what is spherical as the world is can never fil what is triangular as the heart is but some places will be stil empty or is it that our concupiscible faculty is of so large a size that the whole earth and the fulnesse thereof cannot fit it or that no creature can fil two places at once as money for example the chest and the heart at the same time or is it the unsutablenesse that is between that object and this faculty or is our appetite raised by having as a fire is increased by the fuel it is fed withall or is it rather because we naturally are carried out after our own perfection and so cannot terminate our desires in any thing that is short of it as all the creatures are what ever is the reason of it sure we are that he that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver nor he that loveth abundance with encrease Eecles 5.10 As nothing can be the perfection so nothing can be the satisfaction of the soul but he that made it She will never be at rest till she rest in God there 's no ful contentment in her pilgrimage and her onely home is * Animae patria est Deus ipse Aug. God himselfe no good but the chiefest can suffice us SECT V. The further illustration of the point THere will a little more of light be let in upon the Doctrine we have under consideration from these three particulars First The happinesse we have here is that enjoyment of God which we have here and look at what rate our enjoyment is at the same is our happinesse and for this we will be tried by 1. God and 2. His Saints First doth not God promise this as the greatest happinesse Exod. 29.45 I will dwel amongst the children of Israel and will be their God i. e. I will settle mine habitation and divine presence among you * Ainsw in locum it was the greatest sign of Gods grace towards his people * Id. in Ex. 25.8 and the promise of it is noted to wrap up in it an eminent blessing 2 Cor. 7.1 compared with chap. 6.16 And on the other side it is a wo with an emphasis unto a people when the Lord shall depart from them Hos 9.12 Secondly Whether the Saints do not look upon that enjoyment of God which is afforded them on earth as their greatest happinesse till they shal have more of it in heaven is easily resolved by observing in them these five things viz. 1. Before all things in the world they desire this Psalm 27.4 One thing have I desired of the Lord that will I seek after that I may dwel in the house of the Lord all the daies of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord c. To see or behold it is to enjoy it is this one thing all that David would have Do we not ever and anon find him upon his knees before the throne of Grace for one blessing or other beside this We doe so but this one thing especially this blessing above any other This is it that the Saints pant after as the Hart panteth after the water brooks Psal 42.1 2. 2. Above all things in the world they prize this 't is not the encrease of Corn and Wine but the light of Gods countenance which they value Psal 4.6.7 his loving kindnesse is better than the life it self Psal 63.3 than any life what ingredients soever may be in it to make it valuable And yet what a rate are we wont to set our lives at men will bleed sweat vomit purge be cupp'd scarified wear issues plaisters part with an estate yea with a limb or two to preserve their lives as he cries out give me any deformity any torment any misery so you spare my life * Debilem facito manu debâ—lem pede coxâ tuber adstrue gibberum c. vita dum super st bene est It is reported that Queen Elizabeth could not endure so much as to hear death named * Sen. Epist 101. and Lewis the eleventh of France was said to be of the same temper so doe men prize their lives but yet a value infinitely above it doe the Saints set upon the enjoyment of God 3. No loss in the world lies so heavy upon their spirits as the losse of this Other afflictions may make him cry but under this they cannot chuse but roare Psal 38.8 others may make their bones ake this doth break them in pieces Psal 51.8 is there any pain more tormenting then of broken bones yet this doth David pitch upon to offer you a guese at that smart which seized upon his spirit under a loss of communion with his God Job can lose his estate his servants his children and be quiet Job 1. But when the Arrows of the Almighty are within him c. his grief is then heavyer then the sand of the Sea Chap. 6.2.3.4 Outward losses to some men have been unsufferably afflictive * Roger. Episc Sarisb tempore regis Stephani-Exutus opibus in amentiam versus est Nubrigens one being turned out of his estate runs out of his wits ed out of his estate runs out of his wits * Aegeus in mare se praecipitem dedit Plut. vita ejus another for the death of a son throws himself headlong into the Sea This to the Saints is comparatively nothing their great losse is to lose the sight of their God 4. Nothing can trouble them whilest they have this Psal 23.4 Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil There is danger enough the hazard of life is as little as can be signified by the shadow of death can death it self be far when we are within yea when we walk through the shaddow of it or take the valley of the shaddow of death to signifie so thick a darkness as the grave is covered withal whether death carries us yet it is a supposition of a condition black and dreadful enough how hard a matter is it not to have some degree of affrightment upon us in the dark not to be afraid of the terrour by night hath and therefore needs a divine promise Psal 91.5 Augustus that great Emperour durst not sit in the dark * nisi aliquo assidente Suet vita ejus without company and was it not in thoughts from the visions of the night that fear come upon Iob and trembling which made all his bones to shake Iob. 4.13.14 amongst those very many acceptations of darkness which are in Scripture doth one of them signifie any thing that is not uncomfortable Here is you see matter enough of danger yet no fear of it and whence all this holy security but from the presence of God I will fear no evil for thou art with me See also Psal 27.1.2.3 much to the same purpose 5. Nothing can comfort them if they want this * Hoc scio doÌ„ine deus meus quia ubicunque
