Foundation sufficient to underprop and secure it for ever so that we shall not need to be troubled with Anaxagoras his conceit that Heaven was made of stones and would one day fall upon mens heads 1. Christs Merit and Purchase this is one and a sure foundation for other foundation can no man lay than that that is laid Jesus Christ 1 Cor. 3.11 He is the chief corner stone Eph. 2.20 only by Christ is there such a place as Heaven and such a state as Salvation attainable for believers No created righteousness is able to support it self from ruin Angels are mutable Creatures created with a natural blessedness from which some did and all might have fallen now that the good Angels are immutable they owe it to Christ by whom they received a blessedness supernatural which by Creation they had not For though he be not properly a Redeemer or a Mediator of Attonement yet as some Divines say is he a Confirmer and supporter of Angels of him therefore the whole family in Heaven and earth is named Eph. 3.15 and by him hath God reconciled to himself all things whether they be things in heaven or things in earth Col. 1.21 As the Angels fell so man in innocency standing upon the foundation of his own righteousness that proved rotten and deceitful and the building of his happiness rear'd upon it was beaten down with the violent storm of the very first Temptation But the happiness of Heaven will be firm and certain because founded upon Christs perfect righteousness not the creatures changeable will and variable obedience He that bought us at so dear a rate will not trust us with our selves any more and our happiness shall be not in our own hands but in the safe keeping of a faithful Creator and most merciful Redeemer And oh with what kisses of love shall we embrace and hug those wounds by which he purchased the possession of that Inheritance for us with what ravishment of affections shall we sound forth that Song of Triumph and Thanksgiving to our Deliverer Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive honour and riches and wisdom and strengh and glory Rev. 5.12 for he was slain and hath redeemed us to God by his bloud out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation ver 9. The other I shall mention is 2. Gods free love and goodness whereby he hath designed for believers an eternal Well-being in glory before they had a temporary being in Nature from the Abyss of everlastingness had he thoughts of kindness towards us and even then did lay contrivances of Bliss for us who since we were deserved nothing but damnation These are the everlasting arms that are underneath the Saints in glory Deut. 33.27 It is in this hand even of Gods love that the Souls of the righteous are Wisd 3.1 out of which none shall be able to pluck them Joh. 10.29 If once these arms impale us neither sin nor hell shall get us thence for ever The Sanctuary is inviolable the rock impregnable and we safely lock'd up to eternity So safe that they who would pass from hence cannot saith the Gospel Luk. 16.26 None certainly can be ever willing to lose that happiness or to have it suspended for a moment yet upon supposal that they could be willing and have a mind to exchange places they shall not be able the gulf of God's irreversible decree and kindness towards them is fixed and they shall never be able to alter it So that as the Bee sucks and satiates her self with the sweetness of the flower or as the child lies at the breast sucking and inclosed within the careful and tender arms of the loving mother so shall the happy Soul securely feed on the deliciousness of God's love with whom there will never be any variableness or shadow of changing And this assurance of the perpetuity of this happiness is that which heightens it Every moment will be sweeter to us in that we shall never be disquieted with the thought that our condition as happy as it is will have an end which thought like Gall and Wormwood poured into those rivers of pleasures would imbitter and allay the lusciousness of them to our taste And this assurance is built on this principal foundation of Gods love and immutable purpose which standeth fast 2 Tim. 2.19 and hath this Seal the Lord knoweth who are his he knoweth them so as to approve of them and preserve them in that happiness of Soul and body to all eternity which he himself hath ordained for them and doth conferr upon them and this leads to the second particular by which the excellency of this City is described and that is 2. It s Architect and Author whose builder and maker is God Every work receives its estimate and value from the skilfulness and reputation of the Author Any picture drawn by the hand of an ingenious Apelles or any piece of Sculpture carved by an inspired Bezaliel or Aholiab will affect the heart and command the eye into the greatest diligence and curiosity of observation Solomons Temple was a magnificent building The expence was great David having prepared 100000 Talents of Gold and 1000000 Talents of Silver besides Brass and