unholy thing and despise if not despight the spirit of grace Heb. 10.29 you say plainly I like not the purchase I will have none of it you call Heaven cabul a dirty thing as Hiram called Solomons twenty Cities he gave him And can you think much to be dealt without Heaven that thus judge your selves unworthy of everlasting life Acts 13.46 3. Every day sets you nearer Heaven or Hell It s reported of the Pious Lady Falkland that going to bed at night she usually said Now am I nearer Heaven by one day then never I was One day added to your time is a day taken away from your life Oh think when you have heard a Sermon or spent a Sabbath I am now nearer Heaven or Hell this word hath been to me the savour of life unto life or of death unto death 2 Cor. 2.16 It sets me forward some way if I bring forth meet and suitable fruit I shall receive a blessing from God if bryars and thorns I am rejected nigh to a curse whose end is to be burned Heb. 6.7 8. The word either hardens or softens Woe be to me if all that God doth doth further my more dreadful condemnation 4. Eternity brings up the rear of time If it were but a making fit for a days pageantry there would be no such great need of curiosity to get matters ready though it s said Jer. 2.32 Can a Maid forget her ornaments or a Bride her attire though oft it is for the short shew of a Marriage day Oh but this is for Eternity That curious Painter being demanded why he bestowed so much labour on his Picture answered Pingo Eternitati I paint for Eternity Indeed there 's nothing of value but what relates to Eternity Eternity gives an accent and emphasis to all created beings The Apostle thought all visible sublunaries not worth a cast of his eye in comparison of this Eternity 2 Cor. 4.18 See a Book called Glimpse of Eternity on that Text. Alas Sirs is Eternity nothing with you Oh my Friends this if any thing is worth preparing for to be for ever with the Lord to injoy God ten thousands of millions of years or to be banished from his presence and be tormented with Devils and damned Souls for ever Oh this word for ever is amazing A godly man in company sate in a deep muse and being demanded what he was thinking of Answered only with repeating for ever for ever for ever for a quarter of an hour together This is indeed a confounding consideration Oh that you would solemnly lay upon your hearts the great things of another world On the one hand the injoyment of God Christ the company of Saints Angels the perfection of your natures a crown of glory fulness of joy and pleasures at Gods right-hand for evermore through the perpetual Ages of a boundless Eternity This were worth praying groaning obeying suffering for a thousand years to get read for and possessions of at last On the other hand to think of the sting of Conscience the company of Devils and damned Souls the loss of God Christ Heaven your precious Souls the burning Lake the bottomless Pit the scorching Flames and this for ever and ever an endless duration Oh Sirs if you should but look down into that stupendious gulf what a change would it work in your hearts You would banish your vain company lay aside your worldly business cast off your sensual pleasures and mind nothing else till your Souls be secured to all Eternity This would be as the cry at midnight Behold the Bridegroom cometh go ye forth to meet him Matth. 25.6 As sleepy as they were this startled them so it would you as if you heard a voice as out of the Clouds Sinner thou art now summoned to appear before the dreadful tribunal of the all seeing Judge to receive thy final sentence and to be sent to an everlasting state of weal or woe stay not one moment in thy state of unregeneracy hast hast yea make post hast out of it fall to the work of Faith and Repentance as for thy life defer not one day now or never You 'l say can I make my self meet for Heaven What can I do The work is Gods I answer God is the efficient but he will make you instruments in this work Gods grace and Mans duty are very consistent Study Phil. 2.12 13. Up and be doing and God will be with you Though God must turn yet you must endeavour to turn your selves Ezek. 18.30 31. Though God make you a new heart yet he will have you make you a new heart Oh Sirs fall close to the work examine prove try your states by the rule of the Word attend the most piercing powerful Ministry search out all your iniquities and confess them before the Lord with grief hatred and shame beg converting grace as for your lives plead with God for pardon through the Blood of Christ solemnly renew your Paptismal Covenant in taking God for your God and giving up your selves to him and then read meditate watch and pray mortifie your beloved lusts obey the commands of God and do these things speedily seriously and constantly and see what the effect will be If you will fall to it well and good if not you are guilty of self-murder and remember you are this day