who is subtle and watcheth all advantages against but he is alwayes giving them his Fatherly advice warning them of their danger shewing them a way how to escape it they have the voice of his Spirit behind them telling them this is the way Isai 30. 21. they have the guidance of his most wise counsel to keep them in the right way unto glory Psal 7424. 5. He will assist and strengthen them he will lend them an helping hand to carry them through all their difficulties temptations straits that they are engaged or involved in in their Christian course and the discharge of their duty in all of them 2 Tim. 4. 17. The Lord was with me and strengthened me they have a great work to perform to serve God in their Generation but his Grace standing by them becomes their sufficiency a Fathers love draws forth his helping hand to assist his Son and carry him well through all that is before him 6. He will Correct and Chasten them for their Faults Heb. 12. 6. He chastneth every son whom He receiveth They like foolish Children may now reckon this for their damage but it is indeed none of the least of those benefits which the Children of God do enjoy God lets wicked men alone to go on in their pernicious wayes They have their wills in the world that they may be destroyed for ever But God here afflicts his Children that their souls may be saved in the day of the Lord 1 Cor. 11. 32. We are chastened of the Lord that we should not be condemned with the World 7. He will commend and encourage them when they do well see what an high commendation he gives Abraham for his love and what a precious promise he gives him upon it Gen. 22. 16 17. the poorest services which they do being done in sincerity to him if it be but a cup of cold water given to one of his Disciples in that Name shall not lose its acceptance and reward yea such is his Fathers respect that he owns and crowns the very good will and purposes as much as if they really performed them David doth but resolve to build an House to his Name and Glory and God takes it kindly and promiseth richly upon it 2 Sam. 7. these things belong unto them as they are Children in the Family and carry Consolation in the very mentioning of them 3. They receive the spirit of Adoption Rom. 8. 15. Gal. 4. 5 6. and here we are to observe that the Spirit of Adoption doth not decipher any distinct spirit but that it is one and the same spirit who doth illuminate convince humble engraft the soul into Christ c. but it deciphers to us a distinct and peculiar observation of the Spirit of God in us so that the dignity of this priviledge is to be discovered in the effects which are consequent upon it and they are such as these viz. 1. The obsignation or sealing up of Believers to the certain and infallible enjoyment of their inheritance Eph. 1. 13. 4. 30. when God hath once admitted a poor Soul into the number of his Children he now confirms and ratifies to him all the promises and makes them unto him surer than the foundation of the World yea so sure that neither outward Enemies nor inward Evils shall ever be able to deprive them of this Title Rom. 8. 39 39. I am perswaded that neither height nor depth c. shall separate us from the love of God which is in Christ It is possible that they may not alwayes with alike clearness discern it some cloud or other interposing but it is ever with an equal certainty therein inasmuch as it is a gift of God that is without Repentance 2. The testimony which the spirit of God gives in to their state of Adoption witnessing in them that God hath numbred them to his Children and joyned them in the inheritance of all blessings with his own Son Rom. 8. 16 17. The spirit it self leaveth witness c. The effect consequent upon this testimony is assurance which assurance is in it self a piece of inchoate Glorification but the witness which the Spirit of God bears in us by vertue of which we are confirmed in this knowledge is a priviledge of Adoption and though Believers do not alwayes so distinctly hear him testifying and to be able to draw the comfort of it to their Souls yet they have alwayes this witness in them because the Spirit of God is ever with them 3. The enlivening of their Faith and thereby enabling of them to God to God as a Father and claim this Relation and upon the claim believingly to plead with him for the acceptance of their persons the audience of their Prayers the granting of their requests and supplying of all their wants Rom. 8. 15. Ye have received the Spirit of Adoption whereby we cry Abba Father yea the spirit of God enables them thus to act Faith in consideration of this relation not only in times of outward favour when the candle of the Lord shineth upon their Tabernacle and all things go well with them but also in the most cloudy times of darkest dispensations when God hides his face from them and carries it towards them as if he were their Enemy hence that chalenge of Faith at such an hour Isai 63. 17. Doubtless thou art our Father 4. The powerful preservation of them in a state of Grace 1 Pet. 1. 5. Who are kept by the power of God through Faith unto Salvation Believers are weak in themselves and ly open to many strong temptations and if they were left to themselves those floods that assail them would easily and quickly drown them But the spirit of God is still blowing upon this spark and supplying of it with new fuel whereby he makes the faith of Believers to live and flourish in dispite of all those endeavours that are used to extinguish and ruin it 5. His constant assistance in spiritual duties enabling them to perform them acceptably and particularly in the great duty of Prayer to God Rom. 8. 26 27. We know not what we should pray for as we ought but the spirit it self maketh intercession c. they are weak to do duty and carry about in them a masse of corruption a body of Death which presseth them down evil is ever present when they would be doing of good so that without him they can do nothing and it would be a vain thing for them to set about any service to God in their own strength but he stands by them and is ready to put to his helping hand supplying them with the influences of spiritual Grace whence when they are weak in themselves they are strong in him 6. To communicate to them the discoveries of the love of God and thereby to fill them with spiritual rejoycing Rom. 5. 5. The Love of God is shed abroad into our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us he applies the precious promises to
