worthiness of those that Speak or for the Ability with which they speak but the Source of all is this excellent Doctrine of the Gospel that we have in the Word of God And indeed If we had not a Tongue to speak it or Ears to hear it yet to behold the mighty Government of God and Christ the evil of Sin and the excellency of Grace and of the Spirit of God and of the Salvation of Christ throughout it is to put you into Heaven to introduce you into Heaven even while you are here upon Earth Do not think that it is a small thing that these excellent Promises these excellent Doctrines these excellent Exhortations and Counsels are Administred unto you For it is even Heaven upon Earth this very Word of God and for the preaching of it that is only a further Ordination of God that every one may have it spoken unto them and be persuaded In season and out of season and that there might be a more forcible Application upon the Souls of Men. But if we have but the Word of God this Scripture lying in our Houses we have the Kingdom of Heaven I may say lying in our Houses in this Sense I am now speakjng of it to you You have it because you have this excellent Doctrine of Christ And there are Scriptures there are many Scriptures that are so exceeding clear and plain that he may run that reads No one that hath but this Book of God either that he Reads or that is ordinarily read to him but he may say I am exalted herein to Heaven because I have such an excellent Scripture such an excellent Gospel continually before me So the very Sound of it the very Motion of it in the World it is the great Happiness of those parts of the World that have it And we have great Reason to say in this place in this City in this Nation and especially wherever God lights up a clearer Taper and Torch of his Gospel we have Reason to say That Heaven is come down to us and that we can go when we please and Read one of the excellent Sermous and Discourses of our Lord Jesus in the Gospel That we can go to the Epistles and read those admirable Things that the Spirit of God hath given out by the Apostle Paul James and John These things you do not Apprehend the great Advantage of them We talk of Heaven and we would be glad to go to Heaven and Heaven is the great Burden of all our wishes and all our hopes Behold saith Christ the Kingdom of Heaven is here among us the Truth of his Word lying open to us How dreadful therefore will even that Dust that gathers upon our Bibles from day to day be I say what a Testimony will it be And as our Saviour saith to those that he sent out to Preach his Gospel It shall be more tolerable saith he for Sodom and Gomorrah than for those that refuse it And the very dust of your feet saith he when you depart out of that City shake off as a witness against them Mat. 10. 14. So the very dust of our Bibles will rise up in Judgment against us because when God hath opened the Windows of Heaven to us in it we have refused and scorned and despised and to Speak in our ordinary Language counted it as a Book out of date because we have had it so long O! If you did but know what a value the Martyrs in the Days of Queen Mary set upon it when the Light was but just sprung out what a value did they put upon the Scriptures And indeed if God were cutting us short and a Famine of his Word coming upon us we should then say what a great Treasure is God taking from us And yet how many Hours do we pass in the Day and not read of Christ and of the Kingdom of Heaven that is so pourtrayed and explained in the Gospel to us There is a Time that is set out to us by Prophecy and there 's great Reason to hope that it is very near when this Kingdom of Heaven in the Everlasting Gospel shall Ride as it were Circuit or rather at one time be heard from the midst of Heaven throughout the whole Earth Rev. 14. 6. I saw an Angel fly through the midst of Heaven having the Everlasting Gospel to Preach unto them that dwell on the Earth and to every Kindred and Tongue and People This Everlasting Gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven It shall be preached to every Nation and Kindred and Tongue and People Whereas now in many parts of America and whereas now in the whole Plat of the Regions where the Mahometan Power is and where Antichrist is There is a concealment of this Gospel a denial a shutting of it up from the Acquaintance and Knowledge and Reading and Hearing of the generality of the People it is here Preached in such a way as to make known the great Counsels and Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven to Men. But In the Second Place The Kingdom of Heaven is in the mighty work and operation of the Gospel of Christ upon our Hearts Then when we find Christ to be the Pearl of great Price and sell all to buy him when we look upon him as the onely Treasure and the onely Riches when our Hearts are under the beginnings of Grace and the powerful Operations of it then is the Kingdom of Heaven come to be within us Matth. 13. 31. The Kingdom of Heaven is like to a grain of Mustard-seed which a Man took and sowed in his Field which indeed is the least of Seeds but when it is grown is the greatest among Herbs and becometh a Tree so that the Fowls of Heaven lodge in the Branches of it This is an Expression of the Preaching of the Gospel which if it be received and taken in in the power of the Gospel upon the Heart It is indeed a little thing in the beginning but it spreads more and more upon the Heart and Life And the Kingdom of Heaven ver 33. is like unto Leaven which a Woman took and hid in three measures of Meal till the whole was leavened This is the Preaching of the Gospel and also the power of it upon the Hearts of Men. And when it is a Seed that takes upon hearts and brings forth abundantly Fruit to Eternal Life that also is the Kingdom of Heaven And ver 44. The Kingdom of Heaven is like treasure hid in a field the which when a man hath found he hideth and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath and buyeth that field Again the Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a Merchant Man seeking goodly Pearls who when he had found one Pearl of great price he went and sold all that he had and bought it This is the Kingdom of Heaven coming within a Man giving him such a value of Jesus Christ that he looks upon all things else as the Apostle saith
on a Wedding-Garment The same with Oyl in the Vessel And he saith unto him Friend How camest thou in hither not having a Wedding Garment And he was Speechless Bind him Hand and Foot and take him away saith Christ and cast him into outer Darkness because he had not the Linen White and Clean the Righteousness of Saints Robes wash'd in the Blood of the Lamb for that 's the Wedding-Garment He had not put on the Wedding-Garment of Christ he had not on the White Raiment Buy of me Gold tryed in the Fire and White Raiment suitable to that Time and buy of me Eye-Salve that thou may'st see c. Rev. 3. All is from Christ So that the Whole Matter is This Whether we are in Christ or whether we are not in Christ So the Apostle John saith 1 John 5. 12. He that hath the Son here 's the plain Proposition the Case of every Man He that hath the Son hath Life And he that hath not the Son of God hath not Life And this is ihe Record that God hath given to us Eternal Life the Place is as full to the Purpose as possibly can be God hath given to us Eternal Life and this Life is in his Son in the Fountain The Sun of Righteousness arises with healing in his Wings He that hath the Son hath Life and he that hath not the Son of God hath not Life And hereby we may understand that great Place of Scripture which else may be more hard to be understood Rom. 9. 