Cor. 3. 14. We all with open Face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord are changed into the same Image from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord. 3. There is a sight of Gods Salvation by the vertue or help of inward experience The gracious Soul sees the Harvest in the seed the Topstone in the Foundation that is laid the greatness of the design in the greatness of the preparation In short he sees that which God intends for him by that which God hath been already pleased to work in him He doth both see and feel Salvation begun in the Soul For my Brethren we are to know this and seriously consider it that Salvation is not a thing wholly future it is not only after Death and in the other world but it is a thing present Heaven is to be had here as well as hereafter and he that is not saved here shall never be saved He that doth live an utter stranger to Heaven in this world shall never enter into Heaven The perfecting and completion of the work is reserved for the next life but the inchoation and beginning of it is here even here the Saints Conversation is in Heaven there be their thoughts and affections they walk with God and have fellowship with Christ. As soon as ever a man is sanctified he is saved When Grace is first planted in the heart Salvation is begun When Christ went home with Zacheus he told him Salvation is come to thine house to day When Christ comes to any heart Salvation comes along with him Grace is glory in the Infancie and Bud and as Grace doth thrive and grow and improve in the heart so the work of Salvation is carried on therefore gracious renewings are in Scripture called glorious changes We beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord are changed into the same Image from glory to glory i. e. from Grace to Grace from lower to higher degrees The Apostle Paul saith Eph. 2. 5 When we were dead in sins we were quickned together with Christ by grace ye are saved If quickened and made partakers of Spiritual Life the life of grace and holyness then saved There is Heaven and Salvation in the smallest quickenings as there is the total sum or bargain in the earnest and the crop or harvest in the first fruits Observe also that place in the 2 Tim. 1. 9. Who hath saved us and called us with an holy calling If you be effectually called then you are actually saved not only in spe but in re not only saved in hope but in deed That person who is turned from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God is passed from Death to Life he is out of reach of eternal dangers The same calling is to virtue and glory and fo far as that call doth carry a man on in virtue so high full so high doth it advance and raise him up in glory So that when once you do experimentally find this change wrought in you sin Crucified and Mortified in you and Holiness Communicated to you If you find that you are taken off from the old stock and ingrafted into the Lord Jesus Christ that you are in any measure though never so small made partakers of the Spirit Life and Grace of Christ then you may sit down in peace and heartily rejoyce for your eyes have seen God's Salvation A renewing change is a saving change and my brethren consider how much this should commend Grace to us Oh how should they desire it and beg it and use means for it who have it not and you that have it how thankfull should you be and how should you admire and bless God for it since there is Salvation in it there is a blessing in a cluster fullness in Spiritual hungerings Heaven and Glory in brokenness of heart Fourthly and Lastly There are the sights of Heaven in a way of assurance and this is the sight of or the looking to the perfecting and completion of this most great and blessed work of Salvation By assurance the believing Soul sees the matter brought to an issue and the top stone laid in the building which reaches as high as Heaven The poor Christian in the midst of enemies and dangers and from his low condition from his Dunghill or Cottage can look upon all the glory and happiness above and as great as it is lay hold upon it and claim it all this is mine This God is my God for ever and ever Heaven will be my Everlasting home and the Kingdom there my portion even as the Proto-Martyr Stephen in a shower of stones which fell about his ears could see Heaven opened and Jesus standing at the right hand of God and could comfort himself with such thoughts Thus Jesus stands yonder as my Friend my Advocate and shortly I shall be there with him To the producing of this Assurance in the heart of a Christian especially in an high degree in its fulness there is required not only the work but also the witness of the Spirit The work of the Spirit in Sanctification drawing the divine image upon the Soul breathing into it Spiritual Life and implanting in it a gracious and holly nature and then irradiating and shining upon those graces that the Soul may see them and see them to be what they are the true grace of God he doth bear witness to his own work so that the Soul can say the Finger of God was here This is not Flesh and Blood this is more than nature this is grace indeed This you read of in Rom. 8. 16. The Spirit it self beareth witness with our Spirit that we are the children of God There is the Testimony of our Spirits our Consciences and the Holy Ghost doth super-add his And in the mouth of these two witnesses the thing is Established and the Believer is satisfied and cryeth Abba Father Take notice of that Prayer which Paul put up Rom. 15. 13. That they might abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost So that good hope through grace and the abounding of that hope the fullness of Assurance is no other than a divine work brought about by the powerfull operation of the Spirit of God The Resurrection of Christ from the Dead is the ground and reason of our hope And the Holy Spirit of Christ is the Author of our hope Now then lay these things together that person who seeth Christ by Faith who doth experience an inward change and who hath the assured hope of Heaven and Glory may very well say that his eyes have seen God's Salvation And the man that hath been blessed with such a sight may very well be free and willing to depart out of this World to bid farewell to present comforts and enjoyments and welcome Death in its nearest approaches And this is the second thing unto which I am now to speak and he that considers what hath been spoken concerning this
