severall fevere churlish Monitours that did put him in mind of his end namely the Stone and the Strangurie In these sore Diseases hee carryed himselfe with wonderfull great patience None did ever heare any words fall from him that witnessed any impatience Toward his end hee considered that hee was now for another and a better place Therefore when hee was invited to Dinner in the House of which hee was in Grayes Inne Saith hee I must Dine in another place When his Sicknesse did seize upon him more sharpely though the paine thereof tooke away a great part of the powers of his Soule yet hee did manifest a great deale of strength of Faith by divers words that fell from him As the Hart brayes after the Rivers of Water so panteth my Soule after thee O God And as the Church doth here Come Lord Iesus come quickly And Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace according to thy word Hee was displeased with them about him that out of their love to him did recall him by Cordialls out of a Swoone and so protracted his life longer then hee would have had it You keepe me too long from Christ saith hee God is mercifull to me but you are not with many the like And when they heaved up his body his spirit was so strong in him as if hee desired to meet Christ before his time And thus at length this blessed man meekely yeelded up his blessed Soule into the hands of his blessed Saviour that had so dearely bought it sanctified it and sealed it by his holy and blessed Spirit Beloved I thinke there were but few men of later times of whom wee had more and a more generall losse then of this worthy man His Servants lost a kind and loving Master his Children lost a most tender and carefull Father his Friends a true cordiall and hearty friend the Professours of the Law a speciall Ornament of it the Ministers especially a sweet encourager the poore Clients a loving Patron the richer sort a grave wise and judicious Counsellour Religion and Justice a great Supporter the Countrey where hee lived a faithfull Magistrate So that here is the losse of many But what hath hee lost Hee hath attained to that which hee desired so earnestly hee hath joyned himselfe to Christ and left behind him a Monument of Mortalitie the sad remembrance and remainder of him his dead Body Hee hath made an happie change of Earth for Heaven of the companie of men for the companie of perfect Soules and Angels in Heaven of troublesome imployments here for glorious imployments for ever So that hee is no loser Hee hath left behind him likewise another sweet memoriall and remembrance of him as sweet as the Ointment of the Apothecarie unto the Church and people of God Hee lived to end all in the best times that have beene in the Church since the Apostles times all his dayes Hee was borne under the Gospel and lived under the Gospel Hee began to savour the best things even from his youth And God lengthened his dayes very long for the good of us Therefore God miraculously almost preserved his weake worne body It was much that such a spirit should endure in such a body so long under such Diseases But at length being full of dayes and full of honour with all good people God having blessed him in his Children for his Childrens Children inherite his Blessing in the comfort and assurance of an happie change hee yeelded up his blessed Soule and triumphant Spirit into the hands of God whom hee had loved whose Cause hee had owned here in the World in the midst of this sinfull generation and whom hee professed even unto death whose comming hee desired so earnestly where and with whom wee now leave him And for you Beloved that fully know as the Apostle Paul saith his purpose his manner of life his Faith his long suffering his Charitie Patience c. I beseech you let not his memorie die with him but let those Vertues that were in him live in you so long as you live If there be any thing prayse-worthie or of good report as indeed there was much in him thinke on these things If there were any infirmities in him as I thinke there were as few in him as in any man Love hath a Mantle to cover them Hee was a gracious man every way one that adorned the Doctrine and Gospel of Christ in everie thing Therefore I beseech you as the Apostle saith be followers of him as hee was of Christ. Wee must one day give an account to God not onely for what Sermons wee have heard but for the examples of those amongst whom wee have lived how wee have profited by the Lights that God hath set before us in the World whether wee have imitated their examples or no. Wee must give an account for all the good wee might have received not onely by the meanes of salvation but also by the Presidents of worthie persons set before us I beseech you in the bowels of the Lord Jesus thinke on these things and the Peace of God be with you FINIS Imprimatur THO. WYKES Feb. 13. 