out more after God to love God more to fear to please to follow after God more it is in love If thou are more fearful of Sinning against God and more careful to glorifie him it is in love Psal 116. 1 2 3 4 5. 2. If you enjoy the gracions Presence of God with you in your Affliction his teaching strengthning sanctifying quieting satisfying humbling comforting Presence with you then you may conclude it is in love Isa 43. 2. Psal 94. 19. 2 Cor. 4. 16. when your inward man is renewed as your outward perisheth 3. If your Afflictions make you more conformable to Christ in Meekness Humility Heavenlyness Patience Self-denyal c. 4. If you be taught by the Spirit and Word when afflicted by the Rod how to hate Sin more to dye to Self and the Vanities of the World more how to dye to all Relations and Creature-Comforts mâ—re and how to list up Christ more and love him more to prepare for Death more and mind Heaven more then you are afflicted in Love Blessed are they that are thus taught by Affliction Psal 94. 12. 5. If God lay no more on you than he enables you to bear Isa 27. 8. Jer. 30. 11. 46. 28. 1 Cor. 10. 13. 6. If you can be willing to lye in the Furnace until your dross be consumed Job 23. 10. Mic. 7. 9. Can you cry out Lord remove the Cause rather than the Effect take away my Corruption rather than my Affliction A Cure Lord a Cure of the Distempers of my vile Heart good Lord a Cure 7. If you can live by Faith on the Promises in your Affliction Isa 41. 10. 43. 1 2 3. 57. 15. 1 Tim. 1. 15. Psal 50. 15. Joh. 10. 17 27 28. Isa 26. 3. Matth. 11. 28 29. Heb. 12. 10. Hos 2. 14. Heb. 13. 5. Rom. 8. 28. Zech. 13. 9. Psal 34. 8. 84. 11. Let us labour to find these sweet Fruits of God's Fatherly Love to us in our Afflictions and then we shall not grow weary 2 Obj. But my Afflictions have been long upon me Ans 1. Not so long as thy Mercies have been Canst thou number the days of thy Health Have not thy good days been many more than thy evil days 2. Nor so long as thy Sins have been Thou hast been a Transgressor from the Womb a Sinner from thy Conception Psal 51. 5. 3. Nor so long as the Afflictions of others it may be far better than you See the 77th and 88th Psalms Gen. 15. 12 13. Four hundred years Exod. 12. 40 41. Job 21. 25. Some have not had a day of health or pleasure many years no not in their Lives Oh how should this quiet us under our Troubles that we may not complain that they are long 4. The longer thy Afflictions have been on thee the sweeter will Heaven at last be to thee Psal 126. 1 2 5 6. compared The longer the Storm the sweeter the Calm the longer in the Tempest the more welcome the Harbour 5. Thy Afflictions are not long but short if compared with that Eternity of Glory reserved in Heaven for you as in the Text Everlasting Habitations Eternal Life a Crown of Glory that fadeth not away Have an Eye fixed on the Crown while thou bearest the Cross One moments being in the Bosom of Christ will make thee forget all thy Misery oh long for that good hour 6. The longer you are in Afflictions the more spiritual Experiences you have of the Love and Care of Christ towards you 2 Cor. 1. 5. 2 Cor. 12. 5. O the Love-tokens that Christ sends his Spouse in the Furnace of Affliction then he speaks most kindly to her The blessed Martyn found it so 7. Long Afflictions are but Preparatives sometimes to long-liv'd Mercies as in Joseph and David Isa 54. 11 12 13 14. If by my long Affliction God make more room in my Heart for himself Son and Spirit his Word if he crucifie my Affections more to the World and make me more conformable to Christ I shall for ever bless his Name for them 8. The more Afflictions here the more Glory hereafter 2 Cor. 4. 16. Matth. 5. 10. For 1st the more Affliction the more Grace is exercised and the more Grace here the more Glory hereafter 2dly The more Afflictions the more religious Duties will be performed Psal 109. 4. Isa 26. 16. Psal 42. 1 2 3. Now God will reward every into according to his works though not for them 1 Cor. 15. last 2 Cor. 9. 6. 9. Impatience will but lengthen our Affliction God's time is the best for deliverance Affliction shall last no longer than need Act. 27. 13 15. Psal 23. 1 2. 94. 9. Rom. 8. 28. Moreover that we may bear up as Christians and not grow weary and so may find that all our Afflictions are blessed to us to prepare us for that far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory let us dwell on a few more Considerations 1. That these our Troubles are all the Hell we shall have 2. Think much on the real spiritual Advantages we shall have by Affliction Have we not had some bless God for them 3. Your choicest and chiefest Treasure is safe your God your Christ your Portion your Crown your Inheritance is safe your Graces your Souls are safe 4. Consider it is our unmortified Lust that is the sting of all our Afflictions its Sin adds gall to our wormwood Let us set our selves in earnest to the mortifying of our Sins apply the Blood of Christ beg his Spirit Rom. 8. 