revealed in the day of the manifestation of the Sons of God when all they that follow holinss shall see God not only by the light of Faith as now but in the light of glory shall see him apprehensively as he is though not comprehensively or adequately so see him as to be like him to be satisfied in him and blessed with him and in the Communion of the Lord Jesus and his holy Angels and Saints and then also obtain an eternall freedom from the remains of sin and suffering And this consideration may also lead them on the other side to compare the pleasures of sin that are but for a season with the everlasting sad wages of it which is death and that in the loss of God blessed for ever seperation from the Communion with Father Son and Holy Ghost and not only in the loss of God which is unspeakable but also in those just and holy punishments from the hand of God which it is righteous with him to recompence to them that are workers of Iniquity and who by despising the glory of Grace now because of some inconveniencies it is cloathed with though they are so only to depraved minds and such whose hearts are set upon the world and the lusts of it do judge themselves unworthy to find Grace in Glory hereafter which considerations sanctified may promote very far their turning to God and that they may have this saving efficacy on such Souls shall be my prayer to God for them into whose hands they may come But further which shall draw this Epistle to a close I am well satisfied if they find not that acceptance here they may deserve yet the revival of these Sermons in Print to the eye and memory of them that were Ear-witnesses of them from his own mouth will be an acceptable service to them who have known from the beginning his manner of life which was blameless grave and exemplary and in speciall his ministry to the finishing of his course wherein he was a burning and a shining light among whom though being dead he yet speaketh and his name is a precious ointment and his praise amongst all the Churches in that wilderness as being a man of singular learning profound judgement a master in that Israel a Scribe indeed instructed for the Kingdom of God of whom it may be said as once was of another that He was one not only that had a treasure but was himself a treasure to the Church of God while he lived How himself lived in the power of the truth he preched may be seen by the annexed letter to this treatise which was penned upon occasion of a dear friend of his begging his assistance about his Soul concerns which every Reader sensible of spiritual things will judge answered with an excellent spirit the spirit of God and drawn out of his own experiences and this when but newly entring upon his minstry as he lived holy so he dyed in peace and admiring Gods Grace his last dying words almost being these Lord thou callest me away to thee I know not why if I look to my self but at thy bidding I come although hee needs not this recommendation having received his reward and so is above it yet we that survive need it whose business it is to follow the faith and holiness of such especially when we behold the end of their conversation and not only so but it is in order to the publishing of other things of his if this find acceptance which that it may and a good success is the Prayer of Reader Thy Servant in the Gospel JOHN COLLINS June 29 1667. Of the Perfection of Glorification hereafter in Heaven SERMON I. 1 Pet. 5.10 But the God of all grace who hath called us into his eternal glory by Christ Jesus after that ye have suffered a while make you perfect stablish strengthen settle you FRom this Verse to the end of the Chapter is the conclusion of this Epistle written by the Apostle to the suffering Saints of those times that were and were yet like to be under great sufferings and tryals Chap. 1.6 and 4.13 17. and 5.9 In this 10 th Verse we have the Apostles farewel wish or prayer for those suffering Saints he writes unto Men especially good men in their farewel words and wishes defire to speak much in a little room But the God or now the God of all Grace c. Dutch Version and so the English in other like conclusive prayers renders the same Greek particle now Heb. 13.20 Rom. 16.25 Jude 24. Here 1. The things he desires and prays for sor they are great and weighty make you perfect stablish strengthen settle you 2. He takes hold of and prayes to God under such titles and considerations as are sweet grounds of faith for that he prayes for and most comfortable and suitable for suffering Christians to feed upon viz. 1. From his rich and all-sufficient grace The God of all grace 2. From the great effâ—ct and fruit of that grace viz. his calling the faithful unto glory by Christ Jesus or the glory he hath called them to which is the only thing we shall at present take up to insist upon from these words this Glory is here set forth and described 1. From the peculiar property and duration of it viz. Eternity it is eternal or everlasting Glory No such thing no honour or splendor or welfare that is eternal is to be found in this World 2. From the nature of it His Glory that heavenly Glory which he liveth in and communicateth the similitude and likenâ—ss of it in measure unto his Joh. 17.22 That thâ—t is laid up with him in Heaven and stands in the enjoyment of him so as he is both the singular Author and as I may say the matter of it 3. The Causes of it The Principal God included in that His Glory and also in the first Clause of the Verse The grace of God in and by Christ Jesus Christ the Mediator Subordinate viz. the work or Grace of effectual calling 4. The subject of it viz. those that are called i. e. effectually called Whether us or as some Copies read it you Beza that makes no difference as to the sense He speaks of those that are or are reputed to be effectually called those are they that shall be brought to this Glory Vocation is the way to Glorification that is the strait Gate that leadeth into life eternal 5. The order wherein we are brought unto it or the antecedent of the actual possession of it viz. after we have suffered a while for if we read it us in the first Clause then so the words must properly run Now the God of all Grace who hath called us after we haue suffered a while unto his eternal Glory by Christ Jesus I see no reason why the person should be changed from us to ye nor is after suffered a while to be referred to the following but the foregoing Clause The way to Heaven lies
being made a Spiritual Body i. e. perfectly subject and conformable to the Spirit and Noble operations of the Soul It will be an help not an hinderance and so an advantage and incouragement to the Soul and to the whole man in taking in those pleasures that are above As the Souls or the Saints state of subsisting will be more perfect and compleat when re-united so will its operation be The Saint will then with bodily eyes behold the man Christ this is more then he did before with infinite contentation that Job put an Emphasis upon that with those eyes he should see God Job 19.25 26 27. with Bodily Ears hear and Tongue utter forth the Praises of God With and through Bodily senses act upon and take in the Glory of Heavenly objects Christ and the Saints c. this is a great Addition to what was before 4. There shall then be a manifestation of the Glory of the Saints unto the whole World This is an eminent and remarkable accession of Glory that shall be to the Saints at the Resurrection and last Judgment And when the Scriptures extoll the Glory that shall be then it hath special respect unto this The Glory that the Saints have on Earth and also that which they have now in Heaven in their Souls it is a secret and hidden thing from the World they go up and down the World now under a mean outside and look like other men and they do to visible appearance as others do and their Bodies are carried to the Graves as others and turned to the dust And whither their Souls go is not known their Happiness is an unseen thing by any other eye but that of Faith But then it shall be revealed and made manifest to the wonderful Glory of God and to their singular comfort and advancement Rom. 8.18 Now the Saints have only concealed Glory hidden under a cloud of sufferings under the Image of the Earthly Adam which go to the Grave with them but then revealed not only to them in a word and promise but in and upon them in real and visible accomplishment 1 Joh. 3.1 2. Colos 3.3 4. Neither Christ nor Christians do now appear to a blind World as they be but then they shall then their Glory shall be made manifest unto all So 2 Thes 1.10 Vid. Dutch Annot. Consider a little here 1. To whom 2. Of what this manifestation shall then be 1. The Glory of the Saints shall at the last day be manifest to all the World to Men Angels Devils in the most publick open manner as Christs proceedings with them his owning acknowledging acquitting of them shall be publick so as all men shall see and know that these men are Happy men Beloved of God the Brethren of Christ Vessels of Glory and Partakers of the Kingdom In special 1. They shall then be manifested one to another We hope well now of the good state of the dying Saints Friends Relations but then we shall be fully certain when we shall meet them in the Congregation of the Righteous and at the right hand of Christ at the great day and see them finding Mercy of the Lord at that day as 2 Tim. 1.18 when the Parents shall meet the Children and the Friend his Friends Brethren and gracious Acquaintance there among the sheep at Christs Right hand This happily may be known by the Souls departed before in Heaven But most fully and openly then which is the time when every one hath his publick and open Judgment to be seen of all though he had his personal private and particular Judgment before But besides they shall not only know each others state in General but in Particular hear of and behold the Graces and Gracious Actings of the Faithful their Brethren in Christ and all the Gracious dealings of God with them the whole progress of his Love from first to last laid open then in that Revelation-day the day of Judgement 1 Cor. 4.5 this will endear them each to other 2. To all the wicked and Reprobates both Men and Devils To those that have despised opposed Reproached Scorned Persecuted Insulted over them here As it was said of Christ when Judged Abused and Despitefully used Mat. 26.64 So it may be said of Christians hereafter shall the wicked yea those same persons that here abused them see them arrayed in Robes of Glory and sitting on Thrones as their Judges sitting on the Throne with Christ Revel 3.21 For as Christ shall appear so shall the Saints also appear with him in Glory Colos 3.4 The Saints shall Judge wicked Men and Devils and surely they shall see and know and behold them sit as their Judges 1 Cor. 6 2 3. so Luk. 13.18 They that here counted them mad-men Fanatical Frantick Conceited Humoursom Foolish Creatures shall then see that they made the wisest choice c. They did not so much despise them now as they shall admire them then 2 Thes 1.10 2. Of what there will be a manifestation or what in special will then be manifested of and concerning the Saints and their Glory to all the World viz. 1. Their Graces and good Works the service they have done for God both in doing and suffering Eccles 12.14 The good works of the Godly as well as the evil Works of the wicked shall then be laid open 1 Cor. 4.5 i. e. Every good man for what is good so 1 Pet. 1.7 A tryed Faith that hath held out through many tryalls shall then be held up before the World and Commended Praised Honoured by the Lord Jesus which will not be so much the Commendation of themselves as of his own Grace and work in them For all is of him their good works the acts and the fruits of their Graces even such as themselves can hardly tell how to own He will own them and speak of them before all the World Mat. 25.35 40. though they be poor things in themselves and as from them yet as they are the fruit of his Spirit and Grace in them the stamp of his own Image the effects of sincere love to him The poor but childish actings of his children here the things he hath made Gracious Promises to and so he will make much of them and put an honour upon them before the World Mat. 10.32 Luk. 12.8 Revel 3.5 The Lord Jesus will confess acknowledge and own every one of them before all the World and will confess all they have done for him He will say these are they that have continued with me in my Temptations Luk. 22.28 that have preferred a good Conscience before all Riches and Honours that renounced the World to follow me fully that forsook all for me and loved not their Lives to the Death These are my Brethren Sisters Friends Mother that have done the will of my Father Mat. 12.49 50. He will not be ashamed of us then if we be not ashamed of him now 2. Their Crown of Happiness and Glory which the Lord hath laid
