for better things then wee can see or heare in this world yet we imploy thē in things of the world wholly Let us not doe as some shallow proud heads that regard not divine things the holy Scriptures they will not vouchsafe to read once a day perhaps not once a weeke nay some scarce have a Bible in their studies For shame shall we be so Atheisticall when God hath provided such excellent things conteined in this booke of God the Testament shall wee slight these excellent things for knowledge that shall perish with us as St. Paul saith before the Text the knowledge of all other things is perishing knowledge of perishing men Learne on earth that that will abide in heaven sayth S. Austin If wee bee wise let us know those things on earth that the comfort of them may abide with us in heaven Therefore let us be stirred up to value the Scriptures the mysteries of salvation in the Gospel they are things that Eye hath not seene nor Eare heard c. Nay I say more that little that wee have here by hearing truths unfolded whereby the Spirit of God slides into our hearts and workes with them there is that peace that a man hath in his heart in the unfolding of the poynt of Iustification or Adoption or any divine comfort that it breeds such inward peace and joy as is unspeakable and glorious All that we have in the world is not worth those little beginings that are wrought by the hearing of the word of God here If the first fruits here be joy oftimes unspeakable and glorious if the first fruits be peace that passeth understanding what will the consūmation and perfection of these things be at that day Againe here you see a ground of the wonderfull patience of the Martyrs You wonder that they would suffer their bodies to be torne and have their soules severed so violently from their bodies Alas cease to wonder when they had a sence wrought in them by the spirit of God of the things that eye hath not seene nor eare heard If a man should have asked them why they wold suffer their bodies to be misused thus when they might have redeemed all this with a little quiet oh they would have answered presently as some of them have done wee suffer these things in our bodies and in our sences for those that are above our sences wee know there are things layd up for us that eye hath not seene nor eare heard c. What doe you tell us of this torment and that torment we shall have more glory in heaven then wee can have misery here for wee can see this and there is an end of it but wee shall have joy that eye hath not seene nor eare heard c. As St. Paul most Divinely in diverse places in Rom. 8. the things that wee suffer here are not Worthy of the glory that shall be revealed Therefore let us not wonder so much at their patience as to lay up this ground of patience against an evill day when we may be drawne to seale the truth with our blood By the way learne what Popery is they thinke to merit by their doing but especially by their sufferings though they be ill doers and suffer for their demerits this is their glory Shall those stayned good workes put case they were good workes they be defiled and stayned and as menstruous cloathes as it is Isaiah 64. shall they merit the glory to bee revealed that is so great that eye hath not seene c. What proportion is there In merit there must be a proportion betweene the deed done and the glory what proportion is there betweene stayned imperfect defiled workes and the glory to bee revealed Should not our lives be almost angecall What manner of men should wee be in all holy conversation Considering what things are layd up in heavē we have the first fruits of them here Can men be too holy and exact in their lives that looke for things that eye hath not seene nor eare heard c. I wonder at the stupiditie and hellish pride and malice of mens hearts that thinke any man can be too exact in the maine duties of Christianity in the expression of their love to God in the obedience of their lives in abstinence from the filthinesse of the world and the like Can a man that lookes for these excellent transcendent things be too careful of his life I beseech you your selves be Judges The end of the first Sermon HIDDEN SECRETS Revealed by the GOSPEL The second Sermon I. COR. 2. 9. As it is written Eye hath not seene nor eare heard c. THE Apostle sets out the Gospell here with all the commendations that any skill in the world can be commended by From the authour of it God From the depth of it it is Wisedome in a mystery hidden wisedome From the antiquity of it it was ordained before the world was From the benefite and use of it for our glory God is content his wisedome should be honoured in glorifying us such is his love And then when it was revealed that none of the Princes of the world he meanes not onely commanding Potentates but he being a scholar himself esteemed Philosophers Pharisees and learned men to be Princes because the excellencie of a man is in the refined part of man his soul none of these Princes of the world for all their skill and knowledge knew this In this verse hee shewes the reason why Eye hath not seene nor eare heard c. He removes knowledge by removing the way and means of knowledge The meanes of knowledge in this world is by the passage and entrance of the sences Now this heavenly mystery of the Gospell it is such a knowledge as doth not enter into the soule by the sences The poynts we propounded were these I That God hath a people in the world whom he favours in a speciall manner Then secondly For these that he accounts his friends he hath prepared great matters Kings prepare great matters for those they meane to advance what shall wee thinke then God will doe for his friends Now these things prepared they are great matters indeed for in the third place they are such as Eye hath not seene nor eare heard c. And then in the fourth place the disposition and qualification of those for whom God hath prepared such great matters it is for those that love him not for his enemies or for all men indifferently but for those that love him Of the first and second I spake in the former and I wil not now stand to speake of them but enlarge my selfe in the two last The things that God hath prepared for them that love him are such excellent things as neither eye hath seene nor eare heard c. He meanes the naturall eye and eare and understanding or heart of man There bee 3. degrees of
have in the Gospell be such divine truthes above nature altogether Then we must not stand to looke for reason too much nor trust the reason or wit of any man but divine authority herâ— especially For if divine authority cease in the Gospel what were it nothing the law is written in mens hearts but we must trust divine authoritie in the Gospel above al other portions of scripture and not to the wit of any man whatsoever The Church of Rome that is possest with a Spirit of pride and Ignorance and tyranny they will force knowledge on them that be under them from their sole authoritie the Church saith so and wee are the Church and it is not for you to know c. and scriptures are so and so but is the Gospell a supernaturall mysterie above the capacitie of any man and shall we build upon the authoritie of the Church for these truthes oh no! there must bee no forcing of Evangelicall truthes from the authority or parts of any man But these are not things that wee stand in so much need of therefore I hasten to that which is more usefull Eye hath not seene nor eare heard c. Here then we have an use of direction how to carrie our selves in reading and studying holy truths especially the sacred mysteries of the Gospel how shall we study them Wee thinke to breake into them with the engine of our wit and to understand them and never come to God for his spirit God will curse such proud attempts Who â—nowes the things of man but the spirit of a man and who knowes the things of God but the spirit of God Therefore in studying the Gospell let us come with a spirit of faith and a spirit of humility and meeknesse there is no breaking into these things with the strength of parts That hath been the ground of so many heresies as have beene in the Church Only Christ 〈◊〉 the key of David that shutteth and no man openeth and openeth and no man shutteth he hath the key of the Scripture and the key to open the understanding And to presse this poynt a little if eye hath not seene nor eare heard nor hath entred into the heart of man to conceive the things of the Gospell without the revelation of the spirit then we must come with this mind when wee come to heare the things of the Gospell Lord without thy holy spirit they are all as a clasped booke they are hidden mysteries to mee though they be revealed in the Gospell If my heart be shut to them they are all hidden to me Wee see men of excellent parts are enemies to that they teach themselves opposing the power of the Gospell whence is all this because they thinke only the opening of these things makes them divines wheras without the holy Ghost sanctifying and altering the heart in some measure to tast and rellish these things that as they are divine in themselves so to have some what divine in the heart to tast these things it is impossible but that the heart should rise against them and so it doth for when it comes to particulars you must deny your selfe in this honour in this pleasure coÌ„moditie now you must venture the displeasure of man for this and that truth the heart riseth in scorn and loathing of divine truth when it comes to particulars they know nothing as they should For when is truth knowne but when in particulars wee stand for it and will neither betray it nor do any