yet we must neither serve nor love him so much for the Reward that he will Crown us with as for his own sake 'T is Storied of (l) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vide Plutarch in Vit. Alex. Alexander that he was wont to say of his two Friends Ephestion and Craterus Ephestion loves me because I am Alexander but Craterus loves me because I am King Alexander implying that the one loved his Person and the other nothing else but his Princely Gifts Many there are in the World who Craterus-like have a good mind to God's gifts and benefits that he bestoweth on them and for these they would seem to love him But (m) Cum Deus sit ipsa essentia bonitatis per se et ultimus finis omnium propter seipsum quoque diligendus est Aquinas 2ª 2 ae Q. 27. a. 11. Christians should be so many Spiritual Ephestions obeying the God of Heaven and loving him for himself and all other things in the World Heaven and Glory it self not excepted for his sâ—ke If there be any subordination betwixt God and Heaven surely then we should rather love and by patient continuance in well doing seek after the Reward of Eternal Happiness in Heaven for God's sake than love and seek after God for Heaven's sake 'T is hard I confess to distinguish betwixt God and the Recompence of the Reward (n) Nec deum debemus amare propter praemia sed praemia propter deum Pet. Mart. in Sam. But if any such distinction may be made we must rather love and obey God for his own sake than for the sake of that Eternal Reward how glorious soever For as Austin well saith (o) Deus gratis se vult coli gratis se vult diligi hoc est castè amari Non pterea se amari vult quia dat aliquid praeter se sed quia dat se Aust in Ps 52. God will not be loved and served because he gives us any Reward besides himself but because he gives us himself as our exceeding great Reward Gen. 15.1 The Wife that intirely loves her Husband she looks for no other Reward of her Love and Obedience to him but only to enjoy him as her Husband So we must not be acted in our Obedience by a Mercenary Spirit looking more at our own Reward than at God himself but must think it a sufficient Reward of all our Love and Obedience to God that we shall at length enjoy him as our God in Christ Jesus When we are acted more in ways of Obedience by the Fear of Hell and by the desire of Heaven than by Love to God this argues a servile mercenary frame of Spirit clearly evincing that our respect to the Recompence of the Reward is not such as it ought to be For though we may lawfully have respect to them both looking upon the Torments of the one to deter us from Sinning against God and upon the Comforts of the other to encourage us to all holy walking before him yet that which ought to be the main Spring of all our Obedience setting all on work for God that which should be the very Soul of all our Religious undertakings especially deriving Life and the purest quint-essence of Holiness into them why 't is the Love of God shed abroad in our hearts Oh therefore see to it that in all your Obedience to God you be acted not by the Spirit of Bondage but by the Spirit of Adoption not by Fear but by Love not by servile and mercenary but by filial and ingenuous Principles You may set the Joys of Heaven on the Right Hand and the Torments of Hell on the Left having an eye to them both as strong incentives to quicken you in your motion But the Love of God in Christ this must be the spring and main ground of your moving in Heaven's way (p) Deum non colimus nisi propter deum ut deus quem colimus ipse sit merces Nam qui deum ideo colit ut aliquid aliud promereatur quam ipsum non quem colit diligit quia non ipsum sed aliud concupiscit Prosper in Psal 119. For we never Worship the Lord in a right way we never serve God as we should till we can serve him for himself Nor do we consult God's Glory at all but our own security when 't is only the fear of Hellish Torments and not the love that we should bear to the Lord that makes us walk in Obedience before him An heart rightly affected in the Services of God is so ingenuous and so throughly steeped in the Christal Stream of Divine Love that though there were no Heaven no Hell no Reward nor Punishment yet it would constrain a Man to do his Duty making him to shun Sin and to walk in all upright Obedience before the Lord. (q) Ipse Christianus vere est qui proficiendo perveniet ad talem animum ut plus amet dominum quam timeat Gehennam ut etiamsi dicat illi deus utere delicijs carnalibus sempiternis et quantum potes pecca nec morieris nec in Gehennam mitteris sed mecum tantum modo non eris Exhorrescat et omnino non peccet non jam ut in illud quod timebat non incidat sed ne illum quem sic amat offendat in quo uno est requies quam oculus non vidit nec auris audivit nec in cor hominis ascendit August de Catechiezâ—nd Rudik cap. 17. Let God say to such an one Crown yourselves with all Earthly Delights and take your fill of all Mundane Pleasures Cloathe yourselves in Purple and fare Deliciously every day Sin as much as you will and deny yourselves in nothing that a Carnal heart can desire yet you shall never die for it nor be cast into Hell only this shall be your Punishment that you shall never see my Face nor enjoy my Favour Why such is the strength of the Love which he bears to the God of Heaven that he would tremble at such an offer and not much be tempted with it to sin against the Lord not so much because he is afraid of falling into Hell as because he is unwilling to offend that God whom his Soul loveth and whose Favour he looks upon as better than Life it self A true Christian though he may fear Hell and eschew it with a fear of flight and aversation yet this is not the Spring of his Motion but as the Primum Mobile sets all the other Spheres a going and as the Soul informing the Body gives Life and Motion to the whole Man so the Love of God shed abroad in the heart this is the Spring of a Christian's Obedience setting all the Faculties of his Soul as so many Heavenly Orbs a going for God and putting Life into all it's Performances The Sparks do not more Naturally fly upward than the Love of God doth actuate draw forth and carry a Christian in ways of Obedience to God
a fiery Chariot Thus Holy Meditation it would carry us above the Clouds it would give us Possession of Heaven before we come there and set us in the midst of all the Glory and Royalties of Eternal Life as if they were already present Heavenly thoughts are as so many steps towards our Eternal Rest When by these therefore we Travel every day to the City of God and delightfully walk therein when every day we take as it were a turn or two in Paradise seriously Meditating Heaven together with the glory that shall shortly be revealed in us then we have Respect indeed to the Recompence of the Reward 4. EARNESTLY to desire and long for it When we see so much of the Excellency Worth and Glory of the World to come that we groan within ourselves desiring with all our hearts to get out of these Houses of Clay and to be cloathed upon with our House which is from Heaven then we have respect to the Recompence of the Reward 2. Cor. 5.2 When Paul had once been wrapt up into the Third Heaven and seen the Paradise of God his Note was ever after I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ Thus the Soul that hath a respect to the Recompence of the Reward he hath been in the Heavenly Paradise he hath tasted some Clusters of Canaan and therefore he cannot but long for more he can never be soon enough with Christ he can never soon enough get above the World and Sin and Temptations he can never be soon enough with God in Glory Oh! when shall it be They that have the first Fruits of the Spirit cannot chuse but have their eyes always fixed upon the Recompence of the Reward earnestly desiring the time of Harvest when they shall Reap a full Crop of Eternal Happiness and Glory in the Heavenly Canaan AS Noah's Dove was restless finding no place whereupon to set the sole of her foot till she came into the Ark so Christians if your eyes are rightly fixed upon the Recompence of the Reward you will find your selves carried out after Heaven and Glory in a restless manner and will never sit down satisfyed till you come to rest in the Bosome of God's Eternal Love Never Christians did Rachel more long for Children nor David for the Waters of Bethlehem nor Absalom to see the King's Face than your Souls will long for the glorious Liberty of the Children of God to be drinking the Waters of Life in the Heavenly Paradise and to come to the Beatifical Vision of God in Glory where you shall see him Face to Face in case you have an eye rightly fixed upon the Recompence of the Reward THE Language of every Soul whose eye is rightly fixed upon Heaven and Glory it is like unto that of Job speaking forth his desires after God Oh that I knew where to find him that I might come even to his seat Job 23.3 Such a Soul is impregnated with holy desires and longings after God in Glory and with these the Soul travels all the day long crying out with the Church in the Revelations as in pain to be delivered from under the bondage of Sin and Corruption into Heavenly Glory GIVE the Soul Riches give it Honours give it all the Pleasures that can be thought of to ravish the heart of a Carnal Man yet having an eye rightly fixed upon the Recompence of Reward in vain shall you seek by these to bribe it out of its holy desires and longings after God in Glory For scorning and trampling upon them all as unworthy to come in competition with God it even breaketh through desire after him and can truly say of God with holy David Whom have I in Heaven but thee and there is none upon Earth that I desire besides thee Psal 73.25 'T IS just with the Soul as with some Women in the time of their Impregnature who if they see any thing when they are with Child that they have a mind to they must have it or else they will long and dye for it Thus the Soul that by Faith hath got a sight of Heavenly Enjoyments now the heart of such a Soul it is set upon Heaven and he must have Heaven upon a Crown of Life and he must have a Crown of Life upon God and Christ and Eternal Glory and he must have them all together or else give him what you can he will long and die unsatisfied THERE is so much of the Beauty Loveliness and Glory of Christ revealed to the Soul in looking upon the Recompence of Reward that now it grows impatient of living any longer without him crying out as she did in another case Why are his Chariots so long in coming and Why tarry the wheels of his Chariots When will my beloved make haste and be like a young Roe upon the Mountains of Spices When will the day break and the shadows fly away that I may see my beloved in his Glory When will he come to put an end to these days of Sin and Sorrow that I may rest for ever in the Bosome of his Eternal Love When will he take me by the hand and lead me out of the Wilderness of this World into the Heavenly Canaan When will he rebuke the Winds and the Seas that will give me no rest in this Troublesome World and set me safe on the Shoar of Eternal Happiness When will he deliver me from this Body of Death and gather my Soul to the Spirits of Just Men made perfect When will he take from me these Rags of Mortality and cause me to be cloathed upon with an House not made with hands Eternal in the Heavens When will he make me return and come to Sion with Songs and everlasting Joy upon my head When will he cause me to obtain fulness of Joy and Gladness with him in Eternal Mansions of Glory that Sorrow and Sin and Sighing being done away I may be with the Lord for ever Oh when shall I once see that blessed day NOW What is it I beseech you after which your hearts do thus strongly breathe thus insatiably thirst thus impatiently long If Riches will not satisfy but you must have a Treasure in Heaven if Worldly Honour will not satisfy but you must have a Crown of Righteousness from Christ himself if Carnal Pleasures will not satisfy but you must have that fulness of Joy which is in God's Presence and those Pleasures which are at his Right Hand for evermore if in a word the Life that now is will not satisfy but you must though you dye for it go live for ever with Christ in Glory why then there is no doubt Christians but with Moses you have an eye to the Recompence of Reward For then our eye is rightly fixed upon the Recompence of Reward when our Souls are carried out in strong desires after God and Christ and Eternal Glory as our only Happiness 5. TO be by the consideration of it exceedingly encouraged to diligence and
an eye to your own Salvation to eternal Happiness to the Recompence of Reward making that the end of all your Obedience yet remember 't is but an inferiour end that which you ought to make the ultimate and chiefest end of all is the glory of God If a Man should stop at a Colon and give over Reading there before he came to a Full-point the Sentence would be imperfect Thus Christians your Salvation is but a Colon at first God's glory is the Full-point if therefore you stop at your own Salvation not looking beyond it to the Glory of God why let me tell you there is not one perfect Sentence to speak for you in the whole contexture of all your Obedience but they are every one of them imperfect and will signify nothing at all before God's Tribunal when you shall come to read them as Evidences of your interest in Heaven and eternal Glory (r) Si salus nostra famula et gloria dei domina non oportet posteriori loco nos dominam ponere ac famulam iniquo jure praeferre GOD will not have us make the Mistress wait on the Handmaid make a Tabernacle the Temple make our own Salvation which is but a secondary matter our principal end as if worthy to be valued more highly than the glory of God it self which yet is the most noble and principal end of all We never shoot so far beside the mark as when we aim more at our own Blessedness than the glory of God over all blessed for ever In other miscarriages we violate God's holy Law but in this we violate his glorious Dignity endeavouring as much as in us lyes to Un-god him and Idolatrously to sit down ourselves upon the Throne of his Glory When ever therefore you are tempted with Sacrilegious hands to lay hold upon God's glory preferring your own Salvation before that why repel the Temptation as Joseph once did the unchaste importunity of his amorous Mistress The Lord hath commited all that he hath to my hand there is none greater amongst all his Creatures than my self the Lord hath given me his own Son out of his Bosome he hath given me grace he hath given me the hope of Life of Heaven and eternal Happiness neither hath he kept back any good thing from me but his own glory because that only belongs to him How then shall I do this great wickedness How shall I lay Sacriligious hands upon his glory How shall I prefer my own Salvation my own Life my own Happiness before it and sin against God REMEMBER Christians though you may seek your selves you may seek Heaven and Life and eternal Happiness yet not in the first place the honour of God why that must lye next your heart and the glory of God must be most in your eye as not being a subordinate end like your own Salvation but the principal end of all God's glory must be the Terminus Reductivus to which all our Obedience must be reduced as the ultimate end of it Every Christian is a Spiritual Archer and God's glory must be the mark that he shoots at He is a Spiritual Traveller and though he may take up his lodging at his own Salvation yet God's glory must be the end of his Journey He is in a word a Spiritual Navigator and though he may cast forth the Anchor of hope at his own eternal Happiness yet he is like to make Shipwreck of himself if he go about to put in any where else for harbour but at the fair haven of God's glory As all the Rivers run into the Sea and all the Lines meet in the Center so all our actions and all the Rivers of our own Happiness they must meet together Concentring themselves in God's glory And certainly Christians we never attain the end of our Faith the Salvation of our Souls better than when Faith and Salvation both are referred to the glory of God as their ultimate end We never come sooner to that Rest which remains for the People of God than when God's glory is made the Center not only of the works which we do but also of the Rest it self which we look for as the eternal Reward of them We are never in a word more sure to hit the mark of our own Salvation than when we aim most directly at God's glory For then your respect to the Recompence of Reward is such as God would have it to be when you principally seek for Heaven and eternal Glory that God himself may thereby be glorified 2. WE are to have respect in our Obedience to the Recompence of the Reward not singly but joyntly and in conjunction with God's Glory If we may not principally have respect to Heaven in our Obedience preferring that before God's glory much less may we think it lawful to make Heaven the sole end of our Obedience not regarding but wholly neglecting his glory that prepared it If we may not prefer our own Happiness before God's glory much less may we wholly leave off the care of God's glory and exclude it out of our thoughts in seeking to make our selves happy Since God in seeing his own Glory did also consult the Happiness and eternal Salvation of our Souls why 't were a point of the greatest ingratitude in the World for us in seeking our Salvation not also to consult his Honour endeavouring that whilst we are saved his Name may be glorified 'T is unlawful to Dogmatize that we must be willing to be damned that God may be glorified or else we are still but Hypocrites and were never sufficiently humbled but to be willing to have God himself dishonoured and lose his glory that we may be saved is most wicked and abominable For betwixt the glory of God and our own Salvation the 〈…〉 is so strong and inseparable that 't is impossible for any Man rightly to seek the Salvation of his own Soul who doth not also intend God's glory as his ultimate end He that doth not take aim before he shoots can never hit the mark So Christians if you only look at your selves not taking in all your Obedience a right aim at God's glory you can never hit the mark of your own Salvation If you separate the Soul from the Body it 's no longer a living Creature but a dead Carcass Thus if a due respect to God's glory which is the very Soul of all our Obedience be separated from the care which we seem to have of our own Salvation it 's no longer a living Sacrifice holy and acceptable unto God but a dead service that will nothing at all avail us to Life and eternal Happiness THE Moon when in the full looking directly upon the Sun is a glorious Creature but if once the Earth interpose it self betwixt her and the Sun she becomes a dark obscure Body of whom we may say That there is no form nor beauty nor comeliness in her that we should desire her Thus Christians whilst in our
fear of God's Wrath and Hell to be unbecoming a Gospel Spirit and a thing wholly Inconsistent with the Love of God (f) Deuâ— autem qui unus est quoniam utramque personam sustinet patris Domini amare eum debemus quia filij sumus timere quia servi Lactant. Divinar Institut Lib. 4. cap. 4. pag. 356. Mal. 1.6 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Justin Martyr Respons ad Orthodox 98. pag. 251. For God is so his Children's Father as that he is their Lord also So that though the name Father speaks Love and Boldness yet the name Lord speaks Fear and Reverence And though the love and hatred of God are inconsistent Yet the fear and the love of God not only may but must dwell together in every gracious Soul FOR as the Consideration of God's Goodness should beget in our hearts towards him Love and Boldness so the greatness of God should beget in us Fear and Reverence As we love God for his Grace and Mercy because he hath out of the abundant Riches of his Goodness prepared Heaven So we are to fear God for his Justice and Almighty Power trembling continually before him because he is able to destroy both Body and Soul in Hell God hath not only the tender Indulgence of a Father but he hath also the dreadful Countenance of a Judge And as that doth keep us from despairing so this should keep us from Presuming as the thoughts of God's Fatherly Indulgence should work in us an intire Love and Affection to him so the thoughts of his just displeasure against all Unrighteousness must breed in us all Reverence and due Devotion to work out our own Salvation with fear and trembling Phil. 2.12 Only you must know there is a two-fold fear the one sinful and the other holy the one servile and slavish proceeding from a root of Enmity and Hatred in the Heart against God the other filial and child-like proceeding from a Principle of Love to God and his Glory Slavish Fear is disingenuous making him that is acted by it more afraid of Wrath and Hell and Eternal Burnings than he is of displeasing the God of Heaven and therefore not becoming a Child of God But now Filial Fear it is wonderful Ingenuous filling the Soul whenever it draws nigh to God with all Reverent and Awful Thoughts of him and causing it to be more afraid of displeasing God and coming under his Frowns than of Hell it self with all the Torments thereof and this is the Fear wherewith the Lord must be Feared and by which we may lawfully be acted in all the ways of our Obedience For though Perfect Love casteth out that Slavish Fear which proceeds from the hatred of God 1 John 4.18 yet it doth not cast out but is the ground of Filial Fear and reverence towards God Though it casteth out Tormenting Fear yet it doth not cast out Obeying Fear Though it cast out the Son of the (g) Timor serviliae est cum per timorem Gehennae continet se homo á peccato quo praesentiam judicis et poenas metuit et timore facit quicquid boni facit non timore amittendi aeternum bonum quod amat sed timore patiendi malum quod formidat Non timet ne peroat amplexus pulcherrimi sponsi sed timet ne mittatur in Gehennam Lombard ex August lib. 3. distinct 34. d. Bond Woman which is nothing but a Servile Affection that makes a Man turn the back many times upon his beloved Corruptions and do something in a way of Obedience not so much for fear of losing the Smiles and Favour of God as for fear of suffering the Vengeance of Eternal Fire Yet doth it never cast out the Son of the (h) Timor castus sive amicabilis est quo timemus ne sponsus tardet ne discedat ne offendamus ne eo cardamus Ibid. Free-Woman which is an Holy Affection of Soul making all that have it Shun Sin and walk in Obedience before God more for fear of displeasing him and losing his Smiles than for fear of Everlastng Burnings in Hell it self So that the Fear of God when not Servile but Filial doth contribute as much to the ingenuity of our Obedience as Love it self making us look in all our Performances not so much at Heaven and Hell as at God himself that he may be pleased with us and smile upon us And therefore though God must be served in Love yet he loves no Service which hath not this Sovereign Ingredient of Filial Fear Heb. 12.28 as well knowing that such fear is nothing else but the Fire of Love breaking forth into a pure flame of Holy Jealousy lest God should be robbed of his Glory whilst looking more in our Obedience to the Recompence of the Reward than to God himself we take the Crown from him and set it upon the head of our own Happiness God is pleased indeed at first to set before us Heaven and Hell the one in all it's (i) Vult dominus ut a malis per suppliciorum formidinem recedamus et de timore servorum ad gratiam filiorum transeamus Hieron ad Mal cap. 1. Glory and the other in all it's Torments that by the Fear of Hell he may drive us out of Sin and draw us by the Love of Heaven into ways of Holiness But when once we have tasted that the Lord is gracious and found one days Communion with him better than a Thousand elsewhere when once we have been on the top of Pisgah getting a Prospect of that Heavenly Canaan which God hath prepared for us when once we have been taken up into the Mount of Transfiguration with God beholding his matchless Beauty and transcendent Glory why now the Lord will have us acted in all our Obedience not so â—uch by the thoughts of Heaven and Hell as by love to himself doing all that we do in the Service of God for his own sake As the Samaritans said Now we believe not because thou hast said it but because we have heard him our selves and know that this is indeed the Christ the Saviour of the World John 4.42 So must we say having tasted the goodness of God in ways of Obedience now we serve thee not slavishly as Persons that are meerly acted by a mercenary Spirit by the fear of Hell and the hope of Heaven but ingenuously and out of a Principle of love to the Lord as counting it our Meat and Drink our chiefest Delight our center of Rest our Heaven upon Earth to glorify the God of Heaven and enjoy Communion with him in the Beauties of Holiness Lycurgus would have Virgins to be Married without any Portion that so their Husbands might take them purely for Love and not for any Sordid and By respects Thus (k) Non sine praemio diligitur deus quamvis sine intuitu praemij sit diligendus Bernard Christians though we cannot love nor serve God without a Reward
us to and that will make it something clearer that we may lawfully have respect in our obedience to the recompence of the reward Think not that by sending you to Nature I go about to make void the Grace of God for though they both spring from the same Fountain of Love and Unity so that there are no Principles of discord betwixt them yet Nature is but the Handmaid Grace is the Mistress Nature teacheth you to consult your own Happiness but it 's Grace alone that can put you in the right way and at the end Crown you with it Men by nature are all of themselves in equal circumstances in order to eternal Happiness they may desire it but are all of them equally distant from it till God himself makes the difference according to his own Decrees which are all of them eternal and unconditionate However God hath left this natural desire of Happiness in us as a stock whereupon to graft the Plant of Grace Nature indeed could never make us happy without Grace and yet Grace presupposes Nature as that which affords it matter to work upon so that whilst by Nature we desire our own Happiness Grace doth not pluck up this desire as an unsavoury Weed but doth manure and cherish it and perfect it by putting us in the right way that leads to eternal Happiness What shall we then think of those that deny us the liberty of consulting our own Welfare would they have us banished from our own essence and walk Antipodes to the Law of Nature Judge in your selves is it comely for a Man to go about to blot out the Law of Self-preservation which God hath engraven upon every Being as with the point of a Diamond Doth not Nature itself teach you what a shame it is for a Man to be careless of his own Salvation never labouring to promote the welfare of his own Being If the Law of Nature teach us to consult our own Happiness to be sure the God of Nature for obeying her in that innocent dictate seeking Life and Eternal Glory in all that we do will never condemn us 9. WE may lawfully have respect to the recompence of the reward in our obedience because otherwise we should neglect our great end of our Lives which is to seek after the Happiness and Eternal Welfare of our own Souls The main care of every Man in this World should be as to glorifie God so to save his own Soul Our Souls are a sacred Depositum wherewith the Lord hath entrusted us and therefore he allows us not to be prodigal of their Welfare but expects that like faithful Depositaries we should give all diligence to keep them that no Man may take their Crown Christians should not be like the Married Woman who careth for the things of the World how she may please her Husband * 1 Cor. 7.34 But like the Chast Virgin they should care for the things of the Lord that being Holy both in Body and in Spirit they may save their Souls That which is the grand mark for the hitting whereof we should bend and direct all our endeavours that which is the Centre towards which we should always be moving is the Eternal Salvation of our Immortal Souls which above all things we should give diligence to Land safe at the Peaceful Haven of undisturbed rest and endless felicity †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Apud Laert. in ejus vita I have read of Anaxagoras the Philosopher that being asked for what end he was Born answered To contemplate the Heavens and behold the Sun but the true end for which we were Born into the World is this that we may glorifie God and enjoy him for ever to the saving of our Souls God never sent us into the World with a design to make us Cosmopolites that should negotiate for nothing save the perishable Enjoyments of this present Life but the great thing which the Lord hath given us in charge is to have our Conversation in Heaven laying up for our selves a Treasure there * John 6.27 Labour we must all so long as we are cloathed with Mortality yet not for the Meat that perisheth but for the Meat which will endure to everlasting Life In this World we have no continuing City the Lord would therefore have us seek for one to come * Heb. 11.10 for a Kingdom that cannot be moved for a City that hath Foâ—ndations whose Builder and Maker is God The Lord hath sent us into the World as into his own ¶ Phil. 2.12 Vineyard and the great employment he hath set us about is to work out our Salvation with Fear and Trembling Though using moderation we may consult the Welfare of our Bodies yet our great care must be to promote the Happiness of our precious Souls that when these earthly Tabernacles of our Bodies fail us we may be received into everlasting Habitations That which will infallibly be the end of a Christians Faith should designedly be the end of every Man's Life even the Eternal Salvation of his own Soul God will have our care proportionate to the worth and dignity of that object about which it is conversant Since therefore our Souls are as so many Orient Jewels of unvaluable worth good reason there is that our most â—â—incipal and sovereign care should be to provide for them that they may be eternally Blessed shining like the Sun in the Firmament of Heaven for ever with the bright reflexions of God's Benign Aspect and Glory upon them What I find spoken by Solomon in Wisdom's commendation may very well be †Pâ—o 3 15. accommodated to a rational Soul She is more precious than Rubies and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared to her THE * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Macar Homil. 46. Soul is the Glory of the whole Creation 't is the Quintessence of a rational Creature 't is an incarnate Angel ruling as Empress in the midst of Man who is the Microcosm the Epitome the compendious Abridgment of all the World The Body of Man is compounded of gross Materials 't is come of an earthly Extraction but now his Soul it s an Heaven-born Creature 't is the Off-spring of God himself as coming down from that Father of Spirits The Body is nothing but a piece of well refined Mud 't is an earthly Tabernacle raised out of the Dust for the Soul to dwell in but the Soul is of a more Noble and Divine Original 't is the sweet and delicious Breath of a Deity derived into the Body by Divine Inspiration from God himself THERE is that Beauty Comeliness and choice Embroidery to be seen upon the Body of Man which doth sufficiently prove it to be more than the mere Workmanship of any finite Creature but upon the Soul there are those signatures of a Deity those heavenly Characters and Divine Lineaments which seem clearly to evince it to be wholly the Workmanship of an Infinite God
'T is fictioned by the Poets in their Mythology of Prometheus that he did work and fashion the Bodies of Men out of Clay but he was fain to steal Fire from Heaven for the informing and quickning of them with living Souls (a) Psal 139.1 When the Body is curiously formed and admirably organized in the lower Parts of the Earth yet still it would remain a lifeless and unspirited piece of Clay did not God animate and quicken it with a living Soul with a celestial Spark lighted by his own Breath from Heaven THE Body of Man is but a Flower springing out of the Earth that will quickly wither and return to its Dust but his Soul hath Immortality written upon it it s a Bud of Eternity that can never be blasted nor wither away into nothing The Body indeed is nothing but a Compound of Death and Mortality it will quickly crumble away into dust and rottenness but the Soul having no Principles of Death and Corruption bound up in it will run a Line parallel to aâ—l Eternity it can never be confined by time but will for ever be launching forth in the boundless Ocean of an endless Duration †Matth. 10.28 The Body is obnoxious to the stroke of Death and by the Hand of Violence may before its time be matriculated amongst those that sleep in the Dust but the Soul being an immaterial Substance is above that fatal blow and hath from the spirituality of its own Nature everlasting impregnable security against every Hand of Violence written upon it so that Death itself is not able to touch the Life of the Soul THE Soul therefore being thus Divine in its Original and Eternal in its Being and Duration there is no Man unless he will renounce his own Understanding and apostatize from his own essence but must acknowledge it a point of the most important and masculine reason in all the World to consult the Salvation of our Immortal Souls providing above all things for their Eternal Welfare Should we prefer the Casket before the Jewel a frail Mansion of Mortality before an heavenly Inhabitant or the dark Lanthorn of the Body before the Soul that Divine Lamp which if fed by the Oyl of Grace would always shine forth with most radiant dazling beams of Brightness The excellency of our Souls is so transcendently Great and Glorious that it justly lays claim to our principal care and because they will never be raked up with our Bodies in the cold Embers of Death why therefore hath the Lord made it the great end of our Lives to work out Salvation for them giving diligence to make them meet through Grace for everlasting Mansions of Glory in the Kingdom of Heaven But how can we thus take care of them or design their Eternal Happiness as the great end of our Lives in case we may not have respect to the recompence of the reward seeking Life and Eternal Glory by patient continuance in well-doing to Crown them withal Can the Salvation of our Souls be the object of our principal care next to Gods own Glory when out of a pretended Zeal for that we would seem altogether careless and unsolicitous about the saving of our own Souls How can we say we make salvation the great end of our lives endeavouring that our Souls may be happy when we hold it unlawful to bend and level all our desires for the hitting of that fair mark Believe it Christians they that would perswade you 't is unlawful to have respect in our obedience to Heaven and Glory do in effect go about to argue your Souls into the careless neglect of their own everlasting welfare But can you be regardless of your own Salvation Can you sleight the great end of your lives and turn your back upon your own happiness Can you indeed neglect your immortal Souls that must either be happy or miserable either imparadised Souls in Heaven or damned Spirits in Hell to all eternity Do you know what Salvation is how everlastingly blessed those Souls will be that may approach the presence of their God that may see his Face that may rest in his eternal embraces that may enter into the joy of their Lord and drink freely of those Rivers of pleasure which are at his right hand for evermore Oh then make not light of so great Salvation but give all diligence to get an interest therein for your immortal Souls To make sure of eternal happiness was the great errand upon which God sent us into the World oh therefore take heed that you do not leave it upon uncertainties seeking after the Kingdom of God and the righteousness thereof as if you were loth to find it 10 WE may lawfully have respect in our obedience to the recompence of the reward because the very nature and proper genius of true Grace is to make a blessed divorce betwixt the world and the heart wherein it is resident and so to carry out the heart in strong desires and unsatisfiable breathings after Heaven and Glory True Grace is an Heaven-born Spark and therefore it doth naturally ascend upward aspiring after Heaven and Glory as its proper region As all the Lines meet in the Center and as all the Rivers do run into the Sea uniting themselves in the vast Ocean so all the desires of a gracious Soul they meet in Heaven uniting all their forces in one continued and insatiate anhâ—lation after fulness of Communion with God in Glory The Sun though seen in the Water yet hath his Tabernacle fixed in Heaven (a) Phil. 3.20 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Macar Hom. 17. so though a Christian hath his commoration upon Earth yet his Conversation his Trade his Commerce is daily in Heaven the place of his Eternal Abode The Men of this World are ever inveloping themselves in thick Clay they are not soaring Eagles but crawling Muck-worms but now all those that are truly gracious they are Men of another Spirit they live in the highest Region and are compared to Eagles in regard of their Heavenly-mindedness (b) Isa 40.31 Life enables Men to lift up their Body from the Earth and to tread upon it with their Feet (c) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Macar Homil. 16. Thus whoever have the Life of Grace begun in them they tread upon all earthly Enjoyments and are carried upon the Wing of desire quite above all sublunary Comforts into Heaven itself The heart that is seasoned with saving Grace is restless till it come to be fixed in a sure State of Glory and Happiness just like the Needle that is touched with a Load-stone upon which there is nothing but unquiet agitations and tremblings till it be firmly fixed and settle immovably in the North Point We read of Noah's Dove that she found no place whereupon to rest the sole of her Foot but only in the Ark so the People of God they find no place but in Heaven whereupon to rest themselves and therefore all their breathings
Carrion of bestial Delights you will thus renounce the Communion of Heavenly Joys Is this your Wisdom your Prudence to make Sin the object of your Joy the Theatre of your Delight the Centre of your Desires and the Element wherein you would continually chuse to live when God by a Miracle of rich Grace calls upon you to seek after Glory and Honour after Immortality and Eternal Life in the Kingdom of Heaven Can you think to maintain the comfort of your Life by Sin which is nothing but the fuel of Death and Misery Will you make that the sole object of your Joy which alone is the inlet to an ocean of Sorrow and perplexing disquietments The truth is we have many amongst us who wear Christ's Livery and are called Christians but yet they live as Persons resolved to chuse Epicurus that grand Sensualist for the Master oâ— their licentious Faction making Pleasure with him the Alpha and Omega of all their Happiness Seneca though an Heathen had a far more noble â—â—d heroick Spirit than such esteeming it the greatest Pleasure to contemn all carnal Pleasures whilst these reckon it for the highest accent of â—â—licity to live in them Such voluptuous Wantons walk directly antipodes to the end of their own being living in nothing but carnal Delights as if God sent them into the World to be therein like the Leviathan sporting themselves and feasting their Souls in an Ocean of sensual Pleasures They begin to anticipate here that Paradise of swinish Delights which Mahomet promised his own naâ—â—y Herd at leastwise to take an earnest of it continually soaking themselves in their own intemperance and brutish luxury They look after no other Heaven than only to go singing to Hell and though you give them the greatest variety of delightful objects yet they cannot be Merry unless they may have Treason against Heaven it self for the game and the Devil for their playfellow But be ashamed oh carnal Gospellers thus to give up the strength of your Souls in the service of sensual Pleasures making light in the mean time of Heaven and Glory together with those unsullied Paradisical Pleasures which are at God's right Hand for evermore Oh let not that be matter of Pleasure and Delight to you which lay so heavy upon the Soul of your blessed Redeemer Did Christ bleed and groan and die to save you from your Sins and yet will you live with delight in the Pleasures of Sin How ever can you have a good thought of Sin when you look upon it as that which brought down the Son of God from Heaven and that murthered the Lord of Life and Glory Must the beloved Son of God undergo the curse due to your Sins and must he also humble himself unto Death to purchase for you the reward of Life everlasting that after all this you should undervalue his Love and make light of so great Salvation preferring the Pleasures of Sin which are but for a season before it Will you see I beseech you your folly in the glass of these ensuing considerations 1 CONSIDER thus to delight in carnal Pleasures it argues your Souls to be utterly void of Grace and dead in sin Where ever Grace comes with power it mortifies all vile affections and quite alienates the Heart from all sinful delights so that whoever delights in the Pleasures of Sin to be sure he is yet in a state of Nature and was never brought under the Power of converting Grace (a) Quâ—madmodum impossibile est ut ignis flammam concipiat in aquâ ita 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 est voluptates mundi cum poenitentia Christiana manere Otho Casman A voluptuous Man cannot be a gracious Man Nor is it possible for the Dove of true Piety to find any place whereon to rest the sole of her foot in a deluge of carnal Pleasures Our first Parents by eating of the forbidden fruit they lost their right to the Tree of Life and were shut out of Paradise (b) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ait Xenophon By feeding with delight upon the forbidden fruit of Sin Men forfeit their right to all saving Grace and must need be shut out of Gods presence which is better than life it self as that alone which can quicken and revive a dead Soul T is the dead Fish only and not the living that are carried away with the stream Thus when Men are carried away with a deluge of Sin and swim willingly down the stream of carnal delights it s a sign they were never alive unto God but that still they are dead in trespasses and Sins Hence the Widow who indulges a sensual appetite living in Pleasure (c) 1 Tim. 5.6 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clem. Alexand Paedag. lib. 3. cap. 7. pag. 172. is said to be dead whilst she lives Who ever hath Pleasure in unrighteousness delighting in that as his proper element he hath no principle of Life and Grace abiding in him but is spiritually dead whilst he lives in the Body When Wickedness is sweet to our taste and we delight our selves in it here is the reigning power of Sin separating betwixt us and the God of Heaven and that indeed is not only the Death but the Hell of every graceless Soul A Life of sensuality speaks that Man to be spiritually dead who in such a manner lives after the Flesh (d) Rom. 8.13 For if you live after the Flesh saith St. Paul ye shall die When Men give their full consent to sinful desires not only committing iniquity but having Pleasure therein Not only esteeming a sinful Life to be happy but also counting it their Wisdom with profane Esau to sell their Eternal Birth-right for one mess of such pottage why this now is to live after the Flesh and whoever thus lives he is dead whilst he lives Doth then thy fancy run in a way of Sinful objects with delight taking thought for the Flesh to fulfil it in the lusts thereof Dost thou make thy self the standard and thy sensual appetite the rule of all thy actions Hast thou an Heart carried out continually after sinful objects if absent desiring and grieving for them but if present rejoicing and delighting in them How dreadful oh brutish Sinner is thy present condition If thus to enjoy the Pleasures of Sin be the Life of thy Soul it s estranged from the Life of God and thou art dead though thou livest (e) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Philo. Leg. Alleg. lib. There is a Death saith Philo of the Man and there is a Death of the Soul The first which he calls the Death of the Man that 's the separation of the Soul from the Body the second which he calls the Death of the Soul that stands in the want of Grace and the presence of Sin Tho then thy Soul be not separated from thy Body yet what will all this avail so long as thou livest in Sin which is the most dreadful Death and wantest the Grace of God
which indeed is the Life of thy Soul Did the Body of thy dearest Relation lie dead upon the floor what a woful Spectacle would it be and how bitterly wouldst thou weep over it But O Sinner thy Immortal Soul which should be more preciously dâ—ar in thy sight than all thy Relations in the World that lies dead in Sin it 's estranged from God the Fountain of Life it hath no interest in Christ the Prince of Life it hath no Portion in the Holy Ghost the Spirit of Life it hath neither Part nor Lot in Eternal Glory the Crown of Life and is not this a far more sad and woful Spectacle such as may well turn thy Head into Water and thy Eyes into a Fountain of Tears Oh what should fill thy Heart with Groans thy Eyes with Tears and thy Mouth with doleful Complaints if not this to see thy Soul without Life without God and Christ and without all hope of Eternal Glory in the World Canst thou weep bitterly for a dead Relation and yet canst thou not weep for thy self hast thou no Tears to shed over a dead Soul For a Man to be killed by Sin and yet to live to Sin taking pleasure therein what a woful condition is this If yet Sinner thou hast pleasure in unrighteousness to be sure the Tokens of Death are upon thee thou hast neither Life nor yet any hope of Eternal Life abiding in thee A Soul taking delight in the pleasures of Sin it 's a dead Soul * John 3.36 and a Dead Soul it shall never see Life but the Wrath of God abides upon it 2 CONSIDER so long as you take delight in the pleasures of sin you remain uncapable of and can never enjoy communion with God If conformity be that which capacitates for a mutual communion then doubtless an unholy sinner that hath pleasure in unrighteousness is altogether unfit for communion with an holy God †Heb. 1.13 whose Eyes are so infinitely pure that he cannot behold the least iniquity (a) Fit nostra societas cum Deo per similitudinem Ferrar. There can be no fellowship where first there is not some similitude What fellowship can there then be betwixt the great God who is all light and profane ungodly sinners delighting themselves in the unfruitful works of darkness You may say there is fellowship betwixt you and the God of Heaven (b) 1 John 1.6 But then if you walk in darkness making sin your delight you lie saith the Apostle and do not the truth 'T is an exempt priviledge and that which is peculiar to the pure in Heart that they shall see God and have communion with him (c) 2 Cor. 6.14 15. Hence St. Paul puts the question intending thereby a more vehement negation what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness and what communion hath light with darkness and what concord hath Christ with Belial We see by experience the darkness cometh not till the light be gone and when the light cometh the darkness vanisheth they cannot dwell together it being the nature of things contrary mutually to take away each other Thus the infinitely holy God and a voluptuous sordid Sinner who hath pleasure in unrighteousness they are of such contrary natures that they can no more have fellowship together than the clearest Light and the thickest darkness Amongst all the creature there are none that can have communion with any that live not the same life with themselves as a Plant whose life is only vegetative can have no communion with a beast whose life is sensitive neither can a beast have communion with Men because they live a rational (d) Ephes 4.18 life Thus all sensual wicked Men they are estranged from the life of God they live a life of sensuality delighting in sin as their proper Element and therefore can have no communion at all with God whose life is a life of unchangably blessed and spotless Holiness Oh then how miserable is the condition of all voluptuous sensualists who render themselves uncapable through their brutish lusts of communion with an holy God! Michael and the Dragon could not agree in one Heaven nor the Ark and Dagon in one House no more can a wicked Man and an holy God agree to have communion together Your carnal pleasures they shut out from communion with God as the Plague of leprosy shut out of the Camp debarring a Man from all society with such as were clean (e) In his rebus quae inter se pugnant ita ut neutra ferat alterius consortium quotiens hanc amplectimur illam abdicavimus quotiens unam rejioimus alteram agnoscimus Cyprian de dupl Martyr pag. 600. And had you rather with the Prodigal be feeding upon Husks amongst Swine than to feed with delight upon this bread of life in your fathers House Will you still go on to preferr these Onyons and Garlick of Egypt your carnal delights and pleasurable vanities before all the delicious Clusters of Canaan before the hidden Manna of Sweet communion and fellowship of an holy God Poor brutish sinners did you but know by experience what it is to walk in the light of God's countenance what it is to enjoy his favour what it is to be under his smiles in the face of Christ to receive daily the fresh communications of his love and for ever to have the sweet influences of these heavenly Pleiades falling down like a Golden showr into your own bosoms oh how quickly would you nauseate all carnal delights how quickly would you come off with shame and self-abhorrency from your pleasurable vanities making choice of Communion with God as the only Paradise of true delight and Soul-satisfying pleasures in all the World (f) Psal 34.8 Oh therefore do but tast and see how good the Lord is and what fulness of joy you may have in communion with him You have long been sucking the Breast of carnal delights and tasting how good the pleasures of sin are though but for a season Come now in like manner and draw the sincere milk of comfort from the breasts of Divine promises lay your mouths to the Hony-Comb of Heavenly communion sit you down a little under the shadow of the most High ascend with God into the Mount of transfiguration take a turn or two with him in the Galleries of love and if you find not a day thus spent to be better more laden with Fruits of Paradise to refresh and make glad your Souls than a thousand else where then turn aside again to your carnal pleasures renounce this Heavenly Canaan as a barren Wilderness and go back to the flesh-pots of your sensual delights in Egypt and spare not But oh the fulness of joy and divine satisfaction of a Man walking close in communion with God! You may as well perswade the most pompous Monarch faring deliciously every day to lay aside his princely Robes to desert his Throne and go feed upon husks with the Prodigal as
swoln like an impostume with all wicked Plots and treasonable designs against Heaven shall in Hell feel the ach of Gods heavy Displeasure and break into an Eternal Agony of unsufferable Pain The Face that was here the deadly Bait of Bestial desire exercising a lustful Tyranny over and commanding a secret adoration from the amorous Lover shall have no such sweetness now as to move any pity no such attractive Beauty now as to captivate any Eye nor any such silent Rhetorick as to draw a Sigh a Tear a Groan from any beholder but must now gather blackness for ever and instead of the garish paint of comely Features which will all melt away under the hot scorching Beams of Gods sore displeasure be filled with the confounding blushes of Eternal Flames (c) Gen. 6.5 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plus est dicere figmentum cogitationum quam cogitationes simpliciter Jetzer ipsas etiam incompletas cogitationes videtur includere quicquid homo in animo concipit format fingit Amama Antibar Bibl. lib. 2. pag. 395. Luke 16.24 The Heart that was here the Minthouse of all inordinate affections shall now meditate Terror for ever be shot through with ten Thousand invenomed Arrows of the Almighty and now every Sin every Lust it hath harboured shall be turned into so many Scorpions and Furies to sting and torment and rend it for ever Thus if like a skilful Anatomist I should go through the Whole Body of Man criticize upon every part I might shew you how their Eyes will start out for very anguish their Tongues be scorched with thirst their Lips quiver their Flesh tremble their Sinews be dreadfully wracked their Bones are all shatter'd in pieces their Moisture and Marrow dried up their Bowels shudder for Horrour (d) Matth. 22.13 their Hands and Feet bound fast in fiery Chains of Eternal Wrath the Joints of their Loyns loosed (e) Dan. 5.6 and their Knees like Belshazzars smite one against another for that Eternal Wrath and Misery which must come upon them But waving the several Parts of the Body as capable of no more than the Body and mere outside of Hellish Torments I must tell you that all the faculties and Powers of the Soul shall have their share in all the unsufferable endless Torments of Hell which indeed will be the Soul the Emphasis the sting of those Hellish Torments Here the Understanding shall be dreadfully perplexed when the Soul shall see how for a little sugared Poyson a little sensual delight and wanton dalliance it hath lost a Crown of Life lost the enjoyment of the ever Blessed God and Eternal Glory and plunged it self irrecoverably in everlasting unpreventable Misery (f) Revel 6.15 16 17. Here the Will shall also be filled with all the ingredients of Wrath and Misery obfirmed in Wickedness captivated for ever in the Labyrinth of Horrour and Heart-rending despair without any thread of escape desiring nothing more than for ever to be swallowed up and lie hid in the most abhorred estate of annihilation from the Wrath to come Here the various affections of the Soul which however distant if not contrary in the circumference of their differing objects did yet all of them accord to meet and concenter themselves in this Life upon nothing but Lust and Sin and Creature-Vanities will wage an everlasting intestine War begetting such tumultuary Jars (g) Isa 57.20 pernicious Schisms unquiet agitations Heart-rending conflicts and Boyling estuations within that now the damned in Hell will be like the troubled Sea indeed having no rest Night nor Day for ever Here in a word the Memory that faithful remembrancer of all opportunities lost all Mercies slighted all Sins committed and of all favours abused shall now be an everlasting Fury bringing all those things to mind (h) Mark 9.48 and reflecting them continually to the Conscience which awakned through the scorching heat of Gods heavy displeasure shall now become not only a Thousand Witnesses but a thousand ragâ—ful Devils to throw the Soul into an Everlasting Agony to excruciate sting and torment it as with Scorpions for ever And if this must be the Lot of the damned in Hell so that no Member of Body no Faculty of Soul shall be free from such exquisite unsufferable Torments what a prodigy of madness is it then for Men by neglecting Heaven and Eternal Glory to expose themselves Body and Soul to all this Wrath and Horrour and universal unpreventable Misery Think of it seriously and consider if now you cannot endure the ach of our Member how ever you will be able to suffer when all of them must be most dreadfully tortured together in one common destruction What will you do when all the Senses of your Body which here you have studied so much to gratify shall have all their pleasing objects turned into matter of Horrour and Everlasting anguish Nay what will you do in what abyss will you hide your selves from your selves from your Sins from the Wrath of God when your poor Souls that were chief in sinning shall now be chief in suffering and shall be turned into so many living Hells full of nothing but the Wine of astonishment together with the Fury and indignation of the Lord for ever 4 CONSIDER the immutability of Hell Torments which makes the condition of all those remediless upon whom soever they have once taken hold Every condition in this Life is a Compound of mutability vicissitudes and various changes Health and Sickness Ease and Pain Joy and Sorrow mutually succeeding one another Nor is there any Man so miserable through Sin and the Hand of God upon him for Sin but breaking off his Sins by Repentance he may find Mercy (i) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ignat. Epist ad Smyrn pag. 122. the Lord being always ready in this Life to crown with Glory all those that by patient continuance in well-doing seek after him as willing to touch by Faith the Golden Scepter of his Grace But Wo and alass if letting slip the Day of Grace you be once condemned at Christ's Tribunal now you must inevitably be banished his Glorious Presence and shut up for ever amongst the damned in the Prison of Hell without either Bail or Main-prize there being now no more any Day of Grace any calling to Repentance any Heavenly Manna falling any Angel descending into the Pool any Jacob's Ladder let down from Heaven by the climbing whereof you might escape out of the bottomless fiery Dungeon of Tophet where the Prisoners would not live yet can neither die nor evade their Torments (k) Luke 16.26 Quemadmodum in ejusmodi hiatu in quo urbes vel terrarum tractus absorbentur non potest transiri ab uno hiatus labro ad alterum cum as non sit compressum sed hiatus maneat ita significavit Dominus fieri non posse ut ullo modo transeatur ab eorum statu qui sunt tormentis adjudicati ad statum quietis
