earth because our heart and thoughts are here and how unwilling are we to go out of it albeit we are in danger of being suffocated with the smoak of it It is a great folly so eagerly to love fading and unstable things Gregory speaks well to this purpose We never forego any thing willingly but what we possess inaffectionately and speaking of Job he saith He parted with all with a willing mind which he possessed without inordinate delight You now see the best of this world to be but a Moth-eaten thred-bare Coat resolve now to lay it aside being old and full of holes and look after that house above not made with hands eternal in the heavens Set not your heart upon the world since God hath not made it your portion and your inheritance What misery of miseries is it for the immortal soul of man to be enslaved to the world which is but an heap of fuel kept in store reserved unto fire against the day of judgement and perdition of ungodly men especially now in this age of the world when it is ready for the fire but in that day when the perdition of the ungodly shall be then shall the world be destroyed the world and all its fond lovers shall perish together in one day How shall this make for the glory of Gods Justice who shall bring destruction upon them that love the world above himself on that day wherein the world it self shall be destroyed Let us therefore endeavour daily to curb and restrain this exorbitancy of affection as King Tarquinius walking in his garden whipped off the tops and heads of the tallest flowers with his staff so must we cut off these rising affections as soon as they begin to peep forth and put up head in our hearts this world which God will not have to be yours O Christians is but the dross and scum of Gods Creation the portion of the Lords poor hired servants the moveables not the heritage of the Sons of Zion It is but an Offal or hard bone cast to the dogs that are thrust out from the new Jerusalem upon which they rather break their teeth than satisfie their appetite Keep your love and your hope in heaven it is not good your Love and your Lord should be in two sundry Countryes as one excellently speaketh he is semper idem alwayes the same yesterday to day and for ever Keep at a distance from the walls of this Pest-house even the pollutions of this defiling and fading world SECT IV. Do not muse too much upon these transitory things do not let your thoughts dwell too much upon them do not mind the things that are beneath do not think often nor think seriously of them so as to say It is good for us to be here let us here build Tabernacles as they are transitory in their own nature so they must be lookt upon in transitu As a Traveller in a Journey may see many fine Towns and stately Edifices with his eye but he mindeth his way he will not stay his horse to take a view of them So he that hath heaven in his thoughts and will seek after a City that is to come must not suffer these fading things to stay him in his course heaven-ward It is the vanity of our spirits that enclineth us to muse upon these transitory things and on the other side the more we dwell upon them in our thoughts the more light and vain our spirits are the more you muse upon them the more you will be ensnared by them What is a soul the poorer to want the lusts and perishing vanities of this present evil world Certainly we have no cause to weep at the want of such toyes as these we have nothing to do in this prison except to take meat drink and house-room in it for a time only this world is not yours let not your heaven be made of such poor mettal as mire and clay Oh where are those heavenly-minded souls that have nothing but their bodies of earth walking up down upon the Superficies of it whose souls and the powers of them are up in heaven Oh mens souls have no wings and therefore they keep their Nest and fly not to that upper Region Could we be deaf and dead to this worlds charms we might deride at the folly of those who are wooing this world for their match and scorn to Court such a withered Princess or buy this worlds kindness with a bow of our knees Alas it is little the world can take from us and it is not much that it can give us but the worst of Christ is better than the worlds best things his Chaff is better than the worlds Corn. Oh let your thoughts dwell much upon that blessedness that abideth you in the other world and upon that continuing City that is to come SECT V. Labour not much for these transitory things Labour not for the meat that perisheth Joh. 6.27 Our Saviour therein teacheth us to look upon all things here below whatsoever but as meat that goes into the belly and is cast out of the draught to the dunghill and exhorts us to labour after that meat that shall endure to eternal life Do not then toil and moil for such uncertainties all earthly things are very mutable they are like a Land-flood which faileth in a time of drought when we have most need of water S. Peter tells us The end of all things is at hand It is true in a two-fold sense 1. In a relative sense in relation to every particular person and his interest in them in relation to thee and me and every one of us when our end cometh then the end of all things is come unto us when thy life endeth then the world and all the things of the world do end to thee it is as much to thee as if all the world were at an end 2. It is true in an absolute sense 2 Pet. 3.10 The day of the Lord cometh as a thief in the night in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise and the Elements shall melt with fervent heat the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burnt up So that all these visible things are temporal and shall have an end Now these visible things are of two sorts either first The substances or subjects Or secondly The accidents though in a proper sense the accidents are visible and the substances cannot be discerned but by their accidents You see not the substance of the world but the colour the form and figure of it the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and even this also is temporal and the fashion of it passeth away 1 Cor. 7.31 All visible things though never so pleasing to us as health wealth honours pleasures riches beauty strength all the outward and natural perfections that are in any creatures are not abiding they are temporal only though never so pleasant to us On the other side all
