Spouse of Christ hence called the Bride the Lambs Wife Rev. 19â— 7 21 9. And it is the Wives prerogative to share in her Husbands Honour They are the members of Christ he is their head now the whole man partakes in the honour which the head is adorned withal they are Christ mystical 1 Cor. 12. 12. And therefore are not to be divided from him in his Glory 4. The Intercession of Christ He is in Heaven interceding with his Father for this very thing when Christ was ready to depart the World as to his bodily presence he gave us a specimen of this intercession of his in that mediatorial Prayer of his Joh. 17. In which he positively declares that this is one thing which he importunately and without taking of any denial pleads vers 24. Father I will that they whom thou hast given me be with me where I am 5. From the condition of the Covenant of Grace For though there be nothing of merit in it yet their is certainty and a promise which cannot be made void Now this is ingaged to those that serve him Joh. 12. 26. Where I am there shall my servants be That follow him Mat. 19. 28. Ye that have followed me in the regeneration when the Son of Man shall sit upon his Throne ye shall sit upon Thrones That suffer with him 2 Tim. 2. 12. If we suffer with him we shall also reign with him 6. Finally Union is the ground of Communion Hence these being made one with Christ by the same spirit dwelling in them which dwelt in him so they come to be like him in Glory Hence Our Saviour Christ puts them together Joh. 17. 21 22 23. That they may be one in us c. And the Glory which thou gavest me I have given them c. I in them and thou in me that they may be made perfect in one 3. What ground of satisfaction ariseth from hence Ans In summe if we shall be like Christ there needs no more to make us fully blessed and conspicuously glorious He cannot be ought less than unexpressibly happy in the great day of Christs appearance that shall then be like him for although we can at present no more know what Christ shall be then we can what we shall be yet the consideration that we shall be like him may afford to us these grounds of satisfaction 1. That our happiness shall countervail and more than make us amends for all the sorrows and sufferings of this life Christ was a Man of sorrows with an Emphasis he was put to the greatest grief and yet he hath a full compensation for all his Exaltation holds a full proportion to his Humiliation Phil. 2. 7 with 8 9. He was deeply humbled so was he highly exalted Such was it that the very thoughts of it before hand carried him resolutely through all that he was to meet withal Heb. 12. 2. For the joy that was set before him he endured the Cross and despised the shame And if he hath enough to answer his how then must the People of God needs have that which will dry up their tears and wash off their griefs and troubles Hence with this David comforts himself in midâ—â— of such thoughts as he had been labouring under Psal 17. ult I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness 2. That our happiness shall be so discovered that our Enemies and those that scorned and scoffed at us here shall be ashamed and confounded at the sight of it It shal then appear not only to our selves but to all the World too that it was not as they thought in vain to serve God and unprofitable to pray to him Christ's second appearance shal fill his Enemies with horrid con fusion Rev. 1. 7. They scorned him here and he was made a reproach but then they shal tremble and dread his glorious presence shal drive them to seek shelter from him of Rocks and Mountains Rev. 6. 20 21. And when we shal appear with him in Glory then they that said the Saints were unhappy men shal see and confess that they are glorious Then Men shal say Verily there is a reward for the Righteous Verily he is a God that Judgeth in the Earth Psal 58. 11. With this thought the Church in the greatest distress comforts herself and cheks the pride of her Enemies Mic. 7. 8 9 10. 3. That our happiness shal be such as shal serve 〈◊〉 to express the love of God to be like himself Christ is the Son of his love and God to 〈◊〉 that he loved him in our nature hath made him accordingly glorious He hath also loved his People in Christ hence they too must be made to know what that love meaneth That love with which he loves them is special love and not common which all his Creatures are made the partakers of and hence the fruits of it must be special too It shal be such a Glory as shal deserve to have a Proclamation made before it and Angels and Men called to turn their eyes and look upon it to see what were the everlasting thoughts of good will which God did bear to his chosen Ones in Christ 4. What can the Disciple desire better than to be as his Master As he cannot expect to meet with-any thing better here so he can hope for no better hereafter To be with Christ where he is and to be like him in the day of his appearance is as much as the Soul can desire and will be found a felicity so great that his most enlarged reaching will not be able to grasp after more USE I. For Information 1. That the thoughts of the great Day of Judgement ought to be delightful thoughts to the People of God for this is the very day wherein being made like to him they shal look like themselves This thought that then we shal be like him may make the expectation of it very precious to us There are many terrible considerations of that day awful and amazing which may well make the ungodly World to fall a trembling but the consideration of what they shal be then may take off all that dread from the hearts of the Children of God It is the very day wherein Christ comes with great Power and Majesty and all his Saints shal wait upon him in like Robes of Glory unto them which he shal be adorned withal Could we but think of these things with a true discerning of our right and title to them it could not but make us love to be meditating before-hand of that glorious time Paul loves often to be speaking of it 2. Learn hence wherein true happiness consists viz. To be like Christ The World hath greatly mistaken in its ghuess-at the nature of true felicity whiles some have placed it in pleasures others in profits others in honours Some have called the Proud happy others the Voluptuous happy whereas that which is the true happiness namely likness to Christ they have reckoned upon as
