seems new to us because length of Time and shortness of Life have put it out of our remembrance as they will also do things that now are out of the remembrance of those that are to come after Ver. 11. There is no remembrance of former things neither shall there be any remembrance of things that are to come with those that shall come after Thus there is no new thing but a circular Revolution and return of the same things in several Ages something diversify'd in their Circumstances Ay but there are new things above the Sun in the other World things that have never been seen nor ever shall be seen under the Sun you and I have things to see that have not yet been seen by us at any time This is another thing we may learn hence and O take notice of it every one of you that are hearing it both Saints and Sinners remember it you that fear God and let it encourage you you shall see other things than you are seeing now from Day to Day in this Life 1. Are you seeing Creatures below your selves you shall see your and their Creator in his Glory and Majesty 2. Are you seeing Men made in your own Form and Likeness compassed about with Infirmities Corruptions Temptations you shall see the Holy Angels and come to an innumerable Company of them 3. Are you seeing Sinners running to excesses of Riot and living without God in the World you shall see Glorious Saints standing before the Throne and serving God Day and Night in his Temple 4. Are you seeing Shame and Reproach and Contempt you shall see Glory and Honour and receive a Crown of Glory that fadeth not away 5. Are you seeing Want meeting with Poverty Necessities and Straits you shall see endless Fulness a blessed Countrey where you shall never see Want of any thing again for ever 6. Are you seeing Labours and Travel you shall see everlasting Rest O Sirs you that are going for Heaven have that to see that will make amends for all the Evil and Trouble you are now seeing Heaven Heaven comprehends all that Good that can possibly fall within the Compass of your Thoughts or Apprehensions And O remember this you that forget God you have a fine time of it as you think now while you walk in the ways of your Heart and in the sight of your Eyes and it were something if you were never to see any thing but what you are now seeing O but there are unseen things and you must see other things than those you are now seeing from day to day You are now seeing Peace and Plenty Pleasure and Prosperity Ay but you have Trouble and Want Pain and Torment to see I pray think of it you know the King of Babylon when he was seeing the Pomp and Glory of his Royal Feast had something that he never thought of coming into his sight which put him under a great Consternation Dan. 5.5 6. In the same Hour came forth Fingers of a Man's Hand and wrote over against the Candlestick upon the Plaister of the Wall of the King's Palace and the King saw the part of the Hand that wrote Then the King's Countenance was changed and his Thoughts troubled him so that the joints of his Loins were loosed and his Knees smote one against another And now this strange this sudden Sight marred all his Mirth and Musick Lords and Ladies Crowns and Kingdoms could not relieve him but his Countenance changed his Joints loosened and his Knees smote one against another Why Sirs this is your Case your very Case this day you are seeing your Comforts and Pleasures but have that to see that will marr all your Mirth for ever O that you would consider it this Day if his Countenance was thus changed only upon seeing the Fingers of a Man's Hand writing over against him O then how will it be with you when you have the bottomless Pit and all the tremendous things therein coming into your sight Well Sirs this is another thing you may learn hence there are other things to see than are now seen Second Use of Reproof Is it the great Duty and Concernment of all to look at unseen things then this may reprove those First Who look only at seen things things which are in sight as the Gain and Glory and Pleasures of this present World but never look so far as another World as unseen things And this is a very common thing many do on this manner A great many must say if they 'll say the Truth and their Practices say it for them every Day we look not at the things which are not seen but at the things which are seen These are the things which we eye and mind and pursue and are in travel after early and late how we may compass them and come by them I say this is the common Case of a great many I fear there is no want of those here to day who do on this fashion that have something or other in their eye of the things that are seen Now if thou be one of them I would tell thee and pray thee consider it that this Course is a 1. Brutish 2. Paganish 3. Faithless 4. Foolish 5. Ruining Course 1. This Course is a brutish Course proper for Beasts who have only Sense to lead them but no Reason to guide them not at all becoming Men who are reasonable Creatures I say it 's the part of Brutes who have no higher part than Sense only to look at seen and present things thou degradest thy self from the Degree and Excellency of a Christian nay thou degradest thy self from the Degree of a Man and putst thy self into the Form of a Beast while thou lookst only at seen things nay thou throwst thy self below some Brutes in this that being void of Reason yet look further than only to what is just seen and present The silly Ant in Summer looks as far as Winter Prov. 6.6 7 8. and the Stork Jer. 8.7 knows its season And wilt thou be like the Beasts nay worse than the Beasts that perish Shall the weak Ant the poor Stork the small Crane and the Turtle and the Swallow silly and contemptible Creatures condemn thee What an Absurdity what a Shame is this What hast thou Reason for if thou wilt make no use of it nor distinguish thy self by it in thy Practice from a Beast when God hath by giving it to thee distinguish'd thee from them in thy Being Psal 8.6 Thou madest him have Dominion over the Works of thy Hands thou hast put all things under his Feet 2. This Course is a Paganish Course if thou wert a very Pagan one of the worst of the Heathens and among a Nation of Barbarians thou couldst but do on this Fashion Mat. 6.32 For after all these things do the Gentiles seek After these present things and after these seen things these poor Pagans who are either wholly ignorant and know nothing of these unseen things
