Heaven The Kingdom of God is within you Luke 17.21 Wheresoever Majesty resides the Court is there wheresoeuer the King gouverns there his Kingdom is If the Almighty gouvern all the Passions Motions Affections of our Souls if once He be the Souvereign Monarch of our Hearts if the Love of God give Law to all our Inclinations the H. Ghost is then as truly in us as a King is in his Kingdom He is no otherwise in Heaven This is that Heaven upon Earth which none can understand but those devout pious Souls who by experience Tast See how sweet God's Kingdom is Ps 33.9 where Christ gouverns by Faith the Holy Ghost by Charity or as S. Austin says whose King is Truth whose Law is Love A Spirit having no proportion with Place if we beleeve Philosophers is neither here nor there nor any where of its self but only by its Operation in a Body which is in some Place When Angels formerly appear'd with airy bodies they were truly substantially present in those human Forms which they inhabited by operating there Whatever the Airy Body seemd to do the Angel truly did the Angel mov'd the Angel walkt the Angel spoke discourst converst with men The Holy Ghost is likewise truly substantially present in the Soul of a devout pious Christian He dwells in his Heart by operating there His Heart becomes a Paradise on Earth The Love of God now planted in the middle of it is the Tree of Life Gen. 2.9 The Holy Ghost himself becomes the Angel Guardian of the Place like the Cherubin defends it with a Flaming Sword Gen. 3.24 Gal. 5. v. 25. He gives him Life we Live by the Spirit He gives him Motion we VValk by the Spirit He gives him Speech T is not You that Speak Math. 10.20 says our Saviour to his Apostles but the Spirit of God that Speaks in You. So far you see the Parallell betwixt the Presence of an Angel dwelling in an airy Body the Presence of the Holy Ghost inhabiting in us Only this difference there is Philosophers are puzzled to explain the Virtue the Operation by which an Angel moves the Body it assumes But Christians by the light of Faith have this Advantage over them They plainly read understand in Scripture that the Virtue of the Holy Ghost by which He moves gouverns us is Charity that the Operation which with us He produces in us is the Love of God above all things God the Holy Ghost is Charity 1. Jo. 4.8 He is the Consubstantiall Love of God the Father the Son If Charity inspire us if the Love of God direct us gouvern us influence the principall Designs Actions of our Life we then may reasonably hope 1. Cor. 2.12 we have not receiv'd the Spirit of this VVorld but the Spirit which is of God That Inclination which is predominant gouverns all the rest is usually call'd the Spirit of a man If this be Love of Honours Riches Pleasures of this World T is an Ambitious a Covetous a Carnall or to speak them all at once a VVorldly Spirit But if it be the Love of God above all things without any competition of Creatures 't is a Virtuous a Divine a Holy Spirit Then it is that the Love of God is diffus'd in our Hearts Rom. 5.5 by the Holy Ghost the HOLY SPIRIT which is given to us S. Paul Acts. 19.1.2 when he came to Ephesus and found certain Disciples demanded of them Have ye receiv'd the Holy Ghost since ye beleev'd And I am apt to think it would not be amiss to put the Question to the Christians of our Age. You in whose Minds Christ dwells by Faith dos the Holy Ghost dwell in your Hearts by Charity Is your Love suitable to your Creed Do you Love God as you Beleeve He deserves Do you Love Him above all things Your greatest Care is it to please your God Your greatest Grief is it to have displeas'd Him In all things which deserve Deliberation do you first consult his Law make it the Rule of all your Measures Examine well the whole Course of your Life your Actions Humours Designs What is it that employs your Mind the most What Thoughts are those which close your Eyes at Night open them next Morning Are they fixt upon the Only Necessary Do they tend to Heaven All things else what are they Are they Nothing in comparison of That If so you have receiv'd the Holy Ghost the Spirit of God Io. 14. v. 17. whom the VVorld cannot receive But if the Souvereign Inclination of your Hearts be Love of Honours Riches Pleasures if your greatest Grief Trouble be your disappointment of Success in these if upon all occasions you consult your Inclinations the Maximes of the World You then may answer as the Ephesians did Alas we are but litle acquainted with this Holy Spirit we have scarce heard of him we know not what He is A VVorldly Spirit we have more acquaintance with But as for the Spirit of God He is a Stranger to us We say our Prayers we frequent the Sacrements we are in the common road of customary Duties But our Ambitious Spirit our impatient Love of Honour is such that we are more concern'd for an Affront than for a Mortall Sin Our Avaritious Spirit our insatiable Love of Riches is so violent that we had rather hazard the loss of all the Heaven we pretend to than expose the