we have but only that which implyeth our imperfection And what imperfection can this imply Nay our present knowledg shall be increased beyond belief It shall indeed be done away but as the light of the candle and stares is done away by the rising of the Sun which is more properly a doing away of our ignorance then of our knowledge Indeed we shall not know each other after the flesh not by stature voice colour complexion visage or outward shape if we had so known Christ we should know him no more not by parts and gifts of learning nor titles of honour and worldly dignity nor by tearmes of affinity and consanguinity nor benefits nor such Relations not by youth or age nor I think by sex But by the Image of Christ and spiritual relation and former faithfulness in improving our Talents beyond doubt we shall know and be known Nor is it only our old acquaintance but all the Saints of all ages whose faces in the flesh we never saw whom we shall there both know and comfortably enjoy Luther in his last sickness being asked his Judgment whether we shall know one another in Heaven answered thus Quod accidit Adam nunquam ille vider at Evam c. i. e. How was it with Adam He had never seen Eve yet he asketh not who she was or whence she came but saith She is flesh of my flesh and bone of my bone And how knew he that Why being full of the Holy Ghost and indued with the true knowledge of God he so pronounced After the same sort shall we be renewed by Christ in another life and shall know our parents wives children c. much more perfectly then Adam did then know Eve Yea and Angels as well as Saints will be our blessed acquaintance and sweet associates We have every one now our owne Angels there beholding our Fathers face And those who now are willingly ministring Spirits for our good will willingly then be our companions in joy for the perfecting of our good And they who had such joy in heaven for our conversion will gladly reioyce with us in our glorification I think Christian this will be a more honourable assembly then you ever here beheld and a more happy society then you were ever of before Surely Brooke and Pim and Hambden and White c. are now members of a more knowing unerring well ordered right-ayming self-denying unanimous honourable Triumphant Senate then this from whence they were taken is or ever Parliament will be It is better be doore-keeper to that Assembly whether Twisse c. are translated then to have continued here the Moderator of this That is the true Parliamentum Beatum the Blessed Parliament and that is the only Church that cannot erre Then we shall truly say as David I am a companion of all them that fear thee when we are come to Mount Sion and to the City of the living God the Heavenly Jerusalem and to an innumerable company of Angels to the General Assembly and Church of the first-born which are written in Heaven and to God the Judg of all and to the Spirits of Just men made perfect and to Jesus the Mediator of the new Covenant and to the blood of Sprinkling We are come thither already in respect of title and of earnest and first-fruits but we shall then come into the full possession O Beloved if it be a happiness to live with the Saints in their imperfection when they have sin to imbitter as well as holiness to sweeten their society what will it be to live with them in their perfection where Saints are wholly and onely Saints If it be a delight to hear them pray or preach what will it be to hear them praise If we thought our selves in the Suburbs of Heaven when we heard them set forth the Beauty of our Lord and speak of the excellencies of the Kingdom what a day will it be when we shall joyn with them in praises to our Lord in and for that Kingdom Now we have corruption and they have corruption and we are apter to set awork each others corruption then our Graces and so loose the benefit of their company while we do enjoy it because we know not how to make use of a Saint But then it will not be so Now we spend many an hour which might be profitable in a dull silent looking on each other or else in vain and common conference But then it will not be Now the best do know but in part and therefore can instruct and help us but in part But then we shall with them make up one perfect man So then I conclude This is one singular excellency of the Rest of Heaven That we are fellow citizens with the Saints and of the houshold of God Eph. 2.19 SECT V. FIfthly another excellent property of our Rest will be That the Joyes of it are immediately from God Nor doth this contradict the former as I have before made plain Whether Christ who is God as well as man shall be the Conveyor of all from the Divine Nature to us And whether the giving up the Kingdom to the Father do imply the ceasing of the Mediators Office And consequently the laying aside of the humane Nature though I believe the Negative in these last yet are Questions which I will not now attempt to handle But this is sure we shall God face to face and stand continually in his presence and consequently derive our life and comfort immediately from him Whether God will make use of any Creatures for our service then or if any of what Creatures and what use is more then I yet know It seems by that Rom. 8.21 that the Creature shall have a day of Deliverance and that into the glorious Liberty of the sons of God But whether this before or at the great and full Deliverance or whether to endure to Eternity or to what particular imployment they shall be continued are Questions yet too hard for me When God speaks them plainer and mine understanding is made clearer then I may know these But it s certain that at least our most and great Joyes will be immediate if not all Now we have nothing at all immediately but at the second or third or fourth or fifth hand or how many who knows From the Earth from Man from Sun and Moon from the influence of the Planets from the Ministration of Angels and from the Spirit and Christ and doubtless the farther the Stream runs from the Fountain the more impure it is It gathers some defilement from every unclean Channel it passeth through Though it savors not in the hand of Angels of the imperfection of sinners yet it doth of the imperfection of Creatures and as it comes from man it savors of both How quick and piercing is the Word in it self Yet many times it never enters being managed by a feeble Arm. O what weight and worth is there in
living is not contemptible As every one of them now knows his own sore and his own grief so shall every one then feel his own Joy and if they can now call Christ their own and call God their own God how much more then upon their full possession of him For as he takes his people for his inheritance so will he himself be the inheritance of his people of ever SECT IV. A Fourth comfortable adjunct of this Rest is that it is in the fellowship of the Blessed Saints and Angels of God Not so singular will the Christian be as to be solitary Though it be proper to the Saints only yet is it common to all the Saints For what is it but an Association of Blessed spirits in God A corporation of perfected Saints whereof Christ is the head the communion of Saints compleated Nor doth this make those joyes to be therefore mediate derived by creatures to us as here For all the lines may be drawn from the center and not from each other and yet their collocation make them more comely then one alone could be Though the strings receive not their sound and sweetnes from each other yet their concurrence causeth that harmony which could not be by one alone For those that have prayed and fasted and wept and watcht and waited together now to joy and enjoy and praise together methinks should much advance their pleasure Whatsoever it will be upon the great change that will be wrought in our natures perfected sure I am according to the present temperature of the most sanctified humane affections it would affect exceedingly And he who mentioneth the qualifications of our happiness of purpose that our joy may be full and maketh so oft mention of our consociation and conjunction in his praises sure doth hereby intimate to us that this will be some advantage to our joyes Certain I am of this Fellow-Christians that as we have been together in the labour duty danger and distress so shall we be in the great recompence and deliverance and as we have been scorned and despised so shall we be crowned and honored together and we who have gone through the day of sadness shall enjoy together that day of Gladness and those who have been with us in persecution and prison shall be with us also in that palace of consolation Can the willful world say If our forefathers and friends be all in Hell why we will venture there too and may not the Christian say on better grounds seeing my faithful friends are gone before me to Heaven I am much the more willing to be there too Oh the Blessed day Dear friends when we that were wont to enquire together and hear of heaven and talk of heaven together shall then live in Heaven together When we who are wont to complain to one another and open our doubts to one another and our feares whether ever we should come there or no shall then rejoyce with one another and triumph over those doubts and feares when we who were wont formerly in private to meet together for mutual edification shall now most publikely be conioyned in the same consolation Those same disciples who were wont to meet in a private house for fear of the Jews are now met in the Celestial habitations without fear and as their fear then did cause them to shut the door against their enemies so will Gods Justice shut it now Oh when I look in the faces of the pretious people of God and believingly think of this day what a refreshing thought is it shall we not there remember think you the pikes which we passed together here our fellowship in duty and in sufferings how oft our groanes made as it were one sound our conjunct teares but one stream and our conjunct desires but one prayer and now all our prayses shall make up one melody and all our Churches one Church and all our selves but one body for we shall be one in Christ even as he and the father are one It s true we must be very carefull in this case that in our thoughts we look not for that in the Saints which is alone in Christ and that we give them not his own prerogative nor expect too great a part of our comfort in the fruition of them we are prone enough to this kinde of Idolatry But yet he who Commands us so to love them now will give us leave in the same subordination to himself to love them then when himself hath made them much more lovely And if we may love them we shall surely reioyce in them for love and enjoyment cannot stand without an answerable Joy If the forethoughts of sitting down with Abraham Isaac Jacob and all the Prophets in the Kingdom of God may be our lawful Joy then how much more that real fight and actual possession It cannot chuse but be comfortable to me to think of that day when I shall joyn with Moses in his song with David in his Psalms of praise and with all the redeemed in the song of the Lamb for ever When we shall see Henoch walking with God Noah enjoying the end of his singularity Joseph of his Integrity Job of his patience Hezekiah of his uprightness and all the Saints the end of their faith Will it be nothing conducible to the compleating of our comforts to live eternally with Peter Paul Austin Chrysostom Jerome Wickliffe Luther Zuinglius Calvin Beza Bullinger Zanchius Pareus Piscator with Hooper Bradford Latimer Glover Saunders Philpot with Reignolds Whitaker Cartwright Brightman Bayne Bradshaw Bolton Ball Hildersham Pemble Twisse Ames Preston Sibbes O faelicem diem said old Grynoeus quum ad illud animorum concilium proficiscar ex hac turba Colluione discedam O happy day when I shall depart out of this crown and sink and go to that same counsell of soules I know that Christ is all in all and that it is the presence of God that maketh Heaven to be Heaven But yet it much sweeteneth the thoughts of that place to me to remember that there are such a multitude of my most dear and pretious friends in Christ with whom I took sweet counsell and with whom I went up to the house of God who walked with me in the fear of God and in integrity of their hearts in the face of whose conversations there was written the name of Christ whose sweet and sensible mention of his Excellencies hath made my heart to burn within me To think of such a friend died at such a time and such a one at another time such a pretious Christian slain at such a fight and such a one at such a fight oh what a number of them could I name and that all these are entered into rest and we shall surely go to them but they shall not return to us It s a Question with some Whether we shall know each other in Heaven or no Surely there shall no knowledg cease which now