thing that doth not benefit a Christian If we have not the spirit of God to relish truthes in particular they will doe us no good And except the spirit sanctifie the heart of man first by these truthes the truth will never be understood by the proud naturall heart of man Therefore the course that God takes with his children is this those that he meanes to have he first inspires into their hearts some desire to come to heare and attend upon the meanes of salvation to understand the Gospell and then under the means of salvation he shines into the understanding by a heavenly light and inspires into the will and affections some heavenly inclination to this truth of the Gospell to justification sanctification selfe-denyall and the like and workes a new life and new sences and upon them wrought under the meanes comes the soul to relish and to understand these mysteries and then the eares and the eies are open to see these things and never before A holy man that hath his heart subdued by the spirit of God in the use of the meanes oh he relisheth the point of forgivenesse of sins hee relisheth the point of sanctification he studies it daily more and more and nearer communion with God hee relisheth peace of conscience and joy in the holy Ghost they are sweete things and all the duties of Christianity because hee makes it his maine busines to adorne his proâ—ession and to live here so as hee may live for ever hereafter And this must be of necessitie for marke out of the text If the naturall eye and eare and heart can never see nor heare nor conceive the things of God must there not be a supernaturall eare and eye and heart put into the soule must not the heart and all be new molded againe If the former frame bee not sufficient for these things of necessitie it must be so From hence learne to arme your selves against all scandalls when ye see men of parts and account and such there may be men of deepe apprehensions and understanding in the Scripture for matter of notion and for the language of the Scripture exquisite and yet to be proud malicious haters of sanctity next to divells none greater consider what is the reason either they have proud spirits that despise and neglect the meanes of salvation altogether or if they doe come they come as Iudges they will not submit their proud hearts to the sweet motions of the Spirit stumble not at it if such men bee both enemies to that they teach themselves and those that practise it the reason is because their proud hearts were never subdued by the Spirit to understand the things they speake of For such a teacher understands supernaturall things by a naturall light and by humane reason that is to talk and discourse c. but hee sees not Supernaturall things by a supernaturall light divine things by a divine light Therefore a poore soule that heares the things published by him understands them better by the helpe of the Spirit than he that speakes them better indeed for his use and comfort As we see there are some that can measure land exactly but the man that oweth the land measured he knowes the use of the ground and delights in it as his owne the other can tell here is so much ground c. So some Divines they can tell there are such poynts and so they are raysed and they can bee
his goodnesse and the streaming of it our to the Creature The whole Earth is full of the goodnesse of the Lord. What are all the Creatures but Gods goodnesse Wee can see nothing but the goodnesse of God what is all the Creatures but Deus explicatus God unfolded to our senses he offers himselfe to our bodies and soules all is Gods goodnesse And then see this goodnesse fitted to us it is a fit goodnesse that comes from God he is good and doth good and so fitly he proportions his goodnesse for hee hath fitted every part of us soule and body with goodnesse all the senses with goodnesse what doe we see but goodnesse in colours What doe we heare but his good in those delights that come that way We tast and feele his goodnesse against the cold we have cloathing in hunger wee have food in all necessities in all exigences wee have fit considerations of God for all necessities whatsoever outward But then for our soules what food hath he for that the death of CHRIST his owne sonne to feed our soules The soule is a spirituall substance and hee thought nothing good enough to feed it but his own sonne wee feed on Gods love in giving CHRIST to death and on CHRISTS love in giving himselfe to death The soule being continually troubled with the guilt of some sinne or other it feeds on this it is nourished with CHRIST every day more and more especially at the Sacrament Thus we see how GOD hath fitted his goodnesse to us And then in particular dangers how hee fits us with severall deliverances so seasonably as we may see Gods love in it Then as GODS goodnesse is great and fit so it is neare us it is not a goodnesse a farre off but GOD followes us with his goodnesse in whatsoever condition wee bee hee applies himselfe to us and hee hath taken upon him neare relations that hee might bee neare us in goodnesse hee is a Father and every where to maintaine us Hee is a Husband and every where to helpe hee is a friend and every where to comfort and counsell so his love it is a neare love therefore hee hath taken upon him the nearest relations that we may never want God and the testimonies of his love And then againe this goodnesse of God which is the object of love it is a free goodnesse meerely from himselfe and an overflowing goodnesse and an everlasting goodnesse it is never drawn drie hee loves us unto life everlasting he loves us in this World and followes us with signes of his love in all the parts of us in body and soule till hee hath brought body and soule to Heaven to enjoy himselfe for ever there These and such like considerations may serve to stirre us up to love God and direct us how to love God Benefits will worke upon a beast as it is Isaiah â— Heare oh Heavens and hearken oh earth the Oxe knoweth his owner and the Asse his Masters Cribbe but my people have forgotten mee Proud men become baâ—er and more brute then the very brutes benefits will moove the very brute Creatures So I say these favours to us in particuler should moove us except wee will bee more brute then the brutes themselves Especially to moove us all consider some particularities of favours to us more then to others for specialties doe much increase love and respect Consider how God hath followed thee with goodnesse outwardly when others have beene neglected Thou hast a place in the World and Riches and Friends when many other excellent persons want all these There are some common favours to all Christians as the favour wee have in CHRIST forgivenesse of sins Sanctification and such other favours But there bee some specialties of Devine providence whereby it appeares that GODS providence hath watched over us in some particulars more then others those bee speciall ingagements And is there any of us that cannot say that GOD hath dealt specially in giveing them some mercie more then to others I adde this therefore to the rest Againe to helpâ— us to stirre up this grace of love consider those examples of loveing of those that have then lived in former times take David and Paul and other holy men David wonders at his owne love Lord how doe I love thy Law And have wee not more cause comparing the grounds of our affection when wee have more then they in those times What did hee wonder at his love of GODS Law when the Canon was so short they had onely Moses and some few Bookes and wee have the Canon inlarged wee have both the old and new Testament shall not wee say much more how doe I love thy Law thy Gospell and Divine truthes This should shame us when they in darke times so loved the truth of GOD and wee see all cleare and open and yet are cold Likewise it is good in this case to converse with those that are affectionate as face answereth face so spirit answers spirit as Iron sharpneth Iron so one sharpens another Conversation with cold ones will make one cold For the abundance of iniquitie the love of many shall wax cold Conversing with sinfull cold people casts a dampe upon us but let us labour if we will bee wise for our soules when wee finde any coldnesse of affection to converse with those that have sweete and heavenly affections it will mervaylously worke upon our hearts I might say much this way to stirre us up and direct us how to love God But indeed nothing will so much inable us to love God as a new nature nature will love without provocation the fire will burne because it is fire and the water will moysten because it is water and a holy man will love holy things because hee is holy a spirituall soule will love spirituall things because hee is spirituall therefore besides all adde this that our natures bee changed more and more that they be sanctified and circumcised as God hath promised I will circumcise your hearts that yee may love me There must bee a circumcised heart to love God wee must bee sanctified to love God for if nature bee not renewed there cannot bee this new Commandement of love Why is love called a new Commandement and an old Commandement It is called old for the Letter because it was a command in Moses time thou shalt love the Lord with all thy soule But now it is a new Commandement because there is abundance of spirit given by CHRIST and the spirit sanctifies us and writes this affection in our hearts It was written in stone before but now it is written in our hearts by the spirit And now there are new incentives and motives to love since CHRIST came and gave himselfe for us new incouragments and provocations to love therefore it is a new Commandement from new grounds and motions that are more a great deale then before Christ. But there must be a new heart to obey this new command of love