against all the misgiving Objections of Flesh and Blood establishing the truth of our present state of Adoption without any doubting or questioning of it The Emphasis of the assertion lies in the word Now and it looks either backward to the words foregoing or forward to these that follow it stands between two dark Clouds and scatters them both He had told them of this great dignity and glorious title but sence seemed to contradict and say 1. If we are Sons why then are we not known are not the Children of a Prince acknowledged by the Subjects but the World tramples us into the dust and persecutes us unto death and would God suffer this if he was our Father well saith he they neither do know you nor him and a Princes Son is of no repute with him that know him not from a Peasant but for all this you are Sons and your Father knows you though the World doth not and that may satisfie you But 2. If we were Sons we should be in a more happy condition whether the World knew it or no but we live in the midst of sorrows and sufferings both of body and mind we are encompassed and almost overwhelmed with miseries and is this the portion of Sons do Kings wont to neglect their Children and suffer them to live in misery well but still this shakes not the conclusion for although the happiness we are entituled unto appears not as yet yet now we are Sons and there shall a time come when we shall be made to look like such We may first take the assertion it self into our consideration now are we the Sons of God and from hence we may observe this Doct. The poorest and most despised Believers in the World are now the Sons of God The Apostle speaks of such as had received the anointing of the Spirit Cap. 2. 27. of such as had known the Father and believed on Christ ver 13 14. and these are they whom he pronounceth owners of this happy title In the opening of this Doctrine we are to consider 1. What is meant by being the Sons of God 2. How we come to be his Sons 3. What is the profit or advantage coming to us by this relation 4. The evidence or how it appears that we are such 1. What is meant by being the Sons of God A. The Title of a Son is a title of Relation and hath a Father for its correlate God is pleased to assume this Relation to himself and to acknowledge it between him and his Creatures that so he may express his love and goodness to them by such things as may carry to their conception the greatest evidence or demonstration Father and Son among Men are relates standing very near one to another and have such considerations and respects in them as very nearly resemble that Covenant relation which there is between God and his People Hence it is Anologically expressed the same affections and engagements that Fathers bear to their Sons the same doth God to his People the same interest that Children have in their Fathers love and care the same have Believers in God Now among Men persons come to bear the denomination of Sons in two wayes viz. either by natural Generation or voluntary Adoption After the former of these wayes God hath but one Son begotten by an eternal and undeclarable Generation after the latter he hath many Sons even as many as believe in the Name of Christ Joh. 1. 12. So that by the Sons of God we are to understand all those of the Children of Men who by Gods free Adoption are made to bear the relation title and priviledges of his Children It is a word borrowed from the customs among Men who when they Adopt one to be their Heir do give him the title of their Son and although it differ from that in two main points viz. 1. That God was not put upon it thus to Adopt any because of the deficiency or want of a natural Son which is the main incentive to it among Men that so they may have one to Heir their Estates nor yet because his Son had given him any just provocation to reject and disinherit him for which Men do sometimes abdicate their own Children and adopt a Stranger No God had an only begotten Son in whom he placed his delight from all Eternity who had never given him any displeasure in the least but had afforded him everlasting satisfaction yea then when his Father put him upon the highest proof of filial obedience calling him to do and die for sinful man he cheerfully replied Lo I come to do thy will Oh God Psal 40. 7. this Adoption therefore was an effect of his abundant overflowing Grace that it should be the good pleasure of his Holy Will to joyn poor Believers unto and admit them to be made coheirs with Christ Rom. 8. 