their smalness are indisposed for the vigorous exercise of the Mind some strictures of Reason appear a presaging sign what will be but mixt with much obscurity But when the organs are come to their just proportion and temperament the Soul displays its strength and activity All things of a supernatural order shall then be clearly discovered The contrivance of our Salvation the ways of conducting us to Blessedness which are objects of a sublime nature will afford an exquisite pleasure to the Understanding All the secrets of our Redemption shall be unsealed The great Mystery of Godliness the Incarnation of the Eternal Son and his according Justice with Mercy shall then be apparent The Divine Counsels in governing the World are now only visible in their wonderful effects either of Mercy or of Justice and those most dreadful but the Reasons of them are past finding out But what our Saviour said to Peter What I do thou knowest not now but shalt know hereafter is applicable to these impenetrable dispensations All the original Fountains of Wisdom as clear as deep shall then be opened We shall then see the beauty of Providence in disposing temporal things in order to our eternal felicity We now see as it were the rough part and Knots of that curious Embroidery but then the whole Work shall be unfolded the sweetness of the Colours and proportion of the Figures appear There we shall be able to expound the perplexing Riddle How out of the Eater came meat and out of the Strong came sweetness For we shall know as we are known We shall see God Our Saviour tells us This is Life Eternal to know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent The beginning and perfection of our Happiness consists in this knowledg The Deity is spiritual and invisible to the Eye of the Body infinite and incomprehensible to the Soul But we shall then so clearly understand the Divine Perfections that our present knowledg compar'd to that is but as the seeing a dark resemblance in a Glass to the clear view of a Person in the native beauty of his Face God is most gloriously present in Heaven For according to the degrees of excellence in the Work such are the impressions and discoveries of the Virtues of the Cause Now all sensible things in the low order of Nature are but weak resultances from his Perfections in comparison of their illustrious Effects in the Divine World The Glories of the Place and of the Inhabitants the Angels and Saints clearly express his Majesty Goodness and Power But in a transcendent manner he exhibits himself in the glorified Mediator He is stiled the brightness of the Father's Glory and the express image of his Person not only for his equal Perfections in respect of the unity of their Nature but to signify that God in the Person of the incarnate Mediator is so fully represented to us that by the sight of him we see God himself in his unchangeable Excellencies This appears by the following words that having purged us from our sins he sate down on the right-hand of the Majesty on high for they respect the Son of God as united to the humane Nature in which he perform'd the Office of the Priesthood and took possession of his glorious Kingdom During his humble state the Divine Vertues Wisdom Goodness Holiness Power were so visible in his Person Life Revelations and miraculous Works that when Philip so long'd for the sight of the Father as the only consummate Blessedness Shew us the Father and it suffices He told him He that has seen me has seen the Father also But how brightly do they appear in his triumphant Exaltation 'T was his Prayer on Earth Father I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am that they may behold my Glory Inestimable Felicity whether we consider him in the respect of an Object that incomparably transcends all the created Glory of Heaven or in the relation of our Head on a double account partly that because he was debased into the form of a Servant and suffered all Indignities and Cruelties of Sinners for us has received the Recompence of his Meritorious Sufferings the triumph of his Victory being glorified with the Father with the Glory he had before the World was and partly because every Member shall be conformed to him in his Glory we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is And all Felicity and Glory is compriz'd in that Promise The sight of the Face of Moses when radiant had no transforming efficacy for the light of it was not in him as its source but by derivation But God is Light essentially and the sight of his Perfections will be productive of his Likeness in us so far as it may be in a restrained subject When our Saviour was upon the holy Mount and one vanishing Beam of Glory appear'd in his Transfiguration Peter was so transported at the sight that he forgot the World and himself How ravishing then will the sight of him be in his triumphant Majesty when we shall be transfigured our selves 2. As they shall behold God's Face know his most amiable Excellencies so they shall love him as perfectly as they know him To the illustrations of the Mind there are correspondent impressions on the Heart In the present state our Love is imperfect and as Fire out of its sphere dies away by our neglect to feed it with proper materials enamouring considerations of God But 't is not so in Heaven there the Divine Sun attracts every Eye with the light of its beauty and inflames every Heart with the heat of his Love The continual Presence of God is in different respects the Cause and Effect of our Love to him For there is no more powerful Attractive to love him than to see him And Love keeps the thoughts undivided from him God is Love and will kindle in us a pure Affection that Eternity shall never lessen Our Affections that are now scattered on many things wherein some small Reflections of his Goodness appear shall join in one full Current in Heaven where God is all in all We shall then understand the riches of his Love that God who is infinitely happy in himself should make Man for such a Glory and such a Glory for Man And that when for his Rebellion he was justly expell'd from Paradise and under a sentence of Eternal Death God should please to restore him to his Favour and give him a better state than was forfeited We shall then understand our infinite Obligations to the Son of God who descended from the Heaven of Heavens to our Earth and which is more from the Majesty wherein he there raign'd from the Glory wherein he was visible to the Angelical Minds and became Man for Men Redemption for the Lost to purchase Immortal Life for those who were dead to that blessed Life In short then God will express his Love to us
highest Joy it partakes of is from this consideration that God is infinitely blessed and glorious For in this the supream desire of love is accomplish'd that the most beloved Object is perfectly honour'd and pleased In Heaven the Love of the Saints to God is in its highest Perfection and they see his Glory in the most perfect manner which causes a transcendent Joy to them And this is one reason why the Saints though shining with unequal degrees of Glory are equally content For their most ardent Love being set on God that he is pleased to glorify himself by such various communications of his Goodness is full satisfaction to their desires Besides in those different degrees of Glory every one is so content with his own that there is no possible desire of being but what he is 4. The full joy of Heaven shall continue without diminution or end The number of Possessors cannot lessen it The Divine Presence is an unwasted Spring of Pleasure equally full and open to all and abundantly sufficient to satisfy the immensity of their desires Envy reigns in this World because earthly things are so imperfect in their nature and so peculiar in their possession that they cannot suffice nor be enjoyed by all But in Heaven none is touch'd with that low base passion for God contains all that is precious and desireable in the highest degrees of Perfection and all partake of the influence of his universal Goodness without intercepting one another In the Kingdom above there is no cause for the elder Brother to repine at the Father's Bounty to the younger nor for the younger to supplant the elder to obtain the Birth-right The Heirs of God are all rais'd to Sovereign Glory Every one enjoys him as entirely and fully as if solely his felicity God is a Good as indivisible as infinite and not diminished by the most liberal communications of Himself We may illustrate this by comparing the Price of our Redemption and the Reward The Death of Christ is a universal benefit to all the Saints yet 't is so applied to every Believer for his perfect Redemption as if our Saviour in all his Agonies and Sufferings had no other in his Eye and Heart as if all his Prayers his Tears his Blood were offer'd up to his Father only for that Person The common respect of it the Apostle declares in those admirable words that signify such an excess of God's Love to us He that spared not his own Son but deliver'd him up for us all how shall he not with him also freely give us all things But to imagin that the propriety of every Believer is thereby prejudiced is not only false but extreamly