called Christians so named from him do remain Thus far Josephus a Jew by Nation and Religion who wrote this about eighty six years after Christ and fourteen years before the death of St. John Himself being born about five or six years after Christ. 20. Consider also how that every Age hath afforded multitudes of VVitnesses who before were most bitter and violent enemies And divers of these men of note for Learning and place in the world How mad was Saul against the Truth Surely it could be no favour to the Cause nor over-much credulity that caused such men to witness to the death the truth of that for which they had persecuted others to the death but a little before Nor could childish Fables or common flying Tales have so mightily wrought with men of Learning and Understanding For some such were Christians in all Ages 21. Nay observe but the Confessions of these Adversaries when they came to believe How generally and ingenuously they acknowledg their former ignorance and prejudice to have been the cause of their unbelief 22. Consider also how unable all the enemies of the Gospel have been to abolish these sacred Records They could burn the Witnesses by thousands but yet they could never either hinder their succession or extinguish these Testimonies 23. Nay the most eminent Adversaries have had the most eminent ruine As Antiochus Herod Julian with multitudes more This stone having faln upon them hath ground them to powder 24 It were not difficult here to collect from unquestioned Authors a constant succession of VVonders at least to have in several Ages accompanied the Attestation of this Truth and notable judgments that have befaln the persecutors of it And though the Papists by their Fictions and Fabulous Legends have done more wrong to the Christian Cause then ever they are able to repair yet unquestionable History doth afford us very many Examples And even many of those actions which they have deformed with their fabulous additions might yet for the substance have much truth And God might even in times of Popery work some of these wonders though not to confirm their Religion as it was Popish yet to confirm it as the Christian Religion for as he had then his Church and then his Scripture so had he then his special Providences to confirm his Church in their belief and to silence the several enemies of the Faith And therefore I advise those who in their inconsiderate zeal are apt to reject all these Histories of Providences meerly because they were written by Papists or because some Witnesses to the Truth were a little leavened with some Popish errors that they would first view them and consider of their probability of Truth or Falshood that so they may pick out the Truth and not reject all together in the lump least otherwise in their zeal against Popery they should injure Christianity And now I leave any man to judg whether we have not had an infallible way of receiving these Records from the first VVitnesses Not that every of the particulars before mentioned are necessary to the proving or certain receiving the Authentick Records without depravation for you may perceive that almost any two or three of them might suffice and that divers of them are from abundance for fuller confirmation SECT IV. ANd thus I have done with this first Argument drawn from the Miracles which prove the Doctrine and VVritings to be of God But I must satisfie the Scruples of some before I proceed First Some will question whether this be not 1. To resolve our faith into the Testimony of man 2. And so to make it a Humane faith And so 3. To jump in this with the Papists who believe the Scripture for the Authority of the Church and to argue Circularly in this as they To this I Answer First I make in this Argument the last Resolution of my faith into the Miracles wrought to confirm the Doctrine If you ask why I believe the Doctrine to be of God I Answer because it was confirmed by many undeniable Miracles If you ask why I believe those Miracles to be from God I Answer because no created power can work a Miracle So that the Testimony of man is not the Reason of my believing but onely the means by which this matter of Fact is brought down to my Knowledg Again Our Faith cannot be said to be Resolved into that which we give in Answer to your last Interrogation except your Question be onely still of the proper grounds of Faith But if you change your Question from what is the Ground of my Faith to what is the means of conveying down the History to me Then my faith is not Resolved into this means Yet this means or some other equivalent I acknowledg so necessary that without it I had never been like to have believed 2. This shews you also that I argue not in the Popish Circle nor take my faith on their common Grounds For First When you ask them How know you the Testimony of the Church to be Infallible They prove it again by Scripture and ther 's their Circle But as I trust not on the Authority of the Romish Church onely as they do no nor properly to the Authority of any Church no nor onely to the Testimony of the Church but also to the Testimony of the enemies themselves So do I prove the validity of the Testimony I bring from Nature and well known Principles in Reason and not from Scripture it self as you may see before 3. There is a Humane Testimony which is also divine and so an Humane Faith which is also divine Few of Gods extraordinary Revelations have been immediate The best Schoolmen think none of all but either by Angels or by Jesus himself who was man as well as God You will acknowledg if God reveal it to an Angel and the Angel to Moses and Moses to Israel this is a divine Revelation to Israel For that is called a divine Revelation which we are certain that God doth any way Reveal Now I would fain know why that which God doth naturally and certainly Reveal to all men may not as properly be called a Divine Revelation as that which he Reveales by the Spirit to a few Is not this Truth from God That the Senses apprehension of their Object rightly stated s certain as well as this Jesus Christ was born of a Virgin c. Though a Saint or Angel be a fitter Messenger to Reveal the things of the Spirit yet any man may be a Messenger to reveal the things of the flesh An ungodly man if he have better Eyes and Ears may be a better Messenger or Witness of that matter of Fact which he seeth and heareth then a godlier man that is blinde or deaf especially in cases wherein that ungodly man hath no provocation to speak falsly and most of all if his Testimony be against himself I take that Revelation whereby I know
enter into these contracts with them For that he might procure by other means as likely Beside it is some kinde of prosperity or fulfilling of their desires which he conditioneth to give them It is a childish thing to conceit that the Divel cares so much for a few drops of their blood Is not the blood of a beast or other creature as sweet Neither can it be onely the acknowledgement of his power that he amies at nor a meer desire of being honoured or worshipped in the world as Porphyrius and other Pagans have thought For he is most truly served where he is least discerned and most abhorred when he most appears His Apparitions are so powerfull a means to convince the Atheist who believes not that there is either God or Devil or Heaven or Hell that I am perswaded he would far rather keep out of sight and that for the most part he is constrained by God to appear against his will Besides if Satan sought his own honour he would still speak in his own name But contrarily his usuall appearance is in the shape and name of some deceased person affirming himself to be the soul of such a one or else he pretends to be an Angel of light And when he makes his compacts with Witches it is seldome so plainly and directly as that they understand it is indeed the Devil that they deal with So that it is apparent Satan seeks something more then the honour of domineering that is the ruine of the party with whom he deals And that it is not their bodily and temporall ruine only appears further by this that he will heal as well as hurt and give power to his confederates to do the like and this tends not to the ruine of mens bodies Though there be a great deal of deceit among them yet doubtless many have been cured by Popish spels and Pilgrimages and Exorcismes Carolus Piso mentions one of his patients who was incurably deaf a yeer together and was suddenly cured in the midst of his devotion to the Lady of Lauretto Fernelius mentions those that could stop any bleeding by repeating certain words He saw an universal Jaundise cured in one night by the hanging of a piece of Paper about the neck A great deal more to the same purpose he hath De abditis reâ— causis l. 2. c. 16. If any should doubt whether there be any such Witches who thus work by the power of the divel or have any compact with him he hath as good opportunity now to be easily resolved as hath been known in most Ages Let him go but into Suffolk or Essex or Lancashire c. and he may quickly be informed Sure it were strange if in an age of so much knowledg and conscience there should so many score poor creatures be put to death as Witches if it were not clearly manifest that they were such We have too many examples lately among us to leave any doubt of the truth of this So that by these attempts of Satan to deceive and destroy souls it is evident That there is an estate of happiness or misery for every man after this life All those Arguments which every Common-place book and Philosopher almost can afford you to prove the immortality of the soul will also serve to prove the point in hand But many can apprehend these Arguments from sense who cannot yet reach and will not be convinced by other Demonstrations As Temptations Apparitions Possessions Dispossessions and Witches are most excellent means to convince a Sadducee that there are Angels and Spirits so also by cleare consequence that there is a Resurrection and Eternall life SECT V. THe second thing that I am to clear to you is That it is necessary for man to know this happiness and the way to obtain it and to know the misery and the way to escape it This appears thus First If he must go that way and use those means then he must needs first know both the end and way But he that will obtain the end must use the means therefore he must necessarily know them All this is so evident that I believe few will deny it That man must use the means before he attain the end is evident First From the nature of the motion of the Rationall soul which is to seek the attainment of its propounded end by a voluntary use of means conducing thereto For as it hath not at its first infusion that height of perfection whereof it is capable so neither is it carryed thereto by violence or by blind instinct for then it were not a Rationall motion Secondly Yea the very enjoyment of the end and the seeking of it are actions of the same nature It is enjoyed by Knowing Loving Rejoycing c. And these actions are the means to attain it Thirdly And if the means were not necessary to the end the wicked were as capable of it as the godly but that will not stand with the Justice of God Fourthly If knowledg of the end and use of means were not of necessity to the obtaining of that end then a beast or a block were as fit a subject for that blessedness as a man But these cannot be And That man cannot seek a happiness which he never knew nor shun a misery which he was not aware of nor use means thereto which he was never acquainted with I think would be lost and needless labor for me to prove SECT VI. THe third thing that I am to prove is this That meer nature and creatures contain no sufficient revelation of the forementioned end and means This appears thus First Nature by the help of creatures though it tell us that there is a God yet what he is or how he will be worshipped or how he came to be so displeased with the world or how he must be reconciled of all this it tels us nothing Again though it may possibly acquaint us with an immortall state yet what the happiness there is and what the misery or how we are naturally deprived of that happiness and how it must be recovered and who they be that shall enjoy it of all this it tels us little Much less of the Resurrection of our bodies from the grave So also though nature may possibly finde it self depraved yet how it came to be so or how to be healed or how to be pardoned it cannot tell Secondly If nature by the meer book of the creatures could learn all things necessary yet first it would be so slow and by so long study Secondly and so doubtfully and uncertainly Thirdly and so rarely that it appears by this the means of revelation is not sufficient All this is apparent by event and successe For what nature and creatures do sufficiently teach that their Scholars have certainly learned First Then observe how long did the most learned Philosophers study before they could know those few rude imperfect notions which some of them did attain to concerning
