then nothing is truely good but as we see God in it Abstract and take God out of any creature any condition any injoyment that creature that condition that injoyment is but a dry husk a shell without substance Our great misery and infelicity in this world is that we stick in the creature and forget God we do not rise up in our thoughts to God all particular and inferiour goods are subordinate to the universal and supream good and they were given us on purpose to lead us by the hand to the chief good and when we stick and rest in any lower and inferiour good we forget the true end for which these things were given us by him and that was to bring us to the chief good They are memorable passages which Austin hath Vnhappy man is he which knows all these things meaning created things and knows not thee but blessed is he that knows thee although he knows not those things and he that knows thee and them too is not the happier because of them but it is by thee onely that he is happy And it is a memorable comparison which that holy man useth If saith he the bridegroom should make a ring for his spouse and she when she had received that ring should love the ring more then her husband who had made her that ring would there not an adulterous minde appear in her towards the gift of her husband although she loved nothing but what her husband had giver her For this certainly did the bridegroom bestow that pledge of his love upon her that he himself might be beloved in his own love-token Therefore hath God given thee all those things that thou mightest love him who gave thee those things It is more that he would give thee to wit himself who gave thee those things This is Austin's comparison O let us not stick in the gifts of God but let us labour to see God in his gifts and pass from the gifts to the Giver 17. If we would come up into the life and spirit of heaven Let us be much in acts of praise and adoration That which we call praise is nothing else but the declaring and setting forth of anothers excellencie and adoration is the giving of honour reverence and respect to another suitable to the excellencie that is in him Praise may be given to the creature but Adoration is to be given to God onely Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him onely shalt thou serve Adoration is due to God onely and the reason is because in God onely is the Supreme Excellencie and the most Supreme Honour is due to the Supreme Excellencie Now the life of heaven is the life of praise and adoration the Seraphims say Holy holy holy is the Lord of hosts Isai 6. and the heavenly host Luk. 2. cry Glory to God in the highest Praise and adoration is the proper work of heaven In heaven there will be no room for prayer because in heaven there will be no wants no imperfection and there is no good the Saints can desire but they will be sure to have but praise will still remain The Divine Excellencie is still the same and whilst the excellencie of God remains to be the same there will be still matter for praise and adoration It will be matter of wonder to Saints and Angels to behold the glory of the Divine Majesty Saints and Angels will wonder at the infinite perfection of the Divine being they will not wonder at the being of God simply considered that is they will not wonder that there should be such a one as God for then they will know and understand most clearly that the being of God is most necessary that God always was is and shall be and that he could not but be but that which they will wonder at is this they will wonder at the greatness of Gods Majestie when they see the divine excellencie to be so much above their comprehension they will wonder to see so glorious a being as God and they will wonder at the divine goodness that he should make such creatures as they are to behold his perfections We should therefore inure our selves to acts of praise and adoration here on earth let us be much in admiring and adoring the divine perfection this will bring us neerest the life of heaven Lastly If we would come up to the life and spirit of heaven Let us labour for the most perfect love one to another The Saints in heaven as they have the most perfect love to God so they have the most perfect love each to other the Saints in heaven do not grudge one at another they do not envie each others happiness the Saints in heaven take complacencie in the good and happiness of each other as well as in their own good and happiness It was an Expression I once heard from an holy man I am saith he come to that piece of heaven that I do not envie any one that is above me Certainly it is a great piece of heaven that we shall not envie the gifts and graces of others nay if we are come into the spirit of heaven we shall heartily rejoyce in the gifts and graces of others A spirit of envie is most contrary to the spirit of heaven for in heaven we shall rejoyce in what God hath done for others as well as in what he hath done for our selves and the reason is because in heaven we shall not look so much at our own private happiness but we shall look at the glory of God Now because God is glorified in doing good to others as well as to our selves therefore we shall rejoyce that God is glorified in what he hath done for others as well as in what he hath done for us Thus have I shewed according to the measure that I have attained how we may get a little up into the life and spirit of heaven I am very sensible how far short the best of the Saints come as to the full attaining unto these things yet these are the things we should be aspiring and reaching after and so far as we can in any measure and degree attain to these things so far shall we feel the buddings and perceive the dawnings of eternal life in our own souls and how sweet is it to have experience of such a life began in our souls here on earth as shall never expire or have an end This natural life which now we live is but a poor dying thing at best O but this spiritual life which hath been discoursed of if so be we can but feel the beginning of it in our souls O then we have that life set up in us that shall never end So far as we finde these holy dispositions growing up in us we shall evidently perceive the dawnings of eternal life in our own souls wherefore let us make it our study and business all our days to be growing up more into the spirit of heaven the
to be in them when we come to try them We think to finde much more good sweetness and contentment in these things then indeed we finde in them when we come to experiment what is in them Now that is a vain thing which is empty of that it promiseth that is called vain Vanum dicitur quod re ipsâ destituitur which is destitute of solidity and substance 2. They can never satisfie us now whatsoever cannot satisfie is vain Happiness lyes in satisfaction happiness consists in having all the good a man would have in having all the good that he desires while there is any good a man would have and doth desire and hath it not he is not happy Now there is no man by the enjoyment of any or all earthly things that hath all the good he would have and therefore he is far from satisfaction far from happiness Secondly Earthly things as they are vain so they are vexations the labour and travail in getting them the care and sollicitude in keeping them the fear of loosing them the grief that follows upon the loosing of them the defectiveness of something or other in them when we have the greatest abundance of them the bitternesses that are mingled with them bring a great deal of vexation into earthly things When men are carried away with inordinate love of earthly things they pierce themselves through with many sorrows Qui mundanis se implicat tela parat quibus consodiatur He that intangles himself with worldly things doth but provide darts for himself by which he is thrust through Austin in a discourse of his about the contempt of the world hath a passage to this purpose The bands of this world have a true sharpness but a false sweetness a certain grief but uncertain pleasure hard labour timerous and fearful quiet they are full of misery but empty of happiness Lastly the mordinate love of earthly things doth greatly unfit us for communion with God here and for the enjoyment of him hereafter 1. It unfits us for communion with God here God will not be assable and familiar with that person who desires prizeth loves and delights in any thing more then himself The way to enjoy most of God is to be taken more with God himself then with other things When we are more taken with God himself then with all his gifts when we are inamoured of the Lord himself and God is more sweet to us then all things that come from him this is the way to enjoy most of God Wisdom saith Prov. 8.17 I love them that love me If we love God himself more then his gifts then shall we know what it is to be loved of him Joh. 14.21 If any man love me he shall he loved of my Father and I will love him c. but if we lavish out our hearts upon earthly things and have great and admiring thoughts of them and are vigorous in our pursuit of them and God hath the least part of our thoughts and affections God cares not for such lovers neither may such expect to attain to any friendship or familiatity with him here on earth 2. The love of earthly things as it unfits us for communion with God here so it unfits us for the enjoyment of him hereafter In heaven the faculties of the soul shall be immediately acted upon God the soul will be wholly taken up in contemplating admiring loving delighting in God in praising and adoring of him Now when the heart is wholly taken up with earthly things it is altogether unfitted and indisposed for such a life The soul is coloured as it were with the objects that it converseth with and receives a tincture and an impression from them A man whose spirit is immers'd and drenched in the world will be very unfit to have the faculties of his soul carryed forth upon God The best way to have our souls suited and adapted to the future life it is to keep our spirits at as great a distance as may be from present things We should be saying often in our own souls Oh the blessed state Oh the blessed life that is above Oh to see God to love him to go to him to live with him in his eternity How sweet is that life When we are without those earthly things which we desire we should say our true life our true happiness is above where there shall be no more need or use of these things when we have the most of these things our hearts should be carried up above these things and say We expect and look for and long after another happiness a happiness that is above these things We should keep our hearts in the most reserved frame for the future life and the future state We should not suffer our spirits to mingle too far with present things Our hearts should sit so loose to present things that we may be ready to lay down these things and to take up with the happiness that is above If we suffer our spirits to launch forth too far into the world it will be a hard matter to reduce them and when the cry is made Behold the Bridegroom cometh go ye forth to meet him we shall be very unfit to entertain his Call If our souls stick and be taken up in the things of time we shall be very unfit and unready to deliver them up into eternity AN APPENDIX Concerning Laying hold of eternal life 1 Tim. 6.12 Lay hold on eternal life The whole verse is read thus Fight the good fight of faith lay hold on eternal life whereunto thou art also called and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses Lay hold on eternal life LIFE is the great thing which we all desire there is nothing we fear so much as death nothing we desire so much as life This Text acquaints us what is the true life Lay hold on eternal life Amemus vitam aeternam Austin O let us love eternal life It is eternal life that is onely worth the name of life therefore since we are so fond of life since life is most pleasing to us of all other things let us love that life that is truly so This temporal life which we now live is not worth the name of life in comparison of eternal life The Text contains in it a double Gospel-precept 1. Fight the good fight of faith 2. Lay hold on eternal life It is the later of these precepts that I shall a little insist upon Lay hold on eternal life The Doctrine that offers it self to our consideration from the words is this Doctrine That it is the duty of Christians t◠lay hold of eternal life In this Point there are two things to be spoken unto 1. The Object 2. The Act. The Object is eternal life The Act is Lay hold on eternal life So that that which will bound our discourse as to the Explication of the Point will be these two things 1. To shew what
of Mr. Rutherford were these Glory glory dwells in Emmanuels land We should pray for the clearest sights and prospects that may be of the heavenly glory The clearer sights we can get of eternal things the more shall we finde our hearts crucified to the things of time and the more shall we finde our hearts carried up aloft to those things that are above even whilst we are fain to use these other things for our present necessitie We come now to the Reasons of the Doctrine why we ought to lay hold on eternal life Reason 1 1. This life is a short transient thing it soon glides and slips away How soon do we pass from one state to another from infancie to childhood from thence to youth thence to grown age and from thence to old age and death My days are swifter then a weavers shuttle Job 7.6 Swifter then a post they go away Job 9.25 This life is a vanishing thing it is an easie prospect to see to the end of it the longest life here on earth is nothing to eternity Therefore since this life is so shppery short and uncertain it is our great wisdom to set our hearts upon that life that is solid durable permanent What wisdom is it to set our hearts upon that which is not perminent We have here no continuing city Heb. 13.14 Thsi life is madeup of changes and vicissitudes and abides in no consistency it is our great concernment to minde that life which is stable and enduring Reason 2 2. Eternal life is that state that we must rest and abide in That life which we shall live in the other world will always stick and abide by us as we are then we shall ever be It is not so with us now we are not now as we shall ever be we are still changing from one state to another But eternal life is that state we shall always rest and abide in When once we are entred into eternal life we may say It shall never be otherwise with me then now it is this is the state I must take up with and thus it shall be for ever Now doth it not become us to be reaching out in our souls after this state Certainly we ought to overlook this life and the whole of our time as a little short thing and fasten our eyes upon the unchangeable state above where we must six and abide for ever We look not to the things that are seen for they are temporal but to the things which are not seen for they are eternal 2 Cor. 4.18 Reason 3 3. Eternal life is the onely true life it is the most noble and excellent life What a poor life is this life to converse with this world and the things of it in comparison of eternal life in which we shall converse with God and the holy Angels What a poor life is this life which is made up of wants of sorrows of complaints of miseries of distresses of he constant fear and expection of death in comparison of that life where there is all joy no sorrow all fulness no want all satisfaction no complaint all happiness no misery all life no death nor fear of death Oh this is the life that we should be suspiring and breathing after Reason 4 4. We ought to lay hold on eternal life because the thoughts and expection of eternal life will carry us up above the difficulties troubles and afflictions of this life He that seeth the Port before him though he be out at Sea and is tossed with waves and tmepests yet he knows if he can get safe to the Port all is quiet placid and serene there He that hatha prospect by the eye of Faith of eternal life and the heavenly Country though he be tossed up and down with many afflictions tryals and distresses here yet he knows all is tranquil and serene above Ibi nulla mors nulla aegritudo There is no sickness no death The thoughts of eternal life may well swallow up all our afflictions This life is but for a moment in eternal life there shall be none of these things to trouble or disquiet us Let us wait patiently for the blessed hope and the revelation of eternal life and we shall know these sorrows no more Reason 5 5. If we lay hold on eternal life death will be no surprise or terror to us when this life fails we shall have another life in view nay we shall feel the beginningso f another life in us This is eternal life to know thee c. Joh. 7.3 So much as we know God adhere to him rest in him live upon him and are satisfied with him we have the beginning of eternal life and this is such a life as shall never end That natural life which is in a Saint fails and must have anend Oh! but there is in his soul the seed of eternal life Joh. 4.14 The water that I shall give shall be in him a well of water springing up to everlasting life A true Believer hath the Spirit of God an the grace of the Spirit dwelling in him and this is the seed o eternal life The Spirit of God which hath begâ—â— the knowledge of God and love to God in the soul of a Saint here on earth will continue that knowledge of God and love to God in the soul to eternity yea in eternal life this knowledge this love shall be perfected and consummated Hence is that of the Apostle Rom. 8.10 The body is dead because of sin but the spirit is life because of righteousness The body dies and the life of it perisheth and vanisheth away but the spirit the soul of a Saint which is the seat of Grace and the habitation of the Spirit of God continueth and lives when the life of the body ceaseth If the soul should dye with the body then grace it self must be extinct and perish But saith the Apostle the spirit is life because of righteousness The spirit of a godly man having a principle of righteousness in it continues in being and the spiritual life of it remains when the body dyes It is true the soul of a wicked man is immortal and continues to live when his body dyeth but the life which remains to a wicked man after this life being a life of misery and torment the Scripture chooseth to call it by the name of death rather then of life But a godly man enjoys an happy and a blessed life in his soul when this life ceaseth Hence is it that we read of the spirits of just men made perfect Heb. 12.23 And Paul desired to be dissolved and to be with christ which was far better Phil. 1.23 Now when we feel such a life in us as cannot expire neither can be taken away from us why should we fear death Luther observes that the great cause why men fear death is a secret suspition that lyes at the bottom of their hearts Quasi non semper victuri as if they should not