others the scope of all his Studies Prayers and Sermons was directed by him to the saving of himself and those that heard him And in his Conversation were so expressed the Power and Life of all his Ministerial Acts in a Holy Imitation of his Lord and Master Jesus Christ as did shew him to be really perswaded in his Heart that there was more than ordinary Care required of him to keep himself in all Respects pure from the Blood of Souls and the Lord who is the searcher and trier of the Heart and who loves Truth of Grace in the inward parts did crown his Ministerial Endeavours with great Success He did not run in vain nor labour in vain nor spend his Strength for nought but he had Seals of his Ministry all along from the beginning to the close thereof and the Lord ordered it so wisely in his Providence that sometimes the notice or the saving Success of his Ministry was then brought unto him when it conduced most to his inward Support and Consolation Then to give one Instance of many when he was banished by the Oxford Act at the first House he took up his Lodging as a poor Exile from his own Home he who saluted him as his Spiritual Father related to him that he was the Instrument of his Conversion by preaching a Lecture-Sermon at Leigh Church Mr. Nathaniel Hilton of London gave a Stipend for a Weekly Lecture at Bolton every Monday of the most eminent Ministers in the County to four in their Courses among whom this worthy Servant of Christ was chosen one other two were Mr. Roger Baldwin and Mr. Henry Newcome who are both sometime since removed by Death Cease Lord by whom shall Jacob arise for he is small He was a great redeemer of his Time there was not so much as a Day spent by him in Idleness the sense of unseen things was so deeply imprest upon his Spirit as made him fill every Leaf in the Book of his Life with those great and weighty Works which were incumbent on him in his Place When Persons that had been converted by his Ministry gave notice to him thereof he would with great Humility lift up his Eyes and Hands towards Heaven and say Lord who am I that I should be so far honoured as to be the Instrument in the converting of one Soul He was Eminent for Contempt of the World he never sought great Places for himself and when they were offered him he declined them he was content to move in an obscure and low Sphere so he might but be an Instrument of doing good to Souls he would not be drawn nor driven away to any other Business but continued in his laborious Course of Preaching twice every Lord's Day administring the Lord's Supper Monthly He was a constant Mourner for the Sins of the Nation and was greatly concerned for the rising Generation and bent his Discourses tâ— establish them in the true Religion He welcomed his last Sickness with deep Submission to the Will of God He expressed his Contentedness if his Lord and Master whom he served with his Spirit in the Gospel had any more Work for him to accomplish in the Church below but if not he was willing to depart desirous to have his own Blessedness among the Saints above and to be with Christ as being far better He had little pain in the beginning of his Sickness and was much in blessing of God for dealing so gently with him and carrying on his long Visitation with so great ease to him He kept his resigned Frame to the Will of his Heavenly Father and said I have had more Time to work for my own and others Souls than I made accompt of when I was Young and so if God have no more Work for me to do I am free to go to my Rest I have had enough of Living and am filled and satisfied with this Life upon Earth There came Friends from all Places where he had preached to visit him to whom he always dropped some word of sutable Counsel He advised those who told him they were converted by his Ministry to give God the Glory and to walk worthy of the Vocation wherewith they were called He exhorted those who had profited and were built up in Grace by his Labours to go on their way rejoicing tho they should see his Face no more He cautioned rich and trading Professors to take heed that they lost not their Souls in a croud and hurry of earthly Business he charged them to remember the Saying of Sir Thomas Moor there is a great Truth in it as well as a Scum of Wit There is a Devil that is termed Business that carrieth more Souls with him to Hell than all the Devils in Hell beside O beware of the Devil when you come to be in my Condition your full Bags your full Shops and full Houses will stand you in no stead Some of his Reverend Brethren in the Ministry did visit him with whom he freely conversed and whom he always desired to pray with him as he did all his other Christian Friends and amongst the rest Reverend Mr. O. H. was with him and in his Discourse propounded these Queries here inserted to which be returned with great composedness of Mind the following Answers What are your Thoughts as to Justification by Christ's imputed Righteousness I look only to be justified by Christ's Righteousness received by Faith Being ask'd What Evidence he had for Heaven He said he had good grounds of Hope many Years ago concerning his State of Grace tho be was full of defects yet the Merits of Christ were alsufficient on which he trusted Are you satisfied that you have delivered in your Sermons nothing but such Gospel-Truths as you can own at the Tribunal of Christ Excepting humane Frailty so far as I can remember I have never delivered any thing to my Hearers but what I dare die with and go with to Judgment Mr. H. continued Whether have you any comfortable Seals of your Ministry He answered I bless God I have and have had more Fruits appearing since my Lying down than I knew of before especially many young Persons have appeared hopeful What are your Thoughts now as to your Non-conformity Do you repent of it I bless God I am abundantly satisfied with it and if I was to make my choice over again and if it were possible for me to see all the Sufferings which I have undergone for it which are nothing to what many of the precious Servants of God have suffered and if they were all laid together I would make the same Choice which I have made and take my Non-conformity with them and I bless God that I never so much as tampered with them What Legacies have you to leave I am unfit to give Counsel to you my Brother but the words of the Apostle I leave with you Be not weary of Well-doing and you shall reap in due Time if you faint not In the latter
