but the Saints of God are are his image and this shall be their happiness to see the glory of God in themselves A man may delight to see beautiful colours but you take more delight if you can by looking in a glass see your selves beautiful and see those beautiful colours in your own clothes but if we could have the glory of the Sun and the Moon and all the creatures in heaven shining within our bodies that would be counted glorious indeed but to see the divine excellency and the top of the divine excellency of the infinite God shining within us this will be a mighty happiness Base sensual carnal hearts think there is no content but in satisfying the flesh What sweet and content have many but in their eating and drinking and their pallate is pleased and in that their other senses are satisfied and they think this is the excellency of man But take a schollar that hath but the exercise of his understanding to finde out truths and those things that are suitable to the rational part and he sees more excellency there then in any sensual thing and he can scorn sensual delights If there be so much content to the minde in viewing the things here what content will there be to the minde in beholding God and his glory There are two reasons of content in seeing things In regard of the object or in regard of the act of seeing it self Let the object be what it will there is delight in the act of seeing and understanding For a man to understand that which is evil it gives delight to the minde and it is one of the perfections of God that he understands evil as well as good so that there is content and delight in the act of seeing though there be no delight in the object but when the object is pleasing too that addes much to comfort and delight therefore content in the sight of God must be the highest content because there is the highest act of understanding and the highest object to see that can be And thus I have endeavored to open unto you the second blessed thing that the Saints shall have in Gods being their portion they shall see God Blessed are your eyes says Christ That you see those things that you see and blessed are your ears that heard those things you hear So blessed are the eyes of Gods people that do see any thing of God here and hear any thing of God here but blessed are the eyes that shall see God hereafter That which I labor for in pressing these things is to take off your hearts from these things below and that you may see what you are capable of and if your hearts be mad upon your sins and you will perish you shall know what you lose me-thinks if men did know what they lose by their sin they would cast it off with indignation and therefore when your sin comes and tempts you say What shall I lose all this for such a way of sin CHAP. XLVII The blessedness of Union with God THirdly they shall have union with God Sight is higher then presence and union is higher then sight John 17. 21. Christ prays to his Father That they may be one in us as thou art in me and I in thee For the opening of this union with God you are to know that there is first an union that God hath with all creatures in general Secondly an union that he hath with the humane nature of Christ Thirdly the union that he hath with the Saints First the union that God hath with all creatures in general and that union is twofold An union of dependance or an union of his immense presence Of dependance because all creatures in the world depend upon God for their being and continuance of their being every moment therefore there must be an union of God with them for if the union of dependance were broke evey creature would fall to nothing As the beams of the Sun have an union with the Sun and the beams could not continue if they were not united to the Sun so all the creatures have an union of dependance with God without which they cannot continue And then the union of immense presence that must be because God is in every thing and every where there is not the least spire of grass or stone but there is a way of Gods immense presence in that Secondly there is another kinde of union that God hath with the humane nature of Christ and that we call an hypostatical union for the humane nature and the divine nature to be united in one person this is that the Saints and Angels of God shall be adoring God for to all eternity that ever there should be such an union between the Deity and the Creature that if it were not revealed to us in the word it were impossible to be imagined by any creature It is a great work of God to unite an immortal soul with such a base creature as our flesh is into one person I do not know any one work of God in creation so great as this and this is to be admired at but if this be so great a work to unite a rational immortal soul into one person with a corruptible piece of flesh then to unite mans nature into one person with the second person in Trinity this is a great work Thirdly there is an union of God with the Saints and that is in this World or in Heaven In the World there is a fourfold union that God hath with the Saints First there is an union of the inhabitation of the Spirit for the Saints of God in this World are the Temples of the Holy Ghost and the Spirit of God is said to dwell in them and so there is a glorious union by the inhabitation of the Holy Ghost in them The second union that the Saints of God have in this world is the union of similitude the Saints are like God here in some measure they have the image of God stamped upon them God sees his face in the Saints The brightest glass in the world to shew Gods face is the souls of the Saints and there is not onely some likeness of God in the Saints but the likeness of God in his very life A glass may represent my image but that image hath not that life that I have but the image of God in the Saints does not onely represent God but they have the life of God those that are converted live the life of God and by sin we are estranged from the life of God they work as God works God understands himself the highest and infinite good and God wills himself as the highest and infinite good these are the chief actions of Gods life Now the Saints of God live this life they in their measure do here understand God as the highest and infinite good and do will God as the highest and infinite good A
the highest things that a body can be in without any weariness Thirdly there must be a great deal of power to be able to bear the weight of glory that shall be put upon them 2 Cor. 4. 17. Our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory such a weight as certainly if the body were not by the power of God upheld it were impossible it should bear it here we finde when there is great joy in the heart the body is not able to bear it but then there shall be a power to bear the weight of glory they shall have And the last is that which I finde expressed in Luther namely The bodies of the Saints shall have that power as to toss the greatest mountains in the world like a Ball. And I finde it in an expression of Anselem It shall be such power as they shall be able to shake the whole earth at their pleasure and we cannot think this incredible upon that ground that was named before there is not so much difference between the raising a thing from the lowest degree of power to the highest possibility as in raising a thing from nothing to the lowest degree of power Suppose a creature had but so much power now as to stir the least mote that is in the Sun to raise this power so high as to stir the whole earth does not require so much power as to make a thing out of nothing and if God do intend to manifest his power in glorifying the Saints and in making of them powerful why should we not think that God will extend that possibility of power that is in the body to that heighth certainly glorious shall be the power of the bodies of the Saints and that is the third thing Fourthly it is sowen a natural body and it shall be raised a spiritual body not that it shall be turned into a spirit It shall remain a body but the spiritualness consists in three particulars First that it shall be in a spiritual condition they shall have no more need of meat or drink or clothes or marriage or the like that now the body stands in need of the Angels themselves shall have as much need of meat and drink and clothes as their bodies shall so says Christ They shall not be married nor given in marriage but they shall be as the Angels in Heaven Secondly the spiritualness of the body consists in the absolute subjection of the body to the spirit as to be fully and absolutely serviceable to the spirits of the Saints which here they are not Here many times is a strife between the spirit and the flesh the spirit is willing when the flesh is not but then there shall be an absolute subjection of the body to the spirit As here the spirit of a carnal man is called flesh because his soul is serviceable to the flesh to make provision for the sins of the flesh his soul is counted carnal the wisdom of the flesh is enmity against God As the soul now is as it were carnal because it is serviceable to the flesh so the body shall be spiritual because it shall be serviceable to the spirit for you to have such a body as to be serviceable to your souls as you would desire it were a great blessing time will come when it shall be so Thirdly the spiritualness of the body consists in the agility of the body the ability it shall have to move up and down which way it will and that suddenly they shall move in the Heavens as the birds do in the ayr I remember an expression that Luther hath that the body shall move up and down like a thought And Augustine saith They shall move to any place they will as soon as they will These words we do not finde in Scripture but lay this for a ground that whatsoever we can expect for the excellency of a body it is that we speak of or beyond it and then we have a great deal of liberty to invent what expressions we can for our comfort certainly there shall be that happiness of the body that shall come to that we speak of or to more Fourthly some make the spiritualness of the body to consist in the transparency of it Aquinas says It shall be so clear and transparent that all the veins and humors and nerves and bowels shall be seen as in a glass Now brethren the reasons why God will reward the Saints in this part are First because humane bodies as well as humane souls have an hypostatical union with the second person of the Trinity and therefore God rejoyces to raise humane bodies as well as humane souls unto happiness Secondly Christ suffered so much in his body therefore God will glorifie the bodies of the Saints Thirdly our bodies are part of the members of Christ our bodies are joyned in a mystical union with Jesus Christ Fourthly our bodies are the temples of the Holy Ghost and God will glorifie his own temples Fifthly our bodies are in part sanctified as well as our souls and therefore shall also be glorified Lastly our bodies shall be glorified for the further terror and confusion of the damned because they in their bodies shall see the glory of the Saints and be confounded Here you see a way to get your bodies in a blessed condition here is a stir for clothing of our bodies but there shall be a cloathing with immortality you that have sickly and weak bodies remember this you shall one day receive your bodies in another maner then you have them now Eusebius tels us of one of the children of the Macchabees that were put to death for the profession of the truth when they cut off his members says he I have received these from Heaven and now I do give them unto the God of Heaven and I hope I shall have them again Let us be willing to put our bodies to pain if our bodies suffer hunger or thirst or nakedness or be tyred or suffer Imprisonment or any violence be offered to our bodies in the cause of God What great matter is it we shall receive our bodies in another maner The overcoming of the flesh is the destruction of it but the overcoming the flesh is the glory of it When we speak of the happiness of our souls we are not so capable of it but when we speak of the happiness of our bodies we are sensible of that Now certainly there shall be much more for our bodies here is a way to provide for your bodies Lay up provision for your flesh is spoken as an argument of a carnal heart in Rom. 13. 14. the Apostle exhorts them not to make provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof but there is a way of laying up provision for the flesh that is lawful and that this day I exhort
third union that the Saints have with God is a union of love love is an uniting grace and there is a most entire love between God and every Saint and so their hearts are close united and mingled by love Again in this life there is a mystical Union and that is an union higher then any other an union with Christ being made members of the Son of God and so they come to have union with the Son of God according to that expression in 1 John 1. 3. That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you that ye also may have fellowship with us and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Iesus Christ There is a mystical union between us and Christ and so we come to have union with God the Father also and to be joyned to the Lord we are one Spirit with him Now for the union that the Saints have with God in Heaven there are many intricate notions that some of the Schoolmen have about this as that the soul shall be turned into the same Idea that God made it of and that there shall be an Illapsus of God into the soul but we must know there can be no union with God but it must be by vertue of the influence of some good from God for speak of what union you will God cannot in his Essence be more present with the creature then he is here but onely in regard of some manifestation or communication of himself in some gift or good thing but certainly there will be a wonderful glorious union between God and the soul in Heaven and that upon these four grounds First there is not such distance between God and the soul but that it is capable of union with God One would think how is it possible that God should be so united to the soul being there is such an infinite distance between God and it but there is not such an infinite distance between God and the soul of man as that there should not be a glorious union between them there is a great deal of likeness between God and the soul First in the spirituality God is a Spirit the soul is a Spirit Secondly in immortality God is immortal the soul is immortal Thirdly in the high excellency of God the understanding and will the soul is endued with understanding and will the perfection of God as we can conceive is his understanding and will and so it is in the soul Fourthly in the several operations that the soul hath and herein there is more likeness between God and mans soul then is between God and Angels in that one rational soul should perform so many works as the same God the same Excellency working upon the creature works in one thing one way and in another thing another way so the soul represents God in this in that one rational soul hath such variety of workings in the body for understanding for sense for vegetation which Angels have not Again the soul resembles God in the infiniteness the soul is not onely infinite in duration but in regard of the infiniteness of the working of it and here is a mighty difference between the soul of man between rational creatures and all other creatures for the sensitive creature that onely works about some particular thing that concerns its own preservation and its own good within its narrow compass but the object of mans soul is universal infinite it is not any particular truth that will satisfie the understanding let there be never so many truths revealed yet the understanding desires infinitely more if there be any truth that is not revealed it would have that Let the sense have some particular object before it suitable to sense it looks no further as if the eye have colour it goes no further nor the ear goes no further then sound but the understanding hath desire to all truth And so for good the sensitive creature hath no desire of good but onely that which does preserve sense but the will of man is for good in general and this shews how capable the soul is to be raised to such an excellency as to have communion with God if we knew what our souls were capable of we would not think we could satisfie them with such things as bruit beasts are satisfied with Secondly there may well be a glorious union between God and and the souls of the Saints because God shall see nothing but himself in the souls of the Saints now when God shall see nothing but his own in such a creature this is a full ground of Gods near and most glorious union with it as when a man comes to see in another much of his own his heart is united to him things that are of a like nature do unite Bring an hot fire-brand to the fire and it does unite presently because the fire does finde something of it self there if there were some moisture in the brand it would not so fully unite And so here we cannot have full union with God because though God sees somewhat of his own in us yet there is a great deal in us that is not Gods but when we shall be wholly free from sin and God shall see nothing but his own in us that must needs be a ground of a most glorious union Thirdly in Heaven there shall be nothing in God but shall be suitable to the nature of a glorified Saint and suitableness is the cause of union if there be not a suitableness there cannot be union There cannot be suitableness between God and other creatures but between a glorified Saint and God there shall be an infinite suitableness and therefore an infinite glorious union Again there shall be an infinite inflamed love here is an union of love but in Heaven there will be a further degree of love and love being enflamed there must needs be a most glorious union Fifthly if you consider what the bond of connexion of the soul and God together is namely the mediation of the Son the second person of the Trinity there must needs be an infinite close and glorious union of the Saints with God This vision and union with God is enough to cause the souls of Gods people to be so satisfied as to say Let all things be taken from me it is enough I have somewhat of Gods presence here but I shall have the glorious presence and vision of God and union with God hereafter and though my eyes should never see good day after or never see comfortable object in the world this is enough I shall see God and have full union with God Though there be a separation between me and all temporal comforts in the world though God should rend this creature or that creature the dearest husband or the dearest wife or the dearest comfort in the world and those things that my soul do most cleave to here from me yet it is enough that
