Christ Fifthly while I walk in these ways I shall be safe for eternity I shall not be in danger there and when the fear of eternity falls upon the heart it sees it is a most dreadful thing to miscarry to eternity the thoughts of eternity work mightily upon my spirit let me be safe for eternity whatsoever become of me in these ways It is reported of one Myrogenes when great gifts were sent unto him he sent them back I onely desire this one thing at your Masters hand to pray for me that I may be saved for eternity Now in these ways of godliness I shall walk with God I shall have peace of conscience I shall have that I have in love I shall enjoy communion with the Father with Christ and with the holy Ghost and I shall be safe for eternity surely there can be no evil that can countervail this good whatsoever I suffer whatsoever I endure in this world yet my soul shall say It is good for me to draw near to God sure I shall choose and like well of the ways of godliness whatsoever I endure But you look onely upon the best side of godliness but turn the other side you shall finde a great many afflictions that attend the ways of godliness and when you see them you will not be so in love with these ways A gracious heart is willing to examine both sides What are the afflictions you speak of that will discourage any from delighting in Gods ways First they are but such as are upon the body those things that do afflict the godly are bodily things they do therefore but bring pain and trouble to this carcase to this body of clay to this lump of earth to this body of sin to that body that is to be beaten down in this world to that body of vileness for so it is called Phil. 3. 21. Who shall change our vile body in the Original it is this body of vileness It was the speech of a Heathen when as by the Tyrant he was commanded to be put into a morter and be beaten to pieces with an Iron pestel he cryes out to his persecutors You do but beat the vessel of Anaxarchus you do not beat me You do but beat the Case and Vessel that contains another thing yea the word in the Greek that Clemens Alex hath relating the Story signifies a husk his body was to him but as a husk A Heathen counted his body but the Case the husk he counted his soul himself If a man had a precious Jewel in a Case and the Case was torn in pieces and the Jewel be safe it is no matter and so by all these afflictions a gracious heart knows it is but the Case that is torn in pieces the Jewel is safe Fear not says Christ those that can kill the body and do no more Christ would have us know afflictions that do but reach the body are but slight things And for these troubles let them be the most terrible that can be they are such as may stand with Gods love the dearest of Gods love such as the dearest of Gods people have met withal says God in Ieremiah I gave the dearly beloved of my soul into the hands of her enemies Indeed if they were such as could not fal but from Gods hatred it were another matter but they may stand with Gods love yea with the very same love wherewithal God the Father did love Jesus Christ and would you have better love then that you may be sure that all your afflictions that you do endure for godliness and the ways of godliness they are not such but you may have them in the same love that God loved Jesus Christ and one would think that were enough to satisfie any soul in the world John 17. ult there Christ prays that his Disciples might be loved with the same love wherewith he was loved now notwithstanding the love of the Father to the Son he was afflicted and suffered as much trouble as you are like to suffer and if you in suffering may be in no worse case then he was and may have the same love that he had notwithstanding your sufferings sure your sufferings are no great matter there is no more evil in your sufferings then may stand with the love of God to your souls the same love wherewith God loved Christ and if a soul knows this it will not be discouraged from the ways of godliness notwithstanding afflictions indeed if in affliction there were the venome of Gods wrath and the curse of the Law it were something but the sting and venome is taken out and there is no great evil Again these afflictions that the world so speak of they may not onely stand with Gods dearest love but are such as may proceed from Gods dearest love as thus they may come as fruits of the love of God and therefore sure they are no great discouragements from the ways of godliness you heard what abundance of good God brought out of the afflictions of his people and therefore there may be abundance of love from whence they come they may be onely but to fit and square and fashion the soul to be fit to be laid in the highest place of new Jerusalem The stones that are laid below in some mean place are not hewed and hacked as the stones that are in the highest part of the building or the forefront of the building to the view of all those that are most for the beauty of the building are most hacked and framed and so those that God does intend to be the most beautiful stones in that glorious Temple that is in Heaven God suffers them here to be fashioned and hacked most afflicted and therefore they may come from love Besides they are no great matter take them at the worst they are but little things these light afflictions there is no such grievous burthen in them as the world thinks there is for there is the hand of Christ to hold them up in all their afflictions they are but such things as rather seem grievous then are grievous indeed as Heb. 12. 