be inlarged and in some measure made capable of the fruition of an infinite God As the eye of the body until it be somewaies strengthned cannot look stedfastly on a bright and beautiful colour at a neer distance so the finite understanding of man cannot behold that infinite beauty and Majestie of God unless it be supported by the hand of God Zacheus being of a low stature went up to the Sycomore-tree and from it got a sight of Christ though at that time there was no midds of a glass betwixt his eyes and Christ yet he had a midds mean under his feet the Sycomore-tree elevating supporting him for the beholding of Christ So in that blessed vision in heaven there will be no midds intervening betwixt our understandings and God for representing God to us yet there will be a mean and midds for corroborating the understanding to perceive and the heart to enjoy and delight in that vision 3. That vision will be perfect 1 Cor. 13.12 3. Perfect then shall we know as we are known But our God knoweth us perfectly to him all his works are known All our members are written in his book Psal 139.16 he knoweth all his works more perfectly and distinctly then any man knoweth what he himself writes down daily in his Diary here we know saith the Apostle as in a riddle Our knowledge of many mysteries is but general and confused as men hearing a riddle do understand the Gramatical sense of the words but little or nothing of the Mystical or moral sense So there be many Divine Mysteries whereof we have but a general and confused knowledge in comparison of that we shall have in heaven As of the blessed Trinity distinct in persons and yet one in Essence the unspeakable manner of the generation of the Son the unspeakable manner of the procession of the holy Ghost from the Father and the Son the unspeakable manner of the Union of the Divine and humane nature and their subsisting in one person as also other mysteries we know but in part we believe the matter because it is revealed But of the manner and great depths of those mysteries we are ignorant with a pious ignorance when God sets bounds we must not touch the Mount These depths of knowledge are reserved for us until the day we shall be promoted to that highest Class with Angels and glorified Saints and shall be made capable of God himself who will be all in all to us and in us there will he teach us immediately by himself as we see in vulgar Schools the Master himself and not the under Doctors do teach these of the highest Class here we know by the ministry of our senses Our common sense is the ordinary passage through which light and the species or samples of things are carried into the understanding from the outward senses But this light is very like light transmitted into a dark Dungeon through narrow bores but in heaven the soul and understanding will be filled with light from within because filled with God who is light As if a man were within the body of the Sun he would be full of light Then the soul will be united immediately to God It will be said unto the faithful servant enter into thy Masters joy light and joy will not so much enter into us as we shall enter into it by being unseparable and immediately joyned with God Then shall we know him as we are known of him Now we have but weak and shallow apprehensions of him by our trembling hand of an infirm Faith but then shall we get our arms full of God the understanding and will shall be filled with the knowledge love of God and in comparison of the weak and little gripe we have here in our wayfaring we shall be comprehendors in our Country above Though to speak simply and absolutely none can comprehend God who is infinite and incomprehensible to any creature 4. 4. Eternal This vision is permanent and eternal that glimpse of represented Majestie and Glory which Moses saw Exod. 33. was but transient and that which Peter saw in the Mount did soon disappear and a cloud followed after though the children of God get some comfortable sense of Gods favour at any time in this life yet it abideth not Our Condition here is subject to a vicissitude and change At one time we have some sense of his favour and great joy Psal 4.7 Thou hast put gladness in my heart more then in the time that their corn and wine increased at another time God hideth his face and then there is great sorrow of heart Psal 28.1 If thou be silent unto me I become like them that go down to the Pit But in heaven our sight of God will be permanent God wholly God alone and God for ever will be in our eye and heart Revel 22.5 There shall be no night there and they need no candle neither light of the Sun for the Lord giveth them light and they shall reign for ever and ever Not only will our happiness stand in the vision and knowledge of God in our understandings Our wills shall be filled with love and delight in God but also our wills shall be filled with love and delight in God Then will our love toward God be pure without mixture perfect without defect and permanent without change or fear of change 1. Our love will be pure without mixture 1. Pure here our affections are drained forth like rivulets and run toward our lustful delights and comforts in the creatures but in heaven our affections will be all gathered together as waters in the fountain and be poured forth on God 2. Our love of God in heaven will be perfect 2. Perfect Our love here for the most part doth rise from some sign or effect of Gods love towards us in it there is much reflecting on our selves But in heaven we will love God for himself wholly here our love is weak in the degree and measure but in heaven we will love God perfectly with all our soul heart and strength as forces scattered here and there are strong when they are united into one body so our affections strugling here on divers objects will be then united together and in their full strength set on God 3. Our love will be permanent even in the full strength of it 3. Permanent here our love though sometimes it be bended set on God yet in an instant it sluggs and remits of the bent but in heaven our love to God will be ever intended and kept in the full height here fear like an heavy weight draweth down our hearts and weakens our love but in heaven perfect love will cast out fear 1 Cor. 13 then will we be delivered from all fear either of the change of our sense of the love of God to us or of our love toward God we will be confirmed in the assurance of his love toward us
God acquaints with his special love The Lord sends changes in their outward condition for their spiritual aduantage to assure them of the love of God toward them as the tender mother crosseth the breast with wormwood out of love to her childe to wean it from the breast and acquaint it with a more solid and enduring food So our heavenly Father when he perceives his children nusling on the breast of worldly contentments out of love he layeth on the wormwood of affliction to wean them from the love of that perishing meat and to acquaint them with that hidden Manna even the sense of his love in Jesus Christ and by the bitter taste of afflictions outward he maketh his love and the Crosse of Christ relish the more sweetly to our souls Hos 2.14 I will bring her into the wildernesse and speak comfortably unto her and as it is in the Original I will speak to her heart when the children of God are brought to such an outward condition that as in a wildernesse there is nothing from without to comfort them then the Lord speaks comfort to their heart when there is none to visit and comfort Paul and Silas in the dungeon Act. 16. God visits them with the comforts of his Spirit and makes them sing for joy 2. By outward changes the inward joy of their heart is encreased in their prosperous condition their joy was but uncertain from an opinion they had of their faith mixed with doubting of the truth and of the soundnesse of their faith The Lord in time of the change of their condition strengthens their faith and the experience of a tried faith solveth their former scruples and makes them to rejoyce with joy unspeakable and glorious As a man finding a peece of gold hath some joy from his opinion that it is gold but after he hath tried by the touchstone and perceives it is upright gold his joy is greater so the joy of Gods children is much encreased from the trial of their faith in time of adversity 1 Pet. 1.7 8. That the trial of your faith might be found unto praise honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ whom having not seen ye love in whom though now you see him not but beleeving ye rejoyce with joy unspeakable and glorious 3. Our love to God and his holy Commandments is encreased as the coldnesse of the air in winter makes a repercussion of the heat into the bowels of the earth so storms of afflictions in our outward estate serve through a gracious providence to keep in and concentrate our love upon God and his will Psa 119.71 It is good for me that I have been afflicted that I might learn thy Statutes For Admonition to the children of God in the day of their prosperity not to rest on worldly comforts they are uncertain Vse 1 Outward comforts are not to be rested on and thou canst not tell how soon a change may come 1 Tim. 6.17 Put not your trust in the uncertainty of riches in the Original it is in the inevidence of riches that may be seen to day and to morrow take the wings of the morning and be gone When riches encrease set not thy heart upon them Psa 82.10 but improve thy present and perishing commodities to a spirituall use for raising up thy thoughts and desires from present enjoyments to a high esteem and strong desire of that enduring substance in heaven This use our Lord will have us to make of our desires to have and of our cares to keep the good