and glory the heavenly riches the heavenly inheritance the heavenly sonship when all these things vanish and come to nothing then comes in the true Kingdome Sonship and Inheritance Againe 2. wee know them in this world by way of taste for the things of the life to come there are few of them but Gods children have some experimentall taste of them in this world God reserves not all for the life to come but he gives a grape of Canaan in this wildernesse Thirdly by arguing from the lesse to the greater If peace of conscience bee so sweet here what is eternall peace If a litle joy here bee so pleasant and comfortable that it makes us forget our selves what will bee that eternall joy there If the delights of a kingdome bee such that they fill mens hearts so full of contentment that oft-times they know not themselves what shall we think of that excellent kingdom So by way of taste and rellish we may rise from these pettie things to those excellent things which indeed are scarce a beame scarce a drop of those excellencies If Peter and Iohn when they were in the mountain were not their owne men when they saw but a glimpse but a little glorie of Christ manifested in the mount what shal we think when there is the fulnesse of that glorious revelation at the right hand of God where there is fulnesse of pleasures for ever How shall our soules be filled at that time Thus by way of rising from the lesser to the greater by tasting feeling and by divine revelation wee may know in some measure the excellencie of those things prepared for us Now to cleare this thing more fully know that there are three degrees of revelation First there must bee a revelation of the things themselves by word and writing or speech and the like as we know not the minde of a man but either by speech or writing so there must bee a revelation of these things or else the wit of Angels could never have devised how to reconcile Justice and Mercie by infinite wisedome by sending a Mediator to procure peace God-man to worke our salvation Therefore wee could not know them without a revelation and discoverie outward this is the first degree that wee may call Revelation by scripture or by the doctrine of the Gospel Who could discover those things that are meerly supernaturall but God himselfe Then againe 2. when they are revealed by the word of God and by men that have a function to unfold the unsearchable riches of Christ by the ministerie of the Gospell yet notwithstanding they are hidden riddles still to a company of carnall men Put case the vaile be taken off from the things themselves yet if the vaile bee over the soule the understanding will and affections there is no apprehension of them therefore there must bee a second revelation that is by the Spirit of God Ofnecessitie this must bee for even as the Apostle sayth in this Chapter None knoweth the minde of Man but the spirit that is in Man so none knoweth the mind of God but the Spirit of God What is the Gospel without the Spirit of Christ to discover the minde of God to us We know not the good meaning of God to us in particular wee know in generall that such things are revealed in scripture but what is that to us if Christ bee not our Saviour and God our Father unlesse we can say as S. Paul sayth He loved me and gave himselfe for mee Therefore you see a necessitie of revelation by the Spirit But this is not all that is here meant there is 3ly a higher discovery and that is in heaven that that is revealed here is but in part and thereupon if wee believe wee believe but in part and wee love but in part If our knowledge which is the ground of all other graces and affections be imperfect all that followes must needs bee imperfect also Therefore St. Iohn sayth We know that wee are the Sonnes of God but it appeares not what we shall bee What we shall be in heaven it doth not appeare now there must bee a further revelation and that will bee hereafter when our soules shall bee united together with our bodies and then indeed our eyes shall see our ears heare and hearts shall conceive those things that while wee are here in the wombe of the Church wee neither can see nor heare nor understand more than the childe in the wombe of the mother can conceive the excellencies in this civill life Thus we see these truths a little more unfolded I will now adde somewhat to make use of what hath been spoken First of all therefore for matter of instruction if it be so that the things of the Gospell bee such as that without a revelation from God they could not bee knowen then we see that there is no principle at all of the Gospel in nature There is not a sparke of light or any inclination to the Gospell but it is meerly above nature for hee removes here all naturall wayes of knowing the Gospell eye eare understanding therfore the knowledge of it is meerly supernaturall For if God had not revealed it who could ever have devised it And when hee revealed it to discover it by his Spirit it is supernatural but in heaven much more which is the third degree I spake of Therfore by the way you may know the reason why so many heresies have sprung out of the Gospel more than out of he Law the misunderstāding of it There are few or no heresies from that because the principles of the Law are writtē in the heart men naturally know that whoredome and adulterie and filthy living c. are sins men have not so quenched nature but that they know that those things are naught therefore there have been excellent Law-makers amōg the heathens But the Gospel is a meere mystery discoured out of the breast of God without all principles of nature there are thousands of errors that are not to be reckoned about the nature the person the benefits of Christ about justification and sanctification and free will and grace and such things what a world of heresies have proud wits continually started up This would never have beene but that the Gospell is a thing above nature Therefore when a proud wit and supernaturall knowledge revealed meete together the proude heart stormes and loves to struggle and deviseth this thing and that thing to commend it selfe and hereupon comes heresies the mingling of naturall wit with divine truthes If men had had passive wits to submit to divine truthes and to worke nothing out of themselves as the spider out of her own bowells there had not beene such heresies in the Church but their hearts meeting with supernaturall truthes their proud hearts mingling with it they have devised these errours that I note in the first place Then againe if the things that wee
exquisite in this but what profite have they by it The poore soule that heares these things by the helpe of the Spirit hee can say these are mine as the man for whom the ground is measured As it is with those that come to a Feast the Physitian comes and sayes this is wholsome and good and this is good for this and that but eates nothing others that know not these things they eare the meate and are nourished in the meane time so when such men discourse of this and that a poore man that hath the Spirit he relisheth these things as his owne the other goes away onely discourseth as a Philosopher of the meate and eates nothing And therfore when you read heare these things content not your selves with the first degree of revelation no that is not enough when you have done that desire of God to joyne his Spirit to give you spirituall eyes and hearts that you may close with Divine truths and be divine as the truths are that there may bee a consent of the heart with the truth then the word of God will be sweet indeed Againe here we see this divine truth That a man when he hath the Spirit of God knowes things otherwise than hee did know them before though he did not know them by outward revelation of hearing and reading c. And hee believes them otherwise than he did before he sees them by a new light It is not the same knowledge that an unregenerate man hath with that he hath after when God workes upon his heart for then it is a divine supernatural knowledge And it is not the same faith and beliefe the Spirit of God raiseth a man up in a degree of creatures above other men as other men are above beasts hee gives new eyes new ears a new heart he moulds him anew every way Therefore you have good men somtimes wonder at themselves when God hath touched their hearts that they have had such shallow conceits of this and that truth before Now they see that they were in the darke that they were in a dampe before that they conceived things to be so and so and thought themselves some body but when God opens their eyes and takes away the skales and lets them see things in their proper light heavenly things by a heavenly light and with a heavenly eye they wonder at their former foolishnesse in divinity especially so farre as concernes the Gospell for there is more in the Scripture then pure supernaturall divinity there are many other arts in the Scripture The Gospell I say is a knowledge not of naturall men or great wits but of holy sanctified men Therefore we must not think that these things may be known by nature c. It is a sacred knowledge so much as will bring us to heaven it is a knowledge of holy men that have their hearts brought to love and tast and relish that they know Therefore it is no wonder though a company of men of great partes live naughtily they are no true divines because they have no true knowledge The divell is no divine nor a wicked man properly