rest and happiness whatsoever If Divine Grace in its imperfect measures and degrees give so great and solid satisfaction to an immortal spirit that is principled with it in this world that it shall never thirst more John 4.14 neither through Necessity not for variety as one saith S. S. in his Immanuel after any other thing shall not rove and rang up and down in the world in unfixedness and suspence to seek for satisfaction and rest if such a soul never be uncertain or unsatisfied more as to its supreme object and main happiness if hereby all its restless fluctuations and aestuations all its tossings and ragings for want of a chief Good shall cease so much How sedate and calm must it be to what a complacential rest must it be brought when it 's put into the full enjoyment of this Substance which a perfection of Grace is so great a part of This is that it shall ultimately and unchangeably acquiesce in 2. It 's a Substance in Heaven This is not any visible Heaven whose influences reach our bodies and other creatures here upon earth but the Heaven that 's invisible to a corporeal eye though assisted with the help of all Mathematical Telescopes It 's the Heaven where God is most eminenntly present where there is the most conspicuous effulgency of his Glory where as it were he keeps his Imperial Court and hath his special Favourites about him Isa 66.1 Heaven is my Throne and the Earth is my foot-stool It 's that Heaven where Christ Reigneth The Angels shine in Glory and all the Saints are Crowned and Enthron'd Such a Heaven there is where God more especially dwells though in respect of the Immensity of his Essence he is present in all places and bounded or circumscribed with none and where all the Saints shall be congregated together to receive the reward of their faithful service to God and all their sufferings for him It is called in 1 King 8.27 the Heaven of Heavens the most vast expanded Heaven which environs and compasseth about all the other Heavens and is the most spacious place that ever was Created It s called therefore the Heaven of Heavens for amplification sake and to set forth the Imensity of God which it cannot contain * The Third Heaven is a simple and shining body Created immediately of God to be the Tâ—â—one of his special Presence and of the gracious manifestations of his Peâ—â—â—tions and the Habitation of the Blessed both Angels and Men. It 's called the Third Heaven in 2 Cor. 12.2 which is the * Not from its heat but from its resplendency and most pleasant light The Third Heaven we have only from the Scripture Heathenish Philosophers were ignorant of it Empyreal Heaven far above the Aereal in which the Fowls flying are called the Fowls of Heaven Mat. 6.26 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and above the Siderial in which the Lights are called Stars of Heaven Gen. 15.5 It 's that which is uppermost of all in which the Angels residing are called the Angels in Heaven Mat. 24.36 This is that then which in Scripture is called the Highest Heaven Luke 2.14 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Coelis Altissimis as Eeza translates it or rather interprets it the Highest Heavens Mat. 21.9 We have the same for it 's usual with the Greeks to put Adjectives without their Substantives as one shall find in the most elegant Authors among them Xenephon and others and this is frequent in the New Testament Mat. 10.42 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where is understood 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As the Heaven signifies that which is above us when it 's Local and carries in it a Notation of Altitude so this Heaven is not inferior to any but superior to all other Heavens Although God be Omnipotent and cannot be said to be in a place either Definitive as finite incorporeal Substances may or Circumscriptive as all corporeal Substances are yet seeing both according to reason and his own most sacred Revelations which are all most highly Rational though some of them be superior to our Reason there must be some peculiar place where there are most admirable ravishing Emications and beamings forth of his most bright shining Excellencies and absolute Perfection which are the great part of that Objective Glory the Angels behold and are united to and which all the Saints shall by the completion and perfection of Holiness be fitted to bear and also made capable of an union with and which is the ineffable and incomprehensible Beatifical Vision Mat. 5.8 1 John 3.2 Psal 17.15 And this place must have a Superiority to all other places which seeing it is called Heaven it must be above all other Heavens else it would hold no congruity nor sutableness to the Grandeur of his own Majesty inferior and subject to which is all other Majesty that 's but a very dark resemblance of the same We find that according to all Political order and Oeconomical disposure those persons that are of greatest Eminency and worth either by birth or discent or by true Virtue Education which doth most really nobilitate and dignify a person and Offices relating to their distinct and proper objects have still the highest places assigned them and deservedly challenge a precedency before and superiority to others And this is only Analogical unto and derivative from that God who is supereminent and likewise clearly demonstrative what is due to him as his most just Right and Prerogative Height is that which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and by way of eminency is approprietated to God Isa 57.15 and therefore every finite created being the higher it is the more in that respect it resembles God and is denominated and accounted more excellent from thence than another creature or being of the same species and kind Hence in Scripture tall Trees and high Mountains are called Mountains of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sept. Psal 36.6 Thy Righteousness is like the great Mountains Heb. Mountains of God Psal 104.16 The Trees of the Lord are full of Sap that is the goodly and tall Trees such as the Cedars are that he immediately after speaks of The very Heathens by the light of Nature had a knowledg of this Truth so agreeable is it to the reason of Man as they did distinguish between their Gods as Majores and Minores so their greater Gods were supposed to inhabit an higher place or Court and the other to be below them And as Jupiter was their chiefest God so the highest Palace and Heaven was made proper and peculiar to him Thus he is spoken of by the Latine Poet * Ovid. lib. 1 Metamorph fab 6. Olympus by the Pâ—ets it being a very high hill was taken for Heaven vel quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tanta ejus altitudine ut pedes ascendentium non possunt conspâ—ci vel quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quod illic oculi frigore vitiuntur vel quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore What sensitive Pleasures shall be in Heaven is very dubious and more Questions may be put concerning them than can be easily and readily resolved yet it 's certain external senses shall not be delighted as they are here upon earth All coitive and venereal pleasures shall cease and such as are in a grosser sense fleshly and some of the senses shall cease likewise whose Being implyeth their Use and whose Use supposeth our present state of Imperfection For seeing in Heaven the Saints Beings shall not be maintained in the use of means as eating and drinking the Taste must cease but if there continue any use of some other external senses in Heaven which must have objects to delight them they will differ vastly from what they are now in our mortal state while we dwell in these houses of clay and earthly tottering tabernacles whose foundation is in the dust Job 4.19 2 Cor. 5.1 For the change that our Bodies and so our Senses proportionably thereunto shall undergo is inconceivable and unexpressible Flesh and blood as now it is cannot be capable of an Hâ—avenly state in which sense are those words to be understood Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God 1 Cor. 15.50 It must first be refined and made spiritual incorruptible and immortal 1 Cor. 15.52 53. Such a Qualitative though not a substantial mutation it shall undergo for at the Resurrection all the infirm qualities of the Saints bodies by which they are incapable of bearing the Majesty and Glory of God in Heaven shall be removed Phil. 3. ver 21. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 est transfiguâ—are in aliam figuram sormam Converterè Cornel. a Lap. Who shall change 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which properly signifies to transfigurate shall convert them into another figure or form our vile body 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this body of vileness baseness and abjection an Hebraism which is very emphatical and very frequent in the New Testament it may supply the superlative degree for our most vile and abject body as it may be translated our body of misery and afflictions this body that all Calamities prey upon gradually consume and waste and at last resolve into the Dust for the word in this sense is used by the Sep. Gen. 29.31 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Psa 25.18 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 K. 14.26 that it may be fashioned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that it may be made conformable unto like unto his glorious body 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his body of glory another Heb. that is his most glorious or glorified body So then their Bodies shall not be those fraile diseased socord and sluggish lumps of Flesh Dirt those Bags of Phlegm that they continually carry about with them here upon Earth But as the Ore that 's cast into the Fire a Stone comes forth a very bright and pure Metal which is called Gold between which two there is an exceeding great difference so shall the Bodies of the Saints rise out of their Graves and enter Heaven with such impassibility and clarity with such agility