when they are all come together When the Body Mystical is entire and full then it hath its fullest Beauty Comfort and Glory For every member addeth something and there is in some sort a defect while any one is wanting For the Joy and Glory of every member of the Body is the Joy and Glory of the whole and every one serves to compleat the Communion and Comfort of the whole And when the Lord hath all his Children about him none are miâ—sing Christ all his Members with him the Mansions of Heaven filled up with all the Vessels of Glory set in order in their places as it shall be after the day of Judgment and so â—o all Eternity with what ineffable delight will the Lord open to them all the Treasures and Riches of his Glory and what wonderful ravishing matter of Praising and Glorfying God and what compleat comfort therein which must needs raise up the Joy and Glory of the Saints unto the greatest height and highest possible perfection Vse Of this plenary compleat Glory that the Saints are to have at the last day and not till then 1. Be not stumbled or troubled and offended at the clouds of darkness the mean outside and seeming ingloriousness and obscurity that is upon the people of God and upon the work of God in the World at the present For the time of the manifestation of the Sons of God and of the discovery of their Glory and of the finishing of Gods work referring to them is not yet come Marvel not to see the Saints go up and down under mean and outward misery to see them poor and low sick and crazy and dying and Bodies turned to dust as well to see them sweating under many afflâ—ctions and sorrows lying among the pots black with the soot of many troubles Why now their Glory must be hid from the World and it must not yet appear what men of quality they are they must pass Incognito and go in some disguise through the World though the Sons of God and Princes of Heaven they must not appear in that state at present But this present hiding will set off their appearance and manifestation with greater Lustre another day to see them on Thrones whom you have sometimes seen in vile raiment whom you would hardly deigne to look upon will be the greater wonder and Glory tâ— him who lifts the poor out of the dust and the needy from off the dunghill It may be they are despised now but you shall one day see them in so much honour as you will wish you had honoured them as the pious do Psal 15.4 how poor soever does he fear the Lord honour him highly if you will not Christ will honour him one day before men and Angels But he 'l be ashamed of you if you be ashamed of him or of his Members and people now Jam. 2.5 6. And stumble not at Gods work because 't is now wrapt in Clouds why it is not yet come to its Issue it is but a doing Children and fools they say must not look on things half done we are so foolish we cannot see into the beauty of Gods work while it is but half done not made up and finished When the Mystery of God shall be finished Rev. 10.7 and all Providences come to their Issues the whole story wrought up then when God shall bring forth his embroidered curious work compleat and finished then it will and shall appear Beautiful and Glorious before all the World the black pieces the darker lines and coulers illustrating the other when set together which look'd upon alone shew unhandsome When all the confusions that are in the World shall Issue in goodly order and every thread every stitch appear to have been drawn by Art which now seem to go in and out this way and that way and we can make nothing of them as if a Child should look upon a Curious Needle-woman at work on some piece he would see little in it how will God be admired as Psal 139.14 15.16 so it is with all that work that is formed in the womb of Providence in the time of this World which in that great Revelation-day the day of Judgment that Birth-day of the manifested Glory of the Sons of God and of the work of God shall appear to have been most curiously wrought as with Needle-work though now it is obscure and secret to us Oh the praises God will have then Vse 2. Hence see that our Eyes and Hearts should be upon that day that last and great day the day of Redemption and Glory of Resurrection and Judgment that is to come That is the great day Jud. 6. this the time of this World is but a little day in comparison this is mans day 1 Cor. 4.3 But that is the day of God the day of the Lord 2 Pet. 3.12 1 Cor. 5.5 1 Thess 5.2 Paul's eye and heart was upon that day 2 Tim. 1.12 18. and 4.8 We are all for this day this present time and present things alas they are not to be mentioned to that day Rom. 8.18 Oh make sure of being well on 't at the last day owned and confessed and saved at that day and you are well enough There is a time to come lay a good foundation for that 1 Tim. 6.19 so carry it in this day as you may be owned in that Now own Christ and own his people and be not ashamed of the Chain of their Sufferings if you would find mercy at the day Remember these Scriptures 2 Tim. 1.16 18. Mat. 25.34 to 40. Mat. 10.32.33 Luk 9.26 Mark 8.38 Is there any word or any truth of Christ any rule of his any part of his mind which you are ashamed on because the times do not favour it because men frown upon it Oh tremble at that lest the Lord Jesus be ashamed to own thee at that day Oh labour to have such thoughts of things and such affections toward them as you will have at that day How will you think of sin then Of duty then Of Cleaving to Christ and to his people then Of Zeal for the Glory of God then Of diligence in seeking God in Prayer and Meditation then Will you not then wish you had made more wrestling and weeping instead of sleeping and wording Prayer That you had hearkned diligently to Christ c. Oh now do as you would wish to have done then SERMON V. 2. IT follows now a little to Consider and set forth the Glory of the Saints in Heaven this Eternal Glory that is reserved for the faithful in the World to come in a Comparative way by the Comparisons and Considerations as may evidence to us the greatness and goodness the transcendant excellency of this Glory This way the Apostle lead us to in Rom. 8.18 by comparing with other things which now seem great to us as great afflictions and so other great things in this World which yet are nothing to it we may see the exceeding
Eternal though one would think you should need little perswading Now this is most true and evident Deut. 30.19 if you chuse life you shall live Joh. 3.19 Therefore if they had loved light rather then darkness i. e. chosen light i. e. Christ and all his Grace they should not have been condemned but saved see Prov. 1.29 Isa 56.4 5. Psal 119.30 173. Isa 66.3 4. Every man hath his choice Do you chuse Lust Sin Vanity World you shall have it Do you chuse separation from God to live at a distance and in estrangement from him that will inevitably be your everlasting portion if you continue in that choice But if the Lord give you an heart to chuse Heaven i. e. not meerly as a place of outward ease but of Holy Communion with God and fruition of him rather than Earth If you indeed chuse God and his Fellowship rather than the World Christ and Grace rather than sin then you shall have that Why is there any Body that does not chuse Heaven that would not be saved Yea a great many viz. they that chuse sin Prov. 8.36 and 1.22 That chuse this present World for their Portions 2 Tim. 4.10 That will none of God Psal 81.11 For it is the enjoyment of God that makes Heaven why if you will none of Heaven if you refuse Eternal Glory or the way to it if you care not for Blessedness no wonder if you miss of it and just will be your perdition But oh who come to be so sottish and brutish as to chuse evil before good Earth before Heaven and Death before Life chuse Life and that you may have forever 5. Whither will you turn you if you disobey this Call and neglect this offer of Eternal Glory by Christ Jesus Where will you take up your portion Where will you find any thing Comparable to this or ought that can make you happy if you refuse this Isa 10.3 You will go to the Creature to a vain World to the pleasures profits and preferments of it you will dig in the Earth for a Portion But alas there is no Eternal Glory to be found there is no good here that can make up happiness much less a durable happiness There is no Treasure on Earth but there is a destroyer lies by it Mat. 6.19 There is nothing safe in this World you can lay up nothing where destruction may not find it There is but one safe place to lay up a portion in and that is Heaven You do but lay up for the fire what you lay up on Earth for that will be the last end of all things here 2 Pet. 3.10 When that day of the universal burning of the World comes what a sensible demonstration will it be of the vanity of laying up our portion on Earth and so are all particular burnings of Houses or Towns or Cities in the lesser dayes of Gods Judgements now How many wayes does the Lord proclaim unto men that here is no suitable or durable portion for them to be had on Earth You must to Heaven if you will have any true or lasting Happiness any Eternal Glory There no Moth nor Rust no Fire nor Water no Pirate or Robber comes Make this World your Inne and not your Home and then when it is fired you may leave it without loss the Traveller suffers little or no loss when the Inne where he lodged all night is set on Fire and go home to an Everlasting Habitation Oh men may call the things of this World a Glory as Genes 31.1 but there is nothing here worthy that name or if it be it is not Eternal Glory to be sure it is but a fading fashion that passeth away Look upon the various changes losses destructions wherein the best and goodliest portions in this World do fade and fail and pass away you may write on them Sic transit gloria mundi Why then if you neglect and refuse Heaven and turn to the things below you do but imbrace shadows for substance shells and shews and vain things that cannot profit you and what a madness and folly is that 6 Consider the peril of refusing or disobeying this Call and offer of Salvation or what the issue would be should you neglect it viz. everlasting heaviness misery and damnation If you will not have Heaven you shall have Hell for you must have one of them yea a deeper and hotter Hell because you had the offer of Heaven and refused it The Lord hath brought the matter to this pinch there is but this choice before you either Heaven or Hell either Eternal Glory or Eternal Misery If you refuse the former you shall not escape the latter If you will none of Christ and Grace you shall have sin and be given up to it If you will not have the Fellowship of God you shall have the Company of the Devil and his Angels If you will not hear the voice of the call and promise of the Gospel you shall one day hear that dreadful word Mat. 25.41 Why if this be the choice is it not plain and easie to determine which is to be chosen Shall not thy Soul with fear and trembling groan to God to deliver thee from such a madness and misery as to neglect Heaven and chuse Hell to hate Christ and love death And such a madness it is to disâ—regard the Call of the Gospel the voice of wisdom and to go after the foolish woman whose Guests are in the depths of Hell 7. Remember that we must hear Christs call now in the word and Kingdom of his Grace if ever we would hear his Blessed and Glorious call at the last day unto the immediate actual fruition of Fellowship with him in the Kingdom of his Glory If we would then hear him say come as Mat. 25 34. we must hear and obey that word from him now Come now if you would come then Come now to Christ Jesus and enter into Fellowship with him as God calls you 1 Cor. 1.9 in a way of Faith and Grace if you would then come into his Kingdom and be for ever with him in a way of Glory Are you willing to hear Christ at the last and great day when he shall break out of the Clouds set him down on the Throne of his Glory and call all Nations before him then to say to you Come you Blessed inherit the Kingdom Then you must hear him now who cryes to you in the Gospel Come come unto me that you may have Life and Glory for evermore Luk. 14.17 The same portion for substance that the Saints are called to then you are invited and called to now viz. Fellowship with Christ and participation of all his benefits Peace Grace and Glory there from an Inchoation you pass to the Consummate fruition of them here from a total want to an entire possession of them so at the first believing which is in that regard a greater matter than the other will that word be acceptable and
