evil but only good for from an absolute Goodness nothing can proceed but good And such are as will appear Even things necessary for this life they are called Good things In Deut. 6. 11. We read of houses full of all good things In the Book of Job there is mention made of such a wretched kind of people which said unto God Depart from us and what can the Almighty do for them Job 22. 17. And yet in the 18. v. t is said He filled their houses with good things Says Abraham to the rich Man in Hell Luk. 16. 25. v. Son remember that thou in thy life time receivedst thy good things St. James calls them precious fruits of the Earth Jam. 5. 7. v. and therefore precious saith an Interpreter because they cost hard labor and because they are choice blessings of God Called they are in Scripture Our life Because they are the very sinews of our life It is said of the Woman in the Gospel that she had spent all her living upon the Physicians Luk. 8. 43. In the Greek it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 she spent her whole liâ—e upon the Physitians because she spent her estate by which she should live No Man can live in the world without some portion had of the things of the world Here I may fitly transcribe the words of a good Preacher As saith he theâ—e be three Ages of Man An Infant who creeps upon the ground with all four a young man who goes upon his two leggs an old man who goes on three counting his staffe for one So there be three conditions of Men the worldly man who goes upon all four and looks to earthly things The Saints in Heaven who trample these things of the world under their feet going upright and scorning so much as to look towards them they need them not at all But the Saints on earth though they tread upon them in their esteem yet they must look a little towards them in their necessity because they cannot be without them as long as any of us have the old man about us we cannot go without the staffe of Bread as long as we abide in the world we cannot be without some things of the world and even these things you see are called good things But yet our labor should be chiefly about Eternal good things Because though the things of this life are good yet Eternal good things are the best the chiefest and excellentest of good things they are the only things worth the laboring for many things are hard to come by and yet of no great use or worth when by great labor and pains taking they are gotten or brought to pass Aelians censure of the Chariot I have read of made by Myrmccidas and Callecrates so small that it might be hid under a Fly in my conceit was good and applicable to my purpose For when others wondered at it he said it was worthy no wise man's praise but was rather to be accounted a vain expence of time and how much vain expence of time may be noted amongst many men laboring for what is not worth the labor used to gain them As some more excellent Schollars of great parts and abilities spend their time and studies about very unprofitable Questions and Disputations and intricate subtilties about Moon-shine in the Water as one complains that Spider-like eviscerate themselves and spend their bowels to make Cob-webbs of Wit So a man cannot but have observed what time and labor some men spend in and about some things that neither are of advantage to their Souls or their Bodies But now Eternal good things they are indeed hard and difficult to obtain but will be found to be singularly excellent good things Eternal good things to the very best of worldly good things are as the Sun to the least of Starrs as some stately Pallace the seat or habitation of a great Monarch to a smoaky and thatch'd Cottage the habitation of a Peasant they are as Gold to Brass Et melius est pallens aurum quam fulgens aurichalcum a little of the palest and coursest Gold is farr better then much of the finest and brightest Brass One Christian's share of Eternal good things is farr better then what all the Kings and Potentates in the world do injoy of the world Hi numerosè aggrigant penes se densissimum lutum as the Prophet Habakkuk speakes chap. 2. 6. v. Wo to him that increaseth that which is not his how long and to him that ladeth himself with thick clay These are laden with thick clay Illi aurum igni exploratum possident They are inriched with pure Gold Revel 3. 18. v. Their Exchequer may be full but t is only the World 's counterfeit coyn the other have the true treasure Their Wardropes may be plentifully furnished but t is only with glassy Pearl the other injoy that precious Orient Pearl which to purchase the wise Merchant sold all There is as much difference between Temporal good things and Eternal good things as there is between the light of a Candle and the light of the Sun when it shineeth in its full brightness at mad-day A Candle in a dark-night makes a great shew but the light thereof when the Sun cometh vanisheth and is nothing Even such are all those things that men now so much affect and labor so much for if compared with what will indure to Eternity the worth of them doth vanish and come to nothing What think you of those new investitures of the Soul after the Resurrection of those royal endowments of glorified souls in Heaven shining there like the glorious body of our Saviour upon Mount Tabor What think you of having our bodies to glitter in glory like those spangles in the Firmament of those Sun-like bodies we shall have in Heaven Of corruptions putting on incorruption and mortality putting onimmortality What think you of the beatifical vision of beholding him who is invisible in the presence chamber of his glory of the souls living for ever in the continual prospect of the infinite beauty and Majesty of God in the most glorious and eternal sanctuary of Heaven of taking a full view of that All-glorious Deity whose very fight gives blessedness to the beholder of having the beams of our Creators heavenly glory to shine in our faces of so seeing God as never more to look of him of so enjoying him that he shall for ever be all in all unto us Of seeing the glory of Christ which is the glory of glories What think you of the Golden City beautified and irradiated with the unconceivable splendor of the glory of God where Streets Walls gates and all is gold and Pearl nay where Pearl is but as mire and dirt and nothing worth of walking through the streeâ—s of Paradise where Sorrow is never felt complaint is never heard matter of sadness is never seen evil success is never feared but instead thereof there is all good without any thing of
in Judgment against many Christians That he would rather neglect his means thâ—n his mind his farm than his soul To be stored with Eternal good things will cause our souls afterwards to go out of our bodies upon the wings of joy calmness and serenity of spirit and with full sail for heaven This will make a Christian sweetly to sing with old Simeon Lord now let thy servant depart in peace And say as Hillary said to his soul Soul thou hast served Christ thâ—s Seventy years and art thou afraid of Death Go out soul go out But without this with what a dreadful Out-cry and Shrike will poor souls leave the body seeing themselves attended only with a black guard of Divels and no other place provided for them but the burning Lake and bottomless Pit with no other treasure inriched but the curse and wrath of the Almighty Not to have labored and taken pains for what will do the soul good will prove bitterness in the end It is storied of Caesar Borgias that being sick to death that he lamentingly cryed out When I lived I provided for every thing but Death now I must dye and am unprovided to dye this was a dart at his heart and believe it it will be at last a dagger at their hearts who now take care for their bodies but neglect their souls who labor and take pains to make provision for their ignoble part but make no provision for their more noble part When the body shall lye under its short breathings cold sweats dying groans and hastening to the Grave where worms and filthy Vermine must feed upon it and the soul hath nothing to comfort it now that it is passing into Eternity surely such a soul must needs be amazed at the â—nsuing change Oh that Christians were wise to consider these things that they would make it their work to provide for their souls to furnish them with that will prove Eternal that they would labor for spiritual and heavenly excellencies that they would acknowledg one soul to be more worth than many worlds God hath given to each of us a soul and to each of us but one soul It was a wretched and most foolish speech of a prophane Noble Man of Naples who said that he had two souls in his body one for God and another for whosoever would buy it Omnia Deus dedit duplicia saith one speaking of bodily members God hath given men double members two eyes if one be lost the other supplies the want of it two hands two ears two feet that the failing of one may be supplyed by the help of the other Animan vero unam but one soul if that perish there is not another to supply its loss And it is no other than madness and folly to look after the body and neglect the soul to gratify the body but to lose the soul With what hopes can such look to receive mercy and comfort from God in a dying hour It is reported of Alphonsus King of Arragon when a Knight of his had consumed a great patrimony by lust and luxury and besides ran into debt and being to be laid into prison by his Creditors his friends petitioned for him to the King the King answered Si tantam pecuniam vel in sui Regis obsequium vel patriae commodis vel sublevandis propinquis impedisset audirem nunc quoniam tant as opes impendit corpori parâ— est ut luat corpore If he had spent so much money in the service of his Prince or for the good of his Countrey or in relieving his Kindred I would have harkned but seeing he hath spent so much upon his body it is fit his body should smart for it So when those who now labor for the world and the things thereof that only concern the body and profit the body but neglect what concerns the soul and would profit the soul I say when these come and look up to God for comfort and mercy when all comfort from the world is gone God may justly answer If they had labored not for the meat which perisheth but for that meat which indureth unto everlasting life If they had labored as much for what would have done their souls good as for what they saw would do their bodies good I would have heard them but as they have neglected their souls in their life I will not care for their souls at death 7. Our labor and pains ought cheifly to be imployed not about perishing but Eternal good things Because our labor about Eternal good things will not be in vain In Malachy his time some did not stick to say It was in vain to serve God Mal. 3. 14. v. they did as others now think their pains in vain hypocrites they were such as would needs persuade themselves that they served God and that truly And being â—uft up with this conceit they thought God should â—hereupon serve them as they would have him and â—hey expected but when he at any time punished them â—or their sins and exercised them with afflictions â—hey presently would cry out It is in vain and to â—o purpose to serve God and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinances and that we have walked â—ournfully before the Lord of hosts Indeed there is many a man that pursues the world with a fruitless and â—ain attempt they rise early go to bed late eat the â—read of sorrows yet all will not do they labor and â—hat hard for what they are not sure to obtain in the world and for that very often which they never do obtain they have but their labor for their pains Quid emolumenti what profit or gain have most afâ—er many a hard days labor utterly disappointed of â—hat they labored for like many such who seek after â—he Philosophers stone Not so a Christian laboring for Eternal good things â—hey are sure to obtain what they labor for their laâ—or will not be in vain That will never befall them which is written of Dioclesian and Maximian Herâ—ulius who suddenly gave over their Empires and cast â—ff their honors and betook themselves to a private â—fe out of rage and madness when they saw themâ—elves labor so much in vain for the rooting out of â—he Christians See that place 1 Cor. 15. 58. v. Thereâ—re my beloved Brethren be ye stedfast unmovable â—ways abounding in the work of the Lord forasmuch â— you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. Christians labor herein will not be like those labors that were by way of punishment inflicted upon the Daughters of Danaeus whom the old Poets feigned to be condemned in Hell to fill a bottomless tub with Water and to increase their labor this water they were to carry in Sieves and never to leave work till the tub were full here was a great deal of unfruitful labor here was labor in vain indeed A Christian hath better incouragement to labor his labor is not in vain in the Lord.
seeing the King â—t an ordinary time and seeing him when he is in his â—obes with his Crown upon his head and his Scepter in his hand and set upon his Throne with all his Nobles about him in all his glory God doth manifest himself now unto his People but this is not all he intends they shall see of him he will manifest himself unto them in â—eaven in his Glory What a most ravishing sight will it be there to see the Lord Jesus Christ wearing the Roâ—e of our humane nature in the presence of his Father arrayed as was said of Mordecat â—sther 8. 15. v. in Royal apparâ—â— and with a great Crown of Gold upon his head to see the noble Army of Martyrs to see those millions of blessed Saints that have lived upon the Earth cloâ—hed in white and following the Lamb whither soever he goes to see the Angels those Morning Stars and to hear those Heavenly Choristers Eternally singing Jehovah's praise And lâ—stly to see what ever of Eternal good things we have mentioned before The best sight we have here of these things is but cloudy and obscure for we see but through a glass darkly whilst our Souls are hid in the dark Lanthorns of our bodies Here we see only some broken beams of Heavens glory but some few glimpses thereof as they are scattered up and down in the Scriptures so much as sets the Soul a longing rather then gives any true satisfaction When we come to possess them then we shall see more thâ—n the Scriptures do mention more then our hearts can conceive I may take up part of that extasie Saint Paul breaks out into 1. Cor. 2. 9. v. Eye hath not seen what God hath prepared for them that love him The eye hath seen many admirable things in nature it hath seen Mountains of Chrystal and Rocks of Diamonds it hath seen Mines of Gold and Coasts of Pearl Spicy Islands so Travellers tell us and Geographers write of the eye hath seen the Pyramids of Egypt the Temple of Diana Mauseolus Tomb which by Geographers are made the wonders of the World but what is all this and more then this to what the eyes of Saints in Heaven shall see Then iâ— shall be said to every glorified one Vide quod credâ—disti apprehende quod sperasti â—ruere quod amaâ—ti Beâ—old now and see clearly what formerly thou believeâ—st faintly Crede quod non vides videbis qâ—â—â— non credis Because that they have not seen and yet believe they shall then see more then now they do believe and have their eyes fixed upon them to Eternity These beautiful and beatifical objects they shall see and still desire to see and though they shall be satisfied in seeing of them yet they shall not be satiated with the sight of them To have but one glimpse of them though it were presently gone it were verily a great happiness beyond all that the World affords but they shall never lose the sight of them they shall have it to all Eternity their eyes shall be Eternally open to see them And without doubt the getting of a sight of these things whilst here will quicken the hearts of the Children of men to labour and take pains for them But what an eye must that be that can see at such a distance as Heaven is some compute that betwixt us only and the Starry Firmament there is no less then seventy four millions seven hundred three thousand one hundred and eighty miles and if the Empereal Heaven as many say be two or three Orbs above â—he Starry Firmament how many more miles is it â—hen beyond And the further distant any thing is from us the less clear sight can be had thereof but at such a distance no Corporeal eye can behold any object whatsoever yet may they be seen by the eye of Faith Faith is a sure Prospective-glass by help whereof the Soul may see things though afar off Did you never observe an eye using a Prospective-glass for the discovering and approximating of some remote and yet desirable Object Such a Glass the Soul hath of Faith it can discover and approximate things that are most remote remote I say and that either in respect of time or in respect of place I shall give an instance or two to clear this And first in respect of time It is said of Abraham by Christ himself who directs his speech to the Jews who were often calling Abraham Father Your Father Abraham rejoyced to see my day and he saw it and was glad John 8. 56. v. It will not be amiss for the understanding of this place to enquire what day this was that the Patriarch Abraham so much rejoyced to see 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Exultavit ut laetitiam gestivit The word signifieth He did leap or skip for joy 't is such a joy as is expressed by some bodily gesture Abraham it seems could not contain his affection could not keep it in but out it must And why He rejoyced that he might see surely it was something worth the seeing that he who was now well nigh an hundred years old should as if he had been grown young again fall to leaping for joy stayed discreet and grave Persons will never be so exceedingly moved but upon some very great occasion And such was â—â—at here in the Text it was to see Christ's day But Christ hath many dayes Christ hath more dayes then one Luk. 17. 22 v. And he said unto the Disciples The dayes will come when ye shall desire to see one of the dayes of the Son of man and ye shall not see it It is true as God he was before all dayes before all time having neither beginning of dayes nor end of life as is said of Melchisedeck Heb. 7. 3. v. Before the day was I am he But as man he hath many dayes The Lords day is his day Rev. 1. 10. v. I was in the Spirit on the Lords day As man he is called Lord of the Sabbath day Math. 12. 8. v. For the Son of man is Lord even of the Sabbath day So the day of Judgment is called the day of Jesus Christ Philip. 1. 6. v. Being confident of this very thing that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. And at 10. v. That ye may approve things that are excellent that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ So Philip. 2. 16. v. Holding forth the word of life that I may rejoyce in the day of Christ The time of Christ's preaching here on Earth is called Christ's day and thus understand that Luke 17. 22. v. before mentioned where Christ tells them they should desire to see one of the dayes of the Son of man that is After Christ was departed out of the world they should desire his bodily presence here with them again to comfort them So also the day of Christ's birth may and is
for thee Uniâ— me to Christ 111 who is the Fountain of life that I may live who by nature am dead in sins and trespasses Let thine Eternal spirit by its powerful influence and breathings heal 114 my Soul sanctifie my heart subdue the rebellion 115 of my will and purifie all uncleanness out of my affections that acting from inward principles of holiness I may imitating blessed St. Paul exercise 121 my self to have alwayes a conscience void of offence towards man and 122 in simplicity and godly sincerity not in fleshly wisdome but by the grace of God I may have my conversation in the world in all things willing â—12 to live honestly and walking before thee in truth and with a perfect heart doing that which is good that so when thou shalt bring to my mind the History 126 of my life which having been very sinful might here be followed with dreadful apprehensions of thy wrath and some glimpses and pre-occupations of Hell and hereafter with Eternal torments I may have that which will afford unto me inward consolation and refreshment and in the day when I must pass 127 through the valley and shadow of death that neither the terrors of death nor the fiercest oppositions of Hell and the Divel may dismay me let me be found interested in what will do me 145 good then and being lasting good things will last beyond Death go with me out of this 131 world stand me in stead at the day of 23â— 152 Judgement and keep me out 137 of Hell If whilst I live thou shalt make my condition an afflicted condition that 141 I must go through the valley of Baca towards Zionâ— yet bestow upon me what thou knowest 142 will make me bear afflictions patiently be as an Ark to uphold my spirits and keep them from sinking in the greatest deluge of calamities Though here I should meet with shame and disgrace O Christ yet with thee let me 174 enjoy Eternal Glory though here I should live but a short life yet in Heaven let me live 175 an Eternal life though here I should not have one joyful hour yet hereafter let me enter into my Masters 177 joy into that joy which Eternity begins 178 but Eternity shall never end though here I should never enjoy any earthly inheritance yet let me not miss of that Inheritance incorruptible 179 which fadeth not away in the 180 everlasting Kingdome of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and there also receive that Crown 182 of glory that fadeth not away though here I should not have a house to shelter my self from storms and tempests yet let me be admitted into that house not 184 made with hands Eternal in the Heavens and scituated in the new Jerusalem which is the everlasting habitation of 189 Angels and glorified Saints Take my heart off these lower things wherein so many do fancy 221 doth consist the only comfort of their lives which are only for the body 198 and but vanity and vexation 191 of spirit and set it upon those alwayes 188 desirable good things in Heaven which only can satisfie 193 the longings of it and make my soul 198 that most precious and immortal 203 being happy By faith help me to look above 22â— the gaiety and eye-dazling 224 objects here in the world and to see the excellency and worth of those things that are 215 invisible but are made 235 known in the Gospel Oh that my head were water 245 and mine Eye a fountain of tears that I might weep day and night for them who make all the motions 250 of their Souls to wait upon earthly designs and for the gaining 252 the Mammon of unrighteousness in this world such â—s prefeâ— momentany pleasures before 244 Eterâ—al joyes and spend their whole time in making proâ—sion for the flesh without the least thought upon Eâ—ernity that follows and never think of their present â—nfulness or their future Eternal misery Pardon â—e O my God that I have at any time postponed 256 the things of Heaven to the things of this world â—referring dross before Gold the fatness of the Earth â—efore the dew of Heaven earthly Mammon before Heavenly Mansions and the good things of this life â—efore the good things of another and better life yea â—ood and â—aiment for my body before Grace and Glory â—or my soul and now O Lord â—help me to consider â—hat it is â—igh time for me to mind the concerns of my â—oul and to be labouring for Eternal good things and â—261 seeking those things that are above and to â—ve above those things which 269 I cannot live withâ—ut yea wholly to spend my time whilst 269 I am â—n the body about those things whereof I shall have â—ost need when I am out of the body and principally â—o Labour for on earth those things that will be of use â— Heaven Make me spiritually 273 wise to lay up â—uch a stock and store that will do me good throughâ—ut all Eternity and before my body be laid in the Grave to take care that my never dying soul may be â—arryed into Abrahams bosome by a turning to thee O God by accepting of Jesus Christ by getting my â—ins pardoned and my evidence for Heaven cleared â—hough I do yet remain upon Earth let I pray thee â—hy spirit help me to converse in Heaven 274 and â—o have mine Eyes fixed upon those invisible things â—or ever blessed be thy most holy name O Lord that I am not placed among the common Beggars of this world that I have not been sent to beg my bread from door to door it might 278 have been my portion to have crowched to another for a morsel of bread to have been a vagabond and have saught my bread out of desolate places and to have lived as another Lazarus 279 in a starving and famishing condition O Lord I beseech thee never lay me under the heavy judgement of poverty in this world least I be poor and steal and take the name of thee my God in vain neither let me be a beggar in another world in Hell to howl for a drop of water to cools my tongue Yet if poverty must be the condition thou O God wilt have me to end my dayes in and I must be made worldly 287 poor yet O God vouchsafe to make me spiritually rich rich in Faith even enriched with the unsearchable riches of Jesus Christ let me be found to be an heir of Salvation even an heir 288 of God and a joynt heir with Christ an heir of that Kingdome 289 which thou hast promised to them that love thee Help me O Lord to overlook the splendid braveries of this world the greatest and best things of this life 299 as those things which are 293 not but are as so many Empty 294 clouds and Wells without Water ciphers without figures and but as shadows to real substances being altogether void of 291 what will make me happy to Eternity and to Labour that I may have
believer assured of such an house read 2 Cor. 5. 1. v. For we know that if our earthly house of this Tabernacle were dissolved we have a building of God an house not made with hands Eternal in the Heavens The Soul now dwells in the body which is but as a dark mean decaying old Cottage which is compassed about with bad neighbors The Soul finds the body but a dark habitation dark in comparison of Heaven As that Dutch Divine Bugenhagius said of Luther after he had read his book De Captivitate Babylonica That Luther was in the light but all the world besides in darkness So only those souls by death removed out of the body and now in Heaven They only are in the light but the best of those that yet are in the body are in darkness The body is but a mean habitation for the soul which is of a spiritual and immortal substance to dwell in Eliphaz in Job calls it an house of clay St. Paul in the place last named calls it an Earthly house Solomon calls it nothing but Dust Eccles 12. 7. v it is but a vile body Phil. 3. 21. v. T is but as one says a clay wall encompassing a treasure or a course case of a rich Instrument And that which is yet worse a decaying and ruinous habitation that will shortly moulder to Dust those parcels of dust making up the body that were bound together by the bond of innocency are by sin shaken loose and subject to a continual flux and decay But yet worst of all the Soul finds its dwelling compassed about with bad Neighbors how oft is the Soul whilst living in the body like Lot living in Sodomie even vexed with the filthy conversations of the Sodomites 2 Pet. 2. 7 8. How oft are gracious souls forâ—ed to cry out with David Psal 120. 5. Wo is me â—hat I remain in Mesech and dwell in the Tents of Kedar As bad Neighbors are always wrangling and quarrelling and stirring up discord with those they â—ive near so are wickd men always contesting with â—hese That the soul may truly say as Lamenting Jeâ—emy of the Church of the Jews she dwelleth among the Heathen she findeth no rest all her perâ—ecutors overtake her Lam. 1. 3. v. Much might have been said of the Souls present haâ—itation to make the soul at death willing to remove â—ut of it but what shall I say of that house not made â—ith hands Eternal in the Heavens Is the body a dark house Heaven is a light som house hence it is set forth by the name of Light Col. 1. 12. Saints in Light that is in the glorious Kingdom of heaven And 1 Tim. 6. 16. God is there said to dwell in an unapproachable light there is a perpetual Day without Night there is no night there says St. John Rev. 21 25. v. Though some regions that lye immediately under the Pole have light for several Months together yet when the Sun withdraws from their Horizon they have as long a night and darkness as before they had a day but says St. John There shall be no night there no darkness there Is the body but a mean habitation for the Soul to dwell in Heaven is a most glorious habitation Lactantius beholding the magnificency of Rome said Quomodo caelestis Jerusalem si sic fulget terrestris Roma What an habitation hath God prepared for a Nation that love holyness and truth if he have such things as these for them that love Vanity What was the Temple built by Solomon for the Lord to this coelestial Paradise prepared by the Lord What are the Courts of the greatest Emperors to the Court of the great God what are the stateliest Fabricks in the world if compared with this Eternal house in Heaven Is the body a ruinous house that will shortly moulder into dust Heaven is an everlasting habitation It is called so Luk. 16. 9. v. They may receive you into everlasting habitations so is Heaven called in opposition to Earthly dwellings which though many of them are beautiful and glorious yet shall be laid in the dust Many houses here below may be lasting but not everlasting but this runs parallel with Eeternity The first seat of the first Adam in the first Paradise was without doubt very glorious but not permanent not Eternal this is far better more glorious and Eternal Does the Soul find its present dwelling compassed about with bad Neighbors In Heaven there is good very good neighborhood It is related of Cato an old Roman that he advised in the purchase of a Farme or House that a man should consider of the vicinity or neighborhood there Ne malum vicinum haberet And to that purpose is related the proclamation of Themistocles a famous Athonian Captain in the sale of his Lands that if any man would deal with him he should be sure of a good neighbor There is if I may have leave to say so good neighborhood in Heaven There is God our Father he that begot us again lives in Heaven There is Christ our Elder brother sitting at the right hand of God in Heaven All the Saints departed are now inhabitants of the new Jerusalem which is Heaven And now Christians will it not do a man good that hath a good title to this house not made with hands Eternal in the Heavens when he comes to dye and his soul must be removed out of his clay Cottage Death to him will be but a bridg from Wo to Glory a passage out of a Wilderness to Canaan the end of his misery and the beginning of his felicity the conclusion of his labor and the settling himself to rest though death may be a wicked man's fear yet it will be his wish though it be the others shipwrack yet it will be his entering into harbor though it be the others remove from Earth to Hell yet will it be his remove from Earth to Heaven To him death will be gain to the other death will be a loss Death to the wicked man will be a dark and dreadful passage unto the second death and utter Darkness but to him an entrance into Eternal life and an heavenly light Death to the wicked man will put an end to his short joys and begin his everlasting sorrows but to him it will put an end to all sorrows and begin â—his everlasting joys When Valentinian the Emperor was upon his dying bed among all his victories only one comforted him and did him good and that was victory over his worst enemy viz. his own naughty heart So this one thing is enough to comfort a believer and do him good upon his dying bed That having faithfully all his days labored for Eternal good things now that he must dye yet his eyes will be no sooner off these temporal things but they shall behold Eternal objects and the same minute that shuts his eyes shall again open them to behold God and as it determines his misery so it shall
Heaven lost and that for ever Is it not a wonder to consider that whereas Faith teacheth us that the soul is immortal and must live for ever and experience sheweth us that the body is mortal yet most people contrary to faith and experience do neglect the Soul as though that were mortal and labor for the body as if that were immortal As Julius Caesar was wont to say of Cicero that he was negligent in things belonging to himself but diligent in things belonging to the Common-wealth So such there are who are negligent in things concerning their souls but diligent in things concerning their bodies who spend the best of their time and strength in laboring for their bodies but in the mean time neglect to provide for their Eternal Souls Prima animi bona says Juvenal those good things of the mind are the first things to be minded Optimum est curam principalem animae impendere says another Our first and principal endeavor should be for the principal things for things which concern the Soul for sanctification here and glorification hereafter To provide for the body should be but a Christian's by-work but caring for the soul ought to be his main work As our greatest fear should be for the Soul so our greatest care ought to be for the Soul That our greatest fear should be for the Soul appears by those words of our Saviour Matth. 10. 28. v. Fear not them which kill the body but are not able to kill the soul but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in Hell It is the greatest folly in the world out of fear of the body to betray the soul That our greatest care should be for the soul appears also out of our Saviour's words Matth. 16. 26. v. What profit hath a man if he win the whole World and lose his own Soul A Christian's great care should be not to hazard the Eternal welfare of his soul for a short fruition of Riches and Splendor in the world these are but conveniences of the body not of the soul If we could discern Souls with the eye or conceive them by the mind they would even ravish us and lead us into an excessive love of them The souls of Men though now they are clogged with flesh are dwelling in houses of clay and tabernacles of dust though now they are shut up in the body like a bird of paradise in a cage yet are such beings as have no less distant original from the body then heaven is from earth coming immediate from God a truth exprest by Ovid in a short verse Sedibus aethereis Spiritus ille venit but better by Zachariah chap. 12. 1. The Lord which stretcheth forth the Heavens and layeth the foundations of the Earth and formeth the spirit of Man within him The body which is flesh is from flesh but the Soul which is a spirit is from the God of Spirits and in the Soul mostly and properly is the Image of God stampt Magna res est anima It is a sparkling Diamond set in a ring of Clay It is the better more noble and sublimated part of man It is the quintessence of a rational nature the very glory of the Creation that hath the image of its Creator to beautify it and is a Jewel more worth than the World with all its Revenues and Perquesites in every respect far more excellent and precious then the body The body that is but of a course make the soul that is a finer spinning the body that is but of an earthly extract the soul is an heavenly born being The Apostle Phil. 3. 21. v. calls the body a vile body and so it is compared with the soul T is the Soul that makes the body lovely and amiable Take the soul out of the body but even half an hour and the body forthwith grows out of each one's love that they who before were enamoured on it do not now desire to come near it or have it in their sight Though Sarah had been unto Abraham the desire of his eyes Ezek. 24. 16. v. and a most sweet companion of his life yet is she by the removal of her soul at death so defaced that he loaths to look on her hence saith he to the Sons of Heth Gen. 23. 4. v Give me a possession of a burying-place with you that I may bury my dead out of my sight Hence it is that the Psalmist calls it Vnica mea my Darling Psal 22. 20. v. Deliver my soul from the Sword my Darling from the power of the Dogg He prefers the soul as his Darling before the body A darling child shall be cared for and provided for whoever is neglected Not a soul here but is so excellently and perfectly precious that we cannot set forth nor understand how excellent and perfectly precious it is So precious is the soul of every man that all the Gold of the West all the treasures of the East all the Spices of the South all the Pearls of the North are nothing though a man had a Monopoly of them to an invaluable Soul heaps of wedges of Gold mountains of Silver hoards of Pearl are not to be compared with it I may say of the Souls preciousness what is commonly spoken of Aristotles book of Physicks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that made publick it was and yet not made known because men do not yet understand the Secrets of it So the preciousness of the Soul hath by many pens been made publick and yet not made known because no man knows the full preciousness thereof Favorinus the Philosopher was wont to say and his words are excellent Nihil in terra magnum praeter hominem nihil in homine praeter mentem The greatest thing in the world is Man the greatest thing in man is the Soul The body at best cannot live long for all the pampering and triming and repairing and dawbing it will not be long before it lyes down in the grave it hath but a short time to live but believe it Christian in that mouldring decaying and dying body of thine thou hast an immortal and never dying soul And wilt thou provide for thy body and not for thy soul wilt thou labor and take pains for a decaying body and not labor for thy soul that means to live as long as Eternity This were as if a man should buy in a great deal of provision for his Servants and starve his Wife and children or as if he should think nothing too much to lay out upon his Doggs and yet starve himself So do all those that labor for what pleases and contents the body but neglect their immortal and never dying souls which God hath breathed into them which God hath beautified with some shadowing representations of his own most glorious being and for which he hath given so great a price and values above all the world besides It was the saying of Aristippus an Heathen who will rise up