Treasure we possess Our Carnall Spirit our incontinent Love of Pleasure is so passionate that we had rather quitt our Right to all the Eternall Joys above than any way deny our selves the rotten satisfaction we seek for here below In short we love this World so much that if we might but always have it at Command 't is All we ask We wish no more VVe have receiv'd the Spirit of this VVorld 1. Cor. 2.12 I hope I may be pardon'd if I am a litle importune in pressing home this Question Acts. 19.2 Have you receiv'd the Holy Ghost Eternity depends upon 't Your Choice of Heaven or Hell Your being Children of God or of the Divel Your being Sav'd or Damn'd for ever All This what is All if This be not All This depends upon the Answer to this necessary Question Rom. 8.16 As Many as are led by the Spirit of God says Saint Paul They are the Children of God Compute your Actions Words Thoughts from Morning to Night from Day to Day Dos the Spirit of God direct lead you Or the Spirit of this World If the Spirit of God You are the Children of God If not Hear what the Apostle says If any Man have not the Spirit of Christ He is none of his Rom. 8.9 He is not a Brother of Christ He is not an adoptive Son of his Eternall Father He has a Father in Hell
in Us. Love is as Strong as Death Cant. 8.6 T is this Victorious Love which frees us from the Tyranny of all those Passions which divide the Kingdom of our Heart Math. 12.25.26 a Kingdom brought to Desolation where Satan casts out Satan How can this Kingdom stand How is there any true Content and Satisfaction to be found in it A Man who places all his Happyness in Humouring his Passions can never please himself till he has pleas'd them All And since it is impossible to please two Masters how is' t possible for any Man to please so many I might here appeal to each Man 's private Conscience for a farther Testimony of this Truth But if a Sullen Conscience even when it is upon the Wrack refuses to Confess We have the Word of God the best clearest Evidence we can desire The VVicked Isai 57.20 21. says He are like the troubled Sea when it cannot Rest whose VVaters cast up Mire Dirt There is no PEACE says my God to the VVicked On the other side when once the Love of God has full possession of our Heart when Christ Gouverns it by Faith the Holy Ghost by Charity Gen. 1.2 Math. 8.26 when the Spirit of God begins to moue upon the face of the VVaters it presently Commands the VVinds the Sea there succeeds a Great Calm In a word As much as Liberty is more agreable than Slavery As much as Unity is better than Division As much as Peace Content Ease are more Delightfull than perpetuall Disturbance Discontent Pain so much the Pleasure which attends the Love of God is Greater than the Pleasures of this VVorld Had it been possible for our Creator to oblige us All to Love Him gratis we might then have had more Colour for our Crime And yet it would have been no more than what He very well deserves He Lov'd us gratis without any possibility of Recompence He humbled himself to repair our Honour He quitted Heaven to promote our Interest He sufferd torments to procure our Ease And it would only be a Suitable Return if we preferr'd his Honour Interest Pleasure far before our own But as our Kind Gracious God has order'd it to our advantage we are All oblig'd to seek our Own True Honour Interest Pleasure despise the False Appearances of Honourable Profitable Delightfull which the World endeavours to delude us with When we have made the most we can of such an Obligation 't will amount to neither more nor lesse than What we dayly see before our Eyes Consider how the Ambitious the Covetous the Voluptuous love their Honours Riches Pleasures Is it not plain They Love them above all things And why should not we Love God as well as Worldlings Love the VVorld They Love it with all their Heart They desire nothing else but to enjoy it with all their Soul They have no passion for any thing else with all their Mind They think of nothing else but how to make a Figure in it Has God less charms than the VVorld Or is a Flattering Friend well known to be our Greatest Enemy more amiable than the Best of Friends most True most Ancient most Constant who has always Lov'd us better than we Love our selves Is it a Greater Honour for a Man to be the Divel's Slave than be a Favourite of God Is it a Greater Profit to be cheated in the End than be Eternally Rewarded Or are those Pleasures which are always mixt with intervalls of discontent anxiety pain greater than those Delights which are unchangeable immortall divine which even in this Vale of Misery begin our Heaven upon Earth Ah Christians We have litle reason to dispute the terms of such an Obligation where the whole Advantage is entirely on our Side So great Advantage that we cannot truly Love our selves Math. 22.38 unless we Love our Lord our GOD with all our Heart with all our Soul with all our Mind This is not only our Greatest Duty but our Greatest Good SECT IV. That the Love of God is the chief