you are of that number for whom an Inheritance is reserved in Heaven who shall obtain this Eternal Glory That so you may be able to rejoyce in the lively hope and certain Expectation of it as Rom. 5.2 and know as Paul did 2 Cor. 5.1 and 1 Joh. 5.13 This may be known though the fruition of this Glory is reserved for Heaven yet a certain interest in it title to iâ— and the knowledge thereof also is given on Earth Labour after this It is that we are exhorted to by the Apostle 2 Pet. 1.10 If we make sure of Effectual Calling we make sure of this Glory for there is an inseperable Connexion between them To quicken thereunto Consider 1. Great matters cannot be made too sure and in all other matters of great moment common reason and nature teaches men to be diligent to make all sure If Estate or Life be in hazard how sollicitous are men to be upon sure grounds In settling of Earthly Inheritances how careful punctual and exact that no flaw no matter of doubt or danger be left What matter is of so great a weight as the matter of Eternity everlasting Life and Glory Hezekiah when like to die was desirous of a sure evidence that he should live and recover out of his sickness and have his fifteen years time more here 2 King 20.8 How much more sollicitous should we be to be sure of Eternal Life Life through all the dayes and years of Eternity when we were so like to die the second death and therefore to have it confirmed not by miracles but by Scripture signes and evidences in great matters and matters wherein the affection goes out much men will delight to have the assurance and ratification over and over as 1 Sam. 20.16 17. Oh when we are making a Covenant with Christ and he with us about matters of everlasting Life that that is for ever after this life as v. 14 15. we cannot but desire him to speak again yea swear again as he condescends to both Heb. 6.17 18. and Establish his promise to us over and over our love to him and intence desire to be sure of his love should induce to this When Jacobs heart was upon being buried in the Cave of Machpolah in the Land of Canaan which was a type of Heaven and being buried therein of that possession that the faithful take of Heaven when they die when they go to a place of their own properly the Sojourners and strangers while they live in this World He will have Joseph both promise and swear to bury him there and gave charge to all his other sons about it too Gen. 47.29 30 31. and 49.29 32. So Abraham how careful is he to make sure his possession of the Cave of Machpelah Genes 23.17 18 20. He can be content to have never a foot of Land of his own while he lives but he will make sure of a good burying place when he dies i. e. of an happy Estate after death of a portion of the Heavenly Canaan and of being buried in the certain hope as of all the promises of God to be made good to him and his so in special of an happy Resurrection to Eternal Glory that was the meaning of it Oh though you have never so little in this Earth while you live though strangers and pilgrims here yet make sure of Heaven when you die make that one bargain sure and you are happy that you shall have a possession of your own in that better Country even an Heavenly Kingdom 2. We have nothing else sure we had need make sure of this we have no portion certain nothing to trust to if we have not this portion of Eternal Life and Glory There is no certainty of any thing in this World Riches have wings the top of honour is a slippery place life it self is but a vapour All things here lye within the reach of many devourers and destroyers Moth and Rust and Thieves Pirates at Sea and other Sons of violence at Land And what is saved from other Destroyers is but reserved for the fire that must be the end of alâ— the possessions upon Earth 2 Pet. 3.10 All Earthly possessions must turn into a blaze and end in smoak as Genes 19.28 At the great day of Judgment there shall be an universal burning all the Earth on a light fire in particular previous dayes of Judgment here which are tasts and hansells of that the Lord often contends by fire Why if men will not see by the light of the word one would think they should see by the flames of devouring fire though indeed seldom do men see by the latter or by any destroying Judgments that have obstinately refused the light and voice of the former But in it self it is a wonderful help to see and it will be so to them that regard the word the vanity uncertainty and perishing nature of all things here But to be sure our enjoyment of all things in this World at best hangs but upon the twine-thread of our life which there are so many sharp edged tooles Sicknesses Diseases sad Accidents continually ready to cut asunder we are not sure to have it continued one hour longer Had we not need be sure of something when all these things shall fail as Luk. 16.9 Paul knows what he hath to trust to when this World turns him out of doors he hath then an house to hide his head in 2 Cor. 5.1 Oh it is a Comfortable thing when temporal habitations fail to be sure of Eternal ones Imagine you were now to die this moment leaving the World how glad would you be to be sure of Heaven and of a better life Why that must be e're long and you cannot think to be sure of it then in a dying hour if you do not labour to make it sure now in a time of health and peace Wnen David looks over the World and sees the vanity fading uncertainty of all portions of Riches Glory Honour fair Dwellings c. here what a thing is it to him to be sure of a God to receive him into Arms of Love and Mercy when he dies and of an happy waking in the morning of the Resurrection to Eternal Glory Psal 49.6 15. and 73.17 24. when you see men stand in slippery places and one tumbling down after another the Rich tumbling into poverty the Great into Contempt then look to your feet and to your standing what foot hold have you what sure bottom and foundation have you to stand steady upon as Psal 26.11 12 13. The wicked stand in slippery places but the godly that walk with God in integrity stand in an even place The Covenant is sure 2 Sam. 23.5 the state of Grace is a sure standing Rom. 5.2 Psal 20.7 8. indeed in regard of themselves they would fall as soon as any but they have a sure hand to hold them Psal 73.23 24. 3. Should not we make this use of the times we live
shall not be now need of any outward Elements Bread or Wine but the Inward part the Spiritual Communion they shall have it new and fresh in a more lively and better fuller manner then here whence they shall be as men full of new Wine filled with the Springs of Heavenly Affection and Consolation Wine is oft used to express Joy Gladness Comfort Psal 104.15 The Communion between Christ and the Saints in the Coelestial Life will compleat perfect and far transcend that that is but in a weak and mean degree begun in Ordinances here Consider also that the Union and Communion between Christ and the faithful being set forth by that of the Conjugal relation in Scripture our present state is but an Espousal the Consummation of the Marriage is at the day of Judgment thence follows the full enjoyment each of other in Heaven when Christ hath carried his Spouse home to his Fathers house Ineffable Mutual Delight Communion Communication of Secrets and Hearts each to other Joy and Contentment will thence ensue Then will those words be most fully verified Isa 62.4 5. and 54.4 5 8. Zeph. 3.17 Then will the Book of Canticles that Book of Loves between Christ and his Church be understood and fully practised But thus in Heaven you shall have Immediate and full Communion with the Lord Jesus You hear of him now but you shall see him then and be ever with him there was flocking to see him when on earth in his Humiliation Luk. 19.3 4. And the Spiritually minded then saw Glory in him Joh. 14. But what will it be then to see him in Heaven in his Glorified estate And not only to see him as a stranger as a Glorious person But to see and enjoy him as thy Friend as thy Brother Saviour Husband Cant. 5.16 One who sometimes powered out his Heart-blood for thee and will now power out his Heart-love to thee for evermore 3. The Saints shall have full Communion with the Holy Ghost they shall have the Everlasting fulness and presence of the Spirit and so have a fulness of Gifts and Graces of Holiness and Comfort for evermore The Saints have somewhat of the Communion of the Holy Ghost now 2 Cor. 13.14 But they shall have it in perfection then We have but the first fruits of the Spirit but an earnest penny now Rom. 8.23 2 Cor. 1.22 and 5.5 Therefore there is an Harvest the whole sum a fulness of the Spirit that shall be imparted then And as the Holy Spirit is a Spirit of Grace and Comfort now by whose Presence and Assistance we are upheld in both so will he be then only in such a way manner and measure as suits a state of Perfection then he will rest upon you as a Spirit of Glory so hath he done in a great degree on some Martyrs here 1 Pet. 4.14 but there in Perfection on all the Saints Hence the Saints in Heaven having the fulness of the Spirit shall be replenished with all those Excellencies and endowments that are the Effects and fruits of the presence and special operation of the Spirit filled with all the fulness of God As 1. With singular Divine Guifts of knowledge wisdom inlargement of understanding as 1 King 4.29 and utterance For there will be use of utterance in Heaven in Glorious Conference and Converse of the Saints Here are Gifts given for the Kingdom of Grace by the Spirit 1 Cor. 12.4 8 11. But there are Guifts suiting the Kingdom of Glory 2. With all Graces of Holiness or Sanctification those now brought to perfection and kept up in act and exercise Sanctification of the Spirit 2 Thes 2.13 will then be perfect of which further afterward concerning the Glory of the Soul and there will be the constant un-interrupted Presence and Assistance of the Spirit to actuate every Grace to keep it up in its full exercise The heart ever inlarged for God ever fixed and tuned to sing his Praise as Psal 57.7 8. Thy Glory Heart and Tongue shall be ever awake thy Harp ever in Tune then the Spirit of Grace everlastingly filling and quickning thy Heart and holding thee up in Heavenly Spiritual activity and inlargement 3. With abundant Comfort and Consolation The Holy Ghost will then fully do that work of a Comforter and dwell in all the Saints as such Joh. 14.16 in his Choicest and most Glorious Comforting Operations That in Rom. 5.5 will then be fully done Then perfect Assurance and sense of the Love of God without all mixture of doubt or fear or darkness full Assurance shall be wanting to never a Saint in Heaven the meanest shall see the Love of God more clearly than the strongest did here That great question will then be out of question forever The light of Gods Countenance shall be then lifted up and shine upon your souls as a Sun that never sets nor is overcast with clouds The knowledge and sense of that one thing that the Infinite God loves thee with an everlasting love which is more worth than ten thousand thousand worlds shall live in thy heart and be the Life and Joy of thy Soul and fill thee with peace that passeth all understanding The joy of the Holy Ghost that is a manifest and eminent part of our Communion with the Holy Ghost shall then be at its full height which now we have but some tasts and drops of Rom. 14.17 That that Christ hath been so long aiming and driving at will then be attained Joh. 15.11 and 16.24 Their Joy is the Element the Saints in Heaven live in they breath in no other Aire but that the Ocean they swim in It is that they enter and go into Mat. 25.21 23. Joy at once expresses Heaven and Heavenly Glory It is a Mass or Heap of Joy a Region of Joy an Aire and Element of Joy the Joy of the Lord God the Joy of the Holy Ghost into which they are brought and where they breath and live and swim in the fulness thereof for ever Psal 16.11 2. A second thing considerable in the positive Happiness of the Saints in Heaven is their inherent personal subjective the former particular pointeth chiefly to their objâ—ctive Glory though they go together and therâ—fore both there and here somewhat of both Glory or perfection both of Soul and Body This partly makes them capable of that foresaid full enjoyment of God and partly results from it For our present frail weak and distempered faculties are not capable of that Glory and Glorious Communion 1 Cor. 15.50 and 2.9 they must therefore be raised up to an higher state of Perfâ—ction in order thereunto And the enjoyment of that Communion with God continually reflects unspeakable Glory and Happiness inherent Excellencies upon the whole man But hence the person of each Saint is Glorified filled with Glorious Excellency and Perfection both of Soul and Body All that be there are Glorified Persons Rom. 8.17 18 30. Colâ—ss 3.4 Glorious or Glorified they are both in their
Spiritual Pleasures Psal 16.11 Heaven is called Gods Heavenly Habitation Deut. 26.15 2 Chron. 30.27 Isai 57.15 Hence the inmost part of the Tabernacle and Temple which was a Type of this Heaven was called the Holy of Holies or the most Holy place Heb. 9.8 12 24. It being by the Lords everlasting appointment and choice set apart to be the place of his most Special Gracious Glorious and Holy presence where only Holy work shall be done Prasing Blessing Glorifying God only Holy persons shall come and only the Holy God be seen and enjoyed It is chosen to be the dwelling place of perfect Holiness so perfect as is exclusive of the least sin And hence the very being in this place in Heaven and the sight of it will be a continual means as it was with the Tabernacle and Temple of old whilst instituted Holiness was upon it to raise and keep up the heart in holy affections to God And there will be every thing that may further nothing to hinder Holiness neither sin nor devil ever entred Heaven or shall enter there It is absolutely undefiled 1 Pet. 1.4 And hence none of that Confusion Disorder or Discomfort that results from sin and temptation and makes this Earth a miserable place Heaven is an Holy and so an Happy place 3. It is a place subject to no Change of a Constant incorruptible nature 1 Pet. 1.4 Inconstancy is the name of this lower World being made up of inconstant incorruptible natures The Materials Principles and Composition of it so framed and ordered as to be a stage of mutation of continual Generation and Corruption of perpetual Alteration mixt bodies resolveable into their jarring principles the Elements and the Elements thâ—mseâ—ves capable of being blended disordered and dissolved and thrown into an heap of Confusion their Forms striving and conflictâ—ng on the common stage of the first matter and moving dis-resting each other the more Passive Element is a prey to the more Active And hence this whole lower World is capable of final dissolution and dâ—solation and being turned into a dismal Chaos-like condition a fit place for Hell the last day But the third Heaven never changed since it came out of nothing what it was at once and at first that it alwayes is and will be It 's principles never stood asunder nor can be sundered it is not resolvable into any pre-existant or seperable principles hence uncapable of dissolution or corruption or of any essential Change As it came immediatly out of nothing and was at once perfected by the power of God so unless he should by the same power annihilate it which he will never do It must continue and continue in that perfection forever Hence it is a kin to the nature of Immortal Substances and Spirits and a fit and suitable Habitation for them An everlasting unchangable Habitation for Immortal and