though hee can discourse of such things yet he is not properly a divine because he knowes not things by a divine light or heavenly things by a heavenly light The knowledge of the Gospell it is a knowledge of sanctified holy men but to come neerer to our practise If eye hath not seene nor eare heard nor hath entered into the heart of man to conceive those things that God hath prepared for his Then let us make this the rule of our esteeme of any thing that is good or any thing that is ill make it a rule of valuation The Apostle here you see hath a ranke of things above the sight of the eye or the hearing of the eare or the conceiving of the heart of man if there be such a ranke of things above this then the greatest ills are those that eye hath not seene nor eare heard nor hath entred into the heart of man and indeed they are so Wee grieve at the Ague and at the Stone and the Goute they are grievous things indeed oh but what bee these things that wee feele and see to those in another world that wee cannot apprehend for the greatnesse of them The torments of hell wee cannot conceive and understand them here for it is indeed to bee in hell it selfe to conceive what hell is and therfore when God enlargeth mens spirits to see them they make away themselves And so for the greatest good these goods here this outward glory we can see through it Christ could see through all the glory in the world that the Divell shewed him And these are things that wee can heare of and here the utmost that can be spoken of them therefore surely they are not the greatest good there are more excellent things than they because the eye sees them the eare heares of them and the understanding can conceive of them but there be things that the eye hath not seene nor eare heard not the soule conceived and those bee the joyes of heaven And thereupon to descend to practise if this bee a rule to value things that the best things are transcendent beyond sence and comprehension then shall I for those things that I can see can heare and feele and understand shall I lose those excellent good things thaâ— neither eye hath seen nor eare heard c. Is not this desperate folly to venture the losse of the best things of the most transcendent things that are above the capacitie of the greatest reaches of the world shall I lose all for pettie poore things that are within my owne reach and compasse How foolish therefore are those that are given to pleasures they feele the pleasure indeed but the sting comes after They delight in those ill things that they can heare and heare al that can be spoken of them and never thinke of the excellent things that eye hath not seen nor eare heard c. Let this make us in love with divine truthes in the Scripture with the Gospel that part of the Scripture that promiseth salvation by Christ and all the graces and priviledges of Christianity they are above our reach Wee study other things we can reach them we can reach the mysteries of the Law by long study and the mysteries of physicke and to the mysteries of trades by understanding when men have done all they may be fooles in the maine Solomons fooles they may do al these things and be wise for particular things by particular reaches of that which eie hath seen and eare heard c. and then for the best things that are above the capacitie of men they may die empty of all and goe to the place oâ— the damned To bee wise to Salvation is the best wisdome What a pittifull case is this that God should give us our understandings
discovery of heavenly things First in the doctrine of them and so they are hid to them that are out of the Church And then secondly in the spirituall meaning of them and so they are hid to carnall men in the Church And then thirdly in regard of the full comprehension of them as they are indeed and so they are reserved for heaven wee have but a little glimpse of them a little light into them in this world Now in this place is meant the things that are discovered in the Gospell especially as they are apprehended by the Spirit together with the consummation of them in heaven For they differ onely in degree the discovery of the heavenly things in the Gospell here the priviledges and graces and comforts of Gods children and the consummation of them in heaven And wee may reason from the lesser to the greater if so be that a naturall man though hee have naturall eyes and eares and wits about him cannot conceive the hidden mysteries of the Gospell spiritually with application much more unable is he and much lesse can hee conceive those things of a better life Now the things of the Gospell the priviledges the graces and comforts which Christ the spring and head of them all in whom all are and whence we have all cannot be comprehended by a naturall man he can discourse of them as far as his natural wit conceives them but not understand heavenly things in their owne light as heavenly things as the things of the Gospell They can talke of repentance that wee commonly speake of which is a mystery but notwithstanding who knowes repentance by the light proper to it but he that by the spirit of God hath sinne discovered to him in its owne colours Hâ— knowes what it is to grieve for sin The sicke man knowes what it is to bee sicke the Phisitian knows it by definition by books and so he can inlarge it but if he be not sicke the sicke patient will speake to better purpose So there is a mysteryin the common things of the Gospell repentance and griefe for sinne A holy man feels it another matter because he feeles sinne discovered by the Spirit of God and so in faith in the love of God and every grace of the Gospell is a mystery If one come to the schoolemen they will tell you of faith and dispute learnedly of it and deduce this from that but when he comes to be in extremitie when the terrours of the Lord are upon him when he comes to use it he is a meere stranger to it to cast himselfe being a sinfull creature into the armes of Gods mercy hee cannot doe it without a further light of the Spirit discovering the hidden love of GOD to him in particular and so for other graces Therefore they do but speake of these things men that are unsanctified as a blind man doth of colours they inwardly scorne the truth they speake of and those to whom they speake if by the power of Gods Spirit they come to profit by the things they teach if themselves be carnall they hate them A carnall man believes not a whit of what hee sayth hee hath onely a common light for the good of others a common illumination to understand and discover things and a doctrinall gift to unfold things for other and not for themselves for themselves they scorne them in their hearts and in their lives conversations and they will speake as much when it comes to selfe-deniall in preferment in pleasures in anything that is gainfull tush tell him what hee hath taught or what hee knowes out of the booke of God he cares not hee knowes them onely by a common light but for a particular heavenly light with application and taste to himself springing from an alteration by the Spirit hee never knowes them so Therefore content not thy selfe with a common light for together with our understanding God alters the taste of the whole soule he gives a new eye a new eare to see and heare to purpose and a new heart to conceive things in another manner than he did before But you will aske How can a godly man know them at all seeing eye hath not seen nor eare heard c. I answer First the things of another life as wee see here are knowne by negation as God is by way of removing imperfections The naturall eye sees them not nor the naturall eare heares them not c. no nor the spirituall eye nor eare in a full measure so things transcendent that are above the reach of man are described in the Scriptures by the way of denial which is one good way of knowledge That yee may know the love of God that is above knowledge sayth the Apostle Ephes. 3. that yee may know it more and more but it is above all knowledge in regard of the perfection of it As a man may see the sea but hee cannot comprehend the sea hee may be much delighted in seeing the sea but hee sees neither the bottome nor the bankes he cannot comprehend such a vaste body he may see the heavens but hee cannot comprehend them So a man may know the things when they are revealed but hee cannot comprehend them apprehension is one thing and comprehension is another there may be apprehension in a poore degree sutable to the capacitie of the soule here but alas it is farre from the comprehension that we shall have in heaven That is one way of knowing them by way of negation and deniall of imperfections to them And then secondly they are knowne as wee call it by way of eminence that is by comparing them with other things and preferring them before all other excellencies whatsoever as wee may see the sunne in water by resemblance for God borrowes from nature termes to set out grace and glory because God will speake in our language for they are called a Kingdome and a feast and a crowne by way of comparison Shallow men thinke there is a great deale in a kingdome and indeed so there is if there were no other There is great matters in a crowne in the feasts of kings and the like but alas these be shaddowes and there is no Rhetoricke or Amplification in this to say they be shaddowes a shaddow is as much in proportion to the body as these are to eternall good things the true reality of things are in the things of another world for eternity If wee talke of a Kingdome let us talke of that in heaven If of a crowne of that wherewith the Saints are crowned in heaven If we talke of riches they are those that make a man eternally rich that hee shall carrie with him when he goes out of the world what riches are those that a man shall out live and die a begger and not have a drop to comfort him as we see Dives in hell had not here are riches indeed So if