some knowledge of God and Christ at first but we must labour to come to a more accurate exact knowledge of God and Christ 3. The Apostle would have them come to the riches of the full assurance of understanding 1. Here is riches that sets forth copiousness and abundance The Apostle would not have them have some slender tastes of God and Christ onely but he would have them inriched with the knowledge of God and Christ Phil. 1.9 This I pray that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgement 2. He would have them labour to attain unto the greatest certainty and assurance in their knowledge he would have them come to the riches of the full assurance of understanding This full assurance of understanding I take to be opposed to wavering and to doubting The Apostle would have us to come to a certainty in our knowledge A Christian should not be fluctuating and hesitating in his thoughts concerning God and Christ but he should endeavour to come to this that he may be able to say Upon this bottom I can live and dye that which I know concerning God and Christ is such a bottom that I can venture my hope my happiness my all upon This I take to be the meaning of that expression the full assurance of understanding Now these are the things above that we are to seek and to set our affections upon viz. God and Christ our thoughts are to be conversant about these things we ought to be taken up in the study of the mystery of God and Christ and then do we seek the things that are above when we converse much in our thoughts with God and Christ 2. By the things above we are to understand the glory and blessedness of heaven by the things above saith a Learned man we are to understand the kingdom of heaven Davenant the beatifical vision of God those joys which the saints shall one day partake of with Christ their head and the holy angels We ought to seek the things which are above as much as if he should say we ought to minde the glory and blessedness of the future state This is also to be gathered from the context If ye be risen with Christ seek the things which are above where Christ sits at the right hand of God as much as if the Apostle should say When I speak of the things above I intend nothing else but such things as are in Heaven such things as Christ injoys in the presence of the Father Seek the things which are above where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God It is as much as if the Apostle had said consider what it is Christ now injoys in the presence of the Father consider what glory Christ is possessed of Christ is above sorrow above pain above misery above death Christ enjoys perfect happiness in the presence of the Father now consider what Christ injoys and these are the things which are above This is manifest to be the Apostles scope from the fourth verse When Christ who is our life shall appear then shall we also appear with him in glory It is as much as if it had been said Christ is now in glory and we shall one day be made like our Head we also shall appear with him in glory The Apostle would have us to minde this to think what that glory is that Christ our head is possessed of and what the glory is we shall be brought unto in conformity to Christ our Head the Head and Members must be like one another if Christ be now in glory the same glory is prepared for all that are Christs and this appears from our Saviours last prayer The glory which thou gavest me I have given them that they may be one even as we are one Joh. 17.22 Therefore look what glory Christ as man and Head of the Church injoys we in our measure shall have a share in if we be Christs and Members of his Body This then we are to understand by the things above the glory and blessedness of the future state I have often thought there is nothing we are more wanting and defective in then this viz. in studying and contemplating what the glory and blessedness of the future state is we stick in present sensible things and do not elevate our hearts to the future glory but we ought to be of another frame 2 Cor. 4. Paul tells us He looks to the things which are not seen that is unto the things of the invisible world to the glory of heaven and the blessedness of the Saints there elsewhere he saith He reckons that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us Rom. 8.18 that was an argument he had his heart taken up with the glory of that state 3. By the things above we may understand the life and imployment of the saints in heaven and our communion with God in heaven we ought to seek the things above that is we ought to think much of our future life and consider what our life and imployment in eternity is like to be though this be of near affinity with the former because our happiness in heaven and the glory and blessedness of that estate consists in the life we shall live there yet we may consider this under a distinct head and the distinct consideration of this will help to illustrate the former particular The Apostle tells us when we are absent from the body we shall be present with the Lord 2 Cor. 5.8 From this Scripture we may argue If when we are absent from the body we are present with the Lord then there is a life in which the soul shall live with God when it is in a separate state from the body a life that we shall live in the Divine Presence Now this is to seek the things that are above to consider what the life is that we shall live in the presence of God and the holy Angels when we have laid down this burden of flesh and are discharged from the body of death and shall be made free among the heavenly Society and admitted into the number of the Spirits of just men made perfect to know what our life and imployment shall be in that state this is to seek the things which are above Though we cannot comprehend fully and perfectly what this life will be yet we may understand a little of it as the Scripture doth reveal it the Scripture teacheth us thus much that hereafter we shall walk by sight 2 Cor. 5.7 Now we walk by faith not by sight That intimates when the life of faith ends then the life of sight and vision begins Here indeed we live the life of faith hereafter we shall live the life of sight and vision Matth. 5.8 Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God The Scripture teacheth us when we shall appear we shall be
happy till we are arrived to that happiness Christ is possessed of Aquinas in his Book Contra Gentes lays down this as one position That mans last happiness cannot be in this life and there are many arguments he gives to prove it among which these are some 1. One reason why our last happiness cannot be in this life is because we cannot see God as he is we cannot see God in his Essence as his expression is here on earth Per essentiam No man can see my face and live saith God to Moses Our mortality will not bear the sight of God face to face Now without the clear sight and vision of God there cannot be perfect happiness for this is life eternal John 17.3 to know thee the onely true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent 2. Another Argument that happiness cannot be attained in this life is True happiness can never be attained unless the natural desire and appetite which is in man be satisfied then is a man happy when he enjoys all the good he would have if there be any good wanting to a man he would have such a man cannot be happy because his desire and minde is not quiet Happiness consists in this when the minde hath all it would have Now there is no man knows or injoys so much here on earth but he still desires to know and injoy more now until the natural appetite which is in man be filled up there cannot be perfect happiness A third Argument is this Mans natural desire is carryed out after stability in happiness as every man desires happiness so he desires a stable happiness if a man have that which he accounts happiness unless it be stable and constant to him such a man hath not attained to true happiness for it is of the nature of happiness to be unchangeable that which is possible to be lost or interrupted is not worth the name of happiness Now there are many accidents that may occur that may interrupt the best happiness we can have here on earth and whilst there is a possibility that a mans happiness may be interrupted the midne cannot be quieted as to the injoyment of what it apprehends as its chief good Now if a mans last happiness cannot possibly be attained in this life it concerns us to have our thoughts elevated to the other world and to minde that state where true happiness is indeed to be found Motive 5 V. Lastly to perswade us to seek the things which are above consider the things which are above are the most durable and permanent things What folly is it to set our hearts upon things which will not last always riches pleasures earthly delights life it self will not last always but the things of the other world last always God and Christ are always the same the life which we shall live above is a perpetual constant life 2 Thess 4.17 we shall ever be with the Lord. Certainly this is true wisdom to fix our hearts upon eternal things to keep our hearts upon those things which will always abide by us The things of this world are transient things and pass away we may have them so long and nâ— longer there is an end of them oveâ— a few days but the things which are above are permanent stable always the same A man shall never be deceived in his hope of happiness if he fix his heart upon eternal things and thereason is because these things do always remain and the object of his happiness is still the same therefore it is a good speech of Austin Junge cor tuum aeternitati â—ternus eris Joyn thy heart to eternity and thâ—â— thy self shalt be eternal The way to have an unchangeable happiness is to love unchangeable things it is not possible a mans happiness should last any longer then the things he placeth his happiness in if he love changeable things then a man will have but a changeable happiness if he love unchangeable things then he will injoy an unchangeable happiness if we love the unchangeable God we shall then never be to seek of happiness our happiness shall still be the same These be the Motives II. We come now to the Directions to shew how we ought to put in practice the great duty of Heavenly-mindedness 1. If we would put in practice this great Duty of Heavenly-mindedness let us contemplate and meditate much of the future life we should transfer and carry our selves in our thoughts out of this world and by holy contemplation set our selves down as it were in the other world it were good for us if now and then we could leave this earth behinde us and climb up to heaven in our thoughts and consider a little so far as we may what the state and condition of the other world is we should study what God is and what Christ is we should contemplate how it is that God communicates himself to the souls of his people in the other world we should contemplate what the actings of the soul upon God the chief good are and what the delights and satisfactions of the soul are like to be this is to meditate on the future life the more we contemplate the future life and make the things of the other world present and familiar to us the greater alienation of spirit shall we finde from this world and the more will our mindes and hearts be carryed forth to the future state 2. Let us labour as much as may be to get up into the spirit and life oâ— Heaven labour for an Heaven-like frame that is such a frame as is most suitable to the life and spirit of the Saints in Heaven It is the observation of a Learned Divine when the Apostle exhorts the Saints to seek the things which are above his intention is we should be daily conforming our life to the example and patern of that heavenly life Ad exemplar illius vitae coelestis Zanch. we ought to study what the life of Heaven is what the frame and disposition of the Saints in Heaven are and to get a frame and spirit as suitable to their frame and spirit as is possible It is a great expression of the Apostle Paul in 2 Cor. 5.9 We labour that whether present or absent we may be accepted of him He had said in the verse before We are confident and willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. Paul was confident that when his body was dissolved he should immediately be with God in his spirit that his soul should be taken into glory this was his confidence Now saith he we labour that whether present or absent we may be accepted of him as much as if it had been said Although we cannot be so happy as yet to get into Heaven although we cannot be present there in person yet we would fain have an Heaven-like frame we would have such a frame of heart here on
and it consists in what the minde injoys There is more true happiness which the minde takes in in one single thought of God thâ—â— the body and outward senses can take in by all the variety of objects that are most pleasing to them look as the understanding or minde in man is a higher principle then sense is in a brute and as the objects of the minde are higher and more excellent then those of sense by so much the more is the minde or understanding capable of taking in a greater happiness then sense can do Sense in a brute is capable onely of taking in present mutable things the understanding is capable of conversing with eternal and immutable things therefore that which quiets the minde most which is of the greatest capacity that must needs be the greatest happiness The minde of man covets eternal things and is satisfied with nothing but eternal things therefore to know that a man is in the love and favour of God whose love or hatred is eternal to know that a man shall be freed from everlasting misery and condemnation to know that a man shall be happy in living with God for ever these are eternal things and such things as will quiet the minde of man Divines observe that eternal life in the beginning of it consists in Justificatien and Sanctification and this is truely asserted for what is happiness but the inward quiet of the minde Now when the soul is in a justified state when it apprehends it self reconciled to God this brings in inward quiet the peace of God that passeth all understanding So in Sanctification when the work of Sanctification is begun we are in some measure brought to a conformity and likeness unto God and there is an harmony and an agreement between our wills and the Divine Will Now from this conformity unto God and the agreement and harmony that is between our wills and the Divine Will there ariseth peace This is certain so much holiness so much peace we should therefore look after a spiritual happiness an happiness consisting in peace of conscience in the apprehension of the savour of God an happiness consisting in holiness so much true peace of conscience so much holiness so much true happiness This is the beginning of eternal life The kingdom of God is not meat and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the holy Ghost The happiness of Heaven consists in this that we shall be filled with Grace and the Spirit of God In Heaven the Spirit of God shall act us perfectly and universally therefore the more Grace and the more of the actings of the Spirit of God we feel in our selves here on earth the more we have of the beginning of heaven of the beginning of eternaâ— life The happiness of heaven is a spiritual happiness because it consistâ— in the spiritual actings and operatitions of the soul upon God wheâ— the soul is full of Grace and of the Spirit of God then it knows God perfectly so far as the creature is capable it loves him and delights in him perfectly and then it is most happy I say when Grace is perfected and consummated and the operations of the soul are carried highest in the exercise of Grace then is happiness most compleated This should cause us to covet Grace and the Spirit of God in the highest manner we should covet Grace and the Spirit of God more then any temporal thing Certainly so much of Grace and of the Spirit of God as we feel working in our selves so much may we perceive of the dawnings of heaven and eternal life in our souls He that feels much of the presence of the Spirit of God in his soul and feels the lively sensible actings of Grace in his soul may know he hath the beginning of heaven in himself Let us covet a spiritual happiness a happiness consisting in the exercise of Grace and in the spiritual actings of the soul upon God we should often think with our selves What is it that must satisfie the soul to eternity suppose I had the greatest enjoyment of sensible things would these things satisfie me what is it that my soul can rest in ultimately what is it the minde can be quieted with If I know I am beloved of God if I know I shall one day certainly injoy God and live with him for ever here is some stay and quiet for the minde this will quiet the minde more then all sensible things can do Happiness consists in the highest operations of the minde therefore when the minde is most carried out after eternal things which are most suitable to the minde then it injoys most happiness A great part of the happiness of heaven consists in this that the Saints know what happiness they do now injoy they shall always enjoy If it were possible that such a thought could be let into their mindes that what they now injoy they should not always injoy this would rendeâ— their happiness imperfect true happiness consists in the highest operations of the minde when the mindâ— is most carried out after eternaâ— things let us minde this happiness and be taken up in the thoughts oâ— this happiness 3. If we would come more up into the spirit and life of heaven let 〈◊〉 think much of the beatifiâ—â—il vision and breath much after it The great â—rappiness of heaven is this that we shall see God Matth. 5.8 Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God Saith Austin Ibi videbis faciem Dei tui There shalt thou see the face of thy God What greater happiness to the creature then to see the face of the Creator to see him who made heaven and earth to behold the Glory and Majesty of the first and most excellent Being Deus cum sit simpliciter perfectus suâ persectione omnes rerum perfectiones comprebendit Aquinas God being simply and absolutely perfect in his perfection comprehends all the perfections of things In the sight of God we behold all perfection at once If all the beauties in the world were contracted into one beauty what a rare sight would that be in the sight 〈◊〉 God we see all beauty all perfection at once In the sight of God we see the Centre from whence all â—he lines are drawn whatever is sweet â—miable pleasant delectable in the â—reature it all issued from this Founâ—ain how sweet how pleasant how â—electable then must the Fountain it self be God is the rule and measure of all good Deus est omnis boni bonum God is the good of every good nothing is good but as it participates of God and as it hath some similitude and resemblance of the Divine goodness how sweet then will it be to see the first original independent good who is a sea and an abyss of good who hath all good in himself without stint and limit Those several delights we have from the variety of creatures God hath all in himself and much more
