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
But good Simeon did not care how soon Death came he lookt for it yea and he long'd for it he thought it was too slow pac'd and its motions towards him not quick enough He knew Death would do him a good turn and therefore he was a voluntier in dying And I must say this supposing that a Godly man have no cloud upon his Spirit and no flaw nor blurr in his Evidence supposing that God shines upon his Soul with the bright and comfortable Beams of his love and favour and that his own Conscience doth speak comfort to him plainly I know no reason no solid substantial reason why he should be backward and unwilling to dye unless it be serviceableness and usefulness in the World If once a Christians work be done what should he stay here for If once he be full ripe for Glory why should he stand any longer It is not worth his while to continue here were it not that he may do good in his place and be helpfull to others and yet farther serve the interest of Gods name and glory and upon that account he ought to deny himself and be willing to wait yet longer for his Rest and Crown Thus it was with Holy Paul Phil 1. 23. I have a desire to depart and to be with Christ which is far better It was better for him he knew he should mend himself But saith he ver 24. Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needfull for you They would need his company and his labours his counsels and his comforts and upon that account he submitted Ver. 25. Having this confidence I know that I shall abide and continue with you all for your furtherance and joy of Faith And he was content so to abide Indeed there is not any reason at all why a wicked man should be willing to dye he can promise himself no good by it It doth not come Peaceably to him it brings it's sting along with it He dyes to dye his Natural Death is a passage to Eternal He loseth all by Death and gets nothing Therefore I say there is no reason at all why he should desire to dye And there is but one reason I mean which is worth any thing and which is not easily answered why a truly Godly man should be willing to live And that is serving his Generation according to the will of God But I am sure there are a great many weighty and cogent reasons why such an one should be willing to dye and not only submit to Death but also welcome it and long for it of which I shall speak more by and by Doct. 6. A Sixth Instruction which these words do most freely afford us is this That though a Godly man be never so desirous to dye yet it is his duty and will be his business to stoop and submit his will to the will of God Thus it was with this holy man he was willing and desireous to dye he even longed to be gone Lord lettest thou thy servant depart but he would not go without license he would stay Gods time Though Heaven be never so desireable and this World never so troublesome though the Country be never so pleasant and the way thither never so tedious Be our sicknesses pains and crosses never so great and heavy Be our enemies never so furious and violent our dangers never so eminent our persecutions never so sharp and bitter our temptations never so fierce and fiery we must in patience possess our Souls and be content to bear them till God shall please in his own time to command for us a deliverance out of them Let our conditions be never so dark and dismal we must not escape by opening the door with the Devils Key nor break out of Prison by offering violence to our own lives Job had very dreadfull exercises his State was sad and deplorable He was stript of all his outward enjoyments bereaved of his beloved Children smitten in his body with sores and inflammations his Wife was a cross to him and his Friends cruel God himself carried as his enemy and set him up for a mark to shoot at He had but one comfort left him that was the Testimony of a good Conscience Yet he was resolved to wait all the days of his appointed time untill his change should come He would not make more hast than good speed As long as God was pleased to tarry holy Job was well pleas'd to wait VVe should write after so fair a Copy so to do is both our wisdom and our interest For God is wiser than we his VVisdom is infinite and his time is always best He that goeth to his grave in Gods time goes as a shock of Corn in its season God always plucks his fruit vvhen it is ripe and fit to be gathered He vvill not pluck it sooner and it shall not hang any longer Doct. 7. The seventh Doctrine vvhich these vvords afford us is this Gods promises are to be pleaded by us Thus in the Text Novv lettest thou thy Servant depart in peace according to thy word There is the argument that he useth for the enforcing his Petition He had received a Revelation from God that he should not see Death i. e. that he should not die he should not taste of Death though he saw the Death of others yet he should not see his own Death until he had seen the Lord's Christ the Messiah or the Lord 's anointed one namely Jesus the Saviour And now saith He Lord now that I have seen him do thou graciously grant me my dismission Be it unto me according to thy word Have you a word O Christians a word of promise blessed be God you are rich in them God hath abounded in promises to his people You have words of inestimable value words better than Gold better than mans