should be so it would be somewhat a sad uncomfortable doctrine to the godly at their death to think of being deprived of their glory till the resurrection and somewhat comfortable to the wicked to think of tarrying out of hell so long But I am in strong hopes that this doctrine is false yea very confident that it is so I do believe that as the soul separated from the body is not a perfect man so it doth not enjoy the Glory and happiness so fully and so perfectly as it shall do after the Resurrection when they are again conjoined What the difference is and what degree of Glory souls in the mean time enjoy are too high things for mortals particularly to discern For the great question what place the souls of those before Christ of Infants and of all others since Christ do remaine in till the Resurrection I think it is a vain enquiry of what is yet beyond our reach It is a great question what Place is But if it be only a circumstant body and if to be in a place be only to be in a circumstant bodâ— or in the superficies of an ambient body or in the concavity oâ— that superficies then it is doubtfull whether spirits can be properly said to be in place We can have yet no clear conceivings of these things But that separated souls of Believers do enjoy unconceivable Blessedness and Glory even while they remain thus separated from the body I prove as followeth Beside all those Arguments for the souls Immortality which you may read in Alex. Rosse his Philosophicall Touchstone part lâ—st 1. Those words of Paul 2 Corin. 5.8 Are so exceeding plain that I yet understand not what tolerable exception can be made agaiâ—st them Therefore we are alwayes confident knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord For we walk by faith not by sight we are confident I say and willing rather to be absent from the body and present with the Lord What can be spoken more plainly so also the 1 2 3 4. verses of the same Chapter 2. As plain is that in Philip. 1.23 For I am in a streight betwixt two having a desire to depart and to be with Christ which is far better What sense were in these words if Paul had not expected to enjoy Christ till the Resurrection Why should he be in a streight Or desire to depart Should he be with Christ ever the sooner for that Nay should he not have been loath to depart upon the very same grounds For while he was in the flesh he enjoyed something of Christ but being departed according to the Socinians doctrine he should enjoy no thing of Christ till the day of Resurrection 3. And plain enough is that of Christ to the thief This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise The dislocation of the word this day is but a gross evasion 4. And sure if it be but a Parable of the Rich man in hell and Lazarus yet it seemes unlikely to me that Christ would teach them by such a Parable as seemed evidently to intimate and suppose the souls happiness or misery presently after death if there were no such matter 5. Doth not his Argument against the Sadduces for the Resurrection run upon this supposition That God being not the God of the dead but of the living therefore Abraham Isaac and Jacob were then living i. e. in soul and consequently should have their bodies raised at the Resurrection 6. Plain also is that in the Revelations chap. 14. vers 13. Blessed are the dead that dye in the Lord from henceforth yea saith the Spirit that they may Rest from their labors and their works do follow them i. e. close as the garments on a mans back follow him and not at such a distance as the resurrection For if the blessedness were only in Râ—sting in the Grave then a beast or a stone were as blessed Nay it were evidently a curse and not a blessing For was not life a great Mercy was it not a greater mercy to enjoy all the comforts of life to enjoy the fellowship of the Saints The comfort of the ordinances And much of Christ in all To be imployed in the delightfull work of God and to edifie his Church c. Is it not a curse to be so deprived of all these Do not these yeeld a great deal more sweetness then all the troubles of this life can yeeld us bitterness Though I think not as some that it is better to be most miserable even in hell then not to be at all yet it is undeniable that it is better to enjoy life and so much of the comforts of life and so much of God in comforts and afflictions as the Saints do though we have all this with persecution then to lye rotting in the grave if that were all we could expect Therefore it is some further blessedness that is there promised 7. How else is it said That we are come to the Mount Zion the City of the living God the heavenly Jerusalem to an innumerable company of Angels to the generall Assembly and Church of the first born which are written in Heaven and to God the judge of all and to the spirits of just men made perfect Heb. 12.22 23. Sure at the Resurrection the body will be made perfect as well as the spirit To say as Lushington doth that they are said to be made perfect because they are sure of it as if they had it is an evasion to grosly contradicting the Text that by such commentaries he may as well deny any truth in Scripture To make good which he as much abuseth that of Philip. 3.12 8. Doth not Scripture tell us that Henoch and Elias are taken up already And shall we think they possess that Glory alone 9. Did not Peter and James and John see Moses also with Christ on the Mount Yet the Scripture saith Moses dyed And is it likely that Christ did delude their senses in shewing them Moses if he should not partake of that glory till the Resurrection 10. And is not that of Stephen as plain as we can desire Lord Jesus receive my spirit Sure if the Lord receive it it is neither asleep nor dead nor annihilated but it is where he is and beholds his Glory 11. The like may be said of that Eccles. 12.7 The spirit shall return to God who gave it 12. How else is it said that we have eternall life already John 6.54 and that the knowledg of God which is begun here is eternall life John 17.3 So 1. John 5.13 And he that believeth on Christ hath everlasting life John 3.36 John 6.47 He that eateth this bread shall not dye vers 50. For he dwelleth in Christ and Christ in him vers 56. And as the Son liveth by the Father so he that eateth him shall live by him vers 57. How is the Kingdom of God and of heaven which
his name there was scorning at his worship and swearing by his name And now Hell must therefore be their habitation for ever where they shall never be troubled with that worship and duty which they abhorred but joyn with the rest of the damned in blaspheming that God who is avenging their former impieties and blasphemies Can it probably be expcted that they who made themselves merry while they lived on earth in deriding the persons and families of the godly for their frequent worshiping and praising God should at last be admitted into the Familie of Heaven and joyn with those Saints in those more perfect praises Surely without a sound change upon their hearts before they go hence it is utterly impossible It is too late then to say Give us of your oyl for our Lamps are out Let us now enter with you to the marriage feast let us now joyn with you in the joyfull Heavenly melody You should have joyned in it on earth if you would have joyned in Heaven As your eyes must be taken up with other kinde of sights so must your hearts be taken up with other kinde of thoughts and your voices turned to another tune As the doors of heaven will be shut against you so will that joyous imployment be denied to you There is no singing the songs of Zion in the land of your thraldome Those that go down to the pit do not praise him Who can rejoyce in the place of sorrows And who can be glad in the land of confusion God suits mens imployments to their natures The bent of your spirits was another way your hearts were never set upon God in your lives you were never admirers of his Attributes and works nor ever throughly warmed with his love you never longed after the enjoyment of him you had no delight to speak or to hear of him you were weary of a Sermon or Prayer an hour long you had rather have continued on earth if you had known how you had rather yet have a place of earthly preferment or lands and lordships or a feast or sports or your cups or whores then to be interessed in the Glorious Praises of God and is it meet then that you should be members of the Celestiall Quire A Swine is fitter for a Lecture of Philosophy or an Ass to build a City or govern a Kingdom or a dead Corps to feast at thy Table then thou art for this work of Heavenly Praise SECT VI. FOurthly They shall also be deprived of the Blessed society of Angels and glorified Saints Instead of being companions of those happy spirits and numbred with those Joyful and Triumphing Kings they must now be members of the corporation of hell where they shall have companions of a far different nature and quality While they lived on earth they loathed the Saints they imprisoned banished them and cast them out of their societies or at least they would not be their companions in labour and in sufferings And therefore they shall not now be their companions in their Glory Scorning them and abusing them hating them and rejoycing in their calamities was not the way to obtain their blessedness If you would have shined with them as Stars in the Firmament of their Father you should have joyned with them in their holiness and faith and painfulness and patience you should have first been ingraffed with them into Christ the common stock and then incorporated into the fraternity of the members and walked with them in singleness of heart and watched with them with oyl in your Lamps and joyned with them in mutuall exhortation in faithfull admonitions in conscionable reformation in prayer and in praise you should have travelled with them out of the Egypt of your naturall estate through the Red Sea and Wilderness of humiliation and affliction and have cheerfully taken up the Cross of Christ as well as the name prefession of Christians and rejoyced with them in suffering persecution and tribulation All this if you had faithfully done you might now have been triumphing with them in glory and have possessed with them their masters joy But this you could not you would not endure your souls loathed it your flesh was against it and that flesh must be pleased though you were told plainly and frequently what would come of it and now you pertake