will doe it this will soone sunder God and us and of a friend will make him turne our enemy Isai 63. 10. But they rebelled and vexed his holy Spirit therefore he was turned to be their enemy and he fought against them How many are there that will needs bee of Gods friends and take themselves to bee wronged to bee otherwise conceived of and yet use him most unfriendly sticke not to doe that which they know will deepely displease him How many say that they be Gods friends and yet wound and stabbe and teare God in pieces by their horrid oathes To such may it bee said as Absalom spake to Hushai 2 Sam. 16. 17. Is this thy kindnesse to thy friend Is this friendly dealing to stabbe thy friend He that will stabbe a friend doth he not stab and wound friendship God is wounded stabbed and pierced by mens oathes and blasphemies as it is said of the blasphemer Levit. 24. That hee pierced God And how comes God by these wounds who gives him these stabbes Surely the Lord may take up those words Zech. 13. 6. These bee the wounds with which I was wounded in the house of my friends Now was it not enough that Christ was wounded for our transgressions Isai 53. but that men will professe themselves his friends and yet wound him with their transgressions and their piercing blasphemies I will not nor dare not say that such as these are Gods friends but yet even such as doe thus doe say of themselves that they are his friends And what you Gods friends and prophane and blaspheme Gods Name you Gods friends nay the divels rather But suppose you were his friends could it be possible that your friendship should hold when his blessed Name is so horribly abused by you No such matter but a friend so used by doing that you know will vexe him wonder not at it blame him not to see him prove your bitter enemy It is a point of great comfort to Gods Vse 3 people No men many times so friendlesse as they none more enemies none fewer friends But what ever friends they want on earth they have a great and a good friend in Heaven No reason then to be disconsolate in the want of worldly friends Why weepest thou saies Elkanah to Hannah am not I better to thee then ten sonnes why art thou sad in the want of friends in the world Is not God thy friend and is not hee better to thee then all the friends in the world As hee hath no friends that hath not God for his friend so he wants not friends that hath the Lord his friend he is the best be friended man in the world It is matter of terrour to all their enemies Vse 4 that wrong and abuse them Wot yee well what you doe Know yee not whose friends they are Thinke you that their friend will put up their wrongs Men are very shy of abusing and wronging such as they know have great and potent friends Oh say men if hee had not such great friends I would make him smart but such a great man is his great friend and if I should stirre against him I should bee crusht and therefore I were as good sit still there is no medling with him but I shall pull his friends upon me Such wisdome would not doe amisse in this case If thou let this man goe thou art not Caesars friend say they to Pilat That was false he could not have shewed himselfe a better friend to Caesar then in being a friend to Christ And the better friend to Christ the better friend to Caesar And the better friend Pilat had beene to Christ the better friend he had beene to himselfe had found Caesar also the better friend to himselfe He gave Christ into their hands for feare Caesar should not be his friend yet for this act by Gods justice he after lost Caesar for being his friend If thou let him goe thou art not Caesars friend Nay if thou doe not let him goe thou art not Gods friend Nay much more should Pilat have feared to have wronged him being Gods friend If thou wrong him Pilat puttest him to death thou puttest to death the deere friend of God Have thou nothing to doe with that just man saies his wife in her message to him on the bench And surely upon this very ground it had bin wisdome for him to have done nothing against him because hee was Gods friend It is not safe to provoke God by the abuse of his friends God will make such smart as wrong his friends That same passage is worth our marking Numb 12. 8. With Moses will I speake mouth to mouth that is face to face as a man speakes with his friend Exod. 33. 11. Wherefore then were yee not afraid to speake against my servant Moses As if he had sayd you know Moses is one of my familiar friends and why then were you not afraid to speake against my friend Doe yee thinke I will suffer my friend to bee abused doe yee thinke that I will not see my friend righted Certainely I will make you know what it is to speak against my friend And we see what Miriam got by it in the story vers 12. Let her not bee as one dead of whom the flesh is halfe consumed when hee comes out of his mothers wombe That was it she got by speaking against Moses the friend of God And if so dangerous but to speake against Gods friends what is it then to persecute to shed the blood take away the life of Gods friends Gods people are his friends and therfore let their enemies take heed how they wrong them That wil be the plague of such as are enemies to Gods friends that is threatned against the enemies of Ierusalem Zech. 14. 12. Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet and their eyes shall consume away in their holes and their tongues shall consume away in their mouth God will rot those hands those eyes those tongues that shall abuse themselves in the abuse of his friends So dangerous it is to bee enemies to Gods friends FINIS THE RIGHTEOVS MANS CONVERSATION OR A life in Heaven Handled upon Phil. 3. 20. Published By Ier. Dike Minister of Epping MATT. 24. 28. Wheresoever the carcase is there will the Eagles be gathered together Prosper Sent. Duas in toto mundo civitates faciunt duo amores Hierusalem facit amor dei Babyloniam amor saeculi Interroget ergo se quisque quid amet inveniet unde sit civis LONDON Printed by E. G. for I. Rothwell and are to be sold at his shop at the signe of the Sunne in S. Pauls Church-yard 1639. THE RIGHTEOVS MANS CONVERSATION PHILIP 3. 20. But our conversation is in Heaven THe Apostle in the words before-going gave the Philippians a speciall item and a caveat to take heed of following many false brethren that lived amongst them outwardly professing the same Gospell with
from Christ their roote that sappe preserves them from the taking in of such moysture as would breed rottennesse There is not a better evidence of a mans sappe and life from Christ then his not receiving in of rotting moysture from the examples of such as hee lives amongst Marke yet further That the behaviours and carriages of Gods people must bee diverse Doct. 2 and different from yea they must be flat opposite and contrary to the courses of the men of the world Their conversation is earthly But our conversation is in Heaven A Christian hee must not onely swimme crosse the streame but quite against the streame They be dead fish that are carried downe the streame But our conversation is in heaven There bee two Buts in Scripture There is one But that is an il-favored But. Such as that is Apoc. 2. 4. But I have somewhat against thee that thou hast lost thy first love There be that have many good things in them But they have some foule fault or other withall that marres all that is a dead Fly in the Apothecaries oyntment He is an honest man But he is too worldly But he is too hasty c. Such a But is a disgrace and a dishonourable blurre to a man There is another But and that is when a mans life is such as crosses and thwarts the corrupt and evill courses of other men Others are earthly But our conversation is in heaven others are loose and leude But we are holy and religious And such a But as this puts honour and credit upon a man the first blurres but the second graces a man There bee too many that have the first But which crosses their religion and Christian profession there bee but a few can hit this last But which crosses and thwarts the corrupt and sinfull courses of the world But this is that which a Christian must doe his waies and courses must bee crosse and contrary to the vaine foolish and sinfull courses of men of the world They minde earth we minde heaven There is a great difference and distance betweene Heaven and earth so great a difference and distance should there bee betweene the life of a Christian and of men of the world Nay that is not all 1 Thess 5. 5 6 7 8. Yee are all the children of light and the children of the day we are not of the night nor of darknesse c. There is not onely a difference but a contrariety betweene day and night light and darknesse There must be as great a contrariety between the waies of godly and worldly men as betweene day and night light and darknesse Christians should bee as the Antipodes to other men Indeed Pope Zachary condemned and deposed Vingilius a Bishop in Bavaria for Morn Myst Progress 27. heresie because hee affirmed That there were Antipodes that there were men in the world whose feete were contrary and Paulus secundus virtutis ac literarum â—soâ— qui bonarum arâ—ium studiosos imo cos qui nomen ipsum Academiae vel seâ—io vel joco nominessâ—nâ— haereticos pronâ—â—â—â— vit Plâ—t in vâ—â— Pauli 2. over against ours in these parts of the world Such another heresie as it was wont to bee amongst the Friers to dissent from Thomus and to speake Greeke yea it was heresie to be learned men and studious of good arts Now as the Pope held it heresie to say there were Antipodes so many it may bee may thinke it little better then heresie to teach that Christians should be Antipodous to the sinfull courses of the world But yet so it is and so it must be that Christians must bee Antipodes to the men of the world So much doth our Saviours reason imply Luke 12. 29 30. And seeke not yee what yee shall eate or what ye shall drinke neither be ye of doubtfull mind for all these things doe the people of the worldseek after Which very reason implies an Antipodous disposition that should be in his people to the courses of the people of the world And hereupon it was that God would have the sacrifices of the Israelites such as were contrary and crosse to Egyptian religion Looke what the Egyptians honoured for their Gods that Israel must sacrifice to God as Beeves sheepe Goats c. Those which were the Egyptian deities were the Israelites sacrifices And therefore Moses telles Pharoah that they must goe out of Egypt to sacrifice least they should offer that which was an abomination to the Egyptians Exod. 8. It could not but bee an abomination unto them to see those things to which they offered sacrifice to bee offered up in sacrifice The heathen in their worships did worship towards the East God therefore so appointed the placing of the Tabernacle and the Temple that whosoever came to worship him should looke towards the West as if God would have his people as contrary to the people of the world as the West to the East The Egyptians eate little or no flesh of beasts save of Swine and God in speciall prohibited the Iewes the eating of Swines flesh The reasons of it are First that which may bee implyed in the word here used in the text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 conversation or Citizen-like behaviour as Beza translates it The word implies that godly and wicked men bee members of different Incorporations Worldly mens City and Incorporation is here Godly men have here no abiding City their City is in Heaven The godly are from above wicked men are from beneath Iohn 8. 23. Yee are from beneath I am from above The godly are not of the world Iohn 8. 23. Wicked men are the men of this world Psal 17. 14. It is their character Men of the world which have their portion in this life Now wee see that different Cities and Incorporations which are in different Kingdomes have not onely different but contrary customes lawes orders fashions habits and usages Godly and wicked men being of different Incorporations no wonder that there must be not onely a difference but a contrariety in their courses and carriages Heaven and earth nay heaven and hell should not put them farther asunder then their manners and behaviours then they should bee Loe the people shall dwell alone and shall not bee amongst the Nations saies Balaam of Israel Numb 23 9. They dwelt not alone in regard of their scituation not as wee in this Kingdome in an Iland cleft out and cleft off from all the world they were environd and neighboured round about with many Nations but they dwelt alone in regard of their Religion and Common-wealth in regard of their manners and waies in which they were different from and contrary to other Nations Secondly that same Tit. 2. 14. Christ hath redeemed us to be a peculiar people to himselfe Peculiar people must have peculiar courses peculiar waies To what end hath God made them a peculiar people That the Apostle shewes 1 Pet. 2. 9. That you should shew forth the vertues of
