shining through a red glass causes a red reflection and the same Sun shining through a blue glass causes a blue reflection and so the same excellency of God shining one way and working after one maner we call by one name and the same excellency of God working another way we call by another name and yet it is all one in God and though we cannot apprehend it now yet we shall see God in his unity afterward Thirdly we shall see God in the Trinity though there be but one God yet there are divers persons to see how the Father begot the Son and how the Spirit did proceed from the Father and the Son and the difference between the procession of the Spirit and the generation of the Son the sight of God in the mystery of the Trinity is a most glorious thing Fourthly we shall see God in his glory in Isa 33. 17. there is a promise They shall see the King in his beauty or in his glory there is a great deal of difference between seeing the King at an ordinary time and seeing of him when he is in his Robes with his Crown upon his head and his Scepter in his hand and set upon his Throne with all his Nobles about him in all his glory so God does manifest himself a little now but this is not all that he does intend and for to see God now as he does manifest himself is somewhat but to see God in his greatest glory that ever he shall manifest himself in that must be a great happiness Fifthly to see God in his eminency that is they shall see how all excellencies that are in the creature are eminently contained in the absolute perfection of the Divine nature all the good that is in the effect is in the causes and the good of those causes in their causes and so at length they come to the first principle so all the good that we can see in all objects that give content we may see all eminently in God and see God in all The latitude of the object of mans understanding is such as it comprehends all beauty all excellency all truth in it and therefore cannot be satisfied till it sees into all in God it findes all united and therefore in him onely it findes blessedness it is eternal life to know him Sixthly they shall see God as he is 1 John 3. 2. now there is a great deal in that to see God as he is and for explication of that there are these five branches That is first not to see him onely negatively that is not to see him as he is the most that we see of God now is by way of negation rather then any positive sight when we say of God he is incomprehensible that is he is such a God as cannot be comprehended that 's but negation when we say of God that he is infinite that is such a God as hath no bounds of his being this is stil a negation to say what God is not and when we say God is a spirit though the expression seem to have an affirmation in it yet it is but the apprehension of God rather by negation that is that God hath no bodily substance in him for to speak properly God is not a Spirit but only that is the most excellent thing that we can conceive of and by way of negation that he is no body and is invisible one that we cannot see and feel and the like when we say he is holy he hath no spot of sin this is by way of negation but now in Heaven we shall not see God onely by negation but we shall see that positive excellency of God we shall see him as he is Secondly we see God much by relation unto other things as when we speak of God and would open the excellency of God we say God is the King of Heaven and Earth and our Father and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and Creator and Governor of all things and these are but relative expressions and a great part of our knowledge of God is by way of relation but hereafter we shall see him as he is Thirdly you shall see God as he is not by framing any representations of him in our mindes there shall be that immediate presence of God to the minde that there shall not need be any representation that we now form in our mindes as in the sense of Seeing the object of the eye being absent from it there must be a species to represent it so there are some kinde of representations of God to our understandings here but there shall be that immediate union with God in the understanding that there shall need no kinde of representation of God but we shall see him as he is Fourthly we shall see him not in his effects in the creature the greatest part that we see of God now is in his effects and not as he is in himself we do not see the face of God but his back parts We look upon the Sun and there we see somewhat of the power of God but it is but the effect of Gods power and not Gods power it self and when we look upon the world we see much of Gods wisdom we see the effect of Gods wisdom and not the wisdom of God it self Fifthly we shall see God as he is distinguished from all creatures here now we see almost nothing of God distinguished from created things Say what you will of God that he is a Spirit that he is a created thing that he is wise or holy or just or merciful there is somewhat of all these in the creature onely he is infinitely above all and that is by way of negation But we do not see him in that positive excellency which does difference him from all created things but now it will be a blessed thing to see God as he is differenced from all created things to see him as he is Sixthly the Saints shall see the counsels of God and all the ways of God what have been and what shall be to all eternity about election what his counsels were about creating of things before they were created and what the workings of his counsels were about the several ways of his providence before there was any manifestation of them in his creature and so all his counsels about rejection of so many thousands of men and Angels It is an expression of S. Augustine We shall see the reason why one is reprobate and one elected why one is rich and one is poor we do not see the reason now but by seeing God we shall see all things that may make for our happiness we shall know all the works that ever God did and that ever he will do to all eternity It is a great thing for a man to know what is done in his generation but to know all the ways of God since the beginning of the world must be a
MOSES HIS CHOICE VVith his EYE fixed upon Heaven Discovering THE HAPPY CONDITION OF A Self-denying Heart Delivered in A TREATISE UPON Hebrews 11. 25 26. By JEREMIAH BURROUGHS LONDON Printed by John Field and are to be sold by Thomas Eglesfield at the Marygold and at the Brazen Serpent in St. Pauls Church-yard MDCL To the Right Honorable ROBERT Earl of WARWICK BARON of LEEZE One of the Lords of his Majesties most Honorable Privy Councel Right Honorable AS those who have been of late and in these days yet are of the Antichristian party may well be accounted men born in an evil time because howsoever heretofore was the time of Gods long suffering towards such the time of permission of them to prosper the set time of Antichrists downfal then being further off then now it is But now Gods time of setting his face against Antichrist and all the Antichristian party is come wherein GOD is determined to fight against them and to ruine them most wretched men therefore are they who now have spirits set for the upholding the pleading for that which God hath set himself against So happy especially now are those whose hearts have been and still are set to countenance maintain to further and honor the truth of the Gospel in the power and purity of it These are born and raised up by God and for God in a most blessed time wherein God stretcheth out his holy Arm together with them their hearts are guided by God himself to the furtherance of that work which is the greatest work that God hath to do in this latter age of the world namely To bring in his Truth and Ordinances with glory and power to set up Jerusalem as the praise of the earth to make godliness and the powerful profession of it as honorable as ever it hath been contemptible And now Right Honorable God hath been