13. 5. That all our Afflictions come to us through the Covenant of Grace Psal 89. 30 c. 6. That they do but reach our worser our baser part our Bodies 2 Cor. 4. 6. our Souls may grow better 7. Labour to live by Faith and keep it as much in exercise as possible for Faith in exercise 1st shews the extreme vanity of all earthly things for the Soul by Faith seeth them as God seeth them to be all vanity and vexation and so it overcometh the World 1 Joh. 5. 4. 2dly Faith presents to the Soul greater sweeter better things in God and Christ than can possibly be found in the Creature Faith looks and feeds on Invisibles 3dly By enabling the Soul to center it self on God and to be satisfied with the naked enjoyment of him God is All to the Soul that trusteth in him Joh. 14. 8. Psal 17. 15. Phil. 3. 8 9. 8. Labor every day to be more humble low and little in your own Eyes Who am I I am not worthy of the least of God's Mercies I have forfeited all I have improved none it is Pride only that brings Discontent 9. Consider the worst that God doth to his People here is but to do them good in the latter end Hos 2. 14. Heb. 12. 10. 10. What God wills is best God is Wisdom it self and he is Goodness it self when he sends Sickness Sickness is best 11. That God will be with us
in every Creature-comfort that we enjoy Not only look unto God in our Mercies as was said before in the other particular but let us labour to ascend higher and that is let us labour and learn to live upon God and his Love in those Mercies Let this be minded by us That it is not the Creature but God in the Creature that we must love and live upon The Creature should not content us without some sense of God's Love in it If we have Health Wealth Liberty Friends we should put this Question to our selves Do we enjoy God's Love with these A great Question yet seldom ask'd It is surely the Love of God in a Mercy that doth sanctifie and sweeten the Mercy to us as is evident in that famous Instance of Hezekiah Isa 38. 17. Thou hast in love to my soul delivered me from the pit of corruption Then Deliverance is sweet when it comes from God's Love to our Souls Q. But how may we know that A. As Hezekiah did For saith he thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back When Pardon of Sin comes with a Mercy 't is a Mercy indeed a double Mercy Note When a soul-Soul-mercy comes with a Bodily Mercy a soul-Soul-mercy with Ease Recovery c. then that outward Mercy comes from the Love of God indeed And thus many times our Lord Jesus distributed his Mercies in the days of his Flesh upon the Earth healing Souls and Bodies together forgiving their Sins and curing their Diseases all at once Q. But how shall we know that our Sins are forgiven as well as our Trouble removed Ans 1. When the Soul is stirred up to suitable praising of God as in Hezekiah so in David Psal 103. 1 2 3. the sense of God's Mercies to them enlarged their Hearts with Thankfulness 2. We may know that our Sins are forgiven us if those Conditions are wrought in us unto which forgiveness of Sins is promised and those are chiefly Repentance and Faith Acts 3. 19. Repent ye therefore and be converted that your sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. Acts 10. 43. To him namely to Jesus do all the Prophets witness that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins Now if after Mercies God gives us Hearts to repent and believe we may certainly conclude that those Mercies come to us from the love of God We follow hard in our Prayers and Desires and Endeavours after earthly Mercies when we want them whereas our Souls should follow hard after God in them Psal 63. 8. 31. 23. In every Ordinance Priviledge Duty Providence in every Enjoyment it is the Love of God in it that our Souls should thirst after as David did Psal 63. 1 2 3 My soul thirsteth for God for the living God So Psal 84. 1. Thee thee Lord my soul longeth for He longed for God's Ordinances too but chiefly for God in them So should we cry Health and Ease and Liberty and Deliverance with thy self Lord and with thy Love Peace and Plenty with thy Love Lord not without it Better be without these Mercies than without the Love of God in them Jude 21. Keep your selves in the love of God Gal. 2. 20. Psal 62. 10. If riches Friends Ease c. encrease set not your hearts â—â— them but on God in them To look through and beyond and above a Mercy unto the God of that Mercy is a Mercy in that Mercy and a choice one too for none but God's Chosen ones can do it And so to do argues much Grace and much Communion with God Col. 3. 