iron without weight 1 Chr. 22.14 The labourers were many 17000 besides Overseers with Hiram and cunning Artificers 2 Chr. 2.14 The time spent in building was long 7 years notwithstanding all that help and preparation All which contributed to render it certainly a most admirable and glorious structure But here behold a more glorious than Solomons whose builder is God He doth not only say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whole maker that word being more general and appliable to the whole Creation but also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whose Artist ad excellentiam operis refertur Zanchius which sets forth in a peculiar manner the excellency and beauty of this work Indeed any immediate work of God is stupendous and requires our wonder What a rare Fabrick is that great house we now dwell in which is of his making How is the floor dressed with herbs and flowers and trees and watered with Rivers and Springs and Seas what a rich Canopy is hung over the heads of Worms The visible heavens are the Sieling of this house and the Stars like golden Studs or sparkling Diamonds adorn that Sieling How vast and pleasant a building admirably beautified with astonishing workmanship in every part and fitted not only for our necessities but delight If we view mans body the mansion of his Soul what mysteries of the divine skill are to be found in the narrow compass thereof it is not a rude lump or mass of clay thrust together but a piece of so rare an Architecture and composed with so much curiosity and exactness that no hand but Gods could make any thing to equal it and the most curious piles in the world are but heaps compared unto it If Nature hath so much beauty in it how beautiful a thing
Operation upon us than the consideration of those rich Advantages and ample vouchsafements reserved in heaven for us There is no Sword like this to behead all our beloved lusts and to cut off the very sinews of our darling corruptions Were there indeed no other world to enjoy God in yet ought we not while we have a being to imploy it in his service Heaven and earth obey his will though capable neither of reward for their obedience nor of punishment for their disobedience Quench Hell and burn heaven it will be our Duty notwithstanding to love and fear our Maker But what sweet Allurements tender Cords irresistible perswasions are there to invite us to it seeing the everlasting doors of Mercy and of Glory stand open to embrace and to reward us How should this provoke us to endeavour after that righteousness to which so excellent an estate is annexed were it a sensual Paradise we expected then we might indulge our selves in our lusts without bidding any defiance to our hopes but heaven is a pure and holy as well as a glorious and blessed place and therefore ought we to purifie our selves 1 Joh. 3.3 to deny all ungodliness and wordly lusts Tit. 2.12 to have our conversation in heaven Phil. 3.20 i. e. To converse and deport our selves though we are on earth as Citizens of the Corporation that is above whereby we may be meet to be partakers of that Inheritance with the Saints in light Col. 1.12 2. Secondly and more particularly this may arm Christians against the pleasures of the world and all the Temptations of prosperity There is usually more danger in the charms and smiles than the frowns and threatnings of the world and more are destroyed by the Silken halter of pleasures than the iron chain of Affliction but a glimpse of heaven apprehended and seriously laid to heart will darken and obscure all the glories of the world and render its temptations harmless and without a sting Hence it was that Moses was enabled to quit Pharaohs Court and his hopes of inheriting the Crown of Aegypt the recompence of reward to which he had a respect Heb. 11.26 did eclipse the lustre and outweigh in his impartial balance the honour and the profit and the pleasures of sin which men of the world are apt to envy and admire He chose rather to embrace the poor and despised condition of Gods people and to walk in the stricter paths of piety and Religion than to deprive himself of endless felicities for the short and transitory enjoyment of a few carnal dying pleasures and worldly trifles 3. This may raise us above the Afflictions of the world and support our Spirits under them Our blessed Saviour for the joy that was set before him endured the Cross that was laid upon him Heb. 12.2 The foresight of these comforts hath so transported Christians as to make them willing to embrace the stake kiss the Faggot welcom the Cross and refuse deliverance Holy Ignatius in a burning zeal could say fire gallows beasts breaking of bones quartering of members crushing of body all the Discipline of hell and torments of Devils let them come upon me so I may enjoy that Treasure in Heaven It is worth the having though we must travel through a wilderness to possess it though we buy it at the hardest rate even with Martyrdom and Persecution it will not repent us of our suffering