with the way All Motion ends at the Center and all Means cease when we have the End Therefore prophecying ceaseth tongues fail and knowledg shall be done away that is so far as it had the nature of a Means and was imperfect And so faith may be said to cease not all faith for how shall we know all things past which we saw not but by beleeving how shall we know the last Judgment the resurrection of the body before hand but by beleeving how shall we know the life everlasting the Eternity of the joys we possess but by beleeving But all that faith which as a Means referred to the chief End shall cease There shall be no more prayer because no more necessity but the full enjoyment of what we pray'd for Whether the soul pray for the bodies resurrection for the last judgment c. or whether soul and body pray for the eternal continuance of their joys is to me yet unknown Otherwise we shall not need to pray for what we have and we shall have all that is desirable Neither shall we need to fast and weep and watch any more being out of the reach of sin and temptations Nor will there be use for Instructions and Exhortations Preaching is done The Ministry of man ceaseth Sacraments useless The Laborers called in because the harvest is gathered the tares burned and the work is done The Unregenerate past hope the Saints past fear for ever Much less shall there be any need of laboring for inferior ends as here we do seeing they will all devolve themselves into the Ocean of the ultimate End and the lesser good be wholy swallowed up of the Greatest SECT II. 2. THis Rest containeth a perfect freedom from all the Evils that accompanied us through our course and which necessarily follow our absence from the chief good Besides our freedom from those eternal flames and restless miseries which the neglecters of Christ and Grace must remedilesly endure an inheritance which both by birth and actual merit was due to us as well as to them As God will not know the wicked so as to own them so neither will Heaven know iniquity to receive it for there entereth nothing that defileth or is unclean all that Remains without And doubtless there is not such a thing as Grief and Sorrow known there Nor is there such a thing as a pale face a languid body feeble joynts unable infancy decrepit age peccant humors dolorous sickness griping fears consuming cares nor whatsoever deserves the name of evil Indeed a gale of Groans and Sighs a stream of Tears accompanyed us to the very Gates and there bid us farewel for ever We did weep and lament when the world did rejoyce but our Sorrow is turned into Joy and our Joy shall no man take from us God were not the chief and perfect good if the full fruition of him did not free us from all Evil. But we shall have occasion to speak more fully of this in that which follows SECT III. 3. THis Rest containeth the Highest Degree of the Saints personal perfection both of Soul and Body This necessarily qualifies them to enjoy the Glory and throughly to partake the sweetness of it Were the Glory never so great and themselves not made capable by a personal perfection suitable thereto it would be little to them There 's necessary a right disposition of the Recipient to a right enjoying and affecting This is one thing that makes the Saints Joys there so great Here Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard nor Heart conceived what God hath layd up for them that wait for him For the Eye of flesh is not capable of seeing it nor this Ear of hearing it nor this Heart of understanding it But there the Eye and Ear and Heart are made capable else how do they enjoy it The more perfect the sight is the more delightful the beautiful object The more perfect the Appetite the sweeter the Food The more musical the Ear the more pleasant the Melody The more perfect the Soul the more Joyous those Joys and the more Glorious to us is that Glory Nor is it onely our sinful imperfection that is here to be removed nor onely that which is the fruit of sin but that which adhered to us in our pure naturals Adams dressing the Garden was neither sin nor the fruit of sin Nor is either to be less Glorious then the Stars or the Sun â—n the Firmament of our Father Yet is this the dignity to which the Righteous shall be advanced There is far more procured by Christ then was lost by Adam It 's the misery of wicked men here that all without them is mercy excellent mercies but within them a heart full of sin shuts the door against all and makes them but the more miserable When all 's well within then all 's well indeed The neer Good is the best and the neer evil and enemy the worst Therefore will God as a special part of his Saints Happiness perfect themselves as well as their condition SECT IV. 4. THis Rest containeth as the principal part our nearest fruition of God the Chiefest Good And here Reader wonder not If I be at a loss and if my apprehensions receive but little of that which is in my expressions If to the beloved Disciple that durst speak and enquire into Christs secrets and was filled with his Revelations and saw the new Jerusalem in her Glory and had seen Christ Moses and Elias in part of theirs If it did not appear to him what we shall be but only in general that when Christ appears we shall be like him no wonder if I know little When I know so little of God I cannot know much what it is to enjoy him When it is so little I know of mine own soul either it's quiddity or quality while it 's here in this Tabernacle how little must I needs know of the Infinite Majesty or the state of this soul when it 's advanced to that enjoyment If I know so little of Spirits and Spirituals how little of the Father of Spirits Nay if I never saw that creature which contains not something unsearchable nor the worm so small which afforded not matter for Questions to puzzle the greatest Phylosopher that ever I met with no wonder then if mine eye fail when I would look at God my tongue fail me in speaking of him and my heart in conceiving As long as the Athenian Superscription doth so too well suite with my sacrifices To the unknown God and while I cannot contain the smallest rivelet It 's little I can contain of this immense Ocean We shall never be capable of clearly knowing till we are capable of fully enjoying nay nor till we do actually enjoy him What strange conceivings hath a man born blind of the Sun and its light or man born deaf of the nature of sounds and musick So do we yet