and subtilty as is not now to be comprehended by us And if the Saints Bodies be thus changed we may rationally conclude the change of the senses shall be commensurate and equal to the same And as they shall hereby be advanc'd and their capacity and vivacity be amplified and enlarged so shall they have an happiness and delights adequate thereunto And though we know not what these senses shall be yet we call them seeing and hearing but what shall be seen and heard as beautiful and delightful that we cannot tell But certainly the pulchritude and fairness the beauty and brightness of Sun Moon and Stars and all the Lamps of Heaven with all the formose objects in the world yea could we suppose all the admired and adored beauties that have been are or shall be seen collected and united into one body or made to concenter in one person and sparkle forth in one face and whatever amiableness is diffused through the whole creation were made to meet and become all visible at one view in any one single object and our eyes dazled and over-power'd at the emission and efflux of its beams yet all would be but a very dark representation a very imperfect miserable glimmering of that bright shining Sun of immortal glory and the incomprehensiâ—le Beauty of the Face of God that the Eyes of the glorified Saints shall be strengthened to behold It 's true a full proper and immediate sight of the immense divine essence there cannot be for that being infinite cannot be comprehended by a visine faculty 1 Tim. 6.16 Col. 1.15 1 Tim. 17. which is but finite as finite objects may whose splendor doth not over power its strength and it being likewise an increated immaterial and spiritual object so it must be invisible to a corporeal Eye for it's sight being united to the object by the help of the sensible Species i. e. the similitudes or Image of the object the divine Essence cannot be visible to it because it 's impossible for a thing created to represent that which is increated as a created Species to represent an increated object or a material Species an immaterial object and to assert the contrary would be to make the divine Essence a created being for then there would be some other similitude of it something as could represent it as the proper likeness thereof This is the Reason why that clear sight of God which is called the Beatifical Vision because it makes the Seer blessed is principally intellectual and thus the Saints in glory are said to see the divine Essence according to Matt. 5.7 1 Joh. 3.1 We shall see him as he is 1 Cor. 13.12 but now we see through a Glass darkly but then Face to Face that is now we see immediately but then we shall see immediately so that the great object seen now and then is the same Psal 17.15 As for me I will behold thy Face c. Rev. 22.4 Mat. 18.10 In Heaven the Angels do always behold the Face of my Father This beatifical Vision is such a sight of God as is opposite to the sight of Faith 2 Cor. 5.7 that sight then being immediate the sight of him in the state of blessedness as the Antithesis in that respect to the other will be immediate By this shall the Soul see divine the Essence apprehensively according to it's finite created but then enlarged and perfected capacity of the understanding so as it cannot proceed further in point of knowledge concerning God or that great Question What God is But though this felicitating Vision be principally that of the Soul yet the Scripture seems to hold forth that so much of the divine glory shall beam forth to the glorified corporeal Eye to behold as such a Creature is capable of for delighting it in a most wonderful ravishing manner for the
Divine essence being an Arbitrary and voluntary Glass he may according to his good pleasure manifest more or less of such a visible glory to the Eyes of Saints in Heaven And why may there not be such a corporeal Vision or ocular Veiw of the Face of God in this sense seeing Jacob had it though in a lower degree because his mortal state would not bear such a sight as is proper to a state immortal upon Earth Gen. 33.30 I have seen saith he God Face to Face though it was not God's Essence that was discernable at that time yet besides that humane form and shape that God appeared in and which at first might make him think it was but a man before he left Jacob besides his solemn blessing him it 's very probable he gave some demonstration of his Divinity which it's likely was by some glorious appearance or resplendent and bright manifestation of himself so much as he was then capable of bearing to his Eye sight this made him say I have seen God Face to Face and yet my life is preserved Such a sight Moses and Aaron c had of God in the Exod. 24. v. 10. And they saw the God of Israel how by the effulgency and shining forth of some glory and brightness which was obvious to their sense by which they might perceive that God was present in an especial and extraordinary manner this appears by what follows And there was under his Feet as it were a paved work of a Saphir Stone which is a Stone of a very clear Sky colour and as it were the body of Heaven in it's clearness or in it's brightness Exod. 33.18 Moses supplicates God that he would shew him his glory shew me thy glory which is not to be understood of God's essence which no doubt he knew to be invisible but his divine glory While God was speaking with him by a sensible Voice his presence was over-shadowed with some Cloud or darkness so that this glory did not appear and therefore now he desired either the removal of the interposing Cloud or that his glory might break through it to be objected to his sense God in the 19. verse replies to this Petition thus I will make my goodness pass before thee that is I my self will pass before thee and with my self all my goodness and glory but seeing it is too much for thee to comprehend it shall therefore pass and not stay for thee to gaze upon it shall pass before or by thee that thou mayest see a shadow of it behind That which Moses was so desirous to see was the Divine glory fully manifested and displayed now God tells him that this state of defiled infirmity and mortallity was not capable of 〈◊〉 therefore God promiseth to help the imperfection and dimness of sight by the â—tion of his Ear as followeth I will proclaim my name i. e. my nature Now that Moses might know that God was not unkind to him while he denied to gratify his request he tells him plainly in the 20. v. He could not see his Face without the peril and hazard of his life And he said thou canst not see my Face which is not only to be understood of God's spiritual Majesty which is altogether invisible but likewise if not principally in this place of that brightness and glory which accompanieth his presence and that he is cloathed with as with a Garment For there shall none see me and live From these words the principal objection may be raised against any ocular views or corporeal Visions of God in Heaven For seeing in Heaven the Saints shall have their humane nature and not cease to be men how can they see any thing of him there more than here and live To which it may be replied that either such a Vision of God is not in this life but in the other that if a man would see God he must first die and then he shall see as it were face to face and so the sence of the words is this No man while he lives in a mortal condition here upon earth can see my face which interpretation I do not approve of because it contradicts other Scriptures already spoken to and explain'd without another which is That the full manifestations of my glory are too much for mans infirmity to bear and apprehend Thus for man to see me would so astonish him as to make him a dead man Rev. 1.16 17. Dan. 10.8 9. This is that glory which Moses desired to see which God tells him he was not capable of beholding as he was a meer mortal man But yet it 's clear from vers 23. that God did manifest so much of his glory to him as was sufficient for his discerning and for his desire When he saith thou shalt see my back-parts he speaks here as if he appeared in humane shape at this time who though he hid his glory from Moses his eyes as if an hand had been spread over his face to cover him while he passed before him yet was he priviledged with a glimpse of his glory coming after behind he might see him as in a shadow And it 's probable when Moses came down from Mount Sinai where he had been forty days and forty nights without food with God with a shining lustre upon his face it was from a reflexion of a divine glory and splendor upon it which he was in some considerable degree enabled and strengthened to behold Exod. 34.28 29 30. We find that in the Mount when Christ was transfigur'd Matth. 17.2.9.2 and his face and countenance irradiated with coelestial glory yet those Disciples which were with him had ocular views of it though in respect of their mortal condition they could scarce bear and endure the sparkling rayes thereof but seem to be astonished while wonderfully ravished and delighted with the same Now if the eye of God's Saints have had such glympses of Divine Glory upon earth what clearer and fuller view will they have thereof in heaven when their visible faculty and organ of sight shall be unspeakably invigorated and made a thousand degrees more pure and piercing more acute and quick than now it is And if a small beam or glympse thereof was so delectable to Peter John and James that were with Christ in the Mount that they were loath to leave it but were very desirous to take up their abode there how infinitely more pleasant and ravishing will those more open and ample manifestations of Glory be and though we cannot determine what the measures thereof will be yet we may conclude it will infinitely more surpass the most amiable and Loves-most powerful attractive objects upon earth than either the Morning or Meridian Sun that minute and little light that acts the part of an Hypocrite in a Glow-worm We may rationally suppose likewise that the sight of Christ as he is man with all the inherent coelestial qualities of his most glorious body will render heaven a place full