things of this world Joh 6.27 Mat. 6.19 20. From thy worldly riches inheritance honours and pleasures step up to behold and to long after those durable riches that inheritance incorruptible that Crown of immortal glory and those rivers of pleasures reserved in heaven for us This Doctrine serveth for a ground of reprehension to those who mis-judge the Children of God from their outward afflicted condition Vse 2 Outward afflictions argue not a man to be forsaken of God as if they were forsaken of God It was the sinne of Davids enemies Psa 71.11 saying God hath forsaken him This was the fault of Jobs Friends from the great and sudden change of his prosperous condition charging him with hypocrisie Job 8.6 13. This rash mis-construction of the providence of God in afflicting his own dear children provokes him highly against these bitter Criticks Job 42.7 The Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite My wrath is kindled against thee and thy two friends for ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right It is well known that wicked men may prosper in their outward condition Job observed it in his time Job 12.6 The Tabernacles of robbers prosper and they that provoke God are secure into whose hand God bringeth abundantly So did Solomon in his experience Eccl. 8.14 there be just men to whom it happeneth according to the work of the wicked men to whom it happeneth according to the work of the righteous which is all to be understood in respect of their outward condition The rich glutton fared sumptuously every day but Lazarus would have been content with the crumbs that fell from his Table Luk. 18. Eccl. 7.15 There is a just man that perisheth in his righteousnesse and there is a wicked man that prolongeth his life in his wickednesse The uncircumcised Philistims and the vile Benjamites prospered for a time 1 Sam. 4. Judg. 20. Antiochus Epiphanes who did pollute the Sanctuary and bring into it the abomination of desolation Dan. 11.31 yet he destroyed wonderfully and prospered Dan. 8.24 how did the Goths and Vandals for the most part all Arians over-run and oppresse the world many years It is known from time to time that the dearest children of God have been plunged in the deeps of adversity Heb. 11.36 37 38. We must neither justifie the wicked and their courses from their outward prosperity nor condemn the children of God and their courses from their adversity the Christian Church for the space almost of 300 years was under the hammer of Pagan persecuting Emperours and after some breathing how did it groan under the Arian Persecution Therefore be not rash to pronounce in the favour of evil men and their courses because they prosper Consider the Lord turneth them up and down as a wheel at his pleasure Psa 83.13 he cuts them down like grasse when they are at the highest Psa 92.7 As Haman Esth 7. Babylon Isa 47.10 and Herod Act. 12.21 By their prosperity the Lord fats and fits them for a day of slaughter Rom. 9.22 What if God willing to shew his wrath and to make his power known endured with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction The Lord like a strong man seems to retire for a time from the course of his justice that he may with greater strength fetch a sore blow upon them But the changes that befall the godly are to purifie them from the drosse
a Table in the Wildernesse Psa 78.19 Such Unbelief in a time of a great and common calamity may provoke God to seclude thee from the comfort of the common deliverance That unbeleeving Lord who blasphemed God in his power was trod down in the gate and was not partaker of the common benefit 2 King 7.19 20. 5. Thou that usest unlawfull means to be freed of thy trouble consider in time such means provoke to more wrath Ahaziah his consulting with wizards in the time of his sicknesse brought him to his death 2 King 1. The Jews did persecute the Prince of life thinking thereby to preserve their place and nation Joh. 11.48 but such a means brought upon them desolation and destruction Mat. 23.37 38. This Doctrine serveth for a seasonable warning to the children of God who are subject to the like passions within Vse 2 Directions how to behave our selves in all estates 1. In prosperity and to the like temptations from without how they should carry themselves in an equable tenour both in prosperity and adversity In thy day of prosperity 1. Be thankefull to thy God Deut. 8.10 When thou hast eaten and art full then thou shalt blesse the Lord thy God for the good Land which he hath given thee So did good Jacob Gen. 32.10 I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies which thou hast shewed unto thy Servant For with my staff I passed over this Jordan and now I am become two bands Remember that wrath was upon good Ezechias for his ingratitude 2 Chron. 32.25 2. Walk humbly with thy God remembring thou hast nothing but what thou hast received It is the Lord who of rich and free bounty makes thee to differ from the poor Remember the rich and poor meet together Pro. 22.2 they are alike in their birth both come naked out of the womb and alike at their death they return naked to the womb of the earth the difference only is for a moment of time Remember Ezechias his pride in his treasures provoked God to give them to the spoiler 2 King 20.17 3. Walk in charity toward them that want the good things of the world Remember as this is the day of thy receiving so there will be a day of reckoning when thy Lord will say Give me an account of thy Stewardship Profession of love to God without this is but hypocrisie 1 Joh. 3.17 Whoso hath this worlds good and seeth his brother hath need and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him how dwelleth the love of God in him yea thy outward performances of publique worship and solemn humiliation by fasting is abomination before the Lord without this labour of love Isa 58.6 7. The Lord requires that thou deal thy bread to the hungry c. If God send a change the remembrance of thy mercifull dealing with the poor will comfort thy heart in adversity Augustine It was Jobs comfort in his saddest hour Job 31.16 17. c. Augustine saith well God made the rich man that he might help the poor and he made the poor man that he might try the rich 4. In thy abundance moderate thy affections Let not thy desire joy and delight dwell on things worldly Phil. 3.20 Let your conversation be in heaven The Merchant though he trade in a forreign Countrey for a time and be never so well entertained there yet his more frequent thoughts and stronger affections are on his own Countrey and the comforts there here thou art a sojourner Amidst all thy transient pleasures here let thy minde and heart be set upon the things that are above Col. 3.2 5. Of thy worldly commodities make a spirituall use as the skilful Chymist extracts subtil spirits out of the grossest Minerals so the spiritual man draweth a spiritual use out of things earthly Out of any sweetnesse he tastes in the creatures his appetite is inlarged toward that full joy and pleasures for ever at the right hand of God as a profane worldling in a Church-meeting many times hath earthly thoughts so the spiritual man even in his civill meetings in the midst of his earthly pleasures is a heavenly-minded man He looks through the creatures to heaven He can at once look both to the earth and to the third heaven From earthly objects his heart is raised to things heavenly and after such thoughts he returns to the use of the creature with great moderation as a man refreshed already with more excellent delicates then the creatures can afford In the day of adversity carry thy self also in an equal way 2. In adversity I know also saith our Apostle how to be abased 1. Be not regardlesse of thy Crosse Heb. 12.5 It is the Lords visitation and thou must take notice of him when he visits thee humble thy self before him with Ephraim bemoan thy self Jer. 31.18 accept the punishment of thy sin and justifie the Lord in all his dispensations Lev. 26.41 and seek to God by praier for comfort Isa 26.16 They poured out a praier when thy chastening was upon them 2. Be not faint-hearted this is another extremity whereunto the dear children of God are subject in time of oppressing troubles Good Baruch fainted in his sighing in a time of adversity and dis-appointment of his hopes Jer. 45.3 Jonah fainted in a time of great perplexity Jonah 2.7 Prepare cordials against this fainting As men subject to fainting in the body carry alwaies about with them some preservatives lay up store of the precious promises with faith to them in thy understanding and with love to them in thy heart The taste of this bread of life will keep thee from fainting Carry Christ and his Crosse in thine heart and the smell of his Crosse and the sweet fruits of it will keep thine heart from fainting If at any time thou faint then with Jonah Jon. 2.7 Remember the Lord and his former kindenesses He is unchangeable in his love He loveth to the end Joh. 13.1 The meditation on former experience and on the unchangeablenesse of his love is a Restorative to a fainting soul 3. In thy adversity be patient Jam. 1.4 Let Patience have her perfect work that ye may be perfect and intire wanting nothing It is not perfect in any man in a perfection of degrees but in the purpose of their will and affection of their hearts The godly should be willing in all things present or to come to submit to the good will of God Patience is joyned to hope as the Cable to the Anchor 1 Thes 1.3 Patience of hope As in a stresse of weather the more the Cable is lengthened there is the lesse agitation of the Ship so in a time of trouble the more our patience is encreased the commotion of our spirit is the lesse It is true the dear children of God may have their own fits of impatiency as Moses at Meribah Job had his Job 3. Jeremiah Jer. 15.10 and Jonah had a sore fit Jon. 4.8 It is
