and what we would be too a Good wherein we see the image of our selves in that perfection to which we desire to be advanced All they therefore who would be truly disposed to love the appearing of our Lord must have a deep apprehension of the meanness and vileness of this present state They must be possessed with a serious sense of their many imperfections and great weakness in the best condition that this world affords of the poverty and emptiness of all earthly enjoyments yea and of the scantiness and narrowness of all those Divine participations which their Souls are here capable to be blessed withal And then the Appearing of our Lord will seem a Good so suitable to them that they cannot chuse but have the same affection for it that a crazy and diseased person hath to the most skilful Physician In hope that He will perfect their nature cure the disorders under which they labour supply their defects fill their appetites nay enlarge their capacities and raise them to a greater pitch of true goodness and bliss Let us suppose such persons to be so much in the favour of God as to have a liberal share even in the blessings of this World as well as of those which are more peculiarly in the gift of our Saviour Christ yet it is impossible one would think they should be so much pleased in the highest Dignities that can be conferred on them in the rarest Delicates that the bounty of Nature or curiosity of Art can provide for them in the society of the choicest and dearest Friends or I may add in their own secret joy though descending from heaven to them as not to think still that it is far more desirable to see the Lord Jesus come to promote them and all their pious Relations and Friends to an incomparably better condition in his Coelestial Kingdom It is their interest to have Him appear again and besides they have such a likeness and resemblance to Him that the bent and inclination of their Souls cannot but make them long after the sight of Him as a good more delightful and agreeable than any other For there is another Coming of Christ before that which we expect Quo per totum tempus in Ecclesia sua venit c. as St. Austin speaks * L. xx de Civ Dei Cap. v. by which He comes through all the time between his first appearing and the last in His Church that is his members particulatim atque paulatim working in every one of them by little and little according to his promise xiv Joh. 21 23. that if any man keep His Commandments He will look upon it as such a testimony of his love that He will love that man and the Father will love him and we will come saith He unto him and make our abode with him Now when we heartily entertain Him and He is so truly setled there that we are made partakers of his Blessed nature and disposition and all the lineaments of Him if I may so speak are drawn upon our hearts We shall find them inclined to wish for the day when he will compleat his work and fill up the whole image of Himself to the very life and not only make us glad with the light of His countenance but make us look perfectly like Him and intirely assimilate us to His own most Blessed nature Do you not see how the holy Scriptures represent this Appearing of Jesus as the most lovely of all other things and therefore apt to draw our hearts with an irresistible force towards it It is expressed there I observe under the character of that which is wont to touch the Soul with such an agreeable stroke that it ravishes it from it self I mean Beauty For as that is nothing else according to Plato but the splendor and glittering of that which is good so this appearing is set forth as exceeding bright splendid and glorious and as that which will make us so also to the end we may be affected with it as the most beautiful sight that ever was Read ij Tit. 13. xiij Mat. 43. And St. Luke I told you before mentions a threefold glory wherein He will appear His own His Fathers and His holy Angels ix 26. which is said I believe to make this day appear the more illustrious and amiable in our eyes The only visage of Scipio we read made him Master of some barbarous Nations he piercing further into their hearts by his countenance than by his sword And Heliogabalus as bad as he was was no sooner shown by his Mother to the Souldiers but from Priest of the Sun he became Emperour of the World Why then should not the beauty of that day when the Prince of all the Kings of the Earth shall appear in the most glorious splendor attended by the greatest Principalities of Heaven with all their shining Hosts in admirable order captivate the hearts of all those that love Him since there is none so powerful did they but behold His glory as the Apostles did and look upon Him as the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth to draw those to his Religion who love Him not How can they refuse to yield to do Him homage and suffer themselves to be carried after Him as the Conquerour of all Souls and above all desire to wait upon Him at his appearing which they discern will be so glorious and render them so amiable that they will become as I doubt not to show a considerable addition to his Triumphs The hearts of all the faithful cannot chuse but leap for joy at the very thought of so great a Good though widely distant from them and wish it would come nearer to make them happy by its presence with them They are apt to sigh and say when they deeply ponder these things with the Prophet David in another case ci Psal 2. O when wilt thou come unto me It is a long time O Lord since thou didst promise to come We have waited for thee and for thy salvation more than they that wait for the morning I say more than they that wait for the morning May I not pray thee to hasten thy desired coming O when wilt thou display thy self and show thy glory more openly before us O when wilt thou be pleased to impress thine own image more fairly on us When shall those little touches that we have received of thee be perfected and figured into a more exact resemblance of thy beauty We cannot refrain but we must long to have all our defects supplied out of thy fulness to have all spots wiped off our souls to be rendred clear as the Sun free as the Air and as unstained as the pure influences of heaven For how should we think O blessed Lord that we bear any love to thee if we can be content to remain as we are so much unlike thee There is none can see thee and not ardently love thee There is none
in her course as she is moving towards them and beats her affections back again or else turns the stream of them quite another way Love therefore is a generous vigour in the heart which incites and strengthens it to fair and noble actions for the effecting its desires though opposed by never so many enemies It is called by some the fire wherewith the soul is clothed which forces its way through all resistances A certain ardor in us which inspires us to worthy though difficult undertakings An Heroick passion which makes us think nothing impossible that is needful to be done for the compassing the end at which it aims Thus then must our souls be carried with such strong affections towards the appearing of Christ if we heartily love it We must omit nothing that we know is required of us for the obtaining the blessings which it will bring unto us We must bid all things stand aside that would impede us and tell them they must pretend to no interest at all in us when we are in pursuit of so great a good The love of which will soon reconcile us to the hardest duties and endear to us the most self-denying courses It will alter the countenance of sufferings and make all the troubles of this life cast a kinder aspect on us Nay it will enable us to look death in the face with a cheerful heart For it will present it to us in another shape and make the Grave that house of darkness seem like the beautiful gate of the Temple of God Whatsoever our Lord declares to be his pleasure this will bid us do it though we be undone by that means in all our temporal concerns And when they tempt us to murmur and repine to cry and lament at our parting with them Love will bid us be of good comfort because this is the way to have a fair reception by our Lord when He shall see we have quitted all for His sake We cannot indeed keep them always if we would yet such is his love our faith tells us that if we consent to forsake them beforehand upon his account He will not suffer us to be losers by it And therefore our love both to Him and to our selves prompts us not to stick at any thing which will be pleasing to Him though for the present it be harsh to us It teaches us to reason as St. Peter doth 2 Pet. iij. 11 12. Seeing all these things must be dissolved what manner of persons ought we to be in all holy conversation and godliness Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of the Lord What manner of persons Truly such as are preparing a room in their hearts for their Lord. Such as hope then to compleat their Espousals to Christ And therefore must be holy and without blame before Him in love 1. Ephes 4. and study nothing so much as to be found acceptable in his sight who is the Lord of their hearts and their very life and to be nobly entertained by Him when He shall come again to receive His loving subjects up unto Himself We have our conversation in heaven saith St. Paul from whence we expect the Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ who shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body according to the working whereby He can subdue all things unto Himself For in all reason they that expect such a sight should fit themselves for it by a conversation suitable to the dignity to which they shall be then preferred So Oecumenius I remember expounds these words of St. Paul to Timothy when he answers the Question who is it that loves his appearing in this manner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He that doth things worthy of excellent recompences Which if we love it will not fail to raise us unto a heavenly life If we wait for Him to come from Heaven it will lift up our hearts and carry them thither We shall disburden them of all carnal affections and throw off the load of the cares of this world that we may be light and airy ready to fly up above when He calls us to be with Him We shall labour to cleanse and purifie our souls as He is pure to adorn them with His Graces and in one word to put on the Lord Jesus that He may see Himself in us when He comes And wilt thou come then O blessed Saviour are such souls apt to say may we confidently look for thee from Heaven to be our Saviour Why do we question it sine we have thy faithful word for it who haste promised that we shall see thee as thou art and be for ever with thee O astonishing love what riches of grace is this Was it not enough that thou condescendedst once to come and save us but that thou determinest to come again Canst thou not satisfie thy love unless we be where thou art And wilt thou leave thy seat in heaven to come and fetch us rather than leave us here upon the earth O Love what is like unto thee Thou hast a mighty power who can understand the wonders that thou dost O make it great in us good Lord as well as in thy self Cause it to do marvels in our hearts as it hath done in thine Let our souls be unsatisfied till they come to thee Call forth all their powers as thou hast done their desires that they may restlesly move towards thee Make them unwearied in well-doing stedfast unmovable and abundant in thy work that they may not miss of thee O most gracious Lord suffer nothing in this world to discourage these hearts that have wholly given themselves to thee Cease not still to excite and quicken them since they have been already touched and awakned by thine Omnipotent love But preserve such a flame alive in them that they may ardently follow thee Inspire them with zealous resolution never to desist in their pursuit of that blessed Hope thou hast set before them Strengthen them against all the power of their enemies and let thy love burn with such fervour in them that none of the opposers of their holy desires may be able to stand before it Arm them good Lord with this invincible force of heavenly love which may make them noble conquerors and prepare them for thy glorious Triumph VI. But true love cannot stay here neither nor content it self with some endeavours to enjoy that Good which propounds it self to its affections for it ever tends to an Vnion with that lovely thing towards which it is moved When the Soul runs forth to see what it is that calls out its desires the intention of that motion is to possess it self of that amiable object if it answer its first pretences and prove such as it promised No sooner doth any thing appear beautiful and lovely to the mind or imagination but presently the heart sends messengers as I may call the spirits that issue out of it to bring it home and