injurious to the Merit and Dignity and to the infinite Love of Christ. Therefore the same Apostle tells us The Life which I now live in the Flesh I live by the Faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me as if he were the sole Object of Christ's Love the End and Reward of his Sufferings And this appropriating of it to himself is no prejudice to the Rights of all others St. John describes himself by that truly glorious Title The Disciple whom Jesus loved Could he speak this of himself without the injury and indignation of the other Disciples Certainly he might For if we consider that incomprehensible Love of Christ exprest to them all at his last Supper after Judas was gone forth As the Father hath loved me so I have loved you we may easily understand that every one of them might justly believe that he was singularly beloved of Christ. They were all received in the Heart though with John they did not all lean on the Breast of their Divine Master Thus in Heaven God is the universal Treasure of all the Saints and the peculiar Portion of every one not engrost by possessing nor wasted by enjoying As by his Essence he equally fills the whole World and every part of it and by his Providence equally regards all and every partitular Creature so in Heaven he dispenses the Riches of his Love to all that they cannot desire more if every one of them were if I may so express it the only begotten of the only begotten himself the sole Heir of all the Merits of his Son Every Saint may with the inflamed Spouse break forth in that Triumph of Love My Beloved is mine and I am his Nay the great number of the glorifi'd Saints is so far from lessening their Joy that it unspeakably encreases it The innumerable Company of Angels and the General Assembly of the Church of the First-born next of the happiness of enjoying God are a chief part of Heaven An unfeigned ardent Affection unites that pure society Our Love is now kindled either from a relation in Nature or a civil account or some visible Excellencies that render a Person worthy of our choice and friendship but in Heaven the Reasons are greater and the degrees of Love incomparably more fervent All Carnal Alliances and Respects cease in that supernatural state The Apostle tells us If I have known Christ after the Flesh I know him so no more By the Resurrection and Ascension of Christ he was transported into another World and had communion with him as an Heavenly King without low regards to the temporal Priviledg of conversing with him on Earth The Spiritual relation is more near and permanent than the strictest band of Nature The Saints have all relation to the same Heavenly Father and to Jesus Christ the Prince of Peace and Head of that happy Fraternity The principal motives of Love here are the inherent Excellencies of a Person Wisdom Holiness Goodness Fidelity are mighty Attractives and produce a more worthy Affection a more intimate Confederacy of Souls than propinquity in Nature or any carnal respects Virtue is amiable in an old Person though wrinkled and deformed Vice is hateful in a young Person though beautiful There are clearer Eyes than those of Flesh a purer Light than what is sensible a diviner Beauty than what is Corporeal and a nobler Love than what is sensual David declares that all his delight was in the Excellent But there are allays of this Spiritual Love here For 1. There are reliques of Frailty in the best Men on Earth some Blemishes that render them less amiable when discovered Here their Graces are mixt with Infirmities and but ascending to Glory Accordingly our Love to them must be regular and serene not clouded with Error mistaking defects for amiable qualities But in Heaven the Image of God is compleat by the union of all the glorious Vertues requisite to its perfection Every Saint there exactly agrees with the first Exemplar is transformed according to the primitive beauty of Holiness No spot or wrinkle remains nor any such thing that may cast the least aspect of deformity upon them 2. In the present state the least part of the Saints Worth is visible As the Earth is
fruitful in Plants and Flowers but its riches are in Mines of precious Metals the veins of Marble hidden in its bosom True Grace appears in sensible Actions but its Glory is Within The sincerity of Aims the purity of Affections the impresses of the Spirit on the Heart the interiour beauties of Holiness are only seen by God Besides such is the humility of eminent Saints that the more they abound in spiritual treasures the less they show As the Heavenly Bodies when in nearest conjunction with the Sun and fullest of light make the least appearance to our sight But all their Excellencies shall then be in view The Glory of God shall be revealed in them And how attractive is the Divine Likeness to an holy Eye How will it ravish the Saints to behold an immortal Loveliness shining in one another Their Love is mutual and reflexive proportionable to the cause of it An equal constant Flame is preserv'd by pure Materials Every one is perfectly amiable and perfectly enamour'd with all Now can we frame a fuller conception of Happiness than such a State of Love wherein whatever is pleasant in Friendship is in perfection and whatever is distastful by Mens folly and weakness is abolished The Psalmist breaks out in a Rapture Behold how good and pleasant it is for Brethren to dwell together in Vnity Love is the Beauty and Strength of Societies the Pleasure of Life How excellent is the Joy of the Blessed when the Prayer of Christ shall be accomplished that they all may be one as thou Father art in me and I in thee that they also may be one in us God is absolutely One in his glorious Nature and Will and therefore unalterably Happy And their inviolable Union in Love is a Ray of the Essential Unity between the sacred Persons There are no Divisions of Heart and Tongues as in this Babel but the most perfect and sweetest Concord an Eternal Agreement in Tempers and Inclinations There are no envious Comparisons for Love that affectively transforms one into another causes the Glory of every Saint to redound to the Joy of all Every one takes his share in the Felicity of all and adds to it Such is the power of that Celestial Fire wherein they all burn that it melts and mixes Souls in such an entire Union that by Complacence and an intimate Joy the Blessedness of all is as it were proper to every one as if every one were plac'd in the Hearts of all and all in the Heart of every one If in the Church of the first-born Christians in the earthly Jerusalem the Band of Charity was so strict that 't is said the Multitude of Believers were of one Heart and one Soul How much more intimate and inseparable is the Union of the Saints in Jerusalem above where every one loves another as himself 'T is recorded of Alexander that entring with Hephestion his Favourite into the Pavilion of Darius his Mother then his Priour she bowed to the Favourite as having a greater appearance of Majesty thinking him to be Alexander but advised of her Error she humbly begg'd his Pardon To whom the generous King replied You did not err Mother this is also Alexander Such was their Affection that whoever was taken of them the other was taken in him the less ascending in the greater without degrading the greater in the less This is a Copy of the holy Love of the Blessed but with the same difference as between the Description of a Star with a Coal and its Beauty in its proper Aspect And where all is Love all is Delight O how do they enjoy and triumph in the Happiness of one another With what an unimaginable Tenderness do they embrace What Reciprocations of Endearments are between them O their ravishing Conversation and sweet Entercourse for their Presence together in Heaven is not a silent Show In the Transfiguration Moses and Elias talk't with Christ. With what excellent discourses do they entertain one another If David felt such inward Pleasure from the sence of God's favours that he could not restrain the expression of it but invites the Saints Come and hear all ye that fear the Lord and I will tell you what he has done for my Soul Certainly in Heaven the blessed with overflowing affections recount the Divine Benefits the admirable Methods whereby the Life of Grace was begun preserv'd and carried on in the midst of Temptations the continual Succession of Mercies in the time of their Hopes and the Consummation of all in the time of their Enjoyment How joyfully do they concur in their thanksgivings to God for the goodness of Creation in making them reasonable Creatures capable to know love and enjoy Him when they might have been of the lowest Order in the wholesphere of Beings for his compassionate care and providence over them in this World But especially for his sovereign and singular Mercy in electing them to be vessels of honour for his powerful Grace in rescuing them from the cruel and ignominious bondage of Sin for his most free Love that justified them from all their guilt by the Death of his only Son and glorified them with himself They are never weary in this delightful exercise but continually bless him for his Mercy that endures for ever We may judg by the Saints here when they are in a fit disposition