what is it but as if an Husband-man should be very diligent to gather in his â—ubble and leave out his Corn Or as if a Goldsmith would carefully gather up his â—â—oss and disregard his Gold Or as Jacob to lay his right hand upon the younger and the left hand upon the eâ—â—er child It is spoken of some Jews by way of disgrace that when they might have returned to Jerusalem out of Captivity from Babyâ—on they would still dwell with the King of Babylon and live among their pots so they might have maintenance there they would rather there stay thâ—n to return to Jerusalem which was their own Country aâ—â— a type oâ— Heaven and where also was the true worship of God 1 Chron. 4. 23. v. these were men of base spirits and â—hat is there said is spoken by way of disgrace of them And such base spirited men are they we do speak of men that do chose rather to spend all their time and labour about things of the World thâ—n Heaven that make Earth their Heaven Gold their God that do worship the Golden Calf and herein proâ—e the Apostle's words fully Col. 3. 5. v. where he calls Covetousness Idolatry these evidence themselves to be Idolaters and no other thâ—n worshippers of the Heathen's God Pluto who having his name from riches was by them feigned to be the God of Hell and the rich man's God Being like those Natives in America who regard more a piece of glass or a mean priced knife and the like then a piece of Gold May we not say of these Americans surely they never heard of the worth of Gold or else they would noâ— exchange it for toyes And may not the like be said of these kind of Christians surely these men though they have heard of Heaven though they have heard of Eternal good things yet they do not believe the worth and excellency of Eternal good things why else do they so little mind them and labour for them CHAP. X. 3. A Third use may be by way of Exhortation To exhort every one to labour after Eternal good things Christians you hear what all men should first and last labour for what they are chiefly to labour and take pains about viz. about Eternal good things Eternal good things should be esteemed by them as the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or principal things to be laboured for and Temporal things to be reckoned only as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or secondary matter to be looked for I shall divide my Exhortation into two parts 1. To exhort Christians to labour after Eternal good things 2. To exhort them to labour for them chiefly and before all other things whatsoever I will begin with first of these two and speak to it but briefly the second being what I chiefly intend to speak unto 1. To exhort every one to labour for Eternal good things How will the Merchant run through the intemperate Zones of heat and cold for a little treasure The Husband-man contentedly undergoes a laborious seed time to enjoy a happy câ—oâ— afterwards We every day see much gadding up and down in the World amongst men like a company of Ants upon an hillock for these things below some that they may get a poor living from hand to mouth others that they may get a step higher in the World thâ—n anoâ—â—er and almost all moâ—e panting after and labouring for Teâ—poral thâ—n Eternal good things Shall they take pains for Earâ—â—ly Mammon and shall we take no pains for a Heavenly Mansion shall they sweat and â—oâ—l and labour for these Temporal things and we take no pains for Eternal Much is spoâ—en in Scripture against slothfulness Rom. 12. 11. v. Not slothful in business Hebr. 6. 12. v. In the foregoing Verse saith the Apostle Wâ— desire that every one of you do sheâ— the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end And in this Verse he adds That ye be not slothâ—ul There is â— great deal of Spiritual sloth to be taken notice oâ— in the World many lazy and dull spirited Persons Persons like that slothful and unprofitable Servant who is mentioned and threatned to be cast into utter darkness Matth. 25 25. 30 v. And can such slothful ones expect any better thing to follow their slothfulness Let the Heathen's words be considered Nâ— illi falâ—i sunt qui diversissimas res expectant ignaviae voluptateâ— praemia virtutis They are utterly out that think to have the pleasure of Idleness and the plenty of painfulness It is true as to the gaâ—ning of any meâ—â— Earthly thing and much more true as may appear by what hath been said before in the gaiâ—ing Heavenly things Religion requires action labour and diligence Heaven will not be gotten but as it were by force and victory All Spiritual means and holy courses must be used all time and all opportunities must be improved least what gainers soever men are in this life they be losers in another life Sad will be the condition of those men whose Spiritual sloth eats up most of their time and thereby hinders their work and loses them Heaven To how many may it be said as the Housholder said in the Parable to those Matâ—h 20. 6. Why stand ye here all the day idle We read that Joshua said to the Sun stand still but God never said to the Soul of any Christian stand still Jacob saw the Angels some ascending others descending none standing still none appeared to him in an idle posture If Angels are not seen idle or standing still no more should men be seen so Though God made Behemoth to play in the waters not so men they must be doing that will keep in with God or get any thing from God Nil sine magno Vita labore dedit mortalibus He that will lay claim to the Habendum and Tenendum to the free-hold of happiness in Heaven must look to the Proviso of holiness and labour After all therefore that hath been said of Heaven and the Eternal good things of Heaven let me say to you as the Danites to their Brethren having spy'd out a good Land Judg. 18 9. v. We have seen the Land and behold it is very good and are ye still â—e not slothful to go and to enter to possess the Land As if they had said we have found out for you a Land which is very good pleasant and fruitful and â—hich may if you will take the pains be conquered and possessed by you do not ye therefore by your sloth and negligence let slip such an opportunity as now offers it self unto you to be enjoyers of a place where there is no want of any thing that is in the Earth 10. v. a place which aboundeth with all pleasures and profits and with such plenty and prosperity that nothing is wanting that can be desired So may I say unto you Christians the Heavenly Countrey is before you and such Eternal good things as you have heard described are there
post and that only and meerly Ex gratia Your Souls are not so immersed in your bodies as that they must be extinguished with your bodies but they are seperable from your bodies and are able through the benefit of their own subtilty and spiritual substance being of a simple and uncompounded nature to subsist by themselves and when they are once divested of these earthly cases and divorced from your bodies they shall be clothed with an Eternity either of joy or torment and run parallel with the life of God and longest line of Eternity The senses of seeing hearing and the rest of those Organs of the body cease and dye with the body because they are parts of the body and have their dependance upon the body but the Soul hath a nature distinct from the body and moves and operates of it self when the body is dead and iâ— sepâ—rated from the body for when the body dyes the Soul dyes not with it but subsists even in its sepâ—rated state hath a being is still living and active and is crowned with immortallity It being the end of the resurrection of the body to meet with its old partner the Soul Not a body here this day but must dye but Souls those inmates must live though all our bodies return to the Earth whence they came yet our Spirits shall return to God that gave them and be sempiternal Eccles 12. 7. v. though our bodies must be made a prey to rottenness and worms and become captives to death and corruption yet our intellective Souls being spiritual substances independent and self-subsisting agents shall be incorruptible and for ever exist being endowed with an undying condition though our bodies was old yet Anima non senesâ—it the Soul doth not waâ— old nor ever lose its strength and vigor as bodies compounded of elements do Death its true may tyrannize over our earthly parts and may drive our Souls out of these clay lodgings but it is that they may at the very instant of departure have livery and seisin of everlasting Mansions in Heaven be alwayes themselves be for ever permanent and not subject to any extinguishment or destruction Hence it was a custom among the ancient Romans that when their great men dyed they caused an Eagle to fly aloft in the Air signifying hereby that the Soul was immortal and did not dye as the body The serious consideration of the Souls immortality should make us labour for that which will makes the immortal Soul for ever blessed and happy when it shall be unsheathed from the body unclothed from corruption and let loose from this cage of clay 5. Help Study the shortness of time and your present life And believe it Christians the less time you have the more need have you to make hast to labour for these Eternal good things Aeternitati comparatum omne tempus est breve All time if compared to Eternity is but short But time as it is short so it passeth away fast The ancients emblemed time with wings to shew the volubility and swiftness of it as if it were not running but flying whither towards Eternity for time is but a space borrowed and set a part from Eternity which must at last return to Eternity again I have read of certain Hereticks called Eternales because they held the world to be Eternal We have many such Eternallists who fancy to themselves a kind of Eternity here upon Earth Such an Eternallist was that rich fool in the Gospel we have spoken of before who fancied that he had a long time that yet he should remain upon the earth but was suddenly to be taken away Thou fool this night shall thy soul be taken away In a moment his life endeth We read of a beast called from the continuance of its life Ephemeris which though it live according to his appellative name but one day yet it falls presently to provide for sustenance as though it might live years Man's life is frequently in Scripture called a Day and yet most like this beast labour and toyl build and purchase thirst after honours and preferment in the world as if they were here to live for ever but in the mean time improve not a short life for Eternal advantages Let me tell the most healthful person here present that he is not assured of one day more wherein death may not assault him and push him into an Eternal Abâ—â—s after a few hours more and then you may expect your departing hour and throw the last cast foâ— Eternity Thou knowest not yet what may be in the womb of this very day Prov. 27. 1. v. Boast not thâ— self of to morrow for thou knowest not what a day mâ— bring forth Whilst a woman is with child none câ— tell what kind of birth it will be so as little doth anâ— man know what is yet in the womb of this very day until God have signified his will by the event Therâ— was a fellow that brought to Domitian the names those in a paper that would murther him but he put it in his pocket saying nova cras to morrow is a new day but he was killed or ever night He was a Wise man that being invited to a Feast on the next morrow answered Ex multis annis crastinum non habui For these many years I have not had a morrow to promise for any business No more do any here present know whether they shall have a morrow to labour for what will make them Eternally happy Death may surprize them before the Sun rise again The Apostle Peter saith 2 Pet. 1. 13. v. I will put you in remembrance knowing I must shortly put off this Tabernacle O so let us say to our selves We will now be thinking of death we will now have Eternity in our thoughts we will now be labouring for Eternal good things we will be storing our Souls with Grace because we must shortly put off these Tabernacles we must shortly have an end put to this present life I have sometimes acquainted you with the speech of young King Charles of Sicily lying upon his death-bed I have scarce begun to live and now woe is me I am compelled to dye Art thou one that hast not yet begun to live the life of Grace that only hast a share of this Worlds goods but altogether without the good things of Heaven O make haste for thou mayest suddenly be called to dye and it will be a sore affliction to you to have an end put to time before you have provided for Eternity Oh that men in their sins would consider what space what distance how far off their Souls are from death from Hell from Eternity No more but a breath one breath and no more the next puff of breath may be their last It is said of Sparta that they used to choose their Kings every year and whilst they did raign they were to live pompously and have all the fulness their hearts could wish but when
called his day in the place before mentioned when Christ tells the Jews Your Father Abraham rejoyced to see my day But the great question will be this how Abraham did see this day of Christ's birth It is clear in the words that Abraham had his desire granted He did see Christ's day he saw it though it were two thousand years before it came to pass But how saw he this day of Christ's birth It was oculis animi says Piscator by the piercing eye of his Faith It is most true that Abraham saw not the day of Christ as the Shepheards and wisemen of the East saw Christ in the Manger at Bethlehem the one being sent thither by the Angel and the other guided by a Star that they might see and behold Christ Nor did Abraham see the day of Christ as Simeon saw Christ in the Temple at his Mothers Purification Nor as Zacheus who had a sight of Christ from the top of a Sycamoor-tree being climbed up thither to get a sight of him But Abraham saw it luce fidei by the sight of Faith Faith helped Abraham to see Christ and to see his day as clearly as he was seen by the Shepheards or Wise men of the East as clearly as he was seen by Simeon or Zacheus and this two thousand years before it came And as Faith can discover and approximate things remote in respect of time so things remote in respect of place It is said therefore That Faith is the evidence of the things not seen Heb. 11. 1. v. by it may be seen what is afar off Some write of one Lynceus that he could see an hundred and thirty thousand paces off but the eye of Faith can see further The eye of the Eagle is very sharp and piercing she can see from Heaven to Earth she can spy her prey afar off she and her Birds can look upon the Sun Faith is such an excellent eye it can see him who to the eye of the body is invisible By Faith Moses saw him who is invisible Heb. 11. 27. v. God is invisible to any eye but to the eye of Faith And as God is an invisible God a being that no natural eye ever saw or can be that way seen so also are all the Eternal good things of Heaven so saith Saint Paul 2 Cor. 4. 18. v. he sayes that things that are Eternal are not seen But in the very same Verse he sayes that we look at things that are not seen Though they be things that are not seen yet Saint Paul sayes of himself and other Believers that by the eye of Faith they could see them they could by the eye of Faith see Eternal things While 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 In which words it is observable that Saint Paul saith That he and other Believers look at the things which are not seen and those things not seen that they look at are Eternal they are good things that are Eternal And without doubt such a sight as the Apostle here means cannot but work very much upon the heart of a Christian A sight of the day of Christ by Faith greatly rejoyced the good old Patriarchs heart It even ravished his heart to hear the wonderful promise of God concerning the Messias and to foresee the joyful performance which he saw would follow in due time The Apostle Saint Paul is Perplexed but not in despair 2 Cor. 4. 8. v. he is Cast down but not destroyed 9. v. he faints not saying Though our outward perish yet the inward man is renewed day by day 16. v. And the reason of all is laid down at the 18. v. While we look not at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen And these things which are not seen are Eternal In like manner such a sight would work signally upon our hearts if we could by the eye of Faith but have a sight of Eternal good things it would make us long until we come to the fingering and possessing of them till we have livery and seizin of them Such a sight would inflame our hearts with love to them it would make us like a Suitor or Lover who is not satisfied who is willing to do any thing and take any pains that he may enjoy his desired Object He that gets this sight will certainly find his affections setled upon them and having his affections setled upon his heart will be set to take pains to gain them When Sampson had seen Dalilah he loved her loving her he could not be at rest until he enjoyed her When Jacob had once seen Rachel he loved her loving her he was contented to labour and take pains the space of two hard Apprentiships that he might possess her CHAP. XIV Some directions in labouring for Eternal good things VVHerein is shewed how a Christian should labour for Eternal good things As 1. Faithfully 2. Diligently 3. Cheerfully 4. Abundantly 5. Earnestly 6. Vnweariedly And because I have been long upon this subject I shall speak but briefly hereunto and so conclude this Text. 1. In labouring for Eternal good things labour faithfully let there be sincerity in using all those means whereby Eternal good things are to be gain'd take heed in the use thereof that there be no squinting aside at any thing else Verily not every one that useth those means are labouring after Eternal good things but may have their eye rather upon Temporal good things like the Monk in the Story who looked downwards towards the Earth like a mortified Person but 't was only to find the keys of the Abbey The Monk indeed seems to have been a most mortified man and dead to all these things of the World and to have minded things above Even so do many others how attentive are they in hearing of the Word of God how often are they reading of the Scriptures how earnest are they in praye◠how frequent in eating Sacramentally the Body and Blood of Christ in the Lord's Supper But alas their hearts are not upright for God not any delight in such duties not any love to God's wayes not any hungring desire after Eternal good things moves them but they are conscious to themselves that there is something else which doth set them upon this work and that notwithstanding all they do they are not faithful in these and the like holy observances Verily thousands there are who will hereafter bewail such kind of labour and pains taking When Cardinal Woolsey was cast out of his Princes favour and left to his enemies fury said he If I had served my God as faithfully as I have served my King he would not have left me thus And will not those men say so when they come into Hell that have been as you call them true drudges to the World but hypocritical in all their seeming
labour for Heaven and the things thereof If we had as faithfully laboured after Eternal good things as we did after Temporal good things we had not been left under Eternal misery thus I would discourage none from hearing reading and Sacramentally feeding on Christ's Body and Blood in the Lords Supper he that will have Eternal good things must make use thereof but in using such means the heart is all Quicquid cor non facit non fit that which the heart doth not is not done 'T is but loytering and not labouring where the heart doth not labour and is not imployed God he judgeth of mens doings by what their hearts do it is the heart that maketh labour herein good or bad Amaziah did that which was right in the sight of the Lord but not with a perfect heart 2 Chron. 25. 2. v. What he did was in hypocrisie his heart was not faithful unto God though he did what was commanded by God It is not enough to do what God wills to be done but we must do the same as God wills it should be done 2. In labouring for Eternal good things labour diligently laying aside all sluggishness of Spirit that most men in the World are guilty of who go but a Snails pace in the way to Heaven whereas they can run as fast as Dromedaries in the wayes of the world diligence is required in every mans undertaking and in every mans calling how active and diligent are some men that will lose nothing for want of looking for diligently husbanding all opportunities of thriving and growing rich How diligently did Boaz himself follow the business of husbandry you will find his eyes in every corner on the Servants on the Reapers yea and on the Gleanners too he lodges in the very midst of his husbandry Ruth 2. and 3. Chapters As knowing the truth of that Proverbial speech Procul a villa dissitus jacturae vicinus He that is far from his business is not far from loss Diligence is required in all matters concerning the Body here upon Earth therefore much more should men put forth diligence in all matters concerning the Soul in Heaven Eccles 9. 10. v. Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do do it with thy might And we read Psal 127. 2. v. of men that Rise up early and go to bedlate and eat the bread of carefulness and all for something here in the World to sustain the Body If we must put forth so much diligence and use so much care that the Body may have whereupon to live whilst here surely much more must we use diligence that the Soul may have whereupon to live hereafter The Soâ—l is a more noble piece then the Body and he that will work and toil labour and take diligent pains for a mortal and vile body should much more use diligence and take pains for a glorious and immortal Soul The Wise man's words are pertinent Pro. 10. 4. v. The hand of the diligent maketh rich I am sure the hand of a diligent Christian wâ—ll make him rich in the best things when as a sluggard in Christianity will come to Eternal beggarâ— We ought alwayes to use the greatest diligence about the best things about matters of greatest concernment 2 Pet. 3. 14. v. Wherefore Beloved seeing that we look for such things be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace without spot and blameless And in 2 Pet. 1. 10. v. Wherefore the rather brethren give diligence to make your calling and election sure The word in Greek is emphatical and signifies to do a thing enough not agere but sat agere not in an overly and careless way but to do a thing with industry vigilancy and unweariedness of Spirit And the diligence required is in matters of the Soul herein diligence is to be manifested rather then in other matters hence the Apostle sayes Wherefore the rather brethren give diligence to make your calling and election sure Do this before all other things in the World do this rather then all other things in the World St. Peter makes a comparison between this duty and all other duties and wills a Christian to lay out his sweat and industry his labour and diligence rather about this then any other as if all other things in comparison of this were to be neglected In this Channel should run as it were the whole stream of a Christian's diligence Eternal good things should set a Christian's head and heart on work to obtain them there should be an earnest and vehement application of both to this imployment in comparison of them his diligence for other things should be but negligence Many a poor Soul hath miscarried for the want of putting forth diligence in the matters of the Soul they have lost Heaven and all Eternal good things for want of diligence 3 In labouring for Eternal good things labour Chearfully as those who take delight in what they are about If there be a delightsome imployment under Heaven it is when a Christian is imploying himself to get into Heaven true the work is laborious but yet delightfully laboâ—rious 't is like the work of bandry in many respects in this especially The work of husbandry is laborious but 't is easie to learn and pleasant to practise affording a great deal of health and delight as well as gain and profit so is the spiritual Christian as much delighted in his work Saies David Psalm 40. 8v I delight to do thy will O my God And in Psal 119. 16. v. I will delight my self in thy Statutes 35. v. Make me to go in the path of thy Commandements for therein do I delight And holy St. Paul Rom. 7. 22. v. saith of himself I delight in the Law of God after the inward man Such an one though he keep never so hard to the work he is about yet hath he alwayes at hand a Cordial of comfort to cheer him that he doth not plow the Sea nor sow the wind nor spend his money for that which is not bread and his labour for that which satisfieth not but that having plowed in fruitful ground and sown precious seed he shall return from the field of this world into the Garner of Heaven and bring his sheaves with him Psal 126. 6. v. If Husbandryfollowing laborious men can make their labour cheerful with the hopes of a barn full of corn and when they have got it can say rejoycing Soul thou hast much goods laid up for many years take thine ease â—at drink and be merry hath not a Christian labouring for Eternal good things as much to make him cheerful he is labouring not for a barn full of corn â—hat will soon be empty but for an Heaven full of glory that will never decay Besides Deus non amat gementem servum God â—oves not a Christian that sets about this work groaâ—ing and grumbling sobbing and sighing as one without hopes such a one disgraces his Master whom â—e serves shames the profession of
good things p. 164. Here is shewed that all the things of Heaven are Eternal As 1. That Glory which is to be had in Heaven is Eternal Glory p. 174. 2. That Life which is to be had in Heaven is Eternal life p. 175. 3. That Joy which is to be had in Heaâ—en is Eternal Joy p. 176. 4. That Inheritance which is to be had in Heaven is an Eternal Inheritance p. 179. 5. That the Kingdome of Heaven is an Eternal Kingdome p. 180. 6. That Crown worn in Heaven is an Eternal Crown p. 181 7. That the house or habitation prepared in Heaven is an Eternal habitation p. 184. 4. Because Eternal good things are good things alwayes desirable 189 5. Because Eternal good things are the only satisfying good things p. 193. 6. Because Eternal good things concern our Souls other good things concern only the body p. 198. 7. Because our labour about Eternal good things will not be in vain p. 206. 8. Because even to Eternity it self it will never repent us to have bestowed the greatest labour and pains about Eternal good things p. 211. Chap. 7. Question What reasons may be assigned why men labour so much after Temporal good things that they do neglect Eternal and build their happiness upon so deceitful grounds as earthly possessions and transitory things p. 215. To this question these Reasons are assigned 1 Reason Because it is natural for men so to do p. 217. 2 R. Because men do fancy that in these Temporal things doth consist the only comfort of their lives p. 221. 3. R. Because these Temporal things being near at hand do dazle the minds and distract the judgements of men p. 224. 4 R. Because Eternal good things are not without great labour to be obtained p. 229. 5 R. Because men know not the excellency of Eternal good things p. 235. 6 Reason Because men do not as they ought work upon their hearts such divine exhortations thereunto that they find in Scripture which are backed with strong reasons and encouraged unto by many sweet promises p. 239. Chap. 8. By way of Application the proposition is improved p. 244. 1. By way of Lamentation and that in two branches 1. Over those that instead of labouring for these Eternal good things and having their hearts taken up with and set upon them have their hearts wholly set upon sensual pleasures and carnal delights and therefore do spend all their time in making provision for the flesh without the least thought of Eternity that follows p. 246. 2. Over those whose minds and hearts are only set upon Earthly things and whose affections are fast nailed to the Earth making all the motions of their souls to wait upon their earthly designs and that so fixedly as if they had resolved upon no other Heaven then Wealth p. 250. Chap. 9. By way of Application the proposition is improved by way of Reproof wherein they are reproved that never look after Eternal good things but are wholly taken up with the pursuit of the good things of this life p. 259. Chap. 10. By way of Exhortation the proposition is improved 1. To exhort every one to labour for Eternal good things p. 261. Chap. 11. To exhort every one to labour for Eternal good things chiefly and before all other good things p. 265. Chap. 12. Five Motives added to the second branch of the exhortation Viz. Motive 1. Because Christians labouring or not labouring for Eternal good things will bespeake them wise men or fools p. 272. Motive 2 Because the greatest of Temporal good things without Eternal good things will leave a man a beggar p. 277. Motive 3. Because Eternal good things even without Temporal good things will make a man a rich man p. 286. Motive 4. Because Eternal good things are real good things and all Temporal good things are but Imaginary good things p. 293. Motive 5. Because Eternal good things only are they that will be for a Christians life p. 299 Chap. 13. Six helps to forward a Christian in the labouring after Eternal good things Help 1. Get all the knowledge of Eternity and Eternal good things they can or are any wayes able p. 304. Help 2. Frequently imploy themselves in considering and contemplating upon Eternity p. 306. Help 3. Labour to get some tasts of those things that are Eternal p. 310. Help 4. Alwayes beare in their thoughts the immortality of their souls p. 315 Help 5. Study the shortness of time and their present life p. 317. Help 6. Get a sight of Eternal good things by the eye of Faith p. 323 Chap. 14. Six directions in labouring for Eternal good things wherein is shewed how a Christian should labour for them 1. Faithfully p. 331. 2. Diligently p. 332 3. Cheerfully p. 334. 4. Abundantly p. 348. 5. Earnestly p 343. 6. Vnweariedly p. 348. John 6. 27. Labour not for the meat which perisheth but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting Life CHAP. I. THings Temporal and Eternal deserve the most serious and most holy Meditations of all sober Christians for indeed there is not a Christian but hopes to out live Time and all temporal enjoyments When all things below must end with Time nay perish with Time yet a Christian hopes to enjoy an happy Eternity How much then does it concern every man to labour more for those things which Eternity preserves then for those things that time it self will make an end of the former being of greater value the other in comparison of the former but of little worth I will say of the Excellency of Eternal good things what one sayes of Eternity it self Eternity sayes he is that which never can be comprehended yet ever ought to be pondered and thought upon such is the incomprehensible excellency of Eternal good things that the excellency of them can never be comprehended yet ought alwayes to be laboured after A Lesson you see taught by our Saviour Jesus Christ to his followers here in the Text Labour not c. It is the wonted manner of Physitians Erumpens sanguis vena secta sistitur when blood gusheth out immoderately one way to open a Vein elsewhere And so by revulsion as they call it to stay it by diverting the course and current another way The like course doth our Saviour Christ take in this place for observing the minds and hearts of the people that followed him to the other side of the Sea to be set upon only earthly things not to be taken with the Miracles of Christ but with the Loaves wherewith they were fed by Christ he endeavoureth in this place to withdraw them from thence and to cure them of that disease by diverting and turning the tide and stream of them another way As the Apostle would have us to turn all our worldly grief into godly grief into sorrow for sin 2 Cor. 7. 9. 10. And our Saviour adviseth to turn worldy fear into godly fear into fear of offending and displeasing Almighty God Matth.