again even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him Can the Head live and the body or members remain Dead Oh write those sweet words upon thy heart Christian Because I Live Ye shall Live also As sure as Christ lives we shall live And as sure as he is risen we shall rise Else the Dead perish Else what is our Hope what advantageth all our duty or suffering Else the sensual Epicure were one of the wisest men and what better are we then our beasts Surely our knowledg more then theirs would but encrease our sorrows and our dominion over them is no great felicity The Servant hath oft-times a better life then his Master because he hath few of his Masters Cares And our dead Carcasses are no more comely nor yeeld a sweeter savour then theirs But we have a sure ground of Hope And besides this Life we have a Life that 's hid with Christ in God and when Christ who is our Life shall appear then shall we also appear with him in Glory Col. 3.3 4. Oh let not us be as the purblinde world that cannot see afar off Let us never look at the Grave but let us see the Resurrection beyond it Faith is quick-sighted and can see as far as that is yea as far as Eternity Therefore let our hearts be glad and our Glory rejoyce and our flesh also shall rest in hope for he will not leave us in the Grave nor suffer us still to see Corruption Yea therefore let us be stedfast unmoveable always abounding in the work of the Lord for as much as we know our Labor is not in vain in the Lord 1 Cor. 15.58 It 's a Question much debated Whether a Resurrection be onely an effect of Christs Death and Resurrection And whether there should have been any Resurrection if Christ had not come Some that maintain the Negative of the last Question do also maintain That the Sin under the Covenant of Nature or Works did deserve onely the separation of Soul and Body and not Eternal Torments Whence also follows that the Soul is or at least then was Mortal or that it hath no Being or no Sense when it 's separated from the Body As also that Christ dyed to Redeem us onely from the Grave and not from Hell And so their Doctrine of Universal Redemption in this sence asserted doth neither so much honor the merits of Christ nor advance his mercy as they pretend For it maketh him to raise us onely from the Grave and bring all the world into a Capacity of Eternal Torment He fore-knowing the same time that most would certainly reject him and so perish But as I confess these of weight and difficulty so having professed in this Discourse to handle matters less controverted I pretermit them This sufficeth to the Saints Comfort That Resurrection to Glory is onely the fruit of Christs Death and this fruit they shall certainly partake of The Promise is sure All that are in the Graves shall hear his voyce and come forth Joh. 5.28 And this is the Fathers will which hath sent Christ that of all which he hath given him he should lose nothing but should Raise it up at the last Day Joh. 6.39 And that every one that beleeveth on the Son may have Everlasting Life and he will raise him up at the last Day Vers. 40. If the prayers of the Prophet could raise the Shunamites Dead Childe and if the dead Souldier revive at the touch of the Prophets bones How certainly shall the will of Christ and the power of his death raise us That voyce that said to Jairus Daughter Arise and to Lazarus Arise and come forth can do the like for us If his death immediately raised the dead bodies of many Saints in Jerusalem If he gave power to his Apostles to raise the Dead Then what doubt of our Resurrection And thus Christian thou seest that Christ having sanctified the Grave by his burial and conquered Death and broke the Ice for us a dead Body and a Grave is not now so horrid a spectacle to a beleeving Eye But as our Lord was neerest his Resurrection and Glory when he was in the Grave even so are we And he that hath promised to make our bed in sickness will make the dust as a bed of Roses Death shall not dissolve the Union betwixt him and us nor turn away his affections from us But in the morning of Eternity he will send his Angels yea come himself and roll away the stone and unseal our Graves and reach us his hand and deliver us alive to our Father Why then doth the approach of Death so cast thee down O my Soul and why art thou thus disquieted within me The Grave is not Hell if it were yet there is thy Lord present and thence should his Merit and Mercy fetch thee out Thy sickness is not unto death though I dye but for the Glory of God that the Son of God may be glorified thereby Say not then He lifteth me up to cast me down and hath raised me high that my fall may be the Lower But he casts me down that he may lift me up and layeth me low that I may rise the higher An hundred experiences have sealed this Truth unto thee That the greatest dejections are intended but for advantages