pleased to bless your Noble Family for many years past with this so great a blessing as to make it instrumental to this great work of his and your self have had a plentiful share in this so great a happiness Your Honor hath discountenanced superstitious time-serving spirits but as for the faithful Ministers of the Gospel and the most sincere and godly of your Countrey your Honor hath cast much respect upon them and been the encourager of them which reflects Honor as upon Gods name and his truth so upon your noble Family I believe there hath not ascended to Heaven more praises to God from any County in England for any Noble Family in regard of the placing of a godly painful conscionable Ministery as hath ascended from that County in which your Honor and your truly Noble Father hath had such a large opportunity of service for God and doing good to his people And I may further confidently affirm That no Noble Family in England hath more prayers of the Saints ascending to Heaven for a blessing upon it then that family of yours neither is there any Noble Family this day shall I say in England I may without presumption reach it further which the Lord hath blessed in regard of some Branches of it with more beauty and power of godliness then he hath blessed yours in regard whereof it would be the most miserable thing that could be if ever the succession of the countenancing and honoring the ways of godliness should be cut off from such a noble Family Cursed be that man who shall be the cutter off of the succession of so great an Honor to such an Honorable Family Psal 72. 17. it is said The name of Christ should endure for ever Filiabitur nomine ejus so the words are it shall be begotten as one generation is begotten of another and so there shall be a succession of Christs name It is a most blessed thing when in a Family there is a begetting of the name of Christ and so it is left unto the succeeding generation as the name of the Family is left unto it Pliny tells us that it was accounted a great honor yea the height of felicity that in one house and Race of the Curio's there were known to be three excellent Orators one after another by descent from the Father to the Son and that the Fabii afforded three Presidents of the Senate in course one immediately succeeding the other If this succession be so honorable so happy how honorable how happy doth the succession of Religion from Father to Son make Families to be This succession in your noble Family is the subject of the prayers of many precious spirits exceedingly dear to God And my Lord although God hath made you exceeding instrumental for much good to his people which is one of the greatest blessings under heaven yet let not your Lordship rest in this Gods warning to Solomon 1 Kings 9. 4. is very observable after Solomon had finished that glorious Temple for the honor of the Lord after he had assembled all the Elders of Israel to bring up the Ark of the Lord with all solemnity after he had made such an excellent Prayer before all the people after he had offered to the Lord two and twenty thousand Oxen and one hundred and twenty thousand sheep and in his rejoycing in this great work done to the honor of God he made a great Feast to all the people seven days and to them he added seven days more and sent away the people with joyful and glad heaets yet after this God says to him If thou wilt walk before me as David thy father walked in integrity of heart and up rightness to do according to all that I have commanded thee then I will establish the throne of thy kingdom Though the things that you have done be great things yet I expect walking according to all that I have commanded thee or else all is nothing It were infinite pity and God forbid so great an evil that any one way of sin should ever stand up to hinder the blessing upon a noble spirit and such worthy services for the Church as you have done well beseeming that true nobility of such a spirit Your Honor hath appeared much for the Honor the Safety Peace Liberties of the Saints and your Countrey and how many now have their consciences check them and shame is upon their faces for that base cowardise and vile time-serving that the true nobility of your Lordships spirit scorning such baseness delivered you from God hath now appeared for his people more then ever in our or our Forefathers time do you now appear more then ever for them As God hath mightily enlarged the opportunity of service so the good God enlarge and heighten with true Nobility and Christian generousness your Noble spirit that you may be as a chosen shaft in the Quiver of the Lord reserved to these times to be in a high degree instrumental to his praise It is now near three years since that your Lordship lying sick not without apprehension that Gods time to
45. Bless them says Christ that curse you pray for them that despitely use you that ye may be the children of your Father c. Why were they not children before Yes but this declares it now God owns them for his children If we behave our selves thus we shall have the comfort of this that our reproaches come to us as to Gods people whereas others cannot have the comfort of this you cannot have any comfort from this argument unless you behave your selves under reproaches after this maner Now what a great evilis this to cut a man off from that comfort which hath been spoken of in this argument and if you do behave your selves christianly under reproaches God is more and more engaged to stand for your names and you are more prepared for glory As he is not fit to govern that is not fit to serve but he that is fit to serve is so much the fitter to govern so those that can bear disgrace are fit to be honored and the greater glory will be afterwards As the Sun that shines through the clouds shines the brightest so when honor shall come through dishonor it shall be the greatest honor And then you shall come to know that honor is sanctified to you and that it is in love and you shall be more able to rejoyce in the honor that God shall bring to your names then you would have done and so your reproachers shall be servants to you There is onely one place of Scripture that I shall adde and so I have done with this point Job 17. compare the 6. verse with the 8. and 9. verses ver 6. He hath made me also a by-word of the people Job was a godly man and yet he was made a by-word What then at the 8. verse Upright men shall be astonied at this How Two ways either they shall be astonished at the horrible wickedness of men that shall contemn so godly a man as Job was and say Lord what boldness is in the hearts of the wicked that shall presume to dare to contemn such a servant of thine or the upright shall be astonished they shall admire at the wonderful way of God towards his people that the Lord shall suffer wicked men so far to go on in wickedness as to reproach his people The innocent the godly man shall see those that are hypocrites for not onely gross prophane ones are reproachers often times but hypocrites The innocent shall stir up himself against the hypocrite he shall not be damped but stir up his thoughts against the hypocrite The righteous also shall hold on his way shall not decline and not onely so but he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger And so I pass to the next point CHAP. XXXIV The reproaches of Gods people are the reproaches of Christ. IF you take the reproaches either materially or formally materially that is when all the sufferings of Gods people for which they are meanly esteemed and looked upon as contemptible all their sufferings are the sufferings of Christ Formally and that is the very scorn that is cast upon them is the scorn of Christ I intend to handle this point in both these materially and formally So that the thing we have to handle is That all the sufferings and contempt and disesteem of Gods people are the sufferings and contempt and disesteem of Christ So that Gods people may turn the speech of Christ concerning his Father The reproaches of them that have reproached thee have fallen upon me But we may say Lord and blessed Savior the reproaches of them that have reproached us are fallen upon thee and mark therefore in Heb. 13. 