I will confess you before my Father and the holy Angels This will be the joyful day indeed the day of our full Redemption the time of refreshing indeed the fore-thoughts of this day should support us under all our present Troubles 4. The Fourth Preparative is the Saints solemn Coronation and receiving into the Kingdom of their Father Now the Crown of Righteousness of Life of Glory which was promised them from the beginning of the World and purchased for them by the most precious Blood of Jesus and laid up in Heaven for them shall by the Lord the righteous Judge he given them at that day they have been faithful unto Death and therefore shall receive the Crown of Life The Lord Jesus will then say to all his Saints Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world Every word is full of joy and comfort COME will Christ say Approach this exceeding Glory come is near as you will for the way to it is open for you I have made your passage plain by my blood Christ will not say then Come take up your Cross and follow â—â— but Come now and receive your Crown COME YE BLESSED In the world ye were accursed but now ye are blessed and shall be blessed for ever OF MY FATHER You are the objects of my Father's love he loveth you as he loveth me INHERIT You are the heirs of the promises the heirs of the kingdom the heirs of salvation No less than the Kingdom of Heaven You shall reign with me for ever and ever PREPARED Eternal Love hath laid the Foundation He prepares the Kingdom for us and then prepares us for the Kingdom FOR YOU for you all poor penitent Believers called Regenerate Souls for all you that received me by Faith and persevered therein to your death Thus much for the Preparatives to this far more excceeding and eternal weight of Glory II. Secondly I shall speak a little also of the Properties of this Glory but oh how short and shallow are my Apprehensions of this also Lord enlighten my Understanding and affect enlarge and quicken my Heart 1. This glorious state of Happiness is called The Purchased Possession Eph. 1. 14. It is the Friâ—â— of the Love and Blood of our dear Redeemer whom we shall in Heaven behold and enjoy We shall have our Redeemer alwaies before our Eyes and the liveliest sense and freshest Remembrance of that bleeding-dying-love still upon our Souls Oh how will it fill our Souls with perpetual Ravishments to think that in the Streams of this Blood we have swam through the violence of the World the snares of the Devil the seducements of the Flesh the curse of the Law the wrath of aâ— offended God the Accusations of a guilty Conscience and the vexing doubts and fears of an unbelieving Heart and are passed through all and are safely arrived at the Bosom of God O think and think again what weight of Woâ—â— and Wrath of Sin and Sorrow lay upon the Soul and Body of our most dear Lord to purchase foâ— us this exceeding weight of glory His Soul was oppressed exceedingly oppressed his Body broken his Blood shed to purchase this Glory We value things by the Price they cost If any thing we enjoy were purchased by the Life of our deareâ—â— Friend how would we esteem it Certainly thâ— bitter Death and Blood of our Lord will everlastingly sweeten our Heavenly Glory Oh that the Joy we shall then leave those Hearts of Stone and Rock behind us the Sin that here so close hâ— sets us and the sottish Unkindness that followeâ— us so long shall not be able to follow us into that Glory but we shall behold as it were the wounds of Love with Eyes and Hearts of Love for ever Now his Heart is open to us and ours shut to him but when his Heart is open and our hearts open too oh what a weight of Joy will there then be What a passionate meeting was there between our new-risen Lord and the first-sinful silly Woman that he appears unto How did Love struggle for expression Mary saith Christ Master saith Mary and presently she clasps about his Feet having her Heart as near his Heart as her Hands were to his Feet What a meeting of Love then will there be between the new-glorified Saint and the glorious Redeemer But I am here at a loss my Apprehensions fail me and fall short only this I believe that it will be the singular Praise of our Glory that it was bought with the price of that Blood and the singular Joy of the Saints to behold the Purchaser and the Price together with the Possession 2. Secondly This Glory also is most free it was dear to Christ but free to us Silver and Gold could not purchase this Glory nothing but the precious Blood of the Son of God but we have it freely for nothing without Mony and without Price It 's true this Glory is promised on Conditions but the Condition is but hearty Acceptance and to take him for our Lord who hath redeemed us especially when the Condition is also given as it is by God to all his Chosen Faith which is the main Condition is the gift of God O the everlasting admiration which must needs surprize the Saints to think of the freeness of their Glory O what did the Lord see in me to count me meet for such a state That I a poor diseased despised Wretch should be cloathed in the brightness of this Glory That I a silly worthless Worm should be advanced to this high Dignity That