spiritual right and all their enjoyments are theirs by the new Covenant 2. They have the Ministry of the blessed Angels Heb. 1. 14. Are they not all ministring Spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be Heirs of Salvation Those glorious Beings which attend before the Throne of God are also made to wait upon Gods Children they guard these Heirs of Salvation they are unto them tutelary Angels to defend them from evil and to watch for their good Psal 91. 11. He shall give his Angels charge concerning thee they pitch their tents round about them Psal 34. 1. they bring them messages of peace from Heaven even answers of their Prayers Dan. 9. 23. they strengthen and confirm them in their secret conflicts Luk. 22. 43. and when they come to die they are a convoy to carry their Souls home to eternal rest Luk. 16. 22. The Angels carried Lazarus into Abrahams bosom 3 They have the cooperation of all things to do them good Rom. 8. 28. Gods Children are called to pass through varieties of changes in this life they meet with manifold afflictions they have many enemies men and devils that are engaged to plot their harm and take all advantages to bring it about but yet all these being over-ruled by the power and wisdom of God which stand on his peoples side are made beneficial to them and whatever they plot for evil is turned to good and though sorely against their will whom nothing more grieves then the welfare of the Saints all helps them forward for heaven and contributes to the encrease of their eternal glory every reproach and injury doth but add weight to their Crown 6. They are made Royal Heirs they are conjoyned with Jesus Christ in the glorious inheritance that is prepared Rom. 8. 17. Joynt Heirs with Christ they are as Children of the great King entituled to a Kingly estate yea they are constituted Heirs of all things God is theirs Christ is theirs the Throne and Crown that are prepared and the exceeding eternal weight of Glory are theirs and though for the present during their nonage and minority here in this life they seem but little different from servants to the observation of others their Inheritance being as yet in reversion and they mean while under manifold exercises of their graces yet erelong when they are made perfect men in Christ and having finished the work set them to do in this World shall be brought to take full possession of their own it shall then be known what happy ones they are 4. For the evidence of the Doctrine or wherein it appears that they are now the Sons of God notwithstanding their present despicable condition here take only two Conclusions 1. There is nothing in their present mean and despicable estate but what is well enough consistent with their Sonship though they are hated despised persecuted afflicted and every way as low and mean as is to be imagined For 1. That the World hates them is rather an evidence of their Sonship than any Argument against it as being an exercise and discovery of that enmity which God hath put between the seed of the Serpent of the Woman The Devil who is the Father of ungodly Men is Gods great Enemy and the ringleader of Rebellion against him and no wonder since he cannot touch God in his Being if Hell rise up against him and oppose him in his Children It is true that wicked men do not know them to be certainly the Children of God for the world know us not ver 1. but they know them to be other kind of men from themselves and for this reason they hate and persecute them our Saviour foretold his Disciples that they must expect to meet this measure from the World and gives the reason Mat. 10. 22. Ye shall be hated of all men for my Name sake it is for the profession which they make and the glory of God which they are bound for that they are hated and scorned in the World 2. That God suffers the World to afflict and persecute them denies not his fatherly care of them for in this very thing he makes men and devils to serve them there is no Saint that ever was or ever shall be a loser by all that Gods and his Enemies shall do against him and that because what they intend for harm God evermore by a powerful over-ruling providence turns for their good his Graces are hereby tried and made to shine forth and that trial proves to be much better than that of God 1 Pet. 1. 7. God hereby puts an advantage into his hands to glorifie him and testifying his love and sincerity to him in chearfully suffering all things for his Name and Faith at such a time teacheth him to rejoyce that he may be counted worthy for this so did the Apostles when scourged before the Council Act. 5. 41. and when wicked men have done their worst to the Children of God they do but prepare for them a glorious Chariot to ride home in tryumph to the City of God 3. That they are low and mean in the world is not because God loves wicked men better than he loves them whom he suffers to flourish and abound in all delights to live at ease and die without bands but because such a condition in this life is usually best for them and still when they are most distressed poor and bare they are his chosen they are rich because God himself is their portion and a Kindom is prepared for them Jam. 2. 6. as long as they are here they are from home they are Strangers and Pilgrims and it is safest for them to be so and still that remains to be a great truth Psal 37. 16. A little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked better because it is his own and he hath it with Gods favour and love 4. That God is often angry with them afflicts them and withdraws the light of his countenance from them and puts them to grief is not because he loves them not but because it is that which their present condition requires they are but Children and childish and foolish and if they were not sometimes chastened they would grow wanton and careless of Duty a Fathers love is evidenced as well in correcting a wanton child as in providing for him God doth it to shew his love Heb. 12. 6. Whom he loves he corrects he doth it for the saving of their Souls 1 Cor. 11. 32. Ye are judged of the Lord that ye may not be condemned with the World when the time comes that all their sin is done away then they shall sorrow no more so that in all this way how dark soever it seems to be God is guiding them by counsel that he may bring them to glory 2. In this mean and despised estate of theirs God is pleased to be giving of them many testimonies and clear evidences of their Sonship As 1. Their fellowship
this great Truth affords you encouragement and comfort to think that though the World despise and reject you yet God owns you though they count you abject and base as the very off-scouring of the earth yet that he looks upon you as his Children having adopted you as his own and put his Name upon you so it may teach you these Lessons 1. Love God with a filial affection He deserves your best love who hath shewen you such love as this is Context vers 1. Behold It calls for attention observation and admiration What manner of love It is a love which your hearts cannot comprehend it is so great so strange that ever sinners should be taken so near to the great God Let your love meet it Hence 1. Love his Honour and Glory Nothing can grieve a Child more than to see his Parents vilified and hear them evil spoken of and their names traduced How then should it grieve the Children of God to see and hear what woful dishonour is cast upon his glorious Name by the profane lives and speeches of wicked men this was David's overwhelming grief Psal 119. 136. Rivers of tears run down mine eyes because men keep not thy Law 2. Love fellowship or communion with him Love to draw near him in all those wayes in which he reveales himself and holds correspondence with his own People Take delight in Ordinances and spiritual Duties value one day in the house of God better than a thousand elsewhere be willing to go through all difficulties and if called to it endure calamities that you may enjoy the presence of God Get to be able sincerely to make David's profession Psal 119 136. Lord I have loved the habitation of thine House and the place where thine honour dwelleth 3. Love his Image wheresoever you see it We look often and with great content upon the Pictures of those on whom our hearts are set There are those here in the World that are more than Pictures the Saints are living Images of the Lord we may see in them not only the likness to but the shining reflection of his communicated perfections Hence we should love the Saints as they are Gods Children and our fellow brethren so did David Psal 16. 