bonds words that are suitable to and cordial in every condition into which providence can cast you Now then what is your duty with reference to these words but to make use of them It is pity they should lie by neglected as useless Fetch them out as you have occasion and live upon them that when you are rich in promifes you may not be poor in comforts You do deal disingeniously with God and unworthily with promises unless you use them Q. If any one should propound this question What is that right and proper use which we should make of promises A. I Answer Turn them into Faith and Prayer make use of the promises as food for your Faith and matter for your Prayers Promises are the Life of Faith by these things men live said good Hezekiah and they are the strength of Prayer So then 1. You must believe the promises Set to your Seal that God is true and faithful that his Word is setled in Heaven that all his promises are in Christ yea and in him Amen i. e. of a most sure and certain accomplishment and accordingly do you hope in them and
sight will easily see there is enough in it alone to produce such an effect But besides that there are four other sights which will contribute exceedingly towards such a willingness in such a person 1. This man seeth enough in the World to render that bitter to him There is Wormwood enough laid upon the breast of the Creatures and he tasts it Here I shall not take notice of those outward troubles and afflictions in which he finds great exercises for his Faith and Patience though these are the principal and only things about which the carnal unregenerate heart is concerned If there be no cloud upon his Tabernacle no thorn in his side nor gall in his cup he sings a lullaby to his Soul and concludes all well But sin sin is that which sowrs and imbitters all to a Godly man both other mens sins and his own sins without doors and within First Other mens sins that wickedness which the World lyeth in Oh it goeth to his very heart to see the profaneness and abominations of those among whom he is constrained to converse and how that blessed and most holy God whom he so dearly loves is neglected abused dishonoured and affronted by them Upon this account it was that good Jeremiah's Soul wept in secret and Rivers of Tears ran down David's eyes and just Lot was vexed from day to day with the filthy Conversation of the wicked Such men cannot take their rest here because the place is so shamefully polluted and the villanies of others are such a stink in his Nostrils Secondly That which doth yet much more pain him is his own sin a foul World without and a wretched heart within the plague of that which is not perfectly cured the sin that dwelleth in him the pravity and corruption of his nature the old man that he cannot possibly shake off that troublesome old man together with many and great Transgressions of his Life Hence such complaints and grounds as these Oh what a wretch am I should be so unmindfull of God so unthankfull to God so unfruitfull before him That I should walk so unworthy of him that hath laid such Obligations upon me Oh! that I should offend him so much and glorifie him no more and serve him no better Oh! this goeth near indeed this is a sword in his bones a burden to heavy for him to bear this extorted from holy Paul that bitter cry O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of Death This is my plague but whence or by whom cometh my deliverance And when he considers that deliverance is wrought by Christ he blesseth God for him and since a perfect deliverance is to be brought to him by death he thanks God for it and this is one thing that makes this grim Messenger so lovely and acceptable to him because he knows by that all the shackles of corruption shall be knocked off and he shall be troubled with sin no more When he shall once lay down the body of flesh he shall also lay down the body of sin and death 2. The Godly man sees enough to render all the comforts of this present life cheap to him So that he doth not love them too much nor value them at too high a rate They are not so cheap as that he doth slight and despise them or is not thankfull to God for them He admires the goodness of God in all his mercies even the very least the coursest garments he wears and the brownest bread he eats and the meanest lodging the hardest bed he hath I am less said good Jacob then the least of all thy mercies But they are so cheap as that he is not unwilling to part with them or to go from them Whensoever God pleaseth he can part with them The primitive Christians took joyfully the spoiling of their goods and he can go from them Paul desired to be dissolved and to be with Christ he could without any regret or reluctancy leave the World behind him so long as he did see his God and Saviour before him Those comforts which God is pleased to afford unto his people while they are here are of two kinds Spiritual and Temporal 1. God is pleased to afford unto his People outward Themporal comsorts These he hath in the creature from the hand of common providence which feeds and cloaths him and provides for him and sometimes wrings out to him waters of a full cup But be his portion here never so fat his outward enjoyments never so large yet they are but low enjoyments they are but for a vile body we do consume and wast and will shortly moulder