things Especially when we remember that in that estate we shall be perfect men That our weakness and our folly shall be taken away and all that which hinders and indisposes us in this lower World shall be taken out of the way Our Understandings shall then be clear and we shall no more be troubled with the fumes and mists that now are before our eyes We shall judge no longer by false Rules and Measures we shall not be blinded by prejudice and prepossession by passion and by secular respects We that now know as Children do shall then know clearly and as we are known And then our Wills that are now crooked and perverse and in great measure unresigned which is the source of our trouble in this life shall be rectified and swallowed up into the Divine Will Our Passions shall no longer disturb and blind us but we shall be perfected and completed throughly refined and purified and perfectly relish the Joys of a future state which as much surpass all the good things of this World as the Heavens surpass this lump of Earth we tread on After all this it must be remembred that that state shall abide for Ever We shall there for Ever be with the Lord. Our Kingdom shall have no end nor shall our Crown fade away We shall not know what the infirmities of Age and what the fears of Death mean There will be an eternal Day without a succeeding Night a Shine without fear of Clouds or Tempest a perpetual Triumph without mixture and Allay This gives an unspeakable weight to that Crown of glory and it will not now sit uneasily upon our heads we not being burdened with the anxious thoughts of death and a future reckoning 2. I consider the clearness of the Revelation of this Eternal life For this is a Consideration of great moment in the case that lies before us For had not the revelation been clear the thing it self could not have wrought very powerfully upon us The heathen world wanted this discovery to animate them to worthy actions And for the Jews we read nothing in the five Books of Moses of Eternal life I do not deny but that devout and holy men amongst them had about them an expectation of a future Bliss Nay more I make no doubt they had also among them some shadows and obsecure Images of this Blessed State But then as this was not on Gods part any express Promise so it is certain that they had but very obscure notices of this happiness But thanks be to God the case is better with us Our Lord hath abolished death 2 Tim. 1.10 and brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel We have it now clearly and openly revealed and have by the Religion of Jesus Christ received the utmost assurance of it It is not now obscured under Types and Veils under the wealth and plenty of a Land that flowed with Milk and Honey but it is now revealed clearly and our Lord hath given us the utmost assurance that we could desire in the case He hath not only taught us this Doctrine but confirmed it to us by many Miracles and particularly by his own Resurrection from the dead and after that he himself ascended into Heaven in the sight of his Disciples What shall we say now Can we forbear to use the Apostles words 1 Pet. 1.3 4. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope or to the hope of life as one Greek Copy hath it by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an Inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved in heaven for you We are now begotten to the hope of life and immortality The Blessed Tidings thereof was brought us from heaven by the Son of God and he confirmed what he said by Miracles that were unquestionable and to give us the greatest assurance he did himself rise out of the Grave and ascended thither visibly What is there wanting now to confirm our faith if we do but credit the very History of the Gospel That tells us the many wonders that Christ did even besides what are written and that these are written that we might believe that Jesus is the Christ and that believing Joh. 20.31 we might have life or as one Greek Copy hath it eternal life through his name 3. I consider how fit this hope of Eternal life is to work upon us and to render us patient and constant under the sufferings which meet us in our way to Heaven Surely the Apostle judged so when he said Rejoyce 1 Pet. 4.13 inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christs sufferings that when his glory shall be revealed ye may be glad also with exceeding joy It will have a mighty force upon us if we be not much wanting 2 Cor. 4.16 For which cause we faint not while we look not at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen for the things which are seen are temporal but the things which are not seen are eternal There is enough in the thing it self to support us And if it do it not it is because we do not believe it or do not keep our eye fixt upon it For we find that the hope of other things incomparably less hath a mighty force and influence upon us Out of the faint hope of Riches we endure labours and Watchings we patiently dig into the bowels of the earth and adventure our lives upon the uncertain Seas we deny sleep to our eyes and slumber to our eye-lids We are content to endure repulses and disappointments that we may get preferment and enjoy our pleasure afterward We keep something in our eye that supports us under our pain and labour of life And in yet these things we have not that assurance of success nor yet if we had can we have any certainty that we shall long enjoy what we so vehemently pusue Besides all the mean while we do but grasp at a shadow and court a trifle Let us then be perswaded to keep our eyes fixt upon our Reward and we shall find our selves much at ease under the labours and sufferings of this life Let us raise up our wearied hearts and eyes to that state of Rest and Bliss into which our Lord is entred to prepare a place for us If we think of the good Land we are going to possess we shall support our selves under the labours of a barren Wilderness And if our hearts be but throughly set on Heaven we shall not greatly complain of the roughness of the way to it The hopes of a Child to be born into the world reconciles the otherwise fearful Mother to the pains of her Travail What will not then the hope of Eternal glory be able to do We are here but forming a new for a more blessed state of things We hope to be brought forth ere