Scarce an Eye can come within the reach and view of it but more or less it doth attract it how much more comâ—tiâ— then must it's attractions 〈…〉 compleat in Heaven Through the corruption and depraviâ— of 〈◊〉 nature how fatal and pernic◠〈…〉 been to mankind in this lower 〈◊〉 by it's effascinations and 〈…〉 hath wofully and miserably 〈◊〉 many thousands What an 〈…〉 and Queen is she in the Wâ—ld 〈◊〉 â—iâ—ions and Soveraignty â—ding as far as there are any reason◠〈…〉 the Earth And with 〈◊〉 â—ness and great authority 〈◊〉 she command To fulfil her pleasure 〈◊〉 sometimes makes wise Men Fools couragious Men Cowards and Cowards sometimes couragious to their own destruction while their Rivals lay the Foundation of their supposed but mistaken honour in their blood Rich men she makes poor what vast Estates and Treasures hath she devoured Patrimonies Inheritances and Lordships in abundance hath she swallowed up Millions of Silver Gold and Jewels have been Sacrificed to her And all the Riches both of Land and Sea are not too much to maintain her so boundless is the cost and charges of her insolent Pride How unkind is she to and tyrannizeth over them most that are her greatest Admirers and Adorers and ruines them unmercifully and cruelly that do the greatest Homage to her How many Nobles hath she degraded and debased How many crowned Heads hath she conquered How many Kings and Princes hath she made her Servants and Vassals to Lackey after her How many flourishing Kingdomes and goodly Politick Bodies as ere the Earth bore or the Sun shined upon hath She laid waste and destroyed How many thousands hath She given to the devouring Sword the mortal Dagger and the ignominious Halter How often hath She fill'd the World with Blood or made it a Sanguineous Stage and Theatre How frequently hath She made the strictest Bonds of Nature to be broken to make her Commands to take place and her Laws to be kept inviolable by her Captives She hath made the nearest and dearest Relations cruel unto and to embrew their hands in the Blood of each other How contrary to all Justice Equity and Reason are her Edicts and yet her power is so great and absolute that but few Hero's can be found that with a daring boldness are resolute to disobey and resist them And this is the greatest mischeif of all that she doth to the world that as she hath a power to effect it so She sports and delights her self in nothing more then in brutifying and yet with their own consent which with some bewitching charm She strangly gains her Devotees and turning them into Beasts But because this is so is therefore deformity to be desired chosen and preferred before Beauty certainly no for that were to dispise and contemn one of the most excellent outward gifts of God and Nature it were to besmear and cast Dirt upon that which is the greatest glory next to Reason of humane Nature and to disparage that which is to be the smile of nature the excellency and gloss of the whole Creation yea a more dark and imperfect resemblance of God himself Let but the noble Reason of man keep it's Throne in the Soul and hold the Reins of Government over the same in its hands exercising like a King it 's Regiment over the inferiour faculties curbing and restraining a bruitish extravagant appetite and then a due and right improvement will be made of it which is to admire the wisdome and power of it's Original and Creator and to celebrate him for the same And thus shall the glorified do in Heaven they will always celebrate that infinite wisdom and omnipotent power which could cloath so many Myraids of bodies with this white Raiment that could advance Dust and Clay to such high perfection Rev. 3.4 5 7 10. How do we praise and commend a Limner when he draws but an inanimate and liveless Picture to the life when every Limb Member Muscle and Feature with all the smallest visible Parts of the original shadow are exactly represented in it we highly applaud the Wisdom and Art that shines forth in it and guided tke Pencil to the perfection of the Draught How much more shall God be prais'd and magnified by hiâ— Saints in Heaven that hath made their Bodies in some sense living and immortal Pictures of himself which hath made them fairer then the Moon which hath her spots and clearer then the Sun To know and consider their Beauty to be the effect of so many of Gods glorious attributes will makt it infinitely more delightful and ravishing Here Beauty shall do no hurt but good where the Fire and Flames of Lust shall be for ever extinguished Do we hang up Pictures in our Rooms because they are so ornamental and do they afford so much delight to the curious Eye and critical beholder when drawn most dexterously by that curious Pencil which was managed and guided with the steddy hand of some rare and most ingenious Apelles Certainly then to see constantly so many Millions of Bodies beautified by all that wisdom skill and power that is in the Creator of the Heavens and the Earth must make this Heaven where the Saints substance is a place of admirable Delectability The Firmament when most bespangled with innumerable sparkling Stars is but a dull deformed and unpleasant object in comparison of the same and could we suppose the whole Earth to be one Garden full of odoriferous beautiful Flowers yet the delectableness of their object would fall infinitely short of the other yea if all the Beauty diffused through so great a variety were concentring in one Flower yet would it not match or equalize the pulcritude of one Saints Body in Heaven Therefore as our Saviour tell us that Solomon in all his glory was not cloathed like one Lilly so all Lillies and other Flowers are not in all their glory cloathed like one Saint in Heaven We may not without good reason also conceive that the sense of Hearing shall have it's delights in Heaven as well as that of seeing For the speaking Tongue that is the glory of man above a Beast while upon Earth methinks should not be useless in Heaven and there all the Saints be Dumb Psal 16.9.57.8 * Some conceive that the Saints probably shall speak in the Hebrew Tongue Nothing hinders but that we may believe that they shall speak not only mentally in an Angelicall manner but also vocally when they please after the manner of humane Locution here though their Tongues and Voice and Language may not in all respects be there what they are here but in some inconceavable manner undergo a change likewise And the sacred Scriptures seem to affirm that there shall be audable Halelujahs and Songs of Thankfulness in Heaven which the Tongues of the Saints shall be employed to sing forth to God Re.v. 19.1 3 4 6. besides the high and constant inward Admirations and Adorations of their Souls Which things with all
totus Lucidus Iympidus and so both for its Altitude and Clearness made Jupiters Heaven as descending from above in these words Summo delabor Olympo so when he describes him sitting in Counsel among the other Gods advanceth him above them in these words Celsior ipse loco so by the Greek Poet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hesiod Now although by sense we know not where this place is as not being exposed to the view thereof yet from all this and much more that might be said to prove it we may collect and conclude that such a place there is and that it 's above all others and in this place is this Substance said to be I have been larger upon this than some perhaps will judg pertinent and necessary but the reason why I am so is because so many either from Principles of Atheism that is in them though they do not profess it or because they are Entheusiastically infatuated most absurdly and irrationally assert and are very industrious to propagate such an opinion that there is no Local Heaven and that God is not to be enjoyed more in one place than in another The affirming this Substance to be in Heaven implies and includes these following particulars 1. The certainty of its possession It 's no Poetical fiction or fable it 's no Romantick Vtopia but so certainly as there is a Heaven than which nothing is more certain so certainly is there this most substantial blessedness to be enjoyed by the Saints Certainly and Reality are distinct A good may be real but yet not certain because that respects either our knowledg or enjoyment of it or both To say it 's a Substance as hath been already shewd proves the reality of the Saints felicity but to say it 's in Heaven expresseth the certainty of an enjoyment 1 Pet. 1.4 If a man say to his Friend and Favourite I will bestow upon thee a Treasure that affords some comfort and is a considerable demonstration of kindness but it is not exclusive of all doubts for the question may still be put how shall I come by it and where is it But if the Reply be go to such a Chamber or Chest here is the Key that opens it take it into your possession then it 's certain it shall be his upon supposition it 's a real Treasure a Substance indeed and the person be serious when he makes such an offer and promise Now the Children of God do not only know that they have a Substance and Treasure but they know the very place where it is they know where to find it and take possession of it it 's certain and sure to them they have the word of a faithful God for it 2. The furutity of it Here is no posseson of it it is not attainable in this life God doth not intend a perfect happiness for his Saints here upon earth or that they shall have no better and higher blessedness than what is to be enjoyed in this world Here they are not to be rewarded fully for their sufferings and losses for righteousness and Religions sake But here they must expect a constant succession of troubles and trials like the Waves of the Ocean following speedily one another and an uninterrupted Series of Afflictions Crosses and Sorrows No constant Calm nor serene state is to be expected for the faithful Servants of God in these lower Regions Storms will arise and continue till they come to the Harbours mouth they will accompany them