a flinty is now become a fleshy heart The heart is fearful of sin the least haire makes the eye weepe so the least sin makes the heart smite Davids heart smote him when he cut off the lap of King Saul's garment what would it have done if he had cut off his head A tender heart is like melting wax to God he may set what seale he will upon it A tender heart is like adamant to the threatnings of men in this sense the more tender the heart is the more hard 2. A childe-like heart is a praying heart The Spirit of adoption is a Spirit of supplication Ye have received the Spirit of adoption whereby ye cry Abba Father Before the childe is out of the womb it cannot crie While men lie in the womb of their natural estate they cannot pray so as to be heard but when they are born again of the seed of the Word then they crie Abba Father Prayer is nothing else but the souls breathing it selfe into the bosome of its Father Prayer is a sweet and familiar intercourse with God He comes down to us upon the wings of his Spirit and we go up to him upon the wings of prayer It is reported in the life of Luther that when he prayed it was tanta reverentia ut si Deo tanta fiducia ut si amico it was with so much reverence as if he were praying to God and with so much boldnesse as if he had been speaking to his friend This prayer must have constancy and instancy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 12.12 continuing constant The heart must boile over Prayer is compared to groanes unutterable it alludes to a woman that is in pangs we should be in pangs when we are travelling for mercy such prayer commands God himselfe 3. A childe-like heart is a loyall heart it is moulded into obedience 't is like the flower that opens and shuts with the Sun so it opens to God and shuts to tentation This is the language of obedience it is written in the volume of my heart I delight to do thy will O my God 4. A childe-like heart is a zealous heart 'T is impatient of Gods dishonour Moses was cool in his own cause but hot in Gods When the people of Israel had wrought folly in the golden calfe he breaks the Tables As we shall answer for idle words so for sinful silence It is dangerous in this sense to be possessed with a dumb devil David saith the zeale of Gods house had eaten him up Many Christians whose zeal once had almost eaten them up now they have eaten up their zeal Let men talk of bitternesse for my part I can never believe that he hath the heart of a childe in him that can be patient when Gods glory suffers Can an ingenuous childe endure to heare his father reproached Though we should be silent under Gods displeasure yet not under his dishonour When there is a fire of zeal kindled at the heart it will breake forth at the lips Zeale tempered with holinesse this white and sanguine is the best complexion of the soule Of all others let Ministers be impatient when Gods glory is eclipsed and impeached Let not them be either shaken with fear or seduced with flattery they are Gods ensign-bearers his warriours and therefore must discharge against sin God never made Ministers to be as false glasses to make bad faces look fair â—or want of this fire of zeale they are in danger of another fire even the burning lake Rev. 21.8 into which the fearfull shall be cast CHAP. V. Shewing that things to come are a Believers AND so I slide into the second part of the Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Things to come are yours here is portion enough It is a great comfort that when things present are taken away yet things to come are ours Me thinks the very naming this word Things to come should make the spirits of a Christian revive It is a sweet word our happinesse is in reversion the best is behinde all is not yet come that is promised Truly if we had nothing but what we have here we were miserable here are disgraces martyrdomes we must taste some of that Gall and Vineger which Jesus Christ drank upon the Crosse but O Christian be of good chear there is something to come The best part of your portion is yet unpaid All things to come are yours God deals with us as a Merchant that shews the worst piece of cloath first We meete sometimes with course usage in the world that piece which is of the finest spinning is kept till we come at heaven It is true God doth chequer his work in this life a white spot with a black he gives us something to sweeten our pilgrimage here the Praelibations and tastes of his love these are the earnest and first-fruits but what is this to that which is to come Now we are the sonnes of God 1 Iohn 3.2 But it doth not yet appear what we shall be expect that God should keep his best wine till last Things to come are yours CHAP. VI. The first Prerogative To Come BUt what are those things that are to come Answ. There are twelve things yet to come the which I call twelve Prerogatives Royal wherewith the Believer shall be invested The first is set down in the Text which I will begin with 1. Death is yours Death in Scripture is called an Enemy 1 Cor. 15.26 Yet here it is put in a Christians Inventory Death is yours 'T is an enemy to the mortal part but a friend to the spiritual It is one of our best friends next to Christ Death is a part of the joincture When Moses saw his rod turned into a serpent it did at the first affright him and he fled from it but when God bade him take hold of it he found by the miraculous effects which it wrought it did him and the people of Israel much good so death at the first sight is like the rod turned into a serpent it affrights but when by Faith we take hold of it then we finde much benefit and comfort in it As Moses rod divided the waters and made a passage for Israel into Canaan So death divides the Waters of Tribulation and makes a passage for us into the land of promise Death is called the King of Terrours but it can do a childe of God no hurt the sting is pull'd out The Bee by stinging loseth its sting While death did sting Christ upon the Crosse it hath quite lost its sting to a Believer It can hurt the soule no more then David did King Saul when he cut off the lap of his garment Death to a Believer is but like the Arresting of a man for a Debt after the Debt is paid Death as Gods Sergeant at Armes may Arrest us and carry us before Gods Justice but Christ will shew our discharge the
