not as men without hope but comfort one another Obs There is a sorrow for departed friends which God condemns not We are forbid an hopeless sorrow v. 13. but simply to mourn for the loss of our gracious Relations we are no where forbidden He that hath wrapt up natural affections in our bowels doth not prohibit the due and moderate exercise of them Those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 persons without natural affections are in the black Roll amongst the most ulcerous and excrescent part of mankind To be without natural affections is to do violence against Nature her self and to violate the law of humanity Covenant breakers without natural affection are monsters not men Christ himself who knew no sin yet being acquainted with all our griefs even had this kind of sorrow for the dead John 11.35 Jesus wept and his tears do here instruct us in our duty Holy Paul blots his Epistle to the Ephesians with his tears for Epaphroditus Lest saith he I should have sorrow upon sorrow he was sorrowful for his sickness had he dyed there would have been another flood of tears sorrow upon sorrow Where mention is made of the death of publick persons there publick lamentations for them is mentioned also The Spirit of God doth no where reprove those tears but rather puts a value upon them as so many pearls As in the mourning for Jacob Gen. 50.11 for Josias 2 Chron. 35.24 for Samuel 1 Sam. 25.1 for Stephen Acts 8.2 It s reckoned amongst Gods thunderbolts Psal 78.64 Their widows made no lamentation The removal of Gods peace from a people and prohibition to mourn for their dead are twin-judgments or one the birth of another Enter not into the house of mourning neither go to lament nor bemoan them for I have taken away my peace from this people Tears are like wine you may pour them out but take heed of excess Be not drunk with tears wherein is excess you may weep but as those that weep not you may mourn but not as others which have no hope 1 Cor. 7.30 these affections are natural but this hope will baptize and regenerate them Secondly Hence we learn 2. Branch of Information There is another work or duty incumbent on Christians under the loss of gracious Relations Then only to mourn for them namely to enquire yea 1 King 20.33 with Benhadad's servants diligently to observe what words of comfort do fall from the lips of Scripture and hastily to catch at them q. d. Comfort another with these words yea Lord with these words do thou comfort thy servant We are usually either sensless under or swallowed up with great losses either our bowels are made of iron or they melt like wax and we faint away Vehement sorrow is like raging fire that turns every thing into its own nature It 's thy work therefore to study recruits as well as to pore upon thy losses to ballast thy soul with divine comforts If I go not away the Comforter cannot come John 16.7 Many times the best of our earthly enjoyments stand between us and our heavenly consolations But if I go away I will send him unto you It is good to resolve with our selves be my loss in this world never so great it is capable of a reparation For certainly if the loss of Christ in his bodily presence were to be repaired there is nothing under the whole heaven the loss whereof we can sustain but may much easilier be made up with advantage to be sure the presence of the Comforter is able to do it with an infinite overplus It is thy wisdom therefore to ballance thy soul with divine comforts as afflictions abound run to thy Cordial these words that thy consolations may abound also if the affliction scale be heavier than the consolation scale thou wilt certainly sink in thy spirit and then thy burden will break thy back Prov. 18.14 The spirit of a man is able to sustein his infirmity Thou mayst mourn but that is not all thou hast to do 2 Cor. 4 14. it concerns thee to get a cordial to keep thy heart from fainting For this cause we faint not Mark the Apostle had alwayes his Cordial about him so do thou be equally just to thy self as to thy deceased friends Thou owest them a debt of tears hast thou paid it Now be just to thy self thou owest a care to thy soul that thou sin not to thy spirit that it sink not must thou needs dye because thy Husband thy Child thy Friend is dead Look after divine consolation let it not be a small thing to thee neither say thou by interpretation nay if God will have this comfort from me let him take all Take heed of weeping thy self blind as to the consolations of God as Hagar did there was a well spring of water close by her but she had cried out her eyes and could not see it Gen. 21.16 until God opened her eyes verse 19. There is too much of the pride and sullenness of the Babylonish Favourite in us who when he had made a large and boasting recital of his Court favours could throw away all in a pet for want of a complement Yet all this availeth me nothing Hest 5.12 13. so long as I see Mordieai the Jew sitting at the Kings gate In all things pray and give thanks Phil. 4.6 Oh labour for the quick eye of faith which can spy out a little mercy in a great deal of affliction and can fit down and give thanks A Christian is never in such an affliction but he hath as much cause to praise God as he hath to pray unto him Lum 3.2 yea many mercies for one affliction that it is not so bad but it might be worse to be sure it is not hell◠2. That when ever he takes away one comfort he leaves more 3. Psal 30.5 That heaviness may continue for a night but joy in the morning 4. And in the mean time he hath a God to go unto Oh love the Lord all ye his Saints Psal 31.23 3. 3. Branch of Information Observe further the goodness and condescentions of God who hath laid in comfort before hand against a time of sorrow and mourning Cordials ready prepared to keep the hearts of his people from fainting in the hour of temptation like a good Chirurgeon he hath in his Chest a Salve for every Wound a Cordial for every Qualm there is not a fear in Gods peoples hearts but there is a fear not in Gods Book to antidote it withall and yea here in this model of divine comfort you have ten fear nots for one fear ten words of comfort for one grief conceived for the loss of a dear Relation These words 2 Cor. 1.5 that if our sorrow should abound our consolations may much more abound by Christ God dealeth in this case with his people just as he dealt with our first Parents providing a plaister before-hand to