better for me to die then to live His fit groweth worse vers 9. I do well to be angry even unto death Yet his merciful Father takes not Jonah away in this fit but spared him and gave him grace to out-live this fit by repentance The children of God recover themselves by repentance and in an holy indignation revenge themselves upon themselves for their former distemper So David recovered from his fit of impatiency rebukes himself Psa 73.22 I was as a beast before thee 4. Cast not away thy confidence but walk by faith In a time of trouble the Just shall live by faith Hab. 2.4 The children of God in times of great and long troubles are subject to fits of unbelief Judg. 6.13 Gideon said O my Lord if the Lord be with us why then is all this befallen us Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt but now the Lord hath forsaken us And David Psa 116.11 I said in my haste All men are lyars Psa 31.22 I said in my haste I am cut off from before thine eyes Notwithstanding special promises of God to the contrary yet he had his own fit of distrustfull fear to be cut off by the hand of Saul Against such fits guard thy heart with submission to his divine wisedom in the training up of his own children He scourgeth every Son whom he receiveth Heb. 12.6 Consider his gracious wisedom ordering thy afflictions for thy souls good Heb. 12.13 He chastiseth us for our profit that we may be partakers of his holinesse But when thou hast such a fit of unbelief and canst not beleeve that the Lord in love chastiseth thee but punisheth thee in anger Remember the daies of old when the Lord heard thy praiers and thou hadst a sweet return of peace to thy soul In the experience of this say thou to thy heart as Sampsons Mother said to her Husband Manoah Judg. 13.23 If the Lord were pleased to kill us he would not have received a burnt-offering and a meat-offering at our hands Look into thy own heart and if thou in a time of great trouble fear to offend him and desire to obey thou maist and shouldst rest on him as thy God Isa 5.10 Who is amongst you that feareth the Lord and obeyeth the voice of his servant that walketh in darknesse and hath no light let him rest in the Name of the Lord and stay upon his God Though thou see not any appearance of deliverance yet rest on the power of God submit to his will and use no unlawful means for thy own delivery So did the three children Dan. 3.17 Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace and he will deliver us out of thine hand but if not Be it known unto thee O King we will not serve thy Gods The third particular to be considered is the way how the Apostle attained this contentation of minde in all estates of life I have learned saith he and I am instructed in the original it is I am instructed in a mystery or secret The mystery and secret of contentment in whatsoever estate Doct. The mystery of contentment is taught only in the School of Christ It is not taught from principles of nature is taught only in the School of Jesus Christ The truth of this Doctrine will appear if we consider 1. how it is not taught 2. how it is taught It is not taught from any principles of corrupt nature because this being alike in all the children of Adam must be uniform in its operations and so all men should be taught this contentment but the contrary is seen in many male-contents and murmurers under their present condition in the world Corrupt nature frets at every thing displeasing to flesh and bloud until it be healed by the grace of regeneration But where this secret fretting is there can be no true contentment Neither can it be taught by the moral precept of Natural men It is true heathen men Nor by morall precepts of natural men specially the Stoick Philosophers have spoken somewhat to this purpose yet they did not teach men to be content in whatsoever estate They did commend that horrid sinne of self-murther in the case of dis-contentment They compared mans life to a banquet that he might willingly leave when once he were full and to a stage-play that he might leave when once he were wearied And Seneca cals such a death a gate to liberty This is not to teach contentment in every estate As they failed fouly in their precepts so in their practise of contentment It is true some heathens appeared content in their sober and course diet of living Fabricius that Noble Romane Senator was content to feed upon his dish of Roots and he answered to these Legats who would have corrupted him with vast Sums of gold to betray his own Countrey that a man who was content to feed on Roots needed not their gold yet they were not content in every estate they could not endure disgrace in the world for their honour was their Idol Lucretia and Cato of Vtica could not bear their disgrace with any contentment but made away themselves in their violent fits of discontentment Augustine And August lib. 1. de Civit. Dei cap. 20. saith well That it is but a weak spirit that cannot comport with the want of health in the body or with the want of the applause of the people Next the truth of this Doctrine appeareth It is taught 1. By the Word if we consider positively how this mystery of contentment is taught It is taught in the School of Christ 1. By the Word of God 2. By the example of Christ 3. By the Spirit of Christ 1. Is is taught by the Word of God It is called the word of Patience because it commands us to be patient Rev. 3.10 Because thou hast kept the word of my patience saith the Angel of the Covenant to the Church of Philadelphia I will also keep thee from the hour of Temptation c. It is taught by the word of precept which commandeth us to be godly and where godlinesse is it hath with it contentment 1 Tim. 6.6 Godlinesse with contentment is great gain That is godlinesse which hath alwaies with it contentment is great gain 1 Tim. 6.8 Having food and raiment let us be therewith content Heb. 13.5 Be content with such things as ye have It is taught by the word of threatning 1 Cor. 10. Neither murmure ye as some of them also murmured and were destroyed of the destroyer he threatens them from the fearfull destruction that fell upon murmurers against the Lords dispensation Jude ep 15 16 17. Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousand of his Saints to execute judgement upon all and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him These are murmurers complainers It is taught fully by
endeavour to glorify God in the body Vse 3 Sound comfort to the Godly let the meditation on these glorious qualities of the body in the day of resurrection comfort thy heart under all the pains and troubles in the body Thy vile body will be changed now thy body is decaying and dying daily thou art troubled in underpropping thy ruinous house of clay and do what thou canst one time it will fall down but there is thy comfort it will be raised in incorruption This was the ground of the Apostles comfort against the decay and dissolution of the body 2 Cor. 5.1 We know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved we have a building of God an house not made with hands eternal in the heavens there we will get a Mansion John 14.2 In my Fathers house are many Mansions then our condition will not be subject to alterations like men dwelling in a Tabernacle and removing from place to place but it will be fixed and permanent without any change it will be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an abiding of glory and joy 2. Though now possibly there be some deformity in thy body yet in that day thy body shall be compleat and comely though at thy death thy body were full of fores and ulcers yet if thou dye in the Lord thy body shall be raised in honor and comely beauty in that day Lazarus will have no sores as the body will be fully purged in that day from all contagion of sin so will it be freed from all deformity which was only a Symptom of indwelling corruption 3. Whereas thy body is now weak and frail a little thing doth soon distemper thy Spirit and little labour makes thy body weary This is thy comfort that in the day of resurrection thy body will be raised in strength though now thou canst not go up a little hill without some weariness in the body yet in that day thou shalt go up in the body to the third heaven and shalt not be weary 4. Now thou art much troubled about the natural operations and imployments of the body for food and rayment and other things pertaining to this decaying life but in that day thou wilt have appetite after nothing but God himself and all thy appetite will be fully satisfied by a perpetual delight in thy God infinite all-sufficient unchangeable and eternal in glory goodness and bounty towards thee Thou who art vexed disquieted in this life with the relicks of inordinate concupiscence remaining in the body thou hast cause to be humbled in the sight of God for that body of death yet there is thy comfort thou shalt be freed in that day from all such molestation in the body and thou shalt be like unto the spotless Angels without all inclination to delight in any thing but in the knowledge and love of God◠In that day great will be thy joy at the meeting of the soul and the body Though at parting here by death there was much pain and trouble like the parting of Iacob and Benjamin yet their meeting will be with great joy like the meeting of Iacob and Ioseph the soul will bring down good news from heaven to the body like the report of the faithful spies Numb 14. to encourage the body to go with it unto the heavens where they shal rejoyce together for ever in the presence of God then shall their joy be encreased at their meeting with Christ and