use thereof he holds out to the end 4. When he will not take up or be put off with any other good things but such as are eternal 5. When he goes on to labour though God keep him low and mean though he receive no pay nay though he meet with many discouragements 6. When he does this thing at all times improves every hour and minute of time 1. When he does it in the day time 2. When he does it in the night time 1. When he does rem agere when his heart is intense and serious about eternal good things Orantis est nihil nisi caelestia cogitare he that is imployed in any holy and sacred imployment should have his mind set only on heavenly things Luk 9. 62. sayes our Saviour there No man having put his hand to the Plough and looking â—ack is fit for the Kingdome of God The meaning is â—hat as he that ploughs must have his eyes alwayes â—orward alwayes upon his work to guide and direct â—is hand in casting and laying the furrows straight and â—ven for his hand will be quickly out and his Plough â—o amiss when his eye is off So he that heartily reâ—olves for heaven and seriously sets himself to labour â—or eternal good things such a one addicts himself wholâ—y and intently to the business of Religion I remember a story of a certain Youth who being â— the Temple with Alexander when he was to offer inâ—ense to the gods and the youth holding the golden â—euser with the fire in it a coal fell on the youths hand â—nd burnt â—is wrist but the youth considering what a â—cred thing he was about for all he felt his wrist to be â—urnt yet he would not stir but continued still to the â—nd the burning of his wrist did not disturb him when â—ey were offering to the gods So then a Christian â—ay truâ—y be said to be taking pains for Eternal good things when he so vehemently applyes himself to understand apprehend and gain them that at the same time he scarcely observes or takes notice of such things as do occur his senses the whole force of his Soul buâ—â—ing it self herein as in one of its most supream and most noble actions and imployments of all other Like that Archimedes a great Mathematitian who when a City of Sicilia wherein he dwelt was taken by the Romans he never took any notice that the City was taken when the Souldiers broke into the house where he was yet he takes no notice nay when they brake into his Study he was not the least moved nor took any notice of them he was drawing Lines in the dust and did not mind them insomuch as one of the Souldiers thinking they were disregarded drew his Sword and killed him Then a man labours indeed for Eternal good things when he is so bent upon this his imployment as that famous Painter Zeuxis was about his Paintings who being asked the reason of his so much carefulness and exactness answered Aeterniâ—atiâ— pingo I paint for Eternity and what Augustus saies of the young Romaâ— is verefied in him Quicque vult valde vult whatsoever he does herein he does it exactly and to purpose And then does a Christian the like when he spends the marrow of his soul and the strength of his spirits abouâ— Eternal good things about things that will abide foâ— ever not for ten twenty or thirty years but foâ— ever Surely he had need to be serious in what he goes about who is labouring to provide for what must endurâ— to Eternity and be provision not for a few years buâ— for Eternity Such one should so be imploying himselâ— for Heaâ—en as the Duke of Alva said of himself Thâ— story is this King Heâ—ry the fourâ—h asking him whethâ— he had observed the Eclipses No saith he I have so much to do upon Earth that I have no leisure to look up to Heaven 2ly When he does use the right means to gain Eternal good things such as are the Ordinances of the Gospel It is acknowledged by all that in every man there is an innate appetite to the chiefest good and Eternal happiness but as naturally all men do err about the knowledge of it what it is so also about the means how to attain the same The best means we can use in our labouring for Eternal good things are Gospel Ordinances Manna from Heaven usually falls in the dew of those spiritual Ordinances and warm milk streams into their mouthes who suck at the breasts thereof They are so many golden stair-cases by which our souls may climbe above the thickets and dunghils of this world as high as Heaven to view and contemplate the things of Eternity They are as so many wings to help the Soul more speedily to approach the presence of its Creator They are so many Conduit pipes to convey the water of life and motions of God's spirit into our hearts And as Galleries in which both Saints and Angels walk beholding the Glory of him that sits upon the Throne Zach. 3. 7. Now when a Christian improves these Ordinances rightly then he labours for Eternal good things then when he searches for these things as Saul did for David when he said 1 Sam. 23. 23. v. I will search him out throughout all the thousands of Judah so when he searches for them through all the Ordinances of the Gospel searches for them in reading and hearing of the Word Preached searches for them in the Sacraments of Baptisme and the Lord's Supper c. But to come to particulars 1. When he searches for them in reading and hearing of the word preached He hath an high esteem of the Scriptures with him the Scriptures are to other writings as Joseph's Sheave was to his brethrens or as the Sun is to the lesser Stars he accounts of all writings but as so much wast Paper in comparison of them I may here apply the answer of Budaeus to Francis the first King of France when the King asked him if all the books in the world were to be burnt but one what one that should be to preserve Learning Budaeus answered that he would save the works of Plutarch because they had in them impressions of all Sciences but let the like question be propounded to a Christian desirous to obtain Eternal good things his answer will be though all the books in the world were to be burnt and Plutarch also to bear them company yet if the book of the Scriptures were preserved in them a man might find impressions of all Arts and Sciences of all kind of Divinity both contemplative and practical The Scriptures being as that Princely Preacher Count Anhalt used to say The swadling band of the Child Jesus provided they are to informe us in matters of Faith to guide and direct us in the course of life to discover and reveal unto us what God hath prepared for those that love him things that eye hath not seen nor ear heard nor have
est omnis gratia In this Sacrament not only some one certain grace is given but he in whom is all grace viz. Christ Jesus the Lord from whom is to be had all grace and by whom is to be had all glory There are some who may be observed to be frequently at the Sermon but never to their shame be it spoken at a Sacrament now come these to look for Christ and what is to be had by Christ come these to obtain Eternal good things why come they not unto both is not the same Christ in all his benefits propounded in both does not the same spirit seal up his promises by both does not that God who lifteth up his voice in the one to promise what he calls upon us to labour for reach out his hand in the other to give what he promises and must men and women have ears opened in the one and not their hands stretched out at the other yes And hence it is whilst a Christian does breath after things above he is at the Lord's Table not once a year only as at Easter but his constant need therefore makes him a constant guest hereat When others look for no good to be had there and therefore never come thither they are often at the Plough and Câ—â—t why they expect some good will come of that course others are often at their Wheeles why they expect some good will come of that course but as for coming to the Lord's Table Oh how backward oh how discouraging of others But now when for the Eternal good and welfare of his Soul a Christian is a constant partaker of this Sacrament dares not turn his back thereon but highly valuing those spiritual incomes and soul-refreshments there to be had is ever one of those guests that desire to eat of the Lord's Supper where Christ's body is set before him to eat and warm draughts of his blood to drink and where he beleives are held out unto every worthy receiver all the unsearchable Riches of Christ Heaven and Eternity as truly and as really as in the Preaching of the Word then I say he is labouring and taking pains for what will Eternally be advantagious unto him 3. When he is importunate at the Throne of Grace praying for these things Prayer is not performed without labour 2 Cor. 1. 10. 11. v. The Apostle intimates so much there when he says v. 10. We trust that he will yet deliver us v. 11. You also helping together prayer for us The Greek word is labouring together verily he that will obtain any thing at God's hands by Prayer his Prayer must be a working and labouring Prayer Lazy praying will not prevail the heart herein should not be sluggish but earnest at work a man may spend much time in Prayer and be no better then those Psalliani and Euchitae who spent all their time in Prayer and yet were accounted but Hereticks for their pains it is not the length of Prayer but the importunity of Prayer that prevails with God It is storied of Proteus that he was wont to give certain Oracles but it was hard to make him speak or deliver them but he would turn himself into several shapes and forms yet if they who sought to him would hold out and press him hard without fear into whatsoever form or shape he appeared they were sure to have satisfactory Oracles So verily God gives not any kind of blessings either Temporal Spiritual or Eternal unless we will wrestle them out and contend and strive with God for them by earnest and importunate Prayer Now when a Christian wings his soul with fervent Prayer thereby to fly to Heaven and use all the motives he can to make him pray to God with the greatest fervency and importunity he goes not coldly but importunately to the Throne of Grace contenting himself not to utter words but Prayers to God when he is ever striving and wrestling with God by Prayer for them that he obtains not any thing of Heaven but he may name it his Napthaly because with great wrestlings he did wrestle for them as Rachel called her maid Bilhah's second son whom she did bare Jacob Gen. 30. 8. v. And Rachel said with great wrestlings have I wrestled with my Sister and I have prevailed and she called his name Napthaii when he wrestles with God for them by Prayer as Jacob did for the Blessing Gen. 32. 24 25 26. v. As Hannah did for a son 1 Sam. 1. 9 10 11. v. striving with such an unusual motion of her lips that old Eli looking upon her thought her drunk and yet her Prayer consisted more in the travel of her heart then in the labour of her lips As the Canaanitish woman besought Christ for her Daughter who had an unclean spirit Matth. 11. 26 27. v. she was importunate and would not be put off with any denyal or repulse neither with silence or saâ— answers As St. Paul did to have the messenger of Satan sent to buffet him to depart from him 2 Cor. 1â— 7. 8. sayes he in the 8 v. For this thing I besought the Lord thrice that it might depart from me that is often left not off praying until he had his desire As the Widdow did strive with the unjust Judge Luk. 18. who left not off her suit until she was master of her requests As Elijah did use Prayer 1 Kings 18. 42. who put his head between his legs as straining every string of his heart in Prayer He prayed and prayed saith Saint James Jam. 5. 17. and by his prayer he had what he would of God even so does he use prayer as Elijah did to be a key to open Heaven and to unlock Heaven where all the Treasures of Eternity are laid up that as the Prophet by Prayer procured rain so he by Prayer may gain the Dews and showers of the spirit to water the seeds of grace in his heart that they may bring forth a crop of glory Eternal When he resolves not to restrain Prayer Iob 5. 4. or give the Lord any rest until he bestow these things upon him he will take no nay until he speed in his suit before God Paulus Aemilius the Roman General being to fight against Perses King of Macedony when as he sacrificed to his god Hercules and it proved not to his mind he slew twenty several sacrifices one after another and would not give over until in the one and twentieth he had descried certain Arguments of victory and so does the importunate Christian when his heart is set upon it to gain Eternal good things he perseveres in Prayer continuing instant in Prayer Rom. 12. 12. As St. Paul directs a Metaphor from hunting doggs that give not over the game until they have got it so he continues praying unto God until he get the better of him and is the more fervent when most confident of obtaining what he prayes for hope is industrious and draweth to action 4. When he does not
use the right means for a time only but perseveres labouring in the use thereof he holds out to the end labouring herein not onely in some good moods and hot fits of zeal or strange pangs of Devotion at certain times of their lives as when they are invited to the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper in times of sickness and fears of death or when some heavy judgement of God hath befaln them but when he devoâ—es himself to a diligent endeavour at all times to store his soul with such things as will for ever be useful to the soul When he followes that good counsel of one Non tantum facite sed perficite and thinks not enough to begin his work unless he crown it with perseverance not ceasing to labour until he come to dy not being weary in well doing for he knows that in due season we shall reap if we faint not Gal. 6. 9. accounting it a shame to faint or be weary in the search of that which being found will more then pay for the pains of searching as one sayes Quaerendi defatigatio turpis est cum id quod quaeritur sit pulcherimum When he follows on to use the right means as the Prophet Elisha followed his Master Elijah whom having once found he would never again go from him never leave him until he saw him taken up into Heaven no more does one truly industrious for the things of Eternity having entred into a course of well doing he never goes from it until he be taken up into Heaven and put into possession of what he hath been labouring for He is like the little Bee which will not off the meanest flower until he hath got something out of it 5. When he will not take up or be put off with any other good things but such as are Eternal he will bless God for the least of the mercies of this life if he have but Offam aq 〈…〉 bread and water if he have but â—ood and rayment as good Jacob desired of God Gen. 28. 20. he is well satisfied therewith and envies not the richest Craesus or Crassus upon the earth and yet will not be put off with the greatest of worldly things for a portion when he is contented with dayly bread with the bread of the day for the day only that he may in diem vivere as birds do the little birds having only what may serve for natures use yet he would not be put off with the greatest of those things which are indifferently distributed to Saints and Sinners Such a one was Luther who when he had great gifts sent him from Dukes and Princes he refused them and saith he I did vehemently protest God should not put me off so t is not that will content me No mercy but the God of mercy would satisfie Davids desire Psal 73. 25. Whom have I in Heaven but thee and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee David would not be put off with any thing in Heaven or Earth but the God of Heaven and earth should David by his diligent labour and pains have gotten not only the earth but Heaven yet that by David would not have been thought enough to put an end to his labour except he had God also The possession of that which would have made another to say with the rich man in the Gospel Soul take thine ease eat drink and be merry Luk. 12. 19. would not have wrought so upon David until David had what he desired viz. God David from labour would not have been eased As it is said of Caius Marius in choosing of his Souldiers he would willingly admit none into his band that were less then six foot high men of a low mean and ordinary stature would not coâ—â—ent him no he would have such as were of a tall and high stature so when not low mean things of the world but only thâ— highest things of Heaven and Eternity are the objectâ— of a Christians desire then he chiefly labours c. 6. When he goes on to labour and take pains for these eternal good things though he meet with many vexations and sore persecutions when he will onward in the way to Heaven though the way thither be via spinosa sanguinea full of thorns and bryars when he will not be hindred in his journey towards Canaan though he must travel through a wilderness of Serpents and a red Sea When he will follow Christ though he sees Swords and Staves in the way as St. Paul at Miletus tells the Elders of the Church of Ephasus Acts 20. 22 23 24. And now behold I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem not knowing the thing that shall befal me there save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every City saying Bonds and Afflictions abide me But none of these things move me none of these things discourage me as if he had said For I am ready not to be bound only but also to dye at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus Act 21. 13. And hath taken up the like resolution as St. Ambrose took up to Valentinian the younger I follow saith he the determination of the Councel of Nice from which neither sword nor death shall ever seperate me when neither the worlds flatteries nor its frowns shall take him off his pains and labour When neither Nebuchadnezars Musick nor his Furnace can alter his resolutions but continues like the three Children who would not leave off to worship God and worship the golden Image though they knew a fiery Furnace heat seven times hotter then ordinary was provided for them Like Daniel that would not be taken off praying unto God though he knew for certain he should be cast into the Den of Lyons Like St. Paul and Barnabas whom neither the Lycaonians preposterous affection to have deified them nor their devillish rage when they about to stone them could procure either of them to yield one hairs breadth like all the Martyrs that noble Army whom neither the threatnings of fire nor the fair and large promises of their cunning and cruel Adversaries could cause them to shrink from Christ When rather then to desist or draw his neck from under Christ's yoak he will be stretched upon the Cross choosing rather to keep his conscience pure then his skin whole and to secure an Eternal rather then a fading inheritance resolving to gain through the assistance of a good God an eternal Crown though he swims to it in blood not mattering what he suffers upon Earth so he may be but Crowned in Heaven and not retiring for any trouble or persecution whatsoever that stands between him and eternal happiness If by any means I might attain to the Resurrection of the dead sayes the Apostle Phill. 3. 11. Ad gloriam caeâ—estem vitam aeternam ad quam Christus exitatus â—st quaeque credentibus ex morte exciâ—â—tis a Deo contingit St. Paul speaketh not of the Resurrection of the dead common to
in the night he got his living by drawing of Water such another is that Christian who labors after Eternal happiness after he hath labored in the day if God should drive sleep from his eyes or his souls condition requires it he leaves not off in the night Like Seneca who says Nullus mihi per otium exit dies partem etiam nectium studijs vendico I let no day pass me idle some part of the night also I spend in study so does an Heaven desiring Christian when he hath spent the day with God and hath been taking pains about Eternal concerns of the soul will not be backward to spend some art also of the night especially if God drive sleep from his eyes Indeed it hath been well for some that God hath thus dealt with them that he hath kept them aâ—ake in the night their souls will fare the better for it to all Eternity It was well for Morâ—icâ—i and the people of the Jews that Ahasuerus could not sleep in the night it was a means to save them fâ—om destâ—uction Esther 6. 1. v. There is no need of searching after external reasons or occasions of sleep this night departing fâ—om the King the circumstances followiâ—g do appareâ—tly demonstrate it that God by his special proâ—â—dence took away his sleep this was the first occasion of 〈…〉 nâ—ng the â—heel of God's providenâ—e to the dâ—liâ—erance of his Church For that the â—ing might tâ—e â—eâ—er pass over the night or that he might tâ—e berteâ— sleep the Chronicles were read before him for reading to one â—â— bâ—d makes him sleep the sou 〈…〉 er So was 〈…〉 e â— for that youngman mâ—ntioned befâ—â—e that God 〈◊〉 is â—yes waking in the night as 〈◊〉 says of hi◠〈◊〉 â—sal 7â— â— Thou holdest mine 〈◊〉 waking iâ— waâ— a â—eâ—â—s of breaking him of his lusts â—haâ— was g 〈…〉 n to 〈…〉 of lust before And as 〈…〉 eâ— was it for â—he 〈◊〉 that by the Earthquake sh 〈…〉 the fouâ—dâ—â—ions of the Prison he was awaked oâ—â— of sleep for theâ—eby he was brought to inquire what he â—ho 〈…〉 do to be saâ—ed Act. 16. 2â— 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 v. thereby â—e hâ—d aâ— opportunity afforded to be acquainted with the word of the Lord and to receive the Sacrament of Baptism straightway that is instantly at the same hour of the night that the foregoing story was acted without any further delay Thus much by way of Explication to shew when a Man may be said to labor for Eternal good things I proceed to the second thing propounded to be spoken unto and that is something by way of Demonstration where I shall shew that Eternal good things are to be labored for CHAP. V. It will appear that in all Eternal concernments a Christian should put forth a great deal of labour 1. FRom those resemblances that the Labour belonging to Eternal good things is compared to in Scripture 2. From the impossibility of enjoying Eternal good things without labour 3. From that agreement that there is between Eternal good things and our natures 4. From the examples of those who have been well acquainted with the worth of Eternal good things 5. From the paucity and fewness of that number that will be â—ound to have their share in Eternal good things 6. From that necessity that there is of enjoying Eternal good things 7. From the end whereof we live 8 From that willingness to dye and to have an end put to this temporal life that the enjoyment of Eternal good things will work in us I shall begin with the first and speak to them as they have been named It will appear 1 From those resemblances that the labour belonging to Eternal good things is compared to in Scripture As 1. It is compared to a race the labour of a Christian about Eternal good things is compared to a race to that labour which men take in running of a Race See Heb. 12. 1. Let us run with patience the race that is set before us And that 1 Cor. 9. 24. Know ye not that they which run in a race run all but one receiveth the prize so run that ye may obtain It is called a Race to shew what labours and endeavors we must put forth after these things Here is the race but above is the Crown said Ignatius to Polycarp Here we must labour and take great pains here we must put forth all the strength we can We see that those who run in an earthly Race though but for no greaâ— matter how they will strain themselves to run how they will put forth all their strength how they will sweat with labour and pains taking therein 2. It is compared to wrestling and striving 2 Tim. 2. 5. If a man strive for masteries yet is he not crowned except he strive lawfully For a man to be put to strive for any thing is both labour some difficult and painful Christianity is like to a game or striving for the mastery wherein no man is crowned unless he strive according to the Lawes that are prescribed be they never so difficult and painful a Christian will find it hard labour and pains to win an incorruptible Crown 't is that we labour and strive for so the Apostle sayes 1 Cor. 9. 25. v. Every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things now they do it to obtain a corruptible Crown but we an incorruptible that which St. Pauâ— elsewhere calls a Crown of righteousness 2 Tim. 4. by St James chap. 1. 2. v. and by St. John Rev. 2. 10. is called a crown of life and is by St. Peter 1 Pet. 5. 4. called a crown of glory is here by St. Paul called a crown incorruptible The Apostle alludes to the Olympick games wherein the wrestlers to gain some honorary or reward as a crown of Olive or Laurel or the like put forth all the strength pains and labour they could a lazy kind of striveing and wrestling would not win them a Garland upon the earth nor will it win a Christian a Crown in Heaven The Jewes are said to have a common Proverb amongst them He that on the Even of the Sabbath day hath not gathered what to eat shall not eat on the Sabbath meaning thereby that none shall reign in Heaven that hath not wrought on Earth Albeit men can no more merit Eternal good things by labour then a begger by craveing can merit his Alms yet they are not to expect that these things can be enjoyed without labour and striving as flesh and blood will find both hard and difficult to go through 3. It is compared to fighting of a battel the whole life of a Christian and the whole work of christianity in the concernments of the Soul is set forth by and compared in Scripture unto a fight or battel 2 Tim. 4. 7. I have fought a good fight 1. Cor. 9. 26. so fight I not as one that beateth the air Heb. 10. 32. Ye endured
a great fight of afflictions A Christian hath more then one Enemy to fight and contend with that labour to hinder his passage towards the Promised Land and is ever to look for warrs and bickerings with one or other that is an enemy to his souls everlasting happiness here is a Christians warfare only in Heaven is his Crown there is no place nor state but Heaven wherein a Christian is free from either outward or inward enemies there and no where but there is he triumphant here he is alwayes militant assaulted and fought against by many adversaries that disquiet hinder his content and that would fain for ever overcome bim As Israel passing through the Wilderness towards Canaan had many warrs and resistances to hinder them in their march thither so have all the Israelites of God designed for Heaven whilst they are in the Wilderness of this world they have the Devil and other both Church and soul Enemies without them and inbread corruptions and lusts within them that fight and make warr against their Souls That as it is said of Cato that he conflicted with manners as Scipio did with Enemies so does a Christian conflict and combate with Lusts and corruption as a Souldier does with his enemies in the field these warring against his Soul so sayes the Apostle Peter 1. Pet. 2. 11. Dearly beloved I beseech you as Pilgrims and strangers abstain from fleshly Lusts which warr against the soul And the Apostle Paul saies of himself Rom. 7. 23. I see another law in my members warring against the Law of my mind The Law of his members did warr and fight against the Law of his mind by provoking him to sin the Apostle speaks it of the regenerate estate Gal. 5. 17. For the flesh lusteth against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh and these are contrary the one to the other There is a contrariety in the flesh against the spirit there is an opposite disposition in the nature of it against the spirit and this not at one time of a Christians life but all the time of his life As fire and water being put together never cease striving and fighting until either the fire be extinguished or the water consumed so a Christian finds it in his spiritual fight and combat with sin there is no ceasing of the fight or combat until one of the combatants be killed and destroyed Now 't is no little labour to fight a battel with and against a potent enemy as indeed sin is an enemy that hath overcome the stoutest warriors Quos arma equi milites machinamenta capere non potuerunt hos peccatum vinctos reddidit such as armes and horses and souldiers and engines could not overcome sin hath overcome Victorious David felt the force of sin in this respect Abraham that subdued those Kings who did plunder Sodome and carryed away Lott is yet though the eminentest man alive in his age for faith foiled by unbelief such instances as these and many more but that I love not to lay open the Saints sores would shew how potent an enemy sin is and you know when men are fighting to get a victory over a potent enemy fightting to wrest a Kingdome or a Countrey out of the hands of a potent enemy they use all the care and all the labour possible to be used and the like care and labour hath a Christian need to manifest when he considers what he fights for not for his countrey not for greatpossessions not for liberty not for wife and children though the remembrance of such things animates souldiers but he fights for that peace of conscience which passeth all understanding he fights for God and Christ whose glory lies at stake every day and suffers as often as he is overcome by sin he fights for Eternal life and for the everlasting salvation of his immortal soul Are not these things worth fighting for laboring and contending for It is in the fighting of this battel as Caesar said it was in the battel he had once in Affrica with the children and partakers of Pompey that in other Battels he was wont to fight for glory but then and there he was fain to fight for his life O Christians here let us remember that our precious Souls lye at the stake in this fight Heaven and all the Eternal good things laid up in Heaven lye at the stake in this fight this will then call for the labor and pains we use in the managing thereof Hence we read of striving against sin Heb. 12. 4. v. ye have not resisted unto blood striving against sin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Theame is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 propriè in certamine me alij oppono It is here fitly translated Striving against and is a soldier-like word which signifies opposing or fighting as an enemy to whom a man will not yield and by whom be is loath to be overcome And the opposed enemy we see here is Sin against which a Christian is to strive with all might and main as Combatants and Wrestlers were wont to do Sin being such a malitious enemy that aims at the damnation of the soul After that sin hath brought Diseases upon the body Poverty upon the estate and a Curse upon posterity it proceeds further laboring to rob and ransake the Soul of all spiritual graces a privation of mortal life contents not the malice of sin sin aims at the loss of Eternal life at the loss of our Souls of our God and Christ and the blessedness of Eternity It was observed of Julius Caesar that in his ingaging the Swisses who thought to obtain Gallia out of his hands he would alight and send away his Horses and cause all the rest to do the like To shew them that they must overcome or dye leaving them no other hopes of their safety but only in the sharpness of their Swords So in this fight a Christian must either overcome or dye the wages of Sin is Death Rom. 7. 5. Rom. 6. 21. The end of these things is death Death is but a modest word for Damnation the first and second death not only that which is temporal but that which is Eternal I have read of a people who when their armies were preparing to fight in the time of War used only this expression to put spirits into their soldiers Estote viri libertas agitur Be Men your liberty is in question Christians Heaven and Eternal glory are in question betwixt you and sin Estote viri shew your selves therefore to be Men nay to be Christians 4. It is compared to one being in an Agony Luk. 13. 24. Strive to enter in at the straight-gate The word in the Greek is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 strive till you are in an Agony as Christ was Christ was in an Agony in the Garden when he sweat drops of Blood so saith St. Luke chap. 22. 44. v. And being in an agony he prayed more carnestly and his sweat was as it