17. Joynt Heirs with Christ And 2. That God doth not do it to make them inherit by way of succession which is the case among men and the ground and design of humane Adoption being because man is mortal and must in a short time die and leave all his earthly possessions and name behind him hence that they may have one to bear up the their name and possess their livings which they can no longer in person enjoy they substitute one in their room so that as long as the Adopter lives the adopted is kept out of possession and must be content to wait for his portion till the other goes off and is often in the mean while put to many and hard shifts whereas God lives for ever and yet Believers are not entituled to but have actual participation in all the good things of God according to their present state and capacity immediately after their Adoption and eternally Men say when I die you shall inherit but Christ saith because I live you shall live also I say although in these things it differs and evermore the antitype is something more glorious than the Type yet in the main notions of Adoption they agree viz. 1. As that so this makes an absolutely free choice of the subject if men do much more God may take a liberty to do with his own what he pleaseth the Adopted could have laid no claim to his Title if it had not been freely conferred upon him he can give no other reason for it but the good will of him who chose him unto it if he had left him out and named another in his will he could not have charged it as any wrong done unto him Gods Adoption is an act of free Grace and a discovery of his greatest love Context ver 1. Behold what manner of love c. it is said there to be a love given or bestowed and how free it is will appear 1. From the antiquity of the Foundation of it it was founded in Gods eternal Decree where we were chosen to this priviledge Eph. 1. 5. Having predestinated us to the Adoption of
with Christ in his sufferings this was one thing that Paul desired to know Phil. 3. 10. and this the Children of God do know inasmuch as they suffer for his Name sake and in his cause and that the Name of God may be glorified in their sufferings and also because he supplies them with patience and constancy therein for that they do not dishonour him and hereby they come to know that blessedness is theirs Mat. 5. 12. Rejoyce and be glad for great is your reward in Heaven for so persecuted they the Prophets which were before you They are made to understand that being joâ—ned with Christ in his sufferings they shall not be separated from him in Glory 2 Tim. 2. 12. If we suffer with him we shall also reign with him Paul counts the Saints suffering a manifest token as of the amazing destruction of their persecutors so also of their future felicity in another world 2 Thes 1. 5 6. 2. The fruits of the spirit in them working in all the graces thereof in their souls and giving them their free exercise Their love to God their faith in Christ their hope of Glory their hatred of sin their delighting of themselves in holiness c. The Apostle tells us the fruits of the spirit are manifest and what they are Gal. 5 22 23. The glory of Gods Children is inward and spiritual and by the maintenance and increase of this is a Child of God to apprehend a Fathers love growing grace is a good confirmation of approaching glory 3. The testimony of the spirit of God added to and confirming of the testimony of their own spirits in witnessing to their Sonship Rom. 8. 16. By vertue of which testimony at such times as God enables them to read it they can Triumph in the hopes of glory trample upon all the scoffs and scorns and persecutions and despise all the flatteries and fair promises of the world He gives them inward consolation and enables them to call God Father in greatest straits and strengthens them to roll themselves upon him to commit their wayes to him to cast all their burdens on him and to wait with holy confidence and boasting for the manifestation of the Sons of God and in expectation of receiving an immortal and eternal Crown then at the hands of the righteous Judge they love his appearing 1. Are Believers now Gods Children It may then teach us what a dangerous thing it is for any to go about to do them any injury or wrong The ignorant world seeing the Saints of God so low and despicable to have so few friends here below to take part with them and to be so poor and disregarded among men they are hereupon ready to think they may do their pleasure against them there is no danger is like to a â—ise upon it but they abide secure though they slander revile persecute and do them all manner of imaginable wrong They have none to take in with them none to plead their Cause for them none to stand up in their defence And being thus animated with what boldness virulency and spite do they prosecute them But they grievously mistake themselves and shall in Gods time find that they have so done to their cost God will not suffer his own dear Children to be abused and see that abuse to go free and escape unpunished Whosoever they be though armed with the greatest worldly power yet they had better take a Bear by the tooth a Lyon by the Paw than meddle with the least meanest obscurest and most seeming contemptible Saint of Christ to do him any the least injury If an earthly Father see his Child abused or misused by a stranger how will his fatherly affection stir his bowels boile and put him upon it to vindicate that wrong How much more will God do so for his Children who are to him as the apple of his eye and to whose mercys the bowels of most affectionate Parents are not to to be compared God may possibly seem to wink and keep silence for the present and men may take encouragement therefrom to vent their spite and malice but he will not do so alwayes but a time shall come and that quickly when he will call them to an account for all and a dreadful account it will be when it comes God doth many times in this world testifie to his displeasure upon this very account and there are several remarkable instances in Scripture of his severity upon the malicious adversaries of his Saints enough to put a dread upon any such would they but consider of it Do Korah and his accomplices arise up against Moses and Adronâ— They shall not dy as other men but a new work shall be done the earth with her opened mouth shall swallow them up quick and they shall go down alive into the pit Doth Babylon triumph in cruelty over the People of God when it is used as a Rod in Gods hand to manifest his displeasure against them in punishing of their sin Babylon shall smart for it Isa 47. 