1637. Rev. 6. 10. Note Note Note Rev. 3. 14. 2 Cor. 1. 20. Doct. 1. Reas. 1. Reas. 2. Reas. 3. Reas. 4. Reas. 5. 1 Pet. 3. 21. Psal. 27. 8. Ier. 3. 22. Vse Note Mot. 1. Mot. 2. Vse 2. Reproofe of two sorts Deut. 29. 19. Deut. 32. 22. Matth. 25. 41. 2 Rom. 6. 17. Note 2 3 4 5 6 7 Obser. 1. Obser. 2. Obser. 3. 2 Pet. 1. 4. Obser. 4 Ioh. 11. 42. Psal. 2. 8. Obser. 5. Isa. 66. 22. Rom. 11. 15. 2 Thess. 2. 3. 1 Cor. 6. 2. 1 Thess 4. 17 18. Obser. 6 Reason 1. Reason 2. Reas. 3. 1 Cor. 12. 12 2 Cor. 8. 23. 2 Thes. 1. 10. Reas. 4. Mat. 6. 21 Reason 5. Phil. 1. 21. Cant. 1. 2. Cant. 8. 14. Luke 2. 25. 2 Tim. 4. 8. Reason 6. 1 Cor. 29. Rom. 8. 23 Eph. 1. 14. 2 Cor. 5. 5. 1 Pet. 1. 8. Phil 4. â— Psi. 16. 11. 2 Thes. 1. 10. Luke 2. 14. Ioh. 8. 59. Luke 1. 44. Math. 17. 4 Luk. 2. 29. 2 Cor. 3. 18. 1 Cor. 13. 12 Psal. 119. 1 Ioh. 1. 3. Rom. 8. 21. Heb. 4. 16. Reas. 7. 2 Cor. 5. 6 Mat. 18. 7. Isai. 11. 6. Rom. 7. 24 2 Cor. 127. Tryal 1. Heb. 9. 14. Rom. 8. 23. Tryal 2. Gon. 41. 14. 1 Ioh. 3. 3. Eph. 4. 22 24. Tryal 3. Ioel. 2. 2. Rev. 6. 16. Isa 33. 14. 1 Cor. 16. 22. 2 Thess. 1. Tryal 4 Direct 1. Iob. 5. 23. Hos. 2. 18. Phil. 3. 9. Direct 2. Eph. 3. 19. Direct 3. Rev. 12. 12. 1 Cor. 7. 29. Phil. 2. 12. 2 Pet. 1. 10. 2 Tim. 4. 7 8. 2 Pet. 3. 11. Direct 4. Obiect Answ. Rom. 8. 23. Matth 6. 11 12. Object Answ. Phil. 1. 23. Act. 13. 36. 2 Tim. 4. 8. Vers. 18. Iob. 17. 45. Heb. 12. 1 1 Tim. 6. 12. 1 Thess. 4. 18 Rev. 22. 12. 2 Tim 4. 1. 1 Pet. 1. 4. Act. 24. 25. Heb. 11. 26. Mar. 8. 38. Object Answ. Psal. 42. 1. 2 Tim. 3. 11 Phil. 4. 8.
Where the treasure is there will the heart be 51 Rea. 5. The members are carried to union with the head 52 Rea. 6. By comparing it with glory here in sundry particulars 56 Rea. 7. From the state of the Church at the best in this World in regard of troubles without 64. and corruptions within 68 Tryalls of our desires for the second comming of Christ. Tryall 1. By seeing what benefit we have by the first comming of Christ. 70 Tryall 2. By our preparing for it 73 Tryall 3. Whether our hearts be the Kingdome of Christ now 74 Tryall 4. By our holy exercises 77 Directions inabling us to utter this desire and prayer Direct 1. 1. Labour to be reconciled to God 81 2. Labour to grow in the new Creature 83 3. Be sure to do what you doe throughly and quickly 85 4. Take all advantages to helpe this desire and prayer from crosses and Satan 92 Two objections answered 1. Object I find I am not so desirous of the comming of Christ as I ought 9â— 2. Object But I desire to live still 97 A pressing exhortation to long for the second comming of Christ and from thence also to quicken our selves in our Christian work 98 A conclusion Upon the particular occasion 111 THE BRIDEGROOMES PROMISE And The BRIDES Prayer REVEL 22. 20. Hee which testifieth these things saith Surely I come quickly Amen Even so come Lord Iesus AS the Church of God being the weakest and the most shiftlesse part of mankind is never without trouble in this world so God would never have it to be without comfort And therefore God reveales unto Christ in this Booke and Christ unto the Angel and the Angel unto Iohn things to come from the Ascension of Christ unto his second comming that so in all conditions of the Church the Church might have recourse unto this Booke to see what the issue of all would be This is their comfort that howsoever things may be carryed in this world in a seeming confusion in a cloud and in a Mysterie yet in conclusion all shall end well on the Churches side their trouble shall end in Peace their abasement in Glory and their conflict in a Crowne This we may see here verified This Revelation doth end in the description of the glorious condition of the Church In the two last Chapters as I take it the Evangelist Saint Iohn sets downe the glorious estate of the Church of God even in this world yet so as it shall end and be consummate in perfect glory in the world to come For the soule of a Christian like Noahs Dove cannot rest in any glory here till it returne to the Arke till it come to the enjoyment of perfect glory and have blissefull communion with Christ for ever and ever in Heaven And therefore Christ doth terminate and end the sweetnesse of his Promises in Heaven and at his last comming and the Church likewise stretcheth and rayseth up her desires to