And what union have you with God What union of grace What mystical union between God and your souls And what fruition have you of God Is it God that you enjoy in the creature and God in all things God in the Ordinances and what rest do your souls finde in God though you be tost up and down in regard of the uncertainty of the creature yet is God your rest yea do you enjoy your selves in God the beginning of all these are now for the present And likewise for communion with Jesus Christ what communion and converse is there between your souls and Jesus Christ Is it not a riddle to you Are you delighted in the communion of the Saints Are the Sabbaths your delight as a beginning of the eternal Sabbath you shall keep in Heaven Therefore now do you ask Who shall have Heaven and Who shall ascend into the Mount Those whom the Mount now comes down unto Many hope they shall have God when they dye but surely if God be not so merciful as to give you spiritual mercies for the present he will not be so merciful as to give you eternal mercies hereafter if he do not give you mercies of grace here he will not give you mercies of glory hereafter Fifthly what are the apprehensions that you have of this reward there may be a special note drawn from thence whereby you may see whether this reward shall be yours or no. What is it that you apprehend to be the heighth and excellency of that reward and glory that you expect Is it that spiritual and supernatural good that is in Heaven Do you not apprehend Heaven after a carnal and natural way when you hear speaking of Crowns and dignity and happiness and glory and the like but hath God shewed you that the heighth and top of all consists in those spiritual and supernatural things in the image of God and in communion with God and those things that have been opened are your hearts more after these then after any thing else then it is like that Heaven is for you for these things are kept hid from those that Heaven is not for Sixthly consider what your hopes are for this recompence of reward First where hopes are true they are such as are wrought by the power of the Holy Ghost Secondly they are purging hopes First they are such hopes as are wrought by the power of the holy Ghost Rom. 15. 13. Certainly hopes of such great things as these must be raised by a great power they are hopes that could never be raised by any natural apprehensions by any work of Reason you have hopes of Heaven and of the glorious reward How came you by them What almighty power of the holy Ghost have you felt that hath raised these hopes If you have no other hopes but those that may spring out of nature natural conceits and apprehensions you are far short of this recompence of reward but this recompence of reward being glorious it hath a glorious principle to raise hopes such hopes as can bear down strong difficulties that shall oppose them the holy Ghost does stretch out the hopes of the soul beyond that which nature can do In the Hebrew that word that signifies hope signifies a line because by hope the heart is stretched out as in a line to the thing it hopes for now the hopes that nature raises is but in a short line and they stretch out the heart but a little way but the hopes that are wrought by the power of the holy Ghost are such hopes as the heart is stretched out very far by them and there must be a mighty stretching out of the heart and that by a mighty power to make it hope for such great things as these that God should bring such a poor worm to such high things as these are Ordinary base drossie hopes that have nothing in them they are not stretched out to these things they have some confused apprehensions and slight opinions about heaven they are loth to think they should be damned for ever and cast from God and therefore they will have some conceits it shall be well with them and they hope well but to have their hearts stretched out to expect these blessed things as the happiness of their souls and as the real substantial and onely good this is by the mighty power of the holy Ghost Secondly they are purging hopes 1 John 3. 3. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself even as he is pure It is a lively working hope 1 Pet. 1. 3. Blessed be God who hath begotten us again to a lively hope As a fountain that hath dirt cast into it it being a living fountain it works and works and never leaves till it hath got the dirt out cast dirt into a puddle and it lies there and putrifies And this is the difference between the sin of one that is natural and one that hath hope of eternal life When sin comes into a carnal natural heart it lies there and putrifies but where sin comes into a gracious heart that hath hope of eternal life such a heart by these hopes are as a living fountain that will never leave working till it be pure again Such a soul as apprehends it self a vessel of such rich and glorious mercies as these do labor to cleanse it self to the utmost if you have a vessel that you put ordinary water into you care not though there be some dust in the bottom but if you will put in some precious liquor you will cleanse it again and again and will not suffer any dust to be there So carnal hearts that do not know what great things God hath laid up for his people that are not vessels of mercy but onely look for some common things they can suffer their hearts to filled with noysom lusts but where the soul does apprehend it self a vessel of mercy such a one as God will fill with these glorious things it would not have any filth and corruption abiding in it In 2 Tim. 2. 21. The Apostle speaks of two sorts of vessels that are in Gods House that is in the Church Vessels of honor and Vessels of dishonor But how shall we know we are vessels of honor or of dishonor if therefore a man purge himself from these he shall be a vessel of honor a vessel of dishonor is an unclean vessel a vessel of honor is a clean vessel If therefore your hopes be such as can stand with any beloved sin against knowledge you are vessels of dishonor And here is the liveliness of this hope if thou hast a hope to be a vessel of honor it purges you from filth and by that purging from filth there comes to be a readiness and preparation to every good work here is such a one as shall ascend up into the holy Hill of God This is the sixth note Seventhly examine what thy claim is whether thy
if they lived the onely brave lives but 2 Pet. 2. 13. they are called spots and blemishes for they are indeed base the most base spirited men that live These do most vilely lowre mans nature they are infinitely beneath the happiness of an immortal soul The Heathen accounted a life of pleasure a life of beasts What man would not rather dye says Tully cited by Lactantius then to be turned into the form of a beast though he should retain the minde of a man How much more miserable is it for one to be in the form of a man and to have the minde of a beast yea of a wilde beast Guliel Parisiensis calls luxury a scab and says the salt-water of tribulation must purge it and he brings in Augustine giving the same name unto it confessing that he was wont to delight in the scab of his lusts This scab says Parisiensis makes the minde of man ulcerous running with filthy putrified stuff and abominable to God above that that any man would think which no bodily filth does Sixthly The evil of nourishing of all maner of wickedness All sin in Scripture is called flesh and the work of the flesh because the pleasure of the flesh is the cause of so much sin in us When Christ spake of the servant who gave himself to riotousness in his Masters absence he calls him the evil servant There are swarms of all maner of evils in sensual hearts they are the fennish grounds that breed filthy poysonsom creatures so all venemous-lusts are bred and nourished by these Job 40. 21. it is said the Behemoth lieth in the fens which Guliel Parisiensis applies to the Devil in sensual hearts he lies in moist places says he that is in those whose spirits are moistened by their lusts Wherefore it is said of the unclean spirit That he walks in dry places seeking rest and found none But says he men giving themselves to pleasures they seek what they can to give the Devil rest in their hearts and to keep off all that may hinder his quiet Flies and Wasps use to come to honey and sugar and such sweet things The Devil who is called Beelzebub that is the God of flyes loves to be in souls glutted with sensual pleasures yea swarms of Devils love to follow such Hence such as these are most desperate enemies unto godliness contemners and scorners of all Religion That which is honest is vile and contemptible to him who makes too much of his body says a Heathen Where pleasures reign vertue connot be says another When the Jews accuse Christ of the worst their malice could devise they call him a Wine-bibber Seventhly they likewise harden in all maner of evil when men are heat in sensual delights their hearts are so glutted that they never think of their pain It is observed that when the people of Israel had got Aaron to make the Calf and they set down to drink and rose up to play they offered burnt-offerings but no sin-offerings were thought of These beset the heart and make it even uncapable of any spiritual good St. Paul says of the Widows that live in pleasures they are dead while they live 1 Tim. 5. 6. Let us eat and drink to morrow we shall dye Why do you say to morrow says Chrysostom ye are dead already We read Ezek. 47. 11. that when the waters of the sanctuary flowed the miry places could not be healed How seldom does the waters of the Sanctuary heal miry souls Augustine says of such As the earth by too much rain becomes nothing but mire and dirt so as it is made unfit for tillage so these Whoredom and wine and new wine take away the heart Hos 4. 11. Who are the most desperate enemies to the Cross of Christ but such whose God is their belly Phil. 3. 18 19. Who are they that cannot cease from sin but such as sport themselves with their own deceivings while they feast amongst you having eyes full of adultery 2 Pet. 2. 13 14. Who are those that are wholly void of the Spirit and even uncapable of it such as walk after their own ungodly lusts and sensual Jude 18 19. Who are they that say to God Depart from us we desire not the knowledge of thy ways but such as take the Timbrel and Harp and rejoyce at the sound of the Organ and spend their days in wealth Job 21. 11 12 13. Pleasures do not so much delight the flesh as they endanger the soul therefore better it is a great deal to be preserved in brine then to rot in honey to be fed upon the salt marshes and short commons and to live then to be glutted in rank pastures and so fatted up for destruction And thus you see the evil of them whereupon Chrysostom in one of his Sermons concerning the Martyrs The joys of this present world are to be feared by Christians and certainly so they are rather then to be desired Sixthly if there were not so much evil yet they are vain flashy things there is no reality in them they are all res nihili things of nought The Heathen could say Believe me true joy is no light thing but what windy frothy contents are these pleasures to the flesh do they leave any sweetness behinde them after they are over as it was wont to be said of Plato's feast his discourse of Phylosophy at the table though the chear was mean was sweet divers days after soul-delights leave a sweet relish in the spirit after their acts are past but the day after fleshly pleasures what is left but bitter humors in the body and a sting in conscience what wise man can please his thoughts after his pleasures are over in thinking what pleasures he hath had much less will any man of wisdom glory in what he hath eat or drunk or that he hath filled his sensual appetite with all the delights he could Who can at night after a day of sports and fulness of delights to the flesh bless God from his soul that he hath had a day so full of pleasure in his flesh Plutarch in his Morals hath an excellent discourse upon this argument to prove that according to the Rules of Epicurus No man can live a true pleasurable life not that by his Rules no man can live a vertuous life that perhaps would be granted by many but that no man can have a life of pleasure by those Rules that is the thing that he undertakes to prove and amongst other arguments he hath these First That it is not probable for any modest and temperate men to give way to let their thoughts abide upon any such pleasures he accounts them so vain and slight for the pleasures of the minde men that are wise and sober delight in the thoughts of such A second argument that he useth is That never as he says to this day were known any that would offer sacrifice to