6. c. I was wroth with my People I gave them into thy hand thou didst shew them no mercy Neither shal Edom be forgotten who in Jerusalems day of visitation cryed Raze it raze it to the ground Psal 137. 7. How are Edom and Ammon and Moab and mount Seir and the Philistians and Tyrus threatned upon this account See Ezek. chap. 25. and 26. But supposing that they should escape here and God doth not alwayes presently let fall his hand upon the Persecutours of his People yet is the time a coming when the Persecutors of the Saints shall be made to know that they persecuted Christ and shall find how hard a thing it is for them to kick against the pricks when God shal rendeâ— tribulation to the troublers of his Children 2 Thes 1. 6. Their blood may for a season seem to ly still and speak nothing but now are their souls under the altar and are there crying to their God and father for revenge and he who is holy and true will not alwayes hold his peace Tremble then at the thoughts of such a thing that poor persecuted despised Saint whom you seem to trample under the feet of pride hath a Redeemer that is mighty â— Father in Heaven that will plead his cause Make the Children of God your friends and they will be ready to speak a good word to their Father for you and however you may judge of them contemptuously yet there is a blessing in their prayers But if you make them your enemies wo to you you had better bring all the world about your ears The cryes of Saints when they are under the exercise of the envy and hatred of men coming up into the ears of God and Christ for the wrongs which are done unto them are affecting cryes and will stirr up the holy jealousie of the great God and he that is under the male diction of them scorn he it as much as
knowledge of God in Christ which is Eternai life Joh. 17. 3. There is a sealing of the spirit which confirmes everlasting happiness to us Eph. 4. 30. There is an earnest now given by which God confirmes the title of the Inheritance to the Souls of his People Eph. 1. 14. 2. That these effects are discernable and legible and that not only by special revelation but also in a rational way of arguing and inferring If this were not a truth then all such Scripture-precepts as put us upon this duty of self-examination in respect of our spiritual estate were in vain and meerly superâ—luous It is true the law puts us upon duties impossible to fallen man and this course God useth with us to make us know our need of Christ But the Gospel puts Believers upon nothing but what may be done Now this is made the Believers duty in divers Gospel-respects 2 Pet. 1. 10. 2 Cor. 13. 5. 1. Cor. 11. 28. Nay why should the Gospel propound Rules of tryal to us if there were no discovery to be made by the application of them Of what use is a Touch-stone to us if by applying of it we could not be able to make discovery what Mettle is genuine and what is deceitful 3. That every Child of God is furnished fâ—â— this discovery He hath an habitual power in him and sufficient help afforded unto him for the discerning these effects For 1. The effects themselves are manifestly distinguishable from the common Graces of Moral Men and the counterfeit graces of hypocrites though they may have some resemblance yet there are differencing notes 1 Joh. 3. 10. In this the Children of God are manifest and the Children of the Devil 2. Every Child of God hath a conscience whereby he is able to reflect upon himself to take a Survey of his own actions to see what is in him and to compare it by the rule and to judge of it accordingly Hence We shall find Paul making an appeal to the Testimony of his own Conscience 2 Cor. 1 12. 3. The Spirit of God dwels in the understanding and conscience of every Believer to illâ— minate it and to give it a judgement and diâ—cerning of spiritual things 1 Cor. 2. 10 14. anâ— this is a common priviledge of all Believers theâ— have all of them the indwelling spirit to helâ— them in their work 4. The Spirit of Adoption is also a witneâ— in a Child of God to confirm and ratifie thâ— the testimony which his Conscience gives iâ—â—â—ncerning the premises whence there are twâ—â—â—bstantial witnesses to the same truth Hence He is said to bear witness with our spirits Rom. 8 16. 4. By the discovery of these present effects hâ— is infallibly assured that he shall inherit Glorâ— hereafter A state of Grace and of Glory havâ— but their gradual differences Grace is Glory begun Glory is Grace finished or perfected Grace is the seed whereof glory is the genuinâ— Fruit Grace if it dy not will bring forth glory undoubtedly but it cannot dy being an immortal seed and abiding True grace is a spring that never ceaseth flowing till it reach eternaâ— Life Joh. 4. 14. Paul counts it a good argument and that the inferrence will hold that iâ— God hath begun he will also perfect the good work Phil. 1. 6. God cannot call back his grace for it is without repentance Rom. 11. 29. Heb. 13. 5. The Believer cannot renounce nor reject it for God will not suffer him to depart away from him Ezek. 36. 