done away in the great Day of the Lord when the time of refreshing shall come from the presence of God 2 Thes 1.11 then indeed he shall be made marveilous in all them that beleeve And as the ends of the world are come upon us and the Day of our perfect reconciliation draweth neere so ought we to rejoyce the more and to lift up our heads the higher that as we have said in our trouble Psal 22.15 Thou hast brought us into the dust of death so we may say againe with joy of Spirit Thou Lord hast drawne us out of many waters His right hand hath done great things for us for which we reioyce Lastly it is our duty to walke worthy of such a Kingdome and to live godly in Christ Iesus that so wee may have comfort in that Day Such as looke and hope hereafter to be made like unto Christ must wash their hands 1 Ioh. 3.3 and clense their hearts and purifie themselves even as he is pure But it may be said Wee may repent at leisure and at the last Day and that is farre off Nay the Scripture putteth such foolish conceits from us and telleth us that the Lord is at hand 1 Pet. 4.7 the comming of the Lord draweth neere Besides then is not the time of mercy but of justice to the impenitent For as death leaveth us so shall the Iudgement Day finde us Rom. 2.5 Rom. 2.5 Wee must all appeare before the Judgement Seat of Christ But wherefore to bring us to repentance and to see whether we will turne from our sinnes to him No that is not the end but to receive the things which we have done in our body whether good or evill The old world no doubt when they saw the raine that fell were desirous to enter into the Arke but the flood was come and it was too late Exod. 14.23 25. The Egyptians pursuing Israel into the middest of the Sea were desirous to turne backe and to flye from the face of Israel but the Lord tooke off their Chariot wheeles that they drave them heavily and it was too late The foolish Virgins cried Lord Lord open unto us Matth. 25.11 12. but the doore was shut and they received this uncomfortable answer Verily I say unto you I know you not which verifieth the saying of Christ elsewhere Many Luke 13.24 I say unto you will seeke to enter in and shall not be able Such as can wish for Heaven should also study to learne the way to Heaven It was the wish of Balaam the false prophet though himselfe were unrighteous that hee might dye the death of the righteous Numb 23 10. For albeit hee regarded not to lead the life of the righteous yet hee could be content to die their death though he were at warre with God yet he was desirous to enter into their peace and though he would not be like them in the beginning of his daies yet he was willing his latter end should be like theirs But as hee was ignorant of the way so he was as carelesse to enter into it This putteth us in minde of sundry meditations First it is our duty to consult with the Word and to try all our actions by it whether they please God as the gold is tryed by the touch-stone whether it bee currant or counterfeit and as the worke is tried by the rule whether it be right or crooked Hence it is that Christ teacheth Ioh. 3.21 He that doth truth commeth to the light that his deeds may be made manifest that they are wrought in God but he that doth evill hateth the light neither commeth to the light lest his deeds should be reproved For naturally men love darknesse rather then light because their deeds are evill 1 Cor. 11.31 Secondly we ought to iudge our selves here that so we may escape the Iudgement of God hereafter If we will not judge our selves we shall be condemned with the wicked world for the Lord himselfe will enter into Iudgement with us We must to this purpose summon accuse examine convince and condemne our selves that he may acquit us discharge us and absolve us Wee must try and examine our selves by the Touch-stone of the Law and looke into it as upon a glasse whereby wee may see the least spot and wrinkle Thirdly we must watch and pray alwayes Luke 21.36 that wee may bee found so doing when the Lord commeth Luke 11. and be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to passe and that wee may stand before the Sonne of man But if the evill servant say in his heart My master deferreth and delayeth his comming Luk. 12.45 46. and shall begin to beate his fellow servants and to eate and drinke and to bee drunken the Lord of that servant will come in a day when hee looketh not for him and in an houre when hee is not ware and wil cut him in sunder and will appoint him his portion with the unbeleevers Fourthly we must practise the workes of mercy toward the members of Christ and bountifulnesse to the godly in all their distresses Happy will that Day be and joyfull to them that have fed and clothed and visited Christ in his members that have come to such as have beene sicke and in prison which workes of mercy the Lord Iesus will account accept and reward as done to himselfe But woe shall it be to such as shall have this charged upon them by Christ himselfe the Iudge of quicke and dead Matth. 