2. The Saints in whom is all my delight 5. Love his commands The dutiful Child loves that his father should be calling for his service and is glad at the heart when any thing that he doth can find acceptance and give content How doth David love the law He cannot express it Psal 110. 96. How sweet and precious is it to him Psal 19. 9 10. Do not reckon it to be your burden but your priviledge that your heavenly Father will honour you so much who needs it not as to imploy you about any thing for him And though it be the meanest service yet because it is for him account it honourable true love will stoop low to express it self to the beloved 2. Serve God with a filial subjection It s the Apostles counsel 1 Pet. 1. 14. As obedient Children c. There is a great difference between the service of a Child and that of a servant Shew your selves the Children of God 1. By hearkening unto him in whatsoever he hath to say unto you How diligent should Children be to listen whither their Parents call them or no And what attention ought they to yeild unto them when they speak to or command them in any matter Eâ—e God in his providences consider what is his mind therein hear the rod and him that hath appointed it hearken to him in his word and make a particular application to your own souls of all those counsels aâ—d directions which are given in his Ordinances from one time to another II. Readily embrace his will and without grumbling or repining go about every work of God which you are called unto chearfully It is a note of great disobedience of heart and a thing very grievous unto their Parents when they see that their Children go about their doing of any thing that they are commanded with an ill will How acceptable must it needs be unto God when his Children do their duty so as in the manner of their doing it they make it to appear that they take great satisfaction in it Herein we shew our selves to be like Christ our elder Brother who rejoyced to do his Fathers will Psal 40. 7. 3. Endeavour in all things so to carry it that such as take notice of you may see and know whose Children you are Bear alwayes about with you the Image of God and labour after an evident representation of his perfections in your whole conversation Mat. 5. ult Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect Remember that as there is a real so there ought to be a manifest difference between the Children of God and the Children of the Devil 1 Joh. 3. 9. In this the Children of God are manifested It is therefore your part to be alwayes shewing the difference And to that end have a care of conforming your selves in the sinful and carnal courses and customs of the world Be not afraid no nor ashamed to run in a stream quite contrary to theirs And for this be observant of the rules of Gods word where you may learn to cleanse your way and regulate your lives sutable to your relation And hence 1. Shew your selves the Children of God by an holy life and conversation 1 Pet. 1. 15 16. As he that hath called you is holy so be ye also holy c. Live contrary to the worlds filthiness they love to be wallowing in the mire of fleshly lust to be polluting themselves with sin do you abstain from the very appearance â—â— any such thing God is most holy and he loves purity and hates filthiness and when we do so to and shew that we do so in our practical conversation then do we shew our selves to be like him It is a very great shame that the Sons of God should have fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness that believers should be overtaken with the like excesses of riot drunkenness wantonness c. with unbelievers this is a great disgrace to the high and honourable calling of the Children of God holiness becomes his Saints let then the shine of his Graces irradiat your loves 2. By expressing an holy confidence in God in all the cases and concernments of your lives In trouble affliction Persecution distress contrary to those cares and perplexities of the men of the world which eat them up and declare that they have no further to rely upon we then honour God and bring credit to Religion when we can at all times cast our care upon him believing in his power and promise in our sorest distress thus did David when he was reduced to the greatest imaginable difficulties 1. Sam. 30. 6. He encouraged himself in the Lord. 3. By a constant application of your selves to God in all your cases Children especially
The Child's Portion Or the unseen GLORY Of the Children of God Asserted and proved Together with several other SERMONS Occasionally Preached and now published By Samuel Willard Teacher of a Church in Boston New-England Psal 42. 11. Why art thou cast down Oh my Soul and why art thou disquieted within me hope thou in God for I shall yet praise him who is the health of my Countenance and my God BOSTON in NEW-ENGLAND Printed by Samuel Green and are to be sold by Samuel Phillips at the West end of the Town-house 1684 Christian Reader THough it be a fault over common for men to pick a quarrel with the present times for being worse than those that went before reproved by the Wise Man Eccles 7. 10. When men have more reason to fall out with themselves for making the times so bad yet it is certain that the al wise Providence of an holy God brings many changes over the World and his People in it There are times when the Churches have rest are edified and multiplied and there are times when iniquity abounds and Persecution ariseth and Gods People are scattered What these times are into which we are now fallen is obvious to him that will not shut his eyes It is the happiness of the true fearers of God that he hath provided them consolations strong enough to hold up their heads above water when the waves rise highest and the raging billows make the greatest noise When the Earth and all in it will afford us no comfort then heaven can And as it is our wisdom to be laying up treasures beyond Death and the Grave out of the reach of time and change so it is our interest to be strengthening our faith and corroborating our hope by such things as all the malice of Men and Devils cannot pluck away from us The time is coming when every mans foundation shall be tryed he only that is built upon the Rock shall then stand To be able in an evil day to sit still with an undaunted courage and calm serenity upon our spirit is a great felicity The only way to do this is to be able to trust in the Lord and with all grounded confidence to rely upon his Power goodness and fidelity This is no common thing but the priviledge only of a few and those such whom God having set his Love upon them in Christ hath taken to be his possession and listed in the number of his Children To be of this number is to be happy indeed to know our selves