11. No chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous but grievous they are things that are grievous in appearance and in shew onely rather then in truth as the prosperity of the wicked is but in shew so the affliction of Gods people are rather shews they do rather seem grievous then have any realty of grief in them and therefore they are not so much to be feared Again they are but for a little time but for a moment As it was the speech of Athanasius when he was banished and his friends came to bewail his misery says he It is but a little cloud and will quickly be gone All the time of the rage and malice of wicked men is but as an hour says Christ This is their hour and the power of darkness it is but an hour and is
know what an eternal God is and what an eternal crown is and an eternal inheritance when it knows that God does intend to communicate himself eternally to his creature it cannot be satisfied unless it knows it shall live to enjoy those things that God shall communicate eternally Thirdly a gracious spirit hath received an eternal principle within it that does work the heart beyond things for a season that works the heart all to eternity for the work of Grace that is in the soul it is begotten of the immortal seed of the Word and it is an eternal principle that is infused by God into it and therefore it works beyond things that are for a season every creature works according to the nature of its principles as sensitive creatures according unto sensitive principles and rational creatures according unto rational principles but grace is beyond reason and is of an everlasting nature and therefore it works the heart beyond all that is but for a season Fourthly a gracious heart cannot be satisfied with things that are but for a season because God hath loved such a heart with an eternal love and there is the impression of the same love in the soul that carries the soul to God in some measure with that love wherewith it is loved that causes the soul to love God with an eternal love and not to be satisfied with any work of love that it can work in time and therefore grace must have eternity for to manifest the love again that it hath to God or else it hath not a love proportionable in its measure to the love wherewith God hath loved it but that is in every gracious heart Fifthly there is a kinde of image of Gods infiniteness in the souls of men and according to this print of Gods infiniteness the enjoyment of God is desired where the heart is gracious though it is true our souls are not infinite creatures in themselves yet having a print of Gods infiniteness upon them they manifest this in their infinite desires and because they cannot enjoy an actual infinite good in themselves therefore they desire an infinite good in duration at least let there be never so much good yea as much as an infinite power can let out for present good yet this does not satisfie the soul unless it can have it infinitely for duration for an enlightned soul knows that it is not capable to hold that good that an infinite God can and hath a purpose to communicate to his creature if it should come all together therefore it desires to enjoy communication of what good it is capable of to all eternity To receive good from God is not sufficient except it be received in an infinite way now it cannot receive any thing infinite for the present and therefore it must have it in an infinite way in regard of duration Sixthly there is nothing that is but for a season can satisfie a gracious heart but it must be some eternal thing because such a one hath received light from God to understand the infinite consequence of eternity to make any good to be infinite or any evil to be infinite When as one enjoys any good and knows it shall continue infinitely it makes that present good to have a kinde of infiniteness in it and and so for evil if there be any evil upon the heart though the evil should be never so little yet if it be an evil and the soul knows it must continue infinitely it puts a kinde of infiniteness to every moment and that is the principal thing that makes the misery of the damned to be so miserable and the happiness of the godly so happy they are not onely happy and miserable because they shall be happy and miserable for ever but because they know there is continance in happiness and in misery their knowledge of this is that which puts infinite weight upon every moment Suppose a beast should have happiness suitable to its nature for eternity that would come infinitely short of the happiness of a rational creature that knows wherein happiness consists and what eternity is for the beast enjoys nothing but the present happiness but a reasonable creature it hath happiness for the present and it can by the thoughts of the minde fetch in the infiniteness of the duration and put it upon the present content it receives and so have infinite satisfaction every moment And so for misery it were not so much if God by his power should hold a brute beast in the fire eternally as if a man were in misery because though it hath pains yet it hath no thought of future pains but what it now feels But if a rational creature be in misery by the thoughts of his minde he can fetch all the pains that