a great while for certain reasons which he best knows before he come as he stayed two days after he heard of Lazarus his sickness notwithstanding the love he had for him and his intentions to rescue him from death yet we ought not to be discouraged if we be sure he loves us but believe that he will appear at last and that he will raise us up though we lye dead in our graves and have lain so perhaps many years and that he will bid us come forth and go along with him whither his endless love will lead us CHAP. XVIII A continuation of the former Argument concerning the mighty power of the Divine Love and the Benefit we have by loving our Lords Appearing HAve we not great reason then to love him and to love his appearing since that will be the best argument of his love to us and his love you see will prove such an assurance of all his blessings What will move us if this cannot do it Need there any thing more be said to draw our affections towards him If there do then let me assure you that love will even transform us into him There is nothing more discernible in this passion than that it assimilates us unto the Thing or Person which we love Which should teach us indeed to have a great care what and whom we love but should excite us to love him our Dearest Lord without any measure Because nothing is so desireable as to be like to him and nothing can prepare us so surely for his glorious appearing In that which every man loves in that he lives saith St. Austin upon those words of the great Apostle St. Paul not I live but Christ liveth in me So great so mighty a thing is true love that it carries the heart from the place where it is and translates it thither where it loves If thou lovest thy self merely then thou livest altogether in thy self But if thy heart be set on any other person or thing then thou livest in that which hath ingaged thy affection And if it be Jesus whom thou lovest in sincerity it is certain that in him also thou livest Of so great importance it is that we love aright For he that loves ill lives ill and he that loves well cannot but live well too But there is no danger at all in loving our Lord and his appearing and therefore we need not stand to ask our selves whether we should love him or no or how much we shall love him or with what passion and concernment we should set our hearts upon his coming again to take us into his glory There is nothing to hinder us from loving here as much as ever we are able no fear our affections should be too far ingaged as they may be in other cases all that caution is useless here which when we are in pursuit of lesser injoyments is but necessary to put a check upon our hearts and cool a little our love towards them The more we love him the more we shall be like him the more we love him the more we shall live in him This love makes us divine and heavenly it purifies us and makes us fit to live with him I must add also that according to this rule by loving his appearing we shall be formed to some likeness of it as much as we are capable here to be wrought and fashioned to an imitation of a thing so bright and full of glory It will raise our minds that is to a noble pitch and highly improve our degenerate nature It will invite him to manifest himself to us and graciously to shine upon us It will possess us with a lively sense of him and of the glory wherein he lives The light of his countenance will be lifted up on our souls and he will fill us with a stronger sense of life and immortality It will chase away the base fear of death and kill all vitious affections in us We shall be purified and refined from all our dross by these holy fires There is no sin will be able to live in the same place with this heavenly love but will continually languish and decay as this increases and grows stronger in our souls Our spirits thereby will become more cheerful light and aerial They will ascend more easily towards those celestial places and be less inclined though they feel its attractions toward this lower world O what a Coronet of Glory will this love place before-hand on our head It is it self a royal ornament and a diadem of glory It 's a participation of a Divine Nature an entrance upon the life of God an Heaven upon earth a pleasure whereby we anticipate the joys of the other world for if all love have a sweetness in it this Divine love sure cannot but entertain us with a transcendent satisfaction By this we have our conversation in Heaven and it is there only to be ever with the Lord as much as our condition here will give us leave for nothing but love will make him familiar to our thoughts and present him frequently to the eye of our minds Yea this is the best glass we have while we are here below wherein to see God If there be any way to know the meaning of those words we must learn it of this Teacher which alone can discover to us so great a mysterie Nothing else can lead us into that secrecy and reveal to us what lies hid in that retirement the Vision of God Never hope for any key to open a door into the Holy of Holies unless it be this of heavenly love If it be possible to peep a little behind the veil it is love only that enjoys so singular a priviledge For God you see is love and the Apostle tells us that when Faith and Hope shall be done away it is charity alone that still remains as a thing of longer duration than this world and whose proper place is Heaven This is one of the Cherubims of Glory that inhabits the most holy place and attends upon the Majesty on high This is of an Angelical Nature and is always there where God is It waits upon him it ministers to him it knows his mind it is privy to his thoughts and designs and makes us understand more of him than all the wit in the world can do beside There is nothing can lend wings to the soul but only love which raises us above this world and sets us in the presence of him that made it And what a sight doth it give us there of his boundless bottomless Goodness If it can show us nothing else it will not fail to let us see how gracious how wonderfully gracious the Lord is With what kindness doth love behold almighty Providence spreading it self in tender mercy over all its works It is this alone can make us feel how inclinable the Divine Nature is to pour out its Benefits Nothing but love can make us know what an everlasting spring
it is of grace and bounty and with what unwearied kindness it delights to communicate its blessings to us And what is there that we would see which is comparable to this What can we desire to see but more of this even when we are made perfect in love And what thanks do we owe to God that we see so much It ought to stir up all that is within us to bless his holy name We ought to say every day will I bless thee and praise thy name for ever and ever But for this also we must be beholden to love For it is that which indites all our Hymns and meditates the Divine Praises It puts the songs of joy into our mouth and fills our hearts with thanksgiving Our tongues are tyed without this or we do but babble not speak our Saviours praises It is love that bursts out into such effusions as these O praise the Lord of love who humbled himself do dwell among us Praise him in the beauties of his holiness praise him in his super-excellent wisdom Let all his works praise him who came to us with his hands full of Miracles and every miracle full of mercy O praise him in his almighty and most merciful kindness which made the lame to leap like a Kid and the tongue of the dumb to sing for joy which opened the eyes of the blind to see his wonders and the ears of the deaf to hear the wisdom where by he spake which restored the sick to health and the dead to life which published the Gospel to the poor and instructed the ignorant in the mysteries of the Kingdom of God O praise him before whom the Devils fled and confessed him to be the Lord. Praise him in his incomparable love which thought it not enough to do all this but also gave himself to dye for us Let all Nations praise him who are the purchase of his blood Let them mark every step of his dying love from the time he was betrayed and sold like a slave till he finished his sufferings on the Cross O the greatness of that love which endured such scorn such reproach such a bitter agony and shameful death even for all those who have little sense of this wondrous love But let no Christian soul be insensible how the hands which wrought so many Miracles and the feet which travelled up and down to do men good were cruelly nailed by them to an ignominious Gibbet Let them remember how his head was crowned with thorns and his body cloathed in a fools coat How they spit in his face blinded his eyes and then rudely buffeted him to make them sport O what love was that which made him submit to be mocked and reviled to be accounted worse than a seditious murderer and numbred among the greatest transgressors And above all let it never be forgotten how he sweat in our service as it had been drops of blood and at last bled to death after three hours shame and anguish on the Cross Praised be that incomparable Charity Praised be his inimitable meekness and humilitie Let all the world extol and praise his Lamb-like patience and innocence Let them celebrate his admirable kindness in forgiving such implacable enemies and his intire confidence and faith in God whereby he offered up himself to him and obtained an eternal redemption for us O the wonderful vertue of that sacrifice which hath taken away the sins of the world Praised be the tender mercies of our God which have forgiven us so many trespasses Praised be his mercies which have not only forgiven us but restored us to life and glory again by the resurrection of Jesus from the dead Let us rejoyce and be glad in that great salvation Let us bless the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by that resurrection of his from the dead Let us lift up our heads and look to Heaven our ancient Country for there he is exalted And let us thank our God who hath set him at his own right hand and made him most glorious for ever See how all the Angels welcomed him thither and falling at his feet most humbly worshipped his Majesty See how they all now wait upon him and constantly attend his pleasure And let us worship him too with the devoutest and most lowly reverence Let us praise him in his Sanctuary where he appears before God for us from whence he sends down the gracious influences of his spirit on us and commands his Angels to minister unto us Let us praise him the glorious King of Angels and men Who hath conquered death and triumphed over all the powers of darkness and opening the Kingdom of Heaven to all the faithful hath promised that they shall reign in glory together with him Let all the Angelical Ministers praise him Let the Apostles Prophets and Martyrs praise him Let all those who are departed in the true faith and fear of him praise him And let all the living who partake of the daily fruit of his bounteous love continually praise him Let them praise the name of the Lord for his name alone is excellent his glory is above the Earth and Heaven Let them praise him in the greatness of his Power in the Wisdom of his Counsels in the carefulness of his Providence in the riches the exceeding riches of his Grace in the stedfastness of his word and the faithfulness of all his promises And let them all joyn together and beseech him to come again that he may both accomplish our hopes and perfect his own praises O let him come that we may give him better praises in one body for ever CHAP. XIX More expressions of this devout affection towards our Lords Appearing and the way whereby we may excite them THis is some of the language of Love which wishes every knee would bow to Jesus and every tongue confess that he is the Lord to the glory of God the Father who hath thus highly exalted him For its desires are unlimited and its kindness like the fountain of it is inexhaustible and infinite It is the brightest image of Jesus There is nothing represents him so lively to the world He now appears most in those who love most and who long and wait with pure and ardent desires to see him come in all his glory For they will keep his commandment without spot unrebukeable until his appearing which in his times he will shew who is the blessed and only Potentate the King of kings and Lord of lords who only hath immortality dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto whom no man hath seen nor can see to whom be honour and power everlasting Amen Why then O my soul do we not let this blessed guest be lodged in our heart Or why do we not entertain it so that it may stay with us and we may feel it stirring there in restless motions towards Jesus What
continually nearer towards its perfection and make us likewise to abound in all the fruits of the spirit which are the highest expressions of our love and the best preparation for the day of Christs Appearing For true Devotion doth not terminate in the heart it goes further and hath its effect in the life and actions And especially excites us to love or charity towards all mankind and above all to our Christian Brethren as that which bears the greatest resemblance to him whom we love The Commandment which St. Paul charges Timothy to keep without spot till our Lords appearing was for the most part acts of Charity as you will find briefly touched in this Book And therefore these we should labour to inliven by our Devotion which is then truly Great when it makes us so and raises our spirits above all anger and peevishness covetousness and eager desire of wealth envy and vain ambition evil surmises and jealousies fretfulness and impatience with all those other mean qualities which are the enemies of Christian Charity Some Readers perhaps may think that I strain Devotion here unto too great an height and may be apt at the entrance to lay this Book aside because they imagine I have expressed that passion of love which we should indeavour after towards Christs appearing beyond the truth But I must intreat them to do me the right and themselves the kindness to read on and they will find in conclusion the whole description of it made good by the plain words of the holy Scriptures In the study of which if we did all conscientiously imploy our selves it is to be hoped God would still preserve to us that inestimable Treasure which contains such admirable 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the forenamed Father speaks Medicines of the soul both to cure our diseases and to comfort and restore our tired or languishing spirits For they are that living water our Lord speaks of which whosoever drinks hath in himself a Well or Fountain of comfort and perpetual refreshment springing up into everlasting life xxij Rev. 20. COME LORD JESVS St. Chrysostom Tom. vj. p. 709. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 IMPRIMATUR Hic Liber cui titulus The Glorious Epiphany c. Geo. Thorp Reverendissimo in Christo Patri D no D no Gulielmo Archiep Cantuar. à Sacris Domesticis April 30. 