Here is the Sword which is an emblem of thy place and here is the Gospel choose the one you must have but one Then his heart gave in and so left the Sword and chose the Gospel The wisdom of God this day hath stood and still stands before you pleading with you crying to you to come in and embrace her to make a happy choice for thy soul folly likewise hath her pleadings and perswasions to draw thee to the lusts of the flesh both make their offers unto thee as they say of Hercules when he was yong he saw vertue and vice in the likeness of two Virgins wooing him vice like a painted Harlot and vertue like a sober chaste Virgin both presenting themselves with wooing offers unto him It is very observable that we finde Prov. 9. concerning wisdom and the foolish woman both pleading to draw the hearts of men to them and they begin in the same maner they both make offers to draw the heart ver 4. Who so is simple let him turn in hither as for him that wanteth understanding she saith to him and verse 16. the foolish woman useth the same words to draw after her and as wisdom is upon the high places of the City ver 3. so is folly ver 15. yet wisdom is above the foolish woman for the Text says of wisdom she is upon the highest places and of the foolish woman it is onely said she is in the high places And observe further Wisdom calls to eat her bread and drink her wine ver 5. and the foolish woman makes her offer her delights are sweet she says but they are but sweet waters and that stoln too and her bread she says is pleasant but it is secret such as she is even ashamed of her self In the choice that wisdom presents and that which folly presents you have life and death set before you as Moses therefore said to the people so I to you I have set before you this day life and death Now what answer will you give to God Will you go on in the ways of the pleasure of the flesh Are your hearts so bold and venturous that you dare venture to go on in these ways Wo unto you for the cursed hardness of your hearts Were it indeed that you never heard the ways of God opened to you it were another matter but in that you have and yet you go on in your choice after this Sermon God may say Be it unto thee as thou hast chosen God may set to his seal thou hast chosen vanities and a lye and base pleasures and vanities and a lye and base pleasures to thy flesh thou shalt have Wherefore that thou mayest be delivered from this seal this night O consider what a mercy of God it is that thou hast yet time to make thy choice How many hath God cast off And now it is too late to choose God hath determined the business O that yet there should be time O that this would move your hearts We are fain thus to labor and strive with mens spirits to take them off from vain pleasures to urge the strength of all arguments we can with all our might were it that mens hearts were not very sensual and hardened in their sensuality it would not be needful thus to strive the very propounding some one argument might be sufficient to prevail It was a speech of Gregory Nyssen who lived almost thirteen hundred years ago He that does but hear of Hell is without any further labor or study taken off from sinful pleasures Mens hearts are grown harder since But what if I should come in now I who have given so much pleasure to the flesh would God accept of me and regard me Be it known unto thee thou that hast given thy self liberty in injoying the pleasures of the flesh to the utmost thou that hast been most wretched if thou hast a heart to come in this day and turn thy choice God is yet ready to embrace thee we have commission to offer grace and mercy to thee upon thy recalling thy self yea we have a promise you shall have abundance of mercy if you have a heart to come in Prov. 1. 22 23. How long ye simple ones will ye love simplicity and the scorners delight in their scorning and fools hate knowledge Turn you at my reproof behold I will pour out my Spirit unto you I will make known my words unto you If any of you have gone so far when we have spoken against the pleasures of the flesh and for the ways of godliness you have scorned the word of the Lord if you have been scorners and contemners yet turn and make your choice better Behold I will pour out my Spirit to you When God pours forth his Spirit he pours forth his grace and mercy and goodness you see the offer of God if you have hearts yet to make choice of his ways And consider the longer you have stayed in the satisfying your selves in the pleasures of the flesh the more unfit will you be to suffer hard things for God O give in your answer and say The Lord forbid I should go on in my former ways I see other things I have to regard peace with God pardon of sin that I have to look after let God reveal to me what his good will and pleasure is and though I should never enjoy good day in the flesh yet I give my self up to that way of God O that there might come this voice up to Heaven this night that your souls may be blessed for ever in this days choice And if God do begin to stir your hearts now take the opportunity choose the things that please him and take hold of the Covenant if you be convinced of the good ways of God now close with them cleave to them let your hearts fasten take such fast hold of the Covenant as you may never let it go Observe how these two are joyned together Isaiah 56. 4. Choose the things that please me and take hold of my Covenant Take hold now for it is your life CHAP. XV. The true pleasantness of all the ways of godliness NOw that you may be further convinced that in the choice of the ways of godliness you shall not lose but change pleasures you shall finde pleasures sweet and satisfying of a higher nature in them then ever before your souls were acquainted with consider what Solomon saith of the ways of wisdom Solomon who had experience of all other pleasures whatsoever yet of them he saith Proverbs 3. 17. Her ways are ways of pleasantness That the yoke of Christ was an easie yoke and the ways of godliness had ease in them we have spoken largely As they have ease so they have pleasantness all the ways of godliness are pleasant to that at this time Ordinarily we cannot expect any dependence in these Proverbs but yet in this you have there is a dependence of these words upon the 13.
Gospel No says he the poor receive the Gospel he knew that John had a gracious heart and would esteem of things as he did and would not be offended Secondly Gods people by a spiritual eye are very highly esteemed because such an eye looks at spiritual excellencies God hath made a gracious heart acquainted with true spiritual excellencies and such a one beholding the beauty and the glory that there is in spiritual excellencies all the outward glittering glory that there is in the world is darkned It is true men and women so long as they know no better things judge onely according to these outward mean things Children that know no better things then a gay coat count it the greatest preferment that can be to be put into such a coat and so a man that knows no better things then the things of the world he counts it the greatest excellency to have them But when a childe comes to have reason and sees higher things he does not prize such things so a soul that comes to see the things of Heaven God and Christ and Grace and sees into the realities of them and not as imaginary he will never admire at any thing below but onely at grace and where there is grace nothing can darken the light of it it is so glorious as the light of the Sun a little smoak cannot darken the light of the Sun when it shines bright a little smoak will darken the light of the candle but cannot darken the light of the Sun And so a little affliction will darken these outward things to those that esteem them at a high rate but spiritual excellencies are of such a nature that afflictions cannot darken them But what spiritual excellencies are those that a spiritual eye sees in Gods people that make them to be so precious in its esteem notwithstanding all their outward meanness First the Image of God Secondly the relation they have to God Thirdly their spiritual priviledges Fourthly the preciousness of that which comes from them Fifthly the great use that they are of here in the world Sixthly their ends First for the work of grace they have the image of God upon them Now the image of a thing is not the representing of a thing in some under excellency or in some mean thing that concerns that which it is made to resemble but it is a resemblance of it in that which is the chief excellency As if I would draw the picture of a man I would not draw it for to resemble flesh meerly that a beast hath as well as man but as near as can be the very countenance and life of man I will not draw the back parts of a man but his face and countenance to life so the image of God is not that which hath some little likeness to God but that which hath a likeness to God in the highest excellency in his holiness and righteousness which is to speak according as we are able to conceive the highest excellency of God so that a gracious heart hath that which makes him like unto that which is the top of Gods excellency that which is the image of GOD himself and therefore it hath these four titles The Image of God The Divine Nature The Life of God and the Glory of God The Image of God Gen. 1. 26. That of the Divine Nature you have in the 2 Pet. 1. 4. Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises that by these you may be partakers of the Divine Nature And the Life of God Eph. 4. 18. Being alienated from the life of God that is from his grace And the Glory of God Rom. 3. 23. For all have sinned and come short of the Glory of God The work of grace in mens souls hath that excellency in it that there is more of God to be seen in it then in all the works that ever God did make from the beginning of the world not onely if you take one single work onely excepting the hypostatical Union of the humane nature of Christ but take all the creatures that God hath made in heaven and earth they have not so much of the glory of God to be seen in them as there is to be seen in the work of grace so that take the poorest meanest Christian that hath the work of grace though parts be never so weak and outwardly he be never so contemptible there is more to be seen in this poor man or woman then in the whole frame of Heaven and earth then in the Sun Moon and Stars then in all the creatures of the world besides except Angels and therefore surely outward meanness can never take down the esteem that a gracious heart hath of Gods people Yea it is the greatest excellency that ever God did bestow upon or will bestow upon any for the kinde if it were grown up to the greatest degree still excepting that hypostatical Union of the Humane nature of Christ with the Divine and therefore must needs gain a precious esteem It is a principle of eternal happiness it is that which will grow up to an eternal glory Take all moral and natural excellencies let them grow up to the highest height they can they can never grow up to glory but this is that eternal seed if it be let to grow up it wil grow up to the height of glory Now if Grace be thus if it be that principle whereby a creature is raised to such a high condition no marvel though those that have a spiritual eye and can see into the things of God and judge spiritually of things must needs esteem those very precious and honorable that have the work of grace upon them Moral excellencies have been highly esteemed by Heathens as the Fabii and Fabritii that were taken from their dinner and supper of Turnips to rule and govern great armies because they saw such great excellencies under their mean outsides If so be the knowledge of moral excellencies can raise the esteem of men in the world much more then the true and glorious excellencies of grace Secondly in regard of the relation they have to God Gods people have a near relation to God the nearer relation one hath to great ones the more high he is in the esteem of men now Gods people though never so mean have a wonderful near relation to God for First they are the chosen of God they are those which the Lord in his eternal counsels hath set apart for himself the counsels of God from all eternity have wrought for their good and this is manifested unto a gracious heart The Lord hath set apart a godly man for himself says the Psalmist in Psal 4. They are those that are the consecrated ones of God consecrated and devoted things though they were never so mean were exceedingly esteemed of if it were but leather or wood or never so mean a thing that was in the tabernable and consecrated to God
therefore when any was converted it is said they were added to the Church And S. Paul Heb. 10. 25. lays a charge upon them though it were at such a time as they hazarded their lives Not to forsake the assembly of the Saints as the maner of some is And Mr. Calvin in a Sermon upon that Text Seek ye my face interpreting it thus The face of God is Gods Ordinances as a man is known by his face so God maketh himself known in his Ordinances and so he urges that place Seek my face that all Christians in conscience are bound to go where Gods Ordinances may be enjoyed if possibly they can And he says further It is better they should scrape the ground with their nails then to be any where else where they should not ioyn with Gods people in the ways of his Ordinances Certainly it is a great blessing to be with them though upon never such hard terms in regard of afflictions That is observable that we read of Jacob blessing his sons Gen. 49. 28. it is said He blessed every one of them How was that for you shall finde he rather seemed to curse three of them Reuben Simeon and Levi he speaks onely of evil to them but because they were not rejected from being amongst Gods people although they were to be under great and sore afflictions yet they are said to be blessed Well but why should we suffer much affliction for the joyning with Gods people What is there in them or amongst them that makes joyning with them to be so desireable First that point we handled before might be enough to shew the reason of this they are the excellent of the earth Isaiah 43. 4. I do not now speak of them particularly though every Saint is honorable but especially they are honorable in a way of Church communion Now we know it is a credit and priviledge to have society with those that are honorable Gods people are so they are the glory of the world as for others God speaks of them as dirt and dross Psal 119. 118 119. but now Gods people are called the glory of God himself Isaiah 4. 5. now it is good being with such as those are Peter when he saw but two of Gods servants together with Christ Moses and Elias says It is good being here let us make three Tabernacles one for thee one for Moses and one for Elias he never thought of himself it is good being here though he should lye in the field and in the rain and so says a gracious heart It is good being here with Gods people for they are precious whatsoever hardship we suffer amongst them Secondly there is no such comfortable communion in the world as with Gods people It is comfortable First in the very beholding of the shining of the graces of Gods Spirit in them says Heathen Seneca The very look of a good man delights me What is the glory of God himself but to see his own glory shining in the world in the works of creation and providence If God delights so much to see the resplendency of that glory that shines in his works surely it must be a great delight to those that have any work of grace to see grace shining in others Besides there is a blessed fragrancy of graces in Gods people as the eye is satisfied in beholding the beauty of them so the heart is satisfied in the sweetness of them Cant. 6. 2. My beloved is gone down into his garden to the beds of spices the Catholike Church is as the garden and every particular Church if it be as it should be is as a bed of spices that gives forth a very fragrant smell It is reported of Alexander his body was of such an exact constitution that it gave a sweet scent where it went and so a Church is of so good a constitution that it gives forth a wonderful sweet fragrant smell to those that have their right senses Again no such comfort as in communion with Gods people in regard of the nearness of their union one with another their hearts joyn and are one if they be truly spiritual other societies are but as the iron and the clay in the toes of Nebuchadnezzars Image they may cleave together but they will not incorporate one into another The more spiritual any thing is the more it does unite with that which is spiritual spiritual things are more unitive then such things as are bodily as if you have a heap of stones they do not joyn so close together but now a thousand beams of the Sun will unite together in one point because they are spiritual things in comparison and this is the reason why there is such a full union between God and a spiritual heart because God is so spiritual and the more spiritual the heart is the more union and so Christians having grace and grace being spiritual the more grace the more spiritual and the more spiritual the more union and the reason why in Church-fellowship there is so little union is because they are so carnal and therefore the Apostle says the contentions that were in the Church of Corinth were because they were carnal If you were more spiritual there would not be such division between you As it is in wicked communion those who are more spiritually wicked for there is a kinde of spiritual wickedness they do more unite together those that are more fleshly wicked do not so closely unite as your drunkards and prophane fellows though they call good fellows yet upon every cross word they are ready to fall out but others that are wicked in a malicious way against the godly and wicked in a way of policy to work to undermine the way of godliness such as those joyn together a great deal more strongly then those that joyn together in an outward fleshly way Now because Gods people are spiritual in a gracious way therefore they have such near union and union causes abundance of comfort We read Exodus 26. of two sorts of Curtains for the Tabernacle the one verse 1. of fine twined linen blew purple and scarlet and the tatches were of gold to couple them the other were of goats hair ver 7. and the tatches to couple them were of brass ver 11. Which may set forth the several sorts of people in the Church some are of a finer make then others more spiritual and the bonds of their union are golden others are more course and the bonds of their union are not so glorious but this is a truth for ever the more spiritual the more union the more pure the souls of men are and of the more excellent temper the more close sweet excellent in their union Again no such comfort as with Gods people because of the suitableness of that disposition that is in their spirits one with another having but one spirit and but one divine nature led by the same principles