that Howsoever there shall be glorious times and things here yet these are but as the first fruits to the whole Harvest and as a drop unto the Ocean Therefore when you reade of a glorious estate of the Church to be here upon Earth your mindes must have recourse to the upshot and consummation of all in Heaven Ierusalem which is from above must lead us to Ierusalem which is above Now because that mans unbeleeving heart is too prone to thinke that these things are too good to be true and too great to be performed seeing such an immeasurable disproportion betweene his owne unworthinesse and the excellencie of the things promised hereupon the mercie of our blessed Saviour is such that he confirmes this his second glorious comming by all kind of Witnesses that may be Here is the Angel Verse 6. Christ himselfe Verse 7. The Spouse and the Spirit in the Spouse Verse 17. And Christ himselfe againe in the words before the Text Behold I come quickly then you have the Spouses answer Amen even so come Lord Iesus Beloved Faith is a supernaturall thing it hath no friend within us it hath no helpe no cause in the world except God himselfe therefore it hath need of all confirmation God knowes us and our needs better then we doe our selves and you see he useth confirmation to helpe our unbeleefe And besides the Witnesses the thing it selfe is repeated againe and againe three or foure times in this Chapter Vers. 7 12 20. Behold I come quickly And behold I come quickly and Surely I come quickly By every repetition Christ seekes to gaine upon our mis-giving soules Behold I come Now because our spirit is exceeding short and we are readie to crie out as it is in the fixt of this Booke How long Lord holy and true How long Why he answers Behold I come quickly You shall also finde in the Prophesies of the Old Testament the same Promises delivered and repeated againe and againe because of our unbeleefe which ariseth from an inward guilt that cleaves to our Consciences because we are subject to failings and are not so strict as we should be But such are the yerning bowels of our blessed Saviour that it grieves him to see his tender Church afflicted and troubled in mind therefore he helpes all that he can Observe then I beseech you in the words the sweet entercourse that is betweene Christ and his Spouse Christ promiseth againe and againe Behold I come quickly and the Church saith Come Amen Even so come Lord Iesus There is no entercourse in the world so sweet as is that betweene Christ and his Church But wee will come unto the wordes themselves Amen Even so come Lord Iesus In these wordes you have first the assent of the Church secondly the consent her assent to the Truth her consent to the goodnesse of the Truth Amen It is so Nay Amen It shall be so Nay Amen Be it so or Let it be so There is a wishing included in it All these are wrought by the Spirit The Spirit convinceth us both of the Truth and of the goodnesse of the Truth And besides that in the next wordes the same Spirit stirres up a desire and prayer Even so come Lord Iesus Holy desires are turned into fervent prayers Amen is a short word but marvelously pregnant full of sense full of spirit It is a word that seales all the Truths of God that seales every particular Promise of God And it is never likely to arise in the soule unlesse there be first an Almightie power from Heaven to seize on the powers of the soule to subdue them and make it say Amen There is such an inward rising of the heart and an innate rebellion against the blessed Truth of God that unlesse God by his strong Arme bring the heart downe it never will nor can say Amen But now the heart will not be pent in or restrayned the Spirit is an enlarging thing and therefore besides Amen though Amen includes that
which followes the Spirit breaks forth and saith Amen Even so come Lord Iesus A little of Amen Christ is said in the beginning of this Booke to be Amen the true and faithfull Witnesse Revel 3. 14. And all the Promises are said in Christ Iesus to be Yea and Amen 2 Cor. 1. 