to their very Arrival at the Haven of everlasting Rest Act. 14.22 Here they live by hope the object whereof is not a present but a future good Rom. 8.24 and not such a good whose futurity is in time but eternity 1 Cor. 15.19 While Gods Children are in this world they are Minors like Heirs under age that must not take possession of their Inheritance it 's reserved in Heaven for them 1 Pet. 1.4 They have much laid up under hope but little in hand the highest and greatest things under expectation but little in possession Their Substance is as a Reversion after this life Their right and title thereunto is clear and made sure but till they come to die God saith not go up and possess the good Land God indeed sometimes for Cordials and counter-comforts when they have their bitter cups to drink and their fainting fits approaching gives them some praegustations and fore-tasts of the immixt sweetnesses of Heaven and a delightful ravishing prospect and fore-view of its Glory and Blessedness a distillation thereof often is of some few drops from the overflowing Ocean and a secret influx of some lesser Rivolets from the everflowing Chrystiline fountain of joy upon their Spirits Sometimes they have their first fruits but the full harvest and perfection of all is Heaven it self which is future and to come 3. The Invisibility of it to outward sense This Heaven not being expos'd to the view of sense this Substance which is in it cannot be seen if the Cabinet be not visible the Jewels in it cannot be beheld God will not have the Saints inestimable chiefest Treasure to be seen and discerned by their bodily eyes but by the spiritual enlightned eye of Faith which it is the proper object of The sufferings of the Saints would not be so highly laudable and commendable could they by external sense see the glorious reward that they must fetch their encouragment from to endure the same God will have their Spirits steeled and strengthned their Souls fortifyed their hearts enboldned and raised to an high pitch of invincible Magnanimity from an invisible crown and all for the tryal and exercise of Faith the sweet and sure and noble life whereof he intends as he hath enjoynd it by an irrepealable Law they shall live while they are the Inhabitants of this lower World The Apostle in 2 Cor. 5.7 tell us they must not live by sight but by Faith God promiseth them great things his promises as the Apostle saith 2 Pet. 1.4 Are exceeding great and pretious so they are subjectively and in respect of the matter thereof And God will prove and try who among the many thousands that profess themselves to be Christians will take his word and trust him firmly and fixedly and immoveably depend thereupon And who by a belief of the certainty and the excellency of good that is only promised at so great a distance and not seen can leave and quit chearfully and joyfully a good that is present and conquers things visible by the sight of things invisible Did all that profess themselves Believers really live by Faith then none would in a day of temptation faint and finally fall away Heb. 10.38 Now the just shall live by Faith which implies smal perseverance for it 's stands opposed to drawing back which the want of Faith is the cause of and all a Christians Conquests over the World are ascribed to Faith 1 John 5.4 The Reason of this is because Faith which ultimately
mind Say within themselves this is He Whom we sometimes had in derision and in a Parable of Reproach We Fools thought his life madness and his end without honour How is He counted among the Children of God and his Portion is among the Saints Therefore we have erred from the way of Truth and the light of Righteousness hath not shined in us and the Son of understanding rose not upon us We wearied our selves in the way of wickedness and destruction yea we have gone thorow Desarts where there lay no way But as for the way of the Lord we have not known it What hath Pride profited us or what good hath Riches with our vanting brought us All those things are passed away like a shadow and as a Post that hasted by And as a Ship that passeth over the Waves of the Water which when it is gone by the trace thereof cannot be found Neither the Path way of the Keel in the Waves Or as when a Bird hath flown thorow the Air there is no token of her way to be found but the light Air being beaten with the stroke of her Wings and parted with the violent noise and motion of them is passed thorow and therein afterwards no sign where she went is to be found Or like as when an Arrow is shot at a Mark it parteth the Air which immediately cometh together again So that a Man cannot know where it went thorow Even so in like manner as soon as we were born began to draw to our end and had no sign of vertue to shew but were consumed in our own wickedness 4. The Security and safety of it It 's that which neither force nor fraud power nor policy can deprive them of the hands of violence cannot reach it it 's said to be in Heaven so 1 Pet. c. 4. to be reserved there The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies sometimes sollicitously to keep something lest it should be lost and taken away by others Matth. 23.3 John 8.55 1 John 5.18 Thus is this heavenly substance kept that it cannot be taken away by the most mortal and immortal enemies the Saints have Heaven is a place that neither humane nor Diabolical power can besiege and storm Matth. 6. v. 20. It 's never liable to violence nor spoil and in that respect stands opposed to and far surpasseth all terrene treasures Many are born and have a real right to an earthly substance but never come to possess it being either defrauded or by oppressing power most injuriously deprived of the same But this substance is obnoxious to no such thing Although many times Persecutors with prodigious voraciousness and greediness and with the greatest barbarity and ferocity swallow up as their prey the estates and all the outward comforts of Gods children Yet however in this they may rejoyce and it may be sufficient to put their pious souls into an exulting posture to consider how they have a substance in Heaven Suppose plundering Sabeans and spoiling Caldeans come to a mans house and by violence take away his Lumber stuff and some less considerable goods yet this begets scarce any discomposure of mind so long as his Jewels his Silver and Gold his principal Treasure is safe and secure So when persevering Saints are spoil'd of their earthly Goods it should produce no commotions nor disquietudes in their souls seeing their principal and chief substance their choicest treasure is in safe custody guarded by all the heavenly host and encompass'd with the omnipotent Power of God which is more for it's security than the highest and strongest walls of brass and marble Who will be dejected or drownd in sorrow to lose the streams when he hath the fountain or who will be pensive and sad to lose the Candle-light or lesser Lamps when he hath the light of the Sun the principal Lamp of Heaven 5. The delectability of it It must be a substance affording the most incomparably delicious pleasures For what delights can be wanting to a substance in Heaven which is a notation of all absolute perfection Bartons and Manors and all earthly Inheritances are highly commended and are the more valuable from their pleasant situations How pleasantly situated then must this substance and inheritance be which is in Heaven It 's neither in the pleasant plain of Jordan Gen. 13.10 nor in the Land of Goshen Gen. 47 6. nor in the Land of Canaan that overflowed with milk and honey Lev. 20.24 nor in the Garden of Eden nor in any earthly Paradise but in Heaven where the most blessed God shines forth in his Glory What then can be wanting to make it most delectable to the glorified Saints who must be the eternal inhabitants of Heaven But here let no man mistake me as if I meant Mahometan amaenities and delights which I fear too many professed Christians have corresponding and agreeing Notions with the Turks of which differs not spicifically but gradually from what they enjoy here upon earth and so make it nothing else but a plenitude of sensual pleasures or flesh-pleasing good and delights in a higher measure I might quote much out of Mahomets Alchoran to this purpose but one passage shall serve for all which is this I will cause those that have believed in God and have performed good works to enter into Gardens wherein flow many Rivers where they shall dwell eternally with most beautiful Women I will give them the shade of Paradise Pag. 52. in the Chapter of Women written at Medina Thus here and in other places also we find the Beatitude which Mahomet promiseth to the faithful keepers of his Laws is accommodated to their flesh and senses which I forbear to mention because it would be too far a digression For I intend no other but what are Intellectual and spiritual which are the noblest and sweetest Pleasures most exactly accommodated to the understanding and all the powers and capacities of an Immortal Soul The nearer the streams are to the Fountain the purer and sweeter they are In Heaven the Saints shall have all their joys or most of them immediately from the fullest fountain God himself which will make them infinitely more recreating to their minds ravishing and reviving to their souls and spirits See Mr. Baxters Saints Rest Pag. 84 85. more largely treating of this particular Their pleasures shal not be conveyed to them through any unclean Channels nor shall they in the use of means and ordinances be brought to them neither shall they have them at the first second or third hand c. as they have in this world whereby they become more mixt and less delicious but they shall be as that pure River of Water of Life clear as Crystal proceeding out of the Throne of God and of the Lamb Rev. 22.1.2 They shall see God face to face and stand continually in his presence and so their comforts must flow more immediately from himself Psal 16. In thy presence there is fulness of joy and at