viz. Eternal life There is no creature hath a more noble end then Man there is neither Seraphim Angel nor Arch-Angel that surpasses Man in his end How should the thoughts hereof cause every Christian's end and design to take a nobler flight then to stay within the narrow bounds of a visible Sphear things of another world should raise the hearts of such noble creatures as Men are and not be contented with such things as they dayly see with their eyes and touch with their hands The things that we dayly see being but small inconstant and of short continuance the other great firm and in fine Eternal and answer the end wherefore God gave us life The excellency of any thing lies herein when it answers the end whereunto it was assigned what is a thing good for that does not answer the end whereunto it was assigned The end wherefore Men will get a Clock into their houses is to strike what is a clock good for that will not strike it does not answer its end The end wherefore Merchants are at great charges to build or buy Ships is to sail in them upon the Waters What is a Ship good for that will not sail it does not answer its end The end wherefore a Man hires a Servant is to do his work what is a Servant good for that will not do the work he is set about he does not answer his end The excellency of any thing lyes herein when it answers the end unto which it was assigned so herein lyes the excellency of a Christian viz. To attain unto the end wherefore God gave him a being Hence it is that the Apostle goeth about to breed in us an holy Ambition telling us we are born for higher matters then any earthly things are therefore not to be so base minded as to dote on these transitory things but to seek after things above Col. 3. 1 2. v. though we may have Temporalia in usu yet should we have aeterna in desiderio Temporal things may be by us used but Eternal things should be by us desired It is said of Isidore that being at a great Feast and there beholding a great sign of God's bounty towards the sons of Men suddenly breaks forth into abundance of tears being demanded the cause for and said he I here feed on earthly creatures that am created to live with Angels 8. From that willingness to dye and to have an end put to this tâ—mporal life that the injoyment of Eternal good things will work in us That Man will never be unwilling to dye that can say as St. Paul does Phil. 1. 21. v. Mors mihi lucrum to dye is gain Death will no ways indamage me but rather turn to my advantage hereby I shall gain heaven though I lose the earth and an happy Eternal life though I have an end put to this miserable and mortal life Not every one is thus a gainer by Death they that have labored only to gain the world the more they have gained whilst they did live the greater is their loss when they dye It was a good saying of one to a great Lord upon his shewing him his stately House and pleasant Gardens Sir you had need make sure of Heaven or else when you dye you will be a very great loser When men are sure to lose by death t is no wonder if they be loath to submit unto death How many tell us they have been utterly undone by great Losses some have lost all by Fire others by Water some have lost all by Theeves and others at Land some again have lost all by Pyrates and Shipwrecks at Sea but the greatest number of men are undone by death Death robbs them of all death spoyles them of all their great Estates in the world and takes away from them what they were unwilling to part with When the Duke of Venice had shewn unto Charles the Fifth the glory of his Princely Pallace and earthly Paradice the Emperour instead of admiring it or him for it only returned him this grave and serious memento Haec sunt quae faciunt in vitos mori These are the things which make us unwilling to dye Some of the Turks have said they did not think Christians believed there was an heaven because they saw them so loath to dye and to go to it such an aspersion have some of those Infidels cast upon our Religion but none are loath to go out of this world but such as have not made sure of Eternal good things laid up in Heaven When the people of Israel were come to the very entrance of Canaan the children of Reuben and the children of Gad regarding not that good Land desired Moses that they might stay on this side Jordan because it was a place meet for their droves of Cattel which they more respected then their passage into Canaan Numb 32. 2. and following verses they were loath to go over Jordan the land on this side Jordan pleased them so well not far unlike these children of Reuben and Gad are they who be of that Cardinals mind unwilling to quit their parts in Paris for any hopes whatsoevr of Paradice loath to quit the pleasures and profits of this life in hope of those incomprehensible joys of Eternal life and esteem more of one Bird in the hand then two in the bush Certain it is a Man will never yield to part with this life untill he have gotten good hopes of a better life t is that will help a Christian to out-face Death He that hath gotten treasures laid up in Heaven will not be loath to part with the greatest treasures upon Earth Nay such will rather rejoyce at the sight of those things they have so longed to see and now must possess to all Eternity Contemnuâ—t presentia ad futura festinant little regarding things present and hastening toward things to come such a one can say when death approaches Mâ—riar ut videam I am willing to dye that I may see God and Christ and all the Eternal good things of Heaven And with St. Paul I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ which is farr better Phil. 1. 23. And with Babylas slain by Decius in the words of the Psalmist Return unto thy rest O my Soul for the Lord hath been beneficial unto thee and now my soul be glad for now cometh thy rest thy sure rest thy sweet and never fading rest and can truly say he is willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. 2 Cor. 5. 8. v. This was it made the Martyrs go to their death with cheerfulness and songs and run to the Stake as to a Garland It was the sight of these things that made them not loath to dye any kind of death as some of them being asked what made them so to suffer they have named that Text 1 Cor. 2. 9. Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard neither hath it entred into
begin his happyness and feoffe him in that glory which he cannot but for ever injoy This made holy Basil so resolute in his answer to Modestus the Emperor's Lieutenant when he threatened him with death Death saith he is a benefit to me it will send me sooner to God to whom I live to whom I desire to hasten This made that noble army of Martyrs mentioned in Ecclesiactical History such Lambs in suffering that their persecutors were more weary with striking then they with suffering This made them slight the sentence of death go cheerfully to the stake and leap into beds of Flames as if they had been beds of Down and to suffer the most exquisite deaths and torments that ever the wit or malice of men or divels could invent or inflict upon them 3. Eternal good things will do a Christian good and stand him in stead when he shall be brought to stand at Christ's tribunal in the day of Judgment when all the world shall be on fire about his ears and all earthly glory shall be consumed yet our Saviour encourages such then to look up and lift up their heads for their redemption draweth nigh Luk. 21. 28. v. We have seen the man injoying Eternal good things upon his death-bed not shrinking or trembling at death sed post hoc judicium but after this the Judgment Heb. 9. 27. v. whither if we follow him though he stands at Christ's barr yet not fettered in chains like a Malefactor expecting a dreadful Sentence neither trembling at Judgment to come as Felix when he was a Judg upon the bench did when he heard St. Paul preach of Judgment to come The Epicures Atheists and those debauched ones that now Hector it out so stoutly in the world and brave it in a way of all manner of Voluptuousness both in despite of God and men these would be glad if death were ultima linea rerum the last line of all things that when they dye and lye down in their graves there might be no Resurrection As Solomon calls the Grave a long home Eccles 12. 5. v. they could wish it were rather an everlasting home and that the grave might never give up her dead Rev. 20. 13. v. But as death is a sleep so it might be an Eternal sleep that there never might be any more Evigilation or waking out of sleep It would please them to hear the grave called Invium retrò sepulchrum a place that had no regress thence and they could wish from their hearts the doctrine of the Saduces against the Gospel were as true as the Doctrine of Jesus Christ in the Gospel Jesus Christ in the Gospel tells us both of a day of Resurrection and a day of Judgment but the Saduces teach that there is no Resurrection no Judgment nor Judg as these wish there were not so dreadful are the thoughts of that day unto wicked men This day will be the greatest for terror to those who never possessed more then this world but the greatest for joy to those who not contented with this world had their hearts taken up with the great things of another world When the greatest part of the world shall be sent trembling to Hell being doomed to everlasting Flames and for ever to remain in the same condition of the Divels themselves then they shall go triumphingly to Heaven be actually stated in an everlasting happy condition and for ever delivered from their fears and doubts of Salvation which all their lives-time were a grievous burthen unto them Terrible will this last day be to all those who never looked after providing for the Soul's welfare but it will be a joyful day to those who have laid up treasures in Heaven whither both Soul and body those two old companions are joyfully hastening together Happy Christians are they who in this day of Grace the only time men have to provide for their Eternal Condition have gotten their souls stored with Grace those who now have their souls made gracious shall then have both their souls and bodies made glorious Time was when sin had changed their souls from their Original beauty and glory had changed them from their primitive excellency and holyness their natures were then altogether sinful but at their conversion Nature was turned into Grace and now at their Resurrection unto Judgment those who had here gracious souls will then have as glorious souls so glorious bodies Then their souls shall be wholly freed from all sins and corruptions and brought to their primitive beauty and comliness and their bodies from mortality and all sinful uncleanness that they may by Christ be fashioned like unto his glorious body It was a rare saying of holy Bernard and worthy to be written in letters of Gold says he Christ hath a double coming He comes now by his Ministers to make his peoples souls gracious and at the day of Judgment he will come in his own person to make their bodies glorious those that have gracious Souls now shall have glorious bodies then even bodies conformable to the glorious body of Christ Phil. 3. 21. v. Who shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body like unto the Sun-like resplendent body of Christ Their corruptible bodies shall be changed and be made incorruptible their natural bodies shall be changed and be made spiritual bodies their mortal bodies shall be changed and be made immortal bodies 1 Cor. 15. 42 43 44. 53. v. Behold says St. Paul I shew you a mystery we shall not all sleep but we shall all be changed 1 Cor. 15. 51. v. speaking there of the last day Indeed the Apostle was already changed and the Corinthians were already changed if we consider what St Paul and the Corinthians once were they will appear to have been changed Nature in them was already changed into Grace but the change he speaks of which should be at the day of Judgment is this Grace should then be turned into glory Their gracious souls should be made glorious souls and their vile bodies should be made glorious bodies As the Inhabitants of Samaria once said Isay 9. 10. v. The Sycomores are cut down but we will change them into Cedars the Sycomore is but a mean despicable tree to the Cedar the bodies of the best are but vile and despicable bodies now but at the day of Judgment they shall be changed into glorious bodies In that glorious morning when Christ shall come to Judgment every one that hath gotten grace here shall put on a new fresh suit of flesh richly laid and trimmed with glory says an ingenious person So much good will Grace do us then and stand us in stead then Then to have an interest in God the God of all grace will also do us good and stand us in stead then those who have gotten God for to be their God in Covenant with them will find their interest in God to do them good though God will then be a
be our Judg he that redeemed regenerated sanctified and justified us is to be our Judg he that hath loved us he that hath interceded for us with the Father he that hath united us to himself and hath made us one with himself is to be our Judg. And will not Jesus Christ now stand his people in good stead see Rom. 8. 1. v. Such shall never be judged to condemnation For there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Jesus Christ who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit they shall then hear no other proclamations but of blessings peace and glory no other sentence but of absolution Christ hath verily told us John 5. 24. v. Verily verily I say unto you He that heareth my Word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation but is passed from death to life John 3. 36. v. He that believeth in the Son hath Eternal life Hath Eternal life how 1. In promissis in promises thereof 1 Joh. 5. 25. v. And this is the promise that he hath promised us Eternal life 2. In principijs in the beginnings of it Eternal life is begâ—n here John 17. 3. v. And this is life Eternal that they might know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent This is life Eternal that is T is the beginning of life Eternal the full injoyment of which life is hereafter to be had 3. In primitijs in the earnests first fruits and handsel of it in those clusters of grapes and bunches of figgs those graces of Christ's spirit they are called by Saint Paul Rom. 8. 23. v. The first fruits of the Spirit 4. In capite Christ as a believer's head already injoys it and so a believer hath it in a begun possession Upon Earth Christ was his surety to answer the penalty of his sin and in Heaven he is now his advocate to take seisin and possession of Eternal life So that Jesus Christ then will not sentence them to Eternal death who are so many ways interested in Eternal life he will not cast any of his members nor any branches growing in him into Eternal fire none of these shall be made everlasting fuel for Eternal flames But yet this should not incourage any one in the way of Licentious living no the thoughts of the day of Judgment should call upon every one to keep a good Conscience and to walk unblamably all the days of their lives both before God and Man This is a duty that St. Paul lays down from this doctrine of the day of Judgment Act. 24. 15 16. v. First the Apostle lays down the Doctrine of Christ's coming to Judgment That there shall be a Resurrection both of the Dead both of the just of the unjust as if he had said All men shall appear at Christ's Tribunal in the last day And what follows Herein do I exercise my self to keep a good Conscience void of offence both towards God and towards Man The thoughts of this that the just must arise and be judged by Jesus Christ as well as the unjust this was an inducement upon St. Paul's heart that he should labor to keep his Conscience void of all offence both towards God and Men. Unto this of St. Paul let me add another place out of St. Peter The Apostle having shewed That the day of the Lord will come as a theif in the night in the which the Heavens will 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 2 Pet. 3. 10. v. addeth in the 11. v. Seeing you look for such things as these and that all these things shall be dissolved What manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and Godlyness The Apostle here would infer from Christ's appearing in Judgment and the dissolution of the Heavens and all things at the last day That they should be â—areful to spend their days in all manner of Piety and to keep their Consciences free from Sin St. Augustine tells of himself that as long as his Conscience was gnawed with the guilt of some youthful lust he was once insnared with the very hearing of the day of Judgment was even an Hell to him Conscience will then go with men to Judgment but they who have their hearts sprinkled from an evil Conscience will hold up their heads in judgment and not fear when the rest of the world shall be full of fear nay when the whole world shall be in an aproar and shall see the Earth flaming the Heavens melting the Judg arrayed with Majesty and attended with all his holy Angels sitting on his Throne of Glory like the fiery flame Dan. 7. 9. v. and all souls fetched from Heaven and Hell to be re-united to their bodies when dreadful souls must leave their place of terror and once more to be re-united to their stinking Carions to receive a greater condemnation and blessed souls now in their place of happiness once more to be re-united to their then refined and glorified bodys to receive Eternal glorification Happy we if here we find our souls changed by Grace in Covenant with God united to Christ and do exercise our selves to have always a good Conscience void of offence towards God and towards Man Then may I say as St. John does 1 John 3. 2. Now we are the sons of God but it doth not appear yet what we shall be but we know that when He shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is Read those words of the same Apostle in the former Chapter 1 Joh. 2. 28. v. And now little children abide in him In Christ your dear and ever blessed Saviour that when he shall appear in Judgment ye may have confidence and not be ashamed before him at his coming Fear thou not O Christian who hast labored for and possessed thy self of Eternal good things which are the Best of good things such things that will make thee good and do thee good when all Temporal good things will do thee no good But go thou thy way until the end be for thou shalt rest and stand in the lot at the end of the days Dan 12. 13. v. Go on in the way and course of thy life that yet remaineth be contented whatever condition thou beest cast into prepare for thâ— end of thy life so that thou mayst end it comfortably and go to thy g 〈…〉 e in peace and stand up at the general r 〈…〉 ecâ—ion of the Dead when Christ shall come to Juâ—gment in thy lot of Coelestial Inheritances and heavenly glory prepared and allotted to thee and all laborious Christians at the end of the world for the days of Eternity For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout with the voice of the Archangel and with the trump of God and the Dead in Christ
like flowers that have only their months but end with the Spring or Summer like Grass which in the morning flourisheth and groweth up but in the evening is cut down and withered like Nosegays now iâ— the bosom by and by in the besom like so many bubles in the waâ—er which burst of themselves as so many Spiâ—eâ—s-webs that are easily torn in pieces like wandring Sirds which look upon us from a bough of some tree making us a little chirping musick and then fly away How many examples are there in the world of withered and blasted estates How many persons do we read and hear of that have supposed their mountain so strong that they should never be moved yet they have been stript of all before they dyed and have become as poor as Job as we say How many that for a long time together never saw one day of Sorrow but had the patient providence of God resting with all favor and success upon their Tabernacle and were invested with great Lordships and possessions but have brought all to a morsel and have dyed wanting How many who were once well fed and warm clad have soon changed their pastures and their cups which did once run over with Wine have been filled with the waters of Marah and they put into the poor man's dress Let men possess never so much of these Temporal good things yet they have no Charter for what they injoy They who are now full and abound with all things to make their lives comfortable may â—â— many ways brought to poverty Ruth 1. 21. v. says she there I went out full and the Lord hath brought me again empty As one says Dies hora momentum evertendis Dominationibus sufficit quae adamantinis credebantur radicibusâ—esse fundatae A day an hour a moment is enough to overturn the things that seemed to have been founded and rooted in Adamant and to make them perish O that those men who are so greedily set to gain the world and nothing else but the world and the things of the world are in their thoughts and have their hearts and affections for these they toyl labor and take pains day and night never minding what will be fall their souls and yet they see what the things are they so much labor for poor trifles the very best are if compared to the Soul the soul that must abide for ever and yet these things that are but perishing things and they have no assurance to injoy them one hour to an end take up all their time and labor and pains Such men put me in mind of what is reported of a Woman who had her house on fire that she was very busy and spent her time and took great pains about saving and gathering up many â—â—ifling things and in the mean time had a child in the Cradle and forgot that now when the poor Woman came to take a view of what she had gathered up she saw but a few trifling things but when her child came into her mind imagining that her child had been burnt though it was saved she ran mad to consider that she should be so foolish as to mind things of no concernment and to forget her child So will it grate upon the Consciences of thousands to all Eternity when they shall remember they labored all their life for such things as perish with their using but neglected what should have done their souls good to Eternity But those things we should cheifly labor for are Eternal and everlasting good things As indeed all the things of Heaven are Eternal and everlasting and as far from dimiâ—ution and decay as the soul from death and can be no more corrupted or shaken then the seat and omnipotency of God surprized How many Scriptures bring this Olive branch in their mouth and assure believers that all the things of Heaven are Eternal which truth is the flower of all our joy Take this brief account of Heavens Eternal good things 1. That Glory in Heaven is Eternal Glory 2. That life which is to be had in Heaven is Eternal life 3. That Joy which is to be had in Heaven is Eternal joy 4. That Inheritance which is to be had in Heaven is an Eternal Inheritance 5. The kingdom of Heaven is an Eternal kinddom 6. The Crown worn in Heaven is an Eternal Crown 7. The house or habitation prepared in Heaven is an Eternal habitation 1. The Glory in Heaven is Eternal glory Our blessed Saviour is ascended up into Heaven and there is made partaker of this glory but he will have all those who are his to fare as he himself fares they shall all of them be dwellers in glory with him See John 17. 22 23 24. v. The Glory which thou gavest me I have given them viz. those whom God had given him v. 6. that they may be one even as we are one I â—â— them and thou in me that they may be made perfect in one and that the world may know that thou hast sent me and hast loved them as thou hast loved me Father 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 When David was sent by God to Hebron to be crowned he will not up alone but takes with him all his men with all their housholds they shall have a part with him So Jesus Christ will not be happy alone will not live in glory alone as a loving Husband he cannot injoy any thing if his wife and children have not a part with him so Jesus Christ will have all his in glory with him to see his glory and as I have already shewed to be glorifyed with him and this glory wherewith they shall be gloryfied is an everlasting glory t is no glory that is transient or that will ever end but t is Eternal glory It is Excellentis gloriae pondus aeternum 2 Cor. 7. 4. 17. v. where the Apostle speaks of an Eternal weight of glory And St. Peter speaks De aeterna gloria in Christâ— Jesu Of Eternal glory by Christ Jesus 2. That life which is to be had in Heaven is Eternal life It is not a life of threescore years and ten or fourscore years as our lives in the world are which are soon cut off and flie away Psal 90. 10. v. A longer life then that which is promised in the last verse of the very next Psalm Psal 91. 16. v. With long life will I satisfy him the word Long is too short to set out to us this life Old Parr's life was a long life and the life of Johannes de temporibus was a long life for he lived in sundry Centuries and filled up Three hundred threescore and one years Adam his life was a longe life and Methusalah ' life was a longer life but this is an everlasting life Alas our life here on earth is but a short life every day the thread of mens lives are
wearing the oyl of their Lamps wasting â— and time is carrying them towards the habitations of Eternity and they quickly come to an end but in Heaven our being our blessed being shall have no end Ibi esse nostrum non habebit mortem It is the promise made to those who are believers John 3. 15. v. That whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have Eternal life the life in Heaven is a lasting life indeed Adeo diutina quod nequit terminari So lasting as it is everlasting A life that is as Eternal for continuance as he that had no beginning That not to be termed a life which consisteth of the body and the soul but that even that is truly life which flourisheth in the memory of all ages and which Eternity it self ever beholdeth says one Illa illa vita the life of glory that is life indeed where when a Man hath lived as many thousand years or ages or Centuries as there are piles of Grass on the ground or grains of Sand on the Sea-shore or Starrs in the Sky he shall be as new to begin again as the first day he lived in Heaven We are here ready to admire the great age of some men of such as live long but Nihil longam quod finem habet that is truly long that lasts for ever And this life that lasts for ever is enough to Comfort any Christian in the loss of a present life that will last but for a few years When Philip asked Democritus if he did not fear to lose his head he answered No for quoth he If I dye the Athenians will give me a life immortal his meaning was only this he should be Statued in the treasury of Eternal fame So may every Christian say who hath gotten Eternal good things for his portion When they dye and have an end put to this life God will give them a life immortal Such a man cannot but have his soul brimful of brave thoughts that in a dying hour is able to refresh himself with this meditation Though I now must dye and have an end put to my natural and miserable life yet I shall now enter upon an Eternal anâ— happy life 3. That Joy which is to be had in Heaven is Eternal Joy Whilst the best here in the world are weeping and many times full of Sorrow the worst and vilest oâ— men are full of joy and abound in their pleasures buâ— here is their misery the posting Sun of their joy anâ— pleasures after a short gleamand a few days vain glistering will set in the Ocean of endless Sorrow Thâ— wicked man's joy is but a short-liv'd joy soon puffed out and lasts but for a moment to speak of when it lasts longest Job 20. 5. v. The triumphing of the wicked is short and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment and therefore it is by the Preacher Eccles 7. 6. v. compared to the crackling of thornes under a pot It is as soon out as in makes a great noise and dies But the joy of Heaven is lasting ye everlasting begun here and lasts to all Eternity called therefore Everlasting consolation such is the Saints joy 2 Thes 2. 16. v. We may compare their joy in Heaven as ones does God's rich mercy from whence it flows to the Oyl in the cruse which was still spending but never spent They who have made sure a provision for Eternity shall have joy for evermore In the world indeed they meet with many changes in this Babylon they are oftentimes forced to hang their Harpes upon the Willows and disabled from singing sweetly to the Lamb their Hebrew songs their estates and conditions are as variable as you see the Heavens at this time and season are now fair by and by foul now the Sun shines most gloriously but by and by the whole Heavens are cloudy and sending down showâ—â—s Their comforts have an Autumn and their joys a fall of the Leaf Their joys are soon clouded with sorrows for if God do but hide his face they are troubled Psal 30. 7. v Though they somtimes taste of the waters of life yet again they do drink of the waters of Marah Now they are with God in the Mount and see his face at another time they are walking in the valley of the shadow of Death and there wandring in a maze of perplexed thoughts heavy cares afflicting fears and bitter sorrows If at one time they have the oyl of joy and gladness yet at another time they have the spirit of heaviness and sadness If at one time they have sweet tastes of Heaven yet at another time they are even distracted with fears of Hell But in Heaven they shall have nothing but joy and no sorrow all tears there shall be wiped from their eyes and all sorrow driven from their hearts there they shall injoy full joy without any mixtures of sorrow they never sow again in tears but shall injoy good days for ever Rev. 21. 4. v. There will be no more death neither sorrow nor crying But Isay 61. 7. v. Everlasting joy shall be unto them yea fulness of joy and pleasures for evermore Psal 16. 11. v. there will be pleasures to all Eternity and millions of years multiplyed by Millions do not make up a minute to this Eternity The joy of Heaven is such a joy Quod non divellit aeternitas A joy that Eternity begins but Eternity shall never end Great was the Jews joy after that the lamentable and sad decree of Ahasuerus was reversed and Haman's plot defeated insomuch that the days that were appointed for their death and ruine were turned into day of feasting and joy and wherein they sent presenâ—s every man to his Neighbor and gifts to the Poor Esâ—her 9. from verse the 17. to 28. and this joy as it was then great so it hath been lasting for the Jews cease not to celebrate the same to this day But what is the Continuance of the Jews joy for this great Deliverance from Haman to the joy of every believer in Heaven for their deliverance from Hell that hath been but for some hundreds of years from the time of Ahasuerus to this present and say this annual commemoration should last as long as the World shall last yet would â—t be nothing to the joy in Heaven that shall last for ever 4. That Inheritance which is to be had in Heaven is an Eternal Inheritance The greatest Inheritances that men do settle upon their children put them all together are not equivalent unto it When an Embassador told Henry the fourth that magnificenâ— King of France concerning the King of Spain's ample Dominions First saith he he is the King oâ— Spain â—s he so saith Henry and I am King of France but â—aith the other he is â—ing of Portugal and I am King of France saith Henry He is King of Naples â—and I â—m King of France He is King of Sicily and I am King of France He is King of