men despise holinesse and scorne Saints as they please yet hee that will goe to heaven hereafter must live in heaven now and he that will live in heaven now must live an holy a godly and obedient life to God This is to have our conversation in heaven to have such a conversation as that Phil. 1. 27. Let your conversation bee as becomes the Gospell then is our conversation such as becomes the Gospell when such as 1 Pet. 1. 15. But as he that hath called you is holy so be yee holy in all manner of conversation The Gospell is from heaven it tends to heaven an heavenly conversation therefore becomes it An holy conversation is an heavenly conversation an holy conversation is a conversation in heaven Vse 1 As then we would approve our selves true Christians indeed so let us thus have our conversations in heaven let us live above let us live on high If a Christian have his conversation in heaven as wee would shew our selves to be true Christians so labour for a Christians conversation A Christians conversation is a conversation in heaven and when we have our conversation there then wee may truely say we are Christians How can we say that we are Christians if we have not a Christians conversation And how can we say that we have a Christians conversation when we have not our conversations in heaven where all true Christians have their conversation How can we say that we have a Christians conversation whilest our conversations are on earth up therefore up into heaven live and converse there Volemus sursum let us flie upward as Augustine somewhere reports that his mother Monica said in a kinde of trance when she was neere her death And there be diverse reasons to perswade and presse us to it First there is nothing that a Christian hath that 's worth the having that hee hath as a Christian but it is in heaven Houses lands possessions goods riches honours these men have not as Christians but as men these are common to heathen with Christians but there bee many excellent things that belong to Christians as Christians and all these things are above in heaven Our father is in heaven Math. 6. Our father which art in heaven Our mother in heaven Gal. 4. 26. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost in Philip. 4. hom 13. But Ierusalem which is above is free which is the mother of us all Heb. 12. 22. The heavenly Ierusalem Our elder brother and head is in heaven Ephes 1. 20. Hee raysed Christ from the dead and set him at his owne right hand in the heavenly places Our Countrey is in heaven Heb. 11. 15. If they had beene mindfull of that Countrey from whence they came they might have had opportunity to have returned but now they desire a better Countrey that is an heavenly one Our Inheritance is in heaven 1 Pet. 1. 4. To an Inheritance reserved in heaven for you Our mansion house is in heaven 2 Cor. 5. 1. We have a building of God an house not made with hands eternall in the heavens Our substance is in heaven Heb. 10. 34. Ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance Our hope is in heaven Col. 1. 5. For the hope that is laid up for you in heaven Now if all these bee in heaven where should wee be but in heaven also All these in heaven and what then should our hearts be out of heaven Our head our house our hope in heaven where should our hearts be but where our head it where our house and our hope is Since all these in heaven lift up your heads ye everlasting gates mount up your hearts and your affections into heaven and have your conversations in heaven by having your hearts there Secondly it is an excellent preservative to save a man from the sinnes and corruptions of the times he lives in Noah lived in corrupt times and yet was a just and an upright man in those times How came hee to save himselfe from the corruptions of those times The text saies Gen. 6. that Noah walked with God God he is in heaven he that walkes with God he converses in heaven and so Noah by having his conversation in heaven saved himselfe from the corrupt conversations of the men on earth What a number of those that professed themselves Christians in the Apostle Pauls time did live like Epicures that made their belly their God minded nothing but earthly things as appeares in the verses before this text Now why was not the Apostle and the rest of the faithfull carried away with the streame of those times The reason was in this But our conversation is in heaven wee live not as they we are not corrupted and infected with their manners for our conversation is in heaven And so they having their conversation in heaven were saved from the infection of those belly-gods and mucky companions that had their hearts and minds on the mucke of the earth As in a common contagion of pestilence when the very ayre is infected if a man could live in the upper region of the ayre hee would be above the reach of the infection So when there be infectious pestilences of heresie idolatry ungodlinesse and licentiousnesse raigning in the world if a man have his conversation above in heaven hee lives in a region free from those infections and so is preserved As on the other side when a man hath not his conversation in heaven hee is in danger to be carried away with any errour or corruption whatsoever When Antichrist was to come into the world hee should corrupt the doctrine of the Gospell hee should corrupt religion and worship hee should set up idolatry and all that was naught And yet as vile corruptions as hee should bring in there were a number of people that should receive him and swallow all his corruptions should yeeld to all his idolatries and embrace his religion VVell but what kinde of people should they be that should doe it See Apoc. 13. 8. And all that dwell upon earth shall worship him that is All such Christians as had not their conversations in heaven but on earth that were worldly earthly hearted people they should receive Antichrist and his religion and turne Idolaters thicke and three-fold So that an earthly hearted Christian that is a dweller on earth and hath not his conversation in heaven hee is in preparation for any religion Come what will come hee is ready to be any thing to doe any thing come Popery come Idolatry come Antichrist come any thing nothing comes amisse to such an one He that dwels on earth will worship the beast and will doe it without any great reluctation too Wee see there vers 7. that Antichrist makes warre with and persecutes the Saints of God And what was the quarrell because they would not receive Antichrist and his religion But how came it about that they were thus preserved from worshipping him and receiving his religion That
conversation thou hast thy conversation amongst Godlesse prophane persons thy conversation in Ale-houses Whore-houses and such like Now I say let such mens owne consciences judge whether such a conversation be a conversation in heaven Surely such a conversation is rather a conversation in hell Cursing and blaspheming is the course of the damned in hell Thy conversation is as farre from being in heaven as hell it selfe is from heaven A Christians conversation is in heaven therefore they are no true Christians that have their conversation in hell What is living unholily uncleanely drunkenly vitiously but living hellishly Therefore such mens owne hearts must needs tell them that they are as farre from being true Christians as they are from having a Christians conversation Secondly It shoales out all earthly worldly hearted persons such as minde earthly things from the number of true Christians There are a number of errant earth-wormes muddy dirty worldlings who minde nothing but earthly things and because they are not so prophane and vitious persons as the former and because it may bee they frequent publique duties of worship and performe some in private too and have a forme of godlinesse therefore they all to be-Saint themselves and make no question but they are excellent good Christians The Apostle in the former verse speakes not onely of voluptuous belly-gods but of such as mind earthly things and hee opposes a conversation in heaven not onely to a voluptuous conversation but to the minding of earthly things So that a minder of earthly things is as farre from a conversation in heaven as he that is a voluptuous belly-god And marke that he saies of them both that their end is damnation Not onely whoring drunkennesse and gluttony but minding of earthly things will also damne a mans soule and bring him to hell too as well as they So that minders of earthly things are no better Christians then they Outward formalities of religion may stand well enough with earthly-mindednesse and men may goe to hell with both Well but yet these will needs bee true Christians there is no remedy let them therefore be put to the tryall A true Christians conversation is in heaven if then they be true Christians then is their conversation there also But where is their conversation Are not their mindes affections and conversation wholly on the earth What is it they minde earthly things What is it their hearts are habitually taken up withall earthly things What is it they continually speake and discourse of earthly things Come into their company and put the question to them that our Saviour put to the two disciples going to Emmaus Luke 24. 17. What manner of communications are these that ye have one with another as ye walke Can they answere as they did vers 19. Concerning Iesus of Nazareth No but concerning Sheepe and Oxen bargaines farmes prizes of commodities c. Their breath like the breath of a dying man smells earthly Iohn 3. 31. Hee that is of the earth is of the earth and speakes of the earth And he that speakes of the earth and minds the earth hee is of the earth and hee is in the earth up to the hard eares in the earth and hath his conversation altogether on the earth That looke as the Apostle speaks of those false teachers 1 Iohn 4. 5. They are of the world therefore speake they of the world So of these on the contrary They speake altogether of the world they thinke altogether of the world they altogether mind the world and therefore they are of the world and they dwell on earth They are like moles alwaies working in the earth and under-ground How are these true Christians that are enemies to Christs crosse There be many saies the Apostle in the 18 verse of this chapter that are the enemies of the crosse of Christ Certainely such are no true Christians But who bee they that bee such vers 19. Quamdiu terra es in terram ibis Quamdiu lingis terram Amando terram lingis utique terram efficeris eius inimicus de quo dicit Psal inimici ejus lingent terram Aug. serm de Temp. 141. who mind earthly things These men licke the dust and therefore as Augustine descants upon that text Psal 72. 9. They are amongst the enemies of Christ To bee sure they are such as put themselves under the serpents curse Gen. 3. 14. Because thou hast done this thou art cursed above all cattell upon thy belly shalt thou goe and dust shalt thou eate They licke dust and eate dust and lie and wallow in the dust yea in the dirt of the earth and yet these will needs be true Christians Is this to have ones conversation in heaven Hee that hath his conversation on earth hath not his conversation in heaven and he that hath not his conversation in heaven is no true Christian This is one sure evidence of a man that hath his conversation on earth that if he might be at his choice he would be content to have his abode and habitation on earth forever yea and would give God a discharge forever for laying any clayme to heaven so God would but assure him of a perpetuity here Too many there be of the prophane Cardinall of Burbons minde who would not give his part in Paris for his part in Paradise It is with too many in this case as it was with those 1 Chron 4 23. These were potters and those that dwelt amongst plants and hedges There they dwelt with the King for his worke The meaning of that place is to shew the basenesse of some of the Jewes that when liberty was proclaimed for their returne to Ierusalem where they might have enjoyed the freedome of their owne Countrey and religion yet because they got their living with making pots for the King of Babylon they thought themselves well as they were and they rather chose to stay under the hedges of Babylon and to live hedge-roagues there then to goe to Ierusalem where they might have lived freemen and have enjoyed the ordinances of Gods worship The holy Ghost brands them for base persons And so it is with many might they but abide here for ever with what they have they had rather live here under the hedges of the Babylon of this world then be at the paines to goe to the heavenly Ierusalem A sure signe where their conversation is their conversation proclaimes what kind of Christians they be Earthly minded Christians then are no true Christians they have not their conversations in heaven But wee have many good thoughts of Object heaven and wee have our minds upon heavenly things and therefore our conversation is in heaven It is not to be denyed but that worldly Answ men may have some thoughts of heaven and about heaven but yet for all that their conversation is not in heaven That will appeare if their thoughts be considered what kinde of thoughts they be First their thoughts of heaven are
to it takes a wise course for safetie and protection It serves to teach us what to do in case Vse of fears dangers and what course to take for our safetie and good When men are in temporall feares and dangers they are ready to say as the Jaylor in his spirituall feares Act. 16. 30. Sirs what must I doe to be saved So in cases of outward danger and trouble men are ready to cry out Oh good sirs what shall we do what course shall we take Is there any course to bee thought upon and to bee taken that may bee conducent unto and wherein wee may provide for our safety yes there is a course a way to be taken for safetie in the greatest feares that can befall us I but what is that course and what may that way bee This is the course The Name of the Lord is a strong Tower the righteous run unto it and are safe In fears and dangers then make me unto this tower get me unto into it we take the right course for our safety Davids heart was overwhelmed full of feares by reason of dangers and hee takes this course Psal 61. 2. 3. I will cry unto thee when my heart is overwhelmed leade mee to the Rocke that is higher then I for thou hast beene ashelter for mee and a strong Tower from the enemy The course to be safe is to be set aloft to bee placed on high out of the reach of a danger The Name of the Lord is a strong Tower the righteous run into it is set aloft 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is he is safe because when a man is set aloft out of the reach of a danger then he is safe But how shall a man bee set aloft By running into this Tower of Gods Name Psal 46. 7. The God of Iacob is our Refuge is an high place for us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a place to bee set aloft in the same word that is here in the text So that when a man runnes unto Gods Name he is in an High place when in an high place hee is aloft and when he is a loft hee is Safe It is strange to see how full of feares mens hearts are when they are apprehensive of dangers and are sensible of approaching evils and yet in the meane time how little care they take how little provision they make for their safety and security That same in the generall was a wise course of them Gen. 11. 4. Let us build a city and a Tower whose top may reach to heaven least we be scattered abroad upon the face of the earth Thus farre they went wisely to worke that being in a feare they would provide for their safety that being in a feare they would builde a tower for their defence It is certainely a good piece of wisdome when men feare troubles and dangers to fall a building of towers for safety The course in the generall was a wise course though in particular they plaide the fooles to think that their safety did lye in a tower of bricke Thus farre let us imitate their wisdome as to worke prospective worke and to build a Tower into which wee may be take our selves to save our selves from the surprisall of evils and dangers of which at any time we stand in feare Well but what Tower should we build Not a Tower of bricke whose top may reach to Heaven but this Tower that Salomon speakes of A Tower which is in heaven The Name of the Lord is a strong Tower Let us make this our Tower and make to and get into this Tower for our safety when ever our hearts are in feare of any dangers when the men of Thebez were in danger of Abimeleck see what course they tooke and how they provided for their safety Iudg. 9. 