interest in this Glorious Reward than a dead Man is capable of being made the Monarch of the whole Universe The Tree must first take root and be filled with sap before any precious Fruit can grow upon it So you must first have the Root of the matter within you and be filled with the Sap of Sanctifying Grace before ever you can be Trees of Righteousness bearing Fruit to Eternal Life A Man must first be born into the World before he can have any Dignities Honour on Preferment conferred upon him in the World Thus a Man also must first be born again from Heaven by the Holy Ghost before ever he can be preferred to the full enjoyment of Life and Eternal Glory in the Kingdom of God (c) John 3.3 For except a Man be born again from above saith Christ he cannot see the Kingdom of God d A Man must first be a Member of the Church militant on Earth by Sanctification before he can possibly be made a Member of the Church triumphant in Heaven by eternal glorification (e) Rom. 5.21 The Grace of God in Christ Jesus is that alone which must Crown us with Glory if ever we have it And yet know you must that the Grace of God itself will never reign but through Righteousness unto Eternal Life The grand Reward of a Christian is the beatifical Vision of God in Glory But because he is an infinitely pure and holy God (f) Heb. 12.14 why therefore without Holiness you must never look to see him as your Happiness and Reward What should they do with an Holy God who are not themselves sanctified Or how can they behold with Comfort the Holy one of Israel who have not a pure Eye but are all over polluted and stained with Sin Never think to be a Vessel of Glory if first thou be not seasoned throughout in Body Soul and Spirit with renewing Grace But oh how long shall these things be Paradoxes and hidden Mysteries amongst you Where is the Man in our Congregations that knows by his (c) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clem. Alex. own experience what it is to be made a new Creature to be born of the Spirit from above to have his Heart washed in the Laver of Regeneration from all uncleaness and in a Word to be â—aised by the Almighty irresistable power of God from the Death of Sin to the Life of Grace Are not most Men pleasing themselves with external performances making their Prayers their Alms their good Works a fufficient Qualification for Heaven whilst they never think of getting sanctified Hearts and renewed Natures (g) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Macar Hom. 30. Oh that all such amongst you would now consider how impossible it is for any Man to obtain the Reward of Eternal Glory not being first born again from above and made a new Creature Poor self destroying Sinners if here you become not Men of a pure Heart you must never see the Face of God in the Kingdom of Heaven but the Furnace of Hell is heating for you and a Night of Eternal Darkness abides you in the World to come And is it nothing do you think to be shut out of Heaven and to fall into Hell irrecoverably Is it nothing to miss of Eternal Life and for ever to lose the Reward of Eternal Glory that you can live and die so well satisfied in a carnal unregenerate Condition True it is while we are in this World living by sense little do we conceive what it is to be saved to sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the Prophets in the Kingdom of God what it is to have full and Everlasting Communion with God in Glory nor can we so prize these things now as we ought to do Oh but we shall come to breath out our Souls into Eternity and must stand trembling at God's Tribunal to receive our everlasting doom then to be sure Life Happiness and Eternal Glory will be in request Oh then that in such a Day when all the World cannot comfort you Life may be yours and Salvation yours and the full enjoyment â—f God in Heaven yours give diligence now to have the Truth and Life of Grace in your inward Parts endeavouring to find a through sanctifying Change wrought upon you Remember if you die in a carnal Condition you are undone for ever damned for ever But if sanctified through the Spirit and made new Creatures the Reward of Eternal Glory shall be your Portion 4 Lay hold upon Jesus Christ by a lively Faith above all things labouring to get an interest in him Christ hath purchased by his own Death the reward of Eternal Life But it s not for all promiscuously whether good or bad but only for those that by Faith receive him making him their Saviour Though Christ were as universal a cause of Salvation as the Arminians dogmatize Yet till by Faith you embrace him as willing to receive him in all his Offices as a Prophet to instruct and teach you as a Priest to intercede and die for you as a King to command sanctifie and govern you to be sure he will never profit you to Life and Salvation * John 5.12 He that hath the Son hath Life but he that hath not the Son hath no Life Both the Life of Grace and the Life of Glory come in by Christ he alone is the Tree from whence you may gather this Fruit of Paradise And therefore of necessity you must close with Christ would you either have the Life of Grace to make you holy or the Life of eternal Glory to make you happy Salvation for lost Sinners could no otherwise be purchased but by the precious Blood of the Lord Jesus And though now the purchase be thus made yet the Blood of Christ cannot save you unless you receive him to dwell in your Hearts by Faith Communion is never to be found but where first some kind of union went before to usher it in So that though Christ came into the World to repair our lost condition to cleanse us from all unrighteousness to deliver our Souls from the Wrath to come and to make us meet by â—his Spirit working in us for the full enjoyment of God in Glory Yet if first we be not united to Christ we can never have the Happiness of Communion with him in these and the like glorious Priviledges but notwithstanding the Blood the Death the Sufferings of Christ must for ever fall short of Eternal Glory How dreadful then is the condition of every Christless Sinner There is an All-sufficiency of Merit in Christ but it shall never procure their Pardon There is a redundancy of Grace in Christ But it shall never sanctify nor make them holy There is a Soveraignity in the Blood of Christ but it shall never cleanse their Souls from Sin a There is an indeficient Fountain of Life in Christ But refusing him they must inevitably die the Death and suffer the
Vengeance of Eternal Fire You then that would not for ever thus dreadfully miscarry and come short of God's Kingdom and Glory oh see that you now give diligence to close with Christ making him your Wisdom to direct you your Righteousness to justify your Persons your Sanctification to prepare you for Glory and your Redemption to free your Souls from the Wrath to come b His Merit is beyond all your Misery his Pardons are more than all your Debts his Power to succour is infinite and therefore it can never (i) Et verè malorum profunditas necat si quos desperatio indulgentiae detestanda cordis obduratione praejudiciat Fulgent epist ad Venant pag. 560. 1 Cor. (k) Deus etenim noster sic est misericors bonus sicut infinitus invictus proinde bonitas invicti non vincitur infiniti misericordia non finitur Idem Qualecunque sit ergo peccatum à Deo quidem potest remitti converso sed ille sibi remitti non sinit qui desperando contra se indulgentiae ostium clauserit Fulgent pag. 562. be non-plust by any thing but an Evil Heart of unbelief Have Faith in Christ and though the universal Guilt of all Mens Sins in the World lay upon you yet they could never damn you But want Faith refusing to accept of Christ upon Gospel Terms and Heaven itself cannot save you Every Sin hath such infinite evil and malignity bound up in it that of itself it deserves Damnation But yet no Sin doth actually expose the Soul thereto without Infidelity Were there but one Soveraign medicine against some mortal Disease in all the World surely his case must needs be desperate who laboring under this Mortal Distemper should refuse that Soveraign Remedy Such is the case of every unbeliever who refusing the Redemption purchased by Christ and making light of so great Salvation can never escape the Damnation of Hell nor the Wrath of God nor the Vengeance of Eternal Fire (l) Act. 4.12 For there is no other Name under Heaven given amongst Men by which we must be saved Out of a tender care therefore of your own Souls make sure of Christ and do not dare to live a Moment longer without an interest in him Christ alone is the Way which leads to Life and therefore not believing in him not embâ—acing of him not accepting of him as your Saviour You walk every moment on the frontiers of Hell not knowing how soon you may drop irrecoverably into that Place of Torments Why then will you not come to Christ applying his Righteousness to your selves by Faith that you may have Life obtain Mercy and be crowned with an Eternity of heavenly Glory Oh little do you know the Happiness of a Soul believing in Christ for remission of Sins and for Life everlasting His Faith gives him an interest in that Christ who hath Life Heaven and Eternal Glory following after him so that Faith alone doth more for him than all other Graces besides for tho Faith in the Substance of it considered as an inherent Quality hath no singular excellency above other Graces Yet as it is receptive of Christ and an Instrument appointed of God for the applying of his Righteousness to our Souls whereof no other Grace is any more capable than the Eye of receiving food to nourish the Body so 't is the most precious and useful of all others What the Eye was to an Israelite when stung in the Wilderness that Faith alone is to us when mortally wounded with the sting of Sin It was not a quick Ear nor a strong Arm nor an active Hand nor an eloquent Tongue that could heal him but only an Eye looking up to the brazen Serpent Thus 't is not Knowledge though Angelical nor Sorrow for Sin how afflicting soever nor any Religious Performances how many and glorious soever that can help us but only Faith in the Lord Jesus (e) John 3.15 through whom we shall never perish but have Eternal Life Oh then what encouragement may this afford to all such as lie bleeding and groaning under the Sense of their own Sinfulness Whatever your wounds be the Blood of Christ applied by Faith can heal them Whatever your Sorrows be the Spirit of Christ can abundantly comfort you What ever your Fears of Wrath and Hell be the Redemption purchased by Christ can remove them all Whatever your unworthiness be yet being cloathed upon through Faith with the Garment of Christs Righteousness you are sure to obtain the Blessing of Life Glory and unconceivable Happiness in the Kingdom of God! If then you desire when your Souls shall be dislodged from these Tabernacles of Clay to have them received into everlasting Habitations do not oh do not any longer refuse but now see that you close by Faith with a precious Christ There is not a Soul of you I am sure that is willing to go to Hell and be damned for ever (f) Acts. 16.31 Believe therefore in the Lord Jesus Christ and so escaping the Wrath the Flames the Damnation of Hell you are sure to be saved with an Everlasting Salvation Remember Jesus Christ in that blessed Zoar unto whom retiring by Faith unfeigned thy Soul shall live and be crowned with fulness of Joy when Fire and Brimstone Storm and Tempest Wrath and Hell shall be rained from Heaven upon the whole World of the Ungodly 5 BE sure that you make an universal Resignation of your selves to the Lord Jesus devoting yourselves wholly both Soul and Body and all that you are to the service of Christ That Faith which is saving hath two Hands the one to receive Christ and the other to give up the Soul to the obedience of Christ 'T will not suffice for us barely to rely upon Christ that he may save us But if our Faith be of the right Stamp a Living and not a Dead Faith (g) Acts. 11.23 it will make us cleave unto Christ with full purpose of Heart (h) Luke 1.74 75. that we may serve him in Holiness and Righteousness all our Days We must here live to Christ by sincere obedience would we ever live with Christ in Glory as our Eternal Recompence Give Diligence then that as Christ is yours you also may be Christs You must look as well at Christ commanding Duty as promising the Reward thereof Would you ever have Christ looking after you to Crown you with Eternal Glory In vain shall you expect the Dignities and Priviledges that come by Christ so long as you refuse to perform the Homage and Services that are due to Christ Oh therefore beware lest there be any amongst you that fall short of Eternal Life by building their Hopes for it upon a partial accepting of Christ If you take not Christ for your Soveraign to obey and serve him he will never be your Saviour to redeem and crown your Souls with eternal Glory (q) Jam. 2.17 20 26. Your Faith is dead and will never save
a Land all whose Rivers run heavenly Nectar and all whose Trees are ever laden with the sweet delicious Grapes of Paradise (o) Si tanta nobis tribuis in careere quid dabis in patria Aug. de civit Dei If here in the Land of your Pilgrimage so much of Heavens Glory be revealed to you what Tongue of Man or Angel can tell the Happiness the Glory to be revealed in you when at home in your own Country The Crown of Life if now so bright and orient to an Eye of Faith beholding it Oh then what a far more excâ—â—ding and Eternal Weight os Glory will be found in it when a glorious Christ shall set it upon your Head with his own remunerative Hands 12 AND lastly a due respect had to this glorious Reward will bring you safe to it never leaving you till your Souls be crowned with fulness of Glory The Loadstone will draw Iron to itself when intra Spheram activitatis suae within the reach of its own attractive influence Thus the Reward of Eternal Life as an heavenly Loadstone hath that magnetick Virtue in it that if you put yourselves by a due respect had thereto under it it will draw you home to itself The wise Men keeping their Eye upon the Star which went before them were at length brought to Christ Thus keeping your Eye Christians upon this Eternal Reward as a glorious Star it will bring you at length to Christ in Glory whom fully to enjoy is our Life our Comfort our Happiness yea the Heaven of Heavens 'T is true Christians we must be uncloathed of this Body of Death before we can enter into the Joy of our Lord and be cloathed upon with the white Robes of Blessed Immortality Death must break down the Prison Walls of a Mortal Body before our Souls can ever come to the glorious Liberty of God's Children (a) 2 Cor. 5.1 Till our earthly Tabernacle be dissolved there is no having of a Building of God an House not made with Hands Eternal in the Heavens And why should we not be willing that God should pull down these Cottages of Clay who hath promised to raise us up a more glorious Temple The Loadstone cannot draw Iron as some say whilst the Diamond is in Presence Doubtless were it not for a Body of Death that is still present with us an Eye fixed upon Heaven's Glory would immediately draw us into Heaven For besides the interposition of an earthly gross Body together with those corruptions whose Foundation is in that Dust there is nothing as one well observes that hinders a Christian from the full enjoyment of God in Glory So that Death's peculiar Office is to break down this Wall of separation that the Soul may the better come to her God her beloved Redeemer her Eternal Habitation in the Kingdom of Heaven The Soul when once loosed from this dying Body then she hath the Crown of Life set upon her Head then she sees God no longer through a Glass darkly but Face to Face then she is ravished with the unconceivable sweetness of the beatifical Vision (b) Mori plane timeat sed qui ex aqua spiritu non renatus Gehennae ignibus mancipatur mori timeat qui non Christi cruce passione censetur mori timeat qui ad secundam mortem de hac morte transibit quem de seculo recedentem perennibus poenis aeterna torquebit flamma Cyp. de Mortalit pag. 344. Let those therefore tremble at the knocking and approaches of Death who know not what will become of their immortal Souls who not being born again from above are every moment liable to infernal Flames who have no interest in the Glory purchased by Christ who must pass from Death to Death from short momentany Pleasures to everlasting hellish Torments Death to the Wicked is the Trap-door that opening lets them fall down irrecoverably into the dark vault of Eternal Misery But to the Gracious Soul there is no cause of Terrour in Death no Fear in the Grave no Sting to perplex in a bodily dissolution as that which only ushers in her everlastingly Blessed and Glorious Coronation Death comes to a Man dying the recompence of Reward like Moses to the Israelites to deliver him as the Angel to Peter in Prison to set him free as God's fiery Chariot to carry him like Elias into heavenly Glory And are you Christians afraid of entring upon your own Blessedness are you afraid to be cloathed upon with your House from Heaven Get a right notion of Death which as Bernard calls it is nothing but the Gate of Life the Portal of eternal security Though Death look upon thee with a grim Countenance yet it comes upon a good errand to God's People to fetch them out of their Wilderness-condition and to bring them to an everlasting estate of Happiness By Death we go from Earth to Heaven from conversing with Sinful Men to converse with Millions of glorious Angels and what makes us so loath to remove Who would not leave a Cottage to gain a Kingdom Who would not leave an Egypt to inherit Canaan Who would not leave gladly an oppressive Babylon to be made a Citizen of Sion of the heavenly Jerusalem OUR greatest Misery lies not in Death but in Life 'T is the Veil of Flesh that keeps us from entring into the holiest of all c Death gives us a pasport from corruptible Joys to an incorruptible Crown from a Mortal Life to a Life of blessed Immortality from a troublesome condition to a State of perfect tranquillity So that the name of Death should not offend us But the Happiness and Glory to which it leads should delight us The Moon never comes to the full til after her change Thus through the change of Death a Christian comes to all fulness of Joy and hath the white Robes of Glory given him Now the Bridegroom comes to meet the Soul in Happiness now all Tears are wiped away and Heaven Gates are set wide open to give her everlasting glorious entertainment Now the Reward of life everlasting now the Joy of Eternal Salvation now the full possession of the heavenly Paradise comes Now heavenly Mansions instead of earthly Tabernacles now greatest Glory instead of small and Eternal Happiness instead of poor temporal enjoyments are bestowed upon every Child of God What Man that is well in his Wits woâ—ld not part with Life and bid Death welcome upon terms of such everlasting blessed and glorious advantage (d) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost ad pop Ant. hom 7. Death in the true notion (c) Mors haec transitus universorum est transitur à corruptione ad incorruptionem à mortalitate ad immortalitatem à perturbatione ad tranquillitatem Non igitur nomen mortis te offendat sed boni transitûs beneficia delectent Ambros lib. de Bono mort cap. 4. Proemium vitae gaudium salutis aeternae perpetua laetitia possessio Paradisi
nuper amissa mundo transeunte jam veniunt jam terrenis caelestia magna parvis caducis aeterna succedunt Cyp. de mortal pag. 341. of it to a godly Man is nothing but a blessed removal from a Land of Darkness to a Land that flows with Milk and Hony from hard Labour to sweetest Rest from a Tempestuous Sea to a peaceful Harbour from a place of wrestling weeping groaning and fiery Tryals to that heavenly Kingdom where the Soul is crowned with a glorious Triumph Let me therefore charge you in this case as Moses the Man of God once charged Israel at the Red Sea when so violently pursued by Pharoah and his Host Fear not but stand ye still and see the Salvation of God The time of your great change when you must pass through the Red Sea of Death will ere long be at Hand But then the Enemies which you now see the sorrows you now feel the many pressing Troubles which now you undergo you shall see them feel them groan under them no more for ever (e) Quid est enim mors nisi sepulâ—uâ—a vitiorum virtutum â—â—â—â—â—â—tatio Amb. ubi suprà Go forth then oh blessed Soul out of the Prison of a vile Body not fearing but Death will be the Funeral of all thy Corruptions and turn all thy Graces into fulness and everlasting perfection Be it so that Death will break in pieces the Casket of a frail Body yet thy Soul Christian which is the Jewel thy better part shall be kept safe for ever in Abraham's Bosom Many a goodly Ship hath miscarried and been dashed in pieces whilst her Steers-man with greatest diligence and curiosity hath been eying the Stars But never did any precious Soul miscarry whose Eye was duly fixed upon the Pole-star the Cinosure of heavenly Glory but was landed safe at the wished Shoar of true Happiness That Faith which now brings down Heaven into thy Soul will be sure to carry thy Soul at length Christian up into the sweet Paradise of God The Lord may give a Man a Prospect of the earthly Canaan and yet suffer him with Moses to die in the Wilderness Bâ—t if ever he take the Soul up into the Mount of Transfiguration giving her such a clear sight of the heavenly Canaan as to make her think it best of all to be there he will never shut her out of that good Land he will never deny her a Portion in that heavenly Country God would never give the Soul such Visions of Glory did he not intend to bring her at length to the beatifical Fruition of himself in Glory When the Heart and Eye are both set upon Heaven it 's a sure sign that God hath laid up a Treasure for the Soul in Heaven which shall never be taken from her Christ when he went to Heaven he went thither as our fore-runner that we might have everlasting Consolation and good hope through him to be there also Thus when the Heart is set upon heaven's Glory and the Eye continually looking that way like Christ our fore-runner it gives the strongest ground of Hope assuring us that our Souls shall not be long out of Heaven nor long absent from the Lord. When once the Stone is let fall it never stoops till it comes to the Center Thus if once we let fall an Eye upon this glorious Reward our Souls they will never be stopped but be still in continual vigorous Motion till they come to rest in the Centre of perfect Blessedness Glorification in Heaven doth (z) Perseverantiam in terris immediatè sequitur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in coelis quo fruuntur omnes qui semel credunt Parker de Traduct hom peccat ad vit pag. 34. infallibly follow Perseverance in Grace on Earth which all those are sure to enjoy for ever who do once fix aâ— Eye of true Faith upon that Crown of Life whâ—ch God sets before us Walk on in the strength of this divine Consolation waiting longing and breathing for that glorious time when Faith will be turned into a clear Vision of Glory and Hope shall be swallowed up in Fruition and your morning Light commence into a glorious Sun-shine and those smaller drops of heavenly Joy which you have to refresh you in this parched Wilderness shall become a River of Life sending out full Streams of purest Pleasures to delight and make glad your Hearts for ever O let every gracious Soul with most sublimate raised Affections keep an Eye fixed upon the Recompence of the Reward And o'erlong thou that art now a beholding (a) In patria plenissimè quiescit affectus in Deo appetitus inhiantis fit amor fruentis Aug. de Trin. l. ult shalt be an enjoying Christian thou that doest now look upon Heaven's Glory with unfeigned desire to it shall shortly be put with Joy unspeakable in full Possession of it If the hope of Glory be once rooted in thy Heart the Crown of Glory will not long be kept from thy Head As sure as thy Lord's Joy now enters into thee so sure shalt thou enter at length into the Joy of thy Lord. He can never lose his Reward nor fall short of Glory who is careful in all his Works to look as high as Heaven not seeking the Praise of Man but that Praise that Honour that Glory which comes from God Our earthly Enjoyments may deceive us making themselves Wings to fly away But an Eye of Faith fixed on this heavenly Reward it will never deceive us but will infallibly carry our Souls as on Eagles Wings into eternal heavenly Mansions of Glory Why then dear Christians will you be so formal so dead-hearted so disconsolate in a way of Duty not striving to serve the Lord with a willing chearful Frame of Soul Seemeth it a small thing to you that God hath given you the earnest of Glory the first Fruits of Heaven as a sure Pledge that a full Crop of Happiness shall follow after Must you shortly be transplanted our of this barren Wilderness into the Caelestial Canaan the Paradise of God the heavenly Jerusalem and shall not this make you steadfast unmovable always rejoycing in the Work of the Lord Oh Christians remember that you who are now reproached for God shall anon be advanced to greatest Honour You that are now weeping shall anon come to Zion with Songs and everlasting Joy upon your Heads That Glory which is now revealed to you by an Eye of Faith shall shortly be revealed in you if keeping your Eye stedfastly fixed upon it you go on still to seek it by patient continuance in well-doing The good Thief upon the Cross having the Kingdom and Glory of Christ in his Eye hath the promise to be that very day with Christ in Paradise Though now Christians you be upon the Cross and sorely distressed yet if your Eye be fixed upon heaven's Glory it cannot be much above one days journey betwixt your Souls and the Paradise of God where
or Field by Night where he would furrow his Cheaks with Tears solemnly vow and covenant with God and yet break through all again into his former course till at last he apprehended this covenanting and unfaithfulness in it did but bind a far more exceeding and eternal weight of wrath upon him with this he was so terrified that he durst covenant no more This course lasted from about seven to seventeen Years of Age in what manner Corruption acted before he remembers not After this time living an idle Life and being travelled with bad Company he cast off his allegiance to Parents and took a Wife before nineteen Years of Age for which his Father justly cast him off and he wonders the holy God did not also cast him into Hell But contrary to his demerit and to manifest that our heavenly Father can pardâ—n what earthly Parents cannot God took him in provided a comfortable subsistence for him and without any seeking of his fed this wretched Prodigal with Food convenient that was ready to perish upon a Dunghil This kindness of Divine Providence considered he could no longer resist this brake his Heart in pieces like a Potsheard dissolved him like Snow melted him like wax before the Sun Now his old Resolutions revived with more strength than ever and as a piece of pennance whereby to escape Hell and purchase Heaven he could be content to leave his Sins though still the remembrance of them was grateful to his Nature and he thought them a pleasant Morsel but that Hell stood at the farther end of them But he could have no admission upon these unworthy terms the Spirit of God falls to work with his Conscience as in a voice of Thunder and with terrors more dreadful than all that ever were solemnized upon Mount Sinai singles out his delicate darling corruption swallows him up into the confounding thoughts of it reads the Law charges Guilt and Wrath upon him and thereby slew him so that now he lies bleeding under reprobate astonishment dreading every moment when the Hand the avenging Hand of God would cast him into Hell And so violent was the Agony that he thinks that had not a gleam of Gospel Light come in offering relief and redemption through the free Grace of God in Christ that either Soul and Body had been torn asunder through the great violence of the storm or else he fears he should have destroyed himself to avoid it This notwithstanding he thinks he had some worse corruptions than what the Spirit of God now fastned upon his Conscience as many a bad Lord hath Slaves worse than himself though they all pay suit and service to him as his other Lusts did to this peccatum in deliciis Against this therefore he bent his whole strength little considering for some Years the state of his Soul as to other corruptions which lay dormant their General being so watcht that he could not command them out upon their devilish Service as he was wont Yet the great thing minded was Pardon for a long time with a resolution not to gratifie it though every denyal were a present Death Having thus in time obtained some rest from his hard bondage under it and guilty fears gendred by it he began to consider the great happiness of victory over corruption and to judge that what Poyson what Plague what Death and loathsome Ulcers are to the Body Sin is that to the Soul and infinitely worse which was all now set home upon him both by rational conviction and his own doleful experience This engaged him wholly to attend the business of mortification but chiefly of this Lust to cut off all provisions from it to deny its importunate cravings and to maintain a constant watch against it all which notwithstanding he often received wounds and bruises by it But having a little respite to examine himself as to other Corruptions Death comes upon him again he finds all manner of concupiscence working in him thinks himself a Babel a Sodom an Hell for all confounding and raging Lusts So that had he not by this time better understood whence to fetch Sanctifying Grace as them formerly he must have despaired But he had now learnt to go to the Lord Jesus not only as giving Remission of Sins through Faith in his Blood but likewise saving from Sin by the efficacy of his own Almighty Spirit Hither he never applied himself in believing manner but he obtained help from God through whose help â—he now saith that what was his darling Sin is dead to him and hath no power to command any entertainment in so much as one indulgent Thought though as for natural abilities he is as capable of Pleasure in it as ever His other Sins â—he finds daily to be dying and doth now find the like inclinations to spiritual things that he was wont to find to fleshly things and as strong aversations and eluctances against the lust of the Eyes c. as ever â—he found against the Holy ways of God so that were there no Hell to punish a Life of Flesh-pleasing but what is shut up in the very Nature of it he could not but hate it and fly from it as Men do from the Plague though there be no Law provided that Jesus is his Saviour that he hath saved him out of spiritual Darkness and out of Bondage under Sin given him a new Nature and made him to center wholly upon the blessed God to dwell with him to delight above all things in him and cleave to him as his Life Happiness and resting place Since brought thus far he hath found it with himself as followeth 1 He dare build his confidence for salvation upon nothing but the free Grace of God in Christ Jesus apprehended by Faith his Anchor is upon this Rock of Ages his Life is bound up with this Prince of Life and though through the Corruption of his own Heart and prepossessions of Errour about the Nature of Redeeming Grace he find it aâ— hard thing to believe yet his Heart is now possessed with Good and Honourable apprehensions of God He in good measure is freâ— from all imbittered thoughts of him hâ— believes that God hath given him Eternaâ— Life in his Son and that the Son is ablâ— to save to the utmost all that come to Goâ— through him in this and not in any workâ— of Righteousness which he hath done is hiâ— whole Hope Living and Dying and he believeâ— such Hope will not make him ashamed 2 He hath a regard to all Righteousness so far as his present imperfections will permit it to fulfil it and this from such â— Principle as he eats and drinks a new Nature within him which is not gratified with any thing more than Holy and Righteouâ— Actions In particular whereas when â— Boy he had injured several Persons in robbing their Orchards he hath confessed hiâ— Sin begged their Pardon with Shame anâ— Tears and made restitution this he waâ— often urged to before he performed it
fearing the Shame and not knowing well how to spare so much Mony as was needful in the case To all other Duties he finds mighty impulsions to close with any opportunity for them and against every Temptation to sin strong aversations and reluctances so that he feels the Law of the Spirit of Life within his own Bowels though too often alass too often he is disobedient to it 3 He measures all Persons Places Employments by their subserviency to the Divine Life in his Soul and still comes off with Shame and great Heaviness where he spends one Hour without some spritual advantage 4 He hath a real compassion for all Men making it his Heart's Desire to God that they may be saved but his delight lies in those that have most of the Image and likeness of God upon them those that are begotten by the same immortal seed formed into the same divine Nature acted and fed by the same Almighty Spirit of Life with himself these are his Beu'ah's his Hepthsibahs he thinks â—he could not live in the World without â—hem 5 This notwithstanding he still finds himself out of his Proper Center he is daily under powerful tendencies and restless desires after the full enjoyment of and the nearest conjunction with the blessed God in Christ Jesus which desires are mightily strengthned by a deep Sense of his present misery under hard bondage the impetuousness of in-dwelling Corruption and violent Temptations which make every Day of his Life a bloody Warfare so that his Soul almost chooseth Strangling and Death rather than Life he loaths it he would not live always at such distance from the blessed God in such incessant and dangerous conflicts with World Flesh and Devil for a thousand Worlds so far as he is willing under the Tears and tediousness the Conflicts and Dangers of this Mortal Life by way of pure Compliance with the Will of God he really judgeth the greatest act of Self-denial that he is capable of performing 6 To sweeten a Life so much in the Gall of Bitterness and Bonds of Iniquity he makes it his Business to be much with God through an Almighty Redeemer and much in the Fellowship of the Holy-Ghost and this not only at the stated times of publick private and secret Duties but especially of secret Duties where he sets himself no bounds but takes all opportunities which he finds his Heart fit to comply with many times in company and employment of another Nature he is weary of forbearing and his Heart restless till he find room for such retirement for he hath found that Life and Power that divine solace and sweetness in it with which all the Delights of Sense are no more worthy to be compared than a Dunghil with the Sun And oh when Heaven hath thus come down in Smiles to him and filled him with Righteousness Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost how often hath he been afraid to make an end of the Duty How often when rising off his Knees hath he fallen down again not willing to leave his sweetness and his Fatness so and so doubled the Time of his Duty Thus was his whole Sheet of Paper filled whether there was any thing more written of this kind we cannot find The preservation of this Sheet seems to be an intimation of Divine Providence that he shou'd be shewed to the World in those colours that he had lay'd on himself He lived till the Non-conformists had a little Smile from the Court after a Decad of Severity and Frowns And now having got a little Liberty by the Licences the King granted to those of his Station he took the Gale of Opportunity to be more abundant in the work of the Lord. And that in the Age of his full Vigour and Strength Yet even now see he is at leisure to think of Death and being Poetically given composed this Dialogue betwixt a Person dying and Death Thus prefacing it Oppress'd with Pain I groan'd as one unwise Death's horrid Aspect did my Soul surprize This frightful Picture ghastly to behold Did all his Terror on my Thoughts unfold At first confounded all amaz'd I stand But gaining confidence thus I demand Moriens or Person Dying Are you that King of Terrors which they say Doth conquer Empires and great Kings dismay Death The very same Sir Death both name and thing My Looks kill some all die that feel my Sting Person Dying Poor Death your looks speak not your strength but fear You cannot live I guess self-judg'd you are Death And would it not torment the greatest Powers My Empire large as Nature Grace devours Person Dynig What that 's the reason of your hollow Eyes Of all the paleness on your Cheeks that lies You have some secret Wound if I guess right Your vital Blood is gone you look so white Death My vital Blood was Poyson and my Sting Did give me Power and create me King Person Dying Your Poyson who destroy'd Christ on the Cross Your Sting great Jesus dying caus'd this loss How came this Palsie in your trembling Hand For fear of losing Scepter and Command Scepter Poor Death it is a Spade I judge No sign of Majesty but of a Drudge Go dig my Grave I would repose in Dust Death you must help to scower off my Rust This Mortal Life will kill me Welcome Grave My hidden Life in Christ is all I have Death do your Office Heaven calls away Dissolve my Bonds my Soul shall win the Day I cannot live indeed unless I die Such is Death's Triumph such his Victory Neither did he forget to think on Heaven upon which he hath bestowed a larger Poem as also others upon Faith Hope Repentance c. which shew the way thither Which possibly the Reader may find in some other place For he delighted to fetter his Thoughts in Verse And though he hath not such high flights as some may expect yet there is in his Poems the devout Breathings of a Divine Poet he wrote not for the Stage nor a King Arthur But that which speaks his Heart most to have been in Heaven is not a Poem but what his serious Reflections and Meditations wrote in Prose in the Treatise following God is pleased to exercise many of his Servants with thoughts of Heaven as it were to prepare them for it immediately before he call them to it Thus Mr. Bolton was writing de quatuor novissimis particularly of Heaven when he dyed Thus the late Reverend Dr. Bates had finished his last Treatise of spiritual Perfection not long before he had expired the last words of which Book are Enter thou into the Joy of thy Lord. Many more might be named But our own Author must not be forgotten who had taken much pains to transcribe what he had preached and fitted for the Press his Meditations upon this Subject It may be there are few Subjects more cultivated and none on which more is to be said God and Heaven fall under no Hyperbole A late Doctor
Job 28.13 14. So if the like Enquiry be made after True Happiness both Sea and Land both the Riches of the Earth and the hidden Treasures of the Deep must needs say It is not in them A Man having Crowns and Scepters and Bags of Gold under his Feet may seem to stand upon a little higher Ground than his Neighbours But for all that if God in Christ be not his Portion he is not one Cubit higher in the Stature of true Blessedness The Truth is we are all ready as Samuel in the case of David to mistake the Blessed Man and to set the Crown of Happiness upon their Heads for whom God never intended it as Samuel over look'd little David and would fain have Anointed Eliab King because so goodly a Personage But we must not Measure Happiness by Worldly Things nor pronounce them Heirs of Heaven and Glory who have the fairest Portion of Earth and Earthly Enjoyments The Pen-Men of Holy Scripture when-ever they go about to Decipher a Blessed Man they never do it by his Outward Condition but by his Inward Qualification not by his Large Purchases but by his Holy Practices not by what he hath in Possession for this Life but by what he hath in Reversion after Death Hence it is that you shall never hear any such Words fall from their Mouthes as to say Blessed are they that are Rich. Blessed are they that are Mighty Blessed are they that are Honoured before Men. Blessed are they that have Gorgeous Apparel and Fare Deliciously every day But Blessed are they whose Sins are Forgiven them Psal 31.1 2. Blessed are they that Walk in the Law of the Lord. Blessed are they that Mourn Mat. 5.3 11. Blessed are they that Hunger and Thirst for Righteousness Sake Blessed are the Pure in Heart for they shall see God A Man may have many Blessings and yet not be Bless'd And again he may lye under many Miseries and yet not be Miserable Have all the Blessings in the World yet without God thy Condition is Miserable Have all the Miseries that the World can inflict yet still if God be thy Portion thou art perfectly Blessed 'T is not what Men have but what they are not what is their Present and Temporal but what shall be their Future and their Eternal Condition that speaks them to be either compleatly Miserable or truly Blessed THIS Ensuing Treatise have I therefore Composed on purpose to beget both in my own and others Hearts more serious fixed Thoughts of our Eternal Condition And as you will find that in it which may be as a flaming fiery Sword turning every way to keep Men from having any thing to do with the Forbidden Fruit of Sin So it may be for a Jacob's Ladder to the Righteous whereby Scaling the Walls of the New Jerusalem as in an Holy Storm they may come to eat at length of the Tree of Life which is in the midst of the Paradise of God Durst I compare this Treatise with the Ark of the Covenant I might tell you there is laid up in it both an Aaron's Rod and a Pot of Mannah There is something of Hell's Horrour discover'd to Affright Men out of their Ungodly Courses and a Glimpse of Heaven's Glory such as it is to Decoy them into a Life of serious practical Holiness Every Man is either of God by Regeneration living a Life of Faith and going to Heaven Or of Satan by Corruption living a life of Sense and running on in a swift Career to Hell This Discourse have I suited to both Conditions endeavouring to shew you according to the small Talent wherewith the Lord hath entrusted me That if there be any Fire in Hell the Wicked shall Everlastingly be Tormented in it and if there be any Glory in Heaven God's People shall for Ever be Crowned with it When Zuinglius at any time like a Boanerges a Son of Thunder was Rattling proud and hard-hearted Sinners he would often like a Barnabas a Son of Consolation let fall some Beam of Comfort upon the poor trembling Soul Bone Christiane haec nihil ad te Whatever Terrour is here spoken will fall heavy upon none but the Wicked who walk according to their own Hearts Lusts There is a Vein of Comfort laid in to Refresh God's People the whole Discourse is a River of Life sendâ—ng out thô through an Earthen Pipe those Streams which may well make Glad every Gracious Heart Hell I have herein Deciphered to deter from Sin when Men shall fear the Vengeance of Eternal Fire which will follow after Heaven I have also in some measure Described to work Joy in Well doing when God's People shall fix their Eyes upon that far more exceeding and eternal Weight of Glory to which it leads He that by patient continuance in Well-doing â—eeks for Glory Honour and Immortality may turn and read of Heaven how Blessed he is like to be when God shall Crown him with Life Everlasting He that hardens his Heart in a Course of Ungodliness let him turn and read of Hell how dreadfully Miserable he is sure to be when he shall be Punished both Soul and Body from the Presence of the Lord and from the Glory of his Power THE * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epigrammatist would have the Silver Axe of Justice carried before the Magistrate to Proclaim If thou be an Offender let not the Silver Flatter thee but if an Innocent let not the Axe Fright thee I testify the same to every one that shall Read the Words of this Book if thou be an Impenitent Ungodly Sinner let not the Glory discoursed of Flatter thee since Wrath and Hell are thy Portion But if thou be a Child of God let not the Flames and Misery that abide Ungodly Men Affright thee for there is a Crown of Righteousness there is a Kingdom of Eternal Glory that will after all present Troubles fall to thy share Truth is what ever Discourses we can make of this kind have neither Thunder enough in them to Awaken us nor yet Glory enough to Attract our Eyes to the due Beholding of those Eternal Concernments which God hath set before us Men are generally as Careless in Religious Affairs as if Hell were but a Melancholick Dream and Heaven a Devout Fancy as if there were no Horrour in the one to Affright them nor any Glory in the other to Engage their Thoughts and Attract their Desires Most Men are so Infatuated with the Painted Beauty of this Earthly Jezabel the World that they can let out their Affections upon nothing else They set up their Rest here building Tabernacles below never caring for that Building which is of God Eternal in the Heavens How many Thousands doth the World carry Captives at her Wheels so strangely Tyranizing over fond Mortals Affections that they can neither Spirare nor Sperare Coelestia no more Hope for than Breath after Eternal Enjoyments 'T is Storied of the Duke of Alva That being ask'd by Henry the
though possibly it might have proved a Preludium to Royal Dignity intitling him to the Crown and Government of all Egypt so great was his Ambition to be found in the number that he might have a Right to all the Priviledges of God's Children ver 24. WHEREAS he might have lived a Courtier enjoying what Heart could wish faring deliciously every day and glutting himself with all carnal Pleasures that either variety of melodious Sounds and exquisite Harmony or gorgeous Apparel or extremity of Luxury could possibly afford Yet we find him bidding adieu to all these and rather chusing to suffer undeserved Scorn Reproach and Persecution with the People of God than to enjoy those and the like Pleasures of Sin for a season v. 25. WHEREAS in a word the whole Land of Egypt was before him and likely for ought I know to entertain him with the sway of a Royal Scepter with the Government of the whole Kingdom and with an universal Confluence of all the Happiness that either Riches or Honours or the whole Treasury of Egypt could suppeditate Yet in the preceding part of this Verse wherein my Text lyes the Holy Ghost there testifies of him that he preferred the reproach of Christ before all this the very worst and that which is most bitter in Christ before the choicest Treasures before the very best the most sweet and delightful Enjoyments in all the Land of Egypt esteeming it his greatest Honour to be dishonoured in the World for the sake of the Lord Jesus and the reason of all this you have subjoyned in the Words of my Text even because he had a Respect to the Recompence of the Reward THUS I have in short given you the Dependance of the Words and thereby also given you to understand that they are brought in as one grand reason of Moses his Obedience and Self-denyal letting us plainly know why Moses should thus refuse the great dignity of being called the Son of Pharaoh's daughter why he should rather choose to suffer Affliction with the People of God than to enjoy the Pleasures of Sin for a season Why he should esteem so highly of Reproach for Christ as to count it greater Riches than the choicest Treasures in all the Land of Egypt and the reason of all this was because he had Respect to the Recompence of the Reward which if seriously consider'd of why it will make him take up his Cross chearfully it will make him follow hard after Christ as well in Adversity as in Prosperity it will make him do and suffer and willing to become any thing if by any means he may attain such a transcendently glorious Reward a Reward that is nothing less than the full enjoyment of God over all blessed for ever in whose Presence there is fulness of Joy and at whose Right-hand there are Pleasures for evermore Psal 16.11 BUT waving the Relative Consideration of the Words we purpose to insist upon them as Absolutely Considered and as they are an intire Proposition of themselves and so they will present us with these Two Considerables following I. A Gracious Act exerted by Moses the Man of God and that we have expressed in these Words For he had Respect II. A Glorious Object about which that Act of Moses was exercised and that we have expressed in these Words To the Recompence of the Reward THESE are the parts of the Text the Genuine sense whereof I shall give you in the explication of the Terms labouring now to break the Shell that so you may come to that sweet Kernel of Gospel-truth which is wrapt up and enclosed therein FOR he had respect In this Phrase is implyed that gracious Act of Moses whereby he had respect to stedfastly fixing his eye upon the recompence of the Reward as matter of singular incouragement to deny himself for the Lord's sake in all those Riches Honours and variety of carnal Pleasures which by dissembling Conscience and continuing a Courtier he might probably have enjoyed at least for a Season The Original word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is metaphorical signifying in this place to look from one thing to another not with the eye of the Body by any corporeal sight but with the eye of the Soul by a spiritual sight And so truly it doth most emphatically set forth the power of Moses his Faith enabling him to look from the things that are seen to the things that are not seen from things Teâ—poral to things Eternal by which means he was wonderfully encouraged to let go all worldly Advantages and to suffer Affliction chearfully with the people of God Moses had the whole Land of Egypt together with all the Riches Glory and Pleasures thereof before him which a Carnal heart would think might have made him content to live and die a Courtier But such was the power of Faith within him fixing his heart and mind upon things above upon the Land of Promise the Coelestial Canaan the Heavenly Jerusalem together with the Beatifical Vision of God in Eternal Glory that for these he can chearfully renounce whatever Riches whatever Honours whatever Pleasures the Land of Aegypt could possibly afford him TO the Recompence of the Reward That glorious Object upon which Moses fixing his eye did so chearfully deny himself in all his worldly enjoyments you have here expressed by one word in the Original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifying such a Reward whereby a Man is Recompenced This Recompense is diversly taken according to the Persons to whom and work for which it is given When to a wicked Person for an evil work it intendeth a fearful Revenge comprizing under it Indignation and Wrath Tribulation and Anguish as that which is due to Sinners upon the commission of any the least Transgression But when to a Righteous Person accepted of God through Christ as here in my Text for a work approved by him then indeed it doth not import any merit or desert on Man's part but abundance of Mercy and Grace on God's part who though we are unprofitable Servants and can merit nothing at his hands yet will not suffer us to do or endure any thing for his sake without a most transcendently great and glorious Recompence WHAT that recompence of reward was upon which Moses so stedfastly fixed his eye is not here I confess distinctly set down but yet we may easily collect from the carriage of Moses that it was some higher Honour some better Pleasure some more excollent and durable Treasure than the Land of Aegypt could ever afford him otherwise making choice of these why is it that we find him renouncing those unless we should think him to have changed for the worse when yet we find the Spirit of God in the words of my Text commending his choice 'T WAS not then any Temporal Reward but an Eternal Reward that Moses had in his eye 'T was not Earth but Heaven 't was not the Meat that perisheth but the Meat which will indure to Everlasting Life
this There is a dark Mist upon Eternity to all Unbelievers they are led by carnal Reason and will therefore believe no more than what Sense discovers but now Faith that gives a present Subsistence to future Glory and is the convincing Evidence of things hoped for of Heaven and eternal Felicity though as yet unseen Heb. 11.1 SENSE cannot out-see time nor look beyond the Grave but Faith gives the Soul a clearer Prospect of Eternity and shews it under all Afflictions a far more exceeding and eternal weight of Glory 2 Cor. 4.17 So then when by Faith we can look into another World believing that verily there is a Reward for the Righteous when by Faith we can assure our hearts of the Glory to come believing that he who Sows to the Spirit shall of the Spirit Reap Life everlasting then we have Respect to the Recompence of the Reward 2. FIDVCIALLY to apply it to our selves as that which we believe shall be the Recompence wherewith the Lord will eternally Crown us Thus Moses whilst he refused to be called the Son of Pharoah's Daughter esteeming the Reproach of Christ greater Riches than the Treasures in Egypt doubtless he looked upon the Lord Jehovah as his Portion upon the Kingdom of Heaven as his own Inheritance upon Life Happiness and Eternal Glory as things prepared for himself and so he had Respect unto the Recompence of the Reward To come unto the Lord in ways of Obedience believing him to be a plentiful Rewarder of all that diligently seek him is something but when we appropriate God for a Portion to our selves saying with Thomas My Lord and my God and believe him to have prepared for us in particular such Eternally Glorious Things as eye never saw nor ear heard nor could the Heart of Man ever yet conceive of then we have Respect indeed to the Recompence of the Reward THE Church of Rome I confess hath Anathematized all those who urge it upon Believers as their duty to appropriate God and Christ and eternal Glory in Heaven to their own Souls and they call us by way of Reproach Specialists for maintaining that the Object of saving Faith is the special Mercy of God Remission of Sins for me and Justification through the Blood of Christ for me and a Crown of Life laid up for me and a Kingdom of Eternal Glory to be expected by me in Particular this they declaim against as the first-born of all Absurdities But believe it Christians without this particular Appropriation of God and Christ and Eternal Glory to our selves our Faith will bring us no more Peace no more Comfort no more Joy in the Holy Ghost than for Lazarus to hear there was Food enough in Dives's House when he might not so much as taste of the Crumbs that fell from that Rich Man's Table Hagar had a Well of Water hard by her but for all that she sits weeping so long as she saw it not Thus Christian though God and Christ and the Kingdom of Heaven with all the Glory thereof lye before thee yet so long as thou lookest not upon God as thy Portion upon Christ as thy Saviour and upon the Kingdom of Heaven as thy Eternal Inheritance no wonder though thou weep and go mourning from day to day For 't is only respect to God and Christ to Heaven and Eternal Glory as things wherein we our selves have an Interest that can effectually comfort our Souls and make us rejoyce with Joy unspeakable and full of Glory STRIVE we then to look upon Heaven and Eternal Glory as prepared for us in Particular to look upon a Crown of Righteousness as laid up for us and then we have respect indeed to the Recompence of the Reward Though Christian thou canst not say Riches are thine yet see that thou canst say Grace and Glory are thine and that is much better When once the Soul can say though now I Sow in Tears yet anon I shall Reap in Joy though now I walk in Sackcloth yet I shall shortly be cloathed upon with the White Robes of eternal Glory though be now Poor in this World yet for all that I am Rich in Faith and Heir-apparent to the most glorious Kingdom that ever eye beheld though I now lie amongst the Pots mourning like the Doves of the Valley yet looking towards Heaven can say above yonder Heavens must I dwell for ever above yonder Heavens hath the Lord prepared for me a Crown of Righteousness a Mansion of eternal Glory all fulness of Joy in his Presence and unperishing Pleasures at his own Right Hand for evermore When thus I say the Soul can Appropriate the Happiness the Glory and the Royalties of the World to come to it self then it hath a due respect to the Recompence of the Reward 3. SERIOVSLY to consider of Heaven and Glory and often to be meditating upon them 'T is not a sudden motion nor now and then a transient thought about eternal Life and Happiness in another World that will prove a Man to have due respect to the Recompence of the Reward But there must be serious Thoughts and fixed Meditations upon them so that the Mind may be delightfully busied about and wholly taken up in the sweet Contemplation of them Zacheus being a Man of low Stature could not see Christ but by climbing up into the Sycamore-Tree (f) Necesse est igitur in animo frequenter versare coelestia nemo enim quaerit illud de quo non rogitat Davenant in Colos c. 3. v. 1. Pag. 244. Thus Christians unless you climb up into the high Sycamore of Heavenly Meditation seriously fixing your Thoughts in all your Obedience upon that Crown that Kingdom that eternal weight of Glory which God hath prepared for those that love him you can never have any due respect to the Recompence of the Reward WHEN God would have Abraham take a view of Canaan he called him up into the Mountain of Nebo to the top of Pisgah So would we ever take a Prospect of the Holy Land the Promised Canaan the Heavenly Jerusalem as that which must be the Reward of all our Labours the way is to go up unto the Mountain of Nebo even to the highest Pisgah of Heavenly Meditations Such is the Power of Holy Meditation that it sets a Man upon the Shoar of Eternity it carries him with Paul up into the Third Heaven and brings him notwithstanding any flaming Sword of Worldly opposition to keep him out into the Paradise of God so that now he can see the Beauties taste the Pleasures and clearly take a view of the Glories of the World to come Whilst Stephen was stedfastly looking towards Heaven he saw the Glory of God and Christ standing at his Right Hand Thus Christians we never get so full a Prospect of God and Christ and Eternal Glory as when we seriously meditate Heaven stedfastly fixing our thoughts on the World to come We Read of Elijah that he was carried up to Heaven in