saying Take I pray thee my blessing that is brought to thee because God hath dealt graciously with me and because I have enough I have enough saith Esau I have enough saith Jacob though the word â—e one and the same in both places in the English I have enough yet it is by Divines observed that there is a difference in the Original Jacob's word is different from Esau's Jacob's word signifies I have all things and yet Jacob was poorer than Esau Esau had much but Jacob had all but how had he all Because he had the God of all he had God that was all And indeed as one observes Habet omnia qui habet habentem omnia He hath all things that hath him that is all things God alone was enough to Jacob and God alone would satisfy David's desire Psal 73. 25. v. Whom have I in heaven but thee and there is none I desire upon earth besides thee So great is the capacity and largeness of the Soul of Man that no Riches no Dignities Kingdoms nor the Empire of the whole World no Pleasures in a word no finite and limitable good can quench its insatiable thirst and desire nothing can do this but some immense infinite and boundless good and such as containeth in it self by way of Eminency or preheminency the fulness of all good whatsoever This David insinuated Psal 17. 15. v. Satiabor cum apparuer it gloria tua as the vulgar translation renders those words I shall be satisfied and filled when thy glory shall appear As if David had said No other thing can give me full contentment except the manifestation of thy glory which is an infinite and illimitable good David is here conceived to speak of that confidence and hope that himself and others of God's people have of happyness and satisfaction after this life when their bodies that sleep in the grave shall be awaked to the resurrection of Eternal Life then their happyness will be full in the measure without want of any thing that can make them happy all their desires shall be then satisfied They shall be abundantly satisfied with thâ— fatness of thy house Psal 36. 8. v. It were impossible to imagine that any one should have an interest in God and not be happy Psal 144. 15. v Happy is that people whose God is the Lord But in this life the happyness of the best is but like an house in building hereafter when they shall injoy God in heaven and be glorified with Christ in those heavenly Mansions when they shall wear upon their heads a Crown of life and be blessed associates unto Angels and all glorified spirits then the top-stone of perfect and everlasting happyness shall be put on At their conversion they are restored to the possession of some of those good things they lost in Adam but in heaven they shall injoy all those good things they lost in Adam 6. Our labor and pains ought cheifly to be imployed not about perishing but Eternal good things Because Eternal good things concern our Souls other good things concern the body only As the soul is to be preferred before the body so our labor and pains should rather be for those things that concern the soul than for those that concern the body only It is most true there is an excellency even to be taken notice of in the body and most excellent things might be observed touching the Noble Structure and Symetry thereof its figure frame temperature and proportion not any part of the common lump of Claâ— being fashioned like to it It is said of Galen that he gave Epiâ—urus an hundred years time to imagine a more commodious Configuration or Composition of any one part of a humane body When David spends his thoughts upon the curious frame of Man's body he seems to look upon himself as it were in amazed Extasies See Psal 139. 13 14 15. v. Thou hast possessed my reins thou hast covered me in my Mothers womb I will praise thee for I am fearfully and wonderfully made marvelous are thy works and that my Soul knoweth right-well My substance was not hid from thee when I was made in secret and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth Where David compares the Workman-ship of the body to the curious Needle-work of some skilful Woman The body is indeed a little miracle of Nature a vessel made capable of the best Jewel an house prepared for the best inhabitant every part whereof hath its wonder neither is there any piece in this Exquisite frame whereof the place use and form doth not admit wonder and exceed it God having invested the body with many noble Endowments made it a mirror of beauty and printed upon it surpassing excellencies But yet a Christians greatest labor and pains should not be for the body but for the soul the body indeed is to be provided for but the more special care should be for and about the soul The Egyptians parted with their money after that with their cattel and last of all with their land to buy bread to feed their bodies and what should not a man part with and do for the good of the soul The Heathen man could say Major sum ad majora genitus quam ut mancipium sim mei corporis I am more noble and born to more noble ends then that I should become a Slave to my body And should not Christians who are made capable of an infinite good and do far exceed him in spiritual nobility as having God for their Father Christ for their elder-brother conclude it far short of those noble ends for which they were born to toyl and labor all their whole life only to nourish to feed and cloth the body and in the mean time to neglect the soul which is far more excellent then the body Shall they only look after what is conducing and accommodated to a corporal life and not mind what will be good for their souls when they must injoy an Eternal life It is said of Caesar Major fuit cura Caesari libellorum quam purpurae That he had greater care of his books then of his Royal robes for swimming through the waters to escape his enemies he carried his Books in his hands above the waters but lost his Robes That heathen Epimanondus being dangerously wounded with a Spear so that he sunk down as one dead and after coming to himself he asked if his Target were safe his cheif care was about his Target So should it be with a Christian about his Soul his cheif care should be about his soul that must in the first place be regarded and cared for the body is but the souls upper garment and although that should fall into hands of unreasonable men though the Soul should lose its upper garment yet if the soul it self be safe all is safe but if the soul be lost all is lost God lost and Christ lost and the society of glorious Angels and blessed Saints lost and
Though God may think fit to delay them somtimes before they injoy what they labor for yet at last they shall be satisfied therefore are they quickned in the Text with a promise Labor not for the meat which perisheth but for the meat which indureth unto everlasting life which the Son of Man shall give unto you And with another in the foregoing place Your labor is not in vain in the Lord. The promises are the Christian 's Magna Charta for Heaven They are Pabulum fidej anima fidej the food of faith and the soul of faith enough to supporâ— and bear up a Christians faith in what condition soeverâ— he is and in whatsoever he goes about God who is a true God will not falsify his word with any The author of such Scripture promises is God God whâ— cannot lye hath promised As God is light and in hiâ— is no darkness 1 John 1. 5. v. So he is truth and iâ— him can be no lye The strength of Israel will not lye 1 Sam. 15. 29. v. herein is made a difference betwiâ— God and Man God is not as man that he should lye neither the Son of Man that he should repent Numb 23. 29. v. God's promises are all sure not only sure Certitudine veritatis in a way of truth but also sure Certitudine haereditatis in a way of performance Knoâ— says Moses Deut. 7. 9. v. That the Lord thy Goâ— he is God the faithful God who keepeth Covenant and Mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments It was the saying of Saint Ambrose upon his death bed We are happy in this we serve a good Master that will not suffer us to be losers servants in the world may lose by their Masters when they have labored and taken pains in hopes of being rewarded after their labor but God will not let any of his be losers by him That which was the Apostle's fear Gal. 4. 11. v. may here be taken notice of I am afraid of you saith the Apostle least I have bestowed upon you labor in vain Though this was Saint Paul's fear in reference to the Galatians yet it needs not be a Beâ—ievers fear in reference to heaven and the things of heaven in heaven he shall eat the labor of his hands Psal 128. 1. 2. v. Blessed is every one that feareth the Lord that walketh in his ways For thou shalt eat the labor of thine hands Many a man labors and toils in a business where he â—s not sure to get profit or be satisfied for his labor he â—akes How many poor beggars go to rich Mens doors where they are not sure before hand to receive â—n alms they know not but that after long waiting â—nd much begging they may be sent away empty â—nd all their begging and waiting be but in vain How many laboring men will set about a piece of work where they are not sure before hand to be paid for â—heir pains they will yet hazard some pains-taking â—ut believers need not fear it will be so with them â—hey do not hazard their pains their pains and labor â—bout Eternal good things will be answered Gal. 6. â— v saith St. Paul there Let us not be weary in wellâ—oing for in due season we shall reap if we faint â—ot Seed time and harvest are not at one instant the laborers in the Gospel at night had their penny but though they labored all day it was night before their penny was given them Although a Christian may seem to lose his labor at present yet the time cometh when he shall find it with advantage Say it should be long before you do find this But ye brethren faint not 2 Thes 2. 13. v. For in heaven you will not repent your labor You never heard nor ever will hear of that glorified Saint who said in a complaining way That he got to Heaven at too dear a rate or that the possession of Eternal good things cost him more labor then they were worth We may say of all our labors as St. Paul of his sufferings Rom. 8. 18. v For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us Let what will befall us what afflictions what troubles what miseries or crosses Heaven will make amends for all let us put all our troubles and afflictions all our labor and pains in one ballance and Eternal glory in the other ballance and this glory will over-weigh all afflictions and sufferings they are not all of them worthy to be compared to this glory In the beginning of those Civil Wars which the Senate of Rome carried on against Cajus and Fulvius Gracchâ—â— the Consul Opimius by publick Edict promised that whosoever should bring the head of Cajus Gracchus should receive for reward its weight in Gold All esteemed tâ—is a recompence highly to be valued that one should receive equal weight in Gold that precious meral to the weight of dead flesh But Gods promises far exceed this for a short labor here he rewards with an Eternal weight of glory And all the Greatnesses of this world being but as crumâ—s nut-shells and trash if compared with the least particle of Eternal glory All the labors the watchings the fastings the prayings c. for Eternal good things are but as the taking up of a straw for the gain of an earthly Empire they are but as the gathering up a basket of chipps to gain an hundred weight of glory they are but as the filling a little vessel with sand or water to gain multitudes of precious stones they are but as the reaching forth of an hand to receive a rich and massy Crown of Gold Such are the Eternal good things we labor for and take pains for if compared to our labor and pains that I may well apply here what was once mis-applyed in the tryal of that holy Man Job We do not serve God for nothing Though we should not serve him meerly for reward as hirelings nor for fear as servants but as children for love 8. Our labor and pains ought cheifly to be imployed not about perishing but Eternal good things Because even to Eternity it self it will never repent us to have bestowed the greatest labor for Eternal good things It never repented Jacob when he came to inherit his Father's blessing that he had indured a long exile a tedious bondage and hard labor with Labon It never repented Joseph when he was once made Ruler in Egypt that he had been sold thither for a slave that he had somtime labored for the Ishmaelites to whom his Brethren had sold him or for Potiphar who bought him afterwards of the Ishmaelites It never repented him then that he had been a prisoner for he had never been a Courtier if he had not been a prisoner It never repented the Israelites when they came to inherit the Land of Promise that they travelled forty years in a forlorn
naturally full of enmity towards hatred of and contâ—arity against God and what belongs unto God despising and rejecting whatsoever is heavenly and supernatural both truths and ways doctrines and things As the learned Grecian accounted Christ crucified but a foolish Doctrine to be either imbraced or believed for no other reason than because it was against natural reason So are these Eternal good things not accounted of or labored for by too many for no other reason but because they agree not with their natures By nature all men are in the flesh walk after the flesh making provisions for the flesh and no ways savoring what is agreeable and sutable to flesh Were it possible to prove that there were Praeadamiti men before Adam for though Scripture doth not mention any such but calleth Adam the first man yet such a paradoxal opinion hath been vented and endeavoured to be proâ—ed or might it be as peremptorily concluded of any as some do of the Virgin Mary who shall ever be acknowledged blessed amongst women others also of St. Anne the Virgins mother others of all the Virgins Family that they were without Original sin Or if mankind were multiplied not by Generation but by an other way as some have thought That if Adam had not faln all his Posterity would have been and as the Turks say of such their Religious persons whom they call Nefesogli that they are not born in an human way of Generation Or if God would please miraculously to create some men de novo make children to Abraham out of stones so as their Natures mighâ— be holy and free from Original contagion as I find some affirm that Seth Enoch Noah and such eminent men were and as indeed Jesus Christ was he being without all sin either Original or Actual called therefore Dan. 9. 24. v. Sanctum Sanctorum the Holy of holies or most holy Were there now such men as these to be found in the World their hearts would not have in them this contrariety to God and the things of Heaven such a neglect of and averâ—ness unto grace here and glory hereafter 2. R. Because men do fancy that in these Temporal things below doth consist the onely comfort of their lives look as the affections are very potent in a man to turn him this way or that way from this thing to that thing so also is the Imagination or fancy of a man a mans fancy since the Fall is as full of evil as the Sea is of water a Womb wherein much iniquity is conceived and is a great impediment and hinderance to the Souls good but in no way more thâ—n in this that iâ— pleases it self with empty and vain things and neglects true solid good things it pleases it self with the vain things of this World and neglects the real and lasting things of Heaven It is one part of man's misery devoid of grace and whilst in a sinful estate that his Soul and all the parts and powers thereof are inhabited by Satan there he dwells and therein he reigneth and in no one room of the Soul doth he ofâ—ner appear then in the fancy the Devil hath a great command over the fancy who being the God of this World he makes men to set an high estimate upon the things of the World Hence it is that having raised the value and price of Temporal good things above their real worth and caused men to place their happiness â—herein they now think no labour too great to obtain what they fancy very good and that as they believe maketh for the happiness of their present being And I wonder not to see this very thing practised by men of greatest understanding and wisdom in a Countrey who however they are or may be otherwise profound Statesmen and very wise as to all Earthly affairs yet are altogether oftentimes blinded and know not how to guide their actions to their true end And the reason hereof is because their fancy usurpeth upon their understanding and getteth into the Chair thereof Even as Athaliah destroyed all the Seed Royal that she might reign so fancy bolteth out all solid reasons and arguments used to take their hearts from off an immoderate pursuit of these Temporal things It is fancy onely that doth all and they are herein more led by their fancy then by any Scripture grounds or reasons their understanding is made but subservient and an under-agent to their fancy in these undertakings It can hardly be imagined how vain such men are become in their fancies and imaginations and how far fancy doth transport men herein So true is that noted long since to be delivered by Gerson That the world now grown old is full of doting fancies Or as a most reverend and learned Person glossing upon those words of Gerson sayes The world now near her end raves and talkes nothing but fancies and frenzies Some men are not more subject to madness in their fancy then these to be guided by fancy rather then by Scripture or right reason That it is true of many Christians what the Apostle speaketh of the Heathens and that in their high profession of wisdom Rom 1. 21. v. They became vain in their imaginationâ— And he shews wherein at the 23. v. And changed the glory of uncorruptible God into an Image mâ—de liâ—e to corruptible man and to birds and four-footed beasts and creeping things So that they became vain in their imaginations by their setting up many fabulous and idle Deities whereby the knowledge of the true God was obscured Even so many Christians are become vain in their imaginations in fancying and imagining that happiness may be found in things below and therefore neglect to labour after the true happiness of Heaven They regard not what God commandeth or what the Soul wanteth but what their fancy pleaseth But why do the people imagine a vain thing Psal 2. 1. v. For the comfort of a man doth not stand in having much It is Christ's maxime Luke 12. 15. v. Man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth Yet otherwise men believe and fancy and hence it is that they esteem more highly of those things which will perish in the using then they do of those things which are of Eternal use Wherein they are like that Hermit who set a greaâ—er value upon his Cat then Gregory upon the World And like Diogenes who preferred his Cynical life before Alexander's Royalty he fancyed his little Cloyâ—ter best Or like those of Angola who prefer a Dog before many Slaves Or the Indians who esteem more of trifles then Gold Or Children who â—ake greater delight in 〈◊〉 handful of Nut-shells then Jewels What a strange fancy was that of Bassianus the Emperour who so degenerated in effeminateness â—hat he would not only conform to Womens attire â—ut would also make his name feminine he would be â—alled Bassiana not Bassianus Such a fancy have many amongst Christians who are so degenerated â—nto Irreligion
this he kept as the Oratour doth his best arguments unto the last At his last bidding the Devil sheweth him all the glory pomp wealth and dignity of the World with these the Dâ—vâ—l hoped to dazle our Saviour's eyes those windows of the Soul and to imprison his affections as knowing that temptations of profits pleasures and honours are most forcible with men Set but a wedge of Gold in Achan's sight it dazles his eyes it bewitcheth his heart and now Joshuah that could stay the course of the Sun cannot stay him from lusting and laying hold of it Set but preferment before Balaam's eyes herewith they are dazled and his heart bewitched and his Ass never gallops fast enough after it Promise but Judas thirty pieces of Silver and his eyes are dazled therewith and his heart even bewitched that he will betray innocent blood to get it Thousands have dyed of the wound of the eye And so herewith the Dâ—vâ—l hoped to prevail with Christ he shews him all the Kingdoms of the World and the glory of them and saith unto him All these things will I give thee if thou wilt fall down and worship me Matth. 4. 8 9. v. A most tempting object but this Heavenly Eagle had Oculum irretortuâ— and was not at all moved at the beauty and bravery of all the Kingdoms of the Earth the glistering pomp whereof had misled millions when their eyes have been dazled with the gayety thereof As some have had their eyes so dazled with going fires that they have gone out of the good path which would have lead them to their journeys end and have instead thereof been led into hedges and ditches into pooles and waters So have men been turned out of the way leading to Eternal life and have been lead in the way that leadeth to the chambers of death by this means What is told of the Serpent Scytale is applicable here they say of this Serpent that when she cannot overtake the fleeing Passengers she doth with her beautiful colours astonish and amaze them and so dazle their eyes that they have no power to pass away till she have stung them to death Even so the lustre of things below so dazle the eyes of men and bewitch their hearts that they have neither will nor power left in them oftentimes to look after things above 4. Reas Because Eternal good things are not without great labour to be obtained it will cost a Christian some sweat before he getteth into Heaven To climâ— up an high hill is difficult and will ask a man no little labour but to run down the highest and steepest hill is easie Facilâ—s est descensus Averni Hell may be gained without storm labour or pains taking But Heaven must be laboured for and the things that belong to our everlasting peace are not to be possessed without an holy Industry To obtain such great things as these is not so facile a work as most men do imagine Trifles may be had at a trivial rate but Difficilia quae pulchra things of worth as all Eternal good things are are not obtained without great toyl and labour The Lord Jesus Christ who hath made known these things to the World and who knoweth better then the greatest Doctors or Masters of the School the worth and excellency of them and what pains there must be used to obtain them he hath told us that the way to them is narrow and strait and requires striving Luk. 13. 24. v. Strive to enter in at the strait gate for many I say unto you will seek to enter in and shall not be able And that we must as so many Souldiers force our passage thither Matth. 11. 12. v. And from the dayes of John the Baptisâ— until now the Kingdom of heaven suffereth violence and the violent take it by force And after all ouâ— striving and fighting we must fall to digging for these things as for hidden treasures Prov. 2. 4. v. and pass through many tribulations and asperities many dangers and troubles yea possibly through prisons fires and bloody labyrinths before we can come at them Acts 14. 22. v. We must through much tribulation enter into the Kingdom of God These things lessen mens appetites after them and do make them less desirous of them yea to leave pursuing of them upon pretence of that difficulty there is to come by them as fearing they should in the pursuit meet with affronts and disgraces tempests of rage despight and hostilities from violent persons and unreasonable men and in the end lose their lives which they prefer before all other interest This the very reason why no more put out themselves to obtain these good things of Eternity Omnes enim appeâ—unt delectabilia fugiunt labores difficultates The generality of men are for what is facile and delightful not for hard labours and difficult undertakings Herein few are like that Emperour I have read of that delighted in no undertakings so much as those who in the esteem of his Counsellours and Captains were most difficult and impossible If they said such and such an enterprize would never be accomplished it was argument enough for him â—o make the adventure and he usually prospered he seldom miscarried But hence comes men's backwardness herein because flesh and blood can not endure such Spiritual labour and pains for them Men are naturally overgrown with Spiritual sloth and a careless laziness they are loath to put themselves to so much labour this way which is so opposite to their corrupt natures Viscera terrae extrahimus ut digito gestetur gemma quam petimus Men willingly will draw out the very bowels of the Earth that they may get the gemme they desire How will men toyl and labour to digg for Gold and Silver and yet take no pains for Grace and Glory for Christ and Heaven How will men weary themselves in pursuing their sins but yet are backward to be at any pains for the saving of their souls Impii quam strenue serviunt Diabolo They will even sweat in the Dâ—vâ—ls work and yet not â—o much as stir themselves in the service of God or for the good of their Souls They will do wickedly with both hands earnestly and often tire themselves to get to Hell but to get to Heaven they will hardly labour with one of their fingers Heaven and Eternal good things they would have hereafter but are loath to put themselves to take pains for them now they are like Solomon's Sluggard mentioned Prov. 13. 4. v. The soul of a sluggard desireth and hath nothing Vult non vult piger so the vulgar Latin reads those words The Sluggard would and he would not he would have the end but not use the means So it is with these Spiritual Sluggards they would sit at Christ's right hand but they would not drink of his Cup nor be baptized with his Baptism they would be admitted into the Kingdom of God but not pass through many tribulations
exhortations that they find in Scripture which are backed with strong reasons and encouraged unto by many sweet promises If we had saith one a window in men's breasts we should see this principle ingraven on their hearts That the Gospel is promises and all their work is to believe them to be true And so they never mind exhortations to labour after Heaven and Immortal life after Salvation and Eternal happiness only they please themselves with such promises that God hath made of Heaven and Eternal rewards making use of the promises to strengthen their hopes for Heaven but follow not the exhortations which call upon them to labour for Heaven It is most true that a well grounded hope for Heaven and Eternal salvation is gotten by and grounded upon the Word of God hence it is called the Hope of the Gospel Col. 1. 23. v. because it is gotten by the Gospel and grounded upon the Gospel All a Saints hopes comes from the Scriptures Psal 119. 49. v. Good is the Word of the Lord wherein thou hast caused me to hope Rom. 15. 4. v. That we saith the Apostle through the comfort of the Scriptures might have hope And the promises of the Scripture are the Anchor of a Christian's hope that hope which any one hath of Heaven if not founded upon a promise it may rather be called presumption then hope Promises are the surest Pillars to build our hopes for Heaven upon when that hope which is not built upon a promise shall suffer ship-wrack then a promise will be as a planck upon which we may swim safe to the shoar of Heaven then a promise will be as a Fiery Chariot to carry us up to heaven Heaven is nothing else but the enjoyment of the promises Heb. 6. 12. v. Be followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises that is Promissam illam haereditatem the promised Inheritance The promises are Heaven folded up Heaven is the promises unfolded The promises are made by God and they make over God to a Believer as his portion and Christ as his Saviour and the Spirit as his Sanctifier and all Eternal good things as his everlasting Inheritance It is therefore one of the greatest titles that â— belongâ— a Christian to be stiled an Heir of the Promises Heb. â— 17. v. God willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel confirmed it by Oath That man who hath a right to the Promises is the richest man in the World for God is his and Christ is his and the Spirit is his Grace here and Eternal glory hereafter is his Sad is that man's condition who hath no interest in God nor in Christ and who is without all hopes of future and Eternal happiness But he that is a stranger from the promise is without Christ without God and without hope Eph. 2. 12. v. Such a man may indeed nourish hopes of Heaven but his hopes if not bottomed upon a promise will prove afterwards to be no other then his Souls delusion and his Souls consenage he may promise himself to go to Heaven and there be blessed and happy for ever but his hopes will deceive him And under the like Soul-delusion are those men that hope they shall enjoy all whatsoever are held forth in the promises men who do not at all mind all the conditions of the promises men that only believe them to be true but labour not by an holy industry and diligence to gain and possess themselves of what is promised These men do highly value Promises but they under-value and despise Commands they read the Word of God and they meet with the promising-word this they retain and beâ—ieve and build their hopes thereon and they meet also with the Commanding-word this they embrace not this they obey not Ask many profane Persons what hopes they have of being happy to all Eternity O say they God is a merciful God and he hath made many gracious promises in the Scriptures to pardon our sins and blot out our iniquiâ—ies and upon such free promises as these we build our hopes I remember Mr. Torshel in his Hypocrite discovered and cured doth tell of such a one that he well knew He was saith he full of assurance to be saved but I knew him very well and knowing nothing that could make him so confident dealt with him as I saw most convenient for his estate and urged him with that of the Apostle Give all diligence to make your calling and election sure And with that other place Work out your salvation with fear and trembling The man now was staâ—led and told my Author He acted the dâ—vâ—ls part against him to make him despair Here was a confidence of being saved here was no question a resting upon promises but here wanted diligence and working here wanted aâ— obedience to Scripture Commaâ—ds none of that appeared in the wretches life and conversation And verily here is the very nature of many wickeâ— men to hope for Heaven building their hope upon promises but they will not do God's Commands that thousands I fear presume themselves into Heâ— and under Eternal Torments by a false hope in thâ— promises They will not run the race and yet hopâ— to obtain the prize they will not fight the batteâ— and yet hope to win the Crown they hope for Heaven at the end but they never act holiness as thâ— means though happiness be intailed upon holiness Heb. 12. 14. v. Follow peace with all men and holiness without which none shall see God And a. promise of the life that now is and that which is to come is 〈…〉 iled upon Godliness 1 Tim. 4. 8. v. Godliness hath the promise of the life that now is and that which is to come And as Christ became the Author of salvation unto all them that obey him Heb 5. 9. v. And the Psalmist concludes Psal 119. 15. v. Salvation is far from the wicked for they seek not Gods Statuâ—es And if Salvation be far surely a well-grounded hope of Salvation must be far from them But why is Salvation far from the wicked Because they keep not thy Statutes they are strong in their expectation of Heaven but slow in their endeavours after Heaven they take no pains at all for Heaven They challenge an interest in the Promise but yield no obedience to the Command But believe it there is no hopes to have Gods promises fulfilled unless the Commandment of God be obeyed They are but presumptuous persons who so relye upon the promises of God as that they do sleight and disobey the Commandments of God Hitherto we have spoken only to the Doctrinal part of this point in the Explication Demonstration Confirmation thereof and also answered that serious question What Reasons may be assigned why men labour so much after Temporal good things that they do neglect Eternal and build their happiness upon so deceitful grounds as Earthly possessions and transitory things they