Popes they were not then come when John wrote After the Heathen Emperours were taken away Rome was left vacant for the Pope and although the Christian Emperours had some power yet they did not reside at Rome but continued for a long time at Constantinople or Ravenna and after the power of the Christian Emperour was broken by the Barbarians the Pope got Rome and setled himself there and so becometh the seventh Head of the fourth Beast Now the sixth and seventh Head of this Beast one that was then in being and one that was not then come were the grand Enemies of the Church of Christ 1. The sixth Head the Roman Emperours they raised many bloody persecutions against the Church of Christ and though God restrained some of them and gave his Church a breathing yet many of them tortured their own brains to devise cruel torments wherewith to torture the Christians as Nero Tiberius Domitian Trajan Antoninus Decius Maximinus Dioclesian c. under whom many thousand Martyrs sealed the truth of Christ with their blood Such was the favour of God to this Realm that they escaped all except the last Persecution which was under Dioclesian and Alban was the first that suffered Martyrdome in this Land for the Gospel of Christ But the Pope the seventh and last Head hath been more mischievous and continued longer than all the rest Take his first rise from the time the Heathen Emperours were cut off and the Pope hath continued 1360 years or thereabout and Rome was builded about a thousand and sixty years before the Pope arose so that this Head hath continued neer three hundred years longer than all the other six which may give us hopes his time is now almost expired and since the Church hath been vexed by him for so many Ages it is not so much to be admired he should fall speedily as that he hath stood so long The Pope was born about the time of Constantine the Great and came not to his full stature till about the year six hundred or somewhat after then Boniface III. made by Phocas universal Pastor of all the Churches of the world appeared with his Ecce duo gladii hic Behold here the two Swords challenging Imperial and Papal Dignity The mischief done to the Church by this seventh Head hath been partly by fraud partly by open violence partly by bringing in corruptions in matter of Doctrine Popery is not a single Heresie like that of Apollinaris or Arrius but a heap and sink or common sewer in which there is a confluence of Heresies and corrupt Doctrines meeting together and partly by rage and cruelties witness their cruelties to the Albigenses and Waldenses About the latter end of the reign of King Henry the Second King of England Pope Alexander III. held a Council at the Lateran Church in Rome where they consulted about the extirpation of the Albigenses They were a people that did not acknowledge the Pope prayed to none but to God alone had no Images went not to Mass denied Purgatory and read the holy Scriptures The Pope therefore gave the same graces to them that should spill the blood of these poor Christians as to them that crossed themselves to go to the holy Sepulchre and fight against the Sarazens Hereupon Dominick the Author of the Order of Dominicans put above two hundred thousand of them to death This was done in the time of John King of England and by the instigation of Pope Innocent the III. And of the Albigenses and Waldenses Pope Julius the II. was the cause of the death of two hundred thousand Now whosoever be the Instruments of great trouble to the Church or changes in the world it is the hand of the Lord that doth it we have no cause to repine and murmure at such and such but have just cause to blame our selves for it others have not dealt so ill with us as we have dealt with God therefore when God takes away peace and sends trouble takes away the fruits of the earth and sends famine takes away health and sends Epidemical diseases in all these we are to eye God remember that the Judgments of God are a great deep and like the great Mountains if we do not thorowly search the reason of it let us confess our understandings are too short to reach to the bottom of it let us not accuse God of injustice but confess with Job Lo he goeth by me and I see him not his wayes are unsearchable and past finding out CHAP. III. II. GOd takes away what he pleaseth in respect of the place where So Jobs Children were taken from him when they were feasting in their Elder Brothers house a place seemingly of great security Naomi lost her Husband and her two Sons in a strange Land when she sojourned in Moab she was left a childless Widow in a strange Country therefore saith she Call me not Naomi but Marah for I went out full but the Lord hath brought me home again empty Ruth 1.21 So Jacob had his beloved Rachel taken away from him on a journey as they were travelling in the way III. In respect of the time when Nebuchadnezzar lost the use of his reason when he was in the height of his glory walking in his stately Palace of Babel Dan. 4.30 being puffed up with pride Is not this great Babylon that I have built by the might of my power and for the honour of my Majesty and while the word was yet in his mouth a voice came from heaven saying to thee it is spoken the Kingdome is departed from thee and the same hour was it fulfilled upon him So the rich man in the Gospel had his soul taken from him even then when he promised himself many years enjoyment of his wealth IV. The Lord taketh away by what means and instruments and in what manner he pleaseth Job's Oxen and Asses were taken away by the Sabeans his Camels by the Chaldeans his sheep burnt by fire from heaven his children slain by the fall of an house yet in conclusion Job doth not say The Lord hath given and the Chaldeans and Sabeans have taken but the Lord hath given and the Lord hath taken Now God is said to take away when Instruments do take away it is seldome that God dealeth with a people immediately but in these outward Providences he stirreth up Instruments to do what is done but that which Instruments do the Lord is said to do Isai 42.24 Who gave Jacob to the spoiler and Israel to the robber did not I the Lord Men robbed and spoiled them yet it was the Lords act to send these spoilers upon them the Act is from the Lord though the wickedness of the act be from the evil instruments There are many wayes that God useth to take men away some die with the Pestilence and such like contagious diseases some die by the Sword one is consumed with famine another is killed with thirst some are choaked in waters others