shall be in hundred thousands of years and put them upon that instant and this makes it to be miserable indeed in a kinde of infiniteness beyond that which any other creature is capable of You think to be tortured with fire is miserable and to be so eternally is miserable but there is something more every instant you shall be in misery there shall be a kinde of infiniteness because you shall by your thoughts bring whatsoever is to come and put it upon the present moment and nothing can swallow up a mans spirit so much as this if he understands eternity Now then a gracious heart that knows this that knows what the consequence of eternity is cannot be satisfied except it hath made good provision for eternity whatsoever it enjoys for the present cannot satisfie the soul unless it hath made good provision for that which it understands to be of such infinite consequence as it is A soul that understands the consequence of eternity sees it as an infinite Ocean that it is lanching into and must for ever swim in Now if a man were to go a voyage in the vast Ocean that he must go thousands of miles could he be content that he had made provision of such a Vessel that he could make shift to get over some narrow water with so it is here yea this similitude comes short of the expression of the folly of any that knows any thing concerning eternity to think to satisfie themselves in any thing that is but for a season for any thing that is but for a season let it be for as long a season as you will if it were for Methuselahs season that is but as some small Brook and what is this to the going of many thousand miles in the infinite vast Ocean and therefore a gracious heart knowing the vastness of it except it hath made some provision for it can never be quieted with what it can enjoy for a season Seventhly a gracious heart cannot be satisfied in any thing that is but for a season because there is nothing that is but for a season but it can make the end of it as really present If so be that
let out immediately from God and this is indeed the special difference of all from whence flow many excellent consequences which would even require a particular of it self I may hereafter enlarge my self in this in some other Treatise And thus you may see the blessed condition of Gods people when they come to the recompence of reward We have something here and we rejoyce in it and bless God for it but those ways that God hath to communicate himself to his people hereafter are glorious ways O that our hearts were raised to look after that communication of God that we shall have hereafter O those base and drossie spirits that we have Because we receive some goodness of God here we are ready to be quieted here and rest here as if God had nothing to communicate to the Children of men but that we have here See the vileness of our hearts we are here ready to rest upon the lowest things that God communicates and do not so much as rise in our hearts to the highest things that are communicated here but a christian heart should rise higher then the most excellent things that are here in the world namely to the most blessed things that are hereafter let us shew our selves that we are men of hopes to enjoy God after another maner then here Many do not desire enjoyment of God let them have the creature they never think of any communication of God so much as through the creature whereas a true Christian that hath grace he receives nothing in the world but he thinks with himself how have I God here how does God communicate himself to me in meat and drink and cloathes and friends and the like it is well if you go thus far but you must go higher are there not choyce mercies O yes there are blessed things communicated through the ordinances through prayer and the word and sacraments there are blessed things few mens hearts look so high as to look to the communication of Gods choyce mercies in this world but a gracious heart rises higher does as it were bathe it self with those refreshments that are to come through Gods mercy I have the creature and the communication of God through that and I have the ordinances and Gods choyce mercies communicated through them but there are glorious things to be communicated hereafter and those my soul rejoyces in Now God does communicate himself onely in that way which is suitable to our condition now we are but narrow vessels and have but narrow mouthes and are not capable of that greatness of Gods communication but time will come when as God will communicate himself in a more glorious maner and in that I bless my self and therefore I will not regard any of Gods communication of himself to me here but in order unto that glorious communication of God to me hereafter And thus we have seen something of the recompence of reward comparing it with what we have here Now secondly we are to compare it with the condition of Adam in the estate of Innocency As for the estate of Adam in Paradise it was a blessed condition yet far under the happiness of the Saints in the recompence of the reward For Adams body was but natural and his Paradise was but a natural Paradise and a possibility there was he might lose his happiness and if he should have stood there should not have been that glorious distinct working of the three Persons of the Trinity about mans happiness that there now is and therein especially lies the difference Thirdly compare