13. the reproaches of Christs people are called the reproach of Christ Let us go forth unto him without the camp bearing his reproach And the sufferings of Gods servants are called the sufferings of Christ Colloss 1. 24. and fill up that which is behinde of the afflictions of CHIST they are the afflictions of Christ and every one must make account to fill them up not the satisfactory sufferings of Christ but the sufferings of Christ in his mystical body in his members And so every member is to fill up a share in his sufferings And so Isa 63. 9. In all their afflictions he was afflicted The sufferings and troubles of Gods people are the sufferings and troubles of Christ he is sensible of them and therefore in Acts 9. 4. Christ cryes out Saul Saul why persecutest thou me Further compare two places together in one Psal 79. ver 4 12. at the 4. verse says the Text We are become a reproach to our neighbors a scorn and derision to those that are round about us And at the twelfth verse it is Render unto our neighbors sevenfold into their bosom their reproach wherewith they have reproached thee O Lord He goes on in the same argument and first he calls them the reproach of the Church and then the reproach of God But is it said here the reproach of Christ It may be asked Why not the reproach of God the Father or the reproach of the Holy Ghost The reproaches of Gods people are the reproaches of Christ in a special maner because Christ is the head of the Church and it is from the fulness of Christ that they have that grace conveyed which is reproached and the union they have with God and with the Spirit is by Christ and therefore it is the reproach of Christ here named according to the several workings of the Father and Son and Holy Ghost so the three persons are reproached by mans sin There is a reproach unto God as God and unto Christ as Christ and unto the Spirit as the Spirit There is a reproach unto God as he is Creator the preserver of the world and governor of all things When the work of God the first Person of the Trinity is reproached then he is reproached Prov. 14. 31. He that oppresseth the poor reproacheth his maker It is a work of the Father to order things so as to make one poor and one rich And you take an advantage to mock at the poor upon this difference which God hath made in the world when as you should honor the work of God in making any difference between you and others but in stead of honoring of it you cast an aspersion upon his work and despise others because God hath put them in a low condition you reproach your Creator in this And when the work of Redemption is despised when that is opposed and when the profession of the Gospel hath dishonor put upon it then Christ is reproached Heb. 6. 6. the Apostle says Those that fall off after they have tasted of the heavenly gift and the good word of God and the powers of the world to come they put the Son of God to an open shame And when enlightning and drawing and the quickening and comforting work of the Spirit is reproached and vilified then the Spirit
third union that the Saints have with God is a union of love love is an uniting grace and there is a most entire love between God and every Saint and so their hearts are close united and mingled by love Again in this life there is a mystical Union and that is an union higher then any other an union with Christ being made members of the Son of God and so they come to have union with the Son of God according to that expression in 1 John 1. 3. That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you that ye also may have fellowship with us and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Iesus Christ There is a mystical union between us and Christ and so we come to have union with God the Father also and to be joyned to the Lord we are one Spirit with him Now for the union that the Saints have with God in Heaven there are many intricate notions that some of the Schoolmen have about this as that the soul shall be turned into the same Idea that God made it of and that there shall be an Illapsus of God into the soul but we must know there can be no union with God but it must be by vertue of the influence of some good from God for speak of what union you will God cannot in his Essence be more present with the creature then he is here but onely in regard of some manifestation or communication of himself in some gift or good thing but certainly there will be a wonderful glorious union between God and the soul in Heaven and that upon these four grounds First there is not such distance between God and the soul but that it is capable of union with God One would think how is it possible that God should be so united to the soul being there is such an infinite distance between God and it but there is not such an infinite distance between God and the soul of man as that there should not be a glorious union between them there is a great deal of likeness between God and the soul First in the spirituality God is a Spirit the soul is a Spirit Secondly in immortality God is immortal the soul is immortal Thirdly in the high excellency of God the understanding and will the soul is endued with understanding and will the perfection of God as we can conceive is his understanding and will and so it is in the soul Fourthly in the several operations that the soul hath and herein there is more likeness between God and mans soul then is between God and Angels in that one rational soul should perform so many works as the same God the same Excellency working upon the creature works in one thing one way and in another thing another way so the soul represents God in this in that one rational soul hath such variety of workings in the body for understanding for sense for vegetation which Angels have not Again the soul resembles God in the infiniteness the soul is not onely infinite in duration but in regard of the infiniteness of the working of it and here is a mighty difference between the soul of man between rational creatures and all other creatures for the sensitive creature that onely works about some particular thing that concerns its own preservation and its own good within its narrow compass but the object of mans soul is universal infinite it is not any particular truth that will satisfie the understanding let there be never so many truths revealed yet the understanding desires infinitely more if there be any truth that is not revealed it would have that Let the sense have some particular object before it suitable to sense it looks no further as if the eye have colour it goes no further nor the ear goes no further then sound but the understanding hath desire to all truth And so for good the sensitive creature hath no desire of good but onely that which does preserve sense but the will of man is for good in general and this shews how capable the soul is to be raised to such an excellency as to have communion with God if we knew what our souls were capable of we would not think we could satisfie them with such things as bruit beasts are satisfied with Secondly there may well be a glorious union between God and and the souls of the Saints because God shall see nothing but himself in the souls of the Saints now when God shall see nothing but his own in such a creature this is a full ground of Gods near and most glorious union with it as when a man comes to see in another much of his own his heart is united to him things that are of a like nature do unite Bring an hot fire-brand to the fire and it does unite presently because the fire does finde something of it self there if there were some moisture in the brand it would not so fully unite And so here we cannot have full union with God because though God sees somewhat of his