warned 2. I turn me to truly gracious Souls that are in a safe state for the main as to habitual meetness but I fear are far short of that actual meetness that is requisite as to a lively exercise of suitable graces clear evidence of spiritual state dispatching work off their hands being mortified to time and longing for Heaven Alas the wise Virgins slumbered and slept I fear few of us are in that readiness we ought to be in might have been in or that others have attained to nay it s well if now our Souls be in that frame that sometimes we have been in What decays of love zeal tenderness what backslidings deadness hardness worldliness formality do Gods Children fall into What staggerings in our Faith of the reality of unseen things How uncertain about our Title to this Inheritance Doth not our slavish fear of death shew thee Our instability and variable motions in Religion our distractions in holy duties our frequent closing with temptations and too oft stepping aside into sin our intermitting duties of Gods worship and strangeness growing betwixt God and our Souls our unreadiness in our accounts our unwillingness to go to God All these too sadly demonstrate our unmeetness for Heaven Alas Friends are we not yet meet Let us be ashamed of our slackness what have we been doing with all that time these helps and priviledges we have had Have not many young ones and others out-stript us and are got to Heaven that set out after us Are we not ashamed of our loytering and lagging behind What 's become of the many warnings we have had in our selves and others Have we any greater
the Life of Paul the aged within a few days and my Lord only knows how soon my sun may set though I cannot say my Natural Vigour either of Body or Mind is in the least abated but I am mortal and am loath to be surprized unawares 2. I see a great failure in my self and other Christians in this that terminate our studies and endeavours in getting a title and then think all is well we need no more but surely there is much behind we have abundance of work upon our hands for obtaining actual meetness without which we cannot evidence our habitual meetness 3. I never yet met with any Treatise upon this subject though it be of great importance for every Christian surely Heaven is worth minding and methinks Abrahams Query in another case should be ours Gen. 15.8 O Lord God whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it 4. I have observed a commendable practice of some Christians which is to order some Books to be distributed at their Funerals The first that I knew of that nature was Mr. R. A. his Vindiciae Pietatis and some other practical pieces which by Gods Blessing have done much good Such a Memorandum would I bequeath as my last Legacy to you my dear People amongst whom I have laboured above thirty nine years in publick and private serving the Lord in some measure of Integrity and Humility with many Tears and Temptations through variety of Dispensations Excommunications Banishments Confiscations and Imprisonments but out of all these the Lord hath delivered me and set my feet in a large place and God that searcheth the heart knows what hath been my design in studying preaching praying preparing you a place to meet in to Worship God and what are the agonies and jealousies of my Spirit to this day least I leave any of you unconverted and so cashiered from Gods presence at the great day and now at last I solemnly charge you before God and the Lord Jesus Christ and the elect Angels that you rest not in a graceless state another day lest that be the last day and you be found unready And I solemnly require you that have a principle of Grace gird up your Loins trim your Lamps and observe these few Rules and the dispositions mentioned in this small Treatise I only hint further Be much in the love of God Dayly act Faith on Christ Walk in the Spirit Design Gods Glory Intermit not holy duties Be not content therein without communion with God Mingle Religion with civil acts Increase every Grace Redeem time Profitably converse with Gods Children Aim at perfection Maintain tender Consciences Keep strict accounts Study the life of Heaven Be still doing or getting good Set God before your eyes Trample on worldly things Live in dayly view of death Be nothing in your own eyes Be much in heavenly praises Say O Lord who am I and what is my Fathers house that thou hast brought me hitherto What is man what am I the least and worst of the children of men that the heart of God should be working for me and towards me in infinite bowels of eternal love That the Lord Jesus should shed his heart-blood for me That the holy Spirit should take possession of me That God should provide such an inheritance for me Assure me of it by precious Promises seal it to me in his holy Supper That ever God should give me an heart to fear him Heal so many backslidings Prevent total Apostacy Pardon all my iniquities