patient waiting upon God in all the ways of Obedience that whatsoever the Lord shall call us out to do or suffer we may with chearfulness undergo it all This is that I confess which some will not endure telling us that as we are to give looking for nothing again so we are to walk in all dutiful Obedience before God doing and suffering Whatever he calls us out to without taking any incouragement at all thereto from the Recompence of Reward But certainly the Holy Ghost hath given us in Holy Writ such abundant satisfaction concerning the lawfulness of taking incouragement from the Recompence of Reward to follow hard after God in all the ways of Obedience that no Christian need perplex himself upon that account (g) Justitiae operanti dabitur Corona Ne qui justitiam operatur segnescens oneri laboris succumbat For is not this the great design of God in making Promises of Life Happiness and Eternal Glory to those that obey him thereby to incourage us to all dutiful and obedient walking before him God hath tyed our Work and our Wages together that expecting to receive from him at death the Wages of Eternal Glory we might work the more chearfully for him all our life And that we may not look upon the way of Duty as tedious nor count his Commandments grievous he hath set up a Crown of Life at the end of Duty and assured us That in keeping his Commandments there is great Reward Psal 19.11 GOD is not so austere a Task-master as to envy his People their Comforts in a way of Duty nor will he ever impute it to them as their ruin that in keeping his Commandments they had an eye for their own incouragement to the Recompence of the Reward And truly if to be incouraged in a way of Obedience by the Recompence of Reward may be construed a just forfeiture of a Mans ingenuity as some would bear us in hand I see not for my part how we shall be able to excuse any of God's dearest Children no nor our Blessed Lord himself but must confess them to have been acted by a slavish and servile Spirit which yet to do were the first-born of all horrid Blasphemies For though it should have been written in Capital Letters with a Pen pluckt from the wing of a glorious Seraphim yet it could not have been more plain and legible than the Holy Ghost hath already expressed it that the most holy of all God's Children our Blessed Redeemer himself not accepted had an eye for their incouragement in all the ways of Obedience to the Recompence of the Reward WHAT else did holy Moses but incourage himself to suffer Affliction with God's People by the consideration of Life and eternal Glory in Heaven prepared of God from Eternity for all that Love him Was not this also the Paradice of those Primitive Martyrs who took joyfully the spoiling of their Goods having this as their great Incouragement thereto that they knew themselves to have in Heaven a better and more enduring Substance Heb. 10.34 THE like we may say of those other Worthies who scorned all earthly Injoyments that their Persecutors could offer as Allurements to insnare them not accepting Deliverance from them upon any base and unrighteous Terms but were endued with such a Gallantry and Christian Resolution that rather than dishonour God in the least rather than cast a little Incense upon the Altar in honour of the Idol for the saving of their Lives they would dye the Death they would be Slain with the Edge of the Sword they would be Stoned they would be Burned and Sawn asunder having this strong and everlasting Consolation incouraging them with Patience to undergo all this barbarous and inhumane Cruelty that they hoped to obtain a better Resurrection even a Resurrection to Life and eternal Glory in the Kingdom of Heaven Heb. 11. BUT waving these and the like Instances I shall give you an Instance against which none can except but those whose proud Spirits would make them seem more Holy than Holiness it self and that is of Our blessed Redeemer concerning whom it is thus Written That for the Joy which was set before him he endured the Cross despising the Shame Heb. 12.2 I shall not hence take occasion to determine whether the Sorrow the Cross and the Humiliation of Christ were the Meritorious Cause or only the Antecedent of his Joy his Crown and his Exaltation at the Right Hand of God in Glory as being wholly Excentrick to my present Design But let the decision of that famous Controversy from this Text be what it will yet I think the Apostle's words do concludingly Evince thus much That Christ having an eye to his Mediatory Glory and Exaltation at God's Right Hand in Heaven was incouraged thereby with Patience to undergo that most execrable painful and ignominious Death of the Cross for our Sakes DO not then Question the Lawfulness of this holy Practice any longer but having an Eye stedfastly fixed upon the Recompence of the Reward be incouraged thereby to all diligent and upright walking before God in wayes of Obedience whatever it cost you IF the Men of the World for your Integrity Frown upon you and hate you let this incourage you to hold it fast that God himself will Smile upon you and afford you his Loving-kindness which is better than Life (h) Affecit te aliquis ignominia Quiu tu ad eam suspice gloriam quae reposita est in coelis Jactura rerum tuarum adijsti Oculos imprime fixius coelestibus divitijs Patrione solo exclusus es At patriam habes coelestem Hierusalem If because you cannot comply with the Men of the World in their sinful and ungodly Practises they should cast you into Prison yet let this incourage you still to keep close with God that he will shortly knock off your Fetters and take you up into Mansions of eternal Glory If you meet with any Cross in Heaven's way let this incourage you with Patience to undergo it that e'er long you shall receive from Christ a Crown of Righteousness If in a word any subtil Persecutors should promise you injoyment of Life and Liberty on condition that you will but comply with them and do as they do why let the Hopes of obtaining a better Resurrection that is to say a Resurrection to eternal Life and Glory in the Kingdom of God let this incourage you to scorn the motion not accepting Deliverance from them upon any such dishonourable and unrighteous Terms For when for the Joy which is set before us we can do any thing part with any thing and suffer any thing with Patience that God calls us to chosing rather to indure the most exquisite Torments than in the least to Dishonour our God why then we have an Eye indeed to the Recompence of the Reward 6. TO design in all your Obedience the Salvation of your own Souls making this the great end of your Lives that at
length you may attain to the full injoyment of God in Glory Here also I confess the Truth meets with some Adversaries who do tell us That to make Heaven the end of our Duties seeking in all our Obedience our own Happiness our own Glory our own Salvation is Mercenary and utterly inconsistent with the free Spirit of a Christian But the truth is if we consult holy Scripture we shall find this Practice so far from being Mercenary and inconsistent with the free Spirit of a Christian that he is unworthy the Name of a Christian who in all his Obedience and Performances is not found so doing For if Christ himself hath Commanded us That we should seek the Kingdom of God and the Righteousness thereof in the first place That we should lay up for our selves a Treasure in Heaven not labouring for the Meats that Perish but for the Meat which shall endure to eternal Life How can we then count that Man a Christian who despising the Authority of Christ cares for none of these things but carelesly goes on in a way of Duty as if Heaven and Glory were not worth the looking after YOU may Believe it Sirs the main Errand upon which God sent you into the World was to work out not only his Glory but your own Salvation with fear and trembling And let me tell you so inseparably is the Glory of God and your own Salvation joined together that you never Dishonour God more than when Salvation-work is neglected by you and you begin to be unmindful of your own Happiness GOD's Glory I must confess must be the Ultimate and Highest End of all our Obedience as will farther be shewed you But yet this hinders not but that in all our Obedience we may design our own Happiness making the eternal Salvation of our immortal Souls the great End next unto God's Glory of our Lives For Subordinata non Pugnant is a sure Maxim We do never Oppose God's Glory when we only make Heaven our End and seek the Salvation of our own Souls with a due Respect had unto his Glory THERE is indeed a Two-fold End Fine Operis Finis Operantis the End of the Work and the End of him that Worketh And though in some cases they are diverse if not contrary to one another yet in the Case now spoken of they are co incident and both of them materially the same thing (l) Nam quis alius noster est finis nisi pervenire ad regnum cujus nullus est finis August de Civit. Dei lib. 22. cap. 70. For not only doth the Scripture make Salvation the end of Faith and Obedience but also of Christians themselves Believing and Obeying the Lord when it teaches them to work out their own Salvation with fear and trembling 1. Pet. 1.9 Phil. 2.12 BE not therefore such enemies to your own Souls as to neglect that Happiness which God in all your Obedience would have you to look after but now see that you make Heaven and eternal Glory the great end of your Life Whilst others are designing to make themselves Rich and Great and Honourable in the World Oh! let it be the grand design of your Souls to surprize Heaven and to take by an Holy Violence the Kingdom of God Mat. 11.12 IF Christians you would make again of Godliness be sure then that by all holy and godly Conversation you gain for yourselves in Heaven a Crown of Life Rest not satisfied with the low and beggarly injoyments of this World but now see that you set your Affections on things above endeavouring to lay hold on eternal Life Your present life is a flitting shadow a vanishing bubble a day which though never so pleasant must yet have the dark Curtains of death drawn over it and cannot be long but the life which is to come is a leaf never fading a light ever shining and such a day as shall know no evening Tell me then which is most rational to seek after that life and those Pleasures which are lost almost as soon as found or after that Life and those unfadable Pleasures which being once found can never be lost nor taken away from us Luke 10.42 (k) Praeferantur vera falsis aeterna brevibus utilia jucundis Lactant. de vero Cult c. 21. p. 123. LEARN now to prefer true Happiness before deceitful Riches eternal Comforts before short injoyments and those things that will prove everlastingly advantageous to your Souls before the Pleasures of Sin which are but for a Season God doth not grudge that you would seek your selves in his Service only he would have you to seek after your selves not in the Meat that perisheth but in the Meat which shall endure to eternal Life John 6.27 There is a kind of holy Ambition which our Blessed Lord hath not only allowed but also exhorted us to and that is that we should aim at and seek after a Kingdom Not an earthly Kingdom from which we may soon fall but an Heavenly Kingdom which connot be shaken wherein we shall reign with Christ for ever and ever Revel 22.5 Here then is a whet-stone to diligence and matter for our ambitious thoughts with warrant to be working upon Earthly Princes if under pretence of serving them you seek to possess your selves of their Crowns and Kingdoms will deal with you as Traytors but the King of eternal Glory he is never better pleased with you than when in serving him you aim at a Crown of Life indeavouring to get Possession of the Kingdom of Heaven For then you have respect indeed to the Recompence of the Reward when by patient continuance in well-doing you seek for Glory Honour and Immortality and therefore you need not to doubt but God will shortly render unto you eternal Life Rom. 2. (l) Nullus labor durus nullum tempus longum quo aeternitatis gloria comparatur THINK we therefore no Labour too much no time too long for the gaining of eternal Glory in the Kingdom of Heaven If upon uncertain hopes of a fading Kingdom whose foundation is in the dust Men will take such pains laying all at stake and hazarding not only Liberty but Life it self What should we do then but contemn the World run the hazard of greatest Sufferings and move chearfully forward in all the ways of Obedience towards the Crown of eternal Life towards a Kingdom that cannot be moved towards a City that hath foundations whose builder and maker is God For (m) Quisquis corruptelas terrae virtute calcaverit arbiter iâ—â—o summus et verax ad lucem vitam quae perpetuam suscitabet Lact. de vit Beat. ad finem who ever contemning the corruptible Enjoyments of this Life shall aspire in the ways of Obedience after Heavenly Glory why God the Righteous Judge of all the World will make such an one meet to be a partaker of the Inheritance of Saints in light and will honour him at length with a Crown of Eternal
they will never be able to reach the Price thereof Besides Christians whatever we do or suffer for God Luke 17.10 it 's no more than what we are obliged unto and surely in doing our duty we can never lay the (c) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost ad Rom. Homil. 7. Foundation of Merit for Eternal Glory Nor may we think to make a Purchase of the New Jerusalem by paying an old Score WOULD we ever Merit Heaven and Eternal Glory of God we must present him with some acceptable (d) Debemus enim deo et nos ipsos et nostra omnia Cha. n. Tom. 3. lib 14. cap. 20. pag. 497. Services which we owe him not but how shall we give him any thing wherein he hath not already a full propriety when there is nothing that we are or have there is nothing that we can do or suffer in a way of Obedience but is due unto God from us by every kind of Right Had we any thing of our own wherewith to come before the Lord there might then be some ground of pretence for the Merit of good Works (e) Ex gratia enim datur non solum justificatis vita bona sed etiam glorificatis vita aeterna Fulgent ad Monim l. 1. p. 18. But since all that we have is due to God because it came from him and bears his Image and Superscription upon it we cannot rationally think it possible for us to Merit any thing thereby of God unless we can think it rational that God should be obliged in point of Justice by giving us one Mercy to give us another by giving us Grace to put us at length in Possession of Eternal Glory That whereby Christians you differ from others from the vilest of Sinners from the Damned themselves that are now roaring out in Hell is not of Merit but of Grace not of Debt but a free Donative 't is nothing in your selves but the free distinguishing love of God dropping the Pearl of Grace into your hearts whilst others are left to perish in their Sins that hath made the difference And surely by those graces which you freely receive from God you may not think to Merit Life and Eternity of Glory at the hands of God For certainly whatever grace you have it obligeth you to Duty so that your Graces and your Obligations of Obedience to God they grow up together and the more grace you receive from God the more deeply do you stand engaged to abound in the fruits of Righteousness towards God How then can you once have a thought that that Grace and Holiness which God hath freely wrought in you and whereby he hath laid you under the strongest engagements to all holy and upright walking before him should make God your Debtor obliging him in point of Justice to render you the Reward of eternal Glory Indeed to whomsoever the Lord gives Grace he will also give Glory and whomsoever he now makes Holy he will Crown them at length with Eternal Happiness But this you must know not an act of Justice founded upon Man's Merit but an act of free Grace bottomed upon the Remunerative goodness of God in the Blood of Christ Rom. 6.23 (f) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost 'T is an act of Justice in God to punish Sin which is wholly our own and purely Evil and therefore Death is here called the Wages of Sin But to Reward the good Works of Believers which are neither their own nor purely good is an act of free Grace and therefore we find the Apostle to exclude all opinion of Merit calling Life Eternal in this place the gift of God (g) Non dixit similiter stipendia justitiae quia non est antequam remuneratur in nobis non enim nostro labore quaesita est Jerom. So that we see though it be of Justice that the Wicked are Punished yet it is of Grace that the Righteous are Crowned (h) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost And if it be of Grace then not of any Merit in our own good Works otherwise grace were no more grace if not every way free and gratuitous Rom. 4.4 For how can we count it a point of grace to give a Man his due Or what need he sue for Mercy who requireth no more than his own at the hands of God Admit but of Merit and you leave no place of entrance for the grace of God (i) Non est quo gratia intret ubi jam meritum occuparit Bernard Cant. 67. So likewise the grace of God in Christ it leaves no place for the Merit of our good Works For Grace and Merit are altogether inconsistent and mutually destructive one of another Rom. 11.6 So that if you pull down the Merit of good Works you set up Grace and if you go about to establish Merit you do utterly destroy the Grace of God and make it of none effect Let us not then Christians look in our Obedience to have that of Debt which God hath decreed to be of Grace nor go about to seek Heaven and Glory by way of Purchase which the Lord hath intended to be a Donative and of free Gift Whilst others trust to the Merit of their own good Works let us wholly rely upon the free Grace of God in Christ Jesus looking for the Recompence of Eternal Life not from the Justice of a Judge but from the Mercy of a Father not from the worth and dignity of our own Performances but from the free Bounty and Remunerative Goodness of the Lord our Redeemer You may do good Works and walk in ways of Obedience with an Eye to the Recompence of the Reward But yet none of these things must be done with respect to the Meriting of Eternal Life by them For though as (k) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost Tom. 8. Serm. 15. Chrysostome sweetly saith we had done ten thousand good deeds yet it is of Grace that we must look to be saved and of Loving-kindness not of any desert in ourselves that we must seek to obtain Eternal Glory (l) Totis licet animae et corporis laboribus desudemus totis licet obedientiae viribus exerceamur nihil tamen condignum merito pro coelestibus bonis compensare et offerre valebimus Euseb Emissen homil 3. ad Monarch We stand so infinitely indebted to the God of Heaven that though we should with all the strength of Body and Mind exercise ourselves in Obedience to God all our Life long though with bitterness and anguish of Spirit we should bewail our own Sins mourn in some Wilderness till Doom's-day and dissolve our Souls with weeping into (m) Flaccescant licet membra vigilijs pallescant licet ora jejunijs non erunt tamen condignae passiones hujus temporis ad futuram gloriam Idem Rivers of Tears though we should live like Angels of Light shine like the Sun in it's Noon-day Brightness and exercise ourselves unto Godliness continually with all
(r) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cyrill Catech. 6. He serves God because he loves him and he loves him because he will love him looking upon this as a sufficient reward of all that he hath a God to serve and love in whom he cannot but rest and delight according to the Notation of the Word for Love in the (ſ) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as some conjecture is derived of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth much and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to Rest the Nature of the affection expressed by this word being such that it makes a Man acquiess and rest fully satisfied with what he loves And for the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 significat as Grammarians observes aliquid tenerum et affectione plenum ut sit is diligens dominum qui in eo sibi placet et acquiescit Psal 116.1 Greek and the Nature of the Letters making up the word for Love in the Hebrew Tongue which are all of them quiescent as in his proper Centre Love to God winds up a Christian's Affections to that intention of Zeal and Fervency that he undergoes a kind of compulsion and hath an holy necessity within himself constraining him to walk before God in all dutiful Obedience The hope of Heaven before may draw him and the fear of Hell behind may drive him But Love is that vital Principle within whereby he is acted and which like the very Soul of Obedience teacheth him a natural Motion So that in a Christians Obedience Force and Freedom Violent and Voluntary Necessity and Liberty yea the most pure Liberty and the most powerful Necessity they meet together (t) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For though the Love of Christ doth constrain them yet 't is not by any forcible but by a loving necessity (u) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Truly Love alone is the greatest Tyrant over-powering all other Powers as Chrysostom well observes and yet there are none that do perform such spontaneous and willing Obedience to God as those that have the commands of this Heavenly Tyrant upon them lying under the sweet constraints of Divine Love 6. AND Lastly We are to have an Eye to the Recompence of the Reward not Preposterously neglecting to use the means appointed by God for the attaining thereof but Regularly giving all diligence to become holy and to work out our own Salvation in a way of all upright and holy walking before the Lord. We may lawfully have respect to the Recompence of Reward but remember it must be in the ways of Obedience that we may not deceive ourselves expecting a Crown of Happiness when we never take care to follow after Holiness God cloathes indeed the Lilies of the field though they neither Toyl nor Spin Mat. 6.26 29. But unless we toil and give diligence to put on the Lord Jesus Christ for Sanctification God will never cloathe our Souls with the Robes of blessed Immortality He feeds the Fowls of the Air though they neither Sow nor Reap or gather into Barns But if we should neglect to Sow Righteousness not endeavouring to gather the Fruits of his holy Spirit into our own Souls to be sure we shall never be suffered to feed upon the Tree of Life in the Paradise of God The Lord hath stiled himself a plentiful Rewarder but it 's only of those who diligently seek him Heb. 11.6 And because he is an Holy God we must therefore seek him in a way of Holiness would we ever find him rewarding us with a Crown of Righteousness If a Man saith the Apostle strive for Masteries yet is he not Crowned except he strive lawfully 2 Tim. 2.5 The only lawful striving for Heaven and Glory is against the Corruptions of our own Nature to cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of Flesh and Spirit labouring to perfect Holiness in the fear of God to mortify through the Spirit the deeds of the Body and to enter in at the strait Gate of Regeneration and except we thus strive look we may at the Recompence of Reward but God will never Crown us with it For certainly God makes none happy hereafter but whom first he makes holy here Nor will he put any thing in Possession of Eternal Glory but those in whom he first puts his holy Spirit to make them Gracious The only way amongst the Romans to the Temple of Honour was through the Temple of Virtue Thus the Lord hath made Virtue the way to Honour amongst Christians calling them first to Virtue 2 Pet. 1.3 and then to (w) Natura mentis humanae quantumcunque perfecta naturalibus donis obsque gratia non est susceptibilis gloriae Parisiensis lib. de Virt. c. 11. Glory so that Virtue must be sought by way of Preparation before ever a state of Glory can be their Fruition Heaven must first be brought down into our Souls by Sanctification before our Souls can possibly be taken up into Heaven for their Glorification The Kingdom of Heaven it 's a pure place it 's an Inheritance that is Incorruptible and undefiled Whatsoever therefore is unclean and defileth can never enter into it Rev. 21.27 In Ireland the Soil is so pure that no venemous Creature will live there To be sure such is the infinite purity of that Soil in the Land of Promise the heavenly Canaan that those who are infected with the Venome and Poyson of Sin not labouring to cleanse themselves from it cannot possibly live there Foolish Sinners are apt to please themselves with some pleasant dreams about going to Heaven when they dye not considering how vexatious and contrary that holy habitation would be to them should they come thither with their Natures unsanctified For the accomplishment of true delight there must be an harmonious conformity and correspondency betwixt the faculty and the object about which it is conversant So that if the faculty be not duely prepared let the object be never so pleasant yet it will afford nothing of true delight but a deal of vexation and weariness The Sun is a pleasant object affording much delight and satisfaction to one that hath no impediment in his sight and yet to sore Eyes there is nothing more afflicting and tedious than to behold it Thus though Heaven be a place of unspeakable Pleasure adorned with all glorious Objects that a gracious heart can desire yet should a Man unsanctified come there he would think himself in the very Suburbs of Hell and instead of meeting with happiness therein he would find it a place of his greatest disquietment If our first Parents were by one Sin so far indisposed for Communion with God that they were not able to bear his Presence nor so much as able to look upon the back parts of God in the Earthly Paradice but sought through the dread of his Presence seizing upon them to hide themselves from the Eyes of Omnisciency How then will unsanctified Sinners whose Souls are become a very Sodom of all Unrighteousness be able to
runneth not the Race hath no hope of the Garland he that Fighteth not the Battel hath no hope to obtain the Crown Why thus my Friends if you sit down satisfied without Grace not labouring to become pure and holy and unblameable before God in love you can never have any good hope to enjoy the Harvest the Garland the Crown of Eternal Life Ephes 2.12 PROMISE yourselves what happiness you please and be as confident of your own good condition as you will Yet believe it Sirs unless now with the Wise Virgins you get Oyl in your Lamps and Grace in your Souls you must never sit down with Christ in the Kingdom of God to the Marriage-Supper For to presume of Life and Happiness without (a) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cyril Grace and Holiness is the next way to lose them both and to plunge yourselves deeper in Eternal Misery Presumption being still the Preface to Damnation And are you grown so secure indeed that you can sit down satisfied without that which alone can make you meet for Heaven and Eternal Glory Oh methinks that unmarcescible Crown of Life that far more exceeding and eternal weight of Glory whereof you must everlastingly fall short if you keep it not in the way of serious Practical Holiness should make you give all diligence to get Grace into your hearts and to become holy Is it nothing do you think to miss of Eternal Glory to be eternally shut out of God's heavenly Kingdom and for ever to lose that Crown of Righteousness that fulness of Joy and those Pleasures which are at God's Right Hand for evermore Oh what everlasting hellish horrour will fill your Souls at Death and Judgment should you spend your lives in Vanity not striving to perfect holiness in the fear of God! Oh that you would look upon a graceless condition and negligence in the ways of God now as you will look upon it when for want of grace and diligence in Heaven's way the Lord shall throw you down for ever into hellish Torments the Lord shall punish you with everlasting destruction from his own blessed Presence and bid you depart accursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels Oh the unspeakable horrour Oh the everlasting dreadful confusion that will then fall upon you Oh what Worlds would you not give to be saved when for want of sanctifying grace you must of necessity be damned for ever Oh what would you not now do to come to Heaven when for want of Holiness you are sure to be thrown down into hellish Torments and there shut up amongst damned Spirits in everlasting Chains under darkness In the fear of God Sirs and out of tender compassion to your own Immortal Souls do not rest a moment longer in a graceless condition but as ever you desire to be saved now labour to be throughly sanctified and as ever you would see the face of God in Glory now labour to walk before him in all holy Conversation and Godliness Never think to be Mercenarij if you will not be Operarij You can never receive the Reward of Eternal Glory when you dye if you work not hard in God's Vineyard so long as you live The Lord will give you both the upper and the nether Springs both Grace and Glory But on this condition that you espouse Achsah his Daughter that you devote yourselves to the practice of Piety endeavouring to perfect holiness in the fear of God Heb. 12.28 There is a Kingdom that cannot be moved there is a (b) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Crown of Life more glorious than the (c) 1 Cor. 9.25 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sun in it's Noon day Brightness there is fulness of Joy in God's Presence together with Soul-satisfying (d) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Words signify such Pleasures as shall never end but will run Parallel with Eternity it self Pleasures at his Right Hand for evermore and all this you may have for your Portion and to make you everlastingly happy but then you must seek it in God's own way by patient continuance in (e) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cyrill Hier. Cateches 1. Pag. 2. Well-doing and by a life of Serious Practical Holiness He that would have a good Harvest must diligently Till and Sow his Ground So you must break up the fallow Ground of your Hearts endeavouring to Sow to the Spirit would you ever obtain a blessed Harvest in which you may reap a full Crop of Eternal Joy God hath tyed Grace and Glory Holiness and Happiness together So that no Grace no Glory no Holiness here no Happiness hereafter Whosoever leads a lewd unsanctified life on Earth shall never lead a blessed and glorified life in Heaven As no Man might be in the Wedding-house not having on a Wedding-garment Mat. 22.11 12. So whoever is not found cloathed with the garments of Righteousness he shall never enter into a Mansion of glory into an house not made with hands eternal in the Heavens 2 Thes 2.13 The Image of God must first be renewed upon you in the Beauties of Holiness before ever you can be capable of seeing the face of God in Sion or be counted meet to be Inhabitants of the New Jerusalem Look at Heaven and Glory as much as you will and let your eye be still fixed upon the Recompence of the Reward Yet if you seek it not by patient continuance in well doing endeavouring to cleanse yourselves from all filthiness of Flesh and Spirit you are never like to be Crowned with it In vain do we look at Heaven and Eternal Glory so long as we live in Sin never striving to be holy which is nothing but to walk in the way that leads to Hell and everlasting Misery For then only have we due respect to the Recompence of the Reward when we seek it in a way of Obedience endeavouring to be changed into the likeness purity and holiness of that God who hath promised that so doing he will Crown us with it CHAP. V. The Doctrin Proved evincing the lawfulness of having a Respect to the Recompence of the Reward in Twelve Particulars III. HAVING thus shewed you What it is to have Respect to the Recompence of the Reward and how you may do so we are in the next place to evince it for your better satisfaction by some Scriptural Demonstrations That you are allowed of God to have respect to the Recompence of the Reward and may lawfully do so in all your Obedience 1. WE may lawfully have Respect in our Obedience to the Recompence of the Reward because God himself hath commanded us that we should do so Had not the Lord by his own Authority enjoyning us by Patient continuance in Well-doing to seek after Heaven and Glory made it our duty to do so we might well have questioned the Legality of such a practise But now there is not the least ground of Hesitancy nor any colour of Reason why we should question Whether
are only for our Imitation Christ bid us not to Redeem the World to raise the Dead nor to walk upon the Sea But in the Works of Piety and Holiness he saith to us as Gideon to his Souldiers Look upon me and do likewise Judg. 7.17 We are always to look unto Jesus the author and finisher of our Faith Heb. 7.26 giving diligence to be holy as he was holy to be pure as he was pure Mark 14.36 to be self-denying as he was self-denying to be upright and without guile as he was without guile 1 Pet. 2.22 to be humble and lowly of Spirit as he was humble Mat. 11.28 to be zealous for God's Glory as he was zealous Joh. 16.17 And by the Joy which is set before us we may lawfully be incouraged to indure the Cross despising the shame as He also was For to be sure Christians in following Christ the only authentick Rule of Righteousness you can never do any unrighteous Action In imitating Christ the Holy One of God looking in all your Obedience at Heaven and Glory as he did before you you can never become unholy The Life of Christ is a fair Copy without any Blot or uneven Letter in it So that indeavouring to Write after him you can never come under the Blot of being Disingenuous and Mercenary in the Service of God Let Christ be the Rule by which you draw the Lines of all your Actions and then they will never prove crooked or uneven Let him be the Glass by which you adorn and dress yourselves and then you will never appear in any other Attire but what will be most Graceful Decent and Amiable in the sight of God Let him in a word be the Primum Mobile turning about by the sweet impulse of his own most holy Self regulated Example both the superior and inferior Orbs of your Souls and then though you seek your own Happiness longing to Feed upon that heavenly Ambrosia in the Hesperian Vales though you fix your eyes never so wishly upon the Recompence of the Reward Steering a right Course towards the Tartesian Shore of eternal Rest yet your motion can never be excentrical nor irregular * Christiani a Christo nomen acceperunt et operae pretium est ut sunt haeredes nominis ita sint imitatoris sanctitatis Bern. Sent. p. 496. For there is nothing more becoming Christians than to make their Lives a Transcript of that fair Copy which Christ by the hand of his own holy Example hath set them Nor is there any thing more intrinsick and essential to Christianity than for the Professors thereof to walk as Christ himself walked 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The very name of a Christian is so apposite and significant that it doth fully interpret and clearly comment upon his Essence teaching us that the Epitome of Religion the Abridgment of true Piety the Quint-essence of real Holiness the Compendium of all Virtues and the whole Substance of a Christian is to have the Signature of Christ's Holiness upon his Soul indeavouring to express in his Life the Virtues of the Lord Jesus And certainly since our Christianity doth mainly stand in Conformity with Christ we can never make a Forfeiture of it nor be Impeached of Mercinariness in looking at heavenly Glory as He did whilst we walk in Obedience before God on Earth 4. WE may lawfully have Respect in our Obedience to the Recompence of Reward because the Lord doth frequently incourage his People by the consideration of eternal Glory to all Dutiful and Vpright walking before himself As God affords his people Happiness at the end so he allows them Comfort in the way of Duty sweetning all his Commandments with Promises and incouraging to all upright and holy walking before himself by giving his People the Assurance of an everlastingly glorious Reward God doth not exact Obedience from his People upon terms of absolute Sovereignty but upon terms of Bounty and remunerative Goodness He doth not appoint them their Work and hide from them the Reward But to make them go through with it the more Cheerfully he often tells them of the Reward wherewith having finished their Course they shall eternally be Crowned As God gives the best Wages to those who are his Servants so He likewise holds out the best Incouragements to draw us into his Service and to make us willing to Spend and be Spent therein Man is a Rational Creature and of such a Sequacious Temper that fetching your Arguments out of the Topicks of Profit and Pleasure you may carry him whither you will And therefore the Lord who knows our frame he leads us on in ways of Obedience by Rational Comforts and Human Incouragements assuring us that in keeping his Commandments there is great Reward Psal 19.11 God knows that Blessedness is the Alpha and Omega of every man the Centre wherein all our Desires meet and that no man can wittingly make light of much less give the Repulse to his own Happiness He therefore stands like a faithful Guide to give Aim to all those amongst us that would fain bend their Course to the safe Harbour of Happiness and like an auspicious Herald proclaiming upon Mount Gerizim the Mount of Blessings with Wisdom in the Proverbs Hearken unto me O ye Children for Blessed are they that keep my wayes Prov. 8.32 The Lord knows we have many tall Anakims to encounter before we can take possession of the heavenly Canaan and therefore he incourageth us as Caleb did him that should smite Kirjath-Sepher Josh 15.16 whom he promised his Daughter Achsah to Wife So in case we shall quit ourselves like Men induring Hardship as good Soldiers of Jesus Christ he will give us his Daughter Achsah to Wife he will give us the Ornament as that name may signify of eternal Glory he will give us to eat of the Tree of Life Rev. 2.7 in the Paradice of God 'T is Storied by the Hebrews of Joseph That when he had gathered much Corn in Egypt he threw the Chaff into the River Nilus that so floating down to the neighbouring Cities and Nations they might know what Plenty there was in Aegypt and be provoked thereby to seek thither So God to make us know what Glory is in Heaven and the more to incourage us to seek thither he hath thrown some Husks to us here that so tasting the Sweetness of Heavenly Glory in the Husk of a Promise we might aspire after it Be ye stedfast saith St. Paul 1 Cor. 15.5 8. be ye unmoveable be ye always abounding in the work of the Lord. And why so Stedfast why so Unmoveable why such care to abound in the Work of the Lord but because saith he you know that your Labour shall not be in vain in the Lord God doth not deal with us as Crater the Philosopher did with a certain Virgin that was in Love with him and would needs Marry him He did what in him lay to discourage her shewing her his Crooked Back
And this is your Husband said he and bringing forth his Staff and Scrip Why this adds he is like to be your Dowrey But now the Lord doth what in him lyes to Incourage us telling us what Treasures of Love and Sweetness 1 Cor. 2.9 what heaps of Joy and fulness of Glory what unseen unheard of unconceivable and Soul-ravishing Pleasures are prepared for us in case we will but love him and walk in Obedience before him 'T was one of the Devil's Master pieces when he Tempted Christ hoping to draw him to his impious Desires that he carried him up into an exceeding high Mountain shewing him from thence all the Kingdoms of the World and then promised him saying All these things will I give thee if thou wilt fall down and worship me Why thus with holy reverence be it spoken what the Devil did to Christ Wickedly the Lord doth Graciously to his own People He takes them up into Mount Nebo from thence shewing them thrô the Perspective of his Promises not the Kingdom of this World but the Kingdom of Heaven with all the Royalties and Glory thereof assuring them Mat. 5.3 that all shall be their own if they will but walk humbly before him indeavouring to worship him in Spirit and Truth The Lord understands full well the Frailties of our Nature and what great Discouragements we are like to meet with in Heaven's way And therefore he is pleased most Graciously to draw us on the wayes of Holiness by the proposal of such Rewards as may incourage us to go on therein whatever it cost us Our Condition in this World is like that of the Israelites passing towards the Land of Canaan we must go through the Red Sea of Persecutions and through an howling Wilderness where we shall often be Stung with fiery Serpents before ever we can get to the heavenly Canaan and therefore the Lord he allures us by all sorts of Promises and sweet Inticements I will allure her saith God Hos 2.14 speaking of his Church and bring her into the Wilderness The word in the Original which we Translate Allure doth also signify to Deceive Seduce or to Beguile But here it 's taken in a good Sense implying with much Emphasis That God doth sweetly till men on in ways of Holiness and by an heavenly Artifice wrapt up in Promises of Life graciously seduce them into the Obedience of his own Commandments In the Precept he acquaints us with our Duty and in the Promise he shews us what shall be our Reward By that he appoints us our Work and by this he would incourage us Cheerfully to go through with it that having the Promise of an eternal Recompence we may never grow weary in well-doing 2 Thess 3.13 Gal. 6.9 Such is the goodness of God that he sweetens all his Commandments with Promises And whenever he calls us out to any Duty he incourageth us to the Performance thereof by the Proposal of some glorious Recompence Rom. 8.13 He bid us through the Spirit mortify the deeds of the Body and that we may not want Incouragement to so difficult a Work he tells us that so doing our Souls shall live He bids us to take up our Cross not detrecting to suffer for Christ And he gives us this incouragement thereto That if we suffer with him we shall also reign with him 2 Tim. 2.12 He bids us in a word Sow to the Spirit indeavouring to be fruitful in every good word and work And for our incouragement to that holy practise he tells us that so doing we shall of the Spirit reap Life everlasting Gal. 6.8 So then since God himself is graciously pleased to allure and draw us on in wayes of Obedience by the proposal of an eternal Recompence we may lawfully sure having Respect thereunto take Incouragement from it For to what end should God sweeten his Commandments with Promises but to make us more Cheerful in the way of Duty when we know how transcendently great and glorious our Reward shall be Promissiones nullas dedisset deus pijs de beatitudine nisi vellet ut inter bene agendum easdem respiceremus Daven Col. c. 1. v. 5 p. 46. Those men do begrudge the Lord's Bounty and would seem wiser than God himself who deny us a Liberty to make use of the Spirit 's Motives Pietas habet promissiones vitae praesentis et futurae at frustrà si non licet intuitu illarum excitari ad bene agendum Dav. ubi sup In vain hath God made Promises of Life to such as keep his Commandments if in keeping thereof we may have no respect to that Life that Happiness that Glory which is held forth in the Promises to us Doubtless Christians 't is not Ingenuity but Ingratitude to deprive ourselves of those Incouragements to Obedience and of that Comfort in a way of Duty which the Lord himself hath graciously allowed us to make use of And thô possibly you may think that you highly please the Lord whilst you walk on in a way of Duty without any respect to your own Happiness yet the Truth is you do Presumptuously tempt him as Ahaz did when refusing to ask a Sign which God promised to give them Isa 7.11.12 The Lord knew the necessity of giving a Sign to his People in that Exigence in order whereunto he bids Ahaz ask a Sign but he 's Modest he 's ashamed that God should be put upon the working of a Miracle to confirm his Faith far be it from him so to Tempt the Lord and to question his Faithfulness he will believe him without a Sign that he will However here were specious Pretences yet the Lord was no little displeased that his Favour should be made so light of and a Sign under a pretence of Modesty refused as if they better knew what was needful for themselves than the God of Heaven Hear ye me now O House of David it 's a small thing for you to weary men but will ye weary my God also Thus Christians when we refuse to take Incouragements from the Promises of Life to walk in Obedience before the God of Heaven when under a pretence of Ingenuity and a Gospel Frame of Spirit we take on us to serve God for himself He bids us seek for Glory and Honour for Immortality and eternal Life by patient continuance in well doing but far be it from us to be Mercenary or to seek ourselves we will serve God and run the way of his Commandments without any Respect at all to Heaven and Glory that we will why now we weary the Lord and making light of his Favour to us we Tempt him as if we knew better what Motives to make use of and what to seek in our Obedience than God himself For to be sure we do no less Tempt the Lord in not seeking after what he hath Commanded than we do in expecting what he never Promised We do no less Tempt the Lord in creating occasions of Desperation than in
nourishing a groundless Presumption We do no less in a word Tempt the Lord in making the way more difficult and narrow than we do in making the way more facile and wider which leads to the Kingdom of Heaven than God himself hath made it Be afraid then Christian of Tempting God for want of taking Incouragement from the Promises of Life and Glory to run the way of his Commandments But never be afraid of displeasing him or Forfeiting thy Ingenuity by having Respect in thy Obedience to the Recompence of the Reward For certainly it can never Argue a Disingenuous and Mercenary Spirit to make use of that as an Incouragement whereby to provoke us to all holy self denying and upright walking before him If God himself take us up in Mount Nebo shewing us the Land of Promise the Coelestial Canaan the Heavenly Jerusalem for our better Incouragement in Heaven's Way we are not sure to turn away our eyes from the beholding of it Look whatever God himself doth set before us as a motive to Diligence in Heaven's way we may lawfully be acted by it and have our eye fixed upon it Since therefore the Lord of Mercy hath set before us the Recompence of Reward propounding therein Heaven and Glory as Incentives to Obedience we may lawfully Eye them and in all our Obedience have Respect unto them 5. WE may lawfully have an eye to the Recompence of Reward in our Obeâ—ience because this Reward is nothing else but what every Christian stands obliged to look after and above all things in the world to desire The grand Reason inducing some to deny the Lawfulness of having Respect to the Recompence of the Reward is their gross Mistake concerning the Nature of it They look upon Heaven and Glory through the false Glass of their own distemper'd Fancies whereby the Complexion of Heaven and Glory hath been so strangely metamorphosed transfigured and misrepresented to them that though in it self it be of such an unsullied magnetick graceful attractive and châ—ste Beauty that the very Eyes of the glorious Seraphims are Captivated to the most insatiate beholding of it yet they can see no such Form such Beauty such Comeliness in it that a gracious Soul should desire it HOWEVER if we set aside this muâ—dy Preâ—â—dice abstracting from Heaven and Glory what a Carnal Heart would conceive to be there we shall find that there is nothing in Heaven and Glory that a gracious Soul can tell how to spare there is nothing in the Recompence of Reward in eternal Life and Happiness but what every Christian is bound to look after The Blessedness which abides us in Heaven it 's either Objective or formal and Subjective Blessedness Objective is nothing but God himself that immense and boundless Ocean of â—ll Goodness in whom are treasured up such Altitudes such Hyperbole's such over-flowing Pleonasmes of all Excellencies and divine Perfections that whosoever is admitted to the participation of them like a Stone in the Center he can go no further he can possibly desire no more but is perfectly satisfied taking up his everlasting repose in the words of holy David that spiritual Orpheus Return to thy rest O my Soul for loe the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee Blessedness Formal and Subjective why it 's nothing but the Clarifying of the Soul Crowning it with a bright Constellation of all heavenly Graces and raising it up in Holiness to the Fulness of the measure of the Stature of Christ whereby being accurately prepared for immediate Communion with God himself it now launcheth forth into that fathomless Ocean of all Goodness bathing it self in the Vastness of a Deity warming it self in the uninterrupted Irradiations of an eternal Sun-shine swimming in the Chrystalline Rivers of purest Pleasures and everlastingly closing with the Lord Jehovah that fixed Centre of Rest and Happiness in a way of pure Extatical Speculation in a way of sweetest Love and Soul-intrancing Fruition And if such be the Recompence of the Reward that is set before us if such be the Heaven the Glory the Happiness that abideth us in another World how dare we assert it unlawful when the Scripture hath made it our Duty by patient continuance in well-doing to seek after these things pursuing them as the great End of our Life May we not in our Obedience have respect to the perfecting of all our Graces and to the fulness of Communion with God in Glory Is it our Duty now to perfect Holiness in the fear of God 2 Cor. 7.1 seeking his Face and Favour with all our Heart and may we not much more have our Hearts carried out in Desire after that blessed Estate of Happiness where all our Graces being perfected into Glory we shall immediately enjoy the Light of God's joyful Countenance solacing ourselves with eternal Smiles and drinking in of that Fulness of Joy and delicious Pleasures which are at his right Hand for evermore May we here serve God and make use of every Ordinance with respect to the getting of a little more Grace a little more Faith more Sincerity more Love more Holiness and may we not serve him with respect to full Perfection when Grace that is now Militant shall then be Triumphant that is now in the Bud shall be ripened into a fragrant Flower that is now in its Infancy shall attain to its full Age that is now in a word but Dawning like the Morning Light shall then break forth into an uncloudable glorious Sun-shine May we here serve God run the way of his Commandments wait upon him in the Beauties of Holiness and be frequent in evâ—ry Duty with respect to the getting of a little Acquaintance a little Fellowship a little Communion with him in Christ so that we can be satisfied with no Duty wherein we have not some fresh ministrations of his holy Spirit some heavenly Influences gliding down into our Souls some Signals of his presence with us some propitious Glance from his Eyes some Dawnings of his Glory upon us and yet may we not ascend by an holy Gradation and have respect to Fulness of Communion with God when we shall not see him through a Glass darkly as now we do but having the Dust of Sin and Mortality wiped out of our eyes shall see him Face to Face when we shall not be put off with a transient Smile as now we are but shall have the Light of his Countenance sâ—ining upon us with most clarified Beams and pure Irradiations to all Eternity When in a word we shall not only see the Back-parts of Jehovah as now we do but the Lord shall cause all his Goodness and Glory to pass before us to flow in upon us and to abide with us for ever Doubtless in this bundle of Life in t e Recompence of the Reward there is not any one Flower bound up but what hath such a spiritual Fragrancy and such a Tincture os divine Beauty that every Christian is obliged to seek after them
indeavouring above all things in the world to Gâ—ther them The Happiness of a Christian 't is Grace glorified 't is Holiness arrived at it's highest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and pitch of heavenly Perfection Heb. 12.14 which surely we are all of us bound to follow after pursuing it with all our might as that without which we can never see the Lord. ¶ Gen. 15.1 Ipse Deus est merces promissa fidelibus ergo dum aeternam mercedem expectant et intuentur non aliud a Deo intuentur Dav. in Coloss cap. 1. ver 5. Praemium virtutis erit ipse qui virtutem dedit et qui seipsum quo melius et majus nihil possit esse promisit August de Civit. Dei lib. 22. cap. 30. pag. 738. And as for the Reward of a Christian it is God himself 't is to be with the Lord for ever to see his Face and enjoy his Favour for ever which surely we are also bound to seek after giving all diligence to make God our Portion and the strength of our Heart for ever Psal 73.26 And shall we say that a Christian Sins or is Disingenuous for Obeying with an eye to Holiness and with respect to the God of Heaven who alone is the fixed Centre of Rest and Happiness Or Dare we say That Christians are not to regard Holiness on Earth but to live as they list nor to long for the full injoyment of God in Heaven but to be the centre of their own Happiness Surely God never intended that we should sit down satisfied without Him and be Happy by reflexion upon our own Excellencies as if Life and Happiness could be found where nothing but remorseless Death and Misery keep their walk As God never rested till he had made Man in his own Likeness leaving a Tincture of his own Purity and Holiness upon him so he hath put Emptiness and Dissatisfaction into all our Creature Enjoyments Psalm 17.15 that we may never rest till returning to God that made us we shall behold his Face in Righteousness and be satisfied with his Likeness Whatever Grace whatever Holiness God's people have it 's wholly derivative from him So that whatever Felicity whatever Happiness they may look to enjoy it stands wholly in reduction to God himself as the Original and Fountain-Cause The motion of every gracious Soul it 's like that of Coelestial Bodies purely Circular so that it can never rest but will still be rolling and breathing and panting after God unsatiably till returning back unto him it hath fixed it self in the Sabbatical centre of everlasting Communion with him Such a Soul is touched with the true Loadstone of Grace so that now it sees such an attractive magnetical Beauty in a Deity that it cannot possibly settle upon any thing below God himself That 's the language of every gracious Soul and the proper Idiom of its more sublime and clarified Affections wherein we find the Sweet Singer of Israel make expression of his Love to God saying Whom have I in Heaven but thee and there is none upon Earth that I desire besides thee Psal 73.25 As the Moon and Stars those glorious Lamps of heaven are not able to supply the absence of the Sun nor will their united Light amount to so much as to make up one Day or one Moment of a Day though they should knit and concentricate all their Beams So David he knew full well that thô in Heaven there be the Moon-light of glorious Angels and the Star-light of those imparadised Souls the Spirits of â—ust men made Perfect yet without the bright Irradiations of a Deity and the Light of God's Countenance tâ—ey could never make up the least shadow of Glory the least Ray of Soul â—atisfying Happiness which makes him look beyond them all desiring neither Saints nor Angels nor Heaven it self with all its Glory Royalties and Paradisical Pleasures in comparison of the God of Heaven Thus also it is with every one of God's People they look upon him as their Happiness so that Heaven it self would not be Heaven to them this Goshen would prove an Egypt this Canaan would be turned into a Wilderness if the Lord should withdraw his glorious Presence The presence of the King is that we say which makes the Court and as it was told Commodus Ibi Roma ubi Augustus that where the Emperor is there was Rome So that which God's People do count their Heaven that which they look upon as a Garden of Flowry Pleasures as a Paradice of all Delights and spiritual Contentments is the full and immediate Injoyment of God himself 'T is not so much the Society of Saints and Angels in Heaven as the Beatifical Vision as the Downey Bosome of a Deity as eternal Communion with the God of Heaven that they desire and make their Happiness All other Lines meet in this Centre all other Stars borrow their Light from this glorious Sun and all other Comforts do empty themselves into this vast Ocean wherein Rivers of purest Pleasures do meet and everlastingly concentricate themselves to make glad the City of God Et ipsa est beata vita gaudere ad te de te propter te ipsa est et non est altera August Conf. The injoyment of God in Glory this is the Apogaeuâ— of heavenly Joy this is the highest Zenith of true Blessedness this is the coâ—pleat Volumn of perfect Felicity wherein all the Particulars of Happiness are not Epitomized but so amplified inlarged and paraphrased upon that the Heart of Man cannot possibly desire any more For whatever can be desired to mâ—ke one Happy is richly treasured up in God as the indeficient and over-flowing Fountain of all Goodness So that all the Glory and Happiness whereof God's people look to be made partakers when they come to Heaven is reductively and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 summed up in this that they shall be with the Lord for ever 1 Thess 4.17 If then Holiness may be desired or God himself loved by us and sought after why then doubtless we may lawfully have Respect in our Obedience to the Recompence of Reward as being co-incident therewith and nothing else He may well have Respect in his Obedience to the Recompence of Reward and fix his eye upon heavenly Glory who makes God his Portion and his exceeding great Reward desiring no other Heaven than for ever to be with the Lord beholding his Face in Righteousness loving him without loathing and praising him without ever being weary Deus finis erit desideriorum nostrorum qui sine fine videbitur sine fastidio amabitur sine defatigatione laudabitur Ubi supra 6. WE may lawfully have Respect in our Obedience to the Recompence of the Reward because to such and to such only is the promise of eternal Life made Thô the Promise of eternal Life were conceived in the Womb of Free Grace and brought forth by the auspicious Midwifery of God's riâ—â— Mercy in Christ Jesus and so is eveâ—y
