hope And where were patience If it were not for a better estate in another world a Christian of all men were most miserable Who would endure any thing for Christ if it were not for a better estate afterwards And so for sobrietie what forceth a moderate use of all things here the consideration of future judgement that made even Felix to tremble The consideration of the estate to come causes that we surfet not with the cares of the world and excesse but doe all that may make way for such a glorious condition What enforceth the keeping of a good conscience in all things St. Paul looked to the resurrection of the just and of the unjust and this made him exercise himselfe to keepe a good conscience And so puritie and holinesse that we take heed of all defilements in the world that we bee not led away with the errour of the wicked but keepe our selves unspotted What forceth this but the consideration of a glorious condition in another world He that hath this hope purgeth himselfe There is a purgative power in hope a cleansing efficacie that a man cannot hope for this excellent condition but it will frame and fit the soule for that condition Can a man hope to appeare before a great person and not fit himselfe in his deportment and attire before hand to please the person before whom hee appeares So whosoever hopes to appeare before Christ and God of necessitie that hope will force him to purge himselfe Let us not stand to search curiously into particulars what the glory of the soule or of the body shall bee the Apostle discovers it in generall we shall bee conformed to Christ our head in soule and body but rather study how to make good use of them for therefore they are revealed before hand in generall And with all to humble our selves and to say with the Psalmist Lord what is Man that thon so farre considerest him Sinfull man that hath lost his first condition and hath betrayed himselfe to thine and his enemy to advance him to that estate that neither eye hath seene nor eare heard c. This consideration will make us base in our owne eyes Shall not wee presently disdaine any proud conceits shall wee talke of merit what can come from a Creature that shall deserve things that eie hath not seen nor eare heard that such proud conceits should enter into the heart of man surely grace never entred into that mans heart that hath such a conceite to entertaine merit Shall a man thinke by a penny to merit a thousand pound by a little performance to merit things that are above the conceit of men and Angels but a word is enough that way And with humiliation take that which alwayes goes with humiliation thankefulnesse even before hand When the Apostle S. Peter thought of the inheritance immortall and undefiled c. he begins Blessed be God the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ c. Hee could not think of these things without thankfulnesse to God For wee should begin the life of heaven upon earth as much as may bee and what is that but a blessing and praising of God Now we cannot more effectually and feelingly praise God than by the cōsideration of what great things are reserved for us for faith sets them before the soule as present as invested into them Now if we were in heaven already we should praise God and do nothing else therfore faith making them sure to the soule as if we had them sets the soule on worke to praise God as in Ephes. 1. and in Pet. 1. Saint Peter and Paul they could never have enough of this Thus wee should doe and cheare and joy our hearts in the consideration of these things in all conflicts desolations wee little thinke of these things and that is our fault wee are like little children that are born to great matters notwithstanding not knowing of them they carry not themselves answerable to their hopes but the more the children grow into yeares the more they grow in spirit and conceits and carriage sitting the estates they hope for So it is with Christians at the first when they are weake they are troubled with this temptation and with that with this losse and with that crosse but when a Christian growes to a full stature in Christ every petty crosse doth not cast him downe hee thinkes what shall I be dejected with this losse that have heaven reserved for mee shall I bee cast downe with this crosse that have things that eye hath not seene nor eare heard c. Prepared for me He will not he makes use of his faith to fetch comfort from these things that are reserved for him that are unexpressible and unconceiveable And let us comfort our selves in all the slightings of the World A man that hath great hopes in his own coūtry if he be slighted abroad he thinkes with himselfe I have other matters reserved elsewhere and I shall have another manner of respect when I come home The world it knowes not God nor Christ nor us shall not we be content to go up and downe as unknowne men here when God the father and Christ our Saviour are unknowne There are better things reserved at home for us therfore let us digest all the slightings and abusage of carnal men And let us not envy them their condition that is but for terme of life use it as well as they will that hath a date