25 4â— I was an hungred and ye gave me no meate I was thirsty and yee gave me no drinke I was a stranger and yee tooke me not in naked and ye clothed me not sicke and in prison and ye visited me not Neither will it serve their turne to excuse their want of charity to say Lord when saw we thee an hungred or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sicke or in prison and did not minister unto thee For then it shall be answered them Verily I say unto you in as much as ye did it not to one of the least of these ye did it not to me Lastly let us hold fast the faith and the heavenly graces given unto us and not give over neither suffer them to be wrested from us by any illusion of Satan for then wee lose all our labour and all the paines that we have taken Let us stand out to the end Revel 3.11 and be faithfull unto the death and then we shall receive the Crowne of eternall life This is the exhortation to the Church in Philadelphia Hold fast that which thou hast that no man take away thy Crowne from thee And the Apostle John Looke to yourselves 2 Iohn 8. 1 Cor. 15.58 that ye lose not the things that yee have done that so ye may receive a full reward The Lord God Almighty who hath promised to reward our service even to a cup of cold water grant that we may be steadfast and unmovable alwayes abounding in the worke of the Lord forasmuch as wee know that our labour shall not be in vaine in the Lord Amen FINIS
exceeding loud and sounding long so that all the people trembled But the fire and the feare shall bee much greater at the last day when the Lord Iesus shall appeare in great glory when the Elements shall melt with fervent heat 2 Pet. 3.10 the earth also and all the workes therein shall be burnt up 2 Pet. 3.10 Fiftly they shall have shame and perpetuall contempt powred upon them so that they shall be shamed for ever before many witnesses before men and Angels even before all the world Dan. 12.2 Forasmuch as there is nothing secret that shall not be evident and come to light This the Lord teacheth by the Prophet These things hast thou done Psal 50.21 and I kept silence thou thoughtest that I was altogether such a one as thy selfe but I will reprove thee and set them in order before thine eyes Lastly they shall have the Sentence of death and damnation pronounced against them the misery whereof standeth in three points First in feeling paines intolerable unspeakable and unsupportable not to be uttered by the tongue of man We see how terrible and tedious many diseases are and what torments they bring to the body in this life but what are they to the torments of hell For as all the comforts and pleasutes of this life are nothing in comparison of the joyes of heaven 1 Cor. 2.9 the eye hath not seene them the care hath not heard them the heart cannot comprehend them So I may say of the punishments of damned soules Neither hath the eye of man seene them neither the eare of man heard them neither can the heart fully conceive of them as they are indeed Onely the Scripture expresseth them by things most bitter and violent that we might in some sort attaine to the knowledge of them and therefore the Apostle saith Rom. 2. Rom. 2.9 Tribulation and anguish shall be upon the soule of every man that doth evill Secondly in a separation from God from Christ from the Angels from all the righteous from all comfort and from eternall glory A paine and punishment no lesse then the former to see the Saints whom they thorowout their whole life have mocked and misused and judged to be fooles and mad men now honoured and advanced to the Kingdome of God and themselves in greatest disgrace for ever The sight doubtlesse of the felicity of others shall aggravate and encrease their owne misery Thirdly in the fellowship that the Reprobate shall have with the Devill and his angels They that now will seeme to shake and tremble at the very naked naming of the Devill and cannot abide to heare of him they that are ready to defie and denie and detest him in words yea to blesse themselves when any mention is made of him alas alas now they must be constrained to abide this as a part of their cursed condition to have the continuall fellowship of the Devill and the rest of the damned crue and of none other but of them David complaineth of it as of a great misery and a woe much to be bewailed and lamented that he did soiourne in Mesech and dwell in the Tents of Kedar but woe woe woe againe and againe to those that must not sojourne for a season but dwell for ever and ever not in Mesech or Kedar but in the house of darkenesse with the Devill the Prince of darkenesse where they shall be cast into utter darkenesse Mitth 8.12 there shall bee weeping and gnashing of teeth Lastly acknowledge the wonderfull mercy of God toward his Children who hath loved them with a speciall and unspeakable love True it is the Reprobate have many blessings in this life because they live among the godly and for their sakes because God would leave them without excuse and stoppe their mouthes for ever because he would teach his owne servants not to place any happinesse in them but to looke for greater blessings in the other life howbeit they have not such among them all Gen. 25.5 6. as doe accompany salvation For as Abraham gave sundry blessings to the sonnes of the Concubines but he made Isaak the sonne of the free woman to be his heire so God bestoweth common gifts Matth. 