20. that is they are made for his sake and performed for his sake They are made in him and for him and they are performed in him and for him And when AMEN that is Christ himselfe shall say his Amen to any thing is it so much for us to give our Amen The point I meane to rayse out of this word Amen is this That the hearts of the Children of God are plyable to Divine Truths to yeeld to the whole Word of God especially to the good Word of God viz. the Promises and of all Promises to the Promise of Promises the second comming of Christ. They say Amen to that and that for these Reasons Because there is a sutablenesse of disposition and a kind of connaturalnesse betweene a sanctified heart and sanctified Truths betweene an holy heart and holy things insomuch that if an holy Truth never heard of before be heard by an holy heart it will yeeld present assent for his heart is subdued so that he hath an Amen for it presently There is a sweet relish in all Divine Truths and sutable to the sweetnesse in them there is a spirituall taste which the Spirit of God puts into the soule of his children Though there be never so much sweetnesse in things if there be not a sutable taste there is no relish in them Therefore the Spirit of God in his children works a taste of the sweetnesse that is in the Word of God And that is a maine ground why they say Amen especially to comfortable Truths Againe when the soule is once contracted unto God it hath no will of its owne but it yeelds up his will to Gods will The Spouse hath no will of her owne but her Husbands will is her will So if Christ say Amen I come quickly the Spouse of Christ saith Amen too God deales with his children likewise by way of a covenant and a contract And above all other covenants the covenant of a contract is the sweetest covenant Now in it there must be a consent on our part and therefore it is that the Spirit alwayes stirres up an Amen on our parts too When he saith Amen it shall be so then the soule saith Amen Lord let it be so As in civill Marriage there is a contract so here in the spirituall and seeing there is a contract there is also an assent to the second comming of Christ the contracted Spouse must needes say Amen to the Marriage-day Lastly the Spirit of God in the hearts of his children stirres up in them this Amen as a seale of their effectuall calling If you should aske me what effectuall calling is I answer It is nothing else but the hearts Eccho and answer to Gods speech God calls and we answer This is by S. Peter called The answer of a good Conscience There must be in the soule the answer of a good Conscience to all Divine Truths Doest thou beleeve I doe beleeve Doest thou repent I doe repent Seeke ye my face Thy face Lord will I seeke Returne ye back-sliding children and I will heale your back-slidings Behold we come unto thee for thou art the Lord our God Unlesse there be thus the answer of a good Conscience there is no effectuall calling Our calling is then effectuall when the Spirit stirres up in the heart an answer unto it Therefore you see there must needes be an Amen wrought in the hearts of the children of God Beloved if this be so I beseech you let us begge of God if we finde any stubbornnesse or renitencie in our soules to Divine Truths the performance of the covenant of grace Lord thou hast promised fleshy and sensible hearts tender and yeelding affections oh now grant them and worke them For beloved this you must know howsoever God deales with us by way of covenant yet when he comes to performe the covenant hee workes in a manner our part and his owne too In effect hee makes a Testament and not a covenant In a Testament we bequeath we doe not covenant and condition So that though God deales with his people by way of covenant as if you repent if you beleeve if you obey yet he gives by way of Testament the grace that he bestowes Therefore begge of God that as he requires this condition that wee should assent and be plyable unto his Word so that he would make his covenant a Testament and a Will I meane that he would effectually worke it and make us to doe it This should be our desire of God And so much the rather first because God honours us by it in having our consent Is not this a great honour to us that he will not performe things without our consent For indeed hee will not accomplish the worke of our everlasting salvation without it But then if we set our Seales to Gods Seale and we consent once we even binde God himselfe when he seales to us and we to him we binde God Almightie and by that power of Faith subdue Hell and all our opposite enemies When we seale to the Truth of God and cry Amen it is a word that fills Heaven and Earth there is not a joyfuller word in the world then when whole Congregations can say and shout Amen When God sayes Amen in Heaven if we presently can say Amen to his Truth upon Earth he will say Amen to our Salvation Thus God honours us by it when hee comes for our consent Wee honour God againe by our sealing to his Truth Faith is that which seales to Gods Truth and Amen is the very voyce of Faith It is a pittifull thing but common