50. 51. Then went Abimeleck to Thebez and encamped against Thebez and tooke it But there was a strong Tower within the city and thither fled all the men and women and all they of the city and shut it to them and gate them up to the top of the Tower Marke there was a strong Tower thither they all fled and gate them up to the top of the Tower and so they were safe from Abimelecks rage yea and from that Tower did a woman breake the skull of Abimeleck There was a great deale of disparity and oddes betweene Abimeleck and a poore weake woman and yet a woman in a tower may be too good for an Abimeleck The Tower fenced her from Abimeleck and she from the tower banes and braines him and crownes him with a piece of a milstone that was so ambitiously and bloudily bent upon a kingdome It is a great deale of Advantage and safety to a weak woman to be within a Tower Follow we their wisdome If at any time we feare dangers loe here in this text a strong Tower Thither let us flee thither let us run let us shut it to us let us goe to the top of this Tower the higher the safer And though dangers may come as nigh us as Abimeleck did to those men of Thebez hard to the doore of the Tower Iudg. 9. 52. yet this tower is a place of defence and of offence There bee not pieces but whole milstones in this tower that can dash and crush all dangers in the head at the very doore of the Tower And that we may the better bee stirred up to seeke our safety when need is in this Tower consider these three things 1. That though it be lawfull and requisite to use all meanes and outward helpes for our safety yet there is no safety in any meanes or helpes till this be done There is a vanity in all meanes and courses for safety and they prove but shifts unlesse a man have first betaken himselfe to this Tower There is no safety in any meanes unlesse a man seek his safetie in betaking him to God we shall see the truth of it in all those kind of Towers that men in their fears do usually betake themselves unto and put their trust in for protection First it is a great deale of confidence that men put in materiall Towers Castles strong holds in time of danger and feare Those people Gen. 11. made account that if they built them an high brick tower they should bee safe from dispersion And yet that tower saved them not from dispersion yea that tower which they thought should save them from dispersion was the very cause of their dispersion The men of Penuel by reason of their tower thought themselves so safe that they durst flout Gideon but Iudg. 8. 17. hee brake downe their tower and slew the men of the Citie The strongest towers that men have are easily flatted and beat downe when God is not their strong tower The Citie of Tyrus gloried much in the strength of her towers Ezek. 27. 11. The Gammadims were in thy towers they hanged their shields upon thy walles round about They had
that follow the Court. It is the priviledge of the godly that they are set at the Counsell table where the very secret mysteries of the kingdome are disclosed It is something which is spoken Psal 45. 15. They shall enter into the Kings Palace It is somwhat to be Courtiers to bee outwardly members of the Church but yet this is not all the priviledge of the faithfull there is a further matter Cant. 1. 4. The King hath brought me into his Chambers they come not onely into the King Palace but into the Kings Chambers The Kings chamber is the place of greatest secresie 2 King 6. 12. Elisha the Prophet that is in Israel telles the King of Israel the words thou speakest in thy bed-chamber The King hath brought mee into his Chambers he hath revealed and imparted unto me the secrets of his heart made them knowne to mee in his privie chamber So that the priviledge of the godly is that they are not onely of the Court but of the Counsell they doe not onely know the Kings face but the Kings heart and the secrets in his breast Nay the godly are not onely of the Court and the Counsell but they are the choyce and peculiar friends and favourites of God It is sayd of Zabud that he was principal officer and the Kings friend 1 King 4. 5. Hee was Solomons favourite and a favourite is more than a Counsellour and is acquainted with those secrets that every ordinary Counsellour knowes not even with Cabinet secrets All Gods people are Zabuds Gods friends and favourites and therefore God communicates his secrets to them Abraham is here called Gods friend and see how God speakes of him Gen. 18. 17. Shall I hide from Abraham the thing that I will doe As if he had sayd Abraham is my friend and therefore I may not conceale my minde from him It will not stand with the lawes of friendship to hide my purpose from him Ioh. 15. 15. Henceforth I call you not servants for the servant knowes not what his Lord doth but I have called you Friends and so I will use you as friends But how In entertaining communion with you and communicating my secrets unto you For all things that I have heard of my Father I have made knowne unto you See what a priviledge followes being the friends of Christ When friends doe conceale secrets each from other and communicate onely some trifling common things one to another it is a signe of a crazed and a loosened 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost ubi supra friendship not of a true entire love but only of an artificiall personated complementall kinde of love onely for fashion sake to hold ends together but true friendship makes a man communicative of his greatest and choycest secrets It had some strength in it which Delilah spake to Samson Iudg. 16. 15. How canst thou say I love thee when thine heart is not with mee that is when thou wilt not disclose the secrets of thine heart to mee as appeares vers 17 18. shee therefore concludes his hart was not with her because he told her not all his heart But now Gods people being his friends the Lords heart is with them and therefore hee telles them all his heart the very deepe secrets of his heart 1. Cor. 2. 7. 12. Eph. 1. 7-9 When once men have God for their friend hee will not bee daintie of his secrets but will communicate them unto them And the more inward and entire the friendship is the greater secrets he wil communicate unto them All his Disciples were his friends and therfore Iohn 15. 15. he made known unto them all things he had heard of his Father But yet there was one Disciple which was the Disciple whom Iesus loved Ioh 13. 23. and he leaned on Iesus bosome Iohn was that Disciple that was his speciall beloved bosome-friend and therefore when Peter desired to know that secret which of them it was that should betray him he beckned to Iohn that hee should aske who it should be of whom he spake Ioh 13. 24. Peter knew he was his bosome-friend and therefore the likelier upon asking to come acquainted with that secret and upon his asking it is revealed to him vers 25. 26. Nay Iohn being the bosome friend of Christ hee did not onely when on earth use him as a friend in communicating speciall secrets to him that not to the rest but after hee was ascended into heaven did still use him as his bosome friend in revealing to him greater secrets and mysteries than to any of the rest To him he revealed all those mysteries and secrets which are comprehended in the booke of the Revelation The Revelation of Iesus Christ c. And hee sent and signified it by his Angell unto his servant Iohn Apoc. 1. 1. But why unto Iohn Why not unto Peter Why not unto some of the rest Because Iohn was the Disciple whom hee loved Iohn had lien in his bosome and therefore being his bosome friend hee should have the honour and the favour to have these bosome secrets imparted unto him Speciall secrets revealed to Iohn because Iohn a speciall friend and favourite yea when men are speciall friends indeed God will whisper in their eares and discover such secrets to them as not to others It is said 1. Sam. 9. 15. That God told Samuel in his eare of Sauls comming a day before hee came A man will whisper in his friends eare and tell him a secret that other shall not know so doth the Lord deale with his friends hee hath his secret whisperings with his Saints and tells them secretly in their eares that which every one shall not know So Christ dealt with Iohn in discovering Iudas to be the traytour he spake it not out but secretly whispered that in his eare which he speakes to him Ioh. 13. 26 The rest of the Disciples heard it not as appears vers 28 29 If Christ had spoken that in the hearing of all the Disciples that he spake to Iohn they might easily have understood our Saviours meaning in his speech to Iudas And so still doth God deale with the godly which were his friends hee secretly reveales that in their eares which neither eye hath seen nor eare hath heard nor hath entred into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him 1 Cor. 2. 9. Indeed men of the world they beleeve not that a godly man hath any such priviledge as to be acquainted with Gods secrets more than themselves they measure a godly man by themselves and therefore say in this case as Eliphaz spake to Iob in that case Iob. 15. 8 9 11. Hast thou heard the secret of God What knowest thou that we know not What understandest thou that is not in us Is there any secret thing with thee But yet a godly man doth know that a worldly man knowes not he doth understand something that is not in him there is some secret thing with
of the Lord encampeth round about them that feare him and delivereth them A mans enemies become his friends Prov. 16. 7. When a mans waies please the Lord hee maketh even his enemies his deadly profest enemies to bee at peace with him The rest of the creatures become his friends Iob 5. 8. I would seeke unto God I would seeke to be friends with him but what shall be gotten by it Amongst other things that vers 21 22 23. Thou shalt be hid from the scourge of the tongue neither shalt thou bee afraid of destruction when it comes at destruction and famine shalt thou laugh neither shalt thou bee afraid of the beasts of the earth for thou shalt be in league with the stones of the field and the beasts of the field shall bee at peace with thee Yea God will make a covenant for his people with the beasts of the fields and with the fowles of Heaven and with the creeping things of the ground Hos 2. 18. Yea all these shall not onely lay aside their enmity but shall be ready to bee serviceable to them When Ahab and Iehosaphat had made a league of friendship each with other see how Iehosaphat speakes to him 1 King 22. 4. I am as thou art my people as thy people my horses as thy horses So when once God and we are in league of friendship hee will say unto us my servants are your servants mine Angels are your Angels mine hosts are your hosts my creatures are your creatures Al things are yours 1 Cor. 3. 21. And all things shall work together for good to them that love God and are his friends If a man be a traytor the Kings enemy every man not onely estranges but sets himselfe against him but let the King but pitch upon a man to make him his friend and favourite how then doth every one seek to him smile upon him happy is he that can ingratiate himself with him and doe any service to him that is the Kings favourite A man that is once the Kings friend shall be sure to want no friends no respect no service Zabud was the Kings friend 1 King 4. 5. and who then would not be a friend to Zabud full glad was hee that could bee Zabuds servant So if once we be Gods friends God will raise us up friends enow Eliphaz his argument was good Iob 22. 21. Acquaint thy selfe now with him and be at peace Get to be Gods friend and one of his inward acquaintance Well suppose we doe vvhat shall we get by it And thereby shall good come unto thee And this good amongst the rest that the creatures shall bee in a league of friendship with thee Indeed some creatures there are that the more we are Gods friends the more they will bee our enemies yea therfore our professed enemies because wee are Gods friends Satan and his sworne servants will bee the more bitter enemies against us because God ownes us for his friends as Esau hated Iacob for the blessing But yet the Angels in Heaven that rejoyce at the conversion of a sinner on earth and that hee becomes friends vvith God all good men and the creatures will be our faithfull friends yea and many times hee vvill make vvicked men doe his people many a friendly turne or at least vvill make their emnity beneficiall and advantagious to them And these be the benefits that Gods people have by having God their friend Come vve now to the uses of this point And they are these The honour and happinesse of being Vse 1 Gods friends being so great and beneficiall withall it should stirre up every man to get this happinesse of being the friends of God Zabud was the Kings friend 1 King 4. 5. Now when people saw how familiar Zabud was with the King what communion was betweene him and Salomon how hee communicated to him his secret counsels how potent he was with him in all suites how close Salomon stood to him upon all occasions how serviceable all the Courtiers and Subjects were to him did they not thinke wee all thinke his condition happy Did they not secretly wish Oh that I were in his case oh that I were as Zabud is that I had the Kings heart the Kings eare the Kings hand as he hath And if they had knowne of any project of any course by which they might have advanced themselves to Zabuds condition would they not speedily have set upon it would they not have strained and tentred their wits to the utmost would they have spared for any cost or paines to have gotten into Zabuds condition Wee now therefore seeing what the happy condition of Gods people is that they are Gods friends and have all those great priviledges thereby how should it stirre up our hearts to looke and labour for this happinesse of being Gods friend And that so much the rather Because God may have and hath many friends at once that are his inward entire familiars not so alwayes amongst men Affection is sometimes so pitcht upon some one that that one engrosses all a mans affections and they are so caried wholly upon some one that there is scarce any roome in the heart left for any other The whole streame of some mens affections is so carried in one channell that there is no over float to any other All their water is little enough to drive one mill Kings use not to have many favourites but pitch upon some one But now it is otherwise with God hee hath many friends and favourites and all his friends are favourites Gods heart and his love is so large that there is roome enough in it for a multitude of favourites at once Because there bee projects and courses to be used that will effect and compasse this for us to make us Gods friends Some policies men have and use to get the friendship and favour of Princes great ones but yet their projects alwayes take not their policies speed not they doe not compasse the thing they desire but for the getting of Gods favour and friendship there be waies to be used that will surely doe the deed and will worke us in to be Gods friends and favorites What then bee those waies by which Quest we may get this honour to have God our friend and to be his friends First the way to get in with God is by Answ 1 faith We are by nature strangers to God nay enemies Col. 1. 21. Now God of his infinite mercy though hee bee the party wronged and offended yet he is pleased thus much to forget himselfe and to stoope thus low as not onely to offer us peace and friendship but hee entreates and beseeches us to bee reconciled and become friends 2 Cor. 5. 20. Now then if wee will believe the Gospell and the words of Reconciliation that 's the chiefe condition that God requires and upon that he will take and owne us for his friends That 's here in the text Abraham was called