sum sine te male est mihi Aug. Soliloq cap. 13. What wanted David of any outward blessing when those expressions fell from him in Psa 30.6.7 In my prosperity I said I shall never be moved Lord by thy favor thou hast made my Mountain to stand strong but see what follows Thou didst hide thy face and I was troubled thou withdrewedst the sence of thy favour and loving kindness * Mollerus in loc which I had fondly enjoyed and miserable comforters did I then find all other enjoyments and indeed When God giveth quietness who then can make trouble and when he hideth his face who then can behold him whether it be done against a Nation or against a man onely Job 34.29 This is one thing that doth illustrate the point we have in hand That at what rate our enjoyment of God is here below at the same is our happynesse and for this the Lord himself and his Saints have given in their verdict 2. Gods own blessednessse doth consist in the enjoyment of himself For if we beleeve the Schoolmen * Lomb 1. Dist. 1. g. he doth not enjoy any thing else he hath some use of the Creatures but no Fruition or if he had there is not in them that absolute freedom from evil nor perfection of goodnesse which is requisite unto happinesse that must needs be Gods blessednesse which he aimeth at and resteth in as his utmost and last end but that God in all his actions and administrations aimeth at and resteth so in himself besides the testimony of diverse Scriptures * Pro. 16.4 Apo. 1.8 Rom. 11.32 Apo. 4.11 Is 43.7.21 seems even by reason it self not impossible to be demonstrated Let us look upon these Six Propositions 1. Prop. All things in their motions and actings aym at some end or other which they may Acquiesce and rest in * Arist 2. Phys c. 8. Text. 77. c. If this Proposition were doubted it would be proved by another that God and Nature do nothing in vain 2. Prop. The end of all designs and actings at least in every reasonable nature is something that is good either truly so or in appearance see before Sect. 4. about the beginning hence is good in general defined to be that which all do desire * Id quod omnia appetunt Arist 1. Eth. 3. Prop. The last end of all motions and actings in every reasonable nature is the chiefest good All even natuturally desiring to be blessed and happy * Scot. in 4. Sent. â—ist 49. Q. 9. though many doe not distinctly know what happiness is or which is the way to it 4. Prop. If there were no blindnesse in our understandings that we could with clearnesse apprehend what the chiefest good were nor any perversity in our wils to rebel against the dictates of our understandings wee should then particularly and distinctly aim at it and rest in it 5. Prop. This chiefest good is God being good naturally independently perfectly and the onely cause of all that good which is any where else 6. Prop. God perfectly and disstinctly knows himself to be the chiefest good * Aq. part 1. Q. 14. Art 2.3 his understanding is infinite Psal 147.5 From all which it seems to look like an impossibility that God should aim at or rest in any thing as his last end but himself This is the Second The blessedness of God himselfe is the enjoyment of himselfe before any thing else was he was the blessed God neither hath he received any addition to his happinesse by the things which he hath made Thirdly The greatest misery of the damned in hell is that they are denyed the enjoyment of God * Biel exposit Can. miss lect 33. e. this is enough to make a hell of it selfe yea it hath ten thousand hels in the womb of it What is that darknesse which the damned are threatned to be cast into not the absence of the light of the Sun for the Saints in heaven have not this light because they need it not and how should such a darknesse be any punishment to the condemned Angels who never made any use of such a light It is rather the absence of the light of heaven which is God himself * See Willet Synops cont 20. Q. 5. Surely that the damned are said to weep and to gnash their teeth doth proceed from the greatest of their torments which Christ tels us shall be from this when they shall see Abraham and Isaac and Iacob and all the Prophets in the Kingdom of God and they themselves thrust out Luke 13.28 Punishment of sense though it be infinite as to the duration of it yet as to its extremity we may have leave to judge otherwise for if it were infinite not to mention how inconsistent this would be with that diversity of degrees in the pains of hell which with good countenance from Scripture * Mat. 11.24 Mat. 23.14 15. Luk. 12.47 48. is by many beleeved it would follow that God could not punish them a jot more but it is a medium by which we are wont to prove the Lords omnipotency that he never doth so much in reference to the creature but that he is still able to doe more * Zanch. de nat Dei l. 3. c. 1. q. 3. So what the damned suffer in their pain of sense is but a finite evill what they are excluded from in their pain of losse is an infinite good 'T is in Gods power to lay upon them a greater evil than what they suffer 't is not in his power to deny them a greater good than what they want SECT VI. First Use for information LEt us from this Doctrine in the first place see what may be concluded for the better information of our judgements It follows First That God is of a transcendent and infinite goodnesse both 1. In himselfe Many good things doe we read of in the Scripture and of many persons that are passed under that character * Act. 11.24 and yet we are told again that there is none good but one that is God Mat. 19.17 Are there contradictions in the Scripture or is not this the meaning that goodnesse is not any where at the rate that it is in God 'T is in God originally 't is in the creature but by way of participation in him as in a fountain in them but as in a vessel in him universally in them but to some purposes in him an ocean in them but a drop their 's so deficient that they need something else to their happinesse in earth Gods so full that we shall need nothing else to our happinesse in heaven How transcendently good is our God that even in heaven it self nothing but himself can make us blessed we have none in heaven but him Psalm 73.25 and 2. To all his people that he will bestow himself upon them What he promised to the Father of the Faithfull he will make good to all his
GOD ALL IN ALL OR THE HIGHEST HAPPINES OF THE SAINTS Jn two Parts The I. Asserting this Happiness to consist in the Enjoyment of GOD. II. Enquiring into the Quality of that Enjoyment Together with a short APPENDIX wherein is very briefly considered The claim of Natural Reason and private Inspirations to a guidance of us in the things of GOD. Also what courses dishonour the Gospel and what Duties we owe it By EDWARD BUCKLER Preacher of the Gospel Whom have I in heaven but thee and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee Psal 73.25 London Printed for Luke Fawn at the sign of the Parrot in Paul's Church-yard 1655. To the truly and heartily Religious LADY Grace Sydenham Wife to the Right Honourable Colonel Willam Sydenham Governour of the Isle of Wight and one of his Highness's most honorable Council MADAM YOu have been pleased to make me an object of your exceeding many and great favours which you could not have done had it not been your principle to be good gratis that I might not miss an occasion which I may never be able to offer my self again of putting this into a publique acknowledgement is much of what I have to plead for sending you these Papers I had never any thing to return you but my thanks and how much I am hitherto in arrear for due expressions of it the less you do account the more I yet owe you The further errand of this discourse is not to tell you where your happinesse is you know GOD too well to be able to mistake in a concernment of that consequence nor to tax you for seeking it where you know 't is not You love God too well to suffer any thing in your heart to sit above him Have not I observ'd the delicacie of your spirit how tenderly you meddle with the Earth from a holy jealousie lest your conversation should not be enough in Heaven But it is Madam to offer it self as a poor instrument in the hand of a