Burges-ship The Second is a suitableness and peculiar manner of living and carrying according to the Lawes of that City as it is often said in the book of the Acts of the Apostles After the manner of the Romans who had their own lawes customes and usages and being applied here in a Spiritual sense it supposes 1. A joint interest with the saints or being Fellow Citizens with the Saints As it is Ephes 2.19 Who are all Burgesses of the Heavenly Jerusalem though some of them be as it were in the Suburbs and lower Town and some in the Higher yet all here below have the same Master and Father with them who are above in Heaven 2. It supposeth a way walk and conversation like Heaven to be peculiarly indued with a nature inclinations desires designes and qualifications suitable to heaven We take it here especially in the latter sense because Paul proposeth himself as a pattern to them to imitat and it holds his suitableness to Heaven The Second thing to be cleared a litle is what it is to have a conversation in Heaven I Answer these Two are in effect one and the same to have a conversation in heaven and to be Heavenly in our conversation it 's even to have a conversation like that which Christians hope to have in Heaven and such as are bounden and on their way thitherward should have This is a generall hint of what a Heavenly Conversation or a Conversation in Heaven is and because in prosecuting the Doctrines to be deduced from the words we will have occasion to explain it More Particularly we shall say no more of it now The Doctrines that arise from the words are especially these Four The first whereof is that There is a sort of Heavenliness in the Conversation of Christians that should be studied by them all without exception and that lyeth on them all as their duty The Second is that This Heavenliness of Conversation is in a great measure through Grace attainable for Paul and other believers attained it which is not so to be understood as if there were an universall suitableness or a suitableness in all things in sojourning Saints to Glorified Saints in Heaven for in Heaven they do not eat nor drink neither are they married nor given in Marriage But it 's to be understood of a suitableness in respect of qualification conformity and likeness in so far as is incumbent to sojourners who are walking thither-ward The Third is That It is a peculiar and contradistinguishing mark of a serious and suitably exercised Christian from all other men in the world That his conversation is in Heaven while that of others is not The Fourth is That It 's not an ordinary and common but a rare thing among Professed Christians to have a Conversation in Heaven Many sayes the Apostle Walk of whom I have told you and now tell you weeping that they are enemies to the Cross of Christ But I and some few others with me have our Conversation in Heaven and the many that he speaks of here we take to be those of whom he speaks in the First Chapter who preached Christ but out of envy and pressed Holiness it is like with more then ordinary fervour being zealous of the Law and seeking to mix the righteousness of it with the Righteousness of Christ in the point of Justification yet they had not their Conversation in Heaven as he and some others had We shall not prosecute these Doctrines distinctly seeing this is the scope of them all even to hold forth and commend the Necessity and excellency of a Heavenly conversation which we shall first clear 2 Confirme and then 3. We shall speak to the Use of it First Then for Clearing what a Heavenly Conversation is ye would consider that the Apostle speaks of his owne and of some few other Godly persons their conversation in opposition to those many mentioned by him before And it imports or implies these Four First it 's to have Heaven proposed to our selves as our great Scope and designe next to the glory of God even as to have an earthly Conversation is to mind earthly things to have a bentness of spirit towards them and to be wholly or Mostly taken up about the things of the World So to be Heavenly in our Conversation is to have the mind taken up about Heaven Prizing affecting and seeking after Heaven and Heavenly things as the word is Col. 3.1 Seek after or set your affections on those things that are above Secondly As it imports Prizing and affecting of Heaven and of Heavenly things so it imports the taking of that way that leads to the end and so it is to be in the use of all means and duties that lead to Heaven seek saith the Apostle in that Col. 3.1 Those things that are above Set your affections on things above not on things beneath or on the earth To hold forth the earnestness and ardency of affections that Christians ought to have towards things heavenly and how very much they should be with Holy care and solicitude busied in the use of all means and in the Practice of all duties for the furthering and promoting of an Heavenly designe even as worldly men are taken up and exercised with carking cares leaving as it were no stone unmoved to promove and compass their earthly designes Thirdly It imports the having of our Conversation like heaven to be walking like those that are in Heaven not to be conformed to the World or like the men of the world but to be like Angels and Glorified Saints in Heaven according to our Capacitie as we are taught to pray in the Lords Prayer They will be done on earth as it is done in Heaven It 's to have a native and kindly suitableness and proportionableness to them that are glorified in Heaven Fourthly It imports this that we should be often in Heaven as to our thoughts and affections as to our desires and delights Though we be living on the earth that we should have as it were more then our one half in heaven as David hath it Psal 25.1 Unto thee O Lord do I lift up my soul or as the Word is 2 Cor. 5. Though we be absent in the Body that yet we may be some way present in our Spirits with the Lord that we should make frequent visits to Heaven that we should have much to do there have much Traffique commerce correspondence and intercourse in and with Heaven that in a word we should converse more where we love then where we live which is held forth and expressed in the Scripture by walking with God by having fellowship with him by following hard after him and the like a suitableness to and a converse in Heaven are mainly meant here As for the Second thing proposed viz. The Confirmation of this that a Christian should study this Heavenliness of Conversation the Argument is clear and pressing from Vers 17. Where the Apostle exhorts the
above or of that Cup of the unmixed Wine of the wrath of God having no rest day nor night O Profane Atheist unbeliever hollow hearted Hypocrite and slighter of Christ all thy dayes what a bitter draught will that be when God shall put into thy hand the Cup of his Iâ—dignation which shall be for ever poured out unto thee and shall never come from thy head O drunkard tippler and belly God be think thy self how that draught will go down with thee The Lord with his one foot on Earth and the other on the Sea with an uplifted hand to Heaven hath Sworn that within a litle time shal be no more Ye that are young People may if ye will follow the sight of your eyes and the way of your own hearts and may take you Pleasure in the dayes of your youth but know and remember that God will bring you to Judgement Your time is wearing away and ye will wear away 't is but a litle and ye will hear no moe Preachings and get no moe warnings O take them in time if ye be wise and the Lord perswade you so to do In the Third place The scope both of the advertisment and consolation is observable when he was giving them the Cup and told them that 't is the Cup of the new Testament in his blood He subjoins but I say unto you I will not drink henceforth c. This he doth First because he would send them away advertised and assured that There is a father Ben to speak so a more inward room in Religion then the most lively and comfortable Ordinance here on earth doth afford a higher more intense spiritual Practice then any outward part of Religion He would have them to go away thinking with themselves that all is not done that may be done that all is not win at which may be had that they are not yet Holy enough nor happy enough O place not for Christs sake Place not your Religion here I was at the Sacrament or I got my Communion Wo to that empty sound and to them who lean all their weight on it ye may come and abide here for a time and go away leaving the marrow of the matter behind you all is not yet done A Second Reason is Because he would have them parting and going from the Communion wiâ—h some thoughts of death of their approaching change and passing out of time and of Eternity it s quickly Marching upon them And indeed it were good going from the Communion and from every other Ordinance with such thoughts as these Death is fast coming on me and I will be soon gone saith our Lord on the matter to the Disciples and ye will ere long follow me and it is not these Ordinances that will be your life in Eternity It were good that we came to the Lordâ— Table to Preaching and Prayer and went away as dieing Men and Women this would lay much of our Pride deaden us to the world and make us endeavouâ— to hold a loose gripe of all things in it and would keeâ— us under the kindly sense of the changeableness uncertainty and short continuance of them all and might be of more use and worth to us then Twenâ—ie thanksgiving Sermons Labour then to go from every Ordinance as if ye were not to enjoy another A Third Reason may be that our Lord would lead in his followers 〈◊〉 look after some stamp of Heaven and of the Glorious Communion that is a coming on their Spirits and would have them going from the Ordinances with such thoughts Alace we have very few such thoughts Our conversation is very litle or not at all in Heaven Believers think and think often that these rags will be rent off us and we shall be set down on the Throne with Christ in that Rayment of needle work It is a good token wheâ— a person goes from a Cummunion from Preaching and Prayer more Divine and Heavenly making every Ordinance the step of a stair as it were to ascend upward having a high esteem of Heaven and a heaâ— Holily eager and bent on it content nay desirous 〈◊〉 be gone when ever He shall see it meet and till theâ— putting on and keeping on the whole armour of God making for one assault of temptation afâ—er another Heavenly in his whole walk in his actions words and thoughts As ye would not O Believers interrupt your Communion with God in Christ study to be Heavenly in your Conversation for saith the Apostle Phil. 3.20 Our Conversation is in Heaven from whence we look for the Saviour Lay aside as if be had said your earthly