own in us yet there is a great deal in us that is not Gods but when we shall be wholly free from sin and God shall see nothing but his own in us that must needs be a ground of a most glorious union Thirdly in Heaven there shall be nothing in God but shall be suitable to the nature of a glorified Saint and suitableness is the cause of union if there be not a suitableness there cannot be union There cannot be suitableness between God and other creatures but between a glorified Saint and God there shall be an infinite suitableness and therefore an infinite glorious union Again there shall be an infinite inflamed love here is an union of love but in Heaven there will be a further degree of love and love being enflamed there must needs be a most glorious union Fifthly if you consider what the bond of connexion of the soul and God together is namely the mediation of the Son the second person of the Trinity there must needs be an infinite close and glorious union of the Saints with God This vision and union with God is enough to cause the souls of Gods people to be so satisfied as to say Let all things be taken from me it is enough I have somewhat of Gods presence here but I shall have the glorious presence and vision of God and union with God hereafter and though my eyes should never see good day after or never see comfortable object in the world this is enough I shall see God and have full union with God Though there be a separation between me and all temporal comforts in the world though God should rend this creature or that creature the dearest husband or the dearest wife or the dearest comfort in the world and those things that my soul do most cleave to here from me yet it is enough that
God and my soul are somewhat united and that God and my soul shall have a glorious union hereafter O that God would raise our hearts to these things that we may know what is the business we have to do in the world If you do not know these things shall be your portion never give satisfaction to your selves in the flesh till your know these things shall be your portion CHAP. XLVIII The blessedness of communion with God NOw we come to the fourth thing Communion with God and this is more then the other three things Union is the ground of communion communion is that which riseth from both parts being united and the Saints shall have a glorious communion with God and the Trinity in this life there is a communion that the Scripture speaks of that we have with God the Father and the Son and the Spirit 1 John 1. 3. Our fellowship is with the Father and his Son Jesus Christ and in 1 Cor. 13. 14. The communion of the Holy Ghost be with you says the Apostle so that there is a fellowship with the Father and the Son and communion with the Holy Ghost but certainly it shall be another maner of communion that the Saints shall have with God in the world to come Now this communion it stands either in regard of the work of God upon and towards the Saints or the work of the Saints upon and towards God for communion is on both sides and that in these four things First in the delight they have one in another Secondly in wishing all good to one another Thirdly in the communication of themselves one to another Fourthly in the blessed familiar converse that they have one with another First communion consists in the delight they have in one another There is a full actual mutual everlasting delight between God and the Saints in heaven First there is a delight Secondly full Thirdly actual Fourthly mutual Fifthly everlasting First there is a delight God here rejoyces in them the Scripture says He rejoyces in the habitable parts of the earth and his delight is with the sons of men Prov. 8. 31. why does God delight in the habitable parts of the earth there are other glorious works of God that are not in the habitable parts of the world but God delights in the habitable parts of the world because there are rational creatures there but he hath more delight in his Church in this world then in any other part of the habitable parts of the world as Isa 19. 25. Assyria is the work of Gods hands but Israel is his inheritance but there will be a delight far higher The delight that God hath in heaven it self is in regard of the Saints that are there without which heaven were not heaven First it is delight in their persons God takes infinite delight and content in the persons of the Saints howsoever their persons are mean here yet as they shall be hereafter God will take an infinite delight in them Secondly he delights in conferring blessedness upon his people there is much delight in the communication of good as well as in the enjoyment of it what good hath a man who hath a great estate more then another but that he may communicate more good then another Thirdly he delights in the glory that he hath conferred upon them As those that have true communion one with another delight in any good that one another hath God delights in the glory that is in his Saints and takes much pleasure in it his soul is satisfied in the glory that he sees upon his own people and that because he loves them The former arose from the pleasure in himself in the act of communicating this from the love to his people to see their good Fourthly God delights in their presence to have them with him and by him as the Father delights in the presence of his Children to have them round about him Fifthly God delights in their love that he hath these creatures to love as a man delights to have love from others What pleasure could a man have in all the world if none loved him If he should live in a Family or Town and none loved him he could have no pleasure in his life but if a man live where he is loved it makes up a great many wants so God is not contented in any thing else he hath to delight himself in but that which must make up all in that he hath his people to love him Sixthly God delights the more in his own glory because his Saints are partakers of it it is so much the more sweet unto him because they have a share in it thus it is between entire friends who have intimate communion one with another their own happiness pleases them the more because the other hath a part in it Secondly it is a full delight that God takes in his people It is said of his people in this world in Zeph. 17. 3. he will rejoyce over them with joy and with singing the delight that God hath with his people in Heaven must needs be full First in regard of the near relation that his people have to his Son and because he takes such infinite delight in the Son and they being one with him thence flows that full delight Secondly because he shall see so much of his own Image now that is infinitely delightful that is the reason why the father or mother does delight in their children because they see themselves in them so God shall see himself in his people and that will cause full delight Thirdly because of the glorious works of God upon the souls of his people because he shall see his own handy-work to be so glorious and full in them As a man that makes a work that is very curious and glorious he takes abundance of delight to look upon it and if the work be full and perfect then his delight is full and perfect Now the great work of God is in the glory of the Saints God loves to look back to the creatures therefore when he had made the world he looked upon what he had made and saw it was good As a workman when he hath brought his work to some perfection he will look upon it Now when God shall see what he hath done in raising such a poor worm to such high excellency God will take full delight in viewing this full work he hath done And this is more then all the former for besides the delight in the act of communication and delight because of the love to those to whom good is communicated This is the delight in his own work done in the beholding the beauty and glory of it Fourthly the delight of God must be full because in them God attains his highest end the highest end of his greatest design the highest end of his deepest councels the highest end of his most glorious work It is a great