1 2. Let us look up look up to God in all our Mercies Stay not on the Mercy be not content with the outward Mercy for that is but the Shell but look up to God and long to see and taste his Love in it for that is the Kernel his Love in Christ feed on that by Faith Love Meditation O let us labour to have God in all our Thoughts for to look to love and live upon Creature-comforts meerly barely only is but to live upon Husks Ashes Wind and Vanity these are no Bread for the Soul Isa 55. 2. Psal 143. 6. I stretch forth my hands unto thee my soul thirsteth after thee as a thirsty land When we taste and see the earthly Comforts we have if we can also taste and see the Love of God in them we enjoy a double sweetness an outward and an inward a visible and an invisible sweetness Oh what sweetness then may we taste for both Faith and Sense are fed at once And we may further know that any Mercy comes to us in Love when our Souls are the better for that Mercy more endeared to God and more enlarged after God 3. We must labour to use and enjoy all our Mercies for God for his Honour and Service as was hinted before This is God's end in giving them and it should be ours in using them 1 Cor. 10. 31. Whether ye eat or drink or whatever ye do do all to the glory of God This great End should always be minded by us We should judge all that good that leads us nearer to God and all that evil that draws us farther from him Prov. 16. 4. The Lord hath made all things for himself We have lost most of our Comforts for want of this to wit our not enjoying them in God and for God and God in them We feed on them but not on God in them and this provokes God to remove them and to take away our best outward Mercies from us even his Gospel for our not using it and not improving it for God and for contenting our selves barely with it without God in it Bare Ordinances bare Duties without God in them are but dry Breasts without Milk which Souls may lye upon all their days and starve and perish notwithstanding if they meet not God in them But now if we thus eye and look unto God and seriously mind the invisible eternal God we shall hereby be sweetly supported under all our Troubles For 1st This will take out the gall and wormwood of our Troubles which is our inordinate love of the Creature for there is no immoderate Sorrow for the loss of any thing but of that which was inordinately loved So that if God had had our Hearts and Affections when we had our Creature-Comforts he will have them much more then they are removed for God remains the â—ime still every way as full and as All-sufficient â—â— supply and support us So that if we had lived â—â—on God the Fountain when we had the Cisterns â— shall live more immediately upon him when the â—â—sterns are broken and shall then have our Comforts more pure and more refreshing And this is not all but if we be truly gracious â— will grieve us to the very Heart when our earthâ—â— Comforts are gone that we set our Hearts so much upon them that
the Lord taketh up his Rod he will never lay it down if he have Love to thy Soul he will smite thee deeper and deeper until he have stript thee of all thy dearest Enjoyments and leave thee stark naked that he may separate thee and thy Sin But when the Lord intends to punish a Soul eternally in Hell he will not do so but whom he loves and intends to save eternally he will smite and smite and never leave smiting until he separate them and their Lusts 7. Lastly give up your whole Hearts entirely to God in Christ for this end God cuts off our choicest earthly Mercies that we may entirely give up our selves to Christ These things stood in the way of Jesus Christ therefore God removes them and so makes room in the Heart for himself and for Christ O now say O my Soul thou hast wasted too much of thine Affections on those poor perishing things this Mercy and that Enjoyment hath taken off thy Heart from Jesus Christ this Relation hath lain between thy Heart and Christ Well now the Lord hath taken these away oh now my Soul let Jesus Christ stand in the Breach that is made and let him fill it up Let him come in the room of that Mercy that is gone If we labour thus to make up the Breach the stroke will be a stroke of Love and by this we may know that Affliction comes in love to our Souls when it makes us love God better and stick faster to God than before and cleave more to Duty than before That which endeth in our Love to God did come from God's Love to us These are the strokes from a Father's Hand and he will heal them in his due time which is the best time So much of the Second Thirdly If we would improve our Afflictions so as that they may be means of preparing us for that far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory we must carefully avoid the usual Extreams that men are liable to in times of Affliction that is neither to slight them nor to sink under them Prov. 3. 