so is a beam of light so full of refreshment that nothing but heaven and glory can afford any more satisfying Could we draw all the water out of this Well it would make us to think our selves in Heaven before we come there But the Well is deep and our line too short and bucket too shallow whence they are but sips and small draughts we here obtain Some of these you may possibly find in the ensuing discourse And had my skill answered my desires and the excellency of the subject they had been far larger and more refreshing Yet I trust God affording his blessing with them they may not be altogether fruitless And may they but perswade either strangers to labour after son-ship or Children to be more comforted and strengthned to all patience by the consideration of their wonderful relation to the great God I shall not have laboured in vain Think not that I have hâ—perbolized in any particulars no the one half is not told you nor can by the tongue of man here and because I was not able to pourtray I have but drawn a vail upon this glorious priviledge think it to be infinitely more excellent than all that is said of it and live accordingly Of the following Sermons I shall only say thus much They were through grace profitable to some in the preaching whose desire and hoâ—es of their being further profitable if Printed gave occasion to the Publication of them which that they may so be and that the Author may be serviceable in his generation to the glory of God and good of Souls your Prayers are earnestly requested to him from whom every good and perfect gift descends By your Servant in and for Christ S. W. I JOHN III. II. Beloved now are we the Sons of God and it doth not yet appear what we shall be but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is NOt to seek far for the coherence of these Words we may only take notice of thus much that the Apostle having in the latter part of the foregoing Chapter warned those he writes to of Antichrist declared that there were many even at that time in the World and given such a Character of them as might serve easily to make them known describing of them by their defection from the Doctrine of the Gospel and particularly their denying of Christ he from thence takes an occasion at ver 24. to Exhort them to Constancy in maintaining the Faith which they had received at their first embracing of the Christian Religion unto which Exhortation further to quicken and encourage them so to do he adds divers Arguments by way of motive one of which is taken from the consideration of their Adoption prefented and pressed in the three first verses of this Chapter in the urging of which Argument he 1. 〈◊〉 it to their consideration as an Argument and Demonstration of Gods inexpressible love to them ver 1. Behold what manner of love and such love requires great fidelity in those that partake in it 2. Obviates an Objection which might be framed against it viz. if we are such and so beloved how is it then that we are so contemned and trampled upon by the World as those that are of no value but a meer off-scouring he gives a satisfactory reason for this because of the ignorance of the Men of the World they know not God and therefore they do not acknowledge his Children if they knew him they could not but see his Image in them but because they do not therefore are they not competent Judges nor are we to be discouraged though they reject and persecute us ver 1. 3. Asserts their Son-ship notwithstanding this Text wherein he tacitly insinuates that if we would make a true judgement of our state we must not then call in sence to umpire it but conclude according to the Rules of Faith Hence 4. Shews that the Sons of God are at present under a disguise and look not like themselves but withal hints that there is a time coming when they shall Text. 5. Urgeth the hope of such a discovery or manifestation of the Sons of God as a sufficient Argument to press us to piety and purity ver 3. Every man that hath this hope in him c. q. d. this hope hath enough in it to settle us and keep us from shaking The words of the Text are a fixt Conclusion
their souls he gives them cordials of comfort communicates unto them the sips and foâ—e tasts of glory fills them with inward joyes and refreshings God by his spirit comes into the heart and taking possession of it for himself makes known his love there which produceth joy unexpressible this benefit is also a part of Glorification it is something of Heaven meeting us in our way it is a bunch of those Gâ—apes which grow in the celestial Canaan brought us to tast of in the Wilderness but the application of it is by the spirit of Adoption and that is that which the Scripture calls the earnest of the inheritance 4. They are made to partake in Christian liberty Joh. 8. 36. If the Son therefore shall make you free you are free indeed which liberty is not as vain men would have it a freedome to live as they list a liberty discharging them from holy Obedience to the commanding power of the Law of God and withal bidding them to trust in Christ for life and salvation as Libertines plead but it is an holy spiritual Liberty a Liberty from Bondage or Servitude Gal. 4. 7. viz. 1. From the servitude of the Law not from the regulating power of it for it still remains to be the directory of the People of God in their whole course and hath the strongest tye to obedience that can be from the Gospel Joh. 14. 15. If ye love me keep my Commandment nay whatsoever flesh may plead to the contrary it is certain that so to be losed from the Law were not a priviledge but a misery but it is a freedome from slavish subjection to the Law i. e. 1. From the servitude of the Law or condemning power of it from the thundring curses of it Gal. 3. 13. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law The Law hath doomed all its offenders to eternal death and by the sentence of it they are held under guilt but Gods Adopted are set at liberty from this doom it speaks nothing that needs to appall them there is no spirit of bondage in it to them they are not under the law as a Judge but only as a Guid a Light and a Lamp 2. From any dependance upon the Law for happiness in a way of works or doings Rom. 3. 28. We conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the Law This is a miserable bondage to fallen man thus to depend upon the Law Because it presents those that are under it every day with that which may assure them thâ—â— after all their labour and pains taken in legal obedience they shall certainly lose all and finally fall short of Blessedness for by the deeds of the Law shall no flesh be justified for by the Law is the knowledge of sin Rom. 3. 20. 3. From servile Obedience to the Law their service is now a service of love for faith worketh by love before this he had the workings and stirrings of his Conscience which by amazing terrors and dismal frights drave him to the performance of known duty and restrained him from the commission of many erronious sins but all this was against his will and glad he would have been might he but have enjoyed some relaxation but now the case is altered and he takes delight in the Law of God and it is a great pleasure to him to be found exercising of himself therein Psal 1. 