great GOD of some addition to the heaven you are already in the comforts of this here though not the joyes of that hereafter are capable of an augmentation Who can tell but that even by this means your Communion with your God may be further'd And if but one glimpse the more of divine beauty shine in upon your soul and raise but a rapture the more upon your spirit I shall not be totally disappointed in what J aim at And if you saw my heart you would finde it very full of wishes that J were able to doe you not better service but more of this Many do already very well know and J do hereby publiquely declare That there is not that man alive to whom J am so much in debt as to your Honourable Husband and very much am I below any possible evidence of gratitude to him unlesse it be of this kinde If you shall ask Why then doe I not direct this if this be all unto himself Why Madam what do I else in directing it to you But if this satisfie not I must discover my design in doing it by you It is to confesse all ingenuously that this naked acknowledgement unable otherwise to signifie half enough might be rendered by a medium of conveighance so extreamly well-pleasing sufficiently acceptable If I misse not here though I may beg of you some other favours you shall never be solicited to doe me a greater and J shall constantly pray That the Lord your exceeding great reward would wrap up your soul in the bosome of his love give you so much of Himself as may be had by any means at any time and in it a comfortable fore-taste of what cannot be all had till you come to enjoy him immediately for ever Doubtlesse I may be guilty of many failings as to other things but this retribution for your many favours shall be daily pay'd by Madam Your most humble and very much obliged Servant EDVVARD BUCKLER To the pious Reader I Have no intent to make an Apologie for appearing in Print for who constrained me Or to talk of any influence the importunitie of Friends hath had upon these Papers to thrust them out into the world This were to publish a supposition of no very great abundance either of friendship or judgement in those I stand to in this relation I have no mind to crave pardon for medling with so high and glorious a subject we are doubtlesse allowed the contemplation of what we are promised the fruition Nor do I go about to excuse my very weak and unanswerable management of it is any man bound to impossibilities J doe not know what you will do but God accepteth according to what a man hath You have indeed this upon no other account than the sence of my duty to pay contribution toward the well-fare of the Saints though out of my own Parish J have taxed my self to what I ought because to what J was able If it offer any of your souls an occasion of meeting your God but once the oftner you will be no loosers because the discourse is not qualified unto any probabilitie of giving you satisfaction J have purposely chosen a subject that can doe it abundantly GOD can fill up and content all the soul whom J know you will be glad to converse with by any means though if that were possible it should be lesse considerable than this tendered by Your unworthy Servant in the things of CHRIST E.B. 1 COR. 15.28 That God may be All in All. PART I. Sect. I. The Text Explained IN this Chapter there be two things which it is the Apostles principal design to make good viz. 1. The Doctrine of the Gospell by the Resurrection of Christ 2. The Generall Resurrection of the dead The latter is prosecuted from the twelfth verse forward of which you have the 1. Confirmation by many Arguments 2. Order of their rising 3. Quality of the raised The Second onely of these is what we are engaged to take cognizance of which the Apostle speaks to v. 23. though we shall all be made alive yet will it be done in a certain method every man in his own order Christ himself rose first as the first fruits of them that sleep but the whole crop of Christians shall not rise till his second coming which the Apostle having mentioned he spends the five following verses by way of digression in setting down of this coming of Christ 1. What shall follow it 2. To what end 1. What follows it you have from Verse 23. to the Text inclusively in these five Particulars viz. 1. The end of the world 2. The delivery up of Christs Kingdom 3. The putting down of all Rule and all Authority and Power 4. The subduing of all Enemies 5. The subjection of the Son himself 2. To what end and this you have in the Text That God may be all in all That these few words may the better be understood I shall say a little
that hideth himself Isa 45.15 and in such a case is not discernable enough to be enjoied hence surely is it that when the Saints would continue their comfortable apprehensions of their God they beseech him not to hide his face from them Psal 143.7 And when he is at any time out of sight that darkness is left upon their spirits ther 's no way to set him within their view again but the lifting up of his countenance and the uncovering of his face to shine upon them and for this it is that the Saints are so often upon their knees Lord lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us Psal 4.6 Make thy face to shine upon thy servant Psalm 31.16 but this is not enough unless God open Second Our understandings The Well and Hagar in the Wilderness were neer enough one to the other yet till God opened her eyes she did not see it Gen. 21.19 Christ was with his Disciples yet whilest their eyes were held they did not know him Luk. 24.16 look in what degree the Lord is pleased to open our understandings in such a degree we apprehend him even those discoveries of God that are in Scripture are by none of us any further receiveable then himself makes them way Christ opened their understandings that they might understand the Scriptures Luk. 24.45 He had opened the Scripture before Vers 27. And so there was light enough about the object but this did not suffice till there was light too in the faculty till he had opened their understandings to let it in Our understanding is Dei Infundibulum so I have heard it called Gods Tunnel which he doth inlarge according to the infusions which he is pleased to afford us of himself This is the first requisite to enjoyment the Knowledge of God How sad is the condition of ignorant souls then may they come to the enjoyment of God when mid-night may dwell in the sun What communion hath light with darkness 2 Cor. 6.14 Secondly Influences from God When we receive all that God can afford and we are capable of as assurances of his being ours and experiences of his being ours to all intents and purposes with that peace passing all understanding and that joy unspeakable and full of glory which is wont to wait upon such a condition so Solomon calls that the enjoyment of a thing when it derives unto us all the good that it can afford Eccles 5.18 Thirdly Acquiescence in God as neither finding contentation in any thing less nor desiring a jot more To enjoy God is * Frui est amore inhaerere alicui rei propter seipsam Aq. 1ae 2ae Qu. 11. Art 1. to love God and to cleave unto him for his own sake * Frui est uti cum gaudio delectatione Lomb. l. 1. Dist 1. c. 8. 