that will bee out wee know not how soone Alas all their happinesse it is but a measured happinesse it is within their understandings their eyes can see it and their eares can heare it and when they can neither see nor conceive more in this world then there is an end of all their sensible happinesse Shall we envie when they shall shortly be turned naked out of this world to the place of torment We should present them to us as objects of pitie even the greatest men in the world if wee see by their carriage they be void of grace but not envy any condition in this world But what affection is due and suiting to the estate of a Christian If we would have the true affection it is admiration and wonderment What is wonderment It is the state and disposition of the soule toward things that are new and rare and strange that we can give no reason of that are beyond our reach For wise men wonder not because they see a reason they can compass things But a Christian cannot but wōder because the things prepared are above his reach yea when he is in heaven he shall not be able to conceive the glory of it he shall enter into it it shall bee above him he shall have more joy and peace then he can comprehend the joy that hee hath there it is beyond his ability and capacity beyond his power he shall not be able to compasse all It shall be a matter
we talke of beauty it is the Image of God that sets a beauty on the soule that makes a man lovely in the eye of God True beauty is to be like God And to bee borne a new to that glorious condition is the birth and inheritance All these poore things are but acting a part upon a stage for a while as the proudest creature of all that is invested in them will judge ere long none better judges then they This is one way of knowing the things of the Gospell by naming of them in our owne language As if a man go into a forraine country he must learn that language or else hold his peace so God is forced to speake in our owne language to tell us of glory and happinesse to come under the name of crownes and kingdomes and riches here If God should set them out in their owne lustre wee could not conceive of them But thirdly the most comfortable way whereby Gods people know the things of heaven and of the life to come is in regard of some tast for there is nothing in heaven but Gods Children have a tast of it before they come there in some measure they have a taste of the communion that is in heaven in the communion they have on earth they have a taste of that eternall Sabbath by some relish they have of holy exercises in these Christian Sabbaths A Christian is as much in heaven as he can be when hee sanctifies the holy Sabbath speaking to God in the Congregation by prayer and hearing God speake to him in the preaching of the word That peace that wee shall have in heaven which is a peace uninterrupted without any disturbance it is understood by that sweet peace of conscience here that passeth all understanding We may know therefore what the sight of Christ face to face will be by the sight wee have of Christ now in the word and promises if it so transforme and affect us that sight that we have by knowledge and faith here what will those sights doe So that by a grape wee may know what Canaan is as the spies they brought of the grapes of Canaan into the desart we may know by this little taste what those excellent things are The fourth way is by authoritie and discoverie St. Paul was wrapped up in the third heaven he sayth they were such things that he saw that could not bee spoken of strange things And Christ tels us of a kingdome Christ knew what they were and the word tells us what they are our faith lookes to the authoritie of the word If wee had not the first fruits nor any other discoverie God that hath prepared them hee sayth so in his word and we must rest in his authoritie And there are some that have been in heaven Christ our blessed Saviour that hath taken into a perpetual union the man-hood with the second person which he hath knit unto it he knowes what is there and by this meanes wee come to have some kind of knowledge of the things to come Againe by a kind of reasoning likewise from the lesser to the greater we may come to know not only the things but the greatnesse of them As is there not coÌ„fort now in a litle glimpse when God shines upon a Christians soule when he is as it were in heaven is there such contenment in holy companyâ—here what shall there be in heaven Is there such contentment in the delights of this world that are the delights of our pilgrimage they are no better our houses are houses of our pilgrimage our contentments are contentments of passengers if the way the gallery that leads to heaven bee so spread with comforts what bee those that are reserved in another world A man may know by raysing his soule from the lesser to the greater And if the things that God hath provided in common for his enemies as wel as his friends as all the comforts of this world all the delicacies and all the objects of the sences they are comforts that are common to the enemies of God as well as his friends if these things be so excellent that men venture their