it with the Angels and you shall finde in Scripture some expressions of the happiness of the Saints beyond the happiness of the blessed Angels themselves For the union that the Saints shall have with the Deity is a nearer union in divers respects then the union that the Angels have with the Deity and the righteousness wherewith the Saints stand righteous before the Lord is an higher righteousness then Adam or the Angels should have been in First the union that the Saints have with the Deity is a nearer union then that of the Angels First the humane nature in general that is advanced to an higher dignity then all the glory of the Angels put together Because there is an Hypostatical union between the humane Nature and the Divine in Christ Again we have many expressions in Scripture of the union of Saints with the Deity whereby it appears their union is nearer then the union of the Angels They are called the friends of Christ They are said to have fellowship with Iesus Christ 1 Cor. 1. 9. They are the Brethren of Christ They are Co-heirs with Jesus Christ There are no such expressions of the Angels And yet there are nearer expressions of their union they are the Spouse of Christ the Bride the Angels are but as the servants They are the members of Christ and are made one with Christ They are those that are to be one with the Father as the Father and the Son are one Iohn 17. 21. Christ there prays As thou Father art in me and I in thee that they also may be one in us he never prayed so for the Angels Lastly they are said to be loved of the Father with the very same love wherewith he loved the Son now though God loves the Angels yet it is not said that he loved them with the same love that he loved his Son These are the expressions we finde in Scripture concerning the near union that the Saints have with the Deity in some respects beyond the Angels but of the union of the Saints with the Deity we shall speak of more when we come to speak of the reward positively And then the righteousness wherewith they stand righteous before God is greater then the righteousness of Adam in Paradise or the Angels because it is the righteousness of the second Person of the Trinity and that is of an higher nature and a more glorious righteousness then the righteousness of any meer creature Now the righteousness of the Angels though it be perfect in its kinde yet it is not a righteousness of such an high nature as that righteousness which is the Son of God And thus of this recompence of reward comparatively CHAP. XLIII The perfection of the bodies and souls of the Saints in glory NOw thirdly let us consider it positively now in this positive consideration these things are to be followed First the perfection of their natures that they shall be raised to Secondly the glory that shall be put upon them at the day of Judgement Thirdly the possession of Heaven Fourthly the having God to be their Portion Fifthly their blessed communion with Jesus Christ Sixthly their communion with the Saints and Angels Lastly the eternal Sabbath that they are to keep in Heaven Under these seven heads all that we have to say concerning the positive reward of the Saints may be contained First the perfection that their
it s a great mercy of God not to let this be a stumbling block it is a mercy that God grants but to a few here and there a poor soul who is able to see the beauty and glory of godliness through all the dark clouds of troubles afflictions persecutious that attend it but for the generality of men this is that which hides the glory of it from them unto their everlasting perdition Lastly Gods people are here afflicted that Christ in them and they in Christ may in the conclusion of all be the more glorified First in the overcoming of all evils in the final destruction of all their enemies Secondly in their happiness after so many evils endured the bitterness of foregoing grief commends the sweetness of following joys Thirdly their afflictions work to the encrease of their glory 2 Cor. 4. 18. Our light afflictions work for us an exceeding weight of glory Gordius that blessed Martyr whom St. Basil so much commends in an Oration of his accounted it a loss to him not to suffer many kindes of tortures he says that tortures are but tradings with God for glory Tertullian hath an expression to that purpose The greater the combates the greater are the following rewards Bernard says of persecuters that they are but his Fathers goldsmiths who are working to adde pearls to the crowns of the Saints The seeds of happiness are sown in the deep furrows of affliction and the deeper the furrows are the more precious are the seeds that are there sown and the more glorious and plentiful will the harvest be When a curious glorious picture is to be drawn the grounds use to be laid in black but not in dirt so our grounds may be laid here in afflictions but let them not be laid in sin Here then we see that although afflictions are a bitter root yet there spring from them fair flowers and pleasant fruit no marvel then though God hath a hand in ordering things so that his people should be in such an afflicted condition in this world from Gods determining things to be thus let us learn CHAP. VII What use we should make of Gods ordering his people to an afflicted condition FIrst that our rest is not here in this world let us not promise to our selves any such matter let us not seek it here the promise will not bear it the promise will bear no further then that we should have onely so much of the things of this world as shall be sutable to our condition That which the Prophet speaks in another case Micah 2. 