heart by the searcher of the heart Doubtless then both had sinned but their sin was not the cause why he was born blind what then ut manifestentâ—r opera Dei that the works of God might be manifested Thus far Augustine upon the same place He saith opera Dei the works of God saith Calvin because as his work of judgement had been seen in his blindness which was opus solitudinis a work of solitude so his mercy might appear in his recovery which was opus reparationis a work of reparation Itaque oum latent afflictionum causae cohibenda est curiositas ne Deo faciasimus Therefore saith he when the causes of afflictions are not manifest curiosity is to be restrained lest we both do injury to God and become cruel toward our Brethren This was manifest in Job a work of power in taking away all his children and a work of his clemency in restoring him so many again and in suffering him to live to see the fourth generation of them and afterward to die old and full of daies for God is able even out of stones to raise up children to Abraham to Job to every true believer When God takes from us those things which he formerly gave us as our habitations food rayment health wealth if any man being thus emptied complain of Gods dealing with him cannot God reply justly to him I owe you nothing what I gave formerly impute it to my meer love My gifts are free I take them now away that you may know whence you had them not that I am any wayes obliged to you hitherto I have shewed my liberality and bounty toward you if I now please to continue so no longer toward you what Law have you to recover upon me May I not do with mine as I please Friend I do thee no wrong take what is thine and depart S. Augustine explaining Gods equity saith thus God takes away from us sometimes things necessary and so fretteth us that we may know him our Father and Lord not only pleasing but sometimes likewise squeezing us And who dareth or can object the least injury done unto him And if God take away necessaries from us yet we cannot accuse God of injury if he taketh them from us even for his own Honour and Majesty and to shew his power and Authority over us let us then cease complaining we are his subjects and must be his Clients SECT III. It may be God in taking away our health wealth honour houses possessions from us intendeth to bestow better things upon us and then we are no losers but great gainers if God take away our goods and give us more grace if he take from us things necessary for our bodies and gives us things absolutely necessary to salvation as pardon of sin peace of conscience assurance of his love and favour what have we lost thereby It is too low to say saith one these are equivalent to temporals they are transcendently more excellent than all temporal goods the whole world is nothing to the grace and favour of God and to pardon of sin if wealth were as necessary as grace every Childe of God should have it therefore godly men have great cause of contentment if God for reasons best known to himself doth either deny them or take from them the things of this life That Christian is not poor that is rich in grace that man is not miserable that hath Christ for his portion though he hath no house to put his head in yet he hath a Mansion in heaven provided for him though he hath no food for his body yet he hath meat to eat which the world knows not of he hath Manna for his soul though he hath no rayment for his body yet he hath glorious robes for his soul What kind of injury is that to take from one a thread-bare out-worn Coat and to give him a new one that is far better It is an excellent change to lose temporals and get spirituals and eternals We many times think that a great estate is best for us but God our heavenly Father both knoweth what we need and what is best for us were we to be our own carvers as to our worldly estates and outward comforts we should do as the young Prophet who being sent to gather herbs gathered poysonous weeds instead of wholesome herbs therefore in all Gods Dispensations toward us 't is good to submit to the wisdome of God who could make all his Children rich and great in the world but doth not because in his wisdome he thinks a meaner portion of the things of this life to be better for them than a greater To have lectum stramineum cibum gramineum straw for our beds and herbs for our food may be better for us than with the rich Epicure to be cloathed in fine linnen and to fare deliciously every day In fine every Christian shall conclude that estate God allotted me was best for me and the poor Christian shall say as Luther did it was better for me that I was a poor Clown and a Christian than if I had been great Alexander and an Infidel SECT IV. Behold another cause of Gods taking away from us Some there were that told Christ of certain Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their Sacrifices an argument of Gods sore displeasure in the eye of man to be surprized with death and that a bloody one even in the act of Gods service but Jesus answered Suppose ye these Galileans were greater sinners than all the other because they suffered such things I tell you nay but except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish Luk. 13.1 2. And he confirmeth it by another parallel to it of the men upon whom the Tower of Siloam fell here you see punishment for other mens instruction and example ut aliorum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that other mens scourges should be our warnings Let every one consider saith Cyprian not what another hath suffered but what even he himself deserveth to suffer In this we may say as he doth Plectuntur interim quidam quò caeteri corrigantur Some are suddenly punished to the end that others may be amended It is a common disease among men saith Calvin to be severe Censors of others when we see the scourge of God upon them and to flatter themselves if they escape unpunished whereas thus they ought to consider First that they ought to behold their own sin and to examine whether they have not deserved the like punishment Secondly in that the Lord in his mercy spareth them and chasteneth others before their faces to magnifie his name in their own behalf and to betake themselves unto speedy repentance Caecus ergo pravus Arbiter est qui hominum peccata ex paenis praesentibus astimat Therefore he is a blinde and perverse Judge who taxeth mens sins from their present punishments Neque enim ut quisque deterior est ita primus