account themselves happy in these Earthly enjoyments The fourth particulor propounded was to make Application of all and here I shall speak but to three Uses Vse 1. By way of Lamentation and that over two sorts of men 1. Over those that instead of labouring foâ— these Eternal good things and having their hearts taken up with and set upon them have their hearts wholly set upon sensual pleasures and carnal delights and therefore do spend all their time in making provisioâ— for the flesh without the least thought upon Eternity that follows 2. Over those whose minds and hearts are oâ—ly set upon Earthly things and whose affections are faâ—â— nailed to the Earth making all the motions of their Souls to wait upon their Earthly designs and that so fixedly as if they had resolved upon no other Heaven then wealth Vse 2. By way of reprehension to reprove those that never look after Eternal good things but are wholly taken up with the pursuit of the good things of this life labouring for the meat which perisheth but not for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life Vse 3. By way of Exhortation to exhort every one to labour after Eternal good things CHAP. VIII Vse 1. BY way of Lamentation over those two sorts of men named whom when I consider how much they prefer momentany pleasures before Eternal joyes Earthly trash before everlasting riches and what little care they do express to have of their Souls of Heaven of being in Covenant with God of having an interest in Christ of gaining the Holy Spirit of Grace thereby to be brought out of that undone estate and condition they are naturally in I see cause to be Afflicted and mourn and weep to let laughter be turned to mourning and joy to heaviness Jam. 4. 9. v. as often as I think of their present sinfulness and their future Eternal miserableness When Jeremiah foresaw the heavy wast and destruction that should befal Moab Jer. 48. at what time the spoyler should come upon every City and no City should escape but the Cities thereof should be desolate without any to dwell therein and Moab should be a derision and dismaying to all them about him there should be no more praise of Moab but a continual weeping should go up the little ones of Moab should cause a cry to be made and the chosen young men thereof go down to the slaughter all joy and gladness should be taken from the plentiful field at the 17. v. the Prophet calls upon all those who are about Moab to bemoan Moab and at the 20. saith he Howl and cry tell ye it in Arnon that Moab is spoyled But how is the Prophet himself affected therewith see v. 31. Therefore I will howl for Moab and will cry out for all Moab mine heart shall mourn for the men of Kir-heres But all that was threatned here to befal Moab was only a Temporal Judgment but when we consider what the neglect of Eternal good things will bring upon these men I could even wish with the same Prophet Jer. 9. 1. v. Oh that my head were waters and mine eyes a fountain of tears that I might weep day and night for them 1. By way of Lamentation over those that instead of labouring for these Eternal good things and having their hearts taken up with and set upon them have their hearts wholly set upon sensual pleasures and carnal delights and therefore do spend all their time in making provision for the flesh without the least thought of â—ternity that follows There are many indeed that have nothing to do no callings wherein â—o imploy themselves no business to spend their time about but let me make bold to tell them especially the Gallants of our dayes Thaâ— they have Souls to save and that they have an Heaven to labour for and Eternal good things to make sure of and if they have any hopes to save their Soul to gain Heaven and make sure of those Eternal good things we have spoken of they have work enough every day to do They that say they have nothing to do ought to imploy themselves the more in reading meditating watching over themselves resisting sin with other acts of piety lest otherwise their time which they must afterwards account for pass away without any profit or fruit Every day is precious time and pity it is any one day should be spent in Idleness or evil imployments The Heathen Cicero hath taught us thus much saying Non generati a natura sumus uâ— ad ludum jocum facti esse videamur sed ad severitatem potius ad quaedam studia graviora atquâ— majora Ludo enim joco uti illis quidem licet seâ— sicut somno quietibus caeteris tum cum gravibuâ— seriisque rebus satisfecerimus We are not bred oâ— nature as to spend our time in playing and sporting but in severity and great weighty studies and that we should use sporting and jesting as we do sleep and other recreations only at such times when we have dispatched our weighty businesses Every thing almost in Nature is in motion and performing a kind of labour There is a continual change of day and night The Heavens are incessantly carried about with a daily motion The Sun stands not still but runs its ten or twelve millions of leagues every day The Sea no day ceaseth from its ebbings and flowings But our Age hath produced a generation of men who do afâ—er a most straâ—ge manner spend their whoâ—e time in Idleness Men that seldom know of what colour the dawning of the day is of whom it may be said as â—ully said of Verres the Deputy of Sicily Quod nunquam solem nec orientem nec occidentem viderat That he never saw the Sun rising being in bed after nor setting being in bed before Herein these men imitate that Epicurean Swine who boasted that he had grown old without seeing the Sun either rise or set As â—â—bosheth slept upon his bed at Noon so these men are found to be in â—heir beds at Noon They change the day or a great part of the day into night as oftentimes they change the night into day spending night after night as well as day after day in actions of impiety and prophaness It is said of Theodosias the Emperour that after the variety of worldly employments relating to his civil affairs in the day time he was wont to consecrate the greatest part of the night to the studying of the Scriptures to which end he had a lamp so artificially made that it supplyed it self with Oyl that he might no way be interrupted in dedicating that time to God As he was careful to dedicate some part of the night to God so these are as forward to dedicate it to the Divel As they of Gibeah Judges 19. 25. v. abused the Levites Concubine all night until morning so to the shame of Christianity they abuse and disorder themselves all night and not until morning only
but night after night not being contented to continue from morning until night till wine inflame them as the Prophet hath it Isay 5. 11. v. but they second the days drunkenness with the nights excess As they are never well until they be at it so they never give over when they are at it Prov. 23. 35. v. They can awake in the night to pursue that is evil but sleep away much of the day without doing that which is good without labouring after or so much as minding of the salvation of their Souls and the enjoying of these Eternal good things Or rise they early they are in their rising but like the High Priests we read of that early in the moâ—ning before it was yet day were gathered together against Christ they could not rest until they had apprehended and condemned Christ. No question but there were some of these Confederates that would not in all probability have been hired to come out of their beds or have broken their sleeps to have done any thing that was good but to persecute and condemn Christ now sleep never troubles them now they are awake before day now they are up and abroad about the Dâ—vâ—ls business Who alas observes not many in our days to be of these High Priests minds Men that if they rise early yet it is not to spend the day to the glory of God it is not to imploy themselves in any thing wherein they can with confidence and a good conscience desire any gracious assistance from God It is not to be active for God and Heaven that great end wherefore they have their beings It is not that while they have yet a day allowed them they may be providing for Eternity But to spend the day in sensual pleasures and carnal delights to wast and pass away their time either in Play-houses or Ale-houses those Palaces of Satan Chappels of Hell and Nurseries of all kind of sin and uncleanness little considering that in such a day they thus live thousands and perhaps millions of Souls are loosed from their bodies and presented before God's Tribunal there to receive an Eternal doom and that themselves in a moment may be forced to bear them company Dan. 4. 25. v. Seven times passed over Nebuchadnezzar that is he lived seven years like a beast But many amongst us have lived seven years three times yea seven times told and yet cannot say they have spent seven days to lay in any provision for their Souls against that endless duration these men live all their days like Beasts and happy were it for them might they perish as Beasts When some have thought day after day and night after night too little to labour in for Eternity they can spend day after day and night after night in doing nothing â—or Eternity That I may say of them as Ephorus of his Countrey-men the Cumaeans having no remarkable things to report of them and yet desirous to insert the name of his Countrey in his History of the Grecians relating what worthy acts many Nations had done the Lacedemonians saith he did this valiant act the Athenians did other noble acts but his Countrey-men the Cumaeans did nothing he had nothing to say of them but that they had done just nothing So in like manner we may recite this Holy man who hath done much towards the gaining of Heaven and that Martyr who chose rather to lose his life then lose his soul and that Believer who never thought he could do enough in labouring for Eternal good things but these men we speak of have done nothing at all We may here câ—y out with the Prophet call for the mourning women yea we may call for all such as are skilful of lamentation to wailing Amos 5. 16. v. Here we may excite all that know the worth of Souls and the excellency of Heaven with the Eternal good things thereof to sit down by the rivers of sorrow and weep Lachrymis non verbis miserationibus non orationibus opus est O Christians as often as we behold these kind of men let us look upon them with eyes full of tears as often as we speak of them let it be in words and expressions full of sorrow with sorrowful and lamenting hearts and yet let us not rest here but every one teach his Neighbour lamentation As that Phrase is Jer. 9. 20 v. that there may be a voice heard not in Ramah but in our own Countrey lamentation and bitter weeping Jer. 31. 15. v. Not Rachel only but all Parents weeping for their Children yea and refusing to be comforted for their children because they are not more careful for their Souls and more industrious for Heaven because they sottishly prefer swinish pleasures here before a labouring to enjoy pleasures in Heaven for evermore This very consideration should make us to lament with a doleful lamentation Micha 2. 4. v. 2 By way of Lamentation over those whose minds and hearts are only set upon Earthly things and whose affections are fast nailed to the Earth making all the motions of their Souls to wait upon their Earthly designs and that so fixedly as if they had resolved upon no other Heaven then wealth For which to gain how do they lye flatter swear deceive supplant undermine wrong and oppress others having darkneâ— the eyes of their consciences by offering violence to the tenderness thereof and neglecting the checks thereof they can entertain and digest without scruple or reluctation any means though never so indirect any conditions though never so base any advantage though never so dishonourable or unconscionable to raise themselves in the World Judas will betray the Son of God for a few pieces of Silver Balaam will be contented to curse the Church and People of God for a little honour and preferment Gehazi will multiply lye upon lye for a talent of silver and two changes of raiment Micha's Levite for a little better reward than the beggarly stipend he had before will neither scruple theft nor Idolatry To gain a Kingdom the bargain of treason is presently concluded between Absalom and the Devil He that is greedy of gain will not be backward to lye in wait for the life of his Neighbour Prov. 1. 18 19. v Rather then Ahab shall not have Naboth's vineyard poor Naboth shall be murthered How do we see some enrich themselves by Sacriledge as Ananias and Sapphira Others by Bribery as Felix Others by extortion and grinding the Poor as the griping Usâ—rer and unconscionable Tradesman Others by Symonie as too many of our covetous Church-men The undone condition of many poor Families that are left with naked backs empty bellies and languishing bowels do too sufficiently demonstrate the truth hereof The whole World abounds with men that do make nothing to break through many a hedge to make many a gap through God's Law and their own consciences that they may by shorter passages come to what they aime at then others Oh how many lye under the
Serpents curse Gen. 3. 14. v. They lick dust and eat dust and lye and wallow into the dust On many the judgment of Corah is spiritually exercised The Earth opened her mouth and swallowed up his body but it hath opened her mouth and swallowed up their hearts their time and their affections These men are like the Israelites who preferred Leeks and Onions before Quails and Manna or like that Diaphontus who refused his mothers blessing to hear a Song Or like some low bred Persons that prefer themselves before their betters vaunting and boasting with much vanity and presumption of themselves and of all that belong to them but despise others though their Superiours and betters So these men having set their hearts upon things below care not by what unjust and indirect means they come by them they are resolved to get Rem rem quocunque modo rem They are of the mind of that Atheistical Polititian who said Quod utile est illud justum est That which is profitable the same is just and righteous all is fish that comes to their nets As it was said of Cicero that he was gentle to his Enemies froward to his Friends And as it was unjustly charged by Joab upon David 2 Sam. 19. 6. v. That he loved his enemies and hated his friends So it may be truly said of these men They higly esteem what they should under-value and they under-value what they should highly esteem highly esteeming these poor things below this Mamâ—â—n of unrighteousness in the World and not valuing the incomprehensible excellencies of Heaven the inexplicable and inestimable glory there and all those unutterable and ineffable felicities to be enjoyed at God's right hand for ever-more And why Because their hearts by excessive rooting in the Earth are turned wholly into Earth that they are even drunk with the love of the World and no wonder then if like the Gadarens they prefer Swine before their Souls or like him in the Parable that would go to see his Farm though he lose Heaven Or like the rich Glutton who was so taken up with his great crop and building his new barns that he never thought of Heaven until he was in Hell Or like thousands more in the World who if they have but something to leave behind them for the good of their Children they matter not whether they have any thing to take with them for the good of their Souls Quis talia fando temperet à lachrymis Who can refrain from tears when he relates such a truth Not the Apostle Paul that blessed Saint and Servant of Jesus Christ he cannot speak of them without weeping Philip. 3. 18 19. v. For many walk of whom I have told you often and now tell you even weeping that they are the enemies of 〈◊〉 Christ Whose end is destruction whose God is their belly and whose glory is in their shame who mind Earthly things Nor methinks can any other who knows the worth of Souls and Eternal good things but secretly weep for them As Zanchy complained with much regret of the Lutheran ubiquitaries that he found them ubique every where to vex and molest him so hath every Christian cause to grieve oh that we could all of us with brokenness of heart bewail it that these kind of men are every where to be found And themselves are called to weep by the Apostle St. James who looks upon them as Persons in a deplorable condition Indeed none more frolick and merry none dreaming of more content and freedom from want none less fearing either miseries or judgments than many carnal rich worldlings although what they possess hath been gathered and scraped together by oppression and unrighteous dealings But see what the Apostle saith Jam. 5. 1. v. Go to now ye rich men weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you Here we have assigned the reason why they should weep and lament For the miseries that shall come upon you That is saith an Interpreter partly sore afflictions in this life but these are but the beginnings of sorrow And partly also Hell torments in the life to come Hell torments are indeed miseries to come and though here they laugh yet there they will howl O that such Earthly minded ones that be rooting and 〈◊〉 in the Earth as if they meant to dig themselves 〈◊〉 it a nearer way to Hell would consider this before the cold grave holds their bodies and hot Tophet burn their Souls The one is as sure as the other if timely repentance prevent it not for they have damnation for their end Phil. 3. 19. v. Whose end is destruction When an Angel of the Lord threatned the Israelites not to drive out the Inhabitants of Canaan from before them but that they should be as thorns in their sides and their Gods should be snares unto them Judg. 2. 3. v. In the two next verses it is said v. 4. 5. And it came to pass when the Angel of the Lord spoke these words unto aâ— the children of Israel that the people lift up their voice and wept And they called the name of that place Bochim That is as it is in the Margâ—n â— Weepers because the People of Israel did weep abundantly in this place And we have a strain of threatnings in Scripture against such who both sinfully get and use these Temporal things below I say 5. 8. v. Woe unto them that joyn house to house that lay field to field till there be no place that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth Luk. 6. 24 25. v. Woe unto you that are rich for ye have received your consolation Woe unto you that are full for ye shall hunger Woe unto you that laugh now for ye shall mourn and weep Let us mind the words before we leave this point 1. Here the Rich are threatned with this That they have received their consolation we may understand the words either Ironically by way of a scornful jeer unto them that call it a consolation to have riches and account them the only comfort of their lives or at the most the words can intend no more then Woe be to you hereafter for here in this life and only here in this life they have that they call consolation they shall have none of this consolation in the other life CHAP. IX 2. A Second use may be by way of Reproof to those that never look after Eternal good things but are wholly taken up with the pursuit of the good things of this life labouring for the meat which perisheth but not for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life labouring only for back and belly for food and raiment but as for those things that endure to Eternal life them they postpone to the things of this World Here they do as we use to say Set the Cart before the Horse not only equalize Hagar with Sarah though that were injurious enough but they give Hagar the place and make
to be possessed arise and work and lose not all that you have heard of for want of labour As David said to Solomon 1 Chron 22. 16. v. Arise therefore and be doing and the Lord be with you Christians you are labouring every day for meat that perisheth you are engaged over head and ears in the pursuit of the things of the World Iâ— is a speech I have read of one Demades when the Emperour sent to his Countrey-men of Athens to give him Divine honour and they were loath to yield to it but consulted about it sayes he Take heed you be not so busie about Heavenly matters as to lose your Earthly possessions So say I Take heed you be not busie about Temporal matters as to lose Eternal possession Follow therefore the Apostle's direction Col. 3. 1. v. Seek those things that are above Os homini sublime dedit God hath given to men countenances erected towards Heaven that they should not cast their eyes on tâ—ings below but lift them up to better even things that are above Christian thy affections were made for those things that are above thee not for those things that are below thee A Christian should Superna anhelare pant after glory and things Eternal his affections should be carried above all Earthly Objects he should not be content until he get up into Heaven This Bird of Paradise though he may with God's good leave sometimes touch upon the Earth and upon Earthly things yet should he be mostly upon the wing and what ever he enjoyes here on the Earth should be to him but Scalae alae Wings and wind in his wings to carry him upwards To conclude this first Part and come to the second I shall use the words of Saint Austine Volemus sursum Let us flye upwards so he somewhere reports that his Mother Monica said in a kind of trance when she was near her death CHAP. XI 2. I Come to the second Branch of this use of Exhortation and that is to labour for Eternal good things chiefly and before all other good things labour for these in the first place Labour indeed we may and must for Temporal good things Though Temporal good things are not so high as to be primarily desired yet they are not so low as to be peremptorily neglected They are a good Viaticum to a better Inheritance they are great enablements to do service to God and good to others Not a Christian though a Believer but hath relation to two Worlds whilst he lives here he is a member of this World but he is Heir of a better Now so long as he is in this World he stands in need of what may help him in his way towards Heaven or that may be useful for his better and more easie leading of this short and mortal life Verily were but the World kept in its own room it would prove no enemy to Grace to the Soul or Heaven for no question but there is a way of enjoying God even in Worldly enjoyments and labouring after the good things of this life The whole World says one and all things contained therein were made for man and are so disposed in that â—ort as they may best serve to the benefit and profiâ— of man It seemeth nothing else then a vast house furnished with all things necessary whose inâ—abitant possessor or Fructuarius is man Supposing says â—y Author man were not in the World there were no â—â—se of the World The World was never intended to â—e a desart serving only for a den of wild Beasts and for a Wood of thorns but for man to dwell in and inhabit there to glorifie his Creator in a right using of â—he Creatures as well as any other way A Believer may questionless with God's good leave labour for the good things of this life he haâ—h God's allowance to endeavour to get an estate in the World and to haâ—e a share in the fatness of the Earth as well as in the dew of Heaven as Isaac divides that bleâ—â—ing of his Gen. 2. 28 v. to Jacob God give tâ—ee saith he of the dâ—w of heaven and the fatness of the earth and plenty of corn and wine Though Mâ—rie's better part in the unum necessarium of the Soâ—l â—houâ—d â—e â—ooked after in the first place yet Martha's many tâ—ings of the body should not be neglected Your heavenly Father said Jesus Christ our Saviour knoweth ye have need of these things Matth. â— 32. v. And God hath promised to his People Temporal blessings needful for this Natural life In the Covenant of Grace God promiseth not only to write his Law in our hearts and to forgive our sins but also to confer even Temporal good things as they shall be serviceable to us in our journey towards Heaven or for our more comfortable living in the World Adam when he fell did not only lose his title to Heaven and all Eternal good things but even to the Earth too and all Temporal good things thereof but when God makes a Covenant with any of the Sons and Daughters of Adam it shall give them a title not only to Heaven but also to the Earth they shall be as Heirs of Salvation Heb. 1. 14. v. so inheriters of the Earth Matth. 5. 5. v. Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth Psal 37. 9. v. Those that wait upon the Lord they shall inherit the earth 22. v. Such as be blessed of him shall inherit the earth 29. v. The righteous shall inherit the Land and dwell therein for ever 34. v. Wait on the Lord and keep his way and he shall exalt thee to inherit the Land And therefore in old time the best men were likewise the richest men as Abraham Isaac Jacob Job and David Abraham's Servant saith Genes 24. 35. v. The Lord hath blessed my master greatly and he is become great and he hath given him flocks and heards and silver and gold and men-servants and maid-servants and Camels and Asses Jacob speaking of his two bands or great heards of Sheep and Camels that went before him saith Gen. 32. 10. v. With my staff I passed over this Jordan and now I am become two bands Job 1. 1. v. Job was a perfect man and a just one that feared God and eshewed evil Now one of the next things mentioned of Job is his substance 3. v. which was very great Seven thousand Sheep three thousand Camels five hundred yoak of Oxen five hundred she-Asses and a very great houshold so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the East As Job was eminently rich so he was eminently good as by Providence he was made eminently rich so by Graâ—e he was also eminently godly none like him in all the earth And moreover Temporal good things are God's blessings that came with a promise God hath promised his own People such a share and portion of them as shall be needful for their more comfortable being and living in this World
It is not my purpose to enlarge upon this subject yet would I leave a few words with you to encourage you to labour even for these Temporal things forasmuch as God hath promised them 't is promised to him that feareâ—h the Lord Psal 112. 3. v. That wealth and riches shall be in his house That is when God seeth it good for all promises of Temporal mercies must be understood with an exception they are not to be taken absolutely but conditionally So far as they are helps to the furthering of a Christians main good and no hinderances of his everlasting welfare so far he may be sure to be a partaker of them and God will bâ—ess his endeavouring to gain and possess them Whatsoever he doth it shall prosper Psal 1. 3. v. Indeed we cannot instance in any Temporal good things but in one place or other there is a promise made of it to the Godly Godliness hath the promise of this life What God hath promised to give his People may with his good leave labour for But notwithstanding what I have said a Christian's care should be that whilst he hath his hands in the Earth his heart should be in Heaven and he should learn to live above those things which he cannot live without his chief labour and pains should be to gain such things which will be of most use in Heaven I may say of the best of all Temporal things as the Philosopher said of the City of Athens That it was a City Ad perigrinaendum jucunda but ad habitandum non tuta Pleasant for journeying but not safe for dwelling So these things are comfortable and useful for us journeying towards Heaven but they are not such things as will be of use when we come into Heaven It is good counsel that one gives Omnia ista contemnito quibus solutus corpore non indigebis Despise whilst you are in the body those things whereof you shall have no need when you are out of the body Those things that will be of use in Heaven should principally be laboured for on Earth We cannot better shew our selves to be wise Christians then by taking off this course as I shall by and by shew You know what Christ said when he came to determine the question between the two Sisters even now named Martha and Mary Luk. 10. 42. v. Mary hath 〈◊〉 that good part which shall not be taken from her And why that good part because she had chosen that which should not be taken from her Verily he makes the best choice that prefers those things that will last those things that death cannot rob us of before all other good things in the World It was the saying of Aristotle that great leader of the School and most Eagle-eyed into the mysteries of Nature of all Philosophers called therefore Nature's Secretary concerning knowledge That a little knowledge though but conjectural about Heavenly things is to be preferred above much knowledge though certain about inferiour things It is true herein aâ—so that a little of those things that are Eternal is to be preferred before a great deal of what is meeâ—ly â—â—mporal And this should make every one to labour â—or Eâ—ernal good things as the same Ariâ—â—otle studyed Philosophy he studyed Philosoâ—hy in the morning that was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but Eloquence in the after-noon that was his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his chief study was that oâ— Philosophy as for Eloquence and other studies they were only by the by as we say Indeed no time better spent then what is spent this way I find it reported of Suarez a very learneâ— man one who wrote many Tomes of Dispuâ—ations that he prized the time he set a part for the searching and examining of his heart in reference unto God above all the time that ever he spent in other stuâ—ies his consâ—ience felt a relenting pang for strength an time so ill imployed this time and strength had iâ— been spent in searching and examining his heart haâ— been better spent and so of every Christian theiâ— time cannot be better spent then in labouring for whaâ— will advantage the Soul in reference unto Eternity and for Heaven where he hopes to spend his who Eternity Even Heaâ—hens have highly esteemed thoâ— Eliâ—ian delights which they did but phansie anâ— have under-valued and contemned the things here be low how sad a thing is it that a Christian's hearâ— should not be more taken up with Heavenly delights which as I shall shew afterwards are no phaâ—sies but certainties Now to back this second branch of the use of Exhortation I shall add the following Motives to what hath been said by way of Confirmation Motive 1. Because Christians labouring or not labouring for Eternal good things will bespeak them wise men or fools Motive 2. Because the greatest of Temporal good things without Eternal good things will leave a man a Beggar leave him in an undone condition Motive 3. Because Eternal good things even without Temporal good things will make a man a rich man Motive 4. Because Eternal good things are real good things and all Temporal good things are but imaginary good things Motive 5. Because Eternal good things only are they that will be for a Christian's life To perswade all men to labour chiefly for Eternal good things I shall besides what I shall now add desire every one to call to mind those eight particulars mentioned in the sixth Chapter And when we remember that God hath commanded this very thing That these things are the chiefest of good things The only lasting good things Good things alwayes desirable The only satisfying good things Good things that do concern the Soul Good things about which our labour will not be in vain Neither will it ever repent us to have laboured for them I conceive the Exhortation will be sufficiently backed with Motives CHAP. XII 1. MOtive Because your labouring or not labouring for Eternal good things will bespeak you Wisemen or Fools My discourse will fall into these two parts 1. Your labouring for Eternal good things will bespeak you Wisemen 2. Your not labouring for them will bespeak you Fools I do begin with the first 1. Your labouring for Eternal good things will bespeak you Wisemen There are more fools in the world then such as we say are to be begged for fools men who are defective in their naturals that are meer Ideots and void of natural understanding Solomon affirms this in his Proverbs alwayes styling the wicked man the fool Prov. 1. 7. v. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge but fools despise wisdom and instruction 22. v. How long ye simple men will ye love simplicity and the scorners delight in their scorning and fools hate knowledge It is the wicked man here that Solomon stiles fool the man that cares not to be made wise to salvation the man that cares not for the knowledge of Eternal good things There was not a man in all