1678. THE CONTENTS CHAP. I. COntaining an Introduction to the ensuing Discourse CHAP. II. Shewing what is meant by the APPEARING of our Lord Jesus Christ CHAP. III. A further Illustration of the APPEARING of our Lord Jesus Christ CHAP. IV. The certainty of this APPEARING of our Lord Jesus Christ CHAP. V. Containing the Vse we should make of what hath been delivered in the foregoing Chapter CHAP. VI. Of the means to excite that LOVE in our hearts which we ought to have for Christs APPEARING CHAP. VII Two further steps in this Love of Christs Appearing CHAP. VIII The Progress of this Love to Christs Appearing in three steps more CHAP. IX This Love to the Appearing of our Lord further described in three other fruits or marks of it CHAP. X. All this shown to be the sense of the Holy Scriptures CHAP. XI Reasons for our Love to this Appearing drawn from the respect we ought to have to our Lord himself CHAP. XII Other Reasons why we should love his appearing drawn from the love we have to our selves CHAP. XIII Two other Reasons why if we love our selves we must needs love this Appearing CHAP. XIV Two Reasons more to induce us to raise our thoughts and affections to the Appearing of our Lord. CHAP. XV. Three Considerations more to draw our Affections to the Appearing of our Lord. CHAP. XVI Of the mighty power and pleasure of Love when it is setled in the heart CHAP. XVII Of the means whereby this Love may be setled in our hearts and the Benefit thereof CHAP. XVIII A continuation of the former Argument concerning the mighty power of the Divine Love and the Benefit we have by loving our Lords Appearing CHAP. XIX More expressions of this devout affection towards our Lords Appearing and the way whereby we may excite them CHAP. XX. The Conclusion The Glorious Epiphany with the Devout Christians love to it CHAP. I. Containing an Introduction to the ensuing Discourse WHEN we observe how the desire of life is so deeply fixed in all mankind both in old and young in Kings and Beggars in Wise men and Fools that as Lactantius * L. III. In stit C. 12. well noteth they will endure any miseries to preserve and prolong it we are led thereby to this Consideration That the highest and most perfect Good to which the soul of man aspires is a life without end and without those laborious toils and troubles which attend us here in this present world We are naturally form'd to wish that we may be so happy and find no thought so sad and dismal as this of being quite extinct and never enjoying any more pleasure after we are laid in our graves Upon which account it must be acknowledged that we are infinitely indebted to the Grace of God who hath made that so sure which is so desirable and that our Blessed Saviour justly challenges our most ardent love and cheerful obedience whose Religion is nothing else but an acknowledgment of the Truth which is after godliness in hope of eternal life They are the words of St. Paul Tit. i. 1 2. which import that the Gospel is a Doctrine which teaches us to be pious and promises to reward our piety with an happy immortality This is the glorious hope of Christians whose Master Christ Jesus who is our Hope 1. Tim. i. 1. hath brought life and immortality to light and made that which was but obscurely delivered in times past as clear and bright as the Sun at noon-day There are so many Witnesses of this that their Testimonies have filled a large Volume The FATHER the WORD the HOLY-GHOST have all declared that we have eternal life and this life is in our Saviour the Son of God So say the WATER also the BLOOD and the SPIRIT they all consent in this Truth That Jesus is alive from the dead and lives for evermore and because he lives we shall live also Which welcome news filled the hearts of all those who believed it with excessive joy even when they were in heaviness through manifold temptations 1 Pet. i. 6 8. And why it should not have the same effect on us there is no other reason can be given but because we do not believe as they did For they of whom S. Peter speaks had never seen our Lord when he was on earth no more than we nor had they any such sight of him as S. Stephen and S. Paul had after he went to Heaven and yet believing they rejoyced with joy unspeakable and full of glory All our business therefore is to settle this belief stedfastly in our minds Which will have the greater power upon our
hearts when we consider the abundant grace of our Lord Jesus Christ towards us and how excellent the Hope is which he hath given us For he hath not only assured us that He hath all power in heaven and in earth and that he will bestow the inestimable gift of immortality upon us But that he himself will once more come from heaven to crown us with it We know as I have shown in two former Treatises that the Son of God is come and hath given us an understanding to know him that is true and This is the true God and Eternal Life which he hath revealed to us But besides this first coming to teach us the will of God to dye for our sins and to open to us the Kingdom of Heaven after He had shown us the way to it He hath bid us believe there is a Second When He will come to judg us by those Laws which he hath left his Church and to put the observers of them into the possession of that Heavenly Kingdom which He hath promised And there are none of the Witnesses who testifie that He is the King of Glory but assure us of this also that He will appear in that glory to take us up unto Himself More especially the HOLY-GHOST who as Epiphanius * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Haeres LXXIV n. 10. admirably speaks is the only Guide of Truth the Expounder of holy Laws the Inspirer of the Spiritual or Christian Law the Leader of the Prophets the Teacher of the Apostles the Luminary of the Evangelical Doctrines He made his Apostles and Evangelists clearly understand this to be our Saviour's meaning and authorized them to proclaim this comfortable news to all Believers Insomuch that S. Paul triumphs in this when he was ready to be offered for the service of Christ and the time of his departure was at hand that there was laid up for him a Crown of Righteousness which the Lord saith he the righteous Judg shall give me at that day and not to me only but unto all them also that love his appearing 2 Tim. iv 6 7 8. In the last part of which words there seems to me to be contained so much of the Christian Hope that they deserve to be explained with the same care and labour that I have bestowed upon the RECORD which the Father the Son the Holy-Ghost and all the other Witnesses have left us to testifie that Jesus is the Son of God and that in Him we have Eternal Life For as it transports all true Believers with joy to read of a Crown of Life a Crown of Glory a Crown of Righteousness which is laid up safe with our Lord in his Heavenly Sanctuary as He himself and his Apostles in this and other places confidently assure us So it very much raises and encreases that joyful Hope to know from their own mouths that He who hath receiv'd and keeps it safely will condescend so much as to appear again one day to confer the very same felicity upon us which He hath obtained himself who is crowned with glory and honour Next to the belief of the truth of this report there is nothing we are so much concerned to know as who the persons are that shall wear this Crown and have their heads eternally honoured with it Piety it self indeed is very apt to perswade those in whom it lives that the unfeigned practice of it shall meet at last with some considerable recompence But that it shall receive such a Royal such a magnificent Reward as deserves the name of a Crown of Eternal Glory is a thing which that great Modesty and Humility which is essential to true Piety and its highest Ornament and Crown forbids us to be too forward to conclude A Person perhaps of such eminence and lustre as S. Paul one of the Stars of the first Magnitude in our Saviour's right hand may be advanced hereafter to shine in such Majesty But that we dull heavy souls should be thought worthy of the like favour none but a man so divinely illuminated as He was by the power of the HOLY-GHOST is sufficient to secure us And blessed be God we do not want such a Divine Testimony For after this great Apostle had related what a course he had run what agonies he had sustained with what difficulties he had wrestled in the service of his blessed Master Jesus and that he nothing doubted but He would remember him at his coming again and confer the honour on him which was laid up in Heaven for such victorious souls He encourages all other Christians to comfort themselves with the same expectations and not imagine they should lose the Crown though they came far behind him in the holy race if they did but LOVE THE APPEARING * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epiph Haeres LIV. n 5. of Christ Jesus That 's the particular Mark and Character which he gives of the persons to whom this honour shall be done For the understanding of which and that we may the better comprehend both the happiness it self and that pious affection we ought to have for it which is the principal drift of this Discourse we are to make an enquiry into these three things First What may be conceived to be the meaning of this APPEARING of our Lord. Secondly What certainty there is of it And Thirdly What the LOVE is which they should bear to it who hope to enjoy the blessings of it CHAP. II. Shewing what is meant by the APPEARING of our Lord Jesus Christ IT is not hard to give an account of the first of these if we carefully observe and examine the Words whereby the Holy Books express it And there are Three of them every one of which signify that our Blessed Lord who now reigns in unseen Glory will once more appear visibly to all Mankind 1. The first is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we render only his Coming but it is a different word from that in our Creed and in its proper signification denotes his presenting himself to us after he hath been thus long absent from us In the Creed we profess to believe that He is ascended into Heaven 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from whence he shall come c. But that we may know what kind of Coming we are to expect and not imagine it is meerly by an invisible power as he came to destroy Jerusalem we are to mind how the Apostles speak of it as a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and teach us to understand that word in the strictest sense concerning his personal appearance to us Thus St. Paul discourses to the Corinthians 1. xv 23. where we first meet with this word in the Apostolical Writings that every man shall arise from the dead but in due order Christ the first-fruits and then they that are Christs at his coming in person that is as the King and the Judg of the World For so he presently after directs us to expound the word
behind when we shall behold him personally present with us to bring us nearer into the very presence of God We have the same word passed for it which they had for the other he hath the same Will the same Power the same Empire and Soveraign Dominion And therefore why should we not have the same confidence and expect it with as much and full assurance as Holy men in old times waited for the first Consolation of Israel or pious Christians waited for deliverance from their Adversaries There is so little cause that our Faith should think it self less assured than theirs that we may rather look for this second appearing of our Lord and Saviour with much greater confidence than they could do for the first Because we have the advantage of seeing all those old Prophecies which foretold his Manifestation in our flesh actually fulfilled and the Lord hath shown since that how upright He is and that there is no unrighteousness in Him We may depend not only as the Apostle hath here told us upon His Goodness and perfect Happiness upon his Power upon his absolute Dominion over all Creatures whatsoever upon his Immortality upon his transcendent Glory and Majesty and upon his Faithfulness and Truth but I may add upon the evident Demonstrations he hath already given in the most remarkable instances that His Mercies are sure and that he keepeth Truth for ever xiii Acts 34. cxlvi Psal 6. For this Blessed and only Potentate this King of kings and Lord of lords who only hath immortality dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto whom no man hath seen or can see hath done great things for us already whereof we are glad He hath sent his Son after good men had long expected Him He sent Him to do for them more than they expected 1 Cor. ij 9. He raised him up out of his Grave and made him Lord of all He hath given him power to raise up us to eternal life as appears by the gift of the Holy Ghost which wrought in his Apostles and enabled them to raise the dead and do many other wonders His Judgments also have already been made manifest Revel vi 10. xi 15. xv 4. He hath in part avenged the blood of his servants and the Kingdoms of this world are become the Kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ. And therefore we may with a stedfast Faith look for another appearing of our Saviour when he will come in person to exercise this power himself wherewith we see he is invested so far as to change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body which then he will show to the world according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself iii. Phil. 20 21. CHAP. V. Containing the Vse we should make of what hath been delivered in the foregoing Chapter I Cannot think fit to pass on to what I further intend without some short Reflexion upon so weighty a subject as this of which I have been treating And therefore let us here pause a while and consider how mightily All this should move us to worship and adore this Blessed Potentate God the Father Almighty to acknowledge with the humblest submission His Supreme Authority to reverence admire and praise His most glorious Perfections who hath given us such a sure ground of faith and hope in Him For so S. Paul here concludes this incomparable description of him to whom be honour and power everlasting Amen Which is not said to exclude the other two Persons in the holy and undivided Trinity from receiving our worship and service no more than the giving eternal glory to our Saviour in the next Epistle 2 Tim. iv 18. and in other places takes it away from the Father but only to remember us of a peculiar prerogative which the Holy Scripture alway ascribes to the Father Almighty of being the Fountain and Beginning of all * So Epiphanius observes that the Scripture shows 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Haeres LXIX Num. 54. and Nazianz Orat xxix p. 489 c. to whom it properly and peculiarly belongs to show this appearing of Jesus Christ And therefore the Apostle invites us from the consideration of His most excellent Majesty and absolute Dominion to acknowledge and confess Him to acknowledge and praise Him First As worthy of all HONOUR worship veneration and service Because Secondly He hath all POWER and authority over us and over all Creatures an independent uncontroulable Power And that Thirdly EVERLASTINGLY to be celebrated not only by us but by all that shall come after us to the worlds end Nay to be praised and magnified by Saints and Angels in Heaven to Eternal Ages To this we should every one of us together with the Apostle most heartily say AMEN Let be so We give our consent unfeignedly to it and wish from the bottom of our souls that all men would honour and submit unto this blessed and only Potentate the King of kings and the Lord of lords What though No man ever saw him Nay what though No man can see Him Yet Glory Honour and Power is to be ascribed to Him because we see his works of Wonder every where The Heavens and the Earth declare the greatness of his glory and from all things that we behold we learn his rich Goodness his infinite Power his immortal Bliss and that He is such a Potentate as the greatest Kings and Princes upon earth nay the highest Thrones and Principalities in Heaven ought to worship and obey with the greatest reverence And much more is this due from us poor and inferior creatures especially since He hath shown Himself so gracious to us in our Saviour the most excellent demonstration of his blessed Nature and mighty Love and hath promised He shall appear once more in greater glory than ever and hath taught us to believe by all the Notions we have of Him that He will never fail to make that promise good And as we ought to Honour God the Father of all so this naturally moves us out of a particular obligation to honour and obey our Lord Jesus Christ as the Person whom this Great Majesty will show in wonderful honour and glory at the great day This is the very reason you must mark wherewith the Apostle backs his Charge to Timothy to keep the Commandment he gave him without spot unrebukable until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ v. 14. because the blessed and only Potentate will certainly in his own time shew the glory wherein He lives by his appearing again in Royal Majesty in the sight of all the World It concerns us therefore as well as it did Timothy to have an exceeding great regard to this most glorious Person whom God will so highly honour and to take care that we behave our selves so as to be unreprovable at that day We must observe His Commandments that is as exactly as we can and