of delectableness This must be the next object to the Beatifical Vision it self To have the fulness of the Godhead that which dwelleth in him bodily Col. 2.9 radiating as it were through his transparent body must afford excessive delights to the beholder That Glory of the Manhood which is out of measure that is respectively in regard of us who are unable to measure it must be a most lovely object to behold To see that Christ whose visage was marred more than any man and his form more than the Sons of men Isa 52.14 whom the Jews could see no beauty in that they should desire him Isa 53.2 Who was despised and rejected of men a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief and who was not esteemed by men Isa 53.3 Who hath born our griefs and carried our sorrows who was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities upon whom was the chastisement of our peace and with whose stripes we are healed Isa 53.4 5. Him who was spit upon and buffited Matth. 26.67 Who endured an eructation of all obloquies and evomition of all blasphemies upon him who was every way most opprobriously and contumiliously used Who was scourged and whipt Matth. 27.26 Who when he was in the prime and flower of his youth had his beauty so much withered and decayed and his body so much maceraâ—ed through want and poverty and variety of sorrows as if wrinckling and surrowing old age had overtaken and seized upon him or did very nearly approach him Joh. 8.57 Whose innocent and pure soul was put into so great an agony that he swear as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground Luk. 22.44 which made him say his soul was exceeding sorrowful even unto death Matth. 26.38 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 encompassed and besieged round about beset with sorrows And to conclude this to see him after that most low state of his Humiliation having when he was born a Manger for his Cradle crown'd with thorns as a sign of the greatest contempt and after all this condemned and executed upon the Cross crucified for the greater contempt between two Thieves most scornfully there insulted over having his sides pierced with the spear to let forth a pure stream of his most precious blood and not only to endure that most shameful ignominious tormenting death of the Cross but the whole weight and burden of his Fathers wrath and displeasure and the severe strokes and lashes of vindictive punitive justice and the very pains of Hell to take hold of his soul I say after all this to see him exalted in glory and majesty at the right hand of his Father a sparkling Crown upon his head sitting upon a magnificent Throne to see his countenance as the Sun shineth in his strength Rev. 1.16 to see him exceeding all the glory of Angels to see him infinitely more beautiful in his whole body than his Spouse the Church when enamour'd of him most passionately and Rhetorically describes him to be Cant. 5.10 11 12 13 14 15 16. To see as much of the Creator and the Divine Nature in Christ as is possibly visible in the nature of man and not only to see Christ in all that eminency of his glory but if we be Saints to see Christ in it as ours as we are interested in this object will make it most delectable Joh. 17.24 We find this is the great happiness honour and priviledg that Christ Wills for all true Believers Father This proves his Divinity I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me Certainly Christ would never have Will'd this would it not afford ineffable joy to the beholder and fully prove that as much contentation as the creature can be made partaker of by the sight of any one visible object will be the portion of the Beholders of Christ as he is man The wise man tells us The eye is never satisfied with seeing Eccl. 1.8 Although it may be wearied with looking upon various objects yet it is not satisfied but still desires new ones and can drink them in without surfeiting so that though the acts of the eye be scant and finite yet the lusts of the eye seem to have a kind of infinity in them Now all this ariseth from the imperfection of all conspicable glory and beauty in this world for the sight cannot be quieted except in the most excellent of visible objects and this it only meets with in heaven Melancthon desired death for this very end that he might see Christ in glory Cupio ex hac vita migrare propter duas causas primum ut fruar desiderato conspectu filii Dei Coelestis Ecclesiae c. And if death be desirable by the Saints for this end certainly the object will be proportionably delightful We may likewise rationally conceive the glorified bodies of the Saints will be very delightful objects whose constantly flowring and radiant beauty shall never be incentives and baits to lust shall not beget unchast thoughts nor allure and tempt to unclean embraces There shall be no need of Ornaments to cover any deformities of the body or to add a grace and comliness to any of i'ts parts all meretricious Painting and Patching all the clouding Tooers as an addition to that sufficiency of hair which God and nature hath given to the female Sex shall be quite out of fashion and of no use Had man continued in the state of Innocency that beauty which is now composed of the most exact symmetry and complexion falls inconceivably short of what it would then have been and even that before sin darkned it's lustre and stain'd it's glory or in the least withered it's flower was not to be compared with this Then saith our Saviour shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their father Which may very well be understood as one sense if not the chief of their corporeal brightness and it 's probable had there been a more splended creature in the whole visible Creation than the Sun our Saviour would have made use of it to express the formosity of the Saints bodies by in heaven To see then Heaven full of those bodies which perhaps were once cloathed with ulcerous soars with loathsome and nauceating deformities and liable to so great variety of diseases and though many of them were freed from these unamiable things yet at last their rarest Beauties were exposed to blasting Old age which planted deep Furrows in their smooth Brows shrunk and shriveld up their plump and comely Checks and causing their most straight and upright Bodies to bow themselves and uncomelily to stoop I say to see Heaven so full of those Bodies and every Body so perfectly beautiful that no addition can be made and al supplements are excluded what delight must this afford what a strange magnetick vertue is there in imperfect Beauty upon earth
content And that Doctrine of the Apostles in 1 Timoth. chap. 6. vers 8. And having food and rayment let us be therewith content 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word signifies let us have enough though we have neither delicates nor ornaments but any thing that may be called food and rayment 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Coverings any garments that will cover our nakedness and shelter us from the cold though but hair covering though but such as those Worthies had in Heb. 11.37 They wandred about in Sheep Skins and Goat Skins c. yet let us count this enough and sufficient Those that â—annot deny their sensitive appetites their flesh and senses whether outward or the fancy and imagination which deservedly comes under the same denomination their gratifications and satisfactions that cannot live without full Tables Silks and Sattins and a large confluence of more inferiour comforts and drossy pleasures whose souls are not the Cabinet where this rare Jewel of Christian Contentment is to be found will never do as the Hebrews did i. e. take joyfully the spoiling of their goods 6ly A low esteem of these worldly goods especially compared with this Heavenly Substance What a man estimates very highly it 's very ungrateful to him to part with it he cannot do it with any joy Mens value of terrene Treasures must be brought to a very low ebb and that by an exceeding high appretiation of unseen immortal treasures before they can take joyfully the spoiling the same The reason why so many Professors stick at this is because Earth out-weighs in the ballance of their esteem Heaven Those Saints that have their conversations in Heaven that are frequently taken up into the Mount of Contemplation to view and behold their most excellent Inheritance there that often revolve in their minds the cogitations and thoughts of its inestimable pleasures and delights the whole world with all its glories is no more to them when compared therewith than a drop is to the Ocean a beam to the whole body of the Sun or the smallest punct or point to the vast expanded and encompassing Heavens After they have looked upwards a while and pierced into eternity and then cast their eyes upon the things of this lower world which are admired so much by those that never beheld better they all seem to vanish and disappear as blushing and being ashamed from a consciousness of their vileness and imperfections to stand before those very mental Idea's that they have of what they have seen in the other world and become very contemptible to them It s from want of a superlative esteem of this better and abiding substance in Heaven that men reluctate so much to part with for God and Christ the vacuous and flaccescous things here upon Earth things that are so empty and therefore cannot fill things that are so transitory and therefore must leave an immortal soul 7ly The weaning of our affections from worldly good from estates and riches a considerable mortification and crucifixion to them in respect of love and desire for them and delight in them What a man intensly loves vehemently desires and abundantly delights in that he cannot joyfully part with for that is a rending of the thing from the soul which puts it to grievous pain Every mans sorrow in losing any earthly good is proportionable to the love he had for it and delight he took in it And when these affections are in excess and acted beyond those due bounds and limits that reason should and which Divine Laws have