perpetuated in their abode with Christ in the third heaven and following with praise and triumph the Lamb where-ever he goeth To him with the Father and holy Spirit be all praise honour and glory now and ever Amen Of Eternal Life by and with CHRIST PSAL. 17.15 As for me I will behold thy face in righteousness I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness AS the glorious resurrection of the body is a refreshing stream from the fulness of Christ so is also eternal life Eternal life is in and from Christ which is the full and compleat happiness of soul and body in one person This is purchased by the Merit of the righteousness and obedience of Iesus Christ Rom. 5.20 21. Where sin abounded Grace did much more abound that as sin hath reigned unto death even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Iesus Christ our Lord by Faith in Iesus Christ we get a right and claim unto eternal life Ioh. 6.47 he that believeth on me hath everlasting life by him we shall be put in possession of eternal life Math. 2◠34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you After that the bodies of them that have done good are raised up and inlivened with the souls then shall the Saints go with the Lord unto the third heaven and there in soul and body enjoy eternal life The great blessing of eternal life is laid before us by the Psalmist The sense of the words in these words I know some Interpreters understand the words to be meant of the lively sense of Gods favour bestowed upon his children after they have been for a time under a night of trouble It is most true light is sown even in darkness for the upright in heart though the Lord hide his face in a little wrath for a moment yet with everlasting kindness will he have mercy Isa 54.8 But I conceive as many sound Interpreters do the Prophet speaketh of that confidence and hope the children of God have of rest happiness and satisfaction after this life when their bodies that sleep in the grave shall be awaked to the resurrection of life Because he opposeth the hope of after happiness as a strong prop to sustain the children of God in all their troubles and wants in this life against the temptations from the prosperity of wicked men in this present world to whom God giveth a large portion of things worldly The Prophet comforteth himself and all the Godly with the hope of that full and enduring portion in the other life some read the latter part of the verse thus I shall be satisfied when thy Image or likeness is awaked and the original will bear it as if the meaning were thus when I who was once created to thy Image shall rise again I shall be satisfied but I encline rather to the ordinary reading I shall be satisfied with thy Image when I awake by Image is understood the face of God which in the former part of this verse is called a beholding of Gods face in the immediate seeing whereof will stand our eternal happiness when we shall see him as he is 1 Ioh. 3.2 In the words we have The parts of the Text. 1. The time of his compleat and consummate happiness when I awake 2. The matter of his happiness and the manner of enjoying it the matter and object Gods face or likeness the manner
Iron yield to him as soon as Doors of wood This Doctrine serveth for admonition Vse 1 as thou wouldest have thy awaking be joyful in that day of resurrection look well in this thy working day what is thy disposition when thou goest to thy bed of rest and layest down thy Tabernacle of clay for as a man lyeth down to rest so ordinarily doth he rise If he go sober to bed he riseth fresh and cheerful so 1. Thou must in this life have a sober minde emptied of the immoderate love of this present world because a man dying with his heart fixed on this world cannot awake with joy in the day of resurrection as a man going to bed in his surfeit is distempered in his body when he awaketh in the morning so will it be with such as dye in their surfeit with the love and care of this world 2 As thou wouldst awake and rise in peace and joy thou shouldest dye in a good conscience hating every known sin It is true many of the dear children of God may dye without repenting particularly of some sins which they know not to be sins as it was with the believing Patriarchs in the case of their Polygamie But if thou dye without repenting of thy known sins objected against thee by thy own conscience this will make a fearful wakening in that day of thy resurrection as a man eating at evening that which doth not agree with his stomach it troubleth him in the morning when he awakes so those who have swallowed down all sin with a wide conscience inlarged like hell and did not cast it up again by true repentance in that gloomie morning of that eternal dark day their awaking will be heavy and fearful Then shall they have a desperate repentance like unto that of Iudas and shall find that true to the utmost which is spoken Iob 20.12 Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth yet shall it be the gall of Aspes within him 3. As thou wouldest awake with joy and be found in Christ in that day thou shouldest dye laying thy self on Christ and fastening thy soul by Faith into him because the man who dyeth in Christ is found in Christ in that day as a man carried down with a torrent of water is found after his death with such a thing in his hand as he griped in the way while he was alive so a man dying and in his way toward the grave embracing and clasping Christ in that day will be found in the arms of Christ for he is a faithful Redeemer keeping that which is committed to him and will present thee in that day to the father faultless with exceeding joy It serveth for comfort to the godly man Vse 2 his happy and best condition though it be delayed for a time yet is abiding him Happiness though delayed waits for a Godly man The wicked with that rich wretch Luc. 16. receive their good things here but the Godly with Lazarus receive their evil things It is far better for a poor afflicted Christian at death to go to his bed of rest without their surfeit then together with it to have their fearful wakening The Pharisees and all such vain-glorious hypocrites have all their reward in this life they get applause here from men but they shall be disallowed of God in that day whereas the Godly man looketh before him to this compleat happiness when the Lord will come with a rich recompence of reward in his hand Rev. 22.12 I come quickly and my reward is with me To this Moses looked Heb. 11.26 and Paul 2 Cor. 4.16 the Godly man measureth not his happiness by any present difference in respect of his outward condition betwixt him and sensual worldlings but by that which is to come he knoweth well this is the time of his non-age and the heir while he is young differeth not from a servant Gal. 4.1 it may be he is beaten oftner with the rod of his Father then a servant because the Father loveth him better and will not suffer him to perish for want of correction but when the day for dividing the inheritance is come at the resurrection then shall it be known who are sons Therefore thou who art the child of God endure hardship for a time yea but a moment of time in comparison of that eternity before thee And I think from undenyable grounds of natural reason there is less proportion betwixt an hundred thousand of years and eternity then betwixt a moment and an hundred thousand years It is no small comfort to have our best before us from this our Lord comforted his Apostles and us in them Ioh. 16.20 Ye shall be sorrowful but your sorrow shall be turned into joy Now thou sowest in tears but thou shalt reap in joy the hope of a plentiful harvest is matter of comfort in a painful and laborious seed-time Now thou art betwixt wind and wave in this raging sea of an evil world but there is thy comfort thy body tossed here like a brittle bark shall in that day be brought to a condition of eternal rest Abrahams bosom is a bay without winds of temptations or afflictions there is perpetual tranquility Now is the time of thy fighting against the Devil who is the Tempter against the world which is the Magazine of his temptations and fiery darts and against the flesh and treacherous enticer and wilful consenter to temptations but be thou still wrestling in the strength of thy Lord and in the end thou shalt be more then a Conqueror through him and get a crown of immortal glory look to thy enemies and be watchful but look also to the promised victory and Crown and be of good courage for if God be with us in his strength who can be against us The second point considerable Second Point The matter and manner of our happiness is the matter of our eternal happiness the face and likeness of God And the manner of our enjoying it I will behold thy face Divines call the former our objective and the latter our formal happiness for understanding whereof it is necessary that we clear 1. What is meant by the face of God What is meant by the face or likeness of God 2. How we are said to behold the face of God As to the first by the face of God in holy Scripture is signified 1. His gracious presence and good Will Psal 51.11 Cast me not away from thy presence or from thy face as it is in the first language Psal 105.4 Seek his face evermore that is his gracious presence and favour Thus Gen. 4.15 It is said Cain went out from the face or presence of the Lord as men withdraw their countenance from those who have grievously offended them 2. An extraordinary manifestation and representation of the Majesty of God Deut. 5.4 the Lord talked with you face to face in the Mount out of the midst of the fire 3. It signifieth an extraordinary yet
