend of Souls that ever was any grateful remembrance of what he did and suffered for our sakes would not esteem it a mighty Felicity to be admitted into his Presence and to be an Eye-witness of the happy Change of his past woful Circumstances To see him that was so cruelly treated so barbarously vilified tortured and butchered for our sakes raised to the highest pitch of Splendour and Dignity to be Head and Prince of all the Hierarchy of Heaven to be worshipped and celebrated throughout all the noble Choir of Archangels and Angels and Spirits of just men made Perfect Verily methinks had I only the Priviledge to look in and see my dear and blessed Lord surrounded with all this Circle of Glories it would be a most Heavenly Consolation to me though I were sure never to partake of it The very Communion I should have in the Joyes of my Master would be a kind of Heaven at Second-hand to me and my Soul would be wondrous Happy by Sympathizing with him in his Felicity and Advancement But Oh! when that Blessed Person shall not only permit me to see his Glory but introduce me into it and make me Partaker of it when I shall not only behold his Beloved Face but be admitted into his Dear Conversation and dwell in his Arms and Embraces for ever when I shall hear him record the wondrous Adventures of his Love through how many woful Stages he passed to rescue me from Misery and make me Happy and in the mean time shall have a most ravishing Feeling of that Happiness how will my Heart spring with Joy and burn with Love and my Mouth o'reflow with Praises and Thanksgivings to him AND as our Acquaintance with and Choice of the Blessed Jesus must needs contribute vastly to our Happiness so must also though not in so high a Degree our being intimately acquainted and united with Saints and Angels Who being not only endowed with large and comprehensive Vnderstandings but also with perfect Good-nature and most generous Charity must needs make excellent Company For as their Goodness cannot but render their Conversation infinitely free and benign so their great Knowledge must necessarily render it equally profitable and delightful And then being so Knowing as they are they must needs be supposed to understand all the wise Arts of Endearment and being so Good they must be also supposed to be continually practising them And if so what a Heavenly Conversation must theirs be the Scope whereof is the most glorious Knowledge and the Law whereof is the most perfect Friendship Who would not be willing to leave a foolish froward and ill-natured World for the blessed Society of these wise Friends and perfect Lovers And what a Felicity must it be to spend an Eternity in such a noble Conversation Where we shall hear the deep Philosophy of Heaven communicated with mutual Freedom in the Wise and Amicable Discourses of Angels and of Glorified Spirits who without any Reserve or affectation of Mystery without Passion or Interest or peevish Contention for Victory do freely Philosophize and mutually impart the treasures of each others Knowledge For since all Saints there are great Philosophers and all Philosophers perfect Saints we must needs suppose Knowledge and Goodness Wisdom and Charity to be equally intermingled throughout all their Conversation and being so what can be imagined more delightful When therefore we shall leave this impertinent and unsociable World and all our good old Friends that are gone to Heaven before us shall meet us as soon as we are landed upon the shore of Eternity and with infinite congratulations for our safe Arrival shall conduct us into the Company of the Patriarchs and Prophets Apostles and Martyrs and introduce us into an intimate Acquaintance with them and with all those brave and generous Souls who by their glorious Examples have recommended themselves to the World when we shall be familiar Friends with Angels and Arch-Angels and all the Courtiers of Heaven shall call us Brethren and bid us Welcome to their Masters Joy and we shall be received into their glorious Society with all the tender indearments and Caresses of those Heavenly Lovers what a mighty Addition to our Happiness will this be THERE are indeed some other additions to the Happiness of Heaven such as the Glory and Magnificence of the Place which is the Highest Heaven or the upper and purer Tracts of the Aether which our Saviour calls Paradise Luke xxiii 43 and St. Paul the Third Heaven 2 Cor. xii 2 both which in the phrase of that Age bespeak it to be a place of unspeakable Glory for so the Jews do commonly call this blessed Seat the Third or Angel-bearing Region of Heaven by which they denote it to be the Palace of the King of the whole World where his most glorious Courtiers do reside and they also call it Paradise in allusion to the Earthly Paradise of Eden because as that was the Garden of this lower World so this is of the whole Creation And though we have no exact description of this place in Scripture and that perhaps because no humane language can describe it yet since God hath chosen it for the Everlasting Theatre of Bliss and Happiness we may thence reasonably conclude that he hath most exquisitely furnished it with all accommodations that are requisite to a most happy and blissful Life BESIDES which also there is the everlasting Duration of it which is another great Accession to its Happiness That such is the Nature of its Enjoyments as that they do not like all other Pleasures spend and wast in the Fruition that though it will be always feeding