28. saith the Apostle there out of the Prophet Isaiah A short work saith he will the Lord make upon the Earth What is the meaning of that That he will make such a short Work upon the Earth The Meaning is this That it shall come to this speedy Question Are you in Christ Or are you not in Christ For he will finish the Work and cut it short in Righteousness because a short Work will the Lord make upon the Earth A short Work Many are ready to think That the Judiciary part of the Day of Judgment will be a mighty long time Because every Case of a Man must be examined and his Works It is a Mistake when we think so For though it will be as exact to every Man as if every Man's Case were laid down in his particular Works viz. of those who are not pardoned But yet it will be a time of the blotting out of Iniquity I say a Time of the full blotting out of Sin in all the Servants of God Though Sins are sought for they shall not be found There shall be none but upon the Wicked A short Work will the Lord make upon the Wicked when they are found not to be in Christ They have not a biding Light They are presently found by the Company they are in and by the Habit of the Body For the Saints are in the Habit of Bodies of Glory And the other in the Habit of Bodies of Contempt So a short Work will the Lord make It will be presently seen by our Appearance whether we are Christ's or no. Now this I shall endeavour to Argue to you a little from Scripture-Reason And then it shall be the Principal Part of this Discourse to clear to you the Doubts and Scruples and Objections that may arise in your Minds That this cannot be so First In regard of other Scriptures that insist so much upon what is in us And then to Answer these Questions In the Second Place you may say How shall we come to have an Interest in Christ And In the Third Place How shall we know That we have an Interest in Christ And so I shall conclude with the Application of All. The Great Scripture-Argument I would give you is this If we could seriously consider the Infinite Holiness and Purity of God If we could but I say seriously lay this to Heart That God cannot see Things any other ways than they are How would it clear this A great many Good Men are ready to say The Evangelical Righteousness that we have shall stand before God in Justification for Christ's sake I say If we seriously consider That God is Infinitely Holy That the Angels he charges with Folly That the Heavens are not clean in his Sight That he cannot see any otherwise than Things are I do beseech you to consider Whether you would venture into the Presence of such a Holiness with the Best Graces that you know in any Person in the World For my part I do not know how Men can Answer it in their own Judgments But I think it is as impossible for any Man to appear with the Holiness of the best Saint that ever was in the World except the Righteousness of Christ as I think it impossible for a Man to stand in the Greatest Presence without Confusion having nothing but the Squallidness and Filthiness of Impure Garments and Putrefaction all over him For surely the Saints of God speak in the Name of all Saints All our Righteousnesses are as filthy Rags and our Iniquities like the Wind hurry us away And there 's no standing but by that stable Righteousness of Jesus Christ Jehovah our Righteousness and by the Holiness that flows from his Death and from his Resurrection and that is under the Cover of his Blood and under the Answer that his Righteousness makes for the Imperfection of it I am sure this Reason is so solid so substantial and so weighty That whoever Considers it must needs yield and submit to it if they do not go off from it but strictly and precisely consider it That no other Righteousness can be accepted but only the Righteousness of Christ and the Holiness that flows from it that needs the Cover of his Righteousness and is made up in its own Imperfection by the Perfection of his Righteousness Surely it must be a great Hazard for such a Person as Paul to go before the Judgment-Seat with his own Righteousness when he said even in a State of Grace and in Jesus Christ 1 Cor. 4. 4. I know nothing by my self yet am I not hereby justified For he that judgeth me is the Lord If we have not now the Righteousness of Christ How then can we stand before God! I Argue this not so much to make you of an Opinion or a Judgment for that I ought not to aim at but with the utmost Sincerity as God inables me that you may know your Peace and Safety and Security lies only in the Righteousness of Christ That Lamp will certainly be put out in obscure Darkness that hath not the Golden Oil And therefore I speak that you may have your Hearts full of this Christ and Christ only I am so far from being moved by any Objection that I am assured That this is the True Grace of God that I now Preach to you wherein we are all to stand We read Heb. 24. Christ is not entered into the Holy Places made with Hands which are Figures
do for that After-State let us do it now For in dying Spirits going out of Bodies enter into their Determinative State They enter in the State they were in here They carry out the Oil they have whether only in the Lamp of their Profession or in the Vessel the Heart united to Christ the Fountain And so they must abide so they must appear when the Bridegroom cometh This is the holy and wise Decree of God concerning the Human Spirit and who dare controll it From hence then it necessarily follows That this Watch is to be maintained in this Present State and that it can be only here and that therefore it is only in order to and with relation to the Coming of the Bridegroom but not with relation to the Time of his Coming for then the Doctrine of Watching had not been proper to Persons living so many Ages before it but because every person successively living since the Time our Lord spake these words is in the Time of his Life to exercise this Watch that is to see he hath the Oil in his Vessel and not in his Lamp only that he may stand before the Son of Man at his Coming Therefore it is a Doctrine necessary to every Age as well those furthest off as those nearest to his Coming because every one hath but a Life-Time to Watch in and he is much more to be wrought upon by the sence of the shortness and incertainty of his own Life than by the nearness of the Bridegrooms Coming and the incertainty of the time of that as we plainly see by every Days Experience And this is much the more uncontestable by observing the Apostle Paul's earnestness against the Christians of those Times thinking the Day of Christ was then at hand which he solemnly affirms could not be till an Apostacy of 1260 Days of Years should have come in and that not immediately neither and have run out Yea our very Lord himself when They thought the Kingdom of God should immediately have appeared Luke 19. 11 c. gives the Parable of a Nobleman going into a far Country and returning importing a distance of Time all which had been a contradiction to watching because we know not the day nor hour if the meaning had not been a making provision in the present Life for the Bridegrooms Coming how many Ages after soever it should be and that else it would come upon us at unawares and on the sudden and find us unready unprovided for it Argument 2. It further appears That Watching is the making such provision in this present Time for the Bridegrooms Coming as will bear up to the Glory of that Time because in the same State wherein we lie down we shall rise at that day whenever it be and openly appear therein in the face of Heaven and Earth The Judgment of Spirits though it be before God and Christ and Aangels and Saints yet Scripture speaks of it as of a private Judgment for the Day of the Appearance of Christ is spoken of Rom. 2. 5. as the Revelation or uncovering that righteous Judgment of God which as pass'd upon Spirits returning to God that gave them is as covered and secret There is greatest reason to be assured That when Spirits of Saints come into the hand of Christ there is joy in Heaven for if there be joy at their Conversion in the presence of the Angels of God and so of Saints there is much more so in the coming of Spirits to Glory but this Joy and the Shouts of it are not heard down on Earth But at that Appearance of Christ they are presented with exceeding joy before Heaven and Earth And so are All not in Christ with contempt and dishonour And this is the great Mystery and Wonder of the Oeconomy the Order of that Day That persons rise in the very same State wherein they lie down God will have it so for the clearness of his Judgment though persons die in the corner of a Bed as the Prophets expression is yet they shall openly appear in the same circumstances they died God will have every ones Judgment as in all orderly Governments to be sub Dio openly in the Face of Heaven and Earth they shall all appear as in the Fact 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thus he will be glorified in his Saints and admired in all them that believe in that day and justified in the Condemnation of all whom he condemns If God should dispose of some to Hell and some to Heaven and that there were no publick account of the matter we might think they were so disposed of by God as by an Arbitrary Power and in secret and so his Justice called in Question But when Spirits that have been so disposed of in private both Spirits so publickly and Bodies are called for together and the Judgment affirmed This is clear and open proceeding and therefore a Day of Judgment and of Resurrection is so often spoken of All shall be brought Face to Face and we shall not only know one another who have conversed together but even of all Ages Abraham Isaac and Jacob Cain and Esau Saul Achitophel and Judas All shall be known and we shall know what becomes of every one to Eternity Death here and Spirits entring into their everlasting state is not All of which we may say Who knows the Spirit of a Saint of a wise Virgin that goes upward of a wicked man of a foolish Virgin that goes downward But at that Day shall be known All the Good Men we have read of in Scripture or in true Accounts of History And the Evil Men and Hypocrites Each Company and Person apart and apart God and Christ will pass upon all openly and in Publick And that which I would further urge every one shall Rise in the very Fact the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in which they lay down Belshazzars in their way Diveses in their way the Worldlings in their way and the Foolish Virgins in their way Crying Lord Lord without Truth and Power as here The great Tyrants Enemies of the Kingdom of Christ in their way To that purpose they are describ'd as having laid their Weapons of War under their Heads with their Iniquities upon their Bones Ezek. 32. 