'T is to possess God with complacencie and all possible satisfaction * Suavitas quaedam de ultimo fine Aqu. quo sup 'T is a sweetness tasted in God even to the ravishing of our affections as much of this as is enjoyable here below you have a relish of in these and the like Scriptures Cant. 2.3.4 Psal 73.25 Psal 104.34 to which add That Heaven which is not above the reach of Saints upon earth in 1 Pet. 1.8 which Scriptures I hope you will have time enough to turn to and dwell upon till all that delight and Sweetness Acquiescence Complacencie and satisfaction in God dropt thither from the bosome of those Saints be taken out and copyed upon your own spirits Fourthly Converse with God Then we enjoy him when he dwels and walkes in us 2 Cor. 6.16 by his spirit graces comforts when we walk with him upon earth Gen. 5.24 and converse with him in Heaven Phil. 3.20 Secondly What is our highest Happiness I think their description of Happiness to be full enough who make it to consist in the possession of a perfect good excluding every evil and satisfying every desire * Aqu. 1ae 2ae Q. 5. Art 3. 1. The Possession It may be some degree of Happiness to be intituled to such a good in reversion but the height of happiness it cannot be where any thing desireable is wanting it is an abatement of felicity 2. Of a perfect good All things and every thing that may be called by that name blessedness is a condition made up of the aggregation of all good things not one must be left out yet is it not necessary that we possess every good in kind 't is enough that the good we possess be as much as every good in value 3. Excluding every evil both of sin and suffering when either of these are incident to a condition either that condition is not happy or these are not evil as long as we can either sin or suffer we are under some degree of infelicity 4. Satisfying every desire when we are so filled with the good we have that as we do not want so we cannot wish a jot more So you have the point explained SECT III. The Point propounded proved by some Scriptures AL those Scriptures may pertinently be called in to the making good of this proposition which assert our highest happiness to consist in Gods presence in being with God in seeing God in being satisfied with God c. which are all but diversified expressions of our enjoyment of God I shal take these that follow into consideration Psal 16.11 In thy presence is fulness of joy at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore 1. Here is fulness of joy and eternity of pleasures and is not this a plain description of our highest happiness so Christ the Head had this joy set before him Heb. 12.2 and when he puts any member of his into possession of that Kingdom which was prepared for him from the foundation of the world his livery of Seisin is conceived in these terms Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord Mat. 25.21 I have not met with one Exposition that doth not find in this assertion of David or rather of Christ in Davids person a plain discription of our highest happiness But where is all this to be found Why 2. In Gods presence or in Gods face and is not this as plain a description of the enjoyment of God the shewing of whose face doth signifie such a manifestation of himself as doth let us so into his acquaintance as we are wont to be in theirs with whom we familiarly converse Sometimes the face of God seems to be full of frowness Levit. 20.6 t is his smiling face that is here mentioned God hath smiles of grace for us whilest we are in our journey * Ps 4.6 these are smiles of glory when we shall come home the twilight of his Countenance is our enjoyment of him here the full noon of it shall be so hereafter Psal 17.15 I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness Here is every desire full and what doth fill them but Gods
dilige fac quicquid vis said to Christ God doth freely say us First love me and then do what you will 3. All our abilities all our doings and sufferings will finde no entertainment above unlesse this love of God give them a certificate that they came from her See 1 Cor. 13.1 2. 4. 'T is something that this will continue to be a duty when most duties else shall be obsolete and out of date they are practicable on earth this in heaven They have their time this its eternity Now if there be so much of excellency in the Object God and in the Act Fruition this is motive enough if the Lord will vouchsafe to set it on to aspire after the enjoyment of God above all the enjoyments else that are under the Sunne SECT IX Some brief Directions as to the forementioned Duty IF the Saints would be as much in heaven as is here possible and grow up more and more in this unspeakable happinesse of enjoying God they must follow these directions First you must endeavour to encrease your knowledge of God and your acquaintance with those excellencies that he is cloath'd withall Much of that time which you spend in the study of other things will be very well worth the redemption to be laid out upon this * Incognitum non potest amari Aug. What you doe not know you cannot love what you doe not love you cannot so much as desire to enjoy There must be some appresion of the object before there can be any motion of the faculty toward it See before Sect. 2. Secondly you must endeavour to get and maintain an assurance of your interest in God give all diligence to put this out of question 2 Pet. 1.10 If there be never so much beauty goodnesse love power grace holynesse c. in God you can never enjoy it in case it be not or you think it is not there for you Fruition doth presuppose propriety and some knowledge of it He that is in his sins God will not own him and he that is in Christ and yet doubts it will not easily be perswaded to own God and be sure to build your assurance upon good grounds I have read of a melancholy man that supposed all the Ships in such a Haven to be his own * Thrasilaus putavit omnes naves in Pireum portum appella ntes suas esse and of a Gentlewoman in Mantua who would not be perswaded but that she was married to a King * Marcel Donatus de hist. med mirab l. 2. c. 1. as that poor man enjoyed those vessels which he had no title to an inch of and that woman the husband whom she never saw so doe those men God who have no interest in him but in a dream Thirdly abate of your desires to enjoy other things Love not the world that is Let not your hearts go out immoderately after it if any man doe so the love of the Fathers is not in him 1 Ioh. 2.15 A River let out into many channels must needs run the shallower in some 'T is grown into a Proverb that those persons who love over-many are never wont to love over-much * Alterius vires subtrahit alter amor The love of God and of the world are like two buckets in a Well while one goes up the other goes down We must leak our hearts and let out all that is too much of our love to the world they will then be the better at leisure to contemplate the beauty and to be ravisht with the excellencies of our God Shall we suffer any thing to be competitors for our hearts with him What is the enjoyment of a wife a child a friend an estate an office a command to the enjoyment of a God Indeed what is any thing to him before