Sacrament when a man comes to the Sacrament to the Lords Table it is good then being Gods friend Whosoever comes to the Sacrament and hath not first made himselfe Gods friend is like to meete with a very cold welcome When a man comes to the Sacrament he comes to the Lords Table God will bid none welcome to his Table but his very friends The Sacrament is a feast and it is a feast that God makes only for his friends and if a man thrust in that is none of his friends his welcome is like to be thereafter If a man make a feast it is for his friends no man will invite much lesse welcome his enemies to his table If a mans enemy should bee so impudent as to thrust in at a feast to his table a man could not but lowre upon him and give him sowre lookes if not sowre words a man would be starke sicke of him to see him at his table And doe wee thinke that God will smile upon and cheere up his enemies at his Table Indeed amongst men if a stranger comes to a mans table that hath relation to some friend from whom or with whom hee comes we will in civility give him courteous entertainement but if hee bee a meere stranger that comes wee know not whence and goes we know not whither we will not be forward to entertaine such an one but if an enemy we cannot brook his presence nor the sight of him And though wee will welcome strangers for our friends sake yet so will not God every man must come to Gods Table by vertue of his owne interest in God If a man come a stranger to the Lords Table God will looke upon him as a stranger and if a man come as an enemy God will looke as an enemy upon him Who would goe to another mans table if the good man will not welcome him and bid him eate and fall to and what should a man doe at the Lords Table if God will not bid him welcome and cheare him up and bid him eate But now at such a time when a man goes to the Lords table it is good being Gods friend Gods friends shall be sure to be bid heartily welcome and they shall bee sure to finde friendly welcome indeed Take eate saies Christ I but who be they that bee called upon to eate That we see Cant. 5. 2. Eate O friends and drinke yea drinke abundantly O beloved There was one Math. 22. that came in to that supper without his wedding-garment and what was his welcome friend how camest thou in hither Indeed he is called by the name of friend because happily hee would needs seeme to bee so or else it is onely used as a word of course as we use to speak to a stranger and say My friend but yet though he had a friends title he had but a foes welcome And such welcome must they looke for that being not Gods friends will bee impudently thrusting into the Lords Table Oh happy man whom Christ shall cheere up in the Sacrament and bid him eate and drinke and tell him that hee is heartily welcome to him Would wee then have this happinesse looke to it then and labour for it to be of the number of his friends Christs friends and onely they are and shall bee welcome to him A man is not fit to goe to the Sacrament if he be not friends with his neighbour and before hee come he must seeke to be friends Math. 5. 23 24. And therefore much more concernes it men to bee Gods friends to be in termes of friendship with God before they come to the Sacrament Secondly in a Time of common calamity in a time of feare and distresse Providence may cast a man into such times as those Luke 21. 25 26. Vpon the earth distresse of nations with perplexity mens hearts failing them for feare and for looking after those things which are comming upon the earth When such a time shall come that mens hearts shall faile them for feare how happy shall they bee that shall have a friend in Heaven that shall not faile them when their owne hearts faile them At such a time what will a friend in Heaven be worth to a man in such a case The saying is that a friend at Court is better then a penny in a mans purse To be sure at such a time a friend in heaven and to have God in Heaven to be our friend is better then all the money in a mans bags When such times of distresse and calamity come God still exempts some from common calamities Luke 21. 36. Watch yee therefore and pray alwaies that yee may bee accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to passe Therefore when those things should come to passe there should be some that should be counted worthy to escape them And who are they likely to be Surely none likelier then Gods friends If God will hide and exempt any he will doe it for his friends Abraham was called the friend of God God tels Abraham of a sore calamity that should befall his posterity Gen. 15. 13. Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a strangers in a land that is not theirs and shall serve them and they shall afflict them foure hundred yeares But how then will God deale with Abraham his friend vers 15. Thou shalt goe to thy fathers in peace thou shalt be buried in a good old age Thou art my friend and therefore I will take an order to hide thee that thine eyes shall not see that calamity When Israel destroyed Iericho and put all to the sword Iosh 6. 25. yet Ioshua saved Rahab the harlot alive and all her family And what was the reason that he exempted her and hers from the common calamity Because she was Israels friend and shewed her selfe a faithfull friend to them in the businesse of the spies So when God brings a generall calamity upon a place and a people he looks out in such a place who are his friends and takes order for their safety and exemption of them from the common danger A man that hath friends must shew himselfe friendly Prov. 17. 17. And herein the Lord shewes himselfe friendly in taking speciall care for the safety of his friends in the cases of common danger The Name of the Lord is a strong Tower Prov. 18. 10. And they that get into that Tower they are safe what ever comes And who be they that have admission into that Tower The righteous runne into it and are safe The Righteous are Gods friends and the gate of that Tower stands open to Gods friends God provides a Tower and a place of refuge for his friends None can looke for admission into that Tower but such as are the friends of God In a time of danger how great a priviledge is it to have the liberty of entrance into that Tower As wee prize that so prize this priviledge of being the friends of God A
them but were indeede enemies of the crosse of Christ And that his counsell might take the more place with them he gives them some reasons why they should bee many of them And they are specially two The first is taken from their manners here They make their belly their God they glory in their shame They be muddy minded fellowes that mind and seeke onely after earthly things vers 19. The second is from their end hereafter Whose end is damnation vers 19. An end suitable to their course for hee that sowes to the flesh shall reape of the flesh corruption yea damnation Hell is heaven good for such that looke after such glory that serve so base a god as their gut And whither should their soules goe but where their minds have beene Their minds were bent downewards and what wonder their soules should goe downewards too And this description of these wicked men is illustrated by a contrary description of true holy Christians But our conversation is in Heaven This description stands in opposition to the former in both members First in regard of their manners Their conversation is on earth they minde earthly things But our conversation is in Heaven Secondly In regard of their end vers 21. Their end is damnation but our end shall bee glory and immortality in the words following to the chapters end Now this twentieth verse containes specially two things First a Christians conversation Secondly a Christians expectation A Christians life and a Christians hope First his life is described two waies First as it were negatively by way of contrariety implied in this adversative and crosse particle But which is as much as to say But our life and conversation is not like theirs our conversation is contrary to theirs Secondly Positively It is Heavenly Our conversation is in Heaven Secondly his hope and expectation He lives in heaven with an hope and daily expectation of Christs gracious comming from Heaven to glorifie him But this I meane not to meddle with For the first A Christians life is described negatively But our conversation c. From whence we may observe these things That though the evill examples of wicked Doct. 1 men have great force to corrupt and poyson others yet godly and gracious hearts will keep themselves free from the defilement of their pitch and from the infection of their poyson For many walke of whom I have told you often c. vers 18. Though many even Multitudes multitudes as Ioel 3. 14. have their conversation on earth are very belly-gods earth-wormes muck-worms yet our conversation is in heaven If other persons and families will runne a whooring after strange Gods yet Ioshua and his house will serve the Lord. Iosh 24. 15. But as for me and my house we will serve the Lord. It was an evill generation in which Noah lived Gen. 6. 11. 12. The earth was corrupt before God and the earth was filled with violence all flesh had corrupted his way upon earth And yet Gen. 6. 9. Noah was a just man and upright in his generations There never lived worse generations then in Noahs time The great praise of Noah is not so much that he was a just man as that hee was just and upright in his generations in vile and wicked times that though hee lived in corrupt times and generations when as some thinke Idolatry was set up and Gods worship was corrupt and mens manners and lifes were miserably corrupt yet in those generations hee was just and upright It is an hard thing for a man to be hayle sound in a corrupt and unwholesome ayre To live in the Fennes and Marshes and yet not to be sicke and crazy it is an argument of a strong and good constitution indeed To bee good when all men are good is not so great a matter When goodnesse and godlinesse is in fashion though it bee very rare and seldome that so good a fashion comes up yet when it doth come in fashion many may seeme to bee good and godly if it be but to be in the fashion But when goodnesse and religion is quite out of fashion and is as ridiculous as a dresse and a weare out of fashion then to be good godly and religious that 's the great matter indeed that is the thing that is praise-worthy and commendable indeed And so it is with such as are godly indeed They will bee godly in the middest of ungodly generations they will be upright in the middest of corrupt generations Noah was upright in his generations It is no wonder to see fresh fish in fresh waters but all the wonder is to see fresh fish in the salt sea This world is oft compared to the Sea in Scriptures and it is not onely a salt sea but a dead sea like the lake into which Sodom and Gomorah were turned in which they say no fish can live but die so soone as thither they come But godly men are such as not onely keepe fresh in the salt but keepe alive in the dead sea There is a great deale of poyson and pestilence in the evill example of others especially when it is universall and spred like an epidemicall plague but yet true grace is an antidote a spirituall Amulet that preserves in times of universall infection that as in that case Psal 91. 7. so in this it may be said A thousand shall fall at thy side and ten thousand at thy right hand but it shall not come nigh thee The priviledge of the primitive beleevers Marke 16. 18. They shall take up serpents and if they drinke any deadly thing it shall not hurt them is and should be still the spirituall priviledge of beleevers that a principle of living grace should so preserve them that deadly things deadly poyson the deadly poyson of other mens evill example should not hurt them Hos 4. 15. Though Israel play the harlot yet let not Iudah sinne Nay more then so Hos 11. 12. Ephraim compasseth me about with lies and the house of Israel with deceit but Iudah yet rules with God and is faithfull with the Saints It is amongst others one speciall note of pure religion as the Apostle calles it for a man to keepe him selfe unspotted of the world Iam. 1. 27. There be religions that will give a man leave to wallow in any mire and puddles of the world but pure Religion and powerfull Religion keeps it selfe not only from the puddles and kennels but from the very spots of the worlds mire Grace to a Christian is as the sap to the bowes growing on the tree so long as a bow growes on the tree and receives sap from the roote so long it receives no wet though the raine fall often upon it but when a branch is cut off from the tree and the sap dryed up then the dew and the raine soakes and sinkes into it and it soone rots with the water soaking into it It is so with Christians that have the sappe of grace