Everlasting Inhabitants 2 Cor. 5.1 Hebr. 13.14 Luk. 16.9 Hence also a fit place to lay up and enjoy an everlasting Portion in Mat. 9.19 20. there are causes of Corruption and Destruction natural or violent Intrinsecal or Extrinsâ—cal to every thing on Earth But it is not so in Heaven there is no moth and rust no internal natural Causes of decay no Moth to fret the Garments of Glory no rottenness or Worm that bâ—falls or breeds in the Timber of that Heavenly House nor yet any Thief Devil or wicked man no violent external Cause that can dig through as the word is the Walls of that house the third Heaven or the Pavement or Floor thereof It is of Impregnable Strength and Solidity there are no Chinks Clefts Gaps or Crevises in the Walls of it for solidity or firmness transparency and may stand together Job 37.18 it is impenetrable by the force of Created Nature God keeps the door of Heaven in his own hands he only opens it for Angel or Saint to come out or in no Created force can break or dig through it He alone can rend or cleave the Hâ—avens Isa 64.1 Mark 1.10 This lower World was made but to be a Stage for men to act their parts on for a few Ages and then taken down Hence it stands but on Crazy shows it may and will e're long fall on heaps It is like a Teâ—t or Tabernacle that stands on stakes thrust into the ground But the third Heaven stands on strong unmoved foundations Heb. 11.10 Being made and fitted built by God to be the everlasting settled Rest and dwelling of the Blessed Psal 73.18 Isa 22.23 Oh let this point take off our minds from and raise them above the Earth and shame us for our Earthly-mindedness The Saints are men for a better Country even an Heavenly for a better place Heb. 11.16 a place of rest immutable rest and peace instead of a place of change and motion A place of Holiness instead of a place of sin A place of Glory and Beauty and Caelestial Excellency instead of these dregs of nature that we have here on Earth You are now but in the out-houses the Barn the Hovel where the Swine and Beasts come as well as the Children But then in your Fathers house the Palace it self the best Room God hath in all the Creation Heb. 11.16 Better yea and bigger too Will you be crouded into a Nook a Corner of the earth for your Portion which will one day prove no better than a Nook of Hell when you might have a lot in those Spacious Mansions above What a point a Punctillio is the Earth if you had it all The Saints have greater portions a lot above greater than it all which should make them of great Spirits able to despise this little inconsiderable lower World Oh foolish and low-spirited Sons of men that are scuffling and contending for and about this point of the Earth the Earth beneath like to meer Ants and Pismires crawling on this dust and neglect the great and high things of Heaven as far beyond these things as the Heavens are higher than the Earth that make so much adoe about a little place to stand in under the shed and Hovel of this lower World that will e're long fall about their Ears and are mindless of the vast concernments of Everlasting Habitations If there were no Heaven no better things there we might mind the Earth only and set up our stand there But if there be a Fathers house an Inheritance undefiled c. then men are not come to themselves they are under Spiritual madness that content themselves with Earth and the Husks thereof and seek not a Lot and Portion in Heaven and in the good things thereof Indeed it is not the place alone but the Company the Fellowship of God and all the Saints that makes Heaven so happy a place there the place and its Divine Commodities are inseperable Thus of the matter and substance of the Glory of the Saints in the life to come Now follows 2. The Duration or Continuance of it viz. That it is
greatness thereof There be sundry obvious Comparisons from the less to the greater and some other Argumentative Considerations I shall put both together which may familiarly shew and Realize to us the greatness and excellency of this Glory Comp. 1. Consider what great things God gives out of his Common bounty even to wicked men in this World What then will he give out of his special and everlasting love to his own Children and Friends in Heaven Worldly and wicked men which are his Slaves yea enemies and appointed to destruction yet in the present time of patience and bounty the Lord cuts out to many of them great things such things as the World accounts very great and as are great in themselves though compared with Heavenly things are very little Riches Wealth Thousands and Ten Thousands of Gold and Silver Sumptuous Buildings Houses full of all Good Things Lands and Livings c. Yea sometimes Crowns and Kingdoms Scepters and Dominions of vast extent the Splendor whereof even of that Glory that sometimes worldly men are arrayed with even dazles the eyes of beholders Sometimes men of the World do glitter and glister with Glory an earthly Glory and Splendor such as strikes an awe and admiration into beholders Psal 49 16. Dan. 2.31 37 38. and 5.18 19. why if such be the Glory of the earth given to the earthly and wicked men What will be the true Glory of Heaven that God will bestow upon the Vessels of Glory there Luther sometimes called the Turkish Empire that vast Empire containing so many swelling Titles and large Dominions a Bone or Crum which God threw to that great Dog the Turk Such vast Empires and Kingdoms God hath sometimes given unto the worst and basest of men Dan. 4.17 How vitious and vile have the Turkish Sultans and many other Heathnish Princes been so Antiochus the illustrious a vile person Dan. 11.21 Why if God have such Crums to throw to the Dogs of the house what is the whole Loaf that he reserves for his Children If this great King of Heaven do keep his Prisoners so well during the few dayes of their Respit and Reprieve from Execution as look upon the brave accommodations and great Possâ—â—sions c. of the men of the World they are but as the fair Room of a Prison where eminent Malefactors are kept and well tended till they be brought forth to Execution Joh. 21.7 12 30. What will he do for his Children and Heirs who shall be with him in his own Palace for ever Psal 17.14 15. Some men of the World which have their Portion in this Life have a great Portion here even their Belly full as much as heart can wish as much of sensitive worldly good as they can possibly take in all manner of abundance of earthly delicates and this out of God his Treasure because it is hid and laid up in the several store-houses of this lower World Earth Air and Sea and brought forth by the workings of his Providence and bestowed upon them So that these things are given out of Gods Treasury by his common bounty to the men of the World And if you speak of what Earth can afford they are great things that are most given to them But David hath a greater perfection than all this Ps 171.5 But thus look upon the consolation that many wicked men have here Luk 16.25 and 6.24 which must needs be a poor thing Luk. 16.10 11. a nothing compared with the portion of the chosen Saints of God in Heaven when God shall set himself to pour out Love and Mercy into those Vessels thereof and yet often it is much it is strange to see what God hath given to some vile men this way as that they are ready to be cryed up for the only happy men This is a ready and useful meditation when we read in story of the Magnificence Riches and Greatness of Worldly men or see and observe any instances thereof to think oh then what is the Glory and Happiness that God hath prepared not of the same kind for worldly sensitive delights scrued up to the height but an Happiness of an higher a Spiritual and Caelestial nature for them that love him and for the subjects of his everlasting love in another World if there be so much given unto Enemies in this Comp. 2. Consider what the Saints enjoy in this World I mean not of outward things so much for they often have but little that way they shall not usually have very much of Earth lest they forget Heaven but of Spiritual and Heavenly Comforts and good things their fore-tasts of future Glory they are often exceeding sweet and precious a thousand times better than all the Earthly outward enjoyments of worldly men Yet all they have here is but a taste but an earnest an handfull of first fruits Epes 1.14 Rom. 8.23 What then is and will be the full draught the whole bargain the whole Harvest in Heaven Their best condition here is but a condition of absence from the Lord compared with that presence they shall have hereafter 2 Cor. 5.6 8. If God send to them such tokens and tasts of his Love in their absence What will he pour out upon them when they shall be present with him Consider it in two or three Particulars 1. The Communion the Saints have with God in his Ordinances here Oh how sweet is it Psal 84.10 What then is a day in Heaven yea Eternity there The World knows not nor can they well express the sweet incomes they have the heart-raising yea ravishing Communion the Quicknings Gracious Breathings the Comforts they meet with in Prayer sometimes in Hearing the Word a Christian said Mr. Dod is half in Heaven sometimes in Singing of a Psalm in Meditation Psal 63.5 6. in Gracious Spiritual Conference Luk. 24.32 In the Sacrament of the Supper where they are refreshed as with new Wine Why if dark glimpses through these glasses of the Ordinances be so sweet and Glorious 2. Cor. 3.18 what then will the sight face to face be 1 Cor. 13.12 The Ordinances of God and Communion with him therein is unspeakably better than the best of Earthly and Worldly Enjoyments Galeacious his Speech Psal 119.72 But all that Communion the Saints have here is but a little compared with that shall be in Heaven there is full Communion there they are present now in Comparison absent from the Lord 2 Cor. 5.6 2. The special Joyes and Comforts of the Holy Ghost that the Lords Faithful Gracious ones do at times tast and partake of in this life Their ordinary constant Communion is precious but they have also some extraordinary Consolations and sheddings abroad of the Love of God sometimes when under great Sufferings and Tryals as the Martyrs whose Consolations have been wonderful and singular as their Sufferings were sometimes after long sickness and weakness and in preparation for sore Conflicts sometimes on Sick and Dying Beds Oh the Peace that passeth
inevitably lose and miss of viz. Alâ— this Heavenly and Eternal Glory that we have been speaking of For we see it is the portion only of the Faithful of the Effectually Called as Text and Doctrine tells us Therefore they that abide in Impenitency and Unbelief that turn a deaf ear to the Call of the Gospel all their dayes neglect or reject the offers and motions thereof or are but half but almost perswaded never Effectually overcome to imbrace Christ Jesus and to be his in earnest They will lose and be deprived of it lay altogether that hath been said or might be concerning the excellency and greatness of this Glory you will lose and be â—eparated from all this this must be none of the portion of any such but they must be driven away from the presence of God and fellowship of this Glory The pain of loss one part of the damneds misery follows from the point in hand To lose this Eternal Glory by Christ Jesus what a fearful loss is that indeed we cannot now tell you what you will lose It is more then Tongue can utter and Heart conceive 1 Cor. 2.9 The damned in Hell will have a quicker and fuller apprehension of it to their own Terrour than here We can reach For they shall see and know in a great measure what it is though never so as to taste of it Oh the anguish that will thence follow Luk. 14.28 Consider a little here 1. Who they are that shall lose or miss of this Glory that shall never see it as to partake of it And let two or three plain Scriptures speak to this 1. Workers of Iniquity i. e. continuing such to the end of their day of Grace they must be thrown out and the door of Heaven Everlastingly shut against them sent away from the presence of God Luk. 13.27 28. They that live impenitently in any sin that follow the Trade of any way of Evil that live and allow themselves in any in sin yea though but secretly And though they take upon them a Profession of the name of Christ Mat. 7.21 22 23. 1 Cor. 6.9 10. Gal. 5.19 21. Ephes 5.5 6. Yea they that live in the omission of known duties especially the duties of Love cordial Love to the people of God Mat. 25.41 45. and so other duties also Zeph. 1.6 and 3.2 Heb. 2.3 Psal 79.6 2. Unbelievers that never truly believe on the Lord Jesus Christ by whom alone we may be saved Joh. 3 36. 