we talke of beauty it is the Image of God that sets a beauty on the soule that makes a man lovely in the eye of God True beauty is to be like God And to bee borne a new to that glorious condition is the birth and inheritance All these poore things are but acting a part upon a stage for a while as the proudest creature of all that is invested in them will judge ere long none better judges then they This is one way of knowing the things of the Gospell by naming of them in our owne language As if a man go into a forraine country he must learn that language or else hold his peace so God is forced to speake in our owne language to tell us of glory and happinesse to come under the name of crownes and kingdomes and riches here If God should set them out in their owne lustre wee could not conceive of them But thirdly the most comfortable way whereby Gods people know the things of heaven and of the life to come is in regard of some tast for there is nothing in heaven but Gods Children have a tast of it before they come there in some measure they have a taste of the communion that is in heaven in the communion they have on earth they have a taste of that eternall Sabbath by some relish they have of holy exercises in these Christian Sabbaths A Christian is as much in heaven as he can be when hee sanctifies the holy Sabbath speaking to God in the Congregation by prayer and hearing God speake to him in the preaching of the word That peace that wee shall have in heaven which is a peace uninterrupted without any disturbance it is understood by that sweet peace of conscience here that passeth all understanding We may know therefore what the sight of Christ face to face will be by the sight wee have of Christ now in the word and promises if it so transforme and affect us that sight that we have by knowledge and faith here what will those sights doe So that by a grape wee may know what Canaan is as the spies they brought of the grapes of Canaan into the desart we may know by this little taste what those excellent things are The fourth way is by authoritie and discoverie St. Paul was wrapped up in the third heaven he sayth they were such things that he saw that could not bee spoken of strange things And Christ tels us of a kingdome Christ knew what they were and the word tells us what they are our faith lookes to the authoritie of the word If wee had not the first fruits nor any other discoverie God that hath prepared them hee sayth so in his word and we must rest in his authoritie And there are some that have been in heaven Christ our blessed Saviour that hath taken into a perpetual union the man-hood with the second person which he hath knit unto it he knowes what is there and by this meanes wee come to have some kind of knowledge of the things to come Againe by a kind of reasoning likewise from the lesser to the greater we may come to know not only the things but the greatnesse of them As is there not coÌ„fort now in a litle glimpse when God shines upon a Christians soule when he is as it were in heaven is there such contenment in holy companyâ—here what shall there be in heaven Is there such contentment in the delights of this world that are the delights of our pilgrimage they are no better our houses are houses of our pilgrimage our contentments are contentments of passengers if the way the gallery that leads to heaven bee so spread with comforts what bee those that are reserved in another world A man may know by raysing his soule from the lesser to the greater And if the things that God hath provided in common for his enemies as wel as his friends as all the comforts of this world all the delicacies and all the objects of the sences they are comforts that are common to the enemies of God as well as his friends if these things be so excellent that men venture their soules for them and lose all to bee drowned in these things oh what peculiar things are they that God hath reserved for his owne Children for those that love him when those that are common with his enemies are so glorious and excellent These kind of wayes we may come to know them by the helpe of the spirit Those unmixed joyes those pure joyes that are full of themselves and have no tincture in heaven are understood by those joyes we feele on earth the joy of the holy Ghost which is after conflict with temptations or after afflictions or after hearing and meditating on good things the heavenly joyes that flow into the soule they give us a taste of that full joy that we shall have at the right hand of God for evermore That comfort that we shall have in heaven in the presence of God and of Christ and his holy Angels is understood in some little way by the comfortable presence of God to the soule of a Christian when hee findes the Spirit of God raising him and chearing him up and witnessing his presence as oft-times to the comfort of Gods people the holy Ghost witnesseth a presence that now the soule can say God is present with me he smiles on me and strengtheneth mee and leads mee along This comfortable way Gods children have to understand the things of heaven by the first fruits they have here for God is so farre in love with his children here on earth and so tender over them that hee purposes not to reserve all for another world but gives them some taste before hand to make them better in love with the things there and better to beare the troubles of this world But alas what is it to that that they shall know as it is 1 Ioh. 3. Now wee are the sonnes of God but it appeares not what we shall bee That shall bee so great in comparison of that we are that it is sayd not to appeare at all it appeares in the first fruits in a little beginnings but alas what is that to that glory that shall bee Our life is hid with Christ in God It is hid there is no man knowes it in regard of the full manifestation because here it is covered with so many infirmities afflictions and so many scornes of the world are cast upon the beautie of a Christian life it is hid in our head Christ. It is not altogether hid for there is a life that comes from the root from the head Christ to the members that quickens them but in regard of the glory that shall be it is a hidden life Let us consider the reasons why God will have it thus to make it cleare before I goe further We must be modest in reasons when we speake of Gods counsels and courses
hope And where were patience If it were not for a better estate in another world a Christian of all men were most miserable Who would endure any thing for Christ if it were not for a better estate afterwards And so for sobrietie what forceth a moderate use of all things here the consideration of future judgement that made even Felix to tremble The consideration of the estate to come causes that we surfet not with the cares of the world and excesse but doe all that may make way for such a glorious condition What enforceth the keeping of a good conscience in all things St. Paul looked to the resurrection of the just and of the unjust and this made him exercise himselfe to keepe a good conscience And so puritie and holinesse that we take heed of all defilements in the world that we bee not led away with the errour of the wicked but keepe our selves unspotted What forceth this but the consideration of a glorious condition in another world He that hath this hope purgeth himselfe There is a purgative power in hope a cleansing efficacie that a man cannot hope for this excellent condition but it will frame and fit the soule for that condition Can a man hope to appeare before a great person and not fit himselfe in his deportment and attire before hand to please the person before whom hee appeares So whosoever hopes to appeare before Christ and God of necessitie that hope will force him to purge himselfe Let us not stand to search curiously into particulars what the glory of the soule or of the body shall bee the Apostle discovers it in generall we shall bee conformed to Christ our head in soule and body but rather study how to make good use of them for therefore they are revealed before hand in generall And with all to humble our selves and to say with the Psalmist Lord what is Man that thon so farre considerest him Sinfull man that hath lost his first condition and hath betrayed himselfe to thine and his enemy to advance him to that estate that neither eye hath seene nor eare heard c. This consideration will make us base in our owne eyes Shall not wee presently disdaine any proud conceits shall wee talke of merit what can come from a Creature that shall deserve things that eie hath not seen nor eare heard that such proud conceits should enter into the heart of man surely grace never entred into that mans heart that hath such a conceite to entertaine merit Shall a man thinke by a penny to merit a thousand pound by a little performance to merit things that are above the conceit of men and Angels but a word is enough that way And with humiliation take that which alwayes goes with humiliation thankefulnesse even before hand When the Apostle S. Peter thought of the inheritance immortall and undefiled c. he begins Blessed be God the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ c. Hee could not think of these things without thankfulnesse to God For wee should begin the life of heaven upon earth as much as may bee and what is that but a blessing and praising of God Now we cannot more effectually and feelingly praise God than by the cōsideration of what great things are reserved for us for faith sets them before the soule as present as invested into them Now if we were in heaven already we should praise God and do nothing else therfore faith making them sure to the soule as if we had them sets the soule on worke to praise God as in Ephes. 