of the fruit of your folly and endure but what you were foretold you must endure and are shut out of that company from which you first shut out your selves and are separated but from them whom you would not be joyned with You could not endure them in your houses nor in your Towns nor scarce in the Kingdom you took them as Ahab did Elias for the troublers of the land and as the Apostles were taken for men that turned the world upside down If any thing fell out amiss you thought all was long of them When they were dead or banished you were glad they were gone and thought the Countrey was well rid of them They molested you with their faithfull reproving your sin Their holy conversations did trouble your consciences to see them so far excell your selves and to condemn your loosness by their strictness and your prophaness by their conscionable lives and your negligence by their unwearyed diligence You scarce ever heard them pray or sing praises in their families but it was a vexation to you And you envyed their liberty in the worshipping of God And is it then any wonder if you be separated from them hereafter I have heard of those that have said that if the Puritans were in Heaven and the good fellows in Hell they had rather go to Hell then to Heaven And can they think much to have their desires granted them The day is neer when they will trouble you no more betwixt them and you will be a great gulf set that those that would pass from thence to you if any had a desire to ease you with a drop of water cannot neither can they pass to them who would go from you for if they could there would none be left behinde Luk. 16.26 Even in this life while the Saints were imperfect in their passions and infirmities cloathed with the same frail flesh as other men and were mocked destitute afflicted and tormented yet in the judgment of the Holy Ghost they were such of whom the world was not worthy Heb. 11.36 37 38. Much more unworthy are they of their fellowship in their Glory CHAP. II. The aggravations of the loss of Heaven to the ungodly SECT I. I Know many of the wicked will be ready to think If this be all they do not much care they can bear it well enough what care they for losing the perfections above What care they for losing God his favor or his presence they lived merrily without him on earth and why should it be so grievous to be without him hereafter And what care they for being deprived of that Love and Joy and
and Earth where we now are yea or Heaven which is offered us then certainly we have received Mercy Yea if the Blood of the Son of God be Mercy then are we engaged to God by Mercy for so much did it cost him to recover us to himself And should a people of such deep engagements be lazy in their returns Shall God think nothing too much nor too Good for us and shall we think all too much that we do for him Thou that art an observing sensible man who knowest how much thou art beholden to God I appeal to thee Is not a loytering performance of a few heartless duties an unworthy requital of such admirable kindness For my own part when I compare my slow and unprofitable life with the frequent and wonderful mercies received it shames me it silenceth me and leaves me unexcusable SECT VIII 7. A Gain consider All the Relations which we stand in toward God whether common or special do call upon us for our utmost diligence Should not the pot be wholly at the service of the Potter and the creature at the service of his great Creator Are we his Children and do we not owe him our most tender affections and dutiful obedience Are we the Spouse of Christ and do we not owe him our observance and our Love If he be our Father where is his honour and if he be our Master where is his fear Mal. 1.6 We call him Lord and Master and we do well but if our industry be not answerable to our assumed relations we condemn our selves in saying we are his children or his servants How will the hard labour and dayly toyl that servants undergo to please their Masters judg and condemn those men who will not labour so hard for their Great Master Surely there 's none have a better or more honourable Master then we nor can any expect such fruit of their labours 1 Cor. 15. ult SECT IX 8. COnsider What haste should they make who have such Rods at their backs as be at ours And how painfully should they work who are still driven on by such sharp Afflictions If either we wander out of the way or loyter in it how surely do we prepare for our own smart Every creature is ready to be Gods Rod to reduce us or to put us on Our sweetest mercies will become our sorrows Or rather then he will want a Rod the Lord will make us a scourge to our selves Our diseased bodies shall make us groan our perplexed minds shall make us restless our conscience shall be as a Scorpion in our bosom And is it not easier to endure the labour then the spur Had we rather be still thus afflicted then to be up and going Alas how like are we to tired horses that will lie down and groan or stand still and let you lay on them as long as you will rather then they will freely travel on their journey And thus we make our own lives miserable and necessitate God if he love us to chastiâ—e us It is true those that do most do meet with Afflictions also but surely according to the measure of their peace of Conscience and faithfulness to Christ so is the bitterness of their Cup for the most part abated SECT X. 9. HOw close should they ply their work who have such great preparations attending them as we have All the world are our servants that we may be the Servants of God The Sun and Moon and Stars attend us with their light and influence The Earth with all its furniture is at our service How many thousand plants and flowers and fruits and birds and beasts do all attend us The Sea with its inhabitants the Air the wind the frost and snow the heat and fire the clouds and rain all wait upon us while we do our work Yea the Angels are ministring Spirits for the Service of the Elect. And is it not an intolerable crime for us to trifle while all these are employed to assist us Nay more The Patience and Goodness of God doth wait upon us The Lord Jesus waiteth in the offers of his blood The Holy Ghost waiteth in striving with our backward hearts Besides all his Servants the Ministers of his Gospel who study and wait and preach and wait and pray and wait upon careless sinners And shall Angels and Men yea the Lord himself stand by and look on and as it were hold thee the Candle while thou dost nothing Oh Christians I beseech you when ever you are upon your knees in prayer or reproving the transgressors or exhorting the obstinate or upon any duty do but remember what attendance you have for this work and then Judg how it behoves you to perform it SECT XI 10. SHould not our Affections and Endeavors be answerable to the acknowledged Principles of our Christian Profession Sure if we are Christians indeed and mean as we speak when we profess the Faith of Christ we shall shew it in Affections and Actions as well as Expressions Why the very fundamental Doctrines of our Religion are That God is the chief Good and all our Happiness consists in his Love and therefore it should be valued and sought above all things That he is our only Lord and therefore chiefly to be served That we must Love him with all our heart and soul and strength That the very business that men have in the world and the only errand that God sent them about is to Glorifie God and to obtain Salvation c. And do mens duties and conversations second this profession Are these Doctrines seen in the painfulness of mens practise Or rather do not their works deny what their words do confess One would think by mens Actions that they did not believe a word of the Gospel to be true Oh sad day when mens own tongues and professions shall be brought in against them and condemn them SECT XII 11. HOw forward and painful should we be in that work where we are sure we can never do enough If there were any danger of over-doing then it might well cause men to moderate their endeavors But we know that if we could do all we were but unprofitable servants much more when we are sure to fail in all It is true a man may possibly pray too much or preach too much or hear or reprove too much though I have known few that ever did so but yet no man can obey or serve God too much For one duty may be said to be too long when it shuts out another and then it ceaseth indeed to be a duty So that though all Superstition or service of our devising may be called a Righteousness-over-much yet as long as you keep your service to the rule of the Word that so it may have the true nature of obedience you never need to fear being Righteous too much For else we should reproach the Lord and Law-giver of the Church as if he had commanded us
weary day and hour might make us long for our eternal rest That as the pulling down of one end of the ballance is the lifting up of the other so the pulling down of our bodies might be the lifting up of our souls that as our souls were usually at the worst when our bodies were at the best so now they might be at the best when our bodies are at the worst why should we not think thus with our selves why every one of these gripes that I feel are but the cutting of the stitches for the ripping off mine old attire that God may cloathe me with the glory of his Saints Had I rather live in these rotten raggs then be at the trouble and pains to shift me Should the Infant desire to stay in the womb because of the straitness and pains of the passage or because he knows not the world that he is to come into nor is acquainted with the fashions or inhabitants thereof Am I not neerer to my desired rest then ever I was If the remembrance of these griefs will increase my joy when I shall look back upon them from above why then should not the remembrance of that joy abate my griefs when I look upwards to it from below And why should the present feeling of these dolors so much diminish the foretasts of Glory when the remembrance of them will then increase it All these gripes and woes that I feel are but the farewell of sin and sorrows As Nature useth to struggle hard a little before death and as the devil cast the man to the ground and tore him when he was going out of him Mark 9.26 so this tearing and troubling which I now feel is but at the departure of sin and misery for as the effects of Grace are sweetest at last so the effects of sin are bitterest at the last and this is the last that ever I shall taste of it when once this whirlwind and earthquake is past the still voyce will next succeed and God onely will be in the voyce though sin also was in the earthquake and whirlwinde Thus Christian as every pang of sickness should minde the wicked of their eternal pangs and make them look into the bottom of hell so should all thy wo and weakness minde thee of thy neer approaching joy and make thee look as high as heaven and as a Ball the harder thou art smitten down to earth the higher shouldst thou rebound up to heaven If this be thy case who readest these lines and if it be not now it will be shortly if thou lye in consuming painful sickness if thou perceive thy dying time draw on O where should thy heart be now but with Christ Methinks thou shouldst even behold him as is were standing by thee and shouldst bespeak him as thy Father thy Husband thy Physitian thy Friend Methinks thou shouldst even see as it were the Angels about thee waiting to perform their last office to thy soul as thy friends wait to perform theirs to thy body Those Angels which disdained not to bring the soul of a scabbed Begger to heaven will not think much to conduct thee thither O look upon thy sickness as Jacob did on Josephs Chariots and let thy spirit revive within thee and say It is enough that Joseph that Christ is yet alive for because he lives I shall live also Joh. 14.19 As thou art sick and needest the daintiest food and choicest Cordials so here are choices then the world affords here is the food of Angels and glorified Saints here is all the joyes that heaven doth yield even the Vision of God the