and said He that could save others let him come down and save himself Again consider the great mercy of God in concealing the secret sins of your thoughts there are none let them be never so innocent in the world yet there is so much filth and baseness within the heart that if God should but turn the inside outward and discover all to the world certainly it would make them ashamed of the society of men make them ashamed to come into the Congregation what confusion and what matter of reproach would there be then Now seeing God in his goodness favors his people so far as he keeps in much secret evil that he could discover before the world if he should withdraw himself a little from you he could let you fall into such sins as your secret sins should be discovered but God favors your names so as that he hath kept in that secret evil that you have had secret inclinations unto now the consideration of Gods goodness in tendring you so far may very well quiet your hearts when you begin to be troubled for every reproach that is cast upon you Now I see my adversaries are fain to watch and search and pry for occasion of reproach God might have given them matter enough and therefore its mercy they have such little matter as they have It is a great work of nature to keep the filth of the body when it is in a man from being unsavory unto others so the filth of the soul though it be unsavory to God yet it is Gods mercy that keeps it from that unsavoriness that it might be to men Fifthly consider how much reproach the name of God hath endured for your sakes and is it so great a matter for your names to be reproached for his sake It is a notable speech Chrysostom hath That for us and for our life our Lord should be blasphemed is worse then if we perished Hath not the name of God been reproached for your sakes not onely in the time of your ignorance but since have there not been occasion given by you to cause others to reproach the name of the blessed God and if God comes to you in your names do you take it so ill Again consider who those are that do reproach you and for what it is It is the speech of an Ancient That a reproacher is beneath a man but the reproached that bear it well are equal to the Angels The Hebrew word that signifies scorners hath many other significations which set out the vileness the dangerous evil there is in a scornful spirit the Seventy besides that of scorning have five other words to shew the signification of it as first 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the first Psalm in the chair of scorners they translate it by a word that signifies the plague in the chair of plagues because scorners are a plague to the place where they live and do infect many a second word that they use to express it by is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Prov. 20. 1. which signifies incorrigible that which cannot be tamed because scorners are such Wine is a scorner res indomita an unruly thing that cannot be tamed because it makes men to be so and so are scorners there is little hope of such Thirdly sometimes they translate it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Prov. 9. 12. as such as are given up to all kinde of vice and so are scorners And fourthly by a word that signifies proud 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Prov. 3. 34. for such likewise are scorners Fifthly by a word that signifies to deal unjustly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Psal 119. 51. because scorners are injurious Thus you see what kinde of men those who scorn and reproach the ways and professors of Religion are But besides they are especially such as have been brought up superstitiously or prophanely such as have been bred in superstitious Popish families are many times bitter scorners and reproachers of those who are most forward in the ways of godliness We read 2 Kings 2. 23. when Elisha went to Bethel there came forth little children out of the city and mocked him and said unto him Go up thou bald head go up thou bald head that is observable they came out of Bethel which was that idolatrous city in Israel where the Calf of Jeroboam was set up that place was full of scorners at the Prophets of the Lord you may know the temper of the place by the disposition of the little children they usually heard their parents and those who were elder scorn at the Prophets of the Lord they were brought up in that way and because it was at Bethel the curse of God was the rather upon their children to destroy them although they were but children yet two and forty of them were presently destroyed Hosea 7. 5. we read of those who were elder the great ones in that City even Jeroboam himself and his Courtiers what scorners they were In the day of our King the Princes have made him sick with bottles of wine he stretched out his hand with the scorners The Princes Nobles Officers great ones of the Countrey jeered and scorned at those who would not yield to that way of worship that Jeroboam had set up namely of the Calves O they must be so precise as no worship will serve their turn but going up to Jerusalem to worship there such as ventured the loss of their estates their offices their liberties they accounted them fools and reproached them as a company of simple silly people And as superstition is a cause of this so prophaneness and sensuallity causeth it likewise that is observable in the forenamed place of Hosea when he was made sick with wine then he streched out his hand with scorners when wicked men pamper themselves with good cheer and their hearts are hot with wine then they scorn at Religion and reproach such as are more strict and forward then others blessing themselves in the brave life they live contemning the ways of godliness and the professors of them as such who want those brave delights they enjoy and in regard of that they scorn at and reproach the ways of God and his people at those times Psalm 35. 16. with hypocritical mockers in feasts they gnashed upon me with their teeth the most cruel scornful reproaches against the Saints are at feasts That place is observable Deut. 32. 33 34. Their wine is the poyson of dragons and the cruel venom of asps because of the bitterness of their spirits against those who are godly when they are at their cups but mark what follows Is not this laid up in store and sealed up among my treasures to me belongeth vengeance and recompence their foot shall slide in due time God will remember this it is laid up in store with him it is surely sealed up and shall certainly be brought forth one day And yet further Who are your reproachers They are those that
reproaches of Christ then certainly Christ is wonderfully reproached in the world none so reproached as Christ is because he is not onely reproached himself but all the reproaches that fall upon all his people in the world not onely since Moses time but from the beginning of the world they are all the reproaches of Christ none suffers so much as he consider we then with our selves how we can love this Christ a reproached Christ Is Christ notwithstanding all his reproaches dear and precious to us howsoever he be to the world yet can your souls say with the Church He is altogether lovely as the Apostle Peter says 1 Pet. 2. 7 8. He is a rock and a stone of offence to those that do not believe but to you precious and so Christ though he be a reproached Christ yet to you he is precious to a godly and gracious heart how precious is Jesus Christ There is a notable place concerning the reproaches of Christ and yet of the high esteem that Gods people have of him notwithstanding he is reproached Isa 52. 14 15. His visage was so marred more then any mans and his form more then the sons of men what then is there none therefore that shall prize him yes at the fifteenth verse So shall he sprinkle many Nations the Kings shall shut their mouthes at him for that which had not been told them shall they see and that which they had not heard shall they consider that is there shall yet come a time when as the Lord shall sprinkle many nations by the work of his Spirit and draw many Kings so as they shall shut their mouthes whereas they contemned him and despised him now they shall shut their mouthes in a way of admiration that that had not been told them which they see as St. Paul he knew Christ onely after the flesh but when he came to know him after another maner he thought otherwise of him So when God does sprinkle any with his Spirit that they know Christ though his visage he marred more then any mans and he is reproached more then any man yet they shall prize him and delight in him and the more he is reproached the more they shall delight in him It is a notable speech of Bernard By so much the more Christ is vile for me by so much the more he is dearer to me CHAP. XXXV Sixteen several Consolatións arising to the Saints from this consideration That their sufferings are Christs sufferings SEcondly the consideration of this point is of admirable use for the consolation of all the people of God in all their sufferings and reproaches If reproaches and sufferings be the reproaches of Christ Christ is engaged in them more then you there may be many branches of comfort to Gods people from hence That Christ is so engaged in all their sufferings as they are accounted Christs own it is a great matter when any one suffers any thing if they know this that any great man is engaged in their sufferings if a subject should have a King so engaged in any thing he undertakes that he can say Whatsoever I suffer in this is the suffering of the King this is a great comfort to him so here there are several branches of comfort that may be drawn from this Our sufferings are the sufferings of Christ First it is a great deal of comfort that God does take notice of our reproaches This was the comfort of the Psalmist in Psal 69. 19. Thou hast known my reproach and my shame and my dishonor my adversaries are all before thee If a man suffer reproach and disgrace and trouble for his friends while he is abroad from them O says he Did but my friends know what I suffer and suffer for them it would comfort me If it be comfort to be known much more when they shall be accounted their own Christ is acquainted with all the sufferings of every member and therefore do not say I am a poor creature who takes notice of my sufferings Heaven takes notice of your sufferings Christ takes notice of them better then your selves Secondly if they be the sufferings of Christ they are no other but such as are predetermined for you from the beginning of the world for certainly the sufferings of Christ are determined It may be said of these sufferings as truly as of those he suffered in his own person Act. 2. 23. They are by the determinate counsel foreknowledge of God therefore it is not in the liberty of man to reproach you as he pleases but all is by the fore-determinate counsel of God Thirdly certainly you do not want compassion in your sufferings neither for one to suffer much and to be reproached and no body to have compassion is grievous but surely you have compassion enough Christ must needs take compassion on you and it is not a forced compassion but a natural compassion was there ever any that was not sensible of the sufferings of his own flesh unless it be dead Indeed if you be a dead member of a Church it may be Christ does not compassionate your sufferings but if you be a living member Christ does compassionate your sufferings and pity you in every lye and slander that is told of you many times when we hear of the servants of God and especially those we know to be godly to have such strange reports of them our hearts begin to break and to yern towards them If one member have compassion of another much more the head the head is more sensible of the evils done to the body then the other members are Fourthly all these reproaches and sufferings do not argue your rejection they may stand with the infinite love of God many of Gods people are ready to draw sad conclusions from their reproaches surely God would not suffer this if he loved them they may stand with the same love wherewith the Father loved the Son for they are the reproaches of the Son Fifthly they must needs be sanctified to you those that are the sufferings of Christ are fanctified sufferings certainly Christ will not suffer them to go away unsanctified Christ is so holy that if they come near to him he will make them holy and therefore your bodies and souls having union with Christ they come to be sanctified so all your conditions and sufferings come to be sanctified by union with Christ he is the blessed one of God and therefore all your sufferings must be blessed from him Sixthly if they be the reproaches of Christ then you are not left to bear the burthen of them alone you have but the lighter end of the staff if a burthen be never so heavy at one end and a strong man is under that and the other be light though a weak man be under that he does not care so the weight and burthen of reproaches lie upon the shoulders of Christ and therefore when you think it is hard
happiness at all but besides it hath a kinde of infinite capacity whereby it is made capable of the highest happiness that belongs to the capacity of a Creature and certainly God hath not made this in vain God does intend to fill this capacity You will say An infinite capacity of happiness how is that Thus for there are two things in the rational part of man his understanding and his will now the capacity of this part must be judged according to the objects that are suitable unto these two faculties in mans soul For the understanding it is not any particular thing that is the object of it but truth in general take truth in the utmost latitude of it in the universality of it that is the object of mans understanding and therefore the understanding is infinite because it is not satisfied in this or that particular but truth in the utmost extent And for the object of the will it is good in the general it is not this or that particular good but good in the universality of its nature and therefore till it come to enjoy God that does eminently contain all good in him it can never come to have full satisfaction And here observe the difference between the capacity of mans nature and the capacity of other Creatures as for other Creatures their faculties can extend no further then some particular good and they are limited within the narrow bounds of their own nature and therefore if so be the eye have colour it goes no further and if the ear have sound it goes no further and so taste it goes no further then some particular good but the intelligent soul the rational soul goes beyond all particulars Now God having made mans nature of such a capacity for good and happiness certainly God intends great things for the children of men other maner of things then there are in this world and if for any surely for the righteous Thirdly surely there is a reward because it is the great design that God had in the making of the world in all his works to lift up and advance the glory of the riches of his mercy and grace now if this be Gods great design to advance the glory of his infinite mercy then certainly there must needs be a glorious condition for some of the children of men for that is not yet done though there be something of Gods mercy manifested that we have cause to admire at yet certainly God does not reveal that in the world whereby he should attain to the great design of lifting up of the glory of his great Name Fourthly the chief of the deep infinite counsels of God and the works of his wisdom that have been from all eternity have been and are yet exercised about this especially namely to bring mankinde to his eternal estate and to communicate unto the children of men that glory that he hath appointed for them that it might be in the most glorious way that can be now if God have set his infinite wisdom on work from all eternity about this namely what might be the most glorious way of communication of himself in the riches of his goodness unto mankinde certainly when this comes to pass that God should communicate himself as much as he does intend it must be infinitely glorious certainly there are great things and glorious things to be communicated hereafter Fifthly the power of God hath been already exercised in subserviency to other attributes of his to make known his wisdom and his bounty and his general goodness the power of God have been wonderfully manifested in the works of creation and providence now certainly the power of God is as well to be put forth in a way of subserviency unto his grace and mercy now if there be such a time as Gods infinite power is to be let out and work unto that end that it might be subservient unto the infiniteness of his mercy then certainly there are glorious and great things to be revealed and made known Sixthly certainly there are glorious and great things for mankinde in that God hath raised the nature of man unto such a heighth as he hath done in Christ namely to unite mans nature unto himself unto the second person of the Trinity and that with the nearest union that possibly can be namely an hypostatical union certainly then God intends great things for the children of men for that nature that is one person with the Divine nature This is such a great work of God as all other of the works of God are darkned in the honor of this great work Seventhly the great purchase that Jesus Christ hath made in that he hath been content to leave so much glory certainly this was to purchase great glory and in that he was content to be made a curse for mans-sin and to shed his blood and to give his life for man surely this was not onely to purchase outward comforts in the world it was to purchase higher things and therefore great must needs be the fruit of the purchase of the blood of Christ and therefore great are the things that are to be revealed hereafter Eighthly there are in Scripture many glorious promises which yet are not fulfilled abundant rich and glorious promises that have infinite treasures of good in them there must be a time of fulfilling of them all to the utmost extent of them and therefore certainly there are great things to be revealed hereafter Thy word O Lord is setled for ever in Heaven Psal 119. 