abundantly all the creatures are too narrow and too short to exhibit and represent to us the immensity and infiniteness of the Divine perfection God is not onely all that perfection that is in the creature but he is infinitely more and the reason is because if all the perfections of thâ— creature were summed up into onâ— it is but finite perfection it is 〈◊〉 contradiction to suppose an infiniâ— creature but God's perfection is iâ—finite perfection what happineâ—â— then must it be to be admitted tâ— see him who hath all this perfectioâ— in him This should make us 1. To think much of the beatifical vision ouâ— thoughts should be much upon it 2. We should have great and admiring thoughts of it O let us not thinâ— it is a light thing to be admitted into the Divine presence the more you think of it the more will you finde your hearts swallowed up in the thoughts of it I say let us not think that it is a light thing to be admitted into the Divine presence and to stand before him who made heaven and earth We ought to think this is the highest dignity and honour that can be cast upon us if the Queen of Sheba was so much taken with the admiration of Solomon's wisdom as that she said Happy are thy men happy are these thy servants which stand continually before thee and that hear thy wisdom well may we say to our Maker Happy Lord are they that may be admitted into thy presence and may stand continually before thee to behold the glory and beauty of thy Majesty let us have great and admiring thoughts of the beatifical vision Do not think it a light thing to be admitted to the fight of God 3. We should pray much that we may be accounted worthy to be admitted to this sight It is that which deserves to be made the great request of our souls all our days that we may be accounted worthy to be admitted into the Divine presence and live in the sight and presence of God to eternity And as ever we hope to come to the sight of God to the beatifical vision be sure to remember this that Christ must be our way I am the way the truth and the life no man cometh to the Father but by me Joh. 14.6 It is Christ that must bring us to the Father whilst we are here on earth and it is he that must make way for our admission to the sight of God in heaven It is Christ as Mediator must bring us to this sight and let us into thâ— sight his humanity opens the 〈◊〉 to the Divinity Christ as man by â—â—tue of the Hypostatical or personal â—â—nion hath a right to the sight of God and Divines commonly say Thâ— Christ as man from the moment 〈◊〉 his conception had the sight of Goâ— Our nature was alienated from Goâ— and deprived of communion wiâ— God by our sin in Adam But thâ— Son of God the second person iâ— the Trinity by assuming our nature and taking of it into Unity of persoâ— with himself hath brought our nature near to God and our nature 〈◊〉 it stands in Union with Christ the Head of the Church hath recovered 〈◊〉 right to communion with God and Christ by the merit of his obedience hath purchased a right for us to the sight of God so that when we have thoughts of the beatifical vision and have breathings in our souls after it we must keep our eye upon Christ and remember it is by him we must be admitted into the presence of God â—ever think of seeing God without Christ never think of being admitted into the Divine presence without Christ's being your way and door 4. If we would get up into the spirit and life of heaven We must labour to adhere to God and to cleave to him as the chief good In heaven as there will be the clear sight of God so there will be the most perfect adherence of the soul to him The glorified soul must needs see God to be its life its strength its happiness and all good to it and therefore it must needs cleave perfectly to him Now if we would come up into the spirit of heaven we should labour to have our souls cleaving to God here on earth we should rest in God as in our Centre we should labour to cleave to God more then to any created thing in a strict and proper sence our selves should cleave to nothing but God though we may and ought to love the creature in its place yet we may not love it as we love God Our souls must cleave and adhere to nothing as our chief good as the matter and object of our happiness but God of God onely it is that we must say He is my life my strength my salvation my happiness this was the Church's Song The Lord Jehovah is my strength and my salvation Isaâ— 12. We ought to cleave intimately and inseparably unto God God ought to be the stay and rest of our souls so much as our souls come to stay and rest themselves upon God as our chief good and onely happiness so near do we come to the life of Heaven It is a proper and an apposite expression to help us to understand this that which we have in Isa 26.3 Thou shalt keep him in perfect peace whose minde is stayed on thee This expression shews us what the carriage of the soul ought to be towards God the chief good the soul ought to cleave to God most intimately and to stay it self upon him The Saints in heaven do thus stay themselves upon God God is the great basis they lean upon they have no sensible comforts to live upon as we have but they see all in God and therefore he is their stay it is upon him they lean for happiness the more we can adhere to God and eleave to him and stay our souls upon him as our chief good the more do we come up to the life spirit of heaven 5. If we would get up into the life and spirit of heaven Let us labour to take complacencie in the glory and blessedness of God Here lyâ—s the quintessence and perfection of the heavenly life so far as we are able to conceive of it here on earth The glorified Saints look off themselves and out of themselves and take complacencie in the glory and happiness of God who is the first and most perfect Being It is matter of delight and joy to them to see God so holy and so happy as he is The Schoolmen rightly observe that to love God for himself Vâ—lle Deum esse Deum it is to will that God should be God Then do we love God for himself when we take complacencie in the glory and blessedness of God when we are well pleased to see God to be what he is that is to see him to be the most excellent and most perfect being Our happiness as it is in us it is but a
finite thing the happiness of smite creatures but God's happiness is the happiness of the first infinite and eternal Being Now it becomes us to be more pleased to see God happy then that we are so and to see him great and glorious then that we are so Here lyes the prefection of a created will to take complacencie in the Divine perfection as being the highest and uttermost object that it can acquiesce in The highest strains of grace lye in these two things 1. To desire the glory of God above all things 2. To take complacencie in the glory of God above all things The more we can attain to these here on earth the nearer do we come to the life and spirit of heaven 6. If we would come more up into the life and spirit of heaven Let us labour to have the most immediate dependance upon God and to expect all from God The Saints in heaven have the most immediate dependance upon God for every thing they see all comes from God and they depend upon him for all The Saints in heaven do not receive their happiness comfort and satisfaction from the organs and pipes of the creature as we do but they receive all from God immediately and as they receive all from God immediately so they know they receive all from God immediately and they depend upon God foâ—â—ll and expect all from God therefore the more immediate our dependance is upon God and the more we expect all from God the nearer do we come to their life Psal 62.5 My soul wait thou onely upon God for my expectation is from him The time is coming when we must depend upon God for all when we come to dye none can help us but God friends cannot help us no creature can help us and life it self will fail us all our expectation then must be from God if he fails us all fails us when this life fails and ceaseth we must depend on God to give us eternal life no creature can give us eternal life no friends no not the nearest Relations can help us when we come to extremity God then must be our onely friend it is good therefore to have all our dependance upon him and expectation from him now If we expect no good no happiness no comfort but what comes through the conduit-pipes of the creature when they fail all our happiness must fail therefore it is good to expect that God should give us that which no creature can that God should communicate himself to us when all creatures fail When we have all creatures round about they can afford us little help or relief in a time of extremity therefore it is good to have our expectation raised above all creatures and to expect all from God immediately And this is to be brought nearest to the life of the Saints above Onely let us take this Caution When we say that we should depend on God immediately and expect all from God immediately the meaning is not as if we might not make use of the creatures as helps appointed by God in their proper places we may and ought to use the creatures in that way and for those ends unto which God hath appointed them but take heed you expect not too much from the creature our expectation ought to be raised above the creature we ought to consider no creature can do us good but as God puts virtue into it makes use of it for our good and as God acts it and communicates himself by it our great dependance therefore ought to be upon God himself above all creatures 7. If we would come more up into the life and spirit of the Saints in heaven we should labour to take up our rest and satisfaction in God The Saints in heaven are perfectly satisfied with God and in God Psal 17.15 When I awake I shall be satisfied with thy likeness that is when I awake in the morning of the resurrection I shall be satisfied with the vision of thy face The sight of God is the most satisfying sight and that will appear from these three considerations 1. Because the Saints in seeing God see all things in God there is nothing in the effect but what is in the cause the Saints by seeing God must necessarily see the perfection of all things in him 2. The Saints in seeing God are arrived to the uttermost perfection beyond which there is no perfection That which causeth unquietness in the minde of man here in this world it is because when he hath found one good still he thinks yet there is a higher good and when he hath found that still he thinks there is a higher to be enjoyed but when the soul once comes to the highest good which is truely so and knows there is no higher then it rests and quiets it self here Now the Saints that are come to the sight of God know there is no higher good then God therefore their mindes are satisfied in God 3. The Saints in beholding God behold infinite perfection they see that in God that will fill their capacity brim-full now then the Saints having their uttermost capacity filled this is that which must needs breed perfect satisfaction So then if the Saints in heaven are perfectly satisfied in God and desire nothing more then what they have in God we should labour to come up to this spirit to be satisfied in God and with God We should rest in God as in our Centre Psal 116. Return O my soul unto thy rest Though we desire many things for our necessity as food raiment outward conveniencie and the like yet we should covet nothing as our rest but God Here is my rest whether I have much or little want or abound God is my rest we should labour to say so inwardly sensibly and experimentally that God is my rest I need nothing as my happiness but God 8. If we would get more up into the spirit and life of heaven Let us look down upon all the things of this world as poor and mean things The Saints in heaven who live with God and have the sight of him see that in him and have that before their eyes which makes all the things of this world seem poor and mean to them Most true is that saying Qâ—i parum de luce Creaturâ—s aspexerit breve ei eâ—i 〈◊〉 quoâ— crâ—atum est He that hath seen a little of the Creators light every thing that is created seems little to such a one When the Sun appears the Stars vanish and disappear a greater glory buries and swallows up a less We should labour to have such great thoughts of God as that the creatures may seem but little to us That which causeth admiration is some surpassing excellencie in the object when we finde something to parallel or to go beyond that which we did admire we shall cease to admire that which at some times we did admire Now we shall never finde any thing here below that will
after eternal life The more our desires run out in one chanel the less will they run out in another Did we covet to live with God more to be admitted into the Divine presence to live in that state in which the Saints and Angels live we should covet other things less this is the truely noble covetousness we cannot covet this too much to live with God in his eternity Oh let us love eternal life If we have right thoughts of the future life and the future state we shall see nothing worth desiring and coveting in comparison of that state 7. Let us pray for a holy contentation of spirit with our present state This is the Directiou which the Apostle insinuates Heb. 13.5 Let your conversation be without covetousness and be content with the things which you have Contentation with our present state would prevent covetousness the reason why our desires are immoderate is because we are not content with Gods allewance Divine providence is never overseen Divina providentia not potest falli never mistaken Divine Wisdom measures out to every man what is best and if we could think so that would keep our desires from being too violent and impetuous after these things Lastly let us set before us the example of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ he is the highest Pattern of holiness in every kinde Christ when he was in the world he was Lord of all yet he possessed little and as he possessed little of the world so he did not covet and seek after the things of the world His heart was wholly taken up in glorifying the Father and in finishing the work which he had given him to do he minded not gold or silver lands or possessions his heart was set upon other things True it is that having taken to himself not onely our nature but also the infirmities of it he used the things of the world in his passage as things accommodate unto that state of Humiliation unto which he had voluntarily subjected himself yet a little sufficed him of these things that were necessary for the support of nature so far was he from designing to heap up wealth and riches and from seeking great things for himself in the world Use 3 3. Of Admonition To admonish us not to set our hearts upon the world and earthly things This is the counsel which the Spirit of God gives us 1 Joh. 2.15 Love not the world nor the things of the world This Admonition is most solemn if this solemn Admonition which the Spirit of God gives us will not bear weight in our conscience what little hope can we have that any other Admonitions should take place Vae tibi si amaveris condita deserueris Creatorem pulcra tibi sunt sed quanto pulcrior est qui ista formavit Aug. if so clear and express a Prohibition Love not the word do not bear sway with us what should Wo to thee saith Austin if thou love created things and forsake the Creator these things seem beautiful unto thee but how much more beautiful is he that made these things We are all of us too prone to fall into the love of the world and of earthly things When first we left God in our Apostacie in Adam we fell from God into the creature and there we have stuck ever since and it must be the mighty power of divine Grace to recover us out of the creature and to bring us back to God the love of the world is the great temptation to most of us I often think of the last counsel which an holy man gave a little before his death as he was drawing on toward his dissolution he called his Relations to him and gave them this as his last advice Make sure of Christ saith he and take heed of the world I have found that my greatest enemy If the world be our greatest enemy we have need to watch so much the more against it That which we shall do more in the prosecution of this Use is to propound several Considerations to take us off from the love of the world and earthly things First Consider the love of the world and of earthly things is a great wrong and injury done to God Aug. He that loves the creatures more then God offends the Creator We cannot love the world too much but we must of necessity love God too little No man can serve two masters So much as our love is let forth inordinately upon the creature it must of necessity be withdrawn from God Now this is the highest Sacriledge and Injustice Sacriledge to rob God of that which is his due Injustice to give that to the creature which is not due to it Secondly consider the Soul was made for greater things the Soul being an immortal and an eternal principle was made to converse with eternal things and to seek for happiness in eternal things Therefore when we love temporal things and pursue them as our happiness we forget the true nobleness and dignity of our own souls That which doth distinguish us from the Brutes is an intellectual principle whereby we are capable of contemplating and pursuing something that is eternal the Brutes minde present things It is the property of Sence to minde something present and to go no further When we onely minde and pursue present things we depress our selves beneath our own species and bring our selves as it were into the rank of Brutes and sensitive creatures Thirdly consider there are greater things for us to love there is a greater and fairer happiness that lies before us we have God and Christ to love there are eternal things that lie before us Non satiat animam nisi incorruptibilis gaudii vera certa aeternitas Aug. Serò te amavi pulchritudo tam antiqua tam nova serò te amavi Aug. Nothing satisfieth the soul but the true and certain eternity of that joy which is not corruptible Who would fix his eyes upon a Glow-worm that hath the Sun to look upon I have loved thee to late saith Austin O thou that art so ancient a beauty and so new and fresh a beauty I have loved thee too late We have the living and eternal God to love and yet we love dying things Well may we wonder at our selves that having the infinite and eternal God whom we might make the object of our affections we should take up with things so far short of him What are a few drops compared to the Ocean what are a few weak rays in comparison of the Sun what are all the creatures in comparison of the Creator God is an infinite Sea of perfection there are no bounds nor limits to his perfections In God there is all good that is desirable all perfection imaginable all perfection possible Do we desire life he is the fountain of life Do we desire wisdom he is the fountain of wisdom Do we desire holiness he is the fountain of holiness