11. Despise not thou the chastnings of the Lord neither faint when thou art corrected of him 1. Slight not Afflictions but value them for Afflictions are of God's sending they arise not oâ—â— of the Dust they are God's Messengers yea sufferings for Christ are God's gifts Phil. 1. 29. 2. They are Love-tokens sent us from a loving Father Heb. 12. 6. Whom he loveth he corrected 3. They are wholsom Physick needful for us to cure the mortal Diseases of our Souls sent us from a most wise and faithful Physician who prescribes and orders every Ingredient in our Potioâ— 4. They are Marks of the true way to Heaven Act. 14. 22. 5. Preservatives against the Venoâ— of Sin to prevent the infection of it 6. They are Covenant-Mercies Psal 89. 32. 7. Means tâ— prepare us for glory and to prevent our eternal condemnation 1 Cor. 11. 32. Oh could we bâ—â— thus receive our Afflictions and so take and bâ—â— them and so improve them after this manner what singular good would they do us and what Comfort might we have in them And as we must not despise them so we must not faint under them neither but patiently and quietly submit to the holy will of God and resign up our selves to his Good-will and Pleasure â—â— was shewed before Fourthly We improve Afflictions when we are exercised by them Heb. 12. 10. then we shall reap the Fruit of them Now this Exercise consists as a worthy Divine observes in these things Jer. 9. 24. Ezek. 22. 29. Isa 64. 5. to wit 1st About the Affliction that smarts 2dly About our Hearts that feel 3dly About the Hand that smites 1st About the Affliction itself the Rod that is upon us we must be exercised in hearing Work in bearing Work and in doing work 1. In hearing Work Mic. 6. 9. Hear ye the rod and him that hath appointed it The voice of the Rod is the whole Word of God Three words saith he especially the Rod speaks 1. Thou hast sinned 2. God is displeased 3. Return and Repent We must hear and obey these Voices 2dly In bearing Work Mic. 7. 9. I will bear the indignation of the Lord. Jam. 1. 4. Lam. 3. 27. Bear thy affliction feelingly freely willingly Jerem. 10. 24. waitingly not growing weary 3dly In doing Work three things are to be done 1. Kiss the Rod in your Father's Hand honour it as your Father's Scepter fear it as his Sword love it as his Physick 2. Cast away the Sin that hath provoked it Isa 30. 22. Hos 14. 8. Job 34. 31. 3. Embrace the Covenant of God for which he pleads Thus must we be exercised about our Affliction Secondly We must be exercised about our Hearts thus 1. Heart-Consideration of the Rod Eccles 7. 14. Weigh well what it is we suffer whence it comes by what provoked and to what intended of which before 2. Heart-breaking under it Jer. 4. 3. Hos 10. 12. 3. Heart-bending Our Spirits must stoop to the Will of God Thirdly We must be exercised about the Hand that smites Isa 24. 15. to glorifie God in the Fires 1st By abasing our selves Job 42. 5 6. I abhor my self in dust and ashes said holy Job 2ly By justifying God in all his Dealings Jer. 12. 1. Lam. 3. 39. Righteous art thou O Lord. 3ly By yielding Reverence Fear Obedience Faith 4ly Going to God for the Blessing of the Rod And thus exercising our selves these ways we shall improve our Afflictions for our spiritual Advantage Q. 3. But who are the People interested in this great Priviledge that those short and light Afflictions shall work for them and work them for this far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory Answ Surely not all that are afflicted all shall not receive this Blessing for some grow worse by Affliction but only the Saints and true Believers such only as are the Children of God and such as hold forth the Life of Christ in their mortal Flesh as Vers 10 11. of this 2 Cor. 4. such as walk as Christ walked that follow his Steps such as look aim at and follow after invisible eternal things principally and chiefly as Verse 18 even such and such only as are exercised by Affliction as was shewed before they and they only shall reap the quiet and peaceable Fruits of Righteousness here and receive that far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory hereafter They that bear Afflictions as Christians and improve them as Christians and partake of the Blessings of them they shall partake of this Priviledge of being prepared by them for this weight of glory The Application First for Information 1 Inf. I. Then God's Children must take heed that they do neither despise the Chastnings of the Lord nor faint when they are rebuked of him Prov. 3. 11. Seeing they are designed for such good â—â—ds as to fit us for glory we should not slight the â—ast Affliction