way fâ—â—e and gratuitous in the rise of it as proceeding wholly from the instigation of God's goodness and not depending upon any antecedent Condition in us as the impulsive Cause thereof Yet since the promise of Life eternal doth bear in it the nature of a Reward which hath always relation in the accomplishment of it to some presupposed Performances we must therefore know that it will never be made good to us but with dependance upon Duties in us that may fit and qualify us to receive so glorious a Promise First we must do the Work and then receive the Reward First we must get Grace and then God will give us Glory first we must finish our Course ¶ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost Hom. 4. ad pop Ant. and then we shall receive a Crown of Righteousness first we must Sow to the Spirit and then we have the Promise of God for our Security that of the Spirit we shall Reap Life everlasting We must not therefore anticipate and perturb that comely and blessed Order which God hath put in his Promises expecting that God should glorify us in Heaven before we have glorified his Name on Earth For be the promises of Life and Glory never so free and absolute in their Rise yet they are conditionate in their Accomplishment so that unless by the due and faithful performance of the Conditions annexed thereto we be qualified for them we can never receive them Amongst many other Conditions and Provisoes upon which God hath made us the Promise of eternal Life this is not the least that by patient continuance in well-doing we should seek after it For saith the Apostle to them that by patient continuance in well-doing seek for Glory and Honour and Immortality God will render eternal Life Rom. 7. As God when he bad promised deliverance unto Israel Ezek. 36.37 yet tells them that for this he will be enquired of by the House of Israel to do it for them So though the Lord hath given us a promise of eternal Life and Glory yet he will have us seek it by patient continuance in well-doing before ever he will Crown us with it In vain shall we think to find eternal Life if we seek it not in the first place giving diligence to lay hold upon it For when Promises have the Condition annexed to them we cannot take any Comfort in the Promise till we are sure of the Condition To say then that we may not have Respect in our Obedience to the Recompence of Reward to Eternal Life and Glory which is one grand condition specified in the Promise thereof is to render this glorious Reward altogether unfeasable and indeed to reflect dishonourable Blasphemy upon God himself as if he had Promised Eternal Glory with such a Promise as may not lawfully be seen unto with such an unrighteous condition as can never be performed without Sin But dare we say that the Infinitely Holy God will make us tenders of Life and Glory upon any other terms than what shall be Holy and Just and Good Hath the Lord threatned that without Holiness we shall never see him and will he then make disingenuity and unholiness the way leading to him Doth this pure indeficient Fountain which is always one and the same send forth such sweet and such sower Water Is the God who hath promised us Life and Glory Holy and dare we think that he would suspend the Promise thereof upon any unholy and Sinful condition Doubtless since the Good and Holy God hath made a respect to the Recompence of the Reward a condition of our receiving the Promise of Life Everlasting we need not fear the doing any thing unlawful but may well have a full Plerophory that what we do must be Holy and Just and Good whilst by Patient continuance in well-doing we seek to make sure of Heaven and Glory 7. WE may Lawfully have Respect in our Obedience to the Recompence of the Reward because otherwise we should not exercise nor have many of our Graces conversant about their proper Objects The Lord doth not only require that we should have an harmonious compages and an universal complexion of all saving Graces in our Souls but also that every Grace should be acted upon and regularly conversant about it's own Object which yet without a due respect had to the Recompence of the Reward cannot possibly be For how can Faith be the Substance of unseen Glory how can desire long after it or hope expect it if it be not a thing lawful for a Christian to look after and to have respect unto it Faith saith the Apostle is the Substance of things hoped for the Evidence of things not seen Betwixt ¶ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Oecumen Faith and Hope there is a very near affinity and they stand mutually related to one another each of them having respect to the other as the two Cherubims looked one towards the other over the Mercy Seat Faith layes the Foundation of Happiness and Hope builds upon that Foundation a glorious prospect of it Faith leaning upon the Promise of God concerning Eternal Life puts strength into Hope and Hope looking for that Eternal Life which God hath Promised pours the Oyl of gladness into Faith That Good which Faith sees Hope patiently waits for Faith fixeth an Eye upon future Glory and Hope tarrieth for it till it becomes present Faith in believing the Joys of Heaven gives Hope a sight of them and Hope in expecting of them makes Faith to rejoyce with joy unspeakable and full of Glory Faith believes it shall end in Salvation 1 Pet. 1.9 and Hope bids the Soul be patient and wait to the end that it may be saved Faith discovering a weight of Glory makes strong the hands of Hope and Hope climbing up thereby into the Mount of Transfiguration makes the face of Faith to shine with the reflexions of the same Glory upon it Fides accipit praesentia dei beneficia vel etiam in spe posita repraesentat ac veluti oculis subijcit Polan Syntag. Lib. 9. cap. 9. Pag. 3851. In a word what Hope looks upon as future Faith gives it a present subsistency reallizing those things to the Soul which have now no other being than what is in the Promise so that Faith steadfastly believing Hope cannot but with Patience expect that Crown of Life that Heavenly Kingdom that Eternal Happiness and Glory which God hath Promised Thus whilst we have respect in our Obedience to the Recompence of the Reward these Graces of Faith and Hope they are exercised about their proper objects the one believing the Promise of Eternal Life and the other waiting to receive it which otherwise they could never do but must either act irregularly embracing those objects which they ought not so much as to glance upon or else must be perpetually cloystered up in the Soul devoting themselves to an unprofitable Lethargical unactive Life and so antidating a supersedeas from their
peculiar Offices and Labours before ever God did set his seal thereunto For what is the Respect to the Recompence of Reward of which we are now speaking but a Sovereign Cordial made up of those choice Ingredients Faith and Hope to comfort the Spirits and make glad the Hearts of God's People whilst walking in all upright self-denying and holy Obedience before him 'T is doubtless the First-born of Impossibilities for the Soul to believe the Promise of Eternal Life and wait for it as it ought to do without having respect in all its Obedience to the Recompence of the Reward which is nothing but these two Graces conversant about their Virgin-objects uniting their strength and mingling their most sprightful and generous Wine for the comfort of God's People in Heavens way So that whoever asserts it unlawful to have any respect in our Obedience to Heaven and Glory he doth what in him lies to make the motions of Faith and Hope Irregular or else to put out the Eye of Faith as the Philistians dealt with Sampson and to break the Anchor of Hope leaving the Poor Souls to the courtesy of an enraged Wave to the clemency of an inhospitable Rock to the mercy of an inexorable Wreckful Storm Indeed though most other Graces have Eternity written upon them living that life which shall never be swallowed up of Death Yet Faith and Hope are Graces of a shorter date they are both of them Children of the Promise but not like to be long lived their operation is such as doth infallibly imply an imperfection in the subject receptive of them and therefore they must die in the Mount not thinking to enter into the Land of Canaan where Faith shall be perfected into Vision Beatifical and Hope into the full and immediate fruition of God Himself Irenaeus I confess would have Faith and Hope to abide in the Life to come and also Durandus seems to incline that way But though a Faith of Dependance will be in Heaven giving all the Inhabitants of that New Jerusalem a full Plerophory and everlasting Assurance of their Happiness yet to believe the Promise of Eternal Life and Hope for it as now we do is altogether incompossible with a state of Glory For we can walk no longer by Faith when once we see God face to face Nor hope any longer for Heaven and Glory when once we are put in full Possession of them-As therefore Hope which is seen is no Hope so Faith which is seen is no Faith For what a Man already sees and fully enjoys why doth he yet believe or hope for it Faith may now lay hold upon God's Word of Promise for everlasting Salvation and Hope may now expect this Salvation waiting with Patience for it But when God shall fulfill his Promise putting us in full Possession of Heaven and Crowning us with eternal Salvation then Faith shall be quite at an end and Hope shall have its full Period Faith and Hope may now bear up the hands of the Soul while it fights the Lord's Battels as Aaron and Hur did bear up the Hands of Moses But when all the Spiritual Amalekites are utterly destroyed and we come to the heavenly Canaan whose Cities are Walled about with everlasting Salvation and all her Streets Paved with undisturbed Peace Isa 26.1 then Faith and Hope will be no longer useful but their Office shall quite expire However those men deal unequally with Faith and Hope obtruding upon them an unjust Supersedeas and ingratefully cutting them off the midst of their days who will not allow a Christian in his Obedience to steal by the eye of Faith so much as one comfortable look from Heaven nor patiently to wait by Hope for the Promise of eternal Life Shall Faith and Hope give way hereafter the one to open Vision and the other to the full Fruition of God in Glory and shall we deny them their Canaan here not suffering them to draw water with Comfort out of the Wells of Salvation nor to Solace themselves in the sweet Embraces of Heaven and Glory their Virgin Objects Certainly Christians your Graces of Faith and Hope can never be conversant about their proper Objects so long as Heaven and Glory are not in your eye You do intercept the expectation of Hope and draw a thick Veil of Darkness before the eye of Faith when you have not respect in all your Obedience to the Recompence of the Reward seeking by patient continuance in well-doing for a Crown of Life Since then our Graces will be obstructed in their genuine Operations and not suffered to be conversant about their proper Objects if we have not a due Respect in our Obedience to the Recompence of the Reward we may well conclude the practise to he holy and just and good For surely the Lord will have all our Graces drawn forth after and regularly exercised upon their proper Objects 8. WE may lawfully have respect in our Obedience to the Recompence of the Reward because this is nothing but what that innate desire of Happiness which the God of Nature hath immoveably fixed in the Central Point of every Rational Beeing especially doth prompt and oblige us to If we diligently consult the whole Context of that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Law of Nature which God himself hath unblottably written upon the Table of every Man's Heart with his own unerring Finger we shall find many Radical Principles and unraseable Impressions of Virtue Justice and Goodness upon it And yet amongst them all there is no Principle more undelible no Impression stamped deeper nor any Precept more Triumphant unquestionable and authentical than this that every man ought to provide for his own welfare consulting the perpetual conservation the blessed Advancement and the everlasting Happiness of his own Beeing As God hath by a natural Instinct set all other Creatures a longing after their own Preservation and Welfare So he hath more Emphatically stamped every rational Nature with an innate desire of its own Happiness whereby it cannot but long after it Though since our first Apostacy from God we be miserably degenerated from the excellency of our own Natures and have our Wills so corrupted and wholly perverted about the ultimate end that we have not those Breathings those Pantings those unsatisfied Desires after God himself as we should we are not drawn by the attractive and magnetical virtue of a Deity desiring to fix ourselves in the Quietative Center of his Love and Favour and the Light of his Countenance we make him not our supream and ultimate end aspiring after fulness of Communion with the Lord Jehovah as the Alpha and Omega the Beginning and the End of all our Happiness Yet an innate desire of Happiness is so incorporated with our very Beeings and so indelibly written upon our Essences that the Fall it self hath not blotted it out but even in a state of Corruption this sacred Relique of God's Image abideth with us so long as we continue to be
desires and longings are carried out that way The Child doth not more naturally breath nor the Fire more naturally contend upward than the Children of Grace do affect those things that are above (a) 2 Cor. 5.2 desiring to be cloathed upon with their House which is from Heaven Oh this is the pure Fountain after whose (b) Psal 42.1 Waters they insatiably thirst and pant like the chased Hind this is the only Centre of rest towards which they are constantly bending their motion this is their choicest Treasure and therefore no wonder if their Hearts be set upon it The Soul that is truly gracious like the several Elements hath a proper principle of motion within it self so that it can never rest below but is still aspiring after things above 'T is Glory and Honour 't is Immortality and Life everlasting in the kingdom of Heaven which true Grace fixeth the heart upon and makes it long after Who ever is truly gracious he hath Heaven in his eye and the World under his feet not labouring for the meat that perisheth but for the meat which will endure to eternal Life An hyprocrite may indeed be possessed with a kind of inefficacious lazy desires after Heaven and Glory there may be some velleities unactive wishings and wouldings in a graceless Soul after eternal Life and Happiness which are broken by the pre-apprehensions of difficulties and so produce no suitable endeavours Desires fly from such a mans Heart like Sparks from a Furnace which though they break forth in heaps yet they suddenly die and so presently quench the Spirit which gave them motion But now a gracious Soul his Hands they second his Heart his inward Affection 't is followed with eager prosecution so that he doth not only desire Glory and Honour and Immortality but he likewise by patient continuance in well doing seeks after them and will not leave off his pursuit of Heaven whatever difficulties may occur in the way His desires are turned heavenward and therefore he digs for heavenly Treasure this is the mark at which he aims this is the prize for which he runs this is the crown for which he so earnestly contends Give him Riches give him Honours give him worldly pleasures give him the very Flower and Quintessence of the whole creation nay give him the universal confluence and aggregation of all creature-injoyments and yet in vain shall you think to satisfy him his Heart is set upon Heaven upon Life and eternal Glory so that you may as well stop the Sun in his course as prevail upon such a man to sit down satisfied with any thing here below As the Sun exhales and draws up the vapours from the earth so true Grace it hath a magnetick virtue in it whereby it draws up the heart from earth in a continued anhelation after Heaven and Glory (a) Luke 9.51 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Obfirmavit faciem Hoc est omnem metum ac honorem mortis deposuit animo suo constituit hanc mortem esse ferendam Leigh Crit. 'T was said of Christ that he set he obfirmed he hardned his Face as the original sounds to go to Jerusalem thus all that are living members of Christ's mystical Body they set their Faces heaven-ward continually directing their course and urging their passage through all difficulties towards the heavenly Jerusalem Such are bound for the Holy Land and therefore they will never put in any where for harbour till they come to appear before their God in Sion (b) Col. 3.1 They are risen with Christ and must needs therefore by virtue of this their spiritual resurrection seek the things which are above where Christ sits on the right hand of God They have layd up for themselves a Treasure in Heaven and therefore a stone doth not more naturally move towards its proper Center than their hearts upon that account do move heavenward For as where the Carcass is there will the Eagles be gathered together so where-ever a Mans Treasure is there will his Heart be also IF then the proper Genius of Grace be thus to make a divorce betwixt the World and the Heart and to carry out the Soul in strong uncontroled and invincible desires after Heaven and Glory how can we once think it unlawful to have respect in our obedience to the recompence of the reward What may not true Grace be allowed to act like it Self and to carry back the Heart to Heaven from whence it came True Grace is a Bird of Paradise and will nothing serve the turn unless we clip her Wings that she may Soar no more aloft in uncurbed desires and panting anhelations after Heaven and Glory There is a native beauty and amiableness in all actions agreeing with and proportionate to the dictates of right reason and shall we then judge it unbecoming a Christian to act suitably to the dictates of true Grace in having respect to Heaven and Glory in his obedience to the seeking whereof Grace so strongly inclines May the Fire contend upward and every Element according to that Principle of motion which it hath within be carried to its proper Center and may not Grace Is the Grace of God shed abroad in the Heart a Creature so badly principled that we may not suffer it to act us according to its proper Genius without forfeiting our ingenuity and becoming mercenary Can we not hold fast our integrity and be filial in all our obedience unless the Grace of God whereby we are become his Children must be banished from its own essence renounce its proper inclination and move excentrical to that heavenly Orb wherein God hath placed it Doubtless the Fire doth not more naturally burn nor the Sparks fly upward than Grace doth carry forth the Soul upon the swift wing of desire after Life and eternal Happiness To be sure then whilst according to the law of Grace you seek after Heaven and Glory in all your obedience you can never be counted ungracious nor do any thing unbeseeming a gracious Soul 11 WE may lawfully have respect in our obedience to the recompence of the reward because otherwise we should undervalue the purchase of Christ's precious Blood ungratefully turning our backs upon that which the Lord Jesus in all that he did and suffered for us did next unto Gods glory aim at The Socinians who are only Christians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and as Salvian said of some in his days in contumeliam Christi they I confess cannot endure to hear that Christ by his Death and Sufferings designed any such thing as the purchasing of life and salvation for us They will allow him to be the Prince of life and a constituted God after his Resurrection but his Blood and Sufferings they will in no case acknowledge them to be the price of our Life and the meritorious cause of our Redemption from the wrath to come That he died for our good leaving us an example that we should follow his steps they
saving of our (f) 1 Pet. 1.18 19. Acts 20.28 Souls but yet they were never said to give their Souls a ransom for their Brethren which is said of Christ nor to purchase the Church of God with their own Blood which is plainly affirmed of Christ to let us know that in his suffering and dying for his people there was something peculiar unto him that could not possibly be communicated to any other (g) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Just Martyr Epist ad Diogenet pag. 386. Behold than a miracle of transcendent love Oh sweet exchange oh unsearchable artifice oh benefits surpassing all expectation that the iniquity of many should be hidden in one righteous person and that the obedience of one Christ should make many unjust persons righteous Oh what manner of love was this where the unjust sins and the just is punished the guilty transgresseth and the guiltless is beaten the impious offend and the pious is condemned what the evil deserves the good suffers what the servant perpetrates the Lord payeth and what Man commits the Son of God himself undergoes for our sakes All the Glory of the godly it wholly springs out of the shame of theit Lords sufferings and passion All the Rest of the godly it lies in the wounds of their Saviour by whose * Peccat iniquus punitur justus delinquit reus vapulat innocens offendit impius damnatur pius quod meretur malus patitur bonus quod perpetrat servus exolvit dominus quod committit homo sustinet Deus Aust Medit. 67. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Just Martyr ubi suprà stripes they are healed Jesus Christ was in a bitter agony sweating clods of Blood that a cold sweat in the agony of Death may not seize upon us He would wrestle with the Powers of Death that in our last conflict with Death our Faith might not fail us He would undergo most grievous anguish and have his Soul exceeding sorrowful unto Death that our Hearts might be filled in Heaven with joy unspeakable and full of Glory He would begin his Passion in the Garden that he might expiate Sin which was first committed in the Garden of Paradise He would be unjustly condemned on Earth that we being absolved in Heaven may at length have admittance into the glorious liberty of the Children of God He would have his Face covered that the Veil of Sin which hinders us from the beatifical Vision of God in Glory might be taken away He walked in heaviness towards Mount Calvary bearing the weight of his Cross that he might remove the burden of Eternal Punishment not suffering us to lie under the stroke of God's heavy displeasure for ever He cryed out in the bitterness of (a) Omnis piorum gloria est in Dominicae passionis ignominia Omnis piorum requies est in vulneribus salvatoris nostri Gerhard Medit. 6. Christus pro nobis sargâ—â—â—neum sudorem fudit ne frigidissimus in mortis agone sudor nos opprimeret Luctari voluit cum morte ne in agone mortis deficeremus Anxieâ—atem gravissimam tristitiam usque ad mortem sustinere voluit ut aeternae laetitiae in Caelis participes redderemur In horto fieri voluit passionis initium ut expiaret peccatum quod in horto Paradisi habuerat principium Condemnatus est in terris ut nos absolveremur in Coelis Facies ipsius tegitur ut a nobis removeret velum peccati quod in nobis aspectum Dei impedit damnabilem ignorantiam inducit Crucis pondus portavit ut onus aeternae poenae à nobis submoveret A Deo se derelictum clamavit ut aeternam Dei cohabitationem nobis pararet Sitivit in cruce ut rorem divinae gratiae nobis promereretur ac ne aeterna sitâ— perire cogeremur Lacrymas profudit ut nostras abstergeret lacrymas Coronâ spineâ coronatus est ut coelestem coronam nobis promereretur Gerhard Medit. 7. his Soul as forsaken of God that we might never be forsaken of God but have eternal Communion with him in Heaven He thirsted upon the Cross and would have Gall to drink that having merited for us the enlivening nectareous Dew of Divine Grace we might not pine with perpetual thirst but be satisfied with the sweet Wine of Eternal Consolation He would often weep and be filled with sorrow that coming to Sion with Songs and everlasting Joy upon our Heads we might obtain Joy and Gladness and have all tears wiped from our Eyes so that sorrow and sighing shall fly away He in a word would be crowned with Thorns that having laid aside the Rags of Mortality we at length might be crowned with Life and Eternal Glory in God's heavenly Kingdom Since then Christ was thus afflicted that we might be comforted since he drank of the Brook in the way that we might lift up our Heads with everlasting Joy since his Soul was sorrowful unto Death that we might receive the reward of Eternal Life since he came into the World for our sakes enduring the Cross and despising the Shame for this very end that we at length might be crowned with eternity of heavenly Glory what incongruity can you think it to have respect in our obedience to the recompence of the reward Had Christ our Redeemer a respect in all that he did and suffered to the meriting of Eternal Glory for us and may not we have respect in our obedience to the enjoyment of that Happiness and Glory which Christ hath so merited Did the beloved Son of God come down from the Bosom of the Father live such a miserable Life and die so painful execrable and ignominious a Death to purchase such a reward as a Christian cannot look at in his obedience but it will make him forfeit his ingenuity and transform him presently into a mercenary Indeed to fall in love with the Gift and forget the Giver highly to prize Redemption and to undervalue our Redeemer to have our Hearts more set upon Heaven and Glory than upon Christ himself who hath purchased it for us with his own Blood this were monstrously sordid and disingenuous but yet the respect which Christ had to the purchasing of Heaven and Glory for us in his Death and Sufferings doth sufficiently evince that we also in our obedience may have some respect thereunto I read of a certain Young Gallant that having received a Wound in the Wars whereof he came halt home his Mother told him Son this Wound will make you remember Virtue every step that you take To be sure Christian since Christ was wounded for our transgressions purchasing Life and Eternal Glory for us by the Price of his own Blood this may well make us think of Heaven every step that we take in the way of Gods Commandments Not frequently to make glad our Hearts with the sweet Meditation of Eternal Life not often to dwell upon it in our Thoughts taking encouragement therefrom to all holy and self-denying and
upright walking before the Lord what less could it be than to undervalue the precious purchase of Christ's dearest Blood and to make light of that great Salvation which he by his Death and Sufferings hath procured for us True it is not so much Heaven itself the Purchase of Christ's precious Blood as that unfathomable Love which made him Purchase it for us at so dear a Price that should be minded of us and constrain us to obedience but doubtless unless we fix our Eyes upon the recompence of the reward considering how glorious the Kingdom how immarcessible the Crown and how entransing the Joy is which Christ our Redeemer hath provided for us we shall never be able to take a due estimate of the Love of Christ in all its dimensions The best way to know what is the heigth and the depth the length and the breadth of the Love of Christ to our Souls is often to be considering how great things he hath done for us to what a contemptible Birth to what a miserable Life to what a lamentable Death he humbled himself to Purchase Life and Eternity of heavenly Glory for us And surely Christians as Heaven and Glory must needs make us stand admiring that Love of Christ which provided them for us why so the Love of Christ which made him willing to suffer and bleed and die that our Souls might live and be eternally blessed it will make us more highly to value the recompence of Eternal Life That Inheritance of Saints in Light is of itself most glorious and above all things in the World to be desired but when we consider that it is a purchased Possession and that our Evidences for it are sealed with the Precious Blood of Christ as of a Lamb undefiled and without spot this will wonderfully enhance the Price of it and cause it to shine forth with greater Oriency Lustre and Glory in our Eyes Should a Wife receive from her Husband in his absence a Rich Jewel as a pledge of his Hearts Love to her which he purchased for her with the hazard of his own Life how highly would she prize it and how often with delight would she look upon it Believe it Christians Eternal Life is that rich Jewel that Pearl of great Price which Christ the Husband of your Souls hath purchased for you not with Silver nor Gold nor any such corruptible things but with his own precious Blood and therefore so far is it from being unlawful to have respect unto it that if you do not very highly esteem of it and often with delight in your Obedience cast an Eye towards it you do ungratefully come short of the instance but now given undervaluing the Purchase of your Saviour's Blood 12 AND lastly we may lawfully have respect in our obedience to the recompence of the reward because we cannot otherwise seek Gods Glory as we ought to do Betwixt Gods Glory and our own salvation the Connexion is inseparable so that without a due respect had to our own happiness we can never give God that honour which of right doth belong to his Holy name The Tyrians when Alexander besieged them they chained their City to the Statue of Hercules so that the one could not perish and be destroy'd without the other Thus the Lord he hath tied the eternal wellfare of our Souls to the Statue of his own Glory so that no Man can look off and make shipwrack of his own salvation but the Glory of God together therewith will suffer and be much eclipsed The Lord can indeed get himself great Revenues of Glory out of â—ur Eternal Ruine making his Justice to appear orient and shine bright in punishing us with everlasting destruction from his own Blessed presence But yet the redundancy of his pardoning mercy and the Rules of his free Grace can no otherwise appearâ— glorious nor any where shine forth in their own native lustre and Beauty but only in the happiness and eternal salvation of our immortal Souls A Man that would draw a Chain after him must hold fast some particular Link thus we must lay fast hold upon the Silver link of eternal Life would we ever draw the Golden Chain of God's Glory along with us Our own salvatioâ— though it be an end yet it s only intermediate and to be sought in subordination to God's Glory which is the supreme and ultimate end of all When therefore we have not respect to our own salvation which is a necessary Medium we can never promote God's Glory as our ultimate end The Man who provides not food for his own sustenance can never preserve Life Thus in vain shall we think to promote God's Glory and preserve that if we labour not for the †Joh. 6.27 meat which will endure to eternal Life T is storied of Phidias that he had so artificially wrought and so curiously intrailed his own Name in Minerva's Buckler which he made for her that it could not be taken out without the dissolution of the whole frame Thus the Lord out of his own infinite goodness he hath by a strict connexion knit and united his own Glory and the salvation of his people together he hath most divinely wrought their name and eternal welfare in the frame of his own Glory so that now without eclipsing his Glory it cannot be taken out we cannot cast off the care of our own Salvation but the costly frame of God's Honour and Glory will thereby be broken and fall asunder There are some who would pass for Christians of the highest form and pretending much to a Gospel-frame of Spirit tell us that a Man is never sincere nor in capacity to give Glory to God as he ought till he can be willing to be damned making light of his own salvation that God may be glorified But the truth is Men never so much dishonour God take the Crown from his Head and turn his Glory into shame as when once they begin to make light of Heaven and Hell of eternal joy in God's presence and everlasting destruction from his presence not seeking by patient continuance in well doing for Life and eternal Salvation What I find storied of Hippocrates his sympathizing Twins which is that they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 exactly Contemporaries both living and dying together the same will hold true in our preâ—ent case of a care to promote God's Glory and withall of a due respect to the recompence of the reward as both of them live so they die together the one of them never surviving the other 'T is not here as in the Service of two contrary Masters who carry Antipathies in their bosoms and speak forth nothing in all their Commands but mutual contradictions where the Servant will either hate the one and love the other or else he will adhere to the one and despise the other but (h) Matth. 6.24 he that seeks God's Glory doth thereby promote the wellfare of his own Soul and he that seeks the
saving of his own Soul doth thereby advance God's Glory and set the Crown upon his Head For God out of the Riches of his Grace hath so joyned his Glory and our salvation together that he who duely seeks the one must seek the other and he who neglects the one must needs make light of the other also Let Men pretend never such Hyperboles of love to God and Transports of Zeal for his Glory yet if they will go on in a voluntary neglect of life and eternal salvation never seeking after them by patient continuance in welldoing they do certainly make forfeiture of all their pretended Zeal as Men that do even embezel God's Honour and fall short of his Glory For no Man can rightly aim at God's Honour and Glory as his ultimate end who doth not also intend the beatifical vision of God and everlasting communion with him in the Kingdom of Heaven as his greatest Happiness Neither do those rare and almost unparallelable instances of Zeal for God's Glory in Moses and Paul any thing prejudice but rather establish and add strength to this reason whilst ambitious to express an Hyperbole of love to God if such a thing may be and how much they were affected with his Glory they do it by a certain velleity or a kind of incompleat willingness to be divorced from something of their own happiness rather than that the Lord Jehovah should suffer any thing in Point of Honour thereby fully assuring us that next to God's Glory their own welfare and eternal salvation was most precious in their Eyes And truly had they not first made Choice of God as their happiness and reward they would never have been so tender of his Honour desiring with such an holy ambition to promote his Glory For 't is only the hope of everlasting communion with God in Heaven firmly botomed upon our interest in him that can beget a true Zeal for God and make us willing to Sacrifice all our interests on Earth how precious and dear soever to his Glory Men like Jehu may go far and pretend much for God and his Glory till the Lord's interest and their own fall asunder But they only will run the hazard of losing all (k) Acts 20.24 and most zealously contend for God's Glory in this Interim of Mortality who do most earnestly seek after Glory Honour and Blessed immortality in the life to come As no Man can raise up a stately edifice till first he have layed a good foundation so truly unless a care to provide for our own eternal happiness be first laid as a foundation we shall never be able to raise up a sumptuous building of Glory or any monument of due praise to the God of Heaven For though God's essential Glory be independent like himself (l) Job 35.6 7. Psal 16.2 Nec crescit Deus accedente te nec decrescit decedente te Aug. in Psal 145. Totum quod rectè colitur Deus ab homine prodesse homini non Deo idem De Civit. Dei Lib. 10. cap. 5. and so infinitely excellent that being always in the full of Divine splendour and brightness it can neither admit of * Tibi autem qui semper idem es nihil accedit si amando proficimus ad te nihil decedit si non amando deficimus à te Guil. à S. Theodor. de Amor. Dei Cap. 8. waxings nor wanings by any transactions of sinful mortals as we are yet his declarative Glory doth still shine forth and is eclipsed according to our conversation in the world so that God hath then most Glory by us when we walk most Heavenly seeking life and eternal salvation by patient continuance in well-doing whereas his Glory undergoes an eclipse and the Lord always suffers in point of Honour when at any time we seek not the Kingdom of God and his righteousness but begin to make light of our own salvation If then the Lord hath thus inseparably conjoyned knit together his own Glory and our salvation so that whoever turns away his eyes from beholding the one must needs neglect and make light of the other also how can we look upon it as unlawful to have respect in our obedience to the recompence of the reward Is the end our duty and the means our Sin Is God most transcendently glorified in our eternal Salvation and yet may we not lawfully take care for the saving of our immortal Souls Is it the Honour of the God whom we worship and that which sets the Crown of Glory upon his Head that he is a rewarder of all those who diligently seek him and yet is it not lawful but sin in us to have respect whilst here we seek him and walk in obedience before him to that eternal recompence of reward which out of the Riches of his Grace he hath provided for us Believe it Christians since the Glory of God is bound up in the bundle of your life and must needs be eclipsed when ever that is neglected you need doubt no longer but that you may lawfully have an eye to the recompence of the reward seeking life and eternal salvation in all your obedience CHAP. VI. The Doctrin branched forth into several uses and prosecuteth the first by way of Information in Four Particulars 4 AND lastly having hitherto given you to understand in several particulars what it is to have a respect to the recompence of the reward how you are to do so and withall let you know the arguments evincing the lawfulness of such a practice there is now only remaining the practical improvement of the Doctrine by way of use and application which indeed is the life of all Doctrinal discourses bringing every thing home to the Soul in a close and particular accommodation and therefore more longly to be insisted upon For as the Sun in the firmament of Heaven hath a twofold virtue the one of illumination whereby sending forth its beams of light it guides this lower part of the World and the other of influence whereby it communicates itself to inferiour Bodies covering them all over with its * 2 Tim. 3.16 healing wings So in every portion of holy Writ there is an illumination of truth upon the mind and understanding and withall there is an influence of Grace and Goodness upon the Will and Affections As therefore I have hitherto shewed you the light of truth for the irradiating of your minds in the doctrinal part of my Text so in the next place I am to make some use of the words that they may shed forth their influence of Grace upon your Hearts covering them all over with their healing virtue And truly the Doctrine observed from the words is like a box of precious oyntment which in the Application I shall endeavour to break that it may send forth a spiritual fragrancy and a sweet smelling savor to refresh your Souls 'T is not an empty Vine but a Tree of life richly laden with fruits of Paradise
which I shall now in the practical improvement of it endeavour so to shake that unloading all its precious Fruits into your own bosoms it may feed and enrich your Souls to eternal life The Lord having planted a Garden Eastward in Eden for our first Parents he caused a River to go out of Eden to water †Gen. 2.10 the Garden from whence it parted itself and became into four heads Holding resemblance herewith if your Souls be the Garden of God my Doctrine is a River of life proceeding from the Eden of the Text from whence also to Water your Souls and make them fruitful as the Garden of God it divideth it self into four Heads in the use of it yeilding us matter of Information Reprehension Exhortation and Consolation 1 THEN by way of Information since that it is thus lawful for us to have respect in all our obedience to the recompence of the reward this may well satisfy us concerning the truth of these ensuing Corollaries As 1 THIS may give us to understand that it s no argument of insincerity nor any just forfeiture of a Christians uprightness and ingenuity for him to have an eye in his obedience to the recompence of the reward A Christian in seeking after Heaven and Glory in all his obedience he doth nothing but what is holy and just and good which doubtless can never make him unholy nor be any just forfeiture of his uprightness and integrity in the sight of God You may as well extract dross out of the purest Gold and dregs out the most refined Spirits as a Christian may become disingenuous and contract upon himself the guilt of hypocrisy by having an eye in his obedience to the recompence of the reward Indeed I Read of many in holy Writ * 2 Tim. 4.10 censured as mercenaries and stigmatized for gross hypocrites because they were wholly acted in God's service by sinister ends and worldly considerations serving the Lord not for love but for loaves for esteem of Men secular Advantages Honours Preferments earthly Emoluments together with the like external accommodations But that a Man should be impeached of insincerity and branded for a Mercenary a Legalist an Hypocrite because acted in the ways of God by a desire after the full enjoyment of God in Glory seeking Heaven and Happiness seeking Life Immortality and eternal salvation by patient continuance in welldoing this never could I find recorded in God's sacred Oracles Live not then Christian any longer upon self-created Racks let not thy Countenance be sad from day to day suffer not any groundless sorrow to have Dominion over thee as if thou delightest in nothing but to make thy Soul a map of misery neither let thy Heart any longer be filled with fears and jealousies and perplexing thoughts about thy own sincerity censuring thy self for that wherein God did never yet condemn but always justifie thee To be labouring in all our obedience not (b) Joh. 6.27 Mat. 6.20 Luke 12.33 Psal 4.6 2 Cor. 4.18 for the Meat that perisheth but for the Meat which will endure to Eternal Life not for Earth but Heaven not for the favour of Men but for the smiles of God in the Face of Jesus Christ not for things Temporal which are seen but for things Eternal which are not seen not for a Portion in this World (c) Luke 10.42 but for that better part which shall never be taken from us not for the Honour which comes from Men (d) Joh. 5.44 but for the Glory the Felicity and that Eternal Soul-raping Happiness which comes of God only this argues not Hypocrisie and Mercenariness but an Heart that is truly Upright and Sincere in the Sight of God! There is a certain Fish with one Eye called Uranoscopus which they (a) Zach. 7.5 Joh. 6.26 Joh. 5.44 say is always gaâ—ing upwards towards Heaven Thus every true Christian hath his Eye still fixed upon Heaven he looks within the Veil and would always by his good will be on the top of Mount Nebo thence taking for his better encouragement to all holy self-denying and upright walking before the Lord a prospect of the Celestial Canaan Make not that then Christian any sign of Hypocrisie which doth clearly argue thee to be a true Nathaniel (a) Joh. 1.47 an Israelite indeed in whom there is no guile Had the Lord by prohibition or otherwise made it unlawful for us to have respect in our obedience to the recompence of the reward and yet still thou wouldst allow thy self in that practise this indeed might have forfeited thy Integrity but since the Lord himself doth approve of it both commanding and commending it as praise-worthy in Holy Writ let not Christian thy Heart reproach thee and smite thee for an Hypocrite whilst by patient continuance in well-doing thou seekest after Glory and Honour and Immortality in the Life to come 'T is of dangerous consequence for a Christian as to make those things evidences of Sincerity so to make those things signs of Hypocrisie which God never intended to be such If the Lord have any where made it the distinctive Character of an Hypocrite to have an Eye in his obedience to Heaven and Glory then indeed you might well make sad inferences against and pass hard censures upon your selves But if otherwise you find the Lord commanding you to do so and have the practice of the most eminently Holy and Upright of all God's People plainly paraphrasing upon that Commandment for your better satisfaction oh then take heed that you be not rash to conclude hard things against your selves because you cannot but have an Eye in all your obedience to the recompence of Eternal Life lest you be found reflecting dishonour thereby upon God himself and blaspheming against the Generation of his Children What shall a Christian bring in an action of disingenuity against himself and conclude himself an Hypocrite for that which all along hath been the laudable practice of Gods true Nathaniels who have received Letters testimonial subscribed by the Hand of Heaven itself that they were Israelites indeed in whom there was no guile What think you Christians of Moses of David and of Paul the Apostle Were â—hey not all of them Men according to God's own Heart Men upright in their lives and conversations and far enough from being mercenaries in the service of God And yet all this notwithstanding they lived upon the Mount of transfiguration their Faces were still Sion-ward they had always an eye to the recompence of the reward seeking always for themselves by patient continuance in well-doing no less than eternity of Life and Glory in God's Heavenly Kingdom If then Christians upon this account you dare not censure them take heed that upon the same account you do not censure your selves as persons that are altogether disingenuous hypocritical and mercenary in the service of God! There is nothing unlawful but what is holy and good in obeying the Lord with respect to
us with his Love arrest us by the gentler hand of his Mercy inveagle us by the sweet insinuations of his own Spirit subdue us to the obedience of his Righteous will by an irresistible over-powering Work of free Grace and after aâ—l this allure us to be Happy leading us on in wayes of holiness by the Divine Suada by the powerful Rhetorique by the unsullied captivating glances by the magnetique prospect of Heaven and Eternal Glory God might have measured us out a full Cup of Divine Fury without any ingredients of Love he might have writ the Sins we stand Guilty of and his wrath against us for them in our own Blood he might have raised up a Monument of Glory to himself out of our Eternal Ruins he might have made every one of us even in this present Life a Magor-missabib filling us with the trembling of Cain the madness of Achitophel the despair of Judas and the dreadful astonishment of Belshazzer thro' the heart-rending proccupations of Hell and Eternal Damnation When therefore in stead of all this Terrour we find the Lord willing to glorifie the Riches of his Mercy in our Happiness and Salvation not only wooing us to receive Mercy beseeching us to be Happy and entreating us to accept of Heaven and Glory but also setting open the Wells of Salvation feasting us with Heavenly Manna giving us many sweet prelibations and fore-tasts of Eternal Glory taking us up every Day to the top of Mount Pisgah and thence raising us for our encouragement in well-doing to see the Beauties and to antedate the Pleasures of the Celestial Canaan of the Heavenly Jerusalem how can we choose but stand adoring as Men filled with Extasies and Trances of Admiration the Lords wonderful Condescention and matchless Goodness towards us Was it ever known amongst the Kings Potentares and Monarchs of the World that they could ever do any thing worthy to make so much as an Emblem of Gods remunerative Goodness when in their chiefest Goodness they set their Wits a-work how to gratify their greatest Favourites and what to do for the Man whom they delighted to honour They have cloathed their Favourites in Purple and Royal Apparel they have incircled their Heads with a princely Diadem they have intrusted them with universal negotiations of State they have mounted them upon their own Steeds with Proclamations before them of their special Favour But yet all this superadding thereto all that Splendour which attracts the desires of the most noble Heroes all that Glory which feeds the Admiration of the most ambitious Princes all that Beauty which captivates the Hearts of the most passionate Lovers all those Thrones Empires and Triumphs which the World so much adores I say all this will be no more than the small drop of a Bucket to the whole Ocean than the light of a Star to the glorious Sun if compared with that Crown that Kingdom that eternal Reward which through a Miracle of condescending Love and matchless Goodness the Lord promises and makes proposal of for the encouragement of his own People For what is finite compared with that which is infinite What is Earth compared with Heaven What is a temporal Reward if compared with the recompense of Eternal Life What in a word is the confluence of all secular enjoyments if compared with the vast and boundless Ocean of Gods (a) Psal 17.15 fulness wherewith his People have a sure promise to be satisfied for evermore Oh that all you who do yet continue the Vassals of Satan and are still Slaves to your own usurping Lusts would now consider your folly your madness in refusing to walk in obedience before so bountiful a Master and in entertaining unreasonable prejudices against the ways of God as if there were no profit nor advantage to be found in them Consider it poor foolish Sinners can the World the Flesh and the Devil do that for your Souls that the God of Heaven both can and hath promised to do will you but submit to the Scepter of his Kingdom endeavouring to walk in all dutifull obedience before him God offers you a Crown of Life together with many exceeding precious promises which as so many Death-bed Cordials will antidote your Hearts against the Terrors of the Grave and can the World the Flesh and the Devil make you any such Tenders and make them good when they have done that hearkning unto them you should ungratefully turn your backs upon the God of Heaven making light of the Tenders of his Love and Grace But must the Lord have such a stir to make you Happy Must he follow you with daily Importunities alluring you by Rewards to provide for your own everlasting Welfare and will you yet go on in the careless neglect of him and his wages as if Heaven and Eternal Glory were not worth the looking after Is the Lord such a plentiful rewarder of those that diligently seek allowing them for their encouragement in all Holy and Upright walking before himself the full prospect of such an Heavenly Kingdom such an unfadable Crown of Life such an incorruptible undefiled and glorious inheritance and will you still go on to undervalue his Love and Goodness refusing the right ways of obedience as unprofitable and fruitless which do all of them center in Eternal Blessedness Then blame not the God of Heaven the Riches of whose (b) Rom. 2.4 Grace and Goodness you have thus despised if for bringing up an evil report of him and his wayes he cause you with those unbelieving Jews to die in the Wilderness and for ever exclude you out of the Celestial Canaan You must not always think to live upon the Expences of free Grace But if still you go on to turn it into wantonness being thus abused it will shortly turn to fury The Divine remunerative Goodness of God so richly expressed in the frequent tenders of Heaven it should have dropt Oyl into the Wheels of your Souls making them more like the Chariots of Aminadab (c) Cant. 6.12 Si 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 notationem spectes populum voluntarium beneficum animo liberali praeditum sonat Rom. 2.5 like a bounteous sweet-hearted and willing People as that Word may import in all the Ways of Obedience with a Noble Spontaneity But if still you shall retain your unreasonable prejudices against and wonted averseness to the right way of God's Commandments esteeming of the Lord as an hard Task-master and looking upon his Service as a cruel Bondage assure your selves that the very Goodness of God will accumulate Wrath against you and plunge you a Thousand Times deeper in remediless unpreventable misery than if you had never sitten under the tenders the solicitations the gracious Importunities of it (d) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clem. Alex. Admon ad Gent. p. 40. Oh inconsiderate ungrateful Sinners of what a crimson tincture is your giving the repulse to Gods merciful condescentions when waiting upon you with tenders of Grace and Glory
Oh Sirs do you well consider how by such sordid refusals of Mercy you turn that into a favour of Death which breaths out nothing but Life and Happiness you provoke the Lord to rain down Vollies of Wrath and Fury yea Hell it self as the Father said of Sodom's destruction out of Heaven upon you necessitating him to vindicate the reputation of his holiness in your Eternal Misery and Damnation What to blaspheme against the Goodness of God when pursuing you as unwilling to let you without a Blessing To turn your backs upon the gracious condescentions of God when following you with strong importunities of Love and intreating you to provide for your Happiness To make light in a word of Heaven and Glory when offered by the Hand of free Grace upon no harder terms than only that you should cordially accept of them and by patient continuance in well-doing seek after them Oh Sirs such prodigious Ingratitude as this it will destroy you with a double destruction This will heat the Furnace of God's Indignation against you seven times hotter This will set an accent of greatest horrour upon Hell and be the greatest emphasis of your Misery and Eternal Damnation in that place of Torments 3 THIS may give us to understand what a pleasant thing it is to serve the Lord and how unjustly the ways of God are traduced by Men of corrupt minds as if there were no Joy no Comfort no solid grounds of Consolation nor any Cordials to make glad the Heart to be found in them God's People in all the ways of obedience are never suffered to go without the hope of Eternal Life in their Hearts and a fair prospect of Heaven and Glory in their Eye how should they go disconsolate or want matter of delight and comfort to make them rejoice with Joy unspeakable and full of Glory If as Solomon tells us it be such a pleasant thing for a †Prov. 3.17 Mortal Eye to behold the Sun how pleasant then are the wayes of Wisdom wherein the Soul having fixed its Eye upon the reward of Eternal Life is always irradiated with most clarified Beams of Joy and reflexions of Glory from the Sun of Righteousness Goodness is true Naomi that will be turned into a Marah into bitterness as she was but is always a pleasant object as that name sounds yeilding matter of delight and spiritual pleasure to all that embrace her The ways of God are like green Fields full of vernal Flowers the Beauty whereof doth exhilerate the Mind making a Man forget his weariness and so come to his Journeys end before he is well aware God deals with all his People as with Moses in the Wilderness to whom he granted for his comfort and satisfaction a prospect of Canaan though he suffered him not to enter therein so though his People cannot enter into the Heavenly Canaan whilst traveling through the Wilderness of their Earthly Pilgrimage yet he brings them down Heaven upon Earth he brings the Harbor into Sea the Rest into their labour the Glory into their trouble and something of the future * Psal 19.11 reward into their present work allowing them for their comfort a â—rospect of the Heavenly Canaan which doth wonderfully rejoyce and make glad their Hearts Men of carnal Hearts are apt indeed to look upon Religion as a sullen and austere exercise that comes to plunder them of all their Comforts as if embracing that they would never have a merry hour nor see one Summers day of joy after As Christ cast out of the Minstrels when he †Mat. 9.23 25. raised up the Rulers Daughter from Death to Life So Christianity they think banisheth all Joy necessitating them to take their longum vale of all delight and to bid farewell to it for ever A Life of serious practical Holiness transforms Men as they imagin into mopish Monks possessing them with unsociable melancholy and causing them like Rachel weeping for her children to refuse all comfort as persons ambitiously desirous to make themselves perfect emblems of sorrow and discontent But surely that encouragement which God allows his People in a way of Duty setting before them a Kingdom of Eternal Glory a Triumphant Crown of Righteousness together with the reward of Eternal Life as the recompense of all their labours may well satisfie us that all those are intolerably abusive and calumnious bringing a most false Report upon a Christian Conversation who do thus shamefully traduce it as a thing destructive of and wholly inconsistent with all Joy If Abraham could rejoice foreseeing by an Eye of Faith the day of Christs incarnation when he only came to purchase Heaven and Glory for his People How much more may the Children of Abraham lift up their Heads with Joy and everlasting consolation foreseeing by an Eye of Faith that Happy day when Christ should be * 2 Thess 1.10 glorified in his Saints and admired in all those that do believe as coming to put them in full possession of that glorious inheritance which is †1 Pet. 1.4 uncorruptible undefiled and which fadeth not away but is reserved sure in the Heavens for them That Christians which the Bernadine Monks fondly conceited that the Sun shone only in their Cell it holds true of you with reference to the Sun of Righteousness he irradiates none with the pure Beams of comfort he lifts up the light of hâ—s Countenance upon none but such as walk close in Communion with him The outward Sun that shines with promiscuous undistinguishable Beams both upon the Good and upon the Bad both upon Frâ—ends and Enemies but the Light of the Knowledge of God in the face of Jesus Christ the Sun of Righteousness that shines upon none that communicates its heart-entrancing heavenly influences of joy and gladness to none but those whom God loves with his special dearest and eternal Love (a) Numb 17.8 Amongst all the Rods of the Princes of Israel the Rod of Aaron the high Priest alone brought forth Buds and bloomed Blossoms and yeilded Almonds Thus amongst all the Children of Men they alone that are made spiritual Priests unto God have their Souls like an Aaron's Rod bringing forth the Buds Blooming the Blossoms and yielding the delicious Fruit of inward comfort to make glad their Hearts God will never pour the new Wine of consolation into the old Bottles of ungracious carnal (b) Deus non infundit oleum misericordiae nisi in nos nutritum Est enim gaudium quod non datur impiis sed iis qui te gratis colunt quorum gaudium tu ipse es August Confes lib. 10. cap. 22. Revel 2.17 Hearts Till therefore the Heart be spiritualized it can never relish the Sweetness of God and his ways nor ever meet with any solid comfort to feed upon The people of God are not left comfortless in the World only they feed upon hidden Manna which a carnal Heart is not able to relish they live upon the