2 Thes 1.8 9 10. We are called by the Gospel and by Effectual Calling as in Text brought to partake of this Glory They therefore that turn a deaf ear to the call of the Gospel all their dayes never heartily listen to it and imbrace it never give up themselves to Christ or receive him by faith they will come short of this Glory Though you have never so many natural or moral excellencies though you carry it Commendable and are useful in your places c. Yet if never took off from your own Righteousness and from Carnal rest in the World in Creature Comforts and from love to sin to take hold of and be united to a Saviour to rest upon him and him alone for Salvation and become his forever If never divorced from all things else and Espoused Married to Christ by Faith you perish without remedy and shall never see the face of God in Glory Mark 16.16 We are commanded to tell you of that and you will find it true 3. The unregenerate all unbelievers are so but there is a distinct notion in this which may be useful Joh. 3.3 5 6. They whose hearts are not turned from sin to God and changed from nature to Grace from flesh to Spirit The unconverted and unsanctified it may take in both that are and continue such they that are not born again never have a new Heart and Spirit nor made new Creatures They shall never be saved never attain to or partake of this Eternal Glory Be you civilly Honest or morally Virtuous or pharisaically Righteous and devout or externally well-reputed as Nocodemus was yet if not regenerate never born again never saved None but the new born are Heirs of Heaven 1 Pet 1.3 4. As descended from the first Adam we are only to an Inheritance in Hell We must be new-begotten and new-born to an Inheritance in Heaven In this sense flesh and Blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God our old Hearts and old Natures are not fit for Heaven they must be new moulded new made before they come there 4. The unholy will miss of Heavens Glory Heb. 12.14 Heaven is an Holy habitation without Holiness no coming there You may get to Heaven without Riches without Worldly Honour or possibly without great parts and Literal attainments Surgunt indocti Caelum rapiunt c. As he Apud Leigh's Body Divinity pag. 230 without Earthly Contentments but without Holiness no man shall see the face of God in Glory Thâ—re must be a sanctified heart and a sanctified life yea and that here in measure though there will be imperfection while here if ever you be Glorified hereafter You must here begin that Holiness that shall be perfected in Heaven There are that hate Holiness scorne and scoffe at it why you will have little heart to mock when you shall see the Holy ones the Saints of God carried into Heaven and you thrust out Others have no delight at all in Holiness in Holy Duties Holy Ordinances Holy Company it is a buâ—den a weariness a trouble to them Why you are not principl'd for Heaven Heaven would not be a Paradice but a Prison to you a torment in that Condition Others are utter strangers to an Holy Conversation rather walking in the Company and wayes of loose lewd and wicked men than in the wayes of the Holy Contrary to 1 Pet. 1.14 18. nothing of Heaven or Holiness is to be seen upon them no Impression or Charecter thereof Why truly if you do not beg in Heaven in this World you must not look to find it in that to come 5. They that are Enemies to the Lords Holy and faithful people that do hate maligne or seek the hurt or overthrow of those that love Holiness or of their Holy Enjoyments 2 Thes 1.5 9. Trouble and Rest shall then shift hands The Godly that now suffer Trouble shall then â—nter into Rest but their Troublers shall have trouble yea everlasting Trouble instead of Rest They that have had no heart to do good Offices for the Lords People the Members of Christ will then hear from Christ a depart you Cursed Mat. 25.41 45. much more they that act against them The Godly by Gracious suffering of Tribulations get to Heaven Act. 14.22 But the wicked by being active in bringing Tribulations on them plunge themselves deep into Hell Oh foolish World they can never effect the destruction of the Godly but they effect their own destruction by endeavouring it Psal 9.13 17. What
undervaluing of Heaven not to be willing to fight and strive and travail for it or not to think it worth so doing What shall we stick at a little hardship or danger or difficulty and trouble at the trouble and pains of Praying Meditating or Renouncing our Beloved sweet Lusts and Giant-like Corruptions c. when Eternal Glory is set before us when we are in choice of Heaven the Glory of all Lands that Land flowing not with Milk and Honey only but with fulness of Joy and pleasures forevermore 2. At parting with the World and the good things of it which the Lord calls us to to forsake all we have here if we will have Christ and Heaven Luk. 14.33 26. Though he does not presently call us actually to part withall but only in affection and readiness of mind and in Comparison of Christ But if he should call us actually to part withall we have as by a particular command he did the Rich man Mark 10.21 It were a shame to stick at it You that have good Estates great Possessions If Christ should bâ—d you now presently part with it give it all â—o â—hâ— poor or to the publick so to 〈◊〉 â—â—e Lord does often by his Rules call yâ—â—â—â— do a good deal that way lay it all â—â—â—n at the foot of Christ take your fareâ—ell onâ—â— truly you must do so actually e're long bâ— â—iz when a dying hour comes and it may â—â— sooner Yea indeed a man can do no duty for Christ to purpose nor follow Christ in earnest without the spirit of this and you shall have Treasure in Heaven would you stick at it and say it is an hard saying and go away sorrowful Oh the practice of many proclaims how like they would be to do as the Rich man there did and so to part with Heaven rather then part with Earth Alas if Christ Call not for all but for a little from them he cannot get it though he offer to repay it in Heavenly Teasure more than an hundred or a thousand fold Mark 10.29 30. And so it is a parting with the World for Christ and Heaven to make it subordinate and subservient to our Communion with Christ to Religious duties in their season to daily walking with God and not to be so predominant as hinder and croud out the same but how ordinarily does the world prove mens Master in this respect that when Christ's service attendance upon God and upon Religion and the Worlds service comes in Competition the former is made to give place and crouded out by the latter and the mind and affections so engaged in the World that it cannot tend upon Christ or Heaven But oh the madness here of to set Earth above Heaven Vanity above Eternal Glory or to refuse to part with or deny neglect Earth for Heaven that is a Pebble for Pearl Husks for Bread Dirt for Gold c. 3. At the Cross at Sufferings for Christs sake or from his will at those Tribulations which the Lord hath appointed to meet us and exercise us in our way to the Kingdom of Heaven Act. 14.22 Why the greatest and heaviest Afflâ—ctions that you can meet with in this World are but light think of the worst you can even such as Paul such as the Martyrs endeavoured and the longest are but for a moment compared with Heavens Glory 2 Cor. 4.17 Rom. 8.18 Is it not a shame then to stick at them or shrink from the way to Heaven the way of Faith and a good Conscience or be discouraged in it because of them to be offended with the stony ground at Religion when Tribulation attends it Mat. 23.21 or to baulk any part of the way to Heaven for fear of Tribulation Oh if we be men for Heaven we should be above those things or being moved by them Act. 20.23 24. Who sticks at a Crossing through a Brook or swamp or Miry-place when travailing toward some place of desire or for some desirable end Oh keep Heaven in your eye and then even Moses his choice will not seem an hard choice Heb. 11.24 26. May afflictions help and further thee towards Heaven so all afflictions sactified and patiently endured does and eminently those for Christ then you may rejoyce as Mat. 5.12 SERMON VII Vse 5. OF Exhortation 1. To all to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ It serves to invite perswade and draw us to Christ Jesus to close with him embrace him or believe on him according to the Call and offer of the Gospel seeing by him and by believing on him you shall obtain Eternal Glory This further great benefit is to be had with and by Christ This is part of the Estate and Riches that this great Suitor that makes love to your Souls is possessed of and will impart to all that imbrace him Your believing on him if you believe in truth shall be to Life Everlasting 1 Tim. 1.16 All the Doctrine of Christ his Person Offices Benefits is attractive unto Faith and to improve it that way is a principlal part of our scope in these Discourses and so is this part of it also that we are now upon Every one of his Benefits are full of Argument to perswade us to believâ— on him and so this of Glorification and this part of it viz. the Consummation thereof in future Eternal Glory As we improved other particulars before so let us make a little improvement of this to that which is the great end of the whole Gospel viz. to make Christ sweet to us Glorious in our eyes and to draw us to close with him And this the Text leads us to viz. Hence to lift up the voice of the Call of the Gospel in your Ears and to press you to attend and obey it For God therein Calls us to Eternal Glory by Christ Jesus Look as by Effectual Calling i. e. by obeying and answering the Call of the Gospel we are entred into a state of Eternal Glory so as to be infallibly brought unto it by Christ Jesus So the word the General Call of the Gospel Calls us to come and take to enter upon the possession of this Glory in and with Christ Jesus When the Gospel Calls us to Christ and fellowship with him by believing it Calls us to Eternal Glory Oh then hearken to this Call and obey it That is the Exhortation that we are now to press upon you here before the Lord Luk. 14.17 All things are ready provided in Christ and so this thing Eternal Glory Come in and come home to Christ Jesus Imbrace him withall your hearts receive and possess him and in and with him you shall possess Eternal Glory 1 Joh. 5.11 It is now given you in the promise upon the first day and hour of your true believing And it shall Infallibly be given to you in the accomplishment Attend and obey the Call of the Gospel a Glorious Call it is which Calls unto such Glory and the Lord will by a firm deed a sure
promise presently make over to you both Grace here and Glory hereafter Everlasting Life and Blessedness Isa 55.3 Heb. 5.9 Oh hearken to this word of the Lord this voice of the High-calling of God in Christ Jesus you that have hitherto been stooping down to the dust minding nothing but Earth and Vanity yea running down hill in the way of sin toward the lowest Hell Incline your Ear and hearken to a motion and offer of Eternal Glory in Heaven open your eyes and see the Lord Jesus standing withall Grace and Glory in his hands and inviting to him to let out of your hands i. e. out of your hearts the trifles of the World and take Eternal Glory in and with a Saviour Behold Heaven is opened to you the door stands open before you if once at last you will be perswaded to enter in And you that have believed already sit not by as if this Exhortation did not concern you but oh believe again imbrace Christ again come to him afresh with fresh and new sweetness with more clearness and establishment in believing so you should do at every time he calls you and sets his Glory before you Joh. 2.11 and so at this time this day Renew your Conjugal Imbraces of Christ Jesus and so your lively hope of this Glory Christ delights to be often asking for our hearts and setting himself before us as the attractive object of them and we should delight to be often giving our hearts to him and clasping about him as the only Glorious Lovely hope and rest and portion of our Souls Now for the pursuing of this Exhortation or pressing the Call of the Gospel by this Argument of Eternal Glory to be had and which we are Called to by Christ Jesus Let us a little improve the point and Text before us 1. By way of motive or quickning and perswasive considerations to draw our hearts to Christ Jesus 2. By way of direction and help to guide us in our believing on him 3. By way of Answer to some Objections that tend to beat us from Believing For the first though it is God only can draw and perswade yet he does it by his word and therefore we must apply our selves to speak and hear to listen to such quickning drawing Considerations as the word of the Gospel does suggest and in that way the spirit breaths 1. If the Lord Call thee to Eternal Glory or to come and receive Everlasting Blessedness through Christ then what does he Call thee from or out of Why from a state of Eternal wo and misery which is that that we are naturally in and that belongs to us as sinners and as in our selves considered 1 Pet. 2.9 Colos 1.13 Joh. 5 24. The word of Christ therefore calls thee from Death to Life Oh consider what damnation is about thee yea upon thee considered in thy self and in thy Natural Estate whereby thou lyest under all sin and under all Wrath Temporal Spiritual and Eternal Rom. 6.23 That work thou hast done and that wages Death Eternal Death belongs and is due to thee thou art sinking under the burden of the Curse lying under it as without Christ Gal. 3.10 and it is all upon thee Joh. 3.36 ready every moment to drop into Hell lyable to everlasting seperation from God to hear that doom Mat. 25.41 Seperation from God thou hast the beginning on 't already in the result of the guilt and power of sin in that dead dark and Godless heart of thine and thy estrangement from God thereby and this strongly tends to perfect separation from God and that is Hell as è contra c. Why this should make this word of Salvation this offer of Eternal Life and Call to come to Christ for it wonderful sweet and acceptable Bread in Famine Deliverance in Emminent dangers Life to him that is going down to the pit how precious is it Job 33.22 24. It is to one that is going down to the pit that the Lord speaks this Calling word should not that go to thy heart As thou art going down to Hell the Lord calls thee up to Heaven When that doom is pronounced in Mat. 25.41 and those multitudes going away to Hell suppose thy self among them and that one should then come with a message from God to call thâ—e back again and to invite thee to go up with Christ in Heavenly Glory what a ravishing thing would that be Why then there will be no place for recovery or hope But now such a like thing is really done to thee thou art going down