him that hath called you It is impossible to shew forth the vertues of Christ and to follow the vices of the world yea it is impossible to shew forth the vertues of Christ but a man must walke in a crosse and opposite carriage to the vices of the world Christs vertues are opposite and crosse to the vices of the world peculiar people must expresse those vertues and therefore it cannot bee but such as are Gods people should have their courses and behaviour different from and opposite to the world Because Christ hath made the godly a peculiar people to himselfe upon this ground hee lookes for peculiar carriages at their hands contrary to the courses of the world The Arabians and other heathens had a fashion and a custome in their mournings for the dead to cut themselves and to make themselves balde now God hee forbids his people to conforme to those fashions of their neighbour heathens and marke upon what ground he doth it Deut. 14. 1 2. The Lord hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people to himselfe ye shall not cut yourselves nor make any baldnesse betweene your eyes for the dead As if he had said you are a peculiar people in my love therefore I will have you a peculiar people in your carriage I will not have you conforme your selves to heathenish courses and customes no though it be but in matter of cutting your haire but I will have you crosse their courses and customes And if God would not allow them a conformity to the heathens in a matter of cutting their haire then much lesse in matters of greater waight and moment then much lesse in covetousnesse worldlinesse common swearing drunkennesse and uncleannesse It serves to reprove those that professe Vse 1 themselves Christians and yet are so farre from a difference or a contrariety in their courses to the vaine and sinfull courses of the world that they rather frame and conforme to them who though they bee Jewes yet will not sticke to eate Swines-flesh with the Egyptians The Apostles exhortation is Rom. 12. 2. Bee not conformed to this world And he tels us Gal. 1. 4. that Christ gave himselfe that he might deliver us from this present evill world If wee bee delivered from this present evill world how doe wee conforme our selves to this evill world If wee be conformed to this world how are we delivered from this present evill world Be not conformed to this world but be ye transformed Such as be transformed should not be conformed to this world If men be transformed by the renewing of their minds then they must not be conformed to this world If conformed to this world how appeares it that we are transformed Transformation and conformity to the world cannot stand together It is an ill sight to see a man transformed into the Image of Christ conformed to this world Urge many with this argument you are Christians and have in your baptisme stipulated and solemnely covenanted an inconformity to this evill world you must not conform to the sinful waies and vanities of prophane persons Tell them that thus and thus men of the world doe from whom Christians should be different to whom Christians should be contrary and what is mens answere even that in a manner which the Israelites gave Samuel when hee disswaded them from having a King 1 Sam. 8. 20. Nay but we will bee like other Nations or as the Jewes said in their hearts Ezek. 20. 32. We will be as the heathen and as the families of the Countries So say what can be sayd men are resolved to do as others doe and not to be unlike others In an ill sence it was that the Jewes were contrary to all men 1 Thess 2. 15. They please not God and are contrary to all men But in a good sense a man may bee contrary to men of the world and not displease God therein Nay hee may so much the more please God by how much hee displeases the World in his contrariety to it It serves to shew that it is no wonder Vse 2 that Christian religion is by men of the world cryed downe for crossenesse and singularity when Religion enjoynes a Christian a crossenesse and a contrariety in his course to the sinfull courses of men in the world Secondly a Christians life is described Positively Our conversation is in Heaven Thence learne this point That the conversation of a godly man and Doct. of a true Christian is in Heaven That whiles he dwels on earth hee lives in Heaven Hee sayes not our conversation shall be in heaven but it is in heaven It is now in heaven for the present Though for a time godly men have their habitation on earth yet is not their conversation where their habitation is but their habitation and commoration on earth and their conversation above in heaven Iohn 17. 11 These are in the world and vers 14. They are not of the world In the world for a time in regard of their locall abode and commoration but not of the world in regard of their conversation because they have their conversation is in Heaven whilest they live here on earth As they are from above Iohn 8. 23. so they live above as they are from Heaven so they live in Heaven And therefore Dan. 7. 18. they are called the saints of the high places as those that have their conversations above in high places even in the highest Heavens And Dan. 8. 10. they are called the host of Heaven and the starres of Heaven The starres have their light and influences here on earth but they have their seate and motion above in the Heavens And in this regard they are said not onely to have their conversation but their habitation in Heaven and are said not onely to live but to dwell in heaven Wee finde Revel 13. 6. 8. two severall sorts of inhabitants dwelling in two severall regions Dwellers in Heaven Dwellers on earth The dwellers on earth they worship the beast they receive Antichrist but the dwellers in Heaven they are blasphemed by him Dwellers on earth are none other but earthly minded Christians who though they had the name of Christians yet had earthly minds and earthly affections and therefore are said to dwell on earth But who were they that dwelt in Heaven Not the Saints gloriously blessed in Heaven but see who they bee vers 7. To make warre with the Saints and to overcome them So that they who dwelt in Heaven were those Saints against whom Antichrist made warre and whom hee overcame Now hee could not make warre with the Saints in glory nor overcome them therefore by these that dwell in Heaven is meant Gods faithfull Saints and people here on earth that should oppose Antichrist and therefore these are sayd to dwell in Heaven because of their heavenly conversation because they had their conversation in Heaven whiles they lived on earth Looke where a mans conversation most is there a man may bee
sayd to dwell and therefore they are sayd to dwell there because their conversation is most there David desires Psal 27. 4. that hee may dwell in the house of the Lord. and Psal 84. 4. Blessed are they that dwell in the house of the Lord. But now no man did dwell in the Temple why then doth David desire to dwell there True no man did dwell there but yet in regard of their continuall frequenting the Temple their daily resorting thither and their attendance there upon holy services they are said to dwell there So no man whilest hee is here on earth can bee literally sayd to dwell in Heaven but yet because the conversation of the godly is most constant and frequent in heaven they trade for heaven they deale for heaven they conferre for heaven they walke for heaven they thinke speake doe they eate drinke sleepe wake live and die for heaven what ever they doe they doe it with an eye to heaven therefore they are said to dwell in heaven Wee shall finde the Church in the booke of the Revelation called heaven so Apoc. 12. 1. Now why is the Church called heaven Not onely because it hath its originall and descent from heaven but because all the true members of the Church have their conversation above in heaven their life in the Church is a life in heaven As Ierusalem which is the mother of us all is above Gal. 4. 26. So the way of life is above to the wise to avoyd from hell beneath Prov 15. 24. And as the way of life is Above so the way of the life of the Saints is above because they walke in the way of life which is above Hell is beneath the way of the Saints is that they may depart from hell beneath The way to depart from hell beneath is to live above in the upper region to live in heaven to have our conversation there So that a godly mans conversation is above that is in Heaven which stands in opposition to Hell beneath How can godly men living here on Quest earth be sayd to have their conversation in heaven They may bee said to have their conversation Answ in Heaven in diverse respects First in regard of their head Iesus Christ in whom they are and unto whom they are united mystically Every true believer is so united to Christ that hee is in Christ Christ hee is in heaven and every true believer being in Christ hee is therefore also in heaven because hee is in him who is in heaven Hence it is that we are sayd to be risen with Christ Col. 3. 1. If ye be risen with Christ yea not onely to be risen but to be ascended and set in heaven with Christ Ephes 2. 6. Hee hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places They that be raised up and sit in heavenly places they are certainely in heaven But how come wee now already to sit in heavenly places See what is added made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Iesus Wee sit not there onely in regard of right but in some sense in fact because wee doe it in Christ our head Such is the union betweene Christ and the godly that what hee did they did in him When Christ was crucified we were crucified in him and with him Galat. 2. 20. I am crucified with Christ When Christ was quickned all beleevers were quickned together with him Ephes 2. 5. He hath quickned us together with Christ When he was raised up all believers were raised up together with him Ephes 2. 6. And when he ascended into heaven all believers ascended with him and now that he lives and sits in heaven all believers live sit in heaven with him doing it in him who is their head For Christ ascended into heaven and sits there not as a private person but as the head of the Church in the Name of all the elect and therefore that action is to bee accounted theirs As when an inheritance is given to many brethren in a far countrey the elder brother goes is enstated into the possession of it in the name of all the rest all the rest that are absent are possessed of the place as well as he that is bodily present there It is in this case as it is betweene the head the members of the naturall body Though all the body be under the water yet if the head be above the water wee use to say that the man is above the water So though the faithfull bee here on earth yet Christ their head being in heaven they may also be sayd to be in heaven Thus then the godly are in heaven because they be in Christ their head who is in heaven Iohn 17. 24. Father I will that they whom thou hast given mee be with mee where I am The which as they shall at last personally and locally be so also in this sense they now bee whilst on earth as having taken possession and a seate in Heaven in Christ their head Secondly in respect of their faith by which they ascend into heaven and sit there with Christ That looke as it is said of God Rom. 4. 17. that hee calles those things that bee not as if they were so likewise the grace of faith it makes things to bee which are not that is which are not to sense and are not seene with the eye of sence and nature Therefore Heb. 11. 1. Fayth is the subsistence of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seene The grace of faith doth give a nullity to things that are as namely to the afflictions miseries and mortality of this life it makes these things bee as if they were not It makes afflictions to bee no afflictions it makes miseries to be no miseries 2 Cor. 6. 9 10. As dying and yet behold we live as chastened yet not killed as sorrowfull yet alwaies rejoycing c. Now as faith gives a nullity to things existent and makes things which are not to be So on the contrary it gives a subsistence to things not being and makes those things to bee which are not Thus did the faith of the beleevers under the old Testament make Christ to bee crucified unto them before hee was crucified or come into the world Hee was to their faith a lambe crucified from the beginning of the world who was not indeed crucified till the latter end of the world And thus are wee by faith already in heaven though here yet on earth This is that Heb. 10. 34. Knowing that you have in your selves a better substance in the heavens How could they have that substance in themselves and in the heavens when they themselves on earth By the worke of faith which makes things to come to be already present A substance in themselves and yet a substance in heaven because they themselves already in heaven by their faith I live by faith saies the Apostle and the just shall live by faith A