an happiness here on earth but our great hope should be above we should cast anchor within the veil Heb. 6.19 expect happiness in what is to be enjoyed on the other side of time If the main of our hopes and expectation be in this life we and our hopes are like to perish together for we our selves must die and the things we hope for and make account of as our happiness they must die and perish it is good therefore to have such an hope as will not fail us nor deceive us If we look for the main of our happiness yea our onely true happiness in the next world not in this world this is such a hope as will never deceive us A man that hath fixt his hopes in eternal things when he hath lost any temporal thing the main of his happiness is still where it was his hopes and expectations were carried above this world and therefore whatsoever his losses and disappointments were here on earth this doth not shake his happiness his happiness was placed elsewhere before and he is at the same point still 6. To lay hold on eternal life it is not to suffer the comfort of eternal life to be wrested from us As we ought to live much in the hope and expectation of eternal life so we ought to take comfort in the hope and expectation of eternal life Rom. 12.12 Rejoycing in hope As we ought to hope for eternal life so we ought to rejoyce in the hope of eternal life I conceive that much of the force of the Text lies here Lay hold on eternal life unto which thou art called and hast made a good profession before many witnesses It is as much as if the Apostle had said Thou hast a true and an undoubted title to eternal life thou hast a firm sure title to eternal life thy vocation and calling as a Christian â—ntitles thee to eternal life Lay hold on eternal life unto which thou art called that eminent profession of faith which thou hast made as a Christian and as a Minister both in thy life and doctrine this gives an evidence and proof of thy right and title to eternal life Now this is the force of the Apostles argument Since thou hast so firm a title to eternal life lay claim to it as thy own live in the hope and comfort of it and do not suffer the comfort of eternal life to be wrested from thee Much of the meaning of the Text seems to be contained in this The Greek word as it signifies to pursue after a thing so also to hold it fast and retain it when once we have gotten it So that the designe of the Apostle is to perswade Timothy to hold firm and fast the hope of eternal life not to part with the hope of salvation upon any terms Lay hold on eternal life it is as much as if it had been said Do not part with thy hopes of salvation and eternal life upon any terms The stedfast assured hope of salvation is the great thing that must carry us thorow the difficulties sufferings and afflictions of our pilgrimage here on earth Therefore doth the Apostle exhort the Thessalonians that they would take for an helmet the hope of salvation 1 Thess 5.8 Putting on the brestplate of faith and love and for an helmet the hope of salvation Intimating thus much that if they had a well-grounded hope of salvation this would fortifie them against all the afflictions they were to meet with here by the way Whatever afflictions sufferings and troubles we meet with here in this world if we can cast an eye to the heavenly country and see that we have a part there all is well above there is none of those troubles fears sorrows where the main of our hope happiness and expectation lies Therefore let us not part with or let go the comfort of eternal life if we part with the comfort of eternal life we lose that which must be the standing comfort of our life nothing can bear us up under the afflictions of this life but the solid well-grounded assurance of eternal life Lastly To lay holy of eternal life it is to look after the first fruits of the spirit and to labour after an inchoate possession of eternal life in our souls here on earth Our Saviour teacheth us He that eateth his flesh and drinketh his bloud hath eternal life Joh. 6.54 He hath it that is he hath it in the beginning of it And concerning his Sheep he saith I give them eternal life Joh. 10. He speaks in the present tense what he doth do for the present I give unto them eternal life Christ hath already made over eternal life to his people he hath given them a right and a title to it and he hath given them the beginning of it in their souls here on earth it is a great Text Joh. 4.14 The water that I shall give shall be a well of water springing up into everlasting life The plain meaning seems to be that Grace and that of the Spirit of God which Christ hath given to his people here on earth shall never leave them till it hath brought them to eternal life The Spirit of God that is in the hearts of the Saints and the Grace of Godwhich is wrought in them shall nover leave them till it hath brought them to eternal life Hence it is that the Spirit of God is called the earnest of our inheritance Eph. 1.14 an earnest is part of the bargain the Spirit of God that dwells in the hearts of Believers is an earnost of eternal glory for what is heaven but a fuller manifestation of the Spirit of God in us which manifests and puts it self forth in part in us here on earth So that so far as we are sensible of the indwelling of the Spirit of God and the operation of it in our souls so far we have an carnest of eternal glory This is that water which shall be a well of water springing up into everlasting life We should labour therefore to be sensible of the indwelling of the Spirit and of the operation of the Spirit of God in us in a way of grace and of comfort In this sense we should lay hold of eternal life that is we should be earnestly pressing and making after it in our own souls we should pray carnestly that God would let down more of eternal life into our souls here on earth As he once said Lord come down to me or take me up to thee We should pray that eternal life may come down more into our souls here on earth This should be the highest ambition of a Christian to perceive and feel more of the dawnings puttings forth of eternal life in his soul here on earth It is not impossible for us to perceive and feel the dawnings and puttings forth of eternal life in our souls here on earth and this is that we should earnestly pray for Someof the last words
live always If I am sure to live why do I fear death If we lay hold on eternal life and finde the beginnings of that life in our souls we have that life set up in us which cannot expire Joh. 6.44 He that eats my flesh and drinks my bloud hath eternal life How can that be lost which is eternal that which is eternal cannot be lost It is a great skill to be able to distinguish between this natural life which we live in common with other men and that spiritual life which we live as Christians The natural life of a Saint is subject to death as other mens is although the curse of it be taken away but there is a life in a Saint and that is the life which he lives in and by the Spirit of God and this is such a life as cannot be extinguished We should labour for that spiritual skill as to be able to distinguish between these two kindes of life and not be without hope as other men when this natural life ceaseth we should remember there is a life in us that cannot dye If we have begun to know God to love God to live upon him and to live to him here on earth we shall not cease to know him to love him to live upon him to live to him in eternity and to eternity Vse 1 1. We come now to the Uses of this Doctrine and there are onely two that we shall make of it The first Use shall be of Reprehension If we ought to lay hold on eternal life two things are hence to be reprehended 1. That we are so much taken up in following this world and in the pursuit of temporal things 2. That we are so much addicted to the love of this life I. We are to be reprehended that we are so much taken up in following this world and in the pursuit of temporal things Lay hold on eternal life If we ought to lay hold on eternal life then we ought to live above the world and contemn it The eager pursuit of this world is most contrary to our laying hold on eternal life We cannot pursue two things at once while we are pursuing hard after the world we must needs let Heaven and Salvation go The greatest part of men think not on eternal things they live as if they were always to live here on earth they never think of a future state nor do they provide for it But if we ought to lay hold of eternal life if that ought to be the mark and scope in our eye that shews that we are far wide of that which ought to be our true mark and scope when we are wholly taken up with temporal things and neglect eternal II. We are to be reprehended that we are so much addicted to the love of this life We are commanded to love eternal life and to lay hold on that but we are found of this life and loth to part with it He is a rare soul that is satisfied with life here on earth and hath such an apprehension of the reality and excellencie of eternal life that this life groweth out of esteem with him I grant that this natural life is a blessing as other temporal blessings are but as it is possible for us to love other things too much so it is possible yea too common to love this life too much and it is the wisdom of God to imbitter this life to us by many afflictions because we are so fond of it and that he may weary us out of it and cause us to long for that which is the true life Vita longa long a infirmitas a long life is a long infirmity and we may adde Longa tentatio a long temptation What is our whole life but a life of tryals and temptations It is true we may value and prize life for these two ends 1. To work out our Salvation to make ready for the coming of the Bridegroom 2. That we may do some work and service for God that we may glorifie him upon the earth and finish the work that he hath given us to do But to be over-fond of this life meerly for lifes sake is a certain signe of unbelief It is a signe we have little knowledge of another life little acquaintance with eternal life Had we a prospect by faith of a better and more excellent life we should not be so over fond of this life Vse 2 2. By way of Exhortation to exhort us all to put the duty of the Text in practice Let us labour to lay hold on eternal life Oh! let us labour to call up our hearts from visible things to invisible from present things to future from momentary things to eternal the things of the other world are never the less real because they are out of sight Atheists think that eternal life and all future things are but a fiction but we may use to them that Speech of Cyprian In aeternam poenam serò tandem credent qui in aeternam vitam credere noluerunt Cyprian They shall believe too late to their eternal torment who would not believe to eternal life But let Atheists and Scoffers say what they please we do know or ought to know that eternal life is the greatest reality God that cannot lye hath promised us eternal life Titus 1.2 The great promise of the Gospel is eternal life 1 Joh. 2.25 This is the promise that he hath given to us eternal life Unless we make God to be a lyar we must take eternal life for the greatest reality In the prosecution of this Use I shall onely propound some Directions for the better putting in practice of this duty to shew us how we ought to lay hold of eternal life 1. Let us have great and admiring thoughts of eternal life We should labour to have our hearts raised up with the consideration of the excellencie of this life Quanta erit illa faelicitas ubi nullum erit malum nullum latebit bonum Aug. Civit. Dei. How great shall that happiness be where there shall be no evil present and no good shall be wanting where we shall be wholly taken up in the praises of God and God shall be all in all we shall see and love love and praise as Austin expresseth it This natural life which now we live is not worth the name of life in comparison of eternal life nay it deserves to be called a death rather then a life for we always carry about sin with us which is the matter cause of death But in eternal life we shall not onely be free from sorrow but from sin the cause of sorrow yea we shall be free from the possibility of sinning Mans first happiness in the state of Innocencie was posse non peccare a power not to have sinned His last happiness in Heaven is non posse peccare not to be able to sin at all Though man in his first estate was endowed with such a power
that he might not have sinned yet it was possible for him to sin and he did sin but in eternal life the will shall be so confirmed as that there shall not be a possibility of sinning Oh! how great will that happiness be when the soul shall enjoy the sweetness of eternal joys without intermission when the soul shall forget all its sins and sorrows as to any sense or experience of them yet not so as to be unthankful to him who hath been its Saviour and Deliverer 2. We should breathe long and suspire after eternal life We should elevate and lift up our hearts abovetime and this lower world breathe after the sweetness and delights of the Heavenly Country Those breathings that are in the hearts of the Saints after eternal things Cum sitimus res coelestes tum sentimus perpetuò aliquid gaudii voluptatis Roloc. in Joh. give them some taste of those things When we thirst after heavenly things saith a judicious Divine we do always perceive and experiment something of joy and sweetness Those breathings that are in the hearts of the Saints after eternal life are some of the first fruits of the Spirit Rom. 8.22 We our selves which have the first fruits of the Spirit even we our selves groan within our selves waiting for the adoption the redemption of our bodies Other men feel no such longings and breathings as these are for although there be a natural instinct in all men which carries them out to desire happiness yet none but the Saints long and breathe after the enjoyment of God as their happiness Therefore so far as we finde a thirst kindled in our souls after the sight and enjoyment of God in eternal life so far we have an earnest of eternal life in our souls How great a thing should it be to us to be admitted to the sight of the Divine Majesty to be taken up from the light of the Sun and Moon to the light of him who made the Sun and the Moon as Austin expresseth it It is a good observation of Luther How much joy is there when God doth exhibit by the Word one drop of consolation to such as are tempted and afflicted in conscience but far greater and unexpressible will that joy be when the God of all consolation shall reveal himself and shall wholly pour himself forth unto us in eternal life How should we breathe after this life Thirdly let us place our happiness and expect it no where but in eternal life We should carry our hope and expectation above this world and never expect to finde happiness Ipse finis erit desideriorum nostorum qui sins fine videhitur sine fastidio amabitur sine fatigatione landabitur Aug. until we come to live with God in eternal life He shall be the end of our desires who shall be seen without end loved without nauseousness praised without wearisomness This is life eternal c. It is a vain thing to expect happiness until we come to see God and to live with him in his eternity If the Lord make our passage in any measure tolerable thorow this world this is a mercy if he give us any comfort in outward things in this world these are mercies so far as he is seen and loved in them otherwise the best comforts here on earth are pitiful things for what can be truely good from which the chief good is absent Deus est omnis boni bonum God is the good of every good and nothing is good but as he appears in it But we ought to remember