is the sum of the Gospel Acts 20. 21. Repentance towards God and Faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ Repentance in order to the obtaining of our Pardon Acts 3. 19. Repent and be converted that your sins may be blotted out when the time of refreshing shall come Acts 5. 31. Christ is exalted to be a Prince and a Saviour to give repentance and remission of sins Job 22. 21. And by Faith in Christ we take hold of God's Strength Isa 27. 5. Which is the mercy of God in Christ this is the strength of God to save sinners Lay hold then on this Strength of God viz. the Mercy of God in Christ and so shall we make Peace with God Rom. 5. 1. Being justified by faith we have peace with God Make sure and sound work then in Repentance and Faith let us often try our Repentance and Faith dally not nor delay in this business we are all upon the Borders of Eternity we are all near those invisible eternal things This is the common Counsel we give every body on their Sick-beds You must make your peace with God we say but how this may be done few know or mind O let us mind those great matters Have we unfeignedly repented from dead Works unto Life Is all Sin hated and sought out Are we truly converted Acts 26. 18. 3. 19. Sound Conversion a thorow Change of Heart and Life is the surest sign of true Repentance Have we Faith in Jesus Christ the Faith of God's Elect Faith unfeigned that purifieth the Heart worketh by Love overcometh the World unites to Christ and draws Life from him to live as he lived and walk as he walked Let us try our Repentance by these Texts Jer. 31. 19. Joel 2. 14. Isa 55. 7. Matt. 3. 8. Heb. 6. 1. Thorow Examination of Heart and Life Clear Confession Hearty Humiliation Self-Abhorrency Thorow Reformation will prove our Repentance true and sound Q. How shall I know that I have truly believed A. Haft thou found it an hard Work to believe a Work altogether above thy own Power Haft thou seen and felt thy loft Estate by Nature Haft thou seen the Excellency of Christ and thy absolute necessity of him Is he most precious to thy Soul Hath thy Soul been drawn to Christ made heartily willing to close with Christ upon his own Terms to take him for your only Lord and Saviour hath all this been wrought in thee by the Word Dost thou value Faith as a Jewel Dost thou rely on Christ and trust him with all things and for all things Doth this bring Peace to thy Soul Dost thou draw Life and Strength from Christ Doth thy Faith in him support thee in Trouble What Service doth it do thee in time of Trouble It is the greatest Support the poor Saints have in all their Afflictions as Heb. 11. throughout Our great Business lies upon making sure and clear the Truth of our Repentance and Faith and we must go to God for both for they are his special gifts Also we must go to Christ he is the Author and Giver of them Acts 5. 31. Heb. 12. 1 2. And we should be often trying our Repentance and Faith for without these no Soul can ever attain unto Salvation and with them no Soul shall ever miss it The penitent Believers are the only heirs of the Promises all the great and glorious things of the other World which the faithful God who cannot lye hath promised and which our Blessed Jesus hath purchased with his most precious Blood they do ill belong to penitent Believers and to none else The exceeding great and precious Promises are those sweet Breasts of Consolation which they should lye upon and suck continually and by two immutable things to wit the Word and Oath of God wherein it is impossible that God should lye these Promises are confirmed that the heirs of the Promises might have not weak but strong Consolation Heb. 6. 17. Fourth Vse for Lamentation These things are to be lamented I. The great ignorance of those invisible eternal things Our Lord lamented and wept over Jerusalem for this Luke 19. 21 22. If thou hadst known at least in this thy day the things that belong to thy peace It is a lamentable thing that People living under the clearest Discoveries and brightest Displays of those invisible eternal things should yet be so grosly ignorant of them and so unacquainted with them as God complains of Israel Hos 4. 1 6. 8. 12. No knowledge of God in the Land though it was the only Land in all the World then that had the means of Knowledge Hos 8. 12. I have written to them the great things of my law but they have counted them strange things Look over those particulars afore-mentioned and we shall find that there is very little true distinct knowledge of them in the Land Obj. But we do know these things Ans If we do know God why do we not obey him Tit. 1. 16. To profess to know God and in works to deny him is the Character of a Reprobate Why do we not trust him Psal 9. 10. They that know his name will put their trust in him 1 John 2. 3 4. 4. 17. What likeness have most Men and Women to God and Christ What Fruits of the Spirit do appear Gil. 5. 