17. and so they 'll come to the Battel of Armageddon The Iniquity and the Bones the Persons and Weapons of War will appear together in that Day of the Revelation of the Righteous Judgment of God as even then in actual War against the Lamb and his Saints This is the Great and stupendious management of the Day of Judgment of that Day and Hour of which in this Sense especially and not as relating to Time no one knows no Angels no not the Son as Man The Father only the Eternal Beeing alone had Wisdom to find out Authority Dominion and Power thus to execute It is therefore the great Point of watchfulness to Live so and so to Dye as we would desire to Rise and
shall find as soon as ever Christ came to be Preached and to be declared immediately there is the use of this very Phrase The Kingdom of Heaven Mat. 3 2. John the Baptist went out and said Repent ye for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand And so it is said of Christ that He also went forth to Preach in the very same manner Repent saith he for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand Mat. 4. 17. So that here is the whole State of the Kingdom of Heaven it begins at the Preaching of our Lord Jesus Christ and it goes on to the Perfection and to the Glory of the Kingdom Let us therefore observe what is the motion of the Gospel upon our Hearts because it is the Kingdom of Heaven And we should look to the Power and to the mighty Influences that it hath upon our Souls in that very regard because that it is the Kingdom of Heaven in its first beginnings and in its first Preparations till it comes into the Glory of it self I shall therefore Endeavour at this time to Discourse this Point to you concerning this Power of the Gospel as it is the Kingdom and Apply it by way of strong Reflection upon our own Hearts And that we may consider what our own State and Condition is in relation to it First therefore The Kingdom of Heaven is the offer of the Great Salvation of Jesus Christ unto Souls It is the Offer of that great State that shall be hereafter There is a present Offer of it to us now The Gospel comes to this very purpose to invite us by the present Preaching and by the outward Publication and Administration of it It comes to Invite us to that great Kingdom that is called The Kingdom of Heaven The Gospel represents it self now to us with all the earnestness and Wooing-Language that we may be drawn in unto Jesus Christ This is the first thing wherein it is called and worthy to be called The Kingdom of Heaven because it comes with the offer of Heaven and with the offer of Life and Grace unto every Soul Heaven is bowed down God rends the Heavens and comes down to us in the preaching of the Gospel It is called therefore the Kingdom of Heaven taken from one and given to another The Kingdom of Heaven shall be taken from you and given to a Nation bringing forth the fruits of it Mat. 2. 43. Because this Kingdom makes an offer of Life and an offer of Grace to every Soul It is that very thing that the Apostle speaks of in 2 Cor. 5. 19. God was in Christ reconciling the World unto himself and not imputing to them their Trespasses Wherefore saith he we are Ambassadors for Christ ver 20. as though God did beseech you by us we pray you in Christ's stead be ye reconciled to God God is pleased to make an offer to every one that hears of the Kingdom of Heaven He bows the Heaven as I said down to you and to you and to every one of us that are under the preaching of his Gospel The Kingdom of Heaven stoops down it condescends it self to make a gracious Offer to every one that hears it this Day If any one will let him come and take the water of life freely As it is said Rev. 22. 17. If any one hath a Mind and a Desire to the Kingdom of Heaven when it is thus offered Christ therefore laid the Foundation of it in his own Coming He begins it by John the Baptist that was to prepare his way and he carried it on by himself And still by one Series and Course of his Servants after another he hath taken care that in one part of the World or other ever since the Resurrection of Christ there hath been an offer of this Kingdom of Heaven all along to the Sons of Men in the publick Preaching of the Gospel Indeed I know the Wisdom and Glory and Soveraignty of God hath greatly manifested it self in that there are many Nations at this very Day that have not the Kingdom of Heaven Preached to them And even amongst our selves what variety there is in the Dispensation of this Word of the Kingdom unto us As our Saviour calls it The Word of the Kingdom Matth. 13. 19. When any one heareth the Word of the Kingdom So that 's the first Notion that Scripture gives us of the Kingdom of Heaven it is in the offer of Life and Grace and Salvation by Jesus Christ in the publick Preaching of the Gospel Now thus indeed Men may seem as it were at their choice and at their Election whether they will accept the Kingdom of Heaven or not whether any one will open their Ears and hear How many say If this be the Kingdom of Heaven we do not at all desire it They turn their Backs upon it and refuse slight and contemn it because it is not with Majesty enough as they think and it does not bring present Glory and Advantage enough It therefore tells us It is not the present State it is not the present Condition We are ready to say What does it bring us And where is the Power and Glory it brings along with it now This therefore now we are Taught That the Kingdom of Heaven is only now by way of Doctrine by way of Offer by way of gracious Proposal to the Souls of Men it does not yet come in its Majesty Glory and in its Power But as I shall shew you in the third Particular The Kingdom of Heaven never rests till it comes in its Glory and in its Majesty This therefore is the first Expression of it the preaching of the Gospel is the Kingdom of Heaven the Sounding of Christ and Salvation in your Ears telling you of an Everlasting State and Condition of Happiness or Misery if you refuse This is the lifting up of many as our Saviour speaks which is a very lively Consideration upon the Point that I am now upon Mat. 11. 20. He began to upbraid the Cities wherein his mighty Works had been done because they repented not Wo unto thee Chorazin wo unto thee Bethsaida for if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes But I say unto you It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the Day of Judgment than for you And thou Capernaum which art exalted unto Heaven shalt be brought down to Hell for if the mighty Works which have been done in thee had been done in Sodom it would have remained until this day But I say unto you it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom than for thee Here you see we have the preaching of the Gospel and the offer of Christ this is the Kingdom of Heaven bowing and stooping to you making an offer of it self freely to you and as we say courting the Acceptance of Souls We should look upon it as so not for the