to thy greatest dignity and thy Redeemers Glory SECT III. THe third part of this Prologue to the Saints Rest is the publick and solemn process at their Judgment where they shall first themselves be acquit and justified and then with Christ judg the World Publick I may well call it for all the world must there appear Young and old of all estates and Nations that ever were from the Creation to that day must here come and receive their doom The judgment shal be set and the books opened the book of Life produced and the Dead shall be judged out of those things which were written in the books according to their works and whosoever is not found written in the book of Life is cast into the lake of fire O Terrible O Joyful Day Terrible to those that have let their Lamps go out and have not watched but forgot the coming of their Lord Joyful to the Saints whose waiting and hope was to see this day Then shall the world behold the goodness and severity of the Lord on them who perish severity but to his chosen goodness When every one must give account of his stewardship And every Talent of Time Health Wit Mercies Afflictions Means Warnings must be reckoned for When the sins of youth and those which they had forgotten and their secret sins shall all be layd open before Angels and men When they shall see all their Friends wealth old delights all their confidence and false hopes of Heaven to forsake them When they shall see the Lord Jesus whom they neglected whose Word
rich 14. Consider also the happy consequences of this work where it is faithfully done To name some 1. You may be instrumental in that blessed work of saving souls a work that Christ came down and died for a work that the Angels of God rejoyce in for saith the holy Ghost If any of you do erre from the truth and one convert him let him know that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death and shall hide a multitude of sins Jam. 5 19 20. And how can God more highly honor you then to make you instruments in so great a work 2. Such souls will bless you here and hereafter They may be angry with you at first but if your words prevail and succeed they will bless the day that ever they knew you and bless God that sent you to speak to them 3. If you succeed God will have much glory by it He will have one more to value and accept of his Son on whom Christs bloud hath attained its ends He will have one more to love him and daily worship and fear him and to do him service in his Church 4. The Church also will have gain by it There will be one less provoker of wrath and one more to strive with God against Sin and Judgment and to engage against the Sinners of the Times and to win others by Doctrine and Example If thou couldest but convert one persecuting Saul he might become a Paul and do the Church more service then ever thou didst thy self however the healing of Sinners is the surest method for preventing or removing of Judgments 5. It is the way also to the purity and flourishing of the Church and to the right erecting and executing the Discipline of Christ if men would but do what they ought with their neighbours in private what a help would it be to the success of the Publike endeavors of the Ministry and what hope might we have that daily some would be added to the Church and if any be obstinate yet this is the first course that must be taken to reclaim them who dare separate from them or excommunicate them before they have been first throughly admonished and instructed in private according to Christs Rule Matth. 18.15 16. 6. It bringeth much advantage to your selves First It will increase your graces both as it is a course that God will bless and as it is an acting of them in this perswading of others He that will not let you lose a cup of water which is given for him will not let you lose these greater works of Charity Besides those that have practised this duty most conscionably do finde by experience that they never go on more speedily and prosperously towards heaven then when they do most to help others thither with them It is not here as with worldly treasure the more you give away the less you have but here the more you give the more you have The setting forth Christ in his fulness to others will warm your own hearts and stir up your love The opening of the evil and danger of sin to others will increase your hatred of it and much engage your selves against it Secondly And it seemeth that it will increase your Glory as well as your Grace both as a duty which God will so reward For those that convert many to Righteousness shall shine as the stars for ever and ever Dan. 12.3 and also as we shall there behold them in heaven and be their associates in blessedness whom God made us here the instruments to convert Thirdly However it will give us much peace of Conscience whether we succeed or not to think that we vvere faithful and did our best to save them and that vve are clear from the bloud of all men and their perishing shall not lye upon us Fourthly Besides that is a vvork that if it succeed doth exceedingly rejoyce an honest heart He that hath any sense of Gods Honor or the least affection to the soul of his brother must needs rejoyce much at his conversion vvhosoever be the Instrument but especially vvhen God maketh our selves the means of so blessed a vvork If God make us the Instuments of any temporal good it is very comfortable but much more of eternal good There is naturally a rejoycing followeth every good work answerable to the degree of its goodness â—e that doth most good hath usually the most happy and comfortable life If men knew the pleasure that there is in doing good they vvould not