Egypt to be found so wise as Joseph why so Because fore-seeing the years of famine he filled their Store-houses against the time of want Neither is there a man to be found in all the world so wise as the Godly man who only is called the man of wisdom Miâ—ha 6. 9. v. Why so Because fore seeing the length of Eternity he labours to enrich himself with hidden and Heavenly treasures that will do most good then They only shew themselves wisemen that are careful to lay up a stock and store that will do them good throughout all Eternity when as the world's fools for want of the like care will then have no good thing for their Souls to feed upon Many foolish men are like the want on Grashopper that leaps and skips chirps and sings all the time of Summer and when the time of the Winter comes it perisheth for want of what might have been gathered in the Summer O such are too many they eat and drink they laugh and sing they spend their dayes in sinful delights all the dayes of their life and entering upon Eternity they Eternally perish for want of what might have been gotten in the time of life Whereas the wise-hearted Christian is like the Annt or Bee that toyl and labour in the Summer against winter So they who are Spiritually wise in the time of life are trading for Eternity whilst they live upon Earth they are seeking after Heaven and looking after things that are invisible they are laying up treasures in Heaven a good foundation against the time to come Before their Bodies be laid up in the dark and dismal Prison of the grave their care is that their never-dying Souls may be carryed into Abraham's bosom Before all opportunities for doing their Souls good are taken away their care is to turn to God to accept of Christ to get their sins pardoned their evidence for Heaven cleared that so they may be for death prepared and after death enjoy a future and glorious felicity Before the unavoidable dissolution and separation of their Souls and Bodies and the departing hour must come their care is that when they dye they may dye in the Lord Rev. 14. 13. v. that when they sleep the sleep of death they may sleep in Jesus 1 Thess 4. 14. that when their lives must end their ends may be in peace Psal 37. 37. v. In a word that they may dye the death of the righteous That already twice repeated Text Col. 3. 2. v. Set your affections on things above not on things on the earth speaks to this purpose The word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we must be wise for them and this is to manifest an high point of Heavenly wisdom when meâ— are wise for Heavenly things that though they do walk on the Earth yet they do daily converse in Heaven and have their eyes fixed upon invisible things there looking upon Earthly contents to be too mean grounds whereon to raise their joyes that which ravisheth their hearts and quickens them in their labours is their thinking upon beholding of and hoping for those beams of inaccessible glory Moses was a wise man and so esteemed and reported by the Spirit of God because he despised the pleasures of Pharaoh's Court having an eye to the recompence of reward Hebr. 11. 24 25 26. v. That is because he despised all the present arguments of delight and contentment and preferred those excellencies which he knew should be infinitely greater as well as he knew they should be all 2. Your not labouring for them will bespeak you Fools Here in the world if men be but deep Polititians have profound reaches and a deep insight into the things of the world they go for very wise men But suppose a man were not inferiour to Virgil of whom it is reported that if all sciences were lost they might be found in him Or to Aristotle who by some was called wisdom it self in the abstract Or that Jew Aben Ezra of whom it was said that if knowledge had put out her Candle at his brain she might light it again and that his head was a throne of wisdom Or to that Israelitish Achitophel whose words were held as Oracles Or to Solomon who was able to unravel Nature and to discourse of every thing from the Cedar to the Hysope or Pelitory on the wall Though we were as one sayes of St. Hierome that he knew all that was knowable Or lastly though a man were equal with Adam who knew the nature of all Creatures And yet not be wise to salvation not be like the wise Scribe who was taught from the Kingdom of Heaven not be seeking after those things that will endure beyond a season and that will satisfie an immortal Soul verily this man will at last prove himself but a fool Such a fool was that miserably mistaken rich man in the Gospel who though by himself or others judged wise in the account of the only wise God was a very fool why for he provided only for the time of this life for many years only to be spent in the world but provided nothing at all for death or for his Soul after death As Cicero said of some Mihi quidem nulli satis â—ruditi videntur quibus nostra sunt ignota I cannot take them for Schollars that partake not of our learning So may I say they are not to be accounted wise men but very fools who are not wise to that which is good wise in Christ wise to secure the chiefest good and which is of the greatest value to wit their precious Souls of more worth then any thing they can stand possessed of and Heavens happiness Such and such only deserve the name of wise men and prudent ones who choose those wayes and are diligent in those actions that make for Eternal happiness The Italians arrogate to themselves the monopoly of wisdom in that Proverb of theirs Italians say they both seem wise and are wise whereas Spaniards seem wise and are fools French men seem fools and are wise They of Portugal neither are wise nor so much as seem so So many in the world think themselves the only wise men but in Spiritual and Eternal matters neither are wise nor so much as seem wise therein Those who are not Heavenly wise wise to that which is good though the wisest Polititians upon Earth though they be the most ample and cunning Machiavilians that live though they be Doctors in that deep reaching Faculty yet are they like fools being sharp-eyed like the Eagle only in the things of the Earth but as blind as Beetles in the things of Heaven Wise it is true they are but it is with such a wisdom as like the Ostrich wings makes them out-run others upon Earth and in pursuit of Earthly things but helps them never a whit towards Heaven or to pursue Heavenly things Every one will cry him up for a fool who rather chose to stay in the Theatre and
is a thing which the most skilled in Arithmetick will want figures to express Imagine the number of starrs in the firmament the piles of grass upon the earth and the grains of Sand upon the Sea shore yet will not all those put together set forth the duration and years of Eternal life though every starr and every pile of grass and every grain of sand should be used to express so many millions of years or Miriads of ages as there are drops of water in all the Seas and Rivers in the world If men had no other life to live but this here in this world then they might content themselves only with the things of this life but they have an everlasting life therefore should they make some provision answerable thereunto not providing only for this life which is but a span long and neglect another life that is so spacious We must all live for ever 1 John 2. 17. v. And truly these thoughts of Eternity should be prevailing thoughts and over-awing thoughts I speak not to one here but must live an Eternal life one way or other both young and old must live in a season beyond this season And being we must all of us live Eternally it should call upon us to labor for Eternal things for such things as will endure all our life long Amongst the Customes that have been observed amongst the rites and ceremonies in making Bishops they have this speech to them have Eternity in your minds O that we all could work this upon our selves that it might prevail with us to seek after that which is Eternal Think with yourselves Christians these bodies of yours though frail and mortal must yet live forever these souls of yours must live forever And it becomes us therefore to labour after those things that will endure forever for things that will endure beyond a season that will continue after millions of ages and longer then the ages of a million of worlds For want of considering that life which must last â—hrough all Eternity and providing for the same when men have come to dye and seen Eternity before â—hem how hath the sight thereof amazed the souls of â—en I have read of one who in a dying condition â—aving his thoughts upon Eternity said If it were â—ut a thousand years I could bear it but seeing it is â— Eternity thus amazeth me Surely if men did but â—riously think upon Eternity they durst not neglect â—roviding for it they would not lay aside all labour â—d thoughts for Eternal good things This this is â—e thing that will indeed amaze them when they come â— dye But on the contrary that Soul which is inâ—rested in Eternal good things the thoughts of Eterâ—ity will not dismay him he is provided of that which â—ill last as long as his life will last and this very thing â—th comfort him The Psalmist when he considered the decaying conâ—tion of himself that his life present was a shadow â—d that he was like withered grass yet comforted himself that God with whom he should live for ever was Eternal and did abide for ever Psal 102. 11. 12. My dayes are like a shadow that declineth and I am withered like grass but thou O Lord shall endure for ever and thy remembrance unto all generations Why doth he put these two together thus My shadow and God's enduring for ever as if he had said saith one This is my comfort that though I am of short continuance yet God with whom I shall live afterwards is Eternal and abideth for ever And happy he when this life is ended is sure of an Eternal God with whom to spend an Eternal life The Psalmist therefore goes on comforting himself v. 24. 25 26 27. Thy years are throughout all generations of old hast thou laid the foundations of the earth and the Heavens are the work of thine hands they shall perish but thou shalt endure yea all of them shall wax old like a Garment as a vesture shalt thou change them and they shal be changed but thou art the same and thy years shall have no end What comfort will it be when these old buildings of our bodies shall be pulled down and these tabernacles and cottages of clay must be mouldred into dust to be assured of a building not made with hands eternal in the heavens Even when one skin falls off another comes on Or as when a man layes by an old suit it is but to put on a better and more lasting 2 Cor. 5. 1. v. For we know that if this earthly house of our tabernacle were dissolved we have a building of God a house not made with hands eternal in the heavens What a comfort will it be when a man must leave a great Estate here and a great Inheritance here that for hundreds of years and many generations hath appertained to his Ancestors that he is assured of an Eternal inheritance Hebrews 9. 15. verse What a comfort will it be when a man shall part with and be taken from all those pleasures of the world he now doth enjoy yet he shall enjoy pleasures at God's right hand for evermore Psal 26. 11. v. In thy presence is fulness of joy at thy right hand are pleasures for evermore The Swan was of old dedicated to Apollo because she sings sweetly before death by which Hierogliphick the Ancients intimated the joyfulness of vertuous men before their death as supposing the Elâ—â—ian delights in the enjoyment whereof they should alwayes live after this life Christians remember we have far better assurance of an Eternal life than the Heathens had and knowing we must live Eternally should help us to look beyond present things such as are Riches Reveneâ—s Honors and the utmost of all earthly excellencies and worldly felicities Having done with the Motives or Arguments to perswade to labor for Eternal good things all which I desire may be weighed in the ballance of reason and conscience I shall in the next place hereunto add these following helps Help 1. Get. all the knowledge of Eternity and Eternal good things you can or are any wayes able Help 2. Frequently imploy your selves in considering and contemplating upon Eternity Help 3. Labour to get some tastes of those things we have shewed before are Eternal good things Help 4. Alwayes bear in your thoughts the immortality of your souls Help 5. Study the shortness of time and your present life Help 6. Get a sight of Eternal good things by the eye of faith Of all which briefly in the following Chapter as they are here propounded CHAP. XIII Helps to forward you in the labouring after Eternal good things 1. Help GEt all the knowledge of Eternity and eternal good things you can or are any wayes able It is most true that no tongue can express either the length of Eternity or the excellency of Eternal good things Eternity is that unum perpetuum hodie one perpetual day which shall never have end and therefore the
related of Peter Camois a Bishop of Berry in France that he in his draught of Eternity tells that some devout Personages caused those words of the Prophet Isaiah 33. 14. v. to be written in letters of gold upon their Chimney pieces Who amongst us shall dwell with the devouring fire who amongst us shall dwell with everlasting burnings Hell fire is an everlasting fire and Hell torments are Eternal torments There will be no getting out of Hell nor ever any end put to the torments of Hell If the torments were never so extream yet it were something if they might have an end but they are endless They shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord as Saint Paul saith 2 Thess 1. 9. v. The fire thereof is unquenchable Matth. 3. 42. v. Whose fan is in his hand and he will thorowly purge his floor and gather his wheat into the garner but will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire There is not only an Extremity but also an Eternity in these torments of Hell that great Lake of God's wrath that Store-house of Eternal fire and bottomless depth where there is no evil but must be expected and no good that can be hoped where poor Sinners shall be drenchâ—â—in Seas of fire and Floods of wrath shall over-whelm them and they shall never rise again Momentaneum est quod delectat Aeternum quod cruciat That which now delights men is momentany but that which will torment them hereafter is perpetual for there is no redemption out of Hell If once thou comest there Christian thou wilt find no passage thence and there most certainly must thou be this night if thou dyest this day without any share of Eternal good things And this will be the lot of those guilded pot-sheards of the Earth who because they abound in the things of the Earth do pride themselves in their power and pomp look high and speak big and triumph over the impotent and inferiour ones living near unto them but in the mean time they do not at all mind our Saviour's injunction in my Text Labour not for the meat that perisheth but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life 2. Meditate upon Eternal glory Christian thus think with thy self upon thy labouring or not labouring for Eternal good things thy bane and thy bliss thy avoiding everlasting torments and thy enjoying everlasting happiness does depend Now thou hast before thee a double Eternity to think of the one infinitely miserable and most accursed the other infinitely comfortable and most glorious Think it not much to labour and take pains but think with thy self what thou labourest for Thou labourest to gain a Crown that fadeth not away Thou labourest for an Inheritance that is Eternal Thou labourest for better and more enduring substance then the World affords Thou labourest for pleasures that are at Gods right hand for evermore Thou labourest for an happiness that never will have an end And who would think much to labour for these things Shall a poor man cheerfully ply his labour all day in hopes of a little wages at night and shall not a Christian labour cheerfully in hopes of Eternal glory 3 Help Labour to get some tastâ— of those things we have shewed before are Eternal good things God usually affordeth his People that hereafter shall possess such things a prelibation and tast of them whilst they are here They have arraboncm an earnest and they also have primitias first fruits God giveth them earnest to shew them how sure they are of them Hence it is that we do read of the Earnest of the Spirit and the Seal 2 Cor. 1. 22. v. Who also hath sealed us and given the earnest of the Spirit in our heart And God also affordeth them first fruits to shew them how good they are Hence it is we do read of the first fruits Rom. 8. 23. v. Our selves also which have the first fruits of the Spirit even we our selves groan within our selves waiting for the adoption to wit the redemption of our body As God you see gives unto them a pledge to shew how sure so he also gives then a tast to shew how sweet and how good As Israel tasted of the first fruits in the Land of Canaan in the Grapes of Eshchol before they were actually possessed of Canaan that they might be encouraged to use means to get into the Land So deals God oftentimes with his People he gives them tastâ—s of Heaven to encourage them to labour after more of Heaven for that soul which hath once tastâ—d of Heaven and those Eternal good things there will have its appetite provoked for more of them It is the way to have a greater esteem of Heavenly good things to have those who have been cloyed and surfeited with the Worlds dainties to tastâ— that sweetness which is in them He that gets but a tastâ— of these things will find a great difference between the bitter sweets of this World and those fruits that grow upon the Tree of life in the midst of the Paradise of God It was the practice of one Antigenedes a famous Musitian that when he was to play any lesson he would give order that before or after some other bad Musitians should even cloy and surfeâ—â— his Auditors hereby his Musick would be the more esteemed of and delighted in in like manner tastâ—s of Heaven and the good things of Heaven cannot but make all to esteem them that have tastâ—d the things of the World before and esteeming of them they will the more eagerly labour to have their fill of them As it is said of the Lioness that when she hath once tastâ—d of the sweetness of mans flesh she is never satisfied until she hath more of it A tastâ— of that excellent and rarest Wine made by Christ in Cana of Galilee did so affect the tastâ— of the Guests that in comparison of it they esteemed but little of the former Wine they had drunk of the new Wine had gained their liking and good opinion It argues that men have never tastâ—d any of the sweetness of Eternal good things that are not labouring for more of them if they had tastâ—d of the sweetness thereof they would not be satisfied without more tastâ—â— thereof The Apostle hath an apt passage in 1 Pet. 2. 3. v. As new born babes desire the sincere milk of the Word and surely Babes do with much earnestness desire the milk of the breasts but what might stir up this see v. 3. If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious A tast of sweetness in the honey-comb whets the appetite sets on the edge thereof again and again So would men but labour to get some tastâ—s of God and Christ of the Spirit and graces thereof and of the comforts of a good conscience they would again long after and labour for more of them They would be like those Gauls that Plutarch tells of who after they had once
a tastâ— of sweet Wine of the Grapes that grew in Italy they enquired in what Countrey such sweet Wine was And after they had understood where such Grapes grew they would never be at rest till they had got that Countrey Tasting enters the Soul of a Believer into the first degrees of Heavenly joyes imparts unto it some beginnings of the vision and fruition of God gives unto it an earnest and assurance of Glory as being the first fruits of Eternal happiness And that sweet relish of God and Christ that unspeakable sweetness they do find in the Spirit of God and Graces thereof do make them long to partake of that Sea and Ocean of Eternal bliss in Heaven I have read indeed of one Lazarus of whom it is said Nullo prorsus gustu praeditus erat nullam in edendo voluptatem persentiebat He had no bodily tastâ— at all And we oftentimes hear men complain under sicknesses and diseases that they have lost their tastâ—â— so I know it is with many in a Spiritual respect they savour not they relish not the things of God they find no sweetness in the things of Heaven Angelical viands are no wayes pleasant unto them in these things they find no more tastâ— then in the white of an Egg Sin which is the Devil's Sweet-meat only pleaseth them though it will prove bitterness in the end But Believers tastâ— a sweetness herein that even ravisheth their Souls A tastâ— of God even ravished the Soul of David when he cryes out Psal 34. 8. v. O taste and sâ—e that the Lord is good he had tastâ—d of God himself and is not content unless he bring others to tast also A tast of Christ in his living waters even ravished the Woman of Samaria that she leaves her water-pot runs to the City and calls out her Friends and Neighbours to tast how good the Messiah was John 4. 28. v. The sweetness found in the Spirit of God is so ravishing that when all the World cannot cheer up a drooping heart testâ—â— of the Spirit 's Graces can these make the Soul rejoyce with joy unspeakable and glorious Saith the Spouse Cant. 2. 3. v. As the Apple-tree among the trees of the wood so is my Beloved among the Sons I sate down under his shadow with great delight and his fruit was sweet to my tastâ— what other fruit is this thâ—n the Graces of God's Spirit which are called the fruits of the Spirit Gall. 5. 22. v. And of the sweetness of a good conscience he that hath it can best judge unto such a one it is a continual feast from hence he sucks more sweetness then Sampson did from his honey comb the peace of a good conscience unto him is like Ezekiel's Roll Chap 3. 3. v which when the Prophet are it it was in his mouth as honey for sweetness And a tast of such things as these will effectually draw and inflame a soul to obtain a further and a full enjoyment as being unsatisfied until it be fill'd with all the fulness of God The old Romans by their imperial Lawes forbad the Exportation of Wine Oyle and some other things Barbari gustu illecti promptius invaderent fines Romanorum least the Barbarians allured with the tast of such things that grew and were plentiful amongst them should be provoked to invade them I may well here allude to this story and say such an exciting property there is in the tast of all divine and heavenly things that it makes the tasters unquiet and restless until they swim in and drink their fill of those Chrystal Rivers in glory those heavenly Nepenthes and infinite Oceans of pleasures that are at God's right hand for evermore O what would the damned in Hell give for a few drops of this heavenly Nectar had they a thousand worlds to part with they would give them all for one tast thereof for one drop thereof but such a mercy can never be purchased The rich man in the Gospel beggs but in vain for a drop or two to cool his mouth and could not prevail Indeed he did not ask for a taste of the water of life but a drop of common water which in torrents runs down among us but God he will not let the damned tast so much of his goodness as a drop of common water comes to Time was that they were invited to taste of that cup in God's right hand filled with what is ten thousand times sweeter than Nectar but they would not they slighted the invitation and now of the cup of trembling which is in God's left hand into which the dreggs of his fury are wrung out they shall tast and drink deep to Eternity They would not tast of his goodness then and now they shall for ever tast of what his infinite power justice and wisdome can inflict upon them Well then Christian as thou wouldst be among the damned who shall never tast the least drop of mercy get tastâ— of those Eternal good things that are layd up in Heaven thou hearest tasting thereof will mak the Soul long for more and labour for more this is that will also carry thee through what troubles persecutions or fiery tryalls thou mayst possibly meet with in the way to Heaven It was this which made the holy Martyrs to deny themselves in all that was dear to flesh and blood this revived their souls at the stake and upon the Scaffold this supported them in their going and suffering what ever the enraged malice of men or Divels inflicted upon them they had tasted of that amazing and ravishing sweetness that was in Christ Jesus they had tasted of the fruit of the Tree of Life that is in the midst of the Paradise of God Rev. 2. 7. v. And with desire they desired to eat and have their fill thereof as God hath promised to him that overcometh 4. Help Alwayes beare in your thoughts the immortality of your souls that your souls by which you have your animation must survive the grave must live longer thâ—n time their continuance must be eviternal inexterminable and without end they must live for ever To live is so natural to the Soul as that the soul can as soon cease to be as cease to live Life is insepâ—rably linked to it and immortality most proper to it though in a moral sense the Soul is said to dye and be dead yet in a natural sense the Soul of man so liveth that it never dyeth Often think of this truth Christians that your Souls will be immortal immortal I say but not as though they were any parts or particles taken from the substance of that God which inspired them as Servetus Osiander and others are said to hold Nor as if there were a transmigration of Souls into other bodies as the Pythagorians think Nor that they are placed in the Starrs which formerly governed them as the Stoicks taught Nor yet are they immortal A parte ante as the Philosopher speaks but only A parte
mouth against Heaven and his tongue walketh through the Earth he lets fly on both hands and layes about him like a mad man and so aboundeth in transgression Let a Christian never so much abound in labouring for Eternal good things when he comes to enjoy them he will acknowledge that the abundant mercy of God in bestowing them upon him hath abundantly yea infinitely exceeded all his labour 5. In labouring for Eternal good things labour earnestly We shall see some men at their labour labouring so earnestly for what they desire to gain that they are not nor cannot be quiet until their desires be accomplished Qui diâ—â—s vult fieri cito vult fiâ—ri they that will be â—â—â—h cannot be at quiet until their desires be accomplished they are all upon the spurr all upon the wing after the world they add labour to labour for the getting of the worlds good things they are so inflamed with coveâ—ousness that the Prophet saith they pant after the dust of the earth Amos 2. 7. v. So eager are they in their pursuits as if they were almost out of breath but have no breath to labour after these Eternal good things But beleive it Christians any kind of labour will not serve the turn it must not be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an ordinary and labour but that labour St. Paul requireth 1 Cor. 15. last v. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the hardest labour Negotium quod nos caedit quasi vires frangit It were a shame for a Christian to see some labour more earnestly for bubbles thâ—n he for blessedness for trifles thâ—n he for glory for Temporal good things thâ—n he for Eternal good things His labour for these things should be like that whereunto St. Jude exhorts in his Epistle when he would have those that he writeth unto earnestly contenà for the Faith v. 3. the Apostles word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it signifieth cum summâ— studio câ—rtare tâ— contend with all the strength most earnestly Herein he should be like the twelve Tribes of whom St. Paul saith Acts 26. 7. v. That they served God instantly not only sine intermissione without intermission but with a kind of vehemency the word used signifieth to the utmost of their strength And herein do as the Apostles prayed Acts 1. 14. v. They all continued with one accord in Prayer and supplication 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The phrase signifieth not only continuance in regard of time but instancy and importunity and such a perseverance as is kept up with much labour and force When a Christian labours earnestly for these things he may hope his labour will be effectual As when Elias prayed earnestly that it might not rain it rained not on the Earth by the space of three years and six moneths James 5. 17. v. This clause he prayeth earnestly noteth the cause why Elias was heard he prayed with earnestness and faith according to the will of God revealed to him So when a Christian laboureth earnestly and in Faith God will not let his labour be in vain It is great pitty to see some men and observe their uncessant care earnest labour and unwearied industry in riding and toyling and bustling up and down in the world and all this is done that they may be rich in the world but will do nothing to be rich towards God Luke 12. 21. v. and to compass an earthly purchase but take no care for Heavenly excellencies The very reason hereof is because they have no desire of these things and therefore they lay not out that strength and earnestness for Heaven as they do for the world Christ and Grace God and Salvation are offered unto them nay pressed upon them but they put away Salvation from them as a froward child puts away the breast hence God complaineth Psal 81. 11. v. Israel would none of me they preferr vain things that cannot profit before the blood of Christ and the Graces of the spirit Oyl in the â—cruse and Meal in the barrel before the bread of life Mammon before Manna perishing comforts before heavenly things that are lasting like foolish children who preferr their play before their food and trifles before Treasure It were to be wished that there were more who desired these Eternal good things more whose souls and hearts were set upon them as hungry men whose stomachs are set upon their meat such are not only willing to eat their meat â—ut they strongly long after their meat with desire they desire it and think it long until they have it How would they then cry out with the Church to God Isay 26. 9. v. With my soul have I desired thee in the night yea with my spirit within me will I seek thee early and say as David Psal 42. 2. v. My soul thirsteth after God when shall I come and appear before God or as he again sayes Psalm 73. 25. v. Whom have I in Heaven but thee and there is none upon Earth that I desire beside thee Many it is true desire what I have spoken so much of but their desires are not right desires in as much as they labour not for them but are like a man thaâ— would have a Lease but is loath to pay a fine Anâ— like Herod who of long time desired to see Christ but never stirred out of his doors to come where Christ was that he might see him Or as Balaam thaâ— wished well to Heaven but cared not to lead such a life as would bring him to Heaven Carnales noâ— curant quaerere quem tamen desiderant invenireâ— cupientes consequi sed non sequi saith one Carnal men care not to seek after him whom yet they desire to find fain they would have Christ but carâ— not to make after him fain they would be in Heaveâ— but care not to strive to enter into Heaven Multitudes there are who notwithstanding such desireâ— after happiness will certainly be forever miserable most true will they find the words of Solomon Prov 21. 25. v. The desire of the sloathful killeth him foâ— his hands refuse to labour Such a one wisheth weâ— to himself and because he cannot attain desired food he vexeth himself to death but yet will not labouâ— and work for it and so pineth away in his iniquity what is said of the sluggard in respect of the body also true of all those men in respect of their souls who would be happy and desire to enter into the Kingdome of Heaven but such desires will undo them why for their hands refuse to labour for Heaven Men must not think that good things whether temporal spiritual or eternal will drop out of the clouds to them as townes were said to come into Timotheus his toyl while he slept Unless mens desiring of Heaven and Eternal happiness be â—econded with labour whereby to obtain them it is â—othing worth desires if right are ever seconded with â—ndeavours after the thing desired Though St. â—aul saith 2 Cor. 8. 12.