2. 2. From sin Rom. 6. 7. For he that is dead is freed from sin Hence that 1 John 3. 9. Whatsoever is born of God doth not commit sin not but that there are the remainders of active and stirring corruption to be found in the best of Gods Children as long as they bear about with them a body of Death and hence Paul's so earnest complaints Rom. 7. But 1. Though sin be in him yet it reigns not Rom. 6. 12. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body it hath not the full compliance of the heart with it but whenever it gains upon him it is by leading of him captive Rom. 7. 23. he is enthralled by it and that appears because he is grieved at it as one that is taken a Prisoner by his Enemy and hence he sighs and groans for a delivery ver 24. 2. Though sin be yet God imputes it not 2 Cor. 5. 29. Not imputing their trespasses unto them the sin of Gods Children being set upon the account of Jesus Christ it is no longer charged upon them for God having taken full satisfaction for it at his hands and he having answered for it we are righteous in his account 3. Though sin be yet it shall never condemn them Rom. 8. 1. There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus he complains of the presence and oppression of it Cap. 7. but is here comforted against the condemning efficacy of it he is freed from the dominion of that slavish Spirit or spirit of bondage and needs not to go up and down in fear of suffering the eternal weight of Gods wrath 3. From the World 1 Joh. 5. 4. Whatsoever is born of God overcometh the World they are delivered and kept from being drawn away with those snares baits and temptations and terified with those threatnings which the World sets before them hence they have such liberty of spirit granted them that they can both trample in disdain upon the large proffers of the World to seduce them by from their profession and undauntedly hold up their hands against all the menaces that are made against them 4. A liberty to serve God For 1. That opposition which was in their hearts against God is taken down and they are brought under voluntary obedience to his Holy Will their wills that were disordered are set in their right place again 1 Pet. 4. 1 2. 2. They love God and all his wayes yea they dearly love him Psal 18. 1. their whole soul is now devoted to him and his service 3. They perform filial obedience to God 1 Pet. 1. 14. As obedient Children they have not only the state and condition of Sons conferred upon them but also the hearts of Children put into them Hence Adoption comes in upon Conversion 5. All the creatures of God as it were put under them being used by him for their service and that in three respects 1. They have the service of the good things of God 1 Cor. 3. 20. All is yours they are made beneficial to them they are their own all that a Believer enjoys in this life he may truly call his own as he is a child of God the right using of the Creatures is again enlarged and restored unto them wicked men indeed have an outward civil right a providential right but still they are liable to answer for all they have and by their misusing of these things and dishonouring of God by them they encrease their condemnation and lay up for themselves treasures of wrath Rom. 2. 4 5. but they have a
and take the blame and shame of my sins upon my self and if he be angry I will bear it because I have sinned I will yeild my self to his pleasure and receive his stroaks and I know they shal be wounds which shal not kill but heal my Soul I will confess and not cover my sins and so ly down before him and let him say what he will unto me I will still say good is the word of the Lord and if he be wroth with me for a little season I will wait till it be overpast because I know assuredly that his love to me shal endure for ever 5. When you are strongly oppressed with the slavish fear of Death When the fore thoughts of your going out of this world are distressing thoughts to your mind especially being either by gray hairs those Blossoms of the Grave or by pining sicknesses c. by the dangers of troublesome times growing warned of the probable nearness and approach of it and you are hereby put out of frame and greatly hurried and disquieted in your spirits think now and meditate But was ever a Child unwilling to go home especially where he knew that he should have all things according to his hearts desire and was at present under manifold troublesome exercises Is rest a thing so unwelcome or ungrateful to the weary man why then should I shrink from it Did not my dearest Saviour comfort himself with this thought when he drew near to a most cruel and bitter Death yet he was going to his Father and my Father And am I unwilling to go to my Fathers House to that Pallace and Court where I who have been a stranger all this while in a strange Country going under a disguise so as the World I live in knows me not and therefore despiseth and persecuteth me shall be set forth and adorned like the Child of a King And what Is it a thing so hard to bear and that which should make me to draw back and fly from it is to be stript out of these rags of mortality this dirty defiled garment of flesh and to receive in exchange for it those Princely Robes of Glory and be made to appear in such Oriency and splendor as will out-shine the light of the Sun in the firmament And is this the thing I am so much afraid of Is it this at which my thoughts do so much start and give back No no I will not fear but make all the hast I can that I may in due season finish my work and go home The World is weary of me and would gladly part with me and I am as weary of it and as willing to leave it And were it not that I have a little work to do for the glory of my God and Father here I could be content forthwith to be gone However I am willing to tarry on his business but when my Father shal please to call I will say Lord here am I and in the mean while I will wait till my chang comes 5. Be alwayes comforting of your selves with the thoughts of your Adoption Draw your comforts at this Tap fetch your Consolations from this relation be therefore often chewing upon the precious priviledges of it and make them your rejoycing Hence 1. Let this joy out-strip the verdure of every other joy let all earthly delights and pleasures as it were wither before it There are many things in which it is lawful to take some content many things which God hath appointed to give us some comfort in this life but all these delights should like starrs disappear before this Sun Luk. â—0 20. In this rejoyce not that the spirits are subâ—â—ct to you but rather rejoyce that your Names are written in Heaven Count all other things comparatively not deserving the boasting of Psal 4. 7. 