sight of Christ and whatsoever the blessed there possess This Table is spread for thee to feed on in thy sickness these dainties are offered thee by the hand of Christ He hath written thee the Receipt in the Promises of the Gospel He hath prepared thee all the ingredients in Heaven onely put forth the hand of Faith and feed upon them and rejoyce live The Lord saith to thee as he did to Elias Arise and eat because the journey is too great for thee 1 Kings 19.7 Though it be not long yet the way is foul I counsel thee therefore that thou obey his voyce and arise and eat and in the strength of that meat thou maist walk till thou come to the Mount of God Dye not in the ditch of horror or stupidity but as the Lord said to Moses Go up into the Mount and see the Land that the Lord hath promised and dye in the Mount And as old Simeon when he saw Christ in his infancy in the Temple so do thou behold him in the Temple of the New Jerusalem as in his Glory and take him in the arms of thy Faith and say Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace for mine eye of Faith hath seen thy salvation As thou wast never so neer to Heaven as now so let thy spirit be neerer it now then ever So you have seen which is the fittest season for this duty I should here advise thee also of some times unseasonable but I shall onely add this one Caution The unseasonable urging of the most spiritual duty is more from the Tempter then from the Spirit of God When Satan sees a Christian in a condition wherein he is unable and unfit for a duty or wherein he may have more advantage against us by our performance of it then by our omitting it he will then drive on as earnestly to duty as if it were the very spirit of Holiness that so upon our omitting or ill performance he may have somewhat to cast in our teeth and to trouble us with And this is one of his wayes of deceiving when he transformes himself into an Angel of Light It may be when thou art on thy knees in prayer thou shalt have many good thoughts will come into thy minde or when thou art hearing the word or at such unseasonable times Resist these good thoughts as coming from the devil for they are formally evil though they are materially good Even good thoughts in themselves may be sinful to thee It may be when thou shouldst be diligent in thy necessary labors thou shalt be moved to cast aside all that thou mayest go to Meditation or to Prayer These motions are usually from the spirit of delusion The spirit of Christ doth nothing unseasonably God is not the God of confusion but of order SECT VIII THus much I thought necessary to advise thee concerning the time of this duty It now followes that I speak a word of the fittest place Though God is every where to be found by a faithful soul Yet some places are more convenient for a duty then others 1. As this is a Private and spiritual duty so it is most covenient that thou retire to some private place Our spirits had need of every help and to be freed from every hinderance in the work And the quality of these
circumstances though to some they may seem small things doth much conduce to our hinderance or our help Christ himself thought it not vain to direct in this circumstance of private duty Mat. 6.4 6 18 If in private prayer we must shut our door upon us that our Father may hear us in secret so is it also requisite in this Meditation How oft doth Christ himself depart to some mountain or wilderness or other solitary place For occasional Meditation I give thee not this advise but for this daily set and solemn duty I advise that thou withdraw thy self from all society yea though it were the society of godly men that thou mayest a while enjoy the society of Christ If a student cannot study in a crowd who exerciseth only his invention and memory much lesse when thou must exercise all the powers of thy soul and that upon an object so far above nature When thy eyes are filled with the persons and actions of men and thine ears with their discourse its hard then to have thy thoughts and affections free for this duty Though I would not perswade thee to Pythagoras his Cave nor to the Hermets Wilderness nor to the Monks Cell yet I would advise thee to frequent solitariness that thou mayest sometimes confer with Christ and with thy self as well as with others We are fled so far from the solitude of superstition that we have cast off the solitude of contemplative devotion Friends use to converse most familiarly in private and to open their Secrets and let out their affections most freely Publike converse is but common converse Use therefore as Christ himself did Mark 1.35 to depart sometimes into a solitary place that thou maist be wholly vacant for this great employment See Mat. 14.23 Mark 6.47 Luke 9.18 36. John 6.15 16. We seldom read of Gods appearing by himself or his Angels to any of his Prophets or Saints in a throng but frequently when they were alone And as I advise thee to a place of retiredness so also that thou observe more particularly what place and posture best agreeth with thy spirit Whether within doors or without whether siting still or walking I beleeve Isaacs example in this also will direct us to the place and posture which will best suit with most as it doth with me viz. His walking forth to meditate in the field at the eventide And Christs own example in the places forecited gives us the like direction Christ was used to a solitary Garden that even Judas when he came to betray him knew where to finde him John 18.1 2. And though he took his Disciples thither with him yet did he separate himself from them for more Secret devotions Luke 22.41 And though his meditation be not directly named but onely his praying yet it is very clearly implied Matth. 26.38 39. His soul is first made sorrowful with the bitter meditations on his death and sufferings and then he poureth it out in prayer Mark 14.34 So that Christ had his accustomed place and consequently accustomed duty and so must we Christ hath a place that is solitary whither he retireth himself even from his own Disciples and so must we Christs meditations do go further then his thought they affect and pâ—erce his heart and soul and so must ours Onely there is a wide difference in the object Christ meditates on the suffering that our sins had deserved that the wrath of his Father even passed through his thoughts upon all his soul But the meditation that we speak of is on the glory he hath purchased that the love of the Father and the joy of the Spirit might enter at our thoughts and revive our affections and overflow our souls So that as Christs meditation was the sluce or flood-gate to let in Hell to overflow his Affections so our meditation should be the sluce to let in Heaven into our affections SECT IX SO much concerning the Time and Place of this duty I am next to advise thee somewhat concerning the preparations of thy heart The success of the work doth much depend on the frame of thy heart When mans heart had nothing in it that might grieve the Spirit then was it the delightful habitation of his Maker God did not quit his residence there till man did expel him by unworthy provocations There grew no strangeness till the heart grew sinful and too loathsom a dungeon for God to delight in And were this soul reduced to its former innocency God would quickly return to his former habitation yea so far as it is renewed and repaired by the Spirit and purged of its lusts and beautified with his Image the Lord will yet acknowledg it his own and Christ will manifest himself unto it and the Spirit will take it for his Temple and Residence So far as the soul is qualified for conversing with God so far it doth actually for the most part enjoy him Therefore with all diligence keep thy heart for from thence are the issues of life Prov 4.23 More particularly when thou fettest on this duty First Get thy heart as clear from the world as thou canst wholly lay by the thoughts of thy business of thy troubles of thy enjoyments and of every thing that may take up any room in thy soul. Get thy soul as empty as possibly thou canst that so it may be the more capable of being filled with God It is a work as I have said that will require all the powers of thy soul if they were a thousand times more capacious and active then they are and therefore you have need to lay by all other thoughts and affections while you are busied here If thou couldst well perform some outward duty with a piece of thy heart while the other is absent yet this above all I am sure thou canst not Surely if thou once address thy self to the business indeed thou wilt be as the covetous man at the heap of Gold that when he might take as much as he could carry away lamented that he was able to bear no more So when thou shalt get into the Mount in contemplation thou wilt finde there as much of God and Glory as thy narrow heart is able to contain and almost nothing to hinder thy full possession but onely the uncapableness of thy own Spirit O then wilt thou think that this understanding were larger that I might conceive more that these affections were wider to contain more it is more my own unfitness then any thing else which is the cause that even this place is not my Heaven God is in this place and I know it not This Mount is full of the Angels of God but mine eyes are shut and cannot see them O the words of love that Christ hath to speak O the wonders of love that he hath to shew But alas I cannot bear them yet Heaven is here ready at hand for me but my uncapable heart is unready for Heaven Thus wouldst thou lament that the
deadness of thy heart doth hinder thy joyes even as a sick man is sorry that he wants a stomack when he sees a feast before him Therefore Reader seeing it is much in the capacity and frame of thy heart how much thou shalt enjoy of God in this contemplation be sure that all the room thou hast be empty and if ever seek him here with all thy soul Thrust noâ— Christ into the stable and the manger as if thou hadst better guests for the chiefest rooms Say to all thy worldly business and thoughts as Christ to his Disciples Sit you here while I go and pray yonder Matth. 26.36 Or as Abraham when he went to sacrifice Isaac left his servants and Ass below the Mount saying Stay you here and I and the Lad will go yonder and worship and come again to you So say thou to all thy worldly thoughts Abide you below while I go up to Christ and then I will return to you again Yea as God did terrifie the people with his threats of death if any one should dare to come to the Mount when Moses was to receive the Law from God so do thou terrifie thy own heart and use violence against thy intruding thoughts if they offer to accompany thee to the Mount of Contemplation Even as the Priests thrust Vzziah the King out of the Temple where he presumed to burn incense when they saw the Leprosie to arise upon him so do thou thrust these thoughts from the Temple of thy heart which have the badg of Gods prohibition upon them As you will beat back your dogs yea and leave your servants behinde you when your selves are admitted into the Princes presence so also do by these Your selves may be welcome but such followers may not SECT X. 2. BE sure thou set upon this work with the greatest seriousness that possibly thou canst Customariness here is a killing sin There is no trifling in holy things God will be sanctified of all that draw neer him These spiritual excellent soul-raising duties are the most dangerous if we miscarry in them of all The more they advance the soul being well used the more they destroy it being used unfaithfully As the best meats corrupted are the worst To help thee therefore to be serious when thou settest on this work First Labor to have the deepest apprehensions of the presence of God and of the incomprehensible Greatness of the Majesty which thou approachest If Rebecca vail her face at her approach to Isaac if Esther must not draw neer till the King hold forth the Scepter if dust and worms-meat must have such respect Think then with what reverence thou shouldst approach thy Maker think thou art addressing thy self to him that made