away and crumble into dust Be they never so delicious and pleasant yet still they are perishing bread it perisheth in the using And besides there is a snare in these things so that we must use them with caution and fear there is a snare in Relations and in possessions a snare in Riches and Pleasures a snare in Worldly Honours and Dignities Oh how often do these things divert the mind from God and distract the thoughts and deaden the heart and embase the affections and clog the heels and hinder holy motions these are weights that press down so that the Christian moves Heavily in the way of God and cannot do those things that the would nor any thing as he would and it doth speak a great deal of wisdom and calls for no less care so to enjoy the world and take the comfort of it as to avoid the snare in it and to keep our selves unspotted by it Secondly God is pleased to give unto his people here inward and spiritual comforts from the hand of his Spirit in the way of the Gospel and Gospel-Ordinances and Duties He gives them some clusters from Canaan some Pisgah-sights of the Land of promise some praelibamens and foretasts of those Pleasures which are at his right hand for evermore there are the kisses of his Lips the manifestations of his Love the witnessings of his Spirit the unspeakable joys of Faith and these are sweet indeed and inestimably precious to the gracious Soul One day in thy Courts said David are better than a Thousand elsewhere What a day of gladness doth a smile of God make and what melody is there in the sofest whisper of Divine Love No such day in the week as that of a Sabbath and no such meeting in the World as that with God at an Ordnance it affords sweetness beyond expression But alas Here is something to allay that sweetness the good man doth too too often find himself unfitted for these things his Soul is out of tune he cannot hear nor can he pray nor meditate as he would nor keep up so warm and intimate a communion with God as he would Wandering and dulness and deadness do adhere to his duties and he blushes and mourns to see and consider the iniquities of his holy things And then again he doth too frequently miss of that
comfort The Scripture tells us Psal. 16. That in God's presence there will be a fullness of joy and by consequence there can be no scantiness of enjoyments but pleasures for evermore yea a River of Pleasures nay a bottomless and boundless Ocean of them the Infinite and Eternal God must himself be exhausted before the delights and pleasures of Heaven can be spent Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard neither hath entred into the heart of man what God in the Mansions above hath prepared and reserved for them that love him There is a feast of Love a Crown of Life and Robes of Glory There is Abraham's Bosom and the joy of their Lord which is too big to enter into them therefore they shall enter into it and be filled encompassed and swallowed up by it as a small Vessel in the Sea When once the gracious Soul hath set foot upon that coelestial Countrey and made its entrance into that stately and magnificent Palace of the great King he shall be not only filled with satisfaction but likewise rapt up into astonishment and highest admiration What am I that God hath brought me hitherto And what were all my services that they should be thus rewarded Oh how light and inconsiderable doth he now think all his former sorrows and sufferings if compared with that far more exceeding and eternal weight of Glory What low thoughts will he then have of the Skin-deep beauties and transitory delights here below on which the besotted Children of men do so foolishly dote And with what an holy scorn and indignation will he call to mind that pains men did take for and that eagerness with which they did pursue the trifling vanities of the Earth and how they scrambled for them and quarrel'd about them And oh how doth he wish and long for that blessed day in which the Church militant shall be made triumphant and all his gracious Friends all his Brethren and Sisters in Christ all the chosen and beloved of God shall be taken up to the same place that they may see what he sees and be possest of that which he enjoys That so they may altogether contemplate the glory of God and be satisfied with the fruition of him and endear admire and extol Father Son and Spirit unto all Eternity Lay all these things together and you will easily see that there is great yea abundant reason why those that have seen Gods Salvation should be willing yea desirous to depart in peace and to take their flight into the other world And now I come to shut up this discourse with some application And in the first place this serves to shew us what it is that above all things should engage and draw out the vigour and strength of our desires namely the sight of Gods Salvation My Brethren I beseech you frequently to consider that we must all die there is no shift for it Death will not be bribed and it cannot be avoided It is appointed for all men once to die by a Statute-Law enacted in Heaven which admits of no repeal The aged Father of this Family is now gone and the youngest Child here must follow him sooner or later And is it not good for us to prepare for Death Will it not be our Wisdom Will your Wisdom more eminently discover it self in any thing than in this That so this