Grace of the Holy Ghost I Am come Luke 12.22 says our Saviour to Send Fire on the Earth what do I desire but that it may be Kindled This He desires for This He came and This we pray for in the Service of the Church Come Holy Spirit Fill the Hearts of thy Faithfull Kindle in them the Fire of thy Love The Holy Ghost came visibly at first prov'd his Presence by the Miracles He did But yet a Spirit is not naturally sensible when He comes invisibly He comes more like Himself nor have we any reason when He dwells within us to suspect that He is lesse at home because He lesse Appears abroad Although we do not see the Fire descend rest upon our Heads yet if the Love of God enflame us if it burn within our Hearts if it appear in our Devotion in our Conversation in our Actions 't is enough we then may hope we have receiv'd the Holy Ghost that our Saviour verifies in us his Promise which He made us when He said He shall be IN YOU Jo. 14. v. 17. He did not come in to the World to visit the Apostles only and abandon their Posterity Our Saviour did not send him to us that he might immediately forsake us but that He might remain with us for ever to the End of the World Jo. 14. v. 16. I will pray my Father says He that He may abide with you for ever The Spirit of God shall be in Vs T is a solemn Promise of our Saviour himself we cannot doubt of it although we cannot but admire it with profound astonishment Kings 3.8.27 like that of Solomon VVill God dwell with us on the Earth will the Spirit of God not only dwell here with us but within us If Heaven says he and the Heaven of Heavens cannot contain Thee How much lesse this House which I have builded If we find that Salomon was thus transported when he lookt upon his Temple compar'd it with the Majesty of God to whom he built it may not we admire much more the living Temple of the Holy Ghost If the Heaven of Heavens cannot contain the Spirit of God How much lesse this litle House of clay Can we imagine that this litle Heart of ours is more capacious than Heaven Or can our Heart contain our God if Heaven cannot Oh no our God is infinite He cannot be contain'd in either yet He dwells in both Hear the Psalmist 122.1 To Thee I lift up my Eyes O Thou that Dwellest in the Heavens Hear S. Paul 1. Cor. 3.16 You are the Temple of God the Spirit of God Dwells in You. Compare both Testaments the Old and New if you seriously beleeve them both conclude we have the same assurance that God dwells in Virtuous Souls as that He dwells in
but none in Heaven Our Saviour plainly says Jo. 8. v. 42. If God were your Father You VVould LOVE Me above all things but because You do not v. 44. You are of your Father the Divel Let those who above all things Love the World Consider this and Tremble Let them not gaze in vain upon our Saviour ascending to his Father Let them be assur'd his Father is not theirs that as certainly as He ascended to his Father in Heaven they shall in time unless they seriously repent descend to their's in Hell This was the Reason why our Saviour told the Jews VVhither I go Jo. 8. v. 21. You cannot come As if He should say I go to my Father If He were your Father also then you might bear me Company But 1. Cor. 2.12 since you have receiv'd the Spirit of this VVorld as long as you are gouvern'd by the Spirit of another Father You may in due time follow him to Hell But 't is impossible without sincere Repentance You should ever follow me to Heaven VVhither I go you cannot come The Jews amaz'd to hear it knew not what He meant He told them the reason I am from above Jo. 8. v. 23. says He I am not of this VVorld The Spirit which gouverns all my Actions is from above 't is not the Spirit of this World 't is the Spirit of my Father therefore I go to him But on the other side You are of this VVorld Ibid. You are led by the Spirit of this World and therefore VVhither I go You eannot come Let us not flatter deceive our selves with vain appearances of superficiall Piety which flote upon the Surface of our Souls but sound the very bottom of our Hearts be assur'd that if we find them chiefly fixt upon this World or any Creature in it We may stand gazing with the Men of Galilee We may contemplate admire the Ascension of our Saviour but all in vain All this will be no Comfort to us Whither He goes we cannot follow Him We cannot Ascend unless we first receive the Holy Ghost nor can we receive Him unless we first prepare for His reception SECT V. That we ought to prepare our Heart for this great Grace WHen our Saviour was upon the point of leaving his Apostles after He had been fourty days discoursing with them concerning the Kingdom of God The last most important thing He recommended to their Care was that They should prepare themselves for the receiving of the Holy Ghost Acts. 1.4 He commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem but wait for the Promise of the Father Prepare your Hearts 1. Sam. 7.3 says the Prophet Prepare your Hearts to God serve Him only and He will deliver you Prepare your Hearts to entertain the Holy Ghost or else you never will receive Him Prepare Materialls for the Temple of the Holy Ghost 1. Cor. 6.19 His Temple is not to be built finisht in a day We must have Time to carry on the Work more than ordinary Preparations must be made Chron. 