or reason of this his request for mine Eyes have seen thy Salvation This Scripture being chosen by our deceased Brother for his Swan like-Song I shall present you with those several Observations I have made upon it and briefly touch upon them and so pass to that which I purpose most to insist upon Doct. 1. Every Godly man is God's Servant So Simeon stiled himself here Lord lettest thou thy Servant And so did David Psalm 116. 16. O Lord truly I am thy Servant I am thy Servant He gloried more in his being Gods Servant than in his being King of Israel Wicked men are the Slaves of Corruption and Vassails of Satan the Scriptures saith they serve divers Lusts and truly that is an hard task if a man cannot well serve two Masters how shall he serve divers many Their service is meer drudgerie and bondage Two things may justly discommend it viz. they have dirty works and they shall have dreadful wages their works foul them and their wages undoe them But you O Saints are the Servants of God and you are so upon a threefold account besides that of your Creation First Upon the account of your Redemption which was brought about by the power of Christ who rescued you out of the clutches of sin and Satan Luk. 1. 74. He hath delivered us out of the hands of our Enemies that we might serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our lives Secondly You are Gods Servants upon the score of purchase that Jesus who purchased Heaven and Glory for you hath also purchased you for himself and the price which he laid down was no less than that of his own Blood and therefore it is your unquestionable duty to glorifie him in your Souls Bodies and Spirits 1 Cor. 6. 20. Thirdly You are Gods Servants by virtue of Covenant you have chosen one another he hath chosen you for his people and you have chosen him for the Lord your God an agreement hath been made and Indentures sealed Ezekiel 16 8 I entered into Covenant with thee saith the Lord God and thou becamest mine Vse Remember and seriously consider then whose you are and unto whom you belong Study and acquaint your selves with your Masters will and knowing it apply your selves immediately to the performance of it let your life be a life of obedience to God and whatsoever your hand findeth to do as the matter of his Will be sure that you do it with all your might knowing that your labour shall not be in vain and that it is most highly reasonable you should be as industrious about the work of God as you have been about the work of Satan as diligent for your best Friend as your greatest Enemy as industrious for the saving of your Souls as you have been for the damning of them And for your encouragement and quickning consider 1. First That in the service of God there is perfect freedom his Yoke is easie and his burden light You are never so much your own men as when you are Gods servants You are so his servants as that you also are his Children Your work is cut out by the hand of a most tender Father and therefore it should be done with the Heart and Spirit of a Child David resolved to run the way of God's Commandements 2. As you have the noblest work so you shall one day have the most glorious rewards You may now do your work with singing you shall then receive your reward with admiring When you have done the work of Servants you shall be instated in the inheritance of Sons where Christ is there shall his Servants also be to behold his Glory and to share with him in it for the Apostle assures us that he and his people shall be glorified together And their work is not so difficult nor are their sufferings so pressing but that their future Crown will unspeakably excel them for its weight and splendor Doct. 2. I Observe That Gods Servants must be at Gods dispose and not at their own Lord lettest thou thy Servant depart I dare not stir without thy order thou didst send me hither and here I must stay until thou shalt please to send for me hence I am weary of being here Lord wilt thou dismiss me and give me leave to be gone It is Gods unquestionable right to order out as he pleaseth concerning us and that in these things 1. God may cut out for us what work he pleaseth and lay it either in active or passive obedience as he thinks good Whatsoever his Will is we must not dispute but obey it and so be like those ministring Spirits the Angels above who do his pleasure yea all his pleasure 2. It is Gods right to carve out our allowances either a full or a scantie condition abundance or want to set us in a Palace or upon a Dunghil to cloath us in Scarlet or in Canvas to give us comfort or afflictions We must be wholly at Gods finding Feed me said good Agur with food convenient for me he did not prescribe to God but left God to judge what was so 3. It is fit that God should measure out our time for us and bestow upon us a longer or a shorter day of life we do not live nor do we die at our own pleasure or at the will and pleasure of men but God He is not only our Lord but also the Lord of our time So David cheerfully acknowledged my times are in thy hands to make them cloudie or serene halcyon or tempestuous to prolong or to contract them as seemeth good to him It is an indubitable part of Gods Royal Prerogative to order concerning us and it is the unquestionable duty of our place to submit to his Orders Whatsoever he commands we must do even as did the Centurions servants if he said to one of them Go he went if he said to another Come he came Reason good we should do so for all the Commandements of God are Holy and Just and Good And an Universal Cordial Respect to them will evidence our sincerity and secure us from shame And whatsoever God doth we must accept not only kissing his Hand when it sweetly seeds us nor only his Arm when it graciously supports but likewise his Rod when it doth smartly lash us There ought to be no discontents no quarrelsome murmurings nor immoderate excessive sorrows when he blasts our sweetest Comforts or kills our dearest Relations yea though he should do it with a violent stroak for he may do what he will with his own When he destroyed Nadab and Abihu by fire in the very act of their sins Aaron their Father held his peace He saw that God was provoked by them and angry with them and therefore concluded it his wisest course to be quiet It is indeed extreme madness for the Clay to say to to the potter why dost thou so or for the creature to contend with his Creator Such contendings