prescribed and set unto them they make their darling objects at last the most smarting Rods to correct and lash them with for their folly And sometimes they become sharp swords cruelly and deeply to wound them that had too kindly entertained them before All that violent and unbounded sorrow that we see in many when some finite good flies away from them out of sight and returns no more proceeds from the deep possession it had in the soul by a no less imperious and commanding love before This is so universally an experimented truth that it clearly demonstrates and proves another viz. That no man will or can take joyfully the spoiling of his goods till such affections be moderated towards them or in a considerable degree be withdrawn from them Could we that profess our selves Christians but follow and put in practice the Psalmists advice Psal 62.10 If riches increase set not thy heart upon them And the Apostles in Heb. 13.5 to have our conversation without covetousness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without the love of money as that Greek word signifies and that counsel of his which we have in Colos 3.2 Set your affections upon things that are above And were we but as the Apostle was in the 6th chap. of the Galatians v. 14. crucified to the world c. had the world crucified unto us then would it be easily attainable for us to do what the Hebrews did and the present Doctrine should not be judged so impracticable or so little practised as it is Let us but close and shut our hearts against the world while we have it in our hands and then we shall neither sigh nor sob to let it go for the Gospel and the great concerns and interest of Jesus Christ But if this world be profoundly radicated and riveted in mens hearts and have the prevailing interest in their affections to speak to them to use all the swasion and counsel that we can to make them lose and leave it thus joyfully for the same is an attempt as vain as to command Mountains to remove out of their places and flie up into the Air or the Sun to forbear shining and the Sea flowing at their stated times 8ly And lastly An act of deliberate Judgment not a precipitous and rash act for that would cause repentance and sorrow for our folly afterwards Mens timerarious actions are usually erroneous and terminate in some angry or pensive reflection upon their incogitant hastiness which they find hath discommoded them So that to suffer joyfully for Christ that such joy may not be turned into sorrow after from an apprehended mistake must suppose some deep cogitancy and consideration a weighing in the judgment what the loss and gain will be thereby This therefore results from a comparison made between these two and a sober pondering judgment passed thereupon which will prevent all after repentance for the ruminating soul finding that the disproportion is so vast between what it shall lose and what it shall gain and that the former is so unworthy to be compared with the latter it shall never befool it self for suffering and learn to be wiser thereby for the future to verifie that old Proverb That bought Wit is best and that saying of the Heathen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hesiod A fool is wise after he hath suffered When the Apostle tells the Hebrews what they had suffered and what joy they had therein he makes
these children of the Kingdom are cast out into utter darkness Matth. 8.12 and see these now judged fools inheriting everlasting life and light then when it s too late will they be convinced of and justifie their wisdom It s an amazing and confounding thing to consider how strong and unto how high a pitch mens reason is raised when it 's exercised about earthly things and is to pass a judgment upon them and how enervated and enfeebled and at what a low ebb it is when it comes to be acted about heavenly things and is to pass a true judgment upon them It s rare respectively to this to find a man that 's compos mentis that hath his right wits but most men here are like to some mad-men who will discourse soberly and rationally till that be the subject which was the first occasion and cause of their madness and then they quickly discover their distemper And as such phrenetical persons think all men so but themselves and judge the most sage discourses to be but folly Even so world-minded Hypocrites with the large generation of Sensualists in the world think the wise traffick and trade of a few Saints for Heaven and Eternity while they adventure and sometimes lose all their worldly enjoyments for the same to be a most unadvised undertaking to bewray much debility of reason if not some phrensie to have seized upon them And though perhaps they will not alwaies or all of them will not thus explicitly and openly brand them with folly and madness yet they will do it implicitly and tacitly either by ascribing what they do to some sullen obstinate humour for they who will so gratifie this hazard and lose their estates and outward comforts are most egregious and enormous fools do I say fools yea highly insanous and sit for Bedlam or to too much niceness and and over-scrupleness of conscience which doth sufficiently put the fool upon them while it asserts the exility and almost nothingness of ther reason But true Believers can live above all these reproaches and patiently wait till their wisdom in another world be avoucht justified by Christ or their visible and most glorious enthronement there do clearly demonstrate not only the verity but the supereminency thereof and what it 's most noble origin and discent was James 3.17 when so much unknown unto disdained and vilisied by the World 3. Infer Thirdly That Assurance of Heaven is attainable here upon Earth it may be had though all the children of God have it not it 's no impossible thing to be obtained for if it were that counsel and command which makes it a duty were vain which we have 1 Pet. 1.10 Wherefore the rather Brethren give diligence to make your Calling and Election sure Which words are not to be understood of an objective but subjective certainty sure to our selves in our own hearts and consciences When the Hebrews knew in themselves that they had in Heaven this better and enduring substance it implyes as hath been noted that they had some assurance of a right to it and a possession of it But this was not proper and peculiar as a priviledge to them but it 's that which Saints now and to the end of the world may have likewise It must indeed be acknowledged that assurance of our salvation is not with facility and ease but with arduousness and difficulty as usually the choicest and most excellent things are obtained This bright and precious Jewel cannot be brought into the soul but by the greatest assiduousness painful laboriousness highest and constant solicitude and care as the Apostolical Exhortation imports Give diligence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies all manner of studiousness seriousness and intention in doing It requires a close walking with God an observant watchfulness over our own hearts a frequent impartial sedulous exploration and examination of them 2 Cor. 13.5 Examine your selves whether ye be in the faith Prove your own selves Which things too many Christians being too often omissive and negligent of they possess it not And whatever assurance any man pretends to and boasts of that he obtains not in this way it will prove false and deluding and leave him short of Heaven and all his hopes of an eternal happiness under a most miserable abortion and frustration If the generality of Christians want assurance the fault is their own The sloth and laziness the torpor and sluggishness of their souls their oscitancy and carelesness their inactivity insedulity and inconstancy in the performance of all those holy duties which are the vital parts of Christian piety is too frequently the cause hereof The want hereof likewise in many is to be ascribed to the not exercising of their reason vigorously and enough for its usually if not alwaies wrought in a rational way for as the soul of man hath the power of ratiocination so hereby Gods Children must argue themselves into this joyful Assurance which is done by inferring one truth from another and drawing true conclusions from right premises which are two propositions that help them to syllogize The first of these is Scriptutural such a Proposition as is infallibly true because it is founded in the Word of God As for example let it be that He that believeth on Christ hath everlasting life Joh. 3.13 The other Proposition is experimental But I believe on Christ now if after a serious laborious disquisition and thorow examination of our faith we find it exactly to correspond and square with that description and those characters which God gives of a true and saving faith in his Word which is not impossible to find and know else that exhortation and command in the 2 Cor. 13.5 were very futilous and frivolous then may the conclusion be rightly and confidently drawn therefore I have everlasting life Much in such a way as this that requires the exercise of our reason is Assurance wrought which many sincere Saints not taking but waiting for and expecting some immediate testimony and witness from Heaven are longer clouded with fears and doubts as to their eternal estate It s true when all this is done such may want Assurance both because they may not after a diligent search experience such a Proposition there being requisite hereunto besides reason the special help of the Spirit which may not alwaies be afforded and though they may yet may they hasitate and demurre and not have the confidence to draw the conclusion which must be done likewise by the assistance of the same Spirit which is sometimes though for most wise ends denyed them But yet notwithstanding this concession its most probable if not an indubitable truth a comfortable Assurance by such means the Spirit concurring therewith is attained unto though still it must be confessed it admits of several degrees and durations and so is not equally in all that have it neither for measure nor for time I might discourse much more largely of this Doctrine of Assurance but