Vouchsafe me such large priviledges Supply my wants Hear my Prayers Help me over so many a foul place in my journey Brought me to the borders of Canaan Given me so many foretasts of the promised Land Tells me the Jordan of death shall be driven back and give me a safe passage to Heaven O Blessed blessed be God all this is from sovereign Grace God doth what he pleaseth I would not exchange this hope for the worlds possessions Eternity will be little enough to be taken up in the praises of rich grace Thus the gracious Soul may quickly lose it self in these Divine Praises and Contemplations as that zealous German Martyr Giles Titleman who in his Prayers was so ardent kneeling by himself in some secret place that he seemed to forget himself being called many times to meat he neither heard nor saw them that stood by him till he was lift up by the Arms and then gently he would speak to them as one waked out of a deep sleep Oh that there were such a spirit in Gods children That our hearts were so intent on things above as to pass through the world as unconcerned in it Then shall you be content to leave all and go to Christ Then will you not be afraid of the King of Terrors though armed with Halberts Racks Fires Gibbets then will you have a brighter Crown and higher degrees of Glory and shall shine as the brightness of the Firmament and as one Star differs from another in Glory so you will be set in the highest Orb and having had largest capacities on Earth shall have fullest joys in Heaven I will conclude with the blessed Apostles Prayer 1 Th. 3.12 13. The Lord make you to increase and abound in love one towards another and towards all men even as we do towards you to the end he may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God even our Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his Saints Amen and Amen Thus prayeth Your Servant in our dearest Lord Oliver Heywood COLOS. 1.12 Giving thanks unto the Father which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light CHAP. I. The Text opened Doctrines raised and explained PRayer and Praise are the two wings upon which a devout Soul mounts Heavenwards Prayer fetcheth down occasions of Praise These two are as Chariots and Factors to maintain intercourse betwixt God and his Children Paul was a great man in both for after the Inscription Subscription and Benediction in this Epistle he falls to Praise ver 3. then to Prayer ver 9. and in the Text he falls again to Praise and Thanksgiving wherein observe 1. The Duty Praise 2. The Mercy for what In the former observe 1. The Act giving thanks 2. The Object the Father 1. The Act 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It signifies a being of a good Grace having a very grateful Spirit and expressing it in words and actions Col. 3.15 Be ye thank ful or be ye amiable one to another or grateful both in conferring and receiving Benefits But here it referrs to God Obs 1. That thank fulness is the duty and property of a Christian Thankful retribution for Mercies is the study and enquiry of gracious Souls Psal 116.12 Prayer and Thanks are like the double motion of the Lungs the air of Mercy that is sucked in by Prayer is breathed out again by the duty of Praise O happy Christian that can and must in every
matters to mind Do we not bring dishonour to God and discredit to our Religion by our backwardness And can we have that comfort and confidence in meeting the Bridegroom of our Souls as is fit Alas our Lord will be less welcome if he surprize us unawares as I have told you Ah Sirs you little know how near death is and therefore should be always ready to meet our Lord. It is matter of great lamentation that so few of Gods Children are meet for their home and like wayward Children are loath to go to bed though God hath taken a course to weary us out of the world The Lord help us to lament and lay to heart our great unmeetness for Heaven When sin security senselesness steals in upon thy Spirit search it out mourn for it confess it beg a pardon of it and recover thy self quickly out of it be not satisfied with any distance from God recover thy wonted familiarity with thy best friend and mend thy pace towards Heaven as a man in his journey that hath been hindered hies the faster to recover his way lost by his stay breath after more likeness to God fitness for every dispensation and long to be with God in Heaven Alas Sirs you little know how near you are to Eternity You see the sands that are run to the nether end of the glass but the upper part as one saith is covered with a mantle you know not how few sands are yet to run God forbid that you should have your Evidences to procure when you should have them to produce If you be not sure of Heaven you are sure of nothing all worldly things must leave you or you must leave them Dispatch all but this off your hands and be as the bird on her wings to her nest or the traveller whose mind is