to praise God what fervours they feel in their united Praises of him in Heaven The Psalmist in an Extasie calls to all the parts of the World to joyn with him The Lord reigns let the Heavens rejoyce and the Earth be glad let the Sea roar let the Fields be joyful and all that dwell therein He desires that Nature should be elevated above it self that the dead parts be inspir'd with Life the insensible feel Motions of Joy and those that want a Voice break forth in praises to adorn the Divine Triumph With what Life and Alacrity will the Saints in their blessed Communion celebrate the Object of their Love and Praises The Seraphims about the Throne cryed to one another to express their Zeal and Joy in celebrating his Eternal Purity and Power and the Glory of his Goodness O the unspeakable Pleasure of this Concert when every Soul is harmonious and contributes his part to the full Musick of Heaven O could we hear but some Eccho of those Songs wherewith the Heaven of Heavens resounds some remains of those Voices wherewith the Saints above triumph in the Praises in the solemn Adoration of the King of Spirits how would it inflame our desires to be joyn'd with them Blessed are those that are in thy House they always praise thee 2. The fulness of Joy in Heaven is undecaying for the causes of it are always equal And those are the Beatifick Object reveal'd and the uninterrupted Contemplation of it Whilst we are here below the Sun of Righteousness as to our perception and sence has ascensions and declinations accesses and recesses And our Earth
things we are to pray for And they respect the End or the Means The End is the primary object of our desires accordingly the two first Petitions concern our blessed End as it respects God and our selves We pray hallowed be thy Name that is by the reverence and adoration of all his Subjects and thy Kingdom come that is for the manifestation of his Eternal Glory in the next World that we may reign with him The Means in order to this End are of two sorts Some conduct to it by themselves those are the good things desired in the third and fourth Petitions and some lead to it by accident and those are the freedom from evils exprest in the last Petition The good things desired either have a direct influence upon our obtaining Happiness and they are sum'd up in our universal obedience to God's Will exprest in the third Petition let thy Will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven or they are such as by way of subserviency promote our Happiness and those we pray for in the fourth Petition Give us this day our daily Bread And 't is observable there is but one Petition for Temporal Blessings and 't is the last in the Order of those that concern good things And that single Petition is so restrained that 't is evident by its Tenour that earthly things are not absolutely good to be desired for themselves but relatively and subordinately to our eternal Good Daily Bread we must ask of our heavenly Father the necessary support of the present Life without which we cannot exercise our internal or external Powers and Faculties in his Service but not Delicacies and Abundance for the luxurious Appetite The difference of Conditions in the present World is very great as in Pharaoh's Dream some Ears of Corn were so full and weighty that they bended with their weight others so thin and blasted that they were as Stubble for the Fire Thus some abound in all Felicities possible in this Life others are chastened every Morning under various and continual Afflictions Now this infallible Principle being planted in the Heart that all present things are to be improved with respect to our future Happiness will moderate the Affections in Prosperity so to use the World that we may enjoy God and make us not only patient but pleased in Adversities as they are preparatory for Heaven The Original of all the Sins and Misery of Men is their perverse abuse of things by turning the Means into the End setting their Affections of Love Desire and Joy upon sensible things as their proper Happiness with inconsiderate neglect of the spiritual eternal state to which all other things should be subservient As if one diseased and sickly in a Forreign Country that could not possibly recover Health but in his Native Air in his return thither invited by the pleasantness of the way should take up his residence in it and never arrive to his own Country Among the West Indians some are reported to be so swift in running that no Horse can keep pace with them and they have a constant rule in their Diet to eat of no Beast or Bird or Fish that is slow in motion fancying it would transfuse a sluggishness in them The Christian Life is by the Apostle compar'd to a Race and earthly things by an inseparable property of Nature load and depress the Soul that it cannot with vigour run the race set before it The Believer therefore who intends for the high price of his Calling and is true to his end will be temperate in all things Nay he will not only be circumspect lest they should check with his great Design but wisely manages them in subserviency to it St. Paul charges them that are rich in this World to do good to be rich in good Works ready to distribute willing to communicate laying in store for themselves a good Foundation against the time to come that they may lay hold of eternal Life And the fixed aim at Heaven as our Felicity will reconcile an afflicted state to us When temporal Evils are effectual means to promote our everlasting Happiness the amiableness and excellency of the End changes their Nature and makes those Calamities that in themselves are intolerable to become light and easy The Poor the Mourners the Persecuted are blessed now because theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven The Apostle though under variety of sharp troubles yet expresses his sence with that mitigation as but lightly toucht with them as sorrowful but always rejoicing From hence he tells us that with unfainting courage he prosecuted his glorious End For our light afflictions that are but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding weight of Glory This seriously believed and considered will make us understand the Harmony and Consent of the most discordant parts of God's Providence This will reconcile the severity and roughness of his Hand with the tender Compassions of his Heart towards his Servants This will dry up Rivers of unprofitable Tears that flow from the afflicted and make the Cross of Christ a light burthen For their heaviest Afflictions are not only consistent with his Love but the Effects of it being influential upon their Happiness Whereas the prosperity of Fools shall slay them and their good things here aggravate their Miseries hereafter 4. The sincere choice of Heaven as our final Happiness will make us aspire to the greatest height of Holiness we are capable of in the present state For the End has always a powerful virtue to transform a Man into its likeness and Heaven is a state of perfect conformity to the Holy God This difference is observable between the Understanding and the Will in their Operations The Understanding in forming Conceptions of things draws the Object to it self The Will is drawn by the Object it chooses and is always fashioning and framing the Soul into an intire conformity to it Thus carnal Objects when propounded as the End of a Man secretly imprint on him their likeness his Thoughts Affections and whole Conversation is carnal As the Psalmist speaks of the Worshippers of Idols they that make them are like unto them so is every one that trusteth in them whatever we adore and esteem we are changed into its Image Idolaters are as stupid and senceless as the Idols to which they pay Homage Thus when God is chosen as our supream Good and last End by conversing with him the Image of his glorious Holiness is derived on the Soul and it becomes Godly the Heart is drawn by his attractive excellencies and the Life directed to him This being a point of great importance I shall further prove and illustrate it There is no deliberating about the degrees of that which is loved for it self as our End More or less may respect the Means that are valued and used to obtain it but the love of the End is vast and unlimited A Physician endeavours to recover his Patient to