them tenders of a Crown of Life But they chose to deck themselves with Rose-buds preferring Earth before Heaven and troubling themselves about many things (c) Luke 10.42 whilst that better part is neglected which if chosen should never be taken from them Like Esau they sell their Birth-right for a mess of Pottage Like Judas they betray the Lord of Life who would save their Souls for thirty pieces of Silver Or like our first Parents to get the forbidden Fruit they let go their Happiness in Paradise preferring one deadly Apple from the Tree of Knowledge before all the delicious Apples on the Tree of Life What pains do we see Men take What hazards do they daily run to satisfie their unsatiate desires after Creature-enjoyments whilst Heaven with all the Glory and Royalties of it are neglected as the pleasing fictions of some devout Fancies rather than matters of reality With what wracking of Brain with what strength of endeavour with what Conflicts of Passions with what vehemency of desire and remorse of Consciences do Men resolving to be rich pursue their Earth-born vanities making that pitiful Religion they have serve turn and Christianity it self become Handmaid to wait upon their gain and secular advantage (d) Boni quippe ad hoc utuntur mundo ut fruantur Deo mali autem contra ut fruantur mundo uti volunt Deo Aug. de Civit. Dei lib. 15. cap. 7. Whereas the truly gracious do improve their Earthly Treasures for high and Heavenly ends using them in a subserviency to their Christian devotion that they more freely enjoy God Why on the contrary carnal Hearts they subordinate every thing to their own sordid ends using God his Name his Worship his Ordinances that they may more plausibly prosecute and enjoy the World Doth not daily sad experience let us see how Men will hazard their own lives in desperate undertakings make themselves perpetual Drudges to the Times comply with every prevailing Faction throw away their own Mercies make shipwrack of Faith dissemble conscience and exchange their salvation together with all Hopes of Heaven and Glory for Earth and Earthly enjoyments Oh that I could but speak to the Heart of such amongst you who thus inordinately pursue the World grasping continually with adulterous embraces Was this the end of your being in the World to Idolize the Creature loving prizing and serving that above God your Creator Have you not things of greater consequence and that more nearly concern you to look after than the profits emoluments and perishable comforts of this present Life Is it not an immortal Soul more worthy your care than a sinful Body the Riches of Heaven and Glory than your Earthly Treasure and the recompence of Eternal Life is not that more worthy your care than the confluence of all Creature-enjoyments Your approaching Death your Eternal Judgment before Gods Tribunal your everlasting condition in the world to come should not these things be seriously minded and much rather regarded of you than the husky enjoyments of a dying Life What alass Poor brutish Muck-worm will thy full Garners thy Bags of Gold thy sumptuous Buildings thy long Leases thy gorgeous Apparel or thy dainty Dishes and sweet Morsels avail thee when the great God calls to Judgment when Death as God's inexorable Serjeant shall arrest thee and thou must now breath out thy Life and thy Hope together Will your Deeds and Leases be evidences for Heaven Will your Riches Honours and Pleasurable enjoyments be able to comfort your Hearts when now breaking through the bitter pangs and dying groans that will shortly take hold of you Will your Coffers or your Bags of Gold be accepted as a ransom for your lost Souls or can they purchase your pardon when now tryed for your Lives for your everlasting unchangable State before the righteous Judge of all the World To bring you off from the over eager pursuit of these perishable enjoyments and to beget in your cheeks an holy blush that ever you should neglect Heaven to seek them dwell a little on these things 1 (a) Vacuum quodcunque est si nullam nobis affert utilitatem CONSIDER all Creature-enjoyments they are vain and unprofitable The very choycest of your Worldly comforts they have nothing in them but that which is unprofitable and good for nothing There is always most vanity where there is the least profit And where there is no profit at all there is nothing at all but vanity And yet this is the Character which Solomon hath given us of all our Creature-enjoyments Every Creature in his Diary hath vanity written upon it and (b) Eccles 1.2 therefore since the whole cannot exceed the particulars when added together he gives us in this as the total Sum of all sublunary comforts Vanity of vanities all is vanity Add a thousand Cyphers together and yet without a figure they signify just nothing So though a Man had the whole confluence and universal aggregation of all Creature-comforts yet such is the vanity bound up in them that without the figure of Divine favour they are altogether insignificant and stand for just nothing in the Register of true profit And therefore (c) Prov. 23.5 Solomon endeavouring to call off Men from the too eager pursuit of Riches will not vouchsafe them any station amongst things really existing but thrusting them down into the bottomless Abyss of a non-entity he thus queries with the insatiate Mammonist Wilt thou set thine Eyes upon that which is not and make them to flie as 't is in the original upon a meer nothing The generality of Men they idolize Riches and look upon them as some great matters But the comfort the benefit the profit accrewing to us by them is so small that if you count them any thing at all you do quite over-prize them and do count them a great deal more than what they are ever like to amount unto We can hardly form up a conception of our Creature-enjoyments so diminutive and small as indeed they are Nor can we be able to reach so low in our thoughts as the bottom of that vanity and unprofitableness which is written upon them Most Men look upon their Riches Honours and Worldly accommodations through a Multiplying-glass which doth swell them up far above the proportion of their own magnitude and quite stretcheth them beyond the line of their proper dimensions But would they look upon these things as they are in themselves how would their tall gigantine stature shrink up into a Pygmey-dwarfishness and what a line of unprofitableness and vanity would they find stretched out upon them all * Psal 4.2 How long then ye Sons of Men will ye love vanity and go on to set your Hearts upon that which is not Oh turn not aside from seeking after Glory and Honour after Immortality and Eternal Life (d) 1 Sam. 12.20 21. For why as Samuel said in another case should you go after vain things after
Hearts upon that which deceiving your Hopes will expose you to the Misery of Eternal disappointment in the mean time neglecting that Glory which will so far exceed our Hopes as to leave us for ever in a blessed extasy of admiration 5 Consider all Creature-enjoyments they are empty and unsatisfying Your Creature-enjoyments they are not commensurate to the desires of an immortal Soul And are therefore no more able to satisfy you than a Star of the least magnitude is able to make day in the World The Souls appetite is too vast for any creature in the World to fill up the measure of its capacity And to be sure that which cannot fill the Souls appetite will for ever leave it empty and unsatisfied The Soul is a spiritual Being whereas all our worldly â—njoyments are of the Earth earthly And how should such earthly enjoyments be able to satisfy an Heaven born Soul (k) Eccles 5.10 Major pecunia fauces avaritiae non claudit sed extendit non irrigat sed accendit Aug. Instar Hydropici semper patieris sitim nec unquam satiabis appetitum tuum quantumvis affatim bibas ex aquâ honoris vanitatis hujus mundi Stella de contemnendis Mundi vanitatibus lib. 3. cap. 1. Mundana ista sunt instar liquoris acerbi qui non satiat sed incitat appetitum ad sumendum plus tibi Idem ibid. Quanto plus rerum mundanarum hauseris tantò major in te fitis plura habendi excitabitur Idem ibid. Inexplebilis est sola avaritia divitum semper rapit nunquam satiatur quomodo ergo sunt divitiae quibus crescentibus crescit inopia quae amatoribus suis quanto fuerint ampliores non afferunt satietatem sed inflammant cupiditatem Aug. Solomon tells us plainly that he who loveth Silver shall not be satisfied with Silver It may promise to ease us of our cares But it always multiplyes them Like Drink to a dropsical Man such are all our Creature-enjoyments So far from slaking that they enflame the Thirst They will promise to fill the Souls appetite But they only enlarge it They are not so much Food as fuel to our desires They de not allay our appetite as Bread doth when received but they rather encrease our appetite as Oyl doth the flame when cast into it And how is it possible that that desire should ever be satisfied which groweth and receiveth strength by the fruition of the thing desired The whole Confluence of all Creature-enjoyments can reach no further than the outward Services of the body For the desires of the Soul being boundless and capable of more happiness than the World can afford them they must needs remain empty still and be unsatisfied A Man may quickly have enough to load his Body to overcharge his memory and to fill his Barns though enlarged to the same measure of spaciousness with the rich Mans in the (l) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theog 359. 227. Gospel But to answer the cravings of his own Heart to quiet the enlarged appetite of his immortal Soul and to fill up with satisfaction the immense capacity of all his desires he can never have enough though he had the whole World changed into one Paradise for such an end When a thing is out of the place of its own rest it will never leave moving naturally till it come thither Thus since nothing below the Bosom of God himself and fulness of communion with him can be the proper place of rest to an immortal Soul no wonder though amidst all Creature-enjoyments it be still unsatisfied and in perpetual restless motion Men are apt to promise themselves I know what imaginary happiness and satisfaction from their Creature-enjoyments But to be sure Happiness is a real thing and no figment of a minting fancy neither is it indeed for satisfaction to come in at the door of imagination For as the Creature is unable to make us happy and give satisfaction So we are to make up an happiness for our selves out of the Creature or to take satisfaction from it When the whole Creation hath done its best and we have used our utmost skill torturing Nature to extract the most exquisite Spirits and the purest quintessence which the variety of Creatures can afford Yet after all this our Hearts will be filled with nothing but endless rovings and unquiet agitations and still our Souls will be crying like the Horse leeches Daughters Give give as unable to find any thing in the universal aggregation of all sublunary comforts proportionate to its own unlimited and boundless desires For certain it is my Brethren there is nothing that can make us happy but the God who made us (m) Matth. 11.28 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Macar Homil. 45. Nor is there any thing that can give satisfaction to our Souls but Christ who gave satisfaction for them God would not rest from his works of creation till Man was formed Nor can any Man rest from his longing desâ—â—es of want and indigence till God in Christ be enjoyed What though the whole world were an earthly Paradise the Rivers running with Nectar the Fields bringing forth Ambrosia the Trees yielding Fruit like the Tree of life the Clouds showering down precious Pearls and every Creature were an Orpheus or Amphion with Musiques harmonious charm to chase away the evil Spirit of discontent and to entertain us in World with all variety of melodious sounds and carnal delights Yet I can assure you from the Word of life and truth that our Souls would be still restless and would find such an earthly Paradise come as far short of giving satisfaction as the light of a little Star doth come short of the Sun in its noon-day brightness There is no rest nor satisfaction to be had for our Souls till we return to God or God turn his face towards us and cause the light of his Countenance to shine upon us Why then will you spend your Mony for that which is not Bread and your labour for that which cannot satisfy Will you still be seeking the living amongst the dead the Tree of life in an Earthly Paradise and satisfaction from that which is nothing but Vanity and vexation of spirit You may kock at every Creatures door but you will find there is nothing within to entertain you save only the heir-long of emptiness and disappointment Vanity is the very quintessence of the Creature and all that can possibly be extracted out of it is nothing but vexation of spirit And can that which is Vanity think you satisfy or vexation give your Souls contentment Can you think to gather Grapes of Thorns or Figs of Thistles What a gross mistake is this that you should think to find any filling entertainment for your Souls in that which is all emptiness That you should think to find satisfaction in that which breeds nothing but discontent perplexing the Soul with a thousand cares (a) Vitam beatam quaerunt in regione
mortis non est illic Aug. Confes lib. 4. cap. 12. What is this but as the Father saith to seek for Life in the Region of Death to seek for Heaven in the Hell of worldly distractions and for happiness in that that may prove our greatest misery Oh that you would once consult though not your Duty yet at least the real satisfaction of your own Souls no longer seeking after broken Cisterns but now coming to the Fountain of living Waters that you may be filled We cannot conceive so great a confluence of earthly enjoyments but still as more may be added so more will be desired But who ever obtains the enjoyment of God in Heaven Oh what fulness of joy what a Garden of soul-satisfying pleasures what a Paradise of all delights and spiritual contentments doth he find in him Now the Man hath as much joy as much comfort as much satisfaction as Heart can hold now like a stone in the Center he can go no further nor desire * Isai 55.2 any more Happiness than what he hath already now with holy David he can sing his Requiem Return to thy rest oh my (b) Psal 116.7 Soul for lo the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee What enemies are you then that love the World to your own Souls preferring Trouble before Rest the boysterous Ocean before the serene Harbour emptiness before satisfaction and a famine of true contentment before that fulness of delight and Heavenly repast which you might find in God How vain is the shadow if compared with the substance a drop if compared with the vast ocean a broken Cistern if compared with the Fountain of living Water or the confluence of all Creature-enjoyments if compared with the full enjoyment of God himself If then you love your Souls come away from these unsatisfying Vanities and seek now after Heaven and Heavenly objects making God your ultimate end and the full enjoyment of him your only happiness What alas will your Riches avail you without this Pearl of great price Will the Shell without the Kernel will the Cistern without the Fountain will the Stars without the Sun give content and can they make a day of happiness and satisfaction in your immortal Souls When a Man my Brethren can sow Grace in the furrows of his field when he can fill his Barns with Glory when he can get Baggs full of Salvation when he can Plow up Heaven out of the Earth and extract God out of the Creatures then but not till then he may be able to find that in them which will satisfy the unbounded desires of his own Soul Be not then any longer so foolish as to look for satisfaction from your Creature-enjoyments preferring the taste of an Apple with our first Parents before all the happiness of the Celestial Paradise Your creature comforts they are all of them impertinent and must needs upon that account be altogether unsatisfying as having no due commensuration nor sutableness to the wants and exigencies of an immortal Soul What one sin is all the World able to expiate What one misery is it able to deliver you from What one corruption can it mortify for you What one Grace can it enrich your Hearts with What one glimpse from God's favourable countenance can it help you to What one word of comfort can it speak to your troubled Consciences when distressed with the sense of God's wrath and the dreadful pre-occupations of Eternal burnings in Hell Indeed the favour of God and the hope of Heaven An interest in Jesus Christ and assurance through him of Eternal Glory these can give satisfaction as being every way sutable to and commensurate with our spiritual wants But now the impertinency of earthly enjoyments is such that you can never make up a sutable Estate for your Souls out of them nor satisfy their unmeasurable desires at the dry and empty Breasts of any Creature-comfort Oh how foolish then and irrational is every covetous Muck-worm Thou hast possibly Riches and Honours and Lands for thy portion But what will all these avail thee what content and satisfaction can they give thee not having an interest in the Lord Jehovah * Gen. 22.7 Behold the Fire and the Wood but where is the Lamb for sacrifice said Isaac to Abraham Thus may I say to you here you have Houses and Lands here you have Friends and worldly dignities But where is your interest in the Lord Jesus where is the Grace of God to sanctify you where is the mercy of God to Pardon you where is the love of God to comfort you where is the favour of God to make glad your Souls as the strength of your Hearts and your portion for ever You have possibly the good things of this life but where are the good things of a better life And be it so that you should abound and be crowned with all variety of Creature-comforts Yet remember your Souls they will still be restless and for ever unsatisfied till you come to rest your selves in the downy Bosom of God's Eternal love and to have fulness of sweet communion with him in Glory 6 And lastly consider all creature enjoyments they are but moment any and only for a season Like a Jonahs Gourd such are the choicest of all our Earthly Comforts growing up in one Night and withering away into nothing the next night following Had we the longest lease of Worldly enjoyments it would soon be worn out our lives are but short of themselves and therefore such comforts as we only hold for term of Life at the utmost cannot possibly last long What the Apostle saith of miraculous Gifts may truly be said of all our worldly accomodations whether you have Riches they shall fail or Relations after the Flesh they shall cease or whether you have Honors in the World they shall vanish away neither shall any Man's Glory descend after him Men usually call their Riches and Worldly accommodations by the name of Substance when indeed they are but a shadow that will never be seen any more when once the Sun of our lives is gon down Death will seal a Lease of ejectment and turn us out of all our possessions so that though now our Creature comforts attend upon us whilst we live and enjoy prosperity yet when once we come to breath out our Souls into Eternity they will all forsake us (a) Ieus est subitò qui modo Craesus erat You know how the Apostle Paul was accompanied by the Disciples to the Shore but there they took their leave of him Thus your Honours Riches and Earthly enjoyments they may accompany you to the Shore of Eternity but there they will bid you farewel for ever WHY then will you set your Hearts upon such fading Vanities labouring more for the Meat that perisheth than for that which will endure to Eternal Life (b) 2 Cor. 4.17 What we see is Temporal But what we see not is truly Eternal *
own madness when though now you sare deliciously yet anon you cannot get a drop of Water though now you are Cloathed in Scarlet yet anon you must be covered with shame though now you walk with delight amongst your ungodly associates yet anon you must be shut up in everlasting Chains under darkness though now you take your fill of carnal pleasures yet anon you must depart accursed into everlasting Fire Oh Believe it sinners the time is at Hand when as Jonathan did in another case you will cry out of all your carnal pleasures I have tasted a little Hony and now I must die I have had a little taste of the hony of sin and taken some sensual delight therein but now I must die eternally and perish for ever of all my carnal pleasures there is nothing now but Eternal Torments remains unto me If then Sirs you have any spiritual discerning consider this and learn now to counter balance your temptations to sin with those Eternal easless torments that will follow after The Lord fenced Eden with a flaming Sword Thus the Eden of sinful Pleasures is fenced with the flaming Sword of God's Wrath which doth always cut those asunder that must needs enter in Oh that now therefore you would look upon the Pleasures of Sin as you will then look upon them when instead thereof you must have nothing but Eternal Pains Oh the change that every sensual Sinner will then meet with now rejoycing but then mourning now laughing but then weeping and gnashing of Teeth for evermore Oh what Worlds would he now give to be saved when for a little wanton Dalliance for a little sensual Delight and carnal Contentment he must now go to Hell and be Damned for ever Where then is thy Reason oh Man that for a superfluous Cup thou shouldst adventure to drink a Cup of Wrath unmixed and for the Pleasures of Sin here shouldst willingly run the hazard of eternal Burnings in Hell Canst thou be content to purchase thy carnal Delights with the Blood of thy own Soul with eternal bitter Howlings and Lamentations in Hellish Torments Oh little can you now imagine how dreadful will be the end of all your ungodly Practices when as your †Revel 18.7 Pleasures in Sin have abounded so your eternal Pangs and Torments in Hell shall much more abound Be no longer enchanted then if you love your Immortal Souls with any sensual Contentments but think often with your selves what fiery Wrath and Indignation they will shortly expose you to Look beyond your carnal Pleasures to that eternal Crown of Life whereof they will deprive you to that everlasting unpreventable Misery wherein they will involve you and then delight in them still if you can * Propter discretionem poenarum haec ipsa impia civitas tantum recipit quantum deliquit sed tamen nihil poenarum illi decrit quae temporaliter peccavit aeternis cruciabitur tormentis Haymo in Loc. Satiùs est hic ad modicum tempus esse miserum quam in aeternum esse miserum satiùs est modicâ miseriâ emere aeternam foelicitatem quam modicâ faelicitate voluptate praesenti emere aeternam miseriam A Lapide How much better is that Sorrow that will end in Joy than that Joy which will end in eternal Sorrow And what Man that is well in his wits doth not count it a wiser part to go weeping to Heaven than laughing to Hell the Torments whereof are endless and past all imagination CHAP. IX The Doctrine improved by way of Exhortation to God's own People exciting them to walk in the whole course of their Life as becomes a People that have Heaven and Glory set before them as the sure reward of all their Labours wherein the Exhortation is branched out into Twelve Particulars of grand import to every gracious Soul III. BY way of Exhortation this Doctrine may be useful both to Saints and to Sinners both to such as have and to such as have not an Interest in that Recompence of Reward which God sets before us 1 BY way of exhortation to you that are blessed with an interest in this glorious reward give ye diligence so to act and walk in the whole course of your life as becomes a People that have Heaven and Glory at all times in their Eye The great care of every Christian in this present World should be to walk worthy of him that hath called us to his Kingdom and Glory endeavouring that his Christian deportment may be something answerable to his high encouragement Though the Lord should never sweeten his holy precepts with any on promise to encourage to the present work of Duty by theâ—â—roposal of an Eternal reward yet we were bound to obâ—â—rve every precept with the most religious devotion to walk in all dutiful obedience before him how much more when God holds forth a Crown of Life an Heavenly Kingdom an Eternal weight of Glory to provoke us thereunto If a prospect of Heavenly Glory will not make us walk circumspect and cause the face of our conversation to shine it argues we are Men of a sordid and ignoble Spirit What shall God promise us a Crown of Life shall he take us up into the Mount of transfiguration shall he shew us all the Beauties of Heaven and afford us a full prospect of Eternal Glory for our encouragement to all holy self-denying and upright walking before himself and yet shall we be remiss and negligent in a way of duty not endeavouring to walk as becomes the Gospel of Christ Believe it Christians that respect which God allows in all your obedience to Heaven and Eternal Glory is a strong engagement upon you obliging you in all things to have respect to that which you know to be acceptable and well-pleasing before him Oh then take heed that you spot not your selves as the Men of the World do but see that you live as those that are Burgesses and Citizens of the new Jerusalem striving always to shâ—w forth the Virtues of him that has called us out of Darkness into his marvellous light You have heard what manner of Priviledge the Lord endulgeth you with what fulness of Joy what an immarcescible Crown of Life what an Eternal recompence of reward the Lord sets before us what manner of Persons should we then strive to be in all Holy Conversation and Godliness TO manifest therefore that you have a due sense of God's wonderful condescending Love see carefully to the ordering of your conversation aright according to the purport of these Twelve ensuing particulars 1 WALK thankfully adoring the Riches of God's Grace who allows you so great encouragement in Heavens Way When God allows you in all your obedience the liberty of having a respect to the recompence of the reward what less can you do than with all thankfulness acknowledge his wonderful condescention and stand admiring it Can you see the Heavens open and a Crown of Life prepared for you and yet
have Heaven with all the Glory and royalties thereof continually in our Eye before us Can any Man having fixed his Eyes upon and expecting an Eternal reward of Glory in Heaven indulge himself in the dead and powerless performance of holy duties not â—â—bouring to be carried on in the Work of the Lord with a mighty violence and holy activity of Spirit That Man is certainly unworthy the Glory of Heaven who thinks it not well worth his utmost diligence and labour of Love on Earth (a) Non enim dormientibus provenit regnum coelorum sed in Dei mandatis laborantibus Leo Serm. 2. de Epiphan pag. 25. The Kingdom of Heaven is prepared not for loyterers but for labourers Not for those that stand idle all the Day in Gods Vineyard but for those that make hast to run the Way of his Commandments * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clem. Alex. This Kingdom though not meritable by the endeavours of any mortal but the free gift of God yet is never to be taken but by an holy Storm Nor must any Man ever think to come there that is not willing to gain it in the sweat of his brows How then should this fill our Hearts with great thoughts and our Hands with all opportunities sending us forth to meet all advantages and engaging us to use all possible diligence in Heavens way And can you be content to lose Heaven rather than Labour for it To be shut our of the Paradise of God for ever rather than force your selves into it by an holy violence through the strait Gate Can you do too much for a Crown of Glory or expend more strength in the service of God than what the recompence of reward will make amends for Oh believe it Christians you can never put your time your strength your diligence to better usury than by laying forth all in the service of God! There is not a prayer not a sigh not a tear not the least struggle of the Spirit against the Flesh herein that shall ever be lost (b) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ignat. Epist ad Polyc. But as your diligence for Christ doth abound in the work of the Lord so the reward of Eternal Life by Christ shall much more abound unto you Your weak â—â—â—eavours shall be crowned with strong consolationâ— For your temporal obedience on earth you shall receive the recompence of Eternal Glory in Heaven And for your labour of love here you shall rest for ever hereafter in the sweet and delicious embraces of your best beloved the dear Lord Jesus whom to see without end will be endless happiness Oh then what diligence in the service of God what labour in the work of the Lord what exactness in all our Duties can be sufficient for that God who hath prepared such transcendently glorious and Soul-raping felicity for those that faithfully serve him Hast thou Christian such a Crown and yet run no faster Hast thou such an eternal Triumph and yet fight the Battels of the Lord with no more courage and activity Hast thou such a blessed and transcendently glorious Reward and yet no more diligent zealous and abounding in the Work of the Lord Oh take a prospect by the Eye of Faith of the Land of Promise view the Glory observe the royalties take notice of the many choyce immunities of that Heavenly Canaan let the recompence of Eternal Life be always in your Eye and then forbear to be fervent in spirit when serving the Lord if you can Their labour their Zeal their diligence for God should never be small to whom he vouchsafes a prospect of so transcendently great and glorious a Reward The endeavours of a Christian for God should always bear some proportion with what encouragements he receives from God Having therefore so clear a sight of what God hath layd up for us with himself in Heaven we should never think we can do enough for God on earth So long as God holds out a Crown of Glory we should never withhold our labour our pains our diligence in a way of duty Thou art unworthy Christian the least glympse of Heavens happiness if such a sight do not presently transform thee into 〈◊〉 incarnate Seraphim making thee burn with Heavenly Zeal in the service of God like Coles of Juniper as willing to undergo the greatest labour for so glorious a recompence Let us therefore with all intention of mind with all vigour of Soul with all due preparation of Heart run the way of God's Commandments remembring it is all for the life of our own Souls and that the recompence of Eternal Glory is still before us as the reward of all our Christian endeavours 7 WALK Heavenly-mindedly not loving the World nor the things of the World but wholy setting your Hearts upon things above In this case if any where your Eye should affect your Hearts so that the sight which God affords you of an eternal Reward in Heaven may attract and draw up your affections thither wholly divorcing them from the Love of all Creature-enjoyments The Lapwing is made an Emblem of infelicity by some because having a little Coronet upon her head she yet feeds upon the worst of excrements Well you that have a Crown of Glory though not already upon your head yet in your Eye take heed that you be not such Enemies to your own Happiness as to feed with delight upon the sordid enjoyments of this present World Themistocles that gallant Athenian Captain bid his Friend take up those Bracelets which he espied on the ground for saith he thou art not †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plut. Themist Themistocles implying that it was below a Person of his Place and Renown to be affected with such Vanities So Christians let the Worlds Friends stoop down and embrace her Profits Honours and outward Accomodations it 's below you that have Heaven in your Eye to be taken with them 'T is a thing unbecoming all you whose Reward is laid up in the highest Heavens to stoop so far below your selves as to lay out your affections upon Earth and earthly enjoyments If Alexander would not exercise at the Olympicks as thinking such Pedantick recreations too far below him (i) Nos contemnere malumus quà m continere opes innocentiam magis cupimus magis patientiam flagitamus malumus nos bonos esse quà m prodigos Min. Foel Oct. 118. how much more should a Christian scorn having Heaven and Glory in his Eye to be found like one of the base Fellows eagerly pursuing the lying Vanities of a dunghil World 'T is storiâ—â—â—â—â—one Tigranes that coming to redeem his Father and Friends with his Wife who were all taken Prisoners by Cyrus he was asked in particular what ransom he would give for his Wife To which he readily answered that he would purchase her Liberty with his own Life But prevailing upon easier terms as they returned every one commended Cyrus for a goodly Person and Tigranes would needs know
nor could Mary Magdalen refrain her weeping by Christ's (b) John 20.14 15. Sepulchre because though Christ was present with her yet she did not know him So though the Well of Life Everlasting be before us and Christ having the Reward of eternal Glory in his Hand be present with us to Crown us yet if we know not all this we may well be filled with Sorrow and go weeping as Men without Hope from day to day For it is not so much Heaven as the Assurance of Heaven nor so much an Interest in eternal Life as the Knowledg of our Interest in that glorious reward that can wipe away all Tears from our Eyes and make our Hearts rejoyce with Joy unspeakable and full of Glory The Safety of your Souls depends indeed upon your Interest in the Recompence of eternal Glory that gives them the strongest Security against an everlasting Shipwrack so that let what Storms and Tempests will be abroad in the World yet having an Interest in heavenly Glory they shall never miscarry but be landed safe upon the wished Shoar of eternal Rest But yet the Comfort of your Souls and Hearts and Lives doth mainly depend upon the Knowledg and Assurance of that blessed Interest You may be safe with a bare Interest in Heaven but you can never be Comfortable nor free from Heart-perplexing Thoughts all the day long without knowing your Interest without some Assurance of Heaven as your eternal Inheritance The Sun when hid in a Cloud doth not yield those comfortable Irradiations and guilded Beams of Brightness to refresh us as at other times when shining forth in its Noon-day Splendour So neither must you expect the like Comfort from Heaven and eternal Glory to solace your Hearts your Interest therein being hid from your Eyes as otherwise they would afford did you but know Heaven to be your home and eternal Glory to be entailed upon you as your Portion in another World You then that would live Comfortable and die Triumphing give diligence to know what Right you have to the Recompence of Reward 'T will afford you little Comfort to have Heaven in your Eye so long as you want the Assurance of Heaven in your Hearts not knowing but you may eternally fall short of it A prospect of eternal Glory without a known Interest in eternal Glory will prove but a dull Cordial Be thy Right to eternal Life never so good yet thou losest the Comfort thereof so long as thy Evidences for eternal Life are not cleared up And had you rather dwell in the Tents of Kedar invelop'd in thick Darkness than to live and die assured of the heavenly Jerusalem as your own Inheritance Had you rather walk under the Fears of Death and be filled every day with the dreadful Apprehensions of eternal Burnings than to know that your Names are written in the Book of Life Had you rather be wandring in the Wilderness not knowing whether ever you shall come to Canaan than to be upon sure ground for that holy Land Had you rather be shut up in a black Cloud than solace your Souls in the bright Sun-shine of God's Love and Favour Had you ratheâ— be under continual Tossings at Sea and live at the Mercy of every enraged Wave than to come with full Sails into the peaceful Harbour of a divine Plerophory Had you rather be upon Uncertainties for an heavenly Mansion than to know that if your earthly House of this Tabernacle were dissolved you have a Building of God an House not made with Hands eternal in the Heavens In one word had you rather barely look upon heavenly Glory than to behold it with an Eye of Faith as that which shall infallibly be the Reward of all your Obedience to Crown you with What alas are all the Royalties of Heaven and Glory to me if I may not know them to be mine Were all the Beams of heavenly Glory collected and gathered together in one Sun yet what were all this to me if still I be left to sit in Darkness not seeing any ground of Claim to one beam of that Glory Let all the Clusters of Canaan let all the Grapes of that Holy Land be pressed and strained into one Cup yet what Comfort can my Soul have thence when seeing them I know not but I may want them for ever God allows us in all our Obedience to look at Heaven and Glory and eternal Happiness but wherewith shall I clear up my Heart and make glad my Soul if I cannot look upon Heaven as my Heaven upon Glory as my Glory upon eternal Happiness as my own Happiness and exceeding great Reward What sweetness can a Christian draw from the Promise of eternal Life if he know not himself to have an Interest in it and be not sure to live eternally by it Lose not therefore the Comfort of your Souls in an heap of Uncertainties do not cast away through your Unbelief those Cordials which God hath provided for you oh sit not down satisfied any longer without the assurance of Heaven if you would not live and die without the Joys of Heaven Many there are I confess that cry down Assurance under the reproachful Nick-names of carnal Confidence Presumption and Security as if this heavenly Manna like that in the Wilderness were subject to Corruption and would breed Worms making Men turn Libertines grow careless and cease to work out their own Salvation with Fear and Trembling But the truth is there are none that ever walk so chearful so upright so circumspect in Heavens way as those that know they shall infallibly come there Amongst all Men in the World those are always most stedfast most immoveable most abounding in the Work of the Lord that know their Labour shall never be in vain but be Crowned at length with eternal Rest Whoever expects to receive much from God and hath the Hope of eternal Life abiding in him such an one will most willingly spend and be spent in the Service of God giving diligence above all others to purify himself as (c) 1 John 3.3 he is pure As well you may say that the Fire will make a Man freeze with cold as that the Assurance of eternal Life will make God's People grow secure sloathful and negligent in their Christian Course taking boldness to live as they list What doth the Assurance of future Glory dispose those that have it to turn the Grace of God into Wantonness Shall a known Interest in the Reward of eternal Life be thought to make Men love the Wages of Unrighteousness Must the knowing that we have an Inheritance amongst the Saints in Light incline us to have the more Fellowship with the unfruitful Works of Darkness Can you think that the Souls Evidences for Heaven should encourage it to walk the way which leads to Hell Men that are yet unacquainted with the Spirit of Adoption not knowing what it is to have the hope of eternal Life abiding in them may tell you so
and with a great deal of Confidence they may speak out such fine Repugnances as if the sparklings of the white Stone would beget a Stone in the Heart of God's Children and the reading of their new Name written therein would make them act contrary to their new Nature But get a well-grounded assurance â—f heavenly Glory labour to have the hope of eternal Life abiding within your selves and you shall easily find by your own Experience what a strong Engagement this will be to all Holy Upright and Circumspect walking before the Lord making you a thousand times more willing than ever to spend and be spent in his Service Dwell therefore no longer in Generals lose not your Comforts in a heap of meer Conjectures and Uncertainties But give diligence now to bottom your Souls upon a sure Foundation labour to read your own Names (d) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Caryl Hier. Cateches 1. pag. 2. written in the Book of life Eternal and let it not suffice you to have a Prospect of Heaven and Glory but be sure to get good Evidence for them Is it not better to lie safe at Anchor than to be left every moment to the Pleasure of a Wave Oh let Faith no longer be put to silence when endeavouring to speak in its own proper Dialect But let your Right be made so clear to the Kingdom of God to Heaven and eternal Glory that you may say this Heaven is my Heaven and this Glory is my Glory and this Kingdom is prepared of God for me as the place of my eternal Abode Oh this will be the strongest Cordial when you come to die to know that your Names are written in the Book of Life and shall never be blotted out Oh how comfortably may you leave the Wilderness of this World when you know you are now going to take Possession of the heavenly Canaan Oh 't is good having an Eye to the Recompâ—nce of eternal Life when we know we shall shortly be Crowned with that glorious Reward A well-grounded Assurance of Heaven this is the Suburbs of the new Jerusalem and oh with what comfort may we live there a while when we know that the Gates thereof shall never be shut against us but we shall have an abundant entrance into that everlasting Kingdom 10 WALK comfortably not desponding under any affliction but rejoycing in the assured hope and expectation of that reward which is set before you They should never allow themselves to go without Joy in their Hearts whom the Lord allows to walk continually with Heaven in their Eye though forest Afflictions should wait upon you though sharpest Persecutions should overtake you whether the days of your Pilgrimage be cloudy or clear shining with Prosperity or lowring with Adversity yet so long as you have before you an immarcescible Crown of Life that can never wither why should you suffer your Comforts to wither and fade and die within you What shall every Northern Blast nip Glory in the Bud Shall the Wilderness of worldly Afflictions which is not so thick set with any Difficulties but by Faith you may see through them all make you hang down your Heads like a Bull-rush and go disconsolate when all the good of the heavenly Canaan lies before you Must the Recompence of eternal Life lose its Power to Comfort when ever the World gets a Power to Afflict you Cannot Heaven it self Minister Sweetness if at any time your earthly Enjoyments should be imbittered to you How is it that you are not ashamed to let the Malice of a few envious Philistines stop up all those fresh Springs of Comfort which God hath opened in Heaven to refresh and make glad your Souls The Sun once appearing in our Hemisphere the Clouds are presently scattered and all the dark Shadows of the Night they fly away Thus when the Lord gives us a sight of Heaven and makes the Reward of eternal Life in all its Royalties and Glory to appear before us all Clouds of Disconsolatenes should then be scattered and all the dark Shadows of worldly Sorrow they should for ever take Wings and fly away (e) Habakkuk 3.17 18. So we find it I am sure with good Habakkuk who having fixed his Eye upon God as one that would Crown him at length with eternal Salvation he resolves come what will come to Feast his Soul continually with the Joy of the Lord he purposes to live and die with his Mouth or rather with his Heart full of hidden Manna he gets him up into the Mount of Transfiguration resolving that whatever Storms are abroad in the World he will never be driven thence And what is it I would fain know that makes you who have the same Encouragement with this holy Prophet to eat all your Comforts with bitter Herbs Why is it that your Hearts are filled with Bitterness and your Mouths running over continually with the Gall of sad Complaints How comes it to pass Christians if one may know that you walk all the day long in the Valley of Tears never labouring to get your selves up into the Mount with God nor to solace your dejected (g) Tristetur et defleat si sibi male sit in seculo cui non potest bene esse post seculum Cypr. contra Demettiam Souls by taking a Prospect of the heavenly Canaan Though such may well hence out of heart as are still without Hope in the World Yet certainly its below the Hopes of God's own People to be daily swallowed up of those worldly (h) John 16.20 Sorrows which will shortly be turned into Joy unspeakable and full of Glory Understand then ye blessed of the Father where your Comfort lies and see that fixing your Eye upon the Recompence of eternal Life you live continually (i) Rom. 5.2 rejoycing in hope of the Glory of God! The Wicked they go rejoycing all the day long though their Portion be only in this present Life And will not you much more walk comfortably to whom belongs the Reversion of eternal Life and whose Reward shall be so great in Heaven The (k) Mat. 5.12 Eyes of ungodly Men are continually beholding Vanity and yet even hence you may find them taking a great deal of sensual Joy and carnal Contentment And is there no Joy to be found in beholding the Glory of Heaven no Comfort flowing in upon your Souls from a prospect of eternal Happiness What are the Waters of Abana and Parphar so much better than the Waters of Jordan Shall a small glance of worldly Felicity afford more Matter of Joy and Gladness than an Eye beholding with open view the Kingdom of Heaven with all its Royalties and surpassing Glory Oh who should walk comfortable and rejoyce on Earth if not the People of God whose Eyes are continually feasted with bright Visions of Happiness and eternal Glory from Heaven Awake then oh sluggish Christian and go forth chearfully to the Work of the Lord There is no such Lyon in the
in Sin he hath made himself a vessel of Wrath fitted for destruction So neither will he crown any Man before through patient continuance in well-doing he hath made himself meet to be a partaker of the inheritance of Saints in light We must first conquer before we can triumph first win the Garland before we can wear it first seek by Patient continuance in Well-doing Glory Honour and Immortality before ever God will crown us with Life Eternal How injurious then are all such to their own Souls that like Orpah take their leave of Christ to decline afflictions forsaking the favour of God for the love of this present World exchanging the Ark for Dagon the Doctrin of Christ for the Traditions of Antichrist the Worship of God in its native Beauty for the pomp and varnish of sordid superstition thus miserably ending in the Flesh though sometimes they seemed to have begun in the Spirit Are there not some amongst us (k) Gal. 5.7 with whom it is thus and of whom we may say as sometime Paul to the Galatians ye did run well who did hinder you that you should not obey the truth At your first setting out in the ways of God you did run to purpose then you were very resolved and sensible and seemed very serious But wo and alass such fatal effascination hath now bewitched you that like Sampson having lost your strength you move not at all in the Zodiack of true Godliness unless with Hezekiah's Sun by way of retrogradation Time was that Jehu-like you seemed to drive on with an holy fury for God in the work of reformation But now alas the Chariot-wheels of your Zeal are taken off and if you build not up Calves with Jeroboam at Dan and Bethel yet you can well sit down in a luke-warm indifferency under them Time was that you could not let a Day pass you without the performance of some Duty nor any duty without some experience of Gods Grace and Love and Goodness to you But now alass you can spend whole Days and Weeks if not some Months and yet never give the Lord a visit at least in such a formal manner that as God hath no Glory so your Souls have no comfort no incomes of Grace from Heaven no spiritual advantage thereby Time was that you spent much time in clearing up your evidences for Eternal Life giving all diligence to make your calling and election sure But now alass you can put Eternity it self to venture you have left off working for Heaven a sad sign that your motion was artificial not natural proceeding from a principle of Life within Time was that you counted it your delight to consecrate the Sabbath as holy unto God waited with joy for the rising of the Sun of Righteousness on that Day and were filled with many vehement pantings anhelations and breathings after God in his Ordinances But now alass there is such an unsavouriness upon your Spirits that you count it a weariness to serve the Lord and are so far from esteeming one Day in God's Courts better than a thousand elsewhere that you think that to be the longest Day in all the week crying when will the Sabbath be over In one word time was that you seemed to have escaped the pollutions that are in the World through Lust to be convinced of the evil of Sin to resolve against all Unrighteousness to bewail bitterly your Drunkeness your Pride your Uncleaness your improvident mispence of Time your horrid Oaths and bloody execrations together with all your Ungodly Practises But wo and alass do you not now turn from the holy Commandment delivered to you and instead of going on to reform your lives do you not return to your former vomit breaking forth into more obscene prodigious and abominable impieties than ever Oh let me my dear Friends out of that tender Love which I bear to your immortal Souls bespeak you in the language of God to his own People (l) Jer. 2.5 What iniquity have your Fathers found in me that they are gone far from me So what iniquity did you ever find in God and the ways of God that you are thus gone away from them and so soon grown weary of them What iniquity have you ever found in the invocation of holy fervent prayer that the wings thereof are now clipt your devotion grown cold and you come like slothful Suitors to God (m) Qui frigidè rogat docet negare as if you would teach the Lord to give you the repulse What Iniquity have you found in God's holy Sabbaths that you are grown weary to bear them and count it no great priviledge thereon to wait upon God and have sweet communion with him in the Beauties of Holiness What Iniquity have you found in Heavenly meditation that you cannot now soar aloft as formerly but like Sisera whose Head was nailed to the Earth have your hearts nailed and fast riveted to Earthly projects In short what iniquity did you ever find in the reformation of your lives abstaining from the many gross infamous and horrid pollutions that are in the World through lust Is there not as much evil in your Drunkeness swearing and the like abominable impieties now as ever Are they not as highly displeasing to the holy Spirit of God as greatly prejudicial to the welfare of your precious Souls as truly meritorious of Eternal Burnings in Hell as ever and is not that God who cut off Herod in his Robes Belshazzar in his Cups Babylon in its Pride Jezabel in her paint and whoredoms as able now to cut off you sinning after the same ensample and to punish you with everlasting destruction from his Presence and from the Glory of his Power Oh then if you love your Immortal Souls beware of recidivation take heed of relapsing again into any of those sinful courses which you formerly had escaped and be sure that you walk perseveringly endeavouring that you may never turn aside from the holy Commandment delivered to you Remember Lot's Wife nay remember Judas that Son of Perdition and take heed that you never look back in your Christian course If having set your hand to the Plough of an holy Profession you should afterward look back if having begun in the Spirit you should afterward end in the Flesh if having escaped the Pollutions that are in the World through lust you should again be intangled therein and overcome thereby your latter end will be worse more dreadful and damnable than your first beginning Your hopes have been raised high by your Christian Profession and therefore should you now miscarry you must needs sink the deeper in Hell and eternal Damnation And oh what Millions of Worlds would you not now give to change places in Hell with a Turk or an Infidel and to have no greater punishment there than an ordinary Damnation * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Every evil after the expectation of its opposite good becomes the greater evil What then will
be the Hell the Misery the eternal Heart-rending Reflexions of all Apostates who notwithstanding all their groundless hopes are now like to be swallowed up of black Despair They thought themselves once in an happy condition but now distress and anguish takes hold upon them They promised themselves to drink for ever of the River of God's Pleasures but now whole Vollies of Brimstone and all the Vials of God's Wrath come thundering down upon them They expected to sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the Prophets in the Kingdom †Ascendens ad montem Loth retrò reliquit Sodomit and flagitia quae autem reflexit retrò non potuit ad superiora evadere Ambros Epist 11. ad Irenaeum ¶ 2 Pet. 2.21 of God but now they are shut up irrecoverably amongst damned Spirits in everlasting Chains under Darkness They presumed themselves to be in the ready way to Heaven but now they are inevitably dropping into Hell the rageful Flames of which Infernal Lake are now ready to seize upon them and burn them without quenching for ever And can there possibly be a greater emphasis of Misery than such everlasting dreadful disappointment Look to it then all you that have taken up the practise of Piety and take heed that you never draw back to your own destruction O labour to hold fast your Integrity be not weary of well-doing but look well to your selves †2 John 8. that you lose not the things which you have wrought that you lose not your Prayers your religious performances and all your sufferings but that you may receive a full Reward You have not only Hells horrour behind you to keep you from drawing back but you have also Heaven's Glory before you to keep you stedfast and unmovable always persevering in the work of the Lord. (a) Non taedeat incipere magna nec fastidiat tenere inchoata scientes quod perseverantia remunerat currentem coronat pugnantem ducit ad brabium conducit cunctos ad portum Aug. Serm. 8. ad fratres in eremo And why will you ever have thoughts to leave that way which leads to Glory or grow weary of that Work which will shortly be crowned with an Eternal Reward If Jacob thought not his fourteen years hard service tedious having Rachel a beautiful indeed but yet a fading Flower in his Eye Why then should you look upon the service of God as tedious or ever grow weary of it having Heaven itself in your Eye where you may gather not only Beautiful but unfadable Flowers of Happiness and Joy and Glory for ever What greater reproach can you bring upon your selves than to fall from your own stedfastness making shipwrack of Faith and a good conscience when the Glory of Heaven lies before you as an encouragement to all patient continuance in well-doing Columbus having sailed long without making any discovery his company at last began to grow weary of the Voyage till at length they espied Land and then they went on chearfully Thus though you be all weather-beaten and tossed as with Storms upon the troublesome Sea of this World yet having the Land of Promise the Heavenly Canaan in your Eye you should never grow weary in well-doing but hold on chearfully It 's but a while Christians and in case we hold fast our integrity we shall have done wrestling and weeping and praying and then reap the fruit of all our labours It s but a while and holding Faith and a good Conscience we shall have done suffering and bleeding and dying for the cause of Christ and so be crowned with Life Everlasting It 's but a while and continuing patient in well-doing we shall come amongst all the redeemed of Christ to Sion with * Isa 35.10 Songs and everlasting Joy upon our Heads we shall obtain Joy and Gladness and sorrow and sighing shall fly away Let not therefore your hearts grow faint nor your hands be weakned through any Afflictions Tryals or Difficulties that you meet with in Heavens way but having such everlasting consolation and good hope through Christ let all your Righteousness be like the Morning-light never declining but still shining more and more to the perfect day They should never backslide nor grow weary of serving God on Earth whom the Lord allows for their encouragement to all holy self-denying and upright walking before him a clear prospect of Heavens Glory In vain doth God shew us the reward of Eternal Life if the sight of it makes us not faithful unto the Death CHAP. X. The Doctrine improved by way of Exhortation to poor ungodly Sinners advising them to give all diligence for an Interest in this glorious reward and pressing the necessity thereof upon them by Five weighty Considerations II BY way of exhortation to you that have no interest in this glorious Reward which God sets before us give all diligence that it may be yours What will Heaven and Glory and Eternal Life avail you if you can not look upon Heaven as your Heaven upon Glory as your Glory and upon the recompence of Life Eternal as that which shall be your portion for ever Wealth in the Mine doth no good at all till actually severed and set apart for persons and uses Water in the Fountain is of no service to a Man till conveyed thence into his own cistern So though the recompence of Reward be as a Mine full of excellent and unsearchable Riches as a Fountain overflowing with living Waters yet till it be actually made our own that we come to dig in this Mine and to draw Water with Comfort out of this Fountain of Life we remain as Poor and Miserable as if this recompence of Eternal Life had never been set before us 'T is not a prospect of Heaven but an interest in Heaven not the tender of Eternal Life but the having of Eternal Life that will make us Happy Moses himself had a sight of Canaan and yet died in the Wilderness Thus God may give you a sight of Heavenly Glory in the tenders of the Gospel yet not embracing it by Faith you may die in your Sins fall short of the celestial Canaan and be damned for ever Sit not down therefore satisfied in hearing of this Eternally Glorious Reward but give diligence now to get an interest in it and to make it your own Oh lose not your precious Souls lose not Heaven and Eternal Glory for want of looking after them 1 CONSIDER if you get not an Interest in the Recompence of the Reward which God sets before us you are like to have all your Portion in this present Life You may possibly promise your selves great things hereafter because your Barns are full and your Cup overflows here But in vain shall you look for Glory when you come to die if you seek it not by patient continuance in well-doing all your Life 'T is no good Argument that your Hearts are filled with saving Grace because your