soules for them and lose all to bee drowned in these things oh what peculiar things are they that God hath reserved for his owne Children for those that love him when those that are common with his enemies are so glorious and excellent These kind of wayes we may come to know them by the helpe of the spirit Those unmixed joyes those pure joyes that are full of themselves and have no tincture in heaven are understood by those joyes we feele on earth the joy of the holy Ghost which is after conflict with temptations or after afflictions or after hearing and meditating on good things the heavenly joyes that flow into the soule they give us a taste of that full joy that we shall have at the right hand of God for evermore That comfort that we shall have in heaven in the presence of God and of Christ and his holy Angels is understood in some little way by the comfortable presence of God to the soule of a Christian when hee findes the Spirit of God raising him and chearing him up and witnessing his presence as oft-times to the comfort of Gods people the holy Ghost witnesseth a presence that now the soule can say God is present with me he smiles on me and strengtheneth mee and leads mee along This comfortable way Gods children have to understand the things of heaven by the first fruits they have here for God is so farre in love with his children here on earth and so tender over them that hee purposes not to reserve all for another world but gives them some taste before hand to make them better in love with the things there and better to beare the troubles of this world But alas what is it to that that they shall know as it is 1 Ioh. 3. Now wee are the sonnes of God but it appeares not what we shall bee That shall bee so great in comparison of that we are that it is sayd not to appeare at all it appeares in the first fruits in a little beginnings but alas what is that to that glory that shall bee Our life is hid with Christ in God It is hid there is no man knowes it in regard of the full manifestation because here it is covered with so many infirmities afflictions and so many scornes of the world are cast upon the beautie of a Christian life it is hid in our head Christ. It is not altogether hid for there is a life that comes from the root from the head Christ to the members that quickens them but in regard of the glory that shall be it is a hidden life Let us consider the reasons why God will have it thus to make it cleare before I goe further We must be modest in reasons when we speake of Gods counsels and courses
thing in the World and who deserves it better then God and Christ we can never returne any thing but this affection of love wee may againe And can wee place it better then upon devine things whereby we are made better our selves doth God require our affections for himselfe No it is to make us happy It advanceth our affection to love him it is the turning of it into the right streame It is the making of us happy that God requires it For consider all things that may deserve this affection It will keepe us from all sin what is any sin but the abuse of love for the crookednesse of this affection turnes us to present things that is the cause of all sinne For what is all sin but pleasure and honours and profits the 3. Idolls of the World all sin is about them And what are all good actions but love well placeâ— the well ordering of this affection is the well ordering of our lives and the misplacing of this affection is the cause of all sinne And to make us the more carefull this way consider that when wee place our affections upon any thing else consider the vanity of it we loose our love and the thing and our selves For whatsoever else wee love if we love not God in it and love it for God it will perish and come to nothing ere long The affection perisheth with the thing we loose our affections and the thing and loose our selves too misplaceing of it These are forcible considerations with understanding persons And if we would use our understanding and consideration and meditation and our soules as wee should to consider of the grounds and incouragments we have to love God and the best things whereby we may be dignified above our selves it would not be as it is we should not bee so devoyd of grace and comfort It was a miracle that the 3. yong men should bee in the middest of the furnace and bee there as if they were in another place no hotter And it is a miracle that men should be in the middest of all incouragements that we have to love God as there is not the like reasons for any thing in the World to keepe our soules in a perpetuall heat of affection to love God no motives or arguments or incentives all are nothing to the multitude of arguments we have to inflame our affections and yet to be cold in the middest of the fire it is a kind of a miracle to have darke understandings and dead affections that notwithstanding all the heavenly meanes we have to keepe a perpetuall flame of love to God yet to be cold and darke in our soules let us bewayle it and be ashamed of it What doe we professe our selves Christians heires of Heaven so beloved of God as that he gave his owne Sonne to