an Imposthume a Flux of Rhume stopping Respiration kills the Body without any presaging signs of Death As if the Roof and all the Chambers should fall within the House whiles the Walls are standing And how many unforseen Accidents and therefore inevitable put a sudden period to Life Is it not then the truest Wisdom to be early in our work for Heaven when the season is certainly short and uncertainly continued and the omission is irreparable Therefore the Gospel represents the coming of our Judg under different images of surprisal of a Thief that by the favour of the Night breaks into the House of a Master that returns from abroad unexpected to call his Servants to an account Of a Bridegroom that makes his Nuptial entrance at an unthought of hour when the wise and foolish Virgins were asleep Conscience was slumbred in the Good and stupified in the Bad to keep us always vigilant and prepared for that hour that is the end of Time and beginning of Eternity 2. Suppose Life be continued yet Sinners can have no rational hopes that they shall sincerely repent For 1. Saving Repentance is the Gift of God And is it likely that those who have been insensible of the loud and earnest calls of the Word that have been inflexible to the gracious methods of Providence leading them to repentance should at last obtain converting Grace The gales of the Spirit are very transient and blow where he pleases and can it be expected that those who have wilfully and often resisted his pure Motions should by an exuberant Favour receive afterwards more powerful Grace to overrule their stubborn Wills and make them obedient Our Saviour tells us To him that hath shall be given but to him that neglects the improving spiritual Treasures that which he hath shall be taken away There are special seasons of Grace as the passing of Christ in the way where the blind men sate which neglected are irrecoverably lost God has threatned that his Spirit shall not always strive with rebellious Sinners and then their state is remediless This may be the case of many even in this Life who are insensible of their Misery As Consumptive Persons decline by degrees lose their Appetite Colour and Strength till at last they are hopeless so the withdrawings of the Spirit are gradual his motions are not so frequent nor strong and upon the continued provocations of Sinners finally leaves them under that most fearful doom He that is filthy let him be filthy still He that is unrighteous let him be unrighteous still and thus punishes them on this side Hell as he does the damned by giving them over to Sin Nothing therefore is more dangerous than the usual excuses for the delays of Repentance 'T is written as with a Sun beam that God will graciously pardon repenting Sinners but 't is no where promised that he will give repentance to those who securely break his Laws upon a corrupt confidence they will repent at last 'T is a bloody adventure to indulge their carnal Affections as if they had infallible assurance the word of God confirm'd by his Oath that they should not dye in an impenitent state 2. Supposing the Holy Spirit be not totally withdrawn yet by every days continuance in an evil course the Heart is more hardened against the impressions of Grace and more incapable of returning to God 'T is therefore the subtilty of the old Serpent to make the entrance of Sin easy for he knows that after sometime it will plead a right by prescription and with difficulty be ejected Custom is a second Nature and has a mighty power either in that which is good or evil Can the Aethiopian change his Skin can the Leopard change his spots then may you who are accustomed to do evil do good If Sin in its infancy can make such resistance that the Spirit of Grace is foil'd in his Motions to rescue the Soul from its bondage how much more when 't is grown into a confirm'd habit Therefore the Apostle urges so emphatically to day while it is called to day hear the voice of God lest any be hardened through the deceitfulness of Sin 3. How uncertain is it whether God will accept the Addresses of such at last We are commanded to seek the Lord while he maybe found and to call upon him while he is near The limitation implies if the season be neglected he will hide his Face for ever Now in cases of great moment and hazard what diligence what caution should be used 1. How derogatory is it to his Majesty to offer to him the dregs of our Age the reliques of a licentious careless Life spent in the works of Vanity Is this to give Glory to God Contempt provokes Superiors as much as actual Injuries And how vilifying is it of his excellent Greatness that Men lavishly wast the best of their time upon their Lusts and the World and when through weakness of Age or the violence of a Disease they can no more relish the pleasures of Sin then only to seek his favour and presume upon it as if he could not be happy without them and it were his interest to receive them If ye offer the blind for a Sacrifice is it not evil and if ye offer the lame and the sick is it not evil Offer it now to thy Governour will he be pleased with thee to accept thy Person saith the Lord of Hosts 2. Consider what Sincerity or moral Value is in Religion that meerly proceeds from bitter constraint 'T is a rule in Law falsum est eam peperisse cui mortuae Filius extractus est 'T is not a natural Birth when the Child is extracted from the dead Mother 'T is not Genuine Piety that is only extorted by the Rack whilst the Heart full of aversion and reluctancy does not truly consent Pure Religion flows uncompell'd from love to God 'T is the Dreggs that come forth with pressing 'T is observed of the Israelites that when God slew them they sought him and returned and enquired early after God But 't is added Nevertheless they did flatter him with their Mouths and they lied to him with their Tongues for their Hearts were not right with him neither were they stedfast in his Covenant When Sinners are plunged in deep distress when the shadow of Death sits upon their Eye-lids they may with plentiful effusions of Prayers and Tears desire God to receive them to Heaven not to serve him there not to enjoy the Divine Presence but as a Sanctuary from revenging Justice as a Refuge from Hell And will such Desires prevail what swells the Confidence of Sinners but unworthy Notions of God as if a forc'd and formal Expression to him were sufficient to reconcile his offended Majesty 3. There is nothing renders Men more unworthy of Mercy than continuance in Sin upon presumption of an easy Pardon at last This is the most common deceitful Principle upon which they build their Hopes
all that call upon him in Truth But to tell Sinners who securely proceed in an habitual course of evil that they may be saved at last and notwithstanding their presumptuous repulses of Gods calls to his Service yet they may come into the Vineyard at the eleventh hour and be rewarded is to give countenance and protection to Sin and to harden them to Destruction Poison is not cured by giving Food but Antidotes that put Nature into a Passion till it be expell'd The Terrours of the Lord can only prove medicinal to such depraved Souls To conclude this Discourse Let us seriously consider the Revelation God has made of himself in the Gospel as a Father and a Judg that Justice and Holiness as well as Mercy are essential to his Nature that our Affections may be accordingly moved towards him If ye call on the Father who without respect of Persons judgeth according to every mans work pass the time of your sojourning here in fear Presumption and Despair are very dishonourable to God and pernicious to the Soul the one destroys the Fear the other the Love of God But Hope contemper'd with fear hath an excellent influence in the Christian Life As the Ballast and the Wind are both necessary that the Ship may go safely and regularly without the Winds the Ship can make no way and without Ballast 't is in danger of oversetting by every gust Thus Hope and Fear are very useful to bring us safely to Eternal Felicity Fear without Hope stupifies the vigour and alacrity of the Soul that it cannot come to God and Hope without Fear makes it vain and careless of its Duty and liable to be overthrown by every pleasing temptation Briefly let us rightly understand the tenour of Evangelical Promises of Pardon and Grace they are conditional and applicable only to penitent Believers And unfeigned Faith the condition of our Justification purifies the Heart works by Love and is the living Principle of universal Obedience And Repentance unto Life is productive of all good Fruits in their Season Be not deceived God is not mocked as a Man Sows so shall he Reap He that sows to the Flesh shall of the Flesh reap Corruption He that sows to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap Life Everlasting CHAP. VI. Our Choice must be Constant. Perseverance in a holy Life absolutely required in order to attaining the Reward The various Temptations that assault Christians to divert them from the pursuit of Heaven The Reason why Perseverance is necessary Cautions against Presumption and a vicious dejection of Spirit I Shall proceed next to consider that our Choice must be firm and lasting victorious over all Temptations The two principal Rules of the Spiritual Life are to begin and end well to fix and establish the main design for Everlasting Happiness and from a determinate Resolution and ratified purpose of Heart to pursue it with firmness and constancy to live for Heaven and with readiness and courage to dye for it if the Glory of God so require Perseverance is indispensably necessary in all that will obtain the Eternal Reward For the clearing this most important Point I will first represent from Scripture the Idea of Perseverance that is attended with Salvation Secondly Confider why 't is so strictly required I. Saving Perseverance includes the permanent residence of Grace in the Soul 'T is composed of the whole Chain of Graces the union of holy habits that are at first infused into a Christian by the sanctifying Spirit When Eternal Life is promised to Faith or Love or Hope 't is upon supposal that those