whom all the Nations of the world are lesse than nothing Isa 40.17 Fourthly walk close with God the nearer you walk up to him the more you are like to enjoy of him More particularly 1. Walk lovingly Let all your doings be done in charity 1 Cor. 16.14 Let Gods love in your souls be as a weight in the scale * Quod est pondus in librâ hoc est amor in animâ carrying all your designes its own way Let this love be the poize of all your actions and goe no other way but whither this shall lead you * Amor meus pondus meum illo feror quocunque feror Draw out the exercise of this grace as far upward toward God as you are able Love is a sociable affection it will carry you into the company of God and bring him into yours you are promised so much in Ioh. 14.23 If a man love me my Father will love him and we will come unto him and make our abode with him 2. Walk beleevingly Keep your eye of Faith as open as you can you have no way else of seeing him who is invisible Heb. 11.27 Neither is God wont to dwell in our hearts but by faith Eph. 3.17 If this eye of our soul be shut or drowsie we may say with Augustine Mecum eras non eram tecum God was with us but we were not with him We can have no converse even with those friends that are about us whilst we are asleep In a word 3. Walk holily This is to walk with God Gen. 5.24 and to have our conversation in heaven Phil. 3.20 then is God most enjoyed when a gracious life shall goe along an equal pace with a gracious heart if the Saints cannot sin themselves out of Gods favour yet they may out of his familiarity How often in Scripture is peace and comfort and the enjoyment of God promised unto his people in a way of holinesse See Psal 50.23 Galat. 6.16 Phil. 4.8 9. Pretend what you will you converse but a little with God who converse much with sin See 2 Cor. 6.16 1 Ioh. 1.6 7. SECT X. Of the enjoyment of God in Ordinances BEcause the most ordinary way of Gods conversing with his Saints here in the body is by his Ordinances as we have in part seen before Sect. 6. I shall enquire briefly into the causes why the Saints many times enjoy so little of God in them that they may see and remove those abatements of their felicity Is it not 1. Because we doe not seek God in his Ordinances but think we may enjoy as much of him any where else To how many are the Ordinances of God as indifferent things If once it become indifferent to men whether they eat and drink or not no wonder if they find neither their palats pleas'd nor their bodies nourished Qu. May not God be enjoyed his goodnesse love and sweetness tasted out of Ordinances as well as in them Sol. If this may be yet see whether 1. It be to be injoied by those that neglect his Ordinances What did the King do when such as were invited to his feast made light of it
did he carry or send his Provisions after them that they might fare as well at their Farms and Merchandize as at his Table you will find it otherwise if you read Mat. 22.7 Or 2. It be so much of God as is wont to be injoyed when we meet him in his Ordinances if it be why have not the Saints been contented with it see Psal 27.4 and 48.9 and Psal 84.1 2 c. places that may better be tasted then explained Or 3. It be not rather a re-tasting and rellishing again of that sweetnesse and comfort which was left upon the Soul when God in his Ordinances communicated himself unto us a making good of that gracious promise of Christ in Joh. 14.26 Ob. But divers Saints that do constantly use the Ordinances do yet complain how little of God they injoy in them Sol. This perhaps may be 2. Because we do not seek God there or not seek him principally possibly we rest too much in them and do not send up our souls to God thorow them we do not carry our hearts high enough but are ready to take in satisfaction meerly from the work done seeking that in the Ordinances which we shall never find but in God Let us rectifie this miscarriage we shall not undervalue the Ordinances to account them empty things unlesse God fill them Wells of Salvation but no Water there for us Breasts of Consolation but Dry ones no milk for us unlesse we can taste and feed upon God in them if we would injoy our God we must be pleased with nothing no not in the Sanctuary unlesse we can see our God and our King walking there Psa 68.24 Or 3. Because we do not seek God in all his Ordinances some Christians are altogether for private Ordinances and do despise the publick some for publick Ordinances and neglect the private if we will not meet God in one can we expect that God should meet us in another if we neglect Christs company in the midst of two or three in private Mat. 18.20 may he not walk in the midst of the Candlesticks in publick not suffer us to see him Apoc. 1.13 pray consider that those Saints who have sought God in all his Ordinances as their duty have found him in every one of them to their comfort see Psal 42.4 and 63.5 6. Cant. 3.1 2 3 4. Or 4. Because we do not seek God there after a due order 1 Chron. 15.13 with that frame and temper of spirit that preparation of Heart and Soul which is requisite Perhaps 1. Prepossessed too full and too wel satisfied with some thing else now truly * Intus existens prohibet alienum if the Stomack be ful though it be but with husks that the Swine do eat it will taste but little sweetnesse even in that bread which is in our fathers house Or 2. Without prayer that God would let fall influences from himself thorow his Ordinances upon us do not we know that God expects some imployment as he is a God hearing prayers Psa 65.2 Ezek. 36 37. We have not because we ask not Jam. 4.2 can we expect that God should look upon those that will not so much as speak to him This for the first part our highest happinesse is the injoyment of God we must now consider the quality of that injoyment Part. II. WE have seen in general that the highest Happinesse of the Saints is the injoyment of God it remains that we now inquire what kind of injoyment it must be in order whereunto we shall take into consideration the 2d Proposition That injoyment of God which is the Saints highest Happinesse shall be immediate sole free full and everlasting Each of which five particulars I shal indeavour to prove and apply as they lie in order SECT I. That our highest Happiness shall bee to injoy God immediately HEre below we injoy God by means not so hereafter not in Ordinances graces blessings or through any such Mediums as we injoy him now all these though they be great conducements to that happinesse which we are capable of on earth they be yet great abatements of that which we shall be crown'd withall in Heaven to injoy a friend in his picture letters tokens is short of what we injoy when we have his personal presence neither doth the Sun heat or light us so comfortably through a cloud as when the glorious body of it is open to us without any interposition our happinesse in God will be without its perfection till our injoyment of God shall be without means * Deus sine ullo mediatore aut medio causa immediata erit objectum immediatum nostrae felicitatis Zanch. de nat Dei l. 2. c. 8. Let us consider 1. Christs Kingdom shal be delivered up that God may bee all in all i. e. all Ordinances and administrations