nor shall we have cause to complain of a hard bargain when once we come to obtain it For I reckon not the sufferings of this world worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed Rom. 8.18 4. This may be a Cordial to fill the Soul with holy courage against the fear of death Though death in it self be unwelcome unto nature yet if Faith makes this glory to appear that King of terrors will prove a messenger of the greatest joy The Heathens though they had but a dark view and a vain hope concerning the happy state of Souls in their Elysian fields after death were to remarkably and passionately affected with it that Socrates comforted himself over his draught of poyson with the meditation of that subject How vigorous then should the effects be that flow from the solid and strong consolations of believers should not this dispose them to a longing expectation after their change and cause them to groan earnestly to be clothed upon with this house which is from heaven 2 Cor. 5.2 and desirous with St. Paul to be dissolved and to be with Christ Phil. 1.23 To be removed out of this land of Cabul or of dirt as Hiram called the Cities that Solomon had given him 1 King 9.13 into that City of pearls there to be entertained in the King of Heavens banqueting house or Wine Celler where the banner over them will be love even that love that cannot be fathomed which was from everlasting and will extend to everlasting and never shut up into hatred and displeasure That love which brought the Son of Gods love from Heaven to earth from the earth to a Cross from the Cross to a grave from the grave to Glory that he might provide Mansions and prepare the way for Believers into the possession of eternal Bliss and Glory in this City which hath foundations whose builder and maker is God I Have now finished my Meditations on the Text and lest I should disappoint your expectations according to the decent custom at such Solemnities give me leave and lend me I beseech you a little more of your Patience to add something of this Venerable person and Reverend Brother that is departed from us or rather gone before us out of this Valley of Tears land of Mortality and trouble into that City of excellencies immortal region of Rest and Blessedness It was one of his last desires I should discharge this friendly Office to him and to perform the Will of the dead with an affectionate kindness and a hearty zeal I conceive to be an Act not only of Charity but of Justice too and the last debt of Piety and Friendship we are able to pay unto them As it was not his Practice so I am confident it was not his desire nor is it my intention to use any flattering Eulogies on this occasion or to raise a Monument to his Fame upon a false and a rotten foundation but to pay that civil and true respect which his worth and usefulness and comparative eminency above the ordinary rank of us his Brethren of the Clergy while he lived requires from us towards his memory now he is dead and were his Picture to be drawn by his own Pencil and with his own hand it would be more exact and to the life which I can but endeavour weakly to represent unto you according to my meanness in duller colours and ruder delineations As for his descent and birth it is so well known in this place where if I be not much mistaken he received his Being and Christianity sucked
to tarry for the reward The delay of good hoped for is afflicting and pungent it maketh the heart sick without patience to support it So that the Christian must have the patience as well as the faith of the Saints Rev. 13.10 For if we hope for that we see not then do we with patience wait for it Rom. 8.25 therefore it is said of Abraham After he had patiently endured he received the promise Heb. 6.15 God is graciously pleased to put us to our choice whether we will have our Heaven here or wait for it hereafter whether we will draw our comforts from the broken and impure Cisterns of the creatures or reserve our selves for those Crystal streams that flow from that pure and living Fountain of everlasting Consolations where our enjoyment shall be full and free without any danger of Epicurism or intemperance And were it not for our too hasty and impetuous desires after present wages though but brass and counters and a sinful impatience mingled with an infidelity and a distrust of God and his Promise for our future more comfortable allowance and satisfactory reward the use of a very little reason seasoned and improved by Grace might be armour of proof unto us against the destructive charms of sin and might put the controversie beyond dispute that Heaven is worth the waiting for and the satisfactions there are very sufficient to smooth all the wrinkles in the face of Religion here to take off the seeming severities of a holy life a renewed Repentance and necessary self-denial in themselves the most amiable and lovely duties and the best Credentials the surest Evidences we can provide both for our Conduct and our Title to the Celestial Canaan or