that our true and great happiness is to live in the Divine presence above and to have the sight of God to eternity And it is not possible that any soul that hath had one glimpse or one true taste of him should think any thing to be happiness short of that sight This therefore is to lay hold of eternal life to keep our spirits aloof off from the world as much as may be and to keep our spirits reserved for the enjoyment of God in eternal life The enjoyment of God in eternal life is the point and centre that we should be moving and tending unto When the Lord gives us any of the comforts and blessings of this life when he gives us estates friends the comfort of relations we should say These are the gifts of God and so far they are good but these are not my happiness my happiness is God himself my happiness is to see him and to live with him in his eternity Here should our desires rest and terminate and though we defire and use many things for necessity in the present state yet our desire and expectation should be still carried above these things and end no where but in the enjoyment of God Quis alius noster est finis nisi pervenire ad regnum cujus nullus est finis Aug. What other end have we but to come to that kingdom of which there is no end Fourthly we should labour to be in a readiness and preparedness of spirit to enter upon eternal life 2 Pet. 3.14 Be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace without spot and blame Our ambition should be to be found in such a posture and to keep our souls in such an holy evenness as that nothing may impede or hinder our free passage out of Time into Eternity We should labour to keep our Consciences pure We should see that the guilt of no sin remain upon our Conscience unpardoned unrepented of We should see that our affections be not intangled with the inordinate love of lawful things much less with the love of any sin We should labour to have our hearts fortified with a stedfast belief of the things God hath promised us in the other world the weakness of our faith in believing the things promised makes us very unfit for the enjoyment of eternal life We should often contemplate eternal life we should be thinking of it night day all the comforts that we enjoy all the necessary employments we are engaged in should not take us off from the frequent meditation of eternal life What so necessary to be thought of as that state which when once it is begun shall never have an end This whole life is but like one long dream in comparison of eternal life Oh! let us not forget eternal life but be still preparing and making ready for it Fifthly we should not take up or rest satisfied with what we have already attained in grace but press forward toward that which lies before us and is yet wanting to us This is the direction the Apostle gives us from his own example Phil. 3.13 Brethren I count not my self to have apprehended but one thing I do forgetting those things which are behinde and reaching forth unto those things which are before I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus Paul's aim and scope was to obtain
Heavenly mindedness AND Earthly-mindedness In Two PARTS With an APPENDIX Concerning Laying hold on Eternal life By JOHN ROWE LONDON Printed by J. C. for Francis Tyton at the three Daggers in Fleetstreet MDCLXXII To the READER IT is the chief point of Wisdom to know what is true happiness If we place happiness in that which is not happiness we shall be deceived so much the more at last The things of this world cannot be happiness to us because the soul must live beyond them when the soul is gone out of the body it sees it self incircled with broad and vast â—â—ternity and when it is in its separate state it meets with none of those sensible Objects which it endavoured to suck contentment from whilst it lived in the body at what a loss then must that soul be for happiness who knew no other happiness but what was to be taken in from sensible things The designe of this small Tract is to put us upon the contemplation of that which must be happiness to us at last It is no difficult thing for us to come in our thoughts to the end of all those things which now we take comfort in Life it self and all the comforts of it must shortly have an end Now since all these things must have an end a short and speedy end it may not seem unreasonable for us to consider what the next state of things is like to be and what it is that must make us happy at last 2 Cor. 4.18 The things that are seen are temporal but the things which are not seen are eternal The minde of man is not quieted neither indeed can it be until it meets with something that will be happiness to it and it never meets with happiness until it sindes all the good it would have and also knows it shall have that good always without diminution intermission or cessation God alone is an infinite and an eternal good Nothing can be happiness to the reasonable creature but to enjoy him as the chief good and to acquiesce in him as its last ond and then is the minde quieted when it comes to six and rest in him The scope of the whole Discourse is to gather in our souls from sensible things unto God and to six them in the contemplation of that which must be our happiness at last That which was mainly designed in the first Part which concerns Heavenly-mindedness was to make some Essay how we might be brought to some suitableness and conformity to the life of Heaven and to shew so far as we could how we might be led into the beginnings of that life here on earth And that is the true reason why that which concerns that Matter is more insisted on and drawn out to a greater inlargement then might seem preportionable to the rest of the Discourse The other Part which concerns Earthly-mindedness was not to be omitted because it lyes so full in the Text and too sad experience teacheth that we need not more to be stirred up to the desire and love of eternal things then we do need to be warned against the love of this World which is the great Rock upon which many Professors split their Profession and indeed the great obstacle which keeps them off from the pursuit of eternal things All that I shall add more is that if Divine Grace help us to get up a little into the Spirit of the future life I am perswaded we shall finde it the sweetest frame of spirit whilst we live and to be sure most comfortable to us when we come to dye I doubt not but upon experience this will be found true that the firm and stedfast belief the desire and expectation of eternal things is much more sweet then the highest injoyment of temporal things And it will be no grief of heart to us when we come to dye that we have been a little acquainted with and in some sort accustomed unto that life here on earth which must be our life when we enter into the other world and must continue to be so unto Eternity THere is newly printed a Book intitled The worm that dyeth not Or Hell-torments in the certainty and eternity of them plainly discovered in several Sermons preached on Mark 9.48 by that painful and laborious Minister of the Gospel William Strong published by Dr. Thomas Manton and Mr. Jo. Rowe Sold by Fran. Tyton at the three Daggers in Fleetstreet The first part Concerning Heavenly-Mindedness Colos Chap. 3. Vers 1 2. Vers 1. If ye then be risen with Christ seek those things which are above where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God Vers 2. Set your affections on things above not on things on the earth THe scope of the Apostle in the whole context is to press us to the great Duty of Heavenly-mindedness Hic Paulus Colossenses hortatur ad meditationem caelestis vitae Calv. in Loc. Calvin observes the Apostle doth here exhort us to the meditation on of the Heavenly life We finde it very difficult for us to get up our hearts into Heaven we are most prone to stick in this earth and to rise no higher in our thoughts and affections then visible things and therefore there is great need that this duty of Heavenly-mindedness should be pressed upon us Now the Apostle propounds his exhortation whereby he presseth us to the Duty of Heavenly-mindedness two manner of ways 1. Affirmatively 2. Negatively I. Affirmatively in two expressions 1. Seek those things which are above in the first Verse 2. Set your affections on things that are above Verbum cogitandi magis exprimit assiduitatem studii vehementiam ac si diceret sit haec tota vestra meditatio huc ingenuum huc animum applicate Calvin in the second Verse The Apostle aims at one and the same thing in both expressions Seek those things that are above Set your affections on things that are above All that the Apostle aims at in both is this that he would have us to be Heavenly-minded onely to inforce the exhortation the more he repeats and doubles it and the variation of the phrase adds some more weight to the exhortation we must not onely seek but set our affections upon the things which are above It is not enough for us to seek the things that are above in any manner or after any sort in a careless indifferent way but we must set our affections upon these things that is our hearts must be taken up in them these must be the great things that must take up our souls II. The Apostle having propounded this exhortation affirmatively he comes to propound it negatively at the latter end of the second Verse Not on things which are upon the earth Set your affections on things above not on things on the earth So that as the Apostles scope is to press us to Heavenly-mindedness so his designe also is to press us to a holy contempt of this world and to take
〈◊〉 signifies to value and esteem a thing as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies to under-value and despise a thing and this appears by the Text it self Set your affections on things above not on things on the earth The Antithesis and opposition that is between these two shews what we are to understand by setting our affections on things above Set your affections on things above not on things on the earth as much as if he should have said Have the highest value for spiritual things set the highest price upon spiritual things esteem spiritual things above all earthly things This value and estimation of spiritual things Paul had when he said Phil. 3.8 I count all things but loss and dung for the excellencie of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. Spiritual things bught to bear the greatest weight in our thoughts we ought to approve them as the best things and see a far greater excellencie in them then in all temporal things Davenant There is a Learned man that observes upon this Text this word translated to set our affections comprehends two acts in it 1. It notes the act of the minde or understanding when it thinks of any thing 2. It notes the act of thâ— will or affections approving or loving a thing so that to set our affections on things above is to approve of them in our estimation as the beâ— things Phil. 1.10 That you may approve the things which are excellent III. To seek the things which are above it is to intend these things as our principal aim and scope Matth. 6.33 Seek first the kingdom of God that is let your principal aim and scope be to get an interest in the kingdom of God So here Seek the things which are above that is let your principal aim and scope be to acquire and get these things let the main bent and tendencie of your souls lye towards these things Every rational Agent that acts out of reason and understanding intends some end now that which the Apostle would press us to is this to intend and designe spiritual and eternal things as our great end There is no man but he hath some last end that he prosecutes now that which the Apostle would press us to is to make eternal things the things of the other world our great and last end as much as if he should say Whereas others are sursuing after other things Riches Honour Pleasures and making them their uttermost end do you intend another end do you make God and Christ and the things of other world your principal aim and scope Seek the things that are above Two are implyed in it 1. Make this your end to make sure your interest in these things 2. Get a holy meetness and preparedness of Spirit to injoy these things 1. Make this your end to make sure your interest in these things 2 Pet. 1.10 Give all diligence to make your calling and election sure Phil. 3. â—4 I press toward the mark for the price of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus Paul pressed toward the mark of eternal Glory Paul's great ambition was to win the price of eternal Glory 2. As we should make sure our interest in these things so we should make this our end to get a holy meetness and preparedness of spirit to injoy these things Seek the things which are above that is labour as much as may be to get up into the Spirit of heaven here on earth labour to get a suitableness to the future life Others converse with present sensible things but do you converse with the things of the other world see how you may get up into a spirit and temper that is fit for the life which is above Phil. 3.20 Our conversation is in heaven that is we labour to converse as men in heaven and to get our spirits suited and adapted to that life IV. To seek the things which are above it is to see that our affections bâ— mainly carryed out after these things to see that our desire love and delight do run out after these things and lye in these things where the treasure is there the heart will he If we judge and esteem these things as the best things if we intend them as our principal aim and scope then these things ought to draw our affections after them our desire love and delight should be carried out after these things God and Christ should have more of â—ur hearts then the creatures have we should solace and delight our selves in the thoughts of the future life and â—e more pleased in the thoughts of what we shall injoy hereafter in â—he future state then in any thing we â—njoy at present here on earth To â—et our affections on things above is to have our affections so fixed on these â—hings as that nothing here on earth should be able to loosen unhinge unsettle or take off our affection from these things To set our affections on things which are above it is to cleave to God as our chief good to imbrace God as our onely portion with the full bent of our affections Scis occultorum cognitor Deus quod non solum terrâ omnibus quae in ea sunt mihi cariores sed etiam coelo omnibus quae in ca sunt mihi acceptabilior es They are rare strains of affection which Austin hath O God saith he the knower of all secrets thou knowest that thou art not onely dearer to me then the earth and all things that are in it but thou art more acceptable to me then heaven it self and all things that are in it God is the sum of all good things to us God is our chief good O how happy were it for us if we could get such strains of love to God and appeal to God as he did and say O God the knower of all secrets thou knowest that thou art not onely dearer to me then the earth and all things that are in it but thou art more acceptable to me then heaven it self and all things that are in it This is to seek the things which are above when our souls cleave more to God then to any created thing V. Lastly To seek the things which are above it is to use our uttermost care study diligence and endeavour to get an interest in these things and to be fitted for the injoyment of these things It is observed by a Learned man Quaerendum vocabulum indicat laborem conatum atque excludit otïosam velleitatem Davenant This expression of seeking notes labour and industry and it is opposed to an idle velleity we may not content our selves with general desires and faint wishes after the things which are above but we must strive to enter in at the straight gate as our Saviour's expression is to seek after a thing Quaerere est cum studio ferri tendere ad res habendas vel fruendas is to be carried out with study care