especially remembering That it will not be long but this Labour will be at an end 1 Pet. 5. 10. v. After ye have suffered a while So may I say After you have laboured a while your Labour how great soever now it is will be at an END Soli Deo gloria in Aeternum A Prayer wherein the foregoing Treatise is Epitomized the several Pages thereof out of which the Prayer is collected being pointed unto by the Figures set down and composed for the use of the weaker sort of Christians after that they shall have read over the Treatise Psal 19. 14. v. 〈◊〉 the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in thy sight O Lord my strength and my Redeemer O Eternal Lord God before the Mountains were brought forth or ever the Earth or the world â—re made thou art God from everlasting to everlaâ—ng Help me a poor sinner with a thankful heart â— bless and praise thy name for the manifold and great â—reies both temporal and spiritual I have receiâ—d from thee Praised be thy name for ever that by â— holy word thou hast brought me to the knowâ—ge of thy self and Eternal happiness and hast afâ—ded unto me many precious helps both to underâ—d thy word and to direct me in that way which will â—d in a future and everlasting happiness Lord â—nt that what I have been taught by reading of this â—eatise may be sown as good seed in my heart keep that Satan that bird of Hell may not pick up anâ— of it but let it be so watered with the dew of thâ— blessed spirit that I who hope to 1 out live time anâ— all temporal enjoyments may turn 2 my worldlâ— care into a Godly care my care for this life and thâ— things of this life into a care for the things of anotheâ— life of a better life Let the great matter of mâ— thoughts 3 be not what I shall eat or what I shâ— drink or wherewithal I shall be clothed whereunto â— am 217 naturally prone but rather to seek first thâ— Kingdome of God and his righteousness being assureâ— that all these things shall be added unto me Seeinâ— thou callest for Labour and didst enjoyn 4. 5. 6. Labour to Adam in Paradise and wouldst have 8 noâ— idle and I have learned not to promise 13 my seâ— to obtain any good thing at thy hands without Labour work my heart into such a willing frame thaâ— 11 my Labour pains may 80 in obedience untâ— thy commands be chiefly 11 not about perishing bâ— Eternal good things and which without 56. 229 Labour cannot be obtained Help me being intenâ— and serious 15 to spend the 16 marrow of mâ— soul and the strength of my spirits about Grace heâ— and Glory hereafter which are 12 unspeakably beâ—ter then Gold and Silver and alwayes 17 to uâ— the right means to gain them searching for them â— all thine Ordinances in reading the Scriptures 19 for in them I think to have Eternal Life but becauâ— of my self I am dull to understand bless to me thâ— hearing 20 of thy word Preached and help me so tâ— hear that my soul may live the life of Grace here anâ— hereafter may live 21 the life of Glory To hearinâ— help me to add 21 such meditation both day anâ— night that may inable me to practice what I learn bâ— hearing Teach me how to improve the Sacrament so Baptisme 23 that first visible means whereby thou â—ast pleased to apply to me as by Word Sign and Seal the blood of Jesus Christ 24 for the remission of my sins that I may forsake the Divel the world â—d all the Lusts of the flesh and have no fellowship â—ith the unfruitful works of darkness but be found â— every respect faithful in God's Covenant sealed hereby However there be some who sleight the â—essed Sacrament of the Lord's Supper 23. 26. if as â— were an unnecessary Ordinance for ever keep me â—at I hungring and thirsting 25 after Christ and â— the benefits of his death and passion may delight â— be a Guest at that Table 27 where Christ's body â— set before me to eat and warm draughts of his blood â— drink Thou art a God hearing of Prayers by imâ—tunate 28. prayer at the Throne of Grace make â—e able through Jesus Christ to obtain those great â—ngs of Eternity which are discovered unto me in â—y Word and sealed up in the Sacraments And grant â—at I may not use these means for a time but 30 perâ—eringly use them and all other right means to gain â—eaven until thou makest me to enjoy Heaven haâ—ng assurance 202 that my Labour shall not be in â—n and that it will there 211 never repent me to â—ve Laboured for it Blessed be thy Name 31 for â—yly bread and all the good things of this life yet â—ke not up my Portion out of the greatest of those â—ngs which are indifferently distributed to Saints â— Sinners but let Eternal good things absolutely â—9 necessary to be had be my portion though 23 â—ould in Labouring for them meet with many vexâ—ons and sore persecutions choosing rather as the â— 72 wherefore I live to secure 33 an Eternal then a fading Inheritance As thou renewest 37â— thy mercies to me every morning in this Life everâ— morning help me to renew my diligence for the obâ—taining of a better life and when I have done witâ— the world and all business upon Earth 38 permiâ— me again into thy presence to mind and Labour foâ— thee and the things of Heaven When in the nighâ— 38. 39. thou drivest sleep from mine Eyes keeâ— me that I may not drive any spiritual devotion froâ— my Heart though then rest be denyed to my body â— yet O that my soul might not rest from 40 Prayinâ— to thee from 41 seeking after Christ from 44â— praising thee for mercies from 45 meditating upon thy word O let my Soul desire thee in 47 thâ— night Strengthen me to run 50 with patience tâ— Race that is set before me and alwayes to fight 51â— a good fight of Faith and to strive 55 that I maâ— enter in at the straight gate that I may obtain 50â— not a corruptible but incorruptible Crown As I aâ— naturally provident 57 for time to come graâ— that I may be found provident for Eternity to comâ— by laying 58 up Treasures in Heaven where neithâ— moth nor rust doth corrupt and where Theives â— not break through and steal and hereby manifest 60â— my self to be a follower of those though 64 seâ— who through faith and patience inherit the promisâ— wâ—iâ—st I do walk in the way of good men and keep tâ— paths of the Righteous beleiving 239 Scriptuâ— promises and obeying Scripture commands thâ— at last with them now in Heaven I may posseâ— Eternal good things Enrich my Soul with thoâ— good things that will 91 make me good by Graâ— 96 work a change in me give thy self 100 â— me that by holiness I may be fit
thee whom my soul prizeth above 306 the earth and its comforts and above heaven and its glory for my portion Jesus Christ for my Saviour the blessed spirit of Grace for my sanctifier Grace to change me from what I am by nature and Glory with thee in Heaven hereafter that will continue throughout that life which will be 299 Eternal even after a Million of ages 301 and longer then a Million of worlds Inlighten my darkned understanding that I may attain to the true knowledge of Eternity 304 and Eternal good things before my glass be out 305 my Sun set my race run and the dark night of Eternity overtake me Work Lord upon my heart a serious consideration what it is to perish 306 Eternally in Hell and to enjoy a blessedness eternally in Heaven that my labour and care may be to escape the one and to obtain the other O that as I must live hereafter through all Eternity so whilst I live here I might alwayes have Eternity in my thoughts and ever be endeavouring to 307 get assurance of an happy Eternity As my soul trembles to remember the 307 Eternity of pains in the nethermost Hell that region of confusion 309 and storehouse of Eternal fire where poor damned ones must be drenched in Seas of fire and floods of wrath 309 overwhelm them So Lord make me to tremble at sin that will bring all this upon me and enable me to walk in the wayes of holiness which will 309 be followed with happiness and Eternal glory O God whilst I am in the wilderness of this world let me I pray thee have some tasts 310 of those fruits that grow and are to be had in the Land of promise whereby my Soul 312 may be entered into the first degrees of heavenly joyes and may learn what a great difference 311 there is between the bitter sweets of this world and those fruits which grow upon the tree of Life in the Paradise of God and may have my soul effectually drawn and inflamed made unquiet and 314 restless to long for more labour for more 312 and not think my self happy until I have my fill of them until I be 314 filled with the fulness of God and come to swimm 312 in that Sea of Eternal bliss in heaven and those infinite Oceans of pleasure 314 that are at thy right hand for evermore I am convinced that my Soul 315 by which I have my animation shall not be extinguished 416 with my body but that it is seperable from my body and will subâ—ist and have a being in its seperate state survive the grave live longer then time its continuance must be eviternal inexterminable and without end and be clothed with Eternity after it is devested of this earthly case O God help me so to work this consideration of my Souls immortality upon my heart as to make me Labour for that 317 which will make my immortal soul for ever blessed and happy when it shall be unsheathed from my body unclothed from corruption and let loose from this cage of clay About this very thing I confess O God that my former carelesness hath been very great and at the remembrance of which I blush I am ashamed and tremble Had death seperated my soul from my body whilst I was thus careless of my Soul as my body should have been a prey 316 to rottenness worms and corruption my Soul that is endowed with an undying condition might have been in Hell I have yet a little time before me and it may be but a very little for the whole time of all my life is but short 317 and I do perceive my dayes do pass away 322 like a Post glide away strangely every day every hour every minute added to the time of my life proves so much taken from my life and I confess I know not what a day may bring forth 318 or whether I shall 319 enjoy a morrow even this night may 318 death assault me and my Soul be taken from me and before the Sun rise again I may be taken hence Help me therefore to improve my short time about such things as will be 318 of an Eternal advantage O let me not see an end put to my time until I have provided for Eternity Whilst I am in the way 320 to salvation whilst I suck at the breasts of those Ordinances that can feed me to Eternal Life help O Lord to improve present opportunities 322 to get an interest in Jesus Christ to lay hold on Eternal Life and to make sure of a future and everlasting happiness As the Divel 323 delayes no time becausâ— his time is sâ—ort to get me to Hell enable me to delay no time because my time is far shorter to get to Heaven But oh how dull is my heart in labouring for that without which I can neither be happy here nor hereafter help me therefore O Lord by the eye of faith to get a sight of 323 Eternal good things that so my heart may 325 be quickned to labour and take pains for them and long until it be in possession of them Purge out of me I pray thee O God all insincerity and all hypocrisy and make me with all faithfâ—lness 331 and Christian 332 diligence chearfully 336 and with delight earnestly 343 and unwearâ—â—aly 348 to seek those things 347 that are above where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God and alwayes to abound 340 in the work of the Lord forasmuch as I know my labour is not in vain in the Lord and I shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house and thou shalt at last make me drink of the River of thy pleasures These things O Lord and whatsoever else thou knowest needful for the enabling of me thy poor servant to live to thine honour and glory and forwarding the Eternal happiness of my precious Soul I beg for the sake of thy dear Son Jesus Christ my only Mediator and Advocate to whom with thee and the Holy Ghost be honour and glory world without end Amen Mark 11. 24. What things soever ye desire when ye pray beleive that ye receive them and ye shall have them John 16. 23. v. Verily Verily I say unto you whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name he will give it you A TABLE By the Order of Letters Directing to some Chief Things found in the fore-going Treatise A. A Bounding in all things in this life is oft times followed with want in Hell pag. 282 Abundant must the labour for Heaven be p. 340 â—braham how said to see Christ ' s Day p. 327 â—chilles Choyce p. 257 â—dam in innocency set to labour p. 7 â—fflicted ones find that Eternal good things stand them in stead p. 14â— â—fflictions often befal the Saints p. 141 â—lexander sleeps sound Parmenio being on the war p. 311 â—lexander compared by one to a stone 92 Alexander poysoned p. 171 King Alfred how spent the natural Day p. 35 Aelians
he could not rout out the Christians p. 207 Diogenes preferred his Cynical Life before Alexanders Royalty p. 223 Dionysius of Syracuse teaches a School at Corinth p. 170 Domitian ' s carelesness a cause of his death p. 318 Dreams how Temporal good things are compared thereunto p. 297 Dye willingly those will who are interessed in Eternal good things p. 75 Dying Men by wealth cannot be freed from the fury of a guilty conscience p. 129 E. EArthly things comprehended under Meat for three Reasons p. 6 Earthly things are but mean things in comparison of Eternal good things Ibid. Early some rise but why p. 248 Edward the Third at death forsaken of all but one Priest p. 128 End of a Christian ' s life what it is p. 72 Enemies there are many unto a Christian p. 51 52 Enemy to a Christian is Sin and that a sore one p. 53 Ephemeris a Beast and why so called p. 318 Ephorus his Saying of his Countrey-men the Cumaeans p. 249 Equal are all Men after death p. 284 Eternal good things comprehended under Meat for two Reasons p. 9 Eternal good things especially are to be laboured for p. 11 12 13 Eternal good things to be laboured for do best agree with our Natures p. 57 Eternal good things greatly laboured for by the Saints p. 63 64. Eternal good things will be possessed but by a few p. 64 65 66 67 68 Eternal good things must of necessity be gained p. 69 Eternal good things make Men willing to dye p. 75 Eternal good things are by God commanded chiefly to be laboured for p. 80 Eternal good things the best of Good things p. 84 Eternal good things the best of Good things proved by two Reasons p. 91 Eternal good things make the possessor of them good Ibid. Eternal God is p. 101 Eternal good things will do a Christian good under afflictions p. 140 Eternal good things will stand a Christian in stead and do him good when he lyes upon a sick or dying bed p. 144 Eternal good things will do a Christian good and stand him in stead at the day of Judgment p. 152 Eternal good things are always desirable p. 188 Eternal good things are satisfying good things p. 193 Eternal good things concern the Soul p. 198 Eternal good things neglected will cause vexation in hell p. 212 Eternal good things not to be gotten without labour p. 229 Eternal good things are not Fancies p. 235 Eternal good things make a Man a Rich man p. 286 Eternal good things are real good things p. 293 Eternal good things are for a Mans life p. 299 Eternity longer than the longest life p. 400 Eternity thought of should make Men provide for Eternity p. 301 Eternity with the very word Eternity a Gentlewoman was much moved p. 307 Eternales certain Hereticks so called p. 318 Evenings Returns to God p. 38 Examples of Saints to be imitated p. 59 60 61 Excellency of a Thing lieth in answering of the end p. 74 Exceter a Duke of that Place begg'd barefooted p. 170 Exhortations to get Eternal good things p. 265 Eye of Faith sees a beauty in Eternal good things p. 22â— F. FAith an enriching Grace p. 289 Faith like a Prospective-glass to the Soul p. 326 Faiths eye sees a beauty in Eternal good things p. 224 225 Fancy of some Men is that the only comfort of this Life doth consist in temporal good things p. 221 Fancy since the Fall what it is Ibid. Fancy often usurpeth upon the Vnderstanding p. 222 Favorinus his excellent Saying concerning the Soul p. 203 Few only have a share in Eternal good things p. 64 65 66 67 68 Fighting of a Battle a Comparison to set forth Christianity by p. 51 Fire hath caused great ruines p. 168 Five parts of the World onely are observed to know CHRIST p. 68 Fools are all they who labour not for Eternal good things Friendship amongst Men mutable p. 156 Fruitfulness in the heart is caused by the Holy Ghost p. 117 G. GErmany in it 26 Villages at once on fire p. 166 Gillimer the King of the Vandals his poor Estate p. 171 Glory the hopes thereof in Heaven is a cordial under sufferings p. 143 Glory in Heaven is Eternal p. 174 309 God onely desired by David p. 31 God Eternal p. 101 God hath in him all perfections Ibid. God in Covenant with any makes their condition happy God hath enough in him to satisfie a Christian p. 196 God to be a God to any is a great portion p. 291. 292 Good are all they who do enjoy Christ p. 110 Good men are men of good consciences p. 121 Good and bad not small and great will be the difference at the day of Judgement p. 133 Gospel giveth a true account of Heaven p. 235 Grace and glory better than gold and silver p. 12 Grace commended p. 96 Grace an Eternal good thing p. 97 Grace and glory how they differ p. 97 Grace cannot be lost p. 97 Grace makes a change p. 97 Grace the best riches p. 98 Grace cleanseth the heart p. 97 Grashoper was the Athenians badge p. 219 Grashoper who like it p. 218. 273 Grave in it no man is richer than another p. 131 Grave in it temporal good things yield no comfort p. 130. 131. Great gifts despised by Luther p. 31 Guise the Duke thereof said to be the richest man in France p. 292 H. HAbitation for the soul in the body but a meer habitation p. 149 Habitation in Heaven is Eternal p. 184 Hannibal disappointed in taking of Rome and why p. 320 Happy men who they are p. 292 Hearing of the word attention is required p. 21 Heart of man by nature is stony p. 115 Heart is made fruitful by the workings of the Holy Ghost p. 117 Heathens minding things of this life p. 10 Heaven a light some glorious and everlasting habitation p. 150 Heaven truly described in the Gospel p. 235 Heaven all that have a knowledge thereof do not labour for it p. 236 Heavenly happiness set forth in some Queries p. 88. 89. 90 Heavenly happiness cannot be conceived p. 90 Heavenly things are the only lasting the everlasting good things p. 264. 173 Heir of the promises one of the greatest titles that belong to a Christian p. 241 Hell full of many knowing heads p. 236 Henry the 4 Emperour in poverty p. 170 Henry the 4 King of France esteemed France equal to the Spaniards many Kingdomes p. 179 Hermet his esteem of a Cat p. 223 Holiness from the Holy Ghost p. 114 Hopes of wicked men for Heaven will be frustrated p. 66. 67. Hopes for Heaven should be grounded upon the word of God p. 240 Hopes for Heaven a Cordial under afflictions p. 143 Hopes for Heaven are but in vain built upon the promises by those who obey not the Commandements p. 242. 243 Hormisda his esteem of Christ p. 108 I. Idleness desired of most men p. 5 Idle persons unprofitable persons p. 5. 8 Idle persons
man is who hath Eternal good things p. 286 Rich a Christian may be inwardly although he be poor inwardly p. 292. 293 Riches of tentimes proves an impediment to piety p. 92. 73. 94. 95. Riches at death will leave a man to the fury of a guilty Conscience p. 129 Righteous Judge will Christ be at the day of Judgement p. 135 Rise early why some so do p. 248 S. SAints departed how to be honoured p. 60 Saints are often afflicted p. 141 Saint Anthony spent the night in Prayer p. 40 Saint Marks treasury at Venice p. 107 Saladine carried nothing but his Winding sheet out of the world with him to the grave p. 131. 286 Satisfaction in God is to be found by any Christian p. p. 196. 197. Satisfie the Soul of man the whole world will not p. 289. 290. Scipio banished idle and unprofitable souldiers from his Camp p. 5. Scipio used every morning to go first to the Capital and then to the Senate p. 36 Scriptures excel all other writings p. 18 Scriptures should be the standard of all our actions p. 59 Seneca no day idle p. 48 Seneca not afraid of death p. 148 Seriousness to be exercised when at any time a Christian is labouring for Eternal good things p 16 Serpent Scycale p. 229 Sight of God and Christ in Heaven most ravishing p. 323. 324 Sin a sore Enemy p. 53 Sin aims at the souls damnation p. 54 Sin hath made man deformed p. 98 Sleep very beneficial p. 39 Sleep why by God it hath sometimes been with-held from men p. 39. 40. 41. Sleep being with-held hath proved well for some men p. 48. Slothfulness reproved p. 262. Sluggish spirits there are that would not willingly labour p. 4. 5. Solomons judgement of these Temporal good things p. 191 Soul of man hath but a mean habitation in the body p. 149 Soul of man concerned in Eternal good things p. 198. Soul of man especially to be provided for p. 199. 200. 201 Soul of man is immediately from God 202. Soul of man most excellent p. 202. 203 Soul of man makes the body lovely p. 202 Souldiers how chosen by Caius Marius p. 31. Spaniards what they say of Aquinas his writings p. 102 Spartan Kings that raigned but a year their practise p. 320. Spiritual sloth grown common p. 231 Starrs and other Caelestial bodies why they seem small to us p. 226 Striving Christianity compared to it p. 50 Store the best p. 58 Snarez what is reported of him p. 270 Supper of the Lord holds out Christ as well as the word p. 23 Supper of the Lord what food is received at it p. 25 Supper of the Lord to it men should come hungring and thirsting p. 25 Supper of the Lord neglects thereof reproved p. 26 Swan why it is dedicated to Apollo p. 303 Sweating sickness in England p. 39 T. TAsts of Heaven how operative p. 310. 311 Temporal and Eternal things deserve serious and holy meditations p. 1 Temporal good things but once petitioned for in the Lords Prayer p. 11 Temporal good things should be subserviant to Eternal good things proved out of the Lords Prayer p. 11 Temporal good things under terrours of Conscience do no good p. 126 Temporal good things at death yield no comfort p. 127 Temporal good things will not keep off death p. 128 Temporal good things yield no comfort in the grave p. 130 Temporal good things will yield no comfort in Hell p. 136 Temporal good things are but perishing good things p. 164 Temporal good things dazel the mind and distract the judgement p. 224 Temporal good things their worth p. 265 Temporal good things may with God's good leave be laboured for p. 266 Temporal good things promised so far as needful p. 267 268 Temporal good things without Eternal will leave a man a beggar p. 277 Temporal good things but imaginary good things p. 293 Thankfulness due to God for the least mercies p. 30. 31 Theodosius how he used to spend the night p. 247 Threatnings not in vain p. 84 â—ime is precious p. 44 â—ime not mispent will be comfortable at death p. 46 â—ime is but short p. 317. 318 â—ytius his punishment in Hell p. 118 â—orments in Hell are Eternal p. 308. 309 â—ully s Offices much esteemed by the Lord Burleigh p. 20 â—urks upbraid Christians p. 76 â—urkish Emperour by Mahomets Law is bound to Exercise some manual Trade or Calling p. 8 V. VAin will not be Labour of Eternal good things p. 206 Valentinian the Emperour what comforted him upon his death-bed p. 152 Verres Deputy of Sicily his much lying in bed p. 274 Vile bodies of the Saints at the day of judgement shall be glorious bodies p. 155 Vexation often accompanieth Temporal good things p. p. 190. 191 Vitellius Emperour both of the East and the West basely used and murthered p. 170 Ubiquitaries complained of by Zanchy p. 253 Undone will all those men be when they come to dye who have nothing layd up in Heaven p. 285 Unwilling are many to take pains for Heaven though they desire to Enjoy Heaven p. 231. 232. 233 Unwearied must a Christians labour be for Heaven p. 348 W. VVAnt feared by many in this world p. 276 Want will many in Hell who do abound in this world p. 282 Wealth will leave thousands at death to the fury of a guilty conscience p. 129 Weep we have reason over neglecters of Eternal good things p. 245. 253 Wicked prone to nourish hopes for Heaven p. 65. 66 Wicked men may enjoy prosperity p. 140 Wine to be Exported was hindred by the old Romans and why p. 314 Winds about Sancto Croix in Affrick by the Portugalâ— called Monzoones 348 Wisemen are they who labour for Eternal good things p. 272 Wisemen who they are that are so accounted in the world p. 276 Woman whose house was burned minds trifles and neglects her child p. 173 World compared to a Kings Court p. 102 World is the greatest price that the Divel hath to give for a Soul p. 227 World like a going fire p. 228 World were of no use if man were not in it p. 266 Worldly things satisfie not the possessor p. 193. 194 289. 290 Wrestling Christianity compared unto it p. 50 Y YOung mans question in Matt. 19. 13. verse answered p. 11 Z. ZAnchy his complaint of the Lutheran Vbiquitaries p. 253 The Printer to the Reader NOtwithstanding the great care to prevent faults in the Printing of the foregoing Treaâ—ise yet the Reader will meet with some though but few that are great yet too many will be found in Literal and Syllabical mistakes as also in Points either misplaced or left out some hereafter follow the which and all others the Candid Reader is desired as he meets them to mend else the sense in some places possibly may not be clear In the Epistle Dedicatory 2 Page 18 line after Love add you 4 p. 14 l. before portion add a. 5 p. 7 l. for unexpected read unsuspected In the Epistle to the Reader 2 p. 11 l. before those r. for In the body of the book 4 p. 19 l. for operami r. operamini 5 p. 27 l. â— sedore r sudore 5 p. 30 l. f. Epicureate r Epiâ—ureal 7 p. 2 l. before rudiments add of the 16 â— 20 l. f. aeternitatem r. aeternitati 18 p. 4 l. for sheave r. sheaf 26 p. 30. l. after need blot out the Comma and f therefore r thereof 28 p. 10 l. for use r. useth 36 p. 3 l. after every add day 56 p 4 l. after those add words 70 p 2 l. f. of storms r. by storms 78 p. 17 l. f. willing r. willingness 87 p. 25 l. before the add of 96 p. 17 l. before consequent add a 105 p. 4 l. af labour add for 105 p. 17 l. f. tenders r. tends 136 p. 26 l. af that r. is 176 p. 33 l. f. glean r. glean 177 p. 12 l. f. ones r. one after does add to 185 p 14 l. af over add other 191 p. 21 l. f. ignomius r. ignominious 192 p. 2 l. before small add no 193 p. 18 l. after in add in the roof 193 p. 2â— l. f. salvation r. salvations 193 p. last l. f. Neroniand r. Nerionianae and f. libidinus r. libidinis 195 p. 11 l. f. ingine r. engine 223 p. 25 l. f. and r. an 234 p. 13 l. before content add and 207 p. 17 l. before not add at 317. p. 5 l. f. cenessit r. senescit 317 p. 6 l. f. be r. bed 334 p. 25 l. before In add 3. 334 p. 33 l. for bandry r. husbandry 344 p. 9 l. f. straight read sleight FINIS