mindedness away with that and be Heavenly in your conversation for our Conversation is such and Believers are described to be such as Love Christs appearing A Fourth Reason May be that our Lord would hearten Comfort his Disciples and send them away refreshed Yea it is to Root out their unbelief and to arm them against approaching tryals So then First our Lord Jesus Allows Believers to go from the Communion and proportionally from every Ordinance rightly come to cheerfull and Comforted and therefore he leaves them with this word telling them that they will have hard and sad days but withall bids them cheer themselves in the assured expectation of a day coming when He and they shall drink the Wine new in Heaven Our Lord would have Believers humble thinking on Death and making ready for it dayly yet be would not have them tortured with the thoughts of it but cheerfull as having his joy for their strength though he would not have their joy carnal but Heavenly And it is the Token of a right Communicant and of a good hearer of the word when a Person goes away from it more Spiritually cheered and more Heavenly minded Secondly There is nothing that can be more heartsome cheering and refreshing to the Believer then the lively hope of Communion and of a seat on the Throne in Heaven with Christ and it is the mark and Character of a believer to have no lower designe Alace for the sensless way of hearing the word and of Communicating customary to many who have no other nor higher designe then to partake of the outward Ordinance 't is a heart some thing to go from the Table of the Lord with this sweet and Heavenly Meditation Christ and I will meet again ere long at a table in Heaven Thirdly The thoughts of Heaven and the hope thereof may well sustain a Believe were there never so many BUTS and wants in their present condition here We will not be long together saith He there will be a scattering but this may keep you from weeping and mourning as those who have no hope that the day cometh when we shall meet again and never part asunder It is really a wonder that we have so few serious and solacing thoughts of coming to Heaven there are none who look for a Rich loading coming home by Sea but they will comfort themselves in the expectation of it why do we not then comfort our selves in the thoughts of Heaven since we profess to have a hope of being there even because we are carnal and earthly and it sayes that we either think Heaven litle worth or that it is an insufficient and unvalid right that is to be had to it or that we do not really believe it all the silver and gold in the world comforts not a poor body because he hath no hope to come by it So there are not a few hearers of the Gospel who bear much of Heaven and of the hope of it that never refresheth them A Fifth Reason may be to waken up longing desires and to sharpen and put an edge upon an appetit in his followers after Heaven and to teach them not to place their happiness in any thing on this side Heaven otherwise he would never have put their Satisfaction to a term so far off but he over-leaps to speak so with reverence all the brave days that they had and were to have here and gives them this for their full satisfaction that the day is a coming when he will drink the Wine new with them in his Fathers Kingdom and would have them in their flight never resting nor sitting down till they be there For he sends them away hungering for that Communion-Table And we would yet again exhort and beseech you to study to be in case to go from the Communion and from every Sermon having some serious thoughts of Heaven and longings for it believing that the day the joyfull day is coming when Christ and ye will meet and never shed or separat again when ye shall be with him where he is and be set with him at his Table and on his Throne never to rise off it any more again Blessed be God that that desirable day is coming Believers in Christ cheer your selves in the hope of it If there be any of you as Alace I fear there be very many that relish not this blessed change there is a sad and Sorrowful change before you O be busie very busie to have your interest in Christ and the hope of Heaven well secured by Union and Communion with him here that so ye may have the well grounded hope of Heaven and may frequently draw Comfort from it And O that we could sunder so The litle inch and moment of time that we have will soon and very quickly wear away and be at an end Go then my dear friends wiâ—h this well fixed resolution that ye must needs in Gods own way have Heaven and be eternally happy in the Soul-satisfieing and ravishing enjoyment of that fullest and sweetest never to be interrupted Communion that will be there And thank God and Christ the Mediator for the least measure of the well grounded hope of it and make it your business to have your Conversation suited to and smelling strong of that blessed hope FINIS
delights nor desires taken up with things earthly but he should be Mortified unto and weaned from all those things He should not be like unto those who on all occasions are tossed with their humors and with every wind of temptation but he should be so calme Composed and sober settled and fixed in a Heavenly temper of Spirit that words of reproach may not much trouble him nor crosses and afflictions much disquiet him he should have such composure and sedatness of spirit that he may be much above the levity and unstayedness that the men of the world are under the power of and he should endeavor to be defecat and purged from those impure mixtures of self-interests that are regnant in worldly men Secondly in respect of his work he should and may have his conversation in Heaven and that is when he is much in the exercise of those Graces and in the practise of those duties that he is to be taken up with in Heaven to be much in love to God taken up with delighting in him much in Communion with God Holily impatient to want him or to live without his company to be much in the study and searching out of his perfections to be studying to have the heart fixed as it were a pillar in his house and not to go out from him to be much in admiring and adorning the free grace and love of God and to be in a Holy manner ravished with the contemplation of those to be much in the work of Prayer and much in the work of Praise saying Worthy is the Lamb to receive Glory Honour Dominion c. Joining with the four beasts and four and twenty Elders saying Holy Holy Lord God Almighty to be much in prizing and valuing of God in setting out and commending him to be in all duties willing and cheerfull doing Gods will cheerfully and with alacriâ—y to be much in longing for the Sabbath to converse more closely with him longing ofâ—en for privacie and retirement to pour out the heart before him and to do all this with Holy coveting to do it better praying that his will may be done on earth as it is done in Heaven Thirdly A believer may be said to have his Conversation and you are called to have yours in Heaven in respect of a Heavenly walk and as having a heavenly impresse on all your Conversaâ—ion to be walking as it were in Heaven and as if Holiness to the Lord were written on your foreheads which being very comprehensive takes in these First to have the heart fixed in meditating on God and his law on Spirituall and Heavenly things to have a sublime and divine strain of mind not debasing it self to pursue vanities but kept in a close and constant pursuit after Communion with God and conformity to him to be in case to say with David Psal 139. When I awake I am still with thee Labouring to leave the heart and mind in Heaven when ye ly down and seeking to find it there when ye arise 2. To have your affections love desires and delights in Heaven or heavenly 3. To have your words savouring of Heaven Ministering Grace to the hearers endeavouring to have your words weighty and grave in the commendation of God and his Grace 4. To have your hearing of the word and your praying carrying much of a heavenly stamp and impression on them hearing as if God were speaking to you Immediatly from heaven and praying as if ye were even before his Throne 5. In your more common and ordinary Conversation as in your Eating and Drinking in your recreating and in following your lawful callings and employments even the very coursest and lowest of them to propose to your selves another end then the men of the world do making that your main end to Glorifie God and to have such a heavenly and Divine way of going about these as may be convincing edifieing and gaining of on-lookers not to be predominantly influenced by selfish humours designes or interests looking only or mainly to what may please or profit your selves but levelling all at the Glory of God and the edification and good of others as well as your own Fourthly We may be said to have our Conversation in Heaven when we have a Holy commerce and trading as it were with Heaven as a man is said to converse in France or Spain when he trades and trafliques there So to have converse in Heaven is Spiritually to traffique there to have Faith and Hope exercised in and about heaven to send many prayers and desires to heaven as so many empty vessels and to be in the lively and longing expectation of their return full and richly loaden to make many visits as I said before to heaven and to be in all those neither seldome nor transiently and at starts only but to be frequent and more continuing in them and though they should sometimes return either with seeming losse or with very litle gain yet to keep up the trade and traffique seeking to make up our losse by a new voyage thither for the trade is not alwayes to speak so alike quick Fifthly We may be said to converse in heaven by our abiding as it were in heaven and this is one of the highest steps of a heavenly Conversation If ye shall ask How it is that a believer while on earth doth or can abide in Heaven I Answer these wayes or in these respects 1. By having his heart in heaven where his treasure is For as the Lord sayes Where a mans treasure is there is his heart the man as it were dwels there and if at any time he remove a litle he leaves there his great stock and his heart as a Factor so though the Christian be discoursing buying selling eating drinking c. Yet in all these his heart may and ought some way to be in heaven 2. To have his Faith in heaven and as it were never to come out of it 3. To have his love in heaven folding its two armes about the Lamb and him that sits on the Throne holily loth to have them loosed from those sweet Soul solacing and satisfieing embraces 4. To have his hope in heaven which is an Anchor cast within the vail and makes the soul safe and sure amidst the greatest tempests of outward trouble as a ship rideth safely when she hath cast Anchor on firme ground so that there is no fear she will drive In a word these Four The Heart Faith Hope and Love being in heaven we may say that the mans best half and Part is in heaven his â—edder stake is loosed and much of his Tabernacle taken down and he made in a good measure meet ready and ripe for his dissolution and for heaven Thus ye are called and oblidged to have your Conversation in heaven Sixthly A Believers conversation may be said to be and ought to be in heaven when his contentment delight and satisfaction are in heaven when all that he desires all that