still on home home nothing will please him but home Say with Calvin Vsquequo Domine How long Lord shall my Soul be at a distance from thee Come Lord Jesus come quickly CHAP. XII The second Doctrine briefly handled that a meetness for Heaven is a mercy worth thanking God for I Proceed briefly to explain the second Doctrine in my Text which is That its a transcendent Mercy worth thanking God for to be made meet for the Heavenly Inheritance If we must thank God for Daily-bread for Houses Health Estates Worldly comforts and accommodations for our Bodies how much more should we thank God for Heaven and a meetness for Heaven without which we shall never come there The truth of this I shall demonstrate in these seven particulars 1. Spiritual Mercies are of most worth and deserve most thanks from us to God But this is a Spiritual Mercy Eph. 1.3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with all Spiritual Blessings in Heavenly places in Christ It is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and so may signifie spiritual things as well as places i. e. Graces Priviledges Comforts or whatever hath a tendency to the good of the Soul or eternal Salvation in Heaven These indeed are a Benjamins portion a goodly heritage the quintessence and marrow of all Blessings If God should give you the whole World and put you off therewith you are cursed and wretched if he give you Grace and Glory you are happy if you had nothing else Our Lord thought that a plenary Benediction with which he begins his first Sermon Matth. 5.3 Blessed are the poor in Spirit for theirs is the kingdom of God There 's the mercy promised and the qualification for it both choice Blessings 2. That which is the purchase of Christ is worth our thanking God for but this is the fruit of Christs purchase It s not only a purchased inheritance nor did Christ only purchase us to be heirs of this inheritance but he hath purchased a meetness in Believers for that Inheritance Tit. 2.14 Who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purifie to himself a peculiar people zealous of good works How do men thankfully celebrate Christs Nativity But that mercy of Christs being born into the world though transcendently great will never advantage you unless Christ be in you the hope of glory Col. 1.27 his dwelling in your hearts by Faith Eph. 3.17 intitles you to the inheritance he hath purchased Look within thee Man as well as without thee and above thee for the fruits of Christs purchase and occasions of thankfulness to God 3. The operations and fruits of the Spirit are surely worth thanking God for but this is one of the most glorious fruits of the Spirit to fit Souls for Heaven Our Lord promiseth to send the Holy Ghost to supply the want of his Bodily presence and it is the richest gift that ever proceeded from Father and Son such as have it out of their Belly flow Rivers of living water Job 7.38 39. God is to be admired in all the saving works and actings of the Spirit the convincing humbling sanctifying supporting satisfying sealing comforting quickening inlarging confirming witnessing and reviving operations of it Alas we had never lookt after God had not the Holy Ghost knockt at our doors we had been blind in the things of God but that the Spirit inlightened us dead but that the Spirit enlivened us we had wandered for ever but that the Holy Spirit reduced us our hearts had been for ever hardened from Gods fear had not Gods Spirits softened us we should have been unlike God but that the Holy Ghost stampt Gods Image upon us whatever hath been done upon our Spirits to fit us for Heaven the Holy Ghost hath been the Agent yea that Spirit that we have quenched grieved resisted vexed what cause then have we to be very thankful This is the golden Oyl that runs through the golden pipes of Ordinances into the candlestick of the Church Zech. 4.11 12. 4. The Gospel-dispensation is great matter and ground of thankfulness It is a mistery which in other ages was not made known to the sons of mon Eph. 3.4 5. But what is the marrow and main design of this Gospel-revelation Why ver 6. That the Gentiles should be fellow heirs and of the same body and partakers of his promise in Christ by the Gospel Oh glorious design Oh blessed Charter But what are we better unless we be partners of this priviledge Therefore chap. 2.19 saith Christians are fellow-vitizens with the Saints This is the Gospel way of infranchising and incorporating poor strangers in the Immunities of Heaven and surely this is worth thanking God for The Charters of some Cities cost them dear and the Chief Captain said to Paul with a great summe obtained I this freedom Paul said and so may Believers say in this sense but I was free-born Acts 22.28 Though it cost Christ dear yet it costs us nothing but reception This new Jerusalem is built all of Free-stone and shall not our shoutings echo grace grace to the Head-stone Jesus Christ