Bags and Coffers are stored with Gold Because the World dandles you upon her Lap 't is no sure sign that you shall rest for ever in Abraham's bosom You may not think to be Heirs of Heaven because you are the Possessours of the Earth For not getting an Interest in the Recompence of the Reward now you are sure to go without it to all Eternity The good things of this present World you may love but the good things of Heaven and Glory you shall never have You may have a large Portion of earthly Enjoyments But shall never enjoy the Inheritance of Saints in Light †Psal 17.14 'T is no new thing for God to fill their Bellies with his hidden Treasures with the choicest of all earthly Comforts who never take any care to lay up for themselves a Treasure in Heaven But what alas will it profit you to have Earth in Hand if you have not Heaven in hope What though Riches and Honour are the Lot of your Inheritance amongst those whose Lot is Happiness and eternal Glory What relish think you hath Dives now left him of all his Delicacies or Esau of his dear-bought Pottage What pleasure hath the Rich Fool of his full Barns or that young Man of his large Possessions What delight hath Jezabel in her Paint or Ahab in Naboth's Vineyard What comfort can a Man have in the choicest Quintessence of any or in the greatest Confluence of all earthly Enjoyments who must receive them as his Portion and can never expect any other Happiness any other Portion or Reward in God's heavenly Kingdom It may be for the present thy Mony is thy Idol and thou art held in Thraldom under thy own Possessions but what will remain of thy Silver and Gold to carry thy Soul through the Storm of Death save only the (b) Jam. 5.3 rust thereof to joyn in Judgment against thee and torment thee eating thy Flesh like Fire for ever It may be thou art acted now by vain Glory and Desires of popular Applause but what will it then avail thee to be admired by thy fellow Prisoners and condemned by thy Judge It may be thou servest thy own Lust and another's Beauty but what Pleasure will there be in all this when the Fire of Lust shall be turned into the Fire of Hell It may be thy worldly Comforts and Accommodations are now looked upon by thee as thy greatest Happiness but what miserable Comforters will these be when peeping out of thy Grave thou shalt see Heaven and Earth all on a fire and Christ coming in the Flames thereof to take Vengeance upon thee There is a blessed God that could comfort in such an hour but thou must never see him There is a Crown of Glory that fadeth not away there is a Kingdom that cannot be moved there is all fulness of Joy and Soul-satisfying Pleasure but having thy Portion in this present World thou shalt never have these to comfort thee in the World to come Make the best of your Portion here of your Riches Honours and Pleasures on Earth for you must never receive any Portion hereafter you must never look to be Crowned with Life and Eternity of Glory in Heaven Oh then how unhappy are all those who neglect to get an Interest in the Recompence of the Reward have no Heaven but Earth no Glory but what will end in everlasting Shame and perpetual Contempt no Pleasures but what must shortly be changed into Hellish Intolerable and remediless Torments If you love your immortal Souls come away from all worldly Vanities and be sure to get an Interest in this glorious Reward that your Lives and your Happiness your Rejoycing and all your Comfort may not end together The greatest Portion in this Life will afford you but small Comfort of upon good Grounds you cannot look for a better Portion after Death 2 CONSIDER the Recompence of the Reward which God sets before us it 's a thing feasable and that which you may obtain if you will but seek it The Riches Kingdom and Glory of this World may be sought and yet never found But whoever by patient continuance in well-doing shall seek for Glory and Honour * Rom. 2.7 and blessed Immortality God will certainly Crown them with Life everlasting The Lord is willing to bestow Heaven the best of Rewards upon the worst of Sinners will they but embrace it This eternal Recompence of Reward 't is a thing indeed difficult to be obtained that none may despise it But yet it 's possible to be obtained that so none may sit down discouraged as despairing of it This Exhortation would be out of season to the Damned in Hell betwixt whom and eternal Glory there is a great Gulf fixed so that they are now no longer within the Possibilities of Life and Salvation But for you there is still Balm in Gilead to heal all your Wounds there is an all-sufficiency of Merit in Christ to expiate your Sins and there is still a most merciful Propensity of Will in God to Crown all those that diligently seek him with a glorious Reward And why then since Life is before you will you die the Death Why will you choose to be miserable under Tenders of Glory and eternal Happiness Why will you expose your selves to hellish Torments when the Lord himself doth so earnestly invite you to accept of Heaven Shall God be willing to give and yet you so unwilling to receive the Reward of eternal Life Oh why will you be such Enemies to your own Happiness making light of that great Salvation which though difficult is yet possible to be obtained Can you be content to fall short of eternal Glory and for ever to (c) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clem. Alexand. Admonit ad Gentes pag. mihi 6. a. be shut out of Heaven where is fulness of Joy Shall God hold out the Golden Scepter of his Grace and will you not so much as touch it to save your own Lives Must he follow you with daily Importunities of Love intreating you to accept of this glorious Reward to make you happy and will you still with Disdain turn your backs upon him as if the Favour of God in Christ as if Heaven and eternal Glory were not worth the having (d) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cyril Hier. Praef Cateches pag. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Idem Cateches 1. pag. 3. The Lord is Bountiful and willing to give But yet he expects that you should be so dutiful as to receive with all thankfulness what he gives The bestowance of this glorious Reward doth indeed belong to God as his part But then the seeking and acceptance thereof doth belong to every one of you as your necessary indispensable Duty Give diligence then since God so freely offers with all thankfulness to embrace the Reward of eternal Life Were the Matter of this Exhortation an Impossibility exciting you to seek for what you could never find and to labour for what
that Glorious Inheritance Were there but few damned and many saved yet in that case it would much concern us to look to our selves lest we should be some of those few that must go to Hell How much more should we look to our selves laying hold upon Eternal Life when so few shall be saved and go to Heaven when so many walk on in the Way of Destruction and must go to Hell Oh deceive not your own Souls expecting to go to Heaven in a croud but give diligence to be found of that little Flock upon whom it is the Fathers good Pleasure to bestow a Kingdom Whilst multitudes of Men and Women go crouding into Hell strive you to walk in that narrow Way which will bring you to Glory Be not discouraged by the paucity of those that shall be saved but because they are so few resolve to be found in that blessed Number that they may be the more Remembring this still for your encouragement that though there be but few yet some there are who shall receive the reward of Eternal Life and you as soon as any if by patient continuance in well-doing you will but seek it Be they never so few that shall find the Way which leads to Glory yet no Man can ever lose the Way thither but through his own negligence 5 CONSIDER you have yet an opportunity wherein to seek the recompence of Eternal Life and let that make you to give all possible diligence in labouring for it When God affords us an opportunity of Grace he then expects that by patient continuance in Well-doing we should seek for Glory When he holds open the Gate of Mercy then if ever he calls us to enter in When in a word he makes reports of Life and Salvation to us in an acceptable time then oh then above all things in the World it concerneth us to work out our own Salvation with fear and trembling Well yet the fair-day of God's Grace is not over and therefore deal wisely in your Heavenly Merchandise now buying of him Gold tried in the Fire that you may be rich and purchasing for your selves that one Pearl of great price Yet your seed-time is not past be sure therefore to sow in tears that hereafter ye may reap in Joy now sow to the Spirit that of the Spirit ye may reap Life Everlasting Yet Christians the six Days of the Week are not all of them gone see therefore that you gather Manna now labouring to make provision for an everlasting Sabbath of Rest in God's Heavenly Kingdom Though the damned in Hell be shut up in an Everlasting Night under Darkness yet still it is Day with you Work therefore while you have the Day because the Night cometh wherein you cannot work If ever you would be able to go through with the work of your Salvation you must be sure to set about it in the Day of Salvation And if you ever would find the Reward of Eternal Life you must be sure to seek it before the glass of your Life be run out and your strength exhausted Pray therefore to Day repent to Day seek Heaven to Day thou art not sure of to morrow And he that is not fit to Day will be less fit to seek after Heaven when to morrow comes How vainly then do Men talk of working for Heaven when they are just going to the place of Reward and of doing the greatest Work to repent believe and seek the Kingdom of God when their strength is at the lowest ebb (f) Poenitentia quae ab infirmo petitur infirma est poenitentia quae à moriente tantum petitur timeo ne ipsa moriatur August Serm. 57. de temp But believe it Sinners you will find it too much for one to look after a sick Soul and a sick Body together too much to get a lively faith when he lieth a dying too much to mount up as on Eagles wings to Heaven when his feet are going down to the Grave and his steps take hold of Hell If ever you would have your works in the full and Eternal Reward of them to follow you when dead you must be sure to follow your work close while you live now seeking by patient continuance in well-doing for Glory Honour Immortality and Eternal Life Now therefore delay not the doing of that which must be once done or your Souls are undone for ever What do you not yet know the certainty of an approaching Death together with the Vanity and shortness of your own Life which according to the just estimate of Truth is no more than a span which is soon measured a Vapour that quickly vanisheth a Flower that presently fadeth or a little spot of time betwixt too vast Eternities Do you not know that upon this short moment of time dependeth your Eternal condition of Happiness if improved well but of Misery if ill-improved (g) Quippe ex voluntate perversa facta est libido dum servitur libidini facta est consuetudo dum consuetudini non resistitur facta est necessitas Aug. Confes lib. 8. cap. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arest Eth. lib. 2. cap. 6. Natura consuetudo robustissimam faciunt invictissimam cupiditatem Aug. ad Simpl. lib. 1. q. 1. Non pudet te reliquias vitae tibi reservare id solum tempus bonae menti destinare quod in nullam rem conferri possit Sen. de brevit vit cap. 4. Juventutem tuam in peccatis traducis ubi verò labore fracta fuerint instrumenta tunc ipsa ad Deum adducis eum jam illorum nullus sit usus Basil Orat. 4. Do you not know that the longer you delay to seek after this Eternal Reward the more unfit you will be for it and the less able to go through with so difficult a province it being impossible that your Hearts thro' procrastination should not grow harder your corruptions stronger whilst custom converted into a second Nature produceth without a miracle of Mercy an irrecoverableness in a course of Sin Do you not know it 's a point of the greatest disingenuity that can be to exhaust the Spirits of your strength in the service of Sin consecrating the first fruits of your Time to such a cruel Aegyptian Taskmaster and to reserve no better for the service of the great God than the very ruins of your strength nor any other than the dregs of your time wherein to seek the Kingdom of Heaven (h) Sicut dormiens in navi vehitur ad portum ita tu dormis sed tempus tuum ambulat Ambr. in Psal 1. Do you not know how fast your lives unravel being not of a permanent but transient nature continually wasting like the Oyl in the lamp whether you work or stand idle in God's Vineyard whether you will seek for a Crown of Life or not seek it Do you not know that be the time of your lives never so short yet the term allotted for us of God
wherein to seek after Heaven and Glory is never extended beyond it (i) Exod. 16.26 Qui promisit poenitenti veniam non promisit poenitendi horam qui poenitenti misericordiam premisit peccanti crastinum non promisit Aug. de verb. Dom. Serm. 59. as the Israelites might gather Manna on any of the six days in the Week but not on the seventh Do you not know but if you neglect the present opportunity refusing now to seek after the reward of Eternal Life God may seal you up in your impenitency for ever denying you all further advantages for your Souls as not having promised a Day of Repentance to any though he have promised to all that are truly penitent a Crown of Glory (k) Cor. 6.2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epic. Stob. cap. 16. Oh then to Day if you will hear his Voice harden not your Hearts neglecting the reward of Eternal Life till tomorrow when the present time is the only Day of Salvation If the Day of Salvation be neglected your hope of Salvation will for ever be frustrated If now you let slip the Day of Grace you cannot chuse but fall short hereafter of the Crown of Glory Time and opportunity in this case do vastly differ Time is the continuation of Hours Days and Years successively coming after each other But opportunity is the universal concurrence of all other helps and advantages to give birth by their auspicious Midwifery to your wished ends So that you may have time and yet lose your opportunity You may have in the Glass of your time many sands when there is not a sand left in the Glass of your opportunity You may have the Moon-light of time when the Sun of opportunity is gon down in an everlasting Night of Darkness upon you And to be sure Sirs if you lose the Sun-light of opportunity you will never be able by the Moon-light of time to find out and walk in that narrow Way which leads to Glory (l) Matth. 25.10 11 12. The five foolish Virgins came too late and for that cause were everlastingly shut out from the marriage Supper (m) Luke 19.42 Si eo ipso die resipuisset quo Christus urbem ingressus est haec sententia lata non fuisset quod quia neglexit in posterum nullus misericordiae locus ex quo liquet quantum interest resipiscentiam non dico in annum sed in diem differre Cart. in loc Heb. Jerusalem had the things belonging to her peace hid from her Eyes because in the Day of her visitation she would not know them And Esau having lost through delays his Fathers Blessing he found no place of Repentance nor opportunity to recover it though he sought it with Tears So that you see the least of opportunity to get Heaven once fallen never springeth again The Market-day of Grace once over we must never expect a second wherein to purchase for our selves that one Pearl of great price The swift tide of God's mercy in the strivings of his Spirit once returned we must never look to see it high water again nor think by the reflowings thereof to have our Souls landed safe upon the wished shore of Eternal Rest And this dear Friends I tell you not to plunge you in despair but to beget in you desires after the lively hope of Eternal Life not to shut you up under a sentence of wrath and unpreventable Misery in Hell but to hasten you in your pursuit of Heaven and Eternal Glory Though you have formerly made light of Salvation yet if now you will prize it though you have heretofore turned your backs upon Heaven yet will you but now seek after it though hitherto you have undervalued all those inestimable tenders of Life and Eternal Glory which God hath made you yet if now you will close with them seeking diligently by patient continuance in well-doing for Glory Honour and Immortality you need not doubt but Salvation shall be your Crown Heaven shall be your home and the full enjoyment of God in Glory that shall be your portion and your exceeding great reward Yet the Golden Scepter of God's Grace is stretched out now therefore be sure to lay hold upon it Yet there is a door of Mercy stands open be sure now to enter in thereat Yet you are not sealed up under an irreversible Sentence of Wrath in Hell give diligence therefore this day this hour this present moment to lay up for your selves a Treasure in Heaven Now oh now my beloved is your Term-time wherein to plead with God for the lives of your Immortal Souls shortly comes an everlasting Vacation of Happiness or Misery where you cannot be heard pleading for your selves though with Tears of Blood ¶ In morte cheu nec vel semel quidem peccare licet nam hoc tale peccatum est irrevocabile Semel mortuus es semper mortuus es semel male mortuus es semper damnatus es Hanc mortem corrigere hanc damnationem excutere per omnem aeternitatem non poteris As in War so in this case we are not permitted to err twice now Heaven and Eternal Glory lie before you either speedily get an interest in them or together with your present opportunity you will lose them for ever When Death begins to make his arrest upon thee it s not then a time to sow but to reap the fruit of our doings not to labour for Eternal Rest but to rest from our labours not by works of Righteousness to seek a Crown but to receive a Crown of Righteousness not to lay up for our selves a Treasure in Heaven but to go to Heaven where our Comfort our Treasure our Happiness are all laid up That Seed of Grace must be sown in season from which we would ever reap a crop of Eternal Glory Now therefore while the Lord waits to be gracious while his Spirit strives and calls you to break off your Sins by Repentance be sure to work out your own Salvation with fear and trembling providing for your selves everlasting Heavenly Mansions against the Time that your Earthly Tabernacles will be dissolved Oh remember if while God affords you the auspicious gales of his own Spirit you shall not now hoyst up your Sails setting forward in your Voyage for the holy land you must never expect to arrive safe at the shore of blessed Eternity CHAP. XI A Sixth Consideration added to move Sinners to seek an Interest in Heaven and Glory taken from that everlasting Misery that will otherwise befall them where also the Horror of that Hellish Misery is set out in Six Particulars 6 AND lastly consider if you get not an interest in Heavenly Glory the reward of Eternal Misery must be your portion It hath by some been fiction'd that what every Man affected in this Life with that he should be solaced in the Elisian fields The Moral carrieth in it a certain truth that look what Men set their Hearts most upon here such shall
Cognation and Family too But there is a great day of Separation coming when being sorted and set one upon God's right Hand and the other upon his left the Wicked with the Devil and his Angels shall be hurried away together as so many Swine and Goats from the Presence of God into the Vengeance of eternal Fire And oh what a dreadful Aggravation of your Torments in Hell will this be when the Devil who instigated you through his Subtilty to commit Sin and those that were your Companions in the Contrivances Pleasures and Profits thereof must for ever become your Associates in that Wrath that Misery that endless unpreventable Destruction that will follow after Many Fool-hardy Sinners there are who think it will be some Allay to their Misery in Hell that they shall not go thither alone But to be sure the more Vessels of Wrath the more Vials of God's Wrath will be poured out upon them (o) Luke 16.27 28. and if the concurrent Judgment of Expositours upon the Parable of Dives and Lazarus (p) Damnatus ista petivit non ex charitate quam nec in morte nec postea habuit sed ex servili timore ne sui ipsius damnatio augeretur ex fratrum suorum damnatione cum quibus consors fuit in vitiis quibus vitiosae vitae reliquit exempla Carthus in loc that which made the rich Man so passionately desirous to have his five Brethren premonished by the Herald from the Dead was not any Compassion which he bore to them but a certain fearful looking for of an Aggravation of his own Misery by the Association of them with himself in those Hellish Torments Howl and tremble then all ye that neglect Glory striking Hands with the Works of Iniquity for the Misery that will shortly come upon you when Chained up by the Almighty Hand of God amongst Devils and damned Spirits in the dark Chaos of eternal Confusion In this World the Wicked love not to Associate themselves with God's People but shun their religious Society abhor their devout Exercises exclaiming of them as the only Troublers of the State Subverters of good Order (q) Luke 22.2 Enemies to Coesar the very Pests of the (r) Acts 17.6 7. Country where they live (s) Acts 24.5 and Men that turn the World upside down But oh what everlasting horrid Confusion what Trembling what fearful Astonishment what furious Heart-rending Reflexions will this fill them with to see the Righteous called up into eternal Soul-entrancing Communion with God in Glory and themselves carried headlong with grisly Devils and damned Spirits into hellish Torments If David complains so bitterly of the (t) Psal 120.5 Society of contentious Neighbours saying Woe is me (u) Apud inferoes singularissimum erit tormentum perpetim audire tot centenorum millium horribilissimos mugitus planctus rugitus perinde si mille boves assentur vivi that I dwell in Mesech and that I sojourn in the Tents Kedar What cause then of sad complaint will all the damned have in Hell where they shall by their bitter out-cries horrid execrations and doleful schrietchings mutually aggravate each others Torments and never envy any other Company than that of enraged Devils insulting over them with hellish spite ¶ Diabolus super eos ministerium accipiet justae damnationis qui sponte se tradiderunt pravae actioni Haymo in Dom. 7. post Pent. pag. 308. and torturing them as the Instruments of God's eternal Vengeance with variety of exquisite Torments for ever Should a poor damned Soul break out of Hell with the Flames and Wrath of God upon him and attended with Legions of furious Devils shew himself in our Streets filling the Air with his doleful Out-cries and hideous Roarings how dreadful would it be to all Beholders How would Mens Hair stand an end and their Knees smite one against another Think then with your selves and let it make you serious in seeking Heaven How dreadful it will be to have your Portion with the Damned in Hell to dwell with Millions of snaky Devils and to be filled for ever with the hideous Out-cries and doleful Lamentations of such everlastingly tortured and torturing Caitifs 3 CONSIDER the universality of Hell torments which will so diffuse themselves through the whole Man that not any faculty of Soul nor any member of Body shall be free from anguish Here Diseases have their particular place of residence assigned them in the Body so that some parts are free while others are full of Pain Or if any Distemper exercise such an universal Tyranny over the whole Body as to afflict and torture it in every Part and Member yet the Spirit of a Man doth often escape the malignity of his affliction sustaining him under it But in Hell the whole Man must undergo an universal Misery (a) Paenae damnatis secundum corpus secundum animam infligentur Corpus poenis vartis quoad omnes sensus afficietur Anima secundum omnes suas potentias cruci abitur Gerson So that every Vein and Artery in the Body every Power and Faculty of Soul shall be filled up to the brim with the invenomed bitter Water of Gods enraged jealousie to torture and perplex them for ever Here the Body is tortured in all parts not a Vein nor an Artery not a Muscle goes free And in every Sense it is terrified and beset with some prodigy of Horrour and dreadful astonishment There shall be Tears in the Eyes for there is weeping and wailing Horrour in the Ears proceeding from those hideous outcries doleful complaints and horrid execrations which the damned will breath forth for ever in Hellish Torments (b) Si damnatus vel exiguo tempore versaretur in terra foetido suo ore ita aerem inficeret ut induceret magnam pestem contagionem in universum mundum Stella de Cont. Mundi lib. 3. cap. 3◠pag. mihi 358. the smell which was here so choice in singling out its fragrances shall there be everlastingly offended with the noysom fume of Brimstone and with those poysonous favours that proceed from damned Reprobates which if breathed into the Air were enough to infect the whole World with a mortal Plague the curious Palate which here must be entertained with variety of delicious Fare not well knowing through niceness which dish at a Feast to feed upon shall there tast nothing but the Poyson Asps and the Wine of Everlasting astonishment the Touch which here must be gratified with all softness and effeminacy as impatient through the delicacy of it to endure so much as the injury of one cold blast shall there be everlastingly afflicted with most exquisite Tortures lying under the fierce Storm of Gods Wrath which like a Tempest of Fire and Brimstone shall excruciate and beat upon it for ever And as all the Senses so every Member of the Body shall have its peculiar pain to wrack and torment it for ever The Head that was here
which the damned most inevitably suffer every moment without any intermission of their Pain in hellish Flames The Storm of divine Wrath which in Hell like a Tempest of Fire and Brimstone will beat upon the Heads of the Damned is (a) Sicut enim gloria sanctorum nunquam interrumpitur ita nec poena damnatorum Aquin. Sup. 3. part quaest 70. art 3 uninterrupted and continual admitting of no Vocation of Rest from that intolerable restless Anguish wherein they must be Tortured night and day without ceasing for ever 'T is some Comfort in their Life that all our Sorrows like an intermitting Feaver do afford us some Respite But in Hell this will break their Hearts that the Fit of the damneds Torment will be always upon them there they lie continually in the most rageful Paroxysm of sorest Anguish without hope of any the least moments respite for ever The Furnace of their Misery shall always burn without an equal Heat and yet the Heat of that Furnace (b) Isaiah 30.33 by the Breath of the Almighty like a River of Brimstone flowing in upon it shall be boyled up to the highest consistency of fiery Rage and revengful impetuous Fury In Hell it is that God draws the revengful bearded Arrows of his Justice to the Head Here he empties all the deep-drenching Vials of his Wrath upon the Damned as beyond all time in Eternity so beyond all measure in most dolorous Heart-rending Extremity The (c) Psal 2.12 Wrath of God if kindled never so little against a Sinner in this Life if but one spark of it fall upon the Conscience what dreadful havock doth it make turning every Man upon whom it lights into a living Hell a Magor-Missabib Terrour round about Who then can tell how dreadful hot and scorching God's Wrath will be when through the heat of his enraged Displeasure against all the Ungodly it shall be turned into the Fire of Hell that will scorch and torment them without quenching for ever If the Fire which hath been given of God unto Man for his Use and Comfort be so hot and unsufferable in Nature that it is still reckoned for one of the most dreadful and exquisite Torments What then may we think of the Fire of Hell which not Man who is able to devise much nor yet Angels which are able to find out more but God himself who is infinitely able to invent most of all hath in the largest compass of his Wisdom sought out to be not for use but for a Curse not for the Comfort of Man but for his everlasting Torment There is nothing more painful to the Sense than Fire no Fire more noysome and scalding than that of Brimstone And yet hereby is the Punishment of the Damned set forth importing the greatest Extremity of Wo and Misery imaginable that they shall have their part in the Lake that burneth (d) Rev. 21.18 with Fire and Brimstone Whether this Fire (e) Cum corpori non possit adaptari poena nisi corporea ignis inferni erit corporeus Aquin. Sup. 3. part quest 97. art 15. ought to be understood properly or Figuratively of a true corporeal Fire or only of some dreadful kind of Torment which the Spirit of God hath thought good to emblematize to us by that furious Element is much controverted The School-men and Papists earnestly contend to prove the Fire of Hell Material as Austin and some other of the Fathers Dogmatized (f) Gehenna illa quod etiam stagnum ignis sulphuris dictum est corporeus ignis erit cruciabit corpora damnatorum August de civit Dei lib. 21. cap. 10. pag. 1633. Amongst the Protestants though some would have it partly Corporeal for the tormenting Tormenting of the Body and partly Metaphorical for the Afflicting of the Soul yet others there are that assert it to be purely Metaphorical of whom the Learned Chamier tells us (g) Nobis certum ignis flammarum in inferno nihil esse nisi metaphoricum pueriliter nugari quicunque corporea sive metâ—rialia sunt imaginati Cham. Paustrat tom 2. lib. 5. cap 20. § 47. pag. 190. Cum idem sit ignis paratus Diabolo hominibus impâ—is ignis aâ—tem corporeus ron possit agere in spiritum planum sit ignis imagine spirituale supplicium ad 〈◊〉 arâ— Tilen Syntag. part 2. cap. 68. Hisce Calvinus interpreâ—â—◠〈◊〉 doctissimus in Isa cap. 3. ver 33. Et alibi astipulatur Ignis inferni cum ut divinae justitiae instrumentum sibi valide nocivum ab anima apprehendatur propter visinem sui verè animam cructare dicitur Aq. Sup. 3. part q. 70. a. 3. Qualiter in corporei spiritus corporeo â—gâ—â— asfâ—gantur Doctoâ—es super quantum sententiarum discribunt Communis respontiâ— est quod ille ignis en quantum est inâ—trâ—mentum divinae justitiae spiritus condemnates affigit Carthus in Luc. cap. 16. v 24. we are certain that of the Fire and Flames in Hell there is nothing but what is Metaphorical and that all such do but Childishly trifle who judge otherwise of them By these the unproportionableness of a material Fire to the Nature of Devils and the Souls of Men which are purely immaterial is urged and with much plausibility stood upon they think it nothing likely that a spiritual Being should become Obnoxious to the Dint of any corporeal Punishment But the other with as much Facility seem to untie the Knot telling us that although corporeal Fire in the Nature of it be not proportionate to any immaterial Substances such as are Devils and the Souls of the Damned in Hell nor able by any physical Power of its own to leave any afflictive Impressions upon them yet considered for that end by the Almighty Power of his revengeful Hand to an height of transcendent Efficacy beyond all Hyperboles so it can easily torment a spiritual Being and make the same painful Impressions there as it would upon a corporeal Substance Some other Arguments there are insisted upon which because I judge them concluding for neither side I purposely wave Nor shall I undertake the Decision of so dark a Controversy rashly as Austin said in another case defining what with the utmost reach (h) Temerè definire non audeo quod excogitare non valeo Aug. de civit Dei lib. 22. cap. 20. pag. mihi 738. Sed melias est dubitare de occultis quam litigare de incertis Lamb. ex Aug. lib. 4. distinct 50. d. Ignis infernalis noster nimium quantum differunt primò quidem in urendi sensu Noster ignis Augustino pictus videtur sed ille alter veruâ— Quicquid hic te urit fabula est jocus est quicquid hic pateris merissimus Iudus est Ignium umbra sunt ignâ—s nostri ad illa inferorum incendia poenae quas hic deperaimus deliciae sunt ad illa nunquam desitura tormâ—nta Cur enim non dicamus quamvis miris tamen
Wickedness and horrid Rebellions against Heaven (i) Peccare non definit quem in extremis situm recedere à criminibus sola tantum facit impossibilitas non voluntas qui enim à malis actibus tantum morte discedit non relinquit scelera sed relinquitur à sceleribus Atque ideo tunc puto peccat quando cessaverit quia quantum ad anionum necdum defiit qui adhuc velit peccare si possit Sal. ad Eccles cathol lib. 1. pag. 360. There are none that go down into Hell but they carry their unbelieving impenitent Hearts along with them And therefore since they never break off their Sins by Repentance endeavouring to live unto God they are but justly shut up in those fiery Chains of Wrath which will never break and in which they can never die Repentance is on all hands acknowledged a necessary prerequisite of pardon except by those of the Antinomian Libertinisme God will humble the Sinner and bring him upon his Knees before he give him a pardon The Heart of every ungodly Man must either be broken by Godly Sorrow from Sin or else wanting such godly Sorrow he must never look to escape the Vengeance of Eternal Fire But what hope of such wholesom though bitter Fruit of Repentance when the Tree is cut down and now burnt irrecoverably in the Flames of Hell God sorrow for Sin is not a Flower to be gathered out of any of those Bundles of Tares that lie burning in Hell The hot scorching Fire of Hell it will break the Heart of the stoutest Sinner but never mollify it It will rend the Heart with unconceivable Horror but never melt it down into Tears of unfeigned Repentance The Wicked in Hell they will have Fire enough to torment them for their Sins but none to refine and purify them from the dross of their Sins Tears they will have enough to shed over their Sins because of that Wrath and Misery they have now brought upon them but not one Tear to shed for their Sins as displeasing to an Holy God and violative of his Righteous Will (k) Damnati cum jam de facto sint in Termino sunt in statu immutabili ita ut voluntatem habent in malo perpetuò immutabiliter confirmatam Barlow Exert 1. p. 10. For now they are to come to their final Estate they have no further to travel but are come to their Journeys end where Sin shall be aggravated into a Prodigy of Wickedness and most horrid Blasphemy not conquered by a serious Repentance the Will being here Everlastingly obfirmed in Wickedness * Cum meritum demeritum ordinentur ad aliquod bonum vel malum consequendum neque boni merebuntur quia bona voluntas in eis non erit meritum sed praemium neque mali demerebuntur quia eorum mala voluntas non erit demeritum sed poena Aq. Sup. 3. Part. q. 98. art 6. o. And though the Damned being now in Termino where is neither place for Merit nor Demerit which as means have relation to some future Good or Evil and must therefore cease their respective ends once attained do no longer contract further guilt by their bloody Cursings horrid Execrations and Blasphemies against Heaven so as to expose themselves every Moment to new Degrees of Punishment such obfirmedness and obstinacy in wickedness being itself the very Emphasis of their Misery and their greatest Punishment Yet that Impenitence under Sin when â—inal should leave the Ungodly to an Eternity of Misery in Hell is but equal that such as would never sorrow for Sin after a godly manner should be eternally Damned for Sin that such as would never humble themselves nor go to God upon the bended Knees of true Repentance for a Pardâ—â— should for ever lie under his ireful frowns is but equal Here the Lord is upon a Treaty with us holding out the golden Scepter of his Grace But because in Hell this Treaty will be over and Repentance our of date there is therefore no further possibility that the Damned should ever escape the Vengeance of eternal Fire Fools then or mad Men shall I call them who hearing tell dayly how unsufferable for extremity how unsupportable for Eternity Hell Torments are do yet willingly to enjoy the momentary Pleasures of Sin deprive themselves of that eternal hyperbolical weight of Glory plunging themselves Body and Soul in eternal remediless Tortures What shall not the thought of eternal Destruction from the presence of God make you afraid causing you to fly by Repentance from the Wrath to come †Isa 33.14 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Foci aeternitatis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 enim ignem locum ubi accenditur ignis secundum Pagninum significat Who can dwell with everlasting Burnings or stand scorching to give you the original in the hot fiery Hearths of Eternity There is not Sinner any condition of Misery so dreadful and intolerable as that which is unalterable So that your Misery under the Wrath and ignifluous displeasure of God in Hell being endless it must needs be easless To a Woman in Travail now scrieching and crying out for the griping throws and grievous Pangs now come upon her 't is no small Comfort to think that being once delivered they will all have an end But Wo and alass poor self-destroying Sinners there is no such ground of Comfort as this in Hell where all those whose woful end is to be damned shall have Fire and Brimstone unsparing Wrath and Damnation without end Think not poor brutish Sensualist that the dark Night of suffering will be as short as the day of thy Sinning or that thy future Miseries in Hell will as soon pass away as thy present carnal Pleasures The delight and pâ—â—fit of Sin is short But the Punishment and Torment that will follow after is Eternal When Sinner thou hast lain as many Millions of Ages in Hell burning like a Fire-brand upon the Grid-iron of God's fiercest Wrath as there be Sands upon the Sea-shore ten thousand times told Yet still an Eternity of suffering will be future if all futurity there be not swallowed up in one infinite Moment of Pain that will never be overcome nor ever come to end Were the damned in Hell to expiate their Sins with a whole Ocean of Tears and yet but every thousand Year to shed a Tear this would afford unspeakable Comfort and make them think themselves the most happy Men in the World if then there might be an end of their Torment Oh but what an Hell will this be in their Consciences what a Fire in their Bones and what a Dagger in their Hearts to think that when they have been burning as many Millions of Years in the Infernal Flames as there are Drops of Water in the vast Ocean yet now they are not one moment nearer coming out from that Place of Torment than the very first minute that they were thrown down irrecoverably into it For here
the Worm never dieth the Fire never goeth out the Storm is never blown over but an Everlasting Night of Darkness is determined upon them So that though they should desire Death as a Paradise yet it will fly from them Fire will burn them Devils insult over them and the Flames of Hell torment them without quenching for ever Oh dreadful condition and never to be thought upon but with fear and trembling For a Man to be miserable and that Eternally be shut up in Chains of Darkness and that Eternally have his portion with Hypocrites in the Lake that burneth with Fire and Brimstone and all this Eternally how doleful and unsufferable would this be And yet thus it is and thus it will be with all the ungodly their Repentance for Sin never had a beginning and therefore the Wrath the Horrour the Heart-rending Torments of Hell shall never have any end Oh boundless Eternity Oh Eternity not to be melted by any spaces of Time Oh Eternity not to be comprehended by any humaâ—e Intellect How infinitely beyond all Hyperbole of imagination doth it aggravate the Torments of the damned in Hell Grievous are the Torments of Hell for extremity more grievous for the sad variety of them but most grievous of all for their unfathomed Eternity For what more miserable than for a poor Creature to be so extreamly tortured that he cannot live and yet so strangely wretched that he cannot die What will it profit thee Oh Man that in this Life thou hast had thy Pleasures when in Hell there will be nothing remaining of them but Eternal Pain to torment thee Should not an Eternity of Hellish Torments following after make thee fly from all the foregoing Pleasures of Sin which are but for a season What meanest thou poor fond Sinner canst thou burn for ever be damned for ever undergo the Frowns of God for ever or canst thou endure for ever an Eternal Agony of Hellish Horrour (a) Fuge frater illa tormenta ubi nec tortores deficiunt nec torti moriuntur quibus sine fine mors est non posse in cruciatibus mori August de Catechiz Rud. cap. 25. pag. mihi 76. Fly Man if thou love thy Soul these intolerable endless Tortures where neither the Tormenters will fail nor the tormented die where there is D at h without Life and these Torments where in Death itself that puts an end to all other Sorrows can yield no Succour Oh what Agonies and Horrours will invade and tear in pieces the woful Hearts of wicked Men when they must be burning in Fire and Brimstone kept in highest Flame by the ignivomous Breath of the Almighty World without end Better were it for a Man to endure the sharpest and most exquisitely tormenting of all bodily Tortures in this World for a thousand Years together without any Heart to pity him or any Hand to succour him than to lie under the Wrath of God enduring the pains of the Damned in Hell the least moment Oh then consider this all you that forget God how will you be able to lie under the Frowns of God for ever to endure the fierceness of his Wrath everlastingly and to suffer through all Eternity the pains of Hell without any hope of end or mitigation Think then Sinners many sad and serious thoughts about your Eternal Condition What provision you have made for Eternity What Comfort your immortal Soul will meet with at the Threshold of Eternity What Harbour you will put into when lanching forth in the vast Ocean of Eternity whereby to shelter your selves from the hideous Storms of God's Eternal displeasure Who knows how soon Sinners you may drop into Eternity how soon you may be swallowed up of an Everlasting Condition how soon you may take possession of that estate in another World which shall be for ever and from whence there is no returning Why then will you still make light of heavenly Glory when in case you fall short of that an Eternity of Wrath Misery and unsufferable Torments in Hell must be your portion Oh what desperate folly hath possessed the Hearts of all graceless Sinners who never seek an interest in the Kingdom of Heaven but run headlong without Fear upon Eternal Burnings in Hell as it were to a Banquet Is this your Wisdom to despise Canaan and die in the Wilderness to set light by Heaven and then drop into Hell irrecoverably Is it your Wisdom to sin a while and be damned for ever Oh what Worlds would you give for Heaven when shut up in Hell What Worlds for a Day of Grace when Eternal Wrath is determined upon you What Worlds for the least hope of eternal Glory when punished with everlasting Destruction from the presence of God and from the Glory of his Power How dreadful will be the Condition of all such as fall short of the Recompence of eternal Life I have shewed with all Faithfulness And now dear Friends I would beg of you as ever you desire Comfort living or dying as ever you would escape everlasting Torments in Hell or be called up into eternal Communion with God in Heaven that you give all possible diligence to make sure of that glorious Reward Oh set about this Work presently without delay set about it in good earnest without trifling set about it in a right manner and do it throughly that you miscarry not and that by the due Observation of these ensuing Particulars CHAP. XII Directeth how to get an Interest in heavenly Glory and to have it as our eternal Reward in 10 Particulars which may be as so many Rounds in Jacob's Ladder for the Soul to climb up into Heaven by 1. LABOUR to be truly sensible of and to get your Hearts very deeply affected with Godly Sorrow for all your Sins Humiliation like John the Baptist having prepared the way of Christ before him Now he takes the Sinner by the Hand (a) John 16.22 and puts him in Possession of that Joy which no Man can take from him The King of Persia's Presence might not be approached of any Man in Sackcloth and Mourning But the way to approach the blissful Presence of God in Glory is first to be covered all over with the Sackcloth of godly Sorrow as with a Garment A Generation of Men there is who not able to bear the wholsome Severities of Christianity do declaim against the Doctrin of Repentance as Legal and inconsistent with the Gospel-dispensation But believe it Christians such as thus make it their business to cry down the Practice of Repentance as an unevangelical Work by making you to neglect the Seed-time of godly Sorrow they would spoil you of that Harvest of Joy that full Crop of eternal Glory which follows after For this observe I beseech you as God's usual Method with lost Sinners that first he humbles before he Exalteth them first he gives them the Spirit of Bondage to fear before he gives them the Spirit of Adoption first he fills them
with the Terrours of Mount Sinai before he refresheth (b) Isaiah 61.3 them with Mount Sion's Comforts first he brings them to mourn bitterly for Sin before he pours out upon them Oyl of Gladness first in a word he puts into them the Spirit of Heaviness before ever he will Cloath them with the Garments of eternal Salvation So that here we must mourn and humble our Souls for Sin would we ever come safe to Heaven rejoycing with Joy unspeakable and full of Glory And truly whatever some say to the contrary we may as well expect a Crop without Seed as to reap the Reward of eternal Glory without Sowing in Tears There must first a Shower of penitential Tears fall from our Eyes before ever the Sun-shine of true Happiness in the Kingdom of Heaven will break forth upon us Repentance is so necessary a Duty (c) Luke 13.3 5. that no Man could ever yet get to Heaven nor escape Hell without it Sin must and will have Sorrow either on Earth or in Hell either in this World to your Comfort or in the next to your Shame and eternal Confusion If therefore you love your Souls labour by Sorrow to prevent Sorrow by godly Sorrow for Sin here to prevent despairing Sorrow for Sin in Hell What is it not better that we should break off our Sins by Repentance than that wanting Repentance we should be broken in pieces like a Potter's Vessel with the Lion-rod of God's heavy Displeasure Is it not much better that we should fill God's Bottle with our Tears than that for want of such Tears he should empty all the Vials of his Wrath (d) Ezek. 18.32 upon us (e) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Just Martyr Apol. 2. pag. 48. 25. The Lord tells you plainly he hath no pleasure in your Death But yet he is resolved that you shall liâ—e upon no other condition than that of breaking off your Sins by Godly Sorrow And who would not rather live Repenting (f) An melius est damnatum latere quam palam absolvi Tertull. de Poenitent cap. 10. pag. 169. than be damned and die despairing Did Esau seek his Father's Blessing with Tears and will not you much more seek the Blessing of eternal Life at the Hands of God with Sorrow in your Hearts and Tears in your Eyes that you ever offended him Oh little do you know the unspeakable â—enefit accrewing to a poor Soul by Godly Sorrow wâ—at Comfort it fills him with here and what Glory at will Crown him with hereafter There are none that live so comfortable on Earth nor any that go more surely to Heaven when they come to die than those whose Life hath been spent in bewailing their Sins (g) Magnum est poenitentiae auxilium magnum solatium Illa est vulnerum peccatorumque sanatio illa spes illa porta salutis Lactant. Epitom cap. 8. pag. mihi 750. Great as Lactantius sweetly saith is the help and great the Comfort of true Repentance This like Balm is for the healing of our Sin-wounded Souls this is the Foundation of our Hope and this is the Gate of Salvation through which we may enter into the Kingdom of God When Hannah had wept before the Lord she went away and her Countenance was no more sad Go you likewise and weep bitterly before the Lord for all your Sins would you ever have your Hearts to be filled with Comfort and your Faces to shine with the Oyl of eternal Gladness They that would build high must lay the Foundation very low Thus godly Sorrow for Sin is that sure Foundation Stone upon which God lays the Superstructure of eternal Happiness Holy Mourning is the Seed out of which the (h) Mat. 5.4 Flower of eternal Glory Springs As the Harvest naturally follows the Seed Sown So if now you shall carefully Sow in Tears do not doubt but the (i) Psal 126.5 Harvest of everlasting Joy will follow after Let not then your Souls be by any means prejudiced against godly Sorrow which though bitter in the Root yet will be sweet in the Fruit working for your Repentance to Salvation (k) 2 Cor. 7.10 never to be Repented of The Pleasures Mirth and carnal Jollity of wicked Men will have a sorrowful end there is never a drop of Honey in Sin but will shortly be turned into a Sea of Gall and as the Pleasures of ungodly Men have abounded in this Life so their Torments in Hell shall much more abound But as for the Tears that drop from the Eye of godly Sorrow they will never grieve you nor give you any just occasion to Repent of them as being sure to end in Joy and be Crowned with an Eternity of heavenly Glory Repentance I confess is a Bochim a place of Weepers and therefore displeasing to a carnal Heart that would always dwell in the House of Mirth But (l) Haec te peccatorum flactibus mersum prolevabit in portum divinae clementiae protelabit Tertul. de Paenitent cap. 4. pag. mihi 166. through this Valley of Tears you will come at length to the Paradise of God where instead of the bitter Waters of Marah your Souls shall be satisfied with the new Wine of eternal Consolation when the Cloud that hid the Sun from us is once dissolved into a Shower then it shines out gloriously Thus when the Cloud of your Sins that now hides from you the Light of God's Countenance dissolves kindly into a Shower of Tears then will you find the Sun of Righteousness shining out upon you with the brightest beams of Love and Glory Shall I then prevail with you to become God's spiritual Seeds-men (m) Gal. 6.8 now sowing in Tears to the Spirit that of the Spirit you may reap Life everlasting Oh neglect not I beseech you this great Salvation deprive not your selves through the hardness and impenitency of your own Hearts of that fulness of Joy and eternal Happiness which the Lord hath provided for all that are Mourners in Sion What though godly Sorrow be displeasing to Flesh and Blood and Repentance bitter (n) Psal 16.11 Yet who for that fulness of Joy and those Pleasures that are at God's right Hand for evermore would not gladly undergo it Possibly you think its a tedious thing to afflict your Souls for Sin turning your Laughter into Mourning and your Joy into Heaviness Oh but remember that Crown that Kingdom that eternal weight of Glory to which your Repentance leads will abundantly make amends for all your Sorrow By a few-hearty Sighs and Groans and Tears you may get to Heaven And oh how sad would it be if for want of these you should fall into Hell irrecoverably and be tormented for ever A (o) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Just Martyr Dial. câ—m Tryphon pag 207. Man breaking off his Sins by true Repentance is looked upon and Crowned with eternal Glory as if he had never sinned But the least Sin Unrepented of will be sure to
plunge the Soul in remediless intolerable Misery 2 Be sure that you quit your own Righteousness giving diligence to see the Insufficiency of it to Life and Salvation Such is the Corruption of our Nature that though the Covenant of Works be violated and the Condition thereof unperformable to Man lapsed Yet still we would Trade for Heaven in a way of working building our Hope for eternaâ— Life upon the sandy Foundation of a Self-opiniative Righteousness If at any time Men are startled by the powerful Impressions of a Soul-searching Ministry and begin to feel the Sting of Sin in their Consciences you may presently see them have recourse not to Christ but to Moses not to the Righteousness which is of God by Faith but to the Righteousness which is of the Law placing their whole Affiance in the supposed Worth and Merit of their own good Works as if these could save them But know you must that those who put Confidence in their own Righteousness will as surely fall short of Heaven and Glory as those who make no Conscience of Righteousness at all Good Works when rested in and made the Matter of our justification before God are as infallibly Damning as evil Works when never Repented of (p) Gal. 3.10 For as many as be of the Works of the Law trusting in and expecting Salvation by them are under the Curse The Law at first was an easie way to Righteousness and from thence to Salvation But now every step thereof sinks as low as Hell It 's written within and without with Curses which way soever a Man stirs he finds nothing but Death before him One Man's way by the Civility of his Education the Ingenuity of his Disposition the Engagement of other ends or Relations may seem more smooth and plausible than anothers but by Nature they all run into Hell as all Rivers though never so different in other Circumstances run into the Sea And the Reason of all this the Apostle hath subjoyned in the following words taken from that everlasting Inability that we lie under to fulfil all Righteousness which the Law in its utmost rigour and latitude doth require at our Hands as pronouncing all those Accursed that continue not in all things which are written in the Book of the Law (q) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 M. Eremita to do them So then though Sin and Death go together as Work and Wageâ— yet eternal Life must never be expected as the Purchase of our own good Works but as the free Gift of God in Christ Jesus The Ways of Sin (r) Rom. 6.23 is Death saith the Apostle But the Gift of God saith he purposely changing the manner of his Speech is eternal Life Say therefore the Papists what they will of their Merit of Condignity proportionate in worth and excellency to eternal Glory Yet would you not for ever be shut out of Heaven and fall short of Glory you must Renounce all Opinion of your own Merit laying hold on eternal Life as the free Gift of God For can we rationally think that our imperfect Obedience should justly deserve with God the Reward of eternal Glory Do we fail coming short in every Duty and shall we yet look for Heaven and not of Debt and not of Mercy If the (s) Rom. 8.18 Sufferings of this present Life are not worthy to be compared with the (a) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Oecum in loc Glory that shall be revealed in us what little reason can we have to think by any inferior act of Obedience to merit such a far more exceeding and eternal weight of Glory (b) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost in Philip. Homil. 11. The Reward of eternal Life is the gift of God and therefore not to be sought by Works of Righteousness as infinitely exceeding in Worth and Dignity all our performances how glorious soever Misinterpret me not as if I were declaiming against the necessity of inherent Righteousness when indeed the meritoriousness and condignity thereof proportionate to eternal Life is all that we here deny We do not cry down Obedience and good Works as they stand in subordination to â—â—ace and are the genuine Fruits of Sanctification as they of the Romish Faction have maliciously traduced the Reformation But only as they stand in opposition to the free Grace of God in our Justification and are made by Pharisaical self-justitiaries the Foundation whereupon to bottom their hopes for eternal Life We of the Church of England do maintain the necessity of good Works pressing earnestly to the practise of them as antecedaneous to Life Eternal without which no Man can be saved But that wherein we dissent from the Church of Rome is about the causality of good Words with whom we dare not affirm (a) Si propriè appellentur ea quae decimus nostra merita Spei quidem Seminaria sunt charitatis Incentiva occultae praedestinationis Judicia futurae foelicitatis Praesagia Via regni non causa regnandi Bern. lib. de Grat. liber Arbitr but deny them to be meritorious of Eternal Life as if a Man should be saved for them We do allow them with Bernard to be the preservatives of Hope the Incentives of Charity the marks of hidden Predestination the Presages of future Happiness the Way that leads to the Kingdom of Heaven but not the meritorious causes of our reigning with Christ there Take heed then that you think not of your own Righteousness above what you ought to think 'T is your duty to fulfil all Righteousness but will certainly be your undoing if you trust in any Beware therefore oh Man of this sugared Poyson within thee let there be no depending upon thy good Heart thy good Life thy good Performances But remember the proud Pharisee who stands upon his own bottom as well as ungodâ—â— Sinners whose lives are notoriously infamous for all manner of abominable impieties will fall short of Heaven Whoever thinks to find Life in his own Righteousness and Glory in his own Graces will be sunk through such carnal Confidence to lose Life and Eternal Glory for ever Oh then let not any Man be found cloathed in his own Righteousness that would ever be cloathed upon with the Garments of Salvation For Men to despair in themselves counting all their Righteousness but loss for the excellency of Heaven This is the best way to obtain the reward of Eternal Glory in the Kingdom of Heaven He that here cries out as a Man lost and undone in himself will hereafter be found in Christ to the saving of his Soul Never did any Man yet get to Heaven by trusting in his own Righteousness Nor shall any Man fall short of Heaven who renouncing his own Righteousness trusteth wholly to the Mercy of God in Christ Jesus 3 GET renewed Natures making sure of a principle of Grace within (b) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Macar Hom. 30. A Wicked Man in his unregeneracy is no more capable of an