King of Terrours may not be terrible unto you that you may not fear him but rejoyce in him you will die uncomfortably this is past all dispute you will die unhappily if you die unpreparedly Oh the horrour that will sieze an awakened sinner upon a Death-Bed When he shall think thus my glass is run my time is spent I must die but alas I am not fit to die I must now appear before my Judges but I have not made my peace Now then go on and consider what is to be done by you in order to this preparation A Life of vanity and folly will not fit you the more you sin the more you sharpen the sting of Death An eager minding the World and pursuing the delights of that will not fit you the more you have indulged your self in a course of prophaneness the more afraid you will be to die and the more you have set your hearts upon the Creatures the more loath and unwilling you wil be to die when you come to die the love of the World will make you unwilling to leave it and Conscience of sin and guilt will make you tremble at the thoughts of appearing before God Turn away your Eyes then from beholding vanity and pray that they may be opened to see Gods Salvation Oh study Christ get an intimate acquaintance with him Beg of God to reveal him to you and in you that you may know him whom to know is life eternal and never rest quiet nor contented till you have seen him by an Eye of Faith and laid hold upon him by an hand of Faith as one that loved you and gave himself for you and have a care that there be not a deceptio visus mistake in the case but look to this that your sight be saving and the Faith you pretend to the Faith of Gods Elect that you may upon good grounds such as the Scriptures will warrant appropriate him to your selves as your Lords and Gods and Saviour Rest not in any thing till you find and feel Christ living and commanding in you his Image drawn upon you his Law written in your hearts and his Spirit poured out Take not up with a verbal profession formal duties and unblameable Conversation common convictions and some stirrings and flushes of affection All this may be and all come to nothing Hypocrites may go so far and yet they do not go far enough but after all fall short of Heaven It is not the form of Godliness that will avail you but the power not a name to live but the life it self God is not taken with empty shews and appearances he is for reality and truth in the inward parts You can take but little comfort from Christ dying without you unless you find Christ formed and living in you notwithstanding the Death of Christ you may be for ever lost and damned unless you be made partakers of his Life Remember and consider that expression Col. 1. 27. Christ in you the hope of glory When Christ dwells in you by Faith when he is in you by his Spirit and by his Graces then and not till then is there a firm Foundation laid on which you may build the hope of glory For hope so grounded is good hope such as shall never make ashamed Vse 2. The second use will be of Reprehension Those are blame-worthy and deserve reproof whose eyes have seen Gods Salvation Men and Women that do know the Jesus in whom they have believed and are made partakers of sanctifying saving grace and have had the manifestations of God's favour and Covenant love made to them and are verily
perswaded that it shall be well with them when they dye and that they shall go to Heaven when they go from Earth and yet they are loath to dye and thoughts of their departure from hence are afflictive to them When the message of Death was brought by the Prophet to good Hezckiah he turned his face to the wall and prayed and wept sore And good David himself though he knew that God had made with him an Everlasting Covenant ordered in all things and sure yet he cryed O spare me that I may recover strength before I go hence and he seen no more He would fain live a little longer and see a few more days past over his head I do not wonder that wicked men are loath to dye for they get nothing by it nay they lose all by it they are utterly ruined and undone by it Death takes them from all their good things jovial companions and pleasant enjoyments and carries them into that Lake which burns with Fire and Brimstone Therefore who would think it strange that they should put from them the day of their Death which will be to them such a day of evil They have reason to desire Life yea to say I would live always because it is better for them to live than to dye if you kill them you spoil all Such men may well say to Death as Ahab did to Elijah hast thou found me O mine enemy But here is the wonder that a Godly man should firmly assent unto this truth that there is another life after this and that that life is unspeakably better than this There is no compare between the comforts of this and the glory of that and they are also confident that when once they are absent from the body they shall be present with the Lord and when once this frail uncertain troublesome life shall come to an end they shall live that better life when once they are got off this stormy tempestuous Sea they shall bath themselves Eternally in those Rivers of Pleasures which are at God's Right-hand And yet Death is a word that sounds harsh in their ears they care not to hear of it when they think of it they are troubled A Deaths head upon the board spoils the Mirth