our Faculties with new Delights yet it will never be exhausted but be always equally because infinitely distant from a Period So that its Happiness consisting of an infinite Variety of Pleasure extended to an infinite Duration it will be impossible for those that enjoy it to be either cloyd with the repetition of it or tormented with the fear of losing it BUT these Two last I only mention because they do not so properly belong to our present Argument which is only to explain the Nature of Heaven so far as is necessary to the right understanding of the Nature of those Means by which it is to be attained NOW from what hath been said concerning this great End of the Christian Life these Two things are to be inferr'd concerning the Nature of it I. THAT the main of Heaven consists not so much in any outward Possession as in an inward State and Temper For though Heaven be doubtless a most glorious Place and all its blessed Inhabitants do possess and hold it by an everlasting Tenure yet 't is a great mistake to imagine that the main happiness of Heaven consists in living
never returning to them more whatsoever Temptations may invite or Difficulties encounter and oppose us Which Resolution is in Scripture called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we translate Repentance but in strictness signifies a Change of Mind or of Purpose and Resolution a renouncing our sinful Purposes and solemnly ingaging our selves in a contrary Resolution of living soberly and righteously and godly in this present World So that wheresoever the Precept of Repentance is expressed by this word the meaning of it is to oblige us to change the wicked Purposes of our Hearts into a firm and serious Resolution of forsaking all ungodliness and worldly lusts and intirely resigning up our selves to the Will and Disposal of God And hence it is that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. to change our minds and convert or turn are in Scripture so often put together the one denoting the inward Change of our Resolution the other the outward Change of our Practice pursuant to it So Acts iii. 19 repent and be converted and Acts xxvi 20 that they should repent and turn to God and do works meet for repentance that is that they should resolve to forsake their Sins and submit to their Duty and put their Resolution into Practice And so that other word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we also render Repentance strictly signifies an after-care that is pursuant unto this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Change of Resolution NOW this Repentance or Change of Resolution is the Initial Act of the Religion of Sinners whereby they resume their inward man from the Service of sin and submit and resign their Wills to God whereby in Heart and Will they forsake the Devils Colours and list themselves Volunteers under the Banner of Christ. And being so it ought to be performed with so much the more Care and Preparation For the Beginning of all great Enterprizes is the Ground and Foundation of them which if it be not firmly laid will be apt to sink under the Superstructures and to endanger their Ruin and Downfal Now all the foregoing Duties being necessary Preparations to a good Resolution we ought before we resolve to spend a considerable portion of time in the diligent Practice of them and not to resolve hand over head till we are duly and throughly prepared for it till by exercising our Faith and Consideration c. we have broken and tamed our perverse and obstinate Wills and throughly persuaded them to part with every Sin and to approve of and consent to every Duty that is comprehended in a through Resolution of Amendment And if when we are about to resolve we find upon a strict Examination any secret Reserve or Exception in our Wills if there be any Lust which they are not throughly persuaded to part with or any Duty to which they are not fully reconciled we ought for that time to forbear resolving and to go on in the Exercise of the preparatory Duties till we find our reluctant Wills throughly conquered and persuaded by them For if there be any leak left open in our Resolution for any Sin to creep in at that will be sure to insinuate in the next Storm of temptation and if it should not let in other Sins after it as 't is a thousand to one but it will 't will by its own single Weight sink us into eternal Perdition Wherefore before ever we enter into the Resolution of Amendment we ought to be very careful that our Wills be throughly prepared for it that they be reduced to a fair Compliance with the matter we are resolving upon and effectually dissuaded out of all Resolution to the contrary and when this is done we may chearfully proceed to the forming of our good Resolution WHICH ought to be performed by us between God and our selves with the greatest Seriousness and Solemnity For now our Hearts being ready we are to betake our selves to our Knees and in these or such like words to devote our selves to God O thou blessed Author of my Being I am now fully convinced that I ow my self to thee by a thousand Ties and Obligations and am infinitely sorry and ashamed that I have so long sequestred and withdrawn my self from thee to serve my own base Lusts and Affections Wherefore now in thy dread Presence and in that of thy holy Angels I here intirely resign up my self unto thee and do resolve without any Reserve or Exception that whatsoever Temptations I may meet with for the future I will never wilfully