three glorious persons in Trinity and that other like unto it between the two natures in Christ profound and ineffable 1 Cor. 2.14 Quia nihil animal animali superius cogitare potest the heart of man is not able to conceive it nor the tongue of an Angel to express it the natural man knows it not at all no more of it than a Swine knows what the Union is between the Soul and body in man it is above his principle 1 Cor. 2.14 The spiritual man understandeth it very imperfectly all we know is rather that it is than what it is the full and perfect knowledg of it is reserved for the future state so our Lord hath told us John 14.20 At that day ye shall know that I am in the Father and you in me and I in you then and not till then we shall never perfectly understand this Union until we come fully to enjoy it In the mean time if a short improvement of such a rich point might not be judged too much improper in such a contemplative discourse as this is a few things might be hinted from hence by way of Use Use First Here we may discover the main Foundation 1 Perseverance stands not in the nature of Grace and Reason of the Saints perseverance surely it consists not in the nature of Grace infused in their Regeneration this differs not specifically from the Grace which Adam received in his first Creation that was the Image of God Gen. 1.26 27. and so is this Colos 3.10 and therefore of it self cannot produce any higher or more noble effects under the one Covenant then it did under the other Secondly 2. Nor in freedom of will Nor doth it consist in the liberty and rectitude of their own Wills though Regenerate for if Adams free will did him so little service in his perfect state when it was entire free without any mixture of servility how little security think you can the liberty Ex nolentibus facit volentes Aug. wherewith Christ maketh the will free in the new Creation afford the Saints wherein the state of Grace is yet imperfect and the freedom of their wills mixt with so much bondage that it made the holy Apostle look upon it little different for the present from a captivity Rom. 7.24 and to cry out to astonishment for a Redeemer to come in and make a rescue O Wretch that I am who shall deliver me c. He found by experience that if it were not more for a Christ than for the freedom of his own will that body of death which he carried about him would infallibly prove his total and final ruine but I thank God for Jesus Christ our Lord there was his security But 1. In the Covenant of Grace Where then shall we bottom the stability and fixedness of the Saints surely upon a two-fold Foundation First Divine Compact Grace in the Saints is under a Covenant God the Father hath Astipulated with the Mediator for his spiritual believing seed not only to repair the Ruines of the first Creation his Image in them but to uphold and secure it from ever dissolving decaying again totally or finally partial temporary decays and recidivations there may be but saith the word of the Covenant to the Redeemer in Reference to his divine off-spring my Spirit which is upon thee Isa 59.21 and my words which I have put into thy mouth shall not depart out of thy mouth nor out of the mouth of thy Seed nor out of the mouth of thy Seeds Seed saith the Lord from henceforth and for ever Adams grace was under no such Covenant and therefore left to it self it was exposed to the power of Temptation and perished This is one account of the Saints perseverance But Secondly Secondly Union with Christ The next and immediate Foundation of it is this blessed Vnion whereof we are now speaking by vertue whereof the true Believer is so made one with Christ as Christ is one with his Father ut supr As we are one as that is as it hath been expounded spiritually really operatively enrichingly intimously indissolubly in a word infallibly and availeably to all saving intents and purposes Here is the ground and foundation of the Saints perseverance Rev. 3.1 They are not only fixt Stars in Christs right hand if no more it would be hard pulling them thence But their lives are bound up in the same bundle with Christs own life Jo. 14.19 our life is hid with Christ in God Christ and his Saints have as it were but one life between them and that life is Christs whence Christ himself makes the inference because I live Col. 3.3 you shall live also Upon such an instance it may be questioned and possibly without breach of charity whether they who deny the infallible perseverance of the Saints did ever truly study or believe the notion and nature of the happy and glorious Vnion which is betwixt Christ and them * The inseparableness of the Union is given as the account of the Saints perseverance Nothing can separate us Rom. 8 39. If we should form what hath been said unto such a Syllogism as this namely They that are United to Christ by a spiritual real operative enriching intimate inseparable Union can never totally or finally fall away But all true Believers are so United Therefore they can never so fall away I say cast all into such a form and we find that both the Premisses and the Conclusion are of Christ's own making Because I live ye shall live also And therefore until I hear that Christ is dead the second time which I am sure I shall never do for Christ being raised dieth no more Rom. 6.9 death hath no more dominion over him c. I dare not believe this doctrine The possibility of the Saints total and final Apostacy Only because Satan can transform himself into an Angel of Light and the heart is deceitful above all things Caution and desperately wicked my earnest advice and obsecration to all such as do pretend to this blessed Vnion as to mine own Soul is To give all diligence upon solid Scripture-evidence that is to say by the precious and powerful influences of this Vnion upon their Souls and by the gracious Reciprocations of Faith and Love and sweet holy communion with the Father and the Son c. by these I say and the like to secure the Assumption But I am thus Vnited to Christ And the Conclusion need not fear the gates of Rome or Hell but the Believer may boldly send forth St. Pauls challenge Who shall condemn What shall separate 1 Cor. 15.57 Thanks be to God who hath given us the Victory through our Lord Jesus Christ In the second place Second Use Hence we may take notice of the honour and dignity of the Saints how meanly and basely so ever reputed in The Dignity of the Saints 1 Cor. 4.13