so sweetly to it and this is properly Love As soon as ever we discover any thing that is suitable to us we feel our hearts instantly struck with a secret joy and are marvellously delighted in it And this delectable touch is no sooner perceived but it sweetly yet strongly draws us to go towards that thing which at first sight gave us such a pleasure and will yield we hope a far greater when we approach so near it as to get possession of it Complacence or delight then is but the first stirring or motion which a good thing causes in our heart This pleasing motion and agitation of the Spirits is attended presently with a melting and as it were effusion of the heart whereby we run out to meet that beloved object and entertain it into our souls and in this as I said properly consists the very being of Love Which is so manifest in an heart duly affected towards the appearing of our blessed Lord that there cannot be a greater proof of the truth of this description For it feels so great a pleasure in the lively belief of his coming that it is drawn thereby quite out of it self and cannot chuse but resign up it self intirely to that glorious Prince that He may make it appear together with Him It easily dissolves in that heavenly warmth and losing all its power to contain it self in its former bounds flows to Him the Lord of Life as to its proper place It is lifted up towards heaven and would fain be there where He is from whom this pleasure comes For with Him is the fountain of Life and therefore where should a devout soul set its affections but on those things which are above as S. Paul speaks 3 Col. i. 3 4. where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God Which when they mightily affect the heart it feels as if it were dissolving into that life which is hid with Christ in God That future life or bliss is safe indeed because it is in the custody of Christ and in a glorious place where God dwells in light inaccessible But who can abstain from desiring it should be no longer hid and reserved but made manifest and shown as it will be at the appearing of Christ For so the Apostle adds immediately as if He would answer their Question who might ask when shall this Life be discovered When Christ who is our Life i.e. the cause of it who will give us this life shall appear then shall we also appear with Him in glory O what a joyful word is this what should hinder an heart that is possessed with a full belief of it from running thither with all speed whither it is called by so great a joy as sent from thence into it Into whose arms should it leap but only His the expectation of whose appearing creates that exultation There is none in heaven it can desire but Him with whom its life is hid and whom is there on earth that it can desire besides Him Come saith such a soul to it self and lift up thy head Thy Lord I hear is coming let us arise and go and meet Him Let us leave this earth and ascend up towards heaven where He is who is our Life Let us raise up our dull thoughts thitherward and fix our minds as oft as we can on the glory that shall be revealed Let us stir up our selves and with the most ardent desires and affections of our heart get as near Him as ever we are able let us go O my Soul and at least make a present of our very heart to Him beseeching Him most earnestly to possess Himself intirely of it Let us invite Him to prevent His appearing and to come a little beforehand to manifest Himself unto us and to take up His abode with us O blessed Jesus let us say who art our Life be intreated to come hither now that we cannot come up to thee and live in us Show thy self in this soul and let not me live any longer but do thou live in me let the life I live in the flesh be by thy faith O thou Son of God Thou hast loved me and given thy self for me O love me so much I again beseech thee as to live in me I would begin that life which is hid with thee in resigning my self to thee that thy will may be done in me Never did I feel such complacence in following mine own as I have since I was inclined to follow after thee who wilt lead me I see to immortal glory Blessed be that day which made me sensible of such happiness Blessed be the day which directed mine eyes to look for thy appearing What can I wish for more than to be blessed with the sight of it and till it come to have my heart always in love with it I am going towards it by these desires and I will excite my self to go the faster because that blissful sight is still making nearer approaches What do we mean my soul to hang thus towards this earth Why do we stay here when we see Jesus preparing Himself to make another journey to us Why do we not advance towards Him as if we were desirous to have Him come and to let us see Him Why do we not with all speed make our selves ready to receive Him What is it that makes us so slow in our motions towards Him who when He appears will come as swift as the lightning unto us Vp up O my soul let not thy Lord find thee when He comes posting after these worldly vanities pursuing of thy sinful pleasures but onward in thy way gone very far in devout affections ardent desires and holy hopes to meet His Glorious Majesty CHAP. VIII The Progress of this Love to Christs Appearing in three steps more V. AND yet this Love cannot content it self with inward motions and aspirations of the Soul towards the appearing of our Lord but constantly excites all such actions as are requisite for the attaining of so great a Good If we esteem any thing highly and feel it exceeding agreeable to our hearts desire we do not willingly rest in the pleasing passions it raises up in our hearts but they carry us out in earnest endeavours to be owners of it And the influence it hath upon us is so powerful and it doth so strongly draw us after it that it will not suffer any thing to put a stop to the current of our affections when they are issuing out unto it There are certain imperfect motions in our hearts which we are apt to call Love that by no means deserve that name being only a good liking of that which we do not yet truly love They are called in the Schools Velleities wishes and wouldings as we speak half a will which we feel for divers excellent things but never come to any effect The reason is because the appearance of some extream great difficulty or the force of some contrary desire either holds the soul
conduct it to take up its lodging there This is the meaning of that effusion of the Soul which I spoke of before whereby it would dissolve it self into that which it loves and be so mingled as to become perfectly one with it When an agreeable object I told you hath imprinted its image on the mind it casts a certain light into the soul and shines so comfortably on the affections that they are powerfully warmed and excited by it Now when the heart is full of this splendor it doth not satisfie it self with those rays and emissions of light and heat which are imparted to it but strives to unite it self to the very center of it and would feel the spring from whence such life and pleasure flows Just as Iron when it is impregnated with the vertue of the Loadstone is not contented with those effluxes it hath received but moves towards the body from which they stream so is it with an heart which receives this joyful news from our Lord that He will appear again in glory It amuses not it self in those delightful thoughts it sits not down in those ravishing joys nor thinks it enough to be melted in the passion of love to Him and to so great a blessedness But it seeks to knit it self to the very mind and spirit of Christ that it may feel how blessed He intends to make it It studies I mean to be changed and transformed more and more into His likeness and by an intire agreement of will with his will to begin its transfiguration and be prepared for a perfect and eternal union with Him It is not sufficient to a heart that is in love with that great day to live in a constant expectation of it which is excited by the Revelation He hath made of it in his Gospel and is the light which he now sends from heaven into us but it would gladly prevent as I have already noted that happy time by feeling Him appear every day more gloriously there It longs to shine more clearly in the light of his heavenly knowledge to burn more brightly in the ardors of his love and by being more richly adorned with the Graces of His Spirit to be recommended to all in the beauty of His Holiness There is nothing can better explain all that hath been hitherto said than the example of the Loadstone which I just now mentioned As soon as a piece of Iron feels the power of it we see how it turns it self towards it and by its quivering declares the complacence and pleasure as we may call it that it takes in its touches Then we behold how it creeps a little towards it still advancing and bearing it self more and more that way till it come to join it self with that thing from whence it first received those inclinations Here you have all the parts of love that have been already mentioned most lively represented First the mind apprehends and is made sensible of some Good which communicates an image or picture of it self unto it Then the heart is secretly surprised with a certain delight by which the agreeableness of that image intices it from its self And then it moves towards it and goes to see it And at last when it finds it to be what it appeared it flies as I may say into its embraces and endeavours to knit it self so fast unto it that they may never hereafter be divided And just such like is the temper of that soul which heartily loves our Lords Appearing Which it perceives to be a happiness so great that it cannot be satisfied with any entertainment it finds in this world but presses forward to the blessed sight of Him in all his glory Nothing can quiet it nor hinder its motion till it become one spirit with Him All that it hath as yet attained all the wisdom wherewith it is filled all the joys of piety which it sometime feels are little and inconsiderable in comparison with what it desires to feel And therefore on it proceeds in a serious study to be more like Him out of a design never to cease its earnest endeavours till it come to be for ever with Him O thou great and most Magnetick Good should every pious heart say O thon soveraign attractive of all souls I feel my self wonderfully touched by thee Thou hast put my spirit which was foolishly wandring after other things in a setled motion unto thee O what an inclination hast thou awakned in my heart to be with thee Thou hast mightily stirred all the powers of my soul which is wholly turned about to look most earnestly towards thee O cease not to shine perpetually into this cloudy mind which is all in darkness without thee Cease not to invigorate this dull and sluggish spirit which is thus excited by thee O spare not those mighty effluxes of thy love but draw me still after thee I cannot be willing to stand at any distance from thee nor to stop my progress till I be closely united to thee Therefore still continue to make me feel thy power till I be so happy as to move no more but to rest in thee Couldst not thou be pleased O blessed Lord with any thing less than an union with such sinful flesh as this of ours is would it not suffice thee to look down from heaven upon us and show us a glympse of thy glory but thou must come also and dwell among us and make thy self to be bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh that we might be one with thee How can I be contented then only with looking up unto thee How should I be satisfied if I have nothing more but meerly some glances from thee O my most gracious Lord give me leave to imitate thy love Suffer me to desire and seek to become what thou art by being perfectly transformed into thy likeness And do not think it too great a presumption if I wish and long to be so united to thee My Love as to be for ever with thee Let me have the happiness at least to sigh and mourn after thine Appearing Affect my heart so sensibly with it that I may groan in spirit if I can do no better for that blessed time when I shall lose the sight of thy face no more when I shall lye under the warm beams of the light of thy countenance when I shall live in the very element of love when I shall be so near thee that I shall feel my self to move in the very same Orb with thee thou bright Sun of Righteousness I seem now alas to be a great way off from thee I feel my self like the cold earth in the winter which turns towards the Sun and looks upon that glorious Light of Heaven that great lover of all the world but alas is very far removed from its comfortable rays O that I might be so happy as to approach nearer to thee O that I were fixed and might never turn about any more from