and marrs the Feast it doth not only make them serious that it should do but it also makes them sad and dumpish and still they have desires that they may and some hope that they shall have a longer continuance in the World and draw out some more years yet before they come to the end of their line I must and do most readily grant that long life is a blessing a great blessing as such it is the matter of the promise but withall know Eternal Life is a greater blessing and he is no loser that lives but a little while here and then goes to live for ever with God For gracious persons that have seen God's Salvation and know they have seen it I say for such to be unwilling to dye carryes two evils in the Bowels of it 1. It is too great a magnifying of this present evil World an over-valuing of it and a setting too high a rate indeed an unreasonable price upon the enjoyments and delights of it Your esteem of them are far above their intrinsic worth what will carnal men say who stand by and see how you are wedded to the World and unwilling to be divorced from it What have they reason to say but that you find a great deal in it You tast the fatness of the Olive and the sweetness of the Vine and so think it is good to be here Certainly this speaks your setting your hearts too much upon the Creatures And hereby you do justifie and encourage them in their Worldliness they are strengthened in their love of the World and devotedness to it And also you do hereby cross and thwart God and run counter to him in one of his grand designs which is to wean his People from the World and to take their hearts off from creature delights which do ingross so much of their time and cares and do so much distract their thoughts and embase their Spirits and hinder them both as to their service of God and Communion with him And indeed how indecorous and unbecoming is it for Heaven born Souls to embrace Dunghills and for those that profess themselves risen with Christ to set their affections upon those things that are here upon Earth And for you who are the children of God and heirs of Heaven to mind carnal things It is far more unseemly than to see the heir of a Crown stopping Ovens or raking Kennels After these things saith our Saviour do the Gentiles seek that is those who know no better who are without God in the World who are drowned in the flesh and understand not the worth of an immortal Soul and upon these things let them dote still alass their portion is in this life being Aliens from the Covenants of promise and having no hope But as for you who have been taught of God who have heard of a blessed immortality who have seen those invisible glories that are within the vail you should be disingaged from all inferiour delights and carry towards them with a Spirit of indifference You should use the world but do not love it make it serve your occasions but suffer it not to command your affections While you have it in your hands and in your chests keep it out of your hearts The world is as we use to say of fire a very good servant but a very bad master Things are usefull and beautifull in their places so is the world but when it is in the heart it is out of its place and then it is stark nought and doth much hurt 2. For those who are the people of God and do know they are so who have seen God's Salvation I say for them to be unwilling to dye is a great reproach and disparagement to those glories which are above Christians you do hereby bring up an ill report upon the Land of promise as if the Honey and Milk of Canaan were not so good desireable as the Garlick Onions of Egypt what is the interpretation meaning of such a Spirit but that you fear it will be to your loss to exchange Earth for Heaven to leave delights Temporal for those that are Eternal What shall I say this averseness from Death and loathnesses to depart from hence is a piece of practical blasphemy as if these sorry cottages were better to inhabit than those stately Pallaces that these puddle delights and muddy streams were more delicious and desireable than that pure River of water of life which is clear as Chrystal and proceeds out of the Throne of God and of the Lamb as if these childish and trifling vanities did out-weigh and out-worth the glories which are above And these pitifull contemptible glow-worms did out-shine and obscure the Eternal Sun of
not yet believing we may very well rejoyce with joy unspeakable and full of Glory For so in those dreadful days of Persecution the Primitive Christians did as you may read in the 1 Pet. 1. 8. II. Therefore there is a mental or intellectual Vision A seeing of Gods Salvation with a spiritual Eye the Eye of the Soul the Eye of Faith which can see things remote yea at the greatest distance both of time and place It is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen Heb. 11. 1. Faith can wade through the greatest difficulties and look through the thickest Clouds and grossest darkness it can see within the Vail and behold those invisible glories which are there That Speech of our Saviour to his Disciples is applicable to our present purpose and richly worth your Consideration John 14. 