as lying in the Grave their Beauty turned into Rottenness and deformity think not of them as possibly by a premature death as you may think snatcht from an earthly Inheritance before their time but think on them as co-heirs with Jesus Christ riding now in Triumph with him and with the whole general Assembly and Church of the First born whose names are written in Heaven to take possession of their Inheritance with the Saints in Light Thus behold them not as they are in the night of the shadow of death but as they shall be in the morning of the Resurrection when God will bring them with him and I had almost said Mourn if you can So much for the Sixth word of Comfort MOVNT PISGAH OR THE SECOND PART OF THIS Model of Consolatory Arguments OVER THE Death of our Godly Relations I Have opened unto you the first part of this Apostolical Model of divine Comforts over the Death of our Godly Friends and hopeful Relations which conteined in it six words of Consolation sc 1. That they are not said so properly to be dead as to sleep They are but fallen asleep 2. That their condition is a condition full of hope they are not in an hopeless state as others are 3. Jesus Christ the Captain of our Salvation went before them and shewed them the way Jesus Died. 4. He died indeed but he remained not long in the state of the Dead He rose again And that First By his own power as a Conquerour Secondly By Office as our Sponsor or Surety our Jesus Thirdly As a second Adam or publick person the head and Representative of all his spiritual Seed This also is in his name Jesus Jesus rose 5. The Saints Vnion with Christ so intimous and so inseparable that it ceaseth not in the very Grave They sleep in Jesus 6. They shall be brought back again at the Coming of the Lord God shall bring them with him these are conteined in the 13th and 14th verses of this Chapter I come now to the Second Part of this Divine Model Second Part. which is conteined in the three following Verses viz. the 15 16 17. together with the improvement of the whole context in the 18th verse which is mutual comfort and support Comfort one another with these words Now this later part contains in it four of these ten words of Comfort held out in this Model 1. The first is an obviating and removal of a discouragement and temptation which might possibly be upon the spirits of dying Saints namely lest the condition of the Saints which shall be found alive at the last day should be happier or at least sooner happy than the Saints which are fallen asleep long before and the removal of this discouragement makes a seaventh Word of Comfort in this Model 2. A second word is The coming of Christ his last appearance the Lord himself shall descend c. and this is the eighth word conteined in this Model 3. The third is The joyful and triumphant Meeting which all the Saints of God shall then have with one another and with Christ their Head and Husband ver 17. And this is the nineth Consolatory Argument in the order of the context 4. The last word of Comfort is That blessed co-habitation and Communion which the Saints shall enjoy with Jesus Christ for ever then shall we ever be with the Lord vers 17. And this is the tenth and last Consolatory Argument conteined in this Model I shall figure them in my opening of them as they stand in the order of the whole Model and make up the number of Ten words of Comfort conteined therein Seaventhly therefore Seventh word of Comfort the next word of Comfort in this Model is The obviating or removing an objection or discouragement which probably might possess the Spirits of God's dying-Saints and that is lest the Saints which shall be found alive at the last day might possibly be happier or at least sooner happy than the Saints which are fallen asleep before that day Now for the rolling of this stumbling block and stone-of-offence out of the way The Apostle doth these three things 1. The method of the last Judgment He sets down the order and method of the procedure of that great and solemn Transaction at Christs coming vers 15 16. 2. He quoteth infallible Authority for what he saith The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he tells us he speaks not a presumption of his own head but that which he had received of the Lord This we say unto you by the word of the Lord. 3. The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He gives us the ground and reason of this comfortable assertion and that is the coming of Christ in person For the Lord himself shall descend from Heaven c. vers 16. First 1. Branch of the word of Comfort The order method of Christs procedure The Apostle acquaints Believers with the order and method of that great and solemn Transaction at Christ his coming And this he doth Two ways 1. Negatively 2. Affirmatively First Neg. Negatively He peremptorily denieth that the living Saints at Christs coming in glory shall have any the least advantage above the sleeping Saints by their being found alive at that day We which are alive and remain shall not prevent them which are asleep Vers 16 i. e. The living Saints shall not prevent the dead Saints in any priviledg of the Resurrection or of the appearance of the Lord Jesus It might probly be a temptation upon the Thessalonians or other Christians 1. Either that the Saints only which should be found alive at the last day should have the happiness of seeing the Lord Jesus coming in his Glory with all his mighty Angels to judg the world and they only should enjoy the priviledg of his Glorious appearance that all the Saints that died before that day even from the beginning of the world were a lost generation that should never come forth again to the light or to behold the glory of that day or to enjoy the blessed fruits and consequences of it 2. Or at least that they should be the first in that happiness to see his Glory and have the first share in the felicities and triumph of that day or ever the sleeping Saints should be awakened or get out of their beds of dust The Apostle doth therefore I say peremptorily and positively remove this scruple and fear out of the minds of Christians he assures us that it is an utter mistake it is neither so nor so he tells us that all Believers who had died from the first Adam downward until the coming of the second Adam shall have as good a share caeteris paribus in the priviledges and glory of that day as they who stand upon their feet and are found inter vivos at Christ's coming Secondly and as soon the living shall not prevent the dead in any one of the beatitudes and honours of the Resurrection of