earth as should bear proportion to that frame and temper we hope to be of in Heaven We labour that whether present or absent we may be accepted of him we would be such to the Lord in the frame and disposition of our spirit whilst we are on earth as we hope to be to him hereafter whether present or absent we would be acceptable to him But here the great Inquiry will be Quest How may we get more up into the spirit and life of Heaven since a great part of our seeking the things above consists in a conformity to the Heavenly life how may we do to get more up into the spirit and frame of the Saints in Heaven This is a noble Inquiry and deserves to be the matter of our study and contemplation all our days What is the great concernment of a Christian but after he hath gotten into Christ and hath gotten some assurance he is in the state of Salvation to be working up his heart into the spirit of the future life A Christian hath two great Works to intend in this world first to make sure his title to Salvation to pray for a more clear and distinct understanding of his union with Christ that he may see he hath a sound title to eternal life and glory Secondly to pray for Grace that God would work up his heart into the Spirit of the future life that so he may be adapted and suited to that life and brought to as great a conformity to it as may be here on earth Now what Directions may be given us as to this to bring us more up to the spirit and life of heaven here on earth before we come to be taken thither in person This being the main thing intended in the whole Discourse I shall take liberty to be a little large here and there are many particulars that must be spoken unto Answ 1. If we would get up into he life and spirit of Heaven let us begin by degrees to withdraw our hearts and affections from present sensible things What is the life of Heaven but this God shall be all in all hereafter we shall live upon God purely and immediately without all creatures therefore by degrees we should labour to have our hearts more taken out of the creature and gathered into God Mistake me not whilst we are here on earth we must use the creatures and it is the will of God we should use them and not to use them to those ends God hath appointed them were to tempt God and make our selves wiser then God But here lyes the skill of a Christian while we do use the creature converse with sensible things still to labour to see God in every creature and to pass from every creature to God not to stick in the creature but to pass from the creature to God and then to think of such a time when we shall live upon God without these things Non te prâ—hibet Deus amare ista sed diligere ad beatitâ—dinem It is a good speech of Austin God doth not forbid thee to love these things speaking of created things but he forbids thee to love them as thy happiness We ought to keep our hearts free and reserved for God in the use and presence of all creature injoyments we ought to love nothing as our happiness but God I should be all one with us as to this whether we have the creature or have not the creature whether we are full or empty whether we want or abound we should still be at the same point of rest in God as in the centre we should cleave to him as our chief good and imbrace him as our onely portion If God gives us creatureâ— comforts and injoyments we should labour to see God in them and finde out God in them and when we taste any sweetness any delight in the creature when we finde any suitableness or conveniencie in the creature we should say Here is God This sweetness this suitableness this convenience is but a drop of the Occan all this is to elevate me to the Fountain There is nothing more in any creature-comfort or injoyment then what God hath put into it therefore must my soul say I look at God in all these things I stick not in the creature but I look at God the creatures are made to shew me God This should be our frame in the presence and injoyment of the creatures and then we should think much of that time when God will communicate himself to us immediately There is a time when I shall drink no more from the Cistern but shall take in all from the well-head There is a time when I shall have no more need or use of these things which are now as so many organs or pipes to convey comfort to me by God shall be all himself and shall supply all by himself God shall be instead of Sun and Moon to me instead of meat and drink to me instead of all relations God himself shall be all things We should think much of that time and state when God shall be thus to us This is one way to get up into the spirit of the future life by degrees to begin to withdraw our hearts and affections from present sensible things 2. If we would get up into the life and spirit of Heaven let us minde a spiritual happiness seek after a spiritual happiness and be taken up in the thoughts and desire of a spiritual happiness The happiness of Heaven is mainly and principally a spiritual and an intellectual happiness the happiness of God himself is a spiritual an intellectual happiness The Being of God is a spiritual being and the happiness of God is a spiritual happiness suitable to his Being God hath no other happiness then to know himself and understand himself The happiness of the Saints and Angels is a spiritual intellectual happiness The Angels and Souls of glorified Saints are spiritual substances and therefore their happiness must needs be a spiritual happiness The Angels and glorified Saints have no gross material objects to live upon they have no other happiness then what they take in by their understandings and wills O consider it true happiness consists mainly and principally in what the soul injoys not but that the body shall at last participate of happiness with the soul when the body shall be raised the body shall participate in its kinde with the happiness of the soul but the Essence of true happiness lyes mainly and principally in what the soul enjoys and that appears from those words of our Saviour John 17. This is life eternal to know thee the onely true God It is the soul that is capable of knowing and enjoying God and therefore true happiness and eternal life consists properly in what the soul injoys Sensual minded men are apt to think there is no happiness but what the body enjoys and is taken in by the senses but true happiness is an inward thing
parallel that glory that is above we ought therefore to have our hearts fixed in the admiration of eternal things and look down with a holy contempt upon temporal things This made Paul say 2 Cor. 4.18 We look not to the things which are seen but to the things which are not seen the things which are seen are temporal the things which are not seen are eternal 9. If we would come up more into the spirit and life of heaven Let us labour for the most perfect acquiescence in the Divine Will The Saints in heaven do think that is always best which God doth their wills fall in with Gods Will and they have a perfect acquiescence in the Divine Will The Saints in heaven do know that what God wills is always best therefore there is not any hard thought any contradicting thought the least reluctancie in them against the Divine Will but their will doth presently fall in with the Divine Will Hence is that of our Saviour Thy will be done on earth as it is done in heaven In heaven there is a perfect compliance with and satisfaction in the Divine Will now we should labour after this frame here on earth that our wills might perfectly fall in with the Divine Will It was an expression I once heard from a holy man I have obtained that grace from God to acquiesce in the Will of God when once it is manifested This is the very spirit of heaven to acquiesce and take complacencie in the Will of God when once it is mafested there is not any the least murmuring thought in the hearts of any of the Saints or Angels in heaven against that which God doth but they think all is well done that God doth and their wills rest in his This is a great piece of heaven when we make the Will of God the ground of our acquiescence and satisfaction God hath willed it and therefore we acquiesce It is one thing to be satisfied with a mans condition from some moral considerations and another thing to make the Will of God the ground of our satisfaction and acquiescence the ground of our satisfaction ought to be God hath willed such a thing therefore I acquiesce the perfection of a created will is to follow the Divine and increated Will 10. If we would get up into the life and spirit of heaven Let us lahour to be more deeply sensible of the infinite distance that is between God and us In heaven the Saints and Angels are most sensible of the distance between God and them the more perfect our knowledge of God is the more clearly shall we discern the distance that is between God and us the more clearly we understand the Divine perfection the more clearly shall we see our infinite distance from God This is certain The clearer our knowledge of God is the greater foundation there is for humility Never so humble a creature as the humane soul of Jesus Christ and the reason is because Christ as man had the most perfect knowledge of God and Christ knowing God most perfectly he understood the distance that was between his Humanity and the Divinity therefore this is certain The clearer our knowledge is of God the more humble-shall we be When the Lord sate upon the Throne the Seraphims covered their faces Isai 6.1 2. and what did that speak but the deep sense that they had of the infinite distance that was between God and them The most perfect creature in its kinde a glorified creature is but a creature now between the creature and the Creator there is an infinite distance the more we are reduced and sunk down into nothingness in our selves in the apprehension of the infinite distance that is between God and us the nearer do we come to the spirit of heaven In heaven we shall most perfectly understand our dependance upon God that the creature is a meer dependent thing and if God abstract and withdraw from the creature what he hath given to the creature the creature vanishes into nothing the creature is nothing hath nothing but what it hath received if God abstract what he hath given the creature returns to nothing O labour to keep up a deep sense of the infinite distance that is between God and us 11. If we would come more up into the spirit of heaven Let us labour to hate sin not onely because of the effects and consequents of it as that it is damning and the like but because it is an uncomely thing in its self and because it is contrary to the purity and perfection of God who is the first and most perfect being and the rule and measure of all good This is certainly the spirit of heaven the Saints in heaven having the sight of God must needs see and know how contrary sin is to God they see clearly that sin is contrary to the being of God to the purity of God to the life of God to the will of God and to the glory of God and therefore they must needs hate it as such The Saints also in heaven see how contrary sin is to their own beings and to that rectitude that is put upon them they being made of God to be such creatures as they are the principles of their own being as they are made and framed of God to be new creatures being set in a direct contrariety unto sin and therefore they hate it upon that account so that the bent and poize of their wills is set against sin as it is sin as it is contrary to the Divine Being Purity Life and Glory and as it is contrary to that rectitude which God by the work of the new creature hath put upon them Now we should labour and pray that we may come up as much as may be into this spirit we should labour to hate sin as it is an uncomely thing in it self as it is most contrary to God contrary to the Divine purity and perfection and contrary to the Divine stamp make and frame of the new creature in us and the more we can hate sin upon this account and under this notion the nearer do we come to the life and spirit of heaven 12. If we would come up more to the life and spirit of heaven Let us value and prize the knowledge of God and Christ above all earthly things You know what our Saviour saith This is life eternal to know thee John 17. Eternal life the happiness of heaven consists in this to know God the perfection and consummation of eternal life consists in this to know God in a way of vision and the beginning of eternal life it is to know God in a way of faith that is to know God as he hath revealed himself to us here in the way of his Word It hath been shewed before how we ought to breath after the beatifical vision that which now we are speaking of is to shew that we ought to covet after the knowledge of God in
a way of Faith we should covet after the knowledge of God which is to be had from the Word and is possible to be attained unto here on earth Here we walk by faith not by sight 2 Cor. 5.17 although we cannot know God in a way of vision as we shall know him hereafter yet we may know him in a way of Faith Now we should covet to know God in a way of Faith as he hath revealed himself in his Word we ought to prize and covet after the knowledge of every truth of God but especially we ought to covet after the knowledge of God himself who is prima Veritas the first original Truth The Scripture doth every where commend to us the knowledge of God Col. 1.10 Increasing in the knowledge of God 2 Pet. 3.18 Grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ Then shall we know the Lord if we follow on to know the Lord Hosea 6.3 Jer. 9.23 24 Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom nor the strong man glory in his strength but let him that glorieth glory in this that he knoweth me saith the Lord. I have often thought that it is the great sin of Professors that they do no more press after the knowledge of God and Christ here on earth and that they are no more taken with the discoveries of God and Christ that are made to them we hear often of the great things of God and of Christ but alas these things are little valued and esteemed by us but it ought not to be thus with us Certainly if our ultimate and last happiness be to know God in the way of the beatisical vision the next happiness to this it is to know God as he may be known here on earth and this will be found in experience to be true that there is more true sweetness to be taken in from the knowledge of God that is attainable here on earth then there is from the enjoyment of any temporal thing And therefore holy souls are wont to bless God more for revealing himself and his Son to them then for the greatest temporal thing he ever gave them God is the highest and most Supream Object that the minde of man can converse with and the more the minde of man is taken up in the contemplation of this Supream Object the greater amplitude liberty and inlargement will it finde in it self Inferiour things do but limit narrow and confine the soul for this is certain that the soul it takes in liberty amplitude inlargement greatness I say the soul takes in amplitude or confinement according to the nature of the objects it doth converse withal Lower and inferiour objects do but narrow and confine the soul because they are beneath the capacity of the soul but if the soul did rise up to the knowledge and contemplation of God who is the first eternal Truth then it would finde liberty amplitude and inlargement then it would see it had a broad and spacious field to walk in Certainly if the greatest happiness of heaven be to know God so far as we are capable to know him our greatest happiness here on earth is to attain as great a measure of the knowledge of God as it is possible 13. If we would come up into the spirit and life of heaven Let us keep the eye of the minde as much as may be fixt upon God It is said of the holy Angels that they always behold the face of their Father which is in heaven The Saints and Angels are never weary of beholding the face of God The Saints in heaven as they do see God so they do always see him and they are never weary of seeing of him Nihil quod cum admiratione consideratur potestâ—esse sassidiosum Aquin. when we have beheld God never so long we may still see that in God which may draw forth our admiration It is a true observation Nothing which is beheld with admiration can be nauseous and wearisome to us and the reason is because as long as we are under the admiration of a thing so long our desire remains to that thing Now the Saints in heaven do always behold God with admiration and therefore they are never weary of the sight of him God is an infinite object and therefore cannot be comprehended by a finite understanding therefore the Saints in heaven when they behold God being never able to come to the bottom of his perfections are still detained in the admiration of him as they always see him so they always desire to see him The Saints in heaven are never weary of their happiness as they see God so they always desire to see him Now in imitation of the Saints above we should keep the eye of our mindes as much as may be fixt upon God When the eye of the soul is off from God it is off from its centre and when things are off from their centre they are never quiet and at rest if we consider it well we shall finde that the cause of all our trouble and disquietment is when our hearts are unhinged and when they are taken off from God when the eye of the minde is turned upon God then the soul is in its proper place and there it findes rest we should therefore keep our minde as much as may be at a point of rest in God if we keep the eye of the soul fixt and intent upon God we shall always finde that in God which will give rest and contentment to the soul It is said of Moses That he saw him who was invisible Heb. 11.27 Moses kept the eye of his minde fixt and intent upon God And David saith Mine eyes are ever towards thee Psal 25.15 So much as the Divine excellencie draws the eye of the soul towards it with admiration so much do we come up to the spirit of heaven an heavenly-minded soul thinks it much to have its eye taken off from God not but that there will be many things that will interpose to divert us while we are in our present state but then we ought to remember so far as we are grown up to Heavenly-mindedness we shall never think it well with us till we are returned and brought back again to the admiration of God The sense that is of God's excellencie in holy souls makes them thus to pray O that our souls may be eternally ravished with thine eternal excellencies 14. If we would get up into the spirit of heaven Let us desire nothing so much as God Isai 26. 9. With my soul have I desired thee in the night yea with my spirit within me will I seek thee early This is the language of the Church the Church needed many things and she desired many things she needed liberty and deliverance and she desired liberty and deliverance for this Song as is conceived by judicious Divines is penned with relation to the Church in Babylon yea but when the Church was in the