them chuse whether you will look at them or not now you shall certainly look on them one Day And therefore Sirs it doth surely concern us to take them into our Eye if it were either a Question whether there be any such things or a Question whether you or I should see them then to lay them out of our Eye might be somewhat excusable Ay but Sirs both these are out of all question and therefore questionless it 's a Matter that concerns us This may be another reason why we should look at them unseen things will come in sight other things are questionable if thou be Sick and would have Health it 's questionable whether thou must ever see it again if thou be Poor and would have Wealth if thou be Persecuted and would have Peace it 's questionable whether thou shalt ever see these things many in these and many other cases have never seen that which they have desired to see and many have escaped the seeing of that which they have been unwilling to see and that would have been unwelcome to them as in 2 Kings 22.20 Good Josiah was taken away from seeing the Evil that God would bring upon Jerusalem But here is Sirs no uncertainty in this Case it admits of no Peradventure or may be It is a Question whether e'r thou must have Health or Peace but it 's no question whether thou must die and come to Judgment It 's a Question whether thou must ever see the Good in the Land of the Living thou wouldst see or escape the Evil thou wouldst not see but it 's no question but if thou be a gracious Person thou shalt see the Goodness laid up in Heaven and if thou be graceless and die so thou shalt without question see the Fire and Worm and Wrath prepared in Hell these are sure things And now Sirs if unseen things be thus certain great unavoidable and things that must most surely be seen then is there not a great deal of Reason that we should look at them and keep them ever in our Eye And how sadly do many miscarry in this Matter who only carry those things in their Eye that may and often do never come and lay those things out of their Eye that will most surely come 4. Unseen things are near they are certain they are great they are unavoidable and they are also very near unto us and therefore it doth certainly concern us to look at them This may be another ground suppose some great Matter i' th' World of much Concernment to you tending to your making or undoing while you live were now coming upon you would you not look upon your selves as concerned to look at it no question but you would Now this great seeing of unseen things is not a great way off but at Hand and hard by every one of you As the Apostle saith Rom. 13.12 The Night is far spent the Day is at Hand So I may say to you it 's but as an Hour or two to Day-break to Sun-rise that will inlighten things that are in Darkness O Sirs you and I stand at the Door of these unseen things and if Death do but once open it by any one of its many thousand Keys we shall immediately see that which we have never see Death as I have told you is an unseen thing and it is Ostium invisibilium here will be a beginning of them and O how soon will this be here Is there any more than a few Days a Hand 's breadth of Time a Wind a Breath a Vapor between any of us and this why verily there is no more Job 14.1 Man that is born of a Woman is but of few Days Psal 39.5 Behold thou hast made my Days as a Hand 's breadth and mine Age is as nothing before thee verâ—ly every Man at his best State is Vanity Job 7.7 O remember that my Life is Wind. Isa 2.22 Cease from Man whose Breath is in his Nostrils James 4.14 For what is your Life is it not a Vapour that aâ—peareth for a little Time and then vanisheth away Do you not see many about you dropping away one to day and another to morrow and a third the next Day why all all these go to see things not seen Many Sirs are seeing these things to day who saw them not Yesterday and many shall see them to Morrow who are not yet seeing them to Day and there are but yet a few a very few Days and there shall not be one of us who are here to Day but we shall be landed on the Shore of unseen things to see them for ever and never to see seen things more Pray think of this if unseen things were a great way off a long while too if there were some Ages or Ce turies to go over us e re we should see them why it were something b t alas we know not neither can we say that there is another Year another Week or another Day between us and them when we go out we may see them e're we come in again and when we come in they may follow us at our back and come in sight as we are sitting at our Boards or lying on our Beds shall we not then take them into our Eye and mind them O if we would but weigh the Certainty the Concernment and Propinquity of these things not seen how could we ever lay them out of our Eye 5. Unseen things are eternal 1. They are certain 2. They are momentous 3. They are unavoidable 4. They are near and they are also eternal and unchangable therefore it doth unquestionably concern us to look at them it will be but a while e're they come into sight Ay but when once come into sight they 'l tarry eternally in sight this is the Reason the Apostle lays down here why they looked not at seen but at unseen things For the things which are seen are temporal but the things which are not seen are eternal Here my Beloved we have the Difference between the seen things of this World and the unseen things of the other World the seen are temporal the unseen are eternal a Difference that puts an infinite Weight upon unseen things and makes them of infinitely more Concernment to us than any than all things that are seen I say 1st The things which are seen are but temporal many have seen Health and Peace and Plenty and Pleasures and Prosperity who are now gone from seeing them and must never see them again And many have seen Want and Labours and Travel a Multiplicity and Variety of Troubles who are also now gone from seeing them and shall never see them more And whatsoever we are now seeing in this World whether of Comforts or Crosses of Peace or Trouble we must see them but a while and shall soon be sailed out of their sight for ever All these seen things are only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for a Season as the same word is rendred Heb.