seek after their pleasure so much in evil for my own part it is an unspeakable comfort to me that God hath made me an instrument for the recovering of so many from bodily diseases and saving their natural lives but all this is yet nothing to the comfort I have in the success of my labors in the conversion and confirmation of souls it is so great a joy to me that it drowneth the painfulness of my daily duties and the trouble of my daily languishing and bodily griefs and maketh all these with all oppositions and difficulties in my work to be easie and as nothing and of all the personal mercies that ever I received next to his love in Christ and to my soul I must most joyfully bless him for the plenteous success of my endeavors upon others O what fruits then might I have seen if I had been more faithful and plied the work in private and publike as I ought I know we have need to be very jealous of our deceitful hearts in this point lest our rejoycing should come from our pride and self-ascribing Naturally we would every man be in the place of God and have the praise of every good work ascribed to our selves but yet to imitate our Father in goodness and mercy and to rejoyce in that degree we attain to is the part of every childe of God I tell you therefore to perswade you from my own experience that if you did but know what a joyful thing it is to be an instrument for the converting and saving of souls you would set upon it presently and follow it night and day through the greatest discouragements and resistance Fifthly I might also tell you of the honorableness of this work but I will pass by that lest I excite your pride instead of your zeal And thus I have shewed you what should move and perswade you to this duty Let me now conclude with a word of Intreaty First to all the godly in general Secondly To some above others in particular to set upon the conscionable performance of this most excellent Work CHAP. XII An advice to some more specially to help others to this Rest prest largely on Ministers and Parents SECT I. UP then every man that hath a tongue and is a Servant of Christ and do something of this your Masters Work Why hath he given you a tongue but to speak in his Service And how can you serve
chiefly pressed those Duties which must be used for the attainment of this Everlasting Rest. In this I shall chiefly handle those which are necessary to raise the heart to God and to our Heavenly and comfortable life on Earth It is a Truth too evident which an inconsiderate Zealot reprehended in Master CULVERWELL as an Error That many of Gods Children do not enjoy that sweet Life and blessed Estate in this World which God their Father hath provided for them That is Which he offereth them in his Promises and chargeth upon them as their duty in his Precepts and bringeth even to their hands in all his Means and Mercies God hath set open Heaven to us in his Word and told every humble sincere Christian That they shall shortly there live with himself in unconceiveable Glory and yet where is the person that is affected with this Promise whose heart leaps for joy at the hearing of the news or that is willing in hopes of Heaven to leave this World But even the godly have as strange unsavory thoughts of it as if God did but delude us and there were no such Glory and are almost as loath to die as men without hope The consideration of this strange disagreement between our Professions and Affections caused me to suspect that there was some secret lurking unbelief in all our hearts and therefore I wrote those Arguments in the second Part for the Divine Authority of the Scripture And because I finde another cause to be the carelesness forgetfulness and idleness of the Soul and not keeping in action that Faith which we have I have here attempted the removal of that cause by prescribing a course for the daily acting of those Graces which must fetch in the Celestial Delights into the heart O the Princely joyful blessed Life that the godly lose through meer idleness As the Papists have wronged the merits of Christ by their ascribing too much to our own Works so it is almost incredible how much they on the other extream have wronged the safety and consolation of mens Souls by telling them that their own endevors are onely for Obedience and Gratitude but are not so much as Conditions of their Salvation or Means of their increased Sanctification or Consolation And while some tell them That they must look at nothing in themselves for Acceptation with God or Comfort and so make that Acceptance and Comfort to be equally belonging to a Christian and a Turk And others tell them That they must look at nothing in themselves but onely as signes of their good Estate This hath caused some to expect onely Enthusiastick Consâ—lations and others to spend their days in enquiring after signes of their sincerity Had these poor Souls well understood that Gods way to perswade their wills and to excite and actuate their Affections is by the Discourse Reasoning or Consideration of their Vnderstandings upon the Nature and Qualifications of the Objects which are presented to them And had they bestowed but that time in exercising holy Affections and in serious Thoughts of the promised Happiness which they have spent in enquiring onely after Signes I am confident according to the ordinary Workings of God they would have been better provided both with Assurance and with Joyes How should the Heir of a Kingdom have the comfort of his Title but by fore-thinking on it It s true God must give us our Comforts by his Spirit But how by quickening up our souls to beleeve and consider of the promised Glory and not by