are the means or steps by which we may win in and ascend to this heavenliness of Conversation which is indeed a very suitable and necessary question and would God we were serious in proposing of it and were convinced of the necessity of it However let such as would fain be at it know First That they must be much mortified and denyed to Creature-Comforts therefore Col. 3. These two are opposed Seek those things which are above set your affections on things in heaven and not on things of the earth to go both up and down at once is impossible if ye would be heavenly in your Conversation seek to have the world litle and low in your estimation to be not only free from the sinfull intanglements of it but to be Mortified to things lawfull I press you not to negligence in your honest and lawfull callings far less to lay them aside but to a heavenly mindedness and holy denyedness in your diligence Use the things of this world as not abusing them as not being taken with them nor glued to them the minding of earthly things too much clogs and keeps mens hearts that they do not mount up to heaven It 's impossible while the heart is surfeited with the cares of this life that it can thus sore aloft And therefore Secondly Those that would be heavenly in their conversation must lay up their treasure in heaven For where the Treasure is there will the heart be also were ye under the deep and due conviction of the vanity of earthly things and of the excellencie of heaven and heavenly things and laying your reckoning soberly and seriously that heaven ye must have it would be much more easie to Scrue up your affections to it as where mens stock and treasure is there is their heart even so were your great stock and treasure in heaven your heart would certainly be there your hope your love and delight would be there But your seeking after contentment and satisfaction in earthly vanities where it cannot be found keeps your heart out of heaven Thirdly Be much in the duty of meditation and contemplation of heavenly things this is as it were the great wheel and first mover of the Clock to have the mind heavenly often conversing in heaven and often thinking of it and often recounting the blessed advantages the glorious and great happiness that are there even till your meditation of God be made sweet and till your delight in him thereby stirred up and strengthened make a heavenly conversation for litle such meditation makes litle heavenly-mindedness and when the mind is not on heaven something that 's worse comes in the place of it ye that know the bent and inclination of your own minds to be naturally downward and how natively to speak so it runs on vanities and how difficult it is to keep it but alongst two or three sentences fixed on heavenly things and how preternatural a motion it is as it were to make it ascend and mount upward will easily assent to the truth of this It is an excellent word that David hath Psal 139. When I awake I am still with thee Fourthly We commend this to you hinted at before that ye would be much in trading and Trafficking with Heaven to be often and serious in Prayer frequently sending up desires thither and bringing thence returns of prayer in gâ—eat measures of Grace catching hold of and griping at somewhat above you whereby ye may be helped up that high and Holy hill It transforms into the same Image from Glory to Glory to be keeping love to Christ fresh to have hope as an anchor cast within the vaile In a word love to Christ and delight in him being as a considerable part so also the result of Holiness There must be a study of Holiness in all the Parts of it of Holiness in all manner of Conversation and a Heavenly frame aimed at and endeavoured in all duties and in all the steps of our walk and conversation in order to the keeping in cherishing and increasing of love to and delight in him and often thinking on that which helps to it viz. Let thy will be done on earth as it is done in Heaven A word often in the mouths of many but litle in their hearts And Q how lamentably unlike are the practises of many of you to it We may indeed blush and think shame to speak and you may think shame to hear of having a Conversation in heaven there being so litle of it amongst us But we must speak of it and ye must hear it spoken of since it is a part and a great part of our duty and will be a part and a great part of our reckoning and we lay and leave it upon you from the Lord to be studied by you Do not think that ye shall ever have your Conversation in Heaven afterward who have not your Conversation in Heaven here many of you that have a fair Profession of Religion and seem to come near to that harbour of rest and yet never enter into it are like to a ship that comes as it were with up-sails very near the Port and is unexpectedly blowen back to the Sea again whereas the Believer who has his Anchor cast on firm and sure ground within the vail is enabled to endure tossing being like a tight ship that is able to ride out the storme and to stem the Port His Treasure is in Heaven and there is a sure and indissoluble knot cast betwixt Heaven where his treasure is and his heart Now from all this judge what a mighty prejudice it is to be earthly minded and to slight this walk with God and Conversation in heaven and who are they that dare offer or presume to come before God the righteous Judge of Heaven and Earth in whose sight the very Heavens are not pure to abide his tryall who have been puddling all their dayes in the world never once seriously and suitably minding a Conversation in Heaven O let the consideration of eternal Happiness on the one hand and of Eternal miserie on the other provoke you and necessitat you all to study in good earnest to have your conversation in Heaven and ye believers in Christ and Children of light walk in the light suitably to your Heavenly Father and to the hope of your Heavenly inheritance O! be more conversant in Heaven before ye come to it and where ye shall be by and by for evermore A Preparation SERMON for the Communion On ISAIAH 55.1 2 3. I will make an Everlasting Covenant with you even the sure mercies of David IT is hard to conceive or express whether the things which the Gospel offereth be the most large or the terms on which they are offered be the most free There is that no doubt in both together which may make the beholder stay and wonder Among many excellent offers of the Gospel that which is here is one very full and free would to God we
marrie thee and to be for thee and for none other and may not I add was there ever such security and confirmation given of any marriage it's confirmed by the death of the Bridegroom he hath sealed his Testament with his Blood and there is no annulling nor altering of a mans Testament when he is dead and our Lord Jesus who was once dead is now alive and lives for evermore he will never die again nor make another Testament O! beloved hearers all this is to let you see that our Lord is in earnest and very willing to espouse you and indeed it shall not be his Fault iâ— it be not a bargain and if it be indeed a bargain betwixt your souls and him it 's a very raâ—e and rich one O! the many rare excellent noble notable and non-such Priviledges and advantages that attend this marriage and are to be enjoyed by the soul espoused to Christ even God and Christ Grace and Glory and all that is comprehended under these belongs to thaâ— soul We must here be silent lest in speaking of â—hem we darken them by our words here is an abyss and bottomless depâ—h ready as it were to swallow up words we confess we can tell you our very litle whaâ— they are nay if all the ablest and holiest Ministers on earth all the Angels in Heaven were joyned together they could not to the full by very far tell what an excellent match and marriage this is even to be matched with the Son of God and yet this priviledge and honour have all the saints all Believers to whom he is wonderful and Precious though alace not as he ought to be there is a day coming when we shall know to satisfaction that the Father is in the son and the son in the Father and that believers are in Christ and he in them We shall then know the now in expressible and inconceivable advantages of this marriage When He shall come to be glorified in His Saints and wond'red at in all them that believe and till that day the one half will never be told us The third Observation was that there are many things to be removed out of the way and to be done many things to be made ready before this marriage can be made up 1. There is a naturall distance between the Parties that must be removed God cannot be one flesh with us and betwixt Parties to be married there must â—e some Suitableness of nature therefore to remove this distance and to bring abouâ— the marriage the Son of God becomes Man that he may be Immanual God with us God iâ— our nature aâ—d so in capacity to be closed with Secondly there is a sinfull distance w ich also must be removed before this marriage can be made up For God is a câ—nsuming fire to sinners He and they neither will nor can unite in â—hat posture The efore â—efoâ—e an offer or marriage can be made to any Purpâ—se â—e must give himself for his Church that he may Sanctifie and cleanse it with the Washing of water by the word and heâ— iâ— fâ—llâ—ws that he presents her to Himself a glorious Church without spot and wrinkle or any such thing He â—ould not have access to marry his Bride she was so uâ—câ—mly fiâ—thy and lothsom lying in a most pityful condition in her blood as Ezekiel sets it forth â—o â—he life and at great length Chap. 16. Therefore to cleanse her he gave himself for her Thirdly ere all this could be doâ—e there behâ—ved a ground to be laid for peace with God the offended party who was to be father in law and here comes in the Covenant of Redemption Psal 40 6 7. Sacrifice and Offâ—ring thou didst not desire then said I lo I come c. For taking away the curse and reconciling the elect to G d the Father sayes as it were I must needs be once in friendâ—hip with them ere I can admit them to my house and Son if thou wilt Satisfie my Justice and Pay their debt I shal give them to thee for a seed and to be thy Bride and wife