I who was but lately groaning weeping dying should now be so full of Joy as my Heart can hold Yea should be taken from the Grave where I was rotting and stinking and from the Dust and Darkness where I seemed forgotten and here sit before the Throne of God in Glory when the poor self-denying self-accusing humble Soul that thought himself unworthy the ground he trod on unworthy the air he breathed in unworthy to eat drink or live that this Soul shall find himself wrapt up into Heaven closed in the Arms of Christ crowned with Glory in a moment Dâ— but think with your selves what a transporting astonishing thing this will be surely our Unworthiness shall not hinder our Glory God hath chosen the Poor of this World rich in Faith to be Heirs of that Kingdom Grace is most free so is Glory As we pay nothing for our Pardon so nothing for our Glory What an astonishing thought will it be to think of the unmeasurable difference between our Deservings and our Receivings between the state we should have been in and the state we are in to look down upon Hell and see the vast difference between us and them to see the Inheritance which we were born to so different from that we are adopted to O what pangs of Love will it cause within us to think yonder in that dreadful place in those
real Union of the Saints with the Blessed God and the Blessed Jesus such a Union as is between the Head and the Members and between Husband and Wife yea such as is between God and Christ and a participation of the same Glory that Christ himself doth possess and an enjoyment of the same Love that Christ himself doth enjoy yea the Saints shall then be made like unto Christ both in Soul and Body Lord help me to believe all this and to be fully perswaded of it that my Heart may be kindly affected and filled with enflamed affections towards my Blessed Jesus who hath purchased all this Glory for us with his most precious Blood Oh let me attain the full assurance of my true Title thereto that I may praise thee and may long for the full possession of it O my base unbelieving Heart Lord subdue my unbelief Oh what pains should we take to be assured of this Glory and how patiently and cheerfully should we bear our Afflictions that are designed to prepare us for it But I cannot break off here This weight of Glory is by the Holy Ghost in the Scripture represented to us by all the most excellent and delightful things among Men speaking to our Capacities and after the manner of Men. Hence it is called a Kingdom It is your Father's good pleasure saith our Lord to give you a Kingdom I appoint unto you a kingdom as my Father hath appointed unto me a kingdom The Kingdom of Heaven a Kingdom that cannot be moved a Kingdom of Glory a Crown of Glory that fadeth not away a Crown of Righteousness a Crown of Life Christ hath made us Kings and Priests to God Here in this World the Saints have the Cross Fire Faggot Halters Gibbets c. let them wait but a while and they shall hear the Judge of the whole World say unto them Come ye blessed of my Father enter into the kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world Now you are abused reproached imprisoned impoverished despised shortly you shall all be crowned This Glory is called the Inheritance of the Saints in light an Inheritance incorruptible and undefiled that fadeth not away reserved in Heaven for you You that now may have no House nor Home of your own no certain Dwelling-place and you that now dwell in Houses of Clay tottering every moment being the Children of God you shall shortly enter into everlasting Habitations and possess those glorious Mansions in the Father's House you shall shortly inhabit that House not made with hands eternal in the Heavens God hath prepared for you a City that hath Foundations of his own building and making Hold out Faith and Patience you shall shortly be translated into the Paradise of GOD above the reach of Men and Devils Moreover for methinks it is good to be here when Christ who is our Life shall appear we shall also appear with him in Glory with Palms in our Hands and Crowns on our Heads and with everlasting Joy and Songs of Praises in our Hearts and Mouths This Glory is called Life Everlasting Life Eternal Salvation Everlasting Peace and Everlasting Rest the purchased Possession that which cost the most precious Blood of the only Son of God to procure surely it must be a far more exceeding weight of Glory that cost such a price this Glory is the Fruit of Christ's Blood and of all his cruel Sufferings Oh that some Beams of it might be darted in upon my dark Heart by the Spirit while I am writing this to quicken and enlarge it It is Everlasting Rest Rest from all Sin the greatest burden to a gracious Soul and from all Sufferings from all doubts of God's love from all sense of God's Displeasure from all Temptations of Satan of the World and Flesh Rest from all Persecutions Now they that have suffered with Christ shall be glorified with him no Prisons Banishments Burnings Hangings Quarterings then Rest from all our sad and sinful Divisions and from all our personal Sufferings Pains Diseases Losses of dear Relations ill Tydings Rest from all Vain Thoughts from all the pain of Duty from all our Labours Let us a little further consider I. The Preparatives to this Glory and II. The Properties of it that so our Hearts may be the more affected with it and the more carried out with all Love and Desires after him that purchased it for us and with all labour and diligence to secure our title to it and may also the better bear all our Afflictions which prepare us for it and lead us to it I. Of the Preparations to this Glory and these are 1. The glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ Tit. 2. 