5.45 and many temporall blessings upon the Reprobates hee maketh his Sunne to rise on the evill and on the good and sendeth raine upon the just and unjust howbeit he maketh them not his heires for as much as spirituall and eternall graces are communicated to none but to the Elect which shall be inheriters of Salvation and for them he hath prepared the Kingdome Why may wee not therefore cry out with the Prophet Psal 144.3 8.5 3 4.8 9. Lord what is man that thou takest knowledge of him or the sonne of man that thou makest account of him who is like to vanity and his daies are as a shadow that passeth away Psal 144. And else-where O taste and see for the Lord is good blessed is the man that trusteth in him O feare the Lord ye his Saints for there is no want to them that feare him If God must have praise for the least of his blessings how much more for this that is the greatest of all wherein the Lord hath enlarged his love towards us and without which our faith had beene in vaine yea Christ Iesus had dyed risen againe and ascended in vaine and all the worke of our Redemption were frustrate so that without consideration of the Kingdome of heaven of which we come now to consider in the last place blessings were no blessings and graces were no graces at all The Kingdome This is the last but not the least branch of the promise which containeth the highest staire and top of our felicity and happines The ungodly thinke faithfull men unworthy to breathe or whom the earth should beare but behold God even the Father vouchsafeth of his grace and good pleasure to account them worthy of heaven The ungodly deeme them not to be worthy to live in the world but the Lord esteemeth not the world worthy of them Heb. 11.38 and therefore he will translate them out of the world that they may enjoy his presence Now as before we heard of the object of the promise the Flocke of Christ so now we come to consider of the subject or principall matter of the promise the Kingdome of heaven And in this word we have the substance of the reason used by Christ our Saviour to keepe us from feare of falling away from him for feare of future wants and therefore we have deferred to consider of the strength thereof to this place The reason may be thus framed and put into forme that we may see the force of it If God will bestow upon us the Kingdome then feare not the lacke of earthly things But God will bestow upon us the Kingdome Therefore Feare not the lacke of earthly things Or more plainely after this manner Whosoever have a Kingdom promised unto them need
and are called with an holy calling by the voice of their Shepheard and set apart by the power of the Word as the Nazarites were by their vow To this purpose it is said of the Church Loe the people shall dwell alone Numb 23 9. and shall not be reckoned among the Nations If then we joyne our selves with the world we disjoyne our selves from the Church Secondly true holinesse is begun in their nature Wee beleeve this in our hearts and wee must practise it in our lives Tit. 3.5 Tit. 3.5 2 Pet. 1.10 Matth. 5.16 Hereby we make our election and calling sure 2 Pet. 1.10 Matth. 5.16 No sanctification no salvation Thirdly the holinesse of Christ and his righteousnesse is imputed unto them Heb. 10.10 being washed and bathed in his blood Heb. 10.10 These rely wholy upon his merits for their righteousnesse and salvation not upon themselves Fourthly they cleave unto such as feare God and worke righteousnesse with unchangeable affections as the onely people in the world with whom they become one body Rom. Rom. 12.5 12.5 For as they are one in Christ so they are one among themselves and love one another in deed and in truth as fellow servants of the same family as fellow berthren of the same Father and as fellow Citizens of the same City with all meeknesse patience gentlenesse lowlinesse long-suffering love concord and unity As sheepe will not be alone so neither will they sort with Swine or Beares or Lyons or Wolves Let all our delight therefore be in the Saints Psal 16. 