withdraw or alienate my self from thee more From henceforth I heartily renounce all my Sins and particularly those that have been most dear and pleasant to me and do faithfully promise to continue thy true and loyal Subject as long as I breath and that whatsoever Invitations I may have to the contrary I will never revoke the Resolution I now make or any part of it So help me O my God AND having thus solemnly resolved it will be highly necessary that for the farther Ratification of it we should yet more solemnly repeat it in the holy Sacrament wherein according to the Custom of Feasts upon Sacrifices God and every faithful Communicant do mutually re-oblige themselves to one another and upon the sacred Symbols of the Body and Blood of Jesus do ratifie to each other each others Part of that everlasting Covenant which by the Federal Rite of his meritorious Death and Sacrifice was inviolably sealed and confirmed So that when we take those holy Elements into our hands which the Priest in Gods stead presents and offers to us we do in effect make this solemn Dedication of our selves to God Here we offer and present unto thee O Lord our selves our souls and bodies to be a reasonable holy and lively Sacrifice unto thee and here we call to witness this sacred Blood that redeemed us and those vocal Wounds which do now intercede for us that from henceforth we oblige our selves never to start from thy service what Difficulties soever we may encounter in it or what temptations soever we may have to forsake it And having thus resolved and confirmed our Resolution by the Body and Blood of our Saviour and taken the Sacrament upon it not to depart from what we have resolved we have actually listed and ingaged our selves in a Warfare against Sin the World and the Devil upon the final Success whereof our everlasting Fate depends And thus you see what Duty is implied in the Beginning or Entrance of this warfaring Part of the Life of a Christian. SECT II. Wherein some Motives are urged to persuade men to the Practice of those Duties that are proper to the Beginning of the Christian Warfare HAVING in the former Section given a brief Account of those Duties which are necessary to the well Beginning of our Christian Warfare I shall now for a close of that Argument endeavour to press and persuade those who have not as yet begun to enter immediately
upon it by putting in practice these Initial Duties of it You who have been hitherto warring against God and striving against your Duty and your Happiness be at last persuaded to make a Stand for a while and to listen to the voice of Reason and Religion which do both call aloud to you to face about to desert the Party wherein you are ingaged and come over to the Side of Virtue And that I may if possible prevail I do here earnestly beseech you even by all that is dear and precious to you by the Love of God and by the Lives of your Souls and by all your Hopes of Happiness in the world to come seriously to consider with me these following Motives 1. That there is a vast Necessity of beginning this our Spiritual Warfare one time or other 2. That 't is unspeakably most secure and advantagious for us to begin it now 3. That the final Success of it doth very much depend upon the well Beginning of it 4. That when once we have well begun it the main Difficulty of it is conquered I. CONSIDER the vast Necessity there is of beginning this Spiritual Warfare one time or other For that which is necessary for us to accomplish at last is necessary to be undertaken by us one time or other Now it is as necessary for us to oppose and vanquish the Temptations of the World and the Corruptions of our own Nature as it is not to go to Hell or not to miss of Heaven For in this great Battel the everlasting Fate of our Souls is to be decided and if we come off Victors we are made if vanquished we are undone to eternity So that in this spiritual Warfare we do not contend like the Warriors of this World for a Triumphal Wreath that will wither upon our Brows or for Fame and Renown which is nothing but the Breath of a company of talking People or for the enlarging of our Empire over the next handful of a Turf but we are contending with Enemies that are pursuing us to Hell and binding us in Chains of everlasting Darkness We are to fight for our Immortality for all our hopes of Happiness and Well-being in a never-ending Life a nd when so much depends upon the Success of our Conflict and we must conquer and be crowned or die win the Field and Heaven or yield our selves captive to eternal Misery I leave you to judge whether we are not obliged under the vastest Necessity one time or other to begin And if we must begin one time or other why not now as well as hereafter and to what purpose should we defer entring upon that Work which we all confess we must at last not only begin but accomplish For to have accomplished a necessary Work especially when it is difficult and important is a great Satisfaction to the Mind and whereas while it is yet to do the prospect of the pain and labour of it creates in us a great deal of Trouble and Anxiety when once it is done or the main Difficulty of it is over every Reflection on our past pains sweetens our present Repose and crowns it with Joy and Triumph And thus it is in our Entrance into the Christian Life which we all confess to be both necessary and difficult and it being so what do we else by our delaying it but only prolong the pain and trouble of it And whereas by one brave Attempt we