1. and in Pet. 1. Saint Peter and Paul they could never have enough of this Thus wee should doe and cheare and joy our hearts in the consideration of these things in all conflicts desolations wee little thinke of these things and that is our fault wee are like little children that are born to great matters notwithstanding not knowing of them they carry not themselves answerable to their hopes but the more the children grow into yeares the more they grow in spirit and conceits and carriage sitting the estates they hope for So it is with Christians at the first when they are weake they are troubled with this temptation and with that with this losse and with that crosse but when a Christian growes to a full stature in Christ every petty crosse doth not cast him downe hee thinkes what shall I be dejected with this losse that have heaven reserved for mee shall I bee cast downe with this crosse that have things that eye hath not seene nor eare heard c. Prepared for me He will not he makes use of his faith to fetch comfort from these things that are reserved for him that are unexpressible and unconceiveable And let us comfort our selves in all the slightings of the World A man that hath great hopes in his own coūtry if he be slighted abroad he thinkes with himselfe I have other matters reserved elsewhere and I shall have another manner of respect when I come home The world it knowes not God nor Christ nor us shall not we be content to go up and downe as unknowne men here when God the father and Christ our Saviour are unknowne There are better things reserved at home for us therfore let us digest all the slightings and abusage of carnal men And let us not envy them their condition that is but for terme of life use it as well as they will that hath a date that will bee out wee know not how soone Alas all their happinesse it is but a measured happinesse it is within their understandings their eyes can see it and their eares can heare it and when they can neither see nor conceive more in this world then there is an end of all their sensible happinesse Shall we envie when they shall shortly be turned naked out of this world to the place of torment We should present them to us as objects of pitie even the greatest men in the world if wee see by their carriage they be void of grace but not envy any condition in this world But what affection is due and suiting to the estate of a Christian If we would have the true affection it is admiration and wonderment What is wonderment It is the state and disposition of the soule toward things that are new and rare and strange that we can give no reason of that are beyond our reach For wise men wonder not because they see a reason they can compass things But a Christian cannot but wōder because the things prepared are above his reach yea when he is in heaven he shall not be able to conceive the glory of it he shall enter into it it shall bee above him he shall have more joy and peace then he can comprehend the joy that hee hath there it is beyond his ability and capacity beyond his power he shall not be able to compasse all It shall be a matter
and the communion of the Saints and the change of nature is here in sanctification wee shall never know in heaven the fulfilling of it And those that have the first fruits here if they bee in a state of growth that they desire to grow better continually they shall no question come to the perfection for God will not lose his beginnings where hee gives earnest he will make up the bargaine Therefore let us all that know a little what these things are by the revelation of the Spirit let us be glad of our portion for God that hath begun hee will surely make an end The affection and bent and frame of soule due to these things is admiration and not only simple hearing If these things in their beginnings here be set out by words of admiration peace that passeth understanding and joy unspeakable and glorious what affection and frame of Spirit is sutable to the hearing of those things that are kept for us in another world If the light that wee are brought into here bee admirable great wee are brought out of darknesse into admirable wonderfull light If the light of grace bee so wonderfull to a man that comes out of the state of Nature as it is indeed a man comes out of a dampe into a wonderfull cleare light what then is the light of glory Therefore let us often think of it Those that are borne in a prison they heare great talke of the light and of the Sunne of such a glorious Creature but being borne in prison they know not what it is in it selfe so those that are in the prison of Nature they know not what the light of grace is they heare talke of glorious things and have conceits of them And those that here know not the glory that shall bee after when they are revealed that affection that is due to them is admiration and wonderment So God loved the world that he gave his only begotten Sonne and behold what love the Father hath shewed to us that wee should bee called the sonnes of God! what love he could not tell what it is so admirable and to know the love of God that is above all knowledge Who can comprehend the love of God that gave his sonne who can comprehend the excellency of Christs gift the joyes of heaven by Christ and the misery of hell from which wee are delivered and redeemed by Christ These things come from the Gospell and the spring from whence they come is the large and infinite and incomprehensible love of God And if it bee so what affection is answerable but admiration Behold what love If God have so loved flesh and blood poore dust ashes so as to be heires of heaven and of such glory as eye seesnot nor cannot in this world nor eare heares not nor hath entred into the heart of man till we come fully to possesse them let us labour to admire the love of God herein And labour to know more and more our inheritance as we grow in yeares as children doe they search into the great matters their parents leave them and the nearer they come to enjoy them the more skill they have to talke of them so should wee the more wee grow in Christianity and in knowledge the more we should bee inquisitive after those great things that our father hath provided in another world but to goe on How shall we know whether these things be prepared for us or no whether wee bee capable of these things or no God hath prepared them and he hath prepared them for those that love him but how shall wee know that God hath prepared them for us In a word whom God hath prepared great matters for hee prepares them for great matters we may know by Gods preparing of us whether he hath prepared for us God prepared Paradise before Adam was created so God prepares paradise he prepares heaven before wee come there and wee may know that wee shall come to possesse that if we be prepared for it What preparation If we be prepared by a spirit of sanctification and have holy desires and longing after those excellent things for certainly there is preparation on both sides It is prepared for us and us for it it is kept for us and wee are kept for it whom God keepes heaven for he keeps them for heaven in a course of pietie and obedience We may know it by Gods preparing of us by loosing us from the world and sanctifying us to himselfe Thus a man may know whether those great things bee prepared for him or no. But the especiall thing to know whether they be provided for us or no is love God hath prepared them for them that love him not for his enemies hee hath prepared another place and other things for them those torments that eye hath not seene nor eare heard nor hath entred into the heart of man for those that are his enemies that would not come under his government but these things are prepared for those that love him For those that love him especially that love is all in all in the disposition of a holy man all graces are one in the spring which is love they are severall in the branches but they are one in the root Thus you have heard the use we are to make of this that there is a reservation of a glorious condition for the people of GOD so great that neither eye hath seene c. But who bee the parties that God hath prepared these things for For them that love him This is the fourth part the disposition of the parties for whom for them that love him Why not for those that God hath elected Why doth he not goe to the root of all the great things that God hath prepared for those that he hath chosen to salvation No that is out of our reach hee would not have us goe to heaven but rather goe to our owne hearts wee must search fâ—r our election not above our selves but within our selves Why doth he not say to them that believe in hâ—m Because Faith is the radical grace from whence the rest spring But faith is a hidden grace many times and the Apostles scope is to poynt to such a disposition that every one may know that is more familiar Somtimes faith is hidden in the root and it is shewed in the effect more thâ—n in it selfe in Love A poore Christian that is in the state of grace that sayth Oh! I cannot bâ—lieve aske him if hee love God Oh yes he loves the preaching of the word hee loves good people and good bookes and the like when hee cannot discover his faith hee can his love therefore the holy Ghost sets it out by the more familiar disposition by love rather than faith Why doth hee not say For those that God loves Gods love is the cause of our love Because Gods love is manifested more familiarly by our love to him for that