13. Our blessed Lord will most certainly come again from Heaven with Power and great Glory attended by his mighty Angels to receive his People to himself that where he is there they may be also Joh. 14. 3. to be glorified in his Saints and to be admired in all those that believe 2 Thess 1. 10. Alas what Comfort should we have in this life if it were not for the Hope of Christ's second coming He will not leave us here still sinning suffering groaning dying no no the day of our full Redemption will come our Lord will come again and set all his poor Captives free but a little while and he that shall come will come and will not tarry He will come for our Salvation Heb. 9. 28. And for our great Comfort let us know and believe that however we now live as Lambs amongst Wolves when our glorious Lord Jesus the Lord of Glory and the Prince of the Kings of the Earth the chief Shepherd shall appear we shall receive a crown of glory that fedeth not away 1 Pet. 5. 4. It should be then the Character of a Christian as it is his Duty to love to long and look and wait for the Son of God from â—eaven even Jesus whom he raised from the dead which by bearing the most dreadful Wrath of his Father hath delivered us from the Wrath to come 1 Thess 1. 10. Act. 1. 12. And while we are on Earth we should have our conversations in Heaven and from thence look for the Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ who shall change our vile bodies and make them like his glorious body Phil. 3. 20 21. being assured that then we shall receive that Crown of Righteousness which the righteous Judge shall give at that day to all those that love his appearing 2 Tin 4. 8. Oh then seeing we look for such things what manner of persons ought we to be in all manner of holy Conversation and Godliness giving all diligence that we may be found of him in Peace without spot and blameless O what unspeakable Comfort will the Coming of Christ bring to all his poor suffering Saints the fore-thoughts of which should support us under all our present Troubles Although it may be now we are destitute of all Creature-comforts our
27. 9. 8. Consider Christ's dreadful Sufferings for us 9. Consider the many exceeding great and precious Promises that God hath made to patient Sufferers that he will be with them will sustain them and in due time will deliver them Now if we will think and meditate on those things and let our Thoughts dwell on them and suffer them to sink down into our Hearts and roul and revolve them in our Minds they will much support us and help us against weariness 4. A Fourth thing we must do to prevent or cure this Weariness under Affliction is serious examination of our selves whether we belong to God or no whether reconciled regenerated and born of God or no whether united to Christ justified and pardoned or no If you are why then should we be weary of Affliction For if God have done so many great things for us surely he loves us and will afflict us no more nor no longer than need Such a Soul will say If the Lord please to become my God in Covenant to give me to Christ and Christ to me to pardon my Sins and take me into his favour and save me at last let him do with my Health and Estate and Liberty and Relations and all as he pleaseth But if on the contrary upon examination we find our selves not regenerated and pardoned it is high time for us to set about these great works in earnest lest we should be cut off before they be wrought in us and to set in with God in his Afflictions on us for his Rods are one way he takes to bring about these gracious works upon us therefore we should not be weary of them O labour for the sense of God's Pardoning Regenerating Redeeming Love and labour to clear up to your selves your Interest in God by Christ and this will bear you up 5. Fifthly Labour to get and keep your Consciences pure and clean that when there be Troubles without you may have Peace within But if God strike you without and lay on blows on your outward Comforts your Consciences may not lash you within and charge you with heavier Burthens If a man have a sound and whole Back he can bear an heavy Burthen but if his back be sore a small Burthen will pinch him Let us therefore make even reckoning with God and our own Consciences by renewing our Repentance our Faith in the Blood of Jesus and by New Obedience and let us take heed we wrong not nor wound our Consciences 6. Sixthly Spend many Thoughts on Zion be grieved for the Afflictions of Joseph think upon the Miseries and Distresses of many of the Lord 's dear Servants and lay them to Heart Divert and turn aside from musing on your own Troubles only and let Sion's Sorrows have some impression on your Minds 7. Seventhly Labour to act Faith strongly upon the Invisible God and upon that far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory prepared in Heaven for you Moses endured and was not weary as seeing him that is invisible Heb. 11. 