the Worlds with the word of his mouth that upholds the Earth as in the palm of his hand that keeps the Sun and Moon and Heavens in their courses that bounds the raging Sea with the Sands and saith Hitherto go and no farther Thou art going about to converse with him before whom the Earth will quake and Devils tremble before whose bar thou must shortly stand and all the world with thee to receive their doom O think I shall then have lively apprehensions of his Majesty my drowsie spirits will then be wakened and my stupid unreverence be laid aside Why should I not now be rouzed with the sense of his Greatness and the dread of his Name possess my soul Secondly Labor to apprehend the greatness of the work which thou attemptest and to be deeply sensible both of its weight and height of its concernment and excellency If thou were pleading for thy life at the bar of a Judg thou wouldst be serious and yet that were but a trifle to this If thou were engaged in such a work as David was against Goliah whereon the Kingdoms deliverance did depend in it self considered it were nothing to this Suppose thou were going to such a wrestling as Jacobs suppose thou were going to see the sight which the three Disciples saw in the Mount How seriously how reverently wouldst thou both approach and behold If the Sun do suffer any notable Eclipse how seriously do all run out to see it If some Angel from Heaven should but appoint to meet thee at the same time and place of thy contemplations how dreadfully how apprehensively wouldst thou go to meet him Why consider then with what a Spirit thou shouldst meet the Lord and with what seriousness and dread thou shouldst daily converse with him When Manoah had seen but an Angel he cryes out We shall surely die because we have seen God Judg 13.22 Consider also the blessed Issue of the work if it do succeed it will be an admission of thee into the presence of God a begining of thy Eternal Glory on Earth a means to make thee live above the rate of other men and admit thee into the next room to the Angels themselves a means to make thee live and die both joyfully and blessedly So that the prize being so great thy preparations should be answerable There is none on Earth that live such a life of joy and blessedness as those that are acquainted with this Heavenly conversation The joyes of all other men are but like a childes play a fools laughter as a dream of health to the sick or as a fresh pasture to a hungry Beast It is he that trades at Heaven that is the onely gainer and he that neglecteth it that is the onely loser And therefore how seriously should this work be done CHAP. VIII Of Consideration the instrument of this Work and what force it hath to move the Soul SECT I. HAving shewed thee how thou must set upon this work I come now to direct thee in the work it self and to shew thee the way which thou must take to perform it All this hath been but to set the Instrument thy heart in tune and now we are come to the Musick it self All this hath been but to get thee an appetite it follows now That thou approach unto the Feast that thou sit down and take what is offered and delight thy soul as with marrow and fatness Whoever you are that are children of the Kingdom I have this message to you from the Lord Behold the dinner is prepared the Oxen and fatlings are killed Come for all things are now ready Heaven is before you Christ is before you the exceeding Eternal weight of Glory is before you Come therefore and feed upon it Do not make light of this invitation Matth. 22.5 nor put off your own mercies with excuses Luke 14.18 what ever thou art Rich or poor though in Alms-houses or Hospitals though in High-ways or Hedges my Commission is if possible to compel you to come in And blessed is he that eateth bread in the Kingdom of God Luke 14.15 The Manna lyeth about your Tents walk forth into the Wilderness gather it up take it home and feed upon it so that
is the Fathers good pleasure to give thee this Kingdom Seest thou this astonishing Glory above thee Why all this is thy own inheritance This Crown is thine these pleasures are thine this company this beauteous place is thine all things are thine because thou art Christs and Christ is thine when thou wast married to him thou hadstall this with him Thus take thy heart into the Land of Promise shew it the pleasant hills and fruitful valleys Shew it the clusters of Grapes which thou hast gathered and by those convince it that it is a blessed Land flowing with better then milk and honey enter the gates of the holy City walk through the streets of the New Jerusalem walk about Sion go round about her tell the towers thereof mark well her bulwarks consider her palaces that thou mayest tell it to thy soul Psal. 48.12 13. Hath it not the Glory of God and is not her light like to a stone most precious See the twelve foundations of her walls and the names of the twelve Apostles of the Lamb therein The building of the walls of it are of Jasper and the City is of pure gold as cleer as glass The foundation is garnished with pretious stones and the twelve gates are twelve pearls every several gate is of one Pearl and the street of the City is pure Gold as it were transparent glass There is no temple in it for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the Temple of it It hath no need of Sun or Moon to shine in it for the Glory of God doth lighten it and the Lamb is the light thereof and the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it These sayings are faithful and true and the Lord God of the holy Prophets hath sent his Angels and his own Son to shew unto his servants the things that must shortly be done Rev. 21.11 12 13. c. to the end 22.6 What sayest thou now to all this This is thy Rest O my soul and this must be the place of thy Everlasting habitation Let all the sons of Sion then rejoyce and the daughters of Jerusalem be glad for great is the Lord and greatly is he praised in the City of our God Beautiful for scituation the Joy of the whole earth is Mount Sion God is known in her palaces for a refuge Psal. 48.11 1 2 3. Yet proceed on Anima quae amat ascendit c. The soul saith Austin that loves ascends frequently and runs familiarly through the streets of the heavenly Jerusalem visiting the Patriachs and Prophets saluting the Apostles admiring the Armies of Martyrs and Confessors c. So do thou lead on thy heart as from street to street bring it into the Palace of the Great King lead it as it were from chamber to chamber say to it Here must I lodge here must I live here must I praise here must I love and be beloved I must shortly be one of this Heavenly Quire I shall then be better skilled in the musick Among this blessed company must I take my place My voice must joyn to make up the Melody my teares will then be wiped away my groans are turned to another tune my cottage of clay will be changed to this Palace and my prison rags to these splendid robes my sordid nasty stinking flesh shall be put off and such a Sun-like spiritual body put on For the former things are done away Glorious things are spoken of thee O City of God There it is that trouble and lamentation ceaseth and the voice of sorrow is not heard O when I look upon this glorious place what a dunghil and dungeon me thinks is earth O what a difference betwixt a man feeble pained groaning dying rotting in the grave and one of these triumphant blessed shining Saints Here shall I drink of the river of pleasure the streams whereof make glad the City of our God For the Lord will create a New Jerusalem and a New Earth and the former shall not be remembred nor come into minde we shall be glad and rejoyce for ever in that which he creates for he will create Jerusalem a rejoycing and her people a joy And he will rejoyce in Jerusalem and joy in his people and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her nor the voice of crying there shall be no more thence an infant of days nor an old man that hath not filled his dayes Isa. 65.17 18 19 20. Must Israel on earth under the bondage of the Law serve the Lord with joyfulness and gladness of heart because of the abundance of all things which they possess sure then I shall serve him with joyfulness and gladness who shall have another kinde of service and of abundance in Glory Deut. 28.47 Did the Saints take joyfully the spoiling of their goods Heb. 11.34 and shall not I take joyfully the receiving of my good and such a full reparation of all my losses Was it such a remarkable celebrated day when the Jews rested from their enemies because it was turned to them from sorrow to joy and from mourning into a good day Est. 9.22 What a day then will that be to my soul whose Rest and change will be so much greater When the wise men saw but the Star of Christ they rejoyced with exceeding great Joy Mat. 2.10 But I shall shortly see the Star of Jacob even himself who is the bright and morning Star Numb 24.17 Rev. 22.16 If they returned from the Sepulchre with great Joy when they had but heard that he was risen from the dead Mat. 28.8 What Joy then will it be to me when I shall see him risen and reigning in his glory and my self raised to a blessed communion with him Then shall we have Beauty for ashes indeed and the oil of joy for mourning and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness Isa. 61.3 When he hath made Sion an eternal excellency a joy of many generations Isa. 60.15 Why do I not then arise from the dust and lay aside my sad complaints and cease my doleful mourning note Why do I not trample down vain delights and feed upon the foreseen delights of Glory why is not my life a continual Joy and the favor of Heaven perpetually upon my spirit And thus Reader I have directed thee in Acting of thy Joy SECT X. HEre also when thou findest cause thou hast a singular advantage from thy Meditations of Heaven for the acting of the contrary and more mixed passions As 1. Of thy hatred and detestation of sin which would deprive thy soul of these immortal Joyes 2. Of thy godly and filial Fear least thou shouldest either abuse or hazard this mercy 3. Of thy necessary grief for such thy foolish abuse and hazard 4. Of thy godly shame which should cover thy face for the forementioned folly 5. Of thy unfeigned repentance for what thou hast done against thy Joyes 6. Of thy holy anger or