89. Ninthly the great things that God hath done for his enemies is a demonstration that there is a glorious condition for Gods people afterward in that God hath filled their bellies with his hid treasure what treasures hath God to fill the souls of his own people with when as he does fill the bellies of the wicked whom he does intend to cast out as accursed Tenthly it appears there are great things for the people of God hereafter because of the great hopes that are wrought in the hearts of Gods servants by the power of the Holy Ghost Now surely such hopes as are wrought by the power of the Holy Ghost they must attain unto glorious things Rom. 15. 13. Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that you may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost the hope of Gods people is that which is not onely wrought by the Holy Ghost but by the power of the Holy Ghost and such an hope as God is pleased to stile himself the God of this hope and therefore certainly glorious things are to be revealed Another demonstration is this the very natures and excellency of grace is to take off our hearts from these present things in the world and from all the good that is here in the creature God does give grace for this end now then I reason thus if the chief excellency
let out immediately from God and this is indeed the special difference of all from whence flow many excellent consequences which would even require a particular of it self I may hereafter enlarge my self in this in some other Treatise And thus you may see the blessed condition of Gods people when they come to the recompence of reward We have something here and we rejoyce in it and bless God for it but those ways that God hath to communicate himself to his people hereafter are glorious ways O that our hearts were raised to look after that communication of God that we shall have hereafter O those base and drossie spirits that we have Because we receive some goodness of God here we are ready to be quieted here and rest here as if God had nothing to communicate to the Children of men but that we have here See the vileness of our hearts we are here ready to rest upon the lowest things that God communicates and do not so much as rise in our hearts to the highest things that are communicated here but a christian heart should rise higher then the most excellent things that are here in the world namely to the most blessed things that are hereafter let us shew our selves that we are men of hopes to enjoy God after another maner then here Many do not desire enjoyment of God let them have the creature they never think of any communication of God so much as through the creature whereas a true Christian that hath grace he receives nothing in the world but he thinks with himself how have I God here how does God communicate himself to me in meat and drink and cloathes and friends and the like it is well if you go thus far but you must go higher are there not choyce mercies O yes there are blessed things communicated through the ordinances through prayer and the word and sacraments there are blessed things few mens hearts look so high as to look to the communication of Gods choyce mercies in this world but a gracious heart rises higher does as it were bathe it self with those refreshments that are to come through Gods mercy I have the creature and the communication of God through that and I have the ordinances and Gods choyce mercies communicated through them but there are glorious things to be communicated hereafter and those my soul rejoyces in Now God does communicate himself onely in that way which is suitable to our condition now we are but narrow vessels and have but narrow mouthes and are not capable of that greatness of Gods communication but time will come when as God will communicate himself in a more glorious maner and in that I bless my self and therefore I will not regard any of Gods communication of himself to me here but in order unto that glorious communication of God to me hereafter And thus we have seen something of the recompence of reward comparing it with what we have here Now secondly we are to compare it with the condition of Adam in the estate of Innocency As for the estate of Adam in Paradise it was a blessed condition yet far under the happiness of the Saints in the recompence of the reward For Adams body was but natural and his Paradise was but a natural Paradise and a possibility there was he might lose his happiness and if he should have stood there should not have been that glorious distinct working of the three Persons of the Trinity about mans happiness that there now is and therein especially lies the difference Thirdly compare it with the Angels and you shall finde in Scripture some expressions of the happiness of the Saints beyond the happiness of the blessed Angels themselves For the union that the Saints shall have with the Deity is a nearer union in divers respects then the union that the Angels have with the Deity and the righteousness wherewith the Saints stand righteous before the Lord is an higher righteousness then Adam or the Angels should have been in First the union that the Saints have with the Deity is a nearer union then that of the Angels First the humane nature in general that is advanced to an higher dignity then all the glory of the Angels put together Because there is an Hypostatical union between the humane Nature and the Divine in Christ Again we have many expressions in Scripture of the union of Saints with the Deity whereby it appears their union is nearer then the union of the Angels They are called the friends of Christ They are said to have fellowship with Iesus Christ 1 Cor. 1. 9. They are the Brethren of Christ They are Co-heirs with Jesus Christ There are no such expressions of the Angels And yet there are nearer expressions of their union they are the Spouse of Christ the Bride the Angels are but as the servants They are the members of Christ and are made one with Christ They are those that are to be one with the Father as the Father and the Son are one Iohn 17. 21. Christ there prays As thou Father art in me and I in thee that they also may be one in us he never prayed so for the Angels Lastly they are said to be loved of the Father with the very same love wherewith he loved the Son now though God loves the Angels yet it is not said that he loved them with the same love that he loved his Son These are the expressions we finde in Scripture concerning the near union that the Saints have with the Deity in some respects beyond the Angels but of the union of the Saints with the Deity we shall speak of more when we come to speak of the reward positively And then the righteousness wherewith they stand righteous before God is greater then the righteousness of Adam in Paradise or the Angels because it is the righteousness of the second Person of the Trinity and that is of an higher nature and a more glorious righteousness then the righteousness of any meer creature Now the righteousness of the Angels though it be perfect in its kinde yet it is not a righteousness of such an high nature as that righteousness which is the Son of God And thus of this recompence of reward comparatively CHAP. XLIII The perfection of the bodies and souls of the Saints in glory NOw thirdly let us consider it positively now in this positive consideration these things are to be followed First the perfection of their natures that they shall be raised to Secondly the glory that shall be put upon them at the day of Judgement Thirdly the possession of Heaven Fourthly the having God to be their Portion Fifthly their blessed communion with Jesus Christ Sixthly their communion with the Saints and Angels Lastly the eternal Sabbath that they are to keep in Heaven Under these seven heads all that we have to say concerning the positive reward of the Saints may be contained First the perfection that their
natures shall be raised unto and in that consider these three things First the perfection of their bodies Secondly the perfection of their souls Thirdly the perfection of the whole man First the perfection of the bodies of the Saints is no little matter and because so long as we are in the flesh and live by sense they are bodily things that do affect us therefore I will shew a little the perfection of the bodies of the Saints they shall have much of the recompence of the reward in their bodies In the general their bodies shall be made like the glorious body of Jesus Christ Phil. 3. 21. Certainly the body of Christ is very glorious in the transfiguration of Christ which was but a little glimpse of his glory how glorious was the body of Christ In Rev. 1. Saint John had a little glimpse of the representation of Christ and how glorious is it set forth the body of the meanest Saint shall be like the glorious body of Christ What is that I will go no further then that I finde in 1 Cor. 15. 42 43 44. and there are four things that set forth the glory of the bodies of the Saints when they come to attain the recompence of reward First it is raised in incorruption Secondly it is raised in glory Thirdly it is raised in power Fourthly it is raised a spiritual body First every Saint of God shall have an incorruptible body there shall be no more death it shall be made incorruptible in regard of that fulness of the presence of God with it If spices enbalming of dead bodies can keep them so long as they do sometime from smelling surely the glorious presence of God with the body shall have infinite more power to keep the bodies of the Saints incorruptible What would we give if a Physitian were able to give us a potion to make our bodies incorruptible that they should never dye yet as they are now it is hardly worth the desiring to have them incorruptible but when they shall be glorified and incorruptible too that is glorious They shall be incorruptible not subject to any suffering as God is able to binde up the active power of a creature that it shall not be able to act so he can binde up the corruptible power that it shall not work to corruption as in fire God can binde up the power of fire that it cannot burn so God can binde up the power of any creature that hath any corruptible power that there should not be the least passion that tends to corruption All sufferings come from the prevailing of the stronger agent over the patient and when any suffer it comes from some kinde of inability of the form of the patient whereby it begins to leave the matter in some degree now the bodies of the Saints shall be so formed with such an excellent form and so filled with the glory of it as that there can be no power external or internal that shall prevail against this form to weaken it And besides the reason that is given why the Heavens are incorruptible may be given why the bodies of the Saints shall be incorruptible the Heavens are of so excellent a form that the capacity of the matter is fully filled up and there may be truth in that reason so the bodies of the Saints being in their blessed estate into which they shall be raised they shal have such full satisfaction with the form wherewith they are informed that there shall not be the least propension to receive any other from Secondly it is raised in glory and that consists in these two things First in the admirable beauty of it Secondly in the wonderful lustre and splendor of it First in the admirable beauty of it having all parts in proportion and exact temper whatsoever can make one beautiful shall be in the bodies of the Saints if we could extract all the beauty of all the men and women in the world and put them into one it were but as a deformed thing in regard of the meanest of the bodies of the Saints in Heaven and much of the beauty will be not onely from their exact temper and comeliness that God shall put upon them but likewise from the excellency of their souls within them and from the unspeakable joy and cheerfulness of the heart And then the splendor and the lustre of their bodies says the Scripture They shall shine as the stars in the Firmament look what splendor is in the stars such shall be in these clay bodies of ours Daniel 12. 3. Yea they shall be in greater splendor then the stars they shall be as the Sun Matthew 13. 43. He that hath ears to hear let him hear and believe this that it shall be so that the bodies of the Saints shall shine more glorious then the Sun in its strength You will say How is it possible that this should be yes this is but according to that expression in Phil. 3. 21. Who shall change our vile bodies that it may be fashioned according to his glorious body according to the working whereby he is able to subdue all things unto himself It does not require a greater power to raise from the least degree of glory to the highest possibility as it is to make a thing out of nothing and therefore the making of the least creature out of nothing will argue more power then making the bodies of the Saints to shine brighter then the Sun in the Firmament Now certainly God in the glorifying of the Saints will manifest that power that he did in the creating of the world and if it does not require so much power to raise their bodies into such a glorious condition as to create a creature out of nothing then there is no reason why we should not believe this We know when Moses had been but forty days on the Mount with God when he came down among the Israelites his face did so shine that they were not able to behold it surely the glorified bodies of the Saints being eternally present with God shall shine far more gloriously then Moses face did and that is for the splendor of them Thirdly it is sown in weakness and raised in power now the strength and power of them appears in these four things First in that the body shall be able for to attend the soul in the most high operations here if the soul be exercised about any high and glorious object the body presently fails as in the extasies of the Prophet when God revealed himself extraordinarily to Daniel his body failed He fainted and was many days sick Dan. 8. 27. But there shall be that power in the body as it shall be serviceable to the soul in the most high and glorious operations that it shall have when God shall manifest himself in the fullest way that possibly can be Secondly in that it it shall every moment to all eternity without any intermission be exercised in