25 26. having an eye to the recompence of reward Act Faith on God's Almighty Power he can bring light out of darkness and can make dry Bones live And upon his infinite wisdom He who is only-wise and most merciful orders all the circumstances of your Afflictions for time place quality and quantity Act Faith on his Faithfulness Righteousness Love Pity and Compassion and labour by Faith to realize the promised purchased Glory which Afflictions prepare you for Dilate spread and enlarge your Thoughts and Meditations on those Crowns and Kingdoms that Inheritance incorruptible and undefiled that fadeth not away reserved in Heaven for you those many Mansions in your Father's House those everlasting Habitations above and sweeten your Spirits with those Thoughts 8. Lastly To prevent or cure Weariness let us be much in Prayer Seek the Lord seek his Face continually seek his Strength He give â—â— power to the faint and to them that have no might he encreaseth strength Isa 40. 29 30 31. Jam. 5. 13. Psal 50 15. Is any afflicted let him pray call upon God in the day of Trouble Q. But is this all we must do in Affliction Must we do nothing but pray A. Yes 1. We must seek the Lord and search our hearts and try our ways Lam. 3. 40. seeking God and searching our Hearts to find out our Sins must go together 2. Seek the Lord and hear the Voice of his Rod Mic. 6. 9. God speaks many things by Afflictions all his Rods have Voices there is an awakening a discovering an humbling Voice a purging trying Voice an instructing teaching comforting Voice Let us own God's Hand in all our Afflictions whoever be the Instruments It is the Lord hath taken away my Health my Estate my Friends So said holy Job not a word of Instrument 3. Seek the Lord and turn to him with all your Hearts Turn to him that smiteth It is in vain to seek God if we do not turn from our Sins by true Repentance and thorow Reformation 4. Seek the Lord and act Faith on Jesus Christ Hos 6. 1 2. After two days he will revive us Luther says This is the Scripture Paul speaks of 1 Cor. 15. 4. Christ â—ose the third day according to the Scripture What Scripture This saith he And then the sence is this As if the Church should say Our Afflictions and Mâ—â—cies may be great and we may lye in them for a time So did Christ he was dead and buried and lay in the Grave two days but he was raised up the third day And thus should a Child of God exercise his Faith I am thus and thus afflicted and brought very low so was Christ and much more he was a Man of Sorrows though he were the beloved Son of God He was delivered up into the Hands of Enemies he was scorned scourged crucified killed but my Condition was never so bad no Sorrows were like Christ's Never was the Church of God the Cause of God in so low a condition as Christ was who is the Head of his Church never was Man or Woman in so low a condition as Christ was he lay not only under the wrath and malice of Men and Devils but under his Father's wrath also He was not only brought to Death's Door but to Death it self yea he was sealed up in his Grave and yet God raised him up Here is Foâ—d for Faith In what depths and dangers soever the Church of God and People of God may be let us act Faith on the Resurrection of Christ he was raised up and so shall we if we be his and therefore let us trust in the living God which raiseth the dead 2 Cor. 1. 9. Thus we see what means to use that we may not grow weary of God's Chastisements nor faint under them Q. O but if I knew God did afflict me in Love I should not grow weary but patiently and cheerfully bear my Trouble A. 1. If thy Heart be drawn
we minded and loved them â—o much and lived so much upon them and that â—e lived so little upon God in them and enjoyed â— little of God and his Love in them and this â—ill be the Sting and Burthen of our Souls then â—ut now to live on God and his Love in our â—njoyments will prevent this Trouble of Troubles â—nd support us under all our Troubles because our God and his Love which we lived upon before remain still God is everlasting and his Love unchangable The Foundation remains the â—pring of all our Mercies remains But woe and â—as what Strangers are we to this living upon God and his Love in Christ David lived enâ—rely upon God Psal 73. 24 25 26. Whom have â—in Heaven but thee and there is none upon earth that desire besides thee My flesh and my heart faileth but God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever 2dly By this we may begin our Heaven upon Earth out of Heaven even in the Hell of the Troubles and Miseries of this World for this is the â—ery Happiness of Heaven to be continually with God and to live upon God that God may be all in all 1 Cor. 15. 