well says Christ the mediator Father I accept of the bargain Lo I come to do thy will O my God Whereupon it comes to pass as the Apostle hath it 2 Cor. 5. last That he is made sin for us who knew no sin and we are made the righteousness of God in him For it was as really agreed in the Covenant of Redemption that he should be made sin for us as it came to pass in the actual execution of it and thus way is made for the marriage Fourthly when this is done the marriage must be proclaimed through the world by the Preached Gospel the contract must be opened up and read and sinners consent called for We are told therein that the Word is made flesh and dwelt amongst us and because No man hath seen God at any time the only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father he declares him as it is John 1.14 15. He comes and reveals more clearly the contract first in his own Person and by his own Ministerie and then by sending his servants and telling that all things are ready Fifthly the last thing to be removed is the uncircumcision and stupidness of our hearts naturally we are given to slight him in his offers to refuse to open to him and to let him in when he knocks to make excuse to delay shift and put him off nay to refuse to entertain his proposal of Marriage and to give him a repulse therefo e he comes by his Spirit and puts in his finger by the hole of the door and lets some Myrrhe drop on the handles of the lock and powerfully but sweetly inclines the heart to cast it self open to him and then he performs the promises of Sanctification Circumcising the heart to love him with all the heart and with all the Soul as it is Deut. 30.6 And all these promises are contrived framed and provided to meet with difficulties in us we are told John 6 44. That no man can come to Christ except the Father that sent him draw him and Psal 110.3 It is Promised that in the day of his Power His people shal be willing and whoever being made willing cometh shall in no wise be cast out John 6.37 The Fourth Observation is That by the Preaching of the Gospel whither so ever it cometh and by the great things made offer of therein all things are made ready Obstructions and what ever might hinder the closing of the Marriage are removed the Father is ready having declared his willingness to give his consent This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased hear ye him Matth. 3. I am well satisfied with him take him to you for your head and husband the Son is ready to take all by the hand that will embrace him Pardon of Sin Peace with God Sanctification the mansion c are ready to be bestowed the feast
exercise of Hope there was love to God under the Law but not so properly the exercise of hope There was it 's true hope in respect of the thing promised in case there had been no violation of the Law but not as respecting Christ Jesus who is the believers hope Col. 1.27 Christ in you the hope of Glory I doubt much if the exercise of hope be well known to Christians in this Generation few know what it is to Hope to the end as Peter exhorts 1 Pet. 1.13 A Fourth Is the denyall of our selves and the exercise of Humility for as the Gospel calleth for the denying of our own righteousness So for the denying of our own wills affections lusts appetits and desires There is another sort of love-singleness and denyedness called for now then under the Law because we are bought with a price and are not our own as it is 1 Cor. 6.20 If any man will follow me let him deny himself saith our Lord Matth. 16. A Fifth is much Mortification That we be crucified to the World to our self and to our sinfull lusts I am Crucified saith Paul Gal. 2. with Christ yet I live so Chap. 6. He tells us that he was crucified to the world and the World to him And he exhorts Christians Col. 3.5 To Mortifie their members which are upon the Earth Fornication Uncleanness Inordinat Affection Covetousness c. A Sixth is Much Patience Meekness Forbearance Long-suffering wherein our Lord hath given and left himself for a non such Pattern Matth. 11.29 Learn saith He of me for I am meek and lowly in heart So 1 Pet. 2.21 22. And hence Meekness Patience and forbearance are so much and so frequently called for in the Gospel and on Gospel grounds as great duties becoming the Gospel or as special pieces of a Gospel-conversation The Seventh Is a heavenliness in our conversation a denyedness a holy abstractedness from earthly things and living in Heaven while on earth and a living more where we love then where we live If ye be risen with Christ saith the Apostle Col. 3.1 Set your affections on things above not on things on the earth Which is also called for Philip. 3.20 By his own example proposed for our Pattern our Conversation saith he is in Heaven whence we look for the Saviour To be much in our affections set on the things that are on the Earth to be earthly minded is unbecoming the Gospel Anâ— Eighth is a great eye on Eternity an eye whose looks are not bounded within time but pierce thorow time and all the Fogs Mists and Clouds that are in it It 's much unbecoming the Gospel to have our hope much not to say only in this life or to be much taken up about the driving of Earthly designes and projects but it 's a good qualification of a Gospel conversation to have an eye before us on Eternal life 2 Cor. 4. ult While saith the Apostle We look not on the things that are seen but on the things that are not seen and Eternal A Ninth is Much joy in God much cheerfulness and heartsomeness therefore believers are willed to Rejoyce alway and evermore So 1 Thess 5. Rejoyce evermore and Philip. 4.4 Rejoyce in the Lord alway and again I say rejoyce which he so much presses on them because as it 's like he knew that they were given to walk droopingly and heavily which did not so become the Gospel as rejoycing in God singing and making melody in their hearts to him Cheering themselves in him and delighting themselves in the Almighty A Tenth is Spiritual contentment a contented conversation is a Conversation becoming the Gospel Be careful for nothing saith the Apostle Philip. 4.6 But in every thing let your requests be made known unto God by Prayer and Supplication with Thanks giving and then follows downward a litle I have learned in every State or case to be content I know how to suffer want and how to abound c. This conversation was very becoming the Gospel he proposes himself as a pattern herein to them There are many professors of Religion who cannot have but they aâ—e vain and when they want they are anxious and discouraged It 's hard to carry the Cup even But a Gospel-Conversation is equall sober and composed and not much up with having nor much down with want nor is it easily outwitted and non plussed by the vicissitudes of those externall things An Eleventh is Watchfulness a Gospel-Conversation is a watchfull conversation and never much Surprised or moved or thus watching especially over the heart joyned with Prayer is a peculiar duty that a walk becoming the Gospel calls for that we be not found like the slothful servant when his Lord cometh This is a duty well becoming us who live under the Gospel because we have readily stronger Corruptions and are at least under more temptations then those who lived under the Law A Twelfth is much Self-examination or self-searching because of much corruption in us and much guilt lying on us is a duty which the Gospel calls for that we may see what comes of it how it is mortified and done away and there being many Promises in our offer we should see what acception they get and how they are embraced there is hazard of mistaking our Spirituall state c. All which calls us to be much in this duty Examine your selves prove your own selves as says the Apostle 2 Cor. 13.5 13ly The making of our calling and election sure becomes the Gospel when we are hovering and at an uncertainty as to our souls estate we are not only to try it but to endeavour to put it out of question I write these things to you sayes John 1 Joh. 5.13 That Believe that ye may know that ye have eternal life ye would not only believe but study to know that ye believe that ye may comfort your selves in it and it is a piece of a conversation and walk unbecoming the Gospel to hang loose in suspense and at an uncertainty in that greatest and gravest business 14ly Trusting in God becomes the Gospel and unbelief and distrust of God is unbecoming the Gospel Said I not unto thee saith the Lord to Martha John 11. That if thou wouldest believe thou shouldst see the glory of God To have a gracious offer from God and to scare at it as if he were not in earnest is very unbecoming the Gospel when ever he Pipeth it becomes us well to dance and to Believe and Credit him when he speaks fair and comfortably 15ly A Gospel-Conversation takes in and calls for not only Holiness but a shining examplary Holiness Holiness with a divine Lustre and splendor on it meerly legal holiness is dim and dark and hath litle or no luster Therefore Believers are called Children of the light and of the day and they are said to shine as lights in the midst of a crooked Generation it is not only a Conversation not spotted or that is
he delights in and on which his soul feeds and all that he is comforted with is in heaven and he hath not a day to do well nor one comfortable good hour but that which is given him from heaven and this is not only to be abiding with but to be delighting in God having the peace of God that passeth understanding guarding the heart and His love shed abroad therein and having all that which entertains his life coming from heaven Thus Col. 3.3 It is said that our life is hid with Christ in God So that the Believer is affected with nothing feeds upon and is satisfied with nothing so much as he is with that which comes from heaven He awakes he sleeps he rests there This is to live in Heaven and to be heavenly in our Conversation And this is it that ye are called and oblidged to even to have your conversation in heaven in all these forementioned respects that as ye believers are of another nature so ye may be of another and more divine Frame of soul in your work and walk in your thoughts and words in your outward duties and in the exercise of inward Graces in your commerce and trading in your contentment delight and satisfaction to be heavenly in all And if any shall here say This is a very hard task I Answer first Can it be hard to be in heaven Nay it 's an ease rather for Christ's yoke is easie and his burden is light in as much as our Conversation is in heaven we have so much true Spiritual ease repose of soul it is what we leave behind in the world that makes the difficulty to get our Spirits scrued up to heaven and to be kept there here lyes the difficulty but the more the heart and the mind be there we