Christian lives by faith and faith lives altogether above in heaven faith lives alwaies above upon Christ and with Christ And therefore a Christian must needs live in heaven because hee lives by that which lives altogether in heaven Faith puts the soule in possession of heaven whilest the body is here on earth It is with a Christians faith in this case as it was with Iacobs in that Gen. 48. 22. Moreover I have given unto thee one portion above thy brethren which I tooke out of the hand of the Amorite with my Sword and with my Bow Which is not to bee understood of any thing that was past and already done but he speaks prophetically of that which should afterwards be done by his posterity which his faith made to him as already done as if hee had now already conquered and taken possession of it He speaking the language of faith speakes of a thing to be done as past and done already So faith gives a man possession of heaven whiles hee is on earth and so makes him live in heaven whiles he is here on earth Thirdly in regard of their hearts and affections their loves delights and desires Their hearts and their minds their Neque n. praesentior spiritus noster est ubi animat quaÌ„ ubi amat nisi sorte putetur esse magis ubi invitus tenetur necessitate quam quo spâ—nâ—e fâ—râ—ur alacri volâ—nteâ—e 〈…〉 aâ—lâ—â— dâ—o 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost ad Eph. hom 5. affections desires and delights are in heaven and so their conversation is there A man is not so much where his body is as where his heart is And a mans heart is not so much where his body is as where his love and affections and desires are Love and desire carry a mans heart thither where the things loved and desired are Where the treasure is there is the heart Matth. 6. Where the treasure is that is loved and desired there the heart is which loveth and desireth A man is not so much said to bee any where so much in respect of position of place as of disposition of affection And the soule is not where it lives but where it loves yea there it lives where it loves Thus therefore have the godly their conversation in heaven because they have their hearts there their affections are raised and mounted up into heaven they minde heaven and heavenly things their desires and longing affections are altogether there So much is here implyed in the Apostles opposition They mind earthly things but our conversation is in heaven The opposition one would have thought should rather have runne thus they minde earthly things But wee minde heavenly things but in stead of this hee saies our conversation is in heaven So that to have a mans conversation in heaven is to minde heavenly things to have his heart and affections in heaven What this conversation in heaven is we may see Col. 3. 1. 2. Seeke the things that are above Above where is that above In heaven above in heaven where Christ sits at the right hand of God And vers 2. Set your affection on things above Still above a Christians thoughts and affections are still above and so hee converses above in heaven Thus had Abraham his conversation in heaven Heb. 11. 10. He looketh for a City which hath foundations whose builder and maker is God How looked he for that City with much affection and desire vers 14 16. They seeke a Countrey they desire an heavenly Countrey Thus Abraham and the Patriarchs had their conversations in heaven by having their minds after heaven Excellent is that description of the Church Cant. 3. 6. Who is this that comes or ascends up out of the Wildernesse like pillars of smoake The world is a wildernesse a Christian hee is comming up out of the wildernesse he is always ascending up out of the wildernes he is raising and lifting up his heart into heaven and he ascends like pillars of smoake Smoke we see arises and ascends in the forme of a pillar and it goes upward to heaven So a Christian hath his heart alienated from the world hee is ever ascending up out of that wildernesse and such are the desires and affections of his heart after heaven that they ascend up like smoake like pillars elations and liftings up of smoake to heaven When the Israelites set Ai on fire Iosh 8. 20. The men of Ai looked behind them and they saw and beheld the smoake of the City ascended up to heaven So such are the affections and desires of the godly after heaven that their affections reeke and smoke and goe up in pillars of smoake to heaven Now when thus the soule of a man is lifted and carried up into heaven in his affections and desires when his heart thus reekes and smoakes towards heaven then is a mans conversation in heaven Phil. 1. I desire to be dissolved and to bee with Christ which is best of all Now when a mans heart hath continuall risings and heavings up heaven-ward when a mans spirit aspires breathes pants after the presence of God in heaven then a man may bee said to have his conversation in heaven See Iacobs expression Gen. 49. 18. O Lord I have waited for thy salvation It is with Gods people as with wayters a wayter hee stands without at the gate or doore of the house but his heart his desires are within doores hee represents to himselfe his being within his speech discourse carriage and behaviour there and so is within whiles he is without So is it with godly men they waite for salvation waite for heaven and though yet whiles here they be without yet in their minds affections and desires they are within The woman that Iohn saw Apoc. 12. 1. had the Moone under her feete The godly live above the Moone above all sublunary things These things are beneath their affections their affections are aloft above the Moone and they that have the Moone under their feet are in an higher region then the earth they have their conversation in heaven by having their affections above all earthly things Many when they are in the publique assemblies and at a sermon hearing the word yet they may bee said to have their conversation in their shops and in their fields because their hearts minds and affections be there So in this case the godly may be said to be in heaven whilst on earth because there bee their hearts and affections The godly may be said to be in heaven whilest they are on earth as the Israelites were said to bee in Egypt whilst they were in the wildernesse Act. 7. 39. They returned into Egypt I but they never came backe into Egypt how then is it sayd that they returned into Egypt They returned sayes the text into Egypt in their hearts Because their hearts affections and desires were in Egypt therefore they are said to returne into Egypt They returned in their hearts and with their
hearts though not with their feete So the godly though on earth yet they are in heaven have their conversation there because they bee gone up thither in their hearts and affections This people saies the Prophet drawes nigh unto mee with their lips but their hearts are farre from me So here on the contrary This people is farre from mee with their bodies but their hearts draw nigh unto me and are continually in heaven with me And as they are thus in heaven by their affections and desires so unto this head may bee joyned that they are in heaven in regard of their meditations and contemplations He that ascends and frequently goes up into heaven may be said to have his conversation there Now by meditation a Christian hath his ascensions into heaven by it hee goes up and there surviews the joyes and the glories in A more poâ—eâ— asâ—endeâ—e Anima quae 〈…〉 〈…〉 teâ—per plâ—teuâ— ecclestâ—s Ierusalem August heaven and so in that regard he converses in heaven Moses did not goe bodily and personally into the land of Canaan but yet see Deut. 34. 1 2 3 4. And Moses went up from the plaines of Moab unto the Mountaine of Nebo to the toppe of Pisgah and the Lord shewed him all the Land of Gilead unto Dan and all the Land of Iudah to the utmost Sea and the South c. And the Lord said unto him This is the Land which I sware unto Abraham c. I have caused thee to see it with thine eyes So that when Moses went up into Mount Nebo and there saw all the Land to the utmost Sea he was in a manner in Canaan Meditation is a Mount Nebo and from the top of that Pisgah God shewes his people heaven the glory and the joyes of it and so they converse in Canaan being in that Mountaine top When Daniel was in Babylon Dan. 6. 10. Hee opened his window in his chamber towards Ierusalem and looked that way and so in his meditations was in Ierusalem and conversed there whilest he was in Babylon So by meditation a godly heart opens a window towards heaven and looketh thither and so converseth in heaven when he is on earth A godly man is so conversing in Heaven when hee is on earth as Paul conversed at Colossus when he was at Rome How Paul was at Colossus being at Rome we see Col. 2. 5. For though I be absent in the flesh yet I am with you in the spirit joying and beholding your order and the stedfastnesse of your faith in Christ Hee was present with them in spirit and by contemplation represented unto himselfe the assemblies of the Colossians and beheld their holy order and rejoyced therein So the godly though they bee absent from heaven in their bodies for whiles wee are in the body wee are absent from the Lord 2 Cor. 5. yet in their spirit that heavenlier and diviner part they are by meditation ascended thither and there they behold the face of God and the blessednesse of the Saints in glorious communion with him Fourthly they are in heaven here because heaven is here in them What shall they have in heaven for the maine and substantials that they have not here That they have here differs from that they shall have hereafter not in kind but only in degree They have the happines of heaven here That they have the happinesse of heaven here will appeare in five things First it is a great part of the happinesse of heaven to have the sight of Gods face Math. 18. 10. In heaven their Angels doe alwaies behold the face of my father which is in Heaven That is a great part of the happinesse of heaven to the Angels the seeing and beholding of Gods face in Heaven That is to be in heaven and to have the happinesse of heaven to behold the face of God and to see him And so is Christs happinesse after his resurrection set forth Acts 2. 28. Thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance And thus David sets out the happinesse of heaven Psal 17. 15. As for me I shall behold thy face in righteousnesse And so the Apostle sets it out 1 Cor. 13. 12. Wee shall then see face to face A great part also of the happinesse of heaven is in having fellowship and communion with God That communion which the Saints have with God in heaven is the very heaven of heaven the maine happinesse of heaven Now this happinesse have the Saints here on earth in their degree Here they see Gods face Stephen saw heaven opened and Christ standing at the right hand of glory so also doe all Gods people with spirituall eyes see heaven opened and see Gods face Math. 5. 8. Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God not onely hereafter but in this life not onely shall see God but doe see God Gods face is to be seene in his ordinances Seeke my face Psal 27. Lord thy face will I seeke And as his face is to be sought so his face is to be seene in his ordinances See how David speakes Psal 63. 2. my flesh longeth to see thy power and thy glory so as I have seene thee in thy sanctuary 3. Iohn 11. Hee that doth evill hath not seene God he saies not he shall not see but hath not seene That implies that good and godly persons they doe see and have seene God in the Word Prayer and Sacraments Godly people see God and behold his face Apoc. 22. 4. And they shall see his face But when is it they shall see it Lay the latter end of the former verse to it And his servants shall serve him and they shall see his face That is even then when whilest they serve him even in their services in Prayer the Word and the Sacrament In these holy services Gods servants see his face And so also they have heavenly and sweete fellowship with God 1 Iohn 1. 3. Our fellowship is with the father and his Sonne Jesus Christ Cant. 1. 4. The King hath brought me into his chambers not the King will bring me into his chambers but he hath brought me in It is spoken of that sweet and secret communion which the Saints here have with God The publique assemblies are Gods house and his Pallace but heaven is Gods chamber Now the godly are not onely admitted into the publique assemblies unto holy duties but in the publique assemblies in the duties of praying hearing and receiving the Sacrament God takes them into his chamber into heaven in regard of that sweet and secret fellowship that he vouchsafes theÌ„ in holy duties And so they being in Gods chamber in Gods privy-chamber in his bedchamber Also our bed is greene where are they but in Cant. 1. 16 heaven They that have their conversatioÌ„ in Gods chaÌ„ber in his very bed-chamber they have their coÌ„versation in heaveÌ„ And thus the godly here seeing Gods face here having communion with God they have here
of Spirit in the contemplations of their present and view of their eternall blessednesse Now even thus have the Saints on earth an happinesse like that in heaven For the Saints on earth have their raptures their heavenly extasies and ravishments of spirit Luke 9. 29. As Christ prayed the fashion of his countenance was changed and hee was transfigured So Act. 10. 9. As Peter prayed he fell into a trance and saw heaven opened Nay Paul 2 Cor. 12. 3 4. was rapt was caught up into the third heavens caught up into paradise and heard words which were not lawfull or possible to be uttered A man caught up into heaven hee is in heaven and truely converses in heaven So Apoc. 1. Iohn was ravished in spirit on the Lords day either in the time of his prayers or meditations on that day Thus had all these their raptures and extasies And though these were all extraordinary cases and not common to all Gods people yet are not the godly without raptures of spirit in their kinde They have their spirituall transfigurations and in their prayers and meditations when they have their hearts in speciall manner enlarged they have their spirits rapt and caught up into the third heavens and there have sweete and comfortable converse with God above He that knowes what speciall enlargements of heart are in holy duties knowes better by experience what these ravishments meane then any man knowes how to expresse them Fourthly it is a great part of the happinesse of heaven that there the Saints live separated from all evill and wicked company There the Wheate is separated from the chaffe there the sheepe are separated from the Goates To live and converse in the company and society of wicked and ungodly men and to see their filthy conversation their conversation in hell it is a little piece of hell it is a living in the suburbs of hell It is to a godly heart a kinde of hellish torment 1 Pet. 2. 7 8. vexed his righteous soule from day to day vexed or tormented It is the same word that is used of the rich man being in the torments in hell Luk. 16. But whether a man be tormented or not it is the having of a mans conversation in hel to live familiarly and to converse in inward familiar society with ungodly and prophane persons To bee all one with them and to take delight in their company is for a man to have his conversation in hell To have ones conversation in drunken houses with drunken persons to have ones conversation with swearers and godlesse persons what is it better then conversing in hell Now this is an happinesse in heaven that there a man is separated from all familiarity company and society of ungodly ones There is no Canaanite in that house of the Lord there is no hurtfull beast in that mountaine of the Lord. And this is a great part of the happinesse of heaven It is to live in heaven to live separated from wicked ones And thus here have the godly their conversation in heaven by living separated from ungodly ones in the world Though this separation bee not a locall separation yet it is a morall separation a separation in manners in affection in society and this morall separation prepares for that locall separation And thus are Gods people in a manner in heaven and have their conversation there by not having conversation and society with such as have their conversation in hell It is in heaven to live separated from evill ones Fiftly it is a great part of the happinesse of heaven that there a man hath sweet and comfortable society with the Saints of God This is made a great happinesse of heaven Math. 8. 