Jesus Christ They shall neither go forth to meet this glorious Bridegroom one moment sooner than their Brethren that are in their Graves nor shall they see him coming in his Glory one moment sooner nor consequently be owned by Christ or received by him or taken up to him or be placed upon Thrones with him or receive their absolution and justification from him or their glorification with him one moment before their fellow-Saints that are yet in their dormitories And truly this is a comfortable word even in the negative part of it Believers may lye down to sleep in their beds of dust not only with the Psalmist's even-Song I will both lay me down in peace and rest Psal 4.8 for thou Lord only wilt make we dwell in safety but with the Lord Jesus his Triumph Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoyceth Psal 16.9 10. my flesh also shall rest in hope for thou wilt not leave my Soul in Hell c. Christ will not forget his dead in the Grave the living Saints at his coming shall not be made happy without them nor one moment sooner happy in any of the Beatitudes of Christ his coming at the end of the world This comfort I say the very negative part of the Apostles answer to the Objection doth import But then How much stronger Consolation doth the affirtive part afford which although it lye in the close of the next verse yet it being the main branch of the Apostle's accompt whereby he satisfieth the doubt of the dying Servants of God ut suprà we must of necessity speak of it here also with the Negative at least so far as it referrs to the Apostle's scope reserving the consideration of what special and peculiar Import the words carry in them to their own place We are therefore to take notice that the affirmative part of the Apostles satisfaction to the Saints doubt or objection lieth in these words The dead in Christ shall rise first He doth exactly state the method of Christ's procedure at the last Judgment Affirmatively vers 16. viz. That the first business which shall be then transacted shall be the awakening and raising all the Saints of God out of their Graves which from Adam until that moment have slept in the dust The dead in Christ shall rise first nothing shall be done till that be done The very first work Christ will do at his Coming will be to send forth his Angels with a great sound of a Trumpet first to awaken the Elect out of their sleep Math. 24.31 Awake you that sleep in the dust and then to gather them from the four winds from the one end of Heaven to the other and when they shall have put on their Wedding garments to conduct them in State and Triumph to meet with their Royal Bridegroom now comn forth more than half way to meet them and to consummate the Marriage which was long since Contracted in the day of their Espousals It were easie to enlarge here but in a word the sum of this Affirmative account is this That the Saints who sleep in the Grave at Christ's coming shall be so far from being made less happy or later happy in the coming of Christ than the Saints who then shall be found alive that they shall be first remembred the first care Christ will take when he comes in the Clouds shall be not about the living Primitiae Resurrectionis but the dead Saints The dead in Christ shall rise first They shall be the first Fruits of the Resurrection They that have slept so long in their beds of dust Ab illis ordo Resurrectionis incipiet shall be first awakened before any thing be done about them that never slept They that were uncloathed and saw corruption in the Grave must first have their bodies cloathed upon with incorruption and then the surviving-Saints at Christ's coming shall be joyned to them that have for so many years and ages slept in Jesus The dead in Christ shall rise first and both be presented together before the Judge It were too little to say Use This may much alleviate the bieterness of death our own or our godly Relations surely it may greatly augment our joy They and we shall be so far from being losers by laying down our earthly Tabernacles in the dust before we see Christ coming in his Glory that it shall be our advantage If there be any priviledg any joy any glory any triumph at that day it shall be theirs who sleep in Jesus and theirs as soon as their surviving-Brethrens The first dawnings of the Sun of Righteousness coming in his Majesty shall shine upon their faces the first-fruits of that Jubilee shall be reserved for a recompence of their long sleep in the Grave they shall begin the health in this cup of Salvation the primacy of all that blessed solemnity belongs to the departed Saints The dead in Christ shall rise first Oh Christians Comfort one another with this word And the rather because this is not an uncertain conjecture which the Apostle laies down here but an assertion of infallible certainty which he had from the divine Oracle Second branch of this Comfort The Authority quoted the Word of the Lord which brings me to the second branch in this seaventh word of Comfort and that is The Authority which the Apostle brings for this Doctrine sc the Word of God This I say unto you by the word of the Lord. He quotes divine Authority for what he delivereth It being a Doctrine of so much encouragement and satisfaction unto dying Saints Praefatur nihil se preferre vel suum vel humanum Calv. a Doctrine above humane capacity and it seemeth not commonly understood by the Churches Saints of God at that time he doth not pass it in his own name or upon his own Authority When he speaks as one that hath obtained mercy to be saithful then it is 1 Cor. 7.12 I speak not the Lord i.e. not by express dictate of the Spirit but by way of Faith Christivice as agreeable to the word but when he speaks as an Apostle insallibly inspired then it is not I but the Lord and so it is here but tells us from whence he had it q.d. What I deliver now unto you I speak not of my self sed ex ore Domini from the mouth of him that is the truth it self the mouth of Jesus Christ This we say unto you in the word of the Lord. Qu. But where or when had the Apostle this Doctrine from Jesus Christ Ans Others are of opinion he had it by immediate Revelation but as to the time they differ Some conjecture 1 Cor. 12.2.4 the Apostle had this mysterie revealed to him at what time he was rapt up to the third Heaven and there heard unspeakable words amongst which one was this comfortable Doctrine that the living Saints shall not prevent the dead Saints in any glorious