to conceive And doubtless as the Spirit doth speak so we must hear and if our necessity cause him to condescend in his expressions it must needs cause us to be low in our conceivings Those conceivings and expressions which we have of Spirits and things meerly Spiritual they are commonly but second Notions without the first but meer names that are put into our mouths without any true conceivings of the things which they signifie or our conceivings which we express by those notions or terms are meerly negative what things are not rather then what they are As when we mention Spirits we mean they are not corporeal substances but what they are we cannot tell no more then we know what is Aristotles Materia Prima It is one reason of Christs assuming and continuing our nature with the Godhead that we might know him the better when he is so much neerer to us and might have more positive conceivings of him and so our mindes might have familiarity with him who before was quite beyond their reach But what is my scope in all this is it that we might think Heaven to be made of Gold and Pearl or that we should Picture Christ as the Papists do in such a shape or that we should think Saints and Angels do indeed eat and drink No Not that we should take the Spirits figurative expressions to be meant according to strict propriety or have fleshly conceivings of Spiritual things so as to beleeve them to be such indeed But thus To think that to conceive or speak of them in strict propriety is utterly beyond our reach and capacity and therefore we must conceive of them as we are able and that the Spirit would not have represented them in these notions to us but that we have no better notions to apprehend them by and therefore that we make use of these phrases of the Spirit to quicken our apprehensions and affections but not to pervert them and use these low notions as a Glass in which we must see the things themselves though the representation be exceeding imperfect till we come to an immeditae and perfect sight yet still concluding That these phrases though useful are but borrowed and improper The like may be said of those expressions of God in Scripture wherein he represents himself in the imperfections of Creatures as anger repenting willing what shall not come to pass c. Though these be improper drawn from the maner of men yet there is somewhat in God which we can see no better yet then in this glass and which we can no better conceive of then in such notions or else the Holy Ghost would have given us better I would the Judicious Reader would on the by well weigh also how much this conduceth to reconcile us and the Arminians in those ancient and like-to-be continuing Controversies SECT II. 1. GO too then When thou settest thy self to meditate on the joyes above think on them boldly as Scripture hath expressed them Bring down thy conceivings to the reach of sense Excellency without familiarity doth more amaze then delight us Both Love and Joy are promoted by familiar acquaintance When we go about to think of God and Glory in proper conceivings without these Spectacles we are lost and have nothing to fix our thoughts upon We set God and Heaven so far from us that our thoughts are strange and we look at them as things beyond our reach and beyond our line and are ready to say That which is above us is nothing to us To conceive no more of God and Glory but that we cannot conceive them and to apprehend no more but that they are past our apprehension will produce no more love but this To acknowledg that they are so far above us that we cannot love them and no more joy but this That they are above our rejoycing And therefore put Christ no further from you then he hath put himself least the Divine Nature be again inaccessible Think of Christ as in our own nature glorified think of our fellow Saints as men there perfected think of the City and State as the Spirit hath expressed it onely with the Caution and Limitations before mentioned Suppose thou were now beholding this City of God and that thou hadst been companion with John in his Survey of its Glory and hadst seen the Thrones the Majesty the Heavenly Hosts the shining Splendor which he saw Draw as strong suppositions as may be from thy sense for the helping of thy affections It is lawful to suppose we did see for the present that which God hath in Prophecies revealed and which we must really see in more unspeakable brightness before long Suppose therefore with thy self thou hadst been that Apostles fellow-traveller into the Celestial Kingdom and that thou hadst seen all the Saints in their White Robes with Palms in their hands Suppose thou hadst heard those Songs of Moses and of the Lamb or didst even now hear them praising and glorifying the Living God If thou hadst seen these things indeed in what a rapture wouldst thou have been And the more seriously thou puttest this supposition to thy self the more will the Meditation elevate thy heart I would not have thee as the Papists draw them in Pictures nor use mysterious significant Ceremonies to represent them This as it is a course forbidden by God so it would but seduce and draw down thy heart But get the liveliest Picture of them in thy minde that possibly thou canst meditate of them as if thou were all the while beholding them and as if thou were even hearing the Hallelujahs while thou art thinking of them till thou canst say Methinks I see a glympse of the Glory methinks I hear the shouts of joy and praise methinks I even stand by Abraham and David Peter and Paul and many more of these triumphing souls methinks I even see the Son of God appearing in the clouds and the world standing at his bar to receive their doom methinks I even hear him say Come ye blessed of my Father and even see them go rejoycing into the Joy of their Lord My very dreams of these things have deeply affected me and should not these just suppositions affect me much more What if I had seen with Paul those unutterable things should I not have been exalted and that perhaps above measure as well as he What if I had stood in the room of Stephen and seen Heaven opened and Christ sitting at the right hand of God Surely that one sight was worth the suffering his storm of stones O that I might but see what he did see though I also suffered what he did suffer What if I had seen such a sight as Michaiah saw The Lord sitting upon his throne and all the hosts of Heaven standing on his right hand and on his left Why these men of God did see such things and I shall shortly see far more then ever they saw
and suppress my joyes yet shalt thou not be able to conquer and destroy me There shall I and my joyes survive when thou art dead and though thou envy all my comforts yet some in despight of thee I shall even here receive But were it not for thee what abundance might I have The light of Heaven would shine into my heart and I might be as familiar there as I am on earth Come away my soul then stop thine ears to the ignorant language of infidelity Thou art able to answer all its Arguments Or if thou be not yet tread them under thy feet Come away stand not looking on that grave nor turning those bones nor reading thy lesson now in the dust Those lines will soon be wiped out But lift up thy head and look to heaven and read thy instructions in those fixed Stars Or yet look higher then those eyes can see into that foundation which standeth sure and see thy name in golden letters written before the foundations of the world in the book of life of the slain Lamb. What if an Angel from Heaven should tell thee that there is a mansion prepared for thee that it shall certainly be thine own and thou shalt possess it for ever would not such a message make thee glad And dost thou make light of the infallible word of promises which were delivered by the spirit and by the Son himself Suppose thou hadst seen a fiery chariot come for thee and fetch thee up to Heaven like Elias would not this rejoyce thee Why my Lord hath acquainted me and assured me that the soul of a Lazarus a begger goes not forth of its corrupted flesh but a Convoy of Angels are ready to attend it and bring it to the comforts in Abrahams bosome Shall a drunkard be so merry among his cups and a glutton in his delicious fare and the proud in his bravery and dignity and the lustful wanton in the enjoyment of his mate And shall not I rejoyce who must shortly be in Heaven How glad is voluptuous youth of their playtimes and holydayes VVhy in Heaven I shall have an everlasting Holyday of Pleasure Can meat and drink delight me when I hunger and thirst Can I finde pleasure in walks and gardens and convenient dwellings Can beauteous sights delight mine eyes and odors my smell and melody mine ears And shall not the forethought of the Celestial bliss delight me my beast is glad of his fresh pasture and his liberty and his Rest And shall not I What delight have I found in my private studies especially when they have prospered to the increase of my knowledg me thinks I could bid the world farewel and immure my self among my books and look forth no more were it a lawful course but as Heinsius in his Library at Leyden shut the doors upon me and as in the lap of Eternity among those divine souls imploy my self in sweet content and pitty the rich and great ones that know not this happiness Sure then it is a high delight indeed which in the true lap of Eternity is enjoyed If Lipsius thought when he did but read Seneca that he was even upon Olympus top above mortality and humane things VVhat a case shall I be in when I am beholding Christ If Julius Scaliger thought twelve verses in Lucan better then the whole German Empire What shall I think mine inheritance worth If the Mathematicks alone are so delectable that their students do profess that they should think it sweet to live and dye in those studies How delectable then will my life be when I shall fully and clearly know those things which the most learned do now know but doubtfully and darkly In one hour shall I see all difficulties vanish and all my doubts in Physicks Metaphysicks Politicks Medicine c. shall be resolved so happy are the students of that University Yea all the depths in divinity will be uncovered to me and all the difficult knots untyed and the book unsealed and mine eyes opened For in knowing God I shall know all things that are fit or good for the creature to know There Commeni'us attempt is perfected and all the sciences reduced to one Seneca thought that he that lived without books was but buried alive But had he known what it is to enjoy God in glory he would have said indeed that to live without him is to be buried alive in hell If Apollonius travelled into Aethiopia and Persia to consult with the learned there And if Plato and Pythagoras left their country to see those wise Egyptian Priests And if as Hierom saith many travelled thousand miles to see and speak with eloquent Livy And if the queen of Sheba came from Ethiopia to hear the wisdome of Solomon and see his glory O how gladly should I leave this Countrey how cheerfully should I pass from earth to Heaven to see the glory of that Eternal Majesty and to attain my self that height of wisdom in comparison of which the most learned on earth are but silly bruitish fools and Ideots If Bernard were so ravished with the delights of his Monastery where he lived in poverty without the common pleasures of the world because of its green banks and shady bowers and herbes and trees and various objects to feed the eyes and fragrant smels and sweet and various tunes of Birds together with the opportunity of devout contemplations that he cryes out in admiration Lord VVhat abundance of delights dost thou provide even for the poor How then should I be ravished with the description of the Court of Heaven where in stead of hearbs and trees and birds and bowers I shall enjoy God and my Redeemer Angels Saints and unexpressible pleasures and therefore should with more admiration cry out Lord what delights hast thou provided for us miserable and unworthy wretches that wait for thee If the heaven of glass which the Persian Emperor framed were so glorious a piece and the heaven of silver which the Emperor Ferdinand sent to the great Turk because of their rare artificial representations and motions VVhat will the Heaven of Heavens then be which is not formed by the Art of man nor beautified like these childish toyes but is the matchless Pallace of the great King built by himself for the residence of his glory and the perpetual entertainment of his beloved Saints Can a poor deluded Mahometan rejoyce in expectation of a feigned sensual Paradise And shall not I rejoyce in expectation of a certain Glory If the honor of the ambitious or the wealth of the covetous person do increase his heart is lifted up with his estate as a boate that riseth with the rising of the water If they have but a little more lands or money then their neighbors how easily may you see it in their countenance and carriage How high do they look how big do they speak how stately and loftily do they demean themselves And shall not the heavenly loftiness