you too If you love your bodies be godly if you did believe these things were so would not these make you love godliness if I should come unto you and shew you how you might get some good for your bodies then I should prevail with you give some credit to that we say now if you will not believe these things I may say unto you as the Prophet said unto the Noble man that would not believe there could be great plenty says he Thou shalt see the great plenty with thine eyes but thou shalt not eat of it so if you will not believe the great things that the Ministers of God speak of in his name to you your eyes shall one day see those despicable contemptible bodies of the Saints in this glory though you shall not be partakers of any of it Now for the perfection of the soul As the soul is of a far larger extent then the body so it is more capable of happiness then the body is and that being the proper seat of godliness so it shall be the more rewarded What splendor shall the soul have says Bernard when the body shall shine gloriously as the Sun All that we can say for the soul for the present because we understand so little of the soul is That the soul shall not depend upon the body as it does now for its operation And the soul shall no way be hindred by the body as now it is hindred here And all the faculties of the soul shall be extended to the utmost Now if an infinite power can extend the least degree of power to such an heighth in the members of the body much more can an infinite power extend the faculties of an immortal soul that is capable of a great deal more power then the body is Besides as the faculties are extended so all the graces of Gods Spirit that the Saints of God have here shall be extended to the heighth and they are capable of a higher extention then any thing that is natural for the more spiritual a thing is the more capable it is of extention As the plant is more capable to be drawn out to an higher excellency then a stone and the sensitive creature to an higher excellency then the plant and the rational creature to an higher excellency then the sensitive and grace which is supernatural can be extended to an higher excellency then the natural Besides what increated excellency we might imagine could possibly be put upon it shall be who could have thought that the humane nature should have had an hypostatical union with the body of Christ and as God hath done for the bodies of men more then all the Angels could have invented so there is to be communicated to the soul more then can be invented Thirdly the perfection of body and soul does consist in the majesty of the person being united together you know when Christ was here in the flesh in the estate of his humility when he did let out but one beam of his majesty those who came to apprehend him were not able to stand but fell backward if Christ by letting out some small beams of his majesty could make men fall backward how glorious must he needs be when those full beams of his majesty shall be let out the majesty of the Saints shall have some proportion with his and that very great which must needs follow from that which hath been said We read of Stephen that when he stood before the Councel arraigned as a malefactor it is said They looked upon his countenance and it was as the face of an Angel O what majesty will appear in the countenances of the Saints hereafter And as in Adam in the estate of Innocency there was such majesty in his countenance that all the beasts were afraid of him what will be the majesty of God in his Saints then as they shall be hereafter It is said of Basil when he was sent for to be taken by his Persecutors being in holy exercises there appeared such a majesty in his countenance that those that came to take him were not able to stand before him There is a majesty in the countenance of Gods people when they walk close with God but how much more will there be majesty in their countenances hereafter So that you see Gods people shall not onely be glorious within as the Kings daughter is glorious within but they shall be glorious outwardly And so much for the first thing The perfection of the natures of the Saints CHAP. XLIV The glory that shall be put upon the Saints at the Great Day SEcondly the glory that shall be put upon them at the day of Judgement First the glory of the day it self shall be their glory for it shall be nothing else but the solemnity of the marriage of the Lamb Here there is a contract between the Lamb and his Bride but the solemnity of the marriage is reserved to that great day and all the glory of the day shall be to set out the solemnity of it and God himself shall appear in his glory to make the day glorious As the Parents upon the marriage day appear in as much glory as they can that they may honor the day so God shall appear in his glory in the solemnizing of the marriage between Christ and his Spouse And as the Bridegroom comes forth in his glory so Christ will come in his glory with all his Angels in their glory As all the servants of the Bridegroom put on their best array upon the marriage day so all the Angels shall appear in their lustre and beauty and this sets out the wonderful glory of the Saints that shall be at that day notwithstanding all the glory of the Father and Christ and the Angels that shall be then yet they shall not lose their glory The Stars lose their shining lustre when the Sun rises because their light is nothing in comparison of the great light but the lustre of the Saints shall be bright shining and glorious even in the presence of the glory of the Father and of Jesus Christ and of all the blessed Angels Great things will be done that day there will be the Great Supper that God will make for the solemnizing of the Marriage and the great meeting of the Saints with Christ O what salutations can you imagine will there be between Christ and his members and being met the sentence of Absolution shall be pronounced before men and Angels Christ shall honor the Saints before all the world and say These are they these are the men for whom the eternal counsels of my Father did work to make them glorious these are they for whom I came into the world and shed my blood and laid down my life these are they in whom I am to be glorified for ever Again the glory of the day shall be in setting of the Saints with Christ upon thrones in judgement to judge the whole world
the Monarchs and great ones of the earth and so to be honored in the eyes of those that were their enemies and contemned and reproached them and vilified them before and likewise their glory shall be in this to rejoyce in the execution of the sentence that is pronounced upon those that are condemned Lastly their glory shall be in their glorious ascension with Christ into the highest heavens ranked in their comely order with triumph and joy singing Stand open ye gates and be ye open ye everlasting doors that the King of glory and all his redeemed ones may come in Thirdly the possession of heaven the Kingdom of heaven shall be theirs the heaven of heavens great things are spoken of that there are these things considerable in it First it is the third heaven there is the heaven that is the space between the visible firmament and the earth the second heaven is the Orbes wherein the Sun and Moon and Stars are and then there is an heaven above them which is the seat of the blessed which is of an infinite heighth above all now it as a sweet confideration for the people of God when you are going out in the evening and seeing the firmament spangled with the Stars to have such thoughts as these What shall one day this body of mine be lifted up beyond yonder place Though now you lie low in some dark hole there is a time when God shall lift you up to be above that spangled firmament that spangled firmament is but the pavement of your Fathers house it is but the outside and if the outside and footstool of Gods house be so glorious how glorious is it within how glorions is the presence Chamber This world is made for Dogs for the Enemies of God and those that are more vile then any creatures he does not think much to have swine live here but you do not suffer swine to come into the presence Chamber or into the Dining-room now heaven is the presence Chamber and Dining-room for that eternal feast to be solemnized in and that must needs be glorious Secondly it is called our Fathers house This is not our Fathers house though we should be caught up where the Stars are that is not our Father house that is but the out-room Says Christ In my Fathers house there are many Mansions God was from all eternity a heaven to himself before the world was then he created the highest heavens to be the place of his presence not that he is comprehended there but that he would have a place for his glory more fully to shine in Again it is a place prepared from the beginning of the world and Christ is gone to prepare it for us If there were such a building here that all the men of the world had been building from the beginning of the world and they had all the pearls and jewels of the world to set into it and all the inventions and strength of men and Angels to help them to build it would be glorious but in comparison it is but a dungeon to this The brightness of this is exceeding glorious says Chrysostom when you see a sumptuous pallace you look upon it and are taken with it but it is but as a dungeon to your Fathers house The light of that shall be of another nature then the light of the world the light that we have here is a material light but the whole body of heaven is of an higher nature then the body of the Sun and there shal be such a glorious presence of God as there shall need no Sun Moon and Stars to enlighten it and then with the brightness of the body of Christ and the brightness of the bodies of the Saints there shall be a glorious lustre And for the large extent of it the lowest heavens are but as a prick of the center in comparison to the starry heaven and the starry heaven is but as a prick of the center to the highest heaven Men boast here if they have but a few clods of land as Socrates put a scorn upon Alcebiades that boasted of his lands he brought him to the Map of the whole world and prayed him to shew them there and there was not one prick vouchsafed for them in it What is a little land to a countrey and what is a countrey to the world and the world is but as a prick to the lowest heaven and the lowest heaven is but as a prick to the starry heaven and the starry heaven is but as a prick to the highest heaven and the Saints shall possess all that You that have no possessions here know there is a possession hereafter that is more then if you had all the Lands in the world Besides it is of an incorruptible nature it is an inheritance incorruptible The reason why the heavens and so the soul is incorruptible is because it is not made out of pre-existing principles it was made out of nothing and nothing but an infinite power can annihilate a thing as well as make a thing out of nothing Much is said of that place for the description of it Jerusalem was but a Type of it and the Land of Canaan was but a Type of it and Paradise was but a Type of this glorious place that is provided for the Saints of God Let us therefore raise up our hearts to consider of this And as we read in Gen. 13. 14 15. where God shewed to Abraham the Land of Canaan says God look Northward and Southward and Eastward and Westward for all the land which thou seest to thee will I give it and to thy seed So consider the vastness of the Heavens and the exceeding extent of them and consider this is the Inheritance of the Saints We know we have an abiding eternal inheritance our bodies shall abide eternally and the Heavens themselves are eternal this should quiet our hearts when we finde any discontent in our habitations it is no matter in what Countrey we are here there is a glorious Countrey we are going to Christ our elder Brother is already gone and hath taken possession of Heaven for us as if so be there were some great inheritance did befal you here and you cannot go to possess it and if you hear one is there for you who hath taken quiet possession for you and you shall be sent for in time convenient will you not be content So we are not fitted for Heaven but Christ is gone before to take possession and within a while we shall go and live with him The earth is too mean a place for the Saints and yet the world is not worthy of the Saints of God in a mean condition then the world shall not be worthy of the Saints in their glorious condition and therefore there must be a place above the world Yet know Heaven is not enough for the Saints the Saints of God are of such spiritual raised spirits as
God and my soul are somewhat united and that God and my soul shall have a glorious union hereafter O that God would raise our hearts to these things that we may know what is the business we have to do in the world If you do not know these things shall be your portion never give satisfaction to your selves in the flesh till your know these things shall be your portion CHAP. XLVIII The blessedness of communion with God NOw we come to the fourth thing Communion with God and this is more then the other three things Union is the ground of communion communion is that which riseth from both parts being united and the Saints shall have a glorious communion with God and the Trinity in this life there is a communion that the Scripture speaks of that we have with God the Father and the Son and the Spirit 1 John 1. 3. Our fellowship is with the Father and his Son Jesus Christ and in 1 Cor. 13. 14. The communion of the Holy Ghost be with you says the Apostle so that there is a fellowship with the Father and the Son and communion with the Holy Ghost but certainly it shall be another maner of communion that the Saints shall have with God in the world to come Now this communion it stands either in regard of the work of God upon and towards the Saints or the work of the Saints upon and towards God for communion is on both sides and that in these four things First in the delight they have one in another Secondly in wishing all good to one another Thirdly in the communication of themselves one to another Fourthly in the blessed familiar converse that they have one with another First communion consists in the delight they have in one another There is a full actual mutual everlasting delight between God and the Saints in heaven First there is a delight Secondly full Thirdly actual Fourthly mutual Fifthly everlasting First there is a delight God here rejoyces in them the Scripture says He rejoyces in the habitable parts of the earth and his delight is with the sons of men Prov. 8. 31. why does God delight in the habitable parts of the earth there are other glorious works of God that are not in the habitable parts of the world but God delights in the habitable parts of the world because there are rational creatures there but he hath more delight in his Church in this world then in any other part of the habitable parts of the world as Isa 19. 25. Assyria is the work of Gods hands but Israel is his inheritance but there will be a delight far higher The delight that God hath in heaven it self is in regard of the Saints that are there without which heaven were not heaven First it is delight in their persons God takes infinite delight and content in the persons of the Saints howsoever their persons are mean here yet as they shall be hereafter God will take an infinite delight in them Secondly he delights in conferring blessedness upon his people there is much delight in the communication of good as well as in the enjoyment of it what good hath a man who hath a great estate more then another but that he may communicate more good then another Thirdly he delights in the glory that he hath conferred upon them As those that have true communion one with another delight in any good that one another hath God delights in the glory that is in his Saints and takes much pleasure in it his soul is satisfied in the glory that he sees upon his own people and that because he loves them The former arose from the pleasure in himself in the act of communicating this from the love to his people to see their good Fourthly God delights in their presence to have them with him and by him as the Father delights in the presence of his Children to have them round about him Fifthly God delights in their love that he hath these creatures to love as a man delights to have love from others What pleasure could a man have in all the world if none loved him If he should live in a Family or Town and none loved him he could have no pleasure in his life but if a man live where he is loved it makes up a great many wants so God is not contented in any thing else he hath to delight himself in but that which must make up all in that he hath his people to love him Sixthly God delights the more in his own glory because his Saints are partakers of it it is so much the more sweet unto him because they have a share in it thus it is between entire friends who have intimate communion one with another their own happiness pleases them the more because the other hath a part in it Secondly it is a full delight that God takes in his people It is said of his people in this world in Zeph. 17. 3. he will rejoyce over them with joy and with singing the delight that God hath with his people in Heaven must needs be full First in regard of the near relation that his people have to his Son and because he takes such infinite delight in the Son and they being one with him thence flows that full delight Secondly because he shall see so much of his own Image now that is infinitely delightful that is the reason why the father or mother does delight in their children because they see themselves in them so God shall see himself in his people and that will cause full delight Thirdly because of the glorious works of God upon the souls of his people because he shall see his own handy-work to be so glorious and full in them As a man that makes a work that is very curious and glorious he takes abundance of delight to look upon it and if the work be full and perfect then his delight is full and perfect Now the great work of God is in the glory of the Saints God loves to look back to the creatures therefore when he had made the world he looked upon what he had made and saw it was good As a workman when he hath brought his work to some perfection he will look upon it Now when God shall see what he hath done in raising such a poor worm to such high excellency God will take full delight in viewing this full work he hath done And this is more then all the former for besides the delight in the act of communication and delight because of the love to those to whom good is communicated This is the delight in his own work done in the beholding the beauty and glory of it Fourthly the delight of God must be full because in them God attains his highest end the highest end of his greatest design the highest end of his deepest councels the highest end of his most glorious work It is a great