mentioned before rise higher and imply that Christ is ascended into the higher Heavens even into that place where God does more particularly presentiate himself Our Lord passed through those lower heavens as we read Heb. 4.14 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We have a great High Priest that is passed through the heavens as those words may be rendred which we render passed into the Heavens Jesus the Son Son of God For that Jesus entred into the higher Heavens is evident not only from what hath been observed before but from what the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews tells us farther Heb. 9.24 For Christ is not entred into the holy places made with hands which are the figures of the true but into Heaven it self The Holy of Holies in the Tabernacle was the Type of the highest Heavens whither Jesus is now gone once for all as the High Priest alone was wont to go into the most holy place once a year But as our Lord is thus exalted so we are also farther assured of his Dominion and Power He having a Name given him above every name Phil. 2.10 11. That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in Heaven and things in Earth and things under the Earth And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father He is not a Titular King that is without Authority and Power that cannot help his Servants or punish his Enemies The Father hath given him authority to execute Joh. 5.27 judgment because he is the Son of man Mat. 16.27 And the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his Angels and then he shall reward every man according to his works It appears then from what hath been said that Christ is in Heaven yea in the Highest Heavens and not only so but he is also Lord over all the great King and Governour of his Church able to reward and to punish to help and succour those that belong to him And this is a fair step to that which follows and that is 2. To shew you how far Christ is there concerned on our behalf For since he wants not Authority and Power if he be also concerned for us that is if he bear us good will and in his Exaltation concerns himself for his Disciples and his Followers it must needs be a very comfortable Doctrine to all those Disciples of his that are in want and trouble here below But especially it must be very much to the comfort of all those pious souls that suffer persecution in this world for his sake 1. In general that Christ is concerned for us now he is in heaven is plain from the words of the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews where he tells that Christ entred into heaven it self Heb. 9.24 Ver. 7. now to appear in the presence of God for us For as the High Priest when on the day of Expiation he went into the Holy of Holies was concerned for the whole Congregation as well as for himself so Christ when he entred into Heaven went thither concerned for us It is to be considered that our blessed Lord had taken upon him our flesh and our infirmities and was made like unto one of us He carried with him this nature into Heaven and therewithal a sense of our wants and of our infirmities Heb. 2.15 16 17. For verily he took not on him the nature of Angels but he took on him the Seed of Abraham Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his Brethren That he might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God to make reconciliation for the sins of the people For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted he is able to succour them that are tempted It is not to be imagined that Christ who took our nature upon him and consequently understood the infirmities and frailties of our mortal state should forget us here below now he himself is exalted in the Heavens For as nothing but his mercy and pity towards us could at first invite him down among us so it is not to be believed that after so much love and condescension so long a trial of the infirmities of our condition he should be now unconcerned for us that are below The same divine Author assures us otherwise Seeing then Heb. 4.14 15 16. says he that we have a great High Priest that is passed into the heavens Jesus the Son of God let us hold fast our Profession For we have not an High Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities But was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need 2. More particularly still Christ offers up our Prayers unto God and we are now assured that God hears us upon his account who laid down his life a Sacrifice for us It is to be remembred that the High Priest on the day of Expiation Lev. 16.12 13. when he entred into the Holy of Holies was obliged not only to sprinkle the bloud of the Sacrifice there but also to offer up Incense too Agreeably hereunto our blessed Saviour who is entred into the holy place made without hands offers up our Prayers to God And we have good assurance of our acceptance when we consider the merit of his death and the satisfaction which he had made with his bloud That the Incense which the High Priest offered up was a Symbol of the Prayers of the Saints cannot be denied by him that considers what the holy Scripture teaches us elsewhere For we find that Prayers are likened to and called Incense it being a thing very usual in the holy Scriptures to call the thing signified by the name of the sign which represents it Let my prayer saith the Psalmist Psal 141.2 be set forth before thee as Incense and the lifting up of my hands as the Evening Sacrifice Elsewhere Incense is called the Prayers of the Saints Hence it was Rev. 5.8 that when the Priest went into the Temple to offer Incense Chap. 8.3 Luk. 1.10 the whole multitude of the People were praying without at the time of Incense To this purpose we are told that it was the custom when the Priest entred into the holy place to offer Incense to give notice of the precise time of his going in by the ringing of a Bell v. D. Lightfoots Hor. Hebr. On Luk. 1.10 that so the People might thereupon silently betake themselves to their Prayers And it is thought that the words Rev. 8.1 3. have a particular respect to that matter 3. Consequently upon what hath been last said we do receive from Christs Intercession grace to help in time of need Heb. 4.16 And as our sorrows and our needs are very various as