to be no better than dross and dung in comparison of the Excellency of the Knowledge of Christ You know the World how Ambitious it is of the Riches of Pearl how desirous of the Glory of the Lustre and Splendour that it gives to them that wear it Now when a Man counts Christ a Pearl beyond all value beyond all Esteem This is the Kingdom of Heaven saith Christ within a Man It is not in Word as the Apostle speaks but in Power It is the Kingdom of God in Righteousness and Peace and Joy in the Holy Spirit viz. The Righteousness of Christ and that Joy and Peace of Conscience that arises from it by the Spirit of God applying it to our Hearts Now therefore All the Time that we live here in the World we should be gathering our selves into this Kingdom of Heaven and to have the Kingdom of Heaven within us That is indeed the Oil in our Vessels when we have the very Spirit and the very State of the Kingdom of Heaven within us I know that we are now in a State of Imperfection and cannot rise up to the Glory of these Things but yet in the Truth and Reality of it every one that is fitted for the Kingdom of Heaven he hath this value of Christ within him this inward sincere Love of Him and Resignation of his Heart to Him though it be not come into the Glory Though this Mustard-seed hath not yet sprung up into all its Amplitudes and into all its Greatness This therefore apprehend within your selves The Kingdom of Heaven as Christ speaks it does not come with observation that Men should say Lo here or lo there but saith he The Kingdom of God is within you Luke 17. 21. He was demanded When the Kingdom of God should come ver 20. And he answered and said The Kingdom of God cometh not with observation neither shall they say Lo here or lo there for behold the Kingdom of God is within you So I say we should look for Heaven within us We can never go to Heaven for that is but an Expression in Comparison except Heaven come down now into our Hearts and except we carry Heaven into Heaven within our selves within our Spirits This as I say is that Oil within our Vessels that will keep up the State of Heaven in us and to us not by any vertue of its own but as it is a Grace given and a Light given from that Supream Light from that Light as the Apostle John saith that lighteth every Man that cometh into the World Let us not therefore say Here or there is that Kingdom but let us look what we have of it in our selves That is the Lamp of Profession only when we speak of a Kingdom without us That is the Vessel fill'd with Oil within when we have this Kingdom within us The Kingdom of Heaven as it is a meer Profession it is Separable from us we may be parted from It and It from us It shall be taken from you as Christ saith and given to a Nation bringing forth the Fruits thereof So all the Kingdom of Heaven in the profession of it will be taken from them that have it as the Talent was taken from the unprofitable Servant That which we have as Christ speaks is taken from us And therefore if any of us say O how ezcellent is it to hear or to speak of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ or of the Kingdom of Heaven It is our Great Delight Then look to this that you have it within you For that Outward Kingdom though you delight in it never so much it shall be taken from you As the Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Loâ—d are these And yet that Temple was taken from them So it may be said the Kingdom of Heaven Are These But we must so hear and so speak and so converse as having it within us Else remember the Kingdom will be taken from you separated from you for ever and you cast into that Kingdom of Darkness and Misery to all Eternity 3. The Third Expression with which I will shut up this Discourse concerning the Kingdom of Heaven You must not think that the Kingdom of Heaven lasts onely while you are in the present State But the Kingdom of Heaven will be even throughout that Glory of its Appearance And it is not seen nor known like it self till it be known in that Glory and in the Separation which shall be between the Wise and the Foolish Virgins and between those that have had onely a Profession and those who have had the Power For the Kingdom of Heaven hath its greatest Work Its greatest Effect to shew yet upon every one of us It never ceases to be a Kingdom no not when it hath made this Separation between the one and the other For then it takes into it those that are its own and will throw out of it self those that tho they seem to be of it for a Time yea when all things come into enquiry into that Great Re-search It shall be made known at that Day that they did not indeed pertain to the Kingdom who had it not within Observe Mat. 8. 12. The Children of the Kingdom shall be cast out into utter Darkness That is they that have had this Kingdom in Perfection but not the Power of it within them So that I say the great Manifestation of the Kingdom of Heaven is when it comes to sepparate between the one and the other and to have its own for ever within it self Observe therefore Matth. 13. Our Saviour compares the Kingdom of Heaven to such kind of things that still it may be known that it is not a Kingdom in its Glory till it comes to this Separation of things We find ver 24. saith our Lord The Kingdom of Heaven is likened unto a Man that sowed Seed into his Field But while Men slept the Enemy came and Sowed Tares among the Wheat and went away But when the blade was sprung up and brought forth fruit then the tares appeared also So the servant of the house-holder came and said unto him Sir didst not thou sow good Seed in thy field From whence then hath it tares And he said An enemy hath done this The servant said unto him wilt thou then that we go and gather them up But he said nay let both grow together till the time of harvest and in the time of harvest I will say to the Reapers gather you together first the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them but gather the wheat into my barn So you see here that there is that great difference between the Kingdom of Heaven now and the Kingdom of Heaven as it shall manifest it self It takes in Tares now as well as Wheat And so in the same manner it is compared unto a Net that drew in both good and bad into it self But then it came to that that the good are separated from the bad and the
Hearts as it were with a Lamp lighting inwards and with Candles that we may know how it is with our own Souls And then 2. Let us look earnestly forward to that Appearance to that Kingdom of Heaven which our Lord hath here presented to us It is to come to another Being to another Representation than is now We see things now but in a very dim and a dark Light As I have often told you we are in the foul and in the dark place of the Apostacy yet The Time is near at hand when every thing shall be seen in its full Light and in its glorious Appearance and Representation And then Though it is a Day of Terrour to all wicked profane and dissolute Persons under general Profession of Christianity And though it be a terrible Day also to Virgins that have Oil in their Vessels that is who make a great deal of their Profession and have no Truth of Grace it will be terrible to them when they come to find themselves so sadly benighted and darkened in the very Heaven of their Profession as the Expression is in the Prophet Their very Lamp goes out in obscure darkness Yet it is a Day of Rejoycing and a Day of Glory in it self And what great Reason have we earnestly to pray every one for our selves and for them that are in such a dark and hopeless condition that they have not so much as Lamps even those that are under the Profession of Christianity and yet are in such a case Now I say in regard to the hopeless state of all those and that we who have a clearer Light of the Gospel breaking out may have more of the power We have Reason to pray for the Approach of that Time when the Kingdoms of this World shall be Proclaimed to be the Kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ When the Spirit shall be poured out upon us from on high and the Everlasting Gospel shall be preached to every Nation and Tongue and People under Heaven O! that our Hearts were earnest for this Time and this State and that our Souls would give God â—â—orest till he come and Rain Righteousness upon us till he be pleased to open as it were the very Windows of Heaven and to Rain down great Showers of Gospel-Truth and Gospel-Grace and Peace as He will do before that Great and Illustrious Day of the Lord come SERMON II. On Matth. XXV Ver. 1. and so on Then shall the Kingdom of Heaven be likened unto Ten Virgins which took their Lamps and went forth to meet the Bridegroom c. I Have begun to lay before you the great Importance of this Parable and Reduced it to this Proposition as a Foundation of Discourse on the Particulars That even the Purest and most Virgin-Profession of Christianity should look well to it self and take great care that it does not trust even in the best of Appearance of Things I say in the very best of Appearances but that it should look to the inward Treasure and the intrinsick value of Christianity in the Heart Because here the Foolish Virgins were pleased with the Lamp of Profession without the Treasure of Oil in the Vessel and when it came to the great Up-shot and Result their Lamps quickly went out they failed even in the very time and so they were for ever shut out from the Glory and the Joy and the Happiness of the Solemnity of the Wedding Having laid out this Point in the Particulars of the Parable I came to the first Particular and that was to tell you That the Kingdom of Jesus Christ is throughout from first to last The Kingdom of