to the Pit among the Uncircumcised posting on in the way to the lowest Hell under the Curse c. And yet behold now the Lord Calls to thee to turn about and accept of a Saviour and of Eternal Life and Salvation in him Thou poor perishing Sinner if thou hast any mind to Salvation it 's offered thee freely in Christ Act. 16.31 Is not this worthy of all acceptation 2. Remember what Glory it is that you are called up unto or that is to be had by Christ Jesus Here reflect upon all the promises all that hath been spoken of the Excellency of Heavenly Glory which is indeed above what Tongue can speak or Heart conceive Blessedness perfect and Everlasting Blessedness freedom from all evil from the worst of Evils sin all sin that deadly and bitter evil that kills thee all the day long the vision and fruition of God that Ocean of goodness compared with which the whole World is but a drop Should the Lord offer you heaps of Gold and Silver and bid you take them freely what flocking would there be and what hearkning would there be to such a proposition should he tell you of Crowns and Kingdoms and make Proposals about them Should a match be offered to thee that should bring with it Riches and Honours and Treasures in abundance how would thy heart spring and leap within thee at the thoughts of it and you would not need much perswading We offer you this I mean the good and Comfort that is in these things and more ten thousand times more as Mic. 2.11 If poor Ministers had Gold and Silver to tell you of they should be hearkned to Why but we have that that is better as much better as the Heaven is higher than the Earth and this we lay before you in the name of our God The Earth and the Glory of it is too low a business to send his Son Jesus to purchase for you and to bless you with or the Gospel to tell you of But Heaven Heaven if you have any mind to that Eternal Glory that is to be had by Christ Jesus and that the High-Calling of God in Christ calls you to Come will you leave the Earth and go up to Heaven will you throw the World at your feet as dung and dust and go up thither into the bosom of God to have the Love of the Father the Grace of the Son the
Fellowship of the Spirit to all Eternity Why then Christ is for you this is that the God of all Grace Calls us to by Christ Jesus and this is most worthy of all acceptation The Land we tell you of that Coelestial Land of promise is an exceeding good Land some Clusters and Tasts of the Grapes whereof we have shewed you If you be wise go up at once and possess it and let nothing hinder or detain you as Numb 13.30 and 14.7 8. 3. Consider what a wonderful heart-breaking thing it is that the Lord should speak such a word of Salvation to you or give you such a Call to Eternal Glory Verily next to that Call that the Saints shall have at the last day to the immediate fruition of this Glory Mat. 25.34 is this Call that you now have to the possession of it in and with Christ in the Kingdom of Grace The Lord now sayes to thee come come to Christ Jesus Imbrace and possess him as offered in the Gospel and in with him Eternal Glory not seperating the estate from the person think not to have Christs Glory without having Christ himself nor the end from the way to it Heaven from the way wherein you are to walk thither But take altogether Christ and through him Grace and Glory to be obtained in a way of walking after Christ in the Kingdom of Grace and welcome it as the free gift of God Rom. 6.23 Psal 84.11 12. This the Lord Calls you to come and take possession of he bids you now enter Heaven and take your lot there in the promise and beginning of it And what a wonderful thing is this Remember 1. Whom he speaks and Calls unto a vile Sinner and wretched Malefactor that deserves to be turned into Hell and might have expected to hear a doom and Sentence of Wrath only to hear only news of Woe and Wrath and Fire and Blood to hear such a word as that in Mat. 25.41 And will the Lord unto thee say come come to a Saviour and be forever Blessed in and with him 2 Tim. 7.18 19. The Lord speaks to you of a great while to come even of Eternal Glory in the World to come the offer of it unto you all and the promise of it if you do believe 2. Who is it that Calls viz. God in Christ Jesus the God of all Grace Phil. 3.14 He sends from Heaven to Call you up to Heaven I tell you the Bowels of the Lord Jesus now in Glory are now yearning over some of you yea all of you as he is dispensing this word of Salvation to you 2 Chron. 36.15 We are but poor Instruments Messengers whom he imployes and sends It is from the design of Christ to seek and save poor Creatures to bring them to Heaven therefore he sets this great Salvation before you and Calls on you not to neglect it therefore he lifts up his voice that you might hear it as all his sheep shall and follow him that he might give you Eternal Life Joh. 10.27 28. That the King of Kings the Lord of Lords should call up a worm to the Fellowship of his own Glory Luk. 1.43 much more the Lord himself 3. Of what he speaks viz. Eternal Glory i. e. Grace and Glory the beginning of it here the Consummation of it hereafter the former in order to the latter and to the whole of both at once He offers and calls to it at once The best and greatest thing that God hath to give God himsâ—lf hath no greater gift than that Rom. 6.23 and this he thrusts into thy hands the thing that you have most need of absolute need of for there is but one thing necessary and that is to get Heaven to be saved forever the thing that is able to make you Happy a Beatifical good Everlasting Communion with God which is our Blessedness whole Happiness at once this he layes before you 4. When he thus speaks and Calls to thee when Earth is full of trouble about you and there is no rest upon it then he Calls you up to Heaven and to rest there When this lower World is stormy and unquiet then he leads you to the upper region to the Chambers of Glory where Peace dwells as Isa 26.20 when the Sea rages and is tempestuous about you now he discovers an Harbour to put into the fair Haven of Eternal Glory the Bosom of the Blessed God where your Souls may dwell at ease Psal 25.13 In every other dwelling there is some Inconvenience trouble difficulty pinching want or ail that you do not sit at ease some hard knot in every Worldly Pillow that you do not lie at ease But there your Souls shall dwell at ease lodge in goodness as the word is Goodness universal goodness shall be your lodging place Yea when sin had even thrown you down to Hell seperated you from God provoked his wrath yet now the Lord speaks of Heaven to you Yea now he thus speaks and Calls after all your neglects and mispence of time he is yet calling yet offering Christ and Life and Heaven to you this day this hour Behold now an accepted time a day of Salvation a day of Receiving Possessing and obtaining Eternal Salvation in Christ Jesus The offers of Salvation might have long since ceased and ended to you-ward but behold yet they are continued and thou hast this one Call more not only yesterday you might but to day you may hear the voice of Christ Jesus Oh harden not your hearts from so doing It may be thou sayest as Isa 55.5 6. 5. In what way a portion in this Eternal Glory is to be had and obtained in what way the Lord offers it and calls thee to possess it viz. in a way of believing on the Lord Jesus Christ i. e. as I may so express it in a way of leaving and taking Leaving that that is worthy to be left and taking accepting chusing that that is worthy most worthy to be taken Leaving and letting go all evil misery and vanity sin and world as attended and enjoyed in a way of sin Luk. 14.33 And taking all good Christ and all his benefits Grace and Glory all saving good in and with a Saviour This great Estate of Grace and Glory together with so sweet desirable and Glorious a person a match as the Son of God is What a wonderful offer and motion is this and how worthy of all acceptation Hence 4. Consider that they that now in the day of Grace chuse this Eternal Glory in earnest may yea shall have it If you chuse Heaven indeed you shall go thither if willing to have everlasting Felloship with God for your portion you shall have it Why if this be true what more plain than that the offer of of this Glory is free and real what more inexcusable or wilful than the sin and perdition of those that perish What remains but that you be perswaded to chuse and imbrace Heaven and Life
that But at present take some plain Scripture Characters of a true Faith 1. Does thy Faith grow in an humble lowly self-emptying spirit Mat. 5.3 i. e. humbled in the sense of thine own spiritual poverty and wretchedness so as to have no way but to go a begging to Christ for all Those whom the Lord will raise so high as Heaven he first layes them very low in themselves If ever he make you so rich as to give you to Heaven he will first make you very poor very empty lest vile helpless worâ—â—iless strengthless nothings in your selves lying at the foot of free Grace in Christ quite taken off from your selves to fix upon a nâ—w root and foundation in Christ Jesus Isa 57.15 God dwells with such and therefore they shall dwell with God forever pride shuts out of Heaven nothing more Psal 138.6 there shall never come near him they are the humble whom God will save Job 22.29 2. Is there the nature and true spirit of Faith viz. according to the expression in the Text to go no further an hearty answer of obedience to the Call of the Gospel Hath the Call of Christ in the Gospel pierced the ears of thy Soul yea doth it pierce them continually and captivate thy Soul into obedience It is a saying of Doctor Sibbs that is an excellent way of knowing ones Faith as when I know I believe because in hearing Gods gracious promises opened and offered unto me the spirit of God carrieth my Soul to cleave to them as my portion Does the spirit so breath in the Call of the Gospel as to cause thee to come to run to him Isa 55.5 Doest thou now hear and hearken to Christ when he he sayes come in the â—ord of Grace come unto me then thou shalt one day hear him say come in a word of Glory Mat. 25.34 The Comer to Christ never ceaseth coming 1 Pet. 2.4 till he come to him in Glory But if the Lord have bowed thine ear and drawn thine heart to hear and obey the voice of Christ this is sweet and clear evidence for Heaven Joh. 20.27 28. 3. Consider the Concomitants of thy Faith Is it accompanied 1. With Repentance or breaking off from sin from all sin in heart and affection and any known sin in life ann Conversation so true faith is Mark 1.5 Act. 20.21 The path of sin is the path-way to Hell Rom. 6.21.21 Prov. 7.27 And to live and go on therein to follow the trade of any way of sin is inconsistant with true faith 1 Joh. 3.6 But the way of turning from sin to the service of God in Christ is the path way of Life and Heaven having a sure connexion therewith though not as a meritorious cause yet as an inseperable Antecedent Rom. 6.22 2. With willing taking of Christ's yoak upon you subjection to his will in every thing Mat. 11.29 as your head and husband Ephes 5.23 24. that you can deny your selves and your own wills in submission to his will to him as Lord as well as Saviour and in special to his disposing will to bear the Cross at his appointment Mat. 16.24 patience is a conâ—omitant and a sweet evidence oâ— true Faith Heb. 6.12 Revel 13.10 When difâ—â—culties temptations on right hâ—nd or left sufferings tribulations perils do not drive you off frâ—â— the Love of Christ of his truth or wayes or from the way to Heaven the way of the rule this shews you to be good ground and principled for Heaven indeed 2 Thes 1.4 5 7. 2 Tim. 2.12 3. With Love to Christ Jesus Joh. 16.27 so to believe in Christ as to love him dearly and unfeignedly is an evidence of true believing And if you love him you love his truth his Word Mark 8.38 his Wayes his Ordinances his People as such hence that is an evidence for Heaven 1 Joh. 3.14 and 5.1 and when the people of God are under affliction and suffering as they were in the Apostles time and have no worldly advantage to allure you to love them or cleave to them but the contrary It may be you must run great hazards if you imbarque with them then it proves a searching Tryal Of many Professors there are but few that prove of Moses mind when it comes to Heb. 11.25 And when temptations of Worldly allurements or Worldly threatnings trouble cannot buy you off from the Love of Christ Cant. 8.7 4. With living upon Christ and by him Gal. 2.20 That you cling to him as your life have your spiritual soul-subsistance in him and repair to him for Grace to live to God at all times he is your spiritual livelihood from whom you derive spirit strength and Grace Heb. 12.1 2 2 Cor. 3.4 5. and 12.9 Joh. 15.4 5. That is a clear demonstration of true spiritual which is Eternal Life when a man lives not from nor for himself but from Christ Joh. 6.57 and for or to him 2 Cor. 5.15 5. Is it accompanied with forsaking all for him Luk. 14.33 And that may be a third evidence for Heaven Evid 3. If by the Grace of Christ we are taken off from the World and are strangers sojourners and pilgrims in it Then it is a a plain Case as Heb. 11.13 14 16. Every man hath and takes up his portion either in Heaven or Earth if not in Earth then in Heaven if here a pilgrim then his home is in Heaven Nothing less than a Divine and Heavenly good and a relish thereof by an inlightned Soul can kindly take it off from and lift it above all Earthly good For I speak not of a weariness of the World though frowardness and discontent but of a weanedness from it The heart of every unregenerate man is fixed glewed to the Word under a dominion of it 2 Tim 4.10 Ungodly men are men of this World and have their portion in it Psal 17.14 Now to have such acquaintance with Christ as does wean the heart from the World lift it up above it enable the Soul to contemn it all in Comparison of Christ Phil. 3.8 and give victory over it 1 Joh. 5.4 This is a plain evidence of one that is called out of the World to be a man of another World or an Heir of Heaven Evid 4. If we begin our Heaven here on Earth For Heaven is begun here in some measure though indeed but in a very poor little measure compard with the perfection that shall be in Heaven by them that shall get to Heaven hereafter as viz. 1. In loving and maintaining Communion with God according to the measure of this life Do you now seek and enjoy the Communion with God in Ordinances do you behold him in the beauties of holiness through these glasses that is a pledge and beginning and so an evidence of that full Communion you shall have in Heaven and of your seeing him there face to face and on the Sabbath in special Are your Sabbath dayes of bosom Communion with God That is a