in the world that GOD should have no more credit with us Poore distressed Soules will say Amen to the Lyes of their owne hearts and presumptuous persons will say Amen to a Lyar to a Murtherer to an Enemie to Satan but God hath so little credit with us that if hee command wee will not say Amen if hee pro mise wee have no Amen for him if hee threaten wee blesse our selves saying Wee shall doe well enough Wee shall have peace though wee walke after the imagination of our owne hearts adding drunkennesse unto thirst When the Spirit of God sayth Hee will stirre up a fire in his anger and his wrath shall burne unto the lowest Hell against all such as goe on in their sinfull courses yet they will flatter themselves Well beloved wee may shake off Gods Word in the Ministerie as prophane persons doe but when God comes in the execution of his Threatnings then his wrath shall burne to Hell and not be quenched Who can avoid or abide that
dreadfull Sentence Goe ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devill and his Angels Gods words are not as Winde Indeed they are such a Winde as will blow downe all impenitent sinners to Hell Wee must have a Legall Amen to the Threatnings of God as well as an Evangelicall Amen to the sweet Promises S. Iohn here by the Spirit of God saith Amen to the Promises of the time to come to wit for the confusion of Antichrist for the conversion of the Iewes and for the glorious times to come though he sees no evidence thereof for the present and so must we to all Divine Truths But wee have another kind and companie of men that must be taxed that have indeed an Amen and a Seale but it is to a blank They are presumptuous persons and such which is worse as will have God to say Amen to their courses They will be naught and sinfull and then studie and strive to bring Gods Word to stand bent to their bow and so in their lying conceit make God say Amen to their Lusts. They account it not sufficient to have their will but they will have God to be of their mind too and they will alwayes get some daubers that shall say Goe on and prosper An Ahab will alwayes have his false Prophets What a wicked thing is this that wee should make an Idoll of God and transforme him into the likenesse of Satan his Enemie To make him like that which he hates most We will continue in our sinfull courses and make as though we had the Word of God for us and oh we have the judgement of such and such and thus boulster up our selves by building upon such sandie foundations When wee should bring up our soules and resigne them to God and his Spirit wee will bring God downe to our bent and make him to say this and that agreeable to our carnall reason and corrupt affections But I must not enlarge my selfe in this In a word therefore to conclude this point As there is a sweet harmonie in Gods Truth so let there be a harmonie in our hearts thereunto Gods Truth alwayes agrees with it selfe oh let our hearts agree with it When we heare a Threatning a Precept or a Promise oh let us say Amen It is the sweetest harmonie in the world when we can bring our hearts to close with God and his Word with his Spirit and Truth when we can be delivered into that forme of Doctrine which is delivered unto us But now I goe on Even so come Lord Iesus Wee come from the assent unto the consent yeelding unto that which Christ said as true and good We come unto the desire and prayer of the Church Even so come Lord Iesus Amen is an Hebrew word and it is still retained to shew the consent of the Christian Church with the Iewish both with that which was before and with that which shall be afterward And it is expressed and opened here by a word following Yea or Even so come Lord Iesus You see the Church desires and out of her desire prayes Come Lord Iesus Now this desire of the Church shewes the gracious disposition of the Church These desires are the breathings and motions of the Spirit in the soule tending to further union Even as motion tends to rest so desires tend to the uniting unto the thing desired The Churches desires here are the immediate issue of the soule and therefore undissembled and they shew the true character of a Christian soule We may dissemble words and actions but we cannot dissemble our desires and affections we may paint fire but we cannot paint heat Therefore God judgeth us more by our desires and affections then by our words and actions Now you may know that our desires are holy and good if so be that they be heavenly for then it is a signe that they come downe from Heaven even as a Spring will arise and ascend as high