one another and yet unseparable by reason whereof when but one of them is mentioned both of them are to be understood 6. If satisfaction be imputed Righteousness must be imputed also both being the peculiar and proper Office of the Mediator neither of them falling within the capacity of the Creature standing at the Bar of Divine Justice The third end of the Saints meeting with Christ in the Air â— Psal 116. 3d. End Consummation of the Saints Nuptials is The solemn Consummation of the Saints Nuptials with Christ their Bridegroom They were Contracted here on Earth when Christ and the Saints gained one another's consent Jesus Christ did then solemnly Espouse the Saints to himself Hos 2.19 20. I betrothed thee unto me for ever yea I betrothed thee unto me in Righteousness and in Judgment and in loving kindness and in Mercies I even betrothed thee unto me in faithfulness Indeed the Church in her self when Christ came to make Love to her was a very unlovely Creature whose emblem therefore is a poor wretched Infant in the Blood of its Nativity Ezek. 16.4.6 But Jesus Christ did first Love her with a Love of Pity Ezek. 16.6 I saw thee polluted in thine own Blood I saw thee that is I cast an Eye of Pity upon thee my bowels yearned towards thee And then as Love-less as she was that he might have a Legal right to her Eph 5.25 he Purchased her of his Father He Purchased her at a dear rate for He gave himself for her first He gave himself for her and then He gave himself to her They were wont to buy their Wives of the Father of the Damosel but never did Husband buy a Wife at such a Rate as the Lord Jesus did the Church Shechem bid fairly for Dinah Gen. 34.12 Jacobs Daughter Ask me never so much dowry and gift and I will give according as ye shall say unto me Jacob served seven years for Rachel as it fell out twice over c. yea but the Lord Jesus gave himself for his Church he purchased her with his own blood Act. 20 2â— Thirdly That he might love her with a love of Complacency he doth sanctifie her Eph. 5.27 and cleanse her by the washing of water by the word As he doth purchase the Church with his blood so he doth purifie the Church by his Spirit compared to water for the cleansing vertue thereof in the Ministry of the word as Ahashuerus had the Virgins first purified and perfumed before he took them into his bed Fourthly He woeth her by the Ministers of the Gospel who love their Lord and poor Souls so well that they will take no denial at her hand as Eleazer Isack's Steward Gen. 24.33 would not eat before he had sped for Rebeccah to Wife for his Master's Son 2 Cor. 11.2 And when they have gained her consent then they present her as a chast Virgin unto Christ Fifthly Christ and his Church upon their mutual interview like one another so well that they mutually engage and contract themselves one to another Cant. 2.16 they do mutually give away themselves one for and one to another My Beloved is mine and I am His. Sixthly Christ doth nourish her and cherish her until she be of age fit for his Marriage-Bed Seventhly And then He cometh for her and meets her by the way as Isaack met Rebeccah sc in the Air as here in the Context Lastly Consummation of the Marriage Then and there he Consummates the Marriage before God and Angels and Men and Devils he doth take her to himself as his Royal Queen saying Come my Love my Dove my Vndefiled one He embraceth her and kisseth her with a Marriage kiss and takes her to Wife The Marriage knot is knit Heaven and Earth are witnesses to it thousand thousands yea ten thousand times ten thousand even a great multitude whose voyce is as many waters and as the voyce of mighty thunderings This was the Wedding unto which John was invited Rev. 21.9 Come hither I will shew thee the Bride the Lamb's Wife He that had the Bride was the Bridegroom the Lord Jesus King of Kings c. but John the Friend of the Bridegroom Jo. 3 29. stood and rejoyced greatly to hear the Bridegrooms Voyce then indeed was his joy fulfilled At the Consummation of this Marriage what inconceivable Triumph and Rejoycing will there be the loud Musick of Heaven shall sound the voyce of mighty thundrings all the Angels Cherubims Seraphims with all the Blessed Quoire of Celestial Spirits who attend this glorious King of Saints shall praise God with the still Musick of their Hallelujahs yea all the Saints of God whether Patriarchs or Prophets and Apostles all the Martyrs and Confessors of Jesus Christ with the whole number of the Redeemed who are both Guests and Bride in this glorious solemnity will make the Arches of Heaven to Eccho when they shall be joyful in glory and the high praises of God shall be in their mouths Rev. 19.7 singing one to another Let us rejoyce and be glad for the Marriage of the Lamb is come and his Wife hath made her self ready The Gates of Hell and the very foundations of the Kingdom of darkness shall tremble and be confounded at the report of this Triumphant Jubilâ—e This Nuptâ—ll solemnity finished Fourth end of Saints meeting Christ To sit as Assessors with him Psal 45.9 the next and fourth act in that solemn meeting will be that the Bridegroom will take the Queen his Bride and set her upon his Throne at his right hand as King Agrippa did Bernice Act. 25.27 as a Confessor with himself in the following part of the Judgment which He as Judg shall pass upon the Reprobate world of men and Devils who have all this while stood trembling below upon the Earth beholding to their infinite shame and horror all this glory put upon the Saints and fearfully looking for their own Judgment and that fiery indignation which shall devour the Adversaries which now succeeds For the Elect Angels who are appointed to be the Satellites or Posse comitatus to attend the Judg shall now drag that miserable company of Jale-birds those reprobate Caitifs of infernal Spirits The judgment of the wicked and wicked Men before the Tribunal of the great Judg there they shall pass under a most impartial exact and severe Tryal Mal. 3.16 the books shall be opened the book of Gods Remembrance and the book of their own Consciences and out of them they shall be judged for all the evils which ever they committed from the time they first had a being in the world The Reprobate Angels shall then be judged for their first Apostacy Ad solomen calamitatis suae non desinunt perditi perdere Min. Fel. Oct. and for all their malice and revenge which since that cursed defection they ever acted against God and against his Saints yea and against the