deliver us being rebells and enemies in so cursed a state as we are all in by nature poore Creatures inferiour to the Angells that fell that he should love man sinfull dust and ashes so much as to give his owne Son to free us from so great misery and to advance us to so great happinesse to set us in heavenly places with Christ and to have perpetuall communion with him in Heaven to have such incouragements and to be cold and dead hearâ—ed nay wilfully opposite in our affections to bee enemies to the goodnesse of God and grace having such arguments to love God And yet how many spirits edged by the Divell oppose all that is good and will not give way to Gods Spirit God would have them Temples they will be styes God would marry them nay they will be harlots GOD would have them happy here and here after no they will not they will have their owne lusts and affections Let us bee affrayd of these things as we love our owne soules and ourselvâ—s and consider what incouragments wee have to love God for which such great things are reserved as neyther Eye hath seen nor Eare heard nor hath entred into the heart of man to conceive FINIS Imprimatur Tho. Wykes Aug. 1638. The coherence The best Ministers will not shun to be tried by the best judgments Scope of the words and explication The mysteries of the Gospell hidden from naturall men Isai. 64. 4 The way to set forth divine things 1. Pet. 1. What is meant by those things the eye hath not seen Dâ—â—trines A question God reveals secret things that are excellent to his children Three degrees of revelation Vers. 11. The Gospell is hid without the Spirit to discover the minde of God 1 Iohn 3. 2. 1. Vse Instruction Why so many heresies touching the Gospel 2. Instruction In dâ—vine truths above nature wee are not to trust to reason too much An use of direction How to study and read divine truths GODS course with his children to shew them these mysteries Supernaturall objects require supernatural senses Simile Of knowledge joyned with feeling 1 Cor. â— 14. 15. Concerning spirituall sight It is not in nature to shew us these divine mysteries Another use of Inâ—struction A rule to value things by Iâ— is the best wisedome to be wise to salvation Augustine Value the Scriptures Ground of the Martyrs patience A godly man suffers these things in his senses for those that are above his senses Rom. 8. What Popery is Isai. 64. Merit hath no proportion with glory We cannot be too exact in holy duties The scopâ— coherence division more cleared The wisedom of God hâ—d from wise men 1 Point Observation Naturall wits conceive not the Gospel Wicked men talk of repentance but do not rerepent A holy man feeles sin heavy Carnall men hate the light They know them but by a common light An objection answered for explicatioÌ„ 1. Answ. Ephes 3. By way of negation By way of eminence What tho we should have of the world What true râ—ches are What true beautie is Gods children have a taste of heaven before they come there What peace in heaven is Heaven on earth 1 Ioh. 3. Reasons 1 Reason 2 Reason 3 Reason If wee would see God as he is we must die Use. I. The meditation of the life hereafter steeres a Christians life here 2 Vse 3 Vse Ephes. 1. 1 Pet. 1. Every petty crosse will not cast downe a believer 4 Vse Hee comforts himselfe with his hopes of heaven against the slightings of the world Envie not wicked men but pitty them joy unspeâ— 1 Ioh. 3. To be called a son of God is to be so Vse Why men are drowned in the world How to get the conquest of any temptation The fourth particular Some questions answered for explication 2 Quest. Answ. Fâ—ith a hidden grace Quest. Answ. 4 Quest. Answ. For whom these are prepared Observ. Râ—asons No gettâ—ng to heaven without change of our natures A carnall man-wants eyes to see heaven Vse Take heed of vaine hope Gâ—eatnesse nor honoâ—s can pacifie conscience 2 Vse Look within thee for the evidences Looke to thy affections A briefe recapitulation of some former things with addition God prepared happinesse for us before all eternitie It is a base thing to be too much in love with any earthly thing Try thy selfe by thy love Wee may know heaven to bee ours by the disposition of our hearts 1 Pet. 1. God hath not ordained heaven for his enemies Observ. Merit confuted Love a commanding affection Our actions are but still-born withâ—out affections When a man puts God in stead of himselfe There must be an esteeme of God and Christ. Psal 73. Heb. 11. Ioh. 6. Psal. 27. If we esteeme God wee shall part with any thing besides 2 Where there is true love there is a desire of union Strangenesse is opposite to lovâ— Psal. â—7 Where thiâ— uâ—ion is there is a desire of death it selfe Revel 22. 1 Thess. 4. 17. Cant. 1. Desire the presence of Christ. Psal. 4. Rom. 5. God can fill our soules Psal. 18. Psal. 90. Augustine Seâ— what God loves delight in that and provide it for him Isai. 65. Loveâ— will purge your heart Love from faith woundeth the breast of Christ. If we love God wee shall love whatever is divine or toucheth on God Love to God studies how to please God Studie in thy place how to put forth the best of â—hy indevours to please God 〈◊〉 1. Psal. 34.