heavenly Jerusalem which is that City which Abraham did look for 1. in his desires and 2. in his hopes and was well worth 3. all his pains and 4. his Patience too because it is a City that hath Foundations c. The Object whereunto this Act is referred is a City To condescend to the meanness of our capacity the Scripture doth express Heaven unto us by such things as our understandings can apprehend and gives it such Titles as may suit with and satisfie every mans Appetite and Inclination very often it is called a City The City of the living God Heb. 12.22 a City to come Heb. 13.14 the Holy City Rev. 21.2 and much of the happiness thereof may be conceived by us as it is represented under this Notion of a City wherein there are to be found such rare and peculiar advantages as are necessary and sufficient to compleat the bliss thereof I shall briefly recommend these five particulars to your present consideration This is a City where there is to be found 1. The best Society A City is a multitude of people that have the benefit of a mutual and near converse and quietly cohabit under the same laws and Government Company is the most pleasant thing of life without which there is no full content in any enjoyment no comfortable use of the greatest possessions If to live with vertuous persons here in whom there is sin to imbitter as well as grace to sweeten their converses unto us by reason of their manifold defects and imperfections be one of the chief ingredients to our present in happiness what will it be to live with them when they shall be perfected in goodness and in glory If he could cry out O praeclarum illum diem c. Cic. de Senect O the happy day when I shall depart out of this croud and sink into that council and society of blessed Souls and if Socrates rejoyced to dy because he thought he should then see Homer and Hesiod and other excellent men famous in their generations how much more should the Christian long to see Christ the eternal Son of God in his assumed nature and with him the glorious company of the Apostles the goodly fellowship of the Prophets the Noble Army of Martyrs and the whole Church of the First-born of which blessed Corona he himself shall make a part sitting down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all his pious friends departed whom he shall know and love in a greater degree than ever he did in this life This then is recorded as one of the singular Eminencies of that place that we shall be fellow-Citizens with the Saints Eph. 2.19 and be admitted into the fellowship of Myriads of Angels and to God the judge of all and to the spirits of just men made perfect and to Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant Heb. 12.23 24. A Royal Society of perfect Virtuoso's free from all infirmities of pride Ignorance and self-seeking to exercise our Charity and Patience and without any sufferings to move our pity and compassion And the content that shall flow from this Communion and Acquaintance shall be durable and entire not subject to any prejudices or the bitter and disquieting thoughts of a sad parting any more 2. The most excellent Order As the Firmament without the Sun or the body without the soul so is a multitude without Order a rude indigested heap of people no formal Society Order is the essential Ornament of all Societies and the Beauty of Heaven The Inhabitants there are peaceable without any disaffection and orderly without the least confusion There is indeed an imparity or difference of degrees in Glory as well as in Grace There are Angels and Archangels Cherubims and Seraphims and all shine not with an equal Lustre There is one glory of the Sun another of the Moon another of the Stars for one Star differeth from another Star in glory 1 Cor. 15.41 So it shall be among the Saints and at the Resurrection All shall be satiated but All not capacitated for the like reception He that employed his five Talents well shall be made Ruler over five Cities and he that hath but two Talents and improves them as he ought shall be proportionably rewarded he shall rule over two Cities But though there be a difference yet there shall be no disorder for he that hath least shall not be disdained nor he that hath most be envyed Every one shall have so much that he shall desire no more but will love and enjoy that good in another which he might seem to want in himself Therefore there will be no envy occasioned there by any unequal clarity because there shall reign in all an Oneness of Charity There will be in all one and the same blessedness of joy though there be not in all one and the same sublimity or height of glory There is no deceitful friendship or strangeness of affection no unkind thought carriage or affection there 's a Corporation of Saints uniformly and harmoniously conspiring to obey and magnifie their Maker where the King is Verity the Law Charity and the term Eternity 3. The most Soveraign immunities Paul as a Citizen of Rome escaped Scourging Acts 22.25 for such were not to be bound or