Heaven whether you consider it in the Preaching of the Gospel it is the opening of Heaven and of the great Counsels of the Eternal Wisdom of God in the Heavens Or whether you consider it as it comes into the Heart of every particular Christian so it is the power of Heaven enabling them to set such a value upon Jesus Christ that all the Things of the World are of no Account compared with the Pearl of Great Price Or whether you consider it in the last Glorious Appearance of this Kingdom so it is Heaven It is not a State that doth so much as pretend to any Sensual Enjoyment to any worldly Satisfaction to any of the Grandeur of this World or the Delights of it but it is perfect Heaven it is Heaven throughout This I have spoken of and so I shall not add any Thing to it I come to a Second Particular in This General and that is to let you know from the Representation our Saviour hath here given That the very Intent of Christianity the Great Design and Purport of it is this It is a Preparation to the Enjoyment of Jesus Christ as the Great Bridegroom of our Souls and as the Bridegroom of his Church For so it is said here These Virgins They took their Lamps That is As soon as ever they began to make a Profession of Christ and a Profession of Christianity Immediately in that very moment they had an Eye to the Bridegroom So that this is the Great Purport of Christianity That we should have a Spiritual Marriage-Union with Jesus Christ and in Order to the Enjoyment of him in the Glory of his Kingdom as the Bridegroom of our Souls It is a very Great Emphasis and Weight that the Spirit of God has put upon this Resemblance or Similitude of the Marriage Union between Christ and the Soul and between Christ and his Church And if I should be any thing able to declare and to open it to you at this Time in the Spirituality of it and thereby solicit and draw the Affections of every one of us to Jesus Christ I should in some measure Answer that which John the Baptist Represents John 3. 29. He that hath the Bride is the Bridegroom but the Friend of the Bridegroom which standeth and heareth him rejoyceth greatly because of the Bridegroom's Voice This my Joy therefore is fullfilled That is There is no one Preaching the Gospel who ought to draw the Affection of Souls and of Spirits unto himself but he is to look only to the Great Bridegroom None of the Friends of the Bridegroom That is The Preachers of the Gospel of Jesus Christ They are not to draw the Hearts of Men to themselves For what are they as the Apostle saith if they are the most Excellent but Ministers by whom ye have believed But as the Apostle saith We preach Christ Jesus the Lord and our selves your Servants for Christ's sake We preach Christ the Bridegroom and our selves only the Friends of the Bridegroom And therefore every one should take heed that there be no Centring in himself that speaks of Christ but onely in Christ Himself And so every one of us should take heed that we do not Rest and Centre in an Ordinance or in a Discourse of Christ but that our Hearts go up to Christ Himself For he
World and forced out by the Power and by the Glory of Christ Then shall be this Glorious Solemnity of the Marriage of Christ Rev. 19. 1 2. And so on in the Chapter And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in Heaven saying Allelujah Salvation and Glory and Honour and Power unto the Lordour God For true and righteous are his Judgments for he hath judged the Great Whore What is the Great Whore but only False Christianity called Babylon the Great that hath defiled the Doctrine and defiled the Worship and defiled the Holiness of Conversation and defiled the Spirituality of the Enjoyment of Christ That 's the meaning of the Great Whore When therefore you see Christianity is All Spirit is All Heaven is All Life is All Purity and Truth and Glory and Babylon destroyed when you see that then Immediately shall the Marriage-Supper of the Lamb follow As you shall find in the 7th Verse Let us be glad and rejoice and give honour to him for the Marriage of the Lamb is come and his Wife hath made her self ready And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine Linnen clean and white For the fine Linnen is the Righteousness of Saints And he saith unto me Write Blessed are they which are called unto the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me These are the true Sayings of God That you may not say as the World is ready to do even the Sober World even that which is the Professing World of Christians are ready to say these things are nothing but Whimsie nothing but Fancy it is said These are the true sayings of God To shew us that the things shall certainly and must needs come to pass And it shall be when Christianity shall be no longer in Form and it shall be no longer in Rites and Ceremonies when it shall be no longer in Humane Institutions and Commands and it shall be no longer in the shining Grandeur of the World For Men cannot see the Glory of Christianity because they see such a Glister of this World But all this must go off and what is Glorious indeed must come in its place It shall be all Spiritual Pure and Divine And If any of us can Love such a Jesus if we have such upright Hearts and are drawn with the Savour of His Good Oyntments and such a Name as His be to us as Oyntment poured forth It is certain our State is Good we are of those upright that do indeed Love Christ But If we say Here 's nothing of the Bravery of this World Here 's nothing of the Wit and of the Pass-time and of the Gaudery and of the Retinue and what the World is so pleased with and meeting together to talk of nothing that signifies any thing but shrivells into meer Emptiness and into perfect Vanity and Froth I say except we have these things we don't know what to make of this Jesus and of this Christianity VVhy then we are but Foolish Virgins that while we pretend we have nothing but a Lamp and our Lamp at the proper time for its shining in Glory will go out And so suitably and agreeably to this you may see and I desire you may take notice of it how Scriptures do agree and Breath the very same thing The Apostle John in the Revelation speaks as Solomon who lived many Hundred Years before John yet they both came into the very same Spirit and into the very same Representation For you see that which Solomon Celebrates under a Song of Marriage a Song of Love The Apostle John does in the very same manner Represent I saw saith he The New Jerusalem come down That is the State of Saints in this High and Pure and perfect Enjoyment of Christ I saw it come down as a Bride adorned for her Husband Chap. 22. 2. I saw the Holy City New Jerusalem Which is nothing but the Pure and Holy and Perfect and Happy State of Saints I saw it coming down from God out of Heaven as a Bride adorned for her Husband And now the earnestness of all our desires should be after it As it is said ver 17. The Spirit and the Bride say Come And let him that heareth say Come That is let them who hear say so as struck with a Symphony even as one Lute Answers another the Lute upon the Wall Answers that is struck and Tuned and Play'd upon So every Soul Tuned aright by Grace doth sound alike with the Spirit and with the Bride when he does but hear it say Come It immediately saith Come Thus I have shew'd you that this Allusion Representation and Figure is a Figure Representing this great thing Jesus Christ is the Bridegroom of the Church and every Particular Soul the Bride or Lambs Wife For it is a wild sort of Notion that some people have of a Church Who by it Principally mean a kind of Jurisdiction and Authority and Power and a sort and sett of Men who should enjoy it They mean this by the Church they speak so much of Whereas the Spirit of God means by the Church chiefly Real Christians sound sincere-hearted Professors of Jesus Christ and Lovers of him The upright Love thee This is the meaning of a Church by Christ and not a kind of Authority and Jurisdiction that looks more like a Train and a Court of this World than any thing of the Power of Christianity and the Power of the Gospel I shall therefore come in proceeding in this Discourse to open to you these two things First That there is a State of this Marriage-Relation to Christ understand every thing as I hope you do spiritually and of the Power of Holiness in our Hearts and of the free Communication of the Righteousness and Grace and Spirit of Christ Till all appears in Glory understanding it thus I say There are two great Spaces Two Great States of it one that is Here and then the other that shall be in the Glory of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ And it hath pleased God to take great care that both these should be Represented to us First of all the State of the Soul here It is like an Espousal it is like a Betrothing it is like that that we call among us a Contract of Marriage And according to Scripture there is a distance between it and the Solemnity and Compleating and Consummation of the Marriage And this is very necessary for us to consider that now is the time of preparing and fitting Souls for that Great Solemnity And therefore we read of a Virgin Betrothed to an Husband before the Solemnity of the Marriage upon which Account to the Jews it was appointed by Moses that there should be at least Thirty days between the one and the other And they looked upon it as a Breach and an Infraction upon the Mosaick-Law If there was not such a Time of Preparation And some very Conscientious Ministers of the Gospel have been