19. Yet a little while and the world seeth me no more but ye see me because I live ye shall live also The prophane wicked and unbelieving world should see him no more they indeed did then see him and were offended at him they slighted and rejected him because of his outward meanness yea they hated him with a perfect hatred they conspired his Death and were never quiet till they had seen him cruified and breath his last Well saith Christ ere it be long these wretches shall see me no more Since I am such a burden to them I will ease them of that burden Since I am their torment and vexation since I am an eye sore to them I will be gone and they shall see me no more they shall be troubled no more with the sight of me and they shall be honoured no more with the sight of me But saith Christ to his Disciples you see me that is you shall see me The Present Tense is put for the Future to shew the certainty of the thing As you see me now so you shall see me hereafter And that not only with your glorified Eye with which you shall behold me when we meet together in my Fathers Palace where you shall be like me because you shall see me as I am but also you shall see me with a Spiritual Eye even that of your Faith after my ascension into my Kingdom you shall so see me And it is observable that Christ did call upon poor lost Sinners to take this sight of him long before his incarnation and appearance in the Flesh. Thus in Isa. 45. 22. Look unto me and be ye saved all the ends of the Earth for I am God and there is none else Now when he thus commanded and invited all the ends of the Earth to look to him you must understand it thus that they were to look to him with this Eye of Faith and that before he came to take upon him our Nature and so again that excellent place which respects us Gentiles Isa. 65. 1. I am sought of them that asked not for me I am found of them that sought me not I said behold me behold me unto a Nation that was not called by my name In the same way still they were to behold him namely by an Eye of Faith And it was with this sight that Abraham saw him Hundreds of yeare before he was born Our Saviour you know speaks thus to the obstinate and quarrelsome Jews John 8. 56. Your Father Abraham rejoyced to see my day he saw it and was glad He saw Christs day or Christ in his day by an Eye of Faith Now my Brethren in the same manner that Abraham and others under the Old Testament saw Christ before he came in the Flesh true Believers now in New Testament times may and do see him though he be ascended into Heaven and hath carried his Flesh with him thither It is by Faith we see Christ by Faith we apply him to our own Souls and by Faith that we eat his Flesh and drink his Blood and fetch from him Life and Strength Grace Peace and Comfort There are two things which Faith is furnished with and both of singular use First Faith hath a long hand that can reach a great way One of the Mighty Monarchs of the World was called Longimanus or Long Hand Above all Creatures Faith doth best deserve that name there is nothing out of its reach it can take and lay hold upon prophecies and promises though they shall not be yet a great while accomplished Heb. 11. 13. These all dyed in the Faith not having received the promises but having seen them afar off they were perswaded of them and embraced them as far off as they were these Saints by Faith got them into their arms and hugged them Babylon is yet standing and triumphing but the Believers Faith looks into the Prophecie and saith Babylon the great is fallen it is fallen This long-handed Grace can reach Heaven it can lay hold upon the hope that is set before it it layeth hold upon Eternal Life nothing is too hard for Faith to him that believeth all thing are possible and nothing is too high for Faith Secondly Faith hath a quick strong and piercing Eye it can see up to Heaven and it can see into Heaven you find in Acts 7. that Stephen was stoned yet when those stones were showred down upon him and at the last beat the breath out of his body yet they could not strike out the Eye of his Faith but that was quick still and saw as well as ever as you read verse 55. Stephen being full of the Holy Ghost looked up stedfastly into Heaven and saw the Glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God It was doubtless to him a most sweet and comfortable sight when he saw Devils incarnate upon Earth working his ruine then to see God incarnate in Heaven beholding his Faith and Patience appearing on his behalf and standing ready to receive his Soul Faith hath indeed an Eye like the Eye of an Eagle They say an Eagle can behold the Sun in its greatest splendor and brightness it can glare upon the Sun and by that she tries her young ones whither they be genuine or no Now Faith can look Christ in the face it can behold the Sun of Righteousness in the highest Heavens who is ten thousand thousand times brighter than the Sun in the Firmament The Evangelist tells us John 1. We beheld his Glory as the Glory of the only begotten Son of the Father The true Believer may and doth by Faith see Christ in Heaven more clearly and stedfastly than he can see the Sun in these lower Heavens For this Sun doth dazle and weaken and blind the Eye that dwells too long upon it for it is too eminent an object for the Organ But now the Sun of Righteousness doth clear and fortifie and strengthen the Eye of Faith so that the more he looks the better he sees the more able he is to converse with the object because he is thereby more assimilated and lusted to it 2