Graces being planted in the Heart shall finally prosper He that is faithful to the Death shall inherit the Crown of Life 'T is Love that never fails that shall enter into Heaven 'T is hope firm unto the end that shall be accomplished in a glorious Fruition If Grace be disseised by a usurping Lust Apostacy will follow and the forfeiture of our right in the Kingdom of Heaven 2. Grace must be continually drawn forth into exercise according to our several states and duties and the various occasions that happen in our course through the World Those who are light in the Lord are commanded to walk as Children of the Light to signify the excellency and purity of the Christian Life Those who live in the Spirit must walk in the Spirit that is by a conspicuous course of Holiness declare the vigour and efficacy of the divine principle that is communicated to them Paulum sepultae distat inertiae celata virtus Virtue that breaks not forth into visible Actions is not worthy of the Name The meer abstaining from evil is not sufficient but all the positive acts of the holy Life are to be constantly done In discharging both these parts of our Duty compleat Religion is exprest and the power of Grace consists 3. Perseverance includes not only continuance in well-doing but fervour and progress towards Perfection There are two fixt States the one in Heaven the other in Hell The blessed Spirits above are arrived to the height of Holiness The Devil and damned Spirits are sunck to the lowest extremity of Sin But in the middle state here Grace in the Saints is a rising growing Light and Sin in the Wicked improves every day like Poison in a Serpent that becomes more deadly by his Age. We are injoined not to remain in our first Imperfections but to follow Holiness to the utmost issue of our Lives to its intire consummation For this end all the dispensations of Providence must be improved whether prosperous or afflicting And the Ordinances of the Gospel were appointed that in the use of them we may be changed into the divine Image from Glory to Glory 4. Perseverance is required notwithstanding all Temptations that may allure or terrify us from our Duties what ever affects us one way or other while we are cloathed with frail Flesh. 'T is the fundamental Principle of Christianity declared by our Saviour If any Man will come after me that is be my Disciple and Servant let him deny himself and take up his Cross and follow me even to be crucified with him rather than wilfully forfeit his Integrity and Loyalty to Christ. He must by a sacred fixt resolution devest himself of all things even the most valued and desireable in the present World and actually forsake them nay entertain what is most distasteful and resist unto Blood rather than desert his Duty 1. He must with unfainting Patience continue in doing his Duty notwithstanding all Miseries and Calamities Losses Disgraces Torments or Death it self which wicked Men and greater Enemies the Powers of Darkness can inflict upon us To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for Glory Honour and Immortality Eternal Life is promised He that endures to the End notwithstanding the most terrible Sufferings to which he is exposed for Christ's sake shall be saved In this a Christian must be the express
confirm and fortify our resolutions for Heaven God promised to Hezekiah 15 years but not to preserve his Life by Miracle he was obliged to repair the wastings of Nature by daily Food and to abstain from what was noxious and destructive to his Body The Apostle excites Christians to work out their own Salvation with fear and trembling for it is God that works in them to will and to do of his good Pleasure Let him that stands take heed lest he fall None are a more easy Conquest to the Tempter then those who presume upon their own Strength We should be always jealous of ourselves from the sad Examples of Apostacy in every Age. St. Ambrose testifies from his own knowledg that many after the couragious enduring of cruel Torments for Religion the tearing open their Sides that their Bowels appeared and the burning of some parts of their Bodies yet when led forth to finish the Victory of Faith to be a triumphant Spectacle to Angels and Men when the blessed Rewarder was ready to put the Martyrs Crown on their Heads at the sight of their mourning Wives and Children in the way were overcome by Pity the weakest Affection and fail'd in the last act of Christian Fortitude We must pray to be strengthned with all Might according to his glorious Power unto all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness For some may vigorously resist one sort of Temptation and render themselves to others And if finally vanquisht by one of those Enemies we lose our Victory and Crown And as Presumption betrays the Soul into the Devils Snares so a vicious dejection of Spirit from a distrust of Relief from God in our Difficulties and his assistance with our unfeigned endeavours for Salvation is very pernicious For this damps Industry and causes either a total neglect or uncomfortable use of Means for that End Many Christians considering their Graces are weak their Nature fickle and apt to revolt are ready as David said One day I shall perish by the hand of Saul to conclude sadly of the issue of their Condition To encourage such let them consider that Perseverance is not only a Coudition but a Privilege of the Covenant of Grace For that affords supply of spiritual Strength to the sincere Believer for performing the condition it requires Indeed if Grace were the meer product of Free Will the most fervent Resolutions would vanish into a Lye upon the Assault of an overpowering Temptation As Hezekiah acknowledged that the Assyrian Kings had destroyed the Gods of the Nations that were no Gods but Idols the work of Mens Hands But sanctifying Grace is the effect of the Holy Spirit and he that begins that good work in the Saints will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. He that inclin'd them joyfully to chuse the Spiritual Eternal Good will bind their unconstant Hearts that by a faithful adherence they shall cleave to their Duty and Felicity God has most graciously declared I will put my Spirit into their Hearts that they shall never depart from me The Promise is founded in the unchangeable Love of God to his People Were God as Man subject to Variation there might be Jealousies in Believers lest they should lose his good Will As those who depend on Princes are suspicious lest from the natural inconstancy of the human Will a new Favourite should supplant them But whom God loves he loves to the end The Apostle prays for the Thessalonians that God would preserve them blameless till unto the coming of Christ by this Consideration faithful is he that calleth you he will do it He speaks of the Internal Call that opens the Heart and overpowers all Resistance As when the Angel came with a Light shining in the Prison to St. Peter and struck him on the Side bid him arise quickly loosed his Chains aud led him through the Guards open'd the Doors and restored him to Liberty The effectual calling of a Sinner is the visible and infallible effect of electing Mercy and God is unchangeable in his own purpose and faithful to his Promises of bringing all such by Sanctification to Glory The same Apostle tells the Saints at Corinth That the Redeemer would confirm them to the End God is faithful by whom ye are called Grace that was at first inspir'd is continually actuated by the Spirit who is stiled the earnest of the Saints Inheritance So that whereas the Angels that excell'd in Strength kept not their first State of Purity and Glory but are sunk into Corruption and Misery yet true humble Believers though weak and encompast with many Difficulties shall be preserved from destructive Evil and raised to an unchangeable Estate of Perfection This is as truly admirable as if the Stars should fall from Heaven and Clods of Earth ascend and shine in the Firmament The Apostle who acknowledged his insufficiency of himself to think a good Thought yet triumphantly declares I can do all things within the compass of his Duty through Christ that strengthens me The Love Fidelity and Power of God are a sure Fountain of Assistance to every Christian that sincerely resolves and endeavours to prosecute his last and blessed End CHAP. VII An Account how Men are induc't to choose a false Happiness and reject the true Directions for the regulating our Choice The Senses and Passions are the worst Councellors The Example of the multitude is contagious I Shall now come to the Directions how to fix our Choice aright This is a matter of everlasting Consequence it therefore becoms us with the most intense application of Mind to consider it and according to the advice of Wisdom to keep the Heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of Life Indeed the choice were not difficult between lying Vanities and substantial Blessedness if uncorrupted reason had the Superior sway but in this lapsed state of Nature the Understanding and Willare so depraved that present things pleasing to sence ravish the Heart into a Compliance Men are deceived not compelled into ruin the subtile Seducer prevails by fair Temptations This will be evident by reflecting upon the frame and composition of Man as he consists of Spirit Soul and Body and the manner of his acting The Spirit is the intellective discerning Faculty the Seat of Reason capable to compare and judge of the qualities of things and foresee their issues The Body includes the lower Faculties the Sences Fancy and Passions that are coversant about present things The Soul is the Will the principle of Election in the midst of the other as the Centre to which all their Addresses flow Now upon the proposal of the spiritual and carnal Good in order to Choice the Will is to be directed by the Mind and by its own Authority to rule the lower Passions But alas the Mind has lost its primitive Light and Purity Vigilance and Integrity neglects its Duty and from Ignorance Errour and carnal Prejudices often pleads for the Flesh and the