no dangers nor enemies for I am thy shield fear no wants nor losses for I my self am thy reward Are any dangers so great any enemies so strong that I cannot shield thee against them who am ready to cover thee with my wings and defend thee against all the wicked of the world and against all the legions of hell canst thou be undone by any losses or be sunk by any wants when I my self am thy exceeding great reward Hast thou the possessor of heaven and earth in thy possession and hast thou cause to fear any wants if the earth cannot supply thee heaven shall if neither heaven nor earth can yet I will who am the Lord of heaven and earth I my self am thy exceeding great reward So Gen. 17 7 8. I wil establish my covenant between me thee thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant to be a God to thee and unto thy seed after thee He doth not say only to be a helper to thee or a friend to thee but to be a God to thee I will give myself to thee as I am essentially God so I will be a God to thee thou shalt have me for thy own those that are in Covenant with God they are in possession of an infinite good and they have him in everlasting possession CHAP. VI. Vse 1 THis may serve to discover to us the extreme folly of those whose chiefest care and greatest labour is about the getting worldly goods that may soon be taken from them their shops their trading their wares their plate their jewels their money their corn and wine and oyl their houses lands and possessions their wealth and substance are in their thoughts and God is seldome or not at all in all their thoughts heaven is not in their desires and grace which is the riches of heaven is nothing lookt after these things are the least of their thoughts and endeavours when they are to leave the world then is their time to think of God and to take care for grace and for their immortal souls when they are dying then is their time to study how they may become godly while they are strong and healthy and fit for labour their main care and labour is for the meat that perisheth and to try who can outstrip one another in worldly riches although God can soon clap a pair of wings to them and make them to flee away from them These things are the summum bonum the chiefest good the very God of the world the Paradise the All in All of this world the great Diana that all the world magnifies they think it better to be out of the world than to have no riches esteeming them the only miserable men that are poor and needy Jeroboams golden Calves are still the worldlings God the world is of Jeroboams Religion to this day no lusts are more unsatiable than worldly lusts they are green and vigorous even in old age the love of the world is a sin that never waxeth old when men should think most on the world to come yet then are old earth-worms too mindful of this present evil world O what unspeakable folly is this so eagerly to thirst after and pursue such perishing vanities which may soon be taken from us and which only serve us while we are in this world for if once our soul be taken from us then whose shall all these things be while the rich Glutton lived in the world he fared deliciously every day and wore Purple and fine linnen every day but when he died he left all these things behind him Death turned him out of the comforts and possession of these things He that drank Wine in Bowls is now drinking of the Cup of Gods wrath in hell he that had all things to the full doth now want a drop of water to cool his flaming tongue he that was cloathed with Purple and fine linnen every day is now bound with chains of darkness and cloathed with woe curses and unspeakable wrath he that maintained Hawks and Hounds for his delight and pleasure is now howling and roaring with cursed Fiends and damned Hell-hounds Thus he that had the worlds goods only while he was in the world he hath nothing in hell to enjoy but Gods wrath that is his everlasting portion So again rich Abraham and Job that had this worlds goods have now no need of them in heaven there is no need of the Sun by day nor of the Moon by night for the Lord God is the light thereof What a folly is it in men therefore to labour so eagerly after this worlds goods and to set their minds upon them and to neglect the good of their immortal souls to love riches more than grace and love dross and dung more than Christ when as Christ and Grace will bee their comfort in this world at death and in the world to come when this worlds goods shall be taken from them though your houses and goods be burnt and consumed to ashes yet Grace is a good that fire will not burn nor water drown Justly did our Saviour call the rich man in the Gospel fool and in him all such fools that had more care for this world than for heaven Who ever seeks the world for their bed shall at best find it but short and ill made and a stone and thorns under their sides to keep them waking rather than a soft Pillow to sleep upon O that it were written upon the bags upon the doors upon the chests tables counting-houses of worldlings which holy Job said Naked came I forth of my Mothers womb and naked shall I return I must appear before God not in the worlds goods but in the sins which I have done in this world It pitieth me many times to see the industrious Bees to take such great pains all the Summer to get a little honey for the winter they go abroad daily from flower to flower to suck honey and carry it to their Hives and are burnt in their Hives perhaps before winter cometh and others take the honey Thus worldlings toil and spend their lives and strength for the goods of this world and think in their old age to take their ease and give up themselves to a devout solitude but before that it may be God takes away their goods by fire or water or suffereth thieves and robbers to break in upon them and take away all their wealth and riches from them or it may be death cometh and exerciseth dominion over them and turneth them into hell and there they burn and others enjoy their goods upon earth Will ye then spend most of your care thoughts strength and time for the things of this world and have no care and thoughts for grace and heaven Will ye like Martha cumber your selves about many things that may quickly be taken from you and neglect the one thing necessary that shall never be taken away from you if once you have