as the Spring Head whence it comes If our desires rise to Heaven as the Churches here doe then it is a signe they come downe from Heaven Our desires are as a streame which I will shew you by prosecuting that metaphor and allusion in sundry particulars A good Streame hath a good Spring so must our desires The Spring of the Churches desires here is Love shee loves Christ and therefore desires him to come quickly A Streame you know carryes all before it so our desires are an holy Streame issuing from a good Spring and carrying all before them They are efficacious not a meere velleitie as they say a bare wishing and woulding A Streame if it be stopped will swell till it breake downe all opposition and carry all before it so let a good desire be stopt and it will swell more and more and grow bigger and bigger till it makes way for it selfe A Streame is restlesse and incessant till it meet with the Ocean and emptie it selfe into the Sea so true and holy desires be restlesse and alwayes in motion They are not like a standing Poole that rests but they are in motion still till they have emptied themselves into the boundlesse and bottomelesse Ocean of endlesse pleasure As true Streames that arise from a Fountaine doe waxe bigger and bigger the neerer they come to the Ocean because other Rivers joyne with them and so they take advantage and augmentation by other streames that run into them so if our desires be true they are growing desires they encrease bigger and bigger still till they come to Heaven At length we see the Streames emptie themselves into the Sea they are swallowed up there where they have a more constant being then in themselves namely of the Ocean the true element and proper place of all waters and so our desires if they be holy as they are restlesse and growing so at last they emptie themselves into Christ and joynes with God and happinesse for the time to come for there is a greater happinesse for the soules of men in God in Christ and in Heaven then there is in themselves and there they are swallowed up Lastly we may trie our desires by this Vapours in a low place doe shew that there is a Spring there you know that the Springs are there where there are most Vapours constantly so where there be breathings of the soule upward as there is here of the Church surely there is a Spring of Love that yeelds these Vapours and whence these desires flow But I come more particularly unto this particular desire of the Church Come Lord Iesus I shall make way by some propositions which I shall praemise before I come to the maine thing which I shall stand upon at this time First we must take it for granted That there will be a second glorious comming of Christ that will be farre more glorious then the former The best times and things are to come for Christians every way every day
of the Gentiles come in the conversion of thy people of the Iewes that their Riches may be an encrease of our Riches that there may be golden times indeed as surely then they will be And then because there is a certaine number of the Elect of God which must bee accomplished and fulfilled and Christ will delay his last comming till that be done Therefore Come and accomplish the number of thine Elect as you have it Revel 6. 11. And white Robes were given to everie one of them and it was said unto them that they should rest yet for a little season untill their fellow servants also and their brethren that should be killed as they were should be fulfilled They must stay till the rest come in As they that have invited a companie of Strangers to a Feast doe stay till the last be come so there will not be a glorious comming of Christ untill all the Elect be gathered into one Body And then shall be the Comming of all Commings which is the glorious comming of Christ to take us to himselfe and to make us sit with him to judge the World as so many Kings and Judges of the World and to be with him for ever As the Apostle saith Then shall we be ever with the Lord. And that is a comfort indeed As hee addes there Wherefore comfort one another with these words And so you see the graduall performance thereof Now I come unto the last and that which I meane most to stand upon being a blessed Truth most suteable to this occasion That as it is the dutie so it is the disposition of a gracious heart to aesire the glorious comming of Christ Iesus and to desire all his other commings in way and order to this as they make way for his last comming In the unfoulding of this I shall shew you the grounds and reasons why the Church doth so and then make some tryals whether we doe so or no and then give you some few directions to help us therein Why doth the Church desire so much this second and glorious comming of Christ Because the Church is in want till that time and the ground of all desire is want Wee want our bodies wee want many of our friends c. But then there shall be a supply of all Because our life is hid with Christ in God and when Christ who is our life shall appeare then shall wee also appeare with him in Glory Col. 3. 