I have in my Books my friends and in thine Ordinances till thou hast given me a taste of something more sweet my soul will be loth to part with these The Traveller will hold his Cloak the faster when the windes do bluster and the storms assault him but when the Sun shines hot he will cast it off as a burthen so will my soul when thou frownest or art strange be lother to leave this garment of flesh but thy smiles would make me leave it as my prison but it is not thy ordinary discoveries that will here suffice as the work is greater so must be thy help O turn these fears into strong desires and this lothness to dye into longings after thee while I must be absent from thee let my soul as heartily groan under thine absence as my pained body doth under its want of health And let not those groans be counterfeit or constrained but let them come from a longing loving heart unfeignedly judging it best to depart and be with Christ And if I have any more time to spend on earth let me live as without the world in thee as I have sometime lived as without thee in the world O suffer me not to spend in strangeness to thee another day of this my Pilgrimage while I have a thought to think let me not forget thee while I have a tongue to move let me mention thee with delight while I have a breath to breathe let it be after thee and for thee while I have a knee to bend let it bow daily at thy Footstool and when by sickness thou confinest me to my Couch do thou make my bed and number my pains and put all my tears into thy Bottle And as when my spirit groaned for my sins the flesh would not second it but desired that which my spirit did abhor so now when my flesh doth groan under its pains let not my spirit second it but suffer the flesh to groan alone and let me desire that day which my flesh abhorreth that my friends may not with so much sorrow wait for the departure of my soul as my soul with joy shall wait for its own departure and then let me dye the death of the Righteous and let my last end be as his even a removall to that Glory that shall never end Send forth thy Convoy of Angels for my departing soul and let them bring it among the perfected spirits of the Just and let me follow my dear friends that have died in Christ before me und when my friends are weeping over my Grave let my spirit be reposed with thee in Rest and when my Corps shall lye there rotting in the dark let my soul be in the Inheritance of the Saints in Light And O thou that numberest the very hairs of my head do thou number all the dayes that my body lyes in the dust and thou that writest all my members in thy Book do thou keep an account of all my scattered bones and hasten O my Saviour the time of thy return send forth thine Angels and let that dreadful joyful Trumpet sound delay not lest the living give up their hopes delay not lest earth should grow like hell and lest thy Church by division be crumbled all to dust and dissolved by being resolved into individual unites Delay not lest thine enemies get advantage of thy Flock and lest Pride and Hypocrisie and Sensuality and Unbelief should prevail against thy little Remnant and share among them thy whole Inheritance and when thou comest thou finde not Faith on the earth Delay not lest the Grave should boast of Victory and having learned Rebellion of its guest should plead prescription and refuse to deliver thee up thy due O hasten that great Resurrection Day when thy command shall go forth and none shall disobey when the Sea and Earth shall yield up their Hostages and all that slept in the Graves shall awake and the dead in Christ shall first arise when the seed that thou sowedst corruptible shall come forth incorruptible and Graves that received but rottenness and retained but dust shall return thee glorious Stars and Suns therefore dare I lay down my carcass in the dust entrusting it not to a Grave but to Thee and therefore my flesh shall rest in Hope till thou raise it to the possession of the Everlasting REST. Return O Lord how long O let thy Kingdom come Thy desolate Bride saith Come for thy Spirit within her saith Come who teacheth her thus to pray with groanings after thee which cannot be expressed The whole Creation saith Come waiting to be delivered from the bondage of Corruption into the glorious liberty of the Sons of God Thy Self hast said Surely I come quickly Amen Even so come LORD IESVS The Conclusion THus Reader I have given thee my best advice for the attaining and maintaining a Heavenly Conversation The maner is imperfect and too much mine own but for the main matter I dare say I received it from God From him I deliver it thee and his charge I lay upon thee That thou entertain and practise it If thou canst not do it methodically and fully yet do it as thou canst onely be sure thou do it seriously and frequently If thou wilt believe a man that hath made some small tryal of it thou shalt finde it will make thee another man and elevate thy soul and clear thine understanding and polish thy conversation and leave a pleasant savor upon thy heart so that thy own experience will make thee confess That one hour thus spent will more effectually revive thee then many in bare external duties and a day in these contemplations will afford thee truer content then all the glory and riches of the Earth Be acquainted with this work and thou wilt be in some remote sort acquainted with God Thy joyes will be spiritual and prevalent and lasting according to the nature of their Blessed Object thou wilt have comfort in life and comfort in death VVhen thou hast neither wealth nor health nor the pleasure of this world yet wilt thou have comfort Comfort without the presence or help of any Friend without a Minister without a Book when all means are denied thee or taken from thee yet maist thou have vigorous real comfort Thy graces will be mighty and active and victorious and the daily joy which is thus fetcht from Heaven will be thy strength Thou wilt be as one that standeth on the top of an exceeding high Mountain he looks down on the world as if it were quite below him How small do the Fields and VVoods and Countreys seem to him Cities and Towns seem but little spots Thus despicably wilt thou look on all things here below The greatest Princes will seem below thee but as Grashoppers and the busie contentious coveteous world but as a heap of Ants. Mens threatnings will be no terror to thee nor the honors of this world any strong enticement Temptations will be more harmless as
delight in God and heavenly Things it would rectifie their judgments better then all the arguments in the world Lose this delight once and you will begin to quarrel with the Ordinances and Ways of God and to be more offended at the Preachers imperfections then profited by the Doctrine Sixthly And it is the want of these Heavenly Delights in God that makes men so entertain the delights of the flesh This is the cause of most mens voluptuousness and flesh-pleasing The Soul will not rest without some kinde of delights If it had nothing to delight in either in hand or in hope it would be in a kinde of Hell on Earth vexing it self with continual sorrow and despair If a Dog have lost his Master he will follow somebody else Men must have their sweet Cups or delicious Fare or gay Apparel or Cards or Dice or Fleshly Lasts to make up their want of delight in God How well these will serve in stead of God our fleshly youths will be better able to tell me when we meet at Judgment If men were acquainted with this Heavenly Life there would need no Laws against Sabbath breaking and riotousness nor would men need to go for mirth to an Alehouse or a Tavern They would have a far sweeter pastime and recreation neerer hand Seventhly also This want of Heavenly Delights will leave men under the power of every Affliction they will have nothing to comfort them and ease them in their sufferings but the empty uneffectual pleasures of the flesh and when that is gone where then is their delight Eighthly Also it will make men fearful and unwilling to die For who would go to a God or a place that he hath no delight in or who would leave his pleasure here except it were to go to better O if the people of God would learn once this Heavenly Life and take up their delights in God whilest they live they would not tremble and be disconsolate at the tidings of death Ninthly Yea this want of Heavenly Delight doth lay men open to the power of every Temptation A little thing will tice a man from that which he hath no pleasure in Tenthly Yea it is a dangerous preparative to total Apostacy A man will hardly long hold on in a way that he hath no delight in nor use the means if he have no delight in the end But as a Beast if you drive him a way that he would not go will be turning out at every gap If you be Religious in your actions and become over to God in your outward Conversaâ—ion and not in your delight you will shortly be gone if your trial be strong How many young people have we known who by good education or the perswasion of friends or for fear of Hell have been a while kept up among Prayers and Sermons and good company as a Bird in a Cage when if they durst they had rather have been in an Alehouse or at their sports and at last they have broke loose when their restraint was taken off and have forsaken the way that they never took pleasure in You see then that it is not a matter of indifferency whether you entertain these Heavenly Delights or not nor is the loss of your present comfort all the inconvenience that follows the neglect And now Christian Friends I have here lined you out a Heavenly precious Work would you but do it it would make you men indeed To delight in God is the work of Angels and the contrary is the work of devils If God would perswade you now to make conscience of this duty and help you in it by the blessed influence of his Spirit you would not change your lives with the greatest Prince on the Earth But I am afraid if I may judg of your hearts by the backwardness of my own that it will prove a hard thing to perswade you to the work and that much of this my labor will be lost Pardon my jealousie it is raised upon too many and sad experiments What say you Do you resolve on this Heavenly course or no Will you let go all your sinful fleshly pleasures and daily seek after these higher delights I pray thee hear shut the Book and consider of it and resolve on the duty before thou go further Let thy Family perceive let thy Neighbors perceive let thy Conscience perceive yea let God perceive it that thou art a man that hast thy daily Conversation in Heaven God hath now offered to be thy daily delight Thy neglect is thy refusal What Refuse delight and such a Delight If I had propounded you onely a course of Melancholy and Fear and Sorrow you might better have demur'd on it Take heed what thou dost Refuse this and refuse all Thou must have Heavenly Delights or none that are lasting God is willing that thou shouldst daily walk with him and fetch in consolations from the Everlasting Fountain if thou be unwilling even bear thy loss And one of these days when thou liest dying then seek for comfort where thou canst get it and make what shift for contentment thou canst Then see whether thy fleshly delights will stick to thee or give thee the slip and then Conscience in despight of thee shall make thee remember That thou wast once perswaded to a way for more excellent pleasures that would have followed thee through death and have lasted thee to Everlasting What man will go in rags that may be clothed with the best or feed on pulse that may feed of the best or accompany with the vilest that may be a companion to the best and admitted into the presence and favor of the greatest And shall we delight so much in our clothing of flesh and feed so much on the vain pleasures of Earth and accompany so much with sin and sinners When Heaven is set open as it were to our daily view and God doth offer us daily admittance into his presence O how is the unseen God neglected and the unseen Glory forgotten and made light of and all because they are unseen and for want of that Faith which is the Substance of things hoped for and the Evidence of things that are not seen But for you sincere Beleevers whose hearts God hath weaned from all things here below I hope you will value this Heavenly Life and fetch one walk daily in the New Jerusalem I know God is your Love and your desire and I know you would fain be more acquainted with your Saviour and I know it is your grief that your hearts are not more neer him and that they do no more feelingly and passionately love him and delight in him As ever you would have all this mended and enjoy your desires O try this Life of Meditation on your Everlasting Rest Here is the Mount Ararat where the fluctuated Ark of your Souls must Rest. O let the World see by your Heavenly Lives That Religion lieth in something more then Opinions and Disputes and a