as that of the foolish Emperor who employed an Army furnish'd with all Military Preparations to gather Shells upon the Sea-shore This were according to the passionate expostulation of the Psalmist to charge God that he had made all Men in vain Reason and Scripture tells us the End of Man is to glorify and enjoy God the obtaining whereof makes him perfectly happy and the missing of it perfectly miserable This is a fundamental Truth upon which the whole Fabrick of Mans Duty and Felicity is built Without this Foundation our Faith presently sinks If the clearness of this principle be obscur'd we shall wander from the way of Eternal Life and not only lose the way but the remembrance and desire of it Thinking is the property of the reasonable Soul and the just order of Consideration is that the Mind primarily regards this supream directive Truth that is to govern all our Actions 'T was prudent Counsel that one of the Antients gave for composing a Book that the Author frequently reflect upon the Title that it may correspond in all the parts with his original Design Thus it becomes a Man often to consider the End of his Being that the course of his Life may have a direct tendency to it and the more excellent our End is the more constraining is the necessity to prosecute it 'T is of great Efficacy to reflect upon our selves Whither do my Thoughts and Desires tend for what do I spend my Strength and consume my Days Will it be my last Account how much by my Prudence and Diligence I have exceeded others in temporal acquisitions If a General were at play while the Armies are engaging would it be a noble Exploit for him to win the Game whiles his Army for want of conduct loses the Victory Will it be profitable for a Man to gain the World and lose his Soul Let Conscience answer in Truth 'T is observable what is reported of a noble Forreigner that reflecting upon his Birth-day and the Age of his Life he was surpriz'd with grief and struck with Astonishment that without a due Sence of the proper Business and End of Life he was arrived to that Age when our Days begin to decline In an instant all things seem'd to change appearance in his view Then first says he I perceived I was a Man for before I had not resolved for what I should employ my Life The issue was his serious Resolution unfeignedly to honour God sincerely to confess Christ to place his Felicity in Holiness of Life and most zealously to follow it Let any one that is not of a reprobate Mind and an incorrigibly depraved Heart duly consider the sublime and supernatural End of Man O what a marvellous change will it make in him of Carnal into Spiritual nay it would be a kind of Miracle if he continued in his sinful State How will it transform him into another Man with new Valuations new Affections and Resolutions as if he were born again with a new Soul How will it amaze him that his whole course has been a contradiction to the wise and gracious design of God that all his Industry has been a race out of the way a perpetual diversion from his main Business that his Life has been fruitless and dead to the true End of it How will he be confounded at his former Folly Then alone we act with Understanding when mov'd by our blessed End and our Actions by a strict tendency without variation issue into it 2. Consider attentively the Objects that stand in competition for our Choice the present World and Heaven to make a judicious comparison between them in their Quality and Duration First in their Quality The things of the World according to the judgment of God himself who is only Wise and Good and has the highest Authority to decide in the case are but fallacious appearances of Happiness meer Vanity And certainly the Creator knows the true worth of all things and would not disparage his own Works but would undeceive Men that are apt to judge and choose by the Eye of Sense The Apostle tells us that an Idol is nothing in the World although the matter of it may be of Gold or Marble or Wood yet it has no divine Perfection which the Idolater attributes to it So all worldly things in which Men place their chief Care and Confidence and Joy though they have some degrees of Goodness and are a transient relief to us in our passage to Eternity yet they are nothing as to perfect Felicity 'T is meerly Opinion and Conceit that makes them so valued and pleasing like a rich Dye to a slight Stuff from whence its price arises Reason is either obscur'd or not obeyed when the World is the Object of our Choice Now what are these appearances of Beauty and Pleasure compar'd with a Blessedness that is truly infinite Carnal Joy smiles in the Countenance flatters the Fancy touches the Sense but cannot fill the Heart but the Favour of God satisfies the Soul Thou hast put Gladness into my Heart more than when their Corn and Wine increased Carnal Joy in its highest elevation in the time of the Harvest and Vintage is incomparably less than Spiritual Joy that springs from the Light of God's Countenance The World cannot fill the narrow capacity of our Senses but divine Joys exceed our most inlarged comprehensive Faculties The Eye is not satisfied with seeing nor the Ear with hearing but the Peace of God passes all Vnderstanding The Things of the World are of a limited Goodness Wisdom is not Strength nor Learning Riches nor Beauty Fruitfulness But God is a Universal Good in whom are all attractives to raise and satisfy our Desires If Men did consider they would distinguish and despise in comparison all that is named Felicity here with the Favour of God To seek for satisfaction in the Creature and forsake him is as if one desirous to see the Light should withdraw from the presence of the Sun to borrow it from a weak Ray reflected by some obscure matter Now if there be so vast a difference in their Nature as between a painted Vapour and the solid glorious Good between Finite and Infinite why is there not a difference accordingly in our Esteem Affections and Respects to them How unreasonable is it that a Soul capable of God should cleave to the Dust It would be most egregious Folly to hang a Weight that is able to turn a great Engine upon a small Clock 't is incomparably more Foolish when the love of Happiness the Weight of Human Nature which applied aright will turn our Desires to Heaven is only used to give vigorous motion to our endeavours about earthly things 2. Consider their Duration The Apostle tells us that the main scope of his actions was things invisible and gives the reason of it for the things that are seen are Temporal and the things that are not seen are Eternal To insist upon the
vast difference between temporal and eternal may seem needless for the first notions of things are of such uncontroulable Clearness that an attempt to prove them is to light a Candle to discover the Sun Yet this principle drawing after it such powerful Consequences for the government of our Hearts and Lives and Conscience being so remiss and the sensual Affections so rebellious 't is needful to consider this seriously that what is really assented to in Speculation may not be contradicted in Practice Now who can unfold the infinite volume of Ages in Eternity the Understanding of an Angel can no more comprehend what is incomprehensible than the Mind of a Man A Snail will pass over an immense space as soon as an Eagle for though one dispatches more way than the other yet both are equally distant from arriving to the end of what is endless But that the conception of Eternity may be more distinct and affecting it is useful to represent it under some temporal resemblances that sensibly though not fully express it Suppose that the vast Ocean were distilled drop by drop but so slowly that a thousand years should pass between every drop how many Millions of years were required to empty it Suppose this great World in its full compass from one Pole to another and from the top of the Firmanent to the bottom were to be fill'd with the smallest Sand but so slowly that every thousand years only a single Grain should be added how many Millions would pass away before it were filled If the immense Superficies of the Heavens wherein are innumerable Starrs the least of which equals the magnitude of the Earth were filled with Figures of Numbers without the least vacant space and every Figure signified a Million what created Mind could tell their Number much less their