10. we may apply to all the things and places of the world Arise here is not your rest this is not the place this is not the time here are not the things that God hath appointed for our rest this is the place and time for troubles and sorrows and afflictions our warfare is here No man in his warfare will build himself a strong and sumptuous house in the field if we seek for our rest here we mistake as if a man floating upon the waves of the sea upon a board after shipwrack should think to lie down and sleep and settle himself there or as a bird should build her nest in a bush floating in the midst of the waves of the sea God says Bernard hath not cast man out of Paradise for him to think to finde out another Paradise in this world no man is born to labour Why do you seek the living amongst the dead why do you seek for living comforts where you must expect to dye daily It is only Heaven that is above all winds storms and tempests rest must be after labour our rest is the crown of our labour to seek it here is to seek it preposterously and Why do you require that in one place says S. Ambrose which is due in another Why would you preposterously have the crown before you have overcome Imagine the most setled condition you can in this world and although you had it yet it were but vanity so says the Psalmist Psal 39. 5. Man in his best estate is vanity the word is in the Original in his setled estate he is vanity not onely vain but vanity it self It was a heavy charge that S. James cap. 5. laid upon some that they lived in pleasure upon earth as if he should have said earth is not the place for pleasure this is the place of sorrow of trouble of mourning of affliction Thus Abraham charged Dives In your life time says he you had your pleasure the emphasis lies there in your life time that should not have been the time let us take heed we be not too hasty in seeking our rest our pleasure and delight we may perhaps have a little for the while to the flesh and because we will not be content with that condition that God hath appointed for his people here we may lose our parts in that glorious eternal rest which God hath prepared for his people hereafter Seek for that which ye do namely for rest but do not seek for it where ye do if we seek our rest in this world notwithstanding we meet with so many troubles in it what would we do if the Lord should let us prosper Behold saith an Ancient the world is troublesome and yet it is loved what would it be if it were peaceable you embrace it though it be filthy what would you do if it were beautiful you cannot keep your hands from the thorns how earnest would you be then in gathering the flowers Secondly hence it appears that prosperity is not always a sign of love and favor from God Rome makes it a note of the true Church if that were so then the Egyptians were in a righter way then the Israelites the Philistims the Ammonites the Midianites and afterward the Babylonians and the Persians might have pleaded that their gods were true gods and to be worshipped rather then the God of Israel and when the ten Tribes broke off from Judah and yet often prevailed against Judah and were more prosperous they might have pleaded that they were in the right that their worshipping of God was more accepted then that which was at Jerusalem And afterwards the Heathens might have pleaded this argument against the Christians and thus indeed they did as we finde in the 30. Epistle of Ambrose he answers to one Symmachus a great man who pleaded strongly against the Christians and for the maintenance of Idols by this argument saying That they prospered and flourished more in worshipping of their gods then the Christians did in the worshipping of theirs Certainly the ancient godly Fathers could not have heard this argument of outward prosperity of outward pomp and glory in the world pleaded as a sign of the true Church and of Gods love but with much indignation How cross is this to Scripture where we finde the estate of Gods people hath usually been a
while their hearts are narrow and they cannot receive much from God but the Saints look for good hereafter when their hearts shall be enlarged when as the wicked when their souls shall be enlarged they shall have nothing but misery There is a twofold love when one shall will onely good to himself by another or will good to another now the love of good will is most glorious in God and it is mutual God shall will his good to the creature and the Saints shall will all good to God What good can they will to God It is true there can be no addition to the essential goodness of God but they can will that this his goodness be honored and praised and this shall be in the blessed communion between God and his Saints in the mutual working of their wills Thirdly in communion there is the communication of what one have unto another where there is right communion there is a communication on both parts if on receive good and the other do not labor to communicate it is not communion Now there is a glorious communication on Gods part First immediate Secondly full Thirdly free Fourthly everlasting First immediate whereas here God communicates himself through