2 Cor. 6.16 2 Thes 3.14 Heb. 10.39 On the other side let us avoid the society of the wicked Come out from among them and touch no uncleane thing separate from them and have no familiarity with them Fiftly they strive with might and maine by sanctification and holinesse of life to exceed and outstrip the deeds and practices of Turkes Papists and prophane persons of the world 1 Pet. 2.9 Phil. 2.15 that these may see their good workes and glorifie their Father which is in Heaven For except our righteousnesse exceed the righteousnesse of the Scribes and Pharises Matth. 5.20 wee cannot enter into the Kingdome of Heaven Our workes not our words onely must speake for us and witnesse with us that we are of this one Church And let us take heed lest by our sinfull lives we slander our profession blaspheme the Name of God our Father dishonour Christ our Head and disgrace the Church our Mother Ephes 1.4 Lastly wee must acknowledge our selves to be Pilgrims and strangers in this world Heb. 11.9 10. as the Patriarkes and holy men of God did For albeit we are in the world yet we are none of the world and albeit we live on the earth yet we must not be earthly-minded Phil. 3.20 but have our conversation in Heaven and from thence looke for our Saviour to change our vile bodies and to fashion them like to his glorious body We live here as in a strange Country but we looke for a City which hath foundations whose builder and maker is God We must therefore use this world as though we used it not 1 Cor. 7.31 And thus being members of the Church militant in this life wee shall be parts of the Church triumphant in the life to come there to remaine with Christ Iesus our Head for ever Little flocke The third point of the division followeth which is the limitation it is little Though it be a flocke yet it is but a little flocke It is a company yet but a small company Touching the company or compasse of the Church we are to consider two things First the errors that stand on both sides and the strength of the reason that Christ maketh against all carnall feare of want and famine Touching the errors on both hands as well on the right hand as on the left some goe about to shrinke up the sinewes of this little flocke and so contract it into a lesser roome then Christ himselfe hath folded it into True it is hee hath shut it up into a narrow fold but many have gone about to pin it up and to tye it shorter then he hath done Thus the Iewes that were of the Circumcision offended who went about to gather it into a shorter summe then they ought to have done for they contended with Peter and tooke it grievously Acts 11.2 3. that he went in to men uncircumcised and did eate with them They falsely perswaded themselves that the promises concerning the Messiah pertained to themselves alone because they heard in the Scriptures that they were called the peculiar people to whom pertained the adoption Rom. 9.4 5. the covenants the giving of the Law and the service of God and so they dreamed that the Gentiles were quite excluded from salvation and severed from the Church of God Howbeit this is contrary to the ancient promise and prophesie that God will enlarge Iaphet Gen. 9.27 that hee shall dwell in the Tents of Shem and hereunto doe other Prophets accord Thus also did the Donatists shut up the Church into a corner of the world onely to wit in Africk August De Haeres cap. 69. as if it had beene utterly perished out of the whole earth besides Thus doe the Anabaptists and sundry of the Separation as if there were no true Church upon the earth but among themselves who in truth are the true Donatists of our time as whosoever knoweth the history of them will easily acknowledge For these Sectaries were Separatists who had their Conventicles apart under colour of great corruptions in other places persons and Churches and they imagined contagion and infection to arise by communicating with all others This is a generation that say as it is in the Prophet Esay 65.5 Stand by thy selfe Come not neere to me for I am holier then thou But here good and evill are mingled together as cleane uncleane in the Arke as wheate and chaffe in the floore and must so continue to the end of the World So likewise doe the Romanists abridge it who fasten the Church to the sleeve of the See of Rome and therefore define it to bee a company of men under one Pastor Bellar. lib. 3. De Eccles cap. 2. and subject to the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Rome so that let men beleeve never so orthodoxally and soundly otherwise yet they hold them out of the account of the Church and brand them to bee no better then damnable Heretikes who doe not acknowledge their lord god the Pope to be the Vicar of Christ the head of the Church and their chiefe nay universall Pastor Thus Catholike and Romane with them generall and particular shall be all one which Church when it was at the best Rom. 1.8 and their faith spred abroad thorowout the whole world was never taken to be the Catholike Church but a part thereof which now is no sound part or