rend and tear us each from other Perhaps many may think within themselves and say to their own souls as we have it Luke 12.19 Souls you have much goods laid up for many years takâ— your case eat drink and be merry But ye fools do you know how soon you shal efflate and breathe out your souls give up the Ghost and your murmurring breath and when your souls are required by God of you then as it follows in ver 20. Whose shall all these things be which you have provided And not only so but what relief will they aford to your trembling and amazed souls and to your guilty enraged Consciences before the Bar of Christ whâ—re you must certainly stand to be judged for holding fast and keeping close your goods when you should have parted with them for his sake And as it followeth in ver 20. so is he that layeth up treasures for himself and is not rich towards God and he that makes himself most poor for him is most rich towards him Oh! how much more comfortable will the reflection be in another world upon all that we suffer the loss of for Christ than upon that which we detain from him and deny him when he calls for it and requires it at our hands Fifthly Consider though you may keep your wordly goods when you should part with them for Christ and though you may make your selves rich and flourish when others make themselves poor yet all shall be a curse and not a blessing to you Whatever we withhold from God that he calls for it will prove at last like Achans wedg of Gold an accursed thing to us As God suffers many men to wallow in wealth and increase in riches according to the vastness and vehemency of their desires and most insatiable appetite after the same not for a blessing but a curse to them though they apprehend it not but the contrary i. e. that their prospering after this manner is rather an evidence of God's favour towards them So when we deny God our Estates to advance his Honour and Interest in the world then doth he as we have it in Mal. 2.2 curse such blessings though for present we feel and perceive it not Sometimes indeed the curse is outward and visible when God blasts mens Estates and causeth them to wither and moulder away before their eyes or after they are dead to melt away like snow when their posterity doth possess them Yet if this never come to pass it proves inward and invisible which is far more dreadful a curse upon their souls so that they never thrive nor prosper after What the Psalmist speaks concerning God's gratifying the desires of the children of Israel when they lusted after flesh Psal 106.15 that he gave them their request but sent leanness into their soul the same may I say concerning these men for their resolute and strong tenaciousness of this world when they should adventure and part with it for Christ he lets them alone to enjoy it and perhaps abundantly to coacervate and add to it but he at the same time sends leanness into their souls they starve and famish and pine away while they satten and fill their Purses And as the Prophet Isaiah saith Chap. 10. ver 16. though not in the same sence God sends among these fat ones leanness As the Wise man saith Prov. 11.25 to which I only allude The liberal soul towards God shall be made fat but for others he withholds the dews of heaven from them and they are not water'd from those upper Living springs So that an incurable atrophy is now the disease and distemper of their spirits And in this respect they have cause to say as the Prophet said in another case Isa 24.16 Our leanness our leanness wo unto us And so they would but that like men that are consumptive by reason of a Cachexy and an evil disposition of body they gradually waste and languish and are very insensible of it because they feel no pain We can never wish them as the Apostle John did Gaius in his third Epistle ver 2. That above all things they may prosper and be in health even as their souls prosper This is the sin that provokes God to curse them as our Saviour did the fruitless Fig-tree Saying unto them Let no fruit grow on you hence forward and for ever And when this is done presently they wither away as there the Text hath it Matth. 21.19 Many professors of Religion may date their spiritual languishments and decays from the time of their refusing to suffer in this or other ways for the pure Doctrine of Christ A refusal to part with these perishing treasures upon this account proceeds always from an high degree of avarice and excess of covetousness which is the rust and canker of Religion and having now obtain'd so great a dominion over the soul it keeps it bound and chain'd down to this Earth and imprison'd within the narrow confines of this lower world where it can never thrive or flourish it being none of its proper Element to abide and converso in for now it s at so remote a distance from the fountain of living waters and the pure salubrious fresh gales of heaven which are most proper for it and which it cannot live and prosper without that a great lanquor must seize upon it and Religion can no longer grow and spring up in it This is one of the thorns that suffocate and chaoks this spiritual seed Matth. 13.22 Sixthly and lastly Consider if you refuse to suffer the loss of your Estates for Christ he will never own you for his Disciples This is the very condition made by himself of true Discipleship Luke 14.33 So likewise whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath he cannot be my disciple He may be nominally but he cannot be really so And it s as much as if Christ should say Let never such an one expect to be saved by me or have any benefit by my bloud I will reject and discard him for ever Would you have your Redeemer to confess you before his Father and not be ashamed of you when he cometh in his Glory accompanied with the Holy Angels Mark 8.38 Would you have him then in the pesence and hearing of God Angels and men to your exceeding great joy and everlasting consolation say Father lo here are my fast and faithful Friends that loved me more then the world that gave up their whole hearts and all their affections to me that preferred me before all their outward and Earthly comforts that were willing to devest themselves of all to become poor chearfully to submit to the lowest and most despicable condition for my sake Therefore now let them be rewarded with all thy Glory with this incorruptible inheritance with these eternal Treasures or would have him say to your everlasting confusion These are the worldlings and Earthly minded Wretches who esteemed a little mouldring Clay and Dirt
thinking even by ratiocination and argumentation to conclude and determine that all sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be laid in the ballance with it they could not possibly have rejoyced as they did when they were so cruelly and injuriously spoiled of their Goods Most men in the Christian world lose this eternal Substance this future immortal Glory for not being seriously and fixedly considerate how far all their present gain can be from compensating such a loss And very few if any would they but weigh aright the vast disproportion that is betwixt their present earthly shadows and this most substantial blessedness would ever turn their backs on Christ or Naufragate and make Shipwrack of the Faith to secure the former and hereby deprive themselves to eternity of the latter Most men that live within the call of the Gospel and the offers and tenders of Grace by it perish for ever by reason of their incogitancy and inconsiderations It 's Consideration that makes the â—eepest impression upon the Soul that 's most influential and persuasive unto practâ—ce Whatever knowledg therefore men have of God his Laws the Revelations of his Will the future Glory the Gospel Terms and Conditions upon which they must be saved if this be wanting it never prevents their precipitatious into sin and the gulph of guilt their Apostacies from God and his truth and so consequentially neither their eternal ruine and damnation To be wise therefore to understand and consider are concatenated and â—ink'd together as a soveraign Remedy and Antidote against a mans mis-spending his most precious time and his Souls everlasting death and destruction Deut. 32.29 O that they were wise that they understood this that they would consider their latter end Had the Hebrews known never so much of this better Substance and had not been brought thereby to a steddy consideration of its worth they would have been far from rejoycing when impoverished and devested of their present Comforts for the sake of Christ 3. A firm Belief that this Heavenly Substance is what the Soul knows and considers it to be such a Belief as is most strong and invincible notwithstanding all the Arguments the World the Flesh and the Devil can bring against it Thus to believe and know are terms synonimous in Scripture and signify one and the same thing John 11.24 I know that is I believe If the Hebrews had wanted such a Faith they could not have so rejoyced for no man is farther made glad with any good than he believes what its reality worth and excellency is For men then to know this Substance in Heaven is insuperably to believe not only what it is that it exists there but that it's what God hath reveal'd and reported it to be and without such a Belief there can neither be a right rejoycing when we suffer nor a perseverance approv'd of and acceptable to God in our suffering for him If once Faith be foyl'd and conquer'd a Christian quickly gives over fighting and suffering then instead of forsaking the world there will be a forsaking of God and Christ All Defections and Apostacies result from unbelief as the root Heb. 7.12 Take heed brethren lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in turning Apostates or forsaking and quitting the ways of God that our motions heavenwards and to the full fruition of God himself should be invariable and progressive in Had all Professors that Faith