27. The Devil and all his instruments cannot rob him of it because they cannot pluck him out of Chist's hand Joh. 10. 29. And when we have â—aid all these things together Judge now whither this doth not amount to that which may truly and properly be called knowledge viz a Judgement of certainty about our everlasting felicity USE I. Here we see one Reason why many of the Children of God bear all the changes of the life with so much quietness and tranquillity it lyes here because they have grounded expectations of future glory The Men of the World wonder at them yea scoff and flout and take them for mad Men to feed their fancyes and hopes with unseen things and therefore in their opinion the greatest uncerteintyes Truly if the hopes of the Children of God were grounded in opinion and depended upon meer contingencyes I cannot see how their life should not be the most perplexed sorrowful and miserable of all men for if after they have left all for Christ it were yet a thing dubitable whether they should ever see and enjoy him in glory they have indeed nothing left them to lean the weight of their confidence upon But this is their felicity in the midst of all turns that still their main interest in eternity is secured And this indeed is the very thing which declares them to be the only happy Men All other Men live by meer opinion these only are the men of knowledge Other men know not certeinly what it is that they labour for nor what shall be the event of all their pains and cares but these men know that their labour is not in vain and that there will be a good end of all their troubles and pains As to the things of this life and with respect to subordinate ends the Children of God labour under equal uncerteintyes with other men Eccl. 9. begin All things fall out alike to all And vers 11. Time and chance happeneth to them all They are not sure to prosper in their Estates to enjoy health and long life and ease in this World But as to their last end and the concurrent tendency of all means to it here they have good security and this makes them patient in tribulation quiet under sorest afflictions Thus we find Paul argues himself into patience and chearfulness 2 Cor. 4. 17 18 5. 1. If Storms nay Hurrycanes arise in their Voyage yet they are not amazed for they know who is Pilot and where they shall certeinâ—y Arrive if they lose all they have in this World yea and life it self yet because they cannot lose glory they are not filled with consternation For though they cannot tell what that glory shal be yet they know that it shall be glory and such as God himself shal give that God who doth all things like himself and they are satisfied that this shall be enough to fill you with everlasting joyes USE II. We hence learn how vain are all the attempts of the enemyes of God's Children wherein they seek to make them miserabe or to discourage them in the service of God It is true if their felicity were grounded in contingency the Saints enemies might have some probable hopes to undermine and blow them up but those that fight against the truth shall not be able to prevail That Rock on which the happiness of the Sons of God is built lyes too deep for all the endeavours of their enemyes to undermine That truth that no
Husband 2. There shall be an happy meeting in the air in the morning of that day between Christ and his thus adorned Spouse where they shall meet him as in the quality of a great judge so as their Friend their Husband their Saviour coming to finish and compleat their Salvation and take them home to himself they shall meet him who is the beloved of their Souls whom they have longed for whom they have often prayed to make hast and whose appearance they have loved And the state in which he shall come will add to their glorious manifestation all that pompous attendance of Angels those ten thousand times ten thousands and thousands of thousands of ministring Spirits waiting upon Christs coming to fetch home his Spouse shall reflect upon them to shew how blessed they are see 1 Pet. 4. 16 17. and that glorious coming of Christ Dan. 7. 9 10. 3. When the great judgement is set these shall be placed on the right hand of Christ Mat. 25. 23. He shall set the sheep on his right hand which is spoken after the manner of Men intimating the honour and dignity which shall be conferred upon them and this shall be most conspicuous Rev. 1. 7. Every eye shall see him and if him then them that are so placed they shall then appear to be his Favourites and Friends to be such in whom he takes delight to make them honourable and happy 4. In the process of the great judgement they shall be openly cleared and acquitted from all those false imputations of Hypocrisie and iniquities which here were cast upon them their sincerity shall be made manifest and now it shal be known that they were not such fools as the World judged them to have been that they were not the troublers of Israel as they were censured to be it shall by this appear that they had a God whom their Enemies thought to have had none they shal stand in the judgement and no accusation shall prevail against them nor any be to condemn them Rom 8. 33. 5. There shall be an happy Sentence past upon them adjudging of them to a Kingdome and Crown and Glory Mat. 25. 34. Come ye blessed inherit the Kingdome and when this comâ—s to pass it shal make amends for all their sufferings and sorâ—ows which here they underwent for Christ when he shal declare them blessed and bid them to come with him and be where he is in his Kingdome that prepared Kingdom that Kingdom which is filled with all Glories and all the World shall hear this Sentence pronounced then shall they appear to be happy men whiles those standing on the Left hand are tremblingly waiting to hear a contrary doom 6. They shall have that honour conferred upon them to be assessors with Christ and to judge the World 1 Cor. 6. 