11. Many shall come from the East and the West and shall sit downe with Abraham Isaac and Iacob in the Kingdome of God There the Saints of God shall have blessed society each with other shall rejoyce together in communion each with other There shall be an happinesse not onely in communion with God but also in communion with the Saints And it is an unspeakeable sweetnesse that shall arise from the society of the Saints in heaven This happinesse and comfort have the godly here now begun on earth It is an heavenly contentment an heavenly delight that they have in and from the society of Gods people All my delight is in the Saints on earth Psal 16. 3. I am companion of all them that feare thee Psal 119 63. Thus by delighting and rejoycing themselves in the society of the Saints sorting with them and conversing with them in the duties of the communion of Saints they doe live in heaven and have their conversation there It is to have ones conversation in heaven to have conversation with the Saints in the duties of their communion Fiftly the godly live in heaven whilest they are here because whilest they are here they live as the Saints and Angels in heaven doe They live in holinesse and in obedience to God as the Saints and Angels in heaven doe Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven now they that live holily and obediently on earth they doe Gods will on earth as it is in heaven and they that doe Gods will on earth as it is in heaven they live as they doe that be in heaven and they that live like the spirits in heaven they have their conversation in heaven They may be truely said to have their conversation in heaven that live an heavenly life and they live an heavenly life that live an holy life What be the men that be in heaven All men that are in heaven are Saints holy persons Now then when men be Saints they be inhabitants of heaven The Apostle makes a distinction of bodies 1 Cor. 15. 40 There are celestiall bodies and bodies terrestriall So I may say there are celestiall hearts there be hearts terrestriall Now when men have holy hearts set upon holinesse sanctified spirits and lives conformable to Gods will and truth such holy hearts are heavenly and celestiall hearts and when men have celestiall spirits then they live in heaven A maine thing in heaven is the perfection of holinesse that there the Saints shall be perfectly holy Now therefore the more holinesse wee have the more wee are in heaven The way to live in to converse there now is to live an holy life Saints on earth as David cals them Ps 16. are already Saints in heaven Saints that have their conversation there The Turkes if they see a mad man they honour him as a Saint and judge him a Saint as one that hath his minde abstracted from and elevated above things below as one who in his spirit converses with God But many amongst us are in another extreame If we see a man a Saint one of an holy godly life wee count him a mad man Turkes honour mad men under the notion of Saints we hate and despise Saints under the notion of mad men But let
we finde vers 6. They dwelt in heaven they had their conversation in heaven they were an heavenly minded people and so the Antichristian pestilence could not fasten upon them But all that dwelt on the earth worships him An earthly hearted man is a fit piece of timber to be framed to any thing that is naught yee may hew a Papist an idolater a superstitious sot out of him He will be any thing before he will loose any thing It is a very heavie sore and sad judgement of God to be given up to embrace Antichrist 2 Thess 2 11 12. For this cause God shall sond them strong delusions that they should believe a lie that they all might be damned See how Salomon speakes of an whore Eccles 7. 26. I finde more bitter then death the woman whose heart is snares and nets and her hands as bands who so pleases God shall escape from her but the sinner shall bee taken by her and Prov. 22. 14. The mouth of a strange woman is a deepe pit hee that is abhorred of the Lord shall fall therein When a man is given up to the love of an whore it is a signe that he is abhorred of God and that therefore God lets him fall into that deepe pit to breake his necke and on the contrary a mercy of God for a man to escape that ditch So it is a speciall mercy of God to be saved and preserved from the whore of Babylon as to be given up to the embracements of that whoore it is a sad signe that God abhorres a man and precipitates him into that deepe pit to break his necke It being so sad a case it concernes every man to looke well about him that hee may be preserved from that danger Loe then here is a speciall preservative dwell not on earth dwell and converse above in heaven and this will preserve thee from falling into that deepe and dangerous ditch Thirdly every man saies he would faine live in heaven for ever and have his habitation there for ever Now then as we desire to live in heaven for ever so now have wee our conversation in heaven here Here be two things in this text here is a conversation in heaven and an expectation of a Saviour from heaven And first a conversation in heaven before an expectation of a Saviour from heaven Many professe an expectation of a Saviour and so of salvation from heaven but in the meane time have no regard to a conversation in heaven Now in vaine is a mans expectation of a Saviour from heaven who hath not his conversation in heaven The conversation in heaven is the comfortable ground of the expectation of a Saviour from heaven for marke the words From whence wee looke for the Saviour The Saviour is not onely looked for but marke from whence hee is looked for From whence then is he looked for from heaven I but from what heaven our conversation is in heaven from whence wee looke for the Saviour Therefore the expectation of the Saviour is onely from that heaven in which a mans conversation is So that if no conversation in heaven then no ground for a man comfortably to expect Christs comming from heaven because by the context it appeares that they onely can comfortably expect Christs comming from heaven who have first had their conversation in that heaven from whence they expect him a Saviour So then eyther have thy conversation in heaven or else from that heaven thou canst not looke for a Saviour nor in that heaven have salvation A sure thing it is that hee that hath not his conversation in heaven here shall never have his habitation there hereafter And as sure it is that every one that truely desires to have his habitation in heaven hereafter now here already hath his conversation there If we have not our conversation in heaven now how appeares it that wee have a desire indeede to live in heaven hereafter If yee have a true desire to live in heaven hereafter why then make yee not all the haste yee can to bee in heaven now As Ioshua speakes to them Iosh 18. 3. How long are yee slacke to goe to possesse the land which the Lord God of your fathers hath given you So I say if yee have any minde in good earnest to dwell in heaven for ever how long are you slacke to take possession of heaven now why are yee not in it already why are yee so long out of it why have yee not your conversation there where yee professe yee desire to have your habitation for ever That man hath no true desire to heaven that doth not now converse in heaven No conversation in heaven now no habitation in heaven hereafter Fourthly It is a sweet and comfortable evidence that wee are risen with Christ when our conversation is in heaven There bee many that goe for Christians that are no better then Christians under-ground that are dead and buried that have no life in them were never raised with Christ And there is not a surer evidence of it then this that they have not their conversation in heaven for they that are risen with Christ are ascended into heaven and converse there in heaven where Christ is Colos 3. 1 2. If yee be risen with Christ seeke the things that are above where Christ sits at the right hand of God set your affections on things above that is If ye be risen with Christ set your affections above for those words If yee bee risen with Christ have reference also to the words in the second verse As if hee had said yee can never set your affections above nor seeke the things above unlesse ye be risen with Christ you must bee first risen with Christ before you can have your conversation in heaven And if you doe once set your affections above and so have your conversation in heaven then yee give a good evidence that yee are risen againe with Christ So that a man that hath not his conversation in heaven by having his heart and affections raised up into heaven hee is like to that Demoniacke Marke 5. that had his dwelling and his conversation amongst the graves and sepulchres An unraised Christian is still in the grave and a man that hath not his conversation in heaven is an unraised Christian he is not risen with Christ The Apostle tels us that a true Christian must bee planted into the likenesse of Christs resurrection Rom. 6. 5. They that be spiritually raised must be raised like as Christ was raised A resurrection that is not in the likenesse of Christs resurrection is not to bee trusted to Some are raised onely in the likenesse of Samuels resurrection it was not Samuel himselfe but onely a spirit which the witch of Endor raised in the likenesse of Samuel Divers seeme to be true Christians as if they were raised from the dead but they are no better than hypocrites in the likenesse of true Christians Some are raised in
the likenesse of Lazarus his resurrection Iohn 11. 44. hee was indeed raised but yet hee was to die againe Too many rise in the likenesse of his resurrection of whom it may be said cleane contrary to that which the father spake of his prodigall sonne Luke 15. 32. This thy brother was dead and is alive againe but of them These were alive and are dead againe Such is the resurrection of Apostataes and back-sliders But now a man that would be raised aright must be raised in the likenesse of Christs resurrection hee must be raised like as Christ was raised How was that The third day hee rose againe from the dead hee ascended into heaven Christ after he rose from the dead hee ascended up into heaven and hath his abode there So a man that is raised in the likenesse of Christs resurrection must doe he must rise and ascend into heaven Then a man is planted into the likenesse of Christs resurrection when he ascends into heaven then hee is ascended into heaven when hee hath his conversation in heaven And so a man that hath his conversation in heaven is planted into the likenesse of Christs resurrection and hath also thereby a comfortable evidence that hee is risen with Christ For indeede none can rise in the likenesse of his resurrection but those that are raised by the power of his resurrection All this therefore considered be wee stirred up to approve the truth of our Christianity by the heavenlinesse of our conversation by living now where wee desire to live for ever hereafter by living like Daniel Saints Dan. 7. 18. Like the Saints of the high ones or high things or places What should the Saints of high things doe minding these low things here on earth What should the Saints of the high places doe conversing in these low places on earth Some low thoughts as of the earth become not the Saints of the high places Saints of the high places should have their conversation in high places There should be a suiteablenesse betweene mens conditions and conversations If God have called them to the high calling of God in Christ Iesus If he have called them to be of the Saints of the high Phil. 3. 14. places then let them live on high and have their minds and affections on high let them have their conversation in high places Indeed in one sence it is a sinne to Rom. 12. 16. Bonum est sursum habere Cor non tamen ad seipsum quod est superbiae sed ad Deum quod est obeduntiae Prosper sent be high minded and it is forbidden Mind not high things but in this sence it is a vertue and a grace to bee high minded and we are commanded to doe it Col. 3. 2. Minde the things above minde high things It is the same word that is used in the verse before this text which minde earthly things Though wee may not be Proudly high-minded yet wee may and must be heavenly high-minded Such an highmindednesse will prove us to be right bred Christians indeed Wee shall finde that God twice promises Abraham the multiplication of his seed once Gen. 13. 16. And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth so that if a man can number the dust of the earth then shall thy seed also bee numbred And againe Gen. 15. 5. Looke now towards heaven and tell the Starres if thou be able to number them and he said so shall thy seed bee In the first place hee compares Abrahams seed to the dust of the Ponam semen tuum quasi pulverem terra c. Infra deus jube◠Abrahamū numerare stellas Illic igitur posteritatem Abrahae comparat stellis luminibu◠coeli hic autem pulveri terrae Significatur autem his similitudinibus duplex Abrahae posteritas una terrenae corporalis Altera coelestis spiritualis aeterna Luther in Genes 13. earth in the last to the Starres of heaven Luther from thence observes the shadowing out of the double seed of Abraham one earthly and bodily another spirituall and heavenly And indeed the Scripture tels us of a double seed of Abraham Rom. 9. 7 8. The children of the flesh and the children of the promise The children of the flesh haply shadowed out by the dust of the earth the children of promise by the Starres of heaven Now sureit is that we cannot be children of God except we be children of Abraham If we be children of Abraham wee are sure to be heires Rom. 4. 14 16. All Abrahams seed are not children and heires Rom. 9. How may a man know whether he be of those children of Abraham that shall be heires By this if hee be of the seed that is like to the Starres in heaven That seed that is like the dust of the earth that Christian that is but carnall and earthly hee is not a child of Abraham that shall be an heyre but that seed that is like the Starres of heaven such Christians as are spirituall and heavenly they shall be heires because they are the right bred seed of Abraham The Saints Dan. 7. 18. are called the Saints of the high places And so Dan. 8. 10. they are called the Host of heaven and the Starres They are Saints of high places indeed when they are Starres in heaven and the Host of heaven Now when wee are Starres in heaven then indeed wee are the right seed of Abraham true Christians indeed But now when are wee Starres in heaven Then when wee have our conversation in heaven Men that have their conversation in heaven they are Starres in heaven the glistering lampes and lights of heaven that shine as lights in the middest of a crooked generation Philip. 2. 15. they are the Host of heaven And they that are Starres in heaven they are the true Christians indeed the right seed of Abraham looke upon the Starres so shall thy seed bee What comfort is there in being the dusty seed of Abraham as now all the reprobate cast-away Iewes are at this day but to be the Starry seed of Abraham that 's honour and comfort indeed And then we are the Starry seed of Abraham when we be Starres in heaven when wee have our conversation in heaven But how then may one come to Quest have his conversation in heaven what must one doe that hee may converse in heaven If a man would have his conversation Answ in heaven he must doe these things First he must get his heart loose from the world and worldly things a man must get his heart weaned from the world Psal 131. 2. I have behaved my selfe as a child that is weaned of his mother my soule is even as a weaned child Hanna had vowed Samuel unto God that he should have his whole converse in and about the Tabernacle in Shiloh But yet shee brought him not presently thither but she first weaned him 1 Sam. 1. 22. Hannah said I will not goe up untill the child bee