2. Let this joy dispel the mists of every sorrow and clear up your souls in the midst of all troubles and difficulties With it David labours to get his heart up Psal 42. ult Dwel therefore much upon these thoughts who it is that hath owned you for his Child The great God What he hath done for you viz. Taken you under his care given you his Spirit set you aâ— liberty from thraldome confirmed you in a title to all his good things bestowed upon you a Royal Guard of glorious Angels And what he intends to do having assured you of it by promise and will ere long accomplish it Live in the midst of your Priviledges and Dignities and be sucking the sweet out of them Live above the World above sin above life above Death let nothing terrifie you nothing perplex nor stumble you you are Children and then Heirs and then you may well reckon all sufferings as inconsiderable things and triumphantly wait and joyfully look for the manifestation of the Children of God who when they shal be brought forth in their Royalty at the second coming of Christ shal be the wonder and astonishment of Angels wicked Men and Devils And it doth not yet appear what we shall be Our Apostle having thus encouraged those unto whom he writes to constancy in their Faith and to stand it out in opposition unto Antichrist and all the seductions of such as would pervert them and that by the consideration of their sonship and the Glorious dignity of it and laboured to perswade them in the belief of the verity of it by a bold and confident conclusion asserting it to be so In these and the remaining words of the Vers he obviates anâ— objection which the Children of God may be 〈◊〉 ready in an hour of Temptation to raise viz. If we are Sons as you say we be how comes it to pass then that we are so treated in the world and that God seems to take so little care of us that our outward condition here is not better but rather much worse than the condition of other men We are persecuted reviled trodden upon and our spiritual condition also is full of trouble and Temptation as if God did not regard us at all We are outwardly mean and sorrowful and inwardly molested and is this the way in which God is wont to treat his Children If we are his Sons he seems to deal better with his enemies than with his Sons Thus we find Asaph was once tempted Psal 73. Thus Rebeckah when the Children strugled in her womb was ready to say If the Lord be with me why is it thus That he may either prevent or remove this difficulty the Apostle layes down two conclusions 1. That the time is not as yet come for the manifestation of that happiness whereof they are the undoubted Heirs 2. He declares what their glorious estate shal be when that time doth come It is the first of these we have under our present consideration These words relate to the foregoing by way of Prolepsis and hence the copulative And is put for the exceptive but â—s is frequent in that Language The words
Countenance those inward supports of heart that sweet communion which their Souls have with God in an Ordinance in hearing the Word at a Sacrament in their Closets on their knees powring out of their Prayers and tears into the bosom of their Father Those holy transports are riddles and matters of laughter and scorn to them and if they know not what is how should they understand that which is to come 3. The Children of God themselves whiles they are here do not fully know what they shal be it doth not yet appear to them It is true 1. The Word of God hath said a great deal concerning their future Glory There are many high and towring expressions to our apprehension used in the Scripture worthy descriptions of that great City and the Inhabitants of it and if we would study the Scripture more we might know more of it But yet when we arrive at the Kingdom and come once to see and view and experience it we shal say as the Queen Sheba to Solomon 1 King 10. 6 7. 2. The People of God have their sips and foretastes and first fruits of this Glory here They are made to tast of those Graps of which the Wine is made in Canaan They have not only their assurances but also sometimes their extasies They are taken into the Mount rapt up into the third Heaven their souls are lifted up aboue the world and all that is in it God is pleased at some times to carry them out so farr in their meditations and reveal so much of himself and his infinit love to their contemplation that they are loth to come down or to have any thing more to do with the sink and puddle of this world They know so much of that after state that when they are under these precious discoveries and the irradiations of the spirit of God upon their souls they cry out Who will give me the wings of a Dove that I might mount up and be gone And with Paul their hearts are carried forth with a longing desire to depart and be with him in full possession of all this Glory But 3. A full clear and manifest discovery of their happiness is not made to any of God's People here They that have seen most of heaven while upon this earth have seen it but â—â— Landskip They that have had the most ravishing tasts of the love of God have but imperfectly tasted it All our knowledge all our sight here is but in part 1 Cor. 13. 9. We know but in part That which is pâ—â—fect is yet to come vers 10. The are but dawnings at the most which we have here what those rayes will be which shal beam forth from the Sun of Righteousness in the mid-day splendour of Celestial Glory we now cannot tell but must be content to wait till we go thither where it is to be seen and enjoyed 2. For the ground of the Doctrine or reason why it doth not yet appear 1. God makes it not known to the ungodly 1. Lest they should be allured by it All which they hear and enjoy here must therefore be Aenigmatical or obscure to them lest they should be converted it is an awful word but Christ himself hath spoken it who knew his Fathers and his own mind and purpose Mar. 4. 11. 12. To them that are without these things are done in parables c. Lest at any time they should be Converted 2. That they may by Persecutions and oppositions try the Graces of his Children There is great use and fruit in this tryal it is more precious than that of Gold And God is pleased to use wicked men as instruments of the tryal And hence they shall not know who these be nor what their Glory is for if they did they would without doubt suspend if not in love yet in fear of them Christ himself must come in a disguise that so the determined Counsel of God might be fulfilled iâ— him 1. Cor. 2. 7 8. They would else never have Crucified him 2. The reason also why the People of God themselves have no comprehensive discovery of their own future estate 1. Because it is too big a sight for their weak eyes to gaze upon They must be prepared for their Glory as well as their Glory for them or else it would swallow them up Rom. 9. 23. Hence When Christ is upon the one work in Heaven the Spirit of Christ is on the other here Should a full description of that state be given us it must be in a Language which we understand not They are but dark similitudes dim and dull comparisons accommodated to our own weak capacity which the Scripture affords The words which Paul then heard when he was in the third Heaven were ineffable words and such as were not lawful to utter 2 Cor. 12. 4. Not unlawful because forbidden by any precept but because they did out-bid his ability If the Glory to be revealed should now be revealed to us in this our imperfect state it would over oppress and sink us 2. That they may with more patience abide the time allotted then here and serve there Generation in the doing of that work which God hath set out for them to do before they go to be possessed of this Glory We find that after St. Paul's rapture he had great wrestlings with his own spirit and much ado to keep up in himself a willingness to tarry here any longer Phil. 1. 