2 3. Know ye not that the Saints shall judge the World after what manner this shall be is not for us to determine Christ is the great Judge their lives when they were upon Earth did condemn a sinful Generation Heb. 11. 7. and these may be alledged there and they shall certainly assent to and acquiess and rejoyce in the righteous Judgment which Christ shall pass upon his Enemies and shall in a royal equipage sit and attend as so many Judges until that great affair shall be finished 7. When the great work of the last Judgement is over they shall all return with Christ to Heaven when that great Court shall break up the Judge with his retinue shall go again to his own place where they shall appear happy indeed now shall the ungodly World see these Darlings of Christ and beloved of his Father to be carried away into everlasting joyes to be taken nearer to Christ than Angels themselves who shall no sooner be gone but they shall leave the other in endless Torments with Devils and damned Spirits where when they come home to their Kingdom and every child of God is placed upon his own Throne and the Man Christ himself having resigned up his Mediatorial Kingdom into the hands of his Father shall solace himself with theirs and them with his company for ever recreating and sporting themselves each in the other when Eternity shal be filled with fresh joyes and delights new and ravishing continually when they shal ever be with the Lord and there shal be no tediousness in those perfect pleasures but the Soul shall be alwayes satisfied in them now shall it appear what it is to be a Son of God But what are those happy entertainments of that place none but one that hath been in the third Heaven can know and did he know he could not utter or if he could utter we could not conceive noâ— credit but such things there shall be and then they shall be known fully to them that enjoy them and to the wicked they shall appear sufficiently foâ— their conviction and confusion 3. Why this discovery is reserved till then Ans The timing of all divine dispensations depends on the Soveraign good pleasure of God but yet there seem to be â—ivers good reasons why this making of them to appear should be allotted to that time 1. It is the time when Christ himself is to appear and it is fit that the redeemed should wait for the discovery of their glory till he that redeemed them cometh in his besides their appearing depends upon his till the World be made to know that he is both Lord and Christ they cannot acknowledge that Believers in him are the Children of God and Heirs of Glory and if Christ be willing to tarry till then for his manifestation his People then have no reason to murmure or to think the time of their clearing long 2. There are many Elect who are chosen to be Sons that must be brought in and suffer many things for Christ in fulfilling their testimony and there will be till that time a gathering in of such and it is the holy pleasure of God that they that are gone before should wait that there may be a full and universal discovery made of them all at once Rev. 6. 9 10 11. if they should appear sooner the World would be afraid to do to them as is appointed 3. The Day of Judgement is the fittest time for this it is a day appointed for the setting of things to rights to clear up all false Judgements and Mistakes which there were here it is a Day wherein the presence of all the Creation shall be to look on Heaven and Hell being for the while emptied of all their Inhabitants to come to this meeting and general Assembly so that it will be the greatest Glory and most pompous appearance when a Child of God on such a day and in such a presence shall be openly owned and rewarded when he shall be set to view in all his glorious state and the proclamation shall be audibly heard from one end of Heaven to another saying Behold a Son of God and so shall
are a general asâ—â—tion wherein two things are observable 1. The subject or that of which the assertion is What we shall be By the which he intends that happiness and Glory to which the sons of God are appointed their future felicity 2. The Predicate or that which is asserted concerning it viz. It doth not yet appear The Proposition is limited in respect of time but unlimited in respect of persons 1. In respect of time it is restrained to the present Not yet q. d. There is a little time in which me must be content to pass in a disguise and not look like our selves but it will not be long The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is used only to express some smal inconsiderable particle of time or delay And when he saith Not yet he withal insinuates that it will not be long It is but during the time that the life lasts and when that comes to an end there will be a beginning of that discovery and in the last day a full and perfect 2. In respect of Persons it is unrestrained he doth not say to whom it doth not appear but only in general affirms that it appears not Indefinit propositions are equivalent to universal Hence we are to understand all men to be here â—â—â—â—nded and the word translated to appear 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifyeth clearly openly permenently to appear to be discerned or seen in open view Hence Doct. The future happy Estate unto which the Children of God are appointed is a thing not clearly known by any in this Life Those Glorious Beatitudes which are bound up and reserved for the entertainment of God's Adopted Children in the highest Heavens are things which be not clearly seen or understood in this World In the prosecution of this Doctrine we may first attend the Demonstration of it and then consider the Grounds 1. By way of Evidence or Demonstration The Truth may be understood and cleared by an induction of particulars And that 1. Negatively And here 1. This Indefinit doth not comprehend God under it For he throughly and perfectly knows what his own thoughts of love and good wil are to his Children He hath predestinated them to their inheritance and laid out in his everlasting Decree what their portion shal be Eph. 1. 