have really the more ease 2. Will ye shift deny or decline the duty because it 's difficult and hard As indeed it is to corrupt nature Notwithstanding all the difficulty of it the Apostle Paul with his fellows and followers did win to it in a good measure and we may attain it through Grace according to our Measure Is not this the way to heaven which our Lord calleth Strait and which but few find And yet if ye would try and make proof of it in good earnest ye would find it to be not so very strait or unpassable as ye Imagine it to be It would be found to be waited with such delight as would much sweeten any hardness in it and ye would not want an insight in those heavenly mysteries and the beholding your names written in heaven and in the Lambs book of life nor one hours feeding upon and being solaced by them for all he delights of the men of this world and since it 's only hard to corruption it should be so much the more endeavoured and plyed hard The Second Use serves for Tryall that we may know who is a Christian indeed and a Thriving Christian or it may serve rather to be an use of Discovery and of Conviction and indeed it may very easily and quickly make discovery of the unsoundness of many and of the short-coming of all Need we insist on this Is it not a truth obvious to all viz. That Christians are called and oblidged to be heavenly in their Conversation Are not these the Characters of such a Conversation Nay is there not yet much more requisit in a Christian even a divineness above what we can express And if ye be as ye may be convinced that this is a truth then let me in the next place ask you if your Conversation be such Put your own consciences to it enquire at them whether your trade be to Heaven whether your peace and joy your delight and satisfaction be there Would God ye would essay it and could upon good ground say that it is so But Ah! is there any that can say it without some hesitation Is not the best exceeding defective Or if many of you shall say it is so What then means your carnalness your prevailing lust distempering humours and passions What means your so much pleading for self-interests this turning as it were of the World up-side down for our own particulars How comes it to pass that ye who are profane do spend so much of your precious time in Tipling and trifle away so much of it unprofitably many other wayes Dare ye say that ye who walk thus are indeed followers of the Apostle Paul Or if ye dare not say that ye are followers of him in his Heavenly Conversation can ye think or expect to dwel with him in Heaven O! be not deceived for God will not be mocked when ye reflect seriously on your selves and on your way will ye not find just ground for being ashamed and confounded before God or is there any of us all that needs to want an errand to the Throne of Grace to confess and crave Pardon for our sinfull short-coming in this I shall only speak a word or two in further prosecution of this Use to you that are Stout-hearted and know no changes that have alwayes a good opinion and a good word to say of your selves Who are ready to say that ye have a good meaning and to think and say that ye loved God all your dayes and who at best content your selves with and sit down on a form of Religion who never studied to die to the world and never made it your business in good earnest to Mortifie your lusts and to be holy in the inward frame of your souls Is this think ye to have your Conversation in Heaven Would ye know then if ever ye have studied Christianity seriously try it by this viz. Whether ye have been heavenly in your conversation for however ye Judge of your selves God will most certainly Judge you according to this Rule and qualification of a Christian It is both sad and strange to think how it comes to pass that many of you bear and bolster up your selves with a hope of Heaven and profess that ye have no doubt but you shall come thither who yet want and are void of this qualification I know such will be ready to Object Who are they that come this length To which I shall only Answer That as I would be very loth to quench any smoking flax or to break any bruised reed whereof our Lord and Master is very tender or to cast water of discouragement upon any the least spark or spunk of sincerity where there is any honest aiming to walk according to this Rule So I cannot I dare not but say to others in the first Place have ye walked under the conviction of this as a duty incumbent on you and have ye seriously Proposed it to your selves as your great business in the World to be sincerely aiming at and endeavouring after this Conversation in Heaven or have ye not rather had peace such as it was when ye said your prayers morning and
evening though ye did not so much as designe or aime at this throughout the day And can ye with any shadow of reason think ye have attained it or can attain it who never seriously proposed this as a Rule to your selves to walk by nor never had a Conscience-disquieting challenge for such neglect and manifest short-coming 2. What Labour are ye at what pains take ye to prosecute such a designe and blessed project as this It 's one thing to pray to be about external duties of Religion and to be a Christian in the letter and another thing to be in these duties after a heavenly manner and to be a Christian indeed a Christian inwardly and in the spirit whose praise is not of men but of God Is it really your honest aime designe and endeavour whatever be the attainment to be as much Heavenly in your conversation as it is to be civil and formal or to attend the outward Ordinances I fear many of you cannot say it is 3. What weight lyes on your spirits for your short coming in this Ye will be like say we are all short which is a sad truth for indeed so we are but are ye really weighted and grieved for your short-coming in this Have there been any times taken to deal purposely with the Lord to remove the earthly mind and to help to Heavenly-mindedness Have there been challenges and any measure of serious heart-exercise because of the want of a heavenly mind and that not only sometimes at the hearing of a Sermon or in time of sickness or when under some other trouble but in your more constant and habituall walk Is it one of the great things for which ye blame and find fault with your selves before God And though your outside and visible Conversation be blameless yet while you look on the carnalness and earthliness of your mind and on the want of this Divine and heavenly frame of soul it makes you hang the head marres your boldness and as it were layes your feathers because do what ye can your heart will not abide in heaven If it be thus It 's a token for good and some ground of peace but O! How rare is this many of you be like have often overly prayed Forgive us our sins who never took with nor prayed for the Pardon of this sin but have lyen down at night and risen up in the morning having your hearts plunged and pudled in the world without once minding heaven in earnest and yet have never been challenged for it Q sad state The Third Use Serves to Reprove and Expostulat for this unworthy carriage for having either nothing at all or but very litle of a Conversation in Heaven We take it for granted that many of us are far from it and that all of us are litle in it but very few even of the best are dayly and constantly Conversing in Heaven Alace it's but now and then with many sad interruptions For quickning this reproof and expostulation a litle let me propose these few Queries to you and in the First place do ye not know that the neglect of this is a sin and the breach of a Command Be ye followers of me 2. Is not this an excellent duty and royall priviledge to be admitted to converse in Heaven And therefore the neglect of it must not only be a sin but a great sin even a trampling on the Grace of God a slighting of heaven and of a most noble priviledge and dignity 3. Think ye Heaven to be of great worth if so must not conversing in heaven be of much worth Will ye never so much as once go to see the house wherein ye say ye are to dwel Q How unsuitable a thing is it that those who are but dayes men here should sit down and settle on the earth without minding Heaven and be so confined within time as not seriously to mind eternity 4. How can ye come before God with confidence and boldness who do not endeavour thus to walk with him Can ye say with Holy boldness Our Father which art in Heaven Whose Conversation is not Heavenly Can ye pray for Holiness and say these words Thy will be done on Earth as it is done in Heaven who never studied to be heavenly in any duty that ye put hand to But 5. And above all I would ask you can ye hope to die comfortably nay can ye hope to die in safety as to your souls who know not heaven nor what is there nor what is the way to it It gives a man confidence and comfort at death that he hath conversed in heaven in his life-time such a man hath but litle to do when he comes to die he knows the way and is not afraid he knows the company and longs to be with them he knows the privileges and longs for the full enjoyment of them he hath litle here his Treasure is above in heaven and his heart Faith Love and hope are there his Anchor is cast within the vail and he would fain be ashore sure this is the Believers both duty and priviledge do not think that it is only called for from some More then ordinary Christians and who have nothing else to do the matter is not so it 's most certainly a duty to which ye are all called that have a mind to land fairly in heaven when ye come off the troublesome tossing and tempestuous Sea of this world Now Therefore in the Last room as the Fourth Use of the Doctrine I Exhort beseech and Obtest in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ all of you that lay any claim to the hope of heaven that ye would and more then ever study to have your Conversation in heaven Q Be followers of Paul and of his fellows in this thing Need we adduce any motives to press this Is not the duty clear And is it not a most excellent duty a most desireable qualification of a Christian walk Is not heaven Transcendently excellent And is it not excellent to be heavenly minded and conversant in heaven Wherein may we expect to prevail with you if not in bringing you to heaven what is the thing that should sweeten the study of holiness to you Is it not this even that by having your conversation in heaven ye come thither Those who are now in heaven think it a great motive and if it be not a motive to you ye will one day curse your selves that ye Neglected it studie it therefore in due time This is the way to be free of the encombrances of an evil World there is no hazard of this estate its being forfeited or sequestred there are no Plunderings nor quarterings here no poverty nor pain nor any sad evil occurrent here Q what a desirable life is it to be above all those things And indeed in so far as your Conversation is heavenly in so far ye are above them and live the life of Angels It 's like ye will Ask what