might Solomon say Better is the day of a mans death then the day of his birth Death is the spiritual man's preferment why then should he fear it Death I confesse hath a grimme visage to an impenitent sinner so it is ghastly to look upon it is a pursuivant to carry him to hell but to such as are in Christ Death is yours It is a part of the Joincture Death is like the Pillar of cloud it hath a dark-side to a sinner but it hath a light-side to a believer Deaths pale face looks ruddy when the blood of sprinkling is upon it in short Faith gives us a propriety in Heaven Death gives us a possession Feare not your priviledge the thoughts of death should be delightfull Iacob when he saw the Chariots his spirits revived Death is a Waggon or Chariot to carry us to our Fathers house What were the Martyrs flames but a fiery Chariot to carry them up to Heaven How should we long for Death This world is but a Desart we live in Shall we not be willing to leave it for Paradise We say It is good to be here we affect an earthly eternity but grace must curb nature Think of the priviledges of Death The Planets have a proper motion and a violent by their proper motion they are carried from the West to the East but by a violent motion they are over-ruled by the Primum Mobile and are carried from the East to the West So though naturally we desire to live here as we are made up of flesh yet grace should be as the primum mobile or master-wheele that swayes our will and carries us in a violent motion making us long for death Saint Paul desired to be dissolved and 2 Corinth 5.2 In this we groane earnestly desiring to be cloathed upon with our house which is from heaven we would put off the earthly cloathes of our body and put on the bright robe of immortality we groane 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 'T is a Metaphor taken from a mother who being pregnant groanes and cries out for delivery Austine longed to die that he might see that head which was once crowned with thornes We pray Thy Kingdome come and when God is leading us into his Kingdome shall we be afraid to go The times we live in should me thinks make us long for death we live in dying times we may heare as it were Gods passing Bell ringing over these Nations Foelix Nepotianus qui haec non videt as Hierome said in his time Nepotian is an happy man that doth not see the evils which befall us they are wel that are out of the storm and are gotten already to the haven To me to die is gaine Quest. But who shall have this priviledge Answ. death is certaine but there are only two sorts of Persons to whom we may say Death is yours 'T is your preferment 1. Such as die daily We are not borne Angels die we must Therefore we had need carry alwayes a deaths-head about us The Basilisk if it see a man first it kills him but if he see it first it doth him no hurt The Basilisk death if it sees us first before we see it 't is dangerous but if we see it first by meditating upon it it doth us no hurt study death often walke among the Tombs It is the thoughts of death before-hand that must do us good In a dark night one Torch carried before a man is worth many Torches carried after him one serious thought of death before-hand one teare shed for sinne before death is worth a thousand shed after when it is too late 'T is good to make Death our familiar and in this sense to be in Deaths oft that if God should presently seal a lease of ejectment if he should send us a Letter of Summons this night to surrender we might have nothing to do but to die Alas how do we adjourne the thoughts of death 'T is almost death to think of it There are some that are in the very threshold of the grave who have one legge in the earth and another legge in hell yet put farre from them the evil day I have read of our Lysicrates who in his old age dyed his gray hairs black that he might seeme young againe When we should be building our Tombes we are building our Tabernacles die daily lest you die eternally The holy Patriarchs in purchasing for themselves a burying place shewed us what thoughts they still had of Death Ioseph of Arimathea erected his Sepulchre in his Garden we have many that set up the Trophies of their victories others that set up their Scutchions that they may blaze their honour but how few that set up their Sepulchres who erect in their hearts the serious thoughts of death Oh remember when you are in your gardens in places most delicious and fragrant to keep a place for your Tomb-stone die daily There is no better way to bring sinne into a Consumption then by oft looking on the pale horse and him that sits thereon By thinking on death we begin to repent of an evil life and so we disarme death before it comes and cut the lock where its strength lies 2. Such as are in Heaven before they die death is yours If we will needs be high-minded let it be in setting our minde upon heavenly things Heaven must come down into us before we go up thither A childe of God breaths his faith in Heaven his thoughts are there When I awake I am still with thee Psal. 139.17 David awaked in Heaven his conversation is there Philip. 3.20 For our conversation is in Heaven The Believer often ascends Mount Tabor and takes a prospect of glory O that we had this celestial frame of heart When Zacheus was in the croud he was too low to see Christ therefore he climbed up into the Sycomore-Tree When we are in a croud of worldly businesse we cannot see Christ Climb up into the tree by divine contemplation If thou wouldest get Christ into thy heart let Heaven be in thy eye Set your affections upon things above Colos. 3.2 There needs no exhortation to set our hearts upon things below How is the curse of the Serpent upon most men Upon thy belly shalt thou go and dust shalt thou eat all the dayes of thy life Those that feed onely upon dust Golden dust will be unwilling to returne to dust Death will be terrible The tribes of Reuben and Gad desired Moses that they might stay on this side Iordan and have their portion there it being a place convenient for their Cattel It seems they minded their Cattel more then their passage into the holy Land so many Christians if they may have but a little grazing here in the world in their Shops and in their Farms they art content to live on this side the River and minde not their passage into the Land of Promise you that are in heaven