in our eclipsed nature O when will that sweet breath come that shall make them shine and set them free to fly to their element above When shall those flashes of light which sometime break forth be blown up into a clearer and more constant flame Can one believe and not wish to find himself in the House of God in the midst of the heavenly Ministers surrounded with such glorious sights as eye never saw nor heart can possibly conceive I am not able to refrain from saying O when shall I see my mind incircled in the rays of divine light When shall it beam forth in such heavenly thoughts and make my heart burn and sparkle with such ardors of love that they shall cast a glory round about my head This is the Crown which my soul desires to wear This is the Garland I would win the glorious Diadem wherewith my restless mind would be adorned It is not Silver and Gold Pearls and Pretious-stones or any such like things whose rich names I borrow to express my present thoughts that I wish and desire But the brightness of the knowledge of God to fold it self about my head and that I may sit invironed in a Ring of admiring thoughts of pure undisturbed never ending thoughts of thee and of thy marvellous kindness towards me Which happiness till my mind enjoy the pain that I feel will not cease unless thou Lord wilt be pleased to asswage it by comfortable hopes and joyful expectations of such an eternal weight of glory Even when I have left this world and am come to those light some Tabernacles which thou hast prepared for those that truly love thee I shall long to know more of thee and desire still to be nearer to thee and look to see thee come out of thy Royal Palace to Crown the faith and hope of thine obedient Servants And in the mean time may I be so happy as to be disposed into the Order of those who perpetually talk of thy love and sing thy praises and rejoyce with perfect confidence and full assurance and are ever lifting up their heads to see thee and often saying one to another when will he come when will he appear in the highest and most exalted glory O blessed day I when mixed with the Quire of Saints we shall fly in their company to meet the Spouse and say every one of us I have found him whom my soul loveth I have found him the sight of whom I shall lose no more but indued with the glory of immortality and the splendor of incorruption shall live for ever with the Lord. O happy state of Saints Ex L. de Viro perfecto sub nom S. Hieron Tom. iv when they shall have flesh without earth a body without sense of pain a soul without fear life without death age without time light without night and blessedness without end Christianity will never let us be satiated with these delectable thoughts This is its refreshment this is its delight this is its pleasure and joy in mind and heart to go to the Seat of God and there to take its place and seize on its share in that Seat not by its own presumption but by the promise of God Who hath already exalted our Lord Christ in that blessed place and by our relation to him we challenge a right to be so happy For he is the Head of his body the Church He is the head of all principality and power From whom all the body by joynts and bands ii Col. 19. having nourishment ministred and knit together increaseth with the increase of God CHAP. XV. Three Considerations more to draw our Affections to the Appearing of our Lord. VIII I Have already said so much of the Happiness we expect when our Lord shall come again that here I might put an end to this Discourse if it would not be more profitable distinctly to consider that after we are caught up from this earth to meet the Lord in the air and he hath done us honour in the sight of all the world we shall all as I have already suggested march with him unto Heaven in goodly array and comely order with those Crowns of Glory which he hath given us upon our heads This should mightily move us to love his Appearing that we shall then appear together with him and not abide in the Air though incompassed with so much glory but be carried up with him far higher into the purest sky When our minds are made all Light we shall see a vast way before us and behold the Palace where God himself dwells inviting us unto it Thither our Lord will have us attend upon him and accompany him when he hath finished the judgement of the great day Where the Holy Books inform us we shall be sumptuously treated with no less kindness magnificence and joy than a King we may conceive would entertain his only Son when he brought home his beloved Bride whom he had long ago espoused to himself For whose reception he prepares the most Royal Supper a glorious Marriage-Feast to welcome her unto his house And will not this make every faithful soul who is a holy member of that Body the Church whom our Lord is pleased to own for his Bride still more desirous if not impatient of the coming of the celestial Bridegroom to perfect his love and complete the promises wherein he stands ingaged by the gracious covenant he made with us when he contracted us to himself What is there that we all so much covet as the excess of joy and the highest pitch of pleasure And where are these to be found in so much purity in such fulness and so perpetual as in his most blessed Presence Which should force us to burst out with the greatest earnestness when we think of that Heavenly Feast which he hath prepared for us into such expressions as those of David As the Hart panteth after the water-brooks so panteth my soul after thee O God My soul thirsteth for God even the living God O when shall I come and appear before God I have small satisfaction alas in these dull and short delights which I find on earth What taste is there in this green trash And there is little other fruit that grows in the garden of this world but what is sowre and harsh and sets my teeth on edge It is too far from thy beams to bring forth any thing very sweet Nothing can be ripened at this distance from thee to satisfie a font and yeild it all the contentment it desires Bring me therefore into thy Paradise above O conduct me into thy Eden the Garden of thy delights Lead me to those fruits which are brought to maturity by the constant presence of the Sun of righteousness Let me feast on those pleasures which are all pleasure and enter into the joy which is fulness of joy for evermore And till thou thinkest me meet for such entertainments may it please thy love but
to give me some tasts of their incomparable sweetness May I relish no joys so much as those May I always have the remembrance of them fresh upon my soul And may I be so happy as to be preserved by the savour of them from the sinful allurements of all other pleasures Hence hence all you beggerly delights which would have me forget my happiness Stand aside you Images of true joy and hinder not my prospect of that heavenly Paradise Lend me your help or else get you gone and trouble me no more Assist my benighted thoughts and represent that blissful place to them or else I desire not your company I have eaten of all your dainties but still am empty and void of satisfaction I know what you have to say the very utmost you can offer me therefore follow me with no further importunities For my heart is set on that fair that delicious place where the Great Lord keeps his Court and entertains his Friends with endless pleasures O holy City of God what glorious things are spoken of thee How free how sprightly and how full of joy are all thy happy Inhabitants What heart is there that is so dull as not to long to dwell in that blessed place where every head wears a Crown of Life and every hand carries a Palm of Victory Where every eye overflows with joy and every tongue with Psalms of praise Where light shines in every face and love smiles in every Countenance Where every heart is perfectly satisfied in the fulness of its own bliss and satisfied again with the pleasure it hath to see the felicity of others It is too much trouble to me that I am not there O let me not lose the thought of it too I sigh to think that I stand at such a distance from my Fathers House and shall I suffer a further remove by turning away my eyes from thence Go O my soul go thither in thy thoughts and daily meditations Send a thousand wishes before thee thither to tell thy Lord that thou art coming to him Say whom have I in Heaven but thee who wentest thither to open it to all thy faithful Followers What have I on Earth but my hope by following thee to arrive at last where thou art gone before me Whither should I look but unto Heaven now that thou my Dearest Lord art ascended thither to prepare a place for me A place of rest and secure peace a place of joy and constant enjoyment a place from whence I am loth my thoughts or my heart should descend to return to this poor earth again for there they grow so dull that it is hard to lift them up to look to thee O keep them with thee keep them with thee thou King of Heaven Settle and fix them there where I my self expect to be where thou also expectest me where they shall find ease for every grief and joy in the midst of the greatest tribulation O fix them unmoveably in this quiet place this eternal Rest And when they must attend the affairs of this lower life may they only look not come down to them and still remain and stay with thee IX And when these things shall be fulfilled the Apostle tells us in the place before named 1 Thess iv 17. that we shall be ALWAYS WITH THE LORD who passed his promise to his Disciples a little before he left the world that he would come again and receive them to himself that where he is there they may be also xiv John 3. Of which promise he was so mindful after he went to Heaven that he further informs St. Paul who spake this by the word of the Lord that he will not part with us when he hath conducted us to his Fathers house but keep us ever with him there in joys and pleasures that never fade away A condition which we cannot but love and passionately long for if we have any love for him or for our selves For there are none of our enjoyments here but must be frequently intermitted and are too often interrupted even the enjoyment of our blessed Lord himself and the sense he gives us of celestial things we find to our sorrow suffers this inconvenience Neither are we diverted from them only by the troubles of this life or the violence of other worldly temptations which press too boldly and rudely upon us but by the most necessary occasions and the most innocent fruitions to which nature not only inclines us but requires our frequent attendance Of how much of our time doth sleep possess it self though we desire never so earnestly to continue awake How little do we live in the account of reason if we do but remember this Image of Death which hath us so many hours every night in its arms And yet besides this eating and drinking journeys and visits the businesses and cares of this life which challenge some of our thoughts devour no body knows how great a portion of every day To say nothing of those hours when we are fit for little or nothing but are forced to find as we significantly speak some pastime for the entertainment of our wearied minds O blessed Jesus how few are the minutes that these souls inclosed in flesh can spend in thy company Into what a little room are the thoughts of thee and of thy unmeasurable love most wretchedly crowded How soon are we weary and how often are we forced away when we have the greatest mind to thy sweet Society O the cares that not only divert but sometimes oppress us O the multitude of troubles which are wont to disquiet us the sicknesses and infirmities of our bodies which indispose us besides the great weakness and feebleness of these spirits which are not able long to bear thee company It is but a wish I see that I may always stay with thee I feel my self pulled away and cannot keep my soul above even when thou hast lifted it up unto thee And therefore I cannot but renew my desires that thou wouldest be pleased to hasten thy coming That 's the time I long to see because I would be ever with thee and always behold thy face and perpetually speak of thee and declare thy love without ceasing in the height of love and devotion to thee O what a change will that day make in me when I shall be all Life and see not so much as the image or shadow of death any more When I shall neither slumber nor sleep much less be sick or grow old and dye but always wake and enjoy a perfect health a vigorous youth and immortal life O the blessedness of that change when I shall be hungry no more nor have my head disturbed with the fumes and clouds of food When all my journeys will be at an end and I shall never lose nor leave the company I love When I shall neither be crost by others nor vext with the violence of my own passions When I shall be no more perplext