the heat thereof scorcheth the earth and maketh it to become iron under our feet whose light and heat was created to comfort and cherish the earth it now scorcheth the creatures yea man himself the Ethiopians are so scorched with it that for anger they shoot arrows against the Sun The Moon besides her Eclipses and Changes doth also emit sad influences on the creatures below witness the Lunatick the Paralitick the Moon causeth many humors in the body to stir You read in the book of Job of the sweet influences of Pleiades but these also do sometimes send out their maligne influences the ayr is oftentimes very contagious and pestilential as we have seen by sad experience of late and yet is manifest in many Towns and Cities and other lesser places of this Kingdome at this day Now the ayr scorcheth then it cooleth now it is calm then boisterous The earth bringeth forth bryars and thorns and unwholesome weeds instead of wholesome fruit In all living creatures you shall see how sin hath put into them an hatred and antipathy and opposition the one seeking to destroy each other the curse of vanity hath put the whole Creation out of order Hence are all those mutations alterations corruptions and destructions among the creatures and of the creatures Quest Here it may be demanded Why doth God inflict this punishment of vanity and corruption on the creature for mans sin without any fault in the creature Resp 1. It is no injury to the creature at all Chrysostome saith well Ratio aequi iniqui non ad creaturas inanimatas transferenda est The consideration of right and wrong justice and injustice is not to be transferred to the creatures void of life but only to the rational who were subjects capable of both 2. Because the creatures were made for man therefore if man rebelled against his Soveraign Lord they shall suffer for man also Chrysostome saith Si propter me factae sint nihil admittitur injustitiae si propter me patiantur If they were made for my use and service there is no injustice if they suffer for me to my shame and vexation and the reason is because seeing they were made for the use and service of man therefore the change to the worse which is now come upon them is not their punishment but a part of the punishment of man CHAP. V. R. 3. A Third reason why we have no abiding City here nor any thing of long continuance is taken partly from the love of God to his people and partly from his wrath to the wicked The wicked shall not have a continuance here and nothing durable because God will put an end to sin and sinners and clear the world of sin and sinners wherefore he will dissolve all these things As long as wicked men live they will continue in sin should a wicked man live a thousand years so long would he live in sin a drunkard would continue in his drunkenness a swearer in his swearing so long as there is any continuance of his City Oh to what an height of wickedness would men arrive if they and their Cities were of long continuance on the earth they forget God already and should God lengthen out their time to continue for ever or for some thousands of years they would be ready to think themselves were Gods and not dying men therefore the Lord doth not suffer sinners nor their Cities to be of long continuance and many times he cuts off notorious sinners in the midst of their daies Bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their daies God ruineth their Cities and habitations they moulder away and are not of long continuance It is likewise in love to the godly that neither they nor their Cities shall be of long continuance here because God will quickly put an end to their sufferings their reproaches their persecutions their calamities and deliver them from the body of death which makes them miserable and will ere long take them up to their desired and expected happiness laid up in heaven for them In a word God will have no long lasting worldly City or other worldly thing that the miseries of his children may be short and their happiness may be of eternal duration and that the joy and prosperity of the wicked may be short and their sorrow and torment may be eternal CHAP. VI. SECT I. IF here we have no continuing City Vse 1 then be exhorted in the first place not to fix the eyes of your souls upon these transitory things Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not Prov. 23.5 for riches make themselves wings and flee away toward heaven All flesh is grass and all the glory of man is but as the flower of the field the grass withereth the flower fadeth 1 Pet. 1.24 All flesh is as grass it is but as the Earths Summers garment put off before winter cometh and all the glory of man or whatsoever man is apt most to glory in is but as the flower of the field a fading ornament that within a day or two withereth and cometh to nothing We look not at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen for the things which are seen are temporal but the things which are not seen are eternal saith S. Paul 2 Cor 4.18 We are not restrained from the seeing of these things for the senses were made for use and their use is to be applied to their several objects the words there used by the Apostle are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We look not at the things that are seen as at a mark the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth a mark and the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to look at things as at a mark Now when a man aimeth at a mark he seeth many things between his eye and the mark but he slightly looks upon them but he looketh fully upon the mark his eye staieth at and is fixed upon the mark now the mark that the Apostle professed hee looked at was Jesus Christ Phil 3.14 I forget that which is behinde I press toward the mark for the price of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus I conceive he alludeth to those games and acts of hostility used among the Greeks where there was first a mark secondly a price a mark which they look'd at a price which they aimed at in their exercises of shooting wrestling running on foot or on horse-back c. So the Apostle he had his mark that he aimed at that was the Lord Jesus Christ that hee might know him and be found in him and be made conformable to him and the price that he ran for was the high calling of God in Christ Jesus the Crown of eternal life and glory that high price to which Christians are called of God in Christ Jesus Now on the contrary the Apostle sheweth that these visible and temporal things were not the mark that he aimed at that was but