comforting us we know not how nor why or by giving men the foretasts of Heaven when they never think of it I have here prescribed thee Reader the delightfullest task to the Spirit and the most tedâ—ous to the Flesh that ever men on Earth were imployed in I did it first onely for my self but am loath to conceal the means that I have found so consolaâ—ory If thou be one that wilt not be perswaded to a course so laborious but wilt onely go on in thy task of common formal duties thou mayest let it alone and so be destitute of delights except such as the World and thy Forms can afford thee but then do not for shame complain for want of comfort when thou dost wilfully reject it And be not such an Hypocrite as to pray for it while thou dost refuse to labor for it If thou say Thy comfort is all in Christ I must tell thee it is a Christ remembred and loved and not a Christ forgotten or onely talked of that will solidly comfort Though the Directory for Contemplation was onely intended for this Part yet I have now premised two other Uses The heart must be taken off from Resting on Earth before it will be fit to converse above The first Part of saving Religion is the taking God onely for our End and Rest. CHAP. I. USE VI. Reproving our Expectations of Rest on Earth SECT I. DOth this Rest remain How great then is our sin and folly to seek and expect it here Where shall we finde the Christian that deserves not this Reproof Surely we may all cry guilty to this accusation We know not how to enjoy convenient Houses Goods Lands and Revenues but we seek Rest in these enjoyments We seldom I fear have such sweet and heart contenting thoughts of God and Glory as we have of our earthly delights How much Rest do the voluptuous seek in Buildings Walks Apparel Ease Recreations Sleep pleasing Meats and Drinks merry Company Health and Strength and long Life Nay we can scarce enjoy the necessary Means that God hath appointed for our Spiritual good but we are seeking Rest in them Do we want Minister Godly Society or the like helps O think we if it were but thus and thus with us we were well Do we enjoy them O how we settle upon them and bless our selves in them as the rich fool in his wealth Our Books our Preachers Sermons Friends Abilities for Duty do not our hearts hug them and quiet themselves in them even more then in God Indeed in words we disclaim it and God hath usually the preheminence in our tongues and professions but it s too apparent that it s otherwise in our hearts by these Discoveries First Do we not desire these more violently when we want them then we do the Lord himself Do we not cry out more sensibly O my Friend my Goods my Health then O my God! Do we not miss Ministry and Means more passionately then we miss our God Do we not bestir our selves more to obtain and enjoy these then we do to recover our communion with God Secondly Do we not delight more in the Possession of these then we do in the fruition of God himself Nay be not those mercies and duties most pleasant to us wherein we stand at greatest distance from God We can read and study and confer preach and hear day after day without much weariness because in these we have to do with
of health of honor and other things here so let us not be discontented with our allowed proportion of time O my Soul depart in peace Hast thou not here enjoyed a competent share As thou wouldst not desire an unlimited state in wealth and honor so desire it not in point of time Is it fit that God or thou should be the sharer If thou wert sensible how little thou deservest an hour of that patience which thou hast enjoyed thou wouldst think thou hast had a large part Wouldst thou have thy age called back again â—aâ—st thou eat thy bread and have it too Is it not Divine Wisdom that sets the bounds God will not let one have all the work nor all the suffering nor all the honor of the work He will honor himself by variety of instruments by various persons and several ages and not by one person or age Seeing thou hast acted thine own part and finished thine appointed course come down contentedly that others may succeed who must have their turns as well as thou As of all other outward things so also of thy time and life thou mayest as well have too much as too little Onely of God and eternal life thou canst never enjoy too much nor too long Great receivings will have great accounts where the lease is longer the fine and rent must be the greater Much time hath much duty Is it not as easie to answer for the receivings and the duties of thirty yeers as of an hundred Beg therefore for Grace to improve it better but be content with thy share of time SECT XIX 10. COnsider thou hast had a competency of the comforts of life and not of naked time alone God might have made thy life a misery till thou hadst been as weary of possessing it as thou art now afraid of loosing it If he had denyed thee the benefits and ends of living thy life would have been but a slender comfort They in Hell have life as well as we and longer far then they desire God might have suffered thee to have consumed thy days in ignorance or to have spent thy life to the last hour before he brought thee home to himself and given thee the saving Knowledg of Christ and then thy life had been short though thy time long But he hath opened thine eyes in the morning of thy days and acquainted thee betimes with the trade of thy life I know the best are but negligent loyterers and spend not their time according to its worth but yet he that hath an hundred yeers time and looseth it all lives not so long as he that hath but twenty and bestows it well It s too soon to go to Hell at an hundred yeers