Jam. 1.17 Were not this more than a shadow of turning Of the Lord and Head of the Saints in the dayes of his flesh it was said having loved his own he loved them to the end And is his love less now in heaven than it was on earth Is Christs love to his Church now she is his wife less sincere and intense than when she was but his Spouse Did Christ love more ardently at a distance than now in their mutual embraces These are prodigious blasphemies Jer. 31.3 not once to be admitted into our thoughts Nay saith God The Lord hath appeared of old unto me saying yea I have loved thee with an everlasting love therefore with loving kindness have I drawn thee An eighth Attribute is Justice 8. Attribute The justice of God The cessation of heaven and hell would utterly destroy divine justice and make that cease also for ever Take away those two tremendous patterns of Rewarde and Punishments heaven and hell by which the Saints here below do justifie God and vindicate the truth of the Christian Religion against all other Religions in the world and you cut the very sinews of Religion and make Laws of God vain and insignificant you starve the hope of the godly and extinguish the fear of the wicked Ninthly A cessation of the joys of Heaven and of the torments of Hell would turn Heaven into nothing else but the carnal dream of a Turkish Paradise and Hell into the ridiculous fancy of a Popish Purgatory If ever we be happy we must be assured of the perpetuity of our state or else the whole vision will be but as a pleasing dream wherein we may fancy our selves to be happy but are indeed miserable in ignorance and mistake Fear of loss will not only lessen the joy of heaven but turn joy it self into anguish yea the damned in hell might seem to have the better of the Saints in glory by how much hope of deliverance out of present misery is better than the expectation of the loss of present fruitions Surely the love of God never prepared such bitter sweets for his children neither could I have been induced to have spent so much time in fortifying so grand an Article of our Faith against supposed violence of atheistical spirits had it not been by occasion hereof to discover the beauty and strength of those pillars by which this dear-bought truth is supported To conclude It was not possibly without a type that the first Sabbath is mentioned without an evening and the new Jerusalem had no night Gen. 2.2 Rev. 21.25 both were prophetick to the eternal Sabbatisme of Heaven my Text assureth all the Saints of an everlasting fruition of God Ever with the Lord. There was an ever in the will of the Saints to holiness Hell is wrath to come and Heaven the Saints remaining rest and God who takes the will for the deed doth put an â—ver to their future reward that hell may be the everlasting witness of divine justice and heaven the perpetual monument of divine grace Christians this is the measuring Reed of the new Jerusalem the Cube of the heavenly Temple the breadth and length and height whereof none but he that can lay his right hand on the one end of Eternity and his left hand on the other end hath given unto us the computation whereof infinitely exceeds our Arithmetick yea the Arithmetick of all the Angels in heaven Those comparisons of the running out of an hour-glass by a single sand once in the revolution of a thousand years by which computation there would be scarce six sands lessened in the glass since the Creation of the world to this day or a little birds carrying away a mountain of sand by one small dust once in a twelve-mouth the emptying of the Sea by a drop once in an age and whatever of the like nature these are but like the span of an Infant to measure the circle of the heavens so many empty cyphers without a figure to calculate eternity by though they may seem Hyperbolies to our childish capacities oh who can describe eternity It is an Ocean without a bottom it cannot be fathomed a Sea that can never be sailed over from shoar to shoar Ever is that which cannot be measured but by it self ever is that out of which take never so many ages and worlds of time there is not a moment less to come ever is still to begin never to end eternity is still entire a spring which fills as fast as it emties a vast circle which begins where it ends and ends where it begins And now Christians is this the duration of Heaven Is this nothing less than this the measuring line of the Saints cohabitation with God Their Presence with God Their Vision and of God Their Fruition of God Their Communion with God Their Conformity to God What ever with the Lord Oh the purchase of Christ Oh the gift of God! Oh the love of the Spirit How unscarchable 〈◊〉 his counsels and his thoughts past finding out Thanks be to God for his unspeakable gift And here I might fix a full point to mine own and the Readers labour but because I find our Apostle closing his words of comfort with a word of counsel Wherefore comfort one another c. give me leave to follow my Guide and before we dismiss this beatifica contemplation let us enquire a little further what blessed improvement may be made of it even on this side of Eternity And the first Vse we may make of it may be that which the Psalmist makes the title of the 32. Vse 1 Psalm as of some others Maschil a Psalm to give instruction Let this I say be a word or Doctrine to teach And what doth it teach Even the very sum in the total sum which David's Psalm there teacheth namely who is the truly blessed man and wherein real blessedness doth consist Holy David saw the sons of men every where dis-spiriting themselves in the vehement prosecutions of blessedness every man would be happy but the mischief is men seek blessedness where it is not to be found every one knocks at the wrong door and therefore he labours to call them off from their mistaken purfuits in some such language Oh ye sons of men how long will ye love vanity and seek after leasing wherefore do ye spend your money for that which is not bread and your labour for that which saetisfieth not Come hither and hearken and I will shew you the thing which you are seeking and hunting after but in vain behold I will shew you who is indeed the blessed man namely the pardoned man blessednesses to the man whose transgression is forgiven Alad solum 〈◊〉 â—dest 〈…〉 proâ—â—◠〈◊〉 so 〈…〉 〈…〉 offic whose sin is covered blessednesses to the man to whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity q.d. other men may seem blessed to have what one would and do what one listeth this may be accounted a â—are