of first Fruits in regard of his Servants I shall give you two Scriptures and so pass off James 1. 18. Of his own will begat he us with the Word of Truth that we should be a kind of first Fruits of his Creatures And in Rev. 14. 4. These saith he speaking of the Hundred forty and four Thousand that were Sealed These are the first Fruits to God and to the Lamb. 4. The fourth Feast that we read of It was the Feast of Weeks As it is called in that Lev. 23. And it was after seven compleat Sabbaths were past Then there was a Feast which is called Pentecost And at that very Feast was the great pouring Out of the Spirit of Christ upon the Disciples Acts 2. 1. And so there shall be the Feast of the Harvest of all the Servants of God gathered in one after the Pouring out of that blessed Spirit of God All this shall be much greater than that was in Acts 2. This was but a Beginning It was but an Entrance of that which is to be done at the Feast of the Great Harvest Surely never was there such a Feast of Pentecost Such a Feast of Weeks as shall be then Every one who shall be admitted to that Feast His mouth shall be Full of the Wonderful works of God He shall speak abundantly of the Glory of God and of Jesus Christ and of the Riches of Grace He shall speak abundantly of the mighty Works of God in that mighty Pouring out of the Spirit of God 5. In the Fifth Place There shall be the Feast of Trumpets As we read Lev. 23. After the Feast of Weeks was the Feast of Trumpets And that Feast was a Type of the Seven Trumpets in the Revelation ending and fill'd up in the Seventh Trumpet that we read of Rev. 11. The Seventh Angel sounded and immediately there were loud Voices in Heaven saying the Kingdoms of this World are become the Kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ and he shall Reign for ever and ever ver 15. With which you may compare what is spoken in 1 Cor. 15. 52. And in 1 Thes 4. 16. Christ shall descend the Trumpet shall sound and the Dead shall be raised Incorruptible And the Saints shall be changed And he shall come down with the Shout and Voice of the Arch-angel and with the Trampet of God Then shall that great Trumpet sound And then shall be the Feast when all the Dead in Christ and they that have slept In and By Jesus shall arise and shall appear in Glory and shall stand forth in that State of an Incorruptible Resurrection And then is the Blessedness of the Saints changed who live and remain here upon Earth And here all the forenam'd Feasts are together united in one 6. In the Sixth Place There shall be the Day of Attonement the Day of the great Attonement As we read of that also A Day wherein God was reconciled wherein the Entrances into the Holy of Holies were opened All that was to be in the Day of Attonement And so there shall be in the State of the Wedding of Christ The Feast of Attonement of Reconciliation As the Apostle speaks Acts 3. 19. When the times of Refreshing and of Restitution shall come Repent ye therefore and be Convented that your Sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord In that Great Day of Attonement and at the Great Wedding All that make up the Lambs Wife shall meet there if they have been Enemies before to God and Christ they shall be Atton'd They 'll lay aside their Enmity one to another and fall into mutual Kindness and Enjoyment one of another Then all things as the Apostle speaks Col. 1. All things in Heaven and in Earth shall be fully Reconciled by Him Even by Him 6. The last is The Feast of Tabernacles The Feast of a Paradisiacal-State The Feast of Tabernacles The Feast of Goodly Boughs of Olives and Palms And whatsoever was most valuable among the Plants was brought out to make Boughs with at that time And to this the great Feast of the Kingdom of Christ is compared Because it shall be the State of Paradice Restored All the Glory and Beauty and Excellency of the Creation shall then be restored We read therefore Zech. 14. 16 c. of this Happy and Blessed Feast of Tabernacles It is when all shall be Holiness to Jehovah And it shall come to pass that every one that is left of all the Nations which come against Jerusalem shall even go up from Year to Year to Worship the King the Lord of Hosts and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles It is the Feast of that State of Paradice where Instead of Briars and Thorns shall come up the Fir-Tree and the Mirtle-Tree And it shall be to the Lord for a Name and for a Perpetual Remembrance Esay 55. 13. I shall now Briefly shut up all this in Application And I desire you that you would refresh these things in your own Thoughts And that you would bring them to mind You will find every particular Feast that of the Passover Exod. 12. You 'll find at large and every other Feast in Lev. 23. And I desire you would consider and read that Chapter And remember that the Glory and Happiness and Blessedness and Spirituality of those Feasts shall be in the Kingdom of Jesus Christ Vse 1. The first use therefore that I would make of it shall be this To make a present Invitation to you to this Great Feast that is to be held to the Lord our God Even to Jehovah That you would mind this That you would seriously mind it and consider it that all of us are now Invited For now when we may go as in that Matth. 22. One to our Market Another to our Farm Every one to this or that Entertainment of this World At this very Time the Invitation is made to every one of us that we would consider of it Behold this Sermon and this Discourse this Preaching of the Gospel it is sent to you to invite you to this great Supper He sent forth his Servants ver 3. That is the Ministers and Preachers of the Gospel the Expounders and Openers of Scripture to you to call you and to bid you unto this Wedding Now take heed Take heed That you do not go one to your Farm and another to your Merchandize that you don't go every one your own way As it is said They made light of it and went their way They go every one their own way Take heed now Remember when that Wedding-Supper shall be and that it shall then be Proclaimed with that sound of the Trumpet with the Voice of the Arch-angâ—l Blessed are they that are bidden then to the Marriage-Supper of the Lamb If any be bidden They must be bidden now They must be perswaded now they must accept the Invitation at this very time For now it is as I tell
of Conversation and therein to Look for and to Haste on to the Day of God and with the Spirit and under his Influences and with the Bride-like Affection Cry out as Hearers mov'd with an Holy Sympathy or Likeness of Affection Even Cry out in Harmony Come Lord Jesus Come Quickly SERMON VI. On Matthew 25. v. 1. Then shall the Kingdom of Heaven be likened unto Ten Virgins which took their Lamps and went forth to meet the Bridegroom c. I Have in several Discourses led you through the great Importance and Sense of our Lord in this Parable Which is one of those wherein as he speaks Matth. 