might ease our selves and set our Souls at Rest for ever we languish away our life in misery and are sick with the Fear of our Remedy Just like poor men that are under the torment of the Stone they know they must be cut or die but out of a frightful Apprehension of their Remedy they put it off from time to time they promise they will endure it rather than lose their Lives but when they come to the Trial their Hearts fail and they must needs have a little longer Respit but all the while they endure not only the pain of their Disease but also the Apprehensions of their Cure which at last they must also actually endure or Death which is much more terrible to them Whereas had they been cut at first they might have saved themselves all that Torment and Fear of farther Torment which they endured in the time of their Delay And just thus it is with those who defer their Repentance which had they begun at first when they fell into their sinful Courses their Hearts might have been at Ease a great while ago and they might have saved themselves all those Gripes and Twinges of Conscience and all those painful Apprehensions of the Smart and Difficulty of repenting at last which they have been forced to endure in the several periods of their Delay But alas Repentance is a sad Remedy Well be it never so sad you know you must endure it or that which is a thousand times worse Why then you will endure it that you are resolved upon but fain you would have a little longer Respite Ah foolish Souls why will you prolong your Misery and linger out your Lives in Torment when as by enduring now what you must endure at last you might be presently at Ease not only from the Pain of your past Guilt but from the Fear of your future Repentance II. CONSIDER that 't is unspeakably most secure and advantagious for us to begin our Christian Warfare now For this Life is the only time of our Trial and Probation the Field in which our spiritual Warfare is to be fought and from which we must all go off triumphing Conquerors or eternal Slaves And alas such a slippery and uncertain thing is this our present Existence that there is no one part of it we can call our own but what is present For all our Futurity is in Gods Hand and Disposal and how he will shorten or prolong it we are not able to prognosticate So that for ought we know the next moment may finally determine our everlasting Fate and the Hopes of eternity which are now in our hands may slip through our fingers before to morrow morning and leave us desperate for ever What a dreadful Venture therefore do those men run that delay from time to time the securing their Salvation by a timely Repentance When 't is now in their own Power would they but lay hold on the present Opportunity to secure their Victory and Crown they rather chuse to go to cross or pile for them and to stake them upon a Contingency that is not in their Power to dispose of BUT suppose they could secure that hereafter to themselves to which they do so venturously defer their Repentance yet still there is another Venture of which they can never be secure and that is whether when that hereafter comes God will not out of a just Resentment of their present Despite to and Contempt of his Grace withdraw it from them Which if he should they would be left in as
possest of Peace of Conscience for the present but assured of a happy Life for the future when he hath conquered the Difficulties he contends with VIII CONSIDER that the Difficulty of these Duties is abundantly compensated by the Reward of them A generous Mind will think no Means too hard which tend to noble and worthy Ends in the prosecution of which Opposition only whets its Courage and Resolution So that doubtless had we any Spark of Generosity in us the Vastness and Excellency of the End we pursue would make us despise all Difficulties in the Way to it What a Meanness of Spirit therefore doth it argue in us to stand boggling as we do at the Difficulties of Religion to think much of spending a few Days or Years in this World in striving and contending with our Inclinations in Consideration and Watchfulness in earnest Prayer and severe Reflections on our selves when we are assured before-hand that at the Conclusion of this short Conflict we shall be carried off by Angels in Triumph to Heaven and there receive from the Captain of our Salvation a Crown of everlasting Joys and Pleasures when after a few Moments Pains and Labour we shall live Millions of Millions of most happy Ages in the ravishing Fruition of a boundless Good and after these are expired have as many Millions of Millions more to live What an unconscionable thing is it for us to complain of any Difficulty who have such a vast Recompence of Reward in our View In the name of God Sirs what would you have Why we would have Heaven drop down into our Mouths and not put us to all this Trouble of reaching and climbing after it Would you so 't is a very modest Desire indeed that is you would have the God of Heaven thrust his Favours upon you while you scorn and despise them and prostitute his Heaven to a company of Drones that don't think it worth their while to go out of their Hives to gather it O! for Shame look once more upon Heaven and consider again what it is to dwell in the Paradise of the World with God and Angels and Saints and in their blessed Company to live out an Eternity in the most rapturous Contemplations and Loves and Joys to bath our dilated Faculties in an everflowing River of Pleasures and in perfect