yet I shall shew the reasonableness of it And to that purpose shall commend to your serious consideration the following particulars First Let us consider whose Law this is and we shall find that the Author of the Law does greatly recommend it to us How hard soever it may otherwise seem yet that it is the command of our Lord Jesus Christ that consideration is of great moment to reconcile us to it We ought not to think any thing unreasonable or hard which our Blessed Lord and dear Redeemer lays upon us For we are well assured of his great love and affection towards us He hath given us great proof that he loved us when he was content for our sakes not only to become a man but to die a shameful and painful death to bring us unto God Let us stay a while upon this consideration and meditate upon the unheard-of love of our Lord Jesus and we shall soon see great cause to think him a good Master even then when he does oblige us to die for his sake If our hearts be cold and chill if we find them dampt and sinking let us then meditate of our Lords love and that will be of great use to inflame them and give them spirit Does Jesus say that we must not fear them that kill the body that we must hate our own lives if we will be his Disciples Good is that word of our Dearest Lord will the pious Soul say Death shall be welcome when ever it comes and it will be not only our duty to die when our Lord would have us but our honour and great Priviledge to be thought worthy to die for him who was contented to die for us Alas this is but very little to what our Lord and Master hath done for us He was from everlasting the eternal Son of the Father He was happy and glorious and yet for our sakes he was content to stoop from Heaven to Earth from the happiness and glories above to the pain and contempt of this lower world He that was the brightness of his Fathers glory was willing to be eclipsed and obscured with our flesh and with our infirmities He that upheld all things by the word of his power was yet contented to be inclosed in the Womb of a Virgin to be wrapt up in swadling cloaths to lie in a Stable to be subject to his Creatures to be tempted by the Devil to be hungred and thirsty to be buffeted and hanged on a Tree that he might save lost Mankind He was at these pains for the helpless and for sinners for Caitiffs and Rebels for them who had dishonoured his Father and ruined themselves Here is a love without a Parallel a love that passeth knowledge a love that is stronger than death and that surpasseth the love of women Here are all the dimensions of love here is height and depth a length and breadth Jesus did that for his Enemies which rarely hath been done for the greatest Friends and Benefactors Greater love than this hath no man that he should lay down his life for his Friend This is the highest flight of friendship and we have but few examples of it Our Lords kindness rose higher by far He died for the ungodly for the weak and them that were without all hope Who can seriously think of this and not find himself constrained by the ove of Jesus to be willing to die for him It is an easie task that lies upon us to love him that hath first loved us and to die for him that died for us This is very reasonable and a most gentle command to lay down our life for him who first laid down his for us We see some Servants will hazard their lives for the sake of their Masters Loyal Subjects will not stick to shed their bloud in defence of their King and Country There are those would dare to die for a good man or for a faithful friend My Lord must needs be dearer to me than any of my Relatives or my fellow Creatures I must be very ungrateful if I forget his love But that which still does farther recommend this Law to us is this That our Saviour commands no more than what he himself did He would we should die in bearing witness to the truth It is fit we should do it and he led us the way He hath recommended this Precept to us not only by his Doctrine but by his Example also Indeed our Lord was silent when he was reproached and inconsistently accused but he was not so when he was adjured by the High Priest to tell him whether he were the Christ Mat. 26.63 64. the Son of God or not He witnessed a good Confession before Pontius Pilate and tells him To this end was I born Joh. 18.17 and for this cause came I into the world that I should bear witness unto the truth Our Lord sealed the truth with his own bloud and does not put his Followers upon that which he declined himself This Example of our Lord does give great force to his Law And it is very reasonable we should do what the great Captain of our Salvation hath done Every where we judge this very reasonable The Souldier thinks himself obliged to shew courage when he sees his General expose himself to the thickest of the danger And the Servant thinks himself well dealt with when his Master commands no more of him than what he is willing to do himself The Disciple is not above his Master nor the Servant above his Lord. That is not thought an hard Law which the Law-giver suffers himself to be concluded by 2. Let us consider the command it self and that is that we should rather part with this life than to deny our Lord and forfeit our hopes of a better life This may at first sight seem a very hard saying but when we draw near and consider it well we shall find it a very reasonable Law and that it is no objection against what our Lord hath said when he tells us that his yoke is easie and his burden light The truth is we disquiet our selves in vain and as our happiness is but phantastick and imaginary so is a great part of our misery also We make a false judgment of things and set a very unequal rate and price upon them And this we commonly do in the account we make of life and death For as we esteem of this life at a greater rate than we ought so we judge death to be a greater evil than indeed it is I desire that you would under this general head consider well the following particulars And 1. That barely to live is not in it self a thing of any vast moment It is no high Prerogative and unvaluable peculiar For the smallest Mite or Ante the vilest Worm or Serpent live as well as we When Marcellinus was sick all that were about him flattered him and said that which they thought would please him most Every man