you shall come to it what a joyful thought is this 5. It affords comfort against that absence from the Lord and want of enjoyment of his presence which here we are mourning under 2 Cor. 5.6 7 8. the greatest presence of God that we here enjoy at any time is but absence in comparison How often do we find the Lord withdrawing and absenting himself hiding his face leaving us at a loss and when after mourning and seekings he does draw near and let out himself in any Ordinance or promise yet it is but little in comparison and soon interrupted and clouded again and it will be so Expect not a full and satisfactory and constant uninterrupted enjoyment of God a morning without clouds here That is reserved for Heaven we shall be complaining of defects in our Communion with God while in this World But Heaven will answer and satisfie all our desires and expectations in this respect It will bring us into the presence of God and set us before his face for ever Psal 41.12 we shall then be never absent but alwayes present with the Lord I Thes 4.17 If God had not reserved this for another state and place we might wonder that we can reach no more of it nor that after all our Prayers and mournings we get so little of it and find so many withdrawings and sin and World are suffered to put in and make so many interruptions Oh it is to make us look and long for another World make that use of all the defects and interruptions we find in our Communion with God Prize Heaven and be waiting for that day of full Redemption and think not to enjoy our Heaven here But be willing to go hence that we may go to God be willng rather to be absent from the Body that we may be present with the Lord that we may be with Christ which is best of all Phil. 1.23 willing not only to trade into that Countrey and with much adoe fetch some tasts of the Commodities thereof hither but to remove thither and there possess the fulness thereof even of Beatifical Communion with God Father Son and Holy Ghost for evermore In the mean time let the fore-thoughts and belief of it now while we walk by Faith and not by sight be a comfort and rejoycing in hope that we shall one day have what now we want what now we pray and seek for but cannot fully reach Believing rejoyce with Joy unspeakable Believing that there will come a time when you shall lye in his bosom and see his face drink in the rivers of his pleasures without imperfection without interruption and without end SERMON X. 3. IMprove Heaven and the hopes promises and forethoughts of it to quicken you to prepare for it and for the great Glory there Even those that are in Christ and have Grace begun in them and have hopes to get to Heaven at last yet they may be unready and unfit for Heaven unprepared to go away thither when ever the Lord pleaseth But we ought to be prepared and the consideration of it should stir us up to labour to be fitted for it Colos 1.12 Mat. 24.44 and 25.10 Rom. 9.23 Quest How may we come to be prepared for Heaven or what is this readiness and how obtain'd Answ A main thing in it is to get a portion in Christ Get into a state of Justification and Salvation and good evidence thereof Give all diligence to make your Calling and sure But this we have spoken of before we are now speaking to those that are in Christ yea especially to those that have some Comfortable assurance of it that have a well-grounded hope of Heaven you have got much when you have that and are in a great measure ready but yet that is not all they that are in Christ and have some good hold of him by Faith have further need to be prepar'd for Eternal Glory As viz. 1. By growing in Grace Labour to grow in Grace and thereby to be ripe for Heaven Though the Corâ— be come up yea grown up and eared yet it is not fit to be gathered into the Garnertill it be ripe If the seed of the word have taken place in thy heart and sprouted and come up and be above ground that thy self and others may hopefully discern it that is a comfortable thing But alas thou art too green and raw thou needest a great deal more time and Sun and growth to fit you for Heaven your stalk is not grown yet nor your eare filled nor hardened you need more solidity and hability and consistance of Grace you are not fit for the Sickle nor the Flaile yet to pass through death nor to be laid up in the Chambers of Glory You had need improve every dayes Sun and every drop of Dew and Rain all means and Ordinances and the influence of the Spirit therein to help on your growth that so at the last you may be as a shock of Corn coming in its season And you must be willing to stand abroad till then though it be in the wind and Sun and weather of this troublesome World till full ripe and then you shall be Inn'd and carried into the Heavenly Garner Heaven is the perfection of Grace thy Grace must grow a great deal before it come to that It is far far short of it it had need be growing dayly thou art but a dwarf a babe yet it would be a fearful thing for thee not to grow as it is to see a little child not grow you must come to a perfect man to a full stature if you be Christ's and for Eternal Life indeed and how can that be if you do not grow If you be a living you must and will be a growing Christian If you be one that shall live in Heaven forever i. e. in the perfection and adult state of Grace you must grow while you are in your childhood here on Earth Ephâ—s 4.13.14 15. Think often of the necessity the absolute necessity of growth Think I must have more Grace than I have I must get further on in the way of Grace if ever I get to Heaven For there is perfection which how far am I short of and and I must press and get on nearer and nearer towards that perfection while I am in the way to it if ever I get thither Take a man that is in a Journey and hath gone a good way why the steps that are remaining are as necessary as those that are past if he mean to get to his Journey 's end If he sit down and stop in the and wâ—y he will no more get thither than if he had nevâ—r set out It is as necessary that you prâ—ss â—â— forward and make a progress in the way to â—eaven if you mean â—o gâ—t home thither as it was that you came thus far Oh therefore be of Paul's mind so the sincere will bâ— Phil. 3.12 13 14 15. Yea if we do not go on forward
toward Hâ—aven we shall be in danger to fall back to Hell Neglâ—ct of growth is the High way to Apostâ—â—y Heb. 6.1.4 q. d. unlâ—ss we go toward perfection we shall go backwards and be in danger of utter Apostacy Hence the sincere and truly gracious the Effâ—ctually Called cannot shâ—ll not content themselves with a little or the measure they have attained or stop in the mid-way but go on They that are indeed appointed for Heaven i. e. for full and perfect Communion with God in Christ shall keep travelling on till they come there Oh therefore labour after growth Be as hungry after milk to grow by labour as much for to take in the good of every Ordinance for growth as ever you were at first Conversion to get Life and the beeing of Grace when felt by a total want Yea the tast of Gods Grace should make us more intense than we could be before we tasted 'T is a dangerous thing when persons because they have got something and go for Saints and have some hope of Heaven then sit still and grow full and careless and all their prayers and seekings grow flat and slight and they feel no need of Ordinances but despise them And so spiritual fulness and security and pride and sloth seize upon them and when they stand at a stay may quickly grow worse and decline and are in the high-way to utter Apostacy But if God love you he will fire you out of this frame Oh you keep open doors of a formall lifeless Profession but what growth is there what progress or intense and earnest strivings prayers mournings labours after growth Think it not a small matter to be in a stupified withered condition rather of the losing than winning hand There may be a winter upon Grace for a time but if your spring-time return not it will be plain that you are dead treeâ— Oh be growing and if you be acting you will be growing exercise and growth of Grace go together be active stirring and lively in every duty in every good work in the season of it that is both an evidence and a preparation for Heaven 2. Be loosen'd from this World for while staked down and fixed here while you shoot forth your roots into the Earth and grow here as in your place of settlement and rest you are unfit and unready to remove to Heaven yea or to be travelling toward it It is he that is a stranger and pilgrim in the Earth and that dwells in tents here ready on a short warning to pluck up stakes and be gone that is a faithful seeker of that better Countrey and Traveller toward it Heb. 11.9 10 13 14 19. You cannot have two homes nor two rests nor two portions If you take up your home and rest in this World you are not prepared nor principled for Heaven nor fit to go thither as your home Etern I dwelling Be loosning and drawing off your hearts from the World expect not either a perpetual nor yet a long abode here let not that be your inward thought whiâ—e your outward and common word is that we must all die and be gone over a while Psal 49.11 Be sensible of the vanity and emptiness here Do not so much as desire your portion in this World but make choice of another portion Psal 17.14 15. Be often thinking of and expecting and waiting for your removal from hence into another World Job 14.14 Heb. 13.14 when under the sanctified sense of our non-continuance in this City we are in a fit posture of seâ—king one to come 3. Get inlarged lively and dear affections to Christ so as to love and long to be with him Heaven is the place of fullest and nearest Communion with God in Christ and therefore of strongest sweetest and most ardent affections to him the more strong and lively our affections are the â—â—tter we are for Heaven and the fitter to leave all to go thither And indeed the nearer we come to God and to our home with him in Heaven the stronger our affections will be to him As Holy Bradford said a little before his end As 't is with men in sailing saith he when they come near to the shore or Haven where they would be so the nearer I am to God the nearer I would be And saith he I have given over all care and study and only do I covet to be talking with him whom I have alwayes studied to be withall Fox vol 3. pag. 305. Heaven is the place of love the letting out and acting of love between Christ and his Saints and the same is begun here The more affectionate love we have to Jesus Christ the fitter we are for Heaven Hence those that are fit for Heaven are described by that Character that they love his appearing 2 Tim. 4.8 They love his company and because but a little of it here therefore they would go home to have it fully they love and long for the presence of Christ and to enjoy it in the fulness thereof Phil. 1.23 2 Cor. 5.8 Let Christ alone have your hearts your whole hearts let them not be divided and scattered to other things And if you have lost your affâ—ctions your first love recover them out of the hands of the Creatures that stoâ—e them away from Christ and be content with him and his love alone now you are comforâ—ably fit for Heaven and for living tâ—â—re alone with him seperated from all the World Oh when we have large and overflowing affections to the World can pour out bucâ—â—ts full there but scarse a drop for Christ hearts straitned and shut up toward him thâ—t we can live and rest in Creatures wiâ—â—out God or without Communion with him â—rom day to day but God and all his love and promises cannot content us if Creature Comforts fail or we be parted from them Alas we are far unfit for Heaven this is not a spirit for Heaven these earthly low carnal hearts are unfit for Heaven Get them raised to more Holy and Heavenly affections and more bosom delight in Christ then you are fit to go into his bosom and to live at rest there for ever 4. Be finishing of your work and to that end continually doing your present work with all yoâ—r mâ—ght that is a part of our preparation While our work is not done we are not ready but Joh. 17.4 5. when we have finished our work on Earth then we are ready for Glory in Heaven Now we cannot finish the whole work of our whole lives end But God hath appointed each dayes work and hours work the present duty of each season by doing that finisht the work of the day in its day the work of every duty in the season thereof now you are ready whenever the Lord shall please to come and call you that he shall find you not idle not behind-hand but doing the work appointed you in his name and for his Glory then blessed are you Luk. 12.40 42 43 44.