22. but the Fruits of the Flesh are manifest What Power Sweetness and Comfort do Men find in the Word and Promises how little are most affected when they read or hear of all the great things purchased by Christ and prepared in Heaven for Believers What fixed delightful Thoughts and serious Meditations are spent upon these things Alas alas whose Conscience doth not accuse him Whose Heart that hath any tenderness doth not smite him for his neglect of this While I am writing this my Conscience flies in my Face and chargeth me with guilt O pardon me Lord through the Blood of Christ and give me true Repentance Let me be ashamed and even confounded for my woful neglect of minding invisible eternal things I am convinced of my guilt and blessed be God for that O give me an heavenly heart let in more of Heaven to my heart O shew thy self to me Or take me up to thee II. It is a Lamentable thing that those high glorious invisible eternal things should be so little believed by us They are little known but less believed They cannot but be known to us in some measure they have been so often preach'd to us and we have so often read of them Their sound hath gone out to the ends of the earth Rom. 10. 19. Did not Israel know Doth not England know Then we must be stark deaf and blind Some Knowledge in our heads we must needs have but certainly here is the Root-Sin the Spring of all Ungodliness even Unbelief whatever People profess these things are not believed People are not fully perswaded in their Hearts and Souls of the Truth of the Excellency and of
the Reality of those things Who hath believed our Report Isa 53. 1. and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed to make Souls believe and to work effectual Faith in them Surely to very few A very bare historical Faith is wanting but much more a cordial practical Perswasion of those things for by true Faith we come to have an Interest in all these eternal good things and if we had an Interest in them we should mind them more Those invisible eternal things spoken of in the holy Scripture signifie no more to most of us than those Mountains of Spices and Mines of Gold do that are in the Indies which we never hope to see or possess and for which none of us will part with our poor Cottages Alas alas it were impossible if we did really believe those things above and that they may be had by us but that we should take more pains to get a Title to them and having once got a Title surely we should mind them more than we do Now the grand Reasons why we that profess that we know and believe those great things of the other World yet take so little pains to be assured of our Right to them are these viz. our false Faith our false Hope and our inordinate Love of the World Cou'd we get these three Thieves out of our hearts it wou'd be otherwise with us 1. Our False Faith building our Faith on the Mercy of God and Merits of Christ in general not considering whether those Conditions are wrought in us to which the Mercy of God is promised and to which the Merits of Christ do belong Isa 1. 16. 55. 7. Rom. 8. 9. 2 Cor. 5. 17. 1 Cor. 6. 17. Heb. 5. 9. Matth. 11. 28 29. 16. 24. 10. 34. By all which places we shall find that the Mercy of God belongs to the penitent returning Sinner and that those only can truly claim an Interest in Christ that submit to his Yoke that have his Spirit that are new Creatures that deny themselves and give up themselves to the Government of Christ 2. Our False Hope that deceived those eminent Professors in Matth. 7. 21. and the foolish Virgins Matth. 25. and which deceives all Hypocrites and formal Christians that build their Hopes upon outward Profession Priviledges the performance of religious Duties outward Reformation c. not minding that express word in 1 John 3. 3. Every one that hath this hope that is to see Christ in Glory and to be made like unto him purifieth himself even as he is pure Col. 1. 27. Christ in you the hope of glory Not Christ without you professed by you but Christ in you formed in you dwelling in your Hearts by Faith living and reigning in you by his Word and Spirit that is the Hope of Glory the true and only ground of true Hope of Glory 3. Inordinate Love of the World 1 John 2. 14 15. If we be friends of this world we are enemies to God Too much love of Life Liberty Ease Relations c. our Hearts are let out strongly after these therefore our good God doth oftentimes strip his dearest Children of these in love to their Souls to take off their Affections from them that they may place them on better things where they are better bestowed III. It is Lamentable also that those invisible eternal great and glorious things should be no more minded thought upon considered and spoken of by Professors that hope shortly to enjoy them God Christ Glory Heaven are seldom in mens Minds and Thoughts What are most Peoples Morning and Evening Thoughts Psal 49. 