which are means of our injoying God here shall cease and expire that we may be fully and compleatly happy Christ hath some things in his Kingdom that bears an Analogy to the means and instruments of governing in the Kingdomes of men and in each of them is God injoyable He hath his Militia and his laws with promises and threatnings in the Ordinances of his Word his Seals to confirm to his people his free grants of priviledge in the Ordinance of his Sacraments his Embassadours and Offieers for the management of spiritual affairs in the Ordinance of his Ministry the ceasing of Christs Kingdom is the cessation of all these that God may immediately succeed to fill up the measure of our promised blessednesse to the full 2. All Rule and all Authority and Power must be put down ver 24. which * Aqu. in locum Mr. Jo. Goodwins 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 15. divers expound of lawful government and are remoter means of our injoying of God by preserving to us and protecting us in the use of those Ordinances which God appears in and upon this account must even these be put down That God may bee all in all that is That our happinesse may be compleated 3. To injoy God by means is to know him but in part and to see him in a glass darkly in aenigmate to have such apprehensions of God as we have of a Riddle which we do not fully understand but that degree of happinesse which we shall be advanced to hereafter is to see him face to face to injoy him immediately and all this you have in 1 Cor. 13.12 and altogether as much though in fewer words in 1 John 3.2 that what we shall be in glory and happinesse above what we are wil be this That we shal see God as he is i.e. clearly and immediately * Dionis Carthus in locum 4. Was it not the highest pitch of happinesse which the Apostles so earnestly groan'd after 2 Cor. 5.4 and what was that but to be present with the Lord v. 8 why had not these Saints the presence of God already Sure they had
lost all till we have no friend no estates no enjoyment but God alone SECT VI. 2d Use of this same point by way of Instruction IF our highest happinesse be the sole enjoyment of God we may take out some lessons thence for our instruction these that follow seem to be very legible 1. That it is an impossibility to make the Saints of God miserable because it is impossible to deprive them of their God in whom alone is all their happiness They may lose 1. Their Liberty as Joseph Peter Paul Silas c. the primitive Christians by the Heathen persecutors * In Carceres conjecti fideles locis tenebrosis c. Ecclesiast l. 5. c. 1. and the Orthodox by the Arrians * Theodorit hist Eccles l. 4. c. 22. Christ himself may be imprisoned Mat. 25.43 and Satan may make the mittimus Apoc. 2.10 but this is not their happinesse this is not the glorious liberty of the sons of God Rom. 8.21 their God wil be in prison with them Gen. 39.23 2. Their Estates they may suffer the spoiling of their goods Heb. 10.34 of a great part or all as it shal please their more potent enemies of which we have examples * Socrat. Hist Eccles l. 3. c. 11. Euseb de vita Const l. 1. c. 45. enough in the History of the Church but this is not their happinesse they have in heaven a better and a more enduring substance Heb. 10.34 3. Their Lives as the noble Army of Martyrs did But this is not their happinesse they may sav to the proudest of their persecutors * Occidere quidem potestis nocere non potestis you may kill us but it is not in your power to hurt us they have a life which is hid with Christ in God Col. 3.3 Our happinesse is not in any thing that the gates of Hell can reach unto 't is in God onely and solely and who can take away our God from us what condition can leave us without him pray ask the Apostle in Rom. 8.35.38 39. 2dly That did wee rightly improve it the lesse wee have of the world the more wee may have of happinesse this I doubt wil seem a paradox to most but yet before you be too peremptory in concluding it so consider if happinesse consist in the sole enjoyment of God doth it not follow that the more solely wee enjoy him the happier we are and may we not the better so enjoy God the lesse we have to enjoy beside him even the troubles of a family do so far unblesse us that they hardly give us leave to attend upon the Lord without distraction 1 Cor. 7.35 what then have they leave to do who are troubled with more then this a thousand fold Are there none of us whose possessions and imployments in the world are more then they were wont to be it would be wel to consider if we have so much leisure whether our enjoyments of God be not so much the lesse whether a great part of that time and those meditations which we were wont to lay out upon God be not now wasted and cast away upon other occasions You that have but a little to do with the world pray make much of that condition 't is your own fault if you have not the more to do with God you have little else to take up your hearts God may dwel and walk in them without disturbance God and you may be together a great part of your time and the sweetnesse of your communion not hindred whilest others are casting up their accounts you have leisure enough to say with David how precious are thy thoughts unto me O God how great is the summe of them if I should count them they are more in number then the sands Ps 139.17 18. Whilest others are following their suits at a Court of Justice you may follow all you have at a Throne of grace whilest others are numbring their flocks and heards al your Arithmetick may be imploied to number your daies whilest others cannot get out of the clutches of the world you may get into the imbracements of your God you may bee in heaven whilest others cannot see it for the interposition of too much earth Truly a mean condition seems to bee capable of more happinesse then that which over-loadeth us with outward things 3d. That little cause have the Saints to be troubled at the dissolution of al things That al these things here below shal be dissolved he cannot doubt that is a Christian 2 Pet. 3.11 and the dissolution of them shal be by fire the Elements shal melt with fervent heat the Earth also and the works that are therein shal be burnt up ver 10. that glorious heaven which rouls over our heads shal be rouled together as a Scrowl and al their Host shal fal down as the Leaf falleth off from the Vine and as a falling Figge from the Fig-tree Isa 34.4 and the earth under our feet the mother of so many good things with her whole off-spring shal flee away neither shal any place be found for her Apoc. 20.11 it moves our bowels to behold the rage of fire in some petty desolations it wil you wil say be a melancholly prospect indeed to see it bury the whole world in its own ashes Wel suppose we should be of those who shal be found alive at the last day should it trouble or pity us that such a world as this should bee destroyed sure not a jot unlesse we would continue to our prejudice for this end must come That God may bee all in all that there may bee nothing for us but God that is that we may be perfectly happy SECT VII Shewing our happiness to constst in the free enjoyment of God AS our happinesse in the height and perfection of it shal