speak of the Triumphant Church The Angels shall admire at it O that these poor worms should be raised from this low estate to such a glorious condition they pry into the mystery of Salvation Then the love of Christ shall be enflamed to his people that love which caused him to plead with God for his people from all eternity that caused him to undertake this great work for his people from this love there will be most glorious embracements If at one salutation of the mother of our Lord John Baptist springs in the Womb for joy how shall the heart of a glorified Saint spring at the glorious embracements of Christ himself when he is in his glory And when we shall be in such a condition as we shall be fitted for communion with him we shall be able to understand Christ in another way we shall know the hypostatical union of his two natures and know Christ fully and be fitter to entertain the manifestation of his love whereas here we are not able to entertain much Christ looks through the lattess and we have but some few drops of his love but then when his love shall be enflamed and fully let out we shall be fitted for it And it shall be such a communion with Christ as we shall never leave but follow the Lamb wheresoever he goes There shall be no moment to all eternity wherein Christ shall be out of the sight of so many thousand thousands of Saints And though that Text in the Revelations be meant of the Church in this world and the following of Christ wheresoever he goeth here following of him in the ordinances but if it be an happiness here to follow the Lamb wheresoever he goes much more in heaven You that are willing to suffer any thing to follow the Lamb in his ordinances here know there is enough to pay for all you shall be always following the Lamb in heaven and you shall always be in the company of Christ and this is the fifth particular namely The communion that the souls of Gods people shall have with Christ There are yet two things to be opened in this branch to shew what the recompence of reward of Gods people is and they are the enjoyment of communion with the Angels and Saints and the keeping a perpetual Sabbath in Heaven The enjoyment of communion with the Angels and Saints The Angels and Saints are joyned together under one head the Angels rejoyce here in being ministring spirits unto the Saints O what rejoycing will there be then in communion with them the Saints of God shall enjoy communion with the Angels in a familiar way they shall be fitted for communion with God and Christ himself much more fitted for communion with Angels yea the Angels shall account it part of their happiness to have communion with the Saints The sight of an Angel to us now in the flesh though he comes to bring good tidings is a great amazement but then the sight of the Angels shall be no amazement but we shall look upon them as our fellow creatures to have communion with them Heb. 12. 23. Ye are come vnto Mount Sion and to the City of the living God the heavenly Jerusalem and to the company of innumerable Angels This is spoken of the priviledge of the Gospel before by the Law there was nothing but terror that made Moses to fear and quake now we are not to come to Mount Sinai but to Mount Zion and unto the City of the living God Before without Christ we were vagabonds wandring up and down in the wilderness of the Word but by Christ we are gathered unto the City of the living God and the heavenly Ierusalem there were nothing but troubles before but now they are gathered to Ierusalem into peace and to an innumerable company of Angels Before the Angels were as Gods Host ready to revenge the quarrel of God upon us but now we are come to the innumerable company of Angels who are ministring spirits to us here and we shall enjoy communion with them The Angels are full of wisdom and therefore when the Scripture would set forth the excellency of wisdom it sets it forth by the wisdom of the Angels Doctor Taylor the Martyr rejoyced that he came into prison with Master Bradford that Angel Bradford though he was but one that had the likeness of an Angel and in prison yet he rejoyced in being with him What rejoycing will there be to be with all the Angels that are Angels indeed and that in our Fathers house The way and maner of the converse of Saints with Angels is very obscure how spirits do converse one with another we know but little we converse one with another by speaking there can be no such way of converse with Spirits The Schoolmen say By the act of their wills they come to make known what is in their mindes but we shall know more of the maner of converse with them afterwards CHAP. LI. The happiness of enjoying communion with the Saints in glory BUt it is more familiar to us to know our excellency in the converse with the Saints Heb. 12. 23. To the general Assembly and Church of the first-born which are written in heaven c. To enjoy communion with the Saints here is sweet to enjoy communion with all the Saints with all the Patriarchs Abraham Isaac and Iacob and Moses and Aaron and Ioshua and all the good Prophets and the good Kings and all Martyrs and Worthies of the Lord If to have communion with one or two be sweet then to have communion with all at once must needs be sweet it is worth the enduring much to get to heaven if it were onely to have communion with the Saints Secondly to have communion with none but them to have communion with the Saints is sweet though we are forced to have communion with the world but to have communion with the choicest of Gods servants with none else that is sweet indeed Thirdly to have communion with them made perfect The best now have many weaknesses and many frampold moods and offensive carriages that there must be a great deal born in communion with the best but then we shall be delivered from imperfections there shall be no ignorance but we shall have communion with those that are knowing and perfectly glorified The life of my Lord shall be bound up in the bundle of life it is the blessing of Abigail to David Now Interpreters expound it thus It is a Metaphor taken from binding up of yong plants that are removed from one place to be set in another Now there is a great deal of difference between a bundle of plants laid in the water to preserve them till they be set in the garden and those plants growing and flourishing in the garden It is a great blessing to be bound up amongst Gods people here that are plants that have life but we are here but as plants bound up and
laid in water reserved till we shall come to be planted in Heaven and there to flourish There is much difference between Gods people what they are here and what they shall be in Heaven as there is between a plant that is bound up and laid in water to be kept alive and when it is in the Orchard green and flourishing and bringing forth fruit Fourthly to have communion with them when we shall know one another perfectly It is an opinion of Thomas as you heard That the bodies of the Saints shall be so transparent that they shall be able to see through one anothers bodies as through a glass Howsoever that be yet the souls of one another and the graces and goodness of one another shall be fully made known to one another If now we did converse with a company of people that we knew certainly had all true grace and were all elected from all eternity what an admirable comfort would this be our communion is comfortable because we have some hopes of their election and we see some signs of grace but if we were certain of this if God should speak from Heaven concerning the poorest member of a Church and say This man or woman is the man or woman that I have had thoughts upon from all eternity and have elected to everlasting glory would we not prize such a one and rejoyce to have such a one in our families and houses Now when we come to Heaven we shall certainly