3. Earnestly beg the Spirit of God 3. Help Beâ— the Spirit His Office is twofold as to assurance 1. Mediate To clear your evidences The Office of the Spirit twofold 1. Mediate This he doth two wayes 1. By helping the soul to know and believe the evidence as it lyeth in the word such as these He that believeth shall be saved Rom. 10.9 They that through the Spirit do mortifie the deeds of the body shall live Rom. 8.13 Hereby we know we are passed from death to life because we love the brethren 1 John 3.14 18. cum 19. Hereby we know that we dwell in him and he in us because he hath given of his Spirit 1 John 4.13 The heirs of glory are only such as God hath made meet for the Inheritance Col. 1.12 He that hath the Son hath life 1 John 5.12 We groan to be cloathed upon that mortality might beswallowed up of life 2 Cor. 5.4 These and many other are the Graces and Qualifications to which God hath infallibly annexed heaven and glory And to these evidences the Holy Ghost helps the Soul to set his seal as to the infallible testimony of God that they are true John 3.33 2. The Spirit clears the evidence by the Candle of the Lord enabling the Soul to read it evidently written in the heart by his own finger the Spirit enlightens the understanding to see that these graces in the Soul are real and genuine The believer dan say I believe I through the Spirit do mortifie the deeds of the body I keep under my body and bring it into subjection 1 Cor. 9. ult I love the brethren and the more of God I see in them the more my heart cleaves to them I have the Son as a fountain of light and life dwelling in me I am in some measure made meet I hope to be partaker of the inheritance c. Now from the premises the Spirit enables the believer comfortably to issue this blessed conclusion Therefore I shall be saved Therefore I am a partaker of the inheritance of the Saints in light Behold this is the first office of the Spirit Oh pray for it Christians that in judging of your evidences neither on one hand you may be deceived with shadows instead of substances 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jam. 1.22 Bristol-stones instead of Diamonds as hypocrites deceive themselves and perish for ever nor on the other hand still lye trembling under a causeless suspition that all is but counâ—erfeit when there is no just ground for it and so for the present loose your comfort be sure not to trust your own spirit in so infinite a concern and if at first you cannot so readily make this practical Syllogisme wait and pray for the Spirit which is of God That you may know the things that are freely given to you of God! Cry with David Search me O God 2 Cor. 2.12 and know my heart c. Psal 139.23 24. It is good to be afraid to deceive our selves The second Office of the Spirit is that which some Divines call immediate 2. Office Immediate and it is a bright irradiation of the Holy Ghost beaming out upon the soul not only giving iâ— a clear distinct discerning of its own graces that we referr'd to in the former Office but immediately witnessing to the soul its adoption by Jesus Christ and right and title to the Kingdom of God wherein God speaks to the soul in some such like language as that I am thy salvation Psal 35.3 Making the soul to hear joy and gladness Psal 51.8 I have loved thee with an everlasting love Jer. 31.3 I have blotted out as a thick cloud thy transgressions and as a cloud thy sins Isai 44.22 I have redeemed thee like that in the Gospel Thy sins be forgiven thee Matth. 9.2 Now this act is usually called immediate i. e. without the mediation of signs and evidences as in the former Office not but that there are signs and evidences in the person testified but that the Spirit makes no use of them in the act of testification there are gracious qualifications in the soul sufficient to distinguish and justifie it from all the false witness of the lying Spirit upon all seasonable occasions but the Spirit of God doth not refer to any of these qualifications in this act but immediately darts in light and comfort which fill the soul wich joy unspeakable and full of glory This act of the Spirit is sometimes called in Scripture 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Seal of the Spirit Ephes 1.13 The office of a Seal being like that of an Oath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 6.16 an end of all strife to put the matter beyond doubt or disputation So a Believer sealed is set beyond all fear or danger and God as it were leaves himself no possibility of receding or going back from his word and promise Heb. 6.18 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This act is called an earnest 2 Cor. 5.5 Who also hath given us the earnest of his Spirit Now the office of an earnest is not only to assure but to give possession an earnest is part of the purchase or bargain so is this act of the Spirit an act whereby the soul is not only assured of but put into possession of the heavenly inheritance it is as it were part of it the joy of the Lord enters into the soul before the soul enters into the joy of the Lord assurance is nothing else but antidated glory heaven on this side heaven This is my B. the second Office of the Spirit which I well know some eminently learned and godly Divines deny acknowledging no other act of the Spirit in assurance but the former But I resolved at the entrance of this work not to dispute but thetically to assert my own opinion and judgment in any point that admits of debate In this case therefore I know and believe there is enough in the former Office of the Spirit to carry a believer to heaven yet this second Office can be no useless redundancy or over plus a Believer will need all the assurance that is to be had and therefore if God be so bountiful to give both let a Believer pray and wait for the promise of the Spirit in both these Offices mediate and immediate if he speed it will be a labour well bestowed if he speed not it will be a labour well lost I have done with this third Help or Means to attain assurance I come to the fourth and shall more briefly dispatch them that remain A fourth Help to get assurance is this 4. Help Be very tender of the Spirit Make much of the Spirit surely it concerns us highly to be very tender of the Spirit for if both kinds of assurance be the fruit of the Spirit we had need to hear as it were founding in our ears Grieve not the holy Spirit of God Ephes 4.30 whereby ye are sealed to the