be to enjoy God immediately without helps and solely without partners so it wil be as necessary that wee enjoy him freely without interruption or opposition Here sin stands in our way with power and pollution and Satan with his fiery darts and the world meets us with a thousand contradictions and whatever stands in the way of our enjoyment stands in the way of our happinesse which wil not bee perfect til al these impediments be removed Let us consider 1. All enemies shal be subdued v. 25 26. Satan and sin amongst the rest which are the great disturbers of our enjoyment of God these shal trouble us no more and the end is That God may be all in all that we may enjoy him freely without any contradiction 2. It follows rationally that if our enjoyment of God be not free our happinesse in God cannot be ful every disturbance of enjoyment is an Eclipse of happinesse every evil is not excluded where there is any thing left standing between God and us nor every desire satisfied when one great desire is to have these rubs out of our way we are so far from perfect happinesse as long as
Inspirations themselves Else it were to prove ignotum per ignotius a lesse obscurity by a greater Or thus that which hath its evidence and certainty that it is such or such from it self * Vera perspicua censentur ea quae non ab aliis sed à seipsis fidem habent Sanderson Just Dialect l. 3. c. 2. is more evident and certain than that which borrows it elswhere but the Scriptures I speak to such as grant them to be the Word of God have their evidence and certainty viz. that they ought to be the rule of our faith and practice from themselves revelations pretended to be from the spirit have theirs elswhere as before Reas 3. therefore the Scriptures are more evident and certain and by consequence a safer guide 5. Reas I am bound to follow the written Word of God absolutely whatever contradict it not so Inspirations which in case they be contradicted by the Scriptures I am to suppose them not to be from the spirit of God which were not a spirit of truth Ioh. 14.17 nor of holynesse Eph. 4.30 were it contrary to it self to say one thing in the Scriptures another thing in the Saints This is my faith as to this particular those Impulses that are indeed from the Holy Spirit of God will not sanctified Reason will not and by the grace of Christ carnal reason shall not tempt me from seeing as much of God as I can where there is so full a sight of him in the Gospel of his Son SECT III. What courses dishonour the Gospel and the evil of them I Shall not mention any thing of the language of those tongues against the Gospel which have been set on fire of hell and endeavour to fasten upon it a complexion as black as the mouths it drops from lest I should teach what my design is to reprove nor the opinion that some persons have of such as esteem the Gospel of Christ and professe to beleeve and practice by it lest I should seem to accuse an age of very high pretences to religion and piety of suffering the definition of both to be turned in and out There be three waies of dishonouring the Gospel which I shall desire leave to complain of viz. 1. When we professe it and walk answerable to it when we doe see so much of God in it and doe coppy nothing of God upon our hearts and practice from it this exposeth it to the derision and contempt of the vilest men Have not some of them said Aut hoc non est Evangelium aut hi non sunt Christiani Either this is not the Gospel in which there is so much goodnesse or these are not Christians in whom there is none at all Did not one wish Sit anima mea cum Philosophis Let my soul be with the honest Philosophers who were Heathen than these wicked and lewd men called Christians Have not others ascribed the upholding of our Religion all this while to the excellency of our faith * Hall Christian Moderation l. 2. p. 118. being well assured that our works were so bad they could never have done it Who is it that hopes to be happy in the fruition of God that can chuse but make tears his meat day and night to see that Gospel reproacht which is so full of this God 2. When we are not only lewd and licentious but plead allowance for it from the Gospel pretending the liberty it proclaimes to be carnal and a licence for us to sin by turning the grace of God into lasciviousnesse Jude 4. and expounding the design of it into a provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof Is it not a damnable faculty those men have to be able to fetch any thing of hell out of that Gospel where there is so much of heaven Is that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that great gulph 'twixt these two places removed that they can raise such a line of Communication This is to throw dirt in the very face of Jesus Christ 2 Cor. 4.6 it is to accuse the Gospel of little lesse than panderism to our most abhorred lusts 3. When we measure the exhibition of our respects to the Gospel by our worldly interests owning or disowning the truths and ordinances of it according to what it is like to advantage or prejudice us in our outward concernments * Joseph Antiq. l. 11. c. 8. It is the manner of the Samaritanes when the Jews are in affliction to deny all acquaintance with them they have no relation to any one of the Tribes but if the Jews as such have any beam of prosperity breaking out towards them then the Samaritanes are their nearest Cosens they can derive their pedigree from Ephraim and Manasses the Sons of Joseph Those men no doubt have wit enough to make some use of this story who have not grace enough to make a better use of the Gospel A very foolish and sottish sin Is not all that of God which is discovered in the Gospel a prospect worth the looking upon unlesse you can see the world there too Will you not have as much of heaven as you may lest you should not have so much of earth as you would Will you have nothing to doe with God unlesse you can enjoy him in conjunction with other things Pray consider whether the full enjoyment of God in heaven be to be adventured upon untill we have studied how it will suit our interest SECT IV. What our behaviour ought to be toward the Gospel THis will not seem impertinent to the times we are fallen into however it may to the precedent subject if we have any sence how much we doe underlive our most holy profession Yet this additional sheet not being in my first thoughts I shall be as brief as in the rest of it and only point at these Duties 1. Duty Blesse God for bringing you forth in Gospel-times when Alexander was born his Father Philip blessed such Gods as he had not so much that he had a Son as he had him in Aristotles daies * Diis gratias agere debeo non quia natus est mihi filius sed quod tuis temporibus ipsum nasci contingit he was thankful for natural and moral discoveries The Gospel is a discovery of God yea it is a vision of him in the next degree of clearnesse to that which we shall have in heaven The blessing of these gracious times is short of nothing else but the blessing of that glorious eternity The Saints had their Hallelu-jah's for darker dispensations Psal 147. ult 2. Duty In all your doubts and scruples have recourse to the Gospel Never ask what the Pharisees or Rulers doe Sure where there is most of God you are like to find most satisfaction 3. Duty Acquiesce and rest in the determinations of the Gospel Will you appeale from God or is there more of him any where else 4. Duty Love the Gospel Is any thing amiable that