know every one was elected from all eternity and so shall live with us to eternity we shall never have any fears or suspitions of them lest they should be hypocrites as there are fears and suspitions given of one another now And then to have communion with them when there shall be perfect love and union of heart to one another that one shall love another as well as himself and rejoyce in the glory and prosperity of one another as well as his own If one have more glory then another he that hath least glory shall rejoyce in him that hath more glory as if it were his own and therefore there shall not be any want of glory to any says Anselm Every Saint shall love God above himself and love one another as himself and God shall love them all more then they either love themselves or one another and he gives the reason of it says he They love both themselves and one another for God and by God and God loves himself and them for himself and by himself and therefore as they shall love God above themselves so they shall love one another like themselves and rejoyce in the happiness of another as in their own happiness Now what an heaven upon earth is it to have brethren live together in unity if it be in family communion or in Church communion to have entire love without any breaches this is a blessing but howsoever while we are in this world there will be breaches yet there is an heavenly Jerusalem coming where we shall live without breaches And then likewise to have communion one with another always in holy exercises To have communion one with another in our civil converse to eat and drink at one anothers tables and in recreating our selves this is sweet but communion in holy ordinances and holy duties that is sweetest Men love communion and society here that they may play together and eat and drink together indeed if it be in a moderate Christian way there may be some delight in it but know it is an evident sign of a carnal heart when as thy chief affections shall be let out in the exercising thy self that way If the chief joy of your hearts be not in exercising your selves in holy duties your hearts are carnal There is a great deal of difference between that day in which a company of gracious men have communion with one another in recreating themselves and that day wherein they shall have communion with one another in exercising themselves in holy ordinances in praying together and hearing the Word together and therefore examine whether you finde a day of communion with Gods people in holy exercises better then a day of communion in outward society Again it is such a communion as we shall never part with such a communion as we shall always enjoy Here we have communion but it is often darkned because we are often in our dumps and many times there is an occasion of sorrow given but to have communion where there shall be always joy continual being at the feast the supper of the Lamb that must needs be sweet Therefore that Text you have of Lazarus in Abrahams bosom sets out the continual feast of the Lamb that the Saints shall have because that was the maner of the Jews feasting to lean in the bosom of one another and therefore John when he sate to eat with Christ he leaned in his bosom noting that the Saints shall be always as the children of the Bride-Chamber There is a question made by some of the knowing of one anoanother in heaven It is reported of Luther the night before he dyed he was reasonable well and sate with his friends at the Table and the matter of their discourse was Whether they should know one another in heaven or no whether the father should know the childe or the childe the father Luther held it affirmatively and this was one reason he gave As it was with Adam as soon as he saw Eve he knew what Eve was not by discourse but by the Spirit of God telling him what she was and so we being filled with the Spirit of God we shall come to know one another we shall sit down with Abraham Isaac and Iacob we shall have communion with them not onely as godly men but as with Abraham Isaac and Jacob and if with them why not with others This we have in Scripture that spiritual relations shall adde much to the glory of the people of God in Heaven though natural relations shall be taken away as the Father if he know the childe there shall not be that natural affection to the childe as is now yet the Scripture seems to speak of spiritual relations that they shall continue even in Heaven for the glory of the Saints and therefore St. Paul says to the Philippians You are our crown and our rejoycing in the day of Christ It shall be known who were converted by such a Ministery and it shall be a crown to a Minister that such were converted and edified and built up by him But we need not trouble our selves about this question because we have one thing that will satisfie us about all questions that are not clear Either we shall have all that happiness we do think in our thoughts or can think or else we shall have that we being our own judges and choosers that shall be as good or better so that if a Parent thinks what an happiness were it for me
all I must have my sin Though you do not say so directly yet if after you have heard all this you go on in a sinful way you do in effect say so for the Scripture says Know you not that no drunkard nor whoremonger nor covetous nor unclean person nor extortioner and the like shall enter into the Kingdom of God You know this it is not possible that any should be so ignorant but he knows such shall never enter into the Kingdom of God you going on then in such a way you do as it were say Farewel God and heaven and farewel all that Christ hath purchased by his blood rather then I will lose my sin How will this confound you another day how will conscience accuse you when it shall tell you what you have heard and what you might have had and you have lost all for your lust God shall say I revealed to you what my ways and counsels were concerning man that this was the great work and design that I intended to make wretched man happy to bring vile dust into glory and was that my great master-piece that I intended nothing in your eyes but must it be despised for the satisfying of your lusts Christ shall plead against you Was I content to leave the bosom of my Father and to be in the form of a servant and to be made a curse to lose my precious blood my life to purchase glory for man and must this be slighted for your base lusts How will the Spirit of God plead against you What was not I in the mouth of my Ministers to reveal these glorious things and deep things of God that now in the Gospel are made known and must all that work of mine be neglected and slighted for your base lusts Yea how may all the creatures in the earth come to plead against you Lord thou didst not make us capable of any such happiness as thou didst the children of men and yet we did honor and serve thee in our order but thou madest this creature capable of eternal happiness and yet all is despised for the satisfying of their base lusts Yea how may the Devils come and plead against thee Lord when we were once fallen thou wouldst never enter into covenant with us to give us any hope of any mercy at all much less hope to receive any such great things there was hope for these wretched creatures to be eternally happy and yet they neglected all for their lusts therefore shal their punishment be no more then ours shall their fire be no hotter then ours These things that I have delivered though they be comfortable to the people of God they will be terrible things to the wicked and will be a dreadful aggravation to sin as Heb. 10. 