together and therefore cannot but be of mighty power to ravish our spirits and ennoble our natures by making them divine Hither let us vigorously and cheerfully bend our thoughts let our hearts send many and many a wish this way and then it will be as impossible for any thing to hinder us from being made heavenly as it is to keep the stone from its centre or the tenderest heart from becoming like to that which it dearly loves Here we see what God the Father Almighty will do for his Son Jesus and what our Lord Jesus will do for us who depend upon his Love We behold our selves here ranked among the Heavenly host changed into spirits made perfect in love crowned with immortality beautified with the light of Divine knowledge and with unspotted purity of heart brought into the presence of our Lord and unto the sight of God On which incomparable happiness while we fix our eyes it must needs snatch us quite from all other things and make us live out of our selves But it will be only to place us above our selves and by a most desireable departure from what we are to put us into so blessed a condition that we shall never wish to return to our selves any more And indeed the more or less our souls are drawn forth of themselves either way so much the harder or easier it is to go back into themselves again For if we be much ravished with these heavenly things if we love the Appearing of Christ exceedingly and attentively fix our minds in expectation of it we shall have little mind to turn our hearts towards corporeal enjoyments during the sense and lively relish of those Divine pleasures which have withdrawn us from them And when the inclinations and necessities of our earthly Nature call us back again unto them it will be with a remembrance of those celestial joys still remaining which will preserve our souls from immersing themselves in things below them Just as when a mans heart is engaged in the strictest bonds of love which have tied him fast to a very agreeable person whatsoever company he comes into he will secretly steal out of it to cast a glance upon that beloved object So will our mind be apt to look up towards Heaven even when we are in the charming society of that person if the Lord and the glory of his appearing be our chiefest love and highest delight As on the contrary if we have but a slight touch and taste of these heavenly truths we shall be the easier diverted from them and perswaded to yield up our selves to seek our satisfaction in the cold enjoyment of these earthly delights And thus it is in like manner when men follow brutal pleasures the more strongly they are ravisht with them and addict themselves to them the more they lose the use of their reason and understanding and the more uncapable they grow being so attentive to these delights to receive any gust of nobler enjoyments Whereas if our taste of these things be more superficial and we do not apply our minds with all their force unto them nor dwell upon them we shall be the easier called off from them and stand in need of fewer importunities to quit their company for better entertainments Which demonstrates how necessary it is that we should indeavour to be well acquainted with the coming of our Lord to believe it with an unshaken faith to perswade our selves of it as if we saw it to set our hearts upon it and place our comforts in it that so it may have the greater authority over us and command us irresistibly from all things beneath us and force us to give our selves intirely to our Lord Jesus CHAP. XVII Of the means whereby this Love may be setled in our hearts and the Benefit thereof AND for the better effecting this which so nearly concerns us we ought as to think frequently and seriously of it so to use all the means that are in our power to represent our blessed Lord and his glorious Appearing in the most lively manner unto our hearts Among which I believe you will find none more effectual than to frequent his society in the Communion of his Body and of his Blood Where we not only meet with a fair occasion both to imprint upon our hearts a sense of his love and to express all the love we have to him but have a most powerful instrument also put into our hands to enkindle and stir up the most hearty vehement and burning Affection towards him For there he is set before our eyes in such a posture of love as cannot but wound any heart that hath the grace to consider what it sees There we behold him hanging for our sake upon a Cross from whence his mighty love shoots the most piercing darts into our breasts We see him there in such flames as offered him up intirely to do the will of God and if we come near them will touch us so sensibly that we shall be disposed to make our selves also a devout oblation to him His Body broken his Blood shed his very Life sacrificed for our safety are there so evidently and distinctly set before our eyes that as it will be hard for us not to be tenderly affected with his astonishing love to us so we are hereby assured of his continued kindness till he bring us to eternal life We do not indeed behold him there as sitting on the throne of his glory nor as appearing again the second time to give us salvation But yet it plainly shows us what he underwent to purchase for us as well as for himself that glory wherein he is and bids us rest satisfied he will do more for us even all that he hath promised of which by these tokens and pledges of his love which he hath left behind him when he departed this world he doth most affectionately assure us And by partaking of them we become also one body with him and have communion with him in his death and passion and all the benefits he hath thereby obtained for his Church Among which this is the last and the greatest that we shall be with him where he is and see the glory which the Father hath given him We ought not to doubt of it being thus incorporate with him and so united to him that in him we already live and reign and are glorious and can no more fail of appearing at last with him in his glory than the Members can fail to be advanced when the Head to which they are firmly and inseparably joyned is highly honoured and dignified As a loving Wife therefore married to an Husband most completely qualified but gone into a remote country cannot but fix her thoughts very much upon his coming and often wish for the happy day which will bring them nearer and make them meet and live together and in the mean time if she have his picture exactly taken cannot refrain from looking often on it and
is the cause that we who are made to love should not let our love turn divine and address it most devoutly to him who best deserves the Love of all the world Or what may it be that keeps us from running with the whole current of our affections towards that heavenly Lover who sues so earnestly to us for our hearty love Hath he not loved us enough to make us love him Was he a cold and indifferent Lover that could not touch the heart with a sense of his kindness Was he perfectly frozen and careless in our concerns when the urgent wants of our souls called for his kind and compassionate relief Or did he pretend a great deal of kindness and made long protestations of his love but did just nothing to merit our affection There need no answer to such questions which serve only to reproach and confound our insensibleness and negligence who have nothing to say why we do not love him For so apparent is his love so confessedly great so costly and expensive so tender and obliging that as it had no example nor can be ever exactly imitated so it must needs attract all those and fill them with the greatest love who do not turn away their eyes and their ears and their hearts from this Lord of love Let us but listen a while to him and we shall hear him say was there any love like unto my love What is it that you would have had me done for you more than I have done without your desire to win your love Hath any man greater love than this that he lay down his life for his Friends But what were you for whom I died Herein God commended his love towards you in that while you were yet sinners I dyed for you And what was the purchase I made by that price which I laid down for you Who is it that hath the keys of Hell and death To whom is all power given in Heaven and in Earth Can any but I forgive your sins and open to you the Kingdom of Heaven and restore you to the joys of Paradise nay make you eat of the tree of life in the midst of the Paradise of God Where do you read of any King who at his Coronation gave such royal gifts to men From whom do you expect the Crown of righteousness and an eternal inheritance of which I gave the earnest so long ago Can you think of any thing comparable to the glory of my appearing Or is there any doubt whether I will come or no or whether you shall appear with me in that celestial glory What would you have me do to satisfie and assure you more than I have already done by my Word and by my Blood and by my Angels and by my Holy Spirit which I have sent down from Heaven to bear witness to me and to tell you that I will certainly come again and give you the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world Believe it I will as surely come again as I died and rose from the dead and visibly ascended into Heaven and according to my promise poured out the Holy-Ghost upon my Apostles and inspired them to proclaim this in all tongues and languages that I still live and that because I live you shall live also And is it possible for us to think we hear him speaking to us in this manner as he doth in his blessed Gospel and not be provoked to summon all the powers of our soul to offer up themselves in devout and hearty love to him What hath the dearest friend whom we love with so much passion nay even our tenderest Parents done for us in comparison with this love Or what can the favour of all the Princes on earth should they unite all their powers to love and honour us bestow and heap upon us worthy to be named together with this miraculous love It ought to call us from all vain delights Our minds should continually study to comprehend the breadth and length the depth and height and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge Our wills ought to be more passionately bent towards him and grow every day stronger in his love Our memories should be a most faithful Treasury of the manifold tokens of his Love Our tongues and our hearts should never cease to meditate and sing the praises of his wondrous love For if we could speak to him as we may conceive him speaking to us and ask him what he did before the world he would tell us that He loved If we could ask him what moved his Almighty Wisdom to make the world he would tell you that he loved If we could further ask what he hath done ever since he would still say he loved And what brought him down from Heaven if we could ask again to be partaker of our miseries he would tell you again that he loved And could we ask again why he would humble himself so low as to take the form a servant and dye a base servile and ignominious death the death of the Cross he would again tell you that he loved And if you could still go on to ask what moved him to send the Holy Ghost and give such gifts to men you would still receive the same answer because he loved And could you beseech him not to be angry and you would inquire again what he hath been doing since those days and what he now does he would give you no new answer but that he loves And if you should pray him once more to tell you what he loves he would let you know it is nothing but love abundance of love This is the thing he would win by his love This is all that he asks and desires at our hands though he hath obliged us so much For this he solicites and beseeches having set his heart upon it as the fruit of his incomparable love He intreats for this as if it were for his life that we would be at last so sensible of all his kindness as to let him have our unfeigned love For he being Love himself loves nothing else but sincere and hearty love O blessed Jesus should all our hearts then say how much doth thy love differ from ours Love brought thee down from Heaven to us but how few of us and how slowly doth it carry up thither unto thee Love made thee dye the most shameful death but it doth not make us live the most glorious life It made thee endure the sorest pains but alas it doth not make mankind take the pleasure of following thy steps to the greatest happiness It made thee think perpetually on such poor wretches as we are but how seldom are our minds fixed or how small is the number whom love inclines to think upon so glorious a person as thy self It perswaded thee to come to us when there was nothing to call thee but only our great miseries but it doth not bring us all to thee when we are
proper for it of those words a little before ver 9. He was taken or lifted up and a cloud received him out of their sight In brief He will appear as the Lord of Hosts i.e. of all the Armies of Heaven whether Archangels or Angels Thrones or Dominions or Powers or whatsoever other name there is whereby they are called 5. And then making the Air his Camp where he will pitch his Royal Pavilion a great White i.e. most Royal and shining Throne will be set for Him Revel xx 11. and lesser Seats it is likely for all those whom He intends to honour at that great day 1 Cor. vj. 2 3. 6. After which He will send forth his voice his mighty voice or most powerful and irresistible word of Command the efficacy of which will be such that it will raise the dead out of their graves and bring them before his Throne or Judgment-seat So He himself tells us in v. Joh. 28 29. The hour is coming in which ALL that are in the graves shall hear his voice and shall come forth they that have done good unto the resurrection of life and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation Of which Authority and Power of his He tells them ver 25. they should shortly have a proof which was at the Resurrection of Lazarus when He did but say with a loud voice Lazarus come forth xj Joh. 43. and immediately he that was dead as it there follows v. 44. came forth though bound hand and foot with grave-clothes In as easie a manner will He at the last day raise up all mankind who being then gathered before him and standing at his Tribunal shall be judged and sentenced by him to receive every one according as their works have been Rev. xx 12 13. 