a poor low thing in comparison of eternal glory Do not therefore make these transitory things your mark and scope make them not the scope of your intentions you cannot level at them they are transient and will soon have an end I know no such beauty in the face of this fading world so as to draw the eyes of our souls to fix upon it the house of this world is a smoaky house and it bloweth upon our eyes Oh then let us pluck up the stakes of our tent and take our tent upon our back and repair to our best home for here we have no continuing City SECT II. Take heed you do not entertain too high thoughts of these perishing things let us learn to esteem them as wise Solomon did Vanity of vanities Eccles 1.2 as he found them by experience which cost him dear I conceive that the Lord by his wise counsel left him to plunge himself into sensual delights having such a large understanding to contrive what was in the creature to the uttermost that he might teach the Church the nature of them to the end of the world from his own experience Now saith he Eccles 2.12 what can a man do that cometh after the King Is it not a madness for any man to think to finde more satisfaction in them than King Solomon did If any man hath higher thoughts of these things it is not because he seeth more into them than Solomon did but because he dotes so much upon them so as to be besotted with them Judge not according to appearance saith our Saviour Joh. 7.24 He that will judge of these fading things by their outsides may well expect to be deceived but the immortal soul of man being of an intellectual nature and having an understanding faculty being far above sense should look more inwardly into them and see what they are all in comparison to the true happiness of the soul of man they bring not the soul one step the neerer to true happiness Now it is as impossible for the outward man to be happy while the inner man is miserable as for the outer part of the body to be in health while the heart is sick unto death Let us therefore value these transitory things at a low rate esteeming them as vain things that cannot profit 1 Sam. 12.21 as nothing less than nothing and vanity it self Isai 40.17 Oh let us compare our inch of time with vast Eternity and the esteem that we have of this now flourishing and green world with the esteem we shall have of it when worms and corruption shall make their houses in our eye-holes and our flesh and body shall be consumed then our light of this worlds vanity shall be more clear than now it is then shall we see that though the world makes men believe that whatsoever things it offereth them it is of good substance and may well suffice to satisfie our hungry appetites yet when tryal is made there is nothing to be found but winde and vanity and that they that feed upon these Husks feed upon nothing but the winde as the Prophet speaks of Ephraim Hos 13.1 wouldest thou not take him for a fool that when he is hungry would open his mouth and gape and take in the ayr to satisfie his hunger withall Thy folly O man is nothing less if thou thinkest to satisfie the appetite of thy soul with the wind of things visible and temporal neglecting things eternal Such a fool was that rich man Luk. 12.16 17. for so the Holy Ghost calls him wherein did he play the fool but in suffering his thoughts wholly to run after outward perishing things Therefore he thus complaineth I want room to lay up my fruits but never thinketh what room there is for him in heaven be cries out What shall become of my goods but never thinketh oh what shall become of my poor soul Then he cometh to this resolution I will build my Barns to lay up my fruits in But no such thought as this I will lay up for my self treasure in heaven and labour to have a Mansion in heaven for my immortal soul Thou hast goods laid up for many years in store but no such thought as this Thou knowest not whether thou shalt enjoy them one day more for thy soul may be taken away before one night be at an end Soul take thine ease eat drink and be merry but no such thought as this Soul what ease shall I find in eternal torments What if my present mirth and jollity should deprive me of that fulness of joy that is in the presence of God and those pleasures that are for evermore and end in howling and weeping and gnashing of teeth SECT III. Set not your hearts upon these unstable things O yee sons of men how long will ye love vanity Psal 4.2 All the goods of mortals are mortal whatsoever it is that you entitle your selves Lords of it is with you but for a time it is not yours to continue with you there is nothing firm eternal and incorruptible that weak and corruptible men do possess it will as necessarily perish as we must necessarily lose it and this if we well understand is a great solace to lose that indifferently which must perish necessarily the only help therefore that wee shall finde against these losses is not to love them too dearly because in a short time they must bee lost Lift up your soul above humane felicities cast it not away for those things that are below and without it self The soul of man cometh of a more Noble and Divine Stock than to be enamoured with fading and perishing things O what vanity is it so much to dote upon these shadows how fondly do we love them while we have them and how passionately do we lament their loss We part with many things in grief Because we loved them in chief O the unhappiness of mankind saith S. Augustine The world is bitter and yet we love it if it were sweet indeed how should we then dote upon it it is very troublesome yet we love it how should we affect it if it were altogether quiet and peaceable how eagerly then should we gather the flowers of it since we so greedily catch up the thorns Now if as Chrysostome speaks notwithstanding all the evils which compass us about in this world we desire to live long in it when oh when were it free from all disturbances should we seek for any thing else we are so bewitched with these vanities that we prefer our Pilgrimage before our Country and hence it is that God either imbitters our Cups and mingleth our pleasures with vexations lest we should mistake Wormwood and Vinegar for true Nectar or else he takes away these outward comforts from us that we may see our folly in placing so much of our affections upon things that were of no continuance Ah! how much do we smell of the smoak of this lower house of the