is scarce any sort of sin but the Lord out faceth it in his Covenant as we may see Jer. 3. where the Lord saith Thou hast played the harlot with many lovers thou hast spoken aâ—d one evil as thou could'st yet wilt thou not from this time cry unto me my Father If we look to the grosness of sin were it like Scarlet or Crimson Isaiah 1.18 It shall be made white like Snow and wooll if ye be willing and obedient saith the Lord to close a Covenant with me ye shall eat the good of the Land In the propounding of the Covenant he will take away that exception of the grosness of sin which might stand in the sinners way were it even rotten Hypocrisy detestable indifferency and luk-warmness in the matters of God putting the Person in hazard to be spewed out of Christs Mouth yet he saith even to such if they will indeed take his counsell and be content to have their deadly evils removed and their wants supplied I counsel thee to come and buy of me Eye-salve Gold and Garments and Behold I stand at the Door and knock if any man will open the door I will come in to him and Sup with him and he with me Only take this word of Advertisment here and then I shall clear and confirm the Doctrine further when then we speak of sinners access to God by this Covenant we mean that there is access only on Condition they take with their faults and come weeping heart-broken and someway suitably affected with their sin these only are the persons that may comfortably expect this accesse he seeks after such though he will find none such till he make them such For further clearing and confirming of it then we would consider these Four things 1. Gods end in the Covenant which will make out this that there must be access to a run-away sinner by this Covenant to union with God when he comes home to him in the way of Repentance and Believing because his end in the Covenant is to save Sinners often spoken of to Justifie the ungodly Rom. 4.5 To dwell with Rebels Psal 68.18 To get a Name and a Praise to himself of being gracious as it cannot admit of nor let in a sinner but on this Condition So it cannot but accept of a sinner having this condition 2. We would consider Gods contrivance of the covenant in making it suitable to such an end so as it may make the Riches of his Grace to shine and may be effectuall for the gaining of Souls and therefore 2 Sam. 23.5 It is said in this respect to be ordered in all things and sure and Jere. 31.33 compared with Heb. 8. The substance of it is set down compended in a few words I will Pardon their iniquity and remember their sin no more c. 3. We would consider the administration of the Covenant It 's not in an immediat way as that first Covenant made with Adam was wherein there was no mediator neither was there need of any but it is in a mediat way by a suretie and Mediator who hath taken on and engaged for the debt of the Covenanting sinner and hath under taken for his thorow-bearing now why is this administration and dispensation But because the Principall debtor is a bankerout and not able to Satisfie for himself therefore he hath access to come and get Pardon and to be friends with God thorow the Mediator 4. We would consider all the Properties of the Covenant especially the freeness of it and we will find that they speak out this It 's a Covenant of Sure Mercies Isaiah 55.3 And all the Promises and Articles of it respect sinners and hold forth this that there is a way laid down how a sinner at feud with God may get this Union made up by Covenanting wiâ—h him The fourth Observation is that Covenanting with God is a very short cut for the quieting peace and happiness of a treacherous back sliding sinner Therefore when these People here spoken of are in their Holy heat and warmness stirred up under the conviction and sense of their guilt as the short cut to come to peace and a happy condition they say Come and let us Joyn our selves to the Lord in a Perpetuall Covenant It 's the accepting of Gods offer and being content to be his on the account of Christs righteousness that they Propose to themselves as the ground of their calme quietness and happiness This Observation implies these Three things First That Covenanting with God doth fully make the Covenanter happie though formerly he hath been a miserable sinner and O! This is a good bargain that makes a sinner compleatly happy It makes him to say Whom have I in heaven but thee and there is none upon the earth that I desire beside thee Psal 73. I shall name a few Scriptures to shew the full happiness of a sinner that enters in this Covenant The first whereof is 2 Sam. 23.5 Although my house be not so with God yet he hath made with me an everlasting Covenant well ordered in all things and sure and this is all my Salvation and all my desire It 's mensura Voti even all that heart can wish and these words being considered as David the sweet singer of Israel his last words when he is a dieing they clearly imply a commendation of this Covenant as full for the happiness of a sinner Another passage is Revel 21.7 He that overcometh shall inherit all things How is that even thus I will be his God and he shall be my Son that is in substance I will declare my self to be in Covenant with him This is the compend of the compleat happiness of Glorified Saints in heaven and the begun happiness of Believers of Sojourning Saints here on earth in a less measure and lower degree for in Heaven God will be all and in all and is not this a good bargain good to sinners which commends it the more A Third Place is Rom. 8. Where it 's told us that nothing can be laid to their Charge But it 's answered in this Covenant They have a Cautioner to pay their debt and to strengthen them for their dutie I will saith he be their God and they shal be my People I will put my fear in their hearts that they shall not depart from me I will pardon their iniquities all bygones and heal their back-slidings they shall not get leave to go from me would ye be pliable and yeelding to Gods Covenant I will put my law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts and a new heart will I give unto them and will cause them to walk in my Statuts and to do them Secondly The Doctrine implies as it is a full Covenant or makes the Covenanter fully happy So it makes him sickerly surely happy 2 Sam. 25.5 It 's a Covenant well ordered in all things and sure who ever by Faith betake themselves to Christs righteousness and
wine of Heaven and to Drink it new with Christ even to share in his Glory to have one feast and Glory with him And truly if there were no more to be said we may most confidently say that these are wonderful glad tidings which our blessed Lord Jesus hath left to be the great subject of the Doctrine of the Gospel and the Scope of the Sacraments We shall 1. Open up the words a litle 2. We shall draw some Doctrines from them And then 3. Insist in the Application First Then for Explication From the 26. vers is set down the Institution of the Supper of the Lord wherein we have First What Christ did Secondly What he Commands the Disciples and us in them to do Thirdly He Explicats in these words what he hath been doing and Commande to be done This is my Blood saith he of the Neâ— Testament c. As if he had said would you knoâ— what it is that I am doing There was a Covenaâ— made long since betwixt my Father and me coâ—cerning the elect wherein I condescended anâ— transacted to take on mans nature and in that natuâ—â— to suffer and satisfie Divine Justice for their sinâ— this is the Commemoration of my Satisfactioâ— according to that Covenant and the exhibiting anâ— giving to you a confirmation of your interest in aâ— the blessings of that Covenant whereof Remissiâ—â— of sins is one and a main one He needed as wouâ—â— seem to have said no more but that he was goiâ— to suffer and to suffer for this cause Even to puâ—chase Redemption to sinners but he will furthâ—â— shew his Disciples and in them all Believers in hiâ— That this came not to pass by guess but accordiâ—â— to an old Covenant and Eternall transaction thâ— past betwixt Jehovah and Him and so adds the Sâ—crament to be a Commemoration and a more fâ— Confirmation thereof to Believers of all that purchased by it and Promised in it In the 29. veâ— He hath two words further one of warning anothâ—â— of encouragement 1. One of warning I say uâ— you henceforth I will not drink of the Fâ—uit of tâ— Vine As if he had said take heed what ye are dâ—ing make this Communion very welcome and 〈◊〉 it confirm and strengthen you against the tryals thâ— are coming for I will have no moe Communioâ— with you after this manner in this World 2. word of encouragement and consolation becauâ—e they might think and say Alace Lord what will become of us if we shall have no moe Communions with thee Be not saith he to them on the matter discouraged We shall yet have more and more intimat Communion then ever we had here on earth There is a day coming when we shall have a sweet Communion in the Kingdom of Heaven together when we shall drink it new when we shal have the thing signified Even Communion without the intervention of Ordinances in the full Harvest of joy in God in his Kingdon Then vers 30. As if he were going to a Triumph He and they sing a Hymn or Psalm Partly thereby to teach us to be chearfull and partly to shew that singing of Psalmes is not unsuitable for this action To make the former words and what we are to say on them a litle more clear We would in this Sacrament which here the Lord Explicats Consider Three or Four things First Christs Offer Wherein there are Two things viz. The outward and visible signes the Elements and the inward invisible thing signified by them Which is Christs Body Blood In the Offer then in short We have not only the Element or signe but the thing signified and represented by it Even as in the word of the Gospel there are these Two viz So many words made up of Letters and Syllables and the matter Contained in them Secondly Consider the receiving of Christs offer wherein there are Two things 1. The act of receiving the Element by the hand 2. The hearts receiving what is offered in and by the Elements Even as in hearing the word There is the giving or lending of the ear to the voice of words that they may be understandingly heard and there is the receiving what is spoken by Faith in the heart As Christ holds forth both in his offer so the Believer would both wayes receive by the hand the Element should be received and by Faith the thing signified should be received Thirdly Ye would consider this