28. This is Heavens Happiness to live upon that infinite Fountain of goodness and to live with God And so far as we can thus live upon God by Faith Love Meditation Holy Confidence and Dependance Holy Resignation of our selves and all our concerns to him so far we are entred into Heaven and Heaven is entred into us already The kingdom of Heaven is within you said our Lord. And what support will this be to us in all our Afflictions 3dly This is the way to lose nothing of all our Earthly Comforts for what we lose in the Creature we shall find in the Creator If we enjoyed God in the Creature in Relations Friends Estate Liberty Health c. we may enjoy him as well when these Creature-comforts are gone and it may be better than before for the Fountain it self is purer than the Streams All the little good the small comfort the slender and short satisfaction the little mixed sweetness that we have in or from any Creature comes not from the Creature it self distinct from God for then all that enjoy the Creature would have that Comfort and Content the bad as well as the good which we know is not so for many have had large Portions of the best of the Creatures that have had no comfort or contentment in them Solomon himself is a Witness But that very little Comfort or Content that any one hath in the Creature it is distilled and derived to him through the Creature from God and from him alone It God put sweetness into any Creature-comfort and bless it to us it shall be sweet to us If He convey any goodness or content to us through any Creature-chanel we shall have it not else But if he put bitterness into any Creature-comfort and with-hold his Blessing it will yield us no content at all This is a most experienc'd Truth That it is God's Love his Blessing in a Mercy that is The Mercy and it is that only which brings any Comfort or Content to us that have it What Content had Ahab in his Kingdom or Haman in his Honour Surely none at all Prov. 10. 22. The blessing of the Lord it maketh rich and he adds no sorrow with it The Blessing of the Lord maketh the Poor in this World rich and with this Blessing comes no Sorrow as there doth with all other Blessings This is the Blessing that goes with The Blessing the inward Blessing that goes with the outward Blessing whether little or much the love of God is in it to his People and that maketh rich that contents the Soul and yields sweetness to it and this Contentment is the Blessing without which Godliness it self is not Gain Now when the outward Blessing is gone the Creature-blessing gone the inward Blessing may be continued the Love of God and inward Contentment may be continued when the Cabinet is worn out the Jewel may be as good as ever And if this continue with us namely the Blessing which is the Love of God if that remain towards us when the outward Blessing is taken away we have no cause of Disquietment But this remains always to the true Christian for it is God's Covenant which cannot be broken Psal 89. 34 35. My loving-kindness I will not utterly take from him nor suffer my faithfulness to fail My covenant will I not break c. Oh that we could look more at the invisible eternal Blessing the sure Mercies of David in all our outward Blessings which remains when all the visible temporal things are gone Yea further this invisible everlasting Blessing doth not only remain with us when all other Blessings are gone but which is wonderful then even then our everlasting Father doth usually communicate and manifest more of his Love which is the Blessing indeed to the Souls of his People than when they had the enjoyment of their outward Blessings When had Ezekiel and John such glorious Visions of God but in Captivity and Exile When God brings his People into the Wilderness then he speaks comfortably unto them then he speaks to their Hearts Hos 2. 14. as in the Wilderness in the absence of Creature-comforts the Spouse leans on her Beloved Cant. 8. 5. fixeth her Loves and Desires most intimately and heartily upon him so even then her Beloved manifests most of his tender love to her and when the World frowns he smiles upon her So that this looking up to God in all our Enjoyments living upon Him and enjoying all in him and for him will wonderfully support us under all our Trouble because by this means we shall lose nothing but what we lose in the Stream we shall find in the Fountain what we want in the Creature we shall find in God yea and in all our losses for Christ and his Truths we are assured to have an hundred fold Matth. 19. 29. So much for the first Counsel Look to God in all our Enjoyments II. The second Counsel Resign up your wills entirely to the will of God in all your Afflictions It is an Argument of an excellent Spirit when all Self-respects are drowned in the Will of God and there is nothing lost therein for our best safety is in the Will of God our Happiness is more in God than in our selves and His Will is infinitely better than ours We may be sure of this that a man shall never have setled Peace and Comfort until he have cordially committed and resigned up all his Will and Way all his Concerns and Interests and Ends to the holy Will of God Psal 37. 5 7. Commit thy way unto the Lord trust also in him and he shall bring it to pass Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for him Prov. 16. 3. Commit thy works unto the Lord and thy thoughts shall be established