1.29.2 VVith ALL MY MIGHT says the Royall Prophet I have PREPAR'D for the House of my God because says he v. 1. the VVork is GREAT the Palace is not for Man but GOD. Our Heart has been profan'd with Idols Our Ambition A varice Lust have had their severall Altars in it from time to time according as occasion serv'd have offerd Sacrifice to Honours Riches Pleasures Such a Temple so Profan'd must be demolisht a New one built upon the Ruines of it 18.31 Make your selves a New Heart a New Spirit says the Prophet Ezechiel Although it be God's VVork it is not only His but also Ours As much as lies in us we must cooperate and labour with Him And the more difficult it is the more industriously we must endeavour to effect it Chron. 1.29 2. VVith all our Might with all our industry diligence we must prepare our Heart that it may be a Temple of the Holy Ghost O that we had but VVings like a Dove the wings of that Dove which once descended visibly upon our Saviour Then would VVe fly away Psal 55.6 be at Rest Our Hearts would fly away from all things in this World be at Rest in Heaven If once the Love of God enflame our Hearts with ardent continuall desires of being happy with Him We shall find that these Desires are VVings by which our Hearts aspire mount to Heaven But if the Love of any thing in this World bind us to the Earth We then shall find that our celestiall Desires are clogg'd with earthly Passions although we now then with a faint sigh look up to Heaven yet our stronger Inclinations will always bear us down He who is wholly disengag'd from all the Charms of a deluding World He only is at liberty S. Austin says The VVings of his soul are Free But if his Heart be any way ensnar'd with any other Love He then has Birdlime in his VVings He cannot fly away be at Rest. The Apostles themselves were not prepar'd for the receiving of the H. Ghost as long as they were satisfied with being Happy in our Saviour's Company on Earth If any Satisfaction here below could innocently challenge so much place in their Affections surely Innocence it self descending down from Heaven had the best clearest Title to their Love And yet as long as they were of S. Peter's mind and thoughâ— with themselves Math. 17.4 T is Good for us to be Here T is Good to make our Tabernacles Here so long we find they were not fit for the Reception of the Holy Ghost Jo. 16. v. 7. I tell you the truth says our Saviour T is expedient for you that I go away Because you Love me with so litle Resignation are so unwilling that I leave you therefore 't is expedient for you that I now ascend to raise your Hearts above the World carry them to Heaven with me If I go not away your Love will creep upon the Earth the Spirit of the World will still possess your Hearts the Spirit of God will find no habitation there v. 7. the Comforter will not come But if I depart if I whom you so dearly love ascend your Minds Hearts will follow me to Heaven they will be rais'd above the reach of all things in this World the Spirit of the World will have no dwelling there You then will be prepar'd for the receiving of the H. Ghost when you are so v. 7. I will send Him to you When the Holy Ghost came Acts. 2.2 He fill'd All the House where they were sitting Wherever He comes He fills the House He takes it All to Himself And 't is no wonder being Infinite He takes up so much room As God would cease to be Immense If there were any
he had a mind to let us understand that God himself with all his other Attributes would be but little if He had one that All this World is therefore inconsiderable and that the Next is therefore to be valued above all things because it is a World without End This is the common Misery attending all our Happyness All that is past is Nothing All that we enjoy at present is but one poor moment All that is to come is every moment less less approaching nigher to the finall period of its future Being which is Nothing The very Thought of this is so afflicting that it puts a stop to all our joys makes us miserable in the full Carreer of our Felicity We need no more to damp our Spirits in the midst of our enjoyments than the importunity of this unwellcome Thought All This will shortly have an End The Paradise of our first Parents would have been to them no Paradise at all had they foreseen the End of it And when God pleas'd to interdict the eating of the fatall fruit He seem'd to judge that nothing could be more effectuall to contain them in their Duty than to let them know that Death should put an End to All if ever they presum'd to eat of it As it was then their chief only comfort to survey the vast extent great variety of their Delights and at the same time confidently say All this is ours for ever if we please So it had been