procure us heavier blows 3. Doct. We may learn that Death is a departure Lord lettest thou thy Servant depart When a man dies he removes He doth not then go back again into nothing but into another Place and into another State Christ called his Death a going away Joh. 14. 28. Ye have heard how I sayed vnto you I go away So Joh. 16. 7. It is expedient for you that I go away for if I go not away the Comforter will not come unto you Our Death also is a going away Those that make the longest stay here must be gone at last A wicked man when he dies departs out of his warm Climate and pleasant State from his Friends and Riches from his Comforts and Delights into Miseries and Torments which are Intolerable and Eternal And it is no wonder if such a man play loath to depart and Death be unto him a King of Terrors But when an Holy Gracious Person departs he leaves all his sins and enemies all his troubles and sorrows behind him and he goes to a better place and better company and infinitely better delights He enters into peace and into rest and into the joy of his Lord. He gets off from the stormy troublesome Sea of this World where he was so frequently indangered and baths himself in those Rivers of pleasure which are at God's Right-hand for evermore Vse 1. Let the consideration hereof quiet us under those Breaches which Death makes in our Families and Relations Though it be very afflictive to think my dear Husband is gone my tender Father is gone my loving and faithfull Friend is gone Yet this will lighten and sweeten that affliction if we think whether he is gone from Earth to Heaven from Troubles to Joy and Glory from us to God Christ the Spirit Angels and Saints above Oh Blessed and Everlastingly making Exchange Vse 2. Let the consideration hereof quicken us the good Lord grant that we all may frequently and seriously think of this our departure and industriously bestir our selves in order to a full preparation for it Oh let us get our work done before we go Christ did so Joh. 17. 4. I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do and now come I to thee Mind follow finish that for which you came into the World before you are called out of the World Oh! get your evidences full and fair that when Death siezeth upon you you may lay hold upon Eternal Life Make sure of Heaven before you come to leave the Earth How sweet was it for Christ to tell his Disciples I go to my Father and to your Father to my God and to your God Doct. 4. We may from hence learn this Lesson That a departure in peace is exceeding desireable This was the subject matter of Simeon's desire and prayer Lord lettest thou thy Servant depart in Peace He would go out in a calm neither in a stink through sin nor in a storm through fear but in an holy peace This promise was made to Abraham the Father of the Faithfull Thou shalt go to thy Fathers in peace That is with a quiet pacate and comfortable Spirit with joy and satisfaction without any trouble for what he should part with and without fear of any thing he should meet with And you find Psal. 37. 37. The Royal Prophet bids you Mark the perfect man and behold the upright for the end of that man is Peace Whatever troubles he is encountered by in his way he hath Peace at his end A wicked man may dye in Stupidity but not in Peace he may then be secure but he is not safe though he then have no trouble yet he hath cause enough of trouble My God saith there is no Peace to the wicked neither in his Life nor at his Death Such an one dies in sin and therefore he cannot dye in Peace But now a Godly man whose heart is sprinkled from an evil Conscience hath Peace in his Death usually he hath Peace with his own Conscience that befriends him witnesseth for him speaks comfortably to him and is an excellent Cordial at a dying hour Always he hath peace with his God they are Friends he is Reconciled to God and God to him Moses dyed at the mouth of the Lord God kist him home Vse Well my Friends I am confident you all desire such a Death you would willingly go out of the VVorld in peace Oh let it not be only the matter of your desire but likewise of your endeavour use means in order thereunto and follow these directions 1. Make your peace now Cease your enmity against God throw down your weapons of Rebellion and return unto your duty How can those persons rationally hope that God should be a Friend to them when they dye who are enemies to God while they live now now seek peace and ensue it 2. Make hast to Christ make sure of Christ get unto him He and he alone is the peace and the Prince of peace there is no peace to be had out of Christ. Let him saith God lay hold upon my strength that is upon Christ that he may make peace with me and he shall make peace with me Have a care that you be not found in your sins nor in your selves nor in your own Righteousness trusting in that No no saith Paul Phil. 3. 8 9. I have suffered the loss of all things and do count them but dung that I may win Christ and be found in him 3. Look after a sanctifying change in your hearts and natures follow Peace and Holiness Holiness both of inward Disposition and of outward Conversation Grace ushers in peace purity and peace go together the work of Righteousness is peace and the effect of Righteousness is quietness and assurance for ever By the study and practice of Holiness you may lose your peace with some men but you will keep up and maintain your peace with God yea and with good men too Prov. 22. 11. He that loveth pureness of heart for the grace of his lips the King shall be his Friend Doct. 5. VVe may from these words gather this instruction That a truly gracious man may very well be willing and free and forward to dye Thus good Simeon was here he prayed for Death Let me depart let me be gone out of this VVorld Do thou Lord send for me that I may come to thee And not only so but he also prayed for a quick dispatch a speedy dismission as one that was in hast to be gone As you may learn from that particle Now now lettest thou thy Servant depart He did full well know that he must dye one day that was certain and unavoidable the Chambers of the grave are prepared for all the living but he would dye presently now O Lord now without more ado now without any longer tarrying A wicked man doth not care how long Death stays he puts that day far from him because he looks upon it as a very evil day