11. What vain Thoughts lodge in our Hearts Jer. 4. 14. Oh how little talk is there of these things amongst us Is God our Father Is Christ our Head and Husband Is the Holy Ghost our Counsellour and Comforter Is the Word of God our Rule and Guide our spiritual Food and Nourishment our Comfort and Consolation Are the Promises our great Charter Heaven and Glory our Inheritance And do we indeed hope to enjoy all these things for ever and ever and yet think no more and speak no more of them Can this be so Can our hopes be good and well grounded Let us not deceive our selves IV. It is Lamentable that those great things should be no more laboured after Joh. 6. 27. Labour not for that meat which perisheth but for that which endureth to eternal life Prov. 2 2 3 4. Isa 55. 2 3. We labour for that which is not Bread not Bread for our Souls and spend that which is better than Mony our Spirits and Time for that which doth not cannot satisfie Why should visible temporal things have so much of our hearts heads tongues hands time strength and all and those invisible eternal things have so little Is there any colour of Reason for it Are not those invisible eternal things infinitely better than the other Certainly it is because they are not known nor believed nor minded that they are no more laboured after How do we dishonour God and Christ and the Promises how do we undervalue Christ's Purchase and Eternal Life when we lay out our selves so much for the World and so little for these How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation Heb. 2. 3. V. It 's lamentable also that the loss of the means of the discovery of those invisible eternal things should no more affect and trouble us Lam. 1. 7. Jerusalem remembred in the days of her affliction all her pleasant things that she had in the days of old A Famine of the Word is the worst Amos 8. VI. And it is lamentable that those who know believe desire and labour after those things themselves should be no forwarder and readier to commend those things to others and should take no more pains to perswade and draw others to look after them Oh how few cry out to others with holy David Come and I will tell you what God hath done for my soul VII And no less lamentable is it that those who claim an Interest in all those great and glorious good things and hope to enjoy them hereafter that those persons should no more express the power of them in their Lives that they should no more rejoyce in them and be no more raised in their Spirits and gladded in their Hearts with the fore-thoughts of them and that they should live no more comfortably upon them It 's sad that those thus interested in God and Christ and Glory and that are the Expectants of that far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory should not live better lives more exemplary shining profitable joyful lives We that look for such things what manner of persons ought we to be in all manner of holy conversation It 's sad also that such should bear up with no more strength holy courage and confidence in the midst of the Troubles of this short Life seeing they hope for such glorious things in the other World
true Consolation to be found Jerem. 2. 13. To seek Content here in any thing out of God and beneath him is to seek the Living among the Dead The Work of Faith is to look upwards to look within the Veil to look to Jesus Mic. 7. 7. The right and ready way to present Peace is looking stedfastly not to present things but to that future Rest and Happiness to the full enjoyment of God in Heaven Thus our Lord takes off his Disciples from their Heart-trouble John 14. 1 2. of which Text I have written a Discourse at large Let us consider how this looking unto those eternal things is expressed 2 Tim. 4. 8. it is loving the appearance of Christ Tit. 2. 13. Phil. 3. 20 21. 1 Cor. 1. 7. 2 Cor. 5. 2 3. Rom. 8. 23. waiting hoping hastening unto groaning after that Glory Whoever meets with a distressed disconsolate complaining Christian you shall find that one or both of these things is manifest in him either he hath low Expectations from God hereafter or he hath high Expectations from the Creature here either he looks too much on things visible and temporal or too little on things invisible and eternal and indeed he that doth the one doth the other for the too much minding visible temporal things hinders the true minding of invisible eternal things If we examine matters aright in our own Souls we shall find that this is the main thing that begets in us and keeps us under so many Troubles and Disquiets either that we do not or will not seriously and believingly engage our Hearts and Minds in the meditation consideration and application of all those great and glorious things which God hath promised and which Christ hath purchased or else