old and not too soon to go to Heaven at twenty The means are to be valued in reference to their end That 's the best means which speediliest and surest obtaineth the end He that hath enjoyed most of the ends of life hath had the best life and not he that hath lived longest You that are acquainted with the life of Grace what if you live but twenty or thirty yeers would you change it for a thousand yeers of wickedness God might have let you have lived like the ungodly world and then you would have had cause to be afraid of dying We have lived in a place and time of light in Europe not in Asia Africa or America in England not in Spain or Italy in the Age when Knowledg doth most abound and not in our forefathers days of darkness we have lived among Bibles Sermons Books and Christians As one Acâ—e of fruitful soyl is better then many of barren Commons as the possession of a Kingdom for one yeer is better then a lease of a Cottage for twenty so twenty or thirty yeers living in such a place or age as we is better then Methuselahs age in the case of most of the world besides And shall we not then be contented with our proportion If we who are Ministers of the Gospel have seen abundant fruit of our labors if God hath blessed our labors in seven yeers more then some others in twenty or thirty if God have made us the happy though unworthy means of converting and saving more souls at a Sermon then some better men in all their lives what cause have we to complain of the shortness of our time in the work of God would unprofitable unsuccessful preaching have been comfortable will it do us good to labor to little purpose so we may but labor long If our desires of living are for the service of the Church as our deceitful hearts are still pretending then 〈◊〉 if God honor us to do the more service though in the lesser time we have our desire God will have each to have his share when we have had ours let us rest contented Perswade then thy backward soul to its duty and argue down these dreadful thoughts Unworthy wretch Hath thy Father allowed thee so large a part and caused thy lot to fall so well and given thee thine abode in pleasant places and filled up all thy life with mercies and dost thou now think thy share too small is not that which thy life doth want in length made up in bredth and weight and sweetness Lay all together and look about thee and tell me how many of thy neighbors have more how many in all the Town or Countrey have had a better share then thou why mightest not thou have been one of the thousands whose carkasses thou hast seen scattered as Dung on the Earth or why mightest not thou have been one that 's useless in the Church and an unprofitable burden to the place thou livest in What a multitude of hours of consolation of delightful Sabbaths of pleasant studies of precious companions of wonderous deliverances of excellent opportunities of fruitful labors of joyful tidings of sweet experiences of astonishing providences hath thy life partaked of so that many a hundred who have each of them lived an hundred yeers have not altogether enjoyed so much And yet art thou not satisfied with thy lot Hath thy life been so sweet that thou art loth to leave it is that the thanks thou returnest to him who sweetned it to draw thee to his own sweetness Indeed if this had been all thy portion I could not blame thee to be discontented And yet let me tell thee too That of all these poor souls who have no other portion but receive all their good things in this life there is few or none even of them who ever had so full a share as thy self And hast thou not then had a fair proportion for one that must shortly have Heaven besides O foolish Soul would thou wert as covetous after eternity as thou art for a fading perishing life and after the blessed presence of God as thou art for continuance with Earth and Sin Then thou vvouldst rather look through the windows and cry through the lattises Why is
we shall be raised from many yeers rottenness and dust and that dust exalted to a Sun-like glory and that glory perpetuated to all eternity VVhat sayest thou Christian Is not this the greatest of miracles or wonders Surely if we observe but common providences the Motions of the Sun the Tides of the Sea the standing of the Earth the warming it the watering it with Rain as a Garden the keeping in order a wicked confused world with multitudes the like they are all very admirable But then to think of the Sion of God of the Vision of the Divine Majesty of the comely Order of the Heavenly Host what an admirable sight must that needs be O what rare and mighty works have we seen in Britain in four or five yeers what changes what subduing of enemies what clear discoveries of an Almighty Arm what magnifying of weakness what casting down of strength what wonders wrought by most improbable means what bringing to Hell and bringing back what turning of tears and fears into safety and joy such hearing of earnest prayers as if God could have denyed us nothing that we asked All these were wonderful heart-raising works But O what are these to our full deliverance to our final conquest to our eternal triumph and to that great day of great things SECT IX 7. COmpare also the Mercies which thou shalt have above with those particular Providences which thou hast enjoyed thy self and those observable Mercies which thou hast recorded through thy life If thou be a Christian indeed I know thou hast if not in thy Book yet certainly in thy Heart a great many precious favors upon record The very remembrance and rehearsal of them is sweet How much more sweet was the actual enjoyment But all these are nothing to the