11 In whom we have obtained an inheritance being predestinated c. God cannot be ignorant of his own Counsels which have been manifestly known to him from all eternity Acts 〈◊〉 18 Known unto God are all his works from the foundation of the World He knows what his own thoughts are c. Those thoughts of peace which he hath for his People Jer. 29. 11. These things are not under debate with him who is for ever unchangeable 2. Neither doth Jesus Christ come under the Negative our glorified Redeemer hath a full and thorough view of all those happinesses which his Redeemed are to partake in He knows what it is that he hath purchased and paid for with his own Blood it is called the purchased Possession And wise men do not wont to buy and pay at peradventure Nay he must needs know it For 1. He hath taken possession of it He is entered into Glory he is exalted into the Throne and enjoyeth those fulness of joyes and those Rivers of pleasures Heb. 12. 2. And it is the very same Glory which he now hath unto which the Children of God shal ere long be brought Joh. 17. 22. The Glory which thou gavest me I have given them 2. He is gone before to make ready the place of Glory and prepare for the entertainment of his People Joh. 14. begin It is one part of his Meditorial inployment now he is asscended into Heaven to be making all ready for the Children of God against they come there And how can he make ready except he knows what it is that he hath to prepare for them 2. Dubiously and that with respect 1. To the blessed Angels How far forth God is pleased to reveal this to them who are ministring spirits for the carrying on of this work is not to us known or wherein their Glory and the glory of Saints agree and wherein they differ is not within our ken It is certain that mans Salvation by Christ was once to them a misterious truth and they have been gazing upon it with deepest admiration Yet doubtless they know a great deal of this matter 2. To the Souls of Just men made perfect They are now indeed Comprehensors and know well enough the happiness they are in possession of but what discerning or comprehension have they of those complements of Glory which in the Resurrection and after the Day of Judgement shal be added to them we cannot tell The words after my text seem to speak of the last day as being a day of some peculiar discovery We must therefore for the present leave these two and say nothing definitely of them 3. Positively and here we may truely affirm and make it appear that 1. None of the Devils know it doth not appear to them what the Sons of God shal be They may indeed give shreud ghuesses and understand that it shal be very great For being created in the third Heaven and having seen the Glory of it they must needs know that the People of God in so far as they are appointed for the place will be wondrously glorious and their knowing of so much of it makes them so extreamly envious at them and their happiness But still after what manner the Bride the Lambs Wife shal be entertained in the great day when the marriage shal be consummate he shal carry her home to his own Pallace they cannot tell the Angels of Glory cannot know it but by relation and we cannot suppose that God will make special discoveries now to the Devils They may remember what the place was by Creation but what it shal be when Christ hath further prepared it is not for them to understand 2. It doth not appear to wicked men what the Sons of God shal be The World are strangers and intermeddle not with their joy The truth is the World are so far from knowing what they shal be that they do not know what they are at present There are Inchoate felicitys which the Saints have in this life which unregenerate men have no notice or cognizance of they have their feasts their joyes their consolations their boastings that are riddles to the ungodly They know not what the countrey feast of a good Conscience means how then should they understand what are the Provisions of the Kingdom of Glory The Children of God have their joyes and ravishments here and these strangers have no acquaintance with them Sound Divines interpret that 1 Cor. 2. 9. Eye hath not seen c. To be meant of these and that it is spoken concerning ungodly men is evident because he excepts Believers vers 10. But God hath rovealed them to us by his Spirit Those smiles of God's