Ease Health and Vigor of Mind to feed upon a Happiness that is as large as our Capacities and as lasting as our Beings Is this a Reward of that inconsiderable nature that we should think much to labour and contend for it is not the Hope of being satisfied for ever a sufficient Encouragement to induce us to deny our Lusts and Appetites a few Moments or is there not good enough in an everlasting Rest to countervail a few Days and Years Labour and Contention What though you pant and labour now while you are climbing the everlasting Hills God be praised 't is not so far to the Top but that the pleasant Gales and glorious Prospects you shall everlastingly enjoy there will so abundantly compensate for the Difficulty of the Ascent that instead of complaining of it you will to eternal Ages reflect upon it with Pleasure and Delight Wherefore when your Courage begins to shrink at the Difficulty of your Warfare do but lift up your Eyes to the Recompence of Reward and to be sure if you have any Heart that will inspire you with such a brave Resolution as nothing will be too hard for but what is absolutely impossible For how can we be disheartned at any superable Difficulty so long as we are animated with this persuasion that if we have our Fruit unto holiness our End shall be everlasting Life SECT V. Concerning those Duties which appertain to the Perfection and Consummation of our Christian Warfare shewing what they are and how effectually they conduce to the perfecting us in the Virtues of the Heavenly Life I PROCEED now to the Third and last Part of our Christian Warfare viz. the Consummation of it which is final Perseverance For after we have actually ingaged and made some Progress in it our next Care and Duty is that we do not relapse and basely retreat from what we have so prosperously undertaken and hitherto so effectually prosecuted but that so long as we live we persist in an open Defiance to our Sins and Endeavour to pursue and mortifie our Inclinations to them and persevere in the Practice of all Vertue still indeavouring thereby to improve and grow on to Perfection that so we may die as we have hitherto lived and consummate our Warfare in a final Victory and that when our Lord shall come or send his Herald Death to summon us off from the Field we may be found fighting under his Banner against Sin the World and the Devil and finally die as we have lived his faithful Soldiers and Followers For this he indispensably exacts of us viz. that we should be faithful unto Death Rev. ii 10 that we should patiently continue in well-doing Rom. ii 7 that we should indure to the end Matt. x. 22 and hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast to the end Heb. iii. 14 that we should keep his works to the end and finally overcome as well as fight Rev. ii 26 in a word that having set our hands to the plow we should not look back Luke ix 62 but that we should be always abounding in the work of the Lord forasmuch as we know that our labour is not in vain in the Lord 1 Cor. xv 58 the sense of all which is that we should not only begin this our Christian Warfare and prosecute it for a while but that we should proceed and persevere in it as long as we breath and never lay down our Arms till we lay down our Lives In order to which as we must still persevere in the Practice of those Duties which appertain to the Course and Progress of our Warfare so there are sundry other Duties which we must practise and which have a more direct and immediate Influence upon the final Success and Consummation of it All which I shall reduce to these following Particulars 1. That while we stand we should not be over confident of our selves but still keep a jealous eye upon the Weakness and Inconstancy of our own Natures 2. That if at any time we wilfully fall and miscarry we should immediately arise again by Repentance 3. That to prevent the like Falls and Miscarriages for the future we should indeavour to withdraw our Affections from the Temptations of the World but more especially from those which were the Occasions of our Fall 4. That we should more curiously search into the smaller Defects and Indecencies of our Nature in order to our reforming and correcting them 5. That so far as lawfully we can we should live in a close Communion with the Church whereof we are Members 6. That we should not out of a fond Opinion that we are good enough already
for ever in a glorious Place which separated from all the rest of Heaven would be but a poor and hungry kind of Happiness For Life is no otherwise a Happiness than as it is the Principle of all our pleasant and grateful Perceptions and if we could live for ever without perceiving it would be the same thing to us as if we were nothing but a Company of everlasting Stones and Trees and what great matter would it signifie to live for ever in a glorious Place unless we could be for ever affected by it with a delightful sense and perception which is impossible because all delightful sense as hath already been proved arises out of the vigorous exercise of our Faculties about such Objects as are suitable to them but what can there be in the most glorious Place so suitable to a Rational Mind and Will as to keep them for ever vigorously employed and exercised about it It may indeed for a while employ the Mind in an eager Contemplation of its new and surprizing Beauties but how soon would the Mind dis-relish it were it to be its only Entertainment for Eternity And as for the Will what would a fine Place