impossible for any artifice of the malicious Serpent to surprise them or prevail upon them if He had not flatter'd them with some assurance that they should not Die but still be truly Happy that is happy without End The Divel dos not now pretend to face us down VVe shall not Die He knows that so notorious a Cheat would never pass upon us But yet for fear least we should undervalue all the vain allurements of a miserable World he whispers in our ear We shall not Die so soon he has not the impudence to tell us that the World will never end but that it will not end so soon as we imagine Luke 12.19 Thou hast many Goods says the Rich Man in the Ghospel laid up for many years This is in short the Sum of our Felicity on Earth The Happyest Man that ever liv'd could say no more than this He could not say that he had All which he desir'd he could not but observe by sad experience that he was still unsatisfied that his small possessions were nothing to his Great Desires Nor could he say that what he had would always be his own He could not but be well acquainted with the truth of What Man is He dayly Dies He every moment is upon his journey to the Grave He wasts away Job 14.10 gives up the Ghost VVhere is he However he might say to comfort his insatiable Soul Although thou hast not All that that thou canst wish for Thou hast MANY Goods And though thou canst not possibly enjoy them always yet they are laid up for MANY years thy Palace is magnificent thy Entertainment splendid thy Attendance numerous thy Gardens are a Paradise of pleasure delight thy Honour equall to thy Fortune thy Power equall to both the World admires thee courts thee almost adores thee is not this enough Thou hast many Goods And why should any melancholy apprehensions seize thy Spirits disturb thy Mind with fearfull thoughts of loosing what thou hast there is no danger whilst thou liv'st thou art in the flower of thy age just ripe for pleasure healthy vigorous like to live these many years And what hast thou to do but take thy Ease Eat Drink Luke 12.19 be as Merry as if thou wert to live for ever Behold the Best that we can make of the most happy State we hope for here We dare not look before us least we see the End of All our joys We blindly dote upon these Darlings of our Passion endeavour to forget the misery of their Mortality ours We are not able to support a serious thought of our perpetuall decay though we love our selves above all things yet we hate the very sight of our condition we cannot endure to look into our selves and as an idle Solitude is ever troublesome because we love no company so little as our own so the great reason why the company of any other person is so pleasing is because it hinders us from thinking of of our selves The Greatest most Happy Man whose Heart is fixt upon this World would soon be Melancholy if he had but leisure to reflect that every Moment lēads him to the Period of his Happyness The dolefull Prospect of a future Separation is so terrible that he endeavours all he can to think of nothing farther than the present All the busy Agitation of his mind the Exercises of his body the Pastimes of his Conversation are delightfull to him chiefly upon this account because they are Diversions that is because they fix his mind upon the present moment divert him from the melancholy Thought that All his Happyness must have an End If the bare thought of our approaching Period be so dolefull even at a distance where Uncertainty gives room to make the most we can of our Felicity if I say the very Thought of it be so afflicting What will the Presence of it be when with our own eyes we shall see that fatall End which now we are so much afraid to think of We now are merry rejoyce because we banish from us the uneasy Apprehension But then All those who will be sad Spectators of this dolefull Scene will be no longer able to divert themselves from thinking of the Misery they see before them Then All the Tribes of the Earth shall mourn Math. 24.30 To close the Eyes of any dying Friend we dearly love is apt to move our tears although our other Friends who yet survive are still a comfort to us But when their Dearest Friend the VVorld it self begins to die When All their Comfort all at once forsakes them When the Sun Moon grow dark the expiring World begins to close its Eyes THEN they shall All mourn When once that dismall Day is come which the Prophet Zephaniah calls the Great Day of the Lord Ch. 1. v. 13. a Day of Calamity and Misery a Day of Darkness a Day of Tribulation Distress When Cataracts of Fire shall shower down upon their heads as if the Stars themselves fell from the Firmament When in the last Convulsions of its mortall Agony the Earth trembles and Hell it self lies gaping under their feet Then they shall plainly see the meaning of that Vision in the Revelations 10.5.6 which represents an Angel standing with one foot upon the raging Sea another on the trembling Land lifting his hand to Heaven swearing by Him that lives for ever Time shall be