2 Cor. v. 10. Some indeed shall rise before others as St. Paul informs us in that 1 Thes iv 16. but such shall be the conclusion of this Glorious Appearance which as far as the Holy Scriptures our only guide in those matters would direct me I have briefly explained For after he hath taken an exact survey of mens actions and made a just distinction of their persons in such sort as he himself hath told us Math. xxv 31 32 33 c. where all belonging to this judgment is summed up he will crown the fidelity of his obedient Disciples and returning back from the Air whither they will be caught up in glorious Clouds to meet him he will carry them along with him to his Heavenly Palace And so saith the Apostle shall we be ever with the Lord 1 Thes iv 17. And who is there now that would not wish to behold him come in this Royal Majesty and put such an happy end to all our labours and troubles here What soul is there that can forbear to love and earnestly desire this glorious sight if it hope to reap advantage by it This is that on which all good Christians should set their hearts This they should wait and long for as the most lovely spectacle that can bless their eyes whensoever it shall please God to let it appear They may be tempted rather to be impatient because it is so long deferred than to be cold in their affection towards it or indifferent whether it come or no. Nothing can hinder it from raising the most ardent desires to enjoy it unless any doubt creep into our hearts whether there will be such a time as I have described That distrust indeed if we have any must first be removed We ought to look after a good assurance of the certainty of that which we make the object of our love and most passionate expectations For if we expect a SHOW that is only painted in our own fancies in curious colours but hath no real existence any where else what an amazing disappointment will it be to find we have set our hearts on that which is not and have embraced a Cloud instead of God How miserable should we feel our selves if at last we perceived that we had pressed a dream and with long out-stretched arms as I may speak most ardently claspt about a shadow Into what a gulph of shame should we tumble if we saw in the conclusion and issue of things the whole weight of our souls and most hearty affections fall upon the thin air and have nothing to support them Nothing can express the confusion it would throw us into to find that we had courted so many years or ages perhaps a meer vision of our own hearts and let our affection loose to wander in the paradise of fools That we may be out of fear therefore of any such disappointment and have our affections powerfully excited towards so great a good and be engaged most earnestly to pursue it I shall proceed to the second part of this Discourse which is to shew the grounds we have to expect the APPEARING of the Lord Jesus the second time unto our eternal Salvation CHAP. IV. The certainty of this APPEARING of our Lord Jesus Christ TO prove that there will certainly be such an APPEARING of our Lord as will surpass even the Glory wherein the Apostles saw him on the Holy Mount which St. Luke plainly shews was a figure of it ix Luk. 26 27 28. I might alledge all those Arguments which assure us there will be a day wherein God will judge the World in righteousness and that the Lord Jesus is ordained to be the Person by whom he will judge it Which is as much as to say that all those Arguments which prove him to be the Son of God might be employed to this purpose for in that Name is included as I have shewn in former Treatises His power and authority to be the Judge of the World This the Father the Word the Holy Ghost and the other WITNESSES on Earth as well as those in Heaven testifie to be an undoubted Truth and therefore I might from every one of their mouths demonstrate that He shall appear again in such a manner as I have described For all Judges much more the supreme Judge of all ever ascend their Tribunals in Robes of State and royally attended as those that represent the Majesty for whom they judge But it would be too tedious to follow that Method and it is not needful I should lead you so far about to bring you and this Truth together There is one place in the writings of the Apostle St. Paul which if well expounded and understood will be sufficient to perswade us we do not abuse our selves with vain expectations of this Appearing And therefore with the explication of that which contains divers Arguments to establish us in this belief I shall content my self without having recourse to every one of those WITNESSES And I shall the rather confine my self to it because I shall illustrate a very considerable portion of Gods Holy Book which upon all occasions we ought to design to make perspicuous while I endeavour
thee Let the time come that there shall be no more night but a perpetual day with me O hasten the time when I my self shall shine like the Sun in thy Celestial glory VII Now in the mean time till love come to a perfect union as it is incessant in its motion so it grows more vehement in its desires and endeavours For as frequent agitations make the fire burn more fiercely so doth the stirring of this passion make it break out with a brighter flame The desire of union increases the swiftness of its motion and the more speed it makes the nearer it is like to come to its desired union And which is very considerable the more earnest and assiduous our motion is towards any Good the greater hopes we have that we shall enjoy it and the greater our hopes are the more are we still pricked on and spurred forward in the pursuit of that which we would fain enjoy A thing which is of exceeding great moment in this pious and devout love of Christian people For without a GOOD HOPE which St. Paul saith our Lord who is our Hope hath given us 2 Thess ii 16. 1 Tim. i. 1. our motion would slacken if not be extinguished We should have no heart to prosecute our design but let it fall immediately if it were not in hope of eternal life which God that cannot lye hath promised i. Tit. 2. As on the contrary by the help of this sure and certain Hope our diligence is doubled and such oyl poured on our wheels as makes them move not only more easily but with greater speed and quickness also All the lovers therefore of Christs Appearing are said to wait for it to expect it and to look for the coming of that blessed Hope as you shall see in the conclusion of this Argument from those well known places iij. Phil. 20. ij Tit. 13. and many other And if you examine the holy Scriptures carefully you shall find that this is comprehended in the love we ought to have for his Appearing being such a natural effect of love that they are put indifferently the one for the other As may be seen by comparing these two places together 1 Cor. ij 9. with lxiv. Isa 4. in the former of which the Apostle says the things which surpass our conception are prepared by God for them that love him and in the other the Prophet saith He hath prepared them for him that waiteth for Him Just as the people of Israel praying without the Sanctuary in the Court to which they were confined waited for the Priest when he should come from the Altar of Incense or rather for the High-Priest on the day of Atonement to return from the most holy place and the Ark of the Covenant to bestow the blessing on them So do all good Souls who are devoted sincerely to the service of Christ while they remain in this outward Court the Earth wherein we dwell which is at a great distance from the Heavens look up to the holy place where Jesus the great High-Priest of our profession is iij. Heb. 1. iv 15. and wait for the time when He will come forth to bless them saying Come ye blessed of my Father xxv Mat. 34. inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world They cannot but frequently cast their eyes and turn their hearts that way as the place of their Rest which He is gone before to prepare for them They are ever calling upon their Souls to follow hard after their dear Saviour as David says lxiij Psal 8. his heart did after the enjoyment of God in his Sanctuary For this they seek as he there speaks with thirsty desires to see his power and his glory so as they have never yet seen him nor can see him no not in their nearest approaches to him while they live in these earthly tabernacles They wish therefore He would come and bless them with a clear and full sight of Him After this their desires grow daily more ardent and they endeavour to stir up stronger and more affectionate motions towards so great an happiness They are apt to cry out saying Draw us and we will run after thee yea we will fly we will take the wings of an Eagle in our passionate desires that we may mount up aloft and get more and more above this world to be with thee And this gives them good Hopes likewise that they shall be with Him insomuch that they cannnot but say O blessed Jesus thou hast set our Souls into a longing for thee and now they cannot cease to desire to come to thee Thou hast made us believe the most excellent surpassing glory wherein thou shinest and ever since we cannot chuse but look towards it and wish to behold thee in that glory If we be very earnest for this sight if our Souls sigh and say xlij Psal 2. O when shall we come and appear before thee we do but return thine own breath who hast inspired us with these desires after thee And may we not hope to come thither where thou art when thou thy self attractest our souls to thee Wilt thou not satisfie those longings which not we but thou hast raised in our hearts Give us leave to remember thee of what thou thy self hast said who didst pronounce those BLESSED WHO HAVE NOT SEEN xx Joh. 29. AND YET HAVE BELIEVED O let it be unto thy servants according to thy word For we are such believers as thou hast blessed We never saw thee and yet believe thou camest forth from God xiij Joh. 3. and art gone to God and art most high in the glory of the Father ix Rom. 5. God blessed for evermore Do not our hearts cleave unto thee though they have only heard of thee Are not our eyes continually towards thee though they have never yet beheld thee Thou wilt not always sure absent thy self but turn our faith at last into a sight of thee For what is the BLESSEDNESS of which thou spakest and hast faithfully promised to such believers Is it not that they shall one day behold thy glorious face and reign with thee in thy glory Is it not that thou wilt manifest thy self unto them here and at last appear again to take them to thy self that they may live where thou art O dear Saviour as thou hast made us to BELIEVE in this manner so make us likewise thus BLESSED As we have received thee though we have not seen thee so let this be the reward of our receiving thee that we may see thee We will hope thou wilt make us thus happy as thou hast made us thus faithful We will expect till thou makest us see what thou hast promised as thou hast made us do what thou hast commanded We will rejoyce in hope of thy glory and do thou make our joy to be full yea bring us unto thee and bid us enter into the joy of thee our Lord. CHAP.
with all our souls and wish we might likewise see all Nations fall down before thee and worship thee What a joy would it be to see all the kingdoms of the earth become the kingdoms of thee O Christ What greater pleasure can our hearts desire which are not able to express the satisfaction it would give them to behold the kingdom of darkness which is shaken already falling flat upon the ground Overturn it overturn it O thou most Mighty utterly overturn it O come and do that which we endeavour but cannot do Come and let us see thee vindicate thy self from the affronts of all thine insolent enemies Let us see all the Legions of Evil-Spirits haled as Captives at the wheels of thy triumphant Chariot Let us see all the Powers of the Air flying away at thy presence to hide themselves in the pit of Hell for ever O thou who hast subdued us unto thee subdue them likewise and bring them under thee Thou who didst wrest us out of their hands wrest from them all their power and leave them none to get any more into their hands As thou hast conquered so we would gladly see thee triumph As thou hast overcome so we would fain see thee carried in magnificent and royal state as the most victorious LORD OF HOSTS Haste thee therefore O sweet Saviour to receive our Ovations Come that all the world may give thee the acclamations which thou deservest Why is thy Chariot so long in coming Why stay the wheels of thy Chariot O that it would please thee to come while our souls are peeping out of their windows to look for thee while they call and cry and sigh after thee while they are full charged with shouts and praises to bestow upon thee III. There is very great reason you cannot but see that they should be thus desirous of his appearing because it is manifest by what hath been now said it will bring along with it some addition of Glory to our Dearest Lord. If we had a Friend who was elected to be a King should we not often call for the day that would place him on his Throne Or if he were seated there but had some rebellious Subjects still in arms in a corner of his Country should we not be in some pain till we saw his conquering banners return with their spoils Or if that were done and a time then prefixt for a solemn meeting of all the Estates of his Realm in the midst of which he intended to sit himself with the greatest Pomp should we not think it long till we saw him shine there and receive the homage of so many illustrious Persons Tell your selves then with what ardors you should wait for the coming of your Lord. Who though he be now Crowned yet doth not for the present see all his enemies sudued nor appears as yet in the grand assembly not only of the Angels and mighty men but of all people whatsoever who shall be gathered before his Majesty It is true indeed he being inthroned in the Heavens sits there in royal Honour and Glory But St. Luke tells us as you heard before ix 26. that he will appear in the end of the world not only in his own glory but in the glory of his Father also As if that were something more than what he hath already received at his right hand That is he will come from thence to judge the quick and the dead Which will be an exceeding great glory such an high honour as was never conferred upon any person whatsoever to have all judgement committed unto him and sustain the very place of the Supreme Lord and Governour of the World to whom Men and Angels are accountable for their actions This is a thing that is still behind and there are it seems some royal Majestick robes belonging to this high Office which he hath not yet put on O how much should we desire to have Him clothed with them How earnestly should we look to behold him decked with that Majesty and arrayed in his most glorious attire It should not be enough to us to believe that he reigns but we should long to see the last exercise and the greatest proof of his Kingly Authority which is to judge the world in righteousness and to reward all men according to their works O God should every true Christian say who according to thy faithful word hast glorified thy Son Jesus and committed all Judgement to him hasten the day when thou wilt complete the glory thou hast given him and gather all nations before him Cloath him in the Glorious Robes of thy Majesty and let him appear in his Meridian brightness Send him forth of thy Sanctuary and let him outshine the Sun in his strength O that he would shine forth and shoot his rayes as far as this earth Let them not be confined to the highest Heavens but let the air and these inferiour regions be all gilded with the splendor of his beams O blessed Jesus that we might behold thy light breaking out to banish all this smoak and disperse these vapours wherein we are inclosed Let the Troops of thy holy Angels come and expel those evil Spirits which have possessed themselves of these aerial places Let thy glorious throne be set there where they have so long ruled Arise and show thy self O thou Judge of the World Let them all know that they are subject to thy tribunal And sentence them to their proper habitations that after thy appearing they may disappear and never break loose to infest or trouble us any more Then will thy faithful servants shout aloud for joy and triumph in thy praise They will sing a new Song before thy Throne and magnifie thee in some such words as these Who in the Heavens can be compared unto the Lord Who among the Sons of the mighty can be likened unto the Lord lxxxix Psal 6. xv Rev. 3 4. Great and marvellous are thy works Lord God Almighty just and true are thy wayes thou King of Saints Who shall not fear thee O Lord and glorifie thy Name For thou only art holy All Nations are come to worship before thee for thy judgements are made manifest IV. And upon this account we should be the more desirous to see that great day because till then he will want the glory of having us and all his faithful Subjects attend upon him in his heavenly Kingdom It is a very small glory indeed you may be apt to think that he can receive from such poor things as we are Who must acknowledge that we are unworthy utterly unworthy of the favour to approach unto him and if we should be so vain as to think otherwise deserve to be banished for ever from his blessed presence But when we remember how great his love is and what he hath promised to do for us we must likewise confess to the glory of his Grace that he can and will raise us so much above our selves that it