THE MYSTERY OF CONTENTATION In and Through CHRIST LONDON Printed by A. M. for Joseph Cranford at the Signe of the Phoenix in St Pauls Church-yard 1655. TO THE Right Honourable and truly Religious Lady JANE Countesse Dowager of Marr Encrease of Grace and Peace Madam THE certain knowledge I have had for a long time of your devout affection toward the saving Truths of Jesus Christ the recent sense of manifold favours received at your hands both since and in the time I had the honour of employment for many years in that Noble Family and the experience of your gracious acceptance of my hearty endeavours unto your service makes me bold to offer to your Ladiship this part of my weak Labour as a small Testimony of my humble acknowledgement of much duty I do here present you with some refreshing drops from that Mystery of Contentment found in the Fulnesse of Jesus Christ In him is enough to supply all defects in the inward man and more then enough to supply all wants in the outward man which can befall us from the disappointing and discontenting changes in persons or things of this world yea it is of the Lords wisedome and mercy that our waies are hedged up with thorns that we may return to our first love Hos 2.6 7. That we may delight our selves in him and enjoy that solid satisfactory and unchangeable Contentment which in experience we perceive cannot be found in the empty insufficient uncertain and perishing comforts of the poor creatures Many times the Children of God enjoy most of himself when they enjoy least of the Creature As the Sufferings of Christ abounded in Paul so Consolation also abounded by Christ 2 Cor. 1.5 He had most of Gods presence when he had least of mans countenance 2 Tim. 4.16 17 Stephens face shined like an Angels when men looked on him like Devils Act. 6.15 Such enjoyments at such a time are no other as Jacob said from his experience of light arising out of darknesse then the gate of heaven a prelude on earth of that immediate Contentment we shall have in heaven in God alone without either opposition or interposition of the Creature Hence it is that the Children of God from the comfortable sense of this love have most vigour of grace sometimes under greatest outward pressures they can glory in tribulations Rom. 5.3 And sing praises to God in a prison Act. 16.26 Then have they enlarged spirits when their bodies are under restraint As the Sunne re-enforceth his light in the time of an Eclipse so the graces of the Spirit in the inward man are the more united and strengthened in an hour of darknesse from outward troubles The heat of our love as the Sunne-beam from the hard rock is the more reflexed toward the Sunne of righteousnesse from the cold and hard re-encounters of the Creatures In a day of prosperity our affections lagge and straggle here and there seeking Contentment in things farre below our happinesse and no waies proportionable to the vast desires of the spirit of man Therefore our God in great wisedome and mercy so orders the removall of worldly objects that our affections may be retired amazed and with greater vigour set upon himself that according to our measure of enlargement of heart our measure of delight and contentment in Christ may be the greater he dryeth up the brinks to the end we may seek and be filled with purer and sweeter contentment in the Fountain This earnest and first-fruits of absolute and full satisfaction abiding them in heaven makes the Children of God humble in their greatest prosperity and patient with much contentment in their greatest adversity Faith looks to things not seen It reckons all worldly advantages but losse and dung in comparison of the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ our Lord and also reckons that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with that glory which shall be revealed in us A look to things not seen preserves the soul from fainting at what we see or feel And though the Children of God be subject to some qualms of fear in time of storms and trials yet all these will be gone as a sea-sicknesse when our Lord shall bring us within the port of eternal salvation Madam You know both whom and what ye have beleeved As it 's his will ye should look to the glory set before you and endure the Crosse So that ye should also rejoyce in the hope of that Kingdom which cannot be shaken that eternal mansion above all possibility of decay and that Inheritance incorruptible which cannot be defiled and fadeth not away reserved in Heaven for you by his Intercession who purchased it by his merit That your Ladiship may be comforted guided and guarded by his Spirit in this life and brought into the possession of that full happinesse in the other life is and shall be the humble prayer of him who in all duty is obliged to shew himself Madam Your Ladiships most faithfull and devoted Servant WILLIAM COLVILL THE MYSTERY OF CONTENTATION In and Through CHRIST PHIL. 4.11 12 13. For I have learned in whatsoever estate I am therewith to be content I know both how to be abased and I know how to abound every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry both to abound and suffer need I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me AMongst the many sweet and excellent fruits of the Crosse of Christ Contentation most necessary for a beleever Contentation of minde to a Beleever in all conditions of life is one exceeding necessary Hereby a beleever becomes Master both of the little and great world Of unruly desires within himself and of temptations in the world without It makes him acceptable to all with whom he converseth and to be admired and envied by his enemies His contentation is their bane and discontent It is their torment they cannot spoil him of this little heaven when possibly they have robbed him of his earthly emoluments It is a treasure hid in his soul that he carrieth with him to the third heaven where an exceeding weight of glory and contentation with full satisfaction to our desires will be added to the little stock of our contentment here which as Jacob said of that gracious manifestation Gen. 28. is no other but the house of God and the gate of heaven For God al-sufficient dwels in the heart of a beleever and giveth contentation to the soul where he dwels though the out-let of his allowance here to a beleever be not comparably such as it will be in heaven where we shall see him face to face and be filled with God yet it is the gate of heaven it is the porch wherein we wait for an entrance to the Temple not made with hands wherein the measure of our contentation according to the full measure of our knowledge and enjoyment of God will be full and
of corruption Dan. 12.10 and fit them to be vessels of honour to the praise honour and glory of God at the appearing of Jesus Christ 1 Pet. 1.7 It serveth for a ground of comfort to the children of God Vse 3 not to be discouraged with changes in their outward condition Outward changes ought not to discourage as if it were a thing strange In thy adverse condition examine how thou usedst thy prosperity if thou wast ingrate to God proud toward thy neighbours or vainly confident in thy worldly enjoyments humble thy self in the sight of God and if thou be humbled for the sins of thy prosperity 1. It is thy comfort God in love hath made a change in thy outward condition to change thee in thy inward man and fit thee for a condition of happiness that will have no change But if after due examination thy conscience beareth thee witnesse that in the day of prosperity thou drawest out thy soul to the indigent thou madst not the wedge of gold thy confidence yet comfort thy self in this that thereby thy heavenly Father weaneth thee from the world and this weaning is an act of love in the Parent though the childe for the time hath no wit to discern the same 2. What knowest thou but there is much preventing mercy in thy change These worldly advantages have been snares to many It is far better thy outward prosperity be changed into adversity then thy inward peace into fear and and trouble of spirit which would have been if thy prosperity had been to thee a stumbling-block of iniquity 3. Vnder such a change wherein thou perceivest the insufficiency of Creatures thou wilt see most of the alsufficiency and unchangeablenesse of the love of God At such a time the Lord will visit thy soul more frequently then in former times when thou wast courted and taken up with the complements of the world and one of such visitations will give thee more solid comfort then all the salutations and acclamations of men in the time of thy most flourishing estate Lastly Now thou gettest a proof of thy faith and patience and as at such a time thou praisest God who preserveth the work of his own hands in thee so thou shouldst rejoyce in a tried faith as a Souldier in a day of battell rejoyceth in his armour of proof And if there had not been a change and trial thou wouldest not have had the joy of a tried sound and stedfast faith Therefore saith James Iam. 1.2 My Brethren count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations The second particular to be considered in the words Point 2 is the Apostles setled composure of spirit His Contentation expressed in his inward contentation of minde In whatsoever estate I à m I am therewith content The word in the Original signifieth I am sufficient Because sufficiency and abundance in a man himself makes him quiet and content and on the contrary sense of and grief for the want of sufficiency makes him discontent and sollicitous for the supply of his wants to this sense the primitive word is used Luk. 3.14 Be content with your wages said the Baptist to the Souldiers Be ye sufficed with them and Heb. 13.5 Be content with such things as ye have in the original it is Be ye sufficed with such things as ye have for the present In this place the word signifieth