Application of the thing signified in a twofold respect 1. As it holds out the entering of us into the Covenant in order to the receiving of the Pardon of sin when the Sacrament is Considered complexly with the word 2. As it Applyeth Christ and the benefits that come by him for our consolation Christ is to be received in the former respect before he can be received in the Letter we must needs receive Christ in his offer ere we can receive any benefit that comes by him Therefore the word goes along with the Sacrament that we may get a gripe and catch hold of Christ by the Covenant for they that are without the Covenant are without Christ and all saving benefit by him But where Christ is received and Faith closeth with him as he is offered The Soul may warrantably make Application of him Not only for Pardon of sin The Particular benefit here expresly mentioned but for all the other benefits of the Covenant Whereas they who have not faith have nothing and receive nothing but are deeply guilty thorow their not receiving but rather rejecting and despising of Christ and his benefits Fourthly Ye would consider this Sacrament as it seals directly our warrant to receive Christ and his benefiâ—s or as it seals our Application of Christ and his benefits for it may be usefull for both and is actually so to believers In the First respect we offer to you a good security for your Salvation on condition of your receiving Christ But in the Second Respect the security is sealed simply as baving Gods seal appended to it to all who have received him Thus the tree of life was a seal of the Covenant of life by works to Adam if be stood but it was not a confirmation that he should have life by the Covenant except he fulfilled that which was called for in it So Circumcision was a Seal of the righteousness of Faith to Ishmael and other visible Church Members as well as to Isaac in the First Sense that is that the security was good But to Isaac and Believers It was not only a Seal or a Confirmation that the security was good and sufficient in it self but a Seal of Confirmation that it should be good to them Therefore in coming to partake of the Sacrament We would premit alway our closing with Christ And then we have not only Gods word and Oath but also the Sacrament for his Seal of Confirmation of the Covenant In a word Christ doth offer here to all a Pledge that he will make
Proclaim liberty to the Captives to give to them that mourn beauty for Ashes the Oyl of joy for Mourning and the Garment of Praise for the Spirit of Heaviness and this is called the Proclaiming of the acceptable year of the Lord Wherein all the three Persons of the Blessed Trinity concurr as is clear vers 1. Consider Secondly All his Offices and ye will find that they Preach and Proclaim the same thing his Name is Jesus because He saves his People from their sins He is King Priest and Prophet for this end and what saith his Preaching and Corrospondent Prayer John 17. Father I will that they whom thou hast given me be with me but that he would fain have them there And what shall I say Is there any proof of it that can be given beyond His Death I lay down my life saith he for my sheep The Salvation of lost Elect sinners went very near his heart Therefore when none in Heaven nor on earth can help then saith he Lo I come to do thy will O my God Thirdly Consider with what Pleasure and delight he went about the work of Redemption As is very clear in that 40th Psalm where he heartsomly saith Lo I come I delight to do thy will I even hasten to undertake it And when he is come he saith John 4.34 It is my meat to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work and what work was that Even to lay down his Life to gather the lost sheep of the house of Israel to take away the seud that was betwixt God and them and to Reconcile them to him and when it cometh to the very push of actuall laying down his life He will not open his month to divert it though he might have commanded more then twelve Legions of Angels yet he would not do it for this cause saith he Came I into this World Fourthely Consider the end of all the Ordinances wherefore are they instituted what saith the word but that Thorow this man is preached unto you forgiveness of sins What say Ministers but that We are Ambassadours in Christ stead beseching you to be Reconciled unto God Which evidenceth Plainly that Christ would fain to speak so have peace made betwixt God and sinners and them saved and what saith the Sacrament but even the words of the Text This is the new Covenant in my Blood shed for the Remission of the sins of many And can we think on the end of these Ordinances but we must also think on Christs willingness that sinners should make Application of him and of his Purchase Fifthly Consider further How he esteems of a sinners coming to him There is saith he Joy in Heaven at the Conversion of a sinner We may say that it is the gladness of his heart when any sinner cometh home to him Therefore it is said that the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand and he shall see of the travel of his soul and be Satisfied Isaiah 53.10 11. It is Satisfaction to him for all the Travel of his Soul to see sinners coming in and getting good of him and in the Song He is said to feed in the Gardens and to be gathering lilies Yea that the day of Souls being espoused to him is the day of the gladness of his heart Sixthly Consider how weighted to speak so with reverence to him our Lord is when sinners will not make use of him it 's accounted by him as it were an affronting of him Even a troading of the Blood of the Covenant under foot and an accounting of it to be an unholy thing a sort and degree of doing despight to the Spirit of Grace He who could look sometimes on the wrath of God and not shed a tear yet when he came to Jerusalem weeped over it And upon the other hand O! what complacency hath he in a sinners coming home to him which makes him sweetly smile and rejoice Seventhly Consider his exceeding great forbearance toward sinners while they are straying and his exceeding heartie welcoming of them when they return Let an inquest to say so be led on his Procedure with all the hearers of the Gospel that are here on earth and with all that are in Heaven and hell and all of them will be constrained to subscribe to the truth of this that he is full of long-suffering Doth he not spare even the vessels of wrath fitted to distruction And doth He not only spare his own but Pity them as a Father pitieth his Children And that wonderfull wescom of the Father to his Prodigal Son is nothing to Christs welcoming of a repenting sinner being but a dark Resemblance of it He casts not up to him his bygone faults Neither sayes what is this you have done miserable wretch No such word but This is my Son that was dead and is alive that was lost and now is found Believe it O Believe it which is the very scope of the Parable Our Lord Jesus is as glad in a Holy way at a sinners coming home Eightly Consider how easie our Lord is to be pleased with any honest mint or essay that is made of returning to him He is so very willing that a sinner make Application of his Righteousness that where there is reality he will as it were take half a Faith for Faith were it even but like a Smoking flax or bruised Reed or a grain of mustard seed He will take a sincere resolution to confess for the confession of sin which is clear Psalm 32. I said saith David I will confess my Transgression and thou forgavâ—st the Iniquity of my sin If he had proposed the offer of life on such terms as would have wearied us all our dayes we ought to have Judged him willing that we should partake of it for it cost him very dear But when it is not Abrahams Faith only but any Faith how weak so ever if sound that he graciously accepts How doth it set forth his great willingness Him that cometh to me saith he I will in no wise cast out The word is doubled in the Original I will not Not to shew the holy passionatness of our Lords desire and his exceeding great willingness to have sinners closing with him So Isaiah 45. Salvation is promised even to a Look look unto me all the ends of the Earth and be Saved and if sinners cannot well look think but honestly and let their heart yeeld and it shall be a bargain He that is athirst let him come Revel 22. And if there be scarce the pain of Hunger or Thirst The Spirit and the Bride say come and whosoever will let him come and take of the Water of Life freely And this willingness is nothing else but the thought and desire of an heart consenting to accept of his offer Or if this be not litle enough there is less yet Psalm 37.7 Rest in the Lord the word as it is on the Margent and Psal 62.1 is be
Consolations of God being dilated Capacitated Elevated and enlarged for that very end Fourthly This Communion is uninterrupted there shall be nothing to mar it no Cross no Sin no Temptation to sin For no unclean thing enters within the Gates of the new Jerusalem no Curse no Cry in those Streets no weeping no Sorrow no sighing for any thing past nor Horrour nor fear from the apprehension of any evil coming nor any the least mis-turning of the Lambs Song of Praise the heart shall to speak so be so stringed and bended as it shall never again slack in its bent but be stil keeped at its highest note our Harps shall never hang any more on the Willows but we shall keep them still in our hand chanting the Praises of the Redeemer to that new Heavenly Tune never heard on earth with Psalmes of victory in our hands and Crowns of Glory on our heads following the Lamb whithersoever He goes Fifthly It is an Eternall communion we shall drink for ever with him and be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of his house and made Holily drunk with the River of his pleasures with whom is the Fountain of Life and in whose light we shall eminently see light whose Well of life is always running in Whose presence is fulness of joys and at his right hand Pleasures for evermore though through all Eternity thousands and Millions will be drinking of this new Wine yet it shall never be the less but is and shall be still fresh and flowing Now for Application Let me ask you do ye believe this that there is such a day coming and that these are the true and Faithfull sayings of God O! If ye all that hear me this day did indeed believe it the belief of it sure is very suitable and would make a very sweet life ye will never be Holy ye will never aright fear nor love God ye will never hate sin nor be heartsome in his Service neither will ye be truly thankful till ye really Believe it I am afraid if Atheists Earthly Wretches drunkards Tipplers Cursers Swearers Hypocrites c. Were singled out and Separated from among us they would be found to be but a smal number