Value Having these Thoughts I reply the Sea will be emptied drop by drop the Universe fill'd grain by grain the Numbers written in the Heavens will come to an end and how much of Eternity is then spent Nothing for still infinitely more remains In short what ever is temporal extend the continuance of it to the utmost possibility of conception is infinitely short of Eternity A Day an Hour a Minute has some proportion with a thousand years for that duration is determined by a certain number of Days and Hours and Minutes but Millions of Ages have no proportion to Eternity because 't is an indeterminable Duration The Mind is soon tir'd and lost in searching after numbers to represent it 't is confounded and struck with amazing Horror and can only direct the Eye upward or downward to the two Habitations of Eternity the glorious and the miserable Heaven and Hell Now let us compare the Things of the present World with those of the future State The first are measur'd by flying Time the other remain in an unmoveable Eternity The Comforts that spring from the Earth suddenly wither and fall to it the Tree of Life flourishes only above Frequent changes from Prosperity to Adversity are the Properties of this mortal State As those who are in Voyages at Sea sometimes are in a calm and presently suffer a storm and are forc'd to alter their course by the changing of the Winds So 't is with us in our passage here but upon the first entrance into another World all the variations of this are at an end Verily every Man at his best estate is altogether Vanity Surely every Man walks in a vain shew surely they are disquieted in vain The visible Felicity of Man is of no continuance We may frequently observe in the Evening a Cloud by the reflection of the Sun invested with so bright a Lustre and adorn'd with such a pleasant variety of Colours that in the judgment of our Eyes if an Angel were to assume a Body correspondent to his Glory it were a fit matter for it But in walking a few Steps the Sun is descended beneath the Horizon and the Light withdrawn and of all that splendid flaming appearance nothing remains but a dark Vapour that falls down in a Showre Thus vanishing is the shew of Felicity here In this Sense assists Faith for the Experience of every day verifies what the Scripture declares that the fashion of this World passes away And therefore the guilty folly of Men is aggravated to set their Eyes and Hearts upon that which is not To see one passionately dote on a Face ruin'd and deform'd with Age to be inchanted without a Charm raises wonder and exposes to contempt Yet such is the stupidity of Men to embrace with their most entire Affections the withred Vanities of the World that are hastening to their period 'T was a stinging reproach to Idolaters from God None considers in his Heart neither is their Knowledg nor Vnderstanding to say I have burnt part of it in the Fire yea I have also baked Bread upon the Coals thereof I have roasted Flesh and eaten it and shall I make the residue an Abomination shall I fall down to the stock of a Tree And are not sensual Men equally guilty of such monstrous Folly for though universal Experience convince them that all things under the Sun are fading and that many times their dearest Comforts are snatcht away from their Embraces yet who does advisedly consider and say to himself shall I give my Heart to transient Shadows shall I cherish vain hopes vain aims and desires of obtaining Happiness in a perishing World Although the worshipping a Stock be Idolatry of grosser Infamy yet 't is as foolish and as destructive to set our chief Love and Joy that is only due to God upon the Creature And what follows in the Prophet is justly applicable to such Persons He feedeth on Ashes that not only afford no nourishment but is very hurtful to the Body a deceived Heart has turn'd him aside that he cannot deliver his Soul nor say is there not a Lye in my right Hand Thus carnal Men are so blinded with their Affections to these short liv'd Pleasures that they cannot take the true liberty of judging and reflecting that they are deceived and delighted with empty Shadows that will suddenly end in disappointment and sorrow Briefly these glittering Fictions and false Joys cannot please without an error in the Mind that shall last but a little while And if you saw a distracted Person Sing and Dance with a conceit that he is a Prince would you be willing to lose sober Reason for his phantastick Pleasure especially if you knew that his chearful fit should suddenly change into a mournful or raging Madness for ever But the Blessedness above is unchangeable as God the Author and Object of it Eternal as the Soul that enjoys it And shall the World that passes away with the Lusts thereof turn our Affections from the undefiled immortal Inheritance Shall the vanishing appearance the fleeting Figure of Happiness be preferred before what is substantial and dureable Astonishing Madness that God and Heaven
Image of our suffering Redeemer that we may be crowned with his Glory How many Christians esteemed themselves honoured in the Disgrace and blessed in the Injuries they suffered for Christ and with an invincible Patience and astonishing Joy endured the most cruel Persecutions though yet the human Nature in them was as tender and sensible of Pains as in others but the natural aversion and repugnance to suffering was overruled by the determination of the rational Will upon the account of their Duty and the Reward attending it They gave a most convincing sensible Testimony how much more valuable Heaven is than this present World willingly exposing themselves to all Evil here and rejoycing in hope of a glorious issue In short the Reward of Obedience is a triumphal Crown and where there is no Victory there can be no Triumph and where no Combate no Victory and where no Enemy no Combate Therefore we are commanded to fight against our internal Enemies our corrupt Affections to kill the Lusts of the Flesh and to encounter and overcome by Humility and meek Submissions the cruelty of malicious Enemies without us in a direct order of obtaining the Crown of Life And a Believer that has Heaven in taste and expectation will easily renounce the most pleasant and willingly endure the sharpest Temptations for the blessed Reward of his Obedience CHAP. XII The Gospel threatens Hell to all that prefer the Pleasures of Sin before Heaven How congruous and powerful a Motive this is to work on carnal Men. The Misery of an everlasting Hell represented 4. COnsider if Men choose the Pleasures of Sin that are but for a season before Heaven that infinitely exceeds this World then an everlasting Hell shall be their Portion There is no middle State in the next World no tolerable mediocrity but two contrary States yet alike in this that the Happiness and Misery are equally Infinite and Eternal And by the most wise righteous Will of God there is an inseparable connexion between the Choice and Actions of Men here and their future Condition for ever The equity of this cannot be denied without renouncing the Light of Reason For when by a Chain of Consequences sinful Pleasures are linked with eternal Punishments threatned in the Divine Law he that will enjoy those forbidden Pleasures binds himself to suffer all the pains annexed to them And 't is just that those who err without Excuse should repent without Remedy Now the threatning of eternal Punishment is the most proper Argument to work on carnal secure Sinners 1. Because they are more capable to conceive of the Torments of Hell than the Joys of Heaven Storms and Darkness are more easily drawn by a Pencil than a calm bright Day Fire and Brimstone are very painful to Sense and the imagination strongly represents its vehemence in tormenting the Body and what an evil the uncessant remorse of the guilty Conscience will be hereafter is in part understood by the secret accusations and twinges of self-condemning Sinners here but they are absolutely Strangers to the Joys of the Holy Ghost the Delights of the Soul in the Contemplation and Love of God the peace and contentment of Conseience in his Favour They cannot without Experience know how good the Lord is no more than see a taste To discourse to them of the Spiritual Pleasures that flow from the divine Presence of the Happiness of the Saints that are before the Throne of God and serve him Day and Night in his Temple is to speak with the Tongue of an Angel unintelligible things Their Affections and Minds and Language are confined to sensible things The natural Man receives not the things of the Spirits of God for they are foolishness to him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned There may be in a carnal Person a conception of Heaven as a Refuge from Miseries and some smothering confused thoughts of its Felicity as the Idea of Light and Colours in one Blind from his Birth but only the pure in Heart can see God as in the perfect Vision of Glory in Heaven so in the imperfect reflection of it in the Gospel 2. Carnal Men are more disposed to be wrought upon by representing the Torments of Hell than the Joys of Heaven For we cannot love but what is known nor enjoy but what is loved And as the purification of the Heart from