a self-sufficiency as it is also used 2 Cor. 9.8 that ye having alsufficiency This 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and self-sufficiency is in the beleever himself but not from himself such a self-sufficiency is only in God from himself Gen. 17.1 I am the alsufficient God Some render El shaddai by the same word that is used here Junius and Tremel in Marg. and Mercer on Gen. 17.1 The beleever his sufficiency is in himself not from himself but from God as in the clear day a house hath sufficiency of light within it self yet not from it self but from the Sunne So the sufficiency and comfort of the childe of God is within him but from God the Fountain of all the comfort and contentment in his soul The beleever gets of Gods rich and free grace an interest in Christ and in him a title to God who is all in all 1 Cor. 3.23 Ye are Christs and Christ is Gods with Christ he gets assurance of all things needful to make him happy This inward provision of Gods favour and of faith in Christ is bestowed and laid up in the beleeving heart by Jesus Christ the great Steward of the childrens bread whereof in his wisedom he gives a sufficient portion in a right proportion for their contentment and present satisfaction so much as may hold up their hearts till they come to their Fathers house where is bread enough Faith in God and his promises for the present and hope of absolute contentment in heaven makes a sound beleever content with his present condition as a Traveller sufficiently fed and refreshed in the morning is resolute and content to passe through a barren wildernesse until the evening at which time he looks for convenient lodging and plentifull refreshment so a soul refreshed here with some sense of the comfortable love of God in Jesus Christ which is as the morning of the eternal day of our happinesse is resolved and well content to passe through any hardnesse in this time of our sojourning until the evening of his life at which time he will get a day without an evening and a full portion that shall never be taken from him A renewed man is a man contented in any condition of life Doct. both in prosperity and adversity he resigns himself over to Gods disposall and with all submission of spirit studieth to reverence his dispensation and to rest thereon A renewed man is a contented man Obj. Object That seems no great matter to be content in an estate of prosperity wicked men could be content with that Answ Answ A wicked man cannot have true content in his prosperity Wicked men are not contented in prosperity 1. Because he receives nothing but the bare creature and this without Gods favour and blessing in Christ is as light bread that satisfies not nor contenteth the appetite 2. Such a man by his present enjoyments is inflamed with tormenting desires after more Ecol 5.10 He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver nor he that loveth abundance with encrease Ecc. 4.8 There is one alone and there is not a second yea he hath neither childe nor brother yet there is no end of all his labour neither is his eye satisfied with riches but there can be no true content amidst these flames of self-tormenting desires 3. The wicked and worldly-minded man though his outward estate be prosperous yet he envieth all that have more then he himself his eye is evil because he thinks God is good or better to others he would have a Monopoly of prosperity and if he had it
ways that thou maist be found in thy Lords ways walking in his holy commandments blessed is the man whom his Master when he cometh sindeth so doing as thou watchest over thy own heart and ways so watch and long after the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and this longing for death out of a love to be with him is a sure evidence of a soul well prepared for death 2 Tim. 4.8 The Lord will give a Crown of righteousness not to me only but to them also who love his appearing To him with the Father and holy Ghost be all praise Amen Having spoken of the sting of death we proceed to speak the cure and of our deliverance from it Of the cure of death The Author of our deliverance and victory is the Lord Iesus Christ the Captain of our salvation The Apostle compareth death to a conquering and prevailing enemy which by its sting and weapon woundeth many with a mortal and incurable wound because such men as live to sin and die in their guiltiness go down by the first death to the second into that bottomless pit out of which there is no redemption Jesus Christ our Lord by the merit of his death alone hath overcome death Doct. Christ only hath overcome death for all that believe in him and of a bitter enemy hath made death a comfortable friend to all who believe in him for by him alone we get victory over death That we may understand this point the better we should consider in what respect Christ hath delivered us from death he hath not delivered us from our obligation and subjection to the necessity of dying for we see believers dye as well as unbelievers Neither hath he delivered us from being subject to sicknesses and alterations going before death David complains the pains of hell got hold upon him Psal 116.3 that is extream pains in his body and anxiety in his spirit Neither hath our Lord delivered from pain at the hour of death nor from the separation of soul and body by death But our Lord hath overcome death in these respects 1. In respect of 1. The sting of death In respect of the sting of death he hath taken away our sins and as an enemy is overcome when his deadly weapon is taken out of his hand so our Lord overcame death by taking away sin on his cross for sin is the sting of death Hos 13.14 O Death I will be thy plagues This the Apostle cites 1 Cor. 15.54 The Captain of our salvation upon the cross as in an open and pitched battel did spoyl principalities and powers Col. 2.15 One of these powers armed against us was death he took away our sins on the cross and so spoyled death of his weapon as a valiant Conquerour takes away the weapons from a subdued enemy 2. 2. The fear of death Jesus Christ our Lord hath freed us from the fear of death Heb. 2.15 he was partaker of flesh and blood he took upon him our nature that he might deliver them who through the fear of death were all their life time subject to bondage Our Lord by taking away our sins the sting and weapon of death doth deliver us from the fear of death for that which maketh an enemy fearful is his deadly weapon It is true sometimes men may fear even a naked enemy but they have no cause seeing he cannot harm them so some of Gods dear children at a time may exceed in the fear of death but they have no such cause of fear neither would they be so afraid 3. The curse of death if they were strong in the faith of Jesus Christ who hath disarmed death 3. Our Lord hath delivered us from the curse of death that to us the first death is not a dreadful passage to the second Ioh. 3.16 God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life Rev. 14.13 Blessed are they that die in the Lord that henceforth they may rest from their labours As for weakness sickness pain and alterations in the body though our Lord hath not delivered us from them yet by the merit of his death and the grace of his Spirit he sanctifieth them to us and in a gracious providence turneth them to a good and spiritual use Our Lords death is like to that salt that purged and sweetned the naughty waters of Jericho 2 Kings 2.21 and like the meal cast into the pot wherein was the bitter herb 2 Kings 4.41 The death of our Lord hath taken wrath and the curse from out of all our afflictions and maketh them useful and profitable unto us Our Lord in a gracious dispensation turneth the bodily sickness of his own children into a spiritual medicine for purging an humorous and distempered soul for bringing down the tympany and swelling pride of the heart such as glory and boast in the beauty or strength of the body do see in time of sickness the weakness and vileness of the body and so being humbled learn to glory onely in the Lord and in the beauty of his grace in the inward man A sanctified sickness purgeth out of the heart covetousness the hearts Dropsie thirsting for more of this present world when the sick man seeth the emptiness of things worldly which cannot give him any ease in the time of his greatest need A sanctified sickness purgeth out unruly lusts which are as a burning feaver to the soul sickness takes down the body and grace sanctifying it turns it into a temple to the holy Ghost The wise Master-builder useth sickness as a sharp edged tool for polishing the body for the inhabitation of the Spirit that it may be a temple prepared In like manner our wise and merciful Lord though he deliver not his own children from death yet he maketh their death to be of singular good use to them It is a putting off of corruption that they may be clothed upon with incorruption The death of wicked men dying in their guiltiness is like unto a thiefs putting off his cloaths to the end he may be scourged but the death of the godly is like unto a childs putting off the old garment that he may put on the new that is incorruptible and will not fade but ever have a beautiful lustre It is for this their soul doth groan and long 2 Cor. 5.2 In this we groan earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven 4. The dominon of death As for deaths dominion and power over our bodies in the grave our Lord did take it also away by the merit of his death and declared his victory over and our deliverance from it by raising his own body and by loosing the bonds of death when our Lord awoke from death and stretched out the strength of his Godhead like Sampson he broke asunder those bonds as cords of flax Our deliverance from the grave will