delight to a man when he goes about a work if he have his end though a man have some benefit by his work yet if he be crost in his last end all his joy is taken away and this is the evil of sin sin seeks to cross God in his highest end that he aims at but the Saints in heaven shall give God his full end God shall have the highest end that he did aim at he shall see it accomplished and fulfilled in them now those objects in which God 's highest end is fulfilled he must needs take delight in and that shall be in the Saints Again the delight of God must be full because God hath no other object but rational creatures Angels and Saints to let out his delight to if God does take any delight in any creature here it is in order to the Angels and the Saints Now when God hath no other object to himself and his Son and his Spirit to let out his delight unto but the rational Creatures Saints and Angels joyned in one for the Lord Christ shall be the head of the Saints and Angels surely his delight in them shall be full Thirdly this delight shall be actual and that is necessary to communion for though there be delight yet if it should lie dead in the habits there is no communion If two friends have habitual delight one in another they are not said to have communion but when it is actual so this delight shall be actual the nature of delight is to be lively and active even in us though it be but an affection in us but God being a pure act there will be an infinite activity in his delight and it is always vigorous and fresh so as God shall make the souls of his people to be sensible of the activity of his delight Fourthly this delight shall be mutual it shall be on the Saints part as well as on Gods part As God delights in the persons of the Saints so they delight in God himself not in that they receive from God but their greatest delight is in the being of God himself and as God delights in their glory so they do delight in all the glory of God in essential glory that they see in God and in all the glory that is reflected upon God by his creatures and they delight in his presence in being with him and in his love and in that they can give any glory to him they delight in all they have more because God hath glory by it then in that themselves are blessed in it And it is full likewise the delight of the Saints of God is full as well as the delight of God in the Saints is full and that for the very same grounds that the delight of God in them is full namely The fulness of Gods delight in them is their relation to Christ so the ground of their full delight in God is because God is the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ and because they see their likeness in God what ever excellency they have in themselves they see it to be infinitely in God and as God delights in them because of his works he sees in them so the Saints shall see all the good that ever they have done does redound to the glory of God howsoever the works of Gods people for the present seem to be mean yet it shall appear all the gracious works of the people of God shall be the most glorious things in the world For God shall own them for the setting out of his glory as the greatest things in the world and this should be an infinite encouragement to us to be abundant in good works because God will glorifie our good works and as the fulness of the delight of God in the Saints is because God attains his end in them how full must the delight of the Saints in God be because the Saints do attain their end in God the end of all their thoughts and ways and performances and they shall have no other object to let out their delight to but onely God here though we have some grace yet the stream is divided we let out so much to one creature and so much to another the children so much to the Parents and the Parents so much to the children and husband so much to the wife and the wife so much to the husband and so much to our friends that the stream we let out to God is but little but when all the delight that we let out to the creatures shall be taken away and God shall be the onely object of our delight then our delight must be full And as this delight is mutual so it shall be continual for being withdrawn from all other objects it will work upon that both of them Gods delight in the Saints and the delight of the Saints in God shall be for ever the Saints shall be an eternal excellency in which God shall delight and God shall be an eternal excellency in which they delight they shall be always keeping that feast of the Lamb. We read of Ahasuerus he kept a glorious feast and the gloriousness of it is set forth by the continuance of it Esther 1. 4 5. it is observable the difference between the feast that he made with his Nobles and the feast that he made with the common people and that may lively set out the difference of the goodness of God that he lets out to his own people and that he lets out to other common people he made a feast of a hundred and fourscore days to his Nobles and but seven days to the common people so when God comes to make a feast of joy to his people it shall be everlasting Men in the world have some content but it is but for a little time but the comfort and joy that is to be between God and the Saints in Heaven is to be eternal because it is such a feast as is made to his Nobles and to shew the riches of his glorious Kingdom and the honor of his Majesty Secondly in communion there is a mutual wishing and willing of good to one another now God shall will all good to the Saints and they wish all good to God It is true that God from all eternity did will all good unto his people but here his people are not of a capacity to receive much there is a great deal of difference in willing and determining good to them before they were in being or before they were capable of receiving this good and willing good to them when they shall be made vessels fit to receive good the bodies and souls either of the Saints or the wicked being united after the resurrection they shall be vessels infinitely enlarged capable of abundantly more then they are here and then to have God will good to them is far better then to have good willed to them here The men of the world would fain have good here
exercised in holy duties with others it is good to consider of their weakness whether they be able to hold out and joyn with us but there we shall not need fear weariness in our selves or any others Again we shall see nothing else done by no body else Here we get together and sing and pray and hear the Word and this is comfortable but we see the Sabbath broken by others and that damps our hearts but there is a Sabbath coming shall be so kept as we shall see none break it but every one we have to deal withal shall keep it But yet by the way it is better in a place where it is not altogether so well kept and is in a rising way then in a place where it is better kept for the present but is in a declining way but though it be a grief to us to see the Sabbath broken yet know there is a Sabbath coming that we shall keep and none shall break it Again the happiness of the Sabbath consists in this to keep this Sabbath in these high exercises when so many thousands shall be yelling and roaring under the wrath of an infinite God they shall consider we are now in the presence of God keeping a Sabbath unto him as the children of the Bride-chamber singing songs of triumph to him that sits upon the throne for ever whereas others are cast out from God and are roaring and yelling under the burthen of the wrath of an infinite God and that might have been our portion This addes to the glory of the Saints and therefore the Scripture hath this expression Without shall be dogs That expression is taken from the maner of the Iews marriages usually they were in the night and the Bridegroom and his Bride and their company were taken in with torches and delight into the Bride-chamber others were without without light not taken into the chamber so in Heaven some shall be taken to be exercised in these glorious things and others are cast out as would it not adde much to ones happiness to think thus with ones self I am now going into a place where I shall have abundance of mirth and joy with my friends and others in the mean time lie in the cold starving in the dungeon and I might have been there as well as they if a man should go along with the King in triumph and be at the right hand of the King in glory and as he goes by he should hear a company of poor wretches out of a dungeon crying yelling this sets out his glory so to be at that time thus exercised in those heavenly employments when as others shall be cursing themselves and the time that they were born and blaspheme the name of God it is a comfort to a company of gracious hearts when they are got together in holy exercises to think there are others in the Tavern drinking and swilling and blaspheming what difference is between our condition this day and their condition this does mightily refresh ones heart and enlarge it to praise God for his mercy and so in Heaven the Saints shall know every instant when they are keeping this Sabbath others are howling under the wrath of God and cursing the time they were born Lastly this Sabbath is to be kept in our Fathers house we shall not sing the songs of Zion in a strange Land but in our Fathers house Those godly persons in the times of the Maccabees accounted themselves happy that they might worship and serve God though in the Dens and Caves of the Earth it will be more happiness to serve God in Heaven and in our Fathers House I remember I read of one Marcellus a godly man being cast into a stinking place he did make that his Temple to God and perfumed it with his prayers and after the Christians built a Temple in that place and so we may make a filthy dungeon a Temple but if it be comfortable to be exercised in holy duties in the most filthy and vile places much more comfortable shall it be when we come to Heaven in our Fathers house In Rev. 15. we read of those that sung the song of Moses they stood upon the sea of glass mingled with fire to sing the song of Moses though it be upon the sea of glass this uncertain life of ours full of trouble it is comfortable but to sing it in our Fathers house will be comfortable indeed though we do meet with troubles here yet if we can enjoy the Sabbath we comfort our selves but we shall have a better Sabbath then these even a perpetual Sabbath in our Fathers house put these together and you shall see what this perpetual Sabbath is that Gods people shall have in heaven Now put all together that we have said negatively comparatively and positively the perfection of their natures their bodies and souls and whole persons their glory at the day of judgement their possession of heaven their having God to be their portion their communion with Christ their communion with the Angels and Saints and this perpetual Sabbath that they shall keep and do but apprehend what infinite joy must flow from all these these are as the several streams of this Paradise of God In Gen. 2. we read of Paradise that God made for Adam and there were four streams that were to water it this Paradise of Heaven have these seven streams to water it to make the Saints happy do but consider what infinite joy must flow from all these put together every one does cause joy but put them all together and the joy that comes from hence is a most pure joy and a most spiritual joy and a full joy and a divine joy First pure that is not onely free from any mixture of sorrow but without any thing that should sully it without any sin Here all our pleasures are mixed And spiritual If it were to rejoyce in the good that our bodies shall have it were admirable joy but the joy shall not be so much in regard of the happiness of our bodies but in regard that God is our portion it shall be spiritual yea the happiness of our bodies shall be spiritual and supernatural And it shall be full How full must it needs be they shall enter into their joy because the joy cannot enter into them We rejoyce in believing with joy unspeakable and glorious If the seed time be so glorious how glorious will the harvest be says Cyprian They shall not taste but they shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house The fatness of Gods house in the world does abundantly satisfie the souls of Gods people but the fatness of Gods house hereafter how will that satisfie them The people of God shall have such objects to rejoyce in as is the essential glory of God and all the glory that is put upon him by all his creatures and all the good they have by Gods