Jesus Christ there to whom you are now going is a good dying posture as it was Stephens Act. 7. And it is a sufficient support against the discomfort of Death Look to the Glory and Life you shall be received up unto that will swallow up the Death you shall be received through Luk. 9.51 Heb. 12.2 When you lay down your heads in the dust you at once lay down all sins and sorrows who would not part with the Body for a time to part with sin forever Death will do that for you that all Ordinances all afflictions all means could not do it will presently carry you near very near fully near to Christ into full and everlasting fellowship with him Thus manifold Consolations here Eternally serves to establish and strengthen against all Sufferings and Death it self 1 Pet. 1.10 A Letter written by the Author to his Friend in New-England Dear and Intirely Beloved Friend IT is an afflicting Providence from God and just cause of shame to me for I cannot clear my self from a great deal of just blame that I have not done nor can now do any thing for you in regard of those writings you desired of me I have and am continually pressed with variety of urgent occasions and much time in the way I am in is dayly taken up from my personal studies besides many incident avocations And alas I can do little and make but slow progress in the long race of Learning I have to run And it is my miserable guise either by wickedness or weakness to fall short of that good I should either get or do and if it be so in this case towards you it is no wonder though it should be my deep sorrow But yet considering some passages in your last and former Letters concerning your Spiritual Condition and knowing by experience in my self the reality of such Complaints I would not be so graceless as to neglect you wholly therein And though I can say or do very little yet a word or two might be of some use nor do I know what guilt might lye upon me if I should be silent or slight in this Case And therefore Dear if my barren heart would suffer me I would present you with a few words as if you and I were alone in a Corner in the presence of God! The Condition you express is the Common but fearful Epidemical Calamity of those times and places where the Gospel is Preached and among such as outwardly carry fair Convinced but not humbled some apprehensions of misery and affections now and then but not deep effectual mournings something burdened with sin and misery and wrath of God but yet able to bear it and contented to live without being delivered from it Knowing every thing and feeling nothing or rather knowing every thing and yet indeed knowing nothing in seeing not c. For my own part it is that which hath been the baneful misery of my soul even that very thing which thou say and mean ever since I knew any thing and the Lord knows how little I am delivered from it and how much of my work in this point upon which the very hinges of our Salvation turn is yet to do to this day Oh my if my heart were not Adamant I should weep with and for you And truly when I am most near God I have no greater request then this for my self and you that God would use any means to make us see things really as they are and pound our hearts all to pieces and make indeed sin most bitter and Christ most sweet that we might be both humbled and Comforted to purpose An imperfect work of the Law and then an imperfect work of the Gospel is the bane and ruine of us in these dayes Some fears and affections and then some hopes of mercy without finding full rest and satisfaction in Christ only men rest in and here perish But hence is the ground of that you speak of An heart that doth not cannot feel sin and consequently no other thing that Gods word speaks of and the wrath of God for it to purpose Cannot be sensible of sin or misery in an effectual manner Now a word or two of Counsel to you in this Case First consider the end and thing you are to strive after Secondly the way and manner how Your business is never to rest till you come to feel sin as an insupportable burden and then to find rest and everlasting satisfaction in Christ imbracing him as your own To go on humbling to be humbled and to see such intollerable evil in sin and be so burdened with the wrath of God lying upon you for it as it may make sin everlastingly odious to you and force you to fly for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before you and to have strong Consolation there This is a great thing not easily and quickly gotten but fit not down at quiet till you come to this This is the way to make all sure But you will say I know not whether I ever had any true humiliation whether there is any thing in me that will stand by me when an hour of Temptation comes Therefore now resolve I will padle and dally with God and my own soul no longer I will never give God rest till he shew me things really and till I have attained that sense of sin and Faith in Christ Jesus which is real and effectual This is the work of our lives Joh. 6 29. Let me never rest till it be put out of all doubt that God in Christ is mine own and hath made an everlasting Covenant with me This I will have or I will be in bitterness before the Lord while I have any Being and for the residue of my dayes I will dwell with them that lye down in sorrow I will have my society with such forsaken souls who being desolate and deserted are free among the dead If the blessed God shall excommunicate this wretched soul from his gracious presence which yet is but an Act of his most Holy and just severity Oh! let me find this favour in his sight that I may also excommunicate my self from the pleasures and enjoyment of this present World And resolve this if God will not let me see the good of his chosen and I have nothing to say why he should I will mourn I will mourn let me live and dye in the house of mourning If God will not Comfort me nothing else shall if I may not have peace and rest in God I 'le have none at all if God will take no pleasure in me I 'le take no pleasure in my self Let my tears be my meat continually let me go mourning up and down the World while I have a day to live If God cast me off let this be my condition Nay come to this pass I cannot live unless God be reconciled to me My spirit fails if the Lord redeem not presently There is no beeing no biding for me
A DISCOURSE OF THE GLORY To which God hath called BELIEVERS By JESUS CHRIST Delivered in some Sermons out of the 1 Pet. 5 Chap. 10 Ver. Together with an annexed Letter Both by that Eminent and Worthy Minister of the Gospel Mr. JONATHAN MITCHIL late Pastor to the Church at CAMBRIDGE in NEW-ENGLAND Rom. 8.30 Whom he called them he also Justified and whom he Justified them he also Glorified 1 John 3. ver 3. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself as he is pure LONDON Printed for Nathaniel Ponder at the Peacock in the Poultry Anno Dom. 1677. TO THE READER THe ensuing Treatise being transmitted to me by a friend from New-England with a desire of its Publication I did in order thereunto seriously peruse it and finding as far as I am able to judge an excellent discourse spiritually and powerfully managed and improved and thereby most likely to redound to the edification of every Reader all Divine Truth having an influence and efficacy into Conversion and Sanctificaton when God shall command a blessing by it upon the Soul but above all more peculiarly suited to the support and consolation of the Saints in this their wayfaring and afflictive pilgrimage I have been thereby induced to recommend it to such into whose hands it shall come being fully persuaded that its own worth will speak for it self with such a conviction upon the minds of all whose senses are exercised in and about things of another world and who have any experience of Christ in them the hope of Glory as that they will neither think their time or pains mispended in its Perusal The subject matter of these Sermons for so they were as being delivered to a popular Auditory in the course of the Authors Ministry doth relate to that Glory to come unto which God hath called his chosen after their sufferings here during their absence from the Lord. To add any thing about it beyond what the Reader will find in the Book it self as it is above my ability so if it were not I should account it beneath that modesty which I desire to observe in all things All I shall therefore say is this that whatever is usually spoken of this Glory either as it is objective or formal the Reader will find much discoursed about both to his satisfaction if he come unto the perusal of it with a pious humble heart and withal desiring to be edified by Spiritual Soul-searching Doctrine But if any shall expect those curious speculations which may be met with in the discourses of the School-men upon this subject some of which are perhaps temerarious to be sure at best un-intelligible to vulgar capacities they will be disappointted For our Authors design being rather to profit others then to beget an opinion of his own abilities though they were very great he hath avoided all such matter and manner of handling of it other then what he had learned from the Scriptures and chose to insist mainly on that which may be helpful to form up the Soul to a meetness for that Inheritance amongst the Saints in light than meerly to object to mind the high Idaea's of that future state when perhaps the heart may be wholly a stranger to the very first fruits of that Communion with God in Jesus Christ by Faith and Holiness out of which as from its root doth spring the hope of this Glory to come Yet also is there enough said considering it was deliver'd in an Auditory of plain humble growing Christians to mix pleasure with advantage As that which besides sound Doctrine and incorruptness in speech hath also the ornament of variety of truths handed out in a copiousness of expression and confirmed illustrated and urged from most pertinent Texts of Scripture and strongly fastned as nails and goads by a workman that needed not be ashamed in his service to the Church under the great Master of the Assemblies To be sure the called ones to the hope of this Glory will find that full account given of what is their own Inheritance in that future state as may be very conducing to sweeten to them the sorrows temptations and afflictions of the present and to mantain themselves under a fixed expectation of Gods promise of Eternal Life made to them in Christ before the World began without which we can neither live holily nor die comfortably Death is only sweetned to us as we can look upon it our priviledge is an out-let from sin and misery and an in-let to Glory both in Holiness and Happiness And then indeed do We begin to live when by believing We have everlasting life John 3. ult And when the tasts of it now and the hopes of its consummation hereafter are improved in our Christian course as a means motive to take heed to walk worthy of it by mortifying our sins and purifying our selves even as he is pure 1 John 3.3 and to strengthen our selves thereby to a patient enduring the troubles of this present time especially those sufferings which are for Righteousness sake which in the Apostles Arithmetick are reckoned not Worthy to be compared with the Glory that shall be revealed And withall to engage us to be stedfast and immovable always abounding in yea faithfully finishing of the Work God hath given us to do as knowing that our labour shall not be in vain in the Lord. Which ends and purposes as the Glory to come in the Contemplation of it is of Wonderful Vse to effect and perfect them So the management of this by the Author as it is singularly adapted to an acquaintance with the Nature Properties Adjuncts Enjoyments and Consolations of that state So also it is powerfully improved to the moving the heart and affections to endeavouring a making it sure to our selves partly by ministring close matter of search that We be not deceived in our hopes partly by instruction how to live up to them so as to give all diligence to be found of Christ without spot and blameless So that together with a full information of the Truth it self there is carried in with it what may make it if the holy one teach us to profit most effectuall to receive it in the love and power of it which is and ought to be the great design of delivering over to others any thing of moment especially divine truths And further I cannot but hope that God may sanctifie it to some sinners who have as yet no interest in Grace and so no right to Glory whilst they continue such if they shall to the reading of them subjoin prayer to God that he would by his spirit ingraft them into their minds to the saving of the Soul For while on the one side they view how great the future portion of Gods now poor despised ones is and will be it will naturally lead them to compare the present difficulties of Religion and the ways of holiness in this World with the exceeding great glory that shall be