who Believe this Do ye or can ye Believe it that have your Portion in this life and seek no more Nay believers if ye indeed Believe it why are ye so heartless Why envy ye the poor prosperity of the men of the world Why do ye not press after this mark and Prize If ye believed it suitably your hearts would laugh within you your Spirits would rejoice your faces would some way shine and what is spoken of this day would have a Divine splendor and lustre in your eyes If you believe it why is it not your work and business to live so as ye may hope to drink of this cup of this new Wine with Christ in Heaven Though ye should drink water all your days this Wine will abundantly compense that though now the bread of some of you be but brown this feast of truly Royal dainties is before you our Christian friends that are gone are feeding sweetly on it Long O Believers to be with them and take it not ill though ye be here somewhat straitned and kept scarce and have but a litle portion a small pittance and scant measure of the things of this world when others fare well and Sumptuously live high are Gorgiously apparelled Your Feast and Royal Robes are before you The Rich and great men of this world whose portion is in this life care litle for Poor bodies that seek Gâ—d care ye as litle for their portion as they care for yours they shall not a litle hence get a drink nay not a drop of cold water when ye shall drink this new Wine this Royal wine in abundance Christs Servants shall eat when they shall be hungry his servants shall drink when they shall be thirsty they shall sing for joy of heart when the others shall mourn and howl for vexation of spirit as it is Isaiah 65.13 O seek after clearness of interest in him that ye may throughly Believe Love and long for this life This heartsome Communion with Christ in Heaven is reserved for them that keep Communion with him here on earth and to them it is here promised I will not say that none can get Heaven but those who get the Sacrament but this I dare boldly say that those who have not Communion with Christ here shall never get Commvnion with him hereafter and whoever Communicat honestly here shall have Communion with Christ in Glory be ye comforted who believe in Christ who Covenant honestly with him and who hope in his mercy For He and ye together shall have a compleatly full immediat uninterrupted and eternal Communion in Heaven that shall new end Need ye to be confirmed in the truth of this hiâ— word may serve you and ye have the Sacrament besidâ— he hath left his word to hearten poor Believers undâ— all their inward and outward troubles under their Spâ—ritual maladies and bodily sicknesses and infirmities aâ— to assure them for their comfort that there is a goâ—â— life coming and be hath given the Sacrament as a pledgâ— of it will ye then consider seriously whether this woâ—â— belong to you and if ye may with his allowance heaâ—ten your selves from it that there is a day coming thâ— ye shall get Communion with Christ in Heaven Hâ— doth not mean that all that get the Sacrament get thâ— Communion For Judas who not unprobably got thâ— Sacrament is excluded Would ye know then whâ— have been honest Communicants to day that may expect this Heavenly Communion And me thinks thaâ— every one of you that hath any serious concern for yoâ— Souls will be roused here and greedily longing foâ— marks and evidences of that But if any of you woulâ— be at evidences to make you secure I declare I havâ— none such to give you But I shall hint at Two or Three which may be as directions in duty to you who minâ— honestly The First whereof is Luke 22.29 Ye arâ— they that have continued with me in my Temptation anâ— I appoint unto you a Kingdom here it is clear that theâ— Two go together viz. Continuing with Christ in hiâ— temptations and Coming to his Kingdom In a worâ— it is not to be religious for the fashion but in earnest is not to be Religious for a day or two or in somâ— trials only but to continue in it and with him in hâ—â— Temptations what ever they be Not only to be Râ—ligious when religion is countenanced but when it discountenanced and persecution is met with for it sake and when there are many snares and temptations to draw you away 't is a stedfast abiding with Christ in trying times Summer and Winter so to say If a blast of triall and temptation come and ye grow giddy and wavering in the truth Or if a spirit of Profanity come and look for
it and lay your account with it and ye be ready to laugh and give in your taunt gybe and mock with the Prophane against the power of Godliness and the Godly away with your Religion it is not a continuing with Christ in his Temptations This maâ—k puts you to work and such marks are safest To him that over cometh is a word often repeated Rev. 2. and 3. and set always before the Promise of Glory and Communion with Christ in Heaven On such and on such only will Christ write his new Name and set them on His Throne A Second Mark is Ye that do indeed keep Communion with Christ here and war against your lusts without any allowed peace truce or cessation of Armes till ye get them brought down routed and ruined by an entire victory shall partake of this Communion in Glory If ye do not deliberaâ—ly give up with Christ to keep company with Idols ye may have hope but the unbelieving and fearfull that cannot endure to look a Lust nor a tryall for Christ in the face and who it may be are just now wearying of such a day and Sermon and it is even as a prison to them to be restrained so long from worldly businesses and pleasures are utterly excluded from all hope while they remain such Serious Souls will belike here say we are fighting but we come not speed I Answer Let not that discourage you if there be hope to come speed in end continue in the fight and you shall come speed Christ is thy Captain and a Captain of Salvation at whose back none fell so as not to arise A Third Mark is John 17.6.7.8 Where Christ is Praying for the Disciples that they may be admitted to this Communion anâ— saith he I gave them the words which thou gavest me and they have received them The Believer receiveâ— Christs words and keeps them and makes exception against none of them when he takes one word he cast not at another he takes not one piece of the Covenant of Grace and rejects another but universally he approves and accepts of all Christs words and more paâ—ticularly and in a speciall manner of the Command oâ— believing Thus speaks the Psalmist Psal 119.128 I esteem all thy Commandments concerning all things tâ— be right So saith Christ of the Disciples I have given them thy words and they have received them and particularly as if he had said I proposed a special suit to them that they would be friends with thee and be reconciled to thee through Faith in me and they received that word Therefore Glorifie them Ye may Possibly think these marks difficult but would you have a Religion that will put you to no pains Such marks are high and hard indeed to flesh and Blood and to youâ— lusts but what loss is in mortifying these Is it any prejudice to you to receive Christs words and to keep them and to follow him in his temptations when an hundred fold more then ye can lose is to be gotten by so doing And therefore we declare to you from the word of the Lord if ye resolve not to live as having on yoâ— the wedding garment we cannot say that ye shall eaâ— and drink with Christ at his Table in his Kingdom In the Next place According to the Method Proposed Ye would consider the Connexion and how thiâ— Purpose comes in even thus as if the Lord had said ye have now an excellent Communion-day but ye and I will have no more together in this World whence Observe that the best Communion day that Gods People have here hath a BUT in it or something that makes it appear defective Only in that Communion in Heaven there in no But no defect And it implyes First His saying to them ye have now been at the Communion but ere long ye shall meet with Temptation and trouble and as he said so within a very litle it came to pass So may I say we are here now but do we know how soon a temptation may assault and prevail The Tempter is waiting on and hath it is like given in his Petition for a Permission to essay such and such a person by some suitable Temptation ere to morrow and he offers it may be to make his Hypocrisy to be discovered and it will be a sad Matter if any of you stumble and be overtaken with the temptation Secondly It looks to the scattering that was coming we will not as if we had said be all together at the Communion again For it is written I will smite the shepherd and the Sheep shall be scattered It is more then Probable that we shall not all drink and eat at one Table again are there not some both Ministers and People dead and gone since the last Communion And ye may want some of both ere ye get another and may there not some sad diversion trouble or Confusion arise to the offending of some and laying of them aside Nay some may be offended at these same Ordinances Sathan hath many ways to break in upon us nay let me tell you that a cloud of persecution may come and cover us that we shall not dare to come or may scruple to come to such an Ordinance though we be now datted and as it were Dandled on his knee Thirdly It may look to their being deprived of Christs company and bodily presence And who knoweth but there may be a cloud of desertion on Ordinances and a vailing of Christs presence I forewarn you that it is to be seared which sayes we should keep him well while we have him and not stir him up till he please as the Brides frequent desire and resolution is in the Song Fourthly It may look to death that is coming and will put an end to all Communions here after which there will be no moe Communions on Earth And indeed it is suitable that ye were now bethinking your selves what if we never get another Ought we not then to feed well on this If any thing have been amiss or wanting Labour to get it made up O Believers in Christ take hom a Sealed Covenant with you and read it over and over again If any defect hath been on your part write it yet in for if any blank be 't is certainly on our side and not on Christs and indeed 't is Gods great mercy that a Seal of his Covenant may be usefull a long time after it is gotten slighted Baptisms and abused Communions may be yet usefull if we could make the right use of them and I do not question but this Communion did the Disciples more good after Christ was gone from them then it did now when he was with them at Table Fifthly It may look to Eternity Now we are living men and women on Earth but within a litle we will be gone our place will know us no more very probably within Twentie Thirty Fourty or Fifty years we shall be either drinking of this new Wine in Heaven