And love is such a thing as every one may try himself by if he had named either giving or doing of this or that men might have sayd I cannot doe it or I cannot part with it but when he names love there is none but they may love The poynt considered was that There must be a qualification of those that heaven is provided for They must bee such as love God such as are altered and changed and sanctified to love him Because no uncleane thing shall enter in thither Because wee cannot so much as desire heaven without a change we cannot have communion there with Christ and those blessed soules without likenesse to them which must be by a spirit of love our natures must bee altered Therefore it is a vaine presumption for any man to thinke of heaven unlesse he finde his disposition altered For wee may read our eternall condition in heaven by our disposition upon earth The Apostle Peter sayth 1 Pet. 1. Blessed bee God the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ that hath begotten us to a lively hope of an inheritance immortall and undefiled reserved in heaven So that the inheritance in heaven wee are begotten to it wee must be new borne we must have a new birth before wee can inherit it hee hath begotten us to an inheritance immortall c. Hee that is not a childe may not thinke of an inheritance Put case there bee never so many glorious things in heaven that eye hath never seene nor eare ever heard c. if our names be not in Christs will that we are not his and prove our selves to be his by the alteration of our dispositions what are all those good things to us when our names are not contained there It is called a hope of life a lively hope because hee that hath this hope purgeth himselfe it makes him vigorous and active in good if his hope of life make him not lively he hath no hope of life at all Therefore those that will looke for heaven that Sathan abuse them not by false confidence let them looke whether God have altered their hearts that the worke of grace be wrought in some measure For God hath not ordained these great things for his enemies for blasphemers that take Gods name in vaine that run on in courses contrary to his will and word that live in sinnes against the light of nature do you thinke he hath provided these great matters for them he hath another place for them Therefore let us not be abused by our owne false hearts to thinke of such a happy condition unlesse we finde our selves changed unlesse we be new borne we shall never enter into heaven Lord Lord say they Christ brings them in pleading so Lord Lord not that they shall say so then that is not the meaning but now they cherish such a confidence Oh we can speake well and we can pray wel Lord Lord. Oh thou vaine confident person thy confession and profession Lord Lord shall doe thee no good I will not so much as owne thee Away hence thou worker of iniquitie thy heart tels thee thou livest in sinnes against conscience away avaunt I will none of thee God in mercie to us will have the triall of the truth of our evidence in us The ground of all our salvation is his grace his free favour and mercie in his owne heart but we cannot goe thither he would have us to search within our selves and there we shall finde Love God hath prepared for those that love him In particular therefore Those that God hath provided so excellent things for they are such as love him They are such first of all that are beloved of him and shew that they are beloved of him by their love to him Therefore when the Papists meet with such phrases they think of merit he hath provided heaven for them that love him and shew their love in good workes But we must know that this is not brought in as a cause why but as a qualification of the persons who who shall inherit heaven and who shall have these great things It is idle for them to thinke that these things are prepared for those whom God foresees would doe such and such good workes it is as if we should thinke hee hath provided these happy things for those that are his enemies For how could he look for love from us in a state of corruption when the best thing in us was enmitie to him Is it not a vaine thing to looke for light from darknesse to look for love from enmity and hatred therefore how could God foresee any thing in us when he could see nothing but enmity and darknesse in our dispositions by nature And then as we shall see afterward this love in us it must bee with all our heart and soule and might it is required and commanded and when wee doe all this wee doe but what wee are bound to doe But they abuse such places upon so shallow ground that indeed it deserves not so much as to be mentioned To come then to the poynt it selfe the disposition of those that shal come to heaven then is they must be such as love God Now hee names this because these two goe alwayes together there goes somewhat of ours together with somewhat of Gods to witnesse to us what God doth There goes our choyce of God with his chusing of us our knowing of God with his knowledge of us our love to him with his love to us therefore because these are so connexed and knit together hee takes the one for the other and to make it familiar to us hee takes that which is most familiar to us our love to him Now hee names this above all other affections because love is the commanding affection of the soule it is that affection that rules all other affections hatred and anger and joy and delight and desire they all spring from love because all duties spring from love both to God and man therefore both Tables are included in love And when the Apostle would set downe the qualification of those that shall enjoy these things he sayth they are for those that love him Because it stirres up to all dutie and addes a sweet qualification to every duty and makes it acceptable and to rellish with God it stirres up to doe and qualifies the actions that come from love to bee accepted All duties to man spring from love to man and love to man from love to God it is the affection that stirres up the dutie and stirres up the affection fit for the dutie it stirres up to doe the thing and to do all in love Whatsoever wee doe to God or man it must bee in love all that God doth to us it is in love hee chuseth us in love and doth every thing in love and all that wee doe to God it must be in love Therfore he names no other affection but this because it is
in the Word and Sacrament c. If a man desire strangenesse that he cares not how seldome hee receive the Sacrament or come into Gods presence is here love how can love and strangenesse stand together thou art a strange person from God and the things of God thou hast no joy in his presence where thou mayest enjoy his presence here in holy things in this world if thou delight not in his presence and in union with him how canst thou say thou lovest him Can a man say he loves him whose company hee cares not for Thou carest not for Gods company thou mayest meete him in the Word and Sacraments and in good company Where two or three are gathered together I will be in the middest Doest thou pretend thou lovest GOD if thou carest not for these thou hast no fellowship in this businesse all that rellish not heavenly things they doe not love Now to try whether we have this branch of love that is a desire of union Where therefore there is a desire of union with the partie loved of uniting to that person for we speake of persons there wil bee a desire of communion a desire of Vnion will breed a desire of Communion that is there will be a course taken to open our mindes if we have a desire of communion with GOD wee will open our soules often to him in prayer and we will desire that hee will open himselfe in speaking to our hearts by his Spirit And wee will desire that he will open his minde to us in his Word wee will bee carefull to heare his Word and so maintain that sweet and heavenly Commerce betweene him and our soules by this entercourse of hearing him and speaking to him Where two or three are gathered together I will bee in the midst Therefore thâ—se that make no conscience either of hearing the word or of prayer publicke and private aâ—d of using the glorious libertie wee have in Christ of free accesse to the Throne of Grace that doe not use this prerogative and priviledge to cherish that union and communion they may have with God they love not God and Christ Strangenesse is opposite to love and it dissolves and disunites affections therefore when wee are strange to God that we can goe from one end of the weeke to the other and from the beginning of the day to the end of it not be acquainted with God and not open our soules to him it is a signe wee have no love because there is no desire of union and communion with him Againe where wee love we consult and advise and rest in that advice as comming from a loving person especially if he bee as wise as loving so in all our consultations wee will goe to God and take his counsell and when wee have it wee will account it the counsell of one that is wise and loving Those therefore that trust to their owne wits to policie and such like what doe they speake of love when they make not use of that Covenant that is betweene God and them they consult not with him they make not his word the man of their counsell they goe not to him by prayer for advice they commit not their wayes to him as the Psalmist speaketh And this distinguisheth