upholds all things by the Word of his Power should himself be upheld that a Virgin should conceive that Christ should be made of a woman and of that woman which himself made that the creature should give a being to the Creatour that the Starre should give light to the Sunne that the branch should beare the Vine that the mother should be younger then the childe she bare and the childe in the womb bigger then the mother that he who is a Spirit should be made flesh that Christ should be without father and without mother yet have both without mother in the God-head without father in the Man-hood that Christ being incarnate should have two natures the divine and humane and yet but one Person that the divine nature should not be infused into the humane nor the humane mixed with the divine yet assumed into the Person of the Sonne of God the humane nature not God yet one with God Here is I say a chaine of Miracles I acknowledge the mercy of the incarnation was great we having now both affinity and consanguinity with Jesus Christ Christs incarnation is the Saints inauguration The love of Christ in the incarnation was great for herein he did set a patterne without a parallel in clothing himself with our flesh which is but walking ashes he hath sowed as it were sackcloth to cloth of Gold the humanity to the Deity But though the incarnation be so rich a blessing yet it is hard to say which is greater the Mercy or the Mystery It is a sacred depth how doth it transcend reason and even puzzle faith We know but in part we see this only in a glasse darkly but in heaven our knowledge shall be cleared up we shall fully understand this divine riddle 3. The Mystery of Scripture The hard knots of Scripture shall be untied and darke Prophecies fulfilled There is a sacred depth in Scripture which we must adore some places of Scripture are hard in the sense others dark in the phrase and cannot well be translated in regard of ambiguity one Hebrew word having such various and sometimes contrary significations that it is very difficult to know which is the genuine sense As it is with a traveller which is not skilled in his way when he comes to a turning where the way parts he is at a stand and knowes not which way to take I might give some instances It is true all things purely necessary in the Word of God are cleare but there are some sacred depths that we cannot fathom and this may make us long after Heaven when our light shall be clear So for Prophecies some are very abstruse and profound Divines may shoot their arrowes but it is hard to say how neare they come to the mark 't is dubious whether in such a particular age and century of the Church such a Prophecie was fulfilled The Iewes have a saying when they meet with an hard Scripture they understand not Elias veniet solvet nodos Elias will come and interpret these things to us we expect not Elias but when we are in Heaven we shall understand Prophecies our knowledg shall be clear 4. The great Mystery of Providence shall be cleared up Providence is Regina mundi the Queen of the world it is the hand that turns all the wheels in the universe Chrysostome calls it the Pilot that steeres the ship of the Creation Providences are often darke God writes sometimes in short-hand the characters of Providence are so various and strange and our eyes are so dimme that we know not what to make of Providence hence we are ready to censure that which we do not understand we think that things are very excentrick and disorderly Gods Providence is sometimes secret alwayes wise The dispensations of Providence are often sad judgement beginning at the house of God and the just man perishing in his righteousnesse Eccles. 7.15 that is while he is pursuing a righteous cause though his way be pious it is not alwayes prosperous and on the other side those that work wickednesse are set up yea they that tempt God are delivered Mal. 3.15 though now our candle be in a dark lanthorn and the people of God cannot tell what God is a doing yet when they are in heaven they shall see the reason of these transactions they shall see that every Providence served for the fulfilling of Gods Promise viz. that all things shall work together for good Rom. 8.28 In a Watch the wheeles seeme to move crosse one to another but all carry on the motion of the Watch all serve to make the Alarm strike so the wheeles of Providence seeme to move crosse but all shall carry on the good of the elect all the lines shall meet at last in the centre of the Promise in heaven as we shall see Mercy and Justice so we shall see Promises and Providences kissing each other Our light shall be cleare When a man is at the bottome of an hill he cannot see very farre but when he is on the top he may see many miles distant Here the Saints of God are in the valley of tears they are at the bottome of the hill and cannot tell what God is a doing but when they come to Heaven and shall be on the top of the mount they shall see all the glorious transactions of Gods Providence never a Providence but they shall see either a wonder or a mercy wrapt up in it A Limner at the first makes but a rude draught in the picture here an eye there an hand but when he hath limn'd it out in all its parts and lineaments and laid them in their colours it 's beautifull to behold We that live in this age of the Church see but a rude draught as it were some dark pieces of Gods Providence represented and it is impossible that we should judge of Gods work by pieces but when we come to Heaven see the full body and portraiture of Gods Providence drawne out in its vive colours it will be a most glorious sight to behold Providence shall be unridled 5. The Mystery of hearts We shall see an heart anatomy Eccles. 12.14 For God shall bring every work into judgment with every secret thing We shall see the designes and cabinet-counsels of mens hearts discovered then the hypocrites mask shall fall off O the black conclave that is in the heart of man The heart is deep it may be compared to a River which hath faire streames running on the top but when this river comes to be drained there lies abundance of vermine at the bottome thus it is with mans heart there are fair streames running on the top a civil life a religious profession but at the day of judgement when God shall draine this river and make a discovery of hearts then all the vermine of ambition covetousnesse shall appeare all shall come out then we shall see whether Iehu's designe was zeal for God or the Kingdome we