of God! If Sirs you think â—an Honour to appear Good (b) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ignat epist ad Magnes pag. 52. Omnino enim nihil prodest nomen sanctum habere sine moribus quia vita à professione discordans abrogat illustris tituli honorem per indignorum actuum vilitatem Salvian de Gubern Dei lib. 3. pag. mihi 94. is it not much morâ—â—n Honour to be so indeed What alas is the Name of Christian worth if you will goâ— put on the Nature of a Christian To think I was well reputed of amongst God's People I was called a good and had the Name of a Christian can this be a Cordial when you come to die Or will it comfort your Hearts when appearing before the Judgment-seat of (c) Quid est in quo nobis de Christiano nomine blandiamur cum utique hoc ipso magis per nomen sacratissimum rei simus qui à sancto nomine discrepamus Nam ideo plus sub religionis titulo Deum ludimus quia positi in religione peccamus Idem paulo post the great God where all your Paint and Varnish being washed off you must now be punished as Hypocrites with everlasting Destruction from the Presence of God and from the Glory of his Power To be counted Rich and yet turn Bankrupt to be judged healthful and yet sick unto Death would but aggravate in such cases a Man's Misery So to be counted Holy and yet Profane to have a Name to live and yet after all be found dead in Trespasses and Sins oh this will most dreadfully aggravate the Hypocrites Misery another day this will sink them deeper in Hell than the notoriously ungodly this will prepare flaming Ingredients for the Cup of Wrath and put new Stiâ—gs into those fiery Scorpions that will vex and torment them for ever If then you love your Souls give diligence now to have the best side inward doing every thing from the Heart sâ—â—cerely as unto God! Strive you must to make clean the inside as well as the outside of the Platter and to have pure Hearts as well aâ—â—lean Hands would you ever (d) 2 Tim. 2.21 be Vessels of Honour 〈◊〉 for the Master's use The foolish Virgins they had Lamps in their Hands a Profession of Godliness (e) Mat. 25.3 adorned with many glorious Performances But these were not animated with an upright Heart they wanted the Oyl of Grace within and therefore depart from me saith Christ I never knew you Christ will know those well he will know them to be Men of pure Minds and upright Hearts whom he receives to dwell with himself in eternal Mansions of Glory Otherwise if a Work of Grace be wanting within if the Heart be unsound and not inwardly Holy they must look to depart accursed into everlasting burnings where the painted fire of all their pretended zeal shall most surely be punished with the true fire of God's heavy wrath and sore displeasure Thus you may possibly appear Holy before Men and have your Christian Profession adorned with many seemingly glorious Performances But in case your Hearts be not upright before God now he throws you down for ever into Hellish-torments now he punisheth your Souls with everlasting Destruction from his own Presence now he commands you to depart accursed into everlasting Fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels and you must obey him Oh then what a woful thing is a rotten Heart and how much doth it concern us all to be that indeed which we are in shew He that is seemingly good but really bad though die he may with seeming hopes for Heaven and Glory yet fall he must into a real Hell of Misery and eternal endless Torments 7 SEE that you mortify through the Spirit the Deeds of the Body That which thou sowest saith the Apostle (f) 1 Cor. 15.36 is not quickned except it die so except first you die to Sin you can never be quickned nor raised to enjoy the Reward of eternal Life The way to die hereafter is to live here And the way to live hereafter is to die here They that now live in Sin must hereafter expect Death and eternal Misery as the just Reward and Punishment of their Sins But they that now die to Sin crucifying the Flesh with the Affections and Lusts shall hereafter live with God in eternal Mansions of Glory For saith the Apostle if ye live after the (h) Rom. 8.13 Flesh ye shall die But if ye through the Spirit mortify the Deeds of the Body ye shall live Here you see are described two ways the one leading to Death the other to Life the one to Hell the other to Heaven the one to endless Torments the other to all fulness of Joy in God's own presence So then he that will save the Life of his Sins shall lose his Soul But he that will mortifie himself his beloved Lusts and Sins and dearest Corruptions he shall live for ever Though then you cannot totally kill (g) Gal. 5.24 your Corruptions in this Life yet see that you be daily mortifying them Though you cannot wholly cast them out from remaining yet be sure to keep them under from reigning in your mortal Bodies that you should obey them All Sins are meritoriously Mortal but none save those which are left unmortified do eventually prove so (i) Rom. 6. Though it be true that every Sin deserveth Death even the Motus primò primi concerning which the Schoolmen write the very first risings and ebullitions of Lust in the Soul which do prevent all use of Reason though standing in her highest Watch-tower of Vigilancy to descry and with all curiosity to make observation of every approaching Enemy Yet there is no Sin though aggravated by supervening Circumstances to an equality of Guilt and heinousness with the most prodigious and horrid â—mpieties that were ever yet perpetrated by any Offender that doth actually infer Death exposing a Man to the Vengeance of eternal Fire unless suffered to go unmortified The least Sin when allowed of is enough for thy Damnation and the greatest when mortified can by no means hinder thy eternal Salvation The Life of Sin and the Life of a Sinner are like two Buckets at a Well if the one go up the other must go down Thus if your Pride your Hypocrisie your Covetousness your Carnality your vile Affections live in you you must die eternally but if through the Spirit you mortify them you shall live for ever Behold then I now set before you Life and Death Mount Ebal and Mount Gerrizzim Blessings and Cursings the Pleasures of Heaven and the Torments of Hell and oh that you would choose not Death but Life not Ebal but Gerizzim not Cursings but Blessings not hellish intolerable Torments but heavenly Glory There are but two Estates of Men in this present Life and but two proportionate to them in the Life to come Some here live after the Flesh and they must die
Let us not unsubordinate the Creatures to God their Creatour And make that independent in its Workings which we know to be otherwise in its Being To me it seems little less than to divest the great God of his Prerogative-Royal and to set the Crown upon the Head of the Creature when acknowledging him for the first Cause we will (k) Acts 17.28 grant that we live and have our Being from him but not that we are moved by him The profound Bradwardine the learned Twisse the acute Ames the Judicious Zanchy Neither they with many others of our Protestant Divines nor (l) Nihil praeter primum motorem movet agitve nisi motum actum Zan. de lib. Arb. thes 2. pag. 116. he could yet bear such Doctrin who lays down this as a sure Maxim that nothing but God the first mover doth either move or act if not moved and acted And indeed its hard to say how they who deny the Will of Man to be physically determined of God make not Man the first mover not moved the (m) Quod si haec hominis determinatio non praedeterminetur à Deó physicè primum erit homo determinans in genere entis physicè non determinatum primum movens non motum primum agens non actum ab alio ideoque determinationis suae prima causa primum principium 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 independens Et quia primum movens propterea duo prima erant sic Deus non erit ens absolute primum D. P. de Trad. hom peccat ad glor pag. 15. first Agent not acted by any other So that he shall be the first cause of determining his own Will yea independent and without any other cause than himself For we may not think that God only offers his Creatures a certain indeterminate common and indifferent concourse which is either like a Laquy subsequent to their determining themselves and comes in at the close of the day actum agere or like a Lesbyan Rule which (n) Novum istud commentum Jesuitarum solide refutatur à Thomistis quia facit providentiam Dei confusam imperfectam à creaturâ pendentem ut ab ea proficiatur Ames Dâ—llar Enervat tom 4. lib. 1. p. 31. they may incline determine and bend either to good or evil as they please This Devise of the Jesuites is confuted at large by the Thomists and most of our own Divines in the Doctrin of Providence who reject it as that which makes the divine Providence confused dependent imperfect and such as is capable of receiving its ultimate Perfection from the Creature Though Similes prove nothing yet they may illustrate and therefore to give you a perfect understanding in this case I shall shut up with the Simile of a learned Divine whereof the most of our English Divines in their Discourses about Providence make use telling you with him that God set up the World as a fair and goodly Clock to strike in time and to move it in an orderly manner not by its own Weights by fresh Influence from himself by that inward and intimate Spring of immediate Concourse that should supply it in a most uniform and proportionable manner This great Organ of the World he turned it yet not so as that it could play upon it self or make any Musique by virtue of its own Composure as Durandus fancies but that it might be fitted for the Finger of God himself and at the presence of his powerful touch might sound forth the praise of its Creatour in a most sweet and harmonious way So then if where Man hath a Power he cannot act unless determined thereto of God how much less is he able to act graciously in spiritual Concerns without the immediate predetermining Work of God's Grace upon him Thou can'st not stir a foot nor move an Hand without God and can'st thou then run the way of his Commandments or touch the golden Scepter of his Grace without him Never think to come to God without strength from God nor to come to Heaven if God carry not thy Soul thither in the triumphant Chariot of his own Grace The Lord breathed into Adam the Breath of Life and then he became a living Soul So the Lord must breath into thy Soul the enlivening Breath of his own free Grace and then thou wilt no longer be dead but alive unto God If Christ will draw her †Cant. 1.4 the Spouse doth then promise that she will run after him Thus thou wilt never run after Christ nor love Christ nor have the least desire to Christ if first he draw thee not by his own Spirit sweetly over-powering thy will to embrace to chuse to love the best things ¶ John 1.13 Sicut in nativitate carnali omnem nascentis hominis voluntatem praecedit operis divini formatio sic in spirituali nativitate nemo potest habere bonam voluntatem motu proprio nisi mens ipsa reformetur à Deo Fulg. de gâ—â— lib. arb p. 758. The Power and Wisdom of God forming the Babe in the Womb that prevents and goes before all thought that the Child could have of its own formation Thus those that have the happiness to be conceived in the Womb of free Grace the Spirit of regeneration that prevents them with a principle of life before ever they could have so much as a thought of or a will to or the least groan of desire after their new Birth Lazarus he had never come out of the Grave at Christ's call if the Lord had not first put life into him Thus our good Works can never come out of the Grave of our unclean Hearts 'till God do first of all * Isa 26.12 work them in us Not that we are to think he doth formally believe repent and as one Person with us exert other vital actions of Grace according to that wild Opinion of some Libertines But that he as the Author doth by the efficacy of his own Holy Spirit working in us enable us to perform whatever Duties whatever Services whatever Conditions himself hath required as necessary to our Salvation * Certum est nos velle cum volumus sed ille facit ut velimus bonum de quo dictum est Deus est qui operatur in nobis velle operari Certum est nos facere cum facimus sed ille facit ut faciamus praebendo vires efficassimas voluntati qui dicit faciam ut in justificationibus meis ambulâ—tis judicia mea observetis faciatis August de liber arbitr Grat. cap. 4. Gratia non credit non resipiscit non sperat â—â—n obtemperat Deo sed homo per gratiam idem In the conversion of a lost Sinner unto God 't is Man that doth believe repent and will whatever is good and pleasing in the sight of God But yet 't is God as the sole donour of every such good and perfect gift that doth first bestow a renewed will and
then by his Grace excite it that the Sinner may actually believe and repent to the saving of his Soul No Man did ever yet believe repent or come to God for Mercy but in the strength of God Nor did any ever yet obtain the Reward of Eternal Life but through the Grace of God effectually enabling to work in the Lord's Vineyard and making him faithful unto the Death Go then to God in Prayer you that love your Immortal Souls for Grace for Purity for Holiness but be sure that you pray fervently remembring you can never arrive at the Haven of true Happiness without the gentle gales of God's own Spirit to speed you thither By nature you are dead in Trespasses and Sins and if therefore God quicken you not you are lost for ever By nature you are mortally wounded and this your wound is uncurable you must die of it if God heal it not for you By nature you are a Reprobate to every good Word and Work unless therefore God work in you both to will and to do of his own good pleasure you can never work out your own Salvation By nature you are dreadfully polluted all over unclean as a Vessel in which there is no pleasure so that if you beg not the Spirit of God to cleanse you from all filthiness both of Flesh and Spirit you can never be Vessels of Honour sit for the Masters use Holy Jacob being in danger of his Brother Esau's Fury he wrestled with God all Night resolving not to let him go without a Blessing and his two Arms he used in this holy Wrestle (a) Hos 12.4 they were Prayers and Tears Thus Sirs you are in danger not of Man's Fury but of indignation of Wrath and Hell from the great God and will you not wrestle for a Blessing closing in with God by the Arms of Prayer and Tears Oh seek the Lord while he may be found and see that you call upon him whilst yet he is near Do not oh do not trifle away that Time about the Meat that perisheth which should be spent in labouring for the Meat which will endure to eternal Life What is it to gain Earth and lose Heaven to gain the World and lose your Souls What alass to fare deliciously every Day and at Death to be found despairing to be found dropping into Wrath into Tophet into Hell irrecoverably Oh how much better is it that now you should pray and mourn and weep bitterly before the Lord every Day to get prepared for Heaven for Glory for a Crown of Righteousness for the recompence of eternal Life than that you should then weep and howl without Hope for the Misery the Wrath the unsufferable Hellish Flames that must now seize upon you and burn you for ever torment you for ever Well that you may never forget seeking the Lord nor cease praying before him remember where your Strength where your Hope where all your Comfort lies 'T is the Lord alone that hath the Word of Eternal Life and therefore go to him resolving that you will pray and never give over praying that you will wrestle and never give over wrestling that you will weep and sigh and groan and never give over till you have the Blessing The same God who gives us the Crown when we have overcome he must give us strength whereby to overcome He that will cloath us upon with the Garments of Salvation when we come to Heaven he alone it is that must now give us Grace cloathing us first with the Garments of Righteousness that we may be fit for that glorious Inheritance CHAP. XIII The Doctrin improved by way of strong Consolation to God's People exhorting them to live upon a due respect to this eternal Reward as upon hidden Manna IV AND lastly though we have for a little while been leading you as through the Wilderness yet now we begin to draw nigh to the heavenly Canaan My Text is a Tree of Life and I would not willingly come from it till I have shaken some apples of Love some of its sweet and precious Fruit into your Bosoms 'T is the Mount of Transfiguration and I would not willingly come down till your Faces shine with the Oyl of Gladness 'T is a spiritual Eden a Garden full of all pleasant Flowers and I would not willingly come out of it till I have cropt here and there one and gathered you an heavenly Nosegay to revive and refresh with its Divine Fragancy your Spirits in a fainting Hour You have been with us a little upon the Ocean under all those Storms and rageful Tempests which will beat upon such for ever as have no right to the recompence of the Reward But supposing your claim to this Reward good your right unquestionable and evidences without flaw I shall now endeavour to lodge you in the peaceful and wished Harbour of Divine Consolation And truly here is a River the streams whereof if any thing will make glad the City of our God The Well I confess is deep but yet through the Comforters assistance you lending the Bucket of your Faith I doubt not but we may draw Water Water of Life nay the Wine of Eternal Consolation to refresh you to enliven and comfort your Hearts in every Condition What Wilderness need terrify thee having Canaan so plain before thee What Storms can disturb thy peace being come within Ken of thy Eternal Harbour Oh think with thy self dear Christian what Afflictions need discourage thee having always in thy Eye such a far more exceeding and Eternal weight of Glory This Doctrine drops Balm for the healing of wounded Souls 't is as so much spiritual Manna for God's People to feed upon in the Wilderness of this World till they are come to Canaan a Land that floweth with Milk and Hony Deny not then your selves the Comfort of that Reward which God sets before you The Lord for your better encouragement sets Heaven with all the Happiness and Glory thereof in your Eye and therefore let not your Eye upon a pretence of I know not what Modesty or Self-denial be turned away from the stedfast beholding it Oh see Christians that you dwell much in your thoughts in your serious Musings in your Divine Contemplations upon this Theam endeavouring with Moses in all that you do in all that you suffer for God to have a due respect to the recompence of the Reward Oh let the glimpses of Heavens Glory close up your Eyes when you go to Bed at Night and let the Light the bright irradiations and Heart-warming Sun-shine of the same Glory be sure to feast your Eyes when first you awake every Morning Whilst you live live in the Hope of Heaven and when you die oh strive that you may die in the full assurance of Heaven Get like Moses a prospect of Canaan before you leave this Wilderness and whether you pray whether you wrestle with Temptations whether you resist unto Blood striving against Sin or whatever you
do do all with respect to this Glorious Reward and in the strong Consolation of that Eternal Rest toward which you are moving This is not to be feeding upon any forbidden Fruit but indeed to be gathering Apples from that Tree of Life which God himself hath planted for you This is not to be Mercenaries but to be moving like so many living Stones towards God as the alone quietative Centre of all your Wishes Desires and heavenly Anhelations This is not to be carrying a Portion for your selves Christians nor to be conveighing any stoln Waters into your own Cisterns but it is to live upon your Fathers own allowance and to be drinking of that pure Fountain of Life of Divine Joy and Comfort which the God of Israel himself hath opened for you (a) Isa 55.1 and invites you to They do grosly mistake themselves and injure God's Goodness who looks upon the eying of Heaven and Glory in our obedience as a poysonous Corrosive to eat out the Heart of Sincerity For if you rightly conceive of it it 's a most precious Sovereign Cordial made up by the Hand of Heaven to revive the Heart of a Christian when desponding and to keep his Faith his Patience his Hope his Uprightness and all other Graces alive Truth is take away Heaven from a Christian and you strike him with all his Graces dead at a blow For a Christian both here and hereafter both Militant and Triumphant he lives upon Heaven Here by Faith and hereafter by sight here by Hope and hereafter by the full enjoyment of it now he lives militant in expectation of Heaven and then he lives Triumphant in the everlasting glorious Possession of Heaven (b) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clem. Alexand. Paedagog lib. 2. cap. 6. pag. 74. See then oh Christian that thou let not out the Life Blood of thy Soul of thy Faith and of all thy Graces by neglecting to have a respect in all thy obedience to the recompence of Reward Oh pour not out upon the Ground that sweet nectarious Wine that full Cup of Divine Consolation which thy heavenly Father himself hath mingled wherewith to make glad thy Heart to enliven thy Soul and refresh thy Spirit when labouring in God's Vineyard 'T is not Humility but the Pride and Vanity of a fleshly Mind 't is not Uprightness but Hypocrisy when Men will not suffer themselves to be encouraged by God's own Arguments nor to be acted by the Lord 's own Motives nor to live upon those spiritual Morsels those provisions of Heaven and Glory which the Lord himself hath made for them Fear not then poor trembling Christian thy own Sincerity because Heaven is so much in thy Eye so much upon thy Heart and so much in thy Thoughts this is nothing but that Banquet of Love that the Lord would have thee always to live upon Come then oh Believer for the Master himself calleth thee Come and drink of this Water of Life come with me and let us gather some Clusters of Canaan let us take a prospect to refresh us of that holy Land Oh where should a Christian delight to be but upon the top of this Pisgah this Nebo this Mount Abarim beholding with Gladness the Celestial Canaan What Pleasure canst thou have in an Aegypt in a Babylon in the black Tents of Kodar when God calls thee to walk with him in the Galleries of his Love to dwell with him in the Suburbs of the new Jerusalem to live daily in the warm Sun-shine in the bright Reflexions of Heaven and Glory Oh remember Christian when working in God's Vineyard for thy better encouragement that golden Penny of Glory which the Sun-set of thy Life will bring with it Remember whilst fighting the Lord's Battels against the (c) Revel 2.7 World the Flesh and the Devil how certainly having overcome thou shalt feed upon the Tree of Life which is in the midst of the Paradise of God! Oh think often with thy self whilst thy Hand is at God's Plough and thou art sowing in Tears what an eternal glorious Reward will follow after The Mariner sailing in the darksome Night under Storms and Tempests hath his Eye upon the Star Thus whilst sailing in the Ship of sincere Obedience under Storms and Tempests you must have the Eye Christians of your Faith always fixed upon the Pole-star of Glory would you ever come safe to the Harbour of your eternal Rest Like the Uranoscope your Eye must always be turned upward viewing the Beauties telling the Towers marking well the Bul-warks considering the stately Palaces and with all holy curiosity observing the Royalties of the supernatural Jerusalem So long therefore as God keeps you at work here below oh see Christians that you live with comfort upon his allowance solacing your Souls every Day with due respect to Heaven above and by serious fixed thoughts about the Reward of eternal Life which abides you there Now that your Joy may be full and your Cup overflow give me leave to shew you the Strength and Soveraignity of this Divine Cordial by acquainting you with these two ensuing particulars Viz. 1 WHAT manner of Reward it is whereunto God allows you a respect in all your obedience 2 WHAT a due respect had unto this Reward will do for you with what Marrow and Fatness of Comfort it may Fill you in every condition 1 I am to let you know what manner of Reward it is whereunto God allows you a respect in your obedience And here had I the Tongue of Men and Angels had I the whole Monopoly of finest Elegancies were the Words that I shall uter first formed for me in the Mouth of the most Seraphique Cherubim yet so transcendently Glorious is that Recompence of Reward which God sets before you that my expressions though filled up with greatest emphasis and cloathed upon with the most full and comprehensive significancy would as much come short of making an adequate discovery a full representation thereof to your understandings as the light of a little Glow-worm comes short of the Sun in all its Glory Hyperbolize to be sure I shall in speaking of this glorious Reward but it will be by Way of Miôsis and diminution rather than by way of Auxesis and aggravation For whoever will undertake to discourse of Heavens Glory whilst he dwells himself in an Earthly Tabernacle he will be no more able to express it fully and to the Life than that talkative Bird which can so neatly dissemble the Voice of a Man will be able with all her borrowed Notes to tell you what is the utmost Splendour Glory and Magnificence of all the World The Land of Canaan as one wittily observes notwithstanding all the helps we have is still for the most part a Terra incognita an unknown Land So that to give a full description of it in all its Riches of Glory it 's golden Mines it 's fruitful Trees it 's pleasant Fountains is no more possible for the stammering
Tongue of a poor Mortal than to compass the whole Heaven with a Span or to contain the vast Ocean in Cockle-shell (d) Vicit officium linguae sceleris magnitudo Lactant. lib. 6. de ver Cultu pag. mihi 626. Sed quis dicere vel cogiture sufficiat qualis sit in conspectu Domini Dei illa beatorum spirituum calestium que â—irtutum innumerabilis multitudo Quae sit in eis sine fine festivitas visionis Dei Quae laetitia sine defectu Quis amoris ardor non crucians sed delectans Quod sit in ei desiderium visionis Dei cum satietate satietas cum desiderio Aug. Medit. cap. 27. pap 61. What Lactanctus saith of a certain Vice the same may I say of this glorious Reward It 's greatness doth far exceed the largest significancy of the Tongues expression For who tho exhausting the whole Exchequer of good Language and Rhetoricating it the utmost emphasis of all daring Hyperboles can tell how incorruptible the Crown how sweet the Rest how glorious the Kingdom how full and satisfactory the Joy of Eternal Reward will be What Tongue of Man or Angel can fully express how soft the Bosom of God's eternal Love is wherein his People shall rest themselves for ever What Tongue can say how entrancing the light of God's Countenance how pleasant the embraces of a blessed Redeemer how delightful those Soul extasying Rivers of Pleasure are which run out at the Right Hand of God for evermore Truth is we can no more tell the excellency of a Christians Reward and the Powers of the World to come by those descriptions thereof that we meet with in Holy Writ than one who had never seen the Sun could give you a full account of all it's Splendour Brightness and Glory by the twinkling of a little Star in a Dark Night (e) 2 Cor. 12.4 St. Paul though he saw not all yet he saw more than what the Tongue of any Mortal Wight is able to utter And truly as Austin hath it we can better say what there is not than what there is in a Christian's Reward so unspeakably great is the Glory of it Let not therefore my dark amd muddy expressions occasion in you any low contemptible Thoughts of this Glorious Recompence But know that whatever through Grace I shall be enabled to speak of it will be but a little glimpse of light breaking in at some small crany in comparison of the Sun in it's Noon-day brightness So that what the Queen of Sheba said of Solomon's Glory the like will you when you come to Heaven say of this It was a true report that I had in the Land of the living concerning the Greatness and Glory of a Christian's Reward howbeit I believed not the words till now that my Eyes have seen it and behold the one half was not told me of what by sweet experience I do now find THIS to prevent all low and unworthy Thoughts of that Reward whereunto God allows his People a respect in all their obedience I now come to tell you as I can what manner of Reward it is which I shall do in these ensuing particulars CHAP. XIV Makes Further Improvement of the Doctrin by way of Consolation shewing what manner of Reward it is whereunto God allows his People to have a Respect in all their Obedience 1 THE Reward whereunto God allows his People a Respect in all their Obedience it 's a pure sincere and unmixed Reward Here every Rose hath its Thorn and our choicest Comforts they have something of Vexation in them But this Reward is a sweet Ambrosian Handkerchief to wipe away all Tears from your Eyes so that when once you come to enjoy it then you shall sorrow no more nor suffer any more nor have any more sad Thoughts any more heavy Hearts (a) Revel 21.4 any more afflicted Spirits to all Eternity Now God brings you to Sion with Songs and everlasting Joy upon your Heads wiping away all Tears from your Eyes Now there (b) Nulla erit ibi tristitia nulla angustia nullus dolor nullus timor nullus ibi labor nulla mors sed perpetua sanitas semper ibi perseverat Bern. Medit. cap. 14. pag. mihi 332. is no more pain for ever Heaven is situated in so wholsom an Air that whoever have the happiness to be made free Denizens of that new Jerusalem they obtain forthwith such an admirable 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Temperament both of Soul and Body that they are never troubled again with any peccant Humour to beget either Grief of Soul or Aches Pains and Distempers of Body Here every one of God's Children hath his Mouth filled with one Complaint or other this Man cries out of his Losses and that Man of his Sufferings I was full saith one but now I am empty I did lately abound saith another but am now in wants e'rewhile saith a third I was blessed with a loving Husband with a dear Wife with indulgent Parents with many sweet Babes and choicest Comforts but now Providence hath separated betwixt me and them and left me alone to out-live all my Enjoyments call not me Naomi call me no longer Pleasant but call me Marah (c) Ruth 1.20 for the Lord hath dealt bitterly with me These daily are the sad Complaints and thus we may frequently hear the best of God's People crying out in this Life Stay but a while though and the Reward of eternal Life will silence them all so that there shall be no crying out in the Streets of the new Jerusalem no Voice shall be heard there but that of Joy unspeakable of sweetest Melody of eternal Triumph Oh the infinite blessed difference betwixt our condition now and what is like to be when we come to Heaven Now weeping then rejoycing now groaning then triumphing Now filled with Gall and Wormwood then overflowing with Rivers of Pleasure Now labouring as in the Brick-kilns of Egypt under a sad Heart a diseased Body a wounded Spirit under Reproach Persecution and sorest Afflictions But then resting (d) Revel 14.13 from our Labours from all our Toyl or Tears our sad Thoughts our dying Groans our grievous fiery Tryals and so crowned with Life Immortality and unmixed purest Pleasures at God's right Hand for evermore Thou may'st possibly think it strange Christian to find so much Dross in the purest Gold so much Gall in thy Hony-comb such a mortal Sting in every Comfort so dark a Cloud upon thee when enjoying the fairest Sun-shine so much occasion of Sorrow and heart-breaking Sadness so much Vanity disappointment and vexation of Spirit in all worldly Enjoyments But remember the Rose that hath no Thorn the Honey that hath no Gall the Day that hath no Cloud the Crown that is lined with no perplexing Cares the Wine that is dash'd with no bitter Waters of Marah the Joy that hath no Grief no Sadness no Affliction to allay it is reserved for Heaven as the only
with at the Hands of his Enemies The like we may say of Peter who (p) Mat. 26.33.70 till he fell was so well conceited of himself that he thought himself able to live and die with Christ (q) John 21.15 though all his fellows should deny him But after that soul Miscarriage when Christ came to question him about his love to him you shall hear no such proud Boastings come from him but he speaks with a great deal of Jealousy and godly Trembling which made Augustin conclude it was much better with Peter (r) Salubriùs enim Petrus sibi displicuit quando flevit quam sibi placuit quando praesumpsit Aug. de Civit. Dei lib. 14. cap. 13. weeping over his denial of Christ than when pleasing himself with a Presumption that he would not deny him Above all most pregnant to this purpose is the Instance of that Holy Apostle St. Paul who denyeth not but ingenuously confesseth (r) Salubriùs enim Petrus sibi displicuit quando flevit quam sibi placuit quando praesumpsit Aug. de Civit. Dei lib. 14. cap. 13. that after he had been wrap't up into Paradise and heard unwordable words such things as it was not possible for a Man to utter there was given him a Thorn in the Flesh to this very end that he might not be exalted above measure nor lifted up higher in Conceit than he was in his Extasy 'T is reckoned I confess amongst the first-born of Absurdities by one Dr. Gell a grand Patron of sinless Perfection that the Lord should suffer Sin to remain in his own People for to keep them humble as if saith he God would have us proud that we might not be proud and Sinful that we might not Sin against him But he that hath learned to drive out one peg with another that hath seen the Diamond Cut with the Diamond or felt the searching of a Wound (s) Sectio dolorem operatur ut dolor dolore tollatur Aug. de nat grat cap. 28. causing Pain that thereby a greater pain might be removed will not much be transported with the Dr's Novel Speculations nor yet easily be perswaded to count it any Absurdity at all that the grand Physician of Souls should extract a sovereign Treacle out of Sins rankest Poyson and use the Blood of this deadly Scorpion to the Cure the stinging of the Scorpion For though Sin be not in itself medium per se nor the cause of any good any more than Venom or Poyson of Health Yet by the Wisdom of the great God it is made conducible to the humbling of his People who might easily if Perfectly cleansed therefrom be exalted to think of themselves above what they ought to think The Truth is it 's not Sin but the Sense of Sin remaining which is a means to humble us And as Grace accidentally causeth the Sin of Pride So our Sins accidently may cause the Grace of Humility Though then the Relicks of indwelling Corruption be evil and to be striven with all earnestness against Yet the due Sense of indwelling Corruption is good and with all diligence to be laboured for as that which if any thing can will be sure to hide Pride from our Eyes and keep us low Nor doth it any thing at all incommodate the point in Hand what is so commonly objected against it by our Adversaries With whom to the Grief of my Spirit I find a reverend Brother too rashly symbolyzing that if we were perfectly sanctified we should be perfectly humble and then there would be no room for Pride For whilst cloathed with Mortality the best of God's People are but in the way not come to their Journeys end not arrived at the secure Harbour of their Eternal Rest where only and not else where they shall so be confirmed in Grace as not to stand in need of those many peculiar helps which now they do 'T is true were we wholly freed from all the Remainders of Sin made perfectly holy and withal confirmed in a state of Grace then there would be no more danger of Pride than now there is amongst glorious Angels and the Spirits of just Men made perfect But were we only perfectly made Holy and not confirmed as the Angels are in such a state there would still be as much danger of Pride and of losing all again by Self-admiration as there was in Adam and the Apostate Angels so easily might we surfeit upon and have our Hearts over-charged with proud over-weaning Thoughts Perfection in Holiness then and a full discharge from all the relicks of Sin would not be sufficient security against Pride and Self-admiration unless the Lord should superadd thereto confirming Grace But this were to destroy order to jumble Heaven and Earth Grace and Glory together this were indeed to confound the State militant of Vicatores with the state triumphant of Comprehensores which this Wisdom of the God of order permitteth not So that Christians in this Life a Sinless perfection is a Nonenity you may as well expect a Garden without any Weeds a Sun-shine without any Cloud a Body without any peccant Humour as a Soul without all reliques of Sin and indwelling Corruption (a) Matth. 6.12 Quam necessariè quam providenter salubriter admonemur quod peccatores sumus qui pro peccatis rogare compellimur ut dum indulgentia de Deo petitur conscientiae suae animus recordetur Nequis sibi quasi innocens placeat cum innocens nemo sit se extollendo plus pereat instruitur docetur peccare se quotidie dum quotidie pro peccatis jubetur orare Cypr. de Orat. Dom. Lib. p. 314. Why else doth Christ direct us to pray daily for Pardon of Sin We renew Sin daily and therefore stand in need of Daily forgiveness So much doth that Petition imply unless we could imagin ourselves bound to mock God imploring what we have no need of If any Man dare be so hardy as to go before God with the Proud Pharisee telling the Lord (b) Nostra justitia potiùs peccatorum remissione constat quam perfectione virtutum Aug. de Civit. Dei lib. 19. c. 27. p. 530. Luke 18.10 14. he is so pure so Holy so perfectly free from Sin that he needeth no longer his pardoning Mercy let him go to and see what will come of it But as for me and all the Lord's People I desire we may still be found in the poor (c) In conspectu judicis misericordis justi non est accepta superba jactatio bonorum operum sed humilis confessio peccatorâ—m â—ulgent Epist 3. ad Prob. pag. 510. Publican's posture smiting upon our Breast and praying in the due sense of our own vileness Lord be merciful to us Sinners (d) 2 Cor. 7.1 2 Pet. 3.18 Profectò qui deâ—die in diem renovatur nondum totus est renovatus Aug. Justitia quamdiu augeri potest profectò illud quod minus est quam debet ex
Water to refresh the Thirsty and an eternal Sabbath of Rest for all that are now weary This Reward is Manna cujuslibet suporis like the Manna prepared for God's People in the Wilderness which they say had that very tast and relish in every Man's Mouth that pleased him best Here if one thing suite well with your Desires yet another goes cross or if one thing answer your Expectations yet in some other Mercy or Comfort you are often disappointed Oh but the Reward of heavenly Glory this will answer your Desires this will answer all your Wants your Grievances your sorrowful Sighs and careful Groans accommodating it self most exactly to your longing Expectations in all things Every poor Soul in this Life is a very Compound of manifold Miseries Wants and heart-breaking Distresses But as it is said of Mony that answers all things so this Reward it answers them all and removes them all What is it poor Child of God that thou standest in most need of What are thy Wounds that most pain thee thy Troubles that most oppress thee and what are thy daily Burdens that lie most heavy upon thy Spirit to grieve and afflict thee What is it after which thy Heart doth so pant and breath so impatiently long for Oh it may be thou art now upon the Rack sorely distressed But this Reward it will give thee a Writ of Ease from all thy Pain not suffering thee to groan under them any longer It may be with Zion thou sittest with Tears upon thy Cheeks weeping bitterly in the Night Oh but this Reward it will bring in fulness (b) Isaiah 35.10 of Comfort wiping away all Tears from thy Eyes Thou may'st possibly go mourning and be bowed down by reason of great Affliction Oh but this Reward it will give thee the Oyl of Gladness and make thee lift up thy Head with everlasting rejoycing Possibly thy Sins thy Unbelief thy Unfruitfulness thy hardness of Heart thy want of love to God and our dear Lord Jesus these trouble and afflict thy Spirit Oh but this Reward it destroys all our Sins turns faith into open Vision Hope into full Fruition crowning all our Graces how weak soever here with fullness and everlasting Perfection If thou groan because thy Pilgrimage is prolonged and thou dwellest as it were in the Tents of Kedar Oh remember this Reward it will bring thee home to thy Father's House it will gather thee to the Spirits of just Men made perfect it will change thy Sodom into a Zion it will turn the Brick-kilns of Egypt into Canaan's Golden Mines and the barren Wilderness of this World wherein thou now wandrest up and down like a poor distressed Pilgrim this Reward will change it into the Garden of God into the heavenly Paradise into a spiritual Eden full of purest Delights and divine Contentments Now peradventure thou hast Sorrow to remember thy Sins thy former Miscarriages thy daily Troubles thy absence from the Lord who alone is thy Hope thy Life thy Comfort thy Hearts desire oh but dear Christian this Reward it will make thee to forget (c) John 16.20 22. the days of thy Mourning it will put thee into the Bosom of thy dearest Lord it will turn thy Sorrow into Joy that shall never be taken from thee On Christians there is that suitableness in his Reward that it 's the very Plaister for your Sore the very Balm for your Wound the very Voice of Joy to your Spirits in heaviness the very Harbour of Rest and Happiness after all your Storms that have so grievously tossed you That variety of Expression made use of by the holy Ghost to shadow out the transcendent Excellency of this Reward doth most clearly evince the suitableness of it to all the Wants Indigences and desires of an immortal Soul If the Soul be dislodged from its earthly Tabernacle this Reward (d) 2 Cor. 5.1 provides Mansions of Glory for the comfortable Entertainment thereof in another World If a Man be hungry it 's a pot of hidden Manna to feast him If sorrowful (e) Rev. 2.17 it s the Joy of the Lord to comfort him If any Man be thirsty (f) Mat. 25.21 it's Rivers of Pleasure at God's right Hand for evermore to cool and refresh him If any Man walk in darkness (g) Psal 16. and have no light in him (h) Col. 1.12 it is the Inheritance of the Saints in Light If any Man walk in the valley of the shadow of Death it 's a Crown of Life (i) James like a Death-bed-cordial to revive him If any Man suffer Nakedness for Righteousness sake it 's the Garments of Salvation to cloath him it 's the white Robes of Glory to hide the Shame of his Nakedness If any Man lose Houses or Lands for Christ it 's an Inheritance incorruptible Undefiled (k) 1 Pet. 1. and that fadeth not away reserved in Heaven for him To the weary Soul that hath long been troubled through the Malice of an ungrateful World (l) Rev. 14.13 it 's a resting from his Labours To be short if any Man endure Afflictions it 's a far more exceeding and eternal weight of (m) 2 Cor. 4.17 Glory Oh then how suitable is this Reward that a poor Soul cannot be in any Distress nor labour under any Wants but this Reward will afford supply of Comfort giving ease to all that are now in pain the Garment of Praise to all that are now in heaviness and to all that are now labouring and weary and heavy laden the sweet enchearing Bosom of God himself for their eternal easeful Repose 4 THE Reward whereunto God allows his People a Respect in all their Obedience it 's a sure Reward So you may find it called by Sâ—lomon a Man in whose Breast all the Lines of Wisdom met as in their proper Center (n) Prov. 11.18 The Wicked worketh a deceitful Work but to him that soweth Righteousness shall be a sure Reward Both the Righteous and the Wicked are Men of active Spirits only the Works of the Wicked they prove abortive promising all good but exposing to Misery and so deceive Expectation But the Righteous he never meets with any such sad Disappointment but as the Harvest naturally follows the Seed-time so after a short Seed-time of Grace there will spring up as the never failing sure Reward of such a Person a full crop of eternal Glory So (o) Gal. 6.8 that you see the Text though but short doth yet carry in it both Blessing and Cursing both Life and Death both Heaven and Hell Blessing Life and Heaven to Crown the Righteous Cursing Death and Hell as that which must inevitably be the Portion of all the Ungodly The Wicked he worketh the work of a Lie that is a sinful Work every Sin being a Lie and such a Work that albeit it tells us a fair tale yet it will miserably deceive us at last betraying us into the Hands of Wrath Hell and
Actions of praying repenting and believing these are good as to the matter of them But our remisness our negligence our weakness in the exerting of them this is sinful and argues the most perfect in all the World to be yet imperfect falling short in all that do (c) Job 1.22 Neither doth that Scripture so much triumphed (b) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Omnes justitiae nostrae sunt sicut panniculus remotionum id est faeminarum quo ob menses suos seponuntur Exod. 28.38 in by a Pontificianizing Doctor of our own where 't is said that in all this Job sinned not at all incommodate this too sadly experimented Truth For the Negation there is only of acts sinful in the matter of them which Satan tempted that Holy Man to commit and into which he expected Job would through impatience and the sharpness of his Afflictions have been transported Nor doth it any thing at all advantage the cause of the Perfectionits which this Doctor hath taken upon him to assert that the good Works and Graces of God's People are wrought by the holy Spirit of God in them (d) Deus quidem primus boni operis est author sed ejus ductu homo est actor For though the Spirit work these things in us yet that 's only by way of efficiency as the Author of them and not formally as one Person with us (e) Opera fidelium si simpliciter omnino Dei essent omnino pura et perfecta essent at non sunt sed simul fidelium qui impuri perfecti ex parte sunt ideoque opera ex parte perfecta sunt The Spirit of God doth not believe and repent for us but enableth us thereto As it is not God that eateth drinketh or walketh but we ourselves by ability received from him Though then that which proceeds from the Spirit of God as the sole immediate cause thereof without the intervention of any other subordinate cause can never be impreached of the least defect Yet Grace being subjectively in us and good Works formally wrought by us as the Spirits Instruments do admit without any reflexion upon him of much imperfection and defilements Here our Graces are mingled with Corruption our best Duties with some undutifulness (f) Gal. 5.17 and all our religious undertakings with the sad counterlustings and countermotions of the Flesh against the Spirit in them Oh but Christians such is the pure Nature of this glorious Reward that it will perfectly change you into the spotless Purity and Holiness of itself Truth is the great Reward of Grace is Grace itself a Christian being never compleatly happy till crowned with an absolute perfection in Grace and Holiness But oh how happy will this Reward make thee when all thy defects and weaknesses shall be done away when all thy Graces that are now in their minority and as so many Undergraduates shall grow up to their full stature in Christ commencing Doctors as it were and taking their highest degree of Blessed Perfection in Glory Here Grace is like Gold in the Oar having much dross of Sin and indwelling Corruption mingled with it but in Heaven it will be fined into an absolute and unmixt purity This Reward indeed for a little Time dissolves the frame of Nature parting Soul and Body asunder But it easily makes amends for that perfecting that frame of Grace and at length brings both Soul and Body together again in fulness of Glory You must never think to be so gracious so pure and holy as you would be Christians till you come to Heaven Where only the Law in our members struggling against the Law of our Minds shall have an end where all decays and languishings of Grace shall be removed where all deficiencies of Grace shall be filled up and the first Fruits of the Spirit which here we receive as an earnest of Glory shall be turned into a full Vintage Your Graces are now like smoaking Flax in which there is most Vapour and but little light or like a broken Reed that is easily shattered with every blast But in Heaven it shall be turned into purest Glory and made a stately Pillar to stand unshaken for ever in the Temple of God Like the Sun wrapt up in a thick Cloud such are the Graces of God's People now But when once the Reward of Eternal Glory shall be given them then their Graces shall be like the Sun shining for in its strength with most radiant sparkling beams of Brightness You then that go languishing all the day long that your knowledge of heavenly Mysteries is so dark and confused your desires after God so faint your Love to Christ so cold your zeal for his Glory so remiss your delight in his Ways so small and all your Graces so full of Weaknesses and Imperfections Oh lift up your Heads with Joy and take Comfort in the hope of this glorious Reward which will quite do away all your present defects crowning all your Graces with fulness and most heavenly perfection Grace in the Heart of God's People here is like a Plant that grows in a barren Soil which thrives but slowly and bears little Fruit But when once it shall be transplanted into the heavenly Canaan there it meets with that proper and fertile Soil which will bring it on to perfection causing every Grace like a flourishing Vine to be laden with full Clusters of most sweet delicious Grapes for ever Oh then what manner of Reward is this and how much to be desired which will thus change Grace into Glory and our morning Twilight into a Noonday brightness making all Gods People as perfectly pure as perfectly holy and gracious as their Heart can now wish to be if not much more This Reward must needs make Grace perfect because Perfection in Grace is the principal part of this blessed Reward Needs must this Reward perfect Grace into heavenly Glory because the greatest Glory of Heaven next to God himself is Grace perfected and blossoming into the Flower of unspotted purity 9 THE Reward whereunto God allows his People a respect in all their obedience it 's a most safe Reward and such as can never be lost nor taken from them They are not only sure to have this Reward as we shewed in another particular but they are sure to hold it so as never to be deprived of it Other Rewards may be lost and a Man may be cheated of them he knows not how But the Reward of Eternal Glory it s a safe Reward out of this all the cheats in Hell are not able to rook you (g) Luke 10.42 as being indeed that better part which shall never be taken from you This Reward is our Treasure laid up in Heaven and therefore it can neither be corrupted by the Mâ—th nor be taken by the Hand of violence (h) Mat. 6.20 Here though we lay up Treasure under Lock and Key in Chests of Adamant and make it never so
Goodness Not but that I think as one Star differs from another in Glory So one Saint may differ from another in the Measure of his Joy (k) 2 Cor. 9.6 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cyril Hier. Cateches 1. Quanto plus aliquis hic Deo obediens fuerit tanto ampliorem ab eo mercedem sibi recipiet quantoque amplius Deum amabit tanto propius videbit quam ceruere cupit Bern. Med. cap. 14. They shall all of them be thrown as Vessels of Honour into the same River of God's Pleasures But shall not all have the same bore nor be all of the same size though every one of them according to their capacity shall be filled up to the brim Proportionate to our improvements of Grace in this Life shall be our enjoyments of Glory in the next He that makes the best use of his Talent God will give him the best use for his Talent l So that the more we lay out ourselves for God here the more Joy God will lay up for our Souls against hereafter m He that now sows to the Spirit with the most liberal Hand shall then reap of the Spirit the most plentiful crop of Life and Eternal Happiness He that is now most careful and diligent in trimming his Lamp shall shine most brightly in the heavenly Orb. And according to what any Mans preparations of Grace are whilst now militant such shall be his Mansions of Glory when once triumphant Nor is there any just Ground hereby given to the Romanists whereupon to build there Doctrine of condign Merit Neither have they any advantage hence offered them to assert any such thing as a redundancy of Merit in Doctors Virgins and Martyrs intitling them each one to an additional Coronet Mat. 25.14 23. Luke 19.16 19. or surplusage of Glory For the Ground of all this we make to be the remunerative Goodness of God in Christ so that both Glory and the measure of Glory both Joy and the degrees of heavenly Joy must wholly be resolved into the free Grace of God from which they spring And if Gods rewarding his People Secundum opera according to the Works for the kind of them do nothing advantage the Doctrin of Merits why should his rewarding them Secundum opera according to their Works for the degree and eminency of them be thought to do for it If God where Grace may also give Glory without any Merit on the Souls part What reason can be given why where he gives more Grace he may not also give more Glory with the same freeness If any Man be made to sit down upon a more glorious Throne of Happiness in Heaven we do wholly ascribe it to the redundancy of God's Love to such a Soul putting him up into an higher Form of Grace here on Earth and so preparing him as it were for a more honorable Seat when he shall come to sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the Prophets to the Marriage-supper of the Lamb. However it go there shall be that fulness of Joy and Glory in Heaven that none shall be able to complain of want nor to desire the least degree of Happiness and contentment imaginable more than what he hath (l) Atque id etiam beata civitas illa magnum in se bonum videbit quòd nulli superiori ullus inferior in videbit Aug. de civit Dei lib. 22. cap. 30. pag. 738. Nor shall any amongst the Saints envy the Happiness of each other when they shall every one participate of anothers Joy and count themselves so much the more happy by how much God communicates more of heavenly Glory to any of them So that whether we be Stars of the first or of the Second magnitude we shall all shine bright in the Firmament of heavenly Glory Whether the Vessels of our Souls be little or great they shall all of them if Vessels of Honour be full fraught with the rich Merchandise of Comfort Joy and everlasting delights Let your Hearts be never so sad for the present yet the Reward of Eternal Glory will comfort them Let them now be never so disconsolate and sorrowful yet this Reward will scatter all Clouds of Sorrow turning your Hearts into highest raptures of Joy Delight and everlasting Triumph 13 THE Reward whereunto God allows his People a respect n all their obedience it 's an unfading Reward and such as will never end in loathing and sariety This Reward is a glorious Sun that always shines with the same unspotted brightness 'T is a Tree of Life that always yields Fruit of the same delicious relish and sweetness so that though it satisfie you yet it will never fade you and though it will infinitely delight you yet it will never glut you nor make you weary of it The Manna which God gave his People in the Wilderness though at first they admired it yet afterward they grew to loath it But this heavenly Manna you will as much admire it and be as far from loathing of it after you shall have been feeding upon it for Millions and Millions of Ages as when first you gathered it with extasies of Joy and Delight passing all understanding in the Kingdom of God! What the Philosopher saith of the matter of Caelestial Bodies is nothing but what may be accomodated to the present Truth Though matter in Sublunary things be always burning with lustful appetite like a second Messalina after variety of new shapes yet such is the actuality and perfection of the form in heavenly Bodies that the matter thereof can desire no new form So likewise it is with the Saints of Heaven though whilst on Earth they were easily cloyed and tired out with their Creature-enjoyments yet now they have that fulness of Joy that perfection of Glory that surpassing delight and Soul-ravishing contentment of which they can never be weary and beyond which they can desire no greater Happiness Perpetuity neither takes off from the bitterness of Hell nor the sweetness of Heaven But as that will most exquisitely torment so this will infinitely delight for ever without any abatement The Sinners restless groans shall no less furiously tear his Woful Heart nor the Saints triumphant Hallelujahs any less sweetly rejoice his Soul after infinite Ages than what they did the first moment Long accustomedness whether to Heavens Joys or to Hells Torments will neither make the one less grievous and Wearisome nor the other less pleasant and delightful As the damned must expect the same Wrath the same Flames the same weeping hideous schrieching and gnashing of Teeth through the extremity of their Torments for ever without any mitigation So let the People of God expect when they come to Heaven the same fulness of Joy the same highest degree of Blessedness the same Paradise of sweetest delights Divine contentments and surpassing matchless Pleasures to all Eternity without any the least diminution (m) Qui satietati occurrit satietatem incurrit 'T is not