13. he opened his Mouth in Parables and uttered Things that had been kept secret from the foundation of the World I have spoken of several particulars herein and will go directly upon what is now before us and to be spoken of and that is That while the Bridegroom tarried all these Virgins both the wise and the unwise slumbred and slept Now it is indeed a great difficulty to find out the very meaning and sense of our Lord in this part of the Parable For it seems strange that not only the unwise but that the wise Virgins slumbred and slept And to give a sense of this suitable to the meaning and to the rest of the Parable I shall at this time by the assistance of God undertake and so to Discourse of it accordingly I observe therefore to you That here are two Words used by our Lord They slumbred and they slept I look upon these Words to have two very different senses though they may seem to be perfectly alike And that slumbring and sleeping as indeed Scripture and common Language generally join both together mean one and the same thing But I understand the First concerning the spiritual state of the Churches of Christ during the delay of Christs coming and of the Kingdom of Christ All the whole state of the Christian Church hath been from the very beginning of the working of the Mystery of Iniquity it hath been in a slumbring condition But then the sleeping I look upon that to be an expression of the dying of the Servants of Christ all along from the Time of the Resurrection of Christ to this very Time And the latter is consequent upon the former For I am fully perswaded That if the Power and Glory and vigour of Christianity in a settled state of Christianity if that had immediately followed upon the Resurrection of Christ and the giving of the Spirit that pouring out of the Spirit that was in the Apostles days I do fully believe there had been no such Thing as dying Even as when the Kingdom of Christ comes there shall be no more Death So if the Kingdom of Christ had immediately proceeded upon the first Preaching of the Gospel there had been no sleeping If there had been no slumbring there had been no sleeping And I shall give you two great Reasons why I understand the Word sleeping concerning dying They slumbred that is the Power of Christianity did not shew it self upon them And so they slept that is they died The first Reason I would give you of it is this Because the Intention of our Lord in this Parable is chiefly That we may look to the Power of Christianity in our own hearts to such a power of it as that we should be able to appear with Christ when he comes to the Wedding That our Lamps should not then go out The great Meaning the great Scope of the Parable is this That we should look to have the very Life and Truth of Grace so in our hearts that we may have a Light of it when Christ comes that will not go out in the very time in that very instant Time wherein we should go with him to the Wedding Now it is very plain That the Wise Virgins indeed had this Light For it is said of them ver 10. They that were ready which is spoken of the wise Virgins they went in with him to the Marriage and the Door was shut So that if the wise Virgins had slept in that sense that the foolish Virgins did I say if they had slept in the same sense they would not have been ready to go into the Wedding with Christ So that these wise Virgins they did watch and they did not sleep in the main sense of the Parable For they were ready to go in with him to the Wedding Altho therefore they did die yet in the great concernment of Eternity they did not sleep away their time they did not lose their opportunity of providing a Treasure of Oil. A Second Reason that I give you Why this sleeping is not meant of the spiritual estate of these Virgins but only of their dying is Because it is said At Midnight there was a Cry made And then they arose and trimmed their Lamps Now this Midnight is that state of death in regard of the Body in which all the servants of Christ lie till that Resurrection till that First Resurrection that is spoken of This is indeed like a Midnight For when the Bodies of Saints lie in the Dust it is as if a Midnight were upon them as to that visible state and appearance of Body though their Spirits are indeed with Christ yet their Bodies lie as in a Midnight And if you speak of the Apostles of Christ Peter Paul John and the rest of them they are all of them as it were in a Midnight sleep as to their Bodies And therefore the Midnight is so properly to be understood Whereas in regard of the Spiritual State of the Church of Christ which is before his Coming before the Glory of his Coming it shall not be a Midnight For as I have often endeavoured to make plain unto you That assoon as ever those Time Times and half Time of the Antichristian Power are at an end immediately a great Light and a great Glory of the Gospel shall shine out that it shall not be a Midnight Indeed the Light will not be perfectly clear or precious till the Glory of the Kingdom of Christ But I cannot but hope and expect That within very few years there will be such a state of Christianity such a state of the Gospel the Everlasting Gospel preached through the World There will be such a new Mission and Commission of the Servants of Christ That it shall not be to be accounted a Midnight in that regard Nor shall the Coming of Christ be so on the sudden but that there will be great Light concerning it When that Angel that flyes through the midst of Heaven Rev. 14. shall have preach'd the Everlasting Gospel to every Nation c. These are the Reasons why I cannot understand this Word sleeping to be a representation of the spiritual state of the Church and Servants of Christ But I do understand by the slumbring That there is such a deadish such a drousie such a benumm'd state of Christianity as
one is awakened out of Sleep And therefore let us earnestly long for that Time And whatever God is doing or seems to do in the World let us observe what Tendencies it has to this Excellent State of the Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ and then this Slumber shall be perfectly taken off And then 3 In the Third and last place Let it comfort us exceedingly in God and in Christ And let us say The Things that God hath prepared and designed they are Things That Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard nor have entred into the heart of man to conceive For that in the 64th of Isaiah is to be applied to the Coming of Christ O that thou wouldest Rent the Heavens and that thou wouldest come down and that the Mountains might flow down at thy Presence As when the melting fire burneth the fire causeth the Waters to boil c. And then saith he Things that Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard yet he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him Since the beginning of the World Men have not heard nor perceived by the Ear neither hath the Eye seen O God besides thee what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him Consider it at your own Freedom This State is near coming forth such an one as hath not been seen or heard of since the Foundation of the World In which we shall no longer complain at the rate we do now That all our Righteousnesses are as filthy Rags and That our Iniquities like the Wind take us away And That we do not stir up our selves to take hold of God But then there shall be a General Stirring up of one another to take hold of the Lord our God SERMON VII On Matthew 25. v. 1 Then shall the Kingdom of Heaven be likened unto Ten Virgins which took their Lamps and went forth to meet the Bridegroom c. I Have in several Discourses endeavoured to express to you the Divine Sense and Meaning of our Lord in this Parable who as I told you Opened his Mouth in Parables and in this Parable in a very Eminent Manner and hath made known things hid from the very Foundation of the World The Points that I have already Discoursed it may be necessary to give you only just a Remembrance of and to come to that that is now to be proposed The first was this That the Kingdom of Christ in all the motions in all the parts in all the Dates and Times of it is the Kingdom of Heaven It is not to be looked upon as an Earthly or a Sensual Kingdom but the Kingdom of Heaven In the second Place That True Christianity is an Espousal unto Jesus Christ The Scripture hath delighted to set it forth under the Resemblance of Marriage and Espousals Thirdly That all the Eye of a Christian is not to the present state though it be necessary in the way but it is to the future and to the higher state For as I opened to you out of the Old Testament it was the Command of God That there should be a Contract between the Person that had taken a Beautiful Woman Captive and her that was taken Captive if he desired to Marry her There was to be a time of Contract Thirty Days God did precisely appoint That it might shadow to us That the present state is but a state of our Espousals and Contract And therefore our chief Intention the Great Eye of the Soul must be to the Solemnity and the Glory of the Nuptials of the Marriage it self The Virgins took their Lamps therefore and went forth to meet the Bridegroom In the Fourth Place I opened to you the great Solemnity Fifthly That notwithstanding the Death and Resurrection and Ascention of Christ into Glory there is a great Delay of his coming And though this seems very strange and unreasonable it should be so I endeavoured to open to you the Reason that Scripture hath given why it is so In the Sixth Place in the last Discourse I opened to you this What a Drousie and Sleepy state of Christianity hath come upon Christians and upon the Profession of Christ by reason of the Bridegroom 's tarrying I shall now go on to speak of this viz. At Midnight there was a cry made Behold the Bridgroom cometh Go ye out to meet him I have considered and weighed the Parable in all the parts of it in all the Scope of it and I cannot find that it can relate to any thing but to the very Glory of the Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ For immediately it comes to this That the Door was shut They that were ready went in with him to the Wedding and the Door was shut Christ profest to them without when once the Door was shut I know you not And there is no such thing as that before the great coming of our Lord Jesus Christ And therefore this Cry at Midnight is no other than that which the Apostle speaks in the 1. Thess 4. 