dead shall be CAUGHT UP TO MEET THE LORD IN THE AIR v. 17. There he will shew himself and not upon this earth Thither they shall be carried up unto him and not he come down hither unto them And if you well observe it the Apostle teaches you to believe that this ascent of the Saints unto him will bein a very glorious manner Just as he comes from Heaven shall they go up thither For St. Paul saith we shall be caught up IN THE CLOUDS as so many triumphal chariots sent to fetch us from this earth and transport us to himself Who when he stood before his Judges to receive his sentence from them thus describes his own coming to judge them xxvj Matth. 64. Hereafter ye shall see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power and coming in the CLOVDS of Heaven Though now that is I am arraigned and condemned by you as if I were the vilest of men you shall one day see that I am the Son of God by whom you shall be judged for with amazement you shall behold me clothed with Divine Majesty and coming as the Vicegerent of the supreme Lord of all to call you to an account For every one knows that clouds are called the Chariot of God civ Psal 3. and therefore his coming in the CLOVDS of Heaven can signifie nothing else but his appearing in the glory and with the Authority of his Father as Lord of the world that hath conquered all his enemies and is come to pronounce the sentence of God upon them In such a splendid manner with the like pomp and state shall we be carried up to him as so many Princes going to wait upon him and to receive the honour he will delight to confer upon us in the sight of all the world Nay it will be part of our honour to be conveighed to him just as Elias yea he himself ascended into Heaven For a Chariot of Fire appeared for the transportation of the one 2 Kings ij 11. and a cloud which is the same received the other out of the Apostles sight i. Act. 9. O blessed Day O happy Appearing doth an heavenly minded Christian often think with himself when a sight of my Saviour will draw me up to him to be where he is O most glorious most beautiful Spectacle when his beams which fall upon me shall make me ascend from this earth as the Vapors do before the rayes of the Sun O the joy that will fill my heart when I shall see those gilded Chariots sent from my Saviour to fetch me unto himself How shall I sing when I am uncooped and let out of this Cage wherein I am now confined to accompany the free people of the air in their heavenly melodies What a pleasure will it be to look behind me as I fly up unto Jesus and see what a poor spot this Earth is of which I shall then have taken my leave for ever O how glad shall I be that I am to return no more to a place so dull so dark and so full of miseries How happy shall I think my self that I am gone quite away from this vile Orb which will not seem then to my exalted soul so big as a pins-head Nay how joyful will it make me to find that I am at last ascended up so high as to have lost the sight of this little Globe and of all the Kingdoms and Empires that it contains O my Gracious Lord pardon me if I be sometime apt to think that thou stayest too long before thou comest to call me up unto those heavenly places This flesh is too unweildly a load when I think of that aerial state It hath made me groan ever since thou madest me believe that thou wilt bestow a lighter garment upon my soul Heretofore indeed I fancied nothing more than a body fresh and plump a tall and proper stature a fair face and beautiful features and I was prone to envy those who dwelt in such fine and goodly Palaces But ever since the time that I heard of going into the air to meet with thee my Lord all the love they excite in my heart makes such habitations seem no better than stately Prisons I have lookt upon my self and sweetest Friends in our most healthy estate and sighed to think that we were in Chains and Fetters Nay the best of these houses I tell them at certain seasons are but painted Sepulchres wherein the mind lies dead and buried It is thou therefore O most blessed Lord who hast made me to wish so earnestly for thine appearing I owe these longings to the discovery which thou hast made to me of another and better world whither thou intendest to transport me And if I have a mind to begin my journey thither presently if I would fain feel my wings so grown that they might be able to bear me up above this earth if my soul sometimes would willingly be released from these chains and have the freedom to leave this flesh and if I wish withal that this flesh may be changed and turned into a kind of spiritual being I must ascribe it unto thee who hast begot these desires in me by telling me of a building of God eternal in the Heavens when this earthly tabernacle is dissolved Thou hast revealed these things to me that I might desire them and who can desire them and not wish withal that he might presently enjoy them Let it not displease thee therefore I beseech thee again O my Dearest Lord if I say sometimes I am weary of being here Do not esteem me impatient if in the agonies and pangs of Love I long to come up higher and get as near as may be to thy self Suffer me to pray thee that these walls of flesh may not long immure me and exclude me from thy face At least open a window for my gasping soul that I may look into the purer air and please my self in the thoughts of the flight which I shall one day take to see thee and enjoy thee in unclouded Bliss VII But there is something beyond all this to draw our affections from all things here and to make us love and long for the coming of our Lord And that is the CROWN OF RIGHTEOUSNESS which the Apostle tells us in this very place shall then be given to all those who are thus piously disposed for it I cannot tell you how much is contained in these two words unless I should make another Treatise little less than this For a CROWN denotes the highest degree of honour and RIGHTEOUSNESS signifies in the holy language not only freedom from all pain and punishment but the enjoyment of the greatest felicity that the most bounteous goodness of God will bestow upon his faithful servants No less than such a glory and happiness as our Lord himself hath received for a reward of his labours For we see Jesus saith the Apostle ij Heb. 9. who was made a little lower than the Angels
pleasing her eyes and her mind with the very shadow of that dear Person or if she have any token of his love left or sent her whereby to remember him is ever and anon taking it into her hands and imprinting her kisses on it so it becomes all those to do who pretend any love to our Lord Jesus who hath endeared himself to us by such incomparable loving kindness and merited so highly of us that it would be exceeding strange if we should be either insensible of his favours or let them slip out of our minds when among the rest of the expressions of his wonderful love he hath taken great care to preserve the remembrance of them there Our gracious Lord the Bridegroom of our souls is gone a long journey even as far as Heaven He hath espoused us to himself it is true in great love most assured love but hath left us for a time here in this world and removed himself so far from us that though there be nothing so desireable as his company to those who are acquainted with him and have any affection for him yet they find the distance is so exceeding great between them that they cannot attain their much wisht for enjoyment of him And therefore every good soul should look towards him and sighing within it self should often say When will he come when will he come and let me have the long desired sight of him When will he come and finish what he hath so graciously begun O that he would come and take me to him O that he would come and satisfie this soul which is ready to dissolve and sweetly melt into that blissful union with him And till he please to grant this desire we should often fasten our expecting eyes on the Picture he hath left us of himself drawn as I may say by his own hand which tells us he will certainly come and requires us to rest assured he will be as good as his word and give us immortal life in the glory where he is We should frequent I mean the holy Sacrament of his body and blood we should love there to communicate with him and knit our selves to him it should be our greatest pleasure to solace our selves in that representation of him till he comes We should affectionately receive into our hands those tokens and pledges of his love which he continually sends us by his Ministers we should take them into our mouths yea let them into our hearts and embracing him in those signs and seals of his grace towards us should rejoyce in his love till he himself appear and lay our souls to rest in his bosom for ever If there were no other benefit we should receive by this means than that thereby our love will be mightily excited towards him who hath loved us so dearly it were sufficient to commend this duty to us But we shall also grow thereby more confident of his appearing again to perfect his love towards us and in the mean time be still receiving fresh tokens of the affection he now hath for us For as the thoughts of his love hath the greatest power over our hearts so we need not fear to say that the love he sees in us is of such force and efficacy with him that it strongly moves his tender compassions towards us If any man love me saith he himself xiv Joh. 21 23. he shall be loved of my Father and I will love him and will manifest my self to him O what a word is this I will love him How it pierces into the heart How it stirs and works how it revives and refreshes there Can there be any thing greater than this to be beloved of the Lord of Heaven the Prince of Life the King of Glory What will not he do for those whom he loves when we see he did not stick to dye for them even before they loved him You know that when Lazarus was sick as I think I have somewhere observed in another Treatise his Sisters sent this news to our Saviour saying Lord behold he whom thou lovest is sick xi Joh. 3. This was a very short Letter And their grief perhaps would not permit them to write a longer But they did not fare the worse because they were not more ceremonious in their addresses this alone did the business O how great a power was there in these few words They say no more to move him but only this Lord thou lovest him and what doth not our Saviour do to show they were not mistaken Up he rises away he goes to the place of his abode there needed no more prayers to bring him thither And though there were many dangers in the way as the story relates though to go thither his Disciples thought was to cast himself into a showr of stones v. 8. though the Jews he knew very well sought to take him and kill him x. 39. yet love being as strong as death carried him through all impediments He could not chuse but go when he heard this charming word he whom thou lovest is sick By which we may learn that to obtain the favour and grace the help and assistance the comfort and the presence of our blessed Saviour we need no long Petitions no great address of words no courtship nor studied complements Let us be able only to tell him that he loves us and it is enough If we can but win his good affection we need no more We may then remember to him his own dear love more than ours We may tell him how much good he hath done us and that is argument sufficient to move him to do more We may relate his graciousness and sweet disposition when we can perceive in our own hearts but disgusts at our selves We may say O my Lord I have seen by many arguments the wonderful great good will thou bearest to me For thou hast instructed my ignorance pitied my weaknesses cured many of my diseases delivered me from the power of temptations I cannot tell what thou hast done for me O most merciful Saviour who art still going on by innumerable ways to testifie thou lovest me And this humble devout acknowledgement will certainly invite a further effusion of his favours For it is a pleasure to him to do benefits especially to those he loves He rejoyces over them to do them good He loves to accomplish his own good purposes and delights as much as they can desire to perfect what he hath happily begun in them And therefore we may intreat him to give himself that pleasure not to lose any of that joy which will so much please and rejoyce us also and make us his debtors his admirers his adorers and lovers to all eternity We may desire him even that it would please him to come again according to his promise because he loves us and because he loves to finish his works of love and we may be confident he will and bring his rewards with him Though he stay we think