21. I am in a strait between two Having a desire to depart And such have been the frames of God's dear Children after that they have had some extraordinary beamings of his love and been feasted by him with some special visits they have been long ere they could quiet themselves from longing and praying that the Chain might be cut and they might hoise Sail and be gone Might the Saints be permitted to know here as much as shall be known hereafter it would be harder perswading them to be willing to live than it is now to make them willing to dy USE I. For informations learn we from Hence 1. The reason why the Children of God are so little regarded here in the World it is because the World knows not who they are nor what they are born unto Their great Glory for the present is within outwardly they look like other men they eat drink labour converse in earthly imployments as others do the communion which they have with God in all of these is a secret thing They are Sick Poor Naked Distressed like other men those in ward supports which they have under all those exercises are remote from publick view They dy and are buried under the Clods and their bodyes putrifie and rot like other men and none see those joyes that their souls are entred into nor that guard of Angels which comes as a Convoy and carryes them into Abraham's bosom Naâ— they have their sins their spots their imperfections and weaknesses here as well as other men but
the advantage to raign without any rebuke or check and men begin to grow impudent when there are none left to reform them nor any to avert the sore indignation of God from theâ— When Joshua and that good Generation that went with him into Canaan were dead theâ— aâ—ose a new Generation that knew not the Lord what followed but Apostasy and Calamity See Judg. 2. 8. c. And this will help to illustrate the second enquiry viz. 2. Why God then takes them away when he is about to bring evil upon a place Answ There may be two especial reasons assigned for this 1. God doth it with a gracious and favourable respect to themselves Since they could not by all their pious endeavours reclaim a degenerate People but misery must come God takes them away that their eyes might not see it This God promiseth as a special favour to Josiah 2. Chr. 34 28. Thou shall be gathered to thy Grave in Peace neither shall thine eyes see all the evil that I will bring upon this place Truly when ever a Godly man dyes he rests from his Labour but when he is taken away from the face of evil it is a particular blessing to him How could his tender and pitiful heart have born to look upon all those Calamities which his Country his Friends his Children and Relations must suffer To see all going to Rack before his eyes would be a lamentable sight God therefore in great love respect takes them home where they are removed out of the noise or tumult of all these things dwelling in the fulness of present Joy and Glory 2. God doth it also that he may have no Remora or Hinderence lying in the way to stop the course of his anger These were they who before held his hands we find that he could do nothing to Sodom till Lot was out of it And he is put to ask Moses to let him alone Exod. 32. 10. Godly Men are God's Jewels he cannot set fire to the Rubbish till they are secured they are his tender Ones to whom he hath a peculiar respect and they must be marked before the destroyâ—â— Angel executes his Commission they must 〈◊〉 many times housed in their Graves before he 〈◊〉 give full scope to his Indignation and these 〈◊〉 by 〈◊〉 supposed to be those Chambers in which God calls his People to hide themselves before such a Day Isa 26. 20. But when once they are gone now God can shut up his Bowels against a Rebellious Nation USE I. This truth may afford us help to unfold that Riddle of Divine Providence at the which many are ready to stumble viz. That Godly men are often suddenly and strangly taken away when wicked men are let alone and suffered to live It is the Wise Man's observation Ecâ—les 7. 16. There is a Just man that perisheth in his Righteousness and there is a wicked man that prolongeth his Life in wickedness Let none suppose that God therfore discountenanceth his Servants and approves of ungodly men no thâ— one is taken away in mercy to himself though in judgement to the World the other is spared to his greater misery either here or hereafter Godly men when ever they die are then certainly happy and at sometimes it is a peculiar priviledge for them to die that they may get away from the sight and report of these direful dispensations of divine displeasure that are coming upon a surviving Generation The Philosopher saith every thing hath two handles a right and a wrong and most men take Providence in some cases by the wrong handle they interpret many dispensations to be Judicial and so indeed they may be but their folly is that they interpret them so to be in respect of the persons suffering them when as it is indeed to themselves when Solomon had with some consternation viewed these things he recollects himself and draws this safe conclusion Eccles 8. 12. Surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God and so it shall but woe to the World when holy Men flock to their graves as Doves to their Windows before a Storm and they may when they are departing speak to surviving Mourners in the Language of our Saviour Christ to those weeping Women Luk. 23. 28 29 30. Daughters of Jerusalem weep not for me but for your selves and for your Children c. USE II. This may serve to reprehend their folly who are weary of the company of righteous men they think that the World hath been troubled with them even long enough they look upon them as Enemies as busie bodies as men that are the troublers of Israel and no body can be quiet for them so wicked Ahab unjustly censured holy Elijah And hence They take it for certain that it would be much better for the place which they live in if they were well laid up in their Graves They wisâ— them in Heaven as the vulgar note of wicked men is What do these men do but in effect 〈◊〉 and impreeate upon themselves a mischief 〈◊〉 God grant them their desires upon this account 〈◊〉 would but carry the godly to the place of their 〈◊〉 and bring them home to the 〈◊〉 of their eternal rest But in the mean time when they are gone who shall plead and pray and mourn for a sinful People Will God hear wicked sinners Who shall stand in the Gap to keep out Judgement and Wrath Shall wicked and ungodly men Assure we our selves that so much of Godliness as goes away from a place so much of God goes away too and it may not be long ere the time comes when those that so earnestly longed for their removal and were inwardly satisfied and glad that they were taken away shall as much wish that they had them again when it will be too late USE III. For Tryal is it so sometimes then it may put us upon the enquiry whether there be not good ground for us to fear that it 〈◊〉 may be so with us at this day I might urge it more particularly to our selves of this Congregation from whom God hath of late years taken away many pious and precious Servants of his and wâ— that are left alive ought to lay it to hearâ—â— But I shall take liberty to urge it on a more publick account as it bears respect to this People in general and here give me leave to further this tryal by leaving such things as these to consideration 1. They are Apostatizing or declining times by reason of which there is dâ—uotless much of provocation offered to the holy Majâ—â—â—◠〈◊〉 Heaven I need not to seek out witnesses 〈◊〉 this Habemus confitentes reos yea and 〈◊〉 himself hath also testified to it in his many awful and amazing providences It is a thing too manifest that the power of Godliness is now under great decayes and many sins begin to look abroad and dare to hold up their heads And from hence we may safely conclude that it is