vicious Affections is the best means to clear the Mind so the illustration of the Mind is very influential to warn the Heart The true conception of Heaven in its amiable Excellencies would convey such a sweetness as to change Hatred it self into Love and of this only prepared Souls are capable But those who are sunk into Sense are without relish of spiritual Felicity and are either allured or terrified only with that is pleasant or painful to Sense 'T is recorded as the unparallel'd Folly of Nero that when he was ready to cut his own Throat to avoid the fury of the Multitude he broke forth into great expressions of Sorrow what an excellent Artist he died 'T was not the loss of the Roman Empire that so much troubled him as that so much skill in Musick died with him He valued himself more as a Fidler than an Emperor Thus carnal Men with a folly infinitely more prodigious when Death is near are not so much affected with the loss of the Crown of Glory and the Kingdom of Heaven as with their leaving the present World and its Vanities This makes Death intolerably bitter Till the Love of God inflames and purifies the Heart the fruition of his Glory is not esteemed nor desired A Seraphim sent from the Presence of God with a flaming Coal from the Altar toucht the Lips of the Holy Prophet and his Heart was presently melted into a compliance with the Divine Will But if a Rebel Angel that burns with another Fire than of Divine Love were dispatcht from Hell with a Coal from that Altar where so many Victims are offered to divine Justice as there are damned Souls and touch'd obdurate unreformed Sinners that they might have a lively sence what it is to burn for ever this were the most congruous and effectual way to reclaim them Like stubborn Metals they are only made pliant by the Fire Indeed the fear of Hell though raised to the highest degrees is not sufficient to convert a Sinner thorowly to God For that Religion that is the meer effect of Fear will be according to the nature of its Principle with resistance and trouble wavering and inconstant when the violence of the fear is lessen'd Whereas that which is from the inclination of Love and the hope of a desired Good is fully voluntary and persevering As a Scholar that applies himself to Learning by the constraint of Fear his Study is uneasy and whilst he is reading his Fancy transports him to other things and when his task is finisht he presently runs to Play But a Lover of
Christians the convictions of a future State are not so clear and strong as to govern their Hearts and Lives How many of eminent intellectual Faculties are stupid as to their great Interest and spend themselves about Trifles and are equally tractable to Eternal Ruine as the Ox to the Slaughter He that is destitute of the illuminating Grace of the Spirit is blind and cannot see afar off Now by the Analogy between the corporal and the intellectual Faculties we may understand in some measure how the Mind is illuminated by the Spirit of God For as to the act of Seeing two things are requisite 1. External Light in the Air without which the Colours Figures and Beauties of Objects are not visible to the sharpest Eye but lie obscur'd under impenitrable Darkness 2. Internal Light in the Eye in which the visive Power consists if this be extinguish'd the clearest Light of Heaven is of no use for the discovery of Things Thus the Understanding is enabled to see Spiritual Things 1. By the revelation of the Object in this respect Life and Immortality are brought to Light by the Gospel Till that bright discovery was made of Eternal Blessedness it was above the desires and hopes of sinful Man Coelum homo nec optare poterat ex ignorantia nec sperare ex propriae miseriae conscientia 2. By the inward inlightning from the Spirit of Wisdom that removes the Ignorance Prejudice and Inadvertency of the Mind which as Scales darkned its Sight and disposes it to perceive the verity and excellency of spiritual and future Things though not with comprehensive evidence yet with that assurance that no doubtfulness or suspence remains concerning them 'T is observable that Faith is exprest in Scripture by Prudence Wisdom and Knowledg whereby a Man knows the grounds and motives of his Judgment and Actions And Sin is called Folly For as when the understanding Faculty either from the indisposedness of the Organs as in Idiots or from the disorder of Fancy by the inflammation of the Humours as in distracted Persons cannot weigh and compare and therefore makes a perverse judgment of things so the carnal Mind by not due measuring and pondering judges falsly of Spiritual Things If something no bigger than the Hand were put before the Eye it would intercept the Sight of the Heavens and he that not considering the properties of things near and distant should conclude that piece to be bigger than the Heavens were justly reputed a Fool. And the Folly of carnal Men is more gross who prefer things present to Sense before what is future and of everlasting consequence to the Soul But there are some actions which if done by a Natural would be counted Folly yet being done by those who in the reputation of the World are Wise are esteemed Prudent but they are the most deplorable Folly Now as the restoring the Laesum principium the broken Mind to its sound State whereby 't is able to consider discern and conclude of things according to their Nature such is the action of God's Spirit upon the corrupt Mind clarifying and enlightning it so that it receives full conviction by the clearest marks of divine Authority shining in the Gospel of the Truth of all the great and precious Promises therein contained and causing it by a steddy application of the Thoughts to see the vast difference between what is Temporal and Eternal how despicably light all the Vanities of this World are found when put in the Ballance against the infinite inestimable Happiness of the next In short the renewed Mind knows Spiritual Things according to their Nature and Qualities believes esteems and determins that they are of Eternal moment and absolutely necessary for the Happiness of Man And as when the natural Faculty of seeing is perish'd 't is irreparable by human Skill and without a Miracle can never be restored so the intellectual Faculty when darkned by sinful Lusts without the renewing power of the Spirit can never know Spiritual Things as they ought to be known Therefore as the blind Men in the Gospel who dispair'd of help from the Physicians hearing of the miraculous Power of Christ importunately begg'd his healing Mercy so let us pray to the Light and Saviour of the World but in a more noble and higher Sense Lord that we may receive our sight Let us with the most zealous Affections call upon the God of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of Glory that he would give unto us the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation in the knowledg of him the Eyes of our understanding being inlightned that we may know what is the hope of his Calling and what the Riches of the Glory of his Inheritance in the Saints 2. The efficacious Influence of the Holy Spirit is requisite to change the Will that with a free and full consent it may desire and prosecute the Spiritual Eternal Good Without this the conviction of the Mind is not powerful enough to convert the Soul from the love of the World to choose Heaven There may be an inlightned Conscience without a renewed Heart Though the Judgment assents that God is the Supream Good yet till the Heart be circumcised the sensuality of the Affections taken away divine Love that directs the Life to God as our blessed End can never possess it Suppose that Men had a sensible and strong assurance of the Eternal State hereafter if all those who lived godly in a visible manner ascended with Elias to Heaven and if all who continued in their Sins visibly descended into Hell as Corah and his Company were swallowed up alive by the Earth before the Israelites if Men could hear the joyful Exultations of the Saints above their high Praises of God and hear the desperate Crys and deep Complaints of the Damned if one according to the desire of the rich Man were sent from Hell and with his Fiery Tongue should preach a Sermon of those Torments not describing them at a distance but by a sensible demonstration in himself yet this alone were not sufficient to draw off their Hearts from the deceitful Happiness of this World and fasten them on the perfect and Eternal Happiness in the next Indeed they could not then indulge their Lusts so securely but they would be Strangers to the Life of God such an inveterate alienation of Heart is in Men from real Holiness Till the sanctifying Spirit by a directive persuasive Light that represents the Truth and Goodness of Spiritual Things transforms the Soul and makes it Spiritual in its Valuations and Affections 't is inwardly averse from Grace and Glory The Lord direct our Hearts into the Love of God and into the patient waiting for Christ when he shall come to be glorified in his Saints and admired in all them that believe FINIS * Beatitudo est bonorum omnium complexio secretis omnibus malis Cicer. †Quicquid illis congesseris non finis erit cupiditatum sed gradus Sen. ‖ Nullum