3 4. Our glorious head is there already when he shall be revealed then our glory shall be revealed for Hee shall come to be glorified in his Saints and to be admired in all those that doe believe In regard of Christ himselfe Christ is in some sort imperfect till the latter day till his second comming for the mysticall body of Christ is his fulnesse Christ is our fulnesse and wee are his fulnesse now Christs fulnesse is made up when all the members of his mystical body are gathered and united together the head and the members make but one naturall body so Christ and the Church but one mysticall 1 Cor. 12. 12. As the body is one and hath many members and all the members of that one body being many are one body so also is Christ. Hence it is that the Saints are called the glory of Christ Christ in this sense is not fully glorious therefore till that time The church desires therfore that Christ may bee glorious in himselfe glorious in them that hee may come to bee glorious in his Saints Because where the treasure is there will the heart be also now where is the Churches treasure but in Christ Our spirits are supernaturall and carried to the best of Spirits and who is the best of spirits but Christ himselfe Because the members are carried to union with the head The happinesse of the Soule is in union with the fountaine of happinesse and the neerer the fountaine of happinesse the more happy what is it that makes the blessed body of Christ more happy then all the Angels and men but because it is hypostatically united to the second Person of the Trinity and so to the fountaine of the God-head the neerer to God the happier the fuller of grace and glory because he is the God of all grace and glory therefore the neerer to Christ the more happy Now after the resurrection we shall be nearer both in soule and body wee may see this by the contrary What is it that makes Hell so horrible because there is an utter and eternall separation from the chiefest and choicest good God himselfe Here the wicked men of the world have the presence of God in the creatures they taste the sweetnesse of Gods goodnesse in them but in Hell they shall have none to all eternity there shal be an utter separation betweene Christ and them But now the joyning to God the fountaine of all good in Heaven makes Heaven to bee Heaven indeed if Christ was not there Heaven would bee no Heaven therfore Paul saith I desire to be dissolved and to bee with Christ and so the Church here Come LORD JESUS then we shall be neare not in soul onely but also in body and soule and in both we shall be for ever joyned to the fountaine of all good It is that which the Church desires here and in the Canticles what is it that the Church prayes for in the beginning Let him kisse me with the kisses of his lips c. There she desires the first comming of Christ but you have it afterwards in the conclusion of the booke make haste my beloved and be thou like to the young Hart or Roe upon the mountaine of Spices Such is the disposition of the Church that before Christ was come good people were knowne by the desire of his comming And therefore it was the description of holy men that they waited for the consolation of Israel Oh Lord come quickly come in the flesh But now the first comming is past they desire as much his second comming and therefore they are described in the Epistle of Saint Paul to be such as love and long for the appearing of Christ a Crowne of Righteousnesse is laid up for all those that love his appearance Therefore if wee had the Spirit of the Church we would Eccho to Christ when he saith I come quickly and say make haste my beloved c. As the Church saith in the latter end of the Canticles Beloved doe but compare the glory of that time with the glory which we have here and and that wil shew another Reason I will shew it by way of comparison a little why the Church should bee desirous of the second comming of Christ. If the good things that we have by grace here are such as eye hath not seene or eare heard neither have entred into the heart of man to consider of for the place is meant