Mercies which are above Look over the excellent Mercies of thy Youth and Education the mercies of thy riper yeers or age the mercies of thy prosperity and of thy adversity the mercies of thy several places and relations are they not excellent and innumerable Canst not thou think on the several places thou hast lived in and remember that they have each had their several mercies the mercies of such a place and such a place and all of them very rich and engaging Mercies O how sweet was it to thee when God resolved thy last doubts when he overcame and silenced thy fears and unbelief when he prevented the inconveniences of thy life which thy own counsel would have cast thee into when he eased thy pains when he healed thy sickness and raised thee up as from the very grave and death when thou prayedst and wepst as Hezekiah and saidst My days are cut off I shall go to the gates of the grave I am deprived of the residue of my yeers I said I shall not see the Lord even the Lord in the Land of the Living I shall behold man no more with the Inhabitants of the World Mine age is departed and removed from me as a Shepherds Tent I have cut off like a Weaver my life he will cut me off with pining sickness from day to day wilt thou make an end of me c. Yet did he in love to thy soul deliver it from the pit of corruption and cast thy sins behinde his back and set thee among the living to praise him as thou dost this day That the fathers to the children might make known his Truth The Lord was ready to save thee that thou mightest sing the songs of praise to him in his house all the days of thy life Isai. 38.10 to the 20. I say were not all these most precious mercies Alas these are but small things for thee in the eyes of God he intendeth thee far greater things then these even such as these are scarce a taste of It was a choice mercy that God hath so notably answered thy prayers and that thou hast been so oft and so evidently a prevailer with him But O think then Are all these so sweet and precious that my life would have been a perpetual misery without them Hath his providence lifted me so high on Earth and his merciful kindness made me great How sweet then will the Glory of his presence be And how high will his eternal love exalt me And how great shall I be made in Communion with his greatness If my pilgrimage and warfare have such mercies what shall I finde in my home and in my Triumph If God will communicate so much to me while I remain a sinner what will he bestow when I am a perfect Saint If I have had so much in this strange Country at such a distance from him what shall I have in Heaven in his immediate presence where I shall ever stand about his Throne SECT X. 8. COmpare the comforts which thou shalt have above with those which thou hast here received in the Ordinances Hath not the written Word been to thee as an open fountain flowing with comforts day and night when thou hast been in trouble there thou hast met with refreshing when thy faith hath staggered it hath there been confirmed what suitable Scriptures hath the Spirit set before thee VVhat seasonable promises have come into thy minde so that thou maist say with David If thy Word had not been my delight I had perished in my trouble Think then If the VVord be so full of consolations what overflowing springs shall we finde in God if his letters are so comfortable what are the words that flow from his blessed lips and the beams that stream from his Glorious Face If Luther would not take all the world for one leaf of the Bible what would he take for the Joyes which it revealeth If the promise be so sweet what is the performance If the Testament of our Lord and our charter for the Kingdom be so comfortable what will be our possession of the Kingdom it self Think further what delights have I found also in this Word preached when I have sit under a heavenly heart-searching Teacher how hath my heart been warmed within me how hath he melted me and turned my bowels me thinks I have felt my self almost in Heaven me thinks I could have been content to have sate and heard from morning to night I could even have lived and dyed there How oft have I gone to the congregation troubled in spirit and returned home with quietness and delight How oft have I gone doubting concluding damnation against my own soul and God hath sent me home with my doubts resolved and satisfied me and perswaded me of his love in Christ How oft have I gone with darkness and doubtings in my Judgment and God hath opened to me such pretious truths and opened also my understanding to see them that his light hath been exceeding comfortable to my soul what Cordials have I met with in my saddest afflictions what preparatives to fortifie me for the next encounter Well then if Moses face do shine so gloriously what Glory
and height of my spirit discover my title to this promised land shall I be the adopted Son of God and coheir with Christ of that blessed inheritance and daily look when I am put into possession and shall not this be seen in my joyful countenance What if God had made me commander of the earth What if the mountains would remove at my command What if I could heal all diseases with a word or a touch What if the infernal spirits were all at my command Should I not rejoyce in such priviledges and honors as these yet is it my Saviours command not to rejoyce that the divels are subject to us but in this to rejoyce that our names are written in heaven I cannot here enjoy my parents or my neer and beloved friends without some delight especially when I did too freely let out my affections to my friend how sweet was that very exercise of my love O what will