38. but desire of life should be well qualified 1. It must be ever with submission to the good will of thy heavenly father thou must say as our Lord did Father if it be thy will let this cup pass away from me yet not my will but thine be done 2. It must be out of a serious intention and resolution to honour the God of thy life by bringing forth the fruits of righteousness after thy sickness that all who know thee may praise thy God not only in his power manifested in thy bodily recovery but in his mercy for healing thy soul and making thee to grow in grace after thy sickness 3. It must be with an earnest desire to glorifie God in thy calling As Paul Phil. 1.24 It is best for you that I abide in the flesh As Parents being sick may lawfully desire to live that they may bring up their children in the knowledge and nurture of the Lord but all this must be done with a submission to the will of God Object Object May a man out of discontentment for troubles worldly desire to be dissolved Answ That was Jonahs sinful fit of impatience Answ but it lasted not It is not lawful our of discontent to desire death we should be much displeased and discontent with our sins but in no wise with the good and blameless providence of God in afflicting us for our sins It were evil for us if death should take us away in such a fit It were with the silly fish but a leaping out of the lukewarm water into the hot fire It is a weakness of spirit to fret and faint under crosses but the strong spirit beareth them with resolution To this purpose Augustine doth argue well Augustine that Cato and Lucretia were both of weak spirits in so far as they could not bear those disgraces wherein they were innocent sufferers but out of their weakness of spirit and a desperate discontentment they became Agents in their own perpetual shame and confusion by self-murder and leaving their station without any order from God who had placed them therein It is most certain that crosses through Gods grace sanctifying them are means to wean the heart of the child of God from the world as babes are weaned from the brest after it is crossed with wormwood But the main ground wherein riseth and standeth the desire of Gods children to be dissolved is this that they may be delivered from the burthen and bondage of indwelling corruption and be with Christ which is best of all Therefore whatsoever thy present condition be labour thou to be content therewith This is a sure ground of comfort after thou art once in a state of grace and favour with God through Christ Thy present estate be it what it will prosperity or adversity it is ever the best Reverence his wise and holy providence God hath placed thee in this world Submit thou to his will for the time of thy abode or removal As God put Noah in the Ark so the holy man stayed there till God commanded him to come forth Joseph and Mary stayed in Aegypt till God sent them word to depart out of it So must we with patience abide in a miserable world until the time God sendeth for us and when death cometh as a messenger from God then should we answer as Rebekkah did to her nearest friends when they said Gen. 24. Wilt thou go with this man She answered readily and resolutely I will go She leaveth parents friends and all So at death should we be willing to leave all in this present world for it is best to be with Christ the prince of life and Lord of Glory To whom with the Father and Holy Ghost be all Praise Honour and Glory for now and ever Amen The glorious resurrection of the body by CHRIST JOH 5.28 29. Marvel not at this for the hour is coming in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice And shall come forth they that have done good unto the resurrection of life and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation THe great priviledge of the glorious resurrection of our bodies The resurrection of the body a fruit of Christs Merit is also a sweet refreshing stream flowing out from the fulness of Christ his love merit and power 1 Cor. 15.22 Since by man came death by man came also the resurrection of the dead we get a right and claim to this priviledge by Faith in Jesus Christ the purchaser of it Ioh. 5.24 Verily verily I say unto you he that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life and shall not come into damnation but is passed from death into life It is spoken of the whole person and supposeth man made up of soul body also in the praeterit time he is passed from death unto life because his interest and claim to Christ doth ensure unto him all the benefits purchased by the death of Christ As the purchase is by the merit and satisfaction of Christ The application and appropriation of the right and claim by Faith in Jesus Christ so we are put in the possession of it by our Lord at his second coming Philip. 3.21 he shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned according to his glorious body In the words we have these four points considerable 1. In the words 4. points 1. The certainty of the resurrection of the body The hour is coming Our Lords Disciples and hearers marvelled when they heard of the Mysterie of the first resurrection whereof our Lord was speaking that those who were yet dead in their sins and trespasses should be quickned by the word and Spirit in these words he saith marvel not at that for not only is there a first resurrection in this world to a new life but also a second resurrection in the other world into eternal life 2. The universality of the resurrection All in the graves 3. The powerful means of the resurrection They shall hear his voice and shall come forth 4. The different ends of the resurrection according to the difference of the persons that will be raised They that have done good unto life and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation From the first point we observe this Doctrine and Conclusion Doctrine There shall be a resurrection of the body It is most certain there will be a resurrection of the body The hour and time appointed for it in Gods purpose is coming saith our Lord in whose lips was never found guil There is a certainty of infallibility in respect of divine prediction for heaven and earth will pass away before one of his words fall to the ground and there is also a certainty of immutability in respect of Gods Decree and eternal purpose for the counsel of the Lord shall stand and he shall do all his pleasure Isa 46.10 The resurrection of the body is
As in thy mourning thou makest conscience of natural affection to thy dear friend so at the same time make conscience also of thy supernatural affection and submission to the will of thy heavenly Father this consideration will regulate thy sorrow 2. Consider It is best for thy dear Christian friend to be with Christ and thou hast great cause to bless God that thou knowest where he is he is now at his rest from all his labours Rev. 14.13 A loving wife parting from her husband on the shore when he is going to another Country though her heart be sad at parting yet doth she rejoyce to hear of his safe and happy arrival at his wished Port bless God and rejoyce in this thou knowest from the good Word of God thy friend is come safe to his Port where the salvation of God will be a perpetual Bulwark against all troubles and storms 3. Consider The Lord our God keepeth the very dust and rude materials of their bodies Rizpah watched over the bodies of the Sons of Saul and guarded them against the ravenous fouls of the ayr 2 Sam. 21. And shall not the Lord who is love it self preserve the bodies of his own dear children against that day the Lord had a care of the Prophets dead body 1 King 13.24 when a ruinous house is taken down by the owner he carefully layeth aside the stones and timber and keepeth them till afterward out of them he raiseth it up in a new frame So the Lord doth keep the materials of the body until he raise it up in a new frame of beauty 4. Consider as the body of thy deceased friend is carefully kept so will it be powerfully raised and we shall all meet together in that assembly of the first born Peter James and Iohn met with Moses and Elias at the transfiguration of our Lord which was a prelude of his second coming in visible glory so in that day thou shalt see and know thy dear friends but all in Christ That superlative relation of being glorified fellow Members of his Mystical body will swallow up all relations according to the flesh As a woman marrying one that is her neer kinsman though she know such a relation yet her love to him as her husband surpasseth far her former respects she carried to him only as her kinsman The second point considerable 2 Point The universality is the universality of the resurrection All that are in the Graves The word rendred graves signifieth monuments or remembrances because graves are memorials of the dead and should be of good use for the living to be Monitors and remembrancers of their mortalitie by Graves we understand not only the lower places of the earth wherein the bodies have been interred for the bodies of many will be raised that were never buried but by graves we understand the receptacles of the dead such as the Ayr Water and Earth they must and will render up their dead Revel 20.13 As for the bodies of those who will be living upon the earth at our Lords second coming though their bodies will not be in graves and therefore cannot be said properly to be raised out of their graves yet they will be changed from an estate of corruption unto incorruption There will be a raising and elevating of the condition of their body from mortality unto immortality This change will be in the twinkling of an eye 1 Cor. 15.51 as some falling asleep do sleep for a long time whereas others no