greatest trouble and distress she desired nothing so much as God himself With my soul have I desired thee in the night as much as if the Church should say Though I need many things yet it is thee that I desire thyself Lord thy self rather then liberty and temporal deliverance Psal 73.27 Whom have I in heaven but thee and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee It is the property of the Saints to desire nothing so much as God Whom have I in heaven but thee The Saints look at nothing greater or more excellent in heaven it self then God All the glory blessedness joy and delight that is in heaven is nothing in comparison of God himself nay all the joy happiness and felicity that they have in heaven it is from what God is to them This is certainly the spirit of heaven as the Saints in heaven have all their happiness in God so they desire to have it no where else but in God It is truely so saith Austin that God himself would not satisfie me unless he promised me himself Whatsoever God promiseth thee is worth nothing besides God himself Ipsum fontom vitae sitio esuâ—io It is the Fountain of Life that I thirst after I take it that a great part of the holiness of heaven lyes in this that the Saints in heaven would not have their happiness in any thing but God they are so pleased with God as that they would not exchange their happiness in him for any thing else so sweet shall the face of God be to them so beautiful that his face being once seen nothing else can delight them If we would come up into the spirit and life of heaven we should labour to be of this frame and temper not to be willing to exchange our happiness in God for any thing else that can be presented to us Now this ought to be understood aright when it is said that the Saints should desire nothing so much as God the meaning is not but we may desire other things in their place and in subordination to God the chief good but when God and the creatures come in competition when God and the creatures are compared together then should we say Thy self Lord and no created thing thy self Lord without all things rather then all things without thy self It is a speech of Bernard Ipse per se placet God is pleasing by himself and we should say his gifts are not so pleasing but that himself is more pleasing We should not defire so much any thing that God can give us as himself God himself should be more pleasing to us then all his gifts 15. If we would come up into the life and spirit of heaven Let us labour for affections and dispositions most like to God The happiness of heaven is described by thâ—â— That we shall be like him 1 Joh. 3.2 We shall be like him that is we shall be like him in holiness like him in happiness we shall be holy as he is holy happy as he is happy according to the capacity of creatures It is the greatest happiness of the creature to be assimilated to the Creator It is the greatest happiness of the creature to have his life brought as much as may be to an agreement and similitude to the Divine Life The Saints in heaven have the same judgement and estimation of things that God hath they will what God wills they love what he loves they delight in what God delights they a in at the same ends that God aims at The Divine understanding is the measure of Truth and the Divine will is the measure of Good what God judges to be best the Saints in heaven judge to be so what God wills to be best the Saints will it as such God values holiness and spiritual excellencies above external things Psal 147.10 He delights not in the strength of the horse he takes not pleasure in the legs of a man The Lord takes pleasure in them that fear him in those that hope in his mercy God values grace and spiritual excellencies above all external things and therefore the Saints in heaven do so God knows that he doth most for a man bestows most favour upon him when he gives him most grace and not when he gives him any temporal thing and therefore holy souls think so too God wills holiness loves holiness and delights in holiness and therefore the Saints in heaven must needs will it love it and delight in it The Life of God is to know himself to behold his own excellencies and to refer all things to himself and the life of the Saints in heaven is to contemplate God and to refer themselves wholly to God we should labour and pray to be brought to as great a conformity to God here on earth as it is possible Be ye holy for I the Lord your God am holy be ye perfect as your heavenly father is perfect We would labour to have the same thoughts and apprehensions of things as God hath we should have the same value and estimation of holiness as God hath we should labour to have the same hatred of sin as God the same love and delight as God hath God loves himself and delights in himself above all things and we should love God and delight in God above all things God wills his own glory infinitely and we should will it to the uttermost of our possibility This is to come up to the life and spirit of heaven when we labour for affections and dispositions most like to God when we are brought up to as near a similitude to the Divine life as it is possible 16. If we would come up to the spirit and life of heaven Let us value all our comforts by what we see of God in them the state of heaven is described by this That God shall be all in all What is that among other things this is certainly one thing comprehended in that expression the Saints in heaven see God in all things and all things in God and every thing is amiable to them as they see God in it and no farther It is a memorable passage of a Modern Divine We shall saith he in heaven see God and imbrace him in our selves out of our selves and in all things so that though we shall see all the holy Prophets Patriarchs Martyrs also our own kindred and acquaintance yet all our affections shall rest in one God by Christ Nothing is sweet to the Saints in heaven but as they see God in it and nothing should be sweet to us but as we see God in it we should labour to see God in every thing finde out God in every thing and pass from every thing to God The best injoyments the best comforts the best conditions in this world are pitiful things poor dry sapless things any further then we see God in them God is the good of every good and if God be the good of every good
Spirit of God by him That which men pursue as their last end they are apt to take up their rest and happiness in it when once they have acquired it That appears from that of the rich man in the Gospel Soul soul thou hast much goods laid up for many years take thine ease eat drink and be merry Worldly men make the world their chief good and acquiesce in it as their chief good Now not to set our affections upon the things on the earth is not to acquiesce in and take up with the creature as our chief good and happiness A Christian ought to say Bonorum summa Deus est Deus est nobis summum bonum Aug. God is my portion he is my happiness my felicity God is the sum of all good things God is our chief good this should be the language of a Christian A Christian should take up in nothing as his happiness but in God himself 3. Not to set our affections on things on the earth is this not to imploy our principal care and industry about these things Matth. 6.33 Seek first the kingdom of God and the righteousness thereof Our chief and principal care ought to be about spiritual and eternal things and then we do not set our affections on earthly things when our first and principal care is not about earthly things but about those other things To seek after and to set a mans affections on earthly things in this place Toto corde desider are Davenant it is with all a mans heart to desire after these things with all a mans might and endeavor to seek after these things Now in this sense we should not set our affections on earthly things that is the main strength of our desires the main strength of our endeavours should not run out to these things It is an expression of Austin Ad Creatorem tendere jubemur non ad crea turam ut efficiamur beati We are commanded to have our tendencie towards the Creator not towards the creature that we may be made happy The command is Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and all thy soul and all thy strength and all thy might We are no where commanded to love other things so we are no where commanded to love the creature with all our heart and soul and strength and might we may and ought to love the creature in its place and in subordination to God but we may not love the creature as we love God 4. To have a mans heart taken off from the world it is to be spiritually dead to the world Paul saith of himself that he was crucified to the world and the world was crucified to him Gal. 6.14 We ought to have dead affections as it were to the world and to earthly things and to have living affections towards God and spiritual things Non usque adeo diligenda terrena quin amplius diligendus Deus Aug. not but that the creature is to be beloved in its place but earthly things are not so to be beloved but that God is much more to be beloved We ought not to love any thing better then God nay we ought not to love any thing equal with God Minus te amat qui aliquiâ— tecum amat quod non propter te amat It is a sweet speech of Austin He loves thee too little who loves any thing together with thee which he doth not love for thee This is to be spiritually dead to the world when if our love to God and the creature be compared our love to the creature is but poor and mean in comparison of that higher love we finde working in our hearts towards God himself A holy soul should be able to say Lord thou art dearer to me then heaven and earth yea then all things in heaven and earth David said so Whom have I in heaven but thee or whom have I on earth that I desire in comparison of thee III. What is that holy contempt of the world we should be aspiring after For thus it is express'd in the Doctrine A Christian ought to have his heart carryed forth to an holy contempt of this world That may be opened in a few particulars briefly 1. We should have low and mean thoughts of the world The contempt of the world consists in this in having low and mean thoughts of the world he that contemns a thing hath low and mean thoughts of that thing He that contemns a thing apprehends no great worth or excellencie in it for which he should esteem it A Christian's contempt of the world consists in this when he hath mean thoughts of the world he sees no such great worth or excellencie in it for which he should admire it Paul accounted all things but loss and dung for the excellencie of the knowledge of Jesus Christ Phil. 3.8 A Christan that hath a true contempt of the world apprehends there is little good or worth in worldly things in comparison of God and Christ and eternal things It is a great expression of the Apostle We look not to the things which are seen 2 Cor. 4.18 We look not to them What then we overlook them we despise them we look above them we have something greater in our eye and therefore these things seem little to us He that hath a greater good in his eye overlooks a lesser thing a greater good swallows up a lesser good This is an holy contempt of the world to have low and mean thoughts of the world to look upon the world as having no excellencâ—e in it in comparison of God and Christ and eternal things 2. The contempt of the world we should press after is this we should not be too anxious and solicitous about earthly things Matth. 6.31 Take no thought saying What shall we eat what shall we drink or wherewithal shall we be cloathed that is take no anxious no solicitous thought about these things Contemnere est rem negligere de tâ non curare To contemn a thing is to neglect it and not to take care about it that is a signe of our contempt of the world when we have no anxious thoughts about it when we are not much concerned about it when we have an holy indifferencie of spirit about it we are thankful to God if he give us these things and yet we are not too much dejected or cast down if he deny these things to us I have learned Phil. 4.14 faith the Apostle in whatsoever estate I am therewith to be content Contentation of spirit with a mans present state is a signe that a man is crucified to the world For if a man be wedded to the world then he is troubled and discontented if he have not all he would have 3. The contempt of the world and of earthly things consists in this when a man accounts and thinks with himself that he may be happy without these things Let
is in any earthly thing and when he is come to the end of that sweetne's which he did injoy he desires more therefore when a mans enjoyment hath been highest he still desires more Nothing can satisfie the soul but some transcendent good such a good as is so great as is more then the soul can take in So long as the soul is capable of taking in more it is not satisfied Now a man may take in all the delight and contentment that is to be found in earthly things and when he hath taken in all he is capable of taking in more This is clear in Solomon who made an experiment of all things under the Sun and when he had tryed all he cryed out All is vanity and vexation of spirit The capacity of the soul is too great and too big for any earthly thing to fill it and therefore when the soul hath passed from one temporal thing to another and tryed what is in one and in another it remains unsatisfied still Reas 4 4. Earthly things will not comfort a man when he comes to dye Riches avail not in the day of wrath it will be little comfort to a man when he comes to dye to think what he hath enjoyed or what he is like to leave behinde him nay if a man have placed his happiness and felicity in earthly things it will be the greatest torment to him to think that he must leave these things Come to a man that is at the point of death and who knows for certain that he shall dye shew him gold and silver bring forth his Jewels and most precious Treasures tell him of his Lands and Fossessions and how little will these things signifie Oh but tell him of everlasting happiness assure him that death shall do him no harm that there is a life beyond this and that he shall be câ—rtainly happy in that life and this will signifie something to him Reas 5 5. Earthly things are not our last happiness our last and true happiness is beyond any thing in this world Mundus non patria sed captivitas nobiâ— est The world is not our country but the place of our captivity and bondage Our last and true happiness is to live in he Divine presence to see and enjoy God in the heavens Now that which is not our last happiness deserves not to have the main of our affections that which deserves to take up our hearts is our last happiness we should be setting our hearts upon that which will continue always we should be thinking of the life we must live in the other world and how we are like to spend the days of eternity that is the state that is worth thinking of when time shall be no more when there shall be no more changes when we shall be wholly taken up in the contemplation of the first original of all things that is the state that is worth thinking of of which I can say Thus it shall be for ever that is the state that is worth thinking of of which I can say When once I am come into it there is no alteration in it Here is always joy always life always satisfaction Here is no sorrow no pain no grief no death no fear of death Reas 6 6. Earthly things have no influence as to a mans happiness so as of themselves to make him ever the happier at last It is true Temporal blessings so far as they are sanctified so far as they further a man in the ways of God and help him forward toward the heavenly Country so far they are mercies and so far they may in a sort be said to conduce to a mans last happiness but consider temporal things in themselves they have no influence upon a mans last happiness Love or hatred cannot be known by any thing under the Sun No man can conclude by the meer enjoyment of thâ—se things that he is the more beloved of God at present or that he shall have the higher place in heaven hereafter Abraham saith to the rich man Son Luk. 16.25 remember that thou in thy life time receivedst thy good things and Lazarus his evil things but now he is comforted and thou art tormented God gives to some men their portion in this life This they shall have this is all they shall have He fills their bellies with his hid treasures but this is all they shall have he denies to them the heavenly inheritance Reas 7 7. Earthly things are so far from having an influence upon a mans last happiness as that they do many times blunt and hinder the soul in its pursuit ater eternal things Amor terrenarum viscum spiritualium The love of earthly things is as bird lime to the soul as to the pursuite of spiritual things when a poor Bird is taken in the lime-twigs his wings are pinioned that he cannot flie upward the love of earthly things pinions the wings of the soul that it cannot ascend to God and eternal things Terrenarum appetitus tenebras animarum nostrarum densat The inordinate desire of earthly things thickens the darkness of the soul the violence and impetuousness of the affections to carthly things blindes the judgement and darkens the eye of the minde when the affections are violently set upon earthly things the minde cannot see and behold the excellencie of spiritual things Nothing so great an enemy to growth in grace as the love of earthly things A man that is addicted to the love of earthly things can neither see the evil that is in sin nor the beauty that is in holiness Mundo alligati spiritualis vitii vix possunt nomen apprehendere Men that are bound and tyed fast to the world can hardly understand the name of a spiritual sin Tell a man that is immers'd and drowned in the world of spiritual sins of spiritual pride self-love inordinate affection hypocrisie formality in duty and the like he understands none of these things his conscience is so benummed through the love of the world that he is not sensible of these things And as the love of earthly things dulls the spiritual senses of the soul that a man cannot apprchend sin so it blunts the soul in the pursuit after grace and holiness the love of earthly things kills and extinguishes the love of God If any man love the world the love of the Father is not in him 1 Joh. 2.15 I remember it is an expression of Peter Martyr concerning Soloman What love could Solomon have for God who distributed and parted his love among a thousand wives And we may say What love can men retain for God the chief good who part and divide their love to so many lower and inferiour goods Reas 8 8. It is the depressing and debasing of the soul for a man to set his affections on earthly things The soul was made for higher things and 't is capable of higher things the soul was made for converse