creatures or through ordinances there are conduits of conveyance for there is such distance between God and us that we cannot expect that immediate conveyance of Gods goodness and of himself to us here as we shall have in heaven Secondly the fulness of Gods communication Suppose that God should draw out all that beauty sweetness goodness and power that he hath communicated in all creatures in the world and bring the quintessence of all and communicate that unto the soul of one Saint certainly it would not serve the turn for the happiness of one Saint there must be a greater communication But conceive if we see one creature have so much power in it by its influence upon the dunghil as to produce such a glorious creature as life which is the most glorious thing that ever God did make Saint Augustine says There is more glory in the life of a flie then in the Sun in the Firmament Now if the Sun have such power to produce life from a piece of dirt what power shall the influence of an infinite God have upon a glorified soul No marvel though the Scripture says That eye hath not seen neither ear hath heard neither hath it entred into the heart of man to conceive what God hath prepared for them that love him Thirdly it is free as free as the Sun lets out its beams It is natural to a good thing to communicate much more for goodness it self certainly God being goodness in the abstract his communication must needs be free Fourthly it is everlasting the letting out of himself to the Saints shall preserve their strength that he may let out himself unto them as if there were that power in some excellent liquor that is let out into a vessel not onely to sweeten it but perpetually to preserve it that it may be letting out it self into it so God does everlastingly in communicating himself unto his people preserve them that he may communicate himself And then the Saints of God do communicate to God in the same way that God does to them They are always worshipping God immediately not through ordinances as they shall not receive any thing of God through ordinances so they shall not worship God through ordinances but as they receive immediately so they shall worship God immediately and their communication shall be full but as they cannot will any essential good to God so they cannot communicate any essential good but they shall communicate themselves and all that they are or have to God or if they were able to make a thousand worlds they would make them all for the glory of God but because that is beyond the power of any creature therefore they communicate themselves and all that they are or have or can do to God as a drop of water is let out into an infinite Ocean so they are let out unto God as into an infinite Ocean And then the communication is free having the divine nature made perfect in them that do flow to God when they see his divine nature and this communication shall be everlasting God letting out himself to them and they letting out themselves to God This is the reward of the Righteous and this is that which Moses had an eye unto and all Gods people that have an eye beyond the vail behold it with infinite soul-satisfaction Fourthly in communion with God there is a familiar converse between God and the Saints And herein are these particulars First God manifesting himself in a suitable way to the conditions of his people so as it were condescending to their condition that though his Majesty be infinite yet it shall no way be a terror unto them Here if a Saint of God sees but an Angel he is amazed but because God would have his people enjoy holy familiarity with himself therefore he will manifest himself so as though there be an infinite glory yet there shall be no amazement but that they shall be able familiarly to converse with him as one friend does with another The Scripture speaks of the familiar converse that God hath with his people here that they are called friends Abraham was called The friend of God and the Disciples were called friends but hereafter the friendship shall be much more full and sweet Job shall have his desire O that the terror of God may not fall upon me Here when God spake by himself many of the dearest of his Saints have been afraid but when we come to be made partakers of this blessed Recompence of reward all such fear shall be done away Again another thing in familiar converse is the mutual opening of themselves one to another much is said of Gods opening of himself to his people here Psal 25. 14. Prov. 3. 32. 1 Cor. 2. 16. John 15. 15. and that is the reason why they are brought into the Chamber spoken of in Cant. 1. 4. because their secrets are discovered as they said to the King of Judah concerning the Prophet The Prophet that is in Israel does reveal whatsoever thou doest in thy bed-chamber because in them Kings reveal their secrets The mysteries of the Kingdom are revealed to the Saints here much more in heaven there are many secret things that God hath to tell his people when they come to have familiarity with him When a man comes to a woman a stranger he does not tell her his secrets but when she is marryed to him then he tells her his secrets so in heaven God will reveal his secrets and they shall not onely see his face but they shall see Gods heart And they shall open their hearts to God for they shall have nothing in their hearts that they shall be ashamed of As the Sun-flower when the