have felt the work of God regenerating your souls upon which you have followed me you shall sit upon twelve thrones Some do interpret this place Regeneration the estate of the Gospel and so make it not to be the work of God upon the soul but the work of God upon the world to make a new world as the glorious estate of the Church under the Gospel is called a new heaven and a new earth and so take it Ye that have followed me in this new world ye shall sit upon twelve thrones c. but I rather take it the other way not wholly excluding this they are onely those that follow Christ in the Regeneration that shall have this reward It is called the new birth because there is such a strange change there is a new spirit and a new life put into a man Suppose a rational soul were put into a beast what a change would be in that creature Suppose an Angelical nature were put upon us what a change would there be By the change that is wrought in regeneration there is a greater difference the highest degree of glory in heaven is not so different from the lowest degree of grace here as the lowest degree of grace here is different from the highest excellency of nature because the difference between the highest degree of the glory of heaven from the lowest degree of grace is but a gradual difference but the difference that is between the lowest degree of grace and the highest excellency of nature is a specifical difference Therefore you that hope for glory know there must be a regeneration that work of God upon your souls that must cause a greater difference in you from that you were by nature then there is in the glorified Saints that have the highest degree of glory from the meanest Saint in the world as the reward is a mighty glorious thing so the work of God in preparing a soul for this reward is a mighty glorious work And therefore do not content your selves in every poor slight thought of heaven know heaven lies upon that which is a mighty work of God in you Thirdly if you ever come to Heaven there is a principle of heaven put into your souls here that is a heavenly principle that carries you heavenward I mean the work of God causing you to have heavenly mindes and heavenly hearts Our conversation is in heaven says the Apostle In Cant. 3. 6. the Church is compared to pillars of smoke that ascend upward to heaven Though the Church be black and dark in regard of her infirmities yet it hath a principle to carry it upward to heaven The Saints are compared to Eagles that fly aloft towards heaven though their bodies are not there their hearts and souls are there if our treasures be in heaven our hearts are there already I read of Edward the first who had a mighty desire to go to the holy Land to Ierusalem and because he was hindred and could not get thither he gave his Son a charge upon his death-bed to carry his heart thither and he prepared Two and thirty thousand pound to carry his heart thither So the Saints though they have not their bodies in heaven their hearts are there and they take much pains and are at great charges to get their hearts thither All things in nature have a principle to carry them to their proper place because the place of fire is on high therefore fire hath a principle to carry it on high and because the place of earth is below therefore earth hath a principle to carry it downward So if the place and center of the heart be in Heaven then certainly it hath a principle to move naturally thither to move upward to heaven and therefore that soul that hath nothing but a principle to carry it downward to the earth and to the lusts of it to these things below heaven is not the proper place for such a soul and when the soul goes out of the body it wil not go to Heaven Take earth and close it in a vessel and take fire and put into a vessel open the vessels and let them out and they go both to their places so the souls of men when they are gone out of the body they go to the place whither they had a principle to carry them therefore do not think the principle shall be put into them when you dye but you must have a principle before if your hearts be prest down by earthly things when you dye they will fall down and therefore observe which way your souls work Can you say as in the presence of God My soul works heavenward though I have weights of corruption that would weigh me down yet I have a principle that does work to Heaven But the consciences of many tell them their souls work downward to vanity and sensuality and you have no other principle and therefore when your souls depart they fall downward Fourthly what soul soever hath an interest in heaven heaven is in that soul already The kingdom of God is in them and they have taken hold of eternal life now eternal life abides in them Whom he hath justified he hath glorified already they have the glory of heaven begun you heard what that was In heaven there is the perfection of our natures the image of God shall be renewed now is the image of God begun hath God marked you and set the stamp of his image upon you There is no soul that God does intend to put glory upon but he marks that soul and stamps his image upon it in the work of conversion and says Here is a soul I set the stamp of my image upon because I mark it out to glory if ever you come to Heaven God must see his own Image and Superscription upon you As the Beast set his mark upon men and would suffer none to trade but those that had his mark so God will set his mark upon his people and none shall come into his Kingdom but those that have his mark now a mans Image is upon a thing when by beholding of it I am put in minde of him that it is an Image of so if you have this Image and stamp of God a man that knows God as soon as he looks upon you as soon as he beholds your conversation he is put in minde of God and he says I have heard and read much of God of the holiness and righteousness of God and by this mans conversation I am put in minde of that holiness and righteousness of God the brightness of which I see shining here Again in Heaven you know God himself is the portion of the Saints they have the presence of God What presence of God do you enjoy here Were your souls ever acquainted with the presence of God in the Ordinances What blessed vision have you of God here Those who come to Heaven God gives a sight of himself here
claim to Heaven and eternal life and this recompence of reward do lie right in the point of Justification or no If you look at nothing but the works that you do though they be never so glorious and good do not lay your claim first right in the point of Justification you will mistake and miscarry and be disappointed of all this recompence of reward Therefore Paul in Rom. 8. 30. says Whom he hath justified them he also glorified so that Glorification does depend upon Justification Now then the first thing that a soul is to look after for the assurance of its portion in this recompence of reward is to make sure in the point of Justification for there lies the claim to heaven and all the rest comes but as a consequent of this Now the laying our claim right in the point of Justification consists in this When a soul comes to apprehend the infinite need it hath of a perfect righteousness of a Mediator and looks upon that righteousness of the Mediator as well pleasing to God as sufficient to absolve it from former sins and to discharge it from former guiltiness whereby another reward was due to it and by faith applies this righteousness whereby it comes to be perfect before God and lays the weight of all its confidence of Heaven and of glory upon this then you may hope to have interest in this recompence of reward but if your claim come in any other way then this it does not give you any interest to heaven and therefore look much to the point of Justification and be sure that your hearts have laid the claim and interest it hath to heaven and eternal life right there and then there may be great hope of the recompence of reward though afterward there be many failings in your works and services And if you will look at any work whereby you should have the reward especially look at the work of believing closing with the righteousness of Christ in the apprehension of your own unworthiness This is the greatest work that any man is able to do that shall have the greatest reward in heaven You think if you were able to perform duties and do such and such things to keep your hearts up for God you should have this reward but the greatest work of God that ever any creature did is when it apprehends its own unworthiness to venture upon the righteousness of Christ if you were able to perform full obedience to every particular of the Moral Law it were not so great a work not so accepted of God not so well pleasing in his eyes nor should not be so gloriously rewarded in Heaven as this one work of believing in his Son God takes such infinite delight in his Son as he looks more at that work of the souls believing in his Son and venturing it self and its eternal estate upon his Son then he does upon all works besides and therefore look upon the point of Justification by faith first and if that be right the assurance of the reward will come in divers objections will rise that can never be answered till the heart be setled in the point of Justification All the Objections that rise from our weakness and sinful infirmity comes from this because we do not settle our selves well in the claim we make to the recompence of reward in the point of Justification in the righteousness of Christ by faith Eighthly examine what your works are see whether they be such as shall attain to this recompence of reward If all the excellencies of all the moralities of all the men in the world were put into one these could never reach to this reward it is a supernatural thing and therefore if you would know whether you shall have it there must be something supernatural in you But when is a work supernatural so as I must have some comfortable hope that it shall reach unto this supernatural reward A supernatural work hath First supernatural Principles Secondly it hath supernatural ends Thirdly it is performed in a supernatural maner First the principles are supernatural first they are above nature and secondly they are fetched from a fountain that nature hath no skill of For the first there is something above nature that puts you upon duties you do not onely go on in the ways of godliness because you know you are bound to them you cannot be saved else but because you finde a new light let out by God from heaven that shews an infinite excellency and beauty that is in the way of godliness And you finde a principle of Divine nature put into you that makes the ways of godliness agreeable to you and the more Spiritual and Divine they are the more suitableness you finde between your souls and those ways And secondly do you finde that you draw your principles that enables you to any good work from a Mediator The natural principles come at highest but from reason it sees reason for such and such things to be done but a supernatural principle is drawn from a Mediator from God-Man from God in Christ and by vertue of the promise and so it comes to be an Evangelical obedience And it hath supernatural ends beyond self and all self and creature respects That work that is natural rises no higher then nature in its ends as the water ascends no higher then from the place it descends so all natural works have some self or creature respects but when you finde your hearts are raised above self and creature respects in your obedience to God there is a supernatural end And then they are performed in a supernatural maner Seneca hath this expression of desires You may know it is not a natural desire when it rises beyond bounds He applies it to evil desires when a man desires things without bounds that is no natural desire Now that which he applyes to the corruption of nature we may rather apply to the perfection of nature All the desires of nature are such as are limited in a narrow compass no natural man in the world does go on in the ways of obedience with an infinite desire to dilate himself infinitely as far as he is capable but is always limited in a little narrow compass so far he will go and no further but when the soul comes to walk with God in a way of supernatural obedience it comes to be without bounds all those bounds that did limit the soul are taken away and there is a letting out of the heart to God in the ways of godliness in an infinite maner and this is a most clear evidence of a supernatural work that will go for currant in Heaven and shall be rewarded there there is the impression of Gods infiniteness upon the heart in every work that is performed examine whether your works be not like those that the Apostle speaks of in 1 Cor. 3. 15. where he speaks of the works that shall burn
the life of Camillus of the Gauls that after they had once a taste of the sweet wine of the grapes that grew in Italy they inquired in what Countrey such sweet wine was and after they understood where the grape of that wine grew they would never be at rest till they got to that Countrey where such sweet and pleasant things grew I have endeavored in the opening of this point to bring unto you some of the Clusters of Canaan and some of that wine which is to be drunk in the Kingdom of Heaven now if you account it to be sweet and good let not your hearts be at rest till you come at that Countrey till you come to enjoy the sweet and good of that Countrey It is reported of one Adrianus who seeing the Martyrs suffer such grievous things in the cause of Christ he asked what was that which caused them to suffer such things and one of them named that Text Eye hath not seen nor ear hath not heard neither hath it entred into the heart of man to conceive what is laid up for those that love God and the naming of that Text converted him and had such an effect as made him to profess Religion and so to profess it as to be a Martyr for it You have not onely one Text named but many have been used about this argument let not all be in vain We read in Mark 10. 17. of a yong man that came running and kneeled before Christ and asked him Good Master what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life O that God would move the hearts now of some yong ones that hearing what eternal life means they may now come running to get part in it that that activity and vigor of their youth may be exercised and spent about this What may I do that I likewise may be partaker of eternal life and of these glorious and blessed truths that are here revealed You that are in a poor condition in the world that have little here here are great things for your hearts to make after here are glorious things that are as obvious for you ac for the greatest in the world you cannot expect to have great matters in the earth but here you may expect to have great matters You that are old likewise though you have not been acquainted with the excellency of the Kingdom of God now bless God that you may yet further know more concerning it If a man come to know more of an inheritance that did befal him or of any outward gain then before he is glad that he lived to that time so bless God that you may know yet more concerning eternal life before this life be at an end What is it that your hearts are set upon There are none but their hearts are set upon some good that they apprehend to be good Now what is that good Certainly there is an eminency of all good contained in this It was a charge of God unto Baruch that we read of in Jer. 45. ult Seekest thou great things for thy self Seek them not for I will bring evil upon all flesh and that which I have planted I will pluck up The argument runs thus Seekest thou great things for thy self in any outward matter do not seek them for I am about to bring evil upon my people the time of publique calamity is coming and doest thou seek great things for thy self But when we are about this argument the glory of the Kingdom of God Doest thou seek great things for thy self We cannot say Seek them not God would have his people seek glorious things for themselves seek them to the utmost that possibly you can So follow these things as not to be satisfied with any thing under these God would have his servants to be of such spirits as though content with the least mercies they do enjoy to acknowledge themselves unworthy of them yet not to be satisfied with the greatest things in the world for their portion What will a reprobates portion serve you Certainly the glory of the world if you had it all it were but the portion of a reprobate What will a Dogs portion satisfie you All the things of the world are but Dogs meat so the Apostle calls them in Phil. 3. I account all things in the world as dross and dung or dogs meat and will this satisfie you Is there nothing else for you to seek after First seek the Kingdom of God says Christ and the righteousness of it let that be your first endeavor Strive to enter into the strait gate though it be never so strait yet if it be the way unto life and unto these things strive to enter We have not spoken more then that is real It is a saying of one Neither Christ nor Heaven can be hyperbolized that is there cannot be more said of the excellency of Christ and of Heaven then it is in its self and therefore do not think any thing that hath been spoken is an hyperbole but a real expression of some little glimpse of the glory of the recompence of reward It may be some of your hearts when you hear much of the wrath of God against sin and the dreadfulness of Gods displeasure your hearts are ready to rise and belk and these are hard things and hard sayings and who can bear them but now you have not heard so much concerning that but you have heard of the goodness of God and of the glory of God and of the riches of the grace of God and of the wonderful thoughts that God hath for the everlasting good of mankinde how do your hearts work now Shall your hearts stir when you hear Gods wrath and when you hear of Gods grace shall not your hearts stir then If God does intend good to any soul he will cause that soul to see into the reality and excellency of these things and that all things should be neglected in comparison in seeking after these Consider that God hath given unto you natures capable of these glorious things God might have made you worms or bruit beasts and there would have been an end of you presently you had not been any way capable of these things but God hath made you of such a nature such creatures as ye are capable of the highest excellency that ever any creature that God made was capable of and therefore being of such a nature of such a large extent it concerns you to seek after those things which might fill it they are not little things that can fill large capacities now mans nature an immortal soul is of a large capacity and when the time shall come that God shall discover to any soul what it was capable of how infinitely will it be confounded in it self when it shall know what poor things it sought after and minded Men live here in the world as though they were capable of no other happiness but meat and drink and clothes and