the Apostle in as much as ye are partakers of Christs sufferings 1 Pet. 4.13 that when his glory shall be revealed ye may be glad also with exceeding joy I shall take the liberty to enlarge somewhat upon this Theme and consider 1. The greatness of the reward 2. The clearness of its revelation 3. And the fitness of it to work upon us 1. The greatness of the reward Here is enough to make us happy amidst all the evils of this world Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake Mat. 5.10 11. for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake Here is that which will enable us not to endure only with patience but to rejoice also if it be duly considered But it is certain that Eternal life is a vast and wide Ocean a boundless Theme that it will not be easie to speak of as we should who know but in part and see through a glass darkly Howbeit I shall say something and leave very much more to be understood It is called in the Scriptures a Rest Heb. 4.9 or Sabbatism and that expression does both tell us what Heaven and what this life is That this life is a life of toil and labour the burden and back part of the Week Just as of old the first days of the week were days of labour and work The other life is the everlasting Sabbath which does relieve and deliver us from our toil and refresh us after our pain and toil We are here sollicited by our fears bowed down with sorrow worn with labour pained with sickness affrighted with evil tidings and with the apprehensions of death We are much afflicted with the malice and power of evil men and not suffered to be at rest There the wicked cease from troubling there the weary be at rest There the Prisoners rest together they hear not the voice of the Oppressor This is a state of Change and great Vicissitude and when things go well with us we are not secure they will continue in that posture The Clouds of a sudden gather together after the clearest Shine And the most setled course of things in this world is yet full of change and variety When things are as we would have them they do not long continue so something or other arises that disturbs the order of things or at least ruffles the calme of our minds The dark night sends away the brightness of the day and casts a black Mantle over the gaiety that entertained us The delights of the Spring are removed by the heat of Summer and a keen and sharp Winter robs us again of the pleasure of a more open season Thus it is here below We are entertained with various things and we are soon stripped of that pleasure which we embraced with the greatest welcom In the first days of the Week in the Book of Genesis It is constantly said for six days together that the Evening and the Morning was such and such a day But when we come to the seventh day we read no such thing It is said Gen. 2.3 that God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it This gives us a fair representation of this and the other life This life is the burden of the Week it hath its Evening as well as its Morning The life to come is all alike There is no Evening there that shall remove the light from the place where God dwels Rev. 22.5 There shall be no night there and they need no Candle neither light of the Sun For the Lord giveth them light This one consideration does greatly recommend to us the happiness of a future state viz. that it is a state of rest To think that we shall be out of the reach of power and malice that all our labour our toil and care is at an end That we shall no more be harrassed and disturbed by the evils of life But this is not all that recommends to us a future state It is represented to us in the Holy Scriptures as a state of great joy and pleasure And it is consequently expressed by such terms as do import no less and such as do imply more than can be expressed or understood Thus it is sometimes expressed by a Kingdom or a Crown by a Feast and by Pleasures but then we are assured that it amounts to more than all these things speak and that it is beyond what eye hath seen or ear heard or what hath entered into the heart of man to conceive It is indeed a Crown a Kingdom a Feast and it is much more than all this It is the best of all this and more than this It is a Kingdom without Cares a Crown without a Cross a Feast without Satiety It is called by these little names because these are the greatest things which this lower world hath These words among us sound high they speak power and honour plenty and pleasure and what the world calls good and therefore Heaven is represented by such things which we understand and regard But then these are but low and short representations of the things themselves Such Images of heaven as the Tabernacle and Temple among the Jews were of this and the other World or of Earth and Heaven They were Images in little but came greatly short of what they represented For as Hell is represented in the Scripture-style by Fire and by Darkness and by the Valley of Hinnom which were things in themselves very sad and things that were easily understood but yet far short of what they represent So is Heaven represented to us by the best things below but these things come infinitely short of that which they represent At other times we find our future happiness otherwise expressed by being with the Lord by seeing of God by knowing as we are known and being like our Lord. These are expressions that are very big indeed but still they import more than we are able in this state fully to comprehend They imply the greatest perfection that our natures are capable of and that our imperfections shall be quite taken away We are mightily struck and affected with seeing what we had but heard of we are strangely pleased with apprehending a thing clearly which we knew not or knew but imperfectly before We are greatly taken with the company of our dearest friends and by our approving our selves to the vertuous and the good And therefore Heaven is represented to us in terms that speak the greatest and most rational satisfaction But then still we live in houses of clay we are dull of conceiving and clogg'd with our flesh And these things are spiritually discerned and to apprehend them to good purpose we bust be greatly abstracted from the body subdued to the world and weaned from our sensualities And when we are so in great measure we shall be mightily affected with these