Countenance those inward supports of heart that sweet communion which their Souls have with God in an Ordinance in hearing the Word at a Sacrament in their Closets on their knees powring out of their Prayers and tears into the bosom of their Father Those holy transports are riddles and matters of laughter and scorn to them and if they know not what is how should they understand that which is to come 3. The Children of God themselves whiles they are here do not fully know what they shal be it doth not yet appear to them It is true 1. The Word of God hath said a great deal concerning their future Glory There are many high and towring expressions to our apprehension used in the Scripture worthy descriptions of that great City and the Inhabitants of it and if we would study the Scripture more we might know more of it But yet when we arrive at the Kingdom and come once to see and view and experience it we shal say as the Queen Sheba to Solomon 1 King 10. 6 7. 2. The People of God have their sips and foretastes and first fruits of this Glory here They are made to tast of those Graps of which the Wine is made in Canaan They have not only their assurances but also sometimes their extasies They are taken into the Mount rapt up into the third Heaven their souls are lifted up aboue the world and all that is in it God is pleased at some times to carry them out so farr in their meditations and reveal so much of himself and his infinit love to their contemplation that they are loth to come down or to have any thing more to do with the sink and puddle of this world They know so much of that after state that when they are under these precious discoveries and the irradiations of the spirit of God upon their souls they cry out Who will give me the wings of a Dove that I might mount up and be gone And with Paul their hearts are carried forth with a longing desire to depart and be with him in full possession of all this Glory But 3. A full clear and manifest discovery of their happiness is not made to any of God's People here They that have seen most of heaven while upon this earth have seen it but â—â— Landskip They that have had the most ravishing tasts of the love of God have but imperfectly tasted it All our knowledge all our sight here is but in part 1 Cor. 13. 9. We know but in part That which is pâ—â—fect is yet to come vers 10. The are but dawnings at the most which we have here what those rayes will be which shal beam forth from the Sun of Righteousness in the mid-day splendour of Celestial Glory we now cannot tell but must be content to wait till we go thither where it is to be seen and enjoyed 2. For the ground of the Doctrine or reason why it doth not yet appear 1. God makes it not known to the ungodly 1. Lest they should be allured by it All which they hear and enjoy here must therefore be Aenigmatical or obscure to them lest they should be converted it is an awful word but Christ himself hath spoken it who knew his Fathers and his own mind and purpose Mar. 4. 11. 12. To them that are without these things are done in parables c. Lest at any time they should be Converted 2. That they may by Persecutions and oppositions try the Graces of his Children There is great use and fruit in this tryal it is more precious than that of Gold And God is pleased to use wicked men as instruments of the tryal And hence they shall not know who these be nor what their Glory is for if they did they would without doubt suspend if not in love yet in fear of them Christ himself must come in a disguise that so the determined Counsel of God might be fulfilled iâ— him 1. Cor. 2. 7 8. They would else never have Crucified him 2. The reason also why the People of God themselves have no comprehensive discovery of their own future estate 1. Because it is too big a sight for their weak eyes to gaze upon They must be prepared for their Glory as well as their Glory for them or else it would swallow them up Rom. 9. 23. Hence When Christ is upon the one work in Heaven the Spirit of Christ is on the other here Should a full description of that state be given us it must be in a Language which we understand not They are but dark similitudes dim and dull comparisons accommodated to our own weak capacity which the Scripture affords The words which Paul then heard when he was in the third Heaven were ineffable words and such as were not lawful to utter 2 Cor. 12. 4. Not unlawful because forbidden by any precept but because they did out-bid his ability If the Glory to be revealed should now be revealed to us in this our imperfect state it would over oppress and sink us 2. That they may with more patience abide the time allotted then here and serve there Generation in the doing of that work which God hath set out for them to do before they go to be possessed of this Glory We find that after St. Paul's rapture he had great wrestlings with his own spirit and much ado to keep up in himself a willingness to tarry here any longer Phil. 1. 21. I am in a strait between two Having a desire to depart And such have been the frames of God's dear Children after that they have had some extraordinary beamings of his love and been feasted by him with some special visits they have been long ere they could quiet themselves from longing and praying that the Chain might be cut and they might hoise Sail and be gone Might the Saints be permitted to know here as much as shall be known hereafter it would be harder perswading them to be willing to live than it is now to make them willing to dy USE I. For informations learn we from Hence 1. The reason why the Children of God are so little regarded here in the World it is because the World knows not who they are nor what they are born unto Their great Glory for the present is within outwardly they look like other men they eat drink labour converse in earthly imployments as others do the communion which they have with God in all of these is a secret thing They are Sick Poor Naked Distressed like other men those in ward supports which they have under all those exercises are remote from publick view They dy and are buried under the Clods and their bodyes putrifie and rot like other men and none see those joyes that their souls are entred into nor that guard of Angels which comes as a Convoy and carryes them into Abraham's bosom Naâ— they have their sins their spots their imperfections and weaknesses here as well as other men but