out of which all griefs and sorrows all pains and dolours are banished where there is no place for fears and terrours for diseases or death but all is full of joy and pleasure Happy are they who have passed their hard and wearisome time of Apprenticeship and are now Freemen and Citizens in that joyful high and continuing City the new Jerusalem CHAP. X. Use 2. THe second use that I shall make of Use 2 this point is that of the Apostle in my Text seeing Heaven is a continuing City let us therefore seek this City that is to come You see by experience that we are not to abide for ever in this world neither are men nor any creature of long continuance your health your strength your life your estate your houses your Lands your City your Country are of no duration your pains your aches your weaknesses your sicknesses your Funerals frequently before your eyes do preach that we are not to continue here Oh then make it your work your care your business your one thing necessary to seek after the heavenly City Will ye have everlasting life then seek after this City will ye have happiness that shall continue for ever then seek heaven will ye have pleasures riches honours mansions that shall continue for ever then seek this continuing City that is to come SECT I. Now seek after this heavenly City 1. It supposeth a sense and apprehension that we have lost heaven we were driven out of heaven when we were driven out of Paradise losing Communion with God we lost heaven Sin hath made a wide Gulf between every son of Adam and heaven now till men are under conviction of this loss they will never seek after heaven When the woman in the Parable was convinced of the loss of her groat she made earnest and diligent search after it The Psalmist tells us plainly that men seek not God because they understand not they do not understand they have lost him Psal 14.2 Many a poor creature never cometh to the knowledge of their loss of heaven till they have lost both heaven and their souls for ever and their first entrance into hell is the first tidings of their loss of heaven 2. It implieth a trouble of mind for the loss of heaven it is the fear of hell that puts men upon the diligent seeking after heaven if men were not troubled for the loss of any thing they would never seek after it Let it go say they we care not for it If a man be not troubled for the loss of a friends favour he will never seek to regain it This is one reason why so few seek heaven because few are troubled at the loss of it Oh where is the man that signeth and crieth out woe is me I am undone for I have lost heaven and am in danger of hell I can lay no claim to heaven but hell layes claim to me Where is the man that is troubled in spirit that he is without God without Christ without hope therefore it is that this heavenly City is so little sought after it is only the troubled spirit that is an heaven-seeking soul 3. It supposeth a knowledge of the worth and necessity of the thing we seek for No man will seek for a thing of no value let it go will men say such a thing is not worth a seeking after we can do well enough without it but when men are once convinced of the worth and necessity of a thing which they cannot be without they will earnestly seek after it Now if there be any thing worth seeking for it is this heavenly City Who can be without heaven Is there any thing more precious than God Is there any possibility for our souls to be happy without enjoying God Is not eternal life of unspeakable worth What more precious in this world than life Is not life eternal in heaven most precious O who can suffer the pains of eternal death That man will never be perswaded to seek heaven who never thinks it worth the having and enjoying 4. It implies vehement desires of heaven what a man desireth not that he seeks not earnest longings will put us upon seeking for every thing in other things desires are not seekings but in spiritual things earnest desires of God and heaven are seekings of God and heaven For what are heavenly desires but the reachings of the soul after heaven pursuings after God O God thou art my God early will I seek thee my soul thirsteth for thee my flesh longeth for thee my soul followeth hard after thee Psa 63.1.8 SECT II. In the second place I will shew you wherein this seeking doth consist 1. It consisteth in an earnest enquiry after the way to heaven Isai 55.6 Seek ye the Lord while he may be found the word in the original signifies quaerere interrogatione verbis to seek by words and interrogation as a wandring traveller will be enquiring of all he meeteth the way to such a City So they who seek after this City that is to come they will be very enquisitive about the way to heaven very desirous to be directed in the right way How did divers persons come to Christ Good Master what shall I do to inherit eternal life What shall I do to be saved O that my feet were directed into the wayes of thy testimonies saith David The greatest fear of holy men is lest they should be out of the way therefore none more scrupulous and less confident than they none fuller of holy doubts than they and more frequently putting forth holy questions Usually men are very confident that they are in the right way to heaven therefore they never seek out after it It vexeth them very much when they are put to the question are ye sure that ye are in the right way to heaven I know not any thing in all the world wherein the generality of men are more contentedly cheated than about their state of Grace and their title to Heaven few there be who have a care to buy gold tryed in the fire 2. It consisteth in a diligent and industrious application of our selves to the use of all appointed means leading and directing us to this heavenly City He that diligently prayeth diligently seeketh heaven he that diligently heareth the Word diligently seeketh heaven Hence in the New Testament the Gospel is often called the Kingdome of Heaven and seeking God is frequently put for the worshipping of God Gods Ordinances are a Jacobs Ladder the top whereof reacheth to heaven though the foot thereof be on earth for by it we scale heaven The Ministery of the word are a light and a Lanthorn to our steps to guide our feet in the way to heaven God hath set up the Ministery as way-marks to direct Travellers in the right way those that neglect Gods faithful Ministers do neglect the seeking heaven Take this rule or caution when you come to Gods Ordinances make heaven and salvation and seeking