amoris divini in nos derivata beneficia prae omnibus hujusce saeculi deliciis longâ— sua vissima delicious than any Wine how Cordial soever And certainly most Blessed and full of Glory must the Change of every Saint in Heaven be which can render it capable to enjoy everlasting immediate Communion with so infinitely Pure and Glorious a Majesty For as the bodily Eye cannot stedfastly behold any bright and glorious Object that is never at hand if not wonderfully strengthened So were not all the Powers of the Soul wonderfully elevated and corroborated by a glorious created Strength the Saints in Heaven where God's Majesty and matchless Glory is fully manifested could no more enjoy him look upon him and delight in him as their Happiness than a Man having sore Eyes is able to look full upon the Sun in its greatest and most dazling Brightness God therefore creates in his Saints such a supernatural Disposition whereby they are prepared for the full Enjoyment of himself prepared to be filled with all the fulness of God prepared to behold for ever this glorious Sun whereas otherwise they would have been too much oppressed with the Weight of such a Glory What the Operation of the Soulâ— is which doth formally denominate the Saints Happy and whereby they do fully enjoy as God the alone beatifical Object is a thing much controverted amongst not only the School-men but the soberest Divines Some making it to be an Act of the Understanding with the Thomists whilst others would have it to be an Act of the Will loving and taking infinite Complacency in God with the Scotists (f) Essentialis beatitudo in Dei possessione constituenda est utriusque verò facultatis actu voluntatis scilicet intellectûs aequè principaliter ac immediate beati Deum possidebunt Arrows Tact. Sacr. lib. 3. cap. 4. §. 3. But I see no reason why any one should go about to promote a Schism betwixt the Graces of Knowledge and Love or give one the Preheminence above the other Since neither one nor the other can be excluded as mutually contributing to our nearest Union with and fullest Enjoyment of the divine Majesty And therefore the Scripture doth not place the whole of our Happiness in the seeing of God but also speaks of perfect (g) 1 Cor. 13.13 Charity towards God as that which goes to the Constituting of us in a State of compleat Blessedness So that there is not only a beatifical Vision of God in Heaven whereby we see him Face to Face that is to say as clearly and fully as a finite Creature can behold an infinitely glorious Essence But there is also a beatifical Love to God whereby we shall take an eternal Solace of Delight and full Aquiescency in God so that all our Affections being now called home from ranging after lying Vanities shall most sweetly meet together in an overflowing Ocean of Love to the Lord Jehovah Both these are necessary to the full Fruition of God wherein our Happiness doth (h) Psal 34.8 formally stand We must know God and love him too we must as well tast the Sweetness of God as see his Glory would we ever be made blessed by the Enjoyment of him In the Sun there is Heat as well as Light and did it not communicate its warm Influence to the World as well as the bright shining Beams of its Light there was no living thus Heat as well as Light is required in the Recompence of Reward we must not only have the Light (i) Beatitudo secundum Boethium est status omnium bonorum aggregatione perfectus ergo consistere debet in operationibus utriusque facultatis rationalis quia si deesset vel visio Dei ut primi veri vel illius fruitio per amorem ut summi boni maneret in mente inquietudo sunt autem inquietudo beatitudo 〈◊〉 compatibiles Bayhs Instit relig Christ pag. 291. of the Knowledge of the Glory of God in the Face of Jesus Christ but we must also love him withall our Soul with all our Mind with all our Heart and with all our Might would we ever live the Life of perfect Blessedness God is a Being infinitely true and good So that both the Understanding must behold him as the first Truth and the Will must sweetly embrace him by love as the chiefest good to make us compleatly blessed And certainly there are those Pleonasms of Beauty and Goodness in God that the Soul shall no sooner be call'd up to the full Enjoyment of him in Glory but she will see and love him she will love and see him she will drink in everlasting Light from God as the Fountain of Light and will bath her self for ever in the River of his Pleasures with all fulness of Joy and divine Contentment Who then can conceive what will be the Glory the Happiness the everlasting delight of a Soul keeping an eternal Sabbath of Loves in the Bosom of the ever blessed God where both our Knowledge of and Charity towards God being incorporated intâ— one glorious Fruition of him shall like a thousand Suns in Conjunction with each other make a bright Constellation of heavenly Glory If (k) 1 Kings 10.8 the Queen of Sheba observing Solomon's Glory pronounced all about him (l) Dictum est olim Solâ—moni à Regina Shebae beati viri tui beati servi tui qui stant coram te semper quâ—nto magis beati sint oportet quotquot Dei in christo in faciem praesentes perpetìm contemplantur blessed saying happy are thy Men and happy are these thy Servants which stand continually before thee and that hear thy Wisdom What shall we then think of those blessed Servants of God who shall for ever stand rejoycing in the beatifical Presence behold the Majesty tast the Goodness and experience infinitely beyond what they could ever have desired the loving Kindness of God which is better than Life it self This Christians oh this as Bernard hath it is a Reward indeed to see God and to live with God to (b) Praemium est videre Deum vivere cum Deo vivere de Deo esse cum Deo esse in Deo qui erit omnia in omnibus habere Deum qui est summum bonum Et ubi est summum bonum ibi est summa faelicitas summa jucunditas vere libertas perfecta charitas aeterna securitas secura eternitas Ibi est vera laetitia plena scientia omnis pulchritudo omnis beatitudo Et paucis interjectis videbit Sanctus Deum ad voluntatem habebit ad voluptatem fruetur ad jucunditatem In aeternitate vigebit in veritate fulgebit in bonitate gaudebit Bernard Medit. cap. 4. live of God to be with God to rest in the Bosom of God's dearest Love who shall be all in all to us to have God himself for our Reward who is the chiefest Good what Reward can compare with this Having God the
chiefest Good for our Portion we must needs have the chiefest Happiness the chiefest Delight true Liberty perfect Charity eternal Security and secure Eternity excluding all possibility of future Misery Here Christians here is the true Gladness the fullest measure of divine Knowledg the most peerless Beauty the perfect Enjoyment of all Blessedness So that you shall see God even to the Satisfaction of your utmost Curiosity have him for your Pleasure and enjoy him for your greatest Delight flourishing in his Eternity shining with the bright Reflexions of his Truth upon you and rejoycing in his Goodness with Joy unspeakable and full of Glory Moses's Face shined with the brightness of God's back-parts Paul was sensless of all other Joys when rapt up into the third Heavens Peter was thrown into an Extasie of Admiration when he only saw a glimpse of Christ's Glory in the Mount Oh then what Joy Christian will this be to thy Soul what Beauty to thine Eyes what Musick to thy Ears what Hony to thy Mouth what Perfumes to thy Nostrils what fulness of Delight to thy Heart when enjoying Communion with God in Heaven thou shalt behold nor his back-parts as Moses did but shalt (c) Omnes lectantur in laetitia exulatione omnes delectantur de Deo cujus aspectus pulcher facies decora eloquium dulce Delectabilis est ad videndum suavis ad habendum dulcis ad perfruendum Ipse per se placet et per se sufficit ad meritum sufficit ad praemium nec extra illum quicquam quaeritur quia totum in illo intenitur quicquid defideratur Semper libet eum aspicere semper habere semper in illo delectari in illo perfrui Bern. ubi supra see him Face to Face Here it is that all God's People shall rejoyce and be exceeding glad they shall delight themselves greatly in the Lord Jehovah whose Countenance is most aimable whose Face is Comely whose Voice is sweeter than the Hony and the Hony-comb Oh this Christians is a beatifical Object indeed most delightful to behold most pleasant to have and most sweet to enjoy Such is the fulness of all Good in God that of himself he can please the Soul of himself he sufficeth to merit and to be our eternal Reward Nor can the Soul desire ought out of him as finding the whole of all Happiness in him whatever it be that she can desire Here Christians if any where it contenteth to see him ever to have him ever to enjoy him for ever In God is the Understanding clarified to know and the Affections purified to love (d) In illo clarificatur intellectus et purificatur affectus ad cognoscendam diligendam veritatem Et hoc est torum bonum hominis nosse scilicet amare creatorem suum Idem ibid him as the first Truth as the chiefest Good And this surely is the whole Happiness of Man to know and love the great God his Maker in a way of divine beatifical Vision in a way of full Enjoyment and sweetest Fruition 15 THE Reward whereunto God allows his People a Respect in all their Obedience it 's a very near and proxim Reward and such as you shall speedily be put in possession of The time when the Lord will reward you with all heavenly Glory is of no long date though the time for your enjoyment of that glorious Reward will bear date to all Eternity 'T is but a little while and having finished your Course God himself will be your Portion and your exceeding great Reward The whole time of Man's Life here is so short that it goes but for one day in the Kalender of Heaven And yet as short as it is no sooner shall it close up in the peaceful Evening of a blessed Death but the Peny of eternal Life shall be given you We are usually long before we seriously set our selves to work in God's Vineyard But when once the Lord sees us working in good earnest he delays nor but comes quickly to reward us (e) Rev. 22.12 Behold saith he I come quickly and my Reward is with me to give every Man according as his Work shall be The Lord doth not say he will come to reward us which had implied some delay But as one ready to set the Crown upon our Heads behold saith he speaking in the present Tense I come quickly and my Reward is with me Or if any where the Lord speaks of his People's Reward as a thing to come you may find him qualifying the Speech with such comfortable Diminutives as are enough almost to remove the Futurity of this glorious Reward and to give it a present Subsistence (f) Heb. 10.37 Take that one Instance where the Apostle shewing the Hebrews what need they (g) Quod vero ait 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quod valet parum quantum quantum valde parum significat Theoph. in loc had of Patience that having done the Will of God they might receive the promised Reward he tells them that yet a little while and he that shall come will come and will not tarry Great is the Emphasis of the words in the Original and such as our English cannot with any handsomness of Expression render to the life For the Apostle not willing that these Believers should think the time long he speaks the whole of it by the help of three Diminutives into one short moment telling them that yet a little while yea a very very little while and their Lord who already was coming would no longer adjourn their Happiness but reward them speedily Your Seed-time of Grace how needful soever yet because it 's a dropping time the Lord will not suffer it to last always but hath provided before-hand that shortly it shall end in a rich Harvest of heavenly Glory where all Tears shall be wiped from your Eyes Truth is we have but a few days in this World and therefore many days there cannot be till God will Crown us with fulness of Reward in the World to come Be it so Christian that now thy own unbelieving dead Heart is thy trouble within and that the World and Satan trouble thee from without Yet remember after a few weary days the Lord will give thee a Writ of Ease he will give thee a Sabbath of Rest and will presently notwithstanding all contrary Winds land the Ship of thy precious Soul at the wished shoar of blessed Immortality What Athanasius said of the Arian Perfection calling it nubeculam citò-transituram will hold true of all the Afflictions Tryals and Persecutions of God's People in this Life which are but as a little Cloud that will soon be blown oâ—er So that though now you bear the burden and heat of the day yet Night comes on a pace as a time of (h) Acts 3.19 refreshing from the Lord and then you shall most sweetly repose your selves in the downy Bed of God's eternal Love Be your Sorrow never so grievous over
Hearts and make us walk with a lightsome Countenance in the saddest Condition Whilst Israel marched through the Wilderness their brightest Day had a Pillar of Cloud and their darkest Night a Pillar of Fire So in this Life things never go so ill with God's People but they have some Light nor so well but they have daily occasion of Sorrow and go groaning under some Affliction However an Eye fixed upon future Glory will be sure to mitigate the sense of our present Troubles What need he much be cast down for any loss whose Eye is fixed upon that heavenly Treasure which can never be lost What in all the World need fill his Heart with over-much Sorrow who sees fulness of Joy and Pleasures for evermore laid up in Heaven for him This eternal Reward Christians did you carefully eye it like the Tree thrown into the Waters of Marah would sweeten all your Afflictions it would make a Prison sweet and Pain easie it will turn a Wilderness into a Paradise give light in darkness and make the Heart merry amidst all worldly Troubles 'T is dogmatized by Naturalists that if a Man were above the second Region of the Air he would then be above all Storms This is true of those blessed Souls who live in Heaven by divine Contemplation they have rest from the day of Trouble no Storm can move them their Hearts are at ease in God let them suffer what they will in the World Let Friends and Goods and Life and all forsake us yet having an Eye to the Reward of eternal Glory that will be sweeter than either Goods or Friends or Life to us 4 A due respect had to this glorious Reward will work in your Hearts a blessed contempt of this present World enabling you to trample with an holy Scorn upon all its Pomps and lying Vanities The World frowning is more terrible but the World smiling is more deadly If Adversity kills its thousand to be sure Prosperity hath killed its ten thousands (a) 2 Sam. 1.19 21. In montibus Gilboae mortui sunt Nobiles Israel sic in honoribus prosperitatibus hujus seculi multi amittunt â—itam Stella Upon the Mountains of Gilboa did the Nobles of Israel fall Thus upon the high towering Mountains of worldly Prosperity do many catch a fall into eternal Misery But now an Eye stedfastly fixed upon the recompence of the Reward that prevents all this Danger enabling a Man to count all things but as loss and dung for the excellency that he sees by Faith to be in Heavens Glory Such is the force of Faith when vigourously exercised about this glorious Reward that it can put bitterness into all that the World counts most sweet and draw a veil of contempt over all the Pageantry of secular enjoyments disgracing them with every believing Soul into Vanity A Man long gazing upon the Sun hath his Eyes so dazled with the Splendour and brightness of it that he cannot discern the Beauty of inferior objects (b) Affectanti caelestia terrena non sapiunt aternis inhianti fastidio sunt transitoria Bern. Thus a Man eying by Faith the Glory and Royalties of this Eternal Reward will afterward find no Form or Comliness or Beauty in any of this World's enjoyments that he should desire them The Earth with all its Jingles must needs be low in our Thoughts when once we look as high as Heaven fixing the Eye of our Faith upon that undefiled Inheritance If God's Kingdom and the Glory thereof be once precious in our Sight and with delight looked after farewell all the Kingdoms of the World and the Glory of them though now they were all transubstantiated into massy Gold yet the Soul is out of Love with them all looking upon them as no better than the serious Trifles of poor carnal Men whose unhappiness it is to have them their Portion in this present Life Excellently to this purpose we find Galeacius the renowned Marquess of Vâ—co bidding defiance to all worldly enjoyments who when offered a vast Sum of Gold upon condition of his Return to Popery makes scorn of that sordid motion saying their Mony perish with them that think all the Gold in the World worth ones Days communion with a precious Christ whom surely he saw by Faith like Stephen standing on the right Hand of God in Glory But I need not go far from my Text for an Instance of this kind we having it given in as the Fruit of Moses his eying the Recompence of the Reward that he esteemed the reproach of Christ Riches greater Riches than the Treasures in Egypt So easily could this holy Man trample upon all the World's Honours Riches Pleasures as nothing worth not worth so much as the reproach of Christ when fixing his Eye upon the Glory to be revealed in him If then Christians you would not love the World get above the World and by Faith live in Heaven (c) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys Hom. 15. â—d pop Antioch Could a Man take a Station in Heaven whatsoever is here below would appear but small in his sight by reason of its distance Thus betwixt heavenly Glory and all earthly enjoyments there is that vast distance that the World 's greatest Comforts will seem but small and almost dwindle away into nothing could you but six the station of your Thoughts upon the pavement of the heavenly Jerusalem Men admire the World's Glory because they never saw a greater as one who had never seen the Sun might well admire a Star But those that by Faith can look within the Vail and take a prospect of Heaven's Glory can never be much taken with the small glimmering Stars of Creature-enjoyments The best way here to avoid stumbling Stones is to look down upon the Earth But if we would not have the World prove a stumbling Stone to us throwing us headlong into destruction we must always walk with our Faces as high as Heaven He that walks continually with Glory in his Eye will be sure to keep the World under his Feet not suffering any worldly enjoyments through his inordinate Love of them to block up his Way to Heaven 5 A due respect had to this glorious Reward will be Life in Duty making you chearful spontaneous always abounding in the work of the Lord. Those may well be out of Heart in Duty who are out of all hope to receive the Reward of Duty But Faith eying the Reward of Eternal Glory must needs be like Wings to the Bird like Oyl to the Chariot wheels of the Soul making a Man diligent and lively in all holy exercises A Prospect of Sion's Glory it 's the whetstone of endeavour it 's an holy bribe put into the Souls Hand to make her serve the Lord with chearfulness delighting greatly in his Commandments (d) Psal 112.1 God's People are never more light-hearted in his service than when that far more exceeding and Eternal Weight of Glory is in their Eye There
are none that walk so chearfully in Heaven's Way as those who have thus seen and tasted that the Lord is Gracious (e) Psal 110.3 In the Day of God's Power the Soul must needs be willing devoting herself to him as a Free-will offering And doubtless greater power did God never shew than when opening the Eyes of a poor lost Sinner and giving him a clear prospect of heavenly Glory Oh now the Soul can mount up with Wings as an Eagle now she can run and not be weary now she can walk on with delight in Heaven's Way and never grow faint when thus beholding as with open Face the Glory that is set before her Holy Duties to a Man eying by Faith the Reward of them are accompanied with such Manna and spiritual Nectar with such fulness of delight and heavenly contentment that now he can willingly spend and be spent in them With a carnal heart who neither sees nor hopes for this glorious Reward all holy exercises are but as Songs to a sorrowful Heart or as good food to a dead Man or as the Red-sea to Pharoah's Chariots wherein he drives on heavily finds no Pleasure can take no delight But it 's far otherwise with those who like Moses have respect to this Eternal Recompence their Meat and Drink is to do God's Will this is that heavenly Manna whereupon they would always be feeding this is that Mount of Transfiguration upon which they could always delight to dwell Oh! there is never such chearful obedience such diligence and vigour of Spirit in holy Duties as when the Soul from the highest Pisgah of Faith can behold the Glory prepared for it that heavenly Canaan towards which every Duty every Sigh every Groan every penitential Tear is an happy Step. The Fire doth not more easily dissolve Ice nor the Sun in its Noon-day brightness expel Darkness than a glimpse of heavenly Glory doth expel Sloth and make a Man delight in the Beauties of Holiness Who would not be quickned by such a Glory shining upon him What Heart would not be warmed and freed from its natural coldness in the Ways of God before such a Flame What Vigour and Liveliness what holy Activity for God in every Duty may the sight of this Eternal Reward put into us You complain Christians of your Dead-heartedness your Formality your indisposition and great aversness to Duty but would you steep your Hearts in the serious Thoughts of this Eternal Reward that would cure you of all your Distempers that would warm your cold Hearts that would quicken your dull Spirits that would make you to serve the Lord with a willing Mind counting every Duty as an heavenly Gale sent on purpose to wast you over to the wished shore of blessed Immortality Oh then if whilst others count Duty their Burden you would count it your Delight your Priviledge if whilst others stand idle in God's Vineyard counting it a weariness to serve the Lord you would willingly have Hearts lively and chearful Hearts prepared for every good word and work be sure that you look within the Veil endeavouring to perswade your Hearts of the Glory that is set before you This Eternal Weight of Glory if well considered will be sure to make the Yoke of obedience seem light and easy You shall not long need to cry out of your own drowsiness negligence and unwillingness in Duty will you but carefully fix your Eye before you go about the work of Duty upon that eternally glorious Reward that follows after Oh what will be able to revive you to fill you with Spirits of delight activity and chearfulness in the work of the Lord if not a clear prospect of that heavenly Canaan towards which you are going Whenever Christian thy Spirit begins to grow flat and thy Heart to fall in Duty Oh then look up by Faith to this glorious Reward not doubting but like Aqua vitae it will revive thee enabling thee to serve the Lord with a willing Mind 6 A due respect had to this glorious Reward will much ease you of all worldly Thoughts and Heart-dividing Cares He cannot be much distracted about earthly goods whose Heart is holy united to meditate Heaven which is best of all When the Eye is once fixed upon things above it begets in the Soul an holy carelesness about all things here below let them go how they will her Treasure is laid up in Heaven and with this she can sit down satisfied Oh little would you think what a Writ of ease what a Sabbath of Rest from all carking cares and distracting Thoughts it would give you had you but a due respect with Mosâ—s to this recompence of Reward The grand reason why most Men look so much after Earth and spend their Thoughts so much about the Meat that perisheth is indeed because they look so little after Heaven and spend their Thoughts so seldom about the Meat which will endure to Eternal Life (f) Mat. 6.33 Hence our blessed Lord observing the Hearts and Minds the Cares and Thoughts of most Men to be carried out with much anxiousness after the things of this World he endeavours to cure them of this dangerous Distemper by diverting the stream of them another way advising them to seek the Kingdom of God and the Righteousness thereof as the most sure expedient to supersede their Heart-rending Cares and to ease them of all their worldly distractions And doubtless would God's People when almost distracted with Cares about what they shall eat and drink and wherewith in necessitous Times they shall be cloathed turn their Thoughts Heaven-ward taking care to make sure of that to prepare for a Crown of Glory to be made meet for the inheritance of Saints in Light this would prove a very Sovereign Remedy against all their distractions What need he much take Thought for the Meat that perisheth who sees the Table spread in his Father's House where sitting down he shall feed upon the Meat that will endure to life everlasting What need he much trouble himself for Drink who sees a River of purest Pleasures running by the right Hand of God for evermore whereof he shall drink deep to all Eternity What need he distract himself for Cloaths who sees the Ward-robe of Heaven all hung with the Garments of Salvation to make him at last more beautiful than Solomon in all his Glory What need he in a word be much careful about earthly Possessions who knows himself provided before-hand of an Inheritance incorruptible undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved in Heaven for him Oh Sirs the Dagon of worldly Thoughts and distracting Cares could never stand had you but such an Ark as a prospect of Heavens Glory to set up against it If then Christians you would get from off the Rack of carking Cares and be able to trust God with your Bodies give diligence to get your Hearts to meditate on Heaven endeavoring to provide for your Souls everlasting Mansions of Glory If
Fruit. Do you not see multitudes every where forfeiting by Sin their Right to this blessed Reward Mortgaging Paradise for an Apple selling Christ together with all the Riches of this Kingdom and Glory for thirty pieces of Silver Oh 't is a Miracle of discriminating Grace to you that ever you saw so much of Heaven as to make you prize it at an higher rate Well if still you would keep at a distance from all appearance of Evil daily purifying your selves from all filthiness of Flesh and Spirit let the hope of this eternal Reward be abiding in you Oh let your Eye be always upon this Crown and remember if you would not Sin that the least Sin is enough to rob you of it Look within the Veil observe this heavenly Kingdom and the Glory of it and remember that the least Sin is enough to shut you our of it for ever For saith Christ (b) Matth. 5.19 whoever shall break the least of these Commandments and shall teach Men so he shall be called least in the Kingdom of God He that thinks to rhetoricate Sin into current Coyn amongst the Citizens of the new Jerusalem may well please a carnal Heart that loves to bow in the House of Rimmon cum privilegio but will doubtless prove himself if our blessed Lord may be judge such reprobate Silver as without the Philosopher's Stone of true Grace to change him by a spiritual Transmetallation into pure Gold shall never be Treasured up in the Exchequer of Heaven To talk of small Sins that a Man for his own safety may venture upon and not prejudice his Salvation some little Zoar that a Man may live in and his Soul not die is the most damnable Solecism in Christianity that can be There is that Treason against the God of Heaven in the least Sin which none but a Child of Hell and Wrath dare be found in 'T is no less treasonable and Death-worthy to Coyn Pence than to Coyn twenty Shilling-pieces because the Royal (c) Quia Deo nos totos omnia nostra debemus certè in infinitam ejus majestatem injurii sunt aeternam mortem merentur qui vel in mimina re sanctissimam ejus voluntatem transgrediuntur Authority is as much violated by the one as by the other Thus how little soever your Sins be though but as Pence and Farthings yet because committed against the great God they are damnable and such as may for ever deprive you of this glorious Reward It was but one Wedge of Gold that destroyed Achan cleaving him from amongst God's People So if thou suffer thy self to be drawn away by any one Sin it may undo thee to Eternity The Sin which in its own Nature is little may yet be made great by thy Allowance The Money for which Judas sold the Lord of Glory was not much but yet being the Wages of Unrighteousness it quickly kindled in his Conscience the Fire of Hell throwing him down headlong into that place of Torments O then be not found fingering any of Satan's Coyn whether little or great whether more or less For be your Sins never so small in themselves yet when lived in with allowance they are nothing but the earnest of Hell whereby you make sale of all your Interest in Heaven and Glory And who but a Mad-man would sell this one Pearl of great Price for such reprobate Silver Do not think Sirs by falling the Rate and Valuation of your Sins that you shall ever the more escape an Arrest◠from divine Justice which will certainly Commence a Suit against you for the least allowed Iniquity and cast you Prisoners into Hell (d) Mat. 5.26 out of which you shall never come till you have paid the last Farthing Oh then what a dreadful thing were it for any Man to forfeit Heaven and drop into Hell irrecoverably through indulgence to himself in any the least Iniquity Should a Prince sell his Crown and Dignity for a draught of cold Water as Lysimachus did it were a most happy Bargain in comparison of what they make who let go their Right to this glorious Reward for a little sensual Pleasure What for Sin to throw thee out of Heaven to keep thee for ever entring into the Joy of thy Lord to take away thy Crown hiding from thee the Light of God's Countenance that thou shalt never see it more nor be comforted any more with it for ever oh think of this my Soul and think often what a woful bargain is made where thy God thy Portion thy Life thy dearest Lord thy heavenly Treasure are all made away for a Lust that ere-long will be turned into the Fire of Hell Oh would you Christians but observe what a glorious Kingdom what fulness of Joy what Rivers of Pleasure Sin comes to rob you of this would sour all the Pleasures of Sin this would break in pieces the Dagon of every Lust this would make you as fearful to meddle with any Temptation as to burn and lie scorching in Hell for ever The allurements of Hell can never ensnare us where our Hearts are fixed upon Heaven's Glory When therefore you feel Christians Corruption stirring in your Hearts be sure to get Glory in your Eye such motions can never hurt us when struggling against the Temptation we keep our Mind fixed upon the Crown that will follow after (a) Ad portam voluntatis in qua solent manere carnalia desideria statuatur Ostarius qui vocatur recordatio calestis patriae hic enim potest pravum desiderium quasi cuneus cuneum pellere Bernard Let the mindful Sense of our heavenly Country stand as Door-keeper at the Door of the Will wherein carnal Desires are wont to dwell and as one wedge drives out another so this will drive out all carnal and brutish desires If ever we desire to thrust evil Desires out of our Hearts we must plant spiritual ones in their stead (b) Si carnales concupiscentias è cordibus nostris desideramus extrudere spirituales earum locis plantemus voluntates ut his noster animus semper in nixus habeat quibus illecebras carnalium respuat gaudiorum Cassian that our minds being fixed upon them may always dwell upon them and so refuse the Snares of present and sensual delights Keep Heaven Christians still in your Eye steep your Hearts at all Times in the sweet contemplations of heavenly Bliss and then if Temptations come if the Pleasures of Sin be offered as a bait to ensnare you you will certainly shun them with the like abhorrency and godly trembling as you would shun Hell Those allurements of Sin come too late and will never be able to fasten upon the Soul which never assault her till got upon the Mount of Transfiguration and looking by Faith into the heavenly Canaan A sight of God in Heaven makes it impossible for the Saints to sin and a sight of Heaven on Earth this makes it impossible for the Saints to
Gladness for mourning this will change the bitter Waters of Marah into Wine this will soften the hardest Gridiron that you can be broyled upon and turn the scorching Flames of a fiery Tryal into a Bed of Roses (l) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let a Man be brought up at the Breasts of everlasting Consolation and good hope through Christ and there is nothing in all the World that can take away his Joy from him If Men take from him his Monies yet still he hath a Treasure in Heaven to rejoice in If they banish him yet still he hath a City whose Builder and Maker is God to rejoice in If they shut him up in Prison yet still he hath a right to the glorious Liberty of God's Children to rejoice in If they cruelly mangle Torment and afflict his Body yet still he hath a building of God to rejoice in even an house not made with hands Eternal in the Heavens Oh this is that which comforts the Hearts and makes glad the Spirits of God's People under all their sufferings that they lead to Glory to a Kingdom which cannot be moved When the Souls Eye is stedfastly fixed upon the Joy of her dearest Lord then the Heart will easily rejoice in reproaches in persecutions in fiery Tryals and in what cruelties soever else the Body may suffer for the Lord 11 A due respect had to this glorious Reward will discover much of Heaven to you giving you that sweet foretast of Heavens Glory whereby you may well conjecture what will be the fulness of that Joy the splendor of that Crown the surpassing sweetness of those good things which God hath prepared for you An Eye fixed upon this Eternal Recompence is like St. Paul's rapture carrying the Soul into the third Heaven and giving it a branch or two of those delicious Grapes of which the Soul shall have her fill so soon as she takes possession of the celestial Canaan Though here we be in a barren Wilderness yet a respect to this Reward it will furnish us with much Minatur Antichristus sed Christus tuetur Mors infertur sed immortalitas sequitur Mundus eripitur sed Paradisus exhibetur Vita temporalis extinguitur sed aeterna reparatur Cyprian de Exhart Marty pag. 386. heavenly Manna to feed upon Here though we dwell in an earthly Tabernacle yet eying our Eternal Reward it shews us everlasting habitations Here though we sit by the Waters of Babylon yet eying this our Eternal Reward it will give us Songs in the Night and fill our Hearts with Sion's Joy before we come to the full enjoyment of that glorious Inheritance Faith eying the Reward of Eternal Life it draws aside the Curtains of Mortality and lets the Soul look with the Veil it carries the Soul up into the Mount and there shews her the heavenly Canaan in all its Glory it antedates the Book of Life and puts the Soul in the very Suburbs of the supernal Jerusalem though yet she be shut up in a clay Cottage Wast thou never Christian upon the top of Nebâ— beholding with Joy of Heart the promised Canaan Did Christ never take thee up into the Mount causing the Glory of Heaven to shine round about thee Canst thou not remember the time when looking by an Eye of Faith upon unseen Glory that thy Soul was filled as with Marrow and Fatness sweetly anticipating those divine Pleasures which are at God's right Hand for evermore What then is the Happiness the rejoicing the Felicity of all those who not only look upon but most intimately enjoy these eternal good things Eulgentius beholding the City of Rome in her Splendour cried out if this earthly City be so glorious what is the City of the great King that City which hath Foundations whose Builder and Maker is God Thus Christian if eying thy Eternal Reward be so sweet and full of Glory how sweet will the full enjoyment of it be Is there such pleasantness in a Pisgah-sight of the heavenly Canaan what Pleasure will it then be to have possession of it Are the first Fruits of Glory so good then what will be the goodness of a ripe and full Harvest of Glory 'T is the work of every Christian to have his Eye upon Glory and if the work be so delightful oh then what Spirits of delight what surpassing Paradisical Pleasures will there be in his Eternal Reward If a drop or two of Heaven falling down into the Soul afford such happiness how happy must they be who enjoy the Fountain drinking their fills of Pleasure at God's right Hand for evermore Doubtless if the outward Court be so stately and magnificent we must needs conclude glorious things concerning the Holy of Holies If the Back-parts of Jehovah do so ravish and transport the Soul with Joy what less will the beatifical Vision the seeing of God face to face do than throw her into an everlasting glorious Rapture (n) Quod si haec quae ad bona gratiae pertinent eum in modum oftendant amplificentque magnitudinem tuae bonitatis Domine quid facient bona gloriae Si sic tractes amicos tuos in hac lacrymarum valle quomodo eos in Paradiso tuarum voluptatum tractabis Si sic exhilares illos in vidà quid facies in patria Si sic consoleris illos in loco servitutis quid facies in illo libertatis Si tam suaviter dormiant et requiescant in sinu tuo dum adhuc armati incedunt ut pugnent quid facient cum armis abjectis partâque victoriâ triumphabunt Granat Memor vit Christ cap. 28. pag. mihi 334. If the good things of Grace have so much to satisfie in them what fulness of Soul-satisfying Happiness will the good things of Glory bring with them Doubtless the Lord who entertains his Friends in this Vally of Tears with a Feast of fat things and full of Marrow will much more feast them to their everlasting coâ—â—ntment in the sweetest Paradise of his own Pleasures He that doth so make glad the Hearts of his People by the Way will certainly make much of them beyond all that Heart can conceive at their Journeys end If the Lord give so much Comfort in a place of hard bondage to his People oh then how great will their Comfort be when brought into the glorious Liberty of the Sons of God! If the conflict have Glory in it how glorious will the triumph be If Heaven masked and only in expectation have so much Lustre and Beauty upon it what will be the glorious Lustre and unspotted Beauty of Heaven when unveiled and had in full fruition If Christians on the top of Mount Pisgah you can discover so much Glory and Pleasantness in the celestial Canaan while yet you are at a great distance from it oh what Glory what Delight and fulness of divine Pleasure will you find in that holy Land when possessed of it a Land of Peace and Sweetness
(b) Erimus Christiani cum Christo gloriosi de Deo patre beati de perpetua voluptate laetantes semper in conspectu Det agentes Deo gratias semper Cyprian ad Demetr pa. 331. you shall be glorious as Christ is glorious blessed of God replenished with all fulness of Joy and shall have an everlasting Sabbath of Rest taking up your sweetest Repose in the Bosom of your blessed Redeemer loving praising and enjoying him in one eternal Soul-entrancing Fruition HOW chearfully then may the People of God undergo their present Sufferings and entertain when it comes their approaching Dissolution The hope which Jacob had to enjoy the beautiful Rachel was to him a comfortable Hope under all his Hardships yet not worthy to make an Emblem of ours who hope within a few days more to enjoy the Light of God's Countenance and the Soul-ravishing Beauty of our blessed Redeemer's Face in Glory Affliction may attend God's People all their Life long but only as a Foil to set off their future Blessedness and make Heaven so much the sweeter Death it self that bold Pursuivant will erelong look in at the Windows of God's dearest Children but only as their Birth-day to an Eternity of Joy unspeakable and beyond imagination Lift up then your Heads with Joy amidst all your Afflictions to that Crown of Life that follows after And while the Thorn of Death is at your Breast ready to let out your Life-blood even then let your Souls break forth like so many heavenly Nightingales into singing as knowing that your bodily Dissolution will only make way for your Coronation in Glory You (c) Psal 126.5 6. may sow in Tears but shall reap in Joy You may go out weeping though you be such as bear precious Seed but shall doubtless come again rejoycing and bring your full Sheaves of Glory along with you Sorrow you may have over Night when you have the advantage of the Season to sleep it out and pass it over But your Joy will come in the Morning when you shall enter fresh upon it and have before you to enjoy it in the whole Day of a blessed Eternity that will never be over Your Joys are now mixt with Sorrows your Comforts with many Crosses and your Light with much Darkness But having finished your Course Death will put an end to all your Sorrows remove your Crosses and so compass you about with the Light of Glory When wicked Men die their Works follow them in eternal Hellish-torments But when the People of God die their Works follow them in the full Reward of everlasting heavenly Glory For Believers over Hell and Death Christ hath got the Victory and lets (d) 1 Cor. 15.57 them wear the Grown So that (e) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost now Death which to wicked Men is porta inserni the Gate of Hell to you that believe is become in tâ—â—itus coeli an entrance into Heaven Death which to the wicked is as God's Serjeant to drag them into the infernal fiery Dungeon is to you the Lord's Gentleman Usher to conduct you into the supernal Palace of heavenly Glory And who would not through Storms and Tempests to come to such a Harbour Who would not embrace a fiery Tryal Complement Death and come to the Grave with gladness knowing that to be the ready way to the coelestial Paradise They that come from (f) Chrysost hom de divit Laz. a City to a Country Village to transact Matters of Concern there when their Business is well accomplished they return into the City again with Joy Thus Christians you whose Souls came from the new Jerusalem to Negotiate the great Matters of Eternity here in this World having finished your Course and kept the Faith how joyful may you return like so many Royal Ships laden with the richest Merchandise to that heavenly City where the (g) Rev. 21.23 Lamb will be your Light and God your Glory Well may you be content to serve an hard Apprentiship here so you may come hereafter to be made free Denizens of this heavenly Jerusalem Well may you go on in the Work of the Lord having such a Crown in your Eye and so sure after all your Conflicts to be set upon your Heads Well may you Christians having that clear prospect of Glory which (h) At enim nos exequias adornamus eadem tranquillitate quâ vivimus Minut. Foel Oct. 125. erelong like a divine Load-stone will draw you to it self subscribe your selves upon all Occasions with that resolved Servant of Christ Ann Ayscough such as neither Fear Death nor dread his Might but as merry as those that are bound for Heaven Now unto the King Eternal Immortal Invisible the only Wise God be Honour and Glory for ever and ever Amen FINIS Mr. Joseph Cooper's Advice to his Wife and Children THE Regions of Eternal Love Which I approach my Soul doth move Something Divine with you to leave While Death of me doth you bereave When I in silent Dust do dwell These Lines to you my Love shall tell Your Widows Vail when you put on Your Fatherless when they make moan Accept these Words naught else I crave Do not despise your Husband 's Grave Know Life is short and Death most sure To dying thoughts yourself inure What I am now Dust and a Shade Your self must be your Life doth fade Let warm Repose nourish no Sin Old Age approaching courts Death in Of my cold Bed in Dust take part You must with or against your Heart This I suggest from silent urn That whilst I speak your Heart may burn And be inflam'd with heavenly Love Aspiring still to things above Your Children sweet in number many Resign to God reserve not any He is their Father and he will Their Souls with all his Goodness fill Doubt not his Love or tenderness To Widows and to Fatherless Can Love you hate can Life you kill Can evil spring from God's good will This is his will that Widows chast Should trust in God and not make hast This is his Goodness to their Seed He will them help in time of need Upon this Promise still depend It fills with joy makes God your Friend His heart is open and his hand Treasures of Love and Grace command To Widows that are pure in heart And Children he doth Life impart And let me whisper one thing more You and your Children have in store Treasures of Sighs Tears Groans and Prayers Of which you are the rightful Heirs He that in silent dust doth sleep For you to God did often weep Nay weeping was his easiest part He sigh'd he groan'd he broke his heart Strugling with God that he might give You Grace in Christ to make you live Hoping for this he did expire God will you save you shall admire Sweet Children and my Spouse most dear Live still by Faith and nothing fear But Sin which is the root of Strife The Seed of Death the Plague of Life Your
thoughts and care in God still centre To cleave to God is the best venture Would you for ever live above In raptures and transports of Love God's Word believe love Christ hate Sin Have Grace in Life have Truth within Be holy harmless fly from Vice This is the way to Paradise My Blessing I amongst you part See you serve God with all your heart That you may be with me possest Of endless Joy and happy rest And Hallelujahs ever sing With Christ our Lord and Heavenly King A Morning Soliloquy The Eye-lids of the beauteous Morn Which from the rising Sun are Born Open themselves and shed down light That Men may see God's Glory bright This Glory courts thy love my Soul Let not Nights Charms such Bliss controul The Morning is of every day The Maiden-head give 't not away Keep that for God wouldst thou be chast Let not thy Virgin Thoughts lie wast Awake embrace the Bridegroom royal That Love is early which is Loyal Hark how the soaring Lark doth sing And of the day glad tidings bring Prevent her Lyrick Harmonies When first the Light breaks in the Skies Let sleep give place to wakeful praise When Heaven calls on thee to rise Aurora with her blushing Face Doth seem to suffer much disgrace Where Men unmindful of their Duty Regard not Heaven in her Beauty Do not this Virgin Queen Disdain Who rise with her great Glory gain The World now shines with early Beams Heaven pours down light in vital Streams Be gone dull sleep do nor confine My Mind in Darkness Grace doth shine Arise my Soul arise and move Love him who feels no charms but Love All Praises to thy glorious King With heart indite when day doth spring What Chains of Darkness can thee bind When Life from God embalms thy mind Anthems Divine and Hymns most sweet To Christ are due when he doth greet Then wake my Soul thy thoughts sublime Court not Night Shades those Dregs of time To God thy Life through Christ aspire Feed still on his celestial Fire Dwell in the Light put on the Sun Of Grace for Glory thou must run Awake awake hug not fond Dreams Bright Phoebus sheds abroad his Beams Such golden day can never number Whose minds do rust with sleep and slumber Frail mortal Flesh how much I lose When for thy ease my eyes I close Most pure delights and thoughts Divine Waking with God are always mine If in dull sleep I must me hide Yet let my Soul with God abide How irksom is that sleeping space Which spoils me of such glorious Grace Sacred to Muses is the Morn The Graces then do Souls adorn They visit Mortals with great Bliss When night and day part in a Kiss Resist not Soul their powerful Charms But throw thy self into their Arms. Day breaking from a Throne of Gold Chides all whose Love to Christ is cold His Light comes to sue out Divorce Betwixt those lids which Night did force The Lord is jealous nor will he With Dreams and Shades still rival'd be The Worlds great Lamp doth guild the Plain And calls my Soul to entertain Thy Saviours Love and vital dew Which will thy Life and Strength renew Wast not in drowsie Dreams and Sleep Christ for thy Morning Love doth weep Ungrateful Soul break as the Light Through all the Clouds of Hell and Night With Christ each Day end and begin His Love controuls the charms of Sin When Heart and Soul in God still center No Lust can live no Vice can enter See how great Sol circuits our Sphere Diffusing Light now here now there With him for God set out and run Till Joys Immortal thou hast won Though Storms from Hell obstruct thy way Yet Heaven will make eternal day An Evening Soliloquy My Soul what shall I do for thee Approaching Night sings Lullabie Betake thee to thy Saviours Arms Hee 'l save from sin Hells mortal charms Night turns to Day when he his face Vnveils and doth with Love embrace Dark shades invite to take thy rest But first in God wouldst thou be blest Repose thy self his favour crave Sleep is the emblem of thy Grave From Sleep and Death he will restore That thou his goodness mayst adore He is thy Life and resting Place We sleep most sweetly in his Grace When God a Bed of Love doth make For us we 're well asleep or wake Night past the Day will shine and then The dead in Christ shall live again When Lord my Thoughts are full of thee And Heaven in smiles comes down to me How gastly is each look of Night What fatal Shades eclipse my Light Methinks I have no time to live When Sleep suspends what God doth give Night Opium through each sense diffused My active Soul hath oft abused And ravisht by his drowsie charms My Saviour from my feeble Arms Propitious Lord my Heart enlarge And let my Powers resume their Charge Divine sensations fall asleep While Night in Leatheâ— doth me sleep My Soul of Heaven all sight doth lose When Morpheus coâ—â—s my Eyes to close Come joyful Day let shadows fly Till blest I wake Eternally No envious sleep shall then surprize My ravish'd Heart or Amorous Eyes While fill'd with Glory from Christs face Shall nought but Joys of Love embrace Out of that sleep which next I take 'T were Life into this Life to wake O blessed Sleep thus to expire Were not to die but to live higher Above dull Nights and empty Dreams In Heavens great Lights and crystal Streams Where dwells no Sleep to wast our Time But Joys immortal and sublime FINIS
a Man eye the Reward of Eternal Glory that his Face is towards the heavenly Jerusalem if that be the great design of his Life and he makes it his principal Care to win the Crown of Life this will certainly set him above all carking Cares he will not stoop to those sordid enjoyments that others do he hath higher Thoughts his mind is not set on the World but upon God upon Glory upon life eternal And what need he trouble himself with the Cares of the World who hath placed all his Happiness in Heaven and knows he can never come to the full enjoyment of it till he leave the World So then to have Heaven and Glory in our Eye is the best Way to get the World and all worldly Cares out of our Hearts 7 A due respect had to this glorious Reward it will put much holy Courage and spiritual Fortitude into you quite setting you above all slavish Fears Undauntedly will all that have Heaven in their Eye look the worst of earthly dangers in the Face So that come Life or come Death let the Clouds gather let the Winds blow let what Storms will overtake them yet looking forward to their Harbour of Eternal Rest no distracting servile Fears can take hold upon them 'T is storied by Naturalists of Bees that when out in a storm they gather up to themselves little Stones wherewith they being poysed they escape blowing away and come home safely This far more exceeding and Eternal weight of Glory is that (g) Psal 125.1 Tutelary-stone whereby God's People stand unshaken amidst all Storms and become like Mount Sion which cannot be removed but abideth for ever Though Houses might be overthrown by impetuous Storms and shaken out of their Places yet Mount Sion stood immoveable keeping its place let what Storms and Tempests would be abroad in the World Thus albeit that such as have only built upon the Sands of a temporary Faith may fall and be frighted by Storms of persecution out of their Religion yet the true Christian who hath cast anchor within the Veil fixing his Eye upon future Glory he stands unshaken no Storm of Reproach Persecution or trouble in the World can fright him out of Heaven's Way (h) Psal 112.7 Such an one will not be afraid of evil tidings His Heart is fixed trusting in the Lord. Let the blind world say what it will let it threaten God's People with exile spoiling of goods with a fiery tryal Yet none of these things move them but they stand unshaken and can laugh like the Leviathan with a holy scorn at the shaking of the spear of every threatned danger of every denounced cruelty This redoubted Chivalry and invincible courage the holy Ghost gives us exemplified in those three (i) Dan. 3.16 17 18. Jewish Worthies With what unbended constancy and undaunted gallantry of Spirit do they answer the great Nebuchadnezzar when urging them to idolatry by arguments taken from the dreadful Topicks of kingly Fury and a fiery Furnace heated seven times hotter than usual O Nebuchadnezzar we are not careful to answer thee in this matter If it be so our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery Furnace and he will deliver us out of thy Hand O King But if not be it known unto thee O King we will not serve thy Gods nor worship the golden Image which thou hast set up Moses in the words preceeding my Text and those that follow is a pregnant instance of the like holy boldness and Christian prowess who could suffer afflictions with the People of God not fearing the fierce Wrath of an heard-hearted Pharaoh but endured as seeing him that was invisible Nor was holy Paul of any worse metal but as a Man furnished with adamantine hardiness he tramples most bravely upon all discouragements resolving rather to die (k) Acts 21.13 than to dissemble Conscience and balk his Duty What do you tell a Man saith he of Bonds and Fetters who is ready not only to be bound but to die at Jerusalem for the name of Jesus (l) Pueri mulierculae nostrae cruces tormenta feras omnes suppliciorum terriculas inspiratâ patientiâ doloris illudunt Mint Fael Octavius 121. Should I borrow light to this Truth from Ecclesiastick History telling you the invincible Courage of all the holy Martyrs who having respect to the recompence of the Reward tired out the cruelties derided the menaces and overcame the enraged malice of their proudest Persecutors the time would indeed fail me and this one particular Branch swell out into a large volume Luther was a Man of such an hardy robustious Spirit that he resolves to do his work though there were as many Devils to oppose him in it as Tiles upon the Houses at Worms knowing well that his Reward would be great in Heaven Of no less holy resolution and undaunted Courage was Polycarp Bishop of Smyrna and Simeon Bishop of Jerusalem and Chrysostome Bishop of Constantinople nothing fearing the Pride and Persecution of the Empress Eudoxia (m) Hostes veritatis jam non tantum non per horescimus sed provocamus inimicos Dei jam hoc ipso quod non cessimus vicimus Epist 26. pag. 60. And Cyprian the holy Bishop of Carthage to whom thus bravely we find some Confessors expressing themselves We are so far from fearing the Enemies of the Truth that we provoke them rather overcoming their Malice whilst we yield not to their ungodly Practices (n) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ignat. ad Rom. epist pag. 86. Blessed Ignatius was a Man of the same heroick Spirit whom we find also professing himself fearless of all manner of Dangers and Torments whilst fixing his Eye upon Christ as his Portion and exceeding great Reward O saith he that I were with the wild Beasts made ready to devour me I could wish they may prove a compendium a quick dispatch to me I would allure them speedily to eat me up and not as with others be terrified so as not to touch them and if they should delay I would provoke them Pardon me I know what is most expedient for me I now begin to be a Disciple of Christ neither regarding things visible nor invisible so I may win Jesus Christ Let Fire Cross and the concourse of wild Beasts the cutting separating and breaking of my Bones the rending of my Members the destruction of my whole Body and the most exquisite Torments that Hell itself can devise come upon me so I may obtain the full enjoyment of Christ in Glory (o) Steterunt torti torquentibus fortiores pulsantes ac laniantes ungulas pulsata ac laniata membra vicerunt Inexpugnabilem fidem superare non potuit saeviens diu plaga repetita quamvis rupta compage viscerum torquerentur in servis Dei jam nòn membra sed vulnera Fluebat sanguis qui incendium persecutionis extingueret qui flammas ignes gehennae glorioso