29. Of how much sorer punishment do you think those worthy of that in neglect of these things do even tread under foot the blood of the Son of God as cap. 2 3. How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation If the salvation that we speak of were not great salvation it would not deserve such great punishment for the neglect of it See how great the mercy of God is in revealing such great salvation so great shall the punishment be of those that neglect such great salvation We use to say to some that will be bold to venture upon such ways as others will not They may say and do what they will they have nothing to lose but if a man have any thing to lose he is more wary it is true if we had nothing to lose it were not so much for us to go on boldly and carelesly in our way but know we are capable of abundance of glory that we are in danger to lose if we go on carelesly Consider what you are like to lose and let that raise your heart against the ways of sin nothing can make it up For one to do any thing that shall prejudice the right to a Crown this is counted a great offence and is not past by without blood Sin seeks to deprive us of a Crown of Heaven of immortality O the mischief that is in sin let our hearts rise against it with hatred to death when any temptation comes let us use this argument as a help to answer temptation O in this temptation there is that will deprive me of all my hope of heaven of glory and of my crown and of all my good if I take not heed and therefore now shal I sin will any sin do you that good as will countervail the cutting you off the hope of all this glory will it make you amends for this evil If a man might have a whole world given him for to lose his eyes no wise man would lose the benefit of his fight for the whole world wilt thou venture the loss of the sight of God and of Christ and of all communion to be had with them for a lust and for a base pleasure what worth is in it to make thee so venturous When a temptation to sin comes make use of this argument as Saul did to his men What can the son of Jesse give you vineyards and oliveyards So you may say to every temptation to the ways of sin What can my sin give me Heaven and glory and immortality can my sin reward me as God will reward me if I walk in his way If a Chapman should come to you who are Merchants and offer you for a commodity twenty times less then it is worth your hearts will rise against him in disdain and contempt of him Now when sin comes to offer any pleasure or content to the flesh let your hearts rise in disdain against it it offers you infinitely to your loss base momentary pleasure for Heaven and all the glory that hath been opened to you As one said when a Harlot askt a great price for pleasure with her one night I will not buy repentance at such a rate And so when sin comes say I will not buy pleasure at such a rate It was an aggravation of the sin of Israel that they would return into Egypt because the Land of Canaan was so good a Land So it argues base hearts in people to despise all that is in Heaven and the glory of it for to turn to Egypt to some base lust Thirdly if there be such a glorious reward for the Saints this rebukes all base worldly drossie spirits that seek for no higher good then meerly to enjoy the use and comforts of the creature and content to their flesh for a while How many are there in the world that would bless themselves in these things Might I have but such an estate and such content in the world it were enough they should think themselves happy As that Duke of Burbone in France if he might have his Palace in Paris he would not change it for Paradise A company of base drossie spirits that could be content
if he should say Do you know whom you serve You serve the Lord the high and mighty and glorious and infinite God and therefore you had need be fervent in spirit do that you do with all your might and power for it is for that God that will do such great things for you As David when he danced before the Ark he did it with all his might Michol not knowing his meaning scorned him in her heart but says he It was before the Lord that chose me before your Fathers house that hath bestowed such mercies upon me and will bestow more mercies and if this be to be vile I will be more vile Carnal hearts cannot endure earnestness and fervency in Gods service as the wilde beasts cannot endure fire so beastly carnal spirits cannot endure fire fervency and zeal in Gods ways but suppose they should oppose you for fervency in Gods ways you might answer them If this be to be vile I will be more vile It is for that God that hath done great things for me and that I hope to receive great things from hereafter eternally Fourthly if there be such a glorious reward be encouraged to be abundant in Gods service this is the Argument of the Apostle in 1 Cor. 15. 58. Be ye stedfast unmoveable always abounding in the work of the Lord forasmuch as you know your labor is not in vain in the Lord. By that which hath been said you may know your labor is not in vain with the Lord be abundant in service there shall not be one tear nor one sigh nor one prayer lost many say Why do you so much will not less serve The godly do not onely aym at the reward that will require abundance but they would have the heigth of the reward and therefore they think they never have done enough It is an expression of Austin If a man should serve the Lord a thousand years it would not deserve an hour of the reward in Heaven much less an eternity Though it is true the grace of the Lord is glorious and he does accept of his grace as the most glorious thing in the world yet considering what our actions are how much corruption is mingled with them it would not deserve a moment in Heaven and therefore we had need do as much as we can 2 Peter 3. 11. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved what maner of persons ought ye to be in all maner of holy conversation and godliness We should be ashamed and confounded in our thoughts that we can do no more and if there should be shame in Heaven when the Saints shall see and enjoy so much there would they not be ashamed that they have done no more for that God so glorious in his bounty goodness here Fifthly if there be such a glorious recompence of reward then let us labor to be faithful with God because we have such a good Master that is so good and gracious to us Princes make account they engage the hearts of their subjects that are about them to be faithful with them by their great rewards and by keeping of them in expectation of great things The great things that God hath prepared for us do lay more engagements upon our hearts to be faithful with him Let us not be false to such a God as this is God expects we should be faithful upon this ground Isaiah 63. 7 8. There are large expressions of the goodness of the Lord unto his people and what follows Surely they are my people children that will not lye As if he should say These are a people that I expect should be satisfied with me In Psal 36. 5. there God joyns his mercy and his faithfulness both together As Gods mercies and faithfulness are joyned together so let the hope of Gods mercies to us and our faithfulness unto God be joyned together It was an argument of God unto Abraham I am God All-sufficient and I am your exceeding great reward walk before me and be upright As if he should say You need not go and shark unto any other creature you have reward enough in me therefore walk before me and be upright So by all that which God hath revealed unto you concerning this glorious reward of his people God says You need not go and seek any thing else you need not be sharking up and down after the creature Is there not enough in me to satisfie any creature living The ground why any depart from God in a way of unfaithfulness is because they have distrustful thoughts and think there is not enough to be had in God but they had need shift for themselves another way If we understand this glorious reward and our hearts close with it this temptation could not have power to draw our hearts from it Therefore God is so plentiful in the manifestation of his goodness because his people should not have any shifting thoughts there is enough in God and in the treasures of his grace to make up all Now by that which hath been said be encouraged to go on in those ways in which you have no present encouragement there are many ways in which you have no encouragement from God or men you pray and hear and perform duties and do not finde God come in that way let the reward that is to come be enough to encourage you You do many good things and men are ungrateful and will not requite them well let this quiet you There is a glorious reward to come I remember a speech of Luther That servitude to men though it be to ungrateful men does please God and God says he wil abundantly reward you for it and that should be more sweet to us then all the treasures in the world In Isa 49. 