16. For the Lord himself shall descend from Heaven with a shout with the Voice of the Archangel and with the Trump of God and the Dead in Christ shall rise first This is the great Cry that shall be made it shall be the Cry at the Trump of the Archangel the Voice of the Archangel And so in the 1 Cor. 15. The Apostle speaks the very same thing that it should come to this There should be an immediate Raising of the Dead Ver. 52. In a Moment in the twinkling of an Eye at the last Trump for the Trumpet shall Sound and the Dead shall be raised Incorruptible and we shall be Changed This therefore is the Midnight-Cry Indeed there may be some Resemblances of it by sudden Judgments and by sudden Affrightments upon the World As we may easily Apprehend of late at Jamaica It was to them like a Day of Judgment I say It must needs be like to such a Midnight-Cry when an immediate stroak of God came upon them A Thundring and Lightning and an Opening of the Earth and a Rising up as it were of the Sea to sweep down the Inhabitants into it self this looked Just like the end of the World And though God gave us a little Item of such a thing though it did not so come upon us as that beyond the Sea yet we may easily Consider it might have been like a Mid-night if God had done with us as he did with them But yet still this would not have been that Midnight-Cry but even to those that are gone down into the Depth in that place Yet still there remains a Midnight-Cry that shall awaken them 'T was like a Midnight-Cry upon Sodom when it was from Heaven Consumed by Fire But yet it is very evident that Midnight-Cry remains still to come upon that very Sodom and Gomorah And therefore I say Though I allow Allusions to such a Scripture as this when any Judgment that has been or may be is set out to us there may
that are in the Graves shall hear his voice and shall come forth they that have done good unto the resurrection of life and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation They come immediately forth each to their own state that state wherein they have been since Death and at Death So Dan. 12. 1 2. There shall be a time of great trouble And many of them that sleep in the dust of the Earth shall awake some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt For the Spirits that have been with God and Christ they come with the blessed assurances of that state and condition And they that have been in Chains of Darkness to the Judgment of the Great Day under the knowledge of that they come under the Judgment of eternal fire as the expression is in the Apostles Peter and Jude Every one They come as it were breathing and carrying upon them the favour the odour of that state and condition wherein they have been The Spirit of a Man knows its own state even when it returns into the Body And there is this great Scripture that doth assure us if you should think that what I have already given doth not rise up to the very Point Rom. 2. 15. You shall see in what manner all come forth at that day They shew the work of the Law written in their hearts their Conscience also bearing witness and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another in the day observe that in the day when God shall judge the secrets of Men by Jesus Christ according to my Gospel Here 's the manner in which they come forth in that day they come with Thoughts either accusing or excusing And then saith the Apostle is the time when there is that vigorous Accusation or Excusation of Conscience it is in the day when God shall judge the secrets of Men by Jesus Christ according to my Gospel So that Men rise even in that Midnight-Cry when they come into Bodies with Thoughts full either of Accusation or Excusation They come with all their Thoughts about them they do not leave their Thoughts either in Heaven or in Hell but they come with Thoughts either accusing or excusing That 's the first Argument 2. The second Argument is this They know in what Company they come and whether they are in the Glorious and Blessed Company or not For it is very evident the Saints come together with Christ and therefore they are assured because they know the Company they come along with So in 1 Thes 4. saith the Apostle The dead in Christ God will bring them with him So they come with Christ they know that they come in his company and they are assured There is a great deal of difference you know between those that come along with the Judge and make a part of his Honourable Retinue and Attendance and those that come out of Prison and behold the Face of the Judge as sitting in Judgment upon them 1 Thes 4. 14 15. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again Them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him For we say unto you by the Word of the Lord that we which are alive and remain unto the Coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep They shall certainly come with Jesus Christ And so Zach. 14. 5. The Lord my God shall come and all the Saints with thee They come in the Glory of the Company of Jesus Christ And this our Saviour calls a Being set at the Right Hand It is the very same thing with that Mat. the 25. He shall set the Goats on the Left Hand and the Sheep on the Right That is they come with him on his Right Hand And in that Scripture Rev. 19. It is said The Heavens opened unto Jesus Christ and the Armies which were in Heaven they follow him on White horses Ver. 11. And I saw Heaven opened and beheld a White-horse and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True His Eyes were as a flame of Fire Ver. 12. And it is said The Armies which were in Heaven followed him upon White-Horses Ver. 14. That is The Saints in Bodies of Glory For the White Horses and the Fine Linnen White and Clean that are there named mean the Glory of the Saints in Bodies of the Resurrection On the other side the Wicked they come Aloof they come no nearer nor no faster than they must needs they are forced and called for as Prisoners in Chains and Fetters must come that are brought And so they must come in this way Sinners and Wicked Persons that have not Repented nor Believed in Jesus Christ that have not the White Horses to Ride upon and the Fine Linnen White and Clean to be Arrayed in And it brings in The Third thing For the very Bodies the very Cloaths that the one and the other will have on do enough assure them exactly what they are whether the Saved or the Miserable whether the Happy or the Unhappy I say The garments wherewith they are Cloathed For while Saints have Linnen White and Clean the Wicked they are Dark and Duskie they are in Prison-Cloaths and Prison-Raggs they have Fetters about them They know by that as well as Men know by theit Garb what the State and Condition of one another is Now this I look upon to give the Reason to that Expression Rev. 16. Just when Christ is coming he said Just at the very time when he is coming Ver. 15. Behold I come as a Thief Blessed is he that Watcheth and keepeth his Garments lest he walk naked and they see his shame Blessed is he that watcheth c. That is Blessed is he that looks well to it that when he rises again he may have a Robe of Immortality That he may have a Garment suitable to that State Suitable to the Glory and Excellency of that Time Blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his Garments hath so taken care to lay off the Cloathing of the Body that when he comes into it again it may instead of all the Darkness and Corruption In which it lay down it may be a Body of Glory a Body Incorruptible as it is said in the 1 Cor. 15. 52. The Dead shall be raised Incorruptible They shall be Raised He speaks evidently of the Saints of Christ They shall be raised in a moment Incorruptible And that 's the first thing that I have laid down and endeavoured to Argue to you The time of Christs coming That will be the time when that Midnight-Cry shall be and that when we shall be in the first hearing of it and come forth we shall know in what state and condition we are First By the Notices given to us from our Spirits from our Thoughts Accusing or Excusing at that very time in that very day And then Again from the Company we are in whether we come with Christ or whether we are