a day of rebuke 2. The faithful servants of God who have been called to declare his mind in the most publike and general Assemblies have predicted and forewarned us of Judgement coming except by repentance we prevent it This hath been a point in which there hath been such an universal concurrence that we have abundant reason to conclude that there hath been much of the presence of God with them in it They have from one time to another solemnly warned us of and called upon us to prepare for these calamityes 3. Since the time wherein God by his servants began to treat us with these warnings his hand hath bin awfully out upon us in taking away eminent useful publique pious men God hath since that time seemed to be upon quick dispaâ—ches in that busines our eys have scarcely bin dry for one though alas they are too soon dry but anothers death hath alarum'd us the ancient pilars on which our foundations once stood strong are almost all gon â—ea also many young ones and very likely to have bin eminently usefull to have bin placed in their roomes and hopefull to have made up the breach have bin pluckt out agen as it were by force 4. It is sadly observable that the spirit of zeal for God and Holiness hath died apace with them We may in a deplorable degree say of our times not only that the godly men die but that they cease we are not now put to it to know whom to employ in our publick concerns in the Magistracy and Ministry yea and other places of weight by reason of multiplicity of choice as it hath sometimes been but rather for want of choice how many Congregations do now want to have the bread of Life to be broken to them and are at a loss how to obtain it and in all sorts of men there seems to be a dying at least a fainting of Religion with the death of the Religious and though through mercy God hath a number yet of choise and faithful ones yet their hands are thus weakned and the sons of Zerviah begin to put out their heads and speak insultingly 5. Nor is it a little to be lamented that those men dye in a great measure unlamented yea by too many reproached and this is the sad note of our Context men lay it not to heart nor consider the hand of God in these things Now let us lay all these things together and see if they do not solemnly speak that we have reason to be afraid that God hath removed them in order to some sore and dreadful calamity which he is preparing for us except he be in time prevented and therefore USE IV. It calls upon us seriously to consider and solemnly to lay to heart the providence of God in this respect It may teach us sadly to bewail and greatly to lament the loss of so many righteous men as God hath lately taken from us for them indeed we have cause of congratulation for they are taken from the evil to come but for our selves there is reason to mourn because their going bodes and beckens evil a coming and at the door I might here urge many incentives but I shall only say this much that to be duely affected with Gods hand and to hear the râ—d and him who hath appointed it may be a mean to continue our tranquillity God is angry with the World when his Children dy unlamented he takes it well when their loss is bewailed And if we would make a right improvment of these things let us lament and repent of those sins which have procured us these miseries let us say Wo to us that we have sinneâ— Have not the Righteous been slighted and ill requited for all their faithful service Have we not slandered reviled and trampled upon them And was it not then time for God to take them to a place where they should be in more honour and esteem Repent of these sins lest you hurry away those that are left and then you may too late sit-down and howle out your Ichabod Oh! be not brutish but sit down and consider when the Pillars are gone how shall the building stand When the Watch-men are asleep who shall descry and warn us of the enemies approach When the Wall is pluckt down and the hedge removed who shall keep out the Bore of the Wilderness When the Gap-men are taken away who shall stand in the breaches When the lights are put out who shall direct us in a right way When the Chariot and Horsmen of Israel are removed who shall defend us from misery and mischief When God is gone what but woes and calamities can befall us God hath now for a long time been pleading with N-E in this kind â—â— how many preciouâ— names are there registred in the black bill of a few years nor is his anger turned away but his hand is stretched out still And now God calls us again to a further occasion of deep consideration by that awful hand of his in the sudden and unexpected departure of that precious one from us and that at such a time 〈◊〉 I know he was gathered to his People in a good old age and full of dayes he lived long enough for himself but dyed too soon for us 〈◊〉 will not be curious in noting the day of his removal though I believe that it deserves its remark nor need I give light to his personal worth which challengeth a sorrowful remembrance of us his own works shall praise him in the gates And though some evil tongues which evermore account much deserving a fault have sought to blemish him yet his name shall live in despite of envy it self His long service in publick imployment and his skilfulness in that 〈◊〉 his great dexterity in militaâ—â— Disciplâ—â—â— a thing now indeed little valued degeneraâ—â— spirits and his great industry propagaâ—â—â—g it to those under his guidance love to his Country 〈◊〉 not in â— few 〈◊〉 pty words but real deâ—â— his adventuring himself in the highest places of the field in â— greatest difficultyes and hazards and that oâ— and again at such time as eminentest dangâ— threatned us and enemies flushed with succeâ— were most insolent yea and then when for his years he might have received his white wand and been acknowledged to be Miles emeritus his tender care for the welfare of this people under the weight whereof there is good ground to think that he sunk and dyed these things I say besides his uprightness towards God as a private Christian his tenderness and love to his brethren as a member of the Church his affability and sweet deportment towards all men in his ordinary converse speak emimently his worth and our loss He is now gone from an unthankful world to receive his reward with God But that which most of all should affect us is that by his removal the gap is wider and we left the more naked Repent then and return to the Lord pray