God the end of your coming to them Psa 42.1 2. My soul thirsteth for God for the living God when shall I come before God i. e. To enjoy God in his Ordinances seek not so much the enjoyment of Ordinances as of God in them 3. It implies an application of our selves to an holy and heavenly conversation An holy life is the strait way which leadeth to heaven heaven is the reward of an holy and heavenly Conversation it is not every foul dog with his soul feet that shall tread upon the pure pavement of the New Jerusalem He that doth not seek holiness doth not seek heaven heaven is to be sought for in an heavenly manner heaven is a City hard to be won the righteous wil scarcely be saved hell is prepared for unholy persons forus canes without ate dogs 4. It consisteth in a constant use of all means all holy duties without fainting or desisting until you have found a title and obtained a claim to heaven The woman in the Parable did not desist from seeking till she had found her groat and the Spouse in the Canticles never gave over seeking Christ till she had found him whom her soul loved He that is slothful in seeking may never find heaven 5. It consisteth in an early and timely seeking begin to day while it is called to day The greatest part of the world do but play with Religion they think it an easie thing to be a Christian and that to seek God and heaven is at the next door and that they will be found at any time No no the foolish Virgins lost heaven by seeking it too late Many do eternally lose heaven by delay of seeking I make no doubt but all do desire heaven nor do I make any question but all or most of us do purpose to set some time apart to seek heaven Why then not presently who knoweth what a day may bring forth who knows how soon death may arrest him heaven is not easily found it is not gotten with a few words or faint wishes SECT III. Consider I beseech you your continuance here is but short By what elegant comparisons doth the Scripture set forth the shortness of mans life it is but a vapour saith S. James it is but a dream it is but the shadow of a dream said an Heathen It is as grass or as a flower it is as a tale as a thought as a bubble it is but a Race but as a Weavers Shuttle but for a little moment all which things are of a very short continuance Have we not need then to day while it is called to day without delay to seek heaven and life which continueth for evermore But the misery of man is great upon him because we flatter our selves with a kind of immortality none so sick and weakly but hopeth for a recovery none so aged but thinketh he shall live a while longer 2. How long you shall continue here is uncertain who knoweth when and how soon he shall depart hence It may be to morrow it may be this night or this hour who can tell We do not 〈◊〉 â—ither the day nor the hour when death will come therefore seek heaven We have need to make haste the time present is yours only the time to come is uncertain the time past is irrecoverably gone who can tell what to morrow will bring forth Peradventure death and damnation The present time is thine only this hour this Sermon this opportunity this call from heaven this very exhortation to seek heaven presently 3. Or suppose our continuance upon earth to be long even as long as Methusaleh continued suppose thou hadst the Reign of Time in thy hands and couldst slack the pace of Time at thy pleasure yet there were no continuance for thee alwayes here but die you must and die you shall But certainly you have not Time at your command you cannot command the Sun of Time to stand still one moment nor to go back fifteen degrees time is irrecoverable if it be lost Lost money may be recovered but occasions neglected are irrecoverable and will never return again 4. Consider that properly we have no continuance here because our lives do not stand at a stay but like 〈◊〉 we are continually going to our graves as fast as the wings of Time can carry us No motion more swift than that of the Sun our lives do run away as swift as the Sun it self The Sun that is the measurer of time once stood still in Joshua's daies and returned ten degrees in Hezekiah's sickness yet time it self ever past forward and did never stand with the Suns standing nor return with his returning 5. Consider what is the reward of our neglect of seeking heaven even an eternal abode in hell For as heaven is a continuing City so hell is a continuing Fiery Dungeon these flames are of eternal continuance these Chains of darkness are everlasting Chains there is the Worm that never dies the Fire that never goes out there is everlasting destruction Isai 30.33 Tophet is ordained of old Hell is as old as sin God made hell as soon as the creature became sinful He hath made it deep and large here is the vastness of this prison it is large enough to hold all wicked men and Angels it is deep there is the impossibility of escaping of getting out of it it is so deep that it hath no bottom therefore it is called the Bottomless Pit the Pile thereof is fire and much wood there is the super-abundance of punishment and the extremity of torment and the breath of the Lord like a river of brimstone doth kindle it Here is the Eternity of torment while God breathes the fire of hell shall burn Now if you will escape hell seek heaven while you may find it we are all hastening to a continuing City or to a continuing prison to an everlasting heaven or an everlasting hell this glorious City and that burning Prison will shortly divide the whole world of men and women between them beware of too earnest seeking riches they have wings and will flee away from you seek not houses and Lands for they will not abide for ever let not your inward thought be that your houses shall continue for ever and your dwelling places to all Generations Go to Christ walk in heavens way get an entrance into that everlasting Kingdome for that and that only is the continuing City Now my Brethren up and be doing seek ye first the Kingdome of God seek heaven first of all it is worth finding worth enjoying it will make amends for all your toil and labour heavenly seeking is a comfortable kind of life there is no comfort like that which is to be found in seeking heaven What comfort will it yeeld to a Christian in the hour of death who can say I have sought and I have found heaven and what horrour will it be to a dying sinner that hath neglected to seek after heaven when