that shall be revealed at the appearance of the Lord Jesus they cannot take up with such miserable comforts as men usually dye with And it must needs be an addition to the torments of hell to leave godly Relations mourning under the dreadful apprehensions of a Relation miscarrying to all eternity And to be regardless of our friends anxiety of spirit even in this respect is somewhat less charity than they have in hell Dives in hell was sollicitous to prevent his brethrens coming thither Graceless Relations dying with the marks of their unregeneracy upon them do even scorch the hearts of their gracious surviving friends with the sence of those flames which they suffer So it will be to them while they are yet in the body Woodcock his Sermon of Heaven p. 657. though at the Resurrection as one saith it shall be no more allay to their joy than if they saw so many fishes caught in a net Impartially therefore and accurately examine your own estates make your Consciences faithfully to answer this Question Can I give my self or friends comfort in this present state should I dye this very moment If Conscience assisted with Scripture light say no this is a lost estate this is a damnable condition I am now in oh poor wretch how highly doth it concern thee this very hour to look about thee for thou knowest not how near thou art to the last point and period of thine appointed time Vide Morning Exercise Giles in the Fields 1659. It is a vain thing for thee to comfort thy self without some Scripture grounds of interest in Christ who is the resurrection and the life Paul sends Tychichus to comfort the Colossians but he must know their state first Colos 4.8 That he may know their state and comfort their heart We have a generation that comfort others without knowing their spiritual estate which is to clap on a plaister without searching the wound a way to lead men to hell hoodwinkt the spiritual estate must be known before comfort can be well applied Examine therefore and suffer others to examine and search how it is with your souls in relation to Christ and Grace what knowledge what repentance what faith what mortification what contempt of the world what love to Christ what thoughts of the world to come If these things be in you and abound then comfort your hearts For so an entrance shall be ministred unto you abundantly into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ In the tenth and last place 10. Branch of Information Hence we are informed how much it concerns every man and woman that would comfortably observe this blessed Command of administring comfort to himself or others who are in tribulation I say how much it concerns them to search the Scriptures O study the Scriptures that Magazine and Store-house of all divine comfort especially in the reading of Scriptures to make a Collection of the Promises which are the nests and boxes of Christs Cordials and Antidotes against the fainting Fits to which Believers themselves are subjects there are the soul-refreshing water-brooks the wells of salvation ever sending forth streams of consolation to make glad the City of God Here is Christs Wine celler and Banquetting-house Cant. 2.4 to which he doth invite his disconsolate Spouse and where he doth revive her fainting soul according to her longing desire Stay me with apples and comfort me with flaggons for I am sick of love What though the Scripture and the Promises do abound with consolation if we be ignorant and unacquainted with the variety nature and use of these heavenly Ingredients they signifie no more to us than for a man to be in an Apothecaries shop fraught with the richest Drugs but he knows not the boxes where they are laid nor the vertue of them he and his friends may dye in a Fit and miscarry in the midst of all those Preservatives or if he venture on them he may peradventure take poyson instead of Cordials Wherefore study the Promises and in studying of them be careful to refer them to their distinct heads Make your selves Catalogues of Promises that refer to several soul distresses and exigencies and do as Apothecaries Collect the Promises of Scripture into distinct heads write their titles over their Heads Promises for pardon Promises for power against corruption Promises for comfort prison Promises sick-bed Promises Promises relating to the loss of gracious Relations c. I say be careful skilfully to sort your Promises that you may know whither to go when you repair to the Scriptures and may not administer mistaken Ingredients Corasives instead of Cordials as Job's friends did nor Cordials instead of Corasives as the generality of ignorant Christians do 2. Study the great art of officing the Promises labour to know to which of the Offices of Christ every Promise doth relate which to his Kingly Office as the Promises of grace and increase of grace and power against temptation the conquering of death and the fear of death which belong to his Prophetical office as promises of knowing God and Christ and the Spirit promises of being taught of God inward powerful experimental knowledge what Promises belong to his Sacerdotal office as promises of reconciliation to God peace with God acceptance of person and performances peace of Conscience joy in the Holy Ghost comfort in the loss of sweetest Relations and this will be of great use to inable you in prayer to plead the Promises and to put them in suit in the proper office a great honour to Christ and a mighty help and incouragement to faith 3 Pray for the Spirit whose Office is to make good the Promises to the Children of Promise and upon that very account called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Comforter The Promises are never comfort until the Spirit apply them to the Conscience and then they are Cordials indeed whether to our selves or others then they are full of life and power and can with one taste comfort more than all the Arguments of Philosophy in the world And verily Christians as all the Cordials in Scripture are no Cordials until they are applyed to the Conscience by a powerful hand and breathed into the soul by the warm vital animation of the Spirit of God to know it your selves are Physicians of no value in this great work of comforting one another until ye learn to joyn the words of prayer with the words of comfort until by prayer you call in the presence and power of the Comforter who only is able to make these words to be so many real consolations Amen Soli Deo Gloria FINIS A TABLE Of the principal things contained in this TREATISE The first Figure notes the Part The second the Page A A Basement of Christ 3.20 Christ his abasement and exaltation compared together 3.21 Absolution the Saints shall be absolved in the last day from all guilt and punishment 2.134 And in what sense 2.136