is not here Sure I am if it be wisdom here is the wisdom of God 1 Cor. 2.7 Beauty here 's the face of Jesus Christ 2 Cor. 4.6 the fairest of ten thousand Cant. 5.10 Splendor 't is a glorious Gospel 2 Cor. 4.4 Truth 't is the word of truth Eph 1.13 Goodnesse 't is the good Word of God Heb. 6.5 Piety 't is a Doctrine that is according to godlinesse 1 Tim. 6.3 Power 't is the arm of the Lord Isa 53.1 Peace 't is the Gospel of peace Eph. 6.15 5. Duty Take off by your practices whatever disparagements shall be cast upon the Gospel Will any say it is not the Word of God and so make it such an imposture as would cheat the whole Christian world of their precious souls Pray confute this blasphemy by giving it such a power over your hearts and lives as none but the Almighty God can either challenge or exercise Suffer it to sway you simply without any quatenus or limitation against any counter-coÌ„mand under heaven Will any say it is not a compleat Rule for belief and practice You must disprove this slander by keeping only and constantly to it and by professing that you doe so that peace may be upon you and mercy Gal. 6.16 because it is able to make you wise unto salvation 2 Tim. 3.15 because you may not receive any other though an Angel offer it you Gal. 1.8 c. 6. Duty Be not ashamed of the Gospel Rom. 1.16 Will you be ashamed of your God wil you blush at any degree of heaven * Timor justae vituperationis rei turpiter actae Shame is a fear of reproof for some unseemly action and is it such to own your highest blessednesse It was a preamble to Peters denyal of Christ that he followed him afar off Mat. 26.58 and Nicodemus was but in the infancy of his Discipleship when he came to Jesus by night Joh. 3.2 Read 2 Tim. 2.12 Luke 9.25 26. 7. Duty Hold fast the Gospel Do not part with one truth one ordinance one duty of it You have sad experience of the Devils nibling away of one piece of some mens Religion after another till they have no more left than Davids fool had Psal 14.1 8. Duty Let your conversation be as becometh the Gospel Phil. 1.27 So holy humble harmlesse honest sober just chast peaceable as becomes persons owning a Gospel so full of a holy God See Phil. 2.15 16. 1 Tim. 6.1 Tit. 2.10 Why else doe ye professe it Answer that Quaere of Christ if you can in Luke 6.46 See Mat. 7.23 Mat. 3.10 The Christianity of those that live counter to this Gospel is but meerly * Qui non vivit ut ipse docuit certum id documentum est non esse Christianum Just Mart. ad Anton. orat p. 128. titular that which is indeed true * Christianismus est similitudo Dei quantum possibile est humanae naturae Basil is as fair and full a draught of God upon the soul as it is capable of in a body of death For a conclusion take Phil. 4.8 9. The Table PART I. The First Proposition viz. The highest happiness of the Saints is the enjoyment of God This is 1 Explained by shewing FIrst What the enjoyment of God is made up of 1 The knowledge of God to let in Which he opens 1 His face 2 Our understandings 2 Influences from God 3 Acquiescence in God 4 Converse with God Secondly What our highest happiness is viz. 1. A perfect good 2. In possession 3. Excluding every evil 4. Filling every desire 2. Proved 1. By Scripture 2. By Reason all that makes us happy is in God only being a good 1. Pure 2. Sufficient 3. Satisfying 3. Illustrated by 3. Particulars First All our happiness here is in what we enjoy of God here proved by 1. God 2. The Saints Secondly Gods blessedness is in the enjoyment of himself Proved by 1. Scriptures 2. Reason Thirdly The greatst misery of the damned is that they do not enjoy God 4. Improved by way of First Information in five Particulars viz. 1. God is of a transcendent goodness 1. In himself 2. To his people 2. In things where there is most of God there is most of happiness 3. It is a false draught of Heaven that is not made to consist in the enjoyment of God 4. Most men but pretenders to a desire of going to Heaven as 1. Defying the means where God may be enjoyed 2. Trading in practises where they cannot expect it 5. Who are a peoples greatest enemies Secondly Reproof of such as place their happiness in outward things where Their 1. Charracter 2. Folly Thirdly Exhortation To labour for the enjoyment of God where First Motives From the excellency 1. Of its Object God 2. Of its Act in respect of Its 1. Kinde 2. Degree Secondly Directions viZ. 1 Increase your Knowledge 2 Maintain your assurance 3 Abate of your love to the world 4 Walk close with God Fourthly Declaration why we enjoy no more of God in Ordinances either we do 1 Neglect them 2 Not seek God in them 3 Not seek God in all of them 4 Not seek after a due Order PART II. The Second Proposition layed down That enjoyment of God which is the Saints highest Happinesse shall be immediate sole free full and everlasting FIrst That it shall be immediate is 1 Proved by 4 Particulars viz. 1 Christs Kingdom shal be delivered up 2 All rule c. shal be put down 3 To enjoy God by means is to see him but in a glasse 4 Gods immediate enjoyment groaned after by the Saints 2 Applied in 3 particulars viz. 1 The enjoyment of God by means far short of what it shall be without them 2 When the Saints shal be above the need of Ordinances 3 Death desirable Secondly That it shall be Sole 1 Proved in that 1 God shall be all 2 The world shal be ended 3 Much of our enjoyment is by love 4 The Saints thirst is after God Solely 2 Applied by way of First Exhortation to 4 duties Secondly Instruction in 3 things viz. 1 It s impossible to make the Saints miserable 2 The less we have of the world the more we may have of happiness 3 No cause to be troubled at the dissolution of all things Thirdly That it shall be Free 1 Proved in that 1 All Enemies shall be subdued 2 Every disturbance of Enjoyment is an Eclipse of happinesse 2 Applied for our 1 Information No Heaven where any sin 2 Instruction how to be much in Heaven here 3 Comfort In Heaven we shall enjoy God freely Fourthly That it shall be Full. 1 Proved in that 1 Our enjoyment here and hereafter do but differ gradually 2 Else every evil not removed c. 2 Applied To shew us that 1 The happiest sight of God out of Heaven is in the Gospel 2 The longings of the Saints after more of God shal be satisfied Fifthly That it shall be everlasting 1 Proved by 1 Scripture 2 Reason else 1 A posibility of being miserable 2 Some place for fear 2 Applied by way of 1 Exhortation Place not happiness in any thing that shall have an end 2 Comfort afflictions short happiness Eternal The whole Applied very briefly 1 In what sence we are said to be happy in this life 2 No nature below ours capable of blessedness 3 It is not vain to serve God ERRATA PAge 5. lin 25. for al one read alone p. 7. l. 3 prefix to the beginning of the l. 5. p. 10. l 7. for without r. with our p. 17. l. 22. for frownesse r. frownes p. 30. l. 12. dele haâ—â— p. 30. l. 17. for come r. came p. 31. l 13. for fondly r. formerly p. 46. l. penult adde 2. FINIS