4. says the Prophet I have labored in vain I have spent my strength for nought and in vain yet truly my judgement is with the Lord and my work with my God It is a speech of Latimer speaking of Ministers that would leave their flock because they did no good says he It is very naughtily done we must look to that which God commands us and leave the issue to God Christ saith Follow me me me three times he hath it and not your own lusts let us do our own work and leave the reward with God Though it be a sweet encouragement for the Ministers of God to see something of their labor yet if they do not it is enough to make them go on in a way of obedience for the present because God commands it though there were no reward but when we do obey God and please God for the present and it shall be rewarded so gloriously hereafter let not this be any excuse We can do no good if you be convinced of a duty whether there be good or no good come of it whether there be present encouragement or not it is enough that it shall be gloriously rewarded hereafter Sixthly if there be
such a glorious reward such blessed things as these reserved for the people of God hence then let us dwell a little in admiring at the goodness of God at the infinite treasures of the riches of the glory of the grace of God towards the children of men Certainly Brethren great are the thoughts of God towards mankinde wonderful are his ways to this poor creature of his What is man says the Psalmist nay what is man indeed when as we consider what God hath done for him In Rom. 8. 31. after the Apostle had spoke of glorification and of the blessed estate of Gods people hereafter says the Apostle What shall we say to these things So seeing these things are so that are revealed What shall we say to these things O the heighth and length and depth and breadth of the loving kindeness of the Lord how unsearchable are his judgements shall we say How unsearchable are his mercies and his mercies past finding out O how great is thy goodness which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee which thou hast wrought before the sons of men Psal 31. 19. If ever God wrought about any thing it was about the communication of his goodness to mankinde yea how great is it before the sons of men before us that have but a little made known to us How great is it before Angels then and before God himself In Psal 113. 6. it is said God humbleth to behold things that are done in heaven It is much that God should vouchsafe to behold any thing in heaven but now that God should vouchsafe to behold such a poor wretched creature as man is here upon earth and not to behold him onely but to work thus gloriously for him and that from all eternity to make it his great work to communicate himself to man O how does God humble himself here and how is his mercy and goodness to be admired and adored by the sons of men God is to be praised for the least of his mercies here but he is to be admired in the glory of his rich grace in heaven We read Psal 136. God is praised twenty five times for his mercies but the conclusion of all is Praise the God of Heaven for his mercies endure for ever his mercies as he is the God of heaven they are the glorious mercies indeed When the Scripture would set forth the excellency of a thing it expresseth it by heaven as the excellency of Christ He is the Lord from heaven 1 Cor. 15. 47. The excellency of God the God of heaven Jonah 1. 9. It is made the top of Christs glory that he is made higher then the heavens Heb. 7. 26. When Christ would shew the excellency of the bread of life he says It is bread from heaven the excellency of spiritual blessings is set out in this that they are blessings in heavenly places Eph. 1. Because gold is the most precious mettal therefore we lay it over other things not onely wood and cloth but silver it self so because heaven is so excellent the Lord gilds as it were his choicest blessings with this adjunct and all to shew the wonderful excellency there is in heaven it self Brethren God hath therefore revealed these things to us to that end that the glory of his grace might be great in the world God would have us have high and honorable and glorious thoughts of his goodness God would have the high praises of his grace to be in the hearts and in the mouthes of his Saints it is a great evil to have low and mean apprehensions of the glorious grace of God to mankinde you do not know what dishonor you bring to God in it If your hearts be not raised on high and enlarged in the thoughts of the free and glorious grace of God to mankinde it is an exceeding dishonor to him To see the riches of Gods glorious grace to the children of men it is a mighty work of faith and such a work as the soul is enabled to do onely by a mighty and glorious work of the holy Ghost in it indeed there is in the world a base and poor and mean apprehension of the grace of God in Christ such as does not work at all to raise and enlarge and glorifie the heart of a man but the true sight of the riches of Gods glorious grace it hath a mighty power to raise and enlarge and glorifie the hearts of the children of men while they are here as mark the expressions of the Apostle in his Prayer for the Ephesians 1 Ephes 17. 18. That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of glory may give unto you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him The eyes of your understanding being enlightned that ye may know what is the hope of his calling and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the Saints not the inheritance of the Saints but the inheritance in the Saints and the glory of the inheritance and the riches of the glory and they must not onely have understanding to know this but the eyes of their understanding must be enlightened and this must come from the knowledge of Christ from the Spirit of wisdom and Revelation and from the Father of glory the God of our Lord Jesus Christ The sight of the excellency and riches of Gods grace here it is that that is the work of God shining into the heart 2 Cor. 4. 6. For God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ The unsearchable truths of the Gospel are in that which hath been revealed so far as we are able to wade into them The sight of Gods rich glory is that which the Princes of the world have not known it is that which requires a work of the Spirit of God Of that Spirit which searcheth the deep things of God O brethren if you had a true spiritual sight of the richness of the goodness of God in the way of his communication of happiness and glory to the children of men then you see into the great design of God into the deep counsels of his wisdom then God hath laid open his heart unto you God hath brought you into the treasures of his riches and given you a view of them the very secrets of Gods soul are imparted to you and blessed are your eyes that have seen these things if the sight of Gods glory in his grace towards mankinde be seen in true beauty and height and glory indeed there is no fear that they should do hurt to any soul it is true the apprehension of the grace of God in a natural way is the cause of security or presumption in many but there was never any in the world that was furthered in a way of security and presumption upon the spiritual sight and view they