weaned and then I will bring him up that hee may appeare before the Lord and there abide for ever And vers 24. When shee had weaned him shee tooke him up with her and brought him unto the house of the Lord in Shiloh Ill would Samuel have abode at Shiloh and have had his conversation there with Eli if hee had not beene weaned from his mothers breast If a man sometimes doe chance to make a steppe up to heaven yet if hee be not weaned from the world he will never long abide there nor have his converse there his heart will bee hankering and lingering after the worlds breast he will quickly come downe againe that hee may be sucking that Milke The Apostle compares the love cares and thoughts of the world to weights Heb. 12. 1. Let us lay aside every weight They are weights that hold and keepe downe the heart from rising up to heaven or plucke downe the heart from heaven if it be raised up towards heaven A man that wil have his conversation in heaven must first have his heart lifted and raised up into heaven it must first be there before it can converse there Now how can the heart lift and raise up it selfe into heaven if it be clogged with a company of weights if it could raise it selfe upwards yet these waights would soone pull and weigh it downe againe An Eagle flies towards heaven Prov. 23. 5. But if an Eagle had waights fastned to her legges shee could not flie at all much lesse towards heaven If therefore we would converse in heaven wee must first sore up into heaven and if wee would mount and flie up into heaven wee must first get loose from these weights get our hearts loose and free from the love and cares of this world Yea these are not onely weights but they are as Bird-lime to those wings upon which we should mount up to heaven Worldly things are entanglements 2 Tim. 2. 4. No man that worketh entangles himselfe with the affaires of this life A Bird that is entangled with a snare that is entangled with lime-twigs cannot flie up aloft and the love and cares of the world doe entangle the spirit of a man so as he cannot raise it up into heaven And he that cannot raise up his heart into heaven cannot have his conversation there First get we our hearts to bee estranged from the earth and then wee shall the more willingly converse in heaven That man will hardly come to live in the countrey to have his abode and conversation there that hath not first weaned himselfe from the City so long as his minde is to the City hee will hardly like to leade a Countrey-life When once David had got his heart off from the world see how spiritually and heavenly minded he was Psal 119. 19 20. I am a stranger in the earth hee had alienated his heart and estranged his effections from the world and see what followes Hide not thy Commandements from mee my soule breakes for the longing that it hath unto thy judgements at all times Wee see the Patriarches were heavenly minded persons had their conversation in heaven Hebr. 11. 16. Their mindes were upon an heavenly Countrey but yet first vers 13. they confesse they were strangers and pilgrims on earth They had estranged their hearts from this world from the earth and so made way to have their conversation in heaven Secondly yee must doe as our Saviour prescribes Math. 6. 20. Lay up treasures in heaven Make heavenly things your treasures hoard up there and lay up there as much as may be and then yee shall soone have your conversation there Then the conversation is in heaven when the heart and affections are in heaven as wee saw before The way to have the heart in heaven is to have the treasure there Math. 6. 20 21. Lay up your treasure in heaven for where your treasure is there will your hearts be also As if he had said Get your treasure into heaven and you shall easily get your hearts into heaven for if the treasure bee once in heaven the heart will soone bee in heaven too for the heart and the treasure will be undivided What is the reason that many have their conversation on earth but because they lay up their treasure on earth and they make these earthly things their treasures So if treasure were laid up in heaven and heavenly things made our treasure our conversation would be in heaven for the heart would follow and runne after the treasure Make Christ thy treasure make him the welbeloved of thy soule make him the pearle of great price prize him so as to count all earthly things as dung and drosse to him and Christ in heaven being made our treasure will draw our hearts up into heaven And when the heart is drawne up into heaven the conversation is there Looke where the Loadstone is that way it draws the yron If the Loadstone bee beneath it drawes the yron downeward if it be above it drawes the yron upwards Pitch our Loadstone in heaven make Christ our Loadstone and then our hearts will up apace into heaven as mens hearts goe so fast downwards because their Loadstone is in the earth Thirdly hee must get an intrinsecall principle of grace into his heart that may be continually lifting heaving and raysing the heart upward and heaven-ward Heavy things they naturally affect to descend and to goe downeward because they have an intrinsecall principle of nature that inclines them to descend And light things they naturally affect to ascend and goe upwards because they have an intrinsecall principle that carries them that way Now a man that would have his conversation in heaven should get such an inward principle of grace into his heart that should bee carrying the heart still upward A man must get a sanctified frame of heart that so the naturall bent of his spirit may be to heaven-ward to be heaving and lifting upwards Psal 25. 1. Vnto thee O Lord doe I lift up my soule By that phrase is expressed the strange desires of a servant to his wages Deut. 24. 15. Thou shalt give him his hire for hee sets his heart upon it or hee lifts up his soule unto it Looke now how a servants heart is lifted up to his hire how he sets his heart upon it how his minde runs upon it so such a frame of Spirit should a man get that his heart should be lifting up it selfe to God and Christ and heavenly things that though a man may have some diversions and some occurrences that may put his heart off heaven for a time yet those diversions no sooner over but a mans heart should bee upon heaven againe and never well but when it is set that way The needle of the compasse being once toucht with the Loadstone though by some violent shaking it may bee carried to this and to that point of the compasse yet if once that violence cease it ceases not till
it turne to the North-point and rest there So if once a man had his heart toucht with Christ though a man may have troubles and distractions by reason of secular imployments yet the heart would quickly bee upon heaven againe and not be at rest till it were pitcht that way againe Get therefore a sanctified frame of heart and then thou wilt bee thinking of heaven minding of heaven talking of heaven trading for heaven yet that will make thee use thine earthly calling with an heavenly mind that what ever thine imployments be yet thy minde shall be running on heaven and so thy conversation shall be in heaven There is a great deale of difference betweene heavenly thoughts that may bee cast into a mans heart and heavenly thoughts that breed in rise and spring out of a mans heart A man may have heavenly thoughts cast in his heart and yet not have his conversation in heaven Many a worldly man may have thoughts and mindings of heaven thrown or cast into his heart God may cast such thoughts sometimes into his heart and it may bee a good sermon may so farre worke upon him as to put some thoughts of heaven into him but all this while this is no conversation in heaven these are but thoughts in their hearts but not thoughts of their hearts But now when such thoughts are thoughts of the heart they are bred in the heart and the heart it selfe raises them and brings them forth then in such thoughts a man hath his conversation in heaven Now then onely doth the heart breed and raise such thoughts of it selfe when the frame of it is sanctified when there is a principle of grace in it The fire that is come downe from heaven burning in it causes heavenly thoughts to ascend like pillars of smoke Fire doth not more naturally cause smoke to arise and ascend upwards towards heaven then grace in a sanctified heart causes the thoughts of it to make ascensions into heaven When a man hath a sanctified frame of heart what ever hee is doing what ever his employments what ever his discourses are still hee is minding heaven That looke as it is with a man that hath a worldly frame of heart so soone as he wakes in the morning presently before his eyes be well open he is thinking of the world when hee eates and drinkes still the world is in his mind when hee walkes rides upon the way still his mind is upon his penny upon his profit yea when hee sleepes hee dreames of the world and of his gaine let him bee at his prayers yet in prayer his heart is upon his shop his customers his market his barnes and his sackes let him be at a sermon where hee seemes to sit very attentively and yet then his heart goes after covetousnesse Eze. 33. 31. Let him come to the Lords Table yet there the world and his heart cannot sunder Now what is the reason that this man so truely hath his conversation in the world hath his thoughts thus continually upon the world Because he hath a worldly frame of heart and the frame of it being earthly these earthly vapours breed out of it and it is restlesly raising these earthly muddy thoughts So now in this case if a man once have a sanctified frame of heart that would thus breed heavenly thoughts that what ever he were about yet his thoughts would be upon and in heaven When he awakes in the morning he would awake as David did Psal 139. 18. When I awake I am still with thee so soone as mine eyes are open mine heart is in heaven with thee God and heaven are first in my thoughts so soone as I awake Davids thoughts lookt up to heaven and to God next his heart When he sits at table to eate and drinke he hath some such thought as that Luke 14. 15. Blessed is he that shall eate bread in the Kingdome of God When he lies in his bed and it were time he were at his rest He prayes in his bed Psal 6. 6. He meditates of heaven in his bed Psal 16. 7. he conferres in his bed Deut. 6. 7. he sings in his bed Psal 149 5. When hee is in the workes of his calling in the employments of the world even when at the hottest yet his heart hath its lookes to heaven he hath an eye still to heaven Psal 123. 1 2. Vnto thee I lift up mine eyes O thou that dwellest in the heavens behold as the eyes of servants looke unto the hand of their masters and as the eyes of a mayden unto the hands of her mistresse c. I know the text hath another sence I do onely allude to it Ye shall see Ladies Wayting-gentlewomen and mayds they waite on their Ladies with their worke in their hands they are following their worke but yet ever and anon they are casting their eyes to their Ladies and still as they are working have an eye to them so it is with a man that hath a sanctified gracious frame of heart hee is following his earthly and worldly businesse but yet ever and anon hee is lifting up his eyes and his heart to God in the heavens still his heart is looking that way as Daniel in Babylon opened his window and looked towards Ierusalem And as an earthly man in an heavenly businesse of prayer hearing and receiving the Sacrament will have an earthly so he in an earthly businesse in his shop in his field at his plow will have an heavenly heart and so converses in heaven in the very heat and middest of secular imployments Such a man as he rides by the way as hee walkes with company will have conference and discourse that shall evidence an heart in heaven Yea an heart sanctified hath such a bent towards heaven that his heart is in heaven in his very sleepe that hee often hath sweet dreames of heaven and things belonging to heaven Thus if a man get once such a sanctified frame of heart he shall be sure to have his conversation in heaven Secondly this serves to condemne two sorts of persons and convinces them to be Vse 2 no true Christians indeed First It shoales out all prophane irreligious unholy persons from being true Christians We have a great many that live like heathens prophane swearers neglecters and contemners of holinesse and all holy duties of obedience drunkards uncleane persons and the like and yet these would thinke themselves much wronged if a man should call the truth of their Christianity in question Well then put it upon this tryall try them by a Christians conversation Hee that is a Christian is of a Christians conversation He that is of a Christians conversation hath his conversation in heaven Now I appeale to such mens consciences whether their conversation be in heaven or not whether they live with such holinesse obedience for the kind of it as the Saints in heaven do Thou hast a swearing an uncleane an adulterous conversation a drunken