a good Christian from another man A good Christian hee is such a one as acquaints himselfe with his God and wil not loose that entercourse hee hath with God for all the world As Daniel hee would not but pray they could not get him from it with the hazard of his life Againe where this desire of union and joyning is there is a desire even of death it selfe that there may be a fuller union and a desire of the consummation of all things Therefore so farre as wee are afraid of death and tremble at it so farre we want love When the contract is once made betweene Christ and the soule of a Christian for him to feare the making up of the mariage when wee are now absent from the Lord to feare the sweet eternal communion wee shall have in heaven where we shall have all things in greater excellencie and abundance it is from want of faith and love Therefore we should bee ashamed of our selves when wee finde such thoughts rising in our hearts as they will naturally to bee basely and distrustfully afrayd of death Saint Paul sayth I desire to be dissolved and to bee with Christ that is good nay it is much better for mee nay it is best of all to bee with Christ therefore you see it stirred up his desire I desire to bee dissolved and to bee with Christ. Come Lord Iesus come quickly sayth the Church Revel 22. and the spirit in the Spouse stirres up this desire likewise Come the Spirit and the Spouse say Come And wee should rejoyce to thinke there are happier times to come wherein there will bee an eternall meeting together that nothing shall dissolve as the Apostle sayth 1 Thessal 4. 17. when wee shall bee for ever with the LORD Oh! those times cheare up the heart of a Christian before hand Now where these things possesse not the soule how can wee say that wee love God In Cant. 1. the Church beginnes Let him kisse mee with the kisses of his mouth shee desires a familiar communion with Christ in his word and ordinances Let him kisse me c. Let him speake by his Spirit to my heart In this world Christ kisseth his Church with the kisses of his mouth But in the latter end of the Canticles Make haste my beloved she desires his second coming thinks it not enough to have the kisses of his mouth Make haste my beloved and bee as the young Roes upon the mountaines of Spices that is come hastily from heaven the mountaine of Spices and let us meet together my beloved These things be somwhat strange to our carnall dispositions but if wee hope ever to attaine to the comfort of what I say wee must labour that our hearts may bee brought to this excellent condition to desire the presence of Christ that is the second propertie of love The third is to rest pleased and contented in the thing when wee are joyned with it so farre as wee are joyned with it to place our contentment in it and it is in the nature of that affection to place contentment in the thing wee desire to have whenwe have it once Now wee may know this our contentment whether wee rest in GOD or no by the in ward quiet and peace of the soule in all conditions when whatsoever our condition be in this world yet wee know wee have the light of GODS countenance and can rest and bee content in it more than worldly men in their corne and wine and oyle as David sayth Psalm 4. I rejoyce more in the light of thy countenance than when they have their corne and wine and oyle When wee can joy and solace
our selves with the assurance of Gods favour and love in Jesus Christ. Being justified by faith we have peace with God and rejoyce in God as it is Rom. 5. wee rejoyce in God as ours Therfore those that goe to outward contentments that run out to them as if there were not enough in God and divine things to content their soules but they must be beholding to the divell aâ—d to the flesh for contentments this is not to rest in God Hee is over-covetous whom God cannot content If we be in covenant with him hee is able to fill our soule and all the corners of it hee is able to satisfie all the delights and desires of it hee is a gracious father in Christ. Whither should wee goe from him for contentment why should wee goe out of religion to content our selves in â—vain recreations pleasures of sinne for a season when wee have abundance in God And where there is contentment there will be trusting in him and relying upon him A man will not rely upon riches or friends or any thing for where we place our contentment we place our trust So farre as we love God so farre wee repose affiance and trust in him he will be our rock castle strength Wouldest thou know whether thou restest in him or no In the time of danger whither doth thy soule run to thy purse if thou bee a rich man or to thy friends if thou bee a worldly minded man Every man hath his Castle to flye to But the Name of the Lord is a strong Tower hee that is a childe of God flieth thither for refuge and there hee covereth himselfe and is safe He enters into those chambers of divine providence and goodnesse and there he rests in all troubles Therefore aske thy affections whither thou wouldest runne if there should come a confusion of all things when men are apt to say Oh! what will become of us and they think of this and that A good Christian hath God to rest in he hath God reconciled in Christ and in his love he plants himselfe in life and death He makes God his habitation and his Castle as it is Psalm 18. I love the Lord dearly my Rock and my Fortresse And Moses in Psalm 90. for his Psalme it is Thou hast been our habitation from everlasting to everlasting Wee dwell in thee though in the world we are tossed up and downe and live and die yet wee alway dwell with thee So a Christian hath his contentment and his habitation in God he is his house he dwells in his rocke his resting place his centre in which he rests Come unto mee and yee shall finde rest to your soules When a man is beat out of all contentments he may know by this whether he love God or no As David when hee was beat out of all and they were ready to stone him but hee trusted in the Lord his God So in losses and crosses hast thou contentment in God thou wilt fetch what thou losest out of the love of God and what thou art crossed in thou wilt fetch out of Gods love thou wilt say this and that is taken from mee but God is mine I can fetch more good by faith from him than I can lose in the world A soule that is acquainted with God when hee loseth any thing in the world he can fetch it out of the â—cuntain and spring He is taught to love God he is skilfull this way to pitch his hope and affiance in God where he hath enough for all crosses Let us labour to bring our souls more and more to this and then wee shal know what it is to love God by this placing of our contentment in him Take all from me sayth holy Aâ—stin so thou leave mee thy selfe So a Christian can say take all from mee so I have God Indeed where shall a man have comfort in many passages of his life if he finde it not in religion What will become of a man in this uncertaine world if hee have not somewhat where hee may place his content Oh! he will finde before hee die that hee is a wretched man hee knowes not where to finde rest and contentment before he die hee will bee beat out of all his holds here either by sicknesse or one thing or other The fourth and last is where the true affection of love to God is it stirs up the soule to give all contentment to God to doe all things that may please him This is the nature of love it stirs up to please the partie loved Isaacks sons saw that their father loved Venison therfore they provided venison for him Those that know what God loves will provide what they can that that God may delight in He loves a humble and a believing heart Thou hast wounded me with one of thine eyes The eye of faith when the soule can trust in the word humbly go out of it self his delight is in a broken yeelding heart that hardnes not it selfe against his instructions but yeelds A broken heart that lies low heares all that God saith Oh it is a sacrifice that God is much delighted in a humble spirit is such a spirit as God dwels in He that dwels in the highest heavens dwels in a humble spirit Doth God delight in a meeke broken humble spirit Oh then it will be the desire of a Christian to have such a spirit as God may delight in A meeke soule is much esteemed the hidden man of the heart is much prized search in Gods word what hee delights in and let us labour to bring our selves to such a condition as God may delight in us and we in him then it is a signe wee love him when wee labour to procure all things that may give him content You know that love where it is it stirres up the affections of the partie to remove all things that are distastfull to the partie it loves Therefore it is a neat affection for it will make those neat that otherwise are not so because it will not offend much more this divine heavenly affection when it is set on a right object upon God it is a neat cleanly affection it will purge the soule it will worke upon the soule a desire to bee cleane as much as can bee because God is a pure holy God and it will have no fellowship with the workes of darknesse Therfore as much as humane frailtie will permit the soule that loves God it will studie puritie to keep it selfe unspotted of the world It will not willingly cherish any sinne that may offend the Spirit Those therefore that are carelesse of their wayes and carriage and affections that make nothing of polluting and defiling their affectictions and their wayes there is not the love of God in their hearts It stirres up shame to be offensive in the eyes of such a one especially if they be great there is both love and