it then be to live in the perpetual love of God! For brethren here to live together in Unity how good and pleasant a thing is it To see a family live in love husband wife parents children servants doing all in love to one another To see a Town live together in love without any envyings brawlings heart-burnings or contentions scornes law-suits factions or divisions but every man loving his neighbor as himself and thinking they can never do too much for one another but striving to go beyond each other in love O how happy and delectable a sight is this O sweetest bands saith Seneca which binde so happily that those that are so bound do love their binders and desire still to be bound more closely and even reduced into one O then what a blessed society will be the Family of Heaven and those peaceable Inhabitants of the New Jerusalem where is no division nor dissimilitude nor differing Judgments nor disaffection nor strangeness nor deceitful friendship never an angry thought or look never a cutting unkinde expression but all are one in Christ who is one with the Father and live in the love of Love himself Cato could say That the soul of a Lover dwelleth in the person whom he loveth and therefore we say The soul is not more where it liveth and enlighteneth then where it loveth How neer then will my soul be closed to God and how sweet must that conjunction be when I shall so heartily strongly and uncessantly love him As the Bee lies sucking and satiating her self with the sweetness of the Flower or rather as the childe lies sucking the Mothers brest inclosed in her arms and sitting in her lap even so shall my loving soul be still feeding on the sweetness of the God of Love Ah wretched fleshly unbelieving heart that can think of such a day and work and life as this with so low and dull and feeble joyes But my enjoying Joyes will be more lively How delectable is it to me to behold and study these inferior works of God to read those Anatomical Lectures of Du Bartas upon this great dissected body what a beautiful fabrick is this great house which here we dwell in The floor so drest with various Herbs and Flowrs and Trees and watered with Springs and Rivers and Seas the roof so wide expanded so admirably adorned Such astonishing workmanship in every part The studies of an hundred Ages more if the world should last so long would not discover the mysteries of divine skill which are to be found in the narrow compass of our bodies What Anatomist is not amazed in his Search and Observations What wonders then do Sun and Moon and Stars and Orbs and Seas and VVindes and Fire and Aire and Earth c. afford us And hath God prepared such a house for our silly sinful corruptible flesh and for a soul imprisoned and doth he bestow so many millions of wonderful rarities even upon his enemies O then what a dwelling must that needs be which he prepareth for pure refined spiritual glorified ones and which he will bestow onely upon his dearly beloved children whom he hath chosen out to make his mercy on them glorified and admired As far as our perfected glorified bodies will excel this frail and corruptible flesh so far wil the glory of the New Jerusalem exceed all the present glory of the creatures The change upon our Mansion will be proportionable to the change upon our selves Arise then O my soul by these steps in thy Contemplation and let thy thoughts of that glory were it possible as far in sweetness exceed thy thoughts of the excellencies below Fear not to go out of this body and this world when thou must make so happy a change as this but say as Zuingerus when he was dying I am glad and even leap for joy that at last the time is come wherein that even that mighty Jehovah whose Majesty in my search of Nature I have admired whose Goodness I have adored whom in faith I have desired whom I have sighed for will now shew himself to me face to face And let that be the unfained sense of thy heart which Camerarius left in his VVill should be written on his Monument Vita mihi mors est mors mihi vita nova est Life is to me a Death Death is to me a new Life Moreover how wonderful and excellent are the works of Providence even in this life to see the great God to engage himself and set a work his Attributes for the safety and advancement of a few humble despicable praying persons O what a joyful time will it then be when so much Love and Mercy and VVisdom and Power and Truth shall be manifested and glorified in the Saints glorification How delightful is it to my soul to review the workings of Providence for my self and to read over the Records and Catalogues of those special mercies wherewith my life hath been adorned and sweetned How oft have my prayers been heard and my tears regarded and my groaning troubled soul relieved and my Lord hath bid me Be of good cheer He hath healed me when in respect of means I was uncurable He hath helped me when I was helpless In the midst of my supplications hath he eased and revived me He hath taken me up from my knees and from the dust where I have lain in sorrow and despair even the cries which have been occasioned by distrust hath he regarded what a support are these experiences to my fearful unbelieving heart These clear Testimonies of my Fathers Love do put life into my afflicted drooping spirit O then what a blessed day will that be when I shall have all mercy perfection of mercy nothing but mercy and fully injoy the Lord of Mercy himself When I shall stand on the shore and look back upon the raging Seas which I have safely passed when I shall in safe and full possession of glory look back upon all my pains and troubles and feares and tears and upon all the