sooner have their eyes shut but incontinent they awake so the change of such as are living at our Lords coming will be in a very short and insensible time As Adam in an instant after he had sinned became mortal so all who are sound living at Christs second coming in an instant will become immortal and incorruptible in the body There will be an universal resurrection of all the dead Doctrine 2 Cor. 5.10 There shall be an universal resurrection of the dead We must all appear before the Iudgement seat of Christ Therefore all must be raised that all may appear Rev. 20.12 And I saw the dead small and great stand before God as in a seed-plot though the seeds be mixed there together in one place yet the Sun in Spring time maketh several herbs to rise from thence distinct one from another in stalk flower and fruits So though many dead bodies be sown in one common burial place as a seminary of the resurrection yet the Lord will raise from thence the several bodies every one distinct from another in number and individual qualities No new Creation The same individual bodies that died will be raised for it is said All in the graves at that time there will not be any Creation of a new body 1. Because it is called a resurrection and a resurrection is the rising of the same thing that had fallen 2. Death is called a sleep and burial places are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sleeping places Such are raised which sometime slept but bodies created anew on that day cannot be said to have slept 3. The Sea is said to render up the dead Revel 20.13 but if the bodies were anew created there would be no rendering of the old 4. It is spoken in an Emphatick and Demonstrative manner 1 Cor. 15.53 This corruptible this mortal and therefore it must be the same body that sometime was subject to death and corruption Obj. Objection Will the ungodly be raised by vertue of Christs resurrection Answ No Answer because believers that are Members of his Mystical body are only said to rise with him Eph 2.6 and they are called the Children of the resurrection Luc. 20.36 but he will raise the wicked by force as their Judge by vertue of that â—enâ—ence Gen. 2.17 what day thou eatest of the forbidden fruit thou sh lt certainly dye and that the sentence of the second death may be executed on them they must be raised So that their resurrection is a curse and not a blessing to them But the Godly will be raised by Christ as their head drawing all his Members unto himself by a full redemption from all their enemies that he may be compleat in his body and they may be compleat in their head in whom and with whom both the soul and the body is fully glorified This Doctrine serveth for a seasonable wakening and warning unto secure sinners Vse 1 An awakening to secure sinners who dishonor God here in the condition of their mortality by many vile sins committed in and by the body Remember thou wilt be raised in the self same body and brought before him who is Judge of quick and dead It will be with thee that livest and dyest in thy impenitency as it was with the Baker in the prison Gen. 40. he was much disquieted in the morning with the remembrance of his sad dream in the night time his trouble was great in the night time greater in the morning when by
good tidings from heaven and of joy to thee then all thy evil dayes will be over wherein thou hadst thy trembling fits and feavers of conscience but that will be thy good day without succession of an evil day then shalt thou have perpetual peace in thy soul and confirmed health in thy body for if thou be espoused here to Iesus Christ in holiness and righteousness thou shalt not be afraid at his glorious coming the glory of thy Lord and Husband will reflect upon thee and his spouse shall rejoyce at his coming The wise Virgins rejoyced at the voice and coming of the bridegroom in that day thou shalt rejoyce as Iacob did in hearing and seeing his Ioseph in the day of his great honor power in Egypt Our Lord with his white cloud at his coming will scatter and abolish all thy clouds of afflictions Though now it may be thou hast much weakness in the body yet in that day thy Lord will come with power to give unto thee a strong body It may be for a season thou sufferest much disgrace and trouble in the body for keeping a good conscience in an evil time yet be of good comfort thy righteous Lord will come in great glory and shall give unto thee a new name even glory and honour that none can take from thee Therefore in the sense of thy true conjugal affection unto him wrought in thy heart by his spirit and in the lively hope of the full manifestation of his love in that joyful day when there will be a perpetual cohabitation in glory let thy soul be looking and longing for his second appearing and as thou hearest him saying Rev. 22.12 Behold I come quickly and my reward is with me So let thy soul as an eccho answer with the spouse Even so Lord Iesus come 4. Point The fourth point considerable in the words Point 4 is the different ends of this universal resurrection They that have done good unto the resurrection of life and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation both the godly and the wicked will come forth from their graves but as they differed in their life and death so shall they differ in the end of their resurrection The godly will come forth as the Butler out of Prison Gen. 40. to stand and live for ever in the favour of God but the ungodly as the Baker to be made spectacles of the Iustice and wrath of God for ever It is true the bodies of the wicked will be raised immortal and incorruptible to the end they may be everlasting subjects of everlasting pain as the body of a Malefactor is held up at a Pillory when he is scourged that by the extention of his body he may be rendred the more capable of the scourge and pains The resurrection of the bodies of Believers who live to the Lord and die in the Lord will be unto an happy condition Doct. Believers shall arise to happiness and freedom from all trouble pain and all the consequents of sin for the Resurrection of Life is opposed unto the Resurrection of Damnation as the ungodly in their bodies will be fastned like condemned slaves to eternal torments they will be ever dying and pining a way in torments but never dead so the godly will live in the body a life of happiness being absolved and freed from all pain and enjoying all satisfaction in the presence of an al-sufficient God Phil. 3.21 he will change our vile bodies and he will make them like unto his own glorious body Our bodies in this life are but weak and frail a little thing will distemper them even one nights unrest Our bodies in this vale of misery are but vilis saccus servorum The greatest amongst the children of men carry about with them such excrements as should be Monitors of frailty and documents of humility and that which maketh our bodies most vile is this that they are cages of unclean birds of many unruly lusts though they reign not in the godly yet they dwell in them as Hagar with Sarah and do molest them But at the resurrection there will be a change of our Bodies Our Lord will make them like unto his glorious body and it is said Mat. 17. at his transfiguration which was a prelude of the glorifying of his body his face did shine as the Sun As the Tabernacle under the Law was made according to the pattern shewn in the Mount so our earthly Tabernacles will be renewed according to that pattern shewn in the Mount where our Lord was transsigured great will be the brightness of their bodies in that day of resurrection there will be a most glorious sight when the bodies of the Saints will rise up together as so many Suns above the horizon of the grave and time that will be a lightsome and a glorious day This surpassing glory of their bodies is described more particularly 1 Cor. 15.42 in divers respects 1. Wherein the glory of the body consists In respect of endurance it is sown in corruption but raised in incorruption Our life here is in a continual flux as one part of running water thrusteth forward the other parts so some parts of our body decay daily the radical moystness is wasted by the natural hear and must be repaired by meat drink sleep and other helps as so many props to support our weak and ruinous Tabernacle of clay as a lamp that consumes the oyl must have a new supply But at the resurrection our bodies will be incorruptible their condition will be fixed without any decay in part or in whole Then the vital and animal spirits of the body will be as pure Wine without any mixture of dreg There will be no superfluous or excrementitious humor in the body it will be as the gold purified seven times in the furnace all dross and corruption will be fully purged out and the body will be made an everlasting vessel of honour There will be no alteration in the body nor declining to old age but the glorified Saints shall be like the Cedars in Lebanon Psal 9.14 they shall still bring forth fruit in old age they shall be fat and flourishing 2. In respect of the stature and beauty of the body it is sown in dishonour it is raised in glory there will be great glory in the bodies of the godly excellent comeliness in stature and a beautifull and equal proportion of all the members The Saints who had any deformity or defect of members in this life shall have none then Act. 3.19 It is called the day of restoring all things what ever their body wanteth now for comeliness shall then be restored and supplyed Our Lord restored Malchus his ear and by the same power he will restore the defect of any member as there will be comeliness in a just symmetry and proportion of the members so a surpassing comeliness in the colour and brightness of the body do we not see in our