we will needs mind and expect what God hath not promised nor Christ purchased a total freedom from Troubles Sicknesses Losses c. God hath no where promised nor hath Christ purchased it and then we complain when we miss of our groundless Expectations Either we are still poring and thinking on our Creature-comforts and Enjoyments and looking for much from them and in them much comfort help sweetness satisfaction respect kindness from them or else we are grieving and mourning for the loss and want of them all which thoughts do but sowre imbitter wound and weaken our Spirits or else we do but too seldom think of the infinite Goodness Love Mercy Tenderness All-sufficiency of God and Christ and of the Glory of Heaven which Thoughts would sweeten alleviate and mitigate our Sorrows and help much to support our Spirits under all our Afflictions We are grieved and troubled for Losses and Crosses for loss of Relations for Sickness and Pains Disappointments Unkindnesses of Friends Disesteem in the World c. Let us consider whether God hath promised or Christ purchased any Freedom from those Have any of the Saints been freed from those And why should we expect to be free But if we make Promises to our selves and then our own Promises deceive us whom can we blame for that Nay do we not as it were necessitate God hereby to imbitter all our Earthly Comforts to us and to make every Creature a Scorpion to us because we will make them our Gods We have less Comfort in them than we might have because we would have more in them than we should We might have more kindness from Friends more sweetness in our Relations c. if we looked for less Scarce any Comfort we have but one time or other becomes a Scourge to us because we foolishly made it an Idol to us Isa 2. 22. Cease ye from man whose breath is in his nostrils for whereof is he to be accounted Jer. 17. 5 6 7. We can never expect so little from the Creature but we shall be sure to find less than we looked for But such is the Goodness of God to his People that we can never expect so much from him but we shall be sure to find more The Application First For Information 1. If the serious minding of and believing looking unto invisible eternal things will much support Christians under the Troubles of this Life it follows then that there is a great necessity that Christians should have a distinct saving knowledg of invisible eternal things for without such a knowledge of them they cannot mind them nor set their Hearts upon them John 17. 3. This is life eternal to know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent Col. 2. 2 3. We know those things but confusedly and therefore we mind them but confusedly This Saving Knowledge is a New covenant-Covenant-Mercy God promiseth that his People shall be all taught of him and that they shall all know the Lord Jer. 31. 33 34. John 6. 45. Eph. 4. 21. Our Duty is then to lay hold on God's Covenant and humbly to beseech him to teach us by his Spirit and to enlighten our Understandings as Paul prays Eph. 1. 17 18. 2. Hence appears the Necessity of Faith and full perswasion of the verity reality and excellency of those invisible eternal things It is a full perswasion of a Better Good than the Creature and of a Better Countrey of a Better Substance of a Better Place than this World is and of Better Company Better Friends than can be enjoyed here that will make us set our Thoughts on work upon them and that will support under the loss of those worse things While we have those better things in our Eye we shall not be much troubled about the worse the better will swallow up the worse if we firmly and heartily believe them and have good ground to hope through Grace that we have Title to them as Heb. 11. 25 26. The belief of a better Resurrection and of a better Life than this will support us under the Troubles of this Heb. 11. 35. 3. Then there is also a necessity lies on us of having an Interest in those invisible eternal good things in God in Christ in the Promises and in the Purchased Inheritance An absolute necessity lies on us all of getting an interest in Jesus Christ Real Union with him for only hereby we come to have an Interest in all those eternal Blessings If Christ be ours All is ours not else 1 Cor. 3. 22 23. Oh this this is the one thing necessary That we make sure our Interest in God and in his Covenant by Jesus Christ This and this alone will ballance all our Losses Take special notice of those two Texts 1 Sam. 30. 6. 2 Sam. 23. 5. Let us try our Interest in Christ by those few Scriptures Rom. 8. 1 9. There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit If any man have not the spirit of Christ the same is none of his 2 Cor. 5. 17. If any man be in Christ he is a new Creature all old things are past away behold all things are become new Gal. 5.