signifie to it if it were not replenished with such Objects as are suitable to its own Options And indeed there is nothing that can everlastingly gratifie a Rational Mind and Will but what has in it such an Infinity of Truth as is everlastingly Knowable and such an Infinity of Goodness as is everlastingly Desireable or which is the same thing nothing but what hath Truth enough in it for the one to be vigorously contemplating for ever and nothing but what hath Goodness enough in it for the other to be as vigorously loving adoring and imitating for ever And such an Infinitude of Truth and Goodness is no where to be found but in God But God as well as the Place and Duration of Heaven being an Object that is external to us neither is nor can be a Happiness to us unless we act upon him and freely exercise our Faculties about him unless we Know him and Love him c. So that that which Felicitates all is our own Internal Act 't is by this that we enjoy Heaven and perceive all the Pleasures of it 'T is not by being in Heaven that men are constituted Happy but by vigorously exerting their Faculties upon the Heavenly Objects For without this to be in Heaven or out of it would be altogether indifferent to us The Happiness of Heaven therefore consists in a State of Heavenly Action in being so attempered and connaturaliz'd to the Objects of Heaven as to be always acting upon and chearfully employing our Faculties about them For as there is no Pleasure in Acting coldly upon suitable Objects so there is Pain and Trouble in acting vigorously upon unsuitable ones And therefore to make Heaven it self a Happiness to us t is necessary not only that we should act vigorously upon the Objects of it but that we should so act from a suitableness of Temper to them That we should contemplate God submit to his Will adore and imitate his Perfections from a God-like Temper and Disposition For otherwise these Acts will be Penances instead of Pleasures to us and the more intensely we exert them the more painful they will be And if we were in Heaven all that Heavenly Exercise in which the Happiness of it consists would be but a Torment and Vexation to us unless we had a Heavenly Temper For as the Parts of Matter can never rest but do move about in a perpetual Whirl-pool till they are hit into a place or Interstice that is of the same Form and Figure with them so there is nothing can rest in Heaven but what is Heavenly All that is otherwise rebounds and flyes off of its own accord and can never acquiesce there till 't is of the same Form and Temper and Disposition with it From hence therefore it 's evident that the Happiness of a Man in Heaven consists not so much in the outward Glory of the Place as in the inward State of his own Mind which from a suitableness of Temper to the Heavenly Objects doth always freely employ and exercise its Faculties about them II. THAT the Heavenly State is nothing else but the Perfection of all Heavenly Vertue For it hath been already proved That Heaven consists in a clear and intimate Knowledge and a free and uncontested Choice of God and of those Blessed Beings that resemble him and these Two comprehend all Heavenly Virtue So that the difference between the state of Grace and Glory is not in Kind but in Degree For Grace is the Seed of Glory and Glory is the Maturity of Grace 'T is Knowledge exalted above all Error and Prejudice above all Difficulty or Obscurity of Apprehension 't is Love strained from all repugnancies of Flesh and Spirit and refined into a pure Celestial flame t is Obedience to and Imitation of God perfectly separated from all sinful Defects and freed from the Clog of counter-striving Principles 't is Adoration of and Dependency upon him without the least degree of Indisposition or Despondency in a word 't is a free and uncontrolled Motion of all the Heavenly Virtues together in which they are every one most vigorously exerted without the least Check or Impediment This therefore being the State of Heaven as is evident from what hath been discoursed it hence follows that the main difference between Virtue and Heaven is only Gradual that Virtue is the Beginning of Heaven and Heaven is the Perfection of Virtue And if so then as the lowest Degree of true Virtue is a step Heaven-wards so every farther Degree is a nearer Approach towards the Heavenly state So that as we grow in Grace and proceed from one Degree of Virtue to another we draw nearer and nearer to that blessed Condition in which we shall be all pure Virtue without any sinful Alloy or Intermixture And this is the true State and Condition of HEAVEN CHAP. II. Concerning the Means by which this Great End of the Christian Life is to be attained IT is to be considered that the great Design of Christianity being to advance our Natures to such a sublime Degree of Purity and Perfection as is requisite to capacitate us for the Enjoyment of a Heavenly Bliss it was necessitated in order hereunto to strain our Duty to a greater Height than any preceding Law had done before it For the End of all Gods Laws is the Happiness of his Subjects and therefore that they may be effectual Means to promote this End it 's necessary that the Duties they enjoyn should be such as the Nature of our Happiness requires Now in the first state of our Nature which was that of Innocence we seem to have been design'd only for a Terrestrial Paradise that is to enjoy a Sensual Animal Happiness in a state of Earthly Immortality And to serve and promote this end God gave us