they have not they could not be happy for this is the nature of happiness to have all the good a man would have The Saints and Angels in heaven have God for their happiness and they are satisfied in him and desire nothing more Now when the heart is carried out after other things and pursues them as the chief good this is most contrary to our future life It was the speech of a wise and holy man Since God shall be all in all hereafter the less we have to do with the creature here any more then we needs must the better If we were of a right temper of spirit we should desire earthly things no farther then were for present necessity and as they were accommodated to our present state True happiness lyes out of the road of these things true happiness is in another chanel true happiness is to see God to love God to injoy God This is life eternal to know thee the onely true God When we pursue earthly things as our great happiness and have vast designes after these things this is most contrary to our future life which is to injoy God and him onely Lastly Covetousness is the root of many other sins The Scripture tells us expresly That covetousness is the root of all evil 1 Tim 6.10 A covetous person sticks at no sin so he may inrich himself and compass his own ends he will omit the duties God requires and commit the sins God forbids God enjoyns secret Prayer Family-duties and attendance upon the Ordinances a covetous person is so intent upon the world that he cannot finde time for these things So for sins of commission a covetous person will break through many a known command of God to come at the world Covetousness is a fruitful sin a covetous person sins against his Neighbour against himself and against God 1. A covetous man sins against his Neighbour he extorts from another more then is just and equal and so covetousness is a sin that is contrary to equity Avaritia excedit in acciâ—iendo desicit in dando Covetousness exceeds in taking and is defective in giving so is a sin against equity 2. Covetousness is a sin against mans self by this sin a mans affections are disordered and turned out of the right chanel Our affections were given us to love God the chief good by this sin they are turned aside to inferiour goods And hence is it that Austin calls that a perverse love whereby the will is turned aside from an unchangeable good to a mutable changeable good 3. It is a sin against God forasmuch as a covetous person for a temporal good contemns an eternal good All these considerations may serve to set forth something of the evil of this sin 4. I come in the last place to propound some Remedies against this sin 1. As an Antidote against covetousness Let us consider we must shortly leave these things that is not worth setting a mans heart upon which he must shortly leave We know what our Saviour saith Luk. 12.20 Thou fool this night shall they take thy soul from thee and then whose shall these things be What folly is it to make that our happiness which we cannot keep always that is true happiness which a man may enjoy always and it is a pityful happiness that must have an end Why should we covet that much which when we have gotten it we can keep but a little while It is an expression of Austin upon those words The world passeth away and the lust thereof Quod vis utrum amare temporalia transire cum tempore an t mundum non amare vivereâ— cum Deo What wilt thou wilt thou love temporal things and pass away with time or else wilt thou not love the world and live with God It might be one good remedy against covetousness to meditate of death often It is Austins observation The disease of covetousness is by nothing better cured then when the day of death is continually thought of if a man could think this with himself I must shortly dye and leave these things this would moderate his desire to these things 2. Consider a mans life lyes not in these things whilst he hath them So our Saviour teacheth us expresly Luk. 12.15 Take heed and beware of covetousness for a mans life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth Our life lyes not in these things and there are two reasons of it 1. Because the abundance of outward things cannot preserve a mans life the rich dye as well as the poor the noble as well as the ignoble Pale death with an equal foot knocks at the palaces of princes and at the cottages of poor men 2. Because true happiness doth not lye in these things whilst a man injoys them every creature hath vanity written upon it and when a man hath most of the world he still remains unsatisfied No earthly thing is suitable to the nature and capacity of the soul The soul is a spiritual thing and desires a spiritual happiness the soul is an immortal thing and desires an immortal happiness and therefore when a man hath most of this world he still desires something more 3. Consider a little will serve the turn to carry us to our journeys end It is not likely we should live longer then the rest of mankinde have lived before us it is no difficult thing to see to the end of our life now a little provision will serve the turn for a short journey 4. We shall have no need of earthly things in the other state It is certain we brought nothing into this world and we shall carry nothing out of it We shall carry nothing into the next world with us but our grace earthly things will be of no use to us at the end of time Our happiness in the next world is a spiritual happiness the holy Angels and glorified Saints are happy without those things we so much admire and we must be happy by another happiness at last if ever we be happy 5. If we would be kept from this sin Avarus nimis est cui Deus non sufficit Aug. let us study Gods all-sufficiencie and the divine perfection He is too covetous a person indeed to whom God himself is not sufficient God is a happiness sufficient for himself he is an happiness sufficient to the Saints and Angels and therefore in reason he should be a happiness sufficient for us God is the chief good the centre of all perfection Austin What is it that thou lovest that thou wilt not love God If thou wilt love any thing love the best thing if thou wilt covet any thing covet the best thing study Gods all-sufficiencie and the divine perfection there thou wilt finde the highest object for thy affections 6. Let our desires run out much after eternal life It is an expression of Austin We ought saith he to be covetous
eternal life is 2. To shew what it is to lay hold on eternal life 1. What is eternal life I shall not speak to this so largely as the subject will bear that indeed were a noble Argument to discourse at large of eternal life and that would afford a long discourse but I shall give some few Hints onely concerning eternal life that we may a little conceive of it I shall endeavour to open a little briefly the nature of eternal life in seven Propositions I. Eternal life is the state of the blessed in the other world Eternal life is the life which the Saints live in the presence of God 2 Cor. 5.8 Absent from the body and present with the Lord. To understand this we must know that there is a natural life and there is a spiritual life 1. There is a natural life and this we may again distinguish into the animal life and the rational life That which we call the animal life it is the life which we live in common with the brutes There is a life which man enjoys in common with the brutes and this is that which is commonly called the animal life But then there is the rational life and this is that life which is proper to men as men There is an intellectual principle in man whereby he is distinguished from the sensitive creatures and that life which man lives by this intellectual principle that is in him this is the rational life But then as there is the natural life so 2. There is the spiritual life This also is twofold The spiritual life is either the life of grace or the life of glory 1. There is the life of grace The life of grace is that life which the Saints live here in this world in Justification and in Sanctification 2. The life of glory is that life which the Saints live with God in the other world Now the life of glory that life which the Saints live with God in the other world is that which in a strict sence is called eternal life It is true eternal life is inchoate and begun in this world in the life of grace in the life of Justification and Sanctification but eternal life is perfect and consummate in the life of glory when we shall live with God in heaven So that eternal life is that life we shall live in the heavenly country It is said of the ancient Saints that they seek for a better country even a heavenly Heb. 11.16 Now this is eternal life that life which we shall live with God in the heavenly country II. Eternal life is a constant uniform life The life which we live in this world it is bounded and limited by time it is a certain space and duration of things and there is an end but eternal life knows no end Eternity is always standing Semper stans semper praesens always present thus and always thus When we are sate down to live in eternal life then we may conclude As we are now so shall we be always there is no interruption no cessation in â—ternal life III. Eternal life is a life free from sorrow and trouble Isai 57.2 He shall enter into peace It is spoken of a godly man how it shall be with him after this life He shall enter into peace So again God shall wipe away all tears from the eyes of his people and sorrow and sighing shall flee away This life it is a life of affliction a life of temptation a life of grief and sorrow a life of trouble and perturbation but in eternal life there shall be none of these things eternal life is a serene tranquil estate IV. Eternal life is a life free from sin and all the relicts and remainders of it 1 Cor. 13.10 When that which is perfect is come then that which is imperfect shall be done away Heb. 12.23 The spirits of just men made perfect When we come to live with God in eternal life sin shall be perfectly rased out of our nature those relicts of sin Reliquiae peccati as Luther calls them in the Saints which are as thorns in their eyes and goads in their sides shall be done away and they shall be made like to God holy in their measure as God is holy V. Eternal life is a life of perfect joy Psal 16.11 In his presence there is fulness of joy at his right hand there are pleasures for evermore In eternal life the Saints possess God who is the chief good and all good and having God who is the chief good and all good they must needs have all joy The joys of this life are false deceitful joys they are far from satisfying quieting and contenting the heart the joys of this life are bitter-sweâ—t joys 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the best joys here on earth are allayed with many bitternesses O but the joys of eternal life are pure sincere joys there is all joy no sorrow all pleasure no grief And then as they are pure sincere joys so they are soul-satiâ—fying joys he that hath all the good that he would have and can desire no more must needs be satisfied the Saints in eternal life have all the good they would have and can desire no more whatever various good things we sought after among the creatures in eternal life one God shall supply all Quiâ—quid hî◠quaerehas quicquid â—iâ— pro magâ—o habebâ—â— iâ—se tibi crit Whatsoever says Austin thou soughtest after here on earth whatsoever thou accountedst for great here in this life God shall be all that unto thee God shall be the comfort of meat and drink of Sun and Moon of friends and relations God shall supply all things to his Saints Eternal life is a life of perfect joy VI. Eternal life is a life free from changes This life is made up of Changes we change from health to sickness from settlement to unsettlement from prosperity to adversity yea we change from one affliction to another and at last we change from life to death So that we may say Nunquid non humana vita tentatio super terram Is not the whole life of man a temptation upon earth Oh but in eternal life there are none of these changes in eternal life there is one constant uniform state of peace joy blessedness and satisfaction Oh do you not finde your selves weary of changes Is not this the secret language of your souls When will these changes have an end O lift up your eyes on high cast a look to the heavenly country there shall you finde that which you so much desire there is perfect serenity perfect tranquillity there is no trouble or perturbation nor fear of trouble no death nor fear of death no changes nor fear of changes there is an even serene state of things And the Lord in his infinite wisdom causes us to pass through so many changes here on earth that so we may long after that unchangeable state above VII Lastly as that
which is the complement and perfection of all eternal life is to know God and enjoy him Joh. 17 3. This is life eternal to know thee the onely true God To know God in a way of Grace this is the beginning of eternal life here on earth to know God as reconciled in Christ to know him as a Father in Christ this is the beginning of eternal life and to know God in the way of the beatifical vision to see him face to face this is the perfection and consummation of eternal life in heaven Praemium est videre Deum vivere cum Deo c. This is says Bernard the Saints reward to see God to live with God to be in God who shall be all in all and to have God who is the chiefest good And Austin speaks to the same purpose This is the full blessedness of a man to see the face of his God to see him that made heaven and earth to see him that hath made him that bath saved him and that hath glorified him O what an inconceivable happiness must it be to have the Divine Majesty always present to the eye of the minde to see and behold the face of God who is an infinite good and not onely to see and behold God who is an infinite good in himself but also to see God who is this infinite good willing to communicate himself to the soul and to become an happiness to it The happiness of heaven doth not onely consist in this to be admitted to the sight of God who is an infinite good but also in this that we shall see the blessed God willing to communicate himself to us and to become a happiness to us Gen. 15.1 Fear not Abraham I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward As much as if God should say Whatever I am whatever I have shall be all thine so far as it is necessary to make thee happy God himself communicates himself to his people and he is their reward With thee saith the Psalmist is the fountain of life in thy light shall we see light Psal 36.9 With thee is the fountain of life How is it possible that the Saints and Angels should want life that see the fountain of life and are united to him they see the living God who is life and the cause of all life and by adhering to him who is immortal who is an indeficient never-failing spring of life they themselves are immortal in their happiness and derive a constant life and happiness from him who is the Fountain of life We may not wonder that eternal life should consist in the knowledge and injoyment of God God is the Fountain of life therefore they that adhere to the Fountain of life cannot be supposed to want life Thus have we given some brief touches concerning eternal life but alas who can speak of this as it is Eye hath not seen nor ear beard neither hath it entred into the heart of man to conceive what the things are that God hath prepared for them that love him 1 Cor. 2.9 2. But what is it to Lay hold on eternal life Here lyes the stress of the Text Lay hold on eternal life This brings us to the second thing and that is the act What it is to lay hold on eternal life I shall open this in seven Propositions as I did the former 1. To lay hold on eternal life is to make sure our title to eternal life Joh. 6.27 Labour not for the meat which perisheth but for the meat which indureth unto eternal life as much as is our Saviour should have said Labour to make eternal life sure and labour to get a part in my Righteousness as that onely which can give you an interest in eternal life We see by experience this natural life which we live here on earth continues but a few days we see we cannot live always here on earth nay we see we can live but a short spâ—ce of time here on earth therefore this is out great interest to look after an induring life to lay hold on eternal life and to make that sure Certainly that is true wisdom to consider how things will end at last and these are thoughts proper for a reasonable creature What must be my happiness after this short life is at an end To have no hope or expectation of any thing hereafter but onely to cast upon what is to be injoyed in this life this is to level my self with the brutes this is to forget of what species and kinde of creatures I am and that I was created to injoy a blessed immortality For wherein doth man differ from the brutes but that he is capable of an immortal state and condition of happiness which the brutes are not capable of We ought therefore to make sure our title to eternal life this is the ultimate end and perfection of our being Man was not created to injoy an earthly happiness consisting meerly in the injoyment of earthly comforts but man was created to a blessed immortality in the presence of his Maker Consider what the Apostle speaks 1 Pet. 1.4 To an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved in heaven for you Our last happiness is reserved in heaven To expect our utmost happiness here on earth this is to forget the great and ultimate end for which we were created and to which we were destinated We were not made to have our happiness in this world we were created for an higher happiness our laâ—â— happiness is to live with God in thâ— Heavens This is the happiness wâ— are capable of and therefore this 〈◊〉 the happiness we should make suâ—â— of Lay hold of eternal life thaâ— is make sure thy title to eternâ— life 2. To lay hold of eternal life is 〈◊〉 see that the bent and tendencie of oâ— souls be carried out after eternal lifâ— Lay hold of eternal life it is as muâ—â— as if the Apostle should have said Lâ—â— eternal life be the great thing in thâ— eye let the bent and tendencie of thâ— spirit be carried out after etâ—rnal liâ—â— Every one hath the bent and tendenâ—â— of his spirit lying towards somethinâ— or other Observe the pulse of you own hearts and you will finde thâ— bent and tendencie of your own spâ—rits carried forth towards somethinâ— or other Some have their hearâ— carried out after the riches and profits of the world some after pleasures some after honours The gâ—nerality of men have the bent anâ— tendencie of their spirits carried ouâ— after something in this world Now God would have the spirits of his people carried higher then so God would have his people look beyond this world and beyond this life he would have the bent and tendencie of their spirits to lye towards eternal life Lay hold on eternal life Contemto mundo illuc enitere Calv. Calvin expounds it thus Contemn this world and raise thy thoughts higher This is the force of this