which doth most firmly and invincibly believe the reality of the future Glory and that penetrates and pierceth into Heaven and Eternity through all dark interposing clouds here below giving the soul a view and prospect of the same realizing and substantiating it as present to it Heb. 11.1 I say had all Professors such a Faith not one of them to save an Estate an Inheritance a Treasure in this world although it consisted of all Imperial Crowns and Kingdoms would ever deny the Truth I mean totally and finally and disown the pure Worship and Doctrine of Jesus Christ or turn away from that most absolute and perfect Rule of Righteousness which Divine Laws do Constitute 1 Iohn 5.4 Heb. 11.24 25 26. but would rejoycingly and triumphantly persevere to suffer for these high and precious things that the eternal salvation of his soul depends upon 4. To know is to be assured if not fully yet in some degree and measure that this better and permanent Substance shall be ours The Hebrews knew that is as was shewed in the opening of the words before they were assured that they had such a Substance A well grounded assurance of Heaven though it be not absolutly perfect will make those Souls where it is very cheerfully and joyfully to suffer And to know and to be assured in Scripture sometimes for sense and signification are the same 2 Cor. 5.2 For we know i. e. we have an assurance that if our earthly house of this Tabernacle were dissolved we have a building of God an house not made with hands eternally in the Heavens and this the Hebrews knew i. e. of this they had an assurance when their earthly habitations were taken from them but having spoken something to this already I will not ampliate and enlarge the discourse here any farther 5. What is it that we must know in our selves this as hath been shewed in the opening of the words is not without its Emphasis two things then it seems to import the one whereof hath been in part spoken to 1. A lively hope of possessing this Substance according to such a knowledg consideration belief and assurance 1 Pet. 1.3 By knowledg Christians reflect upon their hope from whence springs their joy There is a natural connection betwixt these two as betwixt the Streams and the Fountain the Beams and the Sun which flow from the same Rom. 5.8 Rom. 12.12 Rejoycing in the hope of the glory of God Though Good be not in actual possession yet so long as it 's an object of hope proportionably to the apprehended worth of that good and the strength of that hope is still our joy Hope is unexpressibly useful to a religious soul in respect of comfort when she grounds her self upon Eternity and upon an Assured futurity which we are promised in the holy Scriptures and not upon that uncertain futurity which amuseth most men and at last deceives all They that thus know in themselves know experimentally and believingly what the sweet benign influences of hope while it hath this enduring Substance for its objects are upon their Souls 2. Something inherent and wrought in them upon which all the other are grounded To know in our selves is to have or find in our selves that which may be a sure ground for us infallibly to conclude from that we have this Substance which is better and abiding in Heaven As a vital Principle of Grace or a Principle of spiritual lite ruling and governing
the soul and acting it towards God the through change of our Natures and regeneration of our Spirits the transforming energy and vertue of the spirit of God to have past upon our souls the deep impressions of a divine nature thereupon whereby we are assimulated and made like to God Whosoever hath not his hope and expectation of an heavenly blessedness built and bottom'd upon this doth but deceive himself and will find his hope to prove abortive and his expectation most miserably and deplorably frustrated in the end Mat. 5.8 Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God Col. 1.27 Which is Christ in you the hope of Glory This is that we must know and find in our selves before we can challeng a right and title unto and conclude that this immortal Substance belongs to us and shall certainly be possessed by us To know in our selves seems consonant to that 1 Iohn 5.10 He that believeth in the Son of God hath the witness in himself Which is not only if there be any such thing that witness and testimony of the Holy Ghost in a more immediate way but an inherent Principle of Grace and Holiness first powerfully planted and wrought by the spirit of God in the soul and then halping and enabling the soul to reflect upon it and find it out and after this to draw right and comfortable conclusions from the same which stand as a witness and evidence in our souls that we have a right to all that future Glory and felicity that such a changing renewing Principle doth adapt and qualify us for and render us capable of And if I may allude to that which is spoken of our Saviour in the very same words Iohn 6.61 thereby expressing his omnisciency knowing in himself it will illustrate this to be the sense thereof for how did Christ know in himself Col. 2.9 but by that fulness of the Godhead that dwelt in him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bodily that is personally or substantially As he was God he had Omnisciency in him and so he knew in himself by his own in-dwelling Divinity or Godhead So to know in our selves is to know by some in-dwelling Purity and Holiness in our Souls that we have this better Substance Yet I will not possitively determine this to be the proper signification of the words I only declare my own apprehension and sentiment thereof without imposing upon any but shall leave every one to their own judgment 3. I proceed now to discourse and distinctly to treat of the thing known A Substance with those other things it is amplyfied by which have been already in part explain'd but I shall now give a more particular account of them And 1. I shall begin with the Substance spoken of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which word is used by most Greek Authors in the same leâ—sâ— The word in the Original signifies Bona Facultates Wealth Goods Possessions which we frequently call Substance and hence a Rich Man is called a Substantial Man Substance is sometimes taken for the essence or being of any thing is no more than Ens subsisting of it self but then it is not expressed by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 though in some Authors this word also signifies Riches sometimes Substance signifies persona a person endowed with reason is the same with that which the Schoolmen call Suppositum and is used by Theologists in the explication of the Holy Trinity the two Natures of the Lord Jesus Christ in one Person then it s set forth by the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 1.3 which is translated subsistentia one that doth subsist of himself but this Substance is of another Nature and otherwise to be considered even as something that stands opposed to the Goods that Believers may be and often are spoiled of in this world Therefore must be Goods of an higher and more excellent Nature It 's some Substance that 's not a simple Ens or naked being but that which can greatly enrich the Soul and become its Wealth and Treasure In it then we have an involution of two things 1. Reality It shall not prove a fools Paradise a dream'd enjoyment As a poor man that dreams he wallows and tumbles in wealth and is accumulating the treasures of the earth or as an hungry man that dreams he is feasted and fed with luxurious dainties hath Sardanapalus's sumptuous fare is eating the most delicious meats and drinking the most generous pure and sparkling Wines or like an ignoble and base person that dreams he wears a Princes Crown that he is set upon a Regal Throne sways an Imperial Scepter Commands and Governs Kingdoms and is advanced to the highest pitch and pinacle of worldly Power and Pomp But when all these awake Alas they find all those things are but lusorious dreams there 's no reality in them and so they vanish leaving them all pensive and sad at so miserable a disappointment But this is a Substance a real thing or Good indeed that the suffering Saints know they have Vain toyes and trifles froth and foam bubbles and shadows and such deluding dreams do not constitute the same the Joys and Pleasures the Saints shall have such an exuberancy of the Honor and the Glory they shall be crowned with to Eternity shall not be pageant and umbratil but most substantial God promiseth nothing unto them but what is real 2. Satiâ—ly and the fullest Satisfaction it doth afford Wind may fill the belly or stomach of a man but it is substantial Meat that must satisfie them and make their constant cravings and painful gnawings to cease This then being Substance it 's that which shall fully satisfie their souls being an edaequate commensurate happiness both to their Nature as immaterial and immortal and also to their capacity which is so immense and vastly larg It is that which God hath so exactly accommodated hereunto that it shall be their central felicity for ever which in the full fruition and possession thereof shall afford such plenary satisfaction to their Souls that their volitions and desires for any other earthly Substance Good and Comfort shall not only be allayed and moderated but totally extinguished This is that indeed which supersedes the souls chase after all other delights and felicities The substantial joy in Heaven Vt plenam illam laetitiam exprimat Propheta utitur plurali numero Laetitiarum ut una sit iustar omnium in se comprehendat veram omnem laetandi materiam omne laetiâ—iarum genus earum copiosissimam abundantiam Rivet in Locum therefore is called a plenitude a fulness Psal 16.11 When once the Soul comes to swim and bath it self in that immense immeasurable Sea of sweetest celestial pleasures and everlasting consolations and to be swallowed up in the infinite unbounded Ocean of the supreme Good then certainly it shall know no more what it is to pant after to thirst and long for any